3.P Item Cohort

[AvatarVecna]

Hello all! I'm trying to create a cohort that, by mechanics and flavor, is a suit of armor. The intention is for it to be a caster/manifester of some sort. It looks like I'll be able to use this (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=10411.msg352273#msg352273) as the basic rules for it, but I need a way for them to cast without verbal/somatic components without making them totally suck. It's for a 3.P epic gestalt game, and the other players are already throwing around super-cheese, so that's not exactly anything to worry about. Epic Spellcasting is off the table, but I can't imagine that being super-limiting.

Any thoughts?

[Forrestfire]

Since it's 3.p, might this trick (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=13719.0) work?

Alternatively, any sort of demon or devil with Fiend of Possession levels can animate a suit of armor and manifest from inside. If it's gestalt, it should be simple to stick something useful on one side. Succubus FoP 6//Educated Wilder + whatever else (total 18) is going to be decently strong, what with all that Charisma, useful SLAs, and the possession mechanics.

[Cowardly Griffo]

Couple of thoughts:

1. Psionics will solve all your problems if you're allowed to use them; all the armor would need to do is think, no jazz hands or dulcet tones required.

2. If you're using that template and have to take a feat to be sentient anyway, might as well take the feat that lets you talk so you can take care of verbal components. Makes more sense than Silent Spell, anyway, if you're using a feat for it.

3. Sudden Still will let you use that top slot of yours.

4. Your table may or may not hate you for using Sacred Geometry (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/sacred-geometry).

5. Spot-weld an expensive (un)holy symbol into the armor, and take False Focus. Material components are no longer a problem most of the time. If you really need to cast something more expensive, use that possession feat that your link provides.

This is turning into the best one the more I pick at it, so I'm not even going to number it:

Make them a Wu Jen / Divine Caster of choice (I'd recommend Favored Soul; they're a cohort, so you can affort to lose a bit of flexibility for quantity here, especially given the basics of this build), and then prestige into Geomancer. You can now use Extra Spell Secret to apply Spell Secrets to all of your top-level divine slots so you can cast them with no verbal or somatic components; again, I'd recommend just sticking to somatic and taking that "I can talk!" feat. Plus the Geomancer's various Drifts will provide some extra utility, which is nice for a suit of armor.

If you want this to be workable for a prepared spellcasting class like cleric, one way is to make sure that the "base creature" was human, which might net you an extra feat anyway so good job there. Or it could be a doppelganger, which might be cool; free Glamered enchantment! Anyway, take at least two levels of Chameleon; now, you have one flexible bonus feat, which you can swap out every day. So for instance you can now apply Spell Secret (Still Spell) to any one spell you like at the start of the day. Handy if you're going into a situation where a weird cornercase spell that you wouldn't normally prepare would be helpful. You can also use it for temporary preparation of any other feat, like that possession one if you don't want to have it available all the time.

Edit: And if your DM is open to third-party material, lose your domains to make that cleric a Shadow Master (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/class-archetypes/arcane-archetypes---super-genius-games/shadow-master) cleric, and apply your Spell Secret feats to Shadow Spell (Level X). You can now cast almost everything on your spell list at the drop of a hat, with no somatic components. And be sure to get yourself a Heightened Umbral Arcane Mark cast, so you can get that bonus for casting under shadowy conditions. And pick up Tenebrous Spell (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/metamagic-feats/tenebrous-spell-metamagic), since you're going to be casting in the darkness all the time anyway and you can apply it for free to all your shadow spells. Would you get away with that? I dunno, but if the cheese levels are already high then you might as well give it a shot. And if you can apply Spell Secret to your shadow-spells, heck, might as well Enlarge and Extend them too while you're at it.

This is stupidly feat-heavy, but hey, you're epic level gestalt, you can probably handle that. If you need extra feats, pick up True Professional (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/rogue/archetypes/drop-dead-studios---rogue-archetypes/true-professional) on the non-caster side of your build.

[Promises Kept]

One fun trick I found (while building for the same game!) is to dip a level of Oracle (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/baseClasses/oracle.html) and take the Deaf curse. On the minus side, you're deaf. On the plus side, you basically get Automatic Silent Spell for all your spells as a 1-level dip. The Revelations can also be neat - one lets you replace Dex with Charisma for AC and Reflex Saves, for example, so your armor can actually dodge things.

If you're going to the trouble of taking Epic Leadership, the armor does have access to Epic feats (quite a few if you time Loremaster, Marshal, etc. dips right). Using the Epic Feat Improvements (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?139786-Epic-Feat-Improvement-3-5-PEACH&p=7764632) the DM approved, you can take a couple iterations of Automatic Still Spell, getting you 8ths fairly easily.

Pathfinder has a spell (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/collaborative-thaumaturgy) which might be useful to you here - recall that your armor is its own ally, and so it can cast this on itself. Have Improved Spell Capacity, so it can be used on its highest level spells. Note that this spell will eat your swift actions, unfortunately.

[AvatarVecna]

One fun trick I found (while building for the same game!) is to dip a level of Oracle (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/baseClasses/oracle.html) and take the Deaf curse. On the minus side, you're deaf. On the plus side, you basically get Automatic Silent Spell for all your spells as a 1-level dip. The Revelations can also be neat - one lets you replace Dex with Charisma for AC and Reflex Saves, for example, so your armor can actually dodge things.

If you're going to the trouble of taking Epic Leadership, the armor does have access to Epic feats (quite a few if you time Loremaster, Marshal, etc. dips right). Using the Epic Feat Improvements (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?139786-Epic-Feat-Improvement-3-5-PEACH&p=7764632) the DM approved, you can take a couple iterations of Automatic Still Spell, getting you 8ths fairly easily.

Pathfinder has a spell (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/collaborative-thaumaturgy) which might be useful to you here - recall that your armor is its own ally, and so it can cast this on itself. Have Improved Spell Capacity, so it can be used on its highest level spells. Note that this spell will eat your swift actions, unfortunately.

I was looking at the Oracle class, and it does look good, but I think I'm gonna end up going Cerebremancer, unless the DM allows a homebrew PrC I found. The Automatic Silent/Still feats won't work yet because they require skill ranks I don't have.

[dascarletm]

4. Your table may or may not hate you for using Sacred Geometry (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/sacred-geometry).


My god that is brilliantly and needlessly complex. I want to believe it is a joke feat.