[3.5] Can one be rendered unkillable except for an external weakness?

[INoKnowNames]

I wonder if I can combine the ideas here with the ones in the constitution thread I just made.

In any case, there's a certain character type I want to model, through monsters, prestige classes, or whatever. Basically, this character shrugs off all physical damage and completely ignore spells or other affects aimed at him... because of a special item containing the bulk of his life force is in another location nearby (even though the smart thing to do would be to get some epic magic and build a special fortress to hide it in). If this item were to be reunited with the main character, the immortality is lost. And if the item were to be destroye, the character would also die.

I'm trying to map out cool encounters ahead of time. Is there any way to do something like this without homebrew or just rule zeroing it? II'm a little aware ofLiches, but given that they can potentialy be insta destroyed, I don't think they fit just right.

[Duboris]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrL3Hmpdvrg

Sounds a bit like a lich, but technically you could just make it a plot device and make him completely immune to almost everything short of a sphere of annihilation, or a sudden rip in the astral plane.

For good measure, I'd make him an "Advancing Wall of Doom"

[ryu]

Regeneration big t style and antimagic field projected from him tied to the equivalent of a lich phylactery. If the soul hidey place gets brought back the regeneration is suppressed. If it's destroyed outright lich insta destroy as you said. Fluff it as a custom magic item of cost I don't know what and technically be within the rules.

[Gavinfoxx]

Weeellll.... the thing with D&D is that it is really, really, really, really hard to make something completely impossible to be made 'no longer a problem', if you actually stat it out and say 'these stats are set in stone'. The rules REALLY favor players (well, spellcasting player characters) being able to make something no longer a problem or threat...

read the Stuffy Doll thread, and all the iterations it went through to make it more and more difficult to kill...

[Duboris]

Weeellll.... the thing with D&D is that it is really, really, really, really hard to make something completely impossible to be made 'no longer a problem', if you actually stat it out and say 'these stats are set in stone'. The rules REALLY favor players (well, spellcasting player characters) being able to make something no longer a problem or threat...

read the Stuffy Doll thread, and all the iterations it went through to make it more and more difficult to kill...

And the sad part is it's still killable.

[INoKnowNames]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrL3Hmpdvrg

Sounds a bit like a lich, but technically you could just make it a plot device and make him completely immune to almost everything short of a sphere of annihilation, or a sudden rip in the astral plane.

For good measure, I'd make him an "Advancing Wall of Doom"

.... that's actually the -EXACT- character I wanted to base this boss off of. You get points for guessing it perfectly.


Regeneration big t style and antimagic field projected from him tied to the equivalent of a lich phylactery. If the soul hidey place gets brought back the regeneration is suppressed. If it's destroyed outright lich insta destroy as you said. Fluff it as a custom magic item of cost I don't know what and technically be within the rules.

So the closest first response that fits in the rules would be for it to be a ridiculousy expensive magic item... I guess I can fall back on that if nothing else, at least once the costs are figured out. Heck, the constitution build could still fit, making him tough as nails when finally weakened into normalcy...


Weeellll.... the thing with D&D is that it is really, really, really, really hard to make something completely impossible to be made 'no longer a problem', if you actually stat it out and say 'these stats are set in stone'. The rules REALLY favor players (well, spellcasting player characters) being able to make something no longer a problem or threat...

read the Stuffy Doll thread, and all the iterations it went through to make it more and more difficult to kill...

Where is the Stuff Doll thread? My google fu sucks... Doesn't help that I get pop ups every time I try to click a link, rather than the link itself... I think I have a virus...

[Golden Ladybug]

Hmm, sounded like Dorian Gray to me, as in The Picture of

But it also made me think of the Aleax, from the Book of Exalted Deeds, which has the weird trait "Singular Enemy", which makes them immune to harm from all but the person they were created to hunt down and challenge.

Maybe making it so that the Aleax's singular enemy is it's "phylactery"?

[Duboris]

Here's an idea for you.

An Artifact that can, at the price of requiring the containment of your soul, grants perfect immunity to all things that aren't artifacts.

I'm thinking of a little glass ball that has a sort of will-o-wisp type of smoke inside it, which is now your character's soul. Off in the distance. There's no price, of course, because Its a boss, but at the same time, as soon as the soul is removed, it'll shatter into oblivion and become impossible to rebuild.

The Glass ball can have an AC of 12, 1 hp, and 0 hardness, meaning that if you throw a well-placed rock at it, it'll die. Also make it to where if someone picks it up that isn't the owner of the soul inside that they take 6d6 damage, as well as 3 constitution damage (Temporary, but lasts a week.)

All things are possible through the use of the spell "Summon: Plot Device"

[Arundel]

The only thing that pops into mind as only kill able one possible way is that thing Tippy makes Ice Assassins out of. I think the ability in question is singular enemy and it only allows damage from one creature in all the multiverse.

Away from book though, so be prepared for all that to be wrong.

[Piggy Knowles]

Use Astral Projection to make a double of yourself, re-join the material plane, then shrink the original body down and hide it somewhere. That's your "power source." (In actuality, it's the real you, but work with me here.)

Find some way to gain immunity to physical damage, which could be as simple as a persisted Delay Death effect, or as complicated as the Emerald Legion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101587).

For immunity to spells, AMF probably won't work in this case (especially if you're using spells to keep up your immunity to physical damage), so I'd suggest Dweomer of Transference (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/spells/dweomerOfTransference.htm).

