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

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styr said:
Long time lurker here. Does anyone have all the maps of Sorcerer's Deep saved or hosted on imgur/etc? Would really like to see the progression of the town map over time but I've only been able to find the newer maps using the Media threadmarks.

Any help is much appreciated.
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They're all on my imgur pages. Can you not get to them from the link to imgur on the map post?
 
Azel said:
@Goldfish, is there any way to set up an AoE effect that would grant anyone within resistance against acid damage?
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Depends on how you want to do it. A simple Mass Resist Energy (Acid) spell could affect a whole bunch of people for 10 minutes per caster level. Cast at 11th level or higher, it would be Acid Resistance 30.

If you want a stationary AoE, however, your best bet would be to use a Hallow effect with a linked Resist Energy (Acid) spell. That would give everyone within the 40 foot radius Acid Resistance 30, assuming it was cast at 11th+ level. This would last for one year before needing to be reapplied.
 
Goldfish said:
Depends on how you want to do it. A simple Mass Resist Energy (Acid) spell could affect a whole bunch of people for 10 minutes per caster level. Cast at 11th level or higher, it would be Acid Resistance 30.

If you want a stationary AoE, however, your best bet would be to use a Hallow effect with a linked Resist Energy (Acid) spell. That would give everyone within the 40 foot radius Acid Resistance 30, assuming it was cast at 11th+ level. This would last for one year before needing to be reapplied.
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The Hallow variant is perfect.

DP allowed us to use our Puddings and Oozes (baring the Living Spells) as a base for fleshforging. So we can make a souped up Stone Pudding, which petrifies everything it touches, and place it into a chamber directly beneath the summoning circle, having it's top most section poking out.

Brimorak gets summoned, lands on the Pudding and then has to save every round to not get Petrified. Use undead, which are immune to it, to haul the bodies away and the Hallow effect to prevent the Pudding from dissolving our products.

Baseline DC is already 21, but with some templates and extra HD, we should manage DC 30+ before buffs.

That way, we don't have to rely on Irony being at work 24/7.
 
Azel said:
The Hallow variant is perfect.

DP allowed us to use our Puddings and Oozes (baring the Living Spells) as a base for fleshforging. So we can make a souped up Stone Pudding, which petrifies everything it touches, and place it into a chamber directly beneath the summoning circle, having it's top most section poking out.

Brimorak gets summoned, lands on the Pudding and then has to save every round to not get Petrified. Use undead, which are immune to it, to haul the bodies away and the Hallow effect to prevent the Pudding from dissolving our products.

Baseline DC is already 21, but with some templates and extra HD, we should manage DC 30+ before buffs.

That way, we don't have to rely on Irony being at work 24/7.
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May as well use the pudding and Irony just for that extra insurance.

But overall I like the way this plan is shaping up.
 
Duesal said:
May as well use the pudding and Irony just for that extra insurance.

But overall I like the way this plan is shaping up.
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I just don't think Irony would enjoy the constant work, so using a mindless Ooze would save us a lot if trouble.

Also, we can add a quick realease to it's cage, so if something unexpected shows up in the cycle, it can cuddle with the Super Pudding.
 
Azel said:
I just don't think Irony would enjoy the constant work, so using a mindless Ooze would save us a lot if trouble.

Also, we can add a quick realease to it's cage, so if something unexpected shows up in the cycle, it can cuddle with the Super Pudding.
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Fair enough. Cuddly death pudding it is.
DragonParadox said:
Ah... good, my memory was not playing tricks, unless someone can come up with a counter example at least.
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@DragonParadox, I also distinctly remember moments like Azel is describing, where we ended up using two Altered Fortunes for the same roll via Vee and Dany. It'd be an absolute bitch to dig up the examples, though.
 
Azel said:
The Hallow variant is perfect.

DP allowed us to use our Puddings and Oozes (baring the Living Spells) as a base for fleshforging. So we can make a souped up Stone Pudding, which petrifies everything it touches, and place it into a chamber directly beneath the summoning circle, having it's top most section poking out.

Brimorak gets summoned, lands on the Pudding and then has to save every round to not get Petrified. Use undead, which are immune to it, to haul the bodies away and the Hallow effect to prevent the Pudding from dissolving our products.

Baseline DC is already 21, but with some templates and extra HD, we should manage DC 30+ before buffs.

