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D&D® Game Rule Frequently Asked Questions
Table of Contents
Foreword..................................................................1
Character Classes.....................................................1
Character Races.......................................................4
Combat and Initiative...............................................4
Equipment and Magic Items....................................9
Feats.......................................................................11
Miscellaneous........................................................13
Monsters.................................................................15
Multiclassed Characters.........................................16
Skills......................................................................17
Spells......................................................................18
Sword and Fist
.......................................................25
Psionics Handbook
................................................26
Defenders of the Faith
............................................30
Character Classes
Does Death Touch, the granted power of the death domain, have a
saving throw?
No, it does not.
When using the granted power from the Luck domain, do you
have to decide to make the reroll before you ind out what the result
is, or do you get know if you’ve failed or not before deciding to
reroll? For example if I roll an 18, but I need at least 19, do I get to
know that an 18 is a failure, or do I have to decide before then?
Technically, you have to decide to reroll before you know if you’ve
succeeded or failed; that’s why the power description says you’ve got to
keep the reroll even if it’s worse than the original roll. It’s incumbent on
the DM to allow a player at least a moment to decide whether to use the
ability. If the DM simply blurts out the result immediately, it’s okay to
let the player reroll.
What, exactly, is a bard’s countersong effective against? Will it
work on effects that don’t allow saving throws? Will it work against
a thunderstone?
Countersong works on sonic magical effects — that is any spell,
supernatural ability, or spell-like effect that has the sonic or language-
dependent designator. But not against extraordinary abilities and non-
magical sound, such as a thunderstone.
Since countersong allows you to use the bard’s Perform check result
as your saving throw result, it is not effective against spells or effects that
have no saving throw to begin with.
Foreword
If you have a question about the D&D game rules, chances are that you’ll
ind them within this FAQ. There are several sections, as you can tell
by the Table of Contents that we’ve included in this PDF. If you have a
question that isn’t answered here, please contact custserv@wizards.com
and ask away! You can also contact the Sage, Skip Williams, by writing
to him at these handy locations:
Do you need to be able to hear a bard’s countersong to beneit
from it?
No, you have to be within 30 feet of the bard (the countersong follows
the rules for a spread) and be subjected to an effect that the countersong
can counter (see previous question). Note that if you’re deafened, you
probably aren’t subject to anything the countersong can counter.
Email:
thesage@wizards.com
Mail:
“Sage Advice” c/o Dragon Magazine
1801 Lind Ave. S.W.
Renton, WA 98055
We will be updating this FAQ over time, and each version will have a
date stamp on it so that you know which version you have.
Date Compiled:
10/8/2001
I don’t see any limit on the number of sneak attacks a rogue can
make in a round. Suppose a high-level thief is hiding. Two villains
walk within 5 feet of her. Can the rogue use an attack of opportunity
as a sneak attack and then, assuming she gets initiative, make as
many sneak attacks as she has attacks? Can she sneak attack each
of the villains? What if the rogue has a bow? If she has Rapid Shot,
does this increase the number of sneak attacks she can make?
A rogue deals extra damage with a sneak attack anytime the target
is denied Dexterity bonus to AC or anytime the rogue lanks the target,
no matter how many attacks the rogue makes. These conditions are not
likely to occur during an attack of opportunity, but if they do (such
as when the rogue is unseen), the rogue gets her sneak attack bonus
damage. The same holds true for ranged weapons (but see the next ques-
tion), provided that the rogue is within 30 feet of her target. Note that
sneak attacks are never possible when the rogue cannot see her target.
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Since undead are immune to critical hits, I assume a ranger whose
favored enemy is undead never gets a damage bonus against undead.
I had been leaning toward giving the damage bonus anyway. All
undead are critical proof, most are also immune bluff checks, and
the Wilderness Lore skill wouldn’t be to useful against undead,
either (“Flee! These are zombie squirrels!”) It seems to me that
choosing undead as a favored just seems exceptionally weak com-
pared to other the choices.
Undead are indeed immune to critical hits and are also immune to
sneak attacks and the ranger’s favored enemy bonuses (the same holds
true for constructs, elementals, and oozes). Rangers who choose these
1
types of creatures as favored enemies are giving up power (the design-
ers did this intentionally). Oozes probably are the weakest choice, since
these creatures are all mindless and thus hard to bluff (Sense Motive
against an ooze tends to be pointless), but the ranger still gets a bonus to
Listen, Spot, and Wilderness Lore checks against the creature—keep in
mind that you make Wilderness Lore checks to track a creature.
leg) is used. The wording that appears in the book suggests that off-
hand strikes are possible for an unarmed monk, just unwise. How
would making an off-hand unarmed attack affect the monk’s lurry
of blows ability?
