Withered's page

Groovy.
I am that much closer to mastery of ALL THE COSMOS!!!!

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I do appreciate it.
L.

Last night i ran the scenario listed above for the first time.
I ran into a question at the conclusion of the scenario, and would like some clarification.

There is an item listed as being gifted to the party by Nigel, the curator of the Blackros museum. It is listed with a description, and a price, for both tiers. However it does not show up on the Tier 1 chronicle sheet.

The weapon in question is a spear.
My questions are:
Does the group get the spear, as a reward, and if so, should it be listed on the chronicle sheet for Tier 1 as it is for the higher tier?

Or...is it assumed that the spear is sold and the money from it is added to the MAX gold listing for tier 1 after a split of some kind?

Or...is the spear an item that is not listed on the chronicle sheet, but can be sold, and 1/2 it's value added to the chronicle sheet?

Thank you in advance. I hope i did not miss the answer to this.
If i have, and my players were in fact supposed to be rewarded with the spear in some way, how do i correct that mistake in order to make sure they are getting what they deserve?

L.

I would start by telling your DM to make better use of his time.
Perhaps he could be rolling up a DeathWatch Character while the kingdom business is being attended to?

Well, that's fair. I don't think I'll be as lenient with my players, however.

To perhaps get a better feel for what the occulus views as "ideal" is well described in the Daemon entry which also includes some info on the four horsemen:

Quote:

To epitomize painful death, the allconsuming hunger of evil, and the utter annihilation of life.

and

Quote:

seek only to consume mortal life itself.

Finally, your goal should be to

Quote:

spread fear, mistrust, and despair, tarnishing the luster of existence and drawing the planes ever closer to their final, ultimate ruin.

I think an interesting analogy here would be the reverse case of doing something evil for the greater good. Good dieties and powerfully good mortals don't stand for such things. Just like how a paladin would not kill an innocent even if he knew that leaving them alive could cause great pain or death to others.

In this case, you have something powerfully evil that wouldn't put up with you doing something good for the greater evil. The act of protecting innocents and developing a safe civilization is the antithesis of what the occulus wants - even if it knows that those actions could be used in the future for evil ends.

Regardless, this is a grey area where each DM has the ability to use their own judgement. I fully expect at least one power-hungry PC to want this item and I may even let them play with it for a level or so before their biased actions cause inevitable unresolvable differences with the rest of the party. At that point, they'll be relegated to being an NPC.

Thank you, this post puts the Occulus in a different light for me, and now i know exactly what to do.

What exactly is the drawback to having this thing in your head?

It seems to me that there is no reason not to simply plug it in. After all the eye can not communicate directly with the owner, and doesn't seem to be dangerous. How do i keep this item interesting and not just seem to be a bauble with flavor text?

Is there no cost or down side?

The characters in my KM campaign are all good aligned, except the NE sorcerer that took the eye for himself and immediately, without research or protection of any kind, simply plugged it into his bleeding socket.

What should happen next? I need ideas that do not take his cool trophy away from him, but that will remind him, and others, that it is a very evil thing.

I toyed with the idea that the Occulus was lost while Vordakai was imprisoned, and now it is free. Forces that want the power it offers might now come calling for it, and so try to steal it back, buy it, or blackmail the character that owns it. Paladins might come to smash it, following a vision from opposed gods...

Suggestions?
Ideas?

Does anyone plan on allowing players to use the Stronghold Builder's guide from 3.5 to build and construct any of the "personal" spaces of the characters as they progress?

I know the one month build time will not jive, but meh. It's already pretty wack ( in a good way).

I just know my players are going to want to fight off assassins, and be invaded, in their own personally designed strongholds and temples.

Input?

L.