# Rules/Crunch of Eyros



## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

Hi everyone.  This new thread is a parallel to Mouseferatu's excellent General RPG Discussion thread "Creative Exercise: The Sovereign Dominion of Eyros," so for any newcomers, please go and read all the great information in that thread before contributing here (There are great topic-based summaries on the beginning of each page to help you jump right in).  That being said, this thread is designed as a place to create some crunch to help compliment Eyros's fluff.  Here are the rules (slightly different than those of the other thread):

1) You contribute to the setting by posting rules ideas. These could be no longer than a few sentences, or as long as a fully-statted NPC.

2) You may contribute as often as you like.

3) The facts presented should involve the game mechanics, not the setting.  They cannot involve the setting's current status, its history, its politics, its geographical features, etc. 

4) You may not present a rule that contradicts or "undoes" a previous contribution from either thread (its OK to tweak or expand on previous stuff from this thread, but not the other).  Importantly, do not present a rule that forces compensation in the setting: the rules in this thread are derived from the setting, not vice versa.

5) This should be a usable, functional rules-supplement. Please don't post anything goofy or deliberately disruptive or hard to follow-up.

6) Finally, this setting should, _for the most part_, be playable with D&D as written.

I'll start:

Gnomes in Eyros descend from the apprentices of the mighty necromancer Thanatos.  As such, they receive a +1 to DC of necromancy spells instead of illusion, +2 to saves against necromancy instead of illusion, and the following spell-like abilities to replace the usual list: 1/day: deathwatch and, if their Charisma is 10 or higher, 1/day: disrupt undead, touch of fatigue, prestidigitation.


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## Mouseferatu (Feb 28, 2005)

The different races of Eyros and its surroundings approach magic differently, according to culture. Note that the following associations are _the norm_, but they are not _mechanical requirements_. You can certainly play a dwarven sorcerer, or an elven psionicist, if you want to. Further, some of the races have sub-groups, for whom the associations may be different.

*Race                             Most Common Magic-Using Class*
Human                               Cleric
Half-Orc                             Bard (though magic-users of any sort are rare; hence the orcs' use of elven and gnomish magic servants)
Dwarf                                Psionicist
Elf                                    Wizard (generalist)
Gnome                               Wizard (specialist, often necromancer)
Halfling                              Sorcerer
Lizardman                          Druid

*Edit:* It occurs to me, that some people may take this as me violating rule #4, and if enough people feel that way, I'll remove this. But it seems to make sense, extrapolating from what's been said so far in the other thread. And as I said, these are _not_ restrictions, just the most common correlations.


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## Nifft (Feb 28, 2005)

Mouseferatu said:
			
		

> Human                               Cleric
> Half-Orc                             Druid (often focused on reptiles and the elements)
> Dwarf                                Psionicist
> Elf                                    Wizard (generalist)
> ...




Wot, no Bards?

 -- N


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

Given the seeming rarity of druids, I think we might want to change them from Half-orc to the lizard folk living in the outskirts of the country, rather than one of the most populus species.

If the cha penalty for Orcs and Half-Orcs wasn't so bad, I'd suggest maybe making them the bards, with an oratory emphasis.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Given the seeming rarity of druids, I think we might want to change them from Half-orc to the lizard folk living in the outskirts of the country, rather than one of the most populus species.
> 
> If the cha penalty for Orcs and Half-Orcs wasn't so bad, I'd suggest maybe making them the bards, with an oratory emphasis.



 I agree that the lizard-folk should be the only usual druids, and perhaps druids should be rare/almost-unknown outside of them to make them more special as the other thread implies (if all half-orcs can be druids, why bother getting into a big competition to coax a lizardfolk druid to Eyros).  Based on Eyros's charismatic half-orcs, why don't we move the Charisma penalty to Wisdom and blame it on the effects of the ancient elven magic working on the half-orc race.  Then we make them favoured bards as domino suggested.  I like the others, although another way to get the favoured bard in is to make them halflings, since we know Darrenback at least is a bard.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

Here's a flavourful rule variant: Non-Kohl-'Tass druid aspirants must train with the Kohl'Tass to become druids. 

In parallel with making druids rare outside of the Kohl'Tass, here's the Kohl'Tass as a base race with no LA (I may be breaking our rules with this too, so let me know, but I figure its fair game since noone has detailed these guys yet):

Kohl'Tass characters possess the following racial traits.

--+2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence, -2 Dexterity: The Kohl'Tass are highly in tune with nature, but they tend to ignore the progress and trappings of the world outside the Kohoal delta. Also, the scaled Kohl'Tass are not quite as agile as the younger races.
--Medium Size
--A Kohl'Tass's base land speed is 30 feet
--+2 natural armour bonus: The Kohl'Tass offset their lack of agility with a protective hide
--Illiterate: The Kohl'Tass transmit much of their culture orally, and the rest is recorded in shell-necklaces that create sounds when placed in windy caves that dot the Kuhual delta. They can become literate by spending 2 skill points, but most choose not to do so out of disdain for written words as an attempt to control the past.
--+2 to Balance, Jump, and Swim
--Natural Weapon: bite 1d3: The Kohl'Tass can make a bite attack in addition to any full-attack, but in that case, treat it as a secondary weapon
--Special Qualities: Hold Breath: A Kohl'Tass can hold its breath for a number of rounds equal to four times its Constitution score before it risks drowning.
--Automatic Languages: Kohl'Tass, Draconic (the Kohl'Tass preserve the ancient draconic language). Bonus Languages: Aquan, Orc, Human, Vulgar Eyrosian
--Favoured Class: Druid


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

And other thing is to consider what we want to be the general power level.  I suggest going with a low level for NPCs, with the rank and file of soldiers being Warrior 1, Captains being War5 or even Aristiocrat1/Warrior 4, and the leaders of the houses being say, Aristiocrat 8, and the king Aristocrat 10.  It makes things simpler, for one.

We could also go and make the king a level 20 something, and scale everything else up to match, but I think it would be a good idea to decide that ahead of time, so we don't get a weird balance of NPC power.  As is discussed in another thread the rulers don't necessarily need to be very high level to be effective at what they do.


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## Mouseferatu (Feb 28, 2005)

*slaps forehead*

I can't believe I forgot about the lizardmen druids. Teaches me to participate in this while also distracted by other things.

Fixed above.

And I agree, I think a low- to moderate-level average for even the important NPCs is the way to go.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

Here's some racial paragon levels for the Kohl'Tass. This should be a fun way to play up the primal aspect of the race:

Code:
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special                                   Spells per Day1st   +0   +0   +0  +2   Wild Synergy, Skill Bonus, +1 to Con      --2nd   +1   +0   +0  +3   +1 to Nat. Arm., +1 to Dex                +1 to level of Druid3rd   +2   +1   +1  +3   +1 to Nat. Arm., +1 to Str, Imp. Bite     --4th   +3   +1   +1  +4   +1 to Con and Dex, Claw Attacks           +1 to level of Druid5th   +3   +1   +1  +4   +1 Str, +1 Nat. Arm, Imp Claws            +1 to level of Druid​ 
Hit Dice: d8
Skill Points: 2 + Int modifier, Kohl'Tass Paragon class skills are Balance, Jump, Knowledge [nature], Sense Motive, Spellcraft, and Swim. 

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: A Kohl'Tass Paragon is proficient with all druid weapons and armour. If she has no levels in druid, she may still use other weapons and armour without penalty.

Wild Synergy: Kohl'Tass Paragon levels stack with druid levels for purposes of Wild Empathy, Wild Shape, and Animal Companion features

Skill Bonus: The Kohl'Tass Paragon's racial bonuses to Swim, Jump, and Balance increase to +4

Improved Bite: The Kohl'Tass Paragon's Bite attack increases to 1d4 damage

Claw Attacks: The Kohl'Tass Paragon gains two claw attacks for 1d3 damage each

Improved Claw Attacks: The Kohl'Tass Paragon's claw attacks increase to 1d4 damage each


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

I agree with low-to-moderate level for important NPCs (especially in Eyros, with its high king turnover, the monarch could be low-level indeed), but at the risk of sounding obvious, I think we do want high level for high level NPCs.  For instance, Felra would probably be low-level, but Alivia would be high level, even though Felra is a contender for the crown and Alivia is a child-minded slave.  The Eberronish idea of keeping high-level locals at mid-levels, which has the intent of making the PCs special, has the annoying side-effect of making the PCs cocky and making the (in my opinion) best battles, which are between similarly-levelled mixed groups of NPCs and PCs, seem contrived by the DM ("But I thought there are only 5 NPCs in the whole world at our level, so how did we fight 4 of them in that last battle?").


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

Oh, can anyone tell me how to make my class description align properly? I've tried a few times unsuccessfully. Thanks!


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## Andor (Feb 28, 2005)

I hadn't thought of the Kohl'Tass as really a level 1 available PC race, that kinda takes away the sense of semi-divinety and mystery. As an alternative Stock Lizardmen form the true Kohl'Tass and the above race and/or kobalds form a PC available Lesser Kohl'Tass race.

Of course this has the odd side effect of making Lesser Kohl'Tass more skillfull as druid then True Kohl'Tass, to fix this I suggest he following campain rule as a modification to the default rules in the monster manual/savage species: For species with more than one racial hit dice, A races skill list for monster level consist of the skills listed in it's description in the monster manual AND the skill list of it's favored class. Skill points are equal to the higher of it's monster type or it's favored class.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

Andor said:
			
		

> I hadn't thought of the Kohl'Tass as really a level 1 available PC race, that kinda takes away the sense of semi-divinety and mystery. As an alternative Stock Lizardmen form the true Kohl'Tass and the above race and/or kobalds form a PC available Lesser Kohl'Tass race.
> 
> Of course this has the odd side effect of making Lesser Kohl'Tass more skillfull as druid then True Kohl'Tass, to fix this I suggest he following campain rule as a modification to the default rules in the monster manual/savage species: For species with more than one racial hit dice, A races skill list for monster level consist of the skills listed in it's description in the monster manual AND the skill list of it's favored class. Skill points are equal to the higher of it's monster type or it's favored class.



 Or maybe the Elder Kohl'Tass have full levels in my racial paragon class (note that this will make them statistically nearly identical to full lizardmen while aiding their druidic nature and staying balanced, in my opinion).  Or possibly, the Elder Kohl'Tass have access to Paragon levels beyond 5th (when I get the time to make them).


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## Andor (Feb 28, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Or maybe the Elder Kohl'Tass have full levels in my racial paragon class (note that this will make them statistically nearly identical to full lizardmen while aiding their druidic nature and staying balanced, in my opinion).  Or possibly, the Elder Kohl'Tass have access to Paragon levels beyond 5th (when I get the time to make them).




Well, my thought was that in a realm of Reptile worshippers the Lizardmen are reguarded as semi-divine, especially since they are the primary holders of the druidic tradition and we've got lots of plot points that make druids important. So therefore a first level Kohl'tass druid PC would weild social power vastly beyond their actual power and in any city game would completely overshadow the rest of the party in terms of influence. If a first level True Kohl'Tass druid is a 5th level character then the rest of the party are already a force to be reckoned with and the Kohl'Tass won't so completly overshadow the rest of the table socially. 

It's not that I don't like your race or Paragon levels, I'm just forseeing trouble if the Kohl'Tass are too easily aquired as a PC race. Lizardmen with 2 racial hitdice and a +2 LA are not so easily aquired.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

Andor said:
			
		

> Well, my thought was that in a realm of Reptile worshippers the Lizardmen are reguarded as semi-divine, especially since they are the primary holders of the druidic tradition and we've got lots of plot points that make druids important. So therefore a first level Kohl'tass druid PC would weild social power vastly beyond their actual power and in any city game would completely overshadow the rest of the party in terms of influence. If a first level True Kohl'Tass druid is a 5th level character then the rest of the party are already a force to be reckoned with and the Kohl'Tass won't so completly overshadow the rest of the table socially.
> 
> It's not that I don't like your race or Paragon levels, I'm just forseeing trouble if the Kohl'Tass are too easily aquired as a PC race. Lizardmen with 2 racial hitdice and a +2 LA are not so easily aquired.



I completely understand where you're coming from, since I was going completely opposite direction here (I was trying to make the Kohl'Tass more accessible). Also, the 1st-level Kohl'Tass druid entering Eyros would be a cool roleplaying opportunity, in my opinion. The difficulties imposed by their outsider status would be cancelled out by the benefits of their high regard (they might have offers for hire as a horticulturist from big aristocratic families, but they would still have trouble fitting in), and they would have to have a good roleplaying reason to leave their lands to begin with. In my mind, this is an excellent way to have a low-level campaign where the PCs can matter, but ultimately it should of course be left up to DM taste whether or not to allow 1st-level Kohl'Tass as PCs.  Oh, and lizardmen have a level adjustment of +1 and two racial hit dice, but going that route makes them bad at being druids, as you noted before (there's really no easy answer except fiating the Kohl'Tass as NPC-only, but I'd like to leave a druidic race open to PC selection, if rare).


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

I submit to you, Typical NPC Cavalry Captain.

Aristocrat 1/ Warrior 4
Medium Humanoid (Human)

Hit dice 5d8+5 (25 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft in breastplate; base speed 30 ft
Armor Class: 17 (+5 breastplate, +2 heavy wooden shield) Touch 10, Flatfooted 17
BAB/Grapple: +4/+5
Attacks: Lance +6 melee (1d8+1/x3 (doubled from a charging mount)) or Javelin +4 ranged (1d6) or Short Sword +5 melee (1d6+1/19-20)
Space/reach: 5ft/10ft(with lance)
Saves: Fort 4 Will 4 Ref 1
Attributes: Str 13 Dex 10 Con 12 Int 13 Wis 12 Cha 10
Skills: Bluff +4 Diplomacy +4 Handle Animal +8 Listen +4 Ride +8 Sense Motive +4 Speak Language +4 Spot +4
Feats: Weapon Focus (Lance), Mounted Combat, Ride By attack
Environment: Any
Organization: Individual, Squad (+4 3rd level Troops)
CR: 4
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Any, though chaotic is rare
Advancement: By Character Class

Often found commanding a squad of other lancers, the captain is found patrolling the roads and borders of the kingdom. He can speak both Vulgar and High Eyros, and occasionally, another language as well.

The favored combat tactic is to harry the enemy with Javelins at range, using the greater speed of the mount to stay out of melee range. If that is not feasible, or after the enemy is distracted and already hurting, the squad will perform a devestating charge against an enemy.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

Nice NPC!  I like how you incorporated the use of cavalry and ranged combat from the early descriptions.  I can imagine a javelin-wielding, Romanesque-breastplate-wearing, deinonychus-riding captain here.


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Nice NPC! I like how you incorporated the use of cavalry and ranged combat from the early descriptions. I can imagine a javelin-wielding, Romanesque-breastplate-wearing, deinonychus-riding captain here.



Thanks! And nice idea about the lizard riding soldiers. I was thinking of them riding normal horses, but that idea is both more keeping in tune with the world, and just plain cooler. They'd need exotic saddles, but that's really no problem. In that world, an exotic saddle is probably the standard one, anyways.

While I'm at it, a Typical NPC Cavalryman.

Warrior 3
Medium Humanoid (Human)

Hit dice 3d8+3 (15 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft in breastplate; base speed 30 ft
Armor Class: 17 (+5 breastplate, +2 heavy wooden shield) Touch 10, Flatfooted 17
BAB/Grapple: +3/+4
Attacks: Lance +4 melee (1d8+1/x3 (doubled from a charging mount)) or Javelin +3 ranged (1d6) or Short Sword +4 melee (1d6+1/19-20)
Space/reach: 5ft/10ft(with lance)
Saves: Fort 4 Will 1 Ref 1
Attributes: Str 13 Dex 10 Con 12 Int 13 Wis 11 Cha 10
Skills: Handle Animal +6 Intimidate +6 Ride +6 Spot +3 
Feats: Mounted Combat, Ride By attack
Environment: Any
Organization: Squad (4 +1 5th level Captain)
CR: 2
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Any, though chaotic is rare
Advancement: By Character Class


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

Heh, the lizard-riders weren't my idea at all, I'm taking them directly out of the Eyros Campaign Setting thread, which states that the cavalrymen use dinosaurs instead of horses ^^


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Heh, the lizard-riders weren't my idea at all, I'm taking them directly out of the Eyros Campaign Setting thread, which states that the cavalrymen use dinosaurs instead of horses ^^



Oops.  I obviously must have missed that part.  There's already so much stuff.  Luckily, it works out fine anyways, nothing in the write up is mount dependant.


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## Andor (Feb 28, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> I completely understand where you're coming from, since I was going completely opposite direction here (I was trying to make the Kohl'Tass more accessible). Also, the 1st-level Kohl'Tass druid entering Eyros would be a cool roleplaying opportunity, in my opinion. The difficulties imposed by their outsider status would be cancelled out by the benefits of their high regard (they might have offers for hire as a horticulturist from big aristocratic families, but they would still have trouble fitting in), and they would have to have a good roleplaying reason to leave their lands to begin with. In my mind, this is an excellent way to have a low-level campaign where the PCs can matter, but ultimately it should of course be left up to DM taste whether or not to allow 1st-level Kohl'Tass as PCs.  Oh, and lizardmen have a level adjustment of +1 and two racial hit dice, but going that route makes them bad at being druids, as you noted before (there's really no easy answer except fiating the Kohl'Tass as NPC-only, but I'd like to leave a druidic race open to PC selection, if rare).




OK, I see where you're going. Sounds like the kind of pro/con discussion that goes in a sidebar of a GM section of a world book. Someboby take note in case this ever gets put together and published. 

+1 LA indeed, that's what I get for not looking it up before I post. 

As far as the slow advancment of Lizardmen druids we only need to make a small campaign specific change to make Elder True Kohl'Tass Druids truly and utterly terrifying. To wit: If a dead True Kohl'Tass is brought back their ancestral hatching ground before they are reincarnated then they will always reincarnate as True Kohl'Tass. The big trick is this, Reincarnation is the only 'bring them back from death' spell that resets the age clock. IE: A druid can live forever if they keep getting reincarnated. So a druid only has to make two levels in each lifetime to keep advancing down the ages. Plus reincarnated creatures keep their old mental stats, and can keep accumulating Age bonuses from each life.... 

Probably we should limit this to a small ruling druidic council of somewhere between 10 and 50 True Koh'Tass but those are probably, as individuals, the most powerfull beings on the planet except possibly for Alivia and a few of her ilk.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

Andor said:
			
		

> OK, I see where you're going. Sounds like the kind of pro/con discussion that goes in a sidebar of a GM section of a world book. Someboby take note in case this ever gets put together and published.
> 
> +1 LA indeed, that's what I get for not looking it up before I post.
> 
> ...



 Heh, that's a nice idea that should go in the other thread!  Its also similar to what I have Thanatos doing in my latest post, only a lot less evil and appropriately nature-themed.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

*Typical Praes Thanatos Enforcer*

Typical Praes Thanatos Enforcer; Male or Female Gnome Wizard 3; CR 3; Small Humanoid (Gnome); HD 3d4+6; hp 22 (14 + 8 temporary); Init +0; Spd: 20 ft; 
AC: 15 (+4 mage armour, +1 size) Touch 11, Flatfooted 14; BAB/Grapple: +1/-4; Attacks: Small Quarterstaff +1 1d4-1 damage or Ray +2; Space/reach: 5ft/5ft; SA --; SQ gnome traits; Alignment: Any, though good and chaotic are rare; Saves: Fort +4 Will +5 Ref +4; Str 8 Dex 11 Con 15 Int 15 Wis 12 Cha 8; 
Skills: Concentration +8, Knowledge [arcana] +8, Knowledge [various] +8, Spellcraft +8, 
Feats: Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus [Necromancy], Greater Spell Focus [Necromancy]
Gnome Traits: see PH and my post for the modifications

Wizard Spells Prepared (5/4/3; save DC 12 + spell level (or 15 + spell level for Necromancy)): 0-Detect Magic, Message, Mage Hand, Disrupt Undead, Dancing Lights; 1-Mage Armour (cast), Ray of Enfeeblement, Shield, Magic Missile; 2-False Life (cast), Rope Trick, Scare

Spellbook: 0-all cantrips save those of Illusion and Enchantment; 1-Shield, Mage Armour, Magic Missile, Chill Touch, Ray of Enfeeblement, Reduce Person, Detect Undead; 2-Spectral Hand, Command Undead, False Life, Rope Trick, Scare

Possessions: Praes Thanatos Initiate's Cloak (a +1 Cloak of Resistance presented to upstanding Praes Thanatos members of 2nd-level and above, as the member gains rank, it is upgraded through magic to gain more potent dweamours), Wand of Chill Touch, Scroll of Fireball;

Weasel Familiar abilities: +2 to Master's Reflex saves, Master gains Alertness, Improved Evasion, Share Spells, Empathic Link, Deliver Touch Spells 

Tactics: If given time to prepare, the Praes Thanatos Enforcer casts Shield. On the first round of combat, the Enforcer attempts to eliminate as many opponents as possible with a DC 17 Scare and then strikes the most dangerous melee combatant with a Ray of Enfeeblement. If the battle is going well, the Enforcer can follow through with Magic Missile, and if necessary, Rope Trick provides a convenient escape.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

*Typical Mask*

Typical Mask; Male or Female Elf Wizard 5; CR 5; Medium Humanoid (Elf); HD 5d4; hp 13; Init +2; Spd: 30 ft; AC: 12 (+2 Dex) Touch 11, Flatfooted 10; BAB/Grapple: +2/+1; Attacks: Fists +1 melee 1d3-1 damage, or Ray +4 ranged; Space/reach: 5ft/5ft; SA --; SQ Elf traits, Mask traits; Alignment: Any; Saves: Fort +4 Will +5 Ref +4; Str 8 Dex 13 Con 10 Int 18 Wis 8 Cha 10; 

Skills: Craft [various] +12, Concentration +9, Knowledge [arcana] +12, Knowledge [various] +12, Knowledge [History] +6, Spellcraft +12 

Feats: Scribe Scroll, Craft Wondrous Item or Brew Potion, Craft Wand or Craft Magic Arms and Armour

Elf Traits: see PH

Mask Traits: Childlike Eternity- Due to the power of the elven magic that controls the Masks, they appear as young adults (20 in human terms or 147 in elven) until their death and maintain personalities of small children; Orcbound- The Mask is bound to the service of a particular Pillar, or of the current ruler's family.  The Mask devotedly serves her masters without fail, protecting them to the best of her ability.

Wizard Spells Prepared (4/4/3/3; save DC 14 + spell level): 0-Mending, Message, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation; 1-Tenser's Floating Disk, Unseen Servant, Enlarge Person, Summon Monster I; 2-Locate Object, Bull's Strength, Bear's Endurance; 3-Fly, Haste, Dispel Magic

Spells Known: Most Masks have had plenty of time to spend learning new spells, and the Pillars try to make sure that they know all useful spells from the PH of a level that they can cast

Possessions: Collar of Servitude (this stylish, begemmed collar allows the Mask to receive instructions from her master wearing a matched bracelet from a distance)

Tactics: If confronted with combat alone, a Mask is likely to begin crying and attempt to retreat to her master.  If commanded to fight, she protects her master to the death to the best of her ability, often by casting augmentations on her master or summoning reinforcements.

*Masks use the Racial Substitution Level presented in RotW to gain an additional 3rd-level spell slot*


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

Do we want to have the Masks and other magic using types Wizards, or Adepts? I'd suggest Adepts, to keep the rank and file everybody with NPC classes, and reserve PC classes for the really powerful/important ones. But that's just me. Adept is less powerful, and might not be powerful enough.

That said, Typical NPC Foot Soldier

Warrior 1
Medium Humanoid (Half-Orc)

Hit dice 1d8+1 (5 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 20 ft in scalemail; base speed 30 ft
Armor Class: 18 (+4 scalemail +4 Tower Sheild) Touch 10, Flatfooted 18
BAB/Grapple: +1/+3
Attacks: Longspear +2 melee (1d8+2/x3) or Short Sword +1 melee (1d6+2/19-20)
Space/reach: 5ft/10ft(with spear)
Saves: Fort 2 Will -1 Ref 0
Attributes: Str 15 Dex 10 Con 12 Int 9 Wis 8 Cha 10
Skills: Intimidate +4
Feats: Weapon Focus (Longspear)
Environment: Any
Organization: Squad (10 +1 3rd level sergeant) or Century (100+ 10 3rd level sergeants + 1 4th level Aide +1 5th level Centurion)
CR: 1/2
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Any, though chaotic is rare
Advancement: By Character Class

Orc Traits: Orc blood; Darkvision: 60 feet.

A foot soldier never goes into battle with less than a squad with him, to take advantage of the cover provided by the massive tower sheild.  Ideally, the tactic is to stand fast, and create an armored wall with the spears as spikes, for the enemy to throw themselves against.  If the enemy is understandably reluctant to engage, the strong discipline of the army lets them run towards the enemy while keeping formation, like a massive metal and wood juggernaught, that would slam into the enemy forces, with devestating effect.

In the presence of archers or other ranged weapons, the standard tactic is to crouch down, with the rank in front holding their sheilds foward, and all the ranks behind raising their sheilds above their heads, like an overlapping roof, to protect against arrows and stones.

When seperated from the squad, or if the enemy has managed to make its way among the unit, the spears are dropped in favor of the short swords, which are more effective in close range.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

New Feat: 

Scion of the Six Pillars
Prerequisites: Race- Half-orc, Heritage- Must be the offspring of two pureblooded members of the Eyrian pillars, one human and one orc
Benefit: When dealing with other Eyrians, you gain a +3 circumstance bonus to Charisma based skill checks.  This bonus applies to Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, and Perform
Normal: You are worse at these skills than everyone else because you are a half-orc, even though it goes against the flavour of Eyros


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

I thought that we decided to move the cha penalty to wisdom, so that half orcs were still capable and likable rulers.  That's what I did for the half orc foot soldier above.

A +1 or +2 bonus would still work as shown by education and prestige attached to your name/names.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> I thought that we decided to move the cha penalty to wisdom, so that half orcs were still capable and likable rulers.  That's what I did for the half orc foot soldier above.
> 
> A +1 or +2 bonus would still work as shown by education and prestige attached to your name/names.



 Ah, I remember suggesting that, but I wasn't sure if people would bite.  I think that this new fix may be more beneficial to the poor half-orcs as a whole (since at least now they don't also have to contend with lowered Will saves to compound their stat trouble; let's face it, the half-orc race got the short end of the stick; the half-orc was waiting around for a present from Prometheus when he ran out of stuff and gave fire to humans, leaving the half-orc out in the rain and cold alone), but if we play with - to Wisdom rather than Charisma, the bonus from the new feat should be reduced to +2 (the +3 was only meant to counteract the -1 from lower Charisma).  It also adds the flavourful roleplaying point that outsiders will still regard the half-orc as barbaric (thanks to -2 Charisma) despite the greater fame within Eyrian borders.  That said, your half-orc foot soldiers work fine either way, since they might have simply put an 8 in Wisdom and a 12 in Charisma, rather than two 10s.


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

Well, I'll leave the stat block as is. Like you said, it can work either way.  But eventually, we should decide on what way to go with it, just to clear up any sort of confusion.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Well, I'll leave the stat block as is. Like you said, it can work either way.  But eventually, we should decide on what way to go with it, just to clear up any sort of confusion.



 Yeah, I agree.  The question is: Are there going to be enough half-orc bards that the mechanical advantage of having high charisma for a bard (because the feat doesn't fix the DCs and Bonus Spells for them) outweighs the penalty of low wisdom for everyone else.  Then again, by leaivng the penalty restricting the feat to the highborn half-orcs, we do create the nice effect that those barbarous half-orc barbarians on the border, unable to take the feat, have the low charisma.  We can also take the extreme tact of considering the Strength bonus to be balanced by the Int penalty in the cultural case of Eyros, since Eyrian half-orcs are far less-likely to simply forget their mental stats to make some kind of uber-berserker, so we have a situational case where we can bend the rules.


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

Don't forget though, that you don't need to just be a bard to need a highish charisma.    After all, the half-orc are going to be rulers as well.  Not just the King, but there's got to be plenty of half orc scions hanging around, in administrative functions, governors of outlying territories on behalf of their house, and such.  Cha is necessary for Diplomacy and Bluff, both very needed for a diplomat/ruler.

I'm thinking we should maybe just drop the Cha penalty.  Like you said, in this setting, a raging half orc unlikable barbarian doesn't make much sense, considering they're about as cosmopolitan as you can get.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

In reference to your first point, I agree that the leaders need good charisma skills, that's what my feat does: gives them back the edge on the Charisma-based skills without actually raising Charisma (that's why only the bards would suffer, as the highborn would effectively regain the Charisma for their skills but not for bard magic).  For the latter, I do agree, but I'm still pondering balance issues...here's a possibility, in fitting with the WotC view on half-orcs that as long as there are plenty of penalties, its OK if the penalties all go somewhere that can be ignored: building on the point in the other thread that the half-orcs are poor spellcasters: replace the -2 Charisma with the following- Spellcasting Impotence (Ex): Eyrian half-orcs suffer from a genetic mutation caused by the antimagic protections used by their ancestors against the elves long ago.  Treat their base spellcasting stat as 2 lower for purposes of determining bonus spells and DCs.


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## Mouseferatu (Feb 28, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> In reference to your first point, I agree that the leaders need good charisma skills, that's what my feat does: gives them back the edge on the Charisma-based skills without actually raising Charisma (that's why only the bards would suffer, as the highborn would effectively regain the Charisma for their skills but not for bard magic).  For the latter, I do agree, but I'm still pondering balance issues...here's a possibility, in fitting with the WotC view on half-orcs that as long as there are plenty of penalties, its OK if the penalties all go somewhere that can be ignored: building on the point in the other thread that the half-orcs are poor spellcasters: replace the -2 Charisma with the following- Spellcasting Impotence (Ex): Eyrian half-orcs suffer from a genetic mutation caused by the antimagic protections used by their ancestors against the elves long ago.  Treat their base spellcasting stat as 2 lower for purposes of determining bonus spells and DCs.




How about this, since we've greatly altered the nature of half-orcs in this setting, and they have to serve multiple purposes:

Half-Orc Ability Adjustments: All half-orc characters must have a total of a -4 penalty, taken from two of the three mental abilities. Upon character creation, the player may choose whether he suffers penalties to Intelligence and Wisdom, Intelligence and Charisma, or Wisdom and Charisma.

I like choice, and given the various ways half-orcs are bred in Eyros, it makes sense they wouldn't all have the same traits, IMO.


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

I think either of those could work.

The ability adjustment seems a bit like we're getting away from DnD more than we wanted.  But I really like the spell casting impotence.  Especially for Bards, because the majority of what makes a bard effective is based on his charisma, but isn't actually a spell, just a different way of using music.

And what do we want to do with full Orcs?  I don't think we've seen any of them as mentioned NPCs, but they're obviously going to be about half of the ruling class.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

I like the idea of giving them a choice, and I think this could work well combined with the Scion of the Six Pillars feat at full +3.  Then I thought of an even cooler idea: Since the mental stat penalties clearly come from the orc side (what with the humans having no modifiers and all) we can make the mental stat that doesn't fall dependant on the orc Pillar that the half-orc belongs to (House Vajar could be good at Charisma, since they have a lot of leaders, or Int because hobgoblins have -Wis and -Cha but not an Int penalty).


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> I like the idea of giving them a choice, and I think this could work well combined with the Scion of the Six Pillars feat at full +3. Then I thought of an even cooler idea: Since the mental stat penalties clearly come from the orc side (what with the humans having no modifiers and all) we can make the mental stat that doesn't fall dependant on the orc Pillar that the half-orc belongs to (House Vajar could be good at Charisma, since they have a lot of leaders, or Int because hobgoblins have -Wis and -Cha but not an Int penalty).



Now _that's_ a good idea.  Among other things, it makes the families different.  You pick your family background, and that determines your stat penalties.


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## Mouseferatu (Feb 28, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Now _that's_ a good idea.  Among other things, it makes the families different.  You pick your family background, and that determines your stat penalties.




Works for me, too.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

OK, I think I reached a good compromise between all of these approaches and domino's well-taken point that orcs are thrown into the mix. Orcs normally have -2 to all three mental stats, and half-orcs only two. If we make the Orcs have -2 to two mental stats of their choice, as per Mouseferatu's suggestion for half-orcs, then the Half-Orcs have -2 to one mental stat of their choice, and we stick them all with Spellcasting Impotence, so that if they put their newly relieved stat into Charisma, they still keep with the flavour of weak at directly casting spells. Also, since our orcs basically turn all the tenets of orcdom upside-down (read the society description for chuckles to see that we have directly opposed pretty-much everything there, which is a good thing in my book) our orcs have cultured gardens and the like, so they probably don't have Light Sensitivity, so I eliminated Darkvision and Light Sensitivity from both races (we need more than two races without Darkvision anyway to make the game more interesting!). Thanks to this set-up, we may see NPC half-orc bards who are unable to cast spells due to Spellcasting Impotence, which in my opinion makes for a better aristocratic character or officer than the Aristocrat class (rally the troops with inspiring oratory, but can't fight as well as a front-liner). 

This is still open to my changing it, since the Orc and half-orc definitions here are so crucial to Eyros, just taking a stab: 

Eyrian Orc Traits:
--+4 Strength, -2 to any two of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma
--An Eyrian orc's base land speed is 30 feet
--Spellcasting Impotence (Ex): Eyrian orcs suffer from a genetic mutation caused by the antimagic protections used by their ancestors against the elves long ago. Treat their base spellcasting stat as 2 lower for purposes of determining bonus spells and DCs.
--Automatic Languages: Vulgar Eyrian; Bonus Languages: High Eyrian, Orc, Human, Elven, Gnome
--Favoured Class: Fighter

Eyrian Half-Orc Traits:
--+2 Strength, -2 to any one of Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma
--An Eyrian orc's base land speed is 30 feet
--Spellcasting Impotence (Ex): Eyrian half-orcs suffer from a genetic mutation caused by the antimagic protections used by their ancestors against the elves long ago. Treat their base spellcasting stat as 2 lower for purposes of determining bonus spells and DCs.
--Automatic Languages: Vulgar Eyrian; Bonus Languages: High Eyrian, Orc, Human, Elven, Gnome
--Favoured Class: Bard


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

Those look great.  I've got a big mad on for favored classes, but that's not a big issue.  One question though.  Why did you give them Dwarven as a bonus language when it's a forbidden language, that is punishable by either death or cutting out of one's tounge (I forget which.)


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

Houses and their corresponding mental stats:

I'm reserving this space underneath my orcish write-up for when we have a more complete picture of the houses.  Here's what we know so far:

House Zhal: Orc Member stats ?, Half-Orc Member stats ?
House Vajar: Orc Member stats ?, Half-Orc Member stats ?
House Taljik: Is it Orc?  Is it Human?  Nobody knows until someone describes it or the sixth Pillar, since we have five right now.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

Whoops, I gave them Dwarven as a Bonus Language because I, idiot that I am, forgot to edit it off the list from the Monster Manual.   Me: "Uh, me know there be dwarves here, so not think about it more."  Consider it fixed.  I also take issue with the favoured class thing in many situations, but its best to have one for people who do use them.


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Whoops, I gave them Dwarven as a Bonus Language because I, idiot that I am, forgot to edit it off the list from the Monster Manual. Consider it fixed. I also take issue with the favoured class thing in many situations, but its best to have one for people who do use them.



Fair enough.

Now, I was thinking of doing stuff other than NPCs for a bit. Like specific magic items, or artifacts like crown jewels, weapons of legendary heros of legend, stuff like that.

As we have only had one object of importance mentioned, I submit;

The Amethyst Crown of Eyros.

