Energy drain and aging

ENERGY DRAIN: Lose average HP (2/3/4/5) and 1 spell of highest spell level and take a -1 penalty to hit and saves. If drained to level 0, in coma until save vs death magic is made. Save after first night of rest, then after a week, then after a month, then after a another month, and so on, and so on. Energy Drain can also be removed by Restoration or by a ritual. The ritual however can easily kill the person that you try to cure.

Every time a energy draining creature hits you, it gains +1 to hit, +1 damage, +5 hit points per level drained.

AGING: Age until next category. If you die of old age, you are in a coma. Save vs death magic after a night's rest, after a week, a month and then after another month, etc, etc. Just like energy drain, there is a dangerous ritual that can revert the effects.

Standard age -> middle age (-1 str/con) -> old age (-2 str/dex, -1 con) -> venerable (-1 str/dex/con) -> coma

 

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15th session: The castle in the woods

7th moon, 28th day, year 4553

After killing the mercs and the ogres, the brothers explored the towers and the barn. In the barn they found several items indicating that a giant lived there. This made them somewhat more cautious, but they pressed on. As they were about to enter the main building, they suddenly heard something large approaching. It turned out to be a hill giant, but about 4 wellplaced darknesses leveled the fight, and the giant went down quickly.

With the giant dead, the T'orghs turned their attention back to the main building, which they found to be barred, from the outside. Entering the building, they found another door which was barred. Leaving that, they explored the other parts of the fort, finding a throne-room, a weapons chamber and a lot of bedrooms, but nothing interesting except signs of battle.

Going through the barred door, they went down to the cellar. Going north, they found a halfling in a cell, who was afraid of undeads. He begged the brothers to bring him along, but they refused. Moving further down the corridor, they ended up in a torture chamber with quite a few bodies. Ukerin wanted a hand, unfortunately the bodies turned out to be ghouls. Battle started and soon two brothers were laying on the floor, paralyzed by the foul touch of the undead. Glazmar managed to finish the battle by commanding all the ghouls into one of the empty cells. Unfortunately for him, the halfling had left his cell and ambushed him as he was locking up the door, and the halfling was no halfling, but instead a wight. Glazmar was struck twice getting his lifeforced drained before it was killed.

After a short break, the T'orghs moved on, and found a huge library with tombs. As they entered, a voice rang out of the darkness. Leave my books alone. Tagar ignored the warning, and was swiftly attack by a ghost. The battle was long and hard, moving from the library and back to the stairs up, going on both in the mortal world and in the Underworld (Nalfein changed to wraithform). The ghost was mostly possessing Tagar, but also trying to drain the years of the other brothers. Ukerin was struggling to make a ritual that could banish the ghost, when Glazmar had the idea to run back to the library and use detect magic to find the book it might be protecting and then destroying it. Although he didn't manage to finish the task before the ghost had made him a very old dark elf.

At this point, the dark elves decided to take a small break and get some sleep. They went back upstairs and Tawri animated some mercs as skeletons to guard the area, should anything come out from the depths.

7th moon, 29th day, year 4553

The next morning, the brothers went back down. The only room left was a huge temple, with a crap-ton of skeletons and monster zombies, which were re-enacting a dark ritual over and over again. After some fireball and lightningball tossing as well as some commanding, all the undead were destroyed.

 

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Rod, staff and wands

Wands usually comes with 7 charges. Whenever a wand reaches 0 charges, roll 1d20. On a critical failure (a 1) the wand crumbles to dust/doesnt work anymore. Otherwise, each day at dawn, a wand recharges 1d6+1 charges.

Wand of Fire: As DMG, except:
Burning Hands, 1 charge
Pyrotechnics, 1 charge
Fireball, 3 charges
Wall of Fire, 5 charges

Wand of Lightning: As DMG, except
Shock, 1 charge
Lightning Bolt, 3 charges

More on House rules

We decided last night:

• Sleep needed in order to recover spells need not to be consecutive. Meaning, you can sleep for 4 hours, take a 2 hour guard duty, then sleep for another 4 hours and then memorize.
• We will be implementing the new skills system, I suggested in an earlier post. So please try to update your character. It's very easy.
• Regarding energy drain and similar attacks, I have gotten some feedback, and I know now how I will run it. How will be a surprise. ;)
• When a character dies, his player can meta-choose an item that he takes with him to the grave for sure. The group then picks one item they can keep. The rest of the characters items poofs (are buried, never to be retrieved). A character's spellbook counts for an item.
• I thought about levitating, and it's kinda lame. From now on, you can levitate at the rate of 20' (4 squares) as a move action (and still attack/cast spells etc). If you do nothing but levitate, you can move 40' (8 squares) up or down.
• From now on, you can only use your dark elf specialities once per day per ability. So at first level, you can cast darkness 1/d, Faerie Fire 1/d and dancing lights 1/d.

