I'm playing a character right now that is thinking of putting on an intelligent item. It's a benevolent situation where it wants to keep it out of the reach of a terrible force. It really seems like the best solution as destroying it helps remove it as a required piece for the enemy to perform a ritual.
The PC and the item share alignment, but it is in the item's nature to battle for dominance, likely up to once per day. I would win the ego battle on a 1, but that's a critical failure.
My PC would potentially wear this item for thousands of years so even a reroll is just not good enough.
It has yet to have access to the item, but knows it will and what it is. It has wealth, and has just levelled so it has a feat to use. I would like to avoid using a Cyclops Helm if I can avoid it, as that is the most pungent of cheese.
Taking 10 on a Will Save vs an item or not failing on a 1 is the way to go. Has anybody seen an option like this?
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Charm of Fate allows you to save from the first saving throw each day if you failed by 5 or less. As long as the Ego battle is the first saving throw, you have a fool proof way of keeping dominance for 5k gold.
Have you considered just hiding it somewhere it cannot be reached?
he easiest way of doing so involves making a permanent demipane. Make another casting of create demiplane to expand the total area, but do not also make it permanent (each area created by a creat edemiplane spell must be individually made permanent) and then another casting so that you have three areas. One permanent, and two temporary with the permanent one one end of the three. Yet another casting to make the demiplanes a dead magic zone. Place the item in the first section. Wait in the third section. When the second section's time expires, it now splits the demiplanes into two separate demiplanes. Both would retain the dead magic quality, but one wouldn't be permanent. Now wait for that demiplane to end and eject you.
It requires 1 casting or permanency, 3 castings of create demiplane lesser, and 1 casting of create demiplane greater.
Now the item is stuck in a place where it cannot be retrieved or located from because magic doesn't work there. Only deity level magic and possibly wish/miracle can get past this setup.
You've got a few options.
Re-rolls will dramatically improve your situation. Improved Iron Will gives you a re-roll once per day, as would a luck blade. That brings you down to one failure in 400.
There are items that grant re-rolls that lack the "must take the second roll even if it's worse", but I'm not positive any of them are PF. (Our tables still allows a lot of 3.5e material.) It's worth some searching.
Mythic Iron will lets you roll twice any time you make a save versus supernatural abilities of non-mythic sources. Arguably the intelligent nature of the item is supernatural, and together with a re-roll, you'd be down to one in 8,000 attempts. Still, this requires a mythic tier.
Depending on the (unspecified) alignment of the item, you may be able to make yourself immune to its attempts to dominate you. Part of protection from evil and its family grants that. You'd need the appropriate spell for the alignment of the intelligent item. If it's true neutral, well, so much for that. There's a way to put a specific ioun stone into a wayfinder that grants this as a resonant power all day, but it might be against evil only.
There are probably some ways to use contingency to your advantage. You arguably might be able to have dispel magic target yourself if you're losing a battle-of-the-wills with the item, with the dispel set to specifically impact any intelligent items on your person. Could buy you 1d4 rounds to take it off. There are probably better, more rules-confident ways, but I'd have to do research.
Extra Traits can give you Second Chance or Lessons of Faith, both allow you to reroll a save, but they are both religion traits, so I think you can't take both of them. I don't know how extra traits works versus the normal traits given in character creation.
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As I read this, my first thought is, honestly, "How is 'never even having the chance to fail' any fun at all?"
My second thought is, "How does the character know that a re-roll on a 1 -- 'what's rolling a 1?' -- results in an actual failure 1 time in 400?"
Considering that you don't want to go for "cheese" (the cyclops helm), just don't go for cheese! Accept, as a player, that your character might lose control to the item for a bit, once every 14 months or so.
It's just better story.
Charm of Fate allows you to save from the first saving throw each day if you failed by 5 or less. As long as the Ego battle is the first saving throw, you have a fool proof way of keeping dominance for 5k gold.
Amazing. You're a champion.
