As part of DMDM's Guide to Planar Binding, I want to include an appendix on creatures that you can call and bind. Since there are a lot of outsiders, it's a big chunk of work. So I'm looking to crowdsource it.
We already did Lesser Planar Binding, which lets you summon and control outsiders of 6 HD or less (post and thread right here) and plain vanilla Planar Binding, for creatures of up to 12 HD (post and thread). Now let's do Greater Planar Binding, the last and most powerful of the three, which gives you access to outsiders of up to 18 HD!
Here follows a partial list of targets. It's heavily weighted towards evil outsiders, because it grew out of my Guide to the Diabolist. You'll notice it's in order from lowest CR to highest; within a CR, it's alphabetical. Please feel free to either amend or expand existing entries, or create new entries (but in the same format, please, for consistency).
Many thanks in advance,
Doug M.
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At these levels you're no longer calling mooks. These creatures are powers in their own right, with minions -- in some cases entire armies -- at their beck and call. Your DM would be perfectly within his rights to give these creatures unexpected resources, including the ability to strike at you even on your home plane. Handle with care.
Imentesh Protean [CR 10, Will +14, Cha 21] – One of the weaker creatures you can call with this spell; for combat purposes you’re better off casting Planar Binding and calling a kolyarut or a hamatula. However, it does have the crazy warpwave power, which has an astonishing 100’ radius, so it’s great for taking out armies or inflicting random mass chaos in population centers. It can also cast Major Creation at will, all day long, which means it’s basically your Minecraft monster. The stuff it creates eventually disappears, but you can have stone walls for 10 hours, or chests full of silver and gold for 100 minutes.
Elder Fire Elemental [CR 11, Will +7, SR 0, Cha 11] -- These guys are very easy to call for a creature of their CR. Of course, by the time you can conjure them, a CR 11 creature may not be all that useful. Still, potentially useful as a terror weapon, especially if you call them in groups.
Malbolgian Cerberi* [CR 12, Will +6, SR 0, Cha 8] -- These are Paizo creatures, but 3.5 (from the Council of Thieves AP, Pathfinder #28), never converted to Pathfinder. If you can convince your DM to allow them anyway, they are wonderful. Not only are they ridiculously easy to conjure for a creature of their CR, but they have the Cerberus' Jaws ability, which prevents bitten creatures from leaving the plane as a curse effect with no save or SR. Are you likely to be facing angry outsiders that can teleport? Well then: invest in three titanium feeding bowls and a couple of tons of Devil Chow, and keep Rover here constantly at heel. Otherwise they're a decent melee creature, basically the next step up from a Nessian Hell Hound.
Ice Devil* (Gelugon) [CR 13, Will +12, SR 24, Cha 20] -- Am I the only one who thinks the Paizo illustration looks like Jiminy Cricket? Anyway. The Gelugon's SLAs are no great shakes, but AC 32 and that nice slow-spell debuff make it very respectable in melee. Interestingly, the ice devil is immune to both fire and cold -- it's a devil, after all, and it does not have the "cold" subtype. So it walks right through fireballs and such, just like every other devil. Its 25 Int means that it can probably out-think you, so be careful. But note that this also means it has a bunch of crazy-high skill and Knowledge bonuses. So if you've got one of these guys around, you can totally to use it to google things.
Marut Inevitable [CR 13, Will +13, SR 26, Cha 24] -- A solid melee brute, and one of the few outsiders to use a sonic attack. Like all inevitables, the marut has that annoying "can't be forced to act against its nature" thing. The marut's particular obsessions is "eliminating those who have unnaturally extended their lives". So if you're going up against a lich or a vampire, the marut should cheerfully cooperate. Well, "cheerfully" by the standards of a giant stomping lawful neutral death robot. Like all the inevitables, a specialized tool.
Handmaiden Devil* (Gylou) [CR 14, Will +10, SR 25, Cha 20] -- Although the Handmaiden has a higher CR than the Ice Devil, it's just about as easy to call and bind. In terms of combat power it's perhaps half a step behind -- but then, the Gyllou isn't really a combat monster. It's a spy, excellent at deception, diplomacy, and disguise. And its weird tentacle cage makes it an excellent kidnapper, too.
Divine Heralds: Heralds are unique servants of deities (Basileus for Asmodeus, the Stabbing Beast for Norgorber, the Old Man for Irori, etc.). They are all CR 15. Unfortunately, they can't be summoned by Planar Binding, ever -- only by Greater Planar Ally, and then only by a worshipper of that particular deity. This is one of the very rare cases in which Planar Ally is better than Planar Binding.
Astradaemon [CR 16, Will +14, SR 27, Cha 24] -- "Astradaemons can only be bribed into service by two things — a feast of souls and the promise to spread death." Since this thing is really only useful as a melee brute, that shouldn't be a problem. Note that its Soul Siphon ability stacks with itself, meaning that if enough creatures die within 10' of it there's almost no limit to how much its Str can increase. Seriously, that's RAW. If it plunges into battle and kills six low-level warriors? It immediately gains 6d8 hp and +12 Str for the next 10 minutes. And it can keep doing that. And if you feed it a 5 HD creature soon after it arrives -- a warhorse or a grizzly bear or something -- it gets +1 on all attacks, saves and checks for the next 24 hours. (Obviously you do this after it's bound.) Call this guy when you expect lots and lots of combat against living foes, especially against piles of low-level mooks.
Horned Devil* (Cornugon) [CR 16, Will +13, SR 27, Cha 23] -- The cornugon is another pure melee brute. You call it up to smash things and commit carnage. It's not terribly bright for a creature of its raw power (14 Int) so it's less likely than some other devils to come up with a viciously cunning scheme to entrap you. The astradaemon is somewhat better in combat thanks to its soul siphon and energy drain, but the cornugon is a bit easier to call and bind.
Belier Devil* (Bdellavitra) [CR 16, Will +20, SR 28, Cha 24] -- The Belier's sky-high Will save makes it a difficult fiend to catch. And when you do catch it, you have a 3,000 pound leech-slug with three human heads growing out of its backside. Okay, well. You would use the Bdellavitra to possess someone with its magic jar ability. Sure, you could possess them yourself -- but the Bdellavitra is a face monster, with around +27 on Bluff, Diplomacy, Perception and Sense Motive. Use the Gyllou to kidnap the prince, then use the Belier to replace the prince. Note that this is another super-genius Int 25 devil, though, so handle with extreme care.
Apostate Devil* (Deimavigga) [CR 17, Will +20, SR 27, Cha 28] -- Emphatically not a combat monster (its attacks are quite weak for a creature of its CR), the Deimavigga has an array of strange powers that can be used for all kinds of creative effects. Most notably, given a few days to work, it can permanently change creatures' alignments! Call up this guy if you want to destroy the kingdom; he murders the vizier and takes his place, then with a few words in the king's ear gradually and permanently changes the kindly monarch into a raging tyrant. But have a care -- this devil can directly and physically attack you all the way from Hell. Unless you want to spend the rest of your career cowering inside your Forbiddance-protected private apartments, don't tick off the deimavigga. Only call it up if you can offer it something it would reasonably want, like turning an entire kingdom Lawful Evil or wiping out the local churches of the good gods.
Immolator Devil* (Puragaus) [CR 19, Will +14, SR 30, Cha 24] -- This is the biggest, baddest devil you can get with any Planar Binding spell. And guess what? It has (for a creature of its CR) a mediocre Will save and unimpressive Charisma. It's only a bit harder to call up and bind than a cornugon, but it's much more powerful. I think its official CR of 19 is a bit high, but even at CR 18 this is a pretty good deal. Note, though, that the Immolator has a 24 Int, and it's RAW that they're often commanders of legions of lesser devils. So if you make an enemy of it, the Puragaus is definitely capable of making long-term problems for you.
Spirit of Adoration [CR 15, SR 26, Will +25, Cha 23] There are three ways this can go. You've got an in with Shelyn and you want to charm an army or two; the spirit can help you. You're an overpowered monster and you want to harvest +2 dancing glaives; you can kill the spirit and do so, though note that you're probably pissing off a significant deity. Or neither of these is the case and you'll just embarrass yourself trying to bind her.
Bythos Aeon [CR 16, SR 27, Will +20, Cha 21] At-will greater teleport. The real thing, not 'self + 50 pounds'. It has other abilities relating to time and travel too. You can't offer it anything in negotiation, be prepared for a struggle of wills. On the plus side it is physically incapable of holding a grudge.
Cetaceal Agathion [CR 15, SR 26, Will +9/+13 vs. evil, Cha 17] A useful healer and protector to take along on an underwater adventure.
Monadic Deva [CR 12, SR 23, Will +10, Cha 19] A flying healer and protector. At-will plane shift and 3/day holy word are its best other abilities.
