Ask the Sage: Quick Rules Questions volume 6 - DnD 3.5 and Pathfinder)

[ArcaneLizard]

Wait, you can use a weapon to initiate grapple?
I mean, sure, you can obviously use the Whip, the Chain, the Bolas, but a Sword? A Crossbow?
I had thought you had to be bare-handed or use a weapon that specifically allows it.

[NEON725]

If the crossbow had a rope attached to the bolt... Hilarity?

[Jondera]

There's a feat in CAdventurer that allows you to initiate grapple checks with ranged weapons by pinning peoples clothing (or anatomy) to solid objects.

[chaosaccountant]

Alright, something that has been confusing me for some time. When a Grey Ooze, Ochre Jelly or similar 'split', what are the stats for the component parts? I know they both have half the HP, but is that their maximum HP, or could they both be healed to full? Do they have the same BAB, HD total, saves etc? Do they have the same strength? What size would they be, and does that affect their attack/AC/grapple/stats/damage in the normal way?

[GeoAvanti]

Chaos, my impression of that dilemma is as follows:

Direct from the SRD.

"Split (Ex)

Slashing and piercing weapons and electricity attacks deal no damage to an ochre jelly. Instead the creature splits into two identical jellies, each with half of the original’s current hit points (round down). A jelly with 10 hit points or less cannot be further split and dies if reduced to 0 it points."

In this case, it should follow all of the same rules as a normal jelly/ooze of its kind-- there shouldn't be any stat changes from the original you are using. BAB, saves, size, etc. should be the same as the original creature used.

HP probably shouldn't be its maximum, since it should be the same HD, so it could probably be healed more-- though someone willing to touch it may have problems of their own.

However, I pose a further question, if a Jelly is under the effects of a spell with a duration, an it splits itself while still under those effects, do both Jellies suffer from the effects of the spell? For example, an Ochre Jelly is affected by a Ray of Enfeeblement. While suffering from this spell, it splits. Does the new Jelly also suffer from the same effects? What about the same numeric amounts?

If yes, does this cascading effect of magic ever technically end solely because of excessive amounts of splitting?

I assume it to be so, since Split calls for an identical creature-- identical would imply suffering from the same negatives for the same durations (or buffs, for any odd reason) that the original creature had problems with.

[ArcaneLizard]

I assume they would be fully affected, but the duration would be split.
Since the halved hp stems from the creature halving its own mass, and the magic could be assumed to "reside" in the creature's body.

[Damionte]

I could rule that going either way based on the circumstances. In most cases I think i would rule it continuing on with the same duration it had before.

To reinforce an answer to an earlier question, there are times yes where you can make grapple, or trip attempts with weapons. Some weapons can do one or the other or both as part of the ability for the base weapon. Some feats allow you to do one or the other or both with certain weapons as well.

[chaosaccountant]

That would make Ooze Pupet a fantastically powerful spell...

[ArcaneLizard]

That's why I theorized that the duration be divided evenly. It's not a failproof anti-exploitation device, but it helps downplay it.

Now I've got a question about Favored Souls. Don't they gain any bonus feats? I can't find any listing about it.

[Jondera]

Favored Souls are in CDivine, so not OGL... however, I can answer your question without violating anything...

They get weapon focus and specialization in their deity's favored weapon. That's it.

[Asztirejan]

No.

Why would they gain bonus feats?

The reason you can't find any listing is because there is none.

Well, for a truly complete answer, in theory an epic favored soul would acquire bonus feats and would thus have a bonus feat list, although I've never seen it. A quick check online could probably tell you whether or not an official epic favored soul progression has been released.

As for the question of magical effects in regard to an ooze splitting, this is just my personal opinion, and I doubt you guys will agree--but I've always ruled that when an ooze splits, the resulting "new" oozes are treated as literally "new" creatures. Anything effecting the "parent" ooze just effectively dissipates when the splitting occurs; thus the "new" oozes don't come into play under any pre-existing effects or conditions.

If you check the features of the Ooze type, you'll find that oozes are unaffected by most kinds of detrimental conditions, and although they aren't officially immune to spells such as ray of enfeeblement I've always houserules that the vast majority of non-damaging spells and effects just don't work on them. To me, this is just a natural extrapolation of the existing game rules (immunity to stunning, polymorph, critical hits, etc.) and the sensical assertion that an ooze is about as basic and simple a creature as it gets, and therefore just isn't affected by much other than pure damage. I suppose an argument could be made for a spell such as ray of enfeeblement--after all, there's no reason why strength-diminishing magic wouldn't work on anything--but I wouldn't worry about adjudicating that until and unless it came up in play, which is pretty unlikely in the first place.

In my experience, the universal method of dealing with oozes is straight damage anyway--I've never seen someone try to cast non-damaging spells on oozes. Why bother? Just stay out of range and nail them with ranged and area effect spells until they die. With their terrible initiative and speeds, unless you get taken by surprise you'd have to be either extremely stupid or extremely unlucky to actually end up in melee combat with one anyway.

[Naresh]

Pathfinder: Dragon disciple Here

A dragon disciple adds his level to his sorcerer levels when determining the powers gained from his bloodline. If the dragon disciple does not have levels of sorcerer, he instead gains bloodline powers of the draconic bloodline, using his dragon disciple level as his sorcerer level to determine the bonuses gained. He must choose a dragon type upon gaining his first level in this class and that type must be the same as his sorcerer type. This ability does not grant bonus spells to a sorcerer unless he possesses spell slots of an appropriate level. Such bonus spells are automatically granted if the sorcerer gains spell slots of the spell's level.

For what abilities does the DD add his levels to his sorcerer levels? Reading the first bit, it imples powers only, claws, wings, breath attack etc. But the next bit talks about gaining spells. This leads me onto feats, I assume they wouldn't gain feats, because DD has it's own class ability giving feats from the sorcerer draconic bloodline

[Jondera]

OK... After reading through both the DD entry and the Sorc entry, I've got it figured out.

If you have levels in Sorcerer, and then take levels in Dragon Disciple, you can add your DD level to your sorcerer level for the purpose of gaining Draconic Bloodline sorcerer abilities. For example, if a 5th level sorcerer starts taking levels in DD, then at Sorc5/DD2, they would gain a Bloodline Feat (just like a Sorc7 would), and at Sorc5/DD4, they gain a new bloodline power (just like a sorc9 would).

However, the bonus spells known granted by a bloodline are not learned unless the character can already cast spells of that level. For example, a Draconic Sorcerer 11 would usually learn the Spell Resistance spell, courtesy of their Bloodline. That spell, however, is 4th level, so while a Sorcerer5/Dragon Disciple 6 would normally gain all Bloodline abilities, they don't learn the Spell Resistance spell, because they cannot cast 4th level spells.

If, however, at some point in the future, they gain the ability to cast 4th level Sorc spells (say, through another PrC which grants sorc spellcasting), they would immediately learn Spell Resistance, in addition to any other 4th level spells they would know.

As for the feats... it looks to me like they would gain Bloodline feats from both sources... even a Sorc 10/DD 10 would only get 6 Bloodline feats (3 from sorc, 3 from DD), and there are 8 Draconic bloodline feats...

Does that clear it up for you?

[Naresh]

It does
Though I find it odd that you get feats from both sources...

Oh well, more power

[jj_wolven]

You do not get the bonus feats, just the Bloodline Powers and the Bloodline bonus spells.

This was specified by Paizo in their forum errata.

-me