Favored School Conjuration, opposed schools Necromancy and Enchantment
Summoner's Charm (Su)
Whenever you cast a conjuration (summoning) spell, increase the duration by a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your wizard level (minimum 1). This increase is not doubled by Extend Spell. At 20th level, you can change the duration of all summon monster spells to permanent. You can have no more than one summon monster spell made permanent in this way at one time. If you designate another summon monster spell as permanent, the previous spell immediately ends.
Acid Dart (Sp)
As a standard action you can unleash an acid dart targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. The acid dart deals 1d6 points of acid damage + 1 for every two wizard levels you possess. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier. This attack ignores spell resistance.
Familiar:
N Diminutive animal
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +5
DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 16, flat-footed 15 (+2 Dex, +4 size; +1 natural)
hp 4 (1d8–2)
Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +4
OFFENSE
Speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft. (average)
Melee bite –1 (1d2–5)
Space 1 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
STATISTICS
Str 1, Dex 15, Con 6, Int 6, Wis 15, Cha 6
Base Atk +0; CMB –2; CMD 3
Feats Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Fly +12, Perception +9; Knowledge (Arcana) -1; Knowledge (The Planes) -1; Diplomacy -1; Linguistics -1; Spellcraft -1
Alertness (Ex): While a familiar is within arm's reach, the master gains the Alertness feat.
Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a familiar takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails.
Share Spells: The wizard may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch spell) instead of on himself. A wizard may cast spells on his familiar even if the spells do not normally affect creatures of the familiar's type (magical beast).
Empathic Link (Su): The master has an empathic link with his familiar to a 1 mile distance. The master can communicate empathically with the familiar, but cannot see through its eyes. Because of the link's limited nature, only general emotions can be shared. The master has the same connection to an item or place that his familiar does.
Personality, Appearance, and Background:
Variel is generally compassionate and altruistic, but somewhat disconnected from other people, and therefore capable of cruelty. He's also arrogant and looks down slightly on the rest of the world when they fail to fulfill his high expectations, although his opinions about individuals can change. He is not very charismatic, but he reasons logically and knows how to argue with people and effectively change their opinions.
Blonde hair and long ears frame a small face, which might be handsome if he ever smiled. He wears a large, black and red robe with metal plates sewn around the area from his abdomen to his thighs, and carries a backpack which has several pouches. A scroll case is slung about his back, and a crossbow and bolts hang from one side of his pack, a club on the other side. There is a pouch filled with all manner of odds at his hip, which he reaches into when casting spells. He is tall and thin after the manner the elves, but his robe is large and billows outward, making him look larger than he is. There is a small bird perched at his shoulder, which sometimes speaks in a quiet voice.
Variel grew up privileged and affluent in a large city. Eventually, however, his family fell out of favor with the other members of their society, and were shunned into a poorer neighborhood, where they fell victim to robberies. His parents began to worship regularly, but there was no miracle. His father could not get a job, his mother had an accident and lost one of her hands, and their fortunes were bad. Variel was now approaching manhood, and as he grew older and more competent their fortunes rose once again. Variel, arrogant as he is and emboldened by his successful home life, decided to become an adventurer and try his fortunes, heeding the call for heroes with the expectation that he would be home again in a few years, stronger than ever, with good fortunes and fame well earned.
Well obviously he'd reload it with his tongue, I take it you've never seen the fearsome black powder hydra?
I have another rules question, I'm wondering how crane wing/riposte would work. Would I be able to deflect an attack aimed at any of the heads, or just the monk head? I would think it can just deflect attacks at the monk head, because they have separate AC values, but they are also all part of the same body, so I'm not sure.
Can you give us any information about the setting? Any of the following would be useful: names and descriptions of cities, maps and geography, class and economic structures, and the prevalence of magic and technology. Whatever you've created would be nice to see.
I can probably make a monk using these stats with a +2 racial bonus to the 12 or the 16. The fact that we naturally have no equipment means that a monk's problems are somewhat alleviated, because monks are pretty good at not wearing armor. Who would've guessed they're good at anything?
