Agents of the Darklands: A Campaign for Monsters and Madmen

Game Master thunderbeard

That means i got just under 12 hours to get something up :D
I got 2 ideas that i am thinking of, the first being significantly more difficult to make work mechanically.
#1. Build up a character built off of the Swarm Skin spell. A powerful witch cast the spell as part of his quest. When he returned to his body he found that his bones were missing, he was stuck in his swarm form. The Queen promised to get him his bones back in return for service.
There are a few problems that i would have to iron out first. Comunication would be a huge one. I would beed some form of telepathy. The next thing is that my "original body would have to be lvl 11 at least (but since i get greatly reduced functionality, shouldnt be a problem). Next would be items as i wouldnt be able to wield or use almost any items. Of the few i could, i might be able to make use of permancied spells and i would need some kind of telekinisis spell to manipulate objects. Healing would be difficult as i would be immune to single target spells (including most healing spells, channeling being a big exception).
It would be difficult, but it would be very, very unusual and fun :)

#2. Create an alchamically invisible Illusionist who never speaks or lets himself be known, instead he communicates and interacts with the outside world purely with illusions and takes on the personna of "God" or "The Helping Hand" or passes off everything he does as other members of the group. Trying to play myself off in such a way that nobody even knows im there and yet still interact with everyone would be a sweet challenge :)
time to figure out what i can do!

Eventually someone is going to disbelieve your illusions though it might only be the casters with high will saves. I like that idea quite a bit though if that counts. Makes me thing of the invisible man from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen so I vote for alchemically invisible.

well Annie would be my submission, mechanically she needs some tweaking but the story is basically there.

I would be making a new alias as this one is kind of reserved for something else right now.

You smell like burning. ^_^

So off the top of my head, the "Gnon-Existant Gnome" would be a deaf Oracle of the Heavens 1, Illusionist Wizard 6. He would have effortless trickery, threatening illusion (metamagic) and probably spell focus and greater spell focus.

Thanks to the deaf curse, all his spells are silent (and hes invisible) coupled with a high sneak skill, you SHOULD not be able to find him and he can cast multiple concentration spells at a time :)
But thats all crunch, ill get some fluffyness up here :)

You do realize See Invisible is a thing? I think a third of the proposed party has true seeing, scent, tremor sense, etc. It's a cool concept but may be very hard to pull off in this group.

Also, how are you going to wear the high-vis infiltrator's guild uniform while invisible?

Well if he is just standing in the middle of the room not moving, tremor sense won't work. If he has good stealth and uses it to hide, true sight won't always find him. Scent would need to be able to know his scent first and it is not specific enough to pinpoint him exactly. He did say 'coupled' with high sneak skill. So I think he has a good chance at least.

My character, Mal, is a caster cleric and he has craft Arms and Armor.

well Annie would be my submission, mechanically she needs some tweaking but the story is basically there.

I would be making a new alias as this one is kind of reserved for something else right now.

Um... Isn't this the same character from the other game we're in together?

I've got a CL 7 Cleric who's got an open feat slot. But considering that most people liked to talk about Illia more than RNE, I'm imagining that if either of my characters actually manages to make it in, it'll be Illia.

Grammatical fixes abound!

Well in the Melee/Tank section I thought I was going to be in a minority. Now it looks like mine is the lightest of the fighters I suspect.
How interesting.

Well there is the conceal scent feat, so for scent that would work well enough.
I took a look and i was surprised that there was no magical boots that helped against tremorsense.
Ah trueseeing. An entire school of magic foiled by a single spell :) i got nothing for that. Try to hide harder?

You do realize See Invisible is a thing? I think a third of the proposed party has true seeing, scent, tremor sense, etc. It's a cool concept but may be very hard to pull off in this group.

Also, how are you going to wear the high-vis infiltrator's guild uniform while invisible?

Well, if the invisi-sneak is visible to party members, that's a good thing, right? Hiding from each other starts to sound like passive PvP to me. Seeing as (ha!) Alchemical Invisibility was suggested by Thunderbeard, I'm sure this concept would be fine. And Invisible Girl rocks a fine outfit, doesn't she?

-rereads- ah. Right. Yeah, party members would be privy to knowing the identity of this 'voice of Aroden'. :P

That means i got just under 12 hours to get something up :D

I got 2 ideas that i am thinking of, the first being significantly more difficult to make work mechanically.
#1. Build up a character built off of the Swarm Skin spell.

I had a thought for a few moments of a swarm type character and I would love to see your write up regardless

So is there an alchemical invisibility template? I admit this is the first I've heard of it and I was wondering how it worked.

It makes you invisible and drives you maaaad.

Alchemically Invisible

I had considered the Nightmare Pixie, which would have been invisible almost all the time, when not appearing like a tiny winged goth. Appropriate for today, seeing as how it's Bat's Day...

Ah, thank you. So a +14 Will save is basically a necessity.

Gobo Horde wrote:

That means i got just under 12 hours to get something up :D

I got 2 ideas that i am thinking of, the first being significantly more difficult to make work mechanically.
#1. Build up a character built off of the Swarm Skin spell.

