qlawdat's page

The main problem with playing a universalist is running out of spells per day. That problem changes depending on the level you are playing, and how your DM runs games though.

Check out Treantmonk's guide. Lots of useful info there.

Here

Oh I am all for having the game world having effect like that on magic. I was just wondering what the answer is by RAW.

I guess I am confused. I have never thought that 'a day' needed to be 24 hours. I always assumed it meant from when you rest until you rest again. If you sleep for 8 hours, prep your spells, go fight in an arena for half an hour, get beat up, burn through most of your spells and scrape out a win. You then get magically healed and rest for 8 more hours in order to get ready a fight that night. You have rested 8 hours and have had another hour to prep your spells again but 24 hours have not passed so you cannot prepare your spells again?

I am looking for some ideas for fights that are in the level 1-4 range and are more awesome than the usual 'goblins attack'. Any good stories or ideas?

I got into a brief argument last night about preparing spells. A fellow player was pretty sure he had read somewhere that you can only prepare spells once per day, and he thought it specified once every 24 hours. I don't think that is true. I am pretty sure a "day" starts after you take an eight hour rest, and the 24 hour period has nothing to do with it. Now what he could have been thinking of is how clerics prepare spells, which seems to indicate they have time sync it up with the time of day. This was all good and fine until I mentioned the ring of sustenance, which has an odd phrase it.

This ring continually provides its wearer with life-sustaining nourishment. The ring also refreshes the body and mind, so that its wearer needs only sleep 2 hours per day to gain the benefit of 8 hours of sleep. This allows a spellcaster that requires rest to prepare spells to do so after only 2 hours, but this does not allow a spellcaster to prepare spells more than once per day. The ring must be worn for a full week before it begins to work. If it is removed, the owner must wear it for another week to reattune it to himself.

Now I am not sure how it works. Anyone know the ruling?

Thanks again everyone for all the advice. A few things. We are on a recon mission. We are pretty (95%)sure what we need is on the other side of the door the golem is guarding. So in theory we need to get through the door, investigate the room, and be able to get back through the door.

We have some time to prep spells, but not unlimited time. The walls are indeed protected by plotonium. A disintegrate spell might work, but I don't want to burn a spell only to find out it doesn't work.

We can leave, but then won't be able to return easily. So no scarab of golem bane. No buying a scroll of Wish (we cannot cast it).

After rereading wall of lava I think you are right, that is a good way to do a ton of damage to it (if it comes to an actual fight).

Thanks for all the advice. We are in a demiplane and all my efforts to turn any of the floors or walls into anything else have failed. I haven't tied to directly disintegrate the floor though. But rock to mud, meld into stone, and stone shape have all failed.

The room, as I mentioned, is pretty small. I don't remember off the top of my head if it could reach the whole room from where it stood, but the room felt very small with the huge golem in it.

I have told the melee people several times to buy a scarab of golem bane, but they haven't (maybe they will listen to me now!!).

I like the grease idea.

Not sure how any of the pit spells would work... but its a good idea.

The paladin has an adamantine weapon, but since metal to wood is a druid only spell we don't have access to it.

I have a big fan of illusions, so this could work.

We are level 16. In the party we have a wizard, sorcerer, paladin (has an animated shield and switched from sword and board to two-handed), and a alchemist/barbarian/rogue/master chymist. We just entered a room with the golem in it. What we really need is to get past the golem. It is standing right in front of the door. However the room is small enough it doesn't really have to move to reach most of the room. The doors are set in a way that we cannot open them with the golem standing where it is. We have no way past its damage reduction.

Any advice on fighting this beast would be greatly appreciated. For the sake of ease assume we can rest and prep spells, and that the wizard has access to all wizard spells form the core book and APG.

Wow. Good work cdglantern.

I have been using persistent spell a lot since it came out, I don't feel it is broken. I do agree the metamagic rods are cheap though. I don't think it needs a level adjustment raise.

By the time you can first cast create pit it is only 10' deep. That is pretty easy to get out of for anyone. I know the climb DC is 25, but at only 10' deep there are other ways around this. I think it is a good spell that encourages the group to work together to push people into the pit. The medium range is nice, but honestly color spray is often more deadly in my experience. Create pit just seems like a good solid spell to me.

Guns seem to not work all that well.

Yeah Simulacrum is so vague that I just don't allow it in my games.

So I was away for a few days and had missed out on how this thread was developing. I should clarify a few things about my original post.

First I want to stress again that my character doesn't want to summon an Efreeti, but because of the threats to his nation he feels that is the only option to help level the field a bit. This is very much an act of desperation, and not one taken lightly.

