Piratecat's storyhour reborn! (updated July 4, 2006)

[Abraxas]

I had this kicking around on my machine - Hope you don't mind PC...

Rider of the Flame

Hit Die: d6
Requirements: Special: Have a Phoenix sharing your soul, there are probably others
Class Skills: From Nolin’s Character sheet - Concentration, Listen, Perform, Search, Spot - probably more.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier

BAB: As Wizard
Fort: Good
Ref: Poor
Will: Good
Spells per Day: +1 Caster Level per level of PrC
Lvl..Special Abilities
1.....Flame Touched - no control, hair burns constantly
.......Fury of Rebirth - Firestorm upon death
.......Skin Afire - 2pt Fire Resistance

2.....Natural Armor +1
.......Screech of the Phoenix: 30’r, Slowed for 1 rd, DC:13+Cha

3.....Flame Touched - Can temporarily stop flame
.......Skin Afire - 5pt Fire Resistance
.......Prot. From Evil added to spell list

4.....Natural Armor +2
.......Gust of Wind added to spell list

5.....Flame Touched - Control
.......Burning Hands & Polymorph (Bird only) added to spell list

6.....Natural Armor +3
.......Fireball added to spell list

7.....Skin Afire - 10pt Fire Resistance
.......Fly 1/day
.......Phoenix’s Wrath - Involuntary fireball upon unconsciousness

8.....Natural Armor +4
.......Flame Touched - Mastery - Burning Eyes
.......Flame Strike added to spell list

9.....Skin Afire - Immune to Fire
.......Become and Outsider

10....Natural Armor +5
.......Fire Storm 1/week

Sorry about the atrocious formatting - The stuff above was from a post by Piratecat that I happened to save. It is slightly different than some of the items on Nolin's character sheet. The Differences on the Character sheet are

1) Flame Touched (mastery) is described as "Can set any part of his own body on fire, with no ill-consequence to self." and no mention of Burning eyes is made
2) Skin Afire tops out at Fire resistance 15
3) Fly: 1/day has the accompanying text "sprouting Fiery Wings"
4) The save for Screech of the Phoenix is listed as having a DC of 25, if it follows the formula of Base X + Cha Mod, Base X would have to = 20
5) The Spell Fire Seeds is also added to the bardic spell list
6) Pheonix's Wrath has the following descriptive text "One round after Rider goes unconscious, a 10d6 fireball erupts around his body. "

 

[RangerWickett]

I had this kicking around on my machine - Hope you don't mind PC...

Rider of the Flame

*grin* That's so overpowered. It's like the DM is biased in favor of this player or something.

Pkitty, you seriously ought to get someone to format your old work, pdf-ify it, and put it on sale you can easily afford your annual trips to Gen Con.

 

[Piratecat]

*grin* That's so overpowered. It's like the DM is biased in favor of this player or something.

Actually, this is worth talking about for a sec. Not the favoritism part -- frankly, I'm probably stricter with KidCthulhu's characters than with other peoples', although I strive for being even-handed because this is a hot topic with me. Let's talk for a minute about the relative balance of prestige classes.

I don't think I'd use Rider of the Flame as is for a new or low-level character. Nevertheless, in the same way that not all feats are equal in power, not all prestige classes need to be as long as they're pegged to the relative power level of your game.

In this case Nolin was converted from the 2e bard, and KidCthulhu is a woman who dearly loves flinging around massive damage. The 3e bard had what one might politely call a paucity of Boom! spells. What to do? In this case, it made a lot of sense to codify and formalize a lot of the special powers that Nolin's phoenix heritage had been giving him in 2e. I chose to do so by adding fire-related spells to the spell list, along with a handful of other phoenix-related abilities. A lot of the special abilities were designed to occur only rarely or be nothing more than special effects, making the class (appropriately for Nolin) be more about show and less about effect.

Really, though, this class was designed to keep Nolin on an even keel with the other members of the Defenders power-wise. It was added to Nolin at about character level 15, and we back-filled to let KidCthulhu swap out several bard levels for RotF levels. We then eliminated all of Nolin's non-prestige-class related phoenix abilities. I seem to remember the switch going smoothly.

This is one reason that selling a pdf of the game's crunch is a very iffy proposition. I'm not designing for everyone out there, I'm designing to fit my own game and what will be most fun for my own players. I'm really pleased when other folks find this interesting or useful, but that's almost incidental.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Let's talk for a minute about the relative balance of prestige classes.

