(Cydra Rogues' Gallery-My Players STAY OUT)

[Joshua Randall]

From a devoted RttToH fan - love what you've done with the place!

Was the Constant Insight (+20 AB) necessary to make Faericles' AB high enough to hit 20th+ level PCs? I don't have any experience DMing at that level under 3e rules. I do like the idea that he is such a good swordsman that he practically never misses, but using a +20 insight bonus to AB just seems... cheesy.

 

[the Jester]

No, the +20 insight bonus is from the Moilian template. I actually put it in there to make Moilian zombies a reasonable challenge. Heh... they actually gave the party more trouble than the brine dragon!

Thanks for the feedback, Joshua! The module was a blast to run- we finished it a couple of weeks ago. I switched things around here and there and through a bunch of Cydra at it in order to really tie it in to everything; the players realized it had been foreshadowed several groups of characters ago. It was a blast.

 

[abernat]

No, the +20 insight bonus is from the Moilian template. I actually put it in there to make Moilian zombies a reasonable challenge. Heh... they actually gave the party more trouble than the brine dragon!

Speaking of Moilian Zombie, could you post your template? I'm planning on running a party through the Return (mostly because of your story hour... drool...) but the conversions I've seen are very weak in terms of power.

 

[the Jester]

My pleasure!

Glad you've been enjoying the run...!


MOILIAN ZOMBIE
Medium Undead (Cold)
Hit Dice: 12d12+3 (up to 147)
Initiative: -1
Speed: 30’ (can’t run)
Armor Class: 21 (-1 dex, +12 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 21
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/
Attack: Slam +35 melee (1d10+13) or weapon +35 melee (by weapon +9 or +13) or weapon +25 ranged (by weapon)
Full Attack: Slam +35 melee (1d10+13) or by weapon
Space/Reach: 5’/5’
Special Attacks: Aura of cold (DC 19), constant insight, life drain
Special Qualities: Cold subtype, parasitism, single actions only, undead traits
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +8
Abilities: Str 28, Dex 8, Con -, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 17
Skills: Climb +24
Feats: Ability Focus (aura of cold), Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Toughness
Environment: The City That Waits
Challenge Rating: 15
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always chaotic evil

MOILIAN SPECTER
Medium Undead (cold, incorporeal)
Hit Dice: 17d12
Initiative: +7
Speed: 40’, fly 80’ (perfect)
Armor Class: 23 (+10 deflection, +3 dex), touch 23, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/-
Attack: Incorporeal touch +32 melee (2d6 plus energy drain) (ignores miss chance for concealment)
Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +32 melee (2d6 plus energy drain) (ignores miss chance for concealment)
Space/Reach: 5’/5’
Special Attacks: Aura of cold (30’ radius, 3d6 plus Fort save DC 30 or frozen in place for 1d4+1 minutes), constant insight, create spawn, energy drain (2 levels; each negative level bestowed gives the Moilian spectre 5 hp; Fort DC 30 to remove), life drain (20’ radius, all creatures must make Fort saves, DC 30, or suffer 1d4 points of Con drain; each point yields 5 hp to the Moilian)
Special Qualities: Cold subtype, incorporeal, parasitism, sunlight powerlessness, turn resistance +2, undead, unnatural aura
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +12
Abilities: Str -, Dex 16, Con -, Int 20, Wis 14, Cha 31
Skills: Hide +23, Intimidate +30, Knowledge (religion) +25, Knowledge (the planes) +15, Listen +24, Search +25, Spot +24, Survival +2 (+4 when following tracks or on other planes)
Feats: Ability Focus (aura of cold, energy drain, life drain), Alertness, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (touch)
Challenge Rating: 20



CREATING A MOILIAN

“Moilian” is a template that can be added to any undead. A Moilian creature has all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted below.

Size and Type: The Moilian retains the undead type and gains the cold subtype.

Hit Dice: A Moilian’s hit dice increase by 10. Its hit points depend greatly on its life draining abilities (see below).

Armor Class: A Moilian’s natural armor bonus increases by +10. A Moilian also gains a deflection bonus to AC equal to its Charisma bonus, if any.

Base Attack/Grapple: Change to account for increased HD and ability scores.

Attacks: A Moilian uses the base creature’s attacks, but damage for all physical attacks increases by two steps. Its attack bonus increases due to ability score changes, added hit dice and its constant insight ability.

Special Attacks: A Moilian retains all the base creature’s special attacks and gains the following:

Aura of Cold (Su): A Moilian with at least one hit point constantly
projects an aura of numbing cold around itself. On its turn each round, each creature within 30’ suffers 3d6 hit points of damage and must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ HD + Cha bonus) or be frozen in place and paralyzed by an icy coating for 1d4+1 minutes.

