Arcane Striking....how often ?

[THEBIGLOU]

Arcane Strike, everyone know that juicy feat but the wording can leave somethings up to interpretation.

Someone told me that you can you use multiple lower level spells to jack up your to hit (Max is BAB) and damage? Or will those lower level spells not stack w/ each other? Does anyone know for certain or have an opinion?

For those not in the know: it lets you "convert" a spell as a free action to give you +1 to hit and +1d4 damage per level on a melee weapon for the round. There is other wording that puts some limitations on it, but I can't reprint the whole feat.

BIGLOU

 

[Sammael]

"You must sacrifice one of your spells..." (emphasis mine) really doesn't leave any room for interpretation. Just because it is a free action doesn't mean you can perform it multiple times per round to sacrifice more spells. In fact, under the new nomenclature, using arcane strike should be a swift action.

 

[LokiDR]

It comes down to repeated bonuses from the same source. They would all overwrite each other.

 

[shilsen]

What Sammael said. You give up one spell in the round and gain the appropriate benefits. That's it.

 

[Deset Gled]

In fact, under the new nomenclature, using arcane strike should be a swift action.

I disagree. Yes, you can only get use out of Arcane Strike once on a weapon in a round, but (IIRC) it's perfectly legit to use Arcane Strike twice in a round provided you're using it on two weapons. This is important for TWFers, since Arcane Strike specifically only applies to one weapon at a time. If it were a swift action, this wouldn't be possible.

 

[Darklone]

Doubleweapons

 

[Shallown]

I would defualt to the stacking rules. Same bonuses don't stack so if for some reason someone wanted to use it twice in a round I would probably let them provided I think they had enough free actions to do so. (what is enough depends on what they are doing since free action usage is limited by the GM)

later

 

[Darklone]

Let him roll twice and keep the higher result

 

[THEBIGLOU]

A couple of questions about the above.....

1. To me it makes sense that multiple uses wouldn't stack, but I want to play devil's advocate for a moment. They are unnamed bonuses, so shouldn't they stack??

2. Arcane Strike might be interesting with double weapons. It is an interesting option for an otherwise almost useless mechanic. Can you only use 1 spell to power both sides of the weapon??

3. I don't agree with the ability to use this Feat once per round unless it states it is so. Given that, why would they include the Max = to BAB unless they let you use multiple spells on 1 weapon per round?

THEBIGLOU

Edit: Made sense of number 2.

 

[Sammael]

1. If this ability can be activated multiple times per round, then sure. However, I maintain that it cannot be used in this manner (because it should be a swift action). As to why this doesn't screw two-weapon fighters up, see answer #2.

2. What's misleading is the flavor sentence about channeling arcane energy into a melee weapon, unarmed strike, or natural weapons. However, the sentence that describes the feat's actual benefit states that "...you gain a bonus on all your attack rolls for 1 round..." It doesn't say that you gain a bonus on all attack rolls with a particular weapon, or unarmed strike (which, as we all know, includes using the entire body). Thus, when the feat is used, it applies to both sides of a double weapon, or two weapons, or a ranged touch attack, or any other action you take that requires an attack roll (disarm, grapple, trip, sunder, etc.).

EDIT: Yes, this is rules lawyering, but it's RAW. I'm sure the feat's intent is different, and that it should probably apply only to melee weapons. But that's not what's written. There are also problems with weapons that can be used as both melee and ranged, such as daggers.

3. "Max = BAB" is to prevent a 9th level wizard from gaining +5 to hit with this feat, I guess.