Forrester's Against the Elves Campaign

[Morrow]

Re: Nice write-up.

5) Doon's new work was actually "One Cat, Two Cat, Dead Cat, Shoo, Cat!". But close enough .

I could have sworn you said chewed.

I'm pretty sure that Foleful said, "The bear/ale is contaminated!" at some point. It's in my notes. I'm not sure how I missed "Bad Ale!" That's so much better.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the timeline of the Freetown civil war changed depending on who we asked. Assuming that its a plot hole (or just my bad memory) and not a clue, why don't you post a timeline of recent Freetown happenings. Your players will appreuciate it, as will the folks at home.

Morrow

 

[Forrester]

Damn well better not be a plot hole . I was pretty careful mapping the timeline out . . . not that it should be important to the party, of course .

Lot of stuff going on, though, so it's tough to keep straight.

At this point, I think this is what the party knows:

1) The civil wars started almost a year (9-11 months) ago. They first started in the goblin/kobold area of town.
2) The bugbear civil wars ended roughly when Gariarch (or Garyark, which is how I think you spelled it) split Bugbeartown about six months ago. Soon thereafter, Zorn moved he and his crew (Bloodypulp was the main goblin leader) in.
3) Gargonne and his little troupe have been blowing up people with fireballs and such for at least a couple months. How much longer, no (party member) knows.

I *think* that's about it, for now. There's a lot of fleshing out that can be done, of course, as there are multiple types of weirdness abounding in Freetown.

 

[Forrester]

After their meal the party requested to meet with Aunty Em While Foleful cast his spells the rest of the party again mingled with the waiting goblins. They met Dispana, a member of a race they had never seen before called the Mungaeli. Dispana appeared to be a strange combination of a goblin and a dwarf. She revealed that hers was a slave race bred by the Drow. They were tough, strong, and small, making them excellent miners, but they were also incredibly sensitive to pain, making them easy to control. Dispana revealed that the training she was receiving from Zorn was helping her control her sensitivity to pain.

Easy correction: I believe you were talking to Umeli here, not Dispana. The reason for the confusion is straightforward -- I told Atarax that he knows that House Despana (of the Drow) commonly experiment with humanoid races in the quest to create the Perfect Slave Race. The Mungaeli are as close as they've come.

Zorn, panting and looking disgusted that the fight did not last longer called, “Dinner!” and kicked one of the boarclops, which sailed thirty-five feet threw the air to land near the gate to inner Sanctuary. Thar noticed that Zorn was drooling slightly out of one side of his mouth and rubbing his forehead. Zorn picked up both boarclopses and carried then through the gate into inner Sanctuary.

[Game Note: Much to Forresters dismay, even this show of prowess didn't earn Zorn any respect. The players crack jokes about Zorn at any opportunity and repeatedly hound the DM, "Do we love Zorn yet? Are we growing hair in strange places yet?" and generally belittling the mind-control plot that we've convinced ourselves is going on somewhere.]

Yeah, ya bastards. He picked up TWO BOARCLOPS! One over each shoulder! Like they were kobolds! You guys are tough to impress.

And no, you don't all love Zorn.

Yet.

EDIT: One further clarification. Foleful, the xvart sorcerer, is actually 8th level (which is how he's summoning those fire elemental dire apes). There was a miscommunication during character generation -- Foleful's player thought I was starting everyone at 8th, not 7th. I let him keep everything at 8th, for bookkeeping purposes, though he has an XP debt, meaning he won't be a level above the rest of the party for very long.

Kriggle is 8th level because I figured that a kobold playing a paladin should count as an ECL -1 creature. And that's being optimistic .

 

[jeffwik]

And the reason Foleful is getting so much information from object loresight is because he's casting it over and over and over again.

Also, Foleful does suspect Mikek of treachery.

And his fire elemental dire apes were both cut down in one round by the clumps of bugbears.

 

[Gez]

That story hour is still the funniest there is.

You use your own conversion of the dark creeper, not the Tome of Horror's one (see also here, right ? Because these one have a hard ECL (4). Also, is that scout class the one from Kenzer's KPH ?

 

[Morrow]

I'm pretty sure that Krikara uses a version of the Darkcreeper that Forrester and her player cooked up themselves.

The scout class is a version that Forrester cooked up, it's kind of a ranger/ rogue class. I'm not really up on the details. I never really got to see what the scout could do, since Krikara only took one level and then decided she was better off with rogue. I believe Heddkarak, our dear departed orcish barbarian multiclassing fiend took a couple levels, but he died before I got to see what it did for him.

Morrow

 

[Morrow]

And the reason Foleful is getting so much information from object loresight is because he's casting it over and over and over again.

Also, Foleful does suspect Mikek of treachery.

And his fire elemental dire apes were both cut down in one round by the clumps of bugbears.

I remember wondering what happened to the dire apes. I stepped out of the room for a moment, and when I came back they were toast.

As for Mikek, if he does anything funny we'll just have to make sure that he doesn't make it back to Sanctuary. Aunty Em did say she in the market for the bodies of thieves. How would she feel if we tried to trade her old buddy for a few of those potions she was cooking up?

