Cults of the Dragon/Lords of Dust awareness [Archive] - Wizards Community

Cults of the Dragon/Lords of Dust awareness [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Jason Snyder
07-11-07, 02:39 PM Forgive me if this is has been covered already....

What is the general awareness of the Lords of Dust and of the Cults of the Dragon Below?

I could see on one hand where the Lords of Dust are super-secretive and only the most clever sages knows that they exist and are causing trouble in the world. I could also see a situation where most folks are aware of the legend of the Lords of Dust and suspect that their interference is everywhere. This would result in paranoid witch hunts akin to medieval groups thinking that Satan was everywhere and influencing everything.

Similarly, would folks be aware of the _concept_ of the Cults of the Dragon Below? I.e. that such groups exist? Of course, the actual groups would be very secretive but do people know that there are people like that?

Thanks.
Rerecros
07-11-07, 03:02 PM The lords of dust are composed entirely of fiends, while the cults of the dragon below are all humanoids. Their general goal (well, for most of their members) is to release the Rajah. To the lords, the cults are simply willing pawns. The cults are fairly common knowledge, while the lords exist as myth.
GimliGloinson
07-11-07, 03:02 PM I would think general knowledge of either doesn't really exist, except as boogeyman stories. There's probably a lot of horror stories of Cults of TDB, of the sort mommy and daddy use to get little kids to cooperate.

Lords of Dust? I'd say only historians (specifically back to the time of the LoD), maybe some arcanists, the Gatekeepers and clerics of the Host and maybe the Dark Six. But nothing on the LoD would be common knowledge, IMO.
Jason Snyder
07-11-07, 03:11 PM Understood. Thanks... I didn't want some random peasant to start talking about stuff he would have no reason knowing!

:D
Nightshade
07-11-07, 06:43 PM I agree for the most part. The average peasant knows nothing about either the Lords of Dust or the Cults of the Dragon Below except for the bogeyman stories.

Of the two, people would know less about the Lords of Dust than about the Cults due to the fact that the Cults are humanoids. And occasionally the Cults of the Dragon Below rear their ugly heads, perform sacrifices, murder, etc. Their actions would be sure to show up in the Sharn Inquisitive, Breland Ledger, or Korranberg Chronicle. (At least when the government can't cover up the situations). So, occasionally people will know of them.

I also think it is important to note that there are two or even three iterations of the Cults of the Dragon Below.
1- Cults that worship the Rajahs and hope to free them
2- Cults that worship the Daelkyr, consort with Aberrations, and hope to free both into Eberron
3- Cults that worship Khyber itself (a miscellaneous group that GM's can use for whatever reason they see fit).

Normal people would not understand the differences and wouldn't understand that their goals often conflict leading to battles between cults.

I would think general knowledge of either doesn't really exist, except as boogeyman stories. There's probably a lot of horror stories of Cults of TDB, of the sort mommy and daddy use to get little kids to cooperate.

Lords of Dust? I'd say only historians (specifically back to the time of the LoD), maybe some arcanists, the Gatekeepers and clerics of the Host and maybe the Dark Six. But nothing on the LoD would be common knowledge, IMO.
mhacdebhandia
07-11-07, 07:44 PM If we look to the Player's Guide to Eberron, we can get some idea of the Knowledge check DCs required to know about these things.

Geography DC 10: You know that rakshasas and other fiends inhabit the Demon Wastes.

Geography DC 18: You know that the strongest and most unified group of fiends in the Demon Wastes is called the Lords of Dust.

Planes DC 10: You know that fiends rule the Demon Wastes.

Planes DC 15: You know that rakshasa rajahs are trapped beneath the Demon Wastes.

Planes DC 20: You know that some fiends work together, while others pursue independent goals. You know that some seek to free the rajahs, while others try to draw power from them.

On page 87, in the entry on Khyber, we have this:

The people of Khorvaire know of the Cults of the Dragon Below - mad acolytes of the darkness within the world who work to free the fiends bound in the depths. Also known as Khyber cultists, these insane creatures are one of the class evils used by parents to frighten children.

