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Thread: Puppet Plane
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2024-05-18, 12:13 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2024
Puppet Plane
As a purely TO exercise, is there anyway to raise the save DC of Ooze Puppet to the point that you can puppet a Genius Loci with it? Cheese is cool, no matter how stinky.
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2024-05-18, 12:26 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2015
- Gender
Re: Puppet Plane
Cast gate on one at CL 35+ (no save, no SR) and force it to fail its save on the next spell you cast, since you control it already (for 1 round/lvl).
Since gate is a [Calling] effect rather than a [Summoning] effect, the genius loci will remain with you even after the duration of the gate spell has elapsed.Last edited by MaxiDuRaritry; 2024-05-18 at 03:08 PM.
⚣ Tanuki in the Playground. ⚣
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2024-05-19, 02:30 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2014
Re: Puppet Plane
Genius loci have Fort +43. So you need a save DC of 45 to improve on fishing-for-natural-ones (which is a perfectly valid way to achieve control, but not what you're asking for).
We can try stacking Spell Focus etc. on ooze puppet (there are a bunch of feats and PrCs that can boost DCs), but with a base save DC of 16 + ability mod, it's not going to do much. Our best bet is to buff our spellcasting ability score.
Neither Intelligence nor Charisma has a scaling buff spell. Wisdom, however, does. So let's say that we stick ooze puppet on a Wisdom-based caster (choose your preferred way of doing that), and cast owl's insight before moving up to the genius loci. At caster level 20, we'd get +10 Wisdom. Clearly, this is not enough—our save DC would only be about 26 (base Wisdom 21 because it works out later on).
We can increase our caster level in lots of ways, but consumptive field is an easy way to get a scaling bonus. With a moderate base CL of 30 (just suffer the flesh, create magic tattoo, and a bead of karma), consumptive field loops* up to CL 59, for a +29 bonus to Wisdom. That should get us up to about 50 Wisdom, for a save DC of 36. That's not enough.
Fortunately, owl's insight grants an insight bonus, not an enhancement bonus, and consumptive field also grants +58 Strength. So we simply use (Extended) power leech (the BoVD spell, not the psionic power) to put about 60 points of Strength into Wisdom (as an enhancement bonus—remember to get a restoration after), for a total Wisdom score of 110. That gives us an ooze puppet save DC of 66, which the genius loci only passes on a natural 20. Apply Twin Spell to ooze puppet to force two saves, and you have a 99.75% chance to get a big blob minion on the first try.
If power leech makes you go "Wait, what do you mean no scaling buff spell? With power leech you can totally do this on an Int- or Cha-based caster!", you are correct. I wanted to bring up owl's insight because it is the more generally useable spell (since it's not a corrupt spell) and less unbalanced (less likely to be banned or nerfed), and so gives Wisdom-based casters an edge.
*You cast consumptive field at CL 15, feed it 15 chickens to get +15 CL, then cast a second field at CL 45, which grants +22 CL if you feed it more chickens (you can use Chain Spell and Reach revivify to bring the chickens back if you feel bad). This bonus doesn't stack with the first field, but it is seven points higher (half the initial +15 bonus). The next field is a few points higher again, and so on. Your final bonus is equal to your base CL minus one, i.e. a +29 bonus with a base CL 30.Spoiler: Collectible nice thingsMy incarnate/crusader. A self-healing crowd-control melee build (ECL 8).
My Ruby Knight Vindicator barsader. A party-buffing melee build (ECL 14).
Doctor Despair's and my all-natural approach to necromancy.
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2024-05-21, 09:53 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2024
Re: Puppet Plane
Wow, thanks! Very concise.
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2024-05-21, 10:35 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2011
Re: Puppet Plane
I’m guessing Ooze Puppet is a spell, perhaps a Vile Spell any caster could use? Looks like Sorcerer/Wizard 6. In which case, Tainted Sorcerer is easy mode. Getting your Taint to 40 should put your save DC at 50 + Spell level, or 56. Higher save DC is possible with higher Taint, just remember to have a minimum Wisdom of 2+(Taint/2) before casting anything. So… vs Fort +43, that’s…. DC 63 we’d prefer, so 47 Taint, requiring Wisdom 26. Doable with just a normal +6 item, 3 stat increases for 12th level for 6th level spells, and a 17 starting stat.
EDIT: you’ll need more tricks (like a metamagic rod?) to pull off things like Twinning the spell at 12th level.Last edited by Quertus; 2024-05-21 at 10:41 AM.
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2024-05-21, 04:24 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
Re: Puppet Plane
You can probably do it with Extract Gift that was made into a SLA spellstiched onto a high-hd undead under your control to get yourself a high enough ability score.
Probably best done as a chain with something like Liquid Pain SLA and Animate Dead being spellstiched first.