Eilistraee's Champions

The topic of scroll space limitations has come up today, which is a bit of a precursor to several other subjects that are coming up to be debated. So in the spirit of all loving fairness, I am opening this topic up for vote. This is a ‘democratic poll’ which means you can add your own option to this poll. If you write in your own option that means you have voted for that option. So you may not write in something, and then vote for something else.  Only members registered on the website may vote.

So, the question this this:

Initial description: 
A small mysterious clockwork device. This device appears to be made of brass, gold, and platinum, but is impervious to damage. One can see many gears and jewels in the workings. On its face is a dial with runes in an ancient saurial script. It has four gemstone buttons on the side - one ruby, one emerald, one sapphire, and one diamond.

Full description:
Clockwork of Rectified Chronography (Artefact, priceless, gp, 5 lb)

A. The runes can be read with knowledge of Draconic and DC 30 Decipher Script. Knowledge (History) will lower the DC by 1 per rank.
B. A vague understanding of the nature of the device may be discerned with minimum of 3 days of study and a successful DC 25 check of Knowledge (the planes) or DC 30 Knowledge (arcana).
C. Complete understanding is possible only using Bardic Knowledge (DC 30, extremely obscure)

1. The dial, when turned, drains the user of 1000 XP per minute set on the dial.
2. The user then views the past minute(s) set on the dial, as if they were happening again, starting from the beginning, forward to the present moment. The speed of reviewed time is initially half actual time. The device only shows events that took place in the user’s field of vision in the past.
3. Pressing the blue gem slows the relative passage of reviewed time by half. This can be done multiple times.
4. Pressing the green gem speeds up the relative passage of reviewed time by a factor of 2.
5. Pressing the white gem returns the view to the beginning of the time period set at step 1 (allowing the user to try again if they went past the desired point of change).
5. At the desired moment, the user of the device may press the red gem. Doing so causes a past decision represented in that moment to change randomly, with a new result. Only outcomes determined at least in part by chance may be altered.
a. Roll 1d20. 
b. 1-2 A very negative result.
c. 3-5 A negative result.
d. 6-15 A neutral result
e. 16-18 a positive result
f. 19-20 A very positive result
g. Expending XP before the roll can add to the number rolled, at the rate of 1 per 1000 XP.
6. After the red gem is pressed, the user returns to actual time except for the change that has been created by the device.
7. While reviewing the past, the user has a limit of one hour to make their decision (during this hour, time has seemed to stop for the rest of existence, but it has actually slowed to a trickle for the user. The user is free to go back and forth over the selected minute(s) during that time, using the blue, green, and white gems. If the red gem is not pressed within this hour of the device being activated, the opportunity to change the past is wasted, and the initial 1000 XP spent are not recovered.

The Horn appears to be a minotaur’s horn bound in cold iron. Fey symbols mark the bands at the two ends of the horn and at the midpoint. There are cold iron loops on two of the bands, which have been fitted with a  leather shoulder strap.

Known Properties:

1. Once per day can be used as a Bard’s instrument. Use requires success with a Perform (Woodwind) or Perform (Brass) instrument check (DC 15). Causes 1d6 x (Bardic level of user) of HD within 60’ to become Shaken, unless they succeed a Will save (DC is 10+Bardic level of user+Cha of user). Any who fail the Will save by more than 5 become as though affected by a Langour spell (CL = Bardic level). Any who fail the Will save by more than 10 become Paralyzed with fear. The effects lasts for a number of rounds equal to the user’s Bardic level + 1. All are mind-affecting (fear) effects. 

2. There may be other abilities that have not yet been identified (check with a bard).

3. Current estimated value: 226,000 gp

Last known location: The horn was in the possession of the Iron Horn Bandits, led by Mos Redento, between Dunsorrow and Yarptice City. The bandit Monte Tinderfoot had the skills to use the horn, and it was last seen used by him. It is believed that it was confiscated by the Yarptice City guards when Monte was turned over to them by a band of adventurers. Monte was later released with a stiff fine (given leniency for his cooperation).