Anyhow, I could be super lawful and get into lots of fun conflicts with the other heads, perhaps even take a few vows. I wonder how a hydra head would manage vow of cleanliness?
I'll probably have more questions, but I can't think of any terribly important ones right now.
I also have a few questions: Are we unable to use weapons? Can heads flank with one another? Can we swim? Overrun things? How will martial classes keep up with magical ones without iterative attacks? How do unarmed strikes work? Not that any of these are particularly important, since this looks fun based on other things, like six heads arguing in the middle of combat, or one head constantly getting into trouble.
Hmm...not great stats...I was thinking of making a monk, but maybe not...we'll see.
There's a lot going on here, but first I'd like to address one thing.
A character with a PC class has the elite array, so if we take the number of characters with PC classes to be the number of characters with the elite array, then we can perhaps say how many characters have PC classes. If we say that an average person uses 3d6 for each stat, then there is an ~18.61 chance that the total of their stats is over 70, which is what the elite array adds up to (15+14+12+11+10+8). This does not take into account the floating +2 a human gets, because I don't really know how to account for that (but I think that it's applied after the elite array anyhow). So if we say that any character whose total stats are equal to or above the elite array get a PC class, 18% of a given population has PC class levels.
This doesn't mean everyone in a standing army has PC class levels. A significant number of people who are more talented than others will never be noticed by a government and may not wish to become a soldier. But again, a standing army doesn't need to be a significant part of the population of a given country (indeed, that wouldn't really work at all in an agricultural society), and most countries which are meritocracies and value military service will probably be able to secure 10% of the population in PC classes, so long as we accept the 18.61% as being valid.
Das Bier, thank you for keeping a civil tone and being able to reasonably debate, that's a skill not everyone possess, and the internet is an easy place to get angry on. I'd like to preface my arguments by saying that I want no hard feelings, even as I attempt to prove that most of what you're saying is wrong.
Let us begin by discussing the prevalence of magic. It is difficult to discuss what the field would and would not look like if magic is widespread when we can't agree on whether or not magic is widespread. Actually, I think we're in agreement that magic isn't particularly widespread, at least, less so than others might suggest.
Magic is in fact quite difficult. If we examine arcane spells, we find that learning to cast requires a mental stat of 10 for cantrips, but 11 for more difficult matters. Let us, for the sake of simplicity, say that this stat is intelligence. Now let us draw a parallel between magic and mathematics. A bard studies for an average of 3.5 years after 15, so on average stops studying when 18, and eventually learns how to cast cantrips. If the bard is smart, it can cast first level spells. Comparing that to a high school student, we have that single variable calculus is about as hard as cantrips and multivariable and advanced calculus is about as hard as a first level spell.
So magic is pretty hard. A comparison between magic and reading isn't really adequate for a variety of reasons. Perhaps most important is that we have a natural process in our brain for learning languages which helps with reading. There is a so called critical period during which learning is made easy, and after that our brain doesn't really want to naturally learn a language. A more apt comparison might be learning a language when you have never learned one before, but unfortunately (or fortunately?) we don't have so much information here. We do know, however, that feral children almost never learn languages easily, and rarely get past a few words.
If we generate ability scores for a NPC randomly, we should do this by rolling 3d6 and adding them together. There are 216 possible outcomes, and a 50% chance that a commoner has an intelligence of at least 11. So let's just say for the sake of argument that 50% of any standing army of professionally trained soldiers is people who can cast first level spells.
What would happen in a magical universe would depend entirely on just how common mages are.
I agree with this completely, and for the purposes of this discussion, I believe we are assuming that the armies are composed of trained and rich landowners, and that the majority of them are capable of casting a few first and maybe even second level spells. We aren't talking about a 6th level sorcerer casting expeditious retreat, or vanish, or magic weapon, we're talking about every soldier being able to cast one of those at the same time. And suddenly they are easily able to defeat the fighters who have a few more feats then they do.
Except, of course, that then the whole way combat works changes. It's true that formations absolutely demolish loose soldiers in melee, but it's even more true that spells like create pit and entangle would prevent charges from being effective, and there would be more of a focus on ranged combat.
