of Essentia and Quintessence

[Warlocknthewind]

My Soulborn got hosed, big surprise there.

I'm running the next campaign, and I am going to pit the Mindflayers of Thoon against an essentia heavy world.

Thoonflayers harvest Quintessence, which I am fluffing as the Essentia generated by creatures with the Lost template. The Thoonflayers infilatrate a community, place some sort of node in it that attracts the negative essentia, and wait for the inhabitants to have roughly 75% Lost, and then harvest the Lost by sucking 'em dry with Necrocarnate leveled creatures.The ultimate goal is to leave the world mostly bereft of Essentia/Quintessence (Quintissentia?) Until they have enough to generate an extremely powerful gate through the Shadow Realm into the even further past from where the Flayers originated from, back to when Aboleths were just creating their first empire's, and conquer the very beginning of the world.

For crunch, I wanted to remove the psionic aspects of the Thoonflayers and give them a balanced part in Meldshaping capabilities, and I was hoping the Playground would be so kind as to advise me.

It's a high Meldshaping campaign, where the lesser magics are very common, and very few hold any greater power. For example, it's common for farmhand to have Girallon Arms and Beast- Tamer's circlet shaped, so as to help them lift, wrangle, and sew (as a first level human commoner, no less). A ship at sea would have a captain with Seaman's Gloves shaped, and bound if able.

Thoon Disciples have Soulborn levels, Shadowflayers with Shadowcaster levels, Hulk lose a couple HD for Crusader levels, infiltrators will have some spellthievery, but I am entirely unsure what to do with the Soldiers & Scythers, they, to me, don't fit the fluff entirely. I thought maybe to just add some humanoid cultists as foot-soldiers, but if an alternative can be said, than by Jove say it!

No tier 1 or 2 classes, running with a generally experienced players starting at level 4

Priest = Incarnate, or Divine Bard
Druid = Totemist, Spirit Shaman
Wizard = DN, Beguiler, Warmage w/ Mage of the Arcane order levels

Desert Half-Orc Fenzy Lion Barb 1/Totemist 2/ Crusader 1, going Totem Rager
Azurin Good incarnate 4, staying Incarnate
Strongheat Halfling Buguiler 4 going pretiege Bard
Dragonborn Grey-Elf Warmage 4 going Abj. Champion

What level of Meldshaping should be inherint to the Flayers?

What's a good replacement for the Thoon constructs?

Any further ideas for the theme or plot?

Humbly, Locknwind.

:smallbiggrin:

[Zweisteine]

I'm running the next campaign, and I am going to pit the Mindflayers of Thoon against an Incarnum heavy world.
Fixed that for you.


Thoonflayers harvest Quintessence, which I am fluffing as the Essentia generated by creatures with the Lost template.
Please elaborate. Are you refluffing the existing quintessence as an incarnum product, or are you having Lost creatures generate "normal" quintessence, or are you doing something else entirely?


The ultimate goal is to leave the world mostly bereft of Essentia/Quintessence (Quintissentia?)
Quintessentia.
And if that only includes the essentia of Lost, isn't this good (until the next step, of course)? They'd effectively be ripping apart a threat to the world (the Lost).

[QUOTE]Until they have enough to generate an extremely powerful gate through the Shadow Realm into the even further past from where the Flayers originated from, back to when Aboleths were just creating their first empire's, and conquer the very beginning of the world.[QUOTE]
That's actually pretty cool. If taking over the modern day isn't working, just take over the entire timeline!
(And, to turn this into self-fulfilling prophecy, simply add this if they succeed: The Illithids take over the pre-aboleth era, then, over millennia, adapt to the dark waters of that ancient world, and become the aboleths. Of course, the aboleth racial memory only develops after they forget that they were once Illithids.)


As for the crunch... I'd love to help with anything about Incarnum, but my lack of knowledge about homebrewing monsters and my lack of knowledge of the flayers of Thoon gets in the way. :smallfrown:

[Warlocknthewind]

True, they are whiping out Lost, but only after turning most of a city into a babbling host of psychos, taking pit entire communities I am refluffing Quintessence as a product of the Distilled, madenning Essentia that currupted, and then multiplied in the now Lost creature. It's where the present serene blue essentia "evolved from", Quintessence is like a magical Primordial Ooze, which has Primordial Power, including warping time if gathered, and charged in high enough volume.

Thoon is the first Aboleth, specifically Pseudonatural Flayerspawn Shadow Aboleth divine rank 4 who is a Gestalt Shadowcaster//Incarnate level 12. Vestiges are being who's soul(essentia) was entirely removed from the flow of Essentia. All undead become vestiges, since their soul is consumed or separated in their creation, and all vestiges reside in the Shadow Plane("only a shadow of their former selves"). Thoon is he who swims the endless sea of shadow, likelyhood, unlikelyhood, and madness is that is the Realm of Shadow.

He repeatedly destroys the world, and affixes himself as the First at the next re-beginning of existance he enters, creating a new dimension to control for a time until Gods develope, and then harvest when ripe in an infinite loop of existances in which it continually becomes more powerful.

Zesty enough? :smallconfused:

Edit: Vestiges stop making pacts when Thoonflayers break into reality, being controlled by Thoon from the Shadow making a single consciousness, Vestiges are completely controlling Binders for extended periods, entering into the Hivemind of Thoon.

This havemind will include the footsoldiers, which I am thinking of replacing with Kythons with the Incarnum Construct template which are belched up by the Madcrafters.

Edit again: No on Kythons.

Thoonflayer:
2 abberation RHD, incarnum subtype
+6 str, +2 con, -4 wis, +2 ing, +2 cha on an elite array
Essentia pool +2
Bonus meldshaping feat
Brain-munch also sucks 1/2 creatures HD in Essentia that lasts 24 hours.
+2 LA

Disciple of Thoon:
Thoonflayer Incarnate4/Necrocarnate2/Crusader2
Shadowflayers:
Shadow Template Thoonflayer Spelltheif 4
Thoon Hulk: +Soulfused Construct - 4 HD +4 levels of Barbarian
Thoon Scyther
Soulfused, Multiheaded DreadGuard HD 6 Two MW Heavy Sickles as hands with Banded Mail as base armor
Thoon Soldier:
Soulfused, Multiheaded DreadGuard HD 9 Warblade level 2 using two MW battleaxes as hands, with Mountain Armor+ Netcutters as base armor.
StormClouds, Infiltrators: Same
Thoonthrall: Are the Lost