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Messages - phaedrusxy

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61
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: October 11, 2021, 03:24:27 PM »
We're partway through the Battle of "Brindol". I'm pretty much ignoring what's in the campaign book by this time. I ran a session earlier about Droam joining the hobgoblins via a portal reawakened in an ancient Dakaani ruin. So now the horde is being reinforced by harpies, a beholder, and a bunch of other more "monstrous" monsters. We'll get to the Battle of Brindol later. In this post, I want to talk about the session before that, in which they learned about Droam joining, found out about the portal, etc.

Luxis (my son's character) wound up in discussions/negotiations with the Twelve about the growing threat to Eberron (and trade) that the Red Hand (and Tiamat) represent. He managed to bargain for them to help him construct a fortress/keep with a Teleportation Circle in it (as part of the network they manage). He had also started using Mind Switch (which I lowered to level 5, to match Magic Jar... because why they hell should wizards get it before Telepaths?) to really great effect. I had his artificer cohort craft a magic item that acted like the "jar" in Magic Jar, and also placed a Word of Recall enchantment on it, and made it so that he could trigger it "mentally" while inside the jar. He was having a blast with this overpowered insanity, and in truth so did I. :D

They found out that the Red Hand army was amassing at an old Dhakanni ruin, and so set off to find out what they were up to there. He was possessing a troll, which was a member of the Red Hand army, and managed to walk right through a portal and into the chamber where the representatives of the Red Hand were discussing terms with Sora Katra (in Droam). In his boldness, he singlehandedly attacked the whole group of 50+, and actually killed Sora Katra... I gave him a surprise round, and he won initiative and so got two full rounds (plus a 3rd with Anticipatory Strike) before they had a chance to react. Well... with Telekinetic Thrust, he can dish out a truly insane amount of damage in that time. He also has a homebrewed power based on Curse of the Putrid Husk, which has an augment to let him apply it to multiple enemies. So... he was able to incapacitate or kill quite a few enemies in that couple of rounds... Then of course he was quickly incapacitated himself... but because he was in a troll... he wasn't actually killled, but merely knocked unconscious (which was worse for him... as he was trapped and unable to flee to another body or his "jar" to escape).

Since he was enjoying the magic jar stuff so much, I made a decision to make this a "permanent" ability... by letting him level up in (a modified version of) the Stranger with the Burning Eyes, one of my absolute favorite homebrew PrCs. :D The main requirement is your own body must have been destroyed... So... while he was out attacking the Sisters, I had an "attack squad" led by a greater barghest (enhanced via Tome of Fiends feats which gave it wings and the ability to teleport, and a couple levels of crusader) attack his new keep and destroy it... along with his real body.

While that was happening, Sora Tezzara brought her "sister" back to life, and then eventually hit Luxis' host/troll body with a Greater Dispel Magic. This kicked him out of it, and back into the "jar", and he then triggered his Word of Recall and teleported back to his keep... to find it and his real body destroyed. He of course freaked out at this, and even threatened to quit the game... (rightfully, probably, lol). Then I told him about the prestige class, and he loved the option, and so I leveled him up, andwe stuck with it. (I had ideas about bringing him back if he opted not to go with it, probably involving their druid ally using Reincarnate).

So... he's been having great fun body hopping and causing havoc since then. He went back to the army, which was in the process of destroying Drellin's Ferry (which had been evacuated, thanks to the PCs), and managed to possess Gorodan Ashlord, a fire giant "general" from Droaam...

62
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Build advice for 3.5 Barbarian Cleric
« on: October 06, 2021, 05:07:32 PM »
Divine Power is not quite as neat in a PHB only game, as you lack the means to persist it cheaply with Divine Metamagic.
There are ways to Quicken it without paying the higher spell slot cost, but they're not exactly "cheap". First, of course Metamagic Rods work. Then there is the trick of taking a level in Heirophant, and making it a Spell-like ability, and then taking the Quicken Spell-like Ability feat.

