Saved this one from the glee-pocalypse.
from ---> gammillustrations.bizland.com/monsterkid...
edit --->
http://gammillustrations.bizland.com/monsterkid5/5_images/idle4.jpg
... Not The Were-Schnauzer ?!
(step 0) ... this is Theoretical Optimization. And a possible "best" case scenario at that.
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(step 1) ... Pick up the Plane Below book.
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(step 2) ... turn to the Canaughlin Bog section, thumb your way down to The Black Pool and read that section down to the last sentence.
(step 3) ... Think about it for a moment. What happens when an elemental and mortal like a Genasi dies? Genasi qualify for both categories.
(step 4) ... No need for a step 4. This is all you need. It really is that simple.
(step 4a) ... And you might need the help of the Were-Schnauzer.
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(step 5) ... Mo-ar dies and rises as an Abyssal Ghoul. That's pretty awesome at level 1. Overwhelming in fact.
(step 6) ... Curly-EST dies and rises as "other horrors". This could be anything in the Abyss. Curly could be a level 1 minion Wilted-Lilly Demon. That would suck obviously. Curly could also be something more powerful, or vastly more powerful --- say like a level 36 Solo BBEG. That's really awesome at level 1 and beyond overwhelming. Or anything in-between.
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(step 7) ... Larry-Er1 dies and rises as a Blight Born Demon (BBD). There are two possible results for our purposes. Two of the BBDs are rather nice results for killing yourself. That version of Larry-Er is what it is. Ash is boring though powerful. Crag is outlandish. Still, neither of these results are what we want.
(step 8) ... Larry-Er2 dies and rises as a Dust or Swarm BBD. Dust for the Dust Horde encounter utility. Swarm for the Consumptive Spew attack. This can become an Infinite Loop. At level 1.
(step 9) ... Some DMs might be a little iffy about you killing yourself. That's OK, you can just jump into one of the Acid pools on the very next page. Some DMs might be a little iffy about that. Here's where the Were-Schnauzer fits in. a It kills you. b Then it has to survive one Consumptive Spew attack from a Swarm BBD. cThen it has to kill most or all of the first few minions pumped out, whether Spew-ed or from Dust Horde. That's it ; the faster, the better. The Were-Schnauzer has done his/her/its bit for the Infinite Loop. My guess is it needs to be a level 16 build or so, to reliably do all three things it might be needed to do.
(step 10) ... This is the real action. The minions are elementals. KILL THEM. They rise as one of the 4 BBDs. Return to step 7 or preferably 8. Repeat. Again and again.
(step 11) ... As more and more BBDs pop out, the wave of demons has to go somewhere. They expand near Geometric out to the limits of the area. The Crags go down into the earth. Ash and Dust fly up out of the way. Ash can even fly through others spaces. No clogging at all. The Swarm has an attack that includes movement, so it doesn't clog the area either. The middle of the space does clog up with the Swarms, though. Once there's no where left to go within the area, the geometric loop stops, but a linear loop keeps going. Lastly, the area becomes a portal to Slimeville every now and then, and flushes out the middle. Think of a donut. The loop goes geometric again for a short while, to refill the middle. Overall it's slightly above linear. And at level 1.
link to a Blight-Born Demon
www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4edit --->
http://dnd.wizards.com/go/article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20091207nope still doesn't work
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So ... I'll repeat: it's a possible "best" case T.O. scenario. Don't do this to your home game. There are a couple of issues:
The more interesting being the skill challenge in Plane Below (so you don't have to go far) that lets you avoid the demon horde altogether. Ha! Serves it right. At some point, higher level monsters just don't show up. They go around the horde. End of advancement and game basically over. My guess is level 29 monsters can avoid even an all Crag horde.
The less interesting, is there's no random involved with what BBD shows up. Technically it is dm fiat. The d.m. has to pick something. Hence the best case scenario part is necessary for the loop. The Consult Oracle ritual can find the locale, but at step 6 the dm can make any PC return to life (or "life") at a lower level. Or the Were-Schnauzer's dinner, quite a "horror" eh?
