Give me an Idea for a Epic Nation! (D&D 3.X)

[ShadowFireLance]

Alright, So I'm going to be joining a Epic nations game, and am in dire need of ideas.
I come to the forums for help!

No Dragon, Far Realm, Or Outsider themed nations.

Homebrew is allowed, but keep it simple.

[Jack_Simth]

Hmm... Drack's standard setup on the nation, so up to ECL 5 for the standard commoner is purchasable? You might try a nation of natural lycanthropes on for size.

If you want a demon-theme, the standard commoner could be a Dretch (2 RHD, +2 LA).

[unseenmage]

Commerce. Control all the epic spell research components. ALL OF THEM.

Your empire should be vast and multiplanar. Your merchants stingy and epically skilled.

The other players want fun new spells? Not if your coffers aren't filled to the brim with their ill gotten gains.

But what shall be your currency? Knowledge? Souls? The undiluted powdered heart of the Terrasque?

But seriously, my first thought was that this was about an entire nation of epic characters. Epic spell components as currency was right where I went.

Edit: The spice must flow.

Just sayin'.

[ArcturusV]

I was thinking bees myself. Bees in a hive mind. Which would be CR2... but possibly much higher ECL. But the hive mind numbers required to make say, the equivalent of a 5th level sorcerer is quite massive.

Plus, bee swarms are always cool.

And no one can kill them, or else they risk the end of nearly all life. :smallwink:

[avr]

An everyone must be happy utopia with diplomancers/secret police everywhere?

Or you could steal from just about any fiction where dragons are part of the society. Dragon cavalry is generally cool.

Check out Steven Brust's Taltos novels.

[dantiesilva]

Hello OP would this be the same game you tried to start months back?

What first comes to mind is a nation of elves and drakes from MM2, and dracominca. But if he dose not allow ANY dragons at all we would have to cross that out.

Odly enough my second idea is a drow nation. I made a very well put together homebrew for female drow priestess that is strictly from the stories. Have a whole entire drow army and then you can have any race as the slaves are batha fonder.

[dantiesilva]

Here is what myself and Debihuman came up with. I hope it helps.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15282392&postcount=20

[ShadowFireLance]

Here is what myself and Debihuman came up with. I hope it helps.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15282392&postcount=20

Say what? :smallconfused:

And no, this is not the same game, No dragon cause my nation died when I was dragons, and Far realm idea failed before it got off ground.

[Humble Master]

Black Ethergaunts have a level adjustment of +4.

Have a nation full of commoners who have 31 Intelligence, spell casting as a 17th level Wizard, immunity to 6th level spells or lower, and the Enslave ability.

[AspectOfNihil]

I was running a PF campaign where every living soul had a dent on reality similar to the effect of gravity exerted by a mass, and the more powerful they were, the larger the effect was. Mages were simply people who found out how to manipulate their aura according to specific laws for certain effects. The more powerful their aura, the more powerful spells they can cast. Gods were effectively 'black holes', where a living creature grew so powerful they broke through the fabric of reality and formed a 'bubble plane'.

I had a country where every city was laid out in a very particular way, both internally and with respect to other cities, and was filled with particular people doing particular jobs, so the effect of the auras was finely controlled and channeled to the local mage tower. Everything was set out to amplify and control the effect of the auras, using the people as a living power source.

This bred a very caste-based society, where mages are considered all-powerful, and some talent with magic is a prerequisite to be part of any ruling body. Any 'mundanes' are treated almost as live-stock, and are seen only as a power source for the mage's experiments and to feed power back to the capital city, where the Lord High Dominus uses the combined power of every living soul in the country to create and destroy entire planes.

Everything is very fascist and since they can't afford to kill too many people, anybody who tries to break form is instead dominated by the secret police (who consist almost entirely of Enchantment specialists and Eldritch Knights/equivalent).

I found the best part of this society for adventuring in is that there are so many different possibilities for diplomatic, combat, and political maneuvering.

Very high magic campaign, but if you wanted you could also logically control the level to almost any extent you wanted and it would still fit.

[Phelix-Mu]

A nation based in the deepest recesses of the Underdark. It is populated by a type of lichen-like algae that gathers and grows by chemically breaking down stone and feeding off ambient radiation (and/or faerzess, if you like).

The lichen-algae gathers in colonies that take various forms, and collectively they have intelligence based on their size, age, and internal structural complexity.