This crown is the symbol of authority for the King of Eyros. It is carved from a single piece of Amethyst crystal, shaped like a circlet with squared spikes or horns rising around the circle, with the middle spike slightly larger than the others. It is mostly colored a dark violet, but with veins of clear crystal throughout it.

As it is to be worn by many different people, but is fixed at a single size, it is mounted onto a metal helm or cap, which is then fitted to the size and shape of the head of the ruler.

It can only be worn by an Orc or Half-Orc, or someone with Orc blood. Any non-Orc attempting to wear the crown immediately takes 10d6 points of damage once a round, until the crown is removed. This damage is considered to be magic for the purposes of Damage Reduction.

As a means of continuing the dominance over the Elvish population of Eyros, drains the life force of the King.  It ages the king at triple the normal rate.  Thus, a typical young adult King would become middle aged after only 5 years, old after 10 years, and venerable after only 15 years on the throne.  If he does not abdicate at that point, he would most likely die within 5 to 10 years after that.  Upon abdication, he continues to age at a normal rate.


In addition, when the crown is being worn, the wearer gains a +10 (or more? less?) competence bonus to all Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks he makes.

Finally, the crown allows the wearer the following abilities.

Charm person, at will. Suggestion, Mass 3/day, and Command, Greater1/day.

Any suggestions? Some sort of offensive or defensive use as well, in case the guards have failed maybe?


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## Breakstone (Feb 28, 2005)

What do you think of something like this:



*Red Clothing*: Clothes of red cloth cost double in Eyros. A character wearing predominantly red clothing gains a +1 bonus to diplomacy, intimidate, and gather information checks when in cities aligned with the Dominion of Eyros.

*Copper Stain*: Copper Stain stains a character's skin green for 1d4 days. It is often painted onto the skin in intricate designs. A character donned with Copper Stain gains a +1 bonus to diplomacy, intimidate, and gather information checks when in cities aligned with the Dominion of Eyros


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

The clothing and dye with circumstance bonuses are a nice reflection of what we know of Eyrian fashion.  

As for the crown, I'm fairly sure I said it ages the wearer, but I might have just said that it drains lifeforce; I had imagined it triples the aging process for the wearer, so a young-adult 15-year-old king who refuses to abdicate after a period of 15 years has been rendered Venerable, whereas he would otherwise have barely entered Middle Age.  I also hadn't intended for it to have invocable powers on the wearer's behalf, as I figured Thanatos and the gnomes would want to keep themselves invaluable (the charm and suggestion aren't really so much of a problem as the Dominate, see below).  That said, if we use the ability damage, emperors have to abdicate *very* quickly or risk becoming totally enfeebled.  Also, the dominate power of the crown, which lasts 1 day/level (and the caster level would probably be rather high) would create a powerful force in and of itself in guaranteeing slavish servants to the emperor (assuming noone made their save, the emperor could effectively keep X enslaved servants, where X equals the item's caster level).  For the flavour, if not the power, of Dominate, you could replace it with the weaker and perhaps more appropriate Command (I can see the emperor using the "Kneel" Command on unruly subjects).  Also, for consistency change the Insight bonuses to skills into Competence bonuses to prevent them from stacking with bonuses from other magic items (which are Competence)


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> As for the crown, I'm fairly sure I said it ages the wearer, but I might have just said that it drains lifeforce; I had imagined it triples the aging process for the wearer, so a young-adult 15-year-old king who refuses to abdicate after a period of 15 years has been rendered Venerable, whereas he would otherwise have barely entered Middle Age.



Fair enough.  I actually thought about doing the triple age process, but I couldn't think of any way to work it mechanics.  But now I have an idea.

And I'll switch out or eliminate the dominate.  I didn't realize how long it would last.  I was thinking it more as a way to forcibly bring a disruly cortier to hell, or something similar.  The suggestion is used for things like clearing out the court of people who might otherwise want to try to find a way to eavesdrop or bother the king.

And I'll switch the insight to competence bonuses.  Is 10 appropriate, or should I make them 15 or 20 maybe?


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

10 is a good number for the high-end skill bonuses.  Command could bring a disruly courtier to heel, at least for a single round.


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## domino (Feb 28, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> 10 is a good number for the high-end skill bonuses. Command could bring a disruly courtier to heel, at least for a single round.



I used Greater Command, which would last for several rounds, instead.


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> I used Greater Command, which would last for several rounds, instead.



 Makes sense; I never noticed that spell lying around.


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## Mark Causey (Feb 28, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Oh, can anyone tell me how to make my class description align properly? I've tried a few times unsuccessfully. Thanks!




Take everything you want to have line up in a program like notepad that will put things in a text only format, this will let things line up. Then cut and paste into a code tag. Like this:


```
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special                                   Spells per Day
1st   +0   +0   +0  +2   Wild Synergy, Skill Bonus, +1 to Con      --
2nd   +1   +0   +0  +3   +1 to Nat. Arm., +1 to Dex                +1 to level of Druid
3rd   +2   +1   +1  +3   +1 to Nat. Arm., +1 to Str, Imp. Bite     --
4th   +3   +1   +1  +4   +1 to Con and Dex, Claw Attacks           +1 to level of Druid
5th   +3   +1   +1  +4   +1 Str, +1 Nat. Arm, Imp Claws            +1 to level of Druid
```


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## Rystil Arden (Feb 28, 2005)

adamantineangel said:
			
		

> Take everything you want to have line up in a program like notepad that will put things in a text only format, this will let things line up. Then cut and paste into a code tag. Like this:
> 
> 
> ```
> ...



 Thanks for that!  I replaced the incomprehensible gibberish I had before (Well, maybe not so incomprehensible, since you figured out hat it was supposed to say)


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## Arkhandus (Mar 1, 2005)

.....I don't so much like the added Spellcasting Impotence part for orcs and half-orcs.  They shouldn't necessarily be weak spellcasters, and it especially doesn't make much sense to limit their divine spellcasting power.  I would say give orcs and half-orcs their usual mental ability penalties, but moved around a bit based on House.  I.E. half-orcs of House Zhal suffer -2 to Wisdom and Charisma perhaps, since they control the far northern industrial province of Zhalccu, based primarily in the city of Mhur, leading them to be more inclined to developing crafts and such.  House Vajar for instance might then produce half-orcs with -2 on Intelligence and Wisdom as they are a dominant ruling House, keen on political maneuvering moreso than wise rule.

Then make a Scion of the Orc-Blooded Pillars feat available for Eyrian orcs and half-orcs, which reduces one of their racial ability penalties to help balance the orcish and half-orcish weaknesses compared to humans and other common races.  Of course Eyrian orc-bloods don't need to take the feat, but those who want to be more balanced and more capable at social or magic-using situations can take it.  It's more powerful than a standard feat, but considering that it only slightly reduces or negates a racial penalty to a mental stat, and that orcs and half-orcs are kinda disadvantaged, I think it's fair.  Also, I'm adding another potential feat for members of any Pillar.

SCION OF THE ORC-BLOODED PILLARS (General)
You are one of the orc-blooded nobility in the Sovereign Dominion of Eyros, more socially and mentally adept than orcish folk outside the Dominion.  Generations of noble rule and education have civilized your race's natural crudeness.
*Prerequisites:* Must be an Eyrian, must have been born into an orc-blooded Pillar of Eyros, if half-orc must have been born to a human parent and an orc parent
*Benefit:* Reduce one of your racial penalties to either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma by 2 points, but apply this change as though it were a natural racial quality rather than a feat.
*Special:* You can only take this feat as a 1st-level character.

NOBLE OF THE SIX PILLARS (General)
You were born into the Six Pillars of nobility, family Houses in the Sovereign Dominion of Eyros, and over time you have developed some courtly aptitude from this noble upbringing.  You may be a soldier or an advisor, a royal heir or a priest of the Draconic Legacy, you are nonetheless an Eyrian noble and have learned to deal with the necessity of courtly matters.
*Prerequisites:* Must be Eyrian, must have been born into one of the the Pillars of Eyros
*Benefits:* Choose two skills from amongst Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, Perform, and Sense Motive.  The chosen skills permanently count as class skills for you, with all classes and hit dice you gain henceforth, but this does not change any skill point expenditures prior to the level you gain this feat.  In addition, you gain +1 on checks with the chosen skills.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 1, 2005)

Arkhandus said:
			
		

> .....I don't so much like the added Spellcasting Impotence part for orcs and half-orcs.  They shouldn't necessarily be weak spellcasters, and it especially doesn't make much sense to limit their divine spellcasting power.  I would say give orcs and half-orcs their usual mental ability penalties, but moved around a bit based on House.  I.E. half-orcs of House Zhal suffer -2 to Wisdom and Charisma perhaps, since they control the far northern industrial province of Zhalccu, based primarily in the city of Mhur, leading them to be more inclined to developing crafts and such.  House Vajar for instance might then produce half-orcs with -2 on Intelligence and Wisdom as they are a dominant ruling House, keen on political maneuvering moreso than wise rule.
> 
> Then make a Scion of the Orc-Blooded Pillars feat available for Eyrian orcs and half-orcs, which reduces one of their racial ability penalties to help balance the orcish and half-orcish weaknesses compared to humans and other common races.  Of course Eyrian orc-bloods don't need to take the feat, but those who want to be more balanced and more capable at social or magic-using situations can take it.  It's more powerful than a standard feat, but considering that it only slightly reduces or negates a racial penalty to a mental stat, and that orcs and half-orcs are kinda disadvantaged, I think it's fair.  Also, I'm adding another potential feat for members of any Pillar.
> 
> ...



 Actually, I think orcs aren't really so underpowered because they get +4 Strength for -2 to all mental stats, and are still only ECL 1/2 like half-orcs.  The half-orcs have it much worse.

The thing is, it says in the other thread that they *are* weak spellcasters, but I understand and respect your point, as I was somewhat leery of the idea myself at first.  Coincidentally, if you allow the orc-blooded to take the Spellcasting Prodigy feat to recover from this, then a half-orc or orc under my definition who took this feat would become identical to one who took your Scion of the Orc-Blooded Pillars feat, which I think is interesting, and shows that in some sense, we are on the same wavlength about where the races should be, after a single corrective feat (also if you do this, it means less orc-blooded will be forced to spend their precious 1st-level feat to correct their racial problems, only the spellcasters will, leaving room for other cool feats like your Noble of the Six Pillars [which is probably balanced with the powerful Cosmopolitan 3.0, since it adds two skills to your class instead of one, but they are from a limited list; nonetheless, I'm tempted to limit this ability to maybe one of the six pillars, see below]).  I'm also thinking of making a Scion of House X feat for each house (perhaps Scion of House Malarn would let their members, regardless of race since Malarn is diverse, would gain the humanlike benefit of 1 additional skill point per level at each level to represent Malarn's diversity).


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## domino (Mar 1, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> I'm also thinking of making a Scion of House X feat for each house (perhaps Scion of House Malarn would let their members, regardless of race since Malarn is diverse, would gain the humanlike benefit of 1 additional skill point per level at each level to represent Malarn's diversity).



Scions of each house would definitely make good ideas.  Sort of like the Dragon Marks from Ebberon, maybe.

I like the Malarn one, though would that stack with the additional one for the majority of the house, being human already?  And would that be worth a feat?  Maybe for house Vajar, they could get a hobgoblin trait, to reflect their tainted bloodline.  Their racial bonus to move silently, or something.

And the feats should probably provide some uniform bonus, relating to each family.  +1 or +2 to diplomacy checks with other family members.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 1, 2005)

I was actually thinking of giving Vajar a hobgoblin trait and using that as my example rather than Malarn, but I couldn't find a good one that was worth a feat.  Also, it would stack with human, and it is comparable or better to the XPH feat that gives 4 skill points.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 1, 2005)

In retrospect, I had forgotten some mention earlier that the orc-blooded would simply be poor spellcasters.  And I forgot about Spellcasting Prodigy because I never use the feat in my games, since it's rather unbalanced in most games (i.e. warriors have no feats to boost their damage with all weapons, or attack rolls with all weapons, nor their AC against all attackers, so how come any caster can take one feat to boost all their save DCs and also gain another bonus spell per day when they're an appropriately higher level?).  In this case though it does seem that Spellcasting Prodigy would fit nicely for making orc-blooded spellcasters decent.

As for Noble of the Six Pillars, I figured it would be balanced since it's limited to only humans, orcs, and half-orcs, and only those of Eyrian nobility (effectively somewhat more limiting than the regional feats of Forgotten Realms), while inaccessable to gnomes, elves, dwarves, half-elves, halflings, foreigners, and so on.  Humans and half-orcs are already a bit shortchanged compared to elves and dwarves, so I figured it would be fine.  I thought it would help those orc nobles who have fighter as their favored class, and any other nobles who don't focus on the aristocrat, expert, rogue, or bard (the only classes that can normally have all those social skills as class skills), as well as some of the humans and half-orcs.

Anyway, I suppose ditch my idea and stick with what you had already, though maybe have Noble of the Six Pillars available if you don't decide on any appropriate feats for different Houses.  As of yet the other thread still needs to establish some more facts about the Houses to differentiate them. *shrug*


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 1, 2005)

Arkhandus said:
			
		

> In retrospect, I had forgotten some mention earlier that the orc-blooded would simply be poor spellcasters.  And I forgot about Spellcasting Prodigy because I never use the feat in my games, since it's rather unbalanced in most games (i.e. warriors have no feats to boost their damage with all weapons, or attack rolls with all weapons, nor their AC against all attackers, so how come any caster can take one feat to boost all their save DCs and also gain another bonus spell per day when they're an appropriately higher level?).  In this case though it does seem that Spellcasting Prodigy would fit nicely for making orc-blooded spellcasters decent.
> 
> As for Noble of the Six Pillars, I figured it would be balanced since it's limited to only humans, orcs, and half-orcs, and only those of Eyrian nobility (effectively somewhat more limiting than the regional feats of Forgotten Realms), while inaccessable to gnomes, elves, dwarves, half-elves, halflings, foreigners, and so on.  Humans and half-orcs are already a bit shortchanged compared to elves and dwarves, so I figured it would be fine.  I thought it would help those orc nobles who have fighter as their favored class, and any other nobles who don't focus on the aristocrat, expert, rogue, or bard (the only classes that can normally have all those social skills as class skills), as well as some of the humans and half-orcs.
> 
> Anyway, I suppose ditch my idea and stick with what you had already, though maybe have Noble of the Six Pillars available if you don't decide on any appropriate feats for different Houses.  As of yet the other thread still needs to establish some more facts about the Houses to differentiate them. *shrug*



 I agree, I'm waiting to hear more about the non-Malarn pillars, although we do know a decent bit about Vajar.  Noble of the Six Pillars is a good concept, and I totally get where you're coming from (or at least, when you posted it, I realised the intention immediately).  It probably shouldn't present a balance issue to have it remain, unless there's some obscure Prestige Class that is balanced on the fact that you can't possibly qualify by level X because it requires X Base Attack and X+3 ranks in a skill that no full-Base Attack class gets.  Oh, and I only allow Spellcasting Prodigy in my games to assuage the pain of Spell Focus going down to the unbalancedly bad +1 bonus.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 2, 2005)

Typical NPC "Claws of the Dragon" youth competitor.

Aristocrat 1/ Fighter 2
Medium Humanoid (Half-Orc)

Hit dice 1d8+2d10+0 (16 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 20 ft in breastplate; base speed 30 ft
Armor Class: 18 (+5 breastplate, +1 shield/feat, +2 Dex) Touch 12, Flatfooted 15
BAB/Grapple: +2/+4
Attacks: Masterwork Two-Bladed Sword +4/+4 melee (1d8+2/1d8+1/19-20) or Masterwork Two-Bladed Sword +6 melee (1d8+3/19-20)
Space/reach: 5ft/5ft
Special Qualities: Darkvision, orc blood
Saves: Fort +3, Will +1, Ref +2
Abilities: Str 15 Dex 15 Con 10 Int 12 Wis 8 Cha 10
Skills: Bluff +4, Diplomacy +4, Intimidate +6, Jump +6, Knowledge (Local) +5, Knowledge (Nobility & Royalty) +5, Sense Motive +3
Feats: Two-Weapon Fighting, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Two-Bladed Sword), Weapon Focus (Two-Bladed Sword), Two-Weapon Defense
Environment: Any
Organization: Individual
CR: 3
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Any
Advancement: By Character Class

This young half-orc noble has trained for several years in the Claws of the Dragon martial art, which emphasizes use of the two-bladed sword with many leaping and charging attacks.  He competes yearly in the Claws of the Dragon tournament in Eyrdeyn for the glory of his House, and of course his own personal pride.  He can speak, read, and write High Eyrosian, Vulgar Eyrosian (aka Common), and Orc.

His combat gear is of fine quality but well-used from years of training and competing, and he fights with all the guile his noble upbringing has instilled in him.  At the start of a battle he often charges the foe and delivers a two-handed overhead slash with his sword, then follows through with a brief flurry of chops from both ends of his exotic blade.  He usually falls back at this point and takes up a defensive stance to assess his opponent and how much damage he may have inflicted.  If the opponent is holding up well, he'll try intimidating them or distracting them with a feint so he can lunge with another quick strike.  Against a formidible opponent he'll just continue to fight defensively while trusting in his superior defense to outlast the opponent's, though a match in the tournament rarely goes long enough to warrant such last-ditch tactics.


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## domino (Mar 2, 2005)

I'm fairly sure that the CR for a level 3 character is a bit off.  Remember, that a CR is for a group of 4 characters at that level.  Thus, 4 level 3 characters, could effectively roll over a single level 3 character.  I'd make him CR 2 or maybe even 1.


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## Mouseferatu (Mar 2, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> I'm fairly sure that the CR for a level 3 character is a bit off.  Remember, that a CR is for a group of 4 characters at that level.  Thus, 4 level 3 characters, could effectively roll over a single level 3 character.  I'd make him CR 2 or maybe even 1.




Actually, no. A character with levels in the standard classes has a CR equal to his class level, by the rules. Thus, a 5th-level fighter is a CR 5 creature. That's why a group of 4 5th-level characters vs. a single 5th-lvel fighter should expend 1/4 of their resources--exactly as is the case with other CR 5 encounters.

_However,_ the NPC classes have a CR 1 less than their level. Thus, a 5th-level warrior is a CR 4.


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## domino (Mar 2, 2005)

Mouseferatu said:
			
		

> Actually, no. A character with levels in the standard classes has a CR equal to his class level, by the rules. Thus, a 5th-level fighter is a CR 5 creature. That's why a group of 4 5th-level characters vs. a single 5th-lvel fighter should expend 1/4 of their resources--exactly as is the case with other CR 5 encounters.
> 
> _However,_ the NPC classes have a CR 1 less than their level. Thus, a 5th-level warrior is a CR 4.



Well color me red and call me stupid.  I've been doing CR all wrong for, well, ever.

However, with Rystil Arden's newest submission, we have an idea of what to use for a House specific feat for House Mulcibe.  With their Eladrin blood, we can give them a minor eladrin trait.  Maybe cold and fire resistance 3? I figure the full 10 is way to much, and immunities to electricity or petrification is out of the question for starting PCs.


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## Andor (Mar 2, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> --Spellcasting Impotence (Ex): Eyrian orcs suffer from a genetic mutation caused by the antimagic protections used by their ancestors against the elves long ago. Treat their base spellcasting stat as 2 lower for purposes of determining bonus spells and DCs.




So if they suffer from magical impotence due to ancient magic protections, should they then not have some magical protection?

Say a racial +1 enhancment bonus to saves vs spells. Making it an enhancement bonus means it won't stack with most save boosting magic items. Obviously the bonus can be jiggered with if it seems too weak.

As for the crown, it also has it's power over the masks. It might be better to define that by useing the Crown as the focus for an incantation (See D20 Modern or Unearthed arcana) that imposes the Oaths upon the Mask to be.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

I was going to do that until I realised that I would be essentially allowing non-spellcasters to get benefits for free.  So we can just say that the actual protections themselves have worn off from the original protected people, but the Impotence is genetic.  Alternatively, if balance isn't an issue, I agree that an Enhancement Bonus fits the flavour (and is less powerful as it doesn't stack like the halfling bonus).


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Oh, I was going to make the House Mulcibe trait either an artistic bonus or some resistance to electricity and petrification (makes sense to get resistance to what real eladrin are completely immune to).  Also, for people using Unearthed Arcana, Mulcibe members could take an Eladrin Bloodline (Bloodlines are on Page 31 of UA).  As for the crown as a focus for a ritual/incantation, that's exactly what I originally had in mind, instead of a magic item, when I wrote that long post about the magic involved (so in a certain sense, the Grand Monarch becomes a sacrifice to the people).


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## domino (Mar 2, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Oh, I was going to make the House Mulcibe trait either an artistic bonus or some resistance to electricity and petrification (makes sense to get resistance to what real eladrin are completely immune to). Also, for people using Unearthed Arcana, Mulcibe members could take an Eladrin Bloodline (Bloodlines are on Page 31 of UA). As for the crown as a focus for a ritual/incantation, that's exactly what I originally had in mind, instead of a magic item, when I wrote that long post about the magic involved (so in a certain sense, the Grand Monarch becomes a sacrifice to the people).



Those work too. Probably makes more sense, even.  But I'd stick with the resistance to petrification and electricity.  +2 (or maybe +4, as rare as petrification is) and 3 or 5 resistance to electricity maybe?

As for the crown, it was your idea, and those can work too. I just figured that if you're going to be effectively stealing half of the most important part of someone's life, you might want to give them a bit back, to help them king it up.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

The totally unofficial rules-guys' compilation of NPCs (with modified names, ? means that we don't know that part of the name). Names for Pillar members SEEM TO adhere to the following rules: Influential aristocrats have a first and last name and then a Dal-PillarName, except half-orc throne aspirants, who have a first name a compound of their parents' last names separated by a dash, a Dal-FatherPillarName and a Ty-MotherPillarName. Other house members (so half-elves of House Kiron or peasants who join House Malarn) have just the first name and the Pillar name, whereas normal peasants have a first and last name (so new Malarn members are exhorted to doff thy name, which is no part of thee, and in exchange become Malarn). Masks only have a single name, and non-Eyrians can do what they want.

So here is the dictionary of NPCs (note I made some of this up, like the dating system, and probably got some wrong, it is apocrypha and can be changed by a real post). References to low-mid-high level allow you to define what those terms mean in your campaign (at least for now unless we actually stat these guys). Oh, and I defaulted to aristocrat for a lot of these rulers, but some of them are probably something more interesting:

Aekalda: Male Gnome Escapee, ? class/level, lived in ancient times (Circa 50 BE), an escapee of the elves' experiments, the energy pouring through his veins created a spell that brought the humans and orcs together to liberate the gnomes from elven sovereignty

Aelyna: Female Elf Princess, low-level aristocrat, lived in ancient times (Circa 1500 BE [Before Eyros]), loved by Taogrim and slain by Urtha.

Aeryl dal-Kiron: Male Half-Elf Scion of House Kiron, low-level social-oriented Rogue, currently engaged in a plot against Alyria, Lae'Thyr of King Laryst of Nistadeen

Agathon of the Crimson Robe (Agathon ?-? Dal-(Vajar or Zhal, probably Vajar) Ty-?: Male Half-Orc, mid-to-high-level Fighter/Aristocrat, lived Circa 2650 EY [Eyrian Year] (his ascension becomes 1 PA [Pax Agatha]), brokered the Pax Agatha, the peace that ended the War of the Crumbled Pillar 

Alivia: Female Elf Mask of the Primal Oath, high-level wizard, born in BE, she is still youthful and childish, loyal to the crown, and a friend of Belira

Alkshaln: Male Dwarf Legendary Psion of the Five Heroes, high-to-epic-level Psion, Alkshaln had access to a set of seven powerful crystals (one of each colour of the rainbow) that amplified his abilities, and he was a reliable ally and true friend to the other heroes, except perhaps the mysteruous Valjin.  Alkshaln is one of the Five Heroes who defeated Taufenacht circa 4000 BE.

Alsixnivis: Male Great Wyrm White Dragon Ascendant, guardian of the Twelve, he pretends to be the dwarf sage Orgar. He is the voice of Taufenacht and the Twelve throughout the northlands. 

Alyria: Female Elf Lae'Thyr of King Laryst of Nistadeen, low-level aristocrat, she will soon be transformed into a bestial Falgyr by Aeryl's cursed amulet.

Arat'ut al'Katib: Male Efreeti Prince, Arat'ur is magically bound under Mt. Xark, and he seems to be a power source for the Crucible.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Barandis Zul'Baran: Male Fire-Genasi great-grandson of Arat'ut al'Katib, Barandis has vowed to find his great-grandfather and has recently tracked him back to Eyros, but he is not a very subtle man, unskilled in the ways of stealth.

Belira ?-? (note--no Dal! Belira is a second-generation half-orc and thus belongs to no house, leaving her future prospects grim indeed): Female Half-Orc Daughter of the Grand Monarch, 1st-level (or apprentice-level if you use that) aristocrat, Belira is a curious five-year-old who has befriended Alivia. Not yet aware of the stigma of being a Mask, she treats Alivia as if the archmage were another five-year-old half-orc friend, which warms the abused and objectified Mask's heart. The two often go on adventures together within the Royal Palace

Borak Foehammer: Male Dwarf member of the Jagged Eye's Secret Blade, low-level soulknife, this brilliant infiltrator has used Alter Self to penetrate the rank's of Keyzha ?-? Dal-Zhal's forces

Chargros "Dal-Vajar": Male Hobgoblin Aide-de-camp to Archduke Galldrian, mid-level Monk, a green-sash intermediate master of the famed Hobgoblin Order of the Clawed Fist, he secretly styles himself Chargros Dal-Vajar and hopes to one day rule Eyros, thanks to his ability to trace his lineage back to the founders of House Vajar.

Colos: Male ?Race Flame of the Crucible, low-to-mid-level Cleric, Colos has spent the last three years trying to discover why some border areas weaken the bonds of the Guardian Masks. It is his (mistaken) theory that foreign blood disrupts the spell. He has announced this within the cult, and shortly thereafter several influential members of the Pillars have publicly pushed for a new law prohibiting Masks from physical contact with foreigners.  Furthermore, Colos is working to devise a talisman to strengthn the bond, crafted from a piece of lavarock from Mt. Xarn and Orcish blood formed into an amulet or torque. He has reached an impasse, and is trying to get the nerve up to approach the Praes Thanatos for assistance.

Conquers Twice: Male Solar Paladin from the Celestial Realms and Divine-Ruler of Saagersberg of, he has come to this realm in search of his brother, who is being used as a vessel by the demon the primes know as Taufenacht 

Corythos: An aelfopomorphic dawn deity worshipped in Nistadeen, it is considered a blasphemy by Lusarum's followers

Darrenback: Male Halfling Pirate Captain of the Bloodsong Buccaneers, mid-to-high-level Bard/Dread Pirate, famous raider allied with Ghalfaen, he is romantically involved with Felra and seems to love her (protecting her from the King of Ghalfaen).

Death's Caress: Female Unique Dread Wraith, a powerful Dread Wraith who has several unique abilities, including the power to shift her vague, wispy shape into a human semblance and, more dangerously, the Rejuvenation ability more common to ghosts. She was sealed away within the crypts by the Patriae Sicarii in 1875 EY when they discovered that she could not be permanently defeated by normal means. Kaillo has been searching for a way to free her on the condition that she not kill any of his people. Of course, once freed, Death's Caress has no intention of honouring this agreement.

Droth ? Dal-Vajar: Male Orc Flame of the Crucible, low-to-mid-level Cleric, though a common Flame in rank, Droth has gained much influence, apparently through charisma and force of personality. His name means "stone" in Orcish.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Emerald Nexus: ? Alien Entity, The Emerald Nexus guides the Midnight Cruor towards a hidden goal that only it knows. Regardless, the sisters are satisfied with the mayhem they get to inflict while following it, and as they see it as a manifestation of the sanguine Bloodsoaked nature spirits, they see no reason not to continue. An unknown evil leading to a secretive goal...it sounds like Taufenacht's modus operandi, but could it be someone else entirely?

Ezlan Zul-Dagvar Dal-Zhal Ty-Mulcibe: Male Half-Orc Grand Monarch of Eyros, mid-level Fighter/Aristocrat, he is near the end of his reign and regrets declaring Vajar as Presumptive. Apparently he has some reservations about Felra, but he has resigned himself to grumbling as there is little he can do about it.

Farina Saeryn dal-Mulcibe: Female Human with Majour Eladrin Bloodline Head of House Mulcibe, mid-level Bard or Aristocrat/Bard, Farina is passionate, opinionated, and charming, and she collects cute and colourful dhazi

Felra Raj-Tinar Dal-Vajar Ty-Malarn: Half-Orc Contender for the next Grand-Monarch, mid-level Fighter/Aristocrat, Felra is intelligent and well-liked, but is engaged in a forbidden love affair with the notorious pirate captain Darrenback

Fischr: Male ? Vintner, low-level Expert, an opportunistic vintner who sought to innovate with Bloodsoaked Wine. Unfortunately, it didn't taste any good, and even worse, its consumption leads to living vampirism.

Fraxxer Bloodtooth: Male Orc Supervisor of the Praes Thanatos (later Death Knight Archon of the Dead), mid-to-high level Death Knight Fighter, mutually despised by Thanatos, Fraxxer was mysteriously killed during his term of Supervisor over Praes Thanatos in 2015 EY and then brought back to command the undead armies as the Death Knight Archon of the Dead.  Bloodtooth got his name because he supposedly ate one of his enemies, and it stained one of his teeth. Actually, he ate a sacred lizard when 13, staining his tooth, perhaps that sealed his fate. In mockery of his cover story, Thanatos contrived for Bloodtooth's fangs to drip blood in battle or anger.  The Death Knight has sworn that he will escape from the command of Praes Thanatos on the 1000th anniversary of his death and eat their hearts on that day. 

Galldrian Vindros: Male Half-Elf Archduke of Ghalfaen, low-to-mid-level Aristocrat, he knows the secret of House Vajar somehow, though Captain Darrenback has kept him from using it.Despite the fact that he is forced to submit to Eyrian hegemony and has been humiliated by the blackmail of the oily Herewald, Galldrian secretly hopes to expand the power of Ghalfaen by collecting secrets and using political leverage. Having heard of the disgrace of Kalis Ny'Dal-Malarn, Galldrian has been making overtures to gain the service of the respected historian, but all attempts have failed so far. His aide-de-camp is the hobgoblin Chargros. 

Herewald: Male Race-Unknown Extortionist of Ghalfaen, mid-level Sorcerer, a dissolute man, he demands tribute in exchange for controlling the ravages of a colossal purple worm.

Jal-guin/Jal-gwuin: Female Elf Mask of the Primal Oath, mid-level Wizard, she fell into a semi-catatonic state and prophesies at random, including the Prophecy of the Seventh Pillar

Jesyra Rhaldas Dal-Malarn: Female Human Uncrowned Grand Monarch of Eyros, mid-level Aristocrat, Jesyra ruled before the Pax Agatha and thus had an orc High Seneschal to wear the crown for her) and was slain by poison in a tragic accident in which her love was betrayed. The sheer devastation caused her to rise as a ghost in the royal palace, but she doesn't seem to show herself or bother anyone. 

Jhonen Pruuk: Male ? Magical Artisan, low-to-mid-level Magewright (or Wizard/Expert if no Eberron), a spellcaster from Zhal-Ka, he has been commissioned to build a perfect scale model of Eyros by House Zhal, with no regard to the cost.


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Grand Monarch (unnamed) ? ?-? Dal-Zhal Ty-? (I figured out it was Zhal by process of elimination, so trust me, it *must* be Zhal): Male? Half-Orc Grand Monarch of Eyros, mid-level Fighter/Aristocrat, he? is near the end of his? reign




You should post the elimination process you used in the core thread so no-one tries to make him something that he can't be.

*Kalis*: edit - see below


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Kaillo: Male Elf Imperial Mask, mid-level Wizard, able to access a mature personality in his reverie, Kaillo became increasingly violent during these periods, snarling and requiring restraint. When he tripped down the stairs and seemingly died, his unconscious mind became a spirit that seeks to free his people. To that end, he has attempted to make an alliance with the dread wraith Death's Caress. 

Kalis Ny'Dal-Malarn: Male Human Historian, mid-level Bard/Loremaster, born a commoner, Kalis's perspicacious and well-documented discoveries gained him entry into House Malarn, but due to one case of using sketchy source material to back a (correct!) off-the-wall theory, and possibly conspiracy against him for being too astute, Kalis was retracted from House Malarn. Now Kalis will stop at nothing to recover his former status, so he can regain entry to the Grand Library of House Malarn and confess his love to Kyara Dal-Malarn, the beautiful muse who inspired him to the height of his greatness, if he can manage to find a way bring the legendary assertiveness of his academic theories into bear in a physical, social setting, something that he has had trouble doing ever since he was younger and lost all of his duels.

Kampaetnos: Male Firre Eladrin, warned by his patron, Conquers Twice, not to meddle in mortal affairs circa 50 BE, Kampaetnos was left to own devices to search for the solar's missing brother. Kampaetnos journeyed to the lands of the barbaric humans, where he became infatuated with a passionate sculptor named Mulcibia. Contrary to Conquers Twice's wishes, Kampaetnos was so entranced that he halted his search and came to Mulcibia in the form of a beautiful human youth, living with her for years and supporting her artistic endeavours while advancing her to a position of power and influence among her people (and having many, many children). One day, Conquers Twice came to check up on Kampaetnos and, furious at what he discovered, removed the firre's disguise, revealing him to his beloved in his true form. As Kampaetnos apologised to Mulcibia for his deception and said his final farewell, Conquers Twice banished him back to the celestial realms, viewing the eladrin as a potential security risk if allowed to remain. Now, milennia later, Kampaetnos has finally managed to find a new patron who will allow him to voyage back to the realm of his beloved Mulcibia, and he seeks to aid the mortals with his supernatural knowledge, regardless of the desires of his former patron. Unfortunately, very few can understand the ancient language of Kampaetnos's prophecies, but he hopes to find someone who can comprehend them...and recognise their dire import. 

Kemry Janar Dal-Kiron: Male Human Scion of House Kiron, low-level aristocrat (although described as young, he can't be as young as Ramu or Belira or Verdania wouldn't be favouring him with her attentions), a young noble who is being slowly corrupted by Verdania of the Midnight Cruor 

Keyzha ? Dal-Zhal: Female Orc Governess of Zhalccu, low-to-mid-level Ranger[fav enemy dwarves]/Aristocrat, Keyzha has set out to exterminate the Jagged Eye with her entourage

Kira: Female Human Legendary Archer of the Five Heroes, high-to-epic-level Rogue/Ranger, roguish, free-spirited, and skilled at stealth, Kira was deeply devout in her cause to bring light to the world once again, Kira had a magic bow that could break through evil barriers to pierce the heart of Taufenacht, if he was sufficiently weakened first.  Kira is one of the Five Heroes who defeated Taufenachy circa 4000 BE.

Kyara Dal-Malarn: Female Human Elder Librarian of the Grand Library, low-to-mid-level Expert, in contrast to her title, Kyara is an eager, charming, and spunky twenty-something young woman. She idolises Kalis Dal-Malarn as an historical genius, but doesn't suspect that such an important celebrity would even notice a librarian like her. Despite the random nature of the library, Kyara somehow knows where almost everything is, and she is always glad to help anyone who comes to her for assistance with a friendly smile. Kyara has worked at the library for ten years, almost half of her life, and in fact she never leaves the library complex. 

Lazkani: Female Hobgoblin Armoursmith, high-level Expert, a noted armoursmith of the 5th milennia BE, some of the greatest armour in the lands around Eyros still bear her mark, and her style has been influential on later craftsmen.  She was notably the paramour of Vajaros Dragonbane, and she crafted him his dragonscale armour and bore several children.  Lazkani is the source of hobgoblin blood in House Vajar. 

