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The question I have is does point blank shot work with the transmuter wizard's Telekenetic Fist ability? The feat says "You get a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at ranges of up to 30 feet."
Does this mean that spells no longer benefit from this feat, or are spells and spell-like abilities with ranged attack rolls counted as ranged weapons?
Generally speaking, any spell or similar ability that you make an attack roll with can be considered a weapon, I believe. I don't have a reference handy. This is talked about in Complete Arcane under Weaponlike Spells. By those interpretations, yes any feats that you take that apply to ranged attacks in general (but not those that specify a type of weapon like Manyshot and Rapid Shot), could be applied to spells. Weapon Focus: Ray is a common example.
As for the Telekinetic Fist... Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, etc would all apply. Weapon Focus... not sure. It's not exactly a Ray after all, even though mechanically it's treated the same. I'd probably allow it.
The question I have is does point blank shot work with the transmuter wizard's Telekenetic Fist ability? The feat says "You get a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at ranges of up to 30 feet."
Does this mean that spells no longer benefit from this feat, or are spells and spell-like abilities with ranged attack rolls counted as ranged weapons?
The only mention I've found in the rulebook pg. 63 uses the formula (level / 3) to determine effective spell level for an ability. Now this was just for the paladin's power, and not a pervasive statement, but that seems like a much better rule of thumb to me than (level / 2).
on p. 131: Point Blank shot reads: "you get a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with "Ranged Weapons."
on p. 141: it reads: "Ranged weapons are thrown weapons or projectile weapons that are not effective in melee"
I believe this is essentially limiting the PBS Feat to ranged weapons only, and thusly limiting it to only those weapons which are not effective in melee combat, as this would negate the first 10 ft range increment penalty for throwing throwing-axes 15-20 feet... All the while still getting +1 to damage...
BUT!! if you suddenly throw your axe a little farther than 30 ft, you no longer get that?
This is designed to give long-range characters a bonus for attacking in close range, where they could get shanked at any moment (since 30 feet is the standard distance of a given move action).
The question concerned Javelins, not rays...
I am not going to argue that rays shouldn't get a +1 to hit (and maybe even damage)...
I am arguing that Javelins are not ranged weapons... since they are defined as Melee weapons, and are listed under the melee weapon section in the weapon charts (unlike bows and shuriken, which are strictly ranged)
The question concerned Javelins, not rays...
I am not going to argue that rays shouldn't get a +1 to hit (and maybe even damage)...
I am arguing that Javelins are not ranged weapons... since they are defined as Melee weapons, and are listed under the melee weapon section in the weapon charts (unlike bows and shuriken, which are strictly ranged)
Javelin is under Ranged Weapons, Simple. Alongside crossbows, slings, darts, blowguns and whatnot.
I can see no problem here whatsoever. If a character has the feat and use it with an inferior weapon, I would surely not penalize them further. A bow does (1d8, x3) and you have a bow that uses your full strength adjustment if you at all care about ranged combat. A javelin does (1d6, x2). Only on the very lowest of levels does it have any chance to out-damage a bow, as you most likely do not have a mighty bow that lets you utilize your strength.
The question concerned Javelins, not rays...
I am not going to argue that rays shouldn't get a +1 to hit (and maybe even damage)...
I am arguing that Javelins are not ranged weapons... since they are defined as Melee weapons, and are listed under the melee weapon section in the weapon charts (unlike bows and shuriken, which are strictly ranged)Javelin is under Ranged Weapons, Simple. Alongside crossbows, slings, darts, blowguns and whatnot.
I can see no problem here whatsoever. If a character has the feat and use it with an inferior weapon, I would surely not penalize them further. A bow does (1d8, x3) and you have a bow that uses your full strength adjustment if you at all care about ranged combat. A javelin does (1d6, x2). Only on the very lowest of levels does it have any chance to out-damage a bow, as you most likely do not have a mighty bow that lets you utilize your strength.
A javelin has one major boon though, that a bow doesn't; it can be used with a shield. Javelins are useful at levels at least up to 5 or 6, where the cost to enchant them might start to become troublesome.
but this still does not answer the comment I made that it it still has a viable melee attack....
does it?
Both javelins and arrows have that, but at a -4 non-proficiency penalty for not being designed for melee combat. IIRC, javelins deal their normal damage while arrows deal 1d3 piercing or some such.