Slithery D
2015-08-07, 11:18 AM
I thought it would be useful to discuss some of the new spells in Occult Adventures that provide ways for the psychic casters (and often wizard/sorcerers) to avoid death at high level. GMs can use them for recurring villains, players can use them for the obvious reasons.
AKASHIC FORM
School necromancy; Level psychic 9
Casting Time 1 hour
Components V, S
Range personal
Target you
Duration 24 hours
Saving Throw no; Spell Resistance no
You create a perfect record of your physical body in the Akashic Record (see page 244) at the time the spell is cast. This record includes your current hit point total, physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), and any conditional modifiers or conditions such as ability damage to physical ability scores, disease, negative levels, and poison. If at any point within the duration of the spell you are reduced to fewer than 0 hit points or are slain by a death effect that is not mind-affecting, you can immediately let your current physical body die and assume the record of your physical body on your next turn.
When this happens, your corpse disappears, and you can either resume the place of your dead body (already wearing any clothing still attached to the corpse) or appear in any place you’ve been within 500 feet of where your corpse lies (but without any of
your gear).
You still retain your original mind, and therefore don’t regain any spells. You are still under any mental influences and energy drain effects you were under when you recalled the record of your physical body, but don’t retain any physical effects such as bleed damage
or poison (unless you suffered from these conditions at the time the spell was cast). Spells affecting you when you store a record of yourself abide by their normal durations. For example, if you were affected by cat’s grace when you created the record and you restore your body 1 hour later, you won’t be under that effect anymore since its duration
has already expired. This spell doesn’t allow you to avoid dying of old age. Casting this spell again replaces any previous version you cast; you can’t store more than one copy of yourself in the Akashic Record.
Whew! Regrettably, this one seems subject to dispel/disjunction/antimagic field, not that great for a 9th level spell and worse in some ways than the protections provided by Possession (but we'll get to that), a 3rd-5th level spell. I'd want to rule that the spell effect is actually in the Akashic Record, not on your body, and your consciousness/soul goes to the Akashic record when you die (but what about when you're just unconscious at zero HP?), so as to avoid these pretty easy countermeasures.
Next up is another long one:
BILOCATION
School conjuration (creation); Level psychic 8, sorcerer/wizard 9
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect one duplicate
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
The spell creates an identical copy of you, along with everything you wear and carry, anywhere you choose within range; you exist in two places at once until the spell ends. You and the duplicate use the same statistics and share the same resources. If the duplicate takes damage, for example, you deduct the damage from your hit point total. Similarly, if your duplicate expends a charge or daily use from a magic item you both wield, the charge or daily use is expended from the item you carry. If you or the duplicate drops or gives away something you’re carrying, the item disappears from the other body as well. This spell doesn’t duplicate artifacts; any you possess remain on you.
You perceive sensory information from your body and that of your duplicate simultaneously. The spell enables you to process the sensations so you don’t find them disorienting.
When you take any action, you choose which of your bodies performs the action, but both bodies share the same pool of actions. For instance, if you take a standard action to cast a spell,you can use either body as the point of origin, but the other body can’t also take a standard action that round. Likewise, if your duplicate takes a full-round action, you couldn’t take a standard or move action. Both bodies can take any number of free actions as usual; for example, both bodies could say different things or each drop a different item. If either body doesn’t move during the round, that body can either take a 5-foot step or move your speed once as a free action.
The two bodies are affected by attacks, spells, and effects as though they were one person, taking the worse effect when applicable (for example, if the bodies would be subject to differing effects due to being at different ranges). If both bodies are in the area of the same fireball, you would attempt the saving throw only once and take the damage only once. If one body is targeted by hold person, both would become paralyzed on a failed save. Both bodies count as a single creature for effects that target a specific number of creatures, and they can’t be chosen more than once for such effects. You do count your other body as another creature for most combat effects, such as flanking or determining cover. However, you don’t count as two unique creatures for the purposes of teamwork feats or effects you use that can target only creatures other than yourself.
This one doesn't directly prevent death; if they kill one body they kill both, unlike the psionic power Fission that this is based on. But it is dismissible, you can set up someone to heal one of your safe bodies while the other is in combat, and you can teleport one of your bodies away to serve as an escape if you do dismiss it. If all else fails you can choose to have that distant one be your remaining corpse, available out of harms way for resurrection. The duration is regrettably short, so given the limitations and the level I think you've got better options. Which brings us to:
POSSESSION
School necromancy; Level medium 3, mesmerist 5, occultist 4, psychic 5, sorcerer/wizard 5, spiritualist 4, summoner 5, witch 5
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target one creature
Duration 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
You attempt to possess a creature by projecting your soul into its body. The target creature must be within spell range and you must know where it is, though you do not need line of sight or line of effect to it. When you transfer your soul upon casting, your body appears to be dead. Failure to take over a host ends the spell.
