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So this spell is confusing.
Your unarmed strikes release blasts of energy in the form of bolts of fire or glowing red crows, which fly instantaneously to strike your target. You can make unarmed strike or flurry of blows attacks against the target as if it were in your threatened area; each successful attack deals damage as if you had hit it with your unarmed strike, except half the damage is fire and half is negative energy (this negative energy does not heal undead). For example, if you are a 14th-level monk, you can use a flurry of blows to attack five times, creating one energy crow for each successful attack against the target, and dealing 2d6 points of damage (plus appropriate unarmed strike modifiers) with each crow.
The casting time is 1 round and the duration is instantaneous. How does this spell play out? You cast it one turn and the next turn you can flurry once with this spell afterwards? Can you make the unarmed attacks as part of the casting?
What happens if you cast it on an ally?
RAI: Probably make a full attack as part of casting the spell, with each attack that would have landed shooting off a crow-missile that does the damage.
RAW: The spell simply doesn't work. Even if the wording was changes to say something like "as part of casting this spell you may take a full attack option" it would still be weird in that it has a 1 round casting time, which means it would technically start on your turn and people could interrupt it before it ever goes off. Then it would technically happen at the start of your NEXT turn....which is just weird to me for whatever reason. I mean, I can conceptualize it, but it seems a very strange spell....especially considering it doesn't work without DM translation and intervention of some kind.
Edit: The ally thing is even stranger. I can conceptualize the attacks as PART of the round of casting the spell. I can't figure out how it would work on another creature. Do they have to spend a full attack that turn as well, but have it do nothing for the moment, until you're done casting the spell? Do they spend it after? It doesn't seem they can with a duration of instantaneous....I dunno. My brain hurts.
I'm going to guess that the casting time should be a "full round" action rather than a "1 round" action. I think the spell implicitly says you get the full attack as part of casting the spell, but making it explicit would have been better, IMO.
I don't see any special mention of allies here. If cast on an ally, it would do the same thing that casting scorching ray does to an ally: it damages them. Since it doesn't even heal undead, I can't think of any good reason to cast it on an ally.
Ok I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious. Glad to know the spell is retarded not me.
I understand the casting time just fine. One round casting time? It's effects take place at the beginning of your next turn, just like a summon spell. You cast this round. That's it for that round. At the beginning of your next turn you may begin making your unarmed attacks or flurry of blows.
What I don't get is the instantaneous duration. Instantaneous effects are permanent aren't they? That should be rounds/level or something.
Ok I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious. Glad to know the spell is retarded not me.I understand the casting time just fine. One round casting time? It's effects take place at the beginning of your next turn, just like a summon spell. You cast this round. That's it for that round. At the beginning of your next turn you may begin making your unarmed attacks or flurry of blows.
What I don't get is the instantaneous duration. Instantaneous effects are permanent aren't they? That should be rounds/level or something.
Then people would argue that the damage goes away when the duration runs out. :rolleyes:
So, wait, it's two full actions for a half fire/half negative damage ranged flurry?
:/
So, wait, it's two full actions for a half fire/half negative damage ranged flurry?
:/
By my reading, it's one "1 round" action for a half fire/half negative damage ranged flurry, and then you get your usual round of actions.
For example:
Round 1
- monk/cleric goes through fancy martial dance to summon the evil blood crows.
- everybody else ignores the monk/cleric, 'cause he's a silly multiclassed caster
- Just before the monk/cleric's round, he lets fire the crows of hell (the spell resolves)
- The monk now gets his usual full Round 2 turn
- All the other characters do their thing
Now, I think the spell should be a full round action to cast (so it resolves during Round 1, and not Round 2), but that's how it reads to me as-is.
Edit: Yes, I know a monk can pick up evil blood crows as a ki power with the quigong archetype.
So, wait, it's two full actions for a half fire/half negative damage ranged flurry?
