Simple RAW Thread for 3.5 #36: The Triple Dozen

[Troacctid]

Q 241

Bit of a weird one, but may come up soon in my game: an intelligent Ioun Stone can use cure moderate wounds on wielder 3/day. Does the stone have to make contact with it's owner to use the power, or is the owner considered to be the "wielder" with the stone orbiting their head?

There's no special exception to the rules for touch range spells for intelligent items. It has to touch the target.

[St Fan]

Q 238 Repost

A) I have seen on an Archivist Handbook that some posters were under the impression that, if you pick a prestige class adding a bonus domain while you are an archivist, that you'd gain bonus domain spells. But I seriously doubt it is RAW at all. Looking at the rules for Extra Domains in the Complete Divine, I've always thought that an extra domain for an archivist wouldn't have advantage spellwise (since all domain spells are already accessible), only adding the granted power. Which reading is correct?

B) On the other hand, another Archivist Handbook mention the Holt Warden prestige class, whose Plant Affinity feature is worded differently than an extra domain:

If you do not already have bonus domain spells, you now gain bonus spells from the Plant domain (see the cleric spellcasting feature, PH 32) as if you were a cleric with access to that domain.

So, does an archivist with a level of Holt Warden would get bonus domain spells in addition to their normal spells?

C) If B is correct, however, could such a character switch those bonus domain spells with a substitute domain spell (assuming access to other domains with other classes/prestige classes)? It is different from a standard domain, and the wording seems to restrict it strictly to Plant Domain spells.

[Elves]

A 238

A. Domain spells are a cleric feature, archivist doesn't get them. Rules for domain access for non clerics are in CDiv.
B. Yes.
C. The wording says "as if you were a cleric with access to that domain", so there is no novel rule here that would stop Substitute Domain from working.

[Zerryzerry]

Q 242

Pretty sure it has already been asked but cannot find it.

I know multipliers to the same value in D&D goes as "X2 and X2 becomes X3". But if an effect multiplies more the just one thing?
The question here is about the spell "Rhino's Rush"

"This spell allows you to propel yourself in a single deadly charge. The first charge attack you make before the end of the round deals double damage on a successful hit."

If I charge and hit while using power attack (keep it simple, 4 penalty, 2h Greatsword, 10 Str only), I deal:

4d6 +16 {(2d6x2) + [(4X2)x2]}
or
4d6 +12 [(2d6x2) + (4x3)]

I am inclined to think the first option, since Rhino's Rush is a different kind of multiplier, but i want to be sure

[HouseRules]

A 240 Yes if a negative level becomes permanent (e.g. you fail your save) it will reduce Racial Hit Dice (if you have no other hit dice).

Using this to get rid of unwanted hit dice and then level up in a class instead of hit dice is a standard medium to high-end optimisation technique; however the rules are silent on what happens when you level up in this situation so expect DM variation.

For some Monster Races, you may have Racial or Template Level Adjustments (a collection of special abilities), and it is up to the DM to determine if you lose those instead by looking up Savage Species, Savage Progression, and Template Progression.

[St Fan]

Q 242

Pretty sure it has already been asked but cannot find it.

I know multipliers to the same value in D&D goes as "X2 and X2 becomes X3". But if an effect multiplies more the just one thing?
The question here is about the spell "Rhino's Rush"

"This spell allows you to propel yourself in a single deadly charge. The first charge attack you make before the end of the round deals double damage on a successful hit."

If I charge and hit while using power attack (keep it simple, 4 penalty, 2h Greatsword, 10 Str only), I deal:

4d6 +16 {(2d6×2) + [(4×2)×2]}
or
4d6 +12 [(2d6×2) + (4×3)]

I am inclined to think the first option, since Rhino's Rush is a different kind of multiplier, but i want to be sure

A 242
Yes, first option. In this specific case, the multipliers don't apply to the same things. Power Attack with a two-handed weapon only double its bonus. Rhino's rush double the whole damage output, bonus included.

If said attack happened to also be a critical hit (with a ×2 multiplier), on the other hand, the whole multiplier would be ×3.

[Bobur]

Q243

Bag of tricks - grey
Can a rogue throw an animal to flank an opponent? I don't know if there is some restriction for flanking in that regard. Is a cat or a single rat enough of a thread?

[Troacctid]

Q243

Bag of tricks - grey
Can a rogue throw an animal to flank an opponent? I don't know if there is some restriction for flanking in that regard. Is a cat or a single rat enough of a thread?