All creatures in this nation are swarms of plant creatures. Change normal creatures into plant creatures, give them some of the swarm traits. As collective beings with potentially unlimited lifespans, they could have dragon-like age categories (at least for mental stats, might get silly if they also gain physical strength with age). Homebrew as much or as little as you want. Some of the key swarm immunities would make even the weakest of such creatures difficult to kill via normal means, easily boosting the CR of normal citizens by a handful. Add in inflated stats based on age and size, and it will get silly in a hurry.

Since they can exist without competing for most resources (aside from space) and don't need to reproduce in the manner of most other creatures, their culture is more peaceful, and only the most powerful of them really compete over anything (and such competition might be non-violent).

Since the strongest among them have god-like levels of Intelligence and Wisdom, however, they could easily have engaged in extensive self-augmentation to avoid discovery/predation by outsiders, further entrenching a xenophobic world-view. Or, perhaps they are highly expansionist, and wish to colonize stony lands throughout the world.

[dantiesilva]

The homebrew I linked you is one me and Debihuman came up with. It combines all the abilities I have seen in the books of female priestess of Loth. I have never read the spider queen wars though so some things may in fact be much different. I have a level 20 build of her and she can put about -10 on all rolls and stats to anyone within her aura.

I hope this helps you if you do use it.

[INoKnowNames]

Do you really need ideas for an Epic Nation, SFL? The idea of you over-ruling a nation at all is terrifying. Such a world would only seem natural if Emperor Tippy were a Deity, because we'd be used to knowing we were screwed.

:smallwink:

Honestly, I'm willing to bet you could come up with a horrifying combination of templates and races to make a custom species of some kind, and have them run rampant, breeding like Bodaks and infesting everything they come around.... like freaking Xenomorphs.

... there's an idea for you, SFL: Make Xenomorphs.

[Phelix-Mu]

Do you really need ideas for an Epic Nation, SFL? The idea of you over-ruling a nation at all is terrifying. Such a world would only seem natural if Emperor Tippy were a Deity, because we'd be used to knowing we were screwed.

:smallwink:

Honestly, I'm willing to bet you could come up with a horrifying combination of templates and races to make a custom species of some kind, and have them run rampant, breeding like Bodaks and infesting everything they come around.... like freaking Xenomorphs.

... there's an idea for you, SFL: Make Xenomorphs.

I just usually have some druid in the past have made awakened green slime that had true-breeding sentience and a mechanic to backup the sparse description of it's growth rate from the DMG (page 76). I'm sure you could pick up fire and cold immunity in the space of a couple additional templates.

Crazy in 3.5 is actually suprisingly easy to come by.:smallcool:

[INoKnowNames]

I just usually have some druid in the past have made awakened green slime that had true-breeding sentience and a mechanic to backup the sparse description of it's growth rate from the DMG (page 76). I'm sure you could pick up fire and cold immunity in the space of a couple additional templates.

Crazy in 3.5 is actually suprisingly easy to come by.:smallcool:

... I'm not sure I'd ever compare this...

http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/10800000/Wind-Waker-wind-waker-10878668-320-450.jpg

.... to this.

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs36/i/2008/253/9/d/A_Xenomorph_by_Katzilla13.jpg

And Crazy is easy to come buy in a fantasy world of spells and fairies. That's entirely normal, if not quaint, cute, and innocent, compared to Shadow Fire Lance. Even the Elder Gods and what not don't terrify me as much as he does. ... Oh god, I just told him to make a nation of Xenomorphs; what was I thinking.

[Phelix-Mu]

.
And Crazy is easy to come buy in a fantasy world of spells and fairies. That's entirely normal, if not quaint, cute, and innocent, compared to Shadow Fire Lance. Even the Elder Gods and what not don't terrify me as much as he does. ... Oh god, I just told him to make a nation of Xenomorphs; what was I thinking.

I bow to your clearly superior knowledge of the OP. I just wanted to point out that flesh-eating, civilization-ending critters take a number of forms, some of which don't require terribly much in the way of work to come up with.

Of course, I do more enjoy the more elaborate ones.:smallsmile:

[INoKnowNames]

I bow to your clearly superior knowledge of the OP. I just wanted to point out that flesh-eating, civilization-ending critters take a number of forms, some of which don't require terribly much in the way of work to come up with.

Of course, I do more enjoy the more elaborate ones.:smallsmile:

Not much knowledge. Just a few passing moments with him required Will Saves for tampering with forces I was not meant to tamper with. My mind is not prepared for the true form of chaos that is ShadowFireLance.

