At the beginning of the Spire of Long Shadows Manzorizan offers to trade a bunch of mid to high end magic for the Rod of Seven Parts piece. Well, there's a (off) chance that my PCs might make it there tonight, so I'm struggling with a write up on his offer. See, it's not a big deal to come up with a cool weapon or armor with a backstory, particularly with all the extra items in splatbooks, but spellcasters are a bit problematic. For example: the druid (who plays primary tank as a dire lion most of the time) gets this:
Flesh of the Cherethwood
+3 Wild Dragonhide Armor
Many centuries ago the Cherethwood was preserved by a small army of fey, kept at peace by Cherlathoragos, an ancient Copper Dragon, who had been profoundly touched by the wood she laired in. It is said that her scales were shaped as leaves, and she would become dormant every winter. This proved to be her downfall, as finally, one winter, her beautiful wood was recognized and attacked by Tyrus, Destroyer of Nations. Tyrus the Red sought to conquer a powerful enemy while she slept. His destruction woke the protector of the woods, and they both perished in the conflict. Chonlathoragos’ followers had the hides of each Dragon made into powerful armors.
This hide was eventually gifted to Talmericar the Swift, a halfling woodsman who delayed a powerful host of demons long enough for the forces of the Cherethwood to rally their scattered troops. Talmericar fell in battle with The Conclave of Krieg, a council of liches. Tenser recovered this armor by slaying Malerac, a psychotic druidic lich who specialized in undead animals.
Then the Cleric will get a Periapt of Wisdom +6 (Tadaaaaa!), and the Warmage would get... ummmm... A Scarab of Protection. Hmmmmm... I just have trouble with legendary items that aren't armor and weapons apparently. "This Periapt was worn by a Cleric who was very wise, but then we discovered that it was just the magic item." Not so good.
So what would you do? What kinds of items would you gift your party with?
Creative Director
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Originally... I had hoped to include an appendix of 11 new magic items (each customized for one of the 11 core classes) that Manzorian can offer to the PCs. Alas... this was a case of running out of time rather than running out of space in the adventure.
If we do a hardcover Age of Worms, adding these 11 magic items back in would be high on my list of priorities.
How about posting them here for the meantimes?
Meanwhile, maybe we can all pitch in and post any inventions we're especially proud of. If everyone thinks of one good one, we're likely to collectively have a nice pool of items to draw from. (And if James borrows any for the final product, he can credit us!)
I'm just curious as to how the 40,000 gp limit was arrived at. The text mentions that the Rod segment possessed by the PCs is worth about 23,000 gp, but this is assuming the minimum caster level of 11. I believe the segment was previously mentioned to operate at CL 20, making it worth more like 43,000 gp. At any rate, I suspect the 40,000 gp figure is not based on the actual value of the rod, but more on the expected wealth level of 13th level characters...?
One quick question (don't have the issue yet),
Can each PC get up to 40K instead to commision a magic item to be made instead of choosing a pre-made item?
I'm just curious as to how the 40,000 gp limit was arrived at. The text mentions that the Rod segment possessed by the PCs is worth about 23,000 gp, but this is assuming the minimum caster level of 11. I believe the segment was previously mentioned to operate at CL 20, making it worth more like 43,000 gp. At any rate, I suspect the 40,000 gp figure is not based on the actual value of the rod, but more on the expected wealth level of 13th level characters...?
I think its the potential of the rod that's the big thing here. Manzorian either knows where other pieces of the rod are, or has a piece in his possession already (I think I read that somewhere).
I'm just curious as to how the 40,000 gp limit was arrived at. The text mentions that the Rod segment possessed by the PCs is worth about 23,000 gp, but this is assuming the minimum caster level of 11. I believe the segment was previously mentioned to operate at CL 20, making it worth more like 43,000 gp. At any rate, I suspect the 40,000 gp figure is not based on the actual value of the rod, but more on the expected wealth level of 13th level characters...?I think its the potential of the rod that's the big thing here. Manzorian either knows where other pieces of the rod are, or has a piece in his possession already (I think I read that somewhere).
Flavor-wise, sure, that's why Manny's willing to fork over the dough. As an aside, this is actually a bit weak since the amount Manny is willing to pay is dependent on the number of PCs (if there are 4 PCs, he'll pay 160k for the segment; if there are 8 he'll pay 320k). I'm more interested in the metagame reasoning behind 40k.
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Creative Director
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The meta-game reason why I chose 40,000 for the magic item value is mostly due to the fact that a +6 ability boosting item (which is sort of the "backbone" of a high-level character) costs slightly less. I wanted the items Manzorian hands out to effectively be the first real "High Level" items that the PCs are likely to gain, since Spire of Long Shadows is the gateway to the high-level adventures in the Age of Worms.
If you want to hand out a cash award, I recomend handing out 20,000 gp instead of an item, since that's what someone would get for selling a 40K item.
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I gave the option of certain items "per charater" or items they could use as a group. I offered up a Staff of Life and a Staff of Passage,as a group, or individual items, but only 1 of each...there was only 1 +6 belt of Giant Strength, etc.... The Warpriest took a scroll of 2 "true ressurections". My group has died repeatedly, and I believe they are a little behind, as far as treasure goes. They are in the Spire now, and I easily could have had a TPK with the room, with the Swords and the Priest....3 "invocations of the worm" would have crushed them... luckily 2 of the PC's won initiative, and got into the room before they let fly.. I never use a screen, but may need to from here on, because I want the PC's to actually succeed..It is not a contest, but a story, and my friends are actually enjoying the AoW backstory. So, I want them to win, succeed, adn thrive, but not too easily.,..
The meta-game reason why I chose 40,000 for the magic item value is mostly due to the fact that a +6 ability boosting item (which is sort of the "backbone" of a high-level character) costs slightly less. I wanted the items Manzorian hands out to effectively be the first real "High Level" items that the PCs are likely to gain, since Spire of Long Shadows is the gateway to the high-level adventures in the Age of Worms.
If you want to hand out a cash award, I recomend handing out 20,000 gp instead of an item, since that's what someone would get for selling a 40K item.
Cool; thanks, James.
I guess that the problem with giving money to the characters to craft or have items crafted for them is the time limit...if 4 characters each want a 40k weapon it takes 40 days per weapon...so if only one person makes them all it would take 160 days before everyone has it.
And by that time the AoW has indeed come because they were waiting for better weapons.