Limited-Resource Campaign Design

[Firedancer]

My gut feeling is that the yuan-ti are trying to bolster the grimlocks as a credible threat to the human settlements in the region, simplifying their ultimate goal of bringing them all under the yuan-ti's control.

More than just pushing them into confrontation and whipping them into a frenzy, the yuan-ti might be magically altering the grimlocks to make them more dangerous - but, since they know what was done to them and how, their human pawns will have access to the right strategies to neutralise the threat and justify their rise to power.

Ah, so what you are suggesting is the Grimlocks are boosted by y-t, with scare mongering agents making them seem worse and worse.

Then in the time of optimal benefit the humanesque y-t agents step forward as heroes/bearers of the sacred word of snakehead using the little known weakness of boosted Grimlock to cement their place in the power structure.

Cool. Devious and cool!

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Yes, absolutely. Shades of certain political conspiracy theories, of course.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I'm not familiar with those story hours - it would be interesting to see them. Thanks!

Here are the null shadows. I think it's ok to post them here, given that they are freely available on the web anyway.
[sblock=Greater Null Shadow]
GREATER NULL SHADOW
Medium-Size Aberration
Hit Dice: 3d8+3 (16 hp)
Initiative: +3 (Dex)
Speed: 30 ft.
AC: 16 (+3 Dex, +3 natural)
Attacks: touch +5 melee
Damage: special; see below
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell removal, magic disruption
Special Qualities: Absolute immunity to magic, shadow travel,
unease, arcane attraction
Saving Throws: Fort +1, Reflex +1, Will +3
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 11
Skills and Feats: Weapon Finesse (arms)

Greater null shadows are humanoid-shaped masses of thick black
vapors, created by foul magics and unholy rituals. They will attack
anyone designated by their creators, or follow simple instructions.

COMBAT
Greater null shadows have only melee touch attacks, so they
seek to swarm around their foes, delivering damaging touch
attacks with their flailing arms. The damage they deal depends
on the character class of the target. Arcane spellcasters take
2d8 points of damage. Divine spellcasters take 1d10.
Non-spellcasters take 1d6.

Spell Removal (Su): In any round in which an arcane or
divine spellcaster takes damage from a greater null shadow, he
must make a Fortitude save (DC 15). Failure means the target
loses one prepared spell of the highest level remaining (if there
is more than one spell, choose randomly among them).

Magic Disruption (Su): Any magic item that comes into
contact with a greater null shadow may (DM’s discretion)
become unstable thereafter. Any time a character uses a magic
item touched by a null shadow, they must roll a d20 (the attack
roll for magic weapons counts as this roll). A result of 1 causes
some disastrous result at the discretion of the DM (a flaming
weapon may set its wielder on fire; a ring of invisibility may
cause the user to glow bright orange for an hour; a wand of
fireballs may use up five charges in one use, etc.). The DM may
decide to make a permanent change to a magic item as a result
of contact with a null shadow.

Magic Immunity (Su): A greater null shadow is unaffected
by magic in any way, form, or application. This means they will
even ignore magical deflection bonuses to a target’s AC (gener-
ally, a foe will get only their Dex bonus and cover bonuses to
AC against them). They are unaffected by all spells and spell-
like effects, and cannot be harmed by magic weapons. As such,
only physical non-magic weapons can harm them. They can
pass through any magical barrier (even a wall of force).

Shadow Travel (Su): A greater null shadow typically walks
the demiplane of Shadow, hovering on the edge of the Prime
Material plane. They can emerge into the Prime through any
shadow as a free action.

Arcane Attraction (Su): Greater null shadows will typically
fight to the death, attacking every round if possible. If there is a
choice of targets, they will always target arcane spellcasters if
possible. If none are available, they will target divine spell-
casters. Only if there are no spellcasters present will they attack
non-casters.

Unease (Su): The mere presence of null shadows in the
surrounding area causes a great unease in normal people, to a
range of over a mile. Arcane casters will notice this the most
strongly, divine spellcasters less so, and non-casters hardly at
all. Only after prolonged proximity (weeks or months) will non-
casters start to feel the unease.

Note: “Normal” null shadows have an AC of 15, 15 hit points,
do not have the Spell Removal ability, and do 2d6 damage to
arcane casters.[/sblock]
Like I said, nasty. A bit meta-gamey, but they will put the proper fear back into the player's eyes.

 

[Doghead Thirteen]

(Casually bumps thread, because the eventual subject is just... awesome.