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

[Duesal]

@Duesal, could you add this to your vote?

-[] Build SD Coastal Defense and Training Ground.
--[] On the cliffs next to the city, on the opposite to the Dragons Roost, install a full battery of steam cannons (10 cannons, 1 Everflame Engine).
--[] This battery will serve both as training site for new crews and as a coastal defense for SD.
--[] Cost breakdown:
---[] 6,000 IM enchanting / 30 days (will be deducted together with other crafting expenses at the end of the month)
---[] 5,000 IM crafting materials for ritual work (permanent Wall of Fire for the Everflame Generator)
---[] Commission targeting optics and communicators in the Opaline Vault for 8,820 IM

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Done.

[X] Cannons & Loot
-[X] Build SD Coastal Defense and Training Ground.
--[X] On the cliffs next to the city, on the opposite to the Dragons Roost, install a full battery of steam cannons (10 cannons, 1 Everflame Engine).
--[X] This battery will serve both as training site for new crews and as a coastal defense for SD.
--[X] Cost breakdown:
---[X] 6,000 IM enchanting / 30 days (will be deducted together with other crafting expenses at the end of the month)
---[X] 5,000 IM crafting materials for ritual work (permanent Wall of Fire for the Everflame Generator)
---[X] Commission targeting optics and communicators in the Opaline Vault for 8,820 IM
-[X] Contact Yrael and explain the situation with Lyceos -- the area is mostly cleared of monsters and you've stripped what treasures that you could find, but your duties called you away from a more thorough search.
--[X] Due to their teleport abilities as well as their immunities to fire and poison the Archons are uniquely suited brave the Doom-sundered lands as well as flee if it becomes necessary. Request that Yrael sends a detachment of Archons to loot the rest of Lyceos on your behalf over the next week before more monsters can move back into the ruined city.
--[X] Loan out Viserys' Satchel of the Crimson Wyrm and the extra Wayfinder for this.
--[X] Give strict instructions that the Archons are not to take unnecessary risks and should flee from anything that looks like it might be a tough fight.

 

[Goldfish]

[X] Duesal

 

[Azel]

No awesome Lighthouse?
Aww

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We can still build that, but for the cannons, it makes more sense this way. With this setup, they can shell the whole bay and be used for training crews.

That'll work. I'll just reduce the crafting time for three of our low level crafters by 10 days each for this month to account for the enchanting work done in SD.

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Please just mark them as "Cannon Battery", so that we don't forget paying for it.

[X] Duesal

 

[Goldfish]

Our current stockpile of Alchemical substances has been updated.

Common Creations:
793 Doses of Vermin Repellent
8,419 Doses of Alchemist's Kindness
42,869 Doses of Night Tea
133 Smokestick
1,608 Sunrod
6 Abjurant Salt
391 Doses of Healing Salve [Cures 1d8 points of damage to a living creature as a full-round action.]

Weaponized Alchemy:
22 Rust Powder
13 Fury Drops
214 Fungal Stun Vial
114 Alchemist's Fire
365 Liquid Ice
41 Thunderstone
59 Tanglefoot Bag
14 Flash Powder [Blinds all unprepared creatures within 5 feet of its use for one round (DC 15 Fortitude check negates).]
265 Doses of Sleep-Smoke [One dose affects a globe 10 feet in diameter on the first round, expanding outward to a globe 20 feet in diameter on the second round, and being harmless thereafter. A strong wind can move the globe of sleep-smoke. Type: Inhaled DC 15; Initial damage unconsciousness for 1 minute; Secondary damage unconsciousness for 1d3 minutes]
10 Water of Unlife [A direct hit deals 1d6 points of negative energy damage. Every creature within 5 feet of the point where the flask hits takes 1 point of negative energy damage from the splash.]

