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My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

Lord Twisted posted:

How would you guys handle this? Grab a monster statblock and adjust it a bit to make an "adventurer" who seems kind of right?
Basically yeah, that or NPCs (assuming you're talking about 4E) - or to be more precise, I wouldn't even really give them stats right until they're going on a mission with the PCs.

For levelling you could do a simplified experience chart, maybe something like, it takes 1 mission to get a guild adventurer from level 1 to 2, 2 more missions to get him to 3, and so on. Maybe assign levels to the missions and make it so if you assign a high-level guy to a low-level mission, it's an automatic success but he doesn't gain any "XP". Take a low-level guy on a high-level mission and he gains double XP but there's a chance of death and/or failure. Just throwing that out there, I have no idea how well it would work out in practice.

Final Fantasy Tactics had a system where you'd send some of your characters away on missions for a few days, and if their character class was suited well to the mission, you'd get a performance bonus. That might work well. If your players have the good sense to have the minor zombie pest investigated by the cleric of Pelor, the squad they send gets a bonus that translates directly into a goodie for the PC party.

====================

As for my own idea I'm still working out the specifics from all the great ideas you guys had, one thing I'm almost definitely doing is while they're preparing their prosecution, a servant of Torog knocks on the door and tells them, look, there's something the gods are keeping from you but we don't play like that, don't make people jump through hoops - I'll tell you where that secret is kept for totally free, and here's a gift of blessed thumbscrews that are guaranteed to get it out of the guy who holds it. So now they have a choice between the effortlessly easy but evil way and the risky but good and rewarding way, as tradition dictates.

(And the secret would be the big one - the true nature of the Elder Elemental Eye. They don't know yet but they'll really want to know this.)

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Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:
For my party, they have have "henchman" party slot, right now they only have one character to put in there, but in the future, they'll have more. So instead of leveling the individual NPCs, they level the henchman slot. So whatever NPC they select to take along as their henchman will be at that level.

SafetyTrain
Nov 26, 2012

Bringing a knife to a bear fight
In regards to ^^^^^

How do most of you implement a Henchman slot or a long term NPC partymember?

I've used them on occasion but the feeling I get from them is that they just become a stunted part of the group. Either I am in control and they become a "hint dropper" and extra sword in a fight. Or a PC controls them and they're just a set of skills that PC can utilize. It just feels pointless unless it's for a temporary reason.

Do you folks have any tips on using NPCs as vital group members, that contribute to the "around-the-campfire" type of roleplay that might go on in a group?

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:

SafetyTrain posted:

In regards to ^^^^^

How do most of you implement a Henchman slot or a long term NPC partymember?

I've used them on occasion but the feeling I get from them is that they just become a stunted part of the group. Either I am in control and they become a "hint dropper" and extra sword in a fight. Or a PC controls them and they're just a set of skills that PC can utilize. It just feels pointless unless it's for a temporary reason.

Do you folks have any tips on using NPCs as vital group members, that contribute to the "around-the-campfire" type of roleplay that might go on in a group?

I implemented the slot to give the party more combat options and freedom with their character setup, especially since we were all new to 4e. The primary goal was to give the party another sword so they could play around with their character builds a little.

For campfire-roleplay, their current henchman falls pretty squarely into Comic Relief. He's a Kobold warlord, and not the brightest copper piece in the purse, so generally he gets the party into trouble if left to his own devices. Because of this, the party uses him to watch their gear while they go out and about in town. He's also definitely not a hint dropper; in the warlord's mind, he's the leader of the party and won't take orders from his underlings. So if the party wants him to do something, they have to convince or trick him into doing it or make him think it was his idea (usually not a hard task).

He started off as a straight NPC-minion who was going to carry their gear, and a potential liability in combat; basically a talking pack mule. The party actually really enjoyed having him around, and the party was deficient in a few areas in combat, so I came up with the henchman slot mechanic, and let the party select his class and powers to augment their's.

Roleplay wise, I do feel the fact he's a little stunted, and I think that might become more pronounced if the party recruits and uses a higher INT character in the slot, or at least one with more complex motivations.

As for NPCs becoming long-term vital group members, I've usually got the impression the idea is "don't", because you run the risk of them becoming a DMPC. Also, if that NPC interacts with any other NPC, you're basically talking with yourself for the duration unless you pass one of them off to another player. (This is where a lot of my party's henchman's stagnation comes from)

madadric
May 18, 2008

Such a BK.

