I've always been under the impression that a touch spell's cast time includes the physical delivery of the spell; that the standard action I spend casting shocking grasp, for instance, includes the touch action and thus the damage. With this in mind:
Hammer was errata'd to have a cast time of 1 swift action, down from 1 standard action. Does this mean hammer allows you make the touch attack as a swift action, in the first and/or subsequent rounds?
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Next, the Psychic Scimitar power. Large portions of its text were simply copy-pasted over from
spectral hand with minimal editing, making it another blemish within the regrettable mess that was Complete Psionic. Omitting the parts detailing the spectral hand functions, the following text remains:
...
The scimitar appears in your hand when first manifested. Directing the scimitar takes a standard action. Once directed to attack an enemy within range, it disappears and then reappears in melee with that creature; thus, you can use a psychic scimitar to attack enemies at a distance.
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You can choose to redirect the scimitar to attack a new opponent; doing so requires an additional standard action. The blade deals 1d6 points of damage. Since the blade is immaterial, your Strength modifier does not apply to the damage even if you wield the blade in your hand. If you wield the scimitar in your hand, you are treated as proficient even if you lack proficiency with the scimitar. Other creatures cannot wield your psychic scimitar.
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After it delivers a power, or if the blade goes beyond range or moves out of your sight, the blade returns to you and hovers until given further direction.
Emphasis mine.
Spectral hand isn't picky about actions. If you could channel a given touch attack through it, you'd just cast the spell and the hand would lunge out and complete the touch attack as part of the casting action (or so I've believed). Spectral hand "counts normally as an attack," which I always thought was to prevent invisibility abuse. Perhaps my eternal optimism is getting the better of me, but it seems that the additional text on psychic scimitar is detailing a pseudo-dancing-weapon-effect. The key is, if you use it just to attack, the "deliver a power, leave range, exit line of sight" return clauses never trigger, and it stays "in melee".
That "in melee" bit is where it gets interesting. There are plenty of effects that specify adjacent, but the only scenario I can think of that deals with "in melee" is when firing a ranged weapon into melee combat. There it's defined as "within threatened area," which would mean that the scimitar can make attacks of opportunity.
tl;dr: Does the scimitar get its own attacks, or do I need to use my own attack actions and attacks of opportunity?
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Thank you for your time and consideration.
