Just for those of u who have never played it the basic format of the campain is an army of orcs, sum giants, dragons, and demons come rampaigeing across the countryside and the PC's have to hinder them and gather allies for the final battle. Now the campain was built around the Heros of Battle, and we have full use of its rules for aquireing victory points towards the war. (colect enuf and we win).
so as a party (4 PCs) we want to engage the army in a gurila war with just us 4 5th-16th lvl PCs. The army follows this map http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/rhod_maps/95685.jpg
but with most of there travels takeing them across open plains im worried about engageing them directly after they leave the forest. so traps will likely be needed. ( the army has plenty of cavelry).
anyway we want ofcorse to be good combatants for the adventure portion but were looking for sugestions on how to become expert gurilla fighters
as a list some of the things we were hopeing to achive as a party, on top of being strong (maby not optomal but close) Adventurers
-able to construct traps, place trap like spels, etc... (we whould like each player to have atleast sumthing to do duting a trap "session")
-able to quickly (instantly if possable) construct forts and walls and the like
-able to travel as fast as possable, horses are good ut we still have alot of travel and need to be one step ahead of the army ( as low level as possable)
-able to make fast get aways, teleport and the like (as low level as posable)
-able to capture and interrogate enemy commanders (right off the start)
-able able to destroy the huge dwarven bridge (prefrably with them on it)
-able to poison ALL the Water from dellins ferry till Brindol, (all the towns will be evacuated) and burn all crops etc... (i think we need contagon or sumthing...most of the army is hobgoblin fighters of the 5-7th level range with good cons)
-able to stealth, all of the player must be able to atleast hide well even if it requires them removing there armor to perform sneak attacks
-able to infultrate enemy camps and assasonate commanders, poison food/water supplies, set fires etc...
-Able to negate fliers, some of there strongest members are fliers (dragons hydorsphinxes mantacors)
-able to buff building and walls to be stronger
-and ofcorse, a huge list of skills, Diplomacy for allies, crafts and knowlages for prepareing defences, traps and battle plans (stratigic advantages)
-and ofcose anything else u can think of that whould help
we were hopeing to have a party that could harry the army all the way through there trip, but we whould like to be able to ambush and army of even hundreds at early levels, but this is when it is most possable in the forest we whould like not to give up this oppertunity.
well i dont have acess to the campain book but i will try and answer any questions i can from memory, flaws alowed and 36 point buy, any non monsterous races are allowed, aside from this most anything goes. if not I could probably convince my DM to let most things in the game.
P.S. my spell checker isnt working so just try and understand through all my misspelt words lol
Buildomancers for sale! Get 'em while they're hot! Buildomancers for sale!
More seriously, can I get more info about the campaign world? How big, precisely, are we talking about when we discuss this army?
I cannot emphasize this enough, but teleportation magic is your friend. If you can stomach it, this is a good situation for heavy main-line casters, preferably clerics and druids, backed by the solid support provided by tome of battle classes. Pay particular attention to the Pearl of Black Doubt stance, which basically turns off low CR horde encounters all together.
Secondly, the Jaunter prestige class could handle your travel requirements, or a travel domain cleric would work. In situations like this, I normally just planeshift away and leave the world to burn ;)
Also, if you can get flying mounts, you've pretty much won. Giant eagle mounts cost 3.5-5k a piece, so they might be viable for you, and crucially, you can turn them into cohorts and start class advancing them. It's beautiful. Ride-able flying clerics, go!
5th level characters are intended to have 9k start wealth, but a GM would not be unreasonable to veto a When Raptors Attack situation. You unfortunately probably can't afford a Lyre of Building. Consider the marvelous pigments. Being able to paint bridges, small houses, and boulders gets a lot funnier when you drop them on enemy positions for 1.5k feet in the air via eagle-mounts. Remember to cast silence and invisibility on your falling objects of choice for additional WTFactor
PS: Actually building a EagleBomber squadron is not advised without GM approval. With GM approval, this opens up the gateway to the fantastic genre of Extremely High Fantasy, ala discworld, where things make sense, they're just magical, terrifying, and face-rippingly powerful.
Okay, I think you should look at the following classes. Consider it a homework assignment ;)
Warblade, tome of battle, iron heart and diamond mind.
Jaunter, Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, particularly if feat retraining is allowed, or if you build a slightly dippy build that gets a feat at 4th and full BAB. swash1/barb1/fighter2 works, and stacks you mighty high with feats if you use the alternative versions, though you might need to pull a trick to get the right knowledge skill as a class skill.
Druids are THE guerrilla fighters at early levels, and some of the most powerful characters in the game at later levels.
Finally, I'd like to be the first to mention the incredible cragtop archer (Races of Stone) and combat trapsmith, whose splatbook I cannot remember!
(I do not wish to brake the game)
I love the double meaning there. The intended meaning, and the perceived meaning both work quite well.
Well, if you roll small chars, you can share eagles.
Okay, I think you should look at the following classes. Consider it a homework assignment ;)
Warblade, tome of battle, iron heart and diamond mind.
Jaunter, Expedition to the Demonweb Pits, particularly if feat retraining is allowed, or if you build a slightly dippy build that gets a feat at 4th and full BAB. swash1/barb1/fighter2 works, and stacks you mighty high with feats if you use the alternative versions, though you might need to pull a trick to get the right knowledge skill as a class skill.
Druids are THE guerrilla fighters at early levels, and some of the most powerful characters in the game at later levels.
Finally, I'd like to be the first to mention the incredible cragtop archer (Races of Stone) and combat trapsmith, whose splatbook I cannot remember!
Trapsmith is in Dungeonscape :D
Stage one we learn of the armies plans and planned route over a bridge over a gorge (map here: http://shadow.wizards.com/dnd/images...maps/95686.jpg ). We plan to rig the bridge to fall from both ends with a trigger, as a few scouts cross first to investigate why the guards they left there are no longer there, when the army crosses in mass we want it to fall, forcing the army to march 7-9 days travel through the forest to get around and build a bridge or use fliers to ferry their supplies across.
So for this part we'll be Lvl 5-6ish is it first possible to build a trap this complex or have a spell target the bridge to deal the 100+ needed to destroy a section of the bridge? (3 are needed in a line to drop their side) Also, there are hobgoblins and a small dragon here we will need to kill, is it possible to dominate/charm a few hobgoblins for near a week straight to avoid raising any alarmy when the army comes? As always any suggestions are welcome.
Next we were hoping to force the army to march as close to the edge as possible, maybe by clearing out along its side and cutting down trees or something to make it harder to move further in so we might be able to engage them a few times from the forests edge across the gorge
Time seems to be an issue here, with only 6.5 days to prepare both the bridge, and the side of the gorge here I'm worried that altering miles of landscape may not be possible. What are the best things 4 PCs can throw across a 70ish ft gap here (again 6th lvl), and lastly anything like woodland stride would give us a huge head start and give us more time for traps.
