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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Stycotl's Avatar

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    Default Watchtower––Volume Three

    note to self: reorganize first post before creation of new thread.

    Relevant Threads/Pages:

    Watchtower––Volume II

    Watchtower–Aftermath (Volume I)

    Starring:

    Hans (Doppleganger Chaos Mage), played by Tacitus; Longest running player; 2008-2014

    Illanimus Gnosticarnum (Soulfused Quesar Psicarnate), played by Nemquae

    Ke'yash (Human Shaman/Soulguard/Incarnate), played by Chambers

    Levi Dale (Sniper/Society Mind), played by Tacitus; Longest running player; 2008-2014

    Oldqua O'rodir (Ghost Pious Templar Paladin), played by Jack_Simth

    Robert (Illumian Factotum/Seer), played by Ben-zayb

    Sliver (Ratfolk Warlock/Artisan), played by Re'ozul

    Zorus Calladdallen (Gnome Über Caster), played by Whiskeyjack

    Retired Characters:
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    Aelyth Maernraheal (Dryad Druid/Healer), played by Spyder-Cel

    Calypso (half-nymph druid-shaper), played by Monty; player MIA

    Celestica (Elven Paladin Monk), played by MikelaC1 (Fluff); player retired, but Celestica is still alive, training ranger units for Luna Citadel

    Dalbar, played by Obscurejones; player retired, but Dalbar is still alive and well, serving Luna Citadel in a recon unit

    Elric Krossos, played by Mhvaughan; died in glorious combat against a corrupted nature spirit (heavily modified chichimec); player retired; player has official ninja lurker posting privileges

    Erfel Fencallad (Gnomish Sorcerous Bardic War Weaver), played by Douglas; player retired; player has official ninja lurker posting privileges; (played earlier by Lordsmoothe)

    Erfel Fencallad (Gnome Bard-Binder; earlier version), played by Lordsmoothe (and since recreated by Douglas); player retired; player has official ninja lurker posting privileges; Lordsmoothe was the one that started the Watchtower; I just took it over when he was unable to continue

    Feldas Tieflet (Tiefling Monk/Rogue), played by Kaganmonk

    Finvarra (Talansidhe Warlock Paladin), played by Mhvaughan; secondary character, retired due to high player count; player retired; player has official ninja lurker posting privileges

    Hestaby (Strange Tome Dragon), played by Toptomcat

    Justice (Warforged Constructor Factotum), played by Gnorman; player retired

    Kelurn Sanora (Human Warblade-Swordsage), played by Douglas; player retired; player has official ninja lurker posting privileges

    Kettenbar Sunson, played by Obscurejones; died in glorious combat against a corrupted nature spirit (heavily modified chichimec); player retired

    The irreplaceable Kyrill Medvedyev (Half Orc Werebear Barbarian)(Raging), (Antimagic Zone) played by Mhvaughan; player retired; player has official ninja lurker posting privileges

    Miirikaujir Vaeriternesj (Dragonborn Aasimar Sandshaper), played by Userpay

    Renatus (Dragon-kin Sublime Psychic Warrior), played by Duke of URL; player retired

    Roland (Human Crusader/Warmarked), played by Wyvernlord

    Sefu Kek (Sorcerous Marrulurk Assassin), played by Sinenomine; player MIA

    Shek (Fire Elf Initiator), played by Archerpowr; player retired

    Starry-Eyes (Halfling Ranger Green Star Adept), played by The Vorpal Tribble; player retired, more or less...

    Ugrot (Goliath Frenzied Berserker), played by Realms of Chaos; player retired

    Uther Gromgrosh (Dragonborn Aasimar Sublime Bard), played by Silva Stormrager; player retired

    Xavier (Githzerai Shadow Sun Monk), played by josh13905


    Watchtower Organization
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    Leadership
    Lemion Shwalenst––Shieldmarshal; Artillerist

    Team 1
    Levi Dale––First Sword; Artillerist; First Team Leader; Communication
    Finvarra––Second Sword; Artillerist; Scout
    Oldqua––Second Sword; Skirmisher; Medic, Scout
    Starry-Eyes––Second Sword; Skirmisher; Scout
    Xavier––Second Sword; Infiltration; Scout

    Team 2
    Kyrill Medvedyev––First Sword; Front Liner; Second Team Leader; Tracker
    Justice––Second Sword; Second Team Assistant Team Leader; Artillerist
    Hans––Second Sword; Artillerist; Infiltration
    Kurukshetra––Second Sword; Frontliner;

    watchmen that still need assigned secondary responsibilities: justice; kurukshetra

    still need: traps; another medic

    Rank Structure
    Enlisted:
    E-1; Trumpet; Private
    E-2; Second Sword; Lance Corporal
    E-3; First Sword; Corporal
    E-4; Iron Lance; Sergeant
    E-5; Bronze Lance; Staff Sergeant
    E-6; Grand Lance; Master Sergeant
    Commissioned:
    O-1; Junior Commander; Second Lieutenant
    O-2; Commander; First Lieutenant
    O-3; Master Commander; Captain
    O-4; Shield Marshal; Colonel
    O-5; Grand Marshal; General
    O-6; Crown Marshal Arch Council


    The Contracts:

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    Luna Citadel Armed Forces Contract

    I, __________________, have voluntarily enlisted in the Luna Citadel Armed Forces for a period of two Celestial years, beginning on the date, ______, and ending on the date, ______.

    I understand that I can resign before the above termination date, but that I will forfeit any and all future benefits.

    I understand that I am enlisting as a Combat Specialist, and will be required to place myself in harm's way on a consistent basis, in order to serve the greater needs of Celestia, as defined by my superior officers of Luna Citadel.

    I understand that I am to receive a monthly salary while serving for Luna Citadel, beginning in the amount of 100 auras every month, subject to an increase or decrease as determined by my superior officers of Luna Citadel.

    I understand that Luna Citadel will undertake all medical responsibilities for my well being, up to, but not including, death.

    I understand that I am subject to obey lawful orders from my superior officers.

    I understand that Luna Citadel law and regulatory policies may change without notice, and that I will still be subject to those changes.

    I understand that upon successful and acceptable completion of my enlistment, I will be entitled to certain benefits for the rest of my existence.
    1) I will always have an open position within Luna Citadel, regardless of current service positions available; this position may or may not be within my original training and service; pay for this permanent position will be subject to both need and the decision of the superior officers of Luna Citadel; this permanent position may be revoked at any time with unsatisfactory behavior or circumstances, as defined by the superior officers of Luna Citadel.
    2) I will always have the right to speak before the Citadel-Celestial Bureaucracy liaisons, in order to affect future Luna Citadel regulations, or to affect the legislation of the Celestial Bureaucracy as regarding Luna Citadel; this right may be revoked at any time with unsatisfactory behavior or circumstances, as defined by the superior officers of Luna Citadel.
    3) I will always have the right to attend the social and ceremonial functions of Luna Citadel, up to and including those available to me according to my rank at end of service, as if I were still an active service member of Luna Citadel; this right may be revoked at any time with unsatisfactory behavior or circumstances, as defined by the superior officers of Luna Citadel.
    4) Other rights may be given as determined by the superior officers of Luna Citadel.

    ****WARNING: Confidential Section to follow:

    Watchtower Contract

    I, __________________, have voluntarily enlisted in the Watchtower for a period of two Celestial years, beginning on the date, ______, and ending on the date, ______.

    I have voluntarily chosen this wartime obligation, and have not been coerced, by any mundane or supernatural force, to this decision.

    I understand that the Watchtower is a nonexistent entity within Luna Citadel, and that I am never to refer to it to those that do not have access to this information; these individuals will be introduced to me presently.

    I understand that if I reveal information in a willful or negligent manner, I may be held accountable and prosecutable by the superior officers of Luna Citadel.

    I understand that my service in the Watchtower entitles me to a further 100 auras every month in base pay, subject to an increase or decrease as determined by my superior officers of Luna Citadel.

    I understand that once I give my final signature, and am accepted by this document, and by the superior officers of Luna Citadel, this section of the contract that pertains to service in the Watchtower will disappear, and will not be made visible except with the consent of the superior officers of Luna Citadel. I further understand that if and when I have reason to review the terms of my enlistment and service to the Watchtower, that I have the right to review the entire contract, including this section pertaining to the Watchtower, with the supervision of a superior officer of Luna Citadel.

    I understand the fourfold mission of the Watchtower to be as follows, and I will do my best to further these missions:

    One--The Watchtower will identify and monitor high-risk areas, which are generally defined as areas with substantially higher than normal percentages of powerful villains as compared to powerful protectors. These designated areas will be consistently monitored for future problems, in which case the Watchtower will respond as reasonable. In such cases as it is not expedient or reasonable to annihilate the threat, the mission will be to check and control that evil until it can be eradicated.

    Two--The Watchtower will identify those villains that skirt planar and area boundaries sufficient to confuse the responsible and authorized application of justice and righteousness. These villains will be eradicated when reasonable, and monitored, checked, and controlled when not.

    Three--The Watchtower will respond to requests for aid from sincerely needful individuals or groups. These areas will then be reviewed to determine whether they meet the qualifications for mission number one.

    Four--The Watchtower will preserve the lives of innocents whenever possible, and will take appropriate steps to minimize collateral damage within the areas of its operation. Further, the Watchtower will apply the proper emergency relief to those innocents affected by the operation or the targets of the operation. This duty includes medical and guardianship roles where applicable, but does not under normal circumstances include rebuilding, political reform, or other matters of infrastructure. These matters will be handled by Luna Citadel as determined appropriate by the superior officers of the organization.


    NOTE: The divine nature of this contract will not allow for dishonest or untrue answers to any of the statements, whether knowingly or unknowingly. If the contract does not accept your final signature, you have been rejected for said service, and will have your memory regarding this incident erased. By attempting to sign this contract, you are giving your permission for said actions by the superior officers of Luna Citadel.

    Final Signature: ____________________________ Date: ____________

    Witness: ___________________ Witness: _____________________

    Luna Citadel Recorder: ______________________ Date: ____________


    along with your goals, post a link to your character sheet. that way i can patch it into this directory.

    Watchtower Intel
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    en route.


    Rewards
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    2011 and previous––unrecorded
    2011/12/26––1,000 xp xtra to everyone for christmas
    2111/11/?––(B) Blooded feat
    2012/01/07––2,000 xp to everyone for market place and church crypts
    2012/03/03––+4 skill points to everyone for DM tardiness


    thanks, aaron out.
    Last edited by Stycotl; 2014-12-27 at 05:46 PM.
    my own diabolical experiments (homebrew)

    my deviantART

    my alter ego

    Campaigns
    Watchtower––Volume III (running since 2008)

    Announcer— “Your cable television is experiencing difficulties. Please do not panic. Resist the temptation to read or talk to loved ones. Do not attempt sexual relations, as years of TV radiation have left your genitals withered and useless.”

    Wiggum, checking— “Well I'll be damned.”

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Stycotl's Avatar

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    Default Re: Watchtower––Volume Three

    My houserules
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    if you have questions, comments, complaints, or ideas, let me know. if you communicate with me, i'll have a better idea of what you need, or what i can do for you. be respectful, and i'll be respectful in turn, even if you are disagreeing with me. these houserules change all of the time. if i find another one i like, or you point me toward one, or we agree that i need to change one of them, i will. i will post it in-game (oocly), when i change a rule, so you all know to look here.

    aaron's rule of participation––
    1––roleplay. if you are here for the battles only, you're in the wrong thread. i have a basic storyline planned, but it is open, and i can't push the story ahead if you aren't willing to take some initiative. that said, there will be a lot of battles, but there can be as much exploration and rp as you guys want too. so long as you'll do it.
    2––post regularly. by that, i mean at least a few times a week. i am not (yet) going to come up with a hard and fast limit, but if you haven't posted for more than two weeks without giving me some kind of notice, you are auto out, and your character will be sent directly to carceri. i'd love to make exceptions in some cases, but i've been making too many. so, two weeks is the cut off.
    3––be adult enough to give me a heads up before slinking off for whatever reason (boredom, school, etc). it's not going to hurt my feelings if you want out, but have the stones to let me know so that the rest of us aren't left wondering.
    4––be adult enough to tell me when you are bored, frustrated, unsatisfied. i had a girlfriend once, and we never argued or had any other problems. ever. i even bragged about it because it was so nice to be in such a pleasant relationship. then one day (9 months after we separated amiably) she broke down and admitted that she always felt unappreciated, and that she always resented it. a little bit of communication could have fixed that to begin with. if you have an issue with the game, TELL ME! i'd much rather know and be able to fix it, then have you disappear and hope we don't run into each other on the forums.
    5––give a considerable commitment to the game. i've been running this since 2008 when l'smoothe left, and it has had its slow moments, but it has been fun too. the more you commit (participate), the easier it will be for me to make sure that it is fun for you.

