My game sesson on Sunday afternoon was just too good to pass up posting, to get reactions. After reading through the "Lich Queen's Beloved" adventure in issue #100, I would have thought it near to impossible for the party to succeed in the endeavor of destroying the Lich-Queen. But, much to my surprise, they actually succeeded. Granted 4 out of 6 player characters met their demise, but it did work out.
This is my first attempt at using the message boards, so I am just curious as to how much info people would like for me to post about this final, epic encounter.
Here is a list of what the party consisted of:
1.) Half-orc Paladin/Vassal of Bahamut
2.) Human Fighter/Weapon Master wielding two Bastard Swords
3.) Human Psychic Warrior
4.) Human Monk16/Fist of Zuoken1
5.) Human Cleric3/Wizard3/Mystic Theurge10/Archmage2
6.) Elf Mindweaver6/Force Weaver10/Exhalted Arcanist1
I suppose it is worth mentioning that in one of the previous adventures, the party hunted down and obtained Concluder, one of the nine Swords of Answering. The Fighter/Weaponmaster had the privilage of wielding that sword.
The Paladin/Vassal went straight for the Lich-Queen, took a few disintegrates to the face (6, to be exact, and saved on each one) and then managed to Sunder the Scepter of Ephelomon. Then he tried to sunder the Lich-Queen's sword--and much to my chagrin, succeeded in that as well. *blink, blink*
Since the Lich-Queen's spell resistance was almost impossible to beat, the mage in the party used a scroll from ages ago in party treasure: a Scroll of Trap the Soul. And, darn my dice, it came up a natural 1 on the save....
To make a long story short, a quick plane shift to Celestia and the Lich-Queen was no more....
So, I'd like to hear what everyone thinks of this. The adventure was great, My players loved it, and were just as shocked as I when they survived!
Too bad, cause I have a thing for liches. You left out some of the meatiest details! How did the lich-queen kill 4 out of 6 of them? It sounds like the party just waltzed in and killed her.
Wow, the dice sure did roll for the players in that encounter :)
I think this will be something your party will speak about for some time to come. At least they will remember your face when you got that natural 1 :D
Not sure but I think if you/the PCs would have rolled normally they PCs would have had a much harder time in that encounter. Oh well, luck goes its own ways sometimes.
So your PC's had enough time to research how powerful the Lich Queen was to create the Gem used to trap her soul? I'd say it would take at least 1 day per HD of the creature being researched...
Actually, they used a gem of the right cost (by accident, much to my surprise) that they had on hand, and the spell itself was on a scroll. I ruled that using part of a magical artifact was enough to meet the requirements of the spell. And it was great flavor text as well.
Haven't had the chance to run the adventure yet, but it does seem to me that disarming the scepter (without a weapon, so you get it.. via a monk perhaps) would ruin the encounter entirely. Lich-queen loses immunity to fire and is staring down two red-dragons under your command... is that really how it would work out?
Since the Lich-Queen's spell resistance was almost impossible to beat, the mage in the party used a scroll from ages ago in party treasure: a Scroll of Trap the Soul. And, darn my dice, it came up a natural 1 on the save....
This brings up an interesting rules discussion:
Can you "Trap the Soul" on a Lich?
As I DM, I'd rule that it can't be done, and here's why -
The Trap the Soul text says that it traps the life force, but under the Lich template it clearly states that a Lich's life force is kept in it's phylacerty (sp?). It's already "trapped" in a different location and not within the animated corpse. My ruling would be spell fizzle.
Also, Question re: Scrolls; are material components consumed during the making of a scroll, or are they provided when you use the scroll?
And can you Sunder a Major Artifact? Of course, you could always just disarm the lich queen and take the scepter!
Great point, Crumbles. I'd rule that Trap the Soul would fizzle as well. There is no soul there to trap.
As for creating scrolls, any material components are consumed in the preparation of the scroll, not when it is read / cast.
And finally, I think any item that is carried can be sundered. I would expect a major artifact to have exceptional hardness, hit points, magical protection, or a combination of the three. And possibly devastating consequences for breaking it.
After careful review, I think that the Trap the Soul question is correct in that it would have to be cast upon the phylactery rather than the Lich-Queen. However, I am not about to go changing the ending of the story to fit the rules when the way it happened was so incredibly exciting that it was better as a story-line.
As far as Sundering the Scepter of Ephelomon, take a look at the description of that item in the adventure and in the Planar Handbook. It states that the weapon can only be damaged by the claws of Bahamut or one of his chosen vassals. The paladin in my party WAS a Vassal of Bahamut. That is the ONLY reason why he was able to sunder the Scepter. It was also the main reason why the party even attempted to destroy the Lich-Queen in the first place...but that is another story entirely.
Thanks for the imput, everyone!
After careful review, I think that the Trap the Soul question is correct in that it would have to be cast upon the phylactery rather than the Lich-Queen. However, I am not about to go changing the ending of the story to fit the rules when the way it happened was so incredibly exciting that it was better as a story-line.
Yeah.. the actual answer is "whatever the DM says, goes", but I was just wondering what the general thought on the matter was. So can you Trap the Soul on a vampire then?
As far as Sundering the Scepter of Ephelomon, take a look at the description of that item in the adventure and in the Planar Handbook. It states that the weapon can only be damaged by the claws of Bahamut or one of his chosen vassals. The paladin in my party WAS a Vassal of Bahamut. That is the ONLY reason why he was able to sunder the Scepter. It was also the main reason why the party even attempted to destroy the Lich-Queen in the first place...but that is another story entirely.
Ah! I see the Paladin now! Great story, must've made for a climactic ending then!