Post/Author/DateTime	Post
spamfiltre 03-28-05, 11:53 PM	I'm interested in a charater for the eberron setting with the Siberys Mark of Handling. For those of you unfamiliar with he setting, it's too complicated to explain in just a few words, but this particular ability can give a character the ability to cast Awaken as a spell-like ability 1 or 2 times/day with no XP cost. So now that you know how it would be possible, I'm thinking of having my character (warlock 13/heir of siberys 2) build a stronghold in a heavily wooded area, and awaken a tree or woodland creature each day over a relatively long period of time. This isn't necessarily intended to be an army, but since awakened trees and animals are intially friendly, I thought it might be a good start to a sovereign nation (long-term story goal). A few questions came to mind, though. Nothing in the spell description indicates CR increases (unless you only take into account the +2HD) and 10HD trees aren't unreasonable at this level, so what are DMs out there using as a guideline for reasonable CR limits? Do you have awakened creatures and trees breed true? This is a sustainable culture issue. Any other issues that you can think of with large numbers of newly awakened creatures coexisting? Thanks for any responses.
Khalarak Ironclaw 03-29-05, 10:56 AM	I would assume that the animals could breed true, though I'm not so sure about the trees. The CR limits kind of baffle me, too, though you might figure out ECL and just use the rules for the Leadership feat. The only other issue I might find is that the existing locals might not be terribly happy if all of the trees and animals in the woods suddenly started thinking and organizing...And that would make for some interesting diplomatic negotiations once the "nation" becomes established. It would certainly be awkward for a neighboring country to welcome animal or plant delegates. And what would the carnivores eat? Non-awakened citizens?
ikki 03-29-05, 11:27 AM	For breeding plants. Plants breed either thru pollination, which is very similar to how animals do it, with some variations ;) The other option is cloning, meaning you can cut of a limb and sometimes a new tree grows from it. This can even work if you bury a limb halfways in earth, the buried one will grow its own roots... but thats mostly for bushes. As for what they eat. Harvests. That is, they harvest leaves and such from the trees or acorns from awakened maize-plants ;) As for carnivores, thats tougher, but luckily magic has the solution, fasthealing large beasts. Thats very selfsacrifical, having someone to chew of half your leg.. Alternatively just having someone cast "create food". I guess clericdom would be a good pursuit of such awakened lives, so food shouldnt be scarce.. atleast untill the population starts growing out of controll. Some type of create food -at will- item would be of major use aswell.
spamfiltre 03-29-05, 05:27 PM	I'm not too worried about a lack of food for the carnivores. I'm not expecting have as many carnivores as trees,and I'm planning to set up some kind of kibbutz-style, chaotic-good, communal living arrangement, so a small amount of ranching could handle the basic need. Magic could serve, but I would rather create a sustainable community. As for disturbing the neighbors, I'm planning on being remote enough that there are no neighbors, or few enough that they can be recruited or displaced easily. The idea isn't to awaken cohorts or followers (although a dire bear as a cohort sounds nifty), but to create a group of friendly "people" with the same alignment. Essentially, these would be "hirelings" but instead of paying them, I would be offering them a community of their own to advance as they see fit, after I've given them a base from which to start. This could possibly result in a population base from which to draw an army once sovreignty becomes a possibility. Followers might be skilled craftsmen and bards used to more quickly establish a local economy capable of sustainable trade. I'm looking at about 1 year's worth of Awakenings: Rangers: 2 dozen awakened dire wolves (3 packs of 8) to be a roving patrol. "Police" if you will. Spies and couriers: 2 dozen+ awakened birds of various species. Personal Guard: 6 awakened dire bears, with my Cohort possibly being their "captain." Citadel Guard: 3 dozen awakened trees at the high-end of the HD scale (10+) Citizens: 275+ awakened trees, some of which would form a "council of elders," but most of whom would simply work to find meaning in their newly awakened lives. Who knows, they could all decide to boot my character out if they want. I'm still working on more details.
Khalarak Ironclaw 03-30-05, 10:32 AM	In that case, I don't really see CR limits applying. Your DM would have to ad hoc their willingness to help you; even though they're friendly, they probably won't follow you on every adventure, so I don't see them as being much of a benefit to you besides providing a safe place to hang up your cloak.
spamfiltre 03-30-05, 03:18 PM	I don't expect any of them to follow me on adventures (with the exception of an awakened cohort if I go that route). The CR issue is simply one for the future, in case I recruit the awakened animals/trees as a volunteer army. I'm looking at setting myself up as the ruler of a nation, which isn't really controlled by any one skill or feat in d20. Much larger-picture than the leadership feat accounts for. I probably came at this the wrong way, and this thread probably belongs in on a different board. Thanks for the responses.
Need_A_Life 03-31-05, 10:54 AM	I have to ask; what kind of campaign is this? It doesn't sound like your typical campaign if you'd actually have time to take a year of downtime to create a community of trees and animals.