Bill Lumberg's page

Organized Play Member. 1,826 posts (5,856 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 4 Organized Play characters. 32 aliases.


About Bill Lumberg

Spoiler:

Fighter using a dueling sword and takes all feats for Dueling Mastery by level 3, high dex, avg str

Warrick is an anti-paladin (or fighter) who started out as a paladin of Iomedae in a company of aspiring Eagle Knights outside of Carpenden. His spent his formative years hunting bandits and other evil men. His mentor was a stern taskmaster named Hamurk who upheld the tenets of the paladin's code to an extend that few would think possible. Warrick frequently fell short of Hamurk's impossible standards and, as a result, was given the least desirable assignments in the company, such as standing guard over prisoners.

Warrick spoke to many captives while escorting them to prison in Carpenden and when he worked there as a jailer. Over the years he began to weaken in his resolve to uphold the principles of his faith and began a slide into corruption. He would often speak with the family of imprisoned men when they came to visit them or when he was obligated to witness the confessions of condemned men before they were executed. In time he began to seek out the company of these family members and others who lived on the fringes of the law. Ultimately he kept company with those whom he should have been combating because he felt more in keeping with them than with the righteous of Andoren.

Warrick is very intelligent and views himself as superior to most others. In his view, the laws that constrain others do not apply to him. Consider making him a fighter who was expelled from the Eagle Knights for summarily executing captured slavers.

Sorcerer (Infernal, Tattooed [aberrant? arcane?], Star-Soul)

Gnome spellscar oracle

Change fighters to Yakuza Bushi, Free-hand Fighter, Mobile Fighter, Learned Duelist

Confessor/"Conscience" type cleric of Saranae with Glory and Sun domains who seeks to redeem the soul of a dead man who died after confessing sins to him. For Shattered Star consider that the dying man had been involved in the sihedron in some manner and felt remorse over it. Now the cleric wants to prevent the sihedron from being used. In this case, Pharasma, Iomedae, Nethys or Abadar might be possible deities.

Evangelist cleric in the vein of a Senegalese marabout -

Academic-scholar character, wizard or thief (burglar or trapsmith) with ranger and/or fighter levels

Inquisitor or Paladin in vein of Tom Barnaby or a crude, ill-mannered Paladin

Rorschach as an inquisitor - expelled from Hellknight training

(Iconoclast) Inquisitor of Nethys who hunts out abuse or misuse of magic, especially divination. His order seeks out magic items and creatures to destroy or capture for study. Would venture to wilderness to investigate if people are introducing new magic forms from uncontrolled lands.

For Mummy's Mask: Sin-eater of Pharasma who investigates the lottery used for the necropolis. He suspects the church there is heretical in that they allow grave-robbing for the purpose of elevating their nation

Pharasmin cleric from a sect that receives inheritances from dying people. They accumulated great wealth in the manner that medieval Catholic church did and loaned it out. Now they rival the church of Abdar.

Priests of Abdar who view him in a vein similar to the Collector and his vault as a means of restoring civilization's works against catastrophe.

Priest of Set who wishes to sabotage the Pharasman lottery

Earl Hickey - criminal seeking redemption

Witch-hunter inquisitors

Vishkanya knife-master/scout (perhaps for) Legacy of Fire. He was to meet with his mentor at the caravan departure point but the latter never appeared. He joins the caravan hoping to meet with his mentor and accomplish whatever mission they were assigned to.

Claeric of Abadar who wars on barbaric cultures and threats to order. "Convert them to civilzation" type. For Giant-Slayer, LoF, etc

Gnome Primalist wizard: if he fails his Concentration check his wild surges leave him drained of color for for one round. If he succeeds then his skin shimmers like an Aurora Borealis.

Geraxides: defiler of Balic, consider the Mark of Slavery drawback for him
-safehouse

Lame: Club foot or bandy-legged, slow of foot but nothing else, good for outer-rifts as a sign of mutation etc

Mob-doctor: Expert with max ranks in Heal as well as ranks in Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Knowledge (local), Perception, Profession, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand and Stealth. He also has ranks in Appraise and Linguistics.

Gangs bring members or victims to him for treatment (or torture) or bring him to the scene to treat subjects. He is not completely willing to practice his trade with them but fears reprisal for refusing. For the last few years formulating a plan to extricate himself from the gang's clutches. In order to facilitate his plan he will set the PCs against the gang's interests in the hope that this will bring them into conflict with the gang.

