Miscellania

[Corwin]

Since you asked. I'm currently thinking of doing things in stages, since I don't have enough support across the planes for what I intend, nor is my realm particularly versatile. It all comes to me having the space for rent, and having friends in high places, but the two not being very compatible right now.

So, of the things I could actually do:

1) Our lyre of magical building will be used to make a great gingerbread palace after the ruins of Imix's old one have been cleared.

2) It will be liberally used to build housing and fortifications alike, as needed.

3) The steam elementals are our core force for now, so they are staying within the hollowed-out volcano. But I want someone to guard the mountain itself, so I'm considering recruiting earth elementals for the task. We have some nearby, and they seem somewhat receptive to the idea of going places. I'll offer them to keep whatever the idiots who try to get through by sneaking or force, which might well recruit enough to my side. It'd probably be my first priority, if it needs to be RPd.

4) I doubt Kossuth would care about trivialties such as assigning fire elementals or other creatures to my side. Assuming he doesn't cause some insane cleric dudes to flock to my banner, I'll try to see whether Zaaman Rul feels like befriending this incredibly rare Fire/Good dragon striking out on her own.

5) Bahamut did extend an invitation to me, and I was curious enough to consider it, although the quest took precedence. I could gain some insight there as to alliances and recruitment, and might even get a few followers. Or observers. Whichever. It's hard to plan this out, but I figure something neat would happen if I try.

6) Astral's own red dragons. I haven't quite formulated my strategy there, but I was considering either approaching normally and asking whether a couple wanted to try spending some time there, or just heading up to Ixen and proposing that he sent some bored/curious/whichever dragons over to gain some much-needed life experience. Just because red dragons are evil doesn't mean they like Imix or Eblis, I figure, so they'd be up for a good fight if anything starts. This particular part largely depends on 5, assuming 5 can actually happen. Reforming the red dragon nation might still be a pipe dream, but affecting some young, impressionable red dragons might not be so insane an idea.

7) Do fire elves actually exist in Balmuria? I've been wondering about that ever since you linked to those weird creatures.

8) Just how comfortable is the Cauldron for water creatures? It's not literally a sauna everywhere, I hope. I'll try contacting Cessa (perhaps by Sending) and Oolu, and politely inquire whether there's any interest to give it a try. Perks would be Sanzha being there, plus a variety of reasons via my salespitch. It would be tailored for the listener, be it studying ways to coexist with fire(creatures), the exciting new field of steam, patriotic resolve to continue Sanzha's work and assure the Cauldron doesn't tilt back to the side of Fire and what not. If there's anyone weird enough to actually come and listen, I figure I'll see how I can seal the deal then. My ultimate goal is setting up regions of Fire and Water within, somewhat similar to defensive lines, but I can't have my moat if no one cares to man it.

9) I want to scry on the golden hawk armor hero, and see how that turns out. If it's a proper afterlife, I won't bring in mortals, but then I need to shape it as such. Can't really do much there until I know, either way.

Is this good for a start?

[Anastasia]

Looks good, Seira. A couple of comments on specific parts.

1) Our lyre of magical building will be used to make a great gingerbread palace after the ruins of Imix's old one have been cleared.

Any idea on a name, Cor?

7) Do fire elves actually exist in Balmuria? I've been wondering about that ever since you linked to those weird creatures.

They aren't known to the elves of Pallanth. They may or may not exist somewhere in Creation. To be honest, I just linked that on a whim. If Seira wants to hunt for mythical fire typed creatures she's welcome to try.

8) Just how comfortable is the Cauldron for water creatures? It's not literally a sauna everywhere, I hope. I'll try contacting Cessa (perhaps by Sending) and Oolu, and politely inquire whether there's any interest to give it a try. Perks would be Sanzha being there, plus a variety of reasons via my salespitch. It would be tailored for the listener, be it studying ways to coexist with fire(creatures), the exciting new field of steam, patriotic resolve to continue Sanzha's work and assure the Cauldron doesn't tilt back to the side of Fire and what not. If there's anyone weird enough to actually come and listen, I figure I'll see how I can seal the deal then. My ultimate goal is setting up regions of Fire and Water within, somewhat similar to defensive lines, but I can't have my moat if no one cares to man it.

The Cauldron is hot but kept in check by Water. Water elementals can survive in it well enough, though they'd probably prefer wet caves here and stay away from the bottom with the lava pool.

[Corwin]

Much of this depends on wealth/resources, if we do go for that, so I've been waiting on it. Still, that doesn't mean I can't plan in general terms.