Constant Insight (Su): A Moilian has a +20 insight bonus on attack rolls. It is not subject to a miss chance due to concealment.

Life Drain (Su): Any creature within 20’ of a Moilian creature suffers 1d4 points of Con drain each round (no save) on its turn. For each point of Con a Moilian drains, it gains 5 hp (to a maximum of 12 per hit die). A Moilian’s life drain ability even works if it is reduced to 0 hit points or less, unless it is killed by fire, acid or disintegration.

Special Qualities: A Moilian retains all the base creature’s special attacks and gains the following:

Cold Subtype (Ex): A Moilian creature gains the cold subtype and is therefore immune to cold. It suffers 150% normal damage from fire.

Parasitism (Su): A Moilian loses 1 hp per day. It collapses at 0 hit points. A Moilian becomes active again as soon as its hit points rise to 1 or higher. Such a creature survives only by absorbing the life force of others (as noted above).

Abilities: Change from base creature as follows: Str +16, Int +6, Cha +16.

Skills: Recalculate Moilian creatures’ skills based on their new hit dice.

Feats: Recalculate a Moilian’s number of feats based on its new hit dice total.

Challenge Rating: HD 5 or less, same as base creature +15; HD 6 to 12, as base creature +13; HD 13 or higher, as base creature +11.

Alignment: Always Chaotic Evil.

 

[the Jester]

DOCTOR TARR
Unique large construct
Hit Dice: 24d10+30 (175 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 20’
Armor Class: 21 (+10 natural, +1 dex), touch 11, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+22
Attack: Scalpel +17 melee (1d4+6) or manipulator arm +17 melee touch (improved grab)
Full Attack: 4 scalpels +17 melee (1d4+6) and 2 circular saws +17 melee (1d10+6); or manipulator arm +17 melee (improved grab) and 2 circular saws +17 melee (1d10+6)
Space/Reach: 10’/10’ (20’ with manipulator arm)
Special Attacks: Improved grab, perfect limbs, sleep gas
Special Qualities: Construct traits, cure light wounds 3/day, DR 10/-
Saves: Fort +10, Ref +11, Will +13
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 13, Con -, Int 17, Wis 17, Cha 11
Skills: Diplomacy +2, Heal +33, Knowledge (nature) +30, Search +30, Sense Motive +30, Spot +30, Survival +5 (+7 in aboveground natural environments or when following tracks)
Feats: Alertness, Combat Expertise, Great Fortitude, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (heal), Toughness
Challenge Rating: 15
Alignment: Chaotic neutral

Perfect Limbs (Ex): All of Dr. Tarr’s limbs count as primary weapons and use his full attack bonus. (In any round in which he uses the manipulator arm he may not use his scalpel arms, however.)

Sleep Gas (Ex): 3/day, Dr. Tarr can fire a 20’ cone of sleep gas. All creatures within the cone must make Fortitude saving throws, DC 22, or fall asleep for 8 hours.

 

[the Jester]

By the way, if anyone has any particular requests from the story hour that I haven't posted, let me know!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

No requests, just making my presence known.

Do you have a thread for discussion of stuff, or would this be a good place to do it? I'm wondering if you can share any information that the players don't necessarily know about the Simulacra Wars going on in the background?

 

[the Jester]

The Simulacrum Wars

Do you have a thread for discussion of stuff, or would this be a good place to do it? I'm wondering if you can share any information that the players don't necessarily know about the Simulacra Wars going on in the background?

This is as good a place as any...

The Simulacrum Wars, eh? OK... here's a quick attempt at an overview...

The first one to figure out the trick was Marius, the chronomancer the high-level party has dealt with in both Agents of Chaos and To War Against Felenga. A lot of the details of exactly what happened still aren't pinned down; I fill in the blanks as I need them a lot of the time. (For instance, he may have been clued in to the trick by an empowered simulacrum from the future; who knows?) Anyhow, in 3.0, empower spell would increase a simulacrum's power and a multi-empowered sim might even be more powerful than the creator. Sims are normally under the complete control of their creators, so Marius thought he'd stumbled upon a brilliant way of making ultrapowerful, fully-controlled other selves.

Unfortunately, a simulacrum becomes less and less controlled as it gains power. If it becomes 100% as powerful as the caster (in terms of casting ability) it gains autonomy. Unfortunately, Marius didn't realize this at first; and the first few uberMarii that he created hid the fact at first.

(I just noticed an interesting corollary to this ruling- a caster who gets level drained to no higher than the sim's hd will lose control of his simulacrum!)

Once Marius realized what he'd done, he tried to destroy the sims he'd already created. They escaped.

