Fun Finds v7.0 - Now with +15% more reposts!

[altpersona]

er, am i reading or missing the fine print correctly about a custom Undead dragon pact? o.0

[Sinfire Titan]

Can we discuss custom Affiliation benefits from PH2? Cause at least two of them are stupidly abusive as-written. Dreamwalker allows you to prepare one spell (either at random or just one you don't already know, depending on the reading) from anyone else's mind, with no restrictions on spell list in sight. You can also call in a favor to gain access to a 5th level or higher spell (permanently) at 1/4 the normal price. I know that last one probably referred to hiring a spellcaster, but as written it can just give you permanent access to it for a spellbook.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

"You can also call in a favor to gain access to a 5th level or higher spell (permanently) at 1/4 the normal price."

Automatic and out-of-sight of authorities, compared to :
+3 Towns on average have 1 caster with arcane level 5s, needs Diplo and luck.
+6 Towns almost always have some arcane level 5s available, still needs Diplo and some luck.
+9 Towns should have at least 1 PsyRef -fester around via Leadership = most  arcane level 5s, but needs even more Diplo.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Celestial Scion feat from DMag #315 has some interesting bits ---> http://www.realmshelps.net/charbuild/feat/Celestial_Scion

All options of it, have either a Diplomancy or a He Hate Me attitude thingie.

Cranden is perfect for my Money Bags idea, and any Aristocrat build.
Darmen is Rerolls for Bluff lies.
Garasteth adds Wizard as a favored class ... legitimating some multiclass cheeses.
... and wtf , Naelax is True Seeing vs Devils + Demons cloaking abilities.

[Amechra]

Celestial Scion feat from DMag #315 has some interesting bits ---> http://www.realmshelps.net/charbuild/feat/Celestial_Scion

All options of it, have either a Diplomancy or a He Hate Me attitude thingie.

Cranden is perfect for my Money Bags idea, and any Aristocrat build.
Darmen is Rerolls for Bluff lies.
Garasteth adds Wizard as a favored class ... legitimating some multiclass cheeses.
... and wtf , Naelax is True Seeing vs Devils + Demons cloaking abilities.

Celestial Scion (Torquaan) + Mercantile Background = Expert at the buying and selling.

You sell stuff for a 50% markup (75% of the base price instead of 50%), and get a 10% discount. Once per week, you get a 25% discount (buy stuff for 75% rather than 100% of the base cost). This either stacks linearly (buy for 90% most of the time, 65% once per week) or multiplicatively (buy for 90% most of the times, 67.5% once per week)... but either way, that's a nice solid way to do business.

Splash in Apprentice (Craftsman) to get a 10% discount on raw materials when crafting things, Resourceful Buyer to make sure more things are available...

=---=

Blood Artisan (from the 3.5 update of OA) cuts the GP cost for magic item creation to 75%, but forces it to be a cursed item (randomly rolled, of course).

Extract Demonic Essence can cut the XP cost to create a magic item in half, but gives you a 10% chance that it's a cursed magic item. More interestingly, it can also be used to cut the XP cost of spells in half, if you don't have some other cheese to get around that.

There's probably some other way you can get a discount by making the item triple cursed, but heck if I know what it is.

[Amechra]

Hey kids, did you ever want to break Turning even more?

Light of Wisdom has your back.

=---=

Edit:

The Rank 5 benefit of worshipping Ehlonna (Complete Champion p. 9) lets you Smite Evil like a Paladin... except it never specifies what your effective Paladin level is for the purposes of how much damage you deal. Oops.

Boccob's Rank 4 benefit (p. 13) is much cooler - 1/day, counter a spell without identifying it or having that spell prepped. Wee Jas' (p. 20) is even better - she gets the same ability, but her Tier 3 ability is +1 to the CL for any one school.

Elves take the cake for borkedness - the 3rd Tier benefit of the Church of True Aim (p. 24), which can only be joined by elves and half-elves, is to double the bonus from Power Attack or Combat Expertise 1/day. Due to the way it's worded, you've got 3 damage per point of penalty as long as you are wielding the weapon in two hands, so anything that doubles it uses that as the base.