Poison:
3 Spellscorch
194 Doses of DC 28 2d8 strength monstrous spider poison (weapon oil)
500 Doses of DC 20 2d6 strength monstrous spider poison (weapon oil)
1400 Doses of DC 16 1d8 strength damage monstrous spider poison (weapon oil)

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Lya has added the following scrolls to her collection:

Greater Black Tentacles (x2), Greater Blink (x1), Greater Teleport(x1), Heal (x2), Life Bubble (x2), Lya's Magnificent Mansion (x1), Owl's Insight (x2), Plane Shift (x2), Raise from the Deep (x7), Ruby Ray of Reversal (x1), Smoky Confinement (x2), Starmantle (x2), True Seeing (x3), Wind Walk (x2)

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The following scrolls have been penned and added to the Scholarium's spell library:

Divine Spells:
1st level scrolls: Bless(x3), Cure Light Wounds(x3), Comprehend Languages(x3), Protection from Evil(x3), Shield of Faith(x3)
2nd level scrolls: Cure Moderate Wounds(x3), Unseen Crafter(x3), Lesser Restoration(x3), Animalistic Power(x3), Make Whole(x3)

Arcane Spells:
1st level scrolls: Grease(x2), Heightened Awareness(x2), Mage Armor(x2), Magic Missile(x2), Shield(x2), Silent Image(x2)
2nd level scrolls: False Life(x2), Glitterdust(x2), Invisibility(x2), Mirror Image(x2), Protection From Arrows(x2), See Invisibility(x2)
3rd level scrolls: Dispel Magic(x2), Fireball(x2), Tongues(x2)

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[Sqweaktoy]

[X] Duesal

 

[Abhishekam]

You know I have to say I kinda find this discussion about forcing inheritences along kinda horrifying. It's like people debating that if the average lifespan keeps increasing governments should impose a rule that people over the age of 80 should be forced to sign their house and savings over to their younger next of kin. Regardless of if they want to or not.

This is their stuff here. What just because they can live longer now their claim to it doesnt exist anymore? Did they un-earn it? Will heart transplants mean that Old ladies greedy nephews who she hasn't seen in 30 years get their properties now that their original hearts stopped beating?

It's weird and oddly creeping me out for some reason I dont get but feel like I really really should.

 

[Sqweaktoy]

Reading the additional gear and scrolls really reminds me that while any of the Companions would be hell on wheels as a CR appropriate encounter for a party of standard adventurers, they would also be loot piñatas of the highest caliber if you managed to take them out.

Of course its still not worth because Viserys just doesn't respect the CR rules. So even if someone had the sheer idiotic lack of self preservation to try and gank Lya for instance, and even if they somehow succeeded, all they would get for thier troubles is the rest of the Companions promptly popping in on top of them and stomping them into paste that's still technically alive enough for Yss to eat.

 

[Duesal]

Reading the additional gear and scrolls really reminds me that while any of the Companions would be hell on wheels as a CR appropriate encounter for a party of standard adventurers, they would also be loot piñatas of the highest caliber if you managed to take them out.

Of course its still not worth because Viserys just doesn't respect the CR rules. So even if someone had the sheer idiotic lack of self preservation to try and gank Lya for instance, and even if they somehow succeeded, all they would get for thier troubles is the rest of the Companions promptly popping in on top of them and stomping them into paste that's still technically alive enough for Yss to eat.

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Yss have mercy on anyone who ever touches Lya.

 

[Dracikral]

[X] Duesal

 

[Trickster314]

You know I have to say I kinda find this discussion about forcing inheritences along kinda horrifying. It's like people debating that if the average lifespan keeps increasing governments should impose a rule that people over the age of 80 should be forced to sign their house and savings over to their younger next of kin. Regardless of if they want to or not.

This is their stuff here. What just because they can live longer now their claim to it doesnt exist anymore? Did they un-earn it? Will heart transplants mean that Old ladies greedy nephews who she hasn't seen in 30 years get their properties now that their original hearts stopped hearing?

