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Niro
2017-07-18, 03:21 PM
So, long story short, I am a GM in a warcraft campaign and my players are nearing epic levels and have said that they want to challenge the original characters and/or the bosses. In the game, they have their own memory of what happens in the warcraft games as well as in wow so basically they have scoured the planet for artifacts.

And here is where my problem is. Because there are tons of cool stuff statted out in the books, on the web and whatnot. But my one player, a barbarian king-ish type, has shown interest in getting the heart of Y'Shaarj (for those not warcraft-interested, it is a torn out heart of an old god) and I am okay with that.
But I have no idea what sort of abilities, effects, bonuses etc. it should give.

My original thought was to make it a graft but.. that's also pretty much all I got. So I am hoping that you guys and girls can come up with something fun/cool that I can use:smallcool:

aimlessPolymath
2017-07-18, 07:08 PM
Right. I know virtually nothing about WoW. That said, you can model it as whatever you like- don't feel that you have to anchor it in existing magic item mechanics, as this is pretty close to a major artifact.

Some googling around gives me the following useful lines:

Great was the Old One, and terrible was his wrath. He consumed hope and begat despair. He inhaled courage and breathed fear.
as well as some references to the various sha- various manifested negative emotions.

I would suggest generally emotional effects, oriented towards affecting large groups at a time.

One unusual idea I got was negative compulsions- emotionally manipulating people to be unable to do something, rather than compelling enemies.
Based off the sha:
-Anger: Unable to use effects requiring concentration, as though in a rage
-Hatred: Unable to aid allies or provide aid to them.
-Violence: Unable to defend themselves except tangentially (i.e. casting a spell which buffs attack and defense).
-Fear: Unable to make attacks, or panicked
-Doubt: Unable to expend limited-use abilities
-Despair: Unable to approach threats, or unable to make attacks
-Pride: Unable to flee from battle

An implementation of this might allow the barbarian to activate an ability or generate an aura which applies the effect of one of those effects to those around him unless they fail a Will save
Given the quoted line, I could also see a "reverse breath weapon" which "inhales" morale bonuses, emotional buffs, and such, removing them and converting them into temporary hit points, as a thematic but niche ability.

khadgar567
2017-07-19, 12:51 AM
Time to find forge of titans and build a weapon aou of it

VoodooPaladin
2017-07-19, 05:50 AM
Well first it should give whoever stitches it back together some of Garrosh's immunity to character development. Maybe vulnerability to lightning bolts and dramatic irony? :smallamused:

In more seriousness, if this is an artifact then it needs to be bigger than just an item. Holding an artifact is like having an anchor for the setting in the palm of your hand. It's not necessarily a matter of power, but I think the Heart of Y'Shaarj should have a certain scope to carrying it. The kind of scope someone could get carried away with... :smallbiggrin:

The Mantid probably now worship its bearer with undying fervor, since he embodies all seven of their gods simultaneously. Perhaps its carrier can consume strong ambient negative emotions, fulfilling all of his basic needs at no cost except presiding over an orgy of degeneracy? I expect its bearer will sometimes hear the whispers of the other three Old Gods, offering advice and even greater power in exchange for... enlightenment.

In the way of more conventional powers: the full list of immunities appropriate for a Sha (poison, disease, fear, charm effects, compulsions, patterns, negative energy damage... did I miss any? :smallsmile:); what Polymath wrote above for emotion powers, possibly also able to focus all seven emotion auras into a soul-scouring mind blast; and... probably the power to permanently god-bless a weapon with Y'Shaarj's Heartblood by literally bleeding onto it, since you mentioned the intended recipient is a barb. A weapon boost is never the wrong answer for a fightin' man.

Of course all of these are just suggestions. Take them or leave them as you please. I just hope you'll come back here and tell us how it turns out!

Niro
2017-07-19, 02:00 PM
Well my player and I came up with the idea of him going through Pandaria to defeat the different Shas and bind them to his weapon. And I was thinking of what to have that effect be. But this is where AMaimlessPolymath's post will come in handy.
I imagine that his weapon will be able to channel one Sha at a time.

For the heart itself.. Command over the Mantid is a great idea.
And him "eating" the negative feelings which will then allow him to.. I dunno.. intensify his next melee attack or something like that does seem like a cool idea.
Being immune to poison, disease, fear, charm effects, compulsions, patterns, negative energy damage etc. is also a great idea.
And the weapon infusion would be pretty cool. Something like a +1d6/2 levels boost for one attack and some action to redo the infusion?

I mean the most I had thought of it was to maybe let him grow a size category and his HD as a bonus to his strength score.
Defiantly an alignment shift towards evil.

Anymage
2017-07-19, 02:11 PM
No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head.

