Spells with Attack Rolls

A small number of spells require the caster to make an attack roll in order to deliver damage or other effects to the victim. Some of these can be very potent, but their power is limited by the requirement to actually touch the subject with a successful attack roll. Generally, the caster can execute a touch attack (or roll an attack roll) as soon as he finishes casting the spell, or he can delay until the end of the current round and then make his attack. However, if the caster doesn’t attempt to discharge the spell in the round in which it is cast, it is wasted unless the spell has a duration of more than one round. For example, cause light wounds must be used in the same round in which it is cast, but since chill touch lasts a minimum of four rounds, the caster doesn’t have to “use it or lose it” in the round he casts the spell.

A number of spells don’t require the caster to actually injure the target or breach the victim’s armor; even a glancing touch will be sufficient to discharge the spell’s effects on the target. Spells of this type ignore the portion of the victim’s Armor Class that is derived from wearing armor. In other words, only Dexterity-based and magical adjustments help a character’s Armor Class against some magical attacks.

Oromonos the wizard takes a dislike to an obnoxious guard and decides to teach him a lesson with a shocking grasp. Since the spell only requires the wizard to make contact with the target, the DM rules that the guard’s plate mail +1 won’t help him. Only the 1-point Armor Class bonus for the armor’s enchantment counts for the guard’s AC, which makes him AC 9 to Oromonos’s attack instead of his usual AC 2.

Which spells qualify as spells that bypass armor? Basically, this is a judgment call for the DM. In order to gain this advantage, the spell description should clearly imply that the spell would take effect even if it struck the victim on the breastplate instead of requiring the caster’s hand to actually touch exposed skin. Another way of looking at it is this: Does the spell emulate the action of a normal weapon, such as a sword, arrow, or dagger? If it does, the spell definitely requires a normal attack roll on the part of the caster, but if the spell affects the victim’s life force or achieves its effect from simple contact, the subject’s armor is ignored.

Spells that directly affect the subject’s life force include most of the necromantic touch spells (chill touch, vampiric touch, energy drain, etc.), the various cause wound spells and other reversals of healing spells such as poison, slay living, and destruction. The victim’s armor does not help to protect him from these attacks. Spells that somehow change or alter the victim’s status, such as imprisonment, plane shift, or dispel evil also ignore armor.

A second category of spells that can affect the victim through his armor includes spells that produce energy or forces against which armor is useless. For example, shocking grasp, chromatic orb, watery double, produce flame, fire seeds, or crystalbrittle can affect an armored or unarmored person equally well.

Some spells that use attack rolls but ignore the victim’s armor appear in Table 41 : Armor-Breaching Spells.

Spells that create physical attacks or emulate the effects of weapons include such enchantments as ice knife, hovering skull, Mordenkainen’s sword, and spiritual hammer. Since these spells manifest as tangible weapons and are wielded in the same way, the subject is allowed the full benefit of his or her armor. See Table 42 : Armor-Observing Spells.

Player’s Option: Combat & Tactics: In the revised initiative system introduced in the Combat & Tactics book, spells that require attack rolls are cast as normal (i.e., on the fast, average, or slow phase, as appropriate for the casting time). After the spell is invoked, the caster may then make his attack for the round in any subsequent phase. For example, a wizard who casts chill touch, a fast spell, may then make a touch attack in the average, slow, or very slow phases. Note that the character still receives only one attack per round.

Even though the wizard will often be ‘unarmed’ when he uses a touch attack spell, he does not provoke an attack of opportunity since he’s not attempting to initiate unarmed combat. All he needs to do is touch the subject, not land a full-force punch or wrestle with the fellow. However, a victim who is guarding will still be able to make his own attack before the wizard can deliver his touch-based attack.

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