AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
The Black Tome of Abdul Al-Harazzad!
Level: 12
Price: None (Artifact)
Implement (Tome) Enhancement: +3 attack rolls and damage rolls Critical: +2d10 necrotic damage and +1d8 psychic damage per plus Property: The Black Tome adds an additional +1 to hit to powers that target a creatures will defense.
Now for some non-shitty powers. This takes into account improved concordance as well. During each extended rest, you choose which of the following encounter powers to prepare:
Inflict Madness: Arcane Attack Power, (Encounter, Implement, Psychic, Illusion): Standard; Ranged 10; Intelligence or Charisma or Wisdom vs. Will
1d6 damage and the target is dominated until the end of your next turn. During the creatures turn, you must make it attack the nearest enemy within its reach, or if there are no enemies within the targets reach it instead must charge the nearest enemy. If there are no enemies within reach or that it can charge, the creature instead attacks itself with its own melee basic attack.
(Note enemy = your enemies. The intent of the power is that you make it either attack or charge an enemy, or failing that it hits itself)
Screaming Torment: Arcane Attack Power, (Encounter, Implement, Psychic, Illusion, Zone): Standard; Area burst 3 within 10, targets enemies; Intelligence or Charisma or Wisdom vs. Will
1d10+int/cha/wis damage and the burst creates a zone that lasts until the end of your next turn. Enemies within the zone must make opportunity attacks against any creature that would provoke an attack of opportunity, with a bonus to the attack and damage roll equal to your int/cha/wis mod.
(Screaming Torment basically means that a creature within it will take an opportunity attack against anything that provokes within the zone - so an ally moving past them will provoke an attack of opportunity as if the ally was an enemy and so forth)
You can only have one of the above two spells prepared during any given encounter.
Summon Hound of Tindalos: Arcane Attack Power, (Daily, Implement, Psychic, Summoning): Minor Action; Any 120 degree or less angled surface within line of sight*
Effect: You summon a medium sized Hound of Tindalos** in any legal space within range - the creature can occupy other creatures squares without penalty. You must designate a target within your line of sight for the Hound to attack - it can attack that target and no other for the duration of the encounter. The Hound automatically teleports adjacent to your chosen target when you order it to attack, ignoring terrain and other creatures (it can occupy other creatures square, hindering and blocking terrain without penalty). You can give the Hound the following special command; Standard Action: Melee 1: Int/Wis/Cha vs. Will; 2d10+int psychic damage, and the target is dazed (save ends) and cannot teleport until the end of your next turn. Intrinsic Nature: If you have not given the Hound of Tindalos any commands by the end of your turn, you get a strange feeling that the creature has caught your scent... Symbiosis: Any creature you hit with an at-will attack with the psychic or illusion keywords cannot teleport until the end of your next turn and you may teleport 3 squares. Sanity: Summoning the hound deals 1d10 sanity damage to whoever summoned it. If you actually see the creatures true form - for whatever reason - you take horrifying sanity damage. Other creatures cannot perceive the Hound of Tindalos true form and so are not affected by it.
*This requires some explanation. Essentially it can appear in any square there is any kind of angle, like the corner of the door and similar.
**An horrific abomination from the very depths of Xoriat that relentlessly hunts down its victims. This creature appears as a pile of sinister wispy smoke, except to its intended victim where it reveals its true form - feeding off the pain and suffering its hideous visage causes.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Man I hate daylight savings, I had this really awesome complex encounter but no time to run it today. None the less next week, there will be encountering! Also, yes you will be able to meet ole Andale and probably kill him horribly. I will post the stuff from the Hobgoblin encounter a little later. The story feat you have is called Tainted:
Tainted (Story Feat): You can sense the presence and perceive creatures with the tainted keyword.
Examples of such monsters are fissures (that you've just 'met'), black dogs, rag dolls and boogeymen. Ordinary people can't see these creatures at all (they always count as invisible). It is possible to improve this feat or remove it entirely.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Dragon 385: Winning Races Half-Elves is so disgusting, I'm banning the entire article. I mean, mistakes like the one in the swordmage article are one thing but this? This is another level of horrifically broken.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Firstly, that was the worst session of DnD I've DMed in a long time and I really apologize for that. That was just awful from me on multiple levels. There will be much awesome next week though so much so *shakes fist*. I am very annoyed with myself.
