This thread needs Swordsages and Ninjas! Where are you when you want to prevent a corpse from falling over by repeated application of super stealthy Sneak Attacks?
A quick suggestion: Get yourself Dwarf Fortress and play it for some week, then remap your castle to the grid - there you have your mountain caslte! Ok, Ascalapus had pretty good points, some to add: Gates: Dwarf Cities are easy to defend usually, so besides lockers all around the city, there might be massive doors to be shut and sealed, possibly even by dropping massive stone blocks down the path that are wider than the tunnel they are in - and have been fitted in by tricks long forgotten. Or are the main gates of the city in the size category as the black gate of Moria as seen in LotR? Special Rooms: Do some halls have a special purpose? Like did the dwards built massive halls with a tiny door to the next room, but a giant entry to the outside, to lure dragons and trap them there for slaying (think about that tower of Dragonlance)? Or is there a huge spherical hall without any decoration but odd lines at the roof and a lamp in the center to cast a recreation of the stars to it (think the astrolabs in Skyrim&Oblivion)? Huge, empty theatres with perfect acoustics, which also serveed as a meeting place for the senat/gerousia or the ecclesia/apella (think those in Athens) or are they arenas where people fought for honor? Art & Decoration: Dwarfs love it simple - while the walls and floor are decorated abundently, each plane showing the glorious history, there is little stuff without function. Statues to honor gods, ruler and anchestors are much likely the only sort of non-usable decoration besides the reliefs - and even then they solve the purpose of remembering. Also dwarfs have a different mind on the value of items. In a mountain abundently rich of Mithral/Gold, they might have gotten a nickname like 'Moonsilver/Sunlight Caverns' for the city gates from the material or for they inlayed the streets with it. Actually Dwarven Cities should have at least a handful nicknames, possibly referencing to historic events - Fort Stormbreaker, Dragon's Demise, City of Obsidian and Morgeham might all be the same place! Possibly those decorations are ling gone by now, the decorations removed by wheeping dwarfs in their last stand to forge swords, the gates broken out by the orks after they moved in, but the story of such remains. Lighting: What did they use to light the City? Torches in the mines, lamps in the urban areas? Or magic stones? A single, glowing orb over the city center/palace which creates light like the sun, which gets reflected by a complicated set of mirrors to illuminate the whole place (and can get turned 'off' for huge areas from a contol room)? Symetry: Did the dwarfs build the city planned with symetry or did it just grow as it came? If there is symetry, is it just mirrored around one axis or several? Are structures to be found at returning points of the city, like a small market every quarter mile along the main roads? Maybe it is built like a clock?
Serpentstone Rocks & Obsidian Chunks for your sling?
Let's quote the PRD...
( http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/classes/paladin.html#_paladin ) Ok, That summs up the relevant Fluff and Crunch on that part. What is a binding, legitimate authority for a Paladin? First of all, the leader of the church of his/her god (if he chooses so) is for sure. A King or other ruler that is accepted by this leadership should be too. IMHO a Paladin that follows Sarenrae (NG, so he might do that for only 1 step away), may opt not to accept the rulership of an LE Vampire King, as that one is, while trying to uphold an ordered society (Lawful), is still an abdomination of life and an enemy of his goddess atop of being Evil. He might still acknowledge that he is the better choice against the CE Cultist, and offer him redeeming (as it is demanded by the Sarenrae morals). A paladin that choose Iomedae, the LG goddes of valor and paladins, might find his role picture in the holy text "Acts of Iomedae" - The second miracle was slaying a ruling coven of witches, so Rulership does not qualify as needing to be acknowledged for it is not always legitimate. Also the tenth act refers to a rightful lord, implying that there are rulers that are not legitimate. I once again point out, that the rules a Paladin follows are most likely written down somewhere - sit down with your GM and work out some special limits or rules that fit his connection to his or her god. Work on how much the safty of society as a whole (Lawfullness) is worth in comparison to the rights of the individual (one part of Chaos) - Is it allowable for him (and his god) to break into a house for the better of society? If not per se, is it allowable with a special permit or under special circumstances? What are those circumstances? The later question is what brings us back to the question the opener asked: To aid someone screaming for help? I bet that would be a yes for all paladins, as long as they know it is not the evil one crying for help (and even then they might need to intervene and demand a mercyful death for them).
A Paladin is needed to be Good and for the better of society (Lawful), he may not lie (but opt not to tell the truth or all he knows). Concerning the Devil with the ownership deed, some Paladins might come up with a simple solution, if they have Knowledge: Religion or Planes high enough - If the true and given name of the Devil on the deed is their name, then the Devil also is obligated to follow the rules of anyone knowing the name. if it is not the true and given name, then the deed is void as you can't own objects under an alias ;)
Paladins may not lie - but they are not forced to answer a question. They may opt to say "I do not wish to answer this" or "I can not answer this to you" (for I can't compromise my plan) Also, while they may not feint or do dishonor in combat, they may still apply tactics - flanking an Army is not dishonorable at all (as it is expected by military commanders that they try to attack the weaker sides) and neither is an Obligue Order (even if the later might be at the edge of being called a deception) for such speaks only for the wits of the general. They might employ very much more group tactics - but then again they would become Knights doing that... Your point about entering a location. First of all, a paladin is much likely to be part of the armed wing/order of a church, more specifically he is very likely to be a designated protector of the followers of his god. This is quite similar to a guardsman, who is the designated protector of the inhabitants of his city, so he might have (in church law!) similar priviliges. One of these priviliges has not changed too much from the early medival time: Knights/Guards/Policemen may arrest people if they have enough evidence or the order to do so, and they may enter a location in several cases. The most relevant to this is, if there is strong suspection that they will by this lead to arresting people in ipsa rapina et adhuc flagrante crimine comprehensi (during a crime). If however Church Law and Royal/City Law match in what the guard allows the paladin is an other item. I suggest asking your GM about writing down the priviliges/rules the church of your paladin grants/demands to be uphold in regards to religious crimes and what sentences the church demands (like burning at the stake for repeated Necromantism - which is pretty much what NG Sarenrae Inquisitors do - or possibly decapitation for being a Rovagug Cultist as sentence by the LG Torag cult)
Just an adition concerning flight height: it depends on the area the wings span over and the speed to a degree. A Roc is a large creature, but essentially an oversized eagle. Aquila chrysaetos weighs 2.8 to 6.7 kg (the heavier ones are female) and has a wingspan of 190cm to 230 cm, again the bigger are females. The feathers are 35 to 60 cm on the wings. Taking a photo of an eagle in flight I counted it covers 41 squares on a grid, while having a wingspan of 14 squares of the same grid. The Result is:
Let's take this formula for the roc. He is said to have 80-foot wingspan and weigh 8000 lbs. That is in metric... 24,38 m and 3 628.73 kg. Area covered: 71.4 m² (768,54 square feet); Weight/Area Ratio: 50.82 kg/m². For compariosn: A Boing 747-100 has an area coverage of 511 m² weighs 333400 kg and has a Weight/Area Ratio of 652.44 kg/m², and that thing still flies. The Result is easy: fixed wings like Eagles or Rocs can carry the bird better than an airplane - gliding birds should not encounter too much problems with the fact of flying in thin air even on the heights planes fly at, though they still might have problems with the thin air. But since rocs can sleep in midair, I guess they have far less problems with the height than the pilot, who should not go that high. |
