Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Goon_for_Hire 09-21-07, 10:17 AM	This morning I had a brainstorm for a campaign, or at least a major plot in one that I probably won't be able to use thanks to the fact that I have already started building another one my players have comitted to, where this plot wouldn;t fit, and then will have to wait some time before it's my turn to DM again... and by then i will probably have 10,000 other ideas. The plot is inspired by The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, if you aren't familiar it is a nast piece of work that was published in 1903. A group of antisemitic Russian journalists. The book was purported to be a text used by Jewish Rabbis and Freemasons, and was a guidebook to underminig and controlling the economies of countries. It was also heavy on the occult elements, including rituals for summoning the devil to gain political advice and more. The sad thing about the book is that even to this day a lot of people believe it is a real conspiracy handbook from some evil plot, and people are still persecuted daily as being 'Zionists' in some countries. So my idea is this: Halfling as written in the PHB can be seen as an unpopular marignal group. They live in seminomadic bands that move through larger humanoid realms, living by both honest and dishonest means. They are generally useless in the military, and have little involvement with government (and so probably not much voice in it.) Imagine if some evil cult decided to turn the people in general against the Halflings... make it a cult of Hextor for the sake of argument. By feeding people's paranoia and hate they can have puppets seize emergency powers, pluder halfling caravans with impunity, or force their complicity in a genuine conspiracy in order to survive. So they release a tome, intentionally Antiqued, in an intentionally archaic dialect of halfling. Each book is an enchanted, intelligent item, and evil that is created never to speak of its masters and to speak only in halfling. The book can teach a person the rudiments of spellcraft, knowledge (arcana), and knowledge (the planes) as well as granting them bonuses and/or low-level spell-like abilities. It can even serve as intelligent enough a mentor to teach its user how to cast wizard spells. The tope has a collection of spells... not the sort you'd find in BoVD, mind you... that would be incredible, so instead spells that can be used to manipulate and control people in subtle ways: charm person, detect thoughts, misdirection, obscure object, dominate person, charm monster, magic jar, alter self, disguise self... and only a few select ones. Also the essentials of a summoning: protection from evil, magic circle against evil, dimension door, and lesser planar ally (the only powerful spell in the book.) On top of this the book has tracts on rhetoric, poison recipes, an alchemical process (real or not) for distilling jade from wood, and a series of invocations (as described in UNEARTHED ARCANA) that could be used for intelligence gathering in subtle, paranoid ways. One that lets you bind a quasit or imp familiar without improved familiar, summon the lurker, and one that summons a Devil who is part of the conspiracy. The book refuses to open for many people, and is an excellent liar who has been coached in a falsified conspiracy theory. Of course, the ruler is just, so he hires some low-level adventurers to find out what the real origins of the mysterious spellbook are, but the cult is a few steps ahead, there are false trails to follow. In the meantime, additional copies of the book old-looking and brand new begin to show up in dangerous places... planted in the home of a successful halfling merchant jade, for example. Public outcry begins to mount. Worse yet, evil wizards are using the book for their own cruel purposes, and frightened halflings are learning from it to defend themselves as tensions mount. As the players push harder ad harder, the tension builds: businesses in their home city burn, cults using the spells in the book wreak havoc, paranoids rave about "invisible halflng spies," etc. If they lag, it only becomes worse. Local diviners find their informaton misled, and so many of the voices of reason are drowned out, and magical answers are not trustworthy. Each time the PCs track a lead through a dungeon, sewer or wilderness, they come back to find an old inn they like burned, an helpful NPC imprisoned and the like. The ruler of the land is losing power to other aristocrats who promise action to angry mobs of peasants and reactionary clerics. Soon they become tied to the conspiracy themselves... being accused of slowing the process, nd the like by the Hextorian puppets. They might have to stage a jailbreak, for a friend or themselves. In extremis, the PCs might even find themselves siding with a deposed monarch after one of the corrupt aristos takes the throne with public support after he promises to deal with the 'halfling menace.' Of course all the time there's the temptation of learning and using the magic from the book, even when half the spells in them become punishable crimes. In the end the PCs triumph, exposin the cult and discrediting the book, restoring a monarch, and helping the remaining halflings in the country flee for greener pastures. Becoming divine champoins of Yondalla in the process, perhaps? Please, if you are interested in using this one let me know. I'd love to hear how it gets used and how it turns out.
