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

[weenog]

Q64:  Are there any cheap (let's say at/below 4,000 gp) items to increase manifester level by 1 or more?

Circlet of Wild Surging (Magic Item Compendium 87) costs 4200. It has restrictions, of course, but is a good bit cheaper than the ioun stone. The Magic Mantle enacts full transparency, which should open access to the caster level bumping material. The thread http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127103 was in my bookmarks folder, but I do not remember if it is any good.

Thanks, but I should have been more specific.  I'm trying to get a psywar 2/warblade 4's ML up to at least 3 so I can use the duration augment, and don't wind up using a standard action to manifest Expansion for a measly 2 rounds.  Most of the 13,000 gp budget is already spoken for.  Mantled Warrior ACF is no help, I'm using psywar for the bonus feats and won't give one up.

Been looking at feats some more, I think what I'm gonna have to do is either find some way to squeeze in Overchannel or Practiced Manifester, or lose Expansion and pick a power that can help me at ML 2.  The thread at least reminded me that Practiced Manifester isn't a 3rd party idea that won't fly with the DM, so the link helps if I can come up with an open feat.

[rot42]

Q64:  Are there any cheap (let's say at/below 4,000 gp) items to increase manifester level by 1 or more?

Circlet of Wild Surging (Magic Item Compendium 87) costs 4200. It has restrictions, of course, but is a good bit cheaper than the ioun stone. The Magic Mantle enacts full transparency, which should open access to the caster level bumping material. The thread http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127103 was in my bookmarks folder, but I do not remember if it is any good.

Thanks, but I should have been more specific.  I'm trying to get a psywar 2/warblade 4's ML up to at least 3 so I can use the duration augment, and don't wind up using a standard action to manifest Expansion for a measly 2 rounds.  Most of the 13,000 gp budget is already spoken for.  Mantled Warrior ACF is no help, I'm using psywar for the bonus feats and won't give one up.

Been looking at feats some more, I think what I'm gonna have to do is either find some way to squeeze in Overchannel or Practiced Manifester, or lose Expansion and pick a power that can help me at ML 2.  The thread at least reminded me that Practiced Manifester isn't a 3rd party idea that won't fly with the DM, so the link helps if I can come up with an open feat.

The errata for XPH says that the last augment for the Expansion power is a misprint. It should increase the duration from rnds/lvl to 10 min/lvl. This, handily enough, does nothing to resolve the problem that the printed duration is min/lvl, not rnd/lvl. The duration of Enlarge Person is min/lvl, though, which may help to convince your DM that that part is a misprint - it is not going to unbalance the game to let your character fit its concept for a whole combat.

[Aharon]

A62 I don't think so, because the DM veto right is explicitly written into the ACF. The only time I know of where it came up was Samb's Ardent handbook, which I guess you've already read if you took a closer look at the class.

A66 Well, it's not exactly obscure-sourced, but Command Undead (Sor/Wiz 2, PHB) is super-effective against undead without an Int-score.

bump for
Q37 Would the constitution damage from Wounding be tripled when applied to a lance and used by a charger with Spirited Charge? The property specifies that it isn't multiplied on crits. Is there any place that outright says things that aren't multiplied on crits aren't multiplied on charges, either?

and a couple of new ones:

Q67 Negative Levels reduce your effective level. Does that mean, for example, that a character hit by enervation might suffer from the stronger effects of a color spray/blasphemy/similar level dependent spells?

Q68 I recently reread the monk class, and am a bit surprised: Is it correct that you can't use flurry of blows while grappling?

Q69 If an Illusionist uses Shadow Evocation: Resilient Sphere around himself, what happens? Is he able to act normally, but other creatures have to disbelieve before they can attack him?

Q70 Which effects (if any) that change your regular spellcasting apply to spells simulated by shadow evocation? For example, if you are an archmage with Mastery of Elements, could you simulate a sonic acid fog with Shades?

Q71 How do shadow evocations interact with other spell effects? For example, can an illusionary gust of wind blow away a real fog cloud, or does the fog cloud count as automatically disbelieving object?

[weenog]

The errata for XPH says that the last augment for the Expansion power is a misprint. It should increase the duration from rnds/lvl to 10 min/lvl. This, handily enough, does nothing to resolve the problem that the printed duration is min/lvl, not rnd/lvl. The duration of Enlarge Person is min/lvl, though, which may help to convince your DM that that part is a misprint - it is not going to unbalance the game to let your character fit its concept for a whole combat.

He'll probably just go by what the SRD says, but it's not super critical.  Being big isn't the concept anyway, it's just some icing I was hoping to pick up.  The psywar dip is just to help me pick up Deep Impact so I can still make a touch attack when Emerald Razor is expended -- I'm expecting dragons, and not expecting much in the way of attack roll boosting options.

[Hasmadad]

[VertigoCharades]

A few Warlock questions:

Q73 How does a (Greater) Chasuble of Fell Power react with critical'd Eldritch Blasts? Is the extra 1D6/2D6 added to the multiplied damage, or is the damage considered part of the blast?