My guess would be that only people who have actually studied Khyber and/or the fiends of the Demon Wastes would know anything more than the surface facts of "crazy people worship the Dragon Below" and "there are demons in the Demon Wastes".
mhacdebhandia
07-11-07, 07:46 PM I also think it is important to note that there are two or even three iterations of the Cults of the Dragon Below.
1- Cults that worship the Rajahs and hope to free them
2- Cults that worship the Daelkyr, consort with Aberrations, and hope to free both into Eberron
3- Cults that worship Khyber itself (a miscellaneous group that GM's can use for whatever reason they see fit).
Yep. It's also worth noting that the third group is both the oldest and the rarest - the Player's Guide to Eberron notes that humanoids who worship Khyber itself are extremely uncommon, and that usually only kobolds and lizardfolk belong to such cults.
Jason Snyder
07-12-07, 03:31 PM If we look to the Player's Guide to Eberron, we can get some idea of the Knowledge check DCs required to know about these things.

Geography DC 10: You know that rakshasas and other fiends inhabit the Demon Wastes.

Geography DC 18: You know that the strongest and most unified group of fiends in the Demon Wastes is called the Lords of Dust.

Planes DC 10: You know that fiends rule the Demon Wastes.

Planes DC 15: You know that rakshasa rajahs are trapped beneath the Demon Wastes.

Planes DC 20: You know that some fiends work together, while others pursue independent goals. You know that some seek to free the rajahs, while others try to draw power from them.

On page 87, in the entry on Khyber, we have this:

The people of Khorvaire know of the Cults of the Dragon Below - mad acolytes of the darkness within the world who work to free the fiends bound in the depths. Also known as Khyber cultists, these insane creatures are one of the class evils used by parents to frighten children.

My guess would be that only people who have actually studied Khyber and/or the fiends of the Demon Wastes would know anything more than the surface facts of "crazy people worship the Dragon Below" and "there are demons in the Demon Wastes".

First off, thanks to everyone who replied!

These DCs make me wonder about whether the leadership of a given country/religion/holy group would be ignorant of the information in question. The common man wouldn't know much about any of this, but it seems that those groups would be.

This is an interesting wrinkle of the Knowledge rules. Those skills make sense in regards to mimicking what the players know - but what about groups? If there is a holy order dedicated to fighting evil, it seems to me that someone in the group would be able to make a DC20 K:(Planes) check and thereby go around and tell the rest of the group. That group could then go on and tell the players, if it's relevant.

Here's my situation. I have a group of players opposed by a CotDB which is being manipulated/set up by the Lords of Dust. The players, being new to Eberron know absolutely zilch about both groups. They are going to be fed some backstory by a holy order that fights such groups. The question becomes what does the holy order know?

On one hand, I could imagine that the Lords of Dust were so secretive that no one really knows they exist or do stuff - but in that case I'd think the knowledge DC would be up around 30. But as it is, anyone with 1 pt of skill in Knowledge(Geography) has a 15% chance of being familiar with at least the name.

Anyway... I think I'll run with most of the suggestions and have the players become familiar with the cults, but not know anythings about the rajahs for a while.

Thanks again for the replies.
Alex_
07-12-07, 05:22 PM First off, thanks to everyone who replied!

These DCs make me wonder about whether the leadership of a given country/religion/holy group would be ignorant of the information in question. The common man wouldn't know much about any of this, but it seems that those groups would be.

Not every individual in the group need be aware of the greatest details. Only 1 person needs to know, and the rest need merely follow their orders.

If there is a holy order dedicated to fighting evil, it seems to me that someone in the group would be able to make a DC20 K:(Planes) check and thereby go around and tell the rest of the group.

If the Holy Order is dedicated to fighting it, you can bet there will be a higher number of individuals with higher ranks in Knowledge (whatever it is we're fighting). That doesn't mean the people above or under them necessarily have the same knowledge. They would just have to trust the judgment of the person who provided them the information.

