Random DM nagging.

[Anastasia]

Reviewing constructs as noted above.

Craft Construct [Item Creation]
Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item.
Benefit: A creature with this feat can create any construct whose prerequisites it meets. Enchanting a construct takes one day for each 1,000 gp in its market price. To enchant a construct, a spellcaster must spend 1/25 the item's price in XP and use up raw materials costing half of this price (see individual construct monster entries for details). A creature with this feat can repair constructs that have taken damage. In one day of work, the creature can repair up to 20 points of damage by expending 50 gp per point of damage repaired. A newly created construct has average hit points for its Hit Dice.

Looks clear enough there. The golem prices look expensive but reasonable for what they do. So what I ask is this:

1. What golems are you interested in? Do you have some master source of them?
2. Are you interested in advanced HD golems? These invoke various price increases.
3. How many golems do you want? What do you plan to use them for?

[Anastasia]

Progress.

1. Devil reports from captives of the Battle of Mala's Treachery.
2. Look over craft golem options/talk to Eb about it since he's planning things there.
3. Add new medal and unit structure into topics/consider new Aurora topics and some reorganization there.
4. Redo magic section of house rules since Cor keeps mentioning it. It's happening, just been buried and low productivity lately.
5. Revise/check over spells posted in PC spells.
6. Epic Beguiler+some mechanical odds and ends there. Low priority.
7. Get Baleruk a really good chew toy.
8. Shapeshifter feats.
9. Review new PrC PM.

[Corwin]

No one really added the scrolls from http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,101784.msg1032821.html#msg1032821 and http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,101784.msg1032827.html#msg1032827 to their sheets. Do we want to keep a listing of them and other shared stuff (like the axiomatic daggers, the tent and the like) in the Aurora thread?

[Ebiris]

Unfortunately I have nothing as badass as a Hellfire Engine, but I'll try to impress with my creations!

Serious question, will golems with intelligence scores gain access to gestalt levels? There's not many that can be made out of the box as intelligent, but Afina is definitely taking Awaken Construct as her first 9th level spell.


1. What golems are you interested in? Do you have some master source of them?

There's a handy guide here.
As for constructs that I'm interested in, I'll list along with source and relevant thoughts.

Nimblewrights (p162 MM2). 3.0 so some edits needed, but basically a construct infiltrator type with a few SLAs, strong SR, and intelligent right out of the box. Somewhat pricey for its power level, but seems useful.

Stained Glass Golem (p116 MM2). 3.0 again. A bit weaker than the nimblewright, and mindless, but has typical golem advantages as well as fast healing which is really cool on a golem. Quite cheap, too.

Prismatic Golem (p72 MM3). Technically I have to be neutral good to make this, though the book suggests ones for other alignments they aren't statted out and this one is too flavourful to pass up with Baleruk and Renbuu on side. Solidly powerful and incorporeal, with a random prismatic touch attack (not the same as the spray but similarly themed). Extremely expensive, but very cool.

Shredstorm (p154 MM3). It's a swarm! It melts through fortifications and shoots lightning bolts! It can be killed by a fireball! Pretty pricy for how fragile it is, but with careful deployment it'd be very good for getting through tricky defences.

Slaughterstone Behemoth (p160 MM3). A huge trampling monster that knocks over people just from being nearby when it moves, dazes stuff it hits, and has a very solid attack routine. Just the thing for breaking enemy formations! Pricy, but so very worth it.

Slaughterstone Eviscerator (p161 MM3). More expensive than the previous construct but weaker in defence and offence. It makes up for that by being able to move 15 feet and full attack. Suits Afina thematically to make, and if we can get scout levels on one it'd be a terror.

Ironwyrm Golem (p167 Draconomicon). This thing is my best bet for matching a Hellfire Engine pre-epic. Similar breath weapon (regular fire only, but high damage) and a monstrous attack routine. It'd probably still die one on one since it has less hp and takes hellfire damage from hitting it, but I'll take what I can get. Even costlier than the Prismatic Golem, but well worth it.

