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Iry wrote:

On a completely unrelated note, I asked Customer Service something that might seem terribly obvious to some but I felt necessary to get exact information upon...


Quote:
Originally Posted by Customer Service
04/16/2008 07:37 AM
Caelic'sLoveChild,

Thank you for contacting us. You would have to a a full five rounds before using it again. In your example, if you use the ability on round 1 you would not be able to use it again until round 7. I hope this helps!

Please let me know if you need anymore help!

Marc
Customer Service Representative
Wizards of the Coast
1-800-324-6496 (US and Canada)
425-204-8069 (From all other countries)
Monday-Friday 9am-6pm PST / 12pm-9pm EST


Quote:
Originally Posted by Customer (Caelic'sLoveChild)
04/15/2008 11:41 PM
On Page 20 of the Tome of Magic we see one example of a vestige ability that states it may not be used again for 5 rounds. The Binder class is rife with abilities that share this sentence. Just how long are they actually asking you to wait?

For example: If you use the ability on Round 1 can you then use it again on Round 6 (five rounds after Round 1), or do you instead use it on Round 7 (five rounds without having used the ability)?

********************
Page Number: 20
Book Name: Tome of Magic

Hi, everyone agree with this!?
Just for clarification (i'd like to create a Binder for my next D&D session), because sometimes the Tome of Magic says "You can use this power once every 5 rounds" and, other times, it says "Once you have used this ability, you cannot do so again for 5 rounds". And, in my opinion, these two sentences could be interpreted differently.

Slaunyeh wrote:

Regarding the above, does that actually work? My binder just hit level 6 finally (yay!), and I decided to look into commanding a few undead minions. However, the snag far as I can tell is that Shadows have +2 turn resistance. Doesn't that mean you have to be level 10 to command them (they count as HD 5 critters for rebuking)?

Or am I completely missing something?

You're not missing anything. There are ways to lower Turn Resistance, but they're rather specific and not something you're likely to just have laying around.

I realize this thread isn't quite as active as it used to be. Still, I only recently got a chance to play my binder for real. So. Thoughts abound!

Anyway, I'm slowly but steadily approaching the time where I have to introduce my GM to my favourite vestige: Zceryll.

We're not playing a particular high-powered campaign and, to be frank, some of the granted powers of Zceryll are just plain ridiculous. Still, I love the Cthulhu mythos feel, and I really dig her sign. Something to really fuel my character's building paranoia. So, rather than just skipping her, I'm hoping to offer some constructrive fix suggestions to my GM.


Alien Form: This is probably one of the main issues. Everything granted by the pseudonatural template is just way too much. I think it needs to be either replaced with something else, nerfed into the ground, or just plain dropped from the list of granted powers. Not quite sure what to do about it yet though.

Summon Alien: As has been discussed at length, the issue with Summon Alien isn't so much the combat potential as the out-of-combat potential. To fix this, I'd suggest three changes/clarifications: 1) Only pseudonatural creatures can be summoned. 2) Change the prerequisites of the pseudonatural template to disallow outsiders (and possibly elementals). 3) The pseudonatural template replaces, rather than stacks with, any template of the native creature (so no pseudonatural celestial badgers). I might make chaos beasts an exception to these rules because they're so iconic.

That should take care of the excessive number of (unlimited) SLAs at higher level, while still letting you summon tentacle monsters to kill stuff.

Telepathy: I've seen some people rave over the Mindblank feat. I've read the description a few times but I'm not sure what the big deal is. I might not see it through the proper optimization glasses though. Am I missing something about it?


Ultimately, I want Zceryll to remain a useful 6th level binding, but reducing her granted powers to a level where she's comparable to other vestiges, and not risk giving my GM a stroke. I think the proposed changes to Summon Alien are significant, without being crippling. Does anyone have any feedback on this?

Also, wondering what to do about the Alien Form. Might end up just dropping it (four granted powers is pretty baseline) if I can't think of anything apropriate to replace it with.

PhaedrusXY wrote:

This is referring to the pseudonatural template from Complete Arcane (CA), not the epic one (from the SRD and Epic Level Handbook). The CA version is MUCH weaker than the epic version (naturally). I don't see what the big deal is for that one. At the level you get it, it is fairly minor.

Right. Complete Arcane. At level 10 it gives you energy resistance 10, damage reduction 5/magic, spell resistance 20, true strike as a swift action once a day, and outsider type. That just seems like a lot to me.

PhaedrusXY wrote:

You mean Mindsight. Mindblank is a spell. Mindsight lets you see through walls (telepathy is not blocked by most things, except lead sheeting, etc), and ignores most forms of "hiding". You'll see why it is so awesome once you start using it. DMs hate it, as practically no one can ever sneak up on you, ever... unless they have a Mindblank, are mindless, etc.

Whoops. Right. Mindsight. And that does sound like a lot.

*reads*

Oh. "Within range of its telepathy." Yeah, I can see how a GM would hate that. I suppose you could 'fix' it by making it just like blindsense (requiring line of effect) except also foiled by mindblank and such effects. Maybe also lowering the range, but I'm not sure it's such a big issue when you can't see through walls and whatnot.

I might try that. Just don't want to give the GM a heart attack.