    Ability Score and Feat Acquisition-- this will be similar to the pathfinder game, in that you gain feats based off of hit dice at 1st level, and then every odd level afterward (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, etc); ability score improvements will condense to once every 3 levels (same level that feat acquisition used to hold). so you guys get another ability score increase (had one at 4th and 8th levels; now have one at 3rd, 6th, and 9th levels).

    AC
    10 + 1/2 BAB is your base AC before any modifiers. The bonus to base AC because of high BAB is not negated when flatfooted or even unconscious––consider it a measure of your resilience and hardened nature.

    AC as DR
    Armor and natural armor bonuses that usually add to AC now no longer do so. They add to DR instead. Shield bonuses add to both AC and DR. These bonuses to DR from armor, natural armor and shields are all referred to as armor DR, or DR/armor.

    The DR an armor, natural armor or shield provides is equal to its total armor bonus with a +1 bonus at BAB +5 and another +1 every 5 points of BAB after that (+4 at +20 BAB, etc). Creatures not proficient with the armor or shield they wear do not gain the bonus to DR at higher levels of BAB. Armor, natural armor and shield DR is specifically untyped DR, meaning that it is not negated by magic weapons, adamantine weapons, etc. Armor DR specifically stacks with all other kinds of DR. Subtract damage dealt to the creature first from armor DR, then DR obtained through magic items, etc, then all other kinds of DR.

    Attacks from incorporeal creatures ignore armor and natural armor DR entirely, unless that DR is attributed to a force effect or similar effect that specifically counters such attacks. Attacks from amorphous (elementals, oozes, etc) or swarm creatures treat the DR/armor as half of its normal strength.

    Aid Another-- characters with similar casting types can help each other out on caster level checks just as if they were skill checks (with a DC 10 caster level check from the helper). thus, two warlocks could aid another warlock in making an invoker check, but could not also help the party wizard unless they also had arcane caster levels.

    Badasses-- http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118689

    yeah, so i really liked hadrian_emrys' badass substitution level idea and am implementing it here. there are a few changes to the rules though.
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    my BADASS houserules
    CMA point recovery: between chapters, so long as there was a legnth of downtime of at least a day, any character with a CMA point pool has their pool refreshed to a maximum of 50% capacity (minimum of 1 point recovery, up to max), to reflect the triumphs and failures of normal life.
    Substitution Level Gain: If you think that someone did something truly awesome, nominate him or her for a badass level. note that epically extreme acts of daring are not the only kinds of badassedness; ingenious ambushes set up by a badass rogue, uberly resourceful spell applications, and other feats of player cunning or creativity, if properly badassed, are all candidates. the dm reserves the right to veto a character from getting a badassed level if he deems it necessary. note also that unlike the various rp awards, even npc's can be nominated for this reward.

    These levels are earned retroactively, never along with the level that you are about to earn unless you already have as many badass levels as you do class levels, and always from the lowest level available. Thus, an 8th level fighter that earns a badass level would apply it to his 1st hit dice, or 1st fighter level. If he later gained another badass level, it would apply to his 2nd hit dice, or 2nd fighter level.
    weapon and armor proficiency: gain one additional weapon group proficiency and armor group proficiency that you do not have. If you have all of the basic groups (simple and martial weapons; light, medium, and heavy armor; small, heavy, buckler, and tower shields), then you can gain one exotic weapon and exotic armor proficiency feat per badass level.
    A Crowning Moment of Awesome: CMA pool points can only be spent as a free act once per turn in order to treat one dice roll (regardless of kind) as naturally maximized (natural 20 on a d20, natural 8 on a d8, etc). Unspent points disappear after 24 hours (this allows points to be spent in social situations even if dice rolls have not yet come into play).
    Badass Feat Changes
    Back to Back Badasses: prerequisite: 15 hit dice, 2 badass levels, badass speech; you can spend a CMA point so that all adjacent allies gain one maximized dice roll of their choice this turn as if they had spent a CMA point with the Crowning Moment of Awesome ability.
    Badass Roast: prerequisites: 5 hit dice; spend one CMA point in order to treat the next d20 roll made by a foe within 30 feet of you as a natural 1. if this foe does not make a d20 roll within one turn, your spent point is wasted and nothing happens.
    Total Badass: prerequisites: 15 hit dice, 2 badass levels, badass roast; spend a CMA point to make all adjacent enemies treat their next d20 roll as a natural 1. Those that doe not make a d20 roll within 1 round are not effected by this use.
    Shneekey's Feats in post #13
    Extreme Badass: subsumed into badass recovery.
    Bring it on: prerequisites: 15 hit dice, 2 badass levels, eloquent description
    Eleoquent Description: prerequisites: 5 hit dice.

    feel free to homebrew other badass feats with my approval.


    Class Fixes-- same as feat fixes. let me know if you have others that need fixing, or different ideas than what is already here.
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    Monk: full bab (or you can try my homebrewed celox; check sig)

    Sorcerer: see Sorcerer's Lament below; it is complicated enough that it deserved its own houserule heading.


    Damage Thresholds--
    the more a creature is injured, the harder it is for it to fight or act. injured creatures take penalties to attack and damage rolls, saving throws, ability checks, skill checks, and movement.

    creatures that are immune to critical hits, immune to pain, or are under the effect of a barbarian rage or equivalent are immune to injury penalties.

    uninjured–full hit points: no penalties

    hurt–75% hit points: -1/-5 feet

    wounded–50% hit points: -2/-10 feet

    mauled–25% hit points: -4/-15 feet

    these penalties disappear as soon as the damage is healed.

    Diplomacy--i use a variant of the rich burlew rules, but i do throw in fairly substantial circumstance bonuses/penalties at times.

    DM's Behavioral Consequences--Any time the DM disappears for longer than one week without giving the players notice beforehand (and thereby violating his own rules of common courtesy), each player character gains 4 extra skill points that can be spent normally, owing to the oodles of virtual downtime that they and their players have had to train. (this rule is not in play at this time; after my school schedule calms down a bit, this will be reinstated)

    Note that it will at times be up to the players to keep track if the DM has been gone longer than 7 days, as he might be too scatterbrained and distracted with RL issues to have counted.

    Favored Classes-- this is an idea swiped from the intrepid rathgar (a fellow playgrounder); the favored class feature of the different races is severely underplayed. from now on, in addition to the rules already in place, for each level taken in a race's favored class, a character gains an additional 2 hit points and 2 skill points. if it is the character's first level, they instead gain an additional 3 hit points and 3 skill points. for classes with a favored class listed as "any", the character's first class counts as their favored class (gestalt characters characters can pick one of their two first classes if they fall into this category).

    Feat Fixes-- this will take a while to compile (cool, i... nevermind...), but i will attempt to post all of my houserule fixes here. if you have one that you want to bring up, it'll probably get put on the wall a lot sooner, so don't hesitate. here they are:
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    dodge: so, dodge, epitome of a useless feat. now, you get +1/3 levels. max +6 at 18th (then you can take epic dodge). or, you can scrap that as a swift act in order to get half the dodge bonus to all foes (rounded down). can use swift act to change it back and forth. now it is a little better.

    item creation feats: i am thinking of making one feat for psionic creation, one for divine magic creation, one for arcane magic, etc. haven't done it yet, but... if and when i get rid of all of those feats, characters that had them will be able to pick new feats as if they were retraining.

    metamagic/psionics/etc feats: this is in the works, but i am probably going to scuttle the whole feat system. i am thinking of making it a function of spellcraft and its cousins. tell me if you have better ideas. if, and when--yeah, same as above.

    sacred vow: gives +1 perfection bonus to will saves as well. waste of a feat otherwise; always made me feel icky when i had to take it to get vop, and a holy vow should make no one feel icky.

    snatch/improved grab: both the feat and the ability have the exact same effect, and anything that snatch can do, that is not explicitly stated in improved grab, still works.

    skill focus: gives a bonus to the skill equal to 3+1/ 4 HD (+4 at 4th, +5 at 8th, etc).

    weapon finesse (and intuitive attack, etc): at +11 bab, these feats allow you to add the appropriate ability mod to damage instead of strength in melee combat


    Gestalt Progression--i don't care if you have levels in the same class on both sides of the progression, so long as you don't have two of the same abilities at the same level...
    example:
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    1--LA 1//wizard 1
    2--LA 2//wizard 2
    3--rogue 1//wizard 3
    4--rogue 2//wizard 4
    5--rogue 3//wizard 5
    6--wizard 6//sandshaper 1 (with spell progression dead level)
    7--rogue 4//sandshaper 2
    etc...

    ...and as long as you don't end up with more levels worth of ability progression than you normally would in one of the classes by that level.
    example:
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    you take two classes that would progress sneak attack, one that ends up with 9d6 at its final level, and the other that ends up with 5d6 at its final level, because there are some sneak attack dead levels. You can stack them so that the higher sneak attack class fills in the one with the dead levels, but you could not do it so that you have 9d6 sneak attack by 10th level, or 15d6 sneak attack by 20th.

    clear enough?

    Immunities and Resistances–– Treat immunities as superior resistances.
    Effects that Deal Hit Point Damage: A creature that would be immune to an effect that would deal hit point damage now gets resistance (as energy resistance) equal to 10 + 5/HD (or class level that provides effect)––against that specific effect only. Thus, a 10-HD creature normally immune to bludgeoning weapons would receive resistance 60 against a successful attack with a warhammer. A 6-HD golem would receive resistance 40 against sneak attack and critical hit damage. This resistance would be applied to a successful attack before any damage reduction.
    Effects That Allow Saving Throws: A creature that would be immune to an effect that allows a saving throw gains a resistance bonus to that saving throw equal to 10 + 1/5 HD (or class level that provides effect) against that effect. Further, if the effect is a save-for-half-damage, then a successful save negates all damage as if the creature had the evasion or mettle special ability. So a 15-HD elf would gain a +13 bonus to saves against sleep effects, and a 12-HD multiclass Paladin 10/Fighter 2 would receive a bonus to saving throws against fear effects equal to +12, because the Paladin levels are what supply the resistance to fear effects; hence, the two Fighter levels don't count.
    Effects That Do Not Allow Saving Throws: A creature that would be immune to an effect that does not allow saving throws gains a saving throw with a resistance bonus equal to 5 + 1/10 HD (or class level that provides effect) against that effect. The type of save the creature gains should be appropriate to the effect (a spray of acid should allow a Reflex save to dodge, a mental compulsion a Will save to shrug off, etc); if an effect is unclear as to what kind of save should apply, use the one that makes the most sense. So, a 20-HD creature that normally has an immunity to death effects would gain a +7 bonus to saves against a power word kill spell.
    Abilities That Overcome Immunities: Some feats, spells, etc, were developed specifically with the intent to overcome immunities, allowing blasters to kill white dragons with ice spells, etc. These spells now simply halve any resistance (as energy resistance) or saving throw resistance bonuses that the creature would have against this kind of effect.
    Multiple Resistances Against the Same Source: You cannot gain more than one of the same kind of resistance against one source. So, if that 20-HD creature were subjected to a death effect that deals hit point damage, it would gain both the resistance and the bonus to saves, but if that same creature were also immune to mind-affecting effects, it would not gain double the saving throw bonuses for being immune to both death and mind-affecting effects (power word kill is both a death and mind-affecting effect).
    Immunities Granted By Items, Spells Cast By Others, Etc: Instead of figuring a resistance or bonus to saving throws based off of your own class level or HD, use the appropriate class level or HD of whoever created the effect (an immunity granted by a magic shield created by a 13th level caster might grant acid resistance 75, etc).
    Possible Exceptions: Characters and creatures with immunities to aging, such as ghosts, or those with the Timeless Body class feature, remain unaffected. A creature that lacks a body part or other required state of being for an effect to affect it, would remain unaffected by the effect (such as a wingless creature being unaffected by the wingbind spell (SpC), a mindless zombie being unaffected by a charm spell, or an eyeless creature being unaffected by a blindness spell).

