Duskblade Arcane Channelling Question

[kooshlord]

Hi all, quick question.

Darkblades can channel 'touch spells' through their arcane channeling ability into a melee attack. What does this mean exactly?

My Interpretation: By the glossary in the back of the PHB, touch spells are spells delivered through touch attacks. By the same glossary touch attacks can be either melee or range. Implication: duskblades can channel spells with a range of 'ranged touch' or 'touch' through a melee attack.

HOWEVER, this just seems wierd to me. AND I've heard people on this forum talking about duskblades being able to channel spells only with a range of 'touch', which would repute the above, if true.

So, is there consensus on how arcane channeling is supposed to work? Book/page references or FAQ locations appreciated.

Thanks in advance for the advice!
-Koosh

 

[wayne62682]

Only touch attacks, not "Ranged Touch". It was clarified somewhere, but I forget where so cannot cite the page.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Darkblades can channel 'touch spells' through their arcane channeling ability into a melee attack. What does this mean exactly?

My Interpretation: By the glossary in the back of the PHB, touch spells are spells delivered through touch attacks. By the same glossary touch attacks can be either melee or range. Implication: duskblades can channel spells with a range of 'ranged touch' or 'touch' through a melee attack.

Not quite.

All Quarks are Sneeps.
All Sneeps are Nerks or Wuzzles.
Therefore all Nerks or Wuzzles are Quarks...

... is a false conclusion.

All touch spells require touch attacks.
All touch attacks are melee touch attacks or ranged touch attacks.
This does not mean that all melee touch attacks or ranged touch attacks are touch spells.

You'll find the definition you're after in the Combat chapter, under the Cast a Spell action:
Touch Spells in Combat: Many spells have a range of touch.

If the spell has a range of touch, it is a touch spell. If the spell has a range of Medium, it is not a touch spell, even if it uses a ranged touch attack.

-Hyp.

 

[pressedcat]

On a (slightly) related topic that i've been unable to find an answer to, how is a duskblade (pre complete mage) supposed to cast most of his spells whilst wielding a melee weapon and a heavy shield? A large percentage of his spells have a somatic component which he will be unable to carry out with his hands free (vampiric touch springs to mind). As far as i can see, there is nothing in the class description that allows him to cast spells without completing the somatic component. So did the designers drop the ball, or are they deliberately limiting players to using spiked gauntlets if they want to have a heavy shield (no metamagic stilling as this will increase casting time to over standard action for most spells)

 

[kooshlord]

Not quite.

All Quarks are Sneeps.
All Sneeps are Nerks or Wuzzles.
Therefore all Nerks or Wuzzles are Quarks...

Poor wuzzles. They never get any screen time.

Thanks for the help everyone!

pressedcat: I've read an earlier thread here which seemed to conclude that duskblades still need a free hand to use somatic components, therefore light shields, bucklers, or two-handed weapons (great weapons which one hand releases while casting the spell) are superior to heavy shield+weapon or two-weapon fighting for a duskblade. Although a duskblade channeling spells through a spiked gauntlet would be pretty awesome, IMO.

Cheers!
-Koosh

 

[Ilium]

On a (slightly) related topic that i've been unable to find an answer to, how is a duskblade (pre complete mage) supposed to cast most of his spells whilst wielding a melee weapon and a heavy shield? A large percentage of his spells have a somatic component which he will be unable to carry out with his hands free (vampiric touch springs to mind). As far as i can see, there is nothing in the class description that allows him to cast spells without completing the somatic component. So did the designers drop the ball, or are they deliberately limiting players to using spiked gauntlets if they want to have a heavy shield (no metamagic stilling as this will increase casting time to over standard action for most spells)

I note that the pictures of duskblades in the book are all (I believe) using no shield. I think the model is the greatsword weilder who holds his sword in one had to cast.

Personally I don't sweat it that much. There's a low-level duskblade in the game I run (actually fairly high-level character, but only 4 levels of duskblade). She is a twf-er, and I don't enforce the somatic component thing and it hasn't gotten out of hand yet.