The High Tor

How delightfully funny, what Hallie did to Landald! Half-asleep or not, she had to have aimed to cover him in that much effluvia, a fate I find most fitting for his endless mockery of my new poncho; I refuse to believe that I look “like a gay matador” no matter how much he insists that I do (and my poncho is not pink – it is light red, a subtle shade of masculinity for such a refined and subtle man like myself.)

It is fortunate that we found the ruined tor in the middle of that terrible storm; I wasn’t sure if I was going to drown or be struck by lightning first, and I felt just awful for Hadwisa slipping halfway down the hillside before Landald caught her hand – although I must admit I rather enjoyed watching her hair come loose, wild and flying and whipping just like the storm itself, her eyes bright enough to shame the lightning. I can’t ever forget how raw she looked, how wild-eyed and wild-haired. I can imagine her standing over me like that – how delicious! It just sends shivers down my spine.

Is it terrible of me to say that I am glad we are rid of Dameron and Clay? I admit being in shock for about a week after it happened – it was so quick, Clay’s death, and Dameron’s, too – but I was in just as much shock when Clay challenged an entire temple dedicated to The Black Lord to a duel, and that fool Dameron backed him! He sounded so manful talking about honor and esprit de corps the night before his death, sharpening his sword before we went to bed, but I didn’t recognize them as synonyms for stupidity. Poor Clay – are all paladins so stupid? Or just those dedicated to Bahamut?

Hallie says we’re going to be spending a week or better in Wyrm Tribe, which sounds like a week of filthy hell surrounded by rash, uncouth people who don’t bathe, read or listen to opera. Why couldn’t she have decided upon going to Everhart? Oh, she’d probably say something about elves not knowing how to fit someone her size, but surely its worth spending an extra week or two among a people that use clean forks while looking for an appropriate blacksmith? Or perhaps she’s secretly afraid of heights? I just hope I can stick around for her fittings.

The High Tor

So we survived another calamity by the grace of Hallie, who led us up the mountain to safety and shelter when the sky opened up and hurled its abuse upon us, an abuse with which I am very familiar and I pray never extends to Hallie, Hadwisa, or even Berebold the Pink Wizard of Gay, and I worry still without cease that I am the one responsible for Clay’s and Dameron’s deaths. Am I not the one that teased Clay that those who did not lead would never have those that followed? My teasing lead you straight into a temple dedicated to Bane. Damn you, Selune, for never granting me enough wisdom to keep my mouth shut.

I surely thought I was dead when I saw her staring down at that place – didn’t my father tell me when I was a child that minotaurs ate people? There wasn’t much left to eat after she trampled those cultists to death, and when she gored the high priest… oh gods in their heavens did my stomach turn. That wasn’t nearly as awful as when she killed that humongous praying mantis that attacked us in the ruined tor – from farting sleep to leaping horns and bellows and swinging battle axes in the blink of an eye, and lucky me on the other side of it, completely covered in slimy dripping acrid-smelling bug guts after she chopped the mantis in half. And Berebold couldn’t stop laughing about it, that jackass, even after Hallie took me out in the torrential rain to help me clean off – or tried to help, anyway. I wound up more covered in mud and leaves than bug guts, but at least it was just mud and leaves. Hallie is a monster all right. She’s just one that’s on our side.

I wish Hadwisa wasn’t so taken with her; wasn’t I the one that grabbed her when she slipped and started to fall down the side of the mountain? The minotaur was further up ahead, and didn’t hear her scream for all the wind and the rain. I guess I can just never measure up to the big strong talking she-cow in the eyes of a cleric of Larue. Typical of her – of anyone and everyone, really. Just what am I going to tell my father, that he was right and I have no place in this world except working for him doing accounting books? He may be right. I failed the priesthood, I failed Clay and Dameron, and I have failed to get Hadwisa to notice me at all. What else can I succeed at failing at?