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14th session: New brothers...

7th moon, 18th day, year 4553

After three days of celebrating the defeat of House Tuin, High Priest Venar of House T'orgh summons all nobles to the immense temple of Asmodeus in the T'orgh Palace. There he praises the Lord of Light for giving them this victory, and introduces 4 new members of House Torgh, adopted sons of House Tuin, as custom dictactes. The four new sons are Cardazz, a high priest, Roxaz, a priest, Tawri, a young priest/wizard (BC) and Bilos, a necromancer of indeterminable age.

 

As the others leave, Nalfein and Tagar stay behind and are instructed to take care of Tawri and Bilos, who are to replace the two brothers they recently lost.

 

With that done, the new T'orgh "strike-team" are instructed to head north, to Castle Verax, an old abandoned castle near the Darkswamp. They are to clear it of any monsters and bandits, then return to Menzo.

 

7th moon, 20th day, year 4553

After traveling for the better part of the day, the T'orghs are awaken during sleep, when a swarm of stirges attack them. A Web spell from Tawri and a Stinking Cloud from Bilos later, the stirges are all but dead and the brothers can return to sleep.

 

7th moon, 23rd day, year 4553

During the night, Nalfein suddenly hears a loud crash nearby. With everybody soon awake, the brothers go investigate, and find a 300 feet long golden dragon, sound asleep in the forest. Nalfein identifies the dragon as Mararexvutar, the greatest gold dragon alive on Era. He usually lives further south, flying around over the Great Plains of Nala, but apparently, he is not there at the moment. The brothers prudently decide to leave Mararexvutar alone and move their camp some miles away.

 

The next morning, Nalfein summons a bird and sends message to Father.

 

7th moon, 24th day, year 4553

During Nalfeins watch, the brothers are surrounded by 8 ogres, led by an ogre named Gorax. Not the least intimidated by the fact that they are dark elves, the ogres demand that the brothers surrender and hand over their weapons. A short but bloody fight later, the ogres are dead, and the T'orgs a little gold richer.

 

7th moon, 28th day, year 4553

The brothers arrive at Castle Verax, a large castle-fort, with 4 towers, a tall wall, a big port and a central building. Tawri goes scouting, and tells of one human and one ogre roasting a wild boar outside one of the towers.

 

The T'orghs wait for nightfall, then sneak up to the castle and Tawri drags the others over the edge so that they can levitate down on their enemies. Battle starts, and while Bilos' Stinking Cloud takes out several foes for a while, the remaining ones are joined by a mage and some more mercenaries. The battle goes back and forth, and just as Bilos and his trusted side-kick "Jeffrey" goes down to a hasted mercenary, the other mage is killed by Nalfein. The two more ogres join the fight, but now the brothers are somewhat in control and Tagar and Nalfein quickly dispense of them.

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Silent Forest Map

Silent Forest

 

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Asmodeus

Below is an overview of Asmodeus, the only god of the dark elves of Era.

 

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Darkness and other dark elf powers

Seems to me that the whole dark elf campaign was a good idea. So far, it's been fun. I do however think that all those innate powers are way too much. Now, I am all for preserving the dark elf feel, but maybe we can tone it down a little. Combats tend to be long and boring if all main enemies are blinded, all the time.

So instead, I suggest we should change to a more sane setup.

1st level: Cast darkness, faerie fire and dancing lights all 1/day

5th level: Levitate, know alignment and detect magic, all 1/day

6th level, IF INT 16 or higher, then use inate spell and cast normal spell (or two innate abilities at the same time)

7th level, clerics, priests and wizards gain clairvoyance, detect lie, know aligment and dispel magic, all 1/day.

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13th session: Two deaths and the destruction of House Tuin

7th moon, 11th day, year 4553

After talking with R'azz, the brothers learn that cousin Ry'jak, a failed cleric turned fighter has been acting suspiciously and meeting in secreet with noble sons of other Houses. The T'orghs decide that he probably is the spy and set new plans in motion in order to get a confirmation thereof. Talking to their father, High Priest Venar, they are allowed to sacrifize 600 sets of weapon (stolen from the orcs) and armor to flush out the spy. They get the weapons and the armors moved to an old warehouse.

