Spells to increase unseen servant power, balance feedback appreciated.


Homebrew and House Rules

Scarab Sages

So I want to improve the unseen servant spells to use as a city maintaining workforce and since my last attempt was not well received. I went off, reworked the spells and here is my second attempt for feedback. I start off with the base spell just to make it clear what I'm working from.

Unseen Servant
School conjuration (creation); Level bard 1, magus 1, psychic 1, sorcerer/wizard 1, summoner/unchained summoner 1, witch 1
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (a piece of string and a bit of wood)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect one invisible, mindless, shapeless servant
Duration 1 hour/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

An unseen servant is an invisible, mindless, shapeless force that performs simple tasks at your command. It can run and fetch things, open unstuck doors, and hold chairs, as well as clean and mend. The servant can perform only one activity at a time, but it repeats the same activity over and over again if told to do so as long as you remain within range. It can open only normal doors, drawers, lids, and the like. It has an effective Strength score of 2 (so it can lift 20 pounds or drag 100 pounds). It can trigger traps and such, but it can exert only 20 pounds of force, which is not enough to activate certain pressure plates and other devices. It can’t perform any task that requires a skill check with a DC higher than 10 or that requires a check using a skill that can’t be used untrained. This servant cannot fly, climb, or even swim (though it can walk on water). Its base speed is 15 feet.

The servant cannot attack in any way; it is never allowed an attack roll. It cannot be killed, but it dissipates if it takes 6 points of damage from area attacks. (It gets no saves against attacks.) If you attempt to send it beyond the spell’s range (measured from your current position), the servant ceases to exist.

Now here are my variants, I only provide sorc/wiz levels because I'm not sure how to balance level correctly for classes that get a level adjustment.

Unseen Servant Household.
School conjuration (creation); Level sorcerer/wizard 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (a piece of string and a bit of wood)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels), see text
Effect one invisible shapeless servant per level.
Duration 1 hour/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

This spell functions in all ways as unseen servant but it summons 1 servant per level.

Greater Unseen Servant
School conjuration (creation); Level sorcerer/wizard 3
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (a piece of string and a bit of wood)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels), see text
Effect one invisible shapeless servant.
Duration 1 hour/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

Greater Unseen servants can performs more complex tasks at your command. Although they can only be summoned at close range a greater unseen servant can travel any distance away from the caster in performance of its task, they travel at a base movement speed of 30'. It has an effective Strength score of 5 and an intelligence of 3 allowing it to figure out basic functions in service of this task e.g opening a door to clean all rooms in the building. However they are only able to come up with simple solutions to a problem for example if there is no water present they will clean the house with dry cloth's rather than travelling to a well to collect water unless instructed. In all other ways greater unseen servant functions as normal unseen servant.

Unseen Craftsman
School conjuration (creation); Level sorcerer/wizard 5
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M
Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Effect one invisible craftsman per level
Duration 1 day/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

An unseen craftsman is an invisible, shapeless force that performs the duties of one particular trade defined at the time of casting. An unseen craftsman cannot fight, speak, or even defend itself.

An unseen craftsman has a Strength score of 10 and all relevant craft, knowledge or perform skills necessary for this function equal to half your character level plus your casting stat modifier as being able to perform other tasks such as handling sails, assembling furniture or tending to animals necessary for this role. It cannot fly, but it can climb, swim, or walk with a base speed of 20 feet.

An unseen craftsman dissipates if it takes more than 1 point of damage per caster level you possess from area attacks (it gets no saves against attacks). If you attempt to send it beyond the spell’s range (measured from your current position), it ceases to exist.

Unseen Tradeguild
School conjuration (creation); Level sorcerer/wizard 7
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M
Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Effect 1d4+1 invisible craftsman per level
Duration 1 week/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

This spell functions as Unseen Craftsman except in duration and numbers summoned.

Household
School conjuration (creation); Level sorcerer/wizard 9
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M
Range Unlimited
Effect 1 servant per level
Duration Instantaneous
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

The final culmination of creating beings of force to serve the mage. When cast this spell creates permanent servants of a type to match the casters visulization (uniforms, race, gender, appearance, etc) to serve them. These servants have int 10 and can easily be mistaken for living beings except that they can't gain levels. They function as unseen craftsmen in all other respects.

Variant rule (I think this would be overpowered but maybe as a broken mythic variant? Then again by the time you can take advantage of this your a lvl 17 character looking at lvl 5 and below NPC's which wont really affect the game IF your player is reasonable)

Instead of having a skill rank = to 1/2 caster level + int household creates servants who have 1/4 the mages level in an NPC class with the exception of Adept or warrior which they can't take. They can't gain experience or levels and have 10 in all stats modified by level as appropriate. They can be told apart from living people as they only use these stats in service of the task given e.g. if told to clean a house the servant will continue to clean it indefinately and may be found in the worn down remnants of the residence thousands of years in the future if left there.