I see people talking about how the efreeti will be seeking revenge or that they will be attacking the wizard, or escaping. Personally I play my wizard carefully. I try to enter situations I feel I have a good chance of winning. I took precautions to deal with the efreeti. Mind blank, moment of prescience, protection from energy. The list of protection spells I had goes on. I was very well prepped for this summoning. I did consider the possibility that using a greater planar binding would accidentally summon a creature more powerful than I wanted (it would have depended on the mood of my DM I suppose.) So I just uses a heightened planar binding. Really the efreeti never stood a chance. So that shouldn't factor into the conversation.

In the time since I posted my original question I have talked to my DM and have agreed that I have been granted 2 wish spells, but that I cannot used them to raise my stats. This seems fair to me. The main thing I am after is more information about our mysterious foe, and his demi-plane fortress, which cannot be scryed with the spells I have access to.

Ha! Awesome!

Sometimes punishing players for going nuts just doesn't work. That is, like I mentioned above, I am a huge fan of interesting failures. Twist his failures to make them give him a tiny bit of success, and then add something to the situation they didn't see coming.

Something else you could try is running some one shots with a different theme. Maybe a horror/slasher one shot (check out the game Dread). Warn your players at the start that everyone will probably die, but it is a one shot so it doesn't matter. Maybe a Call of Cthulhu game. A rough post apocalyptic game where they PCs have to either keep the food for them selves or give it to a family they meet.

Ask your player what kind of genres of fiction he is into, and use that to explain how the heroes that fail big some times look more awesome when they get that final huge win. Really point out how awesome your player will look when he has won after all his hardships.

That's too bad. At the end of the day group having fun > any one player. If just only one player is causing most of the problems you can only be expected to go so far before asking them nicely to leave the game for everyone else fun is the only option.

Out of curiosity, has this player ever run games before?

I have totally been there. I know how hard it can be when you have a good friend that has some issues with anything at the table. My first thought is to look into some games that reward failure. Or make the failure interesting.

A game I love is called houses of the blooded by John Wick. A lot of the game is about making the story more interesting, for the players, often by making the lives of the characters hell. Think of TV shows like Sons of Anarchy, Breaking Bad, Supernatural, Archer, Venture Bros, or BSG. The show is at its best when the characters have been beat up, and lost things and are so far down in the mud you have no idea how they can get out of it. That makes an interesting story. Of course for a roleplaying game it makes the story even better when the PCs have been beat up so badly and still manage a win. A flawless win is far less interesting than a win you EARNED. Just re watch Die Hard to see what I mean. Talk to your player. See if you can get him interested in the idea of making a better story through failure. Ask him to trust you, beat him up a little bit, and then let him do something cooler than normal. Really stress to the whole party how they stumble out of mine, battered and bruised, but alive, and with all the captives freed. The more he puts his character at risk the more he is rewarded.

Another game I love is Burning Wheel by Luke Crane. In Burning Wheel you are really pushed to only roll for something when it matters. And even then only roll if failure would be interesting. Lets say your player is trying to pick a lock. Ask him what his full intent is. Lets say it is to pick the lock before the guards arrive. That's great, now have him roll. If he succeeds he gets what he wants. If he fails. He gets to pick the lock, getting past the obstacle, but the guards are on the other side of the door. He got some of what he wanted. For this player make the successes and failures less binary. Make the more interesting. He failed his diplomacy roll to gather info to find his kidnapped sister? He failed because he found a guy who refuses to give him any info. Now he has somewhere to go.

Really I think you need to talk to your player. Find out what kind of successes he wants most. And what failures he is most ok with.

Wow I really like the prismatic wall + illusory wall combo. It helps that you can walk through it. Showing the bad guys that the wall is an illusion.

Selgard. I agree. I might let one or two of the party members in on this, but not all of them. While my character has shown him self willing to make a deal with the devil to save the world the group paladin is not (well maybe he is, but my character isn't willing to find out).

Heh. Maybe I will break out a nice bottle of wine for the efreeti. So I would normally avoid the whole binding a creature against its will thing, but my character really feels that this is a situation that could destroy everything he holds dear, and because of that is willing to go to some extremes.

Kalrik is correct. I was planning on not paying the efreeti anything, and simply forcing them to use their spell like ability for wish, which has not component cost.

I honestly do feel kind of selfish using the wishes to raise my intelligence, but dire straights. The idea came up when it was pretty much set that we needed to go into a demi plane and I couldn't scry it.

Type2Demon. I also agree. I hate having long winded wishes. I want to keep it simple and to the point, but with enough effort to at least try and protect myself. On the issue of making an eternal foe out of the efreeti, I am fine with that. The whole situation has put me in a situation where I am desperate, so if we live long enough to have a grudge match years from now that is fine by me both in and out of character.

