I'm sorry I have to do it like this, but these boards don't have a message system and I really have no idea how to get in contact with you otherwise. I asked for advice in Wake of the Watcher thread about Raven's Head mace, yet nobody answered for two weeks... Since the moment of revealing the Mace for my party is nearing, I'm forced to these extreme measures... So, here's my original post, in hopes that you'll answer it. :)
IceTitan, I just read through your campaign journals and posts around this subforum, and I'm really impressed. Lots of good stuff there, I'm just sorry I didn't do that earlier, I could have used some of that in my campaign. I'll definitely use some of your AA stuff, including the part where he comes to Feldgrau to tell Auren Vrood to die. Since we actually finished the fight with AV just last session, I'll allow them to see that in the visions from his head. That should puzzle them a bit. :D
Now, I have a question for you. I see that you remade Raven's Head to better suit your PCs, and I'm thinking to do the same, since my PCs don't have a cleric. You said that you were remaking it to be a perfect weapon for an arcane caster, and I want it to be a perfect weapon for an Inquisitor. He's not an inquisitor of Pharasma, though. I've already photoshopped it into a flail and I'm thinking to make it +2 holy flail (because bane enhancement would be a waste in the hands of an inquisitor), but I have no ideas for further abilities, and I was wondering if you have any suggestions?
Not Ice Titan but I've the same issue, giving the Raven's Head to an inquisitor. We just started Wake of the Watcher so last weekend I figured I'd need to alter the Raven's Head. Here's what I did.
As written the mace is a +3 undead bane heavy mace. Being able to channel energy grants Channel Smite as a free feat. Being a cleric of Pharasma grants disruption, Channel Smite for free, and Channel Smite at +4 caster levels three times per day.
Okay, split that up and it's a +4 equivalent weapon with nice things added to it. Very nice things if you meet all of the requirements. So to make the mace Inquisitor Friendly, I did this (tentative for the moment):
I made the Raven's Head a +2 disruption heavy mace. Same +4 equivalent. Being able to channel energy still grants the same Channel Smite as a free feat. Being an inquisitor grants Extra Bane as a free feat, stacks if they already have it. Being a cleric of Pharasma grants undead bane, Channel Smite, and Channel Smite at +4 level. being an inquisitor of Pharasma grants Extra Bane and an extra Judgement when fighting undead.
Clerics still get shinier things, which probably fits with the designers intentions, but at least the inquisitors aren't completely unrecognized.
My inquisitor is neither of Pharasma nor good so I didn't want to grant anything holy to a character who is still sliding towards evil and quite honestly might end up CE by the end of things. Not that Calistra cares all that much.
For your inquisitor, Extra Bane is always a nice thing. If they multiclass out of it and will never reach that level in inquisitor I might suggest the Greater Bane power. I might even make that switch in my own game, my inquisitor keeps badgering me to write a 5 level prestige class to help develop her newfound lycanthropy.
Hope this helps.
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My Raven's Head ended up like this. As a side note, he is one of those tall, black canes the nobility uses, with a heavy golden head. A light mace seemed most appropriate for his "combat" stats.
Raven’s Head (Minor Artifact)
Aura strong abjuration; CL 17th
Slot none; Weight 6 lbs.
---Statistics--------------------------------------
Alignment LN; Ego 22
Senses vision and hearing 120 ft., darkvision 60 ft.
Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 15
Communication speech, telepathy (to wielder only)
Languages Common, Varisian, Celestial, Draconic, Sphinx
Powers read magic, read languages; 5 ranks in Knowledge (arcana),
5 ranks in Knowledge (religion)
Special Purpose slay undead arcane spell casters;
Dedicated Power constant—hide from undead (DC 15)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 17th, concentration +19)
At will—detect thoughts
3/day—illusion of calm (effects wielder only), see alignment, dispel magic, searing light
1/day— extended death ward, nondetection, see invisibility
---Description----------------------------------
Holy to the faith of Pharasma and imbued with the power of all the
Bishops of Ustalav, this gold-plated +1 undead bane light mace has a
head fashioned into the shape of a raven’s head, from which it gets its
name. It was the symbol of office for the Head Inquisitor of Caliphas,
Bartolomae Adella, until Prince Adamondais Virholt lost the mace in
battle against the Whispering Tyrant. For years, Raven's Head was assumed lost or destroyed, and was the subject of many Pharasmin recovery efforts, all unsuccessful. Until now.
