Ranged Spells to Touch Range feat

[Zathraas]

I am considering a feat for the opposite of Reach Spell called something like “Touch Spell”. It would allow a caster to cast a ranged touch spell as a touch spell. So, instead of firing off a Ray of Enfeeblement from far away and out of melee reach, he would have to touch his opponent.

Reach Spell (from Complete Divine)
“You may cast a spell that normally has a range of touch at any distance up to 30’. The spell effectively becomes a ray, so you must succeed on a ranged touch attack to bestow the spell upon the recipient. A reach spell uses up a spell slot two levels higher than the spell’s actual level. “

For most casters as they get up in levels they would prefer to stand away from their enemies instead of having to touch them. The ability to cast a spell as a ray instead of touch range is a beneficial enough to be worth +2 slots because a mage could cast Vampiric Touch from out of melee range (but would need to use a 5th level slot to do it).

The benefit for the caster would be that he doesn’t have to take Precise Shot (and the prereq Point Blank Shot) or be -4 to hit and he would not lose the spell on a miss. He would have to get into melee range more often but this would only be taken by a character who was aiming at a build for a guy who could deal with melee (fighter or monk levels, Improved Unarmed, etc).

Touch Spell feat
“You may cast a spell that normally is a ranged touch attack as a spell with a range of touch. The spell effectively becomes a touch spell, so you must succeed on a melee touch attack to bestow the spell upon the recipient. The spell can be held normally as any touch spell. A touch spell uses up a spell slot of the spell’s normal level.“

 

[UltimaGabe]

Hmm... I'd say it's balanced. I'd be tempted to make it a +1, though, but I think that would make it too unattractive to use.

 

[AuraSeer]

As a metamagic feat, I think it would be balanced at +0 levels. My initial impression (like UltimaGabe's) was to make it worth +1, but it just doesn't seem to come into play very often. I can only think of a few cases where a pure caster would want to enter melee if he could avoid it. Being able to retry the touch attack roll is about the only benefit there-- and even that isn't great, because if you miss the first touch, you're even more likely to miss the second at a -5 penalty.

Multiclass casters would use the feat more often, because they'll probably be in melee anyway. But they'll also have a higher BAB, which means they're a lot less likely to miss the touch attack in the first place.

One of the PrCs in Complete Arcane has this ability, called "Hold Ray", but I haven't my book here to check the details.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Check for unexpected combos with Persistent Spell before finalising the feat.

-Hyp.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Can you give an example of that, Hyp?

Im thinking you mean something like a Persistent, Touch Spell Ray of Enfeeblement could be used multiple times?

Or am I missing your little blue boat?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Can you give an example of that, Hyp?

Im thinking you mean something like a Persistent, Touch Spell Ray of Enfeeblement could be used multiple times?

Or am I missing your little blue boat?

Never mind, I was misremembering Persistent Spell... I was thinking Fixed or Touch, instead of Fixed or Personal.

-Hyp.

 

[Zathraas]

The description Persistent Spell says “Spells of instantaneous duration cannot be affected by this feat, nor can spells whose effects are discharged”. Any spell that requires a ranged touch attack would have to be considered discharged and touch attacks are pretty much all instantaneous. So I don’t think there are any problems with Persistent Spell but it is always good to check.

Enlightened Fist gain the ability "Hold Ray" which matches much of the feat I am considering but has a couple of other bonuses, for example, it can be combined with another EFist ability "Arcane Fist" which allows the character to expend a stun attempt to cast and deliver a touch spell as part of an unarmed full attack action. It also specifies rays specifically so maybe the feat should also specify rays so that the orb spells and so forth from Complete Arcane are not considered as being affected by the feat.

 

[Hypersmurf]

The description Persistent Spell says “Spells of instantaneous duration cannot be affected by this feat, nor can spells whose effects are discharged”. Any spell that requires a ranged touch attack would have to be considered discharged and touch attacks are pretty much all instantaneous.

Well, no. If the duration says Instantaneous, it's instantaneous; if it says 1 min/level, it's not.

And 'discharged' is a special term - see Dispel Evil, for an example.

A Touch version of Ray of Enfeeblement neither discharges, nor is instantaneous. However, it's the range that invalidates it, still. It's neither Personal, nor a fixed range; it's Touch, instead, which is not valid.

I was thinking, briefly, that it would be (as opposed to the normal Ray of Enfeeblement), but since neither are, my objection is moot

So I don’t think there are any problems with Persistent Spell but it is always good to check.

Right If you had a feat that gave Ray spells a fixed range (30 feet, instead of Close, for example), the Persistent Spell combo might be a problem.

-Hyp.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Right If you had a feat that gave Ray spells a fixed range (30 feet, instead of Close, for example), the Persistent Spell combo might be a problem.

-Hyp.

I've not seen the current version of Persistent Spell... does it allow you to have persistant cones or lightning bolts since those are fixed range ?!?

 

[Hypersmurf]

I've not seen the current version of Persistent Spell... does it allow you to have persistant cones or lightning bolts since those are fixed range ?!?

Well, Lightning Bolt is instantaneous, as are most cones.

But since 3.5 was released, I've been pointing out the possibilities of Persistent Fear...

Kneel before Zod!

-Hyp.