Cheap magic converters are easy to come by using the Energy Transformation Field spell. I kinda want DP to limit the availability of the spell, though, perhaps even outright ban it except for being used in rare circumstances like the damaged artifact we recovered in Valyria. At the same time, I want to use them everywhere.
It's so easy to abuse in so many ways, especially when we have beings in our service with At-Will SLAs. The Erinyes, for example, or even Maelor with his Invocations, could stand around all day spamming their abilities to accomplish any number of effects which would otherwise require extremely expensive crafting.
Personally, I think this spell should be fully banned and mimicking it's effects require an actual ressource consumption instead of abusing at-will SLAs.
Virtually useless on the Plane of Water, dangerous to even bring to the Plane of Fire, difficult to use on the Plane of Air, and less likely to be effective against most of the denizens of the Plane of Earth.
Ignoring that completely, it took centuries for firearms to develop to the modern weapons we are familiar with nowadays. I would not accept us reaching the level of useful and practical firearms in a few months.
We've duplicated the effects of some modern day technology, but every bit of it cheats using magic to bypass the greatest hurdles, even the Steam Cannons. Firearms aren't so easily fudged into existence using magic. I could go on listing reasons I don't want them in the setting. Suffice it to say, I'll do everything I can to prevent their introduction to the quest.
The more I look at Energy Transformation Field and the Plinth we got in Valyria, the more I want to combine them with Consumptive Field and a bioengineered fungus that feeds it HD (CL) from 1HD spores that only live for a round.
The more I look at Energy Transformation Field and the Plinth we got in Valyria, the more I want to combine them with Consumptive Field and a bioengineered fungus that feeds it HD (CL) from 1HD spores that only live for a round.
Necromancy [Death, Evil] Level:Cleric 4, Components: V, S, Casting Time: 1 standard action Range: 30 ft. Area: 30-ft.-radius emanation centered on you Duration: 1 round/level Saving Throw: Will negates Spell Resistance: Yes
Sweeping your arm about and clutching it to your chest, you draw the last breaths of fallen foes from their choking mouths and inhale them to fuel your own power.
All creatures in the area with fewer than 0 hit points that fail their saving throws die, and you gain 1d8 temporary hit points and a +2 bonus to Strength for each death caused by this spell and until the spell's duration expires.
Additionally, your effective caster level increases by one per death caused by this spell, to a maximum increase of half your original caster level, improving spell effects that are dependent on caster level. (This increase in effective caster level does not grant you access to more spells, and it does not increase the duration of this spell.)
Creatures that fall to —1 hit points or lower in the area after the spell is cast are likewise subject to its effect.
No creature can be affected by this spell more than once per casting, regardless of the number of times that the area of the spell passes over them.
Additionally, your effective caster level increases by one per death caused by this spell, to a maximum increase of half your original caster level, improving spell effects that are dependent on caster level. (This increase in effective caster level does not grant you access to more spells, and it does not increase the duration of this spell.)
We need but a way to transport a bunch of easy sacrifices with us every time there's a need for some super-spells.
And a few round to prepare everything.
We need but a way to transport a bunch of easy sacrifices with us every time there's a need for some super-spells.
And a few round to prepare everything.
Not really worth the effort. It's inefficient and sloppy to try to boost our caster level like that when we can already push it to 25 with ease, and without requiring us to use sacrifices best saved for other purposes.
We need but a way to transport a bunch of easy sacrifices with us every time there's a need for some super-spells.
And a few round to prepare everything.
Virtually useless on the Plane of Water, dangerous to even bring to the Plane of Fire, difficult to use on the Plane of Air, and less likely to be effective against most of the denizens of the Plane of Earth.
Ignoring that completely, it took centuries for firearms to develop to the modern weapons we are familiar with nowadays. I would not accept us reaching the level of useful and practical firearms in a few months.
We've duplicated the effects of some modern day technology, but every bit of it cheats using magic to bypass the greatest hurdles, even the Steam Cannons. Firearms aren't so easily fudged into existence using magic. I could go on listing reasons I don't want them in the setting. Suffice it to say, I'll do everything I can to prevent their introduction to the quest.
I was just using black powder as an example because it is the precursor to modern propellants. I would be even more opposed to introducing them into the setting than black powder.
Not really worth the effort. It's inefficient and sloppy to try to boost our caster level like that when we can already push it to 25 with ease, and without requiring us to use sacrifices best saved for other purposes.
