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A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

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Crake said:
That was why I suggested it. Having these also go inert despite not having the enchantment bound to the shell might have been implicit to you from a balance perspective, but making it explicit is essential to not actually having forty people point out at the same time "so what could possibly stop us from using these until we kill every single one of our enemies not immune to explosions, of which almost no one is?"
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Ah, gotcha.

The Constructs are slow, too, so it's not like most beings have to worry about being chased down by them.

Beetle Bomb
Each of these dog-sized beetle-like Constructs has a specialized abdominal cargo compartment able to hold up to two cubic feet of material weighing up to 100 pounds. This cargo usually consists of an explosive device which the Beetle Bomb delivers to its target via a single-use Teleport effect. They typically cling tightly to recessed slots located under the wings of Wyvern Anti-Gravity Fighters, but can also be deployed from their bomb bays or stationary facilities with the proper fire control mechanisms needed to arm the Beetle Bombs and activate their Teleportation ability.
Neutral Small Construct
AC: 20, touch 11, flat-footed 20 (+1 Size, +9 Natural)
HP: 31 (2d10+20)
Speed: 5ft., Fly: 20(Poor)
Initiative: +0
Saves: Fort -, Ref 0, Will 0
Immune: Construct Traits
Defensive Abilities: DR 10/Adamantine
Offensive Capabilities: None
Senses: Low-light vision, Darkvision 60ft
Statistics: Str 10, Dex 10, Con -, Int -, Wis 1, Cha 1

Special Abilities:
  • Hardy(Ex): The Construct uses magically Hardened steel in all aspects of its construction and is deliberately crafted to be simple, with few moving parts and thicker than normal armor. It benefits from an additional 10 Hit Points, +5 Natural Armor, and Damage Reduction 10/Adamantine.
  • Teleportation(Su): This is a single-use Teleport effect at 9th caster level tied directly to the animating force of the Construct. After being triggered, the Construct remains functional for up to one minute before becoming non-magical. If recovered, it can be enchanted once more to return it to service with a 25% discount on the enchanting cost.
  • Visual Link(Su): The Construct has no will of its own, and thus cannot pick out a target to deliver its deadly payload. In order to acquire a target, the Construct must be keyed to the enchanted fire control mechanisms of a Wyvern-class Anti-Gravity Fighter or similar system. When a Wyvern pilot desires to send a Beetle Bomb Construct to attack a target they can see, they must spend a Standard Action to mentally designate the target and provide the prompt necessary to activate its Teleportation ability. During this process, the pilot can designate exactly how close the Construct appears to its target.
  • Payload Delivery(Ex): Upon being Teleported to its destination, if the distance between its target and the Construct is within the envelope chosen by the pilot, it detonates its payload immediately. If for some reason the Construct appears outside of this range, but within 200 feet (61 m), it will attempt to reach the target via flight, otherwise it will use the time remaining before it deactivates to reach solid ground so that it can be retrieved for later use.
Construction
  • Material Cost: 100 (45 kg) pounds of steel, 200 IM in reagents, and a gem worth at least 50 IM.
  • Enchanting Requirements: Craft Construct, Detect Magic, Circle Dance, Lesser Geas, Teleport; Enchanting Cost: 250 IM.
 
Goldfish said:
Ah, gotcha.

The Constructs are slow, too, so it's not like most beings have to worry about being chased down by them.

Beetle Bomb
Each of these dog-sized beetle-like Constructs has a specialized abdominal cargo compartment able to hold up to two cubic feet of material weighing up to 100 pounds. This cargo usually consists of an explosive device which the Beetle Bomb delivers to its target via a single-use Teleport effect. They typically cling tightly to recessed slots located under the wings of Wyvern Anti-Gravity Fighters, but can also be deployed from their bomb bays or stationary facilities with the proper fire control mechanisms needed to arm the Beetle Bombs and activate their Teleportation ability.
Neutral Small Construct
AC: 20, touch 11, flat-footed 20 (+1 Size, +9 Natural)
HP: 31 (2d10+20)
Speed: 5ft., Fly: 20(Poor)
Initiative: +0
Saves: Fort -, Ref 0, Will 0
Immune: Construct Traits
Defensive Abilities: DR 10/Adamantine
Offensive Capabilities: None
Senses: Low-light vision, Darkvision 60ft
Statistics: Str 10, Dex 10, Con -, Int -, Wis 1, Cha 1

