Ask a Simple Question, Part 18: Lucid Dreaming Ghost Pixie Hood Edition

[genuine]

Dragonborn comes to mind, though that does a lot more than just change your type (to humanoid, dragonblood subtype).

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Dragonborn comes to mind, though that does a lot more than just change your type (to humanoid, dragonblood subtype).

Also, it doesn't actually change your type. 

Unseelie fey (dragon compendium) is incredibly broken, but is a LA+0 way to change type to fey.

[genuine]

Dragonborn comes to mind, though that does a lot more than just change your type (to humanoid, dragonblood subtype).

Also, it doesn't actually change your type. 

Huh. So it only changes his subtype. Good to know. And the thought of a dragonborn with the plating feats just sounds... yummy.

[Kuroimaken]

Q226: A friend of mine in an epic game needs a massive boost to spellcraft. I told him the 765,000 gp +120 item with four different types totally isn't worth the cost. How to do it?

[KellKheraptis]

Q 227: Other than warforged, what races are there (LA 0 if at all possible) that do not require sleep?  And further, this is for a Wizard in Dragonlance (Age of Mortals) using persistent unfettered heroism, Chaotic Spell Recall, and Aligned Casting.

[snakeman830]

Q 227: Other than warforged, what races are there (LA 0 if at all possible) that do not require sleep?  And further, this is for a Wizard in Dragonlance (Age of Mortals) using persistent unfettered heroism, Chaotic Spell Recall, and Aligned Casting.

Undead anything, Outsiders, and thri-kreen are all I can think of.

[bearsarebrown]

Undead anything, Outsiders, and thri-kreen are all I can think of.

Where does it say that about Outsiders and Thri-Kreen?

[Maat_Mons]

Q 227: Other than warforged, what races are there (LA 0 if at all possible) that do not require sleep?  And further, this is for a Wizard in Dragonlance (Age of Mortals) using persistent unfettered heroism, Chaotic Spell Recall, and Aligned Casting.

Undead anything, Outsiders, and thri-kreen are all I can think of.

Neraph (Planar Handbook 12) and necropolitan (Libris Mortis 114) would be the +0 LA options for undead and outsiders.  I'm assuming you're not interested in creatures that trance.  

Undead anything, Outsiders, and thri-kreen are all I can think of.

Where does it say that about Outsiders and Thri-Kreen?

The outsider type description notes that outsiders not native to the material plane don't need to eat or sleep.  

[KellKheraptis]

Neraph almost seems ideal, actually.  Since it's going for the whole Chaos theme with spells, I could play a "Slaad" wizard

And no, if I wanted to trance, I'd make an elan, most likely.  The idea is using the free action point each round from Unfettered Heroism to recharge spell slots all day long with Chaotic Spell Recall, with all of my spells being eligible due to Aligned Casting.

[NeverGetDrunkButStaySober]

Q226: A friend of mine in an epic game needs a massive boost to spellcraft. I told him the 765,000 gp +120 item with four different types totally isn't worth the cost. How to do it?

How long does he need it for? What are his casting/alignment restrictions? What's the makeup of his party?

Several things come to mind:
-Artificers have the Skill Enhancement infusion, which grants an uncapped circumstance bonus to the chosen skill. It's only IL 1, so he could easily Extend its duration (ten minutes per CL) to last all day if necessary. For reference, the bonus is 2 plus half the artificer's CL.
-Artificers have the related Item Alteration infusion, which changes the bonus type that an item grants. Combine it with Spellcraft-boosting items...and Skill Enhancement on the Spellcraft-boosting items. This is IL 4, but it also lasts for ten minutes per level. And as infusions are usually cast on items rather than characters themselves, it doesn't fly afoul of the restrictions on combining spell effects.
-Book of Vile Darkness has the Power Leech spell (Corrupt 5), which grants its caster a +1 enhancement bonus to a chosen ability score per round it affects the target. The effect lasts for a round per CL on the target, so to double the enhancement bonus you just have to Extend the spell. (The effect on the caster lasts for ten minutes per CL.) It also deals one point of ability damage to the chosen score per round to the target, so you'll want to be able to heal the ability damage taken by your punching bag.

