Jowgen
2016-09-06, 11:00 PM
As some of you might recall, I developed a fascination with the Create Lantern Archon spell a while back. I have now reached a point where I feel that I have done as much silly optimization as I can with these babies, and I herein present the final unified result of that. It's not a hand-book (not RAW-tight enough for my taste), I'm simply seeking comments, nit-picks and ideas for further shenanigans.
The Basics
Create Lantern Archon is a Conjuration (Creation) spells that allows a caster to literally create a new, permanent Lantern Archon. This Lantern is supposed to be simple-task obedient for an hour, or serve as per lesser planar binding, before leaving for your deity's home plane. The purpose here is to work around this limitation for maximum profit.
The concept of the Arch Lantern Corps rests upon two assumptions.
1. While the MM presents the standard Lantern Archon, there can be variation in any given Lantern's make-up, and since the caster actively creates the Lantern Archon from scratch, he should be able to decide what these variations are. In effect, the assumption is that the caster can choose the ability score distribution, feats, flaws and so on for the Lantern he creates. There is no solid RAW to support this, so it's firmly in "does it make sense with thy DM" territory. If not, then the same results can be achieved through more cumbersome methods (e.g. Psychic Reformation).
2. It is possible to circumvent the 1-hour/lesser-planar-binding "Terms of Service" of a created Lantern and recruit it as a follower for the Leadership feat (no LA = 1 HD followers). This may or may not require a Leadership Check (see Power of Faerun), the lack of a patron deity, and/or a "mental readjustment" process of choice that works on Lantern Archons (sufficiently covered in suitable threads).
The resulting goal is to create and recruit a large number of custom built Lantern Archon's to do one's bidding. From here on out, I showcase what 1 HD lantern archon builds I have come up with for this.
General Uses of any given Arch Lantern
Being Archons, each Lantern has the ability to use greater teleport at will. This effectively allows for one to employ them as an instant communications and goods-transport system. Their minor SLAs (e.g. Aid at will) make them decent support for low-level armies, and their continual flame SLA takes care of all the magical light one could ever want.
Arch Lantern 1: Guardian
This Lantern distributes the non-elite array to get 13 points in Constitution. This qualifies them for the Touch of Golden Ice feat, which they can employ with their ranged light ray attack (the RAW on it being a natural attack is pretty solid, according to my past threads on the topic). With 2 flaws (likely inherited from their creator), they can also take Flyby Attack and ability focus: Touch of Golden Ice.
This allows the Guardian Lantern to take full advantage of their perfect 60 ft flight speed to make strafe/kiting attacks on Evil enemies, allowing them to move in, fire their 30 ft touch attack ray, do some irresitable damage and force a save against Golden Ice (with a boosted DC) before moving back into a safe distance. If facing Undead, who have terrible Fort save and are not only non-immune but extra vulnerable to Golden Ice, a single Guardian Lantern can take on grossly over-CRed enemies (e.g. Nightcrawlers). Once they show up in significant numbers, few evil creatures stand a chance.
Arch Lantern 2: Watchmen
This Lantern distributes the non-elite array to get 13 points in Wisdom. This qualifies them for the Knight of Tyr's Merciful sword feat. With a single flaw, and exposure to the a Commune or Contact other Plane spell, they also qualify for the the Omniscient Whispers spelltouched feat. Furthermore, they can take the Fell Conspiracy feat for good measure (though they can't get the full benefit) with a second flaw.
Once per week, these Lanterns can use Knight of Tyr's Merciful Sword to determine the direction of the greatest Evil within 1-10 miles (depending on use) of them, and with 2-3 of them and the right set-up, one can triangulate not only the direction but the exact location of said evil. Following thins, the Sentinel can use Omniscient Whispers to get the benefit of a commune spell, allowing them to ask vital questions regarding the Evil that they've pin-pointed. With exact location and information on the Evil, there one is in a perfect position to send out some Guardian Lanterns to take care of things.
Fell Conspiracy effectively gives them and any participants in their daily ritual Message at will, which might be handy for in-field communications.
Arch Lantern 3: Spy
These Lanterns can have any ability score distribution, as they only need the following 3 feats: Bind Vestige, Practiced Binder and Improved Bind vestige. This allows them to bind Malphas and use his Bird's Eye viewing ability. This allows the Lantern to summon a Dove (Raven without speech) that it fully controls and autmatically shares its senses with over any distance. Obviously, this Dove serves as a highly inconspicuous probe that the spy can send anywhere (e.g. the Evil pinpointed by the Watchment) to get a safe first-hand look at the situation. As the Spy can teleport into the vicintiy of any given location, it can effectively place its eyes and ears anywhere in the world within a very short space of time at no risk.
