Planar Ally Payments for Necromentals? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Planar Ally Payments for Necromentals? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Exploit
04-16-07, 02:44 PM A Divine Disciple of Velsharoon is looking to summon up a Medium Air Necromental as a Lesser Planar Ally. Assuming the deity agrees to send the requested necromental what would the negotiated payment be?

For a multiple day ally the payment is normally 1000 gp per HD = 4000 GP payment required. A necromental however has an Intelligence of 1 (communication is possible via the divine emissary ability) so how would it even know what 4000 gp was since it cannot count nor the value of gold? Furthermore why would it even want gold since it would have no reason to engage in barter even if it understood the concept?

The only thing that I can come up with, that would be of any value to a necromental, would be life force. So how much life force equals 4000 GP?

For arguments sake say that each level was 100 gp then could the cleric pay the necromental with 40 prisoner sacrifices? Note: this would give the necromental an additional 200 HP for an hour.

Instead of prisoners could he pay with chickens, which would have the same amount of life force? Would that be 40 chickens or 160 because they are 1/4 HD each?

Could he pay with eggs? (They are alive so they must have life force and a minimum of 1 HP therefore I'd assume they were 1/8 HD each so 320 eggs).

Would the chickens and/or eggs rise as wights, as per the DMG rules on generic energy drains?

As a DM, I would be disinclined to allow eggs as payment but I think chickens or other animals would be fine. I might say that the animal has to be a minimum of 1 HD (to allow for a full level drain) but that would still allow dogs, pigs, cows etc.

As funny as it sounds, I don't think I would allow wight chickens and the like because of the potential abuse. (There is precedence in the Wight template in Savage Species only being applicable to humanoids).

Just curious about how other DM's would rule?
Karsus the Mad
04-16-07, 07:48 PM Only thing I can think of right off the bat would be to use XP as "life essence". 1XP=5gp according to item creation rules, so 4,000 gp would equate into 800 XP worth of "life essence" or somesuch.
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What's a necromental:bigeyes:
Exploit
04-16-07, 11:03 PM A necromental is an undead template applied to elementals found in the Libris Mortis. Necromentals keep their Extraplanar subtype so they can still be summoned by Planar Ally spells.

It is actually rather tough to find extraplanar creatures in any of the monster manuals that make sense for Velsharoon to provide in response to Planar Ally requests from his clerics. So far, I have come up with Mercanes (Manual of the Planes) and Necromentals.

Your logic about using the 1 XP = 5 GP rule makes some sense. I like the consistency of using existing rule values.

Of course this would mean that spending 8 GP for a donkey (2 HD) would have a resale value of 5000 GP (1000 XP minmum for 2 HD) to a necromental. Talk about buying low and selling high! :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Exploit 04-16-07, 02:44 PM	A Divine Disciple of Velsharoon is looking to summon up a Medium Air Necromental as a Lesser Planar Ally. Assuming the deity agrees to send the requested necromental what would the negotiated payment be? For a multiple day ally the payment is normally 1000 gp per HD = 4000 GP payment required. A necromental however has an Intelligence of 1 (communication is possible via the divine emissary ability) so how would it even know what 4000 gp was since it cannot count nor the value of gold? Furthermore why would it even want gold since it would have no reason to engage in barter even if it understood the concept? The only thing that I can come up with, that would be of any value to a necromental, would be life force. So how much life force equals 4000 GP? For arguments sake say that each level was 100 gp then could the cleric pay the necromental with 40 prisoner sacrifices? Note: this would give the necromental an additional 200 HP for an hour. Instead of prisoners could he pay with chickens, which would have the same amount of life force? Would that be 40 chickens or 160 because they are 1/4 HD each? Could he pay with eggs? (They are alive so they must have life force and a minimum of 1 HP therefore I'd assume they were 1/8 HD each so 320 eggs). Would the chickens and/or eggs rise as wights, as per the DMG rules on generic energy drains? As a DM, I would be disinclined to allow eggs as payment but I think chickens or other animals would be fine. I might say that the animal has to be a minimum of 1 HD (to allow for a full level drain) but that would still allow dogs, pigs, cows etc. As funny as it sounds, I don't think I would allow wight chickens and the like because of the potential abuse. (There is precedence in the Wight template in Savage Species only being applicable to humanoids). Just curious about how other DM's would rule?
Karsus the Mad 04-16-07, 07:48 PM	Only thing I can think of right off the bat would be to use XP as "life essence". 1XP=5gp according to item creation rules, so 4,000 gp would equate into 800 XP worth of "life essence" or somesuch. ? ? ? ????? ??? ? What's a necromental:bigeyes:
Exploit 04-16-07, 11:03 PM	A necromental is an undead template applied to elementals found in the Libris Mortis. Necromentals keep their Extraplanar subtype so they can still be summoned by Planar Ally spells. It is actually rather tough to find extraplanar creatures in any of the monster manuals that make sense for Velsharoon to provide in response to Planar Ally requests from his clerics. So far, I have come up with Mercanes (Manual of the Planes) and Necromentals. Your logic about using the 1 XP = 5 GP rule makes some sense. I like the consistency of using existing rule values. Of course this would mean that spending 8 GP for a donkey (2 HD) would have a resale value of 5000 GP (1000 XP minmum for 2 HD) to a necromental. Talk about buying low and selling high! :)