Have you considered just hiding it somewhere it cannot be reached?
he easiest way of doing so involves making a permanent demipane. Make another casting of create demiplane to expand the total area, but do not also make it permanent (each area created by a creat edemiplane spell must be individually made permanent) and then another casting so that you have three areas. One permanent, and two temporary with the permanent one one end of the three. Yet another casting to make the demiplanes a dead magic zone. Place the item in the first section. Wait in the third section. When the second section's time expires, it now splits the demiplanes into two separate demiplanes. Both would retain the dead magic quality, but one wouldn't be permanent. Now wait for that demiplane to end and eject you.
It requires 1 casting or permanency, 3 castings of create demiplane lesser, and 1 casting of create demiplane greater.
Now the item is stuck in a place where it cannot be retrieved or located from because magic doesn't work there. Only deity level magic and possibly wish/miracle can get past this setup.
The PC in question is a monk. One who has achieved very high status (effectively a minor sovereign), and very smart, but still a monk.
Plus these foes have proven innately capable of finding this item through any means of shrouding, but comically lackluster at fighting the monk even without guards and SpeCial defenses. Your idea is excellent but it's not ideal in this case.
You've got a few options.
Re-rolls will dramatically improve your situation. Improved Iron Will gives you a re-roll once per day, as would a luck blade. That brings you down to one failure in 400.
There are items that grant re-rolls that lack the "must take the second roll even if it's worse", but I'm not positive any of them are PF. (Our tables still allows a lot of 3.5e material.) It's worth some searching.
Mythic Iron will lets you roll twice any time you make a save versus supernatural abilities of non-mythic sources. Arguably the intelligent nature of the item is supernatural, and together with a re-roll, you'd be down to one in 8,000 attempts. Still, this requires a mythic tier.
Depending on the (unspecified) alignment of the item, you may be able to make yourself immune to its attempts to dominate you. Part of protection from evil and its family grants that. You'd need the appropriate spell for the alignment of the intelligent item. If it's true neutral, well, so much for that. There's a way to put a specific ioun stone into a wayfinder that grants this as a resonant power all day, but it might be against evil only.
There are probably some ways to use contingency to your advantage. You arguably might be able to have dispel magic target yourself if you're losing a battle-of-the-wills with the item, with the dispel set to specifically impact any intelligent items on your person. Could buy you 1d4 rounds to take it off. There are probably better, more rules-confident ways, but I'd have to do research.
All good ideas worth considering, though a chance at two 1s is too high for the rerolls.
Become undead and therefor immune to all mind affecting effects?
As I read this, my first thought is, honestly, "How is 'never even having the chance to fail' any fun at all?"
My second thought is, "How does the character know that a re-roll on a 1 -- 'what's rolling a 1?' -- results in an actual failure 1 time in 400?"
Considering that you don't want to go for "cheese" (the cyclops helm), just don't go for cheese! Accept, as a player, that your character might lose control to the item for a bit, once every 14 months or so.
It's just better story.
The character doesn't have any concept of re-rolls. They do however, understand the concept that there is a small chance that it could take over. The character also knows that this charm will protect him when that happens. From a character perspective the actual mechanics need not ever be discussed for this item to still make sense.
As I read this, my first thought is, honestly, "How is 'never even having the chance to fail' any fun at all?"
My second thought is, "How does the character know that a re-roll on a 1 -- 'what's rolling a 1?' -- results in an actual failure 1 time in 400?"
Considering that you don't want to go for "cheese" (the cyclops helm), just don't go for cheese! Accept, as a player, that your character might lose control to the item for a bit, once every 14 months or so.
It's just better story.
PC has a very thorough understanding of the risks and is wiser than wisdom. If it loses control for one day, the result could (more like 'would likely') be the destruction of thousands of lives and the revival of an elder evil power.
This isn't a "lol I punched Steve and hired a stripper" bad day situation. It's a "Oh this happened. A planar war involving literal gods will probably happen" calamity. Once ever 14 months is many times over too much.The point is for the PC to be the guardian of the most powerful piece, and to still keep the others separate and guarded.
Become undead and therefor immune to all mind affecting effects?