GoriceXII 09-22-07, 12:37 AM	This is an interesting idea, a rather clever take on the whole conspiracy. I'm right in the middle of my own campaign right now but I'm sensing a tingle of inspiration. You see one of the sets of villains in my game are Yuan-Ti and this is exactly the kind of thing I think they'd do--try to undermine and corrupt the government of a good kingdom, turn elements of it against each other and so on. I think this could be a useful scenario idea for a number of different settings and could be used in a number of clever ways.
ragoftag 09-22-07, 06:30 PM	Ooooo, this is SO wrong! What a campaign this would make!
Talisman 09-22-07, 06:47 PM	I shall add this (in modified form, of course) to my Gritty Dark Fantasy campaign. A fascinating subplot it shall make! Unfortunately, target date is Never 12th, at the moment. We shall see...
Goon_for_Hire 09-23-07, 09:08 AM	This is an interesting idea, a rather clever take on the whole conspiracy. I'm right in the middle of my own campaign right now but I'm sensing a tingle of inspiration. You see one of the sets of villains in my game are Yuan-Ti and this is exactly the kind of thing I think they'd do--try to undermine and corrupt the government of a good kingdom, turn elements of it against each other and so on. I think this could be a useful scenario idea for a number of different settings and could be used in a number of clever ways. Thanks! I've always believed that the best campaign idea was adaptable. I love Yuan-Ti conspiracies. Unfortunately, my own players are sick unto death of them. I have been threatened with physical harm if I ever again use: A. Yuan-Ti infiltrators in an intenselt psionic campaign. B. Mind-flayer centred stoires. Ever again. C. Gnoll hordes. I am very good at traumatizing my players with complex schemes. And thanks to ragoftag, for the compliment. Awesome username. I shall add this (in modified form, of course) to my Gritty Dark Fantasy campaign. A fascinating subplot it shall make! Unfortunately, target date is Never 12th, at the moment. We shall see... Let me know how it works out if ever it should get off the ground. i have soem material from older campaigns that I had thought of recycling here. Including an Incanation that sumons a specific Devil with levels in diviner and loremeaster, his stats, and the stats for an entire new subspecies of Devil from which he comes.
taradusis 09-23-07, 07:11 PM	This is very similar to the Gnome zionist conspiracy that I ran back in my spelljammer days.In thiat part of wildspace the orcs were like Nazi's,the gnomes were like rich jews and the halflings were treated like gypsies.I also have some Gnome conspiracy notes on my random aquatic notes thread,Post #82,island of New Zurich #24.The Gnomes because of their interest in banking,and control of gem markets can be roleplayed as a zionist conspiracy quite easily if somewhat nastily.
Artifact 09-24-07, 10:34 AM	Very nice! I'm rather fond of conspiracy theories myself (all for the sake of fun, of course ;)). My current setting doesn't feature halflings but this excellent idea could prove useful in future campaigns. I'm thinking maybe in my next d20 Future homebrew, which is inspired by Blake's 7.