Since most D&D games don't have a boatload of combat encounters per day, and most encounters are fairly short, even the MM Rod is likely enough to cover you. Given the cost, neither of these options would be available till mid to higher levels, but at the earlier levels the missing point or two of BAB doesn't really matter that much, anyway. I'd still agree with the others that just sticking with the single level of barbarian, and taking Extra Rage, would be the way to go as far as class levels.

63
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: August 14, 2021, 09:34:04 AM »
The PCs forged ahead to the Ghost Lord's lair (whom I have altered considerably, see above). On the way, while they were taking a nap, I rolled a random encounter which came up as 4 of the "dumb" sphinxes that look just like griffons. I rarely use random encounters, and kind of regretted it... After it became really obvious that the PCs were going to mop the floor with them (they'd charmed one, and almost killed another in the first round), I just had the remaining two retreat as the charmed one finished off the injured one.

I guess they were feeling somewhat cocky... because they just flew right into the giant stone lion's mouth (the "upstairs" of the lair) with only Mass Invisibility as a buff, and proceeded to go in with a "kick in the door" style... which they soon regretted. My daughter's bestie was visiting, and I had her RP Wyrmlord Ulwai Stormcaller, and she did a great job. As the PCs were pounding the three monk's at the top of the stairs, she flew up on the back of a blue dragon behind them, blocking their exit, and blew a horn (bardic inspire courage). The monks' fists erupted in electricity just as reinforcements piled up the stairs behind them. After another round, with one PC at about 1/4th hp and the other at 1/2, they realized that they had made a terrible mistake by not buffing... and made a very wise and efficiently executed tactical retreat via various short range teleportation devices and the like that they have.

They then took a few rounds to buff heavily, and having seen the Ghostlord, Luxus reached out to communicate with him telepathically... and succeeded in turning him to their side by telling him that they had actually already retrieved his item (a planar sextant, i.e. Maguffin). Then they flew back in, making a very dramatic entrance, and Lilly (the changeling spylord's newest persona) succeeded in stealing the memories of Tiamat from the blue dragon, effectively freeing it from her control temporarily... Of course, "converting" both the dragon and Ghostlord to their side was an immediate win... but Ulwai managed to successfully escape (via some Boots of Big Stepping that I added to her inventory at the last moment), so she can warn the High Wyrmlord of the dire threat the PCs pose.

64
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: July 17, 2021, 03:55:40 PM »
Just to point out the 12 was originally set up to oppose royal power. The houses existed outside Galifar's feudal structure so they had a shared interest in lobbying the kingdom. Since the war the houses grabbed a lot of royal institutions and hold them "in trust" under the "neutral" organization of the 12.
Yeah... I haven't read through that much of the actual material in books, but brushing up online, that was certainly the overall tone I got from them.

65
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: July 16, 2021, 11:19:46 PM »
So my son decided he wants to build a keep at the top of the waterfall that I described near the bridge they destroyed. He also wants to have a Teleportation Circle there (which are naturally owned and operated by House Orien). I told him he'd have to petition to House Orien to get this approved, and he did... and as "payment" he told them a bunch of stuff about my version of the plot behind the RHoD (trying to release Tiamat, corrupting dragons, etc) as well as the specifics about his "new form of magic" (i.e. psionics) and how there is a secret cult trying to free another overpower/monster... The Orien representative said she "would need to present this information to The Twelve" and asked him if he would be "willing to be a witness" to them (the Twelve). He has since been going bonkers begging me to tell him about the twelve, and "what they said" etc... lol Looking around, there is very, very little information about the Twelve from what I can see. They seem like a secret cabal/united nations type of group, with the aim of kind of keeping the houses from getting into direct conflicts with each other, and also opposing anything that might "hinder profits" for the houses as a whole. A demonlord escaping and taking over the whole world would definitely fall into that category... so they'll certainly be interested in stopping that from happening. lol Now to decide how to play this out from my side (and how much they'll actually tell him). I'm thinking they'll probably try to use him as a pawn, will more or less try to funnel resources into stopping the release of Tiamat (preferably those of the 5 Nations... and NOT their own, lol), etc.

