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

[Venger]

281 clarification If you are referring to savage grapple, which means that you can add precision damage to damage dealt in a grapple while you are wild shaped, you are correct. It makes dealing damage in a grapple on its own (without fulfilling normal conditions of precision damage otherwise) an eligible vector for precision damage. Normally, someone who is grappled is denied their dex to AC against other enemies but not the person who is grappling them so doesn't apply precision damage.

I had read "assuming the target is eligible for receiving precision damage" to mean that the conditions for precision damage is otherwise met (the grappler has moved 10 feet for skirmish, has a flanking buddy for sneak attack, etc), not asking whether precision damage is added when the conditions aren't met.

ciopo, did you just mean someone who isn't immune to precision damage, or someone who's also flanked or something?

[loky1109]

281 clarification
Automatic damage isn't attack, so precision damage shouldn't work, because it adds to attack's damage. Condition doesn't matter.

[Venger]

I don't think that's right. If that were the case, savage grapple shouldn't work. Before you say it's specific trumping general, grappling rules have this to say:

Make an opposed grapple check in place of an attack.

It's referring to doing this instead of making a normal attack roll. This is still a thing you do to determine success before rolling your damage, you're actively taking offensive action against an enemy to damage them. Re: automatic damage, you're probably right about things that deal damage automatically without any rolls aside from damage like fire shield.

[remetagross]

Q282 During a charge action for a mounted character, who exactly is spending a full-round action? Is it the mount, the rider, or both?

[ciopo]

A282

Assuming you don't have feat/features that interferes with this, I believe it's like that :
1) free action ride check to control your mount
2) your mount makes the full round special action charge
3) your standard action melee attack gets the benefit of that charge, as delineated in the mounted combat section of special attacks

(a mounted combat limitation is "If your mount moves more than 5 feet, you can only make a single melee attack" , cavalier and kishi charger class feature circumvents that)

[KillianHawkeye]

Q 283

Can you even flank an opponent you are grappling? Both characters share the same space, don't they?

[ciopo]

A283

Generally no, a grappling character don't threaten, so he can't flank. There are exception, such as taking the -20 on the grapple check with improved grab to not be considered grappled yourself, that solve the threaten issue, as for the "imaginary line crossing two opposite border or corners", dmg says "If a creature occupies part of an opponent’s space, it provides flanking to all allied creatures outside the opponent’s space", page 29, header "mixing it up"

[Troacctid]

Q 280 Does any clarification exist re: cancer mage as to what is considered a "symptom?"

No.

Q281

assuming the target is eligible for receiving precision damage, does the automatic damage dealt during successful grapples (such as from snatch feat, or constrict, or other similar abilities) trigger precision damage?

No.

Q282 During a charge action for a mounted character, who exactly is spending a full-round action? Is it the mount, the rider, or both?

The mount.

[St Fan]

Q 284

How does Bloodline Levels interact with level drain/level loss?

For example, what if an 11th-level character has just gained a bloodline level (instead of rising to 12th level) lose a level? Is it the freshly gained bloodline level which is lost, or is he now a 10th-level character?

[Jervis]

A 284
Raw a bloodline level isn’t a level, it’s just you spending XP to get a thing. You go down to level 10 and still have the BL.

Q 285
How does spell research work with casters who have access to their full list like Beguilers? Prepared casters just get the new spell and casters with spells known have to replace one. But how does that work with the full list boys? Do you replace a spell from your list with what you just researched? Or is it just a way to add spells to your list?

[ciopo]

Q286
As established in Complete Arcane, spells that require an attack roll and deal damage are "weapon-like", with the example given being weapon focus(ray)

by extrapolation, assuming enough fighter levels ot qualify, is weapon specialization(ray) a legal choice?

Q287
How would, if legal, weapon specialization(ray) itneract with multiple rays in a single standard action ( scorching ray) and the volley rule? is "a bonus to rolled damage" different enough from "extra dice"? what about hit-and-run ACF, are weaponlike "weapon" enough?

[Khedrac]

A286 Yes
A287 The same as it does with a manyshot volley - the damage would be added to each bolt from the scorching ray.
Yes, hit-and-run tactics would work with this.

Note: the damge is the same type as for the basic attack - i.e. fire with scorching ray; however the rules do not specify but I would use the same ruling for spells that do other types of damage as for sneak attack - even if the base damage is not hit point damage, the bonus damage is.