:/
Well, depending on how the duration is supposed to work (still don't get the instantaneous thing) then it would last longer than two full actions. You should get to keep making the ranged unarmed attacks for a few rounds. Plenty useful I would think.
By my reading, it's one "1 round" action for a half fire/half negative damage ranged flurry, and then you get your usual round of actions.For example:
Round 1
Round 2
- monk/cleric goes through fancy martial dance to summon the evil blood crows.
- everybody else ignores the monk/cleric, 'cause he's a silly multiclassed caster
- Just before the monk/cleric's round, he lets fire the crows of hell (the spell resolves)
- The monk now gets his usual full Round 2 turn
- All the other characters do their thing
Now, I think the spell should be a full round action to cast (so it resolves during Round 1, and not Round 2), but that's how it reads to me as-is.
Edit: Yes, I know a monk can pick up evil blood crows as a ki power with the quigong archetype.
I think the part that's screwing up the interpretation is the part where it says "...glowing red crows, which fly instantaneously to strike your target..." I'm pretty sure that just means WHEN you make the attack, and denoting the fact that there's no delay between the attack and the impact of the crow. Like firing an arrow from a bow, if the attack hits, its effects are instantaneous; you don't wait for it to travel.
Just a minor problem with wording. We'll see with the errata, though. Til then, I'm house ruling it to have a duration of 1 round/level, starting with the round following the casting (since it doesn't complete until your next turn anyway).
Also, "successful attack"?
Ranged Touch?
I'm probably one of the few current characters that is actually interested in this, I'm one of those silly multi-class casters! (Zen Archer Monk/Inquisitor)
Though I do see more people taking advantage of the Quinggong Monk options once UM is released.
Hitting the FAQ button may help here :)
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I agree with Distant Scholar. It's sort of like a Scorching Ray spell, except: (a) it takes one round to cast instead of a standard action, (b) the number of "rays" is determined by your monk flurry of blows ability, and (c) you determine if they hit by making melee attacks, not ranged touch attacks.
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Well, depending on how the duration is supposed to work (still don't get the instantaneous thing) then it would last longer than two full actions. You should get to keep making the ranged unarmed attacks for a few rounds. Plenty useful I would think.So, wait, it's two full actions for a half fire/half negative damage ranged flurry?
:/
This spell has an instantaneous duration, just as scorching ray and magic missile do.
The duration definitions are in the Magic section of the PRD.
So, the "effect" of the spell (multiple "bolts of fire or glowing red crows" flying to attack the target) is instantaneous, in that they attack and do damage instantly and then disappear. The damage that they do is permanent.
By giving the spell a duration, you have to decide whether you want to allow the caster to "hold the charge" and release the crows at some time later or you have to allow the crows to linger and do damage each round.
Oh, and I agree with Hogarths interpretation of the spell's adjudication.
I agree with Distant Scholar. It's sort of like a Scorching Ray spell, except: (a) it takes one round to cast instead of a standard action, (b) the number of "rays" is determined by your monk flurry of blows ability, and (c) you determine if they hit by making melee attacks, not ranged touch attacks.
By making melee attacks, or attacks relevant to the flurry attacks? (Zen Archers use ranged!)
I agree with Distant Scholar. It's sort of like a Scorching Ray spell, except: (a) it takes one round to cast instead of a standard action, (b) the number of "rays" is determined by your monk flurry of blows ability, and (c) you determine if they hit by making melee attacks, not ranged touch attacks.By making melee attacks, or attacks relevant to the flurry attacks? (Zen Archers use ranged!)
Good question. :-)
So this spell is confusing.
