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Lormyr 02-02-06, 02:16 PM

I wasn't sure where the best place for this nostalgic musing was, so I chose ye olde' general to be safe. I've been gaming since I was about 10 (so that's roughly 13 years now), and I've always enjoyed gaming with a wide variety of players and GMs. Like most folks I would imagine, we always had our old stand-by group that most games took place with. But alot of us also tried to branch out and play with many people so as to experience the different perspectives of what different players thought about different stories, the game itself, what was balanced and not balanced mechanically, what sort of things were creative and fun exceptions and what was just plain lame, and so on. I was digging through an old folder the other day and found a character I played in a campaign about 3 1/2 years ago that ran for nearly 2 years. It was a fantastic game with a party full of well thought-out characters that I can remember almost every detail of. At any rate, after I looked over the character again, something possessed me to hop on here and share some memories with everyone, and maybe to get some others to share memories of their games and tell me a little of how their group likes to play, and what they find acceptable and silly, and so on. My idea for this character came from my view on monks and magic items, which is I never did find a good reason for monks to use them. For most monks, who's goals are to better themselves physically, spiritually, and mentally, using magic items to reach those goals always seemed like cheating yourself and your potential in my views. To that end, I discovered the debatable Vow of Poverty feat. As I was already in the mood to play a good guy, I figured why not step it up to an ultra good guy and go for it. And, as ashamed as I am to admit it, I always found the idea of a lizardman monk to be excellent since my old Everquest days of the Iksar - so with the DM's approval, a lizardfolk monk was what I ended up with. (I'll post a copy of the character at the end for those interested in such thing.) The short version of the background: Mournn was raised in a humble temple dedicated to Ilmater in Waterdeep by Father Ileam. Some years ago, when Chief Redeye's warbands in the Lizard Marsh had began to ourtgrow their home, they began raiding nearby towns and settlements for slaves and food. Waterdeep was the first to respond to this startling development, sending soldiers, wizards, and priests to the Lizard Marsh to dismantle enough of his warband to restore balance. Among those priests sent was Father Ileam. Near the final stages of the "restoration", the soldiers located and attacked a sizable encampment of lizardfolk who had rallied under Redeye's might. Nearly all the adult lizardfolk had been neutralized, and unbeknownst by Waterdeep's forces until the battle had ended, many of the hatchlings had been slain as well by a stray wizard's fireball here, or overlapping ice storm there. Not knowing what to do with those few who survived, the soldiers prepared to leave them as they were in the marsh. Father Ileam, feeling a grave injustice had been committed, gathered 2 of the hatchlings to return to Waterdeep with him. Though he received some strange stares, none of the remorseful soldiers cared to protest. As stranger creatures than lizardfolk roam the streets of Waterdeep, the Watch allowed Ileam to retain custody of the hatchlings, but under careful observation. One of the hatchlings perished shortly after returning to Waterdeep. The other, who Father Ileam named as Mournn to reflect his families tragedy, was brought up in the way of the Ilmateri faith - a devote monk and cleric of the Broken God. The advancement: I ended up discorving the Sacred Fist class, which went perfectly with the monk/cleric combo I was already running with. I picked it up as soon as I could. I later had to switch over to the 3.5 version when it became available (and wow was that a switch). Near the last quarter of the game, I ended up aquiring the saint template as well after the GM offered it to me (after having played the character appropriatly for over a year and at the cost of the 2 levels, ofcourse) after a particularly intense scene in which Mournn volunteered to be left behind in the Abyss when the party needed to escape very quickly and we couldn't afford the weight limit to get all of us home. Favorite part: My favorite scene by far was with an NPC who was a paladin of Torm and a friend of the party. He had been turned into a vampire by an enemy both he and the party shared. At one point it almost turned into a battle between our cleric/fighter of Kelemvor and the paladin losing control of his