Random DM nagging.

[Ebiris]

ELEMENTAL BODY
Transmutation [see text]
Level: Sorcerer/wizard 7
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 hour/level
Drawing upon the power of the elemental
planes, your transform your body in a flash
of light.
You can transform your body into a
particular type of elemental substance.
You and your possessions appear to be
made of that element, though in the
same general shape and size as your
normal appearance.
You gain the following abilities when
you cast elemental body:
• You have the benefits of the attune
form spell (page 17) with respect
to the appropriate element. If you
choose a water body, for example,
you can breathe normally on waterdominant
planes.
• You are immune to poison, sleep,
paralysis, and stunning, and are not
subject to extra damage from critical
hits or flanking. You gain darkvision
out to 60 feet.
• Your creature type remains
unchanged, so you are unaffected
by spells that target elementals, but
you gain the air, earth, fire, or water
subtype depending on the elemental
substance you chose.
In addition, you gain the following
exceptional abilities according to the
element chosen:
Air: Fly at your normal speed (perfect
maneuverability), air mastery (airborne
creatures take a –1 penalty on attack
rolls and damage rolls against you).
Earth: Earth mastery (you gain a +1
bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls
if both you and your foe touch the
ground), push (you can start a bull rush
maneuver without provoking attacks of
opportunity), +3 natural armor bonus
to AC.
Fire: Fire immunity, burn (those
you hit in melee and those who attack
you with natural weapons must make
a Reflex save or catch fire, with a save
DC equal to that of a fire elemental of
the same size).
Water: Swim at your normal speed,
water mastery (you gain a +1 bonus on
attack rolls and damage rolls if both
you and your opponent touch
water), drench (you can use
your elemental form to
put out nonmagical open
flames and dispel magical
fire you touch as if
casting dispel magic at
your caster level).
The elemental body
spell has the descriptor
of the element
you choose. So, if
you choose a body of
fire, elemental body is a fire
spell.
Material Component: A bit
of the element in question
from a plane other than the
one where the spell is being cast.

[Corwin]

[20:11] <Jaela> roll 1d20+23+15 K:A what are our options for getting a scroll/potion/etc of Wizard's Grace or the key component for it?
[20:11] * Hatbot --> "Jaela rolls 1d20+23+15 K:A what are our options for getting a scroll/potion/etc of Wizard's Grace or the key component for it? and gets 47." [1d20=9]

[Corwin]

So I've been working on the Manual again, and I realized circa log 019 that Yuth never followed up on the CHEF.

http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,101985.msg1028620.html#msg1028620
http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,101985.msg1028625.html#msg1028625
http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,101985.msg1028641.html#msg1028641

This guy was actually recruited, though he doesn't show up anywhere in the writeup, be it the Tablet or the Aurora topics. Want to add him retroactively, Dune?

[Yuthirin]

Well, I kind of expected to have Dune work his magic and set him up with a kitchen. Willim wasn't exactly a planner.

[Anastasia]

Well, I kind of expected to have Dune work his magic and set him up with a kitchen. Willim wasn't exactly a planner.

He's had a cameo or two, but that's it. I've assumed he's busy but he hasn't been explicitly called out.

[Anastasia]

If there's one part of gestalt that I'm lukewarm on, it's saving throws. The system as written provides inevitable saving throw bloat. Is this a bad thing? Eh. It has upsides and downsides, I'll say that much. It's enough to make me consider changing how saves work in gestalt. I'm considering two alternate systems, detailed below.

1. You choose two good saves and one bad save, based on your general character type. These progress independent of your classes; in essence, saving throws are divorced from classes. I think this is the simplest and cleanest solution, though I don't really like it. The way 3.5 does saves is interesting and only gets muddy because of gestalt.

2. <Merc> Ko: Have you considered the alternate way of handling gestalt I've mentioned?
> What way was that?
<Merc> Instead of comparing saves at each level, you add up all the saves on one side, then all the saves on the other side, and compare the final product. It tends to produce more balanced saves (still superior to non-gestalt though), and since we're playing with LA, results will generally skewer towards the non-LA side.

Forgive the copy/paste, Merc says it as well as I could. It's different, don't have much of an opinion on it yet.

So I'm really asking three questions. Do you think gestalt saves need to be changed? If so, which one of these do you prefer? If you think they need to be changed but don't like either of the methods posted, got an idea of your own?

[Corwin]

I really don't want to change our mechanics, and certainly not midway. Not the saves, not the spells, not the BAB, not any of that. Please, let's not.

[Merc]

While I do think they need fixing as well, changing mid-game does seem a bad idea, especially when the change is generally going to work against us.

I'd rather just live with them at this point and have this a 'lesson learned' for next time you do a gestalt game. Our builds would change a fair bit with changes like this, and we'd been building with the current mechanics in mind. If it was still level 13-14, not so bad, but we've been playing long enough that strong core mechanical changes at this point would be a pain to adjust to.

That said, if you were attached to the idea of changing them, I would prefer the method I'd suggested, since having two good/one bad save doesn't really mesh well when there's classes that get 1-3 good saves instead of everyone getting the same number.

[Ebiris]

Yeah I see no reason to bother changing how saves work.

[Anastasia]

Okay then, that deep sixes this idea.

[Yuthirin]

He's had a cameo or two, but that's it. I've assumed he's busy but he hasn't been explicitly called out.

So in other words, he's established. GG.

[Yuthirin]

[18:57] <Muirfinn> Ko, is there some sort of artifact I can attach to my elemental that would allow me to summon it across planes?
[18:57] <Muirfinn> Or at least across the same plane?

I don't see one offhand. If you wanna dig for such, by all means. Assuming you don't find one, I'd just price it as a teleport magic item? That's in the 90k region, around 40k after Afina.  If you can find something cheaper that does it that's printed, by all means. I can't offhand, but I'm also buried in work. If you want a custom one like that, let me know and I'll write it out.

I'll take it! A specialized plane shift/teleport without error item? Feel free to work it up at your leisure. It'll probably be prohibitively expensive.

Regarding this, I came across the Familiar's Belt in Complete Mage. Cost is 6000g and it pulls the familiar from wherever it is on the plane and teleports it into a pouch on the belt. I want something similar, with Plane Shift and not into a bag (which would be very very unfortunate).

[Yuthirin]

Oh! You know what would be GREAT? A wand/rod/staff of a spell, like a Summon Animal Companion spell! Or familiar. Or whatever.

[Corwin]

Why not just give your pokemon a 1/day item of greater plane shift and Permanency an interplanar telepathic bond between you two?

[Yuthirin]

Why not just give your pokemon a 1/day item of greater plane shift and Permanency an interplanar telepathic bond between you two?

I shall name him Waterelementalchu.