Chapter 4: New Spells

Illus. by C. Frank

Benefit: If an opponent provokes an attack of opportunity from you, you can draw a weapon that you have successfully concealed using Sleight of

Hand (PH 81) as an immediate action to deliver the attack of opportunity with that weapon . That opponent is treated as flat-footed against the attack with the concealed weapon . sWIfT ConCenTraTIon

[MenTal]

You can maintain your mental focus while attending to another task .

Prerequisite: Concentration 12 ranks .

Benefit: You can maintain concentration on a spell or similar effect as a swift action . TIMelY MIsdIreCTIon

[InTeraCTIon]

You can divert an opponent’s attention to avoid its attacks .

Prerequisite: Bluff 8 ranks .

Benefit: If you succeed on a Bluff check to feint in combat (PH 68), your opponent can’t make any attacks of opportunity against you until the start of its next turn . This effect is in addition to the normal benefits of a successful feint . TuMblIng CraWl [MoveMenT]

You can safely roll away from danger .

Prerequisite: Tumble 5 ranks .

Benefit: By succeeding on a DC 15 Tumble check, you can crawl 5 feet as a move action without provoking attacks of opportunity . Crawling normally provokes attacks of opportunity from any attackers who threaten you at any point during your crawl (PH 142) . TWIsTed Charge [MoveMenT]

You can charge in a crooked line .

Prerequisite: Balance 5 ranks, Tumble 5 ranks .

Benefit: When you charge, you can make one turn of up to 90 degrees during your movement . You can’t move more than your speed as part of this charge . All other restrictions on charges still apply, and you must have line of sight to the opponent at the start of your turn . uP The hIll [MoveMenT]

You can move quickly up a slope .

Prerequisite: Balance 5 ranks, Jump 5 ranks .

Benefit: You can move up a steep slope or stairs at your normal speed instead of at half speed . This effect lasts for 1 round . Walk The Walls [MoveMenT]

You can run straight up a wall for a few seconds .

Prerequisite: Climb 12 ranks, Tumble 5 ranks .

Benefit: You can move up a wall without making a Climb check . Each 5 feet of vertical movement costs you 4 squares of movement, and you must begin and end your turn on a horizontal surface .

Lidda hurls herself from a wall to surprise an enemy

Wall JuMPer [MoveMenT]

There’s no better way to end a tough climb than by leaping from the wall .

Prerequisite: Climb 5 ranks, Jump 5 ranks .

Benefit: If you have succeeded on a Climb check to ascend or descend a wall during this or your previous turn, you can leap horizontally from that wall as if you had a running start . WhIP ClIMber [ManIPulaTIon]

You can use a whip as a grappling hook .

Prerequisite: Use Rope 5 ranks, proficiency with the whip .

Benefit: You can use a whip as a makeshift grappling hook, lashing it around a protrusion or other firm, weightbearing object in order to climb a wall or swing across a chasm . You make Climb checks using the whip as if it were a normal rope . Using this feat requires a Use Rope check as normal for securing a grappling hook (PH 86) but takes only a move action .

Illus. by D. Bircham

any scoundrels trust to their luck and to the whims of fate, while others rely purely on their skills and physical abilities . Those who can, however, use magic . Magic is reliable, customizable, and easily concealable, all traits that scoundrels rely on . Scoundrels who are also spellcasters naturally seek spells designed specifically for their needs . Such spells not only aid scoundrels in their many illicit trades, but also support the new rules for luck and skill tricks presented in Chapter 3 . The new spells in this chapter are designed for the standard spellcasting classes from the Player’s Handbook, and by extension all other classes that use those spell lists .

A few spells also support the assassin and the hexblade (Complete Warrior) . The PolYMorPh subsChool

The polymorph subschool was introduced in Player’s Handbook II.

A spell of the polymorph subschool changes the target’s form from one shape to another . Unless stated otherwise in the spell’s description, the target of such a spell takes on all the statistics (mental and physical) and special abilities of an average member of the new form in place of its own, except as follows . • The target retains its own alignment (and personality, within the limits of the new form’s ability scores) . • The target retains its own hit points . • The target is treated as having its normal Hit Dice for the purpose of adjudicating effects based on HD, such as the sleep spell, though it uses the new form’s base attack bonus, base save bonuses, and all other statistics derived from Hit Dice . • The target retains the ability to understand the languages it understands in its normal form . If the new form is normally capable of speech, the target retains the ability to speak these languages as well . It can write in the languages it understands, but only if the new form is capable of writing in some manner (even a primitive manner, such as drawing in the dirt with a paw) . In all other ways, the target’s normal game statistics are effectively replaced by those of the new form . The target loses all the special abilities it has in its normal form, including its class features (even if the new form would normally be able to use those class features) .

