Simple RAW Thread for 3.5 #37: 3d12+1

[Vaern]

Q 145

How are psicystals created in 3.5?

In 3.0's Psionics Handbook the process of creating and losing a psicrystal is thoroughly detailed, requiring 100 gp and 24 hours to crystal. Destruction of the crystal causes the psion to lose 200 xp per level (fortitude 15 for half), and the crystal can not be replaced for 6 months.

In 3.5's Expanded Psionics Handbook, psicrystals are instead granted by a feat that simply says "This feat allows you to gain a psicrystal," and refers to details on psicrystals elsewhere. The book does not describe the method of creating psicrystals at any point, or any penalties for losing a psicrystal, or any mechanic that allows your psicrystal to be replaced if it is destroyed. All of this information is also absent from the SRD.

Should the Psionics Handbook's rules be used, since the mechanic is completely absent from Expanded Psionics which refers to Psionics Handbook as its source material? Or can a psicrystal now be created simply by activating the feat as a supernatural ability (a standard action with no cost and which carries no risk or penalties for the destruction of the crystal)?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

You wouldn't happen to be thinking of the Starstone from Pathfinder's Golarion?

The setting information states that it's essentially a dungeon at the end of which is a magical meteor which grants godhood. I think there's a module for it, but I'm not 100% sure.

Ah. I was misremembering, but not the part I thought I was. That was it. Thanks.

Q 145

How are psicystals created in 3.5?

In 3.0's Psionics Handbook the process of creating and losing a psicrystal is thoroughly detailed, requiring 100 gp and 24 hours to crystal. Destruction of the crystal causes the psion to lose 200 xp per level (fortitude 15 for half), and the crystal can not be replaced for 6 months.

In 3.5's Expanded Psionics Handbook, psicrystals are instead granted by a feat that simply says "This feat allows you to gain a psicrystal," and refers to details on psicrystals elsewhere. The book does not describe the method of creating psicrystals at any point, or any penalties for losing a psicrystal, or any mechanic that allows your psicrystal to be replaced if it is destroyed. All of this information is also absent from the SRD.

Should the Psionics Handbook's rules be used, since the mechanic is completely absent from Expanded Psionics which refers to Psionics Handbook as its source material? Or can a psicrystal now be created simply by activating the feat as a supernatural ability (a standard action with no cost and which carries no risk or penalties for the destruction of the crystal)?

A145: Well, it really does depend on if access to the Psionics Handbook is maintained, despite virtually all the rules being obsolete. If the DM insists that the rules in the PsiHB are retained unless equivalent rules override them (except 3.0 psionic combat modes; never use 3.0 psionic combat modes!), then use the process as described in the PsiHB. If not, then [Psionic] feats are [Su] abilities, which (as you said) require a standard action to perform unless otherwise stated. And since you still have the Psicrystal Affinity feat if your psicrystal dies, you retain your ability to acquire a psicrystal, which is a standard action, since it's not stated outside of the PsiHB.

[EndlessKng]

Q146

Renegade Mastermaker grants the ability to use the battlefist to make a natural slam attack, and can be treated as a natural OR crafted weapon for spells and infusions. Setting discrepancies aside, does this mean that it would count as a natural weapon for the purposes of meeting the requirements and abilities of Thayan Gladiator?

[H_H_F_F]

A 146

I thought so. Still do.

[St Fan]

Q 147

A character can use a short-range teleportation trick as a standard action (Shadow Jaunt maneuver, Blink Shirt soulmeld, dimension door spell, etc.)

He or she ready an action with this power, with the condition "right before an opponent attack me in melee", to teleport away.

A) Does the opponent waste its attack action in these conditions, the target of the attack no longer being there? Or can it redirect the attack somewhere else?

B) If the teleporter does so right in the back of the opponent, can the later turn around and make more attacks (with a full-round action)? Did it waste at least one attack?

