View source for User:Luigifan18/Sand Mage (3.5e Class)/Sand Blast

'''''{{Anchor|Sand Blast}}'' {{Sp}}:''' As a standard action, a sand mage can launch a magically-organized cluster of hundreds of particles of sand that break apart into a sandstorm-like flurry at the moment before impact, which effectively deals 1d4 damage per caster level (but see the next paragraph) as a ranged touch attack (its [[SRD:Caster Level|caster level]] is equal to the sand mage's class level). The clusters of sand have a range increment of 60 feet. [[SRD:Spell Resistance|Spell resistance]] applies to each blast separately. ''Sand Blast'' has the [Earth] descriptor. ''Sand Blast'' counts as ''eldritch blast'' for the purpose of prerequisites.

While described as doing 1d4 damage per caster level for the sake of effects that care about how many dice it deals, a ''sand blast'' is special in that it is not a singular attack, but a burst of hundreds of tiny attacks that inflict negligible damage (not even a single hit point's worth) on their own, but when delivered in extremely rapid succession, can inflict severe enough damage that the weakness of each individual attack is mostly a moot point. Effectively, this means that a ''sand blast'' is pre-maximized, and always deals 4 points of damage for every damage die it could otherwise roll (if the damage dice is increased or decreased, the damage is adjusted to the maximum value (for example, if the damage dice became d6, the ''sand blast'' would deal 6 points of damage per die)). However, because the damage of the ''sand blast'' is dealt through a physical medium, and the impact of each individual grain of sand is so weak, not only do [[SRD:Damage Reduction|damage reduction]] and hardness apply normally against a ''sand blast'', it actually is treated as being twice as high as it actually is; for example, DR 3 would be treated as DR 6. (A ''sand blast''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s damage is treated as being all magic, half slashing, and half bludgeoning for the sake of overcoming damage reduction.) Furthermore, strong armor and fast reflexes can ward off several or all of the grains of sand, preventing them from making any meaningful impact; as such, the damage of a ''sand blast'' is reduced by the target's full AC (''not'' their touch AC, though Dexterity and dodge bonuses are ignored if the target is [[SRD:Flat-Footed|flat-footed]]). If your attack roll exceeds the target's full or flat-footed AC (depending on whether or not the target is flat-footed), subtract 1 AC from the amount the damage is reduced by for every point by which your attack roll exceeded the target's AC (to a maximum reduction of all AC, allowing the ''sand blast'' to deal full damage). Even though a ''sand blast'' is effectively already maximized, it is not treated as maximized, so it can still be maximized again. If a ''sand blast'' is truly maximized (such as by Maximize Spell-Like Ability), your target's AC is ''not'' subtracted from the ''sand blast''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s damage and the target's damage reduction/hardness is applied normally (it is not doubled).

Unlike some spell-like abilities, a ''sand blast'' has a spell level. A ''sand blast''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s spell level is equal to ½ the sand mage's class level, rounded down (minimum 1st, maximum 9th), the spell level of the shape applied to the bullet (if any), or the spell level of the essence applied to the bullet (if any), whichever is highest.