Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lyinginbedmon 10-03-07, 05:12 PM	I'll admit to this being inspired initially by BioShock, but I've never played it and have really only read reviews and such, but the idea intrigued me and I've been working on a D&D application for a campaign setting. ----------------------------------------- Paradigm was an island city, highly proficient in trading and as a result they enjoyed a significant technological base. However, forces conspired to destroy Paradigm, in order to weaken the world as a whole by eliminating a source of high technology and strategic value. The base of the island was destroyed, causing significant earthquakes on the island surface, and it eventually sank beneath the waves to extreme depths, unreachable by most present standards. Those that survived have little memory of what occurred and what Paradigm was like, the product of extremely powerful tampering by the hands of Set. This occurred forty-four years ago, in the year 1912 Not long ago, a decade or so, the precise date is unknown, a group of mages developed an improved design of diving bell, utilising a shielding effect to reduce the issues of the crushing depths, and found their way to the ruined remnants of Paradigm. Because they were the only ones with this technology, they could control who went down to the city, and they eventually learned to expand the shielding in order to make the sunken ruins habitable by a chosen few. Nearby Paradigm, they established a new city, Highfaeth, a few miles from the ruins. Here, they built a new Paradigm, reducing the trade opportunities in exchange for concentrated technology and magical advancement. This they did in secret, to avoid the same destructive fate as Paradigm. At its peak, Highfaeth supported over a thousand people, from various races, beneath the sea. After the Great Storm of 1962, the tidal forces severely crippled Highfaeth, leaving it in a state of internal conflict. Some wanted to flee, others wanted to repair the city, and others believed it was perfectly functional despite the damage. Leadership within Highfaeth fragmented amongst the groups. Violence began to break out, rioters plagued the streets, and resources became hoarded and rationed. The once beautiful but isolated city of advancement, Highfaeth slipped into utter chaos over the course of a few months. Eventually, Highfaeth was discovered by a creature able to survive the depths by impersonally sacrificing the ever-growing hordes of her children. She slipped into the now-ruined city through a port entrance and began to take control of the city. She repaired some of the storm damage, making old areas habitable once again, and captured all that stood against her. Lizzy Kerrigan had found her way into Highfaeth. But she wasn’t the only one. Another creature found his way beneath the seas. An undead of extreme age, he utilised the abilities of his unique minions to crash his way through the ceiling of Highfaeth and into a conference hall. The sheer size of the transported rock he utilised sealed the gouge, for the most part, and a few minor blasts of eldritch might sealed it once more. He too began abducting the surviving residents, but as undead he had little to fear from the ocean reclaiming the city. Vex the Malign had found a residence in Highfaeth as well. The two came into conflict several times, but nothing significant developed of it. Because Kerrigan could do little to infest Vex or his minions, and Vex had little use for anything Kerrigan could offer, the two formed an uneasy truce. In the wake of their civil war, the hand of Kerrigan or of Vex had left much of the population of Highfaeth altered in some way, either corrupted through transmutation magics and alchemy or through the infernal meddling of aberrations. However, it had brought a peace to the previous civil war between the original inhabitants. Highfaeth began to flourish once more. The city was largely rebuilt, save some of the most heavily damaged areas left over from the Great Storm, but what populated Highfaeth was no longer the altruistic pioneers that had been before. Highfaeth had fallen under an almost militaristic control by Vex and Kerrigan. However, not every resident was their pawn, and not every street was their domain. Some escaped their transformative dominion and others evaded capture by it. Most that escaped drifted in and out of sanity, driven mad by the tortures they endured. The more lucid ones attempted to escape further, away from Highfaeth, or began stripping their fellows apart to sell on some disgusting black market between the dictatorial pair. And now we see Highfaeth, a hidden city laying in tatters beneath the waves, not far from its impetus, the once-great city of Paradigm, made residence by two of the most vile creatures the world has ever known. Highfaeth lies at a depth of 800 ft., about 2 miles away from the ruins of Paradigm. Because of this depth, the standard Diving Bell (As seen in Stormwrack) only gets you about 1/4 of the way down. Anything unprotected takes 8d6 damage per minute (DC 15 +1 per previous check negates this damage for any given minute), Aquatic creatures take only 1d6. As a result, it's fairly hazardous for most player characters. The best way down to Highfaeth is to use a Diving Bell for the first 200 ft. and then cast Transformation of the Deeps on all of the party members and start swimming. Total travel time, assuming good Swim checks, is about 6 minutes. Alternatively, you can try this without the spell, but you'd take way more damage (Compared to zero) and risk drowning, unless every party member has at least a 20 Constitution. However, you do cut the time down by 6 rounds. Regardless, there's still the traditional marine wildlife to chew on them during the dive, as well as whatever engineered monstrosities may have escaped the city. For plot hooks on why your players would want to go through all this trouble, the promise of treasure in Paradigm nearby is a classic. Maybe they spot the lights of the city in the distance, or maybe they just miscalculated their positioning on the sea above. Alternatively, maybe some of the residents took a trip to the surface of the sea, though most likely they'd be the kind of people to enjoy floating about...face down. Highfaeth had a peak population of roughly 1000 people, which has since dwindled for one reason or another to at most 600. They are divided into three groups, barring exceptional members: Alchemists, Arcane mages, and Divine Mages. Except for race, they are fairly regular. Alchemists are Factotums, Arcane mages Wizards, Divine mages Adepts, all of 10th level. Naturally, they're mostly altered. Experimentation by Kerrigan and/or Vex has left the population largely inhuman. Alchemists tend to be Half-Troll, Living Zombies, or Spellwarped. Arcane mages are Guardian creatures, Half-Illithids, or Phantoms. Divine mages are Bone creatures, Lost, or Pseudonatural creatures.Feel free to populate Highfaeth with whatever custom creature you deem appropriate, it's essentially a boiling pot of ingenuity, able to produce whatever creepy masterpiece you like. Average CR of a resident: 11 (Range 10-13 depending on the template) In addition to the ex-/humanoid residents, Highfaeth is patrolled by a number of Security Golems, whose previous task was to ensure the city was safe from criminal elements. Now, they have been charged with their original goals in addition to keeping check on the still-damaged areas of the city. Over time, they have become infested with experiment rats, becoming walking cages for them. Because of their duties, they are often at odds with the black marketers and Vex & Kerrigan, even the most insane of the residents knows to avoid the Golems. Security Golem with Average Cranium Rat swarm = CR 10. Highfaeth was originally founded by 16 mages working for an archaeology firm, but they split away from the company and took the modified Diving Bell with them (Which has since been lost somewhere on the ocean floor due to a small group of insane escapees). They then established Highfaeth and ran it together as a council. However, the disagreements on what to do with the damage city broke the council into groups of 7:4:5 (On Stay, Flee, and Repair, respectively) and it has since all but dissolved. The remaining uncaptured residents are largely the only ones that still follow their orders, though Vex will occasionally bow to their superior knowledge of the city. Kerrigan seeks to eliminate them to weaken the survivors for capture. Now, the three primary runners of Highfaeth are Elizabeth "Lizzy" Kerrigan, Vex the Malign, and Andrew Thomas. Lizzy: Half-Farspawn Human Swashbuckler in command of a Hivemind composed of Tsochari strands (It bends rules but not by much), which she births personally. She was created through the experimentation earlier of a cult dedicated to the Great Mother. She is using Highfaeth as a base of operations to produce a powerful host body for her children, so she can move onto greater straits of acquisition. With her are the unconscious bodies of her elder brother and sister, plus her parents, in Temporal Stasis. She intends to use them for more ambitious experimentation once she knows it'll work. Much of the eastern sections of the city are almost coated internally with her hivemind, giving the look of a horrible wriggling fleshy structure. Vex: Gravetouched Ghoul Human Warlock/Sorcerer/Eldritch Theurge. Vex came to be after being quarantined in a room with prison inmates suffering from Slimy Doom. He survived the sickness, but wasn't allowed out for fear of his still being contagious. To survive, he feasted on the bodies of his fellows. After escaping, he was joined by the Plague Blight reanimations of four of the others. He's using Highfaeth as a refuge while he builds his supersoldiers and other weapons, which he was previously imprisoned for. For more information on Vex, see the Salient Villains section of my signature. Andrew: Human Rogue/Master of Masks/Mountebank The king of Highfaeth's black market, Andrew occupies a grey neutral zone inbetween Vex and Lizzy. He and his subordinates gather resources from around the city, mostly the components of their former neighbours, and sell them between the two villains for a profit to keep themselves alive. He spends most of his time in the theatre section, but he is hoping to pull Vex and Lizzy back into conflict in order to use the surviving resources to leave Highfaeth and make millions on the international market with what has been wrought from the city.Via the black market, this is a great place for players to go searching for Grafts, of virtually any kind. Alchemy and the related substances are also up for grabs here, provided you can wrench them from the hands of who-(or what)-ever still has them. Aberration and Undead fans can also appreciate the works of Lizzy and Vex, and if both are bested it leaves them with a vast (albet decimated) underwater city for them to rebuild. City Map http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8987/cityvd3.png Areas presently included: Alchemical Fireball reactor housings (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 o'clock on the outer ring) Alchemical Research Complex (2 o'clock on the outer ring) Birch Amusements, the largest entertainment section of the city (2, 4, 7, 10 o'clock on the central segment) Diving Bell docking ports (Top-left) Housing sections (Middle right & left on the outer ring, middle top & bottom on the inner ring) Mystical Research Complexes (Center top, center bottom, and 7 o'clock of the outer ring) for each school of magic (Minus Universal, which is studied in all by it's very nature). Parks; Ryan Park (Middle left on the inner ring) and Bigby Park (Middle right on the inner ring) with the River Gygax flowing through them (Visible through the ceiling windows)[NOTE: The Three Laws of Magic (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54392) are presumed to be in use in this setting]
Lyinginbedmon 10-04-07, 10:15 AM	Any ideas on how to expand Highfaeth? Perhaps something for the encounter selecton, or the politics?
