Whats in the vault

[gawwy]

The 20 hidden lords of water-deep (and the open lord) each have a key to an otherwise impenetrable vault. these keys have been passed down since the first lords and few know what is in the vault (kelben probably does but isnt saying).

whats in the vault guys? (considering this as an overarching theme / mystery in a game thats probably gonna go epic at some point, the pcs are aiming to build an empire and are starting off knocking around waterdeep)

[Deophaun]

A special scroll of heroes' feast that involves the use of eleven herbs and spices as material components.

[gawwy]

trying to figure out the reference.. i get the feeling its a krabby patty style reference?

[Deophaun]

The Colonel weeps. (http://www.kfc.com/)

[Honest Tiefling]

Some general ideas:

Something very dangerous that cannot be easily destroyed. Of course the PCs need to find a way to use it for their own ends. It could even be a creature willing to give service to the party.
Blackmail or something someone else wants very badly. Could be another lord, could be another outside power.
You need at least 1 fake vault.
The way to get into another vault...Not these vaults, someone else's valuables.
A shrine or a holy object of an evil faith...So reveal it to the populace.

[Troacctid]

A piece of paper that says "Friendship is the real treasure."

(The lettering is, of course, a cleverly disguised code containing the knowledge required to develop an incredibly powerful epic spell. But your PCs will never know, because nobody ever puts ranks in Decipher Script.)

[Vhaidara]

The special school for producing all of Epic NPCs in FR.

[gawwy]

don't most epic npcs in fr have pretty decent back-stories around how they got their levels? i know elminster and that ****ing drow both have multiple books stretching back quite a while... what epic npcs are you thinking of that arnt explained?

[Vhaidara]

don't most epic npcs in fr have pretty decent back-stories around how they got their levels? i know elminster and that ****ing drow both have multiple books stretching back quite a while... what epic npcs are you thinking of that arnt explained?

Oh, that all happens in the vault. It includes a full movie set that can be modified to match any setting.

It was more a comment on the sheer number of them.

[(Un)Inspired]

Maybe it's like a turtle or something.

[YossarianLives]

The meaning of life as we know it?

[Rijan_Sai]

A piece of paper that says "Friendship is the real treasure."

(The lettering is, of course, a cleverly disguised code containing the knowledge required to develop an incredibly powerful epic spell. But your PCs will never know, because nobody ever puts ranks in Decipher Script.)

Don't forget a single gold coin, previously owned by a legendary adventurer.

(Also, the (otherwise non-magical) focus of the epic spell.)

[CIDE]

I'll mix up a bunch of other people's suggestions. It's an eldritch horror, a powerful weapon, and an ally all rolled into one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuhc8RROw10

Did I mention you need to roll against insanity upon entering?

[Hiro Protagonest]

A piece of paper that says "Friendship is the real treasure."

(The lettering is, of course, a cleverly disguised code containing the knowledge required to develop an incredibly powerful epic spell. But your PCs will never know, because nobody ever puts ranks in Decipher Script.)

...Is that even a real skill?

Obviously, the treasure is a scroll which, when opened up, is blank - except it's made of some kind of reflective material.

[Vinyl Scratch]

It's an embarrassing picture of Boccob at that Christmas party.

[Kimras]

I'd take a note from the brother's grimm in the vault are millions of candle and an alter where a potion lies the the potion does nothing but make them think they are more powerful when it's actually driving them insane. the candles correspond to every intelligent creatue on the planet the legnth of the candle is how long they have to live the flame is their life the flame can be put out or burn to bright making possible to make yourself immortal while killing all your enemies from afar making a power to great for anyone to hold.

[(Un)Inspired]

It's an embarrassing picture of Boccob at that Christmas party.

That isn't already included on the inside jacket of hardcover printings of Boccob's Blessed Books?

Why the hell do I keep paying so much for them then?

[Darrin]

This is exactly what the Warehouse 23 basement was for. Unfortunately, it's no longer functional. Looks like there are a few facebook or tumblr pages for it.

Still my favorite: smokeless baby powder, which of course led to the development of fully automatic babies.

[Honest Tiefling]

It's an embarrassing picture of Boccob at that Christmas party.

Which would be even weirder, as that is not a deity in Faerun. I personally think that some hints of another Prime Material would be interesting. Maybe the player characters become big wigs in a war between some Faerunian deities and some other ones.

[Zanos]

Nether Scrolls seemed popular.

[Flickerdart]

A second, smaller vault, inside of which is the first vault.

[gawwy]

Which would be even weirder, as that is not a deity in Faerun. I personally think that some hints of another Prime Material would be interesting. Maybe the player characters become big wigs in a war between some Faerunian deities and some other ones.

I kinda like this. what if the hint was a functioning creation forge that was stolen from ebberon and moved by some kind of messed up magic.

what could pcs use a creation forge for? how could i start hinting that ebberon exists?

[Threadnaught]

Keledrath the last remaining Rudisplorker, the others are either dead or have left the world.

