Simple RAW Thread for 3.5 #36: The Triple Dozen

[hamishspence]

A 166 complement

falling or crushing damage isn't quite considered bludgeoning damage, but a category of its own, sometimes called "impact" damage, for example in this armor property.

That's not the way the armour property phrases it. From the phrasing, crushing damage and falling damage are bludgeoning damage - just not weapon bludgeoning damage.

[Vaern]

Q 168
If a character's ability scores are permanently reduced in a way that prevents them from qualifying for a feat that they already have, would a temporary bonus to that ability score allow that character to continue benefiting from that feat?
For example, a half-orc barbarian is reincarnated as a halfling, causing his strength score to be reduced to 12. He no longer meets the 13 strength prerequisite for his power attack feat. When he rages his strength is increased to 16. Would he regain the use of power attack for the duration of the rage?

[Thurbane]

Q 168
If a character's ability scores are permanently reduced in a way that prevents them from qualifying for a feat that they already have, would a temporary bonus to that ability score allow that character to continue benefiting from that feat?
For example, a half-orc barbarian is reincarnated as a halfling, causing his strength score to be reduced to 12. He no longer meets the 13 strength prerequisite for his power attack feat. When he rages his strength is increased to 16. Would he regain the use of power attack for the duration of the rage?

A 168

Yes - the feat doesn't care how you meet the reqs, or if it's only temporarily; as long as you meet the reqs, you can use the feat.

[Arkhios]

A 168

Yes - the feat doesn't care how you meet the reqs, or if it's only temporarily; as long as you meet the reqs, you can use the feat.

Q 168 Continued

Would an access to such a temporary ability qualify you for taking a feat in the first place?
Such as having a class feature or a spell in your class list of spells, like Bull's Strength (for Power Attack, Knock-Down, etc.) or Cat's Grace (for Two-Weapon Fighting, Rapid Shot, etc.)?

[KillianHawkeye]

Q 168 Continued

Would an access to such a temporary ability qualify you for taking a feat in the first place?
Such as having a class feature or a spell in your class list of spells, like Bull's Strength (for Power Attack, Knock-Down, etc.) or Cat's Grace (for Two-Weapon Fighting, Rapid Shot, etc.)?

Re: 168

This is a slightly more difficult topic, because the process of leveling up is not really given a strict timeframe. It's hard to say whether or not a temporary buff would be in effect at the time of leveling up.

[Arkhios]

Re: 168

This is a slightly more difficult topic, because the process of leveling up is not really given a strict timeframe. It's hard to say whether or not a temporary buff would be in effect at the time of leveling up.

Re: 168
For comparison, druids are able to choose feats that they can only use when in wild shape, and likewise it's debatable whether wild shape is in effect at the time of leveling up. I'm aware that this is technically a specific over generic rule, that is stated by the description, so it may be slightly different, but the situation is similar, so in my opinion I think the question is justified.

Essentially every spell you know are your class features as much as they are spells, and I do believe that this is part of the reason why (especially) sorcerers, as well as clerics or wizards, don't gain (m)any other class features beyond 1st level.

[Elves]

Q 169

How exactly do natural attacks interact with full attacks made with a manufactured weapon?

If you make a full iterative attack with a manufactured weapon, can you also make secondary and/or primary natural weapon attacks on top of that?

Please give source.

[hamishspence]

A 169

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAb...acturedWeapons (or page 311, Monster Manual)

Some creatures combine attacks with natural and manufactured weapons when they make a full attack. When they do so, the manufactured weapon attack is considered the primary attack unless the creature’s description indicates otherwise and any natural weapons the creature also uses are considered secondary natural attacks. These secondary attacks do not interfere with the primary attack as attacking with an off-hand weapon does, but they take the usual -5 penalty (or -2 with the Multiattack feat) for such attacks, even if the natural weapon used is normally the creature’s primary natural weapon.