Lyinginbedmon 10-05-07, 07:37 AM	Andrew Thomas Human Rogue 5/Master of Masks 6/Mountebank 9 Feats*: Deceitful (h), Lucky Start, Telling Blow, Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Dual Strike, Persistent Attacker, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting Skills:Ranks Skill 13% Disguise 13% Sleight of Hand 13% Perform (act) 10% Bluff 6% Diplomacy 6% Intimidate 6% Search 6% Sense Motive 6% Tumble 5% Listen 5% Spot 3% Knowledge (local) 3% Move Silently 3% SpellcraftSink the Intelligence-gained skill points into these skills or into useful Skill Tricks like Acrobatic Backstab and Assume Quirk. Andrew isn't really designed for combat, he's designed to manipulate people to the extremes of their mentalities. If he gets into combat, he's a dual-wielding fiend with the mix of masks and sneak attacks (Once he goes first, he can use Persistent Attacker to sneak attack once every round, at the cost of 4 of his 9 d6s, given the Assassin mask). If he needs to escape, he goes out theatrically by using the Archmage mask's Invisibility and Sideslipping into a hidden area. When Highfaeth was being constructed, the original 16 mages that began the project needed financial backing and supplies to continue the construction. Loaning out the Diving Bell wasn't bringing in enough money, so they turned to the most discrete people available. One such person was Eli Yorisov, a business kingpin amongst Dwarves. His representative was a sly businessman named Andrew Thomas. Thomas oversaw much of the entertainment areas of the city and facilitated the supply of resources from a race almost universally known for their architectural genius. Through the entertainment, Thomas wormed his way into the political infrastructure of the city through temptation and debt. At the height of its life, Thomas controlled two sixths of the working population in Highfaeth, spread throughout every group. He snapped communications with Yorisov and began running his own black market. When the Great Storm massively damaged the city, his contacts outside were either killed or left him to save themselves, leaving his black market bereft of supplies. Thomas proposed to the council that repairing the city was the best course of action, neglecting to mention that it would allow the black market supplies back along with external communications. Ultimately it wasn't the option chosen by the council, and Thomas began moving his supporters towards the civil war. When the Golems finally discovered his growing movement, he lead his most trusted creditors and minions to a safe part of the city just as the Flow arrived through one of the damaged docking ports. The Golems were recalled and his haven has become a mecca for the surviving uncaptured residents. Because everything in the haven is under his command, Thomas holds great extortional sway over the councilmembers, and acts as their self-imposed voice. He still deals in black market operations, but now business is primarily between the leading groups, Kerrigan, Vex, and himself, for the resources of eachother. His minions can often be found scavenging around different areas or fighting with the captured residents to acquire the components that have altered them. Lizzy Kerrigan Half-Farspawn Human Swashbuckler 16 Feats*: Make Your Own Luck (h), Weapon Finesse (b), Lucky Start, Combat Expertise, Tempting Fate, Unbelievable Luck, Better Lucky than Good, Darkstalker Skills:Ranks Skill 16% Diplomacy 14% Jump 14% Tumble 12% Climb 12% Escape Artist 12% Sense Motive 11% Bluff 3% Knowledge (religion) 2% Sleight of Hand 2% Balance Lizzy is largely about misdirection. She bluffs the opponent to get them flat-footed and then keeps on slashing with her rapier or her own tentacles. Her Swashbuckler levels allow her extreme versatility in the oft-damaged environment of Highfaeth. If things go really bad, she can use Tempting Fate to appear dead as anything. Her interpersonal skills are pretty good, and if allowed she can take the Seduction (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20070227x) dead-level class feature. However, Lizzy will rarely get into combat alone. Whilst she enjoys combat and misleading her opponents, her hivemind has spellcasting to back her up significantly. The hivemind has, at least, 20th level Sorcerer casting, and can cast any spell it has from any part of itself, making it very difficult to retake Lizzy's part of the city. Lizzy was a fairly average girl until the Temple of Zakia in Beldor city kidnapped her in 1955 when she was only 8 years old. She was implanted with a Tsochar parasite, fanatical to the Zakian mythology, and brainwashed into similar worship. During a confrontation between an adventuring guild and a group consisting of herself and a number of other kidnapped children, she alone escaped into the sewer system. In the sewers, she began to undergo a startling metamorphosis. Instead of fighting off the Tsochar within her, her body instead began a process of perfect symbiosis, a reaction considered by Sovice and Makinoan researchers to be the result of specific genetic mutations within her. This process took several years, and she was well into her development when it was finally completed in 1958 at age 12. However, her mental and physical development after this completion made her more akin to a 19 year old. Over the four-year period, the Tsochar portion of her had been almost continuously breeding, producing an incalculably massive grouping of strands that served as a hivemind for her (The first incarnation of the “Flow”). Eventually, the same adventuring guild located her (Having been recently tipped off by an increasing number of Caucasian females being assaulted with their skin being removed, which Lizzy was using to repair the gaps in her own humanoid flesh from the transformation) and destroyed virtually all of her hivemind, leaving her to flee from the Material Plane to escape her own destruction. After the destruction of the original Flow, Lizzy Kerrigan did not surface for many years, and was presumed lost. She travelled the worlds with the new incarnation looking for sanctuary, and eventually she came upon very old documents that led her to Highfaeth. Lizzy still remains loyal to the teachings of Zakia, and wise enemies can usually stave off annihilation at her hands by dressing themselves up as Zakian worshippers. Whilst she has had much time to develop her mature personality, Kerrigan still holds a few traits from her grievously aberrational childhood in the hands of a biological mutation. Evident of this is her belief of irreversibility, that if something changes it most likely will not be able to be turned back to how it originally was. Because her puberty was overshadowed by her transformation, and she now reproduces asexually to produce new Tsochar strands, her knowledge of sexual matters is somewhat limited, but she is not above using her feminine allure to get what she wants. Special note: Lizzy carries four black gems that hold the trapped essences of her sister, brother, and parents. She intends to use/torture them later for their individual parts in her suffering. If a player got hold of even one, especially a parent, they would have a massive bargaining chip. Vex the Malign Gravetouched Ghoul Human Warlock 5/Sorcerer 4/Eldritch Theurge 10 Feats*: Eschew Materials (h), Violate Spell-Like Ability, Point-Blank Shot, Somatic Weaponry, Multiattack (b), Contagious Paralysis, Ability Focus (paralysis), Jack of All Trades, Improved Paralysis Skills:Ranks Skill 17% Concentration 15% Spellcraft 13% Bluff 12% Use Magic Device 9% Intimidate 9% Knowledge (arcana) 9% Knowledge (the planes) 7% Sense Motive 5% Disguise 3% Diplomacy Of his own volition, Vex will rarely get into melee range. He prefers to use his Invocations to fire from significant distance, to the point that most of the people who manage to get into melee range are already in dire need of the medic they just ran from. Those that survive getting to him have to worry about the high DC of his paralysis, which he can then use to affect other party members thanks to Contagious Paralysis. He enjoys mixing magic weapon attacks (Like wands and rods) with his spells and Eldritch Blasts, available through Somatic Weaponry. Lex Vietmaghn was born some 432 years ago in Midgard to a young parishioner mother and a slightly older man of the shugenja. His mother and father travelled for some time together spreading the word of Odin and Thor to the darkest regions. When his mother, Cassandra, became with child, Alexander insisted that she return home to Midgard until the child came of age. However, a fiery woman, Cassandra denied him his martial reprieve and continued on alongside him. Eventually, their travels pitted them against a conjurer of foul demons and spirits. Included were a number of Vrocks, and Cassandra in her weakened and vulnerable state soon fell victim to their hazardous demonic spores. Alexander was able to protect her long enough to escape with their lives, and she soon recovered without issue. Several months later, Lex was born, and his parents rejoiced. The couple settled down, delegating their journeys to younger supplicants of the clergy, to raise Lex as best as they could. When Lex was ten years old, he began displaying sorcerous talents, performing minor tricks such as minor electrical jolts and light-fingered telekinesis. The village elders were amazed, they could scarcely believe that the child of two farmers nee holy priests could have inherited some innate magical talent, but this appeared to be the case. However, as time went by, it became more and more apparent that Lex wasn't inheriting only sorcerous skills, but demonic ones as well. The first incident of this was shortly after his sixteenth birthday when a young outlaw arrived in the village, and began disparaging all he could lay eyes on, including his fair mother. Lex confronted the man and eventually the argument grew violent. Lex's eyes flared red, and as he struck the man down, a similar flame engulfed his fist. The villain was not burned, but had been killed outright regardless. For the rest of his time in the village, Lex was ostracised. People whispered and muttered under their breath near him, telling tales of demons and monsters and alleged heinous acts. In reality, he was a hard-working student and a dutiful farmer's son, who said his prayers each night. But his ways were being gradually changed by these whisperings, and his father recognised it. When Lex was twenty years old, his mother passed away from Vile Rigidity. Lex was at her bedside for the entire ordeal, including her passing, and heard the final gasps of breath that passed her cracked lips. Realising that the villagers would blame him for causing the affliction, Alexander sent Lex away to a university in Beldor, and bid him never to return for his own safety. In his new environment, Lex did his best to hide his inherited demonic abilities and ply them off as mere sorcery, a trait more readily accepted. His penchant for magical study eventually earned him a prestigious place in the Transmutation department of the Mystical Experimentation Complex, just as the Great War began to heat up. Realising the necessity of better soldiers for the war, Lex stepped up his experiments beyond the restrictions of the complex, picking up orphans and beggars from the streets to test his potions and tonics on. He knew it was a vile action that would have proven the prejudices of his hometown, but he felt it necessary to save many millions of lives. However, he was eventually discovered, and sentenced to fifty years in Larkhill prison for unnatural acts of arcane experimentation. 402 years ago, when Lex was imprisoned, Larkhill Prison was a fairly recent institution, only 60 years old. Built to contain the worst inmates imaginable, and whilst it had it's fair share of breakouts, it did its job well. However, war brings everyone to their knees. With funds to the prison instead going to help win the Great War, started 442 years ago, the prison suffered considerably. Maintenance started going undone, and eventually disease began to stir in the population. Then, twenty inmates fell sick with a terrible plague of Slimy Doom. To contain the outbreak, the guards locked them away in a storage room in the underground boiler level. 19 of the inmates fell to their sickness, but the twentieth survived. He banged desperately on the door to be let out, but the guards couldn't risk releasing the plague as well. As a result, he was locked away and forgotten in the storage room. To survive, he began feeding on the carcasses of the other inmates, until eventually he died of thirst. He awoke as a gravetouched ghoul, still hungering for living flesh, and the necromantic energies of his creation spurred four more inmates to awaken as plague blights. The ghoul sent the blights to beat at the stone walls of the room, hoping to gradually tear it down and wreak revenge on his imprisoners. The guards heard this, and rapidly sealed an earth elemental into the structure, reinforcing it beyond the ability of the blights to damage, entombing them forever. As a matter of government embarrassment, the warden of the time erased the incident from the books with a fire that tore through the record library later that year. The ghoul and his plague blight minions stayed locked away for four hundred years, and Vex the Malign hungered for each of them, until finally cracks appeared in the prison, the earth beneath the prison moving in to reclaim it. They escaped, and built a lance with which to retrieve the depths of Paradigm for his purposes. They crashed unceremoniously through the ceiling of one of the city's conference rooms, and Vex quickly sealed the gash before the sea finally retook the entire complex. --------------- Lex is a scientist first and foremost. He weighs his options and goes for the most rational given the circumstances, and he ventures towards gains whilst weighing the losses in hand. *In order of acquisition
fodigg 10-05-07, 12:48 PM	I loved the Bioshock game and would love to see a setting inspired by it.
Lyinginbedmon 10-05-07, 03:57 PM	Well, I've just finished the write-ups of the three leading powers in Highfaeth, feel free to suggest anything you'd like. Hmm...perhaps I can put together a kind of "Little Sister" for Thomas to use as scavengers... EDIT: Okay, I have an idea, gimme a couple hours... EDIT2: Feel free to still suggest stuff
Lyinginbedmon 10-05-07, 06:54 PM	Alright, I'm presently building a model relative to a Small Humanoid with the Dark Creature, Spellwarped Creature, Living Zombie, and Guardian Creature templates. Thus far, it's looking good, and I'm planning on giving them Hammer and Piton to use in conjunction with their guardians. Also, I've renamed them from "Little Sisters" to "Witchburns". Music buffs should know the connection.