Your unarmed strikes release blasts of energy in the form of bolts of fire or glowing red crows, which fly instantaneously to strike your target. You can make unarmed strike or flurry of blows attacks against the target as if it were in your threatened area; each successful attack deals damage as if you had hit it with your unarmed strike, except half the damage is fire and half is negative energy (this negative energy does not heal undead). For example, if you are a 14th-level monk, you can use a flurry of blows to attack five times, creating one energy crow for each successful attack against the target, and dealing 2d6 points of damage (plus appropriate unarmed strike modifiers) with each crow.The casting time is 1 round and the duration is instantaneous. How does this spell play out? You cast it one turn and the next turn you can flurry once with this spell afterwards? Can you make the unarmed attacks as part of the casting?
What happens if you cast it on an ally?
Here's the problem with BCS: It shouldn't have been a spell. It seems to me that it was done that way simply so that it fits into the structure that Paizo created for the Quinggong monk abilities (swapping out monk powers for spells).
I agree with the previous posters reading of it, that you take a full attack action while casting the spell, and it simply lets you make a Flurry at range that does energy damage (aka turns you into Goku for a round). What it certainly DOESN'T do is do that for a duration.
On another note, I'd like to bring up the point that it says you can make an unarmed attack or flurry as if you threatened the target. My reading of that is that anything you can apply to an unarmed strike (vital strike, stunning fist, energy fist, power attack, critical [blank], etc.) should also work with this spell, and that the fireballs/evil lazer crows would each do your full unarmed strike damage(including any str bonuses).
So this spell is confusing.
Your unarmed strikes release blasts of energy in the form of bolts of fire or glowing red crows, which fly instantaneously to strike your target. You can make unarmed strike or flurry of blows attacks against the target as if it were in your threatened area; each successful attack deals damage as if you had hit it with your unarmed strike, except half the damage is fire and half is negative energy (this negative energy does not heal undead). For example, if you are a 14th-level monk, you can use a flurry of blows to attack five times, creating one energy crow for each successful attack against the target, and dealing 2d6 points of damage (plus appropriate unarmed strike modifiers) with each crow.The casting time is 1 round and the duration is instantaneous. How does this spell play out? You cast it one turn and the next turn you can flurry once with this spell afterwards? Can you make the unarmed attacks as part of the casting?
What happens if you cast it on an ally?
The spell needs to be cleaned up like Terrible Remorse, Cold Ice Strike, Caustic Eruption, instantaneous duration for combination Word Spells (at least for DMs that are easily steam-rolled) and a few others that are out of whack. I think they will be quite a bit of eratta for the Ultimate Magic.
Hmm, as a GM I have ran into this very problem lately, where one of my players (full cleric) decided to throw a Blood Crow Strike.
What strikes me about the spell description is that first of all the target of the spell is a single creature. And I believe that this is the target as revered to in the description. So the caster chooses a single target that is "marked" as the target of the blood crows (magical projectiles). And spell resistance applies once in order to prevent being marked. So you (the caster) cannot cast this on your allies (unless you want to attack them). Then for god knows how long (because the duration is instantaneous, which is really the weird part) you can make unarmed/flurry attacks against this marked target as if it was in threat range. Then it is very clear that when you deal damage with such an attack, the damage is half negative, half fire.
The description says nothing about allowing extra attacks either during casting or after the spell completes (after 1 round).
So as I read it, it is a 1 round action spent to gain the option of doing attacks at range (although it is a melee attack, see threat range) and changing the damage type. So all in all, not a great lvl 4 spell probably, but one that definitely needs some clarification.
On an additional note, if you actually get a full attack action as part of casting this spell:
How can you perform somatic components when you are attacking with unarmed strikes or a flurry of blows at the same time?
I don't see how it could be read as anything other than
Round 1: Cast BCS
Round 2: Full attack or Flurry of blows with the increased range and fire/negative energy damage.
I don't see how it could be read as anything other than
Round 1: Cast BCS
Round 2: Full attack or Flurry of blows with the increased range and fire/negative energy damage.
The spell is instantaneous. The attacks "come and go the instant the spell is cast." When the spell resolves, before your second turn, you get attacks, then you get your second turn. That's how instantaneous spells work.