Astral Deva [CR 14, SR 25, Will +10/+14 vs. evil, Cha 23] This deva slays evil. At-will holy word, among other such abilities.
Planetar [CR 16, SR 27, Will +19/+23 vs. evil, Cha 24] A Swiss Army holy greatsword, it slices, it nukes, it heals, it sees everything, it can even buff and debuff! If you can bind this successfully you'd have to have a special reason to bind anything else.
Shining Child [CR 12, SR 0, Will +10, Cha 24] +19 touch attacks and a 60' radius blinding aura, plus top-notch illusions. If you were thinking of debuffing it before making a deal, be warned it can cast spell turning.
Kelpie's wrath [CR 15, SR 26, Will +13, Cha 17] Did you know there's a sentient ship who can be planar bound? I don't think any magic circle is big enough to hold it, so use other precautions. Decent in a fight, but you'd call it to transport tons of stuff between planes. Apparently it will take live porn as part payment.
Kelpie's wrath [CR 15, SR 26, Will +13, Cha 17] Did you know there's a sentient ship who can be planar bound? I don't think any magic circle is big enough to hold it, so use other precautions. Decent in a fight, but you'd call it to transport tons of stuff between planes. Apparently it will take live porn as part payment.
That is just hilarious.
Anyway: as a Herald, this guy is designed to be the target of Planar Ally, not Planar Binding. Unfortunately Heralds can't normally be called. (The flavor text suggests otherwise, I know. Pretty sure that's an error.) Mind, the Augment Calling feat from Advanced Summoner's Guide lets you cut the cost of Planar Ally in half, making this a plausible option -- especially if you can get another 10% off for hosting a suitably out-of-control kegger on deck.
Spirit of Adoration [CR 15, SR 26, Will +25, Cha 23]
Alas, another herald. Planar Ally, not Planar Binding.
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Bythos Aeon [CR 16, SR 27, Will +20, Cha 21] At-will greater teleport. The real thing, not 'self + 50 pounds'. It has other abilities relating to time and travel too. You can't offer it anything in negotiation, be prepared for a struggle of wills. On the plus side it is physically incapable of holding a grudge.
And Moment of Prescience once/day, meaning you can get a free 8th level spell. And it's not that hard to call and bind for a creature of its CR.
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Cetaceal Agathion [CR 15, SR 26, Will +9/+13 vs. evil, Cha 17] A useful healer and protector to take along on an underwater adventure.
Yes indeed. Good one.
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Monadic Deva [CR 12, SR 23, Will +10, Cha 19] A flying healer and protector. At-will plane shift and 3/day holy word are its best other abilities.
It's near the bottom of what this spell can do, but worth adding to the list. And of course, if you're nongood you can keep an eye on that sweet +3 mace.
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Astral Deva [CR 14, SR 25, Will +10/+14 vs. evil, Cha 23] This deva slays evil. At-will holy word, among other such abilities.
Yes, just a solid companion for a (mostly) good-aligned party. You may have to watch out for alignment issues, since it's a LG creature that's rather... focused.
Kelpie's wrath [CR 15, SR 26, Will +13, Cha 17] Did you know there's a sentient ship who can be planar bound? I don't think any magic circle is big enough to hold it, so use other precautions. Decent in a fight, but you'd call it to transport tons of stuff between planes. Apparently it will take live porn as part payment.
That is just hilarious.
Anyway: as a Herald, this guy is designed to be the target of Planar Ally, not Planar Binding...
I'd be willing to consider the possibility that as the herald of the pirate queen, he might be unusually mercenary as far as his heraldic behavior goes, being possibly willing to rent out his services to the highest bidder, as long as he'll be doing piracy on some kind of open sea, for his share of the booty.
I'd be willing to consider the possibility that as the herald of the pirate queen, he might be unusually mercenary as far as his heraldic behavior goes, being possibly willing to rent out his services to the highest bidder, as long as he'll be doing piracy on some kind of open sea, for his share of the booty.
Well, here's the relevant RAW: "Only a deity’s worshipers can summon its herald... In addition, only divine spellcasters can summon heralds, preventing arcane casters and spells like planar binding from effectively calling upon such beings. Even if a character proves powerful enough to call out to a herald, a deity has the final say in whether or not its emissary answers a worshiper’s summons, granting its herald’s service only to followers in the most extreme need or whose acts directly further its will."
To be fair, the Pirate Queen is herself a CN deity who might be perfectly okay with her herald taking side gigs. But you're not even getting that far unless your team includes one of her clerics who can cast Greater Planar Ally.
Alas, another herald. Planar Ally, not Planar Binding.
Missed the herald description on those two. Oh well.
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Bythos Aeon [CR 16, SR 27, Will +20, Cha 21] At-will greater teleport. The real thing, not 'self + 50 pounds'. It has other abilities relating to time and travel too. You can't offer it anything in negotiation, be prepared for a struggle of wills. On the plus side it is physically incapable of holding a grudge.
And Moment of Prescience once/day, meaning you can get a free 8th level spell. And it's not that hard to call and bind for a creature of its CR.
MoP is a personal spell; it's nice your bound servant has that bonus, but it's not like a free 8th level spell of your own, hence why I didn't note it specifically. I'm not sure Will +20 counts as easy to beat BTW.
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Monadic Deva [CR 12, SR 23, Will +10, Cha 19] A flying healer and protector. At-will plane shift and 3/day holy word are its best other abilities.
It's near the bottom of what this spell can do, but worth adding to the list. And of course, if you're nongood you can keep an eye on that sweet +3 mace.
Yeah, not everything you get needs to be a direct challenge to you if it gets free. The Monadic deva is a minor improvement on the Movanic deva which you can get with standard planar binding.
Nemesis Devil (Advodaza) [CR 18, Will +13, SR 29, Cha 24] Similar in combat potential to the Immolation Devil, but bigger and with some bleed damage that interferes with healing. No regeneration, which is sad, but some great immunities. It also has a slew of powerful spell-like abilities.
Nemesis devils have an interesting ability to grant other creatures spell-like abilities. The ones for the common nemesis devil domains aren't that great at this level, but if you call one with an unusual domain, you can get some that are extremely handy - true seeing, for example. And if you can find one with the Resurrection subdomain, you can get the ability to cast raise dead for free, which is always fun.
Wendigo [CR 17, Will +11, SR 28, Cha 24] The Wendigo gets lots of weird and somewhat creepy abilities that could be very useful for kidnapping or assassination. But its main draw is its 3/day howl with a DC 28 Will save for some truly horrendous effects up close and an enormous radius for the secondary effects. Oh, and it has regeneration 15, that never hurts.
Shemhazian Demon [CR 16, Will +18, SR 27, Cha 16] This one is quite powerful. A Gargantuan melee combatant with 6 natural attacks plus rend, as well as a paralyzing gaze attack and some strength drain thrown in. It also has at-will invisibility, which it can cast on the entire party. Its relatively low Int and Cha is a plus for controlling it.
Fomorian Titan [CR 22/MR 8, Will +18, SR 33, Cha 27]
This is a mythic creature (from Bestiary 4), but I don't see anything stopping you from calling it with Greater Planar Binding. As far as I know, this is the single most powerful outsider with 18 HD or less in Pathfinder. It is extremely difficult to call and control, with higher SR and Charisma than anything mentioned so far.
But if you can bind it, it is crazy good, even apart from its spectacular stats and powerful attack routine.
With 30 ft. reach and the push ability on all of its attacks, I imagine it won't get full-attacked in melee very often.
It has regeneration 15 (good artifacts, effects, and spells), DR 15/epic and lawful, 30 points of fire and electricity resistance, SR 33, and immunity to death effects.
And I don't even have the words to describe its spell-like ability list, so I'm just going to let you see for yourselves:
Planetar [CR 16, SR 27, Will +19/+23 vs. evil, Cha 24] A Swiss Army holy greatsword, it slices, it nukes, it heals, it sees everything, it can even buff and debuff! If you can bind this successfully you'd have to have a special reason to bind anything else.
If you're LG or close to it, and you're fighting evil, you could in theory call this guy starting at 15th level. I don't think that would quite destroy game balance, but it might force the DM to scramble a bit. But yes: this guy is the top of the list for angels.
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Shining Child [CR 12, SR 0, Will +10, Cha 24] +19 touch attacks and a 60' radius blinding aura, plus top-notch illusions. If you were thinking of debuffing it before making a deal, be warned it can cast spell turning.
It's chaotic evil and sort of Lovecraftian, so the DM would be within his rights IMO to make it crazy and difficult to direct. This seems like one of those WMD creatures -- you don't call it to follow you into the dungeon, you call it to turn it loose for maximum destruction.