In other words, yes, you can make natural attacks in addition to your weapon's attacks, but they are automatically considered secondary, even if under normal circumstances they would be primary.

[Zaq]

Reposting from the bottom of last page.

Q 167
Are there any magic items that grant additional daily uses of bardic music to a character who already has bardic music? If so, what are they?

[KillianHawkeye]

Re: 168
For comparison, druids are able to choose feats that they can only use when in wild shape, and likewise it's debatable whether wild shape is in effect at the time of leveling up. I'm aware that this is technically a specific over generic rule, that is stated by the description, so it may be slightly different, but the situation is similar, so in my opinion I think the question is justified.

Essentially every spell you know are your class features as much as they are spells, and I do believe that this is part of the reason why (especially) sorcerers, as well as clerics or wizards, don't gain (m)any other class features beyond 1st level.

That's a bad example because the prerequisite isn't to be using Wild Shape, it's to have the ability to Wild Shape. It's totally different from a prerequisite to have a certain feat or ability score.

[St Fan]

Q 170

A Wizard/Chameleon picks up a metamagic feat as the Chameleon temporary bonus feat, and prepare a few wizard spells with this feat.

After 24 hours, she hasn't cast all of these spells and hasn't prepared new spells over those. If the Chameleon feat picked this day is different, can she still cast those specific spells prepared with a metamagic feat, despite no longer having the feat?

[Zaq]

Q 171

When applying multiple effects that replace half of a spell's existing damage with some other kind of damage (examples include, but are not limited to, Consecrate Spell, City Magic, the planar sorcerer's Force-Charged Energy, and the daggerspell mage's Invocation of the Knife), how is that handled? Let's say, for example, that you had two such "replace half" effects on the same spell. Would you simply end up with the spell doing 25% original energy damage, 25% first replacement type, and 50% second replacement type, presumably chosen by the caster?

[Troacctid]

Q 171

When applying multiple effects that replace half of a spell's existing damage with some other kind of damage (examples include, but are not limited to, Consecrate Spell, City Magic, the planar sorcerer's Force-Charged Energy, and the daggerspell mage's Invocation of the Knife), how is that handled? Let's say, for example, that you had two such "replace half" effects on the same spell. Would you simply end up with the spell doing 25% original energy damage, 25% first replacement type, and 50% second replacement type, presumably chosen by the caster?

Not all of these effects have the same wording. For example, City Magic says half the damage comes from energy, and the remainder is city damage, whereas Consecrate Spell says that half the damage is divine damage, and Lord of the Uttercold says that half is cold and half is negative energy. So, how they determine the percentages and damage types varies.

That said, the caster makes all decisions required by the spell unless otherwise stated. So if we use the example of Consecrate Spell + City Magic, you could choose to apply City Magic first, changing it to half city and half energy damage, and then Consecrate Spell, changing half of that to divine damage. Which half? You would choose that too, the same way a warmage casting ice storm chooses whether they want to apply their edge to the cold damage or the bludgeoning damage. The likely end result in this specific combination is that half would be city damage, and the other half would be divine damage.

[Elves]

Q 172

Does an ongoing spell effect end if the subject ceases to fulfill the target category, or is the target category on-application only?

Ex: A spell with "Target: One living creature" cast on a subject, and during the duration the target becomes undead.

[Thurbane]

Reposting from the bottom of last page.

A167

Joyous Star Song (Magic of Faerun, p.161). One extra use of bardic music per day with a +5 sacred bonus on Perform check.

Also, I believe there is Harpy's Cap (Dragon 340), which is an expendable item that gives a total of 6 extra uses of bardic music.

[St Fan]

Q 172

Does an ongoing spell effect end if the subject ceases to fulfill the target category, or is the target category on-application only?

Ex: A spell with "Target: One living creature" cast on a subject, and during the duration the target becomes undead.