Lusarum: Male Half-Demon Half-Elf? (father was never defined, but an elf makes sense based on half-elf friends and Lasair's crusade against elven slavery) Prophet of the Purging Flame of Dawn, mid-level Cleric, the son of Saint Lasair, Lusarum has spearheaded the denunciation of the Corythian heresy, and he has allied himself with Vildaxaranthus, who is also half-demon.

Lysia: Female Elf Mask of House Zhal or Mulcibe (we know she was a favoured House Mask that the previous monarch brought in, rather than an Imperial Mask, because she transferred away with the old monarch, rather than staying on with Ezlan), mid-level wizard, Lysia belonged to the Grand Monarch before Ezlan, and she helped him choose a Pillar that would be vetoed so that he could then choose either Zhal or Mulcibe (unclear which he chose, but it must be one of those to lead to Ezlan). Lysia's current whereabouts are unknown. The fact that she disappeared strangely and manipulated events leads this chronicler to posit that she might have simply been a persona assumed by Tellas. 

Moskk Greddark: Male Dwarf Cell Leader of the Jagged Eye, low-to-mid-level Psion, he has discovered a huge assassin vine beneath Eyrdeyn

Mulcibia: Female Human Sculptor and Legendary Namesake of House Mulcibe, high-level Expert, a passionate sculptor among the barbaric humans, Mulcibia was a kind, pure woman who refused to marry with any of the brutish males of her people, instead secluding herself and dedicating herself to her art. Kampaetnos was her paramour, and they had many children.


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

*Kalis*



			
				Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Kalis Ny'Dal-Malarn: Male Human Historian, mid-level Bard/Loremaster, born a commoner, Kalis's perspicacious discoveries gained him entry into House Malarn, but due to his sketchy source material, off-the-wall theories, and possibly conspiracy against him for being too astute, Kalis was retracted from House Malarn
> ...
> Abi: Let me know if I should defer to you on Kalis, I just thought he would be a cool Bardic Sage (from Unearthed Arcana) with 2 Loremaster levels




That class is a good fit, I never really looked at the bard options in Unearthed Arcana. I can see him describing great moments in history as his performance.

As for source material, his research is usually impeccable (minus the Vale of Ur debacle, which gave his enemies an excuse to pull him down.) His excellent research makes him all the more dangerous.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Rrahask Sshasaar: Female Kohl'Tass Venerable Mother of the Kohl'Tass and Legendary Druidess of the Five Heroes, high-to-epic-level druid, covered in alabaster scales, this wise and powerful druidess has rendered herself immortal by binding her soul to the spirits of her homeland. She rarely leaves her sacred lands, although she has been sighted on several occassions in distant lands. Some legends place her as a foil to oppose the demon Taufenacht. In fact, she was one of the Five Heroes who defeated Taufenacht circa 4000 BE, but she was known as Rhalassa back then. 

Ramu Erkon Dal-Garren: Male Orc (the name tells us, if not the description) Last Heir to House Garren, Aristocrat1, an eight-year-old orcish boy and a friend of Alivia from centuries past, Ramu was spared his House's utter annihilation by the Mask's intervention. He lives to this day unaged, bound in Alivia's precious emerald pendant

Saervyl Dal-Kiron: Male Elf Scion of House Kiron, low-level Wizard, born in a quartet marriage, he is currently the only full-elf to be born into a Pillar. Although he seems friendly and harmless, he is widely despised for what he is. His Chalkut'Dorun is Saint Lasair, and she has saved his life from multiple assassination attempts.

Sania: Female Fiendish Dryad of the Elder Bloodwillow, mid-level Necromancer, she initiates the Patriae Sicarii into dark arts and probably sexually, since she has produced half-gnome daughters

Skuldira: Female Vampire Gnome of the Midnight Cruor, mid-level Druid/Assassin, a greedy and murderous gnome who accepts payment as a hired assassin under several false identities, including the assassin Stheno 

Sultan of Indracca: Name/Gender/Race Uknown Sultan of Indracca, mid-level Aristocrat, the 96th Sultan of Indracca, the Sultan has been attempting to rebuild the fading nation of Indracca back to it former glory. While Indracca and Eyros signed a peace treaty sixty years ago after the War of Blades, the Sultan fears that Eyros may be plotting to attack Indracca and with the Sultanate’s current state of decline the chances of a victory against the mighty armies of Eyros seem infinitesimal.

Taogrim: Male Dwarf King of the Dwarves, mid-to-high-level Psychic Warrior, circa 1500 BE, betrothed to Urtha, then Aelyna, but married Urtha. His brain was eaten by Urtha on their wedding night. 

Taufenacht: Male Demon, speaking through the vessel of the fallen brother of Conquers Twice, he tempts mortals through the Cerebrum Crystal and the entity known as The Twelve, able to corrupt their minds and flesh and give them psionic powers

Tellas: Female? Elf, Mask of the Primal Oath, mid-to-high-level Wizard/Spymaster, Two people know of Tellas, herself and the current emperor; thus has it always been, according to Tellas. Tellas appears to be a female mask and manipulates events behind the scenes for the benefit of the emperor. Tellas has the outlook of a child, just like the other masks, but where most of them are docile, she is very exuberant and cunning. Tellas regards everything as a grand, complicated game.

Temera, aka Saint Lasair: Female Redeemed Succubus, low-to-mid-level Paladin of Freedom, redeemed by her love for a mortal, she started the Children of the Dawn in an effort to free the elven Masks. Her son Lusarum is a volatile throwback to his demon heritage, who has wrested control of much of the organisation from his mother.


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Taufenacht: Male Fallen-Solar, brother of Conquers Twice, he tempts mortals through the Cerebrum Crystal and the entity known as The Twelve, able to corrupt their minds and flesh and give them psionic powers.




I think you have this mixed up. I believe the brother of Conquers Twice was the slumbering, calcified demon from whence came the Cerebrum Crystal. Taufenacht talks through this. Thus, Taufenacht is not the brother of Conquers Twice.




			
				Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> perspicacious




I learn something every day!


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Mask of the Imperial Oath




What did we decide about the oath naming? As I said in the other thread, Alivia, Jal-gwuin and Tellas should probably be under the Primal Oath, which frees up the term Imperial Oath to be used on masks sworn to the emperor in a more modern style, like the house masks.


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## Mouseferatu (Mar 2, 2005)

Abisashi said:
			
		

> I think you have this mixed up. I believe the brother of Conquers Twice was the slumbering, calcified demon from whence came the Cerebrum Crystal. Taufenacht talks through this. Thus, Taufenacht is not the brother of Conquers Twice.




That was my impression as well.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Thanatos: Male Lich Gnome (in the body of a healthy Male Gnome) Cucullus Umbra of Praes Thanatos, high-level Necromancer, Thanatos allied with the invaders against his elven masters in 50 BE, and he has lurked in Eyrdeyn, visiting Mount Xarx to continue his research of the ancient elven magic ever since

Urdarza: Female Vampire Dwarf of the Midnight Cruor, mid-to-high-level Druid, a quiet, intense, and amoral dwarf

Urtha: Female Dwarf Guardian of the Cerebrum Ruby and then Female Illithid Broodmother of the Ruby Hive, high-level Psion, a dwarf of 1500 BE engaged to Taogrim, Urtha was infuriated with jealousy when she was replaced by Aelyna. Corrupted by the Cerebrum Ruby that she was charged to guard, Urtha consumed Aelyna's brain, married Taogrim, but then involuntarily ate his brain too. She retreated to the deepest caverns where she and her progeny became the first illithids.

Vajaros Dragonbane: Male Orc Legendary Warrior of the Five Heroes, high-to-epic-level Fighter/Ranger, the only living being in memory to have slain a dragon, Vajaros proudly wore dragonscale full plate that had been created for him by his ladylove, the hobgoblin armoursmith Lazkani, and his mighty double-bladed sword, Wyrmdeath, was a powerful weapon indeed. He was one of the Five Heroes who defeated Taufenacht circa 4000 BE.

Valjin: Apparently Male Elf Legendary Necromantic Enchanter of the Five Heroes, high-to-epic-level Wizard, a powerful elven enchanter and necromancer who always wore a mithral half-mask over the left side of the face. Wielding a mysterious rod that allowed the mighty wizard to personally command a veritable army of undead, Valjin aided the others against Taufenacht for his own dark reasons (some scholars speculate that Valjin was actually a female in disguise, using a magical half-mask to appear male, but no one can determine the reason).  Valjin was one of the Five Heroes who defeated Taufenacht circa 4000 BE.

Vazya Krazan Dal-Zhal : Female Orc Scion of House Zhal, mid-level Aristocrat, infuriated at the precedent of Saervyl Dal-Kiron as an elf born into a Pillar, Vazya, perhaps among others, has ordered assassinations. Unsuccessful so far, she is attempting to contact "Stheno" which is merely a pseudonym for the murderous Skuldira of the Midnight Cruor

Verdania: Female Vampire Elf of the Midnight Cruor, mid-to-high-level Druid, like her "sisters" she revels in gore and seeks to spread the bloody taint into Eyrian soil, but unlike the others, she still longs for succor, companionship, and pleasures of the flesh. However, her lustful and seductive nature always end in the tragedy of a bloody betrayal. Under the guise of a circus performer, she has been travelling Eyros and corrupting young men like Kemry, so a string of murders have followed in her wake.

Vildaxaranthus: Male Half-Demon Advanced Tyrannosaurus, Vildaxaranthus is the sacred figure of a cult of Falgyr in Eyros, and is used as a story to frighten children. He has formed a loose alliance with Lusarum and lent the latter a necklace that will transform any elf into a mentally-stunted, bestial Falgyr on a full moon.

Xarkavan: Male Great Wyrm Red Dragon, Xarkavan has slept beneath Mount Xark for countless milennia, gaining power from the worship of fire. As long as he remains undisturbed, he shall hopefully remain asleep for countless more milennia.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

<This space reserved for more NPCs>

I fixed the problems mentioned above and realphabetised it all.  I hope this helps everyone keep track of all the NPCs, and this will constantly change as new facts come in or things here are clarified.  This is just one stupid guy's view of what the NPCs are based on what we have seen so far.  

Oh, and perspicacious is a fun word.  Then again, most people think I'm weird when I have fun helping people practise for the Verbal part of the GREs.


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## domino (Mar 2, 2005)

Given that we don't need to worry about equipment, I figure statting out the T-rex would be fairly simple.  But I'm curious.  It's worshipped, but does it give a crap?  Nothing mentions that a T-rex is particularily intelligent, and the Half-fiend template doesn't give any intelligence bonuses.  So are we looking more at something like King Kong?

And if so, how advanced are we looking at?  I'm personally leaning towards a 50 HD dino.  But that might be a bit much.  With the half-fiend template added, that makes it a 21 or 22 CL monster, even more nasty than the Tarresque.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Half-Fiend does boost Int, it gives +4 Int in and of itself, and I would probably say that since Vil is going to break animal Int from that, and is thus fully sentient, he should probably receive Awakened Intelligence and then add the +4 for Half-Fiend, so something like 15 Int. I would go for 40 HD because those last few HD (after Gargantuan) aren't going to work well mechanically (they probably shouldn't increase his CR at all, but then, they have to be worth something, right?). Also, since 40 is significantly off-the-charts for the Half-Fiend template, I would probably switch his DR from the one given for Half-Fiend of 12 HD or up to DR 15/epic or DR 20/magic. Other than that, apply the Half-Fiend template wholesale (remember that now he can make claw attacks with those stubby arms) and give him the Elite Array for stats instead of all 10s and 11s (replacing the Int reduced automatically to 2 with an Int +0). Now that said, why am I not going to do it? Feats (14 of them). And skills (8+Int mod per HD).

Oh: to clarify why the last few Hit Dice won't matter for CR, its because if a party can beat him up with 40 HD (and that's a *lot* of hit points), its not going to be that hard to take him with the extra 10 HD, since they won't really be adding any useful extra abilities.  Vil will probably wind up being a CR 18 or 19 challenge.


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

*Ninja T-rex?*



			
				domino said:
			
		

> T-rex... but does it give a crap?




Probably; as a non-mammal it can't be ninja.


Having things that are worshipped gain minor divine powers could work out well for this setting, for this guy and for the dieties specific to each pillar. Minor stuff, probably, but it should demonstrate that he is, in fact, a worshipped being.


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## domino (Mar 2, 2005)

As near as I can tell, this is what a 50 hit die, Half fiend Tyrannasaurus Rex would be like.  He can also fly with bat wings the size of a small city, albeit slowly, and has an abysmal AC for what he's supposed to be.  That is of course made up by his MASSIVE hit points, DR, and SR.

Vildaxaranthus
Guargantuan Outsider
Hit Dice: 50d8+418 (618 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares) / fly 40 ft. (8 squares) (manuverability Average)
Armor Class: 20 (–4 size, +3 Dex, +11 natural) touch 9, flat-footed 17
Base Attack/Grapple: +35/+48
Attack: Bite +49 melee (4d6+18)
Full Attack: Bite +49 melee (4d6+18)
Space/Reach: 20 ft./15 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab, swallow whole
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent, SR 35, Darkvision 60ft, Immunity to Poison, Resistance to acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, and fire 10, DR 10/magic 
Saves: Fort +35, Ref +29, Will +17
Abilities: Str 49, Dex 16, Con 27, Int 6, Wis 15, Cha 12
Skills: Hide +20, Intimidate +53, Jump +53 Listen +53, Move Silently +20, Search +53, Speak Language +11, Spot +53, 
Feats: Alertness, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Run, Toughness (6), Track, Power Attack, Improved Overrun, Weapon Focus (bite), Hover, Wingover, Flyby Attack, Improved Natural Armor
Environment: Warm plains
Organization: pair
Challenge Rating: 22
Treasure: None
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Other special abilities.
*Smite Good (Su)*: Once per day the creature can make a normal melee attack to deal extra damage equal to its HD (maximum of +20) against a good foe
Darkness, Poison, Unholy Aura 3/day, Desecrate, Unholy Blight, Contagion, Blasphemy, Horrid Wilting, Summon Monster IX, Unhallow, Destruction, 1/day


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## domino (Mar 2, 2005)

Well, I now see the advice you guys gave. Yeah, I missed the boost to Int, when I first looked it over.

And yeah, he now turns into a giant, ninja T-rex, if only because I had nowhere to put the rest of his skills. So, he can theoretically sneak right up on the PCs.

But now, it's late, and I'm tired, so if you'd like to edit him down, or up as you see fit, go ahead. I'm abed.

And I decided to not give him the claw attacks, because unlike a human, he did have claws, they weren't the problems.  It was hit stubby little arms.  If there's a big desire for it, I can go ahead and add them back in tomorrow.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Hmmm...if you don't give him claws or at least iterative bites, he is going to really really suck for his CR. Also, 6 Toughness feats is kind of a cop-out . He's already going to be very very weak for his CR, so he needs to have good feat selection.  

Edit: Actually, I made him pretty scary even with one attack: see below


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Here's my take on Vil (Oh, and we may have a lot to worry about Vil's Blasphemy effect, since it has a caster level of 40, so everything dies immediately). Assuming we cap Blasphemy at Caster Level 20, so that he only auto-kills level 10 things, his strategy will probably be to charge a dangerous-looking foe while using large amounts of Combat Expertise to keep himself alive and attempt to swallow. Then he will either keep up his Combat Expertise or Power-Attack 30ish Whilrwind Attack, which probably hits all the adventurers thanks to 15-ft reach (and thanks to Combat Brute, this attack will deal about 137 damage), also attempting to swallow all of them. Another possibility is to Spring Attack and resort on his Reach to produce Attacks of Opportunity:


Vildaxaranthus
Gargantuan Outsider
Hit Dice: 50d8+600 (825 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares) / fly 40 ft. (8 squares) (manoeuvrability Average)
Armor Class: 20 (–4 size, +4 Dex, +10 natural) touch 10, flat-footed 16 (AC 21 vs Dodge target)
Base Attack/Grapple: +37/+71
Attack: Bite +56 melee (4d6+33)
Full Attack: Bite +56 melee (4d6+33) and Tail Slap +50 melee (2d6+22)
Space/Reach: 20 ft./15 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab, swallow whole
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent, SR 35, Darkvision 60ft, Immunity to Poison, Resistance to acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, and fire 10, DR 15/epic 
Saves: Fort +38, Ref +31, Will +20
Abilities: Str 54, Dex 18, Con 32, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 14
Skills: Hide +45, Intimidate +55, Knowledge [the planes] +14, Knowledge [nature] +11, Knowledge [local] +11, Knowledge [religion] +11, Knowledge [geography] +6, Knowledge [history] +6, Listen +57, Move Silently +57, Search +54, Sense Motive +55, Spot +57, Survival +55 
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Improved Critical (bite), Power Attack, Improved Initiative, Combat Expertise, Improved Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, Elusive Target, Improved Sunder, Combat Brute, Improved Toughness, Weapon Focus (bite), Iron Will, Spring Attack, Whirlwind Attack 
Environment: Forest
Organization: Unique
Challenge Rating: 21
Treasure: None
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Other special abilities.
*Smite Good (Su)*: Once per day the creature can make a normal melee attack to deal extra damage equal to its HD (maximum of +20) against a good foe
*Aura of Tyranny (Su)*: As a result of his worship by the Falgyr, Vildaxaranthus exudes an aura in a 100-ft radius that suppresses any Freedom of Movement effects or similar abilities unless the effect's caster level is at least 30. Additionally, any living creature that is not an outsider within the radius who does not serve Vildaxaranthus must succeed at a DC 37 Will Save. On a failure, creatures with 4 or less Hit Dice become panicked for as long as they remain with the radius and for 4d6 rounds thereafter, and those with 5 Hit Dice or more become shaken for as long as they remain within the radius and for 4d6 rounds thereafter. A successful save renders a creature immune to the Fear portion of Vildaxaranthus's Aura of Tyranny for 24 hours, but the creature still loses any Freedom of Movement effect it may have, regardless of the save. 
Darkness, Poison, Unholy Aura 3/day, Desecrate, Unholy Blight, Contagion, Blasphemy, Horrid Wilting, Summon Monster IX, Unhallow, Destruction, 1/day


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> *Aura of Tyranny (Su)*: As a result of his worship by the Falgyr, Vildaxaranthus exudes an aura in a 100-ft radius that suppresses any Freedom of Movement effects or similar abilities unless the effect's caster level is at least 30.




I like the worship manifesting as an aura (in fact, I'll make my next contribution based on this, because it reminds me of another really cool idea that really fits this setting), and this fits well, but it's not as _imposing_ as I might like; perhaps a second effect, such as:

Any creature in the area of Vildaxaranthus's aura of tyranny must make a will save (DC 37, cha based) or be shaken any time while within the aura in the next day. A successful save makes the creature immune to the _shaken_ effect of the aura for one day.


Is there an "Awe" condition? I'm using shaken in its place, because he's just so incredible and imposing.


Shouldn't Vildaxaranthus have epic feats?


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Abisashi said:
			
		

> I like the worship manifesting as an aura (in fact, I'll make my next contribution based on this, because it reminds me of another really cool idea that really fits this setting), and this fits well, but it's not as _imposing_ as I might like; perhaps a second effect, such as:
> 
> Any creature in the area of Vildaxaranthus's aura of tyranny must make a will save (DC 37, cha based) or be shaken any time while within the aura in the next day. A successful save makes the creature immune to the _shaken_ effect of the aura for one day.
> 
> ...



 Sure, I'll add in some fear.  I just picked the effect I did because those damned level 21 PCs will all have Rings of Freedom of Movement and be immune to being eaten, so not anymore!  The fear shouldn't make him any harder against opponents, since most are immune to fear, but it'll definitely be cool for roleplaying encounters with him.


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Sure, I'll add in some fear.  I just picked the effect I did because those damned level 21 PCs will all have Rings of Freedom of Movement and be immune to being eaten, so not anymore!  The fear shouldn't make him any harder against opponents, since most are immune to fear, but it'll definitely be cool for roleplaying encounters with him.




I was going to ramble on, but it would have just been a long way of saying, "I completely agree."     Looks good


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Oh, and while Vil has enough Hit Dice to qualify for Epic Feats, he doesn't have any in order to keep him non-epic, since his CR is low enough for non-epic opponents to fight him and win with heavy losses (and also so DMs who don't have the ELH can use him more easily).  The tarrasque has 48 HD and also has no epic feats.  Don't worry though, since some of the Complete Warrior feats I gave him are almost as good or better than epic feats.


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

*Dark Druids*

What should we do with the dark druids mentioned by hero4hire? This setting has room for some cool mechanics I think. Perhaps druidic spells cast on sacred (which is to say, blood-soaked) ground gain some sort of template (ala Arcana Unearthed; if you don't have that, then just a metamagic effect). Probably something minor, but something that can be improved with some feats.



Oh, and I'll be doing physics for a while, but I'll check in once more before I go to sleep.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Abisashi said:
			
		

> What should we do with the dark druids mentioned by hero4hire? This setting has room for some cool mechanics I think. Perhaps druidic spells cast on sacred (which is to say, blood-soaked) ground gain some sort of template (ala Arcana Unearthed; if you don't have that, then just a metamagic effect). Probably something minor, but something that can be improved with some feats.
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, and I'll be doing physics for a while, but I'll check in once more before I go to sleep.



 Heh, I'm doing 6.041 (Probability) myself, so we're even there (I subscribed to the threads so I can know when to go back on here and talk some more).  I do indeed have Arcana Unearthed, and the spell template idea is cool, and sounds just right for both the flavour and power issues.  Also, physical signs of corruption among the druids like I mentioned in the other thread would be cool.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

How's this?

Bloodsoaked Spell: 
Prerequisites: Iron Will
When you select this feat, you may apply the Bloodsoaked Template to your druidic spells. Any spell with the Bloodsoaked Template gains the [Evil] subtype. Spells with the Bloodsoaked Template do not function properly when cast outside the bloodstained land of Eyros, suffering a -2 penalty to caster level and DCs (if this would reduce the caster level to 0 or below, the spell simply fizzles). Within Eyros, a Bloodsoaked spell appears as a bloody and horrifying version of its former self, causing the victims blood to anticoagulate and become runny. Any victim of the Bloodsoaked spell who has suffered any damage (including damage from the Bloodsoaked spell itaelf) must make a Fortitude save at the spell's original DC or suffer an 1 additional damage per round from bleeding for a number of rounds equal to the spell's level unless a DC 15 Heal check is made to staunch the wound.

Greater Bloodsoaked Spell: 
Prerequisites: Ability to cast Contagion, Bloodsoaked Spell
When you select this feat, you may apply the Greater Bloodsoaked Template to your druidic spells. Any spell with the Greater Bloodsoaked Template gains the [Evil] subtype. Spells with the Greater Bloodsoaked Template do not function properly when cast outside the bloodstained land of Eyros, suffering a -4 penalty to caster level and DCs (if this would reduce the caster level to 0 or below, the spell simply fizzles). Within Eyros, a Greater Bloodsoaked spell appears as a bloody and horrifying version of its former self, a sanguine spirit of nature whirling in sadistic glee as it sucks the lifeblood from the victim's arteries and feeds the hungry ground around it with that crimson pap. Any victim of the Greater Bloodsoaked spell who has suffered damage (including damage from the Greater Bloodsoaked spell) must make a Fortitude save at the spell's original DC or take 1d2 temporary Constitution damage as the spell draws the lifeblood from their veins. If the save is successful, the victim instead suffers an 1 additional damage per round from bleeding for a number of rounds equal to the spell's level unless a DC 15 Heal check is made to staunch the wound.


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Physical signs of corruption among the druids like I mentioned in the other thread would be cool.




Whenever a druid summons a creature on blood-sacred ground, he may choose to apply the blood-blessed template. If a druid wildshapes while on blood-sacred, he may do the same to his assumed form.

Whenever a druid casts a summoning spell or wildshapes on blood-sacred ground, he must make a will save DC 5; if he chose to apply the blood-blessed template to this summoning or wildshaping, the DC is increased by twice the level of the spell, or the druids level for wildshaping. Failing this save permanently increases his blood-taint score by one. A character who rolls a 1 on this save gains an additional point of blood taint.

Effects of the Blood-Taint:
Stage------Score------Effect
1...............0-4...........No effect
2...............5-9...........The character feels unclean; he suffers a -1 penalty to diplomacy checks
3...............10-14........The character's appearance changes in a indiscernable fashion; diplomacy is at -1, but intimidate is at +1
4...............15-19........The character's skin starts turning purple, and his hair takes on the color of the Eyros zombies, a redish color. His appearance is likely to frighten most people, who will likely call for the guard. Diplomacy -4, Intimidate +2
5...............20+...........The character's skin turns a deep reddish-purple, and his hair looks like reddish grass. He looks like a character out of a bedtime story parents tell children to keep them in line. People appearing like this will certainly be arrested and probably be put to death. Diplomacy -8, Intimidate +4.


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

*Combination*

This works great - I've got the low-level stuff, and you've provided the feats to enhance it.

Casting a bloodsoaked or greater bloodsoaked spell automatically increases the caster's taint score by one, in addition to the save.

We might want to extend the table so the effects accrue more slowly, or have a way for taint to go away (1 point per lunar month?)

Does applying the bloodsoaked effect to a summon spell give the ability to the creature summoned? I think it should, though maybe in a different way because it is non-instantaneous and can hit several times.


Whenever a creature gains point of taint, he must make a will save (DC = taint score) or go temporarily insane and become evil. After 24 hours, he may save again; if he fails this save he is permanently insane and evil. A natural one does not automatically result in faliure for either of these saves.


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

*Blood-Blessed Template*

The blood-blessed template is a template which can be applied to any creature which can be summoned or wildshaped into. It is normally added by druids casting or wildshaping on blood-blessed ground.

*Descriptors*: Blood-blessed creatures gain the [evil] descriptor if they are not animals or beasts.
*Hit Points*: Blood-blessed creatures gain 1 temporary hit point per hit die they posses.
*Damage*: The primary natural attack of a blood-blessed creature deals an additional profane damage.

Not overpowering, but still useful.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Perhaps the Blood Taint can be removed by meditating in an untainted pristine wilderness area?  As for applying Bloodsoaked to a summon, I would say that perhaps it only works for Greater Bloodsooked and the creature adds the 1 damage per round per spell level effect to every attack.


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

*Removing the Taint*

To remove a point of taint, a creature may spend an entire lunar month meditating in an untainted pristine wilderness area. During this time the creature may not adventure, manufacture magical items, or cast spells of a level greater than 0. At the end of the month the creature loses a point of taint. He may not attempt to remove another point of taint for a whole lunar month.

Something like that?


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Yeah, something like that is good.  And perhaps after the final stage it is irreversible.


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Yeah, something like that is good.  And perhaps after the final stage it is irreversible.




I went back and numbered the stages; how about it's never possibile to lower your taint score if it would move you down a stage? This makes so people who have a reasonable amount of down-time can't draw on the blood powers a bunch and just burn off the taint later.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

Abisashi said:
			
		

> I went back and numbered the stages; how about it's never possibile to lower your taint score if it would move you down a stage? This makes so people who have a reasonable amount of down-time can't draw on the blood powers a bunch and just burn off the taint later.



 That would work as well, it all depends on how much we want to penalise.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

I decided arbitrarily that if you get, say 50 Taint, you become a Vampire.


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## domino (Mar 2, 2005)

That's a heck of a monster.  The AC is a bit too low for what I think it should be at that CR, but again, the Damage Reduction and Hit Points should make up for that.

That said, he's got a tail the size of a school bus.  Would there be any way to use that as an attack, instead of the bite maybe?


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> That's a heck of a monster.  The AC is a bit too low for what I think it should be at that CR, but again, the Damage Reduction and Hit Points should make up for that.
> 
> That said, he's got a tail the size of a school bus.  Would there be any way to use that as an attack, instead of the bite maybe?



 Hmmm...Improved Combat Expertise (no limit!) should make up for AC deficits.  I agree that a Tail Slap or possibly Tail Sweep attack like a Dragon makes sense.  Since his bite already does 1.5x Strength bonus to damage, I think I'll give the Tail Slap just 1x Strength bonus.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

And we have finally gone Hot in the Rules of Eyros Thread guys!  (yeah I know, I know, the normal thread almost has 300 posts now, and we only have 100 but still)  Way to go to everyone for all your hard work so far.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 2, 2005)

As far as Vil's AC, the real secret to playing him strategically as the DM is that his AC can vary by up to 37 from round to round.  Thus, he can play one of two tricks on the party.  Trick one: He doesn't raise his AC at all on round 1, and when even little Jimmy the peasant hits him, the party gets cocky and goes full Power Attack on round 2, when he raises it up and everything misses (and as a side note, if he selects his Dodge target wisely, the Power Attack isn't going to be hurting *him* anyway so much as another enemy on the other side [see Elusive Target feat]).  The other way is to scare the players with his maxed out 57 AC on round 1 so that they do something crazy like cast True Strike (and of course they wouldn't dare Power attack at this point), and then he can lower the AC so he can Power Attack *them*.  Switch around and always keep them guessing


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## domino (Mar 2, 2005)

I don't know that elusive target makes sense. I mean, to be able to do that, he'd need to be a lot smaller. It doesn't really matter how elusive he is, opponents on opposite sides of him are still about ten feet away from each other.

Improved Expertise, on the other hand, is a nasty evil horrible trick, and I love it.

On a related note, how does a 50HD Solar sound for Conquers Twice?  Too much, you think?

Finally, in keeping with the worship idea.  What about Legion Standards?  When held, they give a +1 morale bonus to attack and saves, but if they fall, a minus 1 morale penalty to the same?  And if you go out of the aura's range, you don't get the bonus, and use your normal stats?


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## Abisashi (Mar 2, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Finally, in keeping with the worship idea. What about Legion Standards?  When held, they give a +1 morale bonus to attack and saves, but if they fall, a minus 1 morale penalty to the same?  And if you go out of the aura's range, you don't get the bonus, and use your normal stats?




That's basically what I was thinking. I think in the case of the standard, the aura should be less fixed - as long as the legion is around it, they get the benefit, even if they are spread out in a long line or something. I want it to do something cool with the standard bearers, as well, perhaps giving any legionnaire within 5 feet of the standard the ability to take an attack meant for the bearer.


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## domino (Mar 2, 2005)

Yeah.  But I was thinking of the aura just to make sure that you won't have a legion just lock their standard up in the fortress, and stay safe and secure in the knowledge that it's fine.


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## Abisashi (Mar 3, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Yeah.  But I was thinking of the aura just to make sure that you won't have a legion just lock their standard up in the fortress, and stay safe and secure in the knowledge that it's fine.




Right, sorry I didn't communicate that very well. The standard has to be with the legion for them to be in the aura, but what I meant was that the aura shouldn't be a 100' radius circle, but more amorphous. Does that make more sense?


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## domino (Mar 3, 2005)

Gotcha.  Yeah, that would be difficult to do though.  Maybe make it so that the commander can alter the shape of the aura to match whatever formation the unit is in. (akin to the sculpt spell feat). Thus, you can move the formation around, but if a soldier panics and bolts, he is out of formation, and thus out of the range of the aura.


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## domino (Mar 3, 2005)

Conquers Twice
Huge Outsider

Hit Dice: 40d8+280 (440 hp)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares), fly 150 ft. (good)
Armor Class: 48 (–2 size, +3 Dex, +24 natural +13 armor), touch 11, flat-footed 45
Base Attack/Grapple: +38/55
Attack: +5 dancing greatsword +59 melee (3d6+20/17–20) or +2 composite longbow (+5 Str bonus) +46 ranged (2d6+7/x3 plus slaying) or slam +45 melee (2d8+15)
Full Attack: +5 dancing greatsword +59/+54/+49/+44 melee (3d6+20/17–20) or +2 composite longbow (+5 Str bonus) +46/+41/+36/+31/ ranged (2d6+7/x3 plus slaying) or slam +30 melee (2d8+15)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, spells
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 15/epic and evil, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, immunity to acid, cold, and petrification, protective aura, regeneration 15, resistance to electricity 10 and fire 10, spell resistance 35, tongues
Saves: Fort +33 (+37 against poison), Ref +27, Will +32
Abilities: Str 41, Dex 16, Con 28, Int 23, Wis 27, Cha 28
Skills: Concentration +52, Craft or Knowledge (any five) +39, Diplomacy +52, Escape Artist +35, Hide +25, Listen +51, Move Silently +23, Search +49, Sense Motive +51, Spellcraft +49, Spot +51, Survival +24 (+26 following tracks), Use Rope +21 (+23 with bindings)
Feats: Cleave, Dodge, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Mobility, Power Attack, Track, Point Blank Shot, Far Shot, Distant Shot, Improved Critical (Greatsword), Weapon Focus (Greatsword)
Environment: Any good-aligned plane
Organization: Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: 34
Treasure: No coins; double goods; standard items
Alignment: Lawful good
Organization: Unique

Extra Equipment : +5 Heavy Fortification Mithril Full Plate Armor

Solars are puissant champions of good. Only the most powerful fiends approach their power. Even more fearsome than their +5 dancing greatswords are their +2 composite longbows that create any sort of slaying arrow when drawn.

A solar’s natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, are treated as good-aligned and epic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Regeneration (Ex): A solar takes normal damage from epic evil-aligned weapons, and from spells or effects with the evil descriptor.

Spell-Like Abilities: Caster level 20th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.


At will - aid, animate objects, commune, continual flame, dimensional anchor, greater dispel magic, holy smite (DC 21), imprisonment (DC 26), invisibility (self only), lesser restoration (DC 19), polymorph (self only) power word stun, remove curse (DC 20), remove disease (DC 20), remove fearresist energy, summon monster VII, speak with dead (DC 20), waves of fatigue (DC 18); 

3/day - blade barrier (DC 23), earthquake (DC 25), heal (DC 23), mass charm monster (DC 25), permanency, resurrection, waves of exhaustion; 

1/day - greater restoration (DC 24), power word blind, power word kill, power word stun, prismatic spray (DC 24), wish. 

The following abilities are always active on a solar’s person, as the spells (caster level 20th): detect evil, detect snares and pits, discern lies (DC 21), see invisibility, true seeing. They can be dispelled, but the solar can reactivate them as a free action.

Spells: Solars can cast divine spells as 20th-level clerics. A solar has access to two of the following domains: Air, Destruction, Good, Law, or War (plus any others from its deity). The save DCs are Wisdom-based.

But I'm not sure about the Aura.  Maybe some sort of aura of courage, similar to a Paladin's Aura of Courage?  I personally, think that whereas Evil takes things away, Good should be providing things to others.  Like a bonus to saves, or attack, or morale, etc.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 3, 2005)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that although you definitely followed the MM rules for advancement to the letter, that CR 34 is too high for CT.  Level 30ish characters will eat him for breakfast and spit him out, even without the ELH, because his SR isn't high enough to stop them from instakilling him (or since his touch AC sucks, they could easily take him out with, say, a twinned, maximised Polar Ray and a quickened, twinned, maximised Polar Ray, in one round.  Then again, in one of my campaigns, a level 17 wizard NPC who I *thought* was committing suicide attacked the grief-stricken (CR 23) Solar that was once his wife with the goal of putting her out of her misery.  More suicidal yet was the fact that his first action was to cast that BoED spell on her that made her take half damage from all attacks and take no pain.  But then he won on the second or third round (can't remember which, and if it was third, she only staved off death with Heal).  Maybe we could advance him less and make him less high level, since anything in the 30s should probably be epicified to keep it alive against an equivalent party.


