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.
I'd say that Knowledge (tasty yummy things) +29 would mean that he has a practiced knowledge of what wine pairs best with heroes. There's a particular subtle aspect that many villains miss, making the general assumption that a red wine is a good match for fighter-types, while a white is the best pairing for spell casters.
The level of expertise that Oathenor has in such things has taught him that a full bodied chardonnay might be the obvious choice for a bard that isn't that beefy in the muscles department. However a dark, spicy cabernet with hints of toast really brings out the phoenix-spirit residue in half-elf bards that are self-cooking.
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."
- DM of the Rings
Originally posted by Greybar The level of expertise that Oathenor has in such things has taught him that a full bodied chardonnay might be the obvious choice for a bard that isn't that beefy in the muscles department. However a dark, spicy cabernet with hints of toast really brings out the phoenix-spirit residue in half-elf bards that are self-cooking.
LOL.
I read that and started thinking of MREs. Pull the tab on Nolin, and by the time you can get the juicy bits out of the armor, he's at the perfect temperature to eat.
__________________ "On a long enough time line, everyone eventually rolls a 1."
-- Merkuri
Originally posted by Greybar I'd say that Knowledge (tasty yummy things) +29 would mean that he has a practiced knowledge of what wine pairs best with heroes. There's a particular subtle aspect that many villains miss, making the general assumption that a red wine is a good match for fighter-types, while a white is the best pairing for spell casters.
The level of expertise that Oathenor has in such things has taught him that a full bodied chardonnay might be the obvious choice for a bard that isn't that beefy in the muscles department. However a dark, spicy cabernet with hints of toast really brings out the phoenix-spirit residue in half-elf bards that are self-cooking.
How, exactly, does that work in-game? Is there a set DC, or is it based on some aspect (CR, HD, etc.) of the food, or is it like Jump (for every x you beat DC 20 by, _____)?
Piratecat,
I love your story hour and I just wanted to ask you a question. When the dragon ate the magical mace, wouldn't it give him a very nasty stomach ache? I forgot was the mace a LAWFUL mace or just a HOLY mace in the stomach of a CHOATIC EVIL dragon. Just touching the thing would be bad news for the dragon right?
__________________ -"And now, on with the opera. Let joy be unconfined. Let there be dancing in the streets, drinking in the saloons, and necking in the parlor."
CRGreathouse:
How, exactly, does that work in-game? Is there a set DC, or is it based on some aspect (CR, HD, etc.) of the food, or is it like Jump (for every x you beat DC 20 by, _____)?
It's actually a contested test, with the Knowledge(culinary) of the chef being compared against that of the diner. A dragon-chef of such discriminating taste would find that his artistry is totally lost of the amazed taste buds of his kobold syncophants (Nob10, Knowledge(yummy stuff) +15). However, as always we are our own worst critics.
For a full example of such delicacies, interested readers are encouraged to attended the Feast of Overconfident Adventurers, held every twenty years by Gorganzal Throatking (called "The Grapebreath" when his back is turned), an Ancient Blue Dragon. The attendees range from the aforementioned Oathenor (whose "Braised Drow with Black Currant" dish was very well received) to the well known illithid chef Kolethi. Kolethi's prize-winning dish, "Unicorn brain with wood-charred elfskin", transcended the typical illithid fare in its mixture of still glistening and warm brainflesh with just the right crunchy bite of topping. The horn was a beautiful presentation piece as well.
Competing chefs have been known to covertly encourage adventurers with desired qualities to attack. They often then store the bodies in Time Stop chambers until just before the Feast. Points are given to the chefs for the renown of the former adventurers. There is currently an extra standing prize for the attendee that can deliver the most succulent half-elf sorceress on a bed of rice.
But I digress...
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."
- DM of the Rings
Yellow Sign, I actually thought of that! I decided that with no one to hold it, it would just do a minimal amount every round. The dragon was planning on coughing up the items later and adding them to his hoard. The slight indigestion in the mean time wasn't much concern.
Oh, did I say items? That would be foreshadowing.
__________________ - Piratecat, EN World Admin
Currently editing the 4e War of the Burning Sky adventure path. Support EN Publishing, get excellent modules!
Looking through the MM2, I finally came up with a worthwhile (and hopefully more or less original) monster idea.