Hmmm. It does have a vampire in a box, snapped and folded up like a bed sheet, staked through the heart like a toothpick through a hamburger...
Long story. Vampire dug its own grave on that one.
As I read this, my first thought is, honestly, "How is 'never even having the chance to fail' any fun at all?"PC has a very thorough understanding of the risks and is wiser than wisdom. If it loses control for one day, the result could (more like 'would likely') be the destruction of thousands of lives and the revival of an elder evil power.
Once ever 14 months is many times over too much.
The point is for the PC to be the guardian of the most powerful piece, and to still keep the others separate and guarded.
Isn't this self contradicting, as an argument, to using the Cyclops Helm? What you want is a way to guarantee you won't fail such that re-rolls and such aren't an option. You then see an item suggested:
"Charm of Fate allows you to save from the first saving throw each day if you failed by 5 or less"which is a guaranteed success, and think it's a fine idea.
But the Cyclops Helm is cheesy because it guarantees success?
Your post is literally "I don't want any chance of failing, and thus things that guarantee I can't fail are what I want; but I don't want to use <insert specific item> because making it so I literally can't fail would be cheesy."
The very first response yields a different item that is 600 gold cheaper, and suddenly guaranteeing that you can't fail isn't cheesy.
It doesn't make any sense.
EDIT: just to further elaborate. if you swap where you said "Cyclops Helm" with the first response's "Charm of Fate" the exact same thread and everything in it would read the same way; except you see one as acceptable and one as not acceptable.
Have you considered just hiding it somewhere it cannot be reached?
he easiest way of doing so involves making a permanent demipane. Make another casting of create demiplane to expand the total area, but do not also make it permanent (each area created by a creat edemiplane spell must be individually made permanent) and then another casting so that you have three areas. One permanent, and two temporary with the permanent one one end of the three. Yet another casting to make the demiplanes a dead magic zone. Place the item in the first section. Wait in the third section. When the second section's time expires, it now splits the demiplanes into two separate demiplanes. Both would retain the dead magic quality, but one wouldn't be permanent. Now wait for that demiplane to end and eject you.
It requires 1 casting or permanency, 3 castings of create demiplane lesser, and 1 casting of create demiplane greater.
Now the item is stuck in a place where it cannot be retrieved or located from because magic doesn't work there. Only deity level magic and possibly wish/miracle can get past this setup.
The PC in question is a monk. One who has achieved very high status (effectively a minor sovereign), and very smart, but still a monk.
Plus these foes have proven innately capable of finding this item through any means of shrouding, but comically lackluster at fighting the monk even without guards and SpeCial defenses. Your idea is excellent but it's not ideal in this case.
You can purchase spell casting services and UMD scrolls if necessary. It depends on how serious the threat is or if it's more of an inconvenience, as to whether or not the expense is justified.
As far as "innately able to find", what I'm talking about doesn't shroud it. But you would need a method of searching that crosses planes, most don't. And even then, those methods are magical. Magic wouldn't work in the plane, except deific magic, and so there magical search wouldn't work there. And even if they did somehow find it, they can't use magic to leave, with a possible exception of wish/miracle depending on how your GM interprets it. Now, the GM can ignore all that and make it happen if they want, but I would expect a good explanation for how they're defeating dead magic.
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Part of my point was excellently reiterated by BlarkNipnar.
The rest of my point is that what you're describing is just a plot device. There's absolutely no unscripted story possible in it.
So why not just say, "Enh, my character is smart and wise and has money, so let's just make that the item is permanently protected and nothing bad will ever happen with it a set part of the campaign plot"?
(EDIT: Not to mention, the charm of fate is more likely to fail than the cyclops helm, since, logically, the intelligent item would at some point figure out that the best way to vie for control is after the bearer has been in a fight and might be weakened. (I.e., it's not guaranteed to try to dominate as the first save of the day.) But the cyclops helm is simply a guarantee when you want it. If this really is "I cannot risk even the tiniest chance of losing control," then the cyclops helm is the right answer. If, again, it's just not treated as a plot point.)
