Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 twesterm Dec 09, 2010 13:17:00	So I ran an epic campaign in 3.5 that went really well and the players had a lot of fun in it.  One of the big contributing factors in that was a single enemy type- Dark Water. These generally came in two varieties, a purple tinted one and a blue tinted one.  The blue one was fast and agile while the purple one was slow but emitted a 10-foot antimagic field at all times.  The common thing between the two were their attacks. The strength varied on the type and level but these *only* did touch attacks that did con damage and essentially sucked the life out of any living thing in an attempt to spread the dark water and making more of these creatures. A small group of these creatures the group could handle, but once there got to be more than four or so, even an epic level group would run away if they weren't well prepared.  The campaign I'm running now is returning to the setting where these are found (different group, different campaign, same world) and I really want to bring them back. I'm been wanting to use these again since 4th edition came out but I haven't found a really good way to remake them and scare the group the same way they did in 3.5. I made a version of them that did drained 1d4 healing surges on hit and then did 1d4 * healing surge value damage when no surges were left.  That second part seems a bit much but I want to keep these things so that the group will be scared when they pop up and make running a viable option. So any help on the drain attack?  The group is currently level 16, they weren't supposed to get here until about 20 but they kind of completely threw me for a loop and skipped several months worth of sessions last night.  >_>
#2 Dreamstryder Dec 09, 2010 16:26:03	When no surges are left, try damage = surge value of the target. It's fixed damage like a minion. Surge value = 1/4 max hp, doesn't it? Don't multiply it by up to 4! If you need a lesser value, try damage = target's level. Is the anti-magic aura now anti-arcane/divine power source, or anti-daily power?
#3 twesterm Dec 09, 2010 17:28:14	I had planned to just say their aura is anti-magic, divine, and item powers/effects. I think I will do what you suggest and make them just lose their surge value instead of 1d4 * surge value, it would suck to essentially get one shotted.  I was worried about the cleric easily taking care of the surge value but then I remembered they won't have surges at that point and it won't matter too much. They're in a pretty brutal place at the moment (it was nicknamed the epic playground in the last campaign ^^) so they're going to want to hang onto their healing surges like gold.