For Iron Gods: Dwarven oracle of metal with law curse, originally worked in Gasforges of Riddleport but left due to conflict with owners, he traveled to Torch to see the flame there

For LoR or JR: PC's family owes a favor to Belor, the Kaijitsu family or someone, or to some influential Katapshi. Family "volunteers" the PC to accompany the caravan on its mission. This works for Shattered Star as well except that the family owes a debt to the Pathfinders.

Wishing Day campaign: Game starts a week or so before Wishing Day. The local lord wants to prevent subject from attending out of fear of Shadbriri. Subjects attempt to evade the lord's guards and go anyway. Some are imprisoned or beaten as examples.

Someone among the attendees tries to prevent the demon from working his magic. Perhaps he is a cleric of a good deity. Can the players have a wish or does this make the game too much of a sandbox game?

The office of the justiciar/executioner have to flee when the lord is to be replaced. Prior headsman was murdered, targeted ethnic or religious group assassinated some staff and targets the rest, some innocents were executed, informant (rogue) flees city to escape retribution

Formaldehyrda

Claustrophobia spell

Item that allows a cleric to substitute one domain for another one as if he had the separatist archetype. The replacement domain functions as if the cleric were two levels lower. As a sign of his deity's ire over this the cleric's other domain suffers the same penalty.

At the Marshes of Madness: Cthulhu in Florida

Hansel and Grendel
Mistress Potato-head
And Additional 50 Shades of Gray (Alignment treatise)
Goodnight Moon (Groetus)

Someone has falsified the results of duels given on the Mivon Suitors' List.

Multiple Climb checks to reach the top of waterfalls ala The Mission.

Ethnic cleansing/foreigners expelled from area - way to start Pharaoh module.

PCs are given the chance to earn freedom from servitude/serfdom in exchange for a quest on behalf of their lord.

Royal page/hostage as background for an educated character - See "Court Positions" thread for other jobs. Such a character would be highly skilled, such as a rogue, slayer, lore-master fighter etc. Perhaps the character was a childhood friend and training partner of a noble child. When his friend reached majority he gave freedom to the PC. Consider character was raised by church of hostage-holder and became a cleric of that god. He would have left his when term ended but retained his religion, if not the outlook his instructors wanted to instill in him.

Campaign where all players started out as hostages in the same court. The adventure starts just before they are to be released. They were educated by the foreign court in order to instill sympathetic outlooks to the hosting court.

High-ranked official who balked at changes made to the regime and abandoned his position. Skilled and knowledgeable, he felt it better to leave before he became the target of rivals within his organization or a scapegoat by virtue of his associations. Perhaps he engendered jealousy because of his success.

Scholomance: a Hogwarts-type of campaign. Arcane PCs are/were students at Acadamae or similar school of magic. They know each other at least in passing. Divine PCs might be present as visiting students if they have arcane connections, such as clerics of Nethys. Older PCs might be adjunct professors etc. who were never tenured. Martial PCs could be staff like guards, groundskeeper, trainers etc.
- magical pranks/betting/gladiatorial summonses get out of hand
- invaders must be repelled
- something went wrong in a professor's rooms and PCs are sent in to investigate
- A Tri-wizard game analogy
- Uncover recruiters for malevolent group
- PCs act as adversaries in non-lethal training/tasks for students
- Professors use PCs for unauthorized tasks
- PCs escort students off-campus to various events
- Rival students sabotage/frame PCs for misdeeds
- Search newly-rediscovered portions of school's dungeons/basement levels
- A petrified creature or person is inadvertently freed in a classroom
- The dungeons are populated with captured enemies/objects of study like ghouls, Nehwon ghouls, skulks, drow or shadow elves, magen, wax golems etc. The captives try to free themselves and others in order to escape en mass.
- Mirror of Life Trapping used to present captives for questioning study without risking student.
- Cursed items are stored and studied
- Student spells sometime go wrong
- Bonded items taken from student to train them how to cast spells without them.
- crafting accident
- berzerk golem/magen etc
- Spy on enemy institution/infiltrate them as part of training
- Explore flooded dungeon of an unused outbuilding in remote area of school grounds
- Teleportation accident
- Professors pit students against each other in illegal competitions and blatantly favor some of them

Several academics are touring to give lectures. Often scholars with opposing views will meet them to debate. Enemies of one or several of them decide to assassinate as many of them as they can while they are gathered. Some might be kidnapped for ransom as well. Some ransoms might be set unattainably high in order to make their rescue impossible and thereby imply that their adherents did not actually believe in the philosophies of the captured. This could also lead to rents in the ranks of their followers