Q74 If the damage added by the Chasuble of Fell Power is considered separate from the blast, does that mean using a Healing Blast (from the Eldritch Disciple) will heal an amount equal to your regular Eldritch Blast damage...and damage the person being healed by 1D6/2D6??

Q75 How would spell resistance apply to something like Eldritch Glaive? Would the user roll once, affecting all attacks from one use of the glaive? Or would the user roll for each iterative attack?

[genuine]

Q76: Can you grapple with an Ooze? (Assuming that the various touch effects that oozes have can be dealt with)(Specifically it's an ooze that does con damage instead of acid; I want to grapple it from a distance with a pincer staff).

[zook1shoe]

A76 yes you can, like grabbing jello with tongs

[Vicerious]

A few Warlock questions:

Q73 How does a (Greater) Chasuble of Fell Power react with critical'd Eldritch Blasts? Is the extra 1D6/2D6 added to the multiplied damage, or is the damage considered part of the blast?

Q74 If the damage added by the Chasuble of Fell Power is considered separate from the blast, does that mean using a Healing Blast (from the Eldritch Disciple) will heal an amount equal to your regular Eldritch Blast damage...and damage the person being healed by 1D6/2D6??

Q75 How would spell resistance apply to something like Eldritch Glaive? Would the user roll once, affecting all attacks from one use of the glaive? Or would the user roll for each iterative attack?

A73 In the MIC, it says it causes the eldritch blast (or chaotic spell) to do an extra amount of damage.  It would seem that this bonus damage is seperate from the blast and would not be multiplied on a crit.

A74 Extra damage dice that are untyped (like a rogue's sneak attack) do the same type of damage as the main attack.  A sneak attack scorching ray deals extra fire damage, so a healing blast with a chasuble should deal extra healing.

A75 In the Rules Compendium, page 130-131, there's no direct passage on targeting a creature multiple times with the same spell.  We can extrapolate what should happen, though.  If a spell (or spell-like, such as eldritch glaive) targets multiple creatures, they each get separate SR checks.  The success or failure one check does not affect the success or failure of any of the others.  The section on Successful Spell Resistance indicates that failing the SR check means the creature ignores the spell, but doesn't end the effect.
This gives us two possible interpretations:

• 1 You make one SR check on your first successful attack.  Success means you can keep attacking as normal, failure means it is unharmed by all of the attacks for that "cast" of eldritch glaive.  You may attack other creatures in reach as normal, unless they also have SR.  One cast, one check.
• 2 You make an SR check every time you make a successful attack against the creature.  Success means it takes damage as normal.  Failure means it is unharmed by that attack and every further attack during that "cast" of eldritch glaive.  As above, you can still make attacks against other creatures.

In either case, a failed SR check means the creature can ignore your eldritch glaive for its duration (until the beginning of your next turn; it gets to ignore the AoOs, too).  You'd start the check(s) over again the next time you cast eldritch glaive and start making attacks again.

[VertigoCharades]

Thanks! I don't know if this should count as Q76 or not, but...would this mean that a Maximize Spell-Like Ability(Eldritch Blast) would only maximize the base EB damage, then add the extra damage from a Chasuble? From the description of Hellfire Blast, HB at least would benefit fully from Maximize SLA.

[Aliek]

Q77:If I've gone into the obscenely broken beholder mage class, with another spellcasting class before, would I be able to cast spells from other classes while a beholder? If I can, how would that work? Regular spellcasting or "beholder-style" spellcasting?

[zook1shoe]

Q77:If I've gone into the obscenely broken beholder mage class, with another spellcasting class before, would I be able to cast spells from other classes while a beholder? If I can, how would that work? Regular spellcasting or "beholder-style" spellcasting?

You need Surrogate Spellcasting feat, something similar, for 'regular' spellcasting

[Faithless tbe Wonder Boy]

Q78: Are there any prestige classes that grant +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting, and also grant Bluff, Disguise, and Perform as class skills?  Preferably ones with minimal entry requirements.

Danke!

[McPoyo]

Shadowcraft mage?

[KellKheraptis]

Q78: Are there any prestige classes that grant +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting, and also grant Bluff, Disguise, and Perform as class skills?  Preferably ones with minimal entry requirements.

Danke!

Shadowcraft Mage, Heartfire Fanner, Magelord, all come to mind.

[geniussavant]

Q 79 Does anyone have any links to suggestions for maneuvers for a twf swordsage? Besides just take maneuvers from shadow hand and tiger claw...

[KellKheraptis]

Q 79 Does anyone have any links to suggestions for maneuvers for a twf swordsage? Besides just take maneuvers from shadow hand and tiger claw...

Sudden Leap and Quicksilver Motion come to mind (IIRC that's the one that gives an extra move or swift action), to facilitate full attacking more easily.  Also, anything that adds damage per strike can add up fast, so maybe see if you can get a Stormguard Warrior thing going with a Warblade dip.

[weenog]

Q80: Is the SRD screwed up and contradicting the rulebook/errata, or does Bite of the Wolf really scale up based on your class level instead of your manifester level?

[Aharon]

A80 Yep, it's class level in the XPH, too.

[weenog]