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

[St Fan]

I think I'll revisit question 391 with a more specific wording:

Q 393

A) Does a spell that creates a weaponlike beam of energy (such as flame blade [Player's Handbook], flame dagger [Magic of Faerun] or moon blade [Spell Compendium]), which is explicitly immaterial (Strength modifier doesn't apply to damage) would inflict its maximum damage on every strike if Maximized?

B) Such a spell is likened to a weapon as far as proficiency and feats are concerned (a dagger for flame dagger, a scimitar for flame blade, a sword for moon blade). However, can other enhancing spells normally applied to weapons can be cast on the weaponlike beam?

[Venger]

A 393a Yes. There is no requirement in maximize pertaining to str.
A 393b So if you cast like keen edge or something on your flame blade to expand its crit range? There is no particular reason this shouldn't work.

[ksbsnowowl]

Q 394

If a ghost has Spell Resistance (a Drow ghost, for example), and has the Malevolence ghost special ability (basically magic jar, without the need of a gem), would a possessed human that is inhabited by the ghost benefit from the Spell Resistance, or would the SR only protect the ghost's natural (ethereal and manifested) form?

[Venger]

A 394 The possessed body does not gain any powers from the possessor, so the human would not benefit from the drow ghost's SR.

[ShurikVch]

Q 395

Vicious Wound feat (Savage Species):

Damage you deal causes wounds that bleed excessively.
Prerequisite: Expertise, wounding special attack.
Benefit: When using an attack that has a wounding special ability, the wounds you cause bleed for an additional +1 point of damage each round. For instance, a hit from a barbazu's glaive causes the victim to bleed for 3 points of damage each round, not 2.

Would it work with Wounding Attack feat as prerequisite?

[Vaern]

A 393b So if you cast like keen edge or something on your flame blade to expand its crit range? There is no particular reason this shouldn't work.

Keen edge in particular wouldn't work, since it requires a piercing or slashing damage. I don't see why you couldn't use something less specific like magic weapon or weapon of energy on a flame blade, though.

[Khedrac]

A 395 No, though this is really DM's call. Although a similar name, that is not a "wounding" attack in this sense, Savage Species being 3.0 content requires a some updates for use with 3.5. Notably a barbazu's glaive is now a "Infernal Wound" not a "wounding" special attack. The ability clearly is written for attacks that do ongoing bleeding damage (not Con damage) and thus should only be applied to such (bleeding) attacks. If you can find an attack that causes Con damage each round then it should apply, but like sneak attack he extra damage may be ruled to be hit point not ability damage.

[redfdf]

Q 396

Bonus HD
Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Extra Hit Dice improve the mount’s base attack and base save bonuses. A special mount’s base attack bonus is equal to that of a cleric of a level equal to the mount’s HD. A mount has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the animal’s HD). The mount gains additional skill points or feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice.

Spells
A dragon knows and casts arcane spells as a sorcerer of the level indicated in its variety description, gaining bonus spells for a high Charisma score. Some dragons can also cast spells from the cleric list or cleric domain lists as arcane spells.

A) If my companion/familiar gains extra HD, will the caster level of the spell-like ability increase?

B) If my companion can cast spells, similar to a dragon, will the caster level increase after gaining extra HD?

C) If I get a magic beast as an animal companion, is its bab as total HD, or 3/4HD? Is the extra HD D8 or D10?

[St Fan]

A 396

A) For a familiar, the answer is no. Familiars don't gain extra HD anyway, their effective HD total is equal to the character level of the master (as soon as higher than their natural HD), and their special abilities depend of the master's class levels in all classes granting familiars.

For an animal companion, that's different. If they have spell-like abilities, and some parts (like caster level or save DC) are dependent of their HD total, then a HD increase will boost them accordingly.

B) Theoretically, yes, again if the spellcasting depends of the HD total. The "similar to a dragon" part of the question, however, is misleading since a dragon's spellcasting doesn't depend of its HD but of its age category, which won't be changed by any amount of extra HD.

C) The "Bonus HD" text for animal companions clearly expects a companion of the Animal type. If the companion is a magical beast, the effects of an HD increase must naturally be adjusted to their stats. Thus a magical beast will progress with a full BAB and with 1d10 hit points for each extra HD.

A paladin't mount, now that you bring attention to it, is a special case, which is pointed out in the rules:

A paladin’s mount is treated as a magical beast, not an animal, for the purpose of all effects that depend on its type (though it retains an animal’s HD, base attack bonus, saves, skill points, and feats).

[St Fan]

Q 397

A multiclassed character which is both a Wizard and a Sorcerer doesn't get two familiars: the class levels of both classes just stack to determine the power level of the familiar.

However, the two classes are still separated concerning any alternative class feature replacing a familiar, right?

For example, such a character can still take both the "Immediate Magic" ACF on the Wizard's side, and the "Metamagic Specialist" ACF on the Sorcerer's side, replacing the familiar option for both classes, correct?

[Khedrac]

Q 397

A multiclassed character which is both a Wizard and a Sorcerer doesn't get two familiars: the class levels of both classes just stack to determine the power level of the familiar.

However, the two classes are still separated concerning any alternative class feature replacing a familiar, right?

