Civilization as we know it

[jderk]

It appears as though in our campaign that all civilization as we know it will be destroyed due to an exponential increase in the monster population (because the stars aligned apparently). (This is the beginnings of the Tippy-verse.) We are the group who is trying to establish a 'point of light'.

So, I just have a few quick questions just in case we fail. This is last resort, last man/party standing survival question thread. No towns, all people are dead. Just in case our party fails to hold the city we chose to defend and all the commoners die.

What magic items would a character need to survive alone or just with his/her party?

So far I got:
Water - Everfull Mug
Food - Everlasting Rations

But what about solutions to sleep safely? And, if you would like to, please share comments about how you would try to survive, and perhaps root out a defendable position?

I'll be online, please feel free to ask more questions about our parties situation.

[AuraTwilight]

Rod of Paradise. /thread

[JusticeZero]

Planar travel. The Githyanki option. If the world is a loss, go start a new one.

[Frozen_Feet]

You need someone capable of casting Alarm and Rope Trick at CL 4 minimum, and a metamagic rod of Extend spell.

Or, if higher level, someone capable of casting Tiny Hut or Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion.

Additional advice would require more information on your scenario. What level are your characters? What kind of opposition will you be facing? Something as simple as Rope Trick will not work if a dedicated search party with Detect Magic is coming your way. Is planar travel an option?

[jderk]

Additional advice would require more information on your scenario. What level are your characters? What kind of opposition will you be facing? Something as simple as Rope Trick will not work if a dedicated search party with Detect Magic is coming your way. Is planar travel an option?

Level 14, by the DM's description (which are riddles) just a exponential growth by all native monsters which we have faced pretty much everything especially those things that suck out your brains (i forgot the name), i dont think things will be searching for us, we do have a person to cast rope trick, planar travel is an option

[jderk]

Rod of Paradise would be great but it is epic level so no go, plus too expensive.

[Fyermind]

An eternal wand of rope trick CL 8 would be good.
Another of Alarm would probably be useful.

A healing belt or several would probably be good or some other way of staying healthy. Some way of getting remove disease/neutralize poison dealing with ability damage etc.
Basically a cleric and a wizard...

Plant growth is great to get a smaller patch to have greater yields. away from books at the moment but iirc it is instantaneous so it stacks with itself. Enjoy your massive yields.

Since it looks Mind Flayers (Ilithids) are roaming, immunity to stunning would be really good to have.

[jaydubs]

Drawing a line in the sand, and trying to defend civilization isn't the only option. Remember, human beings weren't always the top of the food chain in the real world either. Instead of trying to establish a "safe zone," adopt a way of life that allows survival despite the overflow of monsters.

Remember, monsters aren't some homogeneous group of entities with a single goal. There is no monster agenda to kill all humans. If you make it so that you're not worth the trouble, they'll find other food. So take inspiration from prey animals or things like goblins/kobolds.

-Hide in caves where larger monsters can't get to you. Run away instead of fighting. Learn to hide.
-Find areas where monsters simply don't like to live.
-Appeal to extraplanar powers.
-Enter a symbiotic relationship with various monster groups. Maybe you're the master (stupid monsters). But being the servant of a greater power can also be a great survival tactic (i.e., become servants of dragons or somesuch).
-And along those lines, make alliances with things that would stand to lose from the extinction of humanoids. Steel dragons prefer living as humans. Mind Flayers have a natural interest in preserving their food supply. Vampires themselves would eventually become instinct without people.
-Finally, there is always the option to become monsters yourselves. Infect the entire city with lycanthropy.

[Yogibear41]

Cast Divinations to find the neartest Great Wyrm Golden Dragon, give him Immunity to Dex damage somehow (don't want that frostburn cheese spell ruining your savior) ride out his LG OP nature to victory :smallsmile:





Infect the entire city with lycanthropy.

You would be amazed how great dr/10 silver (or dr/5silver) is against 90% of the population of low level monsters.

[Frozen_Feet]

Have you created your characters yet? If Mindflayers (and other brain-munching baddies) are going to be common, seriously consider having one or more Slayer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/slayer.htm) in your group.

Survival & Autohypnosis are good skills to have.

Protection from *foo* spells and abilities are golden, as they ward of many unpleasant enchantment and divination effects. So are any spells and effects that supplement diplomacy and intimidation.

You'll want to look into one of the myriad "infinite out-of-combat healing" tricks, such as having your whole party being undead and having a Dread Necromancer with you (etc.).

