This seems a little cheesy and lame but can a flying familiar such as a raven or owl be taught to drop alchemists fire?
Is it Chelaxian or Andoran?
I havent seen a raven or crow pick up much , but an owl can pick up a rat.
A rat weighs about one lb.
A hawk familar would be better, as a hawk can pick up a rabbit.
Is it Chelaxian or Andoran?
Well, it obviously has to be a Chelaxian, since Andoran's not migratory... unless, of course, this is in Andoran.
I havent seen a raven or crow pick up much , but an owl can pick up a rat.
A rat weighs about one lb.
A hawk familar would be better, as a hawk can pick up a rabbit.
I thought so to quote Monty Python again "It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut. " or in this case a flask of alchemists fire.
Evilash & Urizen :-)
A thunder stone maybe hmmm...
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With an Int starting with 6 they don't need to be taught anything, so in that regard it is easy enough for them to perform actions without much direction.
The Owl has a Strength of 6, and with the tiny adjustment ends up with a light load of 10 lbs. or less. I know there was discussion aways back about fliers and loads and I think it ultimately leaned towards needing a light load to fly, but I could be wrong.
Still, with 10 pounds to play with, an Owl could easily perform bombing runs.
The Raven only has a Strength of 2, which brings it to a 3 lb. light load... still enough for some napalm death from above!
Just give these little bombadiers the Throw Anything feat and they are good to go!
The next question is: What would be the modifier be to drop these weapons?
Dropping items is a ranged touch attack IIRC.
The next question is: What would be the modifier be to drop these weapons?Honestly, I'd just make it a ranged attack. It is an improvised weapon already and the familiar isn't trained in it, so just the -4 to hit.
Improvised Weapons have a range increment of 10', so stack those penalties on there also if the familiar is high in the air.
"Thrown splash weapons require no weapon proficiency, so you don't take the –4 nonproficiency penalty."
Also, it's a ranged touch attack.
Edit: alternatively with items like thunderstone you just target a square. "Since you don't need to hit a specific target, you can simply aim at a particular 5-foot square. Treat the target square as AC 5."
Of course it could, assuming it was within his carrying capacity.
Familiars ARE intelligent you know. You don't need to teach them like you do regular animals.
This seems a little cheesy and lame but can a flying familiar such as a raven or owl be taught to drop alchemists fire?Er.. African or European? <runs for cover>
i don't know that.
aaaaahhhh!
*is cast into the gorge of eternal peril*
If they are ranged touch attacks, that is great. I'm not seeing where it says that though.
But here with the Throw Anything Feat:
Throw Anything (Combat)
You are used to throwing things you have on hand.
Benefit: You do not suffer any penalties for using an improvised ranged weapon. You receive a +1 circumstance bonus on attack rolls made with thrown splash weapons.
Normal: You take a –4 penalty on attack rolls made with an improvised weapon.
Alchemical splash weapons are not treated as improvised weapons. The entry for thrown splash weapons in on pg. 202 of the core rulebook.
Edit: Reading the entry more thoroughly even splash weapons can target a corner of the grid instead of an enemy thus dropping the AC to 5.
If they are ranged touch attacks, that is great. I'm not seeing where it says that though.
But here with the Throw Anything Feat:
Throw Anything (Combat)
You are used to throwing things you have on hand.
Benefit: You do not suffer any penalties for using an improvised ranged weapon. You receive a +1 circumstance bonus on attack rolls made with thrown splash weapons.
Normal: You take a –4 penalty on attack rolls made with an improvised weapon.
Alchemist's fires aren't improvised weapons, they are very much manufactured weapons.
"You can throw a flask of alchemist's fire as a splash weapon. Treat this attack as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet."
And here's the linkies:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/goods-and-services#TOC-Special-Su bstances-and-Items
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering---final/combat---final#TOC-Throw-Spla sh-Weapon
This seems a little cheesy and lame but can a flying familiar such as a raven or owl be taught to drop alchemists fire?
Absolutely. In the real world, ravens are tool users, so they're more than smart enough.
In game terms, they're trainable, so yes.
