Thanis Kartaleon's page

Weapon Focus (touch spell): PHB p.102 +1 to hit with a touch spell. Would this work with a wand? Also the Wizard probably has pretty average strength but likely has an excellent Dexterity. Maybe Weapon Finesse might provide more bang for the feat. Also there is a problem here. This feat and Weapon Finesse both require +1 BAB. I don't believe a Wizard has a +1 BAB at first level.

Yeah, I always forget this. I remembered Weapon Finesse wouldn't work, but then had a brain fart. Not sure what else to put here, but I suppose in retrospect I would remove both Weapon Focus (touch spell) and Touch Spell Specialization.

EDIT: Legendary Artisan would be great to move here. It's prereq. is an item creation feat (yay wizards).

6th -

Enhance Item (wand) - Epic Level Handbook, page 114
I can't find this feat in the SRD and that would be my only source for Epic material.

Yeah, this is the 'hidden' feat, not listed in the SRD or the table in the ELH. It allows you to select a item creation feat you possess and craft that type of item using your caster level and ability scores instead of the minimum. ^^

10th -

Legendary Artisan - Eberron Campaign Setting
As I don't play in Ebberon I don't have a source for this feat though I believe it has to do with making cheaper magic items.

Yes. This one reduces experience costs for crafting magic items by 25%. Though since I'm moving this all the way down to 1st level, I would replace this with Extraordinary Artisan, to make crafting cheaper. (-25% gp cost)

12th -

Weapon Finesse: PHB p.102 One can use their dexterity bonus in place of their strength bonus when attacking in melee combat. Now here is where I might pick up Weapon Focus (Wand) instead of acquiring this feat at 1st.

I see Weapon Finesse as giving a much bigger boost than Weapon Focus (esp. since I'm dropping Touch Spell Specialization). At this level, our wizard would likely have a Dex of 17-19 - that's a nice boost, and finally covers for the TWF penalty.

Wand Mastery: Unsure of the source for this feat, though I know it increases a Wands DC.

By +2... and it also increases the effective caster level by 2! Combined with Enhance Item (wand) and Reckless Wand Wielder, this can make the zapper pretty deadly. Another feat from the Eberron Campaign Setting book.

18th -

Touch Spell Specialization: CAr p.83 +2 damage for a touch spell that does damage. This feat seems woefully underpowered for this level. If we had some how picked this up around 4th or 5th it would have been a sweet addition to the class but by this level and extra 2 points of damage is simply irrelevant.

Yeah, not sure what I was thinking here... Perhaps replace this with Improved Two Weapon Fighting? Would that work? I mean, it would be an extra 3 charges from the off hand wand (1 from Wandstrike, 2 from Double Wand Wielder... perhaps an extra charge from Reckless Wand Wielder)... But then Double Wand Wielder is listed as a full round action, not a full attack. Thoughts? This is at 18th level, so I'd be inclined to allow it, myself.

20th -

Extraordinary Artisan - Eberron Campaign Setting: Another Ebberon feat I don't have access to – I would think it makes crafting magical items even cheaper.

Well, I moved this down to 12th level, so... what to replace it with? This is the character's Wizard bonus feat, so it'd have to be item creation or metamagic... What about Smiting Spell (Player's Handbook II)? It effectively allows you to store a spell in a weapon for up to a minute, if you prepare it at a spell slot one level higher. Or perhaps Quicken Spell? Quicken Spell might be the way to go - that way we're not in ambiguous territory.

What happens when multiple creatures dominate the same target?

In most cases, both dominate effects would work normally. Each time one of the controllers gives the target a command, the target follows that command to the exclusion of all other activities. As long as the commands don’t conflict, the target
simply follows all commands given.

The only sticky situation comes when the orders conflict, but that’s handled on page 172 of the Player’s Handbook: “If the controlled creature receives conflicting orders simultaneously, the competing controllers must make opposed Charisma checks to determine which one the creature obeys.”

How's that?

I am loathe to say this (mainly because I don't think it's the right ruling), but Takasi's right, according to the FAQ.

