Tyrant
2017-09-17, 05:32 AM
Before I get to my various questions, if any of my players are reading this please stop now.
I want to thank everyone who has answered my previous questions on here and hopefully you guys can come through again with answers or inspiration.
I will spoiler the lengthy explanation of the campaign up until this point.
The Campaign
The campaign is set in the Forgotten Realms. The year is 1374 DR, though I am still working out which events have and have not occurred in our campaign. I know for sure that the Time of Troubles occurred, Cyric has ascended, Shade has returned, and The Manshoon Wars have occurred. Thus far it has been primarily around Waterdeep on the Sword Coast. The characters are working for the Knights of the Shield trying to spread their influence into Waterdeep and further north and possibly East. There are two other ongoing quests that they are involved in. They are also trying to find an item that is important to Shar in return for an as yet unspecified divine favor and they are interested in finding out the identity of someone who wronged them in their mutual past (and presumably get revenge). So far the latter two haven't figured prominently into the plot and the first has consisted primarily of doing jobs for the City Watch (mainly outside the city). I have no idea how long these plots will run and am still finalizing the possible end games of each one.
To better enable them to pursue their quest for Shar they were given rings by the Cleric that approached them. These rings allow them to pass as "normal" characters (immune to True Sight) and avoid alignment detection, but they can't be removed, have as of yet unknown properties, and force them to avoid killing one another.
So far they have fought a Dragon, some Drow, a group of Vampires, some Golems, and an allied group consisting of the Cult of the Dragon and the Zhentarim. I am toying with the idea of pointing them North towards Neverwinter and Luskan.
As some of you may realize by the mention of the Knights of the Shield and Shar, they are evil characters. Due to their need to gain legitimate influence in Waterdeep their more evil impulses have to be somewhat held in check or hidden. They have worked for the Knights of the Shield for a few years swiftly rising through their ranks due to their power and abilities. The group has some history of working together. This is why they were chosen for this mission.
The Setup/Style of the sessions
We have been playing for about a year and a half. We are only able to meet once a month if we are lucky, though we usually play for the better part of 6-8 hours when we do. We have a group of 8 possible players though we have never had more than 5 at once (which presents a few problems). Things have mainly been the "kick in the door" style thus far though I have made attempts to add more roleplaying (and in fairness, part of the problem is on my end for not fleshing out characters). Some people in the group want to engage in roleplaying more while others seem indifferent to the concept. Given the infrequency of the meetups and everyone's newness to the game (and since I'm still not sure how long this will last and it is something of a test for possible later games) I have mainly been handling it like a video game and telling them to level up every so often instead of strictly tracking XP. They started on Level 5 and have just got to Level 10.
The Characters
This is where some things have gone off the rails. For the record, I realize some of the mistakes I have made here.
This whole game spun out of talking to some people about some of the possibilities in player creation. They liked some of the ideas and had never played D&D. Neither had I for that matter. I used to play the D&D minis skirmish game and have played Neverwinter Nights 2 quite a bit, along with buying a number of 3.5 source books to better understand the game that the skirmish game was built on. So, the players were interested in playing evil characters and I went along with it (I don't see the problem in it if they don't play Evil Stupid). Then one player wanted to play a Vampire. I noticed it had an LA of +8 before I realized that was probably too high for what the Vampire gets and before I knew about things like LA buyoff and Monster Classes like in Savage Species. So to me this meant the other players would need to be LA +8 (they were already going to have level adjustments due to wanting to play monsters and template creatures so it was primarily a matter of determining how high they could go). On top of that he wanted to be a Drow Vampire. So that was another +2. I decided the limit would be +10. Although to somewhat level things I still had to give him some Hit Dice since everyone else took monsters that started with Racial Hit Dice. I also said that I wasn't too concerned about how exactly templates were supposed to stack. It's a magic world and anything is possible was my reasoning, although most of them came up with some kind of reasoning for their backstories. To add to this, I also have a character that I run.
Character specifics
We have the following characters:
An Ulitharid with the Lolth-Touched template, Mind Mage.