I'd even say that the RotF isn't really unbalanced, and might even be a bit underpowered. I mean, look at what you get:

> A nice natural armor bonus, and fire resistance/immunity.
> Fort becomes a good save, but Reflex switches to poor. (Slight gain, overall, IMO)
> A half-dozen spells added to your spell list. Sure, you get more to select from (and Nolin definitely used them), but you're still limited to the usual number of spells per day. Every Fire Seeds is one less Mass Haste, for instance.
> A couple very nice spell-like abilities (although with 3.5E's shorter Fly duration, 1/day might not be enough)
> Outsider status at level 10, which seems to be pretty common for PrCs.
> That "screech" ability, which I don't remember Nolin ever using.

And the downsides!
> Weaker BAB. Seriously, WIZARD progression; at level 20, instead of +15 BAB he had +12.
> FOUR fewer skill points per level (although 2 of those might just be an artifact of the sheet not being updated to 3.5E, meaning the "new" RotF should be 4/level?)
> Don't gain Bardic Music per-day uses, and their stats don't increase (his Inspire Courage is stuck at +2, for instance, while a level 20 Bard would have a +4.) Doesn't look like you get a Bardic Knowledge increase, but the character sheet wasn't too clear on this one.
> If you go unconscious a Fireball goes off. The one time I can remember this happening to Nolin was in Eversink, and there it DID only hurt his enemies, but in most groups this'll hurt the allies more.
> If you die a Fire Storm goes off. Again, in the Defenders' case this only hurt an enemy, but again, that shouldn't be typical.

So, I wouldn't call it unbalanced. It's a nice class for a Bard who wants to be an offensive spellcaster, and has a LOT of flavor (much better than most of the bland "official" PrCs), but I wouldn't call it overpowered by any means.
Anyway, it's probably not a good idea to get hung up on the minutae of the characters' classes, or else story hour readers will get confused. Feel free to delete this once the tangent is complete...

 

[Shieldhaven]

I'd venture to say that the class would be too powerful in the hands of a wizard or (even worse) sorcerer - they would be sacrificing almost nothing, improving their hit dice and Fort saves, and gaining a handful of other abilities including bonus spells known. Therefore, if you were inclined to publish, I'd recommend tinkering with the requirements so that Bard became the only reasonable basis for the class, rather than just-incidentally what Nolin was.

Haven

 

[KidCthulhu]

Actually, Nolin used the screech quite a few times, I think it just wasn't storyhour worthy. Also, I had to stop using it because for some reason my fellow players objected to the ear splitting shriek. I call it role-playing, they call it annoying.

Moot point now, really

 

[Spatzimaus]

I'd venture to say that the class would be too powerful in the hands of a wizard or (even worse) sorcerer - they would be sacrificing almost nothing,

Well, clearly. I was assessing solely from the point of view of a Bard, since no real prerequisites were given. Every PrC has some requirements beyond story things, and it'd be easy enough to add some requirements that a Wizard or Sorcerer couldn't easily meet but that Nolin does. Ranks in "Knowledge: Ancient History" or "Use Magical Device", for instance. Or make it simpler: require the Bard ability "Inspire Greatness", which automatically requires a certain level of Bard. Or, just make it explicit that the extra spells per day are as a Bard, so that a Sorcerer or Wizard won't usually want to take the class. There's plenty of ways to work around this problem.

This same discussion came up when Piratecat was designing the "Radiant Knight" PrC for Mara and Malachite; he didn't put any requirements on it beyond the in-character stuff, but in the discussion thread we noted that the two of them shared four Feats (Power Attack, Weapon Focus, Divine Might, and Extra Turnings) and a few other things, any of which could have been used as a prerequisite. So, when I, umm, "paid homage to" the Radiant Knight in my campaign, I added three of those requirements in.

 

[Piratecat]

Part 4: Stone and Fire



When ribs break, they sound a lot like snapping twigs.

“I’m all right.” Tao winced as she pulled herself to her feet. “It hit me as I was charging. I’m not used to being flung around.” She spun both of her long swords, one in each hand, and narrowed her eyes at the elemental. “Jerk. That hurt.” Blood trickled from her nose and down the side of her face.