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MoP is a personal spell; it's nice your bound servant has that bonus, but it's not like a free 8th level spell of your own, hence why I didn't note it specifically. I'm not sure Will +20 counts as easy to beat BTW.
Right you are on MoP. Will +20, fair enough, but by the time you're throwing GPB your spell DCs should be approaching 30. And after all, if a Planar Binding fails, you can just spend the time and try again until you succeed...
Nemesis Devil (Advodaza) [CR 18, Will +13, SR 29, Cha 24] Similar in combat potential to the Immolation Devil, but bigger and with some bleed damage that interferes with healing. No regeneration, which is sad, but some great immunities. It also has a slew of powerful spell-like abilities.
Nemesis devils have an interesting ability to grant other creatures spell-like abilities. The ones for the common nemesis devil domains aren't that great at this level, but if you call one with an unusual domain, you can get some that are extremely handy - true seeing, for example. And if you can find one with the Resurrection subdomain, you can get the ability to cast raise dead for free, which is always fun.
Oh, these guys are all kinds of good! Particularly handy if you have a bunch of lower-level minions who'll benefit from 3/day SLAs. And it's RAW that they're always eager to return to the Prime Material Plane, so that's a thing. If you want to run a scenario with an evil planar binder as the BBEG, giving him a nemesis devil as his henchman / biggest baddest summoned creature would make a lot of sense.
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Wendigo [CR 17, Will +11, SR 28, Cha 24]
? The Pathfinder wendigo is a fey, I thought.
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Shemhazian Demon [CR 16, Will +18, SR 27, Cha 16] This one is quite powerful. A Gargantuan melee combatant with 6 natural attacks plus rend, as well as a paralyzing gaze attack and some strength drain thrown in. It also has at-will invisibility, which it can cast on the entire party. Its relatively low Int and Cha is a plus for controlling it.
Yeah, it's all good. And note that its strength-draining bite does d4 Str damage even on a successful save! Handy for fighting single opponents. If you're going the demon route, this guy is the top of the pile. Nice one.
Fomorian Titan [CR 22/MR 8, Will +18, SR 33, Cha 27]
As noted in the first (Lesser Planar Binding) thread, I'm not including mythic creatures here. Mythic ranks make creatures so much more powerful that (as you point out) there's really no point in summoning anything else. So I'm not including them on the lists. (If I were, I would strongly suggest a house rule that you can't summon creatures with X number of mythic ranks unless you the summoner have at least that number of ranks yourself.)
This is a mythic creature (from Bestiary 4), but I don't see anything stopping you from calling it with Greater Planar Binding.
You are correct. Because the Planar Binding (and Planar Ally) spells only care about Hit Dice, and not about mythic ranks/tiers or CR, it's possible to call some extremely powerful entities without taking mythic into account when you do it. I personally think it's a hole in the system and would rather some sort of limitation be put in place on calling mythic outsiders (especially since they're not all that hard to control if you know what you're doing), but c'est la vie.
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As far as I know, this is the single most powerful outsider with 18 HD or less in Pathfinder.
As far as the 18 HD cap is concerned, though, you may want to investigate creatures with up to 20 HD as well, or even 22 in some cases. This is because there are now several feats (after Monster Summoners and Cohorts & Companions, plus IIRC the Blackfire Adept) that should allow you to bump up the HD limit of what you're calling.
Well I guess we could start out big. I'm unsure whether or not you're considering Augment calling in this list, so I'll post and see.
requires Augment Calling(devils)
Pit Fiend [CR 20, Will +18, SR 31, Cha 26] It doesn't get much more powerful than this. This devil comes strapped with 6 natural attacks that can inflict poison and disease, as well as the physical durability to participate in melee. Its spellcasting is the big draw though, with the most terrifying feature being the ability to cast power-word stun at will. Bindings don't get much more dangerous than this though, so be prepared.
-Nearyn
EDIT: If Pit Fiend/Augment Calling gets accepted on the list I'll go into more detail on its capabilities.
Also, I have been spending the last several hours compiling a comprehensive list and descriptions of outsiders up to 24 HD that you can bind with Augment Calling, Spell Perfection, and Darkfire Adept. I expect to be done within 15 minutes.
Let me know if there's another way to bump up that HD limit.
Heresy Devil (Ayngavhaul) [CR 12, Will + 13, SR 22, Cha 20] At first glance, this creature seems weak, and it IS one of the lower CR creatures we can call with GPB. This guy, however, is designed to make your enemy ragequit their lives. It can vomit on casters to force caster level checks to cast. It can stand on the backline and sling dispel good, dispel magic, major image, summon monster V and stinking cloud. It can use telekinesis to disarm people, it can use invisibility purge - this guy exists to invalidate your enemy's efforts and force tactics changes. It also empowers other devils to better use their summon ability, just by being there, which is great for the ambitious diabolist.
requires Augment Calling(demons)
Vrolikai [CR 19, Will + 18, SR 30, Cha 26] This is the Vrolikai, also known by his other name: Death to Unwary Spellcasters. Be very careful if you're gonna call this thing. Once it's firmly under your thumb, you can use it, but not before. In combat this guy lacks the to-hit rolls to keep up with higher ACs, making him well-suited to go after lower-ac characters. He sports 9... NINE attacks, 7 of which can inflict a permanent negative level, and one of which can make a cause confusion and deal charisma damage. Besides that he has a gaze-attack that deal negative levels, AND the ability to cast enervation at will, and quickened enervation 3/day. He has true-seeing, so no pesky displacement or mirror image will save your spell-casting enemies, and he can heal himself and others out of combat with regenerate. Make sure you never lose control of this guy, or you could find yourself without half your spell-slots 6 seconds later.
A Mini-Guide to Binding Outsiders to with More than 18 HD
Disclaimer: Possible side effects of binding the creatures below include but are not limited to getting mercilessly slaughtered by an enraged outsider. Also, developing a lifelong hatred of Will saves, SR, and Charisma checks.
There is a feat from the Monster Summoner's Handbook named Augment Calling. The feat increases the limit on the number of hit dice worth of outsiders you can call by 2 when calling creatures from a chosen subtype. This allows you to bind outsiders with 19 or 20 HD, giving you several excellent options, if you are powerful enough to bind them.
Options with Augment Calling:
Brijidine Azata [CR 17, Will +21, SR 28, Cha 23] This one is sort of meh at combat. It has an entrap option that's sort of a trap option. It has a useful list of spell-like abilities, at least, but nothing that strikes me as spectacular. You probably shouldn’t take Augment Calling (azata).
Purrodaemon [CR 18, Will +14, SR 29, Cha 21] Moderately useful for basic combat, a couple of okay damaging spell-like abilities, but nothing really special.
Thulgant Qlippoth [CR 18, Will +18, SR 25 if lawful, Cha 25] This is where the real fun starts. Thulgants are excellent at combat, with 3 ability draining sting attacks, as well as 5 acidic tentacle attacks and additional drain when all 3 stings hit. It can get full attacks more easily than most with its quickened dimension door (not self-only), and when it can't full attack it still has its horrific appearance and incapacitating spell-like abilities, such as flesh to stone, binding, and even temporal stasis. They also have at-will dimension door, greater dispel magic and even 1/day plane shift. They're pretty well set up defensively as well, with constant displacement, freedom of movement, fast healing, and immunity to mind-affecting effects. They are especially useful against demons. But be careful - thulgants will only serve if forced to against their will.
Star Archon [CR 19, Will +15, SR 30, Cha 23]
Warpriest: "Hey, what does that spell do?"
Wizard: "Oh, that? It summons a 19th level cleric with full BAB and D10 hit dice. They don’t have domains or channeling, but they do get DR, SR, regeneration, flight, some spell-like abilities, loads of immunities, and a couple of paladin abilities thrown in for good measure. Oh yeah, and they explode and turn into a shield archon when they die."
Warpriest: "..."
Translation: You want to bind this creature.
Vrolikai Demon [CR 19, Will +17, SR 30, Cha 26] Another spectacular one. These things hand out negative levels like they're promotional pamphlets, and they can even give out the occasional regeneration, symbol of death, or mass hold monster. Their tail causes confusion and Charisma drain on a failed save and staggers on a successful one. And as if all that's not enough, they can also turn anything they come up against into a juju zombie under their control just by looking at it long enough. Have a captured enemy? Hold their eyes open, and soon they will be an undead ally with all their old abilities and then some. And there's no HD limit for how much you can control at any given time.
Balor [CR 20, Will +25, SR 30, Cha 27] This iconic demon is a high risk, high reward option. They are quite difficult to bind, and will fight you every step of the way. They will also use their considerable power to extract revenge for the enslavement, unless you bluff them into thinking you are more powerful than they are (or who knows - maybe you actually are). Or you could just kill them after binding them. Regardless, if you do bind a balor they will be incredibly powerful melee combatants, not to mention at-will dominate monster, greater dispel magic, and power word stun, plus other useful spell-like abilities.