In other news this is what you got:
You have gained 8400 GP total in ritual components that "Andale" was using.
You have enough residuum to enchant a level 12 magical item (Or 13,000 GP of treasure if you don't want to enchant something with it, so you can add it to the above GP if you want).
You gain the artifact "Scythe of Xoriat". This will be described later as it's obscenely complicated and is really one of those "It's an artifact, let's experiment with game mechanics and see if players find it fun things".
You gain more than sufficient dragonshards to make your current vessel into an airship. Per Tavars request of Thasslia, she'll not harm your elemental instead she'll simply imbue it and the ships bindings with the ability to fly. The elemental isn't going to be very good at flying initially, so your ship will have a speed penalty.
A couple of the dragonshards are somewhat flawed, but Thasslia feels she can use them to make items capable of improving your equipment. She'll work away on that depending on requests (I'll post a list later).
Anything else I can think of (and what the options are) I'll post before next session.
Mr_Rose83 Blue Ridge Protects the HolyRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Sorry guys. I was all set up to go but then I sort of fell asleep/completely blanked on the day/time. It's been a really strange week for me.
And yay, daylight savings starts tomorrow over here. Joy.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
With dragon sorting its shit out, the succubus is no longer banned and the half-elf article I have no problem with. So those can come off the "I will murder you for it" list.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
The Scythe!
First some mechanics need to be explained about how all artifacts in my games work.
1) Artifacts do not require any proficiency to use. You can always use an artifact, even if your character is a weedy wizard who has never held a sword in his life an artifact automatically imparts proficiency.
2) Artifacts now build in expertise into their stat blocks. So a paragon artifact has a +2 bonus to hit. Artifacts never benefit from expertise feats, but they do benefit from any other feats that match implement or weapon groups.
3) An artifact lasts in the game as long as its plus would indicate (or if it does not have a magical enhancement bonus, roughly the tier of play you get it for a wonderous item). So a +3 weapon can be assumed to move on by around level 15. It is worth noting an artifact is always in the game strictly on my whims. I have an idea and purpose for an artifact when I put them in. Discovering what this is will be half the fun usually.
Without further rules shenannigans:
Scythe of Nyarlathotep
As you hold the weapon the world around you twists and seems to become more menacing. The shadows close in from every direction and the overwhelming suspicion that your allies will take your new found power at any moment...
The Scythe of Nyarlathotep is a +3 weapon and implement.
Enhancement: Attack rolls +5*, Damage Rolls +3.
Weapon Properties: As scythe.
Property: Holding the weapon causes you to lose 10 sanity as you become touched by the artifacts link to Xoriat.
Property: You gain a +2 bonus to saving throws against daze, dominate and stun conditions**
Property: You may use the "Life Leech" at-will power.
Property: When you use any ranged implement attack power through the scythe, you can use the power as a melee attack. If you do so, the power’s range equals your melee reach.
Property: The scythe adds its enhancement bonus (+3) as damage again to powers with the psychic or necrotic keyword.
Property: You may use the "Babble" encounter power.
Property: You may use the "Mind Rend" encounter power.
Life Leech
Badly wounded you resort to drawing on the power of the scythe more closely, draining your enemies of their own life-force to restore your own and reveling in their pain and suffering.
At-Will Arcane, Weapon, Psychic
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength or Constitution or Charisma or Wisdom vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] damage, and the target takes ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends). Each time the creature takes the ongoing damage you may spend a healing surge with a +5 bonus to the HP gained and you lose 5 sanity.
Babble
A never ending stream of nonsense, insults and random sentences stream forth, confusing and disorientating your enemy!
Encounter Arcane, Implement, Psychic
Standard Action Ranged 5
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength or Constitution or Charisma or Wisdom vs. Will
Hit: 2d8 + Strength or Constitution or Charisma or Wisdom psychic damage, and the target is dazed (save ends).
Aftereffect: The target takes ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends).
Mind Rend
Your opponent never knows what hits them as the scythe cleaves through their flesh and bone physically and their body and soul psychically...