In a previous column, the Sage ruled that switching weapons from one hand to the other should take a move action. My group and I though that seemed pretty long, since it's only a free action to drop something. Why can't you just drop it into your other hand?

It's not really true that switching weapons from one hand to another is just like dropping a weapon. When you drop a weapon, you're releasing it and letting it drop to the ground, with no real guidance (or attention) as to exactly where it lands. Switching a weapon from one hand to another is certainly more complex than simply dropping it. At the very least, switching hands would require you to use one hand to take the weapon from the other and at most it involves using both hands together in a coordinated action. Either way sounds a lot like drawing a weapon, which is a move action. When you simply drop a weapon, you don't really care where it lands, and it doesn't require you to use the other hand to guide the action.

That being said, even according to this you should be able to "drop" a two handed weapon from one hand without letting go with the other. I could swear I read something about this in the FAQ, but this entry is unfortunately the best I could find.

TK

I am reading the backdrop and I am coming up with a couple ideas

Area 39 - Traitors Graves - Maybe have someone on display, sort of crucified here, maybe the pc's can save him, maybe the angels wont like that?

The angels certainly wouldn't like anyone attempting to pull down the displays. Have them show up immediately if the PCs try to do something like that, with a stern warning not to interfere in "criminal justice" - or they could face the same fate. Have them roll for Spot checks - DC 5 notices that the area suddenly becomes devoid of civilians and also the presence of multiple angels - say 4 or 5 of them hanging off of nearby rafters.

Area 34 - the great project - The PC's will certainly explore this. This would be a great place for the PC's to see forced labour. Maybe some old slave gets tired, and they whip him to he starts working again, or maybe the whip him till he dies...

I dunno. Alhaster is ruled by evil, but it is also ruled by law. Whipping a slave until he dies doesn't strike me as a very lawful act. Just enough to knock him unconscious - then he gets carried away to the temple of Hextor.

So I want Will Save Wands for fighter types and Fortitude Save Wands for Rogue and Wizard Types.

Remember, you can use Wandstrike to activate wands with area effects. So Reflex Save Wands such as burning hands are viable for use against Cleric Types.

Not sure where one would get all the feats but you could make a pretty interesting character by also picking up two weapon fighting and double wand weilder.

That would be pretty cool.

Craft Wand
Two-Weapon Fighting
Wandstrike
Double Wand Wielder

Toss on Reckless Wand Wielder, Touch Spell Specialization... hmmm

Level Progression:
Human Wizard (Base 15 Dex, 14 Int)
1st - Scribe Scroll, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (touch spell)
3rd - Wandstrike
5th - Craft Wand
6th - Enhance Item (wand) - Epic Level Handbook, page 114
9th - Double Wand Wielder
10th - Legendary Artisan - Eberron Campaign Setting
12th - Weapon Finesse
15th - Reckless Wand Wielder, Wand Mastery
18th - Touch Spell Specialization
20th - Extraordinary Artisan - Eberron Campaign Setting

I wonder if they (WotC) stop giving LAs after a certain CR. Why give a LA to a Succubus and not an Ice Devil or a Marilith?

WotC has made it a practice never to list a level adjustment for a creature if:

a) Its Intelligence score is less than 3. (e.g. any Animal)
b) Some other aspect of the creature would make it unviable to play as a PC. (e.g. Dryad)
c) (The important one here) If the ECL of the basic version of the creature would be 21 or above.

I wish they didn't follow that last rule, since it leads to situations where one player might pick (in an epic game) to play an advanced Astral Deva (say a Large one with 19 HD) at ECL 27, but still no one can play a marilith unless the DM houserules a LA. Savage species helps with assigning LA, but not enough.

I myself have found a decent method of determining level adjustment: Write out a level progression for the race in question. Past a balanced "first level" of +s to work out the -s (and always apply all penalties at 1st level), apply no more than a single +2 to an ability score per level. That gives you a good estimate of where Level Adjustment should be. I'll see about whipping up an example in a bit.