    If for some reason you would need to (if purposefully failing a saving throw is not enough, for example), as a free act you may selectively lower or drop a resistance to one source (typically a friendly source), while keeping the resistance to another source (typically an unfriendly source). Selectively in this sense means that you may drop your immunity to mind-affecting effects to the telepathy effect of your team's psion, without dropping your immunity to the arch lich's domination effect that is happening in the same round.

    In some cases, some elaborate roleplay might be needed in order to explain away an immunity or resistance that wouldn't seem to be able to be dropped. The red dragon plucks a layer of scales from its forearms and exposes itself to the ritual fires that would brand it and give it power, or something similar.

    Initiative-- Initiative––Aggressive Action
    http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119745

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    Figure out the initiative order normally.

    Figure out the initiative order normally. For every ten points of initiative that you rolled, you gain a +1 swift bonus to attacks, caster level checks for the purpose of defeating SR, save DCs of your effects, and skill checks made as part of aggressive action (the Jump check made to leap the stream during a charge counts, and the Tumble check made to avoid AoOs during the attack, but not the Tumble check made to avoid AoOs for movement after the attack, and not the Hide check made to escape into the darkness afterward).

    Swift Bonuses: A swift bonus does not stack with itself. An individual loses any swift bonuses that it might have during any round in which it is flat-footed, stunned, or helpless. That bonus remains lost until it loses the stated condition.

    Once initiative order is figured, one party or the other takes its turn until all of its members capable of taking a turn have, and another party goes. The dm is the one that decides which party goes first in an encounter, though generally the party with the lowest initiative score goes last.

    Within a party though, whoever posts first acts first; initiative will not actually determine who goes first within a party.

    Effects that would normally terminate during or after your turn in a round terminate instead at the end of that specific round. Note that this may increase the duration of some effects by as much as almost an entire round.

    Delayed Actions: Individuals can delay actions indefinitely while it is still their party's turn without taking a subsequent initiative penalty. However, once the party's turn is over and the dm declares that it is another party's turn, delaying individuals have lost their turn for the round (though immediate actions, AoOs, etc still apply normally).

    Reading the thread and deciding that your character can't yet do anything and that you are going to wait for a few posts before making up your mind is the same as delaying an action; once you've read the thread, it is your turn. An individual that intends to delay needs to post this intention as soon as they decide on this course of action so as to make it clear to the others that they are not just absent from the computer (we don't want to have one individual delaying until the rest of the party acts while the others are delaying until he acts, and none of them are communicating their plans with each other).

    Readied actions: Readied actions can allow an individual to take an action during another party's turn without actually changing his or her initiative score if the predetermined events of the readied action take place. But if nothing happens, that individual has lost a turn for the round (again, barring immediate actions, etc).

    Specific Mechanic Fixes

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    There will be certain feats, spells, etc that will need to be tweaked in order to work with this system. They will be added as they are brought up.

    ––white raven tactics: this maneuver still moves another creature's initiative count to your own -1. If the individual has already acted in the round, it can act again as if it hasn't acted. Immediately after the round in which this maneuver is used ends, that individual returns to its normal initiative count. If the individual hasn't acted yet during the round, that individual now acts permanently on your own initiative count -1, until it is again affected by an ability that changes its place in the initiative count.
    This makes WRT inherently more powerful, but it solves some of the problems that would otherwise come up trying to stick closer to the original intent.


    Knowledge Uses-- consider yourselves empowered (remember that you can use them in situations other than combat, like diplomacy, tracking, etc):
    http://www.giantitp.com/articles/paB...ccDMQACfu.html

    Level Adjustment Awards-- occasionally, as an xp award, you will lose one level of LA adjustment. what this means (as far as i have figured out) is that you generally just bump your level progression on that side down one and add another level at the top (highest hit dice).

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    example:

    1-LA 1/wizard 1
    2-LA 2/wizard 2
    3-fighter 1/wizard 3

    would become:

    1-LA 1/wizard 1
    2-fighter 1/wizard 2
    3-fighter 2/wizard 3


    Linguistics-- similar to the knowledge uses ability above, this one is mostly on you guys to initiate. when speaking with others or reading someone else's writing, you can declare that you are making a special linguistics sense motive check or a speak language check in order to get any special information about the motives or origins behind the message. both of these rolls will receive a +1 competence bonus for each language that you know from that species' category (if you are reading the ancient writings of an illithid, and are fluent in three aberrant languages, you get a +3). these linguistics rolls can even be used when addressing a tongue with which you are not fluent, such as the ancient script on the dungeon walls, but you must know at least one language from that sub category. these rolls are part of the normal acts of listening, reading, or speaking, and in and of themselves do not constitute an action of any kind.

    Lore-- any kind of knowledge check or lore check or anything else will be heavily ad hoc-ed as far as modifiers go, or just plain auto-succeed or auto-fail, if i think that there would be no reason for your character to have any info on the subject in question, or if i think that your character should not have gotten as far as he/she did without having known about the subject in question. tough stuff. i don't like the current, randomness of lore checks.

    Magic Transparency--magic, psionics, and every other kind of 'magic' that is not specified as a (Su), (Sp), or (Ex) ability is going to be treated as spells for the purposes of dispelling, etc. i might have to post revisions to this in the future, but i'll warn ya.

    Massive Damage--
    this replaces the current massive damage rules.

    whenever a creature suffers more than 50% of its current hit points in one strike, they have suffered massive damage. they must make a successful fort save or be nauseated by the pain until at least 8 hit points are healed back. if the save succeeds, the creature is instead sickened for 1 round. the DC of the fort save equals the damage that was done to the creature. creatures that are immune to critical hits, immune to pain, or are under the effects of a barbarian rage or equivalent are immune to the effects of massive damage.

    Natural Attacks-- a creature with natural attacks designates its primary weapon and if any others, its secondary weapons. primary weapons now gain iterive attacks as if they were wielded weapons. secondary weapons still get one extra, secondary attack each (except with various feats, etc), at a -5 penalty. note that under normal rules, creatures can already do this with a wielded weapon, but not with natural weapons for some reason...

    reference thread:
    http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107949

    Polymorph Subschool-- using rich burlew's rules on giantitp.
    http://www.giantitp.com/articles/dC2...K8n5OjUm9.html
    http://www.giantitp.com/articles/Pbp...c7E82kEmo.html

    Pure Devotion-- prerequisites: 20th level, 20 levels of the same class. gain a +4 (only +2 in gestalt games) unnamed bonus to all saves. this is a free feat! there is a catch though. in order to qualify for this feat, you have to take 20 levels of a base class by 20th level. so, no LA adjusts, no prc's, no cherrypicking base classes like you're stealing cash from your passed-out-drunk roommate's wallet. pure 20/20 goodness. i used to not allow gestalt characters to qualify for this either, but what the hell. you only live once. however, in gestalt, you can only qualify for it once, even if you have two progressions that reach 20 levels by level 20.

    RP Award--(idea stolen from count alucard) after every campaign, or whenever i decide to dole out xp, i will give a bonus award to the best roleplayers among the group. There will be two such awards, the players' choice and the dm's choice awards.

    players' choice will be decided by popular vote (among you guys; i will not vote). unlike the dm award, they players' choice award *can* be the same character more than one time in a row.

    dm's award will obviously be chosen by me, though the same character cannot be chosen more than one time in a row, and the same character will not be chosen for both players' and dm's awards.

    the same player can have different characters simultaneously awarded though.

    awarded players can choose between the following (this list will be updated):

    +30% xp toward next level gain (remember that if you have +30% and then gain an arbitrary level gain as a result of chapter awards or something, you keep that +30% until it adds up to +100% and you gain another level)

    a bonus feat for which they qualify

    8 extra skill points and a +2 master bonus to any one skill (master bonuses does not stack with each other, but they count as skill ranks for the purpose of qualifying for feats, prcs, etc).

    a magic item of some kind; kind be custom, but doesn't have to be. just give me a list of things that you'd like to improve (initiative, unarmed combat, metamagic, etc), and i'll tailor something to suit your needs. if there is a specific item, just name it. these items won't be huge or super powerful, but i'll try to balance it with the needs of the team and of your character.

    Reflex Saves-- whenever you are forced to roll a reflex save, for whatever reason, if you wish, and are successful with the save, you can also attempt a Balance check against half of the initial save's DC. If successful, as a free action, you can move 5 feet in any direction. if unsuccessful, you fall prone in the square that you are currently in.

    Rule of Relative Mathematics--i fudge rolls all of the time in order to further the story. ok, 'all the time' might be an exaggeration. but i do it, so don't be surprised if you catch it. normally i try to do it in a discreet, non-railroading way that you guys will never notice. but i'm a fallible human too, and occasionally slip. don't worry, if you will remember, i do it in order to FURTHER the story, which includes the goals and desires of the players and their pc's.

    Shards of Narsil––who ever heard of a magic item that couldn't be fixed once broken? not only is that the stuff of legendary campaigns, it just makes sense. so, don't feel so bad when you sunder the BBEG's vorpal sword, because you might just end up with it still...

    Skill Ranks-- so, once you have training in a class, the class skills of that class are always considered class skills, no matter what other class/prc/racial advancement/etc you are advancing. once trained: always trained.

    Sorcerer's Lament-- the sorc has always been the red-headed stepbrother of the wizard. i hate that he gets nerfed at just about every opportunity. granted, there have been some good supplemental stuff for him, but one of his biggest (in my opinion) crutches is the fact that he has to wait for an extra level to begin a new level of spells. sorcerers in my game will gain new spell levels one level earlier. the mechanic for this is kinda sloppy, so bear with me, and if anyone has any suggestions for a better method, let me know.

    mechanical info below:
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    0 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
    1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Summon
    familiar 5 3 — — — — — — — —
    2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 6 4 — — — — — — — —
    3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 6 5 — — — — — — — —
    4th +2 +1 +1 +4 6 6 3 — — — — — — —
    5th +2 +1 +1 +4 6 6 4 — — — — — — —
    6th +3 +2 +2 +5 6 6 5 3 — — — — — —
    7th +3 +2 +2 +5 6 6 6 4 — — — — — —
    8th +4 +2 +2 +6 6 6 6 5 3 — — — — —
    9th +4 +3 +3 +6 6 6 6 6 4 — — — — —
    10th +5 +3 +3 +7 6 6 6 6 5 3 — — — —
    11th +5 +3 +3 +7 6 6 6 6 6 4 — — — —
    12th +6/+1 +4 +4 +8 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 — — —
    13th +6/+1 +4 +4 +8 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 — — —
    14th +7/+2 +4 +4 +9 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 — —
    15th +7/+2 +5 +5 +9 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 — —
    16th +8/+3 +5 +5 +10 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 —
    17th +8/+3 +5 +5 +10 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 —
    18th +9/+4 +6 +6 +11 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3
    19th +9/+4 +6 +6 +11 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4
    20th +10/+5 +6 +6 +12 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

    ^normal progression

    the way i am working it is this, at every level where a wizard would gain access to a new level of spells (one level before the sorc), the sorc gains one spell per day of that level. so 3rd level would read (6/5/1), and 4th level would then still read (6/6/3).

    spells known is a bit trickier. so far, my best idea has been to do it like the ranger for spells per day. at every level that he now gains 1 spell/day of the new spell level (the level before the sorc normally gets it), he also gains spells known based on his bonus spells only, to a maximum of one spell known of that level. therefore, if the 3rd level sorcerer does not have a 14 charisma, and therefore does not gain 2nd level charisma-based bonus spells, he cannot yet cast 2nd level spells. however, if any of you are trying to create a caster that does not have a 14 or better in your caster stat, then i'm probably going to be using you for target practice anyway, so i'm not too worried that this will be a problem.

    notice that even if your ability grants 3 bonus spells at a certain level, you can only gain one for now. why? because i said so. no... well yes, but because next level, you would be getting that one spell anyway. the point is to get it earlier, not to get more of them.

    whew. this one has always been harder. thanks for bearing with me.


    further, a sorcerer can cast metamagic'ed spells without any casting time increase.

    Specific Class Abilities Fixes and Add-ons-- yeah, pretty much the same as the feat fixes. let me know if you have others that need fixing, or different ideas than what is already here.
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    Dragonscale Husk: can be enchanted with armor magical abilities, if first enchanted with a virtual +4 bonus (that does not actually apply to AC, but factors in the current armor abilities). Enchanting it with that +4 virtual bonus makes it masterwork armor, giving it the -1 to armor check penalties.

    alternative to the medium armor (6+1/3 HD armor bonus), a character can trade its armor proficiency in for a light armor dragonscale husk that gives a bonus of 2+1/3 HD armor bonus (max +8 at 18th level), an armor check penalty of -1, a maximum dex modifier of +6, and no chance of spell failure. all other features remain the same as the medium dragonscale husk armor.


    spells/powers/etc fixes here––
    Spoiler
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    astral construct: ignore the nerf that complete psionics gave the power; you can have more than one construct at a time.


