My "Guide to Planar Binding" might be splitting off a shorter "Guide to Planar Ally". These are some preliminary first thoughts on that.
Casting the Planar Ally spells:
These are spells that let you call a friendly outsider, of your own alignment, to come and help you. They're strictly cleric/oracle spells, though in theory an inquisitor could get access to them through a domain. They take 10 minutes to cast, plus at least one round of negotiation with the conjured creature. Once the outsider arrives, you have to pay -- often quite a large sum of money -- for its services.
These are very different from the Planar Binding spells. Those are arcane spells, which force an outsider to serve you. In Planar Binding, the outsider is probably aggrieved and hostile, and may well plot revenge against you! On the other hand, its services are free. With Planar Ally spells, the outsider is not hostile, it's a fellow servant of your god, and serves you more or less cheerfully... but you're paying through the nose for the privilege. This guide will help you get your money's worth.
What you get:
When you cast this spell, you get a creature of the deity's (i.e., the DM's) choice. You can specify the number of HD that the creature has, and it will have the right alignment to be a servant of that deity. Beyond that, you have no control. You can certainly *ask* for a particular creature or creatures -- the spell specifically says that -- and if you've been a loyal servant that should count in your favor. But it's a request, not a command. Your deity will send you what s/he thinks is appropriate. You could ask for a 12 HD couatl and get a 12 HD celestial werebear paladin instead.
Now, whatever shows up should be a creature that can help you... and if your DM is creative, it might be a creature that can help you in some surprising or unexpected way. For instance, you might ask for a 6 HD hound archon to help you explore a dungeon. But the DM knows the dungeon is partly flooded with deep cold water... so your deity sends you a 6 HD celestial advanced giant otter instead. This would be completely legitimate, and indeed would be a reasonable way for your deity to reward good behavior.
How it responds:
: The creature should arrive friendly or helpful. Even evil creatures should not be worse than indifferent. This creature is a servant of your deity, after all, and it's there to help you. You're on the same side. As long as payment is made, and the demands placed upon it are reasonable and consistent with the spell, the creature should serve you and carry out your instructions. As a general rule, even evil creatures should not seek revenge upon you -- you're both doing the god's work, after all, and you're paying for the creature's time.
Caveat #1: This spell conjures up an actual outsider, not a temporary duplicate like Summon Monster. If it dies here on the Prime Material Plane, it's destroyed. So the creature is not likely to obey suicidal or extremely dangerous commands. You can order a summoned monster to jump into the dragon's jaws to distract it for a round or two; a planar ally is just not going to do that.
Caveat #2: The creature will serve you in a manner consistent with its alignment and personality. Evil creatures probably won't betray /you/, but they could easily be dangerous to your fellow party members. Good-aligned creatures will strive to minimize collateral damage; may want to attempt converting or redeeming monsters instead of just killing them; and may demand some higher justification than "it will serve the greater good if we kill these creatures and take their stuff". Chaotic creatures may get distracted, wander off, or creatively misinterpret your instructions if they think they know a better way. Lawful creatures will carry out lawful orders, perhaps a bit too literally, but may hesitate to defy lawful authority. If the creature's flavor text says it is fiercely righteous, or a scheming conniver, or a ravening engine of destruction, it'll want to act that way, and will insofar as it's consistent with your instructions.
What it costs:
You have to pay for the creature's help. First, there's a flat fixed fee for casting the spell -- 500 gp for Lesser Planar Ally, 1250 gp for Planar Ally, and 2500 for Greater Planar Ally. Presumably that's for incense, sacrifices, or other costly spell components, though in mechanical terms you just spend the money. Whatever else happens, once you cast the spell, this money is gone and you don't get it back.
Second, you pay the creature for its services. "A task taking up to 1 minute per caster level requires a payment of 100 gp per HD of the creature called. For a task taking up to 1 hour per caster level, the creature requires a payment of 500 gp per HD. A long-term task, one requiring up to 1 day per caster level, requires a payment of 1,000 gp per HD. A nonhazardous task requires only half the indicated payment, while an especially hazardous task might require a greater gift." My personal take on this is that "follow me around and be my bodyguard" would be medium, not especially hazardous unless you're doing something extraordinarily dangerous, but your DM's opinion may vary -- check first.