Morrow

 

[Forrester]

That story hour is still the funniest there is.

You use your own conversion of the dark creeper, not the Tome of Horror's one (see also here, right ? Because these one have a hard ECL (4). Also, is that scout class the one from Kenzer's KPH ?

I use something similar to the one in the URL -- but only +2 to Dex, racial skill bonuses are +2 to Hide and MS, and fewer darknesses/detect magics a day (though those increase with character level).

I confess that I see no way that the Creeper listed in the conversion should be ECL +4. I mean, that's half-dragon ECL. I put the race at a strong ECL +1; probably should have been ECL +2, but c'est la vie. Not exactly unbalancing.

As far as the Scout class is concerned, I posted it in House Rules a looong time ago. The gist is:

Rogue BAB
6 skill points/level (pretty much the Ranger list)
Bonus feat at first level and every six levels thereafter
Skill Master every five levels or so
Bonuses to Spot, Listen every three levels
Uncanny Dodges
Bonuses to init every five levels or so, starting at 3rd level
Bonus Endurance feats starting at 2nd level (by 19th level, the Scout pretty much needs about 2 hours of sleep a week, and can move at a Hustle constantly)

That sounds like a lot, but it's the only PC class there is which lacks fighter BAB *and* spells *and* sneak-attack damage. Meaning it's pretty damn weak in combat.

Good class for keeping an eye on things, though. And if you want to do the cheesy multiclass thing, the bonus feat at 1st level is nice, along with the skill points. (Which doesn't make it unbalanced -- most classes give a big bennie at 1st level).

But I should post this in House Rules, and not clutter up the Story Hour .

 

[jeffwik]

The secular humanoidist manifesto

There's just one god. That's logic talking, there -- if there were two, they'd be slugging it out until one defeated the other and (the universe being infinitely old) there'd be just one by now. Same reasoning applies for sets of three or more gods. No, there's just one god. The xvarts call this god the Eoer-Stepper when they refer to it at all. "Eoer," meaning "high and above" and "Stepper," meaning "stepper." But generally Eoer-Stepper doesn't come up that much. It exists only because it's logically necessary.

Kaldecki and Kurtulmak and Malgubiyet and Gruumsh and all the rest aren't gods. Just because you can walk on water and raise the dead and grant first-level spells to your followers doesn't mean you're a god. Let's look at the record. Not all clerics worship specific gods. As the PHB entry on clerics reminds us, some of them just pick two domains and get going. Only most clerics worship specific gods.

Clearly these "gods" are nothing more than insanely powerful epic-level entities. Heck, they have character sheets in Deites and Demigods. That's an unsatisfying system, fundamentally.

Another thing, what the hell kind of theology is "do as I say and I will give you healing spells?" That's not ethics, that's bribery. When the philosopher asks, "what is the highest good?" and the cleric responds "it's what gets hedged out by a magic circle against good spell," a great number of doors are closed.

So we ask ourselves, why do the gods co-opt morality and metaphysics, presenting themselves as the only answer when they're so clearly a shoddy answer? Because it's through metaphysics that we mortals can tap the power of the gods. Rise up! Rise up and question your shamans! Probe your beliefs! Endeavor to undergo a systematic survey of rational inquiry!

What exactly do the racial gods do for us? Has Grummsh ever helped out an orc in need? Has Kurtulmak ever granted kobolds a good harvest? If we humanoids of the Underdark have all these all-powerful divine beings on our side, why is it we're still getting stomped on by Men, Elves, Dwarves, Drow, Mind-flayers, Giants, ET CETERA?! I'll tell you why! It's because gods are jerks. They want sacrifices. They want praise. They want the best of everything. And all this can be summed up in the behavior of clerics, which the gods tacitly endorse.

Clerics are pushy, money-grubbing pricks who have been granted the greatest gift of all -- magical healing. Do they use these powers to help those in need? Even those of their own race have to ante up with the sack full of money for a "cure light" or a "raise dead." The greatest gift of all, reduced to simple quid pro quo. The uncivilized clerics are even worse, the ones out there in the caves.

They wield their influence in tribal politics with a carrot and a stick.
The carrot is their capacity to heal, and the stick their capacity to rob the tribe of their healing, on a whim. Those tribes are almost always ruled outright by their shaman of Kaldecki or Kurtlmak or whoever, thanks to the carrot and the stick. And is this rule by divine right equitable, giving as much meager comfort to each tribe member? No, as in all societies, the rulers hoard the best for themselves.

I had a conversation with an orc once. I asked the orc, who rules your tribe? Orc said, the shaman. I asked the orc, why? Orc said, shaman knew Grummsh. I asked the orc, so? Orc said, Grummsh commands it. I asked the orc, why obey Grummsh? Orc said, Grummsh is strong.

"Grummsh is strong." Boy, there's a grotesquely unsatisfying cosmology, ethos, and political philosophy, all rolled into one! Where's the omniscience? Where's the Infinite Justice? Where's the majesty and grandeur? Where's the frickin' theology? Just because you're strong doesn't mean you deserve worship, bucko.

 

[incognito]

I'm strong (very stong for my weight): anyone want to worship me?