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So it seems like the whole idea of a mind-controller/possession specialist is pretty much dead in the water because of the availability of Protection from X spells. Is there any way to work around these spells? Andreww: This build looks awesome. Thank you so much for the help. What do you do about the Protection from X spells? Snowblind: And this is why I post these ideas on the site before running the session. Thanks for picking up something I should have noticed.
I searched, but couldn't find an answer. Can you cast Spell Immunity on someone to make them immune to Protection from Evil, and then cast mind controlling spells on them? Spell description: The warded creature is immune to the effects of one specified spell for every four levels you have. The spells must be of 4th level or lower. The warded creature effectively has unbeatable spell resistance regarding the specified spell or spells. Naturally, that immunity doesn't protect a creature from spells for which spell resistance doesn't apply. Spell immunity protects against spells, spell-like effects of magic items, and innate spell-like abilities of creatures. It does not protect against supernatural or extraordinary abilities, such as breath weapons or gaze attacks. I'm making a mind-controlling specialist NPC and am trying to figure out how to work around the usual defense against such spells. Thanks for any insight.
So far, it looks like a wizard is the way to go, mostly because the arcane discovery Infectious Charms seems so valuable: Benefit: Anytime you target and successfully affect a single creature with a charm or compulsion spell and that creature is within 30 feet of another opponent, your spell has a chance of affecting the second creature as well. As a swift action immediately after affecting a creature with a charm or compulsion spell, you can cause the spell to carry over to the nearest creature within 30 feet. The spell behaves in all ways as though its new target were the original target of the spell. I'll start the day by using the Possession spell to take over someone already held captive in a safe location, so the wizard's body can stay behind. Then use more Possession spells to bounce from person to person throughout the day. While a victim is possessed, the wizard can cast Geas on them to implant commands and Modify Memory to erase their memory of being possessed and geased, then can move on to the next victim. No need to boost enchantment saves for this trick. Any other ideas for how to make this body-hopping, mind-controlling NPC better?
Magic Jar can be blocked by Protection from Evil. The Possession spell doesn't have this problem, and is the same level and school (necromancy). One possibility if I go with a Magic Jar-based character would be to cast a quickened Dispel Magic to suppress the Protection from Evil before casting Magic Jar. The Beast-Bonded Witch can use the Twin Soul power only "if the witch or her familiar is gravely injured or about to die." Or at least, that's how it would have to start. Once the Witch and the familiar were sharing a body, the Witch could Magic Jar into someone else, but would he or she then be able to Magic Jar into someone else?
Running a game for a 6-person, 16th level party. They're in a city looking for a missing person and I want to throw someone at them who can maybe possess anyone at any time, and also control plenty of others so that the party doesn't know who to trust, and keeps getting attacked by civilians. Any race, any class, lots of wealth. This is my first foray into running a Pathfinder game at this level and don't know what tactics, spells, etc. would work best. Any help would be appreciated. Being able to dominate/possess/etc. the party would work, but that takes the players out of the fight, so I think I'd rather focus on making an NPC who can hide out inside a civilian, control others, and avoid detection while sending encounter after encounter at the party.
There are the evil guys who play a harp in Kung Fu Hustle. Definitely worth watching if you're looking for evil bard inspiration. It's a great movie even if you aren't looking for evil bards.
If you want to be even more nasty, adapt This Guy. Well, now I have a homework assignment, looking up all the abilities of that antipaladin. Still need to figure out a good caster to go along with him/her. Thanks for the help.
The slayer-Babau sounds like it could be pretty powerful. The only thing I'm worried about is that their tactics (teleport in, sneak up, inflict massive damage) doesn't allow the party much opportunity to counter it. I'd be afraid the scenario would just start out with the party taking lots of damage out of the blue. Something a little less sneaky allows the party the chance to figure out a strategy for countering the threat. I might build a couple of them up at slightly lower level just to constantly harass and skirmish the party. Thanks, and keep the ideas coming. :)
The Belier sounds pretty cool. Having a party member dominated isn't all that fun, though. I will probably have it target one of the NPC's who are assisting the party. Thanks for the suggestion. Obviously, any other ideas will be welcome.
