Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lobsopdoy 06-26-07, 08:03 PM	I was wondering if you guys could give me your opinion on this thing and how to finish statting it out. Thanks The entity you see before you is gigantic, 40 feet tall at it's highest point. Flaps of flesh open up in front of you, revealing reddish "vents" that a regular sized human could get lost in. Pseudoplasms of shadow reach out from all around it's body and briedly touch anything within reach. Six tall legs rear up, composed of something that can only barely be considered "matter". But it's most striking feature is at it's very front. Hundreds of constantly undualating tentacles reach upwards, seeming to dance around a large globe of constantly seething plasma. This globe shines almost as bright as the sun, despite it's appearance, the light feels warm and benevolent somehow. Around this globe swarm hundreds of eyes. You see (and they see you too) every different configuration in ocular organs that you can imagine. Finally, the eyes stop and all zip to the globes front, to look at you. A thousand voices speak in your mind, all saying the same thing at once, "Why do you approach me?". It asks this gently, the voices at odds with the creature's utterly alien appearance. HISTORY The Arbiter is the patron diety of the Nameless. It's history goes back to the creation of the Great Wheel out of the chaos of the Far Realm. While most of the great entities spurned this small anomaly as a virus upon their beloved madness, the thing that would give itself the name Arbiter felt what could be considered "curiosity". Although it's Far Realm form was far larger then the entire Wheel, it was able to insert a small fraction of it's essense into this new multiverse and ignite a star in a faraway galaxy using it's will. Then, it stilled it's inconceivable body and simply watched to see what would happen in this one region of space. Over billions of years, one of the planets was able to support life, and the entity was once again fascinated. It formed the Nameless as a sentient race to once again observe what would happen in this strange bubble of creation But eventually observation turned into affection, and that turned into responsibility. In it's infinitely-lobed mind, it considers these living things with the relative lifespan of a dust mote to be it's children. As such, it has made itself available to guide them. Sending another fraction of it's being through the pinholes that seperate the Wheel and the Far Realms, it inserted an avatar named the Arbiter into the Nameless world. Here, it has attempted to do it's best to see things through the lens of lesser beings. At the same time, it's larger self has appointed itself to be the sentry of the Far Realm, attempting to keep hostile incursions into the Great Wheel to a minimum, although it has not always been successful (The Elder Evils of the Aboleths almost tore the Arbiter's true self apart before flinging it aside and tearing into the Planes. The Arbiter on the Nameless world shrieked and bled, accidentally destroying a whole continent before lying motionless for millenia). This latest event, a strange magical cataclysm that tore hundreds of Nameless into Oerth, has caused it to to redouble it's efforts to supervise it's children. It has sent another avatar into Oerth to keep them safe from Far Realm entities, and other things that would have them killed for any number of reasons. The life on Oerth has also attracted it's interest, seeming strange and almost wonderful to it. But how the already established dieties will react to this strange interloper is anyone's guess. Many command more power then it can bring to helm, having been in Oerth for eons. BEHAVIOUR The Arbiter does not walk among the Nameless constantly, thanks to the injuries it's "parent" has taken from the Elder Evils. But it can be called, and will show up on certain days unsummoned that are periods of great celebration for Nameless everywhere. Here it will answer prayers (giving advice), and heal sickness. The voice of the Arbiter is tied directly to the burning globe and swarming eyes that seem to correspond to it's "head". Speaking through telepathy in thousands of languages at once, it whispers through the mind of the listener, in an effort to not overwhelm or injure mortals. The only thing that brings it to combat would be a Far Realm invader near it, or a powerful enough evil Abberation. Then it can be a terrifying enemy indeed. It's interest in life beyond the Nameless and their homeworld has lead to it creating a ritual wherein a willing subject that is not a Nameless is brought to a place where it is