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Chiaros: Affiliations that Want to Smash some Paladins

Started by Bill Volk, February 21, 2007, 12:49:29 AM

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Bill Volk

AACK! I don't think that's the direction I want to take the campaign. Perhaps this part of the campaign world only has the non-sexy variety of undead, like wights and mohrgs. After all, the "army of zombies" scenario is the wet dream of every fantasy-gaming military buff. The "army of emo vampires?" Not so much...

Thanks for the laugh, though :)

the_taken

Always happy to bring happiness.

But serioulsy? Revised Necromancer Handbook
Specifically, look at the undead creation notes and the 'Uttercold Assault' tactic. That thread speaks only about official WotC rulings.

Bill Volk

Good gravy. I have never seen such a display of pure, unbridled munchkinry.

Anyway... What are people interested in seeing next?

the_taken

I request a sample of general battlefield tactics. Specifically the goblin's and the paladin's.

Bill Volk

OK.

[spoiler=The Priest-Kings]
The Priest-Kings have the advantage of disciplined troops and the wealth to arm them well. Units of regular infantry typically have masterwork halberds, masterwork light crossbows, and chain shirts.

The Priest-Kings have clerics and paladins in abundance â,¬' almost every unit has at least one cleric, and whole divisions of dozens of mounted paladins are not uncommon . The Priest-Kingsâ,¬,,¢ most intimidating tactic against supernatural enemies is a synchronized Turn Undead or Smite Evil along the entire front rank of a unit.

The armies of the Priest-Kings prefer to fight in open fields, though the nature of the invasion takes them through some hilly and forested terrain. The Priest-Kings have access to units of elite elven warriors and ranger/paladins, which they send to invade areas in which masses of conventional soldiers would be out of their element.

When a Priest-King is present to personally lead an army, he can turn the tide of battle by channeling his celestial paragon. Depending on the particular paragonâ,¬,,¢s abilities, the channeling Priest-King might take the front line and break up enemy formations, or he might stay back and devastate the entire battlefield with his spell-like abilities.
[/spoiler]

 [spoiler=The Three Nations of Gob]
Smaller Gob towns rely on small units of militia supported by goblins on worgs. When defending Gob towns, the mayor will often move out to intercept the enemy as far from the town as possible, especially if the town has no walls.

The Coucil of Gob has put together a larger army to defend important Gob cities and strategic points. This army has units of hobgoblin fighters and warriors supported by goblins on worgs and strike teams of bugbear rogues. Arcane spellcasters, usually wizards or warlocks, rain down on the enemy from siege towers. The Three Nations of Gob suffer from a shortage of magical healing, so any clerics or adepts are frequently reassigned to units of tactical importance.

Goblins and bugbears take any opportunity to fight dirty. They may rig likely battlefields with traps before the enemy arrives, and they take advantage of forests and other difficult terrain whenever possible. Any prisoners of war they take are often killed immediately but still used as bargaining chips against enemy commanders who think theyâ,¬,,¢re still alive. Hobgoblins donâ,¬,,¢t use such tricks as often, but their sense of honor still isnâ,¬,,¢t quite as strong as their thirst for victory.

On rare occasions, a Gob mayor may attempt a desperate ploy in which the invading forces are welcomed into the city walls as liberators and offered supplies. The town council acts as obsequious as possible to the invadersâ,¬,,¢ command corps and lets them sleep in the mayorâ,¬,,¢s house, which is burned to the ground that night as the militia takes advantage of the confusion with a brutal series of guerilla tactics. This will only work a few times in the war at large, and only in those towns that the Priest-Kings are interested in capturing to quarter their troops rather than sacking.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Wiegraf and the Dwarfbreakers]
Wiegrafâ,¬,,¢s orcs rarely devise strategies more complicated than â,¬Å"charge the enemy with overwhelming numbers of warriors until they stop living.â,¬Â Wiegrafâ,¬,,¢s tribes have almost no noncombatants; even women and children old enough to run join the teeming horde.

There are several orc adepts and a few orc sorcerers, with perhaps an occasional favored soul, but no wizards or clerics. Spellcasters often begin at the front lines, then fall back once they have fired a spell or two at the enemy. Healing usually has to wait until after the battle is over. Orc spellcasters are often multiclass adept/warriors or sorcerer/barbarians.
[/spoiler]

the_taken

The Priest-Kings have superior tactics. Fine, they're paladins guided by gods. It's expected.

The orcs are stereotypically retarded. WAAAAGH! Fine, they're orcs. We like them stupid.

But the goblins are not fighting dirty enough. I mean, it sounds dirty enough. "Put traps on the battle field." is fine. But from what I'm reading they're not using they're wizards and sorcerers effectively. Make those spell casters cast dirty.

