It seems not enough people can make it for a final session to be worthwhile, so that's it for the D&D campaign. For the sake of closure, here's what I reckon happens to your characters.
Lord Grim and the kingdom
Tensions between Grim's fiefdom and the neighbouring warlords rise until a war breaks out between Castle Granis and the medusa warlord Vish. A huge army of gnolls, orcs, ogres and trolls assaults Castle Granis, but Grim's small, highly trained army wins the day. There are rumours that the Daughters of Sora Kell, overlords of Droaam, sent forces to aid in the attack in order to remove the troublesome warforged, but these are never more than rumours. If they are true then the Daughters must have conceded defeat, because the victory the Daughters appoint Grim regional governor over all the surrounding warlords and grant him near total autonomy in running his fiefdom.
Grim becomes a key player in the transition of Droaam from a lawless wilderness to a functioning nation state. His harsh but fair rule and his decent treatment of even the lowliest goblins make Castle Granis a beacon of progressive values that helps shape the development of the nation. At the same time, Grim's army of highly trained goblins and orcs becomes the hammer with which the new nation is forged. Eventually, after winning either the respect or the fear of every Droaam warlord, he leads an uprising of warlords against the Daughters of Sora Kell themselves and becomes the ruler of the nation.
Grim rules Droaam for nearly a century, by the end of which time he and his personal army are the stuff of legend. But his skills become less and less relevant to the more peaceful and civilized nation that comes into being, and he eventually steps down to be succeeded by the great-great-grandson of Skardash. No one knows for sure where he went after this, but soon afterwards the demonic monsters that had periodically plagued the countryside near the Tomb of Dragith Nurn vanished. Legends persist that the sleepless warlord now sleeps beneath the ground, holding shut the entrance to the underworld, but that if ever the nation of Droaam was under threat he would return to lead the armies to more glory.
Sir Ivan and Horgar Horgar
Shortly after the assault on Castle Granis, Sir Ivan and Horgar are recalled by the Church to deal with a new threat, and over the next decade they put down many demonic incursions and undead cults. Sir Ivan becomes a recognized champion of the church, although Horgar's species prevents him from receiving the same amount of recognition.
Both are killed in battle years later when an enormous demon breaks free of Khyber and attacks the capital of Thrane itself. As paladins fall left and right, Horgar breaks through the terrified guards who are trying to keep civilians at bay and joins Sir Ivan in battle. While Horgar engages the monster's attention, Sir Ivan uses all his holy powers to destroy the demon.
The fiend's explosive death throes destroy both Sir Ivan and Horgar. From the ruins of the cathedral, the head of the church declares them both to be saints, and the images of the pair of them in battle becomes a popular decoration on paladins' shields.
Paik
Paik also leaves Castle Granis after the assault, travelling to the city of Graywall and losing himself in its crowded streets. Nothing is known for certain of his fate, but for years afterwards Castle Granis would occasionally be visited by bards – each one with a different name and face, but all clutching the same battered lute and playing the same repertoire of tunes to the acclaim of the goblin crowds.
Verschoyle
Verschoyle and Zurga leave the castle in order to find a way to transform Zurga back into a goblin. Together they discover an underground complex filled with magical artefacts used by the Daelkyr for their transformation magic.
After days of study, they discover how to revert Zurga to her previous form. But that is not all: the arcane writings hint at even greater power to be found in other locations across the world. After completing his translation of the writings, Verschoyle sets out to find these other ruins. He leaves Zurga behind; it is clear that the creatures and magical energies involved in Verschoyle's quest could obliterate a mere apprentice in an instant, and Verschoyle does not want to risk Zurga's life again.
Verschoyle's quest for arcane power takes him to remote locations around the world and even to other planes of existence. He sometimes recruits the help of other adventurers, but increasingly he travels alone, as his capabilities grow further and further beyond those of ordinary mortals. Eventually he does marry, however, after he meets a female human wizard whose powers come astonishingly close to his own.
After decades of magical exploration and adventure, Verschoyle and his wife simply disappear. They were last heard of exploring the lost continent of Xen'drik, where Verschoyle believed he had discovered a great laboratory used by ancient mages to experiment with time itself.
Zumm
While Zumm's body remains in suspended animation in the Val'druusk observatory, the goblin monk's spirit roams the infinite planes of existence. For many years he trains with alien martial arts experts in the plane of perfect order, honing his skills to eventually take his place in the cosmic struggle between Order and Chaos.
Mavik Hilford
After leaving the party, Mavik goes to live with the goblin necromancer Vurdak Deathlord, and together they undertake unspeakable experiments in undeath. Vurdak is eventually killed by crusading adventurers, but Mavik escapes and sets up his own dark tower in the Byeshk mountains. Towards the end of his natural life he uses his dark arts to undergo the foul transformation into a lich, and then fortifies his tower with undead minions, traps and spells in order to ensure the safety of his phylactery. Many adventuring parties try to steal the treasures that Mavik has accumulated in his tower; whether any eventually succeed is another story.
Faithful
The warforged cleric Faithful is one of the many casualties in the same battle that claimed Sir Ivan and Horgar. Although he is not proclaimed a saint like the heroes who struck the final blow, the church does make the ground breaking announcement that, although warforged do not naturally have souls, they can acquire them, and that Faithful had earned the right to join with the Silver Flame after death.
Zurga
After Verschoyle helps Zurga return to her goblin form, she moves back in to Castle Granis and becomes Grim's advisor and court wizard. Although she rarely goes on adventures, she continues to slowly grow in power. She takes on a number of apprentices of her own, forming the beginning of an order of mages that provides magical support to Grim's armies for several generations.
She is never truly happy, and even after the legal fiction of her marriage to Grim is dropped she never marries and has few close friends. Eventually, after her first apprentice is ready to take over the training of the castle's wizards by himself, she disappears. No one knows for sure where she went to, but one of the last document she was seen looking at was the map showing the location of the Daelkyr transformation laboratory.
Hurgadar
Hurgadar remains at Castle Granis as Grim's right-hand man for several years, but his wanderlust eventually overtakes him and he leaves to form his own adventuring party. Letters occasionally arrive at Castle Granis telling of his exploits, each written in the hand of a different adventurer that the illiterate barbarian has dictated to it to. Over the years, however, the letter become less frequent and eventually cease. In the last one he relates that he has discovered a hitherto unknown tribe of humanoids with great innate magical talent, who worship a divine being known as the Varsholl which created their species thousands of years ago as a mere exercise in the development of its godlike power.
The letter ends by simply saying that Hurgadar is planning to venture into the uncharted jungle in search of a fabled city containing untold treasure... but that is another story.
~ THE END ~
Wednesday 26 September 2007
Wednesday 11 July 2007
XP in the Tomb of Dragith Nurn
Grim, Verschoyle, Sir Ivan and Paik, along with Zurga, Hurgadar and Primrose, travelled to the Tomb of Dragith Nurn in order to put the spirit of Merred Nastor to rest and to slay the bearded devils they had picked a fight with previously. When there, they encountered several creatures which they converted into sweet, sweet XP.
At the chasm, the party found a strange-looking orc sorcerer being instructed in fiendish fire magic by a roaring column of flame. They dispatched him, but Zurga was killed by his fireball. Verschoyle was distraught and immediately resolved to take her back to Graywall to have her reincarnated.
After that, the party assaulted the bearded devils and defeated them, largely thanks to Sir Ivan's holy power. (His class feature allowed him to overcome their damage reduction.)
Sir Ivan led the party in the Incantation of Peace, the Silver Flame ritual designed to lead the soul of a dead warrior of the church to its final rest. The ritual succeeded, and Merred Nastor's spirit was drawn into a Khyber dragonshard.
Verschoyle teleported to Graywall with Zurga's body and paid for her to be reincarnated. To the dismay of both of them, her soul returned in the body of a male dwarf.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party had to stay the night at the bottom of the chasm until Verschoyle came back for them. During the night they encountered a bone devil, which they easily converted into delicious XP.
Fiendish fire sorcerer: 1,125 XP each.
Bearded devils: 375 XP each.
Incantation of Peace: 250 XP each.
Bone devil: 500 XP each.
Total: 2,250 XP each.
Theoretically, Verschoyle shouldn't get XP for the bone devil since he wasn't there. But I like everyone to level up at the same rate so I am ruling that he gets the same amount as roleplaying XP for his reactions to Zurga's death.
The XP you get for the Incantation of Peace is the XP value of the spectre you would have had to fight if it had gone wrong.
You are all either going up a level next session, or you're nearly there. Hurgadar has gone up a level (assuming that Grim has as well because his level has to stay 2 below Grim's).
Reincarnation caused Zurga to go down a level, but she gained almost enough XP this session to go up one, so I am ruling that she (or rather he) is still level 3. Mechanics-wise, coming back as a dwarf has I think on balance weakened her: she has a few extra hit points, but her reduced strength and larger size category means her AC has gone down by 2.
At the chasm, the party found a strange-looking orc sorcerer being instructed in fiendish fire magic by a roaring column of flame. They dispatched him, but Zurga was killed by his fireball. Verschoyle was distraught and immediately resolved to take her back to Graywall to have her reincarnated.
After that, the party assaulted the bearded devils and defeated them, largely thanks to Sir Ivan's holy power. (His class feature allowed him to overcome their damage reduction.)
Sir Ivan led the party in the Incantation of Peace, the Silver Flame ritual designed to lead the soul of a dead warrior of the church to its final rest. The ritual succeeded, and Merred Nastor's spirit was drawn into a Khyber dragonshard.
Verschoyle teleported to Graywall with Zurga's body and paid for her to be reincarnated. To the dismay of both of them, her soul returned in the body of a male dwarf.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party had to stay the night at the bottom of the chasm until Verschoyle came back for them. During the night they encountered a bone devil, which they easily converted into delicious XP.
Fiendish fire sorcerer: 1,125 XP each.
Bearded devils: 375 XP each.
Incantation of Peace: 250 XP each.
Bone devil: 500 XP each.
Total: 2,250 XP each.
Theoretically, Verschoyle shouldn't get XP for the bone devil since he wasn't there. But I like everyone to level up at the same rate so I am ruling that he gets the same amount as roleplaying XP for his reactions to Zurga's death.
The XP you get for the Incantation of Peace is the XP value of the spectre you would have had to fight if it had gone wrong.
You are all either going up a level next session, or you're nearly there. Hurgadar has gone up a level (assuming that Grim has as well because his level has to stay 2 below Grim's).
Reincarnation caused Zurga to go down a level, but she gained almost enough XP this session to go up one, so I am ruling that she (or rather he) is still level 3. Mechanics-wise, coming back as a dwarf has I think on balance weakened her: she has a few extra hit points, but her reduced strength and larger size category means her AC has gone down by 2.
Wednesday 4 July 2007
Sunday 24 June 2007
Your fiefdom: update
Castle Granis
Skardash has used some of the money from tribute to complete basic improvements on the castle. The stone perimiter wall is complete, and stands on an embankment immediately inside a perimiter trench. The entrance is a gap in the wall with a wooden gate and a simple plank bridge across the trench. The interior of the castle has basic furnishings, and Skardash has installed wooden doors with simple locks.
Castle Granis standing army
Answering Grim's call, orcs and goblins from across the fiefdom have been coming to Castle Granis to be trained as the standing army. Twenty orcs and forty goblins have arrived, swelling the castle's standing army. Thanks to the training, the orcs and goblins are 2nd-level warriors. The standing army now comprises:
60 goblins (2nd-level warriors) armed with morningstars. 20 are also armed with light crossbows.
2 goblin worg-riders.
20 orcs (2nd-level warriors) armed with falchions.
5 ogres armed with greatclubs.
A few of the new recruits have brought families with them, swelling the castle's non-combatant population to 90 (80 goblins and 10 orcs). The larger population, and the fact that most of the males spend their time in military training, mean that Granis village is no longer producing enough food to support itself but is reliant on food given as tribute by the rest of the region.
Alignment
Sir Ivan's use of detect evil on a random sampling of the population indicates that roughly two-thirds of Grim's subjects register faintly as evil. (This is typical for a Droaam monster population.) Orcs and ogres are slightly more likely to be evil than goblins, and males than females. Among the population of Castle Granis itself, which Grim has directly influenced with his policies, evil is slightly less prevalent.
As a comparison, among human populations, even in communities dominated by the Silver Flame, around a fifth to a third of the population registers as evil. The Church does not teach that creatures of evil alignment should automatically be persecuted.
Religion
Religion plays only a minor role in the lives of most people of the region. Those inhabitants that are religious dedicate themselves to one or both of two gods: the Shadow and the Mockery. Although these gods are both evil, worshippers of the gods are as likely to be in the non-evil minority as other people in the region.
The Mockery is the Neutral Evil god of treachery over honour, and is worshipped primarily by the orcs and the more militaristic goblin warriors. Valdash, Kardash and Skardash all worship the Mockery.
The Shadow is the Chaotic Evil god of dak magic, and is worshipped mainly by goblin non-combatants. Village healers tend to invoke the Shadow if they pray to any god. Zurga still wears a small holy symbol of the Shadow, although it has become more a good luck charm to her than a symbol of religious devotion.
The Church of the Silver Flame teaches that both the Mockery and the Shadow are evil gods and their worship should be opposed. Individual worshippers should be converted rather than killed if possible, but priests of the Shadow and the Mockery are enemies of goodness and should be destroyed.
Terrain and wildlife
The region consists of rocky hills with very little plant life apart from scrubby grass. Various monsters have their lairs in caves throughout the landscape, sometimes preying on the inhabitants' flocks of goats but generally leaving the humanoids themselves alone. Monstrous inhabitants include chimeras, griffins, worgs, and behirs.
Borders
Your fiefdom is bordered:
On the north by the Byeskh mountains, which separate Droaam from the forested nation of the Eldeen Reaches.
On the west by the civilized nation of Breland.
On the east by the territory of another Droaam warlord, about whom you know nothing except that she is a medusa, and that her seat of power is the castle of Grimstone Keep.
On the south by the territory of the city of Graywall, one of Droaam's two major cities.
Skardash has used some of the money from tribute to complete basic improvements on the castle. The stone perimiter wall is complete, and stands on an embankment immediately inside a perimiter trench. The entrance is a gap in the wall with a wooden gate and a simple plank bridge across the trench. The interior of the castle has basic furnishings, and Skardash has installed wooden doors with simple locks.
