Post/Author/DateTime	Post
lvl1_commoner 01-22-08, 10:14 AM	In the second book in the dreaming dark trilogy by Keith Baker he gives us a character named Harmattan, a reborn warforged with a body of razors.. I was wondering what his stats would be?.. I would guess he has a huge LA, so if anyone can put down some stats that would be awsome....
Edymnion 01-22-08, 08:34 PM	He has no official stats (which is a good thing). Personally, I'd just apply some kind of swarm template to a normal adamantine body warforged.
Hellcow 01-23-08, 01:17 PM	Edy's right. He doesn't have official stats, and I don't have plans to write them up (though people are certainly welcome to create their own unofficial stats). With that said, I was certainly seeing his "razor wind" form as essentially him becoming a high-damage swarm. While in humanoid form, the key feature is that he's got damage reduction and regeneration; it's simply hard to hurt him, because if you knock pieces off his body he'll just rebuild himself. Survival is what he was built for - "This is how you defeat death."
Siran Dunmorgan 01-23-08, 04:58 PM	Edy's right. He doesn't have official stats, and I don't have plans to write them up (though people are certainly welcome to create their own unofficial stats). With that said, I was certainly seeing his "razor wind" form as essentially him becoming a high-damage swarm. While in humanoid form, the key feature is that he's got damage reduction and regeneration; it's simply hard to hurt him, because if you knock pieces off his body he'll just rebuild himself. Survival is what he was built for - "This is how you defeat death." Defeating death being one of the major themes of Eberron. :) —Siran Dunmorgan
Real_iceman 01-24-08, 08:12 AM	I personally wouldn´t want to cross paths with Harmattan, he is one scary ´´warforged´´ :weep: . By the way, i just finished reading book2 in the dreaming dark series, loved it. I screamed when i read the last words in the book ,,Wake up´´ i turned to the next page and saw the glossary,, dam you Keith Baker !!! :D
Gurv 01-24-08, 09:03 AM	One of the things I love about Eberron is the "exception to the rule" that shakes things up. A warforged that can become a swarm, who regenerates, who just won't die. Or a bunch of them with the anaxiomatic template. Being the DM means being able to say "Just Because". Just be fair about it and give it some stats.
Nerdicus 01-24-08, 01:56 PM	I currently have a BBEG in my campaign that is based off of Harmattan, but is not quite as powerful...yet. For now he just has a cape that acts like Harmattan's swarm of blades ability. And it can turn into an adimantine covering, which allows the guy to turtle up and heal himself while the group smashes at his rock like body....bloody PCs and their brutality! But yeah, Harmattan is not the sort of thing any DM would ever let a player play( seriously) but if you wanted to use him as a bad guy all you need to know for HP and AC. is this. Even if he is hit, it doesn't really matter. Though in the books they did elude to his having a solid head hidden somewhere in that mass of razor blades....so maybe, just maybe, if you could smash him apart and get at that solid head...and then destroy THAT part of him, you might be able to destroy him.....but yeah, my guy based off of HArmattan can't be killed....much to my players dismay. Mwuhahahahahahaahahah!
Zippis 01-24-08, 03:30 PM	I currently have a BBEG in my campaign that is based off of Harmattan, but is not quite as powerful...yet. For now he just has a cape that acts like Harmattan's swarm of blades ability. And it can turn into an adimantine covering, which allows the guy to turtle up and heal himself while the group smashes at his rock like body....bloody PCs and their brutality! But yeah, Harmattan is not the sort of thing any DM would ever let a player play( seriously) but if you wanted to use him as a bad guy all you need to know for HP and AC. is this. Even if he is hit, it doesn't really matter. Though in the books they did elude to his having a solid head hidden somewhere in that mass of razor blades....so maybe, just maybe, if you could smash him apart and get at that solid head...and then destroy THAT part of him, you might be able to destroy him.....but yeah, my guy based off of HArmattan can't be killed....much to my players dismay. Mwuhahahahahahaahahah! I think that creature like him could be a very good BAD guy ... As DM I think that HP and AC are not so important stats. Of course, he wan't intended to be "stated" and "fighted", but anyway it could be challange to try to define him in game terms. He is "powered" by magic, a very special kind of magic AFAIK (mourning?) ... so what you need is some DM-definition how his magic could be harmed/suppressed/destroyed ...what results can we get with Dispell Magic, Antimagic field? What about disintegrate? He has some very good DR, energy resitance, very good regeneration. High Str, Dex, Con. Not sure about Int and Wisdom ;) Would say that Int could be higher than Wis. His Charisma is also mystery to me ... I would say that Cha is low, but with some special bonusus to Diplomacy when negotiation with warforged. Good saves Attack options ... obivious deadly swarm attack (but MAY BE with some restrictions, just several times per day?), slam attack, very high Grapple check Flying and so on ... and he is almost complete :) Well, from we know ... there could be some hidden powers we didn't see in book :) Hellcow: May I ask you one question here? When you write your novels ... do you "see the scene" also in game terms? In some situations it looks like very "encounter based D&D game" with heroes with their stats, badguys with their stats and using "game terms" to describe combat scenes ... Is there some recommendation "from above" about that? Sorry, actually that is the second question :)
Hellcow 01-24-08, 03:42 PM	so what you need is some DM-definition how his magic could be harmed/suppressed/destroyed ...what results can we get with Dispell Magic, Antimagic field? Have you read the third book yet? Antimagic field is a real question; it could ruin him, but what I'd probably do is cause him to take damage while in the field (and cut off regeneration). Make it a serious weakness, but not an instant kill. Dispel is essentially a stunning effect. Hellcow: May I ask you one question here? When you write your novels ... do you "see the scene" also in game terms? In some situations it looks like very "encounter based D&D game" with heroes with their stats, badguys with their stats and using "game terms" to describe combat scenes ... Is there some recommendation "from above" about that? It's not a strict requirement, and you'll see different approaches from different authors. When I'm writing an Eberron book, I want it to be something DMs could use for inspiration. As such, I do try to consider how actions in the novel could be translated into D&D terms. I never have created stats for Harmattan, but as shown here, I'm sure I COULD - again, regeneration, DR, swarm form, and so on. All of the things Lei does are things an artificer could do. If I was writing a completely freestanding fantasy novel, I wouldn't tie it to D&D - but since this is an Eberron novel, I do want it to be possible for people to replicate the action if they put their minds to it. Regarding the OP's question on LA, by the novel Harmattan is definitely in the BBEG category; he is supposed to be essentially indestructible (yes, you might be able to do something with that head, but it is a lump of adamantine charged with unknown energies and enchantments). He's definitely not intended to be PC material.