Bill Volk

You caught me. I was having trouble thinking of sufficiently dirty tricks on the fly. Of course the presence of arcane spellcasters opens up new reams of dirtiness, from impersonating a commander to hiding the whole town with Hallucinatory Terrain to firing catapult stones with Symbol spells on them or extending peace treaties full of Sepia Snake Sigils. Some of the simpler rank-and-file soldiers of Chiaros might even mistake a Sending or Dream spell for a revelation from on high. If my PCs get involved in this aspect of the war, I'm sure they'll have fun tinking of more things for themselves...

the_taken

For more unbridled munchkinry, and magician optimization I present Spells that Kill People
Hand out the ones with area effects to the goblinoids and you have one anti-army force.

Bill Volk

Come on, man. Area spells against armies are fun, but they aren't "dirty tricks." In a mid-magic or high-magic campaign, they're business as usual. An army that doesn't plan for contact with a fireball or color spray is just asking for it.

Maybe this is just my perverse sense of humor talking, but the most beautiful death-by-spell would come from a "crap utility spell" that was expurgated from that preceding list. What could be a more satisfying (or more unexpected) display of goblinoid cunning than a prestidigitation that wins the day?

As for that list, I haven't seen a more definitive roundup of the least fun spells in the game. I like the illusion spells (except phantasmal killer, of course,) but the rest of them turn a whole encounter into a mindless test of luck.  This is the same reason I hate to use traps - one guy rolls one die (possibly two,) and then the encounter's over. No thought or imagination required.
Many of those spells don't even kill people. A better name would be "Spells that end the fight."

Anyway, my mind is turning now to the specific adventure I'm going to run with this setting. This means I'll need a hook (and corresponding guidelines or chargen) and some much more specific details for the part of the world where the campaign will begin. I'll update when I come up with anything.

the_taken

Ow. My ego... I really though I found gold with that thread.

Creative use of utility spells, have the goblins sling some rocks then have their assigned mage speak the command word to end his many Shrink Item spells in mid air. Battle field control and damage, all in one.

Bill Volk

Don't worry about it; it's really a matter of taste. And those are some pretty good ideas, too. Even so, I wonder what the author of that list has against spells that, you know, deal damage.

the_taken

Ratio of effectiveness.
It takes 4 fireballs to take down a troll, if it doesn't make any of it's saves and the flames deal average damage. Plus the troll has about a 60% chance of making it's save. But deep slumber has about a 60% success rate to take the troll out. It's simply safer, and more economical, to use a single spell that will likely take the monster out right now, than to use four spells, three of which are guaranteed not to take the thing down.

Bill Volk

At the request of a non-forum friend of mine, I'm going into more depth about some of the settings cultures and their values and such.

Chiaros

Chiaros is a relatively new nation, being only about 100 years old. Chiaros came to be during a â,¬Å"dark ageâ,¬Â when plague and constant war between the human nations nearly spelled the end of humanity. A company of seven adventurers began manifesting brief displays of godlike power and claiming to represent seven Archangels that had come to bring world peace. Quickly and violently, they carved out an area of land for themselves and became the first seven Priest-Kings. Desperate human communities fled to their territory and gained asylum and land rights by converting to their new faith. Always eager to expand, Chiaros took land from the war-torn human nations to the East as its military might grew. Within 20 years, Chiaros became a great nation unto itself, bred to survive in times of crisis and evidently watched over by divine powers. At the time that the campaign begins, Chiaros has become the most powerful of the human nations, it finds itself at peace with the rest of humanity, and now it turns its attention to the territory to its west, which is unsettled by humans and seemingly ripe for the taking.

Chiaran values and moral law can be summed up in the Seven Promulgations, each one of which represents the primary concern of a different Archangel. The Promulgations were spoken by the original seven Priest-Kings while they were all channeling their respective Archangels, and they serve as the foundation of much of Chiaran law. Here they are, in ascending order along the hierarchy of Archangels:

Barachiel â,¬' The Faith is for all mortals. Convert whom you can.
Erathaol â,¬' The Archangels separate good knowledge from dangerous knowledge, and They reveal knowledge as it is needed. Trust in Their ability to provide it.
Domiel â,¬' Mortals that refuse or debase the Faith may be dealt with by any means necessary.
Raziel â,¬' The undead, fiends, and all other outlets of unholy power are to be destroyed without question and without compromise.
Pistis Sophia â,¬' The Archangels smile upon chastity and forbearance. Deprive yourself of what you do not need to show your love for Them.
Sealtiel â,¬' Among believers, the strong must protect the weak. Watch over those below you, and do not object to being watched over by those above.
Zaphkiel â,¬' The purity of the Archangels is ineffable, Their nature is unknowable, and Their will is unquestionable. Humble and mortify yourselves before Them.


