Ask a Simple Question, Part 18: Lucid Dreaming Ghost Pixie Hood Edition

[Gavinfoxx]

Q181 A fleshraker seems to have the following stats:

17 Strength
3 Base Attack Bonus

And these attacks
Claw +6 1d6+3
Claw +6 1d6+3
Bite +1 1d6+1
Tail +1 1d6+1
Rake +2 1d6+2

How were these statistics derived? And what would spells that improve strength, like bull's strength, affect the creature's to hit and damage? What if the BAB went up? Which limbs are the ones that do the claws? The rakes? FYI I'm trying to figure out my level 5 Druid's combat form stats, and her animal companion's stats, post-buffing routine! Thanks!

[cru]

A181 Claw/bite/tail is calculated as normal

claw:
bab+str to hit (primary attacks)
full str to damage

bite/tail
bab+str -5 to hit (secondary attacks)
half str to damage

rake is silly
I recommend make it simply another secondary attack with half str to damage. You can look at MM1 charger animals for inspiration. Half str to damage seems to be the rule (e.g. dire tiger, dire lion), the attack bonus is unclear (usually full, not taking into account feats related to claw attack, like weapon focus).

I think claws are front paws, rake is rear paw.

Also, note that wild shaped, you don't gain INA(claw), i.e., your claw deals 1d4 base damage. This should probably extend to rake as well.

[X-Codes]

What book says casting a spell on one's self twice does not confer the benefits of that spell twice? I'd like a page number, too.

Astral Projection isn't instantaneous, thus the active effects don't stack, they overlap.  Pick your choice of stacking rules, they're printed in all sorts of books.

As for the rake attack, it's only available under certain circumstances.  It generally does the same damage as a claw attack, but is always treated as a secondary weapon regardless of whether or not any claw attacks are.

[cru]

Q 180 Can you take 1 hand off a 2 handed weapon in order to cast a spell? Or are you forced to take the Complete Mage's feat Somatic Weaponry (pg 47) in order to do so? If you can cast while wielding a 2-handed weapon (via take hand off, cast, and put hand back on), where are the rules for this?

Yes, you can.

What's the source, please?

Although the rules don't mention it, letting go of a two-handed weapon with one hand or putting a free hand back on the weapon is a free action for you. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20041102a)

[The_Laughing_Man]

Q182: Infernal bargainer lets me have +2HD on the monster when casting planar ally. Thaumaturgist can have a planar cohort called by planar ally spell with the limitation -2 ECL.

So for example cleric 7 / thaumaturgist 5 = ECL 12.
Thus the planar cohort would be ECL 10 at most. Or is it HD 12? Or HD14 with infernal bargainer?

Is this interpretation correct? So no Osyluth as a cohort.

See also monsters as races.

Infernal Bargainer

Type: General
Source: Races of Faerûn

You are comfortable making deals with powerful entities from the Lower Planes.

Prerequisite: Outsider
Benefit: Whenever you cast commune, contact other plane, legend lore, or vision, you gain +2 caster level because you are known to the entities answering your entreaties.
Whenever you cast any planar binding or planar ally spell, you can call an evil creature 2 HD higher than normally allowed. Any evil creature caught in a planar binding trap you create has a -2 penalty on all attempts to escape.

Thaumaturgist: Planar Cohort

A 5th-level thaumaturgist can use any of the planar ally spells to call a creature to act as his cohort. The called creature serves loyally and well as long as the thaumaturgist continues to advance a cause important to the creature.

To call a planar cohort, the thaumaturgist must cast the relevant spell, paying the XP costs normally. It takes an offering of 1,000 gp × the HD of the creature to convince it to serve as a planar cohort, and the improved ally class feature can’t be used to reduce or eliminate this cost. The planar cohort can’t have more Hit Dice than the thaumaturgist has, and must have an ECL no higher than the thaumaturgist’s character level -2.

A thaumaturgist can have only one planar cohort at a time, but he can continue to make agreements with other called creatures normally. A planar cohort replaces a thaumaturgist’s existing cohort, if he has one by virtue of the Leadership feat.

[betrayor]

Because casting it again will just stack durations, and the duration is as long as you want.

Yes,but I don't care about duration.....
So you say that when my second body casts Astral projection it just dissappears?Where are you getting this ruling?

I'll give you two choices.
1. you assume counts under stacking effects and that therefor it doesn't work. (combining magical effects, PH 171)

2. you pull off a stupid infinite loop that gives the DM increasing places to kill you, and increasing reason to kill you.

Because abusing the copy effect would likely count as violating a natural law, inevitables will begin to target you, and your sliver cords only have hardness 10 and 20 hp.
some quick numbers

Assuming 1 of the least effective ones, it would take 533.3 attacks assuming it needs a 20 to hit. that's 26 minutes and 40 seconds.
the most effective one would deal 2d6+12+3d6-10 damage  (7 to 32) damage in the first swing, and the second swing would almost total assure death. even if it needs 20 to hit, that's only 2 minutes.
the second most efficient will average death in 8 hits. at two attacks per round and needing 20 to hit it's still only 8 minutes.

Do you really want a CR 9 creature to kill you that easy?