There’s no such thing as a monk making an off-hand unarmed attack
(because monks are already using pretty much their whole bodies for
unarmed combat). For unarmed monks, the lurry of blows ability
replaces off-hand unarmed attacks.
Is it true that a paladin without a positive Charisma modiier
cannot use lay on hands?
Yes. A paladin’s Charisma bonus governs the lay on hands ability. If
you don’t have a Charisma bonus, you don’t lay on hands, so be sure to
assign good Charisma scores to your paladin characters.
Can monks deal subdual damage with unarmed strikes without
grappling? If so, do they suffer a –4 attack penalty, as with any other
normal-damage attack?
Usually, a monk’s unarmed strikes deal normal damage, but a monk
can choose to deal subdual damage instead with no penalty on her attack
roll. A monk has the same choice to deal normal or subdual damage
while grappling (see Grapple, on page 137 of the
Player’s Handbook
).
The section on alignment in the cleric class description (pages
29–30 in the
Player’s Handbook
) says most clerics of Heironeous,
god of valor (who is lawful good) are lawful good themselves, but
some are lawful neutral or neutral good. This seems to conlict with
the statement that a cleric may not be neutral unless his deity is neu-
tral. I don’t understand what this restriction was intended to be.
In this case, “neutral” means neutral on both the good-evil axis and
on the law-chaos axis or “true neutral” (
Player’s Handbook
, page 89).
A cleric’s alignment must be the same as his deity’s alignment or within
one step of his deity’s alignment; that is, adjacent (but not diagonally
adjacent) to the deity’s alignment on the alignment chart, (see Table
6–1). The true neutral alignment is an exception. You can’t have a true
neutral cleric of a deity who is not true neutral. Note that St. Cuthbert,
a lawful neutral deity, allows only lawful good or lawful neutral clerics,
even though the lawful evil alignment is within one step of St. Cuthbert’s
alignment.
Does a monk or other character with the Improved Unarmed
Strike feat provoke an attack of opportunity when starting a grap-
ple?
Yes. Grabbing and holding on to a foe is a tad more risky than just
hitting the foe.
Does the monk’s Wisdom-based bonus to armor class prevent a
rogue from using the sneak attack ability against (like the uncanny
dodge ability)?
No. If monks got uncanny dodge or the equivalent of that ability the
class description would say so.
The
Players Handbook
says ex-clerics lose all class features; pre-
sumably clerics don’t lose their armor and shield proiciencies, or
their weapon proiciencies (except those granted as domain powers),
both of which are listed as class features.
Armor, shield, and weapon proiciencies are indeed class features for
clerics and for any other class. Nevertheless, you’re correct. Ex-clerics
lose spells, domain powers (including domain-based weapons), sponta-
neous casting, and power over the undead. They retain proiciency in
simple weapons and all types of armor and shields.
A monk doesn’t get to add her base attack bonus to her unarmed
attack bonus does he? I was a little confused when reading the sec-
tion in the monk class description about lurry of blows. It talks
about a 6th-level monk with two unarmed attacks at +7 and +4. The
chart shows a monk at 6th level getting two attacks at +4 and +1.
No, you don’t add a monk’s base attack bonus to the monk’s unarmed
attack bonus. Use the Base Attack column on Table 3–10 when a monk
uses a weapon and use the Unarmed Attack column when the monk
attacks without a weapon.
The lurry of blows example in early printings of the
Player’s Handbook
is erroneous; actually it’s based on an unpublished version of Ember, our
iconic monk, who has some extra bonuses igured into her attack values
(this has been corrected in more recent printings). A 6th-level monk with
no extra bonuses normally gets two unarmed attacks at +4/+1 (not +5/+2
as shown in the example). If she uses lurry of blows, she gets an extra
unarmed attack at her highest attack bonus, but all her unarmed attacks
suffer a –2 penalty, which gives her three unarmed attacks at +2/+2/–1.
