Timault Azal-Darkwarren's page

I was just musing about what this might mean for the people of Sandpoint. If, both during and after the tragedy of the Swallowtail Festival, they never truly consecrate the cathedral. Here's some ideas...

- party needs to go to a particular grove and find a particular type of wood so that a new sacred bonfire can be built (random wilderness encounters ensue)

- perhaps an evil influence begins to seep in and affect the clergy (Pazuzu, Lamashtu, Malfeshnekor, another demon lord of corruption, etc.)

- doubt in Desna grows and a new clergy takes over

- any other ideas?

Anyone have some ideas as to which world culture would connect to the city of Korvosa? Just looking for flavor and cultural concepts.
Thanks.

So, what does everyone think?

Change the racial traits to:
+2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, -2 Dexterity: dwarves are tough and wise, but their stubby fingers, short legs, and stout frames make them less dexterous and agile.

Gruff: Dwarves receive a -2 modifier to any Diplomacy checks because they can be a bit stubborn when trying to negotiate.

Here's my logic:

The SRD states: "Charisma measures a character’s force of personality, persuasiveness, personal magnetism, ability to lead, and physical attractiveness. This ability represents actual strength of personality, not merely how one is perceived by others in a social setting."

I always felt that dwarves have a very strong force of personality, have an ability to lead, etc. Sure they might be hard to deal with but this shouldn't mean that dwarven clerics, sorcerers, and paladins are at a loss for their Charisma. Have them be poor negotiators, not necessarily less charismatic. A negative Diplomacy modifier makes sense.

It also makes more sense to give them a negative modifier to Dexterity. They have stubby fingers and they are not as agile. This is why dwarves typically rely on sturdy (and usually restrictive) plate mail instead of light chain.

If an evil cleric were to cast unhallow with the dispel magic effect would that dispel magic effect work as multiple targeted dispels, a one-time area dispel, always counterspelling, or any combination of the three?

Well, my wife and I finally bought our first house. For all the roller coaster the process was we are so very happy and we're moving tommorrow.

I had to share one little tidbit... when we first looked through the house we found a finished room in the basement (finished means it had a drop ceiling and hardwood floors). There were two little doors on one wall and our realtor said, "I feel like I'm in a hobbit's house in this room." Right after that my wife declared it my D&D room and I'm so excited to fix it up like a hobbit hole for our weekly sessions.

My plan is to keep the hardwoods and make the rest of it look similar to Bilbo's house in Peter Jackson's "Fellowship of the Ring." Oriental rugs, wood trim, stucco walls, and "candles" on the wall. Eventually I'll put a bar and keg system down there to give it a pub-like atmosphere for entertaining and a late-inight session every once in a long while.

Adamarchus, Kyuss, Demogorgon...

Which demon prince, evil entity, or cult lord is your favorite bad guy to work behind the scenes in your campaigns? They can be homebrewed or from any edition, but stake your BBEG's claim in history.

I've got an adventure idea brewing and the main villain has a prestige class that is as of yet unpublished (to my knowledge). If I want to include this particular prestige class should I try and get it into Dragon or should I include it in my adventure?

Could somneone help me out here... I recall an issue of Dungeon that had a prestige class that allowed for someone to play an "atheist." This character would get bonuses against divine magic, etc. Can anyone offer some help?

I've noticed that lately Dungeon has been publishing a few adventures where the villain is a serial killer. A bit mature for a "family magazine" is it not?

(Not complaining... observing.)

I love improvisational comedy. I've watched it, performed it, and even toyed with the thought of starting my own troupe.

And I can't help but realize that the art of improvisation and roleplaying go hand in hand. It's the same creative process whether we're around the table or up on stage.

I think that the best DM's and players are those that can think on the run, offer unique challenges and non-standard solutions. I feel that they build the deepest characters and add volumes to a campaign world.

With that in mind I've been thinking about offering some improv advice that I believe could help people become better roleplayers. For example, some of the character development exercises could help with character creation and scene development skills might offer a model for encounter creation.

Would anyone be interested in this?

Pre-game:

The Setup
Constance Grace has been kidnapped by goblinoid thugs. Her boyfriend - the uncomplicated half-orc bouncer Grunn - and her cousin - the obese mine administrator Nor MoSta hear from Purple Prose that kidnappers sent her ear with a ransom note requesting that 100 gp's be delivered to the abandoned mine office.

Grunn wallows in his own misery and worry for the night as Nor MoSta asks his dragonchess buddy - Faregel, an elven wizard and apprentice to Allustan - if he and anyone he knows could help recover his cousin. The elf invites Gideon, the adopted nephew of Allustan and a fighter training at the garrison to help find Constance. The fighter requests the presence of his classmate the honorable Sister Gwendolyn on this heroic mission.

All the while Brother Benedict and his superior of the Twilight Monastery have followed leads regarding ears and kidnappings which seem to be related to a vision granted by Izefen. They tracks down Purple Prose and offer to protect young Constance if Brother Benedict is involved.

