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Siobharek A resident (7/25/02 5:41 am) Reply	Re: My DM Mantra 1 I think that with respect to the ore carts the important part is for them to be fun. Therefore, if you know that there are many PCs who want to ride the carts, either make them bigger or change the decsription so that there are more carts, thereby forcing them to split up. If they insist on squeezing themselves into one cart, give them an effective Dex 3 for being unable to move freely. 2 I thought the same lever worked as the pump and the brake. There's a smaller lever protruding from the main lever handle. Youy squeeze the handle (looks like the front brake on a bike) to break the cart. That also has the advantage of placing cart control in the hands of one man - good if you're a lone miner, bad if you're a party and you lever operator has been held 3 Give the Identifying wizard a Spellcraft check (sugg.: DC20) during casting to discover that there's more to the sword than just the +2. Hope it helps Siobharek Denmark ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Zenon A resident (7/25/02 9:51 am) Reply	Re: My DM Mantra Yeah, the carts are there to be fun, so whatever changes you make to them so it fits your group will work (Shame my players are so paranoid they never have used them). I usually give Identify a boost by letting it pick up the main power (in the case of the sword of earth it is +2), but also it indicates if there's more enchantments on it. It never tells how many, just that there's more. Sword of Earth: +2 greatsword, but there's something more... +2 Greatsword, Holy, Flaming Dragon-Bane: +2 greatsword, but there's something more... My players knew there was more because the Swordmaster blasted the Barbarian with the rock shards, but once they got it they couldn't remember what he said to make it work. I had the swords activation words be the phrase from the temple, so the Swordmaster said in draconic "Earth crushes the weak!" (I think that was the phrase). I'm going to have the other Temple's weapons be like that also using the phrase from their own temple. I also decided it didn't matter what language it was spoken in.
Siobharek A resident (7/25/02 11:03 am) Reply	Re: My DM Mantra Woot! Great idea! That's a good way of introducing the phrases. Brilliant! Siobharek Denmark ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
DM Dan76 A resident (7/30/02 5:14 am) Reply	Re: More Questions...... Last night my players started their assult on the earth temple. A few question came up that I couldn't answer. They were; a) The Xorn's tremorsense ability. I assume this allows the xorn to feel the vibrations through the ground of any being walking. The groups ranger snuck into the temple invisible, and silenced. Since vibration is a sonic source, would silence negate the tremoresense? b) There are a few spells that the wording has thrown me for a loop. For example.....under range it states 60'. Under effect it states 60' burst. Does this mean that you can target the spell up to 60' away and then it bursts, or is it just a 60' burst, and the range indicates the burst radius. How about when the description states 60' burst centered on caster. I would assume then it must be centered on the caster and the range of the burst is 60'. The spell in question is recitation, from DotF. I bumped Uskathoth up a level and he now has 4th level spells. Recitation is one of my players favorite spells, so I figured whats good for the PC's is good for the DM. c) The identify spell. The PC's got their hands on the sword of earth. They cast Identify, and I told them that it was a +2 weapon......with more. Does the caster need to cast identify again, or can she just use the remaining attempts of the spell (1 item per level) to try that sword again and find the next ability? Or does that spell not even do the job? Do they need a higher level spell to give the rest of the information? It just seems a little easy to cast identify, use all 5 (5th caster level) attempts on that sword and come out with all the info, and the activation word as well. I'm just not clear on it. Thanks for the help! Edited by: DM Dan76 at: 7/30/02 5:15:53 am
Siobharek A resident (7/30/02 5:28 am) Reply	Re: More Questions...... A I'd say that silence is not an insurance vs. the tremorsense ability B Haven't got a clue. Sorry With respect to recitation, it works like prayer, so that's 60' out from the cleric. C They'll need Analyze Dweomer to get the blast power. Unless they heard the Swordmaster shout the command word (provided you use it with a command word). Then they could experiment. Siobharek Denmark ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Zenon A resident (7/30/02 6:43 am) Reply	Re: More Questions...... *Quote:* From the SRD: Tremorsense (Ex): Xorns can automatically sense the location of anything within 60 feet that is in contact with the ground. So I don't see that invisible and silence would help, he's still in contact with the ground. Now, if he were flying.... I believe that the next section (b) you have correct. Siobharek is correct. Analyze Dweomer is a 6th level spell that basically tells you everything about an item, including command words, etc. Multiple castings of Identify would not reveal anything else about one of the Temple swords other than the + of the weapon, same as they got the first time.