I'm also thinking of having the nation of Droaam and the Sisters, as well as some dark power that might be "behind" them, come out as "opposing" the 12... (and maybe this will turn into a whole "capitalism" vs "anarchism" thing). I also have this vague idea that the reason that the dragons don't come in and burn everything to the ground when even a whiff of some plot to free Tiamat was hatched is because some part of the dragon prophesy warns that if they try, then their efforts will just result in actually releasing her (or something worse... although that's hard to imagine). I had thought of having the prophesy say something about "only when ancient Galifar is reunited under the Hidden Kingdom, will (Tiamat and/or the Watcher/Eye) be stopped". Originally I had a few ideas about what the "Hidden Kingdom" would be... (including everything from some secret kingdom of Intellect Devourers, to other things...). Now I'm thinking... hell it will just be the Twelve and the Dragonmarked Houses. Everything in Eberron has seemed to me to be pointing in the direction of the fall of the nations and rise of the houses in the grand scheme of power distribution. Let's just make it official. :D

66
Introduce Yourself / Re: Greetings
« on: July 12, 2021, 10:35:53 AM »
Welcome!

67
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: July 11, 2021, 09:43:42 PM »
The dragon and goblin hid inside a darkness spell (SLA), and used that cover to slip back into the lake. They then snuck around for a few rounds healing each other with a Wand of CLW while the dragon's BW recharged and the battle raged above them. Luxis decided to go after them, and manifested a 5th level Astral Construct (Overchannel to hit 9th ML) with a swim speed that he styled as a "sea serpent". He rode this down into the depths of the lake, holding his breath...

Meanwhile, The Spyder pursued the blackspawn razorfiend into the lake in another location not that far away... It too was being healed by a lizardfolk shaman. She hit them both with a Glitterdust, and the fiend failed its save, making what would have been an otherwise tough encounter an easy one (it missed every attack... I debated on not allowing Glitterdust to work underwater, but ultimately decided that would be too mean).

Luxis had a max power Vigor and Share Spell (so basically 80 THP) going when he engaged the dragon, and it tore through his THP in one round. He managed to telekinetically crush it for pretty good damage in return (custom adaptation of the Master of the Unseen Hand), and then used his Anklet of Translocation to gain cover from the Astral Construct while he replenished a few THP (using Schism). Then Spyder came over to join him, and managed to crit the dragon and steal it's memories... of Tiamat. I decided this offered an interesting opportunity...

In part of my adapting the RHoD to Eberron, I'd decided that the dragons are actually "corrupted" by Tiamat, and hence that's why they're fighting with the Red Hand at all, and working toward the overall goal of releasing Tiamat (which all dragons in Eberron would basically stop at nothing to stop). So... I decided that stealing the "memories" of Tiamat would (temporarily) free the dragon of her control. So the dragon stopped fighting and they opened a dialogue (telepathically). The ranger was knocked unconscious at this point, as well, simplifying things. I decided that while Spyder held the dragon's memories of Tiamat (which had inadvertently also taken the corrupting force with them), that she was under the effects of a Confusion spell. She has Slippery Mind, and I decided that each save (success or failure) lasted for 1d6 rounds. The first round, she rolled "attack nearest person", randomly selected Luxis, and stabbed him for about 25 points... Luckily he had a few points of Vigor left, and it was only a scratch to his actual hit points.

After a really frantic discussion in which the explained to the dragon what was going on (and some good diplomacy rolls), they finally concocted the plan of putting it inside their Enveloping Pit and... hoping for the best, when it's memories (and the corrupting influence of Tiamat) came back... They figure either 1) she won't be able to affect it, because technically the pit is a pocket plain (their idea), or 2) even if it breaks the Pit, it will just be dumped out into the Astral Plane. They then revived the goblin dragonlord (who was in the negatives but not dead), and Charmed him into spilling his guts. They used this information to destroy the remaining (hidden) razorfiend eggs, and learn about the Ghostlord's MacGuffin (originally a phylactery, but since I made him a Worm that Walks, I decided it was a Planar Sextant). Finally, Luxis thought "Why did I go on this stupid quest anyway?" and negotiated with his sister (the Queen of Aundair) to build him a keep, and give him some more magic items as payment for his services, which she agreed to (she is played occasionally by my daughter's BFF, who happened to be here at the time).