How do you think an Earth Weird with the Demonically Fused Elemental Template from Dragon #285 would go over? Especially backed up by a few Earth Grues (from the same issue) and a handful of ghoulish servants? Taking some creative license here and there, you could use the Weirds foretelling in creatively evil ways.
Just a thought.
__________________ -Kaodi
Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.
-Iago, Shakespeare's Othello, Act III. Scene III. Lines 180-186.
Piratecat - me and randomling have been trying out her DMing powers, as per The Elemental Six thread (there's only four of them up there at the moment, the other two are on their way, honest!) and last night we tried a good variant on an old theme. We bashed zombies.
This may not sound like much of a challenge for some 13th level characters, but let me tell you, beating the cr*p out of 12 collossal zombies is a curiously fun experience.
"I power attack it for ten!"
"Roll the dice!"
"Hit AC...uh...23...14...19..."
"Three hits! Roll damage!"
"Um...33...29...38!"
"OK, it looks slightly injured. Next!"
""
We have wizards casting maximised lightning bolts, druids with a flamestrike...all sorts. Great fun.
Personally, I'm loving the recent spat of templates that has been released. My most recent favorite creation?
A pair of monks who have been mummified (see the Mummy template from Dragon #300) and Spellstitched (see MM2). Their wrappings glow with blue runes of power and their joints creak with the ages... I'm using as a pair of tomb guardians in my homebrew, and giving them each a distinct fighting style (similar to the martial arts styles from Oriental Adventures).
The two templates go great with the Monk class, especially due to the Wisdom and natural armor bonuses of the Mummy template. Then Spellstitching gives them Mage Armor and touch spells like the various inflict spells, slay living, and harm that they can deliver via unarmed strikes or use to heal themselves.
Too much fun (there's also the Ice Para-Genasi that ride Cold Element creatures ).
Back to your regularly scheduled sadism... er, discussion of ideas.
I was thinking allong the lines of psionic canable halflings, and crazy undead assasins and I came up with something that I definitly think one of the players (Galthia) would definitly hate. Basically, he's a githyanki, right. Limbo Monk. And as everyone knows, githyanki HATE githzeri. But githzeria have a problem, because at 15th level, thier queen kills them off. Which is sort of an anti-powergaming thing, and isnt really backed up well RP wise, but work with me a little.
So how exactly would this level cap work? My idea is that the queen has some sort of artifact that keeps tabs on all powerful githzeri, where they are, and how powerful they are. The "tracking device" would probably be some sort of hereditary magic that goes into every githzeri born, or something like that.
Anyway, some githzeri, probably an evil adventuring party who know they are near the queens hitlist decide to bend the rules. They go to the white kindom and ask to be ghoulized, thus dying and dropping below the queens powerlevel radar, in exchange for, say, 20 years of service. Now this happened a while ago, so the party is WELL beyond 15th.
AND they are all psions/psychic warriors, and they get to keep all their stats (including con), getting special DM treatment for being evil NPCs.
That way, they look like normal ghouls, but are secretly insanely powerful. The perfect assasin. Just have them blend in with a group of grunts in some big/small skirmish, until they get close to teh party and bust out insane power combos. They are undead, they shouldnt technically exist, they already gave up thier lives, so they have nothing to lose. AND since they arnt subject to mind influnecing effects, they arnt subject to any of the party's nastier psionics.
The funny part is, once the queen found out that the party had taken care of, or not taken care of, possible rivals, she would probably be grateful, and her people probably wouldnt. So by defending themselves, the party would set of an interplanar incident. And Galthia would definitly fight them anyway, racial rivalries and all.
But it could also set of a sudden realization of how unfair the queen is being to her people, and how the aritifact must be destroyed. But then what to do with all the now free Githzeria?Sort of an Emancipation dillema. But a good subject for an planar adventure.
And maybe that alreay killed undead archer lady would make a good precurser to the rest of the undead party. Yah, maybe they could be out for revenge, and gold/power.
This may be crazy, it might not, but I'm posting it none the less. If you like it, PC, I have a bunch more ideas for the individual party members...
__________________ [Living ENWorld] Currently Playing Milo Bottleshanks setting out from the Red Dragon Inn(Start of "Tiggle's Order")
Last edited by Grim; 6th November 2002 at 12:49 AM..