No in fact he has a good reason to think otherwise since the dates do not match up. Joanna was not in King's Landing when the twins would have been conceived. Also there is no indication that the Targ predisposition to... uncommon loves is innate rather than a cultural distinction gained from the necessity of keeping dragons in the family.
Then there's the fact that when we asked Bloodraven about close relatives, he didn't show them to us, if they were our half-siblings, then they would have shown, when Bloodraven searched for blood relations of ours.
Yeah, it's a sloppily worded spell that is easily abused if you put even a little effort into it. As much as I'll cheese some stuff, I have pretty hard limits I don't like to cross.
It's the same kind of thing with the Summon & Control Rodents spell from the Palladium setting. Before the rules were changed (probably for this exact reason), you could cast the spell for 70 PPE (basically the setting's version of mana) and summon 30 rats per level. Rats had 2d4 PPE, which was doubled at the moment of death (like everything else in the setting). So a 5th level Ley Line Walker could summon 150 rats, kill them all, and generate an average of 1500 PPE. That's a lot when the caster likely has less than 200 PPE at full charge. Sorry for getting off topic. Basically, I don't like to cheat because of sloppy rules.
Then there's the fact that when we asked Bloodraven about close relatives, he didn't show them to us, if they were our half-siblings, then they would have shown, when Bloodraven searched for blood relations of ours.
Though Ser Benjicot had done well to gather to many mages under his command in so short a time you decide to risk sending a few of your own mages to strengthen his hand. There should be a few mages expecting to get there with a decent grasp of Westerosi Common, certainly ones that will fit in no worse than Gaemon. A handful of lotus spirits would also be easy enough to hide away given their natural talents, and their magics will go a long way to making sure the scattered bands can strike where they must then fade back into the hills and forests.
5x Advanced Druid Creature Lotus Leshys
1x Wizard lvl 5
1x Archivist lvl 5
1x lvl Battle Mage (Sorcerer) lvl 4
1x lvl Mystic lvl 4
As you mentally prod Varys awake to fly off with a message for Teana, young Derrick blurts out: "Is that a baby dragon?"
"She is not hatchling, that is as large as she will get, though one denies her the name dragon at one's peril," you chuckle. "There's a colony of her kin here in the Deep."
"Can we take some of them back, too?" the boy asks excitedly. "That'll show everybody that..." he cuts himself off, blushing. "We are not supposed to show that we have His Grace's direct support, are we, Ser?"
The old knight smiles at the boy. "No, we are not, and it is to your credit that you remembered at all. I certainly wouldn't have at your age under the circumstances."
Derrick beams then does his best to look 'mature', which mostly means looking straight ahead with a clenched jaw and a theatrical frown which gets a smile even from Black Walder. The expression soon vanishes into something far more calculating as you place a small bag filled with gleaming sovereigns on the table with which they may acquire whatever magic they may desire. "I would suggest the bazaar if you do not want to miss too much of the festival, but you can try your luck past the terminus and into the Opaline Vault. There should be Xorn caravans you can travel with." Noticing the confused expressions all around, even from the mage, you conjure an illusory image of a Xorn.
In response to the expected torrent of questions you assure them that any Xorn they meet in the Deep are peaceful traders and that in general Xorn are no better and no worse than men, being driven by the same wants, hopes, and desires.
Lost 5000 IM
***
As you leave most of your new-found allies to discuss how they are to spend their wealth and as well as other more long term plans, you ask Black Walder to accompany you, Ser Richard, and Garin to Dragon's Roost to discuss House Frey's plans and of course his own. Rather than your solar, however, you chose the map room for your conversation, with the great maps of Essos on one side and Westeros on the other to frame your conversation.
"Ser Knight, you do not seem to me to be a man for coyness and courtly games, so I shall be blunt. What does House Frey offer and what does it require?" You pause a moment, gauging his reaction, surprised but not displeased. "And what of you?"
Walder clears his throat, the sound turning into a rough chuckle midway. "I think it is easy enough to guess what I want, Your Grace—for the Twins to pass to my father as is law and custom, and then to pass to me over my fool of a brother who should have been a maester, but has not the wit for it."
"The Twins," you muse, and in the silence that follows ponder the man before you, from what you have seen and what might be guessed of his reputation. "Tell me, Ser, are you more interested in winning or just making sure those you have played against for so long lose?"
Dark eyes narrow in suspicion and thought. "How do you mean?"