Eremite Kyton [CR 20, Will +19, SR 31, Cha 33] More brilliance all around. 5 natural attacks, each one bringing a save or be staggered with a save penalty against the eremite’s abilities. Grab on its claws, and a swift action ability to deal ability drain to a grappled foe. Plus a gaze attack causing paralysis and Wisdom drain, and great DR, SR, and regeneration. And the Eremite’s SLA list is one of the best in the game - at-will Shadow Walk for the whole party, 3/day plane shift for the whole party, several different SoS and battlefield control spells, some healing, some damage, and some symbols of pain. But the true strength of their SLA list is the ability to use greater shadow evocation and shades to replicate any 7th level or lower sorcerer/wizard evocation spell and any 8th level or lower conjuration spell in the game three times per day each, as a standard action. Now that’s what I’d call magic.
Olethrodaemon [CR 20, Will +26, SR 31, Cha 25] Gargantuan size and 7 natural attacks with lots of grab make this a fairly powerful form for combat, although the defenses are poor for this CR. It has some powerful SLAs and a breath weapon, but those are almost entirely just damage, and cannot be used many times per day. At-will wall spells are fun. A solid choice overall, but there are several options that are much, much better, especially considering that they’re not exactly easy to bind.
Pit Fiend [CR 20, Will +18, SR 31, Cha 26] The iconic devil, and rightly so. It is certainly able in melee, with 6 natural attacks (a couple with grab or poison) and good defenses. It’s spell-like abilities are extremely powerful; wish 1/year is cool and all, but it’s at-will SLAs alone can change the course of a battle. Create Undead nets you a freely made undead army, if you can control them. Invisibility works on the whole party. It gets other great at-will utility spells, like greater dispel magic, greater scrying, and persistent image, as well as some great at-will attack spells, like mass hold monster, power word stun, and trap the soul. But the most interesting thing about it is its devil shaping ability, which makes it possible to just bind a huge number of lemures and turn them into whatever devils you feel like.
But don’t worry, it gets better. With Spell Perfection, you can bind creatures of up to 22 HD in the subtype you picked for Augment Calling.
Options with Augment Calling and Spell Perfection:
Slimy Demodand [CR 16, Will +14, SR 27, Cha 17] This is...pretty awful, actually. You shouldn’t take Augment Calling (demodand) and I included this in my post just to tell you that.
Water Yai Oni [CR 18 , Will +18, SR 29 , Cha 22] Pretty good. A nice attack routine and some handy spell-like abilities, but the biggest thing is a swift action ray causing a save vs. nausea. In terms of defense, it has constant freedom of movement, but no DR. Not as good as some lower HD creatures.
Asurendra Asura [CR 20, Will +20, SR 31, Cha 31] Excellent. A great natural attack routine, good defenses, freedom of movement, and the ability to conjure a bunch of floating blades to attack your enemies. It has at-will greater scrying and greater dispel magic, plus some very powerful 3/day spells like demand and quickened baleful polymorph. It even gets 1/day time stop, although there’s not much it can do with that. Finally, if your GM allows you to bind asuras with the Blasphemous Sage alternate abilities listed, you can get asurendras with other interesting things, such as a Create Asura ability that functions like Devil Shaping, but for Asuras. You could even get a Sacrelidge Asurendra with a 1/day miracle SLA. If you can find a way to make its “blasphemous design” coincide with your goals, it looks like it could even use the more powerful miracle option that normally costs 25,000 gp.
Lhaksharut Inevitable [CR 20, Will +22, SR 31, Cha 20] This one can’t act be forced to act against it’s nature, but if you can work around that, it’s a powerful combatant, with it’s array of fantastic weapon attacks and good defensive abilities. As for SLAs, plane shift and imprisonment are very nice, but most of the others are average.
Solar Angel [CR 23, Will +23, SR 34, Cha 25] This is it. This is the reason you take Augment Calling (angel). This is the reason you take Spell Perfection (greater planar ally). This is the single most powerful creature you will ever bind. Solars are excellent at both ranged and melee combat and have great defenses, but that is not where their power lies. Their power lies in the fact that they cast spells as 20th level clerics and have a breathtaking array of SLAs. I’m not going to even try to list them here - you can just see for yourself. But rest assured: if you manage to bind a Solar, you will not be disappointed.
Finally, if you want to go all out, 3 levels in the Darkfire Adept prestige class can let you bind up to 24 HD creatures of your chosen subtype.
Options with Augment Calling, Spell Perfection, and 3 levels in Darkfire Adept:
Akvan Div [CR 20, Will +21, SR 0, Cha 27] The Akvan Div’s attacks and spell-like abilities are both quite good, but frankly not worth binding a creature of its HD. From what I can see, it has two main benefits. First, it’s Shake the Faith ability makes divine spellcasters shaken for one round after every hit even if they make the save, and it is cumulative, so it can make divine spellcasters frightened and panicked extremely quickly. Second, you can bind a bunch of jannis and use the Akvan to make an army of ghuls. Neither of these is worth the necessary dip.
Iathavos Qlippoth [CR 20, Will +28, SR 31 , Cha 27] Yes. Just yes. If you want to summon qlippoths, and you can deal with having to directly force it into slavery, it can totally be worth the dip. Obviously it’s very good at fighting, but that barely scratches the surface. Entropic Beams is insane. Horrific Appearance is insane. Abyssal Transformation is insane (but be very careful about those nyogoths). Constant foresight, freedom of movement, and immunity to mind-affecting is insane. At-will plane shift is just awesome.
Void Yai Oni [CR 20, Will +21, SR 31, Cha 25] This one has some extremely nice things, and could be worth the investment. At-will greater teleport, Void Form, and Void Trap mean you could take advantage of some careful tactics to crush unprepared enemies. Going incorporeal in general could be quite handy. So could swift action ranged touch attacks that bestow negative levels without a save. Plus there’s that whole array of enchantment spell-like abilities and the save DC bonus against humanoids - if instructed well, it’s possible that a Void Yai would rarely have to actually be in the thick of combat, thus making its lack of DR somewhat less important. And in my opinion, here’s its best ability of all: at-will vision SLA. Need to know something? Anything? About anyone, anywhere, whenever? Hold on, let me spend several standard actions to find out everything there is to know.
Nearyn: Yeah, Vrolikais are just frightening. Did you notice the Juju zombie thing?
Yep. It's fairly good at what it does. The main problem with this dude is that he's not particularly strong on his merry lonesome, which IMO means he doesn't really deserve his CR. Still, definitely dangerous, especially to low fort, low AC characters whose primary attack and defense derive from class-level variables :(
Well, at high levels almost nothing is going to be really strong by itself against level appropriate enemies, because action economy will trump CR. And if you can make juju zombie servents, why would you be alone?
But for what it's worth, the sting is still really nasty for martials, and the negative energy can be concentrated on casters. They'll lose the ability to cast their spells one level at a time, and even the spells they can cast will have a reduced effect and a hard time dealing with those checks to overcome SR.
Edit: Also, Vrolikais spending time alone can cover themselves in symbols of death and just wear cloaks when they need to avoid killing people. So once an enemy drops below 150 HP, they die.
And if they have a round to buff, they can cast silence on themselves to really mess with unlucky casters that get caught in the demon's threatened area.
They can also try to summon help.
And they do have a mass hold monster for emergencies.
Or greater teleport for real emergencies.
Re the Bythos Aeon and MoP, it occurs to me that it could buff itself with MoP after being called, but before a contested cha check (if the GM thinks of it.) Tricky.
Xiomorn [CR 14, SR 25, Will +14, Cha 24] "For the purposes of crafting magic items or constructs, it is treated as if it had all item creation feats" - sure, you can just hire someone with craft wand or whatever, but this may be simpler, and there are a few exotic item creation feats which it may be hard to find. Lawful Neutral so most can deal with it without worrying about being betrayed, and the symbol of scrying SLA can make it an excellent security guard.
Vilsteth [CR 16, Will + 14, SR 27, Cha 23] This creature is all about deception. Whether you want it to be an infiltrator, a spy, or even an advisor, it's formidable set of SLAs, special abilities and high skills, makes it uniquely suited to cause some havoc in secret. You can imagine this thing taking down governments, no trouble. Its weakness is combat, with none of its abilities really adding anything spectacular to battle. If you've done your research, and you know you're about to fight a bunch of strong guys with low will-saves, you could bring this creature and have some use out of him.