I figure I can tell whenever someone invades my realm, or at least act upon a report of it to look in and see for myself. Not really clear on whether I need to be actually there or not, but even in the best case scenario it turns me into a hikkikomori if I want to reasonably defend a realm that's open from every direction. Thus, I'm interested in a magical item/artifact that works like the map of tactics. To really have it work for the entire 25 mile radius realm without lame spammings of them to cover the ground (greater map of tactics seems to cover a mile), it'd probably need to be artifact-level? Alternately, it could be used just to cover the surroundings (ie the potential approaches), not the actual realm itself. Coupled with (greater) alarm it would serve us quite well in alerting us to the inevitable invasion attempt, rather than insulting my disbelief by saying that somehow I can recruit enough people to watch every possible approach from Astral.

I'd like defenses as well, and those would be centered on the mouth of the volcano. I have other ideas for defending the mountain itself, so it's only the large, open space that I think needs defenses. I was considering going with a selection of Lesser Orb traps like what I planned for my inn's dungeon before just going with abstract traps added from taking those successfully disabled home. 4chan once proved to be made of true heroes and mentioned a spell turret, which... seems to be the same thing, except it cycles through the spells rather than trigger the same one. I believe that the right selection of orbs and some magic missiles in case of incorporeal assailants would be a decent deterrent. Another part of those defenses would be Hallow, but I'm still not certain how dimensions work out for the volcano's top, so it might well not be practical.

Speaking of Hallow, I do want Resist Energy: Fire attached to a Hallow effect gracing my palace, keyed both to creatures who share my alignment and creatures who share my faith (satisfying one of the conditions is enough). For alignment, I'm choosing only the Good portion as sufficient (don't care about the L/C axis). For faith, I'm split; does it mean the faith I follow, ie Waukeeneers, or can who literally follow me apply? In any case, due to its limited size, it would be set at the courtyard, which would serve as the appointed teleportation spot for anyone who feels like visiting and made their way to the outer boundary, as a courtesy. The throne room should have a second Hallow, this one containing Death Ward, because fuck undead. We might not be a Good plane by nature, but this would be a good way of showing where our allegience lies.

Astral being a transitive plane that leads to all others, I want some means to establish where I am in accordance to those other planes, as well as the means to open a gate there briefly. It'd probably need to wait until I can actually command magic like that, but what you said about trade got me thinking. If that's part of our appeal, we might as well be well-suited to it by being able to take on goods from one spot, and deliver it to another as we plot our course through Astral. This ties into actually being able to do that. Can I make the realm travel through Astral as is? If not, what would I need to go to allow it to fly through Astral with a set goal in mind, rather than aimlessly?

Is there any way to impede individual flight through Astral? Given it's your int that decides your speed, the only thing I can think of is attacking the int of your enemies, using stuff like Slow or deploying physical obstacles in the flight path. Is this generally correct? I'll probably need to sketch something out, then. I can't really plot for teleporting enemies, not without a Mythal as defense, but that doesn't mean someone can't attack me with a swarm of minions that could actually be stopped by more conventional means.

Can I banish people I don't like? How does that work, and if they're native to Astral, where would they appear? I'm also thinking that some strategic places could have Greater Glyphs of Warding that could hold Dismissal/Banishment. Saul could be manly and provide the spells, although I'm not sure it's particularly worthwhile. In the end, I'll probably use the Glyphs, but not for this purpose. The generic blast, probably, or Harm (or Heal vs undead). Summonings are also nice and very unfair.

Would Forbiddance affect my travels through the area of the Cauldron it applies to? If not, I'll probably try for it around the throne room. Also, can't help but wonder how Gurlan reportedly set Antipathy permanently for his place. Either I misunderstood something, or he found a way that was better than recasting it daily for a very tiny portion of his realm. If there is some way for me to emulate that, then the volcano entrance would be Antipathy'd vs Imix's followers (by detailing them as much as is necessary for the spell to work properly).

More to come. Eventually I'll have something cohesive to post in the Cauldron thread.

[Anastasia]

Much of this depends on wealth/resources, if we do go for that, so I've been waiting on it. Still, that doesn't mean I can't plan in general terms.

I figure I can tell whenever someone invades my realm, or at least act upon a report of it to look in and see for myself. Not really clear on whether I need to be actually there or not, but even in the best case scenario it turns me into a hikkikomori if I want to reasonably defend a realm that's open from every direction. Thus, I'm interested in a magical item/artifact that works like the map of tactics. To really have it work for the entire 25 mile radius realm without lame spammings of them to cover the ground (greater map of tactics seems to cover a mile), it'd probably need to be artifact-level?

That sound epic or artifact level, yes.

Alternately, it could be used just to cover the surroundings (ie the potential approaches), not the actual realm itself. Coupled with (greater) alarm it would serve us quite well in alerting us to the inevitable invasion attempt, rather than insulting my disbelief by saying that somehow I can recruit enough people to watch every possible approach from Astral.

