My gaming group is very much NOT murderhobos - we have out power gamers, but are mostly into the role playing.
We mostly play veriations on the good or neutral adventurer, but I have found something different when playing my stubborn but naive Rage Prophet as someone who has read too many bad D&D adventure novels.
Stirring up trouble so he can kill someone and loot their corpse...stealing from random houses he's broken into in the course of a quest...looting from dead allies...
Tvtropes.com wrote:
[Lawful Evil] Type 2 is a baddie with a code of honor (personal order) that prevents them from doing truly heinous things, or at least keeps them focused and disciplined, and if nothing else, you can count on them to always keep their promises.
Types 2's do have a sense of order, just not the one that society at large possesses. If this is the case, expect the Type 2 to be a Byronic Hero or Übermensch.
Let us not get off into alignment debates. Point is I'm writing a MurderHobo code for my character to follow. Requirements: It's gotta be evil, and it can't be too dickish to my fellow PCs.
Here is what I have so far:
MurderHobo Code wrote:
Being an adventurer means
Loyalty. Though only to your party.
Glory: I.e. taking quests that are offered.
first come first serve on quests. The only requirement is that they do not conflict with an already existing open quest!
Conquering. Bad guys only! And by bad guys I mean anyone standing in the way of any of the above three things.
Everything in the world belongs to adventurers, if they are strong enough to take it. In fact, they are obligated to take it - looting is a vital part of adventuring!
Not everything need be party-oriented. Epic heroes often have a personal quest. One personal quest at a time - it must be suitably epic, long-term, and cliche'd (find the thing/rescue the girl/discover the secret)
Remember - collateral damage is just another quest, waiting to happen!
Despite much lampshading of their Chelexian Asmodian fundamentalism, and their political scheming, my level 3 party's lust for gold has lead them to sign on as Scarnetti enforcers whenever they are in town.
For 150 gold lump sum at 10 gold per day, the party must ensure the safety of all members of the Scarnetti family whenever they are in Sandpoint proper.
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So, how to abuse this? I'm thinking pressuring the mayor to kick out that Paladin for 'action unbecoming' to start, followed by a talk with the sheriff about his actions during the goblin attack.
Then gradually setting up a Sczarni-full shadow town government with the PC's help (dangling additional funding as inducement), which will strike during the unrest caused by the Skinsaw business.
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The party is a Sorcerer, Alchemist, Oracle and Cavalier (order of the staff).
So it looks like my party might end up throwing in with KZ.
He just spoke to them through Mockmurian, and made the case that the current world is about to fall apart, and needs to be united to stand before the coming of the other Runelords.
The party seems to be seriously considering his proposal. Some of this might be because I had them visit Riddleport, and had a subplot involving infernal influence in Magnamar.
I'm not sure they'll take him up on it yet, but three of my four members seem to be leaning that way. The party is all various flavors of neutral, BTW.
I'm wondering what I should do. The party's caster heavy, and could run as KZ's special commandos for a while
I suppose I could run some quests that require increasing moral flexibility, and lean on the chaotic folks as they help form a tyranny.
Or just switch gears and let them try to take over Varisia. And later deal with the whole Leng issue...
Full Defensive Power Attack: +19/+19/+14/+14/+9/+9. Damage 1d6+19
Try to hit him in melee, you're at -2, and he deflects the first attack,
You miss him? He hits you.
You 5-foot away? He hits you.
Try to charge past? He has stand-still at +22.
Add in some items (Gloves of dueling, brawling armor, amulet of mighty fists) and his per-hit damage becomes pretty impressive.
Thoughts?
Items? I'm aiming for celestial full plate.
Different feats?
So Rage Prophet is an awful, but fun prestige class. Ima try to make one.
One of the problems I have with gish types in general is action economy. Oracular spells take a standard action, but many inquisitor spells do not. And since Rage Prophet advances all divine spell casting, a bit of triple classing is all it takes to make...something.
So I've tried to make something to check out this concept. I tried for more of a melee monster with tricks, than caster who can fight.
From there, just build Rage Prophet all the way, advancing inquisitor spells.
I stuck inquisitor in there at some random place, but I stuck oracle right before rage prophet entry so that you only have one level of lameness before it gives rage cycling.
Issues remaining - is human the best race? Should I get extra rage instead of Furious Focus? Is travel domain the best? I was also looking at growth domain and anger inquisition.
So, what say you folks? Any improvements? Is this an awful idea to begin with? Should I just go make a dragon disciple and cry?
So I just finished off my two year long RotRL game. And while they did defeat Mr. Karzoug, well, Xin Shalast has become something of a large infiltration of the plane Leng...
Now we are off to play Kingmaker for a year or so, but my players are interested in some kind of sequel or even continuation, so I thought it might be entertaining to brainstorm a bit.
More details of how this ending occurred:
spoiler:
I thought it would be brilliant if, right before the final battle, the party was forced to briefly work with Karzoug to fight against a superior force.
