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I am curious how many people ended Thirteen Cages with the peaceful shutdown of the tree. My group decided to chop it down, even after finding the manual indicating the existence of a shutdown mechanism. So, the volcano blew up, and many of the cultivated relationships and fleshed out city locations are gone. Oh well... They are still going after the remaining Cagewrights.
I really like the changes made in Mike Mearl's Monster Makeover on the WOTC website to the beholder about a year ago. I think it is a little fairer on the PCs, and decided to use it IMC. Here is the link: One of the things that changes is that the beholder does not have as many different rays and is easier to run. If someone else wanted to do the same, here are the changes I made to the Oblivion Doors to account for the different abilities. (The Blast Ray is any energy type the beholder wants so thats why it is on there 5 times.) 3A: Cold from Blast Ray
I made one of the Fire ones be a door near the haraknin, assuming that Vhalantru would want them to have some ability to move about his sanctuary. One other note, is that you may want to ignore the DC changes Mearls makes since Vhalantru's better-than-average-beholder Charisma increases the DCs by 5 anyways.
Hi guys. I am preparing for Lords of Oblivion and noticed that Finch is a rogue/sorceror. I thought it might be more interesting to make him into a beguiler. However, I soon found that a beguiler/rogue would be even cooler. So, here are the stats on Finch as a beguiler/rogue. I didn't include a full description of the abilities, since I don't think this is d20. Any input would be appreciated. Finch, male Halfling beguiler 6/ rogue 5 CR 11
Saves Fort +4, Ref +9, Will +6 Abilities: Str 6, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 15, Wis 10, Cha 16 Skills: Bluff +20, Sense Motive +14, Listen +14, Move Silently +17, Search +16, Hide +17, Tumble +17, Knowledge (local) +12, Use Magic Device +17 Feats: Silent Spell, Skill Focus (Bluff), Improved Feint, Spell Focus (enchantment) Languages: Common, Draconic, Halfling Possessions: +2 Small short sword, +1 studded leather armor, wand of hold person (30 charges), cape of the mountebank, ioun stone (dusty rose, +1 insight bonus to AC), slippers of spider climbing, pouch with 32 gp jester emblem, keys Spells (6/7/7/6/6/4; +8 ranged touch) Advanced learning spells: Ventriliquism (1st)
How did you guys handle the experience for the character who received the smoking eye template? Suppose the character is right at 12th and has 66,000 xp. When they gain the template, they are effectively 13th. Do they need to get all the way to 91,000 xp to get their next level? That seems a little extreme, and I'm not sure if it is fair. The more I think about this, the more confused I get; I don't think the rules address this situation well. I don't have a problem adjudicating a method, but I would like to hear what others have done.
As an only moderately experienced DM, I am discovering that I need to give more thought to my monster tactics. After running Demonskar Legacy, I think it would be useful to hear what other people did or felt they could have done better with some of these monsters in these situations. For example, Nabthatoron has several things in his arsenal. But what was really the best tactic when fighting first Alek and then the rest of the PCs? Furthermore, it is easy to imagine tactics that are "too good" in that the PCs don't stand a chance against them. So, what is a challenging strategy that is not impossible? (The following is my opinion and comments are welcome. It can only help future DMs, of course :) ) The best single ability Nab has is Power Word Stun since it takes one combatant completely out of the combat. Possible targets are:
1) I think Alek is out because you need him to actually die. 2) I think if the party has only one Cleric, then the combat is excessively too hard. There is a good chance someone will die even if the cleric is healing. However, if you have a strong party or think they can handle it, this would probably be the best target. 3) The Offensive Spellcaster might be good since Nab's SR makes the spellcaster less useful. 4) PC with Alakast may also be good since they are probably the person best able to wield it but they aren't the only one who can wield it. Someone can always take it from them if they are stunned. (One of my PCs is a monk and this weapon was great for him.) So, I probably should have gone for the offensive spellcaster. This would have denied them some buffs but not crippled the party. Next, is Nabthatoron's attacks. With his pincers he has Improved Grab, so he can grapple as a free action. What are his options? 1) Grapple everyone he can with a full grapple.
Analysis:
2) In this case, Nab's grapple bonus is only a +11. So, the combat PCs will probably have an even chance of winning against him. If Nab succeeds in a grapple, that PC has to waste attacks getting ungrappled. Plus, the players may lose their flank bonuses and Nab is free to attack other people. In the mean time, Nab can spread the damage around, making the healers work harder. 3) In this case, he never tries to grab. This allows him to concentrate all attacks on one PC and possibly kill them. This might be useful against any PC who is getting through his DR. I went with number 2. It was pretty efficient for me as it took the rogue out of contention part of the time and often broke the flank of at least one PC. I still brought PCs to the negatives a few times with this tactic which means it was still a significant threat. That is all I have for now. My PCs were able to beat his SR with a few good spells and managed to kill him before he could escape. Nobody died (which is why I think my tactics could have been improved!). Oh, and is Nab's AC correct? Dedekind
Did anyone else's PCs have a really hard time with the Fire Elementals from the Demonskar Legacy? My players were just able to take down one of them and the Blue Duke had to handle 3/4 of the other. I know its an EL 9 and they haven't rested from the EL 8 earlier in the day, but it still turned out to be an encounter that was too hard for them. I ahve always thought the bigger elementals are more powerful then their CR allows. Dedekind |