Well, maybe consider buying the most expensive set of pajamas you've ever herd of? +1 Mind Buttressing Armor of Comfort would make any medium or heavy suit of armor into a mostly comfortable set of sleepwear. When you wake each morning and you have your battle of wills if you lose...you are immune to the effect. If for some reason you lose, just don't remove the armor. Total enchantment cost is 14k.
If you use a mithril chain coat as the base armor the cost of the armor would be 4,075gp (18,075gp total) with a max dex bonus of +8, armor check penalty of 0, and an armor bonus of 5, and there are 2 reasons to treat this as light armor but without proficiency in medium armor you still take a 0 penalty to attack, skills and AC while wearing it. Just an FYI between comfort, mithril and master worked there is a total of +3 to dex mod, and a 5 reduction to armor penalties, and even heavy armor would be treated as light armor for movement.
Not bad. Not bad at all. More martial types should invest in those armor enhancements.
As I read this, my first thought is, honestly, "How is 'never even having the chance to fail' any fun at all?"PC has a very thorough understanding of the risks and is wiser than wisdom. If it loses control for one day, the result could (more like 'would likely') be the destruction of thousands of lives and the revival of an elder evil power.
Once ever 14 months is many times over too much.
The point is for the PC to be the guardian of the most powerful piece, and to still keep the others separate and guarded.
Isn't this self contradicting, as an argument, to using the Cyclops Helm? What you want is a way to guarantee you won't fail such that re-rolls and such aren't an option. You then see an item suggested:
"Charm of Fate allows you to save from the first saving throw each day if you failed by 5 or less"which is a guaranteed success, and think it's a fine idea.
But the Cyclops Helm is cheesy because it guarantees success?Your post is literally "I don't want any chance of failing, and thus things that guarantee I can't fail are what I want; but I don't want to use <insert specific item> because making it so I literally can't fail would be cheesy."
The very first response yields a different item that is 600 gold cheaper, and suddenly guaranteeing that you can't fail isn't cheesy.
It doesn't make any sense.
EDIT: just to further elaborate. if you swap where you said "Cyclops Helm" with the first response's "Charm of Fate" the exact same thread and everything in it would read the same way; except you see one as acceptable and one as not acceptable.
I don't find the argument that a charm is cheesier than the helm relevant, it's more about setting a precedent. The charm requires an already-competent will save and is very tuned to do one job in this specific case. A Cyclops Helm bludgeons by comparison.
I don't think opening the door to having Cyclops Helm in our games is wise and won't be the one who crosses that line.
I wasn't insulting or combative in response to you guys, but now you have your reason so can you cease trying to debate with me about how I'm supposedly a hypocrite? I'm not here for that.
Have you considered just hiding it somewhere it cannot be reached?
he easiest way of doing so involves making a permanent demipane. Make another casting of create demiplane to expand the total area, but do not also make it permanent (each area created by a creat edemiplane spell must be individually made permanent) and then another casting so that you have three areas. One permanent, and two temporary with the permanent one one end of the three. Yet another casting to make the demiplanes a dead magic zone. Place the item in the first section. Wait in the third section. When the second section's time expires, it now splits the demiplanes into two separate demiplanes. Both would retain the dead magic quality, but one wouldn't be permanent. Now wait for that demiplane to end and eject you.
It requires 1 casting or permanency, 3 castings of create demiplane lesser, and 1 casting of create demiplane greater.
Now the item is stuck in a place where it cannot be retrieved or located from because magic doesn't work there. Only deity level magic and possibly wish/miracle can get past this setup.
The PC in question is a monk. One who has achieved very high status (effectively a minor sovereign), and very smart, but still a monk.
Plus these foes have proven innately capable of finding this item through any means of shrouding, but comically lackluster at fighting the monk even without guards and SpeCial defenses. Your idea is excellent but it's not ideal in this case.You can purchase spell casting services and UMD scrolls if necessary. It depends on how serious the threat is or if it's more of an inconvenience, as to whether or not the expense is justified.
