Creative Exercise: The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros

[Arkhandus]

Shortswords are the iconic melee weapon of Eyros, not Xaleris. Xals wield scimitars in close combat I figured because they were previously described as supposed to have a persian/arabic sort of flavor, or something.

Doesn't matter to me as to what war-outfitted gundabahs are called. Probably just warbeasts, or perhaps gundabah itself is what the Xals call them when outfitted?

As for preparing them, I figure it probably takes around 30 minutes after gathering the pieces. The platforms are probably broken up into 11 pieces when not in use (first floor, second floor, roof, the four lower side panels, and the four upper side panels). Each of those pieces could probably be carried and set up by the men who would ride within later. A few short lengths of chain, some ropes, a few leather bands, and iron pins for binding the pieces together as they go. Likely that one or two crossbowmen and one or two lancers in each unit is trained in basic engineering (like 1 or 2 ranks in the Knowledge skill) to coordinate the putting-together of the battle platform howdah.

Edit: My rough estimate is that each of the 11 panels may weight around 250 to 400 pounds, and cost around 1,000 to 4,000 GP. However, I can't be more certain until I know exactly what the difference in weight and cost is between iron and bronze. Since the gundabah's crew is usually 12 men, I figure that four or so could hold up the second-level panel while 4 men on the left secure the left plate, 4 on the right secure the right plate, and then those two groups move around to secure the lower front and rear plates, with the front plate attached last. Two men move inside before securing it, then the remaining six men move the small upper-level plates into place, climb up their ladder, and secure each piece up there, finishing with the upper-front plate.

 

[domino]

My bad. I completely missed that part. Suggestion withdrawn.

 

[Sarellion]

Probably works, the design is pretty easy, like a prefab house.
Twelve men working on the the construction should be able to build the tower pretty fast, especially if they have to do it every morning. An elephant crew in India probably needed some time to strap on the howdah, too, and it worked for them.

Personally, I would prefer a magical solution because of another reason. Even if we say that magic is somewhat rare, it would make sense to me that an empire would use valuable resources on their military.

So they would just take off the straps and set it aside whole and the next morning strap on the harness again. Reduces the time until it´s ready considerably, would be invaluable when in a hurry and you need them as fast as possible. It´s not that I feel that magic is needed because of weight or the amount of construction, it just would be a great advantage to use it there.

But your idea seems to work fine as it is.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Anyone have anything to say about the Hythatians...?

Personally, I would find the philosophy much more appealing if it actually did not go into religion at all and was just a way of life. That way, someone could be an upstanding Draconic Legacy member and a Hythatian at the same time, which would allow them to be more prevelant without cutting into the Draconic Legacy numbers, as well as more influential, something that I think fits better with the cult. But either way is fine, I suppose.

My post is mainly to let everyone know that I playtested Eyros yesterday (22/03). The #1 response I am getting to Eyros from players, when I give them the overview of the world, is that they stop me on the halfling pirates and say, "That's so cool!" (80% response rate), and then they want to play a halfling pirate. Right now, we don't have too great a support network for something like that, compared to several other sorts of campaigns, so just letting everyone know, in case we want to flesh the halflings out.

Anyway, here's how it went: The adventuring group (all 2nd level) consisted of a Crucible Flame named Julian Dal-Malarn, a Legionnaire Rogue scout named Rev, and an Arcaneum-approved Warmage named Tarn (who was raised by halfling pirates). They were hired by Kalis Ny'Dal-Malarn in Eyrdeyn to explore an old ruin north of Malarn-Ka, and they were to meet him in Malarn-Ka for more details. Refusing to buy longstriders or horses, they decided to walk 500 miles to Malarn-Ka (it could have been 300 miles but they chose to skirt the Kohl'Tass holdings in the Kohoal delta), resting 12 hours because each person had to take a 4 hour watch. This wound up taking them 10 in-game days, and the entire playtest session. One thing that happened is that they had to curb their usual reactions to certain encounters. When they saw an orc on a warstrider, or a gnome with 8 skeletons, for instance, the initial gut reaction was to enter combat mode, but they were able to restrain this.