Castle Granis standing army
Answering Grim's call, orcs and goblins from across the fiefdom have been coming to Castle Granis to be trained as the standing army. Twenty orcs and forty goblins have arrived, swelling the castle's standing army. Thanks to the training, the orcs and goblins are 2nd-level warriors. The standing army now comprises:
60 goblins (2nd-level warriors) armed with morningstars. 20 are also armed with light crossbows.
2 goblin worg-riders.
20 orcs (2nd-level warriors) armed with falchions.
5 ogres armed with greatclubs.
A few of the new recruits have brought families with them, swelling the castle's non-combatant population to 90 (80 goblins and 10 orcs). The larger population, and the fact that most of the males spend their time in military training, mean that Granis village is no longer producing enough food to support itself but is reliant on food given as tribute by the rest of the region.
Alignment
Sir Ivan's use of detect evil on a random sampling of the population indicates that roughly two-thirds of Grim's subjects register faintly as evil. (This is typical for a Droaam monster population.) Orcs and ogres are slightly more likely to be evil than goblins, and males than females. Among the population of Castle Granis itself, which Grim has directly influenced with his policies, evil is slightly less prevalent.
As a comparison, among human populations, even in communities dominated by the Silver Flame, around a fifth to a third of the population registers as evil. The Church does not teach that creatures of evil alignment should automatically be persecuted.
Religion
Religion plays only a minor role in the lives of most people of the region. Those inhabitants that are religious dedicate themselves to one or both of two gods: the Shadow and the Mockery. Although these gods are both evil, worshippers of the gods are as likely to be in the non-evil minority as other people in the region.
The Mockery is the Neutral Evil god of treachery over honour, and is worshipped primarily by the orcs and the more militaristic goblin warriors. Valdash, Kardash and Skardash all worship the Mockery.
The Shadow is the Chaotic Evil god of dak magic, and is worshipped mainly by goblin non-combatants. Village healers tend to invoke the Shadow if they pray to any god. Zurga still wears a small holy symbol of the Shadow, although it has become more a good luck charm to her than a symbol of religious devotion.
The Church of the Silver Flame teaches that both the Mockery and the Shadow are evil gods and their worship should be opposed. Individual worshippers should be converted rather than killed if possible, but priests of the Shadow and the Mockery are enemies of goodness and should be destroyed.
Terrain and wildlife
The region consists of rocky hills with very little plant life apart from scrubby grass. Various monsters have their lairs in caves throughout the landscape, sometimes preying on the inhabitants' flocks of goats but generally leaving the humanoids themselves alone. Monstrous inhabitants include chimeras, griffins, worgs, and behirs.
Borders
Your fiefdom is bordered:
On the north by the Byeskh mountains, which separate Droaam from the forested nation of the Eldeen Reaches.
On the west by the civilized nation of Breland.
On the east by the territory of another Droaam warlord, about whom you know nothing except that she is a medusa, and that her seat of power is the castle of Grimstone Keep.
On the south by the territory of the city of Graywall, one of Droaam's two major cities.
Tuesday 19 June 2007
Timeline update
I've totally lost track of how much time has passed in the D&D world, and keeping track is going to be important if you're in charge of a kingdom. So here we go:
Phew! All those times I've said "A few weeks later..." really do add up!
| Sypheros 20 | The Battle of Stoneskull. Grim's army defeats Jalahand and Grim becomes warlord of the region. Burr is killed by a trap. |
| Sypheros 21 | The party receives a letter saying that the Daughters of Sora Kell endorse Grim's rulership of the region. Grim and Zumm embark on a tour of the region, while Verschoyle and Zurga begin creating a flesh golem. During his tour, Grim spreads word of his new policies: taxes are reduced, but are to be delivered rather than collected, and anyone who wants to can go to Castle Granis to be tranied into Grim's army. Some chieftains object to this, thinking Grim was trying to steal away their best warriors, but Grim tells them where they can stick this objection. During the tour Grim also meets Hurgadar, a mongrelfolk barbarian, who agrees to accompany Grim in search of adventure. |
| Aryth [November] 20 | Grim finishes his tour and arrives back at Stoneskull to pick up Verschoyle, who has finished his flesh golem. |
| Aryth 21 | Grim, Zumm, Verschoyle and Zurga arrive back at Castle Granis. Some goblins attempt to assassinate Grim using warforged bane arrows. The plot turns out to be the work of a group of Tsochar, who were inhabiting the bodies of the cleric Merred Nastor and his goblin disciples. |
| Aryth 27 | The party tracks the tsochar down in the tomb of Dragith Nurn, which the dreaded E.K. was using as a lair. They kill E.K. and encounter a group of bearded devils in the caves below, who are guarding a strange crystal set into the wall. | Vult [December] 7 | The party is recruited into the Droaam army, a short stint of service to prove their loyalty to the Daughters of Sora Kell. They are also introduced to Paik, a changeling bard who is to travel with them. |
| Vult 14 | The party march south from Graywall with the rest of the Daughers' army, under the command of Horde Commander Koll. |
| Zarantyr [January] 5 | The first skirmish of the war. Grim and the rest of the party lead their goblin soldiers to defeat an enemy battle sorceror and destroy a siege engine. They then kill an enemy spy who was hiding in a nearby village. That evening, they repel an undead attack on the army, which is by this time besieging the enemy city. Horde Commander Koll presents Grim, Zumm, Verschoyle and Hurgadar with military decoration to recognize this. |
| Zarantyr 6 | The party infiltrates the Temple of the Cleansing Blade and assassinates the enemy high priest. Victory swiftly follows for Horde Commander Koll's army. |
| Zarantyr 7 | Grim, Verschoyle, Hurgadar, Zurga and Primrose explore the lower levels of the Temple of the Cleansing Blade. |
| Zarantyr 28 | The party arrive back at Graywall with their army. |
| Olarune [February] 2 | While the goblin army makes its own way back to Castle Granis, Verschoyle and the rest of the party attend a gathering of the Society of the Shadow Art, a regional wizards' circle. Verschoyle is accepted for membership. The party also meets Mavik Hilford, another wizard and new member of the Society. Verschoyle asks Vurdak 'Deathlord', a foul flesh-warper belonging to the Society, to upgrade Primrose with a magic longsword. |
| Olarune 9 | End of the Society gathering. Mavik entreats the party's help to rescue his familiar from the clutches of Zilkloog the Mind Flayer. The party teleports back to Castle Granis and then goes to Zilkloog's village in the battle wagon |
| Olarune 17 | First assult on Zilkloog's temple. The party defeat the guards but then the party breaks up when it transpires that Mavik had been asked to bring Zilkloog food in exchange for the return of his familiar. Grim and Hurgadar return to Castle Granis via battle-wagon. Verschoyle and Zurga teleport to Graywall to stay at Tharrad Katarn's house. Mavik, Zumm and Paik go their separate ways. |
| Therendor [March] 9 | Vurdak 'Deathlord' visits Tharrad Katarn's house and brings with him the upgraded Primrose. |
| Therendor 15 | Sir Ivan, Exorcist of the Silver Flame, and Horgar Horgar, bugbear fighter, arrive in Graywall looking for clues about the whereabouts of Zilkloog, whom they have been ordered to slay. After a brief stand-off with Tharrad Katarn they team up with Verschoyle. |
| Therendor 22 | Ivan, Horgar, Verschoyle, Zurga and Primrose arrive at Castle Granis, where Grim agrees to help them slay Zilkloog. |
| Therendor 23 | Verschoyle, Ivan, Horgar and Grim teleport to the Val'druusk Observatory in order to learn more about Zilkloog's lair by scrying on him. They learn that he has replaced his temple guards with gnoll mercenaries. The party also find Zumm, who appears to be in some form of suspended animation, next to the scrying orb at the observatory. They then checked on the tribe of grimlocks which they had nearly wiped out and were now protecting. The grimlocks said that they did not have a viable population, and would appreciate news of another grimlock tribe they could unite with. The party teleport back to Castle Granis and the leave on battle wagon for Zilkloog's temple. |
| Therendor 30 | Ivan, Horgar, Verschoyle, Grim, Hurgadar and Primrose arrive at Zilkloog's temple. They defeat the mind flayer (who turns out to be a tiny runt mind flayer, the giant mind flayer having been an illusion), and Ivan burns its head in front of the village. |
| Eyre [April] 7 | The party arrive back at Castle Granis. |
| Dravago [May] 1 | (The next meeting of the Society of the Shadow Art is sheduled for this date.) |
Phew! All those times I've said "A few weeks later..." really do add up!
Thursday 14 June 2007
Death of Zilkloog
Grim, Verschoyle, Sir Ivan, and Horgar Horgar travelled by battle-wagon to Zilkloog's village, along with Hurgadar and Primrose. They found that the entrance to the temple was under guard by gnoll mercenaries. The party fought their way in and survived a gnoll ambush in the main hall of the temple. They also encountered and summarily killed the young goblin priest.
The party then barged into Zilkloog's chamber and engaged the mind flayer. The nine-foot tall mind flayer they had seen on their previous visit turned out to be an illusion, as did the wall behind it. Behind the wall was hiding the real Zilkloog, a small creature that appeared to be a goblin-mind flayer hybrid. Hardly anyone failed their will saves and Verschoyle stopped Zilkloog teleporting away, so finishing him off did not take long.
On the way out, the chieftain of the village foolishly attacked the party, and they made short work of him. Sir Ivan held aloft the head of Zilkloog. The goblin population shut themselves in their huts, terrified.
Sir Ivan burnt Zilkloog's head and felt confident that his mission was complete. He now feels compelled to go to the Tomb of Dragith Nurn and put the spirit of the slain cleric Merred Nastor to rest. Grim, meanwhile, is plotting how he can extend his territory to encompass this new village.
Of course, the party carted away all the loot they could find in Zilkloog's lair, up to and possibly including the furniture (I can't remember whether you decided you were actually taking that). Notable items were a +1 longbow, a +1 buckler and a mithral breastplate (from the gnoll mercenary captain); and a ring of mind shielding and headband of intellect +1 from Zilkloog.
Rules clarification: Grim is not immune to illusions
There was some confusion about exactly what Grim, as a 4th-level Warforged Juggernaut, is immune to, and specifically whether he was immune to Zilkloog's illusion spell. At the time I gave the benefit of the doubt to the players, but I have just read the rules again and I'm pretty sure I was right first time. Grim is not immune to illusion spells such as Zilkloog's persistent image, or his shadow evocation.
Grim is immune to "all mind-affecting spells and abilities (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects". This doesn't give him a blanket immunity to spells of the Illusion and Enchantment schools, though, because not all of them are mind-effecting in the sense required. Specifically, persistent image and related spells are Illusion (figment) effects, which aren't on the list of things Grim is immune to. Terms in D&D are well-defined: a 'mind-affecting spell' is a spell with the [mind-affecting] descriptor, and nothing else.
This does make sense if you think of the image spells as creating a kind of hologram or light-sculpture, rather than reaching into the subjects' minds and causing them to hallucinate. Grim sees the illusion because it is in some sense actually there, even though it's not a physical object. Similarly, if Verschoyle is inside his globe of invulnerability he will still be able to see a silent image spell that is conjured outside his globe.
(Another problematic thing is what exactly it would mean to say that a character is 'immune to illusions'. Does it mean he simply doesn't see the illusion, or that he immediately recognizes it as an illusion, or that he recognizes it as an illusion only when he would have to make a saving throw against it? All three would lead to very different outcomes.)
Grim was still immune to most of Zilkloog's spells; he didn't have to make a save against the confusion spell, for example, and Zilkloog knew better than to target him with a phantasmal killer.
I know I seem a bit anal pointing all this out but I think Grim's immunities really would break the game if we allowed them to be more far-reaching than they actually are. The fewer effective options the bad guys have, the less interesting the game will get for everyone.
A final note Grim may wish to bear in mind for his future plans: Grim is also not immune to a medusa's petrifying gaze attack.
The party then barged into Zilkloog's chamber and engaged the mind flayer. The nine-foot tall mind flayer they had seen on their previous visit turned out to be an illusion, as did the wall behind it. Behind the wall was hiding the real Zilkloog, a small creature that appeared to be a goblin-mind flayer hybrid. Hardly anyone failed their will saves and Verschoyle stopped Zilkloog teleporting away, so finishing him off did not take long.
On the way out, the chieftain of the village foolishly attacked the party, and they made short work of him. Sir Ivan held aloft the head of Zilkloog. The goblin population shut themselves in their huts, terrified.
Sir Ivan burnt Zilkloog's head and felt confident that his mission was complete. He now feels compelled to go to the Tomb of Dragith Nurn and put the spirit of the slain cleric Merred Nastor to rest. Grim, meanwhile, is plotting how he can extend his territory to encompass this new village.
Of course, the party carted away all the loot they could find in Zilkloog's lair, up to and possibly including the furniture (I can't remember whether you decided you were actually taking that). Notable items were a +1 longbow, a +1 buckler and a mithral breastplate (from the gnoll mercenary captain); and a ring of mind shielding and headband of intellect +1 from Zilkloog.
Rules clarification: Grim is not immune to illusions
There was some confusion about exactly what Grim, as a 4th-level Warforged Juggernaut, is immune to, and specifically whether he was immune to Zilkloog's illusion spell. At the time I gave the benefit of the doubt to the players, but I have just read the rules again and I'm pretty sure I was right first time. Grim is not immune to illusion spells such as Zilkloog's persistent image, or his shadow evocation.
Grim is immune to "all mind-affecting spells and abilities (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects". This doesn't give him a blanket immunity to spells of the Illusion and Enchantment schools, though, because not all of them are mind-effecting in the sense required. Specifically, persistent image and related spells are Illusion (figment) effects, which aren't on the list of things Grim is immune to. Terms in D&D are well-defined: a 'mind-affecting spell' is a spell with the [mind-affecting] descriptor, and nothing else.
This does make sense if you think of the image spells as creating a kind of hologram or light-sculpture, rather than reaching into the subjects' minds and causing them to hallucinate. Grim sees the illusion because it is in some sense actually there, even though it's not a physical object. Similarly, if Verschoyle is inside his globe of invulnerability he will still be able to see a silent image spell that is conjured outside his globe.
(Another problematic thing is what exactly it would mean to say that a character is 'immune to illusions'. Does it mean he simply doesn't see the illusion, or that he immediately recognizes it as an illusion, or that he recognizes it as an illusion only when he would have to make a saving throw against it? All three would lead to very different outcomes.)