Whether you are enough of a threat to flank is determined by your threatened area. You must threaten an opponent in order to flank them. If you have a reach of 0 feet, as most of the animals you can summon with a grey bag of tricks do, you cannot flank.

[St Fan]

Q 244

Is there anything in the rules about mixing a magic potion with food or drink?
In other words, will it work or not?

[H_H_F_F]

Q 245

Can variant classes take substitution levels?

[Troacctid]

Q 244

Is there anything in the rules about mixing a magic potion with food or drink?
In other words, will it work or not?

The potion has to be swallowed all at once to have its effect. Mixing it with other food or drink would doubtless jeopardize your ability to do so even if it had no disruptive effect on the magic.

If you have both Brew Potion and Craft Wondrous Item, you could be better served creating potions in the form of whatever food or drink you prefer, as per CAr's expanded crafting rules.

Q 245

Can variant classes take substitution levels?

Depends on the class. DM discretion.

[Elves]

A 245
Yes.

"When you take a substitution level for your class at a given level, you give up the benefits gained at that level for the standard class, and you get the substitution level benefits instead.” ROS 145

"Standard" is not referring to the 'standard' class as opposed to a variant class (which aren't mentioned here) but to the standard class level as opposed to the substitution level.

[Bobur]

Q246

Circlet of persuasion: +3 ond all CHA checks
Obviously useful for skills.

But how does that improve something like turn undead?
Do you also get +3 on your turn/day and turn dmg or only the turn check itself? The latter is the only one that specifically uses the word charisma check, the other only +your CHA.

[Khedrac]

A246 Just the Turn check itself - the turn damage roll is not a Charisma Check (for one thing it does not use a D20).

[Jthw]

Q 247

Battlemagic Perception (Heroes of Battle, pg125) has a line in it that is making my group disagree. "This determination happens quickly enough that you can attempt to counter the spell as a free action." Part1: Does this allow someone to counterspell without readying an action?
Part2: If you do still need to ready an action, how would this actually function in the game?

[ShurikVch]

Q 248

Inspired by the how are fighters supposed to contribute against swarms? thread: if physical attack targets area rather than creatures(/objects) - can it hit smaller swarms?
Examples:
Area Attack feat (Savage Species)
Automatic gunfire (d20 Modern rules)
Blunderbuss (Dragon #321): 20' cone
Lightning Throw maneuver (Tome of Battle)
Siege engines: catapult, mangonel, and trebuchet are targeting squares rather than creatures
Cannons (Dragon #321): shot of Field Gun and Organ Gun are 500'x5' and 300'x10' lines

[loky1109]

Q 248
Examples:

Ice Storm spell.

[Jon_Dahl]

Q 249

Medusa:
It uses normal weapons to attack those who avert their eyes or survive its gaze, while its poisonous snakes strike at adjacent opponents.

So when the snakes attack, they attack simultaneously all opponents within 5 ft. with the same attack roll? This can mean something like 8 attacks with snakes, or 9 or 10 more, if there are flying opponents or opponents in the same square.

[ChudoJogurt]

Q 250

Ability Enhancer feat reads: Any transmutation spell you cast that enhances ability scores increases the ability scores by +2 more than it normally does.
Would that include spells cast via spell trigger/spell completion items?

[Khedrac]

A 250 No, because it is not you casting the spell.

[loky1109]

Q 249

Medusa:
It uses normal weapons to attack those who avert their eyes or survive its gaze, while its poisonous snakes strike at adjacent opponents.

So when the snakes attack, they attack simultaneously all opponents within 5 ft. with the same attack roll? This can mean something like 8 attacks with snakes, or 9 or 10 more, if there are flying opponents or opponents in the same square.

A249. I think No. There are not Special Attacks or numbers in Full Attack, only fluff.

[St Fan]

Q 251

Considering that it has a diameter of 1 foot/caster level, does a resilient sphere (or its damaging version, the crushing sphere), contains more than one creature (the actual target) if they fit in the sphere?

Specifically, an ally of a wizard initiates a grapple against a foe. The wizard then cast resilient sphere on the ally, who voluntarily fails the reflex saving throw while maintaining the grapple. Are both subjects now imprisoned if they fit in the sphere? (The final move of the maneuver being for the ally to teleport away and leave the foe behind.)

[Lin]

Q252

When a templated creature is reincarnated (as the spell), does it lose its template(s)?

[Maat Mons]

Q253

Is there anything in particular preventing you from Planar Binding a creature that's already the subject of a Planar Binding?

