I can see Paladins riding dolphins, but how do you ride a squid?
Mon-Star has this handled pretty well
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As many have said, Bard's a great choice. Also,
(thanks to vyverns poison) There are two v's in vvyvern's poison
I always assumed that when combat begins, your allies were aware and allowed you to shoot through their space. (Especially rays, as they have aim-assist on them.) Then again maybe I missed the rules on this. Does it mention in the CRB about allies blocking your ranged attacks?
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic#TOC-Research-and-Designing-Spells If you haven't read it already, this may help with at least a basic outline you can refer too. It would really depend on what spells he's mixing and what the spells' overall use is. If it's a utility spell look up similar utility spells for the level, if it's a save or die or damaging spell, read a few other spells similar for the level. Try and judge it's usefulness in comparison and if it performs the same or less effect. An easy example is if a damaging spell does 5d6 for that level while another does 3d6, figure out the reason why. Perhaps it has a larger spread, a save, SR or energy type outside the norm, etc.
Sounds as if it's going to be the "Elixer" of your standard RPG. You're not going to see them use that until end game or near death! Granted the moment they use it will be one ot remember. I've saved a "polymorph any object" for a BBEG before and let's just say 20 minutes (The minimum) is plenty of time to setup impending doom.
It's dm's discretion in terms of how often you can find them, but buying scrolls of a higher level are always nice to have. It's not a staple by any means but casting black tentacles at 3rd-4th level at a fairly easy check (DC7 if i'm not mistaken) and for 700gp is a great choice against a tough BBEG. At mid-higher levels, say between 9-12 buying an 8th level spell for 3,000 may seem steep for a one-shot, but the BBEG would certainly curse you for casting such a high level spell for a mere DC 15.
If you're a stinking, dirty optimizer; stick with it. Make a farmer-turned-entertainer bard who gave up the life of digging in the dirt for the joys of the road and travel. Bard is one of those fun classes that are both a utility caster as well as a skills monkey. Build wise, continue to optimize! If you're good at it, but focus on an archer bard who buffs, heals and makes everyone else shine.
STR 18 DEX 18CON 16 INT 15 WIS 17 CHA 13 Would be my suggestion. Also, look at all the avatars from post 1 and pretend they are having a typical goblinoid discussion.
"Ertai Tarmikus is a red wizard conjuration specialist who originally hailed from the Forgotten Realms. Having reached the elite of his studies, he found his limited time on the material plane fading. Soon, like all evil wizards, he had heard of the tempting powers of lichdom and reached out to higher sources to extend his life. His knowledge was restricted however, to those who pulled the strings and allowed him to find what he was looking for. The powerful lich Szass Tam was one of those people; withholding the information needed and Ertai realized his search to become an undead in the Forgotten Realms was fruitless. This was when he explored planar travel, taking his first step onto Golarian and into the capital of Cheliax. He created a tower and researched the history of this new world, crafting wondrous items to fuel his hunger for knowledge. His death came when dealing with a glabrezu, building a contract that would insure him the secrets of becoming a Lich. He managed to create his phylactery but the final step was interrupted, the glabrezu stealing Ertai's soul before it could nest in its prison." _______________________________________________________________ (The build below is an outline at best with, most likely a few errors. It's mostly there to highlight the basics so you can adjust him as needed against the party. Ertai's tactics would be indirect, offering to help by selling the PC's some of his wares. Having him give a few of the PC's some cursed items that debuff and hinder the party would be ideal, buying him time to summon and setup defenses. One of his biggest gimmicks would be to use scrolls of higher level spells but I'm not sure how difficult that might make the fight for the party; maybe stick to some of the utility scrolls and avoid summon monster IX.) _______________________________________________________________ Ertai Tarmikus CR11
The tower itself was much more horrible then the mage himself. It's interior full of dark passages and having high ceilings where the eye could find only cobwebs and shadows. The stones in the corridors crumbling and the smell of freshly boiled incense filled the air. It was never light save the scarce pair of candles perpendicular to one another at each turn or bend in the hallways. There was one black tower which reached above the trees into the unknown outer sky, but that was partly ruined and could not be ascended save by a well-nigh climb up the sheer wall. It reached skyward for at least a mile and more, twisting at impossible angles and dotted with several side chambers, too many side chambers for a single man. Rumors say that summons occur in those chambers. Foul and demonic creatures slithering from the circles used to create and draw them from their prisons in the nine hells."
I honestly don't see much of a problem with multiple summons, especially at lvl 5. Remember it takes the caster 1 round to summon and not a standard action. By the third turn, 2 critters would be running around or 2 1D3 sets of dire rats. Besides, what's wrong with the party caster helping the rogue shine a little bit?
As a bard, I'm currently rolling UMD checks for my wand of CLW because I did not choose said spell as one of my known spells. I also had a ranger/rogue who had the ability to transform into a rat as a spell-like ability. (My DM and I both decided a were-rat would be too much trouble at the time.) The issue was that without my knowledge, all critters larger than I in my rat form gained the Titanic template when dealing with me. I was in less danger fighting a glabrezu then a housecat! |