My first question is regarding guns. According to the rules for guns, they target Touch AC for their first range increment. If it targets touch AC, does that mean it ignores Damage Reduction?
Damage reduction does not negate touch attacks, energy damage dealt along with an attack, or energy drains. Nor does it affect poisons or diseases delivered by inhalation, ingestion, or contact.
My second question is regarding the Magus and it's Knowledge Pool ability. According to Walter's guide to Magus, and the author claims that Knowledge Pool lets you:
"He can also use this ability to gain a spell he doesn’t know for a day, then copy it down into his spellbook, effectively learning 1 spell off the magus spell list each day. Note, however, that this use of Knowledge Pool is a little shifty and may anger certain GMs."
Is that legit? Can I really just wake up each day and learn a new spell like that?
My understanding is that firearms target Touch AC in their first range increment, and are not in fact Touch Attacks.
Regardless, I believe there was some conclusion reached in playtest that regardless, the section about Touch Attacks ignoring AC only applied to energy damage.
Just so it's here to reference:
At 7th level, when a magus prepares his magus spells, he can decide to expend 1 or more points from his arcane pool, up to his Intelligence bonus. For each point he expends, he can treat any one spell from the magus spell list as if it were in his spellbook and can prepare that spell as normal that day. If he does not cast spells prepared in this way before the next time he prepares spells, he loses those spells. He can also cast spells added in this way using his spell recall ability, but only until he prepares spells again.
Spending a single point from his arcane pool allows him to prepare a spell from his spell list. A spell list is the entire list of spells available to his class. Now, the ability says that it is as if it were in his spellbook for the day. Note that it is not actually in his spellbook, but merely as if it were. I think that this means you do not actually gain the written spell -- you may only cast it as if you had written it.
To put it more simply: the spell was never in the spellbook. The magus merely casts the spell, following all normal rules of casting it, by spending a point from the knowledge pool, but never has it actually written down.
EDIT: turns out it does give you free spells; see Grick's post, below
My second question is regarding the Magus and it's Knowledge Pool ability. According to Walter's guide to Magus, and the author claims that Knowledge Pool lets you:
"He can also use this ability to gain a spell he doesn’t know for a day, then copy it down into his spellbook, effectively learning 1 spell off the magus spell list each day. Note, however, that this use of Knowledge Pool is a little shifty and may anger certain GMs."Is that legit? Can I really just wake up each day and learn a new spell like that?
It's legit. You still have to spend the money to write it in your spellbook, obviously, but it's legal.
To put it more simply: the spell was never in the spellbook. The magus merely casts the spell, following all normal rules of casting it, by spending a point from the knowledge pool, but never has it actually written down.
Yes, but the point is, instead of casting it, you then write it down.
Replacing and Copying Spellbooks: "A wizard can use the procedure for learning a spell to reconstruct a lost spellbook. If he already has a particular spell prepared, he can write it directly into a new book at the same cost required to write a spell into a spellbook."
So, just like copying the spell from another spellbook, except skip the part about deciphering and understanding the spell since you already have it prepared.
Yes, but the point is, instead of casting it, you then write it down.
Replacing and Copying Spellbooks: "A wizard can use the procedure for learning a spell to reconstruct a lost spellbook. If he already has a particular spell prepared, he can write it directly into a new book at the same cost required to write a spell into a spellbook."
So, just like copying the spell from another spellbook, except skip the part about deciphering and understanding the spell since you already have it prepared.
Ah, I see.
Well there you go then; knowledge pool = free spells known.
knowledge pool = free spells known.
Not free, you still have to pay the costs to scribe them into your spellbook. There's a table for writing cost by spell level under Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook.
It does save you the privilege fee of borrowing a spellbook though (50% of the cost to write it) and let you learn new spells in the field.
knowledge pool = free spells known.Not free, you still have to pay the costs to scribe them into your spellbook. There's a table for writing cost by spell level under Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook.
It does save you the privilege fee of borrowing a spellbook though (50% of the cost to write it) and let you learn new spells in the field.
Thank you very much!
knowledge pool = free spells known.Not free, you still have to pay the costs to scribe them into your spellbook. There's a table for writing cost by spell level under Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook.
It does save you the privilege fee of borrowing a spellbook though (50% of the cost to write it) and let you learn new spells in the field.
Note as welIl that 50% writing costs as a "privilege fee" is a guideline, not a rule. That is what it "usually" costs, but the DM sets the price according to how unusual or rare the spell is. Thus, if the DM is looking to control access to spells, he is completely within his rights--without having to invoke rule 0; he is within RAW--to set the price wherever he likes.
Note as welIl that 50% writing costs as a "privilege fee" is a guideline, not a rule. That is what it "usually" costs, but the DM sets the price according to how unusual or rare the spell is. Thus, if the DM is looking to control access to spells, he is completely within his rights--without having to invoke rule 0; he is within RAW--to set the price wherever he likes.knowledge pool = free spells known.Not free, you still have to pay the costs to scribe them into your spellbook. There's a table for writing cost by spell level under Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook.
It does save you the privilege fee of borrowing a spellbook though (50% of the cost to write it) and let you learn new spells in the field.
Unless he has multiple spells he's restricting that the magus wants, Knowledge pool is going to bypass any restrictions anyway.
"You don't find anyone with the enervation spell willing to let you copy their spell"
"Alright. I'll just prepare it each day via knowledge pool."
Or of course you could just take it as one of your two free spells per level, without needing to find another copy of the spell somewhere. Maguses tend to go for a small pool of bread and butter spells anyway, since they lack a lot of the wide-ranging utility spells the wizard has.
@Omelite
No the magus won't say "Alright. I'll just prepare it each day via knowledge pool." it will say ""Alright. I'll just prepare it today via knowledge pool and copy it to my spellbook so that from tommorow i will be able to memorize anytime i want."
Anyway i myself wouldn't do it unless the DM wasn't letting me get the spell i want where it was logical to find them OR a big portion of the game takes place somewhere where i can't find new spells.
Now in the first case the DM is probably targeting me so i have bigger problems than finding a spell or two and in the second case the DM should have told me before of playing a class with a spellbook or find a way to give me spells (torn pages of spellbooks and nearly destroyed=a couple of spells spellbooks are my two favorites techniques).
Anyway this things about knowledge pool comes up once or twice a week, i really hope that they give us an answer to whether this was the intent or not.