OOC (out-of-character)

[michael]

Wednesday would be much better for me than Monday. My term is wrapping up, and I've got a ton of school work due Wednesday morning.

[icnivad]

Wednesday works for me.

[Rabbit]

I can also do Wed.

Reefowood, I will work on updating Sahme and get him to you the second half of the weekend.

[reefwood]

Re: Scheduling

Okay, let's play on Wed, June 1st and aim for a 6pm start.

And wow, I can't believe it's going to be June already!

[Rabbit]

Sweet!

I just confirmed with our DM that while Sahme is in dragon form (from Form of the Dragon) he can cast spells.

So he is going to be pretty much awesome.

[edit: not sure why i didn't think about this before...]

[michael]

May 28, 2011 15:39:46 GMT -5 Rabbit said:

Sweet!

I just confirmed with our DM that while Sahme is in dragon form (from Form of the Dragon) he can cast spells.

So he is going to be pretty much awesome.

[edit: not sure why i didn't think about this before...]

Awesome!

So... Polymorph any Object could make Sahme a permanent dragon, right?

Even if we set aside issues of balance and abuse of Polymorph, I don't necessarily think we should do this... He'd lose the ability to use wands and the staff, and his equipment wouldn't fit him, but it's still really cool from a RP perspective.

Our necromancer might become an zombie, our Dragon Disciple could become a dragon... Brion's new goal is to transfer his soul into his full plate, becoming a living suit of armor as a tribute to Gorum! (I kid. But that would be fucking awesome.)

[icnivad]

I think PAO could make Brion a suit of armor, too.

[reefwood]

May 28, 2011 16:17:05 GMT -5 michael said:

May 28, 2011 15:39:46 GMT -5 Rabbit said:

Sweet!

I just confirmed with our DM that while Sahme is in dragon form (from Form of the Dragon) he can cast spells.

So he is going to be pretty much awesome.

[edit: not sure why i didn't think about this before...]

Awesome!

So... Polymorph any Object could make Sahme a permanent dragon, right?

Even if we set aside issues of balance and abuse of Polymorph, I don't necessarily think we should do this... He'd lose the ability to use wands and the staff, and his equipment wouldn't fit him, but it's still really cool from a RP perspective.

Our necromancer might become an zombie, our Dragon Disciple could become a dragon... Brion's new goal is to transfer his soul into his full plate, becoming a living suit of armor as a tribute to Gorum! (I kid. But that would be fucking awesome.)

Yep, dragons can speak and have fingers on their hands that can perform delicate somatic components. Afterall, they cast spells just like sorcerers too. Plus, Sahme has the Eschew Materials feat, so he doesn't need material components (unless they are expensive).

It looks like the duration would be +5 Kingdom (animal) +2 Size (same) +2 Int (same) = +9, so yes, a duration of permanent. I don't think this would be a balance/abuse issue cos he can already take dragon form with the staff. It's the same spell, and he'll be able to do it soon thru his prestige class, and even the spell if he wants, so Sahme could pretty easily be a dragon a lot even if it doesn't last long. He could still use wands and the staff and other magic items. He'd just have to take them off before the change and put them back on afterward. The biggest loss, though, would be the armor bonus. Although, he could have dragon-shaped barding created. Also, he would only get 1 dragon breath for the 1 casting, but he could still use his bloodline dragon breath as normal, which is probably more powerful than the spell breath by this point.

May 28, 2011 23:38:05 GMT -5 icnivad said:

I think PAO could make Brion a suit of armor, too.

Or even better... Brion could be polymorphed into dragon barding for Sahme to wear in dragon form, and you could use rewards to have an army mage cast a permanent enlarge person on Sahme (cos he is still a humanoid), and zombie Nim could then ride a large dragon Sahme wearing barding Brion into battle

[Rabbit]

Wow, that's pretty fucking epic.

And here is a completely different question that is not very important yet, but that doesn't really seem to stop any of us.

I'm thinking of taking the feat Craft Wondrous Item (next level) and beginning work on a Lich Phylactery... First questions are:

After building the Phylactery what else would be required to complete the transformation?

Is this something you would be ok with? Maybe treat it as multiclassing with the lich progression from 3.5?