Gob

The Three Nations of Gob came into being a millenium ago when the three goblinoid races opened the borders of their respective city-states to each other and a â,¬Å"spirit of brotherhoodâ,¬Â among goblinoids came into fashion. Historical records of the time are spotty, but it is believed that the agreement began when several hobgoblin city-states came under heavy attack from overwhelming numbers of orcs, and a goblin named Gobmonger and a bugbear named Grarg offered their tribesâ,¬,,¢ aid to the hobgoblin warlord Gerrick Hobgob.

Members of the three goblinoid races donâ,¬,,¢t always get along, of course, but their perceived â,¬Å"brotherhoodâ,¬Â is a strong and deep-seated value that outsiders sometimes have trouble recognizing. Goblinoids fight and compete amongst each other, often viciously, but the overt hostility is something akin to sibling rivalry. Feuds between goblinoids donâ,¬,,¢t often become deadly, and one goblinoid will often stop feuding with another (even of a different race) and jump to his aid the moment an outside threat presents itself.

The Three Nations of Gob are also the only republic in the world. Their electoral process is ludicrously corrupt, and mayors and Gob Coucilors usually act like tyrants in all but name, but Gob citizens nonetheless take great pride that they â,¬Å"inventedâ,¬Â representative government. Voter turnout is high among all Gob cities, and thatâ,¬,,¢s not even counting all the dead citizens whose names mysteriously keep turning up on the ballots.

Goblin adepts and scholars often study The Musings of Councilor Gobmonger, the journal of the first representative of the goblin race in the Three Nations of Gob. Gobmonger was a highly prolific writer whose daily musings sometimes contradicted each other, but he generally named personal happiness as the greatest good and wrote extensive lists and descriptions of things that made him happy, including material wealth, respect from other goblinoids, defeating others at any kind of competition, and sex.
Though Gobmonger was not exactly a pious or spiritual thinker, his Musings include several â,¬Å"business lettersâ,¬Â to deities of various humanoid pantheons, and some divine spellcasters claim to draw their inspiration from Gobmongerish philosophy.


Orc tribes

Orcs, including all of Wiegrafâ,¬,,¢s tribes, value simplicity, sincerity, and the ability to make babies. The life of an orcish nomad is often tough, so those who cannot both give and receive pain are seen as inferior.

To an orc, the correct way to solve a problem is by hitting it over the head as the rest of the tribe looks on. Chieftains technically have the power to settle disputes among the orcs in their tribes, but they usually let them be settled through judicial combat.

Orc traditions are material rather than verbal or ideological. Totems, weapons, and other heirlooms are passed down (or taken by force) from the older generation to the younger. Because of their nomadic lifestyle, their only concept of wealth is portable, usually useful material objects. Totems are also the basis of orcish religion â,¬' an orcish divine spellcaster will often literally worship his or her holy symbol.

Aries

Well, having Lawful Good NPC's as "Bad Guys" all depends on their own personality. When the Franj and Muslims fought I don't think either side was good or bad. View it like this, perhaps the LG religious texts say goblinoids were an abomination created by fiends and demonic entities when  the wars of light and darkness raged across the planet in the time of ledgends. Therefore all Goblinoids are considered evil spirits, and or the ancestors of demonic beings and are therefore inherintly evil and unholy and nothing good will come from their survival. The extinction of man will happen and the enslavement of good forever if the goblins are allowed to breed. This in and of itself will have any paladin give the ok nod to kill any captive or surrendered enemy. The fate of mankind and the gods demand we kill them. Nuff So in a goblins perspective KILL THE HUMANS ! said. :axe:  :explode:


Bill Volk

That's not a bad idea, but I try to avoid fate or prophecy as a source of plot hooks or villain motivations. It's a little contrived. I'm afraid it might lead to the aforementioned "misunderstood heroes fighting racism" stereotype.

Also, goblins in my setting really aren't descended from fiends, and I like to give my villains a little more credit than to be motivated entirely by a complete misconception.

As it is, here are the motivations I have:

The PCs' territory is contains real fiends, undead, tieflings. and other unholy creatures.

The PCs' territory and the paladins' kingdom weren't at peace before the invasion. Smaller attacks and raids had been taking place on both sides for years, and thus the invasion can be seen as a preventative/retributive act rather than an unprovoked act of war.

The paladins' kingdom is relatively young and eager to expand.

The paladins want to spread their faith to the humanoids once they securely occupy the territory.

Pioneers are determined to move West into the PCs' territory, whether the paladins like it or not. If an army isn't there to clear the way for them, it will cost innocent human lives.