Souldbound Shell Spell Selection


Advice


Alliteration!

In a home setting there is an school of wizardry taught by a Soul Bound Shell.

Now spell selection is very important for a Soul Bound Shell, as they can never change the spells they have prepared. So, besides illusions to look human, what spells do you think are most important for a high-profile archmage and acclaimed master of magic? And which ones can be imitated well enough with items? (Illusion spells to look human probably fall under this category.)


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Does the Archmage have to know that they are a Soulbound Shell? Could they have wanted to fulfill their role for as long as possible, commissioning their own exsanguination to remain in post for an indeterminate amount of time? In that scenario the Archmage could have had Baleful Shadow Transmutation Cast on itself, (or learnt it prior to Soulbound Shell life), thereby convincing itself that it is the real thing when their motives are tested/minds are read; this opens up playing out the character development of an increasingly lonely, fractured personality each time the Spell wears off.

Onto the actual question : I am not very experienced but I like these kind of thought exercises, so here goes ... :p

Having [0]-[6] Spells gives a bit of scope; assuming that they have the same Ability Scores as the Bestiary example the Archmage can have Prepared :
[0]x4, [1]x6, [2]x5, [3]x5, [4]x4, [5]x4, [6]x2

[0] Acid Splash, Daze or Ray of Frost, Detect Magic, Read Magic
[1] Charm Person x2, Mage Armour, Protection from Evil, Ray of Enfeeblement, Shield
[2] Acid Arrow, Blindness/Deafness, False Life, Make Whole, Shackle
[3] Deep Slumber orTwilight Knife, Dispel Magic or Spellcrash (Lesser), Haste, Fly, Vampiric Touch
[4] Black Tentacles x2, Dimension Door, Summon Monster IV (Hound Archon)
[5] Acidic Spray, Cloudkill, Dominate Person, Feeblemind or Teleport
[6] Form of Dragon I or Fey Form II v. Banshee Blast or Globe of Invulnerability, Disintegrate

* Instead of Preparing Mage Hand or Prestidigitation, simply use Gloves, Apprentice’s Cheating; if ever challenged they can say that it grants greater versatility this way.
* Instead of Preparing Unseen Servant use a 25gp Scroll when leaving the office; one of the basics of Wizardry is Crafting Scrolls, so there ought to be many "practice" Scrolls made by students.
* Employ Spellcasting Services to combine See Invisibility with Permanency to make Glitterdust less necessary.
* Mirror Image is less necessary in a "safe" environment like the Archmage's own school grounds, so I would go for more preventative measures that place them in authority, such as Blindness/Deafness and Shackle. If you need to avoid Attacks, a Belt of Incredible Dexterity or Scrolls of Invisibility would likely be available.
* Lightning Bolt is difficult to line up more than one Opponent and Stinking Cloud may not live up to the grand perception of an Archmage. Vampiric Touch and Haste are good replacements, giving further options for gaining Temporary Hit Points, (always good for a Construct), whilst dealing a fair amount of Damage, and increasing Land Speed. Having Dispel Magic or Spellcrash (Lesser) is a necessity for showing off supremacy, whilst Deep Slumber and Twilight Knife offer a display of either a Non-Lethal or Lethal style.
* Fire Shield can be quite helpful, yet you do not want to allow Martials close enough to hit you, (hence Black Tentacles), and you have the Mage Armour/Shield combination already. Instead of taking Damage and hoping to do a little back, get out of there with Dimension Door. This also offers the Archmage a way of reaching sealed/panic rooms in an emergency.
* I find Shout to be an underwhelming Spell, preferring to give an Arcane Caster a Summoned "meat shield" that simultaneously aligns them with Lawful-Good in spectators' eyes.
* You can give up one Slot of Cloudkill for the more Targeted Acidic Spray, whilst Passwall is too situational to often use. Instead I offer the Non-lethal route again with Feeblemind and Teleport, both different ways of asserting magical prowess.
* It gets progressively harder to pick a small number of Spells, so with only [6] Spells I really struggled. Disintegrate is a standard, useful choice whereas Beast Shape IV gives up Spellcasting for physicality. As such, Form of Dragon I and Fey Form II are better choices, retaining the ability to Cast Spells and use Magic Items. However, you may prefer a defensive approach to look "untouchable", so I have also listed the alternatives Banshee Blast and Globe of Invulnerability. Additionally, you cannot mix Polymorph Spells, so you would need a Hat of Disguise or a Wand of X Polymorph Spell to renew the Human visage instead of Baleful Shadow Polymorph, (which prevents other Polymorph Effects).

This is by no means a perfect list, in fact it goes to show how unused I am to limited Spells. Can a Soulbound Shell benefit from a Ring of Wizardry I-IV? If so, that opens up more choices for you as it adds extra Spell Slots not necessarily restricted by Cemented Mind (Ex).

If you really want to cheese it up a little, go down the Permanency rabbit-hole, it means that you do not need to Prepare some on the list and gives constant benefits - as long as they are not Dispelled.

Good luck with this, I am interested to know what choices you make - my P.C. is interested in Simulacrums/Constructs, so I might nab your ideas! :)


This is a very interesting thought exercise, definitely.

Bestow Curse comes to mind as a fairly versatile spell, and since the spell is dismissable, you can even use it as a temporary disciplinary measure.

