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The Liberation of Tenh Plot Thread

(contact) said:
Null is *beautiful*. I appreciate the section on his tactics, as well.

*blush* You're too kind.

Now, I promise you that I will underplay him to the point of ensuring that he spends less time in-game than I will spend typing this message,

Heh. I realized after I typed up his personality that his role in the story, if he even appears at all, will probably go something like this:

"A mysterious stranger with slick greenish skin, a thinly trimmed mustache, and filed teeth looks up from his desk in surprise as the Liberators burst into his chamber. Then Heydricus kills the sh*t out of him."

Remember kids, evil doesn't pay (they get in free).

With any luck though, maybe his unexpected ambushes can prove to be a thorn in the party's side.

Great stuff, thanks!

My pleasure.
 

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'Cause everybody was waiting on the next member of the Fiend Dream Team:
Faustal
Half fiend Rakshasa sorcerer 11
CR 24 medium Outsider
HD: 11d4+7d8+90 155 hp
Init: +12
speed: 40ft, fly 40 ft (average)
AC: 35 (+8 Dex, +10 natural, +7 armor), touch 18, flatfooted 27
BAB: +12/7, grapple +16
Attacks: longsword 1d8+8 or claw 1d6+4
Special Abilities: Detect thoughts (DC 22), change shape, smite good +20, fly.
Spell-like abilities: 3/day - darkness, poison (DC 23), unholy aura (DC 28). 1/day - desecrate, unholy blight (DC 25), contagion (DC 24), blasphemy, unhallow, horrid wilting (DC 28), summon monster IX, destruction (DC 27). These save DCs are Cha based. Ouch.
Special qualities: DR 15/good and piercing, SR 38, immunity to poison, acid, cold, fire, electricity resistance 10, darkvision 60ft

Saves: Fort +15, Ref +16, Will +15.
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 22+4, Con 20, Int 20, Wis 16, Cha 23+7
Feats: Improved Initiative, Great Fortitude, Combat Casting, Lace Spell (unholy), Eschew Materials, Defensive Fighter, Empower SLA.
Skills: Bluff +27 Concentration +19 Diplomacy +17 Disguise +27 Forgery +10 Gather Information +15 Intimidate +19 Knowledge (arcana) +19 Knowledge (history) +10 Knowledge (religion) +10 Listen +16 Move Silently +21 Search +12 Sense Motive +16 Sleight of Hand +15 Spellcraft +21 Spot +16 Use Magic Device +15.
Faustal gets a +4 racial bonus on Bluff checks, and a further +4 if he can detect the target's thoughts.
Faustal gets a +4 racial bonus on Disguise checks, and a further +10 if he uses change shape. Ouch.
Someone may have to double-check the skill ranks - the generator tends to tweak out with characters like this.

Spells known: 9/5/5/4/4/4/3/3/2, Spells per day: 6/9/9/8/8/8/8/7/5.
Cantrips (DC 20): arcane mark, dancing lights, detect magic, ghost sound, mending, message, prestidigitation, read magic, touch of fatigue.
1st level (DC 21): charm person, identify, magic missle, protection from law, shield.
2nd level (DC 22): bear's endurance, dissonant chant, locate object, shatter, touch of idiocy.
3rd level (DC 23): protection from energy, ray of exhaustion, sound lance, suggestion.
4th level (DC 24): confusion, dimension door, greater invisibility, phantasmal killer.
5th level (DC 25): baleful polymorph, dominate person, magic jar, teleport.
6th level (DC 26): contingency, globe of invulnerability, greater dispelling.
7th level (DC 27): limited wish, spell turning, vision.
8th level (DC 28): moment of prescience, trap the soul.
Note that the DCs do NOT include the bonus from Lace Spell.

Gear of note: +4 defending longsword, rod of withering, clothborne half plate armor, amulet of proof against detection and location, cloak of charisma +4, gloves of dexterity +4, tome of leadership and influence +3 (used), dust of appearance, bead of force, plus a pile of scrolls (pick your favorites).

