Ice Assassin Houserule

[Lysander]

I think the Ice Assassin spell is a little overpowered and open ended. Make a copy of anything! A deity! A lord of the abyss! Make a perfect copy of yourself that wants to kill you, yet obeys your every command to effectively double your spells each day!

Here are a few houserules I think work:

-A caster retains no link with or control over an ice assassin they create. An ice assassins' only goal is to kill the original as quickly and pragmatically as possible. It has no secondary goals. An ice assassin only obeys its maker if it believes doing so will allow it to kill the original more easily or quicker.

-Because this need to kill the original is part of its nature an ice assassin's alignment is true neutral. An ice assassin cannot be swayed from its mission, and mind-affecting spells cannot change or make it forget its goal.

-After the original is killed an ice assassin's new goal is to prevent their resurrection. They will attempt to destroy the original's body and kill any allies likely to resurrect them.

-If the original is unlikely to be resurrected an ice assassin has no further goals or motivation. It will take the minimum action needed to protect itself from harm and find a safe place to remain still and wait out eternity, usually an icy inhospitable part of the world. Should the original ever be resurrected the ice assassin instantly senses it and resumes its hunt.

-edit: Ice Assassin cannot duplicate a divine rank higher than 0. Copies of higher ranking deities are reduced to divine rank 0.

-Ice Assassin costs 100xp per HD, with a minimum of 5,000xp (this doesn't change much unless you're trying to copy a really high HD creature)

[Sstoopidtallkid]

If any method is used to avoid paying the XP and/or material component costs, the spell fails. This includes, but is not limited to, the epic feat Ignore Material Components, turning the spell into a SLA, or making the spell into a scroll.

[Aquillion]

Remember that it is a ninth-level spell.

Aside from the obvious no-bypassing-the-material-component, I would suggest just forcing the same limits you put on Gate onto it (including any Gate houserules you may have, since Gate itself is pretty overpowered.) Treat it like gating someone in, with the same HD limit and ban on unique entities (like gods.)

Of course, not exactly like Gate, that would be boring. You keep the restrictions of Ice Assassin (you need a piece of them, etc), but they last longer, and so forth. It's still a hugely powerful spell, but no more game-breaking than existing 9th level spells.

[hamishspence]

I lean toward enforcing "You need a piece of them" whether the other material components can be waived by turning it into a SLA, or not.

And the "piece" doesn't come with a basic Spell Component Pouch.

[taltamir]

a divine rank of 0 is still a divine rank and still confers benefits. For example, someone whose divine rank is 0 has max HP on all their hit dice. They cannot grant spells, they might have worshipers.

if the spell cannot duplicate a divine rank then it should give a divine rank of "none"

Divine Ranks:
None = Mortal
0 = quasi deity
1-5 = demigods (grants spells)
6-10 = lesser deity
11-15 = intermediate deity
16-20 = greater deity
21+ = Over deity (does not grant spells, does not need worshippers, can strip lesser gods of their powers, only gods capable of elevating a mortal into godhood (up to their own level), power not affected or related to the number of their worshippers)

I lean toward enforcing "You need a piece of them" whether the other material components can be waived by turning it into a SLA, or not.

And the "piece" doesn't come with a basic Spell Component Pouch.

make it a focus that is only useable once (aka, it is either consumed, or maybe you can say the focus becomes them... that is, the ice assassin grows from the piece of their body.). There are many spells that specify that they have a focus which is consumed by the spell; this is to avoid eschew materials.

SLA still ignores foci, but that is because SLA are broken, infinite free wishes and the like... so don't even bother specifying how it works with SLA, that will be up to the DMs own SLA fix.

[Lysander]

a divine rank of 0 is still a divine rank and still confers benefits. For example, someone whose divine rank is 0 has max HP on all their hit dice. They cannot grant spells, they might have worshipers.

if the spell cannot duplicate a divine rank then it should give a divine rank of "none"

Divine Ranks:
None = Mortal
0 = quasi deity
1-5 = demigods (grants spells)
6-10 = lesser deity
11-15 = intermediate deity
16-20 = greater deity
21+ = Over deity (does not grant spells, does not need worshippers, can strip lesser gods of their powers, only gods capable of elevating a mortal into godhood (up to their own level), power not affected or related to the number of their worshippers)

Rank 0 should be fine I suppose. That makes your divine duplicate still have a smidgen of the original's power without allowing really cheesy stuff like item creation.

[taltamir]

Rank 0 should be fine I suppose. That makes your divine duplicate still have a smidgen of the original's power without allowing really cheesy stuff like item creation.

that still requires modifications to the wording, since it says that it cannot duplicate divine rank, and then says that any divine being duplicated has a divine rank of 0. The spell is explicitly self contradicting in this regards.

What if you are duplicating someone with divine rank 0? its not a smidgeon of their power then but identical power... So maybe include a restriction of having a divine rank of 10+ to get a duplicate with 0?

regardless, either correct the stipulation that it has no divine rank, or correct the part where it says divine rank 0 to divine rank none.

[Doc Roc]

Just ban it. It doesn't need to exist.

[UglyPanda]

Just ban it if you're so concerned about it. You don't need predetermined houserules for things 90% of players don't use anyway. You ban it and smack them over the head if they protest*.


*UglyPanda's advice may cause assault convictions. Use sparingly.

[taltamir]

The thing about "just ban it" is that every DM is (hopefully) banning it already... the whole purpose of this thread is rework the spell so it is not totally broken and can be kept.

[Doc Roc]

What does it do that I want in my game, when fixed?

[Longcat]

The only thing truly broken about the spell is the material component, or rather, the lack thereof through several means. Just nerf those, and you're good to go.

[Akal Saris]

I'd include a clause limiting it to creatures of HD = to your CL, up to 20 HD. Same thing I'd do for Clone and Gate actually.

Adding in an XP cost and the need for a bit of flesh is also pretty reasonable, though I'd go for the high GP cost than an XP cost.

[taltamir]

I'd include a clause limiting it to creatures of HD = to your CL, up to 20 HD. Same thing I'd do for Clone and Gate actually.

Adding in an XP cost and the need for a bit of flesh is also pretty reasonable, though I'd go for the high GP cost than an XP cost.

I agree with all of these changes.