The above 3 Arch Lanterns are the regular model that doesn't require much to get working. What follows are the high-end models that can seriously alter the game, but rely on a bit more lenience from the DM.
Arch Lantern 4: Creation
These Lanterns can have any ability distribution, as they rely soley on the fact that Lantern Archons have CL of 3 despite their 1 HD. They qualify for the Craft Wondrous Item feat. They can then take the Extraordinary Artisan feat to reduce the base price needed for crafting by 25%, and then take the Magical Artisan feat applied to Extraordinary Artisan to get another 25% off. As this is blatant well-known cheese, they could instead take Create Portal (to start establishing a gate network), Sanctify Relic (to mass-produce e.g. Dawnstars), or any other niche Item Creation Feat that might be useful.
In any case, these Lanterns work in group to cheap craft both mundane and magical items. Talisman's of Transference allow them to source the exp for crafting from any cheese fact... I mean, business model of the player's choosing. If the player can recruit a level 12 Warlock or any given Midgard Dwarf (Forstburn) as a cohort, they do not have to worry about spell prerequesites or CL either. But speaking of CL.
Arch Lantern 5: Arcanist
These Lanterns require a Cha and/or Int boost, either via a template (e.g. Magic Blooded from Dragon 306 for +2 Cha), and the freedom to count as divine by virtue of their cleric list SLAs. If these conditions are met they can qualify for Magical Training, Precocious Apprentice and the Ghostwalk version of Circle Magic. This will allow them to a) cast any 1 2nd level spell per day, and b) use circle magic to boost their CL to 20 (which they can then provide for the creation Lantern's items).
Should it become possible to advance these Lanterns to 3 HD, they can then take Fiery Burst, Acid Splash, or any other level 2 spell requiring reserve feat. Via circle magic, they can then heighten their 2nd level spell to 10th, not cast it, and instead spam their reserve feat attack for e.g. 10d6 fire damage in a 5 ft radius burst (Ref half) at will. These would then be the indiscriminate heavy hitters.
With a Leadership score of 25+, a character can build up an army of 150+ mixed and matched Archons of these. That is the Arch Lantern Corps.
To once again be clear, I do not consider these to be even remotely solid RAW (for the most part). There are a lot of ways a DM could choose to shoot any given one of these down, depending on their reading of the rules and personal whim. At the end of the day, this is simply a "how much use could a Lantern Archon be?" thought experiment. I hope people find it interesting/fun and hopefully come up with some extra ideas. :smallsmile:
The Basics
Create Lantern Archon is a Conjuration (Creation) spells that allows a caster to literally create a new, permanent Lantern Archon. This Lantern is supposed to be simple-task obedient for an hour, or serve as per lesser planar binding, before leaving for your deity's home plane. The purpose here is to work around this limitation for maximum profit.
The concept of the Arch Lantern Corps rests upon two assumptions.
1. While the MM presents the standard Lantern Archon, there can be variation in any given Lantern's make-up, and since the caster actively creates the Lantern Archon from scratch, he should be able to decide what these variations are. In effect, the assumption is that the caster can choose the ability score distribution, feats, flaws and so on for the Lantern he creates. There is no solid RAW to support this, so it's firmly in "does it make sense with thy DM" territory. If not, then the same results can be achieved through more cumbersome methods (e.g. Psychic Reformation).
2. It is possible to circumvent the 1-hour/lesser-planar-binding "Terms of Service" of a created Lantern and recruit it as a follower for the Leadership feat (no LA = 1 HD followers). This may or may not require a Leadership Check (see Power of Faerun), the lack of a patron deity, and/or a "mental readjustment" process of choice that works on Lantern Archons (sufficiently covered in suitable threads).
The resulting goal is to create and recruit a large number of custom built Lantern Archon's to do one's bidding. From here on out, I showcase what 1 HD lantern archon builds I have come up with for this.
General Uses of any given Arch Lantern
Being Archons, each Lantern has the ability to use greater teleport at will. This effectively allows for one to employ them as an instant communications and goods-transport system. Their minor SLAs (e.g. Aid at will) make them decent support for low-level armies, and their continual flame SLA takes care of all the magical light one could ever want.
Arch Lantern 1: Guardian
This Lantern distributes the non-elite array to get 13 points in Constitution. This qualifies them for the Touch of Golden Ice feat, which they can employ with their ranged light ray attack (the RAW on it being a natural attack is pretty solid, according to my past threads on the topic). With 2 flaws (likely inherited from their creator), they can also take Flyby Attack and ability focus: Touch of Golden Ice.