Then there is a river running through the gorge, most notably where it ends and they can cross, we were thinking of damming it and maybe using spears or something to make the crossing harder. Then we could let the dam go when they try to ford it.
Is minor creation viable here for making spears? (6th - maybe 7th) there is quite a large area to cross so anything that creates large movement hindrances (entangle comes to mind) would be useful.
Then along the 20ft cobblestone road leading through the forest trapping as much as possible and making blockades and the like.
This is pretty standard here, I was hoping for suggestions on glyphs and trap layouts and the like. but our plan was (depending on how much of a distance we can put between us and the army here) to travel for 8hrs, trap for 8 hrs rest for 8 hrs, obviously interspersed, this will, walking at 30ft keep us in pace with the army, (they walk 8, build/brake camp 8, sleep 8) but any time saved traveling gives more time for traps, and time saved sleeping means more traps
There are also 3 small rivers and streams crossing there path, we are hoping to use them to flood their path with even more dams, but it may be possible to spread disease or something here as the water is particularly slow moving.
I was wondering what is the best thing here to poison them with disease or poison. I presume contact might be needed. Are there any other foul things a 7th lvl party could do to this water?
Also this forest is dense with many paths only known to the local woodsmen (easy allies when you are defending them) so moving around them may be possible to have a few shoot and run sessions, so a few fireballs would not go amiss.
Again just more what to throw, but stealth and the ability to conceal tracks is a must for this part, as hard as it is to have the whole party be stealthy at least somewhat its going to be necessary for this, and I'm thinking UMD and wands of fireball may be the best bet here (or the spell if they have it).
Next there is a small keep encountered early in the campaign,(MAP: http://shadow.wizards.com/dnd/images...maps/95686.jpg ) occupied by some of there forward raiding/scout parties, We have to clear before any of this happens. We know that they do camp here for the night but have yet to find a use for it and it overlooks the road, but is in a state of disrepair so beyond traps, I'mm not sure yet.
After the army passes if we can fit a few Leadership feats into our builds we would like to have our men here, harassing their supply lines.
Next the army comes to the first town,(Map http://shadow.wizards.com/dnd/images...maps/95681.jpg ) which sits on the far side of a large fast moving deep river. If we sink the ferry (there's no bridge) it may be our last opportunity to try and separate their fliers and giants from the main group, at least for several minutes while they deploy rafts and barges. There is one defensible 2 story stone tower overlooking the river to fight from.
For this I would like to focus on the flier, mostly manticores, a hydosphinx and an young adult red dragon. (I know this is not a fight meant to be won at 7th-8ish.) The giants are numerous, ussualy near the rear and mostly fire giants, far to difficult to kill in just a few minutes at this level, but suggestions are welcome (if anyone can do it it's Char Op), as for prep time that depends on all of our speed abilities but we should have at least 1 day. Any suggestions on traps and abilities to lure them into the traps are greatly appreciated.
After this the army enters open plains with some minor hills, so engaging them doesn't seem bright, but we had hoped to infiltrate their camp at a few points and kill a few commanders and generally cause problems. We were planning on taking a scorched earth policy in the plains here, a few towns with wells and minor ponds and of course the distant river are all there is for water in the region, so poison or disease on there water might work.
For this I was hoping to have the party be able to use appearance alterations and social skills or sheer stealth/invisibility and we need to at take down lvl 10-15ish characters and there guards, quickly and quietly at lvl8-12 or so.
Lastly there is the town, a small city with a light wall, we have many ideas for how to best defend this town, most of which are simply not important on character build aside from a mass of skills, but for the final defense I can imagine a whole list of spells might be the way to go with 30+ days to prepare and ending level of 16th. (possibly more because we are forcing a large number of extra encounters with the enemy.)
PS WOW I'm sorry for how long that was. I was hoping you guys might help us build a whole party of characters who can do that and be playable the whole way through, cause so far we cant do it effectively.
is it possible to dominate/charm a few hobgoblins for near a week straight to avoid raising any alarmy when the army comes? As always any suggestions are welcome.
You can tell a Dominated creature to fail their Will save on purpose.
Also, please edit your post to be this: (I fixed it up a bit)
Show
Well I guess what I'm asking the optimization community for here is slightly more than just a build. There are several scenarios here where any number of abilities might be of some use so I'll go a bit more in depth and outline the basic encounters we planned.
Stage one we learn of the armies plans and planned route over a bridge over a gorge (map here: http://shadow.wizards.com/dnd/images/rhod_maps/95686.jpg ). We plan to rig the bridge to fall from both ends with a trigger, as a few scouts cross first to investigate why the guards they left there are no longer there, when the army crosses in mass we want it to fall, forcing the army to march 7-9 days travel through the forest to get around and build a bridge or use fliers to ferry their supplies across.
So for this part we'll be Lvl 5-6ish is it first possible to build a trap this complex or have a spell target the bridge to deal the 100+ needed to destroy a section of the bridge? (3 are needed in a line to drop their side) Also, there are hobgoblins and a small dragon here we will need to kill, is it possible to dominate/charm a few hobgoblins for near a week straight to avoid raising any alarmy when the army comes? As always any suggestions are welcome.
Next we were hoping to force the army to march as close to the edge as possible, maybe by clearing out along its side and cutting down trees or something to make it harder to move further in so we might be able to engage them a few times from the forests edge across the gorge
Time seems to be an issue here, with only 6.5 days to prepare both the bridge, and the side of the gorge here I'm worried that altering miles of landscape may not be possible. What are the best things 4 PCs can throw across a 70ish ft gap here (again 6th lvl), and lastly anything like woodland stride would give us a huge head start and give us more time for traps.
Then there is a river running through the gorge, most notably where it ends and they can cross, we were thinking of damming it and maybe using spears or something to make the crossing harder. Then we could let the dam go when they try to ford it.
Is minor creation viable here for making spears? (6th - maybe 7th) there is quite a large area to cross so anything that creates large movement hindrances (entangle comes to mind) would be useful.
Then along the 20ft cobblestone road leading through the forest trapping as much as possible and making blockades and the like.
This is pretty standard here, I was hoping for suggestions on glyphs and trap layouts and the like. but our plan was (depending on how much of a distance we can put between us and the army here) to travel for 8hrs, trap for 8 hrs rest for 8 hrs, obviously interspersed, this will, walking at 30ft keep us in pace with the army, (they walk 8, build/brake camp 8, sleep 8) but any time saved traveling gives more time for traps, and time saved sleeping means more traps
There are also 3 small rivers and streams crossing there path, we are hoping to use them to flood their path with even more dams, but it may be possible to spread disease or something here as the water is particularly slow moving.
I was wondering what is the best thing here to poison them with disease or poison. I presume contact might be needed. Are there any other foul things a 7th lvl party could do to this water?