It's part of basically one of cthulhu's pals, except instead of being generally aloof and only dangerous to us because of our general cosmic insignificance, they're actively malevolent.

It's a greater artifact. And while it should make you big and bad and nasty, give you the ability to summon minions, and give you the ability to control negative emotions in others, it should also come with some pretty hefty downsides. You'll also get pretty emotionally messed up just from spending too much time around it. Just like frostmourne, some temptations are really better off if you pass them up.

Draken
2017-07-20, 11:51 AM
The Heart of Y'Shaarj is not an object, it is a living (ish), fully sapient piece of an evil creature of deific proportions (it is also mostly dormant unless fed a lot of energy, the easiest path to do so being the pools of the Valley).

First things first, remember that the heart is about as big as an adult orc male, so you are not grafting that in place of your own blood pumper.

As for effects of the Heart, it is more akin to a potent ally (if you are already quite evil) than anything. In Siege of Orgrimmar, it gave Garrosh a powerful weapon, Xal'atoh, which had the power to throw copies of itself that produced large pools of shadow energy.

The heart itself, which is kind of difficult to carry around on account of its size, can transport those near it to temporary demiplanes that are sustained in part by sha created by the heart. In these worlds, the Heart can share energy with its 'owner', for D&D, probably by means of casting spells and providing other buffs. This does eat into the energy previously provided, and so the Hear would need constant feeding (which could allow it to reform the Old God eventually).

As for the Mantid, they are loyal to Y'Shaarj and follow the being that channels its power and might convey its will, but they are not mind controlled. The same goes for any other minions of the old gods that might appear. The Sha would be simply obedient, however, maybe, probably. Either way, they are obedient to Y'Shaarj, not to the player.

Also, any and all whispers would come from the heart itself, not from N'Zoth, C'Thun or Yogg'Saron. Who are at best unwilling allies until they can all go back to being at mutual war for callous, pointless internecine amusement.

khadgar567
2017-07-20, 01:54 PM
The Heart of Y'Shaarj is not an object, it is a living (ish), fully sapient piece of an evil creature of deific proportions (it is also mostly dormant unless fed a lot of energy, the easiest path to do so being the pools of the Valley).

First things first, remember that the heart is about as big as an adult orc male, so you are not grafting that in place of your own blood pumper.

As for effects of the Heart, it is more akin to a potent ally (if you are already quite evil) than anything. In Siege of Orgrimmar, it gave Garrosh a powerful weapon, Xal'atoh, which had the power to throw copies of itself that produced large pools of shadow energy.

The heart itself, which is kind of difficult to carry around on account of its size, can transport those near it to temporary demiplanes that are sustained in part by sha created by the heart. In these worlds, the Heart can share energy with its 'owner', for D&D, probably by means of casting spells and providing other buffs. This does eat into the energy previously provided, and so the Hear would need constant feeding (which could allow it to reform the Old God eventually).

As for the Mantid, they are loyal to Y'Shaarj and follow the being that channels its power and might convey its will, but they are not mind controlled. The same goes for any other minions of the old gods that might appear. The Sha would be simply obedient, however, maybe, probably. Either way, they are obedient to Y'Shaarj, not to the player.

Also, any and all whispers would come from the heart itself, not from N'Zoth, C'Thun or Yogg'Saron. Who are at best unwilling allies until they can all go back to being at mutual war for callous, pointless internecine amusement.
so best and the safest option is crank up that craft skill and use the heart to forge a suitable weapon . nice to know

Niro
2017-07-21, 01:53 AM
so best and the safest option is crank up that craft skill and use the heart to forge a suitable weapon . nice to know

But what sort of weapon. THAT's the question

And not gonna lie, sorta sad that you can't just cast.. Minimize or something on the heart to make it into something more manageable

khadgar567
2017-07-21, 02:26 AM
But what sort of weapon. THAT's the question

And not gonna lie, sorta sad that you can't just cast.. Minimize or something on the heart to make it into something more manageable
depends on class you want to use so OPs warrior some thing nice like axe to grind. You can shrink it but you are not getting rid of it.

22. stratagem of list: No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head.
Read it buddy if it has even 3 int it bites you in the ass so listen some one knows WTF he is doing and turn that hearth in to some sort of weapon asap for your own good.

Draken
2017-07-21, 09:33 AM
But what sort of weapon. THAT's the question

And not gonna lie, sorta sad that you can't just cast.. Minimize or something on the heart to make it into something more manageable

The baseline weapon can be whatever your player likes best. The added powers can be pretty agnostic in that regard.

And really, the 'weapon' is just a token for daily usage, the real advantage/gameplay of the Heart should still be to feed it souls/magic/whatever so it can layer your sorry mortal ass with permanent buffs, eyeballs and a nice coat of purple paint.

khadgar567
2017-07-21, 02:18 PM
The baseline weapon can be whatever your player likes best. The added powers can be pretty agnostic in that regard.