This payment can be in the form of a sack of gold or gems handed over to the creature; a donation to the appropriate church or charity; or "some other action on your part that matches the creature's alignment and goals." This "action" should cost you at least the equivalent value in cash, and must take place before you get the creature's service: "this payment must be made before the creature agrees to perform any services." Alas, no IOUs! Forging a magic item in advance might work; if you're summoning something evil, having a captive paladin (of high enough level) to feed to it might perhaps count. It's a judgment call, but the DM should not make this easy -- the "some other action" clause shouldn't be an easy way for players to avoid paying the piper.
Now, the nature of power scaling in D&D/PF means that paying a 6 HD creature 6,000 gp to follow you around for a week or two is a horrible deal. A 6 HD creature is just not that powerful, and there are probably better uses for your money. However, paying a 12 HD creature 12,000 gp to work for you for a while is not so bad. And paying an 18 HD creature 18,000 gp is actually really good. So, Lesser Planar Binding is a mostly pretty worthless spell except in some very specific situations; Planar Binding is meh to okay; and Greater Planar Binding can be amazing, especially if your DM is willing to give you a creature that you ask for.
Looking for a discount:
"If the task is strongly aligned with the creature's ethos, it may halve or even waive the payment." Note that (IMO) "be my bodyguard" or "help us clear out the dungeon" is not going to count as 'strongly aligned'. Fighting enemies of an opposing alignment won't do it either, thought it's a good start. It has to be something that's clearly the sort of thing this particular creature would groove on in a big, big way.
Notice that it says "ethos" rather alignment. "Ethos" isn't a formally defined term in PF. Reasonably, it should mean some combination of the creature's alignment, it's particular personality, and the nature of the deity you and it are working for. So, if you're working for a Chaotic Good god whose portfolio includes Liberation, then you might get that discount on a mission to free a bunch of slaves. If you worship a Neutral Evil deity who specializes in spreading diseases, getting a leukodaemon to start a plague around the city should reasonably come cheap. And so forth.
Other than this, there are just a few ways to cut the price. If you're a Diabolist, you get half-price devils, and if you take the Planar Negotiator aasimar racial trait, you can shave another 10% off the cost. (Oddly, this doesn't seem to care whether you're calling up good or evil creatures.) The Agonize spell (3rd level) lets you cut the price by an additional 20% to 60%, but at the cost of deeply antagonizing the creature and making it likely that it will seek revenge. This doesn't seem like a great idea under most circumstances, but it's possible to imagine situations where it might be worthwhile.
A continuing relationship?:
If you ask the creature to serve you, and pay the price, it will serve you. It answers to your mutual deity, or some servant thereof, so it will do its best to carry out your instructions. As noted, it won't commit suicide for you, and it won't mindlessly follow your every command. If you consistently order it to do things against its "ethos", or generally treat it badly, it may at some point simply quit. On the other hand, if you work together well, you could ask for the same creature back again.
More to come, but that's a starting point. Thoughts?
What happens if an atheist (or an arcane diabolist, or even a random punk) with Use Magic Device successfully casts Planar Ally from a magic scroll?
Just curious.
That is a good question. I would say the summoned critter might suggest a sincere conversion to the faith of the god granting the spell is the only payment it will take. Unless you get a devil, in which case by section 6112, subsection 42B, paragraph 18888 of the Code Infernal (1003rd revision), by successfully using this spell to summon a devil, you are now officially a worshiper of Asmodeus, so you better open your wallet, because it doesn't need you to convert anymore.
What happens if an atheist (or an arcane diabolist, or even a random punk) with Use Magic Device successfully casts Planar Ally from a magic scroll?
In terms of the cost, I'd say the startup cost (500 for LPA, 1250 for PA, etc.) is included in the scroll, but the cost of paying the creature is not -- you must negotiate that in the normal manner.
In terms of what creature you get, that's covered in the RAW: "If you serve no particular deity, the spell is a general plea answered by a creature sharing your philosophical alignment." So, if you're an arcanist, diabolist, or random punk who worships Asmodeus, Asmodeus will send you an appropriate devil. If you're a random punk who is an atheist, the universe will send you a creature of your alignment.
