| RJ Dalton 89 |
Well, I've kinda got one already developed, but I'm wondering if anyone might have some other ideas for what to work with.
This is the first campaign I've run that's gone epic level in . . . years. Not even sure how many at this point. We usually don't go this far because the game stops being as fun at around level 15 or 16 because it just becomes way too much work to develop solid encounters, but this one's been different because the campaign ended up going really political, so there's been really heavy roll-playing around situations (because people were too important to kill without causing a huge fuss, which would have interfered with player goals; despite how it sounds, it's been pretty intense at times).
Anyway, the game has now hit 20th level and the players all have their goals in mind - one wants to become a legendary dreadnaught and smash up the devil minions of Mephistopheles, one wants to become the right hand soldier of his deity, one (who is an orc) wants to overthrow one of the major kingdoms so his glorious leader (who by this point he has surpassed in terms of levels, but still respects because the glorious leader actually lives up to his title in the minds of other orcs by being a tactical and political genius as well as a deadly warrior) can take it over, you know, fun stuff like that.
One of the things the PCs managed to do earlier was arrange a peace accord between the god of wizardry and the goddess of witchcraft, bringing a (sort of) end to a two thousand year blood feud that's been going on (yeah, it's been that kind of campaign). Since they managed that, I've decided to make them work to keep it by challenging it.
So, the idea is that an ancient night hag calling herself Matron Malice, The Hag Queen (I know the name's not exactly original, but I like the sound of it), has been living in the Abyss for the past thousand years, studying the magic of the demons and increasing her own power. Now she's coming back and she's decided that she wants to be the goddess of witchcraft, which means she has to defeat the current one. To that end, she's been going around and getting the other hags of the world to renounce Hecate in favor of her, although at this point she's had less success with human witches. But she's gained enough followers that she was able to develop and complete an epic level magic ritual that allows her to create a magic field that prevents gods from approaching her, to keep them from directly coming after her until she's ready to strike against her chosen foe. The ritual was, no surprise, no small thing. It required over three hundred additional participants, a 100 day casting time, and a massive expenditure of XP from herself and all her followers. It's not perfect, because they can still attack her with ranged abilities and Hecate, as the goddess of witchcraft is primarily a spell caster, so she spends most of her time still in the abyss, where the gods don't like to go if they can help it, because in this universe, the demons are much worse and more powerful than usual (to give you an idea, a demon prince like demogorgon is only an intermediate level demon, while balors are considered lesser demons - the only thing keeping the demons from completely trashing the universe is the direct intervention of the Elder Gods).
Wow, I'm taking a long time to get to the point.
The point is that since Malice completed the ritual, the gods are now aware of her intentions, so she has to step up her game, part of which is converting more hags and witches to her cult and destroying the ones who won't. Since the players are involved (because of the peace accord), they become targets as well, even though they're not actually worshipers.
But I want Matron Malice to have a unique staff that is almost an artifact by itself. Here's what I got:
Staff of Malice
This staff is made of volcanic glass and is ornamented with Malice’s heartstone. It acts as a +2 quarterstaff. Unlike the heartstone of other night hags, Malice’s heartstone can store more than one soul at a time, up to a total of twenty, which she can use to fuel the staff’s power. In addition, it contains twenty charges and has the following spells.
identify (no charge)
secret chest (no charge)
detect secret doors (no charge)
dancing lantern (no charge)
crushing despair (1 charge)
bestow curse (1 charge)
break enchantment (1 charge)
death ward (1 charge)
empowered lightning bolt (2 charges)
phantasmal killer (2 charges)
banish (2 charges)
The staff also grants her a minimum +10 bonus to diplomacy checks when speaking with hags. Each soul trapped in the heartstone increases the bonus by +2. Assume that Malice has 2d6 souls trapped in the heartstone at any given time. As the heartstone loses its special qualities if taken from her, only Matron Malice can gain the bonus for captured souls. Malice can also cause the staff to absorb the essence of a trapped soul, restoring five charges per soul absorbed.
---
The selection of spells was mostly based around utility spells she wants to be able to cast whenever she might need or want them, but doesn't want to actually use up spell slots preparing, plus a few extras to help her if, through some unexpected major screw up, she actually runs out of spells to defend herself. But the big thing is what the heartstone does. I'm making the assumption that Night Hags trap souls in the heartstone and that they can normally only trap one soul at a time (this is not specified in the description, but it seems a reasonable assumption). The bonus to diplomacy checks is there to help her convert followers and to drive her devout followers into a fanatic frenzy when she needs them to fight for her (this being something the diplomacy skill can do at epic levels). I also specifically picked all the spells from the witch spell list in the pathfinder advanced players guide, naturally.
