Ask a Simple Question: Losing the Game Edition

[BeholderSlayer]

If Polymorph is banned, Shapechange is absolutely positively banned.

Conjuration is probably the most solid one after Transmutation, with Web, Stinking Cloud, Maze and Gate (though Gate might be banned too).

Battle looks pretty weak to me. Protection from Arrows is fairly weak. GMW, MoP and Time Stop are the stars on that list, with the lower level spells being fairly weak in general.

You might consider talking to your DM, and seeing if he will let you use one of the Polymorph subschool spells in place of Polymorph, which he might go for. The subschool spells allow you to assume only one form, rather than leaving it open-ended (which is the strength of Polymorph). You'd have to ask for advice later on Shapechange, though it's likely you'll never see that level.

After looking at the spell, Protection from Arrows doesn't look like the spell for me. Wind Wall looks closer to what I'm needing at this point. If you're talking about Alter Form, he'll allow that, yes. There's already a character that has that (a changeling).

No, I'm talking about spells like Troll Shape, or Displacer Form, etc. IIRC a few can be found in the Spell Compendium, and perhaps the Complete Arcane and PHB2.

[kevin_video]

If Polymorph is banned, Shapechange is absolutely positively banned.

Conjuration is probably the most solid one after Transmutation, with Web, Stinking Cloud, Maze and Gate (though Gate might be banned too).

Battle looks pretty weak to me. Protection from Arrows is fairly weak. GMW, MoP and Time Stop are the stars on that list, with the lower level spells being fairly weak in general.

You might consider talking to your DM, and seeing if he will let you use one of the Polymorph subschool spells in place of Polymorph, which he might go for. The subschool spells allow you to assume only one form, rather than leaving it open-ended (which is the strength of Polymorph). You'd have to ask for advice later on Shapechange, though it's likely you'll never see that level.

After looking at the spell, Protection from Arrows doesn't look like the spell for me. Wind Wall looks closer to what I'm needing at this point. If you're talking about Alter Form, he'll allow that, yes. There's already a character that has that (a changeling).

No, I'm talking about spells like Troll Shape, or Displacer Form, etc. IIRC a few can be found in the Spell Compendium, and perhaps the Complete Arcane and PHB2.

I honestly couldn't say. No one's tried those before. I haven't seen anyone use them as an NPC, or other arcane spell casters over the course of two games. And we've got 17th level casters now. Granted they're usually specialized casters (abjurant champion, force missile mage).

And bumping...
Q 247 Is there a way to get around a half iron golem's rust vulnerability?

[Slaughterhouserock]

Q265:Any feats, Items, Powers, Spells, excreta that duplicate or are at least similar to the Aboleth's Slime ability?

Q265b: Similar question for the Aboleth's Mucus Cloud ability?

No grafts allowed or it would have been easy to pick out the Mucus Projector from LoM

A265:  Aboleth Oil in Arms & Equipment Guide p. 38.

A265b:  Aboleth Mucus in Savage Species p. 46.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Q 247 Is there a way to get around a half iron golem's rust vulnerability?

Knowledge affiliation, serpent kingdoms cheesy spells.  Past that, nbothing I know of.

[kevin_video]

Q 247 Is there a way to get around a half iron golem's rust vulnerability?

Knowledge affiliation, serpent kingdoms cheesy spells.  Past that, nbothing I know of.

So if you're a half-golem PC, there's pretty much nothing? That hurts.

Q 266 The Horseshoes of Flame turn a horse into a Nightmare. Is there a different set of horseshoes that could turn a horse a celestial mount? It doesn't even have to be that. Just a "good" version of those shoes would suffice.

[BeholderSlayer]

If Polymorph is banned, Shapechange is absolutely positively banned.

Conjuration is probably the most solid one after Transmutation, with Web, Stinking Cloud, Maze and Gate (though Gate might be banned too).

Battle looks pretty weak to me. Protection from Arrows is fairly weak. GMW, MoP and Time Stop are the stars on that list, with the lower level spells being fairly weak in general.

You might consider talking to your DM, and seeing if he will let you use one of the Polymorph subschool spells in place of Polymorph, which he might go for. The subschool spells allow you to assume only one form, rather than leaving it open-ended (which is the strength of Polymorph). You'd have to ask for advice later on Shapechange, though it's likely you'll never see that level.

After looking at the spell, Protection from Arrows doesn't look like the spell for me. Wind Wall looks closer to what I'm needing at this point. If you're talking about Alter Form, he'll allow that, yes. There's already a character that has that (a changeling).

No, I'm talking about spells like Troll Shape, or Displacer Form, etc. IIRC a few can be found in the Spell Compendium, and perhaps the Complete Arcane and PHB2.

I honestly couldn't say. No one's tried those before. I haven't seen anyone use them as an NPC, or other arcane spell casters over the course of two games. And we've got 17th level casters now. Granted they're usually specialized casters (abjurant champion, force missile mage).

I found Trollshape in the PHB2, and there is also a 9th level spell, Dragonshape.

Dragonshape transforms you to a Mature Adult Red Dragon, gives 150 temp hp, gives you the breath weapon, frightful presence, ability scores, SR, attacks and movement of the dragon. You lose the functionality of your items, and you lose your spellcasting ability. As usual, you keep your own hit points. You do not gain the sorcerer spellcasting of the dragon.

Trollshape effectively changes you into a troll, except you get 30 temp hp. You get regeneration etc, but you lose spellcasting and item use.

I think they may be suitable substitutes, but you may not like losing your spellcasting.

[kevin_video]

If Polymorph is banned, Shapechange is absolutely positively banned.

Conjuration is probably the most solid one after Transmutation, with Web, Stinking Cloud, Maze and Gate (though Gate might be banned too).

Battle looks pretty weak to me. Protection from Arrows is fairly weak. GMW, MoP and Time Stop are the stars on that list, with the lower level spells being fairly weak in general.

You might consider talking to your DM, and seeing if he will let you use one of the Polymorph subschool spells in place of Polymorph, which he might go for. The subschool spells allow you to assume only one form, rather than leaving it open-ended (which is the strength of Polymorph). You'd have to ask for advice later on Shapechange, though it's likely you'll never see that level.

After looking at the spell, Protection from Arrows doesn't look like the spell for me. Wind Wall looks closer to what I'm needing at this point. If you're talking about Alter Form, he'll allow that, yes. There's already a character that has that (a changeling).

No, I'm talking about spells like Troll Shape, or Displacer Form, etc. IIRC a few can be found in the Spell Compendium, and perhaps the Complete Arcane and PHB2.

I honestly couldn't say. No one's tried those before. I haven't seen anyone use them as an NPC, or other arcane spell casters over the course of two games. And we've got 17th level casters now. Granted they're usually specialized casters (abjurant champion, force missile mage).

I found Trollshape in the PHB2, and there is also a 9th level spell, Dragonshape.

Dragonshape transforms you to a Mature Adult Red Dragon, gives 150 temp hp, gives you the breath weapon, frightful presence, ability scores, SR, attacks and movement of the dragon. You lose the functionality of your items, and you lose your spellcasting ability. As usual, you keep your own hit points. You do not gain the sorcerer spellcasting of the dragon.

Trollshape effectively changes you into a troll, except you get 30 temp hp. You get regeneration etc, but you lose spellcasting and item use.

I think they may be suitable substitutes, but you may not like losing your spellcasting.

Considering I may not even get access to those spells, what harm can it do, really?

[Archao]

During my group's last session, an evil cleric stole the soul of my cleric. DM tells me I should make a new character until we get the soul back. Due to the situation, I'll be bringing in a sneak (Dark Whisper Gnome Rogue 4 / Swordsage 1 / Avenger 1) to help out.

