Do you notice being affected by a [Su] ability?

[mattcolville]

I'd go with the "you notice it only if you can be affected by it." It's not a spell or a spell-like ability. They certainly notice being touched. And that's part of the effect of the ability, so...

 

[Vorput]

No, you don't. You feel it when you make a save. Even if you apply that to a level check, the level check never happens if the ability fizzles from being used on a target it can't effect.

Succeeding on a Saving Throw

A creature that successfully saves against a spell that has no obvious physical effects feels a hostile force or a tingle, but cannot deduce the exact nature of the attack. Likewise, if a creature’s saving throw succeeds against a targeted spell you sense that the spell has failed. You do not sense when creatures succeed on saves against effect and area spells.

QFT

 

[prospero63]

I'd go with the "you notice it only if you can be affected by it." It's not a spell or a spell-like ability. They certainly notice being touched. And that's part of the effect of the ability, so...

How does one not notice a melee touch attack?

 

[irdeggman]

How does one not notice a melee touch attack?

You are in a crowd or at a concert in the "pit".

 

[eamon]

I'd say that even if you're allowing a lot of bodily contact without it raising suspicions, many people will not react friendlily to such contact. You can also let him roll a bluff check occasionally, whenever his touch really isn't very appropriate. Also, it's a magical effect, and so it should be detectable by a variety of means. Somebody will notice eventually, and might take action. And this is of course also a great tool for adding spice to your story - let him not touch absolutely everyone, so you can have a suspicious person escape notice, but on the other hand, you can use this to attach random interesting plot-lines at times.

If you don't let him touch everyone unnoticed, he should probably be aware (socially) of when doing so is particularly uncalled for. Since it doesn't always succeed, you might want to keep his hand-shakes and so on on-the-table and not just say " oh you often shake hands". Let him explicitly say so occasionally, and let him sometimes fail, and mention in passing that he shakes the hands of many people in the tavern, but probably not everyone unless it's not crowded, and nobody is grumpy.

 

[mattcolville]

How does one not notice a melee touch attack?

I said you certainly notice being touched.