I like the unseen servant household and greater unseen servant, but I'm not keen on the craftsman or tradeguild variant. It's basically giving the wizard yet another way to make mundane completely useless for basically nothing.

If the unseen craftsman was 1 hour/level, maybe 2 hours/level and only created one, while using a consumable and costly material component, then I think it might work.

As for the tradeguild version, I'd ditch that one completely.

Scarab Sages

Really? I actually based the unseen craftsman on unseen sailor at Nethys archives. Well its not a big issue for me I mainly used them for a progression system to try and build up steadily to the 9th level one which as you can tell from it sharing the "household" placeholder name is still a work in progress where I really ant feedback.

I'm quite happy to drop tradeguild it was really just a transition to get me to where I wanted which was the 9th level one. Which as I said I'm not sure if I want to go with variant A or B. Also with regards to the household I feel I should put either a reasonably expensive component (500gp+) in there and/or a focus. Any thoughts there?

I'm not really inclined to change the craftsman one as I feel the changes you suggest would largely invalidate it for the purposes its intended for (sailing a ship the original not my variant). While I personally don't have a problem with the change as that was just a builder it has implications for the original. That said since I used it mainly to build up to the household I am quite happy to drop it entirely along with tradeguild giving me . . .

Unseen Servant lvl 1.

Unseen Servant Household lvl 2.

Greater Unseen Servant lv 3.

I'd drop the 5th and 7th level ones but I really want to get the 9th level one working as that was what all this work is for. So any thought's on how to balance this? I went with variant B but I added material components worth 1,500 GP per casting, left a way for all of them to be taken out at once. Put a few other restrictions on them and as I said I don't think this will invalidate mundane options because one leadership feat will give you better than you can summon with this the difference is this can create workers who wont insist on interacting with an anti-social mage and will last forever (or until dissipated).

Unseen Court
School conjuration (creation); Level sorcerer/wizard 9
Casting Time 1 hour ritual.
Components V, S, M (See Text)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels), see text
Effect 1 servant per level
Duration Instantaneous
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

The final culmination of creating beings of force to serve the mage. When cast this spell creates permanent servants of a type to match the casters visulization (uniforms, race, gender, appearance, etc) to serve them.

These servants must appear within close range though after their creation there are no restrictions on their movement within that plane. They can climb, swim or walk but dissipates if they travel to a different plane than the one originally summoned on..

They have stats of 10 and can easily be mistaken for living beings aside from their limited interactions. For example one ordered to clean the house once a day will not respond to attempts to talk to it but one told to help make guests comfortable can talk to them and act to ensure this happens such as fetching a blanket if they say their room is cold.

They have 1/4 the mage's level in an NPC class with the exception of adept or warrior which they are not allowed to take. They cannot attack in any way and are never allowed an attack roll. If it takes more than 1 point of damage per caster level you possess from area attacks (it gets no saves against attacks) it dissipates. They can never gain levels or xp.

To cast this spell the mage requires a focus of a gold statue set with gems worth 1,000 gold along with other ritual ingredients (coloured chalks, scented candles, a good quality suit of clothes) worth 500 gold. If the statue is destroyed all servants summoned using that particular statue as a focus dissipate. A statue focus can be used for multiple castings but the other ingredients are all consumed.


I think changing the craftsman to professions, knowledge, and perform would work.

I know that might seem like a silly change that doesn't alter much, but profession is someone able to do a job (sailor, merchant, trader, etc) which seems to fit better for what you wanted it to do, at least as far as I understand.

In addition, it seems like it would transition nicely into the Unseen Court you have, since the NPC class options they can have are non-combat. I do think the Court should have a limit of how far they can go from the focus statue, like 1 mile. But I don't see anything wrong with having multiple statues used as a focus, each one after the first increasing their max distance. For example: 1 statue = 1 mile, 2 statues = 10 miles, 3 statues 100 miles, and 4 statues (max) 1000 miles. If one statue is broken, then any of the 'court' exceeding the limit of the statues remaining could be pulled instantly back to the new limit (or to the location of the statues, decided when the spell is cast), dropping whatever they were holding/doing at the time.

You may be right about Leadership, but I don't have a lot of experience with that feat as every group I've played with, it's a banned feat.

Scarab Sages

People like to ban a lot of things. Usually because there always seems to be one rule lawyer, munchkin or the like at a table who can't be given nice things because they abuse them. Makes it annoying for those who wouldn't abuse them but could get a lot of use out of them such as a fighter using leadership to populate a stronghold.

Profession could work I'll need to double check things after I get back from work in a week. The only problem I see is that there are professions where you'd need to make something e.g. profession carpenter assuumes you can make wooden objects.

How about this for distance, using different quality of statue for the focus.

