Artificers? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Artificers? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Shiftkitty
01-03-08, 04:02 PM I'm still kinda new to Eberron. Can anyone here tell me if I've summed up artificers correctly? Are they essentially just people who can't use magic, but who can build magical devices? If so, would a "naturally magic oriented" race such as elves be excluded from the class?

Here's the angle I'm working: I'm going to turn the tables on my game's most famous PC, a very powerful wizard. An NPC party from Eberron is going to go delving into his castle in Greyhawk. After all, it's stockpiled with exotic treasure from a distant world! I want to make a good party that represents a good cut of all that's different about Eberron, so that if he manages to catch any of them, he realizes that these aren't normal adventurers.
Durskut
01-03-08, 05:50 PM i would throw together a human dragonmarked artificer, gnomish bard, an adamantine body warforged paladin (silver flame), a valenar elf druid, and an aundairian wizard (if lower level) or aundairian Knight Phantom (if higher)

this would be good (imo) because 4 of them can heal (useful when the PCs seperate them), along with having an obviously very "anti-party party" feel
also, the races/classes span the continent and take into differing religions, fighting styles, and (in my experiance) "classic" eberron elements, without being too specific

happy gaming, later
Toloran
01-03-08, 08:34 PM Its not that they can't use magic per se (as in, physically unable to) its just that they aren't trained in its use. So a magically inclined race (traditionally elves, but other races as well) can still easily become one.
larry_the_titan
01-03-08, 09:19 PM I'm still kinda new to Eberron. Can anyone here tell me if I've summed up artificers correctly? Are they essentially just people who can't use magic, but who can build magical devices? If so, would a "naturally magic oriented" race such as elves be excluded from the class?

Here's the angle I'm working: I'm going to turn the tables on my game's most famous PC, a very powerful wizard. An NPC party from Eberron is going to go delving into his castle in Greyhawk. After all, it's stockpiled with exotic treasure from a distant world! I want to make a good party that represents a good cut of all that's different about Eberron, so that if he manages to catch any of them, he realizes that these aren't normal adventurers.

Artificer use magic to a great extent. Though their approach is a great deal different. They take some real rules knowledge to run the right way but they can really destroy almost any class of equal level pre epic with enough rules knowledge. After epic the game kind of breaks a little and the most powerful force in the game comes in to play. Epic Spell Casting. Artificers never get epic spells. But with ability to scribe any of the full list of spells of any class ever Artificers can truly cause some damage. If you had a level for this wizard I would at least be able to list you some possible abilities that the Artificer can use to level the field between him and mister wizard. I might even spend some time and hammer down a character for you.
Edymnion
01-04-08, 02:53 PM Read this, it should answer all of your questions:
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=813665
Shiftkitty
01-04-08, 03:27 PM Larry- The wiz is pretty high up there. He's been in heavy play since 1989 and was thus created under the 2e rules, which had no real "upper limit" to levels. When we updated him to 3e, it became easier to apply the paragon template to him, with minor tweaks because he wasn't born that powerful. He's no longer really a PC, but he does get used by the other players as a resource or a powerful friend, in which case his player usually just gives (or sells) them information or performs other services. He no longer actually goes on dungeons. HOWEVER... my evil motivation is that the player feels a little smug and secure with this character. He was even bold enough to refuse a godhood. (Boccob offered it because of the PCs legendary magic skill and hasn't forgotten the cocky "thanks but no thanks" response.) I've been planning on how to show him that, as a mortal, he can still be touched, and I want to use Eberron to do it. Eberron....my precioussssssss...;) To imagine it, I'd say the NPC party will be breaking into the home of a god-like being (DR20) who is still quite mortal, but is extremely powerful. Pretty tall order, especially since my Eberron campaign doesn't have many high-level NPCs yet. Maybe I could assume that Boccob has a hand in it and will help the NPCs take the mighty Uff down a notch or two hundred.

Edymnion- Thanks for the link! Is there a printer-friendly version avaliable?
larry_the_titan
01-05-08, 02:32 AM Well considering this is a long time PC that has been converted more then once and has the Paragon template even if weaker is means a serious threat. A team assaulting this with the backing of any God would probably all be granted the Monster of Legend Template in monster manual 2. That should up the threat of the attacking Party.