7th moon, 12th day, year 4553

Disguised as orcs (using change self), Nalfein and Glazmar pull a fast one on cousin, and make him think that those weapons are meant for a sizable mercenary force coming to bolster the T'orgh forces. Then they hang back and wait for him to make his move.

7th moon, 13th day, year 4553

A couple of hours after midnight, Ry'jak leaves the palace and heads down to Scumtown. The 5 brothers follow him under the cover of invisibility and darkness, and when he enters the Red Devil, an Inn of ill repute, Glazmar and Ukerin follow. There he meets with Crantyk, the elderboy of House Xiltyn and tells him of the weapons. Crantyk pays him, and leaves, and Ry'jak goes back to the palace as well.

The brothers quickly return to the palace and tell Father, what they have learned. He is pleased, but informs them that the spy will have to wait. House Tuin will most likely soon attack, and he has a job for his sons.

As you all know, one doesn't have to destroy another house to destroy them. Provoking them to attack and repelling them, is more than enough. House Tuin will come at us with all that they have, and we will stop them. Your older brothers and I will defend us all against the concerted magical assault they will launch. Meanwhile, you will sneak out and take out 3 of their spellcasters to ensure a stallmate. Once rebuffed they will either leave and be destroyed by the other houses or risk a head on assault on the palace with all the defences intact. At this point, it will just be a matter of how the House of Tuin dies.

The spellcasters will be spread out in the area surrounding our palace, in a pattern to enhance their magical assault. Probably on rooftops, in appartments or other places out of sight. They will probably be protected by some sort of guards or traps. In order to find them, you need to use locate object to find this pendant, which all spellcasters of House Tuin wear. All of their most powerful spellcasters will be at the center of the pattern, so if you find a place with multiple pendants, move on to another.

He then hands them 3 scrolls of Locate Object and the Tuin Pendant.

7th moon, 15th day, year 4553

After waiting around a couple of days, things finally pick up pace, and the Tuin family and army make their move. As soon as the attack start, Nalfein is alerted by his uncle, and the brothers move out and start magically tracking down spellcasters.

They find the first in a courtyard, surrounded by dark elf guards and an ogre. A long battle starts, with darkness spells flying left and right. Raheem is held by the cleric's magic and so is Glazmar. In the end, the a repeated barrage of lightning bolts kill the cleric while Tagar and Nalfein deal with the ogre and the dark elves.

The brothers recoup their breath and move on to the next target, which turns out to be on a rooftop nearby. The T'orghs all levitate up, but fail to surprise the wizard standing up there. He quickly launches a fireball, knocking both Raheem and Ukerin unconscious, which causes them to plummel to the ground and die. Meanwhile, Glazram manages to land a hold person on the wizard, and as Tagar is about to cut his throat, they find out that the mage is protected by stoneskin and that he has a pet troll which was hiding. The battle continues, but blinded by the dark elf magic, the regenerating beast is no match for the dark elf brothers, and they manage to beat their way through the stoneskin and the troll before the hold person spell expires.

There is no time for mourning, and the 3 brothers left standing move on to the last target, which they find in an apartment. They levitate up and surprise two wizards who have occupied a goblin place. The fight is swift and brutal, but the 3 brothers walk away from it relatively unharmed.

They return to Father, who is very very pleased. They have done honor to House T'orgh, and he offers to ressurect Ukerin while he declares that Raheem is not fit to live. Unfortunately is is not either the will of Asmodeus that Ukerin lives (failed ress check with 1% on a 98). So just 3 days after his birthday, Ukerin is no more.

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Proficiencies -> Skills

So, speaking of skills, here is my suggestion to change them.

You roll d20 + stat - 10 vs target numbers. So for example, if you have an 16 int, you roll d20 + 6 int bonus vs a target number when you attempt to appraise something.

If the skill is a general skill or a class skill, you get a +2 bonus to your rolls for that skill.

Cross-class skills still cost one extra slot.

You still get the same amount of skills as you get NWP's. Except as follows:

Rogues get Sleight of Hand, Open Locks, Remove Traps, Stealth, Listen, Climb and Decipher Script for free. Rogues also get a +4 bonus to those skills instead of the normal +2 bonus.

Bards get Climb, Listen, Sleight of Hands, Decipher Script for free

Rangers get Stealth and Tracking for free. Rangers also get a +4 bonus to Track.

Below is the list. I tried to keep almost all the old options, even the infinitely stupid ones that we never use, just in case. The blue ones are old ones that changed a bit, due to the nature of switch from proficiencies to skills. The red ones are new ones, sorta. While I was at it, I added the thief skills, since the percentile skills are silly and suck. Should make the thief better.