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## domino (Mar 3, 2005)

We could just arbitrarily drop his CR down to close to that of Vil.  Maybe 25 or so.  I didn't go and put the cleric spells in, because those I would think would be something the GM would want to hammer out uniquely.  Those would make a difference.  Also, we can always go ahead and give him more magic gear.  Unlike, say, a giant dinosaur, it's perfectly appropriate for him to have a similar outfit to an adventurer.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 3, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> We could just arbitrarily drop his CR down to close to that of Vil.  Maybe 25 or so.  I didn't go and put the cleric spells in, because those I would think would be something the GM would want to hammer out uniquely.  Those would make a difference.  Also, we can always go ahead and give him more magic gear.  Unlike, say, a giant dinosaur, it's perfectly appropriate for him to have a similar outfit to an adventurer.



 It is certainly true that he could wear gear, which would make a huge difference.  I'm thinking maybe we should drop him to 30 HD and then make him CR 25.  Advancement by the Monster Manual usually doesn't work out so well except for brutish smashy things, so CT will get the short end of the stick if he is advanced much that way.  The other, better but more difficult, possibility is to advance him with PC levels (maybe cleric to stack with his automatic cleric casting).  That's really the best way to advance Outsider types with all those special abilities, since the extra HD from monster advancement doesn't really synergise with those


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## domino (Mar 3, 2005)

Cleric or Paladin, even. If you want to do some more number crunching for that, go ahead. If not, I'll do it sometime when I get back.

I suppose adding the Saint template would be a bit much.  Actually, now that I think about it, adding the Saint template would simply be superfluous to his inherent abilities.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 3, 2005)

You go ahead, I have to write a paper about Celtic Mythology and what it can tell us about the ancient Celts.


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## domino (Mar 4, 2005)

Conquers Twice
Large Outsider/Paladin 10

Hit Dice: 22d8++10d10+161 (299 hp)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares), fly 150 ft. (good)
Armor Class: 51 (–1 size, +3 Dex, +21 natural, +13 Armor, +5 deflection), touch 17, flat-footed 48
Base Attack/Grapple: +32/+48
Attack: +5 dancing greatsword +39 melee (3d6+2d6 Holy+20/19–20) or +2 composite longbow (+5 Str bonus) +26 ranged (2d6+2d6 Holy+7/x3 plus slaying) or slam +34 melee (2d8+2d6 Holy+15)
Full Attack: +5 dancing greatsword +39/+34/+29/+24 melee (3d6+2d6 Holy+20/19–20) or +2 composite longbow (+5 Str bonus) +26/+21/+16/+11 ranged (2d6+2d6 Holy+7/x3 plus slaying) or slam +34 melee (2d8+2d6 Holy+15)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, spells
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 25/epic and evil, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, immunity to acid, cold, and petrification, protective aura, regeneration 15, resistance to electricity 10 and fire 10, spell resistance 35, tongues
Saves: Fort +39 (+43 against poison), Ref +31, Will +36
Abilities: Str 35, Dex 18, Con 24, Int 23, Wis 27, Cha 34
Skills: Concentration +45, Craft or Knowledge (any five) +33, Diplomacy +52, Escape Artist +25, Hide +24, Listen +33, Move Silently +25, Search +31, Sense Motive +56, Spellcraft +31, Spot +36, Survival +15 (+17 following tracks), Use Rope +16 (+18 with bindings)
Feats: Cleave, Dodge, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Improved Sunder, Mobility, Power Attack, Track, Point blank shot, Far Shot, Distant Shot, Holy Strike
Environment: Any good-aligned plane
Organization: Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: 33
Treasure: No coins; double goods; standard items
Alignment: Lawful Good

Equipment:
+5 Heavy Fortification Mithril Full Plate
+5 ring of Protection
+6 Cloak of Charisma

That's what he looks like with 10 levels of paladin. I haven't bothered to put the various extras a paladin gets, immunity to fear, add cha to saves (though those were added into the numbers) just to save space. I was thinking about switching out the dancing greatsword for a Holy Avenger. What do you think?

Other stuff, those feats that I added among other things let him shoot arrows at anything in sight, at any distance, with no range penalties, and Holy strike adds 2d6 Holy damage to any weapon he picks up, even a broken chair leg.


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## Abisashi (Mar 4, 2005)

Instead of the kind of crappy Holy Avenger in the DMG, Conquers Twice's Holy Avenger should Geater Dispell whenever it hits something.


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## domino (Mar 4, 2005)

Honestly, A Holy Avenger would probably not even be worth it.  The main point of a Holy Avenger is to do extra holy damage, and be +5.

But his Greatsword already is plus 5, and the Holy Strike feat adds the holy damage.

In my mind, he's the anti-Vil.  Vil as the king to the south, and just about THE premiere force of Evil in the setting.  Conquers Twice being up north, and the mightiest avatar of Good out there.  So, despite his higher CR, I think he should be equal with Vil.


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## Abisashi (Mar 4, 2005)

*Alsixnivis*

I'll stat up Alsixnivis this weekend, when I have access to my draconomicon.  


We still haven't made those pillar feats, but statting up high CR monsters is so fun!


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## domino (Mar 4, 2005)

Yeah, it's fun.  But I have a feeling we're headed towards the same problem with, what was it, FR?  Where everything is too top heavy.  So far, about 1/3 of the movers and shakers that have been seriously discussed are nigh-unto godlike creatures.

That seems a bit too much.  But maybe that's just me.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 4, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Yeah, it's fun.  But I have a feeling we're headed towards the same problem with, what was it, FR?  Where everything is too top heavy.  So far, about 1/3 of the movers and shakers that have been seriously discussed are nigh-unto godlike creatures.
> 
> That seems a bit too much.  But maybe that's just me.



 Well, we could have just not advanced them as much, leaving their CRs lower without going against the flavour.  But remember, we've got these guys instead of gods for this setting, so they are the upper echelon.  Also, we don't have that many high-level NPCs out there, so we need a few things that can challenge a high-level party.  We've got about 70 NPCs, and only about 10% of them are very powerful, despite the natural tendency to create powerful, important beings.


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## domino (Mar 4, 2005)

mostly because, let's face it.  Like Abisashi said.  It's fun.


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## Abisashi (Mar 4, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> mostly because, let's face it.  Like Abisashi said.  It's fun.




 


But you're right, and I realized we were doing that. If you hadn't posted something in the main thread then I probably would have. Still, I think the coolest thing we've done is the blood-taint stuff. Perhaps we could create some general guidelines for worship? We also need those pillar feats, and we could stat up the exotic halfling weapon.


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## domino (Mar 4, 2005)

Right.  Two feats, as written up, as discussed in this thread.  Based on what we know.

Scion of House Malarn:You have grown up surrounded by many different races and viewpoints.  As such, you are adept at looking at things differently, and learning new skills and ideas comes easily to you.  At first level, gain 4 skill points, and 1 extra skill point per additional level, as a human character would.  Human characters gain one additional skill point per level.  As a member of House Malarn, you also gain a +2 bonus to all diplomacy and bluff checks with other members of House Malarn.

Scion of House Mulcibe:  As a product of eladrin lineage, you manifest a slightly weaker version of eladrin abilities.  You gain resistance to electricity 5, ignoring the first five points of damage from any electrical attack.  You also gain a +2 racial bonus to all saves to resist petrification.  As a member of House Mulcibe, you also gain a +2 bonus to all diplomacy and bluff checks with other members of House Mulcibe.

I don't know if we've gotten any more info about the others houses to work with yet.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 4, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Right.  Two feats, as written up, as discussed in this thread.  Based on what we know.
> 
> Scion of House Malarn:You have grown up surrounded by many different races and viewpoints.  As such, you are adept at looking at things differently, and learning new skills and ideas comes easily to you.  At first level, gain 4 skill points, and 1 extra skill point per additional level, as a human character would.  Human characters gain one additional skill point per level.  As a member of House Malarn, you also gain a +2 bonus to all diplomacy and bluff checks with other members of House Malarn.
> 
> ...



 Well...

we can do something Children of the Dawn or Elf or Merchant for Kiron (sketchy-level: not-so-sketchy)
we can do something Hobgoblin or Leadership related for Vajar (sketchy level: somewhat sketchy)
we can do something Racial Intolerance related for Zhal (their only defining feature seems to be killing other races so maybe bonus to attacking elves and dwarves similar to the dwarven bonuses to attacking orcs?) (sketchy level: pretty sketchy)
we can do something Gladiatorial for Taljik (sketchy level: very sketchy)


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## domino (Mar 4, 2005)

There's no real time limit, so I'm fairly happy just waiting a while for more info, until something springs to mind.  Kiron could have the immunity to magical sleep and +2 to saves vs enchantment, that elves get maybe?


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 4, 2005)

Alsixnivis is probably a Dragon Ascendant from Draconomicon (the prestige class is basically for dragons who are trying to become godlike beings, just like Eyrian dragons would be) which I incidentally noticed has some good examples of different Auras for us.  Since dragons die after Great Wyrm unless they have halted the aging process, the "Several age categories beyond Great Wyrm" comment should be ignored--Great Wyrm is the oldest dragons go--and instead give him Dragon Ascendant levels (this allows him, among other things, to become immortal unless killed violently at level 12)


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 4, 2005)

Alsixnivis, Great Wyrm White Dragon Ascendant:
Gargantuan Dragon
Hit Dice: 48d12+480 (1056 hp [yes, its supposed to be maxed])
Initiative: +0
Speed: 70 ft. (14 squares) / burrow 40 ft. (8 squares) / swim 70 ft. (14 squares) / fly 270 ft. (54 squares) (manoeuvrability Poor)
Armor Class: 45 (–4 size, +0 Dex, +10 natural) touch 10, flat-footed 45
Space/Reach: 20 ft./15 ft. (20 ft. with bite)
Base Attack/Grapple: +48/+73
Attack: Bite +56 melee (4d6+13)
Full Attack: Bite +56 melee (4d6+13), 2 Claws +54 melee (2d8+6), 2 wings +54 melee (2d6+6), tail slap +54 melee (2d8+19)
Special Attacks: Breath Weapon, Crush, Freezing Fog, Awesome Aura, Rend, Snatch, Spell-Like Abilities, Spells, Tail Sweep
Special Qualities: Blindsense 60 ft, damage reduction 25/epic, darkvision 120 ft, icewalking, immunity to cold, magic sleep effects, paralysis, hostile transmutation effects, energy drain, ability drain, ability damage, and mind-affecting abilities, low-light vision, Fast Healing 3, Spell Resistance 33, Fire Resistance 20, vulnerability to fire +25% damage, Immortality
Saves: Fort +38, Ref +30, Will +34
Abilities: Str 37, Dex 10, Con 30, Int 20, Wis 19, Cha 18
Skills: Bluff +36, Concentration +42, Diplomacy +40, Hide +36, Intimidate +54, Knowledge [arcana] +38, Knowledge [nature] +26, Knowledge [religion] +56, Listen +52, Move Silently +48, Search +53, Sense Motive +14, Spellcraft +24, Spot +52, Swim +37, Survival +26 
Feats: Draconic Knowledge, Fast Healing, Flyby Attack, Hover, Improved Manoeuvrability, Improved Speed, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Maximise Breath, Multiattack, Power Attack, Recover Breath, Rend, Snatch, Suppress Weakness, Wingover
Environment: The Chambre of The Twelve
Organization: Unique
Challenge Rating: 33
Treasure: None (he ate it all--no, seriously!)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Awesome Aura: Alsixnivis has a 360-ft-radius aura that can either project fear (shakened normally or frightened if he attacks) on all enemies (excluding allies) who fail a DC 38 Wil lsave, or resolve, giving a +4 morale bonus to allies's attack rolls, saves, and skill checks, or awe, causing creatures who fail the DC 38 Will save to stare, dazed, at Alsixnivis in awe.

Breath Weapon: 60-ft cone, 12d6 cold DC 44 Reflex half

Rend: 4d8+19 extra damage

Crush: 20x20 area for 4d6+19 damage to Medium creatures, DC 44 Reflex save or be pinned

Snatch: works against Medium or smaller creatures, and can do a bite or claw attack each round

Tail Sweep: 30-ft diameter half-circle, Small or smaller opponents take 2d6+19 damage Reflex save 44 half

Spells: As 13th-level Sorcerer (I'll do this later)


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 4, 2005)

Wow, that was remarkably difficult


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## domino (Mar 4, 2005)

Yeah.  It's been taking me several hours to do the big characters I was statting out.  That's doing more than just number crunching, but still.  Suprisingly time consuming.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 4, 2005)

Oh, heh, I guess I have no right to complain that it took me 15 minutes to make the dragon then...hee hee, silly me...then again, I'm used to building level 18 NPC opponents for my party in my head as I invent them on the fly, in the time it takes the players to roll initiative, which works because I've memorised most of the rules I need for characters and my players are slow, so for me, this was a long time to stat the dragon out.


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## domino (Mar 4, 2005)

Show off.  At least we've found the tail attack for Vil, though.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 4, 2005)

Hey, I'm not showing off.  I get my two feats for being a level 1 human, and my feats are:

Hasty Thinker: You are able to come up with solutions and create responses at a remarkably quick rate.  However, most of this is flawed or wrong in some important way.  No matter how long you try to check it, you won't be able to find the flaw until someone else points it out.

Aura of Competence: People think that you know what you're doing, even though you really don't.  When you talk to literature professors, they think you're a lit majour, when you are talking to an engineer, they think you're a computer scientist, and when you chat about roleplaying games, you appear to be an experienced player.  As a result, you become bored easily and never really learn anything about anything.

Those are my two useful powers (unless you believe that online D&D stat test, which told me that I am a 42 point buy character), so I've gotta use 'em when I can.


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## domino (Mar 4, 2005)

Envard Kreytos, Expert 5
Medium Human
Hit Dice: 5d6+8 (23hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (+1 Dex, +2 Leather Apron) touch 11, flat-footed 12
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. 
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+4
Attack: Shortsword +4 melee (1d6+1)
Full Attack: Shortsword +4 melee (1d6+1)
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +5
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 11
Skills: Appraise +10 (+12 mosaics), Climb +5, Concentration +9, Craft(mosaics) +15, Diplomacy +8, Jump +5, Knowledge (local) +10, Listen+4, Search +10, Spot +4, 
Feats: Skill Focus (Craft:mosaic), Toughness, Combat Expertise
Environment: City of Eyros
Organization: Unique
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure: Masterwork Artisan's Tools + Standard
Alignment: Neutral Good


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## Arkhandus (Mar 5, 2005)

Gnolls of the Independant Island-State of Orrukar

*Orrukarn Gnoll*
Medium Humanoid (Gnoll)
*Hit Dice:* 2d8 (9 hp)
*Initiative:* +1
*Speed:* 30 ft. (6 squares)
*Armor Class:* 15 (+1 Dex, +2 armor, +2 shield), touch 11, flat-footed 14
*Base Attack/Grapple:* +1/+2
*Attack:* Heavy flail +2 melee (1d8+1) or composite shortbow +2 ranged (1d6+1/x3)
*Full Attack:* Heavy flail +2 melee (1d8+1) or composite shortbow +2 ranged (1d6+1/x3)
*Space/Reach:* 5 ft./5 ft.
*Special Attacks:* None
*Special Qualities:* Guarded vision, potent mind
*Saves:* Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +1
*Abilities:* Str 12, Dex 13, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 11
*Skills:* Appraise +2, Craft (weaponsmithing) +5, Listen +5, Knowledge (war) +2, Profession (cook) +2, Spot +5
*Feats:* Combat Expertise, Improved Disarm
*Organization:* Solitary, pair, kssh'rhal (3-8 plus 1 har'rkal of 2nd-4th level), uuraiik (5-16 plus 2 har'rkal of 2nd-4th level plus 1 tu'rrash of 5th-8th level), or llrrae'kesh (11-31 plus 4 har'rkal of 2nd-4th level plus 2 tu'rrash of 5th-8th level plus 1 gour'angr'afh of 9th-11 level)
*Challenge Rating:* 1
*Treasure:* Standard
*Alignment:* Often lawful neutral
*Advancement:* By character class
*Level Adjustment:* +1
*Climate/Environment:* Any land (preferably warm forest)

The statistic block above is for a typical young Orrukarn guardsman, with no class levels yet.  Ability scores before racial adjustments were Str 10, Dex 11, Con 10, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 11.  The Orrukarn guardsman detailed above speaks, reads, and writes both Ar'kesh and Aquan.  He or she wears the unique style of armor used by Orrukarn gnolls, in this case a long-sleeved jerkin and pants of Orrukarn quartz-silk, essentially quartz made flexible by magic yet hardened across most of the chest, back, upper arms, and upper legs.  This quartz-silk jerkin is equivalent to leather armor in all respects except for its material, weight, and cost.  The quartz-silk jerkin is 50% heavier than leather armor and costs triple that of leather armor.  As it is made of quartz crystal, the armor does not burn like leather, though it was magically hardened to provide protection similar to boiled leather.  The magic used to make quartz-silk does not cause it to count as a magic item, except for purposes of suppressing the magic that makes it flow like silk, in which case it has an effective caster level of 3.  Thus, when the magic is suppressed, the armor hardens and immobilizes the wearer.  A DC 20 Strength check will break the thinner parts of the armor to allow for movement, but will also reduce the base armor bonus to one-half normal, rounded up, until repaired.  A Make Whole spell, power, or ability will repair the quartz-silk. Craft Wondrous Item can be used to repair quartz-silk just like any other magic item.  The Orrukarn guardsman carries a heavy shield of magically-hardened quartz, which functions as per a heavy steel shield, except that it costs triple that of a heavy steel shield.  Orrukarn quartz-silk and magically-hardened quartz does not lose its extra hardness when its magic is suppressed, as the hardening process does not itself enhance the material, merely performing a one-time transmutation.

The civilized gnolls calling themselves Orrukarn inhabit a large island east of Eyros and Ghalfaen, south of Indracca, across the Pearl Sea that borders Ghalfaen and Indracca.  The island Orrukar is a semi-tropical land half-cleared of vegetation to make room for the gnolls' sprawling cities, leaving only the southern and eastern edges of the island mostly-untouched.  A few thousand Orrukarn live on the isle, their cities built of glass, quartz, obsidian, and ivory.  Much of this material is imported from distant lands, supposedly stolen from those lands even, as Orrukar has few resources besides tropical birds, fruits, and trees, as well as bordering the aptly-named Pearl Sea and a particularly vibrant part of the great ocean.  Orrukarn feed largely on fish, calamari, lobsters, clams, coconuts, bananas, and imported meats from the mainland, which the gnolls favor.  They spice their food with the small quantities of sugar from Orrukar's sugarcanes, salt from the sea, and a few island herbs.  They drink mostly water, but also brew a sweet, heady sugarwine with a blend of fermented island fruits.  Orrukarn import a bit of rum from the halfling seafarers, as well as an occasional batch of bitter ale from Eyros or Indracca.

Orrukarn gnolls have a longstanding tradition of philosphy, art, and research into both arcane magic and psionics.  They are accomplished bards, sorcerers, and especially psions, but also have a few wizards, psychic warriors, and the occasional soulknife or wilder.  Their small military force is made up mostly of warriors, monks, and psychic warriors.  Orrukarn have no priests and no religion, thus no clerics, druids, paladins, or rangers.  Instead they have a long tradition emphasizing personal empowerment and enlightenment, so self-perfection and assisting others in achieving it is the only nod Orrukarn have towards any sort of religion.  Orrukarn are ruled by those who have achieved the greatest enlightenment and psionic perfection, the wisest and most powerful of their people.  The society is broken down into social castes with stringent laws, so while their people are divided into different lifestyles and professions, they all seek the same goals and share a kindred spirit.  Even the greatest psychic master respects the fisherman and the pearldiver, the vintner and the glasswright, for they all serve their role in society while pursuing wisdom and power.  The social caste of an Orrukarn is determined by their hair color and eye color, which has something to do with their bloodlines and heritage.

Orrukar largely trades pearls, exotic fishes, lobsters, clams, calamari (a delicacy in Eyros), and a few fruits of the island.  Thus, Eyrian nobles sometimes get to partake of Orrukarn coconuts or bananas, or spice their meals with Orrukarn sugar, or on rare occasions, drink a vintage of Orrukarn sugarwine, brewed with fermented semi-tropical fruits and a bit of sugarcane.  The gnolls of Orrukar also sometimes trade works of glass, as they are reknowned glasswrights and glassblowers.  Their trading partners are Eyros and Nistadeen, and to a much lesser extent, Indracca, Ghalfaen, and the halfling seafarers.

Orrukarn gnolls are slightly taller and leaner than their savage cousins in the far north.  They stand straighter, with a regal bearing, and their hair/fur is carefully groomed.  Their hair and fur ranges from white to tan and sandy blonde, with a few splotches of black in places.  Orrukarn have eyes of bright green, blue, or red, which gleam with keen intelligence.  They wear garments of woven glass and quartz, varying from opaque to translucent or transparent, forged through magic or psionics to flow like silk and thus be wearable.  Obviously these tend to be very revealing outfits, reflecting the hedonistic Orrukarn society, somewhat at odds with the sophisticated aspects of their culture.  Gnolls of Orrukar wear jewelry and other ornamentation of gold, silver, and ivory, embedded with pearls, obsidian, turquoise, and sometimes Indraccan lapis lazuli.

The gnolls of Orrukar are haughty and a bit self-absorbed, seeing themselves as superior to most other folk because of their wisdom and the enlightened focus of their culture.  They regard and treat other races as though they were children or primitives, but at the same time they are exceedingly polite.  This tends to come off as being condescending and patronizing, which often annoys other races, but a few have gotten used to it when dealing with Orrukarn.  The Orrukarn society is a blend of hedonism from the savage heritage of the gnoll culture, and at the same time a sophisticated new culture of enlightened brotherhood emphasizing self-actualization and personal pride.  They are a confident and honest people for the most part, wise and ordered, but obviously self-absorbed and gloating.

Orrukarn gnolls speak Ar'kesh, a highly-refined variant of the crude Gnoll language used by savage gnolls in the north.  Orrukarn often learn the languages of Eyros, Indracca, Ghalfaen, and Nistadeen, as well as the language of halflings and the Aquan language of sea creatures.  However, more often than not, they only know Ar'kesh and one or two Eyrian languages, sometimes Elven as well for trade with Nistadeen.  Orrukarn are usually literate.

ORRUKARN GNOLL CHARACTERS
An Orrukarn gnoll character possesses the following racial traits.
*Strength +2, Dexterity +2, Intelligence +2, Wisdom +2.
*Size Medium.
*An Orrukarn gnoll's base land speed is 30 feet.
*Racial Hit Dice: An Orrukarn gnoll begins with 2 levels of humanoid, which provide 2d8 hit dice, a base attack bonus of +1, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +0.
*Racial Skills: An Orrukarn gnoll's racial levels give it skill points equal to 5 x (2 + Int modifier).  Its racial level class skills are Appraise, Craft, Knowledge (any one), Listen, Profession, and Spot.
*Racial Feats: An Orrukarn gnoll's racial levels give it one feat.
*An Orrukarn gnoll's humanoid levels grant them proficiency in simple weapons, the heavy flail, the composite shortbow, light armors, and shields, but not tower shields.  All Orrukarn are taught the basics of self-defense, and they believe in fighting smartly.  The flail has many uses in battle and the composite shortbow is a ranged weapon relatively easy for gnolls to train with and use, while also possessing a decent range.  Light armors provide some protection and can sometimes be mixed with normal clothing, without hindering stealthy movement when necessary.
*Guarded Vision: Orrukarn gnolls are adapted to thriving in the sunlight and enduring the bright rays shining through their crystalline cities.  They are not nocturnal like other gnolls tend to be, and they do not have darkvision.  Instead, Orrukarn receive a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against any effect that would blind, dazzle, stun, or daze them, but only if the effect uses bright light to do so.  Orrukarn also receive this bonus on saving throws against effects with the Light descriptor.
*Potent Mind: An Orrukarn gnoll receives a +2 racial bonus on Will saving throws against mind-affecting effects.  Orrukarn also receive a +2 racial bonus on any caster level checks or manifester level checks to beat a creature's Spell Resistance or Power Resistance.  Additionally, Orrukarn gnolls receive a bonus feat with their 2nd level of humanoid, which can be any feat they qualify for, just like a human's bonus feat.
*Automatic Languages: Ar'kesh, Common (Vulgar Eyrosian).  Bonus Languages: Aquan, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Ghalfaenite, Gnome, Halfling, Indraccan, Noble Eyrosian, Orc.  Note that Orrukarn who don't leave the island and don't deal with foreigners will not know the Common (Vulgar Eyrosian) language, but may instead take it as one of their bonus languages.
*Favored Class: Psion or Sorcerer, chosen at character creation.
*Level Adjustment: +1.  Orrukarn are a somewhat strong LA +1 race, but their racial traits are not particularly concentrated, and for any given strength they lend to a class, they lend some weakness as well, be it hit points, skill points, attack bonus, or caster levels.


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## domino (Mar 6, 2005)

Arkhandus said:
			
		

> Level Adjustment: +1. Orrukarn are a strong LA +1 race, but their racial traits emphasise primarily self-defense, in a limited fashion, and they lack some of the raw physical power that common gnolls possess, while their Wisdom bonus does not aid them as much as other races since the Orrukarn society has no divine magic-users.



That still seems awfully low. Regular gnolls have a LA with a total of +2 stat bonuses. Your gnolls, on the other hand, have a *+8* total stat bonus, with save bonuses for some fortitude and (the most common type of) will saves on top of that. That seems a bit high to me.

Edit:  Then again, that's about what the bugbear has.  And it's on a comparable level with the gnoll.  I still think it's too low a LA, but that's what the rules seem to support.  And I'm not going to argue with the rules.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 6, 2005)

Edit: Deleted long-winded comparison as I said I would.  In Orrukarn post, removed natural armor and reduced the scope of Guarded Vision.  As it stands now, I firmly believe the Orrukarn are balanced enough for an LA+1 race with 2 racial HD, considering their disparity of traits and how they work or don't work so well with the classes.

Rystil, btw, gnolls have Fortitude as their strong save, not Reflex, unlike most critters with Humanoid HD (humanoid saves vary, and gnolls are one of those that differs from the norm of Reflex).  Apparently I consider multiclassing flexibility and extra skill points from the human to be more valuable than you do (I suppose your games consist primarily of 1 core class + 1-2 prestige classes per character, but in my experience, PrCs aren't taken lightly as just some mechanical add-on that anyone could take with the right feats/skills, and multiclassing between core classes is frequent).  My revised comparison:

Orrukarn gain +2 Int in place of a human's skills and multiclass flexibility.  Orrukarn gain Potent Mind and Guarded Vision in place of a human's bonus feat, and in place of the 2 bonus feats a Ftr3 would have (Orrukarn don't have the Fighter's flexibility in feat choice for this comparison: most Orrukarn are casters/manifesters who don't much need the +2 Will, and those who aren't don't need the +2 on caster/manifester level checks).  +2 Str gives +1 atk and dmg, little else, makes up for 1 point of missing BAB and the missing skill points.  +2 Dex is similar, makes up for the other 1 missing BAB and some missing HP.  +2 Wis makes up for other missing HP, missing proficiencies, and simple disparity of racial traits, considering that Orrukarn have no Clerics, Druids, Paladins, Rangers, or the like, making +2 Wis basically +1 Will and +1 Heal/Listen/Sense Motive/Spot/Profession, so 1-2 feats in usefulness at most.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 7, 2005)

Hmm...I agree with your comparison to the bugbear, and that's why I think your conclusion there is correct (remove a few things). Your comparison to the fighter is, I hope, a joke comparison, since its really misleading to, for example, say that d10 HD are worth 3 feats over d8 (Toughness is one of the worst feats in the game; Nobody would ever choose it and not regret it later, so 3 Toughnesses is not equivalent to three feats) so I would consider this HP disparity remediable with Improved Toughness, so more like one feat. Hmmm....also, humans are *not* less potent overall than elves. Dwarves maybe, but elves' Con penalty is devastating, and I always play human for the extra bonus feat. Free bonus feats that can be anything are worth a *lot* more than the pseudofeats that you describe above that you are forced to take, like the 3 Toughnesses for the extra HP. Stat raises aside, I would rather have the human bonus feat without the skill points than all the other elf abilities combined (because I get to choose anything, rather than being forced to take certain abilities). The Strength and Dex boosts for the Orrukarn are not only excellent abilities, they also make up for one of the missing BAB automatically. The proficiency section is the most deceptive of all, since one level in fighter will yield all of those at once. Thus, I will make a comparison of Orrukarn/Ftr2 vs Ftr5. I will make free feats that you get to take worth 1.5x as much as the forced pseudofeats that you must take from race/class abilities, unless the pseudofeat is racial (and thus restricted to characters of one particular race) and comboable to get somewhere that nobody else without an equivalent racial ability can go 

2 Humanoid Hit Dice and +1 LA with 2 Fighter levels, versus 5 Fighter levels to start with: assuming 10 Con average 8.5 HP more for the pure Fighter, equal to Improved Toughness and Toughness, so -2 feats. 2 less BAB, equivalent to 4-6 Weapon Focus / Greater Weapon Focus feats for most Fighters (as most use 2-3 different weapons, i.e. flail, bow, polearm), treat as -5. 1 fewer bonus feat, treat as -1.5. Less flexibility/power outside of warrior classes, due to missing out on 3 levels of class abilities/feats/skill points, treat as 0 feats short for this particular comparison, since we know he's a fighter. Verdict: 8.5 feats short of a 5rd-level Fighter's power and versatility.

Racial bonuses: Compared to human, human gets a bonus feat and extra Skill Point per level, worth 2.5 feats, plus the negligible favoured class (many DMs ignore it, and it also rarely comes up unless you disallow prestige classes). Orrukarn have the feat for 1.5, plus Potent Mind (which is worth 3 feats because if you allow Practised Spellcaster, and its really a good idea to allow it as it makes multiclassing out of caster less painful, the abilities are comboable with Spell Penetration to go to even greater heights, plus comboable with Iron Will (since IW and SP are unnamed bonuses), and now that Spell Focus only gives +1 in 3.5, getting a double dose of IW is basically enough to make even a Fighter have better Will saves than a wizard with equivalent Wisdom until level 15). Guarded Vision is worth 2.5 feats (1.5 feats for the variety of effects it protects against and the stackability, plus another feats because it stacks with Potent Mind against a good number of its spells, making the bonus an incredible +4 [+6 with Iron Will], which could well leave a non-class-leveled Orrukarn with 6+Wis bonus against many Will effects). +1 natural armour is a feat (and better than any core armour increase feat too), and the stat ups are worth about three each, so the Orrukarn have an advantage of 20-2.5 = 17.5. 

So 17.5 racial - 8.5 fighter = 9

The Orrukarn are way out of line from my analysis, but if the natural armour and one of the stat bonuses are removed, that would leave

12.5 racial - 8.5 fighter = 4

And I'm willing to concede that LA is so terrible for any character that leaving a race with a +4 advantage over the fighter in exchange for the LA seems fair.

Edit: Oh and the humanoid levels give a Reflex saving throw bonus that the Fighter levels don't.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 8, 2005)

Death's Caress, Unique Dread Wraith/Monk2

Medium Undead (Incorporeal) 
Hit Dice: 20d12+220 + 2d6+22 (385 hp)
Initiative: +13
Speed: fly 60 ft. good (12 squares)
Armor Class: 36 (+9 Dex, +6 Wis, +11 deflection) touch 36, flat-footed 27
Space/Reach: 5 ft./10 ft. 
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/-
Attack: Incorporeal touch +20 melee (1d8+ 1.5d8 Consitution drain +11)
Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +20 melee (1d8+ 1.5d8 Consitution drain +11) or Incorporeal touch +18/+16 melee (1d8+ 1.5d8 Consitution drain +11) [flurry] 
Special Attacks: Constitution Drain, Create Spawn, Flurry of Blows
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft, Lifesense 60 ft, Unnatural Aura, Daylight Powerlessness, Incorporeal Traits, Undead Traits, Unholy Toughness, Alternate Form, Rejuvenation, Immunity to Disintegrate, Evasion, Turn Resistance 4 (from feat)
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +18, Will +19
Abilities: Str -, Dex 28, Con -, Int 18, Wis 22, Cha 32
Skills: Bluff +31, Diplomacy +28, Sense Motive +27, Listen +29, Spot +29, Hide +32, Intimidate +26, Knowledge [Arcana] +27, Use Magic Device +34   
Feats: Endure Sunlight, Empowered Ability Damage, Ghostly Grasp, Alertness (B), Improved Initiative (B), Improved Turn Resistance, Combat Reflexes, Life Drain, Stunning Fist, Ability Focus [Constitution Drain] 
Environment: Crypts of the Imperial Palace
Organization: Unique
Challenge Rating: 15
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Unholy Toughness (Ex): Death's Caress gains a bonus to her hit points equal to her Charisma modifier x her Hit Dice

Alternate Form (Su): As a standard action, Death's Caress can shift between her usual form and that of a seductive female elf, human, or half-elf.  In her alternate form, she may choose to infuse herself with shadowstuff and become quasicorporeal (somewhat like a shadow conjuration), but if she does so, she loses her incorporeal miss chance and gains a Strength score of 10.  She can resume her normal shape as a free action.  Also, she may slightly infuse herself with shadowstuff at any time to handle material objects as if she were not incorporeal (as per the Ghostly Grasp feat).

Rejuvenation (Ex): When destroyed, Death's Caress rematerialises within 1d4 days (she is strong enough that she automatically makes her level check) at the ancient site of the greatest slaughter of elves by the orcs and humans during the conquest of Eyros.  It is unknown what conditions will allow her to finally rest in peace.

Immunity to Disintegrate (Ex): Since Death's Caress is made up of loosely-integrated shadowstuff, the disintegrate spell deals her no damage.  However, on a failed Fortitude save it does cause her to disperse, requiring a standard action on her part to recover.  

Endure Sunlight (Ex): Death's Caress can remain active in sunlight for 12 rounds before becoming powerless.  At this point, she need only retreat into the darkness for a round to recover, allowing her to reemerge for another 12 rounds

Daylight Powerlessness (Ex): After 12 rounds, Death's Caress is utterly powerless in natural sunlight and flees from it

Unnatural Aura (Su): Animals can sense the presence of Death's Caress within 30 feet in her natural form.  They will not willingly approach nearer and panic if forced to do so, remaining panicked until they withdraw beyond that range.

Constitution Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by Death's Caress's incorporeal touch attack must succeed on a DC 31 Fortitude save or take 1.5d8 points of Constitution drain and 11 damage (from Life Drain feat), giving Death's Caress 16 temporary hit points.  Unlike other temporary hit points, temporary hit points gained from draining Constitution stack with each other, but they fade in one hour in any case.

Create Spawn (Su): Any humanoid slain by Death's Caress becomes a wraith in 1d4 rounds.  Its body remains intact and inanimate, but its spirit is torn free and transformed.  Spawn are under command of Death's Caress unless she is permanently destroyed.  They do not possess any of the abilities that they did in life.

Lifesense (Su): Death's Caress can detect living creatures within 60 feet as if she possessed Blindsight, also sensing the strength of their lifeforce as if she had cast Deathwatch


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## Arkhandus (Mar 8, 2005)

Edited my 2 posts about Orrukarn, above.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 8, 2005)

Arkhandus said:
			
		

> Edited my 2 posts about Orrukarn, above.



OK, the Orrukarn seem to be more in line now (although they are still more powerful than some other races with similar ECL, but that's because those races have ECL that is too high, in my opinion). I made the human skill bonus worth 1 feat because there's a 3.5 feat that gives 1 skill point per level and more, plus we made a Scion feat that does so. As for the multiclassing, I just rarely see base class multiclassing, and I agree with your assertions that campaign styles will vary. However, for me it was not so much that I just let anybody with the right feats take a prestige class so much as that players built their characters from level 1 knowing what prestige classes had organisations IMC, expecting to attempt to join those organisations (They would have been bored if they just kept taking levels in the base class and didn't gain any interesting abilities). Frankly, all of the pure casters would never multiclass into anything that didn't give +caster level, so core class multiclassing was out. The only people who really did core-class multiclassing were cherry-picking the first few levels of a base class for useful abilities.