I have a party consisting of: --Archery-based paladin with a seeking bow.
They're all 15th level and are a level or two stronger than that due to some ability score boosting boons and extra feats they've picked up, plus they have a couple of god-level boons to cash in if I overdo it and end up challenging them too much (basically, can get a miracle or two, if needed). They're trying to stop an incursion from the evil planes (demons, devils and daemons all are on the same team in the campaign I'm running), so any combination can show up together. I want to really push them, but of course, don't want to overdo it. So far, I've come up with a few Kalavakas demons with the disarm feats to steal weapons and teleport away (they have access to an armory after the battle), and I thought it would be fun to have a few mid-level creatures with some class levels, along with some decent minions to keep the summoned creatures busy. Anyone feel like helping me come up with bad guys?
Looked at the river whip spell, which states "You create a coil of flowing fresh water, functioning as a whip appropriate for your size, except you make a melee touch attack instead of a regular attack. Anything you strike with the whip takes damage and is doused with 1 pint of water." Do you need whip proficiency when you cast this spell to avoid that penalty? Could you use this spell to disarm or trip while attacking against touch AC? Since it targets touch AC, would it still damage armored targets? I'm thinking about this spell as a method for my magus to deliver touch spells when I want extra reach, but want to figure out the mechanics before using it. Thanks for any input!
Cool. Just like the 666 birthmark that the kid from The Omen had (or am I revealing how old I am by referencing that movie?). Anyway, I like it. Thanks.
Similarly related issue: I'm making an NPC cleric of Asmodeus who masquerades as a cleric of Abadar. I'm thinking of giving him the Eschew Materials feat to allow him to cast his divine spells without presenting an Asmodean unholy symbol. Does this work? Is there another way to make this work?
How useful is the Arcane Strike feat for a Magus? It requires a swift action to use, and Magi seem to always need that swift action for something else.
Not to mention a 20th level Wizard is going to contingency/teleport away if he loses initiative. You literally can't beat someone with that contingencies initiative roll and still be able to attack them. As I read the description of the contingency spell, you cannot make it trigger by losing initiative. "You can place another spell upon your person so that it comes into effect under some condition you dictate when casting contingency." "Your person" and "you dictate"-- both of these reference your character, not you the player. Your character isn't going to cast a spell that goes off "if I lose initiative" because your character doesn't know about initiative rolls. He's never seen dice being rolled to determine if he gets the jump on someone.
Other than a circlet of persuasion, what other items are good for increasing ones intimidate skill seeing how is going to start with a negative in charisma! Didn't see it mentioned already on this thread, but the bruising intellect trait allows you to apply intelligence instead of charisma to your intimidate skill. Kind of a must have for a magus planning on using the enforcer feat.
If we're being honest, an aboleth encounter is more likely to be an encounter with a dominated sea serpent (CR 12 gargantuan magical creature with only a +7 will save-- which is child's play for an aboleth to control). No self-respecting aboleth is going to leave home without something along these lines as a bodyguard.
The unseen servant spell is a great solution to this problem. It's duration is an hour/level. Just have it follow you around and hold your weapon for you when you're switching things up.
I alternate between being a player and a GM, and here's a dynamic I've seen occur pretty regularly: As a GM, you drop some hints about where the players stand in the overall plot of your campaign, and they don't see the significance of them. You drop a few more hints and they still don't put it all together. This can go on for a long time. The problem is that they aren't as familiar with the details of your campaign as you are, so things that seem like big clues to you are just random details to them. In order to give them enough of an idea of what's going on, you often have to give them pretty specific and obvious explanations-- stuff that feels like railroading to you, but only because you've spent several hours going over all this stuff beforehand. The players are only hearing about it for the first time. Often, the players feel like you've just let them drift without any clear idea of what they ought to be focused on, when you think you're giving them just the right amount of subtle clues to piece together the plot. I've found that if it feels to you like you're railroading the players a bit, they're probably just happy to have enough of a idea of the plot to figure out their next move.
