At the back of the D&D adventure, Princes of the Apocalypse, it gives the statistics for elemental myrmidons: elementals summoned and ritually confined to suits of magic plate armor. It seems that players are being left out unable to create these more powerful elementals (I mean, the manual of golems allows them to create golems). To DMs that would like to add this idea to their campaigns, I have a suggestion for this rule.
How To Create An Elemental Myrmidon:
First, you must craft a suit of plate armor designed for the specific elemental you wish to summon (see the crafting rules in the Player's Handbook). For each day you spend crafting the armor, you must sprinkle 1gp worth of material determined by the elemental you wish to summon (sapphire for air, powdered iron for earth, powdered ruby for fire, and powdered emerald for water)
Next, you must create the weapon wielded by the desired type of elemental (flails for air, mauls for earth, scimitars for fire, and tridents for water).
Finally, you cast a conjure elemental to conjure the elemental you learned the name of, using the crafted armor and weapons as material components. You must cast the spell as if it were a ritual (even though conjure elemental is not a ritual spell). The summoned elemental must make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, it is permanently under your control, bound to the armor and weapons you created. The elemental myrmidons recall no memory of their past and follow your orders blindly. If it succeeded on the saving throw, the conjured elemental is not bound to the armor or weapons and the spell works as normal.
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
Still need to bind the elemental as per your Step 4, but Step 1 is unnecessary and Steps 2 and 3 are very, very difficult, probably involving complicated rituals that might or might not require the spilling of innocent blood.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Fixed. Additional material components are added in addition to crafting the armor.
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Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
Permanently under your control? As in not just bypassing the normal duration limit but also not requiring concentration?
That should definitely be a higher-level spell, considering the standard means of prolonging the duration of a conjured elemental requires 2 spell slots (one to cast conjure elemental and another to cast planar binding) that are 5th level or higher, and probably also involved a third spell (magic circle) just to keep the elemental in place long enough to cast the other. And don't forget that process involves the costs of those spell's consumed material components (100 gp if you use magic circle, and 1,000 gp for the planar binding).
Needs to be 9th-level to even kind of be in-line with the power level of the game, but even then a 9th-level casting of planar binding only gets you a duration of a year and a day, and doesn't include a mind-wipe that makes the creature blindly loyal.
Permanently under your control? As in not just bypassing the normal duration limit but also not requiring concentration?
That should definitely be a higher-level spell, considering the standard means of prolonging the duration of a conjured elemental requires 2 spell slots (one to cast conjure elemental and another to cast planar binding) that are 5th level or higher, and probably also involved a third spell (magic circle) just to keep the elemental in place long enough to cast the other. And don't forget that process involves the costs of those spell's consumed material components (100 gp if you use magic circle, and 1,000 gp for the planar binding).
Needs to be 9th-level to even kind of be in-line with the power level of the game, but even then a 9th-level casting of planar binding only gets you a duration of a year and a day, and doesn't include a mind-wipe that makes the creature blindly loyal.
That's why I suggested that the ritual should be . . . unsavory . . . to good-aligned PCs.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
That's why I suggested that the ritual should be . . . unsavory . . . to good-aligned PCs.
I guess since I don't put a flat-out ban on evil characters (I only ban people that prove that they are going to try to abuse alignment as an excuse to aggravate their fellow players, and even then only by saying "Nope, make a new character - and this time make it one that's not a self-sabotaging idiot") I don't view 'but only bad guys will actually do it' as a valid form of balancing metric. Heck, if I did consider it that way, it'd probably come across to my players as playing favorites for my wife, since she's the one usually playing evil-aligned characters even in the good-aligned party.
That's why I suggested that the ritual should be . . . unsavory . . . to good-aligned PCs.
I guess since I don't put a flat-out ban on evil characters (I only ban people that prove that they are going to try to abuse alignment as an excuse to aggravate their fellow players, and even then only by saying "Nope, make a new character - and this time make it one that's not a self-sabotaging idiot") I don't view 'but only bad guys will actually do it' as a valid form of balancing metric. Heck, if I did consider it that way, it'd probably come across to my players as playing favorites for my wife, since she's the one usually playing evil-aligned characters even in the good-aligned party.
Ancient proverb (I just made it up). "When traveling with heroes, it is not wise to appear to be a villain."
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
I don't think its too OP (overpowered). After all, you require 300gp to make the plate armor and an additional 300gp worth of material components that must be infused with the armor. In addition, you must craft weapons (also adding the extra MC (material components)). Besides, you have to be at least 9th-level to even do this. Here is the total cost of MC (material components) required to get an elemental myrmidon:
Air: Requires 1800gp to craft armor plus 12gp for the flail.
Earth: Requires 1800gp to craft armor plus 12gp for the maul.
Fire: Requires 1800gp to craft armor plus 60gp for the two scimitars.
Water: Requires 1800gp to craft armor plus 6gp for the trident.
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
I don't think its too OP (overpowered). After all, you require 300gp to make the plate armor and an additional 300gp worth of material components that must be infused with the armor. In addition, you must craft weapons (also adding the extra MC (material components)). Besides, you have to be at least 9th-level to even do this. Here is the total cost of MC (material components) required to get an elemental myrmidon:
Air: Requires 600gp to craft armor plus 12gp for the flail.
Earth: Requires 600gp to craft armor plus 12gp for the maul.
Fire: Requires 600gp to craft armor plus 60gp for the two scimitars.
Water: Requires 600gp to craft armor plus 6gp for the trident.
