Plot-Artifacts - Five Rings

[Hawke]

As part of the plot there are five rings of an ancient order that must be collected on their way toward the final battle. Early in Paragon, they will begin to grab these rings that they are individually destined to have. I only have four characters and the fifth ring is the betrayer of the order and one of BBEGs on the way to the final one.

The rings correspond to the planes and the goal of the order is to keep balance between them and the mortal plane safe. With each I hope to have some great back story and fluff elements as well as the flexibility to grow as they level into Epic... I also anticipate they will be obtained over several levels so some will have access before others.

Here are my thoughts on rings, the player it is destined for, and ideas for powers. While not full artifact rules are going to be used, I do plan to have some positive bonuses on the fly depending on how they advance the cause of the Order.

Shadow Tiefling Rogue - I'm thinking a power that is similar to the figurine of power so the has another flanking partner. With a party of four she's having more and more trouble gaining combat advantage, so I'm thinking a shadow form that can flank... with more powers granted later having to do with concealment, etc.

Fey Elf Ranger (bow) - Since we lack anything but martial/divine characters and lacking a controller, I'm thinking of making this a magic oriented ring and giving the Ranger the ability to pick up some wizard utilities, maybe ritual casting, and perhaps later in the game a sort of free multiclass with approved wizard spells to replace ranger ones.

Mortal Plane Half-elf Cleric - I'm thinking of tying this one to life force
(amplifying the healing?) and perhaps some sort of controllerish element that might be to eliminate or create difficult terrain.

Divine - Dragonborn Paladin - I'm thinking of how to make this one pretty special. I know fluff wise I want to have some more prophetic stuff come through this ring, mechanics though I'm not quite as sure.

I also can see the possibility of switching the Divine / Mortal rings between those two players if it fits. I'm doing those ones later.

Elemental - The Betrayer has this one. I figured he's had it decades and has betrayed the order by become seduced by the chaos of the plane below. Taking him out and "destroying the ring of the betrayer" is one of the prophetic elements that will both end the Order and save the world.

So that's my initial thought. I've been much more stingy when it comes to magical items so I think some powers here and there should be fairly balanced since they don't have a bunch of slots filled and many have only found the
+3 weapon that doesn't have a power attached. I've got a group that's okay with some eyeballing of stuff and isn't sitting around with gamer hats and worrying about balance and fairness... so I'm not super concerned with that but would like some good ideas if anyone has done something similar!

 

[Starfox]

You really should be discussing this with your players, as you are mucking around with their concepts. For example, is the Ranger into arcane utility powers, or is the player's vision for the character to stay focused on the martial sphere?

 

[Hawke]

You really should be discussing this with your players, as you are mucking around with their concepts. For example, is the Ranger into arcane utility powers, or is the player's vision for the character to stay focused on the martial sphere?

Excellent point... I did discuss especially the magical element with the Ranger. He brought up the feeling that he felt sort of like we could both use an arcane character and that he half-wanted to play a controller. I discussed with him the prospects of a future gameplay element that would expand that role for him and he was pretty excited at that thought.

So, I think I'm definitely engaging the characters about their future vision - just searching for some ideas to also keep some exciting elements and surprise powers/abilities for my players.

 

[Saagael]

I think that rather than giving the archer psuedo-wizard power, you should make it more unique and bring back some of the flavor of the Arcane Archer from 3.5. Maybe his arrows are infused with fey energies and do funky stuff like that. Some elements that might augment his attacks:

• When the character critically hits, the target is also restrained until end of next turn in addition to normal critical bonus damage. (vines entangle target or something similar.
• He gains a teleport power 1/encounter (like Fey Step)
• The character can use the Fey Passage Ritual (from Manual of the Planes)
• He gains an area burst power that creates difficult terrain (lobbing an arrow that causes roots and thorns to sprout up)
• The character gains a bonus to stealth when in natural environments.

For the Rogue, I think you're spot on if the player likes to play the sneaky assassin type. Giving damage bonuses while the character has concealment or giving the character a reroll on stealth checks is good.

For the Mortal Ring, you could go with the humans' shtick and give bonuses to saves. Perseverance and determination can be represented with a +1 to saves, or granting saving throws to allies. For more controllery stuff, maybe flavor it as if the enemies are demoralized by the characters' resolve, and thus they must spend their next move action running away (or take a penalty to attack, or be dazed, any number of things).

The Divine Ring is fairly easy, and here's why: The Paladin has to have a deity. Key off that deity and mesh the ring to that. If it's there for the player, then you should definitely tailor it for that paladin's own beliefs. Don't just be generic. If the character worships Bahamut, maybe the ring lets the paladin deal fire damage with his attacks (or whatever the dragonborn's breath is). Perhaps the ring gives the character a diluted version of every dragon's "frightening presence" power. Some more ideas for this:

• Bahamut: Add enhancement bonus of ring to damage rolls with dragon breath
• Bahamut: An immediate interrupt that makes an enemy attack the paladin instead of an ally within 2 squares (diving in to protect the weak)
• Kord: The character can charge without drawing opportunity attacks
• Kord: The paladin's attacks can deal lightening damage
• Pelor: Can light up the ring like a torch
• Pelor: Allies gain a +5 bonus to fear saving throws while within 5 squares

Those are just some ideas, but the real key is watch your players and see how they play their characters, then focus on what they focus on. I did the same thing in my game, but I gave the players specifically tailored magic items (one of the Big 3 to alleviate some of the magic item turnover) that meshed with their paragon paths. The Cleric of the Raven Queen got a chainmail vest that gave bonuses vs death and undead. The tiefling warlock got a hellish amulet that let him summon devils. The human got an item that boosted his already high resistance to save ends effects. But I digress: the real trick is figuring out what makes the character tick, what they're core concept is, and then using that.

 

[Hawke]

Excellent ideas... Really helped me flesh things out I think.

I think I will steal the artifact concordance thing and combine it with level details to jump the progression of available powers. I also like the suggestion of access to specific rituals - I think since we don't spend lots of resources on rituals at all - it might be a neat encouragement if they gain some access.