Touch Spells and Holding the Charge: ...If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates.

That's the pertinent information.

If you really want to be able to do this, though, you need to get a staff familiar (Dr 338) - it allows you to channel your touch spells through your staff, and later your staff becomes a spell storing staff. :-)

The Wandstrike feat from Complete Arcane would be another way to do it, though with less versatility (unless you're knee deep in wands).

Actually, a succubus has a level adjustment of +6, making for an ECL 12 character (and thus more easily playable than the mind flayer at ECL 16!). Perhaps you were thinking of the marilith?

Actually, I just read an interview with two of the books designers (on the WotC website). They said that the ancient baatorians are not covered in the FC II. I'm going to go cry now.

Ack! Well, my interest in the FC II just dropped by about 500 points... I mean, it already was down for not having a Paizo staffer on the cover...

Woo!

So, what are the worst uses you could imagine for an artifact (either something you can think up, or something you've actually seen happen in play?)

I was paging through some of the monsters who have swallow whole, and thought - what if one of them swallowed the shield of Prator? I mean, as an artifact, it's neigh indestructable, so the purple worm or whatever won't be able to digest it. Eventually, it'll start moving through the worm's intestines - which won't be at all pleasant - and then it'll reach The End. Ouch.

I could just see my players using the Eye of Vecna as sling ammo...

I had to google it. In doing so, I just learned my new personal motto: "lupus in fabula."

And in googling that, I found this: http://www.loopusinfabula.com/

Yeah, I'm not sure what the issue is here, but I'll try to reiterate what I know just in case it isn't clear yet.

"Epic" status is based strictly off of total hit dice, including those from racial hit dice and class levels.

The only change for racial hit dice upon becoming "epic" is the availablity of epic feats (mainly, this is so that advancing monsters does not become a headache for the DM - class levels are bad enough).

Any class levels taken after becoming "epic" are subject to poor base attack bonus (+1/2 levels, increasing at every odd hit die - if you use fractional base bonuses, you could treat reaching "epic" status as gaining an extra +.5 base attack bonus).

Any class levels taken after becoming "epic" are subject to good base save bonuses (+1/2 levels, increasing at every even hit die).

Other than spellcasting, that's it.

Spellcasting becomes "epic" only when the character's caster level reaches 21. A character can have "epic" sorcerer caster levels, but nonepic cleric caster levels.

Cool stuff, 'zombie. Are we going to see a map of Kota anytime soon? That would be nifty.

Wait for the Fiendish Codex II to come out. If it isn't in there, it won't be found in the Nine Hells...

Say you've got a marilith who focuses on her spell-like abilities. You want her to be a more effective 'spellcaster', so instead of taking Multiweapon Fighting, you give her Ability Focus (project image). What's her attack line read then?

I figure it'll probably be as if she had Multiweapon Fighting normally (as if she was a random 6-armed critter and not a marilith). So, all attacks would be at -4. Yes?

I've never been clear on this - is constrict an attack option, meaning that it applies ANY TIME the constricting creature wins a grapple check, OR is it a special action, one of the options the constricting creature has in grapple?

Cool, I remember seeing that rule somewhere. Talk about obscure.

What about melee attacks? Wouldn't the attackers take an auto -4 penalty on attack rolls so as not to hit their buddy, similar to the -4 penalty when firing into melee (which would apply to the ranged attacks after determining who you're firing at, right?) Anyone have a reference on this?

Then of course there's the penalties for squeezing into one space - but I think that only applies if you're in the same space as an ally. Which, strangely, would make dog-piling in grapple *less and less* effective if you applied it. Weird.

From that site: Antimagic Eye (Su): The beholder can focus its large, central eye on an area, disrupting all spellcasting that takes place there. As a swift action, the beholder creates a 60 foot cone. Anyone in this area who attempts to cast a spell must make a caster level check (DC 22) to successfully complete the spell. This DC is Intelligence based and includes a +4 racial bonus.