DM Dan76 Gaming Master (8/1/02 9:42 am) Reply	Re: A few questions..... Alright, I need some suggestions here. My group has previously killed Tal and bunt down his store. The town was really pissed off at them, untill they donated a large sum of money to the town to help re-build the store. An NPC friend that they had in town (Hothgar, a carvan leader who brought them to Rastor), took some of their loot and went to Verbobonc to sell it, and also to find a merchant who would be interested in setting up shop in Rastor. So now what I'm trying to figure out is how to logically get a merchant to come to Rastor. Here are a few things I thought of. 1 - The cult sets up another merchant in town. 2 - A prospecting merchant comes to the area in hopes that the dwarves will re-open the mines. O.K., so that's all I have so far. I really would like some ideas on how to set up another merchant in town. He doesn't even have to be connected with the cult, although I'd probably make him so. I need to think of a good reason for why anyone would want to come to rastor and set up shop. The place is a s#*t hole. What would lure a merchant to come here. My group will be suspicious of him so I need it to be a good reason as to why he left wherever and came here. I was thinking along the lines that he was a merchant from Verbobonc who has heard from Hothgar that some old dwarven mines were being cleared out and that he thought there was a good chance to make some money if the dwarves re-opened the mines. He would have connections in Verbobonc who he could then sell alot of the goods to. This would enable him to be able to purchase some of the more expensive goods that the PC's bring down, maybe even minor magic items. This would enable the group to be able to sell more of their loot in rastor and not have to travel back to Verbobonc. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Hajia Gaming Lord (8/1/02 5:27 pm) Reply	Merchant in Rastor These are just off the top of my head, but maybe you can use them as a base to build on: 1) A merchant from Verbobonc gets caught in one shady deal too many and has to leave town quickly before the guard picks him up. He arrives in Rastor with everything his wagon/caravan could carry and sets up a temporary shop, figuring that this is the last place any of his several unsatisfied customers would think to look for him. 2) A rare merchant with Orcish blood (quarter-orc, or maybe even eighth just to make it believable that she could actually succeed in trade) hears about Rastor as a village where humans in Orcs actually trade peacefully. She figures that with her background she would make the ideal go-between between the village and the Orcs, and she likes the idea of helping out her orcish cousins a little. She also likes the idea of skimming a nice percentage off every trade, of course. 3) A dwarven merchant/miner from a successful clan stumbles across mention of the mines, and decides to investigate the area to see what would be involved in reopening the works. He's more there to scout than trade, but he's always willing to make a good deal. Hope these help, or at least spark a better idea for you. Haj
Siobharek Gaming Master (8/1/02 11:12 pm) Reply	Re: Merchant in Rastor They offed Tal Chammish and sorta know he was thick with the cult, right? If another merchant comes along and is also a cult member it might detract from the mines because the players might feel obliged to go to Verbobonc and root out the network there. Actually, I think that the non-cult related ideas presented so far are quite good (ie, I'm going to steal one of them ), because they broaden the adventure beyond the threat of Big T. Siobharek Denmark ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
DM Dan76 A mysterious stranger (8/2/02 4:51 am) Reply	Re: Merchant in Rastor Ya I think I will stick with a non-cult merchant this time. The last thing I need is for this group to be side tracked, and the do side track oh, so easily. Thanks for the ideas. I think that I'll go with the shady merchant theme, who got the boot from Verbobonc. I will still give her some unknown connections, just so she is able to deal in higher priced items. The last thing I need is for my group to take a trip to Verbobonc. They are just underway into the mines and I'd like to keep them on a roll. As always, you have all been helpful. Thanks. Oh, ya one other thing that popped into my mind. The group discovered a book in room 234. It states that this book written in dark draconic lettering regards the worship of the EEE and even a fair bit of history regarding the ToEE. What exactly would be in this book? Has anyone out there writen up a player handout that I could "borrow"? I'm horrible at writing up stuff like that, and any ideas would be really helpful. Thanks again.
Thrommel A mysterious stranger (8/2/02 5:16 am) Reply	Re: Handouts When do you need it? I have a couple of handouts that could be adapted for this - both a 'Book of The Dark Eye' with Temple History and a Elder Elemental Eye rant that's a bit more vague. I wasn't planning on releasing this stuff until after Gen Con tho. So you'd have to wait 10 days or so. If you need it before that let me know and I'll drop a post here. -Thrommel, who loves him some handouts, hoo son.