Given that I want this staff to be an almost lesser artifact object (one which Hecate will eventually ask the players to retrieve from her, much like the wizard of Oz demanding Dorothy retrieve the WWotW's broom), I like the basic idea of it. But my question is, does anybody have any good suggestions to improve on it. I want it to be something that you could conceive and epic level mortal (Matron Malice is a 22 level witch) who's spent considerable time studying with the demons of the abyss to be able to develop - in other words, powerful and slightly in defiance of the normal rules of magic items, but not truly god-like.
So, what do others think?
Dafydd
|
Well, she needs to erode more of Hecate's follower base before she can truly challenge her right?
I like the idea that she is gaining a diplomacy boost (a huge one btw) to convince hags to defect. However, human witches are where she needs to strike. Typically (based on Golarian) you do not want to kill the followers of a divine being, as they do not lose the power. Souls of devout tend to go and power their deity. Thus, the only way to remove the power Hecate is gaining from them is to convert them.
As such, adding something like Heightened Silent Still Charm Person (or another enchantment spell you like for controlling others) is a great start. It also fits the theme of bewitching people.
Mad Alchemist
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It could have something like.
Mark of Malice: X/Day You may expend one charge while touching the staff to a witch to grant them an additional Hex of your choice. For a year and a day the witch will be able to use this hex normally. At the end of this time the witch must make a sacrafice to Malice to permanently learn the hex. As long as a witch posses the hex granted by Mark of Malice she may spend a move action to call to Malice while using the hex and it will manifest at +1DC.
You can describe the "Mark" however you want but I would go for variations that share a theme. Then you can also explore how much influence this mark could give Malice over the recepaint.
Sent from my phone forgive the spelling please.
| Kayerloth |
I like the idea behind Mad Alchemists suggestion -> Aiming more for building her reputation and power over other witches with her staff. Maybe she can see and hear through the eyes and ears of any of the witches she has granted an additional Hex as well.
I also like your idea of soul absorbtion to power/recharge the staff. Souls which are absorbed are destroyed and won't be helping any other deities maintain power as the soul is gone and lost to them (and everyone else for that matter).
Perhaps she can release a trapped soul into an empty vessel/corpse restoring it to life but they then come under the effect of a Geas/Quest. Further she can communicate with those she has trapped bargaining with them the conditions of release.
Is Matron the leader of a Coven?
| Rerednaw |
Really this is Epic play...and she's all about lording over everyone right?
I'd go for a variant Rod of Rulership.
No cap on the hit dice that can be affected.
The rod does not decay from use.
Spending a charge allows to ruled creatures act contrary to nature.
Spending 2 charges allows up to and including suicidal actions...such as allowing one to be sacrificed to fuel the staff.
Charges can be spent to heighten the DC of the Will save needed (0 charges = 16, each +1 DC = 1 charge. No cap...because this is Epic).
Base duration of rulership effect is 1 day. Each charge spent increases the duration per the time chart.
1 charge = 1 day
2 charges = 1 week
3 charges = 1 month
4 charges = 1 year.
5 charges = 5 years.
+1 charge = 5x duration.
Or something like that.
These enhanced functions only work for the BBEG of course.
| RJ Dalton 89 |
Okay, gonna try to reply to everything here. Thanks for the ideas.
Dafydd:
Yes, you are correct, she doesn't want to kill witches. If she killed them, their souls would most likely go to Hecate and continue to be a part of Hecate's power. One of the rules of this universe, however, is that nothing you do under the effects of a charm or compulsion count against your soul. Only things you willingly do effect your soul's final destiny. The Elder Gods, knowing the lesser gods would always be more powerful than mortals, instituted this rule to discourage the evil gods from trying to dominate humanity in this way because it would interfere with their ultimate goals. So, charming witches into doing her bidding wouldn't work if she was trying to convert them. If you want to convert someone, you have to get them to do it of their own free will.
And the reason I gave the diplomacy bonus only to her with hags is that she's not actually creating a magical effect over the hags, but she's making herself more obviously powerful in a way the hags can sense and that appeals to them. Although, now that I think about it, I suppose I could give a smaller bonus against non-hag witches. Or perhaps the bonus she gets for additional souls does not apply to non-hags.
