scootrose's page

Okay, I have a question about Filge's ability to release and subsequently control the four zombies that he has created with animate dead. Under animate dead, it states,

"No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only 4 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level. If you exceed this number, all the newly created creatures fall under your control, and any excess undead from previous castings become uncontrolled."

Filge is only 3rd level so that means he can only control 12HD worth of creatures. Each troglodyte is 4HD and the bugbear is 6HD. That is a total of 18HD. Is there something else that I am missing here? Basically, he would only be able to tell the 3 troglodytes to break out of their containment shells and attack. This does not even take into account the Gertia Land skeleton (1HD) that follows him around protecting him.

I put together a list of all the descriptions of each key location at diamond lake in a handout format so that I could give to my players with a copy of the map. This way they could know what each place generally represents. I also added some general "gather information" and "local knowledge" rolls which would enable them to learn more than the generic description. Its a rough cut and it made my life easier since all my players came from Diamond Lake they should know the basics right off without having to ask me all the time (except one player, which he did not get the handout). I just thought if others were interested I could send out a copy.

I started out originially intending it to be a DM guide for myself by including the some of the details along with the DC but then decided against that and just putting keywords next to the DC.

Any suggestions will be more than welcome. If you are interested in a copy, send me an email. scootrose"at"gmail.com

Here is a brief example:
1. Emporium
There is an entry fee to this whore house, sideshow “Gallery of Science” and gaming parlor of 3cp. Place is frequented by the community’s elite. The game room contains Dragonfire card games, Norebonne dice games and Rat games. NO conflicts at the emporium are allowed and everyone must treat each other respectively.
Background (DC10 local)
2. Lazare’s House
There is an entry fee to this cultured nightspot of 3cp. Inside is a cozy gaming parlor which emanates a quiet sense of class and is good for private conversations. The place is home of Dragonchess which is primarily a reason for gambling and a favorite among the upper class of Diamond Lake.
The owner, Lazare, is a champion dragonchess player. (DC5 local)
Lazare’s background (DC15 gather info)
Khellek (DC10) His background (DC20 gather info)
DC10 Spot
3. The Feral Dog
This run down ale house is the busiest hotspot in town. This sleazy tavern hosts a dog fight every night in a pit on the main level. No one savors the tinny ale, but the place is more about the camaraderie, bravado, and desperation than service. It is home to nightly arguments especially during dog fights. It is also a place for dagger games.
Once a month a drunk falls or is pushed into the pits (DC5 local)
4. Church of St. Cuthbert
Any healing visits will encounter a secondary acolyte, Hameneezer, who is always found within the church. Potions and healing are offered to the public at standard rates. Open to the public.
Fiery sermons of Jierian Wierus, a bombastic orator whose populist rants appeal to the best virtues and values of the common man while praying on their fears and superstitions. Hell bent on continuously obtaining new followers. (DC8 local, cleric +5)
His 150 strong followers are almost perceived as a cult. 3 sermons a week, filled to capacity (DC10 local, cleric +5)
5. Tidwoad’s
Home of the cantankerous gnome jeweler with a meticulously maintained shop. As close to a bank as is offered within Diamond Lake. Shows off a collection of gems and boasts that his establishment is completely theft proof. Supported by the presence of a large shield guardian. He charges 5% exchange tax on all gems traded for coin and will purchase non-gem valuables.
Tidwoad’s background (DC18 gather info) Tidwoad knowledge (DC25 gather info)
6. Sheriff’s Office
Led by a boisterous alcoholic, Sheriff Cubbin, right hand man, Deputy Jamis and six thugs. 12 cell jail is usually filled with drunks and maniacs. Crimes against mine manager’s agents seem to go unnoticed but crimes against managers are persecuted
Sheriff’s and police force background (DC15 gather info + local)
Allegiances (DC20 gather info)
7. General Store
Run by a middle aged human named Taggin who has a handlebar mustache, full receding blond hair. All women are treated exceptionally polite. The store is filled with general goods for all the town’s inhabitants. Tables line the walls within stacked high with rope coils, lanterns, bottles, floves and gear. Wagon wheels rest against barrels filled with nails of candles. The inventory includes mostly common adventuring gear, and Taggin will cheerfully special order anything he does not have in stock from the Free City. A process that “usually takes a week.”
Taggin’s approach (DC15 gather info)
...

Okay, can someone clear this up with me since I seem to be missing something. Filge is a 3rd level wizard and unless the term "necromancer" actually means something, his spell list is wrong.

A 3rd level wizard starts off with the ability to prepare 4 - 0 level / 2 - 1st level / 1 - 3rd level spells. Since Filge is so intelligent, he gets a bonus of 1 - 1st level and 1 - 2nd level. This brings his total to 4/0, 3/1, 2/3, so can someone please explain to me how he is capable of preparing 4/0, 4/1, 3/2! Does he have two syringes of extra spell storing in his back pocket?