Grim was still immune to most of Zilkloog's spells; he didn't have to make a save against the confusion spell, for example, and Zilkloog knew better than to target him with a phantasmal killer.
I know I seem a bit anal pointing all this out but I think Grim's immunities really would break the game if we allowed them to be more far-reaching than they actually are. The fewer effective options the bad guys have, the less interesting the game will get for everyone.
A final note Grim may wish to bear in mind for his future plans: Grim is also not immune to a medusa's petrifying gaze attack.
XP before I forget
I always calculate XP but then forget to bring in the sheet with it on or forget to give it out. So I'm going to start posting it on here.
First assault on the Temple of Zilkloog: Grim and Verschoyle get 1188 XP each.
Spirit naga encountered in the Val'druusk observatory: all PCs get 375 XP.
Second assault on the Temple of Zilkloog: All PCs get 2325 XP.
Ad hoc XP I promised Imre for doing 'the voice': 200 XP.
So at the start of the next session you will gain the following XP:
Grim and Verschoyle: 3888
Sir Ivan: 2525
Horgar Horgar: 2325
That is a bit less than I had expected you to get, but I did get it from the online XP calculator that I always use.
First assault on the Temple of Zilkloog: Grim and Verschoyle get 1188 XP each.
Spirit naga encountered in the Val'druusk observatory: all PCs get 375 XP.
Second assault on the Temple of Zilkloog: All PCs get 2325 XP.
Ad hoc XP I promised Imre for doing 'the voice': 200 XP.
So at the start of the next session you will gain the following XP:
Grim and Verschoyle: 3888
Sir Ivan: 2525
Horgar Horgar: 2325
That is a bit less than I had expected you to get, but I did get it from the online XP calculator that I always use.
Thursday 7 June 2007
New party formed
Sir Ivan, an Exorcist of the Silver Flame from Breland or Thrane, received orders from his superiors that took him to Graywall. The retired cleric Ellemar had received a vision of a giant mind flayer setting himself up as a god of Graywall. Sir Ivan's superior, the Archbishop of Wroat, decided that this would be a Bad Thing, and sent Sir Ivan to deal with the problem. Travelling with him was Horgar Horgar, a bugbear fighter employed by the church.
Ellemar had said that she believed a wizard was living in Graywall who had encountered this particular mind flayer. Sir Ivan and Horgar found the house of Tharrad Katarn and after a tense stand-off decided not to kill him for being part devil when he introduced them to Verschoyle. Horgar enjoyed Tharrad Katarn's wine and appeared to be warming to him, but Sir Ivan did not let his guard down.
Verschoyle agreed to help defeat the mind flayer, and suggested that they go to Castle Granis and recruit the help of Grim as well. Verschoyle, Horgar, Sir Ivan, Zurga and Primrose the Flesh Golem all travelled on horseback to Castle Granis.
Sir Ivan has received a very cool reception throughout Droaam due to his insistence of wearing the symbols of the hated Church of the Silver Flame. However, his charisma has managed to convince some of the goblins of Castle Granis that the Church may not be all that bad. Zurga, in particular, now has a much more open mind regarding religion.
Rather than travelling to the Temple of Zilkloog straight away, the party decided to go to the Val'druusk observatory in order to scry on their enemy first. There they found Zumm next to the scrying orb, apparently in some kind of suspended animation. The party defeated a random spirit naga that had made its lair in the observatory, and scried on Zilkloog's temple. They found it to be inhabited by a band of gnolls: ten in total, including the captain. There was also a young goblin who seemed to be training and Zilkloog's new priest. Verschoyle scried on every temple room that he had seen previously, but did not see Zilkloog himself.
At the end of the session, Verschoyle teleported the party to a safe area near the Temple of Zilkloog where they can rest. Because of the limits to his teleportation, he has brought only himself, Grim, Horgar and Sir Ivan. Hurgadar, Zurga and Primrose are all still at Castle Granis.
Ellemar had said that she believed a wizard was living in Graywall who had encountered this particular mind flayer. Sir Ivan and Horgar found the house of Tharrad Katarn and after a tense stand-off decided not to kill him for being part devil when he introduced them to Verschoyle. Horgar enjoyed Tharrad Katarn's wine and appeared to be warming to him, but Sir Ivan did not let his guard down.
Verschoyle agreed to help defeat the mind flayer, and suggested that they go to Castle Granis and recruit the help of Grim as well. Verschoyle, Horgar, Sir Ivan, Zurga and Primrose the Flesh Golem all travelled on horseback to Castle Granis.
Sir Ivan has received a very cool reception throughout Droaam due to his insistence of wearing the symbols of the hated Church of the Silver Flame. However, his charisma has managed to convince some of the goblins of Castle Granis that the Church may not be all that bad. Zurga, in particular, now has a much more open mind regarding religion.
Rather than travelling to the Temple of Zilkloog straight away, the party decided to go to the Val'druusk observatory in order to scry on their enemy first. There they found Zumm next to the scrying orb, apparently in some kind of suspended animation. The party defeated a random spirit naga that had made its lair in the observatory, and scried on Zilkloog's temple. They found it to be inhabited by a band of gnolls: ten in total, including the captain. There was also a young goblin who seemed to be training and Zilkloog's new priest. Verschoyle scried on every temple room that he had seen previously, but did not see Zilkloog himself.
At the end of the session, Verschoyle teleported the party to a safe area near the Temple of Zilkloog where they can rest. Because of the limits to his teleportation, he has brought only himself, Grim, Horgar and Sir Ivan. Hurgadar, Zurga and Primrose are all still at Castle Granis.
Thursday 31 May 2007
The party breaks up in the Temple of Zilkloog
Irreconcilable alignment differences finally caused the party to break up while they were exploring the Temple of Zilkloog. Grim opened the door to Zilkloog's chamber to reveal a huge nine-foot-tall mind flayer, Zilkloog. Zilkloog thanked Mavik for bringing him a tasty adventuring party to eat. This prompted Verschoyle to attack Mavik, and when Mavik protected himself, Verschoyle teleported away. Mavik, meanwhile, found his familiar and left. Paik explored the temple (apart from Zilkloog's lair) but didn't find any loot and decided not to rescue the prisoner he found. (She will presumably have been eaten by the time of the next adventure, so I hope Paik has that on his conscience.)
The campaign in its current form has basically come to a halt. The plan is to continue in the same setting but with partially new characters who will get on with each other better. Verschoyle and Paik (the non-evil characters) will stay, and will be joined by new characters being created by Henrique and Imre. I will arrange for the adventure to take place within Grim's territory, so that he can join the party or govern his kingdom depending on whether Greg can make it.
Unless Henrique and Imre would like to say otherwise, I will rule that Mavik has gone to live with Vurdak Deathlord to study necromantic magic, and Zumm has taken to wandering the wilderness meditating on his religion.
So now we have:
Matt: Verschoyle, human wizard 9/human paragon 1, Neutral Good
Tom: Paik, changeling bard 9, Chaotic Neutral (I think)
Henrique: Horgar Horgar, bugbear fighter 6, Chaotic Good
Imre: (name and species to be decided), paladin 5/Exorcist of the Silver Flame 5, Lawful Good
Greg: Grim, warforged fighter 6/Warforged Juggernaut 4, Chaotic Neutral
It looks like the party's alignment averages out at chaotic good and there's nothing that will tear the party apart. My initial idea for a plot is for each character to receive a vision from Jubarex of the Trumpet, the good outsider that Verschoyle, Grim and Paik have already encountered, and sent on a mission in the caves beneath the Tomb of Dragith Nurn.
Also, Zilkloog still wants to eat your brains. He hadn't wanted to be a recurring villain, but it looks like you've forced that upon him.
The campaign in its current form has basically come to a halt. The plan is to continue in the same setting but with partially new characters who will get on with each other better. Verschoyle and Paik (the non-evil characters) will stay, and will be joined by new characters being created by Henrique and Imre. I will arrange for the adventure to take place within Grim's territory, so that he can join the party or govern his kingdom depending on whether Greg can make it.
Unless Henrique and Imre would like to say otherwise, I will rule that Mavik has gone to live with Vurdak Deathlord to study necromantic magic, and Zumm has taken to wandering the wilderness meditating on his religion.
So now we have:
Matt: Verschoyle, human wizard 9/human paragon 1, Neutral Good
Tom: Paik, changeling bard 9, Chaotic Neutral (I think)
Henrique: Horgar Horgar, bugbear fighter 6, Chaotic Good
Imre: (name and species to be decided), paladin 5/Exorcist of the Silver Flame 5, Lawful Good
Greg: Grim, warforged fighter 6/Warforged Juggernaut 4, Chaotic Neutral
It looks like the party's alignment averages out at chaotic good and there's nothing that will tear the party apart. My initial idea for a plot is for each character to receive a vision from Jubarex of the Trumpet, the good outsider that Verschoyle, Grim and Paik have already encountered, and sent on a mission in the caves beneath the Tomb of Dragith Nurn.
Also, Zilkloog still wants to eat your brains. He hadn't wanted to be a recurring villain, but it looks like you've forced that upon him.
Friday 25 May 2007
Last two sessions
After you assassinated the high priest of the Mockery, the battle quickly turned to your side's favour, and Thurizan's army retreated. Horde Commander Koll said that you had proved your loyalty to the Daughters of Sora Kell and released you from the army's service.
A winged succubus appeared and delivered a letter to Verschoyle from Tharrad Katarn. It contained an invitation to the next gathering of the Society of the Shadow Art, the wizards' circle to which Katarn belonged. It also had a request: Tharrad Katarn had heard that the Trumpet of Jubarex, an artefact belonging to a powerful outsider, was somewhere beneath the temple, and he asked if Verschoyle could retrieve it.
Verschoyle, Grim, Zurga, Hurgadar and Primrose the flesh golem explored the forgotten dungeon beneath the Temple of the Cleansing Blade. They defeated an undead high priest and several undead zombie torturors, and then (barely) defeated the stone golem that was guarding the trumpet. However they also found Jubarex herself, the owner of the trumpet, so they did the decent thing and returned it.
Meanwhile, Zumm helped the priests to re-dedicate the Temple of the Cleansing Blade. Later, while meditating in the hills, he had a vision of a powerful outsider called a Trumpet Archon who told him to turn from his evil ways.
The party travelled back to Graywall, sold their loot, and met up with Tharrad Katarn, who teleported them to the gathering of the Society of the Shadow Art.
The Society of the Shadow Art consists of:
Tharrad Katarn, a tiefling conjurer who likes to summon extraplanar creatures. He introduced Verschoyle to the Society.
Vurdak 'Deathlord', a goblin fleshwarper who performs obscene experiments such as grafting undead limbs onto his living ogre slave. He introduced Mavik to the society.
'Archmage' Vardis Kelor, a human wizard who founded the Society and is its most powerful member.
Eradon Thrisk, a human mystic theurge who is fanatical in his devotion to the Shadow, god of dark magic.
Valanthe Galadonel, an elf wizard who seems interested in history.
Borruk, an elderly bugbear loremaster who collects knowledge for its own sake.
The party met Mavik Hilford, another wizard who was applying for membership in the Society. Verschoyle and Mavik both narrowly passed the test and were accepted into the Society.
Verschoyle left Primrose the flesh golem with Vurdak Deathlord, and commissioned him to graft a +1 longsword in place of the golem's hand, making it more effective against some foes. Vurdak will bring the modified flesh golem to the next meeting in about three months' time.
Mavik told the party that his familiar was lost, and enlisted their help to get it back. He led them to a goblin village within the territory of the warlord adjacent to Grim's territory. This village worshipped a strange god called Zilkloog, actually a mind flayer posing as a god, and offered sacrifices to him every month.
The party convinced the high priest of Zilkloog to let them into the main hall of the temple, then killed the high priest and won the ensuing battle against the temple guards and their trained umber hulks. The story will pick up with them exploring the rest of the temple and meeting Zilkloog in person!
The party now consists of:
Grim (Greg's character), warforged fighter 6/warforged juggernaut 4
Mavik Hilford (Henrique's character), human wizard (necromancer) 9
Verschoyle (Matt's character), human wizard 9/human paragon 1
Zumm (Imre's character), goblin monk 9
Zurga (NPC), Verschoyle's apprentice, goblin wizard 3
Hurgadar (NPC), Grim's cohort gained through the leadership feat, mongrelfolk barbarin 8
Umber hulk zombie (NPC), Mavik's newly raised undead minion.
A winged succubus appeared and delivered a letter to Verschoyle from Tharrad Katarn. It contained an invitation to the next gathering of the Society of the Shadow Art, the wizards' circle to which Katarn belonged. It also had a request: Tharrad Katarn had heard that the Trumpet of Jubarex, an artefact belonging to a powerful outsider, was somewhere beneath the temple, and he asked if Verschoyle could retrieve it.
Verschoyle, Grim, Zurga, Hurgadar and Primrose the flesh golem explored the forgotten dungeon beneath the Temple of the Cleansing Blade. They defeated an undead high priest and several undead zombie torturors, and then (barely) defeated the stone golem that was guarding the trumpet. However they also found Jubarex herself, the owner of the trumpet, so they did the decent thing and returned it.
Meanwhile, Zumm helped the priests to re-dedicate the Temple of the Cleansing Blade. Later, while meditating in the hills, he had a vision of a powerful outsider called a Trumpet Archon who told him to turn from his evil ways.
The party travelled back to Graywall, sold their loot, and met up with Tharrad Katarn, who teleported them to the gathering of the Society of the Shadow Art.
The Society of the Shadow Art consists of:
Tharrad Katarn, a tiefling conjurer who likes to summon extraplanar creatures. He introduced Verschoyle to the Society.
Vurdak 'Deathlord', a goblin fleshwarper who performs obscene experiments such as grafting undead limbs onto his living ogre slave. He introduced Mavik to the society.
'Archmage' Vardis Kelor, a human wizard who founded the Society and is its most powerful member.
Eradon Thrisk, a human mystic theurge who is fanatical in his devotion to the Shadow, god of dark magic.
Valanthe Galadonel, an elf wizard who seems interested in history.
Borruk, an elderly bugbear loremaster who collects knowledge for its own sake.
The party met Mavik Hilford, another wizard who was applying for membership in the Society. Verschoyle and Mavik both narrowly passed the test and were accepted into the Society.
Verschoyle left Primrose the flesh golem with Vurdak Deathlord, and commissioned him to graft a +1 longsword in place of the golem's hand, making it more effective against some foes. Vurdak will bring the modified flesh golem to the next meeting in about three months' time.