Special Abilities:
  • Hardy(Ex): The Construct uses magically Hardened steel in all aspects of its construction and is deliberately crafted to be simple, with few moving parts and thicker than normal armor. It benefits from an additional 10 Hit Points, +5 Natural Armor, and Damage Reduction 10/Adamantine.
  • Teleportation(Su): This is a single-use Teleport effect at 9th caster level tied directly to the animating force of the Construct. After being triggered, the Construct remains functional for up to one minute before becoming non-magical. If recovered, it can be enchanted once more to return it to service with a 25% discount on the enchanting cost.
  • Visual Link(Su): The Construct has no will of its own, and thus cannot pick out a target to deliver its deadly payload. In order to acquire a target, the Construct must be keyed to the enchanted fire control mechanisms of a Wyvern-class Anti-Gravity Fighter or similar system. When a Wyvern pilot desires to send a Beetle Bomb Construct to attack a target they can see, they must spend a Standard Action to mentally designate the target and provide the prompt necessary to activate its Teleportation ability. During this process, the pilot can designate exactly how close the Construct appears to its target.
  • Payload Delivery(Ex): Upon being Teleported to its destination, if the distance between its target and the Construct is within the envelope chosen by the pilot, it detonates its payload immediately. If for some reason the Construct appears outside of this range, but within 200 feet (61 m), it will attempt to reach the target via flight, otherwise it will use the time remaining before it deactivates to reach solid ground so that it can be retrieved for later use.
Construction
  • Material Cost: 100 (45 kg) pounds of steel, 200 IM in reagents, and a gem worth at least 50 IM.
  • Enchanting Requirements: Craft Construct, Detect Magic, Circle Dance, Lesser Geas, Teleport; Enchanting Cost: 250 IM.
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The thing is, you're not understanding the sheer threat what I just proposed presents. You could make 100 of these, and then teleport them in EVERY single avenue of approach from the secured VIP. Then have them all simultaneously work to arrive within the kill radius for that individual. There is literally nowhere they could run that would not be intercepted by them.
 
Duesal said:
Weren't you the one who wanted her to learn more spells instead of researching anything?
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Yeah, but that was never explicitly laid out in the turn plan. If so, I'm fine with that, of course, but it was only five days to learn five spells. That would leave most of the month to develop the new spell, rolling into next month if necessary.
 
How much for a once use Quickened Beetle Bomb with an Eject spell as a payload? One or two a campaign just incase of any Elites?

Like they summon a CR16-18 Fiend in the middle of a Battle. A Beetle that could keep up with a Kraken for exactly one turn and blow castine Eject at the end.
 
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Crake said:
The thing is, you're not understanding the sheer threat what I just proposed presents. You could make 100 of these, and then teleport them in EVERY single avenue of approach from the secured VIP. Then have them all simultaneously work to arrive within the kill radius for that individual. There is literally nowhere they could run that would not be intercepted by them.
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I get what you're saying, but the danger is not quite that serious. The Constructs are mindless, meaning they can only accept the simplest of instructions, such as "fly to Target X and explode", and they're limited to a minute of activity, so at the absolute most you could coordinate 10 of them, and that would require ten staggered Teleports to accomplish over the course of that minute. Possible, but only barely, and not at all if the target is capable of any movement.

Baleful Teleport is limited to a single target at a time, so we couldn't Teleport multiple Constructs simultaneously.
 
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Abhishek M said:
How much for a once use Quickened Beetle Bomb with an Eject spell as a payload? One or two a campaign just incase of any Elites?

Like they summon a CR16-18 Fiend in the middle of a Battle.
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Not a lot, but it would be of fairly limited use, since the spell allows a Will save and anything we would be targeting would have fairly substantial save bonuses, while the Eject effect would have the minimum spell DC.
 
