Into the Chokesverse: Let's Play SSI Gold Box Forgotten Realms

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Into the Chokesverse: Let's Play SSI Gold Box Forgotten Realms

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Those Gnolls don't look much like Hyena Men.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2019 06:28

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# ¿ May 8, 2024 14:45

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

It's kind of weird they are using Bane as the god here. He's normally a more human focused god, and is the lawful evil god of tyranny.

Also it's kind of funny to see his holy symbols going up over the place, given that he eventually becomes the state god of the region these games take place in.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2019 19:49

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Huh I did not know the Gold Box events and aftermath went into the official lore.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2019 21:54

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

So checking the tiers of the most notable AD&D humanoid to giant enemies it goes like this after checking the Monster Manual.

Kobold 1-4 hp, Goblin 1-7 hp, Orc 1 hd, Hobgoblin 1+1 hd, Gnoll 2 hd, Lizardfolk 2 +1 hd, Bugbear 3+1 hd, Ogre 4+1 hd, Troll 6+6 HD. As you can see Trolls are are a pretty big jump even discounting their regen. And their 5-8/5-8/2-12 attack routine is also a massive jump, A normal Ogre has only one attack that does 1-10 damage.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2019 12:32

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

achtungnight posted:

(most tabletop low level parties I know blink at 70 goblins)

Well the numbers appearing puts Goblins at 40d10. And 70 is on the low end for that.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2019 13:59

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Zeroisanumber posted:

One of my first boss monsters from my first ever attempt at running a dnd game was an ogre who got a taste for troll meat and ate so much of it that he gained regeneration, but always had a lot of disgusting growths and tumors. If you did more than 10 points of damage to him in melee you had to save vs poison or be grossed out and wretching for two rounds.

Vrdak the Gluttonous owned, and I still roll him out for low-level parties to this day.

Reminds me of a recent monster from current D&D the Frost Giant Everlasting one. A Frost Giant turned to worship of Vaprak the Destroyer, the God of Trolls and Ogres. If they take an interest after he sends visions and dreams, he sends a troll to meet with the Frost Giant, who is told to devour the whole troll. (Something that can be potentially fatal if it starts regenerating inside you, and is difficult as the troll will keep regenerating as you take pieces off to eat.) Success results in the Frost Giant gaining increased strength and troll regeneration. However if the giant fails to keep paying respect to Vaprak in a timely or proper manner the regeneration becomes faulty. Resulting in growths, vestigial body parts, and even extra heads. Which means the frost giant has to leave it's tribe or be killed as worshiping Vaprak is a no go in their society.

Trolls also get a cool little story about Vaprak namely about how he relates to regeneration and death.

quote:

Among trolls, Vaprak is believed to devour those on the brink of death, but only if the troll is already cooked or digested (slain by fire or acid). Otherwise, the god spits the soul back into the world to regenerate a new body, no matter how little of its previous form remained. Thus, only trolls slain by acid or fire remain dead, because only those are consumed by Vaprak.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2019 22:02

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

AtomikKrab posted:

That's pretty metal. And the troll just stands there and lets the giant eat it?

Yeah when Vaprak wins one of the giants over, a troll is sent on a sacred quest to meet with the giant in secret and offer itself to be eaten.

And this thing is solely so the giant can cheat in their ranking system. Frost Giants value strength above all other qualities and all Frost Giants are ranked by how strong they are. But they don't like things like magic and Vaprak that arifically makes you stronger.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2019 05:45

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

TitanG posted:

So, uh
trolls are literally fantasy roids with built in DRM
I would expect Shadowrun to go there, not D&D

Heightened aggression and anger are even stated as being of the side effects of becoming an everlasting one.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2019 09:09

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

I am almost amazed at how terrifying AD&D undead were.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2019 08:33

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

TheGreatEvilKing posted:

Did undead not get level drain immunity in 1e D&D?

I don't think anything got immunity to it. (Though I think in the case of monsters them getting hit by it was hit die reduction)

# ¿ Nov 13, 2019 19:57

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

PurpleXVI posted:

4E made the big mistake of not tossing out 3E, and basically everything bad about 4E is 3E leftovers, like the fundamentally lovely system and the hideous splat bloat they inherited.

5E insists that 4E was a mistake and just rehashes 3E with minor rebalancing, and is thus the least inspiring and interesting of all the editions.

Honestly 5e does not really feel like 3e at all to me. So I largely disagree with this premise.

# ¿ Nov 26, 2019 22:53

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Commander Keene posted:

Oh, right, Brass (IIRC) dragons do that. I tend to forget about them.

Well they are good dragons. So they tend not to be fought too often.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2020 20:28

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Commander Keene posted:

They're also one of the most boring of the good dragons. Like this is all 3e dragons, but Copper dragons tell dad jokes and play pranks on you if you don't laugh. They also live in deserts and like to eat spiders and scorpions because they think the venom sharpens their wits. Gold dragons love gems as snacks and have an innate spell that lets them know if you have any. Silver dragons can walk on clouds. Why can they walk on clouds? So they can have cool cloud castles, that's why!

