(Cydra Rogues' Gallery-My Players STAY OUT)

[the Jester]

CHARIOT OF SUSTARRE

You may see this in the future (as Lester just leveled and got access to it...)

Who doesn't love the old school?!

CHARIOT OF SUSTARRE

Conjuration
(Summoning) [Fire]

Level: Drd 8, Elem (Fire) 8
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Close (25’+5’/2 levels)
Effect: Flaming chariot
Duration: 1 hour/level
Saving Throw: None (see text)
Spell Resistance: Yes (see text)

When this spell is cast, it brings forth a large, flaming chariot pulled by two fiery horses from the elemental plane of Fire. These appear in a clap of thunder amid a cloud of smoke. The vehicle moves at a speed of 60 feet on the ground, 150 feet flying, (average maneuverability) and can carry you and up to seven other creatures of man-size or less. You must touch the passengers as you cast the spell in order to designate them and protect them from the chariot’s flames. Creatures other than you and your designated passengers sustain 2d6 points of fire damage each round if they come within 5 feet of the horses or chariot. Such creatures are entitled to check spell resistance against the chariot, but only once.

You control the chariot by verbal command, causing the flaming steeds to stop or go, walk, trot, run or fly, and turn left or right as he desires. The flaming creatures that pull it are essentially Large fire elementals with fast healing 2. They understand Common, but they speak Ignan. Note that the chariot of Sustarre is a physical manifestation and can sustain damage. The vehicle is struck only by magical weapons (DR 10/magic) or by water (one quart of which inflicts 1 point of damage). The chariot itself is AC 18, and can sustain 100 hp before being destroyed. Naturally, fire has no effect upon either the vehicle or its steeds, and all passengers are utterly protected against fire as well. Other spells, such as a successful Dispel magic or Dismissal, will force the chariot back to its home plane, without its passengers.
At any time, as long as you can see the chariot, you may speak a command word to detonate it in a 20’ burst that inflicts 10d6 points of fire damage (Reflex half).

Material Components: a small piece of wood, two holly berries, and a fire source at least equal to a torch.

 

[the Jester]

Lethality

Thrush's smashing round of critical madness in the crow's nest included one successful use of his Lethality feat (the decapitation).

LETHALITY (Fighter)

You are extraordinarily lethal with your chosen weapon and are adept at slaying your foes in a single blow.

Prerequisites: 12th-level fighter, Improved Critical, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization

Benefit: Whey you roll a natural 20 on a roll to confirm a threat your opponent must make a Fort save against the damage you deal or die instantly. (You cannot kill a creature unless you are inflicting real damage.)

 

[Technik4]

The chariot spell is neat, its a combo-transport/offense,

I like lethality, but is it very similar to an epic feat? At any rate, thrush certainly put it to good use before he went down. You can see how not having Horbin around affected the party.

Technik

 

[Greybar]

I found myself concerned about the lethality feat. As with any of these, how do I think the PCs would feel if an enemy of theirs had that feat? How much damage would you expect a 12th level fighter to generate (and thus a Fort save), and how does this stack up against the "save or die" of a comparable caster (i.e. 6th and 7th level spells). This has the same effect, but potentially much more often per day than the spellcaster since by that point you can easily get a crit happening on 20% of the blows with three or four blows per combat round...

John

 

[the Jester]

Note that lethality only kicks in if your confirmation on the threat is a natural 20.

It doesn't happen often (I think the fight on the ship was the first time it's come up), and Thrush was originally intended to be an enemy of the pcs (in Bile Mt.)- curse that slut Sybele for seducing him away from the dark side!!

Thrush typically unleashes tons of damage on a good round- especially with power attack in play and stuff- but so far, I haven't seen lethality to be too much of a big deal. I like feats that emulate some of the optional changes in the dmg that I don't use.

The thing about lethality is, if it kicks in there's a very good chance that it'll finish someone off- but wizards, in addition to the standard 'save or die' stuff, have the advantage of bigger damage from a single attack (spell) most of the time; this means the 'massive damage' save or die rule comes up from them pretty often, whereas a fighter has a tough time getting 50 points in a single blow consistently. Also, since it relies on critical hits to work, there are lots of opponents who are just plain immune- so far, I think it's balanced.

 

[Greybar]

That makes sense. If you use the Death from Massive Damage, then the Lethality isn't as big a deal, I agree. I've never used that option, so I'm not particuarly conversant with the details, but I can see it conveying a certain feel of... well.. Lethality to a high-level game.

John

 

[Talix]

I like both the chariot of fire and Lethality. Lethality has enough checks and balances that it seems like it would only come up often enough to be theatric.

 

[the Jester]

A Bit About Trumps

Trumps are stolen straight from Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber books, which I hearily recommend. Basically, each trump is a card that depicts a person or place. They're cold to the touch.

Trumps are nonconventional magic items; which is to say, there's a specific and unique item creation feat (Draw Trumps) that is required to make them. In order to take that feat, one must first have enough ranks in Use Trump, what I call a 'hidden' skill- in other words, a skill that the pcs don't know about. You have to have training from someone who possesses ranks in it to take ranks in it, and it's really really hard to find someone with ranks in it. Trump use and making is a virtually forgotten art.

Trump Use is based on Intelligence, and with a sufficiently high skill check one can do many things with trumps. Obviously, you can contact the subject, go to him, her or it, and bring him, her or it to you. You can also pull a lot of nifty little tricks- such as a form of psychic attack, subtle eavesdropping, subtle influencing of the subject, etc.

Hm, I haven't fully converted my 2e Trump Use proficiency since nobody in the campaign currently has it; when I do so I'll try to post it here. The skill can be used untrained, but there's a practical limit on how high an untrained skill check will be. Using a trump is typically a full-round action and it always draws attacks of opportunity.

The base DC to make trump contact is a 15, though if the subject is resisting or very far removed in terms of planes, this can increase. The DC to go through a trump contact is a 10 as long as everyone's willing, and under most circumstances the user is considered to be taking 10.

An ersatz trump could be crafted with the Craft Wondrous Item feat, but would be extremely expensive. (Think sending plus teleport without error plus greater scrying.)

 

[the Jester]

Oh yeah, you might want to check this out, too- concerning the revenge of the Bile Lords.

 

[Welverin]

How's about putting the old Chaos Table in here (to keep everything together)?

I'm willing to do the copying here.