SafetyTrain posted:

In regards to ^^^^^

How do most of you implement a Henchman slot or a long term NPC partymember?

I've used them on occasion but the feeling I get from them is that they just become a stunted part of the group. Either I am in control and they become a "hint dropper" and extra sword in a fight. Or a PC controls them and they're just a set of skills that PC can utilize. It just feels pointless unless it's for a temporary reason.

Do you folks have any tips on using NPCs as vital group members, that contribute to the "around-the-campfire" type of roleplay that might go on in a group?

Use them as you use monsters and mooks - more meat for the grinder! Have your party clamber over a wall of corpses made from foes and allies alike to reach their prize! Only to have to fight their reanimated corpses on the way back out!

Npcs work great as flavour and a function - they add color to your world and give the pc's someone to interact with. As for function, utilise the NPC as a means for the player characters to interact with the world in a new way. Npcs may open doors, but it still takes the pc's to walk in and make poo poo happen.

SafetyTrain
Nov 26, 2012

Bringing a knife to a bear fight
Thanks for the replies, some good ideas there and confirmation that I'm not alone in disliking NPCs for a long time unless they are purely "This bloke carries your poo poo and will start a conversation for you.".

On a related note, what do people do with PCs when the player is away?

What my group does is we usually keep the PC around, but he takes a step back so to speak. Either the DM/GM or one of the other players take over the PC. I am thinking of just start to "freeze" characters when people aren't playing them. Since we let them play now but not by a player who cares or has a motivation for the character. They just run the risk of dying or something like that but won't get any character progression or XP (We usually heavily limit the XP of those PCs).

If I freeze a character it brings a little trouble in the way of party dynamics and character relationships within the group. But the PC wont die, do stupid poo poo or gain anything while the player is away. So when he comes back it's the same character he remembers.

Thoughts? Ideas?

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:

SafetyTrain posted:

On a related note, what do people do with PCs when the player is away?

Thoughts? Ideas?


I've always played in small enough groups with close enough schedules that if someone is missing from the group, we just either cancel or play another game/another encounter.

How often is your person(s) out? I've got a person looking to join with an erratic schedule, so he plays the henchman when he can make it. It also depends on how 'serious' your campaign is, or if the person dropping out has skills/powers the group needs to succeed. If you're not running a very serious campaign, just handwave the absence. If that person had powers to skills the party was depending on, put those skills/powers on another party member or wandering prospector who's decided to help the party.

Probably if this was an issue for me, I'd either have some plot device (like some extra dimensional being occasionally grabs one of them into a planar portal, does something (presumably experiments) and then returns them after. Maybe the portal also leaves things behind, like if the only person who speaks Elven vanishes while they're in the Elven capital, a potion of Comprehend Languages is left behind. This could also be used to explain why the battle just got harder/easier.

Even still, to be safe, I'd also make everyone choose a "second" who can take over their character if needed.

In regards to XP, I just have one pool of XP for players to pull from, and let them decide how to parcel it out, so missing a session wouldn't hurt in that regard.

Guesticles fucked around with this message at 13:09 on Jan 11, 2013

Whybird
Aug 2, 2009

Phaiston have long avoided the tightly competetive defence sector, but the IRDA Act 2052 has given us the freedom we need to bring out something really special.

https://team-robostar.itch.io/robostar


Nap Ghost
I have a fairly big group and some fairly flaky players, so I've made it canon in the setting that there is a flu-like disease called the Shivering Sickness which adventurers, being people who spend lots of time in new places without enough warm gear and healthy food and sleep, are particularly prone to. It causes attacks of exhaustion and aphasia, so a person suffering from it can just about follow their friends around, but can't contribute in any meaningful way. When a player can't make it, IC their character is knocked out with the Shivering Sickness.

SafetyTrain
Nov 26, 2012

Bringing a knife to a bear fight

Guesticles posted:

How often is your person(s) out?

I'd say regularly. He lives in another city and sometimes work weekends. So if it's bad he's missing every other time or so. Less than ideal but we've accepted that since we like him in the group.

The plot device thing seems like it might get forced when it's that often. But I really like the idea of a second. Then that guy can be informed about the characters motivations and style.