I can get behind a 5'-10' gap between soldiers, but I think that 20' is a bit much. As TheAlicornSage has mentioned, the primary source of damage comes from mundane weapons, and a group of soldiers that is twice as dense can fire twice as many arrows. There's probably a sweet spot, because as they get more sparse, they lose the ability to deal as much damage, but also take less damage from AOE.
TheAlicornSage wrote:
Also there are better communication options, and command and control woukd likely need to be improved and use methods different from medieval methods.
There would certainly be better communication. I wonder what level spell a loudspeaker would be. What about something that allows a commander to speak with a bunch of different people, perhaps one at a time, and has a long range and duration? What if it let him see through their eyes? This would probably be 2nd or 3rd level spell, which is within the capability of an army to cast occasionally, and it really only needs to be cast once.
It's not just the other side that has this sort of stuff, it's both sides. This doesn't invalidate any of your points, but it's worthwhile to point out.
It's not great when one guy can entangle a dozen with a single spell, but as you mention this is impermanent.
Snowblind wrote:
they can break formations and effectively remove groups of troops from the fight during crucial moments.
This presupposes that there is already some sort of fight going on. If this is composed of a line of troops against a loosely grouped and spread out group then the line group is probably going to win anyway, and the spread out group's spells will probably be ineffective unless followed up with some sort of maneuver requiring large formations, which is likely what would happen.
I'm not advocating for a 10x10 square, it's more like a long line of soldiers only a few deep, with arrows ready to fire against anybody who gets close. With soldiers arrayed in such a line, scattered troops would have a tough time even approaching close enough to use medium range spells, and would suffer from greater difficulty to communicate.
I would say that these formations also need to be more flexible and capable of adapting to their opponents, and might break more quickly, but I do not think that combat would consist of spread out groups of soldiers, for the simple reason that a spell is not as effective as a machine gun or a civil war era rifle. At the very least, spells have a much more limited range than, say, a gun from 1860, which could reliably hit someone at 100 yards (due to the minié ball).
My link on Panics list (a very nice list, by the way, good job on that) takes one to my post, but I have made some edits since then, which can be seen if one goes to my profile page.
The internet cut out just before I submitted my edits yesterday, only just now finished. Anyhow, I'm not entirely sure if what I've written is in accordance with the lack of memory, but I think at any rate that there are no clear memories hidden away.
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I am wondering, do we not have memory of even having existed prior to the present moment? That sounds creepy, and also cool. Anyhow, I'll run over it again and check for anything not in the present tense, and maybe make a few minor adjustments.
Okay, so, after a good amount of work I've come up with a character I'm fairly happy with. He's an elven wizard, but he's definitely not your typical elven wizard.
Appearance:
Nergüi stands at 6'2, and has a rather thick build for an elf, weighing almost a hundred and fifty pounds. Dark hair frames an angular face, which is intricately tattooed. His skin is a light brown, and his wide almond eyes are a yellowish green, as a grass after a long drought.
He wears a long, robe like outfit of dyed wool, a dark blue as the sky before sunset, with a black sash across the middle and five clasps about his right shoulder. There are two flaps across the front of his chest, and together with the sash they form a pocket, in which he hides his dagger and scroll cases. These scroll cases are made of hollowed bone, perhaps from some abnormally large horse, and have a cover and straps of leather. He has a small necklace, a rather rough animal hide, with bone and copper beads strung across it. These occasionally rattle faintly, as the soft sound of sand in a dessert wind.
Below the sash his robe extends past his knees, fanning out to allow for ease of movement. And indeed, by the looks of his boots he has done much moving. They were at one point dyed the same color as his robe, but have since mostly worn away to the warm dark color of leather. The back of his robe is also quite worn, perhaps as though he has ridden far. On his back Nergüi carries a heavily recurved bow, which is less then five feet tall, and looks to be made partially of horn and sinew. Whenever it is about to rain he puts it in a waterproof leather sheath, for it is held together with animal glue.
Near him is a small, sparkling sprite not more then 18 inches high, with brightly colored wings that flutter in the breeze. She is immaculate and beautiful, with tiny, almost childlike features and a soft voice that speaks as though it cares for the listers every sorrow, and which all can understand. She occasionally calls a large fiddle like instrument, with a trapezoidal base. It makes a sound impossibly low for its size, though still quite high, and her music soon sets all about her to move at its rhythm, which is like that of a fast walk.
