Looking at the Corrupting Touch, the ability reads:
Corrupting Touch (Sp): At 1st level, you can cause a creature to become shaken as a melee touch attack. This effect persists for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your sorcerer level (minimum 1). Creatures shaken by this ability radiate an aura of evil, as if they were an evil outsider (see detect evil). Multiple touches do not stack, but they do add to the duration. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier.
My question is, can you activate the ability on a full attack? Most similar abilities use words like "As a standard action, you can", but this one simply talks about a touch attack.
Giving up your turn to try to shake someone sounds pretty meh, even at low levels, but being able to give up an attack in a series of attack would be kinda nifty.
If an ability does not list the action it takes, then it defaults to a standard action. So no, you can't replace one attack with activating this ability. It also provokes AoOs as a spell-like ability (you can cast it on the defensive though).
If you activate this ability, then hold the charge, you could attempt to deliver it during a full attack in place of an attack.
Thanks for the answer. Ive no doubt you are correct, but do you have a reference for the "default to standard action" rule?
Unfortunately in the Universal Monster Rules of the Beastiary and not with the glossary of them in the Core book:
"Spell-Like Abilities (Sp) Spell-like abilities are magical and work just like spells (though they are not spells and so have no verbal, somatic, focus, or material components). They go away in an antimagic field and are subject to spell resistance if the spell the ability is based on would be subject to spell resistance.
A spell-like ability usually has a limit on how often it can be used. A constant spell-like ability or one that can be used at will has no use limit; unless otherwise stated, a creature can only use a constant spell-like ability on itself. Reactivating a constant spell-like ability is a swift action. Using all other spell-like abilities is a standard action unless noted otherwise, and doing so provokes attacks of opportunity. It is possible to make a concentration check to use a spell-like ability defensively and avoid provoking an attack of opportunity, just as when casting a spell. A spell-like ability can be disrupted just as a spell can be. Spell-like abilities cannot be used to counterspell, nor can they be counterspelled.
For creatures with spell-like abilities, a designated caster level defines how difficult it is to dispel their spell-like effects and to define any level-dependent variables (such as range and duration) the abilities might have. The creature's caster level never affects which spell-like abilities the creature has; sometimes the given caster level is lower than the level a spellcasting character would need to cast the spell of the same name. If no caster level is specified, the caster level is equal to the creature's Hit Dice. The saving throw (if any) against a spell-like ability is 10 + the level of the spell the ability resembles or duplicates + the creature's Charisma modifier.
Some spell-like abilities duplicate spells that work differently when cast by characters of different classes. A monster's spell-like abilities are presumed to be the sorcerer/wizard versions. If the spell in question is not a sorcerer/wizard spell, then default to cleric, druid, bard, paladin, and ranger, in that order.
Format: At will—burning hands (DC 13); Location: Spell-Like Abilities."
Thank you, much appreciated.
|
I never understood why anyone would use this ability. It's a melee touch attack as a sorcerer. Anyone can try causing an enemy within 30 feet to become shaken as a standard action using the intimidate skill. Given that sorcerers tend to have much better charisma than strength, the intimidate version is more likely to succeed, especially if you toss a skill rank in it. And it's likely to last longer, at least at low levels, when you're more likely to be doing this, because you don't have lots of better spells to use instead.
So why bother having a bloodline power that's worse than what you can already do with the intimidate skill?