In order to kill you, someone would have to break down the invisible, incorporeal silvery cord that connects you to your "power source" (which requires a very specific githyanki item), or they'd need to take out the power source itself.

[TuggyNE]

The only thing that pops into mind as only kill able one possible way is that thing Tippy makes Ice Assassins out of. I think the ability in question is singular enemy and it only allows damage from one creature in all the multiverse.

Away from book though, so be prepared for all that to be wrong.

Aleaxes. Already mentioned.

[Kelb_Panthera]

The closest thing I can think of is the soul-locked characteristic listed in HoH. Of course, all that characteristic really says is "here's the official okay to make it unkillable except by plot device."

[Duboris]

The closest thing I can think of is the soul-locked characteristic listed in HoH. Of course, all that characteristic really says is "here's the official okay to make it unkillable except by plot device."

Hence my suggestion of just making the damned thing up, making it stupidly easy to break, and then making it stupidly hard to get to.

It practically gives you the perfect excuse to go to a completely over-the-top far away place, into a completely ridiculous, recently constructed complex, and be filled to the brim with every manner of stereotypical enemy possible.

Plot. Device.

[Eldariel]

Where is the Stuff Doll thread? My google fu sucks... Doesn't help that I get pop ups every time I try to click a link, rather than the link itself... I think I have a virus...

It's on the frontpage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=256950). And yeah, you might want to consider system wipe and reinstall if you have problems.

[INoKnowNames]

Hmm, sounded like Dorian Gray to me, as in The Picture of

But it also made me think of the Aleax, from the Book of Exalted Deeds, which has the weird trait "Singular Enemy", which makes them immune to harm from all but the person they were created to hunt down and challenge.

Maybe making it so that the Aleax's singular enemy is it's "phylactery"?

It certainly seems like there are some traits that are similar to what I'm looking for, at least in ability, if I wanted to try to homebrew something.


Here's an idea for you.

An Artifact that can, at the price of requiring the containment of your soul, grants perfect immunity to all things that aren't artifacts.

I'm thinking of a little glass ball that has a sort of will-o-wisp type of smoke inside it, which is now your character's soul. Off in the distance. There's no price, of course, because Its a boss, but at the same time, as soon as the soul is removed, it'll shatter into oblivion and become impossible to rebuild.

The Glass ball can have an AC of 12, 1 hp, and 0 hardness, meaning that if you throw a well-placed rock at it, it'll die. Also make it to where if someone picks it up that isn't the owner of the soul inside that they take 6d6 damage, as well as 3 constitution damage (Temporary, but lasts a week.)

All things are possible through the use of the spell "Summon: Plot Device"

I suppose an Artifact would be grounds for "I can do whatever I want", but I've got this nast notion that that's very flimzy for a Dm to do. Is it right to just make up things for a game and say "lol dm"?


The only thing that pops into mind as only kill able one possible way is that thing Tippy makes Ice Assassins out of. I think the ability in question is singular enemy and it only allows damage from one creature in all the multiverse.

Away from book though, so be prepared for all that to be wrong.

Ice Assassin's kinda limited for this sort of thing, though.


Use Astral Projection to make a double of yourself, re-join the material plane, then shrink the original body down and hide it somewhere. That's your "power source." (In actuality, it's the real you, but work with me here.)

Find some way to gain immunity to physical damage, which could be as simple as a persisted Delay Death effect, or as complicated as the Emerald Legion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101587).

For immunity to spells, AMF probably won't work in this case (especially if you're using spells to keep up your immunity to physical damage), so I'd suggest Dweomer of Transference (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/spells/dweomerOfTransference.htm).

In order to kill you, someone would have to break down the invisible, incorporeal silvery cord that connects you to your "power source" (which requires a very specific githyanki item), or they'd need to take out the power source itself.

That's actually a pretty good attempt! I wonder if it should be weak to psionics, since such things might disrupt the connectio the soul has to the body.... anyone that tries it would get a bit of insight to what it actually is...


The closest thing I can think of is the soul-locked characteristic listed in HoH. Of course, all that characteristic really says is "here's the official okay to make it unkillable except by plot device."

Which one is Hoh?


Hence my suggestion of just making the damned thing up, making it stupidly easy to break, and then making it stupidly hard to get to.

It practically gives you the perfect excuse to go to a completely over-the-top far away place, into a completely ridiculous, recently constructed complex, and be filled to the brim with every manner of stereotypical enemy possible.

Plot. Device.

The only thing I'd want to do is make it not kill the boss when it's been destroyed, maybe automatically linking his soul back to him. Then he can be beaten up in a fight, begging for mercy, and possibly giving up information if not slain.

This is where the constitution build would be a boon, since it might keep the players from instantly slaughtering him for having had to deal with him.

I'm also not completely sure of the item itself being so vunerable, if only because that particular boss fight was awesome. A bit of drama in having to destroy the heart of the beast in time before the raging monster destroys the town to get to you....


It's on the frontpage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=256950). And yeah, you might want to consider system wipe and reinstall if you have problems.

It wasn't on the front page at the time of your posting, though I'll have to check it for info. If nothing else, for the traits to homebrew.

Really? An entire system reset? I should be able to find a way to fix this; it only occurs on Google.... haven't tried it with Firefox, either, just internet explorer...

[Kelb_Panthera]

HoH = Heroes of Horror. Soul-locked is amongst the variants early in the book, but it's kinda tucked away. It's on page 47.

[dextercorvia]

An old version of the Heart of Stone spell basically did this. The one in SpC is pretty nerfed from the one I remember (which may even be 2e).