I have a first mother's fang cavalier that I've multiclassed into hunter with. I would like for my snake to be able to assist in scouting and the spell Harmless Form seems like a good match. It would allow the snake to take on a small size giving it a bonus(instead of a penalty) to stealth.
However, looking at the spell I'm wondering about some things.
1. Can I even cast this spell on my riding constrictor? The spell states that the new form must have the same approximate body shape and it must be unobtrusive. It lists a bunch of forms but I'm not sure if that is an exclusive list or just a bunch of examples. I believe it works and that I should be able to pick for it to either become a viper or a constrictor as these are animals that could be purchased.
2. Assuming I can use the spell, what abilities would the constrictor gain or lose? Since it references beast shape II I'm assuming it would keep everything except for it's constrict ability as a constrictor and that it wouldn't gain poison as a viper. Additionally, that it's stats and natural weapons would change as per the size change rules. Or do these not change and it just gets the static bonuses listed for a small creature via beast shape I?
3. If harmless form doesn't work on my constrictor (or I suppose even if it does) what other spells/feats would allow the snake to assist with scouting? I considered Night Stalker from Classic Monsters Revisited, So far as I can tell there are two versions of this feat one of which requires you to be an ogre and the other one doesn't. Nethys only seems to list the one with the ogre pre-req and both books as it's source. I liked harmless form because it has an 8 hour duration meaning a single wand of it would probably cover my needs for quite awhile.
Some follow up questions:
At 4th level hunters gain an empathic link that allows them to see through the eyes of their animal companion and communicate empathically with it.
If my animal companion is scouting ahead with our group's Slayer and they get spotted. Can I?
1. Dismiss the harmless form spell?
2. Change the animal companion's animal aspect?
3. Have it perform a trick it knows (eg attack)?
Addionally, would I get to roll my own perception or would my sight be limited to my animal companion's perception check?
You transform the target into a harmless animal of the same approximate body type. The form assumed must be one considered unobtrusive by local communities, such as a cat, a dog, a hunting hawk, a horse, or a rat.
That doesn't read like an exclusive list. Whether non-poisonous snakes may be considered unobtrusive by local communities, or whether that would make people scream it's a snake KILL IT is something that probably depends on the community and the local ecology.
General polymorph rules apply, the spell doesn't attempt to overrule them.
Re the snake scouting ahead, I assume your hunter is not present?
If the duration line ends with “(D),” you can dismiss the spell at will. You must be within range of the spell’s effect and must speak words of dismissal, which are usually a modified form of the spell’s verbal component. If the spell has no verbal component, you can dismiss the effect with a gesture. Dismissing a spell is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
OTOH animal focus has no range limitation.
You have no way to talk to your companion via the empathic link, and I think no real way to signal to it in a way that would get it to perform a trick. 'General emotions' aren't enough IMO.
I think you could roll your own perception check too.
On other effects that might be useful, for spells it's basically about duration (probably 1 hour+), and for a hunter whether they're spells you know. The visualization spells last plenty long enough and I think could be shared. Deadeye's lore might be useful. Various defensive spells have a long enough duration.
You transform the target into a harmless animal of the same approximate body type. The form assumed must be one considered unobtrusive by local communities, such as a cat, a dog, a hunting hawk, a horse, or a rat.That doesn't read like an exclusive list. Whether non-poisonous snakes may be considered unobtrusive by local communities, or whether that would make people scream it's a snake KILL IT is something that probably depends on the community and the local ecology.
General polymorph rules apply, the spell doesn't attempt to overrule them.
ok, so if I understand correctly.
Base Form
Size: Large
Str: 24
Dex: 16
Con: 17
AC: -1
Natural Armor: +5
CMB/CMD: +1
Fly: -2
Stealth: -4
Speed: 40
Climb: 20
Swim: 20
Bite: 1d4
Constrict: 1d4
Scent, Low-light vision, grab
---------------------------
Harmless Form (viper)
Size: Small
Str: 20
Dex: 20
Con: 15
AC: +1
Natural Armor: +6
CMB/CMD: -1
Fly: +2
Stealth: +4
Speed: 20
Climb: 20
Swim: 20
Bite: 1d2
Constrict: n/a
Scent, Low-light vision
---------------------------
Re the snake scouting ahead, I assume your hunter is not present?
Correct
You have no way to talk to your companion via the empathic link, and I think no real way to signal to it in a way that would get it to perform a trick. 'General emotions' aren't enough IMO.
That makes sense. I was thinking something along the lines of, it sees a creature I want it to attack and so I project the emotion "angry" to the snake so it knows that I'm angry about what it's seeing. It might even be possible to train it to respond to such impulses but that seems like a seperate trick that requires the animal to have the attack trick (similar to the way the flanking trick works).
Alternatively, I thought i might be able to communicate with it via a wild empathy check. However, that isn't something I'd be able to do during combat since wild empathy takes 1 min. per check.
I think you could roll your own perception check too.
That makes sense, though the most I could do is send an empathic "danger" to my snake if I spot something it doesn't. Making it aware that "something" is there but it wouldn't know exactly what is dangerous.
On other effects that might be useful, for spells it's basically about duration (probably 1 hour+), and for a hunter whether they're spells you know. The visualization spells last plenty long enough and I think could be shared. Deadeye's lore might be useful. Various defensive spells have a long enough duration.
Yeah, at the moment I'm looking at the spell tears to wine since I can share it with the whole group. However, spells that are 10 min./lvl can't really be considered daily buffs though until you get to caster level 6+ and only then if you're willing to invest in multiple rods of extend and runestones/pearls of power.
I was disappointed that I couldn't find any other feats to help a large creature stealth.
In 3rd, large constrictor snakes were given as an example of creatures that could conceivably get a bonus to Hide checks, versus a penalty. A Huge snake is still...what, a foot tall? In water, in tall grass, in heavy underbrush--all times they should get a bonus that more than compensates for any penalty.
In 3rd, large constrictor snakes were given as an example of creatures that could conceivably get a bonus to Hide checks, versus a penalty. A Huge snake is still...what, a foot tall? In water, in tall grass, in heavy underbrush--all times they should get a bonus that more than compensates for any penalty.
The bestiary version gets a +4 racial bonus to stealth and they are only medium sized. So, they do actually normally get a bonus to hide checks instead of a penalty. Unfortunately, the animal companion version doesn't get the snake's racial bonuses to stealth, perception or acrobatics.
On the plus side, the animal companion version gets low light vision, while the bestiary version doesn't. So, I guess that's something.
edit: The Animal Companion is probably based on the Giant Anaconda which doesn't get the above mentioned racial bonuses and does have low-light vision. The anaconda apparently doesn't even attempt to hide as no stealth bonus is even listed. Though it can be calculated to be a -10.
I think a snake might need to be size tiny to be considered unobtrusive. YMMV. Harmless form can certainly do tiny creatures. This would of course improve its stealth further.
I think a snake might need to be size tiny to be considered unobtrusive. YMMV. Harmless form can certainly do tiny creatures. This would of course improve its stealth further.
yeah... tiny would be ideal. Unfortunately, harmless form states
This transformation can reduce the target by up to two size categories
So, Large -> Medium is one and Medium -> Small is two. So, small is as "unobtrusive" as it can make my animal companion. Amusingly, the smallest a mammoth rider could make it's animal companion is Medium. Meaning the most unobtrustive thing they can turn their giant wolf into is a great dane.