As far as "innately able to find", what I'm talking about doesn't shroud it. But you would need a method of searching that crosses planes, most don't. And even then, those methods are magical. Magic wouldn't work in the plane, except deific magic, and so there magical search wouldn't work there....
I believe that the item and its other components either need to be in somebody's possession or in the barriers of certain sites to prevent a calling ritual that's supposed to be quite strong.
It's not established that it would defeat the anti-magic effect but there has been other plot things like that. Still, maybe figuring out the ritual to protect the area then using your trick? Hmmmm... fun fun.
Well, maybe consider buying the most expensive set of pajamas you've ever herd of? +1 Mind Buttressing Armor of Comfort would make any medium or heavy suit of armor into a mostly comfortable set of sleepwear. When you wake each morning and you have your battle of wills if you lose...you are immune to the effect. If for some reason you lose, just don't remove the armor. Total enchantment cost is 14k.
If you use a mithril chain coat as the base armor the cost of the armor would be 4,075gp (18,075gp total) with a max dex bonus of +8, armor check penalty of 0, and an armor bonus of 5, and there are 2 reasons to treat this as light armor but without proficiency in medium armor you still take a 0 penalty to attack, skills and AC while wearing it. Just an FYI between comfort, mithril and master worked there is a total of +3 to dex mod, and a 5 reduction to armor penalties, and even heavy armor would be treated as light armor for movement.
Haha, full-plate pajamas! :)
Cyclops Helm is just cheese period, related to this case or others. I don't like the item personally and it is something that doesn't exist when I run my games. I can understand wanting a solution that isn't the Cyclops Helm and at least asking for one, since a very easy one was found.
Our DM really seems to like the flavour too. A meditation with a string of focusing beads in the morning to suppress it is cool and he likes how the PCs choice to bear the burden opens new plot hooks. Party OOC seems to like it so far, too.
Thank you for the recommendations everyone!
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... Wut?
I did a search for "hypocr" on this page, and your post was literally the only hit.
Neither BlarkNipnar nor I are attacking you in any way ... we're simply pointing out that what you have asked for, and decided on, are illogical and contradictory.
Whether that matters to you or not is, of course, completely up to you.
(Me, I'm still fascinated by the idea that, somehow, this intelligent magic item that can end the world is so dumb that it will always try to assert control first thing in the morning, so the charm idea miraculously works. But that's just me.)
What you want is a way to guarantee you won't fail such that re-rolls and such aren't an option. You then see an item suggested:
"Charm of Fate allows you to save from the first saving throw each day if you failed by 5 or less"which is a guaranteed success, and think it's a fine idea.
But the Cyclops Helm is cheesy because it guarantees success?Your post is literally "I don't want any chance of failing, and thus things that guarantee I can't fail are what I want; but I don't want to use <insert specific item> because making it so I literally can't fail would be cheesy."
The very first response yields a different item that is 600 gold cheaper, and suddenly guaranteeing that you can't fail isn't cheesy.
Part of my point was excellently reiterated by BlarkNipnar (States issues with charm being accepted as an alternative)
Do you understand that I described the responses succinctly and that the word 'hypocrite' itself doesn't need to be present? The posts presumed the reason why I didn't want the Cyclops Helm involved was for the same reason I approved of the charm.
The intelligent item is a component given a semblence of will due to its powerful nature. A ritual component. It is not the great evil.
The thing may not always ego battle at the start of each day, but the DM seems to think the PC forcing the issue by communing with it most days is okay, and the PC can carry the item plus some backup options nonetheless for when it can't. This is fine.
If the Item can be reasoned with, why not give it to a "sacrificial lamb" - maybe a Simulacrum of the Monk - to control? Item happy, Monk safe, extra party member; what's not to like?
I believe that the item and its other components either need to be in somebody's possession or in the barriers of certain sites to prevent a calling ritual that's supposed to be quite strong.
It's not established that it would defeat the anti-magic effect but there has been other plot things like that. Still, maybe figuring out the ritual to protect the area then using your trick? Hmmmm... fun fun.