Spam-like interference with divination magic, find the source
Spells to foil divination in area of effect
Martial Artist monk: Fancy Dan - type or MMA/Pankrationist/gladiator

Soulknife
Balisteer-like character

Uriel something Thrune - cleric or warpriest of Asmodeus

Net and Trident fighter

Vishkanya swashbuckler/sorcerer/rogue - avatars: Raheem, or dhampir with long white hair,

Vishkanya daring champion cavalier of the cockatrice order who acts with a false sense of modesty while extolling himself or receiving praise

Nihilistic cleric of Zon-kuthon who preaches that "the haves" must be thrown down in order for the "downtrodden" to claim their "rightful" bounty and place. Darkness/Death domains. He seeks to build a congregation of malcontents based on promises of "social justice".

The cleric was a prisoner in a work-camp. He dug up the body of a dead prisoner and stole the skull from it. Then he looped his chains through the skull to have a holy symbol in order to focus his spells. He used his magic to aid prisoners and rally them around him as a personal army to escape the prison.

He keeps the skull and his manacles from the prison as trophy from his early years.

Humorless and formal swashbuckler with stiff mannerisms who nearly never expresses himself; his acrobatics are very slight and also give the appearance of stiffness, despite his speed. Use ancient master avatar and explain that his mother was Tien or part Tien or use dhampir with long white hair.

PCs were in the radius of effect of a cursed item. It plunged them and others in the market into suspended animation. A cleric or magic-user took in the victims and tried for a year to break the effect. He divided them up into smaller groups in different rooms for space reasons. The effect ends when he is away and the PCs must navigate their way out of his lab and around his defenses and other experiments. Perhaps they need to guide commoners out with them.

Paixo

Kingpin's vault: Low-level challenge. There is only room for one person to try to open the door. The hallway that leads to it twists and the door is placed to prevent anything from securing a rope that can be used to pull the it open.

The owner has a strength-boosting item that enables him to pull it open. A trap inside the vault closes the door. The vault floor slopes downward away from the door to reduce the amount of leverage someone has to push it open from the inside. Most of the other traps are designed to be triggered by people leaving the location.

Disrupt the funeral of an enemy. The funeral will serve as a rallying point for enemy forces. Team must disrupt it before enemies gather. Make it a propaganda victory or attack the mourners en masse.

Fancy Dan: use "Fish" avatar. Make him close to source. He dresses gaudily and wants everyone to know exactly who and what he is. Use Ojuko feat/trait plans for him.

An enemy army has massed near a settlement without being detected by anyone but the PCs.

Feycation: Fey "vacation" in a mortal village and terrorize the inhabitant by ordering them to perform bizarre and dangerous stunts or games in the guise of serving them.

Spoiler:

Combat feats never require mental scores as prerequisites.
Combat Expertise is an option not a feat. It is never required for other feats.
Power Attack can be used in its 3E version.(Maybe)
Standing from a prone position provokes an AoO. An AoO can be delayed until the provoker is in the midst of the action that provokes it. Therefore, a character can be trip-locked by repeated trip attempts.
No counter-spelling?

Feat to sacrifice initiative in order to gain BAB. It can be maintained or abandoned at the start of a character's initial initiative order. Think of counter-punching.

A Kensai magus does not receive reduced spellcasting? consider trading perfect strike for restoration of spell recall?

Rogues can choose any alchemist discovery that deals with poison (except Poison Touch and Poison Bomb) in place of a talent. He must meet the prerequisites for it. They can also take feature from the investigator and swashbuckler classes if they meet the prerequisites.

Glory Rogue archetype is acceptable. Consider guile pool for all rogues.

Strength bonuses are multiplied on sneak attack. Consider multiplying sneak damage on critical hits.

Acceptable classes from APG: arcanist, slayer, shaman*, swashbuckler*

Consider malefactor class from TPK games.

Vishkanya are an acceptable race.
All races have human-length lifespans except for gnomes.
Elves sleep normally.

Surround rules: Should enemy be able to get AoO if foes try to circle him? Should perception oppose some roll from moving enemy?

DM makes all Perception, Bluff, Sense Motive, and Stealth rolls. (All Knowledge, Intimidate, Disguise , Disable and Appraise also?) Does this deprive players of making their own rolls?

