Random DM nagging.

[Anastasia]

So I have an animated shield. It takes up the equipment slot as if I carry it, so if I put a wand slot on it, does it still count as 'being in my hand' so to speak?

The wand or the shield? I'm not precisely clear on what you're asking.

[Iron Dragoon]

Both, I guess. I have to equip the shield in the off-hand slot, so by sheet it's technically 'in hand.' If I put a wand holder thingy on the shield, would that count as being in my hand? I.E. if I put a wand holder on the shield, slot a wand in it, will I be able to cast from it, or would I still need to reach over and pull it out of the shield?

[Anastasia]

Both, I guess. I have to equip the shield in the off-hand slot, so by sheet it's technically 'in hand.' If I put a wand holder thingy on the shield, would that count as being in my hand? I.E. if I put a wand holder on the shield, slot a wand in it, will I be able to cast from it, or would I still need to reach over and pull it out of the shield?

You'd need the wand actually in hand to use it.

[Nephrite]

Hey, just throwing this out here, don't forget about the sentient Wand you already have!

[Anastasia]

Hey, just throwing this out here, don't forget about the sentient Wand you already have!

Yes, that too. You could always trip and upgrade Wand somehow.

[Anastasia]

1. Aurora stuff in the Aurora topic related to nagging. Probably later when I'm not sleepy.
2. Post Faded Sorrow. He's 99% done.
3. Spells, domain and otherwise.
4. Character build charts for new recruits.
5. Iddy Twin Metamagic Rod question.
6. Death/Decay druid for Iddy.
7. Hanna and Mirajane sans gear stats.

Build charts next and then Faded Sorrow, both are quick.

[Anastasia]

1. Aurora stuff in the Aurora topic related to nagging. Probably later when I'm not sleepy.
2. Post Faded Sorrow. He's 99% done.
3. Spells, domain and otherwise.
4. Character build charts for new recruits.
5. Iddy Twin Metamagic Rod question.
6. Death/Decay druid for Iddy.
7. Hanna and Mirajane sans gear stats.
8: Stone colossus.

Update: 1 new spell in spell collection. Immortality is a 16th level spell and mostly a proof of concept spell. It can be done, but the cost, casting time and other factors make it a highly suboptimal choice. Most of the entities that know the spell don't need it. You need to be a 39th level sor/wiz or higher to cast it, so it's genuinely rare to see in mortal hands. Most immortals have other means of immortality they prefer when such is called for, for better or for worse.

[Anastasia]

1. Aurora stuff in the Aurora topic related to nagging. Probably later when I'm not sleepy.
2. Post Faded Sorrow. He's 99% done.
3. Spells, domain and otherwise.
4. Character build charts for new recruits.
5. Iddy Twin Metamagic Rod question.
6. Death/Decay druid for Iddy.
7. Hanna and Mirajane sans gear stats.
8: Stone colossus.

Just updating.

[Anastasia]

Added a CL 20 fireball cannon option to the Aurora topic. Will y'all get together all the upgrades you want in there and I'll add them to the Aurora topic? Thanks.

[Anastasia]

A misc spell from recent discussions, going to be put into the spell collection shortly.

Sylvie's Speedy Appraisal
Divination
Level: Brd 3, Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 hour/level

You gain a +10 insight bonus to Appraise checks while this spell is active. Appraising an item's value takes only a standard action instead of one minute.

Material Component

A tiny hourglass.

[Corwin]

Okay, so here's a concentration of potential Aurora upgrades. I'd appreciate it if they got a pricetag/requirements list as well as confirmation that the posted variants are possible at negligible added cost.

-Gate at the entrance to the demi-plane, facing out. This way people could Gate wherever they wished outside without having to rely on our casters for transportation.
-Gate at the entrance to the demi-plane, facing in. This way the entrance could be set to plane-shift people we don't like elsewhere, while anyone who beats it still has to deal with our usual defenses at the entrance.
--Except it sends our enemies one place and their gear another.
-Both Gates.

