Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4
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You steal ONE kidney and you're marked for life! :)
Everybody's an a%+*&%+, man. Seriously, I feel for you.
All kidding aside, Good work on this item. A question though; if a caster has this crown using it, and they had the Augmented Summoning feat, would it still apply to the initial summoned creatures?
My assumption is "Yes", but I'd actually love to see the Sage Advice on this. I haven't created a new mechanic, precisely, and there HAS to be a ruling on how Augment Summoning works on (a) gaggles of critters pulled in all at once, or (b) critters pulled in by Outsiders.
Dude, glad you dig the item - best of luck using the Crown. If you make a pair of them, one might make a really good gift to the General of Gehenna.
He'd LOVE one.
Also, best of luck on the next round!
You steal ONE kidney and you're marked for life! :)Everybody's an a##%@%#, man. Seriously, I feel for you.
All kidding aside, Good work on this item. A question though; if a caster has this crown using it, and they had the Augmented Summoning feat, would it still apply to the initial summoned creatures?My assumption is "Yes", but I'd actually love to see the Sage Advice on this. I haven't created a new mechanic, precisely, and there HAS to be a ruling on how Augment Summoning works on (a) gaggles of critters pulled in all at once, or (b) critters pulled in by Outsiders.
Dude, glad you dig the item - best of luck using the Crown. If you make a pair of them, one might make a really good gift to the General of Gehenna.
He'd LOVE one.
Also, best of luck on the next round!
I'm certain my characters will be henceforth forbidden from guarding the princesses our party saves for that. Lessee my characters are forbidden from ever owning more then 10 marbles at any one time, buying more then 1 pound of lye soap or ever buying, owning, stealing or coming near a barrel of pickles... Long story, involved killing the evil lord's personal guards by using a barrel of pickles to make the roadway slick on a curve near a 200 foot cliff.. :)
The idea of summoning an augmented and Crown-boosted flock of outsiders even if it's just once would be cool enough to pay for the item to be built!
Thank you and best of luck to you as well. :)
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4
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I'm certain my characters will be henceforth forbidden from guarding the princesses our party saves for that. Lessee my characters are forbidden from ever owning more then 10 marbles at any one time, buying more then 1 pound of lye soap or ever buying, owning, stealing or coming near a barrel of pickles... Long story, involved killing the evil lord's personal guards by using a barrel of pickles to make the roadway slick on a curve near a 200 foot cliff.. :)
Dude, that's sweet. I'm not allowed to have boots of levitation for similar reasons.
Also, I told a bunch of people that I was the Demon Prince of Elevators and After-Dinner Mints and got homocidal if they questioned me about it.
The idea of summoning an augmented and Crown-boosted flock of outsiders even if it's just once would be cool enough to pay for the item to be built!
The joke of the item is that there really aren't that many summonable critters that take real advantage of the Crown's super-powers. Neither archons nor angels summon members of their own kind, nor do elementals or celestial/fiendish creatures; you can't get a Slaad until you're winging out 7th level spells, hardly a bargain for a CR 7 critter, and their summoning got BITTEN for 3rd ed., so having them "send out" for some buddies is a losing proposition.
Also, the Slaad minis suck. BOO.
Your best best is probably demons or devils, and the list of summonable demons is short. For SRD, it goes: 3rd level: dretch; 7th: babau, 8th: vrock, 9th: hezrou. Plus, to get the BIG bennies of maximized amounts of monsters, you want bigger dice pools, which means lowering the level of the buggers that you're calling for.
But you want monsters that can then summon. Oi.
Por Ejemplo: a Summon Monster VIII gets you one Hellcat, which sucks, or a fat total of 5 chain devils, which also sucks (because they don't summon). Better, as a sixteenth-level caster like yourself, to snag 3 bone devils, who can then net you (potentially, each devil seperately rolling 50/50 chances) 6d10 lemures.
As a 9th-level effect, grab 3 vrocks - fewer nimnodes on the field (equal numbers of models, but only a 35% chance to summon), but the trio can do the Dance of Ruin while the dretches slow down opponents.
Now THAT'S a "Breaching Legion"!
Now that right there is the spiffy coolness of this Crown, the idea of as a PC having Vrocks you summon doing the Dance of Ruin against your enemies while the horde of beasties that THEY summoned for you hold off the NPCs is worth 200k to get this item made for you even if you can't make it yourself.
That and getting the DM to allow me to summon up huge monsterous half-red dragon fiendish centipedes... If I can get these two things to happen I'd gladly sacrifice my character to the DM wrath that would ensue. :)
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4
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That and getting the DM to allow me to summon up huge monsterous half-red dragon fiendish centipedes... If I can get these two things to happen I'd gladly sacrifice my character to the DM wrath that would ensue. :)
Ooooooohhh . . . now the question of how to get a template like "Half-Dragon" tacked on to a summoned monster. That's a whole 'nother can of worms, is what that is.