Sending a team with the backing of an Artificer also reduce the cost of any of their equipment to 3/8 the normal off the shelf buy. Artisan feats are nice. The Extra Rings feat and Craft Construct Feats will be a must have for any Artificer at higher levels. All this does is give the Artificer the Needed muscle from Golems and other constructs to work as minions. In Epic the feat Enhance Item will be a must have for the Artificer.

I know so far I haven't really pointed out much that some other caster couldn't pull off. Thats about to change. The main Tricks that Artificers can pull off is Magic Item Combos, Spell combos from multiple kinds of casters and Using magically improved skills to do things that even spells have trouble doing. With the use of Metamagic Spell Completion an Artificer can add Metamagic Feats to a Scroll or Schema as an after thought which means you make scrolls for a spell with out the Metamagic so you don't pay the added cost for the higher level that would come with Metamagic.

A Magic Item combo that is really useful for Artificers is Wand Bracelet and Infinite Scrollcase both in Magic of Eberron. The effect is that you can put 4 Infinite Scrollcases in the Wand Bracelet and with a free action and a move action you get any of 200 spells from a scroll.

Skill Mods that don't stack because they are the same type can easily be changed into different types with the Item Alteration. Meaning if you start with 4 Ring with a +30 circumstance to bonus to Diplomacy can be turned into 4 different bonuses like Competence, Insight, Enhancement and then Circumstance for a total of +120 to Diplomacy which can turn anyone into a fanatic Follower with just a handshack.

Edymnion's Link will be very useful for you and I will be back to post some more stuff but for the most part the Artificer's power comes from the use of magic Items to Raise its abilities to greater then what it faces. At the moment I need sleep and will be back later to add some more information.
Shiftkitty
01-05-08, 01:54 PM Oooohhhhhhhh, man! Thanks guys! I look forward to more info. Now that means I have to buy some more books, like MM2 and Magic of Eberron. Three cheers for Amazon, eh? This wizard isn't gonna know what hit him...!

He has a library with a copy of every spell ever produced for Greyhawk and the Realms as well as a plethora of custom spells. It's his pride and joy and he went through hell (in some cases literally) to assemble it. I can just imagine the look on his eyes when he opens the door and sees it ransacked (or being ransacked)!
larry_the_titan
01-05-08, 04:13 PM Well I am back and I am more awake. Shiftkitty if you are going to buy books I suggest Picking up Lords of Madness if you don't already have it. Besides the full list of Aberrations to run at players in the Future it has the "Elder Eidolon" template. Which makes some of the most powerful Golems in the game. Which for Artificers with Craft Construct is a must have if allowed.

Now on to Artificer and Party Advice. The Races for Artificer really vary on what you want. Any Race with a Int and/or Cha bonus are what you really want. Warforged are one of the few exceptions to that list because the Artificers spells can be targeted directly to them. Which mean Warforged Artificers great Self buffers.

For the Rest of the Party Really needs 2 people who can stand face to face with even the nastiest creatures in a Dead Magic Zone. The group will need a 4th member to Heal them, Clerics Druids and Archivists all fit this slot. All 4 members of the party would all have magic Items of Top Value. These items can be from any book and would have a maximum Caster Level of 2 higher then the Artificer.

Now for specific advice dealing with this Wizard I need to know how you expect to attack the Wizards tower. Do you plan to have them fight him or to just sneak in and take things that he really can't live with out. With the right timing the group wouldn't even need to be epic they just need to be 20th level and go in when the wizard is gone and take any of his Spell books that he leaves unattended at the tower. Yes level 20 characters can be built to even go through epic level Towers and never have much issue as long as they don't get caught and get into combat.

If you plan for them to get into combat I would need to know more about what the Wizard Keeps around the Tower. If he keeps constructs around these can be gotten Rid of by targeting spells at them that the Wizard doesn't expect. Awaken Construct can cause loads of trouble for the Wizard if he has a couple Golems himself. Animate Object and Permanency cast enough times to be used to have the Tower walk off under its own Power. Both of these strategies have the same weakness though they cost a lot of Exp.

The main thing that is getting in the way at the moment is I need to know what you want this party to do. Anything can be done before epic the Wizards power level will just make it nearly impossible for the Party to face him head on.
Shiftkitty
01-05-08, 08:03 PM I intend to have them sneak in and, given the complexity of the castle, they should have plenty of places to hide once they're in.

