Goat Goat the Destroyer

[ericgrau]

Got an interesting hit on random treasure tables.

First... a rules question. For the figurine of wondrous power / ivory goats (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#ivoryGoats), is the 30' radius fear on the goat of terror spherical, or is it conical as the spell?

Second, I'm open to ideas for my level 6 gnome sorcerer who shall ride "Goat Goat the Destroyer" (The Goat of Travail) into battle. First, look at the nightmare (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/nightmare.htm) stats. It's a frackin awesome giant flaming goat (http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6y-sQ_svX2I/maxresdefault.jpg). I'm looking for things to do or say like "Give me a boost, I'm riding this motha." Or "A pale white haired gnome is riding the goat of the end times. I'm pretty sure everyone in town will think this is just an illusion." My personality is supposed to be flashy and dark, so the goat makes a good fit.

Also, I know it's only usable once a month, but that could be an entire session. How can I not overshadow other players, especially the newbies? Sure it's normally only CR 5, but in the hands of a player its abilities can get crazy, plus we can buff it, plus it has extra horn attacks, plus that's on top of my normal turn. I was thinking of sharing him for the second encounter in the day. Any other ideas? I'm already thinking of ignoring its ethereal/astral planar travel abilities out of a real fear of drastically over CR'ed random encounters.

[Blackhawk748]

Well it says radius, so other than that its the Fear spell

[ericgrau]

Well it says radius, so other than that its the Fear spell

That's a pain. Any ideas to not scatter my party into all directions? It's a party of all sorcerers. May be a while before we get out of this dungeon, but eventually we will hit civilization. Maybe I could toss the figurine like a grenade and then summon it in the middle of foes. Retrieving it after will still be a pain though.

[Blackhawk748]

They cant make that Will save? ouch, but i think you are supposed to use it grenade style

[ericgrau]

At level 6 mages only get a +5 vs DC 16. Maybe a +6 or +7 with a decent wis. I think "high and low saves" are greatly exaggerated. Fighters fail fort saves and mages fail will saves all the time. Mages actually have it the worst because unlike clerics wis isn't their primary stat. Con is at least a secondary stat for everyone. Rogues and divine casters are the only ones who actually pass their main saves all the time.

I'll try grenading the goat ya... but the item text seems to imply that there is a rider on it. I wonder if the rider is supposed to be affected by the fear. Seems like a bit of an oversight. Technically the goat is in the radius too. The original spell avoids this by being a cone rather than a sphere. Other than that the spell says "each living creature in the area". That's why I was asking if it really changes the spell area, since the item description only says "the goat of terror radiates fear as the spell in a 30-foot radius". A cone is a quarter circle by RAW so it still has a radius. "Radiate" likewise means "diverging from a central point". Generally when they give a radius a sphere is implied, but is this case different due to the spell it is based on?