First Post, some questions

[DemonAtheist]

Hello. I am (go on guess) DemonAtheist. Was sent to this forum by a friend (our DM) probably because hes tired of answering my questions via aim. So here i am...flame me it tastes good (yay demons)

anyway

1. how does attacking with two hand crossbows work? the text says:
"You can shoot, but not load, a hand crossbow with one hand at no penalty. You can shoot a hand crossbow with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons"
but it never actually says you can load hand crossbows if you dual wield. It also doesnt say you can't, because (at least to me) the operative words are 'without penalty.' I feel that with rapid reload and proficiency, one should be able to get full attacks per round. friends say its unrealistic and not explicitly allowed by the rules.

2. As far as customizing races, is it balanced to change the illusion bonuses of gnomes to another school of magic, given a decent roleplaying reason. Specifically, I would want evocation.

3. Why is the arcane spell requirement for arcane tricksters 3rd level instead of 2nd? This is just a personal complaint really, as it isnt underpowered, but it does mean my sorc/rogue couldnt become a trickster until level 10 (as opposed to 8, or 7 with a wizard, or 7 and 6 [respectively] for an assassin/rogue/sorc or an assassin/rogue/wiz)

4. Does weapon focus (ray) apply to all ranged touch spells, or only to those with ray in the name? And from whatever experience you have, do casters that rely on sneak attack damage work well (until i get trickster and impromptu sneak attack two levels later than i feel is right; see above)

5. Would a house rule that said masterwork light armor could negate the arcane spell failure intead of lowering the AC penalty be balanced? I really hate rolling failure...and it seems that realistically armor could be made with more arm mobility for spellcasters as a specialty item (as in 150 more gold).

6. Does damage to weapon rolls count for shuriken used by small characters? Its not a roll per se, and any damage increase effectively multiplies the damage (im thinking a song of courage/weapon specialization/point blank shot build...thats +6 damage at Bard 14/fighter 4, and theyre ninja stars!!!). Is it a roll of a one sided die (semantically)? And is it balanced?

7. Does weapon finessese with a spiked chain allow trip attack rolls to use one's dex mod instead of str?



well, i think thats it for now. Thanks for whatever time you manage to spend reading this. adio

 

[Tatsukun]

First, welcome to Enworld!

Hello. I am (go on guess) DemonAtheist. Was sent to this forum by a friend (our DM) probably because hes tired of answering my questions via aim. So here i am...flame me it tastes good (yay demons)

That’s why we’re here.

1. how does attacking with two hand crossbows work? the text says:
"You can shoot, but not load, a hand crossbow with one hand at no penalty. You can shoot a hand crossbow with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons"
but it never actually says you can load hand crossbows if you dual wield. It also doesnt say you can't, because (at least to me) the operative words are 'without penalty.' I feel that with rapid reload and proficiency, one should be able to get full attacks per round. friends say its unrealistic and not explicitly allowed by the rules.

I would say sure. You are using a feat and you are still only doing 1D4. Number-wise, you’re better off taking the “Martial weapon proficiency (Composite Longbow)” so I say go for it. Side note, you would only get one more attack (coming from the dual wielding) and you would take minuses for dual wielding.

2. As far as customizing races, is it balanced to change the illusion bonuses of gnomes to another school of magic, given a decent roleplaying reason. Specifically, I would want evocation.

I would say no in my game, your DM may be more flexable. Evocation does a lot of damage, and almost everything has a save.

3. Why is the arcane spell requirement for arcane tricksters 3rd level instead of 2nd? This is just a personal complaint really, as it isnt underpowered, but it does mean my sorc/rogue couldnt become a trickster until level 10 (as opposed to 8, or 7 with a wizard, or 7 and 6 [respectively] for an assassin/rogue/sorc or an assassin/rogue/wiz)

I don’t know. Maybe letting people in earlier was unbalancing in the play testing.

4. Does weapon focus (ray) apply to all ranged touch spells, or only to those with ray in the name? And from whatever experience you have, do casters that rely on sneak attack damage work well (until i get trickster and impromptu sneak attack two levels later than i feel is right; see above)

Only the ones which have “ Effect: Ray” in the description.

