Can a Simulacrum cast spells?

[kreynolds]

Re: Re: Re: Simulacrum and Spellcasting

I thought of that one, but I don't have my Tome and Blood at work, so I couldn't check if it was possible

Sure is. You can't use more than one metamagic rod on a single spell, but you can combine a metamagic rod with your own personal metamagic feats.

 

[Celebrim]

Unless there's errata or further clarification, I believe an empowered Simulacrum would be a 9th level spell and be 75.5%-90% of the original.

Err... one of us is confused about something.

Empower increases the random effects of a spell by 50%.

An empowered Simulacrum (9th level spell) has 52%-65% of its target's level. A doubly empowered Simulacrum (assuming you allow that, an 11the level spell) has 52%-73% of its target's level.

The calculation is done as follows 50% + 1d10x1.5% = 50% + 1.5..15%

For magic missile the calculation is 1 + 1d4x1.5 = 1 + 1.5..6 = 3-7 per missile.

Am I completely screwed up or is empowered just utterly insane and broken period and I never realized it? If my explanation is not correct, then what does an empowered Evard's Black Tentacles look like?

 

[Hypersmurf]

For magic missile the calculation is 1 + 1d4x1.5 = 1 + 1.5..6 = 3-7 per missile.

Now go back and reread the Empower Spell example of empowering a magic missile in the PHB.

If my explanation is not correct, then what does an empowered Evard's Black Tentacles look like?

You get 1d4 x 1.5 tentacles, dealing 1d6 x 1.5 damage on a grapple check.

Since they still need to be within 15 feet of a central point, rolling 1d3 x 5 x 1.5 for the placement makes no sense, so the DM should just exercise the right the spell offers for the DM to place the tenatacles randomly.

-Hyp.

 

[IceBear]

power looks cool. Anyone know when this goes print or if it does. I hate PDF, but I'd buy the hard copy version in an instant.

Since I do most of my DMing online now I actually prefer PDF format for everything (it's also cheaper). Easier to access and search (I'm also out of shelf space).

To answer your question I think it goes to print sometime this spring but I can't remember the exact date.

IceBear

 

[IceBear]

You get 1d4 x 1.5 tentacles, dealing 1d6 x 1.5 damage on a grapple check.

Since they still need to be within 15 feet of a central point, rolling 1d3 x 5 x 1.5 for the placement makes no sense, so the DM should just exercise the right the spell offers for the DM to place the tenatacles randomly.

-Hyp.

Boy - I glanced at that quick and saw "testicles" instead of "tentacles"

IceBear

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Shard, Mindscapes goes on sale in print in April, IIRC. (That's where Impresa is from.)

 

[Celebrim]

hypersmurf: Hmmm... that seems to fly in the face of the feat increasing the random numeric aspects of the feat. Positive constant modifiers are distinctly non-random.

I'd personally like to say that the example given is wrong, because otherwise you get things like with simulacrum and you get other weirdness. But, just for instance, what is the effects of empower on:

EBT: Does the 1.5 modifier also increase the bonus damage done? If not, why not. Does the 1.5 modifier also effect the +1 tentacle per caster level?

Dispel Magic: Does the 1.5 modifier also increase the bonus to the roll from caster level? If not, why not? Is so, doesn't this largely replace Greater Dispelling (at one level lower cost) 95% of the time?

Simulcrum: Well, clearly this spell is busted.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I'd personally like to say that the example given is wrong...

It's the only example they give! What can you compare it to!?

EBT: Does the 1.5 modifier also increase the bonus damage done? If not, why not.

What bonus damage? The Strength bonus?

Of course not. The damage done is 1d6. Empowered, it's 1d6 x 1.5. It has a Str of 19, so you add 4 to that.

It's like an Empowered Shillelagh. It does 1d10 x 1.5 damage, and then you add the enhancement bonus and your own Str bonus. The +1 and the +Str in this case aren't random numeric effects, they're constants that modify the random effect.

For a Magic Missile, it's not 1d4 damage with a +1 modifier, it's 1d4+1 damage. There's a difference.

Does the 1.5 modifier also effect the +1 tentacle per caster level?

Same question goes for Mirror Image (+1 image per caster level), Cure Moderate Wounds (+1 hit point per caster level), and Slay Living (+1 damage per caster level on a failed save).

I'm inclined to say yes. However, I wouldn't let the bonus hit points of a CMoW go above 10, or the number of figments in a Mirror Image go above 8.

Dispel Magic: Does the 1.5 modifier also increase the bonus to the roll from caster level?

No. It's like the Shillelagh example above - you don't multiply your attack roll by 1.5. An attack roll or a Dispel Check is not a random numeric variable of the spell.

-Hyp.

 

[drnuncheon]

hypersmurf: Hmmm... that seems to fly in the face of the feat increasing the random numeric aspects of the feat. Positive constant modifiers are distinctly non-random.

Don't think of the randomness as 1d4+1 - think of it as '2-5'. Then you'll see why Empower Spell multiplies all of a magic missile.

When it comes to things like shocking grasp, it's 1-8 + caster level. The caster level isn't random - it's fixed. The 1-8 is random. See the difference?

As for your other questions:

EBT would get +50% on the 1d4 tentacles but nothing else. The extra tentacles are based on caster level, which is not random, and the damage doesn't get multiplied any more than the damage from the monsters ummoned by an empowered Summon Monster spell. The effect of the spell is the tentacles, not the damage.

For Dispel Magic, the caster check is not a random, variable effect of the spell - it is a roll to see if the spell works against a particular other spell.

Simulacrum - with the Core Rules only there is no problem - even an Empowered simulacrum can be at best 90% of the caster's power level. It's when you start adding things from other sources that it becomes possible to surpass that. I would say that the best thing to do is cap the simulacrum at the caster's power level (or even at 90%), reasoning that a copy cannot be better than the original as it has nothing to draw on for the extra ability - the spell doesn't "know" what to put the "extra" ability into.

J

 

[Linda Dawson]

Yes, see the the boss battle in expidention to the ruins of Castle Greyhawk