[Troacctid]

Q 285
How does spell research work with casters who have access to their full list like Beguilers? Prepared casters just get the new spell and casters with spells known have to replace one. But how does that work with the full list boys? Do you replace a spell from your list with what you just researched? Or is it just a way to add spells to your list?

Spell research does not allow a spontaneous caster to learn additional spells, so the new spell would have to occupy one of your advanced learning slots, as that is the only avenue you have for gaining new spells known of your choice. However, as this interaction is only implied by the rules rather than spelled out, there is leeway for the DM to rule otherwise if she so chooses.

Q286
As established in Complete Arcane, spells that require an attack roll and deal damage are "weapon-like", with the example given being weapon focus(ray)

by extrapolation, assuming enough fighter levels ot qualify, is weapon specialization(ray) a legal choice?

Yes, but most mages will probably prefer to take Ranged Spell Specialization.

Q287
How would, if legal, weapon specialization(ray) itneract with multiple rays in a single standard action ( scorching ray) and the volley rule? is "a bonus to rolled damage" different enough from "extra dice"? what about hit-and-run ACF, are weaponlike "weapon" enough?

You only add the damage to the first ray (or the first ray each round, for a spell such as lantern light), regardless of whether it hits or misses. This applies to all damage bonuses, whether they are expressed as dice or as a flat value, unless the text of the spell says otherwise. The casting time of the spell is irrelevant.

[St Fan]

A 284
Raw a bloodline level isn’t a level, it’s just you spending XP to get a thing. You go down to level 10 and still have the BL.

Yeah, that's how I interpreted it too. It essentially make bloodline levels follow the same mechanics as Level-Adjustment buyoff, which simplify things.


Q 288

The Sun School tactical feat includes the Flash of Sunset maneuver, which allow making a single attack after an instant displacement.

The Shadow Stride and Shadow Blink martial maneuvers allow one to teleport up to 50' as a move action or swift action, respectively. Unlike with a dimension door spell, there is no disorientation afterward.

A) The attack from Flash of Sunset is part of the teleport action, hence a move action with Shadow Stride or a swift action with Shadow Blink. So, a character using these techniques can still act normally and make more attacks afterward, right? (A standard action with Shadow Stride, or a full-round action with Shadow Blink...)

B) If this follow-up attack include the use of some feat/technique that reduce the to-hit rolls (Combat Expertise, Power Attack, Snap Kick [for a standard action] or Flurry of Blows, Two-Weapon Fighting, Flashing Sun [for a full-round action], does this penalty applies to the bonus attack from Flash of Sunset, or the fact it happens before the next attack action is decided makes it exempt?

[ciopo]

Q289

Can the rogue special ability "bonus feat" be taken more than once? My gut feeling is that the answer is no

[Venger]

A 289 Of course you can. There is no text saying otherwise.

[Vaern]

Q 290
The description of familiar abilities says that "abilities given on the table are cumulative."
The description of the natural armor bonus says that it is an improvement to the familiar's existing natural armor.
A familiar gains +1 to natural armor at level 1 giving it a total of +1 AC.
At 3rd level, the familiar is listed as having +2 to natural armor.

Would it be technically correct to say that, at 3rd level, the familiar cumulatively gains a +2 improvement to its existing natural armor bonus of +1 for a total of +3? (Or, for a total of +55 at levels 19-20?)

[Venger]

A 290 No. It's talking about the abilities on the table under the "special" column (deliver touch spells, speak with master, etc). The natural armor bonus supersedes the previous one. A level 19-20 familiar doesn't have a +55 NA bonus.

[St Fan]

Q 291

A character, before having any level of martial adept, takes the Martial Study feat and select the second-level Tiger Claw technique "Claw at the Moon" (a maneuver that doesn't have a prerequisite).

Then he gains his first level of Swordsage and picks among his maneuvers "Sudden Leap" and "Soaring Raptor Strike", both maneuvers with "One Tiger Claw maneuver" as prerequisites (which he fulfills thanks to the aforementioned Martial Study feat).

Can he then use retraining on the Martial Study feat and still qualify for the two remaining maneuvers, since each of them can count as the prerequisite for the other one?

[Venger]

A 291 Yes, this is explicitly allowed. You can do this when forgetting an old maneuver and swapping it out for a new one so it also applies in this situation.

[St Fan]

A 291 Yes, this is explicitly allowed. You can do this when forgetting an old maneuver and swapping it out for a new one so it also applies in this situation.

That's what I thought, thanks. I guess it could even work by picking Martial Study with the Chameleon floating bonus feat.