The obvious candidate was Leng. So I filled the final module with weird, sinister signs like Denizens of Leng performing weird rituals and experimenting on skulks, with a feeling of unease, and periodic infiltrations of Hounds of Tindalos. The Cleric was already researching Leng, it was not hard for the party to put 2 and 2 together.
After fighting various Leng-ish guardians, the party made it to Karzoug, who was struggling to control his spell to bring his armies forward in time. The Cleric made his Knowledge:Planes check to realize that the spell had been subverted to bring a city of Leng to Xin Shalast instead.
Karzoug said 'There will be a reckoning Heroes, but if you wish to wrest the world from my grasp, you will need to save it first!'
....And the party proceeded to beat on Karzoug, even as I provided increasingly dire signs about this rapidly expanding spherical affront to reality. Finally, the mage-slayer paladin tried to close the portal, only to roll like 3 1's in a row on his spellcraft check. I really did not have much choice but to have the threatened dire eventuality come to pass.
I consider this somewhat my fault. Never underestimate PC's tunnel vision.
But there was still fun to be had. On the barren mountains of Leng, the players had a nice and epic fight with KZ (Wish -> Blasphemy is fun. As is Timestop and 5 prismatic spheres around each character.)
Once the party overwhelmed Karzoug with a critical disintegrate spell, that is where we left things.
And the current, kinda screwed up party:
spoiler:
All Level 16
LG Human Fighter 12/Paladin 4 - crit fisherman, and quite a high AC when smiting. Built with all the mage-slayer feats. Also has boots that let him Dimension Door 3/day. Also has a level warforged 14 Cleric cohort.
CN Human Sorcerer 16, dragon bloodline. An amnesiac former Lieutenant of Wrath, he's now got 2 parts of the Tome of Gluttony, and is well on his way to attaining the lich template. Has 2 flesh golems disguised as 'porters.'
NG Dwarf Lion Shaman 16, possessed by the transmutation portion of the Runelord of Wrath, which he can call on to help, but which has a cost. He's currently all veiny, healing magic still works but is is painful and animals hate him.
CN Elf Rogue 6, Arcane Trixter 10. After being trapped in the Pride section of the Runeforge for 10,000 years thinking he was a peacock, I suppose he has a lot less catching up to do than he thought. Quite pragmatic, except for being an arcane trixter
LG Human Cleric 16 of Serenrae. Focused on the redemption aspect of the faith, this former traveling friar has attracted the attentions of the Queen of Thorn and Shadow, a high-level Winter Court Fey charged with punishing Winter Fey who break the rules. He was planning on trapping himself and Karzoug in Leng, and had a spell for it, but that proved inapplicable. Rather broken up about the whole thing, he's now on a quest to destroy the Sword of Greed. The Queen has gifted him with a former Glabrezu trapped in the form of a magic lamp and ensorcled to do his bidding.
And finally, other interesting ways the plot has deviated from the norm:
spoiler:
Magnamar has been destroyed twice. Once by a deal with Karzoug to "get rid of Chellexian influence," (heh), and once by a filed Chellexian pacifying action. The remaining population has formed a subterrranian mageocracy.
The Sandpoint Devil was killed by the Chellexian invasion force.
A bunch of Chellexians are still at large, having melted away after their initial assault on Magnamar failed.
Sandpoint has been turned into a fortress to fight the Chellexians, giants, and what-have-you.
A Former PC warlock now runs Fort Rannik.
A former PC bard has recently been driven from his position as the local Sczarni Godfather.
I gave Leng a decidedly Far-Realm backstory or being part of the Prime Materal that was pinched off to prevent a Far-Realm incursion long ago, and which now is a demiplane adjacent to the Far Realm, but which wants to return.
So. Much fodder, I'd say. But now you have 5 PCs rich with newly won artifacts, in varying states of sanity, in the middle of a desolate hostile dimension which is currently in the Prime Material and expanding...
So I'm interested in making a Sacred Shield. I like the soft control of their Bastion of Good ability, and would like to see it in action.
For race, I'm thinking gnome for the +CHR, +CON, and the +AC. For feats, I'm thinking unsanctioned knowledge for mirror image and maybe the bard reroll spells (I'm a sucker for action economy), as well as tower shield proficiency. Then expertese, toughness, shield focus, etc. Any other cool feats?
I may end up dipping Phalanx Soldier 3 in order to weild Sheylin's favored weapon, the glaive. Suboptimal, but flavrful and not terrible. The question is when I should briefly depart paladin.
I'm a big fan of Timely Inspiration, Gallant Inspiration, and Saving Finale. Love that action economy.
Hmmm, I think. What if I got me some heavy armor (via feat or multiclass), and only cast immediate action spells? Later on, a rod of quicken could be pressed into service. Hell, those spells let me dump CHA somewhat!
So that's my thought. Arcane Duelist with heavy armor and the ability to hand out a bunch of rerolls. Probably go the shield TWF rout, cause why not?
Course once I hit level 6 or 7, not sure what to do with it. Maybe prestige out (Red Mantis? Battle Herald?) maybe keep on keeping on with the Bard, but try to stick to stilled utility spells for the remainder of my spells. Perhaps try to get my dispell up.
