Animate Objects question [Archive] - Wizards Community

Animate Objects question [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Dark Kyosuke
11-18-05, 10:41 PM I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but a friend of mine had a concept she was running past me, and I thought it'd be GREAT if she used Animate Objects to animate the carefuly-crafted dolls she plans on carrying around!

... Until I saw that Animate Objects is a 6th level spell and isn't even on the Wizard spell list.

A Cleric would learn this at 11th level. At which point he could animate one CR 5 or two CR 3 creatures.

... Is there something I'm missing? Why would they deny the spell to Wizards and Sorcerors and then make it so high that it's hardly worth casting by the time you get it?

Is there something I'm missing? Are animated objects better than I'm seeing? Or is this just another strange design choice?

(I want to know, in the off chance I run a game and change the accessability... Also, if there's a better way for my friend to do this...)
Goreg Skullcrusher
11-19-05, 12:21 AM The way the spell is designed it's meant to be used as almost a versatile Summon Monster spell. At the level in which clerics first obtain it, they can animate a huge object, which has 84 hp and in all likelihood, 10 hardness. They could also get three 15 hp animated objects (again, of likely 10 hardness) along with it. That's a pretty solid army. Much better than a lot of the things on the Summon Monster VI list.

For your purposes, you might want to allow the spell to animate tiny objects in a 2:1 ratio to small objects. This way you could have a good two dozen little dolls running around, certainly not a trivial challenge. You could also allow Animate Objects to be a Sor/Wiz spell of the same level. Functionally it's very similar to Summon Monster (albeit with less casting time) and Clerics aren't generally known to be more dominant at summoning than Wizards.

Hope that helps.
scienceman47
11-19-05, 03:32 AM I apologize for the suggestion, but how bout' a prestige class like "master of dolls"?

You may enchant a number of dolls you've created equal to the number of prestige class lvls you possess. Allow them to take hits for you, grow life size and fight, communicate messeges, and shoot rays like the options from gradius.

Dolls animated by normal means will die quick in later lvls, so just suggesting a more survivable option.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dark Kyosuke 11-18-05, 10:41 PM	I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but a friend of mine had a concept she was running past me, and I thought it'd be GREAT if she used Animate Objects to animate the carefuly-crafted dolls she plans on carrying around! ... Until I saw that Animate Objects is a 6th level spell and isn't even on the Wizard spell list. A Cleric would learn this at 11th level. At which point he could animate one CR 5 or two CR 3 creatures. ... Is there something I'm missing? Why would they deny the spell to Wizards and Sorcerors and then make it so high that it's hardly worth casting by the time you get it? Is there something I'm missing? Are animated objects better than I'm seeing? Or is this just another strange design choice? (I want to know, in the off chance I run a game and change the accessability... Also, if there's a better way for my friend to do this...)
Goreg Skullcrusher 11-19-05, 12:21 AM	The way the spell is designed it's meant to be used as almost a versatile Summon Monster spell. At the level in which clerics first obtain it, they can animate a huge object, which has 84 hp and in all likelihood, 10 hardness. They could also get three 15 hp animated objects (again, of likely 10 hardness) along with it. That's a pretty solid army. Much better than a lot of the things on the Summon Monster VI list. For your purposes, you might want to allow the spell to animate tiny objects in a 2:1 ratio to small objects. This way you could have a good two dozen little dolls running around, certainly not a trivial challenge. You could also allow Animate Objects to be a Sor/Wiz spell of the same level. Functionally it's very similar to Summon Monster (albeit with less casting time) and Clerics aren't generally known to be more dominant at summoning than Wizards. Hope that helps.
scienceman47 11-19-05, 03:32 AM	I apologize for the suggestion, but how bout' a prestige class like "master of dolls"? You may enchant a number of dolls you've created equal to the number of prestige class lvls you possess. Allow them to take hits for you, grow life size and fight, communicate messeges, and shoot rays like the options from gradius. Dolls animated by normal means will die quick in later lvls, so just suggesting a more survivable option.