Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7014944" data-attributes="member: 20323">Doing just a bit of design tonight, I'm concurrently developing the BBEG's backstory and brainstorming his stat block.There are a few questions that I'm pondering...<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">What drove The Bonfire to pursue an agenda of domination by flame mages? The Brotherhood believes that fire magic is somehow superior to other kinds, and if they can't convert magic-users the Brotherhood has no compunctions against hunting down the "offending" mage and leaving their burnt corpse and salted fields as a warning. But to what end? Has he foreseen the world's heat death / ice age, and that's what drives him to aggressively push a flame magic agenda? Does he believe it's only a matter of time before Zakhara's Enlightened Throne gets into open war with its neighbors, and he thinks widespread flame magic is the necessary to win? </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Is he the first "Bonfire", the original creator of the Brotherhood of True Flame? Or is he the latest to lead? If he's the first, how did he manage to create such a powerful alliance of flame mages by his mid-forties? Is he immortal/long-lived or just an exceptionally shrewd charismatic man? OTOH, if he inherited the position from the previous leader, was that peaceable passing of the torch, a grueling test/challenge he had to pass, a wizard's duel, or a coup?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">How do I make his fire magic potent against creatures with fire resistance in a way that allows the resistance to have some benefit? How does this look narratively? This is a more general question for the entire Brotherhood, but especially applies to The Bonfire. By the time the PCs face him they'll likely all have ways to gain fire resistance. I'm envisioning a trait that causes The Bonfire's fire magic to disable (permanently? temporarily?) any fire resistance after the resistance applies against the spell...but I'm not yet clear how to describe that so it would make sense.</li> </ol>And a few traits for his stat block I'm pondering...[SECTION]The First Flame. The Bonfire acts as his own arcane focus, doesn’t count fire-based magic items against his 3 item attunement limit, and his concentration checks for fire spells have advantage. Additionally, all allied flame mages within 30 feet who can see and hear The Bonfire similarly have advantage on concentration checks for fire spells.[/SECTION]>>This represents his leadership of the flame mages, so they have an easier time sustaining conjure elemental and wall of fire spells in his presence. It also lets him attune to all the items described in the DRAGON article.[SECTION]Paranoid. The Bonfire cannot be surprised while he is conscious, he gains advantage on Intelligence (Investigation) checks to detect disguised creatures, and can always tell whether his food and drink are poisoned.[/SECTION]>>I thought this was equivalent to 1-2 feats, as the Alert feat grants immunity to surprise, +5 (advantage) on initiative, and other creatures don't gain advantage on attack rolls against you while hidden. It represents the sort of lengths such a paranoid leader of a secret society might go to, especially when there are holy slayers and agents of the Grand Caliph who'd love to get their hands on him.[SECTION]Pyromancy. The Bonfire’s fire spells have advantage on damage rolls, and when he does damage with a fire spell to a creature with fire resistance, the creature loses its resistance until the end of the Bonfire’s next turn.[/SECTION]>>I'm uncertain about both parts of this one. Advantage on delayed blast fireball (12d6 / avg = 3.5*12 = 42), for example, would yield (12d6, advantage / avg = 4.5*12 = 54. So that's +12 damage per target, which is pretty potent!</blockquote>

Verification