The castle is pretty huge, having started as the School of Wizardry found in an old issue of Dragon (can't remember which one, but I xeroxed the map for later use). He led a party that cleared out the bad guys (left the zombie pit for fun) and moved in. The forward part of the castle houses the dormitories for his students (approx 45 at a time, they do go off on school vacations so I can time this to happen when no students are around). The residential part is separated from the school part by the zombie pit. The original map is small, but over the years he's added on to it so that it's like the Winchester Mystery House of castles.

The castle itself, we decided, was built over an entrance to that notoriously wide-open dungeon, Undermountain. Although we've never been through the entire thing (Undermountin 1 and 2), he likes to laugh and say that Undermountain is Uffy's basement. The entry from Undermountain to the castle is little more than a wooden door leading from a large chamber in the upper level (isolated from the rest of the upper level but not from the levels below it). It's nailed shut for security, but he's so confident that nothing will make it that far that that's as far as he went for door security.

Inside the room of the castle that the door is in, which happens to be the entrance hall, a Magic Mouth with an intelligence and attitude all its own stands guard. It's supposed to alert Uffy if any one comes into the room or if anything comes up from the basement. However, because of the nature of Undermounatin and the fact that Uffy knows that there are delvers down there, a party that looks like adventurers will simply be advised that they have entered a private residence and are no longer in Undermountain. They must go back or, if they need medical attention or other services, to have a seat and he'll call for someone.

Residents of the castle include the Uff, his wife, Mephistopholes (Uffy's winged feline familiar), Hans vonEhrlichmann (2e F20 but waaaaaaaay rusty as the good life got to him after he retired, we never updated him) three teenage drow adopted as infants by the Uff, 20 kobolds, one vampire, and a handful of assorted zombies in the pit. He's recently acquired the egg of a black dragon, but it hasn't hatched yet.

This turning of the tables can occur at any time. I'll just pick a time when the Uff is out taking care of business. He always travels with Mephistopholes. Julie, Uffy's wife, has a career of her own to contend with and can be away for days attending or giving a seminar. The three drow youths could be anywhere. The community has gotten used to them over the years and they have friends at the nearby town of Cascade. Hans the kobolds, the vampire, and the zombies will be the only occupants of the house. Even the other servants (Hans lost a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig gamble and nows works for the Uff as a maintenance man) are magically created and only know to do their jobs keeping the castle in good shape. Most are spectral. The kobolds are the main security force. The vampire keeps to himself and is free to go into Cascade and snack on any criminals he may come across as long as he doesn't create any new vampires. The zombies just mull around in the pit. People who fall in often run for the most secure little nook they can see, which happens to have a door. (It's where the vampire lives.) The pit itself is crossable over an invisible bridge of floating tiles, one of which is just an illusion. Every day he changes which one is illusory, and only authorized personnel get the info.

The rest of the castle is pretty normal, but the library wherein his spells are kept is in what, according to layouts and doorspacing, should be no bigger than a broom closet. It's extra dimensional, however, and the door is magically warded. He said nothing about the walls, however. I don't know if there are other ways in. You can open the door and look inside, but if you try to cross the threshhold, any number of save or die spells will kick in. Maybe an artificer might have something that can read such a thing and determine what's needed to cross?

The gold vaults are beyond measure. Cash is no problem for the Uff, and we have a game-joke that entire delving parties have gotten lost in the piles of gold after having tried to teleport in and have carved tunnels and formed entire communities inside, never again to see the light of day. As the Uff is the only one authorized to open the vaults, he is alerted magically whenever one is opened.

That's Uffy's house in a nutshell. Magical wards can be found in various places normal for a wizard to put them, such as at his laboratory. I may fluff things up with magical experiments, a golem or two (as he has worked with them before), but the things I've mentioned are the only things that are there for sure.

So, sneaking in and sneaking around, with opportunities for combat with the kobolds, Hans, and the vampire, plus maybe a student or two who hasn't gone on vacation.

Agh, headache. I'm sure there's more in some notes somewhere, but there ya go for now!
larry_the_titan
01-07-08, 10:06 AM Well I have been busy lately but from what I have read of your post it sounds like a Level 15 party would be able to walk in there and take everything Boccob wants taken. I would assume with the main goal is to tick off the Wizard that means taking his spell books and I mean all of his spell books if possible. Thats about the cruelest thing you can do to a wizard. I am fairly sure he keeps a varity of spell books on him self so taking all of the ones at his house really won't hurt him unless you also send something after him that he can't avoid.

