Belt of Battle + Duskblade Arcane Channeling

[NunoM]

Something got me wondering on the combination of "Belt of Battle"^* (MIC, p.73) and the Duskblade's Arcane Channeling ability.

^* I don't know if the online source is valid, but the description for this item is exactly the same as the book's.

For a 13th level duskblade, arcane channeling ability improves to:

At 13th level, you can cast any touch spell you know as part of a full attack action, and the spell affects each target you hit in melee combat that round. Doing so discharges the spell at the end of the round, in the case of a touch spell that would otherwise last longer than 1 round.

(emphasis mine)

Here's the question:
 If i use 3 charges from the belt to gain an additional full round action, i'll be able to perform 2 full-attacks. If i channel a spell (ex.: a shocking grasp) through the first full-attack, do i have to repeat the casting for the 2nd full-attack in that round?

The way i see it, I don't. According to the emphasis in the quote, the spell only fades at the end of the round, so i would probably be able use it again.

Yes, i know... Unfortunately, the same (reused) spell would only affect each different target once in that round, so i'd probably be better off casting a different spell to (re)affect the targets, but still... What do you guys say?

[Gribel]

Your interpretation is correct.

[Halinn]

I believe that you would have to cast it again, in the case of Shocking Grasp. The sentence after the one you bolded adds a qualifier, that it is only for touch spells that would otherwise last >1 round, which Shocking Grasp doesn't.
I think this would take precedence over "the spell affects each target you hit in melee combat that round", though I might be mistaken.

[NunoM]

Ah! I see...

According to this reasoning, "Shocking Grasp" is not valid, because it's instantaneous, ok... Would a spell like "Ghoul Touch", with a longer-than-instantaneous duration, apply?

If this isn't it, i understand that a RAI interpretation could be: "if the touch spell allows for multiple touches throughout several rounds, it discharges at the end of the round nonetheless.", but is there such a spell?

[Gribel]

There are spells that work like that, but most of them have an instantaneous duration. Chill Touch, for example, grants multiple attacks.

[NunoM]

On a related note, this also became an issue when i re-read the ability...

In that quote i mentioned above, what does "end of the round" mean?

According to the PHB:

end of round: The point in a combat round when all the participants have completed all their allowed actions. End of round occurs when no one else involved in the combat has an action pending for that round.

Does this mean that i  would still have the benefit of the spell, if an opponent, taking it's turn after me, provoked an AoO during the same round?

[Bauglir]

Yes, you would, as a general rule. If you were the last in the initiative count, then you wouldn't, since your enemy wouldn't take action until after the round in question was finished,  but that's about the only exception.

[NunoM]

... i thought as much, but now the real confusing stuff starts Here goes:

In 3.0 there was a special action called "Refocus" which would (if i recall correctly) place you on the initiative order as if you rolled a 20 for that purpose. This means you would probably jump up to one of the first orders of initiative.

In 3.5, however, this was redesigned to function as a "delay" action that flows into the next round...

That being said, in 3.5 it seems like there's a continuous flow of time happening and not a real frontier between rounds. I may be reading too much in this, i agree...
Could we interpret this as: the real "end of round" would be when my next action started? Meaning that i actually had a full round worth of spell (as if, say, casting a full-round spell)?

[Bauglir]

Nope. The round ends just after the creature with the lowest initiative count takes action. This means that if you delay until "just before" the creature with the highest count (other than yours), you act first in the next round. If you delay until "just after" the creature with the lowest count, you act in the current round. Even though, in both cases, you actually act at the same time relative to other creatures.

That said, effects with a duration measured in rounds typically last until the same point in the round in question as when they began. So, if you cast a spell with a duration of 1 round, it ends at the beginning(?) of your next turn, or (if you are no longer acting on the same initiative count), that initiative count. If something else has that initiative count, then I'm not sure how the rules handle it. Were it me, I'd assign the effect an "effective initiative count" equal to your own initiative count at the time you cast it, to be used as a tiebreaker of sorts. Thus, anything that went before you if your initiatives were tied would take its turn before the effect expired. Hell of a corner case, and this paragraph got progressively less and less grounded in real rules with every sentence.

However, actions != durations. Think of actions as costs - you aren't waiting for them to finish, you have to spend them to make an effect happen. I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, to be honest, but I think that's relevant.