They'd probably need some sort of training to do so as a combat thing, it's not part of their normal package -- otherwise they'd take (at least) a non-proficiency hit -- but at the same time, they're probably targeting a square and not the person in it, which balances things out.
Of course, turning your familiar into a combattant also turns it into a viable target, which I would think is a bad thing, personally. You might ignore the owl with a sack the first time, but after that, you're probably going to do something about it.
I havent seen a raven or crow pick up much , but an owl can pick up a rat.
A rat weighs about one lb.
A hawk familar would be better, as a hawk can pick up a rabbit.I thought so to quote Monty Python again "It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut. " or in this case a flask of alchemists fire.
Evilash & Urizen :-)
A thunder stone maybe hmmm...
You could have two familiars carry it on a line...
Dropping items is a ranged touch attack IIRC.
Yeah, this came up lately when the party's summoner decided to summon a horse 20' over someone's head.
The rules for dropping items ON someone is in the falling section.
It's a ranged touch attack, I don't recall any distance modifiers, but check anyway. And the target gets a save for half damage.
BUT this assumes you're dropping a heavy, inert, nonexplosive object (like a horse) from directly overhead.
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Yeah, this came up lately when the party's summoner decided to summon a horse 20' over someone's head.
Not to be a wet blanket or anything, but by RAW, I don't think that's legit...
"Creatures cannot be summoned into an environment that cannot support them." I seem to recall reading in a developers discussion that that statement includes putting large flightless creatures in the air.
Thanks for pointing out the entry.
So it's actually pretty easy for the familiar to pull it off.
I'm all for crazy and weird things in games so it sounds good to me.
A raven familiar can also talk and is therefore capable of using YOUR ranks in Use Magic Device to activate that wand of fireballs you gave him.
Rain death and destruction on your enemies while keeping your familiar safe from harm (since people can't really see such a small bird at long range too well, much less attack it).
Yeah, this came up lately when the party's summoner decided to summon a horse 20' over someone's head.Not to be a wet blanket or anything, but by RAW, I don't think that's legit...
I'd actually be quite relieved to find a citation for that. I presume my players know their own powers. I told him if he wanted damaging spells, he should have played an evoker. Didn't work anyway. Tried to drop it on a rogue with evasion.
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I'd actually be quite relieved to find a citation for that. I presume my players know their own powers. I told him if he wanted damaging spells, he should have played an evoker. Didn't work anyway. Tried to drop it on a rogue with evasion.Yeah, this came up lately when the party's summoner decided to summon a horse 20' over someone's head.Not to be a wet blanket or anything, but by RAW, I don't think that's legit...
In the early days of 3.0 there were lots of whale summoned in mid-air.
In the early days of 3.0 there were lots of whale summoned in mid-air.
Did they die asking if the ground would be their friend?
On a similar note, can my PC's pet eagle be trained to drop a tortoise on an enemy's head? I think I've heard of that happening before.
In the early days of 3.0 there were lots of whale summoned in mid-air.Did they die asking if the ground would be their friend?
Oh, no, not again!
On a similar note, can my PC's pet eagle be trained to drop a tortoise on an enemy's head? I think I've heard of that happening before.
Assuming it's strong enough I'd say yes. In RL there are vultures in Africa that will pick up large bones, fly high up and then bombs (or in this case bones) away, the bones fall, hit the rocks and break, allowing the vultures to get at the marrow. Secretary birds and I think some snake eagles will drop snakes from a great height in order to kill them as well on occasion and there is the palm nut vulture which eats the nut of the oil palm, and drops the nut from a great height to break it open.
In the early days of 3.0 there were lots of whale summoned in mid-air.I'd actually be quite relieved to find a citation for that. I presume my players know their own powers. I told him if he wanted damaging spells, he should have played an evoker. Didn't work anyway. Tried to drop it on a rogue with evasion.Yeah, this came up lately when the party's summoner decided to summon a horse 20' over someone's head.Not to be a wet blanket or anything, but by RAW, I don't think that's legit...
Here's WotCs quasi-official commentary on the matter
Wizard's Design and Development column and reader response on "monster bombs"