Well - since this is my first post on the Messageboards, I guess I should say "Well Met, all!"
I've been pouring over this board for a few days now, and the ideas and suggestions here are worth their weight in gold - My Savage Tide campaign will only get better for it.
I could use some feedback and suggestions on one thing though. I've seen several party rosters that included aquatic or amphibious characters. I was wondering whether or not such characters would be unbalancing to this kind of campaign, or has this already been factored into the adventures?
Thanks in advance for everyone's help!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Feeding Big D**N Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR!"
Being aquatic herself, the sea elf character would probably recognize those little beasties quickly...
Creative Director
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While there are some encounters in Savage Tide that'll be less dangerous or easier if the party includes an amphibious PC, it won't break the game. In fact, Savage Tide is a pretty great campaign to include an aquatic elf or something along those lines in, simply because it's got such strong aquatic themes. I'd strongly advise against a fully aquatic PC, thoguh, since the majority of the campaign DOES take place in the air.
I'd strongly advise against a fully aquatic PC, thoguh, since the majority of the campaign DOES take place in the air.
Really!?!? The majority of the campaign has the PCs flying!?!? Wow, that's really different. Big Eberron twist. Can't wait to see how that turns out.
/end Sarcasm
While there are some encounters in Savage Tide that'll be less dangerous or easier if the party includes an amphibious PC, it won't break the game. In fact, Savage Tide is a pretty great campaign to include an aquatic elf or something along those lines in, simply because it's got such strong aquatic themes. I'd strongly advise against a fully aquatic PC, thoguh, since the majority of the campaign DOES take place in the air.
As I'm sure many have said before me - thanks for the swift reply!
This news eases my fears greatly. I just wasn't sure if a fully aquatic PC would be viable, but now I feel comfortable allowing an Aventi or some other standard race with the amphibious template (Stormwrack = goodness)
Thanks again for the help, and for yet another AP we can all get excited about!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
Damn, today I asked my player to condsider playing a normal elf instead of a sea elf as it might be problematic! He changed his choice to moon elf. It seems that I can tell him it's ok to go sea elf now. At least for once I get to mess the players around. ;)
Being aquatic herself, the sea elf character would probably recognize those little beasties quickly...
Hmm, this probably odd-looking response was supposed to be in the Stinky Water thread. That's what I get for using tabbed browsing...
I was going to say it looks like an amphibious character will do fine, but full aquatic not so much. That's been covered, though...
Damn again! For some strange reason I thought Sea elves could breathe air and simply had a +1 level adjustment as a powerful race like a Water Genasi. In actuality, the Sea (or aquatic) elves detailed in both Stormwrack and Races of Faerun can only survive on land for one hour per constitution bonus!
There is a handy feat Landwaker in both books that allows them to go for three hours per point of constitution but its unlikely my players elf could have that great a bonus to Con, as a Dragon Shaman he will be dependant quite a number of his ability scores and would more than likely have a high Cha if anything.
Possibly the Moon elf race is a better way to go after all.
Damn again! For some strange reason I thought Sea elves could breathe air and simply had a +1 level adjustment as a powerful race like a Water Genasi. In actuality, the Sea (or aquatic) elves detailed in both Stormwrack and Races of Faerun can only survive on land for one hour per constitution bonus!
There is a handy feat Landwaker in both books that allows them to go for three hours per point of constitution but its unlikely my players elf could have that great a bonus to Con, as a Dragon Shaman he will be dependant quite a number of his ability scores and would more than likely have a high Cha if anything.
Possibly the Moon elf race is a better way to go after all.
I seem to recall that in 2E Forgotten Realms, there was an entry somewhere for half-elves of aquatic elf ancestry. I think they had a percentage chance of having functional gills in addition to their lungs, which allowed them to function on land or water equally well (though aquatic elves could still survive at greater depths).
In keeping with that idea, maybe a compromise would be to allow a half-elf character with the amphibious template from Stormwrack? The template itself says that those who have it have some aquatic blood in their lineage - that's easy enough to explain if the elf parent was aquatic.
If the player is dead-set on playing a full-blooded elf, though.....I suppose they could have been captured by yuan-ti and experimented on (or some other race known for tinkering with "eugenics").
Just my humble two coppers' worth - gad that was a long rant, apologies for that :)
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
I use the Aquarendi from Mystara (as described in the old Creature Crucible: Sea People). As I didn't wnat to create a whole new 3.5 race for this, I use the sea elf from Stormwrack but integrate these Aquarendi traits--knows Dolphin/Whale Song as a language, suffers a cumulative -2 penalty on all Attack roles, skill checks, and ability checks for every 24 hour period out of water, vulnerable to fire (-1 on all saves versus fire, +2 damage per die). The sea elf can thus stay out of water longer, but has a negative (fire vulnerability) to make up for it.