Didn't any of you watch Zombieland? Rule #2: always remember to double tap.
A fighter as the boss is certainly possible, and it makes sense if you look at real world examples. Look how many ex-military guys end up as presidents or dictators around the world. The ability to perform well in battle and/or wars has often led to a position of power. But if this fighter ends up at the top of some vast power structure, he's not going to allow the party to just take him out with a well-chosen spell in the final battle. He's going to have been under threat from magical attacks for years before the party gets to him, and he's going to have set the parameters of the battlefield heavily in his favor. He's going to have paid for magical protection (i.e. protective spells cast on him, protective items he carries, magical assistants who are there to cover his weaknesses). He's going to have acquired the best weapons (possibly intelligent in their own right) and armor. And, he's going to want to take on any challengers in a setting that plays to his strengths. When your party shows up, he's going to want to take them out with his own sword, to show all the underlings who is the boss. So how would he set up the battlefield in order to play to his strengths? A few magical employees on the sidelines readying actions to dispel any magic aimed at him? How about trying to split the party up and take them out one by one? A martial NPC facing a party with a bunch of magical PC's is very likely to employ skirmish-based tactics to drain the party of resources. It's especially appropriate if he uses non-magical tactics as much as possible. Something as simple as having a bunch of employees wearing full plate armor that is identical to his own. Anyway, just a few thoughts on the matter. Hope that helps.
There is a magic item called a sipping jacket. You pour a potion into it, and then sometime in the next 24 hours, you can activate the potion as a swift action.
A potential problem with this for a magus is that kirin strike requires a swift action and the magus class is using swift actions for all kinds of other abilities most rounds.
Did you mean to misspell both Mennonite and Amish in your screen name?
I'm playing a magus in a campaign who uses this arcana a lot. I use it mostly for utility spells that I might only need to cast every once in a while, and often inscribed at a lower caster level if it doesn't hurt the spell much (obscuring mist, for example). This leaves my prepared slots open for the damage- and combat-based spells that I know I'm going to cast every combat.
Also, am I able to scribe spells on the wizard list that arent on the magus list and use them without failure? Under magic item creation, the core rule book says that you must prepare the spell in order to make a scroll of it. So you would only be able to use the spell scars to inscribe spells you were able to prepare.
The description of this arcana says that casting a spell from a scar is just like casting from a scroll, except you don't have to see the scar. Since it functions like a scroll, you don't need any material components to cast it (the material components are used when inscribing the scar onto your skin). Scrolls are spell-completion items, meaning that casting a spell from a scroll (or a scar) still requires any verbal and/or somatic components that the spell requires (i.e. speaking and gesturing). As such, depending on the requirement of the particular spell, you might need one hand free for the somatic component, or your ability to speak for the verbal part. If you had the appropriate metamagic feats, you could inscribe a silent and still version of the spell (at +2 to the level), which you could then cast even if you were gagged and had both hands bound. (As a side note, the teleport spell only has a verbal component, so you could cast it even with bound hands). And as a final caveat for this arcana, you will still need to pay the costs for magical ink and paper when you inscribe a scar, just as if you had created a scroll. This costs (12.5 GP) x (the level of the spell) x (the caster level of the spell). So for a second level spell, cast at a caster level of 4th, the cost would be 12.5 x 2 x 4 = 100 GP. (As another note, remember that you can save GP by inscribing a spell at a lower caster level. For example, if a 15th level magus wanted to scribe a scroll or a scar of the gaseous form spell, he or she could inscribe it at a caster level of 7th, which is the minimum level to cast a third level spell. The gaseous form would only last for 14 minutes instead of 30, but would cost less than half the price of inscribing it at the magus' full 15th level.) Having said all that, there is one VERY IMPORTANT bonus that comes from taking this arcana that you might not notice right away. It is an extraordinary ability to use, and extraordinary abilities do not provoke attacks of opportunity. For a magus, who is often going to be in the thick of melee, this can be a pretty big deal. Having a vanish spell inscribed in a scar so that you can turn invisible without provoking AOO's could be very valuable.
