I've searched the rules forum and got bogged down in inconclusive similar-though-not-quite-the-same questions. Hopefully someone can clarify the issue for me.
Say I have a character with the fey bloodline's laughing touch power...
Laughing Touch (Sp): At 1st level, you can cause a creature to burst out laughing for 1 round as a melee touch attack. A laughing creature can only take a move action but can defend itself normally. Once a creature has been affected by laughing touch, it is immune to its effects for 24 hours. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. This is a mind-affecting effect.
…and multiple natural attacks per round (bite/claw/claw for instance), since touch attack effects can be delivered with successful natural attacks, can I full attack and successfully inflict a laughing touch effect on multiple opponents as a full attack?
As a secondary question, does a failed attack roll on a laughing touch use up one of the daily uses of that power or does the 3 + Cha limit only apply to successful attacks?
Thanks for the help.
People disagree with me on this, but my view is that unless you get multiple attacks due to a high BAB, you get to designate ONE of your attacks as carrying the touch attack rider effect and only that one attack can carry the effect.
As to your secondary question, there is no language in the Laughing Touch like that in the Paladin's Smite that indicates the use is expended on a miss, so I'd say it's more likely that it works more like the "held charge" from a missed touch spell attack.
People disagree with me on this, but my view is that unless you get multiple attacks due to a high BAB, you get to designate ONE of your attacks as carrying the touch attack rider effect and only that one attack can carry the effect.
Interesting. Can you explain the rationale behind your view?
1. As I understand it, it's a standard action to activate the ability, so you'd still only be able to inflict it once per turn. Once it's active, though, you could deliver it with any of your attacks until one of them connects. Alternately, you get the free melee touch attack when activating, which is how most characters use such abilities.
2. No. You're holding the charge, same as any other touch spell-like ability.
Basically, it's like any other touch spell--standard action to cast, free touch attack with casting, hold the charge until discharged, deliverable via touch, natural attack, or unarmed strike.
1. Using Laughing Touch is a Standard Action. If delivering the touch attack in the same round, you cannot use your natural attack.
2. If you use Laughing Touch and Hold the Charge, you can deliver it the next round using your natural attacks. The charge will be held until you score a successful hit with one of your attacks. Note that with a natural attack, the attack roll will be against regular AC, not touch AC.
Holding the Charge: If you don't discharge the spell in the round when you cast the spell, you can hold the charge indefinitely. You can continue to make touch attacks round after round. If you touch anything or anyone while holding a charge, even unintentionally, the spell discharges. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates. You can touch one friend as a standard action or up to six friends as a full-round action. 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 normally 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.
3. If you combine Sorcerous Strike with Feral Combat Training, you can deliver Laughing Touch 1/round on ANY of your successful natural attacks (using the designated attack with Feral Combat Training..."any" is stated in case you have multiple claws).
So technically speaking, if you hold the charge from the round before and combine that with that feat pair, you could in theory hit two opponents in your opening round with Laughing Touch.
"A spell-like ability has a casting time of 1 standard action unless noted otherwise in the ability or spell description."
Ah, yes. That's the part I'd missed. That'd settle it. Thanks everybody!
Laughing touch is a sp its a standard action to activate and you get a free touch per the spell touch attack rules.
If you miss you then hold the charge and next round csn do multiple attacks. The moment any hit it is discharged.
Read spellcasting rules on holding the charge and sp abilities.
|
Round 1: Activate Laughing Touch, forego your free touch attack and instead opt to "hold the charge".
Round 2: Perform a full attack, doing claw/claw/bite. Whichever attack hits first will also discharge the Laughing Touch.
If you missed with all 3 attacks you may try again the following round, but the moment you discharge your touch you'll have to activate it again.
I (mostly) agree with what has been stated above. However, I disagree that the caster's entire body becomes charged when he casts a touch spell. If your entire body became charged such that you could deliver your touch with ANY attack (including a kick) then how do you move across the floor to deliver it ?
I believe that you can deliver the touch with any appendage, but once you choose it, you're stuck with that appendage until the spell is discharged or dismissed.
I think the Magus FAQ shows this.
"A magus could even use the spellstrike ability, miss with his melee attack to deliver the spell, be disarmed by an opponent (or drop the weapon voluntarily, for whatever reason), and still be holding the charge in his hand, just like a normal spellcaster. Furthermore, the weaponless magus could pick up a weapon (even that same weapon) with that hand without automatically discharging the spell, and then attempt to use the weapon to deliver the spell. However, if the magus touches anything other than a weapon with that hand (such as retrieving a potion), that discharges the spell as normal."
The spell seems to be stuck in that hand. The faq does NOT say the Magus can transfer the spell to his other hand.
What having the spell held in a particular appendage does let you do is have something else in your other hand. You could cast your touch spell, hold it in your right hand and open the door with your left. If you're NOT holding it in a particular appendage, then you can't do that.
...Do we actually know for sure that spell-like abilities that involve touch attacks automatically use the rules for touch spells, such as holding a charge?
I couldn't find anything one way or the other when looking this up, so that puts it into the gray area.
However, here is how I'd view it:
1. Spell-Like Abilities operate similarly to spells except where stated in the definition
2. The ability indicates a standard touch attack without additional qualifiers, so it goes to reason that standard touch attack rules apply