Frukathka's Challenges

[Angel Tarragon]

I would appreciate it that if no one has anything useful to contribute, that they refrain from posting. Thanks.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Challenge #2

Second Challenge
Let's see what materials you can come up with based off of Breaking Benjamin's So Cold (lyrics):

Crowded streets all cleared away
One by One
Hollow heroes separate
As they run

You're so cold
Keep your hand in mine
Wise men wonder while
Strong men die

Show me how it end it's alright
Show me how defenseless you really are
Satisfied and empty inside
That's alright, let's give this another try

If you find your family, don't you cry
In this land of make-believe, dead and dry

You're so cold, but you feel alive
Lay your hands on me one last time

Show me how it end it's alright
Show me how defenseless you really are
Satisfied and empty inside
That's alright, let's give this another try

Show me how it end it's alright
Show me how defenseless you really are
Satisfied and empty inside
That's alright, let's give this another try

It's alright
It's alright
It's alright
It's alright
It's alright
It's alright
It's alright
It's alright
It's alright

 

[Nonlethal Force]

My first thought was immediately of a lich. The "feel alive but are so cold" screamed lich to me. But there was too much of an apparent feeling of love in the song to really go too heavily down the path of the undead. So here's where I went:

Adventure Level: Medium (Character levels 8-12)

Books required: Book of Exalted Deeds, Complete Arcane, Player's Handbook II

Traveling along a path one day passing through the borderland of the northern barbarian wildlands, the party passes an area that is covered in frost. Most unnaturally the area surrounding the frosted parts is green and quite alive. Yet the frost refuses to dissappear as if magically resistant to the warmth of the sun.

As the party investigates, they come across Garaash, A human ranger with a sanctified [Book of Exalted Deeds] worg as an animal companion. Garaash is in the middle of desecrating a most unholy site. Blood covers a stone altar and evil carvings have been inscribed in 5 points across the stone surface. After brief discussion, Garaash explains that his fiancee Barahmirah [Pronounced BAR-ah-MEE-rah] has been captured by Shissilatron, a mature adult white dragon. Garaash explains that the dragon desired her for a sacrifice to Tiamat as a perfect symbol of the white dragon's element: Cold.

When asked about Barahmirah, Garash explains that from a young age she learned from the cold wild lands the secret of what Garaash calls ice magic. Barahmirah's magic has two significant signatures. With each spell Barahmirah casts the ground frosts within the effected area. [Reach Flash Frost Spell Feat from PHB II] Additionally, Barahmirah can cast spells that involve snow and ice which the rest of her shaman and sorcerer tribeswomen cast using fire and other elements. [Read: Energy Substitution (Cold) from Complete Arcane]

Garaash pleads with the party to help him track down the white dragon and find his fiancee. Garaash promises that if they can slay the dragon he will want nothing except the return of his fiancee. The party can have whatever is left.

 

[Herobizkit]

This is gonna be weird, but:

Party Level: Medium
Adventure Type: Quest, time-dependent
Locale: Anywhere and everywhere

A Half-Celestial Paladin of [a healing God/dess] suffers a highly unusual curse; her healing powers are somehow tapped directly into her life essence. When she heals someone with her Lay on Hands ability, her life force (in game terms, her max HP) is diminished.

A war breaks out, and said Paladin is charged to act as battle chaplain and healer for the wounded soldiers. After the battle, the Paladin lay near death (-9 HP). The PCs learn of the curse, and discover that, in order to restore the Paladin, they must seek out all the soldiers that the Paladin healed with her Lay on Hands and have them return her life essence. Only when the Paladin's HP return to their max level will she awaken... and it must be soon, for an oncoming tide of darkness (demons, humanoid horde, what have you) threatens the city in which she is located.

In game terms, each person healed by the Paladin is now under the effects of an Aid spell. The HP must be relinquished by x time or the loss to the Paladin will be permanent.

 

[DarkKestral]

My first thought was immediately of a lich. The "feel alive but are so cold" screamed lich to me. But there was too much of an apparent feeling of love in the song to really go too heavily down the path of the undead.

Actually, this almost makes me wanna design a lich who was formerly a wizard or sorceror specializing in ice-themed spells. My gut makes me think sorceror, but the mechanics make me wanna go wizard... I also think perhaps having a ice-themed familiar would be appropriate.

