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View Full Version : Did I just do something Awesome, or something Stupid?



Kane0
2013-01-30, 05:01 PM
Hey Guys.

In my new campaign, I have a player with a Warlock. On the first real chance to go shopping, this Warlock found something called a/the Chaos Shield, which he cannot use proficiently but still bought to use, trading in his arcane staff which was good in its own right.

Now, at the time I hadn't really gone in depth about it, but since it is now part of the party I rolled up three tables for it's use. I roll at the beginning of the day to see which table the Warlock rolls from, and when the shield is struck in melee (an attack roll of the warlocks AC to his AC -5) or he hits an opponent with it in melee he rolls for the effect that takes place.

The thing that concerns me is that the possible effects range from cantrips going off and mundane items being dropped at his feet to random level 9 spells going off and temporary portals to other planes opening up and sucking him up. I have effectively given him an item of artifact power for a bargain price of like 50 gp at a really low level. I hope that the random effects mean that he cannot use it to destroy the game. I trust the player not to abuse it, but he loves it to bits and will likely try to keep this shield for the rest of the campaign.

So GitP, was this a blunder or a masterstroke?

Edit: Just to note, this game is running under my own homebrewed upgrade to 3.5, which already rides on a higher average power level as is. This party of 6 is taking ECL 4 encounters and opposing parties of level 2-3 at level 1 without heavy casualties and just mundane gear (chaos shield notwithstanding).

Grod_The_Giant
2013-01-30, 05:18 PM
I assume this is based off the shield in Goblins? It sounds awesome, truthfully, as long as the effects aren't all positive. Summoning a demon to fight for you? Worrying from a balance standpoint. Summoning a demon to fight everyone? Brilliant!

You can also subtly weight the tables to favor more level-appropriate effects.

Jane_Smith
2013-01-30, 05:21 PM
Or just use the rod of wonder effects. And roll twice each time its used and combine the effects somehow. :smallbiggrin: And/or deck of many things?

Kane0
2013-01-30, 05:47 PM
I was aware that there is probably already a Chaos Shield of some type out there, but hadn't encountered it.

I already have the tables ready to go, and there is about half good for the attacker and half good for the wielder. I think ill make the DCs and Caster level dependant on the wielder's level to help out a bit.

The Tables so far:
Table 1:
1-20 (1-4) Nothing
21-40 (5-8) Random mundane item appears within 10' of wielder or attacker
41-45 (9) Turns off for 1d3+1 rounds
46-50 (10) Heal 2d6 HP (Positive Energy) to both wielder and attacker
51-55 (11) Attacker takes 1d6 Fire damage & 1d6 Cold damage
56-60 (12) Wielder takes 1d6 Fire damage & 1d6 Cold damage
61-65 (13) Attacker takes 2d6 Electric Damage and 2d6 Acid Damage
66-70 (14) Wielder takes 2d6 Electric Damage and 2d6 Acid Damage
71-75 (15) Attacker takes 3d6 Force Damage and 3d6 Magic Damage
76-80 (16) Wielder takes 3d6 Force Damage and 3d6 Magic Damage
81-85 (17) Shield Eats Attackers weapon or absorbs attack, negating attack (CMA check rescues weapon)
86-90 (18) Portal to random location appears between wielder and attacker (Ref to avoid getting sucked in for attacker and wielder)
91-95 (19) Wielder cannot attack attacker for 1d3 +1 rounds (will DC negates, mind affecting effect)
96-100 (20) Attacker dies (Fort negates, death effect)

