Why is there a Bodak?

[Celtavian]

re

I slot Death Ward always, just like I slot Remove Paralysis, Restoration, and Protection from Elements always. A cleric's job is to keep the party alive. You want to play offensive caster play a Wizard. You want to play a melee cleric. Play a multi-class cleric or straight cleric when someone else is already playing the medic.

Adventuring groups bring clerics along because they keep folks alilve. If clerics remember to do their job, you can avoid alot of unnecessary deaths.

 

[Anubis the Doomseer]

I think this contrasts nicely with the "Raise Dead is too cheap/easy to get hold of" rants.

Actually it dovetails nicely, not contrasts - in a game with a cheap raise dead then save or die situations can exist. Make death something more meaningful and save or die should be changed to reflect that.

With the upcoming changes (the combining of Negative Energy Protection and Death Ward, the power up of monsters and the increased cost of raise dead) I think changing the gaze to save or 3d8 Con drain would be more appropriate.

 

[Quasqueton]

Remember: raise dead will not revive a character killed by a bodak.

Quasqueton

 

[Torque]

In my campaigns, I have an "XP borrowing" house rule. Basically, if your PC is within 10% of the XP for the next level, you may take next level, but you still need to gain ALL the XP to get there. (In other words, a 4th level character that is 400 xp from 5th level at the end of a session can still gian the new level ahead of time, but he is still 400 xp down, and needs to gain that in addition to the 5000 xp he needs for next level. It saves on players trying shenanigans of all sorts to get that "smidgeon" of experience points they need. However, since the advent of 3rd edition, I've been thinking of revising it to 5% of the value, because 10% of xp needed is actually quite a lot of xp nowadays.

The rule I came up with for these situations is that instead of being placed at the midpoint of a level after being raised, you lose 1000 X (current level-1) XP. Thus, if you were 8th level, you would lose 7000 XP. This puts you at about the same progress in the lower level as you were in the higher before death, except that if you were about to advance, you are dropped to the bottom of the current level. I never liked the idea that a character about to go up when he is killed loses almost 3 times the experience of someone who had just gone up, and this fixes that problem.

 

[Tormalicus]

I guess it was just a "Bodak Moment"

-ouch....bad one....

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Re: re

I slot Death Ward always, just like I slot Remove Paralysis, Restoration, and Protection from Elements always. A cleric's job is to keep the party alive. You want to play offensive caster play a Wizard. You want to play a melee cleric. Play a multi-class cleric or straight cleric when someone else is already playing the medic.

Adventuring groups bring clerics along because they keep folks alilve. If clerics remember to do their job, you can avoid alot of unnecessary deaths.

good for you, but death ward effects one person, and lasts only 10 minutes/level. It might not still be around, and even if it is if the bodak is within 30' round 1 there's a good chance someone still gets toasted. Having the right protection helps but it is hardly a cureall, which leaves these creatures lame. There only point is to mess with someones day, since if you either are protected or magically make your save its a cakewalk, and if you aren't protected it likely just wastes way too many people. This silly high offense low defense creature just shouldn't exist.

 

[WizarDru]

Re: Re: re

There only point is to mess with someones day, since if you either are protected or magically make your save its a cakewalk, and if you aren't protected it likely just wastes way too many people. This silly high offense low defense creature just shouldn't exist.

Like the Bodak?

You'll love the Devourer. And he's only 3 CRs higher.

From the SRD:
Trap Essence (Su): The devourer is named for its ability to consume an enemy’s life essence. To do so, it must forgo its normal melee attacks and make a trap essence attack. This requires a normal attack roll to hit but deals no damage. The affected creature must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 19) or die instantly. The slain creature’s essence is trapped within the devourer’s ribs, and the diminutive figure takes on that victim’s features. The trapped essence cannot be raised or resurrected, but a limited wish, miracle, or wish spell frees it, as does destroying the devourer. A devourer can hold only one essence at a time. The trapped essence provides the devourer with enough power to use five spell-like abilities per HD or level of the trapped creature. As this energy is expended, the twisted soul fades away until it evaporates completely. The trapped essence receives one negative level for every five spell-like uses. When the number of negative levels equals the creature’s total HD or level, the essence is destroyed. If an essence is freed, the restored creature must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 17) for each negative level or lose that level permanently.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

there's a reason I wont use the dovourer. CR11 and DC19 save or die. brilliant.

 

[buzzard]

Assuming that the party eventually defeated said bodak, you should technically still get your experience for the encounter (and the rest of the session) which would level you up just in time to have the raise drop you back to 7th. Some people seem to have the weird misconception that PCs who don't survive an encounter don't get xp, which is patently untrue.

Or did you mean that you were still 400 short -after- you got that experience?

Living Greyhawk doesn't work that way. I was 400 short before the start, and because I died during, the loss is based on my initial level. Thus I am hosed very hard.

buzzard

 

[Breakstone]

there's a reason I wont use the dovourer. CR11 and DC19 save or die. brilliant.

However, unlike the bodak, the devourer can only kill one person at a time, and even then, the trapped soul is rescue-able for a number of rounds.

I like the idea of massive Con damage instead, but I also like the idea of an army of Bodaks, deadly foes with eyes of death, spreading across the land like a plague.

Why it exists? It's a left-over from earlier days. But I think it's still useful for some cool campaign plots.