That's not the end, oh no... the 4th Tier benefit adds half your character level to the save DC of a spell of 3rd level or lower once per day.

It might be interesting to dig through the Domain Churches and find interesting ones - Chaos looks like it might be interesting...

=---=

EDIT EDIT:

Actually, quickly looking through the Domain Churches, the one for the Knowledge Domain is wonderful for anyone running Knowledge Devotion.

The benefit for having an Affiliation score of 30+ is:

"Once  per day,  negate a single
ability  of an  enemy  creature that
you've discovered  using a  successful 
Knowledge check. This  effect  lasts  for 
1  minute and  is a supernatural  ability. 
The  creature can  attempt a  Fortitude 
save  (DC  10 + your character  level +
your  Int modifier)  to  negate this  effect. "

[SorO_Lost]

Raging Inferno: Once per day, any weapon you wield (melee or ranged) deals an extra 1d6 points of fire damage for 1 round/character level (duration need not be consecutive).

 
I think it means for 1 round per character level per day you can deal an extra +1d6 but no Action to enable/disable is noted. It's also pretty easy to hit 30 points too, anytime you humiliate a follower of Water you gain a point. Put on your best stand up routine bashing hecklers water worshipers for instant overnight success. The +1 bonus to Initiative Checks is a nice boon too.

Luck Domain is also a shoe in, "Wins a battle as a result of careful preparation: +4". As a Cleric you have to prepare for all your battles in the morning when you pray for your Spells to prepare them. It's negatives are failing in battle and double natural 1s, which depending on your tabletop is synonymous with your character's death anyway. As a result you can access it's forced 1/day reroll pretty easily.

Strength has an interesting benefit for providing a +1 unnamed bonus to Strength permanently. So based on that permanent part if you were to lose your score, such as by worshiping something else, you'd keep the benefit even if you lost the rank. Affiliation points are also pretty easy to gain, an uber charger can expect to gain 125% of his target's CR

Trickery kind of answers the question on Fire in that it should be a Swift Action, it grants a same 1rnd/level/day benefit but it's Invisibility.

At the risk of inciting a "Lightning Maces Daggers!" debate War grants, "General: Apply any feat that normally applies to a single weapon to all the weapons with the same damage type in an entire weapon class. For example, if you have Weapon Focus (longsword), you can apply its benefit to all martial slashing weapons."

Edit - there is a hidden clause through. Accessing the 5th Rank abilities requires a 12,500gp tithe and that's honestly pretty costly for their various minor effects. Very few become worth it (such as knowledge, well I think death's +4 turn res is cheaper than the cloak too but meh).

[Sinfire Titan]

There's a spell in Shadows of the Last War that lets you form a telepathic bond with a mindless undead under the effect of a casting of Control Undead. This spell lasts 1 day/level, but Control Undead only lasts 1 minute/level. And yes, it requires you to affect the undead with Control Undead, not just rebuke it. And to top it all off, Control Undead isn't a Cleric spell (it's on the Undeath Domain in the SC though), but this spell IS a Cleric spell.

Just more bad editing.

[TC X0 Lt 0X]

There's a spell in Shadows of the Last War that lets you form a telepathic bond with a mindless undead under the effect of a casting of Control Undead. This spell lasts 1 day/level, but Control Undead only lasts 1 minute/level. And yes, it requires you to affect the undead with Control Undead, not just rebuke it. And to top it all off, Control Undead isn't a Cleric spell (it's on the Undeath Domain in the SC though), but this spell IS a Cleric spell.

Just more bad editing.

Also note you can pick my Control Undead with Divine Magician in addition to the Undeath Domain.

[Sinfire Titan]

The module Bastion of Broken Souls has a weaker version of Astral Projection. I say weaker because it doesn't duplicate equipment or allow planar travel, but it still allows you to explore a dungeon without fear of dying. Also the wording on it prevents you from using teleportation effects that require the Astral Plane, Plane of Shadows, or Ethereal Plane.

