The Mésalliance. Part 1. (Updated 4/18.)

[Jeph]

hey Sep,

I love your interpretation of "spells per day" for fiends. Too cool.

--Jeff

 

[shilsen]

Um, Wow... The time stop, the gate, the mirror offer. A direct physical path between Eadric and Grazzt. WOW!

I'll see your two "Wow"s and raise you a "Hot Damn!"

 

[Jackylhunter]

Wonderful stuff as usual! and you are evil! After Dan worried and the rest of the group feared, the one time Mostin tried to bring in the Horror, you wouldn't let it come out to play...

Again, what a great story hour. cheers!

 

[Creeperman]

***Being a kind-hearted DM (ahem), I left the room and had a beer at this juncture. This gave Dave (Nwm's player) and Dan (Mostin's player) time to thrash out an epic spell quickly. Dan's fingerprints are all over it because a) it's a sonic and; b) Dave isn't as good at squeezing the epic system for all it's worth. I don't mind, though – it's reasonable to assume that Nwm is good at squeezing the system.

Oh, come on, you can't leave us hanging like that! You've got to post that spell!

Also, on a related note, I thought Nwm had become an ascetic? How did he still have that Orb of Storms? And wasn't it destroyed anyway when he cast his first Epic spell, or did he just sacrifice the Staff of the Woodlands, and not the Orb?

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Dark Sound

Spellcraft DC: 0
Components: V, S, XP
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 300 ft.
Area: Twenty 10-ft. cubes
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Reflex half
Spell Resistance: Yes
To Develop: 0 gp; 0 days; 0 XP. Seed: energy (DC 19), Factors: change area to four 10-ft cubes (+2 DC), increase area by 400% to twenty 10-ft cubes (+16 DC), 1-action casting time (+20 DC), +15 dice of damage (+30 DC), +7 on caster level to overcome SR (+14 DC), increase spell's save DC by +10 (+20 DC), increase damage die to d20 (+40 DC). Mitigating factors: burn 10,000 XP (-100 DC), 42d6 Backlash (-42 DC), orb of storms material component (ad hoc –19 DC).

The terrific wave of sonic energy which issues from you deals 25d20 points of sonic damage to all creatures within the affected area: they may make a reflex saving throw (DC 30+ relevant modifier) for half damage. You enjoy a +7 bonus on your check to overcome the spell resistance of those in the area of the spell, if applicable.



*

I actually intended to add this to the above post, but forgot.

Nwm's decision to become an ascetic came after the events here - partly in response to the fact that he'd blown up two magic items casting spells (he really has no respect for them at all). The story hour hasn't caught up with the rogue's gallery thread at this point.

And only the staff was destroyed when he cast She is tired of your interference.

This was a massive burn in XP, though - Nwm was eligible for 22nd level, and this dragged him way back down. It was an impressive exercise, but kind of futile - they retreated one round later.

 

[Broccli_Head]

So did the ultraloth that Shomei dominated do anything?

Amazing post, BTW! I love how you described the time stop. Definitley gives inspiration to my FR campaign. We're not there yet, but the battle on one of the infernal planes...it's sure to come. We're still like fighting battles on Toril....Oh well

 

[Creeperman]

You know, it occurs to me (and maybe to your players, too) that these massive Epic evocations and conjurations kind of fall flat. For all the resources you burn (backlash, XP, and items), the results are insignificant. Primarily I find this a flaw in the Epic spell system, which highly discourages direct-damage spells while promoting certain transmutations and abjurations.

Still, I'm surprised they haven't caught on and taken Improved Spellcasting and Improved Metamagic instead. Much more efficient.

 

[Spatula]

Keep in mind that the above spell has a Spellcraft DC 0 - hardly typical of an Epic spell. Then again, it dealt 42d6 backlash (!!! can Nwm really survive that???), burned 10k XP, and cost a major magic item. Still, 25d20 sonic damage over 8 million cubic feet (with a DC of 30+stat and +7 to spell penetration) is nothing to sneeze at - there's nothing on the druid list (or the wizard list, for that matter) that could come close to that, no matter how many metamagics you apply. You'd need 11 Improved Spell Capacity feats (and Heighten Spell) just in order to achieve that save DC.

A shame it was all in vain. Even if Grazzt had not shown up, or the reinforcements, it doesn't seem like the group was in any state to handle Ainhorr.

I just realized that Mostin doesn't prepare very well for these slugfests - several times he has been tapped out during these sorts of encounters, but he never seems to have any scrolls handy in case of an emergency.

 

[The Lone Badger]

You know, it occurs to me (and maybe to your players, too) that these massive Epic evocations and conjurations kind of fall flat. For all the resources you burn (backlash, XP, and items), the results are insignificant. Primarily I find this a flaw in the Epic spell system, which highly discourages direct-damage spells while promoting certain transmutations and abjurations.

Still, I'm surprised they haven't caught on and taken Improved Spellcasting and Improved Metamagic instead. Much more efficient.

The spell wasn't so much ineffective as poorly tactically deployed. She Is Tired of Your Interference saved the party when they otherwise would probably have died, facing way too many fiends when out of spells. And those Glooms caused severe pain to Grazz't, they would almost certainly have killed anything else.

 

[carpedavid]

While this storyhour always paints wonderfully vivid images directly onto my brain, the latest installment seemed particularly potent. I blame having Dead Can Dance on in the background - it's not battle music, but it invokes a mystical, cinematic mood that made my imagination go all FX-y.

Oh, and Nwm's spontaneous epic spells continue to be astounting. I giggled like a schoolgirl yet once again.