Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer 26: Still better than CustServ

[skydragonknight]

Q17: Does the Soulbound weapon ACF, http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a, consume the first level feat w/ Weapon Focus?

"You must choose a soulbound weapon at 1st level and you gain the Weapon Focus feat with this weapon."  OK, but is that a "free" feat (paid for by giving up your 2nd level feat), and you still get the "normal" set of first level feats for your character?

Bonus: RAW, Soulbound Weapon and Mantled Warrior obviously both consume the "2nd level bonus feat" so "ought to be" mutually exclusive.  Without worrying about The Rule, question is -- Do you actually play that way, or do you allow both?

thanks again...

You lose your 2nd level psychic warrior feat for the whole package. At first level you get the weapon focus feat for free, so it would seem like you'd be getting something for nothing with a 1 level dip. However, you must choose the Call Weaponry power, so you're also giving up your ability to choose a different power (like Expansion).

[sud]

Psionic power Strength of My Enemy causes strength damage.  From SRD, ability damage returns at 1 pt per day "unless otherwise noted by the condition dealing the damage."  Hmm, no mention of when/how the victim recovers in the power description.

A: The Str damage does not fade with the power's duration, but it does heal naturally over time. The bonuses last however long the power lasts.

Thank you, pretty much what I thought:  So, one mid-level psywar archer using one 2nd level power once can quite effectively cripple a broad range of big bad monsters?  Well, it is a simple question!  Never mind, rhetorical...

[sud]

Q17: Does the Soulbound weapon ACF, http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a, consume the first level feat w/ Weapon Focus?

"You must choose a soulbound weapon at 1st level and you gain the Weapon Focus feat with this weapon."  OK, but is that a "free" feat (paid for by giving up your 2nd level feat), and you still get the "normal" set of first level feats for your character?

Bonus: RAW, Soulbound Weapon and Mantled Warrior obviously both consume the "2nd level bonus feat" so "ought to be" mutually exclusive.  Without worrying about The Rule, question is -- Do you actually play that way, or do you allow both?

thanks again...

You lose your 2nd level psychic warrior feat for the whole package. At first level you get the weapon focus feat for free, so it would seem like you'd be getting something for nothing with a 1 level dip. However, you must choose the Call Weaponry power, so you're also giving up your ability to choose a different power (like Expansion).

Understood -- but with Soulbound's ability to add any set of +x-bonus-equivalent weapon properties (bounded only by ML/augmentation) to your called weapon, i.e., always the right tool for the job -- well, then Call Weaponry is (eventually) a very good first level power.  It's almost too good in a pecunious/low-power mid+ level campaign.  No, that's not quite an oxymoron: 10-12th level, not-heavily-optimized (lot's of role-playing feats/powers/behaviors, etc), at or below DMG-recommended wealth and level-appropriate items.  Not all of us get a golf bag full of magic weapons by ~10th level. 

Thanks!

[Shiki]

Question NI: Dragon #301 Meter and Measure... Can anyone who has that issue tell me if I'm either bad at math or their prices are off for those examples Inspire Courage/Greatness Masterpiece Performances' (WWBHOFD, BHEF, CMG) when following the table at the end? I'm trying to figure out what's affordable for a 12th level character.

[PhaedrusXY]

Q18: Psionic power Thicken Skin grants "a +1 enhancement bonus to your Armor Class." (SRD and elsewhere), not to natural armor bonus, as does the Barkskin spell.  "Armor bonuses stack with all other bonuses to armor class ... except other armor bonuses."

Thicken Skin does not stack with other AC bonus, e.g., from armor?

Is that an oversight/errata'd, or do you play it that way?

thanks tertiarily!

The few times it's came up, we treated it like Barkskin. Otherwise, it's basically a useless power.

[dna1]

q16. Where is a 1d2 crusader build? Iv just heard of how it works.. I would like to see a build if one is floating around.

buuump

[Sinfire Titan]

q16. Where is a 1d2 crusader build? Iv just heard of how it works.. I would like to see a build if one is floating around.

buuump

A16: Lost to WotC forever. And please do not bump questions only a page or so old.

[Kaori]

Q19: If a template grants you Superior Two Weapon Fighting without the prereq feats, does that qualify you to take a feat that requires two weapon fighting and improved two weapon fighting?

[Sinfire Titan]

Q19: If a template grants you Superior Two Weapon Fighting without the prereq feats, does that qualify you to take a feat that requires two weapon fighting and improved two weapon fighting?

