@Duesal, we need to also account for Tiamat fiat since she's very invested in him and FAegon success, so we might get some kind of false positives.
Very true. :/ We need to bring Yss another big sacrifice so he can get strong enough to hold his own against other gods. And I wish we could have a cleric of the Merling King soon.

In any case, let's have Dany fire a Divination at the situation in general?

That aside, thank god we have at least two of those Greater Ribbons already crafted. Those make this mission a hell of a lot easier.
 
[X] Rhaella: The Protector: Dancing(BaB +5 or matching the bearer whichever is better) ???

Been reading the quest mainly for the story and I feel that giving mom the sword makes for a better narrative.

While she might not be optimized for combat, previous chaps have shown that enemy agency is a thing and that Sorcerer Deep could be attacked when Viserys and co are out adventuring. Having a permanent non-obvious bodyguard sounds like a good idea for her especially since storywise, her revival was a key part of Viserys' early motivation.

I would also point out that Viserys knows of his mom's abusive relationship with Aerys, and the idea of his mom having a permanent loyal bodyguard should appeal to him (by which I mean that although something similar is impossible now, emotions are still emotions)

Lastly, I'm not to familiar with D&D mechanics, but the " Dancing " link states that the wielder can release the weapon to fight on its own. So if mom becomes a mage, cant she release it to guard her while she casts? With the bonus fighter feats providing temp boosts in melee combat so that she can either survive to run/ buy time till the others get here.

Frankly, right now giving Rhaella the sword feels like a chance to give her " Need " from the Valdemar series, offloading all the melee aspects so that the mage can focus on casting

Need was an enchanted sword that conferred varying benefits upon her wielder. If her wielder was a swordswoman, Need rendered her virtually immune to magic, as best demonstrated on the rare occasions Kethry's partner, Tarma, took Need up. If, however, Need's wielder were a mage, Need would magically grant enhanced sword-skill to the wielder, enabling her to hold off multiple competent swordsmen. In the rare instance that Need's current wielder was neither a mage or a swordswoman, Need would confer both abilities to her

And considering that it is sentient, isn't there a chance that she can bind it as a familiar if she becomes a Mage class?
 
Eh, fuck it, seems that the only sensible option isn't going to win... :V
[X] Viserys: The Sorcerer Spell Combat(As Magus class feature) ???

Anyway, after looking at schedule... I'm confused. Are Lya, Danny and Malarys going to deal with dracolich without our direct orders in a way that suits the thread' wants? Because I'm kind of very afraid of Dany deciding to actually compromise with the thing after they find it's phylactery.
 
Must... resist... urge... to build... computer...

You know that building a computer with that amazing material would be awesome, and I don't think that a magi-computer exists in d&d, and just think how much it will help Viserys and Alinor with their empire building!
It would very much be in line with your interests to do so, and I have no doubt your insights have been valuable.
Well, I know what you prefer. :V

But more seriously, my main concern there is a protracted bullying campaign from the thing designed to drive her into submission (and alienate her a much as possible). Arranging so she can have positive social interactions when the chain isn't around will do a lot to undercut any action there.

Didn't think of that. I was expecting sutble impulses pushing her towards violence and taking oppertunities to kill things thay don't need killing (and therefore miss out on diplo oppertunities).

Edit: I am also unsure what the plan is in the dracolich bit... I mean, do what?

I know what I hope for, but I don't think it is a popular idea, and involves a lot of unknowns.

Edit edit: The simple solution would be to make her an adamantium thinblade +1/2 or a vs longsword for the diplo bonus to shut her parents up.
 
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Anyway, after looking at schedule... I'm confused. Are Lya, Danny and Malarys going to deal with dracolich without our direct orders in a way that suits the thread' wants? Because I'm kind of very afraid of Dany deciding to actually compromise with the thing after they find it's phylactery.
:facepalm:

Damn it, that's a hell of a bad oversight.

I'm hoping Malarys can act in our best interest there. Dany always becomes unreliable when left unsupervised with these sorts of things.
 

Big difference, when we do it, it's a positve teaching moment, a bit messy, but for their benefit.

When anyone else does it, it's a terrible act! Like Lex Luthor stealing baked goods.

@Duesal huh. That's concerning, I suppose the options are to edit the turn plan, share what our hoped for outcomes are beforehand with the party, or hope someone else who worked on the plan beforehand has something in mind.