I really like the idea of an XP pool. Do you ever have arguments about who gets what?

The disease thing seems like a good idea but I might just use a characters prior engagements instead. It seems a little contrived to be a plague.

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:

SafetyTrain posted:

I'd say regularly. He lives in another city and sometimes work weekends. So if it's bad he's missing every other time or so. Less than ideal but we've accepted that since we like him in the group.

The plot device thing seems like it might get forced when it's that often. But I really like the idea of a second. Then that guy can be informed about the characters motivations and style.

I really like the idea of an XP pool. Do you ever have arguments about who gets what?

The disease thing seems like a good idea but I might just use a characters prior engagements instead. It seems a little contrived to be a plague.

I've never had issues with the XP pool, but my group plays really well with each other. I also let the players work out XP distribution for themselves. (I'll offer suggestions like "You've got enough XP to get 1 person to level 6, 3 people to level 5, or two people to lvl 5 and raise your henchman slot to 4"). At most, this results in people needing to wait 1-2 sessions before they level up with the group, or the party figuring out which member they want to level first.
This is also 4e, so no one is burning the group's XP to create magic items.


If he's missing regularly, I'd probably see if he'd be willing to take over NPC duties. Or if he's comfortable with it, the party could have a changing selection of NPC helpers who travel with the party, and when this person is able to make it, they take over the helper. You can give them a brief "this is who they are, and their motivations" and let them put their own spin on the character.
This sort of thing might not be is cup of tea, though, but it might be something to try.

I've got a player who's looking to join, but his schedule is very unpredictable, so he's been taking over the party's hench when they show up, which resulted in him playing two very different characters over two sessions. But the idea of him playing one of several characters is something that really appealed to him.

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Nap Ghost
I play with a group of five, and if someone misses then their character just sort of mutely follows along. I hand off control to one of the other players during combat so I don't have to do much rebalancing. We don't play a gritty and death-laden game (though I have killed a few of them :iamafag:) so there's an understanding that I won't try to kill their character while they're gone and the sub isn't going to put them in a position where it exposes that rule. It works out because most times the sub won't play the second character optimally, so me pulling punches against them works out about the same.

The XP pool is a neat idea, especially if your group works well together, but I just do the "level when it feels appropriate" and it's worked out well for me. We haven't felt the need to justify character reticence past that.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

I always printed out an extra character sheet for the missing character and either ran him myself or, more often, had the rest of the group run him by committee during fights, and we just assumed he'd be quietly following along at all other times. That gets harder the higher level/more complex a character is, so in the future I'm thinking, if someone can't make the game, I make a simplified version of their character keeping only their most basic stats and iconic abilities, and otherwise proceed the same way. Luckily in 4E you can easily make a companion character.

Fur20
Nov 14, 2007

すご▞い!
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね!

DarkHorse posted:

The XP pool is a neat idea, especially if your group works well together, but I just do the "level when it feels appropriate" and it's worked out well for me. We haven't felt the need to justify character reticence past that.
I'm still trying to figure out a reward system that doesn't involve XP for timed leveling instead. We usually run Pathfinder these days, how do you guys feel about minor spell like ability hand-outs? Older school Cure Minor Wounds, Magic Missile with player level as CL for a fighter, Pounce attack at will once per day, etc.? It makes it hard to balance and I probably wouldn't even bother since we're only a part-combat group, but I'm thinking it might be a nice change of pace from your vending machine "oh here's a magic item!" or Hero Point rewards.

Razorwired
Dec 7, 2008

It's about to start!
Regarding absent players: In my groups PCs tend to have obligations tied to their background. Thief has to work late this week? His childhood gang gets a message to him and he has to duck out for a few days. If you're running dry these can even function as adventure hooks for the party. If the Wizard was at a birthday party the week before maybe he sends a telepathic message at the end of the session asking the party to come save his master's study.

Regardless of the in game solve I'm not a fan of xp docking at all. If the person only misses a session or two it's pretty negligible, so why bother? If the person is gone all the time just tell him sorry but you need a regular player and he should check back when his schedule is less crazy. Best case scenario there's no reason to do it and worst case scenario you wind up trying to make combat tense for 3 level 7s while trying to not instagib a level 4.