If you find that you can't spare the extra feat, you can just take weapon finesse for the attack bonus. Most of your melee damage comes from the spells you add onto your attacks. Also, if you focus on applying conditions with your spells, damage may not even be your primary concern. Keep in mind, though, that you can't take weapon finesse with a scimitar. Take it with rapier, which has the same stats. You'll have to switch to scimitar if you end up taking dervish dance. High intelligence is key to a magus if you intend to use any offensive spells (there are some pretty good ones)-- otherwise, your DCs won't be high enough. At ninth level, you can take the accurate strike arcana that allows your melee attacks to be resolved against touch AC. I don't know if that makes your desire for a gun redundant.
Get someone else in the party to pick the dead guy up and carry him to you.
In the games that I run, I use hero points, but I don't give them out automatically. That way, whenever there's something I need the players to do away from the gaming table, I tell them that it's worth a hero point or two to get it done. Typically, I only use this method to get the players to read hand-outs that I have printed out that contain background information they'll need (i.e. you're heading into a foreign country next session. Here's a sheet containing what your characters know about the area). I run my games on a slow progression of leveling up, so the players are pretty eager to hit that next level by the time it comes around.
You can use meta-game knowledge against the players, too. In the campaign I'm running now, the party is freaking out because I've described a demonic creature with the lower body of a snake and a multi-armed upper body that looks like a humanoid female that is attacking the next town over. They're nowhere near powerful enough to fight a CR 17 marilith, which is what they're all assuming it is. Of course, I never SAID it was a marilth. That's just what they all assumed it was. It's actually a lamia. I re-skin monsters all the time for this very reason.
I hadn't considered the fact that the zen archer could deliver 7 spells per round with magic arrows like this. Especially with a damaging spell, that's pretty crazy. Standard action to shoot one makes the most sense. Thanks for the input.
A couple of things to consider: The oaths are nice, but you don't have to choose them when you make your character. The book says you simply need to make a sacred promise to your god to gain the benefits of an oath. Making a sacred promise is a free action that you can perform during someone else's turn. Make the promise specific to the task at hand, then drop that oath once you've completed the promise. Encounter a dragon? promise your god not to give up until the dragon is dead, and pick up the oath against the wyrm. Once the dragon's dead, the oath is over, and you are free to take another oath when needed. Another issue is constitution and hit points. If you take the greater mercy feat, it allows you to add an additional 1d6 to your lay on hands ability if the target (and this includes you) doesn't need a mercy. Memorizing the heroic defiance spell allows you to use your lay on hands ability with an additional 1d6 if you drop below 0 hit points. With both the feat and the spell, a 10th level paladin gets 7d6 healing as an immediate action if he or she drops to 0 hit points. If you can fit the fey foundling feat in there, too, that's an average of almost 40 HP healed when you hit 0. A cushion like that can allow for a pretty low constitution if you want to boost other stats.
So I'm making an NPC who is a skeletal champion zen archer monk. 13th level and with PC wealth (CR 14). With that level of wealth, I can afford to give it a powerful bow. Does a weapon with the speed ability stack with the zen archer's flurry of bows? Would it also stack with spending a ki point to gain an extra attack with a flurry? That would be 7 attacks per round. Also, I'm going to equip it with some magic arrows that cast some battlefield control spells centered on wherever they land. The idea is for the archer to shoot an arrow into the middle of the party and have black tentacles, or glitterdust, or something similar erupt out of the spot where the arrow landed. Figuring out the cost for these arrows would use the single-use, use-activated rules for creating wondrous items, but since a composite longbow can deliver arrows to a range of 1100', should there be an additional cost to these items? Also, does the archer even need to roll an attack to deliver the arrow to a particular square if he or she isn't trying to hit a target? To target a splash weapon at a square, you just need to hit AC 5-- would that be the same rule for shooting an arrow at a square (minus range increment penalties)? Thanks in advance for any answers forthcoming. I couldn't find anything specific to these questions when I searched.