Also, is it possible to have everything complete except one final "trigger" that can be delayed until Sahme decides to activate it?

This last question might be the most important one. Sahme's thinking is that he wants all the preparation to become a lich in place but will not use it (anytime soon) unless he is in great peril.

So could he have a ring on (after all the required preparation) that when he chooses to activate it he transforms into a lich?

The Lich's Phylactery

An integral part of becoming a lich is the creation of the phylactery in which the character stores his soul. The only way to get rid of a lich for sure is to destroy its phylactery. Unless its phylactery is located and destroyed, a lich can rejuvenate after it is killed (see Creating a Lich, below).

Each lich must create its own phylactery by using the Craft Wondrous Item feat. The character must be able to cast spells and have a caster level of 11th or higher. The phylactery costs 120,000 gp to create and has a caster level equal to that of its creator at the time of creation.

The most common form of phylactery is a sealed metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been transcribed. The box is Tiny and has 40 hit points, hardness 20, and a break DC of 40.

Other forms of phylacteries can exist, such as rings, amulets, or similar items.

[reefwood]

Re: Becoming a Lich

The quest to become a lich is a lengthy one. While construction of the magical phylactery to contain the spellcaster's soul is a critical component, a prospective lich must also learn the secrets of transferring his soul into the receptacle and of preparing his body for the transformation into undeath, neither of which are simple tasks. Further complicating the ritual is the fact that no two bodies or souls are exactly alike—a ritual that works for one spellcaster might simply kill another or drive him insane. The exact methods for each spellcaster's transformation are left to the GM's discretion, but should involve expenditures of hundreds of thousands of gold pieces, numerous deadly adventures, and a large number of difficult skill checks over the course of months, years, or decades.

The lich idea came up for Nim too. I think it's a rad idea but not one that would be well suited for War Stories at this point. I don't think it needs to take decades or even require too many 100,000's of gold...afterall, the lich example in the Bestiary is only an 11th-level necromancer, and the 120,000 gp phylactery will well above the starting wealth of an 11th-level PC and even more than the wealth of the CR 12 Lich example...but it does seem like this should take multiple sessions/side quests, which may be more than I have in me at this point. Sahme could begin looking into this process, but it would probably wind up being more of a roleplay thing than something that comes into actual play.

But to touch upon your questions...

After building the Phylactery what else would be required to complete the transformation?

Some sort of ritual that transfers the soul into the item, along with lots of research to figure out the ritual. No idea about the details, but it would turn him undead, if it worked.

Is this something you would be ok with? Maybe treat it as multiclassing with the lich progression from 3.5?

I would just adjust it based on CR. The lich template gives CR +2, so that would be 2 levels that need to be "made up" by the lich.

Also, is it possible to have everything complete except one final "trigger" that can be delayed until Sahme decides to activate it?

This last question might be the most important one. Sahme's thinking is that he wants all the preparation to become a lich in place but will not use it (anytime soon) unless he is in great peril.

So could he have a ring on (after all the required preparation) that when he chooses to activate it he transforms into a lich?

This would probably require significantly more effort and/or expensive. The way I see it off the top of my head is that the caster spends time on research and gathering the necessary components to create the item and figure out the ritual. Then, he does the ritual which turns him into a lich, if it works. If there was going to be some sort of "trigger" so that the last step could be done quickly, this would probably take more research and possibly greater expense, and it would have a higher chance of failure and/or being disrupted.

[reefwood]

Re: Scheduling

May 27, 2011 17:20:21 GMT -5 reefwood said:

Re: Scheduling

Okay, let's play on Wed, June 1st and aim for a 6pm start.

And wow, I can't believe it's going to be June already!

Just to post it on here too... tonight's game has been moved to Monday, June 6th. See you all next week (if not sooner)!

[reefwood]

Greater Phantom Steed

School conjuration (creation); Level bard 3, sorcerer/wizard 3
Casting Time 10 minutes
Components V, S
Range 0 ft.
Effect one quasi-real, horselike creature
Duration 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

You conjure a Huge, quasi-real, horselike creature (the exact coloration can be customized as you wish). It can be ridden only by you or by the one person for whom you specifically created the mount. A phantom steed has a black head and body, gray mane and tail, and smoke-colored, insubstantial hooves that make no sound. It has what seems to be a saddle, bit, and bridle. It does not fight, but animals shun it and refuse to attack it.