This allows the Guardian Lantern to take full advantage of their perfect 60 ft flight speed to make strafe/kiting attacks on Evil enemies, allowing them to move in, fire their 30 ft touch attack ray, do some irresitable damage and force a save against Golden Ice (with a boosted DC) before moving back into a safe distance. If facing Undead, who have terrible Fort save and are not only non-immune but extra vulnerable to Golden Ice, a single Guardian Lantern can take on grossly over-CRed enemies (e.g. Nightcrawlers). Once they show up in significant numbers, few evil creatures stand a chance.
Arch Lantern 2: Watchmen
This Lantern distributes the non-elite array to get 13 points in Wisdom. This qualifies them for the Knight of Tyr's Merciful sword feat. With a single flaw, and exposure to the a Commune or Contact other Plane spell, they also qualify for the the Omniscient Whispers spelltouched feat. Furthermore, they can take the Fell Conspiracy feat for good measure (though they can't get the full benefit) with a second flaw.
Once per week, these Lanterns can use Knight of Tyr's Merciful Sword to determine the direction of the greatest Evil within 1-10 miles (depending on use) of them, and with 2-3 of them and the right set-up, one can triangulate not only the direction but the exact location of said evil. Following thins, the Sentinel can use Omniscient Whispers to get the benefit of a commune spell, allowing them to ask vital questions regarding the Evil that they've pin-pointed. With exact location and information on the Evil, there one is in a perfect position to send out some Guardian Lanterns to take care of things.
Fell Conspiracy effectively gives them and any participants in their daily ritual Message at will, which might be handy for in-field communications.
Arch Lantern 3: Spy
These Lanterns can have any ability score distribution, as they only need the following 3 feats: Bind Vestige, Practiced Binder and Improved Bind vestige. This allows them to bind Malphas and use his Bird's Eye viewing ability. This allows the Lantern to summon a Dove (Raven without speech) that it fully controls and autmatically shares its senses with over any distance. Obviously, this Dove serves as a highly inconspicuous probe that the spy can send anywhere (e.g. the Evil pinpointed by the Watchment) to get a safe first-hand look at the situation. As the Spy can teleport into the vicintiy of any given location, it can effectively place its eyes and ears anywhere in the world within a very short space of time at no risk.
The above 3 Arch Lanterns are the regular model that doesn't require much to get working. What follows are the high-end models that can seriously alter the game, but rely on a bit more lenience from the DM.
Arch Lantern 4: Creation
These Lanterns can have any ability distribution, as they rely soley on the fact that Lantern Archons have CL of 3 despite their 1 HD. They qualify for the Craft Wondrous Item feat. They can then take the Extraordinary Artisan feat to reduce the base price needed for crafting by 25%, and then take the Magical Artisan feat applied to Extraordinary Artisan to get another 25% off. As this is blatant well-known cheese, they could instead take Create Portal (to start establishing a gate network), Sanctify Relic (to mass-produce e.g. Dawnstars), or any other niche Item Creation Feat that might be useful.
In any case, these Lanterns work in group to cheap craft both mundane and magical items. Talisman's of Transference allow them to source the exp for crafting from any cheese fact... I mean, business model of the player's choosing. If the player can recruit a level 12 Warlock or any given Midgard Dwarf (Forstburn) as a cohort, they do not have to worry about spell prerequesites or CL either. But speaking of CL.
Arch Lantern 5: Arcanist
These Lanterns require a Cha and/or Int boost, either via a template (e.g. Magic Blooded from Dragon 306 for +2 Cha), and the freedom to count as divine by virtue of their cleric list SLAs. If these conditions are met they can qualify for Magical Training, Precocious Apprentice and the Ghostwalk version of Circle Magic. This will allow them to a) cast any 1 2nd level spell per day, and b) use circle magic to boost their CL to 20 (which they can then provide for the creation Lantern's items).
Should it become possible to advance these Lanterns to 3 HD, they can then take Fiery Burst, Acid Splash, or any other level 2 spell requiring reserve feat. Via circle magic, they can then heighten their 2nd level spell to 10th, not cast it, and instead spam their reserve feat attack for e.g. 10d6 fire damage in a 5 ft radius burst (Ref half) at will. These would then be the indiscriminate heavy hitters.
With a Leadership score of 25+, a character can build up an army of 150+ mixed and matched Archons of these. That is the Arch Lantern Corps.
To once again be clear, I do not consider these to be even remotely solid RAW (for the most part). There are a lot of ways a DM could choose to shoot any given one of these down, depending on their reading of the rules and personal whim. At the end of the day, this is simply a "how much use could a Lantern Archon be?" thought experiment. I hope people find it interesting/fun and hopefully come up with some extra ideas. :smallsmile: