Just as a fun exercise I want to make a cantrip/orison as "impressive" as possible.
Take a 0 level spell
Add anything legal (metamagic, bloodline abilities, etc) to make it as impressive as possible.
Of course higher level spells are more effective without metamagic, but this is about min/maxing cantrips for fun.
Describe new spell level and effect including minimum caster level for the effect.
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Dancing Lights => Meteor Swarm?
Prestidigitation => Wish
I always liked the idea of Kirin Strike with Acid Splash.
Add 2*Int mod to damage? Well now it's not so bad.
Dancing Lights => Meteor Swarm?
Prestidigitation => Wish
I dint see a way to upgrade either of the former to accomplish the latter effect.
Really cheap cost for minor bonus = Acid Splash + Acid Flask as a Focus component for +1 damage? (Adventurer's Armory, Alchemical Power Components)
Oooo. Kirin Strike sounds sweet. Will have to work that into my witch character somehow (took Two-World Magic trait for acid splash cantrip), but will most likely continue to spend all my feats on Extra Hex and 1 on Improved Familiar <sigh>
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Ray of frost - 18th level Evoker Wizard/1 crossblooded sorcer Orcish/white Dragon + Point blank shot+ trait Elemental Adept + another trait that I cant remeber the name of but add +1 of force damage to any spell that does damage + Alchemical Frost focus = 1d3+15 cold.
Ray of frost - 18th level Evoker Wizard/1 crossblooded sorcer Orcish/white Dragon + Point blank shot+ trait Elemental Adept + another trait that I cant remeber the name of but add +1 of force damage to any spell that does damage + Alchemical Frost focus = 1d3+15 cold.
That's what I'm talking about.
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In picking cantrips for my new bard character, I came up with a question that reminded me of this thread, so I figure I'll ask here rather than start a new thread just for this.
Can mage hand be used in conjunction with sleight of hand? Not just to pick pockets from a distance, but also to "palm" an object off a table or something while nobody's looking.
I know the description of mage hand specifically says it can only be used on unattended objects, but if a person isn't specifically paying attention to an object, can it be considered unattended even though it's hanging off their belt?
For context, my bard isn't generally a thief (Neutral Good alignment), but I thought this could be handy for Pathfinder Society faction missions. More than likely, I'll mostly use sleight of hand the old fashioned way, though.
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In picking cantrips for my new bard character, I came up with a question that reminded me of this thread, so I figure I'll ask here rather than start a new thread just for this.
Can mage hand be used in conjunction with sleight of hand? Not just to pick pockets from a distance, but also to "palm" an object off a table or something while nobody's looking.
I know the description of mage hand specifically says it can only be used on unattended objects, but if a person isn't specifically paying attention to an object, can it be considered unattended even though it's hanging off their belt?
For context, my bard isn't generally a thief (Neutral Good alignment), but I thought this could be handy for Pathfinder Society faction missions. More than likely, I'll mostly use sleight of hand the old fashioned way, though.
isnt that what the arcane treickster prestige class's 1st ability based on? (pretty sure you need to be an arcane trickster to do it at all)
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I didn't know that. I've never really looked at prestige classes much. I've only been playing Pathfinder a couple of months, and I've never played in a game with any characters over 5th level, so a lot of higher level stuff is going to be lost on me.
I guess that kills that idea, anyway. Now I need to decide if I even want Mage Hand for my bard, or if I'm better off with a different cantrip instead.
Can mage hand be used in conjunction with sleight of hand?
Nope. The target object needs to be "unattended".
I dint see a way to upgrade either of the former to accomplish the latter effect.Dancing Lights => Meteor Swarm?
Prestidigitation => Wish
I misunderstood the premise. Sorry.
if a person isn't specifically paying attention to an object, can it be considered unattended even though it's hanging off their belt?
Nope. If that were the case, that super evil artifact you just spent the entire campaign retrieving so you can destroy it could be stolen from your pack by magic at any time because you're "not specifically paying attention to it". Also, your +5 Heavy Fortification armor could be disintegrated or teleported away during any combat for the same reason.
