Magic jar...


Rules Questions


I've searched and can't find a consensus. I have a player that will likely be in need of a new body, quite possibly permanently. Can Magic Jar be used for this?

I've seen argued examples that it's as easy as casting MJ, possessing a body, casting it again, possessing yet another body, then ending the spell and returning to the first possessed body. Is that really it?


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Casting and recasting it can be problematic, as the new casting automatically puts you in the jar, not only freeing the host briefly, but also allowing the host a new save every time as you attempt to repossess from the jar (and if you fail, they become temporarily immune).

However, one solution is to use Osirian Spirit Jars. They effectively make the duration of magic jar infinite and allow you to have three bodies in reserve for any occasion.


My apologies for being simple minded.

How do these jars allow you to have up to 3 bodies in reserve? When you transfer back from a possessed host, does not that other soul return to its body?


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

No. The spirit stays trapped in one of the three spirit jars. That's their whole point. It let's you magic jar someone, then never let them go (short of opening or destroying the spirit jar). You still need to recast the spell to keep the duration going, but they're essentially your prisoner forever. It even lets you shift the spirits from one jar to another, or to switch your spirit between bodies. Amazingly useful for the spellcaster who focuses on magic jar.

If your player wants to focus on possession abilities, I might also recommend the Penetrating Possession and Spirit Vision feats.

If magic jar is too complicated for your group, you may want to instead use the possession spell from Occult Adventures. It is literally designed to replace magic jar.


Reading the jar description, magic jar only needs to be cast and active to switch bodies, if the duration of the spell expires the trapped souls stay trapped, yes?

Thank you for pointing out those feats!


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Delenot wrote:
If the duration of the spell expires the trapped souls stay trapped, yes?

Yes. However, the caster needs to be extra careful because if he is in one of the spirit jars at the end of the spell's duration, he may himself become trapped. This makes the caster far more vulnerable to things like dispel magic, since such things can end the spell's duration prematurely, thereby trapping him in one of his own spirit jars if his body isn't nearby.

This is less of a concern with you have fellow party members (who can simply open the appropriate spirit jar to free your spirit), but it never hurts to have a ring of counterspell (dispel magic) or something similar, just in case.

I once had a character, Hama the wondering witch, who used the spirit jars and feats to great effect. She had all of the powers of an evil sorcerer, and was stronger than most giants.

Hama bought a trained mastodon for 2,000gp (per Ultimate Equipment). She then possessed it in the long term with magic jar and her spirit jars. She would then polymorph into human form, allowing her to keep most of the mastodon's physical stats, all of her mental stats, and her ability to cast spells and use class abilities. She used the minimus containment version of a binding spell to hide her true body inside her locket, relaying on her familiar or party members to free her true body should her host bodies be destroyed and her be forced to return to her original body.

She would also use spells such as shadow projection when in dire straights. In the end, she had more forms than Freeza from Dragon Ball Z, which proved continually frustrating for her enemies (and my GMs). :D


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There's also the spell Parasitic Soul.


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Fentomy wrote:
There's also the spell Parasitic Soul.

Damn dude!


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Ravingdork wrote:
Fentomy wrote:
There's also the spell Parasitic Soul.
Damn dude!

Yeah. It's a nasty spell.


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But dispellable.


Yeah, but there are ways of preventing that. By the time you can cast Parasitic Soul, You can (or should be able to) cast Spellbane.


Let's see, you'd have to forbid Antimagic Field, Mage's Disjunction, Dispel Magic, Greater Dispel Magic, Wall of Suppression, ?

All you really need to do is create a custom dispel effect with some minor but irrelevant difference and you're through.

I also feel like any reference to Spellbane is the Pathfinder magic version of Godwin's Law.


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Slithery D wrote:
Let's see, you'd have to forbid Antimagic Field, Mage's Disjunction, Dispel Magic, Greater Dispel Magic, Wall of Suppression, ?

Don't forget source severance!

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