Now a peculiar thing happened. A sim has no capacity to grow in power or experience; but there's no reason one can't burn xp to the point where it's just 1 xp from losing a level. So reasoning, I figured that a couple of the Marii could make new, even better Marii, and a series of jumps in Marius-power ensued.

Meanwhile, another of the simulacra, using a fairly convoluted plan, traveled around to a bunch of other powerful wizards to convince them to make multi-empowered simulacra themselves. Let's call him Marius I. First he made a simulacrum that was less powerful than himself- it posed as the real Marius (let's call this sim Marius II), and Marius I took the identity of a perfectly controlled multi-empowered sim of Marius II. Marius II showed many powerful casters the trick and goaded several into trying it themselves (all while under the control of Marius I). Soon there were ultra-powerful sims of a number of powerful casters all over; many Marii (since they seemed prone to use what xp reserves they had to increase their number) and at least one faux Estelias have been sighted (she was sighted in the Politics of Tirchond thread). Also, we've seen a simulacrum of Arion the Archmage. There are several others, but I don't think the pcs have run across any others. (They've been away from where most of that action has been happening.)

An important point is that not all the simulacra are allied; some are even opposed to each other. There is definitely at least one major group that wants to destroy their creators (and in some cases, to take their places); there are also groups and individuals that want to protect and assist their progenitors (usually not the first-generation sims, these ones were usually spawned by other, empowered sims but they look back at their originator (by which I mean Marius, Arion, or whoever) with fondness. There's also a group that has sprung up that wants to liberate the enslaved constructs and sims, and has developed a spell that gives such a thing free will from its controller.

Hmmm... nothing else I can think of at the moment... various permutations of the Simulacrum Wars are percolating throughout the campaign (mostly unnoticed).

 

[the Jester]

Ooops, double post... but a word about the darkweaver.

It doesn't look like much in the story hour cuz of sheer dumb luck, the dice were against me that night.

Darn it. I was hoping for so much more from it. :\

 

[the Jester]

THE DARKWEAVER OF MOIL
Advanced Darkweaver Assassin 7
Large Aberration
Hit Dice: 27d8+7d6+102 (235 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 20’, climb 20’
Armor Class: 27 (+4 dex, +4 deflection, +10 natural, -1 size), touch 23, flat-footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple: +25/+38
Attack: Tentacle rake +33 melee (1d6+9)
Full Attack: 6 tentacle rakes +33 melee (1d6+9) and bite +28 melee (1d9+9 plus 2d4 str)
Space/Reach: 10’/10’ (15’ with tentacles)
Special Attacks: Death attack (DC 19), improved grab, poison use, shadow strands (base DC 16), sneak attack +4d6, spell-like abilities, spells, strength damage (bite; doubles on a critical hit)
Special Qualities: All-around vision (can’t be flanked), darkvision 60’, DR 15/magic, fast healing 3, improved uncanny dodge, shadow jump, shadowstuff armor, SR 25, sunlight vulnerability, tentacle regeneration, uncanny dodge, undetectable alignment
Saves: Fort +18 (+21 vs. poison), Ref +21, Will +20
Abilities: Str 28, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 16, Cha 18
Skills: Climb +32 (can always take 10), Concentration +18, Diplomacy +4 (+6 against evil creatures), Hide +45, Intimidate +4 (+6 against evil creatures), Listen +41, Move Silently +33, Search +21, Spot +24, Survival +3 (+5 when following tracks)
Feats: Ability Focus (shadow strands), Alertness, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Evil Brand (BoVD), Greater Ability Focus (shadow strands), Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Power Attack
Epic Feats: Epic Ability Focus (shadow strands), Epic Fortitude, Epic Reflexes
Challenge Rating: 21
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day- confusion (DC 17), darkness, deeper darkness, suggestion (DC 16), tongues, web (DC 15); 1/day- shadow walk.

Spells: As a 7th-level assassin, the Darkweaver of Moil can cast 4/3/2 per day (having already cast undetectable alignment). It knows the following spells (DC 12 + spell level): 1st level- ghost sound, sleep, stupor (BoVD), true strike; 2nd level- cat’s grace, fox’s cunning, invisibility, undetectable alignment; 3rd level- false life, Malford’s dopplegangment, nondetection.

Tactics: As creatures enter the darkweaver’s web it will prepare with invisibility, cat’s grace, fox’s cunning and nondetection. When creatures are a round away it will cast true strike. A Listen check (DC 15 +1/10’ of distance) will allow pcs to hear the spells being cast as whispery voices in the distance; a successful Spellcraft check may allow the identification of the spells being cast.

If possible, the darkweaver will make an assassination attempt (using its death attack to paralyze).

The Trap: When the tower starts shaking, the pcs will twelve minutes to escape before the tower collapses into the Negative Material Plane.