It's weird and oddly creeping me out for some reason I dont get but feel like I really really should.

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The problem is that not having such laws can easily create a permanent social class that progressively accumulates wealth each time they are reincarnated. This fucks up the economy by creating large differences between social classes and wealth gaps and also causes civil unrest with the lower classes having no legitimate way of rising through the ranks (without exceptional circumstances). As someone mentioned before this is also a problem irl with estate taxes specifically used to prevent the mass accumulation of wealth among a few families.

Personally, I disagree with being so liberal with the reincarnation program as we're eventually going to run out of room to expand (likely forcing us to conquer other planes) and not be able to produce enough resources to support an exponentially growing population. I'd prefer limiting reincarnations to being rewards for outstanding achievements and heavily regulate it in the empire with harsh sentences for unauthorized use. While this would not stop all instances it prevents massive uncontrollable population booms (with people simply not dying off) and artificially limits the number of people that can be reincarnated. Sure this may seem hard to implement but the empire should have a good grasp on the mages capable of casting reincarnations which allows us to have random inspections to ensure compliance. Any unauthorized use should be punished to the full extent of imperial law (similar to the selling of a prohibited substance) as this problem is a long-term threat to a stable regime.

 

[Abhishekam]

You know what on second thought, screw this....back in.

See my previous before those two. Money doesnt work like that. It's a measure of contribution and compensation due. Not wealth in itself. If people make more money from the money they already have.

This ties in with that post in that we are not aiming for a system where contribution stagnates and circulates over time. The money makers of yesterday will be the ones who contributed to the propensity of today and so on and so forth. Money out side of stagnant systems such as Feudalish is a depreciating asset. Your dollar bill will never again be worth more than it it now. Not in absolute terms.

I dont see a reason form forced inheritence in that I dont see what it aims to accomplish here. As far as I can tell it's because people are scared that it will lead to an accumulation of wealth. But the problem is the only way these people could make more money is by investing in stuff that produces more worth. That's inherently self correcting.

Dumbed down other people dont automatically have less stuff because someone spends their stuff making more stuff they want to trade for.

What would forcing people to give up their money to their kids do? Is the hope here that the kids will be less grumpy daddy dearest hasn't keeled over and left them his stuff because they get his stuff while he is still alive? Are we hoping that spoiled rich kids will spend daddies money away so that their sycophants get it? And this spreads it out into a more "equal" division here?

Is the fear that if competent people get to keep their earnings too long they will just out perform morons so much we get a revolt of the retarded here? I mean I though we were going for a Meritocracy here.

Everyone has the same shot one way or another. We are break the world in multiple senses of the term. To give everyone the same chance. The same tools. The same opportunities. We are invalidation the currency of the time, the logic of the age, the powers of the land, the very ways of the world. And letting it all start from zero.

But are you saying that that's all they will ever have? That in a world of Dragons, of walking Gods, or Eternal Sorcerors that a man can expect no more than death or starting from zero again every 60 years? That the guy who starts a fishing ship and turns it into a fleet of sky ships flying to the plane of aid and back cant do anything but die an old man? Or start as a Fisher man again if he is lucky?

Why? Because the God Dragon King with his Wife with a couple dozen spare bodies and 20 immortal companies and legions of eternal Furies finds the idea of humans with the chance to renew their youth makes the place feel overcrowded?

 

[Goldfish]

It's not just expensive to pay for Reincarnation, the material components required are specifically described as being rare. Those rare oils and unguents form a natural bottleneck on how many times the spell can be cast before the resource is temporarily depleted. If we control most of those materials, we can more easily control the Reincarnation rate.

 

[Cerbdog]

[X] Duesal
Also I agree with egoo I can't wait til we get the summoning slaughterhouse going, supertree FTW.

 

[Crake]

I don't think we'll ever get to the point of forming death councils or forming draconian and punishing status reduction measures for the wealthy, if it makes you feel better.