[snakeman830]

Undead anything, Outsiders, and thri-kreen are all I can think of.

Where does it say that about Outsiders and Thri-Kreen?

Thri-kreen are described as such in Dark Sun setting, at the very least.  I don't know if any other books contradict this, but it states that thri-kreen are awake for their entire (if short) lives.

[Kuroimaken]

Q226: A friend of mine in an epic game needs a massive boost to spellcraft. I told him the 765,000 gp +120 item with four different types totally isn't worth the cost. How to do it?

How long does he need it for? What are his casting/alignment restrictions? What's the makeup of his party?

Several things come to mind:
-Artificers have the Skill Enhancement infusion, which grants an uncapped circumstance bonus to the chosen skill. It's only IL 1, so he could easily Extend its duration (ten minutes per CL) to last all day if necessary. For reference, the bonus is 2 plus half the artificer's CL.
-Artificers have the related Item Alteration infusion, which changes the bonus type that an item grants. Combine it with Spellcraft-boosting items...and Skill Enhancement on the Spellcraft-boosting items. This is IL 4, but it also lasts for ten minutes per level. And as infusions are usually cast on items rather than characters themselves, it doesn't fly afoul of the restrictions on combining spell effects.
-Book of Vile Darkness has the Power Leech spell (Corrupt 5), which grants its caster a +1 enhancement bonus to a chosen ability score per round it affects the target. The effect lasts for a round per CL on the target, so to double the enhancement bonus you just have to Extend the spell. (The effect on the caster lasts for ten minutes per CL.) It also deals one point of ability damage to the chosen score per round to the target, so you'll want to be able to heal the ability damage taken by your punching bag.

It's an epic game. He needs it for epic spells (naturally), so it should be available for a relatively long amount of time. We don't have any artificers in the party, though.

...Power Leech is awesome and I didn't know of it. My character suddenly gained a buttload of enhancement bonuses to all his ability scores.

[X-Codes]

It's an epic game. He needs it for epic spells (naturally).

Epic Spells are the answer, then.

[betrayor]

Q226: A friend of mine in an epic game needs a massive boost to spellcraft. I told him the 765,000 gp +120 item with four different types totally isn't worth the cost. How to do it?

How long does he need it for? What are his casting/alignment restrictions? What's the makeup of his party?

Several things come to mind:
-Artificers have the Skill Enhancement infusion, which grants an uncapped circumstance bonus to the chosen skill. It's only IL 1, so he could easily Extend its duration (ten minutes per CL) to last all day if necessary. For reference, the bonus is 2 plus half the artificer's CL.
-Artificers have the related Item Alteration infusion, which changes the bonus type that an item grants. Combine it with Spellcraft-boosting items...and Skill Enhancement on the Spellcraft-boosting items. This is IL 4, but it also lasts for ten minutes per level. And as infusions are usually cast on items rather than characters themselves, it doesn't fly afoul of the restrictions on combining spell effects.
-Book of Vile Darkness has the Power Leech spell (Corrupt 5), which grants its caster a +1 enhancement bonus to a chosen ability score per round it affects the target. The effect lasts for a round per CL on the target, so to double the enhancement bonus you just have to Extend the spell. (The effect on the caster lasts for ten minutes per CL.) It also deals one point of ability damage to the chosen score per round to the target, so you'll want to be able to heal the ability damage taken by your punching bag.

It's an epic game. He needs it for epic spells (naturally), so it should be available for a relatively long amount of time. We don't have any artificers in the party, though.

...Power Leech is awesome and I didn't know of it. My character suddenly gained a buttload of enhancement bonuses to all his ability scores.

Note though that it is a corrupt spell so you have to evil, or if your dm allows it you may be able to Umd it....

[jojolagger]

Q226: A friend of mine in an epic game needs a massive boost to spellcraft. I told him the 765,000 gp +120 item with four different types totally isn't worth the cost. How to do it?

