Gorfnod
2011-08-15, 08:18 AM
So I have a player who is planning on playing a variant of the Killer Gnome build, using beguiler as the base and a combination of Shadowcraft Mage and Shadowcrafter. He is interested in acquiring a familiar through the obtain familiar and improved familiar feats but has requested something specific to his build. He would like a Living Spell Familiar that fits the theme of the powerful illusionist.
So I got to thinking and to me the most iconic illusion spell for me is Phantasmal Killer. I was introduced to DnD with this spell and think it would make an excellent familiar for a higher level illusionist as a Living Spell. Then yesterday while flipping through the Spell Compendium I came across Phantasmal Assailants which seems like it would work out perfectly as a mid-level Living Spell. It is similar to Phantasmal Killer but instead of death it deals 8 wisdom and 8 dex damage. (No damage on a successful Will save, Half on a successful Fort save).
So here is my take on the whole thing.
At level 1 he is going to take Obtain Familiar and Shadow Weave Magic (Every one gets 2 feats at level one).
His familiar is going to be his shadow. He is going to be losing some of the familiar benefits based on the fact that when his shadow is "just his shadow" it cannot be damaged. As a move action he can "release" his shadow which will have stats similar to one of the regular sorc/wiz familiars.
At level 9 he is going to take Improved Familiar to gain the Living Spell familiar. This is when I planned on his shadow becoming a Phantasmal Assailant Living Spell.
At level 15 this shadow would be come a Phantasmal Killer Living Spell, not yet sure if this should require another feat or if two feats and his character level are enough to justify this.
The spells also bring up an interesting issue. While death is clearly more powerful than ability damage for an overall effect, the effects on a successful Fortitude save actually seem more powerful with the lower level spell (4 Dex and Wis damage) than with the higher spell (3d6 damage). Just something I have been thinking about.
So what does everybody think? Just making sure I'm not going to unleash something that I will regret later.
So I got to thinking and to me the most iconic illusion spell for me is Phantasmal Killer. I was introduced to DnD with this spell and think it would make an excellent familiar for a higher level illusionist as a Living Spell. Then yesterday while flipping through the Spell Compendium I came across Phantasmal Assailants which seems like it would work out perfectly as a mid-level Living Spell. It is similar to Phantasmal Killer but instead of death it deals 8 wisdom and 8 dex damage. (No damage on a successful Will save, Half on a successful Fort save).
So here is my take on the whole thing.
At level 1 he is going to take Obtain Familiar and Shadow Weave Magic (Every one gets 2 feats at level one).
His familiar is going to be his shadow. He is going to be losing some of the familiar benefits based on the fact that when his shadow is "just his shadow" it cannot be damaged. As a move action he can "release" his shadow which will have stats similar to one of the regular sorc/wiz familiars.
At level 9 he is going to take Improved Familiar to gain the Living Spell familiar. This is when I planned on his shadow becoming a Phantasmal Assailant Living Spell.
At level 15 this shadow would be come a Phantasmal Killer Living Spell, not yet sure if this should require another feat or if two feats and his character level are enough to justify this.
The spells also bring up an interesting issue. While death is clearly more powerful than ability damage for an overall effect, the effects on a successful Fortitude save actually seem more powerful with the lower level spell (4 Dex and Wis damage) than with the higher spell (3d6 damage). Just something I have been thinking about.
So what does everybody think? Just making sure I'm not going to unleash something that I will regret later.