You may be right insomuch that a flexible defense is your best option. An elastic defense, if you will. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_in_depth Reminds me of that idea. If it's too big to cover by yourselves, use the size to hoist your enemies by their own petards instead.

I'd like defenses as well, and those would be centered on the mouth of the volcano. I have other ideas for defending the mountain itself, so it's only the large, open space that I think needs defenses. I was considering going with a selection of Lesser Orb traps like what I planned for my inn's dungeon before just going with abstract traps added from taking those successfully disabled home. 4chan once proved to be made of true heroes and mentioned a spell turret, which... seems to be the same thing, except it cycles through the spells rather than trigger the same one. I believe that the right selection of orbs and some magic missiles in case of incorporeal assailants would be a decent deterrent. Another part of those defenses would be Hallow, but I'm still not certain how dimensions work out for the volcano's top, so it might well not be practical.

Hallow isn't practical in the base form, since it' has a range of 40ft enamination. A higher or even epic level spell for bigger Hallowing isn't unreasonable, dunno if that exists at all in any of the splatbooks. As for the turrets, that sounds fine, try stating one up and pricing it out using the magic item rules? See how that turns out and we'll work from there.

Speaking of Hallow, I do want Resist Energy: Fire attached to a Hallow effect gracing my palace, keyed both to creatures who share my alignment and creatures who share my faith (satisfying one of the conditions is enough). For alignment, I'm choosing only the Good portion as sufficient (don't care about the L/C axis). For faith, I'm split; does it mean the faith I follow, ie Waukeeneers, or can who literally follow me apply? In any case, due to its limited size, it would be set at the courtyard, which would serve as the appointed teleportation spot for anyone who feels like visiting and made their way to the outer boundary, as a courtesy. The throne room should have a second Hallow, this one containing Death Ward, because fuck undead. We might not be a Good plane by nature, but this would be a good way of showing where our allegiance lies.

RAW, Hallow simply says 'your alignment', so cherry-picking only half of it isn't possible. For the other half you can select any particular faith you want to. This is an interesting question: Do you want to continue serving Waukeen more or stake out on your own as an independent power? Either choice makes a statement about that.

Astral being a transitive plane that leads to all others, I want some means to establish where I am in accordance to those other planes, as well as the means to open a gate there briefly. It'd probably need to wait until I can actually command magic like that, but what you said about trade got me thinking. If that's part of our appeal, we might as well be well-suited to it by being able to take on goods from one spot, and deliver it to another as we plot our course through Astral. This ties into actually being able to do that. Can I make the realm travel through Astral as is? If not, what would I need to go to allow it to fly through Astral with a set goal in mind, rather than aimlessly?

Now bear in mind that you should really read up on the Astral first. Go to the Manual of the Planes and read the entire Astral section, as well as the bits about how planes interact. As to the question of making it into a giant Astral traveling realm, that's possible but you'd have to work something out there. It could be the aim of a quest or something like that.

Is there any way to impede individual flight through Astral? Given it's your int that decides your speed, the only thing I can think of is attacking the int of your enemies, using stuff like Slow or deploying physical obstacles in the flight path. Is this generally correct? I'll probably need to sketch something out, then. I can't really plot for teleporting enemies, not without a Mythal as defense, but that doesn't mean someone can't attack me with a swarm of minions that could actually be stopped by more conventional means.

Not that I know of, but it's possible there's something in a splatbook or another.

Can I banish people I don't like? How does that work, and if they're native to Astral, where would they appear? I'm also thinking that some strategic places could have Greater Glyphs of Warding that could hold Dismissal/Banishment. Saul could be manly and provide the spells, although I'm not sure it's particularly worthwhile. In the end, I'll probably use the Glyphs, but not for this purpose. The generic blast, probably, or Harm (or Heal vs undead). Summonings are also nice and very unfair.

Yes and they'd appear somewhere in the Astral. The rest of it is fine, Saul's more than willing to help out with a bit of spellcasting.

Would Forbiddance affect my travels through the area of the Cauldron it applies to? If not, I'll probably try for it around the throne room. Also, can't help but wonder how Gurlan reportedly set Antipathy permanently for his place. Either I misunderstood something, or he found a way that was better than recasting it daily for a very tiny portion of his realm. If there is some way for me to emulate that, then the volcano entrance would be Antipathy'd vs Imix's followers (by detailing them as much as is necessary for the spell to work properly).

Yes, it would. As for antipathy one could look into that, certainly.

[Corwin]

And now I'll probably get into the realm of the strange with the first two.

1) The leylines of Prime. There was the one granting Forbiddance, the one that dwarf trader/would-be assassin used that messed with TP and divinations, and how reversing its effects could have given me greater versions of teleport and plane shift if I chose so. I realize that messing with this on Prime is uncool beyond, say, reversing it. Could I arrange for something like that in the Cauldron, however, or it's simply not something I could normally achieve on a demi-plane?

