Simple RAW for 3.5: 38 pages, and I still don't know how to play D&D

[Condé]

Q 76

Coming from this thread I cannot post from because Necro rules: Ability Damage 2.0

If spells / source of added damage can apply to Poison damage (via a touch or something that specifically deal Poison damage only and not as an added effect to an attack, like coated on a sword or something like that...)

Could Divine Sacrifice's bonus damage apply to a poison touch attack?

(Spell Compendium, p. 70)

Evocation
Level: Blackguard 1, Paladin 1,
Components: V, S,
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round/level

Giving up some of your life force to win the battle, you empower your next blow against your foe.

Your first attack each round for the duration of the spell deals an extra 5d6 points of damage if it hits, and you take 10 points of damage each time you make such an attack, whether or not the attack is successful.

[Bobur]

A#76
Since it states "attack" and the requirement to hit I say a touch or ranged attack works. The additional dmg doesnt count as poison though. Nor would a ray of enfeeblement increase its debuff.
An ongoing poison effect doesn't suffice. An attack is needed. It doesn't even have to deal dmg (in case of dmg reduction etc)

Q #77
About the spell "Rope trick":
It says:
Note: It is hazardous to create an extradimensional space within an existing extradimensional space or to take an extradimensional space into an existing one.

What does that mean for things like a bag of holding etc that create their own space?

[Chronos]

A 77:

There is nowhere in the 3rd edition rules that expands on that note in Rope Trick. In 2nd edition, the rules gave explicit consequences for any nesting of one extradimensional space inside of another one. In 3rd edition, that consequence is explicitly spelled out for the specific case of a Bag of Holding inside of a Portable Hole, or vice-versa, but not for any other such spaces. Apparently, the 3rd edition writers forgot they made that change when they were writing the text of Rope Trick.

[YellowJohn]

Q78
I want to cast the spell 'Node Genesis' from a scroll, without having the Node Spellcasting feat.
Is it possible to do this with UMD checks, and what DC am I looking for?

If it helps, there is a prestige class 'Deep Diviner' in Underdark that gets Node Spellcasting as a bonus feat at first level. You can take your first level at ECL6 without shenanigans.

[Troacctid]

Q78
I want to cast the spell 'Node Genesis' from a scroll, without having the Node Spellcasting feat.
Is it possible to do this with UMD checks, and what DC am I looking for?

If it helps, there is a prestige class 'Deep Diviner' in Underdark that gets Node Spellcasting as a bonus feat at first level. You can take your first level at ECL6 without shenanigans.

No. Emulating feats is not a function of the Use Magic Device skill.

[Arkhios]

Q79

Is Psionic Fist [feat]'s extra damage subject to be multiplied by a Critical Hit?

[St Fan]

Q79

Is Psionic Fist [feat]'s extra damage subject to be multiplied by a Critical Hit?

A 79
No. The general rule is that the weapon's basic dice damage as well as any fixed damage bonuses are multiplied by a critical hit.

Any additional DICE of damage (such as from sneak attack) are not. Psionic Fist adds 2d6 to the damage, so it falls under this rule.

[Shinoskay]

Q80


Meta magic, sword of the arcane order/mystic ranger and meta magic on ranger spell slots.

So, somewhere in there you can prepare wizard spells in ranger spell slots.
Does this mean you can add whatever meta magic you know to them?

Q80.5

By extension, can you add meta magic to ranger spells?

Q81
If you use the shadowcraft mage, sanctum, and earth spell, luck arcane disciple trick to cast miracle... can you meta magic the spells produced by miracle?

[Arkhios]

Q80.5

By extension, can you add meta magic to ranger spells?

A80.5 Yes.

[Chronos]

A80 elaborated: Even without Sword of the Arcane Order or the like, you can always use metamagic on ranger spells, provided that you have the metamagic feat and the spell slots needed. Metamagic isn't specific to any one class; it works for anyone casting spells.

