Rulecalling FAQ

You don’t have to read all of this, but if you have an odd question about certain interactions and game rules, it might already be answered in here…


 * Can you sneak attack with a spell? Yes, you can apply sneak attack to the damage roll of a spell as long as you make a successful attack roll.
 * Can you sneak attack with a ranged attack? Yes, but only within 30 ft. range and increasing your range increment does not increase this.
 * Does monk AC bonus stack with other classes’ AC bonus? No. you’ll only get the WIS to AC bonus once, everything else depends what type of AC bonus it is, Untyped bonuses stack, same type bonuses do not stack.
 * If I miss my smite evil or melee touch spell, is the charge wasted? We house rule that you can decide yourself whether you are automatically holding the charge if you fail to hit, or whether it is wasted.
 * Can I move through a person? Depends, You can move through an ally, although I have called all people and corpses as difficult terrain as well, so you move that one square at half speed. You cannot move through an enemy unless he is helpless. (at half speed.)
 * Do you use cover? Yes, but simplified: Big solid walls and adjacent players provide +4 AC if they are directly adjacent to you and in the way of the attack. small rocks, turned tables, gravestones, carts, etc, provide you with +2 AC if you are not prone and +4 AC if you are prone.
 * Do you use concealment? Yes. Foliage and bushes grant 20% concealment. For Total Concealment it usually comes down to listen checks when the concealed creature moves. Succeeding on the listen check gives the direction of the sound but the concealed creature is still untargetable, still gains sneak attack, and you still suffer a 50% miss chance on attack rolls. Remembering where a creature was before it went invisible was is an auto succeed. AoE spells do not suffer concealment mischance.
 * How do you use invisibility? Whenever you do anything while invisible, Enemies close by get a free listen to hear in which direction you are. If you are moving then this is opposed by your move silently. If you move but not at half speed you take a -5 penalty on this. Spells cast while invisible are not invisible themselves both while casting and after casting in case of a duration. Spot checks DC 10 can see the exact spot where a spell is casted from.  For the purpose of the invisibility spell, the effect ends when you make an attack roll against any enemy or cast a spell at an enemy’s position.
 * How far can the bard’s music be heard? Technically it’s like a -10 DC listen check, but I prefer to just call it a 60 ft. radius around the bard.
 * Do I gain flanking bonus with our unarmed wizard or with our archer on the other side? You threaten all the squares where you can make a melee attack. If you’re unarmed or aren’t carrying a melee weapon then you do not threaten any squares around you. Monks are considered “armed” and do threaten squares around them.
 * Can I do something else with my Attack of Opportunity? You get one single melee attack with an AoO. Anything that substitutes a single attack such as a grapple, disarm, sunder or trip attempt is fair in my book. Some DMs might disagree though. Your next question would probably be "can you provoke an AoO with an AoO?", and I believe that to be yes.
 * Can my familiar provide flanking for me? No, unless it has 5ft reach or higher. By default tiny or smaller creatures have 0 ft. reach.
 * Can a monk make unarmed strikes while having his hands full? Yes. Unarmed strikes are made with any limb or the head. So as long as one of those are available you can make unarmed strikes.
 * Then, can a monk use two claw attacks combined with an unarmed strike? Yes. But normal multi-attack rules apply of course.
 * Can a monk use flurry of blows with other natural weapons? No. During a flurry of blows, you can only make unarmed strikes. You may however, alternate those unarmed strikes with monk weapons. Claws and Bites are not monk weapons.
 * Can you dual wield unarmed strikes? Yes, you can use one other limb or your head for an offhand light weapon attack. Normal two weapon fighting penalties apply and stack with possible penalties from flurry of blows.
 * Can you two-hand unarmed strikes for 1.5x STR damage? Yes and No. Unarmed strikes are light weapons, and you do not gain any advantage by two-handing a light weapon, But you can do it.
 * Do you get a bonus for attacking from higher ground? Yes, you get +1 on melee attack rolls from higher ground. For me, Jump checks alone are not enough to count as “higher ground”. Flying creatures, however, do. But I tend to forget that. Ranged attacks do not gain a +1 bonus, but might circumvent cover.