And a 300xp penalty, but who cares about 300xp when you're literally casting it to gain more?

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Dungeon Mag #100 has a level 8 spell Dire Reincarnation.
I googled and found only this 1 mention of it :

... As to the OP's question, if you're okay with playing as a dire animal, there is this web enhancement, featuring Dire Reincarnation. "I died of cholera in childhood, and my dad used a scroll he found in the woods as a desperate attempt to bring me back. I came back as a bear. A really, really big one. With spikes!"

Ta-da indeed.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

This is stupid ... -ly awesome.

steps 1+2
Psychic Weapons Master + Planar Vanguard = your sword(~psicrystal) is now a demi-plane

step 3
Hulking Hurler = now you can wield and throw it.

_{step 4
minor clean-up which it obviously needs.}

[altpersona]

uh, i thought it said the crystal blows up?

[deadkitten]

Domain droughts are actually pretty nifty for non-clerics.

While 3k is a bit expensive for a one shot item, some domains actually have abilities that are worth just buying as an option rather than going the Planar Touchstone and Catalogues of Enlightenment route.

The drought gives you access to a domain granted power for 24 hours so you can get into some nifty stuff that way.

Most of the alternate turning granting domains give them to you as separate pools distinct from turn undead, so 3+Cha uses of say turn plant might actually be a cool one shot item.

However, I would also love access to the deathbound domain in a bottle.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

I really should iron this one out.

Awesome pic , via http://static6.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_super/2/28028/661977-host_9.jpg

(click to show/hide)

uh, i thought it said the crystal blows up?

Yes, and turns into the now demiplane.

It is a little shaky.

Soulknife into Psychic Weapons Master got a specific ruling.
I don't have that ruling.  R.A.I. it's supposed to work.
That's somewhen around '03 to '04, long before I had
any idea a wotc psi board existed.
edit --- may also have been ruled during 3.0e

PsyWar Soulbound Weapon acf, was recognized as
the Soulknife port onto the PsyWar chassis.
If Soulbound = Soulknife, for this purpose then it's OK.
I don't think there was ever a specific ruling. 
edit --- nope no ruling at all.
R.A.I. it's ~supposed to work.
Probably the shakiest part of the whole thing.

Hulking Hurler 2 is necessary, who knows what it weighs so HH1 doesn't work.

Near the end of BG, PsyWar Soulbound discussion (edit --- yes)
iirc the weapon could be made into a Trebuchet,
which is totally crazy and certainly not r.a.i.

So then the assumption is that the PWM is a psicrystal
(which it clearly is for some  things) and can also be turned
into the PV 10 ability, which uses some of the same wording.
I vaguely recall some Elemental Envoy into PV 10 discussion.
(edit --- yes)
If so ... boom.


Totally T.O. and useless to, because instead of being
infinite damage or trillions of damage, it's "Demi-plane" of damage.
And the not so little problem of how much damage can this
the demi-plane itself take, while it's being used as a weapon?

bad aDMg bad


edit --- Build goes something like PsyWar 2 / X Y for qualifying / PWM 1 / Planar Vanguard 10 / HH 2
Lots of possibilities for the qualifying part, say with Jaunter + Psiotheurgist + Martial Monk + later Tash.
Real game play would be possible, weak tier 4 range, until PV 10 happens = t.o.

[nijineko]

(click to show/hide)

I really should iron this one out.

Awesome pic , via http://static6.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_super/2/28028/661977-host_9.jpg

(click to show/hide)

uh, i thought it said the crystal blows up?

Yes, and turns into the now demiplane.

It is a little shaky.

Soulknife into Psychic Weapons Master got a specific ruling.
I don't have that ruling.  R.A.I. it's supposed to work.
That's somewhen around '03 to '04, long before I had
any idea a wotc psi board existed.
edit --- may also have been ruled during 3.0e

PsyWar Soulbound Weapon acf, was recognized as
the Soulknife port onto the PsyWar chassis.
If Soulbound = Soulknife, for this purpose then it's OK.
I don't think there was ever a specific ruling. 
edit --- nope no ruling at all.
R.A.I. it's ~supposed to work.
Probably the shakiest part of the whole thing.