First Session
Prose meets with all of them and so the party plans how they are to go about rescuing the poor woman. They opt for a striahgtforward exchange, with the elven wizard and half-orc barbarian holding back 20 feet to protect the rear and offer any support with their keen vision.

The Exchange
They approach the dilapitated office at dusk and are hailed by an armored hobgoblin who requests double the ransom. A short parely ensues and Nor notices that the hobgoblin seems nervous about something.

Suddenly crashing through the window and wall to the hobgoblin's left is the slathering bugbear cleric of his party. The brute screams dark prophecies in a common-goblin pidgin: "It is hungry, don't let it feed!" It then proceeds to cast inflict light wounds on anything it can get his hands on. Welts and boils erupt on the flesh of its victims. An arrow sinks deep into Brother Benedict as the goblin rogue snipes it from the second floor. The hobgoblin tries to command the rabid bugbear to stand down while keeping the gate and wall between him and the cleric.

The battle is in full force as the hobgoblin drops by a hefty braining from Sister Gwendolyn. A woman screams inside and Nor yells that his cousin is in danger as his longspear pierces the bugbear's groin and drops it. In its deaththroes it belches forth a vile concoction of bile, filth, and dead worms upon poor Gideon.

Grunn keeps a cautious and cool head as he enters the office. His love screams a second time and the sound is cut short. Filled with rage he begins shouldering open any door within sight. The party enters the building and the monk bringing up the rear hears a rustling behind him. Whirling around he sees the bugbear slowly lift itself from the ground and stagger towards him in the open door. He calls for help.

Gideon and Grunn find the prone form of Constance lying in the kitchen as a goblin with a wicked looking kukri curses under his breath and dashes out the window. They rush to her side and Nor enters, calling for the cleric.

But the cleric is busy trying to turn this foul undead beast that drops Brother Benedict under its powerful pummeling. It resists her cries for Heironeous' strength. The rest of the party joins the battle but their weapons seem ineffective. The club, fists, and morning star are glancning off the thick hide of this beast. Yet Gideon's axe finds purchase. It cuts two deep furrows and eventually splits the zombie in twain as more ichor, bile, and dead worms pour onto the floor.

When all is said and done Constance is safe, yet disfigured as she is now missing both ears. The hobgoblin and bugbear corpses are burned (but not before they loot the hobgoblin's body), and the goblin rogue escaped into the night towards the direction of the Whispering Cairn. Returning to Diamond Lake they stay the night at the garrison and in the morning they are planning on taking Constance to the protection of the Twilight Monastery.

Nor begins to think that the goblin bastard that disfigured his cousin might be hiding out in the Whispering Cairn.

I'm trying to create a new mastermind and I need clarification of some of the MM rules for creating monsters.

He's a half-fiend heiracosphinx cleric.

Now, how I interpret the rules if I give him 8 levels of cleric plus the half-fiend template he becomes a CR 14 monster with a whole bunch of Spell-Like abilities.

CR 7 + 8 non-associated class levels = CR 11. As a half-fiend this also boosts his HD up to 17, gives him almost all the Spell-Like Abilities listed in the MM and increases his CR by 3, thus his CR = 14.

Constructive comments and calrifications are appreciated.

I grew up in the Realms and have been playing in the 3.0-3.5 version of Greyhawk so I'm not that learned on the geography and history of Oerth. Got some ideas brewing and was wondering if anyone could direct me to any information regarding aarakocras in Greyhawk.

Since I just proposed an adventure idea to the people at Paizo and tax season is upon us...

I just realized that I can start deducting my gaming supplies as a business expense. Are there any CPA's or other tax experts that can confirm or deny this? I also just realized that the Paizo crew has been doing this for years, haven't they?

James Sutter (and the rest of the Dungeon crew),

I wanted to thank you for the response I got regarding my proposed adventure: "Grove & Gavel."

While I'm still hoping for publication it did give me a sense of being in the loop and was not a form rejection letter as I have recieved in the past from your staff.

If this is a new way of responding to us authors who submit work I say keep it up.

What are your favorite resources to get a character portrait?

Internet clip art?
Draw it yourself?
Professional artist?

My gaming group happened upon an artist in Romania who we commissioned some art through. We got some individual characters done as well as gotten some "group shots" for our DM's. He's got some pretty reasonable rates if you folks are interested.

This adventure (plus the backdrop article on Alhaster) is all in all a wonderful piece that breaks the boundaries of typical adventures. I can't put it down and I must tip my hat to Richard Pett for a great adventure. I think it is a piece of brialliant creativity.

It is truly unique.

But I must say that my party will most likely struggle with it because everything up to this point requires weapons. Go to the evil feast unarmed? Hell no.

