How Far Does 20' Radius Centered On Me Extend? D&D 3.5 Rules

I'll tell you right away that I don't have the answer to this one, but I will share the rules my group agreed to.

Let's say your cleric wants to cast a spell that helps his companions and the radius of the spell is a 20 foot radius centered on him.  That's great, now we just need to see who is within 20' feet.  Take a look at this picture:

 

The red-caped cleric in the center of the picture can cast the spell and it will clearly include the archer in the 20' burst, but what about the elf or monk on the right and left edges of the picture?  The wizard in the upper right is included, but what about the two large characters at the top or bottom of the picture.

Let's use one of the diagrams from the book to help us out.  The next picture includes the diagram and clearly shows which characters are in or out of range.  But you might also notice something else about the picture and that is that the 20' radius of the spell cast by the cleric is not centered on the cleric.  It extends 20' to his right, but only 15' to his left.  This is our dilemma to solve.

We have a bit of a problem.  Any radius centered on a person, in the middle of a square, is going to extend midway through the squares at the edge of the circled area encompassed by the spell.

So we could truly center the spell on the caster, so that it does not align with the grid and in doing so, the spell would partially touch every character in the picture as shown here, even though it does not line up with the base grid below it.

 

So is that our answer?  I think not.  First of all, if we use this approach we still have to decide if the spell affects characters that are only partially touched.  We have an answer to that question on page 28 of the DMG under the Area Spells section where it states, "…, then if the majority of a grid square lies within that circle, the square is a part of the spell’s area.".  Since the affected area should really be a circle and not the evenly squared circle shown in the picture, the characters touched by half the diagram would really be in a square that is less than 50% covered by the spell.  So, in trying to resolve this the answer starts getting more complicated.

What to do?  We came up with a solution that we feel is best because it is easy to implement, and gives the caster a good amount of control over the result.  It is also based on the rules from pages 28 of the DMG:  "To employ the spell using a grid, the caster needs to designate an intersection of two lines on the grid as the center of the effect. From that intersection, it’s easy to measure a radius using the scale on the grid. " 

We allow the caster to pick one of the intersections of one of the four corners the caster is standing in, and that corner becomes the center of the 20' burst allowing us to use the diagrams from the book, as in the second picture above, to determine those affected by the spell.

Break a Grapple With Baleful Transposition

So the large monster has your friend in a grapple and he can't break friend?  What is a low-level wizard going to do?  How about trying Baleful Transposition?  This spell from page 23 of the Spell Compendium not only can cause two monsters to switch places, the monsters involved in the exchange cannot carry other creatures with them during the exchange; thus freeing your grappled comrade.

This spell is intended to swap an ally in danger with an enemy, placing the enemy in peril; but it can also be used to get your friend out of a grapple.

It only works on creatures of size Large or smaller.

Each creature involved in the exchange gets a Will save to prevent the swap.

But it still may be just the spell you were looking for.

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) 3.5 rules.

Do I Get Two Claw Attacks or Just One After a Move in D&D 3.5

The stat block for some monsters can leave us guessing the intent.  I sometimes find stat blocks that are not clear about what the monster will do with a single attack.  Specifically, if the monster's primary attack is its claws, and the creature has two claws, does the creature get two claw attacks when it makes a move action?  The short answer is no, and my explanation follows.

 

Look at the Tiger in the Monster Manual (Page 281) as an example.  The Monster Manual states that 'the Attack' is a Claw.  The Tiger's 'Full Attack' is 2 Claws and 1 Bite.

One source of ambiguity is the reference to the monster's primary attack.  A tiger is not penalized on its primary attack and its primary attack is 2 claws.  'Primary Attack' does not mean the attack a monster uses when they are not using the Full Attack action.  'Primary Attack' means those attacks which do not incur a -5 penalty because they are secondary attacks.

So when a tiger takes a move action as part of its turn, and then it attacks "once", it only gets a single claw attack.  It only rolls the d20 once to attack.