Personality:
Nergüi is, in a word, pragmatic. He capitalizes on every possible advantage and does not stick to any defined set of rules. Most wizards would be found in a library doing research or reading old books, and while Nergüi does his fair share of academic work, he is more likely to be found outside, mixing animal glue for a new bow. His is a life in which nothing is wasted, not energy, not talent, and not time. His actions are for him first and nobody else, but any careful examination will show that helping others is often helpful to oneself, and so he sometimes appears somewhat altruistic. He does not, however, have the boundaries typical of an intelligent being, and has some small difficulty understanding quite why many people do the things that they do. He therefore at times takes actions which others frown on, being rather unlimited by the normal bounds of society.
He is not, however, socially inept. Indeed, he understands what others want, and can explain precisely how to carry out a conversation is such a way as to make others like him, he is simply incapable of consistently acting in accordance with this knowledge. Furthermore, his awareness of his own mind is somewhat lacking, and as a result rarely understands quite what it is that he wants.
Nergüil is also a great agent of change. Some might say he is critical of those around him, but this is perhaps an oversimplification, for though he criticizes freely he also does try to help others make what he sees as improvements to their lives. He ends up doing things which others would be afraid to do, or would find stupid, for he is not limited by as clearly defined a set of goals as those around him. This is not to say that he is not without desires, but merely that he does not trust himself to adequately asses them.
In truth, they are rather simple. He wants to be a member of society. He wants others to be interested in him and to wish to imitate him. He wishes always for the presence of others who can understand him and who can shepard him, for his lack of definite goals comes from a place of insecurity and fear. It is said that all suffering is rooted in desire, and Nergül suffers, and so frees himself from defined goals as a coping mechanism. His inability to asses himself occurs for the same reason, for if he were to asses himself he would find that he does truly have desires, and would want to act on them, but this would only lead to more suffering. in short he finds great difficulty quantifying his wants for subconscious fear of not getting them. And thus he wishes for the presence of others he can trust, in order to alleviate these fears and make sense of his own mind.
Perhaps the only being he does trust is his familiar, Ariel, who is perhaps the nicest and most kindhearted creature alive. She dislikes suffering and feels a need to help those around her, a task which she is capable of doing fairly well. She does not immediately trust everyone, but is generally perceptive and intelligent enough to evaluate others. Furthermore she trusts Nergül completely, much more than she trusts herself, and will always act as though what he believes is true, for it almost always is. That being said, her reaction to certain assessments might be completely different from his. For instance, were he to evaluate a person as being mentally unstable, his reaction would be to keep his distance, for a person afflicted with some sort of psychosis could not help him, while her reaction would be the opposite, for she is capable of helping someone in such a state.