A living Disjunction engulfing Mr. Wizard would demagic all of his gear he has on short of the artifacts. Which since he would have his bag of holding with his spell book inside (A common tactic for wizards) this would strip him of his core spell book. This would also leave all the magic gear inside the bag unharmed but it would be unaccessible to the wizard through the bag without restoring the effect. Restoring the magic to the items would grant access to the stored items but would take the use of a Wish or Miricle. He wouldn't be able to reprepair spells till he either got a new book or got a hold of his old ones. This is a fairly mean tactic but not outside the means of a god angry at a mortal. Living spells another goody brought to you by Eberron.

Now back to the castle and the issue at hand. The only reason the party would have to be over level 15 is if there is a spell effect or person there over CR 21. Other then that a high level Fighter wouldn't be much of an issue to a person with access to any 9th lv spells. Just incase you haven't heard yet Artificers can start making scrolls and using them for 9th level spells 2 levels before normal full casting classes. Unless you allow them to copy the spell from several PrCs like Ur Preist which would give them access to the 9th Level spells of that class at 7th level. Another Trick Artificers can pull off but no one else.
ChaoticGood
01-12-08, 12:49 AM Some ideas for artificer characters that you may find useful:

As mentioned, a Warforged Artificer (perhaps with 4 levels of Fighter for Weapon Specialization) is a great self-buffing meat shield. For that matter, you could start with the Lord of Blades build and add a few levels. :devil:

The Artificer class has several Rogue-ish skills, such as Disable Device and Use Magic Device, and I've often debated making a Rogue/Artificer specializing in making explosive items and planting them in strategic locations...

If you have access to any of the D&D Miniatures Game figures, the Lyrandar Sky Captain's role-playing statistics would make the basis for an excellent ranged-weapon specialist.

Finally, a House Cannith Artificer with Leadership, Craft Construct, and a squad of Warforged, Homonculi, and Golems at his disposal could be a one-character strike force all on his own.

