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View Full Version : Lizard renesance (3.5)



Adamaro
2010-12-28, 06:39 PM
In a world I am preparing for next campaign, lizard-species made a big comeback. In a last huge arcane war so much magic was used that first magic-user, the Serpent was awakened and it in the end decided to give a chance to all those lizardmen, kobolds, chased yuan-tis and dragons who were but a mere sacks of XP for all those oppressive PC races. Some of the effects boosted lizard races by dramatically increasing chances of them to become spontaneous casters, especially sorcerers, but more importantly, the Serpent, also a god of magic, decided to re-shape the world a bit. With not many gods around to object, a powerfully spell was made by the Serpent to cause the following effects:
- global warming
- massive increase in yearly rainfall
- growth of jungles

So ... I was thinking of an epic permanent spell (definitely NOT something in a form of a breakable crystal, killable tree, destructible shrine), but something that could really give some kick to those lizard-guys and dragons. So, I would ask for help regarding some numeric descriptors of such a spell, but any other ideas regarding how to push those scaly species to the top of the food chain again, are much appreciated.

tnx

Maryring
2010-12-28, 09:59 PM
Just do it? The Serpent is a god by your own admission, therefore giving it the Weather domain and a SDA to control weather ought to be enough. There are also other SDA you can give him, depending on how active you want the Serpent to be. If nothing stops him, he can just spend his superior time and various SDA on making his favoured scalies bigger, better, smarter and stronger. This saves a lot of hassle with the epic spellcasting rules which can get rather wonky too.

Lateral
2010-12-28, 10:15 PM
Renaissance...

*walks off*

Glimbur
2010-12-28, 10:39 PM
Just do it? The Serpent is a god by your own admission, therefore giving it the Weather domain and a SDA to control weather ought to be enough. There are also other SDA you can give him, depending on how active you want the Serpent to be. If nothing stops him, he can just spend his superior time and various SDA on making his favoured scalies bigger, better, smarter and stronger. This saves a lot of hassle with the epic spellcasting rules which can get rather wonky too.

I agree with this. You should figure out how hard it is to dispel, and the effects, but calculating the exact DC, gold and XP costs is a waste of time.

Adamaro
2010-12-29, 06:04 AM
Cool. I was thinking of a CL 40.000 - something even a cheezemaker batman can not dispel. As for effects - do you think anything else should be added to those pre-mentioned (monsoon effect, growth effect, regional warming) effects?

Coidzor
2010-12-29, 06:11 AM
Cool. I was thinking of a CL 40.000 - something even a cheezemaker batman can not dispel.

This... is not exactly a healthy attitude to take, going into world building.


As for effects - do you think anything else should be added to those pre-mentioned (monsoon effect, growth effect, regional warming) effects?
If that's how you want to show off climate change, go for it. That only really matters, and even then... barely so, if you intend to have PCs experiencing the weather effects first hand.

molten_dragon
2010-12-29, 06:40 AM
:smallconfused:
Cool. I was thinking of a CL 40.000 - something even a cheezemaker batman can not dispel.

I really wouldn't suggest this. If you don't want the spell to be removable, don't give it any stats. giving it such a ridiculously high caster level is just kind of a slap in the face. And some people might take it as a challenge. Getting a caster level that high for a dispel check is probably doable.

Adamaro
2010-12-29, 08:16 AM
Ok, no CL 40.000 then. I'll just make it so, that only a genuine diety can dispel this thing. I was also thinking of some recognizable powers to be given to all lizard species who worship the Serpent. One would be a free metamgic feat at lvl 1 with no restriction (no higher spell slot, etc ...) like maximise spell. Maximized magic missile is not much of a hassle, but I think it emphasizes the good will of god of magic.
I was also thinking of a sort of a (Ex) skill Contingency - whenever scaly worshipper of the Serpent would be reduced to 1 or less hp, he is teleported to designated snake temple.

Thoughts?

Maryring
2010-12-29, 06:33 PM
As I said, make it a SDA, with the clause that only a deity of equal or higher rank can overrule the effect, and if he is the weather god as well, then there probably won't be anyone else around to mess with the weather the easy way.

Also, remember that transforming a lot of the land into rainforest will cause havoc on a lot of other things. I do not think that you need more than what you have though. Rainforests with lots of rivers, swamps and warmth are already plenty of natural advantages for scales.

As for other advantages, scrap the contingency. If there existed such a contingency, scales would be unstoppable. They would constantly wage war and not have any casualties unless up against creatures with non-hp kills. All other races would already have been eaten or enslaved. Nevermind that the PCs would be asking "so why isn't our god doing this for us?". Be more creative. Give Yuan-Ti hypnotism, growth or swallow whole to lizardmen, superior trap-sense to Kobolds. As for dragons... they need more? Perfect Shapechange? Access to domain spells? Interdimensional pocket dimensions in their stomachs for treasure storing?

Kalaska'Agathas
2010-12-29, 06:48 PM
Are you intending for the PCs to be scalies? 'Cause frankly Kobolds don't need any more boosting, they're pretty much the answer to everything anyways. I mean, for the price of two feats they get +3 to all mental stats and +3 Sorcerer levels, and they're already Tiny when it benefits them to be (on opposed checks, that is) and if you are the desert variant they don't even have that nasty Con penalty.

Edit: As far as the setting goes, that sounds like fun to play in. But why aren't the other gods stepping in? Why aren't they giving similar powers to their followers? Why aren't they banding together to stop the serpent? Expect your PCs to ask these sorts of questions.