Encounter Arcane, Weapon, Psychic
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength or Constitution or Charisma or Wisdom vs. AC
Hit: 3[W] + Strength or Constitution or Charisma or Wisdom and if the target takes a standard action before the end of your next turn it takes an additional 2d8 psychic damage.
Note that you can only use one of Babble or Mind Rend in a single encounter.
As always, more powers and abilities become available as you improve concordance.
*Enhancement bonus + Expertise.
**You're already being driven nuts, so it's harder for creatures to bother you very much with mind altering effects.
Property: When you use any ranged implement attack power through the scythe, you can use the power as a melee attack. If you do so, the power’s range equals your melee reach.
Just for this property alone, it'd be awesome for Mister Oren. But would he really pick up and use a weapon of such obvious evil? He is a Kalashtar, and the mind of the quori that shares his body is never too far from the madness of the dreaming dark.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Actually the dreaming dark don't represent madness, I've been thinking about them and they remind me more of Dream Hitler - wanting to impose their own order on the entire world. While Xoriat and the Daelkyr are more or less mindless destruction (well, it's not mindless to them but turning everything into pudding is almost certainly bad for normal people) the Dreaming Dark more or less want everything t be completely static. It would actually really bother the Quori within Oren more than anything else because the influence of Xoriat is the complete opposite of what Quori want.
Edit: Clarified Mind Rend and Babble that like the books encounter powers, only one can be used in an encounter as it is an either/or choice. Mind Rend got its 3[W] back as well and Babble I reduced the damage (swapped the 3 and the 2 around on the powers for some reason).
If Oren takes up the scythe he would, at least initially, want to use it against the Daelkyr. He might even try to figure out how to cleanse such an artifact, or at least that'd be his justification to himself. He'd even think, "who else among my companions is as well equipped to fight the influences of such a thing?"
How strong of an influence is a Kalashtar's Quori fragment?
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Pretty strong to very weak, it's up to the individual character as far as I know. Some Kalashtar can be very in tune with their Quori spirit, others not so much.
I never thought about it all that much when I made Oren; at the time, the only resource available was the page or two in the EPG and the ECG. Now there's that Dragon article about Kalashtar, I should give it another read.
If nobody else wants to use it, I think I'd like it for Oren. It will be interesting to see what it does to him and it'll help me give Oren some personality, which I think he's sort of lacking at the moment.
I never thought about it all that much when I made Oren; at the time, the only resource available was the page or two in the EPG and the ECG. Now there's that Dragon article about Kalashtar, I should give it another read.
If nobody else wants to use it, I think I'd like it for Oren. It will be interesting to see what it does to him and it'll help me give Oren some personality, which I think he's sort of lacking at the moment.
I wasn't going to say anything, but Oren doesn't seem to have a whole lot of characterization.
I know for a fact that Tavar won't want that scythe, so it's okay with me if you take it. I should warn you, however, that Tavar considers you and (sort of) Zahar to be the only remaining sane men in this group besides himself. And he's already mentioned that it might be time to end this whole business....
Of course, even though Tavar might be contemplating killing everyone in their sleep, I'm not the sort of player to actually do that sort of thing. At least, not until Geepo pushes him just a bit too far one day. Geepo might find his food suddenly making him sleepy. And by then... it's too late.
I know for a fact that Tavar won't want that scythe, so it's okay with me if you take it. I should warn you, however, that Tavar considers you and (sort of) Zahar to be the only remaining sane men in this group besides himself. And he's already mentioned that it might be time to end this whole business....
Of course, even though Tavar might be contemplating killing everyone in their sleep, I'm not the sort of player to actually do that sort of thing. At least, not until Geepo pushes him just a bit too far one day. Geepo might find his food suddenly making him sleepy. And by then... it's too late.
Dorvin doesn't care who claims the scythe, so long as it'll be put to use stopping the Artist. Also, I'm curious about Tavar's concept of sanity, when he's fantasizing about murdering his allies in their sleep. :P
Anyone have thoughts on what we should do with the components we've found? I'm for putting aside a pool to cover rez's and cures, and then dividing the rest among the party for enchanting.
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Mr_Rose83 Blue Ridge Protects the HolyRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
As long as it's only Geepo that Tavar's fantasizing about, Zahar is unlikely to care (about sleep-murders or magic farm implements) all he really cares about now is finding and killing whatever is at the bottom of this so he can finally have a dee worthy of his other tooth.