I am in a campaign where we are about to go on a very difficult mission and have a few days of down time. I am currently playing a 16th level wizard (for the sake of ease assume I have access to all wizard spells). As our situation is dire and my GM likes to through very difficult fights at us I am considering using planar binding to get two efreeti to serve me. Assuming I succeed and that the two have to grant me all of their wishes for two days (12 wishes in total) I was hoping for some advice on how to request two things.

The first is I wish to raise the intelligence of my wizard. The second I would like to gain some information (safely, and quickly) about the demi-plane we are about to attack.

For the first the best I have come up with so far is 'I wish to be significantly more intelligent than I am currently, with no harmful or unwanted changes to my mind or person'

For the second I have no idea. All of my scrying spells have failed, and this has me worried about going in blindly.

So any advice would be appreciated. Also feel free to rip into my wish just like a good efreeti would.

One more thing, I have considered using touch of idiocy on the efreeti before they grant me my wishes. I have to think dumber efreeti would be less effective at distorting my wishes. Thoughts?

qlawdat wrote:

Trap the soul + Tarrasque. Turn it into your phylactery when you become a lich. No one wants to kill you because it would release the Tarrasque.

I read that Dragon magazine too. ;-)

Yup that was a good one. Because of that issues my players will always assume all fire breathing dragons will be guarded by iron golems.

Reverse gravity + telekinesis. Make em fly up and hit the ceiling and then push them out of the reversed gravity.

True Strike + hydraulic push should work together. Combine with a create pit spell.

+1

#6. It's ok to have a stat that is below 10. It can lead to some great role-playing moments too.

#7. Make a character you will have fun playing.

Obviously self hypnosis is the best option! VRMH thanks for your answer, that helps. AvalonXQ I like your feat. I wish every school had its own feat that did something cool, the three that are printed now aren't all that exciting (augment summoning, diviner's delving, and tenacious transmutations).

I have pretty much felt I have had to avoid metals in general with PaO. But now that I think about it metals like lead should absolutely be fair game. Awesome! I love PaO, it's my 2nd favorite spell after prestidigitation.

Also I really like the idea of dispelling an item to be able to polymorph it. I would allow it just because that is clever use of the rules. +1.

qlawdat wrote:

Could you use greater shadow evocation and give yourself a second contingency? I did some digging and couldn't find an answer. I would think you could since greater shadow evocation is just mimicking a spell, but you could only have one of each. Thanks in advance!

The purpose of Shadow Evocation is to give an semi-real illusion of damage. Contingency is NOT a damage spell so it does not apply.

You get ONE contingency UNO.

Shadow evocation specifically states it can copy non-damaging evocation spells.

Non-damaging effects have normal effects except against those who disbelieve them. Against disbelievers, they have no effect.

Wait! You can make steel (or iron) with PaO?!?!?!?? I have always had a pretty conservative outlook concerning what would be considered having intrinsic value for that spell.

Could you use greater shadow evocation and give yourself a second contingency? I did some digging and couldn't find an answer. I would think you could since greater shadow evocation is just mimicking a spell, but you could only have one of each. Thanks in advance!

I had no idea when I asked this that there was no official ruling. I had just assumed that I hadn't been able to find it. It really does seem like an issue that could come up a lot. Errata on the issue would be nice. However I know for my games I am going to rule that weapons can only be made with total bonuses totaling up to no more than +10. A paladin with a +1 icy burst, shocking burst vorpal greatsword is free to add his divine bond to it and have a wizard cast greater magic weapon on it.

I can clear up what I was asking if that helps. Lets say I have a +1 dancing (+4) vorpal(+5) long sword. A 16th level wizard cast greater magic weapon on that sword. What happens? Would nothing happen? Or would the sword become a '+4' dancing vorpal long sword, making the sword a weapon with a total enchantment bonus of +13 (+4,+4,+5) temporarily?

And yes I am aware that enhancement bonuses don't stack. If I had a +1 sword and said wizard cast GMW on it the sword would be a +4 weapon for a while, not +5.

Trap the soul + Tarrasque. Turn it into your phylactery when you become a lich. No one wants to kill you because it would release the Tarrasque.

Lets say you have a 15th level paladin with a +1 icy, flaming, corrosive, grayflame great sword (+5 bonus total) as his bonded weapon. He uses his divine bond power to add keen, flaming, and holy. The sword has a total bonus of +9 right now. Now if the party wizard casts Greater Magic Weapon which would give the weapon +4 (net of +3) making the sword have a total of +14, kind of.

