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

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Azel said:
Alright, since this seems covered, I wanted to bring up what I cooked up for the Gelugon and his merry band of diabolical killers. There are two options:

1. Aerial Movement
- give everyone a Fiery Darkenbeast
- give them one set of Titan Tools
-- to allow them to quickly set up hidden bases and fortifications as they travel, lowering the chance of ambushes or encirclement
-- to destroy or at the least heavily damage any fortified positions they can take
-- to help potential allies they make
-- to gather rare and expensive minerals when the opportunity arises, primarily to finance further anti-Efreeti operations
- main targets would likely be isolated outposts and minor settlements, maximizing the advantage of their mobility while staying close to large stretches of solid ground for them to hide in

2. Undead Nuclear Submarines
- buy a bunch of whale skeletons, raise them as submarines and use them as a mobile base by building a steel capsule into their ribcage
- space is at a premium, so it would take a few
- all whales use the Lead Clad template, making them and by extension their cargo and passengers Mindblanked
- all whales need to be regularly touched by the planar atunement setup @Goldfish made
- beside the spartan quarters for the crew, the whales would carry supply and ammunitions
- some whales will be equipped solely with an atunement arch, and storage canisters for Lead Clad Fireflies with Liquid Ice and Sultans Tribute warheads
-- the fireflies are stored in Blue Ice clad canisters to avoid having to constantly planar atune them
-- when launching, the whale can atune and launch to fireflies per round, all under mindblank
- main targets would likely be shipping and harbors, maximizing the surprise moment, exploiting the ability to attack by complete surprise from beneath the sea and allowing some nice plundering

Either way, I would send the two unassigned Very Old Myrkdreki with them, both equipped with Belts of the Wide Earth for additional Teleport mobility at short range.

Also, since Planetos lacks the complication of being a literal furnace, we should mass produce Lead Clad boomers against the Illithid. Bonus points if we can get a warhead that triggers Cerulean Sign on impact. They will love the undivinable swarms of smartbombs.
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The subwhales sound neat, but they would be problematic to implement, IMO, and a bit too limited in mobility. If we use this option, I don't think it should be the only approach we use, but would be a supplemental effort in conjunction with the aerial route.

Teaming up with the Fiery Dragonbeasts for the aerial option seems like it would be more feasible. Each of them is Colossal-sized, fast, tough, and sentient. Their Fire-based abilities would not be very helpful, but that would be the least of what they can contribute.

Devils being Immune to Fire and able to use Greater Teleport as a SLA removes a lot of obstacles to them operating in the Plane of Fire, though. Do they even need another method of transportation? Sending some Myrkdreki with Boots/Belts of the Wide Earth would provide Teleportation for those among the group who cannot do so themselves. With a set of Titan's Tools, they could easily set up bases, safe houses, and advantageous terrain.

The Arch of Attunement is small enough that a Myrkdreki could Teleport with it, or outright carry it to a new location if necessary. Rather than trying to provide supplies that survive in the Plane of Fire, it might be worth th expense of equipping those who need them with Rings of Sustenance.
 
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Goldfish said:
Devils being Immune to Fire and able to use Greater Teleport as a SLA removes a lot of obstacles to them operating in the Plane of Fire, though. Do they even need another method of transportation? Sending some Myrkdreki with Boots/Belts of the Wide Earth would provide Teleportation for those among the group who cannot do so themselves. With a set of Titan's Tools, they could easily set up bases, safe houses, and advantageous terrain.
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This does not apply to Steel, Lead and Legion Devils, which makes up much of the forces Azel pre-assigned to that taskforce.
These devils can neither Greater Teleport nor fly naturally.
 
Azel said:
Something custom. I just wanted to gauge the reactions before investing time into designing.

Seems the undead submarine idea has more people interested. Spiffy.

@DragonParadox, I assume the obtaining of the template will then also be part of the interlude, now that another planar trip missed them?
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Sure, an interlude works there.

Say do you guys mind a two update day today? I technically have the time, but it's late and I don't want to roll for something as complicated as Dornish politics at this hour.
 
DragonParadox said:
To be fair I am trying to make them longer, but with all the stress recently it's hard to get in the headspace to write though very much necessary to do so since writing is my de-stressing mechanism of choice.
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That's fine with us!
As Crake said, we don't expect any more than two updates. I personally like the meatier, superior updates we have now. Having four updates a day was hectic, and was often annoying when the update was just "let me describe an NPC's physical appearance. What next?"
 
TalonofAnathrax said:
That's fine with us!
As Crake said, we don't expect any more than two updates. I personally like the meatier, superior updates we have now. Having four updates a day was hectic, and was often annoying when the update was just "let me describe an NPC's physical appearance. What next?"
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It's been a long time since four updates though. I'm hoping to get back to three eventually, that seems like a happy medium to let you guys vote and discuss.
 
do we know what that thing the moonchaser fought back in sothryos is yet couse it suddenly spiked my curiosity again
 
Goldfish said:
The subwhales sound neat, but they would be problematic to implement, IMO, and a bit too limited in mobility. If we use this option, I don't think it should be the only approach we use, but would be a supplemental effort in conjunction with the aerial route.

Teaming up with the Fiery Dragonbeasts for the aerial option seems like it would be more feasible. Each of them is Colossal-sized, fast, tough, and sentient. Their Fire-based abilities would not be very helpful, but that would be the least of what they can contribute.