Very astute, Aegeri. Maybe it is his way of going crazy. Or maybe he's already crazy. And maybe Tavar doesn't actually have a secret agency. Maybe even his electrum vest is imagined. The whole thing is a fabrication of his mind desperately trying to reconcile the damage brought around during childhood development due to his electrical outbursts. He thinks it's a metal suit that stores his energy and gives him control over his powers, but really it's just deadened parts of his brain registering greater control over the enigmatic forces providing him his Van de Graff-like qualities. And because he has a magic suit, it must have come from somewhere... like a secret agency with lots of contacts!
And obviously he would need to have some sort of master to teach him restraint and control, to show him how to use his power. Such fantasies typically are formed in such a way that they are nearly impossible to prove or disprove, so he would naturally have selected someone both famous and unreachably distant. What's more, having him get killed off in the Escelle Auction Massacre grants the fabrication an immortality; who's to say the man never trained Tavar now? His agency is equally distant; it may be that some random address in Sharn is being delivered all the information packets Tavar sends. Naturally, whoever gets them can see they're the ramblings of a crazy person, and throws them away, never sending a reply. Which is why Tavar has yet to receive any additional orders.
In fact, it may well be that each character in this game is a fragment of Tavar's shattered conscious. Geepo represents the id, wanting little to do with society's laws or moral codes. Oren is the superego: fastidious, focused, calm, ethical. It is entirely sensible that the ethical and moral center of the mind would be represented as a religious figure. Zahar, then, would be the ego, and it is no coincidence that his name and Tavar's are so similar: Tavar cannot face himself for what he truly is: a sneak and a natural killer. Zahar represents these facets of Tavar because his broken mind cannot yet absorb this information. And Dorvin, Dorvin is perhaps the most dangerous of all. For Dorvin represents Tavar's magic, tempted with power if he only answers the call when it comes. And just as Dorvin is becoming the first to lose his humanity, so would accepting the aspects of his personality that Dorvin represent drive him to the deepest depths of insanity.
Even those characters who are now lost represent different aspects. Roux, the religious zealot, provided an outlet to reconcile the superego and ego into one entity; her death was symbolic of that particular bridge being burned. And Kagnok was his tie to Law in its human form, a secondary aspect of the superego that, since Kagnok was lost, was either fully reconciled and absorbed into Tavar's consciousness, or became broken beyond repair.
And so it would be that this whole story is in fact taking place in Tavar's broken mind, or at the very least he's the only character that actually exists. This phantom threat, with the crazy oozing hounds and living tides, may be normal, everyday enemies, made monstrous by the mind. Perhaps they represent the decay of his brain, the areas obliterated by megawatts of electrical power. Or perhaps they are the machinations of the Artist, who is not an evil being of Xoriat but merely the psychiatrist working on Tavar in the insane asylum, using magic to reconcile and obliterate all these shattered personalities. Only when everyone but Tavar is dead can he finally awaken from his delusions. And so while the "kill them all" attitude may be the insanity talking, it might also be the quiet insistence of the Psychiatrist, urging him to awaken from this dream.
Or maybe he just thinks they're all incompetent fools, and they're a liability on his mission. Regardless, I think the best way to test this theory is to have Tavar kill everyone. If he wakes up, campaign over, it was the former theory. If it's the latter, he can finish his mission without wanting to hang himself just to get the Insufferables to shut up.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
I don't even think a legend or key would help.
But that's a good approach to the way "insanity" should actually work. Insane people don't think they are insane and neither are they obviously gibbering homicidal murderers. They're often the quiet ones that nobody suspects.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
Not off the top of my head. You could post in the main Dungeons and Dragons thread if you wanted though.
Edit: Also, I should point out guys that I discovered that I have family coming on Easter. Of course that I only realized that it was easter today when all the shops were strangely closed doesn't help matters much. I honestly have no awareness of "holidays" anymore considering I still needed to go into the lab on them anyway. Unfortunately, I have to be sociable with my family types and we're going for a drive on Sunday morning (when I run my other game).
Curse you holidays, how dare you interfere with my DnD games.
You have gained 8400 GP total in ritual components that "Andale" was using.
