To kill or not to kill (the party.) That is the question!

[Nightfall]

Well good news and bad news!

Good news, I found a spell. Bad new is, it's an 8th level spell, called Flensing from FRCS. There is another spell, it's called Fleshhammer. It's from the Divine and the Defeated. It's a 6th level druid and 6th level sorcerer/wizard spell. It enchants a blungeoning weapon with the ability to randomly drain an ability. You need a d4 (Str =1, Dex= 2, Con= 3, Cha=4). So hope for four!

 

[Nightfall]

You got lucky.

I doubt I'll beat Nightfall to this, but basically the bloodless is a template that, through means ao a true ritual, achieves a sort of immortality. The process leaves them without blood, and they become outsiders. They attain a supernatural beauty, but spirits continually tear at their soul, causing chaisma loss. They can, however, drain charisma from others, and any charima loss comes from this loss.

I was busy researching your problem. But yeah, this is what a bloodless. It's a pretty neat template, ESPECIALLY if you put it on a sorcerer. I can understand why Psion didn't do that here, but still something I may yet try out.

 

[MythandLore]

Umm... Kill the party, they probably deserve it anyway.
Bastard parties.

 

[Piratecat]

Psion, I recommend either the +0 lvl feat that makes spells do subdual damage, spells specifically designed to do subdual damage, or a combo of the two. After all, if he captures them he can drain them at his leisure....

 

[Psion]

Re: You got lucky.

I was busy researching your problem. But yeah, this is what a bloodless. It's a pretty neat template, ESPECIALLY if you put it on a sorcerer. I can understand why Psion didn't do that here, but still something I may yet try out.

Yes, well, I was just looking at that. I didn't realize the charisma drain counted as temporary charisma. That sounds REALLY abusive, and I would have to rule to limit its effects. Otherwise, you can double its charisma! So at a minimum, we are talking the capability to get a 40 charisma, which would give the bloodless a +15 charisma modifier!

Nah, I'd be tempted to limit the modified charisma to (say) base charima + base charisma modifier (so 25 in most cases), or say that it doesn't count for spells and special abilities.

Edit: Ooh... better yet! The bloodless cannot count charisma drained from creatures with less than 1/2 of the bloodless's current charisma. That would explain why they prefer creatures with higher charisma.

 

[Scarab]

There's an item in Book of Eldritch Might you may want to play around with - Mirror of Vanity. It gives an enchantment bonus to Cha (ranging from +2 to +6), and by showing an opponent his/her reflection in the mirror you can paralyze (works as hold person) the victim for six rounds. Only the +6 mirror has this effect, though.

 

[Psion]

Psion, I recommend either the +0 lvl feat that makes spells do subdual damage, spells specifically designed to do subdual damage, or a combo of the two. After all, if he captures them he can drain them at his leisure....

That does sound fairly logical. And fits him as an (in part) evoker type. Hmmm... maximized subdual fireballs, subdual incendiary cloud, etc.

 

[Altalazar]

Aw, c'mon! This is D&D! This is epic fantasy! Killing someone isn't all that big a deal, especially when they can be brought back.

All the better to curse them or destroy something not so easily brought back. If it were Captain Kirk, destroying the Enterprise would be one way to get to him. You can't cast ressurrection on a starship. Heh.

It is a fine line to walk - coming up with stories and villains to challenge the players without making them so tough and also willing to just kill them outright.

 

[Psion]

Aw, c'mon! This is D&D! This is epic fantasy! Killing someone isn't all that big a deal, especially when they can be brought back.

A total party kill generally tends to keep PCs from coming back. Especially at the hands of a wizard who packs disintigrates.

 

[Nightfall]

Well more research and opinions.

First Psion, if I'm reading this right, if said sorcerer already HAS a Cha of 20, then it has no effect for him becoming Bloodless, other than those physical changes that are described in the text decription. So it won't automatically double his existing charisma, just means the more he drains, the higher he can go. Thus with a 20, he can get up to 40. 21, 41, and so on. But you are right, that's pretty DARN abusive. But I guess that why I like the template. At those levels, he casting spell like there's no tommorrow AND his special attacks are much more powerful.

Secondly, I agree with PC, it's probably better he try to do subdual on those he wishes to take alive, BUT I'd also suggest he not do subdual on those he wouldn't care about, or would rather see killed. I also agree, don't kill the ENTIRE party, just maybe pick off one or two, then they can introduce that secondary party from RA to help out IF they want to.

Finally, after MUCH researching, I cannot find anything else that might help with this other than maybe a ring of wishing. It's not something that I'd recommend, but then again just in case you DO want your party to survive. I would say just have Sarlac win, as it teaches the party to be a little more...circumspect in their attempts to attacking/take on someone as powerful as Sarlac.