If the new form’s size is different from the target’s normal size, its new space must share as much of the original form’s space as possible, 1

squeezing into the available space (PH 148) if necessary . If insufficient space exists for the new form, the spell fails . Any gear worn or carried by the target melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional . When the target reverts to its true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on its body they previously occupied and are once again functional .

Any new items worn in the assumed form fall off and land at the target’s feet . The spellcaster can freely designate the new form’s minor physical qualities (such as hair color and skin color) within the normal ranges for a creature of that kind . The new form’s significant physical qualities (such as height, weight, and gender) are also under the spellcaster’s control, but they must fall within the norms for the new form’s kind . The target of a polymorph spell is effectively camouflaged as a creature of its new form, and gains a +10 bonus on Disguise checks if it uses this ability to create a disguise . If the target of a polymorph spell is slain or rendered unconscious, the spell ends . Any part of the body that is separated from the whole remains polymorphed until the effect ends . Incorporeal or gaseous creatures are immune to polymorph spells, as are creatures of the plant type . A creature with the shapechanger subtype (such as a lycanthrope or doppelganger) can revert to its natural form as a standard action . spells that have Come before

For the purpose of adjudicating effects that apply to polymorph spells, any spell whose effect is based on either alter self or polymorph should be considered to have the polymorph subschool . However, the spells’ existing rules text takes priority over that of the subschool . Alter self, for instance, does not change the target’s ability scores (unlike normal for spells of the polymorph subschool) .

sWIfT and IMMedIaTe aCTIons

Many feats, skill tricks, and spells presented in this book use two new kinds of actions: the swift and immediate action, originally introduced in Miniatures Handbook and

Expanded Psionics Handbook, respectively .

Swift Action: A swift action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action . You can perform one swift action per turn without affecting your ability to perform other actions . In that regard, a swift action is like a free action . However, you can perform only a single swift action per turn, regardless of what other actions you take .

You can take a swift action any time you would normally be allowed to take a free action . Casting a quickened spell or manifesting a quickened power is a swift action . In addition, casting any spell or manifesting any power with a casting time or manifesting time of 1 swift action is a swift action .

Immediate Action: Much like a swift action, an immediate action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action . Unlike a swift action, an immediate action can be performed at any time—even it it’s not your turn .

Using an immediate action on your turn is the same as using a swift action, and counts as your swift action for that turn . You cannot use another immediate action or a swift action until after your next turn if you have used an immediate action when it is not currently your turn (effectively, using an immediate action before your turn is equivalent to using your swift action for the coming turn) . You also cannot use an immediate action if you are currently flat-footed . neW assassIn sPells

1st level

Healer’s Vision: Gain +5 bonus on Heal checks, and +2 attack and damage on sneak attacks . Mimicry: Perfectly mimic familiar sounds, voices, or accents . pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs

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ThefT rePorT

To Lord Kikosomi, Head of the Royal Guard:

My lord, I have terrible news to report. Four of the five crown jewels have been stolen. The thieves must have employed magic of some sort, for the fields of alarm wards remain undisturbed. None of the guards saw anyone enter or leave. Our mages have confirmed this with multiple spells of the appropriate kind.

As best I can ascertain, the thieves (I refer to the culprits in the plural because I do not believe a single being could have gotten past all our defenses) brought with them a spellcaster of some kind. They must also have included someone able to contort himself in such a way as to slip through the bars surrounding the jewels, since the zone of antimagic that encompasses them yet remains. (It is remotely possible that the thieves somehow lowered the zone of antimagic, then raised another in its place.)

I think one of the thieves might have had a blade made of a rare material known as adamantine, which I understand can penetrate most materials with ease. That would explain the cleanly cut hole in the outside wall of the room. I can think of no other solution that does not involve magic—and, as I mentioned, the zone of antimagic still holds.

I pray to St. Cuthbert that we might yet find the culprits.

Sincerely, Hetlan Croft, Royal Guard Inquisitor