A 172
Second option. The validity of a target for a spell is determined when the effect hits. The target changing creature type, whether temporary or permanently, doesn't affect ongoing spell effects.

Some effects may be suppressed, if by the rules they can't apply to non-living creatures (say, for example, regeneration), but the spell isn't ended and will resume if the subject returns among the living (not hypothetical, there are spells that do precisely that, like kiss of the vampire).

[Jon_Dahl]

Q 173

Earth Elemental's Earth Mastery: Does floor count? Let's assume that it's a stone floor. Or a wooden floor.

[Elves]

A 173

All it says is "the ground", any solid ground counts.

[Bobur]

Q#174
Is there a minimum damage?
If I have a character that rolls DMG: 1d3-1STR and I roll a 1 =0 dmg.
Would that be just that, 0? Or is there a rule that I do at least 1 point of dmg on a hit?

[Thurbane]

Q#174
Is there a minimum damage?
If I have a character that rolls DMG: 1d3-1STR and I roll a 1 =0 dmg.
Would that be just that, 0? Or is there a rule that I do at least 1 point of dmg on a hit?

A174

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/combatStatistics.htm

Minimum Damage: If penalties reduce the damage result to less than 1, a hit still deals 1 point of damage.

[Blue Jay]

A174 Addendum

To be clear, the minimum damage rule only applies to penalties on the damage roll. Downstream effects like Damage Reduction and Energy Resistance can reduce your damage to 0, and the minimum damage rule will not apply in that case.

[H_H_F_F]

Q 175

Does planar touchstone (catalogues of enlightenment) or similar effects count as "access to X domain" for prerequisites?

[Troacctid]

Q 175

Does planar touchstone (catalogues of enlightenment) or similar effects count as "access to X domain" for prerequisites?

No. A domain is defined as a granted power and a set of nine divine spells, per the glossary. The granted power alone is not a domain.

[Elves]

A 175

Yes, because Catalogues of Enlightenment's greater (refreshable) power does allow you to access the domain's spells.

[Arkhios]

Q 176

Does it require an action to switch a weapon from one hand to another, or is it a "free action" by RAW?

For example, if I am using a weapon in one hand with a light shield in the other, and I want to throw another weapon without dropping my weapon, can I hold the weapon in my shield hand while drawing and throwing another weapon? Assume I have the Quick Draw feat.

[Vaern]

Q 167
Are there any magic items that grant additional daily uses of bardic music to a character who already has bardic music? If so, what are they?

Songblade is a +1 rapier that grants one additional daily use of Bardic Music and a +2 enhancement bonus on perform checks.
Joyous Star Song grants an extra use of Bardic Music with a +5 sacred bonus on your perform check once per day when used.
Those are the only two I could dig up.

[St Fan]

A 175

Yes, because Catalogues of Enlightenment's greater (refreshable) power does allow you to access the domain's spells.

The greater power is nothing like "granting access to spells", it's just a temporary (3 uses) capacity. That's still nowhere close to equate to having a domain for prerequisite purposes. Especially since switching to another touchstone or domain would negate it immediately.

[Elves]

The greater power is nothing like "granting access to spells", it's just a temporary (3 uses) capacity.

Are you not counted as having smite evil just because you've used up all your daily uses? The benefit is part of the feat.

In part it depends on the requirement of the wording. For "access to the domain", this feat certainly does grant you access to the domain's spells in addition to its granted power. If the prereq is just "x domain", it's more questionable.

Especially since switching to another touchstone or domain would negate it immediately.

In which case you cease to fulfill any prerequisites it hinged off of, which might result in losing feat and/or (depending on table ruling) PRC benefits.

[Elves]

Q 178

"If you attack a flat-footed opponent immediately after drawing a melee weapon, you can deal extra damage, based on the result of an Iaijutsu Focus check."

Technically, it never says the attack actually has to be with the melee weapon you drew, right?

[Falontani]

A178
You are correct, it does not state you must strike with melee.