Edit: If you're wondering why I think that it is balanced after doing that feat analysis thing with the fighter above, its because straight fighters are extremely weak and LA is so crippling that it needs to be overcompensated to make a race decision worthwile.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 9, 2005)

*Eyros NPC: Rrahask Sshasaar, Venerable Mother of the Kohl'Tass lizardfolk*

*Rrahask Sshasaar, Venerable Mother of the Kohl'Tass*
Female lizardfolk druid 18
Medium Humanoid (Lizardfolk, Reptilian)
*Hit Dice:*     2d8+18d8+20 (110 hp)
*Initiative:*     +0
*Speed:*     30 ft. (6 squares)
*Armor Class:*     15 (+5 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 15
*Base Attack/Grapple:*     +14/+14
*Attack:*     Claw +14 melee (1d4)
*Full Attack:*     2 claws +14 melee (1d4) and bite +12 melee (1d4),
or claw +14/+9/+4 melee (1d4)
*Special Attacks:*     Spells
*Special Qualities:*     Animal companion, a thousand faces, damage
reduction 15/magic and cold iron, fast healing 2, hold breath, nature sense,
perfect timeless body, resist nature's lure, reverant aura, timeless body,
trackless step, venom immunity, wild empathy, wild shape, woodland stride
*Space/Reach:*     5 ft./5 ft.
*Saves:*     Fort +12, Ref +9, Will +16
*Abilities:*     Str 10, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 21, Cha 18
*Skills:*     Balance +5, Concentration +16/+20, Diplomacy +12, Handle
Animal +8, Heal +8, Jump +5, Knowledge (Nature) +20, Speak Language 9,
Spellcraft +16, Survival +8, Swim +6
*Feats:*     Multiattack, Combat Casting, Leadership, Natural Spell,
Spell Penetration, Quicken Spell, Greater Spell Penetration
*Environment:*     Temperate marshes
*Organization:*     Solitary or procession (1 plus 1-4 lizardfolk druid
attendants plus 4-16 lizardfolk honor guards)
*Challenge Rating:*     19 (with full items; 16-17 without items)
*Treasure:*      None (outside Kohl'Tass territory, 100% items instead)
*Alignment:*     Neutral
*Advancement:*     By character class
*Level Adjustment:*     +1

Description
Rrahask  Sshasaar, draconic for "Venerable Mother", is leader of the Kohl'Tass
lizardfolk, an ancient druidess revered amongst the lizardfolk and considered
the most divine by Eyrians who venerate all Kohl'Tass.  Though most folk
believe that the position of Venerable Mother is passed down the generations
amongst the Kohl'Tass, a few beings know Rrahask Sshasaar to simply be
immortal, though some of those remember her before immortality.

Rrahask Sshasaar is, like many druids, not particularly active in the world, but
rather a passive force maintaining peace and purity within the lizardfolk lands,
and trying to guide others towards a similar closeness with nature.  Tales say
that in the past she has battled and diplomacized with demons and devas
alike, even dragons and nameless horrors, but mostly she has remained within
her homeland and occasionally wandered other lands.  The Venerable Mother
keeps her immortality a secret from the world at large, and even her own
people only know that she is "very old," so only beings such as Taufenacht,
Thanatos, and their ilk likely know of her immortality.

Rrahask Sshasaar holds herself to the core of the druidic tradition and teaches
it amongst her people and others who will listen, so she is a strong proponent
for balance in the world and for the sanctity of nature.  In the lands of her
people she wears no clothing or ornamentation, carries no weapons or tools,
and neither creates nor uses anything artificial.  There she eats food raw,
plucked straight from the trees, the soil, or the flesh of a fresh kill.  These are
the traditions of her people, in keeping with nature's ways.  Outside the lands
of the Kohl'Tass, the Venerable Mother dons appropriate clothing and
ornamentation like the rest of her people, carrying various items of magical
or psionic importance from her collection, to protect and aid her as needed.
While traveling outside her homeland, Rrahask Sshasaar will eat the food
of other cultures and follow their customs, as she is a diplomat and advisor
at times to those who style themselves lords in nature's domain, and she will
not endanger her people nor dishonor them by behaving in ways these lords
would deem primitive.  Nonetheless, there are limits to her politeness and
patience, and the Venerable Mother always has a purpose when she leaves
the Kohl'Tass wetlands around the Kohoal River delta.

Rrahask Sshasaar stands nearly 7 feet tall, despite being slightly hunched
with age, and her scales are all an alabaster white, as with her eyes and
leathery hide.  Her tail is fairly long at 4 feet in length, and she weighs a
little over 200 pounds, fairly typical for a lizardfolk though a bit thin.  In
appearance, if not for her odd coloration, she would be considered rather
beautiful by lizardfolk standards.

Rrahask Sshasaar is literate, and she speaks, reads, and writes Abyssal,
Aquan, Auran, Celestial, Draconic, Druidic, Ignan, Kohl'Tass, Noble
Eyrosian, Sylvan, Terran, and Vulgar Eyrosian.

Combat
As an ancient and wise druidess who has contended with monarchs, fiends,
and celestials alike, Rrahask Sshasaar knows her enemies well and is very
well prepared for any eventual clashes with them.  She wisely prefers to
have preparations ready beforehand to fight a foe on her own terms,
disabling or hampering an opponent first and then attempting to wear
them down quickly, making the most of her druidic shapechanging and
flame magic.  She prefers taking the form of a colossal dragon, a troll, or
tendriculos, dire tiger, or remorhaz, using her knowledge of exotic and rare
creatures from her millenia of travel, study, and communing with nature.

The Venerable Mother prefers not to kill, and will usually spare her foes
once they are defeated, but will make certain they get her point and back
down from whatever they did to provoke her.  She has innumerable plots,
tactics, strategies, plans, and contingencies prepared, and keeps herself
well-informed about what goes on in the world, so the Venerable Mother
should never behave rashly nor should she often be surprised by anything
her opposition does, as she likely knew what was coming well beforehand.
There are few places that animals, plants, and stones do not reach, and
Rrahask Sshasaar can learn much during her travels by speaking to these
innocuous parts of nature.  Few druids do not owe the Venerable Mother
their allegiance to some extent.

Class Details
*Spells:*     Rrahask Sshasaar casts divine spells as a 24th-level druid.  She
can cast 6 spells per day of 0-level, 7 of 1st-level, 6 of 2nd-level, 6 of
3rd-level, 6 of 4th-level, 5 of 5th-level, 4 of 6th-level, 3 of 7th-level, 3 of
8th-level, and 2 of 9th-level.  Her bonus spells per day are based on
Wisdom, already factored in above.  The save DC for saving throws
against her druid spells is 10 + the spell's level + Rrahask Sshasaar's
Wisdom modifier, so usually 15 + spell level.  To cast a druid spell her
Wisdom score must be equal to or greater than 10 + the spell's level.
*Spontaneous Casting:*     A druid can channel stored spell energy into
summoning spells that she hasn’t prepared ahead of time. She can
“lose” a prepared spell in order to cast any summon nature’s ally
spell of the same level or lower.
*Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells:*     A druid can’t cast spells of
an alignment opposed to her own or her deity’s (if she has one). Spells
associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil,
good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.
*Animal Companion (Ex):*     Rrahask Sshasaar's animal companion is
Tiressk, a Huge megaraptor with dark green scales.  As her animal
companions eventually die off, she replaces each with a suitably
similar megaraptor and names it Tiressk, which seems to be more of
a title than an actual name.  As the Venerable Mother is an 18th-level
druid, and Tiressk is a powerful animal companion, he or she has the
animal companion traits associated with a 9th-level druid.  Thus,
Tiressk has 14 hit dice and 139 hit points.  The Venerable Mother respects
nature's creatures too much to use Tiressk as a mount, and she has
better druidic means of transportation anyway, so Tiressk serves more
as a pet, guard, and scout.

*Nature Sense (Ex):*     Rrahask Sshasaar gets +2 on Knowledge (Nature)
and Survival skill checks, already factored in above.
*Wild Empathy (Ex):*     Rrahask Sshasaar's Wild Empathy checks are
1d20+22.  Wild Empathy is 1d20 plus druid level plus Charisma modifier.
*Woodland Stride (Ex):*     Starting at 2nd level, a druid may move
through any sort of undergrowth (such as natural thorns, briars,
overgrown areas, and similar terrain) at her normal speed and without
taking damage or suffering any other impairment. However, thorns,
briars, and overgrown areas that have been magically manipulated to
impede motion still affect her.
*Trackless Step (Ex):*     Starting at 3rd level, a druid leaves no trail in
natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. She may choose to
leave a trail if so desired.
*Resist Nature’s Lure (Ex):*     Starting at 4th level, a druid gains a +4
bonus on saving throws against the spell-like abilities of fey.

*Wild Shape (Su):* At 5th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself
into any Small or Medium animal and back again once per day. Her
options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type. This
ability functions like the polymorph spell, except as noted here. The
effect lasts for 1 hour per druid level, or until she changes back.
Changing form (to animal or back) is a standard action and doesn’t
provoke an attack of opportunity.
The form chosen must be that of an animal the druid is familiar with. 
A druid loses her ability to speak while in animal form because she is
limited to the sounds that a normal, untrained animal can make, but she
can communicate normally with other animals of the same general
grouping as her new form. (The normal sound a wild parrot makes is a
squawk, so changing to this form does not permit speech.)
A druid can use this ability more times per day at 6th, 7th, 10th, 14th,
and 18th level, as noted on Table: The Druid. In addition, she gains the
ability to take the shape of a Large animal at 8th level, a Tiny animal at
11th level, and a Huge animal at 15th level.
The new form’s Hit Dice can’t exceed the character’s druid level.
At 12th level, a druid becomes able to use wild shape to change into a
plant creature with the same size restrictions as for animal forms. (A
druid can’t use this ability to take the form of a plant that isn’t a creature.)
At 16th level, a druid becomes able to use wild shape to change into a
Small, Medium, or Large elemental (air, earth, fire, or water) once per day.
These elemental forms are in addition to her normal wild shape usage. In
addition to the normal effects of wild shape, the druid gains all the
elemental’s extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities. She also
gains the elemental’s feats for as long as she maintains the wild shape,
but she retains her own creature type.
At 18th level, a druid becomes able to assume elemental form twice per
day, and at 20th level she can do so three times per day. At 20th level, a
druid may use this wild shape ability to change into a Huge elemental.
Rrahask Sshasaar, as an 18th-level druid, can wild shape into an animal
or plant creature 6 times per day, and she can wild shape into an
elemental 2 times per day, but cannot become a Huge elemental.

*Venom Immunity (Ex):* At 9th level, a druid gains immunity to all poisons. 
*A Thousand Faces (Su):* At 13th level, a druid gains the ability to
change her appearance at will, as if using the alter self spell, but only
while in her normal form.
*Timeless Body (Ex):* After attaining 15th level, a druid no longer takes
ability score penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any
penalties she may have already incurred, however, remain in place.
Bonuses still accrue, and the druid still dies of old age when her time
is up.  Rrahask Sshasaar obtained this ability after middle age.

Other Details
*Weapon and Armor Proficiency:*      All simple weapons, shields,
scimitar, light armor, medium armor, and natural attacks of wild shapes,
prohibited against using weapons except for the club, dagger, dart,
quarterstaff, scimitar, sickle, shortspear, sling, and spear, prohibited
against using metal armors, prohibited against using metal shields
*Hold Breath:*      A lizardfolk can hold its breath for a number of rounds
equal to four times its Constitution score before it risks drowning.
*Skills:*      Because of their tails, lizardfolk have a +4 racial bonus on
Jump, Swim, and Balance checks.
*Favored Classes:*     Druid and Lizardfolk

*Reverant Aura (Su):*     The Venerable Mother of the Kohl'Tass is
revered by not only her own people, but the people of the Sovereign Dominion
as well.  Likewise, she is respected and venerated by many druids around the
world, as well as several animals and treefolk she has Awakened and
enlightened over the ages.  Combined with her own closeness to nature,
Rrahask Sshasaar is granted semi-divine power that protects her.  Much of
this power is channeled into the defensive qualities gained through her
Perfect Timeless Body ritual millenia ago, but the reverence held for Rrahask
Sshasaar also lends her a magical aura that calms those around her.

This aura extends in a 20-foot radius around her, and duplicates the effects
of a Calm Emotions spell except as follows.  The Will save DC is equal to 12 +
Rrahask Sshasaar's Charisma modifier + 2 as an additional modifier, so normally
DC 18.  Any creature entering the aura's radius, whether by its own movement
or by Rrahask's, must save against the effect (unless they choose to fail their
Will save voluntarily).  A successful save against the Reverant Aura renders
that creature immune to the aura's effects for 24 hours.  On a failed save, the
creature is affected as per Calm Emotions until they leave the aura's radius.

The effective caster level of this effect is equal to Rrahask Sshasaar's
character level, so currently 20th.  Rrahask Sshasaar herself does not need
to save against the effect, and chooses at the beginning of her turn if she
wishes to be affected or not by her aura.  However, when she chooses not
to be affected by it, the aura stops affecting her for 24 hours, but still
functions normally for those around her.  Rrahask Sshasaar may suppress
her Reverant Aura at any time, as normal for a supernatural ability.

*Damage Reduction (Ex):*     Rrahask Sshasaar possesses DR 15/magic
and cold iron, meaning that each time she is damaged, she takes 15 points
less damage, which can reduce it to 0 damage but not below.  Weapons that
are made of cold iron bypass this damage reduction if they are also magical.
Spells, psionics, spell-like abilities, supernatural abilities, and natural effects
also bypass this damage reduction.  Natural weapons or unarmed strikes may
only bypass this DR if they are magical at the time and are under any effect
that causes them to count as though they were cold iron weapons.  Rrahask
Sshasaar's damage reduction means that her own natural weapons and
unarmed strikes are treated as magical cold iron weapons, for purposes of
bypassing damage reduction.  This DR comes from Perfect Timeless Body.

*Fast Healing (Ex):*     The Venerable Mother has Fast Healing 2,
meaning that she heals 2 damage each round, if not at full hit points already.
This Fast Healing comes from Perfect Timeless Body.

*Perfect Timeless Body:*     This is a special power the Venerable
Mother acquired after her 20th character level, through an extensive ritual
that she had developed over many years.  As a result of this ritual-granted
power, Rrahask Sshasaar no longer ages and is immortal in that vein.
Though she acquired the Timeless Body druidic ability after reaching middle
age, that was millenia ago and she is now quite ancient.  She mostly roams
the wetlands of the Kohl'Tass by the Kohoal River delta, but spends a small
majority of her time there at her home village.  Once every few centuries
she leaves to reassert her power in the wider world, fighting off the forces
of good, evil, law, or chaos that disrupt the world's balance of power, or
who raise her ire by defiling nature.  Rrahask Sshasaar achieved her
immortality though binding her life essence to the marshes of her homeland,
such that the health of her land dictates her own health.  The ritual was
performed in secret, and few if any beings know how to break it, so thus
far the Venerable Mother has remained immortal.

Her immortal status extends to some extent beyond mere agelessness.
Rrahask Sshasaar is immune to Death effects and disintegration, and her
soul cannot be displaced or ousted.  If she is slain, through damage,
Constitution loss, a coup de grace, a failed save against death by
massive damage, beheading, or any other effect, Rrahask Sshasaar's
remains immediately dissolve into dust, and her body is recreated 1 round
later at her home by the Kohoal River delta.  Her soul immediately travels
to her home upon death, to inhabit the new body being created, and any
equipment she bore on her person at the time of death is magically
transported with her soul.  This is not extradimensional travel, so effects
that block teleportation or planar travel are no hindrance.  Rrahask
Sshasaar seemingly cannot leave the material world, at least so long as
her Perfect Timeless Body power remains unbroken.  It is unknown if an
antimagic area will or will not impede the power, but dispelling will not.

Rrahask Sshasaar has the option of destroying her body at any time,
including the instant before being paralyzed or petrified by an effect, or
before being affected by an Imprisonment, Binding, or similar effect.  Each
time Rrahask Sshasaar is recreated by her Perfect Timeless Body power,
she loses 500 experience points per character level (so currently 10,000
XP each time), as she loses a bit of personal energy with each rebirth.
When recreated by her Perfect Timeless Body power, the Venerable
Mother is essentially reformed similar to a True Resurrection effect,
except for the different loss of experience points, and the lack of any
components or the like.  For these reasons, Rrahask Sshasaar gathers
life energy and nature's power over time through strolling the sacred
lands of the Kohl'Tass and elsewhere, and by defeating creatures who
defile nature or upset the natural balance (represented by XP earned).
As a result of difficult battles with great demons, dragons, archmages,
and more, the Venerable Mother has not progressed appreciably in actual
power over the millenia since her ritual of immortality.

The Venerable Mother may lose her Perfect Timeless Body power if some
other creature of sufficient ability manages to discover the true nature
of the ritual millenia ago, and finds a way to break the ritual's power.
Rrahask Sshasaar guards her secrets well, and any time that a foe may
attempt to force her to reveal these secrets, she destroys herself and
resurrects at home to escape.  There may be other locations that she
can resurrect in, however, but most likely she is limited to places of
great druidic significance and sanctity.

*Notes:*     The elite ability score array (8, 10, 13, 12, 15, 14) was
used to generate Rrahask Sshasaar's base ability scores, before racial
modifiers, age modifiers, and level-based increases.  The Venerable Mother
was between her 17th and 18th character levels when her Intelligence score
increased to 12 from old age, and was between her 19th and 20th levels
when her Intelligence score increased to 13 from venerable age.  After
middle age she progressed slowly in experience, as she has spent most
of her time henceforth attending to the Kohl'Tass and their lands, only
rarely venturing out into the world, at most once every century.

Rrahask Sshasaar has several potent magic items, and even a few
psionic items, hidden away in various natural locations around the
world, which she can reach quickly through her druidic spells when
she needs them.  Thus, the Venerable Mother has magic items
appropriate to a 20th-level character, she just does not take them
into the Kohl'Tass lands.  Over the ages, Rrahask Sshasaar has
Awakened a great many animals and trees, but not in any significant
concentration anywhere, so she has many scattered allies and
informers when the need arises.  Many of her allies and informers
are actually the truebred descendants of several animals she had
Awakened in ages past.  Rrahask Sshasaar keeps a few unused Rings
of Three Wishes hidden away amongst her treasure troves, for use in
emergencies.  In battle, when not in an alternate form, she often
wields a magic scimitar, of which she possesses a few, each tailored
to defeat a certain variety of creatures, though none are particularly
powerful weapons, merely possessing the right combination of
materials and enhancements to overcome a certain kind of foe.  For
the most part, the particular magic items Rrahask Sshasaar has in
storage is up to the DM and should be appropriate for a wise, ancient,
nigh-immortal druidess with experience in dealing with nearly anything.

As for Rrahask Sshasaar's Leadership feat, her followers are the hunters,
fishers, and scouts of the villages near her home, while her cohort is the
second-highest-ranking member of the Kohl'Tass lizardfolks' society, a
17th-level druid who has apprenticed under Rrahask Sshasaar.  Naturally,
this differs from generation to generation, as the apprentice druid is not
immortal like the Venerable Mother.


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## domino (Mar 9, 2005)

As an epic character, she probably has enough money stashed away to buy the various tomes of whatever +5 in any and all stats she likes.  So, you can easily justify boosting any stat you like from 1 to 5, if it would be appropriate.  Wisdom or Charisma, probably.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 9, 2005)

> Perfect Timeless Body: This is a custom epic feat that Rrahask
> Sshasaar acquired at her 21st character level. The Venerable Mother
> bound her life essence to the marshes of her homeland with a great
> and secret ritual, such that the health of her homeland dictates her
> ...




Perhaps a little (or a lot!) excessive in power, even for an epic feat? I would just subtract a few levels and give her that ability as a special power. Also, the part about being immune to all damage is a bad idea (I can buy the other immunities). Just give her some DR if you like, but not immunity. My personal preference would be to just make her immortal (unless slain) and unaging, without any other crazy immunities. Otherwise, why doesn't she just personally bring every potential enemy of her people to extinction (after all, she's immune to damage and pretty much everything else, so she would eventually win in a fight against anything). 

Oh, and I thought we were not going to go epic with these NPCs (even Vil is non-epic, despite his CR). Let's not make any NPC higher level than Rrahask in a PC class (although she wouldn't be as much of a balance problem without the immortality feat, since she does have those weird selections like Improved Combat Casting [who needs to cast on the defensive? She's immune to damage] ).

Edit: And next time I play a druid character, I am *so* asking my DM to let me take that feat at level 21


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## domino (Mar 9, 2005)

Well, I did give Conquers Twice a pair of epic feats.  Distant shot (lets him fire at any target in sight, period.) and Holy Strike, (turns every weapon he uses into a good aligned weapon.) but if those are a bit much we can drop them.

Making her effectively immune to everything except the complete and utter destruction of her lands is a BIT much, in my eyes, however.  Maybe we could link her immortality to her lands, and as long as they're ok, she doesn't suffer aging effects, and cannot die of old age.  But completely immune?  What's the point of statting her out, then?


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 9, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Well, I did give Conquers Twice a pair of epic feats. Distant shot (lets him fire at any target in sight, period.) and Holy Strike, (turns every weapon he uses into a good aligned weapon.) but if those are a bit much we can drop them.
> 
> Making her effectively immune to everything except the complete and utter destruction of her lands is a BIT much, in my eyes, however. Maybe we could link her immortality to her lands, and as long as they're ok, she doesn't suffer aging effects, and cannot die of old age. But completely immune? What's the point of statting her out, then?



Heh, reminds me of the Moderators from 2E. The creators were so sure that it couldn't be killed that they refused to give an XP value. One of my PCs managed to kill one anyway. I figured Conquers Twice would be OK with his feats, since he didn't select any gamebreaking feats. Rrahask would be fine too if she only had Epic Spell Penetration, I was just worried about having so many powerful NPCs (It would be easy, for instance, to just make make CT a Solar if the DM wanted to, but its harder to take 5 levels off a druid for the DM if they don't have the Epic Level Handbook. I think she's fine as is if her crazy immortality ability is toned down a bit.


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## Abisashi (Mar 9, 2005)

How about this: Whenever she dies, she re-forms in her lands. She can also choose to end her life, if trapped or similar.

The effect is way to much for a feat - but not too much for the effects of a feat + being worshipped by a bunch of reasonably powerful druids, and all the animals in her lands.


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## domino (Mar 9, 2005)

Does she _need_ to be unkillable?

The other two statted out powerhouses are mighty creatures of myth and lore, but they can still be put down for the count, and they've started off more powerful than a normal druid, and have many of the same advantages she does.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 9, 2005)

I suppose I'll modify Rrahask Sshasaar then, but I figured immortality would be the only reason she hadn't died yet from the few times she's opposed some of the world's nasties.  She doesn't have the crazy attack/damage/defense capabilities of the decidedly-less-neutral powerhouses, and druids don't get much for attacking except shapechanging and Fire spells (neither of which is of much use against a demon lord, solar, or fiendish gargantuan+ T-Rex).  I don't think there's any problem with making a few Epic NPCs in the world, particularly of the sort that rarely bother to get involved in worldly affairs, and Epic rules are right in the SRD at Wizards' website.  It would seem odd though if a druid millenia old was only level 15 or 20, even if she does only go out solving problems / fighting for nature once every few centuries or so.  Maybe I'll work something into her immortality that makes sense of that.  I'll still leave her tough, but get rid of the unkillable part one way or another.  I just figured earlier that the individual DM (or someone contributing to the main thread) could come up with Rrahask Sshasaar's weakness/limit/price-of-immortality on their own.


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## domino (Mar 9, 2005)

When had she gone and confronted the other two?  I didn't know that there was ever any direct confrontation between the big powers.  Because if there was, let's face it, there'd only be one big power right now.

And Death's Caress has the same problem, with being unkillable.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 9, 2005)

Hmmm...I do suppose that epic seems right for someone ancient, although most outsiders are ancient too.  I think she would be an excellent NPC if she just weren't immune to everything.  Her magic and items should protect her just as well as any 24th-level druid.


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## Abisashi (Mar 9, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> When had she gone and confronted the other two?  I didn't know that there was ever any direct confrontation between the big powers.  Because if there was, let's face it, there'd only be one big power right now.





Well, we do have her as one of the people fighting Taufenacht 7,500 years ago. She's only gotten better since then, though I imagine Taufenacht was unable to bring his whole power to bear so she wasn't epic at the time. Maybe she's much harder to kill in her own lands? I think she should be getting some minor worship powers (she's not worshipped, exactly, but she's definitely held in reverence by a bunch of reasonably powerful druids and by the creatures of her lands.)


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## Arkhandus (Mar 9, 2005)

It had been established earlier that Rrahask Sshasaar had clashed on a few occasions with some of the world's powerhouses, particularly Taufenacht, but possibly also Vildaxaranthus or Conquers Twice.  Not that she had beaten them or anything, necessarily, but that she had fought them off and survived.  As a non-epic druid, it has been due in large part to her immortality from the Perfect Timeless Body ritual, which while not rendering her unkillable, does make it take more than brute force to slay her truly.  A single ex-druid with the Blighter prestige class (masters of the wild, dunno if it's in one of the Complete books or not) could wreak havoc by visiting the sacred marshes and withering the land, and sufficient harm to the land would likely shatter Rrahask's ritual bond to the place.  So could simply finding the source of her ritual's power and stealing/destroying/banishing it, or somehow erasing Rrahask Sshasaar from time itself.   :^D

The Venerable Mother's power does come in part from her veneration by the lizardfolk, druids, and Eyrians, and also from the Eyrian veneration of all Kohl'Tass lizardfolk in general.  Maybe I'll come up with an aura of revenance for her to boost her diplomacy skill or something appropriate, and likely keeping low-intellect creatures (Int 2-) at bay.  Not that her Wild Empathy ability isn't good enough at that already, but against a horde of attacking dinos under Vildaxaranthus' control, well....  :^D

Anyway, I finished my most recent editing of Rrahask Sshasaar, so now she loses some XP each time she's resurrected by her ritual power, and she's only immune to a few effects.  She's now also only an 18th-level druid, so 20th-level as a character, though ECL 21.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 9, 2005)

I like the new mechanic (it is in line with some other things out there, but slightly more XP-efficient, which sounds right to me, its also a good explanation for her new level; she must have been defeated a few times down the years, losing a good amount of XP), but you should probably make a longer delay on her revival, lest she go down in the middle of a fight, then immediately teleport back the next round, etc (even liches and ghosts have to wait a few days, so at least make her wait a few hours so that she can't hop back into the same combat).  Other than that, I think an aura of reverance as you sugest would be a cool addition to her power: perhaps it attempts to place a DC 17 Calm Emotions effect on everyone who enters.  The good news is that now she is at the perfect power level to clash with Vil and survive, but she probably wouldn't be able to actually defeat him without a bit of help (the PCs?), particularly if Vil has his minions.


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## Abisashi (Mar 9, 2005)

On a different topic, dragons should advance one age category for each ~950 years after achieving Great Wyrm. This puts Alsixnivis at Great wurm +6 2/3; I'll post him later today, and that'll be my epic NPC contribution.

I'm not sure why dragon BAB and saves don't use the slowed epic progression; it makes advanced dragons incredibly powerful.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 9, 2005)

Actually I went back through the last two pages and checked out the three other statted powerhouses, and concluded that Rrahask Sshasaar was now a pushover for the likes of Vildaxaranthus, Conquers Twice, and Alsixnivius.  Vil alone, with only 1 or 2 melee attacks per round, without even employing his Power Attack feat (which could add some 30 or 40 extra damage per hit, easy, and still hit Rrahask's AC), deal out 50-90 some damage per round, killing Rrahask in 1 or 2 rounds of focusing on her.  If Rrahask cast Heal each round instead of attacking, except for perhaps a Quickened Flame Strike, she'd last maybe 10 rounds or so if lucky (that is, if she had prepared 4-8 Heals), and would only have a mild effect on Vildaxaranthus (along with all those Heals to keep herself in the fight, she could only prepare maybe half a dozen or fewer Quickened Flamestrikes, dealing maybe ~180 damage, and then only because half of Flamestrike is holy damage rather than fire).  Even Shapechange likely wouldn't get her a form with high enough AC to avoid getting hit by Vil, and it only takes 2-3 hits for Vil to slay Rrahask.

So for now I've given Rrahask Sshasaar (in the existing post above) a few added defenses from Perfect Timeless Body.  Damage Reduction 15/magic and cold iron, Fast Healing 2, and her Reverant Aura (which, while useless against anyone close to her level, at least suppresses fear effects).  I'll probably take away/diminish one of these based on further comments, and that'll leave Rrahask in her final form.  I'll also consider slowing her resurrection effect from PTB, though as it stands, if anything killed her it's likely that she'd have already wasted several spells against it, and would resurrect with only a partial spell slot inventory ready anyway.  Can only waste so many mid- to high-level slots on Tree Stride, Wind Walk, and such, right?


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## domino (Mar 9, 2005)

Abisashi said:
			
		

> On a different topic, dragons should advance one age category for each ~950 years after achieving Great Wyrm. This puts Alsixnivis at Great wurm +6 2/3; I'll post him later today, and that'll be my epic NPC contribution.
> 
> I'm not sure why dragon BAB and saves don't use the slowed epic progression; it makes advanced dragons incredibly powerful.



Alsixnivis has already been done over, he's near the top of this page.  There simply IS no category greater than Great Wyrm, on account of they die at that point.  They aren't immortal, just really long lived.  So, you might want to take a look at that one, which gives him a dragon only prestige class, that among other things, grants immortality, and make suggestions/changes to that.

But yeah, Rrahask is a pushover, but even when she was immune to damn near everything, she was still a pushover.  She'd just keep coming back, to get beat down again.  Her real strength isn't in her melee combat prowess, it's in her druid abilities, to fight against them with nature itself.

Also, you might want to look into the epic druid feats, that, among other things, lets druids wildshape into gargantuan creatures, and/or dragons.  A gargantuan t-rex, with animal growth cast on it would be a definite threat to Vil.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 9, 2005)

A well-played druid can take out Vil without a problem.  You do need to give Rrahask her magic items though.  She should probably get her protection from those (like most PCs do).  

On an unrelated note: although you are generally correct Domino, Abisashi made a contribution that made dragons immortal in Eyros.  I still think the best way to represent it is using Dragon Ascendant because creating age categories above Great Wyrm is a pain in the arse (and breaks the established mould that Great Wyrm is the last age category).


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## domino (Mar 9, 2005)

Ah.  I had forgotten about that thing.  Which does make sense, given the rarity of dragons in the world.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 9, 2005)

Rrahask Sshasaar was Epic-level before, but I toned her down to 20th-level with the understanding that she keeps losing XP every few hundred/thousand years when she confronts someone powerful and wears them down through fighting, dying, coming back, fighting, dying, coming back, and relentlessly whittling away at them, whether it takes hours or days.....  None of the Epic druid feats are terribly worthwhile though, at least not until around 27th or 30th level, which is about the earliest point that many of them are available (note the required ranks of Spellcraft, Knowledge Nature, and such that many of those feats have).  So Rrahask relies on the Shapechange spell moreso than Wild Shape, when it comes to taking on a foe in melee.  Throwing boulders as a giant or dragon works too though....


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## domino (Mar 9, 2005)

Eh.  I figure that when you're a nigh immortal Druidess with your life tied to an entire region of a planet, some allowances can be made, even if you don't meet all the prereqs for a feat.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 9, 2005)

Arkhandus said:
			
		

> Rrahask Sshasaar was Epic-level before, but I toned her down to 20th-level with the understanding that she keeps losing XP every few hundred/thousand years when she confronts someone powerful and wears them down through fighting, dying, coming back, fighting, dying, coming back, and relentlessly whittling away at them, whether it takes hours or days.....  None of the Epic druid feats are terribly worthwhile though, at least not until around 27th or 30th level, which is about the earliest point that many of them are available (note the required ranks of Spellcraft, Knowledge Nature, and such that many of those feats have).  So Rrahask relies on the Shapechange spell moreso than Wild Shape, when it comes to taking on a foe in melee.  Throwing boulders as a giant or dragon works too though....



 Don't forget that she gets the Dragon's Breath Weapon and more while Shapechanged now (Supernatural abilities).  Ridiculous but true.


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## domino (Mar 9, 2005)

How do these look for the armor and weapon of Vajaros Dragonbane?

+3 Dragonscale Full Plate of Acid, Cold, Electricity, and Fire resistance, Greater.
+3 Reflecting Dragonscale Heavy Shield

+5 Keen, Dragon Bane Double Sword.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 9, 2005)

I like it.  Mighty items but still in line with the level 17-21ish power that I was thinking for the Five Heroes.  And with their added history, the PCs would be awed indeed to find one of these items, if they had heard the legends.


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## Abisashi (Mar 9, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Ah.  I had forgotten about that thing.  Which does make sense, given the rarity of dragons in the world.




Right. I was trying to make dragons the super-powers, though all of them are innactive for one reason or another.

Both the ELH and the Draconomicon give rules for age categories beyond great wurm; the Draconomicon details a red dragon advanced 7 age categories. I picked ~950 years per category so I could put Alsixnivis at an even 60 HD, but the advancement for dragons is, as noted above, crazy. I used the weaker Draconomicon advancement (ELH is the same, except it gives out free Improved Spell Capacity feats), and Alsixnivis comes out to CR 41 (threw in some ad-hoc CR for being a Silver-White instead of just a silver).


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## domino (Mar 9, 2005)

Fair enough.  I don't have the Draconomicon, so I didn't know about that one.  And didn't think of looking in the ELH.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 9, 2005)

D'oh, that's what I get for getting bored of the Dragon PrCs, they throw that in on the same page as the Tiamat Ravager. I totally missed it. Either way, 41 CR is way way way too high. Conquers Twice is already a bit on the high end of power here (and he's also worshipped), so Big Al should only be significantly more powerful if he is the most powerful dragon out there, and 41 is still too high for that. After all, at least one dragon and Taufenacht (who commands dragons) were defeated by 5 17-21st level characters.

Edit: And I did make create the Al the Dragon Ascendant stat-block that is right where he should be on power level as a super-powerful being.  Advancing to 41 CR is no longer a super-powerful being, it becomes an unbeatable being (unless we are playing heavy epic).