The White Dragon posted:

I'm still trying to figure out a reward system that doesn't involve XP for timed leveling instead. We usually run Pathfinder these days, how do you guys feel about minor spell like ability hand-outs? Older school Cure Minor Wounds, Magic Missile with player level as CL for a fighter, Pounce attack at will once per day, etc.? It makes it hard to balance and I probably wouldn't even bother since we're only a part-combat group, but I'm thinking it might be a nice change of pace from your vending machine "oh here's a magic item!" or Hero Point rewards.

If you're only partial combat why not test the waters first by giving out some non combat rewards? The Rogue can now turn a strand of hair into a needle that functions as a lockpick. A Trickster spirit teaches the Bard a series of questions that will confuse someone long enough for him to just walk into a private party or out of jail. The Fighter is so famous for punching out that Storm giant that people just give him free supplies. If he travels through a town he gets an at level cast of Conjure Food.

homullus
Mar 27, 2009

The White Dragon posted:

I'm still trying to figure out a reward system that doesn't involve XP for timed leveling instead. We usually run Pathfinder these days, how do you guys feel about minor spell like ability hand-outs? Older school Cure Minor Wounds, Magic Missile with player level as CL for a fighter, Pounce attack at will once per day, etc.? It makes it hard to balance and I probably wouldn't even bother since we're only a part-combat group, but I'm thinking it might be a nice change of pace from your vending machine "oh here's a magic item!" or Hero Point rewards.

Also, magic items that slowly develop into artifacts as they accomplish various things. It need not be the same quest for the whole party.

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Nap Ghost
I did something similar in 4E by using the inherent bonus system to avoid the magic item treadmill, and gave players the option to upgrade their current weapons/items if they wanted, or else pick a wondrous item on occasion. Some of the players have developed attachments to their weapons (which is awesome) or picked neat things that enhance storytelling and roleplaying. I don't know if Pathfinder has similar rules already delineated, but it should be pretty easy to cobble something together as long as you have a good idea of what's balanced.

SafetyTrain
Nov 26, 2012

Bringing a knife to a bear fight

The White Dragon posted:

I'm still trying to figure out a reward system that doesn't involve XP for timed leveling instead.

How about non-item material rewards? Say they save a village or something like that. The guildmaster of said town rewards them with a local business or property. They get in good with a king? Said king makes them knights. They get holdings and a small amount of power in the kingdom. I usually love getting these rewards but some players don't enjoy them. I just love the idea of building my characters future.
Gifts from gods or spirits is also nice. Maybe a small stat increase, or a deeper understanding of a skill? Maybe just clarity in their future and the path they tread. On a similar line bring back important people they've helped. There are many ways of doing this, people have heard of the PCs or they get letters from the person informing them of how things have gone since the PCs last met him/her.

Arkham Angel
Jan 31, 2012

SafetyTrain posted:

Thanks for the replies, some good ideas there and confirmation that I'm not alone in disliking NPCs for a long time unless they are purely "This bloke carries your poo poo and will start a conversation for you.".

On a related note, what do people do with PCs when the player is away?

What my group does is we usually keep the PC around, but he takes a step back so to speak. Either the DM/GM or one of the other players take over the PC. I am thinking of just start to "freeze" characters when people aren't playing them. Since we let them play now but not by a player who cares or has a motivation for the character. They just run the risk of dying or something like that but won't get any character progression or XP (We usually heavily limit the XP of those PCs).

If I freeze a character it brings a little trouble in the way of party dynamics and character relationships within the group. But the PC wont die, do stupid poo poo or gain anything while the player is away. So when he comes back it's the same character he remembers.

Thoughts? Ideas?

I also support the use of having the character have other obligations. I used to alternate GMing with another person in our vampire game, and when I was running I was basically like "(Character name) has physics exams to grade this weekend, so he's told you he can't really help out much. You can go see him for input but that's about it." We've also had the DM take over absent characters.

I've very recently started a Scion game and have noticed there aren't a lot of resources available. Does anyone know some online repositories for weapon builds and mythological creatures for this game? I'm also a little worried about having ample material and avoiding railroading, especially since I'm relatively new. And with fate/Divine parents, Scion seems especially prone to railroading.