While eternal wands and other equipment are nice, in a survival scenario it is very much vital you have people who can use similar abilities without outside materials - psions, sorcerers, eidetic wizards and the lot. Being able to create your own items is nothing to overlook either, so pick up Item Creation feats. From the sound of it, you will not be running short of Exp or raw materials.

As far as general strategy and tactics go, avoid combat to your best extent. This may sound boring, but ideally you'd want to reach a state where your GM can/has to cover 80+ days with single "nothing eventful happens", so you'll have a chance to put those Item Creation feats to use.

If you have to fight someone, don't rush in, use divination and skills to gather information to your best extent, and then strike when your enemy has its pants down.

Learn to make supply caches in varied places and ward them against intruders.

Once you have cleared an area of monsters and established a stronghold, have everyone take Leadership. There is strenght in numbers. Don't do this if there's significant monster presense still around. Large groups are a liability and will get killed, hindering your ability to collect followers in the future. (Cohorts are pretty near universally useful, however.)

Who will be your followers if all the commoners are dead, you ask? Why, the monsters! Try to keep a good rapport with weaker humanoids, such as goblins, kobolds etc.. If you can't be loved, be feared, but avoid making them hate you! This means occasionally showing them mercy and not slaughtering them to last man. If your GM is a prick, this will come to bite you in the ass, but you can at least try to remind him then. In short, you don't want to become the monsters hunted by the monsters who have now become adventurers. Living means adapting. Don't be a legend.

[jderk]

-Finally, there is always the option to become monsters yourselves. Infect the entire city with lycanthropy.

Lol, i like this option. sounds fun.

Good points, thanks.

[J-H]

Lyre of Building, and anything with Stoneshape. Make Erebor, with one gate no larger than a man, and a 50' passage filled with murder holes and arrow-loops so that none can enter. Re-shape the top of the mountain to allow sun exposure (necessary for health & sanity) and farming, while still being protected by walls.

Go down, and down, and down to make more space like it's a cross between NORAD and Moria. Make friends with earth elementals - I'm assuming they don't count as monsters that would normally attack you. Maybe bring a few Stonechildren or something else from RoS to help with that?

Weather Control, to get rain when you need it for your crops. Smiting enemies with lightning is a plus.

For civilization - you need laws, history, etc. - load a couple of libraries into portable holes and find a few trusted people to act as administrators.

Front-load your population to people in the 5-25 range so that you can be self-sustaining (ie enough kids to support Zion 30 years from now). Shoot for at least 400 to make sure you don't set yourself up for inbreeding problems 3 generations from now.

Security Through Obscurity will be your friend - try to get some mind-altering spells set up around the area (this may be epic magic level) to make people "forget" about it, or have to pass a Will Save to keep going to Erebor/Zion.

[Grayson01]

Question if all of the Humans, except the party, are dead would there be enough worshipers to fuel the divine powers of the Clerics God/ess? This is an important question to ask your DM. Also is your goal just surive till you die of old age or do you wanna fight the monstorus hords and some how restore the balance which sounds unlikly at this point? If Planar Travle is an option I would get the F out of Dodge and escape to Raveloft that sounds like a safer place at the moment lol. I would go for the hit and run tactics or the go out into the wilderness and live off the land get a ranegr and/or a druid then. Or try and aligin your self with some of the lesser monsters to create a more stable base of joint survival.

[Fyermind]

Take a lesson from the kobolds who shmoozed up to dragons. Find something powerful that likes having industrious minion friends with small fingers and opposable thumbs.

This could be a really awesome quest to demonstrate your use and worth to some group of powerful monstrosities.

+1 to finding a good strand of lycanthropy to infect everyone with. Werebears are lawful good and pretty strong. WereLegendary Bears from MM2 are probably also lawful good and are even stronger. Going a-questing to find libraries and the right strand of lycanthropy is more fun stuff to do.

If you do have to "draw a line in the sand" make sure your line is not somewhere obvious. Also bringing in refugees is good. Making friends is good. In short, while there are items you want, what you really have a lot to do with is quests.

Also ask your DM about making trap room training facilities for normal humans. See if you can make a room with a summon monster III trap that summons 1d4+1 creatures from the level 1 list to battle a unit of humans while you keep a medic on duty to keep them from dying. This could let your basic warrior guards get up to level 3 or something pretty easily and help keep you from being the bottom of the food chain.