But governmental interference with both wealth accumulation and functional immortality is bound to happen. Which in itself should somewhat alleviate the issue.

As @Goldfish pointed out, we can even turn it into a weapon if we control all of the major nodes where these reagents are produced, doling them out to various factors as we see fit, which encourages compliance. Get in good with the Crown and you literally live longer. Oppose them and your next life extension just got tremendously more difficult.

But as also has been pointed out, it will be largely impossible to reduce criminal factors from profiting off any prohibition or forced scarcity, so this is a problem that must be solved by being proactive rather than reactive. Euthanasia or asset seizure that several related regional actors would be incensed or worried by (if its as arbitrary as "you're getting too old so now we're redistributing your wealth and assets") will lead to rebellions. Rebellions means distractions from more important things.

With that in mind I would say High Magic empires specifically face existential threat from similar issues related to population growth and economics that can only be solved through two methods: Constant war, or constant and brutal reductive tyranny. Both of which create a weak point the size of a fully functional battle station's reactor exhaust port, in that the first creates opportunity for your rule to be both undermined, and for foreign invasion or interference, and the latter virtually guarantees a plucky band of heroes with one purpose, that being your overthrow. Rule of narrative proves that eventually one of these bands will succeed, with the factor of your level of evil wickedness increasing that likelihood since the stakes for their failure are therefore higher.

If you can source similar groups who did not have to rely on either to exist in a state of equilibrium from fantasy fiction, more likely than not they are non-humans and thus their valuation and priorities are innately different.

 

[Abhishekam]

Here is the thing though. Other than the hypocrisy of the effective Immortals seizing all avenues to morally fine routes to immortality. What's the difference from his regulation and euthanasia? The complete control over the right to seeks ways to extend ones life. Licensing and regulating who has the right to live again. How is that different from a Death Panel? How is saying who gets life different from saying who doesnt? That's what the term was made to represent.

This is why I asked if we could just let this topic drop. I know we like to get into existential moral stuff about magic like this. But can we just drop it this once and get back to asoiaf dnd? This is skeevy stuff man. More than the rest.

 

[Massgamer]

[X] Duesal

Along with awesome lighthouse I wonder if we can't build our own colossus like the Titan of Braavos, and for an epic goal make it so in times of need becomes a huge battle golem.

Also curious if Old Gods can't pull a lord of the rings and turn most of their heart trees into high level ents to fight in Long Night.

 

[Wheel of time]

Ahhhh... I missed @Wheel of time.

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I am very funny and absurd in my posting
Tis an art to craft such memeing
By the way how is Monk and Martial Adept Crusade going?

 

[Destrark]

[X] Duesal

@Azel @Duesal
That steam cannon battery your planning, which cliff are you putting it on? The one by the Minotaur village or the one across the lagoon from it. You're not going to get a very good firing angle at the bay in front of Sorcerer's Deep from either. The port obscures too much of the angle to be a good protection at that location. Do you want to build a tower further along the western shore to mount them on and get a much better view of the bay?

 

[Duesal]

Here is the thing though. Other than the hypocrisy of the effective Immortals seizing all avenues to morally fine routes to immortality. What's the difference from his regulation and euthanasia? The complete control over the right to seeks ways to extend ones life. Licensing and regulating who has the right to live again. How is that different from a Death Panel? How is saying who gets life different from saying who doesnt? That's what the term was made to represent.

This is why I asked if we could just let this topic drop. I know we like to get into existential moral stuff about magic like this. But can we just drop it this once and get back to asoiaf dnd? This is skeevy stuff man. More than the rest.

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Bluntly, because it is not a right to have a second life. Living again brings a whole host of problems, prominent among them the fact that you have heads of the household who never die and never let their kids inherit. This shit is important in this setting. Live long enough and you'll have dozens of Walder Freys popping up.

