Wizard's Drain Bonded Item

[Brício Mares]

This is the description for the Drain Bonded Item action granted to Wizards:

Requirements You haven't acted yet on your turn.

You expend the power stored in your bonded item. During your turn, you gain the ability to cast one spell you prepared today and already cast, without spending a spell slot. You must still Cast the Spell and meet the spell’s other requirements.

My question is: There is no specification about distance requirements for draining my item, this way, I could have my item in my backpack, or maybe it was a dagger that I just throwed at some enemy, can I drain my item from a distance or it should be touching me somehow? Like in my hands, a ring or a sheathed weapon.

I'm looking for official positions here, not GM decides kind of question.

[Grankless]

It's probably meant to have the Manipulate tag or specify an Interact action, considering... common sense. At the very least you certainly can't just have it laying at home. That's not very bonded.

[mrspaghetti]

Grankless wrote:

It's probably meant to have the Manipulate tag or specify an Interact action, considering... common sense. At the very least you certainly can't just have it laying at home. That's not very bonded.

Well it's a free action, so I think that rules out an Interact.

I also don't know of anywhere in the CRB it's further specified, so as GM I would rule that as long as it's somewhere on your person you could do it. Backpack would be fine as far as I'm concerned.

[KrispyXIV]

I think that at a minimum, I'd require that a player know with absolute certainty where the item is in order to drain it.

That would mean on their person, or in actual line of sight.

There does not appear to be a range requirement though.

[Xenocrat]

The range issue becomes VERY important if you have the familiar thesis and are a universalist. Does it have to be sitting on your shoulder to use the ability?

[Brício Mares]

Xenocrat wrote:

The range issue becomes VERY important if you have the familiar thesis and are a universalist. Does it have to be sitting on your shoulder to use the ability?

That is exactly from where my question came.

[Themetricsystem]

The only hint I could find which relates to the Range is from the Bonded Focus Feat which stipulates that the Bonded Item must be "in your possession..." to benefit from the 2 Focus Point recovery mechanic.

To me this hints that this bit is more specific than any other rules that interact with the Bonded Item and suggests on a least a mild level that this is a restriction that is printed as a restriction above and beyond what you'd normally be dealing with in regard to the use of your Bonded Item.

[Brício Mares]

Themetricsystem wrote:

The only hint I could find which relates to the Range is from the Bonded Focus Feat which stipulates that the Bonded Item must be "in your possession..." to benefit from the 2 Focus Point recovery mechanic.

To me this hints that this bit is more specific than any other rules that interact with the Bonded Item and suggests on a least a mild level that this is a restriction that is printed as a restriction above and beyond what you'd normally be dealing with in regard to the use of your Bonded Item.

As this feat specifies the need for possession, the Drain Bonded Item would have no requirement range-related... This is a good line of thinking.

[Brício Mares]

KrispyXIV wrote:

I think that at a minimum, I'd require that a player know with absolute certainty where the item is in order to drain it.

That would mean on their person, or in actual line of sight.

There does not appear to be a range requirement though.

As a GM I would be ok with: line of sight and not in possession of an enemy.

[Timeshadow]

I don't see any purpose in limiting it to sight but I like "not in possession of an enemy". Ie: no issues if it's in my backpack or pouch but if that orc picks it up well that's gonna be an issue.

I like the "I'd require that a player know with absolute certainty where the item is in order to drain it"

Which leaves open storing it in a vault in your home base but if said base is ransacked and your item is taken then OOPsie!!

[mrspaghetti]

In the case of a familiar, I'd say you'd have to be close enough to it to be able to communicate with it somehow. So line-of-sight would be ok as long as you're not a speck on a distant mountaintop - i.e., you could still make out basic signs like waving them over or pointing. If you're either too far apart to communicate, or have barriers between you that prevent any sort of communication (like opposite sides of a thick stone wall) then probably not. I wouldn't let you keep your familiar back at the house while you voyaged out to an adventure across the sea or something, at least, not if you wanted to use any of its abilities.

[Kennethray]

The one thing I found was the lich. Its drain ability calls out that the item does not need to be present in order for it to be drain, leads me to believe that the general rule is that it does need to be present at the least.