During one night, a Gundabah ate some of their food, but they were pretty much safe until they reached the river Kohoal. They crossed on a ford, which was a DC 0 Swim check (yes, DC 0). Unfortunately, Julian was wearing half-plate, and so he failed by 5 or more and was swept into the water. After a large number of failed attempts to save him, involving grappling hooks and untrained Use Rope checks, eventually Julian used his last air and an Action Point to cast an Augmented Summon Monster I to summon a Celestial Porpoise with greater than usual strength, which was strong enough to carry him to shore.

Later a Varthalt almost killed them all because the Rogue heard it prowling and decided to go check it out without waking the others up. He wound up being hypnotised, but he eventually woke up the cleric, who wasn't wearing any armour, and they managed to eventually drive it away after it sucked out all of the Rogue's Intelligence by healing the unconscious Warmage and then making 10 consecutive Will Saves while shooting light crossbow bolts at it and waiting for the Warmage to wake up.

They ignored the circus, and by the time they reached Malarn-Ka, they agreed that it would have probably been a good idea to buy some longstriders or quickstriders (another dino-travel option I gave them that was more expensive but moved at a speed of 90 rather than 60). After getting the details from Kalis, they stocked up on supplies and ended the session. So the moral of the story is that the most dangerous thing in Eyros is the Kohoal River with its DC 0 Swim check ford.

 

[Arkhandus]

I just know though that the Telekinesis spell is mid-level and can't lift vast amounts of weight, like the 2,000 pounds or something that the battle platform may weigh. Telekinesis can only lift around 250 pounds at 10th-level, and I don't think Resilient Sphere is big enough to encompass a 10'-10'-30' object, even if it could lift it, which I don't think it can.... With the way magic works, you can't really just have several mages TK'ing the howdah at once, and I really wouldn't want them having to waste a Limited Wish or worse just to mount a howdah in 1 minute (considering that they'd still likely have to physically tie/secure the straps/chains underneath the gundabah). So, that's why I decided good-ol' fashioned manual labor was best for constructing the howdahs. {:^D

 

[Arkhandus]

*snip* My post is mainly to let everyone know that I playtested Eyros yesterday (22/03). *snip*

Cool. I, too, would like to playtest some Eyros stuff once it's more fleshed out.

Anyway, here's how it went: The adventuring group (all 2nd level) consisted of a Crucible Flame named Julian Dal-Malarn, a Legionnaire Rogue scout named Rev, and an Arcaneum-approved Warmage named Tarn (who was raised by halfling pirates). They were hired by Kalis Ny'Dal-Malarn in Eyrdeyn to explore an old ruin north of Malarn-Ka, and they were to meet him in Malarn-Ka for more details. Refusing to buy longstriders or horses, they decided to walk 500 miles to Malarn-Ka (it could have been 300 miles but they chose to skirt the Kohl'Tass holdings in the Kohoal delta), resting 12 hours because each person had to take a 4 hour watch. *snip*

Heh, yeah it probably would've seemed a bit demeaning and unpleasant being stripped of weapons, clothes, et al and being led through the snake-, gator-, leech-, and especially mosquito-ridden marshes by the Delta while nekkid, watched by lizardfolk the whole time, as other lizardfolk on longstriders took the gear and skirted the sacred land to meet the party later and give them their stuff back. As, y'know, they might not trust the humans to just 'borrow' the longstriders for a day or two. :^D

During one night, a Gundabah ate some of their food, but they were pretty much safe until they reached the river Kohoal. They crossed on a ford, which was a DC 0 Swim check (yes, DC 0). Unfortunately, Julian was wearing half-plate, and so he failed by 5 or more and was swept into the water. After a large number of failed attempts to save him, involving grappling hooks and untrained Use Rope checks, eventually Julian used his last air and an Action Point to cast an Augmented Summon Monster I to summon a Celestial Porpoise with greater than usual strength, which was strong enough to carry him to shore. *snip*

Heheh, dino food-filching. Poor cleric falling in the river.... Though I do understand why a Crucible cultist wouldn't likely learn to swim....

