Author Topic: Kicking own's butt...  (Read 2404 times)

Offline NunoM

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Kicking own's butt...
« on: February 19, 2013, 01:47:21 PM »
Strange question, but here goes:
Can a character hit him/herself voluntarily? Can one hold back on damage voluntarily (even subdual)?

Bear with me for a while and here's the deal...
1. From 13th level on, the Duskblade can channel touch spells, as part of a full-attack action, to every target hit.
2. The Duskblade has access to the "Animalistic Power" spell (PHBII, p.101). A touch spell that grants +2 to STR, DEX and CON.

Can a Duskblade boost himself and his party members with careful but well-aimed taps on the back with a full-attack action?

Offline awaken_D_M_golem

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Re: Kicking own's butt...
« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2013, 07:22:43 PM »
The maho/blood caster in the back of OA
was able to pinprick himself for 1hp damage
to get a Metamagic substitute going.

So yeah ... go kick some @ss.


EDIT --- I'm not sure what the problem is.  Buff spells
routinely allow multi targets at range, so what's the
difference with needing an actual touch.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2013, 07:24:49 PM by awaken_D_M_golem »
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Offline NunoM

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Re: Kicking own's butt...
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2013, 05:06:52 PM »
A Duskblade can only channel through his weapon, spells with "Range: touch". Animalistic Power is such a spell, but only allows for a single target.

With the 13th level Duskblade ability, i could instead channel that spell through a full attack and affect multiple creatures, including my own char, if possible.

Offline Demelain

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Re: Kicking own's butt...
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2013, 10:05:16 PM »
I believe a whip is standard for this - 15 foot range, 1d3 nonlethal damage.

Offline Kasz

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Re: Kicking own's butt...
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2013, 05:55:41 AM »
I believe a whip is standard for this - 15 foot range, 1d3 nonlethal damage.

Whips deal no damage to any creature with an armor bonus of +1 or higher or a natural armor bonus of +3 or higher. They don't threaten but they you can hit anyone within reach including adjacent. A Duskblade buffing whip would be rather effective and hilarious.

Offline Kethrian

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Re: Kicking own's butt...
« Reply #5 on: February 21, 2013, 09:11:02 PM »
I prefer the rope dart to the whip.  Same reach, doesn't provoke AoOs, and deals lethal damage.  For party buffing, you just deliver touch attacks that deal no damage.
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Offline Captnq

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Re: Kicking own's butt...
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2013, 09:33:33 PM »
Why not just touch attack for no damage? Easier to hit and no HP loss. I believe the power works if you hit, doesn't say you have to do any damage. I got a whole bunch of WSAs that work like that.
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Offline NunoM

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Re: Kicking own's butt...
« Reply #7 on: February 22, 2013, 03:21:41 PM »
The ability specifies it can only be used as part of a full-attack and through a weapon...

Can i specify that i'm delivering touch attacks as a full-attack (which would allow my full allotment of attacks for a round), instead of delivering a spell normally (which would grant me a single touch for delivering the spell)?
If so, how?

Your inputs got me considering the delivery of the spell through, say, a whip... (in fact, the handbook mentions this)
Sure, the whip is an exotic weapon but the Duskblade is a full BAB class. If the attacks are trip attacks, against touch AC, i don't see a problem with taking the -4 penalty for non-proficiency.
The attack doesn't have to deal damage, it just has to hit to trigger the delivery of the spell.

Still, the OP question remains, can i attack myself with the whip and benefit from the spell as well?
...and voluntarily drop my AC to accept the attack? would i trip myself? :tongue

Offline Captnq

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Re: Kicking own's butt...
« Reply #8 on: February 26, 2013, 12:39:35 PM »
Still, the OP question remains, can i attack myself with the whip and benefit from the spell as well?
...and voluntarily drop my AC to accept the attack? would i trip myself? :tongue

OH! Why didn't you say so?

Quote from: Duskblade
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.

Quote from: Whirlwind Attack
When you use the full attack action, you can give up your regular attacks and instead make one melee attack at your full base attack bonus against each opponent within reach.

See the bold words? One say target, one says opponent. Now, target is any valid target, as defined elsewhere, but in this case, we can assume it means anyone you could cast the spell on. for example, you could not target, say, a tree, unless said tree was a valid target for the spell itself. The target line of your spell you are choosing to use would determine that.

Now, Whirlwind attack says opponent. Now, unless you hate yourself and have self-esteem issues, you would not fall under opponent. So, you cannot whirlwind attack yourself. (This is to provide a negative example)

So, to answer your question, yes, assuming you are a valid target for the spell.

As for dropping your AC, you can, but the problem is, You can only lower it once and it applies to everyone. You simply choose to become flat-footed, effectively. But once you drop it, you can't be selective about it.

Now, that said, I haven't searched every book in existence, so perhaps I'm missing something somewhere that specifically states you can do this. I've been filling my head with weapon stats and it tends to push out other info.
If you have questions about 3.5 D&D, you might want to look at the:
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