Swift action is during your turn right? So on the beholder's turn, it lays down the cone. On my wizard's turn, I simply move out of that area. With only a 60' cone, it's too easy to get out of that area.

Yeah, I was okay (though shaky) with the beholder "upgrade" until this part. If the beholder can only attempt (lousily) to stop the casting of a spell and can't suppress an active spell (such as Bull's Strength or Haste), it loses a lot of its terror factor. The ogre mage upgrade I liked, the rust monster wasn't bad (but doesn't quite hammer down that nail), but the orb missed the mark.

The complete list (from the SRD):
Angels
Arrowhawks
Delvers
Digester
Djinn
Black Dragons
Green Dragons
Copper Dragons
Silver Dragons
Mimics
Tojanidas
Half-Black Dragons
Half-Green Dragons
Half-Copper Dragons
Trolls

...

Wait.. scratch that last one.

Pray tell, which fiends are you looking to update? There are a good number of yugoloths between the MM2 and MM3 (though the MM2 yugoloths suffer through some problems in translation to 3.5 - most glaringly is the Yagnoloth, which has a Strength of 10 in one arm and 30 in the other - what's its grapple modifier? I've been beating myself around for days with that one.

I haven't seen Ravnica (got out of Magic for a while now), but my favorite expansion was Mercadian Masques. Loved that one. Ran a great D&D game in it - the Caterans freaked my PCs out - and the spellshapers and spellmongers were an interesting twist (Basically the spellshapers were spellthieves, while the spellmongers generated auras that allowed those within range to swap perform a spontaneous spell swap. What I really liked about Mercadia - no elves (though there are dryads, much different from D&D's dryads), no dwarves, or other standard race with the exception of humans. Goblins are actually the aristocracy (rivaled by the Caterans), and with the Sapprazan (s.p.), you introduce a major element of the aquatic. I never read the Mercadian Masques books, just collected almost all of the cards, so I don't know how well I followed the official storyline. But it was pretty cool.

Umm, you are letting the RAW get in the way of fun!!!

Fun for who? If the players know that this is a valid tactic, you will see an escalation of tripping beyond reason in the game. You as the DM will not be able to have standing humanoid-shaped characters as enemies, unless they are specifically dwarven defenders who focus on staying upright (!). It's much better, for game balance reasons, that a single character cannot use an AoO to prevent a character from standing.

Now, this does not in any way prevent two characters from ganging up on a single individual, one tripping and the other readying an action to trip the opponent as soon as he would be standing again.

Erm... Skill Focus (Diplomacy) and Power Attack. Why? Well, it makes for a good Cuthbertine cleric, don't you think?

I had thought about giving Elves a +4 racial bonus on Knowledge (history) checks. Basically, any race that lives for 50 - 100 years before adventure (dwarves, for instance) get a +2 racial bonus on Knowledge (history) checks, while those who see over a hundred years pass get a +4.

I have a question: Regarding your warlock with the quickened eldritch blast - Did he use Quicken Spell-like Ability to do that - and if so, had you house-ruled it to remain effective past 13th level? IIRC, the eldritch blast has an effective spell level equal to 1/2 the warlock's class level, and you can't normally use Quicken Spell-like Ability on a spell above 6th level. I have a warlock in my group who would find that particularly handy later on.

(humor)
So, would a german flavored soul taste like a bismark?

"Ich bin ein Berliner Seele!"

Don't Blackguards require at least +1d6 Sneak Attack?

Nope, the Blackguard only requires an evil character with +6 base attack bonus, 5 ranks in Hide and 2 in Knowledge (religion), and the feats Cleave, Improved Sunder, and Power Attack. Oh, and that pesky role-playing component about peaceful contact with an evil outsider ;-)

As Stefan has noted, pure ranger levels are the way to go for quick access to blackguard. One of these days I plan on running a "Final Fantasy" D&D game, with Garland being a Ranger 6/Blackguard 2. First level characters, those impertinent fools, will not knock HIM down!

