Greetings, all, and happy early Daddy Day!
Storm touch is an Evocation L5 Wizard spell that does 9d6 damage per hit and forces a Fortitude save per hit vs. a 1 round stun. You can use it up to once per level (which I assume means caster level). It's a melee touch attack, meaning it
should work with maneuvers and stances.
The clearest
Tome of Battle comes is on page 42 under the Strike section which says, "Most [strikes] involve a melee attack as part of completing the maneuver. If the attack hits, your opponent typically takes normal melee damage, as well as suffering the effects of the strike. When making a strike, you use your base attack bonus, all attack and damage modifiers, weapon damage, and so forth, as normal."
In short, ToB is fairly clear that this is allowed.
Here's how it works, and yes, it works best as a Jade Phoenix Mage with an emphasis on arcane casting. Also, this trick works best on spells that allow multiple touch attacks after casting, but can work on single touch abilities, like
touch of idiocy or
ghoul touch.
Round 1: Cast
storm touch. Attack with it if you want, but this round you probably won't be able to use any maneuvers because
storm touch is a standard action and most maneuvers are also standard actions. (If you can activate
storm touch and a maneuver in the same round, be my guest!) Because you're
holding the charge, be careful not to accidentally touch anything!
Round 2+: Attack! If you use a strike, you can make only one attack with your natural reach. If you make basic attacks, you can use your 'taser touch' to zap your foes into stunningness or death. You can still use boosts, like Burning Blade or Raging Mongoose, for extra effect! Your stances still apply, regardless.
Props to you if you're attacking unarmed or with a melee natural weapon, such as an Unarmed Swordsage. Why? According to
this (under Holding the Charge), "Alternatively, you may make a normal unarmed attack (or an attack with a
natural weapon) while holding a charge. In this case, you aren’t considered armed and you provoke
attacks of opportunity as normal for the attack. (If your unarmed attack or natural weapon attack doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity, neither does this attack.) If the attack hits, you deal normal damage for your unarmed attack or natural weapon and the spell discharges. If the attack misses, you are still holding the charge. "
Note: There is no listed limit on how long you can hold the charge, so as long as you don't need to scratch your ears or something, and can afford to be down a hand, you can hold this charge for minutes or hours
Spell Flower (Spell Compendium 198): You can hold one touch spell per arm (though I use the term 'forelimb' because I might go Thri-Kreen or
Girallon or something) so long as you don't cast a spell using a charged limb or touch anything with a charged limb.
Spell flower has a somatic component, so you can can cast your touch spell once per forelimb. Go, go multitouching! (Two-weapon Fighting and Multiweapon Fighting may not be so bad!)
This spell is Personal and lasts 1 round per level, and with this build, is begging to be persisted!