Do away with alignment only if players agree to it.
Two traits or an extra feat, players option
No counterspelling?
Rangers do not get spells.
Rage powers that are magical in effect are not available.
Clerics of good deities can be corrupt in the manner of Eberron clerics.
No summoners, gunslingers, monks or ninjas, antipathy toward alchemists, bards and samurai, disinclination toward cavaliers* and druids,
Eastern weapons are available without always being exotic.
Yakuza bushi and flagellant cleric are acceptable archetypes.
Magic weapons do not glow.
No child characters

Variation on Evard's Black Tentacles: One tentacle is conjured and attacks one creature. The damage is the same but the tentacle moves to a spot chosen by the caster and drags the victim with it. Alternatively, it can lift and throw a victim.

Fortify/reinforce curse spell: Increases the DC to remove the curse. A greater version causes the curse to transfer to the caster who tried to remove it if the remove check fails.

Dark Sun: Sickening Raze feat allows a saving throw against the nauseated condition; Consider level pre-requirements for some feats like Agonizing, Controlled, and Distance Raze.

Oracle curses: poison skin (asp character), unearthly voice, weak lungs, shaky hands, learning block, susceptibility to ALL negative alignment-aura effects, enmity from some species, unreliable spellcasting, draw hostility from any summoned creatures in area (even own summonses), sporadic SR against beneficial spells (gain resistances and SR against harmful spells as character level increases)
See Omega World tables for negative characteristics.

Spoiler:
Holy Symbol item: It allows a cleric to store a use of channeled energy. The energy dissipates at the rate of one die of potential every two rounds (one round?). The cleric can use the stored energy as a move/standard/swift/immediate action. This allows a cleric to "double up" on channeled energy by focusing a second channel through the symbol.

The symbol can be used this way X times per day. When energy is channeled through it to harm or control creatures it increases the Will save DC to resist it by 1.

Spoiler:

Heretics' Necropolis: Clerics of Norgorber invaded and tunneled under several crypts and mausoleums of prominent families in Kintargo in order to uncover evidence of heretical worship. The Norgorberites would then use this information to blackmail these families. Naturally, many of the family crypts had fake shrines to Asmodeus for the sake of appearances. The true shrines were small and concealed. Several had traps and even lead to secret shrines beneath the crypts.

Some families even interred the bodies of servants or strangers rather than actual family members so that the bodies of loved ones would not come under necromantic interrogation. A few families pay retainers or mercenaries to keep watch over their crypts.

The clergy of Norgorber use a central mausoleum as their base of operation. Whenever possible, they conduct their affairs under the ground so as to avoid scrutiny.

-consider using Crypt of Istaris map, or at least the Room of Directions from it.

Safe-house: Geraxides's mentor ran a safe house for fugitives from the templars, Veiled Alliance and others. It was warded against divination and located within a tannery. The smell alone dissuaded prying. Some templars were paid-off to facilitate its operation.

The mentor fled when he thought that the other templars had discovered his secret.

A small group conspired to open channels of communication with the enemy when it looked like they might prevail. Minor contacts were established and some meeting took place. The conspirators were a cell and did not know all the other members. Some supplies were hoarded in order to make an offer of good faith or for personal use/gain for other eventualities. Most conspirators returned to normal life after the war and will impeded any attempt to uncover the truth.

-Conspirators provided information on troop movements and strategies to enemy as a bargaining chip. This resulted in the slaughter of a brigade of their own troops. Suspicions have existed since the battle that spies passed along such information. Investigations of the matter never uncovered the treason, though.

Sand-buried entrance to treasure room: PCs must dig down to entrance without burying themselves. Windy area makes this difficult. A nearby river is about to burst its wall and flood the area. PCs must work quickly to loot and escape before being drowned.

SWAT Team: PCs invade house and clear rooms then go to small basement-dungeon. They clear out threats. Enemies from the location around the house surround it and attempt to trap the PCs in the house or invade and kill them. PCs options are 1. Prevent enemies from gathering in force and surrounding them 2. Hold them off from within the house until the enemies give up 3. Fight their way out of the house and breakthrough the enemy ranks.

Colony or other isolated area suffered outbreak of plague and was quarantined. Travel to and from was forbidden and ships attempting to leave were sunk. The disease greatly depopulated the area and left much of it empty. Some areas are inhabited by species that were resistant or immune to the disease. The plague is largely over and the survivors and their descendants are bitter about the quarantine.