The superscript B means the feat is a bonus feat, above and beyond the normal allotment of 1 feat plus 1 every 3 levels.

TK

The ideal build would be an elven Swashbuckler 3/Duskblade 3/Bladesinger 2, then taking either Duskblade or Bladesinger levels (or perhaps Eldritch Knight) as you wish - everything else is just icing. He may want to advance Duskblade to 13th level - the Arcane Channeling (full attack) is a fairly impressive ability. His weapon should be a rapier. The character should also look to picking up the Einhander feat from the PH II - it grants special advantages when the character is wielding a weapon in one hand and nothing in the other hand.

Well, the main advantage of the build is that it is ALL about Dexterity and Intelligence. Your AC, your damage, your spellcasting - All are either based off of Int or get a boost from it, and Swashbuckler nets you Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat. The character can wear light armor while casting spells, and gain the benefits of grace (admittedly only a +1 at 8th level, but hey, it's a +1). He gets his Intelligence bonus added to damage rolls at 3rd level, and Combat Casting as a bonus feat at 5th level. At 6th level, he gets iterative attacks since his base attack is all good despite multiclassing, and he can also choose to make a single attack and include the effects of one of his spells. At 7th level, the character gets a dodge bonus to AC equal to the lesser of his Intelligence bonus and Bladesinger class level, as long as he wears light or no armor. At 8th level, the character can take 10 on Concentration checks to cast defensively. So now at 8th level, he's got full base attack, a really good Fortitude save, and limited spellcasting. Beyond level 8, any levels he takes in any of these 3 classes more or less just adds on to what he has already gotten.

Downsides to this build?

Strangely enough, a poor base Reflex save. The grace ability of the Swashbuckler offsets this slightly, and the character is bound to have a high Dexterity anyway, but his Reflex saves won't be nearly as good as, say, a rogue's. Speaking of which, a few levels of rogue could fix that nicely, and get the character evasion to boot.

Low spellcasting. The duskblade gets 2nd level spells at 5th level - in this build, that's an eternity. The bladesinger gets half spellcasting, but that just means you'll reach 2nd level spells at 12th character level IF you take straight bladesinger levels after 8th level... ouch.

Hm... I can't think of much else. How's that?

Try a swashbuckler/duskblade/bladesinger. Much synergy there.

Long ago in the mists of 2nd-edition land, on an online RP where we didn't even use D&D's rules, I played a character who seemed completely average - so average that average was the only way to describe him after he leaves your presence.

Turns out he was wearing a mantle of the mundane (which was included in the Spy issue a while back - almost exactly how I had imagined it). Sans the mantle, he appeared to be a very distinctive gray elf (though he was actually a greyhawk dragon in disguise - though getting food at inns was interesting).

Consider this to be my rant.

Grr.

Ymir,

I'm sorry. Obviously WotC and Paizo have been doing things wrong all this time. Instead of running a business, they should be the ones paying to give you cool stuff for free. Because obviously we live in a communist economy where no one should have to pay for things they want, especially if they're cool.

Wow, paying $85 to get three hardbound books, weighing in at an average of 300 full-color, professionally illustrated, pages per book. Gee, that seems like too much money I guess. I mean, you could be using that $85 to buy 1/8th of a playstation 2. Then you'd just have to save up a little more to buy some games to play on it. Ah, but why buy a PS2 - obviously Sony is evil and only exists to get your money! Of course, you can just go out and STEAL a PS2, that'd be the right idea, right? Show those bastards what what?

/sarcasm

That attitude really ticks me off (and anyone else who actually works for a living, more than likely). Obviously, you don't know much about the cost to produce a hardcover book, or basic economics for that matter. I'll admit, I'm perplexed as to why WotC takes so long to approve things (such as the FREE distribution of WotC's intellectual property, or the Age of Worms hardcover). However - do you HAVE to buy Dragon #315 and #319 to run a fun game? No. Is Paizo's $5 price tag on the pdfs it sells too much for 100 pages worth of content? No! Should you get a job and stop whining about things which you obviously don't understand? YES!