    Spell Ranges–Personal Spells––from now on, any spell, psionic power, mystery, invocation, etc, that has a range of personal is now considered to have a range of touch. if such an effect is used by the caster on him or herself, it is only then considered to have a range of personal.

    many "personal" spells are listed at "no SR/no saves." all of them will now be subject to SR, and have saves permitted (save type will be determined on case by case basis).

    i reserve the right to negate this ruling on specific spells or related effects if they would become game-breaking or annoying otherwise.

    Spinning Yarns-- i realize that it is very hard to actually convey things like battlefield positions, tactics, etc, on a forum. therefore, we are all going to have to be a bit flexible and imaginative. it is going to be hard to be true to normal squares of movement, combat maneuvering, etc. i am very flexible in this regard when it comes to pbp. generally, i will try to give as descriptive an idea as i can as to where your characters are, and who is close to what, etc. i probably am not going to start drawing battle maps and stuff though. so roll with it. i probably am not going to post portraits of each pc and stuff, so roll with it. if you need to know ranges, circumfrences, and volumes, let me know, and i'll let you know. you can improv with me quite a bit. if i say you are talking to a wealthy banker, but don't mention anything else, go ahead and tell him that you love his blue hat and brown shoes--whether or not i mentioned it. i will probably just roll with it. if it goes contrary to something i had planned, i'll let you know.

    Trip-Combat Maneuver-- after the touch attack, it is not a contested strength check, but a contested BAB+Str check. Further, tripping an airborne foe causes that foe to fall 10 feet per 5 points by which you beat their roll, before they are able to recover, unless they hit the ground before this point.

    XP in general--don't expect standard xp awards. sometimes it will be less, sometimes more; sometimes at the end of a chapter, sometimes in the middle; sometimes i will just say, "everyone gains one level" or something similar. basically, i kind of fudge xp gains as i feel is beneficial to the goals of the chronicle. sometimes i kill level adjustment in the same manner, generally in place of an xp award, or alongside a smaller one.

    Weapon Proficiencies––you are proficient with any of your race's specific weapons

    Withdraw Action--there is no withdraw action, only normal movement.

    more to come as i remember them/dream them up/find them, etc...


    Watchtower Character Creation:

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    Spoiler
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    recruiting thread
    The Watchtower is recruiting.

    I need a few good PCs to try out for the interplanar antiterrorist team.

    the link has houserules, creation rules, etc in the first post.

    important: read "aaron's rules of participation" under the houserules tab before deciding to try out for this game. if you know you can't or won't meet the requirements, don't waste my time.

    plot

    the plot of the game more or less is that the watchtower is an elite squad working for a military organization from the first layer of celestia. they go out and stomp on bad guys that are running amok in the planes. unfortunately, the bad guys you face are numerous and powerful, so the watchtower has a high mortality rate (which coincides with the normal pbp player turnover rate, especially for a long-lived game).

    character builds

    the game is mid-to-high optimization, but not stupid-high (see linked characters for examples). but if you don't want to optimize, or aren't very good at it, i can work around that too (to a degree).

    any heroic archetype that you want to play is potentially ok, but remember that you are supremely good guys (you work for celestia). i therefore generally dissuade the "[evil race] necromancer demon cultist" archetypes. redeemed [evil race] types are possible, but few and far between, and we already have had a few, so i probably won't accept many of them.

    backrounds

    i like backstories that make sense and are creative. as an example, tacitus' character, levi dale, was a submission to a different game entirely that i just happened to see. but i liked his writing style and his history so much that i offered a place in my game for his character. a history doesn't need to be huge (i am a busy guy, so don't make me read a 30-page novel), and i encourage the use of the ten-minute background by stray, along with a little history synopsis if you want to add one.


    32-point buy getalt 12th level

    full hit points at every level

    fractional bab and saves

    2 flaws and 2 traits possible

    you are proficient with any of your race's specific weapons

    wealth by level: 88,000gp

    look at the ability score and feat acquisition houserules in order to calculate these.

    we use realms of chaos' combat techniques rules, and amechra's additional techniques.

    class skills: once a class skill, always a class skill; further, Intelligence increases are retroactive with regards to increasing skill points (like hit points).

    pretty much anything official (printed in one of the wiz books) is legal, though i will dissect the crap out of some things. anything else, even third party publications, is considered homebrew–which is very much encouraged–and will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

    players, what am i forgetting?
    Last edited by Stycotl; 2015-01-11 at 02:39 AM.
    my own diabolical experiments (homebrew)

    my deviantART

    my alter ego

    Campaigns
    Watchtower––Volume III (running since 2008)

    Announcer— “Your cable television is experiencing difficulties. Please do not panic. Resist the temptation to read or talk to loved ones. Do not attempt sexual relations, as years of TV radiation have left your genitals withered and useless.”

    Wiggum, checking— “Well I'll be damned.”

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    Troll in the Playground
     
    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: Watchtower––Volume Three

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    Do how much XP did the older PCs get from this encounter? The new ones got 100 + 30%, and the new ones got ? + 30%, or do the new ones only get 30% total?

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    Stycotl's Avatar

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    Default Re: Watchtower––Volume Three

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    welcome to the new thread!

    mhvaughan asked me a question that i'm bringing to the rest of you guys. LA buyoff is something that i want you guys to be capable of if you desire. so i need to come up with a mechanic that works for gestalt. once in the past, i just given out LA buyoff as an xp award (those that didn't have any LA to buy off actually got an xp award, maybe +50% or so).

    anyway, here it is, and your ideas and comments are welcome.

    Quote Originally Posted by mhvaughan
    I asked this before, but don't remember ever getting an answer: how much XP% would it cost to buy off 1 LA?
    Quote Originally Posted by stycotl
    i'm not sure how that should work with gestalt. normally you'd just be sacrificing a level of ECL only, but in this case, you'd be sacrificing an actual HD.

    i am open to suggestions on how this should work, and i'll bring it up to the group with a few of my own ideas.

    thanks for asking this.
    anyway, my idea:
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    ––you spend the same amount of xp as you would in nongestalt: (current ECL-1) x1,000. normally, this would run a chance of actually dropping a character back one ECL (unless you are very close to your next level), but since you all have HD tied to those LA levels on the other side of the gestalt, that won't work. it would mean that you essentially lose a level.

    so, we would say that you can't lose a level in the xp payment, you just end up in the hole, and it will cost more than normal to finally get to 12th level. after that, you're no longer affected by the LA at all.

    as an example, an 11th level character with the minimum xp required for 11th level (most of you guys) would have to spend 10,000 xp to buy off one point of LA, and would end up at exactly 10th level normally. under my system, you would still be 11th level, but would be in xp debt.

    the upside is that you get to buy off xp and keep your ECL, which is important since you are gestalt characters.

    the downside is that the LA still affects you pretty much up until you finally advance two hit dice (an entire level after you've already paid off the LA).


    You know, I'll second a nomination for Oldqua for Badass following his possession of the big Rukanyr. That saved our skin and opened up an ability to spot our enemies, which had been severely limiting our ability to fight them.
    those are valid points, and effects of the possession that i had completely forgotten about.

    I'm thinking that Han's previous action, in which he took the biggest enemy on the battlefield and dropped it from a thousand feet up, was a beautifully creative method of killing a number of enemies. I think (and I'll speak more freely now than before, since he's not with us) that Douglas was campaigning against Hans because he wanted the award for his own action. Even so, that was a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Hans, and I think fits perfectly with the intent of the bonus class.
    also valid points. i do remember that now, and it was pretty cool. not only did he teleport an enormous bad guy into the air and drop it on other foes, but it was the mini boss in the encounter, and it weakened it enough that it barely served as a threat throughout the rest of the fight.

    regarding the contest between douglas and tacitus for that award, there was never any clause (so far as my memory and a quick glance confirm) that says that only one person per chapter or per encounter could get it. if the entire watchtower was badass during any encounter, the entire watchtower would get a badass level.

    all right, i agree that it was badass, so since you and tacitus are the only ones left from that encounter, if tacitus agrees that it was badass, then he gets the award. tacitus, if you truly feel that it was badass, then take it. if not, then shoot for higher next time, but don't turn it down just because you don't like being the final say in whether you get it or not.

    and, all of you need to vote on whether oldqua's possession of the rukanyr champion was badass or not. here are the relevant badass rules:
    http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118689

    mitigating factors (add more to the list if i am forgetting any):
    ––rukanyr champion was one of two bosses for the fight
    ––rukanyr had to roll a 1 to fail his save. he rolled a 1
    ––possession of rukanyr champion delayed an immediate threat to the watchtower for a very precious round (it was only one round away from constricting kyrill and others to lumpy shreds)
    ––possession of rukanyr champion defeated one of the major defenses of the enemy (the darkness spheres that gave them 50% concealment)

    Edit: Wait, that's not actually a real feat. Alright, new plan: can we come up with a feat called "Inscribe Rune?" that would, (for an xp cost? a gp cost? certainly a time cost) allow a character to create runic items that have magical effects?
    i thought that feat did exist in one of the forgotten realms books.

    Oh, and yay for everyone being 12th-level now!
    +30%XP raises me a level? I thought it was '30% towards the next level' - it's actually +30% of base XP? Otherwise, Oldqua's not leveling just off that battle.
    t's two separate things going on. One is that you're gaining XP at a faster rate than the older characters (who were already level 12). Stycotl's advancing you to catch up. So the new characters basically got 100% XP towards level 12 due to the encounter, plus a bonus 30%. The older characters got 30% XP towards level 13, plus some unknown % towards a level up due to the encounter, but less than 100% since we're a little higher in level.

    The way this will work is that Stycotl will announce when we level based on our encounter XP. Simultaneously, we'll slowly accumulate bonuses individually, due to spectacular events, role-playing awards, etc. We can cash in these bonuses (I've got almost half a level worth of bonus XP already).

    So for a while, the newer and older characters will level at different intervals. The older characters will likely hit level 13 after the next encounter, while the newer characters will require another encounter beyond that to hit level 13.

    Does that make sense?
    hold on. i'm currently reconfiguring everything at the moment, because i am afraid i am going to have to stop being a lazy piece of crap and actually start assigning experience points rather than experience percentages (LA buyoff and a few other items of gameplay don't work well with my haphazard percentages––thanks for pointing this out, mhvaughan, i blame you!).

    yes, all of the new PCs (xavier, justice, starry-eyes, oldqua) advance to 12th level (12.3 percent experience). but from now on, i'm doing everything in experience points).

    older PCs (kyrill, fin, hans, and levi), you get +30% xp toward your next level––whatever that may be (some of you are spread out, if i remember). calculate that into actual xp, and then from now on, i'm giving xp awards (which i hate).



    Kurukshetra follows the group outside, still listening to STarry and Fin talk about these runes. Once out of the cellar, Kuru springs into the air, leaping over the heads of the halfling and the warforged, and disappears through the open front doors of the fortress in a flash of golden light.

    The dragon wheels through the air with the energy of a child and the speed of a lightning bolt, violently rustling the blue-tinged grasses and thorny bushes that grow about the base of the fortress with his passing.

    His thoughts through the network are clear. He loves the downtime between missions. He loves just sitting back at the Watchtower and training. His heart is at peace when he is here.

    Below, Lemion sits on a worn rock at the base of a gnarled olive tree. Nearly a dozen other rocks of similar size form a ring with this one, and Celestica takes a seat next to the shield marshal.

    About them, the gray mists of the demiplane's boundaries swirl and roil, stirred by the winds of the dragon's flight. The mists are a lighter shade of gray, the ambient light strong enough to throw diffuse shadows beneath the olive tree, and about the corners and nooks of the fortress.

    Lemion nods when the werebear names the warforged as his assistant team leader. He begins fishing around in a pocket and pulls out a tattered journal that is much too large for the pocket, along with an inkwell and a quill. He arranges these about him, sets the journal on his knee, and begins to write.

    As Levi approaches, the gnome requests to enter the network.

    Then, once in, he addresses Kyrill's other questions, I know very little at this point. Loraln will address the entirety of our knowledge of the enemy when he arrives.