For example, such a character can still take both the "Immediate Magic" ACF on the Wizard's side, and the "Metamagic Specialist" ACF on the Sorcerer's side, replacing the familiar option for both classes, correct?

A 397 Correct. And to clarify, if one only trades one class's familiar feature for an ACF then the classes no longer stack to determine familiar abilities as that class no longer grants a familiar.
So a Wizard 3/ Sorceror (Metamagic Specialist) 3 has a familiar as a wizard 3.

[St Fan]

Q 398

I don't think I've ever seen a straight answer to this one...

A (non-spontaneous) spellcaster prepares some of her spells with a metamagic feat.
However, this feat happens to be temporary -- it's gained thanks to the Chameleon bonus feat, or is Extend Spell through the Planning domain obtained with the substitute domain spell.

Thus the next day, the character no longer has the metamagic feat in question, but has still some spells modified by it that weren't cast.
Can those spells still be cast, their effects modified by the metamagic, without having the feat?

[ManicOppressive]

A398

Yes, you should still be able to cast it. The mechanical requirement for a prepared caster to cast a spell is to have the spell prepared--options like Spell Stealing and class feature derived metamagic application strongly imply a precedent toward this, and the fact that you literally do not even lose your prepared spells while dead despite losing a level cements it to my view. As far as I know there is nowhere written to imply a contrary precedent.

Certain features also allow you to prepare out of a spell book that isn't yours, further establishing that prepared spells don't require continued knowledge of the spell's aspect.

[St Fan]

A398

Yes, you should still be able to cast it. The mechanical requirement for a prepared caster to cast a spell is to have the spell prepared--options like Spell Stealing and class feature derived metamagic application strongly imply a precedent toward this, and the fact that you literally do not even lose your prepared spells while dead despite losing a level cements it to my view. As far as I know there is nowhere written to imply a contrary precedent.

Certain features also allow you to prepare out of a spell book that isn't yours, further establishing that prepared spells don't require continued knowledge of the spell's aspect.

Very interesting reading. I was thinking about Spell Stealing too as a precedent, although the technique used by Spellthiefs is quite unique.
This would be open to lots of abuse, naturally.

Q 399
Let's assume a Wizard with a familiar has both the Enspell Familiar feat (getting rid of distance considerations for sharing spells) and the Spell-Linked Familiar feat (making the familiar a little spellcaster).

What happen if the Wizard casts mnemonic enhancer, sharing the spell with the familiar?

A) Since one of the two versions ("retain" and "prepare") is chosen "when the spell is cast", I assume it's obligatorily the same version of the spell which affect both, right? (You cannot "retain" a spell while the familiar "prepare" and inversely...)

B) I don't have much trouble with the "retain" version: if both the familiar and the wizard had cast a spell the round preceding the start of casting of mnemonic enhancer, both can recover this spell, correct?

C) Now, the "prepare" version is trickier. Even with Spell-Linked Familiar, I have doubt that the familiar could prepare different spells on its own. Since it is still benefiting of mnemonic enhancer thanks to Share Spells, are the three levels of spell prepared for 24 hours the same at the Wizard's? But still stored separately, and thus later cast separately from the Wizard's additional spells?

D) In the later case, can the familiar be thus able to cast a 3rd-level spell through mnemonic enhancer, despite Spell-Linked Familiar limiting it to 2nd-level spells?

Q 400
While I'm at it... is a Spell-Linked Familiar limited to be granted Wizard spells? Or can a multiclassed character grant it spells from other prepared spellcasting classes (including divine ones), as long as her daily allotment of spells for each class is subtracted accordingly?

[Jay R]

Q 401 What happens when an earth elemental is targeted with a stone shape spell?

[Khedrac]

A 401 The spell fails.
Stone Shape has a target of "Stone or stone object touched, up to 10 cu. ft. + 1 cu. ft./level", and an earth elemental, being a creature does not meet the target requirements of the spell.

[Condé]

Q 402

Is there something preventing a Kensai from having multiple Signature Weapons, by RAW?

I must not be fully awake but I'm reading the kensai entry multiple time and I see no restriction or line saying that if you imbue another weapon, the old one lose its enchantment or something like that.

[Beni-Kujaku]

A 402 "The kensai chooses one of his weapons (it must be one for which he has the Weapon Focus feat) to become a signature weapon."

This is the first sentence of the "Signature Weapon (Su)" ability. It doesn't give you the ability to choose a signature weapon, like for a wizard familiar ("The wizard can call a familiar"), it just states that the Kensai chooses a single signature weapon, so that happens when the Kensai gains the ability. The only other place in the class description allowing the kensai to do it again is if they lose their signature weapon and there's nothing left of it. Then, "Should nothing remain of the weapon, the kensai must begin anew with a weapon that has never before been imbued.".

[St Fan]

Q 403

Does a wizard or sorcerer who started with a familiar but is later using the retraining rules to change "Summon Familiar" to a different alternative class feature counts as dismissing the familiar, and thus losing XP?

[Beni-Kujaku]

A403 No. The familiar itself isn't linked to the ability. The ability only allows to call it. Retraining the ability prevents you from summoning a new one‚ but doesn't dismiss the previous one.