Also this forest is dense with many paths only known to the local woodsmen (easy allies when you are defending them) so moving around them may be possible to have a few shoot and run sessions, so a few fireballs would not go amiss.
Again just more what to throw, but stealth and the ability to conceal tracks is a must for this part, as hard as it is to have the whole party be stealthy at least somewhat its going to be necessary for this, and I'm thinking UMD and wands of fireball may be the best bet here (or the spell if they have it).
Next there is a small keep encountered early in the campaign,(MAP: http://shadow.wizards.com/dnd/images/rhod_maps/95686.jpg ) occupied by some of there forward raiding/scout parties, We have to clear before any of this happens. We know that they do camp here for the night but have yet to find a use for it and it overlooks the road, but is in a state of disrepair so beyond traps, I'mm not sure yet.
After the army passes if we can fit a few Leadership feats into our builds we would like to have our men here, harassing their supply lines.
Next the army comes to the first town,(Map http://shadow.wizards.com/dnd/images/rhod_maps/95681.jpg ) which sits on the far side of a large fast moving deep river. If we sink the ferry (there's no bridge) it may be our last opportunity to try and separate their fliers and giants from the main group, at least for several minutes while they deploy rafts and barges. There is one defensible 2 story stone tower overlooking the river to fight from.
For this I would like to focus on the flier, mostly manticores, a hydosphinx and an young adult red dragon. (I know this is not a fight meant to be won at 7th-8ish.) The giants are numerous, ussualy near the rear and mostly fire giants, far to difficult to kill in just a few minutes at this level, but suggestions are welcome (if anyone can do it it's Char Op), as for prep time that depends on all of our speed abilities but we should have at least 1 day. Any suggestions on traps and abilities to lure them into the traps are greatly appreciated.
After this the army enters open plains with some minor hills, so engaging them doesn't seem bright, but we had hoped to infiltrate their camp at a few points and kill a few commanders and generally cause problems. We were planning on taking a scorched earth policy in the plains here, a few towns with wells and minor ponds and of course the distant river are all there is for water in the region, so poison or disease on there water might work.
For this I was hoping to have the party be able to use appearance alterations and social skills or sheer stealth/invisibility and we need to at take down lvl 10-15ish characters and there guards, quickly and quietly at lvl8-12 or so.
Lastly there is the town, a small city with a light wall, we have many ideas for how to best defend this town, most of which are simply not important on character build aside from a mass of skills, but for the final defense I can imagine a whole list of spells might be the way to go with 30+ days to prepare and ending level of 16th. (possibly more because we are forcing a large number of extra encounters with the enemy.)
PS WOW I'm sorry for how long that was. I was hoping you guys might help us build a whole party of characters who can do that and be playable the whole way through, cause so far we cant do it effectively.
Stage one we learn of the armies plans and planned route over a bridge over a gorge (map here: http://shadow.wizards.com/dnd/images/rhod_maps/95686.jpg ). We plan to rig the bridge to fall from both ends with a trigger, as a few scouts cross first to investigate why the guards they left there are no longer there, when the army crosses in mass we want it to fall, forcing the army to march 7-9 days travel through the forest to get around and build a bridge or use fliers to ferry their supplies across.
So for this part we'll be Lvl 5-6ish is it first possible to build a trap this complex or have a spell target the bridge to deal the 100+ needed to destroy a section of the bridge? (3 are needed in a line to drop their side) Also, there are hobgoblins and a small dragon here we will need to kill, is it possible to dominate/charm a few hobgoblins for near a week straight to avoid raising any alarmy when the army comes? As always any suggestions are welcome.
Next we were hoping to force the army to march as close to the edge as possible, maybe by clearing out along its side and cutting down trees or something to make it harder to move further in so we might be able to engage them a few times from the forests edge across the gorge
Time seems to be an issue here, with only 6.5 days to prepare both the bridge, and the side of the gorge here I'm worried that altering miles of landscape may not be possible. What are the best things 4 PCs can throw across a 70ish ft gap here (again 6th lvl), and lastly anything like woodland stride would give us a huge head start and give us more time for traps.
Then there is a river running through the gorge, most notably where it ends and they can cross, we were thinking of damming it and maybe using spears or something to make the crossing harder. Then we could let the dam go when they try to ford it.
Is minor creation viable here for making spears? (6th - maybe 7th) there is quite a large area to cross so anything that creates large movement hindrances (entangle comes to mind) would be useful.
Then along the 20ft cobblestone road leading through the forest trapping as much as possible and making blockades and the like.
This is pretty standard here, I was hoping for suggestions on glyphs and trap layouts and the like. but our plan was (depending on how much of a distance we can put between us and the army here) to travel for 8hrs, trap for 8 hrs rest for 8 hrs, obviously interspersed, this will, walking at 30ft keep us in pace with the army, (they walk 8, build/brake camp 8, sleep 8) but any time saved traveling gives more time for traps, and time saved sleeping means more traps
There are also 3 small rivers and streams crossing there path, we are hoping to use them to flood their path with even more dams, but it may be possible to spread disease or something here as the water is particularly slow moving.
I was wondering what is the best thing here to poison them with disease or poison. I presume contact might be needed. Are there any other foul things a 7th lvl party could do to this water?
Also this forest is dense with many paths only known to the local woodsmen (easy allies when you are defending them) so moving around them may be possible to have a few shoot and run sessions, so a few fireballs would not go amiss.
Again just more what to throw, but stealth and the ability to conceal tracks is a must for this part, as hard as it is to have the whole party be stealthy at least somewhat its going to be necessary for this, and I'm thinking UMD and wands of fireball may be the best bet here (or the spell if they have it).
Next there is a small keep encountered early in the campaign,(MAP: http://shadow.wizards.com/dnd/images/rhod_maps/95686.jpg ) occupied by some of there forward raiding/scout parties, We have to clear before any of this happens. We know that they do camp here for the night but have yet to find a use for it and it overlooks the road, but is in a state of disrepair so beyond traps, I'mm not sure yet.
After the army passes if we can fit a few Leadership feats into our builds we would like to have our men here, harassing their supply lines.
Next the army comes to the first town,(Map http://shadow.wizards.com/dnd/images/rhod_maps/95681.jpg ) which sits on the far side of a large fast moving deep river. If we sink the ferry (there's no bridge) it may be our last opportunity to try and separate their fliers and giants from the main group, at least for several minutes while they deploy rafts and barges. There is one defensible 2 story stone tower overlooking the river to fight from.
For this I would like to focus on the flier, mostly manticores, a hydosphinx and an young adult red dragon. (I know this is not a fight meant to be won at 7th-8ish.) The giants are numerous, ussualy near the rear and mostly fire giants, far to difficult to kill in just a few minutes at this level, but suggestions are welcome (if anyone can do it it's Char Op), as for prep time that depends on all of our speed abilities but we should have at least 1 day. Any suggestions on traps and abilities to lure them into the traps are greatly appreciated.