Plus, there's no way that the Lawful Good cleric of Heironeous will be able to walk the streets of slavers and bandits, witness the fiendish gestapo, and go to the ball without being arrested, slaying all the city watch, the Blessed Angels, and of course Zeech himself.

This may sound strange, but it's almost too much evil. The feast and the events are too grisly for any Lawful Good character (and I believe I will have two of them in my party) to bear.

I was wondering how one might submit artwork for publication in either of your fine magazines.

Would submitted artwork help or hinder a submitted adventure from being published?

Any constructive comments? Suggestions? Praise? Curses?

One of my players asked me what the appropriate name for all the coins would be... anyone?

Never DM'ed Greyhawk before. Where might a half-orc character hail from? The Backdrop in #124 mentions orc lands far to the southwest. Does anyone have anything more specific?

Alright, I just realized that there already is a creature called a Nightcrawler so "Ghoul Worm" it is...

Now that I'm thinking about it I'll just use the stats for a constrictor snake, make it undead type, add the damage reduction, the filth fever, and then the slice spawn stuff.

Visiting the Dead
Environment - graveyard (preferably urban but any graveyard will do)
History - All of the pc's happen to be visiting the graveyard to honor their deceased relatives on the anniversary of their deaths - all of them died on the same day.
Synopsis - The pc's soon realize that something is wrong when the graves are empty, disheveled, or otherwise look tampered with. While investigating they are attacked by undead.
Comments - This one would be a great way to start a campaign where all the pc's meet each other for the first time. They have to work together to survive the undead and they feel drawn together since they all have various connections to the dead of this graveyard. The morbid anniversary could lead to a greater plot, an omen towards a darker evil (cult, coming cataclysm, etc.) or just plain happenstance.
And any undead could do. whetehr zombies or skeletons, wraiths, or spectres, it could work for any level.
And of course you could really begin to freak out the players when their loved ones are part of the attack.
P.S. Thanks for the inspiration, Mr. Romero.

After reading Mr. Mona's response to Lance Larkin's e-mail in Dungeon #129 where he says, "...we've increasingly been looking for (and buying) adventures that offer more than a simple snatch-and-grab" got me to thinking.

And wouldn't you know it the ol' creative juices got to brewin' and I got an idea for what looks to be a like a pretty intresting non-snatch-and-grab adventure.

After looking through both old and new Monster Manuals, and some of the "extended" descriptions and uses for skills I was inspired to send my first query to Dungeon to see if they'd like to publish my new adventure.

Now I get to experience the wanting and waiting I read about here on these very boards. Good luck to all you writers out there, I guess I just joined the ranks.

It was supposed to have shipped two weeks ago...

If the enemy has more hit points than the damage rolled, does this still damage the enemy for thiat amount?

Just read through it for the first time.

*SPOILERS*

All in all a good solid adventure.

I like the ideas and alternatives for using the doppelgangers (or not) that you guys present but I especially like the way in which you present the doppelganger infiltration of the party. We had something similar happen in a previous campaign about 5 years ago but I like how it's explained. And with a larger party (6 PC's) I'm thinking of having two doppelgangers infiltrate the party.

Some observations:
- virtually nothing to push the plot along. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it adds intrigue and paranoia as well as gives the party some earned experience for the next adventure. I would have liked to have SOME worm sightings involved and might add some before I run it.

- Greater Doppelganger (from Monsters of Faerun) is a great BBEG but put him under the control of an illithid and you got yourself some serious mind-warped fun!

- love the cursed items in the museum. I'm thinking about making one of them intelligent.

I'm a little perturbed at one of my players. We haven't even started Age of Worms, yet he's already started to argue with me about a character concept - and one of them sounds strangely like one I've read on these boards.

Is he lurking? Perhaps.

I already had some changes in mind before I noticed this so he might be a bit surprised. But why is it that newer players have this idea that they need to "win" D&D? They become power gamers and munchkins, and apparently lurking cheaters looking for spoilers, hints, and walk-arounds.

Just lost my Pal/Abj in our Shackled City campaign and I'm looking at playing a LN cleric of Wee Jas who's sent to investigate/act as inquisitor in response to rumors about church of Wee Jas in Cauldron. Can anyone suggest an appropriate prestige class?

Not trying to munchkin' just trying to jumpstart some roleplaying ideas.

And please, no spoilers because I'm playing - not DM'ing - this one.

I love Repairman Jack. One of the best characters in fiction, EVER. And the Adversary Cycle spans generations - it's great fiction.

Just found some great resources in my already-purchased computer games! They're an even bigger investment AFTER you finish them!

I had stopped my subscription to Dungeon and Dragon for a few months and I just picked up the first Age of Worms adventure... when did all the interior art begin to focus on the same characters?

I like the idea of having the same characters portrayed throughout the adventure path (very similar to the "iconic" D&D characters). But the same party is fighting in the art throughout the other adventures as well.

It's a nice touch but I have to ask: Why this particular party?