Mystic Bolt: how to interpret the range of 30 feet

[MargarineMeadow]

The Warlock Vigilante archetype gains Mystic Bolts as a supernatural ability. Mystic Bolts can be either melee or ranged attacks. "A warlock can sling projectiles of magical energy at will by shooting a bolt or touching her foe. A melee mystic bolt requires the target to be within reach, and a ranged mystic bolt is a ranged attack with a range of 30 feet."

There are many forum posts regarding the damage element of Mystic Bolts, so that's not something I'm trying to bring up again. Instead, I'm interested in how to interpret "ranged attack with a range of 30 feet."

From what I can tell, range is interpreted very differently when used under the Magic rules for spells compared to the Weapons rules for weapons. As a supernatural (SU) ability, Mystic Bolts are magical but not spell-like. They are not subject to SR, counterspells, or dispel magic. This definition of SU leads me to believe that Mystic Bolts should be treated under the magic rules.

While most spells have a range of Personal, Touch, Close, Medium, Long, or Unlimited, the magic rules state that, "Some spells have no standard range category, just a range expressed in feet." Thus, if the range of Mystic Bolts is interpreted under the magic rules, it has a static, absolute range of 30 feet. And because Mystic Bolts are not spells which use spell slots, the range cannot be extended with metamagic.

On the other hand, Mystic Bolts act and are generally treated more like weapons than spells. "The warlock vigilante attacks with mystic bolts as though they were light one-handed weapons, and the bolts can be used for two-weapon fighting (with each hand creating one mystic bolt) and feats and abilities that apply to weapon attacks (unless they’re excluded from that feat, such as with Power Attack, Weapon Focus (ray) doesn’t apply to mystic bolts, but a warlock can take Weapon Focus (mystic bolt) and apply it to both melee and ranged mystic bolts."

Looking at the weapons table for light melee weapons and/or one-handed melee weapons, each of the tables has a column titled "Range." Range is defined as follow: "Range: Any attack at more than this distance is penalized for range. Beyond this range, the attack takes a cumulative –2 penalty for each full range increment (or fraction thereof) of distance to the target. For example, a dagger (with a range of 10 feet) thrown at a target that is 25 feet away would incur a –4 penalty. A thrown weapon has a maximum range of five range increments. A projectile weapon can shoot to 10 range increments."

There is a significant distinction between having an absolute maximum range of 30 feet (as implied under the magic rules) versus a range increment of 30 feet which would allow attacks from beyond 30 feet (up to 150 feet as a thrown weapon) with increasing -2 penalties for each range increment. By level 3 a single Mystic Bolt can resolve against touch AC and at level 5 all Mystic Bolts resolve against touch AC. Unlike with guns, there is no language which limits the touch AC only to the first range increment.

Due to the dramatically different result depending on which definition of range is used, I am wondering whether the range for Mystic Bolts should be interpreted under the magic rules or the weapons rules?

[avr]

Anywhere but those bits inherited from the original D&D 3.0, a range isn't a range increment. Mystic bolts have a range and don't date back nearly so far. They have a fixed range of 30' as far as I can tell.

[MargarineMeadow]

I appreciate your general perspective, but I cited to two sections in the rules that provide differing definitions for range. Per the weapons rules, daggers have a “range” of 10 feet. I’m wondering if the range listed for Mystic Bolts should be treated like a dagger or a spell.

[SheepishEidolon]

MargarineMeadow wrote:

A thrown weapon has a maximum range of five range increments. A projectile weapon can shoot to 10 range increments.

There is no text in the mystic bolts section indicating it's either a thrown weapon or a projectile weapon. Beside the first line with "sling projectiles of magical energy", but IMO that's the usual fluffy overview over the ability.

Hence I agree to avr.

[Belafon]

Ultimate Intrigue FAQ wrote:

Warlock mystic bolts aren’t manufactured weapons; they’re magical effects

[ErichAD]

It seems pretty clear that it's just 30 feet and not a 30 foot range increment. Ranged mystic bolt is referred to as a ranged attack, not an attack with a ranged weapon or thrown weapon. The ability is different enough from both weapons and spells that I think it's best to just take what's written rather than inferring from other entries.

That said, mystic bolt isn't great, house rule it 400 feet or whatever you like and it won't make the ability over powered.

[Derklord]

Yeah, a Mystic Bolt is not a weapon. It's treated as one for "feats and abilities", but not for general rules (for once, the FAQ Belafon linked is actually just explaining the rules, instead of making them).

The quote in your 6th paragraph is not the general definition of the term "range" but only for the term as used in the weapon table. These weapon rules are indeed the exception to what "range of X feet" means, not the norm - abilities like darkvision also use the term "range", in addition to spells as you mentioned.

[MargarineMeadow]

While there are responses to each of the explanations above, I’ll take the fact that the universal response has been to apply a strict 30 foot interpretation to mean my vested interest in the outcome is leading me to create arguments rather than just accept the plain meaning. Thanks for the input!