Can Duskblades do this?

[FalcWP]

That is true, but a 3rd level duskblade can cast 4 spells per day... so, he could cast Blade of Blood & then Shocking Grasp in round one, take the 5 points of damage and do 8d6 with his greatsword, plus STR. Then, next round, he could do the same thing - 8d6. That is an average of 28 hit points of damage per round, not including any possible STR bonus... and, if the duskblade is wielding a greatsword, most likely they have a STR bonus. So, 30 or 31 points of damage per round at 3rd level? Imagine if it was a half-orc duskblade with a 20 strength - that would be 35 points of damage per round.

And afterwards, he's a third level fighter... with no bonus feats. And probably light armor. That parts seems fair, at least, unless the party is doing one encounter per day and that's it... in which case putting some time limits in to push them will help.

As for the rest of it... Quick Cast would probably be best served if it said 'casting time of the spell is 1 standard action', as I'm not aware of any spells that have move actions (though these would be eligible).

And for the record: They cannot cast spells with casting times of one standard action or less as swift actions before 5th level. They can cast spells with a casting time of a swift action as a swift action before then, however. Quick Cast just makes it so they can do so with standard action spells as well.

 

[MarkB]

That is true, but a 3rd level duskblade can cast 4 spells per day... so, he could cast Blade of Blood & then Shocking Grasp in round one, take the 5 points of damage and do 8d6 with his greatsword, plus STR. Then, next round, he could do the same thing - 8d6. That is an average of 28 hit points of damage per round, not including any possible STR bonus... and, if the duskblade is wielding a greatsword, most likely they have a STR bonus. So, 30 or 31 points of damage per round at 3rd level? Imagine if it was a half-orc duskblade with a 20 strength - that would be 35 points of damage per round.

That's 35 points of damage per round for two rounds, after which he's essentially done for the day, class-features-wise. He burns brightly, but ever so briefly. I'm not seeing the problem here.

And, the duskblade Quick Cast rule states that starting at 5th level, they can cast spells with a casting time of one Standard Action or less as a swift action. Before that, it seems to me, that even casting a swift action spell for a duskblade requires a Standard Action.

If it did, that would have to be spelled out under the Duskblade's main spellcasting section. As it is, you've leaped to a conclusion that is unsupported by the rules.

 

[Christian]

And afterwards, he's a third level fighter... with no bonus feats. And probably light armor.

Goodbye, fifteen-minute adventuring day.

Hello, twelve-second adventuring day. I doubt that plan would go over well, myself. "We need to stop for the day, I'm out of spells!" "Can we at least finish the first encounter? "

 

[Nifft]

I understand that - however, why not say that in the rules? To me, when you say that at 5th level, once per day, a duskblade can quick cast a spell of one standard action or less casting time as a swift action, it implies that they cannot do that before 5th level, even if the spell has a casting time of one swift action.

You're reading things in that aren't there. Basically, when a text does not say that it changes something, that thing is unchanged. So spells which are normally a Swift action to cast remain a Swift action to cast.

The language is "Standard action or less" to include Move action spells, of which there are like two, maybe, but who knows, perhaps there will be loads more some day.

Cheers, -- N

 

[VanRichten]

So lets see. Blade of Blood has a casting time of Swift Action. If you use the 5th level Duskblade ability it allows you to cast a Standard Action spell as a Swift action.

So the sequence of events is:

Blade of Blood Swift Action
Shocking Grasp cast as a Swift Action

If I am correct you cannot perform 2 swift actions in the same round since you only get 1 swift action per round.

Which would make this not a legal sequence of effect. Unless you can use a Move Action to perform a Swift Action. Which means he would have to be in melee, Cast Defensively BoB, Cast Defensively SG, and then swing once. Leading to a possible total of 12 - 52 damage with a Strength of 18.

Otherwise he could on round one cast Blade of Blood, follow on round two with Shocking Grasp and then attack. This would take 2 rounds to do this but he could do it. This method allows him to move after each cast and can be done without Casting Defensively.

Not at all broken or imbalanced should you follow either case out.

 

[irdeggman]

So lets see. Blade of Blood has a casting time of Swift Action. If you use the 5th level Duskblade ability it allows you to cast a Standard Action spell as a Swift action.

So the sequence of events is:

Blade of Blood Swift Action
Shocking Grasp cast as a Swift Action

If I am correct you cannot perform 2 swift actions in the same round since you only get 1 swift action per round.

Which would make this not a legal sequence of effect. Unless you can use a Move Action to perform a Swift Action. Which means he would have to be in melee, Cast Defensively BoB, Cast Defensively SG, and then swing once. Leading to a possible total of 12 - 52 damage with a Strength of 18.

Otherwise he could on round one cast Blade of Blood, follow on round two with Shocking Grasp and then attack. This would take 2 rounds to do this but he could do it. This method allows him to move after each cast and can be done without Casting Defensively.

Not at all broken or imbalanced should you follow either case out.

You can not take 2 swift actions in the same round - regardless of source.

You could however cast BoB (Swift action) and Shocking grasp (standard action) in the same round and still ahve a move action left. Both spells last until discharged (at least 1 round) so the attack in the following round should be able to have both in effect - which is what was Nift said earlier.

 

[jaelis]

So lets see. Blade of Blood has a casting time of Swift Action. If you use the 5th level Duskblade ability it allows you to cast a Standard Action spell as a Swift action.

But note that the 3rd level duskblade ability allows you to cast a Standard Action spell and deliver it with a weapon attack, all as one standard action. That's what we're talking about here, right?

 

[Nifft]

You could however cast BoB (Swift action) and Shocking grasp (standard action) in the same round and still ahve a move action left. Both spells last until discharged (at least 1 round) so the attack in the following round should be able to have both in effect - which is what was Nift said earlier.

Close, but not quite.

Swift - Blade of Blood
Standard - Arcane Channeling (3rd level ability) cast Touch spell and deliver it via a melee attack

Cheers, -- N

 

[Nifft]

But note that the 3rd level duskblade ability allows you to cast a Standard Action spell and deliver it with a weapon attack, all as one standard action. That's what we're talking about here, right?

I hope so.

C, -- N

 

[boolean]

There's also the fact that both Blade of Blood and Shocking Grasp have somatic components. So, the only way this trick usually works is with a one-handed weapon or spending a feat on Somatic Weaponry.