CainsDescendant
Dec 6, 2007

Human nature




Reposting this from the Eberron thread because my question fits here better:

Been running an Eberron game in 4e for some ad&d holdouts I've known for a while and they love it! (the setting AND the system!) I ran them through a simple dungeon crawl, mashing up heavily reworked encounters from the back of the dmg and eberron guide. I've set them up with a ruined castle on the border of the mournland and, due to some outside the box thinking, they have managed to grab an airship minus the bound elemental. I've got some plans for a sandbox style story, they have several contacts in the brelish military/dark lanterns advising them of developing situations to get involved in, and I have a couple of friends outside the game plotting on behalf of my villainous npcs. It promises to be a great game and I can't stop bragging on it, but I have a question.

How should I handle the renovation of their castle, along with revenues? The characters moved their families to the nearby village, and each player is working on recruiting mercenaries and the like. For the time being, I've ruled what little income they have pays their skeletal garrison and basic renovation, but they're wanting almost a light city sim between adventures at this point (i love it). How would you handle this?

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry

CainsDescendant posted:

Reposting this from the Eberron thread because my question fits here better:

Been running an Eberron game in 4e for some ad&d holdouts I've known for a while and they love it! (the setting AND the system!) I ran them through a simple dungeon crawl, mashing up heavily reworked encounters from the back of the dmg and eberron guide. I've set them up with a ruined castle on the border of the mournland and, due to some outside the box thinking, they have managed to grab an airship minus the bound elemental. I've got some plans for a sandbox style story, they have several contacts in the brelish military/dark lanterns advising them of developing situations to get involved in, and I have a couple of friends outside the game plotting on behalf of my villainous npcs. It promises to be a great game and I can't stop bragging on it, but I have a question.

How should I handle the renovation of their castle, along with revenues? The characters moved their families to the nearby village, and each player is working on recruiting mercenaries and the like. For the time being, I've ruled what little income they have pays their skeletal garrison and basic renovation, but they're wanting almost a light city sim between adventures at this point (i love it). How would you handle this?

How much do you know about Apocalypse/Dungeon World? They have some great structures for modeling settlements that are kind of setting-independent. Though Legends of Anglerre is a little more definitive in that regard, it's also tied pretty closely to FATE.

CainsDescendant
Dec 6, 2007

Human nature




Glazius posted:

How much do you know about Apocalypse/Dungeon World? They have some great structures for modeling settlements that are kind of setting-independent. Though Legends of Anglerre is a little more definitive in that regard, it's also tied pretty closely to FATE.

My only experience with Apocalypse/Dungeon World is seeing the names dropped constantly here in TG, but I haven't looked into them because I'm poor so I don't pick up new rpg's very often. My only experience with FATE is the dresden flavor, I love the source material so I've read through the rulebook a time or two.

Varjon
Oct 9, 2012

Comrades, I am discover LSD!

CainsDescendant posted:

[Castle renovation stuff]

Renovations take two things: time and money. The specifics about labor and resources and all that aren't terribly important, and don't make an exciting game. Acquiring those things is where the adventure is. The trick comes in how they get the money, and how they buy time. Sandbox games are well suited to this sort of thing when you keep in mind the maxim that if you want anything done right, you have to do it yourself. Find out what the players want to do, and tell them what's stopping them.

You're going to need a skilled mason, so the players send for the best. He's been kidnapped by kobolds or whatever and forced to make Great Leader style statues of their kobold kings. You need two tons of marble, but the baron of marbletown wants a favor first. You want to attract people to your budding village with a great festival, but first you'll need to get Maynard Shortypants & Co., and they refuse to travel by anything but the most luxurious airship...Essentially, taking their goals and telling them what obstacles lie between them and what they want.

PC employed mercenaries are a favorite too. You can work up a simple formula for "mercenary of this level that the players have invested X gold in can make Y amount of gold per session" and have it be a nice background concern. But when you need a plot hook, it's right there. A bad guy messing with their mercenaries is loving with their bread and butter.

Hope this helps.

madadric
May 18, 2008

Such a BK.

CainsDescendant posted:

My only experience with Apocalypse/Dungeon World is seeing the names dropped constantly here in TG, but I haven't looked into them because I'm poor so I don't pick up new rpg's very often. My only experience with FATE is the dresden flavor, I love the source material so I've read through the rulebook a time or two.

You can check out the free online version of the dungeon world rules totally legitimately! DW is released under a Creative Commons licence so you can use as much or as little of the rules s you like.

The whole GM section of dungeon world is gold and worth a read no matter what system you run.

