Are these decent choices for Planar Ally?

[danielxcutter]

Hey guys! I was just curious about what the Cleric in our party would get with the Planar Ally series, and since his character worships Rill Cleverthrush(see Races of Stone), he gets Formian Taskmasters, Formian Myrmarchs, and huge air elementals.

How are they? We've got quite a few levels to go before gaining access to any of them, but I'd like to know, and probably mention it to him as well.

Our party:

NG Human Fighter 2/Psion(Nomad) 3: Plans on entering Slayer ASAP, as well as Mindsight via Shedu Crown.

NG Pixie Swordsage 1(Pixies have +4 LA): Considers Mo9, but is not sure.

LG Whisper Gnome Cloistered Cleric 5: Probably going to stick with this.

LE Catfolk Warlock 4: Plans to enter Hellfire Warlock and take some levels in Binder.

[VoxRationis]

IIRC, you get a 2-for-1 deal with Formian Taskmasters since one of their stat abilities means they come with another CR 4 creature. But I might be misreading that.

[danielxcutter]

IIRC, you get a 2-for-1 deal with Formian Taskmasters since one of their stat abilities means they come with another CR 4 creature. But I might be misreading that.

Don't think you can summon their thrall as well. Even if you can, CR 4? Seriously?

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Air elementals are always nice. Perfect flight at high speed makes them very versatile. No standard ranged attacks, but some decent specials. Is this the 10D8 one special attack Pathfinder or the 16D8 two special attacks D20 version by the way?

[Inevitability]

Taskmasters are very good if you can somehow supply it with a few beefy creatures to control. Use nonlethal attacks to render foes unconscious, then let it go to town.

[danielxcutter]

Air elementals are always nice. Perfect flight at high speed makes them very versatile. No standard ranged attacks, but some decent specials. Is this the 10D8 one special attack Pathfinder or the 16D8 two special attacks D20 version by the way?

Um... the 3.5 version, but I thought that version only had one special attack too. Unless you mean special quality - Air Elementals also have Air Mastery, but that's not an "attack".


Taskmasters are very good if you can somehow supply it with a few beefy creatures to control. Use nonlethal attacks to render foes unconscious, then let it go to town.

The Warlock probably won't mind, but the other three of us might(IC that is), especially my character. Since the DM has clarified that the endboss will be a homebrewed Elder Evil, however, we might have to.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Unless you mean special quality ... Air Mastery,

My bad. 10 characters.

[danielxcutter]

My bad. 10 characters.

So... they're still nice?

[Darrin]

Planar Ally can get you access to higher-level SLAs. You have to pay for them, but it's only 50 GP per HD for a non-combat-related SLA. Some examples:

Equinal (6 HD, Book of Exalted Deeds). At will: aid, command, detect evil, detect magic, dimension door, dispel magic, fog cloud, light, magic missile, see invisibility. 1/day: slow, wall of stone.

Hollyphant (6 HD, Book of Exalted Deeds). 1/day: banishment, flame strike, heal, raise dead. CL 15. Great bargain for only 300 GP.

Justice Archon (6 HD, MMIV). Teleport (Su) at will, CL 14.

Mirror Mephit (2 HD, Expedition to the Demonweb Pits). 1/day: simulacrum. This one is controversial, as it can open the door to wish abuse (by creating a simulacrum of an efreet). CL is 8, so it can create a simulacrum of any creature up to 16 HD. There is actually a 2nd level Conjuration (Summoning) cleric spell to summon a mirror mephit, but summoned creatures refuse to use SLAs that would have an XP cost if they were spells. This is more of a back pocket "Get out of a TPK" kinda thing... might work once if it fits the DM's storyline.

Movanic Deva (6 HD, Fiend Folio). 3/day: atonement, bless weapon, cure serious wounds, daylight, divination, ethereal jaunt, hallow, holy smite, neutralize poison, plane shift, remove curse, remove disease, remove fear. 1/day: commune, raise dead.

[danielxcutter]

Planar Ally can get you access to higher-level SLAs. You have to pay for them, but it's only 50 GP per HD for a non-combat-related SLA. Some examples:

Equinal (6 HD, Book of Exalted Deeds): aid, command, detect evil, detect magic, dimension door, dispel magic, fog cloud, light, magic missile, see invisibility at will. Slow, wall of stone 1/day.

Hollyphant (6 HD, Book of Exalted Deeds): banishment, flame strike, heal, raise dead 1/day. CL 15. Great bargain for only 300 GP.

Justice Archon (6 HD, MMIV): Teleport (Su) at will, CL 14.

Mirror Mephit (2 HD, Expedition to the Demonweb Pits): simulacrum 1/day. This one is controversial, as it can open the door to wish abuse (by creating a simulacrum of an efreet). CL is 8, so it can create a simulacrum of any creature up to 16 HD. There is actually a 2nd level Conjuration (Summoning) cleric spell to summon a mirror mephit, but summoned creatures refuse to use SLAs that would have an XP cost if they were spells. This is more of a back pocket "Get out of a TPK" kinda thing... might work once if it fits the DM's storyline.

Movanic Deva (6 HD, Fiend Folio): atonement, bless weapon, cure serious wounds, daylight, divination, ethereal jaunt, hallow, holy smite, neutralize poison, plane shift, remove curse, remove disease, remove fear 3/day. Commune, raise dead 1/day.

Huh, I thought the Planar Allies were fixed. Also, said Cleric worships Rill Cleverthrush... an LN god. Anything that might fit in that context?

[Darrin]

Huh, I thought the Planar Allies were fixed. Also, said Cleric worships Rill Cleverthrush... an LN god. Anything that might fit in that context?

It's actually up to the deity to decide what to send. However, you can request a particular creature by name, or try to narrow down the deity's selection by requesting a particular service. If you need a raise dead, then presumably your deity is not going to send you a justice archon (or if he does... you're probably in a lot more trouble than what a raise dead could fix).

You could suggest to the cleric to put some points in Knowledge: the Planes, and then during downtime he could research the specific name of a movanic deva, equinal, hollyphant, etc. DC to discover a specific name isn't clear... but it should be somewhere below discovering a personal truename, which is 15 + (2 x CR).

As far as I can determine, there are no rules that restricts a deity from sending an outsider with an opposed alignment. I'm assuming an LN deity would probably avoid Eladrin (CG), but I suppose devils (LE) might be possible... maybe they lost a bet at some point?