Have leadership, epic leadership, and epic spell-casting.
Use a ritual epic spell with lots of low level caster minions supplying one spell, and have the spell be Fortify to give you the largest bonus to CHA you can pull off with it lasting 1 month (that's 72 DC towards duration).
Repeat for every type of bonus you can. You leadership score should be significantly higher, and you now have hundreds more minions to donate spells to your ritual casting, allowing you to cast more powerful versions of each bonus. (repeat this as needed)
Then, when your leadership score is over 9000, make an epic spells to boost INT massively, giving you a bonus to spell-craft equal to 1/2 the massive bonus to int.
Of course by this point you can give all your followers SR 9001, DR 9001/+9001, and +9001 to each armor bonus, permanently, so you've already won the game. I have lost the game.

[NeverGetDrunkButStaySober]

Q226: A friend of mine in an epic game needs a massive boost to spellcraft. I told him the 765,000 gp +120 item with four different types totally isn't worth the cost. How to do it?

How long does he need it for? What are his casting/alignment restrictions? What's the makeup of his party?

Several things come to mind:
-Artificers have the Skill Enhancement infusion, which grants an uncapped circumstance bonus to the chosen skill. It's only IL 1, so he could easily Extend its duration (ten minutes per CL) to last all day if necessary. For reference, the bonus is 2 plus half the artificer's CL.
-Artificers have the related Item Alteration infusion, which changes the bonus type that an item grants. Combine it with Spellcraft-boosting items...and Skill Enhancement on the Spellcraft-boosting items. This is IL 4, but it also lasts for ten minutes per level. And as infusions are usually cast on items rather than characters themselves, it doesn't fly afoul of the restrictions on combining spell effects.
-Book of Vile Darkness has the Power Leech spell (Corrupt 5), which grants its caster a +1 enhancement bonus to a chosen ability score per round it affects the target. The effect lasts for a round per CL on the target, so to double the enhancement bonus you just have to Extend the spell. (The effect on the caster lasts for ten minutes per CL.) It also deals one point of ability damage to the chosen score per round to the target, so you'll want to be able to heal the ability damage taken by your punching bag.

It's an epic game. He needs it for epic spells (naturally), so it should be available for a relatively long amount of time. We don't have any artificers in the party, though.

...Power Leech is awesome and I didn't know of it. My character suddenly gained a buttload of enhancement bonuses to all his ability scores.

Note though that it is a corrupt spell so you have to evil, or if your dm allows it you may be able to Umd it....

Incorrect. It's only Sanctified spells that carry an alignment restriction. (I asked to make sure of this two months back.) Mind you, Corrupt spells are still evil, so they're unavailable for certain good-aligned divine casters.

@ Kuroimaken: That may not work, given the same restrictions on Combining Spell Effects. (The reason Skill Enhancement + Item Alteration doesn't matter is that as above, they're not all cast on the same target.)

[kevin_video]

Undead anything, Outsiders, and thri-kreen are all I can think of.

Where does it say that about Outsiders and Thri-Kreen?

Thri-kreen are described as such in Dark Sun setting, at the very least.  I don't know if any other books contradict this, but it states that thri-kreen are awake for their entire (if short) lives.

As far as I know nothing contradicts this. I've read this many times over in other books that Thri-Kreen are in. They say that it's because they only live for a few years.

Q 228 When abouts do you start going with epic progression? When you're 21 HD, or when you're 21st level (ie 20 HD and LA +1)?

[wotmaniac]

A228
21 HD
it's measured by character level, not ECL (still trying to track down the source/page # ... I'll edit when I find it)
see my next post for correct answer

[kevin_video]

A228
21 HD
it's measured by character level, not ECL (still trying to track down the source/page # ... I'll edit when I find it)

That's what I thought. I'll wait to hear back on the officialness, but I guess it's another house rule that the DM does.

[wotmaniac]

A228
21 HD
it's measured by character level, not ECL (still trying to track down the source/page # ... I'll edit when I find it)

That's what I thought. I'll wait to hear back on the officialness, but I guess it's another house rule that the DM does.

I stand corrected .... apparently, it's ECL.
ELH, p.25, 3rd paragraph of the right-hand column of the side bar.
they use a specific example of a +5LA creature with fighter 13/blackguard 3 ... giving him an ECL of 21; states that he is indeed eligible for epic feats, etc.

Well, there you go.