I like weird unorthodox builds but not OP-broken stuff, so worries there. BY the way, I'd love to join your next Arena Battle (whenever that is) if you'll have me. I'll even make a martial character if casters are an issue for you. :-)
Like a wand spamming fighter? ;-) I'll be taking an extended leave of absence from these forums pretty soon, but I have to tell you guys about the most broken build of all:
Gnome Druid with a Roc Familiar. Take the tinkering trait so that you are proficient with any weapon you make yourself, make yourself a lance, climb on your roc's back and at level one you can have a fly speed of 80ft, an attack that does 2d6 damage with a good attack bonus, and spells! Just make sure you get ride-by attack. Lets see if anyone tries that out for next time!
Hmm, a PvP using the dueling rules would certainly be interesting, especially at level 9+. I have to disagree though, having a whole bunch of players that can do basically the same thing face of against each other would be kind of boring. Then again... Dakar never really used his monk abilities, so basically a bunch of level 7 characters got whooped by a level 5 wizard. Having a familiar to follow you around casting invisibility on you was pretty cool though.
As much as I love them, Synthesist Summoners at least should always be outlawed, unless you're fighting a wizard or a well prepared Sorcerer...
Wait a minute, how'd you get your caster level to 7th with only 5 levels of wizard? Or get a faerie dragon familiar without being a 7th level wizard?
I've got one more thing to point out though: Azoth is holding his Katana and it is thus not "unattended", so he gets a reflex save to avoid having it affected by grease at all. Then, only when he tries to use the Katana does he have to make a reflex save.
Azoth's sword comes down hard on Jaron's but the injury to his back obviously is hurting him, Jaron holds the block for a moment, and then there's a small but distinct *snap* as his spine snaps and he becomes paralyzed in his legs, falling down. Azoth's sword follows, and in a moment, it's over.
Good game Azoth, I made some strategic mistakes, but frankly no Level 7 character can sustain 55 points of damage in one turn and expect to live for long. My character was designed around a massive Use Magic Device Check, and was outfitted with a zillion wands to buff himself up before the battle, in addition to a wand of Ball Lightning in his left Wakizashi and a Wand of Fireball in his right one. After you dealt him 55 points of damage, he only had one HP left (18+ 55= 73 damage, max HP 74), so I decided that my only hope would be to nail you with two fireballs in quick succession with failed reflex saves, and on the second one I could have attacked you with ball lightning too.
Ugh, those are some nasty rolls... 55 damage, total 73 damage taken. Good thing it was from two attacks and I don't need to make a save or die...
Azoth catches Jaron between the shoulder blades and cuts a great gash down his back, spinning him around. Azoth suspects the blade might have actually connected with his spine. Abandoning his wand, he draws his other sword, which is suddenly wreathed in flames, and he swings it. A small bead shoots off from it and lands 25ft behind Azoth, where it explodes into a massive fireball.
Azoth's attempt to knock Jaron backwards is met head on with Jaron's own strength, momentarily setting Azoth off balance. Azoth's swing with his sword misses Jaron entirely.
It doesn't provoke because of the type of activation it is. Bull Rush unsuccessful.
Jaron again tosses away the wand in his hand and draws another, but rather than activating it this round decides to get another attack out of his balls of lightning. He deftly spins to Azoth's left, and two of the balls of lighting reach him, the third closing in on his right.
You could try pushing a ball into Jaron, but I honestly don't know if that would work. They're easy enough to push if you can take being zapped, but Jaron also has complete control over them and pushing it 5ft to the side would not be difficult. Then again, I have to spend a move action to direct them, but if I'm planning to direct them again next turn, does that mean I am continuously directing them from from this turn to next? Anyway, make 2 DC 20 Reflex Saves.
It was a powerful strike, but it was almost as if an invisible force stopped the blade before it cut too deeply. Tossing the first wand behind him, Jaron draws a second one and uses it, and Azoth sees that his skin visibly toughens. Azoth also hears a crackling sizzle behind him; the balls of lightning are getting close again...
Current AC 25, and the wand use does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Damage=18
Damage Reduction (Ex or Su) A creature with this special quality ignores damage from most weapons and natural attacks. Wounds heal immediately, or the weapon bounces off harmlessly (in either case, the opponent knows the attack was ineffective). The creature takes normal damage from energy attacks (even nonmagical ones), spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. A certain kind of weapon can sometimes damage the creature normally, as noted below.
Sorry, energy bypasses your DR, so you take the full 10 points of damage.
You provoke an attack of opportunity due to my Lunge feat that I have active.
As the heavily armored warrior approaches, Jaron holds his blade upright, as if in a defensive position, but then with a deceptive speed slashes at Azoth's chest before nimble leaping back.