Mavik told the party that his familiar was lost, and enlisted their help to get it back. He led them to a goblin village within the territory of the warlord adjacent to Grim's territory. This village worshipped a strange god called Zilkloog, actually a mind flayer posing as a god, and offered sacrifices to him every month.
The party convinced the high priest of Zilkloog to let them into the main hall of the temple, then killed the high priest and won the ensuing battle against the temple guards and their trained umber hulks. The story will pick up with them exploring the rest of the temple and meeting Zilkloog in person!
The party now consists of:
Grim (Greg's character), warforged fighter 6/warforged juggernaut 4
Mavik Hilford (Henrique's character), human wizard (necromancer) 9
Verschoyle (Matt's character), human wizard 9/human paragon 1
Zumm (Imre's character), goblin monk 9
Zurga (NPC), Verschoyle's apprentice, goblin wizard 3
Hurgadar (NPC), Grim's cohort gained through the leadership feat, mongrelfolk barbarin 8
Umber hulk zombie (NPC), Mavik's newly raised undead minion.
Sunday 22 April 2007
The Temple of the Cleansing Blade
The morning after the battle with the quth-marens, Horde Commander Koll presented Grim, Zumm, Verschoyle and Hurgadar with military decorations in the form of carved humanoid jawbones inscribed with the word 'courage' in several languages. These grant a +2 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy if you wear them openly while dealing with current or former members of the Droaam army and anyone else friendly to the Droaam army who knows enough about history to recognize them. Horde Commander Koll also gave you a special mission: to infiltrate the Temple of the Cleansing Blade and assassinate the high priest before he could unleash more undead on the besieging army.
You entered the temple via the sewers, where you were attacked by a hideous water-based undead that had escaped from the pages of Dragon magazine. It nearly drowned Hurgadar but you got it in the end. Paik charmed one of the guards sent to intercept you, and he directed you to the temple proper where the priest was. On the way you were attacked by a evil incorporeal spirit who permanently drained Paik's Constitution down to 4. Hee hee hee.
Thanks to your charmed ally, you managed to take the enemy cleric unawares and Verschoyle affected him with a confusion spell. He was coherent enough to unleash dark energy on you, almost killing Zurga. After much confused running around and switching targets, the guards lay dead and Zumm ripped off the evil priest's face.
You entered the temple via the sewers, where you were attacked by a hideous water-based undead that had escaped from the pages of Dragon magazine. It nearly drowned Hurgadar but you got it in the end. Paik charmed one of the guards sent to intercept you, and he directed you to the temple proper where the priest was. On the way you were attacked by a evil incorporeal spirit who permanently drained Paik's Constitution down to 4. Hee hee hee.
Thanks to your charmed ally, you managed to take the enemy cleric unawares and Verschoyle affected him with a confusion spell. He was coherent enough to unleash dark energy on you, almost killing Zurga. After much confused running around and switching targets, the guards lay dead and Zumm ripped off the evil priest's face.
Friday 13 April 2007
You're in the army now
As promised by the letter you received when you took over the kingdom, you have been recruited into the Droaam army. It will be a short stint of only a few months, really a token service in order to prove your loyalty, although the exact amount of time depends on how the war goes.
Marching off to war are Grim, Verschoyle, Zumm, Hurgadar, Zurga, Primrose the flesh golem, and fifty goblin troopers. This left Castle Granis only lightly defended, but Verschoyle's regular scrying of the castle shows soldiers from across your territory arriving at the castle for the training Grim promised. So far roughly twenty goblins and twenty orcs have arrived, as near as Verschoyle can estimate. Skardash is doing his best to train them but his lack of experience means that they are not showing any improvements; but the castle is at least defended, and is as peaceful as a castle full of orcs from different villages could be expected to be (i.e. not very).
Meanwhile, a changeling bard named Paik has been assigned to your unit to keep an eye on you and report on your loyalty, and also to help inspire your troops with his bardic music.
After a short stay in Graywall (during which Verschoyle spent lots of money in an attempt to impress everyone and in particular his wizard friend Tharrad Katarn), the army marched south for several weeks towards the Temple of the Cleansing Blade. The political situation, as explained by Warchief Tygor, is:
Your immediate commander is Warchief Tygor, a hardened gnoll career soldier whose fur bears many bare patches where scars have healed. Your ultimate commander is Horde Commander Koll, a bulky, heavily armoured orc warlord whose territoy is on the other side of Graywall from yours.
The first combat you saw was on the approach to the temple when you had to remove catapults from hills to let the army pass. You dispatched the defender quickly, with Grim bravely rushing past the two hill giants in order to attack a battle sorceror before he had a chance to cast his spells, and then returning to slice off the hill giant's arm with a mighty blow.
Your next mission was to neutralize an enemy spy who was hiding in a nearby hamlet. Warchief Tygor ordered you to do this by massacring everyone in the village, but Zumm (in a surprising non-evil outburst; I was expecting Verschoyle to say this) argued that they should try to find the spy and spare the rest of the village if possible. Zumm and Piak got to show off their infiltration skills and saw through the spy's disguise, and after a brief fight chased him into the open. He was invisible, but Verschoyle zapped him with magic missiles and your goblin archers all fired on the spot where the magic missiles hit, kind of like at the end of Star Trek VI.
You re-joined the army at nightfall as it was setting up camp around the temple and its small town (called simply Blade-town). In the middle of the night the army was attacked by skeletons, which were driven off easily but succeeded in demoralizing the troops. The only serious attack was on the command tent itself, which was attacked by three hideous undead creatures, the animated corpses of people who had had all the skin flayed from their bodies. Zumm, Grim and Hurgadar found Horde Commander Koll defending himself against the three creatures, while his entourage cowered or fled. With the help of Verschoyle's flesh golem you managed to defeat them. Paik slept through the whole thing.
Marching off to war are Grim, Verschoyle, Zumm, Hurgadar, Zurga, Primrose the flesh golem, and fifty goblin troopers. This left Castle Granis only lightly defended, but Verschoyle's regular scrying of the castle shows soldiers from across your territory arriving at the castle for the training Grim promised. So far roughly twenty goblins and twenty orcs have arrived, as near as Verschoyle can estimate. Skardash is doing his best to train them but his lack of experience means that they are not showing any improvements; but the castle is at least defended, and is as peaceful as a castle full of orcs from different villages could be expected to be (i.e. not very).
Meanwhile, a changeling bard named Paik has been assigned to your unit to keep an eye on you and report on your loyalty, and also to help inspire your troops with his bardic music.
After a short stay in Graywall (during which Verschoyle spent lots of money in an attempt to impress everyone and in particular his wizard friend Tharrad Katarn), the army marched south for several weeks towards the Temple of the Cleansing Blade. The political situation, as explained by Warchief Tygor, is:
One of the warlords is attempting to break away from the rule of the hags and carve out his own nation. You will join one of a number of hordes that the Daughters are sending to crush the rebellion.
The rebel warlord is Thurizan the Strong, a mighty orc warrior. His territory is in the south-eastern corner of Droaam, adjoining the coastline and the Graywall Mountains that form the border with Breland. His capital is the inaccessible fortress of Shaarat Kol. The majority of the population in his territory is made up of orcs, with some humans, hill giants, goblins and other races.
Thurizan is very popular with the people in and surrounding his territory, and part of the reason for this is to do with religion. The Daughters of Sora Kell have a secular government, not invoking the gods in their rule and not making any laws concerning religion. In contrast, Thurizan claims to rule with the endorsement of the Dark Six. This is helped by the fact that his army has gained control of the Temple of the Cleansing blade, the largest temple to the Mockery in Droaam. The high priest of the temple has publically supported Thurizan as ruler.
You will be part of an army that is being assembled to re-take the Temple of the Cleansing Blade. The temple is of some strategic importance, but its main value will be as a propaganda victory: if Thurizan loses control of the temple, then his subjects may think again about his claim to be chosen by the gods.
Your immediate commander is Warchief Tygor, a hardened gnoll career soldier whose fur bears many bare patches where scars have healed. Your ultimate commander is Horde Commander Koll, a bulky, heavily armoured orc warlord whose territoy is on the other side of Graywall from yours.
The first combat you saw was on the approach to the temple when you had to remove catapults from hills to let the army pass. You dispatched the defender quickly, with Grim bravely rushing past the two hill giants in order to attack a battle sorceror before he had a chance to cast his spells, and then returning to slice off the hill giant's arm with a mighty blow.
Your next mission was to neutralize an enemy spy who was hiding in a nearby hamlet. Warchief Tygor ordered you to do this by massacring everyone in the village, but Zumm (in a surprising non-evil outburst; I was expecting Verschoyle to say this) argued that they should try to find the spy and spare the rest of the village if possible. Zumm and Piak got to show off their infiltration skills and saw through the spy's disguise, and after a brief fight chased him into the open. He was invisible, but Verschoyle zapped him with magic missiles and your goblin archers all fired on the spot where the magic missiles hit, kind of like at the end of Star Trek VI.
You re-joined the army at nightfall as it was setting up camp around the temple and its small town (called simply Blade-town). In the middle of the night the army was attacked by skeletons, which were driven off easily but succeeded in demoralizing the troops. The only serious attack was on the command tent itself, which was attacked by three hideous undead creatures, the animated corpses of people who had had all the skin flayed from their bodies. Zumm, Grim and Hurgadar found Horde Commander Koll defending himself against the three creatures, while his entourage cowered or fled. With the help of Verschoyle's flesh golem you managed to defeat them. Paik slept through the whole thing.
Thursday 29 March 2007
Battle report: the death of E.K.
Turns out I made a couple of mistakes about spell rules that gave the party an advantage. I reckon you'd have won anyway though.Grim and Zumm toured the region, telling the people of the new ruler and his new policies: taxes would be reduced but must be delivered rather than collected, and anyone who wanted to could go to Castle Granis to be trained in the region's new army. Grim also recruited a cohort, Hurgadar. Hurgadar is a mongrelfolk (the product of generations of inter-breeding between many different humanoid races), and is an adventurous wanderer who agreed to travel with Grim in order to seek adventure. Grim and Zumm collected Verschoyle (plus Zurga and their new flesh golem) from Stoneskull, and the party returned to Castle Granis.
Some goblins attempted to assassinate Grim using warforged bane arrows, but Grim survived the attempt and the castle guard took care of the assassins. The party traced the plot back to the cleric Merred Nastor and his new disciples, who turned out to be hosts to parasitic tentacle creatures. Verschoyle took care of these with a spell, but the most powerful one (inhabiting Merred Nastor) escaped.
Using scrying, the party traced the tsochar to the tomb of Dragith Nurn, where they saw that he was in league with their arch-enemy E.K. The party travelled overland to the tomb, fought their way in through the dolgrim and dolgaunt guards, and finally killed E.K. and the tsochar in a magical fire-fight across the chasm.
EK had set up a lift, powered by an ogre slave, to the bottom of the chasm. The party descended to find that the guards at the bottom had fled. They found some treasure in boxes that EK's minions had helpfully retrieved from the caves.
Zumm went in to the cave of the bearded devils, touched a large crystal embedded in the wall, and was handed a secret note from the DM.
The party set off back to Castle Granis to wait there for the next plot hook to arrive.
Sunday 25 March 2007
Timeline update
| Sypheros 14 | Grim and Verschoyle arrive at Graywall with Ug's body, and take it to a gnoll druid that the mercenaries had recommended. However, Ug's soul refused to return. Verschoyle befriends Graywall's most powerful wizard (or at least its most powerful commonly-known wizard), Tharrad Katarn. Grim and Verschoyle also managed to locate the cleric Merred Nastor who had gone missing on his shopping trip to Graywall. A goblin bowmaker had noticed his poorly-concealed Silver Flame symbol and tipped off the arena guards. He was due to be executed in the arena the next day. Verschoyle enters the arena in order to fight on his behalf and spends the night hin the cells. Meanwhile, Grim kidnaps the goblin bowmaker. |
| Sypheros 15 | In the arena, Verschoyle defeats the manticore that was due to kill Merred Nastor. A bugbear scout from Darguun introduces himself to Grim and Verschoyle. Verschoyle and Tharrad Katarn continue to swap spells. |
| Sypheros 16 | Grim leaves for where his army is camped. Verschoyle begins crafting a headband of intellect. Burr, the bugbear scout, introduces himself to Verschoyle again. |
| Sypheros 19 | Tharrad Katarn teleports Verschoyle and Burr to the army camp, where Grim is just arriving. |
| Sypheros 20 | The Battle of Stoneskull. Grim's army defeats Jalahand and Grim becomes warlord of the region. Burr is killed by a trap. |
| Sypheros 21 | The party receives a letter saying that the Daughters of Sora Kell endorse Grim's rulership of the region. Grim and Zumm embark on a tour of the region. Verschoyle and Zurga begin creating a flesh golem. |
| Aryth [November] 20 | Grim finishes his tour and arrives back at Stoneskull to pick up Verschoyle, who has finished his flesh golem. |
| Aryth 21 | Grim, Zumm, Verschoyle and Zurga arrive back at Castle Granis... |
Your fiefdom
Total population: 3,000 (approx. 70% goblins, 15% orcs, 10% ogres, 5% mongrelfolk)
Notable towns
Castle Granis
Ruler (when Grim is away): Skardash, goblin ranger
100 goblins (inc. 20 trained warriors and 20 ordinary warriors)
4 ogres
Merred Nastor (Cleric of the Silver Flame)
Garduk
Ruler: Valdash, orc fighter
800 goblins (inc. 300 warriors, 20 elite guards, a blacksmith and a healer)
10 orcs (inc. 4 warriors)
Stoneskull
Ruler: Kardash, orc fighter
500 goblins (inc. 200 warriors and a healer)
Settlements range in size from a dozen goblins to a few hundred, with none being larger than Garduk. Goblin villages are ruled by either orcs or ogres, or sometimes both (in which case the ogres lord it over the orcs and the goblins are slaves to both). Most settlements have a healer. Chieftains are generally experienced fighters and some have trained elite guards, but none are more powerful than Valdash or Kardash.
Leadership among the orcish rulers is hereditary, and the majority of chieftains are part of Valdash's extended family. There is no single head of the family. Leadership among ogre-dominated villages goes to the strongest by combat and rarely passes down in a family. There are no villages with a goblin chieftain, although sometimes an orc warlord may have an experienced goblin as a trusted advisor.
