Is a will-o'-wisp spellcaster do-able?

[Generic Villain]

I love the idea of a will-o'-wisp spellcaster - probably either sorcerer or summoner, but I have two major roadblocks. First (and I know this subject can be a bit controversial), can a will-o'-wisp use spells with somatic components? I'm leaning towards yes, with the caveat that it can't hold material components, and would thus take Eschew Materials.

My real concern, however, is the wisp's immunity to ALL magic that allows spell resistance. Should I treat this defense like spell resistance? In other words, could the wisp temporarily lower this immunity to buff itself with a spell like haste (which, while harmless, does allow SR)? I think the rules-as-written would plainly suggest no, as the wisp doesn't actually have spell resistance. But still.

Also, there is precedence for a wisp spellcaster. Way back in an early issue of Dungeon magazie...

spoiler:

An adventure called Razing of Redshore (by none other than James Jacobs) features a fiendish wisp sorcerer who did indeed use buffing spells on himself.

Ultimately I know I can just handwave the above issues, but I like doing things "by the book." Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Sekret_One]

Personally I'd feel that a full on immunity isn't suppressible... sort of like a salamander can't decide to not be immune to fire for a couple rounds.

James Jacobs aside, point me to a person that's GM'd that won't look at something they did years ago and not say "Oh God, why did I do it like that?!"

Also, different time, different rules. The wisp has been tweaked a bit.

So if you want it to be a pathfinder wisp... it doesn't seem to fit. If you still want to do it anyway, I think you should engineer an explanation as to why this wisp is different (which isn't out of the ordinary either, even for pathfinder modules.) In this case, you should treat it like suppressing spell resistance: suppression lasts until the start of its next round.

[Fred Ohm]

The PF rules say :

A creature's spell resistance never interferes with its own spells, items, or abilities.

The 3.5 FAQ says :

a golem’s magic immunity does not extend to magic the golem uses on itself (just as spell resistance doesn’t apply to such effects)

[Ramarren]

FWIW, I think the bigger issue is the lack of hands. A Wisp caster is going to need Still Spell (and will need to take the hit of a level increase) in order to cast most spells...

[Fozbek]

Nagas can cast spells without hands. So can couatls, aranea, blink dog sages (presumably), and probably others that I can't think of at the moment.

Hands aren't a pre-requisite for monsters to cast spells. Remember, the Core Rulebook is mostly written from a PC perspective. As long as there's some way to make somatic gestures, a monster can cast spells. For a will-o-wisp, since they don't really have any limbs, I'd assume it's by using their entire body to draw sigils in the air.

[James Jacobs]

Sekret_One wrote:

James Jacobs aside, point me to a person that's GM'd that won't look at something they did years ago and not say "Oh God, why did I do it like that?!"

Actually, I do that fairly often.

As for a will-o'-wisp spellcaster... you could do it, but it'd be tricky. You'd need to take Eschew Materials (or pick spells that don't use material components) for one thing. V and S components are covered, though; a will-o'-wisp can talk, for one thing, and its S components would just be bobbing and weaving and gyrating in the air. Any effect that would stop a human from using S components should stop a will-o'-wisp from doing the same.

[Generic Villain]

Thanks for the ideas guys. It's funny Fred Ohm, I still refer back to WotC's FAQs occasionally for really obscure issues, but don't remember the golem thing at all. Now I sort of want to make an awakened flesh golem mage too - that'll really tick my players off.

[Fred Ohm]

Generic Villain wrote:

Thanks for the ideas guys. It's funny Fred Ohm, I still refer back to WotC's FAQs occasionally for really obscure issues, but don't remember the golem thing at all. Now I sort of want to make an awakened flesh golem mage too - that'll really tick my players off.

Well, for that one there's the problem that Awaken Construct allows SR and as such doesn't work on golems...

But there's the spontaneous awakening possibility from Classic Horrors revisited. That is, if a rule is necessary.

[LazarX]

James Jacobs wrote:

Sekret_One wrote:

James Jacobs aside, point me to a person that's GM'd that won't look at something they did years ago and not say "Oh God, why did I do it like that?!"

Actually, I do that fairly often.

As for a will-o'-wisp spellcaster... you could do it, but it'd be tricky. You'd need to take Eschew Materials (or pick spells that don't use material components) for one thing. V and S components are covered, though; a will-o'-wisp can talk, for one thing, and its S components would just be bobbing and weaving and gyrating in the air. Any effect that would stop a human from using S components should stop a will-o'-wisp from doing the same.

There would also be the matter of managing spellbooks. Do it as a sorcerer and you've taken care of both issues.

I might actually consider doing such for a WOW D20 campaign. It'd be the kind of interesting NPC for a Night Elf campaign.