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View Full Version : [3.5] Ideas for Pseudonatural Planar Allies



Brauron
2008-10-12, 11:15 PM
For a one-shot, I made a 6th level Human Archivist (Heroes of Horror) who is, for all intents and purposes, a Cthulhu cultist. Well, now the DM is looking at making this one-shot a semi-regular campaign, and told us all to level up.

So I am now a 7th level Human Archivist, which means I get access to 4th level divine spells, and I chose Lesser Planar Ally and Dismissal. I'm looking at building this character towards the Alienist prestige class (Complete Arcane), and asked the DM if I could use Lesser Planar Ally to summon Pseudonatural creatures (template, Complete Arcane, not the Epic-level version).

The DM agreed to let me call and make deals with Pseudonatural creatures, and asked me to stat up a handful of them for him to use when I cast the spell.

And so now I have two questions.

A) How can I best make use of Lesser Planar Ally? By which I guess I'm asking, what sorts of uses have you folks made of the spell in the past? This is my first time playing a full caster, and I'm playing with people who have played casters a lot, and I'm a little nervous about turning what could be a potentially excellent spell into something lousy.

B) What would be some good creatures to apply the Pseudonatural template to? I have access to all five Monster Manuals, Frostburn, and Sandstorm, and my Archivist speaks Common, Undercommon, Celestial, Abyssal and Draconic.

Darrin
2008-10-13, 10:36 AM
B) What would be some good creatures to apply the Pseudonatural template to? I have access to all five Monster Manuals, Frostburn, and Sandstorm, and my Archivist speaks Common, Undercommon, Celestial, Abyssal and Draconic.

I assume by "good" you mean powerful/useful than just Celestial goody-two-shoes with the [good] descriptor. As far as templates go, Pseudonatural isn't going to add a whole lot to most outsiders, most of which already have spell resistance and some kind of DR/? already. The only thing Pseudonatural really adds is true strike 1/day, which is great if you're summoning something with a special attack that relies on an attack roll and does ability damage, energy drain, infectious disease, or whatever.



A) How can I best make use of Lesser Planar Ally? By which I guess I'm asking, what sorts of uses have you folks made of the spell in the past? This is my first time playing a full caster, and I'm playing with people who have played casters a lot, and I'm a little nervous about turning what could be a potentially excellent spell into something lousy.


Lesser Planar Ally is a little like a box of candy... ok, so you don't quite have "summon djinn, wish for candle of invocation" cheese yet, but there's quite a bit of leverage you can pull out of this toolbox. Some examples:

Barghest: We won't give this guy a name, because this only going to work once, and your DM won't ever let you do it again, so save it for a big boss battle or something dramatically appropriate. Kill a bunch of weak humanoids. Summon the Barghest and let him feed... keep feeding him enough HD and he'll become a Greater Barghest. You can keep going from there until he's up to 18 HD, but even at 9 HD a Greater Barghest gets invisibility sphere at will, mass bull's strength 1/day and mass enlarge 1/day.

Bearded Devil: Infernal Wound (-2 hp per round, no save) pairs up nicely with true strike... and you can add battle frenzy on top of that. Also, greater teleport at will. We can call him "Whiskers".

Dune Stalker: Three words... "Kiss of Death". Now add two more: "true strike". Save is only DC 15, but on a *successful* save, target is stunned 1 round. On a failed save, dead target. As for a name... "Kiss of Death" has a great ring to it, but I also like "Dusty".

Formian Taskmaster: Dominate Monster at will with a fairly harsh DC 17 will save, up to 4 creatures at once. Let's call him "Captain Bootlicker".

Janni: The weakest of the genies, but they have plane shift. Let me say that again: They can PLANE SHIFT at will up to 8 creatures to any elemental plane, the astral plane, or the material plane. Left your wallet on the wrong continent, or need to check in on a planer touchstone site? No problem. Ok, so accuracy may only be 5-500 miles, but she can keep trying until you get close. Extra points if you can get her to wear the pink-and-red outfit. Namewise, "Jeannie" or "Barbara Eden" should do fine.

Jovoc: This is another trick that may only work once: "Aura of Retribution" means any damage the jovoc takes, it deals the same amount of damage to all targets within 30', and this damage automatically bypasses all DR, SR, and immunities. Name: "Benalish Hero" or "Ensign Euthanasia".

Minotaur of Legend: Ok, no really fancy special attacks or qualities, but a good solid pick if you're just looking for a large slab of meat to soak up attacks or pummel something into a bloody splotch. Name: "Ferdinand the Bull" should work nicely.

Succubus: energy drain on a touch attack (+true strike!), polymorph at will (humanoid only, but if you can't find a borken humanoid, you're not trying), and greater teleport at will. Also +19 on bluff, intimidate, listen, spot. Let's call her "Mystique" and, uh... try to keep the relationship "professional".

Sylph: Certainly not the most dangerous thing you can summon, but 1/day they can summon a huge elemental as per the summon monser VI spell. Name: Sorry, but gotta go with "Tinkerbell".

Xorn: This is your ultimate dungeon-wrecker, because he has earthglide. Quickly discovers all secret doors, hidden passageways, and almost all traps. Watch your panicked DM scramble to pull out all sorts of wacky "force walls" out of his keister to prevent this guy from speedwalking you directly to the end of his dungeon. For a name, I think I'd go with "Digby".

Blackfang108
2008-10-13, 12:53 PM
Namewise, "Jeannie" or "Barbara Eden" should do fine.

I wonder how many people my age(25) or younger get the reference.

I loved watching reruns of that show on Nick-At-Night. right up there with Get Smart.