Table 2

1-20 (1-4) Attacker gains 20% Spell & Technique Failure (1d3 rounds)
21-40 (5-8) Wielder gains 20% Spell & Technique Failure (1d3 rounds)
41-45 (9) Attacker receives +2d4 to AC (1d3 rounds)
46-50 (10) Wielder receives +2d4 to AC (1d3 rounds)
51-55 (11) Attacker receives advantage on attack (1d3 rounds)
56-60 (12) Wielder receives advantage on attack (1d3 rounds)
61-65 (13) Attacker receives advantage on all saves (1d3 rounds)
66-70 (14) Wielder receives advantage on all saves (1d3 rounds)
71-75 (15) Attacker gains fast healing 2 and DR 4/- (1d3 rounds)
76-80 (16) Wielder gains fast healing 2 and DR 4/- (1d3 rounds)
81-85 (17) Attacker Recovers all stat damage/penalties and removes all conditions
86-90 (18) Wielder Recovers all stat damage/penalties and removes all conditions
91-95 (19) Attacker recovers all Techniques and Spells
96-100 (20) Wielder recovers all Techniques and Spells


Table 3

1-20 (1-4) Nothing
21-40 (5-8) Random Cantrip to both attacker and wielder
41-45 (9) Random Level 1-3 Divine Spell on attacker
46-50 (10) Random Level 1-3 Arcane Spell on attacker
51-55 (11) Random Level 1-3 Divine Spell on wielder
56-60 (12) Random Level 1-3 Arcane Spell on wielder
61-65 (13) Random Level 4-6 Divine Spell on attacker
66-70 (14) Random Level 4-6 Arcane Spell on attacker
71-75 (15) Random Level 4-6 Divine Spell on wielder
76-80 (16) Random Level 4-6 Arcane Spell on wielder
81-85 (17) Random Level 7-9 Divine Spell on attacker
86-90 (18) Random Level 7-9 Arcane Spell on attacker
91-95 (19) Random Level 7-9 Divine Spell on wielder
96-100 (20) Random Level 7-9 Arcane Spell on wielder

nedz
2013-01-30, 06:46 PM
Well having introduced this into your game I suggest you run with it.
Eventually it will off the PC, or itself, and that will be the end of the matter.
The collateral damage could be hilarious however — do make sure to keep us posted.:smallbiggrin:

Kane0
2013-01-30, 07:04 PM
As of now he has only summoned a teapot into the square behind him.

Which he used later on to brew a 'tea' using a cure light wounds potion and some devilweed he found.

TuggyNE
2013-01-30, 08:24 PM
Hmm. The randomness means it can't be deliberately used in his favor very well (without severe cheese), but unfortunately that never stopped the Deck of Many Things from eating campaigns, so I'm afraid this is likely to be quite destabilizing, especially given the absurdly open-ended nature of the spell table.

Kane0
2013-01-30, 10:21 PM
And a fair bit of extra dice rolling too...

Gnomish Wanderer
2013-01-30, 10:49 PM
I've done this too, in a Goblins Comic inspired game (All goblin campaign, from a camp that got wiped out, etc.). The shield was in the hands of a barbarian who loved it, no matter how inverse the effects sometimes (.... Maybe often) were for the party. It did things like perform True Resurrection on an undead they had just killed, to teleporting the whole party into the middle of the ocean once, to polymorphing the barbarian into an elephant, etc. The player loved the item but all too often his only action was 'I activate the shield!' It certainly made the game more interesting.

Kane0
2013-01-30, 11:16 PM
That is the kind of outcome I am hoping for Gnomish Wanderer. Fortunately the shield activates upon striking something or by blocking something (for the warlock this means if he shield bashes and gets a hit, or if the attacker misses by up to 5 points of AC).

I hope it is a little more manageable this way.

Gnomish Wanderer
2013-01-31, 01:25 AM
That's how mine activated. The player very quickly decided he would just strike the shield himself with various clubs. I couldn't think of a reason to say no.

Kane0
2013-01-31, 02:29 AM
If my player tried that, he would count as both the attacker and the wielder, so in most cases would not be beneficial. Even on table 2 (he wouldnt know he got that table) there is a 40% chance of spell failure as opposed to any of the other listed benefits.