I had a thought for a few moments of a swarm type character and I would love to see your write up regardless

Seems very difficult to pull off. The swarm skin spell basically says "no actions!"

Remnant wrote:

Gobo Horde wrote:

That means i got just under 12 hours to get something up :D

I got 2 ideas that i am thinking of, the first being significantly more difficult to make work mechanically.
#1. Build up a character built off of the Swarm Skin spell.

I had a thought for a few moments of a swarm type character and I would love to see your write up regardless

Seems very difficult to pull off. The swarm skin spell basically says "no actions!"

Gads that blows. I wonder how it could be done. Will have to consider how to make a Swarm Character just because

+14 will save a necessaty? Who said anything about that :}
I agree with you that trying to pull off the swarm would be quite difficult, but it dosent say "no actions" rather it says the only actions you can take is controlling the swarm, allowing for a fair amount of leeway.
You could move about just fine, you could tell the swarm to make take on the shape of certian letters or possibly a rudimentary hand gesture (have the swarm form a fist with the thumbs up sign for example).
But you would essentially be a disembodied voice above a carpet of spiders XD

Little Orphan Annie wrote:

well Annie would be my submission, mechanically she needs some tweaking but the story is basically there.

I would be making a new alias as this one is kind of reserved for something else right now.

Um... Isn't this the same character from the other game we're in together?

Yes

But i really have no expectation of selection here.

I just threw the hat if to see, as i like to try the character in different venues.

Besides that other game, i have my suspicions on that other game anyway that it will be slow in progressing.

If annie is liked, great, otherwise no big deal

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

Little Orphan Annie wrote:

well Annie would be my submission, mechanically she needs some tweaking but the story is basically there.

I would be making a new alias as this one is kind of reserved for something else right now.

Um... Isn't this the same character from the other game we're in together?

Yes

But i really have no expectation of selection here.

I just threw the hat if to see, as i like to try the character in different venues.

Besides that other game, i have my suspicions on that other game anyway that it will be slow in progressing.

If annie is liked, great, otherwise no big deal

Fair enough.

Gobo, Orfamay is referring to the Will save necessary for alchemically invisible to not suffer from confusion.

...are you confused still? ;)

Oh i was aware :) But like the title says, monsters and madmen!

Heres what i have so far. A swarm skin cast at a caster lvl 12 would give me 6 spider swarms for a CR of 6 and 6 hd. A little on the weak side but if i add the apocolypse swarm template would put me on par CR wise. At this point i have no idea about balance wise :)
Now it has 11hd although i wouldnt have any feats (too low int on the bugs)

Next i would have to figure out what my "original character" had in terms of stats, so i can use his mental capabilities (his int, cha and wis and the basic things those confer like languages. I would get no spellcasting ability or hexes or such) and his personality.
Next. Items. I anticipate that i would be able to use next to no items, but i would ask for an exception. The Helm of Telepathy would allow me to speak and solve a few of my problems, except it costs too much (27,000) so my original body would need to take craft wonderous to bring the cost down.

Altho i would greatly appreciate some gm feedback, what you are willing to work with, yay, nay, wtf? (any of those, preferably not the last one :)

A bit more Fluff for Kalbrak. :)

That means i got just under 12 hours to get something up :D

I got 2 ideas that i am thinking of, the first being significantly more difficult to make work mechanically.
#1. Build up a character built off of the Swarm Skin spell. A powerful witch cast the spell as part of his quest. When he returned to his body he found that his bones were missing, he was stuck in his swarm form. The Queen promised to get him his bones back in return for service.
There are a few problems that i would have to iron out first. Comunication would be a huge one. I would beed some form of telepathy. The next thing is that my "original body would have to be lvl 11 at least (but since i get greatly reduced functionality, shouldnt be a problem). Next would be items as i wouldnt be able to wield or use almost any items. Of the few i could, i might be able to make use of permancied spells and i would need some kind of telekinisis spell to manipulate objects. Healing would be difficult as i would be immune to single target spells (including most healing spells, channeling being a big exception).
It would be difficult, but it would be very, very unusual and fun :)

#2. Create an alchamically invisible Illusionist who never speaks or lets himself be known, instead he communicates and interacts with the outside world purely with illusions and takes on the personna of "God" or "The Helping Hand" or passes off everything he does as other members of the group. Trying to play myself off in such a way that nobody even knows im there and yet still interact with everyone would be a sweet challenge :)
time to figure out what i can do!

Both of those ideas are awesome!

Well there is the conceal scent feat, so for scent that would work well enough.

