By reading old touch attack threads I gathered that creatures come with an extra Touch-AC. But how is my touch attack determined? Do I roll a simple D20 against Touch-AC? Do I get a base bonus to touch attack through a basic stat like STR or DEX? Can I improve the touch roll even further by magical means or feats? Or can I lower their Touch-AC? Im thinking about melee touch attacks here but I take it the rules for ranged touch attacks are different? How about touching friend vs touching foe? I think someplace ingame I read that the first touch "attack" vs. friend is an auto-hit. What if I touch 6 friends by means of a full-action? I searched the ingame help system and the pdf-manual as well as google and this forum but I still feel the need to be fundamentally enlightened about the inner workings of TOUCH. Do you want to enlighten me? :yes:
touch attack simply means that you have to hit the target's touch ac, which means that armor bonus, natural armor bonus and shield bonus don't count, but dodge bonuses like from a high dexterity modifer or the feat dodge do. the attack is otherwise rolled normally; d20+bab+strength+misc. mod (weapon focus, weapon enhancement, true strike, etc.) for melee and d20+bab+dexterity+misc. mod for ranged.
Great, thanks for the quick reply! What weapon focus might that be for touch? Also I find the including of base attack bonus and strength modifier for a melee touch... counterintuitive. This results in fighters touching WAY easier than a sorcerer.
Because Sorcerors or Wizards are far more trained and experienced in throwing themselves at their armed enemies to touch them during a melee than say a fighter? BAB is used as a bonus to hit an enemy so any combat trained class has better chances to score a hit than a class that normally relies on their magic spells and not on physical confrontation.
Look, Im saying: "Why are the rules that govern touching tied to melee combat rules? This leads to fighters being way better at touching than, say, sorcerers. Which is ridiculous because what good does make for a fighter to be extraordinary at touching? In opposition to a class that delivers a part of their power through touching?" Your answer to that: "Fighters are better at touching because they are better at melee." Yes, I got that, but I would like for touching to be better represented by the system with regards to the importance of touching to each class. The links you provided are a great source of information, thanks. :thumbsup: But I am still wondering what Weapon Focus you choose in order to improve touching. Ray? Unarmed?
While you are right in saying that fighter types have it easier to score a hit for a touch attack, the whole reason for casters using touch attacks is in the fact that they get to ignore all the armor his target has on him. While rogue-like builds will have an easy time sidestepping such an attack, most tank builds will see their abilities crippled because of that mage (or sorceror, druid, cleric...) One can indeed opt to either go for imp. unarmed combat feat for normal touch attacks, or for W.F. Ray for the ranged touch. Ranged touch also works well in tandem with Point blank & Precise shot. But personally, I think that's a waste of a feat... Better let the buffbitch of your party crank up your stats (with things like Enlarge person, Cats grace or Bull strength) or your fighting abilities (Prayer, Inspire courage or Magic fang). Wondrous objects are nice too, offcourse... Don't forget, all bonuses apply. You'll have an easier time scoring a hit on a touch att when your target is prone - but not if you'ld do a ranged touch attack What you especially want is that your target is blind (through the namesake spell, or spells like Glitterdust, Colourspray, etc) Blindness: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm
Or just cast Fireball and move on to the next battle. Why buff when you have Fireball, am i rite? Must... resist urge... for... ridiculously immature... joke... ugh...!!! Pretty sure its Weapon Focus (Unarmed) for Touch Attacks. Improved Unarmed Strike does nothing for touch attacks, since all that feat does is make melee attacks with your fists deal lethal damage. It is a bit of a waste of a feat slot though. Casters are already hard pressed for feat slots with all the Spell Focusing, Metamagic, Spell Penetrating and crafting. Also, speaking of which, Spell Focus does virtually the same thing and can also be applied to your other spells too, granting a much greater benefit. Also, most enemies have low touch AC anyway. Only enemies with some form of Natural AC like a Bear would have high touch AC... and lets get serious here. Would you really touch a bear?
Sorry, but touch AC NEGATES armor bonuses (including natural & shield AC) - it's dex that's the touch-attack's main enemy. And yes, touching bears is kinky
*Giggle* All I have to say about this matter is that I like touching beavers and bushes, but bears? What am I some kind of druid transformed into a polar bear in its mating season? How about representing "the touch" like this: touching always succeeds. In the sense that you easily connect to the target. Thats fine because as a tradeoff you have to move close to them into their range of threat while you could think of 100 other possible places you would like to be more. Here is the catch: you roll a Wisdom check to see whether you provoke a special AoO where the target if the check fails is allowed to attack before the spell goes into effect. If he manages to interrupt you the spell fizzles and you moved yourself to the frontline for nothing but a big broadsword in your face. How is that? :yes:
Oh right, it was the deflection bonus that still applies with touch attacks. I keep thinking its Natural Armor for some reason =/ Note to self: Use Ghoul Touch on the Slavers before "accidentally" misfiring a Fireball at the children >_>
melee dudes should of course be better at touching you than a caster, since hurting you with a pointy stick involves touching you. funny fact: fighters are actually worse at touching you than wizards in toee. 3 words: quickened true strike.
An unarmed attack normally provokes an Attack of Opportunity. However a Touch attack with a spell (e.g. Ghoul Touch) is considered an *armed* attack and so does not provoke an AoO according to the RAW: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsInCombat.htm#standardActions And if touching always succeeds I forego using dice and touch your sorceror in his neck with an executioners axe... :roll: Touching *is* a sort of attack that the target if unwilling must be able to avoid and so uses similar mechanics like any other physical attack.