Elder Eidolon (p147 LoM). Not a specific construct but a template. Add it to any other monster to make a construct based on said monster, so the possibilities are limitless. Stuff with lots of attacks like Hydras and Mariliths are top contenders, since special attacks tend to not carry over. Afina would go on a quest to learn the secrets of making these things any day of the week!

2. Are you interested in advanced HD golems? These invoke various price increases.

I may advance some golems depending on available funds and finding golems that decently benefit from advanced hd.

3. How many golems do you want? What do you plan to use them for?

As many as I can afford. Primarily they'll be used for defence and bodyguard duty, if I can make a large number of lower tier golems they can form a unit of the army in their own right, and some of the more impressive ones will function as mobile siege engines.

[Yuthirin]

No one really added the scrolls from http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,101784.msg1032821.html#msg1032821 and http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,101784.msg1032827.html#msg1032827 to their sheets. Do we want to keep a listing of them and other shared stuff (like the axiomatic daggers, the tent and the like) in the Aurora thread?

Let's keep them as available gear and grab them as we might need them?

[Anastasia]

Serious question, will golems with intelligence scores gain access to gestalt levels? There's not many that can be made out of the box as intelligent, but Afina is definitely taking Awaken Construct as her first 9th level spell.

Yes, assuming they have an intelligence score of 3 or higher. For the sake of game balance - and the fact hat many constructs use hit dice bloat to work - I'd like to ask that you avoid heavy casting classes with epic spell capacity with them. RAW, a CR 20 golem can easily have 40+ hit dice. I usually rewrite constructs to use less hit dice when I use them, such as the Hellfire Engine posted last night. Not wanting to grapple with this or deal with the consequences of allowing it, I'd like to softban serious casting from golems. It'll just mess things up and make my job that much more difficult.

Note that I'm inclined to use the 3.5 magic immunity versus the 3.0, except possibly for epic level golems like adamantine and mithral. I don't think any 3.5 golem used the 3.0 version, correct me if I'm wrong.

Nimblewrights (p162 MM2). 3.0 so some edits needed, but basically a construct infiltrator type with a few SLAs, strong SR, and intelligent right out of the box. Somewhat pricey for its power level, but seems useful.

That's one hell of an augmented critical! It looks fine overall.

Stained Glass Golem (p116 MM2). 3.0 again. A bit weaker than the nimblewright, and mindless, but has typical golem advantages as well as fast healing which is really cool on a golem. Quite cheap, too.

That's fine.

Prismatic Golem (p72 MM3). Technically I have to be neutral good to make this, though the book suggests ones for other alignments they aren't statted out and this one is too flavourful to pass up with Baleruk and Renbuu on side. Solidly powerful and incorporeal, with a random prismatic touch attack (not the same as the spray but similarly themed). Extremely expensive, but very cool.

Yeah, I'd allow them since they're such a dead on thematic match to what's going on.

Shredstorm (p154 MM3). It's a swarm! It melts through fortifications and shoots lightning bolts! It can be killed by a fireball! Pretty pricy for how fragile it is, but with careful deployment it'd be very good for getting through tricky defences.

Okay, no problem there.

Slaughterstone Behemoth (p160 MM3). A huge trampling monster that knocks over people just from being nearby when it moves, dazes stuff it hits, and has a very solid attack routine. Just the thing for breaking enemy formations! Pricy, but so very worth it.

That's fine.

Slaughterstone Eviscerator (p161 MM3). More expensive than the previous construct but weaker in defence and offence. It makes up for that by being able to move 15 feet and full attack. Suits Afina thematically to make, and if we can get scout levels on one it'd be a terror.

Shreddy. That one's tentatively fine.

Ironwyrm Golem (p167 Draconomicon). This thing is my best bet for matching a Hellfire Engine pre-epic. Similar breath weapon (regular fire only, but high damage) and a monstrous attack routine. It'd probably still die one on one since it has less hp and takes hellfire damage from hitting it, but I'll take what I can get. Even costlier than the Prismatic Golem, but well worth it.

Speaking of dumb levels of hit dice bloat! Anyway, it's fine.