    What I do know is that they appear to be some kind of coalition of undead, fiends, and Far Realms aliens. I know, it makes no sense to me either. But this much is true: it was a balor that led the sack of the Watchtower.


    He looks about at the demiplane around them, some of the sadness coming back into his eyes. Behind the rock circle, Kuru hits the ground hard enough to split the hard-packed earth, and looses a growl at the memory of the tragic assault while he folds his wings and lays down in the midst of the circle.

    Lemion continues, This balor commanded a force of minor Tanar'ri, the nighthaunt with her undead minions, and that giant rukanyr with dozens of its brethren.

    The rukanyr were all protected by the same shadow magics of the nighthaunt, exactly the same as our fight with them yesterday.

    How they gained access to the demiplane, much less how they even learned of its location, is beyond me.

    I am not sure where they come from or what their purpose is. Heithaniel apparently became aware of them when interrupting the desecration and ransack of an old temple in the spacial vicinity of Toril, a prime material plane that some of you may have heard of. Same forces: demons, aliens, and undead.

    She has no clue what they were looking for, but it was definitely a search of some kind.


    He sighs and passes his journal to Levi and Kyrill. Look this over and correct any mistakes that I have in the entry. Finalize any decisions that have not yet been made, regarding ATLs, primary combat roles, secondary roles, etc. I need the roster filled out completely before Loraln arrives. Don't worry about what I have you written down as, role-wise; you will make it as you see fit, and I'll go with what you come up with. If any of you have specialties that you think merit a secondary role designation, just let your team leaders know. Investigation, sabotage, information gathering, burglary, etc––those are all good specialties that we don't have written down yet.

    Upon the open page, the Watchmen see a rough outline of the teams and their breakdown.

    Watchtower Organization

    Leadership
    Lemion Shwalenst––Shieldmarshal; Artillerist

    Team 1
    Levi Dale––First Sword; Artillerist; First Team Leader; Communication
    Finvarra––Second Sword; Artillerist; Scout
    Oldqua––Second Sword; Skirmisher; Medic, Scout
    Starry-Eyes––Second Sword; Skirmisher; Scout
    Xavier––Second Sword; Infiltration; Scout

    Team 2
    Kyrill Medvedyev––First Sword; Front Liner; Second Team Leader; Tracker
    Justice––Second Sword; Artillerist;
    Hans––Second Sword; Artillerist; Infiltration
    Kurukshetra––Second Sword; Frontliner;

    watchmen that still need assigned secondary responsibilities: justice; kurukshetra

    secondary roles still needed: traps; another medic

    Lemion listens as Oldqua speaks his mind about the tactical angle of the Exchequer battle. Many, many years ago, when I was an infantryman––don't laugh, it's true––we trained and trained and trained with the aim of finding the perfect battlefield spacing. It is always a hard equation to balance.

    On the one hand, you need good interval between you in order to reduce area attack casualties, and as Oldqua rightly says, in order to tackle multiple threats and multiple mission goals at the same time.

    On the other hand, a closer interval between team members greatly increase the effectiveness of the medic and anyone else that needs to be tending to individual team members.

    We have an advantage here, though, that I think we ought to see if we can exploit. Levi, you know how to transfer healing energy through your network, how to shuffle it from one person to another. Is there any way that you can accomplish the same thing with other kids of effects?

    As an example, let us say that Oldqua wants to enspell Xavier with a helpful bit of magic, as he did a number of times in our last battle, but let's say that Xavier is out of reach, but Kyrill isn't. Do you think that you could learn how to grab that spell energy as it is given to Kyrill, and transfer it to Xavier, the same way you do with healing energy?

    Is it feasible? I would be willing to invest whatever resources are at the Watchtower's disposal in order to allow you to research a solution.


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    Quote Originally Posted by mhvaughan View Post
    Do how much XP did the older PCs get from this encounter? The new ones got 100 + 30%, and the new ones got ? + 30%, or do the new ones only get 30% total?
    yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all screwed up. i know. the original intent was actually just +30% to the next level, so the new ones would go from 11.0 to 11.3, and so on. but i had forgotten about the need to catch them up with you guys, which i have normally been pretty good about.

    ultimately, this was just one more reason why i am switching back to an actual xp award, instead of a percentage award. with the xp award, i don't have to worry about giving you all different percentages and stuff. i think it will end up a bit more fair and less likely that i will forget something as important as that.

    and while i didn't want to allow you (older) guys to get too far ahead, i suppose that giving the new ones an entire level-up and you guys only +30% toward the next level isn't entirely fair.

    i had also thought that most of you older PCs were at 12.6 or better, and nearing 13th level, but apparently i was wrong. hans is listed at 12.05 and levi at 12.1.

    fin doesn't have any xp recorded on his sheet, and that is probably because he is pretty new to the group too. has he receieved any xp awards yet that just aren't listed on your sheet?

    also, by my admittedly hodgepodge records, i have kyrill at 12th level already, on his way to 13th level (as are levi, hans, and fin). but your character sheet says 11th level. am i forgetting about something and kyrill is really 11th level still?

    i'll tell you what. the new characters advance to 12.3, as already mentioned. the older characters advance to 13.0. assuming that kyrill actually was 12th level, then he is 13.0 now as well. if he really was 11th for some reason that i just don't remember and wasn't bright enough to write down, then we'll figure something out.

    and because it was my ineptitude that caused all of this mess, all characters get the skill point rp award (+8 skill points to be spent as they wish, though normal level maximums apply, and a +2 master bonus to any one skill (master bonuses does not stack with each other, but they count as skill ranks for the purpose of qualifying for feats, prcs, etc)).

    then let me do the whole conversion to actual xp awards, and i think we'll be set. is there anyone that still feels screwed or unsatisfied? speak now or forever hold your peace. this was entirely my fault, and i am trying to make it right.
    Last edited by Stycotl; 2014-12-27 at 05:45 PM.
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    Oldqua glances over the list, and replies over the network to the responsibilities "I can sometimes deal with traps, although it's not compatible with stealth. It's less 'disabling them' and more 'setting them off from a distance', but if we don't have anyone with us who can handle them properly, well... it's *usually* better than nothing. I'd likely need someone to carry my wrecking ball for it, though."

    Oldqua also looks at the tactical situation, and shrugs, saying "It's probably always going to be at least a little situational... still... possibly stay in a group for the first few seconds of battle, then spread out? I've got a few prayers that work great if everyone starts in a fairly small zone, and they stack with each other...."

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    So... for now, 8 extra skill points, and a +2 untyped bonus... nifty... I'm out of room for listing languages... ah, there we go: I've been putting new points into Knowledge(The Planes), and it makes sense to keep that up, seeing as how we're planar adventurers, now). As to the boost... Spot. Can never have enough Spot.

    As for the Big Bad: So I shot for the moon and won on the 5% chance, huh? Cool. Hmm... am I supposed to abstain from voting on my own actions?
    Last edited by Jack_Simth; 2010-11-27 at 04:33 PM.
    Of course, by the time I finish this post, it will already be obsolete. C'est la vie.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jack_Simth View Post
    As for the Big Bad: So I shot for the moon and won on the 5% chance, huh? Cool. Hmm... am I supposed to abstain from voting on my own actions?
    definitely not. we need your opinion on whether that was badass or not too.


    Kurukshetra looks at the list, still not very good at reading Common. Umm, I'm not much of a good scout if we're following a classical definition, since I don't have much in the way of stealth. But I have the keen senses of a dragon, so I'm a good eye in the sky. And I'm mobile.

    And, umm, I guess I can haul stuff. Is "mule" an appropriate secondary role, or do you think the Council would frown upon that?
    The dragon's maw splits into a grin at his own joke.

    Lemion rolls his eyes and continues with Oldqua's line of conversation. Some of you are more in need of pre-combat augmentation than others. I want you to be honest with yourselves and the team, as it helps no one to feed an ego, and let us know where you think you need consistent help.

    Celestica, I'm going to use you as an example, even though you are leaving us. Were you to stay on with the Watchtower, I would expect you to seek help in your ability to successfully target and damage an enemy. Your largest weakness as displayed in the Exchequer of Souls was that you were not skilled enough to destroy the target you were trying to hit. Some of that was simply a matter of tactical experience; you could have moved on to one of the smaller enemies when you realized that the big one was beyond your capability. But some of it was simply the lack of experience needed to combat such monstrous foes.

    Therefore, I would expect you to approach the others about augmenting your abilities, and you would be a priority over, say, Kyrill, who can generally handle himself against even the largest of foes.

    In this way, Oldqua, Levi, and the others that concentrate on bolstering the efforts of the others more than on their own assaults, would know immediately who they need to concentrate on, and what they need to do for them.


    The gnome leans back on his rock for a moment, fingers interlaced on his right knee as he thinks.

    There is another, more radical alternative that I have been pondering for a few weeks now.

    Some of you knew Erfel while he was with us. He was transferred to the Citadel's recon units at the same time that you, Starry, Justice, Xavier, and Oldqua, came in. He had trained in a peculiar magical discipline called an eldritch weave. It allowed him to store all of his combat enchantments in a single, ready-to-cast spell that he could loose upon the teams at a moment's notice.

    I might be persuasive enough to get his new superiors to allow him to come here for a few weeks and teach us the basics. Alternatively, if that is not possible, one of our contacts on a world called Mendea has a similar ability that he taught himself. This would be costly, as he works with us for payment only, but if Erfel cannot come to us, then this one might.

    The reason that I mention this is that I have studied this eldritch weave somewhat, and I am confident that I could create an object that would allow you Watchmen to store such spells, provided that you could train under Erfel or another with the ability to teach you how to use such a weave in the first place.

    This would require the collaboration and training of the entire Watchtower, and would be long hours of academic and magical study that would bore some of you out of your minds. But it just might work.
    The gnome's eyes twinkle, mirroring the amused curl to his lips.

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    ooc translation: teamwork benefit tied to a magical item that allows the teams to store a few select spells into an eldritch weave as if by a war weaver (heroes of battle) of some yet-to-be-determined level.

    as a teamwork benefit, it would require training, and skill point expenditure (likely knowledge (arcana) and spellcraft; so those of you already having those skills would be fine). and i'd probably even require some xp expenditure for it to work with a certain individual, as if he or she helped craft it. but it could be fairly cool.
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    In that case, yes. Totally: for shooting for the moon and hitting it.

    As for the teamwork item: I'm cool with that. I don't have Knowledge(Arcana), but I get a fair number of ranks each level and can afford to burn a few. And if we're going to 'normal' XP, well... a little expenditure is fine, really. And being able to dump a few really useful spells into the net quickly would be very worthwhile. Recitation (+2 Luck to AC, Attack, Saves - +3, if you keep to the same deity as Oldqua), Righteous Wrath of the Faithful (+3 Morale to Attack/Damage, and a haste-style bonus attack), Mass Conviction (+4 Morale to saves), and Mass Bull's Strength (+4 Enhancement to Strength ... and so +2 Attack/damage) make for a mean combo. Temp HP from Mass Aid is just icing. They're all area spells with the potential to affect basically the entire group... well, those who aren't immune to mind-affecting stuff... but most of them are rather short duration, and nobody seems to want to stick in a group for me to get them all out.


    Oldqua considers, and replies across the link, getting used to this curious method of telepathy "Hmm... it would definitely be worth the investment to be able to dump a lot of prayers onto everyone at once, if we're going to have a rather lot of 'big fights', as Celestia's response seems to indicate. In the meanwhile, I understand we're supposed to spend a time sparring... who's up for some wrestling?"

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    Telekinesis: Grapple: Touch: (1d20+21)[39], Hold: (1d20+25)[34] for the first round on anyone who volunteers.
    Of course, by the time I finish this post, it will already be obsolete. C'est la vie.

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    Massive wall of text!

    Level 13? That's... generous, Stycotl. Thanks for the bump. That puts Finn at 13.3 and Kyrill at 13.75. (vote for me for RP! )

    I'm away from home due to the holiday, but I'll get my sheets updated soon. Speaking of: Stycotl, you're using an old link. In my stat block are my new (now outdated) sheets. The first is a sheet for Kyrill normally, the second Kyrill while raging. It's much easier stat-wise to have two separate sheets, due to the size increase and stat bumps from raging.

    Plan for level:
    Kyrill - Penny Dreadful Barbarian 13//possibly Crusader 2
    Finn - Eldritch Disciple 5//possibly Fax Celestis Paladin 4

    What are the requirements for War Weaver? If Finn can go that direction, I'll do it, but I imagine there're a lot of prereqs for it.