C) What if the opponent is doing a charge, and the teleporter is no longer in the straight line of said charge? Is the charge attack wasted?

[Jervis]

A 147
A: yes
B: yes
C: yes
It’s the same deal as Abrupt Jaunt basically

[MaxiDuRaritry]

A 147
A: yes
B: yes
C: yes
It’s the same deal as Abrupt Jaunt basically

A147: Actually, this might not be as clear-cut as you might think. Readied actions take place immediately before the action that triggered them, so readying an action to teleport "right before an opponent attacks me in melee" means that the teleport takes place before the attempt, meaning they haven't started yet, so they should be able to attack another target within reach. If the readied action were for "when an opponent is about to hit me in melee," that would mean the attack is wasted, since the attempt is already being made, and it would have hit if the teleportation ability hadn't kicked in.

Small but important distinction, I think.

So with that specific example in Q147, the opponent could attack something else in reach.

For B, attacks are each made individually, so whether you teleport, dodge, sidestep, go invisible, die, or whatever, the opponent can make each individual attack against anything it can reach, changing its target on the fly as the attacks occur.

For C, unless the opponent has some ability to change directions during a charge, anything that interrupts the charge means that either the charge is wasted aside from the movement, or (given the answer to B), the opponent can keep charging in a straight line and attack another thing at the end of its movement, even if it's farther away than the original target.

[Jervis]

-snip-

Ah I misread b. For some reason I interpreted it as something else when I read it

[ciopo]

Q 148

Can a cloistered cleric trade his "bonus" knowledge domain for knowledge devotion?

[H_H_F_F]

A 148

RAW, yes. Nothing says otherwise, which is why it's quite a common trick (here,at least).

[St Fan]

Q 148

Can a cloistered cleric trade his "bonus" knowledge domain for knowledge devotion?

A 148

RAW, yes. Nothing says otherwise, which is why it's quite a common trick (here,at least).

Note though, since Knowledge Devotion has for prerequisite 5 ranks in a knowledge skill, it cannot be done before level 2.

However, it's even worse than that: not only a cloistered cleric can switch the Knowledge domain for Knowledge Devotion, but from level 3 onward, he can also cast substitute domain to exchange another domain back to the Knowledge domain for a few days... for example while gaining a new level and needing any knowledge skill as a class skill.

[ciopo]

Q149

Are incorporeal creatures damaged by a wall of thorns if they try to cross one?

Are incorporeal creatures slowed down by a solid fog?

Generally speaking, Are there special interaction rules between the incorporeal subtype and conjuration(creation) nonforce spells? Or is it the default "50% chance of being affected"?

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 149 The 50% chance only applies to damage. The incorporeal creature can go through solid fog no problem, and can go through wall of thorns but has a 50% chance to take 25-AC damage.

Nondamaging effects affect incorporeal creatures normally unless such effects require corporeal targets to function (such as implosion) or they create a corporeal effect that incorporeal creatures are normally unaffected by (such as web or wall of stone).

[Duke of Urrel]

Q 130

An attended object receives a saving throw with the same bonus as its owner when targeted by a spell.

Conscious characters have the possibility to automatically fail a saving throw if they desire so.

A) Can a character decide to wave the saving throw of an item in his or her possession when it is targeted by a spell?

B) Would a magic item still roll its saving throw as if unattended in this case?

Pardon the long delay! These questions interested me, but I was busy and I wanted to get the answers right.

A 130 (A): Yes.

This assumes that the attended item is nonmagical, of course. Nonmagical objects never make their own saving throws; they only share the saving throws of creatures that attend them. So if the creature that attends a nonmagical object gives up its saving throw, the object cannot make one of its own.


A 130 (B): Yes.

If an attended magic item is affected by any spell or special attack that affects only objects (or only a single object), then the item either shares the saving throw of the attending creature or makes its own saving throw, whichever is more likely to succeed. Thus saith the SRD: "An attended magic item either makes saving throws as its owner or uses its own saving throw bonus, whichever is better."