Another character concept you may want to consider, especially given the army of kobolds that Uffy uses for security, is a Kalashtar psion with embedded Quori shards and max-augmented energy ray and energy burst. Our party's 9th-level psion has wiped out CR 15 monsters and small armies of CR 6 creatures with this combination and only minimal support from the rest of the party.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Shiftkitty 01-03-08, 04:02 PM	I'm still kinda new to Eberron. Can anyone here tell me if I've summed up artificers correctly? Are they essentially just people who can't use magic, but who can build magical devices? If so, would a "naturally magic oriented" race such as elves be excluded from the class? Here's the angle I'm working: I'm going to turn the tables on my game's most famous PC, a very powerful wizard. An NPC party from Eberron is going to go delving into his castle in Greyhawk. After all, it's stockpiled with exotic treasure from a distant world! I want to make a good party that represents a good cut of all that's different about Eberron, so that if he manages to catch any of them, he realizes that these aren't normal adventurers.
Durskut 01-03-08, 05:50 PM	i would throw together a human dragonmarked artificer, gnomish bard, an adamantine body warforged paladin (silver flame), a valenar elf druid, and an aundairian wizard (if lower level) or aundairian Knight Phantom (if higher) this would be good (imo) because 4 of them can heal (useful when the PCs seperate them), along with having an obviously very "anti-party party" feel also, the races/classes span the continent and take into differing religions, fighting styles, and (in my experiance) "classic" eberron elements, without being too specific happy gaming, later
Toloran 01-03-08, 08:34 PM	Its not that they can't use magic per se (as in, physically unable to) its just that they aren't trained in its use. So a magically inclined race (traditionally elves, but other races as well) can still easily become one.
larry_the_titan 01-03-08, 09:19 PM	I'm still kinda new to Eberron. Can anyone here tell me if I've summed up artificers correctly? Are they essentially just people who can't use magic, but who can build magical devices? If so, would a "naturally magic oriented" race such as elves be excluded from the class? Here's the angle I'm working: I'm going to turn the tables on my game's most famous PC, a very powerful wizard. An NPC party from Eberron is going to go delving into his castle in Greyhawk. After all, it's stockpiled with exotic treasure from a distant world! I want to make a good party that represents a good cut of all that's different about Eberron, so that if he manages to catch any of them, he realizes that these aren't normal adventurers. Artificer use magic to a great extent. Though their approach is a great deal different. They take some real rules knowledge to run the right way but they can really destroy almost any class of equal level pre epic with enough rules knowledge. After epic the game kind of breaks a little and the most powerful force in the game comes in to play. Epic Spell Casting. Artificers never get epic spells. But with ability to scribe any of the full list of spells of any class ever Artificers can truly cause some damage. If you had a level for this wizard I would at least be able to list you some possible abilities that the Artificer can use to level the field between him and mister wizard. I might even spend some time and hammer down a character for you.
Edymnion 01-04-08, 02:53 PM	Read this, it should answer all of your questions: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=813665
Shiftkitty 01-04-08, 03:27 PM	Larry- The wiz is pretty high up there. He's been in heavy play since 1989 and was thus created under the 2e rules, which had no real "upper limit" to levels. When we updated him to 3e, it became easier to apply the paragon template to him, with minor tweaks because he wasn't born that powerful. He's no longer really a PC, but he does get used by the other players as a resource or a powerful friend, in which case his player usually just gives (or sells) them information or performs other services. He no longer actually goes on dungeons. HOWEVER... my evil motivation is that the player feels a little smug and secure with this character. He was even bold enough to refuse a godhood. (Boccob offered it because of the PCs legendary magic skill and hasn't forgotten the cocky "thanks but no thanks" response.) I've been planning on how to show him that, as a mortal, he can still be touched, and I want to use Eberron to do it. Eberron....my precioussssssss...;) To imagine it, I'd say the NPC party will be breaking into the home of a god-like being (DR20) who is still quite mortal, but is extremely powerful. Pretty tall order, especially since my Eberron campaign doesn't have many high-level NPCs yet. Maybe I could assume that Boccob has a hand in it and will help the NPCs take the mighty Uff down a notch or two hundred. Edymnion- Thanks for the link! Is there a printer-friendly version avaliable?
larry_the_titan 01-05-08, 02:32 AM	Well considering this is a long time PC that has been converted more then once and has the Paragon template even if weaker is means a serious threat. A team assaulting this with the backing of any God would probably all be granted the Monster of Legend Template in monster manual 2. That should up the threat of the attacking Party. Sending a team with the backing of an Artificer also reduce the cost of any of their equipment to 3/8 the normal off the shelf buy. Artisan feats are nice. The Extra Rings feat and Craft Construct Feats will be a must have for any Artificer at higher levels. All this does is give the Artificer the Needed muscle from Golems and other constructs to work as minions. In Epic the feat Enhance Item will be a must have for the Artificer. I know so far I haven't really pointed out much that some other caster couldn't pull off. Thats about to change. The main Tricks that Artificers can pull off is Magic Item Combos, Spell combos from multiple kinds of casters and Using magically improved skills to do things that even spells have trouble doing. With the use of Metamagic Spell Completion an Artificer can add Metamagic Feats to a Scroll or Schema as an after thought