Also, if you have the Knowledge skill, you can take 10 or 20.

Here's my situation. I have a group of players opposed by a CotDB which is being manipulated/set up by the Lords of Dust. The players, being new to Eberron know absolutely zilch about both groups. They are going to be fed some backstory by a holy order that fights such groups. The question becomes what does the holy order know?

They will know only specifically what they are told. If required to make any other conclusions or recall any facts that are anything more than merely repeating what they were told, they would have to make a knowledge check.

On one hand, I could imagine that the Lords of Dust were so secretive that no one really knows they exist or do stuff - but in that case I'd think the knowledge DC would be up around 30.

This is Eberron. Most NPCs are low level.
Hellcow
07-13-07, 02:23 PM Geography DC 18: You know that the strongest and most unified group of fiends in the Demon Wastes is called the Lords of Dust.
Planes DC 10: You know that fiends rule the Demon Wastes.
Honestly, I'm not crazy about either of these statements; in dealing with the Lords of Dust, iId go with the actual knowledge checks listed for the Lords of Dust on page 148 of the PGtE. The issue to me is that the Lords of Dust AREN'T a strong an unified group. They are an alliance of mighty fiends, but each of the prakhutus has his own agenda and his own goals. They MEET in Ashtakala to discuss plans, primarily to make sure they aren't interfering with one another, but it's not as if they live there; most are hidden across Eberron, in whatever location is most convenient for the work they are doing. Ashtakala is more like Atlantis than Sharn - a legendary city, a place of ancient treasures and always home to a number of ghosts and fiends, but not a bustling metropolis. Furthermore, I wouldn't say that fiends "rule" the Demon Wastes in the sense that Boranel rules Breland; for a genius-level being with magical powers, what possible joy could their be in "ruling" a barren wasteland peopled by savages? Individual fiends toy with the Carrion tribes, but even they rarely spend all their time among the tribe - it's more that the barbarians are toys to play with, and occasionally, useful tools in schemes reaching beyond the Wastes. But there's no organized government or anything like that; just savage tribes roaming the barren landscape. To me, "fiends rules the wastes" implied more of a nation than actually exists.

So certainly someone with the right knowledge skills may have heard of the Lords of Dust. And many people have heard that there are fiends in the Demon Wastes, hence the name. But I REALLY dislike the idea that someone - especially someone trained in GEOGRAPHY - would say "The Demon Wastes? Oh, there's a big bunch of fiends there called the Lords of Dust." Again, it's really just where they meet between carrying out schemes across Eberron - and they don't post signs saying "Lords of Dust territory - Adventurers keep out!"

Regarding the Cults of the Dragon Below, certainly anyone who lives near the Shadow Marches knows about them; almost a third of the Marches follows one of the Cults (bear in mind that not all of the Cults are innately violent! some just have strange or disturbing beliefs.). In more civilized lands, people don't know much about them, but certainly have heard stories of crazy cultists performing dark rituals and blood sacrifices. They haven't the slightest idea that some worship rajahs, some worship Khyber, etc - just "There's madmen who worship dark powers out there."
mhacdebhandia
07-15-07, 07:56 PM Sure, Keith, that makes perfect sense. Would you alter the Knowledge checks concerning the Demon Wastes to reflect only the existence of the various humanoid tribes?

Those Lords of Dust Knowledge check DCs are as follows:

Religion DC 15: In ancient times, mighty fiends ruled the land. These were the children of the dark dragon Khyber. The universe could not stand to see such evil roaming free, and the Silver Flame took form to bind this terrible darkness in the depths of the world.

Religion DC 18: While the greatest fiends were trapped by the Silver Flame, their weaker servants were able to slip through the bonds, like small fish slipping through nets made to catch krakens. These treacherous fiends remain in the world, and the templars of the Silver Flame must be ever-vigilant to prevent these demons from freeing their bound masters. Some of the fiends have joined together in an alliance called the Lords of Dust, a name that refers to the ancient powers they have lost.