If you are successful, your life force occupies the host body. The host’s soul is imprisoned with you, but can still use its own senses (though it can’t assert any influence or use even purely mental abilities). You can communicate telepathically with the host as if you shared a common language, but only with your consent. You keep your Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, level, class, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, alignment, and mental abilities. The body retains its Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, hit points, natural abilities, and automatic abilities. A body with extra limbs doesn’t allow you to make more attacks (or more advantageous two-weapon attacks) than normal. You can’t activate the body’s extraordinary or supernatural abilities, nor can you cast any of its spells or spell-like abilities.
As a standard action, you can shift freely back to your own body regardless of range, so long as it remains on the same plane. If the host’s body is killed, you return to your own body and the life force of the host departs (it is dead). If your body is slain, when the spell expires or the host’s body is killed, you are slain. It is possible to cast this spell on a new target from within another creature’s body; this resets the duration. You still return to your original body (not any intermediate body) when you take a standard action to do so or the spell’s duration expires. Returning to your body ends the spell. Creatures whose souls are their bodies, such as incorporeal undead and non-native outsiders, use the effects of greater possession instead.
Now we're talking! Find (or dominate and bring along with you) a low will save, high HP and physical stats, and maybe with some nice automatic EX/SU abilities (you can't activate them, but resistances and fast healing/regen don't require activation...) and use this as your meat shield all the adventuring day. High level spell casting villains should always be using this. Start the day with an extended Possession, secure you body behind some traps/passwall/whatever to make it inaccessible, then walk/teleport around in someones tougher body. If it dies, so what, you wake up back in your body.
Not useful for interplanar travel, alas, so you need to wait for Astral Projection for that sort of bounce back effect, or you can just carry your body securely hidden around with you, which leads us to:
POSSESSION, GREATER
School necromancy; Level occultist 6, psychic 8, sorcerer/ wizard 8, spiritualist 6, witch 8
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target one creature
Duration 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
This spell functions as possession, but when you possess a host, you enter the host’s body and your physical body vanishes. You are ejected to the closest empty square upon expiration of the spell or upon the host’s death.
The choice for the paranoid who doesn't want to worry about how well he hid his body, just be ready with a quick teleport or other escape if your meat shield gets whacked and you're suddenly in the line of fire.
But what if you'd rather not take any damage at all while you're throwing spells at your enemies? There's a spell for that, too!
PSYCHIC IMAGE
School illusion (shadow); Level psychic 9
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V
Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level) Effect one shadow duplicate
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw Will disbelief (if interacted with); Spell
Resistance yes
You envelop your consciousness in a quasi-real image of yourself. Your psychic image looks, sounds, and smells like you, but is intangible. While your mind occupies the image, you control it as though it were your own body, but you cannot directly affect physical objects. Your image moves with a fly speed of 60 feet and perfect maneuverability. Your senses perceive only what the image can see and hear while occupying it, and your own body is considered blind, deaf, and helpless. You can switch between the image and your body as a swift action. While your mind is in your body, the image is similarly helpless.
Your image can pass through solid objects as though you are incorporeal. It cannot go farther into a solid object than your space (5 feet for a Small or Medium creature). It can’t be damaged by most attacks or effects, whether or not they affect incorporeal creatures. However, mind-affecting effects targeted against or affecting your psychic image have their full effect on you whenever your mind occupies it.
If you desire, you can cast any psychic spell or spell-like ability with a range of touch or greater while your mind occupies your image. You can’t cast non-psychic spells through the image, even if you possess them. The psychic image can cast only psychic illusion spells on itself. The spells affect other targets normally, despite originating from the psychic image.
Objects are affected by the psychic image as if they had succeeded at their Will saves. You need not maintain line of effect to your psychic image, but if you cross into another plane even for an instant, such as via blink, dimension door, or similar spells, the spell ends.
Hmm. Pros: You're immune to everything but mind affecting, you can hide in or pass through (small) solid objects, you can switch back to your body at will to move it around to a safer spot or check on it for impending danger. Cons: Low duration, you can't teleport your body away to safety, so you've got to rely on the long range or other planning/defense spells to keep your body out of harms way. Still, pretty good for a quick BANZAI!! spell attack and not too hard to hide yourself in a spot that won't be found for a minute or two.
