General Consensus on Purely Mental Actions?

[James McMurray]

Because AoOs are not provoked by the attacker saying "Ooh look, he's casting a spell" they are provoked by the defender dropping his gaurd momentarily and letting something past. A spell-like ability doesn't require moving your weapon aside and missing a parry, but it requires taking your concentration off of your weapon and not even realizing you should have parried.

 

[RangerWickett]

I think it's more an issue of being helpless not being that logical. Realistically, if you're helpless, people should be allowed to take a free whack at you the moment they come within range.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I think it's more an issue of being helpless not being that logical. Realistically, if you're helpless, people should be allowed to take a free whack at you the moment they come within range.

In 3.5, someone with Combat Reflexes should be able to take all their free whacks at you the moment they come within range.

Someone with Rapid Reload and four attacks could provoke eight attacks of opportunity with their light crossbow. Someone who can't move at all, on the other hand, doesn't provoke any?

-Hyp.

 

[James McMurray]

Yep, its crazy. But it isn't a problem caused by there being no definition of "mental action."

And its necessary to keep paralysis from being an instant death condition.

 

[Hardhead]

Crothian, sometimes D&D uses "defined" words (like "initiative") to mean very specific things. If you see "initiative" in a D&D book, 99% of the time, it's going to be the D&D defined term. But not every single word in the book is defined. Sometimes they mean things in plain english. A "purely mental action" is not a defined type of action, it's just the plain English sense. An action that is purely mental. If you only allowed actions specifically mentioned to be purely mental, you'd be disallowing all kinds of stuff that doesn't make any sense, including (but not limited to):

Ghostwise Halflings' telepathy
Paladin's Detect Evil
Barbarian's Rage

If you rule that tese actions do require some kind of physicall action (and, in the case of spell-like abilities, like the Detect Evil of the Paladins, you'd think physical actions would give them a somatic component!) you need to figure out what kind of physical action it is, which isn't covered by the game.

Personally, I think it's pretty obvious. If an action requires no physical movement, then it must be purely mental!

 

[UltimaGabe]

In 3.5, someone with Combat Reflexes should be able to take all their free whacks at you the moment they come within range.

Actually, no they shouldn't. You can't make more than one Attack of Opportunity against the same person in a single round.

 

[Spatula]

Actually, no they shouldn't. You can't make more than one Attack of Opportunity against the same person in a single round.

Notice how Hypersmurf starts off by saying, "In 3.5..."

Combat Reflexes and Additional Attacks of Opportunity: If you have the Combat Reflexes feat you can add your Dexterity modifier to the number of attacks of opportunity you can make in a round. This feat does not let you make more than one attack for a given opportunity, but if the same opponent provokes two attacks of opportunity from you, you could make two separate attacks of opportunity (since each one represents a different opportunity).

 

[CM]

Here's a little more confirmation on psionics being purely mental, from the EPH, under the Control Body power:

"Creatures capable of taking purely mental actions (such as manifesting powers) can do so."

This also implies that psi-like abilities are also purely mental.

Edit:
Found another one--Under the Ectoplasmic Cocoon power:

"The subject can execute purely mental actions (such as manifesting powers or casting spells with no verbal, somatic, or material components)."

 

[Black Knight Irios]

If it is written there, we know now how it is meant. -Sounds fine to me, I would have ruled the same way.
Strange enough that you have to look into XPH to find something regarding that problem!

 

[Shadowdweller]

"The subject can execute purely mental actions (such as manifesting powers or casting spells with no verbal, somatic, or material components)."

Aha. Thank you.