68
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: June 26, 2021, 01:10:11 AM »
So... their great plan was initially to 1) just wait for the enemies to come down the stairs to them... So I said: OK a few hours pass and your buffs all wear off... and they were like "What?! OK, wait... wait... retcon that... "

"New plan... we'll all get in the Enveloping Pit, except for the Spyder, who will change into a lizard folk and sneak us all out, then open the pit in a dry section of the tower above and we'll charge out!" I was like...  Make an intelligence check... :banghead And then I just blatantly told The Spyder "You remember that the last time you were all in the pit that Luxis almost died, and actually did get captured, which left you all stuck in the pit..." My daughter then decided... yeah that's a pretty bad plan. :lol So... finally... after buffing, including making literally everyone invisible.... they just mass charged up the stairs...  :lmao ...right into the readied action (breath weapon) of the black dragon.

Of course... the PCs and their main cohorts had Resist Energy (Acid) up, and so took minimal damage. It took out a couple of "lesser" minions only. The Spyder got one stab into the dragon for pretty decent damage, and then as it flew away landed an AoO via touch attack (she can do negative energy and/or a negative level with a touch), and then the psion hit it with a house-ruled crush attack from Telekinesis... and the dragon was down by about 1/3rd of its hit points... The mass amount of lizard folk ineffectively hurled a few javelins at them, but not a single one hit... With their warforged mini-army engaging the massive amount of lizardfolk, the PCs clearly have the upper hand.

So... the goblin and black dragon are both cowardly and sneaky (it pretty much says so in the RHoD book). So I think I'm going to have them lurk in the distance until the dragon's BW recharges... and I'm going to give the goblin a wand of Hunter's Mercy to pepper with them with during the recharging time. The PCs are feeling too cocky. I think a shot or two with Hunter's Mercy (and maybe arrows tipped with a dose of large scorpion venom...) will bring them down a peg. :D

69
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: June 20, 2021, 05:37:34 PM »
Had a great Father’s Day game today. The kids invaded Rhest. They both disguised themselves as lizardfolk (one’s a changing and the other has a hat of disguise), and after chatting up the local lizards, managed to sneak all the way into the main building. I had hobgoblin guards rather than ogres, but did throw in a scrag for some “muscle”. The captain hobgoblin was leading them to the torturer/mindbender, but my son’s psion (Luxis is his name… will start using that) dominated him on the way. They played along with being prisoners, but the mindbender actually beat their bluff checks and tried reading their thoughts. My daughter’s Mind Pirate (Spyder) beat HIS bluff, AND made her will save though… and so it was time to… roll initiative! They made short work of him, doing it so quietly that they didn’t even alert any guards.

They then broke into the razorfiend spawning area and fireballed the eggs. Also for the first time they decided to go “all out” and threw open their enveloping pit and unleashed all the 40 first level warforged warriors, charmed hobgoblins, minotaur, manticore henchman, etc… that they’ve managed to amass…  Amazingly the razorfiend managed to survive a full round of attacks from the entire small army, and then hit them with an acid breath and dive into the water and escape. I used this picture to show them for the razorfiend. I tweaked it quite a bit, calling it a "blackspawn razorfiend", decreasing size to M (but not changing stats accordingly), making the breath weapon a line instead of a cone, and swapping Mobility and Spring Attack with Flyby Attack and Multiattack. I also houserule Dodge applies to AC constantly. They both rolled insanely well on knowledge/lore checks and so I basically told them the stats, lol. Since it got away, I'll have it join in the battle that ensues after they get out, and may or may not say it got healed in the meantime... depending on how efficiently they're slaughtering everything else...