First, before the ritual takes place, you must obtain a gem worth at least 1000gp (the material component for planar binding). Then, prior to the material component for planar binding, the gem must be powdered and added in the crafting process of plate armor. Then, you must craft a weapon of your choice for the myrmidon to wield. Next, you must cast conjure elemental to conjure an air elemental, an earth elemental, a fire elemental, or a water elemental. Once the elemental is summoned, you must cast magic circle, binding the elemental to its location. Finally, you cast planar binding, using the gem-infused armor and weapon for the material components. When this series of spells are cast in this order, the elemental is bound to the armor and it is compelled to wield its weapon. This leaves the elemental in a dazed state for 24 hours, in which the elemental is stunned. During this period, you must perform a ritual to permanently bind the elemental. First, you must pour a small vial with the blood of a humanoid onto the ground, forming a circle around the stunned elemental. Next, you must spend the next hour circling the elemental, chanting in the dialect of primordial that corresponds to the elemental. Every 10 minutes, you must sprinkle a pinch of powdered amethyst worth at 5gp. When the ritual is complete and the 24 hours are over (ending the stunned condition), the elemental's memory is wiped, it being permanently bound to your service. The ritual can be performed anytime while the elemental is stunned. If the ritual has not been completed by the time the elemental is no longer stunned, the elemental vanishes to its home plane, destroying the armor and the weapons.
I consider this a good deal, seeing as it costs 50,000gp just to make a flesh golem using the manual of golems.
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
Or... you can make one from an object using True Polymorph. Myrmidons “exist only to follow the commands of their creators,”(PotA p. 212) which, you would be.
Or... you can make one from an object using True Polymorph. Myrmidons “exist only to follow the commands of their creators,”(PotA p. 212) which, you would be.
You would still have to craft it's gear, and you would have to do a planar binding and modify memory. I don't really care if it's only for a year, do something cool with them, they die you succeed.. oh well!
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At the back of the D&D adventure, Princes of the Apocalypse, it gives the statistics for elemental myrmidons: elementals summoned and ritually confined to suits of magic plate armor. It seems that players are being left out unable to create these more powerful elementals (I mean, the manual of golems allows them to create golems). To DMs that would like to add this idea to their campaigns, I have a suggestion for this rule.
How To Create An Elemental Myrmidon:
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
Counter-suggestion: It's the armor that's hard.
Still need to bind the elemental as per your Step 4, but Step 1 is unnecessary and Steps 2 and 3 are very, very difficult, probably involving complicated rituals that might or might not require the spilling of innocent blood.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Fixed. Additional material components are added in addition to crafting the armor.
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
Permanently under your control? As in not just bypassing the normal duration limit but also not requiring concentration?
That should definitely be a higher-level spell, considering the standard means of prolonging the duration of a conjured elemental requires 2 spell slots (one to cast conjure elemental and another to cast planar binding) that are 5th level or higher, and probably also involved a third spell (magic circle) just to keep the elemental in place long enough to cast the other. And don't forget that process involves the costs of those spell's consumed material components (100 gp if you use magic circle, and 1,000 gp for the planar binding).
Needs to be 9th-level to even kind of be in-line with the power level of the game, but even then a 9th-level casting of planar binding only gets you a duration of a year and a day, and doesn't include a mind-wipe that makes the creature blindly loyal.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
I don't think its too OP (overpowered). After all, you require 300gp to make the plate armor and an additional 300gp worth of material components that must be infused with the armor. In addition, you must craft weapons (also adding the extra MC (material components)). Besides, you have to be at least 9th-level to even do this. Here is the total cost of MC (material components) required to get an elemental myrmidon:
Air: Requires 1800gp to craft armor plus 12gp for the flail.
Earth: Requires 1800gp to craft armor plus 12gp for the maul.
Fire: Requires 1800gp to craft armor plus 60gp for the two scimitars.
Water: Requires 1800gp to craft armor plus 6gp for the trident.
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Ok. Here's the finished version.
First, before the ritual takes place, you must obtain a gem worth at least 1000gp (the material component for planar binding). Then, prior to the material component for planar binding, the gem must be powdered and added in the crafting process of plate armor. Then, you must craft a weapon of your choice for the myrmidon to wield. Next, you must cast conjure elemental to conjure an air elemental, an earth elemental, a fire elemental, or a water elemental. Once the elemental is summoned, you must cast magic circle, binding the elemental to its location. Finally, you cast planar binding, using the gem-infused armor and weapon for the material components. When this series of spells are cast in this order, the elemental is bound to the armor and it is compelled to wield its weapon. This leaves the elemental in a dazed state for 24 hours, in which the elemental is stunned. During this period, you must perform a ritual to permanently bind the elemental. First, you must pour a small vial with the blood of a humanoid onto the ground, forming a circle around the stunned elemental. Next, you must spend the next hour circling the elemental, chanting in the dialect of primordial that corresponds to the elemental. Every 10 minutes, you must sprinkle a pinch of powdered amethyst worth at 5gp. When the ritual is complete and the 24 hours are over (ending the stunned condition), the elemental's memory is wiped, it being permanently bound to your service. The ritual can be performed anytime while the elemental is stunned. If the ritual has not been completed by the time the elemental is no longer stunned, the elemental vanishes to its home plane, destroying the armor and the weapons.
I consider this a good deal, seeing as it costs 50,000gp just to make a flesh golem using the manual of golems.
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
Dungeon Masters only.
No experience required.
Goal: Camp on!
Or... you can make one from an object using True Polymorph. Myrmidons “exist only to follow the commands of their creators,”(PotA p. 212) which, you would be.
You would still have to craft it's gear, and you would have to do a planar binding and modify memory. I don't really care if it's only for a year, do something cool with them, they die you succeed.. oh well!