So, I was checking some spells for an out-of-combat manipulator-of-sorts character and Aversion came up. The spell makes a target avoid an object/place for days (or become nauseated if forced to be near it). That's cool and all, but the effect that happens instead of that when the target saves is what interested me: he becomes sickened while near the source of aversion (again, duration of days).
I know this smells a little bit like cheese, but is there any way to voluntarily lower a spell's save DC as it's cast (kind of like caster level can be lowered when casting)? Since I don't really want to make the targets run away or start puking all over, it'd be ideal to have the spell's DC as low as possible, specially since I might want to use it on lowly commoners and the like.
For this character, I'd prefer something that doesn't cost much (in terms of feats/levels/money/whatever), as I'm not looking to build too much around this.
As far as I'm aware no such thing exists. Sorry. The only option I can think of is to deliberately choose to have a relatively weak casting attribute and building around this weakness (buffers and gishes sometimes do this, as their spells are mostly beneficial, in order to raise other attributes when using point-buy).
If this isn't for PFS you could just talk to your GM about it and see if you can't just develop a lower-level version creating the effect you want. In fact, I'd try this route before you'd think of building your character with it in mind. Which you weren't going to anyway.
Good luck (or bad... that's how saves are failed after all)!
D&D used to have a provision (I think all the way back in 1st Edition) in which you could deliberately cast a spell to have a lesser effect (such as fewer damage dice, but this DIDN'T make the remaining damage non-lethal); this had no mention of Save DC (they didn't even call it Save DC back then), but that seems conceptually similar. No idea if this idea made it over into Pathfinder or even into D&D 3rd Edition; I haven't seen any such thing, but haven't been carefully looking for it.
As far as I'm aware no such thing exists. Sorry. The only option I can think of is to deliberately choose to have a relatively weak casting attribute and building around this weakness (buffers and gishes sometimes do this, as their spells are mostly beneficial, in order to raise other attributes when using point-buy).
If this isn't for PFS you could just talk to your GM about it and see if you can't just develop a lower-level version creating the effect you want. In fact, I'd try this route before you'd think of building your character with it in mind. Which you weren't going to anyway.
Yeah, lowering my casting stat just for this wouldn't work very well, as the character is already focused on it otherwise.
I'd check it with my GM, but he's mentioned that he won't be accepting too much stuff that's not Paizo-official. He's testing some new rules in this game, so he wants as little "interference" as possible. I might ask him anyway, though.
I also feel almost dirty asking for a homebrew level <2 spell that makes a creature sickened for multiple days without a save, even if it's just near a certain object/place. It's nothing gamebreaking, but still.
Good luck (or bad... that's how saves are failed after all)!
Haha, thanks!
D&D used to have a provision (I think all the way back in 1st Edition) in which you could deliberately cast a spell to have a lesser effect (such as fewer damage dice, but this DIDN'T make the remaining damage non-lethal); this had no mention of Save DC (they didn't even call it Save DC back then), but that seems conceptually similar. No idea if this idea made it over into Pathfinder or even into D&D 3rd Edition; I haven't seen any such thing, but haven't been carefully looking for it.
Spells usually have a bunch of effects that improve with caster levels (duration, range, damage, etc), and you still can cast spells at a lower CL in Pathfinder (as long as you use a caster level that'd allow for such a spell to be cast). So, that's kinda still possible in some cases. Save DCs aren't based on CL, though. =/
Could use a scroll... if the creator had a junkie casting stat the save would be low.
Could use a scroll... if the creator had a junkie casting stat the save would be low.
Only to a certain degree. The caster would need at least a 12 to be able to cast it, wouldn't he? That would make it at least a DC13 save.
Or is there some way to circumvent that?
Cast a spell to boost that target's base stat used for the save, first, like Owl's Wisdom for a Will save, to give them a bonus?
That might help a bit. It would require a longer setup for me, though, as the main things I was interested in accomplishing with the sickened condition were precisely lowering their will saves and wisdom-based skills. Well, at least I'll have days to work with.