Grrr...

What about a mimic in the form of animated full plate wielding an animated object in the form of a Large greatsword, and wearing a cloaker?

Fake Healer wrote:

Maybe a portable battering ram. WHAM! ow. WHAM! ow. Or a backpack, the mimic could hand the owner whatever items he calls for. "Rope!" called the warrior. "Coming up!" comes the cheerful reply from the warriors pack.

I like it, kinda neat idea.

There is the problem of mimics being covered in super-sticky slime, however...

Actually, the problem here is that the 'backpack' would still take up 150 cubic feet of space and weigh 4,500 pounds. It might work as the backpack of a giant.. maybe.

I suppose you could reverse apply the size adjustments to make a Tiny or Small mimic...

Make it 1-2 HD (Tiny), 3-4 HD (Small), 5-6 HD (Medium)?

I realize we've moved a bit past the Drowning/Holding Breath discussion, but I believe the rule is:

- You can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to 2x your Con score if you take no actions.
- If you are doing stuff (swimming, fighting) then the amount of time you can hold your breath is halved (so in the Swimming rules it refers to 1x Con score).

You're mostly right. The number of rounds remains 2x your Con score, but ticks down by 2 in any round in which you perform any strenuous action (such as fighting, casting a quickened spell, or eating a dagwood sandwich as a full round action ;-)).

It's been fun (albeit in 30 min-1 hour increments...) :-)

Well, like I said, my *leatherbound* copies. They were special edition prints that contained all the updates. The latest run of regular PHs have the same stuff (but don't have that cool feel to them, heh). Not sure why the 3.5 errata didn't mention the swim change, since it adds a lot of time to swimming encounters, but...

Rest assured that your ruling will make for more climactic death scenes. :-)

*busts out the leatherbound books*

That SRD website is outdated. My leatherbound copies of the PH & DMG are in agreement that the time before risk of drowning is twice a character's constitution score. I recommend http://www.d20srd.org/ as it is kept up to date more than any other SRD website I have seen.

I don't currently have access to Stormwrack, but I'll check on that when I'm able.

As for the realism factor - well, you're welcome to change the rules of course, but this is fantasy gaming we're talking about. I don't know about you, but when I go to make a running jump, I usually go about seven feet (I think), whereas the average human commoner goes anywhere from 1 to 20 feet. You can focus on these details forever, since the system isn't perfect - but it's good enough to let you put the smack down on a demon lord - if you've killed enough goblins.

Say, while you are at it: their other rules contention in that battle was that you can't hold your breath while paralyzed (in the magazine it says you can). I can't find anything that says either way, although I have had a character die to paralysis + water before (damnable chuuls!). Then again, that character was thrown into the water after being paralyzed, so he wasn't holding his breath to begin with.

Paralysis, like all D&D conditions, has specific effects, and unless the game would end up being less fun or fulfilling for all involved if a condition did not have additional effects, it's generally best to stick to what it specifies. In the case of paralyzation:

A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act. A paralyzed character has effective Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions. A winged creature flying in the air at the time that it becomes paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A paralyzed swimmer can’t swim and may drown. A creature can move through a space occupied by a paralyzed creature—ally or not. Each square occupied by a paralyzed creature, however, counts as 2 squares.

It does specifically mention swimming and that a paralyzed swimmer "may drown," but this can be more easily inferred to mean that if a character remains paralyzed long enough, he runs the risk of drowning as normal.

For another take on it, consider a plant. An ordinary plant (not the creature type) effectively has a Strength and Dexterity score of 0, so it is effectively paralyzed. However, it still breathes just fine.

Paralyzed does not mean no internal muscle control - it just means no movement. Otherwise paralyzed characters would wet themselves, loose their bowels, begin drooling and fall prone. They would also begin to suffocate, since their tongue would fall into their throat.

Granted, you could use that as another condition - a greater paralysis I suppose. Perhaps purple worm poison causes a greater paralysis if it drops your Strength score to 0. But at low levels such effects would unduly increase the challenge of the encounter.