Vavakia [CR 18, Will + 18, SR 29, Cha 23] This creature will make you scratch your head in the beginning. He's sporting a +1 unholy ranseur, which is fine, and could be useful in some cases. Using it extends his reach, but handicaps his attack routine quite severely against anything of moderately decent AC. Let it use its natural attacks instead, and this creature is a powerful melee'er, sporting close to 300 hp, AC 35 and DR 15/Cold iron and Good. Yes, not one or the other, BOTH. This means most melee'ers must either bring a weapon that is uniquely suited to kill this thing, or has at least a +5 enhancement. It has a stun-chance on its tail slap, level drain on its bite and constant true-seeing. Out of melee it sports some good SLAs, with Power-Word Stun and Blasphemy probably taking the prize. Finally it has a strong breath-weapon that not only deals alot of damage, but can stagger good creatures, deal wisdom damage and even heal the Vavakia. Overall, a really strong creature and a really strong combat option.
Well I guess we could start out big. I'm unsure whether or not you're considering Augment calling in this list, so I'll post and see.
requires Augment Calling(devils)
Pit Fiend [CR 20, Will +18, SR 31, Cha 26] It doesn't get much more powerful than this. This devil comes strapped with 6 natural attacks that can inflict poison and disease, as well as the physical durability to participate in melee. Its spellcasting is the big draw though, with the most terrifying feature being the ability to cast power-word stun at will. Bindings don't get much more dangerous than this though, so be prepared.
EDIT: If Pit Fiend/Augment Calling gets accepted on the list I'll go into more detail on its capabilities.
Okay, it looks like we're going that route, so please do.
You're right and I'm wrong -- the one I was looking at (on d20pfsrd) was 3PP. So it's on the list!
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Also, I have been spending the last several hours compiling a comprehensive list and descriptions of outsiders up to 24 HD that you can bind with Augment Calling, Spell Perfection, and Darkfire Adept. I expect to be done within 15 minutes.
Let me know if there's another way to bump up that HD limit.
I had missed that Darkfire Adept gave you +2 on the HD limit! And it hadn't even occurred to me that Spell Perfection could double the bonus on Augment Calling. That's just insane. So, okay: in theory, with Augment Calling, Spell Perfection + 3 levels of Darkfire Adept, at 15th level you could call an outsider of up to 24 HD. However, as a practical matter this would be a pretty narrow build -- you'd have to burn seven feats and take three levels of Darkfire Adept. That doesn't leave you a lot of wiggle room. But getting 20 or 22 dice is already pretty sick overpowered!
Pit Fiend [CR 20, Will +18, SR 31, Cha 26]Before we start talking about calling this guy, let's take time to understand what we're going, okay? If you're calling this creature, while playing in the pathfinder campaign-setting, you're calling one of the top-dogs of the most ruthlessly efficient militant meritocracy in the multiverse. This means you run the risk of pissing someone off, someone that is not just the creature standing in your warding diagram. It could go over well, but it could also go over really, really bad, so make your preparations. This is likely the most dangerous creature one can actually call, and I'm not talking about CR here.
The Pit Fiend is a powerhouse. If you manage to get control of one, there are very few things that can challenge you. It comes strapped with 350 hit points, and those aren't going anywhere in a hurry. Without touching on the regeneration, that can only be stopped by Good aligned weapons or spells, this creature also has DR 15/Good AND Silver, against the attacks that manage to get past its AC of 35, which it is capable of buffing to 39 using an at-will SLA. It has the mobility to be a dangerous melee'er, as well as make good use of its SLAs, and both as a caster and in melee, this creature is a terror. Sporting the highest to-hit rolls of any outsider of its CR, on a series of 6 natural attacks, means that this creature has a good chance of hitting anything not optimized for AC. It's attacks can land the target with a strength-damaging disease, a fast-acting con-poison and the grappled condition (with constrict for added hilarity), all in the same full-attack. Yet despite these attacks, its SLAs are by far the most scary thing about it; featuring such heavy-hitters as blasphemy, create undead, trap the soul, greater dispel magic, mass hold monster, and power-word stun, all at-will. It further comes with meteor swarm, the ability to summon ANY CR19 or lower devil at 100% (that is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT) chance, and it may even have the ability to grant you a wish. Even out of combat these things will be of great use to you, as they effortlessly craft powerful undead minions, casts greater scrying and invisibility, and trap the soul (automatically creating the binding gem) of any other outsider you call, meaning you can simply break the gem later and demand the service of the trapped creature, when you need it – no negotiation required. This guy is a horror with almost no equals. If you decide to bind one, go conquer a nation or something, you're about as well equipped as you need to be.
-Nearyn
ADDENDUM: I misremembered the part about attack routines. It does NOT have the highest among the CR 20 outsiders. The highest is the Void Yai with +39 on its first weapon attack, followed by the Draconal Agathion with +36 on its bite. The Pit Fiend is on a shared third-place with +32 to hit on its 6 nattacks.
Heresy Devil (Ayngavhaul) [CR 12, Will + 13, SR 22, Cha 20] At first glance, this creature seems weak, and it IS one of the lower CR creatures we can call with GPB. This guy, however, is designed to make your enemy ragequit their lives...
The bit about affecting other devils' summon ability is particularly good for a diabolist, yes. And the fat guy in a floating chair visual, what's not to like?
-- A thing I should discuss more in the guide: in use, this spell is really sensitive to the particular whims of individual DMs. Under RAW, if you can make the rolls, there's no reason you shouldn't bind the biggest, toughest, baddest creatures possible right away. But (IMO) a thoughtful DM will find ways to preserve game balance and make it risky or otherwise unattractive for you to start calling 18 or 20 HD outsiders the moment you hit 15th level. I suspect there will be tremendous individual variation, though.
I had missed that Darkfire Adept gave you +2 on the HD limit! And it hadn't even occurred to me that Spell Perfection could double the bonus on Augment Calling. That's just insane. So, okay: in theory, with Augment Calling, Spell Perfection + 3 levels of Darkfire Adept, at 15th level you could call an outsider of up to 24 HD. However, as a practical matter this would be a pretty narrow build -- you'd have to burn seven feats and take three levels of Darkfire Adept. That doesn't leave you a lot of wiggle room. But getting 20 or 22 dice is already pretty sick overpowered!
Yeah, there's probably not much reason to go into darkfire adept, since at this point you can already bind creatures that are unbelievably powerful. But the Iathavos Qlippoth is crazy good, and the Void Yai's at-will vision SLA is quite possibly the single most effective information gathering ability in the game. And its not like those 7 feats are feat taxes (well, Augment Summoning is, but the not the rest).
Given that most any high level wizard can bind and hold several of these at the same time, how can you ever really defeat a high level wiz/sorc?
On a different note, would not many of these guys have have plans in place that make binding them a really terrible idea?
Many outsider with low HD have commune and that would mean the big ones should see the binding attempt coming. I would think that pit fiends and the like would keep track of anyone who had needed feats to bind them. Unless you take the feat after you get mind blank then they should know about you.
Also how do run a balanced game with this spell? I can see allowing for 1 bound outsider at a time but with spell you can get a dozen or more with little effort. If you bind something that can bind more for you then the size is limitless.
Can you bind an outsider already bound to someone else?
Also how do run a balanced game with this spell? I can see allowing for 1 bound outsider at a time but with spell you can get a dozen or more with little effort. If you bind something that can bind more for you then the size is limitless.
You've got the basic idea for reigning this spell in.
Your options basically boil down to the following:
Option A: be the grouchiest surliest most tightwad GM you can possibly be, subverting EVERYTHING the player attempts to the utmost of your ability and basically having to be a total douchebag whether you want to or not.
Option B: houserule restrictions onto the spells. A good one is a limit of no more Bound Outsiders at once than the spell's highest Planar Binding HD Limit would allow in a single casting. [This might allow separate pools of Bound Outsiders for each Planar Binding Spell.]
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Can you bind an outsider already bound to someone else?
Only if they took the bound outsider to another Plane. I believe you'd have to beat the current binder in an opposed Caster Level check though that may be me houseruling off the top of my head.
Seraptis [CR 15, Will +13, SR 26, Cha 21] This creature looks pretty meh compared to some of the other options you've got available. Its AC and DR means it'll stay around for awhile, but you look at its attack routine and it simply looks too weak to really have an impact, even with the 15-20 threat-range. It looks like it becomes better when you look at her grapples - 4D6+12 + 2d6 bleed + 1d4 strength drain, it sounds pretty good, yes? The problem is that her best way of grappling is with her claw attacks and grab, but remember that grab is limited by size, and this demoness is medium sized. So you're thinking she can use standard grapple maneuvers, since they're not limited by size, and you'd be right, but she doesn't have improved grapple, so if she tries it she's taking AoOs. Even though she has a fun set of SLAs, the DCs are generally too low to be reliably used in combat. She has 3 real draws that might save her – She has constant true-seeing. She can cast dispel magic at will. And finally she has a gaze attack that drains charisma, and once the enemy reaches 0 charisma, they try to kill themselves. This gaze attack is not one of those where you become immune for 24 hours if you save, so if you know you're heading into combat against a certain type of creature, and you've used a relevant knowledge check to learn their stats and learned that they sport low Cha, then maybe bringing the seraptis along could be a smart move. Finally, if you use her to dominate creatures out of combat, she has better control of them, than most other dominating outsiders you can find, so there's that.
