Seekers of the Misty Isle

[ruff]

Anyone have any development of the Seekers of the Misty Isle they'd be willing to share?

DMing a game in which one of the players wants to join SoMI, and thought I'd see what other folks have done on this.

[nedz]

It's a reasonable good PrC, but not broken.

It has a minor dysfunction, but nothing to worry about.

What issues are you concerned about ?

[Dalebert]

It has a minor dysfunction, but nothing to worry about.

Do you mean the loss in caster level advancement?

[Phelix-Mu]

I converted the class into a druid PrC for "wandering druids." That is, for druids that don't have a fixed geographical area that they guard. I refluffed some of the stuff, switched the magic domain for the balance domain, and traded a couple of the class features for a watered down version of wild shape advancement (or AC advancement, at the option of the pc).

I love caster PrCs that have good skill points.

As for the Misty Isle, I had a pet project to the effect that, in my setting, the Misty Isle was boosted during a conflict back in the early days of the world. An interloping god from another world kidnapped the isle, with the intention of releasing it to Corellon in exchange for a place for their own worshipers in the then-young world. Unfortunately, fate intervened, and the interloping god was eaten by a cabal of giant vampires/soul eaters that had developed a taste for nascent/low-ranking gods before the interloper could issue the ultimatum to Corellon. With the god dead, Corellon had no method to discover the location of the isle, apparently hidden by some god-level act of trickery. The kinsfolk of the elves of the Misty Isle went on to found the Seekers of the Misty Isle, subsidized by the elven churches in general.

[nedz]

Do you mean the loss in caster level advancement?

Nope. 8/10 8/9 casting is fine — IMHO.

It has several class features which give small bonuses to non-class skills — which is pointless.

Also the capstone SLA kind of invalidates the rest of the character's skills and abilities; but this doesn't matter since no one takes SotMI 10 anyway, because it doesn't advance casting.

Overall I like the class. It's very skillful, which is rare for casterly classes.

[Dalebert]

Also the capstone SLA kind of invalidates the rest of the character's skills and abilities; but this doesn't matter since no one takes SotMI 10 anyway, because it doesn't advance casting.

Agreed. I certainly wasn't planning to.


Overall I like the class. It's very skillful, which is rare for casterly classes.

Me too. I'm currently a cloistered cleric. I'm finding knowledge skills not very helpful though.

[Phelix-Mu]

Me too. I'm currently a cloistered cleric. I'm finding knowledge skills not very helpful though.

See if your DM will allow Knowledge Devotion to work to improve damage on AoE spells. Generally still don't want to waste too many slots, but between a couple custom items to add to Knowledge checks and various other optimization, +5 damage to a whole bunch of people can really help milk the miles out of those low-level spells.

[nedz]

Me too. I'm currently a cloistered cleric. I'm finding knowledge skills not very helpful though.

They've very different skill sets. Now you can pick up a few useful skills from domains, but not to cover the whole set. SotMI is more outdoorsy.

[Psyren]

Nope. 8/10 8/9 casting is fine — IMHO.

It has several class features which give small bonuses to non-class skills — which is pointless.

Also the capstone SLA kind of invalidates the rest of the character's skills and abilities; but this doesn't matter since no one takes SotMI 10 anyway, because it doesn't advance casting.

Overall I like the class. It's very skillful, which is rare for casterly classes.

Actually, technically it is 10/10 casting because text trumps table. It has exactly the same wording as the Sacred Fist/Rainbow Servant. Seems to be a running issue in that book, but there it is nevertheless.

[Dalebert]

FWIW, I don't think most of these are addressing my DM's actual issue. He's interested in how other DMs have filled in the gaps as far as the culture of the organization outside of the class features. I guess the nature of the PrC hints at a lot of in-game plot hook potential that is left largely unaddressed.


Actually, technically it is 10/10 casting because text trumps table.

That's great news. Those level skips didn't seem justified. If that's the case, I'll probably complete all 10.

[Psyren]

It's not clear what he wants. Everything you need to know about them is in the entry. The adaptation is great for any sort of wanderer.

[Phelix-Mu]

A generic approach goes something like this:

1.) Decide if the info about the Misty Isle in the entry is accurate, or some kind of misconception (intentional, unintentional, truth lost over the ages, etc). If the info is inaccurate, determine what actually happened.

2.) Is the pursuit of the Misty Isle simply an obligation/sideshow/optional individual quest, or does it figure into the main plotline. If it's optional or an individual thing only for the character with the PrC, make the involvement a small investment of time/resource on the part of the involved character, and participation by the rest of the group optional.

3.) If the search for the Misty Isle is going to figure into the main plot, try to have some clear benefit or issue related to its discovery be of interest to the other characters. This way it doesn't seem like one character's agenda/goals are dragging around the rest of the party willy nilly. It wouldn't be hard to work the Misty Isle into some of the Elder Evil stuff, or to have something that the Isle offers be the key to solving or defeating some larger issue.

Optional: Elven Holy Quest. A bunch of elven extremists/terrorists (or crazed cannibals...flavor to level of darkness that you want) have launched a holy crusade to rediscover the Misty Isle. These dangerous radicals declare open war in pursuit of clues on foreign soil, use magic in immoral ways to compel assistance and acquire info, and in general are racial purists (or upper class twits). The party, and the SotMI, must uncover the truth behind the Misty Isle, steer clear of intrigue involving the more covert investigations tied to the crusade, and generally avoid being implicated in the crimes that the crusaders commit in pursuit of their cause.

[nedz]

FWIW, I don't think most of these are addressing my DM's actual issue. He's interested in how other DMs have filled in the gaps as far as the culture of the organization outside of the class features. I guess the nature of the PrC hints at a lot of in-game plot hook potential that is left largely unaddressed.

I view this as the Elven version of those Arthurian Holy Grail stories. All young elves must come across this sort of story, only some of them get a bit obsessed about it. Whether or not there is a Misty Isle is moot, but there are certainly some Elves who go about looking for it. The only thing odd about this is that these elves all have above average Wisdom.

[ruff]

I was looking more to see what folks have come up with in the way of developing the organization, how it may have been factored into the plot by other folks. Mostly mining for ideas here--didn't want to reinvent the wheel if it wasn't necessary.

[Dalebert]

I view this as the Elven version of those Arthurian Holy Grail stories. All young elves must come across this sort of story, only some of them get a bit obsessed about it. Whether or not there is a Misty Isle is moot, but there are certainly some Elves who go about looking for it. The only thing odd about this is that these elves all have above average Wisdom.

That was also my take on it. I figure in most games, it's this ephemeral thing that lies always just outside your reach, but if you wanted to use it for a plot hook at any point, it would be handy for that. I called it the elven Brigadoon but the Holy Grail might be a better analogy because in the Brigadoon story, they actually find it.

[Chronos]

Yeah, it has a roleplay restriction attached to it, but in practice, it's not that limiting, because the Misty Isle (or the entrance to it, or information about it) could be anywhere. Want to go slay a dragon? Maybe there will be some clue to the Isle's fate in its horde. But if you ever need a ready-made hook for that character, you always have one available.

[nedz]

That was also my take on it. I figure in most games, it's this ephemeral thing that lies always just outside your reach, but if you wanted to use it for a plot hook at any point, it would be handy for that. I called it the elven Brigadoon but the Holy Grail might be a better analogy because in the Brigadoon story, they actually find it.

Well there's the Tolkienesque version as well, where the Misty Isle is just Elvenholme. But Tolkien's elves all know how to get there — they just have a quite word with Cirdan and travel on one of his ships. Well who knows, Maybe they've lost Cirdan ?