Elder Eidolon (p147 LoM). Not a specific construct but a template. Add it to any other monster to make a construct based on said monster, so the possibilities are limitless. Stuff with lots of attacks like Hydras and Mariliths are top contenders, since special attacks tend to not carry over. Afina would go on a quest to learn the secrets of making these things any day of the week!

Mariliths are out since the template doesn't allow for outsiders. That said, this one's the most complex by far so let me go take a serious read of it and think it over.

[Corwin]

To keep things simple, how about going with this?

Lab upgrade #1
K:A. Ithea primary, rolls twice at +44 vs DC50. Tepen and Sylvie aid (on anything but a 1).
Spellcraft. Ithea primary, rolls twice at +43 vs DC50. Tepen and Sylvie aid (on anything but a 1).
C:A. Sylvie primary, rolls once at +27 vs DC50 (+30 due to feat shenanigans). Tepen and Ithea aid (Ithea needs 4 or higher, Tepen 2 or higher).

Lab upgrade #2
K:A. Ithea primary, rolls once at +44 vs DC65. Tepen and Sylvie aid (on anything but a 1).
Spellcraft. Ithea primary, rolls once at +43 vs DC65. Tepen and Sylvie aid (on anything but a 1).
C:A. Sylvie primary, rolls once at +27 vs DC65 (+30 due to feat shenanigans). Tepen and Ithea aid (Ithea needs 4 or higher, Tepen 2 or higher).

Spoiler: ShowHide

Upgrade #1

[01:19] <Merc> roll d20+44 K:A lab 1 (main)
[01:19] * Hatbot --> "Merc rolls d20+44 K:A lab 1 (main) and gets 59." [d20=15]
[01:19] <Kotono> roll 1d20 Sylvie aid, anything but a 1
[01:19] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d20 Sylvie aid, anything but a 1 and gets 13." [1d20=13]
[01:19] <Jaela> roll 1d20 Tepen aids!
[01:19] * Hatbot --> "Jaela rolls 1d20 Tepen aids! and gets 16." [1d20=16]
[01:19] <Kotono> Total of 63.
[01:19] <Merc> roll d20+44 K:A 2 lab 1 (main)
[01:19] * Hatbot --> "Merc rolls d20+44 K:A 2 lab 1 (main) and gets 58." [d20=14]
[01:19] <Kotono> roll 1d20 Sylvie aid, anything but a 1
[01:19] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d20 Sylvie aid, anything but a 1 and gets 7." [1d20=7]
[01:19] <Jaela> roll 1d20 Tepen aids!
[01:19] * Hatbot --> "Jaela rolls 1d20 Tepen aids! and gets 8." [1d20=8]
[01:19] <Kotono> Total of 62.
[01:20] <Merc> roll d20+43 spellcraft 1 lab 1 (main)
[01:20] * Hatbot --> "Merc rolls d20+43 spellcraft 1 lab 1 (main) and gets 48." [d20=5]
[01:20] <Jaela> roll 1d20 Tepen aids!
[01:20] * Hatbot --> "Jaela rolls 1d20 Tepen aids! and gets 11." [1d20=11]
[01:20] <Kotono> roll 1d20 Sylvie aid, anything but a 1
[01:20] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d20 Sylvie aid, anything but a 1 and gets 20." [1d20=20]
[01:20] <Merc> roll d20+43 spellcraft 2 lab 1 (main)
[01:20] <Kotono> Total of 52.
[01:20] * Hatbot --> "Merc rolls d20+43 spellcraft 2 lab 1 (main) and gets 45." [d20=2]
[01:20] <Kotono> roll 1d20 Sylvie aid, anything but a 1
[01:20] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d20 Sylvie aid, anything but a 1 and gets 17." [1d20=17]
[01:20] <Jaela> roll 1d20 Tepen aids!
[01:20] * Hatbot --> "Jaela rolls 1d20 Tepen aids! and gets 5." [1d20=5]
[01:20] <Kotono> Total of 49.
[01:21] <Kotono> Okay, what's next? C:A?
[01:21] <Jaela> Yeah, roll for Sylvie?
[01:21] <Jaela> We'll aid
[01:21] <Kotono> roll 1d20+30 Sylvie main
[01:21] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d20+30 Sylvie main and gets 38." [1d20=8]
[01:21] <Merc> roll d20+6 C:A Ithea aid
[01:21] * Hatbot --> "Merc rolls d20+6 C:A Ithea aid and gets 15." [d20=9]
[01:21] <Jaela> roll 1d20 Tepen aids
[01:21] * Hatbot --> "Jaela rolls 1d20 Tepen aids and gets 15." [1d20=15]
[01:21] <Kotono> Total of 42.

