How much is a new SpaceBaby? Say, standard model, basic features?
SpaceBaby Industries said:
For the discerning Boneheart members, or at least the ones who have the financial wherewithal, consider an amulet that casts Mind Blank once a day
One of the things that really limits NPC villains is the need to keep their magic item total low. If the Iuzians were built with the same sort of resources that PCs are assumed to have, there'd be a lot more Good-aligned blood left on the floor when all was said and done.
The trouble is, in the LoT especially, anything that the bad guys have, the good guys will get eventually.
I've thrown a monkey wrench into their scrying from time to time-- Maskaleyne had his "away team" which was designed to teleport in on the PCs as they were buffing (didn't work out, tough luck. RIP fellas), Zeflen in Calibut foils scrying because he stretches the definition of "a being", etc.
But for the most part, I think it's okay. My group self-polices very well-- if they were actually straining the fun factor with cheesy tactics, they'd cut it out, or we'd just house-rule a fix. As it is, we're all having a good time, they take the occasional defeat along with the victories, and the campaign crunches along.
Jespo simpers, Fras hisses, Regda coddles, Lucius plots, Belvor booms, Gwendolyn sashays, Dabus reassures, Thrommel dies, Pris bats her eyes, and Heydricus admires his muscles in the mirror.
In some ways, the fighting is really just the backdrop for the fun stuff (IMO). I love political campaigns, and Heydricus coming up with something like the marriage of Butrain's daughter and Thrommel did more damage to my sub-plotting than any amount of scry-buff-teleports would! In fact, between that, their trip to Nyrond, and the letter to Halrond, they really won the game.
Tenh is essentially Liberated. (Although don't tell the Pale or the troll army occupying the Southern border-- they might disagree.)
Scry-buff-teleport is no more or no less than clerics weilding maces, or monks who can't use swords. It's kind of silly, but C'est la D&D.
That said, we *did* house-rule that teleport requires a partial action (3.0e terminology) to orient, thus preventing the surprise round - -> win initiative bloodbaths. There aren't many ways to build a bad guy that can get past two rounds of the Liberators. Ask Maskeylene if you don't belive me. I'd built that guy with *love*, even created a new template (Rotted One) for his pretty behind, and he barely got to say something evil before they wasted him. I was like, "for this I spent four hours?"
The Will save vs. scrying will lessen the frequency of, but won't prevent what we've seen in the past, and I'm okay with that.
The other nice thing about picking Iuzians for enemies, is that they are both deep and broad as an organization. Everything from barbarian giants to humongous bleeding obelisks could concieveably make their way onto The List.
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You'll see two things in the next few updates:
First, you'll see that the Liberators are definately vulnerable, a point that was presented in a unique (at least to our experience) fashion. See, the killing of Panshazek in Dorraka *was* sufficiently meaningful enough to trigger an organized response. Now, the Liberators aren't just taking out peripheral servants or out-of-favor VIPs in the Provinces-- they are killing Boneheart members *at the seat of Iuz' authority*. This is bad, mmmmmkay?
Second, you'll see that sometimes Bad Guys don't have enough levels between them to even have a chance.