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## Arkhandus (Mar 10, 2005)

*Eyros NPC: Orrukarn Ambassador*

*Drokarizaan mal-Viresshti Kaltremos Farizhuur, ambassador in Eyrdeyn*
Male orrukarn aristocrat 3
Medium Humanoid (Gnoll)
*Hit Dice:*     2d8+3d8 (23 hp)
*Initiative:*     +1
*Speed:*     30 ft. (6 squares)
*Armor Class:*     18 (+1 Dex, +5 mithril breastplate, +2 wooden shield),
touch 11, flat-footed 17
*Base Attack/Grapple:*     +3/+4
*Attack:*     Masterwork rapier +5 melee (1d6+1/18-20) or dagger +4 melee
(1d4+1/19-20) or masterwork composite longbow +5 ranged (1d8+1/x3)
*Full Attack:*     Masterwork rapier +5 melee (1d6+1/18-20) or dagger +4 melee
(1d4+1/19-20) or masterwork composite longbow +5 ranged (1d8+1/x3)
*Special Qualities:*     Guarded vision, potent mind
*Space/Reach:*     5 ft./5 ft.
*Saves:*     Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +4
*Abilities:*     Str 12, Dex 13, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 16
*Skills:*     Appraise +7, Bluff +8, Diplomacy +8, Gather Information +8,
Intimidate +6, Knowledge (local) +8, Knowledge (history) +7, Knowledge
(nobility and royalty) +7, Perform (dance) +6, Profession (courtier) +5
Sense Motive +8, Speak Language 2
*Feats:*     Negotiator, Persuasive, Skill Focus (Gather Information)
*Environment:*     Any land, currently Eyrdeyn
*Organization:*     Solitary or krr'itash (ambassador plus 2-6 honor guards)
*Challenge Rating:*     3
*Treasure:*      Standard
*Alignment:*     Lawful Neutral
*Advancement:*     By character class
*Level Adjustment:*     +1

Description
Ambassador Drokarizaan mal-Viresshti Kaltremos Farizhuur is a gnoll from
the Independant Island-State of Orrukar, and he is the Orrukarn ambassador
in Eyrdeyn, capitol of the Sovereign Dominion of Eyros.  The Orrukarn are a
race of enlightened gnolls unique to their island Orrukar, which lies east of
Ghalfaen, south of Indracca, and southeast of Eyros, separated from them
by the Pearl Sea.  Drokarizaan is a young Orrukarn gnoll of highborn status
and formal upbringing, a stolid adherant to Orrukar's laws and traditions, but
also well-adapted to living in Eyrdeyn as his people's ambassador there.  He
has been in Eyrdeyn for 5 years now, and is growing into his role well,
though he has ambitions in Orrukar that he wishes to pursue once he's found
a suitably experienced replacement for his office in Eyrdeyn.

The ambassador ("itash" in the Orrukarn's native tongue) is a very formal and
polite individual, like many of his kind, but also shares his people's hedonistic
tendencies, so he can often be found in raucous taverns across Eyrdeyn.
He frequently attends parties and other events in Eyrdeyn, sometimes those of
the middle class or peasantry for lack of any recent noble events.  As an
Orrukarn he finds little difference between the nobility and peasantry of Eyros,
seeing them all as unenlightened, superstitious, petty, religious sycophants
who play at being civilized while wasting themselves and their resources on
religions.  Like the rest of his people, Drokarizaan thinks that the lesser peoples
need to abandon their wasteful religious attachments and stop humbling
themselves before some ridiculous divinities that the Orrukarn doubt even
exist.  Of course, voicing the athiest opinion of his people in Eyros would only
get him flogged or worse, so he keeps up the facade of his people treating the
other races as equals.

Ambassador Drokarizaan works constantly to make connections in the city,
accumulate favors, improve trade relations between Eyros and Orrukar, and
ensure that the Grand Monarch of Eyros does not threaten the Orrukarn.  He
serves not only as ambassador to Eyros, but also as an informer to the leaders
of Orrukar about Eyrian activities, rumors, politics, and schemes.  Drokarizaan
has a web of connections in the Eyrdeyn underworld and upper class as well,
but most especially amongst the merchant powers in the city.  He works black
market deals as well as legitimate agreements, but is always careful enough to
avoid being ensnared.  He is meticulous and methodical, patient but ambitious.
The ambassador is a fond spectator of the frequent Claw of the Dragon
tournaments for the orc-blooded in Eyrdeyn, and takes advantage of the event
to place bets, meet more of the city's movers and shakers, host parties for the
tournament's hopefuls, and generally improve his reputation and connections
amongst the upper class.

Drokarizaan mal-Viresshti Kaltremos Farizhuur is a tall and graceful Orrukarn
man, slightly handsome by Orrukarn standards though still somewhat odd to
the eyes of Eyrians.  Nonetheless, the ambassador has a clean and sharp
look to him that speaks of his noble heritage.  Drokarizaan has fur of sandy
yellow blonde, spotted black around the back of his neck, upper chest, and
lower legs.  He is lean but slightly muscular, and his eyes are a sterling
blue-silver.  He wears garb appropriate for an Eyrdeyn courtier, just distinctly
different enough to avoid offending actual Eyrians while still close enough for
them to not be distracted or unsettled.  His armor and shield are likewise of
Eyrian manufacture, though custom crafted for him, while he keeps the
rapier, dagger, and bow that he brought from Orrukar.  Thus the stylings of
his weaponry appear exotic and strange to Eyrian eyes, but beautiful
enough.  Drokarizaan has little contact with his family back in Orrukar, but
does receive finances from them now and again, as they are a well-to-do
Orrukarn family of pearl merchants.  Drokarizaan is the fourteenth child in
his family, and thus has very distant relations to his elderly parents and
his noble siblings.  He somewhat resents his situation, but knows that
he still has a chance for wealth and prestige in Orrukar someday.

The ambassador lives in the upper floor of his people's small embassy, a
little above the middle tiers of Eyrdeyn. The embassy is a three-story,
round building 30 feet in diameter, with ceilings 10 feet high, and a small
cellar beneath.  The middle floor is home to the honor guard, a small group
of warriors from Orrukar.  They are replaced every 3 years as new guards
are rotated in from the Island-State, so only the ambassador himself has
to endure a long stay in Eyros.  The embassy has only been occupied by
gnolls of Orrukar for about two hundred years, and was a merchant
household before.

Ambassador Drokarizaan carries a few magic items in one of his belt
pouches, though very minor.  He keeps a Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds,
an Oil of Magic Weapon, a Potion of Shield of Faith, a Potion of Cat's
Grace, and a vial of Silversheen, all created at the minimum caster level.

Drokarizaan is literate, and he speaks, reads, and writes Ar'kesh, Draconic,
Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Noble Eyrosian, and Vulgar Eyrosian.

Combat
Drokarizaan is a skilled young fencer in the Orrukarn tradition, and has
familiarized himself slightly with Eyrian fighting styles, but he's no prodigy
and he has no military aspirations.  His training has focused primarily on his
role as an ambassador, advisor, and informer, so his combat ability is only
adequate for sparring and self-defense on the streets.  As an intelligent
aristocrat, he knows his limitations in battle and will try to use his cunning
to win the fight, or at least escape.

He fights defensively at first, usually just blocking and parrying for a few
moments to see his opponent's skill, then darting in for an attack now and
again.  He never charges in recklessly, and he isn't too prideful to withdraw
a short distance after being stricken to gauge his wounds.  He often tries
feints and deceptive strikes, especially when fighting defensively.
Drokarizaan typically expects to win a fight by getting in a lucky hit to the
opponent's vitals, expecting a drawn-out fight to provide more openings for
just such a strike.  In nonlethal duels he typically caps his rapier with a blunt
tip to avoid undue harm.

In battles that aren't one-on-one, Drokarizaan usually has his honor guard
present to fight for him in melee, while Drokarizaan tries to stay back and
take shots with his bow.  If he can't avoid melee, or can't avoid hitting his
allies with arrows, he will reluctantly draw his rapier and move in to try
and flank enemies.

Other Details
*Weapon and Armor Proficiency:*     All simple weapons, all martial
weapons, all armors, shields.
*Guarded Vision:*     Orrukarn gnolls are adapted to thriving in the
sunlight and enduring the bright rays shining through their crystalline cities.
They are not nocturnal like other gnolls tend to be, and they do not have
darkvision.  Instead, Orrukarn receive a +2 racial bonus on saving throws
against any effect that would blind, dazzle, stun, or daze them, but only
if the effect uses bright light to do so.  Orrukarn also receive this bonus
on saving throws against effects with the Light descriptor.
*Potent Mind:*     An Orrukarn gnoll receives a +2 racial bonus on
Will saving throws against mind-affecting effects.  Orrukarn also receive
a +2 racial bonus on any caster level checks or manifester level checks
to beat a creature's Spell Resistance or Power Resistance.  Additionally,
Orrukarn gnolls receive a bonus feat with their 2nd level of humanoid,
which can be any feat they qualify for, just like a human's bonus feat.
*Favored Classes:*     Orrukarn and Sorcerer


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 10, 2005)

Cool NPC!  Are we going to see him as part of your next contribution on the other thread?


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## domino (Mar 10, 2005)

It might be a good idea to make some sort of double sword focused gladiator type, prestige class.  Because every good (and bad) setting needs prestige classes.

I'd do it, but I have no idea how to.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 10, 2005)

I've made around twenty PrCs for my campaigns, so I can do it.  I was trying to shy away from them for a while, since having too many often makes people angry, but one can't hurt ^^


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## Arkhandus (Mar 10, 2005)

Thanks.   Ambassador Drokarizaan of the Orrukarn will be in my next smallish blurb contributing to the other Eyros thread.  Today I'm thinking up some possible generic NPCs to stat up for Eyros DMs, but the first thing that came to me was to do a sample Orrukarn NPC that might be encountered in Eyrdeyn and interacted with easily.  The ambassador's honor guard is likely a small group of 1st-3rd level warriors or fighters, all Orrukarn gnolls of course, garbed like Drokarizaan in an Eyrian fashion rather than Orrukarn armor.

I'm also thinking today about the types of gear, mount, architecture, etc. used in the setting.  With Indracca, there's a persian/arabic-style of gear in use.  With Saagersberg there's some kind of germanic or norse style of gear (I'm not terribly familiar with any single foreign language, sadly).  The elves of Nistadeen likely use some western european style of arms and armor, or perhaps something like egyptian or african style.  Heck, for all we know the elves might use oriental styles of weaponry.  Eyros itself is based loosely on roman styles....  Orrukar I figure is probably a blend of french, spanish, or turkish styles, or perhaps oriental kinds.  I figure that rapiers, daggers, bows, falchions, scimitars, flails, maces/hammers, halberds, and glaives may be appropriate Orrukarn weapons.  Still unsure.

As for a two-bladed sword-wielding prestige class, I might throw together a quick little rough sample of an idea.  I've made tons of prestige classes for my homebrews so far (too bad I can never focus long enough on one homebrew to make it really complete....).  My current homebrew campaign has run about a year and I'm about halfway finished with at least 1 PrC per race/subrace, plus a few others.  I.E. Halfling Animist, Gilden Fusilier, Hirotashi Kinutsukai, Goblin Swarmer, Golemist, Exile, Jungle Avatar, Orcish Rampager, and Gnomish Taskmage are the PrCs I've got somewhere between 50-100% complete for my current campaign.  One PC is near to taking Jungle Avatar, another might take Gilden Fusilier.


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## Abisashi (Mar 10, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> ...Either way, 41 CR is way way way too high. Conquers Twice is already a bit on the high end of power here (and he's also worshipped), so Big Al should only be significantly more powerful if he is the most powerful dragon out there, and 41 is still too high for that. After all, at least one dragon and Taufenacht (who commands dragons) were defeated by 5 17-21st level characters.
> 
> Edit: And I did make create the Al the Dragon Ascendant stat-block that is right where he should be on power level as a super-powerful being.  Advancing to 41 CR is no longer a super-powerful being, it becomes an unbeatable being (unless we are playing heavy epic).




I think Alsixnivis being more powerful than Conquer's Twice is a good thing, as it keeps the solar from marching to the North and taking out most of Taufenacht's power in the world. As for being the most powerful dragon... well, he is a special creation of Taufenacht, though being Silver-White is giving him only 1-2 CR. Perhaps there are no older dragons; the older ones were all killed in the Deciever's War (perhaps dragons were first created to fight it? I think that will be my next contribution.) Alsixnivis is Taufenacht's ace in the hole; he could be the highest CR creature around.


As for Taufenacht himself, I think he is more like Shai'Tan in the Wheel of Time; if he were physically in the world, he'd be unstoppable, but during the Deciever's War he was only partly in the world, perhaps possessing another person's body or something similar. The heroes defeated his avatar and destroyed many of his access points; the only ones left may be the Twelve and the Cerebrum Ruby. This is why Alsixnivis never goes far from the Twelve (he can't teleport back in as the surrounding area is warder against it, but I'll talk about that later.)


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## Arkhandus (Mar 10, 2005)

A preliminary example for scrutiny regarding a possible two-bladed sword prestige class.

Master Claw of the Dragon (Eyros Prestige Class)
Prerequisites: Eyrian only, half-orc only, Base Attack Bonus +4 or higher, Bluff or Intimidate 5+ ranks, Jump 7+ ranks, Knowledge (war) 2+ ranks, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Two-Bladed Sword), Power Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Two-Bladed Sword), must be formally trained in the Claws of the Dragon martial art by a recognized master in Eyros.

Alignment: Any.
Hit Dice: d8.
Class Skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (war), Perform, Ride, Sense Motive, and Tumble.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Master Claws of the Dragon are proficient in all simple weapons, all light armors, and all medium armors.

Two-Weapon Defense: A Master Claw gains the Two-Weapon Defense feat as a bonus feat.  If they already possessed the feat, they instead double the shield bonus of that feat.

Dragon's Dive: The Master Claw is skilled at leaping into the air to bear down on their foe with a whirling two-bladed sword, like a dragon on the dive.  Master Claws of the Dragon add their level in this prestige class, as a competence bonus, to both their Jump checks and the maximum distance they can jump, in feet.  If the Master Claw jumps high enough for at least their knees to be level with an opponent, they count as having the high ground for purposes of their attack, meaning they get a +1 circumstance bonus on the attack roll.  The Master Claw may jump as part of a move, double-move, charge, or partial charge.

Sharpened Claw of the Dragon: At 2nd-level in this prestige class, the Master Claw has attained such a level of skill with the two-bladed sword that it strikes as an extension of their own arms.  The penalty for fighting with two weapons or a double weapon is reduced by 2 points when wielding a two-bladed sword.

Wiles of the Dragon: When a Master Claw wields a two-bladed sword, they can use the Bluff skill to feint in combat as a move-equivalent action instead of a standard action.  When they use the Bluff skill to feint in combat, the Master Claw deals +1 damage with the following attack if they successfully feint.  The bonus damage is multiplied normally on a critical hit.  This ability is gained at 3rd-level in the prestige class.

Bite of the Dragon: A 4th-level or higher Master Claw of the Dragon can make two attacks when charging an opponent, but only when using a two-bladed sword and jumping at least 3 feet high before the strike.  In these circumstances, the Master Claw makes one attack as normal with their primary hand, with the usual bonus on the attack roll for charging, but also gains an off-hand attack without the charging bonus.  The off-hand attack suffers a further -2 penalty to the attack roll.

Mastered Claw of the Dragon: At 5th-level in this prestige class, the Master Claw improves the threat range of their two-bladed sword by 1 point, after all other modifiers, and this stacks with any other threat range adjustments.

Level__BAB__Fort__Ref__Will__Special
1_____+1____+0____+2___+0___Two-Weapon Defense, Dragon's Dive
2_____+2____+0____+3___+0___Sharpened Claw of the Dragon
3_____+3____+1____+3___+1___Wiles of the Dragon
4_____+4____+1____+4___+1___Bite of the Dragon
5_____+5____+1____+4___+1___Mastered Claw of the Dragon


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 10, 2005)

Abisashi said:
			
		

> I think Alsixnivis being more powerful than Conquer's Twice is a good thing, as it keeps the solar from marching to the North and taking out most of Taufenacht's power in the world. As for being the most powerful dragon... well, he is a special creation of Taufenacht, though being Silver-White is giving him only 1-2 CR. Perhaps there are no older dragons; the older ones were all killed in the Deciever's War (perhaps dragons were first created to fight it? I think that will be my next contribution.) Alsixnivis is Taufenacht's ace in the hole; he could be the highest CR creature around.
> 
> 
> As for Taufenacht himself, I think he is more like Shai'Tan in the Wheel of Time; if he were physically in the world, he'd be unstoppable, but during the Deciever's War he was only partly in the world, perhaps possessing another person's body or something similar. The heroes defeated his avatar and destroyed many of his access points; the only ones left may be the Twelve and the Cerebrum Ruby. This is why Alsixnivis never goes far from the Twelve (he can't teleport back in as the surrounding area is warder against it, but I'll talk about that later.)



 Well, I'm kinda of the opinion that we should cut back on CT also, but even so, if we want to make a viable high-level (18-20ish) adventure to beat back Taufenacht's power once more, it can't be done if Taufenacht has a CR 41 lieutenant.  I agree with you on Taufenacht being like Shai'tan, I just think that Al needs to not be that powerful (and if it means cutting back on CT too, that's fine, it will be very easy to remove some or all of those Paladin levels)


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## domino (Mar 10, 2005)

Looks good.  I like the special abilities, some of which are gimmes, like the lowered penalty for twf with the sword.

Is there any reason that they are limited to Half-orcs?

And another idea I had, maybe if someone decides to do a 10 level progression is to give the character something like uncanny dodge, as they're always jumping around in an acrobatic twirling style, and would be able to ward against flanking attacks, so they're never actually flanked.  Then again, the class is mostly a dueling oriented one, so maybe they wouldn't have any practice.  Just an idea I had.


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## Abisashi (Mar 10, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Well, I'm kinda of the opinion that we should cut back on CT also, but even so, if we want to make a viable high-level (18-20ish) adventure to beat back Taufenacht's power once more, it can't be done if Taufenacht has a CR 41 lieutenant.  I agree with you on Taufenacht being like Shai'tan, I just think that Al needs to not be that powerful (and if it means cutting back on CT too, that's fine, it will be very easy to remove some or all of those Paladin levels)




Great Wurm Silver dragons are already CR 26; halving the rate at which dragons age puts Alsixnivis's CR at 33-34. If we want to provide low-epic support, then we've got:

Destroy the Cerebrum Ruby and the Illithid (most of this could be done earlier than 20th)
Defeat Vil. and his army
Defeat the dragon who set up Vil
Defeat the dragon sleeping in the Mountain
Defeat Alsixnivis (this would be rather difficult, but we could probably find some more stuff to do before this.)

Each of those is probably worth a couple of levels. I certainly understand about the CR being too high, I'm just trying to fit him in beyond great wurm but below the cap.


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## Abisashi (Mar 10, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Looks good.  I like the special abilities, some of which are gimmes, like the lowered penalty for twf with the sword.
> 
> Is there any reason that they are limited to Half-orcs?
> 
> And another idea I had, maybe if someone decides to do a 10 level progression is to give the character something like uncanny dodge, as they're always jumping around in an acrobatic twirling style, and would be able to ward against flanking attacks, so they're never actually flanked.  Then again, the class is mostly a dueling oriented one, so maybe they wouldn't have any practice.  Just an idea I had.





Well, we could make a second 5-level prestige class. Most Claw of the Dragon students only learn the dueling techniques, but those who master those moves can move on to applying the style to larger numbers of enemies. Having it as two classes makes the divide more clear. Make "Mastered Claw of the Dragon" a prerequisite for the second class (or perhaps only make "Wiles of the Dragon" the pre-req.)


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 10, 2005)

I think CR 33 to 34 is just right, as you probably guessed from the fact that my stab at Al on page 4 has that CR.  I think the dragon sleeping in the mountain wasn't meant to become a fight by its creator, nor does there need to be a dragon who set up Vil (I rather like Mouse's backstory for Vil as having been corrupted by the bloodtainted carnage).  33-34 for Al is high enough that he is super-powerful while still killable by a mid-20s party if they have someone who, perhaps, goes on a quest to find Wyrmdeath and then on another to reforge it to become an epic weapon.  And it would still be a really spectacular fight.  I'm certainly open to your statting Al up to CR 33-34 through age advancement if you have the time, but it could take a long time, so you may want to look at my Dragon Ascendant version (which is just white, rather than silver/white) as a place to start.

Part of this wariness towards CR 41 comes from my personal bias in testing the epic system in my personal campaigns and watching it break apart by level 40 (basically, by level 40, a well-built spellcaster automatically wins unless the opponent has unbeatable SR or incredible touch AC combined with Evasion and Mettle, in which case she automatically loses; if they are both well-built spellcasters, whoever wins initiative wins.  For instance, I created a level 40 lich that could do multithousands of damage every round as long as her Caster Level of 48 as enough to penetrate SR and another guy who could cast 10 spells per round.  For melee, there's nothing quite as crazy, although I had a paladin whose Smite attacks each did 560 bonus damage [in addition to normal damage]), so I like to get things done before the PCs hit 30 if possible.


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## Abisashi (Mar 10, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> I think CR 33 to 34 is just right, as you probably guessed from the fact that my stab at Al on page 4 has that CR.  I think the dragon sleeping in the mountain wasn't meant to become a fight by its creator, nor does there need to be a dragon who set up Vil (I rather like Mouse's backstory for Vil as having been corrupted by the bloodtainted carnage).  33-34 for Al is high enough that he is super-powerful while still killable by a mid-20s party if they have someone who, perhaps, goes on a quest to find Wyrmdeath and then on another to reforge it to become an epic weapon.  And it would still be a really spectacular fight.  I'm certainly open to your statting Al up to CR 33-34 through age advancement if you have the time, but it could take a long time, so you may want to look at my Dragon Ascendant version (which is just white, rather than silver/white) as a place to start.
> 
> Part of this wariness towards CR 41 comes from my personal bias in testing the epic system in my personal campaigns and watching it break apart by level 40...




I'll agree with that, though Alsixnivis is a rather potent caster himself. I've done most of the statting already, I was just waiting for us to figure out what the best CR for him would be.

Oh, I totally missed Mouse's explanation for the origin of Vil.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 10, 2005)

My final versions of the Eyros prestige classes for half-orc nobles, now appropriately balanced:

Dragonclaw Duelist (Eyros Prestige Class)
Experienced students in the Claws of the Dragon martial art develop some distinctive techniques with their noble weapon, the two-bladed sword.  Those students who dedicate themselves to the training and earn some favor from their master teacher will acquire this prestige class, learning how to duel skillfully in the traditional Eyros style.  Since the masters only teach half-orc nobles of Eyros, these students often train their courtly skills at the same time, in addition to traditional Eyrian military disciplines and duties.  The Claws of the Dragon martial art emphasizes use of the two-bladed sword, especially for charging and other offensive maneuvers, intended to cut down an opponent quickly and spectacularly.

*Prerequisites:* Eyrian only, half-orc only, Base Attack Bonus +3 or higher, Bluff or Intimidate 5+ ranks, Jump 7+ ranks, Knowledge (war) 2+ ranks, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Two-Bladed Sword), Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Two-Bladed Sword), must be formally trained in the Claws of the Dragon martial art by a recognized master in Eyros.

*Alignment:* Any.
*Hit Dice:* d8.
*Class Skills:* Bluff, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (war), Perform, Ride, Sense Motive, and Tumble.
*Skill Points at Each Level:* 4 + Intelligence modifier.
*Weapon and Armor Proficiency:* This prestige class grants no additional proficiencies.

*Fury of the Dragon:* A Dragonclaw Duelist can make two attacks against an opponent they are charging, but only when using a two-bladed sword and jumping at least 3 feet high before the strike.  In these circumstances, the Dragonclaw Duelist attacks once normally with their primary had, with the usual charging bonus, but also gains an off-hand attack against the same opponent or any other foe within melee reach, immediately after the primary-hand attack.  The off-hand attack does not gain a bonus for charging, and instead suffers a -2 penalty to the attack roll.  Do not apply the normal two-weapon fighting penalties with this special charge attack.  Also, when using Fury of the Dragon, the Dragonclaw Duelist's AC penalty for charging is worsened by 1 point, for as long as they suffer that charging penalty to AC.

*Dragon's Dive (Ex):* The Dragonclaw Duelist is skilled at leaping into the air to bear down on their foe with a whirling two-bladed sword, like a dragon on the dive.  Dragonclaw Duelists of the Dragon add their level in this prestige class, as a competence bonus, to both their Jump checks and the total maximum height and distance they can jump, in feet.  If the Dragonclaw Duelist jumps high enough for at least their knees to be level with an opponent's chest, they get a +1 circumstance bonus on the attack roll for effectively having the high ground.  A Dragonclaw Duelist may jump as part of a move, double-move, charge, or partial charge.  Dragon's Dive is an extraordinary ability.

*Defense of the Dragon:* A 2nd-level Dragonclaw Duelist gains Two-Weapon Defense as a bonus feat.  If they already possessed the feat, instead double the shield bonus of Two-Weapon Defense.

*Wiles of the Dragon:* When a Dragonclaw Duelist wields a two-bladed sword, they can use the Bluff skill to feint in combat as a move-equivalent action instead of a standard action.  When they successfully use the Bluff skill to feint in combat, the Dragonclaw Duelist deals +1 damage with the following attack if striking with a two-bladed sword.  This bonus damage is multiplied normally in the event of a critical hit.  Wiles of the Dragon is gained at 3rd-level in the Dragonclaw Duelist prestige class.

*Strength of the Dragon:* The training and determination of the Dragonclaw Duelist pays off in part when they reach 4th-level in the prestige class, as they learn to apply the full force of their strength with the two-bladed sword.  Henceforth, whenever they attack with both ends of a two-bladed sword on their action, they treat each end of the two-bladed sword as a one-handed weapon for purposes of damage.  The off-hand end still counts as light for purposes of attacking, but deals damage as though it were instead a one-handed primary weapon.  Thus, they apply their full Strength bonus to damage with the off-hand as well as with the primary-hand, while feats and abilities likewise treat the off-hand end as a one-handed weapon for damage, such as for Power Attack if they have that feat.

*Fangs of the Dragon:* At 5th-level in this prestige class, the Dragonclaw Duelist has attained such a level of skill with the two-bladed sword that it strikes as an extension of their own arms.  With a two-bladed sword, the attack penalty for fighting with a double weapon is reduced by 2 points.  This does not affect Fury of the Dragon, since that ability does not use the normal two-weapon fighting penalties.

Level__BAB__Fort__Ref___Will__Special
1_____+1___+0____+2___+0___Fury of the Dragon, Dragon's Dive
2_____+2___+0____+3___+0___Defense of the Dragon
3_____+3___+1____+3___+1___Wiles of the Dragon
4_____+4___+1____+4___+1___Strength of the Dragon
5_____+5___+1____+4___+1___Fangs of the Dragon





Dragonclaw Master (Eyros Prestige Class)
Students who rise to any master rank in the Claws of the Dragon martial art tradition may begin to study the deeper meanings and uses of the art.  They learn how to apply this style to mass combat situations and taking on large groups of enemies, fighting like a rampant dragon tearing through hordes of enemies.  Although they may train less in defense and physical might, the advanced students gain significant offensive prowess from their mastery in Claws of the Dragon philosophy.  These masters of the fighting art also work on developing more draconic cunning and awareness, learning to apply tactics and strategies more quickly and broadly.  Taking this prestige class is a step in that direction, leading towards mastery in the Claws of the Dragon style.  Dragonclaw Masters are not only exceptional duelists, but also master tacticians and main battle troops, making excellent centurions and legates in the Legions of Eyros.  They can frighten lesser troops into surrender or retreat, and cleave through numerous foes with deadly accuracy when they foolishly offer resistance against the superior Dragonclaw Master.

*Prerequisites:* Eyrian only, half-orc only, Base Attack Bonus +7 or higher, Bluff or Intimidate 10+ ranks, Jump 10+ ranks, Knowledge (war) 5+ ranks, Tumble 5+ ranks, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Two-Bladed Sword), Improved Critical (Two-Bladed Sword), Power Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Two-Bladed Sword), Wiles of the Dragon class ability, must be formally trained in the Claws of the Dragon martial art by a recognized master in Eyros.

*Alignment:* Any.
*Hit Dice:* d6.
*Class Skills:* Bluff, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (war), Perform, Ride, Sense Motive, and Tumble.
*Skill Points at Each Level:* 4 + Intelligence modifier.
*Weapon and Armor Proficiency:* This prestige class grants no additional proficiencies.

*Lunge of the Dragon:* When the Dragonclaw Master charges an opponent, he or she can move both before and after the charge, rather than halting once he reaches the foe.  He or she is still limited in how far they can move, as normal for a charge, and they must still move in only a straight line, also as normal for a charge.  The Dragonclaw Master's movement with this charge does not provoke attacks of opportunity from any opponents they charge.  Additionally, the Dragonclaw Master's charge penalty to Armor Class is reduced by 1 point.  Lunge of the Dragon only functions when using a two-bladed sword.

*Uncanny Dodge (Ex):* A 1st-level or higher Dragonclaw Master retains their Dexterity bonus to AC even when surprised or flat-footed, though he or she does not retain any other AC bonuses that rely on keeping the Dexterity bonus to AC.  Further, once they reach 2nd-level in the prestige class, they can no longer be flanked, and thus a Rogue cannot Sneak Attack them merely by flanking.  However, a Rogue with at least 4 character levels more than the Dragonclaw Master may still flank him or her, and may then use Sneak Attack against them normally.  Uncanny Dodge is an extraordinary ability.

*Rampage of the Dragon:* Dragonclaw Masters receive the Whirlwind Attack feat for free at 2nd-level, as a bonus feat, and do not need to meet the feat's normal prerequisites.

*Wings of the Dragon:* By 3rd-level in the Dragonclaw Master prestige class, the character has improved their skill at leaping attacks to be truly devastating.  They gain +2 on Jump checks, and on damage rolls with any attack they make with a two-bladed sword while jumping at least 5 feet high.  The damage bonus is multiplied normally in the event of a critical hit.  Lastly, if a Dragonclaw Master jumps at least half as many feet high as their opponent's current height, just before attacking the foe with a two-bladed sword, the Dragonclaw Master receives a free trip attempt against their opponent, using the two-bladed sword.  If they fail this trip attempt, the opponent does not get a chance to trip the Dragonclaw Master, but if the Dragonclaw Master successfully trips the opponent, it occurs just before the attack.  This trip attempt does not provoke attacks of opportunity from the opponent being tripped.

*Voice of the Dragon (Ex):* A Dragonclaw Master gains +2 on both Diplomacy checks and Intimidate checks, at 4th-level in this prestige class.  When demoralizing foes with the Intimidate skill, the Dragonclaw Master panics them instead, causing the demoralized foes to flee in fear of the Dragonclaw Master in addition to the effects of being shaken.  Also, the panicked foes suffer a 50% chance of dropping anything they hold, just before fleeing.  Voice of the Dragon is an extraordinary ability.

*Mastery of the Dragon:* The threat range of any two-bladed sword, when wielded by a 5th-level Dragonclaw Master, is improved by 1 point.  This stacks with any other threat range adjustments, and is factored in last.  In addition, the Dragonclaw Master treats opponents as having one degree less cover when he or she attacks them with the two-bladed sword.  This particular benefit does not reduce total cover, however.

Level__BAB__Fort__Ref___Will__Special
1_____+1___+0____+2___+0___Lunge of the Dragon, Uncanny Dodge (Dex to AC)
2_____+2___+0____+3___+0___Rampage of the Dragon, Uncanny Dodge (flanking)
3_____+3___+1____+3___+1___Wings of the Dragon
4_____+4___+1____+4___+1___Voice of the Dragon
5_____+5___+1____+4___+1___Mastery of the Dragon


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## Abisashi (Mar 11, 2005)

Arkhandus said:
			
		

> Dragonclaw Master (Eyros Prestige Class)
> ...
> *Hit Dice:* d6.




I haven't taken a detailed look at these yet, but why does the Dragonclaw Master's hit die drop?


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## Sarellion (Mar 11, 2005)

Something to help put down the baddies

Artifact:

Aurilions Scales of Judgement
Appearance: Golden/red merchant like he ones Justitia, the roman goddess of law is carrying around.
The scales radiate a bright light when in use.

Powers: The scales balance the wicked with the just and bestow enough negative levels on the most powerful followers of Taufenacht or his avatar in the world that the good guys have a chance (Insert exact numbers by DM). Only works if the heroes are on the same scale as the five heroes. Only works in the hands of mortals, works at reduced strength if other artifacts of the five heroes are missing.


About CT and Alsixnivis

I think that CT wouldn´t go on a rampage thru the north. His mission is not stomping out all evil and he is afraid of collateral damage and falling himself. I could also imagine that the twelve is an area where CT is at a severe disadvantage. It is one of the major sites of evil in this world, so I assume CT wouldn´t feel so good there. 

So Alsixnivis doesn´t go on a rampage because he fears the solar and doesn´t want to leave the site open for attack. CT doesn´t want to go on a rampage because he fears his brother´s fate and Alsixnivis. I mean, we know his stats but the solar doesn´t.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 11, 2005)

The Dragonclaw Duelist, by my judging, has roughly 8 feats worth of special abilities over the course of its 5 levels, but is highly focused in its fighting style and doesn't really help with anything but that fighting style.  The Dragonclaw Master has roughly 9-1/2 or so feats worth of power in its special abilities, maybe a bit more, so I reduced its hit die.  In game it could be that once a half-orc noble masters the dueling aspects of the Claws of the Dragon style, they move on to the more subtle and graceful techniques for mastery, and the Dragonclaw Master prestige class emphasizes agility and battlefield awareness moreso than raw power, whereas the Dragonclaw Duelist focuses on beating down a single opponent quickly.  Thus the Master's training involves less training of the body for strength and endurance, and more on opening up the senses and reacting quickly.

Oh, and they're limited to half-orcs because the original post describing the Claws of the Dragon martial art said that only that young half-orc nobles were trained in a fighting style called the Claws of the Dragon, and compete in tournaments with it.  I don't think it was meant for any purebloods.


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## domino (Mar 11, 2005)

Ah.  I must have missed that part.  But I seem to be missing a lot of stuff.  But then, there's a lot of stuff to miss.


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## Abisashi (Mar 12, 2005)

Sarellion said:
			
		

> So Alsixnivis doesn´t go on a rampage because he fears the solar and doesn´t want to leave the site open for attack.




Basically my thinking, though he remembers that the Five Heroes came out of nowhere, and thus is generally cautious. Also, the Twelve is protected by a teleport-blocking field, which means that Alsixnivis can't journey too far (because he can't get back instantly.) I figure that the various tribes in the north keep him supplied.



Edited to switch are to is.


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## domino (Mar 12, 2005)

Just as a general grammatical thing, do we want to say the Twelve ARE, or the Twelve IS?  Because the name's a misnomer, and there's just the one, right?


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 12, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Just as a general grammatical thing, do we want to say the Twelve ARE, or the Twelve IS?  Because the name's a misnomer, and there's just the one, right?



 I tend to use the singular, but that's personal preference only.


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## Abisashi (Mar 12, 2005)

domino said:
			
		

> Just as a general grammatical thing, do we want to say the Twelve ARE, or the Twelve IS?  Because the name's a misnomer, and there's just the one, right?




I've been meaning to use singular, but I usually don't even think about it. It's a single entity, in the form of twelve standing stones or something; has anyone said what the look like?


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## Sarellion (Mar 12, 2005)

No. There was something about a entity within the stones but I think this is a mental entity only.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 12, 2005)

Sarellion said:
			
		

> No. There was something about a entity within the stones but I think this is a mental entity only.



 I always thought it was a single physical entity (i.e. Taufenacht himself) trapped within the stones and thus only able to send out mental insinuations.  The mental voice is known as "The Twelve" but it is really just a mouthpiece for the trapped Taufenacht.  Perhaps the pillars were raised as part of an effort to trap him.


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## Abisashi (Mar 14, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> I always thought it was a single physical entity (i.e. Taufenacht himself) trapped within the stones and thus only able to send out mental insinuations.  The mental voice is known as "The Twelve" but it is really just a mouthpiece for the trapped Taufenacht.  Perhaps the pillars were raised as part of an effort to trap him.




I was thinking it was a means by which he could communicate with the prime material plane. I had thought about it being a trap, but it seemed better as a communication means for him (perhaps the only reliable one, as the cerebrum ruby is chillin' with some illithids, whereas this one has Alsixnivis guarding it.) I actually posted on this subject in the main thread:



			
				Abisashi said:
			
		

> The Five Heroes destroyed most of Taufenacht's access points to the world, but they missed one in the far north, where Taufenacht's Silver-White hybrid, Alsixnivis, was taking his first flights. Taufenacht can now only influence the world through a few points - the cerebrum ruby, the Twelve, and perhaps a few other places. Now he is just biding his time, for few if any people who are not his his ally, servant, or thrall know that he still lives and has access to the world.