Finally, the module takes a good deal of space to point out that the characters can indeed keep holding their breath while paralyzed. I'm sure if the ruling was incorrect, one of the editors at Paizo would have corrected it - that would be a bit larger of an error than one or two words.

I spotted a few rules inconsistencies that my players kindly corrected (even at their own peril, such as when they reminded me that you can only hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to your Con score, not double your Con score as it says in the magazine).

Er, actually your players are incorrect. You can actually hold your breath for twice your Con score before risking drowning.

SRD Drowning Rules

If you haven't heard of The World Project, please check it out.

I have fleshed out a creature to the World, the Voh Worm. Add any comments you like in the discussion tab.

Thanks,
TK

Human Shaman/Scout

Halfling Rogue/Ranger (FE: Orcs)
Elf Druid/Ranger (FE: Orcs)
Elf Samurai/Swordsage
Half-Elf Fighter(variant)/Warlock
Dwarf Crusader/Cleric

Okay, well, from looking at this:

Each character has a minimum of a d8 hit die, and most of them have a +1 base attack. Will saves are a strong point for this group, and their Fort saves aren't too bad, either.

As I see it, gestalted characters aren't especially tougher than normal characters (hp-wise), so you'll want to send more monsters at them rather than more powerful monsters.

As for your gestalted aranea, that's one of the reasons I avoid gestalting. I recommend gestalting its racial hit dice with fighter levels (since it already has sorcerer spellcasting), then adding fighter/sorcerer levels as you need them. Which you shouldn't, if you're using this as a 1st level boss. So, essentially, just give it two fighter feats and add the elite array. I highly recommend giving it a +4 boost to its Charisma since your group's Will saves are all good.

Hey MarkB, I just noticed you. Weren't you a frequent poster on the WotC Eberron board?

TK

Also why did the sai get listed in the PHB as a BLUDGEONING weapon? It seems a bit odd considering where the grip is and the profile and method of use. Then again it probably was a typo.

SP

I'm pretty sure that this is not a typo. I have no experience using an actual sai, but I think that they have blunted tips - the concept for using them is disarming your opponent's weapon, which they work exceptionally well at.

the Mother of all is a 10 hit dice creature with a domain of several miles with 18 ships caught in its clutches. are you telling me that none of those 18 ships had any high level adventuring parties that could have taken this thing out yet? you really want me to suspend belief and think that an 8 CR creature can exist this long with all those ships caught in its domain? now, i understand that its got the vine horrors and all that, but come on. 5 ships i could understand. 10 is pushing the threshold for believability, and 18 is just too much. there had to have been a high level group in those 18 ships that would have ended this menace long ago. especially a CR 8 threat.

I don't think it's unbelievable at all. Consider a population of 10,000 as per the D&D (a small city worth of people). In this menagerie, you will have, on average, ten characters at or above 10th level. Of these, the highest level will be two 16th level Commoners, two 13th level Experts, and two 11th level Warriors. That leaves four characters in 10,000 who could, indeed, handily defeat an 8th level encounter. But they've got business elsewhere, right? Can't be everywhere at once...

There will be twenty-eight characters between 6th and 9th level, who would consider the monster to be a fair challenge. Ten of these characters are aristocrats, adepts, commoners, and experts. So eighteen NPCs out of 10,000 would consider this monster to be a worthy foe. Hey, that's almost a fifth of a percent! But then, fully 50% of NPCs are evil (again, according to the DMG). Heck, only 20% (three or four) of them are actually good aligned. The others may or may not care that there's a monster causing chaos out in the seas.

The rest of that 10,000 are 4th level or lower (8,721 of them are 1st level commoners), and would get completely wiped out if they tried to face off with the beast.

TK

Callum wrote:

Thanks for the responses. The difficulty with charisma-enhancing items is that the sorcerer in my group will feel he has a better claim on them!

How about Charisma-boosting magic armor or weapons that the sorcerer can't use?

Call it glorious armor. Also, relics of the faith work well.