The clockwork reliquary question

[Major_Blackhart]

As it is in Shattered Star, the reliquary is considered imperfect right now because it was intended to house the body and soul of Xin, not his insane ghost. As such, it's vulnerable to positive energy and the ghosts own madness induced failings. Beyond glitches and positive energy what are the other failings of the imperfect clockwork reliquary vs if it was functioning perfectly? Would Xin have needed the Sihedron to cast spells? Would it be even more powerful in other ways?

Any suggestions or ideas for this one?

[Brandon Hodge]

This is pertinent to your interests, and should give you a peek at the power Xin's soul might have from within the reliquary if, say, he recovered the Sihedron.

[Major_Blackhart]

I saw that. It's kinda what prompted my interest. But if it had been a perfect transformation as originally intended, would he have needed the Sihedron to cast as a 20th level master of Rune magic?

Would he have had other abilities as well that weren't mentioned in Shattered Star?

Edit: Or in that awesome thread about cut content?

[Brandon Hodge]

In that thread, James Jacobs talks about some of the reasoning behind why the ghost statblock didn't appear in the final: because, truly, Xin should be 20th-level caster, and not the slightly-hindered ghost version of him that I had to justify through storyline attrition since there were CR issues with having a CR 21 ghost floating around a 16th-level adventure.

You could always bump his levels to 20 and assign that spellcasting ability to the Clockwork Reliquary.

[Major_Blackhart]

That's true. Hmm, some SLA's to summon clockwork soldiers en masse from that little demi plane he created to hold his army, or even clockwork outsiders. Could be cool.

I ask because my group is working on a campaign involving a Thassilonian Revenent green wyrm who served the Empire in that time. Kind of a continuing the campaign adventure deal in the aftermath of Xin rising from the seas.

Involves searching through the ruins of Xin, and high tailing it all over Varisia.

[Brandon Hodge]

That sounds awesome!

Also, Mythic Adventures might have some goodies for you--it didn't exist when I was writing Dead Heart of Xin.

[Major_Blackhart]

Very awesome. Thanks a bunch! Within the city of Xin, what sort of remnants of Thassilon should the adventurers hired by a mysterious benefactor find? I'd wager undead and clockwork, but what else would you think is something that would remain in the ancient ruins of that crystal city, protected by a crap ton of magic?

[Major_Blackhart]

Hmm, what would a mythic clockwork reliquary with the Sihedron look like in terms of stats and spellcasting ability?

[Turin the Mad]

Major_Blackhart wrote:

Hmm, what would a mythic clockwork reliquary with the Sihedron look like in terms of stats and spellcasting ability?

Death. :)

[Major_Blackhart]

Oh yeah. Xin would be the baddest man in the room under a majority of circumstances were he mythic, save for a few others. My big question is what class would he be, if any at all.
How would his stats align? I'm even wondering if he would have any sort of special abilities that are available to him only as a mythic unique... thing.

[Turin the Mad]

Universalist Wizard, I'd guess at least Archmage 7, maybe all the way to Archmage 10. Curiously, he never took Longevity. The reliquary's ability scores would remain largely the same save for the INT increase from his Mythic tiers - so a 45-49 Int when all is said and done.

I'd guess that the full seven arms of the Sihedron work at 'ascendant aspect' and stack with those properties of the same nature in the Reliquary. Fast Healing 30, DR 15/epic - maybe doubled due to infusing the Sihedron along with constant CL 20th moment of prescience, added 10-15 points of force effect armor bonus. Etc.