..And I just realized I messed up in the other thread; off to change that.


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## Abisashi (Mar 14, 2005)

Abisashi said:
			
		

> ..And I just realized I messed up in the other thread; off to change that.




Conversation with self:
Hmm, people are reffering to Alsixnivis as a silver-white hybrid in the main thread, even though we've only referred to him as such in the rules thread. I should post to fix that.
Five minutes later: [quote my own post from the main thread to demonstrate something] Hmmmmm... this thread mentioned that Alsixnivis is a silver-white hybrid? Wait a second, didn't I just contribute that? Oops.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 14, 2005)

Abisashi said:
			
		

> Conversation with self:
> Hmm, people are reffering to Alsixnivis as a silver-white hybrid in the main thread, even though we've only referred to him as such in the rules thread. I should post to fix that.
> Five minutes later: [quote my own post from the main thread to demonstrate something] Hmmmmm... this thread mentioned that Alsixnivis is a silver-white hybrid? Wait a second, didn't I just contribute that? Oops.



 ^^ No worries.  We still love you Abi!


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## Sarellion (Mar 14, 2005)

I had already seen that he was a silver/white one and included it.

Not sure if I have seen it here or on the main thread.

We should stat some half-orc or goblin raiders. These are probably the first opponents a group would meet.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 14, 2005)

> I was thinking it was a means by which he could communicate with the prime material plane. I had thought about it being a trap, but it seemed better as a communication means for him (perhaps the only reliable one, as the cerebrum ruby is chillin' with some illithids, whereas this one has Alsixnivis guarding it.) I actually posted on this subject in the main thread:




This works also.  Either way, Tau would want it guarded by one of his own agents.  It can also be both.  The physical site where he was trapped could also be the means that allows him to communicate with the strongest psychic suggestions.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 14, 2005)

PH Wizard Spell names in Eyros (Cleric spells would clearly vary across faith, so the Crucible might call Flamestrike "Hand of the Flame of Judgment" and the Messenger-DLers might call it "Xarkavan's Breath"):

0th-level:

Alivia's Playful Hand (Mage Hand)
Alivia's Quick Repair (Mending)

1st-level:

Alivia's Floating Disk (Tenser's Floating Disk)
Lysia's Magic Aura (Nystul's Magic Aura)
Icy Grasp of Thanatos (Chill Touch)

2nd-level:

Kira's Caustic Arrow (Melf's Acid Arrow)
Valjin's Contagious Mirth (Tasha's Hideous Laughter)
Alivia's Extraplanar Haven (Rope Trick)
Lysia's Imaginary Trap (Leomund's Trap) 
Valjin's Ghostly Hand (Spectral Hand)

3rd-level:

Spellshatter (Dispel Magic)
Sania's Serpent Sigil (Sepia Snake Sigil)
Lysia's Tiny Hideaway (Leomund's Tiny Hut)

4th-level:

Jal-gwuin's Eye (Arcane Eye)
Valjin's Black Tentacles (Evard's Black Tentacles)
Lysia's Secure Shelter (Leomund's Secure Shelter)
Mulcibia's Minor Creation (Minor Creation)
Thanatos's Resilient Sphere (Otiluke's Resilient Sphere)
Kalis's Mnemonic Enhancer (Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer)
Herewald's Requirement (Geas, Lesser)

5th-level:

Mulcibia's Majour Creation (Majour Creation)
Lysia's Private Sanctum (Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum)
Lysia's Hidden Chest (Leomund's Secret Chest) 
Alivia's Faithful Puppy (Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound)
Jal-gwuin's Telepathic Bond (Rary's Telepathic Bond)
Orgar's Interposing Hand (Bigby's Interposing Hand)

6th-level:

Orgar's Forceful Hand (Bigby's Forceful Hand)
Thanatos's Freezing Sphere (Otiluke's Freezing Sphere)
Alivia's Rapid Rememberiser (Mordenkainen's Lucubration)
Kaillo's Transformation (Tenser's Transformation)
Spellshatter, Greater (Dispel Magic, Greater)
Valjin's Exaction (Geas/Quest)

7th-level:

Valjin's Instant Summons (Drawmij's Instant Summons)
Alivia's Alabaster Abode (Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion)
Jalgwuin's Sight (Arcane Sight, Greater)

8th-level:

Alivia's Alluring Dance (Otto's Irresistible Dance)
Orgar's Clenched Fist (Bigby's Clenched Fist)
Thanatos's Telekinetic Sphere (Otiluke's Telekinetic Sphere)

9th-level:

Valjin's Supreme Spellshatter (Mordenkainen's Disjunction)
Orgar's Crushing Hand (Bigby's Crushing Hand)
Thanatos's Soul Binding (Soul Bind)


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## Abisashi (Mar 14, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> PH Spell names in Eyros:




Perhaps make _Dispel Magic_ into _Spellshatter_. Changing a few common spells reminds people this is a different world.


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## domino (Mar 14, 2005)

The Summon Spells should probably be changed a bit, to reflect the different animal breakdown.  Dinosaurs being as common as horses, etc..


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## Abisashi (Mar 14, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> Icy Grasp of Thanatos (Chill Touch)
> ...
> Kalis's Mnemonic Enhancer (Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer)




In Magical History 201, who do students learn Thanatos is? The first Praes Thanatos, perhaps? Actually, it'd be rather amusing if, after pretending to die and then taking over the next leader of the gnomish necromancers, Thanatos named the position at the head of his order in honor of himself   

Kalis seems a not-unreasonable creator for a spell, given his scholarly and inquisitive nature, and this spell seems appropriate because it seems like a spell that would take a lot of knowledge of magic theory to create (thus requiring that it be more recent than most spells.) When spells were created is actually pretty important thematically, I think.

Our spell names have a very important implication. Lots of spells being named after still-living people means that magic is a vibrant and advancing art; lots of spells named after long-dead mages means that it is relatively stagnant (as it seems to be in most D&D settings.)


Oh, and the NPC guide you made is invaluable, as I had to look up several of those names. Thanks!


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 14, 2005)

> Oh, and the NPC guide you made is invaluable, as I had to look up several of those names. Thanks!




No problemo. Thanks for the praise; I'm just glad people are using it! In fact, it is the fact that I made that NPC guide that allowed me to know who all those folks are! 

That said, I completely agree with you about all the implications. Also, some of the spells (Mulcibia's spells) are named in honour of a non-spellcaster by a recent creator from Pillar Mulcibe.

Some interesting implications in our vibrant developing art of magic: For thousands of years, people thought that they needed to wait for 11th level to get a Geas effect (Valjin's Exaction), until recently Herewald developed a weaker form that you can cast sooner (Herewald's Requirement). And the niche spell Tenser's Transformation was developed by the somewhat-unstable Mask Kaillo, to mirror his own transformation into a dangerous opponent of the state.


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## Abisashi (Mar 14, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> No problemo. Thanks for the praise; I'm just glad people are using it! In fact, it is the fact that I made that NPC guide that allowed me to know who all those folks are!
> 
> That said, I completely agree with you about all the implications. Also, some of the spells (Mulcibia's spells) are named in honour of a non-spellcaster by a recent creator from Pillar Mulcibe.
> 
> Some interesting implications in our vibrant developing art of magic: For thousands of years, people thought that they needed to wait for 11th level to get a Geas effect (Valjin's Exaction), until recently Herewald developed a weaker form that you can cast sooner (Herewald's Requirement). And the niche spell Tenser's Transformation was developed by the somewhat-unstable Mask Kaillo, to mirror his own transformation into a dangerous opponent of the state.




If I'm drawing a blank on my next contribution, I'll use these implications (and perhaps expand a little). I think talking about how the magic fits into the setting is pretty interesting and important.


Hmm, I still haven't put up my stats for Alsixnivis, but I have 3 midterms this week, so that might not happen till next friday. Fortunately, I'm not under a deadline (yet   ).


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 14, 2005)

Abisashi said:
			
		

> If I'm drawing a blank on my next contribution, I'll use these implications (and perhaps expand a little). I think talking about how the magic fits into the setting is pretty interesting and important.
> 
> 
> Hmm, I still haven't put up my stats for Alsixnivis, but I have 3 midterms this week, so that might not happen till next friday. Fortunately, I'm not under a deadline (yet   ).



 Ah, midterms.  Fun!  I had four this last week.  And a midterm paper due last week and another this Thursday "Celtic Mythology: A Glimpse Into the Past" (so I was kinda in a mythology stage both in class and on the boards, if people noticed).


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## Abisashi (Mar 14, 2005)

*wiki*

How do we want to add this to the wiki? Make a subset of pages for rules? I don't think we want them in the fluff pages.


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## Sarellion (Mar 14, 2005)

I just wonder if the gnomes would keep Valjins name in the spell names and honor him by this. II would expect that Thanatos the greedy gnome grabbed all the honors for himself.

The title of the leader of the Praes Thanatos is Cucullus Umbra. How does this honor him?


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 14, 2005)

Sarellion said:
			
		

> I just wonder if the gnomes would keep Valjins name in the spell names and honor him by this. II would expect that Thanatos the greedy gnome grabbed all the honors for himself.
> 
> The title of the leader of the Praes Thanatos is Cucullus Umbra. How does this honor him?



 He doesn't want it to be suspected that he is still the leader, so he picked a name meaning "Beshadowed Cowl."  To honour himself, he named the whole organisation after himself meaning "Thanatos is at Hand".  I would figure that Valjin's name was on all those spells for so many years so that even the few humans and other races who did learn wizardry picked it up and started using it, so it was too widespread to erase (plus Valjin is one of the Five Heroes, after all, so he is held in a dubious honour--dubious because the legends say that he betrayed his allies after Taufenacht was defeated).  But nothing's set in stone, so we can change things around.

Oh, no idea about the wiki


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## Abisashi (Mar 14, 2005)

*oops*



			
				Sarellion said:
			
		

> The title of the leader of the Praes Thanatos is Cucullus Umbra. How does this honor him?




My bad, I switched the name of the order and the position. Correction: the name of the first Cucullus Umbra was Thanatos; unkown to most people, there has only been one Cucullus Umbra, as he just takes over the next candidates body. The outside world thought the second Cucullus Umbra was named Jack Doe, but it was in fact Thanatos still, and he named the order in honor of himself.

edit: Rystil beat me to it.

Woah, I was just looking through the other thread, and realized that I've never seen most of the posts on page 14. Weird.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 14, 2005)

Abisashi said:
			
		

> My bad, I switched the name of the order and the position. Correction: the name of the first Cucullus Umbra was Thanatos; unkown to most people, there has only been one Cucullus Umbra, as he just takes over the next candidates body. The outside world thought the second Cucullus Umbra was named Jack Doe, but it was in fact Thanatos still, and he named the order in honor of himself.
> 
> edit: Rystil beat me to it.
> 
> Woah, I was just looking through the other thread, and realized that I've never seen most of the posts on page 14. Weird.



 Bwahaha, I subscribed to the other thread, so I see them all!


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## Abisashi (Mar 14, 2005)

*Rules on Wiki*

For rules that belong to one of the fluff categories, the rules should link off of that (Magic, NPCs, Races, etc.)

Generic NPCs and prestige classes should link off of the organizations section.

Remember, with the wiki we can link stuff like crazy, all we have to do is put in anchors to link to.


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## Sarellion (Mar 16, 2005)

The fluff thread has someone mentioning that people killed by duels have to be raised or even true ressed, limbs have to be restored. How do we want to handle that? If everything is low level and masks are considered to be accomplished sorcerers with level 5, there is only a handful people in Eyros who could raise and they wouldn´t do as there are probably more killed guys than xp available, as you can only give up a duel when incapacitated.

On the other side, if raise and true res is available the assassination of the grand monarch would be unpleasant and a big affair but something permanent

Some ideas?


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 16, 2005)

Sarellion said:
			
		

> The fluff thread has someone mentioning that people killed by duels have to be raised or even true ressed, limbs have to be restored. How do we want to handle that? If everything is low level and masks are considered to be accomplished sorcerers with level 5, there is only a handful people in Eyros who could raise and they wouldn´t do as there are probably more killed guys than xp available, as you can only give up a duel when incapacitated.
> 
> On the other side, if raise and true res is available the assassination of the grand monarch would be unpleasant and a big affair but something permanent
> 
> Some ideas?



 hmm...well there's probably only one or two NPCs who can perform True Rez, but I would think Raise Dead wouldn't be too too uncommon...we can say that if the Grand Monarch dies, the Amethyst Crown drains her soul.


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## domino (Mar 16, 2005)

Or maybe that the stress from having his/her life force drained would be so much that the shock of being raised again would just kill him/her a second time.

Also, don't most of the gladiators aim to wound rather than kill?  Especially if they'd need to pay if they did kill.  Thus, they probably have a death insurance fund, to pay the few qualifed people.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 16, 2005)

Gladiators don't need to be raised, only duelists who accidentally get slain in a duel.  Duels happen outside the arenas, they're formal challenges between nobles or the like.  They're usually not to the death.  So they rarely result in needing a Raise Dead or Regeneration.  Gladiators can rot in their cells with one arm and a mangled eye for all their stablemaster's likely to care, unless they're freemen. :-/

Edit: I have the Mo'ahhi woman statted up now, but DMs could use variations of her stats for their games.  Some may not want her sundering the PC gladiator's precious weapon in the first or second round of battle from 15 feet away, so they could just swap Improved Sunder out for Weapon Focus (whip-dagger).  Some may want to swap out some of her levels for a prestige class out of Complete Warrior, Sword & Fist, or Complete Adventurer, for all I know.  But I suggest keeping her levels arranged in such a way that she wouldn't have suffered XP penalties for multiclassing.  Her first level was in Ranger, for reference, with many cross-class ranks in roguish skills from that level.  I gave her languages as per a PC, such that Common aka Vulgar Eyrosian is a freebie along with her regional language Mo'ahhim, but you may decide to just swap out 2 ranks in something and give her Speak Language (Vulgar Eyrosian).  Keep in mind that the NPCs in Lux Ex Oriente are supposed to be champions of their homelands, come to test their skills against Eyrian warriors, that's why they're relatively higher level than most other gladiators.  For that matter, I'll probably soon post the stats and description for a typical Eyrian gladiator.  After I stat and post the rest of Lux Ex Oriente.

Kal'aj'ash'nee, Mo'ahhi Warrior-Woman
Medium Humanoid (Human), Ranger 3/Fighter 6/Rogue 3
*Hit Dice:* 3d8+6d10+3d6+24 (84 hp)
*Initiative:* +8
*Speed:* 30 ft. (6 squares)
*Armor Class:* 22 (+4 Dex, +5 armor, +1 natural armor,
+2 deflection), touch 16, flat-footed 18
*Base Attack/Grapple:* +11/+13
*Attack:* Magic +1 bone whip-dagger +14 melee (1d6+1/17-20);
or masterwork bone short sword +12 melee (1d6/19-20)
*Full Attack:* Magic +1 bone whip-dagger +14/+9/+4 melee
(1d6+1/17-20); or magic +1 bone whip-dagger +10/+5/+0
melee (1d6+1/17-20) and masterwork bone short sword +10
melee (1d6-1/19-20)
*Face/Reach:* 5 ft./5 ft. (15 ft. with whip-dagger)
*Special Attacks:* Combat style (two-weapon fighting),
favored enemy (humans), sneak attack +2d6
*Special Qualities:* Evasion, trapfinding, trap sense +1,
wild empathy +6
*Saves:* Fort +11, Ref +12, Will +4
*Abilities:* Str 14, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 11, Cha 16
*Skills:* Balance +12, Bluff +17, Climb +11, Diplomacy +8, Escape
Artist +15, Gather Information +10, Jump +12, Listen +5, Perform
(Dance) +6, Sense Motive +8, Spot +5, Swim +8, Survival +5
*Feats:* Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Whips), Weapon Finesse,
Track, Endurance, Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, Power
Attack, Improved Trip, Improved Initiative, Improved Disarm,
Improved Critical (Whips), Improved Sunder
*Organization:* Solitary, duo (Kal'aj and Ikaido, or
Kal'aj and D'achao), or trio (Kal'aj, Ikaido, and D'achao)
*Challenge Rating:* 12
*Alignment:* Neutral evil

*Description:* The apparent leader of Lux Ex Oriente is Kal'aj'ash'nee, a stunning warrior-woman from distant Mo'ahhim, nearly ebon of skin with long, many-braided black hair, she seems to be the only one of the trio who speaks Vulgar Eyrosian; the others only speak their native tongues and Mo'ahhim.  Kal'aj'ash'nee wears piecemeal bone-and-leather armor in the apparently-Mo'ahhi-common style, revealing but mildly functional and easy to move in.  Like others of her kind she wields a whip-dagger (_ginta_ as the Mo'ahhi call it), with a blade made of sharpened bone and etched with crude symbols.  Kal'aj the Ebon (as the crowds know her) is well-muscled but particularly lithe and seems to constantly surprise her opponents with the speed and accuracy of her _ginta_.  Her Mo'ahhi fighting style is dancelike and appealing, but deadly to foes with the spinning whip-dagger.  She is manipulative and cunning, but does not speak often, and has a hardness in her looks.  The Mo'ahhi's accompanying foreign allies, though they often seem at odds, are Motoushi Ikaido of Nientei, and D'achao'himat'echet Uramao'tetcatlan of O'hoa'ti'neumas.

Kal'aj'ash'nee is literate, and she speaks Mo'ahhim, Nientese, O'hoa'ti, and Vulgar Eyrosian.  Her mother learned some foreign languages from Mo'ahhi traders and taught them to Kal'aj throughout childhood.

*Important Notes:* Kal'aj'ash'nee wields a whip-dagger with the Human Bane magic quality and a +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage.  Her people, the Mo'ahhi, call whip-daggers _ginta_.  Her whip-dagger is a mighty whip-dagger, adding up to +2 Strength modifier to damage.  The Human Bane quality increases the enhancement bonus to attack and damage by +2 against humans, and deals an additional +2d6 damage to humans, but these situational bonuses are not factored into the statistics above.  The blade and spines are made of bone, so it suffers a -2 penalty on attack and damage rolls, factored into Kal'aj's statistics.  Whip-daggers can be found in Sword & Fist and the Arms & Equipment Guide, both by Wizards of the Coast, but they might also be listed in Complete Warrior (though I am uncertain on that last point).  Following the Arms & Equipment Guide, Exotic Weapon Proficiency in the whip extends to the whip-dagger.  In following the 3.5 changes to whips, Kal'aj's whip-dagger is considered for most purposes to be a one-handed Medium melee weapon with 15-foot reach, and though it can strike anyone within its reach, it does not threaten an area.  Whip-daggers deal normal damage rather than subdual damage, and do not suffer a normal whip's inability to damage creatures with armor or natural armor bonuses to AC.  Like a normal whip, however, the whip-dagger grants +2 on an opposed roll to disarm a foe, and on the roll to avoid being disarmed of the whip-dagger if that disarm attempt fails.  Likewise, whip-daggers can be used to trip an opponent, and if the trip attempt fails, the wielder may drop the whip-dagger to avoid being tripped themselves.

Kal'aj the Ebon carries a masterwork bone short sword in her off-hand, but rarely uses it, so it rarely impacts her fighting ability.  When used though it suffers the same -2 attack and damage penalty as her bone whip-dagger, which is factored into her statistics already.  Kal'aj'ash'nee wears bone armor, with a +2 enhancement bonus to AC and the Slick magic quality.  Bone armor can be found in the Arms & Equipment Guide by Wizards of the Coast, and possibly Complete Warrior.  The bone armor's check penalty is -2 since it is masterwork, factored into her statistics, but most of the time she has to do athletics is when traveling, so usually she will have removed her armor for such activities, under which she wears little more than a waistcloth, upper-torso wrap, and boots.  Kal'aj the Ebon wears an Amulet of Natural Armor +1, and a Ring of Deflection +2 on her right forefinger.  She keeps a Potion of Cure Serious Wounds at her belt for emergencies, and when traveling she also attaches a few belt pouches with rations and waterskins inside.  Kal'aj'ash'nee has the same amount of gear as the Dungeon Master's Guide suggests for 12th-level NPCs.

Since Kal'aj the Ebon has humans as her favored enemy, she receives a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when used against humans, and she deals +2 damage to humans with any weapon she wields, but these bonuses are not factored into her above statistics since they are situational.  Her two-weapon fighting combat style means that she gains the benefits of the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, as long as she wears light armor or no armor, regardless of the feat's prerequisites.

*Combat Tactics:* Kal'aj the Ebon tries to begin a battle by using the Bluff skill to feint in combat, which only takes a move-equivalent action thanks to her Improved Feint feat, so that she can immediately follow up with an attack which her opponent will have difficulty avoiding thanks to the feint.  This first attack is usually a sneak attack with the whip-dagger, and she enjoys using a combination of feints and sneak attacks throughout any battle.  If her opponent carries a large weapon, she will often begin a fight by instead trying to break the weapon with one or more sundering attempts aided by Power Attack, to avoid her precious _ginta_ being sundered by such powerful weapons.

Kal'aj will back away from opponents with a 5-foot-step after any opponent moves closer to her, since her whip-dagger provokes attacks of opportunity like a ranged weapon, so is best used from 10 or 15 feet away.  Every other round she will generally open up with a full-attack using first a trip attempt, and if successful two normal attacks, but if her trip attempt fails she'll just try it again with her second attack of the round.  Sometimes Kal'aj will begin a fight with a trip attempt or disarm attempt, instead of a sneak attack, just to keep her opponents off-guard and off-balance.

Kal'aj makes frequent use of her Power Attack feat to add a further 4 to 6 points of damage to most of her attacks, or as much as 8 extra damage when she's tripped an opponent or feinted, unless they look very well-armored.  Still, even against most well-armored foes she can usually afford to use Power Attack for 4 points or so.  When Kal'aj'ash'nee is stuck in close quarters for a moment, she will use her off-hand dagger in combination with her whip-dagger to make a rapid series of attacks, thanks to her Two-Weapon Fighting combat style.  However, she will provoke an attack of opportunity from attacking with the whip-dagger if within the opponent's threatened area.  Nonetheless the trade-off is usually worth it, as it usually finishes off her opponent or convinces them to yield.

Kal'aj doesn't often fight defensively, but will do so if her opponent seems very powerful and accurate within the first few rounds.  If such a revelation doesn't come until later in the battle, she may begin fighting defensively for the rest of the battle, trusting in her superior accuracy with the whip-dagger to win.  She often scores at least one critical hit in a battle, after all, which can be deadly when using Power Attack.  Against any foe who is obviously formidible, this is her prime tactic, to fight defensively and use a bit of Power Attack, such as 2 to 4 points, and trust in her superior accuracy and threat range to win through.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 17, 2005)

For the heck of it I'll post a more typical Mo'ahhi warrior-woman come to the gladiator arenas of Eyros.  Refer to the description above for Kal'aj'ash'nee for a general idea of their appearance and tactics, though more limited because they lack their champion's experience and feats.

Typical Mo'ahhi Warrior-Woman Gladiator
Medium Humanoid (Human), Rogue 1/Fighter 4
*Hit Dice:* 1d6+4d10 (28 hp)
*Initiative:* +3
*Speed:* 30 ft. (6 squares)
*Armor Class:* 17 (+3 Dex, +4 armor), touch 13, flat-footed 14
*Base Attack/Grapple:* +4/+6
*Attack:* Magic +1 bone whip-dagger +6 melee (1d6+3/19-20);
or masterwork bone short sword +5 melee (1d6/19-20)
*Full Attack:* Magic +1 bone whip-dagger +6 melee
(1d6+3/19-20); or masterwork bone short sword +5 melee (1d6/19-20)
*Face/Reach:* 5 ft./5 ft. (15 ft. with whip-dagger)
*Special Attacks:* Sneak attack +1d6
*Special Qualities:* Trapfinding
*Saves:* Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +0
*Abilities:* Str 14, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 12
*Skills:* Balance +6, Bluff +10, Climb +6, Escape Artist +7,
Intimidate +7, Jump +6, Listen +3, Perform (Dance) +5, Sense
Motive +3, Speak Language (Vulgar Eyrosian) 1, Spot +3,
Survival +3, Tumble +6
*Feats:* Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, Exotic Weapon
Proficiency (Whips), Skill Focus (Bluff), Weapon Focus (Whips),
Weapon Specialization (Whips)
*Organization:* Solitary, duo, imha'oa (7), group (3-12), or mixed team (1-3 Mo'ahhi plus 1-3 Nientese and/or 1-3 O'hoa'ti and/or 1-12 others)
*Challenge Rating:* 5
*Alignment:* Neutral evil

A typical Mo'ahhi warrior-woman fighting in the gladiator arenas of Eyros wields a +1 bone whip-dagger in their main hand, a masterwork bone shortsword in their off-hand, and wears +1 bone armor.  Their whip-dagger is a mighty whip-dagger, as detailed in Sword & Fist and the Arms & Equipment Guide by Wizards of the Coast, adding up to +2 Strength modifier to damage.  They also carry a Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds in their belt in case of an emergency, and a Potion of Cure Light Wounds.  While traveling they bring belt pouches with a few trail rations and waterskins within, but leave these behind when entering battle.  They fight aggressively but gracefully, tricking other gladiators in order to lash out with a Sneak Attack, but will fight defensively or just guard themselves when fighting a tough opponent, and will randomly attack to keep the opponent off-guard.  They expect their Sneak Attacks to wear down the opponent before they get exhausted or seriously wounded, but they often use their Combat Expertise feat for a few points of extra AC to minimize the wounds they'll suffer.  The Mo'ahhi gladiators are typically illiterate, but speak Mo'ahhim, Vulgar Eyrosian, and either Nientese or O'hoa'ti.


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## Arkhandus (Mar 19, 2005)

I've been busy the last several days so haven't finished and posted the descriptions for the other gladiators, but I am nearly finished now with Ikaido and D'achao.  They're a bit more complete than Kal'aj but less extensive in their tactics, trusting in simpler methods.  I've left the Mo'ahhi purposely mysterious, but folks are free to contribute little facts on the other Eyros thread.  I'll be contributing a few minor facts about the three eastern cultures in that thread, but still intend to leave them mostly unexplained and open.


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## Sarellion (Mar 20, 2005)

What you think how common magic items are. It´s a much lower amount than in standard D&D but how much lower? How would this affect play balance?


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## Sarellion (Mar 20, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> hmm...well there's probably only one or two NPCs who can perform True Rez, but I would think Raise Dead wouldn't be too too uncommon...we can say that if the Grand Monarch dies, the Amethyst Crown drains her soul.




I just saw a good reason to step down before you are dead.


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## Rystil Arden (Mar 20, 2005)

Sarellion said:
			
		

> I just saw a good reason to step down before you are dead.



 Indubitably!


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## Arkhandus (Mar 26, 2005)

Here's the second of the major foreign gladiators, D'achao the Bronze, whose description is rather long.....  Some DMs may prefer to run him as a pure warrior, changing out his sorcerer level for another ranger level and swapping his cleric levels for fighter levels.....

D'achao'himat'echet Uramao'tetcatlan, O'hoa'ti Bloodspell Zealot
Medium Humanoid (Human), Ranger 1/Barbarian 2/Sorcerer 1/Cleric 4/Fighter 2
*Hit Dice:* 1d8+2d12+1d4+4d8+2d10+40 (92 hp)
*Initiative:* +2
*Speed:* 40 ft. (8 squares)
*Armor Class:* 16 (+2 Dex, +3 armor, +1 natural armor),
touch 12, flat-footed 14
*Base Attack/Grapple:* +8/+17
*Attack:* Magic +1 copper dagger +14 melee (1d4+5/17-20); or
unarmed strike +13 melee (1d3+5); or melee touch +13 melee;
or magic +1 copper dagger +11 ranged (1d4+5/17-20)
*Full Attack:* Magic +1 copper dagger +14/+9 melee (1d4+5/17-20);
or unarmed strike +13/+8 melee (1d3+5); or melee touch +13/+8 melee
*Face/Reach:* 5 ft./5 ft.
*Special Attacks:* Favored enemy (humans), rage 1/day, spells,
spontaneous inflict spells, rebuke undead 4/day
*Special Qualities*: Chaotic aura, familiar, fast movement,
luck domain power 1/day, strength domain power 1/day,
uncanny dodge, wild empathy +1
*Saves:* Fort +16, Ref +5, Will +8
*Abilities:* Str 20, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 12
*Skills:* Climb +6, Craft (Primitive Weaponmaking) +7,
Craft (Primitive Armormaking) +7, Handle Animal +7
Intimidate +10, Knowledge (Religion) +2, Perform
(Chant) +2, Ride (Reptiles) +7, Speak Language
(Abyssal, Mo'ahhim) 2, Spellcraft +2, Survival +3
*Feats:* Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple,
Track, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Intimidate), Weapon
Focus (Dagger), Stunning Fist, Improved Critical (Dagger)
*Organization:* Solitary, duo (D'achao and Ikaido, or
D'achao and Kal'aj), or trio (D'achao, Kal'aj, and Ikaido)
*Challenge Rating:* 10
*Alignment:* Chaotic neutral

*Description:* D'achao the Bronze (as the crowds know him) is an O'hoa'ti bloodspell zealot, whose savage knife-fighting style and self-mutilation, not to mention copper dagger and wicker armor, speak volumes about his people's culture.  From the hardly-known O'hoa'ti'neumas hordelands of the far, far east, D'achao'himat'echet is a towering reddish-bronze man of great muscle and little finesse.  Though perhaps ruggedly handsome, D'achao's body is scarred in many places and apparently each scar is either from a battle-wound or self-inflicted as marking a kill by D'achao.  Like all O'hoa'ti zealots his scalp is kept bald, and shows signs of rough shaving with crude implements.  His forehead is marked with a strange scar shaped as some kind of symbol, as is the palm of each hand.  D'achao rarely speaks and often seems agitated or terribly bored, while even in his calmer moments he seems to look at some people with a strange, inexplicably unsettling glint in his eyes.  Maybe it's just his red eyes, but it seems to be more than that.

D'achao has an obvious dislike of Ikaido but seems to fight well enough in tandem with the Nientese sword-dancer.  He also shows an obvious affinity for Kal'aj and does as she says, despite his enmity towards the other Lux Ex Oriente member Ikaido, and despite Kal'aj's apparent lack of interest in him.  D'achao the Bronze fights with a crude copper dagger, etched with some foreign symbol, and he wears simple wicker armor, signs of his people's primitiveness, yet they seem reasonably effective against Eyrosian arms and armor.  His fighting style is direct and brutal, utilizing his broad dagger for attacking, and his free hand for grappling and shoving.  He carries two extra copper daggers sheathed in his wicker armor, but only as a reserve.  However, what unnerves his opponents is that D'achao always starts a battle by cutting himself a shallow gash and wiping the blood across his copper blade and wicker armor.  He chants in his people's primitive tongue the whole time as he ritually cuts himself and then even while fighting, and sometimes spatters his blood on opponents with a flick of his hand, which seems to harm or frighten them for some reason (besides the disgust).  D'achao'himat'echet Uramao'tetcatlan is part of the gladiator trio known in Eyrdeyn as Lux Ex Oriente, "Light from the East," and his companions are Kal'aj'ash'nee the Mo'ahhi warrior-woman and Motoushi Ikaido the Nientese sword-dancer.

Strangely enough, despite his people's ways and his position as one of the O'hoa'ti barbarians' champions, D'achao the Bronze is not actually evil but rather more self-centered and temperamental.  Though he enjoys combat and slaughter as much as any O'hoa'ti, he enjoys it more for the thrill and danger of battle, the excitement of victory and the chance to revel in his strength and power.  He doesn't really desire to hurt and kill others, merely to fight them and test his mettle, challenge his strength, and perhaps accumulate even more strength in the process.  He will fight to the death if his foe does not yield, but while he accepts surrender he will not offer it, rather instead expecting that the enemy will beg him for mercy first.  At that point he will generously accept and help the defeated warrior off the battlefield safely, channeling the divine vigor of his faith to mend the worst wounds if he has that power left in him at the time.  His scars remind him of every worthy warrior he has slain, so he might remember their valor and honor them in his daily prayers each noon, easing their journey through whatever follows life, so that they might sooner receive the honors and power they deserve in the afterlife.  D'achao'himat'echet is a complicated barbarian.

D'achao believes largely in the idea that might makes right, but also believes that there is only so much to be gained from any activity, so pursuing something beyond the point of most reward is just plain wasteful and, in fact, disgraceful.  Slaying an enemy will not make him stronger, so it serves him best to let them live and leave so he might have the chance to face them later when they can better challenge his strength, making him stronger that way.  Thus he only kills when it seems necessary, and not when he's commanded to.  Though his attitude borders on evil, D'achao holds no particular malice towards anyone and only truly desires two things, those being physical challenges and personal pride.  Though he loves battle most of all, he also finds contentment in sport and exercise, and enjoys the accolades of others praising his might and prowess, because it affirms the validity of his pride and ego.

Despite his egotism, however, he rather despises the idea of interfering with other peoples' efforts towards glory and greatness.  Though he doesn't mind killing or humiliating foes for the sake of his personal power, he would rather let them go about their own pursuits if mercy is an option, so they might achieve their greatest potential too.  If they are worthy, he believes, they will ascend like him to whatever awaits great warriors in the afterlife.  He does not believe that he is quite strong enough to know yet who deserves this honor and who does not, so he would rather not impede their progress unless they get in his way or anger him too much.  His reckless abandon, ferocity, ill temper, total disregard for others' feelings or lives (expecting that they will survive and make do, if they are truly strong at heart), irrational desire to let chance decide everything, and ceaseless pursuit of both conflict and physical gratification make him far too chaotic to really be moral or amoral, as he just doesn't care.

Ironically, D'achao'himat'echet is only more loved by his people as a champion because of his half-heretical ideas about the O'hoa'ti faith.  They are all chaotic individualists with raging egos, so as long as they're all fighting for personal gain and power, what does it matter how they interpret the faith?  They just want to fight and conquer, breed and drink, revel and game.  Even if they're fighting eachother, they still have a mutual understanding, odd for such a chaotic people as the O'hoa'ti hordes.  D'achao is respected for his strength and ambition even amongst fellow bloodspell zealots, despite his personal interpretation of the barbarian faith.  While he believes in the Hungry Gods of the Burning Heart in Sky's Jealous Embrace, D'achao puts more stock in the chaos of life and fate that resulted from the Greedy Gods' betrayal, when they stole from the once-Joyous Gods and gave Life's Radiant Heart to Cold Lord Sky.  Thus, D'achao prays to the Burning Heart and its Hungry Gods each day at noon, and has faith in the teachings of the elder bloodmagi, but sees life as the ultimate test and thinks that gaining power in life will make him better able to fight beside the Hungry Gods to retrieve the Burning Heart.  This seems rather haughty to his compatriots, but none doubt that if any warrior were to achieve such honor and power, it would be D'achao.

D'achao'himat'echet Uramao'tetcatlan is illiterate, and the only languages he speaks are Abyssal, O'hoa'ti, and Mo'ahhim.  D'achao was required to learn the Abyssal tongue of demons, during his training and study as a bloodspell zealot, as it is the priestly and lordly tongue of the O'hoa'ti'neumas hordelands, for whatever reason.  D'achao learned Mo'ahhim from a Mo'ahhi man, residing in the hordelands as an ambassador to the O'hoa'ti, when D'achao was selected to travel in foreign lands as a champion of his people.  Then again, ambassadors to the hordelands do not last long, and are more like sacrifices to please the O'hoa'ti's supposed gods, who hunger for blood like the barbarians themselves hunger for flesh.  O'hoa'ti are cannibalistic but only on certain days of religious significance to them, where they eat the forsaken and sacrifice blood to their ghastly deities, or whatever fell beings pose as such before them.  Naturally the ambassadors are never told by their own leaders why they are needed so frequently, but Mo'ahhi men are considered fairly expendible in their own culture.