When a tiger is already next to its opponent and the tiger does a 'Full Attack' action the tiger can roll the d20 three times, once for each claw and once for the bite attack.  Since the claws are both part of the Primary Attack, the tigers attack roll is +9 for each claw (this is calculated from by adding the Base Attack of +4, adding the tiger's strength bonus of +6, and then subtracting 1 because the tiger is a large creature).  The tiger's bite attack is only at +4 because it is a secondary attack (this is calculated the same with the -5 penalty included for being a secondary attack).

Final note:  A creature with the MultiAttack Feat reduces the penalty on secondary attacks from -5 to -2.

Why Your Rogue Should Have Improved Initiative - D&D 3.5

I have played a rogue Halfling for years.  Her primary weapon is a crossbow which she uses to make ranged sneak attacks.  She also has great dexterity and improved initiative which causes her to be one of the first to act in each battle.  But only recently did I learn that I have overlooked one of her best attack opportunities. 

I was not aware of the rule that an attacker in the first round of combat can treat her opponent as flat footed if the opponent has not yet acted.  This trivial sounding advantage is a huge boon to characters with the sneak attack ability and ranged attacks and a great initiative.

To clarify, if my rogue, Gwynne, has an initiative of 25, and the monster has an initiative of 18, and another rogue in our party, Berigand, has an initiative of 16, then Gwynne, acting first, could fire her crossbow at the monster and if she hits she could apply her sneak attack damage if she was within range for a sneak attack.  She does not need to be flanking or invisible because the monster is flat-footed (in the first round only).  When the monster acts, it could attack Gwynne who is not flat-footed (because she has acted already), or it could attack Berigand who is flat-footed because he has not yet acted in the round.  Unless the monster has a sneak attack ability it probably doesn't have an advantage in attacking one rogue over the other.

So my recommendation for crossbow wielding rogues is that they take "Improved Initiative", and "Crossbow Sniper" which allows sneak attacks from up to 60' away (instead of the default range of 30').  But most important, don't forget that your opponent is flat-footed in the first round of combat if you have a higher initiative and are acting before they do!

This is explained in the Player's Handbook on page 133 under "How Combat Works".  Also on page 135 under "Initiative", and on page 137 under "Flat-Footed".

How to Add a New Language for Characters in e-tools for D&D 3.5 (etools)

For a new character I wanted her to start with the language "Spanish".  I knew this language was not in e-tools but figured it would be easy to add.  I discovered that it was not so easy.

First of all, according to the e-tools rules, a character may learn any language if they spend skill points on "Speak Language", but your choice of languages you can select due to your higher intelligence is limited to a subset of languages based upon your race.

I created a video to show the steps for adding the language so that you can choose it for your race using the extra languages gained by your intelligence modifier.  Here are the basic steps:

1. In the House Rules section of e-tools, select the Languages tab and add your new language
2. In the File menu of e-tools, choose "Load from Core", and "Race".
3. If your character is human, navigate to the .rac file for the Human race.  This is probably in a folder like C:\Program Files (x86)\Wizards of the Coast\eTools\Core\Races\Players Handbook v35e
4. Add the language for the Human race and save.  (I recommend backing up the original race file first)
5. Go back to your character and choose the language.

Click on this link to view the video on ScreenCast.com:  HowToAddALanguageInEtools

D&D 3.5 - How many ranged attacks do I get with a bow, crossbow, or dagger?

I don't recall seeing any place in the Player's Handbook that clearly states characters get additional attacks with ranged weapons when their base attack bonus is high enough.  I believe the reason for this is that the answer depends upon which ranged weapon is used.  Here is what we know:

Crossbows

If you are a 6th level fighter with a BAB of +6/+1, you only get one shot per round with a light crossbow.  We can learn this by reading about the description of the crossbow, or by reading about "Normal" behavior under the Rapid Reload Feat (page 99).  For hand or light crossbows, a character needs a Move action to reload the weapon.  Since the character must take a move action to reload the weapon they cannot take a Full Round Attack action.  However, with the Rapid Reload feat you may fire as many times as you have attack bonuses, just like a bow.

Short Bows and Long Bows

The description in the Quick Draw Feat (page 98) clarifies much for us.  "A character who has selected this feat may throw weapons at his full normal rate of attacks (much like a character with a bow)."
This tells us that a 6th level fighter with a BAB of +6/+1  using a bow (Short Bow or Long Bow) gets two attacks per round with the bow using the Full Round Attack Action.