No I don't really want to do this for the copy effect...
I want to do this to hide my real body....
Well in anycase I could just do a contigency that when my astal form dies then  Astal  projection is cast......

[Sinfire Titan]

Q 180 Can you take 1 hand off a 2 handed weapon in order to cast a spell? Or are you forced to take the Complete Mage's feat Somatic Weaponry (pg 47) in order to do so? If you can cast while wielding a 2-handed weapon (via take hand off, cast, and put hand back on), where are the rules for this?

Yes, you can.

What's the source, please?

FAQ. Removing a hand from a weapon is a free action, and you need at least one free hand to cast spells (that last part is SRD).

[Elmdor]

I just registered on the forum; I was hoping to access the search function to find specific threads that have already been posted so as not to re-ask questions on things already discussed.

It keeps telling me "i do not have permission to search this forum" 

How can I search this forum to find specific threads?

[InnaBinder]

I just registered on the forum; I was hoping to access the search function to find specific threads that have already been posted so as not to re-ask questions on things already discussed.

It keeps telling me "i do not have permission to search this forum" 

How can I search this forum to find specific threads?

There's a newbie section where you have to acknowledge having read the forum rules before you get all the fun cookies.

[PhaedrusXY]

I just registered on the forum; I was hoping to access the search function to find specific threads that have already been posted so as not to re-ask questions on things already discussed.

It keeps telling me "i do not have permission to search this forum" 

How can I search this forum to find specific threads?

There's a newbie section where you have to acknowledge having read the forum rules before you get all the fun cookies.

Actually you just have to post twice. Those threads (the one you mentioned and the "introductions") are just to encourage people to post twice.

[PhaedrusXY]

What book says casting a spell on one's self twice does not confer the benefits of that spell twice? I'd like a page number, too.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/castingSpells.htm#stackingEffects

Which one applies depends on the specific spell.

[Vistella]

Q183
got a question regarding spirit shaman and holt warden
my GM thinks that you have to retrieve the spells entangle, barkskin and plant growth (requirement for hold warden: ability to cast those 3) every day to retain the benefits of the prestige class cause the SS is a spontaneous caster and thus has to retrieve it to have it as spell known

my interpretation is that once you have a spell on your spell list (which is the druid one for SS) you have it as spell known even if not retrieved

anyone has a rule of proof how spells known are defined?
who is right here?

[Bozwevial]

A183: You are. If "ability to cast spell X" was meant to be taken as your DM wants it, you'd lose access to the class features when you ran out of spell slots of that level every day. Or if you were tied up, paralyzed, Silenced, or in some way unable to cast those spells.

[Vistella]

he means it more like: a spontaneous caster only has those spell as his spell list what he knows (it kinda makes sense, or can a sorcerer enter arcane trickster without selecting mage hand)

he wasnt referring to running out of spell slots and such but rather that..well, what i described in the first sentance in this post, but on the other hand he can choose from the entire druid list each day (and has to prepare them) and thus imo the entire druid list counts as spells known

the SS is a strange class^^

[Bozwevial]

I'll have to take a closer look in a bit when I'm not AFB, unless anyone wants to step in. I'm not very familiar with the Spirit Shaman.

[kevin_video]

Q 184 If a race takes a paragon class, and is also a dragonborn, do they lose the benefits of that class?

Q 185 Besides the 1d10 for stabilization, what other official rulings are there?

[Vistella]

I'll have to take a closer look in a bit when I'm not AFB, unless anyone wants to step in. I'm not very familiar with the Spirit Shaman.

if it helps:
they retrieve spells each day like a druid prepares spells (just fewer)
they cast their spells like a sorcerer

from the class itself:

Like a sorcerer, a spirit shaman knows only a small
number of spells. However, each day a spirit shaman may
change the spells she knows.
When a spirit shaman meditates
to regain her daily allotment of spells (see below), she
sends forth her spirit guide to bargain with the spirits and
retrieve knowledge of the specifi c druid spells she will be
able to use that day. She can cast any spell she has retrieved
at any time, assuming she has not yet used up her spells
per day for that spell level.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

A184: Yep, you're still a dragonborn human or whatever
A185: Autohypnosis.

[Bozwevial]

Q 184 If a race takes a paragon class, and is also a dragonborn, do they lose the benefits of that class?

Followup quote:

It's possible for a powerful magic effect such as shapechange, reincarnate, or wish to change a character's race. If a character has already taken racial paragon levels in his original race, he can never become a paragon of another race. However, such shapechanging and form-altering magics also cause no loss of a paragon's class abilities—the class abilities gained from racial paragon levels are affected no more or less drastically than benefits gained from having levels in any other class.

[Maat_Mons]

he means it more like: a spontaneous caster only has those spell as his spell list what he knows (it kinda makes sense, or can a sorcerer enter arcane trickster without selecting mage hand)

You have to be able to cast the spells in general to meet the requirements.  You don't have to be able to cast the spells that day to meet the requirements.  A druid doesn't need to prepare the spells every day to keep the class features for this very reason.  

A sorcerer needs mage hand as a spell known to qualify for arcane trickster because he can't cast the spell at all otherwise.  

It is worth noting that a sorcerer's spell list always consists of all spells that are generally available for sorcerers to learn, not just the spells he has learned.  Spells known and spell list are very different concepts.