Religion DC 22: The most common order of fiends among these Lords of Dust is the rakshasa. A rakshasa is a clever shapeshifting demon that can assume any humanoid form and possesses considerable magical powers of its own. Rakshasas are resistant to most magic, and neither sword nor mace can harm them - only a spear or arrow blessed by the forces of good can penetrate such a demon's hide.
Hellcow
07-15-07, 11:53 PM Sure, Keith, that makes perfect sense. Would you alter the Knowledge checks concerning the Demon Wastes to reflect only the existence of the various humanoid tribes?
I'd remove the the last sentence of the DC 10 Knowledge (geography) check, the first sentence of the DC 18 K(geo) check, and the DC 10 K (planes) check... and change the the DC 20 K(geo) check to "Nine night hags wield power it the Wastes, pursuing arcane mysteries."

In regards to the night hags, the main entry says "Night hags control small packets of land and remnants of civilization." Huh? Since when? And for goodness sake, WHY? According to page 305 of the ECS, they served as "ambassadors and mediators" in the Age of Demons, and continue to serve as mediators across the planes today. Their motives remain "mysterious and unclear", though they may "simply enjoy watching the tapestry of history unfold across the planes." Per the ECS description of the Demon Wastes (page 160), "The hags spend most of their time engaged in mystical studies beyond the realm of mortal ken (and mercifully so), exploring the ancient ruins for arcane tomes from the Age of Demons." How does any of this translate into controlling "small packets of land"? Certainly, I expect each hag to have a sanctum, but I don't see them as dominating other creatures. I see them as mystics and wanderers, more Baba Yaga than the White Witch. Sora Kell's daughters may have created a kingdom, but their mother never sought dominion over any land.

I may simply be misreading the intent here, but there you go.
mhacdebhandia
07-17-07, 07:39 PM You know, that is odd.

I can't recall, but it's a good question: is Sora Kell still alive? :)
ZappoHisbane
07-22-07, 12:54 PM Also, if you have the Knowledge skill, you can take 10 or 20.

