I have a (now Unchained) Rogue (fancies himself a master of the occult, spywork, a Sindbadian sailor and a professional Demon hunter from an old, now dead family) that is coming back out of retirement a couple years later after finishing Rise of the Runelords (we are starting a post-Runelords side game on off days).
He is currently 18th level, though after some events in the final fight he has lost his hand (again)! He was using a Mithral Prosthesis for the longest time until then, but now I'm sitting in money and frankly might as well use it for the cool end-game stupidity that we all hear about in tabletops.
Now he can't Regenerate his arm (for backstory reasons) and he utilizes shadows as he main schtick, having something from the Plane of Shadow in his veins fueling his Shadow themed abilities and bloodline powers. So I'm looking for a way to simulate that as by the book as possible. Currently doing that by using Major Magic Chill Touch (and handwaving the off-hand... sorry).
Is there a more permanent solution that anyone can come up with? Chill Touch isn't on the Permanency list (and is susceptible to Dispels). Also having an actual hand to grab and maneuver tools would be great (which Chill Touch can't do). Not to mention the startup time to 'cast' it.
I know I can just ask my DM to house rule something but if I can get something closer to the book as a baseline that we could use that would be great. I have a large budget to work with (almost 130k just off leftover money). I don't mind reflavoring Construct Arms or Clockwork Prosthesis, but I'm looking for a Touch Attack that deals Cold or Negative energy damage. Was looking at Quickened Spell-Like Ability (Chill Touch) but I still can't grab and hold stuff with that hand which kind of sucks.
Alignment is CG/CN, dipping out of Rogue is NOT an option.
Templates might be worth looking at.
Thanks for the help in advance. I'm totally asking for a lot, but lets hear your best ideas :)
tl;dr: I want a phantom arm made of shadows that can grab and manipulate items. Being able to deal touch attacks with cold or negative energy.
Closest things that I know of what you want are Necrografts and the alchemist discovery Phantom Limb.
Neither are perfect matches, the grafts are completely corporeal and don't deal damage, but are undeadish, add can manipulate material things. The phantom limb does damage but is completely incorporeal and of course, only easily acquired by being an alchemist.
The best way to get what you want depends a little bit on exactly how you see this working. If your 'phantom arm made of shadows' is just a special effect, i.e. you can't reach through walls or anything and it looks all spooky but otherwise ineracts with the world like a normal hand, then I would expect it to cost the same (and have the same sort of game effects) as your previous prosthesis. As a GM, I wouldn't charge you extra for something that didn't have any mechanical effects. If you actually want the arm to be able to do all the incorporeal tricks, plus manipulate the physical world, I'd have to think quite a bit further, I would expect that to be relatively expensive, and I'd probably have to come up with some specific rules for how that would work, since it would be both incorporeal and corporeal at the same time (permanent great blink just for the arm (and hence a lot cheaper) maybe.
Then we get to the touch attack. This is somewhat inconsistent in the game as far as what it should cost. The most obvious is something like ghost touch, but that is very expensive of course and also takes the full weapon and strength bonuses and makes it touch. A continuous or use activated item with a spell, like chill touch, is relatively cheap, but not really something you find in the game that I can think of, so it would have to be custom. Use activated gets weird with instantaneous spells sometimes, so I would consider it a continuous with it being the equivalent of a spell with a rounds/level duration and have the base price of an at will chill touch item be 8,000 gp, double if it didn't take up a slot for caster level 1.
I'll definitely take a closer look at the Necrografts, I (dis?)like how they have a Shadowrun-esque Essence system to them (with advantages and disadvantages). Though Dave you gave me an idea with Ghost Touch and the Prosthesis though, I can create a +1 Brilliant Frost Ghost Touch Clockwork Arm for 98000. Would get me what I effectively need with little downside. The Brilliant would be pretty close to a touch attack.
The phantom limb spell is right up the alley but it would have to be a use activated item of sorts (which both the DM and I aren't entirely opposed to). I could also take a look at some sort of Chill Touch at-will, but then again the custom magic rules for an instantaneous effect like that are sticky as you say. Perhaps Gestalting the two together would also be an option, probably around the same cost as the Ghost Touch Prosthetic.
Thanks for the ideas so far :D
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I would think that such an arm should have a major downside such as not existing at all in bright light or daylight.
That sounds like a great idea to work with if the power levels are too crazy (though 18th level campaign, crazy is the name of the game :P )
For an existing item, there is the Wizard Hook Hand (4,310 gp). Add Frost for +1 Bonus (6,000 gp) to give it cold damage. Not quite a touch attack, but close. Total price: 10,310 gp.
Maybe the GM will let you go with a rune enchanted with Shadow Weapon at 10th level. Have it form a hand at will. This lets it be a +1 Frost weapon. Add in Spectral Hand for the form and for grasping/manipulation. You loose weapon attack for natural attack, and you have a disbelief ruining its abilities as downsides, but you get full hand manipulation, and rule of cool for an item. I could see this item being 20,000 to 30,000 gp.
You could instead go with Shadow Conjuration as a base spell and have a 20% real hand (100% if they believe). You don't need Spectral Hand, but if you add Chill Touch, you get it's strength damage and other effects rather than a simple amount of cold damage. This would be 30,000 to 40,000 gp.
/cevah