    I'm all for the war weave for Finn. He's got some things that will certainly help that he can dump, like Haste or Blur and True Seeing (though those are single target).

    As to buffs (I'll approach this in-character later, but easier to simply deal with it now: Finn is fairly self-reliant, so long as he can get his own buffs going. He can set up Haste/Blur/True Seeing/Entropic Shield. Getting True Seeing up early would be fantastic though, since it'd let him get a handle on magical things early, same for Battlemagic Perception (which will ALWAYS go first in an encounter). Kyrill always benefits from a Haste, and if someone could give him True Seeing to avoid miss chances, he'd be a lot more effective, but those are the sorts of buffs that aren't time-critical.

    Oh, and in terms of LA buyoff, Finn would definitely benefit from them. His cleric casting level is currently being impeded by 4 LA!

    I do feel that full cost might be a little much though, seeing as how buying off LA won't improve our HD/BAB/Skills/etc in the same way that a normal LA buyoff would. A caveat would be that spellcasters will benefit much more than melee guys, though. For a melee character, an LA buyoff amounts to a feat (30% XP is the current precedent), whereas for a caster, LA buyoff means a whole new CL, with increases in casting... But either way, I'm not sure 100% of the non-gestalt cost is the right price.

    EDIT: Oh, it also means most of us will choose to forgo buying it off. When you consider that the cost to buy off an LA is going to be 10-12000, and we could instead level up for the same price, I don't think there's going to be any contest, since both (may) mean an increase in caster level, but leveling up also gives the benefits of BAB/HD/etc.
    Last edited by Barbarian MD; 2010-11-27 at 08:42 PM.

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    Requirements for War Weaver are easy to answer: Heroes of Battle, page 112:
    Craft (Weaving) 6 ranks, Knowledge(Arcana) 6 ranks, Enlarge Spell, 3rd level Arcane spells. If you already have the spellcasting, you'll likely have half the skill ranks needed, so you'll just need the one feat... I haven't really looked at your build, though - might be out of easy reach.
    Of course, by the time I finish this post, it will already be obsolete. C'est la vie.

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    Ah, totally out of reach. Finn's a divine caster. Thanks though.

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    By the way:
    Trap Smasher (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, you can sense traps with a Search DC higher than 20, much like a Rogue can, except you use your Survival skill instead of your Perception skill. You can also attempt to disable any trap that has moving parts, using an attack roll in place of a Disable Device check. If the attack roll misses the Disable Device DC by 5 or more, the trap triggers (a natural 1 on your attack roll does not trigger the trap unless the modified attack roll misses the DC by 5 or more).


    When Lemion mentions traps, Kyrill responds simply: "I do not like traps; their use is the tactic of cowards. I do not abide their existence."
    Last edited by Barbarian MD; 2010-11-27 at 09:11 PM.

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    So both teams have at least one method of handling traps... neither of which is particularly stealthy. Hmm... perhaps some silence spells... yes, Silence the wrecking ball... 2nd level spell. Yeah... putting that in my list next time I prepare spells. Just two, and they're only minutes/level, but eh, oh well.
    Oldqua considers, and asks a question across the net "As it seems nobody here locates traps in the 'normal' manner, do we have any disposable traps for practice, just so that the rest of the team will know what to expect in the process?"
    Of course, by the time I finish this post, it will already be obsolete. C'est la vie.

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    In that case, yes. Totally: for shooting for the moon and hitting it.
    and then some (all the added, possibly unintended, bonuses to subduing the brute).

    Massive wall of text!
    you of all people should know by now that this is nothing when it comes to my posts.

    Speaking of: Stycotl, you're using an old link.
    that 'splains it, and reassures me that i'm not going as crazy as i was afraid i was for a moment there.

    What are the requirements for War Weaver? If Finn can go that direction, I'll do it, but I imagine there're a lot of prereqs for it.

    I'm all for the war weave for Finn. He's got some things that will certainly help that he can dump, like Haste or Blur and True Seeing (though those are single target).
    unfortunate, eh?

    Once you have woven an eldritch tapestry, you can send your spells across the life-force strands to your allies. Although you cast but a single spell, you can have it affect every creature in your eldritch tapestry as if the group were a single creature.
    Ah, totally out of reach. Finn's a divine caster. Thanks though.
    i'm disappointed. how many homebrew feats/classes/races/etc have we made by now, and you are giving up after just seeing a knowledge (arcana) prereq? tsk, tsk.

    if you really want the class, make a divine variant that does nearly the exact same thing. if not, no worries.

    now, the "adaptation" section of the prc does caution against simply replacing arcane requirements with divine requirements for a divine war weaver, because of healing spells. this would make it too good.

    so, we'd nerf that. as far as normal spells go, a weaver can stick spells equal to his/her level in the weave. so a 6th level wizard/6th level war weaver could put up to 6th level arcane spells in his weave. for healing spells, we'll halve that. so a 6th level cleric/6th level weaver could put in the weave 3rd level healing spells, but 6th level cleric spells of any other kind.

    this is all off the top of my head, so it would probably need to be tweaked, but that seems fair to me.

    however, realize that if you do go divine war weaver, and we have some kind of magic item that grants something similar, they stack...

    that's right: essentially two war weavers' worth of spells going off at the same time. but again, if you have a different path in mind, no pressure.

    Oh, and in terms of LA buyoff, Finn would definitely benefit from them. His cleric casting level is currently being impeded by 4 LA!

    I do feel that full cost might be a little much though, seeing as how buying off LA won't improve our HD/BAB/Skills/etc in the same way that a normal LA buyoff would. A caveat would be that spellcasters will benefit much more than melee guys, though. For a melee character, an LA buyoff amounts to a feat (30% XP is the current precedent), whereas for a caster, LA buyoff means a whole new CL, with increases in casting... But either way, I'm not sure 100% of the non-gestalt cost is the right price.
    good points. in light of that, i think you are right that it shouldn't be full price. but i don't think it should go to 30%, and i'm not keen on the idea of making it very dependent upon caster or noncaster advancement. especially because retraining later could cheat that (LA buyoff as a fighter, and then next retraining session change it to a wizard level).

    maybe 50% xp cost would be reasonable, since you're getting rid of LA that affects 50% of that gestalt level and replacing it with class features.

    EDIT: Oh, it also means most of us will choose to forgo buying it off. When you consider that the cost to buy off an LA is going to be 10-12000, and we could instead level up for the same price, I don't think there's going to be any contest, since both (may) mean an increase in caster level, but leveling up also gives the benefits of BAB/HD/etc.
    to be fair though, sometimes a gestalt level does equal a level-up even where HD/BAB/etc are concerned; if you are running wizard or rogue levels on one side, and replace LA on the other with knight levels or something, that bonus to hit points, BAB, and fort saves is significant.


    Kurukshetra just chuckles as the ghost asks about wrestling. He'll leave tangling with the ghost to someone else. Someone that can actually wrestle incorporeal foes. That pretty much leaves Xavier, and the dragon looks to him to see if he'll take the challenge.

    Meanwhile, Lemion is continuing the conversation with Levi and Kyrill, So, Justice for ATL. Levi, your ATL? Kyrill and Oldqua, you want a Traps role? Ok, we'll still need one more designated to the same, one that can finesse the traps that you two cannot destroy. Who else are you two going to give the medic role to? We need at least one more, though you can certainly designate as many people as qualify for any of these jobs. We ought to designate one more tracker too, if there are any others that can do it.

    What is Kurukshetra's noncombat role going to be? He mentioned observation, and no, there is no "mule" role that will work here. But you could certainly give him a "transportation" or similar role. And at the rate he's growing, he'll be able to ferry the whole Watchtower to and from missions if you two want him to.


    He looks to the whole group, thinking loud enough that Oldqua catches it over whatever wrestling he may be doing.

    I am bringing out the confiscated equipment taken from the attackers at the Court of the Hidden Flower now. Don't get too excited––sometimes this ends up looking like a bunch of toddlers fighting over toys. The team leaders will get to choose who is entrusted with what, though they will certainly take your opinions into consideration. Gold and other normal, non-mission-related valuables will be split as well, and anything left unclaimed will be used to augment the meager funding we get from the Citadel.

    There was a very large sword among the items taken, the one that Dalbar picked up that seemed to have some sort of phantasmal magic to it. The Council already had me send that one in, as it was a sentient minor artifact of questionable morals. We would probably have had to simply destroy it anyway though.


    He motions for the team leaders to hurry up with the roster, and then begins digging around in his pockets for something. After a moment, he pulls out what looks like a small purse. He kneels in the middle of the rock circle, prompting Kuru to get up and slink off to the edge where he is not in the way, and sets the purse down.

    Then he unties it and begins to fold down the corners of the purse, and as he does so, it grows and becomes a large blanket that he is straightening out. In the middle of the blanket is an overflowing pile of treasure––more than could fit in the blanket even at full size––all taken from the corrupted shifters and fiends at the battle of the Court of the Hidden Flower.

    "Have at it."

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    this should come close to making up for the rather slim pickings in previous fights.

    i did forget to mark down the market price of some of the items.

    7,000gp worth of small gems; black pear-400gp, black star sapphire-4,300gp; gold chalice w/ emeralds-12,330gp; aquamarine-600gp; staff of evocation-34 charges-44,400gp; ring of acid resistance: minor-12,000gp; +4 large studded leather; +3 ghost touch sling; power stone-personality parasite-4th-700gp; power stone-time hop-3rd-375gp; oil of magical vestment +4-2,400gp; 3-spiked chains of bloodfeeding brutal surge acidic burst +2; orb of frost (radiate aura of cold: 2d6+4 cold at 10' radius; swift act (de)activate; CL 12); wand of suggestion-16 charges-3,600gp; wand of wall of fire-10 charges-4,200gp; +3 huge greataxe of wounding; greatsword of wand of disintegration-23; +2 studded leather of greater fortification w/ wilding clasp; skull plaque (MIC); torc of heroic sacrifice (MIC); instruments of the blood gift (MIC); rod of enervating strike (MIC); a pair of "the fist" gauntlets (MIC); dagger of denial (MIC); greater falchion of charging collision +3, crystal echoblade (MIC); greater tentacle rod) w/ greater crystal of return (MIC); ankh of ascension (MIC); belt of mighty blows (greater one mighty blow; 3/day) (MIC); bone ring (MIC); greater boots of the mountain king (MIC); force shield ring; drums of panic; mace of smiting; silver raven figurine; 3-potions of cure serious wounds; potion of fox's cunning; 2-potions of invisibility; potion of barkskin; potion of protection from arrows; gloves of dexterity +4-16,000gp; stone horse (courser)-10,000gp; crystal mask of discernment (command thought is psionically imprinted)-10,000gp; psicrown of the evader-5/356 pp-357gp; psicrown of the dominator-312/450pp-14,040gp; rod of metamagic extension-11,000gp; wand of contagion-18 charges-4050gp; heavy psionic steel shield+4-16,170gp; +4 fleshgrinding, thundering harpoon (5 rounds, every round jerks the victim around, bullrushing it w/ bab and str of thrower, in any direction thrower desires; already claimed by kyrill)

    EDIT: incidentally, most of these things were used against you guys in that battle at least once. not all of them, but most of them...
    Last edited by Stycotl; 2010-11-27 at 11:16 PM.
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    That wall of text (spread across two or three posts) was larger than usual, even by your standards!

    I should point out that the harpoon is medium sized, which is a HUGE penalty for Kyrill to use. Anyone that can make use of it, have it it; he just picked it up at the time because we were going after Shet and I wanted him to have about twenty weapons on him.

    Now if only I knew what half those items did...

    Minor question: Stycotl, is Kyrill's magic item (reward from a while back) somewhere in that pile, or is that coming later in the future?

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    Ah... "greatsword of wand of disintegration-23"? Is that a regular Greatsword that also functions as a Wand of Disintegration?

    Let's see... the Torc of Heroic Sacrifice is right up Odlqua's alley - he's not even using that item slot. 1/day Immediate Action to take a blow for another. Then again, we might want to put that on the team without a proper medic, specifically on one of those with Fast Healing.

    The Ankh of Ascension is good - great for reasonably long-term buffs, such as Mass Conviction. And at 3/day, it's replaceable for something normal later on.

    The Rod of Metamagic Extension - is that a Metamagic Rod of Extend spell?

