Holding the Charge?

[Nyms]

I've been playing for a while now, but don't really play casters, and was thinking of creating a caster character...probably a sorcerer. In doing some research on casting rules concerning magic and combat I came across this.

I'm going to change a few words and paraphrase a little, but this
is pretty much what is written.

In the Player's Handbook under Holding the Charge on page 126, it is stated that:

if the character doesn't discharge the spell on the round it is cast, the character can hold it indefinately....continuing to make touch attacks round after round. One creature can be touched as a standard action or up to 6 creatures as a full-round action.

But right under this it states that if you touch someone, even unintentionally, the spell is discharged.

Doesn't the latter just contradict the afore mentioned?

and/or

Is this saying that a caster can cast a single touch attack spell on up to 6 people with a full-round action if they hold the charge instead of discharging directly after casting?

I'm a little confused here.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Nyms

 

[Destil]

This is the option for spells like [/i]water breathing, where a touch spell can affect more than one creature. It only applies to spells with touch range and more than one target listed.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Some spells have Range: Touch, Target: 1 creature/level, for example - like Water Walk.

You can touch up to six willing creatures in one round. If you're 18th level and trying to cast the spell on 18 people, it will take you at least three rounds to do it... but not the nearly-two-minutes it would take if you could only touch one person per round.

-Hyp.