That way, we don't have to rely on Irony being at work 24/7.
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Ah, very smooth. I would just slap an Advanced template on it, since there's only so much we can reasonably modify an Ooze like that. That brings +4 CON to the table, increasing the Fortitude save DC of the Stone Pudding to 23. A Brimorak has a +9 Fortitude save bonus, so it would have to be exceptionally lucky to make it more than three rounds without being Petrified.

The only issue I see is that we already use a Hallow effect with a linked Dimensional Anchor spell in the Snare's Summoning Circle. This allows things to be Summoned but nothing can Teleport out or use that gap in the Forbiddance wards to Teleport into the circle. You can't stack multiple spell-effects from Hallow spells.

We can just use the allow the Acid Resistance Hallow to surround the Summoning Circle to prevent accidents or ongoing damage to the Petrified Brimoraks if some Stone Pudding clings to them. Each Brimorak has 57 HP and the Stone Pudding only does 21 points of Acid damage per round, and it takes a full round of contact to begin inflicting damage. The Undead helpers would have three rounds to get the Petrified Brimorak into position.

EDIT: Actually, since the Acid Resistance effect wouldn't work inside the Summoning Circle, Undead probably wouldn't be the best choice here. One of the Heralds could pluck them out, since they wouldn't be affected by the Stone Pudding's acid.
Duesal said:
@DragonParadox, I also distinctly remember moments like Azel is describing, where we ended up using two Altered Fortunes for the same roll via Vee and Dany. It'd be an absolute bitch to dig up the examples, though.
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If it was used before, it's been a very long time since then. It's a sensible ruling that I don't think we should try to game.
 
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@Goldfish, I wanted to go with Advanced (+2), Size+ (+2) and 4x more HD (+8). Nothing fancy. Just give it the good steroids. Total DC would then be 33, so the Brimorak has to roll a nat20 to make that save.

And yeah, when we can't stop the acid damage, using Heralds for the extraction would be best.
 
Azel said:
@Goldfish, I wanted to go with Advanced (+2), Size+ (+2) and 4x more HD (+8). Nothing fancy. Just give it the good steroids. Total DC would then be 33, so the Brimorak has to roll a nat20 to make that save.

And yeah, when we can't stop the acid damage, using Heralds for the extraction would be best.
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Hmm, I don't know how much increasing its size will help us here. Yes, the CON boost increases its save DC, but that's not really necessary for Brimoraks. It only needs to be at DC 29 to require a Nat 20, so just using Advanced and some additional Racial HD should be plenty.

A Stone Pudding is already naturally Huge-sized, and we're going to need to take special precautions (Hardened Adamantine sheathing should work) to make sure it doesn't dissolve the floor of the Snare. Making it Gargantuan-sized would cause a lot of trouble for no real gain, since the Stone Pudding will already fill up the entire surface area within the Summoning Circle.

We can also place a Permanent Symbol of Weakness to inflict a -4 penalty on all of the Summoned creatures' saving throws. With that lowering a Brimorak's Fortitude save to +5, we only need to get the Stone Pudding's Petrification DC up to 25 to require Nat 20s to resist.
 
Goldfish said:
Hmm, I don't know how much increasing its size will help us here. Yes, the CON boost increases its save DC, but that's not really necessary for Brimoraks. It only needs to be at DC 29 to require a Nat 20, so just using Advanced and some additional Racial HD should be plenty.

A Stone Pudding is already naturally Huge-sized, and we're going to need to take special precautions (Hardened Adamantine sheathing should work) to make sure it doesn't dissolve the floor of the Snare. Making it Gargantuan-sized would cause a lot of trouble for no real gain, since the Stone Pudding will already fill up the entire surface area within the Summoning Circle.

We can also place a Permanent Symbol of Weakness to inflict a -4 penalty on all of the Summoned creatures' saving throws. With that lowering a Brimorak's Fortitude save to +5, we only need to get the Stone Pudding's Petrification DC up to 25 to require Nat 20s to resist.
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It would be useful if we want to summon something stronger though.

By the way, we should add some Imperial Steel plating to the snare to further reinforce it against escapes, both physical and astral.
 
Goldfish said:
29,820 HD for sacrifice
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Anyway, that's like ten times the amount of HD used to create the Tree of Dawn and gain Island-wide blessings.

