Miscellaneous stuff

[Anastasia]

Today's assorted grab-bag of comments and thoughts.

1. I have an unofficial list of PrCs that I soft-ban. Things that aren't in houserules, but are extremely unlikely to be allowed. These are usually classes used before and found ill suited to gestalt or a bit too optimized for me to want to deal with. Would it help y'all to list the ones I have somewhere?

2. The NPCs you've collected are an interesting bunch. T's a social warrior who can do various things in combat, Helena's a shield charger and Rock lives up to his name. There's a lack of serious spellcasting NPCs so far. This is largely on purpose, as I've tried to use spellcasters more sparingly this game. It's mostly a stylistic choice than anything else. This is foremost in your opposition, though it reflects in the NPCs you're recruited.

3. T being the most self centered of the party (besides arguably Rock, though not really in the same sense T is) and yet being the one most opposed to killing amuses me. It's a nice bit of character work that highlights some differences. Helps him feel more alive to me. T's a talker, a manipulator, a con man. He's not a killer, not really.

4. Cor asked about the war mage PrC, the one Simmer used in B3. It's on my soft-ban list (see above) so I said no for now, with a proviso that I might allow it in a few levels, should Annerose fall behind the others. This probably won't happen for two reasons. The damage booster, even with weaker con, is really really really good. The other thing is that throwing around that big AC boost (Annerose's Cha mod to a number of allies) is a bit more than I want to handle. To be honest, it's more the AC booster in this case.

[Nephrite]

I'd like to see the list of PrCs myself, as it would save myself time if I ever go hunting for some (for all that I'm pretty set on Erad's progression for the next 9 levels).

As for T being self-centered, I think the entire party is working on that with him.

[Anastasia]

I'd like to see the list of PrCs myself, as it would save myself time if I ever go hunting for some (for all that I'm pretty set on Erad's progression for the next 9 levels).

Chameleon. Sylvie used it in B2/3 and I found it doesn't work well in gestalt. The sheer versatility + gestalt gets out of hand and I'd rather not deal with it. Sylvie got grandfathered into it and I use it on very rare occasions.
War Mage (PrC). Just really freaking good. See above.
Incantarix: Too good at what it does.
Planar Shepard: If you know this class, you know why.

[Anastasia]

Since builds came up in chat today, let me post what I'm doing with the NPCs.

T:

Level 10: Fighter (Dirty Fighter) 7/Swashbuckler 3//Factotum 10

It's possible he may PrC to martial factotum, but I'm hesitant to pull the trigger on that. Anyway, he'll nab int to damage to fix his damage woes and otherwise keep doing what he's been doing. He can burn some inspiration to make up for his sneak attack loss.

Level 15: Fighter (Dirty Fighter) 7/Swashbuckler 3/? 5/Factotum 15

If I don't do martial factotum, I may do a custom PrC for Tear. He wants two things in a PrC: Some sneak attack and full BAB. Unfortunately, that's not a common combination and the easiest one he doesn't qualify for. At this point, inspiration should help him get by, but he'll start using most of it in every battle.

Helena:

Level 10: Scout 5/Horizon Walker 5//Fighter 10

Straight forward. She wants terrain masteries for the various goodies and to cover more terrains with her terrain bonus (must remember to add that to her hit/damage rolls, forgot) and more feats. She'll probably start running the weapon focus line of feats and maybe a custom shield feat or two. She wouldn't mind picking up turn undead somewhere for divine shield, but none of the normal sources of it fit her.

Level 15: Scout 5/Horizon Walker 10//Fighter 15

Same as above. The planar terrain masteries are good and she'll get to shine with them. Assuming she visits a few planes to learn them.

Rock:

Level 10: Troll 10//Half Earth Elemental 3/Barbarian 7

What you'd expect. He might PrC, this is still to be determined and won't be until level 8-9 at the earliest.

Level 15: Troll 15//Half Earth Elemental 3/Barbarian 12

Same as above, barring a possible PrC.

[Anastasia]

A paste from chat I want to keep handy, as it's interesting.