Mad Alchemist:
Oh, that's a good idea. It's got a great temptation angle, because it relies on the individual making the decision to use the hex of her own free will, but the witches don't actually need to worship Malice to use it. They just need to perform an act of worship if they want to *keep* it. That's really good. I think I'm going to include it.
Kayerloth:
Also a good idea about being able to put souls in new bodies under the effect of Geas. I'll keep that in mind.
And she can be a leader of a coven. She was at one point, but her two original companions were killed in the abyss. I haven't decided if she's taken on another coven just yet. She's got several hag covens under her control though.
Rerednaw:
I did consider the rod of rulership and even the rod of epic rulership, but I ultimately went against them for the same reason I'm not using charms or compulsions. If conversion isn't of the individual's own free will, it doesn't count.
Overall, some good ideas. Thanks.
| Rerednaw |
I did consider the rod of...If conversion isn't of the individual's own free will, it doesn't count.
With Epic rules on skills...read up on Epic Diplomacy. Maybe grant a +50 to Diplomacy via the staff.
Now they are fanatics of their own free will who will give their lives for the BBEG.
| RJ Dalton 89 |
Updated
---
Staff of Malice
There is little question that this staff represents much of Malice's power and influence over her cult. It is made of volcanic glass and is ornamented with her Heartstone. It acts as a +2 quarterstaff. Unlike the heartstone of other night hags, Malice’s heartstone can store more than one soul at a time, up to a total of twenty, which she can use to fuel the staff’s power. In addition, it contains twenty charges and has the following spells.
identify (no charge)
secret chest (no charge)
detect secret doors (no charge)
dancing lantern (no charge)
crushing despair (1 charge)
bestow curse (1 charge)
break enchantment (1 charge)
death ward (1 charge)
empowered lightning bolt (2 charges)
phantasmal killer (2 charges)
banish (2 charges)
Mark of Malice (1/month, see below)
The staff also grants her a minimum +30 bonus to diplomacy checks when speaking with hags. Each soul trapped in the Heartstone increases the bonus by +2. Assume that Malice has at least 2d6 souls trapped in the Heartstone at any given time. As the heartstone loses its special qualities if taken from her, only Matron Malice can gain the bonus for captured souls.
The staff also has a lesser ability to influence non-hags, if the individual has at least one class of witch, but no other spellcasting classes. The staff's grants a diplomacy bonus of +15 to evil witches plus the bonus for stored souls. For neutral witches, she gains only half the bonus for stored souls. Against good witches, the staff has no influence whatsoever.
Malice can also cause the staff to absorb the power of a trapped soul, restoring five charges per soul absorbed. Additionally, she has the ability to implant a stored soul into a new body. To use this ability, she must expend one charge for every two hit dice the stored soul contains. The new body must either be a corpse or an inanimate object.
If implanted into a corpse, the soul becomes undead, using the zombie template. If implanted into an inanimate object, the soul becomes an animated object. In both cases, the soul retains its HD and class features, though the new body may provide some limitations to those abilities (a soul implanted into a candelabra, for example, may have a difficult time casting spells with somatic components due to its lack of hands).
The new body is treated as under the effects of geas spell that forbids them from harming Malice, or from going more than one mile from her city unless she accompanies them. Malice has no control over the implanted soul, however she often bargains with these victims, offering to release them from the geas binding them - and possibly even re-implant them into better bodies - if they perform some service or series of services for her.
Mark of Malice
Transmutation, witch 9
Casting Time: one minute
Components: V, S, F (Malice's staff)
Range: creature touched
Duration: 1 year and 1 day
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
This spell can only be cast on a character who has at least one level of witch. Upon completion of the spell, Malice's personal sigil appears on the body of the subject where Malice touches them. Anyone seeing the mark is aware that the individual has been touched by a being of great power and great evil. A person with ranks in Knowledge (the planes) can attempt a DC 25 check to identify the mark for what it represents. The mark can be covered up if the subject wishes, and others who see the mark are under no compulsion to react to it other than how they normally would.
However, while the mark remains on the body, the subject is treated as being able to use one of the hexes known to Matron Malice. Malice chooses which hex to grant on an individual. If the subject invokes the name of Malice when using the hex, the save DC to resist its effect is increased by 2. In addition to this, the subject may speak an oath of loyalty to Matron Malice in order to make the mark permanent at any point during the spell's initial duration. Thereafter, the subject may use the granted hex freely and the invocation of Malice's name increases the DC by 4. The oath is binding and if the subject breaks their oath, they are immediately subjected to a destruction spell effect as cast by a 20th level caster, receiving no save.