True Strike and Ray-ish Spells

A friend is wanting to use true strike to make sure the really important spells with an attack roll actually hit.

However, I thought if you cast a spell you lose the one you were getting ready. So if:
You cast True Strike then Enervation, you would lose the True Strike and get a normal ranged touch attack Enervation.
You cats Enervation then True Strike, you would lose the enervation and have nothing on which to apply the +20 to hit.

Are we remembering wrong?

Touch spells with a held charge dissipate if you cast another spell.

You can cast true strike and then on the next turn cast Enervation just fine. You can't cast Enervation and then true strike, because part of the casting of Enervation is making the ranged touch attack roll, so the spell is done before you cast true strike.

You don't hold the charge for True Strike, it has a duration. So just like your Mage Armor doesn't end if you cast Magic Missle, True Strike doesn't end if you can't another spell. It ends at the end of your next turn, or after you make an attack roll.

Also: True-Strike is not a touch spell :)

Ok, I didn't remember it was only touch spells. Thanks guys.

Man, mage armor and overland flight must suck in your games. ;)

Man, mage armor and overland flight must suck in your games. ;)

Just remember to always research the overland armor spell. ;p

Ok, I didn't remember it was only touch spells. Thanks guys.

True Strike applies the first attack roll made before the end of you next turn. That includes touch spells, ranged touch spells, grapples, etc

Gronk de'Morcaine wrote:

Ok, I didn't remember it was only touch spells. Thanks guys.

True Strike applies the first attack roll made before the end of you next turn. That includes touch spells, ranged touch spells, grapples, etc

Don't forget bull rush, which has that juicy "for every 5 by which you beat the target's CMD" line. True strike effectively adds up to 20 feet to the distance you shove them. ;)

=) Writing with more clarity and precision...

I did not realize that it was only the held charge of a touch spell that dissipated when another spell was cast.

For some reason I got it in my head that it was any spell that had not yet taken effect. So since the True Strike had not yet taken effect (you haven't gotten a +20 on a to hit roll) it would dissipate when you cast the next spell. (Mage armor would have already taken effect so would not be affected by the overland flight.)

I am glad to find I was wrong.

It's also why a ring of true strike (or whatever item) wouldn't add +20 to every attack: when cast on you, the spell is affecting you for the entire duration (which is from the moment the spell is cast until the end of your next turn), unless you discharge the spell early by making an attack roll.

Imagine that you made true strike permanent from a magic item. The duration would go from 'until the end of your next round' to 'permanent'. However, it would still be discharged the very first time you made an attack roll! So you paid for a permanent magic item but only got a single use item. Serves you right!

You can of course make an item which gives you true strike either at will (2000gp) or on command (1800gp), but it takes a standard action to activate, so you're not making any attacks at all in that round, and only the first attack (which is your highest attack bonus anyway) will get the +20, assuming you didn't make an AoO in the meantime.

It is possible to make an item with a quickened version of the spell, making it a swift action to activate. It will still only affect the very first attack after you activate it, can only be activated once per round (using your only swift action), and cost 90,000gp for the at will version or 81,000gp for the command word version.

You can of course make an item which gives you true strike either at will (2000gp) or on command (1800gp), but it takes a standard action to activate, so you're not making any attacks at all in that round, and only the first attack (which is your highest attack bonus anyway) will get the +20, assuming you didn't make an AoO in the meantime.

which would make for an epic bad guy archer/crossbowman encounter, if your group is into that sort of challenge

Malachi Silverclaw wrote:

You can of course make an item which gives you true strike either at will (2000gp) or on command (1800gp), but it takes a standard action to activate, so you're not making any attacks at all in that round, and only the first attack (which is your highest attack bonus anyway) will get the +20, assuming you didn't make an AoO in the meantime.

which would make for an epic bad guy archer/crossbowman encounter, if your group is into that sort of challenge

I once used a whole army of goblins scattered through the forest with light crossbows and poisoned bolts. It was the weakest cheapest poison in the book.