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bloodyhellman
Here for a while
(2/21/03 3:00 pm)
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Temple alliances
I went through the book quickly and I got:
main gate force - no allies
western gate - fire and air are allies
Air temple - western gate is ally
fire temple - air ally
east bridge - earth allies, distrust fire
water temple - no allies
northern bridge - hostile to water and fire
4earth fire enemy - east ally
I am thinking as my PC's are pretty tough and numerous so it would make sense that one or two of the temples to join forces to attack them. Anyone tried this? Think I'm being too mean?
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Trithereon
Here to stay
(2/21/03 10:51 pm)
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Re: Temple alliances
I say feel free to modify the adventure to meet the needs of your group: to make it more fun, more deadly, more challenging, less challenging ... whatever it takes.
I'd just keep in mind that the initial attack on the CRM by your PCs will likely to be perceived by the survivors and nearby CRM forces to be fostered by rival CRM forces. That is, intertemple wars have been responsible for the complete decimation of rival temples in the past (see the notes for the Earth Temple area).
My players had a habit of using the battle cry, "Greetings from the Fire Temple!" when attacking the Air and Earth Temples and as a result any survivors reported the attacks as originating from the Fire Temple. Hedrack knows better now, but in the beginning it was a cause for much confusion on who was doing what.
Just remember keep it fun!
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Siobharek 
Still here? Wow.
(2/22/03 2:24 am)
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Re: Temple alliances
I'm with Trithereon on the keep it fun-message. However, if you make the factions unite, you might end up having a monolithic evil which cannot be exploited and deceived, in short, interacted with apart from making attack rolls.
Once my players found out that there was a rivalry between the Water and Fire Temples, as well as finding out that the Trogs were a relatively new addition because of the prior destruction of the Earth Temple, they thought of th whole setup as more alien, more mysterious, and therefore more enjoyable. It was a puzzle and a roleplaying challenge as well as a tactical challenge.
If your PCs are too high level for parts of the module, I'd advice you to follow every tactical advice on the board in order to make each fight harder. That way, your PCs will be challenged without earning too much xp, eventually bringing them in line with the adventure.
Or you can boost. My boosted encounters are here. Just beware that unless you then also begin giving fixed (or ad hoc) xp per session, your party will spiral out of control.
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
Caedrel
Here for a while
(2/22/03 11:42 pm)
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Re: Temple alliances
Do you think the rival temples would destroy the altars? The altars power the elemental swords and would seem to me to be "out of bounds" in any intra-temple conflict - although the Water Temple does make that assault on the platform that the special EEE altar is located on in the Fire Temple... (which went ahead IMC, but it's a pretty big gamble - Nilbool has to make some 50/50 caster level checks to activate both of his scrolls)...
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bloodyhellman
Here for a while
(2/23/03 7:13 am)
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Re: Temple alliances
I don't think they'd go so far as destroying eachother's altars myself. The conflicts are supposed to not very often extend to all out warfare with water attacking fire being an exception.
I see their conflicts as more intrigue and indirect.
So they may withhold or give faulty information to eachother.
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Abelard
Still here? Wow.
(2/24/03 2:33 pm)
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Re: Temple alliances
IMC, the party wiped out the Air Temple, then after a tangle with D'Gran, left for a few weeks. D'Gran recruited trogs from the Earth Temple to set up a new "Air" Temple, giving them the Air keys he'd liberated from the PC's.
When the PC's returned, they wiped out the reconstituted Air Temple, and, much more importantly from D'Gran's point of view, interfered with the melon shipment. So I had D'Gran smash the Air altar in a rage (not when the PC's were around). It seemed in character for him.
I guess my point is, anything can happen in the CRM... it's up to you. Open warfare is certainly a possibility (though not the only one!), and many EEE clerics and other CRM personalities are not necessarily going to act rationally about things like destroying the altars.
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Eltern
Here for a while
(2/24/03 2:58 pm)
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Hmmm
Now a few dozen threads back I talked of the water temple completley taking over the earth temple and main gate area (after the PCs decimated it), and the hivemind seemed to think that with the destruction of a temple, the outer fane would replace it, like with the trogs in the Earth Temple.
But now it seems there can be complete hostile takeovers?
Eltern
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Siobharek
Still here? Wow.
(2/24/03 11:54 pm)
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Re: Hmmm
Personally, I'd consider the trogs too earth-bound to be able to revere Air. YMMV.
Personally, I'd look to the respective elements' bridges, so that they might send a skeleton crew to man the temples. Within, say, 2d4+2 weeks, Hedrack will have found replacem,ents. In his article about elemental temples in Dragon, Monte suggests that there might be elemental cults in a lot of places.
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
Trithereon
Here to stay
(2/25/03 5:11 am)
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Re: Hmmm
IMO, I don't see Hedrack allowing any single elemental temple dominating the CRM. Intertemple wars have in the past resulted in the complete destruction of a temple (see Earth Temple notes) but it was reconstructed with recruitment help from Hedrack. Obviously, sometimes altars are destroyed during these intertemple wars (see the Water Temple's tactics) but find no precedence in the adventure for one elemental temple to take over another elemental temple. The rivalry is encouraged by the doomdreamers but they want all four elemental temples in the CRM.
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Abelard
Still here? Wow.
(2/25/03 11:47 am)
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Re: Hmmm
"Personally, I'd consider the trogs too earth-bound to be able to revere Air. YMMV."
Just to clarify, IMC the replacement trogs didn't really revere Air. D'Gran just set them up there to guard the gate, and they sort of played dress-up to look like Air forces.
"IMO, I don't see Hedrack allowing any single elemental temple dominating the CRM"
I agree... but that begs the question, how does Hedrack prevent it? Direct intervention seems unlikely.
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bloodyhellman
Here for a while
(2/25/03 12:25 pm)
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Re: Hmmm
Seems to me that when any individual gains a high level of power they are promoted to the Outer or Inner Fane. That would correct if there was one temple more powerful I'd say. How much would it hurt the temple of say fire if their High Priestess up and left? It also seems that this is a very real goal of the priests, to be a Doomdreamer someday.
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 Infiniti2000
Here quite a while
(2/25/03 3:11 pm)
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ezSupporter
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Re: Hmmm
"I agree... but that begs the question, how does Hedrack prevent it? Direct intervention seems unlikely."
I also agree. I think Hedrack tries indirect methods to balance the temple and in some cases direct methods. The case in point is the letter to Terrenygit. There might be others.
With that said, unless the Champion has been found, Hedrack will begin preparations to refill and rebuild the temple. He will not concern himself with ensuring its safety, although I don't think other temples will immediately kill off any new temple personnel, though they will undoubtedly try to curry favor right away.
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