alignment, but we were all able to defuse the situation. Eventually, Mournn and the paladin spent a long night together speaking. The paladin didn't wish to live as he was, but he was afraid that in death he would lose his soul because of what he became. Mournn convinced him that as Torm was the God of duty, and because of his long faithful service, that if he continued in his duty and purged himself of the vile taint, he would be forgiven in death and raised to Torm's realm. The paladin asked Mournn to stay with him until sunrise so that if he lost his will or courage, Mournn could see that he wasn't able to escape sun's embrace. Mournn's presence turned out to be quite unnecessary. The only spot of trouble I had in the entire compaign was how powerful the Vow of Poverty ended up being in that particular game. The party had alot of magic items, don't get me wrong (one of us even had a +6 evil outsider bane holy cold iron bastard sword) - but in looking back, I think we would all agree that it didn't quite balance out. Combat with him was no fun because his AC and saves were so insane. I'm sure it's nothing compared to what some of the "students" of this game could come up with, but in any reasonably ran game it was just too much. It ended up working out pretty neat though, because when I eventually got around to picking up Vow of Peace, I wasn't fighting anything back and just serving as a healer mostly - so it balanced out pretty well in the end we all thought. What fond memories of characters do some of you have? And what sort of characters have you come up with that were alot of fun might other people consider off the wall or silly? As promised: Saint Mournn: Male lizardfolk saint monk 4/cleric 6 (Ilmater)/sacred fist 10: CR 25; Medium outsider (augmented humanoid [reptilian]); HD 22d8+132; hp 286; Init +4; Spd 70 ft.; AC 61, touch 40, flat-footed 57; Base Atk +18; Grp +25; Atk +35 melee (2d6+12 plus 1d6 holy/19-20 x2, unarmed strike); Full Atk +35/+30/+25/+20 melee (2d6+12 plus 1d6 holy/19-20 x2, unarmed strike) and +28 melee (1d4+8 plus 1d6 holy, bite); Space/Reach 5 ft./5 ft.; SA Exalted strike +5 (good), flurry of blows, holy power, holy touch, ki strike (magic), sacred flames 2/day, spell-like abilities, turn undead 4/day; SQ Ability score enhancement, AC bonus, blindsense 10 ft., calming aura, damage reduction 10/evil, deflection, endure elements, evasion, fast healing 10, freedom of movement, greater sustenance, hold breath, immunity to acid, cold, electricity, and petrification, inner armor, keen vision, mind shielding, natural armor, protective aura, regeneration, resistance, resistance to fire 15 and sonic 15, slow fall 20 ft., still mind, sustenance, tongues, true seeing; AL LG; SV Fort +25 (+29 against poison), Ref +25, Will +28; Str 25, Dex 19, Con 22, Int 16, Wis 28, Cha 13. Skills and Feats: Balance +31, Climb +28, Concentration +22, Diplomacy +13, Jump +52, Knowledge (religion) +16, Spellcraft +10, Swim +28, Tumble +31; Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Epic Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), Epic Will, Exalted Turning, Gift of Faith, Improved Critical (unarmed strike), Improved Unarmed Strike, Intuitive Attack, Lightning Reflexes, Nimbus of Light, Sacred Vow, Stigmata, Stunning Fist, Vow of Chastity, Vow of Nonviolence, Vow of Obedience, Vow of Peace, Vow of Poverty, Vow of Purity, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike). Languages: Aquan, Celestial, Chondathan, Common, Draconic, Elven. Exalted Strike (Su): Saint Mournn gains a +5 enhancement bonus on all his attack and damage rolls, and any weapon he wields is considered to be both magic and good for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Flurry of Blows (Ex): Saint Mournn may use a full attack action to make one extra attack per round with an unarmed strike or special monk weapon at his highest base attack, but this attack and each other attack made that round take a -2 penalty apiece. This penalty applies for 1 round. Holy Power (Su): The save DCs of all of Saint Mournn's special attacks, including spells, spell-like abilities, supernatural abilities, and extraordinary abilities increase by +2. Holy Touch (Su): Saint Mournn's melee attacks deal an additional 1d6 points of holy damage against evil creatures, and 1d8 points against evil undead and evil outsiders. Any evil creature that strikes Saint Mournn with a natural weapon takes this damage as well. Ki Strike (magic) (Su): Saint Mournn's unarmed attacks are considered to be a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Sacred Flames (Su): As a standard action, Saint Mournn can invoke sacred flames around his hands and feat that allow his unarmed strikes to inflict and additional 