So, I have a build idea that involves acquiring Ultimate Mercy at level 7, (and having enough Lay on Hands to use it). Is this permitted in PFS? I can't find any rules against it, but given how stringently they attempt to remove wealth advantage in other areas...
If it is allowed, can it be used at the end of a session? Like, "After defeating the BBEG, we rest for a day and I raise Joe from the dead", type thing?
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It appears to be legal from the Additional Resources, so yes.
Feats: Blighted Critical, Create Reliquary Arms and Shield, Create Sanguine Elixir are not legal for play.
And, yes you can use this at the end of a session to raise the dead (time/scene permitting).
The "stringent" part is more trying to balance item acquisition levels, not making it harder to fix yourself/teammates. They actually prefer if folks do try and function as a team and help out others recover from such setbacks, as spellcasting services is the only time money is allowed to be pooled for a purchase in PFS.
What does "time/scene permitting" mean, exactly?
I assume, in any case, that it would be allowed in any situation where a Cleric could rest a day to prepare Raise Dead? That's a fair standard, yes?
Also, would it be considered inappropriate to say something like this, out of character:
"Alright, my character will use his Ultimate Mercy (assuming its possible to use 'raise dead') on anyone who dies in the group, provided that you all agree to chip in 1,000 gp a piece for a Raise Dead for my character, should it be necessary and possible."
Or is out of character bargaining of that sort not permitted? With people I play with locally, it shouldn't be necessary, but I'm thinking more of con-type situations.
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I have a level 15 Paladin that has had and used Ultimate Mercy quite a lot already.
Like you said, assuming you have access to the corpse and there is no other time pressure, you should be able to bring back 1 person per day (unless you somehow have 20+ uses of LOH a day!).
Just remember, the target of the Ultimate Mercy will STILL have 2 negative levels they have to remove on their own.
"Alright, my character will use his Ultimate Mercy (assuming its possible to use 'raise dead') on anyone who dies in the group, provided that you all agree to chip in 1,000 gp a piece for a Raise Dead for my character, should it be necessary and possible."
Hm, that seems kinda against the idea of self-sacrifice for a Paladin to me. Are you saying you'd have a Lawful Good Paladin refuse to heal/bring back someone, even though it would cost him/her nothing?
That's why you also need the Monk (Contemplative, Ki Mystic, Sensei, Qinggong) who can apply 'restoration' to anyone in the party without a material component ;D {Wouldn't work in PFS until level 11, though, so little point}
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Hm, that seems kinda against the idea of self-sacrifice for a Paladin to me. Are you saying you'd have a Lawful Good Paladin refuse to heal/bring back someone, even though it would cost him/her nothing?
Hence why I use the words "Out of character". He'd do it even if they said no, but they don't need to know that :/
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Time/scene permitting is more or less if your characters have to flee town/leave the corpse behind, whatever might possibly happen in game that it wouldn't make sense to be able to have access to the body (or other problem) to make the attempt. This will probably rarely be an issue.
As long as the scenario's done, and it's peacefully resolved, able to collect remains, etc., then certainly you can use it. If a cleric party member could cast raise dead, you would have the opportunity to use your mercy.
OOC, that would be fine by me in bargaining. In character for a paladin of such mercy, it would be odd. That said, if a character dies during a scenario, and it's not straight up their fault IMO, I always offer to pony up a share of raise dead/restoration.
OOC, that would be fine by me in bargaining. In character for a paladin of such mercy, it would be odd. That said, if a character dies during a scenario, and it's not straight up their fault IMO, I always offer to pony up a share of raise dead/restoration.
As do I, but I have run into a number of players (not characters, players) who do not have a team-minded attitude. While my character will gladly use Ultimate Mercy on them whenever possible, it's a bitter pill to swallow as a player, that other players would not be willing to reciprocate in some small way.
That being said, the character's defenses exceed even a normal paladin's, so he's unlikely to be the one killed, even being on the frontlines. Tiefling with Lay on Hands favored class option, Fey's Foundling, Iroran Paladin archetype for crazy AC, dip into Sohei for the armored flurry and further saving throw boosts... death should be rare. So, hopefully it doesn't come up. :)
THANK YOU for the excellent feedback. It's very helpful.
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I have a friend who has this feat on her paladin, and has not only used it to bring back PCs for free, but I remember her once using it on a non-plot critical NPC. She waited until the end of the adventure, when the immediate threat was dealt with, then went back to save the poor soul we'd failed to protect earlier. Great role playing moment.
I realize this thread has been dead a while, but I wanted to point out that you can get a Paladin with a working Ultimate Mercy at 5th Level if you throw your entire character path into doing so.
Start with a 18 CH, +2 (Assimar or other), +1 CH at 4th level, +6 Headband = 27 CH, +8 Mod
At 3rd level you get Mercy ability and immediately take Greater Mercy Feat
At 5th level take Ultimate Mercy feat and have 10 LOH/day (2 for half level at 5th and 8 for CH mod)
I have a Paladin that has this build and had the 18K for the headband.
Being able to raise dead party members at level 5 was pretty sweet. Since it cost him all 10 of his available LOH he would try to wait until the party was somewhere safe to use it. The 24 hour negative level was not really a big deal since he had used up all his LOH and needed to rest a day in any event.
He is currently 11th level and is up to 18 LOH per day after taking Extra LOH twice. Now he uses Ultimate Mercy mostly to raise dead NPC foes or murder victims to question them. Even former foes are often pretty thankful for being raised and combined with his monster charisma he has become quite good at turning minions into informants.
He always takes the 24 hour negative level rather than spend the 5K. The 1 day negative level has never really had a significant effect. A few attacks have missed with the penalty, but that's about it.
Headband of Alluring Charisma +6 costs 36,000 gp, not 18,000. Not only would you not have enough gp at level 5, you wouldn't have enough Fame either.
It appears your character was invalid for 6 levels.
Ok, I did not catch that this was a PFS thread. My character is not PFS.
You should still be able to accomplish this at level 5 in PFS assuming you retrain your 1st level feat into Extra Lay on Hands at 2nd level, increase your charisma to 20 at level 4, and buy a Headband of Alluring Charisma +2, right?
I wonder how well you'd be able to contribute with that level of investment/specialization?