Edit:

[X] TotallyNotEvil
 
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Anyway, after looking at schedule... I'm confused. Are Lya, Danny and Malarys going to deal with dracolich without our direct orders in a way that suits the thread' wants? Because I'm kind of very afraid of Dany deciding to actually compromise with the thing after they find it's phylactery.

They're just finding the thing, or figuring out how to find it, or some other option than 1) Never use the tower to it's potential 2) release the thing on the shadowplane, only to return to cause us more problems 3) sacrifice a rare dragon egg to it so it's rebirthed into the world or something.

I'm hoping for some sort of "here's a ritual that would force it and it's soul jar thingy that Dio can't ever remember the spelling of into the Prime Material where we can kill it, and smash it, respectively."

With Lya and Malarys there, and after our talk about what she did with the doomblob, Dany wont do anything too impulsive.

\
Didn't think of that. I was expecting sutble impulses pushing her towards violence and taking oppertunities to kill things thay don't need killing (and therefore miss out on diplo oppertunities).

I'm always more wary of subtle evil with LE and NE. If it was a CE chain, then I'd expect the "just kill it!" cheerleader.
 
So, I hadn't bothered voting because I thought the correct option was obvious to everyone and was going to win easily. I mean come on people.

[X] Viserys: The Sorcerer Spell Combat(As Magus class feature) ???
 
They're just finding the thing, or figuring out how to find it, or some other option than 1) Never use the tower to it's potential 2) release the thing on the shadowplane, only to return to cause us more problems 3) sacrifice a rare dragon egg to it so it's rebirthed into the world or something.

I'm hoping for some sort of "here's a ritual that would force it and it's soul jar thingy that Dio can't ever remember the spelling of into the Prime Material where we can kill it, and smash it, respectively."

With Lya and Malarys there, and after our talk about what she did with the doomblob, Dany wont do anything too impulsive.



I'm always more wary of subtle evil with LE and NE. If it was a CE chain, then I'd expect the "just kill it!" cheerleader.

Glyra's Demonblade comes to mind with regard to CE, but thematically, a CE version of the cute murder-puppy chain does seem like it would be excitable. :)
 
@Duesal huh. That's concerning, I suppose the options are to edit the turn plan, share what our hoped for outcomes are beforehand with the party, or hope someone else who worked on the plan beforehand has something in mind.
@BeepSmile, yeah, this is what I was thinking we could do to salvage it. Just have a minor action to have a few hours to meet with everyone who's going to be working on the dracolich, and brief them on what outcomes are completely unacceptable and what would be considered a victory for us. Hell, we can even use the meeting as an excuse to let them give us a heads up on what they expect IC.
 
By the way, @Mormont, what do you think of hunting Efreeti whalers in their flying interplanar ships and getting paid to do it? ;)
In order:
  1. Hunting slavers is something we've always done so why not continue now that we've found ones with better loot?
  2. Flying ships, sounds like a start to air superiority for out army without party presence (Currently only other Moonsong)
  3. Get paid to do what we would do anyway, yes please!
  4. Did I mention the loot?
  5. Efreeti can even potentially be forced into granting a wish (though that could turn out really badly for us)
  6. Loot please!
That about cover it for you? I actually am really liking the idea of a flying whaler actually. They tend to be a wider style of ship so it would unfortunately make a larger target, but would allow for more scorpions, archers, mages to be placed on board. I'm basically envisioning a flying artillery piece that can also act as a bomber. Plus, for non-military uses, it'd help to transport more villages to the Stepstones whole sale.

We can add some to Saltcliff, put one at Daemon's Folly once its declared clean, or more on the major islands not near a significant settlement like on Deepcleft. I still maintain that we should settle some of the emptier islands and provide a water source the same as at Saltcliff. Doing that makes all the other islands as useable land, and some of the empty ones are pretty good sized.
 
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In order:
  1. Hunting slavers is something we've always done so why not continue now that we've found ones with better loot
  2. Flying ships, sounds like a start to air superiority for out army without party presence (Currently only other Moonsong)
  3. Get paid to do what we would do anyway, yes please
  4. Did I mention the loot?
  5. Efreeti can even potentially be forced into granting a wish (though that could turn out really badly for us)
  6. Loot please!
That about cover it for you? I actually am really liking the idea of a flying whaler actually. They tend to be a wider style of ship so it would unfortunately make a larger target, but would allow for more scorpions, archers, mages to be placed on board. I'm basically envisioning a flying artillery piece that can also act as a bomber. Plus, for non-military uses, it'd help to transport more villages to the Stepstones whole sale.