The Weave05 09-24-07, 09:32 PM	I actually really, really like this. In fact, I was actually looking for some people with experiance in building campaigns around intrigue, political puppetry, deception and the like. Actually, come to mention it, we seem to both think in an incredibly similar way, at least, in this case. I'm using something relatively similar in my current campaign: A great human lord (considered the most influential person in Avernus [my campaign world]; think like a King Arthur type guy) with a mysterious past, skewed by different accounts and historical blurrs has a book written about him (now think of it as like, the Bible, it being told from many different perspectives and different races as it fell from one hand to another). The book has one problem though; it contains a very unique fact about this lord that most historians and devotees would consider heretical.It hints that there may be a bloodline to the lords legacy (now think like the Da Vinci Code). Nevertheless, the lord left behind five items (considered artifacts) of his own upon death, each one hidden (he who gathers them all is said to be the most powerful man alive and can evade time and death itself). They include a sword, a spear, a shield, a suit of armor and a helm. Meanwhile, a group of heretical crusaders who believe humans are the superior race amongst this world (very Nazi-regime esq) view the lord as a great human, simply mislead by his own ideals. They intend to find the artifacts and take their place as "rightful" rulers of the world. As they go about doing this they use plenty of deception and deceit to gain control or (if control is unavailable) spread chaos to get what they want in the ensuing rush. Ironically enough (or by coincidence), the first race they have targeted in my campaigns are also halflings. Slowly, the heretical group has been gaining political power through corrupt senate members of an influential city and use other means of magic to frame crimes upon the already suspicious halflings. They recently got their hands upon the book of the human lord and plan to exploit it and use whatever they can for further manipulation as they slowly weed out the races one by one, leaving the humans to take their rightful place as leaders. People the PCs thought were on their side soon turn out to be corrupt (or framed), while past enemies may have been potential allies (or not). Confusion wheels around them as the longer they stay free from the cities in search of the artifacts the more and more chaos ensues amongst the races. Soon the orcs will fall out of the already heavily uneasy balance they have between the major races, allowing racism to occure between humans and half-orcs, soon weeding out any in bred flaws, the way the heretical group sees it. Nevertheless, we seem to be thinking on the same terms here, and I absolutely love it. Right now I'm wondering if I should simply make the human lord an ideal that was set by past historians in an attempt to spread hope that someone will follow in the falsefied footsteps and unite the races once and for all. Only time will tell. I'll tell you how it goes, so far the PCs are levels 2 and 3 (The party includes a Bard, a Spellthief and a Fighter).
Pentavus 09-24-07, 11:23 PM	Ah, the idea of a human with a weird moustache and obsession of using humanoids as golem building material, summoning Living Holocaust (FF 117) and specializing in the conjuration of poisonous clouds...
Goon_for_Hire 09-25-07, 02:37 PM	Nevertheless, we seem to be thinking on the same terms here, and I absolutely love it. Right now I'm wondering if I should simply make the human lord an ideal that was set by past historians in an attempt to spread hope that someone will follow in the falsefied footsteps and unite the races once and for all. Only time will tell. I'll tell you how it goes, so far the PCs are levels 2 and 3 (The party includes a Bard, a Spellthief and a Fighter). I really like the sund of your campaign. I love a good intrigue campaign. You can never go wrong with religious zealots and a frightening fascist neighbour nation. Those alone are the building blocks to a good campaign. I've never played with the idea of a lost royal bloodline, but now that you mention it, I am going to have to try it with the intrigue campaign I've just started... once I can figure out how to make it work in a nation where the kings are typically elected. Maybe I'll connect it to a religion in the area rather than to the Aristos. It sounds to me like you have a really amazing plot going already, I'm glad you'll find space to work mine in. If you want any help with plot twists or working this in, please let me know in PM. I'd be happy to help.
Goon_for_Hire 09-25-07, 02:41 PM	Ah, the idea of a human with a weird moustache and obsession of using humanoids as golem building material, summoning Living Holocaust (FF 117) and specializing in the conjuration of poisonous clouds... ~LOL~ You know, that sort of plot is underrated. One of my best campaign ever involved a Warpriest of Wastri (with a walrus moustache, yes) turning a village of gnomes to stone and then using them for masonry in his castle. While he didn;t do poison gasses he had a herd of gorgons living in his lands that he was slowly gianing control of through enchantments and taming. He used their breath weapons (which are a gas) to d all of the petrification. His specialty was making sabotaged magical gifts for adventurers and political rivals. ...of course he was a minor villain, but the PCs sooo loved to hate him.
ragoftag 09-25-07, 09:25 PM	Goon_for_Hire ...of course he was a minor villain, but the PCs sooo loved to hate him. One of 'my best' sideline games involved PCs getting the wrong idea about an escaped, 'minor villain', a lesser sidekick of the vanquished main bad guy. They quickly jawed up an entire hidden conspiracy that I had obviously thought to slip past them. I was swept along for months in a odd whirlwind that fed upon their hallucinations. When the end came, at last, they marveled at how detailed I had composed a mere 'sideline' story. Honest, it was a pure slip up on my part, and away they went! Happy days!
