Buying spell-like abilities... with LA? gp? XP? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Buying spell-like abilities... with LA? gp? XP? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
johniemi
03-24-06, 05:24 AM One of our campaigns is going epic very soon and the fighters are frustrated by their lack of spell resistance, they do have the items that give SR but they want something else as items can be stolen and as time passes, the SR becomes too low and you have to buy an item with better SR to keep up with the others.

Anyway, what would you suggest as the best way to get spell-like abilities? I was thinking of a costly epic magical ritual that instills the ability to cast e.g., Spell Resistance (5th lvl cleric spell) three times a day. But the problems are;

-How could I determine the price without breaking balance? Drow get natural, non-dispellable, permanent SR and other abilities at a cost of LA +2, so could SR as a dispellable Sp-ability 3x/day cost LA +1 (Level Adjustment) and lots of gp/items/favors?
-If the spell-like ability is granted, what is the caster level? Character level? 1/2 Character level?

Of course there are templates around that give permanent, non-dispellable SR at a cost of LA, but I don't see the point of all our three fighters taking the same template. Kinda ruins the individualness and personality of the players.

I remember seeing a book somewhere with Elminster(?) who had spell-like abilities, if I remember correctly the cost of the abilities was also mentioned. Anyone remember which WotC book has this NPC character?

-John
Pasquirlio
03-24-06, 05:35 AM Elminsters SLA come from either his chosen template or the innate spell feat. The feat sadly is quite inaccessible for non spellcasters.

Any other official options I don't know. Idea's might be to have them granted by gods, or paying wizards to experiment on them or other such stuff.
runestar
03-24-06, 07:06 AM Various FR npcs are notorious for using "Wishes and misc magical experimentations" to access various SLAs and Su abilities, sadly, it was never detailed how exactly it was achieved. :(
Pasquirlio
03-24-06, 08:36 AM Various FR npcs are notorious for using "Wishes and misc magical experimentations" to access various SLAs and Su abilities, sadly, it was never detailed how exactly it was achieved. :(

I'd say by specifying the wish in a way that doesn't result in the dm hating you and just twisting the wish as a lesson.
Vharuck
03-24-06, 08:50 AM The fact that items can be stolen and must be upgraded is inherent in the system. Really, if your fighters own a set of armor with, let's say SR 10, and want to upgrade it to have SR 15, the amount they spent on the armor originally plus the upgrade cost will equal what the cost would be if they were to buy the armor with SR 15 on it from the beginning.

In other words, no real financial loss.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
johniemi 03-24-06, 05:24 AM	One of our campaigns is going epic very soon and the fighters are frustrated by their lack of spell resistance, they do have the items that give SR but they want something else as items can be stolen and as time passes, the SR becomes too low and you have to buy an item with better SR to keep up with the others. Anyway, what would you suggest as the best way to get spell-like abilities? I was thinking of a costly epic magical ritual that instills the ability to cast e.g., Spell Resistance (5th lvl cleric spell) three times a day. But the problems are; -How could I determine the price without breaking balance? Drow get natural, non-dispellable, permanent SR and other abilities at a cost of LA +2, so could SR as a dispellable Sp-ability 3x/day cost LA +1 (Level Adjustment) and lots of gp/items/favors? -If the spell-like ability is granted, what is the caster level? Character level? 1/2 Character level? Of course there are templates around that give permanent, non-dispellable SR at a cost of LA, but I don't see the point of all our three fighters taking the same template. Kinda ruins the individualness and personality of the players. I remember seeing a book somewhere with Elminster(?) who had spell-like abilities, if I remember correctly the cost of the abilities was also mentioned. Anyone remember which WotC book has this NPC character? -John
Pasquirlio 03-24-06, 05:35 AM	Elminsters SLA come from either his chosen template or the innate spell feat. The feat sadly is quite inaccessible for non spellcasters. Any other official options I don't know. Idea's might be to have them granted by gods, or paying wizards to experiment on them or other such stuff.
runestar 03-24-06, 07:06 AM	Various FR npcs are notorious for using "Wishes and misc magical experimentations" to access various SLAs and Su abilities, sadly, it was never detailed how exactly it was achieved. :(
Pasquirlio 03-24-06, 08:36 AM	Various FR npcs are notorious for using "Wishes and misc magical experimentations" to access various SLAs and Su abilities, sadly, it was never detailed how exactly it was achieved. :( I'd say by specifying the wish in a way that doesn't result in the dm hating you and just twisting the wish as a lesson.
Vharuck 03-24-06, 08:50 AM	The fact that items can be stolen and must be upgraded is inherent in the system. Really, if your fighters own a set of armor with, let's say SR 10, and want to upgrade it to have SR 15, the amount they spent on the armor originally plus the upgrade cost will equal what the cost would be if they were to buy the armor with SR 15 on it from the beginning. In other words, no real financial loss.