If a monster has an "at will" spell-like ability...

[NewJeffCT]

is there any reason for them NOT to have it up & running all the time?

I was thinking of the Pit Fiend in particular. It can use Unholy Aura at will as a spell-like ability. Is there any good reason it would not have its Unholy Aura up & going all the time, other than the hassle of renewing it every 18 rounds or so?

 

[Mark Chance]

Is there any good reason it would not have its Unholy Aura up & going all the time, other than the hassle of renewing it every 18 rounds or so?

I think that's actually a good reason why it wouldn't be up all the time. Next time your doing Activity A, stop every 1.8 minutes to do Activity B for 6 seconds. It's not quite an accurate simulation, but wouldn't that get really annoying real fast?

 

[Nifft]

Given the massive benefits of having it up & running, I'd wager those fiends who found it too onerous to renew regularly would be destroyed sooner than the ones who renew their buffs early & often.

So, I'd assume it's up whenever the critter appears, then roll 3d6 to see how many rounds the effect has left.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Nimloth]

imo

Note:When I say "Demon" I mean all evil outsiders.

All the time? Like Mark Chance pointed out, it depends on how often they have to renew it. Renew every couple of minutes, no. Every couple of hours, maybe. Twice a day, yes. Now, if they have a reason to suspect an attack, then they would have it up. Another thing to consider is if the spell has a visible effect.

A Pit Fiends Unholy Aura;
1- it would have to be renewed to often;
2- it's primary benefit is against good, how often does a major demon need to worry about that? Not very often if they are at home doing their own demonic business. Mostly they would have to worry about being attacked by other demons (+4 ac/deflection, +4 saves). Is that going to be worth the hassle of renewing every couple of minutes, I don't think so.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Given the massive benefits of having it up & running, I'd wager those fiends who found it too onerous to renew regularly would be destroyed sooner than the ones who renew their buffs early & often.

So, I'd assume it's up whenever the critter appears, then roll 3d6 to see how many rounds the effect has left.

Cheers, -- N

good idea on the 3d6.

Thanks

 

[Runestar]

Not really, the designers even seem to assume this (in the later splatbooks).

For example, they outright stated in fiendish codex that a marilith is expected to maintain magic weapon on its 6 longswords at all times.

Given that it is a SLA, would it be that disruptive to their daily routine, since it would not have any somatic/verbal components? I am thinking they would be able to activate it while doing whatever it is they do.

Of course, if you manage to catch them when unholy aura has only 1 round remaining...

 

[Physiker]

I don't think they would keep their "at will" powers active all day long, just as a fighter doesn't always carry his weapon ready to strike, or a wizard always looking over his unrolled scroll...
it's just much more comfortable to not have to think about something like that.
"At will" abilities are for combat, and not the whole day.

 

[frankthedm]

Unless she is in a good mood or trying to hide, yes, she has Unholy aura up.

She does not fly, as such she will limit he presence where flying foes have the advantage over her.20' ceilings will be the magic hight she will seek out

Light sources, if the party uses them, she takes advantage of that light. Her TK has over 1000' range and she can drop blade barrier spells at 260' range.

Spamming blade barrier should work well. But to do so you need to already have decided how you place wall spells in your game, which has some rules questions involved. Also do note the faq had something to say about the blade barrier spell.

Project image should be given a read over to learn it's uses and limitations. It should be useful for tricking players into false targeting and for fooling them into blade barriers.

I agree with Frank that unless the marilith is hiding, she should have her unholy aura up.

 

[coyote6]

I assumed they were up, especially things like unholy aura. (Mirror image, maybe not -- it might be kind of distracting if you're a band of demons sitting around waiting for something, and everybody has 8 illusory duplicates. )

If the PCs take the fiend by complete surprise, while it's in the bath or whatever, then maybe it might not be up. But that rarely happens; even if the PCs get a surprise round on a fiend, the fiend is usually up to no good, and thus likely to be as fully prepared as possible.

Besides, IME, if the fiend hasn't got the buffing SLAs up before the PCs arrive, they aren't going to live long enough to deploy 'em.

 

[pawsplay]

I just can't picture a fiend going through the same buffs every few seconds, day after day, century after century. Humans can walk "at will," doesn't mean we walk ceaselessly. I would assume unholy aura is usually up, but I wouldn't assume the various other buffs unless the fiend was expecting trouble. If the fiend had advance warning, or was on patrol, or was alone in the wilderness, or was guarding something valuable, I would assume they are up.