Oolioddroo [CR 13, Will +16, SR 24, Cha 23] Let's be clear: this is not a combat option. If you're considering calling this creature strictly for combat purposes, reconsider and call something useful. This creature may have SLAs, but the DCs are too low to be reliably useful in combat. This demoness' usefulness in combat is more or less limited to doing doing a series of weak sneak-attacks with a low chance to hit. So why do you want to call this thing? Well, ladies and gentlemen, meet your new spymistress. This creature can go full-on 80's sci-fi B-movie on your foes, implanting eggs in the brain of victims, and immediately erase the memory of such an egg being laid. When it hatches she can then cast select SLAs directly into the brain of the victim over any distance as long as they're on the same plane. You can have some real sleeper-agent fun with this demoness, so if you take your time and tinker with her abilities in a situation where you have the time and option to fail a few times, the payoff could be really good (or at least really fun).
Given that most any high level wizard can bind and hold several of these at the same time, how can you ever really defeat a high level wiz/sorc?
It -IS- really hard to defeat high level wizards and sorcerers... or really any primary spellcaster. But it's not supposed to be easy. After all, a guy being a high-level wizard tends to be the only thing needed to make an entire Adventure Path, with said wizard at the centre of trouble. This is not exclusive to NPCs, this level of power is applicable to PCs too.
There are, of course ways you can defeat these high-powered reality-warpers, but let's not speculate on that in here, since it'd depend on the specific situation, and take up time we could use to help Douglas make his compilation :)
Mathius wrote:
Also how do run a balanced game with this spell? I can see allowing for 1 bound outsider at a time but with spell you can get a dozen or more with little effort. If you bind something that can bind more for you then the size is limitless.
That depends on what you define as a "balanced game". I've been binding outsiders for a long time, ever since my first character in fact, and I've had my ability to do so "dealt with" by GMs before.
I had a GM who, upon witnessing the effectiveness of my binding a succubus, and directing her abilities to assist us, had her sent back to the abyss, using a spontaneous anti-magic effect. Then when I tried to call another creature, he had a Solar appear in the trap, for no readily explainable reason. The solar scolded me for using this kind of magic and threatened me with harm if I tried it ever again. Needless to say, if you do this, do not be surprised if you have alot of vacant chairs at your table in the future.
This ability CAN be extremely powerful - heck, it SHOULD be extremely powerful, it should feel amazing to negotiate a deal with a powerful creature from another dimension and have it assist you, whether it's a partner or it's enslaved, you SHOULD be able to feel the massive kick your power gets.
Personally I feel like the GM should not be adjusting the use of this spell. It should instead be on the player to adjudicate their use of it. Nobody wants to see the campaign broken after all, so as a player, you just have to not be an a**hole :).
In my Way of the Wicked campaign, my GM and I have talked about the use of outsiders, and I've told him I intend to make alot of use of it. But in order to not break the campaign, I'll be using a few, specially selected ones at a time, and the rest will be sent across the country to work missions in secret, direct the efforts of my character's cult, or otherwise do stuff that still means it feels awesome that I -have- these outsiders bound, but do not invalidate any kind of opposition we may face =]
Mathius wrote:
Can you bind an outsider already bound to someone else?
There's nothing in the rules preventing it. If you know the outsider in question, and he's not on the material plane, then you can try to snatch him up with a planar binding, even if he's already in a binding contract with someone else. If he fails his save, he's called into your outsider trap, and what happens from there is between the player, the GM and the dice :)
Lilitu (Temptation Demon)[CR 17, Will +20, SR 28, Cha 28] You are not going to send this demon on melee regularly, apart form the branding ability it is nothing to be proud about. She has DR 10/good and cold iron, and 34 to AC, but I'm not listing her for those reasons. Spell like abilities: we find permanent fly, tongues, TRUE SEEING and why not, unholy aura, which buffs defenses. We have some goodies, but look, she has wish at 1/week! It comes with a DC 26 Will or be CE, and other not so nasty effects, but that's incredible. Husk family of abilities makes her great at sequester people. She is an infiltrator, and that +40 at bluff is truly good, except when it is used against you. Be warned.
The branding abilities are interesting, but you get only one attempt each round to inflict the brand (being touch attack is pretty easy to be affected). At 4 brands, you get -2 penalties for Will saves against the Lilitu. At 7 brands, you reduce the Wis score by 4, resulting in another -2 penalty (which applies to every Will saving throw). At 10, all the listed effects doubles, and the branded creatures automatically fails every Will saving throw against the Lilitu. That's beautiful (she has a lot of Will targeting abilities).
Last but not least, the Lilitu is the big sister of the Succubi, and she has a profane pact that gives you a +4 profane bonus to any ability score. And say goodbye to the telepathic link, because you don't have it.
The Planar Binding spells are indeed powerful, to the point of being potentially unbalancing. Under RAW, there's no limit to the number of outsiders you can call and bind. A 9th level wizard could have a squad of a dozen barbed devils -- that's a CR 11 or 12 encounter. A 15th level wizard with Augment Calling can call a 20 HD outsider, which is probably going to be around CR 18 or so. All of this is perfectly legal under RAW.
There are several ways for the DM to balance this without house-ruling or bending RAW. One is to wait very quietly for the player to make a mistake. This requires patience, but people get sloppy fast if nothing bad happens. So the PC calls something, and gives vague instructions, and the called creature follows them a little too literally...
A second way is for the PC to attract attention from powerful forces within the game world. If you're summoning large numbers of evil outsiders, there are probably knightly orders and schools of wizardry who are dedicated to finding and dealing with people just like you. Even if you're just binding things to follow you around dungeons, word is going to get around. And even if it doesn't, hey, divination spells are a thing. Sooner or later, people are going to come looking for you.
A third way is to bring in the attention of powerful outsiders. If you keep calling and binding creatures, then it makes perfect in-game sense that sooner or later Hell (or the Abyss, or the Boneyard, or wherever) is going to notice you – either because the outsiders themselves are talking once they get home, or because someone realizes that a bunch of them have gone missing. The DM is completely justified in having senior outsiders take actions. This may be whether direct and hostile (one fine morning just after breakfast, a Cornugon Plane Shifts into your living room with a blast of flame and a roar of rage; with a might fanfare of horns, two Trumpet Archons appear to summon you to judgment), subtle and hostile (three advanced Shadow Demons are dispatched to begin an elaborate conspiracy against you, working through NPCs and other party members) or even not-necessarily-hostile (a Contract Devil strolls into your room, sits down, pulls out a pen, and asks if you'd like to formalize an arrangement with the Marquis of the Seven Miseries; an azata appears, sadness in its great golden eyes, and wants to know whether you realize the trouble you've caused, and do you plan to make it good?).
This sort of thing will IMO be likely to happen faster if you're regularly forcing your targets to do stuff that ticks them off -- but it really should happen one way or another, sooner or later. I’d also say that Lawful creatures would seem more likely to tell their bosses about you, while Chaotic creatures would seem more likely to carry lingering grudges and/or come up with creative or bizarre ways to seek revenge.
As DM, I wouldn't be a jerk about this -- game balance does not mean that your PC is suddenly confronted with some insanely powerful creature attacking him or making outrageous demands. But it's definitely a perfectly legitimate tactic for a DM to complicate a PC's life in this manner.
I think you've nailed it -- the seraptis' main value is in her Cha drain attack. Two problems. One, the save is rather low for enemies you'll be facing at this level. Two, it's going to take a while to drain most foes to zero. On the plus side, foes are staggered if they fail their save.
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Oolioddroo [CR 13, Will +16, SR 24, Cha 23] Let's be clear: this is not a combat option.
Oh, this thing is your sick bastard spymaster par excellence. If used cleverly, it's actually overpowered. You can totally subvert a nation with this gal on side. From the other side of the table, if you're a DM running a demon cult led by a conjuring wizard or cleric, this can make your players incredibly freaked out and paranoid. Fun fun fun either way.
Note: Thulgants require Augment Calling (qlippoth) to bind.