In comparison, Brass dragons are just "the chatty ones", because they love to talk.

According to lore I recently read about them they can be really annoying with the chattiness.

MM posted:

Boldly Talkative. A brass dragon engages in conversations with thousands of creatures throughout its long life, accumulating useful information which it will gladly share for gifts of treasure. If an intelligent creature tries to leave a brass dragon�s presence without engaging in conversation, the dragon follows it. If the creature attempts to escape by magic or force, the dragon might respond with a fit of pique, using its sleep gas to incapacitate the creature. When it wakes, the creature finds itself pinned to the ground by giant claws or buried up to its neck in the sand while the dragon�s thirst for small talk is slaked.

A brass dragon is trusting of creatures that appear to enjoy conversation as much as it does, but is smart enough to know when it is being manipulated. When that happens, the dragon often responds in kind, treating a bout of mutual trickery as a game.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2020 01:31

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Anias posted:

Steel are Lawful Evil it seems, oh well.

You sure I read on it, and it says they are neutral tending towards good.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2020 03:04

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Apparently they like to do a lot of things differently than other Dragons.

FR Wiki posted:

Steel dragons, as a rule, were amiable, curious, and witty. They would rather spend their time among human cultures than in their own true forms, and so are rarely seen in their natural form, instead living clandestine lives in human cities, observing art, culture, history, and politics.

However, they had difficulty when dealing with all kinds of absolute authority, even authority that was used for good. This put steel dragons at odds with other kinds of metallic dragons that used their power and experience to justify their actions, specially bronze dragons and gold dragons; this also made them bitter enemies of chromatic dragons. For those same reasons, steel dragons usually worked within their chosen communities to promote freedom and undermine authoritarian forces.

Steel dragons liked the company of humans, elves, half-elves and dwarves, and they usually supported adventurers that opposed tyrants.

They preferred to invest in property and business unlike other dragons, who preferred to hoard monetary treasures. Some steel dragons did hoard items, but they preferred to hoard works of art, antiquities, books, finery, magic items or servants.

MonsterEnvy fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Feb 1, 2020

# ¿ Feb 1, 2020 19:22

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

I thought he was possessing a Bronze Dragon. Brass breath fire.

Looking up the Wiki on the Tyranthraxus he is apparently a weak example of his kind whether that is subjugated god or Daemon.

# ¿ Apr 2, 2020 05:37

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

I thought Black Dragon Breath Weapon was a line. Of course I am not too familar with 1e.

# ¿ May 3, 2020 21:27

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

achtungnight posted:

We talked plenty about Fzoul Chembryl last update. I'm pretty sure his death here is non-canon to official Realms history or at least not permanent. I think he died really easy too, considering his level and position in the Banite Church. Ah well, we all can score badly on our saving throws.

Yeah I was kind of shocked they just killed Fzoul like that. He is known to be kind of a big deal. I know in universe he dies years later, but he is raised as an extarch of Bane after that. (Pretty much he got made into a Demigod.)

Heck Greenwood and some others just released a D&D source book about the Zhentarim, and Fzoul is featured very prominently there as a Demigod, Chosen of Bane and founding Zhentarim member. His statblock there was the type of one for a final boss of a campaign.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2020 00:52

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Just checked the module this is based on. You actually meet Fzoul before the Beholder, who attacks in an ambush while you are meeting with him. Fzoul says he will remove the bonds if you deal with the Beholder then teleports away. In fact checking the section of the Module Fzoul is more of an ally to the party then villain.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2020 01:00

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Truthkeeper posted:

I think Fzoul is just using more words than necessary to bitch about lawful good. We've all been there.

MonsterEnvy stole my usual schtick of talking about the differences between the module and the game, so I'll just expand on what he said. In the module there were three different factions fighting each other here, with two separate groups of priests (Fzoul's faction and a separate faction headed by a dude named Ginali, who hired the Beholder) and the Zhentarim mercenaries all out for each other's blood.

Also, Fzoul heals you and removes any curses on you after you get brought to him, with the exception of the bonds themselves, unless you robbed the temple vault, in which case he demands his money back before removing the curse you got from it. Then he starts experimenting to see if he can get bonded party members to kill each other, and then casually asks you to come to his lab so he can examine the bonds in better detail and then later kill that pesky inquisitor who's after his job, like he didn't totally just try to have you killed by your allies.

There's being too evil to understand right and wrong, and then there's complete and utter failure to understand basic human interaction.

I thought from my glancethrouh he just tried to have you murder one of his random minions in the room.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2020 18:41

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# ¿ May 8, 2024 14:45

MonsterEnvy: Feb 4, 2012; Shocked I tell you

Should not the Anti Magic from the beholders turn off the dust. Or do they not have it in this game.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2020 21:06

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Into the Chokesverse: Let's Play SSI Gold Box Forgotten Realms