What is the purpose of Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound?

Discussion in 'The Temple of Elemental Evil' started by Endarire, Dec 15, 2016.

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  1. Endarire

    Endarire Ronald Rynnwrathi

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    I really don't know why it's here in ToEE. Pweath explain!

    Thankee!
     
    Endarire, Dec 15, 2016
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  2. BrotherSmythe

    BrotherSmythe Established Member

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    Haven't used it yet. I'll see if one of my wizards in an older save has it . I remember selecting it but never got around to using it. So many other options. ..
    But to answer your question I think it is meant to guard your wizard. A summoned beast will bolt off and get itself killed whilst this little guy will not. I think.
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2016
    BrotherSmythe, Dec 16, 2016
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  3. Gehennis

    Gehennis Established Member

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    Not sure exactly what it does but I imagine it's for the times when you have to rest in enemy territory and don't want to risk getting your sleep interrupted- that or it makes it so that if you are attacked while resting that you aren't actually caught flat=footed. Or i could just be talking out of my hat because I'm not really sure what it does...
     
    Gehennis, Dec 17, 2016
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  4. BrotherSmythe

    BrotherSmythe Established Member

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    That sounds like a good PnP usage.
     
    BrotherSmythe, Dec 17, 2016
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  5. Nightcanon

    Nightcanon Garrulous Halfling

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    Not sure what its in-game effect is in TOEE. I've used it a couple of times as one would a Summon Monster spell and don't recall it being particularly effective, which I put down to large numbers of combatants in the battle. Reading the spell description, I now see it is effectively a watchdog spell. As a way of ensuring that one has a safe place to sleep, it is strictly inferior to its fellow 5th level spell Teleport (and in PnP, to Rope Trick), but in TOEE if it did something wrt random encounters in 'yellow areas', either by making them green or by allowing a first strike, it could be interesting.
     
    Nightcanon, Dec 18, 2016
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  6. Shiningted

    Shiningted I changed this damn title, finally! Administrator

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    That's a great idea Nightcanon, I don't think we have anything like that in the game do we? As a first strike thing it could either force the enemies to spawn at a distance (may not be practical since you can camp in some weird areas, its not like the RE maps that are designed with such things in mind) or just give him +100 Dex, removed in his first combat round, so he always goes first in the Initiative. Probably some other ideas too, like massively reducing the chance of a sleep encounter while he is present - that's trivial to implement I think.

    EDIT: Plus, looking at the spell entry in the SRD (for it's duration), if for some reason you cast it and sat around for a couple hours, then went to sleep, it would disappear normally during the course of your sleep so if you got woken early it would be there for the benefit but not later: likewise the way the RE table is set up it could check for the critter and lower the odds until the critter is gone, then the odds would go back up as normal. This sounds quite doable. :)
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2016
    Shiningted, Dec 18, 2016
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  7. Endarire

    Endarire Ronald Rynnwrathi

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    Ted: I like that. I assumed the faithful hound guarded my party when it slept due to the circular radius emitted from its body.
     
    Endarire, Dec 18, 2016
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  8. GuardianAngel82

    GuardianAngel82 Senior Member

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    IIRC, it keeps you from being asleep when monsters spawn while you rest.
     
    GuardianAngel82, Dec 20, 2016
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  9. Endarire

    Endarire Ronald Rynnwrathi

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    It would also help if the hound made - or gave the option to make - yellow areas green for sleep and craft purposes.
     
    Endarire, Dec 21, 2016
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  10. BrotherSmythe

    BrotherSmythe Established Member

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    It would be very amusing if the hound had a dialog option.
     
    BrotherSmythe, Dec 25, 2016
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