Can true neutral clerics of true neutral deities, such as Fhar-
langhn, cast any Chaos, Evil, Good, or Law spell? Does a true neu-
tral cleric’s choice of whether to turn or rebuke undead affect what
spells she can cast?
True neutral clerics can cast any spell with the Chaos, Evil, Good,
or Law domain, provided the spell in question is on the cleric spell list
(see pages 160–163 in the
Player’s Handbook
) or in one of the cleric’s
chosen domains. The cleric’s choice of whether to turn or rebuke undead
affects does not affect what spells she can prepare, but it does affect what
spells she can cast spontaneously, as noted on page 32 of the
Player’s
Handbook
.
I would like to know if the base attack bonuses and the unarmed
attack bonuses stack for monks. I could not ind anything in the
description and at higher levels these bonuses seem like they could
be excessive if they do stack.
Do not add values from the Base Attack Bonus column on Table 3–10
to those on the Unarmed Attack Bonus column. Use the Base Attack
Bonus when the monk makes an armed attack and the Unarmed Attack
Bonus column when the monk makes an unarmed attack (see next ques-
tion).
Page 90 in the
Player’s Handbook
has a rule that says the various
racial deities can only have clerics of the correct races. For example,
only dwarves can be clerics of Moradin. Does this rule also apply to
other divine spellcasters, such as rangers and paladins?
No. The rule is only for clerics. Technically, the rule governing cleric
alignments on page 30 of the
Player’s Handbook
also only applies the
clerics. Paladins and rangers, for example, can have alignments consid-
erably different from the deities they serve (though paladins by practical
necessity serve good deities, usually lawful good deities).
Does a monk always have to use his unarmed attack bonus when
making an unarmed attacks? What happens when a 10th-level
ighter picks up one level of monk? Does the character now have an
attack bonus of +0 when making unarmed attacks?
No, a monk does not always have to use his unarmed attack bonus
when making unarmed attacks. The monk can use his best available
attack bonus (and number of attacks) along with his unarmed damage
or use just his unarmed attack bonus and unarmed damage. For exam-
ple, 10th-level ighter/1st-level monk has a base attack bonus of +10/+5,
which is much better than a 1st-level monk’s +0. The character can make
Can a monk get an extra unarmed attack each round by making
an off-hand attack? The monk class description says making an off-
hand strike makes no sense for a monk ighting unarmed. Presum-
ably, this means that monks are always considered to be using their
primary hand when striking unarmed, regardless of which arm (or
2
two unarmed attacks and still use his 1st-level unarmed damage of 1d6.
You seem to be confused by the text dealing with multiclassed monks
on page 55 of the
Player’s Handbook.
This text merely points out that a
monk has the option to use only his unarmed attack bonus for unarmed
attacks if doing so wold give him more attacks. For example, a 1st-
level ighter/10th-level monk has a total attack bonus of +8/+3 (+1 for
being a 1st-level ighter, +7 for being a 10th-level monk). When attack-
ing unarmed the monk can make two attacks a +8/+3 or the monk can
use just his 10th-level unarmed attack bonus of +7/+4/+1 since that gives
the monk more attacks.
The
Player’s Handbook
mentions that sorcerers can obtain spells
from other sources, which implies that they can choose spells from
beyond the sorcerer/wizard spell list. Does this mean sorcerers can
access divine magic as well?
No. The text in question (on page 50 of the irst-printing
Player’s
Handbook
) is an error left over from an earlier draft of the rules. The
error has since been corrected. Sorcerers are limited to spells on the
sorcerer/wizard list. Note that other books add spells to the sorcerer/
wizard list and sorcerers certainly can use those.
I can ind no where in the
Players Handbook
a mention of a
monk’s unarmed strike having a critical of
×
2. However, on the
monk character sheet it lists it that way. What is the correct value?
Also, when does an unarmed attack score a threat?
Any weapon (including an unarmed strike and a monster’s natural
weapon) threatens a critical on an attack roll of 20 and inlicts ×2
damage on a conirmed critical hit unless some other value is listed.
Good clerics can lose a prepared spell to spontaneously cast any
cure wounds spell. Can any good cleric do this even if healing is
not one of his chosen domains? If so, why is there even a healing
domain?
A cleric’s domains have nothing to do with spontaneous casting, only
the cleric’s alignment matters (in the case of neutral clerics, it’s the dei-
ty’s alignment that matters), see page 32 in the
Player’s Handbook
.