After this the army enters open plains with some minor hills, so engaging them doesn't seem bright, but we had hoped to infiltrate their camp at a few points and kill a few commanders and generally cause problems. We were planning on taking a scorched earth policy in the plains here, a few towns with wells and minor ponds and of course the distant river are all there is for water in the region, so poison or disease on there water might work.
For this I was hoping to have the party be able to use appearance alterations and social skills or sheer stealth/invisibility and we need to at take down lvl 10-15ish characters and there guards, quickly and quietly at lvl8-12 or so.
Lastly there is the town, a small city with a light wall, we have many ideas for how to best defend this town, most of which are simply not important on character build aside from a mass of skills, but for the final defense I can imagine a whole list of spells might be the way to go with 30+ days to prepare and ending level of 16th. (possibly more because we are forcing a large number of extra encounters with the enemy.)
PS WOW I'm sorry for how long that was. I was hoping you guys might help us build a whole party of characters who can do that and be playable the whole way through, cause so far we cant do it effectively.
You can tell a Dominated creature to fail their Will save on purpose.
Good to know
1)Traps for Ground Troops
2)Ranged attacks for All types... never get into melee
3)use Hit-and-Run tactics...... from Different Directions(usually the rear) at the same time (confusing them as to which is the more serious threat) ... attack 3 rounds(1 surprise round, 2 regular rounds) retreat/escape
4)Attack troops before they get to the Mustering point to reduce overall strength(also weaken Morale)
5)Plan ambushes(Ballistas and Archers using Volley fire) for Flying enemies(Dragon,manticores, a hydosphinx)... use a Flyer.... or an Illusion of some Flyers, to LURE them into the Ambush...... take out thier Flyers as soon as possible
6) use Illusions a lot.... they never are sure whats real or Not... exa:[indent] Permanent Illusion of an Undamaged Bridge..... but have your people cut Holes in random places in the bridge....... as they cross, they fall into the holes all the way to the bottom of the gorge-Splat[/indent]
7)use Poison ... Poison some food items that they would normally scavenge/Pilliage ... weakens some
8)damage some enemies each day with small attacks..... and have attacks at Night at various times... so thier spellcasters wont get 8 hours of rest .... Illusions work great then
:D
Stage one we learn of the armies plans and planned rout over a bridge over a gorge (map here: http://shadow.wizards.com/dnd/images/rhod_maps/95686.jpg ) we plan to rig the bridge to fall from bolth ends at a trigger, as a few scouts cross first to investigate why the guards they left there are no longer there, when the army crosses in mass we want it to fall, forcing the army to march 7-9 days travel through the forest to get around and build a bridge or use flyers to ferry there supplies across.
-so for this part Lvl 5-6ish is it first possable to build a trap this complex or have a spell target the bridge to deal the 100+ needed to destroy a section of the bridge (3 are needed in a line to drop ither side), and if possable there are hobgoblins and a small dragon here we will need to kill, is it posable to dominate/charm a few hobgoblins for near a week straight to avoid raising any alarmy when the army comes? and as allways any sugestions welcome
There are a bunch of ways to do this. I'll outline some of them tonight, after I finish getting mauled by this paper I'm failing to write. There's a link in my sig to one of my.... contraptions called the Buildomancer. I don't know if I'd recommend him, but a lot of the core concepts are viable.
Take a look at this link. Namely the glue and the pigments.
You can literally just paint holes in the support struts and buttresses of the bridge. Heh.
Before anyone else says it, you CAN build a DMM Persist-bot with some capacity to stick a spell or three (probably no more) at level 6-8. Thus you might be able to stick a 24 hour illusion to the bridge.
1)cast Silent Image(1st lvl wiz) of some warriors charging the enemy
2)when they attack the figures, they simply disappear... they realize it was just an Illusion ... since the fighters didnt make any noise
3)do the same thing again...same result
4)cast Silence(2nd lvl cleric) on some fighters ..... have them attack the exact same way... the enemy will think it is another illusion, you will have surprise and charging Bonuses without some even being armed
Silent image works great
Ghost Sound also is very effective
a single Rogue with a Wand of each and a Wand of Invisibility(you wont break your Invisibility because you are not Attacking) ........ can keep an Entire army busy trying to find imaginary enemies.... he just needs to move around
:D
Sanctuary Is Amazing.
Also, penalties stack. Don't worry, we understand.
And don't you have a paper to write :D
Also, Torjon, I have to ask, is English your first language?
Sofawall, I am of the opinion you are a good dude.
Thank you... I must admit im not entirely shure what you mean by this or why you came to this conclusion?
But never the less Thank you
Thank you... I must admit im not entirely shure what you mean by this or why you came to this conclusion?
But never the less Thank you
I'm sofawall, silly.
I'm sofawall, silly.
ok well that solves that lol
ya sofawall thank you, i cant install the spellchecker beacuse i dont have admin acess on this machine so you are all stuck with my poor spelling for the day, but at the time i had not yet noticed your above post
;)
NOT THE BEEEESSS!
I think the only way to really upset people is to bring up "Is Mystic Theurge a Spellcaster?"
Never, ever, mention that again, it has died a slow death, but it has died, never to resurface for another 6 months.
Ugh... must... not... read... playing... RHoD... as... next... campaign...
There isnt that much of a spoiler here, all of this information is honestly known to the PCs after session 3 or so. and its my opinion that this type of tactic is going to do nuthing but enhance the gameplay for most parties.
Actually, frankly, I haven't met anyone in this forum who didn't treat me with respect. I think the only way to really upset people is to bring up "Is Mystic Theurge a Spellcaster?"
;)
NOT THE BEEEESSS!
Oh, there are plenty of other ways. Just wait for the next Fighter x Wizard thread...
Like Carnivore said, keep them at range - But some of the encounters probably wont allow this.
I would have two "Gods" - one full "God" and the other a Rogue-type to mess with the army, A chain fighter (theres also a new chain in this adventure called the Dragon Chain which is good for grapplers), and a Druid. Ensure the "Gods" have archery of some kind to help the chain fighter and have the Druid have plenty of healing at the lower levels - you will most likely need it
Most of them probably don't even have magic weapons, and so won't be able to hurt the shadows, and once they've made a few spawn, their numbers will increase exponentially. A distraction to keep the clerics and other casters busy while the shadows begin attacking might help.
Master of Shrouds.. Summon Shadows and Wraiths to consume the army.. By the Level you will be facing the army you'll be able to summon these :D
DMM persist on this Cleric to make him a decent Melee combatant too.
Have the Rogue-type harass the army by using Carnivores trick and while the Casters are over in that direction unleash the undead.. :D
At this point we are all considering trying to play some blend of full or near full casters, this is still a plan in progress, but the need for all sorts of spells seems to be the most common theme.