Goldfish said:
I get what you're saying, but the danger is quite that serious. The Constructs are mindless, meaning they can only accept the simplest of instructions, such as "fly to Target X and explode", and they're limited to a minute of activity, so at the absolute most you could coordinate 10 of them, and that would require ten staggered Teleports to accomplish over the course of that minute. Possible, but only barely, and not at all if the target is capable of any movement.

Baleful Teleport is limited to a single target at a time, so we couldn't Teleport multiple Constructs simultaneously.
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One use Beetle Bomb with Baleful Teleport set to something like the Snare. But with a Anti Magic Field and a couple dozen double Ballistae loaded with Adamantium bolts tipped in various poisons?

Goldfish said:
Not a lot, but it would be of fairly limited use, since the spell allows a Will save and anything we would be targeting would have fairly substantial save bonuses, while the Eject effect would have the minimum spell DC.
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Upping the CL as much as we can for a limited production run by Lya wouldnt be any good? Like one or two per Moknchaser cargo. To load up on a Wyvern or just shop from it's own weapons in case the enemy army summons a Demon in front of a ship.
 
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Abhishek M said:
One use Beetle Bomb with Baleful Teleport set to something like the Snare. But with a Anti Magic Field and a couple dozen double Ballistae loaded with Adamantium bolts tipped in various poisons?

Upping the CL as much as we can for a limited production run by Lya wouldnt be any good?
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Possible, but again you run into the issue of spells have a crappy save DC vs the enemies worth targeting having high save bonuses. Minimum DC for a Baleful Teleport effect would be 19, which isn't awful, but most enemies we have now exceed that before they even roll.

Upping the caster level doesn't affect the spell's DC, not unless you also Heighten the spell to a higher spell level. That dramatically increases price without really making it that much more dangerous; Heightened to 9th level, a spell being used via enchanted item is only going to have a DC of 23.
 
Goldfish said:
I get what you're saying, but the danger is not quite that serious. The Constructs are mindless, meaning they can only accept the simplest of instructions, such as "fly to Target X and explode", and they're limited to a minute of activity, so at the absolute most you could coordinate 10 of them, and that would require ten staggered Teleports to accomplish over the course of that minute. Possible, but only barely, and not at all if the target is capable of any movement.

Baleful Teleport is limited to a single target at a time, so we couldn't Teleport multiple Constructs simultaneously.
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No, you see, what I meant was, yes, with them going inert after a limited period of time they are perfectly balanced (as all good things should be).

But without that, just cheap constructs that don't have the "weakness" of using their battery life to power the teleportation effect like the self-transporting drones, you could make enough to send them all off one at a time, then have them initiate the attack after "x amount of time passes" as that too is a simple instruction.

Making it an explicit detail that the teleportation itself disrupts their power source, rather than as a consequence to using it to power the effect, is essential for these to not be "I Win" buttons. Economics of scale are terrifying.
 
Crake said:
No, you see, what I meant was, yes, with them going inert after a limited period of time they are perfectly balanced (as all good things should be).

But without that, just cheap constructs that don't have the "weakness" of using their battery life to power the teleportation effect like the self-transporting drones, you could make enough to send them all off one at a time, then have them initiate the attack after "x amount of time passes" as that too is a simple instruction.

Making it an explicit detail that the teleportation itself disrupts their power source, rather than as a consequence to using it to power the effect, is essential for these to not be "I Win" buttons. Economics of scale are terrifying.
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No worries, that will be spelled out clearly when I do a write-up for the Constructs. It will probably be justified as a consequence of this version of Beetle Bomb being far less sturdy, both in construction materials and the level of magic used to create them. Beetle Bombs require 5th level magic with a minimum of 9th caster level, whereas this version could be crafted by a 6th level caster.
 
Goldfish said:
No worries, that will be spelled out clearly when I do a write-up for the Constructs. It will probably be justified as a consequence of this version of Beetle Bomb being far less sturdy, both in construction materials and the level of magic used to create them. Beetle Bombs require 5th level magic with a minimum of 9th caster level, whereas this version could be crafted by a 6th level caster.
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Say more that one is a consequence of the other. The real reason these aren't just made with better materials (which are cheap to us as we can acquire raw materials in bulk) is that they have even less need for sturdiness than munitions carried by combat craft do.

