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Hi
are the Arcane failure % stacking?
A Sorceress with an armor (15% spell failure) became deaf. I asked for a 35% spell failure, but my player roll twice, once for the armor and the second one for the deaf condition.
Is there a rule somewhere stating on that?
Armor interferes with the gestures that a spellcaster must make to cast an arcane spell that has a somatic component. Arcane spellcasters face the possibility of arcane spell failure if they’re wearing armor. Bards can wear light armor and use shields without incurring any arcane spell failure chance for their bard spells.Casting an Arcane Spell in Armor: A character who casts an arcane spell while wearing armor must usually make an arcane spell failure check. The number in the Arcane Spell Failure Chance column on Table: Armor and Shields is the percentage chance that the spell fails and is ruined. If the spell lacks a somatic component, however, it can be cast with no chance of arcane spell failure.
Shields: If a character is wearing armor and using a shield, add the two numbers together to get a single arcane spell failure chance.
A deafened character cannot hear. He takes a –4 penalty on initiative checks, automatically fails Perception checks based on sound, takes a –4 penalty on opposed Perception checks, and has a 20% chance of spell failure when casting spells with verbal components. Characters who remain deafened for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.
Miss chances are rolled separately, not added together, so I don't see why arcane failure chances should be (except armor+shield because it says so). It's not a big difference anyway with small probabilities, her chance of failing at least one of those rolls was 32%. But I don't believe there's any RAW specifically stating whether they stack or not.
In this particular case, the fact that armor impairs your somatic components while deafness impairs your verbal components makes me extra inclined to roll separately.
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Where is the rule saying that "miss chances" don't stack?
Concealment Miss Chance
Concealment gives the subject of a successful attack a 20% chance that the attacker missed because of the concealment. Make the attack normally—if the attacker hits, the defender must make a miss chance d% roll to avoid being struck. Multiple concealment conditions do not stack.
That's obvious, because same kind of malus don't stack, but Armor penalty and deafness are not the same!
Bonus Types
Usually, a bonus has a type that indicates how the spell grants the bonus. The important aspect of bonus types is that two bonuses of the same type don’t generally stack. With the exception of dodge bonuses, most circumstance bonuses, and racial bonuses, only the better bonus of a given type works. The same principle applies to penalties- a character taking two or more penalties of the same type applies only the worst one, although most penalties have no type and thus always stack. Bonuses without a type always stack, unless they are from the same source.
How could miss chances possibly stack? That would imply that if you have your eyes closed (giving everyone else total concealment, 50% miss chance) and swing blindly at somebody with blink on (50% non-concealment-based miss chance because they're in the Ethereal plane half the time), that it is absolutely certain that you will miss. That's ridiculous. Of course you have at least a 25% chance of being in the right place at the right time.
As to the other, neither a miss chance nor an arcane failure chance is a "penalty" in the sense of the rule you quoted. That's talking about getting some number subtracted from a die roll you'd be making anyway, not just any Bad Thing afflicting you.
As I said in my first post, there are no RAW about arcane failure chances operating together, so as the GM you are free to rule the way you like if you have a preference, which you obviously do.
I'd go with separate rolls, as it builds tension and makes it feel more impactful.
Deafness does not cause "arcane spell failure". That is specific to armor. Deafness is just spell failure, while "arcane spell failure" is a specific game term.
Since its two different things you would roll both.
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Yes it cause spell failure:
A deafened character cannot hear. He takes a –4 penalty on initiative checks, automatically fails Perception checks based on sound, takes a –4 penalty on opposed Perception checks, and has a 20% chance of spell failure when casting spells with verbal components. Characters who remain deafened for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.
I think what Wraithstrike meant is that it's not Arcane Spell Failure, it applies to ALL spells with verbal components, regardless of type.
Yes it cause spell failure:
A deafened character cannot hear. He takes a –4 penalty on initiative checks, automatically fails Perception checks based on sound, takes a –4 penalty on opposed Perception checks, and has a 20% chance of spell failure when casting spells with verbal components. Characters who remain deafened for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.
Arcane Spell Failure only applies to arcane spells with a somatic component. Deafness applies to all spells (arcane or divine) with a verbal component. They are similar but different mechanics. Deafness does not cause Arcane Spell Failure, but a different type of spell failure.