There’s a healing domain because many deities concern themselves
with healing. Extra
cure
spells aren’t the only beneit clerics with the
healing domain get. They get a caster level boost when casting their
healing spells (making them slightly better healers than other clerics).
Also, their domain spells 5th level and higher not
cure wounds
spells, so
other clerics cannot spontaneously cast them.
How long does it take a monk to use the wholeness of body abil-
ity? Is it treated as a spell-like ability for use in combat? Does it
function in antimagic ields?
Wholeness of body is a supernatural ability. Supernatural abilities
don’t work in antimagic ields and do not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Using a wholeness of body is a standard action (using any supernatural
ability is a standard action unless it description speciically says other-
wise).
Can a Diviner prepare detect magic as a bonus spell, because it’s
a detection spell, or is it a universal spell and therefore not a divina-
tion?
The
detect magic
spell belongs to the universal school, not the divina-
tion school, so diviners can’t claim it as a bonus school spell.
The description of the ranger class says rangers cannot use cannot
use double-headed weapons when using their two-weapon ighting
ability. What, exactly, is a double-headed weapon? The glossary has
an entry for a double weapon, but not for a double-headed weapon.
Is a quarterstaff a double-headed weapon?
Though the ranger class description refers to a double-headed weapon,
the correct term is “double weapon” (a “double-ended” weapon also
is a double weapon). All double weapons are shown on table 7–4. If
the weapon has two damage ratings separated by a slash it is a double
weapon. A quarterstaff is a double weapon.
One can use both ends of a double weapon just as if they were two
weapons, or just one end (if you use one end in two hands, you get
one and half times your Strength bonus to damage). Rangers, however,
cannot use double weapons with their special two-weapon ighting abili-
ties, not even quarterstaffs.
Can masters who possess spell-like or supernatural abilities share
those abilities with their familiars (or paladins’ mounts)? Can the
master share any spell she receives? Or just spells she casts.
Master and familiar (or paladin’s mount), can share only spells the
master casts on herself (that is, the master must cast the spell and select
herself as the target). Only spells can be shared, not spell-like, super-
natural, extraordinary, or natural abilities.
The list of familiar abilities says the familiar uses either the skills
listed for the kind of animal familiar is or the master’s skills, which-
ever are better. What are “better” skills? How can you compare
skills?
If the master has it and the familiar doesn’t, it’s “better,” and the
familiar can use it provided that it is physically able to do so. (It would
be hard for a cat, for example, to use a Craft skill). In this case, use the
master’s skill ranks and the familiar’s relevant ability score.
If the master and the familiar both have the same skill the familiar
uses the master’s skill ranks, or the familiar’s, whichever are higher.
The
Player’s Handbook
says a sorcerer class casts arcane spells by
virtue of raw magical talent or a gift, as opposed to the wizard’s aca-
demic, systematic approach. If this is the case, can a sorcerer cast a
spell that requires a material components or a focus without using
the components or focus?
No, a sorcerer has a natural talent or gift for arcane spells, but that
talent or gift only allows the sorcerer to cast a spell without preparing
it ahead of time. If you were to watch a wizard and a sorcerer casting
the same spell, you could not tell just by looking which was the sorcerer
and which was the wizard (not even a successful Spellcraft check would
reveal that). The sorcerer uses all the components the spell requires
(verbal, somatic, and material) and uses them the same way a wizard
does. Of course, the sorcerer can use a feat to make a component unnec-
essary, such as Still Spell to eliminate a spell’s somatic component.
The
Player’s Handbook
says a familiar gets half the master’s hit
points. What, constitutes the master’s hit points? Does the master
Constitution adjustment apply? What about the Toughness feat?
What about temporary hit point increases such as
aid
spells or extra
hit points from temporary Constitution increases such as the endur-
ance spell?
The familiar gets half the master’s (undamaged) hit points, rounded
down. Constitution bonuses and the Toughness feat count, as does any
other permanent hit point gain (such as from gaining a level or a perma-
nent increase in Constitution). Temporary hit point gains don’t affect the
familiar’s hit points.
Are sorcerers, bards, and clerics using spontaneous casting able
to use the Quicken Spell metamagic feat?
