So, playing a Twilight Sage Arcanist/Souldrinker, and finding that as time goes on, finding good livestock and slaves to drain the life force of is becoming harder and harder. The fools we encounter on our missions on the other hand, are rather rife for the drinking.
To this end, I require assistance, oh people of the internet. Beyond the obvious chain, rope, shackles, and old fashioned mind-destroying magic, what are some good ways of lashing some insignificant peons to my will so that they can't escape... Or at the least debilitate them so that escape is impossible?
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Bag of Holding Type 4 is enough cubic space for two 5x5x5 cubes. Could easily fit two medium creatures in one. Just gotta solve the air and food problems (ring of sustenance for food, capture creatures that don't need air would fix the other issue, or there's bound to be a wondrous item to do it).
Then, after that, use all your standard methods to keep them from escaping the bag. But now your slaves are portable!
Blackmail and bluffing might work. If they think they have to stay with you or bad things will happen to those they care about it might work. However don't be surprised if they try to kill you or turn on you if the opportunity presents itself.
Why not just have a fleet of horses?
The victim's HD has to at least equal 1/2 the PC's character level according to Twilight Sage's Consume Life. After a certain point livestock can't keep up with that.
That said, if cruelty is not an issue, Helcack has the right idea.
@BBT: Important parts are thus-
and
This creature must have 2 or more Hit Dice and be below 0 hit points. The twilight sage adds 2 points to her arcane reservoir if the creature's Hit Dice equaled or exceeded the sage's character level, or 1 point if the creature's Hit Dice equaled at least 1/2 her character level.
This ability is a death effect.
This ability replaces consume spells.
So, basically, the main point here is Consume Life, since it scales with character level, and any live-stock animal-level souls.
@Ascalaphus: oh, oh that's wicked... Yes, I love it. I normally don't pay much attention to alchemical items, but that's just marvelous. Rather what I'm looking for actually.
After that, it's only a matter of loading them up on a cart and getting some draft animals to pull it. Or some ring of sustenance and a bottle of air in a bag of holding 4.
@Wraithstrike: Hirelings could work as well. Now if only I could afford a 1 level dip into Low Templar for Flag of Convenience.
A low templar is adept at aligning himself with the winning side and has mastered the art of shifting or switching allegiance when convenient. He can disappear in one place and appear in another with new affiliations and associations, yet without besmirching his reputation. Even when caught in illicit acts, he easily evades blame. The low templar gains a +2 bonus on all Bluff and Disguise checks, and on Linguistics checks made to create forgeries. A low templar never suffers a penalty to his Leadership score for moving around frequently, aloofness, cruelty, or the loss of prior cohorts or followers, and can replace lost followers in half the normal amount of time.
@Helcack: Thought of that. Can't get the party healer to agree to keeping them alive (Chirurgeon Vivisectionist ironically). Evil and chaotic we may be, that's just too squicky for them.
As far as Soul Pool goes, you could just use low levels summon monster spells to fill it up. Hmmm... what about Ferocious Summons? That would let you use Summon Monster with Consume Life too. I don't know your build or if it is workable, but that makes it so your summons persist below 0 HP; bind them, knock them down to 0 HP, consume them.
Also what about using Blood Money paired with Sepia Snake Sigil? Sepia Snake Sigil can let you keep your cattle in suspended animation (no escape for them but also no need to feed, water, or provide air for them) and with Blood Money there is no costly component.
Sepia Snake Sigil can let you keep your cattle in suspended animation (no escape for them but also no need to feed, water, or provide air for them) and with Blood Money there is no costly component.
Shadow Conjuration would negate the costs too (but the spell is one level higher).
So, playing a Twilight Sage Arcanist/SouldrinkerWould you mind telling something about the build of your Twilight Sage Arcanist/Souldrinker? I was keen on trying the Souldrinker PrC for its "flavour", but never found a decent build. When I saw the Twilight Sage, thought it could be a good "compromise" to play a similar evil character, but had not really thought of trying the combination. I guess also the fact level drain has been nerfed lately (temporary hit points do not stack, casters do not lose their spells...) suggested me not to try the PrC. Are you using energy drain in combat situations? I'd think the PrC is good "only" for gaining almost unlimited resources and craft magic items, which doesn't fit entirely my concept.
I always liked the idea of a two (or 6...) level dip into Souldrinker for a two weapon fighting full BAB class. Get Conductive weapons and deliver 2 (or 4) negative levels per round!
I always liked the idea of a two (or 6...) level dip into Souldrinker for a two weapon fighting full BAB class. Get Conductive weapons and deliver 2 (or 4) negative levels per round!Thank you, I like your idea (though I'd prefer a full caster) but do not think it might work, at least with our GM: conductive should be once per round, as I understand it.
Once per round per weapon sounds more like it, hence the need for multiple weapons.
Bestow curse - amnesia and/or phobia of escape-related things (such as being outside of their cell, or magic).
Once per round per weapon sounds more like it, hence the need for multiple weapons.I always liked the idea of a two (or 6...) level dip into Souldrinker for a two weapon fighting full BAB class. Get Conductive weapons and deliver 2 (or 4) negative levels per round!Thank you, I like your idea (though I'd prefer a full caster) but do not think it might work, at least with our GM: conductive should be once per round, as I understand it.
