Game of Death

I will be running a Game of Death, starting sometime near the end of this month (March '03). For what one is, check out New Game of Death: Battle Royale of the GAWDS.

The basic premise of this one will be similar to clockworkjoe's, but with less capricious Gawds (but still enough changes over time to force adaptable characters) and me as the referee.

Here is the Game of Death: Hethas' Gambit website, spartan as it is .

Here are the players:

cool hand luke
Jeremy
JDragon
Number47
Saepiroth
Tisvon
DM with a vengence
Breakdaddy
Starman
reapersaurus
Sollir Furryfoot
clockworkjoe

A few teasers about what I'm planning/thinking about (please see the rest of the thread for details):

1. A logically changing arena. The arena will provide situations of wide open fighting, limited visibility fighting, walled-in fighting, dangerous ledges to get shoved off of, hot & cold conditions, wet conditions, and deep concealment fighting. There will be no exotic conditions (antimagic arena, astral plane arena, etc.), just natural physical ones. Each change will happen 5-10 rounds after the last one, and will be preceded by a round of "harmless" change to warn somewhat of what is coming next.

2. What the above means: be prepared for plains-fighting, water fighting, tunnel-fighting, low-visibility-fighting, etc. Here's a preview of my advice section for character design:

a. Have far and close attacks available to you. The terrain will sometimes prevent far attacks, and a close-in fighter who is on top of you will quickly reduce your options. The arena itself is pretty big, and if you can't get across the arena quickly enough, you'll want far attacks to hit people who are avoiding you.

b. Be prepared for hot and cold conditions. Be prepared to climb and swim, and be prepared for periods when flying is not an option.

c. The arena is smaller than a high-level long-range spell. Be prepared to take heat from spell casters on the other side of the arena.

d. Be capable of fighting or escaping in an antimagic field. The arena will not produce any, but I guarantee one of the other players will.

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3. Some spells will be nerfed. Particularly, Harm has a save, Haste doesn't double spell casting, Summon X is classified by CR and somewhat more limited, most planar/turn ethereal/astral spells won't work (teleport, dim door, etc. still do), and polymorph spells will be CR-limited.

4. There will be a few house rules, primarily nerfing magical damage reduction (no effect on barbarians), quick draw, and Quaal's Fricking Tree .

5. This is intended to be a faster paced game. Everyone will send in their turns simultaneously, and I will reply with requests for clarification or alterations if something unexpected crops up (the person you were going to attack isn't going to be there, etc.). Everyone will have 24 hours to send me their actions, and I will then take 1-3 days to process everything (which is still faster than ~150 hours per 6 second round).

What kind of character generation rules are you looking at?

Books I use are by Wizards of the Coast, AEG, Malhavoc, Mongoose, and Swords & Sorcery. Plus the Netbook of Feats.

I can email the complete text of any feat, class ability, spell, or item I would like to submit for approval if it is from a book you don't have.

What kind of race/ability/xp/precast defenses/etc. guidelines are there going to be?

Just looking for general information.

I'm on this like a sackfull of...


uh...


something that, uh... gets on other things. yeah, that's it.





I think.

Wish I could play. This looks like a good testing ground for a Psychic Warrior multi-class


Hamanu would be proud

I'd like to play too.

Hi Jeremy!

Sources: The core books are open. OGL stuff will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Non-OGL stuff will not be considered at all, since I will not be able to make the information available to all players. I will not post WHO asked about any given OGL thing I allow, I will just post that it exists, that I allowed it, and what its rulse are.

I will not allow psionics at all - this isn't a balance issue, I just don't know the rules well enough to adjudicate them fairly.

If you have something specific that you don't want to reveal, my email is "seasong at texas dot net".

Ability Scores: Point buy. Don't know the points yet. I might use one of these point buy systems instead, but I'll give adequate warning. I'll also listen to the preferences of potential players .

Race: I use Savage Species. I will consider each race on a case-by-case basis.

XP: 15th level. I like that in clockworkjoe's game, and it seems to be open to the most variety of strategies.

Precast/etc.: I'm still thinking about this. Any suggestions?

First, you need to give us a general idea of what level you are running at. Preferably with point-buy and starting gold. Accepted sources will have to be determined very soon. Equipment, feats and spells not allowed or altered would be appreciated. My suggestion for Quaal's Tree Token would be to treat it as a fast-growing tree from where it lands. Thus, it would help get you out of a dragon's mouth, but wouldn't do too much if used while flying. It might cause somebody who doesn't succeed a Reflex save to be caught up in it and thus have to get down from the tree (no damage).

For your own consideration, you should think about already-cast spells and prep time. In Macbrea's game, we had no ready spells, but we had a single prep round. In clockworkjoe's, we could have any spell running that lasts longer than 12 hours. It wasn't stated, but I presumed it to mean that 12 hours had expired for the spell.