Phalanx fighter archetype gains the following ability: Phalanx Fighting (Ex) At 3rd level, when a phalanx soldier wields a shield, he can use any polearm or spear of his size as a one-handed weapon.
What about just playing a Magus? Take the scribe scroll feat and make scrolls of the utility spells that aren't going to be used all the time, freeing up your memorized spells for combat and/or more-commonly-used utility spells. If you play a hexcrafter magus, you can use hexes in combat primarily, which frees up even more spell slots for utility spells. Most of the Magus' abilities keep getting better with more Magus levels, though, so adding a prestige class isn't necessarily the best option.
What about a Magus using the Bladed Dash spell with spell combat? Cast the spell-- which grants 30' of movement in a straight line and one attack-- then attack with all your iterative attacks after using the spell's movement.
If you're worried about not making your concentration checks to cast defensively, the spell "Warding Weapon" works great. Toss a dagger into the air above you and it fends off attacks of opportunity when you cast. No chance of failure.
Can't it be both? Issues of alignment and codes aside, a paladin and an anti-paladin both bring quite a bit to the team. And what they bring doesn't overlap much. "He's a crusader for justice in service to Iomedae. She's a half-insane devotee of Lamashtu with a demon's baby on the way. Now, they're going to have to put aside their differences and find a way to make it work in what critics are calling 'the oddest couple since Doug and Kate in The Cutting Edge'. If the party is going to advance past second level, they'll have to break all the rules, and maybe even learn that opposites can attract."
From a purely mechanical perspective, the Paladin is the stronger party member. The paladin's smite works against far more creatures. Dragons, outsiders, and undead. Antipaladins get Dragons, outsiders and clerics/paladins. Not to mention there are a lot more evil creatures in the bestiaries. The paladin's lay on hands ability is really the equivalent of having more HP than anyone else in the party. By middle levels, the paladin effectively has more HP than two barbarians of the same level. The antipaladin has a lame touch attack that doesn't do as much damage as his or her melee attacks, and needs other party members to heal him or her. The auras of both classes only affect a small area around the character. It is much easier for a paladin's allies to stay in his or her aura than it is to keep several foes within range of the antipaladin's auras, since the allies are actually going to try to stay in range, while foes will actively scatter to avoid the aura. This only gets worse at middle and higher levels, when creatures with reach become more common. The antipaladin will start taking AOOs just to try to get close enough for the auras to work. Aura of Justice, the paladin's superpower, affects allies who are within 10', which works well because the allies were already next to the paladin to take advantage of all the other auras. Aura of of Vengeance, the antipaladin's version, also requires allies to be within 10', which doesn't work as well because the antipaladin is busy trying to get enemies within 10' instead. Poor synergy of powers. Paladins gain immunity to charm spells. Antipaladin's don't. Even with adding charisma to saves, remember that wisdom is a dump stat for both classes. Mind control is a bad thing.
The text of the charm spell says the target regards you as it's trusted friend and ally. YOU. So first of all, the succubus isn't any friendlier towards the rest of your party. Why do you add "after the spell" into the wording of the spell when those words don't exist in the description? The memory of being beaten, manacled, etc. still exists in the succubus' brain. When she tries to reconcile that treatment with treating the caster as a friend, it creates a cognitive dissonance. The memory and the concept of friendship are mutually exclusive, and thus the spell breaks. Once the party mistreated the succubus that badly, they gave up using charm spells as an option. What they want now is a dominate spell, a memory modifying spell, or even some disguise spells on themselves and some bluff checks to convince the succubus that the people who treated her badly were some other people.