From this it follows that:

• If the creature voluntarily gives up its saving throw, the attended magic item may still make its own saving throw, because this is the one more likely to succeed.
  
  
• Likewise, if the magic item voluntarily gives up its saving throw (which it can do only if it is an intelligent item), the attending creature may still make its own saving throw, because this is the one more likely to succeed.

If an attended magic item is affected by any spell or special attack that damages both creatures and objects (because the spell's description doesn't specify otherwise), then the item takes damage only if two conditions are met. (Refer to the section "Items Surviving after a Saving Throw" and the "Table: Items Affected by Magical Attacks" in this part of the SRD.)

• Firstly, the attending creature must make a saving throw that scores a natural one. (Even if the creature voluntarily gives up its saving throw, I assume that a d20 must still be rolled to determine whether some attended object is affected.)
  
  
• Secondly, the magic item must be one of the four most exposed of all items attended by the creature, chosen at random.
  
  
• If both of these conditions are met and the magic item is affected, it always makes its own saving throw, unless it happens to be an intelligent item and voluntarily gives up its own saving throw, in which case ... it doesn't.

[ciopo]

Q150

Can a tattooed monk pick the same tattoo more than once? Nothing I see seems to indicated otherwise

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 150 Nothing prevents it. Note however that bonuses from the same source don't stack, so even if the bonus is untyped, like the White Mask tattoo, activating two White Mask tattooes at the same time will not give you +20 to Bluff.

[pabelfly]

Q151 The Crossbow Sniper feat adds 1/2 Dexterity bonus to damage rolls for crossbows. The Dead Eye feat adds Dexterity bonus to damage rolls for ranged weapons as long as I'm within 30ft. Can I stack both of these to get 1.5x Dexterity to damage when my character is within 30ft with a crossbow?

[H_H_F_F]

A 151

Yes.

[pabelfly]

A 151

Yes.

Thank you for the quick response, much appreciated.

[Khedrac]

A 151 Contention: No Although the damage is being added by seperate feats the source is the Dexterity stat modifier and thus unless seperate types are specified they cannot stack.

WHat I am really saying here is that this is open to debate because the rules are not clear and expect GM variation.
One eample of an ambiguity is that at one point the rules state that "ability bonus" is a type which would mean that you cannot stack wisdom and dex modifiers to armor class if a monk which is clearly contrary to the way the monk class is written.
[No I cannot remember where that is right now - I went looking for it and failed to find it.]

[Troacctid]

A 151 Contention: No Although the damage is being added by seperate feats the source is the Dexterity stat modifier and thus unless seperate types are specified they cannot stack.

WHat I am really saying here is that this is open to debate because the rules are not clear and expect GM variation.
One eample of an ambiguity is that at one point the rules state that "ability bonus" is a type which would mean that you cannot stack wisdom and dex modifiers to armor class if a monk which is clearly contrary to the way the monk class is written.
[No I cannot remember where that is right now - I went looking for it and failed to find it.]

The rules are clear in this matter. Here is the relevant citation from the SRD. (I'd get the RC version, but I don't have it handy; it says the same thing though.)

In most cases, modifiers to a given check or roll stack (combine for a cumulative effect) if they come from different sources and have different types (or no type at all), but do not stack if they have the same type or come from the same source (such as the same spell cast twice in succession). If the modifiers to a particular roll do not stack, only the best bonus and worst penalty applies. Dodge bonuses and circumstance bonuses however, do stack with one another unless otherwise specified.

As the bonus from Crossbow Expert is untyped, it stacks with everything except itself.

[St Fan]

Q 152

I'd like a reminder about the general rule for effects granting immunity.

Unless specifically noted, a spell that grant immunity to a particular effect does not dispel or suppress said effect if it was already affecting the subject, right?

