Two Witch questions..

[Dogfax]

Hi Folks, Hoping someone can shed some light on this please?

1. My witch has the fly hex which she activates every combat. When under this hex, does this count as a transmutation spell? I ask as the feat "Scale and Skin" boost AC when under the affect of "a transmutation spell or spell-like ability", "your natural armor bonus increases by 1".

Would this count please, as it seems like a neat way to boost AC in combats without spending any actions.

2. Secondly, if she takes "Gift of Consumption (Su)" and "Greater Gift of Consumption (Su)", is there any reason why she cannot quaff poisons she carries and bounce the affliction to enemies within 30' or more using Barrow Haze, and take it a step further injure herself with a poisoned weapon and bounce this too? If so can she do 1pt of damage or would it be the full weapon damage?

Thank you in advance...

[Meirril]

1:The Flight hex is a supernatural ability, not a spell like, so no.

2:Sure you can self inflict fortitude saves and use your 1 and only immediate action to activate the Gift of Consumption on your turn. But it also means you've used your immediate action for the round so if you get affected by another fortitude save before the next round you can't activate the hex again because you don't have an immediate action available.

Damage from a poisoned weapon won't be affected by this hex. The weapon damage is separate from the poison and can't be redirected by the Gift of Consumption. The only effects that will be shared/transfered are the ones that happen when you fail a fortitude save.

Also you might want to note, that if the target of the Gift of Consumption succeeds on saving, they take none of the effect. So if you were hit by Disintegrate and you used Greater Gift of Consumption on an enemy, if they manage to save they take no damage instead of the normal 5d6 on a success.

[avr]

Polymorph spells don't stack but there's no such problem with transmutation spells in general. Fly isn't a polymorph.

On the gift hexes, sure - though remember it's an effect and takes an immediate action so poisoning herself multiple times is asking for trouble. Also until she has both hexes the poisons will affect her too. Self-injury isn't well covered in the rules but I'd allow her to use less than her full strength, which should work out to 1 hp nonlethal damage unless her weapon has some significant enchantment.

[Dogfax]

ok thanks for the replies..

The reason I ask about the flight as the hex states..."At 5th level, she can fly, as per the spell, for a number of minutes per day equal to her level.".... so I was wondering if the "as per spell" part meant she would count as being under the affect of a transmutation affect?

Looks like we have one vote each way so far...

Yes understand that I would not be able to bounce the base weapon damage and just the poison, but had not taken into account the "1 and only immediate action" part.. Guess it would be useful in a combat where you were sure you may no need this, say after a few rounds?

ok so just to take this a little further...out of combat would it be feasible to have an interaction whereby I pretend to drink from a glass, say at a dinner, that I know is poison, bounce it to another character using the hexes and stay undetected? Thinking Joffrey's wedding scene here :-)

[Gray Warden]

Just cast Ant Haul on you to get the +1 AC

[Meirril]

Dogfax wrote:

ok thanks for the replies..

The reason I ask about the flight as the hex states..."At 5th level, she can fly, as per the spell, for a number of minutes per day equal to her level.".... so I was wondering if the "as per spell" part meant she would count as being under the affect of a transmutation affect?

Sure the Flight(su) creates a transmutation effect. But Scale and Skin as you quoted looks for a transmutation spell or spell-like ability which Flight being a Supernatural effect, isn't.

As for using your hexes in public...not sure how visible that would be. Generally speaking most abilities have some way to detect their use. Also most of them can be hidden by using an appropriate skill, such as slight of hand or bluff. Probably the intrigue book has something to say about it.

[Magda Luckbender]

@OP: note that the fly hex requires a standard action to activate. It's not a free action. There are several older threads that cover this in detail. Possibly not what you wanted to hear, but definitely RAW.

[Derklord]

Meirril wrote:

As for using your hexes in public...not sure how visible that would be. Generally speaking most abilities have some way to detect their use.

Hexes that have "some observable effect" (e.g. Swamp's Grasp) can be identified with the "Recall Intrigues" use of certain knowledge skills, in this case a Knowledge (Arcana). I'm not sure if the DC is when you first gain the hex class feature or select that hex. GGoC doesn't fall under that, though.

[Cevah]

Gray Warden wrote:

Just cast Ant Haul on you to get the +1 AC

That is not a witch spell.

Cast Message, and you not only get a useful party spell, it also activates the feat. [Cantrip, 10 min/level]

If you want to get a possible reroll, the spell Lucky Number can help. Use with an empty slot at the end of the day. [1st, 24 hours]

Also note that the feat Scale and skin gives +2 if the spell is at 10th level or higher.

/cevah

[Decimus Drake]

In the context of drinking poisoned wine and transferring the effect to another I'm inclined to say that observers would not be able to tell there's witchery afoot. Now if a wizard were to cast Flesh to Stone upon a witch but instead a near by ally suffered its effect then I think it reasonable for the wizard to discern what may have happened.

Here's something to ponder: GGoC is a supernatural ability which means it isn't subject to spell resistance. So could a witch circumvent a creature's SR by targeting themselves with a suitable fort save spell and redirecting the effect to the creature?

[Derklord]

Yes.

Other shenenigans include getting either Giant Form from the strength patron or Marionette Possession onto a familiar to gain regeneration, adding Overstimulate if neccessary, and let a party member CdG you.

[Decimus Drake]

What I really like about GGoC is not only the immediately apparent benefit of quasi-immunity to fort save effects so long as you meet the right conditions but also the various other functions it can provide.

In addition to the aforementioned coup de grace trick, circumventing SR and consuming poisons, you could also use GGoC to make effective use of a venomous familiar. Have the familiar attack yourself and transfer the poison effect to an enemy as an immediate action. Another use is that it gives the witch a chance afflict the proxy with a -4 penalty vs the redirected effect (though I wouldn't do this with fort save: partial things); with +2 con and the hardy trait a dwarf witch could be rather effective at using GGoC in this way. A further use for GGoC would be to apply touch spells e.g. Slay Living at range; I may suggest this tactic to our cleric. Finally I think it would also be possible to use GGoC in conjunction with Split Hex which would go a long way in improving the efficiency of poisons and spells e.g. apply Flesh to Stone to two targets with a single casting of the spell, while also circumventing any SR they might have and possibly applying a -4 penalty on their saving throw vs the effect.