Chill Touch on Iterative Attacks?

[Wednesday Boy]

The spell description for Chill Touch is: "A touch from your hand, which glows with blue energy, disrupts the life force of living creatures. Each touch channels negative energy that deals 1d6 points of damage. The touched creature also takes 1 point of Strength damage unless it makes a successful Fortitude saving throw. You can use this melee touch attack up to one time per level."

How does the underlined sentence apply to using the spell? Is it in case the spellcaster has iteraitve attacks, to allow them to use Chill Touch for each one?

Thanks for the help!

 

[chitzk0i]

The way I see it, delivering a touch spell is an attack action. Given that, you can deliver multiple uses of chill touch if you have a high enough BAB.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

That's what I was thinking too but I was getting confused on whether or not that violated any action rules since casting Chill Touch is a Standard Action and taking multiple attacks is a Full Attack action. I don't think it does though.

The way I see it, delivering a touch spell is an attack action. Given that, you can deliver multiple uses of chill touch if you have a high enough BAB.

 

[frankthedm]

That's what I was thinking too but I was getting confused on whether or not that violated any action rules since casting Chill Touch is a Standard Action and taking multiple attacks is a Full Attack action. I don't think it does though.

round 1 cast chill touch and get one [1] touch attempt as part of the spell.

Round 2 Take full attack action and touch as many times as you have BAB based attacks.

 

[Nifft]

Frank, that's how I house rule it, because the only actual rule that I've been able to uncover seems insane (and is insanely located in the rules for duration):

Some touch spells allow you to touch multiple targets as part of the spell. You can’t hold the charge of such a spell; you must touch all targets of the spell in the same round that you finish casting the spell.

THIS IS NOT SPARTA!

Cheers, -- N

 

[mvincent]

From the 3.0 FAQ (if desired):
"Chill touch follows all the rules for holding the charge on a
touch spell except that a chill touch spell has one “charge” per
caster level. Each time you touch anything with your hand, you
lose one charge off the chill touch, but anything you already
had in your hand when you cast the spell doesn’t count as being
touched. You can’t have two chill touch spells running at once,
because if you cast a spell while holding a charge, the whole
spell you’re holding dissipates.
Otherwise, you can indeed use the hand bearing the chill
touch effect as a weapon. When you’re using the two-weapon
fighting rules, your own hand is a light weapon for you."

From the RotG (if desired):
"Some spells last long enough to let you to make several melee attacks. Spells such as chill touch and produce flame prove useful for attacks of opportunity"

 

[Jack Simth]

Frank, that's how I house rule it, because the only actual rule that I've been able to uncover seems insane (and is insanely located in the rules for duration): THIS IS NOT SPARTA!

Cheers, -- N

Methinks virtually everyone house-rules it that way, whether they know it or not.

Edit:
Oh, and Produce Flame is immune to that particular clause - the effect is a flame (it's not Range:Touch), and the flame lets you make attacks while the duration continues.

 

[Arkhandus]

I refer you to this part of the PHB, under spell Durations. I don't know if this is the same in 3.5, though.

"Touch Spells and Holding the Charge: If you don't discharge a touch spell on the round you cast the spell, you can hold the discharge of the spell (hold the charge) indefinitely. YOu can make touch attacks round after round. You can touch one friend (or yourself) as a standard action or up to six friends as a full-round action. If you touch anything with your hand while holding a charge, the spell discharges. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates."

Chill Touch isn't discharged until you use up its touches or cast another spell, far as I can tell. In the rounds after you've cast it, you can make full-attacks using the melee touch attacks of Chill Touch, because the spell has already been cast; you don't need to focus on making the attacks with it, it just jolts anyone you touch while it's active, until its effect has been used up.

 

[Arkhandus]

Well, here's the 3.5 SRD's version of that line.

Touch Spells and Holding the Charge
In most cases, if you don’t discharge a touch spell on the round you cast it, you can hold the charge (postpone the discharge of the spell) indefinitely. You can make touch attacks round after round. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates.

Some touch spells allow you to touch multiple targets as part of the spell. You can’t hold the charge of such a spell; you must touch all targets of the spell in the same round that you finish casting the spell.

Now, note how the last section is worded. It's for spells that allow you to touch multiple targets as part of the spell; that means when you cast the spell.

Chill Touch doesn't work like that; you can only touch one target at the moment you cast Chill Touch. But Chill Touch allows you to make more touch attacks, later, until you use up the 1 touch/caster level that it allows (or until you cast another spell). Chill Touch doesn't let you touch multiple targets as part of casting the spell, it lets you touch creatures multiple times until its effect has been used up, but only over the course of subsequent rounds of attacks.

 

[mvincent]

Methinks virtually everyone house-rules it that way, whether they know it or not.

It seems more like a legitimate (and intended) interpretation rather than a house rule.