Upgrade #2

[01:25] <Merc> roll d20+44 K:A main
[01:25] * Hatbot --> "Merc rolls d20+44 K:A main and gets 62." [d20=18]
[01:25] <Kotono> roll 1d20 Sylvie
[01:25] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d20 Sylvie and gets 15." [1d20=15]
[01:25] <Jaela> roll 1d20 Tepen aids
[01:25] * Hatbot --> "Jaela rolls 1d20 Tepen aids and gets 2." [1d20=2]
[01:25] <Kotono> Total of 66.
[01:25] <Merc> roll d20+43 spellcraft main
[01:25] * Hatbot --> "Merc rolls d20+43 spellcraft main and gets 45." [d20=2]
[01:25] <Kotono> roll 1d20 Sylvie
[01:25] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d20 Sylvie and gets 11." [1d20=11]
[01:25] <Jaela> roll 1d20 Tepen aids
[01:25] * Hatbot --> "Jaela rolls 1d20 Tepen aids and gets 20." [1d20=20]
[01:25] <Kotono> Total of 49.
[01:26] <Merc> roll d20+6 C:A Ithea aid
[01:26] <Kotono> roll 1d20+30 Sylvie C:A
[01:26] * Hatbot --> "Merc rolls d20+6 C:A Ithea aid and gets 18." [d20=12]
[01:26] * Hatbot --> "Kotono rolls 1d20+30 Sylvie C:A and gets 45." [1d20=15]
[01:26] <Jaela> roll 1d20 Tepen aids
[01:26] * Hatbot --> "Jaela rolls 1d20 Tepen aids and gets 11." [1d20=11]
[01:26] <Kotono> Total of 49.

[01:27] <Jaela> 125,000gp at a 11% discount
[01:27] <Jaela> 250,000gp at a 2% discount

[Corwin]

My suggestions for NPCs fixing the following...

Speed up portal enlargement to 1 full round action: 50,000 gold; 1 DC 23 spellcraft check; 3 DC 40 K:A checks; 5 days.
Set up electricity styled trap in the courtyard, 3d6 damage: 15,000 gold; 5 DC 25 spellcraft checks; 7 days. Improve courtyard electricity damage to 6d6: 10,000 gold; 3 DC 20 spellcraft checks; 5 days. ---> Improve courtyard electricity damage to 10d6: 30,000 gold; 3 DC 30 spellcraft checks; 6 days. ---> Improve courtyard electricity damage to 20d6: 75,000 gold; 3 DC 40 spellcraft checks; 7 days.
Improve cafeteria(Just like the real thing! Keeps everyone happier): 35,000 gold; 2 DC 25 spellcraft checks; 1 DC 25 K:N check; 4 days.
Improve growing farms(Things grow in 1/20th of the normal time): 10,000 gold; 2 DC 23 K:N checks, 1 DC 24 spellcraft check; 5 days. ---> Improve growing farms (Things grow overnight): 25,000 gold; 2 DC 28 K:N checks, 1 DC 25 spellcraft check; 5 days.
Aquarium (For the tortles and other aquatic or amphibious races): 5,000 gold; 2 DC 25 K:A&E checks; 4 days.

...in no particular order. Thoughts?

[Ebiris]

We need real food, dammit!

[Merc]

Delicious food would be nice!

[Yuthirin]

We need real food, dammit!

I'm growing it!