Otherwise, the skill do pretty much what the proficiencies used to do. Except that the target numbers are less arbitrary and random. Instead the target numbers are as follows:

Basic: DC 5
Average: DC 10
Superior: DC 15
Exceptional: DC 20
Legendary: DC 25

Hitting exceptional or Legendary DC's when less is required usually has it's benefits :)

GENERAL
Agriculture (int)
Animal Handling (wis)
Artistic Ability (wis)
Blacksmithing (str)
Brewing (int)
Carpentry (str)
Cobbling (dex)
Cooking (int)
Dancing (dex)
Direction Sense (wis)
Etiquette (cha)
Firebuilding (wis)
Fishing (wis)
Heraldry (int)
Languages, Modern (int)
Leatherworking (int)
Lore, Local (int) - Knowledge of the inner workings of a town, a city
Mining (wis)
Pottery (dex)
Riding, Airborne (wis)
Riding, Landbased (wis)
Rope Use (dex)
Seamanship (dex)
Seamstress/Tailor (dex)
Singing (cha)
Stonemasonry (str)
Swimming (str) - Penalty to check depending on armor**
Weather Sense (wis)
Weaving (int)

PRIEST
Ancient History (int)
Astrology (int)
Dark Arts (int) - Knowledge of demonology, exorcisms and dark magic in general
Diplomacy (cha) - Replaces Etiquette. Also covers knowing what to say.
Engineering (int)
Healing (wis)
Herbalism (int)
Languages, Ancient (int)
Local History (cha)
Musical Instrument (dex)
Reading/writing (int)
Religion (wis)
Spellcraft (int)

ROGUE
Ancient History (int)
Appraising (int)
Blind-fighting (N/A)
Climbing (str) - Climb stuff. +4 bonus if rogue. Penalty to check depending on armor*
Diplomacy (cha) - Replaces Etiquette. Also covers knowing what to say.
Decipher Script (int) - Discern context of languages that he doesn't speak/read. +4 bonus if rogue
Disguise (cha)
Find Traps (int) - Spotting traps. +4 bonus if rogue
Forgery (dex)
Gaming (cha)
Gathering Information (cha) - Uncovering unknown information and/or secrets.
Geography (int) - Intimate knowledge of an area's geography.
Gem Cutting (dex)
Juggling (dex)
Jumping (str)
Listen (wis) - Hearing stuff. +4 bonus if rogue
Local History (cha)
Musical Instrument (cha)
Open Locks (dex) - Opening locked locks. +4 bonus if rogue
Reading Lips (int)
Remove Traps (int) - Disabling a trap. +4 bonus if rogue. Penalty to check****
Set Snares (dex)
Sleight of Hand (dex) - Picking pockets and the like. +4 bonus if rogue. Penalty on check****
Stealth (dex) - Ability to move silently while hiding. +4 bonus if rogue. Penalty on check*****
Tightrope Walking (dex)
Tumbling (dex)
Ventriloquism (int)

WARRIOR
Animal Lore (int)
Armorer (int)
Blind-fighting (N/A)
Bowyer/Fletcher (dex)
Charioteering (dex)
Endurance (con)
Gaming (cha)
Geography (int) - Intimate knowledge of an area's geography.
Hunting (wis)
Mountaineering (N/A) - Penalty to check depending on armor***
Navigation (int)
Running (con)
Set Snares (dex)
Survival (int)
Tracking (wis) - +4 if ranger
Weaponsmithing (int)

WIZARD
Ancient History (int)
Astrology (int)
Dark Arts (int) - Knowledge of demonology, exorcisms and dark magic in general
Engineering (int)
Gem Cutting (dex)
Geography (int) - Intimate knowledge of an area's geography.
Herbalism (int)
Languages, Ancient (int)
Navigation (int)
Reading/writing (int)
Religion (wis)
Spellcraft (int)


*: Penalty = Base AC of armor worn - 2. So chain mail (AC 5) gives a -3 penalty.
**: Penalty = Base AC of armor worn + 2. So chain mail (AC 5) gives a -7 penalty.
***: Penalty = Base AC of armor worn -3. So chain mail (AC 5) gives a -2 penalty.
****: Penalty = Base AC of armor worn -2. So chain mail (AC 5) gives a -3 penalty.
*****: Penalty = Base AC of armor worn -3. So chain mail (AC 5) gives a -2 penalty.

