A crafty player wants the following:
A gargantuan Balista (the Gate Breaker), 6D8, 19/20 +
Shrink item
Now he has it in his pocket.
He plans to un-shrink it when preparing for combat, and cast animate object on it, assigning the construction points so that the critical range becomes 18/20, it has a ranged attack, and can fly.
He then plans to buff it with energy siege weapon, greater, for example giving acid splash, as well as Keen Weapon, which applies to siege engines, for 15-20 crit range. And a magic siege engine on top of that.
Quite a rutine, but if allowed, he can make it a Construct later, making some steps unnecesary in the field.
Should he be allowed? It is pretty high level spells, and the damage is not huge for the level, but it is also somewhat unheard of...
Ok so he now has this spiffy thing all set up.. doesn't he need to have shrunk some ammunition as well? I'm pretty sure that Balista bolts are spear sized or bigger right?
If it's not high damage per level then what the heck. Reward him for his ingenuity.
Allowed? Absolutely.
The range increment for an animated object is 20 feet and deals the equivalent of slam damage (4d6+13? I think?) without DM special ruling and at gargantuan is packing a what, +9 to hit with range? For a level 16 caster? Oh and I'm pretty sure the crit threat is just 20 on an animated object's ranged attack, so improved critical plus keen edge (which doesn't stack) leaves a 19-20.
Honestly I'm being mean, rules-lawyering aside I would allow an animated object to also be a siege engine, but I would require 3 construction points for the special attack to load, aim, and fire itself, only allow it to make one siege attack per round (I'm not that familiar with siege weapons, but basically "standard rules except no crew necessary") and require him to keep track of its ammunition. I'd also enforce the "no stacking crit boosters" rule and I wouldn't allow it to be shrunk with shrink item (Polymorph any Object would work) once it became a permanent construct and thus a creature.
Compared to, say, a summoned archon (about that level, I think) which lasts a bit longer and has spell-like abilities it's combat isn't that big of a deal. And I *like* animated objects, as well as using them as heavy weapons platforms, but last time I ran the numbers on how to make animated object Anti-air defense I found the rules had a number of...limitations.
They did make good miners and meat-shields for the Dwarf Clan I was fortifying though, and nothing in the rules said they couldn't simply reposition and help reload a fully-crewed ballista during aerial assaults.
Well, all he needs a box with one Ballista Bolt, then he can cast Abundant Ammunition on the bolt.
Tandriniel wrote: A gargantuan Balista
He plans to un-shrink it when preparing for combat, and cast animate object on it
Animate Object only works on Small items.
Tandriniel wrote: A crafty player wants the following:
A gargantuan Balista (the Gate Breaker), 6D8, 19/20 + Shrink item
It sounds too big for Shrink Item. At caster level 20, Shrink Item can affect an item up to 40 cubic feet; that's an object about 3.5' x 3.5' x 3.5'.
VRMH wrote: Animate Object only works on Small items. There is more to the spell description. If you can animate enough small objects (at one per level), you can animate larger objects instead. At level 16 or above, he could animate one Gargantuan object by the spells text.
And yes, I would definitely allow this, but as boring7 points out, probably not advisable. The average damage for a gargantuan construct and a heavy catapult are both 27. That is barely increased by the spells above and the to-hit is very low. One Triceratops from Summon Monster VI (same level as Animate Object) would do 23 with a powerful charge of 38 and you could summon it farther away then the catapult could shoot. That usually isn't even the best summon option at that level.
VRMH wrote: Tandriniel wrote: A gargantuan Balista
He plans to un-shrink it when preparing for combat, and cast animate object on it
Animate Object only works on Small items. Not quite
That thar SRD wrote: An animated object can be of any non-magical material. You may animate one Small or smaller object or a corresponding number of larger objects as follows: A Medium object counts as two Small or smaller objects, a Large object as four, a Huge object as eight, a Gargantuan object as 16, and a Colossal object as 32. You can change the designated target or targets as a move action, as if directing an active spell. So it works if the player is 16th level.
Only lasts 1 round /level though
Actually this made me remember some things though, a gargantuan ballista hit with shrink item is still the size of a gnome, (only weighs ~1 pound though) and is probably a hassle to get into a magic bag. I should also reiterate that an animated object's fly speed is lackluster.
hogarth wrote: Tandriniel wrote: A crafty player wants the following:
A gargantuan Balista (the Gate Breaker), 6D8, 19/20 + Shrink item
It sounds too big for Shrink Item. At caster level 20, Shrink Item can affect an item up to 40 cubic feet; that's an object about 3.5' x 3.5' x 3.5'. That was the other thing. Picking a particularly dense Oak and assuming the ballista weighs 2000 pounds (I think it's actually double that) the internet still tells me it's about 50 cubic feet.
But I've always been hazy on sizes when you start getting into exact dimensions.
Craft Construct will get you that gargantuan animated object earlier.
Later, you can add more modifications, like a brain.
|
1 person marked this as a favorite.
|
blackbloodtroll wrote: Craft Construct will get you that gargantuan animated object earlier.
Later, you can add more modifications, like a brain.
Perhaps the brain of that otherwise useless bard that's been following you around?
|