I'm think I'm feeling the design-tingles.
No, but seriously, do you feel that? Is that design-tingles, or am I just losing my damn mind?
Anyway, on the topic of templates: I actually had a feat, Soulbond Familiar, for a high-magic, high-fantasy game that let you tack a Half-(Fiend, Celestial or Elemental) template onto your familiar, who got spell-like ablilites as you increased in level (and thereby artifically increased it's hit-dice) - but your bond to the critter was so strong that if it died, you took a d6/level physical damage and 1d4 damage to each of your stats.
My players f!&+ing LOVED it, and it brought back pride in the Familiar.
The awesome part was seeing people build really unique creatures out of the options - people made itty-bitty Couatls (Half-Celestial Tiny Viper) and pocket-sized black dragons (Half-Fiend Lizard) and the glowing white, dart-fast Sky Breaker (Half-Air Elemental Raven). Hell, paired with Improved Familiar, I saw a baby phoenix (Half-Celestial Small Fire Elemental), a horrid little gargoyle (Half-Fiend Small Earth Elemental), and even a Pikachu (Half-Fire Elemental Shocker Lizard).
I think that there's some HUGE fun to be had with that level of customization.
Very creative and interesting summoning item. I have a weakness for summoning items. I never play level 20 PCs so I'd never be able to afford this normally unless I prorate the mechanics down. (Hope you don't mind imitation is the most sincere form of flattery) I'll probably take them down to 1/10 days for that occassional attack or defense as an ace in the hole back up. Good luck I'm looking forward to seeing your country.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4
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Very creative and interesting summoning item. I have a weakness for summoning items. I never play level 20 PCs so I'd never be able to afford this normally unless I prorate the mechanics down. (Hope you don't mind imitation is the most sincere form of flattery) I'll probably take them down to 1/10 days for that occassional attack or defense as an ace in the hole back up. Good luck I'm looking forward to seeing your country.
I thank you, sir - your comments and criticism are WELL appreciated, and (knowing that you don't pull punches) quite flattering.
Imitation is, indeed, the sincerest form of flattery - so I'm glad to know that a 1/ride version of the Crown might find its way to a gaming table. BTW, very cool way to simmer-down the power level - one other option might be to dail back the length of time that the critters are around, since "ten round limit" is hardly a detriment to a ninth/tenth-level caster. Halve that to five rounds, and an 8th-level summoner has to wonder if the Crown's quick-to-the-field power is really a good trade-off.
Once you cut off the super high-level applications of the item (see above, where I demonstrate how the Crown can give the caster of a Summon Monster IX access to enough Vrocks to bring down a Dance of Ruin & potentially enough Dretches to give them 3 rounds to do it), the whole thing really balances itself out.
If you have copies of the Fiendish Codices ("Hordes of the Abyss" & "Tyrants of the Nine Hells"), you can also find some neat mid-level summoning variants - stuff like Abishai, who can, unlike Chain Devils, actually summon more of their own kind, giving the Crown a little more . . . ummph.
Anyway, here's hoping that you dig on the country - I know for DAMN sure that you'll let me know, one way or the other.
And I respect that.
Thanks Clinton, I have both those source books (I've enjoyed playing Paladins in the past but now I want to be a Paladin just to call Pazuzu for a Wish once).
On the good side using a SM9 you could summon 5 Movanic Devas to raise 5 dead people (Movanic Devas from the Fiend Folio can be summoned with a SM7) without the spell component material cost plus they have some useful spells like Commune..
Don't have everything but I have a lot. Pretty comprehensive library nice for reviewing when I have to monitor the market during the day. Didn't mean to punch to hard. All the Top 32 are very creative.
I have hesitated to say for a while now, but I have to say that I like the Crown the best out of all the winning items. Maybe I just like munchkinny stuff too much, but I think your item description was tight, with an awsome name, well organized, and (most important) interesting!
Not that my opinion matters much.
Yea. Summoning needs a boost, especially for the poor Outsiders. And the % chance to summon something should be adjusted upwards. Nice item, btw.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4
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Yea. Summoning needs a boost, especially for the poor Outsiders. And the % chance to summon something should be adjusted upwards. Nice item, btw.
Thank you, sir - I am pleased that the Crown fills a needed niche, and would be interested to see it used in play by other gamers.
Again, thank you for your comments and support, and I hope that you find the rest of the contest as useful - and interesting!