Spoiler:
Religions/churches oppose each other along RW historic line. Each recognizes that the other cleric wield power but believe their own to be superior in general. A centralized, hierarchical religion like the Catholic Church has a head equivalent to the Pope. This cleric inherits powerful items/artifacts that the church owns. The church itself is more unified than others and uses this fact along with its better organization to exercise more power than its rivals.

Sometimes it suffers schisms as dissidents go off with church items and resources. Local loyalty also makes this possible.

More Protestant-like churches/religions have less in the way of artifacts and relics and what they have is more widely disbursed. This and their more fractious natures leave them less powerful than the Catholic equivalent.

Churches and religions openly oppose each other regularly akin to European religious conflicts and with Islam. Each side believes it will prevail in the face of any material opposition.

Territory usually has a dominant faith or church. Lesser churches are persecuted or tolerated according to various factors that prevail.

Evil religion campaigns to destroy all vestiges of prior religions in the area that they invade. They perform forced conversions, destroy artifacts (sometimes with catastrophic results), and do everything possible to make life unlivable for adherents of other religions.

Spoiler:

Dr. Lemuel Bender is a portly, balding, Taldane man of early middle years with a double chin and a pleasant smile. He affects the title of "Doctor" although it is unearned. Despite this trivial fact he conducts himself as a legitimate practitioner of the healing arts to the point that he has treated patients in their homes for several years without incident. This nearly-honorable career has provided him with the opportunity to ingratiate himself with a few influential families in the city and he has gradually worked his way into the periphery of their social circles. Ultimately Graves hoped to become an accepted member of the elite of New Stetven.

But the finery, gourmet meals and beautiful companions failed to attract a patron or even modest financial backing. Bender has borrowed a great deal of money from a lender of somewhat doubtful reputation to fund his research and his attempts at social ascendancy. But his debts are about to be called in and he cannot pay them off. The lender has recently made a subtle overture to remind Bender of his impending reckoning. The familiar haughty courtesan who delivered the message advised Bender that his good name would be the first thing he lost if he did not pay on time. She waved her fingers to indicate the next things Bender would lose.

Bender is fascinated by the concept of transforming living things (including himself) to improve them, as he sees. His ingenuous medical practice has afforded him living material for experiments in addition to gold to further his ambitions. Unfortunately, Bender is captive to his desires for gratification, admiration, creature comforts, women, food and drink. Much of the coin that he earned in his guise of being a doctor has been spent in carnal pursuits or toward maintaining an impressive bearing and lifestyle. He rationalized these expenditures as necessary expenses for attracting investors for his experiments.

Since Bender has no desire to lose face socially or literally he decided that an excursion to the south would be in order. Certainly some of the settling bands would find his skills useful. And there is great potential for enrichment in reclaiming the Stolen Lands. Bender envisions himself as a member of the landed gentry in this recaptured territory. And he will do it by his own hand, no less. Then he will have enough gold to fund a grand laboratory where he will make a name for himself as befits one of is talents.

Spoiler:
Lamm sent a dozen older children to a second location to await slave-buyers.

The king dies on the morning of the next day and the riots start that night or when PCs are bringing the children to safety.
The king's assistant is executed. Blackjack is killed trying to intervene.

Spoiler:

For defiler:

Efficient Raze is most valuable first level feat because it is always in effect and gives benefits. Agonizing Radius only affects those within the raze area.

Spoiler:

Serpico-sphinx
Poisonous bite
Spit blinding venom as area attack. (advanced specimen venom acts as weaker contact version of bite poison). Can target single enemy with to-hit bonus.
Weapon Focus (bite)
Reach attack for bite
High DEX for bite
Hypnotic gaze

XP 3,200
N Large magical beast
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +10

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 9, flat-footed 20 (+11 natural, -1 size)
hp 94 (11d10+30)
Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +4

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (poor)
Melee 2 claws +15 (1d6+6), bite+16 (2d4+6/19-20)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks swooping charge (bite, 4d6+12)?
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; concentration +10)

STATISTICS

Str 23, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 11
Base Atk +11; CMB +17; CMD 27 (31 vs. trip)
Feats Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (bite), Power Attack, Skill Focus (Intimidate), Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Bluff +10, Fly +1, Intimidate +16, Perception +10
Languages Common, Sphinx; speak with animals

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Gaze (Su): Any creature within 30ft that looks directly at a serpico-sphinxmust make a Will save vs DC 16 or become Fascinated for 2d6 rounds.