Ask a Simple Question: Attack the Darkness!

[Kuroimaken]

Q16 addendum: What of for reducing the casting time of 9th level spells?

Anima Mages get the ability to cast any spell as an immediate action once per day as their capstone. You'll lose one CL, tops (none if you go in via feats).

[Aharon]

A20
No, they are not considered helpless (-2 to Dex instead of Dex 0).

Q21
If I use Spellstoring Item on a wand, and use Power Surge on the same wand, can I use the temporary charges to cast the spell I stored in the wand more than once, or do the temporary charges only apply to the spell that was put in the wand at its' creation? What happens if I use Concurrent Infusions to infuse both at the same time?

[snakeman830]

Q17: I'm having a surprisingly hard time finding resources that do in-depth discussions of psionic powers. 

Affinity Field in XPH states that it affects all creatures in the area... does that include enemies?  Because that makes it seem pretty useless to me, aside from having enemies kill themselves by attacking you (hope you have more HP than them...)
Also, it states that buffs on the caster also go to anyone affected by the Affinity Field.  Does that work both ways?  Like if a cleric casts Shield of Faith on himself while in the field does it also go to the psion?

Affinity Field is a difficult one to use properly, but yes, the power does affect enemies as well as allies.  It's best used for things like minimizing healing resources, buffing resources, or compunding blasting damage multiple times over.

[Agita]

Q15: I'm looking for a divine PRC that advances to 9th level casting in 10 levels, but unfortunately it can't be evil, so UR-Priest is out Any ideas

Divine Crusader, but you only get spells from a single domain. It's either that, or Apostle of Peace.

I saw the Crusader, but its so....narrow...The Apostle is (insert explicit material here) for feats. This is going to be hard...

Q7121: Maybe there's a PRC that advances Divine casting from 4th to 9th? Just like the Sublime chord does for arcane?

None of those, sorry. Seriously, Divine Crusader isn't that bad, especially if you can pick up versatile domains like Transformation, Summoner, or Illusion. You could go DC 1/Contemplative 1/SCM 3/Contemplative +5 for three domains plus Shadow Illusion. That's a lot of spells. Picking up a domain with Miracle will also help you.

Otherwise, yeah, show your DM the adaptation section of Ur-Priest and/or note that atheism isn't evil.

[PhaedrusXY]

Q 19 If six creatures with a sickening aura come up to your character, do you have to make six separate rolls, or are you safe after making the first save?

Unless the creatures' stat block says that once you've saved then you're immune to that ability from all of those creatures, then yeah you have to save against all of them. In most cases, even if saving gives you immunity, it is only immunity to that attack from that individual creature.

[kevin_video]

Q 19 If six creatures with a sickening aura come up to your character, do you have to make six separate rolls, or are you safe after making the first save?

Unless the creatures' stat block says that once you've saved then you're immune to that ability from all of those creatures, then yeah you have to save against all of them. In most cases, even if saving gives you immunity, it is only immunity to that attack from that individual creature.

Damn, that's harsh. Maybe the DM's not as incompetent as I thought. At least not until I see the stats of the creature.

[PhaedrusXY]

Q 19 If six creatures with a sickening aura come up to your character, do you have to make six separate rolls, or are you safe after making the first save?

Unless the creatures' stat block says that once you've saved then you're immune to that ability from all of those creatures, then yeah you have to save against all of them. In most cases, even if saving gives you immunity, it is only immunity to that attack from that individual creature.

Damn, that's harsh. Maybe the DM's not as incompetent as I thought. At least not until I see the stats of the creature.

Yeah... it is extremely nasty to have multiple things that have save or suck abilities that stack. That's why you don't ever want to go raid the troglodyte village (unless you're immune to their stench).

[kevin_video]

Yeah... it is extremely nasty to have multiple things that have save or suck abilities that stack. That's why you don't ever want to go raid the troglodyte village (unless you're immune to their stench).

lol One of my groups has done that before, but we had high fort saves so we were fine.

[Viletta Vadim]

well, what you are looking for is a multiple-variable regression (which involves differential equations) -- which is just a pain in the ass to do (well, for me, it's just more work than I'm willing to do for my D&D).  

if anyone here is an actual mathematician or statistician, then they might be more inclined to help. (I'm not trying to be a smart-ass or anything ; just trying to be realistic -- FWIW).

I took differential equations, but I've already forgotten pretty much everything about that course... though for that much work, I could just brute-force the scenario more easily.  Ah, well.  Looks like I'll be doing the math myself before too long.

