Agents of the Darklands: A Campaign for Monsters and Madmen

Game Master thunderbeard

So Anaxian... What's the range on that there telekinesis? Better yet, how good's your hearing?

I'm down for roleplay. As long as you're within 60' feet of me, I can talk to you no matte where you are in the house, so I can keep working in the basement and still be a part of the talking.

Speaking of which-

Well I can speak and hear you. Though I'm wondering if you can hear me from in the basement. If its through some kind of detect thoughts mechanism the conversation's not going to play out too friendly...

Sounds reasonable. It's over a mile to the graveyard, but D&D tunneling rules are ridiculous. And considering that the city fought a major battle several years ago, there are many dead guards and paladins buried in tightly-packed, identical graves.

I'd rule that if you work on this for the entire night, you should have enough skeletons and body parts to necrocraft as many HD of undead as you can control.

Oh gosh what are we getting ourselves into

So Anaxian... What's the range on that there telekinesis? Better yet, how good's your hearing?

60 feet.

My hearing is pretty good (high perception score), but telepathy doesn't really work that way. It's not sound based. Its sort of like a walkie talkie, except that I'm the only one with an actual transmitter. I can send you things, and I can pick up your replies, but if there isn't an active connection already initiated by me, you can't communicate with me telepathically unless you are also telepathic. Once I have a connection established with someone, I can leave that band open, and as long as we stay within 60 feet of each other we can communicate, even if there's 50 feet of lead between us.

I figure that there probably isn't more than 60 feet between the roof and the basement (unless its a really tall house) and that I probably would have no reason not to "leave the channel open" with my allies, so I'm pretty much always going to be "listening in" whenever anyone talks or thinks something to themselves.

(Note that this isn't mind reading. I'll pick up things you think in words to yourself, essentially eavesdropping when you talk to yourself or have an internal monologue, but I won't be picking up anything else. I'll also be able to "hear" any spoken words that happen between anyone I have an open channel to.)

I think you actually need Detect Thoughts to eavesdrop on someone's surface thoughts—the way I understand it, telepathy sets up a sort of "telepathic channel" that the listener can push their response thoughts into if they want to.

Ok. One last question and I'll stop pestering you about your character... How are you turning into a cat?

I figure an internal monologe is stronger than general surface thoughts. Everyone talks to themselves or says things under their breath sometimes. Its no different than happening to overhear when someone is talking to themselves out loud.

Its still not mind reading. Nothing more is gleaned, just the words. I don't ever know what soemone is thinking, but I do sometimes "hear" the things that people say to themselves.

That's how I interpret it anyway.

As a note, I do have the Detect Thoughts spell. I really should have shelled out for a scroll of Permanacy. Detect Thoughts is my all time favorite spell to make permanent. Something to add to the list for later...

Ok. One last question and I'll stop pestering you about your character... How are you turning into a cat?

Just Disguise Self (via hat of disguise). I'm not actually a cat. I just look like one. :)

FYI: mal is a walking desecrate effect.

Awesome! Want to hang out and make minions with me? We can be pals!

Awesome! Want to hang out and make minions with me? We can be pals!

I'd like to learn corpse crafting. Plus I think you'd be handy. We can be pals.

Edit:
Sacrilegious Aura (Su)

A graveknight constantly exudes an aura of intense evil and negative energy in a 30-foot radius. This aura functions as the spell desecrate and uses the graveknight's armor as an altar of sorts to double the effects granted. The graveknight constantly gains the benefits of this effect (including the bonus hit points, as this aura is part of the graveknight's creation). In addition, this miasma of fell energies hinders the channeling of positive energy. Any creature that attempts to summon positive energy in this area?such as through a cleric's channel energy ability, a paladin's lay on hands, or any spell with the healing subtype?must make a concentration check with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 the graveknight's Hit Dice + the graveknight's Charisma modifier. If the character fails, the effect is expended but does not function.

Plus this:

Undead Mastery (Su)

As a standard action, a graveknight can attempt to bend any undead creature within 50 feet to its will. The targeted undead must succeed at a Will save or fall under the graveknight's control. This control is permanent for unintelligent undead; an undead with an Intelligence score is allowed an additional save every day to break free from the graveknight's control. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same graveknight's undead mastery for 24 hours. A graveknight can control 5 Hit Dice of undead creatures for every Hit Die it has. If the graveknight exceeds this number, the excess from earlier uses of the ability becomes uncontrolled, as per animate dead.