As you tour the region, reactions to the change of rulership range from indifference to happiness. The only mild voices of dissent are from ogres who are unhappy that the ogre mage warlord has been replaced by a non-ogre. Most of the civilians have never seen a warforged before and think that Grim is an orc who never takes his armour off, although some experienced fighters who have done mercenary duty recognize him as a warforged. The announcement that the taxes are being lowered is universally greeted with happiness. In general, your rule is off to a good start.
The region is 100 miles across at its widest point. It is bordered on the west and south by other warlords' territories, on the east by Breland, and on the north by the Eldeen Reaches and the Byeshk Mountains. (Blue lines on the map indicate regional boundaries and red lines national ones.) The region is barren and rocky, and the area around Garduk is the only place where crops can reliably be grown. Well-worn dirt tracks link all the settlements; the only one that could reasonably be called a road runs from Stoneskull to Graywall, passing close to Castle Granis.
Monday 5 March 2007
The Droaam Warlord prestige class
Home-brewed content! This is my first attempt at creating a prestige class. I created it with Greg's character in mind but I might use it for some NPCs.
Warlords are the rulers of communities of barbaric humanoids. They may rise from these communities themselves, or be heroes who take control of a barbaric tribe. Warlords are typically barbarians, fighters or other martial classes who sacrifice some of their physical training in order to become more effective leaders.
Requirements
Base attack bonus: +5
Feats: Leadership
Skills: Intimidate 8 ranks
Class skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (local), Ride, Sense Motive
Hit die: d8
Fearsome reputation (Ex)
A warlord adds his class level to Intimidate checks.
Battle intimidation (Ex)
Starting at 2nd level, a warlord can use Intimidate to demoralize an opponent in battle as a move action (rather than a standard action).
Bonus language (Ex)
Although most monstrous creatures speak Common, a good warlord knows that he can rule more effectively if he speaks the first language of his subjects. At 1st, 3rd and 5th level the warlord gains a bonus language from among those spoken by his subjects or the creatures of the surrounding area (excluding secret languages such as Druidic). A typical list would be Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, and Orc.
Inspire rage (Sp)
Beginning at 2nd level, you can incite your allies to fly into a rage while attacking. This functions as the rage spell, except that it is a language-dependant effect and can be negated by magical silence. You must continue speaking or shouting while you concentrate to maintain the effect, and the effect lasts for as long as you concentrate plus one round per level. At 4th-level, you can use this ability twice per day.
Hold the line (Ex)
When you reach 3rd level, your followers and allies are more frightened of you than they are of their enemies. Whenever an ally or follower who can see you is subject to a fear effect that allows a Will save, you can make an Intimidate check as an immediate action, and the ally uses this check result in place of their Will save if it is higher. You cannot use this ability if you yourself shaken or otherwise suffering from a fear effect.
Greater battle intimidation (Ex)
At 5th level, a warlord can demoralize an opponent in battle as a swift action.
Warlords are the rulers of communities of barbaric humanoids. They may rise from these communities themselves, or be heroes who take control of a barbaric tribe. Warlords are typically barbarians, fighters or other martial classes who sacrifice some of their physical training in order to become more effective leaders.
Requirements
Base attack bonus: +5
Feats: Leadership
Skills: Intimidate 8 ranks
Class skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (local), Ride, Sense Motive
Hit die: d8
| Level | Base Attack Bonus | Fort Save | Ref Save | Will Save | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +0 | +2 | +0 | +2 | Fearsome reputation, bonus language |
| 2nd | +1 | +3 | +0 | +3 | Inspire rage 1/day, battle intimidation |
| 3rd | +2 | +3 | +1 | +3 | Hold the line, bonus language |
| 4th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Inspire rage 2/day |
| 5th | +3 | +4 | +1 | +4 | Greater battle intimidation, bonus language |
Fearsome reputation (Ex)
A warlord adds his class level to Intimidate checks.
Battle intimidation (Ex)
Starting at 2nd level, a warlord can use Intimidate to demoralize an opponent in battle as a move action (rather than a standard action).
Bonus language (Ex)
Although most monstrous creatures speak Common, a good warlord knows that he can rule more effectively if he speaks the first language of his subjects. At 1st, 3rd and 5th level the warlord gains a bonus language from among those spoken by his subjects or the creatures of the surrounding area (excluding secret languages such as Druidic). A typical list would be Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, and Orc.
Inspire rage (Sp)
Beginning at 2nd level, you can incite your allies to fly into a rage while attacking. This functions as the rage spell, except that it is a language-dependant effect and can be negated by magical silence. You must continue speaking or shouting while you concentrate to maintain the effect, and the effect lasts for as long as you concentrate plus one round per level. At 4th-level, you can use this ability twice per day.
Hold the line (Ex)
When you reach 3rd level, your followers and allies are more frightened of you than they are of their enemies. Whenever an ally or follower who can see you is subject to a fear effect that allows a Will save, you can make an Intimidate check as an immediate action, and the ally uses this check result in place of their Will save if it is higher. You cannot use this ability if you yourself shaken or otherwise suffering from a fear effect.
Greater battle intimidation (Ex)
At 5th level, a warlord can demoralize an opponent in battle as a swift action.
Thursday 1 March 2007
The letter
To Lord Grim,
Welcome to the family. Let me tell you how this works.
You are now a Droaam warlord. You rule the area formerly controlled by Jalahand, and in this realm you have absolute authority. The Daughters of Sora Kell have no wish to interfere in the internal affairs of your fiefdom. As long as you do not threaten to destabilize the region you will be left alone.
Naturally, just as you receive tribute from the villages in your fiefdom, you are required to pay tribute to the Daughters of Sora Kell via their representative in the region, Governor Xor'chylic of Graywall. The Daughters require tribute not in the form of livestock or goods but in the form of mercenary services. Once you have had time to consolidate your rulership of the region, a representative of Xor'chylic will arrive to collect the first squads of mercenaries. In order to be sure of your loyalty, Xor'chylic may require that you and your companions serve personally in the Droaam army for a short term.
Agents of the Daughters of Sora Kell are marked by the sign of the Spiral Eye. You are to give such agents any assistance that they require. Failure to do so will be seen as disloyalty to the Daughters themselves.
The Daughters of Sora Kell have been impressed with the reports of your progress and believe that you will be an asset to the nation of Droaam. If, however, you displease them, do not doubt that they have many ways to remove you from power.
Your faithful servant,
Hagrith One-Eye
Secretary for Eastern Droaam Affairs
Office of Sora Maenya
Palace of Skulls
Great Crag
Welcome to the family. Let me tell you how this works.
You are now a Droaam warlord. You rule the area formerly controlled by Jalahand, and in this realm you have absolute authority. The Daughters of Sora Kell have no wish to interfere in the internal affairs of your fiefdom. As long as you do not threaten to destabilize the region you will be left alone.
Naturally, just as you receive tribute from the villages in your fiefdom, you are required to pay tribute to the Daughters of Sora Kell via their representative in the region, Governor Xor'chylic of Graywall. The Daughters require tribute not in the form of livestock or goods but in the form of mercenary services. Once you have had time to consolidate your rulership of the region, a representative of Xor'chylic will arrive to collect the first squads of mercenaries. In order to be sure of your loyalty, Xor'chylic may require that you and your companions serve personally in the Droaam army for a short term.
Agents of the Daughters of Sora Kell are marked by the sign of the Spiral Eye. You are to give such agents any assistance that they require. Failure to do so will be seen as disloyalty to the Daughters themselves.
The Daughters of Sora Kell have been impressed with the reports of your progress and believe that you will be an asset to the nation of Droaam. If, however, you displease them, do not doubt that they have many ways to remove you from power.
Your faithful servant,
Hagrith One-Eye
Secretary for Eastern Droaam Affairs
Office of Sora Maenya
Palace of Skulls
Great Crag
The Battle of Stoneskull
I'd better write it up before I forget what happened...
Grim left Graywall, taking Merred Nastor and his goblin bowsmith prisoner with him. Verschoyle stayed in Graywall for three more days in order to use the resources of Tharrad Katarn's magical laboratory to craft himself a headband of intellect +2. While there, Verschoyle met Burr, a bugbear scout from Darguun, and reluctantly agreed to let him join the party. When Verschoyle had finished making his headband, Tharrad Katarn teleported him and Burr to the army's camp, where Grim, travelling for three days overland, had just arrived. Tharrad gave Verschoyle a magic scroll that might help him out in a moment of need, and told him that he might be able to get him into a circle of wizards of which he was a part.
After some discussion, the party opted for a full-frontal attack on Stoneskull. Verschoyle opened the battle by casting fireball into the middle of the village, and continued to rain magic onto the army as it approached. While the two armies entered melee against each other, Jalahand himself personally took on the party, but they killed him.
As soon as Jalahand was dead, the mind flayer that the party had defeated the previous week used the opportunity to strike while they were weakened. He appeared, along with a shadowy version of an otyugh (the shadow plane counterpart of one of his otyugh minions). The party dispatched them fairly easily, with the help of Tharrad Katarn's scroll, which turned out to summon some hell-hounds. Verschoyle commented that he now knows Tharrad Katarn's alignment: hell-hounds are Lawful Evil, so Tharrad Katarn is presumably (although not necessarily) the same.
With Jalahand and his lieutants defeated, some of his army fled but the majority surrendered. The battle was over quickly enough that there were only a dozen or so goblin casualties on each side, although all of Jalahand's ogres had been killed by Verschoyle's fireballs. No major NPCs on the party's side were killed (although Kardash has a few more battle-scars than before).
The party spotted a mysterious figure observing the battle through a spyglass.
The victors went into Jalahand's throne room, where Burr attempted to use his thief-like abilities to open the ogre mage's magically trapped treasure chests and fell victim to a phantasmal killer trap. Zurga opened the other chest by summoning a fiendish monkey (which got killed by a lightning trap). The chests contained lots of money. Grim also acquired a cloak of charisma +2 which Jalahand had been wearing, and Verschoyle took the periapt of health that had belonged to the mind flayer.
The party and their army spent the night in Stoneskull, with Grim keeping the peace between the two goblin armies. In the morning, they found a note left in Jalahand's cave next to where Verschoyle had been sleeping. The note was from an agent of the Daughters of Sora Kell (the rulers of Droaam) endorsing Grim as the new warlord but specifying that the party might have to serve for a time in the Droaam army to prove their loyalty. (DM railroading and an excuse to use Heroes of Battle? Not at all...)
The next day, Grim embarked on a tour of his new kingdom, while Verschoyle began work on constructing a flesh golem out of the corpses of the fallen goblins. (I'm not sure what Zumm was doing during this time; I'm assuming he either went with Grim on the tour or spent the time in quiet meditation.) Grim told his new subjects that the taxation would be reduced and that they could count on his protection in exchange for their loyalty.
When we eventually resume the campaign, it will be a month or so later. Grim's rule of the region will be stable and Verschoyle's flesh golem will be finished.
Grim left Graywall, taking Merred Nastor and his goblin bowsmith prisoner with him. Verschoyle stayed in Graywall for three more days in order to use the resources of Tharrad Katarn's magical laboratory to craft himself a headband of intellect +2. While there, Verschoyle met Burr, a bugbear scout from Darguun, and reluctantly agreed to let him join the party. When Verschoyle had finished making his headband, Tharrad Katarn teleported him and Burr to the army's camp, where Grim, travelling for three days overland, had just arrived. Tharrad gave Verschoyle a magic scroll that might help him out in a moment of need, and told him that he might be able to get him into a circle of wizards of which he was a part.
After some discussion, the party opted for a full-frontal attack on Stoneskull. Verschoyle opened the battle by casting fireball into the middle of the village, and continued to rain magic onto the army as it approached. While the two armies entered melee against each other, Jalahand himself personally took on the party, but they killed him.
As soon as Jalahand was dead, the mind flayer that the party had defeated the previous week used the opportunity to strike while they were weakened. He appeared, along with a shadowy version of an otyugh (the shadow plane counterpart of one of his otyugh minions). The party dispatched them fairly easily, with the help of Tharrad Katarn's scroll, which turned out to summon some hell-hounds. Verschoyle commented that he now knows Tharrad Katarn's alignment: hell-hounds are Lawful Evil, so Tharrad Katarn is presumably (although not necessarily) the same.
With Jalahand and his lieutants defeated, some of his army fled but the majority surrendered. The battle was over quickly enough that there were only a dozen or so goblin casualties on each side, although all of Jalahand's ogres had been killed by Verschoyle's fireballs. No major NPCs on the party's side were killed (although Kardash has a few more battle-scars than before).
The party spotted a mysterious figure observing the battle through a spyglass.
The victors went into Jalahand's throne room, where Burr attempted to use his thief-like abilities to open the ogre mage's magically trapped treasure chests and fell victim to a phantasmal killer trap. Zurga opened the other chest by summoning a fiendish monkey (which got killed by a lightning trap). The chests contained lots of money. Grim also acquired a cloak of charisma +2 which Jalahand had been wearing, and Verschoyle took the periapt of health that had belonged to the mind flayer.
The party and their army spent the night in Stoneskull, with Grim keeping the peace between the two goblin armies. In the morning, they found a note left in Jalahand's cave next to where Verschoyle had been sleeping. The note was from an agent of the Daughters of Sora Kell (the rulers of Droaam) endorsing Grim as the new warlord but specifying that the party might have to serve for a time in the Droaam army to prove their loyalty. (DM railroading and an excuse to use Heroes of Battle? Not at all...)
The next day, Grim embarked on a tour of his new kingdom, while Verschoyle began work on constructing a flesh golem out of the corpses of the fallen goblins. (I'm not sure what Zumm was doing during this time; I'm assuming he either went with Grim on the tour or spent the time in quiet meditation.) Grim told his new subjects that the taxation would be reduced and that they could count on his protection in exchange for their loyalty.
When we eventually resume the campaign, it will be a month or so later. Grim's rule of the region will be stable and Verschoyle's flesh golem will be finished.
Wednesday 21 February 2007
Rules clarifications
There are some areas of the rules that we don't really understand and that therefore detract from the game, either by slowing it down due to arguments, or due to hard feelings arising from disagreements over the rules, or because where I am unsure of the rules I will generally err on he side of giving the advantage to the players, which may make some challenges too easy. I will try to read up on these rules and clarify them before we start playing again. I hope when we next play, everyone can be on the same page, especially with regards to things that may have changed between second and third edition.
Flurry of Blows
There had been some confusion as to when a monk (i.e. Imre's character) could use the flurry of blows, and whether this required a full attack action or whether he could use it after moving. I didn't understand it either, but I have just read up on it here.