Lyinginbedmon 10-06-07, 06:33 AM	Alright, the Highfaeth little sisters, as you can see they have significantly more bite than Rapture's version. Witchburn Small Aberration (Augmented Humanoid, Extraplanar) Hit Dice: 10d8+30 (75 HP) Initiative: +3 Speed: 50 ft. Armor Class: 16 (+3 Dex, +2 Nat, +1 Size), touch 14, flat-footed 13 Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+10 Attack: Slam +10 melee (1d8+3 [20/x2]) Full Attack: Slam +10 melee (1d8+3 [20/x2]) Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: Improved Grab, Disembody, Skirmish +3d6/+2 AC Special Qualities: Blindsense 60 ft., Cursed, Darkvision 120 ft., Evasion, Hide in Plain Sight, Illuminated Eyes, Immunities, SR 21, Superior Low-light vision, Uncanny Dodge Saves: Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +10 Abilities: Str 16, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 1, Wis 16, Cha 1 Skills: Climb +6, Hide +21, Listen +14, Move Silently +16, Spot +14 Feats: Blind-Fightb, Dodge, Hammer and Piton, Improved Grappleb, Improved Natural Attackb, Improved Toughnessb, Mobility, Spring Attack Environment: Highfaeth (Plane of Shadow) Organization: Solitary or Pairing (1 Witchburn & 1 Weird Henry) Challenge Rating: 13 Alignment: Neutral Evil A little girl, easily no more than nine years old, clambers out of a neglected air vent nearby, her simple white dress dirty and tainted with dried blood. Around her waist is a belt with four climbing pitons dangling from it, and her figure is wrapped in a foreboding darkness. Her eyes beacon forth with a eerie light and you hear powerful footsteps approaching… Witchburns, named for their creator, Meredith Witchburn, are small children that have been alchemically and magically altered to go around Highfaeth retrieving components and resources for the black market. Children were chosen because of their small stature, allowing them to navigate smaller areas than most of the inhabitants, and girls were found to be more susceptible to the transformation than boys, so the majority are female. Witchburns live in a state of domination by the council, cursed to follow their commands, and because of the alchemical serums in their bodies they are stunted at a childlike state for the duration of their lives. They can typically be found being accompanied by a Weird Henry, who protects them when they venture out into the open, and keep guard of them while they go about gathering resources. Witchburns speak whatever languages they knew before their transformation, though they are very childish in their language and rarely talk to their targets. Combat Witchburns rarely enter combat alone or from out of cover. They typically stick to dark areas and hide from whatever enemies they detect, more afraid of them than anything else. However, when in combat, they like to keep mobile, lashing out at the opponent before moving out of their grasp. When they finally whittle the target down, they engage them in a grapple and rip them apart. Cursed: To keep them in line, a witchburn is cursed during their creation. This reduces their Intelligence and Charisma scores to 1 each and binds their will to the one performing the ritual process. A single creature can have no more witchburn bound to them than one for each point of ability bonus in their primary spellcasting ability, but for each witchburn they control they age half as fast, though the witchburn heals naturally at half the normal rate. To remove the curse, you must first remove the portion of the creator from the witchburn’s body, this requires that they be restrained or helpless and a DC 21 Search check allows the discovery of the item. Removing it requires a DC 15 Heal check, at which time the witchburn regains their normal freedom and their Intelligence and Charisma scores change to 11 and 7, respectively, and their alignment reverts to Chaotic Neutral. A limited wish, miracle, or wish spell is required to return an uncursed witchburn’s to their original state (Be it human, elf, halfling, etc.). Disembody (Ex): A witchburn that pins an opponent in a grapple can make a grapple check to rend the target’s body apart. If they succeed, the subject is killed immediately. They can attempt a Fortitude saving throw (DC 18) to survive, in which case they take 1d4 points of Constitution damage (Or 5d12 points of damage, if the target has no Constitution or is immune to ability damage). Witchburns can use this ability against helpless targets without establishing a grapple beforehand. Illuminated Eyes (Ex): A witchburn’s eyes glow strongly with a slightly orange light. While open, they illuminate a 60 ft. radius around them. Immunities (Ex): Witchburns do not need to sleep and are immune to magical sleep effects. They have a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against mind-affecting spells or abilities. Improved Grab (Ex): A witchburn must hit a target with their slam attack to use this ability. If they establish a grapple and pin the opponent, they can disembody the following round. Skills: A witchburn has a +8 racial bonus to Hide checks and a +6 racial bonus to Listen, Move Silently, and Spot checks. Unless the curse is removed, they cannot use Intelligence or Charisma-based skills. I'll get to work on the Weird Henry.
Lyinginbedmon 10-06-07, 08:00 PM	Weird Henry Large Aberration (Augmented Humanoid) Hit Dice: 15d8+60 (128 HP) Initiative: +1 Speed: 30 ft. Armor Class: 25 (+1 Dex, +15 Nat, -1 Size), touch 10, flat-footed 24 Base Attack/Grapple: +11/+21 Attack: Slam +17 melee (2d8+6 [20/x2]) Full Attack: 2 Slams +17 melee (2d8+6 [20/x2]) Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft. Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, Swallow Soul Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., DR 5/adamantine, Fast Healing 5, Immunity to magic, Improved Grab, Incarnum Investiture, Low-light vision Saves: Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +9 Abilities: Str 22, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 3, Wis 10, Cha 5 Skills: Climb +12, Jump +12, Listen +12, Search +14, Spot +14 Feats: Combat Brute, Improved Power Attack, Improved Sunder, Lifesenseb, Power Attack, Pulverize Foe, Quick Recovery Environment: Highfaeth Organization: Solitary or Pairing (1 Witchburn & 1 Weird Henry) Challenge Rating: 10 Alignment: Neutral A large man-shaped creature of some sort lumbers along the corridor, a rusted piton sticking out of its back. It is covered head to toe in armoured plates, save its almost reptilian orange eyes, which pierce the blackness ahead. What little flesh you can make out flickers inside with a faint bluish light. Weird Henrys, named for Professor Henry Tenenbaum, are large hulking creatures created from recycled witchburns that have worn out their usefulness. The curse is temporarily lifted and they are immediately subjected to an intense regimen of alchemical and magical treatment, which transforms them further from their natural state to the state called Weird Henry. Though powerful, this process leaves the briefly free witchburn in a vegetative state in which their creator can control them not unlike a dominated creature. As a Weird Henry, they have every compulsion to defend and protect their former fellows, to the point of risking their lives entirely. They often taxi witchburns about as they cling to them by pitons. Weird Henrys cannot speak any language, but are capable of understanding any languages they knew as ordinary children and typically communicate with grunts and howls akin to a wounded whale. Though precise figures are unknown, there are thought to be 3-4 Weird Henrys to every witchburn in Highfaeth, meaning between 194-256 stalk the hallways. Combat When in combat, a Weird Henry uses their brawn rather than much brain to fight adversaries. Above all, protection of any witchburns in the vicinity is paramount, even to their own survival. If they have any soul points, they usually invest them in gaining combat bonuses to dispatch the target quickly, whilst using fortunate fate and shield other on the nearby witchburns. Otherwise, they try to avoid combat, to avoid placing the witchburns in harm’s way. When a creature appears that may present a threat, they work to cast shield other and fortunate fate on their charge before things get hairy. Immunity to Magic (Ex): Weird Henrys are immune to the effect of any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance. In addition, certain spells and effects function differently against the creature, as noted below. A magical attack that deals cold or fire damage slows a Weird Henry (as the slow spell) for 2d6 rounds, with no saving throw. A magical attack that deals electricity damage breaks any slow effect on them and heals 1 point of damage for every 3 points of damage the attack would otherwise deal. If the amount of healing would cause them to exceed their full normal hit points, they gain any excess as temporary hit points. For example, a Weird Henry hit by a lightning bolt heals 3 points of damage if the attack would have dealt 11 points of damage. A Weird Henry gets no saving throw against attacks that deal electricity damage. Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a Weird Henry must hit an opponent with their slam attack. They can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. Incarnum Investiture (Su): By expending soul points garnered from the souls of the fallen around it, a Weird Henry can augment their existing abilities. Combat Power: The Weird Henry gains a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls per soul point invested. Damage Reduction: The Weird Henry’s damage reduction increases by 2 points per soul point invested. Land Speed Increase: The Weird Henry’s speed increases by 10 ft. per soul point invested. Teleportation: The Weird Henry can use a move action to teleport 20 ft. per soul point invested. They can take other creatures it is carrying with it, provided they do not exceed their maximum load. Each of these investitures last for up to an hour, regardless of the quantity of soul points invested into them. Investing any number of points into a single ability is a standard action. Spell-like Abilities: At will – fortunate fate, shield other, 1/hour – dimension door. Caster level 10th. Swallow Soul (Su): A Weird Henry that is present when a sentient creature is killed (Such as being reduced to –10 hit points or having a Constitution of 0) can take a full-round action to capture and consume the soul of the victim. This grants them a number of soul points equal to the hit dice of the consumed creature. A typical Weird Henry is found with 10 soul points to spend. Skills: Weird Henrys have a +8 racial bonus to Search checks and a +6 racial bonus to Listen and Spot checks.
Glak 10-06-07, 09:16 PM	You should change the name from "Kerrigan" to something else. Once I saw it I could not stop thinking about the queen of the zerg.
Lyinginbedmon 10-07-07, 04:48 AM	You should change the name from "Kerrigan" to something else. Once I saw it I could not stop thinking about the queen of the zerg. That's why I gave her it. She's named for Lizzy Borden and Sarah Kerrigan.