Iranaset Maior wrote:

Ok. One last question and I'll stop pestering you about your character... How are you turning into a cat?

Just Disguise Self (via hat of disguise). I'm not actually a cat. I just look like one. :)

I thought that the disguise self effect was limited to humanoids only. Am I wrong?

So between Undead Mastery, the Animate Dead spell and Command Undead, you have a pretty big control pool. I'm kinda jealous. I count the total number of Hit Dice you can control as 60. Is that right?

It depends on the level of hat you got.

Anaxian the Cat wrote:

Iranaset Maior wrote:

Ok. One last question and I'll stop pestering you about your character... How are you turning into a cat?

Just Disguise Self (via hat of disguise). I'm not actually a cat. I just look like one. :)

I thought that the disguise self effect was limited to humanoids only. Am I wrong?

I just double-checked.

Humanoids will always look like Humanoids. You can't change your type. That's an issue because my type is Dragon.

I'm going to have to come up with something else. Give me a bit. I'll figure it out.

Ok, alternate plan (which is way more awesome and terrible)

The Disguise skill is actually more versatile than the disguise self spell. Using magic to enhance a mundane disguise gets big numbers fast.

With my current skill, plus disguise self, I can take 10 for 39. The penalty for trying to look like a different race is only -2.

Anyone trying to notice that I'm not a normal cat would have to make a DC 37 Perception check.

I'll go with that.

So, my cat disguise is actually mundane (augmented by a little illusion magic, but that is not the primary effect. defeating it requires checks instead of saves).

It's made from a real cat. I wear it as a suit.

It is essentially a taxidermied cat skin treated with Unguent of Timelessness, with a frame made of small bones inside to help it retain shape, animated as a 1/4 HD undead. It can move around on its own, but it's primary purpose is to wrap itself around me and hold on when I want to be a kitten.

Fun with necromancy. :)

Kewl!

Ok, alternate plan (which is way more awesome and terrible)

The Disguise skill is actually more versatile than the disguise self spell. Using magic to enhance a mundane disguise gets big numbers fast.

With my current skill, plus disguise self, I can take 10 for 39. The penalty for trying to look like a different race is only -2.

Anyone trying to notice that I'm not a normal cat would have to make a DC 37 Perception check.

I'll go with that.

So, my cat disguise is actually mundane (augmented by a little illusion magic, but that is not the primary effect. defeating it requires checks instead of saves).

It's made from a real cat. I wear it as a suit.

It is essentially a taxidermied cat skin treated with Unguent of Timelessness, with a frame made of small bones inside to help it retain shape, animated as a 1/4 HD undead. It can move around on its own, but it's primary purpose is to wrap itself around me and hold on when I want to be a kitten.

Fun with necromancy. :)

gross. I love it.

So between Undead Mastery, the Animate Dead spell and Command Undead, you have a pretty big control pool. I'm kinda jealous. I count the total number of Hit Dice you can control as 60. Is that right?

We should take advantage of that.

Anaxian wrote:

So between Undead Mastery, the Animate Dead spell and Command Undead, you have a pretty big control pool. I'm kinda jealous. I count the total number of Hit Dice you can control as 60. Is that right?

We should take advantage of that.

I have 47, plus I can cast the Command Undead spell (which has no hit dice limit!)

Between the two of us we can put together quite the shambling horde.

Err, I believe the interpretation (or maybe errata) of Command Undead say that it gives you a separate pool of undead equal to your HD, and if you go over that than some of your Commanded Undead go wild. It's mostly useful in conjunction with Create Undead to get the real exotic beasties, or to snag that one shiny skeletal champion you're fighting so you can complete your necrodex.

You're thinking of the Channeling feat, not the spell. They have the same name. (obnoxious I know)

The spell

The feat

Basically, the spell only lasts a few days (requiring additional castings, or for the undead to be more permanently controlled by using Channeling). Intelligent undead get a save. Unintelligent undead don't.

The feat is better, but has a hit dice limit. The spell can control more powerful creatures, but doesn't last and requires a bit more work to control anything with a brain.

The spell is really underrated. In my opinion its the only thing that puts arcane necromancers on par with divine necromancers. Without it, divine blows arcane out of the water.

What the spell is good at is letting a necromancer capture one really big critter, like a zombie t-rex or something, something way more than their usual level-based hit dice limit. They basically trade a spell slot every few days for a giant badass minion.