[Vinom]

well, what you are looking for is a multiple-variable regression (which involves differential equations) -- which is just a pain in the ass to do (well, for me, it's just more work than I'm willing to do for my D&D).  

if anyone here is an actual mathematician or statistician, then they might be more inclined to help. (I'm not trying to be a smart-ass or anything ; just trying to be realistic -- FWIW).

I took differential equations, but I've already forgotten pretty much everything about that course... though for that much work, I could just brute-force the scenario more easily.  Ah, well.  Looks like I'll be doing the math myself before too long.

I have the same feeling...

[Garryl]

Q10 Anyone have a probability distribution for a modified opposed d20 check, either in chart or formula form?  Like, what's the probability of winning initiative if your initiative is seven greater than the opponent's?

well, what you are looking for is a multiple-variable regression (which involves differential equations) -- which is just a pain in the ass to do (well, for me, it's just more work than I'm willing to do for my D&D). 

if anyone here is an actual mathematician or statistician, then they might be more inclined to help. (I'm not trying to be a smart-ass or anything ; just trying to be realistic -- FWIW).

I took differential equations, but I've already forgotten pretty much everything about that course... though for that much work, I could just brute-force the scenario more easily.  Ah, well.  Looks like I'll be doing the math myself before too long.

The math is pretty simple if you think about it as a process rather than, well, math. You've got X chances in 400 that you win, Y chances in 400 that you lose, and Z chances in 400 that you start the process over again without any changes. If you ignore the part that just repeats, because it returns you to the original probability distribution, then the math simplifies to the following:

S = (190 + sigma[n=(0,D),(20-n)])/(400-20+D)

S is the chance of success for the person with the higher modifier.
D is the difference between the higher and lower modifiers.
I'd explain the sigma part properly math-like, but I can't seem to think of it other than as a for loop.

Code: [Select]

  for (int n=0; n < D; n++)
       sigma += (20-n);

Anyways, this should properly model the actual distribution. If you want to directly calculate the chance of losing (or of the lower modifier winning), just subtract the sigma part in the formula rather than adding it.

Some common values:

D+0:   S = 190/380 = 0.50
D+1:   S = 210/381 = 0.5512
D+2:   S = 229/382 = 0.5995
D+3:   S = 247/383 = 0.6449
D+4:   S = 264/384 = 0.6875
D+5:   S = 280/385 = 0.7273
D+10:  S = 345/390 = 0.8846
D+15:  S = 385/395 = 0.9747
D+19:  S = 399/399 = 1.00
D+20:  S = 400/400 = 1.00

[PhaedrusXY]

Thanks. I plotted that out and uploaded an image of it, just for fun. (pictures are illustrative ) Here it is. It is pretty much a perfect sigmoidal curve.

[Archmage Joda]

Q22 In what way would one be able to extend the duration of a Psi-Like Ability (namely, fission) to at least 1 hour?

[bearsarebrown]

Q22 In what way would one be able to extend the duration of a Psi-Like Ability (namely, fission) to at least 1 hour?

Action points?

[Hijax]

or with magic/psionics transparency, i think you would be able to get a psionic cersion of persistent spell.

[Nanshork]

Q23: I remember that back on the old 339 board there was a Magical Locations guide with all of the different bonus feats that you could get.  Is that still floating around anywhere, anybody randomly have a copy backed up?  It isn't one of the things that I saved when I migrated.

[Agita]

Q23: I remember that back on the old 339 board there was a Magical Locations guide with all of the different bonus feats that you could get.  Is that still floating around anywhere, anybody randomly have a copy backed up?  It isn't one of the things that I saved when I migrated.

A 23

The link in the old Handy Links thread is suffering from Front Page Sydrome. Try web.archive.org. It doesn't return anything for the specific url of the link in the thread, but if you have enough time on your hands, you could search through it all manually.

[Hijax]

Q24: if you take a divine spellcasting class after taking levels in ur-priest, do you lose the ur-priest spellcasting?

[PhaedrusXY]

Q25: What are the armor check penalties on the chahar-aina and dastana from Oriental Adventures? And do they prohibit you from using a shield at all, or one (or both) just doesn't stack with a shield? I have the book at home, but if someone has it handy and would look it up I'd appreciate it.

[McPoyo]

Q25: What are the armor check penalties on the chahar-aina and dastana from Oriental Adventures? And do they prohibit you from using a shield at all, or one (or both) just doesn't stack with a shield? I have the book at home, but if someone has it handy and would look it up I'd appreciate it.

Dastana is Arms and Equipment Guide, -1 check penalty, +1 shield to AC, can only be used with leather, studded leather, chain shirt, and chainmail.