Iunnrais
Jul 25, 2007

It's gaelic.
My campaign world has exactly 11 Liches, and 1 Necromancer who rules them. The 11 Liches are the 10 children of 1 woman, the Lich Empress ruling over the Lich Kings and Queens.

I have barebones descriptions and titles for the 10 kids, but since I've done so much with them, I'm not sure how to distinguish their mother as being even nastier. Here's the kids, in order from oldest to youngest:

quote:

  • Landin, appearing as a 10 year old boy with one eye socket completely empty, weeping blood
    • The Lost One, Child of Tears, He of the Red Gaze, Song's End, the Sovereign of Frozen Fire, Lord of the Ghostly Shroud, the Decrepit Dawn, Wielder of the White Staff

  • Alayna, appearing as an 11 year old girl with the skin of an ancient crone and long white hair, missing in places on her scalp
    • Queen of Terror, Flower of Fear, Whisperer to the Grave, Hag of the Yellow Cliffs, Dream Thorn, The Lady of Luck, Caller to the Abyss

  • Janelle, appearing as a 12 year old girl with completely charred and cracking skin that bleeds with her every movement
    • Bloody Elle, the Crimson Heart, the Unclean, the Defiler, Hagraven of the West, Daughter of Cracks, the Flame of Disease, Lady of Blood, Queen of Plague

  • Kendrick, appearing as a 13 year old boy with half his flesh removed; the other half looks normal
    • Blade of Panic, Lord of Lies, the Mists of Malus, the Black Wind

  • Reina, appearing as a 14 year old girl with eyes and mouth stitched closed, a hole where the nose would be, and body completely covered in scars
    • Queen of Knives, the Sightless, the Voiceless, the Wandering Hag, Witch of the Circle Mountains, She of the White Path, Mistress of the Skywand

  • Malachi, appearing as a 15 year old boy with a hole where his face would be, leaving just the inside of the back of his skull to look at you
    • The Hollow Man, King of the Broken Crown, Lord of Emptiness, Merciless Master, the Cruel One, Bringer of Echoes

  • Finley, appearing as a bald 16 year old boy with whithered flesh, no tongue, no eyes, and sagging skin that lacks any meat between it and his bones
    • The Seventh Word, The Stripped Storm, Shard of Palantis, Thief of the Rising Sun, Namer of Ages, Serpent of the Sky's Reflection

  • Kelanus, appearing as a 17 year old man missing a fourth of his skull, with insects living where his brain would be
    • Lord of Worms, King of Halves, Famine Lord, Voidlock, Fatigue of Fate, Legacy of Dust

  • Marisol, appearing as a beautiful 18 year old woman from the front, but completely skeletal from the rear
    • The Glass Queen, The Tarnished Mirror, Argent Abnegation, the Lonely Solipsist, She Who Walks Dreaming

  • Adriana, appearing as a 19 year old woman completely covered in a black veil
    • The Unseen Witch, Lady Ironhand, Widow of Suppuration, the Loathly Veil

  • Khalid, appearing as a 20 year old man with shards of bone extruding from his skin
    • The Finger of Death, Reaper of All, Whitestare, Veskbane, the Last

Any ideas?

Inexplicable Humblebrag
Sep 20, 2003

Why is the firstborn kid "The Last"?

Anyway make her a demilich bound to a heart or something that animates and dwells within bodies as and when she wishes.

Iunnrais
Jul 25, 2007

It's gaelic.
They were dectuplets, a "blessing" of the Goddess of Life that killed her in the process. Then the God of Death (Vesk) saw these kids infused with divine life from the goddess, and killed them one year at a time. So the youngest looking is the oldest as a lich. The oldest looking is the last one that died.

A Demilich... hrm. The trouble is it's tricky making a floating, talking skull ominous without really building it up and depersonalizing it, and even then, I think the demilich in Tomb of Horrors is only scary because of stats and numbers. There needs to be a way to make her story and personality impressive, and then add on the mechanics that make her scary in the system as well.

Emmideer
Oct 20, 2011

Lovely night, no?
Grimey Drawer
Why are the kids evil?

Iunnrais
Jul 25, 2007

It's gaelic.
Because they, in turn, are under the thrall of The Necromancer, who is evil because of story.