They can, but there no point in their doing so. A sorcerer or bard who
uses a metamagic feat on a spell must cast the spell as a full-round action
(or the normal casting time plus an extra full-round action if the spell’s
casting time normally is longer than 1 action). Clerics using spontane-
ous casting must follow the same rule. This rule makes Quicken Spell
worthless for these characters.
The rules say a barbarian must spend 2 skill points to gain the
ability to read and write any language he is able to speak. Is this per
language, or once for all languages? What happens if a barbarian
becomes multiclassed?
When the barbarian spends 2 skill points, he becomes literate in every
language he speaks and in any language he learns to speak in the future.
3
Barbarians who become multiclassed automatically become literate
in all languages that they currently speak and in any future languages
they learn.
attack? My DM believes that a foe who is aware of the rogue can
protect herself and is not subject to sneak attacks. I disagree.
Whenever a rogue attacks an opponent who is lanked or denied a
Dexterity bonus to AC (such as when caught lat-footed), the rogue’s
attack is a sneak attack. It makes no difference how many attacks the
rogue makes or whether the opponent is aware of the rogue or not. (Note
that opponents who are not subject to critical hits, such as constructs,
elementals, oozes, plants, and undead, are not subject to sneak attacks.)
Note that in earlier versions of the game only the irst attack a rogue
made in a round could be a sneak attack. That is no longer the case.
The other players in my group insist that my lawful good cleric
cannot cast the 1st-level
doom
spell. Is that correct? I know my char-
acter can’t cast
inlict light wounds
, but where is the rule that says I
can’t cast
doom?
There is no such rule. Perhaps your other players are thinking about
the general one that bars clerics from casting certain spells that have an
alignment designator (see Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells on
page 32 in the
Player’s Handbook
).
Doom
, however, has no alignment
designator, and a cleric of any alignment can cast it.
The
inlict light wounds
doesn’t have an alignment designator, either,
so any cleric can cast that as well. What your lawful good cleric cannot
do is use the spontaneous casting rule to cast
inlict light wounds
. As a
good cleric, you can spontaneously cast only cure spells.
When can a monk add his Wisdom modiier to Armor Class? I
can understand that it’s added to the Armor Class (normal), Armor
Class (lat-footed), and Armor Class (touch attack). Is this also taken
into account when the monk is carrying either a Moderate or Heavy
load? What if the monk is surprised or caught lat-footed?
The monk’s Wisdom modiier to Armor Class applies all the time
(except when the monk is helpless).
The granted powers for some of the cleric domains (such as Travel
and Magic) speciically say effectiveness is linked to your cleric level.
Other granted powers (such as Protection and Strength) do not;
they just say “your level”. In the case of a multiclassed cleric, would
domain granted powers that don’t specify “cleric” level be based on
character level instead?
A cleric’s domain abilities are class abilities and as such are based on
cleric level only.
Character Races
Why do half-orcs suffer a net penalty of –2 to their initial ability
rolls?
You refer, I presume, to the half-orc’s racial ability adjustments of +2
Strength, –2 Intelligence, and –2 Charisma (add up all those numbers
and you do indeed get a net –2). The game’s designers decided that a +2
bonus to Strength scores more than outweighs the –2 penalty to Intelli-
gence and Charisma, especially considering the half orc’s 60-foot dark-
vision and favored class of barbarian. The numbers don’t always tell the
whole story.
I was wondering if a cleric would be able to turn an outsider such
as a lawful good cleric attempting to turn a demon? Under the old
rules, you could do that (with dificulty), but I can’t ind any rules
for it in the core books.
Turning only affects undead. Some cleric domains allow you turn,
rebuke or, command creatures other than undead, see pages 162–166 in
the
Player’s Handbook,
but no domain grants that power over good, evil,
chaotic, or lawful outsiders.
You could reintroduce this power into your campaign by creating a
new feat or by creating a prestige class.
I’ve noticed that it is possible for some races to obtain Strength,
Dexterity, or Constitution of 20, yet there are no modiiers for that
particular score. What would they be respectively?
An ability score 20 or 21 has an ability modiier of +5 (see Table 2–1).
Note that in the current rules all ability scores use the same chart for
bonuses and penalties.
When you have a domain power that lets you turn or rebuke
something other than undead, does using that power count against
your daily uses of power to turn undead as a cleric? Can you trade a
use of undead turning for a use of another turning, or vice versa?
No on all counts. A domain turning ability is separate from the cleric’s
undead turning ability. You track the daily use of each separately and you
can’t trade uses between abilities.