Innitial thoughts lead us to this layout as a posabillity
Char 1
-Rog/Wiz->Arcain trickster, skill money with spell support, and sneak attack may be handy for commanders, not alot of though given to this yet.
Char 2
-Druid/Wiz->Arcane Heirophant, Greenbound summoner is always handy, but im looking for ways to have the animal companion hold off enemies and delivering spells through companion and plants might have sumthing to it?
Char3
-Cleric->Stormlord, basically our DMM persist fighter here, stormlord helps abit with the melee, cool class, not a big fan of the Req's but the player has been wanting to play this and it will be taking place in forgotten realms
Char 4
-Ardent/Cleric-> Psychic Therge, well with buffs and armor aplications at bolth melee and ranged, large spell selection.
oh and i whould like to incorperate the Jaunter class in if we can, but it whould apear that there is infact a book for 3.5 we do not yet have.
Dragon Chain: Exotic two-handed weapon; cost 50gp; damage 1d4 (S),1d6 (M); Critical 19-20/x2; weight 10lbs; type bludgeoning
Can Disarm and Trip as per spiked chain.
If the weilder successfully initiates a grapple while weilding the chain he can loop the weapon around the opponent. He constricts the opponent for 1d8 plus 1-1/2 times Str. On subsequent rounds he can use a successful grapple check to deal constriction damage, this also provides a +2 (circumstance) to grapple checks to deal this damage.
Pg 128 of RHOD
So I have a favorite class, and it's not on your list, and I don't know why. Is Tome of Battle accessible to you?
just out of curiosity what class were you refering to?
yes we do have acess to TOB, but with such a need for casting, i was hopeing to incorperate it with just dipping and maby the magic items that grant use of higher key manuvers to limit takeing levels out of caster classes
but yes we are all huge fans of TOB, we just have yet to consider how best to incorperate it and when
It may be possable to substitue a forgotten realms diety for weejas in ruby knight vindicator and use it in place of stormlord.
this has lead me to a new questions: when wearing an item like the crown of the white raven and others like it, it says you need to meet the prereq for the manuver to use it, is that just the number of manuvers of that type or the initiator level aswell to use it? if it is just the number of manuvers in that style than a first level of any of the classes should be able to build toward using a single 9th level manuver off the item, at 45k gp that is.
also they may be of some use to enhance certain trap layouts, like useing illusions to draw a larger number of enemies into a traps area.
I can't recommend the shadows strongly enough. Seriously, there's almost no chance the army will be able to cope with shadows early on, or wraiths.
X1/Cleric 2/Master of Shrouds 7
X can be anything with a good Will save. Good options are Monk, Wizard (Abrupt Jaunt), and Dread Necro.
Look here for ideas: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=973248
And here is a MoS handbook: http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3310.0
I found Dread Necromancer the best option but it's up to you.. You'll be summoning Shadows and Wraiths before you know it..
Take Domains: Undeath and Planning
Kill an Army they say.. Summon Shadows they say.. Foolish Mortals
Credit for this goes to PhaedrusXY and the Dr
I found Dread Necromancer the best option but it's up to you.. You'll be summoning Shadows and Wraiths before you know it..
Take Domains: Undeath and Planning
Kill an Army they say.. Summon Shadows they say.. Foolish Mortals
With such a devistating effect, how many shadows will it really take, could we substitute scrolls or wands for this?
But yes I do agree that shadows are going to be amazingly effective.
) could pop out say 14 Shadows (Min Cha of 18), two at a time. These two concentrate their attacks on one hapless sleeping individual.. You have another Shadow.You rebuke this Shadow - it is now yours to command. This Shadow then helps the other two suck the Str out of another victim, making sure this is the Shadow to deal the final blow (as your summoned Shadows will disappear in time) - you have another Shadow.. Etc..
Summon a couple of Wraiths to do the same and soon you'll have an incorporeal Army ripping the Red Hand army to shreds from the inside. Have your "Gods" target the enemy Arcane and Divine spellcasters or mob them with Shadows (Wizards typically have low Str).
Mwahahaha.. Sorry.. got a little carried away there :D
ie, Any character w/ a decent UMD mod or the ability to use these scrolls can use the trick without rebuking. But, admittedly, rebuking is a nice option to continue control.
Massive battlefield control spells, such as major image, cloudkill, wall of fire, sleet storm, blizzard, and haboob are your friend.
The Wizard should be an Incantatrix who invests nearly every effort to boost his Spellcraft to Persist any spell level. Were I to redo my character, I'd make him similar to this:
What I Prolly Shoulda Done
Intro
I dare say Wizards are probably the most powerful of the bunch. If you start at level 5 or higher, you can say your Wizard cast secret page a bunch of times and now has the full Wizard spell list available to him.
I admit Wizards may seem scary at first- there's a lot of reading to do and power to be had- but if you prepare the wrong spells today, you can try again tomorrow. Having played a Sorcerer, the only positive comment I have is that I'm glad I know never to do it again. My spell selection was far too small and I barely did anything viable.
For the Newbie
Treantmonk made a wonderful guide with which to get cozy, but these points bear mentioning for a newbie.
-Be a dragonborn (Races of the Dragon 10) gray elf or a non-dragonborn human. Feats are spiffy, but so is +2 INT and flight.
-Be a Conjurer (not a Focused Specialist Conjurer) and take Abrupt Jaunt (Player's Handbook II 70). Ban Enchantment and Necromancy as these
schools are especially small and niche, but Conjuration is viable at every level.
-If in doubt, only prepare conjurations, illusions, and transmutations.
Early Spell Picks
-Grease is wonderful for downing foes and preventing enemies from grappling friends. You can use it to squeeze through especially small areas. Some DMs allow you to ignite it for damage.
-Silent image is wonderful if your DM appreciates your creativity. You can summon a golem or a dragon at level 1. You can surround yourself in a prismatic sphere. You can make a wall of force, wall of fire, or wall of stone at level 1. You can make obscuring mist that your party can see through but the enemy can't. (Give your party a signal that it's fake, but don't let the enemies realize this.) You can turn copper coins into platinum, gems into more valuable gems, and have signs that mysteriously display weird things. None of this lasts very long or is 'real' but you've distracted the target(s) for a significant while and maybe made some money to boot.
-Enlarge person turns your party's Big Stupid Fighter (tm) into a Large or Huge Stupid Fighter and that's a Very Good Thing (tm). He hits harder with longer reach, meaning he feels better and you're safe.
-Nerveskitter (Spell Compendium 146) gives you +5 initiative for one fight. That's more than Improved Initiative, and they stack!
After this, things get lovelier as you acquire glitterdust (Will save or be blind; 50% miss chance and unable to take 5' steps), mirror image (you need true seeing or lotsa luck to hit me!), and alter self (look at the +6 natural AC on that troglodyte!) Treantmonk details more spells in his school guides linked to in his main guide.
