Tzimiscar's page

We were attacked by a giant evil octopus. Of course the only sensible thing to do is (not traveling by sea) to summon your own giant octopus. And what do you know, it is possible. Hmm, what's that *

'Creatures on Table: Summon Monster marked with an "*" are summoned with the celestial template, if you are good, and the fiendish template, if you are evil. If you are neutral, you may choose which template to apply to the creature'

Neat, so now it's good giant octopus vs evil giant octopus. So what does it get mechanical?

'A celestial creature's CR increases by +1 only if the base creature has 5 or more HD.'
Mhm, so Mr. Octopus CR 9 with 8 HD now.

'The creature gains damage reduction and energy resistance as noted on Table: Celestial Creature Defense.'
Ah 9 HD, so it's 10 resist resist Cold, Acid, and Electricity and dr 5/evil.

'SR The creature gains spell resistance equal to its new CR +5'
Hmm, should be 14, could be 13, will probably not matter anyway.

'Special Attacks The creature may smite evil 1/day as a swift action (it adds its Cha bonus to attack rolls, and a damage bonus equal to its HD against evil foes; smite persists until the target is dead or the celestial creature rests).'
Nice, wait a minute that's one bite and eight tentacles. Nine attacks that get a bonus of +8 (or is it even +9)? And what about that cha 'bonus'? How does the attack score look like?

Melee bite +13 (1d8+5 plus poison), 8 tentacles +11 (1d4+2 plus grab)

A: +13(1d8 +13 plus poison), 8x +11(1d4 +10 plus grab)
B: +13(1d8 +13 plus poison), 8x +11(1d4 +2 plus grab)
C: +9 1d8 +13 plus poison), 8x +7(1d4 +10 plus grab)

Is it just me that this seems a bit too strong? The smite bonus lasts till the target is killed. Granted, in this case it was just 1 round. Still if I look at the reverse 'Smite good' for summons of the bad guys it'll become a matter who draws first. Or is it just because of the many attacks of the Octopus this seems like a bit of a problem?

The party just reached lvl 11 and debuffing becomes great. An unlimited amount of safe & suck (evil eye/misfortune) or save & die (tomb(fort)/sleep(wil) and a nice selection of spells with similar effect. A nice offense, the defense, well... few hp, bad ac, bad saves so all the debuffing will not happen after round two, as a dead witch can't hex. What spells can help you here?

Personal buffs
Mage Armor (L1) - AC, never leave the house without it.
False Life (L2) - For that fireball

Iron Skin (L2) - AC, nat armor, duration could be a problem and not really worth it in a fight. I doubt that AC really is the go to. P.s. of course I overlooked that spell...
Vampiric Touch (L3)- For the spell storing armor, might add the hp to survive that attack. Of course against undead both get hp...
Curse (L3) follows much the same idea. Don't do anything 50% of the time.

Feast on fear (5) - Arguably a buff. Situational, the fear effect has style, the extra life is nice though very situational

Dust Form (6) - Finally an option worth casting during combat. An optoin to gamble that the save or die hits before you're hit
*Swarm Skin(6) - Now you get to be an annoying swarm. You stay alive as long as a single swarm survives, right?

Basically Mage Armor and False Life and Dust Form in a pinch. Thus my first question: What other spells can be used to survive?

Buffs for everyone

What Buffs are worthwhile?

Of course there is the fortune Hex. Always an interesting question when to use it to greatest effect. More suited towards a critical skill check like use (mac guffin) magic divice, sense motives (yes, you are screwed) disarm trap (stop disarming with your face) so you can fail twice as often. Ward might be good at lower level but by know the bonus would not stack.

Used Enlarge (L1) a few times on our fighter, but not too sure where the great advantage is.

Heroism (L3) - Saves, Ac basically everything... oh, goes only of one person and adds to attack. Goes on someone else, wonder if it's good enough to prepare multiple times/day. Is greater heroism(L6) worth it learning next level?

Summon monster:
Latern archon(3)-aid(save vs fear, temp hp, +1at)
Hound Archon (4)-circle against evil - saves/Ac against evil creatures
Azata, Lilin (6)-Inspire Courage (+2 At/Dmg for all) as a move action
Honorable mention: Positive Energy Elemental (Cleric loves the aura)

Am I right that the best buff-spell on the list is Summon Monster(6)?

What other good buffs exist on the spell list?