They then took 3 rounds to buff, pincushioning a couple of hobgoblins that stumbled down the stairs and knocking out the scrag (and dragging it out of the water to stop it’s regeneration after a good Knowledge check). Part of their buffs involved the artificer using Chain spell on a wand of invisibility to make like half of them invisible… which I allowed because it’s awesome. 😎 We left off with them buffed but in a standoff with all the forces of Rhest massing outside…


70
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: June 18, 2021, 06:04:54 PM »


"The nethermost caverns are not for the fathoming of eyes that see; for their marvels are strange and terrific. Cursed the ground where dead thoughts live new and oddly bodied, and evil the mind that is held by no head. Wisely did Ibn Schacabao say, that happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes. For it is of old rumour that the soul of the devil-bought hastes not from his charnel clay, but fats and instructs the very worm that gnaws; till out of corruption horrid life springs, and the dull scavengers of earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. Great holes are digged where earth's pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl."
HP Lovecraft

The Ghost Lord
Medium Aberration (augmented, former elf)
NE Worm that Walks druid (wild reaper), Level 11, Init 3, HP 121/121, Speed 30
AC 22, Touch 22, Flat-footed 19, Fort 14, Ref 10, Will 19, Base Attack Bonus 8   
  Slam (w/Shadow Hands gauntlets) +12 (1d6+3,  )
  Engulf n/a (3d6,  )
Nausea (Fort DC 18) 1 round Squirming Embrace (Swarm after grapple) +12/16 (3d6,  )
 (+3 Dex, +1 Size, +8 Insight)
Abilities Str 8, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 26, Cha 17
Condition None

71
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: June 18, 2021, 02:47:12 PM »
So they've moved on towards Rhest, and I rolled on the random encounter table for that area and the thing that came up was an encounter with a wild elf patrol... which was interesting as their stated purpose was to "go find the wild elves and make them our allies". So after some decent RP and a few good diplomacy checks, I just said that they'd succeeded in winning the wild elves over to aid them at the upcoming battle(s). I didn't mess with a bunch of the stuff listed in the RHoD book there because it seemed unnecessary and tedious and I thought they might get bored. Now they're heading on to Rhest. I'll probably run that almost as written, except I'm considering adding the Shadow Walker or Shade template to Saarvith because honestly he seems pretty anemic... I'm also thinking of swapping out a few ranger levels for assassin and DEFINITELY plan on having him use poisoned arrows to snipe them from hiding. I might give him some magic items to help him get around in the swamp water also.

What I'm really excited about though is my plans for the Ghost Lord. When they were talking to the druid who is one of the leaders of the wild elves, they asked her about the Ghost Lord and I decided on the fly to say that he used to be an elf and she said he was "a member of her order who became too obsessed with rot, decay and the dark side of nature" and that he eventually became an "undead". What I've decided to do however is to make him a Worm that Walks (PF version, not ELH). I think this suits a druid MUCH better than a lich, and it's also MUCH more creepy (which... I'm all about). However... this brought up the problem of what to replace his phylactery with, which is a main plot element. I decided to make him a member of the Gatekeepers and say he has a "planar compass" which among other things lets him "tune up" the dimensional seals that the Gatekeepers maintain. I've already explained that the Fane of Tiamat is actually one of five points on a pentagram that was used by the coatl and dragons to bind and seal Tiamat. However, as it has slowly weakened it has allowed her to communicate and even "corrupt" the hobgoblins and other creatures in the horde and surrounding area. So I'm going to say that the ghost lord is "stationed" here to maintain it, and that the hobgoblins stole this planar compass and are basically holding it ransom to get him to side with them in the battle. They haven't tried to use it as far as he knows (he's been spying and scrying on them), and he is so old and patient that he figures that all he has to do is wait for them all to die (likely in the upcoming battles) and then he can just go reclaim it. If he thought they were actually trying to free Tiamat, and might try using this stolen artifact in their efforts to do so, then he would certainly turn against the horde and even likely join the "heroes" at the battle of Brindol, and maybe even beyond (a major plot point from earlier in the campaign is a threatened invasion of Quori/Inspired either directly and/or through dream control, which the old Gatekeeper would surely oppose). I can't wait to deliver some lines about how "In the darkest of times, when the whole world is threatened by dimensions beyond ours, sometimes the armies of the living are not enough to defend it. The dead, however, outnumber the living many times over. I have... lingered... in this cursed form... for just such times. When such threats arise, I will call upon the ancient heroes and armies of the past, and we shall prevail where no mortal army could." I'm drawing some inspiration here from Aragon calling upon the dead spirits of men in the LotR.