[ChudoJogurt]

Q 254
Can you apply Weapon Augmentation infusions to weapons produced by spells, such as Flame Dagger?

[Jthw]

Q255
Would the +13 Insight Bonus to special attacks from Paragon Creature apply to the DCs of special attacks? For random example a Nightmare's smoke special attack. Would the insight bonus increase the dc from 16 to 29? (Ignoring the increase in ability scores for this example for simplicity.)

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 247 The spell explicitly states that you can attempt to counterspell as a free action (I believe it would be an immediate action if it was printed nowadays). The "counterspell attempt" does not include preparing an action, only casting the same spell as the one being casted (or one of the same school, if you have improved counterspell) or casting Dispel Magic and rolling a caster level check.

A 248 "A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells." Some weapons are explicitly called out. Yes, attacks that target an area affect swarms normally (more than normally, in fact, since they take +50%), even if they come from weapons.

Q 251

Considering that it has a diameter of 1 foot/caster level, does a resilient sphere (or its damaging version, the crushing sphere), contains more than one creature (the actual target) if they fit in the sphere?

Specifically, an ally of a wizard initiates a grapple against a foe. The wizard then cast resilient sphere on the ally, who voluntarily fails the reflex saving throw while maintaining the grapple. Are both subjects now imprisoned if they fit in the sphere? (The final move of the maneuver being for the ally to teleport away and leave the foe behind.)

A 251: "A globe of shimmering force encloses a creature, provided the creature is small enough to fit within the diameter of the sphere." According to the terms here, the spell can only enclose one creature, at least initially. Which would imply that the grapple attempt is broken and the ally can teleport away.

The alternative would lead to much more problematic outcomes, like sending a spider near an enemy, then using Resilient sphere around the spider to imprison the enemy with it.

A 253: Planar Binding states "lure a creature from another plane", which means you cannot Planar Bind a creature that has already been called to your plane. However, nothing theoretically prevents you (as long as you know their name) from Planar Binding a creature that was already Planar Binding'd by someone on another plane.

A 254: Flame Dagger is not a weapon, but a "beam that you wield like a dagger". Hence you cannot apply infusions on it. However, other spells explicitly state they create a weapon or another (Spiritual weapon, Spectral weapon...). There is no reason you couldn't apply Weapon Augmentation infusions to those (even though it would be weird fluff-wise to apply infusion on 20% of a weapon in the case of Spectral Weapon). It would be kind of a waste, since they disappear so quickly, but you can.

A 255: Increases to DCs do not have type, and they all stack with each other. The fact that the Paragon bonus is described as insight implies that it cannot be used for increasing DC.

[Khedrac]

A 255 Additional Although the +13 insiight bonus to attack (roll)s does not apply to DCs, ability DCs should state which characteristics modifier applies and the template's increase to that stat will apply. In the case of the nightmare'a Smoke ability this is Con so the DC goes up by 7 for the increase iin Con.

[St Fan]

A 251: "A globe of shimmering force encloses a creature, provided the creature is small enough to fit within the diameter of the sphere." According to the terms here, the spell can only enclose one creature, at least initially. Which would imply that the grapple attempt is broken and the ally can teleport away.

The alternative would lead to much more problematic outcomes, like sending a spider near an enemy, then using Resilient sphere around the spider to imprison the enemy with it.

You probably are right... although this interpretation somehow implies that creatures beyond the target are going to be pushed away by the sphere as it materializes...

So, Q 251 B, does that mean that if you target an ally caught inside a swarm, the whole swarm will be pushed away by the resilient sphere?

And, Q 251 C, does that mean it is impossible to capture a swarm within a resilient sphere or crushing sphere, since it targets only one creature?

[Lin]

So, Q 251 B, does that mean that if you target an ally caught inside a swarm, the whole swarm will be pushed away by the resilient sphere?

And, Q 251 C, does that mean it is impossible to capture a swarm within a resilient sphere or crushing sphere, since it targets only one creature?

Per the SRD,

For game purposes a swarm is defined as a single creature with a space of 10 feet […]

so a swarm is just a special kind of large creature, as far as RAW is concerned.

Therefore,
A251 B: The spell description doesn't include pushing creatures away, so not by RAW, no. (If you go by the interpretation that the sphere does push other creatures away, then yes.)

A251 C: You could still target a swarm, but you would need a minimum caster level of 15 (by D&D rules, a 10-foot space measures 15 feet across diagonally) for the spell to actually work.