Attacks of opportunity
The rules on attacks of opportunity are here.
An attack of opportunity is a single melee attack at your full attack bonus. You cannot use it to cast a spell, to make multiple attacks (including flurry of blows), to move, or to fire a ranged weapon.
You threaten any squares that you can make a melee attack into. Since we are not using a grid with squares, you basically threaten anything you could attack without moving first.
If you are wielding a reach weapon (such as a longspear) you can make a melee attack at 10ft distance, and you therefore threaten opponents up to 10ft from you.
You provoke an attack of opportunity when you move out of, or perform certain actions in, a threatened square. Moving up to attack someone does not normally provoke an AoE, since you are moving into but not out of a threatened square. However, if your opponent has a 10ft reach (either because they are Large sized or because they are wielding a reach weapon), you do provoke an AoE because you are moving from one threatened square to another as you approach the enemy.
Contrary to what I had previously thought, charging does not provoke an attack of opportunity. (Bull rush, and most other special attacks, do.) The SRD has tables summarizing which standard, move and full-round actions provoke AoEs.
If there are any other rules you can think of that we've been having trouble with, please let me know and I will clarify them before we next start playing.
Flurry of Blows
There had been some confusion as to when a monk (i.e. Imre's character) could use the flurry of blows, and whether this required a full attack action or whether he could use it after moving. I didn't understand it either, but I have just read up on it here.
When unarmored, a monk may strike with a flurry of blows at the expense of accuracy. When doing so, she may make one extra attack in a round at her highest base attack bonus, but this attack takes a -2 penalty, as does each other attack made that round. The resulting modified base attack bonuses are shown in the Flurry of Blows Attack Bonus column on Table: The Monk. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the monk might make before her next action. When a monk reaches 5th level, the penalty lessens to -1, and at 9th level it disappears. A monk must use a full attack action to strike with a flurry of blows.So if you move and attack, you can't use the flurry of blows. When moving and attacking, or when making an attack of opportunity, a monk only gets a single attack, just like everyone else.
Attacks of opportunity
The rules on attacks of opportunity are here.
An attack of opportunity is a single melee attack at your full attack bonus. You cannot use it to cast a spell, to make multiple attacks (including flurry of blows), to move, or to fire a ranged weapon.
You threaten any squares that you can make a melee attack into. Since we are not using a grid with squares, you basically threaten anything you could attack without moving first.
If you are wielding a reach weapon (such as a longspear) you can make a melee attack at 10ft distance, and you therefore threaten opponents up to 10ft from you.
You provoke an attack of opportunity when you move out of, or perform certain actions in, a threatened square. Moving up to attack someone does not normally provoke an AoE, since you are moving into but not out of a threatened square. However, if your opponent has a 10ft reach (either because they are Large sized or because they are wielding a reach weapon), you do provoke an AoE because you are moving from one threatened square to another as you approach the enemy.
Contrary to what I had previously thought, charging does not provoke an attack of opportunity. (Bull rush, and most other special attacks, do.) The SRD has tables summarizing which standard, move and full-round actions provoke AoEs.
If there are any other rules you can think of that we've been having trouble with, please let me know and I will clarify them before we next start playing.
Tuesday 20 February 2007
Timeline update
| Sypheros 1 | Party encounters and defeats an Athach. Party attacks one of Jalahand's trading parties, killing most of it and taking some prisoners. |
| Sypheros 3 | Party arrives back at Castle Granis with prisoners. All of the 20 original trainees are now 2nd-level Warriors. The trench in front of the castle is complete. |
| Sypheros 4 | Zurga escapes a forced marriage and shelters in a cave. The party defeats two behirs in order to rescue her. |
| Sypheros 5 | The party sets off for Garduk in order to depose Kardash. |
| Sypheros 6 | Thurzar arrives back at Castle Granis in the battle-wagon with all the goods he was sent for and a gnoll siege engineer but without Merred Nastor. |
| Sypheros 7 | The party arrives at Garduk, defeats Kardash and begins mustering an army to attack Jalahand. |
| Sypheros 8 | The party leaves Garduk, leading a large army. |
| Sypheros 10 | The party and goblin army arrives at the rendezvous point but the army from Castle Granis does not arrive as scheduled. |
| Sypheros 11 | The army from Castle Granis arrives, having been delayed because Thurzar spent an extra day in Graywall looking for Merred Nastor. |
| Sypheros 12 | The orc chieftain of a goblin village near to where the army is camped offers another unit of goblins if the party will rid his village of a disease. The party investigates and defeats a mind flayer and his minions, but Ug is killed. Grim and Verschoyle set off for Graywall with Ug's body to attempt to reincarnate him. |
| Sypheros 13 | Grim and Verschoyle meet Jalahand's gnoll reinforcements on their way to Stoneskull. They manage to convince them that Jalahand is already dead and to return home. |
| Sypheros 14 | Grim and Verschoyle arrive at Graywall with Ug's body, and take it to a gnoll druid that the mercenaries had recommended. However, Ug's soul refused to return. Verschoyle befriends Graywall's most powerful wizard (or at least its most powerful commonly-known wizard), Tharrad Katarn. Grim and Verschoyle also managed to locate the cleric Merred Nastor who had gone missing on his shopping trip to Graywall. A goblin bowmaker had noticed his poorly-concealed Silver Flame symbol and tipped off the arena guards. He was due to be executed in the arena the next day. Verschoyle enters the arena in order to fight on his behalf and spends the night hin the cells. Meanwhile, Grim kidnaps the goblin bowmaker. |
| Sypheros 15 | In the arena, Verschoyle defeats the manticore that was due to kill Merred Nastor. A bugbear scout from Darguun introduces himself to Grim and Verschoyle. Verschoyle and Tharrad Katarn continue to swap spells. |
I don't remember how long you decided to stay in Graywall for. I think Verschoyle was crafting some kind of magic item using Katarn's workshop, but I can't remember what it was. In any case, the tomorrow's session will begin with Grim and Verschoyle leaving Graywall to rejoin their army.
Friday 16 February 2007
Creating a flesh golem
The rules on creating a flesh golem say that it requires human corpses, but I am going to rule that the corpses of any humanoids will do. (The mind flayer's golems were made of bits of goblins.) However, if Small creatures such as goblins are used you need twice as many different corpses (twelve rather than six).
Constructing the body takes 20 days and requires a fairly easy Heal or Craft (leatherworking) check. Since bookbinding involves both sewing and working with leather, I am going to rule that Verschoyle can use Craft (bookbinding) instead of Craft (leatherworking) at a -5 penalty (like with Grim using weaponsmithing to make a siege engine).
Even though it's made of flesh rather than metal, a flesh golem can be repaired using the Eberron repair spells.
Constructing the body takes 20 days and requires a fairly easy Heal or Craft (leatherworking) check. Since bookbinding involves both sewing and working with leather, I am going to rule that Verschoyle can use Craft (bookbinding) instead of Craft (leatherworking) at a -5 penalty (like with Grim using weaponsmithing to make a siege engine).
Even though it's made of flesh rather than metal, a flesh golem can be repaired using the Eberron repair spells.
Evil filthy mind flayer adventure
The army was en route to Jalahand's village, passing close to a tiny goblin hamlet. The hamlet's orc chieftain rode up to the PCs and promised his warriors (one extra unit of goblins) to help in their fight if they would help him remove the cause of the disease that was devastating his village.
The PCs traced the diseased stream back to an underground cave where piles of rotting animal and goblin corpses formed a habitat for two otyughs and two carrion crawlers. Further into the cave complex they found a mind flayer and its minions, a wyvern and a flesh golem.
They defeated the mind flayer and its minions, although the mind flayer itself managed to get away by using a psionic teleportation power. In the mind flayer's lair they found another half-complete flesh golem, along with a book of instructions for making such golems.
Ug died in the battle with the flesh golem. Grim and Verschoyle hurried to Graywall with his body, leaving Zumm in charge of the army. On the way they encountered the gnoll reinforcements on their way to Jalahand's village, bluffed them into thinking that Jalahand was dead, and paid them off to go back to Graywall.
In Graywall they found a gnoll druid who could reincarnate Ug, but his soul refused to return. While there, Verschoyle made friends with a tiefling wizard (whose name, I have just decided, was Tharrad Katarn). He also rescued Merred Nastor, the Silver Flame cleric, by fighting in the arena on his behalf.
The PCs traced the diseased stream back to an underground cave where piles of rotting animal and goblin corpses formed a habitat for two otyughs and two carrion crawlers. Further into the cave complex they found a mind flayer and its minions, a wyvern and a flesh golem.
They defeated the mind flayer and its minions, although the mind flayer itself managed to get away by using a psionic teleportation power. In the mind flayer's lair they found another half-complete flesh golem, along with a book of instructions for making such golems.
Ug died in the battle with the flesh golem. Grim and Verschoyle hurried to Graywall with his body, leaving Zumm in charge of the army. On the way they encountered the gnoll reinforcements on their way to Jalahand's village, bluffed them into thinking that Jalahand was dead, and paid them off to go back to Graywall.
In Graywall they found a gnoll druid who could reincarnate Ug, but his soul refused to return. While there, Verschoyle made friends with a tiefling wizard (whose name, I have just decided, was Tharrad Katarn). He also rescued Merred Nastor, the Silver Flame cleric, by fighting in the arena on his behalf.
Last night's action and Tom's new character
Last night's side-quest turned out to be a bit more challenging than I'd intended, and Ug got killed (again). But he died as a good Gatekeeper Druid, having just defeated a dreaded Mind Flayer. Grim and Verschoyle took his body to Graywall and asked a gnoll druid to reincarnate him, but his spirit did not want to return.
However, a bugbear scout on a mission from the goblinoid empire of Darguun has shown an interest in travelling with the party in order to find out about the new warlord of the region.
I've been reading the rules for monster characters and it turns out I got the rules slightly wrong. To get the effective character level (ECL) of a monster character you add together it's level adjustment, class levels, _and racial hit dice_. Racial hit dice effectively count as levels in the 'bugbear' class.
So a bugbear rogue with ECL 8 would be a level 4 rogue:
3 racial levels + 4 rogue levels + 1 level adjustment = ECL 8
For the purposes of gaining feats and ability score increases, you use your total hit dice (racial and class) but not the level adjustment. So your rogue has 7 HD, giving it three feats and a +1 increase to one ability score. You also have 7 HD for the purposes of magical effects that depend on hit dice.
For the purposes of XP, you add up the racial hit dice, class levels, and level adjustment. So for XP purposes you are a level 8 character.
The value of your starting equipment would also depend on ECL I think. So if I recall correctly you can have up to 27,000gp worth of equipment, no more than 1/4 of which can be spent on a single item.
I have the sourcebooks with extra character options in them here in case you want to borrow them to look at options.
As for the mission your character is on... how about you've been sent by Darguun to look for an ancient Dhakaani artifact that you think is somewhere in the region? This gives you a reason to stay in the area and also opens up a nice 'treasure hunt' story arc.
However, a bugbear scout on a mission from the goblinoid empire of Darguun has shown an interest in travelling with the party in order to find out about the new warlord of the region.
I've been reading the rules for monster characters and it turns out I got the rules slightly wrong. To get the effective character level (ECL) of a monster character you add together it's level adjustment, class levels, _and racial hit dice_. Racial hit dice effectively count as levels in the 'bugbear' class.
So a bugbear rogue with ECL 8 would be a level 4 rogue:
3 racial levels + 4 rogue levels + 1 level adjustment = ECL 8
For the purposes of gaining feats and ability score increases, you use your total hit dice (racial and class) but not the level adjustment. So your rogue has 7 HD, giving it three feats and a +1 increase to one ability score. You also have 7 HD for the purposes of magical effects that depend on hit dice.
For the purposes of XP, you add up the racial hit dice, class levels, and level adjustment. So for XP purposes you are a level 8 character.
The value of your starting equipment would also depend on ECL I think. So if I recall correctly you can have up to 27,000gp worth of equipment, no more than 1/4 of which can be spent on a single item.
I have the sourcebooks with extra character options in them here in case you want to borrow them to look at options.
As for the mission your character is on... how about you've been sent by Darguun to look for an ancient Dhakaani artifact that you think is somewhere in the region? This gives you a reason to stay in the area and also opens up a nice 'treasure hunt' story arc.
Saturday 10 February 2007
Intelligence report: Jalahand's village
This is the layout of Jalahand's village (according to what Zumm saw).
- Gate. This was guarded by two ogres when Zumm and co. infiltrated the village.
- River outlet, blocked by iron bars.
- Ordinary huts. Each is big enough to sleep a couple of ogres or a dozen goblins.
- Kezda's hut. Now that Kezda is dead, there is probably nothing special about it.
- Arena. A 30ft-wide circle marked by a ring of stones.
- Crafting area. A goblin was brewing a potion here.
- Ground level cave entrance.
- High-level cave entrance to dire bat lair. It is 40ft off the ground.
- Prison. A stone building sub-divided into cells.
- Watch tower. Wooden, 40ft high. It is liked to the ground by a simple rope pulley lift (powered by an ogre on the ground).
Thursday 8 February 2007
Your army
Valdash recommends organizing the army as follows. Naturally he will re-organize things according to any plan that Lord Grim and his advisors have in mind.
Maneuver elements
Commando squad / free agents
Grim, Ug, Verschoyle and Zumm
Infantary unit (18)
1 sergeant (goblin 2nd-level warrior, Thurzar, or orc warrior)
13 or 14 goblin warriors
Artillery unit (2)
Infantary unit, but also armed with crossbows
Elite infantary unit (2)
Valdash or Kardash
10 goblin elite guards (4th-level warriors armed with halberds)
Ogre unit (1)
4 ogres
Ballista unit (1)
Light ballista
Gnoll siege engineer
Goblin blacksmith
4 goblin 1st-level warriors
1 min to set up or take down. While carrying the parts of the ballista, the team can move at its normal speed. While set up, the ballista can fire once every other round. It has 20 bolts.
Cavalry unit (1)
2 2nd-level goblin warriors riding worgs
Non-combatants
Tlagnak, goblin holy man (Valdash assumes he will stay out of combat and only attempt to heal people he can get to safely)
Zurga (Valdash assumes that since Zurga is a woman she will not be in combat. For her own part, Zurga is scared of combat but is confident that Verschoyle would keep her safe if she stuck with him.)