72
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: May 28, 2021, 10:39:51 PM »
Wrapping up Vraath Keep: the minotaur was charmed, and Koth was bluffed. So they lured Koth down into their Enveloping Pit/Tower and then tried to subdue him and when that failed began attacking him. He saw that he had absolutely no hope of winning or escaping, and so decided to go out in a blaze of glory and dropped a 9d6 Fireball right in their midst, incinerating himself and barely injuring the party. I did describe in great detail what would happen if their Enveloping Pit was destroyed though... and then had them roll a saving throw vs. the Fireball. They passed... and were scared enough that I hope they don't try using it as a murder pit again. :D They then went down and convinced the manticore to work for them instead, since Koth was dead. Since it was described as only having been there for a few days and being a mercenary, it agreed.

They stopped by Jorr's place, but quickly realized that they didn't really need him and that he was only slowing them down (he couldn't fly, and with the manticore the rest of them now could) and so sent him back home after getting some basic directions to the Skull Gorge Bridge. The manticore had seen the dragon and told them it was white and about as big as him, and so they went in buffed with Resist Energy (CL7) and the artificer packing wands of Fireball and Scorching Ray. It was still quite a dramatic battle. The battle opened with a very effective Fireball hitting the dragon, which rolled a natural 1 on it's save. So that made it angry, and it called for focused fire from the hobgoblin archers on the artificer cohort. Spyder (my daughter's mind pirate) dropped down and took out a couple of archers, and the psion (Luxis) took out a couple more using Telekinesis to throw them off into the gorge. Then the dragon flew over and breathed on them (which was almost completely nullified by the Resist Energy, doing only 2 points to those who failed their saves).

It's scales proved good defense against telekinetically hurled boulders, but another blast from the artificer (Scorching Ray) and stab by Spyder left it reeling and ready to flee (30 hp left). Angrily, it grabbed the artificer in it's mouth, flew off over the gorge... and dropped him into it. The archers changed their focus to the psion, and hit with 5 out of 6 arrows... Luckily he'd buffed up with Vigor and Share Pain before the battle and could take it with no problem. He also had Schism going, and a Telekinesis from the last round, which he dramatically caught the artificer in mid-air with. He then used his Schism action to ineffectively try to telekinetically grapple the dragon. The Spyder launched a potshot at the fleeing dragon with her crossbow, which bounced harmlessly off its hide. Then the artificer cohort, dangling mid-air over the gorge, with 1 hit point left, raised his wand of Fireballs one last time and finished off the dragon, which again failed its save (and the artificer rolled exactly it's spell resistance with his caster level check, which would have failed if he didn't have the Wand Mastery feat). The remaining hobgoblins dropped their bows and put their hands in the air, surrendering.

Looking back I flubbed a bit with the dragon, treating it as if it had Improved Grab, but it made for a great dramatic effect. So I don't mind much. ;)

73
Off Topic Fun / Re: The Small Rants Thread XII: The Folly of Life
« on: May 23, 2021, 10:29:40 PM »
My old boss at last job has been fired.  She's also apparently been bragging about exchanging sex for McDonald's.  The client employees at the new job are sexually harassing my coworker.  I have quietly implied if it happens again someone will be getting his dick cut off.
So... I take it you work at Mos Eisley, then?

74
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: May 23, 2021, 09:33:54 AM »
Yep. His RP inspiration is Loki from Marvel. So it was very in character also.

