LansXero
2011-05-26, 04:54 AM
Hello everyone!
In the campaign Im currently running as DM I had decided to include the Destiny Arms (Secrets of Xendrik, page 150) as a plot-device and something the players have been looking for during some two months of RL time (Around three months in-game). Well, looking for the items they have faced numerous enemies and acquired wealth and equipment, and last session they finally got a hold of the Maul of the Glacier Heights. . . and its very underwhelming, comparatively speaking. These are supposed to be legendary powerful weapons, able to change the tide of battle for their wielders, but mechanically they are very. . . meh. So, Id like it if you could suggest some improvements or apropriate abilties to add to them to serve as both plot devices and gear improvements.
To help with that Ill add a brief campaign description:
One of the plots of the campaign revolves around a general uprising of the dispersed Sahuagin tribes and clans, rallied under the banner of a rising star of piracy, who is idealistic and charismatic for his fishmen and cruel and brutal to everything else in the planet. The setting is Eberron and the way the campaign has gone, the party doesnt really like the Houses or the Five Nations much and Ive tried to use that to provide some sort of justification for why some of the less violent, mouth-foaming sahuagin are siding with the Pirate. Because the first thing he did to start his assault on the surface was breaking into the Merfolk Capital and stealing an orb with the ability to control the ocean flow. Alongside with luring a combined fleet against a different pirate gathering and emerging from the sea to wreck them both, so he is currently the most dangerous threat in the sea. I had it so the Sahuagin actually created the weapons and gifted them to the giants, who lived near the sunken capital of the now extinct Sahuagin Empire. When the giants wrecked the continent their capital was thrust into the south pole (much like India IRL) and the tidal waves and cataclismic earthquakes broke the empire beyond recovery. So the weapons are the Sahuagin's heritage, and a point of pride for them; as well as a means to unlock the true power of the orb. Namely, its purpose is to sink the whole of Khorvaire under the sea, and thats the cause all the fishmen are rallying for. But in their excursion to the ruined capital (where they found the Maul) the players discovered its mostly a ruse: The Pirate King is mad and worships the Devourer, who I made to be nothing more than the dreams of the Leviathan given self-consciousness through belief. He isnt trying to just sink the world, but to break it apart by awakening the dreamer with the unleashed power of the weapons combined.
the party details:
- Raptoran Druid 6 / Stormcaster 4 with Fleshraker pet and the Monk AC/Favored Enemy (Sahuagin & Undead) variant from UA (lose wildshape)
- Crucian Monk 8 / Monkish PRC 1.
- Kinethicist Psion though focused on Astral Construct and Skin of the Construct (wants to be an Ironman expy)
- New character, wants to be some sort of Silver Hand cleric or paladin.
- New character, wants to be some kind of assassin
So the two new guys are the only ones likely to even USE weapons, but then again it would be a bit too much metagaming if they came in just now coincidentally with builds around exploiting that specific weapon type / abilities, no?
and my own ideas for the weapons.
Ill expand upon this once Ive read through the Weapon of Legacy rules again, but a few points I thought would be good were:
-Use Magic's mana colors to define traits and stick a bit to the flavour of the weapons (Frost Maul is blue, Fire Axe is Red, Darkness Glaive is Black, Sand Spear would be White, but maybe needs refluffing. The Orb would be Green, making it the "5th weapon", sort of).
-For base weapon, go with: Deals damage as if one category larger, Increased Critical Threat Range (not an actual ability, so it can stack), a different Special Material for each, and Counts-As-Simple-Weapon. Also probably gonna make them all do two types of damage (a spiky frost maul would be piercing/bludgeoning, for example).
-Add legacy abilities at all three levels, although Id need to read carefully about rituals and all that. But no feat tax, that would be lame.
-Consider how much they would sell for, since thats the kind of players they are xD.
Thanks for any help in advance.
In the campaign Im currently running as DM I had decided to include the Destiny Arms (Secrets of Xendrik, page 150) as a plot-device and something the players have been looking for during some two months of RL time (Around three months in-game). Well, looking for the items they have faced numerous enemies and acquired wealth and equipment, and last session they finally got a hold of the Maul of the Glacier Heights. . . and its very underwhelming, comparatively speaking. These are supposed to be legendary powerful weapons, able to change the tide of battle for their wielders, but mechanically they are very. . . meh. So, Id like it if you could suggest some improvements or apropriate abilties to add to them to serve as both plot devices and gear improvements.
To help with that Ill add a brief campaign description:
One of the plots of the campaign revolves around a general uprising of the dispersed Sahuagin tribes and clans, rallied under the banner of a rising star of piracy, who is idealistic and charismatic for his fishmen and cruel and brutal to everything else in the planet. The setting is Eberron and the way the campaign has gone, the party doesnt really like the Houses or the Five Nations much and Ive tried to use that to provide some sort of justification for why some of the less violent, mouth-foaming sahuagin are siding with the Pirate. Because the first thing he did to start his assault on the surface was breaking into the Merfolk Capital and stealing an orb with the ability to control the ocean flow. Alongside with luring a combined fleet against a different pirate gathering and emerging from the sea to wreck them both, so he is currently the most dangerous threat in the sea. I had it so the Sahuagin actually created the weapons and gifted them to the giants, who lived near the sunken capital of the now extinct Sahuagin Empire. When the giants wrecked the continent their capital was thrust into the south pole (much like India IRL) and the tidal waves and cataclismic earthquakes broke the empire beyond recovery. So the weapons are the Sahuagin's heritage, and a point of pride for them; as well as a means to unlock the true power of the orb. Namely, its purpose is to sink the whole of Khorvaire under the sea, and thats the cause all the fishmen are rallying for. But in their excursion to the ruined capital (where they found the Maul) the players discovered its mostly a ruse: The Pirate King is mad and worships the Devourer, who I made to be nothing more than the dreams of the Leviathan given self-consciousness through belief. He isnt trying to just sink the world, but to break it apart by awakening the dreamer with the unleashed power of the weapons combined.
the party details:
- Raptoran Druid 6 / Stormcaster 4 with Fleshraker pet and the Monk AC/Favored Enemy (Sahuagin & Undead) variant from UA (lose wildshape)
- Crucian Monk 8 / Monkish PRC 1.
- Kinethicist Psion though focused on Astral Construct and Skin of the Construct (wants to be an Ironman expy)
- New character, wants to be some sort of Silver Hand cleric or paladin.
- New character, wants to be some kind of assassin
So the two new guys are the only ones likely to even USE weapons, but then again it would be a bit too much metagaming if they came in just now coincidentally with builds around exploiting that specific weapon type / abilities, no?
and my own ideas for the weapons.
Ill expand upon this once Ive read through the Weapon of Legacy rules again, but a few points I thought would be good were:
-Use Magic's mana colors to define traits and stick a bit to the flavour of the weapons (Frost Maul is blue, Fire Axe is Red, Darkness Glaive is Black, Sand Spear would be White, but maybe needs refluffing. The Orb would be Green, making it the "5th weapon", sort of).
-For base weapon, go with: Deals damage as if one category larger, Increased Critical Threat Range (not an actual ability, so it can stack), a different Special Material for each, and Counts-As-Simple-Weapon. Also probably gonna make them all do two types of damage (a spiky frost maul would be piercing/bludgeoning, for example).
-Add legacy abilities at all three levels, although Id need to read carefully about rituals and all that. But no feat tax, that would be lame.
-Consider how much they would sell for, since thats the kind of players they are xD.
Thanks for any help in advance.