Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Radijs 04-25-07, 10:40 AM	As part of their quest to save the multiverse my PC's are going to visit Baator for a while. There's a legion of devils there (Based off the Reth Dekalan from ToB) that they might be able to free from their infernal servitude. They have a caster capable of casting Plane Shift so getting there is no problem. The problem is that they don't know much about the place and unfortunately neither do I. I've read the Fiendish Codex II Tyrants of the nine hells and it has been helpful, I thought I'd advise them to shift to Dis, the infinite city. There they'd have to hide for a while until they can get some permits to travel around. And then they would make their way to Avernus where the Dekalan fortress lies and most likely the contract that they need to destroy. On average they will get a 19.5 on their knolwedge (the planes) check to see what they know about the place and they won't be able to ask anyone else about it. What would be the best way to go about this.
Sliced_Mustard 04-25-07, 11:58 AM	the knowledge skill as defined in the PHB states that,Answering a question within your field of study has a DC of 10 (for really easy questions), 15 (for basic questions), or 20 to 30 (for really tough questions). so, when they use the Knowledge (the planes) skill to try to know something about Hell, you need to determine the difficulty of what they are asking. what is an "easy question" in this regard? I would say simple stuff, such as what is the alignment of the plane? who/what are the primary residents of the plane? what is the Blood War? (simple answer: neverending clash between demons & devils) are we gonna die? basic questions & answers: what the names of the layers of hell? what order are they arranged in? why is oil raining down on us? why are we gonna die? tougher questions on the lower end of difficulty: what layer are we on now? who's in charge? why is the Blood War important? how do we get from where we are to where we're going? what do we need to do to travel there (relatively) safely? how are we gonna die? the really tough questions: who is really in charge? what legal loopholes can we take advantage of in this overly LE society? what is the Blood War really about? what's gonna happen to us AFTER we're dead? and so on. also remember that they can use their knowledge checks to gain useful bits of information about the natives. the DC of such checks is equal to 10 + the monster's hit dice and a successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about the monster (plus another useful bit for every 5 points the rolls succeeds by). as far as what constitutes useful info, I generally allow the initial success to identify a given monster and one relevant fact about it... such as a primary attack mode or special ability. additional bits of information could include behavior, motives, and more about the relevant abilities. I would make common abilities shared by devils in general more of a general plane knowledge of basic difficulty (DC 15).
Radijs 04-26-07, 03:38 AM	Where can I find more info on Baator & Dis then whats already in the fiendish codex?
Witch 04-26-07, 01:09 PM	There might be some more information in Fires of Dis, though to be fair, I've never read it.
The Serge7 04-26-07, 01:37 PM	Fires of Dis actually has quite a bit of great information on Dis and Avernus.
supernerd222 04-27-07, 11:45 PM	If a book has Dis in its title, I'd certainly hope it has information about Dis in it. ;)
Radijs 04-28-07, 05:58 AM	Indeed, well I've been given a little bit of reprieve, the DM with whom I alternate function has finished with the next bit in his campaign. And the PC's have been urged on a short detour. Their contact has lost a bit of faith in their ability to cooperate when they started arguing amongst themselves in front of said NPC. But since the NPC is a little bit desperate for skilled adventurers he's given them a less risky & important task that they need to complete before he will help them.