In D&D, "unattended" means not located on a creature's person, whether that may be in their hand, in their pack, hanging off their belt, or in their stomach.
if a person isn't specifically paying attention to an object, can it be considered unattended even though it's hanging off their belt?Nope. If that were the case, that super evil artifact you just spent the entire campaign retrieving so you can destroy it could be stolen from your pack by magic at any time because you're "not specifically paying attention to it". Also, your +5 Heavy Fortification armor could be disintegrated or teleported away during any combat for the same reason.
In D&D, "unattended" means not located on a creature's person, whether that may be in their hand, in their pack, hanging off their belt, or in their stomach.
Mage hand target must also be non-magical as well as unattended.
I misunderstood the premise. Sorry.I dint see a way to upgrade either of the former to accomplish the latter effect.Dancing Lights => Meteor Swarm?
Prestidigitation => Wish
No worries.
I didn't know that. I've never really looked at prestige classes much. I've only been playing Pathfinder a couple of months, and I've never played in a game with any characters over 5th level, so a lot of higher level stuff is going to be lost on me.
I guess that kills that idea, anyway. Now I need to decide if I even want Mage Hand for my bard, or if I'm better off with a different cantrip instead.
I am a bard freak! I always go for Prestidigitate instead of Mage hand. Prestidigitate lets you be clean all the time, is a 2 lbs mage hand, and can make crappy masses of crap that enough can set off a trap. Depending on the judge it can make mock up items that you can swap out with the real item-of course on any kind of a close inspection they do not hold up. Finally I love making big bad fighters and barbarians suddenly be wearing pink armor :)
I need some way to extend the duration of a Transmutation for a sadist Inquisitor: cast Brand, and then Virtue several times in a row. You keep healing the 1 HP of damage, but with a temporary Hitpoint. So the victim is covered in brands, and then the Virtues start wearing off, one by one. But one minute isn't long enough to instil true terror.
(Since it's new damage every time, the temporary hitpoints don't need to stack.)
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I'm pretty sure it doesn't quite work like that, VRMH.
If you have any temporary hit points they are always lost first. So the sequence would be brand (target loses a hit point), virtue (target gains a temporary hit point), brand (target loses the temporary hit point), repeat ad infinatum... There's no point at which the target could have more than one temporary hit point from the virtue effect. Once the temporary hit point from the virtue is lost, the duration of the cantrip doesn't matter - you don't lose any extra hit points when that duration runs out, only the temporary hit point if you happen to still have it left. In effect, there's never any penalty for losing temporary hit points (unlike hit points gained from a temporary boost in Constitution, which are real, not temporary hit points, that just happen to vanish when the duration on the Constitution boosting effect runs out... leading to a common reason for Barbarian post-rage death...).
On the other hand, it's a great way to cover someone in brands without killing (or even really hurting) them.
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The cantrip wasn't souped up at all, but we had an example of an awesome cantrip use in a game tonight.
We were playing a Pathfinder Society adventure at subtier 4-5, because we had two level 5 characters, two level 4 characters, and a level 2 character.
In a particularly tough fight, my barbarian actually got down to 1 HP, which is pretty impressive, given my HP total and DR/2 from invulnerable rager - this sucker did a TON of damage to me. The enemy was a weird magic beasty, which an earlier knowledge check by someone in the group had warned us would explode upon death, so I was a little worried about finishing it off on my turn with only 1 HP left. The DM told us that the thing looked like it was on its last legs, so I withdrew to a safe distance on my turn, and told the level 2 magus to hit it with something from range to finish it off.
He cast Acid Splash, hit the ranged touch attack, and rolled a 1 for damage. The thing exploded.
So the souped up combo is: Whole group of higher level characters battle beasty for 3 rounds of intense battle, then the low level guy blasts it for 1 point of damage to finish it off. I just loved that he managed to finish off something that tough with a cantrip, of all things.