Shadow Conjuration is definitely a must and I can see some use from Shadow Enchantment as well. Using both of those instead of preparing the specific spells also wouldn't be out of character for a busy headmaster. Come to think of it, this is making me wish for a Lesser Shadow Evocation right about now.

(Communal) Mount combined with Alter Summoned Monster(possibly via wand) and the Heighten metamagic should take care of any kind of summoning they'd want to do and provide them with some more disposable bodyguards.

Since they're a spellcaster and can have a pretty darn good Spellcraft, they can have the Craft Wondrous Item feat and make some items to help fill in certain gaps, too.

Some thoughts on the base chassis and possible modifications to the Soulbound Shell itself as a creature.

Spoiler:
One thing I would advise is to have this Soulbound Shell be customized so that it has 2 Slam attacks, so if all else fails it can Bluff that it's a Muscle Wizard that has something like Stone Fist activated and punch some fools in the face.

Also, the creator should totally have invested some money in raising its Charisma (to give it more bonus HP), giving it an additional 7 HD so that its skill ranks are higher and it's got even more resiliency, and buffed its STR a modest amount and its Dex a more than modest amount. Implanting a bunch of Scarlet-and-Blue Ioun stones into it will also help make up for any potential skill deficits, either from not having the skill points to have max ranks in enough Wizardly skills or not having the class skill bonus due to being a Construct. Although it would be well within a GM's rights to rule that all the class skills of the donor wizard/cleric are class skills for the soulbound shell.

Heck, you could also allow the Soulbound Shell to have been tinkering with itself with its Craft Construct feat.

Some thoughts on the subject of Soulbound Shells having Craft Construct:

Spoiler:
Since all Soulbound Shells have Craft Construct as a bonus feat, they can always make servitors to handle casting low level spells for them, such as Rune Guardians for various 1st level spells, or even higher level ones if one desires. Kikituks make for impressive display pieces in grand rooms or guardian servitors for the grounds and also have some useful SLAs at will. For instance, a Kikituk could be assigned to construction detail, using an at-will Stone Shape SLA to add subterranean rooms to the academy or be at work on one project or another repairing damaged walls or expanding various buildings.

Although, come to think of it, a swarm of Rune Guardians with Expeditious Construction, Stone Shape, and Unseen Servant making stone, using the servants to pick up the stone and move it into place, and then using Stone Shape to meld it together would be an even better visual and would fit in places you couldn't have an elephant-sized whale skeleton.

Having one or more Rune Guardians that cast Mage Armor at a decent CL not only saves the Soulbound Shell a spell known, but they would also double as a useful fixture of the academy.

There are also alternative options to the Soulbound Shell itself, as well, or that could have been made as assistants/body doubles.

Spoiler:
Hollow Ones can take levels, and their only real downside is the risk of them coming out evil or insane or going insane over time, which as a GM one can address if one wishes. Between their 15 to 22 HD from being a Construct and the necessary levels, they could have some pretty whizz-bang skill modifiers when it comes to academic knowledge.

A Trompe L'oeil of the original Wizard, either at or near full power could be used instead of the Soulbound Shell, or Trompe L'oeils made at a lower level than the Wizard or Soulbound Shell's power could be useful assistants and body doubles. Trompe L'oeil are probably the closest to being really cheesy, but this is for a set piece NPC and you're the GM, so that kind of concern matters a lot less. As a bonus, they can come back even if destroyed, so long as no one has found their original canvas and destroyed it.

Beyond that, Wax Golems of the Wizard can go on to become Wizards themselves or can spontaneously manifest some or all of the original's levels if they're based on a specific person. They have a more modest 4 to 6 HD that they can have while maintaining Medium size (IIRC, Golem HD and size rules aren't my strongest suit), but that can help give an edge to make it more knowledgeable without so many levels dedicated to raw spellcasting might. Not really very controllable by default, though.

These three lack the limitation of the Soulbound Shell on spells prepared, too.


I would suggest looking at the various sorcerer guides.


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Benslayer, that was a spectacular analysis. I'm basing the archmage's available spells heavily off of your recommendations, for the reasons provided.

Coidzor, I never thought about using bestow curse to get varied effects, that's brilliant. He's definitely preparing that, as well as the shadow spells. As far as the last spoiler goes, I'm loathe to use a Hollow One or Trompe L'oeil as they aren't actually the same entity as the creature they resemble. Regarding your second spoiler, I'm definitely having hordes of Rune Guardians. That's an awesome visual, and they can keep an eye on things for him.

In the end, for spell selection, I cheated. I'm giving him a number of magic staves (six, actually) that he uses of absolutely pressed (they take a while to recharge). With his staffs, he has a vast number of spells available. (Each of the staffs (which he crafted while alive) also contain read magic, so that he can always recharge them.) The ones he actually prepares, though, and expects to use at least once in a typical week, are as follows:

6- Greater Dispel Magic, Greater Shadow Enchantment
5- Mage's Private Sanctum, Teleport (x2), Shadow Evocation
4- Detect Scrying, Greater Bestow Curse, Greater Make Whole, Phantom Chariot, Shadow Conjuration
3- Bestow Curse, Clairvoyance/Clairaudience, Dispel Magic, Seek Thoughts, Suggestion
2- Detect Thoughts, Greater Detect Magic, Invisibility, Locate Object, Minor Image
1- Charm Person (x2), Feather Fall, Mage Armor, Protection From Evil, Shield

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