Thulgant qlippoths are vicious yet horrifyingly intelligent beasts that brutally cripple their foes while shrugging off even the most powerful of assaults. They are also, as Ultimate Magic describes, extremely "arrogant and self-important," and they will take every step in there power to resist being bound by a mere mortal. If you wish to appease its rage after the calling, consider the offer of a helpless demon of great power and the opportunity to hunt more - but even that is far from a sure thing. This is not a creature to be called lightly, a fact further demonstrated by the feat selection necessary to even make the attempt.
When calling thulgants, take extreme caution - you really don't want one of these things escaping. Their basic statistics make them enticing targets for binding- good but not insurmountable Charisma and Will saves, but more significantly, they have no SR if the caster is not lawful. They do not have true names, but that's okay.
Thulgants can be absolutely deadly in melee. Not because of their damage, although that's not too shabby. Their combat prowess comes from their three sting attacks that carry with them a DC 29 Fort save or take 1d4 points of strength, dexterity, or charisma drain, depending on the stinger. Martials are going to feel that strength or dex loss right away, and for charisma-based casters, this will be absolutely awful. Even for creatures that are barely dependent on any of these scores, the drain will add up quickly. And if all three stings hit a target in a round (an accomplishment made significantly easier if buffed with haste), the creature takes some extra damage and must make a DC 29 Fort save or take 2 points of drain to every ability score. Oh, and just for fun, thulgants also have 5 tentacles with some acid damage.
These creatures also have a fantastic array of interesting defenses. Their AC and hp are nothing special, but that's not that much of a problem with their DR 15/cold iron and lawful, fast healing 10, and 50% miss chance from displacement. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. They've got constant freedom of movement, immunity to mind-affecting, and constant true seeing, which put together make for an incredibly long list of effects that they just straight up ignore. They also have immunity to acid, cold, and poison, constant cloak of chaos, and wonderful saves all around. Oh, and they've got evasion to go with that +30 Reflex save of theirs. All in all, a quite difficult creature to kill.
In addition, thulgants are actually quite mobile. Their freedom of movement, flight, and at-will dimension door are good enough for most circumstances they're likely to face. And when they need to get a full-attack, they can use their 3/day quickened dimension door. These advantages in positioning allow for effective use of attacks of opportunity with a 10 ft. reach and Combat Reflexes, each one carrying with it some ability drain on a failed save, and, if made against an enemy the thulgant has full-attacked that round, an extra chance to activate their savage stinger ability for all that extra damage and ability drain.
Okay, here we are: the spell-like abilities. I've already mentioned the excellent defensive array, as well as the dimension door, although its worth noting that neither the normal nor the quickened versions are self-only, so they can be cast on up to six party members as well if need be. They also have at-will telekinesis and greater dispel magic, both of which can be extremely useful. For use in combat they have 3/day flesh to stone and word of chaos with okay save DCs. They also have some really great 1/day options, namely temporal stasis and binding, both of which have permanent incapacitating effects while avoiding the awful material component cost. They also get plane shift (useful) and telekinetic sphere (probably useful to somebody...somewhere...maybe?).
Also deserving of mention is horrific appearance. Not a spell, but a splendid gaze attack calling for a DC 27 Will save to avoid being stunned for 1d4 rounds and taking 1d6 Wisdom damage. This has a 50% chance of affecting the the thulgant's allies, so don't go within 30 feet of this thing.
Finally, keep in mind that thulgant qlippoths are particularly effective for campaigns in which you will be fighting a certain type of creature. Against demons, thulgant's don't really have to worry about either DR or SR. Against lawful creatures, they force a DC 25 Will save vs. confusion whenever they get hit, not to mention gaining SR and being able to use word of chaos.
Wow, that was longer than I expected.
Hope it's useful!
Let's note that at this level, we're overlapping with creatures that can be called with Gate. So that's a thing.
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Brijidine Azata [CR 17, Will +21, SR 28, Cha 23] This one is sort of meh at combat. It has an entrap option that's sort of a trap option. It has a useful list of spell-like abilities, at least, but nothing that strikes me as spectacular. You probably shouldn’t take Augment Calling (azata).
I would agree. Also, the Brigidine is a fire-based creature, which is actually not a great thing at this level -- too many spells and items that shut down or target fire.
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Purrodaemon [CR 18, Will +14, SR 29, Cha 21] Moderately useful for basic combat, a couple of okay damaging spell-like abilities, but nothing really special.
I would agree. It's a fairly vanilla creature. You might call or gate it if you're a good fit in terms of alignment or are on good terms with the daemon lords, and you want to kill an army, or otherwise want a very straightforward combat brute. Otherwise, if you're going to call a 19 HD evil horror, you're likely better off with the next guy:
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Thulgant Qlippoth [CR 18, Will +18, SR 25 if lawful, Cha 25] This is where the real fun starts. Thulgants are excellent at combat, with 3 ability draining sting attacks, as well as 5 acidic tentacle attacks and additional drain when all 3 stings hit. It can get full attacks more easily than most with its quickened dimension door (not self-only), and when it can't full attack it still has its horrific appearance and incapacitating spell-like abilities, such as flesh to stone, binding, and even temporal stasis. They also have at-will dimension door, greater dispel magic and even 1/day plane shift. They're pretty well set up defensively as well, with constant displacement, freedom of movement, fast healing, and immunity to mind-affecting effects. They are especially useful against demons. But be careful - thulgants will only serve if forced to against their will.
Yeah, the thulgant is really solid. True, it's insanely evil and chaotic, and extra-hard to bind. But man, you'll rip through some enemies. The purrodaemon comes out well ahead in terms of raw damage, but the thulgant's bewildering array of abilities and SLAs make it a better all-rounder. And if you're dealing with demons, woo, this guy is going to be so much fun.
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Star Archon [CR 19, Will +15, SR 30, Cha 23]
Warpriest: "Hey, what does that spell do?"
Wizard: "Oh, that? It summons a 19th level cleric with full BAB and D10 hit dice. They don’t have domains or channeling, but they do get DR, SR, regeneration, flight, some spell-like abilities, loads of immunities, and a couple of paladin abilities thrown in for good measure. Oh yeah, and they explode and turn into a shield archon when they die."
Warpriest: "..."
Translation: You want to bind this creature.
Yes, you totally do. And if you're a good match in terms of alignment and goals, hey, he's got Miracle on tap.
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Vrolikai Demon [CR 19, Will +17, SR 30, Cha 26] Another spectacular one. These things hand out negative levels like they're promotional pamphlets, and they can even give out the occasional regeneration, symbol of death, or mass hold monster. Their tail causes confusion and Charisma drain on a failed save and staggers on a successful one. And as if all that's not enough, they can also turn anything they come up against into a juju zombie under their control just by looking at it long enough. Have a captured enemy? Hold their eyes open, and soon they will be an undead ally with all their old abilities and then some. And there's no HD limit for how much you can control at any given time.
Yes, the hits start coming fast at this level. It's all good. Mind, the juju zombie serves the vrolikai, not you, so make sure it accompanies the demon back to the Abyss come the day.
We missed the Elysian Titan (21 HD), Thanatotic Titan (23 HD), and Hekatonkheires (24 HD). Beyond that there's the Yamaraj Psychopomp (25 HD)... and that seems to be it; anything with more HD is either a unique creature or 3PP.
Am I missing anything, or is the Yamaraj really the top of the line?
Suijin [CR 14, Will +12, SR 25, Cha 19] -- A true neutral (no smite), serpentinean carp? This kami can fly and swim rapidly (60 ft), while moving respectably on land (30 ft); this is further enhanced by a constant freedom of movement SLA. Fast healing of 7, and DR is 10 cold iron and evil - so it would be a fine choice against mid- to moderate-level martial do-gooders. Resistant to fire, acid, electricity. DC 25 breath weapon that can push/bull rush, DC 18 modify memory and DC 19 quickened telekinesis make for some interesting encounters. With an 18 Int, it is likely that the INT based summoner would be able to intellectually outmaneuver the entity. Can also summon wall of turbulent water (read:drowning/control of gaseous creatures/battlefield control) with no maximum duration. Great for water-based campaigns/encounters.
Labyrinth Minotaur [CR 14, Will +17, SR none, Cha 14] -- Higher will save (26 WIS), but no SR/low CHA melee powerhouse. Charge, trample, multiple bull rush for all in reach.
By the way: Nearyn, have you read my Guide to the Diabolist? If you like playing casters who call things, you might find some items of interest in it.
That's a pretty good read. I've bookmarked it for reference on future characters. Thanks.
Omox [CR 12, Will +12, SR 23, Cha 18] This creature makes me sad, because it is very close to being good. Well... decent, - for its CR at least. The only thing this creature needs to be worth having on the battlemap is a size-increase(and reach). Alas, it's a medium-sized creature with no exceptional reach, and as such, it falls short. This outsider has two things going for it, and that is its grab ability into smother, and a load of immunities. However, since grab has a size-limitation, and this creature does not come packed with any grapple-feats, the usefulness of the smother ability becomes unreliable. If your lair is flooded, these guys could be decent sentries. Other than that, your efforts are better spent calling something else.