You have enough residuum to enchant a level 12 magical item (Or 13,000 GP of treasure if you don't want to enchant something with it, so you can add it to the above GP if you want).
Just wanted to bump this so nobody forgets; that's 1680gp in ritual components for everyone. Glad news for me since I now have more than enough to cast my rituals should we need them.
Tavar could use some better armor if we're looking to turn that residuum into a level 12 magic item. Right now he's still wearing +1 Shard Suffering leather armor.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
My 10th level feat will be a placeholder feat to approximate what we were talking about before; that being a feat that allows undead-targeting powers to also target aberrant creatures. The way those feats are worded makes them work with any Divine power, so they work for PP powers as well.
Would they work with PP features? I'm specifically looking at Radiant Servant here and an answer of "no" is fine, given that the only thing that would change is the 16th level feature and I'm not really causing a lot of (save ends) conditions anyway.
I'd also like to swap Command out for Destined Duel and Dismissal out for Flame Strike if you don't mind.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
This is the feat that changes the targets of powers right? No it doesn't affect things that aren't on the target line.
For example, Solar Wrath does not change its secondary benefits against undead and daemons. The level 16 feature doesn't affect anything that isn't undead or a demon etc. It just changes powers that target undead, like Turn Undead, Abjure Undead and such forth.
Edit: You can feel free to swap powers if you like though.
Posts
Level: 12
Price: None (Artifact)
Implement (Tome)
Enhancement: +3 attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +2d10 necrotic damage and +1d8 psychic damage per plus
Property: The Black Tome adds an additional +1 to hit to powers that target a creatures will defense.
Now for some non-shitty powers. This takes into account improved concordance as well. During each extended rest, you choose which of the following encounter powers to prepare:
Inflict Madness: Arcane Attack Power, (Encounter, Implement, Psychic, Illusion): Standard; Ranged 10; Intelligence or Charisma or Wisdom vs. Will
1d6 damage and the target is dominated until the end of your next turn. During the creatures turn, you must make it attack the nearest enemy within its reach, or if there are no enemies within the targets reach it instead must charge the nearest enemy. If there are no enemies within reach or that it can charge, the creature instead attacks itself with its own melee basic attack.
(Note enemy = your enemies. The intent of the power is that you make it either attack or charge an enemy, or failing that it hits itself)
Screaming Torment: Arcane Attack Power, (Encounter, Implement, Psychic, Illusion, Zone): Standard; Area burst 3 within 10, targets enemies; Intelligence or Charisma or Wisdom vs. Will
1d10+int/cha/wis damage and the burst creates a zone that lasts until the end of your next turn. Enemies within the zone must make opportunity attacks against any creature that would provoke an attack of opportunity, with a bonus to the attack and damage roll equal to your int/cha/wis mod.
(Screaming Torment basically means that a creature within it will take an opportunity attack against anything that provokes within the zone - so an ally moving past them will provoke an attack of opportunity as if the ally was an enemy and so forth)
You can only have one of the above two spells prepared during any given encounter.
Summon Hound of Tindalos: Arcane Attack Power, (Daily, Implement, Psychic, Summoning): Minor Action; Any 120 degree or less angled surface within line of sight*
Effect: You summon a medium sized Hound of Tindalos** in any legal space within range - the creature can occupy other creatures squares without penalty. You must designate a target within your line of sight for the Hound to attack - it can attack that target and no other for the duration of the encounter. The Hound automatically teleports adjacent to your chosen target when you order it to attack, ignoring terrain and other creatures (it can occupy other creatures square, hindering and blocking terrain without penalty). You can give the Hound the following special command;
Standard Action: Melee 1: Int/Wis/Cha vs. Will; 2d10+int psychic damage, and the target is dazed (save ends) and cannot teleport until the end of your next turn.
Intrinsic Nature: If you have not given the Hound of Tindalos any commands by the end of your turn, you get a strange feeling that the creature has caught your scent...
Symbiosis: Any creature you hit with an at-will attack with the psychic or illusion keywords cannot teleport until the end of your next turn and you may teleport 3 squares.
Sanity: Summoning the hound deals 1d10 sanity damage to whoever summoned it. If you actually see the creatures true form - for whatever reason - you take horrifying sanity damage. Other creatures cannot perceive the Hound of Tindalos true form and so are not affected by it.