<Nephrite> Idle question: Are there good demons?
> Do risen fiends exist? Yes, it can happen. An evil outsider who turns good isn't really a devil, demon or whatever else. They undergo a spiritual metamorphosis (that may be damaging, painful or even fatal, depending on the circumstances) and shift powers and form.
> It's really rare.
<Gatewalker> likewise, "fallen angels" aren't really still angels
> A demon who became CG instead of CE would likely become more and more like an eladrin.
> Yeah, fallen angels lose the angel subtype (and ditto for other fallen celestials and their subtype).
> I use a fallen subtype for fallen celestials, though there isn't a matching one for risen fiends. Risen fiends are rarer for a variety of reasons, and to fall means to lose something. The fallen subtype covers that. To rise is to gain and put behind evil. You don't gain any drawbacks from it, not like that.
<Nephrite> Gotcha.
> For example: Belial.
> Size/Type: Large Outsider (Evil, Fallen, Lawful)
> Fallen Solar 49//Monk 49
> Constrast: Antenora.
> Size/Type: Medium Outsider (Angel, Good, Lawful)
> She gained a subtype that fits her - in this case, she ended up an angel. Fiends don't integrate fallen celestials in - it's a point of conflict and misery.
> Those who manage to change from the fiends are welcomed in once they prove themselves. It's a statement on the nature of good and evil.
<Gatewalker> also because fiends like to point at fallen celestials and use them as examples still
> Yes.
<Gatewalker> "loot at what happened to your holy champion~ good is so pointless~"
> Further making them stand out, isolate them and generally make them unhappy.
> To pare it down to the simplest: A risen fiend finds happiness and acceptance in time. A fallen celestial finds misery, isolation, manipulation, hate and unacceptance.
<Gatewalker> look even. Though "loot your holy champion" is also a funny statement
> It is.
<Nephrite> Then I guess is there something in between? Is it even possible to be a neutral outsider?
> It's not impossible, but it is uncommon.
<Nephrite> Ahh, that makes sense.
> Canderella from B3 is a CN succubus, but that was due to choosing to stay with Talos and in his service when he changed. That sort of change is exceedingly rare and exceptional.
<Gatewalker> and that's about the only reason it happens. A tie to a neutral god that winds up stronger than the tie to the plane
> She got pulled along for the ride, as did all the demons and CEers who served him.
* Kowork nods.
> If a deity shifts like that (and it's exceedingly, exceedingly rare and usually has a counter balance), it might drag along servants.
<Nephrite> So clearly we just need to teach Auril to be more nice and all of her followers will be nicer too.
<Nephrite> Easy peasy.
> If you can talk the Himalayas into becoming a canyon, you're on the right level of diplomacy.
<Nephrite> Hey, with enough natural 20s, anything is possible.
<Annerose> Not with skills  >_>
> Interestingly, magical effects on outsiders with alignment subtypes tend not to last. For example, a helm of opposite alignment on a demon will eventually break down due to the demon's inner nature. An artifact that does the same might be able to stick, though.
> I do allow exploding crits occasionally, usually when thematically suiting and worthwhile.
> If I absolutely had to do it, I'd make the DC Auril's hit dice + Wis modifier + divine rank to even get her to do anything but smite you out of hand, and the DC to succeed woudl be way higher and require a lot more checks to get remotely anywhere.  I wouldn't since there are some things words just can't do, but if I had to.
> So 50+10+14 for 74.
<Nephrite> A good thing to shoot for.
> Yes.
> To take a metaphor, imagine a typical demon is a small piece of chaos and evil. How big depends on how strong they are, but it's not that big a piece. A pebble, maybe. A CE deity is akin to a mountain of chaos and evil instead and proportinally harder to deal with.

[Corwin]

Can I retrain the spell I got this levelup, True Casting, for Expeditious Retreat or Swift Expeditious Retreat?

[Anastasia]

Can I retrain the spell I got this levelup, True Casting, for Expeditious Retreat or Swift Expeditious Retreat?

Sure, once you have a bit of downtime.

[Anastasia]

Actually, just do it now. You haven't used it yet and you're barely past level up.