You motion to the map of Essos behind you: "Do you see the red markings in the Disputed Lands? Those show where I removed a magister from the land for being stupid, vicious, or both. Those 'qualities' often come together I have found." Here you pause again. Hopefully he will take the hint. "There is land aplenty to be had with more of it waiting to be broken to the plow in the old Rhoynar lands and beyond. There are tens, hundreds of thousands of former slaves who would rather not work in service of their former masters. For a man who distinguishes himself in my service there is far more to be had than a single keep, or even a pair of them with a bridge between them."
For a long moment Black Walder is silent. When he finally speaks his words are measured, though he does not constrain his ever-growing smile. "You know, that reminds me of a story the septon made me read in the Seven-Pointed Star when I was a boy, the one where a demon comes to Hugor and shows him the world and says he can have any part of it if he swears to him."
"And are you feeling particularly holy, Ser Knight?" you ask, perhaps more entertained than you should be by the comparison.
"Not in the slightest, Your Grace," Black Walder replies with relish, before getting down to business.
Old Lord Frey's requests are about what one might expect, starting with the whole of the Riverlands, which he might hope for but Black Walder tells you he does not expect, and going down to lordship of Seagard, the Trident, Blackwood, and even Riverrun itself as well as a host of advantageous marriages and squirings for his brood. The most surprising thing of all in the whole list is that he included places in the Scholarum for his relatives as one of those desires. It seems the Lord of the Twins does not put much stock in the usual Westerosi disdain for magic.
How do you approach Walder Frey?
[] Write in
OOC: The map scene popped into my head fully formed last night. I almost stayed up to write it, but in the end the sleep won out.
So he's at least more interested in grabbing as much wealth and power as possible, not even necessarily near their usual stomping ground. We can totally work with that.
Yeah, it's a sloppily worded spell that is easily abused if you put even a little effort into it. As much as I'll cheese some stuff, I have pretty hard limits I don't like to cross.
It's the same kind of thing with the Summon & Control Rodents spell from the Palladium setting. Before the rules were changed (probably for this exact reason), you could cast the spell for 70 PPE (basically the setting's version of mana) and summon 30 rats per level. Rats had 2d4 PPE, which was doubled at the moment of death (like everything else in the setting). So a 5th level Ley Line Walker could summon 150 rats, kill them all, and generate an average of 1500 PPE. That's a lot when the caster likely has less than 200 PPE at full charge. Sorry for getting off topic. Basically, I don't like to cheat because of sloppy rules.
Though Ser Benjicot had done well to gather to many mages under his command in so short a time you decide to risk sending a few of your own mages to strengthen his hand. There should be a few mages in expecting to get their with a decent grasp of Westerosi Common, certainly ones that will fit in no worse than Gaemon. A handful of lotus spirits would also be easy enough to hide way given their natural talents and heir magics will go a long way to making sure the scattered bands can strike where they must than fade back into the hills and forests.
5x Advanced Druid Lotus
1x Wizard lvl 5
1x Archivist lvl 5
1x lvl Battle Mage (Sorcerer) lvl 4
1x lvl Mystic lvl 4
As you mentally prod Varys awake to fly off with a message for Teana young Derrick blurts out: "Is that a baby dragon?"
"She is not hatchling, that is as large as she will get, though one denies her the name dragon at one's peril," you chuckle. "There's a colony of her kin here in the Deep."
"Can we take some of them back too?" The boy asks excitedly. "That'll show everybody that..." he cuts himself of blushing. "We are not supposed to show that we have His Grace's direct support, are we ser?"
The old knight smiles at the boy. "No we are not and it is to your credit that you remembered at all. I certainly wouldn't have at your age under the circumstances."
Derrick beams then does his best to look 'mature' which mostly means looking straight ahead with clenched jaw a theatrical frown which gets a smile even from from Black Walder. The expression soon vanishes into something far more calculating as you place a small bag filled with gleaming sovereigns on the table which which they may acquire whatever magic they may desire. "I would suggest the bazaar if you do not want to miss too much of the festival,but you can try your luck past the terminus and into the Opaline Vault. There should be Xorn caravans you can travel with." Noticing the confused expression all around even from the mage you conjure an illusory image of a Xorn.
In response to the expected torrent of questions you assure them that any Xorn they meet in the Deep are peaceful traders and that in general Xorn are no better and no worse then men, being driven by the same wants hopes and desires.