Lyinginbedmon 10-07-07, 03:07 PM	One more creature for now, I thought I'd retool the Hivenest Incarnum Golems with something a bit more original: Security Golem Large Construct (Incarnum) Hit Dice: 11d10+30 (90 HP) Initiative: +1 Speed: 30 ft. Armor Class: 18 (+1 Dex, +8 Nat, -1 Size), touch 10, flat-footed 17 Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+16 Attack: Crossbow +8 ranged (3d8 [18-20/x2]){120 ft.} or Slam +11 melee (2d8+4 [20/x2]) Full Attack: 2 Crossbows +8 ranged (3d8 [18-20/x2]){120 ft.} and 2 Slams +11 melee (2d8+4 [20/x2]) Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft. Special Attacks: Infested Attack, Distraction, Innate Crossbows, Revision Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., DR 5/adamantine, Fast Healing 5, Immunity to Magic, Infestation, Innate Crossbow, Low-light vision, Repair Saves: Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +5 Abilities: Str 24, Dex 12, Con –, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 12 Skills: Climb +11, Jump +11, Knowledge (architecture and engineering) +8, Listen +6, Search +4, Spot +6 Feats: Improved Multiattack, Multiattack, Rapid Reload, Two-Weapon Fighting Environment: Highfaeth Organization: Solitary, Pair, or Gang (3-4) Challenge Rating: 10 Alignment: Neutral From down the corridor comes the sound of slow pounding footsteps. A large humanoid creature appears cloaked in metal plates arranged like clothing, with a sphere of iron dotted with glowing porthole about its head. Embedded in its arms are powerful crossbows, and under the clanking noise of its approach you can just hear the sound of quiet squeaking somewhere within… Security Golems were created during the early days of Highfaeth, to defend it from intruders and to keep order within. After the Great Storm critically damaged the city, they were also charged not only with ensuring law was maintained inside but with ensuring the city did not fall into such a state as to compromise it to the ocean outside. Ironically, for creatures tasked with the upkeep of the city, security golems have become largely infested themselves with cranium rats that have escaped from one laboratory or another. The rats don’t interfere with the golem’s operations, but they occasionally scutter about inside or peek out of holes in the shell, giving a disconcerting aesthetic to the once treasured creatures. The golems are fairly docile, and usually do not engage targets unless provoked or when they bear witness to an illegal act. However, they have trouble recognising the deranged and the transfigured residents of the city, and usually pay closer attention to them than most other activities. Most inhabitants have learned to avoid the golems unless absolutely impossible. Security Golems cannot speak, but can understand Draconic, Elven, and Common. Combat Security Golems typically prefer to begin combat from range, where they can use their crossbows for significant damage before closing to capture the target and eliminate them. Distraction (Ex): Any living creature vulnerable to the damage from an infested attack (see below) that begins its turn in a square adjacent to a security golem is nauseated for 1 round. A successful DC 18 Fortitude save negates the effect. Spellcasting or concentrating on spells while adjacent to a security golem requires a concentration check (DC 20 + spell level). Using skills that involve patience and concentration requires a successful DC 20 Concentration check. Infestation (Ex): If a security golem is reduced to 0 hit points, it is destroyed but the swarm that nests within it is released. One average cranium rat swarm is immediately placed in the space previously occupied by the security golem. This swarm has full hit points, regardless of damage to the security golem, and acts independently of any control that golem was under. A golem that is repaired by its Clockwork Mender swarm is soon inhabited by another swarm. Infested Attack (Ex): Any creature struck by one or more of a security golem’s slam attacks is dealt 3d6 points of damage from the cranium rats’ swarm attack at the end of the security golem’s turn. Any effect that reduces or negates swarm attack damage, such as damage reduction, is applied separately to both the slam attack and the swarm attack. Immunity to Magic (Ex): A security golem is immune to the effect of any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance. In addition, certain spells and effects function differently against the creature, as noted below. A dispel evil, dispel good, dispel chaos, dispel law, or dismissal spell resets a security golem’s Revision bonus to +0 and dazes the creature for 1 round. A banishment spell also resets a security golem’s Revision bonus but dazes the golem for 1d4+1 rounds. While the golem is dazed by either of these effects, its Fast Healing ability is suppressed. Innate Crossbows (Ex): Each arm of a security golem is fitted with a great crossbow. Each crossbow is connected to an extradimensional pocket inside the golem that stores up to 100 bolts. Each day, the pockets are magically refilled with 100 bolts, and the golem can insert bolts that it finds during its rounds with a move action. The golem must still reload an empty crossbow as normal. The bonus on attack and damage rolls from Revision (see below) also applies to the golem’s crossbow attacks. Repair (Su): As an immediate action once per day, a security golem can summon a Clockwork Mender swarm (MMIV) from Mechanus. If the golem is destroyed, a swarm is summoned instantly the next round and begins repairing it. In this case, the golem becomes operational again once its hit points would exceed zero from the healing (Any excess damage below zero hit points must be healed first). The swarm dissipates once the golem reaches full hit points or its task is completed. For example, a security golem is destroyed after being hit by a Weird Henry by taking enough damage to reach –8 hit points. The next round, the Clockwork Mender swarm appears and begins repairing it at the normal rate of 1 hit point per round. After 9 rounds, the golem reaches 1 hit point and its own Fast Healing begins to repair it as well, until finally after 15 rounds it reaches 90 hit points and the swarm dissipates. If, for whatever reason, the golem is unable to summon the swarm (Such as due to a dimensional anchor or an antimagic field) it remains destroyed and cannot summon the swarm at any point. If the swarm is destroyed before the golem reaches 1 hit point, it cannot summon another. Revision (Ex): When it strikes, a security golem adapts its attack to take advantage of weaknesses in the opponent’s defenses. Each round that it successfully damages a creature, it gains a cumulative +1 insight bonus (maximum +5) on attack rolls and damage rolls against that opponent. This bonus remains in force until the golem deals damage to a different creature. For example, the first time a security golem damages a foe, a +1 bonus applies to each of its attacks against that target in subsequent rounds. The next time it hits that foe, the bonus increases to +2. During any round that it misses the target, the bonus does not increase. If the security golem hits a different target at any point in the progression, the bonus against the first target is lost, and a new bonus begins to accrue against the new target.
Lyinginbedmon 10-08-07, 12:46 PM	Ok, that's it from me for now, does anyone have any ideas for this?
Lyinginbedmon 10-09-07, 07:29 PM	:bump:
Lyinginbedmon 10-10-07, 08:02 PM	Alrighty, things to consider: Laws? Do they still work in this place? Does anyone follow them? Food and Air. They have to come from somewhere, or else they certainly wouldn't have lasted so long. Creatures? We have the primaries from inside the city, but what about escaped sea creatures? This was a place of isolated experimentation after all. Power? A bit of a modern or future concept, but they'd need lights in the Bathypelagic (Which is where the city is, 800 ft. below sea level) because light doesn't go that far down. Some important NPCs. We've got that skinny on the big villains, but what about the little people? Healers, lieutenants, store owners, bar wenches! Map. A map is kinda essential when you're looking at a city, especially one segmented as Highfaeth is between different forces and research subjects. The Grit. So we've gone through power and we've gone through food and air, but what about the worse little things that PCs always seem to end up in? Things like how sewage is rid or what happens to contaminents and rubbish. As said, Highfaeth was created with the express purpose of recreating the advancement of Paradigm. There should probably be some such advancements available to PCs scouring the city (New spells, magic items, etc.). Similar to the above, there's a significant focus between the enemies on the alteration of their original bodies, be it with alchemical experimentation or grafts or transmutation magic. The PCs should have the option to do so, perhaps with new grafts and various alchemy and transmutation effects, possibly stemming from the city itself, in the form of dilapidated laboratories, perhaps even Gene Bank-like stalls. Another note: Currency. In Rapture, the economy was driven by the extremely popular and culture-centric ADAM substance, because everyone used it to some extent or another. However, in Highfaeth no such discovery has been made, the Weird Henrys and Witchburns were created to fuel the black market that keeps a tenuous calm in the city. So, what would they use for currency? It's unlikely they would stick with the old coinage, because a tie to the outside is an enticement, and more importantly: If you use a different coinage, you can tell when a coin shouldn't be around. In other words, if it's different coins, and a coin from outside gets in, you know there's a leak somewhere. A currency needs to be distinct, it needs to be very hard or impossible to duplicate outside of the government, and it needs to be easily passed from one person to another (To facilitate economy). In a setting like this, it needs to be something that really sticks out as well, just like ADAM does in Rapture. Now, for the ease of use, the traditional numeric system can be kept (1 PP = 10 GP = 100 SP = 1000 CP). Because we're dealing with a magical society, it's reasonable to assume that some form of anti-counterfeiting is in place, such as Arcane Mark. It can't be any kind of plant matter, because that can be duplicated by your average citizen with Minor Creation, so we'll go with something that can be acquired in the environment, but not easily, or at least not without government knowledge. Notice that none of the resident models, despite being competent spellcasters, are Druids? This opens up Ironwood as a possible substance for currency. Because Ironwood is, basically, wood, it's useless outside of an economy that uses it, meaning you can't take any wealth from Highfaeth with you should you leave. Because it would need special treatment to stay Ironwood, and because no-one in the city is a Druid without special order, the government can control it's production and prevent counterfeiting. So, instead of PP=GP=SP=CP, we might have OW=PW=BW=WW, for Oak Ironwood, Pine Ironwood, Birch Ironwood, and Willow Ironwood. This is especially useful, because it gives an added reason for a large number of trees in Highfaeth, which can supply oxygen to the city. And, like Rapture, it means we can have a lot of government-funded parks :)
Lyinginbedmon 10-11-07, 03:54 PM	Well, I was working on a nice illustrative coin design, but Inkscape loathes me with a passion and the feeling is certainly mutual :banghead: EDIT: Okay, after much trial, tribulation, and repetitive clicking of Ctrl+S, I've managed to put together a working model of a Highfaeth coin (Compare with the image of the Greyhawk coin in the Player's Handbook) http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/2465/coinph2.png The symbol in centre is a leaf presentation of the binary version of HF. The words around the outside are in Elven, Dwarven, Gnomish, Common, and Halfling, and mean Arcane, Faith, Knowledge, Union, and Power, respectively. This emphasises the focii of Highfaeth's population and it's international perspective.
Dead_Weasel 10-13-07, 03:43 PM	Alrighty, things to consider: Laws? Do they still work in this place? Does anyone follow them? Food and Air. They have to come from somewhere, or else they certainly wouldn't have lasted so long. Creatures? We have the primaries from inside the city, but what about escaped sea creatures? This was a place of isolated experimentation after all. Power? A bit of a modern or future concept, but they'd need lights in the Bathypelagic (Which is where the city is, 800 ft. below sea level) because light doesn't go that far down. Some important NPCs. We've got that skinny on the big villains, but what about the little people? Healers, lieutenants, store owners, bar wenches! Map. A map is kinda essential when you're looking at a city, especially one segmented as Highfaeth is between different forces and research subjects. The Grit. So we've gone through power and we've gone through food and air, but what about the worse little things that PCs always seem to end up in? Things like how sewage is rid or what happens to contaminents and rubbish. As said, Highfaeth was created with the express purpose of recreating the advancement of Paradigm. There should probably be some such advancements available to PCs scouring the city (New spells, magic items, etc.). Similar to the above, there's a significant focus between the enemies on the alteration of their original bodies, be it with alchemical experimentation or grafts or transmutation magic. The PCs should have the option to do so, perhaps with new grafts and various alchemy and transmutation effects, possibly stemming from the city itself, in the form of dilapidated laboratories, perhaps even Gene Bank-like stalls. Another note: Currency. *snip* They could. Rapture was covered in security cameras, alarms, turrets and security robots. Highfaeth could be swarming with magical traps and law-enforcing constructs, just waiting for an opportunity to unload their crossbows. Fire is extremely illegal - wasting air and destroying something flammable could get you deported without a wetsuit, but this makes the city very cold. Does the city have ongoing exothermic chemical reactions everywhere, or did the government break down and put magical heaters everywhere? Fruit-beating trees? They would not be used for currency, since no one would want to cut them down. Obviously this does not cover all needs unless we start talking about goodberry bushes, but it is a start. Everyone (still alive and sane, anyway) in Highfaeth is going to be a vegetarian, since there is no way that they are going to have the biomass to sustain animals for meat while the city is tearing itself apart. I would imagine that a few lobsters or what-have-yous have made it into the city and found a way to survive. So long as they are not aggressive - or stay out of inhabited areas - they would probably be tolerated. Continual light torches everywhere, lots of items that can produce light a few times a day, lots of wealthy folks with darkvision - either grafted/mutated or from a magical item. Middle class settles for low-light vision? This aspect needs some work. In any case, dwarves have an edge here. Everyone is on a side, even if it is not one of the main three. The little people are on a side for protection, the big people are on a side for power. This brings up an important question - is Vex recruiting? If he is, the most important factor to him are the trees. As the leader of an undead army, trees are utterly insignificant to him - but absolutely crucial to his enemy. Does he destroy them, making everyone still alive his enemy? Or does he protect them, garnering himself some living allies/supporters? Is he secretly experimenting on the city's flora (the goodberry bush returns!?)? It would probably change quickly. I assume that the city has found itself a balance, but it is only a matter of time before Vex's army swells to the point where he can simply swarm his enemies. Perhaps it already has, but he holds back because he wants living creatures for his current experiments? There has to be some kind of system for this (more golems? lots of inanimate-matter teleporters? pipes are an ancient technology, magic is actually fairly unnecessary here, and the scale is such that it is probably unfeasible anyway). Refuse would be gathered and brought to some location, given some time to compost, then brought to orchards. "Three cheers for the circle of life, now eat your recycled waste." There should be all kinds of research going on, and war always drives technology forward. Knowledge could be mutating just as fast as the inhabitants. Go for it. To my knowledge, grafts have popped up in the Book of Vile Deeds, Fiend Folio, Libris Mortis, and Lords of Madness. I am sure that there are more out there, and creating your own is legitimate, so long as you keep balance in check. I like the wood-as-currency idea; it makes sense to me, given the environment and the importance of trees.Random thoughts about Kerrigan: she could be a skarn, or even a spinemeld warrior. I suggest this in an effort to bring incarnum back into Highfaeth. As I said elsewhere (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=14068286#post14068286ht tp://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=14068286#post14068286), incarnum makes an excellent stand-in for ADAM, likewise essentia for EVE.