We can add some to Saltcliff, put one at Daemon's Folly once its declared clean, or more on the major islands not near a significant settlement like on Deepcleft. I still maintain that we should settle some of the emptier islands and provide a water source the same as at Saltcliff. Doing that makes all the other islands as useable land, and some of the empty ones are pretty good sized.
The gist of it is that we already know that the Efreeti nobility are fond of going whaling in the Plane of Fire and chasing after Fire Whales like Baella, and that they use these nifty interplanar flying ships to do so. Well, now we're approaching war with the Brazen Throne (according to the Shaitan they're not fully aware of the extent of our enemity with them, they still think the worst thing we did was defy the Bey of Beggars).

So the way we could potentially get paid is, after a few successful missions for the Shaitan against the City of Brass, we suggest that we could also take out high-value targets by ambushing them as they go whaling and steal their ships in the process. Might work, might not, but it's worth a shot, especially if some efreeti who the Shaitan really want dead happen to be whaling in the near future.

Even if we don't get paid, I kind of want to go after a ship anyway, just so we can have it for Lya to study and replicate in the future.
 
@Duesal sounds like a good plan to me. Any thoughts on the sidetracked rant I had about expanding the population in the Stepstones?
That about cover it for you? I actually am really liking the idea of a flying whaler actually. They tend to be a wider style of ship so it would unfortunately make a larger target, but would allow for more scorpions, archers, mages to be placed on board. I'm basically envisioning a flying artillery piece that can also act as a bomber. Plus, for non-military uses, it'd help to transport more villages to the Stepstones whole sale.

We can add some to Saltcliff, put one at Daemon's Folly once its declared clean, or more on the major islands not near a significant settlement like on Deepcleft. I still maintain that we should settle some of the emptier islands and provide a water source the same as at Saltcliff. Doing that makes all the other islands as useable land, and some of the empty ones are pretty good sized.
That's actually one thing we don't need to worry about at all. People come to the Kingdom in the Stepstones in droves. We offer free magical healing, and word has gotten around. Our enemies are trying to overwhelm us with the poor and the desperate, but with magic we can easily provide for them and make them loyal through our generosity. :D

The plan was once we have a solid foundation in Sorcerer's Deep and after we consolidate our conquests in Tyrosh, we start reseeding the other islands in the Stepstones with people more loyal to us and more invested in the success of our kingdom than the usual.

Flying ships in general would be incredible, and I'd love to have several dozen for the royal navy and our personal trade fleet (and of course selling a few of them to important allies like the Fairwinds and Uthero), but that's more of an hight-to-epic-level dream than anything. For now we've just got to plan on getting our first one.
 
@Mormont I did want to pick your brain a bit about ironclads. We don't have screw propulsion, but if we magically move the ship a steam (equivalent) paddle frigate is still an amazing increase in capability. With magical propulsion (via construct paddles), that'd eliminate the need for coal bunkers, and with no sails or smokestack or boiler, that'd vastly decrease the needed crew, freeing up room for supplies or passengers, and make it quite difficult to spot.

I was thinking something similar to the HMS Birkenhead, with no masts, and maybe a covering similar to the korean turtle ships (since boarding and archery is still such a big part of naval warfare), though with some ability to board other ships. Is that somewhat on the right track, or am I missing something important?
 
@Mormont I did want to pick your brain a bit about ironclads. We don't have screw propulsion, but if we magically move the ship a steam (equivalent) paddle frigate is still an amazing increase in capability. With magical propulsion (via construct paddles), that'd eliminate the need for coal bunkers, and with no sails or smokestack or boiler, that'd vastly decrease the needed crew, freeing up room for supplies or passengers, and make it quite difficult to spot.

I was thinking something similar to the HMS Birkenhead, with no masts, and maybe a covering similar to the korean turtle ships (since boarding and archery is still such a big part of naval warfare), though with some ability to board other ships. Is that somewhat on the right track, or am I missing something important?
Expanding on this, @Mormont, we were thinking about purchasing copper en mass in the Plane of Earth and using most of it for infrastructure with waterworks and sewage, but the rest of it for giving the ships in our royal navy a copper-plated hull. You're the resident ship expert here. How much of a benefit would there be to that and how do we go about it properly?
 
@Mormont I did want to pick your brain a bit about ironclads. We don't have screw propulsion, but if we magically move the ship a steam (equivalent) paddle frigate is still an amazing increase in capability. With magical propulsion (via construct paddles), that'd eliminate the need for coal bunkers, and with no sails or smokestack or boiler, that'd vastly decrease the needed crew, freeing up room for supplies or passengers, and make it quite difficult to spot.