then summoned. Those who are frightened of it (or even worse, driven insane) by looking at it are immediately healed and sent back on it's way with sincere apologies. The ones that are able to steel themselves and not give into fright are blessed with strength and asked questions. It will not allow any participant in the ritual to be brought to it against their will, and uses animal servants to prevent this from happening. A non-Nameless appearing near summoning grounds will engage it's curiosity enough for it to communicate with them. SPECIAL ABILITIES Create Animal Servant: The Arbiter has the ability to make any animal with an intellect less then 3 bound to it's service. Animals affected in this way immediately switch to the pseudonatural template and gain the "Neutral Good" alignment, and it's INT rising to 5. Additionally, it is permanently mind-linked to the Arbiter. Redemption: The Arbiter abhors violence, and an evil being attacking others in it's presence will cause it to use this attack. Aligning all of it's myriad eyes, it will shoot a ray of light at the offender. If it fails a FORT roll (don't know how much would be reasonable), it immediately switches to Neutral Good and becomes nonviolent. This ability will not work on non-intelligent beings such as oozes, feral animals, etc. It also has no effect on Far Realm entities, to which alignments will hardly ever apply, or divine beings. Pseudoplasm contact: The shadowy pseudoplasms that constantly issue from it's body can either heal or harm those it touches. A touch attack by it's pseudoplasm will cause an effect equal to that of a heal spell or the effect of an "inflict severe wounds" spell, as it wills. Deity Name: The Arbiter Divine Titles: Light of the Far Realm, various other languages and vocal sounds Gender: Non-applicable Divine Tier: Intermediate god Symbol: Stylized and simple drawing of the Nameless form Home Plane: Material Plane Alignment: Neutral Good Aliases: None Superior: Unnamed originating Far Realm Entity Allies: None Foes: The Elder Evils Servants: Nameless clerics Servitor Creatures: Animals affected by "create animal servant" ability Manifestations: Does not create indirect manifestations Signs of Favour: A "tongues" spell is given to clerics who are of high enough ranking. Bountiful fish farms, protection from those who wish the Nameless settlements harm Worshipers: The Nameless Cleric Alignments: Neutral Good (preferably) (no evil) Speciality Priests: The Children of *intranslatable buzzing and clicking noise* (high priest sect) Core worshipers: Nameless (Un)common worshippers: Others (I mean, barely any others would probably even know of them) Holy Days: Every 32 days, the Arbiter's manifestion in Oerth will rise to the central settlement to dispense wisdom, possibly arbitrate (of course) on conflicts both interpersonal and legal, and generally give blessings to whoever it sees fit Portfolio: Domains: Sun, Life, Justice, Truth, Knowledge Favored Weapon: Does not carry or favour a weapon. Uses spell-like abilities, spells, and pseudoplasms. If it was asked repeatedly to choose, it would probably pick the quarterstaff and then kindly ask the questioner to let others have a turn. Divine Salient Abilities Mass Life and Death (Nameless only), Instant Annihilation, Divine Celerity, Divine Recall, Divine Spellcaster, Eldritch Knowledge, Frightful Presence (rears up and completely uncovers glowing orb. Tentacles lash around it), Gift of Life (with permission of diety where soul resides...hmmm...good story seed, that), Know Secrets, Power of Truth, Spontaneous Arcane spells. Divine Realm: An incredibly deep underwater trench in close proximity to the central Nameless settlement, and the settlements surrounding it count as a divine realm where it can act as a greater diety The Nameless are detailed in this topic http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=867779
Lobsopdoy 06-28-07, 07:33 PM	So yeah...hoping for criticism. I think it's a pretty interesting concept
Rerecros 06-28-07, 07:53 PM	Sorry, but I don't much care for it. You are treating a being outside the scope of reality as a typical deity with obvious motivations, hardly worthy of being of the far realm. This is exactly why lovecraft doesn't translate well to anything beyond vague descriptions.
NexH 06-28-07, 07:56 PM	Very interesting; it is refreshing to see a Good entity from the Far Realm. I congratulate you. One question: why did the Elder Evils attack the Arbiter? As far as I recall, most of those entities aren't interested in the Material Plane, and there is one of them whose goals are actually in partial concordance with those of the Arbiter.