The mount is AC 19 (–2 size, +7 natural armor, +4 Dex) and 7 hit points +1 hit point per caster level. If it loses all its hit points, the phantom steed disappears. A phantom steed has a speed of 20 feet per two caster levels, to a maximum of 100 feet at 10th level. It can bear its rider's weight plus up to 10 pounds per caster level.

These mounts gain certain powers according to caster level. A mount's abilities include those of mounts of lower caster levels.

8th Level: The mount can ride over sandy, muddy, or even swampy ground without difficulty or decrease in speed.

10th Level: The mount can use water walk at will (as the spell, no action required to activate this ability).

12th Level: The mount can use air walk at will (as the spell, no action required to activate this ability) for up to 1 round at a time, after which it falls to the ground.

14th Level: The mount can fly at its speed with a bonus on Fly skill checks equal to your caster level.

It seems that I haven't posted this spell to the boards yet. It will go in the Code of Conduct thread, but first I wanted to discuss something I just realized/remembered.

This mount can carry the rider's weight, plus 10 lb/level, so right now that is 140 lb. This isn't an issue for Ghoul since he only has a Large mithral chainshirt (25 lb?). And maybe a belt too? Either way, it is well below the limit.

It looks like Skeletor has a load (Active Weight) of 258 lb, which too much. However, since this mount is a Huge creature, I'd be fine with doubling the limit of the standard (Large) phantom steed, so this Huge would could carry the rider's weight, plus 20 lb/level, so that would be 240 (oops...bad math!) 280 lb in equipment. Although, 258 lb still exceeds this limit, so Skeletor will have to shed some weight if he wants to ride a Huge phantom steed.


Also, someone on the boards pointed out that a dwarf (Medium) can ride a pony (Medium), and there doesn't seem to be a rule that requires a mount to be one size larger than the rider. I'm not sure what to think about this...but, oh... the pony description says, "Ponies are smaller breeds of horses better suited to halflings, gnomes, and dwarves, but they also make fond pets for humans as well. They stand 3 to 4 feet tall and weigh about 600 pounds." Okay...at first I was like what does "better suited" even mean cos that sounds more like fluff. But a pony is a Medium creature and has a lower Strength than a horse, so there is a mechanical element to it as well. A pony might not be strong enough to carry a human. Especially not one wearing armor. Looking at it this way, I guess a mount and rider can be the same size... though, DM discretion would still apply in terms of determining if a creature can serve as a mount or rider... but I suppose a Large creature could ride a standard (Large) phantom steed. The limiting factor would be the weight. Weight is much more flexible for a phantom steed than a normal mount since it has no limit on the weight of the actual rider. Therefore, Ghoul could ride a standard (Large) phantom steed, but Skeletor could do this unless he dropped a lot of his equipment, so it seems like having access to a Huge phantom steed does remain useful.

---

Skeleton Smashing

One other thing to remember for next time... if any squad member attacks a bloody skeleton, like Ghoul did to put it back in his windwalked backpack after the skeleton started fast healing, this will break the command undead spell on the skeleton, and if it's last command was to attack, it will resume attacking. Of course, Nim can get still get it to stand down through his animate dead link, but the skeleton has to hear Nim give the new order.

[reefwood]

Game Night

Just a reminder that we are set to play Chapter 18 this evening at 6pm. See you all then!

[reefwood]

Scheduling

How do people feel about finishing Chapter 18 in two weeks at 6pm on Wednesday, June 22nd or Friday, June 24th?

Another option could be at 7:30pm on Sunday, June 19th, but I don't know if that would be too soon for Rabbit since he gets back just the day before?

This session will be relatively short. I'd say only 1-2 hrs as long as we stay focused, and I'm also happy to call it over at the 2-hr mark if someone needs that to make this work for their schedule.

[michael]

How do people feel about finishing Chapter 18 in two weeks at 6pm on Wednesday, June 22nd or Friday, June 24th?

Another option could be at 7:30pm on Sunday, June 19th, but I don't know if that would be too soon for Rabbit since he gets back just the day before?

At the moment, any of those are free for me.