Builds
Dragonborn Gray Elf Martial Conjurer3/Master Conjurer2/Incantatrix10/Archmage3/Fatespinner1/Olin Gisir1
(You need Complete Mage for Master Specialist, Player's Guide to Faerun for Incantatrix, Complete Arcane for Fatespinner, and Lost Empires of Faerun for Olin Gisir.)
1: [Abrupt Jaunt], [Ban Enchantment & Necromancy], [Improved Initiative], Spell Focus: Conjuration
3: Extend Spell, [Iron Will from Otyugh Hole - Complete Scoundrel 151])
4: [Skill Focus: Spellcraft]
6: [Ban Evocation], Cloudy Conjuration (Complete Mage 40), [Persistent Spell (Complete Arcane 81)]
9: [Invisible Spell (Cityscape 61)], Metamagic School Focus: Conjuration (Complete Mage 45)
12: Craft Contingent Item (Complete Arcane 77), [Quicken Spell]
15: [Chain Spell (Complete Arcane 76)], Spell Focus: Transmutation
16: [Mastery of Shaping]
17: [Spell-like Ability: time stop]
18: Metamagic School Focus: Transmutation (Complete Mage 45), [Spell Power]
20: [Twin Spell (Complete Arcane 84)]
I dare say Wizards are probably the most powerful of the bunch. If you start at level 5 or higher, you can say your Wizard cast secret page a bunch of times and now has the full Wizard spell list available to him.
I admit Wizards may seem scary at first- there's a lot of reading to do and power to be had- but if you prepare the wrong spells today, you can try again tomorrow. Having played a Sorcerer, the only positive comment I have is that I'm glad I know never to do it again. My spell selection was far too small and I barely did anything viable.
For the Newbie
Treantmonk made a wonderful guide with which to get cozy, but these points bear mentioning for a newbie.
-Be a dragonborn (Races of the Dragon 10) gray elf or a non-dragonborn human. Feats are spiffy, but so is +2 INT and flight.
-Be a Conjurer (not a Focused Specialist Conjurer) and take Abrupt Jaunt (Player's Handbook II 70). Ban Enchantment and Necromancy as these
schools are especially small and niche, but Conjuration is viable at every level.
-If in doubt, only prepare conjurations, illusions, and transmutations.
Early Spell Picks
-Grease is wonderful for downing foes and preventing enemies from grappling friends. You can use it to squeeze through especially small areas. Some DMs allow you to ignite it for damage.
-Silent image is wonderful if your DM appreciates your creativity. You can summon a golem or a dragon at level 1. You can surround yourself in a prismatic sphere. You can make a wall of force, wall of fire, or wall of stone at level 1. You can make obscuring mist that your party can see through but the enemy can't. (Give your party a signal that it's fake, but don't let the enemies realize this.) You can turn copper coins into platinum, gems into more valuable gems, and have signs that mysteriously display weird things. None of this lasts very long or is 'real' but you've distracted the target(s) for a significant while and maybe made some money to boot.
-Enlarge person turns your party's Big Stupid Fighter (tm) into a Large or Huge Stupid Fighter and that's a Very Good Thing (tm). He hits harder with longer reach, meaning he feels better and you're safe.
-Nerveskitter (Spell Compendium 146) gives you +5 initiative for one fight. That's more than Improved Initiative, and they stack!
After this, things get lovelier as you acquire glitterdust (Will save or be blind; 50% miss chance and unable to take 5' steps), mirror image (you need true seeing or lotsa luck to hit me!), and alter self (look at the +6 natural AC on that troglodyte!) Treantmonk details more spells in his school guides linked to in his main guide.
Builds
Dragonborn Gray Elf Martial Conjurer3/Master Conjurer2/Incantatrix10/Archmage3/Fatespinner1/Olin Gisir1
(You need Complete Mage for Master Specialist, Player's Guide to Faerun for Incantatrix, Complete Arcane for Fatespinner, and Lost Empires of Faerun for Olin Gisir.)
1: [Abrupt Jaunt], [Ban Enchantment & Necromancy], [Improved Initiative], Spell Focus: Conjuration
3: Extend Spell, [Iron Will from Otyugh Hole - Complete Scoundrel 151])
4: [Skill Focus: Spellcraft]
6: [Ban Evocation], Cloudy Conjuration (Complete Mage 40), [Persistent Spell (Complete Arcane 81)]
9: [Invisible Spell (Cityscape 61)], Metamagic School Focus: Conjuration (Complete Mage 45)
12: Craft Contingent Item (Complete Arcane 77), [Quicken Spell]
15: [Chain Spell (Complete Arcane 76)], Spell Focus: Transmutation
16: [Mastery of Shaping]
17: [Spell-like Ability: time stop]
18: Metamagic School Focus: Transmutation (Complete Mage 45), [Spell Power]
20: [Twin Spell (Complete Arcane 84)]
At level six with Eldritch Spear, Entropic Warding, See the Unseen (just in case), and Sudden Swarm (Lesser, from Drow of the Underdark) you could snipe a mook unleashing a Spider Swarm (Immune to Weapons with boosted HPs and Poison DCs) to ravage the rest of his unit. You then duck back into the forest, impossible to be tracked, rinse and repeat.
At higher levels it just gets better. With tools like Fell Flight, Walk Unseen, The Dead Walk, Flee the Scene, Brimstone Blast (setting fire to their camp/stores), Chilling Tentacles, Wall of Perilous Flame, Caustic Mire, and Nightmares Made Real (just to name a few) you become a god-like battlefield controller/a mobile army's worst nightmare. Make the Warlock a Warforged and they will never be able to rest. Ever.
The key here is adaptation. You cannot completely control the enemy. You can try to plan for every contingency but you will fail. While the abilities of a Warlock may be less potent than those of a Wizard he has something that said Wizard does not. Disposable Power. You never have to wait for "the right time". If you are capable of doing something, you can do it now. And later. You may not have the perfect tools for a given situation but the tools you do have are always ready.
A group of seven cavalry has broken through on the flank but you are expecting a mass of enemy reinforcements in another three rounds. Where do you use your last crowd control spell? That is a question that a Warlock never has to answer. Give the cavalry a taste of some Tentacles and the reinforcements can have some too.
Things just went south and it would be really handy to have an 800 ft Wall of Flame stretching across to the left to dissuade the impending pincer move? A Warlock with Wall of Perilous Flame can pull that off in four rounds.
This is the kind of campaign that really shows off the Warlocks strengths. Just some things to think about.
Unfortunately, you need someone who can reliably make DC 30 Diplomacy checks to influence prominent NPCs into acting the way you'd prefer them. Leadership may be the best way to get a skillsman and spokesman.