“So, class, what have we learned today about charging the giant unholy elemental?” Nolin drew on the phoenix's power coursing through his blood and sang a select combination of notes. A fiery pellet sizzled from the end of his finger and blossomed into a halo of searing flame against the creature’s blocky head. The elemental barely noticed as it continued to try and crush Valdek.

“That I want to do it again, but hit it this time.” Tao’s voice sounded bubbly, almost as if she were drowning.

Velendo snorted. “Wrong! How about ‘not to charge it, because it has much much longer arms than we do?’” He uttered a prayer to Calphas the Wallbuilder as he touched Tao on the back of the neck. She could instantly feel her splintered ribs sliding back into place, and her breathing became much less labored. She murmured her thanks.

“Good answer, Velendo.” Kiri thrust her hand forward and five white balls of force spiraled away into the body of the elemental. A paving stone broke free from its torso and crashed to the mud thirty feet below. “It looks like it’s going to take a lot of killing.”

“Maybe not,” said Shara. The blond woman stood with her back rigid, tilting up her perfect chin as she critically studied the elemental. The wind from the fire spells gently tousled her blond hair. “This is probably from the same person who changed our memories. I think it’s summoned and not natural. Let’s see how powerful the summoner is.” Shara made a ripping gesture with her hands, as if she were tearing a piece of cloth in two. A shudder went through the elemental, but it didn’t disappear. Shara’s lips tightened into a frown. “Pretty powerful. And we still don’t know where the summoner is.”

Velendo rolled his eyes. “Summoner. Of course. Tao, don’t charge it yet.”

“Why not?”

“Just don’t! Give me a second, and go when I say so.”

She blew air out of her lower lip, making a lock of auburn hair dance away from her forehead. “Fine. Just hurry it up. Valdek’s getting hammered, and I have no idea where TomTom and. . .”

A pillar of flame slammed down onto the elemental’s head. Rock steamed and melted.

“. . .never mind. There’s Raevynn now.”

At the monster’s feet, Valdek wrenched Warwinner from a rent that he’d hacked in its left leg. He spun, putting all his force behind the long magical blade. A purple beam of light linked the sword and the elemental, and the light seemed to guide his blow. Chips of splintered rock stung Valdek’s face as his sword struck home.

The colossus swiveled its head downwards towards the knight. The window panes of its eyes reflected the afternoon sun, and an arm like a battering ram pistoned into a huge, pile-driving blow. Valdek had just enough time to leap out of the way. The ground trembled beneath his feet. “Maybe next time,” he offered. He chuckled once, humorlessly, then shuffled forwards to take another swing.

-- o --

Invisible, TomTom Badgerclaw hovered over the battle field. Everyone else would have the elemental well in hand. He had different prey in mind.

He blotted out the nearby monster, the cowering villagers, Rofan’s dazed approach down the main street. He looked for small movements and flickers on the corner of sight. As a result, he was the only person who saw a tiny amount of rubble shift in the ruined hut beneath him. It figures, thought Tom Tom. He summoned it underground. But he’s too excited to stay down there and let it do its job. No, gnomes are inquisitive and they’ll want to gloat. They really are just like squirrels. TomTom couldn’t see anyone, but the rubble continued to shift. Someone invisible was down there. TomTom was pretty sure that he knew who.

“Raevynn,” Tomtom reached out with his mind, “ you still there? Do you have anything that can thwart invisibility? Pickett just came up out of that trap door.”

Her response was sharp. “No kidding? Then I owe him a thank you for that trap. And the abominations. And for the elemental. That thing is tainted, just like the unholy ‘squakes’.” Raevynn spread her awareness out over the ruins of the hut. Saint Elmo’s Fire doesn’t have to only be on ships during a storm, she thought. Sometimes, all the air needs is a little persuasion. All you have to do is ask.

She asked, and the air answered. The hut erupted into a wispy flickering flame, silent greenish light outlining each and every piece of rubble. It also outlined a very surprised forest gnome in the process of easing through a partially opened trapdoor.

Still levitating, Tomtom flipped his magical jambiya from handle to glinting blade and threw it as hard as he could at the gnome. The curved steel made a whistle as it arced through the air, and the jambiya sliced through Pickett’s left wrist as easily as a knife goes through butter. The throw was perfect. The gnome screamed in horror, slipped in his own spouting blood, and fell backwards through the trap door. The door fell shut behind him, leaving Pickett’s twitching hand on the ground beside it.

“Well, that was rewarding. Raevynn, want to go after him?”

