Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Alinda_Shipsail3 08-19-06, 11:45 PM	What exactlly IS a touch attack? Is is JUST a "touch" spell/magic attack? or is there a melee touch attack? When I look it up in the PH all I get is definition about magic/spell attacks... Help me! :eek:
hiryuu 08-20-06, 12:12 AM	A touch attack is any attack that ignores the target's armor and natural armor bonuses to armor class.
AnonymousInternets 08-20-06, 12:13 AM	If you can find a nonmagic way to make your hand pass through metal, then go ahead and try.
Pandaemoni 08-20-06, 01:55 AM	A "touch" attack is one that doesn't need you to physically poke or find a hole in armor in order affect the attacker. Think of Shocking Grasp: the mage builds an electric charge in his hand, if he touches you, that charghe passes to you, shocking you and causing damage. Your armor doesn't matter because electricity doesn't need a "hole" to get past it, you merely need a nice path along which the electricty can travel. There are two types of toch attacks "melee touch attacks" and "ranged touch attacks." "Melee trouch attack" is simply an attack where the mage must touch you with his hand...to be involved in melee himself. Ranged touch attacks can be made from a safer distance and only requires that you hit your target with a ray or some magical missile. In either case all that matters is that the spell energy come into durect contact with the person of the target, not whether it finds a hole in the target's armor.
Bulletproof_Condom 08-20-06, 03:12 AM	What exactlly IS a touch attack?Conventional attacks have to not just hit you but hit hard enough to get through whatever protective items you're wearing; armor, force effects, etc. Touch attacks just have to make contact. Starting a grapple is a mundane action that requires a melee touch attack. You just have to make contact with the target. The opposed grapple check determines whether or not you can hang on. Deep Impact is a psionic feat that lets you resolve one melee attack as a touch attack.
LordHawkeye 08-20-06, 07:22 AM	If you can find a nonmagic way to make your hand pass through metal, then go ahead and try. Doesn't need to pass through the armor. You just have to get your hands on the person and the spell does the rest.
Escef 08-20-06, 10:50 AM	It would also be a touch attack to, say, smear paint on someone with your hands. Not terribly useful unless your opponent is invisible (and for that I'd just whip the can around to create a flying stream of the stuff).
boozerker 08-20-06, 02:27 PM	Here's a simple way to describe a touch attack. If you touch (or your spell touches) any part of a character that would be affected by an invisibility spell.
Alinda_Shipsail3 08-20-06, 10:17 PM	So generally touch attacks are spells/magical abilities? They're never like... Jimmy the Barbarian punching To-To the Rogue in the face? (unarmed attack) If they're just spells then I suppose I have nothing to really worry aobut...nobody who I play with uses spells. Unless I'm playing as a character of course, then I do. :cool:
Escef 08-20-06, 10:24 PM	Incorporeal creatures (shadows and such) use touch attacks.
AT-AT Assault 08-20-06, 10:24 PM	So generally touch attacks are spells/magical abilities? They're never like... Jimmy the Barbarian punching To-To the Rogue in the face? (unarmed attack) If they're just spells then I suppose I have nothing to really worry aobut...nobody who I play with uses spells. Unless I'm playing as a character of course, then I do. :cool:Yes, most things that use touch attacks are spells, but not all. The definition of a Touch Attack is an attack that harms you by mere touch, thus protective items, natural armor, force effects (such as Mage Armor) arnt effective. Another example of a touch attack would be to splash a vial of acid or oil against somebody, or to hit somebody with a stream of spray paint, or to forcibly shake their hand.
boozerker 08-20-06, 11:43 PM	A touch attack is also when you repeatedly poke someone in the arm with your finger ;) Another example of a touch attack would be to splash a vial of acid or oil against somebody, or to hit somebody with a stream of spray paint, or to forcibly shake their hand. Also, grappling requires a touch attack, becuase you could grab any part of an opponent (except maybe a flowing cape or loose shirt if you just barely make the grab), and then start the grapple. I don't like that splash weapons ignore armor, there should be a miss chance, or a save based on armor rating. But that's what house rules are for.
Bulletproof_Condom 08-21-06, 12:59 AM	They're never like... Jimmy the Barbarian punching To-To the Rogue in the face? (unarmed attack) Putting him in a headlock, maybe. As I said, starting a grapple requires a melee touch attack. Has nothing to do with magic.
Seeker95 08-21-06, 09:13 AM	What exactlly IS a touch attack?Touch Attack : D&D Combat :: Backyard Tag : American Rules Football
Trondant 08-26-06, 09:50 AM	So generally touch attacks are spells/magical abilities? They're never like... Jimmy the Barbarian punching To-To the Rogue in the face? (unarmed attack) If they're just spells then I suppose I have nothing to really worry aobut...nobody who I play with uses spells. Unless I'm playing as a character of course, then I do. :cool: there are some cases in which a melee-oriented character might use a touch attack, like the aformentioned grappling and of course tripping. the difference between a touch attack and a 'normal' attack is essentially which 'aspects' of your ac you can use. Nothing more, nothing less. The only reason touch attacks are mainly associated with casters, is because there are quite a few spells that need to beat touch ac to hit (you do know what that is?), whilst there are only a very limited number of "fighter style" attacks that use touch attacks.