Lyinginbedmon 10-13-07, 07:02 PM	They could. Rapture was covered in security cameras, alarms, turrets and security robots. Highfaeth could be swarming with magical traps and law-enforcing constructs, just waiting for an opportunity to unload their crossbows. Fire is extremely illegal - wasting air and destroying something flammable could get you deported without a wetsuit, but this makes the city very cold. Does the city have ongoing exothermic chemical reactions everywhere, or did the government break down and put magical heaters everywhere? We may be able to tie the heating to the power generation. Your typical heating element is just a looping of wire with an electrical current passed through it, this could also produce light. Fruit-beating trees? They would not be used for currency, since no one would want to cut them down. Obviously this does not cover all needs unless we start talking about goodberry bushes, but it is a start. Everyone (still alive and sane, anyway) in Highfaeth is going to be a vegetarian, since there is no way that they are going to have the biomass to sustain animals for meat while the city is tearing itself apart. I considered the possibility of the park levels being triple-layered. On the top, there's the parks full of trees, both fruit-bearing, currency wood, and aesthetic. They add nitrates to the soil, so we pass that on to the next lower level. Things here would be kept safe, regardless of the state of the city, because all but Vex (As you mentioned) need it to keep working. On this level, we have the mass agriculture, the farmland of the city. The fertile soil from above passes in a cycle to provide nutrients to this level. Most of this is things like potatos and tomatos and other such vegetables and fruits, though most fruit would be in the park level. Any spare space is used for wheat and hay, for the third level. Once the city fell, the plants probably took over. They may have exhausted their nutrients, making a dead forest, or they might have started expanding outside of the level, causing possible structural issues. On the bottom level, we have the farm animals. Cows, chickens, pigs, they all get fed, housed, and processed here. The manure helps the other two levels continue work, especially during cycle iterations. Once everything went to heck, the animals either starved to death or took over, becoming feral. If the lunatics got in, this would make a very disturbing encounter area. I would imagine that a few lobsters or what-have-yous have made it into the city and found a way to survive. So long as they are not aggressive - or stay out of inhabited areas - they would probably be tolerated. This might replace the Park third level's produce... Continual light torches everywhere, lots of items that can produce light a few times a day, lots of wealthy folks with darkvision - either grafted/mutated or from a magical item. Middle class settles for low-light vision? This aspect needs some work. In any case, dwarves have an edge here. Light is fairly easy. In terms of cost efficiency, the Everburning Torch is the best option. However, I was more concerned with things like electricity and heating, as well as the numerous experiments that could be performed with it's aid. Everyone is on a side, even if it is not one of the main three. The little people are on a side for protection, the big people are on a side for power. This brings up an important question - is Vex recruiting? If he is, the most important factor to him are the trees. As the leader of an undead army, trees are utterly insignificant to him - but absolutely crucial to his enemy. Does he destroy them, making everyone still alive his enemy? Or does he protect them, garnering himself some living allies/supporters? Is he secretly experimenting on the city's flora (the goodberry bush returns!?)? It would probably change quickly. I assume that the city has found itself a balance, but it is only a matter of time before Vex's army swells to the point where he can simply swarm his enemies. Perhaps it already has, but he holds back because he wants living creatures for his current experiments? If Vex were recruiting, it would be a paradigm between himself and Kerrigan, two large alien entities of immense power. It's also not really his style. He probably captures people like Kerrigan does, to experiment on them, but I doubt he's recruiting. He has something to consider about destroying the trees, however, though knowledge-wise it might be beyond his ken. The molecular mass of oxygen is less dense than that of carbon dioxide, that's why it usually falls to the floor. If he destroyed the trees, he'd place a lot of Carbon in the air, and the living creatures would start suffocating, producing a lot of CO2. If enough of the stuff gathered in the contained atmosphere, it could crack the whole place open, and then Vex would be left open to the crushing pressures of the ocean. There has to be some kind of system for this (more golems? lots of inanimate-matter teleporters? pipes are an ancient technology, magic is actually fairly unnecessary here, and the scale is such that it is probably unfeasible anyway). Refuse would be gathered and brought to some location, given some time to compost, then brought to orchards. "Three cheers for the circle of life, now eat your recycled waste." Most of it could either be turned into manure or burned for fuel. Urine contains both water and salts, so evaporate them apart and you get both. Faeces is full of the decomposers and nitrates vital to plant growth. It is certainly very medieval to use it like this. There should be all kinds of research going on, and war always drives technology forward. Knowledge could be mutating just as fast as the inhabitants. Go for it. To my knowledge, grafts have popped up in the Book of Vile Deeds, Fiend Folio, Libris Mortis, and Lords of Madness. I am sure that there are more out there, and creating your own is legitimate, so long as you keep balance in check. Not counting Warforged grafts, which I think are in a recent Eberron book, there are 74 grafts available, to my knowledge. But just tacking on different body parts to creatures gets repetetive and dull after so long. Think about it, if Rapture was part of a game than ran for, say, 3 days straight, wouldn't you get bored of meeting regular folk with different plasmids? Fontaine is the difference, he takes a whole mess of them and becomes something barely recognisable from human. So, we have these templates to add as well. The question is, how do we go about making them rationally available to PCs? Random thoughts about Kerrigan: she could be a skarn, or even a spinemeld warrior. I suggest this in an effort to bring incarnum back into Highfaeth. As I said elsewhere (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=14068286#post14068286ht tp://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=14068286#post14068286), incarnum makes an excellent stand-in for ADAM, likewise essentia for EVE. At the moment, her history and background ties her well to Half-Farspawn with a little RP elements. Highfaeth may have acquired Incarnum usage, but it was still in it's infancy when the place collapsed. Primary usage was with the Weird Henrys, and it's only mentioned as Incarnum in passing even there. Because wood is needed to make the currency, we have to have room to grow them, meaning a forest or, at the very least, a sizeable park. I've plotted two points in the city that have very large parks, capable of providing air to the entire city. Alternatively, with power, a slightly modified Bottle of Air could also provide air. Similarly, there could be a floor dedicated to farmland, which would be a fairly gruesome place to be in the modern times. Getting cattle down through the Diving Bell would be a tricky prospect, better to use Teleport or Teleportation Circle (There's a plot hook!). The parks might also support various herbs and flowers for research and experimentation. Care to take a trip down a swirling rainbow-coloured road? There's a lot of creatures from the Bathypelagic written up in Stormwrack, but a lot more that haven't been seen at all. Most of the inhabitants use bioluminescence, producing quite a dazzling sight for those that can find windows. A number of Anglerfish and Eels could serve as useful food sources, but my primary thought is taking advantage of the experimentation and the largely-unexplored area to come up with whatever creature you want swimming about. Highfaeth is described as being on a ledge on the side of a seamount (Undersea mountain), with Paradigm city in the other side. Most undersea mountains are formed from extinct submarine volcanos. So, there's the possibility of geothermal energy, like Rapture. Alternatively, a magical source? I for one enjoy the idea of alchemical Fireballs being used as reactors. Working on ithttp://img179.imageshack.us/img179/8201/city2kd8.png If we consider the alchemical Fireball reactor idea, the rubbish could just filter through into them, destroyed completely. Alternatively, there could be a gate to somewhere that either it won't matter or the inhabitants won't care. Given it's massive volcanos, Gehenna would seem to be a good choice, provided an adequate target could be found that wouldn't shift away from the portal. There is the possibility of simply dumping it in the existing extinct volcano, but that could compromise the power supply. For water, the spell Create Water would do well, especially through a series of items like Decanter of Endless Water, which would provide a stable source of clean water for bathing, toiletries, cooking, and drinking. The only issue would be to dispose of the water appropriately so as not to disturb the salination of the surrounding ocean (Which would force fish away).
Dead_Weasel 10-13-07, 11:57 PM	Hah! You are way ahead of me. The best I can do, then, is to spur you into revealing more - until you give up everything you are working with, odds are high that we will be retracing your steps. You do not have to show your hand, yet, but you have clearly given this more thought than I. Nonetheless, I will be back with whatever little I manage to gather.
Lyinginbedmon 10-14-07, 09:50 AM	That's about all I've got at the moment, but I'll give a little thought to the Fireball Reactors. It's always seemed reasonable to me to consider the amount of damage produced by an effect to be equivalent to the energy it produces, a logical and simple way of determining the strength of the effect and therefore the energy produced. So, let's say we have this Alchemical Fireball. It'd be a large (20 ft.) liquid mass putting out 10d6 fire damage. In our reactor scenario, that heat is being used to boil water into steam to turn turbines to provide electricity, as well as to heat large water vessels to heat the city. Essentially, it's Lava, so we could bump it up to 20d6, or 15 given a Delayed Blast Fireball effect, which would make sense given that we'd need to make the stuff and then get it into the reactor safely before it went off. We'd need to have a water mass free of salts and other particulates to ensure a clean transferal of energy, and to avoid rust and other issues within the system. A few minutes with a Decanter of Endless Water should fill it well enough. Okay, so each Reactor is producing 15d6 points of energy, divided up between electricity and heating. That's between 15 and 90 points each. I'm picturing a Shinra-type layout, with each reactor using some portion of it's heating energy to support the others. This way, we have 8 reactors in individual locations in the city supporting each other, so if one falls the others can pick up the slack. Technically speaking, I don't have to care about this within the rules, but I'm obessive about accuracy :P That gives us 120-720 points of energy to supply to heating and electricity. I think a 43/43/14 breakup between heating, electricity, and the support of the other reactors, should do. Now, as I said, this is essentially Lava we're talking about. So submersion in it would char broil someone in record time, subjecting them roundly to 15d6 fire damage. Contact would deal 2d6, or (1-1/2)d6 if you're a stickler. Now, whilst I imagine that the city could survive without electricity, eliminating enough of the reactors to compromise a secure flow of heating would cause the city to rapidly cool, as the average temperature of the Bathypelagic level is a mere 39 Fahrenheit, the equivalent of cold weather. This would make it substantially less habitable for the living creatures inside.Comparing it to the volume of an potion flask (Similar in nature and size to most alchemical containers), that equates to: Cost: 210,000 GP Weight: 1800 lb Meaning the whole system of 8 reactors (Not factoring in the spell-made containers and water) would total a cost of 1,680,000 GP. That's about equivalent to one 14th of a nuclear power plant
Dead_Weasel 10-14-07, 11:39 PM	Generating an antimagic field near the reactor would be extremely illegal. Dispel magics probably are not favorites either. Having fire-immune creatures as technicians would cut out the need for shielding within the complex, but make it more hazardous for visitors of all types.