Q 292

Still on Martial Adept maneuvers: the rules specify that a stance count as a maneuver for the prerequisites requirement when picking a maneuver.
It doesn't say anything about prerequisites outside of the 9 disciplines' maneuvers, though.

So, would a stance count as a maneuver too for feat prerequisites? For example, the Shadow Blade feat has "One Shadow Hand stance" as prerequisite. The Gloom Razor feat, in turn has Shadow Blade as prerequisite, as well as "two Shadow Hand maneuvers". That means you already have a Shadow Hand stance to qualify for Shadow Blade, so would you qualify for Gloom Razor with just one more Shadow Hand maneuver, or do you need two separately from the stance?

[Venger]

A 292 Yes, stances count as maneuvers for meeting feat prereqs.

[Condé]

Q 293

How does the spell Astral Projection works? More precisely, when you use the spell, your astral self is on the Astral Plane, right? Can this projected body go to the material plane or even interact with it or do you have to find a way to go back to the material plane?

[King of Nowhere]

Q294: dragon D casts antimagic field and takes a move action to move adjacent to wizard W. Dragon D doesn't have additonal actions to attack, but he wants to engulf wizard W in antimagic to disable him.
Wizard W has abrupt jaunt, and uses it in answer as D moves close, popping just outside of the antimagic radius.
The question is: can D at this point keep moving (provided he still has movement left) to still reach W?

my assumption is yes, because when W jaunts away, D is still moving, he's still not ended his round, and therefore can still decide to change his remaining move action to something that happened as immediate action. but there can be an opposite argument that D made an action to move to a certain position, and therefore he does that and end the turn

[Duke of Urrel]

Q 293

How does the spell Astral Projection works? More precisely, when you use the spell, your astral self is on the Astral Plane, right? Can this projected body go to the material plane or even interact with it or do you have to find a way to go back to the material plane?

A 293: You CAN travel in your astrally projected body back to the Material Plane, if you wish.

When you cast the Astral Projection spell upon yourself (plus one additional willing creature for every two caster levels you have):

You project your astral self onto the Astral Plane, leaving your physical body behind on the Material Plane in a state of suspended animation. The spell projects an astral copy of you and all you wear or carry onto the Astral Plane.

The Astral Plane is infinitely vast, but with enough searching and experience as an astral traveler, you can find astral color pools and astral conduits here that lead to anywhere in the multiverse. Read about it on pages 47 to 53 of the MANUAL OF THE PLANES v. 3.5 (2001). When you step through a color pool or jump into an astral conduit, you arrive on some other plane of existence.

Since the Astral Plane touches upon other planes, you can travel astrally to any of these other planes as you will. To enter one, you leave the Astral Plane, forming a new physical body (and equipment) on the plane of existence you have chosen to enter.

If you find an astral color pool or an astral conduit on the Astral Plane that leads back to the Material Plane, you can easily travel there. When you do, you form a new physical body there that works just the same as your original body.

This is not time travel. Even if you wander in your newly formed physical body on the Material Plane back to the place where you left your original body behind in suspended animation, nothing happens. There is no space-time paradox. Your soul occupies your second material body, while your original body is soulless. When the Astral Projection spell ends, your second body disappears, your soul returns to your original body, and you wake up.

But it is up to your dungeon master to decide how you can really interact with your original body when you find it. I think it is a no-brainer to rule that you cannot astrally project yourself a second time, that is, from a body that is already a duplicate of your original body. But this is for your dungeon master to decide.

[H_H_F_F]

Q 295

Not sure if there even is solid RAW to use here, but:
How does blowing a horn (such as the Horn of the Tritons) work? Does it require a free hand? Is an undead creature or a construct capable of blowing it?

[Troacctid]

Q 295

Not sure if there even is solid RAW to use here, but:
How does blowing a horn (such as the Horn of the Tritons) work? Does it require a free hand? Is an undead creature or a construct capable of blowing it?

It's a manipulation activation, which means it requires a free hand. RC 84 has the full rules for this activation type.

[ciopo]

Q296

Do the natural attacks of a wildshaped druid bypass DR/magic, if the druid has some DR/magic from some class feature?

[Thurbane]

Q 297

Is "Swarm" damage defined anywhere as slashing, piercing or bludgeoning?

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 296 Yes, anyone with DR/Magic has their natural weapons bypassing DR/magic

A 297 No, It's untyped damage that is still affected by DR (except DR/Magic if the swarm has DR/Magic itself, like the hellwasp swarm)