Raven’s Head may, once per day, mark an enemy with Pharasma’s ire, bringing down her judgment upon them. Any time the creature makes an ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check for the next round, it must roll twice and take the worse result. A Will save (DC 22) negates this ability. The wielder of Raven’s Head is under a constant hide from undead spell effect that does not affect undead greater than the wielder’s hit dice. Raven’s Head may suppress this effect as a swift action.
---Destruction----------------------------------
If successfully used as a component in the creation of a lich, Raven’s
Head’s power is broken forever.
First question: Can he even use a flail? It's not a deity's weapon for any deity in the CRB. Did you mean morningstar?
Second question: Replacing the item's spell-like abilities or it's Misfortune hex ability with Extra Bane would work well. Removing bane and simply making it +2 disruption would make it in-line with most Paizo AP items.
Yes, he's an Inquisitor of Groetus, his favored weapon is a heavy flail.
Yeah, disruption seems a good idea. Holy is too ordinary and pretty powerful. He'll be taking all of his levels in Inquisitor, so he'll get Greater Bane.
Any further suggestions? Should I give it some spell-like abilities? Or what special power would be appropriate for an Inquisitor?
Yes, he's an Inquisitor of Groetus, his favored weapon is a heavy flail.
Yeah, disruption seems a good idea. Holy is too ordinary and pretty powerful. He'll be taking all of his levels in Inquisitor, so he'll get Greater Bane.
Any further suggestions? Should I give it some spell-like abilities? Or what special power would be appropriate for an Inquisitor?
Yes, he's an Inquisitor of Groetus, his favored weapon is a heavy flail.
Yeah, disruption seems a good idea. Holy is too ordinary and pretty powerful. He'll be taking all of his levels in Inquisitor, so he'll get Greater Bane.
Any further suggestions? Should I give it some spell-like abilities? Or what special power would be appropriate for an Inquisitor?
I think the weapon as I presented it would be very strong for an inquisitor. Mix and match its stats, spells and other details to your liking. Amusingly, I based it off of the Mantis Blade from City of Seven Spears which has the ability to use bane on any creature type struck by the blade once a day for like ten minutes, which is pretty much the inquisitor class ability. So, if you remove it's misfortune power and replace it with extra bane it'll come full circle.
Ok, so...
+2 Heavy Disruption Heavy Flail
Gives benefits of Extra Bane.
At will — Light
3/day — Augury, Hide From Undead, Know the Enemy, Remove Fear
1/day - Death Ward, Wrathful Mantle
I tone it down a bit, because it seemed too powerful. How is it now, still too powerful in the hands of inquisitor, just right, or too weak?
Ok, so...
+2 Heavy Disruption Heavy Flail
Gives benefits of Extra Bane.
At will — Light
3/day — Augury, Hide From Undead, Know the Enemy, Remove Fear
1/day - Death Ward, Wrathful MantleI tone it down a bit, because it seemed too powerful. How is it now, still too powerful in the hands of inquisitor, just right, or too weak?
Light is not good as at-will. The inquisitor gets this cantrip already. How would you feel about being a fighter and getting an item that gave you heavy armor proficiency?