And if they do, maybe you had Akashic Form up, or it was just a Possessed form anyway...
AKASHIC FORM
School necromancy; Level psychic 9
Casting Time 1 hour
Components V, S
Range personal
Target you
Duration 24 hours
Saving Throw no; Spell Resistance no
You create a perfect record of your physical body in the Akashic Record (see page 244) at the time the spell is cast. This record includes your current hit point total, physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), and any conditional modifiers or conditions such as ability damage to physical ability scores, disease, negative levels, and poison. If at any point within the duration of the spell you are reduced to fewer than 0 hit points or are slain by a death effect that is not mind-affecting, you can immediately let your current physical body die and assume the record of your physical body on your next turn.
When this happens, your corpse disappears, and you can either resume the place of your dead body (already wearing any clothing still attached to the corpse) or appear in any place you’ve been within 500 feet of where your corpse lies (but without any of
your gear).
You still retain your original mind, and therefore don’t regain any spells. You are still under any mental influences and energy drain effects you were under when you recalled the record of your physical body, but don’t retain any physical effects such as bleed damage
or poison (unless you suffered from these conditions at the time the spell was cast). Spells affecting you when you store a record of yourself abide by their normal durations. For example, if you were affected by cat’s grace when you created the record and you restore your body 1 hour later, you won’t be under that effect anymore since its duration
has already expired. This spell doesn’t allow you to avoid dying of old age. Casting this spell again replaces any previous version you cast; you can’t store more than one copy of yourself in the Akashic Record.
Whew! Regrettably, this one seems subject to dispel/disjunction/antimagic field, not that great for a 9th level spell and worse in some ways than the protections provided by Possession (but we'll get to that), a 3rd-5th level spell. I'd want to rule that the spell effect is actually in the Akashic Record, not on your body, and your consciousness/soul goes to the Akashic record when you die (but what about when you're just unconscious at zero HP?), so as to avoid these pretty easy countermeasures.
Next up is another long one:
BILOCATION
School conjuration (creation); Level psychic 8, sorcerer/wizard 9
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect one duplicate
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
The spell creates an identical copy of you, along with everything you wear and carry, anywhere you choose within range; you exist in two places at once until the spell ends. You and the duplicate use the same statistics and share the same resources. If the duplicate takes damage, for example, you deduct the damage from your hit point total. Similarly, if your duplicate expends a charge or daily use from a magic item you both wield, the charge or daily use is expended from the item you carry. If you or the duplicate drops or gives away something you’re carrying, the item disappears from the other body as well. This spell doesn’t duplicate artifacts; any you possess remain on you.
You perceive sensory information from your body and that of your duplicate simultaneously. The spell enables you to process the sensations so you don’t find them disorienting.
When you take any action, you choose which of your bodies performs the action, but both bodies share the same pool of actions. For instance, if you take a standard action to cast a spell,you can use either body as the point of origin, but the other body can’t also take a standard action that round. Likewise, if your duplicate takes a full-round action, you couldn’t take a standard or move action. Both bodies can take any number of free actions as usual; for example, both bodies could say different things or each drop a different item. If either body doesn’t move during the round, that body can either take a 5-foot step or move your speed once as a free action.
The two bodies are affected by attacks, spells, and effects as though they were one person, taking the worse effect when applicable (for example, if the bodies would be subject to differing effects due to being at different ranges). If both bodies are in the area of the same fireball, you would attempt the saving throw only once and take the damage only once. If one body is targeted by hold person, both would become paralyzed on a failed save. Both bodies count as a single creature for effects that target a specific number of creatures, and they can’t be chosen more than once for such effects. You do count your other body as another creature for most combat effects, such as flanking or determining cover. However, you don’t count as two unique creatures for the purposes of teamwork feats or effects you use that can target only creatures other than yourself.
This one doesn't directly prevent death; if they kill one body they kill both, unlike the psionic power Fission that this is based on. But it is dismissible, you can set up someone to heal one of your safe bodies while the other is in combat, and you can teleport one of your bodies away to serve as an escape if you do dismiss it. If all else fails you can choose to have that distant one be your remaining corpse, available out of harms way for resurrection. The duration is regrettably short, so given the limitations and the level I think you've got better options. Which brings us to:
POSSESSION
School necromancy; Level medium 3, mesmerist 5, occultist 4, psychic 5, sorcerer/wizard 5, spiritualist 4, summoner 5, witch 5
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target one creature
Duration 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
You attempt to possess a creature by projecting your soul into its body. The target creature must be within spell range and you must know where it is, though you do not need line of sight or line of effect to it. When you transfer your soul upon casting, your body appears to be dead. Failure to take over a host ends the spell.
