Earth Dreamer

[Gorbash]

I have a question concerning his special abilities... Earth Sight (which enables him to see through walls) and Earth Glide. It says that both abilities last for a number of rounds 3+con modifier. But it doesn't say anything about number of uses per day. I would assume that he can use it once per day, since his other ablity Earth Dream, is also usable once per day, but I'm not sure... Or is there an errata concerning this?

[Chosen_of_Vecna]

I have a question concerning his special abilities... Earth Sight (which enables him to see through walls) and Earth Glide. It says that both abilities last for a number of rounds 3+con modifier. But it doesn't say anything about number of uses per day. I would assume that he can use it once per day, since his other ablity Earth Dream, is also usable once per day, but I'm not sure... Or is there an errata concerning this?

It's a supernatural ability usable an infinite number of times. If supernatural abilities don't explain how often they can be used, then they are at will.

[Gorbash]

Then what's the point of defining a number of rounds it lasts if I can just re-use it all the time? I think it's a mistake, but I just wanted to make sure, if anyone perhaps ran into a similar problem...

[Chosen_of_Vecna]

Then what's the point of defining a number of rounds it lasts if I can just re-use it all the time? I think it's a mistake, but I just wanted to make sure, if anyone perhaps ran into a similar problem...

The point of defining the number of rounds it last is that like all Supernatural abilities it takes a standard action to activate. This means that most people aren't going to refresh it ever four rounds, and that when entering combat you have about 1d4-1d6 rounds of it left before you have to use a combat action to refresh it.

Earth Dreamer is a PrC with higher Pre-reqs then every class except Archmage (because it requires at least 13 Wisdom and a ****ty feat, and you can't get into it very early). It provides 5 minor abilities. If you actually limited Earthglide or Earthsight to once a day you are actually making a very hard to get into class have incredibly ****ty abilities. Compare 1/day Earthsight for 3+con rounds to what you recieve at any level of:

Archmage/IotSFV/Mage of the Arcane Order/Geometer/Shadowcraft Mage/Divine Oracle.

Now keep in mind that all of those except Archmage are easier to get into.

[kamikasei]

Assuming the ability requires something more than a free action to use, the point of specifying its duration is to see how often you need to spend that action if you want to keep it up. Consider a warlock's invocations, which are explicitly at-will but often have durations because you might want to keep track of whether they need recasting.

[Gorbash]

Problem is my DM thinks that's a mistake and that there SHOULD be a limitation (once per day, 3 times per day, etc) because otherwise it's too powerful... And I don't think I could convince him with an argument that what other classes get is better, I need some definite proof (from a rulebook/faq/errata) or he will limit it to 1/day

[Chosen_of_Vecna]

Problem is my DM thinks that's a mistake and that there SHOULD be a limitation (once per day, 3 times per day, etc) because otherwise it's too powerful... And I don't think I could convince him with an argument that what other classes get is better, I need some definite proof (from a rulebook/faq/errata) or he will limit it to 1/day

But there isn't a rulebook/faq/errata other then the actual book, which doesn't limit it because there should be no limit.

Sometimes you get DMs who don't understand how the rules work and think everything is overpowered. You deal with it as best you can.

The fact is that it's already not the greatest ability out there, merely decent. If it's once a day, I don't actually recommend taking those levels if you qualify for any better PrC. If I had a DM that tried to nerf a decent PrC into crap, I'd just retcon my character into a better PrC.

[Starsinger]

Sometimes you get DMs who don't understand how the rules work and think everything is overpowered. You deal with it as best you can.

I can totally empathize though. Being able to see through walls is pretty, well amazingly, useful. Does this x-ray vision have like, a lead sheet restriction or something?

[kamikasei]

Problem is my DM thinks that's a mistake and that there SHOULD be a limitation (once per day, 3 times per day, etc) because otherwise it's too powerful... And I don't think I could convince him with an argument that what other classes get is better, I need some definite proof (from a rulebook/faq/errata) or he will limit it to 1/day

You might try just pointing out the rules that apply. Both of the abilities are (Su). Supernatural abilities "may have a use limit or be usable at will, just like spell-like abilities." This refers to the statement that "a spell-like ability usually has a limit on how often it can be used. A spell-like ability that can be used at will has no use limit."

The abilities have no stated use limit, so the general rule which hasn't been overridden here is that they are at-will. It's not really ambiguous; that's the class' ability as written. If the DM thinks it's overpowered, he can change it. He can perhaps decide that it's a typo or editing error and it was surely meant to be an n/day ability. However, looking at it as it's written, both are at-will abilities that take a standard action to use and then last for a certain duration. That's all there is to it. It's actually kind of unreasonable for him to insist on a positive statement by Wizards that something isn't a mistake.

[Gorbash]

That should shut him up, I think. Thanks for the quick answer!!!

[Chosen_of_Vecna]

I can totally empathize though. Being able to see through walls is pretty, well amazingly, useful. Does this x-ray vision have like, a lead sheet restriction or something?

Actually it has a lead or steel or iron or wood or silver or mithril or crystal or anything that isn't stone restriction.