For example, if a character is already under a mind-affecting spell, casting mind blank will not suppress or dispel said effect, only protect from spells targeting the subject after the casting of mind blank, correct?

You'd need a different spell (such as break enchantment to dispel, or disobedience to suppress) for such a case.

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 152
Indeed.

[ciopo]

Q153

Spell Compendium has a list of additional domain, how do I go about sourcing what domain has been added to what deity?

specifically for my table needs, I would like to know the source of Corellon Larethian having the celerity, community, elf, magic, pride, liberation domains on top of the four defined in the PHB : Chaos, Good, Protection, War

[Troacctid]

Q153

Spell Compendium has a list of additional domain, how do I go about sourcing what domain has been added to what deity?

specifically for my table needs, I would like to know the source of Corellon Larethian having the celerity, community, elf, magic, pride, liberation domains on top of the four defined in the PHB : Chaos, Good, Protection, War

Try looking for the original source of the domain. Every domain in Spell Compendium is a reprint from somewhere else.

[Animidest]

Some related questions about interrupting actions and 5-foot stepping:

Q154
A) What kind of "condition" must be specified for a readied action? The SRD seems to imply it must be an action, as it refers to the trigger as an action a couple of times, but only explicitly states that you take the readied action when the "condition" is met. For example, can you ready an action against "taking damage", and then have your triggered action negate the damage by going before the action that caused damage and negating/invalidating it? Seems fishy to me, but also seems to conform to the RAW.

B) Is 5-foot stepping an "action"? It's listed under "Miscellaneous actions" but also appears on a table under "No action".

C) If you need an action as a trigger and 5-foot step isn't one, then you can't ready against it, right?

D) When you "take a 5-foot step as part of a readied action", do you have to specify which direction it is when you ready the action, or do you decide when it's triggered?


Not directly related to the previous questions, but on a similar topic:

Q155
A) When can you take an immediate action? Must it be between actions (from anyone), or can it be during another action--such as, after you see the results of a saving throw against a spell but before damage is dealt? Or, more reasonably, halfway through someone's move action?

B) No sane DM would allow this, but does RAW allow for a 5-foot step to be taken during an immediate action when it's not your turn?


Sorry if this is too many questions. These rules are pretty confusing and I'm supposed to be the one in my group that knows the rules.

[Khedrac]

A153 additional It varies from deity to deity. In most cases where a domain is first printed they also assign it to a number of deities, but they are usually a mixture of the standard (Greyhawk) deities and new ones first included in that book, hence the advice given above. However for the Greyhawk panthoeon, most people consult the old Living Greyhawl Campaign, specifically version 2.0 of the Deities listing (I think there may also be v2.1 out there but I cannot find it) as it contains a much wider listing of deities and applies the new domains to far more of them.

I would like to know the source of Corellon Larethian having the celerity, community, elf, magic, pride, liberation domains on top of the four defined in the PHB : Chaos, Good, Protection, War

Oddly enough I am not sure where he get's Elf from, the LG deities list gives him: Celerity, Chaos, COmmnity, Good, Liberaton, Magic, Protection and War

[Duke of Urrel]

Some related questions about interrupting actions and 5-foot stepping:

Q154
A) What kind of "condition" must be specified for a readied action? The SRD seems to imply it must be an action, as it refers to the trigger as an action a couple of times, but only explicitly states that you take the readied action when the "condition" is met. For example, can you ready an action against "taking damage", and then have your triggered action negate the damage by going before the action that caused damage and negating/invalidating it? Seems fishy to me, but also seems to conform to the RAW.

B) Is 5-foot stepping an "action"? It's listed under "Miscellaneous actions" but also appears on a table under "No action".

C) If you need an action as a trigger and 5-foot step isn't one, then you can't ready against it, right?

D) When you "take a 5-foot step as part of a readied action", do you have to specify which direction it is when you ready the action, or do you decide when it's triggered?