The battle-wagon (although the wagon itself is resilient, the horses are not trained for combat)
Infantary sergeants
Thurzar (2nd-level goblin rogue)
3 orc warriors
16 2nd-level goblin warriors (Valdash's 20 trainees, minus the two worg-riders, Skardash, and Thurzar)
Each of these sergeants commands a squad of 13 or 14 goblins. (Most squads have 14, but four of them only have 13.)
The army has enough crossbows to equip two of the infantary units with them. (That's 30 crossbows; there were some in Garduk.)
Valdash and Kardash will each take command of half of the Garduk elite guards.
All the units above can move at the same speed (30ft), except the worg-riders who are faster (50ft).
Valdash assumes that Grim and his assistants will not want to be tied down by directly commanding infantary units. They could of course take some of the army personnel with them, either collectively or each having an individual squad. Valdash will re-organize the rest of the army accordingly.
Maneuver elements
Commando squad / free agents
Grim, Ug, Verschoyle and Zumm
Infantary unit (18)
1 sergeant (goblin 2nd-level warrior, Thurzar, or orc warrior)
13 or 14 goblin warriors
Artillery unit (2)
Infantary unit, but also armed with crossbows
Elite infantary unit (2)
Valdash or Kardash
10 goblin elite guards (4th-level warriors armed with halberds)
Ogre unit (1)
4 ogres
Ballista unit (1)
Light ballista
Gnoll siege engineer
Goblin blacksmith
4 goblin 1st-level warriors
1 min to set up or take down. While carrying the parts of the ballista, the team can move at its normal speed. While set up, the ballista can fire once every other round. It has 20 bolts.
Cavalry unit (1)
2 2nd-level goblin warriors riding worgs
Non-combatants
Tlagnak, goblin holy man (Valdash assumes he will stay out of combat and only attempt to heal people he can get to safely)
Zurga (Valdash assumes that since Zurga is a woman she will not be in combat. For her own part, Zurga is scared of combat but is confident that Verschoyle would keep her safe if she stuck with him.)
The battle-wagon (although the wagon itself is resilient, the horses are not trained for combat)
Infantary sergeants
Thurzar (2nd-level goblin rogue)
3 orc warriors
16 2nd-level goblin warriors (Valdash's 20 trainees, minus the two worg-riders, Skardash, and Thurzar)
Each of these sergeants commands a squad of 13 or 14 goblins. (Most squads have 14, but four of them only have 13.)
The army has enough crossbows to equip two of the infantary units with them. (That's 30 crossbows; there were some in Garduk.)
Valdash and Kardash will each take command of half of the Garduk elite guards.
All the units above can move at the same speed (30ft), except the worg-riders who are faster (50ft).
Valdash assumes that Grim and his assistants will not want to be tied down by directly commanding infantary units. They could of course take some of the army personnel with them, either collectively or each having an individual squad. Valdash will re-organize the rest of the army accordingly.
Wednesday 7 February 2007
Zurga is 2nd-level
En route to Stoneskull, Zurga excitedly tells Verschoyle that she thinks she has become more powerful in magic. She can cast an extra spell per day, and had worked out how to cast two additional spells: Comprehend Languages and Sleep. She also, for some reason, thinks she could withstand a little more damage than before.
For reference, Zurga's spellbook now contains:
All level 0 spells
Disguise self
Mage armour
Magic missile
Reduce person
Summon monster I
Comprehend languages
Sleep
For reference, Zurga's spellbook now contains:
All level 0 spells
Disguise self
Mage armour
Magic missile
Reduce person
Summon monster I
Comprehend languages
Sleep
Zurga in trouble, and the march to Stoneskull
Before I forget, here's what happened in tonight's session.
Grim learned from the captured ogre lieutenant that Jalahand had sent an envoy to Graywall to hire an unknown number of gnoll mercenaries. Grim decided that it was best to strike soon, before the gnolls arrived.
Zurga fled from an attempted forced marriage and hid in a cave that, unknown to her, was the lair of two behirs. By the time the party found out about this, the behirs had returned and were blocking her exit, so the party had to kill the monsters in order to rescue her. The party (minus Ug, who had caught a disease from his horrid rat) defeated the behirs, but Zumm and Grim both got swallowed whole and nearly died in the process. (In risking his life to rescue her, the evil Zumm may have accidentally committed a Good act.)
The next day, Grim set in motion his plan to topple Jalahand from power. The party (minus Ug again) first went to Garduk, where they defeated Kardash with very little violence and installed Valdash as chieftain, promising Kardash that he would be chieftain of Jalahand's village when Jalahand was defeated. The goblins of the region all support Grim as aspiring warlord of the region and will help him in his plan to depose Jalahand.
The party, along with a large proportion of the warriors from Garduk, then joined with the army from Castle Granis on the way to Jalahand's village of Stoneskull. The army from Castle Granis included the battle-wagon, which had returned from Graywall; but it had returned from Graywall without the cleric Merred Nastor, who disappeared mysteriously in Graywall.
The session ended with the massed armies of Castle Granis and Garduk one more day's march from Stoneskull.
Timeline update
Your army
Grim, Verschoyle, Zumm and Ug
Zurga, goblin wizard
Valdash and Kardash, orc fighters
Tlagnak, goblin adept (Garduk's holy man and healer)
Hrogar Longarm, gnoll siege engineer
Thurzar, goblin rogue
Boruk, goblin blacksmith
1 ballista with 20 bolts
2 worgs with riders (2nd-level goblin warriors)
3 orc warriors
20 goblin 4th-level warriors (Kardash's elite guards from Garduk)
16 goblin 2nd-level warriors (Valdash's trainees from Castle Granis)
280 goblin 1st-level warriors (masses armies of Castle Granis and Garduk)
Skardash has been left in charge of Castle Granis. One of Valdash's young orc cousins has been left in charge of Garduk, along with the 30 remaining goblin warriors from that town.
(There are 16 2nd-level warriors from Castle Granis, not 20, because Valdash's 20 trainees included Skardash, Thurzar and the two worg riders.)
Grim learned from the captured ogre lieutenant that Jalahand had sent an envoy to Graywall to hire an unknown number of gnoll mercenaries. Grim decided that it was best to strike soon, before the gnolls arrived.
Zurga fled from an attempted forced marriage and hid in a cave that, unknown to her, was the lair of two behirs. By the time the party found out about this, the behirs had returned and were blocking her exit, so the party had to kill the monsters in order to rescue her. The party (minus Ug, who had caught a disease from his horrid rat) defeated the behirs, but Zumm and Grim both got swallowed whole and nearly died in the process. (In risking his life to rescue her, the evil Zumm may have accidentally committed a Good act.)
The next day, Grim set in motion his plan to topple Jalahand from power. The party (minus Ug again) first went to Garduk, where they defeated Kardash with very little violence and installed Valdash as chieftain, promising Kardash that he would be chieftain of Jalahand's village when Jalahand was defeated. The goblins of the region all support Grim as aspiring warlord of the region and will help him in his plan to depose Jalahand.
The party, along with a large proportion of the warriors from Garduk, then joined with the army from Castle Granis on the way to Jalahand's village of Stoneskull. The army from Castle Granis included the battle-wagon, which had returned from Graywall; but it had returned from Graywall without the cleric Merred Nastor, who disappeared mysteriously in Graywall.
The session ended with the massed armies of Castle Granis and Garduk one more day's march from Stoneskull.
Timeline update
| Sypheros 1 | Party encounters and defeats an Athach. Party attacks one of Jalahand's trading parties, killing most of it and taking some prisoners. |
| Sypheros 3 | Party arrives back at Castle Granis with prisoners. All of the 20 original trainees are now 2nd-level Warriors. The trench in front of the castle is complete. |
| Sypheros 4 | Zurga escapes a forced marriage and shelters in a cave. The party defeats two behirs in order to rescue her. |
| Sypheros 5 | The party sets off for Garduk in order to depose Kardash. |
| Sypheros 6 | Thurzar arrives back at Castle Granis in the battle-wagon with all the goods he was sent for and a gnoll siege engineer but without Merred Nastor. |
| Sypheros 7 | The party arrives at Garduk, defeats Kardash and begins mustering an army to attack Jalahand. |
| Sypheros 8 | The party leaves Garduk, leading a large army. |
| Sypheros 10 | The party and goblin army arrives at the rendezvous point but the army from Castle Granis does not arrive as scheduled. |
| Sypheros 11 | The army from Castle Granis arrives, having been delayed because Thurzar spent an extra day in Graywall looking for Merred Nastor. |
| Sypheros 12 | The party attacks Jalahand's village of Stoneskull... |
Your army
Grim, Verschoyle, Zumm and Ug
Zurga, goblin wizard
Valdash and Kardash, orc fighters
Tlagnak, goblin adept (Garduk's holy man and healer)
Hrogar Longarm, gnoll siege engineer
Thurzar, goblin rogue
Boruk, goblin blacksmith
1 ballista with 20 bolts
2 worgs with riders (2nd-level goblin warriors)
3 orc warriors
20 goblin 4th-level warriors (Kardash's elite guards from Garduk)
16 goblin 2nd-level warriors (Valdash's trainees from Castle Granis)
280 goblin 1st-level warriors (masses armies of Castle Granis and Garduk)
Skardash has been left in charge of Castle Granis. One of Valdash's young orc cousins has been left in charge of Garduk, along with the 30 remaining goblin warriors from that town.
(There are 16 2nd-level warriors from Castle Granis, not 20, because Valdash's 20 trainees included Skardash, Thurzar and the two worg riders.)
Monday 5 February 2007
Grim the Legendary Leader
The Legendary Leader prestige class has two feat requirements, Leadership and Iron Will, neither of which Grim has. He will get a new feat the next time he advances a level (to a total character level of 9), and another at 12th level, so the he could enter the Legendary Leader prestige class as his 13th level. By this time his leadership score would be 11 (it's character level + Cha modifier, and Grim's Cha modifier is -2), so he would meet the Legendary Leader's leadership score requirement without needing any more Cha points.
Although there's no problem with it mechanically, Legendary Leader and Warforged Juggernaut are an interesting combination, especially since the Juggernaut has a penalty to checks such as Diplomacy.
Although there's no problem with it mechanically, Legendary Leader and Warforged Juggernaut are an interesting combination, especially since the Juggernaut has a penalty to checks such as Diplomacy.
Heroes of Battle commander auras
Heroes of Battle provides an extra game mechanic called commander auras, which grants bonuses to allies within 30ft of a powerful commander. So that we can decide as a group whether to use this rule or not, I have summarized the possibilities below.
Characters have commander ratings based on how many troops they command. Because the PCs are jointly in charge of Castle Granis, I will give them each a commander rating of 4; Valdash has the same rating, even though any of the PCs is considered to out-rank him for the purposes of giving orders. Any NPC you put in charge of a squad will also acquire a commander rating (a rating of 2 for a squad of 10, for example).
You can pick a commander aura from those for which you qualify (they mostly have alignment and commander rating restrictions, and some have additional restrictions). You can't change it unless your commander rating increases (which it probably won't in the near future of the campaign).
Allies within 30ft who are of a lower commander rating than you gain benefits from your commander aura. Allies of the same commander rating don't benefit, and you don't benefit from your own aura.
The auras for which each character qualifies, and their benefits, are:
Grim
Mobile commander (allies get +5ft speed)
Opportunistic commander (allies deal +1d6 damage on attacks of opportunity)
Ug
Animal commaner (animals and magical beasts get +2 on saving throws)
Feral commander (animals and magical beasts get +2 on attack rolls)
Healing commander (when you heal, you can also rally as a free action)
Spellslinging commander (spells cast by allies deal +1d6 damage)
Verschoyle
Spellslinging commander (as above)
Healing commander (as above)
Zumm
Bloodthirsty commander (allies get +1 on attacks against wounded foes)
Goblinoid commander (goblinoid allies get +2 on attack rolls)
Melee commander (allies get +1 on melee attack rolls)
Orderly commander (allies you rally get +10ft speed for 1 round)
Protective commander (allies get +1 on saving throws)
Pursuing commander (allies deal +1d6 damage against frightened or panicked foes)
Zumm has rather more options than the others because the alignment restrictions to auras seem to favour characters who have an extreme alignment rather than one with a neutral part. If the rest of the group thinks this is unfair I could house-rule a relaxation to the restrictions, e.g. you've got to be within one step of the listed alignment rather than match it.
Valdash would have the bloodthirsty commander aura, because it's the only one for which he qualifies.
Naturally, if we start to use this rule, villains will start to have commander auras as well. Those ogres in your prison cell are starting to look a bit more confident for being in the presence of one of Jalahand's elite ogres...
Characters have commander ratings based on how many troops they command. Because the PCs are jointly in charge of Castle Granis, I will give them each a commander rating of 4; Valdash has the same rating, even though any of the PCs is considered to out-rank him for the purposes of giving orders. Any NPC you put in charge of a squad will also acquire a commander rating (a rating of 2 for a squad of 10, for example).
You can pick a commander aura from those for which you qualify (they mostly have alignment and commander rating restrictions, and some have additional restrictions). You can't change it unless your commander rating increases (which it probably won't in the near future of the campaign).
Allies within 30ft who are of a lower commander rating than you gain benefits from your commander aura. Allies of the same commander rating don't benefit, and you don't benefit from your own aura.
The auras for which each character qualifies, and their benefits, are:
Grim
Mobile commander (allies get +5ft speed)
Opportunistic commander (allies deal +1d6 damage on attacks of opportunity)
Ug
Animal commaner (animals and magical beasts get +2 on saving throws)
Feral commander (animals and magical beasts get +2 on attack rolls)
Healing commander (when you heal, you can also rally as a free action)
Spellslinging commander (spells cast by allies deal +1d6 damage)
Verschoyle
Spellslinging commander (as above)
Healing commander (as above)
Zumm
Bloodthirsty commander (allies get +1 on attacks against wounded foes)
Goblinoid commander (goblinoid allies get +2 on attack rolls)
Melee commander (allies get +1 on melee attack rolls)
Orderly commander (allies you rally get +10ft speed for 1 round)
Protective commander (allies get +1 on saving throws)
Pursuing commander (allies deal +1d6 damage against frightened or panicked foes)
Zumm has rather more options than the others because the alignment restrictions to auras seem to favour characters who have an extreme alignment rather than one with a neutral part. If the rest of the group thinks this is unfair I could house-rule a relaxation to the restrictions, e.g. you've got to be within one step of the listed alignment rather than match it.
Valdash would have the bloodthirsty commander aura, because it's the only one for which he qualifies.