    Oldqua could benefit from the Gloves of Dexterity +4... not really any more than anyone else could, but he could benefit from them.

    Also... what was the questionable morals of the word in question that the Dagger of Denial didn't fall under the same category?
    Of course, by the time I finish this post, it will already be obsolete. C'est la vie.

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    God I've missed a lot.

    I do think Teleporting the giant beastie on top of his buddies was particularly inspired, and if I have my way Hans will continue to be as bad-ass as I can possibly make him. I accept this bad-assery and will bad ass more in the future, this I vow!
    He may even sport outrageous sunglasses and demand of people a simple answer to the ever burning question of just who the heck they think he is!
    ...I may be in the middle of watching Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann... XD

    I also agree, strangling an abomination with ghostly possession, if only for one round, and riding around inside it as a means of playing the Spotter is suitably bad-ass for our Old' Ghostie.

    Erfel was a war weaving Bard and routinely hit the War-Weaved Network with Cure spells on everyone. A war weaving cleric would be any worse how?

    I have a Feat request for Levi's 13th level feat:
    Spoiler
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    Professional Luddite [Skill]
    You've learned to break machines because you're an
    antitechnology fanatic { or maybe you just work for
    the local protection racket.
    Disable Device ranks:
    0: You can use Disable Device on magic traps like a
    character with trap nding. If you already have that
    ability, you gain +3 to your Disable Device checks.
    Disable Device is always a class skill for you.
    4: You can use your Dexterity modi er instead of
    your Intelligence modi er for Disable Device checks.
    Darkness and blindness do not hinder your ability to
    disable devices.
    9: You can reduce the amount of time required to dis-
    able a device. For each multiple of 10 you beat
    the required DC, you can decrease the time required
    from 2d4 rounds to 1d4 rounds to 1 round to a stan-
    dard action to a move-equivalent action to a free
    action.
    14: You can use Disable Device to end any persistent ef-
    fect or area spell e ect as if it was a magic trap, but
    the DC is 25 + twice the spell's level.
    19: As an attack action, you can disable magic items.
    You must succeed on a melee touch attack roll for at-
    tended objects. Make a Disable Device check against
    a DC of 15 + the item's caster level: if your check
    succeeds, the item must make a Will save against
    a DC of 10 + 1=2 your character level or be turned
    into a normal item, and even if it saves, its magical
    properties are suppressed for 1d4 rounds.


    OR


    Investigator [Skill]
    You have an eye for detail and so much patience that
    going through a 100' by 100' room inch-by-inch doesn't
    even try it.
    Search ranks:
    0: You can use Search to nd traps like a character
    with trap nding. If you already have that ability,
    you gain +3 to your Search checks. Search is always
    a class skill for you.
    4: You can Search a 10' by 10' area with a full-round
    action.
    9: You automatically sense any active magic e ects in
    an area you search. If you succeed on a DC 20 Search
    check, you can determine their number, strength,
    and school, as if using detect magic.
    14: You can Search objects or areas within 30 feet of
    yourself. You can make a Search check as a swift
    action.
    19: You have an intuitive sense for hidden things. Any-
    time something that someone has hidden is within 60
    feet of you, you know it; if there are multiple things,
    you know how many. However, you must still make
    Search checks as normal to locate them.

    If not that then probably something to help people cast spells through my Net. Possibly as the basis/leader of a teamwork benefit.

    Also, can we get a list of Craft Skills, Knowledge Skills, and Profession Skills (with ranks, obviously) spread between every member of the Watchtower? I've got a spiffy new power I want to take for a spin.

    Upon waking and checking the Network Levi manifests Collective Unconscious
    Everyone may share the highest of any network member's Knowledge Skill Ranks, are treated as having those ranks for the purpose of Synergies, and the network as a whole gets a pool of 70 (-7 for each Member less than 10) Improvisation Points to spend on d20 rolls to increase the roll on a 1 for 1 basis before rolling up to a maximum of 6 (or 7) per roll.
    Also, if the level up comes before waking, then Levi also chooses to allow all Craft skills to share among networked members.
    Levi and Hans's skills: (wow, so uch crappier than I figured >.<)
    Spoiler
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    Levi:
    Craft Weaponsmithing: 2
    Architecture: 1
    History: 4
    Local: 1
    Psionics: 1
    Planes: 3

    Hans:
    Craft Alchemy: 12
    Arcana: 1
    History: 3
    Planes: 3
    Profession Herbalist: 2
    Profession Mad Prophet: 5 (Yes, Mad Prohpet)


    For Hans at level 13 I'd like to pick up a PrC that might be a little... not good aligned (as well as move his levels around a bit to get full casting on one side, the end result is in the next spoiler). The Bloodcarver lets you bleed in exchange for a bonus to Chaos Weaving checks. Hans could get up to a +8 bonus on weaving checks for 8 damage that can't be healed by magic (though fast healing applies).
    Spoiler
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    1: Doppelganger RHD//Chaos Mage 1
    2: Doppelganger RHD//Chaos Mage 2
    3: Doppelganger RHD//Chaos Mage 3
    4: Doppelganger RHD//Chaos Mage 4
    5: Doppelganger LA//Chaos Mage 5
    6: Doppelganger LA//Chaos Mage 6
    7: Doppelganger LA//Chaos Mage 7
    8: Doppelganger LA//Chaos Mage 8
    9: Warshaper 1//Chaos Mage 9
    10: Warshaper 2//Chaos Mage 10
    11: Warshaper 3//Chaos Mage 11
    12: Warshaper 4//Bad-Ass (Chaos Mage 12) 1
    13: Survivor 1//Blood Carver

    Either that, or not taking level 13 and instead using it to burn 2 levels worth of level adjustment (50%+50%?), if you'd be willing to allow that. Not take Bloodcarver but still get all Chaos Mage on one side and pick up that second level of Survivor.

    Definitely going to have to brew up a Network Healing power...

    In other news, totally got Miles range on the Network now.

    And then I read the post about Erfel's weave and teamwork benefits after I've written a bunch of stuff on the topic. XD


    Levi and Hans in the Exchequer...

    With no means to heal the wounded, Levi and Hans are left to wander about the battlefield in a daze. Levi almost seems a mindless automaton as he stares at each corpse in turn, not a hint of emotion left to flicker across his face. The network is a jumble of thoughts for quite some time, fragments of ideas from many more than the handful of individuals he is normally able to carry. When called to leave he does so without hesitation, though his visage remains grim. Hans, meanwhile, tumbles about in the shape of a very fit young man that may very well be a halfling, if not for some of his facial features and the overly pointed ears. His few wounds close immediately and several others in the network can feel the surge of power that comes from someone else imbuing their own rapid healing beyond its normal limits.

    When addressed by Kyrill Hans giggles and rocks on his heels, "Would that I could, Lord Commander Bear Hands. The erratic nature of my talents mean that a little explosion or two are never out of the question. At the very least I didn't cause any permanent damage to anyone but myself, I suppose."

    ...Home Again

    Levi says very little, or rather less than usual, and any telepathic messages from him are brief but clear. On the demiplane the chaotic mess of his network condenses into crystal clarity once again. Neither the sniper nor the chaos mage seem to have any input on the matter of celestial infiltration.

    The chaos mage sleeps only part of the night and spends the remainder huddled up in his rack jumping at every last little sound that he hears, some of which he replies to with meek chittering as though he were a squirrel. Levi, meanwhile, sleeps like the dead, having gone to bed early and is slow to wake in the morning.

    Outside the cellar Levi takes the time to begin sketching in the dirt with a loose bolt. Something seems to have taken hold of him as he tries putting ideas in his mind into a written form, if only temporarily.

    When Lemion begins the brief about the enemies of the Watchtower he ceases his efforts and pays close attention. His scribbles look like some crazy crossbow of some sort.

    And as the gnome speaks a single word resounds through the net, a weight carried with it that the Shieldmarshal no doubt does not intend.

    'Toril'

    Levi does not seem to notice, and in fact he even seems oblivious to the strange weight echoing through his network. As quickly as it had been said, however, it vanishes into the psychic depths of the network and whatever fragment of thought might have been attached t it is gone.

    Levi looks over the journal when it is handed to him and remarks through the net as he reads, 'I do have some small bit of experience with the quiet disarming of traps, and have been working on it since the less than stellar results in the simulation, but my hands aren't much good with such mechanisms. I'm often surprised my left arm works at all.'

    He winces almost imperceptibly and slides his burned left arm out of view, though he can do nothing to hide the scars along his neck and face. He presses on, 'As for my personal Second, I will rely on Starry-Eyes to aid me, to see what I cannot and stand in my stead should I be unable to do so.'

    He lets out a mental sigh at the examination of tactics in the Exchequer, 'In such a short time serving with Erfel Fencallad I became accustomed to our beneficial spells spreading through my network and as such did not think about the limited range on those that others might utilize. And I somewhat disagree. We did our best to distribute our offensive capabilities where they would do the most good at the time. Granted, had we focused more on the larger targets we might have put them down faster, but also potentially at the cost of many more lives. It was my decision to allocate resources to saving those not of the watchtower precisely because I have faith in the abilities of those that serve under me. As for the transfer of magical energy along the network other than healing, I know how to create duplicates, but it takes a dedicated effort of willpower to do so and quite a bit of concentration. I could try to work on transferring other sorts of magic along the threads that bind us all together, but it would take some doing.'

    'As always, I am not opposed to taking on the mantle of a healer, the many gifts I have been granted by my nature allow me to change my capabilities each day. Learning psychometabolism is not beneath me by any means. As for Kuru, I've little experience with dragons, much less ones so unique, so I have few ideas on non-combat roles that he could take. Transport is indeed amusing, but potentially demeaning. We will find hidden value within, with time.'

    'That... is a massive pile of unclaimed property. I... don't even know where to begin.'
    He offers up a Wand of Orb of Electricity to the pot as well, in the event that someone else can use it better than he.

    Hans picks up one of the spiked chains and begins giggling like a madman as he begins spinning it around.

    'Put that down.'

    'No, shiny, miiiiiine. Its so delightfully pointy! I promise not to hu-OW! You saw nothing.'

    Spoiler
    Show
    Hans is a bad-ass and suddenly gains proficiency in anything that could conceivably be a weapon. What? XD
    Never can find my towel...

    So it goes.

    GNU Terry Pratchett
    Forgot who did my avatar, sorry! >.<

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    Default Re: Watchtower––Volume Three

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    Man, that's a big list of items.


    Looking at the pile, the werebear has an idea. Kyrill has stripped his armor off and wishes to try something. His back arches, spine popping and creaking. His form begins to twist and flow, and his features change in a sanity-shattering instant. He has returned to the form of a half-orc.

    He reaches down and plucks the harpoon up again from the ground. And then the process is repeated in reverse, with more creakings and shudderings. Curious to see if the transformation has affected the size of the harpoon, Kyrill looks down to his hand.

    Spoiler
    Show
    Any chance this would make the harpoon large sized?


    Kyrill places the harpoon back on the pile and continues to look over the pieces.

    "I imagine I am the only one capable of picking this up." He gestures to the Huge Greataxe. "May I?"

    He picks it up, running a finger over the edge of the blade. He is not impressed with the edge, and the poor quality of steel that was used to craft it. "Whoever owned this last did not maintain it. It is a wonder it holds an edge at all.

    "I am little practiced with the ways of magic. Would it be possible to transfer the magical energy from one weapon to another, in a sense overwriting it, or swapping it? By your notes there is more magic in this weapon than my own blade, but I'm loathe to part with mine for a weapon not made of adamant."


    Spoiler
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    Is there a rules-legal way to do that, or could we get a houserule/homebrew solution, Stycotl?

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    Grrr, post to say I'm alive, and if this is still the most recent post when I find more time, which I doubt then, I will hopefully catchup.

    Sorry but the holidays have been busy, and I wanted to read everything before I posted, and that still hasn't happened as I realize I have 5 minutes and half the thread to read...

    But I still am here. So don't fret yet.
    HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO TYPE LIKE THIS?

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    Default Re: Watchtower––Volume Three

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    No ranks in Craft or Profession, but 11 ranks in Knowledge(the Planes) thanks to that +8 from the RP award, and 15 ranks in Knowledge(religion).

    As for changing weapons... as written, Dispel Magic makes something nonmagical for a few rounds. Polymorph Any Object lets you change one object into another. So in theory, you could dispel it, change it to your weapon of choice, and then let the dispel expire.