The Rudisplorkers' Guild almost conquered the universe without anyone noticing, or batting an eye. Sadly, once the gods realized how much power they had, the Guild was attacked and over a few short years, the highest ranking members of the Rudisplorkers' Guild decided to disband the Guild to avoid collateral damage. Some went into hiding, while others, such as Keledrath, chose to seal themselves away from the world until even the gods themselves forgot.

What makes Keledrath unique, is that he is a Warforged Totemist (Keledrath could give you the build). In addition to Keledrath, there are all the resources he needs to rebuild the Rudisplorkers' Guild.



How's that?

[gawwy]

could i have that build :D

[Vhaidara]

Oh lord, I didn't expect this.

Well, Spiker, from my avatar, is the silly totemist build that rolls an absurd amount of dice. It is worth noting that WF isn't an ideal race for this, it just happens to be my favorite race in 3.5. It also technically requires the ruling that the attack from the Manticore Belt meld is a natural attack, or else the whole thing kind of falls apart. IIRC, the full level 20 build is...

Warforged Totemist 20
Important Soulmelds: Manticore Belt, Heart of Fire, Sighting Gloves (these are just for free Precise Shot)
Important feats: Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (x2), Bonus Essentia, Double Chakra (Totem, Waist), Shape Soulmeld (Sighting Gloves)
Important Items: Necklace of Natural Attacks (Spines) [+1 Flaming Frost Corrosive Shock Psychokinetic Screaming Merciful Desiccating Distance] of Health +6, Incarnum Focus Belt of Battle

So, what we have is Manticore Belt and Heart of Fire both double bound to Totem and Waist, and both with Expanded Soulmeld Capacity. Total capacity is 8 (4 base + 1 Incarnum Focus + 2 Totem Bind +1 ESC). So, as a standard action, you can fire 8 spines that deal 1d6+1/2 Str mod, and all of your natural attacks get +8d4 fire. Activate Totem Embodiment (Totemist capstone), which doubles your essentia cap and essentia invested in your totem chakra for 1 minute 1/day. So, now we have 16 essentia, so 16 spikes at a standard action. Belt of Battle nets you 2 standard actions, so 32 spikes. You need a Con modifier of +8 for this to work.

Now, lets examine a spike.
1d6 base + 16d4 fire (Heart of Fire) + 1d6 fire +1d6 acid +1d6 cold + 1d6 electricity + 1d4 force +1d6 untyped +1d4 sonic +1d4 untyped (necklace).
That's 6d6 and 19d4, or 25 dice, per spine. Times 32 spines. You roll 800 dice.

[gawwy]

I could fluff that as a war-forged sentry with a Gatling gun. :) would it be a fair challenge for a level 20 party do you think?
thinking about it it could go either way. force wall negates it pretty quick... and there are several casters in the party.

[Threadnaught]

It'd actually be pretty convenient that the Rudisplorkian (Librarian) of the Guild be the only survivor, considering he knows the entire history of the Guild and has access to every piece of information at the Guild's disposal.

Additionally, if you do use Keledrath, most (if not all) of the gods would have forgotten about the Guild. So some safe descriptions for the people who have the most reliable information about the contents of the vault are.
A great treasure lost in time.
Something that called the gods to war.
A powerful being from another world.


I'm in Eberron, before the war with the gods, we'd conquered optimized Rudisplorked Eberron 15 times and Athas 9 times, each time quicker than the last, with each of the heroes we discovered as a result, being greater than the last one we recruited.
Since then I've been lying low, Rudisplorking a completely different setting by way of resetting magical Traps to create rare items in vast quantities. I'm about to orchestrate some calamity so I can begin rebuilding the Guild, the timing feels right. I doubt I'll ever see any of the other original Rudisplorkers though.
For other Rudisplorkers, find other users with similar signatures.


I can't believe the Rudisplorkers' Guild could be an actual in game thing.

[Vhaidara]

I could fluff that as a war-forged sentry with a Gatling gun. :) would it be a fair challenge for a level 20 party do you think?
thinking about it it could go either way. force wall negates it pretty quick... and there are several casters in the party.

I'm sure there's more you can do with it, this was just a bare-bones projection when I was planning on doing a Heart of Fire + Manticore Belt build and read the Totemist capstone. Then I got this vision of just dumping a bucket of dice on a table when the GM asks for the damage and saying "This much".

[gawwy]

also what is "Rudisplork"

[Vhaidara]

As the Knower of Rudisplork, I know more than any that Rudisplork cannot be described. It can only be experienced.

Enter if you dare, the thread of origin of Rudisplork (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?357981-Can-you-cheat-at-D-amp-D)

[Threadnaught]

I could fluff that as a war-forged sentry with a Gatling gun. :) would it be a fair challenge for a level 20 party do you think?
thinking about it it could go either way. force wall negates it pretty quick... and there are several casters in the party.

It doesn't have to be a challenge, if the players want to join Keledrath in rebuilding the Rudisplorkers' Guild, that's a planar empire in itself. Also I think Keledrath would be happy to reward someone who chose to free him, though I'm basically a second hand source when it comes to how another Rudisplorker would react.