A dip into Binder can make that trivial. Take 10 as a standard action with no penalty. It's also nice as a lead into Hellfire Warlock. :D
Kyoma Of The Dusky Lullabies
Human
Deity: Wee Jas
Lawful Good
Flaw: Shaky
Combat expertise
Favored, Church of Wee Jas
Primary Contact: +1 rank to Knowledge Religion
At three: Martial Study, (Diamond Mind maneuver of your choice)
At six: Martial Stance, (Pearl of Black Doubt)
Cloistered Cleric 2
Crusader 2
Ruby Knight Vindicator 2
Initiator Level 3, Caster level 2 but that will get better fast. We'll be falling short of the gold standard for gish builds, sadly, by one CL. On the other hand, with a little bit of self-buffing, no one below CR 4 is going to be able to hit you at all. It'd also be trivially easy to swap things around so that you're a warblade instead, if you prefer warblades. This is not a canonical best-build, but it's a pretty strong one with early access to the excellent RkV class and a solid future as a second-line caster.
1) Cloistered Cleric 2/ Dread Necro 1/ Master of Shrouds 2 ... by PhaedrusXY
Illumian (NaenHoon sigils, RoD)
Feat progression
1 Cloistered Clr1 Domains: Knowledge, Trickery and "Divine Magician (CMage)", Rebuke Undead, Spell Focus: Conj. (1), Augument Summoning (flaw), Extend (flaw)
2 DN Rebuke Undead, Martial Wpn Prof (Composite Longbow), Charnel Touch
3 CClr2 Practiced Spellcaster (Dread Necro)
4 MoS1 Extra Rebuking
5 MoS2 Summon Undead (Shadow)
very strong ...... the more the Undead kill the bigger your army gets(Spawn)
2)
1/2 Fey Dragonborn Warforged ... as QuarianRex suggested
Warlock 3
feats:
Air Heritage
Flyby Attack
Invocations :
Devil's Sight, Eldritch Spear
at night..... blast them from 250' away.... all night long.... while flying 60' (Good)
3)
Human
Warmage 5
feats:
Bloodline of fire
Versatile Spellcaster
Firey Burst (Reserve)
great Blasting .... 4d6 Firey Burst
Caster level 8th for Fire Spells and can cast 4th lvl Warmage Spells
4)
Dragonborn Warforged Scout
Psion(Shaper) 5
make lots ot Black lotus extract Poison(Contact DC 20, 3d6 Con/3d6 Con) .... coats all the archers Arrows with it for Volly fire
:D
Disease might be a better option than poison.
In a campaign where you're facing long term engagements with time constraints (like red hand of doom does if i understand it right), or where you have other constraints on your ability to get out of combat and recover your resources you need to plan your party so that the characters who aren't limited by spell slots or other the like are using that to the whole's party advantage. The spellcasters (psions, etc) need to use their resources judiciously in a way that allows the characters with unlimited use of their combat abilities to do the brunt of the actual work of mowing down the opponents. Using shadows/wraiths and stuff like this is another great example of how you can manage your resources very effectively so that the DM has a hard time wearing your party down.
The Master Of Shrouds also has long-term viability thanks to the Oh-God-Shadows effect, which I've heard is pretty compelling when they're attempting to eat you and your good friend Gr'norg, both'f you never 'aving seen a magical weapon, much less owned one.
I'm going to say something heretical, which is that below 11th level, primary spellcasters cannot compose your whole party safely outside of highly aberrant builds like the ones we produce intermittently. In fact, two is enough. There, I said it.
And what their leadership is composed of, and hence, what their will-saves look like?
:evillaugh
It might take as little as one really solid dominate person combined with the suggestion that "Regiment X wants us dead! They've broken the pact, those mountainswine, and they're coming for us in the night! Quick, boys, it's us or them!"
Actually, if you could tell me the composition of the army, and nail down the average fort-saves....
Disease might be a better option than poison.
I considered that, but thought it would be too slow. By the time it started to matter, their clerics would probably work out how to take care of it. If it spread fast enough, it might work, though. It certainly wouldn't be as fast as shadows, which are kind of like a disease. :D
GAAH! Phaedrus is NINJA'ING me!
I think a plague-engine would be fairly easy to design, frankly. Stacking it with shadow attacks should keep the clerics too busy to catch it in the alpha wave of infections. If it gets beyond that, they're done.
I had a group of players who bought a herd of cattle and poisoned them, then stacked every disease in the DMG on them, gave it a little time to advance, and then prepared a feast where the beef just happened to be rare. They took out the whole freaking town, and used touch of darkness (I believe that's the name) to get the clerics to fall using coercion and traps.
tip on the use of disease form: use control wind to 'steer' the disease form into the army's camp.
actually, the way i read disease form, the cancer mage can try to control any creature infected. sure, it has limited controls per day, but maybe if some of the officers are mages (e.i low fort saves), you could control them. and make the kill themselves, for an effective way of assasinating the officers.
I can think of a lot more effective things to do with enslaved officers, like send half the army on a wild goose chase that leads into a troll-infested swamp of certain death. :D
I think the disease idea has a lot of merit, the question is: Is that too evil?
The wasting is contagious, but unfortunately it's injury transmission only. Might still be worth it, since it takes 3 consecutive successful fortitude saves at DC19 to recover and does 1d4 con and dex damage per day. Might be worth using rat swarms to carry that into their camps with a cancer mage.
Further research indicates that we now have enough tactics to pretty reliably destroy a nation, never mind an army of low cr orcs with maybe a young adult dragon or two.
As far as leadership goes, our DM OK'ed it for this campain, but its intended that we dont use our followers or cohorts for anything in the adventure part, and we will not be able to customize our cohorts classes and such.
As far as builds go, some of our players dont like to play casters much (or at all), they will if thats whats necissary but ideas in that directions is always welcome, but there is just one request with them, durring the trapping and ambush sections we would like to have every charicter able to assist. so craft trapmakeing and UMD works just fine. but it will likely take up a large amount of time at the game table so we dont want players feeling left out.
Just how freakin' big is this army?10k clerics isn't as much of a problem as it sounds. Remember, we have a full day, three days in some cases, before the symptoms of any diseases manifest. And any cleric who gets sick, our cancer mage can control. It's funny how much damage simply telling someone to cast cause disease every time instead of remove disease does, particularly if you start convincing clerics that they're sick.
Any guess at what mid-level means? If it's 6-7 we're okay. That's only 4-5 casts of remove disease a day, which assumes it's in one of their domains, as well.
Without further ado, I'd like to direct your attention to page 30 in the book of vile deeds. Take a read at deathsong and faceless hate.
I'll wait.
How do we get it in? Simple, controlled rat swarms and tainted water. Contact diseases will work through ingestion as well, as per poison rules. I consider this terrifying and that fort save is basically unpassable for an orc with no class levels.