*Important Notes:* D'achao'himat'echet Uramao'tetcatlan wields a copper dagger with the Human Bane magic quality and a +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage.  However, he also carries two spare daggers sheathed in his wicker armor, and while they appear the same as his primary dagger, they are only of masterwork quality and have no magic.  The Human Bane quality increases the magic dagger's enhancement bonus to attack and damage by +2 against humans, and deals an additional +2d6 damage to humans, but these situational bonuses are not factored into the statistics above.  The blade of each dagger is wide like that of a broadsword, crudely hammered from copper, and crudely etched with a primitive symbol, so the copper daggers each suffer a -1 penalty on attack and damage rolls, factored into D'achao's statistics (note however that the statistics assume he uses his magic dagger, so reduce the total damage modifier by 1 when he resorts to a masterwork dagger).  The Arms & Equipment Guide by Wizards of the Coast describes the penalties of stone, bronze, and bone weapons, and so might Complete Warrior too, so the penalties of bronze were used for copper lacking of a closer match, despite copper's inferiority to bronze alloys, so assume that the O'hoa'ti have access to high-quality copper in their homeland.  The O'hoa'ti do not have the technology to smelt iron, bronze, or other ores, so can only use soft, raw metals found close to the surface, using their hammer-picks of stone, bone, or copper.  With their lack of forging technology, they cannot produce better mining tools, nor refine ore, nor forge alloys, nor shape hard metals such as iron.

D'achao the Bronze wears wicker armor, with a +2 enhancement bonus to AC.  Wicker armor can be found in the Arms & Equipment Guide by Wizards of the Coast, and possibly Complete Warrior.  The wicker armor's check penalty is 0 normally, so masterwork doesn't further reduce it, thus the wicker armor doesn't interfere with athletics or the like.  Besides his wicker armor, made of interwoven reeds, D'achao wears only a simple waistcloth, crude sandals, a thin shirt cut from some mammal's hide and sewn loosely closed on the sides, and similarly thin, crude mammal-hide leggings.  The shirt and leggings are only worn with the wicker armor however, for comfort against the wicker's coarse reeds.

D'achao'himat'echet usually wears an Amulet of Natural Armor +1, making his skin tough like leather, though not quite as tough as his ensorcelled wicker armor.  Outside of battle he carries two spell component pouches upon his leather belt, in addition to four additional pouches filled with the foci and reagents for his Augury cleric spell, sufficient to cast the Augury spell one hundred times.  The tokens he uses as foci for Augury are small bone chips inscribed with rough, primitive symbols probably in the O'hoa'ti language.  Besides his spell components, D'achao carries at his belt two waterskins and two pouches filled with rations.  In battle he normally wears only his two normal spell component pouches on the belt, leaving the Augury components and other supplies elsewhere.  D'achao'himat'echet Uramao'tetcatlan has the same amount of gear as the Dungeon Master's Guide suggests for 10th-level NPCs.

Since D'achao the Bronze has humans as his favored enemy, he receives a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when used against humans, and he deals +2 damage to humans with any weapon he wields, but these bonuses are not factored into his above statistics since they are situational.  D'achao'himat'echet also possesses the uncanny dodge ability, so he retains his Dexterity bonus to AC even when caught flat-footed or stricken by an invisible attacker.  He can enter a barbarian rage once per day, granting +4 Strength, +4 Constitution, +2 on Will saves, and -2 to Armor Class.  His barbarian rage lasts up to 9 rounds, and fatigues him for the rest of the battle afterwards, so he only taps into this blood frenzy early in the last or toughest fight of the day.

*Familiar:* Named T'ou'ran, snake (tiny viper, master gets Alertness and +3 Bluff), 46 hit points, familiar's Intelligence is 6, +1 to familiar's natural armor, empathic link, familiar traits, improved evasion, share spells, familiar considered to have same number of hit dice as its master so its poison DC is 15.
*Sorcerer Magic:* D'achao knows the sorcerer spells Detect Magic, Message, Prestidigitation, Touch of Fatigue, Chill Touch, and Shield.  He can cast 5 sorcerer spells per day of 0-level and 4 per day of 1st-level.
*Cleric Magic:* Rebukes and commands undead as a 4th-level cleric, up to 4 times per day, with +1 on turning checks and turning damage from his Charisma modifier.  He does not usually have any undead under his control.  D'achao has the Luck and Strength cleric domains.  He casts spontaneous inflict spells.  He can cast up to 5 cleric spells per day of 0-level, 4 per day of 1st-level, and 3 per day of 2nd-level, as well as 1 domain spell per day of 1st-level and 1 domain spell per day of 2nd-level.  His cleric spells typically prepared are Cure Minor Wounds, Cure Minor Wounds, Guidance, Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Augury, Doom, Protection from Law, Shield of Faith, Enlarge Person (domain), Bull's Strength, Cure Moderate Wounds, Hold Person, and Aid (domain).

*Combat Tactics:* D'achao the Bronze fights simply and aggressively, as typical for an O'hoa'ti.  However, he is not without a certain degree of cunning, he just prefers simple and direct means so as to better test his strength.  He starts each battle with a little ritual, and continues his O'hoa'ti chant throughout the battle.  He sometimes uses this to covertly cast spells on himself, but has just enough sense to know that he must be wary of the Eyrian arena masters catching him in the act, knowing that spells are illegal in the Eyrian arenas.  When he does apply spells at the start of a fight, it's usually a Bull's Strength followed by an Aid, and if he has time enough he'll cast Shield of Faith and Protection from Law on himself as well.  Outside the arenas, he usually casts Enlarge Person instead of Protection from Law, but he knows that many Eyrian warriors and gladiators are likely to be disciplined and trained by the Eyros military or the gladiator stables, so Protection from Law is usually a useful bit of added defense in Eyros.  D'achao casts Shield only when he seems to face a tough opponent, and will only occasionally use his other spells for offense, preferring to rely on his personal strength when it comes to beating down a foe.  His domain powers are reserved for finishing blows and decisive strikes, such as when trying to confirm a critical hit or avoid missing with an important attack, such as with Touch of Fatigue or Chill Touch or Inflict Moderate Wounds, which he often applies with an unarmed strike (knowing that his training in unarmed combat renders little need to worry about missing).

D'achao'himat'echet has keen battle instincts and makes careful use of his familiar, a tiny viper he calls T'ou'ran (though it's uncertain if this is the familiar's name or simply an O'hoa'ti word for viper).  The man's power and experience lends itself to his familiar, making T'ou'ran arguably tougher and more combat-skilled than many young soldiers, despite both the master's and familiar's obviously-low intellects.  T'ou'ran hides in its master's wicker armor, which is quite effective at hiding the puny snake twined about D'achao's left arm, and the snake is almost the same color as D'achao's dark bronze skin.  The viper strikes when D'achao sends the empathic command, biting whomever D'achao is grappling at the time and then just as quickly slipping back into hiding.  D'achao only employs the familiar's bite while he grapples a foe, making it nearly impossible for anyone to notice the snake's head snap out from under the wicker sleeve and then back in again, as D'achao uses his left hand for grabbing foes to engage in wrestling, using both his brute strength and his familiar's bite to win any grapple.  D'achao likes to grapple briefly early on in a fight, and then disengage to wear down his opponent with normal attacks, then engaging in another grapple later, breaking away, and continuing to wear down his opponent as T'ou'ran's venom takes effect.  After defeating a foe, D'achao will often wipe one of his daggers across the opponent's blood and simultaneously heal their bitemarks with a quick Cure Minor Wounds orison, to hide the signs of poisoning.  Not even Kal'aj'ash'nee or Ikaido knows of the bloodspell zealot's familiar.

D'achao relies primarily on his knife-fighting style in most battles, along with occasional grapples, knowing that his magic dagger is potent and trusting in his long years of training and experience in employing the copper dagger, so effective now that he usually has little difficulty in gutting a foe.  He is extremely familiar with the balance, weight, and edges of his personally-crafted daggers, always carefully maintaining them with a solid hammering-into-sharpness with whatever sturdy rock is at hand.  D'achao has nearly mastered most knife-fighting methods of his people, and few O'hoa'ti are more skilled than he with a dagger.  Though he crafts his own daggers and constructs his own armor, D'achao received blessings upon his current favorite dagger and armor from elder bloodmagi in O'hoa'ti'neumas, for his years of devotion and fighting for the O'hoa'ti bloodspell zealots.  D'achao'himat'echet rarely throws any of his daggers, and almost never throws the magic dagger, preferring melee combat.  If D'achao cannot seem to overcome a foe quickly with just his dagger, he'll start making heavy use of unarmed strikes as well, and more grappling.

Once he resorts to unarmed strikes amidst his dagger thrusts, D'achao prefers to use his Stunning Fist feat once each round to render the opponent more vulnerable.  Often, when he uses Stunning Fist with an unarmed strike to stun the foe, his second attack of the round will be a dagger thrust, since his dagger is more potent (especially against humans), but not if he's using Power Attack at the time.  He also likes to make heavy use of his Power Attack feat with unarmed strikes, since his daggers cannot benefit from Power Attack.  Occasionally, he will use his Intimidate skill to demoralize a foe at the beginning of combat, particularly if the foe looks to be a bit weak.  Usually, he will finish off an opponent with a Power Attack unarmed strike dealing nonlethal damage, then slay the unconscious foe if he must, but usually does not opt to slay them.  When he fights alongside Kal'aj, Ikaido, or both, he usually resorts to grappling and unarmed strikes with Stunning Fist, making it significantly easier for his comrades to go all-out on the offensive and slaughter the opposition.


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## Rystil Arden (Apr 1, 2005)

Rhiana's Tattoo of Expansion/Reduction:

Rhiana's Tattoo is a psionic marvel, created with ink found in the ruins of the lost city of Alkshalnjar.  It allows her to grow up to two sizes larger (up to size Large), or shrink up to two sizes smaller (down to size Diminutive), as per the psionic powers (giving the usual size bonuses and penalties to rolls and AC, but only +2 Str / -2 Dex for each size grown and -2 Str / +2 Dex for each size shrunken).  More impressively, the tattoo has psionically melded with her subconscious, so that she can swiftly change between any of the allowable five sizes with but a thought (a swift action).  This allows her to tactically alter her size to fit the situation in battle on a round-to-round basis.


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## Arkhandus (Apr 2, 2005)

Consequently, on the note of psionics, we'll have to remember with the PDF to use an alternate name for Mind Flayers / Illithids, since those terms (and the stats that go with them) are technically Product Identity of Wizards of the Coast, and are not Open Game Content.  So we'd have to come up with some dwarven name for the mind flayers that once were dwarves....and be certain never to mention them as being illithids, merely describing vaguely what differences are between them and normal dwarves (i.e. taller, pale, gaunt, oddly-colored, with tendrils about their sharp-toothed mouth).

I'll soon have Ikaido's description up here, just haven't had the chance to finish typing it up recently...


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## Rystil Arden (Apr 2, 2005)

Arkhandus said:
			
		

> Consequently, on the note of psionics, we'll have to remember with the PDF to use an alternate name for Mind Flayers / Illithids, since those terms (and the stats that go with them) are technically Product Identity of Wizards of the Coast, and are not Open Game Content.  So we'd have to come up with some dwarven name for the mind flayers that once were dwarves....and be certain never to mention them as being illithids, merely describing vaguely what differences are between them and normal dwarves (i.e. taller, pale, gaunt, oddly-colored, with tendrils about their sharp-toothed mouth).
> 
> I'll soon have Ikaido's description up here, just haven't had the chance to finish typing it up recently...



 I guess we can call them Urthalids, after Urtha.


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## Twiggly the Gnome (Apr 3, 2005)

_Sangfilia (half-gnome/half-dryad)

• +2 Constitution, –2 Strength.
• Small: As a Small creature, a Sangfilia gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
• Sangfilia base land speed is 20 feet.
• Low-Light Vision: A Sangfilia can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
• +2 racial bonus on saving throws against necromancy.
• Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against necromancy spells cast by Sangfilia. This adjustment stacks with those from similar effects.
• +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when it’s caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
• +2 racial bonus on Listen checks.
• +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks.
• Automatic Languages: Common and Gnome. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Elven, Giant, Goblin, Orc and Sylvan. In addition, a Sangfilia can speak with plants. This ability is innate to Sangfilia. See the speak with plants spell description.
• Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day—speak with plants (duration 1 minute). A Sangfilia with a Charisma score of at least 10 gains the spell-like ability to Entangle. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + Sangfilia’s Cha modifier + spell level.
• Favored Class: Sorcerer. A multiclass Sangfilia’s sorcerer class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty._


Speaking of Eryian Gnomes, I think it might be more in flavor to replace the "speak with burrowing mammals" ability with the ability to speak with the animals listed in the Vampire's _Creatures of the Night_ ability.


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## Rystil Arden (Apr 4, 2005)

I suppose it would work to have the gnomes speak to the vampire animals, but I also like the flavour of the gnome who can determine which of her enemies is closest to death.

As for Illithids, if we don't want to rename them Urthalids and hope that people figure it out, we could also replace them with the replacement from Mouse's new Iconic Bestiary, which attempts to fill in the niches of the closed content iconic creatures without violating the OGL.


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## Sarellion (Apr 4, 2005)

I think the second option is better, the idea of renaming and hoping that it works sounds a little bit lame. 

Can you tell a little bit more about the possible replacement race?

Another idea would be to develop our own mind flayers.


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## Rystil Arden (Apr 4, 2005)

Sarellion said:
			
		

> I think the second option is better, the idea of renaming and hoping that it works sounds a little bit lame.
> 
> Can you tell a little bit more about the possible replacement race?
> 
> Another idea would be to develop our own mind flayers.



 I have no idea what it is, since I haven't purchased the book.  Of course, you could always ask Mouse (the author).


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## Angel Tarragon (Apr 4, 2005)

Awesome NPCs Arkhandus!


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## Twiggly the Gnome (Apr 4, 2005)

Rystil Arden said:
			
		

> I suppose it would work to have the gnomes speak to the vampire animals, but I also like the flavour of the gnome who can determine which of her enemies is closest to death.




Yeah, true enough. I might write-up a Moroii template and include a _Speak with the Creatures of the Night_ ability for it.


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## Mouseferatu (Apr 12, 2005)

Bump to the front page.


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## Arkhandus (Apr 12, 2005)

Thanks Frukathka.

......I'll get Ikaido posted today, darnit.  I keep forgetting to finish because this thread isn't very active.

Edit: And here's Motoushi Ikaido, a champion of the Nientei Coalition and recently a gladiator in Eyros, part of the gladiator trio Lux Ex Oriente just visiting Eyrdeyn.  It may be desirable to swap out Ikaido's fighter levels for samurai levels if you have Oriental Adventures or Complete Warrior, but I don't know if CW butchered the samurai or not (I'm a 3.0 guy).  This would eliminate one or two of his feats, however, merely in exchange for a few more skill points, slightly better Will save, and making his weapons Ancestral Daisho.  If doing so, I'd suggest using some of the extra samurai skill points to give Ikaido maximum Iaijutsu Focus skill, and more ranks in Sense Motive than he has in the current build, while replacing one of his current feats with Quick Draw.  As it stands, his monk levels are first, followed by his multi-classing into fighter.

Motoushi Ikaido, Nientese Sword-Dancer
Medium Humanoid (Human), Monk 3/Fighter 6
*Hit Dice:* 3d8+6d10+27 (77 hp)
*Initiative:* +5
*Speed:* 30 ft. (6 squares) (unarmored: 40 ft./8 squares)
*Armor Class:* 20 (+5 Dex, +4 armor, +1 deflection),
touch 16, flat-footed 15
*Base Attack/Grapple:* +8/+16
*Attack:* Magic +1 bastard sword +14 melee (1d10+7/19-20);
or magic +1 short sword +14 melee (1d6+7/19-20); or
unarmed strike +12 melee (1d6+4); or melee touch +12 melee
*Full Attack:* Magic +1 bastard sword +14/+9 melee
(1d10+7/19-20); or magic +1 short sword +14/+9 melee
(1d6+7/19-20); or unarmed strike +12/+7 melee (1d6+4);
or melee touch +12/+7 melee; or magic +1 bastard sword
+12/+7 melee (1d10+7/19-20) and magic +1 short sword
+12/+7 melee (1d6+5/19-20)
*Face/Reach:* 5 ft./5 ft.
*Special Attacks:* Flurry of blows, monkish AC bonuses,
monkish unarmed strikes
*Special Qualities:* Evasion, fast movement, still mind
*Saves:* Fort +11, Ref +10, Will +6
*Abilities:* Str 18, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 8
*Skills:* Balance +11, Climb +8, Diplomacy +5, Handle
Animal +5, Jump +10, Knowledge (Religion) +4, Perform
(Dance) +4, Perform (Tea Ceremony) +4, Ride (Felines) +10,
Sense Motive +7, Swim +8, Tumble +14
*Feats:* Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Bastard Sword),
Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved
Grapple, Combat Reflexes, Weapon Focus (Short Sword),
Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword), Combat Expertise, Improved
Disarm, Weapon Specialization (Bastard Sword), Weapon
Specialization (Short Sword), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
*Organization:* Solitary, duo (Ikaido and D'achao, or
Ikaido and Kal'aj), or trio (Ikaido, D'achao, and Kal'aj)
*Challenge Rating:* 9
*Alignment:* Lawful evil

*Description:* Ikaido the Azure (as the crowds know him) is a somewhat short, olive-skinned Nientese man of middling age and wizened appearance, with two long, thin mustaches and black hair tied back in a topknot.  He wears a dark blue headband with a sunrise-behind-a-mountain stitching over the forehead, and his blue-lacquered leather lamellar has a very foreign look to it, and doesn't seem to lessen his incredible speed or agility.  Ikaido carries a curved bastard sword and similar shortsword, at the left side of his belt in artistic sheathes, and the blades themselves are lightly engraved with colored patterns.  He speaks frequently to Kal'aj in her language Mo'ahhim, seemingly displeased regarding others but mindful of angering Kal'aj with too much of his complaining, and Ikaido never seems to address D'achao directly.  Ikaido at least seems willing to talk to arena fans with Kal'aj translating, and seems to convey only compliments and polite gratitude to his fans, though some see that he simply hides his contempt well.  The sword-dancer fights with a fast-paced two-sword style emphasizing brutally fast and deceptive offense over defense, but is quite agile on the defense as well, though not as skilled at it.  Motoushi Ikaido is part of the gladiator trio known in Eyrdeyn as Lux Ex Oriente, "Light from the East," and his companions are Kal'aj'ash'nee the Mo'ahhi warrior-woman and D'achao'himat'echet Uramao'tetcatlan the O'hoa'ti bloodspell zealot.

Motoushi Ikaido is literate, and he speaks the Imperial Nientese, Mo'ahhim, and Nientese languages.  The Imperial Nientese language is that spoken by the upper echelons of society in the Nientei Coalition, a holdover from the old Nientei Imperium.  It is essentially a more advanced dialect of the Nientese language (which substitutes for Common in Nientei), with subtle inflections and additions that denote different tones, such as a superior, inferior, equal, soft, commanding, pleased, or displeased tone.  Imperial Nientese also has more complex forms of address, plurality, past-present-future tense, and special titles or words regarding nobility and religion.  Ikaido learned the Mo'ahhim language as part of his training to enter an outrider unit in the military.

Ikaido comes from the Motoushi Imperial Family of the Nientei Coalition, a relatively small Imperial Family but nonetheless much more powerful than the peasant families.  Born and raised as a samurai warrior and a sword-dancer, Ikaido knows the proper ways to behave as nobility but has little interest in politics or the like.  This is due in at least small part to his family's weak political station, and just as much due to Ikaido's own desire for battle and challenges.  He is a cunning and honorable warrior, but ruthless and determined to win.  His ideas of honor have little to do with compassion or mercy, but he at least understands the notion and importance of politeness and seeming sincerity.  Ikaido respects people with power or battle prowess, which is what garners him a bit of deference to Kal'aj'ash'nee in the gladiator team Lux Ex Oriente.  Though he respects the woman's significant combat prowess, he otherwise disdains the barbarian woman, and sees it merely as his duty to follow her and test the Eyrian warriors in arena combat.  Duty and loyalty are of great importance to Ikaido, and he would be willing to dishonor himself for the sake of duty and loyalty, though he would hesitate greatly before committing something dishonorable.  Ikaido resents his family's relatively minor and poor status amongst the Imperial Families, and until his recent assignment outside the Coalition, he had been trying to garner an agreement with one of Nientei's shinobi clans to arrange matters that elevate the Motoushi family's glory and influence.  Ikaido hopes to earn enough money in the Eyros arenas during his mission to at least purchase gold sufficient for paying these shinobi to put the plans in motion.

Motoushi Ikaido was formerly an outrider in his family's military, after his initial training as a samurai and martial artist.  He did not relish the position, but at least it was an honorable one.  He hopes upon returning that he will be able to receive a command position leading samurai warriors.  Ikaido has no higher aspirations than military command, but would like to see his cousin Motoushi Ginso rise to daimyo of the family, as Ginso has always been a favorite cousin of Ikaido's and has supported him in his career.  Ikaido would deeply love for his cousin to become daimyo and order an invasion of their hated rivals, the Hinshinagi Imperial Family, potentially a glorious victory though difficult.

*Important Notes:* Motoushi Ikaido wields a _katana_ bastard sword and _wakizashi_ short sword, ancestral weapons of his family and signs of his nobility, each with a magic +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage.  He carries no ranged weapons, and considers them cowardly and dishonorable, feeling that a true warrior should face his enemy with sword and fist.  Ikaido wears a Ring of Protection +1 on his right ring-finger, granting a +1 deflection bonus to Armor Class.  Also, his blue-lacquered _kote_ gauntlets are empowered as Gauntlets of Ogre Power +2, giving him a +2 enhancement bonus to Strength.  Ikaido carries two Potions of Cure Light Wounds and two Potions of Cure Serious Wounds tucked away in his _obi_ belt, for use in emergencies or simply when he wants to recover quickly from a particularly nasty wound.

Ikaido the Azure wears leather scale armor, with a +1 enhancement bonus to AC.  Leather scale armor can be found in the Arms & Equipment Guide by Wizards of the Coast, and possibly Complete Warrior.  The leather scale armor's check penalty is -2 normally, so its masterwork quality reduces this to a -1 armor check penalty.  Ikaido's armor is designed like lamellar, but is made from hardened leather plates instead of metal ones, and covered in blue lacquer to match his family colors.  Motoushi Ikaido wears a simple white silk _kimono_ robe and black silk _hakima_ pants under his armor, but carries a few spare outfits in his backpack just in case.  He wears black socks and sturdy wooden sandals on his feet.  He would normally carry his extra gear in the saddlebags of his war-trained tiger mount, but since leaving his Nientese outrider unit with his new task, Ikaido has had to leave his war tiger behind in the Nientei Coalition lands.  Motoushi Ikaido has the same amount of gear as the Dungeon Master's Guide suggests for 9th-level NPCs.

*Combat Tactics:* Ikaido the Azure fights simply but elegantly in any battle, using the Nientese sword-dancer martial art that involves using both katana and wakizashi (curved bastard sword and short sword) in tandem, while moving and striking as if it were all part of a grand dance of steel.  To a sword-dancer, battle is just another kind of meditation where one achieves their moments of enlightenment from whirling steel, cuts so swift they don't even draw blood immediately, and the rhythmic pulse of one's own heartbeat, one's _ki_.  As with many other sword-dancers, though not all, Ikaido began his training with monastic teachings and learning to meditate and maintain his center even during battle.  This lends him uncanny speed and calmness in battle, despite the ferocity and ruthlessness of his fighting.  Ikaido charges in to strike a foe once and draw first blood, then continues by unleashing a rapid series of strokes from both of his curved samurai swords.  If the opponent does not wither and fall within the first few moments of battle, Ikaido will try disarming them with his katana and then kicking their weapon away (which should be a move-equivalent action, possibly provoking attacks of opportunity), but refrains from striking with his wakizashi right after a disarm, preferring to focus on the removal of his enemy's weapon.  Once his foe is disarmed, Ikaido will attempt to cut them down in earnest, showing no mercy.

If Motoushi Ikaido cannot disarm or slay a foe quickly, he will try tumbling away with a series of flips and somersaults, fighting defensively and using his Combat Expertise feat for a bit to test his opponent.  Once the foe starts to over-exert themselves or get sloppy, or when Ikaido merely tires of the game, he will resume his sword-dance and try an all-out assault once more, following by further defensive fighting, another all-out attack, a disarm attempt, and perhaps then a grapple attempt.  Motoushi would prefer to cut a foe down to size, but is a fairly capable wrestler as well in the Nientese style.  Besides, while grappling a foe, he can better strike them with his wakizashi while preventing them from bringing any large weapons to bear.  Ikaido rarely maintains a grapple for long, however, as he would rather release them and continue slicing away.  He is capable of some keen athletic maneuvers when he needs them, such as when facing an experienced and fast enemy, against whom Ikaido will try a quick slash just before backflipping out of reach using his Tumble skill.  His great fitness and agility allow him to wear many opponents down through simply tiring them out, fighting defensively while waiting for the best opportunity to strike, but he really prefers a quick and straightforward fight.


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## Arkhandus (Apr 12, 2005)

Gladiator Motoushi Ikaido posted now, above.  BTW, regarding the Kohl'Tass, I don't think they really need to differ from the lizardfolk of the Monster Manual stats-wise.  They aren't likely to be PCs very often, and even if they were, there's no reason they should be as weak and fragile as humans. {:^D


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## Rystil Arden (Apr 12, 2005)

Arkhandus said:
			
		

> Gladiator Motoushi Ikaido posted now, above.  BTW, regarding the Kohl'Tass, I don't think they really need to differ from the lizardfolk of the Monster Manual stats-wise.  They aren't likely to be PCs very often, and even if they were, there's no reason they should be as weak and fragile as humans. {:^D



 I disagree.  And just give them all their paragon levels and they are basically identical to the MM lizardfolk, anyways.


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## Arkhandus (Apr 13, 2005)

I've updated the two Eyros prestige classes I had posted on page 5, the Dragonclaw Duelist and Dragonclaw Master.  They're now more appropriately balanced and tweaked, with some abilities moved around and one or two removed or renamed, to better fit the Claws of the Dragon style.  A bit of description added too.  Direct link to the post is below.

http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2087613&postcount=180


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## Arkhandus (Apr 13, 2005)

Rystil, in the Kohl'Tass paragon you posted on page 1, what does the "+1 to level of druid" mean exactly?  Does it mean +1 level of druid for purposes of spellcasting only, or what?  What if the Kohl'Tass doesn't happen to have levels of druid, do they still gain druidic spellcasting from the paragon class?  If so, do they henceforth suffer the druid's penalties regarding spellcasting if they use the wrong arms and armor or whatnot?


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## Rystil Arden (Apr 13, 2005)

Arkhandus said:
			
		

> Rystil, in the Kohl'Tass paragon you posted on page 1, what does the "+1 to level of druid" mean exactly?  Does it mean +1 level of druid for purposes of spellcasting only, or what?  What if the Kohl'Tass doesn't happen to have levels of druid, do they still gain druidic spellcasting from the paragon class?  If so, do they henceforth suffer the druid's penalties regarding spellcasting if they use the wrong arms and armor or whatnot?



 They get +1 to druid spellcasting if they have it.  Only spellcasting, nothing else (except there's another ability that gives them more).


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## Arkhandus (May 26, 2005)

Bumping this thread for now....  I'll soon post a typical O'hoa'ti gladiator and a typical Nientese gladiator.  I may also post some typical Indraccan warriors or the like, typical Saagersbergan warriors, and typical Nistadeeni warriors, perhaps. I may make up a few Dragon's Way martial arts styles while I'm at it, or at least example NPCs following Dragon's Way of the Bold Fist and such.  Probably a Kohl'Tass NPC also, trained in the Discipline of Nature's Grasp.

For now, here's a list of links to my stuff in this thread:

Orrukarn Gnolls
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2078422&postcount=134

Ambassador Drokarizaan of the Orrukarn Embassy in Eyrdeyn
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2086750&postcount=167

Rrahask Sshasaar, Venerable Mother of the Kohl'Tass Lizardfolk
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2084216&postcount=141 

Typical "Claws of the Dragon" Youth Competitor
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2070368&postcount=57

Dragonclaw Duelist and Dragonclaw Master prestige classes
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2087613&postcount=180

Typical Mo'ahhi Gladiator in Eyros
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2101707&postcount=213

Mo'ahhi Gladiator Kal'aj'ash'nee of Lux Ex Oriente in Eyros
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2099515&postcount=212

O'hoa'ti Gladiator D'achao'himat'echet of Lux Ex Oriente in Eyros
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2121314&postcount=218

Nientese Gladiator Ikaido of Lux Ex Oriente in Eyros
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2158427&postcount=229


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## Arkhandus (May 26, 2005)

*Example Eyrian Martial Arts Style:* Dragon's Way of the Bold Fist (taught by the School of the Bold Dragon in Lower Eyrdeyn)

*Feats taught to students of Dragon's Way of the Bold Fist:* Close-Quarters Combat*, Eagle Claw Attack***, Fists of Iron***, Freezing the Lifeblood**, Great Fortitude, Improved Sunder*, Improved Unarmed Strike, Knockdown*, Pain Touch***, Power Attack, Power Lunge*, Stunning Fist, Sunder, Unbalancing Strike**
_*From Sword & Fist, **From Oriental Adventures, ***Found in both_
*Chief skills taught to students of Dragon's Way of the Bold Fist:* Balance, Heal, Intimidate
*Weapons favored in Dragon's Way of the Bold Fist:* None, but minimal training is given for all basic monk weapons

Dragon's Way of the Bold Fist Mastery
You have mastered the fighting style, disciplines, and nuances of the martial art called Dragon's Way of the Bold Fist.  An aggressive, hard style emphasizing hand strikes, pushes, intimidation, and striking where the most pain or damage can be inflicted.
*Prerequisites:* Eagle Claw Attack, Fists of Iron, Great Fortitude, Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Lunge, Stunning Fist (or monk's Stunning Attack), Balance 6+ ranks, Heal 4+ ranks, Intimidate 4+ ranks
*Benefits:* You may use Charisma in place of Wisdom as the key ability score for determining your save DCs and uses per day with the Fists of Iron and Stunning Fists, which extends to any feats that expend uses of Stunning Fist or Fists of Iron.  A monk's Stunning Attack qualifies as Stunning Fists for this purpose.  Also, regardless, your unarmed strikes deal additional damage equal to your Strength modifier, if positive, and multiplied normally if you score a critical hit.  This is in addition to your usual Strength modifier to damage, and any other such bonuses, such as from the Power Lunge feat.

To note, Heal is involved regarding an understanding of anatomy and where the body is most vulnerable to either pain or damage.

Also note, I'm using 3.0 D&D (boo on 3.5! *hides*) as I don't own anything 3.5, so the feats I'm listing here may be nonexistent or altered in 3.5 books such as the 3.5 PH or Complete Warrior.  I draw these feats from the 3.0 PH, Oriental Adventures, and Sword & Fist.  The Martial Arts Mastery concept comes from OA; basically, anyone possessing all of a Mastery's prerequisites gains the benefits of that Mastery ability.

Typical Student of the Bold Dragon (*3.0* rules version, as above)
Medium Humanoid (Human), Fighter 1/Monk 2
Hit Dice: 1d10+2d8+3 (18 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (+2 Dex, +1 Wis),
touch 13, flat-footed 11
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+4
Attack: Unarmed strike +4 melee (1d6+2, +1d4 4/day)
Full Attack: Unarmed strike +1/+1 melee (1d6+2, +1d4 4/day)
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Flurry of blows, stunning attack 2/day
(Fort DC 12), unarmed attack bonus +3, unarmed strike
Special Qualities: AC bonuses, evasion
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +5, Will +4
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 10
Skills: Balance +8, Heal +3, Intimidate +2,
Jump +4, Tumble +7
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Great Fortitude,
Power Attack, Sunder, Deflect Arrows, Fists of Iron
Organization: Solitary, duo, or cadre (3-12 students
plus 0-1 masters and 0-3 assistant masters)
Challenge Rating: 3
Alignment: Lawful neutral
As an NPC, the student of the bold dragon should have a monk's outfit and 2,500 gold pieces worth of other equipment.  Typically this would include, amongst normal living supplies, a light crossbow, 50 masterwork bolts, a potion of bull's strength, and a potion of cure serious wounds.  This gear is not factored in above.

Typical Assistant Master of the Bold Dragon (*3.0* rules version, as above)
Medium Humanoid (Human), Fighter 1/Monk 5
Hit Dice: 1d10+5d8+6 (34 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (+2 Dex, +2 Wis, +1 class),
touch 15, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+6
Attack: Unarmed strike +6 melee (1d8+2, +1d4 5/day)
Full Attack: Unarmed strike +3/+3 melee (1d8+2, +1d4 5/day)
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Flurry of blows, stunning attack 5/day
(Fort DC 14), unarmed attack bonus +3, unarmed strike
Special Qualities: AC bonuses, evasion, fast movement,
purity of body, slow fall (20 ft.), still mind
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +6
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10
Skills: Balance +10, Heal +6, Intimidate +4,
Jump +7, Tumble +10
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Great Fortitude,
Power Attack, Sunder, Deflect Arrows, Fists of Iron,
Eagle Claw Attack
Organization: Solitary, duo, or cadre (3-12 students
plus 0-1 masters and 0-3 assistant masters)
Challenge Rating: 6
Alignment: Lawful neutral
As an NPC, the assistant master of the bold dragon should have a monk's outfit and 5,600 gold pieces worth of other equipment.  Typically this would include, amongst normal living supplies, a light crossbow, 50 bolts +1, a potion of bull's strength, a potion of cure serious wounds, and a potion of fire breath.  This gear is not factored in above.

Typical Master of the Bold Dragon (*3.0* rules version, as above)
Medium Humanoid (Human), Fighter 1/Monk 8
Hit Dice: 1d10+8d8+9 (51 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 50 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (+3 Dex, +2 Wis, +1 class),
touch 16, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+9
Attack: Unarmed strike +8 melee (1d10+2+2, +1d4 5/day)
Full Attack: Unarmed strike +9/+3 or +8/+5 or +6/+6/+3 melee (1d10+2+2, +1d4 5/day)
Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Dragon's way of the bold fist mastery, flurry of blows,
stunning attack 8/day (Fort DC 16), unarmed attack bonus +6/+3, unarmed strike
Special Qualities: AC bonuses, evasion, fast movement, leap of the clouds,
purity of body, slow fall (50 ft.), still mind, wholeness of body (16 HP)
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +9, Will +8
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10
Skills: Balance +14, Heal +6, Intimidate +6,
Jump +13, Tumble +14
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Great Fortitude,
Power Attack, Sunder, Deflect Arrows, Fists of Iron,
Eagle Claw Attack, Improved Trip, Power Lunge
Organization: Solitary, duo, or cadre (3-12 students
plus 0-1 masters and 0-3 assistant masters)
Challenge Rating: 9
Alignment: Lawful neutral
As an NPC, the master of the bold dragon should have a monk's outfit and 12,000 gold pieces worth of other equipment.  Typically this would include, amongst normal living supplies, a light crossbow, 50 bolts +1, an amulet of mighty fists +1, a potion of bull's strength, a potion of cure serious wounds, and 2 potions of fire breath.  This gear is not factored in above.


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## Arkhandus (Sep 29, 2005)

Just bumping the thread for now; I intend to post some more kinds of NPCs and stuff soon.

Mouseferatu has the Eyros PDF in editing for now, but it may be a little while before Mouseferatu finishes editing.


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## Arkhandus (Jun 26, 2008)

Also a yearly bump.    I need to get back to work on Eyros NPCs and stuff....


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