Can Spectral Hand Be Used to Feint?

[pingpong]

the title pretty much says it all.

the Feint option says it must be done in melee combat... i assume the Hand and the opponent are meleeing. Spectral Hand says it moves as you desire... i dont know, it seems like it could go either way, thats why im asking.

also, theres a part in there that says that after the Hand delivers a spell, it returns to you and hovers. can the Hand deliver more spells after it has discharged one? if so, can it go from the caster to the edge of its range to deliver a touch spell in the same turn?

thanks

 

[Darklone]

Edit: Brainfart.

Ok. Sure your hand can feint. But don't forget that the opponent won't lose his dex bonus to anyone else.

 

[pingpong]

maybe it would help (or hurt) if i explained why im asking about this.

ive been checking out the Arcane Trickster lately; looking at the ways it can deny its opponents their dex and get sneak attacks. ive got the ranged Trickster pretty much figured out, but i was looking at a more melee oriented version when i came across Spectral Hand.

at first i figured Spectral Hand pretty much just turned melee touch attacks into ranged touch attacks, but then i saw that the spells it delivered are still considered melee. and while the spell specifically says that the Hand cant flank, i figured there had to be some advantage to it using melee attacks. Feinting was the first thing that came to mind.

but the whole thing seemed a little ambiguous to me, so thats why i asked. so in light of the idea of a Arcane Trickster using Inproved Feint and then casting 5d6 Shocking Grasps, or Chill Touch perhaps, without the drawback of having to go toe-to-toe, i expect a lot of people would say they wouldnt allow the Spectral Hand to Feint. and if a DM i were playing with said he wouldnt allow it, i would understand.

this is more of a hypothetical "is it possible" question more than a "would you allow it", but im interested in everything the community has to say.

and if you stuck it out and actually read all of that rambling, click here. it'll change your life, and its relatively safe for work (foul language)

 

[Deset Gled]

The spell description for it makes no mention of the hand being able to use skills. Because of this, I don't think I would let it bluff.

As for your character concept, you could also use the Reach Spell feat from Defenders of the Faith. It lets you cast a touch spell as a ray within 30 feet, and raises a spells level by +2 (as with many metamagic feats, I think this is on the steep side, but not so outrageous as to make it unusable).