75
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: May 22, 2021, 11:45:30 PM »
So... had an eventful day in D&D land.  :lmao My daughter went biking with my wife and some family friends and my son and I stayed home and played D&D for much of the day (after we'd mowed the yard, etc). I NPC'd my daughter's character through the last of the "marauder ambush" (she'd complained of being bored anyway), and they managed to capture and charm the hobgoblin cleric in that group. He'd tried to sneak away while invisible, but was wearing heavy armor and they heard, glitterdusted, and then charmed him... and he spilled his guts about everything he knew. They high tailed it back to Drellin's Ferry and managed to convince the council to evacuate the town. Then they headed back into the Witchwood to look for Jorr and ask him to guide them to Vraath keep to get more info (the cleric hadn't known that much...).

In the marauder fight, the Foil Action ability of my homebrewed fighter (which I blatantly stole from the Frank and K fighter, but put more limitations on) at least proved capable of enraging a spellcaster/psion... lol. The Bladebearer used it to foil one manifesting of Telekinesis (my son's character is a Psion/Master of the Unseen Hand (homebrewed to be full casting). That on top of the poor rolls he'd had attacking the Bladebearer with telekinetically flung projectiles left him feeling very, very angry at the Blade master (who actually lasted for several rounds because of this bad luck streak and Foil Action). Of course... said Bladebearer  died horribly not long after, under a barrage of Fireballs and flung projectiles.

Upon leaving Drellin's Ferry, in order to speed travel times they decided to do something... questionable and risky. My son has a pair of Boots of Levitation and Hand of the Mage, and I've been allowing him to "fly" by pushing himself along with a Mage Hand. It's only at a speed of 20, but it does avoid many dangers that you might otherwise encounter in the woods. My daughter's character has an "inverted tower" inside an Enveloping Pit. So he decided to put everyone else in there, and he'd fly them all to Jorr's. I even gave him the old "DM warning" of "Well... while this does avoid some dangers, it might actually incur others..." pointing out that he'd be more visible and might attract "flying creatures". He ignored my warning, at his peril...

As he got into the forest, I decided to have the manticore be out patrolling/hunting. Since they all have those bedrolls that let you get a full night's rest in 2 hours, he'd even decided to head out while it was still dark (he also reasoned that at least this might make him harder to see for patrols and other creatures). So... of course, having low-light and darkvision, the manticore saw him first... and managed to hit with all six quills... including a crit with one. This took his unbuffed, pajama-wearing psion butt from full health down into the negatives in the surprise round... He freaked out for a bit, saying he was going to "quit playing D&D" (he had had a pretty bad string of luck rolling dice in the earlier marauder fight), but eventually I coaxed him to come back to the game...

So he awoke chained to a wall, with a gag in his mouth, a bag over his head, and naked except for his loincloth... which... given that he's a psion... didn't do much to limit his power. His psicrystal had managed to hide itself among his equipment, and so was also in the same room... but so were Wyrmlord Koth and the minotaur (whom I gave a level of barbarian, and the Diehhard and Mad Foam Rager feats). He spent a few rounds buffing himself, and managed to make the concentration checks to suppress his displays, and so they had no idea he was awake before it was too late... He put up Schism, Vigor (shared with his psicrystal), Share Pain, and Touchsight. Then he managed to Charm the minotaur and convince it that Koth was the one who was actually charmed and needed to be "knocked out" so that they could "cure him"... A few rounds later of bashing and Telekinesis, and Koth was pretty beaten up but still alive. Then things got interesting... My son (who is a Telepath) managed to bluff Koth into believing that he works for a "secret order of spies for Tiamat", and that he'd actually came there to chastise Wyrmlord Koth because of the patrol that was killed earlier today (which... of course he actually killed, lol). He roleplayed this well, and rolled well on his Bluff (and has a +11), and Koth's sense motive roll was crap (and he has a +0...). So... after a bit more banter, he managed to get Koth to give him an "update" on how things are going... which included showing him the map in the war room, and eventually the details about what the other Wyrmlords are up to. So overall, he managed to go from "getting one-shotted by a patrolling manticore" into "convinced the Wyrmlord that he actually outranks him and took over the whole keep with a bluff check".  :lol