Lobsopdoy 06-28-07, 08:10 PM	Sorry, but I don't much care for it. You are treating a being outside the scope of reality as a typical deity with obvious motivations, hardly worthy of being of the far realm. This is exactly why lovecraft doesn't translate well to anything beyond vague descriptions. Yes, I actually thought about how that would be handled, and here is my justification of it, for good or bad. The diety being statted here is actually an avatar of the unnamed Far Realm diety. This diety is not as Far-Realmy as the other entity is. The entity is simply trying to see what will happen inside this little bubble of order that makes up the Wheel. While most of the beings in there seem to want to destroy it, this one prefers to watch instead. The Arbiter is more like a caretaker then anything. If the entity was to try to interact with mortals directly, it would be like dropping a cinderblock into a fishbowl...bad for the fish. As for the Elder Evils attacking the entity that created the Arbiter. The entity didn't want them to interact with the Great Wheel, since that would pretty much ruin any chance of it being able to see what it would do. I figured that since the Aboleths do know about the Elder Evils, and they don't seem to have access to the Far Realm, that they had actually been able to breach the membrane between the realities.
sciborg2 06-29-07, 12:17 AM	Interesting concept. I do believe that some Far Realm beings are good, just as 99.99999...% of the ones in the MMs are evil.
zzo38 06-29-07, 11:29 AM	This is good. I like it. Can you draw the symbol (as they do in the PHB)?
Lobsopdoy 06-29-07, 05:04 PM	This is good. I like it. Can you draw the symbol (as they do in the PHB)? Sure. Here's my attempt at it in Paint. http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/6885/picti5.jpg I kinda need help statting this diety out though. I don't really know how do characters very well, much less a diety.
Lobsopdoy 06-30-07, 12:36 PM	How do you delete double posts? -_-
Lobsopdoy 06-30-07, 12:51 PM	Alright, here's my attempt at stats *crosses fingers* Cleric 20/Sorcerer 20 Huge Abberation Divine rank: 15 (Need help with Hit Dice) AC:35 (Don't know how to do base attack bonus or base attack for that matter) Feats:Epic Spellcasting (More will be added) SR:46+15 (56+15 in realm) Skills: 50 Knowledge (The Far Realm) (get more later) Dogma: Violence is never acceptable as an initial action, for there is much that can be learned from each other. Try to live with other species to the best of your abilities. Alter Reality: Copied spells are caster level 30 Can summon HD 150 worth of Pseudonatural creatures 3 times per day Divine Immunities: Ability Damage, ability drain, acid, cold, death effects, disease, disintegration, electricity, energy drain, mind-affecting, paralysis, poison, sleep, stunning, transmutation, imprisonment, banishment I'm really gonna need help here. Anyone have any suggestions?
Lobsopdoy 06-30-07, 11:18 PM	Very interesting; it is refreshing to see a Good entity from the Far Realm. I congratulate you. One question: why did the Elder Evils attack the Arbiter? As far as I recall, most of those entities aren't interested in the Material Plane, and there is one of them whose goals are actually in partial concordance with those of the Arbiter. Do you mean Y'chak? Y'chak is actually probably the one who is most opposed by the Arbiter out of all the evils, since it's goal is to drive all sentient life into madness. It's a nasty sadistic bastard :mad:
NexH 07-01-07, 07:27 PM	Do you mean Y'chak? I am refering to Him Who Watches from Beyond the Stars: Bolothamogg, but maybe I am misinterpreting him by assuming he would consider reciprocity as a viable way to attain his goals.
Lobsopdoy 07-01-07, 08:12 PM	Ah yes, that makes sense. But what I read of it seemed to imply that it was more of a primal force then something that could be dealt with. Even the Proto-Arbiter (For simplicities sake we can call it that) would not be easy to deal with for mortals, but at least it's sentient.