The second part of it is that reincarnation roulette without Viserys involved has a chance to spew out pest species like goblins. And it doesn't get better if he is involved, because that takes up valuable time and wastes at minimum one Blood Wish.

The third part of it is that if left completely unregulated and made a regular and prolific part of our empire, we attract the attention and enmity of very pissed off Outsiders who're wondering who the hell messed with the flow of mortal souls.

Consider me completely against not regulating this particular magic.

 

[Trickster314]

Here is the thing though. Other than the hypocrisy of the effective Immortals seizing all avenues to morally fine routes to immortality. What's the difference from his regulation and euthanasia? The complete control over the right to seeks ways to extend ones life. Licensing and regulating who has the right to live again. How is that different from a Death Panel? How is saying who gets life different from saying who doesnt? That's what the term was made to represent.

This is why I asked if we could just let this topic drop. I know we like to get into existential moral stuff about magic like this. But can we just drop it this once and get back to asoiaf dnd? This is skeevy stuff man. More than the rest.

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I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one, I personally have no problem with the empire regulating and controlling the entire reincarnation process because at the end of the day the life of a random peasant or merchant has no real worth to the empire. As to the whole inheritance issue its there to prevent monopolies and one person gaining too much influence because you can pretty much reincarnate indefinitely and its a lot easier to make money the more assets you have. A man who has been reincarnated with the experience of his previous life and all his assets will make money a lot easier than a young plucky merchant just starting out. If it makes you feel better we can just straight up implement a 50-70% tax on all assets upon reincarnation.

 

[Abhishekam]

Ok yeah. Sorry about this. Really done this time. Dont care anymore.

 

[Trickster314]

Probably a bit late for this but happy 10000 pages @DragonParadox, really enjoyed the ride and I know I will love wherever this adventure goes!

 

[TotallyNotEvil]

Hey @Duesal how much did the Hellfire Cannons deal in damage and were sold for again? And the Lightning throwers?

It's called Altered Carbon and currently on Netflix, I recommend you guys check it out.

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Was about to comment this, pretty good series.

Rangeincrement: 400ft; 10d10 physical damage for standard ammunition; 20/4x crit

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How did you arrive at 10d10? Just curious. The range sounds reasonable, it's huge, but a big cannon should reach 1200 meters of effective range, and the big penalty from being at ten range increments away should more or less repose ten the bleed off of energy.

Your state muzzle velocity sounds quite high, tho.

That's an average of 55 damage, or 16d6, which is fairly reasonable for something that doesn't allow saves or resistances, assuming this is the biggest version. A (unspecified kind of) round from a M1 Abrahams deals 10d12 on d20 Modern IIRC, or about 65 damage, so for a simple cannon, this sounds quite good.

My observations would be, assuming requiring extra infrastructure to work is a more than fair trade off to dealing non-resistable damage:
1) One boiler feeding 10 cannons sounds way too efficient.
1.1) And it makes them absolutely, dirty cheap. I think the Hellfire cannon sold for like 10x the individual cost of these, and they were hot goods, and dealt... 12d6 I think?
1.1.1) On that note, these ain't crossbows. What's the fabrication, assembly and testing time and cost?
2) Do these have a minimum range? Something this big with this tech should traverse slowly.
3) It's spending an incredible amount of water. Each shot is a thousand liters of "powder" and however many liters went into the steam for the "primer", which should also be a lot, as water is a great heat sink, which cuts both ways. Where are we getting that from, and how are we loading so fast?
4) Is there some chance for failure of some sort? Over pressure, under pressure, badly dimensioned anything, any number of seals could fail, etc. These could fail quite catastrophically.

Do you have some source for being able to cause a steam explosion with just water-on-water interaction? I'm not an expert in thermodynamics (yet), but in my head, it's not really making sense.

The mytbusters example just has a regular steam valve, doesn't it?