*This requires some explanation. Essentially it can appear in any square there is any kind of angle, like the corner of the door and similar.
**An horrific abomination from the very depths of Xoriat that relentlessly hunts down its victims. This creature appears as a pile of sinister wispy smoke, except to its intended victim where it reveals its true form - feeding off the pain and suffering its hideous visage causes.
Oh. Is it becuase of Daylight Savings Time?
Does this mean he's going to be here in like, an hour or something?
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Tainted (Story Feat): You can sense the presence and perceive creatures with the tainted keyword.
Examples of such monsters are fissures (that you've just 'met'), black dogs, rag dolls and boogeymen. Ordinary people can't see these creatures at all (they always count as invisible). It is possible to improve this feat or remove it entirely.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
In other news this is what you got:
You have gained 8400 GP total in ritual components that "Andale" was using.
You have enough residuum to enchant a level 12 magical item (Or 13,000 GP of treasure if you don't want to enchant something with it, so you can add it to the above GP if you want).
You gain the artifact "Scythe of Xoriat". This will be described later as it's obscenely complicated and is really one of those "It's an artifact, let's experiment with game mechanics and see if players find it fun things".
You gain more than sufficient dragonshards to make your current vessel into an airship. Per Tavars request of Thasslia, she'll not harm your elemental instead she'll simply imbue it and the ships bindings with the ability to fly. The elemental isn't going to be very good at flying initially, so your ship will have a speed penalty.
A couple of the dragonshards are somewhat flawed, but Thasslia feels she can use them to make items capable of improving your equipment. She'll work away on that depending on requests (I'll post a list later).
Anything else I can think of (and what the options are) I'll post before next session.
And yay, daylight savings starts tomorrow over here. Joy.
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Not that Tavar is very likely to want it. Still!
I sincerely and truly hope that you were completely serious in wanting the scythe, and that no one else tries to claim it.
Well, I am pretty sure, yes. Depending on what it does, Oren would be mightily tempted by it.
This is the internet, so I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, hehe.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
First some mechanics need to be explained about how all artifacts in my games work.
1) Artifacts do not require any proficiency to use. You can always use an artifact, even if your character is a weedy wizard who has never held a sword in his life an artifact automatically imparts proficiency.
2) Artifacts now build in expertise into their stat blocks. So a paragon artifact has a +2 bonus to hit. Artifacts never benefit from expertise feats, but they do benefit from any other feats that match implement or weapon groups.
3) An artifact lasts in the game as long as its plus would indicate (or if it does not have a magical enhancement bonus, roughly the tier of play you get it for a wonderous item). So a +3 weapon can be assumed to move on by around level 15. It is worth noting an artifact is always in the game strictly on my whims. I have an idea and purpose for an artifact when I put them in. Discovering what this is will be half the fun usually.
Without further rules shenannigans:
The Scythe of Nyarlathotep is a +3 weapon and implement.
Enhancement: Attack rolls +5*, Damage Rolls +3.
Weapon Properties: As scythe.
Property: Holding the weapon causes you to lose 10 sanity as you become touched by the artifacts link to Xoriat.
Property: You gain a +2 bonus to saving throws against daze, dominate and stun conditions**
Property: You may use the "Life Leech" at-will power.
Property: When you use any ranged implement attack power through the scythe, you can use the power as a melee attack. If you do so, the power’s range equals your melee reach.
Property: The scythe adds its enhancement bonus (+3) as damage again to powers with the psychic or necrotic keyword.
Property: You may use the "Babble" encounter power.
Property: You may use the "Mind Rend" encounter power.
At-Will Arcane, Weapon, Psychic
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength or Constitution or Charisma or Wisdom vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] damage, and the target takes ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends). Each time the creature takes the ongoing damage you may spend a healing surge with a +5 bonus to the HP gained and you lose 5 sanity.
Encounter Arcane, Implement, Psychic
Standard Action Ranged 5
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength or Constitution or Charisma or Wisdom vs. Will
Hit: 2d8 + Strength or Constitution or Charisma or Wisdom psychic damage, and the target is dazed (save ends).
Aftereffect: The target takes ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends).