CrimsonDeath 07-02-07, 02:18 AM	Let's see... First, what I said over IM. You don't need the Spontaneous Arcane Caster salient divine ability, since he's a sorceror. Furthermore, Divine Rank 15 is a little high for something that frequently appears in the presence of mortals, but it's somewhat more plausible if The Arbiter is an avatar (as the salient divine ability) of an even more powerful entity (which appears to be the case). Now, thing I didn't mention earlier over IM (because I hadn't thought of them yet)... Traditionally, deities allow clerics of an alignment within one step of the deitie's own, and usually only true neutral deities allow true neutral clerics. So, a neutral good deity would normally allow clerics of any good alignment. However, some deities defy this tradition-- Io, the true neutral god of dragons, for example, allows clerics of any alignment-- so the Arbiter might allow morally neutral clerics as well as good ones, or he might only allow neutral good clerics, depending on the direction you want to take it. I'd recommend going with the traditional "any good", though. I'm not aware of a Life, Justice, or Truth domain, but Community, Healing, and (due to the association with the Far Realms) Madness seem like natural choices. Inquisition may be a suitable substitute for Truth or Justice. The Arbiter doesn't appear to be closely associated enough with the good alignment for it to have access to the Good domain. Pseudoplasm is a perfectly suitable favored weapon. For clerics who lack such appendages, tentacles, unarmed strikes, or even natural weapons in general may be acceptable substitutes. (For example, Ilsensene's favored weapon is "tentacle or unarmed strike".) Of course, for a deity without the War domain, the favored weapon is mechanically irrelevant-- it only matters for storyline and flavor purposes. Both as a deity and as an avatar of a denizen of the Far Realms, the Arbiter would probably be an Outsider rather than an Aberration. This would wind up being advantageous for it, since outsiders have a better base attack bonus, save bonuses, skill points, and weapon proficiencies. Don't worry too much about its bizarre anatomy; there are some pretty bizarre outsiders (chaos beasts, for example). Furthermore, they typical deity will probably have at least 20 racial HD. AC should probably be broken down according to the various modifiers (Dex, natural, deflection, etc), but before we can do that, you'll need to settle on ability scores. You'll also need to settle on ability scores in order to determine total attack bonuses. You'll also need to determine what attack forms it has (from the looks of it, that would be some number of "pseudoplasm touches" per round, "touch spell", and "ranged touch spell", unless it has some other natural weapons or uses a manufactured weapon of some sort). You'll also need to finalize ability scores before total save bonuses can be calculated. As for ability scores, most of the deities I've examined have total ability scores of about 185, with individual scores ranging from 22 to 55 (although Tiamat and Bahamut each have a Dex of 10, like most true dragons); ability scores weren't typically lower than 24 before racial modifiers. Since The Arbiter is a Sorceror/Cleric, I'd suggest a relatively high Wisdom and Charisma, although even a mere 24 in each would more than max out a level 20 caster's spellcasting. As a deity of Knowledge, a good Intelligence score is appropriate. As a Huge creature, a high Strenght and Constitution with a low Dexterity would make sense, and Dexterity could even go below 24, although that would negatively impact its AC and ranged touch attacks. Information regarding the Far Realms would probably be included within Knowledge: The Planes. Other appropriate skills may include Concentration, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Handle Animal, Heal, Knowledge: Arcana, Knowledge: Dungeoneering, Knowledge: History, Knowledge: Local, Knowledge: Nature, Knowledge: Religion, Listen, Perform: Oratory, Sense motive, Spellcraft, Spot, and Swim. Knowledge: Psionics may make sense as well if you intend for the Nameless to be particularly antagonistic toward such creatures as Illithid and Aboleths (psionic aberrations with ties to the Far Realm). If you end up taking the Epic Spellcasting feat, it would be a good idea to max out Knowledge: Arcana and Knowledge: Religion. I hope that's enough suggestions to last you for a while. I can probably come back with more once you've firmed up a few other things.
Lobsopdoy 07-02-07, 10:33 AM	Wow Crimsondeath, that was AWESOME! That kind of information is exactly what I'm looking for in this topic. You're officially one of my favourite posters on this forum now.:love:
Lobsopdoy 07-06-07, 01:16 AM	http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/6647/cab265nzvt5.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cab265nzvt5.jpg) Here it is, finally. An honest-to-God picture of The Arbiter done, as usual, by the inimitable Salkafar (http://salkafar.deviantart.com) (Just a warning, the guy is a furry. But an extremely talented one! It's all work safe though) In case you're wondering. That GotM comic page is from the one that me, him, and my co-writer are working on. You guy's like?