The attack connects, but is turned wide by Azoth's armor. With an almost imperceptible flick of his wrist, Jaron directs the ball lightnings closer, while at the same time giving himself a quick tap with the baton in his hand.
The touch attack example was to illustrate that a spell can be cast and used as part of the same standard action.
The balls attacked you, but as I understand the spell, they cannot occupy the same space as another person; even if they don't have mass, they are still objects. I assume this because Ball lightning is nothing more than an electric version of the spell flaming sphere on steroids, and that spell describes the ball as having a texture, therefore being 'touchable'. Besides, if the balls could automatically envelop you, you wouldn't be getting a reflex save to completely negate the damage. If you got a save at all, it would be a fortitude for half save. fSo ignoring the limitations of an excel sheet, the balls are partly cramming into your space to attack you, but because they cannot actually occupy the same space as you, they are more or less in the squares shown.
Hold the phone, you've still got to make Reflex saves for the actual attack from the three spheres. Actually, hold on, going to go forum surfing to see if I can find clarification on the action economy of this spell...
EDIT: Ok, I did some quick hunting but I couldn't find anything either way, so I guess it's up to Zotsune. I would like to point out that with touch spells at least you CAN cast the spell and and make a touch attack as a standard action.
On the contrary, people can easily buy stuff at a higher caster level than they have a character level if they have the gold: A level 2 character with a +1 longsword has an item with a minimum caster level 3, though really it's 5 because of feat prerequisites.
My math isn't off, you just missed the number of charges in those wands. The wands have been calculated by the following formula:
Caster Level x Spell Level x 750gp (purchase price not creation price) / 50 charges x number of charges left.
So the Ball Lightning Wand cost me (11) x (4) x 750gp /50 x (5 charges in wand) = 3,300gp, which is well within my budget
There is an explanation for all of those problems.
There are three balls because the caster level is 11th.
The spell has a range of medium, 100ft +10ft per caster level, or 210ft. The spell never mentions where the balls have to come into existence; the whole circles of electricity thing was just fluff, the balls actually appeared already attacking you.
As for the locations, that is correct, the balls have to enter your space, but despite the fact that they have no mass they do occupy a space, and a 5ft ball of lightning simply doesn't fit into a space already occupied by someone; it just intrudes on that space so that it can touch the person. (See the flaming sphere spell, where although it says that it enters an opponents space, it also says that the sphere has a spongy texture). The angles the balls attacked you from thus placed the balls roughly in the squares they are shown in.
As for action economy: I had always assumed that directing a spell the round that you cast it was part of the actual casting. I may be wrong on that, but if so, the balls are simply conjured already touching you (or attempting to, the reflex saves will decide that.
Though the masked warrior seems nearly as heavily armored as the Aasimar, his movements are much more graceful, he gives a quick twirl of his sword, then draws his arms up so that they form a bottomless triangle with his head as the top. Suddenly, the air pressure momentarily drops, and 3 bands of electricity appear tangent to one another, in the pattern of the same triangle. There's a hum as the bands gain power, and then with a whoosh, they launch themselves at Azoth, forming into full-fledged balls of lightning as they reach him. Jaron leaps back as the lightning balls launch from him, perhaps to create more space between him and the advancing warrior, perhaps just to maintain his balance after the energetic launch.
Zotsune Only:
Jaron's UMD is a +19, so he can't fail to operate a wand, so I'm not going to bother rolling.
Combat:
Standard Action: Cast Ball Lightning
Move Action: Leap back 15ft
Free Action: (Feat mentioned earlier to Zotsune)
The three balls of electricity try to smash into Azoth!
Reflex DC 16 to negate each ball individually, with a -4 penalty because of your metal armor (So DC 20) Take 3d6-5 (because of your energy resistance) from each ball that hits you.
The balls are in a line in front of Azoth, so you'll either have to get zapped by them in pushing them away or go around.
The masked warrior strides to his position, only one sword drawn. As he goes, he unlatches a small baton from his armor, and takes a position with his sword in front to defend, and the arm with the baton close to his body.
Zotsune Only:
Assume that Jaron is always using his lunge feat unless I say otherwise.
"After we clean up the blood stains and take the body to an infirmary we will start up the next match. In the mean time please enjoy this piece of entertainment!"
A group of bards start performing in a section of the arena that was untouched by the battle.
As soon as Azoth is ready I'll start the next fight. And when Azoth posts again the bards are done with their performance and are leaving the stage.
Reading through the battle, and just thought I'd point out that your bonus to damage is multiplied on a critical too. Also, what is the minimum duration for us to reasonably say that we already cast a spell before the battle started?
I'm taking a look at the map and it looks like there are no features on the battlefield whatsoever. Is it just a flat thing or will there be walls and pillars and such? If there aren't any, I need to replace a 5,000gp magical item...