You can't take 20 on a Knowledge check since retries aren't allowed. You either know something or you don't. Thinking hard for 2 minutes isn't going to make the information just pop into your head. :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jason Snyder 07-11-07, 02:39 PM	Forgive me if this is has been covered already.... What is the general awareness of the Lords of Dust and of the Cults of the Dragon Below? I could see on one hand where the Lords of Dust are super-secretive and only the most clever sages knows that they exist and are causing trouble in the world. I could also see a situation where most folks are aware of the legend of the Lords of Dust and suspect that their interference is everywhere. This would result in paranoid witch hunts akin to medieval groups thinking that Satan was everywhere and influencing everything. Similarly, would folks be aware of the _concept_ of the Cults of the Dragon Below? I.e. that such groups exist? Of course, the actual groups would be very secretive but do people know that there are people like that? Thanks.
Rerecros 07-11-07, 03:02 PM	The lords of dust are composed entirely of fiends, while the cults of the dragon below are all humanoids. Their general goal (well, for most of their members) is to release the Rajah. To the lords, the cults are simply willing pawns. The cults are fairly common knowledge, while the lords exist as myth.
GimliGloinson 07-11-07, 03:02 PM	I would think general knowledge of either doesn't really exist, except as boogeyman stories. There's probably a lot of horror stories of Cults of TDB, of the sort mommy and daddy use to get little kids to cooperate. Lords of Dust? I'd say only historians (specifically back to the time of the LoD), maybe some arcanists, the Gatekeepers and clerics of the Host and maybe the Dark Six. But nothing on the LoD would be common knowledge, IMO.
Jason Snyder 07-11-07, 03:11 PM	Understood. Thanks... I didn't want some random peasant to start talking about stuff he would have no reason knowing! :D
Nightshade 07-11-07, 06:43 PM	I agree for the most part. The average peasant knows nothing about either the Lords of Dust or the Cults of the Dragon Below except for the bogeyman stories. Of the two, people would know less about the Lords of Dust than about the Cults due to the fact that the Cults are humanoids. And occasionally the Cults of the Dragon Below rear their ugly heads, perform sacrifices, murder, etc. Their actions would be sure to show up in the Sharn Inquisitive, Breland Ledger, or Korranberg Chronicle. (At least when the government can't cover up the situations). So, occasionally people will know of them. I also think it is important to note that there are two or even three iterations of the Cults of the Dragon Below. 1- Cults that worship the Rajahs and hope to free them 2- Cults that worship the Daelkyr, consort with Aberrations, and hope to free both into Eberron 3- Cults that worship Khyber itself (a miscellaneous group that GM's can use for whatever reason they see fit). Normal people would not understand the differences and wouldn't understand that their goals often conflict leading to battles between cults. I would think general knowledge of either doesn't really exist, except as boogeyman stories. There's probably a lot of horror stories of Cults of TDB, of the sort mommy and daddy use to get little kids to cooperate. Lords of Dust? I'd say only historians (specifically back to the time of the LoD), maybe some arcanists, the Gatekeepers and clerics of the Host and maybe the Dark Six. But nothing on the LoD would be common knowledge, IMO.
mhacdebhandia 07-11-07, 07:44 PM	If we look to the Player's Guide to Eberron, we can get some idea of the Knowledge check DCs required to know about these things. Geography DC 10: You know that rakshasas and other fiends inhabit the Demon Wastes. Geography DC 18: You know that the strongest and most unified group of fiends in the Demon Wastes is called the Lords of Dust. Planes DC 10: You know that fiends rule the Demon Wastes. Planes DC 15: You know that rakshasa rajahs are trapped beneath the Demon Wastes. Planes DC 20: You know that some fiends work together, while others pursue independent goals. You know that some seek to free the rajahs, while others try to draw power from them. On page 87, in the entry on Khyber, we have this: The people of Khorvaire know of the Cults of the Dragon Below - mad acolytes of the darkness within the world who work to free the fiends bound in the depths. Also known as Khyber cultists, these insane creatures are one of the class evils used by parents to frighten children. My guess would be that only people who have actually studied Khyber and/or the fiends of the Demon Wastes would know anything more than the surface facts of "crazy people worship the Dragon Below" and "there are demons in the Demon Wastes".
mhacdebhandia 07-11-07, 07:46 PM	I also think it is important to note that there are two or even three iterations of the Cults of the Dragon Below. 1- Cults that worship the Rajahs and hope to free them 2- Cults that worship the Daelkyr, consort with Aberrations, and hope to free both into Eberron 3- Cults that worship Khyber itself (a miscellaneous group that GM's can use for whatever reason they see fit). Yep. It's also worth noting that the third group is both the oldest and the rarest - the Player's Guide to Eberron notes that humanoids who worship Khyber itself are extremely uncommon, and that usually only kobolds and lizardfolk belong to such cults.