[noce]

Q82

How does Anarchic Initiate using Chaotic Surge interact with Empower Power?
Let's say I manifest an empowered Energy Ray and Chaotic Surge rolls half damage. Will it do +50% (from empower) -50% (from surge) resulting in normal damage or will it be * 1.5 * 0.5 resulting in 75% damage?
Same for a roll of 51-75 on the Chaotic Surge chart: will it do double damage (+50% +50% = +100%) or will it be 225% damage (* 1.5 * 1.5)?

[Shinoskay]

Q81
If you use the shadowcraft mage, sanctum, and earth spell, luck arcane disciple trick to cast miracle... can you meta magic the spells produced by miracle?

this was never answered so bumping it back in.

[St Fan]

Q 83

A deafened character has a 20% of spell failure for spells with a verbal component.

Is this percentage added to an arcane spell failure chance from wearing armor for spells with a somatic component? Or are they rolled separately?

[noce]

Q 83

A deafened character has a 20% of spell failure for spells with a verbal component.

Is this percentage added to an arcane spell failure chance from wearing armor for spells with a somatic component? Or are they rolled separately?

I'd roll them separately, because that's how probability works if you have a chance of failing verbal components and a separate chance of failing somatic components, but I don't know if this particular scenario is addressed by the rules.

[St Fan]

Q84
The basic rules for creating magic items demand that you have prepared (or know and can cast, for a spontaneous caster) any necessary spell for each day of creation, although the spells can come from other sources such as a magic item or another spellcaster.

A) What about spell-like abilities, however? Can they be used instead of spells for magic item creation?

B) If A) is true, SLA notably doesn’t have an intrinsic “arcane” or “divine” descriptor; so when scribing a scroll, what would it default to? Does it depend of the spell, or if the creator is an arcane/divine spellcaster?

C) Using SLA doesn’t require any component or XP cost. If they can be used for magic item creation, would that reduce the cost of crafting an item with a spell that normally requires a costly material component or an XP cost?

Q85
A character with the Planar Touchstone feat goes to the Fortress of Disciplined Enlightenment on the plane of Mechanus, and fulfill the recharge condition for the Catalogues of Enlightenment:

Higher-Order Ability: Once per day, you may cast a spell from the cleric domain you have chosen, as though you had prepared the spell normally. You must be of sufficient character level to cast the spell and have a Wisdom equal to 10 + the spell’s level.
Higher-Order Uses: 3.

If she later use one of the spells granted by the High-Order Ability to scribe a scroll, would this be a divine scroll? (On account of those being domain spells...) Even if the character is a Wizard?

[Troacctid]

Q84
The basic rules for creating magic items demand that you have prepared (or know and can cast, for a spontaneous caster) any necessary spell for each day of creation, although the spells can come from other sources such as a magic item or another spellcaster.

A) What about spell-like abilities, however? Can they be used instead of spells for magic item creation?

B) If A) is true, SLA notably doesn’t have an intrinsic “arcane” or “divine” descriptor; so when scribing a scroll, what would it default to? Does it depend of the spell, or if the creator is an arcane/divine spellcaster?

C) Using SLA doesn’t require any component or XP cost. If they can be used for magic item creation, would that reduce the cost of crafting an item with a spell that normally requires a costly material component or an XP cost?

Q85
A character with the Planar Touchstone feat goes to the Fortress of Disciplined Enlightenment on the plane of Mechanus, and fulfill the recharge condition for the Catalogues of Enlightenment:



If she later use one of the spells granted by the High-Order Ability to scribe a scroll, would this be a divine scroll? (On account of those being domain spells...) Even if the character is a Wizard?

84A.) Yes.
84B.) It depends on your class.
84C.) No.
85.) See 84B.

[Pezzo]

Q 86
Divine crusaders cast spells from their chosen domain.

Effectively, a divine crusader has a class spell list of only nine spells

Can a chameleon choose this "effective" class spell list to prepare his spells?