 

[Duesal]

[X] Duesal

@Azel @Duesal
That steam cannon battery your planning, which cliff are you putting it on? The one by the Minotaur village or the one across the lagoon from it. You're not going to get a very good firing angle at the bay in front of Sorcerer's Deep from either. The port obscures too much of the angle to be a good protection at that location. Do you want to build a tower further along the western shore to mount them on and get a much better view of the bay?

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@Azel's the one you should be talking to for this, and possibly @Goldfish. I'm more or less completely uninvolved in the planning for that.

In my uneducated opinion I don't think a tower would be out of our reach for mounting the cannons to give them a better vantage point. That said, I seriously doubt we'll ever face a naval invasion that won't be pounced on by dragons the moment we detect it. High magic and dragons just completely invalidate certain strategies. Can you imagine if Robert sent another fleet after us now?

Viserys -- fullcasting Red Dragon Sorcerer + 1 Mythic Tier
Amrelath -- Adult Red Dragon
Relath -- Young Adult Brine Dragon
Nettles -- presumably riding Sheepstealer as per our bargain
Dany -- in a Mercury Dragon form

And then our companions. If any invasion force aside from the Deep Ones manages to actually make it to Sorcerer's Deep I will applaud them. Before destroying and/or recruiting them.

Hey @Duesal how much did the Hellfire Cannons deal in damage and were sold for again? And the Lightning throwers?

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Gimme a second, I'll do my best to dig it up.

 

[Duesal]

1. Will fix
2. Yes, except for the fact that each 'cannon' fired two lightning lances since they are CL 10 for a total of six and thus 60d6 electrical and 18d6 physical damage... Let's just say Rina was very lucky she had that SR on and made all her saves

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Description: The body of the weapon is wrought of brass roughly approximating that of ballista, though instead of a bow there are two symmetrical golden arcs extending back from the body of the weapon, etched with runes of binding. When used, these arcs swing back forming a perfect circle into which the power of the bound elemental is briefly made manifest to be used as the wielder sees fit through the guiding wand. Where the head of the bolt would be found on a ballista there lies instead an ivory rod which if removed from the device can serve as a wand of Jolt. Each use of the weapon consumes one charge from the wand, thus necessitating removal and replacement.

Ability: Casts Lightning Lance (CL 10) for as many charges as are found in the guiding wand. One may insert a wand of Targeting Ray in an auxiliary port above the main focus wand, allowing the spell to be cast as a swift action as part of operating the weapon.

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Well he values devil corpses at about 100 Gold/HD. The Hellfire Belchers are worth about 5000 gold apiece (since he can't use them and would have trouble selling them). As for the ship itself he would have to wait for the salvage party to be sure of its worth

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You gain 2 Hellfire Belchers

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@TotallyNotEvil

So the Lightning Throwers we got from the Turtle Ships:

Spoiler: Lightning Thrower

Description: The body of the weapon is wrought of brass roughly approximating that of ballista, though instead of a bow there are two symmetrical golden arcs extending back from the body of the weapon, etched with runes of binding. When used, these arcs swing back forming a perfect circle into which the power of the bound elemental is briefly made manifest to be used as the wielder sees fit through the guiding wand. Where the head of the bolt would be found on a ballista there lies instead an ivory rod which if removed from the device can serve as a wand of Jolt. Each use of the weapon consumes one charge from the wand, thus necessitating removal and replacement.

Ability: Casts Lightning Lance (CL 10) for as many charges as are found in the guiding wand. One may insert a wand of Targeting Ray in an auxiliary port above the main focus wand, allowing the spell to be cast as a swift action as part of operating the weapon.

From what DP said I think they do 10d6 electrical and 3d6 physical damage. We never actually sold them, though, since there are sentient elementals inside. What we did was broke a bunch and told the elementals to get lost, and convinced the last one to stay put for a while so we could study the weapon.

With the Hellfire Belchers on the other hand, I never actually got a proper post that said how much damage they did. But I do know that we have two of them, and that DP valued them at 5000 IM each.