Goon_for_Hire 10-02-07, 09:06 AM	I first conceived of the idea of an evil intelligent book years ago for another campaign. During the course of it I created a new type of devil, a unique devil-lord to lead them, and an incantation, all of which would make an awesome component to the book in your campaign if you're interested. I created the Cabriachs as a sort of Devil 'wizard' because the 3.5 Devils became woefully defiicent in cool spells. I based their look and feel partly off of the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence in Fantasia and partially off of bits in the Malleus Maleficarum. I figured they would readily strike a nerve with players. They would also make amazing spell-support for a mixed group of fiends. I kept their hit dice painfully low to make them fragile ike a spellcaster would be. In retropect, I might consider adding 2HD to the creature to make him worth his CR. I originally had it listed at 6, but in truth they are more like an 8th level sorcerer than anything. Goat Devil (Cabriach) Medium-Sized Outsider (batezu, extraplanar, evil, law) HD: 4d8+4 (22hp) Initiative: +0 Speed: 30ft. AC: 17 (+7 natural) flat-footed 17, touch 10 Base Attack Bonus/ Grapple: +4/+6 Attack: bite +6 melee (1d6+2) Full Attack: bite +6 melee (1d6+2), 2 hooves +1 melee (1d4+1) Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft. Special Attacks: breath weapon, fear aura, gaze, spell-like abilities, summoning Special Qualities: Darkvision 60ft., DR 10/silver or good, immunity to fire, immunity to poison, resistance to acid 10, resistance to cold 10, SR 16, telepathy. Saves: fort +5 ref +4 will +6 Abilities: Str 15 Dex 10 Con 13 Int 10 Wis 14 Cha 17 Skills: concentration +8, knowledge (arcana) +7, knowledge (any one) +7, knowledge (the planes) +7, listen +11, perform (any one) +10, spellcraft +7, spot +11 Feats: Alertness, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (protection from arrows) Environment: The Nine Hells of Baator Organization: Solitary, Pair, or Coven (4-13) Challenge Rating: 8 Treasure: standard Alignment: Always Lawful Evil Advancement: 5-8 HD (Medium) 9-12 HD (Large) Level Adjustment: - At first glance this creature appears to be a hulking black goat that, walks unsteadily on its hind legs, but glowing red eyes, sharp white teeth, and a horrid acrid smell like burning rotten meat mark it as something far worse. The Cabriachs, or Goat Demons are a dying race of ancient Bateezu The appear to be black, muscular goats, but possess hooves with grasping joints and walk more often than not on their hind legs. They often serve as heralds, court magicians, messengers, jesters, and advisors to powerful Devils. Unlike most devils the Cabriachs are poor combatants, but make up for this shortcoming by having a wide range of frightful and unholy powers at their command. In a battle, they used to serve as support spellcasters for infernal shock troops or commando units. Their reliance on mind-affecting magic and supernatural powers has made them a poor match for the Tanar’ri, and there are far more Cabriach skulls adorning the skull heaps of the Abyss than there are living Goat Devils in Baator. Goat Devils are obscure even to the most knowledgeable conjurer, but a few evil spellcasters make bargains with Cabriachs in order to use their nightmarish array of powers, which are far more effective against mortals. A Goat Devil is 5ft. tall and weights about 200 pounds. COMBAT In combat against mere mortals, a Cabriach is a fearsome enemy; it hammers enemies with spells from afar, weakening them significantly, turning them against one another, or sowing confusion in the enemy ranks. Enemies foolish enough to close on a Cabriach will find itself simultaneously assaulted with its fear aura, medusa-like petrifying gaze, and stifling breath. Breath Weapon (Ex): As a free action a Cabriach can breath a 30ft. cone of choking smoke and vapours. Creatures within