Lobsopdoy 07-18-07, 09:58 PM	Finally, some actual stats! Deity Name: The Arbiter Divine Titles: Light of the Far Realm, various other languages and vocal sounds Gender: Non-applicable Divine Tier: Intermediate god Symbol: Stylized and simple drawing of the Nameless form Home Plane: Material Plane Alignment: Neutral Good Aliases: None Superior: Unnamed originating Far Realm Entity Allies: None Foes: The Elder Evils Servants: Nameless clerics Servitor Creatures: Animals affected by "create animal servant" ability Manifestations: Does not create indirect manifestations Signs of Favour: A "tongues" spell is given to clerics who are of high enough ranking. Bountiful fish farms, protection from those who wish the Nameless settlements harm Worshipers: The Nameless Cleric Alignments: Any good or neutral, no evil. Speciality Priests: The Children of *intranslatable buzzing and clicking noise* (high priest sect) Core worshipers: Nameless (Un)common worshippers: Others (I mean, barely any others would probably even know of them) Holy Days: Every 32 days, the Arbiter's manifestion in Oerth will rise to the central settlement to dispense wisdom, possibly arbitrate (of course) on conflicts both interpersonal and legal, and generally give blessings to whoever it sees fit Portfolio: Life, Justice, Truth Domains: Magic, Knowledge, Healing, Madness Favored Weapon: Does not carry or favour a weapon. Uses spell-like abilities, spells, and pseudoplasms. If it was asked repeatedly to choose, it would probably pick the quarterstaff and then kindly ask the questioner to let others have a turn. The Arbiter Cleric 20/Bard 20 Colossal Outsider (Abberation, Good) Divine Rank: 15 Hit dice: 40d8 (240) plus 20d8 (160) plus 20d6 (120)+1200 = 2200 HP Initiative: +7 Speed: 180 ft. AC: 52 Attacks: (pseudoplasm) +77/+77/+77/+77 touch, +60 spell touch, +50 range, Grapple +101(Good-aligned, epic) Damage: Pseudoplasm 1d8 +20 ; or by spell Face/reach: 40 ft / 30 ft x 30 ft Special attacks: Domain Powers (caster level 25, saving roll DC is 40+spell level) Divine Salient Abilities, Turn Undead 18/day (Caster Level 20) , Spell-like abilities Special Qualities: Divine Immunities, DR 50/+4, Fire resistance 35, SR 42, Immortal, teleport without error at will, godly realm (1500 feet), read and speak all languages, speak to anything within 15 miles, Plane shift at will, Divine Aura (1500 feet, 10 Remote sensing locations at a time, Create Magic Items (up to 200 000 gp) +15 bonus to all skill checks, darkvision, water breathing, Saving throws: Fort 40 Will 46 Ref 40 (+15 Divine Bonus to all) Abilities: Str 30, Dex 25, Wis 38, Int 35, Cha 40, Con 30 Feats: Crush, Extended Reach, Fling Enemy, Greater Multigrab, Inured to Energy, Irresistable Gaze, Mighty Leap, Multigrab, Narrowed Gaze, Divine Might, Greater Spell Penetration, Knock Down, Persistent Spell, Extend Spell, Sacred Spell, Widen Spell Divine Salient Abilities: Alter Reality, Annihilating Strike, Automatic Metamagic, Call Creature (All Pseudonatural), Clearsight, Create Object, Create Greater Object, Divine Blast, Divine Blessing (Charisma), Divine Fast Healing, Rejuvenation, Divine Shield, Divine Spellcasting, Divine Storm, Frightful Presense, Gift of Life, Know Secrets, Power of Truth Domain Powers: Use devices with spell trigger activation as wizard of one half cleric level, casts healing spell at +1 caster level, Divination spells at +1 caster level, Insanity score equal to half class level (10), use insanity score as positive rather then negative to sanity 1/day. Bard Spells / day: 6/5/5/5/5/4 Cleric Spells / day: 6/5/5/5/5/4/4/4/4/4 Avatars: As an avatar of a greater Far Realm entity, The Arbiter is incapable of creating avatars. Special Abilities: Create Animal Servant: The Arbiter has the ability to make any animal with an intellect less then 3 bound to it's service. Animals affected in this way immediately switch to the pseudonatural template and gain the "Neutral Good" alignment, and it's INT rising to 5. Additionally, it is permanently mind-linked to the Arbiter. Redemption: The Arbiter abhors violence, and an evil being attacking others in it's presence will cause it to use this attack. Aligning all of it's myriad eyes, it will shoot a ray of light at the offender. If it fails a FORT roll (don't know how much would be reasonable), it immediately switches to Neutral Good and becomes nonviolent. This ability will not work on non-intelligent beings such as oozes, feral animals, etc. It also has no effect on Far Realm entities, to which alignments will hardly ever apply, or divine beings. Pseudoplasm contact: The shadowy pseudoplasms that constantly issue from it's body can either heal or harm those it touches. A touch attack by it's pseudoplasm will cause an effect equal to that of a heal spell or the effect of an "inflict severe wounds" spell, as it wills. Pheeeeeew there. Is that any good?