She sounded almost content. “Oh, yes. Yes, indeed. Pickett and I need to have a little chat about abomination worship.” She emerged from her hiding place in the nearby rubble, and Tomtom slid his mind downwards. His body naturally followed. He looked up in surprise when Rofan appeared around the corner.

“TomTom, what’s happening?” The prophet sounded stunned.

“These gnomes have you fooled, Rofan. You’ve been worshipping Orthyss, not Galanna. Abominations and monsters, not nature. I think they’re twisting your mind.”

He seemed to choke. “That’s not possible! I would know!” He took two or three steps towards TomTom and the closed trap door. “If that’s true, we… we have to stop them. I have to stop them.”

Raevynn took a deep breath in annoyance, and raised her voice over the sound of Nolin suddenly laughing somewhere outside. “That’s what we’re doing. You can help, or you can leave, but we’re ending this. And when we’re done, you and I are going to have a very long talk.” She took two steps forward, purposely treading on Pickett’s severed hand, and wrenched open the trap door. She stared down into a tunnel lit only by two small spheres of hovering flame.

TomTom’s face fell. “Delayed blast fi--“

The world exploded in flame.

-- o --

“Now!”

Hasted by Nolin, Tao ran towards the elemental. As before, it swung out a ponderous arm to smash her backwards. This time, however, protection from evil prevented the elemental from making any contact whatsoever. Its swing went wide, and Tao aimed her swords at the same rent that Valdek had been creating.

More spells detonated somewhere overhead, and the creature began to shudder. One of its arms connected with Valdek, but the knight was well enough braced that the blow didn’t knock him backwards. He continued to attack, Tao now flanked the monster with him, and their repeated blows sent deep fault lines up the leg and through the monster’s torso. A beam of silvery light from Velendo shattered one of the creature’s windowpane eyes, electricity from the wizards coursed up and down its frame, and a sonic attack from Nolin sent a network of small cracks through its shoulder.

Enough was enough. The elemental aimed one final blow at Tao, missing her by mere inches, and turned to flee long enough to find a better tactical position. It did what came naturally; it sank straight down into the earth.

That was a poor decision.

Tao and Valdek both watched the head getting closer and closer, smiles widening on their bruised faces. They timed their blows carefully. Tao snapped her favorite sword up into the creature’s one remaining eye, and Valdek brought Warwinner around in a two-handed blow that caught the elemental squarely in the face. Already weakened, the deformed earth elemental shattered into a thousand fist-sized chunks of rock and cobblestone. The earth heaved, as if rejecting its foulness, and within seconds the monster had deliquesced into nothing more than gravel and slime.

Nolin’s laughter rang out. “Beautiful,” he said. “That went a lot better than I had expected.”

WHU-WHUMP.

Behind him the ruins of the hut rose, shattered outwards, and dissolved into an inferno of shooting flame.

 

[Piratecat]

It's worth noting that this was the session where Our Heroes learned about the benefits of reach, flanking, and how to thwart summoned creatures. Of course, they also learned about delayed blast fireballs, so I figure the deck was about evenly stacked. [In the next installment, and then in the big next adventure, the heroes will use a particular new rule very effectively. You'll know it when you see it.]

So... how much before the Eversink adventures are these updates? Eversink is where I first started reading.

Two major adventures (including this one) and a couple of minor adventures as well. Be aware that I'm going to edit and rewrite quite a few of the Eversink entries. As a friend told me recently when she tried to read it out loud to someone, "It's kind of rough going." I agree; that's the consequence of not actually intending to write one of these things!

Next update is already written. I'll post it Thursday. It's fun being back in the groove; this is starting to come naturally again.

So, does anyone have any stats or rules for Dylrath's Outgrabe?

Originally it was just an archmage's floating bed that Dylrath broke after a fight. Personally, I'd give it a movement rate of +20' over the character's base rate, so long as the character succeeded on a balance check of whatever DC you think is appropriate. I'd definitely let people use it to charge. And crash.

Mostly to crash, really.

But then again, in 2e Dylrath had a specific non-weapon proficiency in "embarrassing pratfall."

 

[Greybar]

OuchiEEEEEEEE.

Great battle description, Piratecat!

I hope that's not as bad as it sounds... 'cause it sounds like Velendo would be having to do Raise Dead there. When was the first time Velendo had to pull someone back from the land of the dead, anyway?