Man... imagine how great this guy would be if he was huge with 15 ft reach! You'd place him in the centre of the battlemap and let his 25 DEX + combat reflexes + grab + smother wreck bloody havoc on any enemy who as much as thought about taking a move-action. *sigh*
Nalfeshnee [CR 14, Will +21, SR 25, Cha 20] This is more like it. This creature's a better addition to the board. With a decent mobility, AC, DR and HP, this huge demon is a good blocker. It has a good fortitude and will-save, but its reflex-save eats, so keep that in mind. It has 3 solid attacks on a full-attack - it can even power-attack, turning a +11 dmg on each hit into +19 dmg on each hit. Unholy Nimbus is an OK ability too. The save DC is on the better end of 'not good' and it takes a round to go off, but if it works you're dazing your enemies for 1d10 rounds. The big selling features on this guy is constant true-seeing and at-will greater dispel magic. Couple these with his +31 perception, and the amount of creatures that are gonna sneak up on you, is gonna be limited. Finally, let us not discount the fact that calling this thing means commanding a hybrid boar/great unclean one, the size of an obese Orca.
That's a pretty good read. I've bookmarked it for reference on future characters. Thanks.
You're very welcome. It's a work in progress -- if you want the latest version, PM me your e-mail addy and I'll send it along. Also, comments are very welcome.
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Omox [CR 12, Will +12, SR 23, Cha 18] This creature makes me sad, because it is very close to being good. Well... decent, - for its CR at least. The only thing this creature needs to be worth having on the battlemap is a size-increase(and reach). Alas, it's a medium-sized creature with no exceptional reach, and as such, it falls short. This outsider has two things going for it, and that is its grab ability into smother, and a load of immunities. However, since grab has a size-limitation, and this creature does not come packed with any grapple-feats, the usefulness of the smother ability becomes unreliable. If your lair is flooded, these guys could be decent sentries. Other than that, your efforts are better spent calling something else.
Look closer. The omox has Create Water at will and Control Water 3x/day. That means that given a few rounds advance notice, it can flood any reasonably sized confined space on its own. Once enemies show up, Dim Door as a free action -> grapple with smother. It's not amazing against like-levelled monsters or melee types, but against casters? Grappled + unable to breathe or speak is bad news indeed. As to the size issue, hey, there's no reason you can't just cast Enlarge on it.
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Nalfeshnee [CR 14, Will +21, SR 25, Cha 20] This is more like it. This creature's a better addition to the board. With a decent mobility, AC, DR and HP, this huge demon is a good blocker. It has a good fortitude and will-save, but its reflex-save eats, so keep that in mind. It has 3 solid attacks on a full-attack - it can even power-attack, turning a +11 dmg on each hit into +19 dmg on each hit. Unholy Nimbus is an OK ability too. The save DC is on the better end of 'not good' and it takes a round to go off, but if it works you're dazing your enemies for 1d10 rounds. The big selling features on this guy is constant true-seeing and at-will greater dispel magic. Couple these with his +31 perception...
Unholy Nimbus is great. I think the nalfeshnee is a very solid all-rounder. Its reflex save is a bit of a glass jaw but SR, flight and immunities make that less of an issue than for other creatures.
Suijin [CR 14, Will +12, SR 25, Cha 19] -- A true neutral (no smite), serpentinean carp? This kami can fly and swim rapidly (60 ft), while moving respectably on land (30 ft); this is further enhanced by a constant freedom of movement SLA. Fast healing of 7, and DR is 10 cold iron and evil - so it would be a fine choice against mid- to moderate-level martial do-gooders. Resistant to fire, acid, electricity. DC 25 breath weapon that can push/bull rush, DC 18 modify memory and DC 19 quickened telekinesis make for some interesting encounters. With an 18 Int, it is likely that the INT based summoner would be able to intellectually outmaneuver the entity. Can also summon wall of turbulent water (read:drowning/control of gaseous creatures/battlefield control) with no maximum duration. Great for water-based campaigns/encounters.
I would agree that it's a bit of a specialized tool -- good for water encounters, otherwise not so much. Despite its 18 HD, it's much more of a battlefield control creature than a melee brute.
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Labyrinth Minotaur [CR 14, Will +17, SR none, Cha 14] -- Higher will save (26 WIS), but no SR/low CHA melee powerhouse. Charge, trample, multiple bull rush for all in reach.
Chaotic evil, but not a demon, so anti-demon stuff does nothing. Okay Will for a creature of its CR, but no SR and crap Cha = one of the easier CR 14 creatures to call and bind. You could totally have a couple of these bad boys stomping around your lair as bodyguards. Of course, they're not much good as anything but melee brutes, and also in Golarion it's canon that they're the special of one particular demon lord who might get cranky if someone else starts playing with his toys. But if you need a big loud monster to smash things, this is a fine choice.
@Doug M: There's something to be said for creative use of water-spells, and I won't pretend the Omox is useless, it can't be, even with just one casting of acid fog. The problem of the size and the restriction on grab persists though, making this thing's grappling really only useful against medium-sized creatures. You can't even enlarge it either, since enlarge is humanoids only, and the Omox is an outsider :(
The problem of the size and the restriction on grab persists though, making this thing's grappling really only useful against medium-sized creatures. You can't even enlarge it either, since enlarge is humanoids only, and the Omox is an outsider :(
Ohh, right you are. -- Well, what the heck was the point of giving the beast Combat Reflexes, then? All I can think is that it can Dim Door into a group of weaker combatants or casters, attack, and then get AoOs on anyone who tries to run. But that's very situational, and not the best way to burn a feat slot. Also, what's with that slime? Woo, it can cough up tanglefoot bags. The range increment is 20', it needs a hit roll and the target gets a save. Not really an impressive ability for a CR 12 creature.
Yeah, okay -- overall the Omox is rather badly designed, and so somewhat underpowered for its CR. Still situationally good, in a flooded or underwater lair, or teamed up with some other monster. But it's not on anyone's short list.
Morrigna Psychopomp [CR 13, Will +16, SR 24, Cha 16]- Medium sized outsider with regen and 12th level Inquisitor list. Can summon spider swarms she can see through with Arcane Eye without an action. Step up and Strike feats, and natural attacks with the grab ability make this creature useful in combat versus casters.
Uinuja, Azata [CR 13, Will +19, SR 26, Cha 21]- Large sized outsider that seeks to protect mortals who dream. She has some access to Psychic Magic, and is a decent ranged combatant with her spiritual starknife.
--An additional note on the Planetar, with just a few items and a high UMD (for the sorcerer), an enterprising wizard or sorcerer can use it to gain access to a number of 9th level spells in a short amount of time. Since access to 9th level spells is difficult to find, as they aren't generally available for sale, this is actually a sure-fire way to get them
Step one, bind. You should know how to do this by now.
Step two, offer LG Candle of Invocation for the service to sweeten the deal. You'll need it for when the Planetar prepares spells. He can keep it when you're done with him too, as you don't really need it.
Step three, on the first day of his service, have the Planetar prepare Create Demiplane, Greater, and also some lower version of the spell. This he is able to do with the Candle of Invocation by lighting it and blowing it out prior to his preparation time.
Step four, have Planetar create a timeless demiplane so you can do all your work instantaneously. Be sure to read the spell carefully.
Step five, Planetar casts prepared 8-9th level spell of your choosing since he has access to all of those spells. Use Scribe Scroll to gain a scroll of that at crafting price.
Step six, wizards can scribe the spell with a fairly simple spellcraft roll (DC 24) if it's on his list and can keep the scroll as a backup if he wishes, or even use it as a bargaining chip to keep the planetar happy to avoid future repercussions, or sell them at cost if cost is an issue. Sorcerers can use a Mnemonic Robe to use the spell once per day on their list with a fairly high UMD as he would have to emulate the wisdom requirement, (DC 34 if memory serves). If the sorcerer has scribe scroll (or a cohort/hireling), he can rewrite it as an arcane spell, again if it is also on the Wizard/Sorcerer list (I think. I might have to talk to the rules forum on this last point).
Step seven, resting and recasting in the timeless demiplane is instantaneous to the rest of the world, so take your time and return to step five until you gain all of the spells you desire.
Step eight, If your alignment and purpose fit well with the Planetar, keep him around for great justice. If they don't, let him go. At least the Planetar has gained some important tool(s) to use against greater evils, and since he was only gone from his duties for one day of service, with luck you haven't ticked him off enough to see him ever again.
