1. This is probably opening a can of worms but: does the whole concept of simulacra bother anyone else? It creates a (usually) sentient creature that has no choice but to obey the caster. I think it should be an [evil] spell as it's basically creating a slave (in some ways, it's worse, as even a slave can rebel.)
2. What happens to the simulacrum if the creator dies? Is it freed? Or does it just keep carrying out the creator's last command until it dies?
When used properly simulacrum is fine... the problems arise when people try to manipulate the rules for material components to conjure a simulacrum out of thin air for free. It is a very powerful spell, possibly too powerful for some campaigns. I kinda wish Paizo would have kept the original material components for simulacrum however, as requiring a drop of blood or nail clipping from the exact creature to be duplicated certainly does limit abuse when a DM properly enforces that such components can’t be ignored.
As for what happens when the creator dies, the simulacrum continues to carry out the creators last command until it is completed or dies. If it finishes the task, then it proceeds to act as the duplicated creature would have (with appropriate behavioral adjustments based on the caster’s control) until it receives another command or dies.
A simulacrum is not a real creature, it is a souless robot made of shadow and snow. So the creation of it is not alligned. How it is used, how the creator views it, these could be aligned.
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When used properly simulacrum is fine... the problems arise when people try to manipulate the rules for material components to conjure a simulacrum out of thin air for free. It is a very powerful spell, possibly too powerful for some campaigns. I kinda wish Paizo would have kept the original material components for simulacrum however, as requiring a drop of blood or nail clipping from the exact creature to be duplicated certainly does limit abuse when a DM properly enforces that such components can’t be ignored.
As for what happens when the creator dies, the simulacrum continues to carry out the creators last command until it is completed or dies. If it finishes the task, then it proceeds to act as the duplicated creature would have (with appropriate behavioral adjustments based on the caster’s control) until it receives another command or dies.
Huh i thought they were required, ive always played with them but then again like i said i normally use it to duplicate myself.
I like the shenanigans of the Winter Hag using it to bolster her Coven.
The spell can be powerful and it is possible to abuse it. Much like the Leadership feat.
Huh i thought they were required, ive always played with them but then again like i said i normally use it to duplicate myself.When used properly simulacrum is fine... the problems arise when people try to manipulate the rules for material components to conjure a simulacrum out of thin air for free. It is a very powerful spell, possibly too powerful for some campaigns. I kinda wish Paizo would have kept the original material components for simulacrum however, as requiring a drop of blood or nail clipping from the exact creature to be duplicated certainly does limit abuse when a DM properly enforces that such components can’t be ignored.
As for what happens when the creator dies, the simulacrum continues to carry out the creators last command until it is completed or dies. If it finishes the task, then it proceeds to act as the duplicated creature would have (with appropriate behavioral adjustments based on the caster’s control) until it receives another command or dies.
I wish they were still required... but Piazo for whatever reason decided to change the material components for the spell...
Pathfinder simulacrum materials: ice sculpture of the target plus powdered rubies worth 500 gp per HD of the simulacrum
D&D 3.5 simulacrum materials: The spell is cast over the rough snow or ice form, and some piece of the creature to be duplicated (hair, nail, or the like) must be placed inside the snow or ice. Additionally, the spell requires powdered ruby worth 100 gp per HD of the simulacrum to be created.
While the cost in ruby dust is 5x higher in pathfinder, the genetic component that acted as a limiting factor to the spell was removed... which honestly makes the spell more broken in pathfinder than it ever really was in 3.5 (though just as broken as people constantly bent the rules to make it)...
Simulacrum's power is merely greatly diminished, but still overly powerful, if you can't bypass the part of creature requirement. Using it on yourself can break the action economy and make something that churns out lower level crafting stuff. It keeps much of its crazy just by taking pieces of fallen (non-humanoid) enemies. That forces the GM to be very careful about what they throw at the party, which is something it does just by existing in a spellbook unprepared.