Devils being Immune to Fire and able to use Greater Teleport as a SLA removes a lot of obstacles to them operating in the Plane of Fire, though. Do they even need another method of transportation? Sending some Myrkdreki with Boots/Belts of the Wide Earth would provide Teleportation for those among the group who cannot do so themselves. With a set of Titan's Tools, they could easily set up bases, safe houses, and advantageous terrain.

The Arch of Attunement is small enough that a Myrkdreki could Teleport with it, or outright carry it to a new location if necessary. Rather than trying to provide supplies that survive in the Plane of Fire, it might be worth th expense of equipping those who need them with Rings of Sustenance.
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Combining the efforts isn't really feasible since a whale can only be so large. It wouldn't fit something else Colossoal-sized.
Though I'm thinking about ditching the whale bodies and instead making Lead Clad Necrocrafts for a more useful body layout. Still wouldn't get to the point where you could store a mount sized flier in there.

It would be better in my opinion to station some regularly Large sized Fiery Darkenbeasts on Yrtens ship, keeping it close enough to the Necro-Fleet to give air support. Those huge quasi-dragons are better suited to being the core of their own dedicated force.
 
are there any modifications we could do to make the drakenbeasts more effective on the plane of fire?
 
Rovos said:
are there any modifications we could do to make the drakenbeasts more effective on the plane of fire?
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Fire based templates.

However, there remains the issue of maintaining them. Even if you solve the issue of feeding with a Ring of Sustenance, they need some space and care or they will get cranky.
 
Rovos said:
i meant more combat effective, should have been more specific
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Not really. I mean that template would overall make them better at what they do. They're not meant to be combat effective though. Darkenbeasts with their plant template have immunity to mind-affecting spells, which damn near effects goddamn everything you don't spend a lot of money to ward. The cost prohibitiveness of warding both the men riding them AND their mounts, who are worth controlling as opposed to horses who aren't really worth the effort to do more than blunt a charge, if at all, means that they do what they are supposed to do. Be mass production aerial mounts who are surprisingly beefy compared to Hippogriffs or even Griffons, and have some fairly good abilities on top of it.

You are better off making a different creature to do general purpose "kill shit".
 
Crake said:
Not really. I mean that template would overall make them better at what they do. They're not meant to be combat effective though. Darkenbeasts with their plant template have immunity to mind-affecting spells, which damn near effects goddamn everything you don't spend a lot of money to ward. The cost prohibitiveness of warding both the men riding them AND their mounts, who are worth controlling as opposed to horses who aren't really worth the effort to do more than blunt a charge, if at all, means that they do what they are supposed to do. Be mass production aerial mounts who are surprisingly beefy compared to Hippogriffs or even Griffons, and have some fairly good abilities on top of it.

You are better off making a different creature to do general purpose "kill shit".
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To expand on that:
The general attack plan for Darkenbeast riding troops is not to engage in melee combat or do any fancy air jousting. Their goal is to drop projectiles from above (such as siege-grade Alchemist Fire, Liquid Ice, Explosive Packs, gas bombs, etc.) and provide superior mobility for the riders, who are using ranged attacks. Mostly crossbows in case of the Darkenbeast Company of the Legion.

This approach maximizes damage to the enemy while minimizing the amount of attacks the Darkenbeasts have to weather in return.

Edit: These things are made to mass-produce for an army engaging in wantonly murdering the ever loving shit out of everything it's pointed at, not to do High Fantasy Heroics.
 
One Autumn Leaf said:
True. The Darkenbeast are more meant to be bombers than anything else. If we wanted a dogfighter we wouldn't use them.
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They can rip the hell out of almost every comparable aerial mounted troops, even the Fey would only have something comparable in melee. But Darkenbeasts are sluggish, and yes, generally used to bomb the shit out of people or act as scouts or dragoons (dismounting soldiers capturing positions behind enemy lines, etc.) Even being not so maneuverable, they are going to outpace most armies by quite a lot.
 
Crake said:
They can rip the hell out of almost every comparable aerial mounted troops, even the Fey would only have something comparable in melee. But Darkenbeasts are sluggish, and yes, generally used to bomb the shit out of people or act as scouts or dragoons (dismounting soldiers capturing positions behind enemy lines, etc.) Even being not so maneuverable, they are going to outpace most armies by quite a lot.
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It is nice to know that, come four months, we are going to introduce Westeros to 20th-century warfare.
 
Azel said:
Combining the efforts isn't really feasible since a whale can only be so large. It wouldn't fit something else Colossoal-sized.
Though I'm thinking about ditching the whale bodies and instead making Lead Clad Necrocrafts for a more useful body layout. Still wouldn't get to the point where you could store a mount sized flier in there.

It would be better in my opinion to station some regularly Large sized Fiery Darkenbeasts on Yrtens ship, keeping it close enough to the Necro-Fleet to give air support. Those huge quasi-dragons are better suited to being the core of their own dedicated force.
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How about Giant Lead-Clad Necrocraft Dragon Turtles? We could repurpose their large internal volume for storage or habitation, and unlike whales, they are innately Immune to Fire and capable of overland movement. The Lead-Clad template would slow them down, but there are low level effects which can easily mitigate that in order to give them respectable land and swim speeds.
 
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