which means you make scrolls for a spell with out the Metamagic so you don't pay the added cost for the higher level that would come with Metamagic. A Magic Item combo that is really useful for Artificers is Wand Bracelet and Infinite Scrollcase both in Magic of Eberron. The effect is that you can put 4 Infinite Scrollcases in the Wand Bracelet and with a free action and a move action you get any of 200 spells from a scroll. Skill Mods that don't stack because they are the same type can easily be changed into different types with the Item Alteration. Meaning if you start with 4 Ring with a +30 circumstance to bonus to Diplomacy can be turned into 4 different bonuses like Competence, Insight, Enhancement and then Circumstance for a total of +120 to Diplomacy which can turn anyone into a fanatic Follower with just a handshack. Edymnion's Link will be very useful for you and I will be back to post some more stuff but for the most part the Artificer's power comes from the use of magic Items to Raise its abilities to greater then what it faces. At the moment I need sleep and will be back later to add some more information.
Shiftkitty 01-05-08, 01:54 PM	Oooohhhhhhhh, man! Thanks guys! I look forward to more info. Now that means I have to buy some more books, like MM2 and Magic of Eberron. Three cheers for Amazon, eh? This wizard isn't gonna know what hit him...! He has a library with a copy of every spell ever produced for Greyhawk and the Realms as well as a plethora of custom spells. It's his pride and joy and he went through hell (in some cases literally) to assemble it. I can just imagine the look on his eyes when he opens the door and sees it ransacked (or being ransacked)!
larry_the_titan 01-05-08, 04:13 PM	Well I am back and I am more awake. Shiftkitty if you are going to buy books I suggest Picking up Lords of Madness if you don't already have it. Besides the full list of Aberrations to run at players in the Future it has the "Elder Eidolon" template. Which makes some of the most powerful Golems in the game. Which for Artificers with Craft Construct is a must have if allowed. Now on to Artificer and Party Advice. The Races for Artificer really vary on what you want. Any Race with a Int and/or Cha bonus are what you really want. Warforged are one of the few exceptions to that list because the Artificers spells can be targeted directly to them. Which mean Warforged Artificers great Self buffers. For the Rest of the Party Really needs 2 people who can stand face to face with even the nastiest creatures in a Dead Magic Zone. The group will need a 4th member to Heal them, Clerics Druids and Archivists all fit this slot. All 4 members of the party would all have magic Items of Top Value. These items can be from any book and would have a maximum Caster Level of 2 higher then the Artificer. Now for specific advice dealing with this Wizard I need to know how you expect to attack the Wizards tower. Do you plan to have them fight him or to just sneak in and take things that he really can't live with out. With the right timing the group wouldn't even need to be epic they just need to be 20th level and go in when the wizard is gone and take any of his Spell books that he leaves unattended at the tower. Yes level 20 characters can be built to even go through epic level Towers and never have much issue as long as they don't get caught and get into combat. If you plan for them to get into combat I would need to know more about what the Wizard Keeps around the Tower. If he keeps constructs around these can be gotten Rid of by targeting spells at them that the Wizard doesn't expect. Awaken Construct can cause loads of trouble for the Wizard if he has a couple Golems himself. Animate Object and Permanency cast enough times to be used to have the Tower walk off under its own Power. Both of these strategies have the same weakness though they cost a lot of Exp. The main thing that is getting in the way at the moment is I need to know what you want this party to do. Anything can be done before epic the Wizards power level will just make it nearly impossible for the Party to face him head on.
Shiftkitty 01-05-08, 08:03 PM	I intend to have them sneak in and, given the complexity of the castle, they should have plenty of places to hide once they're in. The castle is pretty huge, having started as the School of Wizardry found in an old issue of Dragon (can't remember which one, but I xeroxed the map for later use). He led a party that cleared out the bad guys (left the zombie pit for fun) and moved in. The forward part of the castle houses the dormitories for his students (approx 45 at a time, they do go off on school vacations so I can time this to happen when no students are around). The residential part is separated from the school part by the zombie pit. The original map is small, but over the years he's added on to it so that it's like the Winchester Mystery House of castles. The castle itself, we decided, was built over an entrance to that notoriously wide-open dungeon, Undermountain. Although we've never been through the entire thing (Undermountin 1 and 2), he likes to laugh and say that Undermountain is Uffy's basement. The entry from Undermountain to the castle is little more than a wooden door leading from a large chamber in the upper level (isolated from the rest of the upper level but not from the levels below it). It's nailed shut for security, but he's so confident that nothing will make it that far that that's as far as he went for door security. Inside the room of the castle that the door is in, which happens to be the entrance hall, a Magic Mouth with an intelligence and attitude all its own stands guard. It's supposed to alert Uffy if any one comes into the room or if anything comes up from the basement. However, because of the nature of Undermounatin and the fact that Uffy knows that there are delvers down there, a party that looks like adventurers will simply be advised that they have entered a private residence and are no longer in Undermountain. They must go back or, if they need medical attention or other services, to have a seat and he'll call for someone. Residents of the castle include the Uff, his wife, Mephistopholes (Uffy's winged feline familiar), Hans vonEhrlichmann (2e F20 but waaaaaaaay rusty as the good life got to him after