Naturally, if we start to use this rule, villains will start to have commander auras as well. Those ogres in your prison cell are starting to look a bit more confident for being in the presence of one of Jalahand's elite ogres...
Friday 2 February 2007
In-character e-mail discussion dramatized
Sypheros 3. The party has rested after returning to Castle Granis, and as the sun sets beyond the craggy hills of central Droaam and the goblin work-teams finish the day's work on the trench, the party gathers in the meeting room to discuss strategy.
Grim
Whilst we will be paying the blacksmith his 1sp / day, there is absolutely no way that we will be paying Kardash. Actually I'm toying with the idea of taking such umbrage at his insulting dealings with one of my representatives, that I may well remove him from power in Garduk.
How many goblins is Castle Granis capable of accomodating as a standing army, without conditions becoming too cramped? If I were to deal with Kardash I would need somebody to take his place - Valdash, would you prefer to remain at the castle or return to Garduk and be Chieftain there?
Valdash
Goblins are small and don't much mind cramped conditions, but if we had many more warriors we'd need to start buying in food to support them.
As much as I like living in a castle, I am the rightful ruler of Garduk. If you can help me defeat Kardash and let me become chieftain there, then my father will rest more easily in his grave.
Grim
And finally I want to decrease the amount that we are taxing the village tojust 2 goat. One fifth the amount they were paying under Jalahand. Life should be more comfortable for them than it was previously as I want them to have a reason to fight for us.
Valdash
They'll certainly be pleased about that.
Ug
As nice as all of this castle building is, I don't feel that it is anything other than temporary. What is really needed here is to start bringing nature to this desolate land. To do this I will need to start investigating why Droam is so barren. I suspect that the land is magically scarred. I know nothing that could have caused it and its position between two verdant lands (Breland and Eldeen Reaches) makes me suspect that it was once far more pleasant.
I'm sure the rest of the party will understand this, after all, even blessing the land and converting large patches of rock to clay has not yet yielded even a tangible benefit in the life in the area (something I'm acutely sensitive to). How does Grim propose to keep a standing army without an increase in the productivity of the land? As a gatekeeper I am not averse to fortifying the land against Xoriat or training up an army to suppress aberrations in the area, but all this will come to nothing if the very ground we are building on is dead.
I am also beginning to think that Grim's approach to training goblins into a traditional army to defend us is probably misguided. I agree with martial training, but I think we need to start spreading our goblins out. Once those under us become proficient they should leave the castle in groups. They will then find other goblin groups, who they will direct to our castle, whom we will train up and then send out. This way we should be able to increase the martial proficiency of the entire population far quicker. Into these goblins we must instil the Gatekeeper knowledge: that is the awareness of Xoriat, it's threat and a martial way of life. This way we increase the theoretical size of our army, strengthen the entire area against the threat of aberrations and give the goblins a sense of power and community which will directly undermine other warlords. It also reduces the strain on the land of having one army in one place.
I expect that most of the groups we send out will fight new groups of goblins they meet, which will be an ideal way to show them what our training can do for them. We will stress to the groups that they are only to kill when not doing do would endanger themselves, that they must always ensure that survivors will know to whom they owe their prowess and to seize the best land and women for themselves. The latter may sound evil, but it is entirely as nature intended Goblins to function.
That said, I will immediately start taking goblins on regular ventures out of the castle, to practice raids against stray animals and small threats, start teaching them about the gatekeeper way and look for promising ones to send off to train as Druids or Rangers. Any useful animals I find I will attempt to persuade (or failing that dominate) to return to the castle with me. The secondary aim of these raids is to help me get a better idea of the land, the location of particularly desolate or verdant patches and old dhakani ruins. I stress to all goblins the importance of the nature of the world through a Druid's eyes: the fragility of civilisations, the brutality and beauty of nature. Naturally I expect most of them to latch onto the unforgiving and crueller sides of the natural world, but as a Druid I endorse this.
Grim
It's quite simple really; I'm planning on removing Kardash from power in Garduk and instilling Valdash as the village chief. I will then take X number of goblins back to Castle Granis to bolster our small force there. The food for them will come from Garduk - after all the area has been supporting them until now. I'm not planning on increasing the numbers of goblins we have available to us, just moving them around so that they are of more use to us.
Sorry, I don't agree with you on this. When in a position of weakness, make sure you fight your battles from positions of strength ~ Tsun Tsu - The Art of War. How long do you think a group of say 10 goblins would last wandering around this area by themselves? That wandering monster that we fought last night would have slaughtered a group like that in about 3 rounds (after all it had 3 arms and a bite attack.) We know that our enemy vastly outnumbers us, no matter how much more powerful we are than the average goblin, enough of them will simply swarm over us. It's hard to cast spells when 50 goblins are sitting on top of you, holding your arms! Once we've dealt with Jalahand then we can start spreading our forces - before would be stupid. Speaking of Jalahand; if we take command of Garduk we will have a larger "army" at our disposal than he has. So we could theoretically take the fight to him.
And, only kill when not doing so would endanger themselves? That's rich coming from the druid who killed an ogre unnecesarily and who keeps a rat that infects anybody it bites with a slow, lingering death. Nice.
The argument lasts long into the night but no agreement is reached. The goblin blacksmith tinkers with the ballista. Zurga practices magic and accidentally makes her familiar glow in the dark. Down in the dungeon, Jalahand's ogre lieutenant plots bloody revenge on his captors. Far to the south a battle-wagon laden with doors stops for the night. Eventually all those who need sleep decide to get some. Somewhere in the distance an owlbear hoots. What plot hooks will the next day bring?
Grim
Whilst we will be paying the blacksmith his 1sp / day, there is absolutely no way that we will be paying Kardash. Actually I'm toying with the idea of taking such umbrage at his insulting dealings with one of my representatives, that I may well remove him from power in Garduk.
How many goblins is Castle Granis capable of accomodating as a standing army, without conditions becoming too cramped? If I were to deal with Kardash I would need somebody to take his place - Valdash, would you prefer to remain at the castle or return to Garduk and be Chieftain there?
Valdash
Goblins are small and don't much mind cramped conditions, but if we had many more warriors we'd need to start buying in food to support them.
As much as I like living in a castle, I am the rightful ruler of Garduk. If you can help me defeat Kardash and let me become chieftain there, then my father will rest more easily in his grave.
Grim
And finally I want to decrease the amount that we are taxing the village tojust 2 goat. One fifth the amount they were paying under Jalahand. Life should be more comfortable for them than it was previously as I want them to have a reason to fight for us.
Valdash
They'll certainly be pleased about that.
Ug
As nice as all of this castle building is, I don't feel that it is anything other than temporary. What is really needed here is to start bringing nature to this desolate land. To do this I will need to start investigating why Droam is so barren. I suspect that the land is magically scarred. I know nothing that could have caused it and its position between two verdant lands (Breland and Eldeen Reaches) makes me suspect that it was once far more pleasant.
I'm sure the rest of the party will understand this, after all, even blessing the land and converting large patches of rock to clay has not yet yielded even a tangible benefit in the life in the area (something I'm acutely sensitive to). How does Grim propose to keep a standing army without an increase in the productivity of the land? As a gatekeeper I am not averse to fortifying the land against Xoriat or training up an army to suppress aberrations in the area, but all this will come to nothing if the very ground we are building on is dead.
I am also beginning to think that Grim's approach to training goblins into a traditional army to defend us is probably misguided. I agree with martial training, but I think we need to start spreading our goblins out. Once those under us become proficient they should leave the castle in groups. They will then find other goblin groups, who they will direct to our castle, whom we will train up and then send out. This way we should be able to increase the martial proficiency of the entire population far quicker. Into these goblins we must instil the Gatekeeper knowledge: that is the awareness of Xoriat, it's threat and a martial way of life. This way we increase the theoretical size of our army, strengthen the entire area against the threat of aberrations and give the goblins a sense of power and community which will directly undermine other warlords. It also reduces the strain on the land of having one army in one place.
I expect that most of the groups we send out will fight new groups of goblins they meet, which will be an ideal way to show them what our training can do for them. We will stress to the groups that they are only to kill when not doing do would endanger themselves, that they must always ensure that survivors will know to whom they owe their prowess and to seize the best land and women for themselves. The latter may sound evil, but it is entirely as nature intended Goblins to function.
That said, I will immediately start taking goblins on regular ventures out of the castle, to practice raids against stray animals and small threats, start teaching them about the gatekeeper way and look for promising ones to send off to train as Druids or Rangers. Any useful animals I find I will attempt to persuade (or failing that dominate) to return to the castle with me. The secondary aim of these raids is to help me get a better idea of the land, the location of particularly desolate or verdant patches and old dhakani ruins. I stress to all goblins the importance of the nature of the world through a Druid's eyes: the fragility of civilisations, the brutality and beauty of nature. Naturally I expect most of them to latch onto the unforgiving and crueller sides of the natural world, but as a Druid I endorse this.
Grim
It's quite simple really; I'm planning on removing Kardash from power in Garduk and instilling Valdash as the village chief. I will then take X number of goblins back to Castle Granis to bolster our small force there. The food for them will come from Garduk - after all the area has been supporting them until now. I'm not planning on increasing the numbers of goblins we have available to us, just moving them around so that they are of more use to us.
Sorry, I don't agree with you on this. When in a position of weakness, make sure you fight your battles from positions of strength ~ Tsun Tsu - The Art of War. How long do you think a group of say 10 goblins would last wandering around this area by themselves? That wandering monster that we fought last night would have slaughtered a group like that in about 3 rounds (after all it had 3 arms and a bite attack.) We know that our enemy vastly outnumbers us, no matter how much more powerful we are than the average goblin, enough of them will simply swarm over us. It's hard to cast spells when 50 goblins are sitting on top of you, holding your arms! Once we've dealt with Jalahand then we can start spreading our forces - before would be stupid. Speaking of Jalahand; if we take command of Garduk we will have a larger "army" at our disposal than he has. So we could theoretically take the fight to him.
And, only kill when not doing so would endanger themselves? That's rich coming from the druid who killed an ogre unnecesarily and who keeps a rat that infects anybody it bites with a slow, lingering death. Nice.
The argument lasts long into the night but no agreement is reached. The goblin blacksmith tinkers with the ballista. Zurga practices magic and accidentally makes her familiar glow in the dark. Down in the dungeon, Jalahand's ogre lieutenant plots bloody revenge on his captors. Far to the south a battle-wagon laden with doors stops for the night. Eventually all those who need sleep decide to get some. Somewhere in the distance an owlbear hoots. What plot hooks will the next day bring?
Thursday 1 February 2007
Report of tonight's action
Before I forget, here's the report of tonight's action.
Supplies
The supplies that Merred Nastor is going to fetch are:
* 1560 sacks for use as sandbags @ 1sp each
* 29 wooden internal doors @ 4gp each
* 1 thick double wooden door @ 8gp
* 4 trapdoors @ 4gp each
(Total: 296gp)
* 1 siege engineer @ 5sp/day
Monthly expenses
Incoming:
Goat tax: 10gp (this is the amount the village had been paying to Jalahand)
Outgoing:
Blacksmith: 5.6gp (1sp/day to each of the blacksmith and Kardash)
Siege engineer: 14gp (5sp/day)
Total
-9.6gp / month
Prisoners
* 15 goblins, who are being forced to work and are under guard, but are otherwise being treated as well as the other goblins of Castle Granis.
* 4 ogres, including one especially powerful one, who are in a makeshift prison in the castle vault (formerly the vampire's lair).
| Rhaan 19 | Zumm, a goblin monk of the Mockery, arrives and suggests he join forces with the party as they share a quarrel with Jalahand. |
| Rhaan 20 | Zumm and two hand-picked goblin spies set out to reconnoitre Jalahand's village and size up his forces. |
| Rhaan 21 | Verschoyle finishes translating the tomb inscriptions and sets off back to Castle Granis. |
| Rhaan 23 | Verschoyle arrives back at Castle Granis. Zumm, along with two goblins called Skardash and Thurzar, arrive at Jalahand's village. They cause short-lived chaos and manage to kill the village's seer, a goblin bat-rider, and two ogres. They also free Merred Nastor, a human Silver Flame missionary. |
| Rhaan 25 | Zumm, Skardash, Thurzar and Merred Nastor arrive back at Castle Granis. |
| Rhaan 26 | Ug goes to Garduk in the form of a hawk to summon the blacksmith, and agrees to pay 1sp/day to both the blacksmith and Kardash. Merred Nastor, Skardash, and five goblins (if I recall correctly) set off in the battle wagon to Graywall to buy stuff for the castle. The party sets off towards Stoneskull in order to abmush supply lines. |
| Sypheros 1 | Party encounters and defeats an Athach. Party attacks one of Jalahand's trading parties, killing most of it and taking some prisoners. |
| Sypheros 3 | Party arrives back at Castle Granis with prisoners. All of the 20 original trainees are now 2nd-level Warriors. The trench in front of the castle is complete. |
| Sypheros 5 (estimated) | Merred Nastor returns from Graywall with supplies and stuff. |
Supplies
The supplies that Merred Nastor is going to fetch are:
* 1560 sacks for use as sandbags @ 1sp each
* 29 wooden internal doors @ 4gp each
* 1 thick double wooden door @ 8gp
* 4 trapdoors @ 4gp each
(Total: 296gp)
* 1 siege engineer @ 5sp/day
Monthly expenses
Incoming:
Goat tax: 10gp (this is the amount the village had been paying to Jalahand)
Outgoing:
Blacksmith: 5.6gp (1sp/day to each of the blacksmith and Kardash)
Siege engineer: 14gp (5sp/day)
Total
-9.6gp / month
Prisoners
* 15 goblins, who are being forced to work and are under guard, but are otherwise being treated as well as the other goblins of Castle Granis.
* 4 ogres, including one especially powerful one, who are in a makeshift prison in the castle vault (formerly the vampire's lair).
Monday 29 January 2007
How to view images
I have just noticed that in order to view images in this blog at the office you will need to add the following to the temporary whitelist:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com
http://2.bp.blogspot.com
http://3.bp.blogspot.com
http://4.bp.blogspot.com
And possibly also http://bp[n].blogger.com for future images.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com
http://2.bp.blogspot.com
http://3.bp.blogspot.com
http://4.bp.blogspot.com
And possibly also http://bp[n].blogger.com for future images.
Sunday 28 January 2007
NPC gallery
This isn't all that much like I imagined most of these NPCs, but they're better than I could have drawn myself!
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