2nd - ghoul touch, scare, spectral hand = 3
1st - chill touch (2), mage armor, ray of enfeeblement = 4
0 - disrupt undead, touch of fatiguw (2), ray of frost = 4

Now all of this would make sense if he were a 4th level wizard, in which case he would be have a CR4, he would be 4HD and his Will would be +5. Also, you guys must have rolled his hp pretty well since a wizard is 1d4.

1st - max hp (4) + con bonus (1) = 5
2nd - roll (4) + 1 = 5 (10)
3rd - roll (4) + 1 = 5 (15)

Any help in this area would be appreciated. Thanks.

I had to post this because it was SO FREAKING funny.

My PCs where screwing around with the lever on the sarcophagus when it clicked into the third position. So when the alcove self-destructed all five PCs were standing around the sarcophagus staring and wondering what the hell happened. When the ungodly geyser of beetles erupted from the floor every single one of them ran, except one. She was the one that was manipulating the lever.

She (Nadia) tried one more time to try and reverse the “beetle affect”. Heehee. She failed her DC and then RAN to follow the others hauling tail out of the room. She was the second to last to exit the room and the only one with the torch. The half-orc that ran out first was the only other with darkvision. Anyway, the PC in front of Nadia was running so fast down the stairs he failed a DC 10 balance check (and so did Nadia) so the first one out tripped and fell down the stairs and then Nadia tripped over him and fell prone. Laughter.

As the beetles caught right up to them then both jumped up and ran. As Nadia passed the torch, she tried to pick it up, on the run and failed. Not only did she fail, but she rolled a 1. There was more laughter when I told her that she would have to roll another balance check to see if she goes prone again.

Unbeknownst to all the party members, they were being followed by a sorcerer who was standing just outside the cobwebs against the wall. All she saw were 3 PCs flying by in the dark screaming holy hell and then followed quickly thereafter by a torch going skittering across the floor. 6 seconds later another PC ran by, then another that attempted to pick up the torch and failed. I gave her a 50/50 chance to following the fleeing characters (and she failed). <foreboding laughter> So as she stuck her head around the corner to see what the hell that was all about, the wave of black mass engulfed her. <the visual caused one of our players to almost piss her pants> She proceeded to dose herself with oil and ignite herself. This stunt, took 2 turns which ended up taking her down 1 hitpoint due to beetle damage (she made one poison save and she had protection from fire).

So the rest of the party catapulted out of the entrance of the cairn only to hear gut wrenching screams behind them. They instantly did a party count and found everyone accounted for. <more laughter> Then down the tunnel, they see a flash of light followed by a figure coming running down the tunnel all ablaze. <more pee breaks> The archer drew his bow and narrowed in on the humanoid fire ball. The sorcerer was trying to yell to the party but nobody could hear what she was saying (they all failed their listen checks). More laughter (except for the sorc’s PC).

The archer asked the rest of the scared shitless party members for guidance and they all said to plug the hellspawn. So two arrows went true, right into the chest of the sorcerer. Ironically, the sorcerer had decided to take the armor check penalties of 15% and don leather armor with a buckler. (This decision saved her hide because both arrows missed by 2) The flames only lasted for 3 rounds so she ran by the PCs as she exited the cairn, dropped to the ground and surprised the PCs with a new party member in dire need of healing (but having rid them of the beetle menace).

I was so totally inspired by the character backgrounds that were created by the amazing artists of Dungeon magazine that I put quite a bit more effort into the character backgrounds for this adventure. I normally just give them a verbal background. But since this was going to be an epic, I wanted something a little more concrete that we would be able to reference periodically as well as give me the opportunity to pull a thread from it now and then. So I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed reading Tyrlandi, Aroval, Dram and the rest. If you have put your heart and soul into a character background, please post it so that we can continue to get ideas and continue to develop our vision of Diamond Lake. This represents the first of at least 4 characters.
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Gronk’s life began when his mother, Elana, was raped during an orc raid in an outlying town. She was 16 at the time. They busted into her parent’s home, threw her to the ground and quickly bound her arms and legs. Her last memory as an innocent child was being pressed to the ground with a knee crushing her head in such a configuration that it forced her to watch as her parents were butchered by the ravaging beasts. She was then presented as an offer of bounty to the great orc leader, Shendak Kou Aamon as a reward for their minor conquest. As Shendak unmounted her, he plunged an ornamental dagger deep into her chest and left her to die.