Not directly related to the previous questions, but on a similar topic:

Q155
A) When can you take an immediate action? Must it be between actions (from anyone), or can it be during another action--such as, after you see the results of a saving throw against a spell but before damage is dealt? Or, more reasonably, halfway through someone's move action?

B) No sane DM would allow this, but does RAW allow for a 5-foot step to be taken during an immediate action when it's not your turn?


Sorry if this is too many questions. These rules are pretty confusing and I'm supposed to be the one in my group that knows the rules.

A 154 (A): Ask your dungeon master.

The rules state only that you must "specify … the action you will take and the conditions under which you will take it." The rules don't say that these "conditions" have to include some action taken by some other creature.

You and your dungeon master must agree on the conditions that trigger your readied action, but otherwise, they can be any conditions at all that your character is able to notice and react to.


A 154 (B): Refer to (A).
A 154 (C): Refer to (A).

If your character is able to notice some other creature taking a five-foot step (and your dungeon master agrees that your character can do this), then your character can react to it with a readied action.


A 154 (D): Ask your dungeon master.

I would argue that you can take a five-foot step in any direction as part of a readied action, because there's nothing in the rules that says readying a five-foot step forces you to choose a direction in advance.

I would also argue that readying a five-foot step is not the great idea it may seem to be. According to the rules, "You do not have to select your target until you finish casting the spell." I believe this rule can be applied generally to ranged attacks. So if you ready a five-foot step to get out of the way of an enemy's ranged attack, your enemy can adjust their aim and still hit you. Your readied five-foot step (or your readied standard move) works against a ranged attack (or a spell) only if you can get 100% cover by moving. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander."

But this is something to ask your dungeon master about. Or, if you're the dungeon master, it's something to find agreement with your players about.


A 155 (A): Ask your dungeon master.

As I understand it, an immediate action sometimes works like a readied action that you don't have to ready. The rules for readied actions are as follows.

To do so [i.e. to ready an action], specify the action you will take and the conditions under which you will take it. Then, any time before your next action, you may take the readied action in response to that condition. The action occurs just before the action that triggers it. If the triggered action is part of another character’s activities, you interrupt the other character. Assuming he is still capable of doing so, he continues his actions once you complete your readied action.

If you choose, you can take an immediate action between the actions and turns of other creatures. Or if you choose, you can interrupt another creature's action. It makes sense that you can do this, because an immediate action "consumes a very small amount of time," just as a free action does. The only limitation is that you can take only one swift or immediate action per round.

However, what makes sense to me may not make sense to your dungeon master -- or to you, if you're the dungeon master. So this is the kind of thing that players and dungeon masters must find agreement on.


A 155 (B): Nope.

As you correctly observe, a five-foot step is a "miscellaneous action" that can only be taken under certain conditions. One condition that is generally a normal condition for all actions is that you can't take an action outside your turn. You can take an action outside your turn only if there's a special rule that allows you to do it.

This general rule applies to five-foot steps, too. There's a special rule that allows you to take a five-foot step as part of a readied action. But there is no special rule that gives you permission to take a five-foot step as part of an immediate action.

[Arkhios]

Q156: How many times in a turn can a Monk make Grapple attempts? Are they limited to a number of grapple attempts equal to attacks granted by their actual base attack bonus, or is Grapple attempts likewise affected by Flurry of Blows, granting extra attempts at same modifiers?

Q157: Can you make a Grapple attempt as an Attack of Opportunity?

[loky1109]

Q156: How many times in a turn can a Monk make Grapple attempts? Are they limited to a number of grapple attempts equal to attacks granted by their actual base attack bonus, or is Grapple attempts likewise affected by Flurry of Blows, granting extra attempts at same modifiers?

Q157: Can you make a Grapple attempt as an Attack of Opportunity?

156. Grapple attempt is attack. As many attacks as many attempts. FoB, TWF, Haste, anything.
156. Yes.