Crunch:
Nergüi the Wanderer
Male Elf Wizard 7
CN Medium Humanoid (Elf)
Init +9; Senses Low Light Vision; Detect Magic; Perception +9 (+11 with familiar)
Defense
AC 16 {20}; Touch 13; Flat-Footed 14 {18}; (+2 Dex; +1 deflection; +1 natural; +2 shield; {+4 armor})
HP 47 (7d6+14)
Fort +5; Ref +6; Will +7 (+2 vs enchantment)
Immune sleep;
Offense
Speed 30 ft
Space 5ft; Reach 5ft
Melee dagger +3 (1d4 19-20)
Ranged composite longbow +5 (1d8 x3)
Statistics
Str 11 , Dex 14, Con 12, Int 23, Wis 10, Cha 10
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 15
Feats Scribe Scroll, Improved Initiative, Improved Familiar, Spell Focus (Conjuration), Spell Specialization (Black Tentacles), Craft Wondrous Items,
Traits Nomadic, Reactionary
Skills ; Racial Modifiers Perception +2; Spellcraft Identifications +2
Combat Gear Composite Longbow; Arrows x20; Dagger; Cloak of Resistance +2; Ring of Protection +1; Amulet of Natural Armor +1; +1 Mithral Light Steel Shield
Other Gear Headband of Vast Intelligence +2; Dusty Rose Ioun Stone, Cracked, Spell Component Pouch; Spellbook; Wand of Enlarge Person; Wand of Vanish (CL 5th); Wrist Sheath, Spring Loaded, x2; Waterskin; Blanket and Bedroll; Trail Rations x4; Masterwork Backpack; Blank Journal; Pencils; Scroll Case x2; 58 PP; 24 GP; 9 SP; 10 CP
Scrolls: Message; Obscuring Mist; Disguise Self; Air Bubble; Comprehend Languages; Detect Secret Doors; Floating Disc; Gust of Wind
Arcane School Conjuration (Teleportation), opposition schools Enchantment and Necromancy
Spells Prepared (CL 7th {+2 vs SR}; concentration +13)
4th—Summon Monster IV, Black Tentacles (CMB +14), Wall of Ice
3rd—Haste x2, Stinking Cloud (DC 20), Fly
2nd—Resist Energy, Mirror Image, Glitterdust (DC 19), Create Pit (DC 19), Pyrotechnics (DC 18), Flaming Sphere (DC 18)
1st— Mage Armor x2, Grease (DC 18), Mount, Silent Image (DC 17), Protection from Evil, Unseen Servant
0—Detect Magic; Prestidigitation; Ghost Sound; Read Magic
School Powers
Summoner's Charm (Su)
Whenever you cast a conjuration (summoning) spell, increase the duration by a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your wizard level (minimum 1). This increase is not doubled by Extend Spell. At 20th level, you can change the duration of all summon monster spells to permanent. You can have no more than one summon monster spell made permanent in this way at one time. If you designate another summon monster spell as permanent, the previous spell immediately ends.
Shift (Su)
At 1st level, you can teleport to a nearby space as a swift action as if using dimension door. This movement does not provoke an attack of opportunity. You must be able to see the space that you are moving into. You cannot take other creatures with you when you use this ability (except for familiars). You can move 5 feet for every two wizard levels you possess (minimum 5 feet). You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.
Dimensional Steps (Sp)
At 8th level, you can use this ability to teleport up to 30 feet per wizard level per day as a standard action. This teleportation must be used in 5-foot increments and such movement does not provoke an attack of opportunity. You can bring other willing creatures with you, but you must expend an equal amount of distance for each additional creature brought with you.
Languages Celestial, Draconic, Infernal; truespeech
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Starlight Blast (Su)
As a standard action once every 1d4 rounds, a lyrakien can tap into the divine power of Elysium, unleashing a blast of holy starlight in a 5-foot burst. All creatures in this area take 1d4 points of holy damage, plus 1 point for each step their alignment deviates from chaotic good. For example, a chaotic neutral or neutral good creature would take 1d4+1 points of damage, aneutral creature would take 1d4+2 points of damage, and a lawful evilcreature would take 1d4+4 points of damage. A DC 12 Reflex save negates this damage. Chaotic good creatures are unaffected by this ability. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Traveler’s Friend (Su)
The performances and company of a lyrakien ease the burden of travel. Once per day, a creature may spend a minute listening to a lyrakien’s performance— doing so removes the effects of exhaustion and fatigue from the listener.
Alertness (Ex): While a familiar is within arm's reach, the master gains the Alertness feat.
Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a familiar takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails.
Share Spells: The wizard may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch spell) instead of on himself. A wizard may cast spells on his familiar even if the spells do not normally affect creatures of the familiar's type (magical beast).
Empathic Link (Su): The master has an empathic link with his familiar to a 1 mile distance. The master can communicate empathically with the familiar, but cannot see through its eyes. Because of the link's limited nature, only general emotions can be shared. The master has the same connection to an item or place that his familiar does.
Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher.” The familiar can then deliver the touch spell just as the master would. As usual, if the master casts another spell before the touch is delivered, the touch spell dissipates.
Speak with Master (Ex): If the master is 5th level or higher, a familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.
I wonder if I was too vague with the personality bits? I tried to speak in terms as general as possible, if you would like me to change that, or anything else, please let me know.