5. Would a house rule that said masterwork light armor could negate the arcane spell failure intead of lowering the AC penalty be balanced? I really hate rolling failure...and it seems that realistically armor could be made with more arm mobility for spellcasters as a specialty item (as in 150 more gold).

Sure, masterwork could lower the spell failure by 1% I guess. I would never allow it to do much more than that. In fact, maybe 1% is too much. Mithral chain shirts with 9% spell failure for an extra 150Gp sounds too good.

I guess the short answer is no.

6. Does damage to weapon rolls count for shuriken used by small characters? Its not a roll per se, and any damage increase effectively multiplies the damage (im thinking a song of courage/weapon specialization/point blank shot build...thats +6 damage at Bard 14/fighter 4, and theyre ninja stars!!!). Is it a roll of a one sided die (semantically)? And is it balanced?

Yeah, those effects still apply because it is technically a roll. Also, you get the award for being the first guy to say “ninja stars” since the 80’s

7. Does weapon finessese with a spiked chain allow trip attack rolls to use one's dex mod instead of str?

Yes, a trip attack is listed as a melee touch attack. Weapon Finesse works on all attacks.

I hope this helps!
Have fun!

-Tatsu

 

[DemonAtheist]

thanks for the info, as to why i would want to dual wield crossbows, i have a gnome bard with a hammer, so i took 2 weapon fighting as a feat. Now I really dont want to melee, since it sucks with a small hammer, and feel that range would be better. Hes also going 2bard/1fighter each three levels, so he should have weapon specialization by level 12. whee

an das far as the masterwork armor, i was only going to use it for studded leather...but yeah i can see how it would be somwhat powerful

thanks again

 

[FireLance]

Hello. I am (go on guess) DemonAtheist.

Hello, welcome to the boards .

Was sent to this forum by a friend (our DM) probably because hes tired of answering my questions via aim.

So here i am...flame me it tastes good (yay demons)

We try not to flame on these boards, but rules arguments can sometimes get rather heated. Bear in mind that the following are just my interpretations of the rules. Your DM still has the final say.

1. how does attacking with two hand crossbows work? the text says:
"You can shoot, but not load, a hand crossbow with one hand at no penalty. You can shoot a hand crossbow with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons"
but it never actually says you can load hand crossbows if you dual wield. It also doesnt say you can't, because (at least to me) the operative words are 'without penalty.' I feel that with rapid reload and proficiency, one should be able to get full attacks per round. friends say its unrealistic and not explicitly allowed by the rules.

I would tend to agree with your friend here. As stated in the rule you quoted, you can shoot a hand crossbow with no penalty, i.e. you do not suffer the -4 to hit that you would if you tried to shoot a light crossbow one-handed, but you cannot load a hand crossbow unless your other hand is free. Rapid Reload changes the reload time from a move action to a free action, but you would still need the other hand free. I would, however, allow you to shoot two hand crossbows (with the usual dual-wield penalty), drop one as a free action and use Rapid Reload to get the remainder of your iterative attacks (if any) with the other.

2. As far as customizing races, is it balanced to change the illusion bonuses of gnomes to another school of magic, given a decent roleplaying reason. Specifically, I would want evocation.

The schools of magic are slightly better balanced in 3.5e than in previous editions. Some would say that Evocation is still better than Illusion, though. From the mechanics perspective, I would have no problems. However, do bear in mind that particular players and DM may not like the change for flavor or other reasons.

3. Why is the arcane spell requirement for arcane tricksters 3rd level instead of 2nd? This is just a personal complaint really, as it isnt underpowered, but it does mean my sorc/rogue couldnt become a trickster until level 10 (as opposed to 8, or 7 with a wizard, or 7 and 6 [respectively] for an assassin/rogue/sorc or an assassin/rogue/wiz)

You can be an Arcane Trickster with a Rog3/Sor6 or a Rog3/Wiz5 or (minimum) Wiz5/Rog1/Asn1. As a design principle, prestige class requirements are usually set so that the benefits of the first level are equal to the benefits of the (X+1)th level of a class, where X is the minimum character level that you could qualify for the prestige class (7 in the case of Arcane Trickster).