    Of course, that requires an 8th level spell....
    Oldqua pauses a moment at the mention that Levi can copy spells, and asks a question of him across the network "Levi, you said you can copy spells ... does that work with Prayers, too? I've got a few I can access, good for keeping people from being overly affected by spells and such, that are touch range - which is a problem for applying them to everyone else... but if you can copy them across the network, and I can put them on myself, well... are there any particular limitations on that?"
    Spoiler
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    I'm looking at spells like Conviction (Spell Compendium: 10 minutes/level, +4 Morale to saves at caster level 12) Greater/Superior Resistance (Spell Compendium again: +3/+6 Resistance to saves for 24 hours), Ebon Eyes (Spell Compendium again: 10 minutes/level, lets people see through magical darkness ... if you can already see in the dark, anyway) and so on.

    Oh yes, as for the substitution level: Nobody's said no, but everyone's chimed in with a 'yes'. Where does that put me?
    Last edited by Jack_Simth; 2010-11-28 at 01:42 PM.
    Of course, by the time I finish this post, it will already be obsolete. C'est la vie.

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    Default Re: Watchtower––Volume Three

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    I've managed to read everything, understand very little, and arrive at a point of curious confusion. *Takes deep breath* So If I miss anything, point it out nicely, and if I miss that too, then scream it from the rooftops. Either IC or OOC

    Oldqua = Badass, 1 in 20 wins, 19 in 20 we all die. Sounds pretty Badass.


    When Oldqua offers to spar by means of wrestling Xavier chooses to turn down the chance. He would have little chance, and the effort would likely be a waste, perhaps another time. No Xavier's strength lies in his speed, not his musculature.

    Xavier looks at the pile of treasure in wonder, he had never seen such riches. There must have been dozens of things whose use escaped him, for now.

    RETCON:

    To Kuru

    "Your problem appears to be a lack of Time, which is something that I cannot give to you, however, if you possess the drive to walk the path, then I think you'll find the time somewhere, even if it is just a few minutes here or there, meditation works, if it didn't I wouldn't be alive today."

    Spoiler
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    Still gotta level and do a bit more digging into the list of treasure, but atm I cannot access my sheet, so it'll have to wait.

    I find myself in possession of two immovable rods, whose use was originally to allow Xavier to climb without a wall, but such means of transportation now are unnecessary, so does anyone want them or should he look to give them away or find a use for them elsewhere? Because currently its just 10k worth of gold lying in his pack, albeit much much lighter weight.
    HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO TYPE LIKE THIS?

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    Default Re: Watchtower––Volume Three

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    Immovable Rods are utility items. Need a quick tripwire? Tie a rope between two Immovable Rods. Need a door kept shut? Stick an Immovable Rod in front of it. One of the party members can't fly, but needs to get over the ravine? Tie a rope around an immovable Rod up above the middle, and have fun with your rope swing. Stuck in a room with the ceiling coming down on you? An Immovable Rod can slow it down, and give you a bit of time to get the door open. And so on.

    You did get a rope too, right?
    Of course, by the time I finish this post, it will already be obsolete. C'est la vie.

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    Default Re: Watchtower––Volume Three

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    Just popping in for a quick update. I'll come back tomorrow and post all my craft/knowledge ranks.

    As to leveling, (I can't believe I'm saying this, but) I'll be following Tacitus's lead with Finn, dropping two LA instead of leveling from 12 to 13. Kyrill will be taking Barbarian 13//Crusader 2, and that sheet update (or, at least, his raging sheet) is basically finished. That puts Finn at 12.0, and Kyrill at 13.45

    I'm thinking about dropping all 10 bonus skill points on craft armor or weapon, but crafting takes forever, or at least, it does in games other than this one. I imagine a lot of "aid another" could happen to speed up the process, but I wanted to ask: Stycotl, do you have any house rules about crafting?
    Last edited by Barbarian MD; 2010-11-28 at 09:02 PM.

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    Default Re: Watchtower––Volume Three

    Everyone see the Notice
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    Aww, dangit, missed the post about this. Wondering where everyone was. Gonna take me some time to catch up.

    I'm going for Green Star Adept/Keeper of the Cerulean Sign. I want to do this in a special way as with this level Starry will no longer breathe, eat or anything. She will be more symbol than girl.

    She has a bottle of her starmetal-infused apple brandy to begin the transformation. If we can fit this in let me know.

    Also need to work on her Cerulean Sign. Am thinking it will be inscribed on her once she can't feel pain.

    Notice
    Have polished up draft for the rewrite of the Green Star Adept here.

    Suggestions/critiques welcome.

    Last edited by The Vorpal Tribble; 2010-11-28 at 11:44 PM.

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    Starry-Eyes and Finn talk through the night. Starry-Eyes dances as she speaks, almost singing her words, never once actually seeming to grow tired or sleepy, but seems refreshed by her prance.

    "I think it may be do-able then, but it will take some time to make. I fear at least a month. This will take some thought... but if last night showed me anything, it's that if I am to truly dedicate myself as I promised my people and the Lady, I must be willing to accept the last sacrifice. I must die."

    The little halfling walks out to meet with the others and tries to gain their attention.

    Spoiler
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    Ok, it will take a minimum of 11 days to make a Cerulean Sign, and I require one before gaining the abilities. Then I'd only get a +1 bonus. I'd just assume spend much of my wealth this level on a +3 Cerulean Sign. That however will take 36 days. Both however seem a long time unless I can get some kind of null-time bubble or something to work in...

    Anyways, in the meantime, Starry-Eyes must ingest more star metal. As per backstory she has special hard cider distilled from the fruits of trees that have soaked up star metal. She will then lose most of her fleshy bits and will no longer need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe.

    Let's have us a wake

    If my GSA fix is alright, here is what my character sheet will be after I take both levels:
    http://pifro.com/pro/view.php?id=5808
    Last edited by The Vorpal Tribble; 2010-11-29 at 11:54 AM.

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    Oof, catch-up on my part too. Definitely support Oldqua for the badass award, by the way - I think he already got it, but I'm putting in my vote anyway.


    Upon hearing news of his promotion, Justice bows to Kyrill slightly.

    THANK YOU, SERGEANT. I WILL ATTEMPT TO NOT DISAPPOINT YOU NOR THE TRUST YOU HAVE PLACED IN ME.

    While the others sleep, Justice takes the time to polish his armor plates, until they shine with a brilliant azure-and-silver sheen (it is safe to say that staring directly at Justice in the sunlight is a slightly painful proposition now). Justice's eyes seem to glow a little less brightly than usual upon hearing news of Celestica's departure, however. When he has a chance to say a few words to her on the way out of the barracks, he is characteristically brief.

    IT IS A SHAME TO HEAR OF YOUR DEPARTURE, BUT YOU ALONE KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR YOURSELF. MAY YOU FIND YOUR PURPOSE AND FULFILL IT.

    Justice is similarly nonplussed by the blanket of items, unaccustomed as he is towards the tendency of organic creatures to squabble over shiny things. After all, what is the point when he can create his own shiny things at will?

    I HAVE NOTICED THAT I HAVE YET TO BE ASSIGNED SECONDARY RESPONSIBILITIES. WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE SUCH? BESIDES ARTILLERY, I AM ADEPT AT BATTLEFIELD CONTROL - I CAN DIVIDE AND LOCK DOWN OUR FOES WITH A VARIETY OF ECTOPLASMIC MEANS. I AM ALSO QUITE ADEPT AT TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL MANIPULATION. AND FINALLY, I CAN BE A SQUAD TOOLBOX - IF WE REQUIRE ANY SUBSTANCES, ITEMS, OR MATERIALS, I CAN EASILY CREATE THEM OUT OF ECTOPLASM.

    And, as if almost to prove a point, Justice concentrates, eyes dimming low, until a swirling mass of silver goo rises up from the courtyard ground, forming itself into a massive block of marble. Slowly but surely, invisible sculptors chip away at the form, until it is left as a massive bear wielding a greatsword, with a small kobold perched upon its shoulder, wearing an eggshell as a helmet. Chiseled in the base of the statue are the words "KYRILL AND HANS, BEST FRIENDS FOREVER," while small mesh holes around the sides of the base begin playing a rousing march militaire, replete with blasting brass sections and pounding drums.

    Spoiler
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    Psionic Major Creation + Greater Fabricate to create the statue, simply for the kicks. Control Sound for our soundtrack.
    Last edited by Gnorman; 2010-11-29 at 08:29 PM.

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    You win an internet.

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    Vorpal: Rules quotes are your friend
    Quote Originally Posted by SRD
    The creator also needs a fairly quiet, comfortable, and well-lit place in which to work. Any place suitable for preparing spells is suitable for making items. Creating an item requires one day per 1,000 gp in the item’s base price, with a minimum of at least one day. Potions are an exception to this rule; they always take just one day to brew. The character must spend the gold and XP at the beginning of the construction process.

    The caster works for 8 hours each day. He cannot rush the process by working longer each day. But the days need not be consecutive, and the caster can use the rest of his time as he sees fit.
    (Emphasis added)

    Starry-Eyes no longer needs to sleep, most people do. So adventuring or not, that's an extra 8 hours per day for working on stuffs (unless you're an Arcane caster). And you can halt work if we need to go on an adventure, if you're not sure you won't get interrupted for that 8 hours.

    Also, I can never remember where to find it, but isn't there a section on improving magic items, that would let you build a +1 Sign for the normal cost & time, then upgrade it to +2 for the difference in cost (and time) between a +1 Sign and a +2 Sign, and then upgrade it again for the difference in cost&time between a +3 Sign and a +2 sign?


    Oldqua looks at the statue, and asks a question of Justice across the mental link: "Can you make a hard object, about five feet long, weighing three hundred pounds? Possibly something like heavy rod, with a sharp point on one end, for rolling down hallways to trigger floor traps, or throwing at opponents? Also, how long do these things last?"

    Spoiler
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    Well... I guess I'll write in the boost level, then. Hmm... if I put it at 1st, which the original instructions seem to suggest, do I get the *4 skill point boost for first level? Quite useful, that.... I think I'll go with the recovery ability... just because I hate rolling 1's on saves.

    Oh, and a question:
    If I roll a natural 1, then negate the nat-1 with a luckblade or other 'normal' reroll mechanism, do I still get a CMA point for it?

    Which reminds me: I'll need to start rolling more dice in combat....
    Last edited by Jack_Simth; 2010-11-29 at 06:17 PM.
    Of course, by the time I finish this post, it will already be obsolete. C'est la vie.

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    A SIMPLE TASK, MY FRIEND.

    A moment of mental shaping, and exactly what Oldqua described appears on the courtyard before him, with elaborately-wrought engraved designs along the shaft.

    THIS PARTICULAR CREATION WILL HOLD ITS SHAPE AND FORM FOR ABOUT HALF A DAY. AFTER THIS, IT WILL DISSIPATE BACK INTO THE ASTRAL PLANE.

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    Default Re: Watchtower––Volume Three

    Oldqua nods, and replies across the mental link "Looks good... I wonder how well it shoots...." and looks around for a reasonably safe target, settling on a bit of already-broken masonry, then glances at the object, launching it at the selected target, point-first.

    Spoiler
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    Telekinesis: Violent Thrust: (1d20+18)[26] for... hard, dense object, 300 pounds.... (12d6)[42] damage (more, if the point helps), targetting a bit of already-broken masonry that nobody's expected to care about.

    (1d4)[2] rounds until he can do that again.


    Oldqua then inspects the results... both to the target, and the projectile. He nods in satisfaction, pauses a moment to catch his nonexistent breath, and rolls it around on the floor for a time, getting a feel for it, picking it up a bit off the ground, then setting it back down.
    Spoiler
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    Telekinesis again: Sustained Force.
    Oldqua then looks back to Justice, and relays across the mental link "Yes, quite nice... pity it'll be gone by tomorrow. You chiseled that statue earlier.... do you think there's a big enough block of stone or metal around here to make one of these things that'll last until I wear it out? As we're not normally going to be working directly with each other, it'd be handy to have. I'm not sure how to transport it normally, though... hmm...."
    Last edited by Jack_Simth; 2010-11-29 at 09:44 PM.
    Of course, by the time I finish this post, it will already be obsolete. C'est la vie.

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    Default Re: Watchtower––Volume Three

    IF THE STONE IS NOT OF ECTOPLASMIC ORIGIN, YES, IT WOULD BE PERMANENT. I CAN SHAPE IT INTO WHATEVER YOU DESIRE.

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