-Prismatic Wall on top of the existing Wall of Force for our demi-plane.
--So that it doesn't have the 'blind low-level people' function.
--So that we can turn that function on and off at will.

-Lightningball Cannons. To clarify, we're talking numerous cannons all over Aurora that shoot the upgraded value of xd6 lightning at our enemies? Are they shot by our NPC gunners? From the control chair?
--Can we get a pure CL booster, the same way we have a range booster? Based around true casting, say?
--How about an area of effect booster?
-Orb of Lightning Cannons. Same questions as above, plus a request for a price tag. Since they have an attack roll, unlike the lightningball cannons, do they use the swarm/group mechanics for a boosted single roll?
-Lesser Orb of Lightning Cannons.
-How about something with holy power, here?

-Nonmagical weapons, such as blessed, true-striking ballistae. Using (shift)silver for ammo, of course.

-Some means for us to project our power through Aurora as we control it through the command chair. For example, I can imbue my attacks with Goldenfire, and it would be beneficial if I could do the same while 'plugged into' the Aurora. Maybe casting spells through, and with a benefit of some sort (spells of touch range to hit all of Aurora, more targets than allowed normally by the spell.) I think that "Add long range spell capacity" somewhat touches on this, but not fully.

-Holy power emanation from the walls. "Set up outer walls to project holy power:" is the writeup. But how far does it actually extend? Also, I presume there's no SR for this or the courtyard trap?

-How can the baths be improved to actually provide a tangible benefit to the troops that's not already covered by the mess hall or the healer's ward? Because everyone likes them.

[Corwin]

[22:03] <Annerose> Do you think you could put a desc for
[22:03] <Annerose> Create Worldmeet Glade: 75,000 gold; 3 DC 40 K:N checks; 1 DC 35 K:A&E check; 5 days.
[22:04] <Annerose> So I won't need to look it up separately when I see it?
[22:04] <@Ko-FOOTBALL> Yeah, post that request in nagging and I'll do it on my next sweep. Probably thi sevening.

[Anastasia]

1. Aurora stuff in the Aurora topic related to nagging. Probably later when I'm not sleepy.
2. Post Faded Sorrow. He's 99% done.
3. Spells, domain and otherwise.
4. Character build charts for new recruits.
5. Iddy Twin Metamagic Rod question.
6. Death/Decay druid for Iddy.
7. Hanna and Mirajane sans gear stats.
8: Stone colossus.
9: Possible Sylvie and Tepen retrainings for factotum booster pack.

Just updating.

[Anastasia]

Okay, so here's a concentration of potential Aurora upgrades. I'd appreciate it if they got a pricetag/requirements list as well as confirmation that the posted variants are possible at negligible added cost.

-Gate at the entrance to the demi-plane, facing out. This way people could Gate wherever they wished outside without having to rely on our casters for transportation.

Doable enough. It's not really military size, just a permanent 9th level spell. 360000 with a CL of 20. We'll bump it up to 400k even for planar adjustments/placements/other misc things. Expensive by Aurora topic standards, but there's no cheap way to do an at will gate spell.

-Gate at the entrance to the demi-plane, facing in. This way the entrance could be set to plane-shift people we don't like elsewhere, while anyone who beats it still has to deal with our usual defenses at the entrance.
--Except it sends our enemies one place and their gear another.

400k for the gate and an additional 100k for the gear diversion.

-Both Gates.

900k total, or are you asking if getting both would make one cheaper?

-Prismatic Wall on top of the existing Wall of Force for our demi-plane.
--So that it doesn't have the 'blind low-level people' function.
--So that we can turn that function on and off at will.

252000 gold for the basic functionality. Much of the underpinnings for the sphere of force can be reused, which means you get the same discount as when you repaired the sphere of force: 55% off.

Adding in not blinding low level people would be a flat 25000 gold. Not too hard, just a bit of spellwork and custom adjustments to the spell. It's more throwing money and time at the problem than anything else. This would be an optional upgrade to the prismatic wall.