4. Does weapon focus (ray) apply to all ranged touch spells, or only to those with ray in the name? And from whatever experience you have, do casters that rely on sneak attack damage work well (until i get trickster and impromptu sneak attack two levels later than i feel is right; see above)

Only to those with ray in the "Effect:" line, e.g. Disintegrate, which does not have "Ray" in the name. As an alternative to Weapon Focus (Ray), you might want to pick Point Blank Shot, which applies to all ranged attacks within 30 ft since you need to be in that range to sneak attack, anyway. Casters that rely on sneak attack damage work quite well. You need to ensure that you *can* get your sneak attack though, either by attacking first (Improved Initiative), while invisible (Invisibility, Greater Invisibility), or while blinking (Blink).

5. Would a house rule that said masterwork light armor could negate the arcane spell failure intead of lowering the AC penalty be balanced? I really hate rolling failure...and it seems that realistically armor could be made with more arm mobility for spellcasters as a specialty item (as in 150 more gold).

I would probably rule that it costs more than 150 gold. Mithral armor costs 1,000 gp more for light armor and only reduces arcane spell failure by 10%. There are ways to get around this - Still Spell, spells that have no somatic components, etc.

6. Does damage to weapon rolls count for shuriken used by small characters? Its not a roll per se, and any damage increase effectively multiplies the damage (im thinking a song of courage/weapon specialization/point blank shot build...thats +6 damage at Bard 14/fighter 4, and theyre ninja stars!!!). Is it a roll of a one sided die (semantically)? And is it balanced?

This depends on which edition you're playing. In 3.5e, all normal bonuses may be added to shuriken, even if thrown by a Small character. A Small shuriken does 1 point of damage plus other bonuses - no need to roll dice. However, you may only throw one shuriken per attack (or per iterative attack, for a high-level character) instead of 3 per attack in 3.0e. The advantage to shuriken is that you don't need the Quick Draw feat to make draw them and make iterative attacks.

7. Does weapon finessese with a spiked chain allow trip attack rolls to use one's dex mod instead of str?

No, Trip is a special action that is resolved in a specific way. Weapon Finesse allows you to add your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to attack rolls, but the opposed check you make when you attempt to trip an opponent isnot an attack roll.

Thanks for whatever time you manage to spend reading this.

You're welcome. I hope I have been helpful.

 

[Pax]

1. how does attacking with two hand crossbows work? the text says:
"You can shoot, but not load, a hand crossbow with one hand at no penalty. You can shoot a hand crossbow with each hand, but you take a penalty on attack rolls as if attacking with two light weapons"
but it never actually says you can load hand crossbows if you dual wield. It also doesnt say you can't, because (at least to me) the operative words are 'without penalty.' I feel that with rapid reload and proficiency, one should be able to get full attacks per round. friends say its unrealistic and not explicitly allowed by the rules.

It is unrealistic to get full dual-wield rate of fire, given that reloading a hand crossbow STILL takes two free hands, even in real life.

However, you can sidestep the entire problem quite nicely. GEt a matched pair of +1 Hand Crossbows of Quick-Loading, for 18,400gp each. "Quick-Loading" is a +2 enhancement found in Magic of Faerun - basically, it gives you an extradimensional ammunition supply (with room for 100 bolts!), and it loads ITSELF fast enough to permit full attack actions with it. You DO still have to supply the actual bolts, however. ^_^

2. As far as customizing races, is it balanced to change the illusion bonuses of gnomes to another school of magic, given a decent roleplaying reason. Specifically, I would want evocation.

Personally, I would never allow customisation of races. As a GM, the races I woudl permit, would be allowed for very specific reasons - take 'em as-is, or don't take 'em at all. Sorry.