Encounter Arcane, Weapon, Psychic
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength or Constitution or Charisma or Wisdom vs. AC
Hit: 3[W] + Strength or Constitution or Charisma or Wisdom and if the target takes a standard action before the end of your next turn it takes an additional 2d8 psychic damage.
Note that you can only use one of Babble or Mind Rend in a single encounter.
As always, more powers and abilities become available as you improve concordance.
*Enhancement bonus + Expertise.
**You're already being driven nuts, so it's harder for creatures to bother you very much with mind altering effects.
Property: When you use any ranged implement attack power through the scythe, you can use the power as a melee attack. If you do so, the power’s range equals your melee reach.
Just for this property alone, it'd be awesome for Mister Oren. But would he really pick up and use a weapon of such obvious evil? He is a Kalashtar, and the mind of the quori that shares his body is never too far from the madness of the dreaming dark.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Edit: Clarified Mind Rend and Babble that like the books encounter powers, only one can be used in an encounter as it is an either/or choice. Mind Rend got its 3[W] back as well and Babble I reduced the damage (swapped the 3 and the 2 around on the powers for some reason).
How strong of an influence is a Kalashtar's Quori fragment?
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
If nobody else wants to use it, I think I'd like it for Oren. It will be interesting to see what it does to him and it'll help me give Oren some personality, which I think he's sort of lacking at the moment.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
I wasn't going to say anything, but Oren doesn't seem to have a whole lot of characterization.
I know for a fact that Tavar won't want that scythe, so it's okay with me if you take it. I should warn you, however, that Tavar considers you and (sort of) Zahar to be the only remaining sane men in this group besides himself. And he's already mentioned that it might be time to end this whole business....
Of course, even though Tavar might be contemplating killing everyone in their sleep, I'm not the sort of player to actually do that sort of thing. At least, not until Geepo pushes him just a bit too far one day. Geepo might find his food suddenly making him sleepy. And by then... it's too late.
Anyone have thoughts on what we should do with the components we've found? I'm for putting aside a pool to cover rez's and cures, and then dividing the rest among the party for enchanting.
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
And obviously he would need to have some sort of master to teach him restraint and control, to show him how to use his power. Such fantasies typically are formed in such a way that they are nearly impossible to prove or disprove, so he would naturally have selected someone both famous and unreachably distant. What's more, having him get killed off in the Escelle Auction Massacre grants the fabrication an immortality; who's to say the man never trained Tavar now? His agency is equally distant; it may be that some random address in Sharn is being delivered all the information packets Tavar sends. Naturally, whoever gets them can see they're the ramblings of a crazy person, and throws them away, never sending a reply. Which is why Tavar has yet to receive any additional orders.
In fact, it may well be that each character in this game is a fragment of Tavar's shattered conscious. Geepo represents the id, wanting little to do with society's laws or moral codes. Oren is the superego: fastidious, focused, calm, ethical. It is entirely sensible that the ethical and moral center of the mind would be represented as a religious figure. Zahar, then, would be the ego, and it is no coincidence that his name and Tavar's are so similar: Tavar cannot face himself for what he truly is: a sneak and a natural killer. Zahar represents these facets of Tavar because his broken mind cannot yet absorb this information. And Dorvin, Dorvin is perhaps the most dangerous of all. For Dorvin represents Tavar's magic, tempted with power if he only answers the call when it comes. And just as Dorvin is becoming the first to lose his humanity, so would accepting the aspects of his personality that Dorvin represent drive him to the deepest depths of insanity.
Even those characters who are now lost represent different aspects. Roux, the religious zealot, provided an outlet to reconcile the superego and ego into one entity; her death was symbolic of that particular bridge being burned. And Kagnok was his tie to Law in its human form, a secondary aspect of the superego that, since Kagnok was lost, was either fully reconciled and absorbed into Tavar's consciousness, or became broken beyond repair.
And so it would be that this whole story is in fact taking place in Tavar's broken mind, or at the very least he's the only character that actually exists. This phantom threat, with the crazy oozing hounds and living tides, may be normal, everyday enemies, made monstrous by the mind. Perhaps they represent the decay of his brain, the areas obliterated by megawatts of electrical power. Or perhaps they are the machinations of the Artist, who is not an evil being of Xoriat but merely the psychiatrist working on Tavar in the insane asylum, using magic to reconcile and obliterate all these shattered personalities. Only when everyone but Tavar is dead can he finally awaken from his delusions. And so while the "kill them all" attitude may be the insanity talking, it might also be the quiet insistence of the Psychiatrist, urging him to awaken from this dream.