At will hide from undead with a DC 15 is not good because it can only touch two people per round-- itself and its wielder. The weapon is size tiny or so, so it only threatens its square, so it can only reach into it.The DC is so low that almost everything will make it. Know the Enemy is nice but at this stage it's not going to be great-- the inquisitor is rocking what, +15+int+wis to the important knowledge skills, and that could be as high as +21. Wrathful mantle is going to give him something that may or may not be useless. A +4 cloak of resistance is 16,000gp. +3 is 9k. I'd rather have +3 resistance all of the time than rely on the +4 from a minutes/level spell, so it's going to be redundant.
Death ward is still powerful. +2 disruption is okay, but it is probably destined to make some parts of your campaign really anticlimactic ("I charge this awesome undead guy... oh, I barely hit, make a will save. A 1? He dies"). Extra bane is alright.
I wrote Raven's Head as equal to another magical item. I'll link it here, and then link another magical item from another AP (Curse of the Crimson Throne) and you can compare.
Aura strong evocation; CL 20th
Slot none; Weight 2 lbs.
Statistics
Alignment LE; Ego 16
Senses vision and hearing 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft.
Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 14
Communication telepathy
Special Purpose slay all
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th, concentration +22)
3/day—alter self, darkness, spider climb, true strike
1/day—clairaudience/clairvoyance, deeper darkness, dimension
door, greater invisibility
Description
The mantis blade is an intelligent +2 axiomatic sawtooth sabre
made of red chitin that forms a curved, serrated blade. It grants
its wielder the ability to make a +1d6 sneak attack. This ability
functions exactly like the rogue ability of the same name, and
stacks with sneak attack bonuses the wielder may already have.
When a creature is wounded with the blade, the wielder can
activate the blade’s bane special ability against that type of
creature as a swift action. The bane ability lasts for 10 minutes
and is usable once per day. Sacred to the faith of the mantis
god Achaekek, the mantis blade also grants bonuses to a Red
Mantis assassin who wields it. A Red Mantis assassin wielding
the mantis blade gains a +2 bonus to the DC of her prayer
attack, and may use her red shroud and fading abilities each an
additional time per day.
Destruction
If a single wielder uses the mantis blade to slay nine rightful
ruling monarchs, the weapon can be destroyed by a successful
sunder maneuver.
This item is basically the greatest magical item ever made for a rogue. It can cast greater invis on your turn for you, or cast alter self to give you more dex and make you small. It can let you see around corners, teleport, make a smoke bomb of darkness to hide in... and it can true strike you if you fight in darkness so you can sneak attack.
Serithtial (Minor Artifact)
Aura strong abjuration; CL 17th
Slot —; Weight 5 lb.
Statistics
Alignment LG; Ego 14
Senses 60 ft. vision and hearing
Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 13
Communication empathy
Lesser Powers cure moderate wounds 3/
day, zone of truth 3/day
Special Purpose defeat followers of Zon-
Kuthon; Dedicated Power wielder gains death
ward and freedom of movement against attacks
and effects from followers of Zon-Kuthon
Description
Serithtial is a +4 holy Zon-Kuthon bane sword...
Serithtial glows
with the equivalent of a continual flame, but her
wielder can extinguish or ignite this glow as a moveequivalent
action. In addition, she gains a further +2
enhancement bonus and deals an extra 2d6 points
of damage against foes who serve or worship Zon-
Kuthon. Although Serithtial was forged as a bastard
sword, and it is to this shape she reverts when no one
wields her, the sword can detect what sort of blade
its current owner favors, and when held in the hand,
immediately transforms into the type of blade its
owner is most proficient in (choosing from dagger,
short sword, longsword, scimitar, falchion, greatsword,
rapier, or bastard sword).
This magical item has bane on almost every single major enemy until the end of the campaign, making it a +6 holy weapon that does +2d6 damage. It also grants its wielder permanent death ward and permanent freedom of movement versus almost every single major enemy.
It is okay to make it powerful.
Death ward is still powerful. +2 disruption is okay, but it is probably destined to make some parts of your campaign really anticlimactic ("I charge this awesome undead guy... oh, I barely hit, make a will save. A 1? He dies"). Extra bane is alright.