500 GP copper statue = 1 mile per caster level in any direction on the same plane.
1,000 GP silver statue = 5 miles per caster level in any direction on the same plane.
2,000 GP gold statue = 10 mmiles per caster level in any direction on the same plane.

So if say 20th level wizard used a gold statue the servants tied to it could travel 200 miles from the statue in any given direction.

Scarab Sages

Stupid edit time out.

I was looking at special materials as I didn't quite like the copper, silver, gold statue idea. I'm considering adjusting it to stone.

The lowest level is just a really well crafted statue made of regular stone worth 500 GP, the middle level is made from rare and valuable marble worth 1,000 GP, the highest level is made from a special stone that amplifies magic quarried from the shadow realm worth 2,000 GP. I like this one. You can stick a low level statue anywhere and its unlikely to be stolen, maybe vandalized as its just regular stone whereas the one that covers a large area is a stone that in universe amplies certain magical properties.


Another spell to check out as an idea to balance the crafting part is Summon Laborers. Its a lv6 spell that lasts 8 hours and summons 1 laborer per caster level. While no specific rules state they have skills as they use city building rules for labor and influence so they 'should' have those skills in a system not using influence and labor rules. Based on this i would say Unseen Craftman duration would be to long with the amount you can create. You may want to make it a level 6 spell and instead either lower the duration or make it one craftman.


For deciding the power of the craftsman remember Animate Tools is a cantrip.

It may use the caster's ranks in a craft skill to perform its task but any wizard utilizing Animate Tools can run an industrial revolution in their craft. With a cantrip.

Scarab Sages

Good point and I'll look at the spells to see hat I can do.


It is important to note that Animate tool is a third party spell and at least my brief look over look on the spell seems incredibly overpowered for a cantrip or even a low level spell. While it has a restriction of not producing magical items it is out of line with most other spells close to it such as unseen servant. In fact most everything unseen servant could do this could do better for longer and no spell slot. Clean, set off traps, etc. I would not suggest using that spell as guidance.

Scarab Sages

So it is i had it in the back of my mind it was core as it was familiar, thanks.

Anyone want to chime in on the unseen court virtual NPC variant? If summon labourer i think getting a 5th level npc class worker at 9th with expensive components that can be destroyed is workable.


I’ve entertained making some very similar spells before though I went in different directions.

Thoughts:
Unseen servant household should summon fewer servants, maybe 1+ (1 per 3 levels), but I think you also want text to limit them to a location instead of around the caster, otherwise the caster feels more like a majordomo than the master of a house.

Greater unseen servant should be fine. At 3rd level, I’d even consider upping it an effective strength of 10.

The unseen craftsman spells are problematic. You want to keep their skill bonus fairly low to not eclipse actual craftsman. I would just leave the casting stat out if it and have them just get level/2 to their skill check. And count as trained obviously.

For unseen court I would not give them class levels, just because it’s messy. It’s better to just give them whatever bonuses you’d want them to have.

Rather than unseen servant as a base, you might want to consider phantom steed. A ghostly butler could be all kinds of fun.

Scarab Sages

I could limit the unseen household one to 1 servant per 2 caster levels up to a maximum of the casters stat mod or 10 whichever is lower. For location I'm not sure it either could a sort of vague distinct human location e.g. this house (and grounds) or this (city) alternatively I could insert a reuseable focus of some sort (statue of a house maybe) and change the range to long as measured from that focus for how far they could move.

I can up the strength to 10 easily enough.

Most people don't seem to like the craftsmen ones. Hmm I'll play around your and Egeslean05 suggestion so they get profession, knowledge and perform at trained + 1 rank per 2 caster levels.

Unseen court I think I'll go with a level 5 NPC class and then convert that to what they get e.g. rather than clas 5 the spell summons a specific servant with x ranks, stats of 10 and so on.


I was thinking more that you cast the unseen servant household on a square/space and the servants have a range limit from that space. Their range should be appropriate for covering a property.

Scarab Sages

The problem is defining property which can be anything from a slum room to a estate several acres across with farmlands, woods and so on. So how much range should they have unless you define it as an arbitary this unit of residence which is difficult and what if you try to cast it on a city state style kingdom. I mean take Arendelle in Frozen would it be the castle, the castle and nearby town which is inside the walls linked to the castle, the castle and their lands like the north mountain?

EDIT
Just for fun I used the ritual generator book I have for the ritual to create an unseen court statue. I don't normally roll on this as you can get some odd results I just pick options that suit what I like at the time which I did here. So the ritual for unseen court uses . . .

20 Candles, 4 Primary ones, 16 secondary ones.

Primary Candles
10 inches tall, 5 inches across, smooth and made of Beewax. Placed in the skull of a humanoid that died a peaceful death (old age, passed in their sleep kind of death) at the centre of each outer circle. Each of the four primary candles is to be as follows.
North Circle.
Blue, generates a blue smoke with silver sparkles and smells of Jasmine.
East Circle.
White, generates a white smoke with silver sparkles and smells of Cedar Wood.
West Circle.
Green, generates a green smoke with silver sparkles and smells of Vanilla.
South Cirlce.
Red, generates a red smoke with silver sparkles and smells of frankinscnence.