I was thinking something similar to the HMS Birkenhead, with no masts, and maybe a covering similar to the korean turtle ships (since boarding and archery is still such a big part of naval warfare), though with some ability to board other ships. Is that somewhat on the right track, or am I missing something important?

With magic involved, we should just skip the paddle wheels entirely and go with huge flippers and a functional tail. We could make it either a full on Construct or the flippers and tail could be Animated Objects controlled by the captain.

My personal preference is a Colossal-sized Construct vessel capable of traveling on the surface of the water and beneath it. At that point, it would be expensive, but feasible to give it a slow flight speed, too.
 
We're already having a population explosion. I don't think we need to go out of our way there.

That's actually one thing we don't need to worry about at all. People come to the Kingdom in the Stepstones in droves. We offer free magical healing, and word has gotten around. Our enemies are trying to overwhelm us with the poor and the desperate, but with magic we can easily provide for them and make them loyal through our generosity. :D

The plan was once we have a solid foundation in Sorcerer's Deep and after we consolidate our conquests in Tyrosh, we start reseeding the other islands in the Stepstones with people more loyal to us and more invested in the success of our kingdom than the usual.

Flying ships in general would be incredible, and I'd love to have several dozen for the royal navy and our personal trade fleet (and of course selling a few of them to important allies like the Fairwinds and Uthero), but that's more of an hight-to-epic-level dream than anything. For now we've just got to plan on getting our first one.

That's true, I'm not saying we need to pt active effort into doing so. What I'm saying is we should spread the growth out so its not all centrally located. I'm thinking of the next time we steal a building and instead just take the whole village and plop it down on an island. First a tower, then a functioning tavern, next the whole community. If we take a functional community at once we don't have to wait for enough people to show up to make one and can instead direct the people coming in ones and twos to these new villages. It also helps to combat the flood of poor that are being sent our way.

Say we get sent 1500 people with nothing. Well right now they can go to SD, Saltcliff, Deepcleft, Westhaven, and Port Sorrow. Now most will go to the capital but some should spread around, so something like 1000, 50, 150, 150, 150 respectively. But if we make a dozen little villages and our captains no to take people to them too, well now the same 1500 poor can be split something like 800, 40, 120, 120, 120, respectively with 25 to each of the villages. Now, these numbers are completely arbitrary but the point remains that it you provide more places to put the refugees then, for the same total number, there are less of them at each location. This in turn means that we avoid our enemies whole goal of sending them to us in the first place, by not letting it become a large enough percentage of any one community.

Back to flying ships though, I actually don't want to use them for trade. Sending ships by sea is actually pretty quick for a well made ship like the Quenn Rhaella (Have we showed her that yet?). Assuming that a sailing ship and a flying vessel have the same speed over ground the flying vessel would only be impressively faster for a cross continental flight. That one case isn't enough for me to eat the cost of not using it to support the legion. A flying platform for archers is already worth a lot, then you bring in the options of artillery, bombing, or using it to ignore a castle walls and storm the walls easily. Just picture that in your mind: Out legion is marching up to an enemies keep and he closes up thinking we'll have to siege. The legion stops at the gate, and then a ship comes up and forcibly moors loosing 'boarders' to the walls. Said boarders take the gate house and open it for the legion, castle taken.
 
[x] Viserys: The Sorcerer: Spell Combat (As Magus class feature); Temporary 1d2 CL increase on achieving 12 HD worth of kills with the sword in a day

I have no issue giving it to Viserys, its fitting, maybe it isn't the sword for the King of the Iron Throne... But we have much loftier goals don't we? :V
 
With magic involved, we should just skip the paddle wheels entirely and go with huge flippers and a functional tail. We could make it either a full on Construct or the flippers and tail could be Animated Objects controlled by the captain.

My personal preference is a Colossal-sized Construct vessel capable of traveling on the surface of the water and beneath it. At that point, it would be expensive, but feasible to give it a slow flight speed, too.

This isn't for a flagship, this is for regular logistics and troop transport improvement, so as steel becomes more plentiful, we'd know the cost/value of potentially upgrading. The flipper/tail thing sounds...ehh... I'd rather do a full construct at that point.

If steel becomes plentiful enough, then construct cost becomes the main barrier for ships. I'd rather 10 iron troopships than 2 full constructs.

A submarine construct for the party to hit underwater targets is something I'm already sold on, though.
 
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