Zippis 01-24-08, 05:35 PM	Thank you for you answers at first. Have you read the third book yet? Antimagic field is a real question; it could ruin him, but what I'd probably do is cause him to take damage while in the field (and cut off regeneration). Make it a serious weakness, but not an instant kill. Dispel is essentially a stunning effect. . I read the third book. But as English is not my native language and I read it quickly, may be I missed something :) Well, if we are talking about dispel stunning effect (from Lei), that's what I was thinking about in my previous post. I placed question marks there, 'cause there "could be" a whole pallete of effects from dispel, antimagic field, disjunction and so on if DM wants him "colorful" and really epic. Lower (weaker) dispel could just slow him down (lower dispel DC for the caster), higher (higher DC) could stun him for shorter or longer period of time, even higher may also partially damage him (for some period of time?). Personally as DM I like to show BBEG somehow juicy and "alive" to PC's, not just HP and AC or few strict abilities. Varying effects could help low-level party escape, much more higher-level party face that guy somehow ... if that's what their DM wants. Someone also may want to define Harmattan's status "before the Mourning" and then another may be think out what exactly remained from those times, and what was twisted. May be some way how to disable him ... I just have to say that I do not plan to send Harmattan agains my PCs. Never ever, I promise :) Just tried to give some ideas to other DMs how Harmattan also could be seen, not just define him as "unbeatable enemy, period" ('cause I saw that point of view in some previous posts). I think it's not fair from DM to use unbeatable enemies against PCs. Well, indestructable, ok, that's very different question, of course :) Thank you, Hellcow, again for the second part of your answer. I thought it is like that, but was so curious that I had to ask, when there had been a chance :)
lvl1_commoner 01-25-08, 09:13 AM	ok , thanks for the replies.. i wasn't asking because i wanted to include him in a game.. Just as i was reading the dreaming dark books i thought the encounters were really "d&d combat" like.... And so as i got trough the second book i started thinking of the encounter as it would be in a game.. so, to my question.. Keith do you write your books thinking of the encounters as an in game based combat scene?..
Zippis 01-25-08, 09:59 AM	ok , thanks for the replies.. i wasn't asking because i wanted to include him in a game.. Just as i was reading the dreaming dark books i thought the encounters were really "d&d combat" like.... And so as i got trough the second book i started thinking of the encounter as it would be in a game.. so, to my question.. Keith do you write your books thinking of the encounters as an in game based combat scene?.. Me first, me first! That was my question, that was my question :cool: It was already answered two posts before ;)
Edymnion 01-25-08, 08:41 PM	i thought the encounters were really "d&d combat" like....Oh yeah, there are several of them you can practically hear the dice rolling. :)
Hellcow 01-25-08, 09:36 PM	Oh yeah, there are several of them you can practically hear the dice rolling. :) You mean where Daine gets the critical hit and stops to high-five Pierce? Or the part where Jode spills beer on the battlefield and the walls get erased? It's a delicate balance. As I said, I like the idea that you COULD replicate most of the action if you wanted to - yup, that darn monk has Improved Disarm, and Lei just used spell-storing item to infuse shocking grasp into her glove - but at the same time, you don't want that dice-rolling to get so loud that it drowns out the story. It's something I'm continuing to work on.
Real_iceman 01-30-08, 11:08 AM	Well, When i read the book i imagined that he could shoot his swarm of metal fragments out of his hands, shattering and destroying anything in his way. I havent read the third book yet so i dont know, but i think that is how he escapped fr.. am i saying to much ? well you know what i am talking about So if i you want to add to his Pun pun build you could always give him reach on the swarm ability and ability to attack with it from range. Maybe a line of metarl shards out of his hands :P
Edymnion 01-30-08, 07:19 PM	It's something I'm continuing to work on.Lol, now I didn't say it was a BAD thing. :)
AlHazred 02-08-08, 12:29 AM	I figured to use the Razor Golem (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20030418a) as a basis for a Harmattan-like character IMG.