Plots & PlacesPost your PCs and NPCs for others to reference and enjoy. This is also an alternate location for long-term campaign and plot development. These can be system neutral or relate to any game or system.
They could planeshift to the beastlands every night, teleport to a specific area, and have Velendo gate them back in the morning. Means no Miracle, but they do get a single stationary area they can centralise all their defences on (like that one casting of forbiddance).
Also, if it's Kelharin's favourite pet, why does he have only one of it? Get some ghouls to chop at it for a bit, exponential growth as each bit splits, hundreds of the things. They'd all be small, but 100 puddings should be able to put on more kilograms/day between them than just one - greater surface area for osmosis. You'd need to feed it a lot, but with all the overrunning the White Kingdom is doing that shouldn't be a problem.
You still have to feed all those Puddings. I would imagine that one of the great weaknesses of the White Kingdom is feeding itself. Imagine feeding tens of thousands of ghouls each day. Then add in the Ghasts, Vampires, and any other undead in their midst that have to feed. The strain on the Kingdom must be severe at times.
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Originally posted by Fade Also, if it's Kelharin's favourite pet, why does he have only one of it? Get some ghouls to chop at it for a bit, exponential growth as each bit splits, hundreds of the things. They'd all be small, but 100 puddings should be able to put on more kilograms/day between them than just one - greater surface area for osmosis. You'd need to feed it a lot, but with all the overrunning the White Kingdom is doing that shouldn't be a problem.
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Originally posted by Piratecat You guys notice? Tao planeshifted part of it to the Beastlands. Kellharin has already had someone retrieve it... it is his favorite pet, after all!
Gah!
Can't believe I missed that.
DOD are gonna have one heck of a final battle, aren't they ....look at all o' th' old friends!
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Last edited by Nail: Today....just a few minutes ago
Originally posted by DocMoriartty You still have to feed all those Puddings. I would imagine that one of the great weaknesses of the White Kingdom is feeding itself. Imagine feeding tens of thousands of ghouls each day. Then add in the Ghasts, Vampires, and any other undead in their midst that have to feed. The strain on the Kingdom must be severe at times.
Okay, Vampires HAVE to feed.
Does any other type of undead truly NEED to feed, though? I mean, they're undead. Some undead have abilities powered by feeding, or become stronger from feeding, but I always thought that ghouls, ghasts, and other things that go bump in the night LIKE to feed on the living but don't actually need to do so.
Of course, I suppose that depends somewhat on PCs view of the world and it's ecology.
Which reminds me, PC... Are the True Ghouls willing to give up all living allies and all the vampires? I mean, if they wipe the surface of the world clean of the living to ensure their survival, then what will they eat? The animals will all die out or be transformed rather quickly... Especially under the weight of a White Kingdom that has expanded to fill the entire globe!
__________________ "On a long enough time line, everyone eventually rolls a 1."
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I think you are mixing the fiendish creature and half-fiend templates.
Imagine if Sluuth had been a half-fiend, and was granted a Wis boost from 1 to 8... then he'd be tossing around Blasphemy, Destruction, Horrid Wilting ...
ick
John
__________________ "The DM will do a lot of talking, but if he’s not rolling the dice then what he’s saying is probably not important."
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Yeah, yeah, wuttever. I wasn't too worried about all the baggage that went along with it, I just wanted the neat special effects and cool resistances. *grin*
Xarlen, I decided the spells would have split along with the creature. It turns out that it never mattered, because the spells were dispelled before it split, but I figured that this made for a much more interesting encounter.
As for the blindsight, that never even occurred to me! But in retrospect, I'd figure that it doesn't have ears OR eyes, so it must hunt by scent. Thus, the silence doesn't matter. Seem reasonable?
Ah. I allways attributed Blindsight (usually atleast) to sound. Although I imagine there are critters that have hairs on their body that register vibrations, and such.
Cool.
__________________ Member of B.A.D.D, Chairman of W.I.T and Supporter of the Kobold Way.
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In an email the other day, I was asked how long my prep time was for games. I thought I'd answer here.