They ignored the circus, and by the time they reached Malarn-Ka, they agreed that it would have probably been a good idea to buy some longstriders or quickstriders (another dino-travel option I gave them that was more expensive but moved at a speed of 90 rather than 60). After getting the details from Kalis, they stocked up on supplies and ended the session. So the moral of the story is that the most dangerous thing in Eyros is the Kohoal River with its DC 0 Swim check ford.

Muahahahah! ......I have many past sessions for explanation why I give most of my own characters some ranks in Swim. :^D
Good idea on the quickstriders, might be built more like velociraptors than megaraptors....

 

[Rystil Arden]

Heh, yeah it probably would've seemed a bit demeaning and unpleasant being stripped of weapons, clothes, et al and being led through the snake-, gator-, leech-, and especially mosquito-ridden marshes by the Delta while nekkid, watched by lizardfolk the whole time, as other lizardfolk on longstriders took the gear and skirted the sacred land to meet the party later and give them their stuff back. As, y'know, they might not trust the humans to just 'borrow' the longstriders for a day or two. :^D

Heh, they were all ready to go through and visit the Kohl'Tass too, until I mentioned that little detail about the equipment. After the Varthalt, though, they decided the Kohl'Tass might be preferable on the way back. ^^

Heheh, dino food-filching.

The rogue was completely clueless as to why the dinosaur would head towards the campfire when it was clearly wary of his torch. He later discovered that it had learned from experience that campfire==good food.

Good idea on the quickstriders, might be built more like velociraptors than megaraptors....

Sure, here goes:

Contribution: For speedy travel, not many means of transportation can beat the Quickstriders, lean velociraptor-like dinosaurs built for speed, which have a movement rate of 90, rather than 60. Using Quickstriders, the postal service can deliver a message from Eyrdeyn to Malarn-ka in under two days if the situation is ideal (see the postal service post for more details on how this works).

 

[Tonguez]

Contribution: For speedy travel, not many means of transportation can beat the Quickstriders, lean velociraptor-like dinosaurs built for speed, which have a movement rate of 90, rather than 60. Using Quickstriders, the postal service can deliver a message from Eyrdeyn to Malarn-ka in under two days if the situation is ideal (see the postal service post for more details on how this works).

You do realise that the velociraptor is like the size of a Turkey?
Even Deinonychus stood only about 5 - 6 ft high (tall enough to ride I suppose)

anyway on the issue of the Gundabah Howdahs wouldn't it be easier to just give the towers detachable legs? the Gundabah is manouvered under the tower, the legs removed and - job done. When it needs to be removed just reattach the legs rachet the tower up and move the beasts out...thats what I'd do

 

[Rystil Arden]

You do realise that the velociraptor is like the size of a Turkey?

Well, I said:

Quickstriders, lean velociraptor-like dinosaurs built for speed

That doesn't preclude that the Quickstrider could be larger than a velociraptor, as I did know that velociraptors were far too small to fit the bill.

 

[Sarellion]

I thought it could be some custom made levitation effect or magic item, only workable on objects, only floats a short distance from the floor, lifts more than normal. I thought along the idea of a custom made wondrous item. But as I said, would be a neat idea in my opinion but not necessary.

Not sure about the legs. They are in the way probably and if you move them outwards on poles, they would probably bend downwards or be unable to hold the wieight in the middle. And if the camp has muddy ground (because of rain during the night or so), you cannot mount them on, as the legs are sunk in the ground. But something like this could work in fortreses where you could store them in a dry place.