Or maybe he just thinks they're all incompetent fools, and they're a liability on his mission. Regardless, I think the best way to test this theory is to have Tavar kill everyone. If he wakes up, campaign over, it was the former theory. If it's the latter, he can finish his mission without wanting to hang himself just to get the Insufferables to shut up.
Maybe if I made a key or a legend or something?
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
But that's a good approach to the way "insanity" should actually work. Insane people don't think they are insane and neither are they obviously gibbering homicidal murderers. They're often the quiet ones that nobody suspects.
Edit: Also, I should point out guys that I discovered that I have family coming on Easter. Of course that I only realized that it was easter today when all the shops were strangely closed doesn't help matters much. I honestly have no awareness of "holidays" anymore considering I still needed to go into the lab on them anyway. Unfortunately, I have to be sociable with my family types and we're going for a drive on Sunday morning (when I run my other game).
Curse you holidays, how dare you interfere with my DnD games.
You have made a powerful enemy!
Just wanted to bump this so nobody forgets; that's 1680gp in ritual components for everyone. Glad news for me since I now have more than enough to cast my rituals should we need them.
Can anyone think of a level 12 item they want?
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
|CORE|
Level
MaxHP
*TempHP
*HP
*Bloodied
SurgeValue
SurgePerDay
*SurgeRemaining
*AC
*Fortitude
*Reflex
*Will
*Speed
*Elevation
*Notes
*Immune
*Resist
*Vulnerable
MiscSaveBonus
MiscAttBonus
MiscDamBonus
InitBonus
*AP
*PPerception
*PInsight
Gold
CorpsesEaten
*@Sanity
Insanity
|EQUIPMENT|
ArmorCheckPenalty (ACP)
Weapon1Bonus (WB1)
Weapon2Bonus (WB2)
Weapon3Bonus (WB3)
W1B
W2B
W3B
Weapon1Damage (WD1)
Weapon2Damage (WD2)
Weapon3Damage (WD3)
W1D
W2D
W3D
Weapon1DamBonus
Weapon2DamBonus
Weapon3DamBonus
W1DB
W2DB
W3DB
Weapon1MaxDamage
Weapon2MaxDamage
Weapon3MaxDamage
W1MD
W2MD
W3MD
Weapon1Crit
Weapon2Crit
Weapon3Crit
W1C
W2C
W3C
Implement1Bonus
Implement2Bonus
Implement3Bonus
I1B
I2B
I3B
Implement1DamBonus
Implement2DamBonus
Implement3DamBonus
I1DB
I2DB
I3DB
Implement1Crit
Implement2Crit
Implement3Crit
I1C
I2C
I3C
|ATTRIBUTES|
Strength (Str)
Constitution (Con)
Dexterity (Dex)
Intelligence (Int)
Wisdom (Wis)
Charisma (Cha)
|SKILLS|
Acrobatics
Arcana
Athletics
Bluff
Diplomacy
Dungeoneering
Endurance
Heal
History
Insight
Intimidate
Nature
Perception
Religion
Stealth
Streetwise
Thievery
|BONUS|
StrBonus
ConBonus
DexBonus
IntBonus
WisBonus
ChaBonus
LevelBonus
HealBonus
|Special|
DexMod
LvlBonus
My 10th level feat will be a placeholder feat to approximate what we were talking about before; that being a feat that allows undead-targeting powers to also target aberrant creatures. The way those feats are worded makes them work with any Divine power, so they work for PP powers as well.
Would they work with PP features? I'm specifically looking at Radiant Servant here and an answer of "no" is fine, given that the only thing that would change is the 16th level feature and I'm not really causing a lot of (save ends) conditions anyway.
I'd also like to swap Command out for Destined Duel and Dismissal out for Flame Strike if you don't mind.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
For example, Solar Wrath does not change its secondary benefits against undead and daemons. The level 16 feature doesn't affect anything that isn't undead or a demon etc. It just changes powers that target undead, like Turn Undead, Abjure Undead and such forth.
Edit: You can feel free to swap powers if you like though.