I was wondering if this is allowed because the weapon itself isn't actually more than +5, however with all the enchantments added to it it can become more than +10. Thanks in advance.

Mind blank + invisibility/greater invisibility. For those times you really really reallllllly don't want to be seen. As far as I can tell the only ways to detect you when you have both of these spells active is faerie fire, glitter dust, tremor sense, or blind sense

This one has more of an evil bent to it. Flesh to Stone + Stone Shape + Stone to Flesh. It is easy to interrogate someone if you can turn their arm (if they are lucky) into any shape you want.

I agree with Vuron. The creatures you will be fighting at level 15+ will probably be making their saves vs color spray. What kind of roll do you want to play in your party? If you have to heal a whole lot spell perfection heal wouldn't be the worst choice in the world. You could quicken, or reach it for free. Not to bad.

If you really have your heart set on color spray you would do well to take heighten spell. Have it use up a 1st level spell slot but have the DC of a 8th or 9th level spell, depending on what you can cast. Of course then you would have to use a standard action to cast it, or burn a 5th level spell slot to quicken it.

Flame strike is an ok blast. Probably not your best bet, but if you are a fan of blasting it is an option.

I am a fan of wall of stone. You could become a bit of a battlefield controller. Dropping quickened walls of stone all over.

Really it depends on the roll you want to fill.

I did some digging and found that the undead bloodline lets you become incorporeal a few rounds a day. But other than that and maybe the shadow projection spell Remco mentioned. Outside of that mayyyyybe you could use polymorph any object to turn yourself into an incorporeal creature for a little while at a time. But I am not entirely sure what that would do all of your stats though.

I was just looking at various items and while reading over the cloak of etherealness, which makes you ethereal, and wondered how tough it would be to become incorporeal, which is normally better than being ethereal.

I was just wondering if there were any ways to become incorporeal.

The lore seeker trait raises the DC of three spells by one. Spell perfection doubles the DC bonus from feats that apply to one spell (such as spell focus).

I was looking for ideas on what spell to contingent and some some people mention cleric only spells. So I was wondering if you personally have to cast the spell that is your contingency.

Aqueas Orb + Hideous Laughter

+1. Very clever.

Lots of shrunken items. The fly spell. Place the shrunken items in a box. Fly up high over the person/building you wish to destroy. Shake the box hard. If you DM has you get hit by the now not shrunken objects you can always use telekinesis to shake the box for you. For extra fun cover the shrunken items in explosive runes.

For the high levels, prismatic sphere/reverse gravity.

I am not sure I understand this. Would you fly above the target and then cast this? Or would it assume you are next to the target when you cast the orb?

More importantly, when will he start SELLING them...?

I agree with this. I use Treatmonk's guides all the time, and would happily buy them for a few bucks. I would love to hear his thoughts on some of the finer points of the APG. The new specialization options, spell perfection, new spells, the new metamagic feats. All good stuff that I would love to know how Treatmonk's god-wizard would put to use.

Except that you can only cast 1 quickened spell a round.

SRD wrote:

You can cast a quickened spell (see the Quicken Spell feat), or any spell whose casting time is designated as a free or swift action, as a swift action. Only one such spell can be cast in any round, and such spells don't count toward your normal limit of one spell per round. Casting a spell as a swift action doesn't incur an attack of opportunity.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I had no idea. That really is a shame.

Any other good spells?

I am glad this is a clear cut and simple answer. I am glad for the feed back.

My DM is about to have us start a new game at 15th level, and I will probably be playing a wizard. I have had my eye on spell perfection for a while, but haven't been able to use it yet. I was wondering what are some of the spells that would be best for this feat. I assume you would want a spell you could quicken (so sixth level or lower if you can use the magical lineage trait on the same spell, 5th level or lower if you cannot use that trait). So in theory you would want a spell that would be useful to cast quickened one to three times (twice quickened if you are giving up your move action, and a third time with a different metamagic feat as a standard action)a round, for several rounds.

The spells that stand out for me;

wall of force - really good battlefield control, would be better if you could shape the wall however you want, but still very good. I could see casting this many times in a combat.

Enervation - assuming you hit its a pretty decent debuff, but it is only single target, and that makes me want to shy away from it.

telekinesis - An awesome spell

magic jar - not a spell you would cast multiple times in combat, but you could use spell perfection to persistent and get the DC very high.

mass suggestion - I am a fan of spells that hit multiple targets

What are some other options that I am not thinking of? Has anyone used this before? What has worked best for you?

I would like to know if you can apply the quicken metamagic feat to a summoner monster spell, to cast the spell as a swift action. If you can does the summoned creature appear immediately and take its action? I did some searching and got mixed answers. Thanks in advance.