I would talk to your GM about it.
Within the rules, there is no ritual that could be antimagic. Only deity level magic and wish can beat it. But that doesn't mean your GM wont say "it just happens" if you don't talk to them about it first.
Nothing in the world can stop the GM from just making something happen, even though it doesn't make sense.
If the Item can be reasoned with, why not give it to a "sacrificial lamb" - maybe a Simulacrum of the Monk - to control? Item happy, Monk safe, extra party member; what's not to like?
Interesting to think about. Maybe even a wrinkly, furless cat?
I believe that the item and its other components either need to be in somebody's possession or in the barriers of certain sites to prevent a calling ritual that's supposed to be quite strong.
It's not established that it would defeat the anti-magic effect but there has been other plot things like that. Still, maybe figuring out the ritual to protect the area then using your trick? Hmmmm... fun fun.I would talk to your GM about it.
Within the rules, there is no ritual that could be antimagic. Only deity level magic and wish can beat it. But that doesn't mean your GM wont say "it just happens" if you don't talk to them about it first.
Nothing in the world can stop the GM from just making something happen, even though it doesn't make sense.
A PC pointed out that the item is an artifact plus the rituals to call the components were made by a demigod, and so it all ignores antimagic. Maybe we can perform the ritual against calling and then make a dead magic area, but they could find it?
A PC pointed out that the item is an artifact plus the rituals to call the components were made by a demigod, and so it all ignores antimagic. Maybe we can perform the ritual against calling and then make a dead magic area, but they could find it?
Unfortunately nothing in the rules exist for rituals, so I have no way of knowing how your GM governs it.
In any event, divination magic is definitely stopped by antimagic. But if they use one of these "rituals" that doesn't have rules then it's hard for me anticipate how it will work. Divination, plane shift, etc shouldn't work. But I can't stop GM fiat with rules.
Charm of Fate allows you to save from the first saving throw each day if you failed by 5 or less. As long as the Ego battle is the first saving throw, you have a fool proof way of keeping dominance for 5k gold.Amazing. You're a champion.
My GM ruled otherwise. "Automatic failure" is not something you can add 5 to. [He did say it did not trigger, so could be applied to the next failed save.] If you make a save with a very low DC where a 1 would normally be greater than the DC, you still fail.
In 3.5, you can save on a 1 if you are a Rank 1 Deity [but not Rank 0].
You also misunderstand the rules for Items against Characters.
If the character who possesses the item is not true to that alignment's goals or the item's special purpose, personality conflict—item against character—results. Similarly, any item with an Ego score of 20 or higher always considers itself superior to any character, and a personality conflict results if the possessor does not always agree with the item.
You only need to save if you are not true to your alignment, or if the item is really powerful.
Dominance lasts for 1 day or until a critical situation occurs
When in conflict, once a day is normal, but it can trigger more often.
Getting a Wayfinder and a pre-errata Clear spindle Ioun Stone, gives you Protection from possession and mental control (as protection from evil).
/cevah
Getting a Wayfinder and a pre-errata Clear spindle Ioun Stone, gives you Protection from possession and mental control (as protection from evil).
Pre-erra... oh for froghemoth's sake.
Mind-control: the most frustrating and debilitating condition that can be inflicted upon a PC, removing player agency entirely and frequently requiring a temporary PvP situation.
An affordable way to basically excise that from the game is just fine. This is (the) one errata that doesn't apply at my tables.
If I really, really want to mind-control a PC, my bad guy(s) will just need to learn how to dispel magic suppress the wayfinder for 1d4 rounds first.
My GM ruled otherwise. "Automatic failure" is not something you can add 5 to.
Well, he's officially wrong. First, Charm of Fate doesn't add anything, it turns a failure into a miss if the conditions are fulfilled, and second, this FAQ says to treat a natural 1 just like any other result when it comes to "failed by less then" abilities.
