Collaborative Cave!

[der_kluge]

Re: halfling (Jeeral Smoketallow) - I am currently setting things up so that the contents of the room justify his continuing presence there. He doesn't ever need to leave, because he's a fifth-level cleric and can cast create food and water. He doesn't want to leave because the pillar on the island is corrupting him and making him its pawn. We'll see if I can make this idea play out intelligibly.

I suppose, in terms of a metagame approach to the cave, I'm writing this as if the pillar itself is just as worthy of a goal for dungeon-crawling as slaying Artix and Ferix would be. This is intended as a good thing - a GM who wanted to drop this cave into their campaigns would find that it either added a huge cool dragon fight to an essentially archaeological mission, or added a dark prophecy and archaeology to their essentially monsterslaying mission.

der_kluge, since this is your baby, I'm looking to you to make sure you dig this. If this isn't a direction that interests you, say so and I'll devise alt.wickedness.

Haven

It's not "my baby". But, I'm really digging where you're going with this. So, I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

[der_kluge]

BTW Can I have either room 5 or Room 12

Yes. Which one do you want?

 

[Raven Crowking]

Okay, in order to do Area 6, I have to make sure I understand the water flow here. I assume that the water is coming into Area 6, then exiting toward the top of the map. Is that right?

I am thinking that this will be a no-monster area, with some brick-a-brac to make it interesting, the water as a challenge, and some foreshadowing.

 

[Elephant]

IRT Raven Crowking:

For Room 7 to work, the Choker needs some sort of noise to hear from Room 6 (to give him time to cast his buff spells).

IRT der_kluge:

I assumed that the Choker's Quickness included surprise rounds. If that's not generally accepted to be the case, I can edit the entry.

===================

Quickness (Su)

Although not particularly dexterous, a choker is supernaturally quick. It can take an extra standard action or move action during its turn each round.

 

[der_kluge]

Okay, in order to do Area 6, I have to make sure I understand the water flow here. I assume that the water is coming into Area 6, then exiting toward the top of the map. Is that right?

I am thinking that this will be a no-monster area, with some brick-a-brac to make it interesting, the water as a challenge, and some foreshadowing.

I think that's a good assumption, given the elevation as I have drawn it. There's probably an underground stream feeding into area 6. I describe a waterfall falling into area 8. It's reasonable to assume that the pool ther exits to go out somewhere, possibly deeper into the earth somewhere through tiny cracks. If the rock is shale, it would certainly be easy enough for the water to find a way out somewhere.

 

[der_kluge]

IRT Raven Crowking:

For Room 7 to work, the Choker needs some sort of noise to hear from Room 6 (to give him time to cast his buff spells).

IRT der_kluge:

I assumed that the Choker's Quickness included surprise rounds. If that's not generally accepted to be the case, I can edit the entry.

===================

Quickness (Su)

Although not particularly dexterous, a choker is supernaturally quick. It can take an extra standard action or move action during its turn each round.

Wow, that's an anomaly. I hadn't noticed that before. I did a search for "quickness" in the SRD, and that's the only occurrence of that ability. Wraiths are described as having an unnatural quickness, but they don't have that ability.

I agree that having an extra standard action would allow it to cast an extra spell. That would make said creature very potent indeed. I mean, they nerfed Haste to avoid that very thing.

I don't know. What do others think here?

 

[Raven Crowking]

IRT Raven Crowking:

For Room 7 to work, the Choker needs some sort of noise to hear from Room 6 (to give him time to cast his buff spells).

I was thinking that, with the steep slopes, I might foreshadow the shale in the dragons' lair. That way, when the PCs encounter that area, it will not seem arbitrary.

RC

 

[Shieldhaven]

Re: chokers -
Mainly I think it's a poorly written monster, because a full action plus a standard action in a round is heinous (and, as you point out, unique to chokers). Of course, it takes the pretty serious tweak that Elephant has used to get them into broken territory, since the "average" choker has 4 Int and 7 Cha (though, admittedly, 13 Wis), and advances by HD rather than character class.

Having said all of that, Ghzzdit is legitimate by the RAW, but the CR for the encounter should be commensurately high.

Haven

 

[Conaill]

Re: chokers -
Mainly I think it's a poorly written monster, because a full action plus a standard action in a round is heinous (and, as you point out, unique to chokers). Of course, it takes the pretty serious tweak that Elephant has used to get them into broken territory, since the "average" choker has 4 Int and 7 Cha (though, admittedly, 13 Wis), and advances by HD rather than character class.

Having said all of that, Ghzzdit is legitimate by the RAW, but the CR for the encounter should be commensurately high.

Haven

Note that the Choker technically advances only by HD, not by character levels. Advancing it with Sor levels to give it extra spells per turn is definitely a loophole (and one that is *only* available to DM's, since choker are not considered a playable PC race).

If you're going with this, you should definitely up the CR significantly and/or prohibit him from casting more than one spell a round. And make sure you play this critter at its listed intelligence of 4! Even buffing before an encounter should be only *barely* within its intellectual capabilities...

 

[Elephant]

Note that the Choker technically advances only by HD, not by character levels. Advancing it with Sor levels to give it extra spells per turn is definitely a loophole (and one that is *only* available to DM's, since choker are not considered a playable PC race).

If you're going with this, you should definitely up the CR significantly and/or prohibit him from casting more than one spell a round. And make sure you play this critter at its listed intelligence of 4! Even buffing before an encounter should be only *barely* within its intellectual capabilities...

Hmm...I'd like to see playtesting results before making further changes. If it ends up being nigh-impossible, I'll just drop the Sor levels, turning it into more of a speedbump encounter.

Still, the ambush part will be fun.