Touch Attack for its own sake

[Baron_Yves]

Would a player be able to make a touch attack (ranged or melee) simply for the effect of having touched the target?

A few examples:

-A cleric wants to give the appearance that a touch spell is being delivered to an enemy, but casts nothing prior to the attempt.

-An archer wants to show that he can hit the broadside of a barn, but doesn't really care about a specific point.

-Two kids are playing tag. They are unconcerned with critical hits or penetrating armor.

There is a rule for 'finding an invisible creature' that kindof does what I'm talking about in terms of melee touch attack.

"A creature can grope about to find an invisible creature. A character can make a touch attack with his hands or a weapon into two adjacent 5-foot squares using a standard action. If an invisible target is in the designated area, there is a 50% miss chance on the touch attack. If successful, the groping character deals no damage but has successfully pinpointed the invisible creature’s current location. If the invisible creature moves, its location, obviously, is once again unknown."

So let's say the target is visible and you just wanted to get a melee touch attack for zero damage to pinpoint his completely visible form. Could you get two of those if you targeted the same adjacent square twice?

Thoughts?

Yves

[SlimGauge]

What page of what book is the rule you quote from ?

EDIT: Found it, it's on page 443 under the rules for darkness, but my book is slightly different

Core wrote:

A blinded creature can grope about to find unseen creatures. A character can make a touch attack with his hands or a weapon into two adjacent squares using a standard action. If an unseen target is in the designated square, there is a 50% miss chance on the touch attack.

If successful, the groping character deals no damage but has pinpointed the unseen creature’s current location. If the unseen creature moves, its location is once again unknown.

EDIT2: Found your version on page 563

Your examples -

1) Sure, roll a touch attack, but anyone with spellcraft is going to be able the make the check to identify the spell you're casting as ... not a spell. A generous GM might allow a bluff check on others. Also, since you're not actually armed with a spell, you might provoke, again GM call.

2) I don't think you can make a touch attack at range with anything OTHER than a ranged touch attack (like a ray or a net).

3) Sure, just make a melee touch attack and be sure to use the verbal component of "Tag, you're it !"

[Cayzle]

Also great for two-hand-touch football!

[Baron_Yves]

SlimGauge wrote:

What page of what book is the rule you quote from ?

EDIT: Found it, it's on page 443 under the rules for darkness, but my book is slightly different

Core wrote:

A blinded creature can grope about to find unseen creatures. A character can make a touch attack with his hands or a weapon into two adjacent squares using a standard action. If an unseen target is in the designated square, there is a 50% miss chance on the touch attack.

If successful, the groping character deals no damage but has pinpointed the unseen creature’s current location. If the unseen creature moves, its location is once again unknown.

EDIT2: Found your version on page 563

Your examples -

1) Sure, roll a touch attack, but anyone with spellcraft is going to be able the make the check to identify the spell you're casting as ... not a spell. A generous GM might allow a bluff check on others. Also, since you're not actually armed with a spell, you might provoke, again GM call.

2) I don't think you can make a touch attack at range with anything OTHER than a ranged touch attack (like a ray or a net).

3) Sure, just make a melee touch attack and be sure to use the verbal component of "Tag, you're it !"

Thank you for the response and the help with referencing the Core rule pages.

Two followup questions:

Let's switch the cleric in example 1 into a druid and they have a claw attack due to druid powers. So even though a spellcraft check would reveal the non-spell usage, just touching someone with a claw melee touch attack for zero damage would work without provoking an attack of opportunity, yes?

In the example I quoted earlier, it mentions being able to make a melee touch attack into 2 adjacent squares as a standard action when groping for invisible creatures and it looks as though there are similar rules for groping in the dark. Would the druid in my last example be able to perform two claw melee touch attacks to the same target for zero damage even in a well lit room and the target being visible?

Thank you for your indulgence.

[Quantum Steve]

Baron_Yves wrote:

-A cleric wants to give the appearance that a touch spell is being delivered to an enemy, but casts nothing prior to the attempt.

-An archer wants to show that he can hit the broadside of a barn, but doesn't really care about a specific point.

-Two kids are playing tag. They are unconcerned with critical hits or penetrating armor.

1) This is probably better accomplished with a bluff check if your intent is to trick someone.

2) This is a regular attack. A barn would be a gargantuan object with an AC of -1. This is the barn's touch AC, also.

3)This isn't a combat situation, so combat rules aren't necessarily appropriate. I would just use a melee touch attack to resolve the contest.