Spring Attack with Touch Spell?

[underfoot]

Could you not use a stand action to cast the spell (say, inflict light wounds) and then use spring attack to move in, deliver the touch and move back out?

I believe the "touch" part of the spell is a free action that can be used during the round that you cast the spell (afterward, it's a standard action to deliver the touch). I use this normally to cast the spell at range and then move in to deliver the touch without provoking an AoO.

Now that I'm trying to find the rule to quote that, I can't find it. =/

 

[Mouseferatu]

Could you not use a stand action to cast the spell (say, inflict light wounds) and then use spring attack to move in, deliver the touch and move back out?

I believe the "touch" part of the spell is a free action that can be used during the round that you cast the spell (afterward, it's a standard action to deliver the touch). I use this normally to cast the spell at range and then move in to deliver the touch without provoking an AoO.

Now that I'm trying to find the rule to quote that, I can't find it. =/

Nope; doesn't work that way.

The "touch attack" is considered part of the casting if you make the attack immediately, and doesn't take a separate action, but it's still a "normal" touch attack in all respects. If you do not make the attack as part of the casting, it takes an action like any other attack.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Nope; doesn't work that way.

The "touch attack" is considered part of the casting if you make the attack immediately, and doesn't take a separate action, but it's still a "normal" touch attack in all respects. If you do not make the attack as part of the casting, it takes an action like any other attack.

Well, he's right that (in the absence of Spring Attack), using the Cast a Spell standard action and a move action, you can cast-touch-move, or cast-move-touch, or move-cast-touch. These are all explicitly allowed.

The problem is that the touch (whether it happens before or after the move) is part of the Cast a Spell action, not the Attack action, and so you can't combine it with Spring Attack.

underfoot is correct that you can cast from twenty feet away to avoid an AoO, then move up, then touch your opponent. But not with Spring Attack.

To use these spells, you cast the spell and then touch the subject, either in the same round or any time later. In the same round that you cast the spell, you may also touch (or attempt to touch) the target. You may take your move before casting the spell, after touching the target, or between casting the spell and touching the target.

-Hyp.

 

[Dheran]

The problem is that the touch (whether it happens before or after the move) is part of the Cast a Spell action, not the Attack action, and so you can't combine it with Spring Attack.

"Part of the Cast a Spell action"? That's definitely not the case. For one thing, you can take a move action between casting and attacking, so the attack is clearly separate from casting the spell. For another thing, an attack on you (immediate action or AoO) that would normally force a Concentration check or cause you to lose the spell, if made between casting and touching, would not endanger the spell. The spell is already successfully cast and your hands are charged.

The attack in the same round that you cast a touch spell is just a bonus attack allowed by the rules. It's not "part of casting the spell" at all: not the same action, and not subject to spell disruption. The only way in which the bonus attack is part of the "Cast a Spell" standard action is in the organization of the rules text. By that reasoning your move for the round is also part of the "Cast a Spell" standard action. Since that conclusion is ludicrous, the basic assumption must be flawed.