The Necromancer, having discovered the source of negative energy which even the gods cannot access in this campaign, decides he wants to be the supreme being of the universe, and has developed a ritual spell to aid him in this whose material casting component is not only the entire prime universe, but all alternate parallel prime universes as well.

The father of the children created a prophecy that would enable them to be reclaimed from the land of the dead, and the necromancer utilized the prophecy in order to gain lich servants.

It also helps that the children, and mother both, have a singleminded hatred of the gods, for arguably justifiable reasons, and even if they weren't serving the Necromancer, would want to destroy all life in order to starve the gods of worship so that they could then kill all the gods. To them, anything that has the capability of worship, must die.

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:

Iunnrais posted:

My campaign world has exactly 11 Liches, and 1 Necromancer who rules them. The 11 Liches are the 10 children of 1 woman, the Lich Empress ruling over the Lich Kings and Queens.

I have barebones descriptions and titles for the 10 kids, but since I've done so much with them, I'm not sure how to distinguish their mother as being even nastier. Here's the kids, in order from oldest to youngest:


Any ideas?

There are a lot of metrics for nastier/scarier. More vengeful? More oppressive? Show that she has no morals, the horrible fates that befall her enemies. Maybe some/all her kids have undead guardian(s), who are the reanimated corpses of the others who have tried to stop her or otherwise displeased her. Or do you just want to her look scarier?

Jon Joe posted:

Why are the kids evil?

All kids are evil.

Iunnrais
Jul 25, 2007

It's gaelic.

Guesticles posted:

There are a lot of metrics for nastier/scarier. More vengeful? More oppressive? Show that she has no morals, the horrible fates that befall her enemies. Maybe some/all her kids have undead guardian(s), who are the reanimated corpses of the others who have tried to stop her or otherwise displeased her. Or do you just want to her look scarier?

This is the trouble I'm running into. Because these are the tricks I want to use in order to make the kids scary. Kendrick, for instance, has a modus operendi of walking into a town, and then everyone in it slaughters each other without him lifting a finger, and then he raises their corpses as skeletons.

So I'm trying for something that differentiates them from her.

Not necessarily, look scarier, but FEEL scarier. If it helps, the PCs are epic level now, hence dealing with world-ending entities.

PoptartsNinja
May 9, 2008

He is still almost definitely not a spy


Soiled Meat

Iunnrais posted:

A Demilich... hrm. The trouble is it's tricky making a floating, talking skull ominous without really building it up and depersonalizing it, and even then, I think the demilich in Tomb of Horrors is only scary because of stats and numbers. There needs to be a way to make her story and personality impressive, and then add on the mechanics that make her scary in the system as well.

Make the mother a ghost, but not just any Ghost; the fragments of an enraged entity cursed to die by the Goddess of Life and cursed to NOT die by the God of Death. Establish her first as a force of nature, and don't show her motives to the players. Perhaps she even appears helpful at times, but whenever she appears she should always start by stare at them with those eyes who's irises swirl like a hurricane into a darkness more empty than the characters can describe.

Make her an alien entity, denied both life and death, that wants to cease existing and sees the quickest way of achieving that goal as making everything cease to exist (quickest in that either someone will stop her for good, or she will succeed). A creature completely apathetic to her own eventual fate.

The 'fragment' thing lets parts of her be defeated, lets her appear in multiple places at once, and otherwise lets her stay around as a recurring bad guy. It also lets her keep pace with the party's power as strong or weak fragments are discovered and they're never quite sure where they stand.

Iunnrais
Jul 25, 2007

It's gaelic.
The Necromancer's territory HAS been established as inviolate, with no teleports in or out, and cannot even be accessed via planar travel through the shadow, etherial, or astral planes. And the last time an army of epic warriors invaded the Necromancer's territory, they lost all their powers. She could be the manifestation of the interdiction.

The old Akalich concept might fit here (Akaliches go beyond demiliches... demiliches have lost most of their bodies, akaliches have lost all physical components).

The players have crash landed in the middle of Necromancer territory, and are going to have to excape. They'll meet the lich kids, and the kids will all be talking to mommy, and they'll see ghostly visages in the wind, watching them...

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:

Iunnrais posted:

This is the trouble I'm running into. Because these are the tricks I want to use in order to make the kids scary. Kendrick, for instance, has a modus operendi of walking into a town, and then everyone in it slaughters each other without him lifting a finger, and then he raises their corpses as skeletons.