And really, the 'weapon' is just a token for daily usage, the real advantage/gameplay of the Heart should still be to feed it souls/magic/whatever so it can layer your sorry mortal ass with permanent buffs, eyeballs and a nice coat of purple paint.
oi oi oi tzeentch is warhammer universe material not warcraft( thoug you can intruduce it as void lord of magic)

Spore
2017-07-21, 03:08 PM
Ahh, theming Artifacts of the Great Old Ones should follow two principles.

1) It should corrupt a weak-willed user, making him gradually insane. Honestly it's part of an evil god whose main themes are blind rage, insanity, fear.

2) It should offer tremendous power in return to lure a mortal into its servitude.

So if your player manages it correctly its power should not be utterly consumed. I would think the "best" use would be to contain its corrupting powers with some kind of Titan artifact, funneling its power towards a use. Seeing as C'thun created Elementium, some kind of power infused metal, this might as well be another idea.

Draken
2017-07-21, 05:26 PM
C'thun did not create Elementium, it forms naturally in regions with a high concentration of elementals (nominally, the elemental plane, where the Old Gods never went).

The only material explicitly tied to the Old Gods is Saronite, Yogg-Saron's clotted blood. Ghost Iron is likely metal tainted by the sha (given its appearance), so it could be another one, but this was never made clear.

If a material for an artifact of Y'Shaarj is being picked, I would recommend Ghost Iron. Can't very well think of baseline properties for it, sadly.

Spore
2017-07-22, 03:24 AM
Heart Shrine of Y'shaarj: Contained in a cage created in the Forge of Origination, the heart of Y'shaarj allows the wielder to channel its dark powers. Communicating with its dark powers as part of a rest (similar to spell preparation) allows the supplicant the Eldritch Blase Warlock power (8d6 for non Warlocks, +8d6 for Warlocks). The Heart also supplies Fast Healing 10. The supplicant can also choose one "Eldritch Blast" invocation freely as well as one Greater or Dark Invocation or two Least or Lesser powers.

This power is caged and completely safe to use.
__________________________________________________ _______________________

Heart of Rage: If not already chaotic evil this item will permanently change its user's alignment to chaotic evil. Touching the heart with your bare hands and allowing its corrupting influence to enter your body permanently warps you. It allows you the Clawed Arm graft which shows itself in a dark purple semi-solid liquid wrapping around your arm (or arms if you so desire). Anyone hit and injured by this arm's natural attack must take a will save (DC =10 + 1/2 the character's ECL + Con) or be the subject of a Rage spell. Unlike the rage spell, this affects any creature.


Clawed Arm: A clawed arm is muscular and sinewy, with a large, clawed hand. The grafted creature gains a +4 bonus to Strength when using the arm for any purpose, including attacking. If it is not holding anything or being used to perform another action, the grafted creature can direct the clawed arm to make one natural attack per round, using the creature's base attack bonus and adjusted Strength modifier. This attack is in addition to the creature's normal actions in a round. A successful attack deals damage based on the creature's size (see below) plus the creature's adjusted Strength bonus.
Prerequisites: Graft Flesh, bull's strength, haste, creator must be a fiend; Market Price: 50,000 gp.
__________________________________________________ _______________________

Blood of Y'shaarj: Funneling an Old God's Life Blood into your body is a remarkable feat if survived. The target has to pass a DC 25 fortitude save and a DC 20 will save or struggle with keeping the blood at bay. If you fail one of these saves your character is staggered for the next hour after which you are allowed a new pair of saves. If you however manage both saves you are immediately considered a 17th level cleric of Y'shaarj, along with spell slots and and available spells. Y'shaarj counts as a CE god of Destruction, Madness, Strength and War. You do not get domain spell slots, you may however prepare domain spells in your normal spell slots.

The character suffers an indefinite insanity off of the following table (the DM may pick a fitting insanity instead of rolling):
01–15 Anxiety (includes severe phobias)
16–20 Dissociative (amnesia, multiple personalities)
21–25 Eating (anorexia, bulimia)
26–30 Impulse control (compulsions)
31–35 Mood (manic/depressive)
36–45 Personality (various neuroses)
46–50 Psychosexual (sadism, nymphomania)
51–55 Psychospecies
56–70 Schizophrenia/psychotic (delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, catatonia)
71–80 Sleep (night terrors, sleepwalking)
81–85 Somatoform (psychosomatic conditions)
86–95 Substance abuse (alcoholic, drug addict)
96–100 Other (megalomania, quixotism, panzaism)

Niro
2017-07-26, 05:07 PM
Thanks guys and girls for all of the input and ideas.
I am sure that the barbarian will be more than happy with these things :D