Dex to hit on touch attacks, and Rod of Ice questions (class abilities, feats and enchantment)

[Zwordsman]

Howdy!

So melee touch attacks.. you can take "weapon finesse: Melee touch attacks" right? or do you just have to take "weapon finesse: unarmed strike" and it covers kicks and touch attacks?

To further extend. how about items like Rod of Ice (see below), they give you a touch attack. but it's via a rod.. So does that make a difference?
----------------

Secondly. Can you use a rod of ice in AOO? how about Parry and Repost? It sounds like it should be just fine for using those since it's an at will effect. It's just a matter of beating their attack roll.
----------------

How about extra attacks Via BAB and haste? The rod says it grants you a touch attack, no limit, and doesn't specify a specific action to use it (unlike other rods). So it grants you unlimited touch attacks.
So just like those touch attack spells that have more than one atttack per casting, which you can use with BAB, can you use the ice rod?
Can you use it more than once a round because it grants you an unlimited touch attacks? Since it doens't have a specific action or a specific limit. It'd be nice, and it would allow a lot more feats to apply. It is basically a weapon (as touch attacks are weapons. as weapon focus works). Spring attack wouldn't be a horrible investment in the idea I'm building.

My reasoning to think it just gives you an attack: it doesn't specify any action to use it like other rods, magus has been verified to be able to full attack with their touch I think?
but I can see both ways.
----------------

Anyone know of any feats etc that might help an ice rod wielder? so far all i can think of is sneak attack dice, investigator's damage buff, and mesmer's (playtest) damage buff. Any thoughts? Power attack doesn't apply to touch attacks sadly.

----------------

Since.. this is a weapon can you actually magic weapon enhancment it?
As near as I can tell there shouldn't be an issue with that. Except the possiblity of it not being master work? But magic item are automatically masterwork i think? so it should be? It would just be really expensive weapon. 10K+ for a +1 on it.. doing a whopping 1d4+1...
I know some other rods call out they act as specific weapons so I assume you could enchant those ones too.
Anyone have any clue?
----------------

Can I make it out of different materials? (this would not help bypass at all)
----------------

Does this have to deal with Spell Resistance? I want to say no because it is not a spell, and does not list the need for it. So it just has to deal with Resistance right?

ROD OF ICE
Price 8,500 gp; Aura moderate evocation; CL 9th; Weight 3 lbs.
This rod looks like a long sliver of ice and is cold to the touch, but deals no cold damage to its wielder. The wearer can use the rod to make a melee touch attack that deals 1d4 points of cold damage to any creature struck. Also, once per day on command, the wielder can touch the rod to the ground to create a 30-foot cone of ice that encrusts the earth, affecting the area as per the spell grease.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS

Cost 4,250 gp
Craft Rod, cone of cold

[Zwordsman]

might be relavant to the particularly weird question about the touch attacks and BAB

Touch Spells in Combat::

Many spells have a range of touch. To use these spells, you cast the spell and then touch the subject. In the same round that you cast the spell, you may also touch (or attempt to touch) as a free action. You may take your move before casting the spell, after touching the target, or between casting the spell and touching the target. You can automatically touch one friend or use the spell on yourself, but to touch an opponent, you must succeed on an attack roll.
Touch Attacks: Touching an opponent with a touch spell is considered to be an armed attack and therefore does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The act of casting a spell, however, does provoke an attack of opportunity. Touch attacks come in two types: melee touch attacks and ranged touch attacks. You can score critical hits with either type of attack as long as the spell deals damage. Your opponent’s AC against a touch attack does not include any armor bonus, shield bonus, or natural armor bonus. His size modifier, Dexterity modifier, and deflection bonus (if any) all apply normally.
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.

“Armed” Unarmed Attacks::

Sometimes a character’s or creature’s unarmed attack counts as an armed attack. A monk, a character with the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, a spellcaster delivering a touch attack spell, and a creature with natural physical weapons all count as being armed (see natural attacks).

Not sure how that intereacts exactly.. but seems like it would be something to note.
usually you threaten with a "held" touch attack.. so i imagine you would with the rod?

[Skylancer4]

Weapon finesse isn't something you take for specific weapon types. It works on unarmed strikes or touch attacks because they are listed as light weapons. Or are you talking about Weapon Focus?

A rod is a type of magic item, it isn't a light weapon (or any type of weapon) unless it is stated to work as such. Weapon finesse wouldn't help "normally" unless that qualification was made.

-----

The rod would not be able to be used to make an AoO. When an item ability or use has no stated action cost, the default is a standard action. This would prevent you using it to make multiple attacks or AoO's.

-----

Using a rod to deliver attacks as per its ability is completely different than using the rod as a weapon. Even the rods that state they can be used in such a way aren't actually weapons, they just can be used that way with specific abilities. As it isn't a real weapon it is just something that can be used like one, you would be unable to enhance it as such.

-----

I guess unless the rod states it is made out of a specific material or has a specific appearance it could be made out of a custom material. But as you said, it would make no difference. I would imagine most if not all of the weapon-like rods have specific details of what it is made out of, that prevents you from making them out of other materials. This one states what it looks like so as a GM I wouldn't have to say anything else would be a house rule.

-----

SR wouldn't come into play, cold resistance would come into play.