The spell is pretty good, as it was in the 3.5 days of yore. I was actually thinking of the feat, but yeah, the spell is better for big creatures (I forgot the details).

And man, now I'm nostalgic for the campaign I played years ago where every character had a skeletal T. rex mount. Good times.

If all it takes is invisibility to roam the halls of the citadel freely, why don't we just invis, and then walk into the meditation chamber with the serving person, slaughter him, then have the skeleton army cover the escape of the people who can't teleport/wind from.

If all it takes is invisibility to roam the halls of the citadel freely, why don't we just invis, and then walk into the meditation chamber with the serving person, slaughter him, then have the skeleton army cover the escape of the people who can't teleport/wind from.

Dunno if anyone is going to have see invisible up on a routine basis. Worth a try, though.

We already know they don't or the imps would have been spotted.

We already know they don't or the imps would have been spotted.

Well, they're not just wandering in the open. They're still being stealthily even when invisible.

If they have clerics on see invis duty that can't beat a +11 stealth check, those of us not in platemail can probably enter stealthily while dancing the can can.

Oh nevermind, overestimated Iranaset's stealth.

If they have clerics on see invis duty that can't beat a +11 stealth check, those of us not in platemail can probably enter stealthily while dancing the can can.

Or I can dance the can can in front of them and they won't even care if you are killing the high priest in the same room.

I planned on talking my way in. I'm not supernaturally sexy but I think for a CR8 PC I can talk around a guard or two. Also, are we accelerating the mission? I thought we'd embed ourselves for a few more days at least.

Just because I suggest a course of action doesn't mean we've decided on it. It means I'd like to discuss it. :P

Whoever our mark is might be more likely to be able to See Invisible than everyone else in the church. He does have an invisible guard beast.

Yes, but if we get close enough to him for him to see us with See Invis, his reinforcements have about 12-18 seconds to arrive before he dies.

Yeah but we have to remember. Te mission is not just to kill him.
The mission is to kill him and utterly destroy his body in a way that prevents him from being resurrected.
I suggest to cut him into pieces and teleport away with chunks of his body. Then deal with it as we please.
I guess Anaxian would probably know a couple of ways to use his dead body.

raise dead, have him come away with us. disintegrate the undead and spread the ashes in the wind high above the ground or the ocean.

(or just do the same without raising him) but making him into a vampire and forcing him to feed on some innocent blood might also impede any atonement

We don't want to destroy him. That will release his soul and open the gates for a possible True Res.

What we want is to trap his soul so it can't answer a true res.

My plan is to raise him as undead, and use Necrocraft to remove his body so he's just an animated severed head without a tongue or eyes. Then put him in a lead box and put the box in a bag of holding.

That will utterly prevent any kind of Resurrection and make any divinations to find him all but impossible (Commune might work, but that's about it).

Later we can use Create Soul Gem or something to bind his soul inside a gem and trade it to a demon or something. Its hard to be resurrected when you're being used as food or currency in the abyss.

I have Create Soul Gem memorized.

Not perfect, but it'll make it that much harder if we also destroy the body.

And I imagine all of those things will be easier if he is dead or incapacitated.

There are also some pieces of advice I could give the party in deciding what to do next. I don't want to railroad or spoil anything, but this may clarify for people who are confused.

Does Blindsight allow you to sense what's on the other side of a wall or door?

It's not clarified in the RAW, but errata on the forums say no. Blindsight and Blindsense are both stopped by walls; tremorsense, Detect and Locate spells are not.

Well, I have 60' blindsense, but I'm not about to go wandering into a building full of clerics and paladins.

Guess I'll just have to stick with Scrying.

I gave you guys 2 spheres. One is near the meditation room. Where is the other?

I assumed the other wound up near the Citadel entrance, unless anyone planned otherwise.

I'm about to just do something for the sake of it, chips fall where they may.

Mal makes sure an imp watches him so that should he fall the imp can grab the armor (now an item) and teleport away.

Pretty much spells out in spades Iranaset's first world problems... Well material world problems.

Malefeasance Efescent wrote:

Mal makes sure an imp watches him so that should he fall the imp can grab the armor (now an item) and teleport away.

Pretty much spells out in spades Iranaset's first world problems... Well material world problems.

Being lich-ish has it's benefits.

First world really has a different meaning in Golarion. :P

What are your thoughts on Leadership and cohorts? Not sure if Dris would actually take it but just curious.