the cloud must succeed at a fortitude save (DC 16) or suffer a –2 circumstance penalty on attack and damage rolls for 1d6 rounds. PCs hit by the Cabriach’s breath weapons on consecutive rounds may begin to suffocate. Fear Aura (Su): As a free action a Cabriach may activate this aura, which functions as if a fear spell in a 30ft. (save DC 15). This is a mind-affecting effect. Save DC is Charisma based. Gaze (Su): Turn to ice permanently as if affected by a flesh to stone spell, except character becomes solid ice. 15ft. Fortitude (DC 16) negates. Save DC is Charisma based. Spell-Like Abilities (SP): At will- bane (DC 14), desecrate, detect evil, detect magic, doom (DC 14), charm person (DC 14), command (DC 14), entropic shield, hypnotism (DC 14), touch of fatigue (DC 13); 3/day- dispel magic, hold person (DC 16), slow (DC 16), shatter (DC 16), shout (DC 16), stinking cloud (DC 16), suggestion (DC 16), tasha’s hideous laughter (DC 16), unholy blight (DC 17); 1/day- charm monster (DC 17), confusion (DC 17), crushing despair (DC 17), protection from arrows, teleport, waves of fatigue (DC 18); Caster level 11th. The save DCs are Charisma based. Summon Bateezu (Sp): Once per day a Cabriach may attempt to summon another Cabriach with a 30% chance of success or 1d4 Imps with a 50% chance of success. This is the equivalent of a 4th level spell. Telepathy (Sp): A Cabriach can communicate with any creature within 100ft, that has a language. I love the Incantation system from Unearthed Arcana, and it is perfect for this conspiracy... dark spells you don't have to be a magician to perform adds a timbre of paranoia. Not to mention the fact that a town full of people turned to ice showing up afterward would be exactly what was needed to kick a halfling pogrom into high gear once the Book-users' ability to call Cabriachs becomes public knowledge. Call Black Zythri Conjuration (calling, lawful, evil) Effective Level: 6th Skill Check: Knowledge (arcana) DC 22, 6 successes; Failure: Attack Components: V, S, M, B Casting Time: 60 minutes Range: Close 12ft. Target: Black Zyhtri Duration: 12 hours Saving Throw: none Spell Resistance: no One of many incantations that was designed to call specific beings, Call Black Zythri calls upon the Goat Devil mage Zythri, one of the most powerful of his kind to advise or perform magic for his summoner, if he can be contained. The casting itself is fairly simple, and involves a few incantations spoken while burning incenses of rare magical herbs in a circle of powdered obsidian. If successful it calls Black Zythri to the caster. Zythri will be unfriendly but must obey any command to cast spells or use a spell-like abilites he possesses or answer any question it is within his power to hear within limits. Zythri need not answer any questions about the nature of deities or outsides, or any question relating to the higher plains. He may not be ordered into battle or to do anything patently dangerous to himself or against the interests of the bateezu. Zythri is bound to serve his summoner for half a day. Failure: Black Zythri appears along with 2d4 additional Cabriachs and attempts to murder the caster. Material Component: 5000gp of powdered obsidian. Backlash: Foul fumes from the summoning causes the caster to contract devil chills. Black Zythri Black Zythri is an ancient evil being, and one of the most powerful of the Goat Devils. Once the court magician to a duke of hell, when his master was deposed Zythri and his followers were forced to flee to The Gray Waste of Hades to hide from the usurper’s forces. Now he is the master of a dwindling band of Cabriachs in both the underworld beneath the third layer of Hades, and in Baator; even the usurper that he fled from is long forgotten. He represents the last of a different age in the nine hells, with different masters and a different approach to the blood war. Black Zythri has seen and learned much, and those