Rings of Companionship

I cannot remember the source for these rings. They may not even be D&D 3.5e. Might be from Pathfinder. But they have been thrown up quite a bit this past week so I have been thinking of them a lot, and have some interesting thoughts I want to share.

First off, what are Rings of Companionship?
Rings of Companionship are a pair of rings that are created at the same time. THey can’t be created separately. They have a base value of 2,000 gold, and provide +2AC to the wearer. I can’t find the source for this so I don’t know if the AC bonus is deflection, enhancement, dodge, or moral. At the moment I think moral makes mose sense, given the nature of the items.

The Rings of Companionship are items that are quite rare. In fact they seem to lend themselves to the idea of being creature for husband-wife adventuring duos. The reason being is that the ring’s use is binding. Like a vow, or contract. The pair of rings that are created together are forever connected. So when two people put on those two rings, they are now bound from the point of view of the rings. Those two people will forever get that +2 AC bonus as long as both are alive, on the same plane, and wearing their respective rings. Person A and person B are now attuned to the rings. If Person B dies, person A loses the benefit and can never gain it again from this set of rings. Even if a Person C comes along and puts on the other ring. By the same reasoning that person B can’t just take their ring off and hand it over to person C. This is why they are so rare. Casual adventurers, or those without some significant commitment to each other would not want to invest in a magic item that may go to waste if someone else finds a ring that suits their personal interests better. Or worse, someone dies and takes with them one of your great magic items.

But that’s not all that interesting is it? Sure you get to save a bit of money by buying “one” magic item that benefits two people. So at early levels that +2 AC can be quite useful. But it’s soon outpaced by more practical items that have fewer drawbacks. Until you consider a little bit more. Why not add more magic to it? It’s already treated at a single magic item and any magic is applied to both wearers. So what about adding 5 points of cold resistance to it, so two people can adventure in the tundras and arctic areas? Enchanting it to have a slot of spell storing? Of course that means if either person casts the spell from the stored slot then it’s gone for both.

Of course, any effort to improve the ring would require both to be in the same place. One can’t have their wife off kicking ass on an adventure and expect her husband to sit at home constantly beefing up the ring more and more for her.

While I wish I could find the source for these, I am ruling that they exist either way. I am however leaving it open for DMs to apply their own rules on their generation. Perhaps it requires TWO people to make them. Perhaps it requires a fake feat a player can’t get. Or a rare material. If the DMs don’t want their players to be able to make them, that’s their business. But NPCs someplace can produce them. They do exist. They can be upgraded. And while they are lost to person A if person B ddies, the item is still magical and can be used by the next couple.

These items are OP. I do expect some people to complain about this. They are also a serious risk, and yet great roleplaying tools. So if there is someone in your game you are willing to make a permanent bond of loyalty to, and you are willing to invest resources into that bond, consider a set of these rings.

Feel free to comment, question, and complain about this topic in the comments.

My very first attempt at a ‘minigame’ within D&D to give my players something to do during their down time between attacks during a siege. No small surprise that some loved it and some hated it.

It was so simple, it seemed a sin to call it a designed system.

Enchanted glass boxes, set up at different ranged like an overgrown carnival game.  Pay one gold, get ten arrows. Ten arrows capable of breathing through the windwall the game’s staff used to ensure that an outside source can’t help the current player cheat. The first box is a fair distance away but within a single range increment.

Each successive box is a full range increment further.  So each successive box gets a little harder, and statistically has a little bigger reward. The last one at a total of just over 10 range increments instead of 9.

Each box has 1 HP, so as long as it’s actually hit it will break.

The first few boxes are going to have some simple coins, then the next few boxes will have randomly generated low price items. The final box will contain a masterwork ranged item of some sort. Typically the weapon of choice for this game, or  a stack of appropriate ammo.

The boxes are lined up so one can only fire at the lowest tiered box. 10 arrows, 10 boxes.  So one can’t fire on box 8 until box 7 is broke. So a single miss and box 10 is technically lost. But if one scores a critical hit, then the arrow can break one box and continue to the next applying any leftover damage onto the second box.