Energy Drain

Possible House rules

I would like to tweak Energy Drain attacks. They tend to ruin characters and campaigns and while fun for about 10 seconds, when players are scared, they only lead to less fun overall. Below are 11 suggestion as to how we can deal with that type of attack in our 2e campaigns. Look them over and we will talk about it on Tuesday.

 

• Lost xp is regained at double the normal rate
• Saving throw at the end of the day/week to avoid level loss
• Levels return after a period of time (day/week)
• Restoration is lower level spell with no drawbacks
• Character doesn't actually lose level, gains "negative level" instead. Each negative level gives a -1 penalty to all die rolls.
• Religious ritual to restore level with sacrifice of magic item.
• Con loss instead of level loss (Permanent)
• XP loss (X% of what needed for next level)
• Lost level/con/xp or negative level restored when creature which did the draining is killed.
• Replace energy drain with hit point damage that can only be cured by natural healing.
• Energy drain affects HD first.

Not matter which we choose, I think I will give those undead that drain a little bonus. Perhaps in the form of +1 to hit and +2d6 temp hit points per drained level. You know, to balance things out ;) - But that's an altogether different matter.

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Casting spells from scrolls

The following is not a house rule, but since we had trouble finding it the other day...

 

When casting a (higher level) spell from a scroll, the chance of failure is


(Minimum caster level needed to cast spell - character level) * 5%

So for example, if you are 5th level and try to cast a 7th level spell.

(15 (min. level needed to cast 7th level spells) - 5) *5% = 50% chance of failure

If a failure happens, consult overview below

Caster level difference = 1-3 -> 95% chance of total failure; 5% of reverse or harmful effect

Caster level difference = 4-6 -> 85% chance of total failure; 15% of reverse or harmful effect


Caster level difference = 7-9 -> 75% chance of total failure; 25% of reverse or harmful effect


Caster level difference = 10-12 -> 65% chance of total failure; 35% of reverse or harmful effect


Caster level difference = 13-15 -> 50% chance of total failure; 50% of reverse or harmful effect


Caster level difference = 16+ -> 30% chance of total failure; 70% of reverse or harmful effect

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12th session: Starting a war...

7th moon, 5th day, year 4553
The T'orgh brothers, who had learned that Zirgox had a lover outside the palace, decided to stake out her place.

7th moon, 6th day, year 4553
As it begins to get dark, they see Zirgox entering the building of his lover. The brothers wait a bit, following him up to the 4th floor, and cloaked in Silence, they break down the door and rampage through the apartment, looking for Zirgox. They find him soon enough, almost ready, as he has been warned by a magical alarm on the door. The fight is short, but interrupted when Zirgox leaps out of the window, Feather Fall'ing down in a courtyard, where he ends up dying to the magic and weapons of the T'orghs.

After killing him, Raheem hires some nearby goblins to carry the body to his House. The lover, called Rowena, is left alive.

7th moon, 7th day, year 4553
After a good night's sleep, the brothers decide to work on the spy. First target is their older brother, Zel'kar. They tell him that father has charged them to head to a remote cemetery tonight, to question a creature from another world, that only appears on nights of the full moon. The "ghost" might have valuable information about the power of the Scrolls of Asmodeus. They ask for advice to deal with such a creature, and for a blessing. Zel'kar offers them good advice and Asmodeus' blessing.

As night falls, the T'orghs are hiding at the cemetery. Zel'kar arrives, and calls for Nalfein. He says he is here to help, but they quickly come to blows. As the battle starts, Zelkar calls on an elemental that appears behind Raheem. Just as Zel'kar is killed by Tagar, the elemental completely bashes in the skull of Raheem, killing him outright.

Devastated (??) by the loss of their brother, they return home to father, to tell the news. They convince him to raise Raheem back from the dead.

7th moon, 8th day, year 4553
While Raheem rests, the others search Zel'kar's chambers for clues. No proof of him being a spy is found, just proof of his obsession with the scrolls and an intense hatred towards the brothers, due to some notion of them being preferred by father.

They also stop by the ID-mage, to figure out what the ring is. Ukerin actually managed to ID several other items, but failed the maul - again.

7th moon, 9th day, year 4553
The next day, another mark. This time it is Razz. They tell him to find a secure spot outside the walls of Menzo, where a trade involving the Oracle will go down.

7th moon, 10th day, year 4553
The next day, they head out, accompanied by Razz, carrying a fake Oracle in a barrel. Once there, they tell Razz to leave, and wait for him to return with his friends from another House.

7th moon, 11th day, year 4553
 Nothing happened, so the brothers return.



Note:
ID-mage has no Fly, no Haste
Ukerin failed Leomund's and Suggestion