I took a look and i was surprised that there was no magical boots that helped against tremorsense.
Ah trueseeing. An entire school of magic foiled by a single spell :) i got nothing for that. Try to hide harder?

if you are flying tremorsense shouldnt pick you up

@Gobo Horde
I have a few suggestions. Granted they may not be strictly in the rules or helpful in all cases. ;)

Concerning build #1, Communication could be handled in the practical way. You control a swarm freely right. So have them spell out words or pictures to get your meaning across, not ideal but it works. Now if you want to go the magical route and this covers your item problem as well. You could use magical tattoo's. They can take up slots that magical items do but they don't need to be worn on said limb. Have a few "key" bugs in your swarm get their little bodies tattooed per body slot found normally on a humanoid. Now that brings me to the magical communication, their is a cursed item called an amulet of thought projection if I remember correctly, get a tattooed version. Lets you speak your thoughts, next best thing to a voice. As for healing, again take the practical route. Your a swarm made up of bugs and you control them mentally, so pick up some more bugs to heal yourself. This is dependent on said vermin being in the local, so if your sent somewhere like the north pole your out of luck. The magical route would be to obtain some form of regeneration, that way those you have can grow back. Hope that helps in some way. x)

Concerning build #2, Sorry but their is no way to be completely undetectable. That I know of anyways. Hard to detect yes but not immune to detection. Blindsense kinda beats all and true seeing does as well. Not to mention if you were that would be moot to the adventure, you can't hurt/kill what you can not detect. You would have no need for anyone to achieve your goals. It's a role more for a NPC used by the DM then a PC in my opinion. Even the stealthiest of spies/assassins/rogues will have to expose themselves in combat and risk their lives but such a PC would not. It's the reason any attack action in combat grants a -20 to stealth and such so it makes it insanely hard to pull off with any high degree of success. All that said I do have some idea's for a stealth focused guy but not for a undetectable type. My only bit of advice, avoid dragons! ;P

Oh i was aware :) But like the title says, monsters and madmen!

Touché!

Here's my CS, still have 6k left to spend, likely going to boost AC, though perhaps not too high as I'm not planning on really being a frontline fighter.

Drisquar

Planning on being a switch hitter, hunter of good outsiders. Thinking of worshiping Nocticula, Demon Lady of Succubi, Assassins, etc.

Hi, everyone. I’ve made character decisions for the campaign. (I know a few of you are still working on characters at this point—and I have taken those characters into account when making this decision).

First of all, I’d like to say that I was incredibly impressed at the sheer number of amazing character submissions I’ve seen, most of whom I’d be happy to pick for a campaign I ran if there weren’t so many of you coming out of the woodwork. If you weren’t picked, I probably still love your character, and may contact some of you if spots open up in the party later.

That said, the party looks like:

Denizens Undead:
Pseudodragon Lich Wizard, “Anaxian” | Doomed Hero
Tiefling Graveknight Cleric, “Mallory” | Tiny Coffee Golem

Lovers and Fighters:
Succubus, “Delyliath” | Scarletrose
Erinyes, “Illia” | hallowsinder
Fallen Azata, “Drisquar” | Monkeygod
Half-Dragon Magus, “Iranaset” | Uncle Taco

Out-of-body Experiences:
Intelligent Weapon | Tenro
Ghost Summoner | Orfamay

I’ll be adding people to Gameplay and Discussion threads soon.

If someone wants to propose a similar campaign but would like tips on premise/quests and things, let me know and I can absolutely help you with that, since it seems like this monsters-campaign thing is a very popular concept. (Also, if you want to NPC this campaign at some point just let me know)

Thanks for all the wonderful submissions, everyone, and best of luck.

-thunderbeard

Congrats to those that made it. Keep on trying to those that did not. ;)

way to go guys, i didn't have a chance...

of course i didn't really put the effort in for a competitive submission.

Alright, out of those who are possible wielders of Tenro, who wants it?

I'd appreciate it, as Illia currently only has Unholy Blight as her ranged options (which is awesome, as long as we only fight good characters. :P), and Illia can offer Tenro her insane defense.

But, that said, Illia doesn't absolutely need it, so anyone else, feel free to make your pitch!

I'll be changing the RNE Alias into Illia's shortly.

P.S. Does anybody know how to add players to a campaign? I honestly can't figure it out.

Or do I just wait for players to post in the discussion thread?

P.S. Does anybody know how to add players to a campaign? I honestly can't figure it out.

as they post in the gameplay thread, they will be automatically added.

as far as wielding my character, anyone is fine with me. The actual type of weapon i will be will be determined by that, although in the future i intend to get some sort of ability to change my base form.

once a player posts in the gameplay they are auto added to the game

Edit ---- Redacted --- (redundant post)

I think we just have to post there and we are automatically added.

Ah, thanks, guys. If you were selected, please create an alias in the next day or two if you haven't and dot (or preferably, briefly introduce yourself) in the discussion thread.

Grats everyone who made it!

Thats a great group, you all deserve your slots. I will be watching this one closely, it ought to be an awesome campaign to read.

Looking forward to playing, and thank you to all for your support -- and of course, to T-beard for selecting me. Alias should be up later tonight.

Thanks!

Congratulations to all of those chosen! That was an extremely entertaining process; it was really fun to look at all the submissions and come up with a workable monster concept.

Congratulations to those that were chosen.

Again thanks for the consideration

Aww I wanted to add a drow noble/weretiger :(