Faustal basically has two tactics, depending on the situation:
1 - Use his shapechange ability and spells like charm to baffle and perplex the party. He tosses in the necromantic effects liberally to deplete their saves until he can uncork the big stuff like baleful polymorph and destruction. Besides, he's a sadistic weed, and enjoys that little game. Using moment of prescience gives him +48 on Bluff checks and +54 on Disguise checks. That's disgusting.

2 - If they make him angry, he waits for their arrival with bear's endurance, unholy aura, shield, protection from energy, contingent magic jar or teleport running, and doesn't play around. With those buffs running, defensive casting, and a +3 bonus from the sword he has AC 50. Then he flies around tossing empowered horrid wilting and using inappropriate language.

Melee combat isn't really his thing. Normally his second iterative attack is a empowered poisoned claw or smiting contagion, or a slap with his Rod. When he kills someone, it's usually from them blowing a save or succumbing to ability damage. When he gets the opportunity, he has opponents wound or kill each other under the influence of his spells or Bluffs.

Faustal is the ultimate misanthrope - people are just upright bags of meat to him, amusing to toy with, but earning no compassion or empathy. The same goes for Iuz's followers. He's been spying on the group ever since they finished cleaning the Temple's gore off their boots, using his shapechange, detect thoughts, and spells to cause havoc. Faustal is the manipulator, the mastermind, and has been sowing dissention and exploting every vice for years now. Why? It amuses him. All the misery, the strife, and the things that make strong folk weep make him smile.
 
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Marynnek is not quite finished, but I couldn't resist sharing this part of his stat block :)

Spirited Charge & Full Power attack, after buffs: "Reaver" +1 adamantine unholy shock falchion +27 melee (2d4+26, 15-20/x2; plus 1d6 electricity plus 2d6 unholy plus 1d6 sneak attack plus poison plus an additional 2d4+26 for the spirited charge feat)
 


Hey, (contact), would you like a villain using the new Hexblade class from Complete Warrior? It'll have to wait a couple of weeks (I'm about to leave for vacation), but it might be fun to drop something completely different on the Liberators.
 




IC reason for a superbly detailed Killer Away Team

(contact), great update today, by the way. :)

I noticed the little throw away line about no one ever caring about Mialec's minutes.

Wouldn't it be the perfect cover if the BAD GUYS stole Mialec's notes. I'm assuming she takes notes of all the debriefings after every Scry-Buff-Teleport. That's got to be the best source of intelligence the Iuzians could ever get on the tactics and weaknesses of the Liberators.

If you wanted to introduce this, you could play it like a similar situation appeared in DC comics', Justice League of America. Ra's Al-Ghul hacked into the Batcomputer and stole of all Batman's secret contingency musings on how to kill Superman, the Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman etc. It wasn't focused on high powered ways to kill them, but the most creative way to put them at a lethal disadvantage.

For example: Aquaman got mesmerized to be afraid of water. Except he needs water to breathe. Flash got hit with a drug that made his heart rate rise, so he couldn't stop vibrating through solid objects. Green Lantern was given Vertigo, so he couldn't use his Power Ring, no matter how much he wanted to.

This would be the perfect reason why all the hit squads we're building for you, suddenly have tactics that play on both the Liberator's physical weaknesses and their emotional ones. Why is Regda charging that Ooze that she can't possibly damage with her Slashing Weapon? Cause it's been covered by an illusion of something choking the life out of Jespo. Why won't Lucius try to assasinate any of the most feasible targets? Cause he thinks they're all wearing holy symbols of St. Cuthbert, which means he can't really waste them, cause he's deferrent. Make all of the mook fighters disguised, not magically, like Anon. Make Anon mentally dominated by someone else, and disguise him as the enchanter/leader of the Anon army.

And of course these combats are against creatures with pathetically low CP's so they get no decent loot and no XP. This indicates that the bad guys are now going to stop pulling punches and hit below the belt, since they're running out of decent statted people to punch back with.

Unless you have something more sinister in mind with Mialec....
 
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Mialec was just a hot young(er) secretary I inserted to light a fire under Prisantha's ass. She picked up Gwendolyn shortly thereafter which did the trick, and the Mialec subplot died from lack of attention.
 

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