Midnight Phil's page

I must be missing something, but could someone explain what the point of the Ironclad Reactions feat is? You can take a free 5-foot step if you're struck by an attack of opportunity. But that's the thing: you've already been struck. So what are you avoiding? It's not as though the opponent is likely to have another attack handy immediately thereafter; the context specifies an attack of opportunity, not a full attack. What's the advantage here that I'm not picking up on? It seems like a lot, even the best of circumstances, to ask a player to take a feat that relies on them taking damage.

Can the benefits of the Shield Gauntlet Attack feat be applied to a pair of gauntlets simultaneously? Here's the text I'm focused on.

Shield Gauntlet Style
"When using this style, if you begin your turn wearing a gauntlet or spiked gauntlet on your *off hand*..."

Shield Gauntlet Attack
"While using Shield Gauntlet Style, you can calculate the damage of *your gauntlet* or spiked gauntlet using the sacred weapon damage value of a warpriest with a level 4 less than your base attack bonus."

I had originally thought the "Attack" feat could theoretically allow you to apply the damage bonus to a gauntlet on each hand, and then you could employ two-weapon fighting. However, with the specification of "off hand" in the "Style" feat and the use of the singular in the "Attack" feat, I'm wondering if this is all restricted to only one hand. That would be a bummer, but I thought I'd see how others read this all the same.

Hey, quick question on Riving Strike: if I understand correctly, effects that last one round resolve before the character's following initiative. So Riving Strike wouldn't be useful for a single character (barring a quickened spell cast on the same turn or something), and would really only come up as something of a teamwork effect (one character uses Riving Strike, another character capitalizes on it before the first character's next turn). Am I interpreting that correctly?

Is there a way to increase the caster level of a magic item, either temporarily or permanently?

I was looking at the Shawl of Shadowy Disguise from Blood of Shadows, which states, "While worn, the wearer can hide her appearance as if with a penumbral disguise spell." The spell Penumbral Disguise reads, "You mask your features with shadowy illumination, gaining a competence bonus equal to your caster level on Disguise checks and Stealth checks attempted while in normal light, dim light, or darkness."

Now, I gather that the primary point of the cloak is the spell's OTHER benefit (obscuring your features when not in bright or normal light), and not the skill bonuses I listed above. But so far as I can tell, those bonuses would still be applied, albeit at a relatively low bonus since the cloak's caster level is only 5. So, that got me wondering if there was a way to pump up the cloak's CL.

Thoughts? Even if I've read the cloak's rules incorrectly I'd still be interested in learning whether a magic item's CL can be increased after creation.

The spell details for "Wreath of Blades" (Ultimate Combat, pg 249) states "Saving Throw: Reflex half (special, see below)," but the description doesn't make any mention of a saving throw. The damage the spell deals (1d4/2 caster levels) is only described as being given to a target adjacent to the caster. I assume that this is where the Reflex save would come in, but the description makes no note of it. I can't find any FAQ or errata on this. Is there any saving throw associated with this spell?