Secondary Candles
Silver, 6 inches tall, 2 inches across, generate a heavy smoke that falls to the ground, smooth and made of animal fat. Placed in candleholders. Placed at even distances around the outer ring of the primary circle.

There are 5 circles one central one of 10 square feet and four secondary ones of four square feet placed touching the primary one at north, south, east and west points. The primary circle also needs a six pointed star with the points facing north, north east, south east, south, south west and north west. The circles are made of crushed gemstones (may change the price of the spell from the statue to the gemstones used) and the statue being used as a focus is to be placed in the centre (or for larger statues the circle drawn around them) of the primary circle.


In my opinion, the servant household should have a range of touch and radius of medium range from that touched point. You could cast it in the center of your mansion and the servants would be able to do chores in that area. Being able to go outside is fine for some light gardening.

Edit: On further thought, a medium range may still be too small for the radius. It should probably be either long range or some other special distance. For instance, a radius of 200 feet + 20 feet per level should be good for most structures. But, it would be simpler to just make it long range, if that won’t be too powerful

Scarab Sages

So your just looking at a house rather than a full estate for them to manage e.g. they can clean your room and maybe your stables but not manage the farm. I believe realtors define mansions as above 8,000 square feet so assuming a square of equal sides that's about 90 by 90 feet. So medium would do it I think, unless my math is off. It just gets complicated by the fact some mansions are much larger and others have grounds.


From the Magic Trick Feat:

Unseen Servant Tricks
In addition to the feat, skill, or other requirements listed in parentheses for each of these tricks, you must have the Magic Trick (unseen servant) feat to use the trick.

Phantom Decoy (Disguise 6 ranks): Your servant can inhabit a suit of armor as if wearing it, appearing as haunted armor. This reduces the unseen servant’s movement speed as normal armor would. Attacks against the unseen servant target an AC equal to 10 plus the armor bonus from the armor. Any successful attack damages the armor as if it were targeted by a sunder combat maneuver. An area effect that deals 6 or more points of damage destroys the unseen servant as usual.
Unfettered Servant (Reach Spell): Without increasing the spell slot, you increase the range of your unseen servant to long. If the servant moves beyond the spell’s range, it finishes its current task before it ceases to exist.
Unseen Apprentice (Combat Casting, Spellcraft 3 ranks): You servant is gifted with a spark of magical prowess. If the servant is adjacent to you when you attempt a concentration check, you gain a +1 bonus to the check. This bonus increases to +2 when you have 10 or more ranks in Spellcraft.
Unseen Assistant (Craft [any], Perform [any], or Profession [any] 3 ranks): You infuse your servant with the spirit of creativity. It can assist you as if successfully using the aid another action with a single Craft, Profession, or Perform skill in which you have 3 or more ranks. Alternatively, it can use any of these skills itself, using half of your total bonus for that skill.
Unseen Squire (armor proficiency): Your servant can assist any character in donning armor with which you are proficient. When doing so, that character is considered as having help to don her armor and can do so in half the usual time: 5 rounds for light armor, 1 minute for medium armor, or 2 minutes for heavy armor.
Unseen Warrior (base attack bonus +3): You imbue your servant with the spirit of battle, reducing the duration to 1 round per level but allowing it to take aid another actions in battle on your turn. The servant has an attack bonus equal to your caster level plus the highest of your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifiers.

Scarab Sages

Hmmmm those are all aiding but it is interesting.


Senko wrote:
So your just looking at a house rather than a full estate for them to manage e.g. they can clean your room and maybe your stables but not manage the farm. I believe realtors define mansions as above 8,000 square feet so assuming a square of equal sides that's about 90 by 90 feet. So medium would do it I think, unless my math is off. It just gets complicated by the fact some mansions are much larger and others have grounds.

Or you just need multiple casts in multiple hot spots. But at certain sizes of property, actual living servants would probably be desired. I see this spell as something more for a hermit lord.

Scarab Sages

Well honestly I"m not too bothered its the top level court one I want to get right as its what the rest are working to get me too. I'll adjust household as follows.

Unseen Servant Household.
School conjuration (creation); Level sorcerer/wizard 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (a piece of string and a bit of wood)
Range Medium (100 feet + 10 feet per caster level.), see text
Effect one invisible shapeless servant per 2 caster levels up to casting mod or 10 servants whichever is lower.
Duration 1 hour/level
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

When casting a spot is designated the servants summoned are able to move up to 100' + 10' a level away from this spot. This spell functions in all other ways as unseen servant.

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