It's actually even in the description: "The first time each day that the wearer fails a saving throw, the charm of fate causes the wearer to instead successfully save if the roll was missed by 5 or less." You fail the saving throw (due to the "natural 1 = failure" rule), so the Ccharm checks the other condition. As -x is less than 6, that roll was indeed "missed by 5 or less".
A PC pointed out that the item is an artifact plus the rituals to call the components were made by a demigod, and so it all ignores antimagic. Maybe we can perform the ritual against calling and then make a dead magic area, but they could find it?Unfortunately nothing in the rules exist for rituals, so I have no way of knowing how your GM governs it.
In any event, divination magic is definitely stopped by antimagic. But if they use one of these "rituals" that doesn't have rules then it's hard for me anticipate how it will work. Divination, plane shift, etc shouldn't work. But I can't stop GM fiat with rules.
Yeah, I feel you. I'm dealing with the same vagueness a lot. It's a great story though. It would be very convenient if artifacts didn't ignore anti-magic fields and such.
My GM ruled otherwise. "Automatic failure" is not something you can add 5 to.Well, he's officially wrong. First, Charm of Fate doesn't add anything, it turns a failure into a miss if the conditions are fulfilled, and second, this FAQ says to treat a natural 1 just like any other result when it comes to "failed by less then" abilities.
It's actually even in the description: "The first time each day that the wearer fails a saving throw, the charm of fate causes the wearer to instead successfully save if the roll was missed by 5 or less." You fail the saving throw (due to the "natural 1 = failure" rule), so the Ccharm checks the other condition. As -x is less than 6, that roll was indeed "missed by 5 or less".
Considering how narrow a case the charm works in as well, it's a bit silly to want it more narrow.
Charm of Fate allows you to save from the first saving throw each day if you failed by 5 or less. As long as the Ego battle is the first saving throw, you have a fool proof way of keeping dominance for 5k gold.Amazing. You're a champion.My GM ruled otherwise. "Automatic failure" is not something you can add 5 to. [He did say it did not trigger, so could be applied to the next failed save.] If you make a save with a very low DC where a 1 would normally be greater than the DC, you still fail.
In 3.5, you can save on a 1 if you are a Rank 1 Deity [but not Rank 0].
You also misunderstand the rules for Items against Characters.
If the character who possesses the item is not true to that alignment's goals or the item's special purpose, personality conflict—item against character—results. Similarly, any item with an Ego score of 20 or higher always considers itself superior to any character, and a personality conflict results if the possessor does not always agree with the item.You only need to save if you are not true to your alignment, or if the item is really powerful.
Dominance lasts for 1 day or until a critical situation occursWhen in conflict, once a day is normal, but it can trigger more often.
Getting a Wayfinder and a pre-errata Clear spindle Ioun Stone, gives you Protection from possession and mental control (as protection from evil).
/cevah
A few thoughts here.
The charm turns the roll into a success, so it specifically doesn't fudge the dice up by 5; it checks how much it failed by. If <5, make the save successful.
The PC shares the item's alignment and is an ideal candidate for it, but the item is of the nature to want to be top dog. It's a part of its lore; it is the advisor who is really the king, but it's also ageless and patient. It by all accoints seems like it would be happy if it wasn't stubborn about being in the driver's seat.
That wayfinder change is annoying to me. It wasn't breaking the game pre-errata.
Getting a Wayfinder and a pre-errata Clear spindle Ioun Stone, gives you Protection from possession and mental control (as protection from evil).Pre-erra... oh for froghemoth's sake.
Mind-control: the most frustrating and debilitating condition that can be inflicted upon a PC, removing player agency entirely and frequently requiring a temporary PvP situation.
An affordable way to basically excise that from the game is just fine. This is (the) one errata that doesn't apply at my tables.
If I really, really want to mind-control a PC, my bad guy(s) will just need to learn how to dispel magic suppress the wayfinder for 1d4 rounds first.
I'd have just changed it so the caster innately knew of the wayfinder when their first spell fizzled or, better yet, had it turn off for 1d4 rounds when it successfully prevented a condition (with a continuous effect it protected the bearer from to trigger it still being considered 'prevented' still while it's off).