Problem with understanding spells (Visualization of the ... and Fool's gold)

[Koraxs]

Hi guys.
Can you help me please with understanding rules and specific of next spells...&
1) Visualization of the Body/Mind
As I read on forums this spells are "Meditative spells fall into an unusual category and share the “meditative” descriptor. Meditative spells are not cast like other spells—they are cast during the period of the day when a spellcaster prepares her spells. A meditative spell must already be prepared at the time when you start your 1-hour spell preparation ritual, and at the end of that time, the meditative spell of your choosing is cast, leaving you with that one spell slot used for the remainder of the day. You can have only one meditative spell in effect on you at any one time. All meditative spells have a range of personal and a target of you, and they can’t be brewed into potions or part of similar one-use items like elixirs. A meditative spell can be placed on a scroll or in a wand, but the act of casting the spell must always be incorporated into the user’s spell-preparation time; it also takes 1 hour for a character who succeeds at an appropriate Use Magic Device check to operate such an item" - is ot true?
When this spells give +5 bonus on ability checks and skill checks associated with that ability score this bonus apply to spells DC based on one of the Mental abilities or give bonus to ranged/melee attacksdamage when take Visualization of the Body?

2) Fool's gold.
Will it be working chained (if first wielder of tat coins give them anybody else)?
In any case, "if wielder of that coin fails a saving throw against a magic ability of yours that is not harmless and has a duration, the duration is doubled for that creature" - in such situation any Hexes is harmless? I think yes, because "magical tricks, called hexes, which grant her powers or weaken foes."

3) Obscuring Mist
This spell surounded wielder and move with him or stacionary=stay at starting point and covered area 20-ft. radius, 20-ft. height?
A creature 5 feet away has concealment (attacks have a 20% miss chance). Creatures farther away have total concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker cannot use sight to locate the target) - it is work for that who is outside from center of the mist or for that who is inside of the mist? Or for the both of them?

[avr]

1) Ability checks and skill checks aren't save DCs. The +5 doesn't apply to save DCs. Ability checks and skill checks aren't attacks or damage either.

2) This fool's gold? No one needs to wield the coin or coins for them to take effect (I think you may not understand the meaning of the word 'wield'). It only matters whether an enchanted coin is in someone's possession when you cast another spell at them. How it got there doesn't matter, you can give them to one person then they can pass them on to another, it still works.

3) Obscuring mist is usually fixed to the map. It's not ever tied to the spellcaster. The second part of your question is harder.

What matters for concealment is the amount of mist between the attacker and defender. The mist works in both directions. But - the attacker needs to count the distance to all parts of the defender's square. If the defender is hiding in one of the back corners of their square inside the mist and attacker/defender are adjacent, then 5' of mist/concealment applies. If the attacker in this example is outside the mist (and remains outside it), then when the defender's turn comes around the former attacker doesn't benefit from concealment.

Is that clear? I'm not sure I explained it well.

[Koraxs]

avr wrote:

1) Ability checks and skill checks aren't save DCs. The +5 doesn't apply to save DCs. Ability checks and skill checks aren't attacks or damage either.

2) This fool's gold? No one needs to wield the coin or coins for them to take effect (I think you may not understand the meaning of the word 'wield'). It only matters whether an enchanted coin is in someone's possession when you cast another spell at them. How it got there doesn't matter, you can give them to one person then they can pass them on to another, it still works.

3) Obscuring mist is usually fixed to the map. It's not ever tied to the spellcaster. The second part of your question is harder.

What matters for concealment is the amount of mist between the attacker and defender. The mist works in both directions. But - the attacker needs to count the distance to all parts of the defender's square. If the defender is hiding in one of the back corners of their square inside the mist and attacker/defender are adjacent, then 5' of mist/concealment applies. If the attacker in this example is outside the mist (and remains outside it), then when the defender's turn comes around the former attacker doesn't benefit from concealment.

Is that clear? I'm not sure I explained it well.

So...

1) Almost clear.
2) Understand about wielder, but have last question: Hexes (all or maybe part of them) is harmless or not?
3) So, if one ranger 1-st lvl is in Obscuring mist and another behind zone of Obskuring mist then first have concealment from shot of second, but second haven't concealment from shots of first ranger?
And does effects of concealment stack?
Maybe from Blur and obscuring mist? Or from the Obscuring mist and natural concealment?

[Belafon]

1. Yes it is true. The rules are in Divine Anthology. They are rules for all [meditative] spells and are not duplicated in the individual spell descriptions. There is actually more text than what was quoted.

Let's say you cast visualization of the body and choose "Dexterity." You get a +5 bonus on Acrobatics, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Fly, Ride, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth checks for 24 hours. Just to skill checks, not to anything else. At any time during that 24 hours you can spend an immediate action to expend the remaining duration of the spell. You no longer get the bonuses to those skills, but for the next 3 rounds you have a +4 dodge bonus to AC.

One final weird thing: visualization of the mind adds to both skills and ability checks. So if you chose charisma you'd not only get a bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, etc. but also to Charisma checks, such as the opposed check made with a planar binding. Visualization of the body only adds to skill checks, not ability checks.

[Belafon]

2. It will depend on the Hex. Spells have a (harmless) descriptor as part of the standard text but supernatural abilities don't include that information.

Basically: if it's giving an advantage to the target it is harmless. If it's giving a disadvantage to the target it is not harmless. Fortune is harmless. Misfortune is not harmless.

[Belafon]

3. It's really easy to show how obscuring mist works sitting around a table, but really hard to describe in text. Let's try an example.

Say you are at the very edge of an area of obscuring mist. You are standing in the mist but there is clear space next to you. You have concealment (20% miss chance) against anyone trying to hit you from that clear space. However people outside the mist (the ones you can see without looking through a square of mist) do not have concealment against you. You have no miss chance when attacking them.

Now let's say you step 5' back into the mist. So your square is misty, the square in front of you is misty, and after that it is clear. Now because of that misty square in between, both creatures have total concealment. You can't see them and they can't see you. If you have an idea of what square they are in (say you have tremorsense) you can make a ranged attack at that square but even if you guessed right you still have a 50% miss chance. And so do they.

The same is true if you are in the middle of the mist or on the far side of the mist. What matters is whether or not there is at least one square of mist between you and your target. If so, there is total concealment.

Concealment effects do not stack. Take the higher miss chance.

[Koraxs]

Thanks for your answers.
Last question - does spell resistance work against Hexes?

[avr]

Hexes are supernatural abilities.

Supernatural Abilities (Su) wrote:

These can’t be disrupted in combat and generally don’t provoke attacks of opportunity. They aren’t subject to spell resistance, counterspells, or dispel magic, and don’t function in antimagic areas.