PetterTomBos
2013-01-31, 02:46 AM
I semi-do this with my group, with a custom rod of wonder. It has separate out of combat and in combat abilities, with extra negative and positive effects. It works quite nicely with a chaotic gnome ! :)

Fortuna
2013-01-31, 03:39 AM
I have little to contribute... but I feel compelled to note that the options proposed in the thread title are not mutually exclusive. :smalltongue::smallbiggrin::smallcool:

Thialfi
2013-01-31, 09:27 AM
This sounds to me like something that will be awesome early, but get old really fast.

It will be funny seeing all the randomness, then it will get tedious slowing down and extending combat.

Friv
2013-01-31, 09:49 AM
oh god shield of wonder oh god

Okay, seriously, though. Chaotic insanity can be fun, depending on the game.

I have a suggestion, though - rather than stopping fights to roll up effects a dozen times, sit down now and use a computer to roll up about a hundred d100s in a row, then use a Find and Replace to note down the effect of each number. Anything with a further random effect, such as spell selection, should also get picked. Do this once for each table.

Then, each day, work your way down the list that you generated earlier.

It'll save a ton of time in the game itself, and give you some advance warning for some of the crazier things that might happen, while leaving the actual generation of effects totally random.

Madwand99
2013-01-31, 12:31 PM
I have a suggestion, though - rather than stopping fights to roll up effects a dozen times, sit down now and use a computer to roll up about a hundred d100s in a row, then use a Find and Replace to note down the effect of each number. Anything with a further random effect, such as spell selection, should also get picked. Do this once for each table.

Then, each day, work your way down the list that you generated earlier.

This is a very good idea. You could even work certain effects into the plot. "Teleported to random location" could become "Teleported to a dungeon I've already prepared." etc. Heck, for certain plot effects you want to happen, just decide ahead of time what they'll be. You can activate them whenever you want by having an opponent miss the warlock.

W3bDragon
2013-01-31, 01:52 PM
Since you're worry seems to be causing a TPK or similar destruction of the campaign, you need some story based control over the shield. So, make it intelligent.

Concoct some trickster style personality and put it in there, quietly, dropping only a couple of hints here or there. You can say that the trickster just keeps messing with the wielder to see how much he can take, but he isn't interested in outright TPKing the group.

So, the randomness of the results can be interpreted as giving the wielder just enough positive stuff to keep using the shield and dropping bad stuff on him to see how much he'll take and keep using the shield.

When things finally lead to a TPK or similar situation, he wakes up, laughs, calls the wielder a good sport for putting up with all the tricks he pulled on him, and uses his artifact level of power to fix things, then disappears forever.

Jay R
2013-01-31, 03:19 PM
Don't forget Table IV, used when the shield becomes either a problem for the game, or just boring:

01-20 Shield breaks, and loses all power.
21-40 Shield disappears
41-60 Shield disappears and is replaced by another magical shield
61-80 Shield disappears and is replaced by a random magical item
81-90 Shield disappears while summoning a wandering monster.
91-95 Shield disappears while being replaced by a plot hook.
96-99 Shield uses its last charge and becomes non-magical.
00 Shield creates a permanent Wall os Stone, in which it is embedded. It can be used, but it cannot be moved again. (The shield is part of the Wall. If the wall goes, so does the shield.)

SowZ
2013-01-31, 05:29 PM
In a fairly low magic game, I had a paintbrush that when painted in a proper circle would act as greater teleport, (those types of spells didn't really exist normally in this setting.) But if you used the paintbrush wrongly, it would create a random conjuration spell and no one would count as the caster for purposes of controlling summoned creatures. The party had enough paint for two uses. Once, they painted a mustache on someone. It summoned a small monster which killed the guy.

The second time, they used it in the middle of a massive battle where the side they were on was hopelessly outnumbered. They had one use, and I rolled a computer generated dX where X is the number of all the conjuration spells. Elemental Swarm was cast, which was enough to completely change the entire battle. Crazy, crazy times. But very memorable.

Jay R
2013-02-01, 12:37 AM
By the way, don't assume it must be either awesome or stupid. Lots of things are both.