Mage's Faithful Hound

[Xorphitus]

Hi,

when I cast the spell Mage's Faithful Hound (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/spells/mageSFaithfulHound.html), how often can the hound attack each turn? The spell description says:

"If an intruder approaches to within 5 feet of the hound, the dog stops barking and delivers a vicious bite (+10 attack bonus, 2d6+3 points of piercing damage) once per round."

Does the "once per round" mean 1) it will attack *each* intruder only once per round, but can attack multiple intruders per round, or 2) it will attack only once per round, i.e. only the first intruder?

1) would mean it might be a nice area control/crowd control spell in combat. 2) means it's really only useful for guarding, and not for combat...

Thanks in advance,

-Xorphitus

[LazarX]

It means it gets ONE attack per round... period. It's a bite the intruder and wake up the campsite spell.

[Dave Justus]

I read it as getting a single attack per round.

Even if it got 1 attack per creature within 5 feet of it, I don't see it as being very useful in combat. +10 isn't going to connect very often by the time you are casting 5th level spells and it would seem rare to me that there would be many times when the hound would have multiple opponents next to it in any case.

[Create Mr. Pitt]

I don't know. I get the instinct that it's one attack per round, but the language and purpose of the spell makes it anything but clear. Would it not attack each intruder? Which part of the sentence does the "once per round" apply to. I don't know if this has been answered elsewhere, but if not this is one of those rare times I think a linguistic ambiguity deserves and FAQ despite a general notion of most attacks work. Ultimately it's a guard dog, it would make sense if it attacked each intruder, or at least multiple. But it's not as if it has AoO, rather it just has the spell text. It's odd, and worth consideration.

[LazarX]

Universal Rules Pitt. The guard dog is only a single creature, and like any other creature only gets one set of attacks per round, set in this case, being one bite. It is not a crowd control spell, it's a spell that a wizard casts because he does not want to solely rely on the perception abilities of the people set on watch.

[Xorphitus]

The guard dog attacks on the intruder's turn, so it's more like an attack of opportunity which you can have multiple of (with the right feat), so it's not that simple.

It's also a standard action spell, so its purpose might be that it's also usable in combat - again, it's not clear.

Dave Justus: Its attack is better than +10 because it's invisible, so it would be viable at level 9. Cast it in a hallway and it could be useful.

*If* it can attack multiple intruders, that is. :-)

[Xorphitus]

Alright, for now and in absence of a clarification, I've ruled for my group that the hound can attack once per intruder, or it would be too weak for spell level 5.

Still, would be interesting to hear how the spell was intended originally. :-)