I have a question about ranged touch attacks, because I wonder what can be done when the target WANTS to be hit.
I ask because I'm planning to play a first-level sorcerer with the Celestial bloodline, which provides a power called Heavenly Fire, letting her unleash a ray as a ranged touch attack. It does damage to evil creatures, but it heals good creatures. I may want to stand back - away from combat - and fire my ray at other party-members, who might be engaged in melee. I assume that I would need to make a ranged touch attack for that as well. My question is whether that party-member can do something to make it easier to get hit, like dropping his Dex modifier to -5 for that one attack, or something.
That line of thinking led me to wonder about other, similar situations. For instance, suppose a cleric wants to fire a wand of Cure Light Wounds at a distant party-member. I assume that would require a ranged touch attack as well.
I searched this site for information on the topic, and didn't find anything. Has it been discussed?
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You can't use a wand of Cure Light Wound at range. CLW is a touch spell and you can't use your feats/abilities with a wand (barring some specific rule saying differently).
For the ray, if he isn't in combat your friend can stay still and reduce his dexterity modifier to -5. In combat, as a GM I would say that that will modify his AC against the enemies too, so it isn't a good idea.
If you want to make a ranged touch attack against a friendly target, you must hit their touch AC - which is usually easy enough to hit; your BAB + Dex Modifier + anything else like Weapon Focus (Ray) determines your Attack Bonus for a Ranged Touch Attack. In the early levels, this might look something like a +5 to hit (+3dex, +2bab) vs the target ally's 15 Touch AC (+4 dex, +1Dodge) The only thing that can make this easier is that the target ally forgoes his dodge/dex bonuses to AC for that round, which would make his Touch AC reduce to 10 and theoretically become Flat-Footed.
So it's a cost/benefit analysis for the target ally; do I stop moving and become vulnerable to the enemy, but more beneficial for the ally to hit me? Or, do I stay safe vs enemies and risk the possibility of my ally missing me with his ranged touch effect?
Actually touching an ally is automatic and does not require a to hit roll. The rules do not distinguish between ranged and melee touch at that point. See touch spells in combat - unable to link as I am on my phone and lack the skills to use it properly.
Actually touching an ally is automatic and does not require a to hit roll. The rules do not distinguish between ranged and melee touch at that point. See touch spells in combat - unable to link as I am on my phone and lack the skills to use it properly.
Wow! I mean... wow!
Yes, you're right. I'm now looking at the CRB, page 185. "You can automatically touch one friend... but to touch an opponent, you must succeed on an attack roll... Touch attacks come in two types: melee touch attacks and ranged touch attacks."
I mean... I was thinking that in real life, if you try to shoot someone from a distance, even if that someone were TRYING to be shot, there's a chance you could miss. But yeah, the rules as written are just as you said.
And thank you, Diego Rossi, for setting me straight about wands.