One thing I think is important to emphasize -- the planar ally sequence depends A LOT on your GM to adjudicate. It's NOT something you can just optimize for yourself and theorycraft to perfection. More than any type of aummonings, you need to work with your GM very well.
One might suggest a couple of in-game things that are likely to help, like knowledge(religion) checks to see how Deity X is likely to respond to various sorts of requests, not just knowledge(planes) checks to look for outsiders that you would like to request. Know your deity, know what they like and don't like, what they think you can handle on your own, versus what they think you'll need help with, and what they really really don't like.
Minor note: in Golarion, deity's heralds are specifically called out as being summonable by greater planar ally, but only by priests of that deity.
If the character is truly an atheist, that might be tricky. Then again, if the game world has outsiders (angels, demons, etc.) then it would be hard to think that such a spellcaster would be a true atheist. After all, if outsiders exist and divine beings have been known to visit from time to time, it is hard to disbelieve in any form of afterlife or divine beings. Maybe using it for elementals?
I forget the exact term, yet if it is someone that believes that deities are just fallible beings that happen to have a lot of power and should not be venerated, the GM might have a selection of like-minded outsiders that such spellcasters could request services from.
One thing I think is important to emphasize -- the planar ally sequence depends A LOT on your GM to adjudicate. It's NOT something you can just optimize for yourself and theorycraft to perfection. More than any type of aummonings, you need to work with your GM very well.
Fair point, Tony. The RAW gives you guidelines, but there's a lot of wiggle room.
Quote:
One might suggest a couple of in-game things that are likely to help, like knowledge(religion) checks to see how Deity X is likely to respond to various sorts of requests, not just knowledge(planes) checks to look for outsiders that you would like to request. Know your deity, know what they like and don't like, what they think you can handle on your own, versus what they think you'll need help with, and what they really really don't like.[/quote
Knowledge (religion) checks could indeed make sense, and I could imagine using them IMC. That said, I'm not sure I'd put them in a guide, since they're not required by the spell under RAW.
Quote:
Minor note: in Golarion, deity's heralds are specifically called out as being summonable by greater planar ally, but only by priests of that deity.
If I ever get to a detailed discussion of GPA, this will certainly come up. In mechanical terms, the heralds are a mixed bag -- some are a lot more useful than others. Most are pretty cool, though, so there's that.
The (Sacred Servant)Paladin Archetype can cast planar ally for free and does not have to pay the monster it will work for the Sacred Servant for free as well.
The (Sacred Servant)Paladin Archetype can cast planar ally for free and does not have to pay the monster it will work for the Sacred Servant for free as well.
Wow, I was completely unaware of that. Well, let's see. You give up Aura of Resolve, which, pfft, whatevs. Then you get a free LPA/PA/GPA once/week, caster level your paladin level.
It's no big deal to get Lesser Planar Ally for free, but it's really very nice to get PA, and GPA... okay, that's unbalanced. At 16th level you can have two planetars hanging around you *all the time*. (Because you get this free once/week, and then the creatures hang around for up to one day/caster level. Or even longer, if you're using that +1 ECL bonus thing from your holy symbol that this archetype gets.)
Yeah, that's broken. The only thing that makes it not completely ridiculous is that you have to be a paladin /and/ have a specific deity -- two things that provide lots of ways for a DM to check excessive craziness. It's still very unbalanced, though.
Nice catch! That would go in the guide, all right.
When you first get access to this spell -- at 7th level for a cleric, or 8th for an oracle -- having a 6 HD creature as a planar ally gives you a respectable bump in power and in action economy. Unfortunately, this spell is just so damn expensive that you'll find it hard to justify in terms of cost-effectiveness. Yes, it might be nice to have a hound archon, a bearded devil or a shadow mastiff following you around. Those are all fine creatures, and a 7th level character could get plenty of use from them. But the cost is eye-watering: 3,500 gp for 7 hours of service, or 6,500 gp for a week of service. By way of comparison, PC WBL at level 7 is 23,500. Does it really make sense to blow more than a quarter of your entire wealth on having a CR 4 or 5 creature hang around for one week?
