Took me a half-dozen or so read-throughs of the full spell description to get it. I'll do a minimalistic example (meaning, you'll need to look at the book to follow along). I'll use a 3rd level Magic User for the example.
1. Determine whether or not you're preparing ahead of time, or combat-casting (heh, good luck). Thaumaturgic circles and sacrifices are not an on-the-fly type of situation; minimizing the chaos requires planning! Figure out these two bonuses ahead of time. For this example, I'll use a +2 thaumaturgic circle (1000sp cost), and no sacrifices.
2. Choose how many hit dice you want to summon. I'll go for 5.
3. Save vs magic: 3rd level MU save is 14, I rolled 18, demon apocalypse can wait!
4. Creature arrives, determine form/appendages/powers.
4a. Because I made the save, I start with a d12 on the left column of pg 146: I rolled 11, and thus we have a slime, a snake, or a squid. The d3 tells me it's a slime.
4b. Appendages: go back to pg 144 and find your chosen Hit Dice, and roll the selected die (5 HD = d8). I rolled a 6. This roll is your Base Number. Find which die type corresponds to that base number on the table on pg 144, and roll that die (6 is a d8 again). I rolled a 4, which is the new Base Number. This is lower than 6, and so I roll an appendage. I roll 3d6 on the right column of pg 146 (6, 5, 3) and so the appendage is Throbbing Teeth. The new base number is 4, so according to the table on pg 144, I now roll a d6. I rolled a 5, which is higher than 4, so no new appendage, and we're done with appendages.
4c. Powers: Same procedure as appendages, so I start with a d8: oh mama, I rolled an 8, could be fun. Now I roll a d10, and if I get less than 8, my Denture Slime gets a new power. Rolled a 4, time to power up! Roll d% on pgs 147-148 and there's your new power: rolled 79, and thus my Denture Slime has the power to cast Stone Shape at will. Fun. New base number check! 4 means roll a d6: rolled a 3, another power! This time the d% gives me a 22, which is Detect Invisibility (always on). Let's keep the Base Number checks rolling, 3 is another d6: rolled a 1, so yippee, more power! We have a 21 this time: Darkness (at will, one at a time). Now the table on pg 144 says a base number of 1 should roll a d4, but because I made the save in Step 3, it's impossible to roll LESS THAN 1, and thus we can't get more powers.
4d. Summary of critter: At this point, a 5 HD slime with 1 appendage (Throbbing Teeth), and 3 powers (Stone Shape at will, Detect Invisibility always on, and Darkness at will) has glorped out of a crack in reality.
5. Dominate Check (or, Where It All Went Wrong):
5a. add up your bonuses: Caster Level (3) + Thaumaturgic Circle (2) + d20
5b. add up critter bonuses: Hit Dice (5) + Number of Powers (3) + d20
5c. Roll for your life: I rolled 11, critter rolled 7. This means I have a total of 16, and the critter has a total of 15 on the Dominate Check. VERY close call, glad I dropped the silvers on that thaumaturgic circle, or I'd likely be stuck in a very dark, very small stone box with it! I'm told it's really hard to grapple a slime. I beat it by 1, and thus I get to roll 1d10 for the number of rounds I control it: balls, I rolled a 3.
6. Because I failed to achieve a Great Margin victory, I now spend 3 rounds doing NOTHING ELSE but keep this critter in check, and the rest of the party stops aiming all their weapons at me, which they seem to do EVERY TIME I cast this spell.
This Denture Slime would make a fun guard dog, if you managed a Great Margin!
Last edited by Yuritau (2012-06-01 13:18:58)