Magic item questions you have to consider are: Can the character have used something like Incense of Meditation the night before? Can a spell or scroll with a permanent effect already be in place? Adjust the cost of the spell storing Ioun Stone? Charge spellcasting costs for spells stored in items the character cannot cast? Allow Candle of Invocation? Allow single arrows to be enchanted? Partially charged items?

megamania said:

Wish I could play. This looks like a good testing ground for a Psychic Warrior multi-class

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I'm currently planning on not allowing psionics. I don't have the books, myself, and from what I've read on the SRD, I've mainly determined that I don't understand them well enough to fairly adjudicate. Would you still want to play?

Number47 said:

First, you need to give us a general idea of what level you are running at.

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15th

Preferably with point-buy and starting gold.

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Point buy is up for commentary - I'd like to stick to something "reasonable" but still be "creme de la creme". Starting gold will be 200,000 GP - standard for 15th.

Accepted sources will have to be determined very soon.

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See above. Core + case-by-case OGL. No closed source will be allowed, as I can't make sure everyone has it available to them. So, no MM II, FRCS, OA, etc.

Equipment, feats and spells not allowed or altered would be appreciated.

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Sure, I'll get that up.

My suggestion for Quaal's Tree Token would be to treat it as a fast-growing tree from where it lands. Thus, it would help get you out of a dragon's mouth, but wouldn't do too much if used while flying. It might cause somebody who doesn't succeed a Reflex save to be caught up in it and thus have to get down from the tree (no damage).

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From the introductory rules list I'm working on:
"Quaal's Feather Token (Tree): The tree springs forth from the earth, and must have a place to root. A living creature of at least Large size is considered a sufficient place to root. Living creatures get a Fortitude save (DC 15) to resist being rooted in; on a success, the feather token starts to transform but loses its magic; on a failure, the token roots in the creature, doing 3d6 damage, or 10d6 damage if internal (in a creature's mouth, for example)."

For your own consideration, you should think about already-cast spells and prep time. In Macbrea's game, we had no ready spells, but we had a single prep round. In clockworkjoe's, we could have any spell running that lasts longer than 12 hours. It wasn't stated, but I presumed it to mean that 12 hours had expired for the spell.

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Hm... I think I like the prep round better. However, competitors will appear in a puff of smoke in the arena - invisible characters will remain invisible, but everyone will know where they started in the arena.

Magic item questions you have to consider are: Can the character have used something like Incense of Meditation the night before? Can a spell or scroll with a permanent effect already be in place? Adjust the cost of the spell storing Ioun Stone? Charge spellcasting costs for spells stored in items the character cannot cast? Allow Candle of Invocation? Allow single arrows to be enchanted? Partially charged items?

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No partial charges. No single arrows. That's definite.

I think, unless someone brings up a real good reason, that there will be NO permanent effects in place unless you can get them off in the prep round.

Candle of Invocation can be used in the prep round or fight (+2 morale bonus), but not during spell prep time. Also, see below on 8th and 9th level spells.

Incense of Meditation: See Candle of Invocation.

8th & 9th level spells: My gut instinct is to completely ban any item that allows use of 8th or 9th level spells. Spell casters who can cast them can cast them just fine, but still may not bring in any items that allow it. Thus, Candle of Invocation (gate) would not be possible unless I nerfed it to not allow 9th level spells.

Ioun Stone: Any reason this should be upped in cost? That's 12,000 GP that an opponent can destroy in a heartbeat...

The House Rules & Rules Clarifications List

Spells

Certain spells have house rules or clarifications in Hethas' domain, as she does not consider them "sporting".

Harm: Fort Save for 6d6 +1/caster level hp. This can not reduce target below 1 hp.

Haste: Only one spell may be cast per round unless the Quicken feat is used. The partial action given by haste does not allow a caster to get around this limitation, but does allow a caster to take a full round non-spell casting action (such as running) AND cast a spell (or two spells if used with Quicken). Haste is otherwise unmodified.

Summon Spells: Spell casters will now build their own summon spells. Each individual spell summons one kind of creature of CR equal to the spell's level. Thus, a 4th level summoning could summon an owlbear, but could not summon "any CR 4 creature". The duration remains 1 round/level. Creatures must fit the caster type (no druids summoning fiendish half-dragon orcs). I will be using Savage Species to adjudicate whether or not a creature is of appropriate CR, so be careful with them templates .

Planar/Ethereal/Astral Spells: Do not work (including armor of etherealness, etc.). The exceptions are instant duration spells (such as teleport or dimension door) and spells which create a pocket space rather than shifting the subject to a whole other plane (such as rope trick or maze).

