Muttoneer's page

An option I thought of at random here, sorry if someone already came up with it or that it's useless is perhaps the witch has used some basic illusion spells or potions to make her mooks look like something far more dangerous then she is. Something like her elite guard disguise selfed as ogres or something.

Basically something that puts in the parties minds at least for a round or two that she's not the biggest problem in the encounter.

You could always compound this by using a hat of disguise or something to make one of the henchmen look like the witch while the witch looks like a henchman.

Especially if said mook is a rogue with a wand.

1. The Mechanics of Levelling
When you level up you basically look at the class chart, raise your BAB and saves, as well as spells per day and spells known(if applicable) to the ones indicated for the new level. In addition you gain any new special abilities listed on the chart for that level.

Other than that, it's just rolling a hit die (to which you add your con modifier) and giving yourself the appropriate amount of skill points (listed under class skills)

In addition there are certain bonuses, like feats and ability score modifiers that accrue based on character level and not class level. On every odd numbered character level you gain a feat, and on every fourth level (4, 8, etc.) you gain one abilitity score point, which you can use to raise any ability score.

2. Ability score modifiers
The ability score modifier is a bonus equal to the ability score minus 10, then divided by 2. So, for example an ability score of 12 gets you a bonus of +1 [ (12-10)/2 = 1 ]

The racial modifiers to abilities are to the ability score itself (the 12 in this example, rather than the +1).

Hope that helps.

EDIT: On (non)preview, karkon has it.

I have this mini that seems to fit the bill:
Bjorn, Dwarven Warrior

Agreed - another quest is always the solution.
Maybe given their infamy and status as being thought dead, their uncle could use their services as more covert agents for a while. Doesnt have to be sneaky-type stuff, just wearing some sort of disguises.

Or if the concern that they might be oni is a real one, maybe a quest to a retrieve something from a holy site that only non-oni could enter.

I always saw it as a cushioning field of force around the weapon.

Although I'm enjoying my current stormsinger a lot, my favorite has to be Baron Boris Lagosi, a devout undead-slaying duelist who happened to be a vampire spawn.

It was in 3.5, and the world was a fantasy version of historical Europe. The character's backstory was that he was a Roman legionnaire under Marc Antony who was bitten by a vampire in Egypt. Eventually he broke free and tricked his master out into sunlight. But he was ashamed of his current state so he fled for the outer reaches of the Empire, ending up as a backwater feudal lord in eastern Europe.

He at some point met with an early missionary of the church and was promised redemption through Christ. As a papal agent, he was sent out against other undead threats - carrying holy water, oils to silver his rapier and alchemical balms to protect himself from the sun. He used a hat of disguise to appear human and rarely utilized his vampiric abilities, lest he raise suspicions.

The baron's partner in recent decades was a gypsy initiate of the sevenfold veils who carried his coffin in a bag of holding.

Yup. The second devil is a summoned creature so protection and magic circle spells should affect them as such.

When a spell says it affects a certain number of HD, it means HD that the target creature(s) possess. So a spell that affects up to 8 HD could affect up to 8 level 1 characters (because each class level gives 1 hit die) or 2 level 4 characters, or 2 monsters that each have 4 monster hit dice, for example.

As for what action a skill takes, it usually says in the skill description under the heading called "Action".

Stealth is usually used as part of a move action, so it requires no separate action, unless you're using it while sniping, in which case it requires a move action to re-conceal yourself. Usually knowledge doesn't take up an action, as it's just something your character either knows something or doesn't.

Here are a couple of ideas:

A pool of water with something at the bottom that freezes when the player reaches in(trapping + dealing damage if they fal a reflex save).

A trap that just sprays them with oil followed by a firetrap or elementals/mephits.

A shrinking room (with optional spikes, ala Temple of Doom) could be interesting if it was filled with undead or some other enemy that came to life when it was activated. Especially if they are between the PCs and the trigger to turn off the room trap.

If it takes place in a basement, a room that fills with water is always fun when accompanied by aquatic nemeses. Has the same timed fight component as above - but with added book keeping due to the aquatic environment.

A room filled with a spiked ceiling with a triggered reverse gravity effect could be pretty effective. Alternatively, after a few traps and magic hulabaloo, just mention that the ceilings are spiked and watch them worry.

Maybe some animated whips for the torture chamber? Some other cursed items might be a mask or chair that causes confusion (thinking The Silver Chair) or a brand that forces characters to tell the truth (although that could be coopted by the PCs).

If the place is abandoned, some sort of behavior altering/nausea-causing fungus - bred for use in the torture chamber - could also have overgrown. Could be a trap or even a monster.

Have you looked at the Ashworm Dragoon prestige class in Sandstorm already?

It seems like it might at least be a good starting point.

Instead of having it be a calibration process, it could be that the device is trying to retrieve lost pieces of itself.

When the artifact was first activated, without the calibration key, it could be that it went haywire and scattered pieces of itself across the multiverse. Now, before it can function completely it needs those pieces back.

This would force the PCs to be active on each plane, searching out and retrieving the pieces, without giving them cause to think that their new device will always be breaking apart when it's used.

On one or two planes, the shards themselves could be seen as valuable by NPCs; ending up in a curio shop or auction in Sigil, or perhaps being exploited by a demon of the Abyss intent on using it to create a path for invasion to another plane.