If you are successful, your life force occupies the host body. The host’s soul is imprisoned with you, but can still use its own senses (though it can’t assert any influence or use even purely mental abilities). You can communicate telepathically with the host as if you shared a common language, but only with your consent. You keep your Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, level, class, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, alignment, and mental abilities. The body retains its Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, hit points, natural abilities, and automatic abilities. A body with extra limbs doesn’t allow you to make more attacks (or more advantageous two-weapon attacks) than normal. You can’t activate the body’s extraordinary or supernatural abilities, nor can you cast any of its spells or spell-like abilities.
As a standard action, you can shift freely back to your own body regardless of range, so long as it remains on the same plane. If the host’s body is killed, you return to your own body and the life force of the host departs (it is dead). If your body is slain, when the spell expires or the host’s body is killed, you are slain. It is possible to cast this spell on a new target from within another creature’s body; this resets the duration. You still return to your original body (not any intermediate body) when you take a standard action to do so or the spell’s duration expires. Returning to your body ends the spell. Creatures whose souls are their bodies, such as incorporeal undead and non-native outsiders, use the effects of greater possession instead.
Now we're talking! Find (or dominate and bring along with you) a low will save, high HP and physical stats, and maybe with some nice automatic EX/SU abilities (you can't activate them, but resistances and fast healing/regen don't require activation...) and use this as your meat shield all the adventuring day. High level spell casting villains should always be using this. Start the day with an extended Possession, secure you body behind some traps/passwall/whatever to make it inaccessible, then walk/teleport around in someones tougher body. If it dies, so what, you wake up back in your body.
Not useful for interplanar travel, alas, so you need to wait for Astral Projection for that sort of bounce back effect, or you can just carry your body securely hidden around with you, which leads us to:
POSSESSION, GREATER
School necromancy; Level occultist 6, psychic 8, sorcerer/ wizard 8, spiritualist 6, witch 8
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target one creature
Duration 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
This spell functions as possession, but when you possess a host, you enter the host’s body and your physical body vanishes. You are ejected to the closest empty square upon expiration of the spell or upon the host’s death.
The choice for the paranoid who doesn't want to worry about how well he hid his body, just be ready with a quick teleport or other escape if your meat shield gets whacked and you're suddenly in the line of fire.
But what if you'd rather not take any damage at all while you're throwing spells at your enemies? There's a spell for that, too!
PSYCHIC IMAGE
School illusion (shadow); Level psychic 9
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V
Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level) Effect one shadow duplicate
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw Will disbelief (if interacted with); Spell
Resistance yes
You envelop your consciousness in a quasi-real image of yourself. Your psychic image looks, sounds, and smells like you, but is intangible. While your mind occupies the image, you control it as though it were your own body, but you cannot directly affect physical objects. Your image moves with a fly speed of 60 feet and perfect maneuverability. Your senses perceive only what the image can see and hear while occupying it, and your own body is considered blind, deaf, and helpless. You can switch between the image and your body as a swift action. While your mind is in your body, the image is similarly helpless.
Your image can pass through solid objects as though you are incorporeal. It cannot go farther into a solid object than your space (5 feet for a Small or Medium creature). It can’t be damaged by most attacks or effects, whether or not they affect incorporeal creatures. However, mind-affecting effects targeted against or affecting your psychic image have their full effect on you whenever your mind occupies it.
If you desire, you can cast any psychic spell or spell-like ability with a range of touch or greater while your mind occupies your image. You can’t cast non-psychic spells through the image, even if you possess them. The psychic image can cast only psychic illusion spells on itself. The spells affect other targets normally, despite originating from the psychic image.
Objects are affected by the psychic image as if they had succeeded at their Will saves. You need not maintain line of effect to your psychic image, but if you cross into another plane even for an instant, such as via blink, dimension door, or similar spells, the spell ends.
Hmm. Pros: You're immune to everything but mind affecting, you can hide in or pass through (small) solid objects, you can switch back to your body at will to move it around to a safer spot or check on it for impending danger. Cons: Low duration, you can't teleport your body away to safety, so you've got to rely on the long range or other planning/defense spells to keep your body out of harms way. Still, pretty good for a quick BANZAI!! spell attack and not too hard to hide yourself in a spot that won't be found for a minute or two.
And if they do, maybe you had Akashic Form up, or it was just a Possessed form anyway...