Siobharek A local, who knew the truth (8/2/02 5:47 am) Reply	Re: Handouts Area 234? If that's anywhere near the Earth Temple, I'd really appreciate seeing them, Thrommel. My group's set to go there next time (Aug 11th). TIA - and MAN I'm failing at being envious at you guys!!! Say hi to Monte from me. Siobharek Denmark ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
DM Dan76 A mysterious stranger (8/3/02 12:04 pm) Reply	Re: Handouts Well that would be great Thrommel. Our next session will be on Aug 12th. I'm not sure if that is before or after Gen Con. I would really appreciate it if I could use your info. Everything you write here is gold, so I'm sure what you have will be great.
Thrommel A mysterious stranger (8/4/02 8:27 pm) Reply	Re: Handouts Ok you dogs, while I should have been revising the stats for the party in my Gen Con event, I converted some notes to PDF. You can download them at my site: www.alba-ker.com/urodia/c...tentid=106 Note that I made some changes to the order in which my two parties assaulted the CRM, so you'll find there are some inconsistencies from the module as written. (Stuff like D'Gran being commander of the Main Gate, and Eeridik getting attacked before Tessimon, etc.) I'll be posting a more detailed explanation/analysis later, but this should give you more than enough to work with. Enjoy. -Thrommel, who doesn't want to hear any complaints about the font being unreadable - no one said Hedrack had good handwriting.
DM Dan76 A mysterious stranger (8/19/02 7:03 am) Reply	Re: A few questions..... A quick question about the Xorn in the earth temple. reading through it's special abilities, it says that it can travel through the earth as if swimming through water (or something like that). Now my question is, can it use this ability to travel up the wall and onto the ceiling? A few of my characters have spider climb boots and will be sitting up on the ceiling. If the Xorn can travel through the earth, why can't it travel around so that it comes out through the ceiling? Would that defy the laws of gravity or something? Thanks for the help.
Arackthabar A mysterious stranger (8/19/02 7:53 am) Reply ezSupporter	Re: A few questions..... It could certainly do that. It might be a bid odd for it to fight upside down, but as long as it stays anchored in the ceiling it could attack. I would LOVE to be there to see your PCs' faces when the xorn comes out of the rock to attack one of them on the ceiling! Rob
DM Dan76 A wanderer (8/29/02 9:56 am) Reply	Identify nd the lesser keys... What would an identify spell tell the players about the lesser keys? They wiped out hte earth temple last game, and cast detect magic on everything. The keys would come up as magical, right? So then they identify everything. I wasn't sure what to tell them about the keys, so since it was the end of the night, I told them I'd get the info to them for next week. Thanks for the help!
Siobharek A survivor (8/29/02 11:07 am) Reply	Re: Identify nd the lesser keys... I'll tell you what I told my group: "This is part of the means to enter the Earth Door". It's true, it's useful, but I don't think it gives too much away. Looking forward to hear what the rest of teh hivemind thinks. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Trithereon A wanderer (8/29/02 6:18 pm) Reply	Re: A few questions..... Identify determines the single most basic function of the item. The single most basic function of a lesser key is to open locked areas within their corresponding temple. However, I accidentally called it a "lesser key of [element]" thus implying that there could be such a thing as a greater key. It only took a little experimentation to for them to create a greater key, but since the greater key only stays together for a short time they have never been able to cast identify on a greater key.
DM Dan76 A local, not looking for any trouble (9/17/02 1:19 pm) Reply	Re: How should I deal with this... Last night my group assulted the dire apes that are just past the earth temple. Knowing that they would be a peice of cake, and being ticked off that they easily wiped out the bridge complex, I made these Feindish Dire Apes. I thought they would be really tough, and they were for the most part, untill the druids brown bear realised that it could grapple things. That bear was the death of those apes. Once grappled, the bear would just hold on till the PC's killed off whatever it was sitting on. Now I don't want to punish my player for a good idea. In fact, if he didn't do that the advanced feindish dire ape would have killed the whole party (SR 25, DR 10/+3!). Anyway, the player who used this tactic is the kind of guy who will now do that move at every single encounter. Hey it works, so lets do it all the time, right? Maybe I'm playing the improved grapple all wrong here. Can the bear attempt a grapple if he hits with a claw/bite attack even if he moved that round, or does it have to be a full round attack for it to work? Can a creature use natural attacks (bite) while being grappled or does he still have to win the grapple check before he can attempt it? Another question came up regarding dispel magic and supernatural and spell like abilities. I am not at all clear on how it works, and after reading the spell discription I'm still not clear. Does the spell dispell damage reduction and spell resistance? If so, that's a pretty powerful ability. Thanks for the help.