Combat and Initiative
Is the refocus combat maneuver intended for the next combat round
only? Do you reroll initiative the next round? I can see this being
abused by most all character’s who do not gain a very good initiative
for the combat session — they can refocus and possibly win initia-
tive for the rest of the combat.
When you refocus, you spend your entire round refocusing; you
cannot act or move (you can’t even move except for a 5-foot step). You
do not reroll initiative next round; your initiative is treated as though
you’ve rolled a 20 on your initiative check. Though many people seem
to think refocus is great option, it’s seldom—if ever—worth doing (see
next question).
Say you have a cleric with access to the domains of both Sun and
Water. If the cleric used a turning attempt to try to turn a ire-based
creature, could he use a greater turning (the Sun domain power)
to destroy the creature? The greater turning description says it
destroys undead creatures instead of turning them. Can this be used
for other things a cleric can turn, such as the power granted by the
Fire or Water domain?
The greater turning only affects undead, not other creatures the cleric
might be able to turn.
What’s the use of the refocus action when you can ready an action
and go at the highest person’s initiative?
If your initiative number is not the “highest” and you wind up hold-
ing a readied action until a person with a higher initiative number
acts, you’re effectively giving up your action so you can go earlier in
a later round, which is pretty much the same as refocusing. In some
rare instances, refocus could be better, because it can set your initiative
number fairly high, and that could be an advantage if new foes enter the
ight. In general, you’re right though. Refocus is mostly a “feel good”
option, as in: “I’ve refocused and now look at what a
great
initiative
number I have!”
In the game’s cyclical initiative system, it’s almost always to your
advantage to act as soon as you can and refocus actually delays your
action by forcing it into the next round. Using delay or ready is just
What happens when undead are destroyed in a turning attempt?
Is there a difference between undead destroyed in a regular turning
attempts and undead destroyed by greater turning?
In either case, the creatures’ bodies are destroyed and reduced to dust
or ashes. DMs can describe the process any way they like. I suggest an
effect just like the destruction spell: The creature is slain and its remains
are consumed by holy ire.
Say a rogue attempts to perform a sneak attack on a target and
the target is lanked and engaged with another character, but aware
of the rogue. Does the rogue get the extra damage dice for the sneak
4
about always smarter than refocusing. About the only time refocus isn’t
a foolish thing to do is when you’ve got absolutely nothing useful to do
anyway.
If you use a light weapon on your other hand, the attack penalties
are slightly lower, see Table 8–2 in the
Player’s Handbook
(and the text
accompanying it) for details.
The 2nd Edition AD&D® game had a rule that allowed charac-
ters with multiple attacks to attack before foes who were only enti-
tled to single attacks, but the rule also made them wait to make the
second and later attacks until their foes had acted at least once. The
all-out attack action seems to break that rule. Is this correct?
Yes, it is. If you choose the all-out attack action, you make all your
attacks during your turn, not matter how many attacks you have or what
your position in the initiative order is. Your multiple attacks do not
change your initiative number.
Note that all-out attack does not allow a move (except for a 5-foot
step), which usually means that a character with a high initiative number
will not be able to use it until the second round of a combat.
Does someone who readies a weapon against a charge get his
Strength modiier to attack and damage?
Yes. Attacking a charging opponent with a readied weapon is a melee
attack and all the rules for melee attacks apply.
Can someone who charges get an attack of opportunity if some-
one moves through his threatened area later that round?
Yes. Charging imposes an Armor Class penalty, but it doesn’t keep
you from threatening an area or making attacks of opportunity.
Can someone who has been tripped or is otherwise prone get an
attack of opportunity if someone goes through his threatened area?
Just being prone doesn’t prevent you from threatening the area around
you or making attacks of opportunity. Any attacks of opportunity a prone
creature makes suffer the –4 attack penalty for being prone.
How can I get away from someone without them getting an attack
of opportunity against me?
Once you factor in the effects of skills and spells, the game offers a
plethora of ways to escape unharmed. Even if you don’t have a spell or
skill to get you out of trouble, you can disengage from an opponent and
not receive an opportunity attack just by moving. If all you do during our
turn is move (not run), the irst 5-foot square you leave is not considered
threatened and nobody can get an attack of opportunity against you. If
you later move through another threatened area, however, you are sub-
ject to attacks of opportunity (if your opponent has reach, forget about
getting away with drawing an attack of opportunity).