Jason Snyder 07-12-07, 03:31 PM	If we look to the Player's Guide to Eberron, we can get some idea of the Knowledge check DCs required to know about these things. Geography DC 10: You know that rakshasas and other fiends inhabit the Demon Wastes. Geography DC 18: You know that the strongest and most unified group of fiends in the Demon Wastes is called the Lords of Dust. Planes DC 10: You know that fiends rule the Demon Wastes. Planes DC 15: You know that rakshasa rajahs are trapped beneath the Demon Wastes. Planes DC 20: You know that some fiends work together, while others pursue independent goals. You know that some seek to free the rajahs, while others try to draw power from them. On page 87, in the entry on Khyber, we have this: The people of Khorvaire know of the Cults of the Dragon Below - mad acolytes of the darkness within the world who work to free the fiends bound in the depths. Also known as Khyber cultists, these insane creatures are one of the class evils used by parents to frighten children. My guess would be that only people who have actually studied Khyber and/or the fiends of the Demon Wastes would know anything more than the surface facts of "crazy people worship the Dragon Below" and "there are demons in the Demon Wastes". First off, thanks to everyone who replied! These DCs make me wonder about whether the leadership of a given country/religion/holy group would be ignorant of the information in question. The common man wouldn't know much about any of this, but it seems that those groups would be. This is an interesting wrinkle of the Knowledge rules. Those skills make sense in regards to mimicking what the players know - but what about groups? If there is a holy order dedicated to fighting evil, it seems to me that someone in the group would be able to make a DC20 K:(Planes) check and thereby go around and tell the rest of the group. That group could then go on and tell the players, if it's relevant. Here's my situation. I have a group of players opposed by a CotDB which is being manipulated/set up by the Lords of Dust. The players, being new to Eberron know absolutely zilch about both groups. They are going to be fed some backstory by a holy order that fights such groups. The question becomes what does the holy order know? On one hand, I could imagine that the Lords of Dust were so secretive that no one really knows they exist or do stuff - but in that case I'd think the knowledge DC would be up around 30. But as it is, anyone with 1 pt of skill in Knowledge(Geography) has a 15% chance of being familiar with at least the name. Anyway... I think I'll run with most of the suggestions and have the players become familiar with the cults, but not know anythings about the rajahs for a while. Thanks again for the replies.
Alex_ 07-12-07, 05:22 PM	First off, thanks to everyone who replied! These DCs make me wonder about whether the leadership of a given country/religion/holy group would be ignorant of the information in question. The common man wouldn't know much about any of this, but it seems that those groups would be. Not every individual in the group need be aware of the greatest details. Only 1 person needs to know, and the rest need merely follow their orders. If there is a holy order dedicated to fighting evil, it seems to me that someone in the group would be able to make a DC20 K:(Planes) check and thereby go around and tell the rest of the group. If the Holy Order is dedicated to fighting it, you can bet there will be a higher number of individuals with higher ranks in Knowledge (whatever it is we're fighting). That doesn't mean the people above or under them necessarily have the same knowledge. They would just have to trust the judgment of the person who provided them the information. Also, if you have the Knowledge skill, you can take 10 or 20. Here's my situation. I have a group of players opposed by a CotDB which is being manipulated/set up by the Lords of Dust. The players, being new to Eberron know absolutely zilch about both groups. They are going to be fed some backstory by a holy order that fights such groups. The question becomes what does the holy order know? They will know only specifically what they are told. If required to make any other conclusions or recall any facts that are anything more than merely repeating what they were told, they would have to make a knowledge check. On one hand, I could imagine that the Lords of Dust were so secretive that no one really knows they exist or do stuff - but in that case I'd think the knowledge DC would be up around 30. This is Eberron. Most NPCs are low level.