Originally posted by Grim I came up with something that I definitly think one of the players (Galthia) would definitly hate. Basically, he's a githyanki, right. Limbo Monk. And as everyone knows, githyanki HATE githzeri. But githzeria have a problem, because at 15th level, thier queen kills them off.
It's the Githyanki who follow the Lich Queen and die at 16th level. Galthia is a Githzerai.
Your concept still works, in theory, but I'd have to wonder why a Lich (i.e., undead) Queen wouldn't notice undead giths.
Last edited by Spatzimaus; 6th November 2002 at 02:53 AM..
umm... crud. now that doesnt really work. Unless the lich queen is an ally of the white kingdom... or something, and has a special crack team of undead... or something... it can still work.... it can still work...
__________________ [Living ENWorld] Currently Playing Milo Bottleshanks setting out from the Red Dragon Inn(Start of "Tiggle's Order")
Location: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Posts: 50
Githyanki Task Force
Mayhap the Lich Queen kills them and resurrects the most nastily powerful ones for her own personal use, thus she would have a powerful army who are all under her direct control in every possible way.
EDIT: Oh! I almost forgot. Since she's a Lich herself, she's agreed to lend some of her little babies to the White Kingdom.
__________________ "Anyone who complains will be shot!"
"That's not fair!"
*BLAM!*
- Silvr Dragon
Last edited by Bronz Dragon; 6th November 2002 at 05:03 AM..
Kaodi, you've just saved my bacon! I wanted something creepy and unexpected for the central chamber of the dwarven vault. While I probably won't use the template, the earth wierd is exactly what I'm looking for. Gotta go write prophecies!
The other good stuff I'll ponder on later. Grim, there's got to be a way to tie in the githyanki; I just don't know what it is yet. Bill, I'm nabbing the spellstitched idea. Oddly enough, someone (WotC?) released a "spellstitched" monster that is nothing like the MM2 template! Anyone seen that? It's like a negative energy version of the Hunter of the Dead.
Spatz, where's the shadow mind from? Mind's Eye?
Thank you again, everyone, for making this thread so much fun. I wonder if illithids brainstorm, too?
Greetings all, especially you Piratecat for creating a story hour good enough to satisfy my reading 'lusts' till a Feast of Crows is released by G.R.R.M.
As the forum topic states you're looking for monster/npc's to challenge you're pc's.
After scouring through some notes from my campaign I found a reference to a template WotC posted about multiheaded creatures (link). Their example of a multiheaded gorgon instantly drew my attention. Problem is it's DC 31 breathweapon which it can use multiple times. But seeing how the Defenders where able to handle themselves against Oathenor they should be able to handle this one. For increased evilness :rolleyes: you could add the true ghoul template, at the same time making it easier to handle for the 'holy' part of the Defenders. Since the mystery leader of the Ghouls already proved himself someone with reasonable magical powers and resources creating such an abomination shouldn't prove too difficult. Hope this helps.
Keep up the great work
__________________ "They say that when you play a Microsoft CD backwards you can hear demonic voices...but that's nothing - When you play it forwards it installs Windows."
Last edited by Allanon; 7th November 2002 at 01:22 PM..
Just glad that I could make a meaningful contribution to such a great campaign, PirateCat.
__________________ -Kaodi
Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.
-Iago, Shakespeare's Othello, Act III. Scene III. Lines 180-186.
Location: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Posts: 50
Quote:
Originally posted by Allanon Since the mystery leader of the Ghouls already proved himself someone with reasonable magical powers and resources creating such an abomination shouldn't prove to difficult.
Are you kidding? after that necropede, I wouldn't put anything past those ghouls. Some things he might even do for cruel amusement, such as sticking red and gold dragon heads on the same body and watching them fight for hours
"I smell humans, I'll enjoy crunching their bones"
"Don't you dare, they may be able to help us"
"Who asked you, Goldihocks?"
"Well, if I left it up to you we'd never be rid of each other"
"I didn't ask for this you yellow snake. If it wouldn't kill me, I'd tear your head off of this body and eat its eyeballs"
"I'd like to see you try it"
"Oh YEA?!" *thud* *crash* *wallop*
"Why you!" *punt* *honk* *skreeech*
And the defenders just sit outside the door and stare dumbfounded at each other.
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