Damn again! For some strange reason I thought Sea elves could breathe air and simply had a +1 level adjustment as a powerful race like a Water Genasi. In actuality, the Sea (or aquatic) elves detailed in both Stormwrack and Races of Faerun can only survive on land for one hour per constitution bonus!
There is a handy feat Landwaker in both books that allows them to go for three hours per point of constitution but its unlikely my players elf could have that great a bonus to Con, as a Dragon Shaman he will be dependant quite a number of his ability scores and would more than likely have a high Cha if anything.
Possibly the Moon elf race is a better way to go after all.
Well I have an aquatic elf playing in my group. He took the Landwalker feat and can stay out of water for about two days. I think the early adventure are close enough to water to not be an issue. Going forward he will probably be dependant on the Air Breathing spell or I believe there is ring that conveys air breathing. Me I'm not gonna intervene and see how it pans out. I like the idea of them having to actually worry about being near water or needing spells to keep them going. If it become too much of an issue (i.e. taking the fun out of the character) then I'm come up with something. I still haven't decided if I will use Legacy items this game so maybe that will fix it if needed.
I forgot to mention why I switched to the older D&D rules for the Aquarendi being out of water...the Stormwrack rule of "X hours per Con out before starting to suffocate" struck me as odd. The character is walking around fine for hours (maybe even days), then suddenly starts to suffocate? The older rules to me reflected the character gradually "drying out" and thus suffering the consequences over time. Oh, and I forgot to mention another impact is a -2 to Con for every 24 hours out. If Con reaches 0 the character starts to suffocate and will die unless placed in water quickly. I've been thinking too about the nasty side effects of dehydration-related magic...
Of course, the player is already thinking about a portable hole full of water to allow long-distance trips...
I forgot to mention why I switched to the older D&D rules for the Aquarendi being out of water...the Stormwrack rule of "X hours per Con out before starting to suffocate" struck me as odd. The character is walking around fine for hours (maybe even days), then suddenly starts to suffocate? The older rules to me reflected the character gradually "drying out" and thus suffering the consequences over time. Oh, and I forgot to mention another impact is a -2 to Con for every 24 hours out. If Con reaches 0 the character starts to suffocate and will die unless placed in water quickly. I've been thinking too about the nasty side effects of dehydration-related magic...
Of course, the player is already thinking about a portable hole full of water to allow long-distance trips...
Another good fashion accessory would be a Decanter of Endless (Sea)water. In a campaign I played in a few years ago, we had an aquatic elf character literally wear it as a hat to stay alive in a desert. Needless to say, the natives loved her. "All hail Nymrael, the Walking Oasis!"...
...We gamers are a unique bunch - I love it :)
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
Of course, the player is already thinking about a portable hole full of water to allow long-distance trips...
Small amounts of water, like small volumes of air, contain a limited quantity of oxygen. You may want to consider what size of a body of water a creature needs to "breathe" in. As a point of reference, a portable hole only holds enough air to keep a medium sized creature alive for 10 minutes.
Small amounts of water, like small volumes of air, contain a limited quantity of oxygen. You may want to consider what size of a body of water a creature needs to "breathe" in. As a point of reference, a portable hole only holds enough air to keep a medium sized creature alive for 10 minutes.
True if the hole is closed--specifically, "The only air in the hole is that which enters when the hole is opened." Leave the hole open and it's got all the air a normal hole would have...close the hole right after you've filled it up with water (that's over 2000 gallons of water) and the water will stay oxygenated indefinitely until needed for use. Now, this is a 20,000 gp solution normally, but with the party artificer they can work together to get it for 10,000 gp.
simple.... Necklace of adaptation...
RPJ
The changes I have made for the amphibious types--taking cumlative damage for every period out of water versus instantly starting to suffocate after a period--works off the entire body drying out and causing problems, one of the most serious being slow suffocation. As such, the necklace wouldn't quite have the effect I'm going for, I think...might even kill an aquatic creature since, technically, they're wrapped in a shell of air (they need water with oxygen to breath).
Possibility of a Sahuagain in my game, and already an aventi druid.
Large 4-armed sahuagain hulking hurler. Now thats artilery.
In the back of the Player's Guide to Faerun, some suggestions are made for toning down LA+X races to be LA+0. Air and Water Genasi become humanoids (losing outsider traits) but keep everything else, including the ability to breathe underwater (or not breathe at all in the case of the air genasi).