And it's easy to craft a fresh-eating, civilization-ending critter. It's the whole "I lay my babies inside your body and they eat you on the way out" ability (summarized and cliff-noted) that really makes Xenomorphs special, in addition to having Acid Blood, surviving in almost any location, breeding like freaking Rabbits, and being strong enough to take on Arnold Schwarzanegger, that really makes them special.

[ShadowFireLance]

Not much knowledge. Just a few passing moments with him required Will Saves for tampering with forces I was not meant to tamper with. My mind is not prepared for the true form of chaos that is ShadowFireLance.

And it's easy to craft a fresh-eating, civilization-ending critter. It's the whole "I lay my babies inside your body and they eat you on the way out" ability (summarized and cliff-noted) that really makes Xenomorphs special, in addition to having Acid Blood, surviving in almost any location, breeding like freaking Rabbits, and being strong enough to take on Arnold Schwarzanegger, that really makes them special.

Actually, Correction, Arnold Schwarzanegger took on the Predators, who hunt the Xenomorphs. :smallcool:

Can I sig that first part?
You haven't met me in real life either, And I can tell you, I'm worse.

[INoKnowNames]

Actually, Correction, Arnold Schwarzanegger took on the Predators, who hunt the Xenomorphs. :smallcool:

I stand corrected. Still, it takes a Hunter of Hunters of Hunters to take them on, so a nation of them under you is probably not a good thing.


Can I sig that first part?
You haven't met me in real life either, And I can tell you, I'm worse.

I made sure each one of those messages about you were sig-able, because the internet needs more warning of you.

[ShadowFireLance]

I stand corrected. Still, it takes a Hunter of Hunters of Hunters to take them on, so a nation of them under you is probably not a good thing.



I made sure each one of those messages about you were sig-able, because the internet needs more warning of you.

Either a Compliment or an insult...:smallcool:

[INoKnowNames]

Either a Compliment or an insult...:smallcool:

... both, really.

[Phelix-Mu]

Not much knowledge. Just a few passing moments with him required Will Saves for tampering with forces I was not meant to tamper with. My mind is not prepared for the true form of chaos that is ShadowFireLance.

And it's easy to craft a fresh-eating, civilization-ending critter. It's the whole "I lay my babies inside your body and they eat you on the way out" ability (summarized and cliff-noted) that really makes Xenomorphs special, in addition to having Acid Blood, surviving in almost any location, breeding like freaking Rabbits, and being strong enough to take on Arnold Schwarzanegger, that really makes them special.

Ooh. Green slime vs xenomorphs? I'd like to see some stats for xenomorphs, for sure. I do have a slight weakness for monster v monster, and it's certainly a pertinent topic when developing a race of servitor creatures to populate a nation with.

I'd have to work up a better version of the green slime creature, but the RAW is so skimpy that a depressingly small amount of work would likely be involved. It doesn't reproduce in the normal manner, so it might not even need true-breeding intelligence. The consumption of organic material creates new patches that are copies of the first patch. A template here and there to patch the cold and fire vulnerabilities, and it's a mobile critter that need only avoid the sunlight in between consuming everything but rocks.

In any case, monster mash up is great fun, and if you have links to the OP's work, I'd very much like to read about it. I'm always seeking enlightenment on that eternal path toward making my players regret being born. Help is much appreciated.:smallsmile:

[INoKnowNames]

Ooh. Green slime vs xenomorphs? I'd like to see some stats for xenomorphs, for sure. I do have a slight weakness for monster v monster, and it's certainly a pertinent topic when developing a race of servitor creatures to populate a nation with.

I've got too much to do right now as it is (to the point where I really shouldn't have sucked away so much time in this thread) to set stats to a Xenomorph, unfortunately. It'd be both a Monster and a Template, at the very least.


I'd have to work up a better version of the green slime creature, but the RAW is so skimpy that a depressingly small amount of work would likely be involved. It doesn't reproduce in the normal manner, so it might not even need true-breeding intelligence. The consumption of organic material creates new patches that are copies of the first patch. A template here and there to patch the cold and fire vulnerabilities, and it's a mobile critter that need only avoid the sunlight in between consuming everything but rocks.

Doesn't sound all that scary, at least as compared to having eggs forcibly laid down your throat and little monsters eating you out. Maybe it's just me that finds that a fate worse than death...


In any case, monster mash up is great fun, and if you have links to the OP's work, I'd very much like to read about it. I'm always seeking enlightenment on that eternal path toward making my players regret being born. Help is much appreciated.:smallsmile:

I keep my computer history regularly clean, particularly of things that scare me, so I can't say that I have too many instances of ShadowFireLance's stuff on hand. Though I doubt he would object to.. "enlightening" you himself, if you asked.