An on/off switch would cost 50000 gold. This would be an optional upgrade to the prismatic wall.

-Lightningball Cannons. To clarify, we're talking numerous cannons all over Aurora that shoot the upgraded value of xd6 lightning at our enemies? Are they shot by our NPC gunners? From the control chair?
--Can we get a pure CL booster, the same way we have a range booster? Based around true casting, say?

I'd simply use the fireball cannon standard for this, so check out that upgrade. It's the same thing in lightning form. I assume they're ran by soldiers.

--How about an area of effect booster?

Yes, though that one will take a while since I need to track down some math I don't have on hand. I'll punt that one for just the moment and come back to it in another post or when I put these in the Aurora topic.

-Orb of Lightning Cannons. Same questions as above, plus a request for a price tag. Since they have an attack roll, unlike the lightningball cannons, do they use the swarm/group mechanics for a boosted single roll?

These would use the fireball cannons as a guideline. That's the basics there, but with some price markups for the higher level spell. As a general rule, since these are likely to see use in army battles, I'd generally worry about them on that scale and adjudicate them as a swarm or as part of the background if it's a situation where rolling all those out isn't needed or appropriate.

If you fire a single cannon at a single target, I'd work it out normally. Nothing special there.

As for price, I'd on the fly estimate a 15 percent markup on the fireball cannons, then rounded a bit for an easy to handle number. For example, installing fireball cannons is 80000 gold. Installing orb of lightning cannons would be 92000 gold.

-Lesser Orb of Lightning Cannons.

As above but cheaper. That's a first level spell so you'd look at something around 50% off if not more. Doing the math it turns into 60% off, so 48000 to install as an example.

-How about something with holy power, here?

Possible. I'd probably model it around holy smite for pricing with a bit of an add on, so think in the same range as the orb of lightning cannons. Think about 100k to install.

-Nonmagical weapons, such as blessed, true-striking ballistae. Using (shift)silver for ammo, of course.

How do you mean blessed? As in they count as good to overcome damage reduction and regeneration? Not terribly hard. True striking is expensive as hell if I even allow it, that's like the poster child for cheap spell effect that completely breaks the magic item creation rules.  Let me think about this one.

-Some means for us to project our power through Aurora as we control it through the command chair. For example, I can imbue my attacks with Goldenfire, and it would be beneficial if I could do the same while 'plugged into' the Aurora. Maybe casting spells through, and with a benefit of some sort (spells of touch range to hit all of Aurora, more targets than allowed normally by the spell.) I think that "Add long range spell capacity" somewhat touches on this, but not fully.

I'm going to punt this one as well for now, since it requires homework before deciding to give your own Golden Throne or not.

-Holy power emanation from the walls. "Set up outer walls to project holy power:" is the writeup. But how far does it actually extend? Also, I presume there's no SR for this or the courtyard trap?

It sets the walls up to be able to do so, the next upgrade established it's 30ft. This would be a supernatural effect so no spell resistance.

-How can the baths be improved to actually provide a tangible benefit to the troops that's not already covered by the mess hall or the healer's ward? Because everyone likes them.

That's a good question. Simplest ways I can think of and with the understanding that some overlap is inevitable:

- Baths provide fast healing 1 while soaking.
- Baths give you an effect that keeps you clean and smelling good for a time after bathing.
- Baths provide some spell effect, ala the mission readiness arch.

Pricing depends in which direction y'all go in with this.

[Anastasia]

Elena would like to throw in a few comments about upgrades as well.

- Upgrading the baths for more capacity or multiple baths for each gender. They're popular and more capacity could be useful as Aurora's ranks continue to grow.
- Upgrading the dungeons. More space here would help as you capture more devil prisoners.
- A general courtyard space upgrade, as well as possibly adding more buildings. (This one's more Galariel, but Elena says he thinks more secondary buildings would help space and make attacking forces divide up rather than overwhelm Aurora proper.)