So... even assuming we've diluted the vast majority of the impact by funneling it through multiple Gods, we do have at least one with the most direct delivery mechanism (fiery divine wrath), two with the conceptual oomph to make the impact stick, and one with the geographical significance and know-how to make sure it lands.

Plus just about the best Foci we could ever reasonably get our hands on.

So this isn't a bad plan.
 
Goldfish said:
It's just a single item, among the many, many items we craft each month. Beside the 437 Teleporting suicide drones, the gigantic space ship, the dozens of lesser ships, the 8 Heralds, and all sorts of other stuff, an item which casts a 5th level spell on command doesn't stand out that much, IMO. It's not even close to the most expensive item we're enchanting this month, either. Each of the 8 Valyrian Steel PfE banners we're enchanting costs 20,480 IM.

Basically, it shouldn't attract any more attention than all of the other stuff we're making.
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Maybe, it's just that if I was trying to track what we're up to from the outside I'd be tracking our production system. All of our master crafters all getting together to work on something on short notice is unusual. If they figure out what it is then the natural question is "why now and not before?".

They almost certainly won't guess exactly what we're doing, but determining that we want to summon more shit than we normally could isn't a hard determination to make. With Viserys' rep it could be for bulking out an army or a huge sacrifice, but I'd rather not see the CoS deploy whatever contingencies they have set up for either of those plays.

It's a little paranoid I guess, it's just that we're in a delicate situation and this seems like an easily accessible piece of information that would really screw us if it made it to the right ears.
 
Azel said:
It would be useful if we want to summon something stronger though.

By the way, we should add some Imperial Steel plating to the snare to further reinforce it against escapes, both physical and astral.
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Imperial Steel wouldn't be a bad addition, but it shouldn't have priority over producing enough of the stuff to begin equipping our forces. The Snare is currently reinforced with a bunch of Walls of Force via Greater Sign of Sealing spells, and we'll need to add the Hardened Adamantine to the floor of the chamber and Summoning Circle, maybe with a foot or so of iron and lead below that for added durability, but that's not much hassle now.
 
BronzeTongue said:
Maybe, it's just that if I was trying to track what we're up to from the outside I'd be tracking our production system. All of our master crafters all getting together to work on something on short notice is unusual. If they figure out what it is then the natural question is "why now and not before?".

They almost certainly won't guess exactly what we're doing, but determining that we want to summon more shit than we normally could isn't a hard determination to make. With Viserys' rep it could be for bulking out an army or a huge sacrifice, but I'd rather not see the CoS deploy whatever contingencies they have set up for either of those plays.

It's a little paranoid I guess, it's just that we're in a delicate situation and this seems like an easily accessible piece of information that would really screw us if it made it to the right ears.
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I just don't see the issue. They're already working together. It's not like we're gathering them up from 32 different locations spread across the Imperium. They work together on a daily basis, pooling their efforts to produce items more expensive than they alone could normally craft in a month or more.

Paranoia is understandable, but it can go too far.
 
This is part of the reason I want to shove a whole lot of Demons to Burny when he attacks Ymeri. It gives a plausible reason for why we needed a few thousand Demons on short notice.
 
@Goldfish, fair enough, I have completely forgotten about the casting times.

I think the location eith "simmer-summoning" via the item should get a lot more security to itself (if summoning leaves any manner of "energy" that can build up, better be safe than sorry), but otherwise I have no complaints to the current plan.
Although, why Demons and not Daemons?

Starting it the next month we'll have enough stuff to overfeed R'hlor into splattering Ymwri all over the walls of her little plane.

As for quick sacrifice method...
Blade Barrier.
Just a giant meat-mincing apparatus is what it'll be.
Well. Petrified meat.

@Azel, note, in case any of the low-cr Outsiders happens to be carrying an oversized explosive device at the moment of summoning, or something (statistically, possible), gotta make several of those oozes methinks. Just in case.
 
Azel said:
The problem is that they don't need to deploy 20+ Pit Fiend grade assets to win a guerilla war against us. All they have to do is stop restraining their worst members from causing chaos and killing people. Then we roaming Fey troupes of CR 10ish power that could strike in any random village of the Reach without warning.