Sarran Iceheart

Lich Cold Domain Wizard/Loremaster 5
Medium Undead
HP: 20d12+30 (196 hps)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30 ft
AC: 41 (+5 Dex, +5 NA, +5 Mithral Chain Shirt, +5 Mithral Buckler, +1 Dodge), 15 touch, 35 flat-footed
Base Attack/Grapple: +11/+11
Attack: +9 (1d8+5 + paralyzing touch) melee touch, +14 ranged
Full attack: +9 (1d8+5 + paralyzing touch)
Special Attacks: Fear Aura (Su) DC: 23, Paralyzing Touch (Su), Spells
Special Qualities: Turn Resistance +4 (ex), DR 15/Bludgeoning and magic (su), Natural Weapons treated as magic for purposes of DR, Undead Traits
Saves: +13, +15, +19 (cloak of resistance +5)
Abilities: 10 Str, 20 Dex (+6 item), Con -, Int 28 (+6 item), 12 Wis, 22 Cha (+6 item)
Skills: Knowledge: Arcana +25, Concentration +26, Spellcraft +34, Spot +19, Listen +19, Hide+ 23, Move Silently +23, Gather Information +16, Sense Motive +18, UMD +26
Feats: Craft Wondrous Item, Skill Focus (Knowledge: Arcana), Silent Spell, Still Spell, Energy Substitution (Cold), Scribe Scroll, Empower Spell, Improved Familiar (ice mephit), Quicken Spell, Brew Potion, Maximize Spell, Forge Ring
Alignment: NE with N tendencies
CR: 22
Languages Known: Common, Draconic, Aquan, Auran

Class abilities:

Wizard
Spells Prepared: 4 0th level, 7+1 1st, 6+1 2nd-5th, 5+1 6th-9th
Domain Spells- 0th- ray of frost, 1st- chill touch, 2nd- chill metal, 3rd- sleet storm, 4th- wall of ice, 5th- cone of cold, 6th- freezing sphere, 7th- delayed blast frostball, 8th- polar ray, 9th- comet swarm. (DB Frostball is a DB Fireball w/cold damage substituted, and Comet Swarm is Meteor Swarm w/cold damage substituted)

Generally, his prepared spell list is heavily comprised of spells with cold descriptors, as well as spells such as fog cloud or solid fog which have effects associated with mist. However, due to his metamagic, many of those spells don't natively deal cold damage, so he can surprise others with the unmetamagicked versions at times.

Loremaster:
Lore (as loremaster 2nd level ability)
Secrets known: Lore of True Stamina, Dodge trick, Instant Mastery

Sarran was a skilled human mage. When he lived, he was the leader of a powrful mage guild, and well respected for his arcane knowledge. However, when his wife died after a particularly cold winter, he became despondent and tried to have her resurrected, only to find out the one person he knew who could had also died around the same time.

This further worsened his despondency, and he decided that if he could not have his wife back, he would instead make it so that the cold could never affect him, for good or ill. He then researched the arcane process of becoming a lich, both for it's cold immunity and for it's ability to last long enough for someone to rise could cast the spells needed to resurrect his wife. Since gaining his lichdom, his primary focuses have been his wife's resurrection and gaining greater mastery of that which took his wife from him, and he has searched ever more into the arcane lore for material which concerns his two obsessions.

Sarran has a familiar, an ice mephit named Dar. Dar is loyal to Sarran and vice versa, though Dar does tend to insult Sarran to his face on many occasions, being somewhat prone to irritation when Sarran's general outlook is getting too depressing. Somewhat skilled observers will sometimes notice Dar is occasionally the one who must keep Sarran 'on the path' Sarran has set for himself so to speak when Sarran feels has lost what little hope remains. Both of them seem to rely on each other somewhat.

Arcane Domains courtesy of UA and www.d20srd.org 's variant class section, and Energy Substution: Cold via Complete Arcane.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

All wonderful ideas! Keep them coming!

 

[Priest_Sidran]

I don't know about new and unexpected but hows this for a try....

Adventure Level: Medium (7-13)

A Paladin of Pelor looses his wife to a sickness and in the process of his grieving comes up with a plan that will bring her back from the dead. (Think Vlad the Impaler-esque region)
Following the whispers in his mind (the eminations of some dark nameless god) the Once paladin goes about a dark design that is meant to bring her back (I.E gathering the heart of his mother, and the blood of thirteen virgins so on...)

The party is brought in during an evening at night in which either the paladin, or one of his growing number of helpers comes in search of a material component for his wifes ressurection. Thats as good as I can do on no sleep and little caffiene

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Challenge #3

I totally forgot about this thread and stumbling upon it, remembered what an awesome idea it is. So I am going to try to kepp this up regularly. Anyway, without further ado: Challenge #3!

Third Challenge
Let's see what materials you can come up with based off of Men At Works' Land Down Under (lyrics):

Traveling in a fried-out combie
On a hippie trail, head full of zombie
I met a strange lady, she made me nervous
She took me in and gave me breakfast
And she said,

"Do you come from a land down under?
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."

Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six foot four and full of muscles
I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich
And he said,

"I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."

Lying in a den in Bombay
With a slack jaw, and not much to say
I said to the man, "Are you trying to tempt me
Because I come from the land of plenty?"
And he said,

"Oh! Do you come from a land down under? (oh yeah yeah)
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover."

 

[Cassandra]

This is just crying out for a new race from the Underdark, with bioluminescent females and grand plans to take over the surface world, of which the heroes are warned by a cryptic message repeated to them by unlikely sources.

Seems too obvious, however.

On the other hand, twist that explanation a little and it could fit a superhero or pulp genre game just fine.

 

[Nyaricus]

This is just crying out for a new race from the Underdark, with bioluminescent females and grand plans to take over the surface world, of which the heroes are warned by a cryptic message repeated to them by unlikely sources.

Gloamings, Underdark, page 12.