By the time you reach 10th level, the economics are looking somewhat better. WBL is now 62,000 gp, so we're talking about just 10% of your net worth. Unfortunately, now you have the opposite problem: a CR 4 or 5 creature is almost useless to you at this level.
This is not to say you would never use this spell. First, the balance shifts in your favor if you can get a discount, for instance because of the "ethos" clause -- you're a lawful good cleric defending a village of innocents against incursions from the Worldwound, or some such. (As noted upthread, diabolist clerics and aasimars with the planar negotiator trait can get discounts, and sacred servant paladins can get their planar allies for free.)
Second, clever play can enhance the value of some low-CR outsiders. For example, the hound archon is only CR 4, but he has that spiffy Aura of Menace and a continual 10' magic circle against evil. If you know you're likely to fight lots of low-level enemies, lots of evil creatures, and/or lots of things with bad Will saves, this can be leveraged. Boost his Cha with spells or items to raise the save DC, then turn him invisible. Under RAW the aura should still work. Now he's a mobile debuff, and he also gives you Protection from Evil if he's nearby. (If your DM frowns on this, you might have to settle for just buffing the archon heavily.) If you stare hard at the list of 5 and 6 HD outsiders that match your alignment, you'll probably be able to come up with some other examples.
Finally, it might also be worth conjuring a creature in order to make a point. If you're a cleric or oracle of a particular god, walking around with an extraplanar servant of that god ought to give you some bonuses to things like Diplomacy and Intimidate with fellow worshippers. That's a judgment call on the DM's part, of course, but you have to think it would work at least sometimes.
That said, this is just never going to be a great spell for you; it costs too much, and what you're getting just isn't that great. Be patient and hang on until 11th level, when you can start throwing not-so-lesser Planar Ally.
Some creatures you can request with Lesser Planar Ally. These are creatures with 5 or 6 HD; you can call weaker ones, but except for very specialized uses they usually won't be worth the cost.
Lawful Good: Hound Archon, Lar. As noted, the Hound Archon is interesting primarily for its ranged debuff power; boost its Cha and/or turn it invisible and it can stay useful up to level 10.
The Lar is a surprisingly powerful creature for its CR. It is naturally invisible and is able to possess and animate objects of up to Large size. If its host is destroyed, it takes a bit of damage but can promptly possess another object next round. Since large inanimate objects are CR 5, this makes the Lar sort of like a continuous Summon Monster V spell. (Well, as long as there's a steady supply of stuff for it to inhabit.) Oh, and it can also throw suggestion all day long. Oh, and when you're not out adventuring, it has a bunch of SLAs it can cast to make your home more comfortable.
Neutral Good: Um... there doesn't seem to be a neutral good outsider with 5 or 6 HD? Hard cheese for NG clerics. I suppose you could call a celestial pixie or something, but realistically I think the DM has to whip up a special to fill this hole. Am I missing something here?
Chaotic Good: Two good ones, the Cayhound and the Yamah azata. Both have 6 HD and both are solid in combat, the hound in melee and the azata as a ranged attacker. The Cayhound isn't really good for anything else, but the Yamah has the interesting Steal Magic power -- basically a touch Dispel Magic attack, and then it converts the stolen spell into a force bolt. This would be awesome if it didn't require the relatively fragile Yamah to wade into melee. Since it does, this means the Yamah is much less useful after level 8 or so.
[Other alignments may follow later, as time allows.]
As noted above, the DM can always create suitable creatures if these don't seem to fit. One easy way is to just take a 5 or 6 HD creature of the appropriate alignment and slap the Celestial template on it. Another is to add a couple of levels of a character class. For instance, a harbinger archon is hardly worth asking for. But if your deity sends you something like this little fellow -- a harbinger archon with oracle levels -- you might find him worth your while, especially if he's shutting down large masses of midlevel opponents with that augmented color spray. So, if a Neutral Good cleric needs a lesser planar ally, a giant eagle (4 HD, CR 3) is no great shakes -- but a celestial giant eagle with a couple of paladin levels might be something else again.