I read the title of your post as "banging a dragon." That would be an entirely different question.
I have to say the biggest flaw in the plans of the PCs is the Charm Monster spell. "Any act by you or your apparent allies that threatens the charmed person breaks the spell." This is from the description of Charm Person. How do you justify the fact that the succubus didn't feel threatened by being beaten, manacled, cursed, and entrapped by a spell with the good descriptor? There is absolutely no way the succubus would ever consider the party non-threatening after that treatment.
Having a character like this in the party doesn't need to be the end of role-playing. The key is to integrate him into the party's playing style, instead of letting him set the character up in opposition to the party. For example, if the the party has a character or two who prefer to negotiate, interact socially, etc., they need to incorporate the barbarian into their methods. Let the barbarian be the "bad cop" to the more-socially-attuned characters' good cops. "We'd like to reach a compromise, but if Grog over there thinks you're cheating us, he's likely to negotiate with his ax. So is 10% off really the best price you can offer?" Having the barbarian around as muscle explains why the party puts up with his potential for violence. As for why the sociopath is willing to work with the rest of the party, maybe the party knows about the voices in his head. So someone uses the 0-level message spell and a bluff check (I doubt the barbarian's sense motive skill is all that high) to add another voice that encourages him to stick with the party.
So here's what I've come up with so far. I'm not worried about optimizing completely, since our group has players of a variety of skill and/or interest. Mostly, I want to create a character that always has something to do, can take out a big bad guy on his own if he has a round or two to prepare, and can at least provide support if the battle doesn't suit him. I don't know how high a level the campaign will reach, so I'm looking for a functional character throughout the levels. Class: Hexcrafter Magus
Stats: STR: 18 (with racial +2)
Level 1: scribe scroll feat
I intend to use scrolls for utility spells, so that I don't have to waste slots on spells that I don't use all the time. The character won't be dealing massive damage, but will instead focus on hitting with slumber, snowball, ghoul's touch, etc. to take opponents out quickly. The biggest weakness I see is a terrible AC, so casting blur and mirror image will be key. Basic strategy will be to use high knowledge rolls to assess targets, spend a round or two buffing, then take the opponent out before it can hit back too many times. Any suggestions? I'd like to have high DCs for my attack hexes and spells, and figure out how to boost my AC. I need a high to hit bonus, but don't need to worry as much about damage output. Thanks in advance for your input.
If a witch has an ally who is an elf, she puts the scar hex on the elf before a fight and then uses split hex to use the slumber hex on enemies near the elf (who has a racial immunity to magical sleep).
I played a female character not too long ago and came up with this solution: I found a picture of what I figured she looked like, and attached it to the outside of my laptop (i.e. facing towards the other players). No acting required on my part; just a subtle reminder that my character didn't look much like me.
Yeah, some good things to consider here (which is why I posted it on a message board). Thanks.
I have a character in a game I'm running who is using the Infernal Healing spell a lot-- 4 or 5 times a session at this point. They're high enough level that they have access to Raise Dead and Reincarnation spells. If he ever gets killed and the party tries to raise him, he's going to be in for a surprise. A devil is going to show up and tell the party that the character's soul belongs to Hell, so no bringing him back. It seems a little harsh to just spring this on him with no warning, so I should figure out a way to let the party know about it before it comes up. Maybe an NPC can tell them that using the spell a certain number of times results in damning the character's soul-- but of course, the NPC doesn't know exactly how many times it takes.
Start with minis for each of the PC's and for the the main bad guys. You can use washers, coins, etc. for everything else. As a matter of fact, I still do this a lot, even though I have a ton of minis at my disposal. Too many minis can make a battle map too cluttered. I have taken to using the flat glass beads from my daughter's Mancala game as markers for minions, etc. because I can write on them and the marker wipes off easily. Sometimes I number them, so I can keep track of damage, etc. on a sheet of paper. Sometimes I'll put a red dot on them to show they've taken more than half their HP in damage, etc.
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