Rather, the reason we don't make them more durable anyway is because the self-guided versions are already very cheap and barely-stable (and they are already fairly cheap). Teleportation on a construct this small and simple having deleterious effects makes sense.
 
Crake said:
Say more that one is a consequence of the other. The real reason these aren't just made with better materials (which are cheap to us as we can acquire raw materials in bulk) is that they have even less need for sturdiness than munitions carried by combat craft do.

Rather, the reason we don't make them more durable anyway is because the self-guided versions are already very cheap and barely-stable (and they are already fairly cheap). Teleportation on a construct this small and simple having deleterious effects makes sense.
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That works for me.
 
So on the Westerosi front, are we actually going to use stuff like not!predator missiles? These people are just now getting used to the idea of potions and cantrips, assassin drones and Outsider kill squads might give them some sort of complex after the fact.
 
BronzeTongue said:
So on the Westerosi front, are we actually going to use stuff like not!predator missiles? These people are just now getting used to the idea of potions and cantrips, assassin drones and Outsider kill squads might give them some sort of complex after the fact.
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Well, Goldfish here wants to introduce them to a little something called "self-guided munitions" in the form of suicide drones, and the Moonchaser can probably provide close-air support with relative ease.

@Goldfish If you really want to give people a complex, introduce our Riverland guerillas to the concept of the IED.
 
BronzeTongue said:
So on the Westerosi front, are we actually going to use stuff like not!predator missiles? These people are just now getting used to the idea of potions and cantrips, assassin drones and Outsider kill squads might give them some sort of complex after the fact.
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They don't rate that kind of attention. Teleporting suicide Constructs are for the real threats, Deep Ones, Devils, Rakshasa, the Others, etc.
 
Crake said:
Well, Goldfish here wants to introduce them to a little something called "self-guided munitions" in the form of suicide drones, and the Moonchaser can probably provide close-air support with relative ease.

@Goldfish If you really want to give people a complex, introduce our Riverland guerillas to the concept of the IED.
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Just wait until I start writing out my attack plan for what we're going to do to the City of Brass in four or five months. There will be nothing improvised about the explosive devices employed there.

:drevil:
 
Goldfish said:
Haha, nice one. Neat spell, too.
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It's something I tried to have added to the plan against the Lys army but the powers that be at the time weren't so interested.

At days per level any known battlefield becomes our playground given we can set them up with a standard battlecry as the password our own forces can safely pass through.

There are also Cave Fangs which just erupt out of the ground and spear you full of stone, hitting as hard as a cavalry charge and knocking you prone... these ones don't care so much for passwords.
 
...or set them up on the opposite side of the Green Fork with the pass-code "KINGINDANORF!"
 
Deliste said:
It's something I tried to have added to the plan against the Lys army but the powers that be at the time weren't so interested.

At days per level any known battlefield becomes our playground given we can set them up with a standard battlecry as the password our own forces can safely pass through.

There are also Cave Fangs which just erupt out of the ground and spear you full of stone, hitting as hard as a cavalry charge and knocking you prone... these ones don't care so much for passwords.
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Guardian Wasps isn't really a combat spell or something you could use at a moment's notice. The 10 minute casting time means it's only really good for prepared positions with limited area. Great for ambushed and as a trap, though.
 
Goldfish said:
Guardian Wasps isn't really a combat spell or something you could use at a moment's notice. The 10 minute casting time means it's only really good for prepared positions with limited area. Great for ambushed and as a trap, though.
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That's what I just said though isn't it?

10 mins per level doesn't matter so much when you can put it there 3 weeks before the battle.

And in a land like Westeros where everyone is already set up around significant geographical features like the Prince's Pass it's quite murderous.
 
Deliste said:
That's what I just said though isn't it?

10 mins per level doesn't matter so much when you can put it there 3 weeks before the battle.

And in a land like Westeros where everyone is already set up around significant geographical features like the Prince's Pass it's quite murderous.
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Yeah, if there was enough time, you could do some pretty wicked stuff, including placing the nests in pits. 10ftx10ft nests aren't simple to hide, after all.
 
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