Lyinginbedmon 10-15-07, 04:33 AM	Hmm...we could use summoned creatures, like Fire Mephits or Elementals (Though the firey composition of the elemental might damage equipment). However, I'm not sure if they'd be necessary except in emergencies and direct issues with the alchemical fireball. I mean, look at nuclear reactors. There are guard rails not 20 ft. from the thing even while it's operational and illuminating the water about it. It's also far more dynamic if we say that the reactor is shielded such that, were the shielding removed, the entire room would be rendered uninhabitable in a vicious flow of liquid flame tearing apart whatever lay in its wake. Let's say that the core itself is ordinary metal, conjured via Wall of Iron, which holds the alchemical fireball. The surrounding area is shielding by Wall of Force on four sides, with a stone floor beneath and the ventilation to the water vessel above. A chilling effect to cool the core would weaken the metal, magical reinforcement effects such as Hardening would suffice to prevent the core from melting. I'm picturing a highly organised area. Pipes coat the walls keeping the room itself cool and supporting both the present reactor and those about it across the city. The massive metallic sphere central to the room (Probably rooms), a massive twisting tube structure attached from above to the complex labyrinthine screw-shaped water vessel, blasting a near-constant gout of steam at turbines comparable to homes themselves. Winged creatures, flames and small fires flitting about their being, move hurriedly about ahead of an invisible protective shield near the reactor, ensuring the casing of the core does not yield to the hellfires inside it, all the while enduring the immense heat that radiates from within. Wall and floorspace largely taken up with all manner of dials, levers, and wheels, quietly regulating the temperamental and aging system to feed heat and power to the city in concert with its fellows. EDIT: On the note of emergency systems, there should probably be a way to induce heat and ignition to the alchemical fireball without removing it from the core. Partially, that could be supplied by the Scorching Ray of the Fire Mephits, perhaps a series of angle pillors to fire jets of Scorching Rays should the mephits be unavailable, with an added couple of raisable pillars to connect with the core for a Shocking Grasp ignition. To shut off the reactors in extreme emergencies, Ray of Frost cooling? (Albeit with significant damage improvement)
Lyinginbedmon 10-15-07, 05:33 PM	Alrighty, things to consider: Laws? Do they still work in this place? Does anyone follow them? √ Food and Air. Creatures? We have the primaries from inside the city, but what about escaped sea creatures? √ Power? Some important NPCs. √ Map. √ The Grit. New spells, magic items, etc. New grafts and various alchemy and transmutation effects, perhaps even Gene Bank-like stalls. Okay, we've covered Food & Air, Power, and we're working on the Map. How many Decanters would be necessary for a sufficient water supply for over 1000 people? Assuming 1500 people (A little extra for growth considerations during construction), that's 3000 litres of water each day. On Geyser, a Decanter provides 50 gallons every 6 seconds (1 round), meaning we would need at least 27 Decanters, so we'll round it up to a nice 30. We might as well make it an aesthetic thing, so we'll put it in the ceiling of the main building in the center of the city as a massive fountain, protected against tampering by shielding. Functional and fashionable! The sewage and refuse maintenance...hmm. We're going to need a recycling plant or a very efficient dumping site. We need to break things up to make them more manageable: Biological waste is used in the compost and manure for the gardens Metals like Iron and Steel (Mostly the former in Highfaeth) can be separated magnetically straight from the line and melted down to form new items. Glass can be melted down for new products. Papers can be ground and soaked into pulp to be made into new paper, though a bleaching agent may be required to remove ink, easily done with Erase. Making more ink is an alchemical process, mixing dyes from plants with a low-grade adhesive (Which can be made from the butchered animals)So, the waste is collected and gathered in the lower levels of the outer ring. There, it flows onto a conveyer belt the encirlces the city, and the waste is picked out and separated by Undead, where it flows onto a lower level appropriate to its content and is recycled as above, before returning to the streets to dealers to start all over again. Ok, so that's the grit covered.
Lyinginbedmon 10-16-07, 03:42 PM	A couple of important/notable NPCs for Highfaeth. I'm using "Council 16" as the name of the 16 mages' company whilst they were building Highfaeth. Meredith Witchburn: CN Human Transmuter 7/Master Transmogrifist 4/Fleshwarper 6 Graft Flesh (silthilar) with Graft Mastery (fiend, highfaeth), Elder Secret (aboleth, gibbering mouther) Meredith began her career in Olympia, but quickly relocated to Hecaten where her experiments would receive less harsh criticism. As one of the foremost in alchemical and magical transmutation, she was invited by Rupert Geldar of Council 16 to come to Highfaeth, an offer she could hardly turn down. Working in Highfaeth, Meredith was a pioneer of graft research and the development of new alchemical substances. She is responsible for many of the unique grafts found in Highfaeth. When Highfaeth fell, she was tasked by Thomas to create a creature to support the black market with resources, thus keeping Vex and Kerrigan from pushing the battle lines and keeping Highfaeth in a tenuous equilibrium. Her initial experiments produced the Halfburns, and later she successfully produced the Witchburns (Or the LS-4s, as her notes call them). However, she withdrew into her laboratory and has not been seen since. Popular rumour says that she had an emotional breakdown at what she had done to produce the two creatures and is trying to recover in secret. Prof. Henry Tenenbaum: LN Half-Elf Sorcerer 3/Wizard 4/Ultimate Magus 10 Professor Tenenbaum acquired his honours in Cairo, where he served as chief lecturer at the Rosenthorpe Academy for Mystical Arts. He was invited to Highfaeth early in it's construction by Grendal Thrup of Council 16, and was so fascinated by the concept that he faked his own death to allow his seemless entrance. Whilst Highfaeth was flourishing, Tenenbaum worked diligently to advance magical theorem and expanded the theories of Magic Physics to include Incarnum as a possible source, though he was unable to determine the precise mechanisms involved. He acquired significant praise for his work and his publishings received extreme notoreity in the media. After the fall, and Witchburn's subsequent reclusive disappearance, he was one of the first to realise the vulnerabilities of the Witchburns, and gathered a team consisting of transmuters, alchemists, and engineers to produce the Weird Henrys from the remaining stock used to create the Witchburns. The process was infamous for the meticulous documentation he applied to his notes. However, Henry was captured by the Flow during the test trials of the Weird Henrys. Rumour has it that he has been subverted or manipulated into working for Kerrigan, though he has not been seen since his capture. Yaeon Asrthal: CN Elf Conjurer 6/Geometer 5/Effigy Master 3/Wayfarer Guide 3 Yaeon was part of the first batch of inhabitants brought into the project when Council 16 began, a master craftsman using magic to rapidly accelerate construction projects whilst retaining or even increasing the quality of work. He has modestly stated that more than half of Highfaeth's exterior walls were made by him alone, and this is generally accepted as fact. Were it not for Yaeon, the central ring of Highfaeth would have taken more than twice the time to build, significantly stalling the construction process. Yaeon was head of the construction projects both for and within Highfaeth, and designed many of the engineering innovations inside, such as the waste treatment and the enigmatic central fountain. As such, he was part of the supporters for repairing Highfaeth after the Great Storm. He was also the chief designer for the Security Golems. Once the city fell into the hands of Vex and Kerrigan, and the black market's low functionality meant that the city would doubtful be repaired at any point in time, Yaeon defected from the inhabitants and has been serving as a rogue agent ever since, using his magic to escape any pursuers and create traps, mazes, and other puzzles in order to achieve an as-yet unknown goal. Rumour tells that he is working for Vex, though there is no evidence to support this.
Dead_Weasel 10-16-07, 05:16 PM	I f you want some minor NPCs, I could throw some together. I actually have an idea for two branching off from Tenenbaum already. Stormwrack has a number of creatures for use in the depths; I doubt that deep-sea fish need to be any different from normal fish mechanically, aside from pressure endurance and light sensitivity/blindness. Spells are not my strong point - you might want to search Magic & Spells for aquatic campaign and/or transmutation spells. If anything comes to mind I will pass it along.
Lyinginbedmon 10-16-07, 05:32 PM	By all means, let's see them. I'll see what I can think up with spells
Dead_Weasel 10-16-07, 09:51 PM	Marcus Rantor: LN Human Wizard 3/Incarnate 2/Soulcaster 3Marcus was Professor Henry Tenenbaum's assistant while researching incarnum; after Marcus displayed a knack for manipulating it himself, not much is clear - in fact, not much is known about how Marcus came to use incarnum himself. What is certain is that Marcus has been seen wandering Highfaeth's darker causeways with Masher, a deranged and particularly ugly orc. It is possible that he is still taking orders from Tenenbaum, and equally possible that he is taking orders from Tenenbaum's mysterious captor. He may simply be wandering the alleys in search of purpose.Masher: CN Orc Barbarian 2/Totemist 2Although the inhabitants of Highfaeth know him as Masher, Marcus Rantor knows Masher as I-31, Professor Henry Tenenbaum's first, and only, successful attempt to intentionally produce a sentient being capable of manipulating incarnum. The process also shattered Masher's already fragile mind. Now he follows Marcus through the back alleys of Highfaeth. Illiterate, Masher has not said a word since he first had the souls of the unborn forcibly attached to his own, and Marcus mostly seems to ignore him, although Marcus always looks after Masher before seeing to himself.I promise that I will stop forcing Incarnum down your throat now. Little Betsy: LN Human Rogue 6Everyone knows Little Betsy; she has passed through the corner of everyone's eye. Unassuming, quiet and kind, everyone knows that Betsy would never hurt a flea. What they do not know is that she is Meredith Witchburn's niece, and she never hurts anyone without good cause and deep shadows. She asks after discreetly Meredith and watches from the shadows, patient as can be. Not even she knows what she will do when she finds her aunt - but she will never stop looking.Tareon Asrthal: CN Elf Conjurer 5/Alienist 4Tareon has fared poorly since his father's choice to turn rogue. Although he has proven adept at protecting himself from his father's enemies, he has become more and more... odd. Tareon harbors the certainty that there are voices surrounding the city, and that they are talking to him. He is not yet aware of it, but he has begun talking back under his breath. He wanders the rim of the city, glaring at the water and muttering.The Bagman: LE Rakshasa Mindspy 5/Warlock 4/Eldritch Theurge 6The Bagman wanders Highfaeth, scrounging in piles of refuse for usable, salable or edible scraps. Only the very well-connected know to come to him for information; in fact, they often find that he knows exactly what they want to know before they have said a word. This is because the Bagman is neither a derelict nor an information broker; he made his way into Highfaeth in search of magical lore, and the occupants of the city only see him rummaging through garbage because that is all that he wants them to see. The powerful rakshasa quietly steals or copies any piece of magic that interests him, and amuses himself by distributing information - in exchange for research and magical items, of course. The accuracy of his information varies, but the user's actions afterward are guaranteed to benefit him.
