When Holding the Charge on a touch spell, is the charge held in a specific body part (i.e. your primary hand) or just within the body its self?
ok, so i know that i can drop/pickup a weapon without discharging a held charge. and i know that its really supposed to just give me more options to discharge said held charge, but more specifically, where exactly IS the held charge held? within the caster himself, or specifically the hand to which he intended to deliver it with?
could i, for example, be holding a charge after a fight ends, then chest-bump my friend in excitement, and accidentally discharge the spell onto them?
i ask because i'm curious as to weather or not a magus/monk would be able to discharge multiple uses of frostbite/chill touch in the round AFTER he casts the spell via spell combat with his flurry of blows. i know that he could simply make all his attacks with 1 hand if need be, but what if he wanted to kick, or use the other hand? would those specific attacks NOT discharge a use? or does any contact with the casters body discharge?
also, lets say i am using a longsword in one hand and unarmed strikes in the other, would i be able to spellstrike with longsword to deliver one, then (using two-weapon fighting rules) deliver another with an unarmed strike?
You hold the charge in your hand until you touch something other than your weapon.
After you cast chill touch, every following weapon attack becomes eligible to discharge a use of the spell. This was answered in an FAQ.
but what if the weapon is in the OTHER hand?
The rules do not say spellstrike must come from the hand holding the charge. You can deliver it through any weapon.
so if im holding the charge of chill touch (with lets say 4 charges remaining) in my primary hand and fighting with two weapons i can deliver the charge through any attack i make, off-hand or main hand, correct?
Correct. In fact, my character tri-wields with four arms. She can deliver a charge with each hand's weapon.
Correct. In fact, my character tri-wields with four arms. She can deliver a charge with each hand's weapon.
this is exactly what im asking this question for. my current character is a Kasatha Magus and i'm about to take a level dip in monk and was wondering if my unarmed strikes would qualify for discharging my attacks. i'm glad to see i'm right on this one....i've been on a bad streak of being incorrect lately.
(on an aside: TAKE THAT CHAOTIC FIGHTER!!!!)
|
You might like to read the rules on Touch spells and Holding the Charge a little more closely, it clarifies most of this. The only exception for the Magus is that Spellstrike allows touching your weapon while holding a charge without discharging, and Spellstrike allowing the channeling of a touch spell through a weapon.
Note that I don't think unarmed strike is allowed to be combined with a touch attack, even with Spellstrike.
{edit} My bad - apparently you can. Found here
so if im holding the charge of chill touch (with lets say 4 charges remaining) in my primary hand and fighting with two weapons i can deliver the charge through any attack i make, off-hand or main hand, correct?
Correct - assuming that you're not using Spell Combat.
It gets a bit confusing: There's an FAQ that states that when you use Spell Combat, you must use the light or one-handed weapon in your other hand (the off-hand is occupied casting the spell) to make your attacks. And that weapon must be related to a hand or hand-like appendage (meaning you can't have the "weapon in your other hand" be a boot blade while using Spell Combat).
Spellstrike, however, carries no such restriction. You can use any weapon you want.
So assume that you normally wield two daggers. You'd start the first round with one dagger out, and use Spell Combat to cast Chill Touch; you could then make all of your normal BAB attacks with the wielded dagger, delivering one charge per attack. On the next round, you could draw your second dagger and start using TWF, delivering charges with both daggers.
If, after all that was over, you still had a charge left, and gave an ally a congratulatory chest-bump, you'd discharge the held spell into him since now you're just dealing with standard touch spell rules.
an unarmed strike is considered an "armed" unarmed attack and you are considered to be wielding a weapon.
spellstrike states the following:
At 2nd level, whenever a magus casts a spell with a range of “touch” from the magus spell list, he can deliver the spell through any weapon he is wielding as part of a melee attack. Instead of the free melee touch attack normally allowed to deliver the spell, a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell...
so why exactly can you not spellstrike with an unarmed strike?
also, the rules on touch spells do not clarify the "nitty gritty" on discharging the spell except to say "If you touch anything or anyone while holding a charge, even unintentionally, the spell discharges. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates." it does not specify touching with specific body parts. for example, technically by RAW simply standing on the ground should discharge the spell, although we all know it doesn't. so then, what parts of your body must touch something to discharge it? this was what i was getting at.
well, if anyone on this forum aside from an admin or designer was going to disagree with me, i'd have expected either Blackbloodtroll or Xaratherus, and Xara agreed. i'm not sure how much more proof i need. thanks guys...
an unarmed strike is considered an "armed" unarmed attack and you are considered to be wielding a weapon.
It is considered a weapon, but unless you have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat it isn't considered to be an armed attack; without IUS you don't threaten with your unarmed strikes, and you provoke AoOs when you make unarmed strikes.*
As to reasons why that restriction is included on touch spells: The biggest reason is because spells like Chill Touch would cause casters to threaten in melee without taking IUS.
also, the rules on touch spells do not clarify the "nitty gritty" on discharging the spell except to say "If you touch anything or anyone while holding a charge, even unintentionally, the spell discharges. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates." it does not specify touching with specific body parts. for example, technically by RAW simply standing on the ground should discharge the spell, although we all know it doesn't. so then, what parts of your body must touch something to discharge it? this was what i was getting at.
There's no hard and fast rule for it, but based on what we do know (it doesn't discharge from walking; it doesn't discharge into your clothes; it doesn't discharge into a worn gauntlet or cestus; it will discharge from an attack with any body part, including bites, tail swipes, etc.) we can make somewhat of an interpretation:
-Anything you're wearing or that you are holding (effectively, anything you're in physical contact with) at the time of casting the spell will not normally cause the spell to discharge
-Anything that you actively touch outside of that will cause the spell to discharge
-Being touched does not appear to be the same thing as touching someone, meaning that if someone punches you while holding the charge it does not discharge
[edit]
*I should clarify: A Magus can use Spellstrike deliver held charges through unarmed strikes (which, by definition, can be made with any body part; if he's using Spell Combat, the unarmed strike must be associated with a hand or hand-like appendage).
However, unless he has IUS, he'll still provoke for each attack.
[final edit - really]
my current character is a Kasatha Magus and i'm about to take a level dip in monk and was wondering if my unarmed strikes would qualify for discharging my attacks.
Since Monks get IUS (or equivalent) by default, then you won't provoke while making unarmed strikes with held charges at that point.