Q267 For the above character, would it be dangerous to have a Charisma of 6 to boost Constitution to 16?

Q268 Would Rogue 4 / Swordsage 1 be able to take two maneuvers in a school in order to fill the prereqs of the third maneuver chosen? Or would such a character have to wait until he had a second level of Swordsage to take that third maneuver?

[kevin_video]

Q 269 Reading up on the Ethergaunt, and their the etherblade. It's not magical, is it? If that's the case, that means it'll cost 4000 gold to upgrade it to be one (counts as a double weapon). Seems a little odd that they'd have a weapon that's not magic, but fires 50 force blasts. Unless I'm reading it wrong.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Q 269 Reading up on the Ethergaunt, and their the etherblade. It's not magical, is it? If that's the case, that means it'll cost 4000 gold to upgrade it to be one (counts as a double weapon). Seems a little odd that they'd have a weapon that's not magic, but fires 50 force blasts. Unless I'm reading it wrong.

It's nonmagical.  It's superscience.

Think of them as the jaffa staffs from stargate.

[kevin_video]

Q 269 Reading up on the Ethergaunt, and their the etherblade. It's not magical, is it? If that's the case, that means it'll cost 4000 gold to upgrade it to be one (counts as a double weapon). Seems a little odd that they'd have a weapon that's not magic, but fires 50 force blasts. Unless I'm reading it wrong.

It's nonmagical.  It's superscience.

Think of them as the jaffa staffs from stargate.

lol Superscience. I love that. Ah, Stargate. Gotta love sci-fi.

[Archmage Joda]

Q 270 Is there a way for a sorcerer or wizard to pull off heightening a spell to 9th Spell Level before they reach Character level 9, preferrably with 2 feats left over?

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Q 270 Is there a way for a sorcerer or wizard to pull off heightening a spell to 9th Spell Level before they reach Character level 9, preferrably with 2 feats left over?

Versatile spellcaster + heighten spell (+1 level)
Eldritch corruption (+2 levels)
Earth spell (+1 level)
Sanctum spell (+1 level)

[Archmage Joda]

EDIT: Never Mind, I'm a moron

[kevin_video]

Q 272 When making your own NPC arch villain, how much of their WBL should typically be set aside for an artifact item to use against the PCs? Whether minor or major.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Q 272 When making your own NPC arch villain, how much of their WBL should typically be set aside for an artifact item to use against the PCs? Whether minor or major.

So variable no general answer can be given.  More details plz?

[kevin_video]

Q 272 When making your own NPC arch villain, how much of their WBL should typically be set aside for an artifact item to use against the PCs? Whether minor or major.

So variable no general answer can be given.  More details plz?

Was just looking for a generalized answer. I didn't think it'd be an easy answer, but I thought I'd try. Most of the ones I've been seeing are CL 20th, so I guess we can start there.

[Silent Wayfarer]

Q273: Is there a handbook template I can use? I want to write one, but I'm worried I won't cover all the bases.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Q 272 When making your own NPC arch villain, how much of their WBL should typically be set aside for an artifact item to use against the PCs? Whether minor or major.

So variable no general answer can be given.  More details plz?

Was just looking for a generalized answer. I didn't think it'd be an easy answer, but I thought I'd try. Most of the ones I've been seeing are CL 20th, so I guess we can start there.

I mean, consider just the Deck Of Many Things.  It is impossible to quantify.

Just don't count it towards the WBL.  Count it as a class level.

[TC X0 Lt 0X]

Q250
Is there a way to make the Beholder/Polymorph any Object trick truly permanent (as in, it can't be dispelled, or a template forces to be my race/etc.)
Also, if I cast Polymorph any object a few thousand times, each time turning into a Beholder, would the Permanency of the previous castings remain or would the other spells disappear?

Also, If I had level 10 Planar Shepherd Beholders as natives to my Planar Shepherd Plane, can I wildshape into Beholders as they are now Outsiders do to Planar Shepherds ability?