1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.
2 people marked this as a favorite.
Intro:
I imagine that many people are familiar with the Painter Wizard, a hyper-tuned machine that combines game breaking mechanics and RAW rules, which adequetly demonstrates the need for this post. In short the creator of the "Painter Wizard" guide lacked a sufficient understanding of the Pathfinder rules to correctly construct his build, in part because he filled in the numerous blanks with illogical and unsupported assumptions.
The First Problem:
In terms of build time, the original poster was woefully under-rating the absurd time needed to construct even one Trompe L'Oeil.
Noted in the templates construction section: "A trompe L’oeil is created from a masterwork painting of the base creature, with a cost varying on the size of the subject... Price varies (100 gp per HD plus cost of painting)."
Therefore before we even construct our construct an adequetly value-ful mundane, masterwork painting must first be acquired. Assuming DM fiat one would reasonably craft their own. So lets assume we are building an Efreeti (Trompe L'oeil) as the "Painter Wizard" would attempt to do, we would need a size large masterwork painting valued at 3000gp. Using the normal mundane crafting rules, this effort would cost us 1000gp, and a DC 30 Craft(Painting) check, since we are accelerating. Ultimately, if we assume we have a +20 to our craft check and take 10 (reasonable since we are supposedly attempting this at Lvl5) the effort would take 334 Weeks to complete. Ok, now that we have the painting we can being crafting the actual construct which will take a mere 5 additional days at a DC20 Craft(Paint)/Spellcraft check, assuming the same wizard build). Sounds like a fun way to spend a campaign.
The Second Problem:
Alright, if problem one was not bad enough, lets dive head first into core reading comprehension for problem two.
The "Painter Wizards" master plan is to create a 10HD, size Large Efreeti to have it cast the Wish spell for us. However the Trompe L'oeil template does not actually mention if we keep any Spell-like abilities, supernatural abilities, racial traits, or non-weapon/armor magic items from the creature we have copied.
In fact the template agonizes over what you do get to keep, which includes: natural attacks, weapon proficiency, All HD derived from class levels, BAB progression, Saving-Throw progression, Skills+INT per Lvl progression, and Natural Armor bonus. If the creature happens to be wearing any weapons, armor or shields, the construct also gets a masterwork copy of that item, made of paint, and since the creature you copy must be a "corporeal creature that has an Intelligence score" it gets normal feats per Lvl progression, but Nothing Else. Notably you could reassign the constructs feats and skills if you wanted as, "Most constructs are mindless, and so they do not have feats or skills. However, a small number of constructs have an Intelligence score, and their creator determines what feats and skill ranks the construct has when it is created. This choice cannot later be changed.".
Since we all know that Pathfinder is a rules based game of what you "can do" we understand that if you make an Efreeti (Trompe L'oeil) then you only get to copy what the template denotes, which does not include its' spell-like-abilities. Bummer. Some might argue that the template is an "Inherited Template" which only means "Creatures are born or created with these templates already in place, and have never known life without them." that is it. It is even hard to imagine what base statistics the Trompe L'oeil would have.
Luckily RAI helps us here as a formal version of the Trompe L'oeil exists. This formal version denotes the stats, of a construct made in the image of a Lvl 7 human aristocrat. By the example presented we can assume that the construct copies whatever base statistics the original creature possessed, or has only the base ability scores presented in that single entry (which are pretty trash). Well now this feels underpowered.
The Third Problem:
As if it was not bad enough, the "Painter Wizard" assumes his beloved Efreeti, Trompe L'oeil (which after these corrections would have been a monumental under taking to create), is in fact not going to spite him for those free wishes (which we already determined it would not have the ability to cast). Lets simply humor the goodly wizard here.
In terms of Alignment, "A Trompe L’oeil usually has the same alignment as its creator or the base creature. A Trompe L’oeil that seeks to destroy its original model, however, has an evil alignment (but the same alignment on the chaotic/lawful axis)". Wow they really used the word "usually" get ready for DM fiat. The developers have given free-reign here to a DM to just ruin the "Painter Wizard's" day as, if for some reason the DM allowed the template to copy all the nitty-gritty, Over-Powered abilities of it's original, then the DM could still just have the construct come out evil, after all that hard work. Yes, from page 6 of the Construct Handbook it does note that, "Once the crafting process is complete, the resulting construct is ready to receive orders. A construct recognizes its creator intuitively and obeys all commands issued to it by that individual." that does not mean that it wont use its intelligence to warp the meaning of your words and grant deleterious wishes. Ouch, last nail in the coffin.
So did you like the 3 problems I pointed out? There are 4 other problems I can think of regarding the "Painter Wizard" and its' poor use of RAW. That being said those problems are only small ones, not worth mentioning. Now this is a rules question forum... so where are my rules questions? Well, for those that read through my notes, I pose the question to you, did I miss anything? Are my numbers correct? Are my notions sound and logical for RAW, and RAI where it was mentioned?. Please get back to me as I would love to read what stance you take on the whole or part of the matter. I appreciate you stopping by.