he retired, we never updated him) three teenage drow adopted as infants by the Uff, 20 kobolds, one vampire, and a handful of assorted zombies in the pit. He's recently acquired the egg of a black dragon, but it hasn't hatched yet. This turning of the tables can occur at any time. I'll just pick a time when the Uff is out taking care of business. He always travels with Mephistopholes. Julie, Uffy's wife, has a career of her own to contend with and can be away for days attending or giving a seminar. The three drow youths could be anywhere. The community has gotten used to them over the years and they have friends at the nearby town of Cascade. Hans the kobolds, the vampire, and the zombies will be the only occupants of the house. Even the other servants (Hans lost a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig gamble and nows works for the Uff as a maintenance man) are magically created and only know to do their jobs keeping the castle in good shape. Most are spectral. The kobolds are the main security force. The vampire keeps to himself and is free to go into Cascade and snack on any criminals he may come across as long as he doesn't create any new vampires. The zombies just mull around in the pit. People who fall in often run for the most secure little nook they can see, which happens to have a door. (It's where the vampire lives.) The pit itself is crossable over an invisible bridge of floating tiles, one of which is just an illusion. Every day he changes which one is illusory, and only authorized personnel get the info. The rest of the castle is pretty normal, but the library wherein his spells are kept is in what, according to layouts and doorspacing, should be no bigger than a broom closet. It's extra dimensional, however, and the door is magically warded. He said nothing about the walls, however. I don't know if there are other ways in. You can open the door and look inside, but if you try to cross the threshhold, any number of save or die spells will kick in. Maybe an artificer might have something that can read such a thing and determine what's needed to cross? The gold vaults are beyond measure. Cash is no problem for the Uff, and we have a game-joke that entire delving parties have gotten lost in the piles of gold after having tried to teleport in and have carved tunnels and formed entire communities inside, never again to see the light of day. As the Uff is the only one authorized to open the vaults, he is alerted magically whenever one is opened. That's Uffy's house in a nutshell. Magical wards can be found in various places normal for a wizard to put them, such as at his laboratory. I may fluff things up with magical experiments, a golem or two (as he has worked with them before), but the things I've mentioned are the only things that are there for sure. So, sneaking in and sneaking around, with opportunities for combat with the kobolds, Hans, and the vampire, plus maybe a student or two who hasn't gone on vacation. Agh, headache. I'm sure there's more in some notes somewhere, but there ya go for now!
larry_the_titan 01-07-08, 10:06 AM	Well I have been busy lately but from what I have read of your post it sounds like a Level 15 party would be able to walk in there and take everything Boccob wants taken. I would assume with the main goal is to tick off the Wizard that means taking his spell books and I mean all of his spell books if possible. Thats about the cruelest thing you can do to a wizard. I am fairly sure he keeps a varity of spell books on him self so taking all of the ones at his house really won't hurt him unless you also send something after him that he can't avoid. A living Disjunction engulfing Mr. Wizard would demagic all of his gear he has on short of the artifacts. Which since he would have his bag of holding with his spell book inside (A common tactic for wizards) this would strip him of his core spell book. This would also leave all the magic gear inside the bag unharmed but it would be unaccessible to the wizard through the bag without restoring the effect. Restoring the magic to the items would grant access to the stored items but would take the use of a Wish or Miricle. He wouldn't be able to reprepair spells till he either got a new book or got a hold of his old ones. This is a fairly mean tactic but not outside the means of a god angry at a mortal. Living spells another goody brought to you by Eberron. Now back to the castle and the issue at hand. The only reason the party would have to be over level 15 is if there is a spell effect or person there over CR 21. Other then that a high level Fighter wouldn't be much of an issue to a person with access to any 9th lv spells. Just incase you haven't heard yet Artificers can start making scrolls and using them for 9th level spells 2 levels before normal full casting classes. Unless you allow them to copy the spell from several PrCs like Ur Preist which would give them access to the 9th Level spells of that class at 7th level. Another Trick Artificers can pull off but no one else.
ChaoticGood 01-12-08, 12:49 AM	Some ideas for artificer characters that you may find useful: As mentioned, a Warforged Artificer (perhaps with 4 levels of Fighter for Weapon Specialization) is a great self-buffing meat shield. For that matter, you could start with the Lord of Blades build and add a few levels. :devil: The Artificer class has several Rogue-ish skills, such as Disable Device and Use Magic Device, and I've often debated making a Rogue/Artificer specializing in making explosive items and planting them in strategic locations... If you have access to any of the D&D Miniatures Game figures, the Lyrandar Sky Captain's role-playing statistics would make the basis for an excellent ranged-weapon specialist. Finally, a House Cannith Artificer with Leadership, Craft Construct, and a squad of Warforged, Homonculi, and Golems at his disposal could be a one-character strike force all on his own. Another character concept you may want to consider, especially given the army of kobolds that Uffy uses for security, is a Kalashtar psion with embedded Quori shards and max-augmented energy ray and energy burst. Our party's 9th-level psion has wiped out CR 15 monsters and small armies of CR 6 creatures with this combination and only minimal support from the rest of the party.