Also, T will be using his donkey for storage instead of riding now. Not a big deal with the party's wagon, but I do track storage space.

[Corwin]

Done

[Anastasia]

Bonus Material: Chronomancy

In Balmuria, time travel and related magic is banned by the Temporal Compact. This forbidden magic is lost to all deities (who refrain from using it as they are bound by the Compact) and the Keepers of the Compact. The various spells of it haven't been released for the simple reason that they're not relevant. No PC is ever going to use them nor is any enemy barring an enemy that defeats you before you even realize they are an enemy.

Nonetheless, a few of the spells are presented here. They're a curiosity. Chronomancy is rather strong to say the least. While banning it was mainly to stop time travel, it overall lowered the power level of the cosmos. Time manipulation magic had become wide spread just before the Temporal Compact, so imagine it more like a timeline with a sharp spike up in power level. Until about 5000 years before the Compact, it was not well known and almost no mortals knew any of it. That rapidly changed. I'm aware these spells are extremely strong and can probably be abused by witty characters.

Chronomancy is a spell school like divination or necromancy. It covers spells relating to time. It should be obvious in context.

---

Time Ripple
Chronomancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: M
Casting Time: 1 swift action; see text
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: Instantaneous

Time ripple allows you to replace a previous course of action with another. You may only cast this spell at the end of your turn. Time rewinds to the beginning of your turn, allowing you to act again with knowledge of what happened before. The conditions reset to that at the beginning of your turn, with any damage done, resources used or things affected reversed, with the sole exception of this spell, which is expended.

There is a limitation to this spell. You cannot take the same actions as previously. If you attacked a creature, you cannot attack that creature again. If you cast a spell, you cannot cast that spell again. If you ran away, you cannot run away again. Generally, your action must be different than the action you took previously.

You can only benefit from this spell once per round.

Material Component

A small gold carving of the Ouroboros worth 100 gold.

Body Swap
Chronomancy
Level: Clr 6, Sor/Wiz 8
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Willing creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

When you cast this spell, you replace the creature's current body with the creature's body form the past. This may be from up to one hour per caster level. The creature's condition becomes exactly as it was previously, including that of any possessions on the creature's person. Possessions carried over cause copies of it to vanish, even if they were not in the creature's possession when this spell was cast. For example, if a paladin dropped his holy avenger before this spell was cast and the body brought forward had that holy avenger in possession, the dropped holy avenger would vanish.

The creature's memories and soul remain intact and they do not suffer any loss of memories. Note that this spell only affects the body, effects that deal with the soul only are not affected. Artifacts are also unaffected by this spell, as are the actions, effects and injuries from deities.

Material Component

A phoenix feather.

Lesser Time Leap
Chronomancy
Level: Clr 5, Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Personal and touch
Target: You and touched willing creatures
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell allows the caster and the creatures touched to travel back in time. This allows you to go back up to one day per caster level and you can affect up to 1 creature per three caster levels. You appear in the same spot as you cast the spell, only in the desired time.

It is possible to appear in a place that is dangerous or even lethal should that place be different from the present time. See the dangers of time travel, above.

Material Component

A silver pocket watch worth 250 gold.

Time Leap
Chronomancy
Level: Clr 7, Sor/Wiz 7

This spell is identical to lesser time leap, except that you can travel back 1 year per caster level.

Greater Time Leap
Chronomancy
Level: Clr 9, Sor/Wiz 9

This spell is identical to lesser time leap, except that you can travel back 100 years per caster level.

[Anastasia]

We are officially on a 3 week hiatus for Cor and Eb's respective vacations. I'll try and post a few things here as the weeks go by, we'll see. We should resume on Monday, November 9th. Ideally, anyway.

[Anastasia]

Because eye stuff makes IRC easier than writing sometimes. I'm working on a stat block for Renbuu and slaad came up.