Even if you take advantage of this rule, you’ll need to have a better
movement rate than your opponent or move someplace where your
opponent can’t follow to get clean away.
Can someone take an action and then instead of moving after the
action go on the ready to move? A typical use for this would the
wizard who gets ready to run away after casting her spell if someone
comes after her.
You can ready any partial action. You can’t take a standard action,
such as casting a spell, and ready an action (readying is a standard action
all by itself). Note that you can take a move after any standard action, so
you can cast a spell and move away. So, if you want to get out of Dodge
after casting a spell, you’ve got to do it right after you inish the spell.
Can you ready the coup de grace action?
No. A coup de grace is a full round action and you can only ready
partial actions.
If I want to disrupt someone’s spell, do I have to deal damage on
the same initiative number as the caster (by using a readied action)
or can I deal damage to the enemy spellcaster anytime during the
round before the spell is cast?
Damage a spellcaster suffers before his turn doesn’t affect his spell-
casting unless it come in the form of continuing damage, such as from
Melf’s acid arrow
(see the Concentration section of Chapter 10 in the
Player’s Handbook
and the description of the Concentration skill in
Chapter 4). You can use a readied action to try and disrupt the spell-
caster, but you might not need to. Spellcasting provokes an attack of
opportunity unless the spellcaster successfully casts on the defensive
(see the Magic Actions section of Chapter 8). Perhaps the best way to
disrupt an opponent’s spells is to grapple him.
If a melee attack causes a saving throw every time it damages an
opponent (a monster with a poisonous bite, for example) and the
attack is a conirmed critical hit, are two saves rolled because there
are two damages rolled?
A critical hit doesn’t deliver any extra poison; however, there are spe-
cial attacks that do have extra effects with critical hits. These include
energy drains, ability drains, and most kinds of ability damage that are
not dealt through poison. See the introduction to the
Monster Manual
or
Chapter 3 of the
D
UNGEON
M
ASTER
’s Guide
.
Suppose there’s a combat on a turret or parapet 5 feet above a
lower turret or parapet. What happens when a character makes a
5-foot step off the upper turret, falling 5 feet? Is there an attack of
opportunity in there somewhere? Can you withdraw and not take
an attack of opportunity when vertical movement is involved? Or do
you have to “jump” the equivalent of 10 feet to go 5 feet back and 5
feet down, thus making the movement more than 5 feet and provok-
ing an attack of opportunity?
I suppose you could call the movement you’ve described a 5-foot step.
If the character in question was right at the edge of the drop-off, you
could say that he’s moving 1 diagonal to the lower surface (the irst diag-
onal you use during a move counts as 5 feet). In this case the character
could still attack or take another action and would not provoke an attack
of opportunity when withdrawing (because when your only movement is
a 5-foot step, that movement does not provoke an attack of opportunity).
If there was a battlement or something that the character has to step over
before dropping down, of if there is more than 5 feet of space between
the character and the drop-off, then the move isn’t just a 5-foot step.
However, the character still can withdraw from the ight by doing noth-
ing except moving (in this case, jumping off the battlement is move-
ment). When all you do is move, the irst 5-foot area you leave is not
considered threatened.
My wizard cast a spell in combat and drew an attack of opportu-
nity. The attack missed. Does my wizard still have to make a Con-
centration check to cast the spell?
No, the attack of opportunity must hit to force a Concentration
check.
If I’m ighting with two weapons and I have multiple attacks (say,
two at +6/+1), do I then have three attacks per round or do I use the
second weapon for the +1 attack? How do I calculate the bonuses
(assuming I don’t have Ambidexterity or Two-Weapon Fighting)?
Do I use the +6 or the +1 for calculating the penalty for the addi-
tional attack?
A second weapon gives you one extra attack each round at your best
attack bonus. You make your normal number of attacks with your pri-
mary hand and one attack with your other hand, When you use an extra
weapon, however, all the attacks you make suffer a penalty. If you don’t
have the Two-Weapon Fighting or Ambidexterity feats, all the attacks
you make with your primary hand suffer a –6 penalty and the attack you
make with your other hand suffers a –10 penalty. Assuming no other
bonuses, the character in your example would make two attacks with her
primary hand at +0/–5 and one attack with her other hand at –6.
5
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