Daggers, Hand Axes, Spears, Javelins, and Darts
The Quick Draw Feat also tells us that a 6th level fighter with a BAB of +6/+1 may NOT throw multiple daggers, or any other weapon, in a round.  He needs the Quick Draw Feat in order to do so.

Shurikens

I interpret that you can throw as many shurikens per round as you have attacks.  I believe this because shurikens may be drawn as a free action just like ammunition.  Shurikens are treated as ammunition in all respects.

What about the Rapid Shot Feat?

A quick read of the Rapid Shot Feat may lead you to believe that normally you only get one shot per round with a bow; but that is incorrect.  If you read Rapid Shot carefully, it is telling us that the character gets one additional attack above the number of attacks per round the character normally would receive (though each attack is at -2 to hit).

Full Attack Action

You must use the full attack action if you take more than one attack with your primary hand.  So a 20th level fighter with a BAB of +20/+15/+10/+5 could fire one arrow from a short bow in a round and then take a move action, or he could fire two, three, or four arrows from the short bow and take no other action in that round.

Summary

Crossbow, Heavy	1 attack every other round	Takes a full round to reload
Crossbow, Heavy with Rapid Reload	1 attack per round	Takes a move action to reload
Crossbow, Light	1 attack per round	Takes a move action to reload
Crossbow, Light with Rapid Reload	= to your number of attacks	Takes a free action to reload
Crossbow, Hand	Same as Light Crossbow
Bows, both short and long	= to your number of attacks
Bows with Rapid Shot	= to your number of attacks +1	All at -2 to attack
Daggers, Darts, etc	1 attack per round
Daggers, Darts, etc with Quick Draw	= to your number of attacks
Shurikens	= to your number of attacks

Use a Small Magnetic Board as a D&D Gaming Aid - Track Status, Initiative, or More

We use a few white boards on the wall to keep track of modifications in affect to our characters.  In the image below I show our three boards.  The small board on the left is magnetic and we use some small magnetics on a piece of paper we printed and cut up to track our initiative order.  As you can imagine, this is helpful for the players to prepare their action when their turn is coming up.  Our group generally consist of 5 players, and we each play two characters to keep us from being bored all evening if one character becomes incapacitated. 

The board on the right is currently used to remind us of all the affects of the Haste spell, which we cast on the party frequently.

The big board in the middle is to keep track of the cumulative affect of other enhancements on our characters and how they stack, and to which characters they apply.

We often have a Heroes Feast, Attack and Damage bonuses from a bard singing, Saving Throw bonuses from Cleric spells, and more.

You can usually find Magnetic boards for less than $10, and plenty of magnets for $1 or less.  In this case I had a long strip of magnetic that I cut up into several small pieces.

Large white boards are a little more expensive and less portable, but I think it has been worth it for us to improve our game play.

Can you Scry on an Object using the Scrying Spell in D&D 3.5?

Can you Scry on an Object using the Scrying Spell in D&D 3.5?

 

The answer is "Yes".  Although the spell description for the scrying spell does not explicitly state you can scry on objects, we can imply the spell, and crystal balls, were intended to be included based on the description of several other spells, most notably Obscure Object and Nondetection.  The text of each of those spells specifies that they make it more difficult to scry upon objects or beings when using the scrying spell or a crystal ball.

When scrying upon an object, or person, there must be sufficient light for the scrier to see the object being scried upon.  If you attempt to scry upon an object locked in a dark chest and you don't have darkvision, you will be unable to see the object you are scrying upon, but you will know that it is in a dark place.

A Sortable List of All Immediate and Swift Spells From D&D 3.5 Edition - Spell Compendium

I put together this list for my use, and thought others might like it as well. I have two scenarios where I really like to review this list.

1) I like for some of my characters to take just one, or maybe two, levels of another class in order to have access to a few spells to help them with their primary class. For example, my Swashbuckler has one level of Sorcerer and he uses this to cast swift spells that help him in combat such as Blades of Fire and Insightful Feint.

2) Some of my high level characters stock up on swift spells to give them extra actions in a round.

I hope this helps you more easily flesh out your characters:

http://www.robkraft.org/DnD/SwiftSpells.html