Post/Author/DateTime	Post
RadiantSoul 03-01-04, 12:18 AM	Query. my Conjurer has Lesser Planar Binding, and I'm fixing to get greater planar binding soonish. The question is, who should I bind? Seeing as though it takes 10min to cast, its usefulness in combat is limited (unless I know of a combat coming shortly). I thought about binding Djinn, asking if he can cast wishes, if not, does he know any nobles. Write down the noble's name, wait a day, and call the noble. Could be an easy way to get a wish. Now, I don't really need a wish, but still, cool. Other thoughts include summoning some sort of monster to go do recon for the party (we're trying to save the world or somesuch and we don't know exactly where the baddies are at) so summoning some sort of spirit to go find them would be helpful. How else can I put these spells to use? RS
Psifon 03-01-04, 12:56 AM	You don't cast Planar Binding in combat. You cast it every day for a weak before you go on an adventure and have a group of monsters to fight for you. Elementals are a pretty good choice for raw combat. Energons are great for healing. Invisible stalkers make good assasins and they don't upset the locals when you are in town. These are the conventional choices. However, given that "Fiendish" and "Celestial" are templates, you can pretty much go wild with this spell. The "elemental" template is also a good resource A Celestial Troll is completely possible for example, as is a fire elemental beholder. You can pretty much "data mine" the MM and just shop for whatever special abilities you want to bring on the current adventure. There are some problems with all of this however. The first is that it is hard to teleport that many creatures with you, and even if they can teleport themselves you are faced with them not knowing where you are going. Another problem is that many may seek revenge/justice (depending on alignment). Another is that the DM is well within his rights to ask you for the specific wording of the task you have forced them into. This can be a headache, since you want to keep it general enough to be usefull, but not leave any big loopholes in it. Binding servants to you invites the DM to mess with you, so YMMV.
Hot Rod 03-01-04, 06:02 AM	Just thought I'd suggest the image: You've just settled down for the night, (and swept the nearby forest for enemies) and cast your Planar binding of a fire elemental on the campfire (circle of PFE first of course). Your friends 'feed' him wood all night (during their watches) in exchange for his help the following day. :) Not that ANYTHING will attack you during the night with one of those sitting in the middle of camp ;) making it quite likely you will be uninterrupted during your rest as well.) OTOH fire elementals tend to get surly as soon as the wood runs out, best to 'use' his service early if you can. Earth elementals are more content to sit around, (or follow underfoot) till needed but harder to please (they want the same stuff you want precious metals and gems). Air elementals are flighty, easy to bribe (rare/unusual incense) but it is hard to make them keep their word or concentrate on a single task (flighty). I'd also strongly recommend learning the elemental languages and celestial (etc...) languages. While you could cast tongues it's better not to provide translation loopholes to :devil: 's or elementals. In general, IMC if you pay a called creature (planar binding/ally) in advance it won't hold it against you (too much). If you bind it for a long time and/or force it to take a pittance as payment it will resent it. Which may not matter for lesser creatures, though those with plane walking abilities and summoning ability of their own may decide to go hunting exotic prey, esp. if they've been grabbed more than once... Djinn are evil, expect to sacrifice 25K+ gp worth of items for a wish if you want to avoid your DM's planar goon squad making an appearance. (From a game mechanics standpoint 25K is the value of a wish. Removing this wealth and granting a wish doesn't upset balance, doing it for free can destroy a campaign quickly (and thus the possibility of the DM goon squad)) YMMV of course... Maybe your DM wants you indebted to greater powers... finally, I'd recommend using the wish to wish for a scroll of wish (Its within the value and capabilities of the wish spell) You can gradually collect and then use several at once to raise a stat, and the scrolls won't try to twist your wording like the Djinn would. (usually, some DMs see it as their lifes quest to mess up players wishes :( )
Hot Rod 03-01-04, 06:12 AM	Just remembered an old Dragon comic, an Ifrit noble (who can grant wishes) and a small pile of ash (still smoking). Ifrit says: I love razing their stength. hehehe (For non-english speakers, razing is destroying, raising is making higher both are pronounced alike... ;) )
Vorpal Warhammer 03-01-04, 08:14 AM	The Bralani Eladrin packs a lot of bang for the buck. Lightning Bolt & Cure Serious 2x day, Charm Person & Blur at will, has two +1 Holy weapons, and can turn into a whirlwind. He's only 6HD, so you can pick him up with Lessar Planar Binding. Regular Planar Binding gives you access to the Formian Myrmarch, which has 12 outsider HD and a decent save against their dex-damage poison. They weigh almost a ton, but they can cast Greater Teleport at will, so they can help you out with travel. Plus they have fast healing 2, cold immunity, resistance 10 to elec/fire/sonic, and SR 25.
Boondoggle 03-01-04, 08:47 AM	Glabrezu. It's risky summoning a demon and trying to milk a legitimate wish from him, but hey, that's the nature of the beast. :angel: (If you think puns are bad, just remember: Poetry is verse)
Wolfwood2 03-01-04, 02:09 PM	The safest planar binding targets are elementals. They have lousy charisma, so it's very hard for them to escape the circle of protection and it's very hard for them to refuse to serve you, even if you offer them no reward at all. If by some freak chance they do escape, they don't have a lot of funky powers to screw you up. Just have the party fighter standing by to chop them to pieces. (And they're not smart enough to run away and plot revenge later.) They have no planar travel ability, so they aren't going to be back for revenge later, even if you make them serve you without payment. They're not smart enough to get all tricky about finding loopholes in your agreements. If you bind them to "Follow my orders for a week," they should do exactly that without constantly trying to interpret your words in the worst possible light. While they don't have a lot of "funky powers", properly used they can do a lot for the party. Air elementals make fine scouts, and earth elementals make great tanks. Having a water elemental standing by during an ocean adventure is a real plus. A few bound fire elementals can wreak havoc in an enemy town. (By the time they muster some fighters with magic weapons to put the hurt on, half the town will be aflame.) In general, Outsiders are Just Not Worth It. Way too much potential for a DM to make it come back and bite you later. Stick with Elementals. You can make them work for you without paying a single gold piece. A fire elemental you didn't have to pay for is better than some outsider you had to bribe with thousands of gps. The only exception is Imps. When you really need some hard core Divination but don't have a friendly cleric, it's nice to Call an Imp and make it use its Commune ability to answer your questions. But that's it. Otherwise, stay away from Outsiders if you can possibly avoid it.
Hot Rod 03-01-04, 02:20 PM	There's a fellow on the PrC boards trying to balance a summoner class (10 levels) why not pop on by and add your 2 cp. http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=191466