[Merc]

Dune, add to Tannin's list of stuff to gather info on:
-Search for someone willing to give good rate on baatorian greensteel coins that isn't a devil. Ithea's okay dealing with shady and potentially evil types, just as long as they're not devils. She'd still prefer someone neutral (or good, but that's unlikely) if possible, though.
-Alternatively, can any interesting non-evil items be created after melting the coins, using the material?

Priority isn't high, I'd mentioned before I'm just holding onto it and then giving any profit that results from that to Aurora pool after grabbing my 900g share of it back.

[Corwin]

Speaking of Tannin, let's first ask him to look into the people Elena mentioned as Medi's old pals and for the Stars of Mystra? Even the very act of searching for them will probably set things in motion, so let's go for it.

[Corwin]

Okay! Suggestions for our home improvement, now actually in order.

Before it all, let's get more +15 skill boosters like the three we already have for K:A, C:A and Spellcraft from the Aurora funds! K:A&E, K:N, Appraise, K:P for 22,500gp.

So we're starting out with 167,589.54gp.

First round, starting as soon as we finished our lab repairs (all those listed under a given 'round' are in parallel):

Improve cafeteria(Just like the real thing! Keeps everyone happier): 35,000 gold; 2 DC 25 spellcraft checks; 1 DC 25 K:N check; 4 days.
Sylvie. K:N +36, Spellcraft +31 normally; K:N +51 with the K:N booster, Spellcraft +34 with the floating feat.

Aquarium (For the tortles and other aquatic or amphibious races): 5,000 gold; 2 DC 25 K:A&E checks; 4 days.
Tepen. K:A&E +33 normally; K:A&E +48 with the K:A&E booster.

Speed up portal enlargement to 1 full round action: 50,000 gold; 1 DC 23 spellcraft check; 3 DC 40 K:A checks; 5 days.
Kascha. K:A +42, Spellcraft +39 normally; K:A +57, Spellcraft +54 with the K:A, Spellcraft boosters.

Set up electricity styled trap in the courtyard, 3d6 damage: 15,000 gold; 5 DC 25 spellcraft checks; 7 days.
Annalise. Spellcraft +28.

Let's have a couple of the middle ranks aiding on each. Except for K:A&E the other skills are fairly common, so aiding should be easy enough.


Second repairs round:

Improve growing farms(Things grow in 1/20th of the normal time): 10,000 gold; 2 DC 23 K:N checks, 1 DC 24 spellcraft check; 5 days.
Sylvie. K:N +36, Spellcraft +31 normally; K:N +51 with the K:N booster, Spellcraft +34 with the floating feat.

Improve courtyard electricity damage to 6d6: 10,000 gold; 3 DC 20 spellcraft checks; 5 days.
Kascha. Spellcraft +39 normally; Spellcraft +54 with Spellcraft booster.

Improve library's selection(+10 to knowledge checks): 50,000 gold; 1 DC 27 K:P check; 1 DC 30 Appraise check; 7 days.
Vul'lath. Appraise +28, K:P +32 normally; Appraise +43, K:P +47 with the Appraise, K:P boosters.


Third round:

Improve growing farms (Things grow overnight): 25,000 gold; 2 DC 28 K:N checks, 1 DC 25 spellcraft check; 5 days.
Sylvie. K:N +36, Spellcraft +31 normally; K:N +51 with the K:N booster, Spellcraft +34 with the floating feat.

Improve courtyard electricity damage to 10d6: 30,000 gold; 3 DC 30 spellcraft checks; 6 days.
Kascha. Spellcraft +39 normally; Spellcraft +54 with Spellcraft booster.

Improve library's selection(+15 to knowledge checks, aka Sylvie special): 100,000 gold; 1 DC 33 K:P check; 1 DC 36 Appraise check; 7 days.
Vul'lath. Appraise +28, K:P +32 normally; Appraise +43, K:P +47 with the Appraise, K:P boosters.

I think we can decide what to do next, once this happens.

[Merc]

I'd rather we improve the library sorting system from 1 hour->10minutes(30,000 gold)->1minute(50,000 gold), instead of the selection to knowledge+15. (100,000gold).

Other than that, looks good to me.