brave and canny enough to approach him, nut he is also cunning and gives nothing away unless it can benefit him. Aeons ago he was bound to serve and provide his knowledge to mortals through an incantation, and even now he can occasionally be called for that service. Black Zythri, Goat Devil, Wiz-5/Lor-3: CR17; Medium-Sized Outsider (batezu, extraplanar, evil, law); HD: 4d8+8d4; 32hp; Init: +0; Spd: 30ft.; AC: 17 (+7 natural); Atk: staff +11/+6 melee (1d6+3 lawful or evil) or bite +10 melee (1d6+2); SA: breath weapon, fear aura, gaze, spells, spell-like abilities, summoning; SQ: Darkvision 60ft., DR 10/silver or good, immunity to fire, immunity to poison, lore (+6), resistance to acid 10, resistance to cold 10, regeneration 3, secret of avoidance, secret of inner strength, SR 16, telepathy; AL: LE; SV fort +7 ref +9 will +15; Str 15 Dex 10 Con 11 Int 16 Wis 16 Cha 21 Skills: craft (alchemy) +5, concentration +15, knowledge (arcana) +12, knowledge (ancient history) +10, knowledge (dungeoneering) +10, knowledge (the planes) +14, listen +10, perform (oratory) +10, spellcraft +18, spot +10; Feats: Eschew Materials, Extend Spell, Heighten Spell, Silent Spell, Skill Focus: knowledge (the planes) Breath Weapon (Ex): As a free action a Black Zythri can breath a 30ft. cone of choking smoke and vapours. Creatures within the cloud must succeed at a fortitude save (DC 16) or suffer a –2 circumstance penalty on attack and damage rolls for 1d6 rounds. PCs hit by the Cabriach’s breath weapons on consecutive rounds may begin to suffocate. Fear Aura (Su): As a free action a Black Zythri may activate this aura, which functions as if a fear spell in a 30ft. (save DC 15). This is a mind-affecting effect. Save DC is Charisma based. Gaze (Su): Turn to ice permanently as if affected by a flesh to stone spell, except the victim become sice. 15ft. Fortitude (DC 15) negates. Save DC is Charisma based. Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): At will- bane (DC 16), desecrate, detect evil, detect magic, doom (DC 16), charm person (DC 16), command (DC 16), entropic shield, hypnotism (DC 16), touch of fatigue (DC 15); 3/day- dispel magic, hold person (DC 18), slow (DC 18), shatter (DC 18), shout (DC 18), stinking cloud (DC 18), suggestion (DC 18), tasha’s hideous laughter (DC 18), unholy blight (DC 19); 1/day- analyze dweomer, charm monster (DC 19), confusion (DC 19), crushing despair (DC 19), protection from arrows, teleport, waves of fatigue (DC 20); Caster level 11th. The save DCs are Charisma based. Summon Bateezu (Sp): Once per day a Black Zythri may attempt to summon another Cabriach with a 70% chance of success or 1d4 Imps with a 90% chance of success. This is the equivalent of a 4th level spell. Regeneration (Su): Silver does normal damage to Black Zythri. Telepathy (Sp): A Cabriach can communicate with any creature within 100ft, that has a language. Spellbook: 0- acid splash, arcane mark, dancing lights, daze, detect magic, detect poison, disrupt undead, flare, ghost sound, light, mage hand, mending, message, open/close, prestidigitation, ray of frost, read magic, resistance, touch of fatigue; 1- chill touch, detect secret doors, detect undead, identify, mage armour, Nystul’s magic aura, ray of enfeeblement, summon monster I, true strike; 2- detect thoughts, invisibility, knock, locate object, Melf’s acid arrow; 3- arcane sight, blink, clairaudience/clairvoyance, fly, protection from energy; 4- animate dead, detect scrying, locate creature, phantasmal killer, scrying; Spells (4/5/4/4/2): 0- acid splash, detect poison, prestidigitation, read magic; 1- detect secret doors, detect undead, identify, ray of enfeeblement, summon monster I; 2- detect thoughts, invisibility, knock, locate object; 3- arcane sight, blink, clairaudience/clairvoyance, fly; 4- locate creature, scrying Gear: +1 axiomatic/+1 unholy quarterstaff, fireproof spellbooks (vol.1: 5 000gp; vol.2: 850gp), scrying mirror