3. Why is the arcane spell requirement for arcane tricksters 3rd level instead of 2nd? This is just a personal complaint really, as it isnt underpowered, but it does mean my sorc/rogue couldnt become a trickster until level 10 (as opposed to 8, or 7 with a wizard, or 7 and 6 [respectively] for an assassin/rogue/sorc or an assassin/rogue/wiz)

Because the designers felt that was an appropriate prerequisite. *shrug*

4. Does weapon focus (ray) apply to all ranged touch spells, or only to those with ray in the name? And from whatever experience you have, do casters that rely on sneak attack damage work well (until i get trickster and impromptu sneak attack two levels later than i feel is right; see above)

Those whose stat blocks list "Effect: ray". Melf's Acid Arrow is an energy missile, not a ray - ranged touch or not. Disintigrate is a ray, regardless of what it's name is or isn't.

5. Would a house rule that said masterwork light armor could negate the arcane spell failure intead of lowering the AC penalty be balanced? I really hate rolling failure...and it seems that realistically armor could be made with more arm mobility for spellcasters as a specialty item (as in 150 more gold).

No, it would not IMO be balanced. However, between materials, some magical enhancements, and prestige classes, it is possible (for some builds) to wear FULL PLATE, and suffer ZERO arcane failure. Spellsword (CW) and Knight of Thorns (Dragonlance Campaign Setting) both offer arcane failure reduction as key class abilities. Bladesinger (CW) allows ignoring ALL arcane failure from light armor, IIRC.

You shoudl also check out some of the other materials in the 3.0 Arms and Equipment Guide, there are a few in there that cut arcane failure down by a bit ...

6. Does damage to weapon rolls count for shuriken used by small characters? Its not a roll per se, and any damage increase effectively multiplies the damage (im thinking a song of courage/weapon specialization/point blank shot build...thats +6 damage at Bard 14/fighter 4, and theyre ninja stars!!!). Is it a roll of a one sided die (semantically)? And is it balanced?

Shuriken are weapons. An Ogre "ninja" (scary thought) would be throwing nearly-dinner-plate-sized "Large Shuriken", which would deal 1d3 damage per hit.

As ranged attacks, they benefit fully from PBS, and even Rapid Shot.

7. Does weapon finessese with a spiked chain allow trip attack rolls to use one's dex mod instead of str?

No, sadly. You get to use the Dex bonus for the initial touch attack - but the Trip Check itself, still uses your strength modifier.

 

[Li Shenron]

1. It takes 2 hands to load a crossbow (any kind), with no exceptions.

2. Definitely balanced.

3. Well, we should better ask the designers but also keep in mind that if the requirement was 2nd level it may be fine for your Sorcerer but TOO good for the others.

4. All feats taken for Rays officially apply only to spells with "Effect: Ray". Sneak Attack synergies very well with spells, and keeps the damage high even if you had to delay higher-level spells (most of spells which require an attack don't give a saving throw, therefore it matters less that they are low-level spells). However, in most circumstances you will only get to sneak attack on the first round, unless you can afford to close up with the enemies.

5. Eeh... ASF is the price to pay for being an arcane caster! There are 3rd-party-books feats to reduce ASF, but they don't take it out completely IIRC and you'll still have to wear armor which gives a small AC bonus. Protection spells like Mage Armor are still the best way to go, and better than any nonmagic light armor.

6. It is not fixed damage of 1, it is still 1+Str.

7. It applies to he touch attack but not to the Strength check.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I wouldn't allow the gnomes' bonus to be changed to evocation. It's a racial thing, gnomes are illusionists, that's the long and short of it.

thanks for the info, as to why i would want to dual wield crossbows, i have a gnome bard with a hammer, so i took 2 weapon fighting as a feat. Now I really dont want to melee, since it sucks with a small hammer, and feel that range would be better.

Well, it alsow sucks with a small handcrossbow. 1d3 only.

Besides that, I go with the rest: No one-handed reloading. You could ask your DM go make a feat for that. Or you could use shuriken or thrown daggers (quick draw). You can throw them left and right, too

Hes also going 2bard/1fighter each three levels, so he should have weapon specialization by level 12. whee

an das far as the masterwork armor, i was only going to use it for studded leather...but yeah i can see how it would be somwhat powerful

Hm... you're playing 3.5e, right? In 3.5e, bards don't suffer ASF in light armor.