It seems pretty straightforward to me that when Reloading Hands says:
"Once per round, phantom hands load a single ranged weapon or firearm with conjured ammunition."
...it means that the hands are fully reloading a firearm. I'm just curious if people would think otherwise.
As I read it: nothing in the spell limits the number of barrels or chambers "loaded"; multiple disembodied phantom hands should be able to load-up a weapon with multiple conjured bullets once per round.
Balance-wise, it's a level 2 rounds/level spell that duplicates no more than what a character can do with free-action loading - the only added bonus is that you don't need a free hand or Quick Reload (but it won't load two firearms for you unless you manage to cast it twice while managing two weapons).
I think it is reasonable to conclude that the hands make a 'reload' action as appropriate for that weapon. For early firearms, this would mean loading a single barrel. For advanced firearms, it would be loaded to its full capacity.
I think it is reasonable to conclude that the hands make a 'reload' action as appropriate for that weapon. For early firearms, this would mean loading a single barrel. For advanced firearms, it would be loaded to its full capacity.
I was wondering if people would read it that way. Why would you conclude that multiple conjured hands could only perform a single reload action? I don't really want to debate it, it just doesn't make sense to me that a spell effect like this would be limited by rules about what a single creature can accomplish with a single action.
I would probably let each casting perform a reload action. So 2 casting could manage to reload 2 barrels of an ancient weapon. I can't imagine it being something that would be used in actual play really though...by the time you get everything set up to reload the fight is already over.
"load a single ranged weapon"? Yeah, I don't see any reason it wouldn't fully load it.
Still annoyingly useless. Rounds/level so it probably wastes a round getting it started. And you still can't get your full attack in.
The application I'm thinking of where it might actually be of use would be a character who wields a sword and a double-barreled pistol, and once per round gives a target a double-shot at close range. Like a Spellslinger/ Weaponmaster/ Eldritch Knight who stacks Mage Bullets and Arcane Strike, and takes Weapon Specialization + Point-Blank Master at 9.
The application I'm thinking of where it might actually be of use would be a character who wields a sword and a double-barreled pistol, and once per round gives a target a double-shot at close range. Like a Spellslinger/ Weaponmaster/ Eldritch Knight who stacks Mage Bullets and Arcane Strike, and takes Weapon Specialization + Point-Blank Master at 9."load a single ranged weapon"? Yeah, I don't see any reason it wouldn't fully load it.
Still annoyingly useless. Rounds/level so it probably wastes a round getting it started. And you still can't get your full attack in.
Useful in that kind of a niche, I guess, though even then you might start to regret not getting Improved TWF eventually.
Actually for the sword and pistol approach, a Glove of Storing would work - zap away the sword, giving you a free hand to reload, then bring the sword back.
Mostly it irritates me because magic is the obvious solution to the reloading problem, but they refuse to provide an elegant workable one. All sorts of weird hacks around the problem involving extra arms or tails or juggling or what have you, but a simple spell or weapon enhancement would let them handle it and price it where ever they think the coast should be.
It's interesting that the art in Ultimate Combat has a character with phantom hands reloading two pistols at the same time. I wonder if the original mechanics allowed for going dual-pistol with automatic magic reload.