Special rewards (3.5 custom items, shackled city spoilers, PEACH)

[Telonius]

Hello, forumites. I'm currently DM'ing Shackled City, with a party (The Order of the Hungry Frog) composed of the following.

Male personality Warforged Warblade
Male Human VoP Monk/Sorcerer
Male Dwarf Artificer/Rogue
Female Halfling Druid (shapeshifter variant) with Dire Frog companion.

As part of the Shackled City campaign, the group is going to be sent to Occipitus, a layer of the Abyss/layer of Celestia, and given the "Test of the Smoking Eye." As part of this, they get a lantern that lights up their path before them. They just follow the road to their goal.

This got me thinking. Looking at the party, we have ...

Tin Man
Cowardly Lion
Scarecrow
Dorothy and Toto

Also, Glinda (archon that sends them on the quest), a wicked witch (Kaurophon), and a Wizard (fallen celestial that made the test).

This of course has forced me to come up with some custom rewards for the group completing that quest.

Amulet of the Soulforged. Appears to be a clockwork heart. 1/month polymorph from Warforged to a PHB race for 24 hours. +2 inherent bonus to Con the first time it's activated.

Tome of Courage (with stone of return). Borrowed from the Library of Celestia. Grants +2 inherent bonus to Charisma and permanent immunity to Fear. (Usable only by the person named on the stone of return; you really don't want to rack up late fees on this one).

Artificer's Schematics. Spend one hour studying these schematics to get a +2 to all Craft checks for 24 hours. Also grants +2 inherent bonus to Int on first use.

Pioneer's Homestead. Clay block expands into a ranch house upon command. The appearance of the house, and the landscaping of the surrounding two acres, is determined by the owner at time of creation; minor changes are possible up to one month after creation. The ranch house otherwise functions as though it were a Permanent "Secure Shelter" spell. Counts as a "base of operations" for the Leadership feat, and grants a +2 inherent bonus to Wisdom upon creation.

Obviously Kaurophon is going to be wearing red shoes that function as a Plane Shift spell (one charge remaining).

I know these are quite a bit more powerful than the standard items at that level, but I've severely increased the difficulty level of most of their encounters and want to give them something special. (Also, by personal experience the BBEG of the whole campaign is vastly more powerful than most of the other creatures in the campaign). Do these items seem thematically appropriate, and about equal to each other in power?

[DracoDei]

An across the board power increase just means, at WORST, that you need to give them an invisible +1 LA without telling them.

The powers don't seem overwhelming... very nice, but hardly campaign breakers.

How does a dwarf Artificer/Rogue qualify as the Scarecrow, other than being someone who benefits from an INT boost?

VoP = Vow of Peace in this case? I am used to that meaning Vow of Poverty. Because otherwise I am not seeing him as being "cowardly".

[deuxhero]

Once a month for 24 hours? That seems really lame compared to the others.

[sigurd]

Pioneer's Homestead


Is this like a portable house? I see unavoidable abuse for a reusable item that landscapes 2 acres of surrounding land.

[DracoDei]

deuxhero:
Since 1/month was only specified in the first one I assumed that to be "at will".


sigurd:
Well, if it pushes/stretches the surrounding terrain that might be fine, or maybe say that it doesn't over-write structures or topography, even temporarily. Another other option is that the back door of the house leads to the farmland in a pocket dimension, but the house itself appears on the Prime Material when summoned. Or maybe he meant that once placed it can't be moved? That would actually be pretty lame, even with it counting as a base of operations.

[Telonius]

Once a month for 24 hours? That seems really lame compared to the others.

This was the one I'm most concerned about. The player in question has a history of playing Warforged that are fascinated with the more fleshy characters. I think the player would consider that ability alone sufficiently awesome to not feel left out. I would like to tack something else onto it, but I'm not sure what that could be, without needing to give the others a slight tweak. (I should also note that Polymorph magic is generally unavailable, per house rule).

To Draco - Yes, Vow of Poverty. That's why I'm having it be a borrowed book, rather than an owned magic item. The book itself is an Artifact, which grants any reader these bonuses (not like a one-shot-and-done item like a Tome of Leadership). And since it's been sent direct from Celestia, and will return there immediately after he's done reading it, I think that's close enough in keeping with the spirit of Vow of Poverty. (The Vow does say that you can drink potions and such provided by your allies, and I think this counts as something similar enough not to matter).

EDIT: The player has also taken a Vow of Nonviolence, which has given the Stormblades reason to plant rumors doubting his courage.

As to the Dwarf being Scarecrow, the player is married to the Halfling's player. I think she'd miss him most. :smallbiggrin:

To Sigurd - no, the keep is permanently planted wherever you set it. After all, there's no place like home, and that kind of gets lost if you can pick up and move your home whenever you want. :smallbiggrin: I got the idea from the Instant Fortress (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Instant_Fortress), but I think a Druid would appreciate a log cabin and nice landscape more than a big stone building.

[deuxhero]

Do you ban Disguise self as well? The amulet isn't that much of an improvment (you aren't gaining anything beyond appearance, while alter self give you wings, natural armor, skill bonuses stats boosts ect) beyond not having issues with touching and has the disadvantage of limited forms.

[Telonius]

Alter Self is banned, Disguise Self is not.

[dsmiles]

Your premise amuses me, I shall kill you last and swiftly when I take over the known universe.:smallwink:

[Cyanic]

This had me chuckling , good stuff too.