Post/Author/DateTime	Post
MAdgryphon 12-28-07, 10:05 PM	I could use a bit of help here. Also, I'm not terribly sure this is the right forum, it may belong to character optimization, but I seem to remember what I'm looking for being a feat. In any case, the situation at hand: I'm building a warlock, and I'm trying to figure out if there's a feat (or other method) of turning his touch based invocations into ranged touch. I have a friend who has done something similar with an epic cleric/monk, but I can't recall how, or if it would even apply to a warlock. A little help, please? PS: Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but if it needs to move, I'll leave that to the mods.
MnemonicSV 12-28-07, 11:45 PM	For a warlock (to whom many metamagic feats do not apply) your options are more limited than that of a spellcaster. Gaining a familiar (via the Obtain Familiar feat) will not get you the benefit of the deliver touch spells ability for your invocations, on the off-chance you were wondering. I would personally houserule to allow it anyway, but that's between you and your DM. If you want to sit down with your DM, perhaps you could work out a "Sudden Reach" sort of feat. If you have the Disembodied Hand invocation (Complete Mage) you can use it to deliver touch effects, assuming you use it after you invoke the touch effect. This invocation has always made me scratch my head a little (shouldn't invoking Disembodied Hand dissipate the touch effect?), but it's nothing that can't be overlooked.
mplindustries 12-29-07, 04:34 AM	1) There is no way that I could find to change a touch SLA into a ranged touch SLA, and I don't believe that there actually is one. 2) He likely did it through either a single level of Hierophant that lets him turn his divine touch ranged spells into 30' ranged touched spells, or the Reach Metamagic feat (likely reduced to no spell level cost using epic feats) which turns any touch spell into a 30' ranged touch for +1 spell level. 3) I am very curious as to what concept you have going that would make you interested in this idea. I was able to find only 3 invocations that required touch: Mask of Flesh, Devour Magic, and Caster's Lament. Mask of Flesh is of dubious use. It has some interesting flavor, but wouldn't a good disguise check be a lot easier than spending a feat for what is essentially a flavor power? Devour Magic is fair at best. It is greater dispel and all the other warlock dispels function only as the basic dispel. But, it is also limited to the targeted version, and honestly, I don't see why you'd waste a greater invocation when you can get Relentless Dispelling as a Lesser, which is a ranged targeted dispel that repeats again next round. Caster's Lament is pretty awesome, but the break enchantment part (the part limited to touch), isn't nearly as good as the counterspelling. Besides that, a normal Warlock would only get one feat (18th) in after getting Caster's Lament and I can't see using a high level feat to improve half of a single invocation. I guess I'm just wondering if you found something that I didn't, or if my analysis was off.
MAdgryphon 12-29-07, 04:44 AM	Oh, quite simple, really. "Curse of Despair" Works like bestow curse, including the "come up with your own curse, pending DM approval," part. And the DM(s, actually, they're co-dming), are very into unique and interesting effects.
MnemonicSV 12-29-07, 05:13 PM	Oh, quite simple, really. "Curse of Despair" Works like bestow curse, including the "come up with your own curse, pending DM approval," part. And the DM(s, actually, they're co-dming), are very into unique and interesting effects. Yep, curse of despair would gain much more versatility in combat if made ranged. Even as a touch attack, curse of despair often changed the tide of more than one of my Warlock's battles (the 50% inaction option can be lethal). Too bad the Warlock has no way of undoing his own curses, short of caster's lament. If you're a good warlock, you may wish to undo them once in a while. Seriously, a homebrewed "Reach Spell-like Ability" feat or a "Sudden Reach" feat is your best option. The former would have a minimum caster level prerequisite, following suit with the other _____ Spell-like Ability feats (usable 3/day). The latter would likely have no prerequisites at all, but would only be usable 1/day. In either event, you'll always have a daily limit to how often you could do it even though you could curse all day to your heart's content (or malcontent as the case may be). If your DM(s) enjoy homebrew rules, propose creating a new invocation (of a higher grade) which works as curse of despair but with a range of "close." No harm asking. I'd call it curse of the stalker, or something else equally creepy-sounding that hints at it's use.
MAdgryphon 01-02-08, 09:51 PM	Okay, well, thanks guys. I think probably my best option is disembodied hand. In any case, thanks for all your help!