Help with an Umbral Dragon's Hoard

Stormborn · Jan 21, 2009

I am going to be using a Huge Adult Umbral Dragon CR 14 (the one from Pathfinder #11 "Skeletons of Scarwall) as the BBEG in a Plane of Shadow adventure for my 11th level PCs in the next adventure. The PCs are sent to retireve an item stolen from the Queen of the Shadow Fey by the dragon, who will in turn owe them a specific favor. That item is basically a McGuffin and is moot for the purposes of figuring out the hoard.

What I want it a very "shadow" oriented hoard for this dragon. The one provided in said adventure is:
"Treasure: The treasure here includes 7,030 gp, 18,445
sp, and 39,800 cp. Scattered among the coins are various
gemstones worth a total of 5,800 gp, and among the battered
and dented gear itself are three masterwork greatswords, a
masterwork halberd, a mithral breastplate, an adamantine
battleaxe, a +1 lawful outsider bane greatsword, a Small suit of
+3 chainmail, and a staff of necromancy (28 charges)."

Which is fine as it goes, but I am maybe interested in something a little more unique. Something that says "this is not your typical dragon's hoard in your typical setting"

The write up for umbral dragons describes their hoards:
"As true dragons, umbral dragons obsessively amass vast
hoards of treasure, hiding it away in hidden dungeons
and darkened caverns. They tend to be more particular in
their hoarding than most dragons, though. Foregoing the
gleaming troves of their cousins, umbral dragons prefer
dark treasures: works of sculpted basalt, obsidian weapons,
and countless onyx gems. Although more particular, they
range farther in pursuit of such treasures and even steal
wildly valuable works of art, thus—though smaller—their
troves are typically of approximately the same value of
other dragons."

Anyone want to help me build a hoard?

grodog · Jan 22, 2009

You could include some of Fritz Leiber's invisible gemstones, that only shine at night, and then with an inner light of their own. There are also some pretty interesting treasures in NG's Mother of All Treasure Tables, though nothing's leaping to mind immediately: worth browsing through, for sure.

Rare and wondrous shadow magics, perhaps? You could browse through some of the shadow spells in WW's early d20 book Relics & Rituals, or perhaps Penumbral Pentagon from Scarred Lands.

Clues to the placement of an artifact or relic, or a treasure map leading to the Isles of Woe, perhaps?

Ydars · Jan 22, 2009

Your Umbral hoard!

1) Shadowsteel, a +1 magical dagger made of black-glass that can be used to steal the shadow of any living being under 10HD on a successful attack (SR v Will negates). Once their shadow is stolen, the creature is bound to do one service for the wielder but no longer casts a shadow. They cannot disobey but obviously suicidal/harmful/alignment clashing demands allow another save (treat like Charm for this purpose). Once the service is done, the shadow returns. The person so bound can be killed by breaking the dagger whilst their shadow is still held. Unintelligent undead can also be permanently controlled by stealing their shadow but the dagger cannot then be used for other other purposes and can contain only one shadow at a time.

2) Penumbra; this suit of +2 leather armour can steal the light from any torches or fires as a standard action, reducing their radiance by a factor of two and increasing shadows to double. This gives a +5 bonus on Hide checks v creatures that do not possess dark vision. Once a day the wearer can also teleport from one shadow to another as long as the distance is no more than 90 ft and there is line of effect to the destination.

3) The Ring of Aramas; This ring of natural armour +2 is set with a dark black onyx and is cursed such that, at night, whilst the wearer is sleeping, 1-4 shadows are summoned and act out the unconscious desires of the sleeper. They then return to the ring before the cock crows. The curse can be broken by casting light on the ring.

4) Potion of shadowshield; this potion gives the drinker +5 AC versus touch attacks (including incorporeal attacks) for 1 min by increasing the volume and density of the shadows that person casts.

5) Shadowshard; This midnight blue cloak grants to user the ability to detach their own shadow and use it in combat or as a spy once per day for up to 1 hour. The user gains a negative level whilst their shadow is detached and if the shadow is killed this becomes permanent level loss.

The shadow is AC 25 (versus all attacks), incorporeal (immune to non-magic weapons and 50% miss chance for magic ones), has Spell resistance 21 (negated by light based attack spells) and has 80 hitpoints. It attacks touch AC, has a base attack bonus of +7 (no other mods apply), and does 1d4 Str or Con damage on a successful hit (granting the user 1d4 temp HP per point drained; these last until lost or until the shadow returns). The movement rate of the shadow is 60 ft but it is dispelled in very bright light (returned to cloak and daily use expended).

All I can think of for now.

Stormborn · Jan 22, 2009

Ydars said:
Your Umbral hoard!

<snip>

All I can think of for now.

And an impressive "all" it is. What are your sources for those? And do you have gp values for them?

Ydars · Jan 22, 2009

Hi Stormborn,

I made them up out of whole cloth, as I tend to do for all my flavourful magic items. I base the abilities on a detailed knowledge of what magic items in general from the DMG, MIC and other sources can do and how they work. The only dangerous magic item on the above list is Shadowshard; you might want to rule that the person is unconscious or stunned whilst using their shadow in combat, or that their shadow has to be consciously directed, requiring a standard action each round to avoid it being overpowered. I am only guessing your party's level though, so it might not be a problem.

If you want gp values I will be able to give you some based on the magic item compendium tables tonight, when I get home.

Arivendel · Jan 22, 2009

Hi, I know this may sound weird but have you considered using Tome of Magic? the Shadow Magic sections has a few nice shadow themed items (Shadow silk for armors and the Shadowstriking property for weapons) and it seems it would fit what you are looking for, hope that helps.

Stormborn · Jan 23, 2009

Arivendel said:
Hi, I know this may sound weird but have you considered using Tome of Magic? the Shadow Magic sections has a few nice shadow themed items (Shadow silk for armors and the Shadowstriking property for weapons) and it seems it would fit what you are looking for, hope that helps.

Actually the dragon's lair is a modification of one of the maps in the Shadow Magic section of that book. So not weird at all. I have some ideas, i was mainly just throwing it open for input.