19 points of damage. Half the damage is fire, but the other half results directly from divine power and is therefore not subject to being reduced by resistance to fire-based attacks. This ability lasts for 1 minute. Spell-Like Abilities: At will- bless, guidance, resistance, virtue. Caster level 22nd. Ability Score Enhancement (Ex): Saint Mournn gains a +8 enhancement bonus to Wisdom, a +6 enhancement bonus to Strength, a +4 enhancement bonus to Constitution, and a +2 enhancement bonus to Dexterity. AC Bonus (Su): Saint Mournn receives a +12 exalted bonus to his Armor Class. This bonus does not apply to touch attacks and does not hinder incorporeal touch attacks. Brilliant energy attacks, however, do not ignore this bonus. Blindsense 10 ft. (Ex): Saint Mournn can pinpoint creatures within a distance of 10 feet. Opponents he can't actually see still have total concealment against him. Calming Aura (Su): Saint Mournn is constantly surrounded by a calming aura to a radius of 20 feet. Creatures within the aura must make successful will save (DC 24) or be affected as by the calm emotions spell. Creatures who leave the aura and reenter it recieve new saving throws. A creature that makes a successful saving throw and remains in the aura is unaffected until it leaves the aura and reenters. The aura is a mind-affecting, supernatural compulsion. Deflection (Su): Saint Mournn receives a +5 deflection bonus to his Armor Class. Endure Elements (Ex): Saint Mournn is immune to being in the effects of a hot or cold environment. He can exist comfortably in conditions between -50 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit without having to make Fortitude saves. Evasion (Ex): If Saint Mournn makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Fast Healing (Ex): Saint Mournn heals 10 points of damage each round so long as he has atleast 1 hit point. Freedom of Movement (Ex): Saint Mournn can act as if continually under the effect of a freedom of movement spell. Greater Sustenance (Ex): Saint Mournn doesn't need to breathe. Hold Breath (Ex): Saint Mournn can hold his breath for 88 rounds before he risks drowning. Inner Armor (Su): Once per day Saint Mournn can invoke a +4 sacred bonus to AC, +4 sacred bonus to saving throws, and spell resistance 25. This ability lasts for 9 rounds. Keen Vision (Ex): Saint Mournn has low-light vision and 60-foot darkvision. Mind Shielding (Ex): Saint Mournn is immune to detect thoughts, discern lies, and any attempt to discern his alignment. Natural Armor (Ex): Saint Mournn's existing natural armor bonus increases by +4. Protective Aura (Su): As a free action, Saint Mournn can surround himself with a nimbus of light having a radius of 20 feet. This acts as a double-strength magic circle against evil and as a lesser globe of invulnerability, both as cast by a 22nd-level cleric. Regeneration (Ex): Saint Mournn heals 22 points of damage every hour rather than day. Nonlethal damage heals at a rate of 22 points of damage every 5 minutes. Resistance (Ex): Saint Mournn gains a +3 resistance bonus on all saving throws. Slow Fall (Ex): If within arm's reach of a wall, Saint Mournn can use it to slow his descent while falling. He takes damage is if the fall were 20 feet shorter than it actually is. Still Mind (Ex): Saint Mournn receives a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the enchantment school. Sustenance (Ex): Saint Mournn doesn't need to eat or drink. Tongues (Su): Saint Mournn can speak with any creature that has a language, as though using a tongues spell cast by a 14th-level cleric. This ability is always active. True Seeing (Su): Saint Mournn has a continuous true seeing ability, as per the spell. Cleric Spells Prepared (Caster Level 14th): 0- create water, detect magic, detect poison, light, purify food and drink, read magic; 1- detect evil (2), divine favor (3), *enlarge person, obscuring mist, remove fear, sanctuary (DC 22); 2- consecrate, *cure moderate wounds, elation, hand of divinity, remove paralysis, shield other, silence (DC 23), status; 3- create food and water, dispel magic, *magic vestment, prayer, remove disease, water breathing, water walk; 4- air walk, celestial brilliance, favor of Ilmater, neutralize poison, recitation, restoration, *spell immunity; 5- atonement, break enchantment, commune, plane shift, *righteous might, wall of stone; 6- banishment (DC 27), greater dispel magic, *heal (2), touch of adamantine; 7- ethereal jaunt, greater restoration, holy word, *regenerate. *Domain Spell. Domains: Healing (cast healing spells at +1 caster level), Strength (1/day gain a +13 bonus to Strength for 1 round). Possessions: Simple monk robe and clerical vestments, simple wooden prayer beads, simple wooden holy symbol.