We're in a swamp. Secluded areas are kind of common in swamps.
Sure. But you are looking for a secluded area very close to the lizardfolk village, yet where lizardfolk are unlikely to wander by.
Feel free to suggest some.
A swarm of gnats parting neatly around an unseen object. Low hanging leaves, vines and branches moving out of the way as an invisible wizard passes through. I think you're pretty safe if you're floating in the air, though, especially as you're pretty quiet when your life force is elsewhere. My bigger concern would be something with a decent sense of smell (not Scent necessarily, but more typical of predator animals than that pathetic human olfactory sense) that can fly.
Thinking on it, Magic Jar forces the target to make a Will save to avoid an undesirable effect. Is that an "attack"? "an attack includes any spell targeting a foe or whose area or effect includes a foe" - it seems like you are targeting a Lizardfolk with the intent of imprisoning him. I'd call that an attack.
I think we have agreed that the spells used either last or can be made to last long enough?
20 minutes sounds like plenty of time until 20 minutes turns out not to be enough time because complications arise. There are seldom any guarantees. I can see a GM deciding "no problem, you capture the Lizard", or I can see complications arising. Another lizard starts interacting with yours - can you bluff your way around a chat with a buddy (or mate)? That lizard was supposed to get back to guard duty after he Drained the Gecko where the heck is he?
A stirge was mentioned, if we assume they have a predator’s sense of smell, rather than hunting by sight. It would need to be something that can fly, senses by means other than sight and would be interested in eating (or at least tasting) a floating wizard body or an imp. This assumes no one is actively hunting you, but that would be some special background issue in game, nothing remotely suggested in our Dragon scenario.
How about a halfway strong wind? If you drift out of Magic Jar range, now it’s you who needs to find the floating, invisible wizard. The imp might help here, though. I’d expect he could at least prevent minor drifting, and I suspect you’d wait out the storm if there were indications one were likely.
They are free to make listen checks, but the distance penalties do not help their +0 listen modifier.
Sure. At the same time, whispering (not speaking in a strong clear voice) is DC 15, where “People talking” is DC 0. An unarmored person trying to move quietly (so someone attempting stealth with Take 10, no bonus or penalty) is a DC 10. I say you are harder to hear than people talking (as you are one person briefly speaking), but not as hard to hear as someone being as quiet as they can while slowly moving.
The fighter will easily have greater than 17 STR at level 10 and be capable of carrying the lizard away.
That was my initial assumption, but adding 200 to 250 lb might not be great for his encumbrance either, given he likely has gear to haul around as well. That’s a strike against the fighter.
The phantom steed "can be ridden only by you or by the one person for whom you specifically created the mount" and "It can bear its rider’s weight plus up to 10 pounds per caster level."
Would it be unreasonable of me to create the Phantom Steed for the captive, then order it to carry the captive away?
Where does it say you can order the Steed to carry freight (such as an unconscious or gagged and bound humanoid) rather than a rider? For that matter, if the mount is created for a specific person, who can then ride it, who is in charge when that one person IS riding it. The mount’s communication skills aren’t really set out in the spell description, but “better than horse” seems a major assumption.
That’s also 10 minutes’ casting time 20 if you also want a steed) within a few hundred feet of the village (since you are still within Magic Jar range) speaking in a strong, clear voice all the way. Another risk.
Presumably, the local innkeeper is smart enough not to issue orders to the four baddest asses in the area.
Dungeons and Dragons is a game about going into other people's houses, killing them, and taking their stuff because they have green skin and the party does not. Seriously, there is no way to advance in levels except by gaining XP, which are predominantly gained through combat.
I think you are projecting your game style on everyone here. My players don’t take the attitude that, as they can probably kill the townsfolk, it is OK to bully them. In fact, they would more likely be the ones the town hires to deal with such marauding bandits and brigands.
Most adventures place characters in situations where combat is inevitable. However, xp is awarded for “overcoming an encounter”. Talking down a belligerent father or brother who thinks you are taking advantage of his beloved, innocent daughter/sister is just as much “overcoming the encounter” as chopping his head off (and leads to less ill will with the townsfolk, at least in most cases). Story awards are also suggested. That’s the Pathfinder SRD - I think WoTC kept xp out of theirs.
While combat is common, just as it is in the source material, a lot of games (especially a lot of non-wargamer style games) incorporate motivation well beyond “kill them and take their stuff”.
Dandu said:
If, at any point, the wizard senses something approaching his body, he could Magic Jar it. Given that the random encounters in a swamp (orcs, hydras, snakes) seldom have good will saves, the wizard would probably end up possessing whatever it was.
First, returning to the Jar is a standard action, followed by a full round action to attempt to possess something else, so this is not instantaneous. Second, and more importantly,
While in the magic jar, you can sense and attack any life force within 10 feet per caster level (and on the same plane of existence). You do need line of effect from the jar to the creatures.
Emphasis added. Not “while possessing another creature”, while in the jar itself. While you are out being a LizardFolk, your body just lies there and, unless you can perceive it as a LizardFolk, you don’t know what, if anything, is going on around it.
To the gnat issue, you don’t have to possess the whole swarm. You can only sense relative power, with a minimum 4 HD differential to perceive any two as different. Having the Imp nearby probably helps by setting at least one baseline. Mind you, “gnat” and “standard lizardfolk” are within 4 HD of one another. I’m inclined to think nonsentients like vermin don’t count, though, as the alternative would render the spell pretty much impossible to make beneficial use of.
You could choose to take over either a stronger or a weaker creature, but which particular stronger or weaker creature you attempt to possess is determined randomly.
Reasonable interpretation suggests you don’t pick at random between everything within your radius. Although technically nothing says you get info on distance to each target, much less how close together the targets are, practically there is reference to “a group of life forces. Hopefully, the thing you want to possess is 4+ HD different from your imp so you don’t accidentally possess him and have to start the process over. [He’s likely got the second best will save in the swamp, hasn’t he?]
Umm, not to jump into the whole kidnapping the lizard folk but, IIRC, we're talking about a 14th level caster right?
If we think back to how this started, the basic assertion (not Dandu’s, as this evolved quite a bit) was that the wizard would, of course, know the full layout of the dragon’s lair before entering it because “duh, divination!” with a lot of (IMO spurious) spells named without having actually been read.
Dandu has been trying to get a read on the location of the dragon’s lair, maybe some intel if the lizards have been there or know about its contents, without being really obvious to let the dragon know something is up (you know, like slaughtering his tribe of lizardfolk…).
No party capable of going up against a CR 11-13 Dragon is likely to have trouble slaughtering all the lizardfolk. They will not have a tough time locating the dragon’s lair. It’s the “I will have perfect intel to attack the dragon in his lair in a manner perfectly suited to my chosen spells and tactics – no risk to my L10 wizard taking on the Black Dragon” aspect of the discussion where the challenge started. Gaining intel from the locals evolved from that.
Can the wizard use magic to locate the dragon's lair? Almost certainly. If it could also have been done by a simple Gather Info roll and a couple days slog through the swamp, is it a big deal?