We can't defend against this, since we don't have enough assets to cover every single village in the Reach with enough firepower to stop them. The usual way to deal with this is to attack the place they are coming from, but if we can't take the courts on their home turf, that's not an option either.

So they can make us bleed as long as it takes for us to give in or being unable to keep up the occupation.
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That seems to assume that they would strike out against random villages they have been protecting so far.

I mean, a land with hostile fey will be hostile, certainly, but I don't think mass-murder of peasants is a likely path for them to take.
Military and supplies taking the roads are much more likely targets, and the nobility that swears to us of course.
 
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Interlude DCCCXCVI: A Tale of Lights Part Three
  • Threadmarks
    • A Tale of Lights Part Three​

    The Halls of Renown

    Raised in the shadow of Old Oak, the halls wrought not of wood and stone but of the living pillars of ancient oaks, their roofs fresh spring green, growing together as one into the shape of a keep. High are the towers and bright the banners watching over the crossroad between more than the realms of mortal kind. Yet it is not upon these battlements that those of the Green fight when the Champion of the Green calls one to war. Deep are the forests and fare are the paths, under watchful eye of triad and naiad a thousand paths winding, for each a guardian ready to serve, some bound to their posts and others traveling far and wide.

    More than any court, even the swift bladed Azure or the veiled Violet, the servants of the Green can travel on secret paths to find themselves in any corner of the mortal Reach that they may stand against mortal tyranny or other damnably transcendent evils. The Green is also the changeling court, taking mortals of valorous spirit who lack the strength of arm to see their appointed tasks done into its ranks. Thus they are bolstered with new ideas and new ways of doing things.

    Forces likely to be deployed
    Dryads and Hamadryads
    Idun Healers (Witches with the Healing Patron)
    Niads Bards and Sorceresses
    Nymphs (Generally druids)
    Knights ( Mostly Fey some Changeling)
    Thorn Archers
    Treant Champions

    The Azure Bastion

    Where Brightwater Keep stands upon its hill at the source of the Honeywine in another world rises a mountain crowned with stars, and there a keel of cerulean marble stands eternal vigil upon the gathering gloom of Oldtown. While the river flows the Azure Bastion sends its power through the waters, watching, waiting and at the proper hour calling its power to strengthen the barrier between the Spheres and the madness beyond.

    The Knights of the Key might fight from the ramparts, but just as readily appear behind a foe to strike them without warning, for space in realms of fey or mortals is no bar from their wrath. Darker tales tell that some of the accursed spirits that have fallen afoul of the Azure Court were instead bound to the will of their high lords to be called in times of great need.

    Forces likely to be deployed
    Blink Dogs
    Bound Outsiders (only called at greatest need)
    Crossroads Guardians
    Fey Knights of the Key (likely to wield outsider of Aberration bane weapons)
    Nature Spirits (All sizes, some advanced)
    Soul-Bound Swarms (Wizard Exorcists)
    World-Guard (Swan Maiden Forest Wardens)

    OOC: And here we are, two more factions. It's actually surprisingly hard to build distinct army lists, especially for people like the Azure who I did not anticipate you guys fighting on previous outings so I can't pull them out of old encounter tables. Just about the only concept I had was the swam exorcist that would envelop whatever they wanted to banish in their forms.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • egoo said:
    @Goldfish, fair enough, I have completely forgotten about the casting times.

    I think the location eith "simmer-summoning" via the item should get a lot more security to itself (if summoning leaves any manner of "energy" that can build up, better be safe than sorry), but otherwise I have no complaints to the current plan.
    Although, why Demons and not Daemons?

    Starting it the next month we'll have enough stuff to overfeed R'hlor into splattering Ymwri all over the walls of her little plane.

    As for quick sacrifice method...
    Blade Barrier.
    Just a giant meat-mincing apparatus is what it'll be.
    Well. Petrified meat.

    @Azel, note, in case any of the low-cr Outsiders happens to be carrying an oversized explosive device at the moment of summoning, or something (statistically, possible), gotta make several of those oozes methinks. Just in case.
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    Demons because the Brimorak is the perfect combination of 6 HD, the maximum possible using Lesser Planar Binding, plus a very low Will save so that the spell has the most chance of success. That lets us get the most bang for our buck, per spell cast.