Well, that's what DM screen is for. :P Of course, it goes both ways, I'll say that someone fails the save during a climatic moment.
Light is not good as at-will. The inquisitor gets this cantrip already.
At this point, cantrips are irellevant, really. It's not like there are some that are vastly better. Stabilize, if only to stabilize him if he falls under 0 HP.
Problem with that kind of items is that they make one player way more powerful than others and while I don't believe they would be openly jealous, it would bother them a bit. I've seen it happen in Legacy of Fire with self-improving Tempest and I don't want it to go over the top (which Serithial definitely is).
I'll mix and match some other spells, but if someone has a suggestion, feel free to chip in.
Also, does 3/day mean that each of the listed abilities can be used 3/day or total uses of those abilities is 3/day?
No need for swift/immediate actions, because if the item is intelligent, it uses abilities on its own. And Smite (as per paladin 3/day) is pretty brutal. It's the single most broken ability there is.
Ice Titan,
Isn't "At will—detect thoughts" a bit too much and not adequate at the same time? First of all, you're asking for saves to all met NPCs, throughout duration of any encounter, and means of detecting hiding creatures. Secondly, against undead this ability is useless (Divination - mind-affecting).
It didn't come into play often because the item chose not to invade everyone's minds as often as it could. Used socially, Raven's Head is the perfect counterpart to an interrogator. The party used him once during a group meeting of the Eye to see if anyone there was evil, and to surf surface thoughts to look for anything suspicious. Besides that, Raven's Head had more useful things to do-- like talk, make knowledge checks or not glow like an obvious magical item.
On that note, it's a Pharasmin artifact so why would it even want to know the thoughts of the undead? That's what searing light is for. Purge!
For example :
Constant (item must be wielded) - Protection from Evil
3/day, as an immediate or swift action - death ward
3/day, as a swift action - smite (as per paladin class ability) or spell resistance or see invisibility
1/week - antimagic field
Giving away smite evil and having so many of those spells be quickened doesn't do anything but just make it even more powerful. Especially smite evil. "Add my CL to your damage" is not a kind thing to give to anyone who is level 10, especially not through a CL 17 weapon. Especially not to anyone who wants to hold it in their hand for a round or two. Ready an action to pass and smite and pass and you can get 3 meleers smiting one target as the opening round.
1/week - antimagic field
Once per week it can kill itself for 170 minutes. Antimagic field radiates out from the caster-- in this case, the item. So it'd turn itself off. Is there something I am misunderstanding?
@Toadkiller:
There's a difference between how powerful I advised you to go and to give away smite evil.
Problem with that kind of items is that they make one player way more powerful than others and while I don't believe they would be openly jealous, it would bother them a bit. I've seen it happen in Legacy of Fire with self-improving Tempest and I don't want it to go over the top (which Serithial definitely is).
My group has been playing APs for quite some time, so we actually have kind of traded the superweapons of each campaign between players as we go. So far, over 5 APs, not one person has gotten more than one superweapon. Maybe that's why we don't really mind when someone is going to be ridiculously powerful-- it's not like... a contest between characters for us. We'll all have a turn.
As to your question, you answered it. 3/day means each of the listed abilities can be used 3/day.
Here's an updated version:
+2 Disruption Heavy Flail.
Grants Extra Bane.
At will - Stabilize
3/day - Augury, Know the Enemy, Protection from Evil, Remove Fear
1/day - Cure Critical Wounds, Daylight, Death Ward, Remove Blindness
Ego: 22
Communication: Telepathy
Special Purpose: Slay undead spellcasters
Alignment: Neutral
Statistics: Int 12 Wis 14 Cha 10
Senses: Vision and hearing 120 ft, Darkvision 60 ft, Knowledge (Religion) 5 ranks
Price: 85,000 gp.