I hinted that this bluff, while it had been incredibly effective in the short term, probably wouldn't hold up for more than a day or two if he leaves. So he's deciding how to "properly" take over the keep... but given that he's already neutralized two of the biggest three threats there, they should have no problems with that. They now know that Ulwai is trying to "recruit" the Ghostlord, and Savriith is making dragonspawn in the swamp (I changed the mechanism of this, saying that he's using a ritual involving dragon blood, "demonic essence" and lizardmen to create them... not corrupted dragon eggs... which is just stupid). I also hinted at possible allies he could try recruiting, including the elves, some lycanthropes (I'm replacing the forest giants with these, given that the setting is Eberron, and not Xendrik), and "other forest creatures". So we'll see where he decides to head next. He also knows where the main army is mustering, and that the High Wyrmlord is trying some ritual to weaken the bonds holding Tiamat in the Pit of Five Sorrows, but that this almost certainly won't be enough in and of itself to free her, but would just be a "first step" in doing so (I'm saying that there is a giant "pentacle" that has five temples at its corners that holds her imprisoned, and that you'd need to destroy all five to free her... and Koth has access to one of them. I'm also going to use the Draconic Prophesy to explain away why a horde of dragons hasn't already descended on Khorvaire and burned it to the ground... but that hasn't been revealed in the game yet).

76
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: May 19, 2021, 05:51:22 PM »
I’ve reworked the hobgoblin regulars to be “scouts”, which have one level of rogue and one level of my home brewed fighter.
http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=729.0
Due to the pcs spotting them from 150’ away, and having 2/3 (pc psion and his artificer thrall) with good long range “blasting “ capabilities, they’ve mostly made quick work of the first six scouts despite me maximizing all the enemies hit points.

I replaced the second wave with another pair of hell hounds and four goblin riders (one on each hell hound, same classes as scouts but with Mounted Combat). They haven’t done much better due to being crowded on the road during their approach, and hit with a glitter dust. Then pelted/crushed/bombed...

The cleric and blade bearer have used invisibility (domain spell and scroll) to sneak up to the PCs and are just about to attack. The cleric healed a couple of the regulars on his way up and is now going to summon a giant (fiendish instead of celestial) bee.

The blade bearer I’ve rewritten to have a couple of levels of my fighter with the Foil Action ability... which he is close enough to use, which should be a thorn in their sides... at least for the couple of rounds he lives... lol.

I will try and have at least one “escape”, and if successful the encounter at Vraath keep will be started as if the PCs had already tried to take it and been driven away once or twice (so more troops, on “high alert”, etc).

77
Legends of the Heroes / Re: Mind Games
« on: May 19, 2021, 05:37:00 PM »
So we officially started the RHoD. I swapped the order of the first two sections, because they were specifically being teleported in with the goal of trying to stop or delay a brewing war between Dargunn and Zilargo. I placed the Elsie Vale at the southern border between those two countries, which works ok if you flip the RHoD map both vertically and horizontally and say Korrenberg is Brindol. I had them teleported just outside Drellin’s Ferry, and they spoke to Norrin and then quickly crossed the river to try and find the hobgoblin stronghold. Then I had the first encounter, which they spotted from a great distance away due to some great luck on a spot roll (and bad luck for the hiding hobgoblin scouts, despite my optimizing them a bit). We’re about halfway through the encounter which they seem to be enjoying.

78
Decided to give this Libris Mortis feat (instead of the Blighter's Undead Wild Shape), because it's easier.

Also I want to state here that this is to be taken as an "all or nothing" druid replacement. No cherry picking levels! :P

Finally, I might suggest using Stratovarius' homebrewed line of Summon Undead spells. http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=14586.0

79
Mindscapes / Re: Miscellaneous links
« on: May 18, 2021, 02:01:25 PM »
Wild Reaper: http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=8647.msg138116#msg138116

(So I can find it more easily...)

80
Board Business / Re: What the Flash-mc-Mob was that ?
« on: May 13, 2021, 11:26:50 PM »
Blessed are the spambots...

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