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Ways of making melee touch attacks
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:33 am
by josephbt
I'm trying to find a way to hit touch AC with a melee rogue. The DM thats gonna run the campaign has a hard-on for heavily armored improved graplers. Alchemists acid is a no go in that case. My D&D-foo produced nothing. Help?
Re: Ways of making melee touch attacks
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:01 am
by Leress
Only thing I can think of is wand of wraithstrike.
You could also use the [skill trick] "find the weak point", but is very limited.
Re: Ways of making melee touch attacks
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:27 pm
by Maxus
josephbt at [unixtime wrote:1203928394[/unixtime]]I'm trying to find a way to hit touch AC with a melee rogue. The DM thats gonna run the campaign has a hard-on for heavily armored improved graplers. Alchemists acid is a no go in that case. My D&D-foo produced nothing. Help?
I'm inclined to tell you to get a magic item that lets you fire a magic ray or use Inflict Light Wounds or something at will, for infinite uses a day. If you keep it low-level, it should be pretty cheap.
It'd ideally just be a vehicle for delivering sneak attack. But I'm not sure if you can use spells to inflict sneak attack damage.
Re: Ways of making melee touch attacks
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:35 pm
by Maxus
Well, that's something.
It doesn't say you can't use spells, just that a ranged sneak attack has to be within 30 feet.
SRD wrote:Sneak Attack
If a rogue can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage.
The rogue’s attack deals extra damage any time her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the rogue flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and it increases by 1d6 every two rogue levels thereafter. Should the rogue score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied.
Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet.
With a sap (blackjack) or an unarmed strike, a rogue can make a sneak attack that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a sneak attack, not even with the usual -4 penalty.
A rogue can sneak attack only living creatures with discernible anatomies—undead, constructs, oozes, plants, and incorporeal creatures lack vital areas to attack. Any creature that is immune to critical hits is not vulnerable to sneak attacks. The rogue must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment or striking the limbs of a creature whose vitals are beyond reach.
And I just checked the rules on making items, and some spells.
-Ray of Frost is a 0th-level spell. An inexhaustible command-word-activated item would cost 900 gp. An equivalent option would be Acid Splash.
-Inflict Light Wounds could be put on a gauntlet and made to activate when you touched someone with it. At a minimum, it would cost 2,000 gp.
Re: Ways of making melee touch attacks
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:49 pm
by Maxus
Dammit. You still retain your Dex bonus against someone you are grappling. That's a shame. The Gauntlet of Inflicting Light Wounds would be a pretty good weapon against heavily armored grapplers, otherwise.
On the plus side, however:
-You can always use the gauntlet, even if you're being grappled, because it's use-activated, not a spell-completion item.
-If two people are grappling, they lose their Dex bonus to everyone else. So keep out of the way until people are grappling. Then start casting rays or slapping people on the ass. Whatever floats your boat.
Re: Ways of making melee touch attacks
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:28 am
by josephbt
Ranged stuff doesn't work when firing into a grapple. You have a 50% chance to hit either combatant. That's why i need a melee way of touching people. And the DMs not too keen on letting people design their own items.
Re: Ways of making melee touch attacks
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:30 pm
by Maxus
That sucks.
I'd suggest to try to talk him around on the Gauntlet/Glove of Inflicting Light Wounds, but, failing that, it appears that a rogue is not a good person to play under this guy, and I'd be shifting tactics to a half-giant Psychic Warrior with Improved Grapple and who takes the 1st-level power Expansion.
Re: Ways of making melee touch attacks
Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:13 pm
by Jacob_Orlove
Just UMD up
Flame Blade.
Attacks with the flame blade are melee touch attacks.
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 10:12 pm
by Azmaveth
Easy Cheesy. There's a soulmeld (in Magic of Incarnum), Lightning Gauntlet, that lets you melee touch attack for 1d6 lightning damage.
You can pick it up for the low, low cost of 1 feat (Attune Soulmeld).
Re: Ways of making melee touch attacks
Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 7:02 am
by JonSetanta
Maxus wrote:It'd ideally just be a vehicle for delivering sneak attack. But I'm not sure if you can use spells to inflict sneak attack damage.
You can, but it must be a ranged touch attack such as a ray or "energy missile", not a save-or-miss type Evocation effect.
For a mere 4000 gp or less a Ray of Frost or similar L0 spell can indeed do as well, if not better, than a single shuriken.
For style, put it on a ring, a glove, an arm band, a headband, or even as part of a weapon.
Dondonpa!!!
Edit: aha I noticed Maxus's math came out to 900 for voice-activated L0 and 2k for L1.
But I also thought of an alternative:
avoid grapple!
Spells should be availible that allow you to break free of grapples, either by shortrange teleport, massive temporary boosts to your Escape Artist, turn incorporeal, and the like.
Try giving an "escape item" to each party member and simply avoid the WWF Extreme competition entirely.
Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 9:14 am
by Calibron
Blade of Pain and Fear is a second level cleric spell that gives you a column of nashing teeth that you can wield like a short sword. It uses touch attacks, disallows strength mod, lasts 1 round per level, and gives a bonus to damage equal to half caster level. There's no reason you couldn't dual wield them.