Okay, so this is where I am right now...
Making an Eldritch creature per the template, which gives as a natural attack either "2 claws" or "2 tentacles."
It also has Devour Soul which says it gives "energy drain (1 level)" with "one of its natural attacks".
My question is, do both claws or both tentacles count together as a "set" for the purpose of this ability, ie it would give energy drain to both claws, but I'd need to take it again if I wanted it to apply to, say, a bite attack?
Or would it apply to only one claw/tentacle, and the other deals just straight damage unless I take that Devour Soul ability twice?
It wouldn't really matter, it's a standard action to make the single touch attack that performs the action, so it can't be done as part of a full attack action and must be done on its own.
Claxon wrote: It wouldn't really matter, it's a standard action to make the single touch attack that performs the action, so it can't be done as part of a full attack action and must be done on its own. What? The energy drain ability is part of an attack, not its own thing. It's the universal monster ability, not the spell.
@OP: It says one attack, not one type of attack, so it would be on one claw/tentacle only. However, if I'm right that this is the Eldritch template from the Advanced Bestiary by Green Ronin Publishing, this is the wrong forum for this question. This forum is for questions about Paizo's own Pathfinder material, not 3rd party products.
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I think Claxon was saying devour soul is a standard action.
With that aside the energy happens on both claw attacks. If a creature delivers ____ as a claw attack or when attacking with a claw then that ____ happens on every claw attack.
wraithstrike wrote: I think Claxon was saying devour soul is a standard action.
With that aside the energy happens on both claw attacks. If a creature delivers ____ as a claw attack or when attacking with a claw then that ____ happens on every claw attack.
That's correct, that's what I was saying. It would be a standard action to use the devour soul ability to inflict the negative levels. So even if you had it on multiple claws it wouldn't matter, you could only use it once per round.
Claxon wrote: wraithstrike wrote: I think Claxon was saying devour soul is a standard action.
With that aside the energy happens on both claw attacks. If a creature delivers ____ as a claw attack or when attacking with a claw then that ____ happens on every claw attack.
That's correct, that's what I was saying. It would be a standard action to use the devour soul ability to inflict the negative levels. So even if you had it on multiple claws it wouldn't matter, you could only use it once per round. But why would it be a standard action? Devour soul gives the creature the template is applied to the Energy Drain ability with one of its natural attacks flat out, not for some nebulous time that requires activation. Energy Drain doesn't use an action and applies every time the creature hits with the appropriate attack.
Actually rereading it, yeah...
I didn't realize it specifically gave energy drain, don't know how I missed that.
Either way, negative levels are incredibly dangerous thing to add to a creature if players don't have a way to negate/avoid it.
If you look at the bestiary you will note most creatures have only 1 attack that can apply energy drain or have something that restricts it to once a round.
Well, obviously I'm not just throwing it on willy-nilly. I was just wondering about how it would apply because the rules are highly vague.
As an example if you take weapon focus(slam) it will apply to any slams you have, not just to one slam. If you think it is too powerful if it can do 2 levels of energy drain a round then I would limit it to one level no matter how many times it hit.
Its the same as having Weapon Focus with Two Weapon Fighting. Weapon Focus (Short sword) will apply to any short sword I wield, even two at the same time.
A counter example is reach on summoner pets. Applies to one attack, even if you have multiple. That means 5 tentacle attacks only one is longer unless taken multiple times.
I'd use that as a guideline it's quite clear.
Here's the FAQ on the reach thing I spoke of.
Summoner: If I choose the reach evolution for my eidolon, how many of its attacks gains increased reach?
The ability description says "pick one attack," not "pick one attack type." So if your eidolon has two claws and you pick "claw" for the reach evolution, only one claw gets increased reach. (The reach evolution is intended to let you emulate having a dragon-eidolon, as a dragon's bite attack has greater reach than its claws.)
You'll see the wording is the same. One attack not one type of attack.
So I would say one.
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