[zergling.exe]

A 84b
If the spell the SLA mimics is on the Sorc/Wiz list it is arcane, if it is not there look on the Cleric list and it is divine. If on neither of those lists check each class in order to see which list it comes from and use that class' type

Some spell-like abilities duplicate spells that work differently when cast by characters of different classes. A monster’s spell-like abilities are presumed to be the sorcerer/wizard versions. If the spell in question is not a sorcerer/wizard spell, then default to cleric, druid, bard, paladin, and ranger, in that order.
https://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm

[Troacctid]

Q 86
Divine crusaders cast spells from their chosen domain.

Can a chameleon choose this "effective" class spell list to prepare his spells?

This is an ambiguous wording, so it falls to DM adjudication.

[Jowgen]

Q 87a

Healing Devotion states "If you have the ability to turn or rebuke undead, you gain one additional daily use of this feat for each daily turn or rebuke use you expend.". It also mentions "a daily available" for it's auto trigger clause.

Is there anything to prevent a character from expending turn attempts to bank a number of "dailys" for later use, and assuming that not, do these actually expire by the next day?

Q 87b

Healing Devotion states "As a full-round action, you can transfer this ability to a willing recipient as a touch spell.". What is the extent of what actually is transferred?

Does the recipient immediately gain fast healing for a minute, or do they get a "daily" of being able to gain fast healing as an immediate action action incl. auto-activation upon 0 HP, and what about the actual ability to transfer the "daily" onwards to another participant or the ability to gain more "dailys" by expending turns/rebukes?

[Chronos]

A 87a:

The domain feats (such as Healing Devotion) are often misunderstood, due to poor wording in the feats themselves, but the overall description of the feats on page 52 of Complete Champion clarifies. You don't spend Turn Undead uses at the time you use the feat. Rather,

If you have the ability to turn or rebuke undead, you can gain extra daily uses of a domain feat's benefit by permanently sacrificing daily uses of that ability.

So if, when you take the feat, you sacrifice two uses of Turn Undead, then you can use Healing Devotion three times per day, every day.

[Jowgen]

A 87a Contention

I was under the impression the official Complete Champion errata actually specifically does away with the "permanent sacrifice" wording?

Page 51 – Domain Feats
[Substitution]
Replace “permanently sacrificing” with “expending” in the last line of the third paragraph.

[Chronos]

Re 87a:
Ah, OK, I wasn't aware of that erratum.

[TheHalfAasimar]

Q88: If you lose experience points (like from a Wish spell or crafting a magic item) do you lose levels?

[Beni-Kujaku]

A88 You cannot pay enough experience point to lose a level. If you don't have 5000XP to spare, you can't cast Wish.

[TheHalfAasimar]

A88 You cannot pay enough experience point to lose a level. If you don't have 5000XP to spare, you can't cast Wish.

Q88.5 Okay, so if you are at level 5, and you craft a magic item that would bring you down to not enough XP to be at level 5, do you lose a level and go back to level 4? Or do you stay at level 5?

[loky1109]

Q88.5 Okay, so if you are at level 5, and you craft a magic item that would bring you down to not enough XP to be at level 5, do you lose a level and go back to level 4? Or do you stay at level 5?

You CAN'T craft a magic item that would bring you down to not enough XP to be at level 5.

[TheHalfAasimar]

You CAN'T craft a magic item that would bring you down to not enough XP to be at level 5.

Oh, I see. Sorry.

[Vaern]

Q81
If you use the shadowcraft mage, sanctum, and earth spell, luck arcane disciple trick to cast miracle... can you meta magic the spells produced by miracle?

How, exactly, is this combination meant to work?

[Jay R]

Q89
Is there a way to increase the number of ranks in a skill beyond the character’s level + 3? I’m not asking about additional bonuses or plusses. Is there a class, feat, or other tool that allows you to buy a higher number of actual ranks?