2) Living spells. I've been interested in them ever since encountering and fighting one, but now they can actually be relevant! How would I go about trying to create my very own guardian ooze?

3) How exactly would I pursue the things you said I could try looking into?

For the other half you can select any particular faith you want to. This is an interesting question: Do you want to continue serving Waukeen more or stake out on your own as an independent power? Either choice makes a statement about that.

4) Is there an actual need to choose one or the other? Azuth both has a portfolio and serves Mystra, right? Red Knight worships Tempus, while receiving worship herself. I'm not entirely certain why it seems like I can't do that from your response. Am I reading it wrong?

[Anastasia]

And now I'll probably get into the realm of the strange with the first two.

1) The leylines of Prime. There was the one granting Forbiddance, the one that dwarf trader/would-be assassin used that messed with TP and divinations, and how reversing its effects could have given me greater versions of teleport and plane shift if I chose so. I realize that messing with this on Prime is uncool beyond, say, reversing it. Could I arrange for something like that in the Cauldron, however, or it's simply not something I could normally achieve on a demi-plane?

Ley-lines can't be  replicated on a demiplane. They're the natural flows of energy of the world, like the veins of life-force that powers the Prime.

2) Living spells. I've been interested in them ever since encountering and fighting one, but now they can actually be relevant! How would I go about trying to create my very own guardian ooze?

Checking the MM3 writeup there isn't a creation method provided.  Yes, you can do it, don't know how offhand, I'll need to squint at the numbers and figure something out.

3) How exactly would I pursue the things you said I could try looking into?

Take an IC action to do. When I ask you 'what are you doing' next time, specify that and we'll see.

4) Is there an actual need to choose one or the other? Azuth both has a portfolio and serves Mystra, right? Red Knight worships Tempus, while receiving worship herself. I'm not entirely certain why it seems like I can't do that from your response. Am I reading it wrong?

What I mean is that are you going to stand as a servant of Waukeen or as an independent power? This is one of many things that helps clarify this. This isn't to say that you can't still revere Waukeen, but that you're becoming a power and it has to do with the station and position you desire.

[Anastasia]

Divine Crusader: 10 level full casting class that isn't totally broken! On the downside, it doesn't work right with Sun Domain. Doh.

[Corwin]

Poke for living spells~

[Anastasia]

I'm probably going to do Valar over the weekend and give him turning in place of features from Divine Crusader. I like the concept too much to let this snag mess it up.

[Anastasia]

Valar refuses to cooperate, more stupid shit keeps happening as I build him. Grr.

[Anastasia]

Posted two revised feats and added a new epic feat based on Valar, just FYI.

[Corwin]

Choosing the ability damage prevention, in case you haven't seen, Dune. Also, for my 2 spells per levelup, I'm interested in Greater Stunning Breath (SC p211) and Superior Invisibility (SC p125). Are they cool?

[Anastasia]

They're both fine.

[Anastasia]

Donald's level up:

> roll 1d8
* Hatbot --> "Kowork rolls 1d8 and gets 5." [1d8=5]

Gains 12 HP. Gains +1 BAB. Spell power increases to +5.  Gains +1 to all three saving throws. Skills go up as normal.  He retrains Weapon Focus(Bastard Sword) into Endurance. Donald gains a feat at 18 and selects Steadfast Determination. Donald's will save increases by 7 and he now does not automatically fail fortitude saves on a natural 1. Donald gains another 4th and 5th level spell charge. Donald learns TBA as his new spell.

His spell is open. I'm toying with Disintegrate or Polar Ray, any suggestions?

Donald has two more levels to play with before epic, he's toying with a dip anyway and doing that before epic gives him a saves bump. Toying with what would most help him, though.  Also, if I double level anyone anytime soon, it'll probably be Donald. He's always in battle and fighting things, yet is lower level than most of the others and hasn't had a double level in some time.  On the other hand, he's being effective in combat and my main litmus test for a double level is 'are they effective right now?'. Thoughts?

[Anastasia]

Antenora's level up:

> roll 1d10
* Hatbot --> "Kowork rolls 1d10 and gets 10." [1d10=10]

Gains 19 hit points. Gains +1 BAB.  Divine Succor increases to 30 HP per use. Gains +1 will. Level 20, so she gains +1 to a stat. Antenora chooses charisma which has a whole lot of knock on effects as well as making Alicia shiver. Skills go up as usual. Her spell resistance increases to 28. 

She's reached the maximum non epic level. At 21 she'll probably take celestial smiting or dire charge, depending on if I work the latter out. She'd like to take more levels of paladin sometime in the future, for the various benefits. Taking charging smite as an ACF at 5th level is shiny for her and turns would be nice.