In general, I do very little prep time. We play once every two weeks, and I probably noodle over ideas for 2-3 hours before each game. I do my best thinking in the shower or while driving, and that usually relates to general plot arcs or cool scenes. Things are seldom written down other than cryptic notes scribbled on notepads. As a result, I've lost some really good ideas, but I remember most of the good ones, thank goodness.
Lately, with the high-combat nature of the underdark, I've become a little more dilligent. I've always used Jamis Buck's NPC generator (best utility ever) to make on-the-fly combat stats, but recently I've put a lot of time into learning how to correctly advance monsters. As a result, it's been a bit time consuming, but I've gotten better at it. I have a word file full of bad guy notes, and I just print out the correct page or two before each game. Writing something like Sluuth took me maybe an hour, and creating the Excel map of the CCC took me about 2 hours total. Well worth it, IMO.
I've always designed by the "cool scene" method. I think of a neat visual - giant pulsing creature, fight on huge bridge, clambering up under a waterfall - and then build an adventure that will probably lead the PCs to that scene. If I'm lucky, I've imagined the scene in a modular enough fashion that I can move it from plot thread to plot thread, depending on what the PCs decide to pursue.
When I'm trying to come up with a cool scene, I often sit there and run through possibilities. When I hit the right one, there is often a palpable "clicking" as the pieces fall into place. It's really weird! That's how I know I've hit it, though; it's like finding a puzzle's corner piece that makes assembling the rest of the puzzle much easier. Anyone else have this happen?
Anyways, I'm babbling. Hope this helped!
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Interesting that you don't use many notes.
I also do most of my thinking when I am doing other things: walking, driving, sitting in the airport. The difference is that I MUST have my idea notebook with me or closeby or I will lose 3/4 of my ideas.
I need to use the "cool scene" method more since the few times I have, it has come out great.
I would also like to be a lot better at advancing monsters, but I need more basic help. My tactical combat abilities are not the best, and I am not sure how to get better.
Do you study the bad guys' special abilites before a session or do you just know them well enough to wing it. Do you have combat actions planned out ahead of time?
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DoctorB, I was just thinking about you and Joy. I'm sitting on the back porch in the fall sunlight, drinking coffee and procrastinating. Miss you guys! (FYI: DrB and I have been good friends for... what, 6 or 7 years? Distance is no obstacle! ) Anyways....
> I MUST have my idea notebook with me or closeby or I will lose 3/4 of my ideas.
This really is a good idea, I think. My sneakiness has gotten worse since my Palm Pilot broke.
> My tactical combat abilities are not the best, and I am not sure how to get better.
Trick number one: use the environment. The DMG mentions that if a normal fight is exciting, a fight on a narrow bridge over lava is REALLY cool. Use this to your advantage. Add movement penalties for mud, or balance checks for rough ground. This is especially crucial for high level PCs, who are used to commanding the battlefield. Then occasionally use this to the monsters' advantage. Hard to hurt something if you can't reach it.
I have this image of a red dragon swimming in lava, just surfacing long enough to breath on the PCs before re-submerging, using the lava as partial cover.
Trick number two: don't let your players metagame. Take a monster's normal stats and completely change its appearance. Add abilities they won't expect - long tongues, pouncing attacks, that sort of thing. Keep 'em guessing, and you keep them excited.
Trick number three: Learn from the players. Have your enemies flank, use buffing spells, retreat, heal each other. Have retreating enemies lead PCs into ambushes or traps. Separate the PCs with spells or traps and attack partial parties. When appropriate, use disposable potions and scrolls ("Hey! Stop drinking that; when we kill you, it would have been ours!") to give enemies fun abilities that don't introduce permanent game-inbalancing magic items.
> Do you study the bad guys' special abilites before a session or do you just know them well enough to wing it. Do you have combat actions planned out ahead of time?
When they're complicated, I'll study them to look for synergies. I try to only plan out specific combat techniques when the bad guys are expecting a battle. Otherwise, I'm more likely to wing it.
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