Lyinginbedmon 10-17-07, 03:11 AM	I'm wondering how The Bagman and Masher managed to get into the city in the first place, but they all look pretty good
Dead_Weasel 10-17-07, 07:47 PM	The Bagman's entry into the city is best left a mystery - he is, after all, a mind-reading, change shape-using sorcerer/warlock. However, if you need to justify it to yourself, dimension door alone could get him in once he finds out about the place and locates it on a map (400+13*40=920 feet). Moreover, swimming the styx would give him a swim speed and the "aquatic creature" designation, giving him lots of time to find it and locate a potential entrance even without teleporting. One of those, or a magical item, left behind by accident or in case of emergency - they are his forte, after all. Masher I just figured that an orc would be a prime choice for magical experimentation, given the stereotype of magic users looking down on anything with even a hint of an Int penalty. If you would prefer to keep things internalized, any of the races in Highfaeth could be explained instead.
Lyinginbedmon 10-17-07, 07:58 PM	Well, now I know I've got too much free time: I'm mathematically calculating the construction time for the outer walls of the city :( The central ring would be constructed first, to allow for a base of operations from which they could continue without a sea or land-based headquarters that could be discovered or compromised. The central ring is 3 miles in diameter, equalling a circumference of 7.07 miles. Pairing up spellcasters to cast Wall of Iron and then use Hardening to make it strong enough to resist the pressure produces 110 ft. square of reinforced iron each round, 1 round per day because of the level of the spells required. The exception to this rule is Yaeon, the master craftsman (I'm considering giving him the nickname of "Titan of Iron"), who can cast Wall of Iron up to 8 times each day with a caster level of 15, producing a total of 1200 ft. square, requiring 10 of the other average spellcasters to completely reinforce it. So, separating his group of 11 from the rest of the population (I'm using 1000 as my model, for best case), we are left with 494 pairs (1 spare) and the Ansrthal team. Overall, they can produce 55,430 ft. square of reinforced iron each day. That's roughly 10.5 square miles, meaning the circumference of the central ring is completed in a few rounds, minutes tops. The next ring takes a week, and the final outer ring takes 3, for a total of a little under a month for the outer shell of Highfaeth to be largely completed, assuming 11 floors (10 ft. = 1 floor). If we break it into shifts of Work/8 hours/Repeat, we can double that progress.I'm also thinking on a spell for welding the sheets together, though it'll have a bit more utility than that.
Dead_Weasel 10-17-07, 11:40 PM	Well, now I know I've got too much free time: I'm mathematically calculating the construction time for the outer walls of the city :( The central ring would be constructed first, to allow for a base of operations from which they could continue without a sea or land-based headquarters that could be discovered or compromised. The central ring is 3 miles in diameter, equalling a circumference of 7.07 miles. Pairing up spellcasters to cast Wall of Iron and then use Hardening to make it strong enough to resist the pressure produces 110 ft. square of reinforced iron each round, 1 round per day because of the level of the spells required. The exception to this rule is Yaeon, the master craftsman (I'm considering giving him the nickname of "Titan of Iron"), who can cast Wall of Iron up to 8 times each day with a caster level of 15, producing a total of 1200 ft. square, requiring 10 of the other average spellcasters to completely reinforce it. So, separating his group of 11 from the rest of the population (I'm using 1000 as my model, for best case), we are left with 494 pairs (1 spare) and the Ansrthal team. Overall, they can produce 55,430 ft. square of reinforced iron each day. That's roughly 10.5 square miles, meaning the circumference of the central ring is completed in a few rounds, minutes tops. The next ring takes a week, and the final outer ring takes 3, for a total of a little under a month for the outer shell of Highfaeth to be largely completed, assuming 11 floors (10 ft. = 1 floor). If we break it into shifts of Work/8 hours/Repeat, we can double that progress.I'm also thinking on a spell for welding the sheets together, though it'll have a bit more utility than that.O_o Burning hands not good enough? As long as it deals enough damage to penetrate hardness, it ought to soften the metal enough. Although, I suppose that something with a duration, more like produce flame, would be better. Much better, actually. Perhaps someone with one of the 'reshaping' metamagic feats does all of the welding at once with long/grid-shaped wall of fires?
Lyinginbedmon 10-18-07, 04:44 AM	Alrighty, things to consider: Laws? Do they still work in this place? Does anyone follow them? √ Food and Air. √ Creatures? We have the primaries from inside the city, but what about escaped sea creatures? √ Power? √ Some important NPCs. √ Map. √ The Grit. New spells, magic items, etc. New grafts and various alchemy and transmutation effects, perhaps even Gene Bank-like stalls. That just leaves us with new magic and items, plus any unusual laws. Laws: We’ve already said that Antimagic shouldn’t be used around the Alchemical Fireball reactors, but what about elsewhere? Should it be banned outright? Antimagic Field is a fairly useful defensive technique in a city filled with spellcasters… Undead are used to sort through and recycle the waste produced by the population, but what about Necromancy overall? Are Necromancers as free as everyone else to practice their craft? Spellstitching would be very popular I imagine, especially amongst whatever Necropolitan population there may be. Should there be laws to regulate these things? Communication with the outside world is obviously outlawed, to maintain the city’s secrecy. What laws could be in place to provide and manage this secrecy? Spells: Catalyse – Increases the elemental damage of spells in a given area by a definite factor. Could be used to improve the output of the Alchemical Fireball reactors, though we’d need to amp up the Hardness of the casings even more. Contingency, Greater – Similar to Contingency, used to create a contingent spell on an area, creating a crude form of magic trap. Perfect for Yaeon. Hardening, Greater – Like Hardening, but with a larger area and/or higher bonuses to Hardness Soul Swallower – Exactly what it says on the tin. A long-duration spell that grants a variation of the Swallow Soul ability of some of Highfaeth’s creatures, with a few investitures for the points garnered. Welding – A ray with a sizeable range that deals fire damage, enough to weld iron at least. More utility than this, it would make a handy combat option given the range we’re talking about Items: Alchemical: Shock Arrows - Fire at the enemy or attach a metal cord to electrocute anyone it hits. Essentialite - A fluid substance that is consumed to grant Fast Healing for a short period of time. Taking multiple doses increases the Fast Healing, but can lead to an overdose, which may cause more harm than good. Essentain - Similar to Essentialite, but grants temporary Soul Points instead. (EVE Hypos) Grafts: Spiritun - A reservoir embedded into the chest near the heart that stores Incarnum for use as "Soul Points". Allows the use of acquired Soul Points and removes the temporary condition of Essentain, though it doesn't grant Swallow Soul. Also allows the user to convert Soul Points into healing. (Allows for ADAM usage and works similar to EVE Link, in BioShock terms) Exorm - A chitinous stinger embedded into the forearm that allows Swallow Soul. If the victim also has a Spiritun, gain their Soul Points? (ADAM Needle)We should be certain to note that Soul Points are equivalent to Essentia for Incarnum-using character.
Lyinginbedmon 10-18-07, 12:29 PM	My first shot at a spell: Welding Evocation [Fire] Level: Clr 2, Sor/Wiz 2 Components: V, S, F Casting Time: 1 standard action Range: 120 ft. Area: 120 ft. line Duration: Instantaneous Saving Throw: Reflex half Spell Resistance: Yes A bolt of burning red energy shoots from your outstretched finger, right between the twin sheets of steel. With a loud hiss, and a torrent of sparks, a red-hot seam between them inexorably joins the two. You unleash a bolt of firey energy that deals 1d4 points of damage +2 per caster level (Maximum +20) to each creature in its area. The bolt begins at your fingertips. The bolt sets fire to combustibles and damages objects in its path. It can melt metals with a low melting point, such as lead, gold, copper, silver, or bronze, and fuse metallic objects it damages (The primary use of this spell). If the damage caused to an interposing barrier shatters or breaks through it, the bolt may continue beyond the barrier if the spell’s range permits; otherwise, it stops at the barrier just as any other spell effect does. Focus: A piece of charcoal and an amber, glass, or steel rod
Dead_Weasel 10-18-07, 06:24 PM	Laws: We’ve already said that Antimagic shouldn’t be used around the Alchemical Fireball reactors, but what about elsewhere? Should it be banned outright? Antimagic Field is a fairly useful defensive technique in a city filled with spellcasters… Undead are used to sort through and recycle the waste produced by the population, but what about Necromancy overall? Are Necromancers as free as everyone else to practice their craft? Spellstitching would be very popular I imagine, especially amongst whatever Necropolitan population there may be. Should there be laws to regulate these things? Communication with the outside world is obviously outlawed, to maintain the city’s secrecy. What laws could be in place to provide and manage this secrecy? Certain designated public spaces (forums?:P) should have permanent antimagic fields, so that people have a neutral space where they can meet without needing to worry about magical attack/manipulation/spying. Aside from these spaces, generating antimagic fields is illegal (although mitigating conditions, such as preventing injury or damage, will excuse its usage) in public areas. Antimagic-ing private space is legal, so long as the effect lies wholly within the property and you have the owner's permission. All of the city's government buildings are soaked in permanent heightened antimagic fields. Unintelligent undead are essentially property, but you have to own the body legally, before you animate it (licenses for the use of the deceased? The Department of Respectful Use? Lots of factors in legalizing necromancy). Intelligent undead are a given in a city of mages, but with Vex's influence creeping across the city, they are probably viewed with increasing suspicion - how far can their loyalties really be trusted? There have certainly been attempts by factions to outlaw/exile/destroy them, perhaps even forcibly, but have they succeeded, and if so how/to what extent? Permanent wards against scrying from outside are a given; preventing communication is a touch more difficult, simply because there are so many ways to do so. In order for communication to be genuinely prevented, Highfaeth would have to be sealed off from the rest of the world, planar travel, and the transitory planes; then you can move onto the magical/psionic communication issue. Oneiromancy (dream magic) would be another problem (in a city so heavily invested in magic, folks are going to practice every imaginable form of it). Communication obviously has to be illegal, but perhaps instead of trying to prevent it, detection and punishment is the focus. The communicator would be punished harshly, and the communicatee would be killed immediately (possibly shanghaied into citizenship, if the individual is valuable enough to be worth the trouble of integrating).spells and itemsLooking good.
