I am designing an encounter for my campaign which includes a Treant with the crystal template. The party is 3 members right now, all lvl 12.
The crystal template says to apply DR 5/- unless the creature's natural DR is "better".
Now, due to the circumstance of this encounter, this Treant is a bit mad, and I am adjusting its alignment from NG to NE.
The Treant's natural DR is 10/slashing.
Now, here is my concern. Since I shifted the Treant's alignment, I am worried that the party's paladin (level 12) will be able to mop up the floor with this variant (provided she doesn't go blind or get diseased by Brilliant Pestilence first).
So, in this case, I am thinking that the 'better' DR would be 5/- not 10/slashing. But I don't want to be unfairly stacking the odds against the party.
What do you think?
Depending on the weapons used by the party, DR 5/- would be better than DR 10/slashing. However, the paladin is going to ignore the DR of the treant regardless of what kind it is. So, you'd better think of something else.
Crap you're right lol.
That would mean shifting the alignment back ... but I don't wanna do that. Guess I will throw in an extra one to make up for Smiting.
I would simply leave them both in place and use whichever one is available for each opponent.
So you would have:
DR 5/- OR DR 10/slashing
Much like if you had stoneskin up on an invulnerable barbarian.
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I am designing an encounter for my campaign which includes a Treant with the crystal template. The party is 3 members right now, all lvl 12.
The crystal template says to apply DR 5/- unless the creature's natural DR is "better".
Now, due to the circumstance of this encounter, this Treant is a bit mad, and I am adjusting its alignment from NG to NE.
The Treant's natural DR is 10/slashing.
Now, here is my concern. Since I shifted the Treant's alignment, I am worried that the party's paladin (level 12) will be able to mop up the floor with this variant (provided she doesn't go blind or get diseased by Brilliant Pestilence first).
So, in this case, I am thinking that the 'better' DR would be 5/- not 10/slashing. But I don't want to be unfairly stacking the odds against the party.
What do you think?
For the weapon attacks that don't use slashing weapons use the dr 10.
If it is a slashing weapon apply the dr 5.
Consider NOT making it evil. There's so gorram many evil opponents already, encountering non-evil opponents is a good way to vary things. Just because you're mad doesn't mean you're evil... Any flavor of neutrality can work, or, depending on in what way it's mad, you might want to drop intelligence to 2 making it non-sentient.
Just my 5cp
Now, due to the circumstance of this encounter, this Treant is a bit mad, and I am adjusting its alignment from NG to NE.
If it's really mad, consider CN instead of NE. Insanity is a chaotic trait.
Thanks for the input!!
If it's really mad, consider CN instead of NE. Insanity is a chaotic trait.Now, due to the circumstance of this encounter, this Treant is a bit mad, and I am adjusting its alignment from NG to NE.
It really depends on the kind of insanity. OCD might very well be a lawful trait, for example. If that's considered insanity, don't know exactly how the word is defined.
Insanity is a chaotic trait.
Please explain the logic behind this.
Insanity is a chaotic trait.Please explain the logic behind this.
"Law implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability. "
"chaos can include recklessness, resentment toward legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and irresponsibility. "
Some kinds of insanity DO feel like they belong on the chaotic side of the spectrum, especially some psychotic disorders. Having been engaged to a schizophreniac, I can tell you that some of her behaviour was really chaotic.
On the other hand, obsessive compulsive disorder seem to fight more into the law side of the spectrum.
Insanity is a chaotic trait.Please explain the logic behind this."Law implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability. "
"chaos can include recklessness, resentment toward legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and irresponsibility. "
Some kinds of insanity DO feel like they belong on the chaotic side of the spectrum, especially some psychotic disorders. Having been engaged to a schizophreniac, I can tell you that some of her behaviour was really chaotic.
On the other hand, obsessive compulsive disorder seem to fight more into the law side of the spectrum.
It's true - I wasn't specific enough. I was using it as per the generic fantasy meaning (as in "The king is insane" or "The dragon protecting the kingdom went insane"), which is closest to the third definition here:
a : extreme folly or unreasonableness
b : something utterly foolish or unreasonable
often mixed with elements of paranoia, narcissism, and similar disorders.
"Law implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability. "
"chaos can include recklessness, resentment toward legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and irresponsibility. "
Some kinds of insanity DO feel like they belong on the chaotic side of the spectrum, especially some psychotic disorders. Having been engaged to a schizophreniac, I can tell you that some of her behaviour was really chaotic.
On the other hand, obsessive compulsive disorder seem to fight more into the law side of the spectrum.
Sorry to hear that…
But what sane people may see as chaotic behavior isn't necessarily chaotic from the point of view of the person with schizophrenia. They are reacting to a different "reality" and actions that you see as irrational and/or bizarre often make sense to them at the time. In a poor attempt to put it in pathfinder terms, it's like hitting a character with an alignment penalty because they didn't realize a wizard was using illusions to mess with their head.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder or obsessive-compulsive personality disorder? Neither one makes people that have it become trustworthy, honorable, reliable, or obedient to authority.
But what sane people may see as chaotic behavior isn't necessarily chaotic from the point of view of the person with schizophrenia.
Likewise, most evil people don't see themselves as evil. Orcs probably don't see themselves as neither evil or chaotic, they are reacting to a different view of reality.
it's like hitting a character with an alignment penalty because they didn't realize a wizard was using illusions to mess with their head.
There are no alignment penalties. But schizophrenia isn't just about hallucinations, the whole personality is jumpy and the mood very unreliable. But yes, if my character was affected by mind-affecting abilities causing personality changes long enough, I would change his/her alignment until the effects wore off.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder or obsessive-compulsive personality disorder? Neither one makes people that have it become trustworthy, honorable, reliable, or obedient to authority.
Rather, it's the orderly nature I'm talking about - adherence to (personal) traditions and habits, most importantly.
These are of course just points of view, and really, trying to fit real-world illnesses into the alignment system is going to be awkward at best.