1. Slaad information

<Nephrite> The slaad are from the crazy realm of colorfulness, right? Or are those two separate things?
> The slaad are from Limbo.
> Limbo is pure, undefined matter that constantly changes in chunks.
> You can go from a snowy rock to open space to a roaring inferno in a few steps. It's untamed and uncontrolled chaos.
> It's really hard to survive there unless you have magic, are a natural anarch (an entity that can naturally control Limbo) or a deity.
> Notably, not all slaads are anarches. The majority of them are, but sometimes random creatures not native to Limbo have the gift. Ithea from B3's an example.
> I believe it was mentioned at one point that thet dungeon slaad in B4's an anarch of unimaginable power and range.

2. Red Knight and Limbo

<Nephrite> It seems odd that the Red Knight would take up residence there as you'd think someone fond of tactics would rather a much less chaotic place.
> She serves Tempus, who is CN. Her divine realm is one of the few safe, controlled parts of Limbo.
> She isn't the biggest fan of it, but having your own divine realm and being under the protection of a greater deity helps a lot.
> I believe they also border Ysgard, which she's much fonder of.
<Nephrite> Yeah, I'm sure she wasn't going to argue with Tempus when he's like "well here you go"
> Yeah, gotta take the good with the bad.
> If nothing else, it gives her a great source of practice for her legions. Limbo requires a strong border defense to keep the slaad and odder things yet out.

3. Slaad alignment

<Nephrite> Are slaad generally just Chaotic (well bordering on anarchic I suppose) and not really good or evil? Using the term "neutral" doesn't feel right with them since I feel like the Chaotic part kind of trumps the rest of it.
> Yes.
> They don't care about good or evil. They're just chaotic and generally insane.
> They perceive reality in a far different way than other creatures, especially the lower castes. Some of the higher slaad manage something close to a consistent personality and some degree of motivations.
> When a normal slaad does something strange, dangerous or helpful, it's not a question of good or evil. It's just how the bizarre and insane way they see the world hashed out that time.
> Interestingly, there's occasionally (but rarely due to the stuff done to the Spawning Stone) slaad of other alignments. Chaos is everything to them - even things it isn't.
> Limbo can even be completely self-contradictory.
<Nephrite> I suppose that's the pinnacle of chaos for you.
> Yes.
> If Arborea and Morwel's dream is turning reality into a malleable, perfect dream of happiness, Limbo is taking that concept of chaos and turning it into an incoherent, ever malleable dream. The Abyss takes that and turns it into an endless nightmare that's never the same.
> They all have the same root idea of changing reality on whim and into something that better represents them.
> With the slaad, it's just incoherent madness.
<Nephrite> If only those pesky "heroes" and "adventurers" would listen to what they had to say.
> Sometimes slaad say things of incredible value and wisdom. Other times it's meaningless babble. No one really knows how to tell which is which.

4. Slaad lord discussion

<Nephrite> Do the slaad have a deity?
> Not really, Neph. There are slaad lords who rule over the slaad, such as Renbuu (he's who I've been working on). But they don't lead the slaad at all. They might command some through strength and control Limbo, but the nature of the slaad makes real control impossible.
> Slaad don't really worship them or anything. They're just too individual and insane for it.
> Most slaad lords are feared - slaad tend to worry about those that are stronger than them or who strike them wrong for whatever reason.
> This extends to the slaad lords. The two strongest, Ssendam and Ygorl, are terrified of Renbuu. Renbuu's much weaker than them, but something about him and his colors just sets them off.
<Nephrite> So it's more like Druids venerating nature as a deity, they follow the idea of chaos, as much as... well, you know, anyone who's insane can.
> Yeah.

[Anastasia]

From the desk of small changes worth mentioning even if not relevant: Houserules update for Initiate of Alicia. Just a wording fix. I don't think it'll affect any of you, but Seira's in play, so it's not impossible one of you could end up with Alicia eventually. Or something.

[Anastasia]

I'm debating how Helena should pay her brand new +4 LA off. Suggestions? I'm thinking just taking 4 levels of it on the horizon walker side so that she preserves her BAB.

[Corwin]

BAB is overrated. I'd suggest the fighter side, and use the same thing I did. Give her fey hp/bab/etc each level. That way she only drops 2 bab instead of 4.