    The Daemons in the same weight class are only 5 HD before jumping up over the 6 HD threshold. And while higher ranked Daemons might be finite, we can't expect the lower ranked ones to be limited. Even if they are, there are likely untold millions of them, such that our Summoning efforts wouldn't put a dent in them for a thousand years.

    Blade Barrier would be a good way to do it. Chop chop chop...
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Dryads and Hamadryads
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    Tough, but manageable for a Myrkdreki or a Mighty Mind Dragon.
    DragonParadox said:
    World-Guard (Swan Maiden Forrest Wardens)
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    We need to assume these are maxed out, possibly with Mythic Ranks here. That "World Guard" title won't be for show.
    DragonParadox said:
    Soul-Bound Swarms (Wizard Exorcists)
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    I hate swarms... I hate swarms so much. :mad:
    DragonParadox said:
    Fey Knights of the Key (likely to wield Outsider of Aberration bane weapons)
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    I'm guessing these are the most powerful in the Azure Court, but I don't know. @DragonParadox, is Highgarden's Rainbow Guard stronger or weaker than the Fey Knights of the Key?
     
    Duesal said:
    Tough, but manageable for a Myrkdreki or a Mighty Mind Dragon.

    We need to assume these are maxed out, possibly with Mythic Ranks here. That "World Guard" title won't be for show.

    I hate swarms... I hate swarms so much. :mad:

    I'm guessing these are the most powerful in the Azure Court, but I don't know. @DragonParadox, is Highgarden's Rainbow Guard stronger or weaker than the Fey Knights of the Key?
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    The knights you saw in high garden drew one veteran knight from each court, not necessarily the best of the best but skilled.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    A Tale of Lights Part Three​

    The Halls of Renown

    Raised in the shadow of Horn Hill, the halls are wrought not of wood and stone but of the living pillars of ancient oaks, their roofs fresh spring green, growing together as one into the shape of a keep. High are the towers and bright the banners watching over the crossroad between more than the realms of mortal kind. Yet it is not upon these battlements that those of the Green fight when the Champion of the Green calls one to war, deep are the forests and fare are the paths, under watchful eye of dryad and naiad a thousand paths winding, for each a guardian ready to serve, some bound to their posts and others traveling far and wide.

    More than any court, even the swift-bladed Azure or the veiled Violet, the servants of the Green can travel on secret paths to find themselves in any corner of the mortal Reach that they may stand against mortal tyranny or other damnably transcendent evils. The Green is also the changeling court, taking mortals of valorous spirit who lack the strength of arm to see their appointed tasks done into its ranks. Thus they are bolstered with new ideas and new ways of doing things.

    Forces likely to be deployed
    Dryads and Hamadryads
    Idun Healers (Witches with the Healing Patron)
    Naiads Bards and Sorceresses
    Nymphs (Generally druids)
    Knights (Mostly Fey, some Changeling)
    Thorn Archers
    Treant champions

    The Azure Bastion

    Where Brightwater Keep stands upon its hill at the source of the Honeywine, in another world rises a mountain crowned with stars, and there a keep of cerulean marble to stand eternal vigil upon the gathering gloom of Oldtown. While the river flows the Azure Keep sends its power through the waters, watching, waiting, and at the proper hour calling upon it to strengthen the barrier between the Spheres and the madness beyond.

    The Knights of the Key might fight from the ramparts, but just as readily appear behind a foe to strike them without warning, for space in realms of fey or mortals is no bar from their wrath. Darker tales tell that some of the accursed spirits that have fallen afoul of the Azure Court were instead bound to the will of their high lords to be called in times of great need.

    Forces likely to be deployed
    Blink Dogs
    Bound Outsiders (only called at greatest need)
    Crossroads Guardians
    Fey Knights of the Key (likely to wield Outsider or Aberration Bane weapons)
    Nature Spirits (All sizes, some advanced)
    Soul-Bound Swarms (Wizard Exorcists)
    World-Guard (Swan Maiden Forrest Wardens)

    OOC: And here we are, two more factions it's actually surprisingly hard to build distinct army lists especially for people like the Azure who I did not anticipate you guys fighting on previous outings so I can't pull them out of old encounter tables. Just about the only concept I had was the swarm exorcist that would envelop whatever they wanted to banish in their forms. Not yet edited.
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    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

    I highlighted one bit that needs some extra attention. I'm not quite sure what it was supposed to say.
     
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