A traveling band of monks on their way to pay homage to a sister monastery heard word of the raid and made their way to the town only to find the place a blaze and in ruin. Everyone had been massacred… accept one. Elana was hanging on to life by a thread. The monks blessed her with their touch and then took her to the nearby town of Diamond Lake, where she was given refuge within the Twilight monastery. Eight months later her child was born. Unfortunately, the orcan code imbedded in the child’s DNA caused such a rapid growth that its size and birth weight caused a hemorrhaging rupture of Elana’s uterus of which her small body was unable to survive. Elana never had a chance to name her child and so the monks affectionately named him Gronk, which is roughly translated as ‘emissary’ from the orcan language.

Gronk has never been able to forget the fact that his birth resulted in the loss of his mother because during the emergency extraction from his mother’s womb, his leg was broken. This premature damage never fully healed and resulted in him developing with a noticeable limp.

Primarily due to the eternal war between the orcs and the humans, Gronk has been ostracized. Throughout his life, whenever Gronk ventured outside of the monastery, he was ridiculed and teased by people of all ages. So he ended up spending most of his time inside, assimilating the ways of the monk. One of the most powerful associations that Gronk felt towards the teachings was that he saw himself representing the ultimate testament on the balance between good and evil. Through the years, Gronk developed many father figures within the monastery but his closest advisory by far was Lucian. They spent a lot of time together discussing the future of monastery and Gronk’s place in it as well as the rest of the world. Over time, he soon became an honorary member.

In order to help support the monastery and give back in some way, he worked in the mines of Balabar Smenk and donated all of what he earned. The salary was but a pittance, which greatly disturbed Gronk since he wanted so much to provide a meaningful donation for all that the monastery had provided for him. The mines were the only place in Diamond Lake that would accept him, which was not uncommon for his kind. It was a place that could reap the fruits of his labor by throwing him to the depths of a cave and never having to look at his “sub-human” form. Everything has a purpose and he accepted his position graciously.

After years of monotony, Gronk stumbled upon a gang rape inside the cave. It appeared that the molestation was being lead by one of Balabar’s son and included 4 of his acquaintances. He ended up bringing down a flurry of blows on Balabar’s son and 3 of his comrades. Among the turmoil, both the rape victim and one of the accomplices that Gronk had spared fled the cave. The fleeing accomplice quickly returned with a band of guards to arrest him. Gronk willingly left with the guards, leaving behind a mass of twisted bodies.

Gronk was given double the maximum sentence allotted for 4 counts of aggravated assault (most likely due to the corruption of the legal system via bribery of some sort). Gronk accepted his sentence of 2 years incarceration for the brutal beatings without rebuttal. While in prison he himself was abused and beaten insatiately and luckily only ended up spending 3 months in jail. He was released only because the cells were filling up with much more dangerous criminals and they needed the room. Plus, his presence was causing too much of a disturbance in the warden’s eyes.

Upon his release, Gronk was not allowed to return to work at Balabar Smenk’s mine (or any others that were tied to him in any way), but due to his great strength and mining experience, he was quickly hired at a mine owned by one of Smenk’s competitors, Luzane Parrin.

Gronk was pleased with the change even though all the mines looked the same once you step into their bowels. The only difference was the people you ended up working with. Luckily for Gronk, he met a fellow miner by the name of Nadia. She was a beautiful maiden who was the first person outside of the monastery who treated him as an equal. They spent many weeks getting to know each other and discussing their past experiences while they slowly chipped away at the subterranean rock.

3 days ago, Nadia mentioned a grand adventure that would involve the plundering of a forgotten cairn, which could reward those involved with an endless bounty of treasure. She was gathering resources and felt that he would be of great aid. The thought of being able to present caravans of gold to the monastery brought him to the point of tears and he graciously accepted the challenge.

This morning, Nadia told Gronk that they would be meeting at the old abandoned mining office that is about an hours walk just northeast of town.

I was so totally inspired by the character backgrounds that were created by the artists of Dungeon magazine that I put quite a bit more effort into the character backgrounds for this adventure. I normally give them a background that is verbal but since this was going to be an epic I wanted something concrete that we could reference and provide threads that I could pull from when needed. Anyway, here is what I wrote for one of my PCs. If anyone else has some that they want to post I would love to read them. It helps give me ideas and develops a "feel" for Diamond Lake.
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Gronk’s life began when his mother, Elana, was raped during an orc raid in an outlying town. She was 16 at the time. They busted into her parent’s home, threw her to the ground and quickly bound her arms and legs. Her last memory as an innocent child was being pressed to the ground with a knee crushing her head in such a configuration that it forced her to watch as her parents were butchered by the ravaging beasts. She was then presented as an offer of bounty to the great orc leader, Shendak Kou Aamon as a reward for their minor conquest. As Shendak unmounted her, he plunged an ornamental dagger deep into her chest and left her to die.