Why not a thrower instead? Quick Draw + Rapid Shot + conductive javelins + Souldrinker + Full Attack = Happy Fun Times. Oh, add Haste if you have access to it. This would be REALLY expensive, but if you're able to act as a Negative Level Cannon, it's probably worth it.
Yeah - reading it over you're definitely right about using javelins. But...
Why not a thrower instead? Quick Draw + Rapid Shot + conductive javelins + Souldrinker + Full Attack = Happy Fun Times. Oh, add Haste if you have access to it. This would be REALLY expensive, but if you're able to act as a Negative Level Cannon, it's probably worth it.Thanks, but that wouldn't work for sure: energy drain is a melee touch attack, it cannot be delivered through javelins
If you CAN make multiple attacks per turn with Energy Drain, you can still make use of multiple Conductive melee weapons to do what I said with TWF or even Flurry of Blows (by means of drawing a weapon, hitting with it, dropping it and drawing another one). I would think you could due to the wording of Conductive:
When the wielder makes a successful attack of the appropriate type, he may choose to expend two uses of his magical ability to channel it through the weapon to the struck opponent
This implies that if you swing a melee weapon, you can apply an ability you'd normally spend an action for freely and at no cost to your action economy.
For example, a paladin who strikes an undead opponent with her conductive greatsword can expend two uses of her lay on hands ability (a supernatural melee touch attack) to deal both greatsword damage and damage from one use of lay on hands.
It doesn't say you have to do this as a standard action. It just says that the paladin in question hits an undead opponent, then uses the Conductive ability to apply Lay on Hands. The limitation is that you can only use this once per round per weapon.
So, as far as I can tell, you can have four different weapons on your person - say two spiked gauntlets (you can wear them while wielding other weapons) and two one-handed melee weapons. Assume you have two iterative attacks and TWF. You can attack with your melee weapons and then punch with your spiked gauntlets, all as part of your full attack action, and each individual weapon applying Energy Drain.
At least, this is as far as I can tell. Assuming all four weapons hit, you've just inflicted 4 levels of energy drain (potentially 8 if you crit). That's rad.
I may be wrong, and I honestly hope I am (gamebreaking stuff if legal), but if I'm not, ouch.
That's already a big question mark, since Energy Drain is at will but it says "as a standard action". Then say that you want to channel another spell-like ability through your off-hand weapon: that also would be normally a standard action to use. That is why I'm inclined to say that using conductive weapons more than once per round would be impossible, even if it's not specifically written that you use an action (and in fact you don't) to channel your ability.
If you CAN make multiple attacks per turn with Energy Drain
Specific of Conductive trumps the general of Energy Drain being a standard action; Conductive says once per round a Conductive weapon can function, so having multiple Conductive weapons means it can be done multiple times in a round.
I may be wrong, and I honestly hope I am (gamebreaking stuff if legal), but if I'm not, ouch.
Multiple Conductive weapons is a rather costly expense overall, as you're going to want them to be more than +1 if you plan on hitting and you are already eating negatives for lesser BAB through Soul Drinker and two weapon fighting penalties. And for what exactly? Negative levels are awesome to imply in bulk because of the penalties, but in the context of you getting a full attack most creatures should be near death anyway. That means the damaging nature of the negative levels are what will be the most relevant at 5 damage each, a 5 damage per hit you would most likely be able to get easier than a prestige class dip and investing in a ton of lesser Conductive weapons.
My point here is that though I love the idea of full attacking and adding a s&*# ton of negative levels, I think the usefulness and gamebreaking nature here is being overstated. It's a fun trick, but I think 95% of the time you'd be more effective if you just didn't bother with Souldrinker and devoted the resources you spent that way to just be better at fighting. It's hardly optimal; it's more cool than functional, especially due to the need for multiple pieces of costly specialized gear.
At least, this is as far as I can tell. Assuming all four weapons hit, you've just inflicted 4 levels of energy drain (potentially 8 if you crit). That's rad.
That would indeed rad, but I don't think it works that way. From what I remember, the consensus here when I asked if Conductive weapons crit their bonus effect, the answer was no as the effect is just a rider that happens after the crit, kind of like how critting with a Spell Storing weapon does not mean the spell inside it crits as well; no attack roll is made for the additional effect through Conductive. It just happens.
If you could crit and double the negative levels with Conductive, the build would be a whole lot cooler, but even then I don't think I'd call it overpowered for the reasons previously given (those penalties are so good, but its pretty much dead at this point anyway just from full attack damage). It would be a good reason to get some 15-20 crit weapons though.
Bag of Holding Type 4 is enough cubic space for two 5x5x5 cubes. Could easily fit two medium creatures in one. Just gotta solve the air and food problems (ring of sustenance for food, capture creatures that don't need air would fix the other issue, or there's bound to be a wondrous item to do it).
Then, after that, use all your standard methods to keep them from escaping the bag. But now your slaves are portable!
Bottle of air