A19: No, as you do not meet the requirements.

[weenog]

Q19: If a template grants you Superior Two Weapon Fighting without the prereq feats, does that qualify you to take a feat that requires two weapon fighting and improved two weapon fighting?

No.  Being allowed to ignore requirements for one purpose is not the same thing as being treated as if you fulfill those requirements for all purposes.

[Damien_Wilacoth]

Q20: What prestige class/es advance (arcane) spellcasting at first level while providing the most skill points?

[zook1shoe]

Q8: Is there a template (other than blooded one) that can simply be bought in game? Preferably for a bruiser, but i'm actually interested in any template that can simply be bought

Ghostwalk has some items that give you the vampire and some other undead templates.

Contingency + create undead/create greater undead can give you other undead options. Lich, dry Lich, lycanthropy, dracolich, spectral savant, demilich, blightspawned, juju zombie, and half-fiend are others that I can think of getting for money, spells, or levels.

Like said before, the shadow-walker, blooded one, mineral warrior, spellstitched, half-golem, and necropolitian templates.

Q 11: Reserves of Strength (Dragonlance) and Calishite Elementalist (RoF) Both allow you to "break" the damage caps on spells, Am I correct in reading that RAW a level 15 caster would get 16d6 Fireball with the use of either of these feats? (The examples on both feats are within the "bounds" and no limit to how far it breaks them is set.)?

A 11: Depends on who you ask on here.  I'm of the school that believes RoS removes the cap entirely, allowing the use of the feat by a high CL caster to wreak havoc.  I'd have to reread Calishite Elementalist to be certain what it entails specifically.

Calishite Elementalist (and the gold dwarf one) are different from Reserves of Strength, in that they specify "this bonus caster level" allows you to bypass the normal maximum with just that +1 bonus, it seems to sound like.

Whereas Reserves of Strength doesn't actually say "this" but seems to imply it as RAI. But it is one of those poorly written feats.

[skydragonknight]

q16. Where is a 1d2 crusader build? Iv just heard of how it works.. I would like to see a build if one is floating around.

buuump

A16: Lost to WotC forever. And please do not bump questions only a page or so old.

IIRC, there was no actual fleshed out build, just a stub (at least, in the original thread, which was mostly theorycrafting). But it was a Halfling or Gnome (d2 gauntlets) RKV for the clerical casting (Imbued Healing requires domains to work, specifically the Luck domain) and the simultaneous progression of casting and maneuvers. I think I must have had an RKV fetish in those days...

[JohnnyMayHymn]

Q21: How much does blood cost? Specifically Eschew Materials + Tainted Sorcerer's Blood Component using the "greater amount of blood" instead of costly components... basically, how much blood can I get for 1gp?

[Nemo]

Q22:
I remember that I saw in some Dragon Magazine pretty fun Warforged Components, one for example pretty scouter-like [look at people and measure their Caster Level, and other fun stuff]. Anyone know which issue it was?

[Kajhera]

Q21: How much does blood cost? Specifically Eschew Materials + Tainted Sorcerer's Blood Component using the "greater amount of blood" instead of costly components... basically, how much blood can I get for 1gp?

A21) Blood costs 3cp a vial (ounce). A human body has about 6 quarts of blood, or around 197 vials. How much damage this was will vary widely by who it came from. Have fun calculating how this interacts with material components!

(Also, guess whose boyfriend is playing a necromancer right now that is trying to get every possible resource from her corpses - and will likely sell you this blood because she's not a tainted sorcerer. If you wanted more than six humans worth.)

[kevin_video]

Q 23 There's a feat that says you first need to "lose initiative" before it can be used. What does it mean to "lose initiative"? That you simply don't go first?

[Sinfire Titan]

Q20: What prestige class/es advance (arcane) spellcasting at first level while providing the most skill points?

A20: Unseen Seer (CM) and Keeper of the Cerulean Sign (LoM). Both give 6+Int, which is better than Arcane Trickster.

[Maat_Mons]

Q22:
I remember that I saw in some Dragon Magazine pretty fun Warforged Components, one for example pretty scouter-like [look at people and measure their Caster Level, and other fun stuff]. Anyone know which issue it was?

The scouter-like component is from Dragon 352, page 84.  More components are available in Dragon 341, beginning on page 46. 

[Risada]

Q24 Can a martial adept using a standard action strike make the melee attack from the maneuver become a trip attempt?