New FAQ!

[Christian]

With sensible rulings! Go figure ... I couldn't help but notice (OK, actually I searched for it) that the contradictory answers on whether standing from prone as a free action (with a DC 35 Tumble check) provokes AoO's has been fixed. The older answer has been quietly deleted ...

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Wo!

A brilliant and rules-savvy answer*, and right on the first page, too! Go FAQ!

* - Q: When a cleric has a temporary bonus to his Charisma score, does it affect his turning check or turning damage? Does it change the number of times he can turn or rebuke per day?

A: [Summarizing] Yes. He gains extra uses per day. However, track uses expended, rather than uses remaining. So if he starts with 4, gains 2 (for a total of 6) through a temporary boost, and uses 5, he's used 5 of 4 available once the temporary boost runs out. If he can get a bigger temporary boost, he can gain more uses, but not until he gets at least 6.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Here's a bad answer, though:

What type of area does turning or rebuking undead affect? The Player’s Handbook says that a character must have line of effect but need not have line of sight to the
undead he is trying to affect, but it doesn’t specify the shape of the area.

A turn/rebuke attempt is similar to, but not exactly like, a 60-foot-radius spherical burst. Like a burst, the effect expands from the point of origin (which must be a grid intersection of the turning character’s space) out to a maximum distance from the point of origin. Like a burst, a turn attempt can’t affect creatures with total cover from the point of origin (that is, it can’t go around corners).

However, unlike a true burst, a turn/rebuke attempt doesn’t automatically affect all creatures within its maximum “area.” The “energy” of the turn/rebuke attempt might become exhausted before reaching the extent of the area (because the turning character has run out of Hit Dice that he can affect), or it may skip over creatures (because the creature’s HD exceeds the turning character’s maximum HD affected). Compare this to a fireball, a burst-shaped spell that affects all creatures within its area regardless of their number or HD.

Ultimately, a turn attempt doesn’t really have an “area”—it has a maximum number of targets it can affect (determined by the turning damage roll), each of which cannot exceed a designated HD cap (determined by the cleric’s level and his turning check result). While thinking of it as a burst can help somewhat, it can also lead to confusion, so the Sage doesn’t advise mixing up the terms in this way.

The answer is *close*, but not quite right.

Fireball isn't a burst - it's a spread. Fireball can turn corners.

A burst cannot turn corners.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

And look at this! He specifically calls out where he's making a house rule!

Where exactly, in relationship to its phylactery, does a destroyed lich reappear?

The rules are silent on this issue. The Sage believes it reasonable to assume that the lich reappears in the immediate vicinity of its phylactery, since that is where its lifeforce is stored. (That’s how the Sage has interpreted the rule in his past campaigns.) This suggests that any hiding-place for a phylactery must allow enough nearby space for the lich’s body to reappear. Ultimately, though, the rules don’t indicate a clear answer to this question, leaving it up to DMs to rule as they prefer.

Either way, the answer should remain constant within a campaign, and it should be possible for characters to learn how this works (such as via a Knowledge [religion] check).

Huzzah!

 

[3d6]

There is one thing that bothers me. He doen't correct a questioner who states something incorrect.

Undead and constructs are immune to ability damage and ability drain, but are they immune to ability score penalties such as that created by the ray of enfeeblement spell?

Of course, undead are not immune to ability damage, just damage to physical ability scores.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Well, they're totally immune to ability drain, and largely immune to ability damage, so I can see that one slipping by.

 

[Darkness]

And look at this! He specifically calls out where he's making a house rule!

Huzzah!

*nods* I remember seeing this one in Dragon a short while ago and thinking something similar.

 

[Christian]

Wo!

A brilliant and rules-savvy answer*, and right on the first page, too! Go FAQ!

* - Q: When a cleric has a temporary bonus to his Charisma score, does it affect his turning check or turning damage? Does it change the number of times he can turn or rebuke per day?

A: [Summarizing] Yes. He gains extra uses per day. However, track uses expended, rather than uses remaining. So if he starts with 4, gains 2 (for a total of 6) through a temporary boost, and uses 5, he's used 5 of 4 available once the temporary boost runs out. If he can get a bigger temporary boost, he can gain more uses, but not until he gets at least 6.

Yep, that was the one that prompted my 'sensible rulings' comment. It's a ruling the clearly meets the letter and the spirit of the rules, and is easy to adjudicate ...

 

[Hypersmurf]

Yep, that was the one that prompted my 'sensible rulings' comment. It's a ruling the clearly meets the letter and the spirit of the rules, and is easy to adjudicate ...

'sthe way I've always done it

-Hyp.

 

[Particle_Man]

Nothing on the Warlock yet.