Hellcow 07-13-07, 02:23 PM	Geography DC 18: You know that the strongest and most unified group of fiends in the Demon Wastes is called the Lords of Dust. Planes DC 10: You know that fiends rule the Demon Wastes. Honestly, I'm not crazy about either of these statements; in dealing with the Lords of Dust, iId go with the actual knowledge checks listed for the Lords of Dust on page 148 of the PGtE. The issue to me is that the Lords of Dust AREN'T a strong an unified group. They are an alliance of mighty fiends, but each of the prakhutus has his own agenda and his own goals. They MEET in Ashtakala to discuss plans, primarily to make sure they aren't interfering with one another, but it's not as if they live there; most are hidden across Eberron, in whatever location is most convenient for the work they are doing. Ashtakala is more like Atlantis than Sharn - a legendary city, a place of ancient treasures and always home to a number of ghosts and fiends, but not a bustling metropolis. Furthermore, I wouldn't say that fiends "rule" the Demon Wastes in the sense that Boranel rules Breland; for a genius-level being with magical powers, what possible joy could their be in "ruling" a barren wasteland peopled by savages? Individual fiends toy with the Carrion tribes, but even they rarely spend all their time among the tribe - it's more that the barbarians are toys to play with, and occasionally, useful tools in schemes reaching beyond the Wastes. But there's no organized government or anything like that; just savage tribes roaming the barren landscape. To me, "fiends rules the wastes" implied more of a nation than actually exists. So certainly someone with the right knowledge skills may have heard of the Lords of Dust. And many people have heard that there are fiends in the Demon Wastes, hence the name. But I REALLY dislike the idea that someone - especially someone trained in GEOGRAPHY - would say "The Demon Wastes? Oh, there's a big bunch of fiends there called the Lords of Dust." Again, it's really just where they meet between carrying out schemes across Eberron - and they don't post signs saying "Lords of Dust territory - Adventurers keep out!" Regarding the Cults of the Dragon Below, certainly anyone who lives near the Shadow Marches knows about them; almost a third of the Marches follows one of the Cults (bear in mind that not all of the Cults are innately violent! some just have strange or disturbing beliefs.). In more civilized lands, people don't know much about them, but certainly have heard stories of crazy cultists performing dark rituals and blood sacrifices. They haven't the slightest idea that some worship rajahs, some worship Khyber, etc - just "There's madmen who worship dark powers out there."
mhacdebhandia 07-15-07, 07:56 PM	Sure, Keith, that makes perfect sense. Would you alter the Knowledge checks concerning the Demon Wastes to reflect only the existence of the various humanoid tribes? Those Lords of Dust Knowledge check DCs are as follows: Religion DC 15: In ancient times, mighty fiends ruled the land. These were the children of the dark dragon Khyber. The universe could not stand to see such evil roaming free, and the Silver Flame took form to bind this terrible darkness in the depths of the world. Religion DC 18: While the greatest fiends were trapped by the Silver Flame, their weaker servants were able to slip through the bonds, like small fish slipping through nets made to catch krakens. These treacherous fiends remain in the world, and the templars of the Silver Flame must be ever-vigilant to prevent these demons from freeing their bound masters. Some of the fiends have joined together in an alliance called the Lords of Dust, a name that refers to the ancient powers they have lost. Religion DC 22: The most common order of fiends among these Lords of Dust is the rakshasa. A rakshasa is a clever shapeshifting demon that can assume any humanoid form and possesses considerable magical powers of its own. Rakshasas are resistant to most magic, and neither sword nor mace can harm them - only a spear or arrow blessed by the forces of good can penetrate such a demon's hide.
Hellcow 07-15-07, 11:53 PM	Sure, Keith, that makes perfect sense. Would you alter the Knowledge checks concerning the Demon Wastes to reflect only the existence of the various humanoid tribes? I'd remove the the last sentence of the DC 10 Knowledge (geography) check, the first sentence of the DC 18 K(geo) check, and the DC 10 K (planes) check... and change the the DC 20 K(geo) check to "Nine night hags wield power it the Wastes, pursuing arcane mysteries." In regards to the night hags, the main entry says "Night hags control small packets of land and remnants of civilization." Huh? Since when? And for goodness sake, WHY? According to page 305 of the ECS, they served as "ambassadors and mediators" in the Age of Demons, and continue to serve as mediators across the planes today. Their motives remain "mysterious and unclear", though they may "simply enjoy watching the tapestry of history unfold across the planes." Per the ECS description of the Demon Wastes (page 160), "The hags spend most of their time engaged in mystical studies beyond the realm of mortal ken (and mercifully so), exploring the ancient ruins for arcane tomes from the Age of Demons." How does any of this translate into controlling "small packets of land"? Certainly, I expect each hag to have a sanctum, but I don't see them as dominating other creatures. I see them as mystics and wanderers, more Baba Yaga than the White Witch. Sora Kell's daughters may have created a kingdom, but their mother never sought dominion over any land. I may simply be misreading the intent here, but there you go.
mhacdebhandia 07-17-07, 07:39 PM	You know, that is odd. I can't recall, but it's a good question: is Sora Kell still alive? :)
ZappoHisbane 07-22-07, 12:54 PM	Also, if you have the Knowledge skill, you can take 10 or 20. You can't take 20 on a Knowledge check since retries aren't allowed. You either know something or you don't. Thinking hard for 2 minutes isn't going to make the information just pop into your head. :)