[Condé]

Q 404 (Not found)

Is it possible to make a playable ECL 2 symbiotic creature?

(The template is LA+1. If the host is a humanoid with 1 HD, can they replace it with a class level, like any other character?)

[Chronos]

Q 405:

Can a spell-like ability that exactly mimics a spell, such as the ones a factotum gains through Arcane Dilettante, be used to meet a prerequisite for crafting a magic item? Assume that the character has the caster level, feat, and any other prerequisites from some other source, such as multiclassing.

[St Fan]

Q 405:

Can a spell-like ability that exactly mimics a spell, such as the ones a factotum gains through Arcane Dilettante, be used to meet a prerequisite for crafting a magic item? Assume that the character has the caster level, feat, and any other prerequisites from some other source, such as multiclassing.

A 405
Yes.

Prerequisites
Certain requirements must be met in order for a character to create a magic item. These include feats, spells, and miscellaneous requirements such as level, alignment, and race or kind. The prerequisites for creation of an item are given immediately following the item’s caster level.

A spell prerequisite may be provided by a character who has prepared the spell (or who knows the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard), or through the use of a spell completion or spell trigger magic item or a spell-like ability that produces the desired spell effect. For each day that passes in the creation process, the creator must expend one spell completion item or one charge from a spell trigger item if either of those objects is used to supply a prerequisite.

[NCat]

Q 406

Can Sha-Ir research spells?

Sha Ir can of course learn spells by identifying another caster casting it, but is it possible for them to learn spells, whether adding it to their Known or Unknown-But-Has-Seen spells, the same way a wizard might? (As per the rules on DMG page 198)

[St Fan]

A 406

I don't think there is a RAW answer to this one.

On the one hand, the rule says "A spellcaster of any kind can create a new spell."

On the other hand, Sha'irs have a very unusual method to gain spells, by sending their familiar to find them on the elemental planes, so it can be argued they don't really understand them as well as wizards or sorcerers, their spells instead being "borrowed" from other sources (a bit like spellthieves).

It isn't even clear whether Sha'irs are spontaneous or prepared spellcasters, in fact.

Ultimately, it's up to the DM to allow research, and how it interacts exactly with a sha'ir's esoteric rules for spells known.

[chronoquairium]

All parts of the question relate to the Alter Reality Salient Divine Ability. For context, creating a rank 15 deity that is semi-reliant on permanent personal spells like Superior Invisibility. Attempting to use only rulebooks from Core 3.5, Supplementals 3.0, and Supplementals 3.5, latest errata/updates for all.


Q 407a What is the caster level of spells casted via Alter Reality?

Q 407b It states that spells duplicated have no material or XP component, does that mean they still have verbal and somatic components? Technically it says they're "duplicating" the spell, so an argument can be made they're not necessary.

Q 407c Can duplicated spells be used as a stand-in for use of counterspells? Asking for both readied actions and feats that allow free/immediate action counterspells.

Q 407d When making a spell effect permanent, does it still get permanently removed if dispelled, or does it get suppressed similar to Permanent Emanation?

Q 407e If the former on 407d, there doesn't seem to be anything stopping a mid-level spellcaster from dispelling anything they want on a deity that has over 40 more HD than them. Am I SOL or is there something I'm missing?

[Venger]

A 407a This information is not present in Deities and Demigods. If you wanted to make one up, the formula used for their slas (10+divine rank) is a possible jumping off point.

A 407b Yes. It says only that they lack material/xp components so any others present are still required.

A 407c Probably. Since they consume a standard action, they wouldn't be good for anything requiring immediates though.

A 407d Yes, it is removed if dispelled since nothing indicates otherwise versus certain spells under permanency for example.

A 407e Your reading of the interaction on these abilities is correct, however dispel magic and greater dispel magic both have caps on the bonus you're allowed to add to your dispel check that stops at +10 and +20 respectively, so depending on the exact level of the deity you're butting heads with, this may require getting other bonuses to your dispel check from elsewhere (dispelling cord, inquisition domain granted power, etc)

[Lokiron]

Q 408 Is there a way to use an Eternal Wand with a Swift spell in it, as a Swift action itself?

[noce]

Q 408 Is there a way to use an Eternal Wand with a Swift spell in it, as a Swift action itself?

A408 No, since the item specifies Activation: Standard (command). On the plus side, since all eternal wands activate as standard action, spells like Arcane Eye and Ghoul Glyph can be cast faster than usual.

Q409 The psionic power Inconstant Location says "no farther than you could move in normal move action".
The psionic power Levitate says "You can mentally direct the recipient to move up or down as much as 20 feet each round; doing so is a move action".
Can a 30ft speed psion with both powers running use a swift action to:

1. teleport himself 30ft away from his current position in any direction, i.e. in the air rather than on ground?
2. teleport himself EITHER 30ft horizontally OR 20ft up from his current position?
3. teleport himselft necessarily on the ground 30ft and then eventually use a move action to go up 20ft?

[Condé]

Q 410

How can a character physically visit a site in order to get the High Order of the Planar Touchstone feat? Via a spell, a portal?