A traveling band of monks on their way to pay homage to a sister monastery heard word of the raid and made their way to the town only to find the place a blaze and in ruin. Everyone had been massacred… accept one. Elana was hanging on to life by a thread. The monks blessed her with their touch and then took her to the nearby town of Diamond Lake, where she was given refuge within the Twilight monastery. Eight months later her child was born. Unfortunately, the orcan code imbedded in the child’s DNA caused such a rapid growth that its size and birth weight caused a hemorrhaging rupture of Elana’s uterus of which her small body was unable to survive. Elana never had a chance to name her child and so the monks affectionately named him Gronk, which is roughly translated as ‘emissary’ from the orcan language.

Gronk has never been able to forget the fact that his birth resulted in the loss of his mother because during the emergency extraction from his mother’s womb, his leg was broken. This premature damage never fully healed and resulted in him developing with a noticeable limp. Primarily due to the eternal war between the orcs and the humans, Gronk has been ostracized. Throughout his life, whenever Gronk ventured outside of the monastery, he was ridiculed and teased by people of all ages. So he ended up spending most of his time inside, assimilating the ways of the monk. One of the most powerful associations that Gronk felt towards the teachings was that he saw himself representing the ultimate testament on the balance between good and evil. Through the years, Gronk developed many father figures within the monastery but his closest advisory by far was Lucian. Over time, he soon became an honorary member.

In order to help support the monastery and give back in some way, he worked in the mines of Balabar Smenk and donated all of what he earned. The salary was but a pittance which greatly disturbed Gronk since he wanted so much to provide a meaningful donation for all that the monastery had provided for him. The mines where the only place in Diamond Lake that would accept him, which was not uncommon for his type. It was a place that could reap the fruits of his labor by throwing him to the depths of a cave and never having to look at his “sub-human” form. Everything has a purpose and he accepted his position graciously.

After years of monotony, Gronk stumbled upon a gang rape inside the cave which was lead by one of Balabar’s son and included 4 of his acquaintances. He ended up bringing down a flurry of blows on Balabar’s son and 3 of his comrades. Among the turmoil, both the rape victim and one of the accomplices that Gronk had spared fled the cave. The fleeing accomplice quickly returned with a band of guards to arrest him. Gronk willingly left with the guards, leaving behind a mass of twisted bodies.

Gronk was given double the maximum sentence allotted for 4 counts of aggravated assault (most likely due to the corruption of the legal system via bribery of some sort). Gronk accepted his sentence of 2 years incarceration for the brutal beatings without rebuttal. While in prison he himself was abused and beaten insatiately and luckily only ended up spending 3 months in jail. He was released only because the cells were filling up with much more dangerous criminals and they needed the room. Plus, his presence was causing too much of a disturbance in the warden’s eyes. Upon his release, Gronk was not allowed to return to work at Balabar Smenk’s mine (or any others that were tied to him in any way), but due to his great strength and mining experience, he was quickly hired at a mine owned by one of Smenk’s competitors, Luzane Parrin.

Gronk was pleased with the change even though all the mines looked the same once you step into their bowels. The only difference was the people you ended up working with. Luckily for Gronk, he met a fellow miner by the name of Nadia. She was a beautiful maiden who was the first person outside of the monastery who treated him as an equal. They spent many weeks getting to know each other and discussing their past experiences while they slowly chipped away at the subterranean rock.

3 days ago, Nadia mentioned a grand adventure that would involve the plundering of a forgotten cairn which could reward those involved with an endless bounty of treasure. She was gathering resources and felt that he would be of great aid. The thought of being able to present caravans of gold to the monastery brought him to the point of tears and he graciously accepted the challenge.

This morning, Nadia told Gronk that they would be meeting at the old abandoned mining office that is about an hours walk just northeast of town.

ASEO wrote:
"6. Area #19 is noted as being completely submerged. If the stairs from #18 descend at a 1:1 rate, then the floor of #19 is 10ft below #18. If all areas have a 20ft ceiling, and the water starts halfway down the stairs, then the water in areas #19-22 should be only 5ft deep with 15ft of air above. Is this correct?"

The idea was to have the whole of areas 19-22 completely submerged, and I can see how the map and the distances involved sort of betray that. I suggest extending the stairs to make it work, as you'll have a lot more fun with a fully submerged shower area than one with only 5 feet of water.

Is anyone having a problem with this section being completely submerged under water? You know, problems like fighting, breathing, light... the basics. From Tyralandi Scrimm's perspective it only required a portion of the party (I think they initally sent in 5 and then 4 the second time) and they just received scratches and bruises.