For whatever reason we don’t actually need the creature components in Pathfinder... just D&D 3.5... the removal of that specific component makes it far more powerful than it should be.
True, DM strictness as too the likeness of the sculpture can act as a limiting factor... but there are many out there who include the sculpture in the category of ignorable materials via eschew materials or component pouches... which is utterly stupid... A component pouch will never contain a life sized ice statue of anything, and if you ignore it through eschew materials then what are you turning into the simulacrum, it’s supposed to be the ice sculpture that becomes its body.
The creature part component was a far better limiting factor as it explicitly had to be an exact component and the materials for 3.5 even made the sculpture unignorable by making it explicitly the target of the spell even. Though even that didn’t stop people from claiming “no GP value, it can be ignored”...
It’s just probably the most over abused spell in existence... I am actually glad to see people here though agreeing about not ignoring those components for simulacrum. I posted about them being unignorable at another location for 3.5 before and was told that I didn’t know what I was talking about, and that because they have no GP value they can always be ignored...
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Well learn something new every day as they say. I guess I'll just add that to my houserules and require simulcrum needs a material component of x from the source which can't be ignored by eschew materials because its value is priceless. A phsycial component of a being in myth used to offer such power that casters would destroy nail and hair clippings to avoid giving an enemy that hold over them.
*is glad that Ice Assassin isn't in PF*
On a related note, the party's sorcerer, in a bid to settle a matter of who has claim to her kingdom, challenged an illusionist to a death duel, with stipulations about no other participants but the two and their magic.
Once the duel started, the opponent dumps a bag full of a dozen simulacra of himself on the battlefield.One Globe of Invulnerability almost nullifies anything the simulacrum illusionists can do, unless they all charge into melee.
Creating copies of things with classes and levels has never been the problem. Creating copies of things that have high level spell like abilities and powerful supernatural abilities is the problem.
A half strength Glabrezu isn't all that threatening as a guard, but their ability to grant a wish is probably intact. Factor in that the simulacrum Glabrezu is actually loyal to the creator and it will pervert the wish to benefit the creator. So if the creator wishes for a goose, he gets one that lays golden eggs.
I would rule that any creature with the wish ability only gains it upon "gaining" it's final HD. Any mock-up with less than the default HD would not have the wish ability.
1. This is probably opening a can of worms but: does the whole concept of simulacra bother anyone else? It creates a (usually) sentient creature that has no choice but to obey the caster. I think it should be an [evil] spell as it's basically creating a slave (in some ways, it's worse, as even a slave can rebel.)
2. What happens to the simulacrum if the creator dies? Is it freed? Or does it just keep carrying out the creator's last command until it dies?
There are any number of spells that are permanent.
There are other ways of creating "creatures" lke constructs.There are binding spells, and intelligent magic items.
A simulacrum is just another tool to be used by the creator.
How you use the creature is much more important to your alignment. The use of slaves has not been seen as wholly evil. It has had a place in many cultures. Sometimes as a way to handle captured enemies or convicted criminals. Other times it is a way to profit on other's labor and usually includes slavers that capture creatures to enslave them. The slavers are usually considered evil, but the civil enslavement is usually considered neutral. Modern ethics, however consider any enslavement as evil. To avoid the appearance of enslavement, criminals that are worked to man the fire watch or fix up roads are paid some amount and their imprisonment may be lessened due to this community service.
What happens after the creator dies? Well, the simulacrum is free willed within the constraints of the creator's orders. They will act as they normally would as if the original creature was magically constrained by the creator's orders.
/cevah
Waaay back, the simulacrum was defined to have a portion of the original's memory. This would be used to interrogate the sim since it had absolute loyalty to the creator. Make more than one, and you increase your memory coverage.
The current spell does not mention copying the original's memories, and has generally been played as having the normal knowledge of a generic creature of that type and nothing special.
Making a duplicate of a ruler is a standard trope of an evil wizard secretly taking over by replacing the true ruler.
/cevah