Hulking Hurler 2 is necessary, who knows what it weighs so HH1 doesn't work.

Near the end of BG, PsyWar Soulbound discussion (edit --- yes)
iirc the weapon could be made into a Trebuchet,
which is totally crazy and certainly not r.a.i.

So then the assumption is that the PWM is a psicrystal
(which it clearly is for some  things) and can also be turned
into the PV 10 ability, which uses some of the same wording.
I vaguely recall some Elemental Envoy into PV 10 discussion.
(edit --- yes)
If so ... boom.


Totally T.O. and useless to, because instead of being
infinite damage or trillions of damage, it's "Demi-plane" of damage.
And the not so little problem of how much damage can this
the demi-plane itself take, while it's being used as a weapon?

bad aDMg bad


edit --- Build goes something like PsyWar 2 / X Y for qualifying / PWM 1 / Planar Vanguard 10 / HH 2
Lots of possibilities for the qualifying part, say with Jaunter + Psiotheurgist + Martial Monk + later Tash.
Real game play would be possible, weak tier 4 range, until PV 10 happens = t.o.

I imagine that you could calculate the weight of everything inside of the demi-plane for the damage....

[Keldar]

I'd rather it did 3d6 damage or something playable.  Because slapping people upside the head with a demiplane is too awesome to be buried in T.O.!

[awaken_D_M_golem]

 

Titan Bloodline 12 ability would get a 6d6 weapon 2 handed, going.
Hulking Hurler 2 would let you throw it, needs the Returning mod.
Monk Flurry applies to Light weapons (now also gargantuan).

[SorO_Lost]

Because slapping people upside the head with a demiplane is too awesome to be buried in T.O.!

Meh.

You don't need to butcher the flying crap out of how a crystal stops being a crystal to blow up to claim you can wield something as an improvised weapon. I mean you could honestly try using a shape altering effect to claim just about anything is a "bolt" to an imaginary creature size for the purposes of Launch Bolt or w/e. Likewise given the prevalent of extrademsional spaces in D&D you could always ask your DM about casting Magic Weapon on your Handy Haversack before waylaying them solo-Banjo style with something that houses thousands of lives (just stuff swarms into it).

[deadkitten]

Versatile Spellcaster
( Races of the Dragon, p. 101)

[General]

You can use two lower-level spell slots to cast a spell one level higher.
Prerequisite
Ability to spontaneously cast spells,
Benefit
You can use two spell slots of the same level to cast a spell you know that is one level higher. For example, a sorcerer with this feat can expend two 2nd-level spell slots to cast any 3rd-level spell he knows.

Exploit Vestige (Su): At 2nd level, you learn how to use a bound vestige to boost your arcane spellcasting. With this ability, you can choose to forego gaining one of the vestige's granted abilities in order to gain one additional arcane spell slot per day of any level up to the highest you can cast. Thus, if you bind the vestige Dantalion (see page 28), you could give up the read thoughts ability he grants you in exchange for a bonus spell slot that day.
You decide which ability to give up before you make the binding check, and you can forego only one ability per day in this manner, even if you can bind multiple vestiges. Vestiges react poorly to your use of this ability, so you take a —5 penalty on your binding check. If you make a good pact despite this penalty, you gain a bonus spell slot in exchange for the ability you gave up. If you make a poor pact (that is, you fail your binding check), you do not gain the extra spell slot, and you still give up the designated ability for the day.
When you use this ability and make a good pact, you sever a portion of the bound vestige's awareness of the world that it would normally receive through you. Essentially, your binding amounts to a certain amount of trickery. The vestige being bound expects to be able to experience life through its binder, but when you make a good pact, you partially suppresses the benefit the vestige receives, making it uncomfortable and angry.

So I don't really know if this has been discussed before, and im not an expert by far when it comes to this sort of thing, but it seems that if you combine anima mage+beguiler+versatile spellcaster, you can gain a true spell slot one level higher than the norm for your class. Which is kinda neat I guess.