Here's an updated version:
+2 Disruption Heavy Flail.
Grants Extra Bane.
At will - Stabilize
3/day - Augury, Know the Enemy, Protection from Evil, Remove Fear
1/day - Cure Critical Wounds, Daylight, Death Ward, Remove BlindnessEgo: 22
Communication: Telepathy
Special Purpose: Slay undead spellcasters
Alignment: Neutral
Statistics: Int 12 Wis 14 Cha 10
Senses: Vision and hearing 120 ft, Darkvision 60 ft, Knowledge (Religion) 5 ranksPrice: 85,000 gp.
What's his CL? What stat does he cast from?
That looks fairly on par. I like it.
CL 20 I'd say. Does stat really matter? There are no spells that require DC, unless I'm mistaken.
CL 20 I'd say. Does stat really matter? There are no spells that require DC, unless I'm mistaken.
Cure Crit Wounds on an undead.
I retract that though because I found
Save DCs are based off the item’s highest mental
ability score.
in the CRB while looking to see if it might also have to make concentration checks, the only other thing I could think of.
CL 20 I'd say. Does stat really matter? There are no spells that require DC, unless I'm mistaken.Cure Crit Wounds on an undead.
Oh right. Don't think he'll be using it for that (I put Cure Critical in because they lack a healer).
One more question - what determines its aura?
CL 20 I'd say. Does stat really matter? There are no spells that require DC, unless I'm mistaken.Cure Crit Wounds on an undead.
Oh right. Don't think he'll be using it for that (I put Cure Critical in because they lack a healer).
One more question - what determines its aura?
Detect magic has a guideline printed under it in the CRB all hidden away like a secret fort. At CL 20, it'd be Strong.
I meant the school. I'm assuming Conjuration (because Disruption enhancement is conjuration), but I have no idea what are the rules on that. Serithial has abjuration (I have no idea why), Mantis Blade evocation (axiomatic).
I meant the school. I'm assuming Conjuration (because Disruption enhancement is conjuration), but I have no idea what are the rules on that. Serithial has abjuration (I have no idea why), Mantis Blade evocation (axiomatic).
I had no clue so I just made it up. You can try your best guess if you'd like.
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Well, conjuration seems as good as any. Really appreciate your (and NebulousMistress') help, I think my player will be overjoyed. I changed the name to Ravenbeak, it sounded cooler to me and made this item card:
Super, super cool guys. Both the stats and the HAWT Item Card. Elegantly done.
I really love this item since it features in the AP, gets a mention in Rule of Fear, and - if memory serves - Dave wrote a bit about it in Prince of Wolves. It's almost like there's continuity or something! ;)
Well, conjuration seems as good as any. Really appreciate your (and NebulousMistress') help, I think my player will be overjoyed. I changed the name to Ravenbeak, it sounded cooler to me and made this item card:
Very nice. I like that art a lot. Very neat.
Correct link above should be
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v695/Gorbash/Fantasy/Ravenbeak6.jpg
Dredged up from the depths of Lake Encarthan, let's bring this thread back...
So, now I'm in the dilemma of lacking characters who can reasonably use Raven's Head. I've got:
Rogue/Wizard/Arcane Trickster (definitely will have no use for an empowered mace)
Lunar Oracle (devout of Desna, always good to walk in and smash shit, but as written Raven's Head does literally nothing for her)
Aerokineticist (is a kineticist)
Aberrant Bloodrager (DOES worship Pharasma, but isn't willing to use non-reach weapons outside of a good ol' gauntlet)
I think the most likely candidates for getting a customized artifact mace are the Oracle and the Bloodrager. They could both use fun loot, anyway.
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The bloodrager in my game retrained some feats between books 4 and 5 to favor heavy mace instead of longsword (he was still using the one from the Lopper's pit in book 1, slightly upgraded). Even though none of the divine stuff was useful for him, the undead walloping power fit well with his character, and he wrecked shop with it.