Likewise, rat swarms have a +16 to hide, and a +8 to move silently. Chances of early detection are just very low. We need to get more than about 15k infected in the first wave. If we can do that, it should spread far enough before quarantine that new cases will happen faster than they can cast remove disease. However, there's a better option. Get the clerics infected. Every cleric you infect is worth ten other orcs or goblins, because that's a set of remove disease castings gone altogether. Deathsong hits hard enough fast enough that if we can get it to the right levels, it should literally be self-sustaining. All we need to do is get a good set of the clerics infected, and we're done. It will likely wipe out the army in about 6-7 days.
either they have A LOT of clerics for the army's size, or its, how shall i put it, A ******* VERY HUGE ARMY. maybe find some quells and smuggle them into the army camp with portable holes, releasing them in the cleric quartes with a bunch of disease-packed rat swarms. when the most of the clerics have been pacified, a shadow drifts in, from the other side of the camp, and start a shadow chain.
EDIT: GAAH! Whats up with this thread and me ebing ninja'ed?
10,000 clerics...
Well around 100, 000 basic gunts is my understanding, if somone has the actual numbers that would be better, but roughly 1 in 10 is a commander and most of there commanders are clerics of tiamat
Please understand my numbers are based from a previous attempt at this campain where we stood on a hill and looked over the army, it was described as looking like 100K + giants + manticores and the like, but this is the best I have to go on.
its my understanding that the army is lead by a religious order of tiamat, and 80-90% of the army is Hobgoblins with a few class levels (fighter i think) at about CR 4 at this rate there fort will be ok for there level but should give us a rather good chance with diseases.
This has alot of potential, as much as we were hopeing to avoid evil, we are willing to do it in a case such as this
Our DM informed us that our gurilla warfare would simply add Victory Points (as per Heros of Battle) to the final battle, thus adjusting its outcome, but with this it may be possable to exploit the army ratio base VP for the battle, witch is the biggest part of there VP they have a 10 to 1 ratio, but if we can get it to 1 to 1, with the other VP offerd throughout the campain it should be possable to deny them even retreat as an option. However for the sake of the campain, our DM will likely never allow us to totaly kill the army till the end battle, but with tactics like this we might be able to collect enuf VP to sip margaritas on lawn chairs and watch the last of the army get stomped by pesants lol
P.S. there cleric commanders are in the CL 7-9 range if that helps
Hmm... if we could figure out how to tie the effects of a Confusion spell into something with a very large area, you could cause most of the army to kill each other very quickly. :D
But even if all the "grunts" were out of the picture... 10,000 level 7-9 clerics is just insane to deal with by itself. I remember that they had some very tough high level commanders too, like dragons, high level NPCs, etc.
Perhaps ironically, one of the best wide area fear effects is dragon fear. If you could get the army near a cliff, and cover the cliff with an illusion, a decent sized dragon flying overhead could probably cause very large numbers of them to fall to their deaths.
So get them to go down a canyon or something that restricts their movement to the sides, and "channels" them in one of two directions. Have some chasm in the middle of the canyon covered with a Silent Illusion (fill it with lava, to make sure they don't survive the fall...). Then have a big dragon fly over the army and land behind it, panicking them. Make the illusion look like the ones in front are still running, when in reality they've fallen into the crevice.
You could enlist the dragon through many methods, magical or otherwise.
1)do the Traps, and Illusions as per previous plan
2)have 3 of these:
Show
1/2 Fey Dragonborn Warforged ... as QuarianRex suggested
Warlock 3
feats:
Air Heritage
Flyby Attack
Invocations :
Devil's Sight, Eldritch Spear
at night..... blast them from 250' away.... all night long.... while flying 60' (Good)
1/2 Fey Dragonborn Warforged ... as QuarianRex suggested
Warlock 3
feats:
Air Heritage
Flyby Attack
Invocations :
Devil's Sight, Eldritch Spear
at night..... blast them from 250' away.... all night long.... while flying 60' (Good)
I like Black Lotus covered Caltrops. :D Litter an area with them, and then lure them into chasing you through it, or force them via Fear as above.
also Black Lotus could be applied to many of the traps we plan to put in there path.
2) have cancer mage infect rat swarms with diseases
3) fill bags with said rat swarms
4) have warlocks drop these bags on the camp from far above.
5) congratulations, you just invented the next generation of biological weaponry (or i did)
it might be better to use bags filled with contact poison.
Disease, poison.... is there any kind of other contact-affecting illness we've forgotten?
as for the shadows, thats still my favorite. anybody know a way to mass-produce intilligence? Also, you might wait until you're level maybe 10, then bolster the crap out of the shadows.
Well, that's char op for ya.
The issue is those clerics, but fortunately the rules for deathsong say you basically can't function, you know, have no mouth but I must scream style. We just need to infect enough of them fast enough and quietly enough. What's the best vector open to us? Can we poison a water supply or hit their supply bivouac? Assuming those 10k clerics aren't just using create food every day :|
Sim-o-clock.
is there anything we can inflict the army with that the clerics cant just remove?
maybe get a widened antimagic field on followers we have in our tapestry, using war weaver, polymorphing ourselves(and thus the followers) into flies, and having these flies fly unnoticed into the camp and pester the poor clerics when they're trying to remove the disease, thus helping the disease spread.
Remember, on average, someone only needs to be sick with deathsong for four days and then they're dead. That's..... swift. Very swift. We just need a really significant wave of alpha carriers, preferably symptom supressed, but I see no way of doing that. We should also look at the BoED for ravages, the goody-two-shoes versions of this.
Now, that said, we really need to get the clerics down and out. In fact, frankly, every cleric we kill is worth a hundred grunts in my eyes. So I say we hit with the deathsong plague, and then start spawning shadows at night in the middle of the quarantine zone.
I seem to remember somewhere a disease that was immune to magical healing. Anyone know what that might be?
So: Party make-up
Tome of Battle-style super-tanker, probably a ruby shadow variant.
Cancer mage
Walker in the wastes (Optional, does not deliver mummy rot
)class of your choice.
Jobs:
Tank
Oh God, the plague! We'll use deathsong, mummy rot, and one other of your choice.
Oh God, infinite mummies! The viability of this depends on the ruling your GM opts for regarding creation of salt mummies. As stated RAW, there's no limit, and no action involved specifically, so it defaults to a standard action to spawn a terrifying mummy. Yep. Thanks a lot.
Never allow sandstorm in your game. It's a testament to the people of these boards that we consider walker in the waste, even with early entry, to be a boringly weak option. Welcome to madness!
Playing G'd, probably.
(we'd need scrolls, which would be expensive :| )
or
Touch of the Pharoah
Mummmmyyyy rotttttt
We should be able to use those, or whatever someone else can come up with. I'm sure a cancer mage might reasonably know where to make purchase of terrible vials.
Alternatively, have an 8HD undead character with Assume Supernatural Ability (Mummy Rot) get polymorphed into a mummy.