Lost 5000 IM
***
As you leave most of your new-found allies to discuss how they are to spend their wealth and as well as other more long term plan you ask Black Walder to accompany you, Richard and Garin to Dragon's roost to discuss House Frey's plans and of course his own. Rather than your solar however you chose the map room for your conversation, with the great maps of Essos one one side and Westeros on the other to frame your conversation.
"Ser knight, you do not seem to me to be a man for coyness and courtly games so I shall be blunt. What does House Frey offer and what does it require?" You pause a moment gouging his reaction, surprised but not displeased. "And what of you?"
Walder clears his throat, the sound turning into a rough chuckle midway. "I think it is easy enough to guess what I want, Your Grace, for the Twins to pass to my father as is law and custom and then to pass tome over my fool of a brother who should have been a Maester, but has not the whit for it."
"The Twins," you muse and in the silence that follows ponder the man before you, from what you have seen and what might be guessed of his reputation. "Tell me Ser are you more interested in winning or just making sure those you have played against for so long lose?"
Dark eyes narrow in suspicion and thought. "How do you mean?"
You motion to the map of Essos behind you: "Do you see the red markings in the Disputed Lands? Those show where I removed a magister from the land for being stupid, vicious or both. Those 'qualities' often come together I have found." Here you pause again. Hopefully he will take the hint. "There is land aplenty to be had with more of it waiting to be broken to the plow in the old Rhoynar lands and beyond. There are tens, hundreds of thousands of former slaves who would rather not work in service of their former masters. For a man who distinguishes himself in my service there is far more to be had than a single keep, or even a pair of them with a bridge between them."
For a long moment Black Walder is silent. When he finally speaks his words are measured, though he does not constrain his ever-growing smile. "You know that reminds me of a story the septon made me read in the Seven Pointed Star when I was a boy, the one where a demon comes to Hugor and shows him the world and says he can have any part of it if he sears to him."
"And are you feeling particularly holy Ser Knight?" you ask, perhaps more entertained that you should be by the comparison.
"Not in the slightest Your Grace," Black Walder replies with relish, before getting down to business.
Old Lord Frey's requests are about what one might expect, starting with the whole of the Riverlands, which he might hope for but Black Walder tells you he does not expect, and going down to lordship of Seaguard, the Trident, Blackwood and even Riverrun itself as well as a host of advantageous marriages and squireings for his brood. The most surprising thing of all in the whole list is that he included places in the Scholarum for his relatives as one of those desires. It seems the Lord of the Twins does not put much stock in the usual Westerosi disdain for magic.
How do you approach Walder Frey?
[] Write in
OOC: The map scene popped into my head fully formed last night.I almost stayed up to write it, but in the end the sleep won out.
[X]Plan Scheming and Plotting, The Westerosi Way
-[X] If it wasn't already obvious, the deal for formal and informal obligations towards us in regards to Black Walder is, he helps us maneuver and prod his relatives in beneficial directions, supplies us the information we need on them, and of course continues doing good work in the Riverlands drawing order from chaos with the Lads, and there's almost certainly lordship resting in his future somewhere. Barring any... unchancey happenings.
-[X] Tell us about the Freys. No, not all of them, we'd be here forever. Who's erudite, with a scholarly mind and more importantly with the right combination of actually being capable of en-kindled loyalty as well as an open mind? Chances are we won't offer half as many places in the Scholarum to Lord Frey as he desires, nor to some of the more maladapted or manipulative ilk, either.
-[X] Squirings and Wardings. Honors. What that says about Lord Frey is that he's still one of the Old Guard of Westeros, and unlikely to change too soon. Still, he's more open-minded than most, which is saying something. It costs us little except rude talk by disgruntled Lords, but you don't want to surround yourself with dozens of Stoats, either. Ask about a few of the younger Freys. The ones who can still be... moulded to our purposes.
-[X] We won't countenance talk of lordships when the board is still in motion and loyalties are still in flux. The corollary to this if pressed is that they should be of a mind to develop their own lands, which they will need all resources including manpower to do as it is.
-[X] Get an overview of their lands, Black Walder seems insightful enough to understand what we're working with. Then grab a dozen economic advisors (because these days you just have those) and draw up an outline to help develop the region economically, contacts with the Iron Bank, your trading conglomerate for shipping and manufacturing, whatever might be necessary to roll out the changes in a timely fashion post conquest. Then dicker over the ultimate cost. You can subsidize with the best of them, but when it comes to taxes, the dragon gets its due.