So while Ranger types would have an advantage in this sort of event, even the most bland average commoner with the most base line everything, still has a 50/50 chance of hitting the furthest box.

up vo

Much of the lore of our land is lost. Journals and letters discarded to the winds due to their relevance feeling short lived. However, when trying to understand the past, those that survive provide key details to how life was before Gold Star was formally a spot on the map.

While we surmise that Rumireg is the offspring of the original leader of what became Gold Star, the letters we find mearly mention The Dragon, but not the name of the progenitor.

However, The Dragon is less approachable when ground was being broken. Originally, it was envisioned that the Scar would be used to fund all that would become Gold Star. Thus, those who would convert the treasures found would need a safe place to work, and those who can sell those converted treasures.

However, the distance proved to be problematic and rulers had trouble controlling the miners in the Scar. Concern about what made the Scar, what lurked in its depths, and the sounds that carried from below led to an insurrection. The Dragon, having a casual view of the shortness of life ended the riot in short order, gutting the population. Conservative estimates put the mining population at nearly five thousand at the time. After resolving the riot, The Dragon told those who followed it to resolve the population issue and begin extracting gems once more.

If The Dragon knew what made the Scar in the first place, it did not say, not would it speak to the concerns miners brought up. Ultimately, the followers decided that perhaps having some physical presence to focus their misery at would help the miners overcome the superstition. To date, this has generally worked. There are references to several other miner riots, but the complaints in the record appear to relate to the overseers and not concern over the Scar itself.

With the trouble to the north resolved, and a steady stream of treasures resolved, The Dragon demanded the first temple built. While it would be rebuilt and moved several times, Gold Star remained the central point for worship of Bahamut. The first temple however attracted attention from the south. While The Dragon felt entitled to lay claim to the region, another had already claimed out in the mountains. Both one with scales of burnished copper, and one as black as the night sky. The Dragon was dismissive of the copper colored one, but objected to the dark colored one.

Demanding the humans raise an army while also building the temple and still trying to populate the mines nearly broke the people. They had come seeking to claim land, and earn treasures and thus far only seeing hardship.

The Dragon however would not hear of it, and instead demanded all things on its time table. Most of the population fell in line, making weapons and armor, building seige engines of the era. Traveling by river and sea to find ships they could conscript and enslave to send to the mines or as part of the army.

The records then are missing for a significant portion, and pick up some 50 years later. The town has been flourishing, trade with nearby cities has been formalized, and The Dragon has become less prone to flights of anger. Thus far, no records have been found for this period.

My very first attempt at a ‘minigame’ within D&D to give my players something to do during their downtime between attacks during a siege. No small surprise that some loved it and some hated it.

It was so simple, it seemed a sin to call it a designed system.

Enchanted glass boxes, set up at different ranged like an overgrown carnival game. Pay one gold, get ten arrows. Ten arrows capable of breathing through the windwall the game’s staff used to ensure that an outside source can’t help the current player cheat. The first box is a fair distance away but within a single range increment.
Each successive box is a full range increment further. So each successive box gets a little harder and statistically has a little bigger reward. The last one at a total of just over 10 range increments instead of 9.

Each box has 1 HP, so as long as it’s actually hit it will break. The first few boxes are going to have some simple coins, then the next few boxes will have randomly generated low price items. The final box will contain a masterwork ranged item of some sort. Typically the weapon of choice for this game, or a stack of appropriate ammo.

The boxes are lined up so one can only fire at the lowest tiered box. 10 arrows, 10 boxes. So one can’t fire on box 8 until box 7 is broke. So a single miss and box 10 is technically lost. But if one scores a critical hit, then the arrow can break one box and continue to the next applying any leftover damage onto the second box.

So while Ranger types would have an advantage in this sort of event, even the most bland average commoner with the most base line everything, still has a 50/50 chance of hitting the furthest box.