Lyinginbedmon 10-19-07, 06:30 AM	Certain designated public spaces (forums?:P) should have permanent antimagic fields, so that people have a neutral space where they can meet without needing to worry about magical attack/manipulation/spying. Aside from these spaces, generating antimagic fields is illegal (although mitigating conditions, such as preventing injury or damage, will excuse its usage) in public areas. Antimagic-ing private space is legal, so long as the effect lies wholly within the property and you have the owner's permission. All of the city's government buildings are soaked in permanent heightened antimagic fields. Unintelligent undead are essentially property, but you have to own the body legally, before you animate it (licenses for the use of the deceased? The Department of Respectful Use? Lots of factors in legalizing necromancy). Intelligent undead are a given in a city of mages, but with Vex's influence creeping across the city, they are probably viewed with increasing suspicion - how far can their loyalties really be trusted? There have certainly been attempts by factions to outlaw/exile/destroy them, perhaps even forcibly, but have they succeeded, and if so how/to what extent? Permanent wards against scrying from outside are a given; preventing communication is a touch more difficult, simply because there are so many ways to do so. In order for communication to be genuinely prevented, Highfaeth would have to be sealed off from the rest of the world, planar travel, and the transitory planes; then you can move onto the magical/psionic communication issue. Oneiromancy (dream magic) would be another problem (in a city so heavily invested in magic, folks are going to practice every imaginable form of it). Communication obviously has to be illegal, but perhaps instead of trying to prevent it, detection and punishment is the focus. The communicator would be punished harshly, and the communicatee would be killed immediately (possibly shanghaied into citizenship, if the individual is valuable enough to be worth the trouble of integrating). Public areas where magic isn't generally used should have the antimagic, because places like markets are going to need it to compete. Government buildings save a few sparse rooms for specific uses should definitely be bathed in higher-level versions. Maybe some stores and other establishments have automated Dispel Magic turrets as part of their security. I like the sound of the Department of Respectful Use, there should certainly be a chunk of paperwork to get the body, and a form that denotes that the body has been legally acquired for use in Necromancy (Akin to the paperwork declaring a car as being owned by someone). Should the undead cause problems, the necromancer involved must present these papers, and could possibly get marks on their license, so to speak, eventually leading to their usage of Necromancy spells being revoked, possibly through Mark of Justice with the penalty of them being rendered blind and deaf if they do cast one. There may also, in addition to the Department of Respectful Use, be a kind of charity organisation for people to donate the bodies of their deceased for the uses of Necromancy and experimentation. As for the intelligent undead, given the grafts going on in Highfaeth, I don't think there should be many especial rules against them, they're still going to get arrested for murdering someone or breaking and entering or using spells maliciously. If we combine the Inscriptions of Vacancy and Veil of Obscurity lair wards, we can prevent anyone finding the occupants or the city through Scrying magic. Because of Veil of Obscurity anyone nearby wouldn't see it either, it would appear as just another land mass until you ploughed straight into it. Total cost would be....about 3 million GP at least. You certainly have a good point with the issues on preventing the communication, at least not without bathing the entire city in antimagic. As for a punishment, I have a very evil idea: Greater Bestow Curse. According to the alternative curses in Book of Vile Darkness, GBC can cause "The target cannot cast spells, use spell-like abilities, or activate spell completion or spell trigger items.". What worse could there be for a city full of spellcasters? Nabbing the communicated is a good idea. Some interrogation with magical assistance could certainly pry their location and more than a few spells could grant the required familiarity of what they look like. If they're valuable, True Domination would help to make them useful. Otherwise, test subjects or undead for the outer ring's recycling. There should be an office of government for this, a group of bloodhounds for tracking down both those that communicate and those they communicated with, the "Department of Skiptracing".
Lyinginbedmon 10-19-07, 08:02 PM	I've been thinking on the Gatherer's Gardens. When grafts became popular, they started putting up these vending machine-type devices all across the city, in various districts. You find one of these machines in your local neighbourhood, select the graft you want, make a slight biological sacrifice so it won't be rejected, and then pay the price for the graft. Over the course of days, weeks, months (Depending on the graft), the machine weaves together the materials for the graft, crafting it as normal. Whilst the machines were usually resupplied with the graft components on a weekly basis, they now often require the components to be located personally. Eventually, the graft is finished and you return and pick it up. From there, you go to a medical or alchemy building where the graft is attached, for a small fee.
Dead_Weasel 10-20-07, 02:28 AM	Something else has occurred to me: summoning spells. As soon as someone summons a celestial, elemental, fiend, genie or other intelligent outsider into the city, that creature knows about the place. It might not know exactly where it is, or even which Material Plane it is on, but the simple fact that the sentient creature knows about the city full of magic underwater is very, very bad - regardless of its alignment. How is this dealt with? Are the Calling and Summoning subschools suppressed/banned/countered by magical censors? Has Highfaeth outlawed the summoning of sentient creatures, or has it arranged for the non-intervention of outside influences beyond its control? Does it have trade relations with them? Are they starting to creep in as the city turns into a warzone?
Lyinginbedmon 10-20-07, 04:24 AM	According to the Three Laws of Magic (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54392), summoned creatures are, more accurately, reproductions of actual creatures on other planes. That's why you can keep summoning them even when they've been killed, and why you can summon dozens with the right spells. Therefore, summoning a creature into Highfaeth would yield just a creature, one that wouldn't have any ties to anywhere else despite all appearances. Alternatively, in a campaign without the Three Laws, Bind the heck out of them.
Dead_Weasel 10-20-07, 07:54 PM	According to the Three Laws of Magic (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54392), summoned creatures are, more accurately, reproductions of actual creatures on other planes. That's why you can keep summoning them even when they've been killed, and why you can summon dozens with the right spells. Therefore, summoning a creature into Highfaeth would yield just a creature, one that wouldn't have any ties to anywhere else despite all appearances.That is fine, but I think that you ought to mention it higher up in the thread if you are going to be incorporating the Three Laws, since in this instance (at least) they run counter to the SRD.A summoning spell instantly brings a creature or object to a place you designate. When the spell ends or is dispelled, a summoned creature is instantly sent back to where it came from,A calling spell transports a creature from another plane to the plane you are on. The spell grants the creature the one-time ability to return to its plane of origin,
Lyinginbedmon 10-20-07, 07:58 PM	Mentioned
Lyinginbedmon 10-21-07, 10:51 AM	Conjuration [See text] Level: Sor/Wiz 3 Components: V, S, M Casting Time: 1 minute Range: Close (15 ft. +5/2 levels) Effect: 30 ft. radius emanation Duration: 1 minute/level (D) Saving Throw: None Spell Resistance: No With a whisper, the fluidic flame dies out on the ground, but a very slight, very tiny, glow remains where it lay. This spell creates a field within which elemental damage is enhanced. All damage-dealing spells in the affected area gain a bonus to damage equal to +1d6 per 3 caster levels. This effect only applies to a single kind of elemental damage, you choose the kind the field enhances when you cast the spell. The spell gains the appropriate descriptor (Acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic). Catalyse can be made permanent with a permanency spell. Material Component: An alchemical item that produces the same kind of damage as the field enhances (Alchemist’s Fire for fire, a thunderstone for sonic, etc.)Does CL 10 and 1000 XP sound right for the permanency?
Dead_Weasel 10-22-07, 01:20 AM	I would say CL 12, 1500 XP, but that is just because the spell strikes me as particularly powerful as a permanent effect. The reason I do not think that the spell itself needs to be changed (necessarily) is because it is worthless on its own, and very weak without careful planning; its real purpose in my eyes is to lay it down somewhere permanently, and then lure your enemies there to burn them away. Therefore, doing so ought to really cost something.
Lyinginbedmon 10-22-07, 09:16 PM	True, though the pattern of costing in the Permanency spell seems to indicate an XP cost equal to (Minimum CL -8)*500, which would mea CL 12 would require 2000 XP. I should be able to make up some more spells later today, when the sun has actually risen on this side of the globe.
Dead_Weasel 10-23-07, 03:40 AM	I... did not notice that at all, but now that you point it out it is a pretty clear pattern.
Lyinginbedmon 10-23-07, 05:31 PM	Evocation Level: Sor/Wiz 7 Components: V, S, M, F Casting Time: At least 10 minutes, as contingency Range: 0 ft. Effect: 5 ft./2 levels radius sphere (S) Duration: One day/level (D) or until discharged With a whisper, the area seems magically charged, as if awaiting some unknown trigger As contingency, except the additional spell effect is placed on area instead of the caster. The trigger event can occur anywhere within the sphere, but is still subject to the same restrictions as contingency. Focus: A model of a 16-pointed star carved from elephant ivory and decorated with gems (worth at least 2,000 gp). The focus must be placed somewhere within the area of effect for the contingency to work. Transmutation Level: Cleric 5, Sor/Wiz 5 Components: V, S Casting Time: 1 minute Range: Touch Target: One creature Duration: 1 hour/level The creature’s teeth lengthen into points, and a dim blue glow emanates from deep in their throat… The target creature gains the Swallow Soul ability, much like a Weird Henry. If they are present when a sentient creature is killed or destroyed, they can take a full-round action to capture and consume their soul. They gain a number of soul points equal to half the hit die of the consumed creature. These soul points disappear at the end of the duration. As a standard action, they can invest soul points into one of the following abilities. Combat Power – You gain a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls per soul point. Fly Speed – You gain a fly speed of 10 ft. per soul point invested. Deadly Aura – You emanate an aura that deals 1d6 points of damage per soul point invested to all creatures adjacent to you at the end of your turn (Fort DC 10 + half your CL + soul points invested) They can invest a number of soul points into any single ability equal to your caster level. They can invest soul points from other sources into these investitures, to a maximum quantity equal to your caster level in any given one. If the soul points are not invested, they are lost at the start of their next turn if the target creature cannot store them, such as with a spiritun graft.
Lyinginbedmon 10-31-07, 06:59 PM	Any ideas for new feats and prestige classes? Maybe some new skill uses?
Lyinginbedmon 11-05-07, 07:35 PM	Ok, I'm thinking on the Alchemy aspect of Highfaeth and I came up with something theoretically workable: Build your own alchemy! Basically, you tally up points by adding disadvantages to an alchemical item and use points to pay for advantages, and the total cost and Craft DC is determined by the number of outstanding points (Points not negated by disadvantages). So, for example, I might want to make a sphere that explodes on contact to deal, say, 4d8 fire damage. This might be a 4 point advantage. To counter it, I might add in a vulnerability against sonic, so that creatures protected against sonic damage are also protected against the fire damage of the item, which might be a -3 disadvantage. That leaves me with 1 outstanding point, from which the cost and Craft DC is then mathematically derived.
Dead_Weasel 11-06-07, 03:51 AM	That could be interesting; I see it being either difficult to balance or fairly simplistic. Have you thought of any other modifiers? I.e. splash damage vs single target, duration, failure chance, etc.?
Lyinginbedmon 11-06-07, 02:36 PM	Ideally, I'd like an item that deals 1d6 fire damage, burns with a splash of 5 ft, with a range increment of 10 ft. (Alchemist's Fire), cost 20 GP, whilst one that deals 1d6 acid damage, range increment 10 ft., splash of 5 ft. (An acid flask), cost 10 GP. So, clearly, a burn costs +10 GP. It's things like this that I'd like to do to avoid making something too cheap or too expensive, something that meshes readily with the existing alchemical items.
Lyinginbedmon 11-11-07, 07:34 AM	Okay, I'm thinking that a "standard" alchemical item has a traditional 10 ft. range increment and a 5 ft. splash Benefit Cost Burn 10 1d6 damage 10 +1d6 6 d8 damage 51 d10 damage 71 d12 damage 101 Nonstandard energy 32 Extra energy (1d6) 10 Range +5 ft. 5 Splash +5 ft. 7 1 Increases in die size are cumulative. For example, increasing the damage from 1d6 to 1d10 costs an additional 12 GP. 2 Such as Positive, Negative, etc. Drawback Cost Range -5 ft. 5 Splash -5 ft. 7That's what I have so far. The total cost is produced by adding together the Benefits and subtracting the Drawbacks. So, for example, Alchemist's Fire has 1d6 damage (Fire) with a Burn and the standard ranges for range and splash. 1d6 energy damage costs 10 GP, and the Burn costs 10 GP, so the Alchemist's Fire costs 20 GP.