 * Can I grab the item that I just disarmed? Yes, but only if you had disarmed it with an unarmed strike. If you took the +4 bonus for a twohanded weapon, then you used a weapon and wouldn’t have a free hand. You can also pick up the item after the disarm attempt with a move action just like picking up any item would.
 * Why do you get mad when I fill in my dodge bonus in “deflect”? Deflection AC always increases your AC even when flatfooted, Dodge AC does not work while flatfooted. Therefore, You are lying about your flatfooted AC. You need to add it to your DEX AC bonus instead on Myth weavers.
 * Can you use counter maneuvers out of combat? Mostly no. You are considered flatfooted when something happens out of combat, and because of that you cannot take immediate actions.
 * When I pick maneuvers for my new Warblade/Crusader/Swordsage, can they all be higher level maneuvers? No. You must retroactively calculate how high level each maneuver can be when you were at the level on which you had to pick them. If you get to replace some maneuvers at certain levels for higher one than you may account for that.
 * Can I choose no discipline as a Psion? No, you must pick a discipline at level 1 as a Psion.
 * Can you hold your breath to avoid suffering damage from gas attacks? No. “Holding one’s breath is ineffective against inhaled poisons; they affect the nasal membranes, tear ducts, and other parts of the body.” -SRD: Poisons.  Even in spell’s such as Stinking Cloud, which suggest inhaling and states that creatures that do not breath are immune, does the spell work regardless of whether you inhale the effects or not. And In most cases of a gas attack, such as that of a green dragon, it does not even specify that the gas must be inhaled for it to take effect.
 * Do prestige classes count as classes and do levels in prestige classes count as class levels? Yes and Yes. You are currently already treating them as if they were classes so I do not even see how anyone could be asking this stupid question… Unless you found that niche scenario where it would be advantageous to you when they wouldn’t count as classes, in which case, please slap yourself in the face and wake up.
 * Which damage is multiplied on a critical hit? The weapon damage dice and any flat damage is multiplied. Any additional dice is not multiplied.
 * Can you 5 ft. step after standing up or doing something else with your move action? Yes, as long as you have not moved from your square you may take a 5 ft. step.
 * Can you 5 ft. step while teleporting or otherwise moving by a spell? No. although there is the argument that teleportation isn’t the same as actual movement, it has been broken in the past to allow 5 ft. steps in combination with cheap combat teleportation or movement spells.
 * Can you 5 ft. step while prone? No. This is called a crawl and it’s a move action that provokes. An exception is if you are prone on a flat surface and have spider climb or something similar. Only when you can move more than 5 ft with a move action, then you can take a 5 ft step.
 * Can you 5 ft. step while flying/burrowing/swimming/climbing? Yes, but not by putting ranks in skills, only by having an actual movement speed in these types of movement that is faster than 5 ft. Note that with certain types of flying maneuverability you are forced to maintain a minimum flying speed, which you cannot combine with a 5 ft. step. If you do not need to maintain a minimum flying speed, then you may 5 ft. step upwards or downwards as well.
 * Can you take 20 on hide? No. Although some might disagree the general consensus is that hide is part of an opposed roll, and there is a consequence to failing an opposed roll, therefor you cannot take 20. As a DM I will often take 10 when large groups of enemies set up an ambush instead.
 * Can I use studded leather as a druid? Sure, just assume the studs are made of stone or bones at no extra cost.
 * Can I make my armor both Feycraft and Githcraft to reduce ASF%? No.
 * Do you allow wand weapon chambers? Yes
 * Can a bard cast spells when she stops using Bardic Music, but while the effect still lingers? Yes. The moment you stop performing you can start casting spells again. I think this is more a flavor rule, as casting spells would interfere during a performance.
 * Can you use swift actions in between attacks of a full round action? No. There is no rule that says you can. You can, however, take a 5 ft. step or an immediate action in between attacks.
 * This thing appears in multiple books, which version can I use? Use the latest book. For a quick guide: assume that the version in spell compendium or magic item compendium is the correct one.
 * Do skill synergies stack with one another? Yes they stack. For example, If you have 5 ranks in both sense motive and bluff you get a +4 total to diplomacy.