So I'm trying for something that differentiates them from her.

Not necessarily, look scarier, but FEEL scarier. If it helps, the PCs are epic level now, hence dealing with world-ending entities.

You don't say how you're making the kids scary other than appearance, so that leaves tossing out things and hoping you've not thought of them yet as the only option available.

Tailor her to the fears of your group. Think of past encounters that have really given your group a rough time, and try to tie into those. For example, I've got my group paranoid of Gelatinous Cubes and 10x10ft alcoves.

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Nap Ghost

CainsDescendant posted:

How should I handle the renovation of their castle, along with revenues? The characters moved their families to the nearby village, and each player is working on recruiting mercenaries and the like. For the time being, I've ruled what little income they have pays their skeletal garrison and basic renovation, but they're wanting almost a light city sim between adventures at this point (i love it). How would you handle this?
Wizards came out with a thing for 4E called Strongholds that can give you some guidance, too, at least some numbers to serve as a starting point.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/drfe/201101bases

Razorwired
Dec 7, 2008

It's about to start!
In regards to the Necromancer quesstion. Don't demiliches usually replace a number of body parts with soul gems that replace the phylactery? If that's the case and your group hasn't killed any of the children yet why not have a body part of each kid be replaced by one of the gems? When you bloody or greviously injure one of the liches(depending on system) the part of their body that was replaced goes flying off, maybe even making an attack as it departs. Then later reveal that the mother is worse than the children because she had her hand in all of it. Desecrating towns, burning down churches, raising armies, all her.

CainsDescendant
Dec 6, 2007

Human nature




DarkHorse posted:

Wizards came out with a thing for 4E called Strongholds that can give you some guidance, too, at least some numbers to serve as a starting point.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/drfe/201101bases

This is exactly what I was looking for, a realized system that I can cannibalize for my own nefarious purposes. Thanks! I also got some solid advice and a link to dungeon world, overall I'd rate this thread a 5 for helpfulness!

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









Make her sweet, and loving, and kind.

Then twist that.

madadric
May 18, 2008

Such a BK.
What if her body is constructed from the bones and dead flesh of the entire land or nation or continent? Have her currently confined, but if she were freed, her undead body would be as late as a mountain. Have her children fear this, be ause if she is freed, then all of their thrills and even they themselves will be subsumed into her gargantuan mass.

Guesticles
Dec 21, 2009

I AM CURRENTLY JACKING OFF TO PICTURES OF MUTILATED FEMALE CORPSES, IT'S ALL VERY DEEP AND SOPHISTICATED BUT IT'S JUST TOO FUCKING HIGHBROW FOR YOU NON-MISOGYNISTS TO UNDERSTAND

:siren:P.S. STILL COMPLETELY DEVOID OF MERIT:siren:
I've got a 4E question. Does anyone have any experience running a combat-like encounter without using a map?

Basically, the party is going to a ball hosted by the Queen of the City (or someone who claims to be her, at least). They're going to be told they can't attend unless they are properly dressed, so they'll be sent, with some (powerful) servants to the ruined villa of a noble family to get some proper attire. While there, the party will encounter some pissed off ghosts, which should be no trouble for the party & their escorts; the battle will be a complete cake walk for the party. This trip is so the party knows the locations of these ruins, and to give them information to advance the plot/give them a reason to visit them again later.

4E combat is very crunchy and very long, but this a fight the party is mean to just curb-stomp their way through very quickly. In 3.5, I'd have done the fight with narration only. I've not tried this in 4, and am not sure how well that would work.

In the absence of better ideas, I'm thinking about running this as a very free-form skill challenge, but I'm not sure how to work in things like non-basical melee at wills and encounters/dailies (not that the party should need them).

Edit: VVVV They are level 8 and the minions are about 1-3; I'm really debating even having them roll for attacks. The only high level monster is the ghost of the patriach of the noble house, who basically no longer gives a poo poo about clothes, and tells the party to take what they want an then leave. And even if the party attacks him, he's far too full of ennui to deal with their crap today and will just walk float away.

Guesticles fucked around with this message at 20:27 on Jan 16, 2013

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My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

If the monsters are minions - which is the best way to guarantee a cake-walk battle - you'll probably do fine. Either an attack hits or it doesn't and if it hits he's gone and if not, probably nothing else happens, either.

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