Polymorph Any/Other/Self: Restricted by CR to (caster level/2)+1, rounded down. Thus, a 10th level caster could polymorph into a CR 6 creature. No templates are allowed, only basic creatures.

House Rules

Communication: Each round, you may speak up to 25 words as a free action, or up to 50 words as a standard action (a full round action = 100 words!). You may pitch your voice low (Listen check for others to hear at DC = distance from you in feet). If you don't, everyone can hear you. I ask that everyone follow this dictate, even though it is difficult to enforce!

Bardic Knowledge & Knowledge (Heroes & Villains): A DC 25 check will give you one item of information about one character. You may make one check per round as a move equivalent action (you are thinking, but not so deeply that you can't act at all). The kinds of information you will get will vary, but might be an inobvious race or class, a major attack type, an infamously powerful magic item, or a range into which the character's highest level spells fall into (0-2, 3-5, 6-8).

Sunder/Breaking Weapons: Bows (and other missile weapons) are treated as weapons for purposes of sundering or breaking them. HOWEVER, instead of being "unbreakable" by lesser weapons, magic weapons multiply their Hardness by (1 + difference in enhancement bonuses). Thus, if a character attempts to break a +2 longsword, using a +1 longsword, the +2 longsword will be treated as having Hardness 20 instead of Hardness 10 (hit points are still 5). Breaking a magic weapon with a greater magic weapon does not divide Hardness.

Damage Reduction: Magical DR (10/+3 and the like) is divided by 2 (round DOWN) and changed to X/-. For example, a night hag (who has DR 20/+3) changes to DR 10/-. This stacks with barbarian DR, and overlaps with other magical DRs (so a fiendish nighthag still only has DR 10/-). If a creature is listed as having a vulnerability to a non-plus material (such as silver), that material still gets through their DR. Antimagic gets rid of magical DR except in special cases (iron golems, for example, get theirs from their composition). If anyone has magical DR, I will post whether or not it functions (for their race/etc.) in antimagic zones.

Quaal's Feather Token (Anchor): This causes a chain to grow from where the token originated (plus some extra chain to tie off) straight down until it hits earth, where it sinks into the earth and grips. If it hits something before the earth, it grows around the side of the something and continues down. Removing the anchor is a DC 40 STR check; the one who activated the token may deactivate it at will.

Quaal's Feather Token (Tree): The tree springs forth from the earth, and must have a place to root. A living creature of at least Large size is considered a sufficient place to root. Living creatures get a Fortitude save (DC 15) to resist being rooted in; on a success, the feather token starts to transform but loses its magic; on a failure, the token roots in the creature, doing 3d6 damage, or 10d6 damage if internal (in a creature's mouth, for example).

Falling Objects: If the object falls more than 30 feet, target gets a Spot check (DC based on size of object, typically DC 10 for human sized, plus the size modifier for AC). If not spotted, the object is treated as a flanking attack. If spotted, the subject gets a Reflex save (DC 15) to negate damage. Some objects are large enough (more than 5 feet to a side) to be considered an area attack; increase the Reflex save DC to 20. "Area attack" objects divide their weight by the number of squares they cover, for how much weight they hit each square with.

Wands/Rings/Potions/Command Words: All potion names and command words are written on the item. The languages they may be written in are Language A, B, C and D. All players understand Language A. You must be able to read and write the language your command words are written in.

Clarifications & General Rulings

Dust of Disappearance: Per its description, dust of disappearance defeats see invisible, invisibility purge, or true seeing. However, dust of appearance and glitterdust defeat it (these do not detect the subject - they coat the subject), as does anything which adheres to the subject on top of the dust, such as water or mud. Dust of disappearance is also defeated by swimming in water, passing through a wind wall and similar things. Ask me if you have a specific question about it.

STR Lift/Carry Rules: The PHB is pretty clear on this, but some people seem to feel that it is unclear, so here is my personal clarification. The maximum amount you can carry is twice your Heavy Encumbrance. When you are above your Heavy Encumbrance, the best you can do is stagger a few feet per round (move 5, no double moves, hustling or running). If you are above the maximum amount you can carry, you have two choices: drop it, or fall down. Your legs buckle under the weight, your back strains, your feet hurt, you fall down. While on the ground, you can shove yourself around if the weight is low enough for you to drag/push. Otherwise, you can not move at all.

Quick Draw: This feat allows you to sheathe ONCE and draw ONCE per round, per hand. Thus, a 6-armed monster with quick draw could sheathe six swords and draw six daggers, but could not sheathe the same sword six times with the same hand in one round.

Item Creation Feats/Craft Skills/etc: Standard experience and gold cost for such items. You may NOT produce a less than fully charged item, or fewer than 50 missiles.