Building off of an idea I came across in one of the books mentioning the Illithid, the character was a Netherese Wizard who replicated the means of surviving the Illithid implantation and becoming an Illithid (his memories/soul/etc. in the new Illithid body). Then shortly after transforming himself into the more powerful Ulitharid he was attacked by the groups common enemy that they are seeking out. The attack left him with his memories scrambled along with the Illithid knowledge/racial memories/personality trying to assert itself leaving him with a voice that is poisoning his mind and feeding his negative impulses (though he was evil to start with) as the two sets of personalities slowly merge. He is trying to find his wife who's fate is unknown. He has found his daughter who he has used to mentally steady himself by reading her mind for memories of himself. Beyond finding his wife and seeking revenge he is still continuing his quest for power.
A Rakshasa with the Half-Dragon Template, primarily Sorcerer (going Frost Mage) with some levels of Monk.
Using the 4th Edition Deva/Rakshasa lore, this character was a Deva who was slipping to the dark side. He chose to work with the character who wronged most of us in the past (we haven't clarified in what capacity yet and the other don't know this) in return for greater power. This came in the form of the Half-Dragon Template which also merged the essence of the (Black) Dragon with the Deva sealing his fate to be reincarnated as a Rakshasa for having fallen into Evil. He seeks revenge because he's pretty sure he got screwed.
A Midgard Dwarf with the Two-Headed Template (and something else I think), Cleric of Bane.
She was a Zhentarim member before the Cyricists rose to power. She fled West towards the Sword Coast after they took over the Zhentarim and she took up with the Knights of the Shield. She too seeks revenge on the one who gave her a second head.
A Redspawn Arcannis with the Two-Headed Template (and possibly something else), Sorcerer with some levels of Rogue.
She is trying to figure out where she fits in with everything. The Dragonspawn are only now appearing in any real numbers. She feels betrayed as she believes she was left behind to be experimented upon by our common foe. She is also driven by a lust for treasure.
A Drow Vampire Warmage
He was liberated when the rest of our group destroyed his master on a mission for the Knights of the Shield. He took a ring that was in his master's possession that allows him to circumvent some of the limitations of being a Vampire and joined our group as thanks for freeing him.
A Greater Doppleganger (had to come up with an LA since it didn't have one) with I believe Half-Fey and Unseelie Fey (though I am probably going to have him drop this one as it seems to be somewhat overpowered for a LA+0) Rogue with Monk levels.
He, like the Ulitharid, has serious memory issues. His are brought on from a combination of the experiments and the nature of his identity assumption abilities. He too wants revenge. He is also trying to build a secretive power base in Waterdeep and possibly make a move on the Underworld.
And two others who are rarely there.
The characters are primarily bound by their common desire to get revenge on their mutual enemy and their quest for Shar (one of the parameters of that quest is that they are unable to try to kill one another). Their allegiance to the Knights of the Shield is born out of convenience and possibly repaying the debt of being liberated from a laboratory/torture chamber by them. Eventually double crossing them is quite likely. I have been trying to encourage everyone to think like evil characters and try to develop their own schemes and plots. My character (the Ulitharid) and the Doppleganger are trying to do so.
One of the limits I put in place was that characters with innate spellcasting/manifesting that stacks with character levels could not exceed the current character level. I allowed everyone to rebuild their character on level 9 after they had used them for a while and had a better idea of what was and wasn't working. This allowed for a little bit of wiggle room with that stipulation. That is why the Redspawn and Rakshasa have non caster levels. The Ulitharid was capped at manifesting as a Psion Level 8 so that after the one Psion Level (at character level 8) he was effectively a 9th Level Psion (the first Mind Mage Level is a dead level for the Psionic half).
Encounters
Due to their levels and LAs it has been difficult to design encounters that are something other than "cake walk", "slug fest", or "possible TPK" (that hasn't happened as I have been somewhat holding back). I have been using the generic Fighters, Wizards (without going too overboard on the spells as I am trying to pin down what they can and can't handle), etc. in the DMG with some minor tweaks along with monsters from the MMs and the stats on the back of some of the Skirmish game cards for opposition. The first few battles were cake walks as I had no idea what they could handle. Now they are mostly slug fests where our characters can't kill the enemies real quickly and they have trouble even hurting us. Again, I am still trying to narrow down the limits of these characters, but the other issue is that just about everyone seems to want to fight in melee no matter what class they are. The spellcasters use the occasional spell but they seem to think they can do more damage with weapons (and in terms of HD damage they are probably right, though at least one is starting to come around to the other possibilities of magic). The only two characters that seem to really be able to put the hurt on enemies is the party rogue and my character (a Mind Mage), and I try to hold back so as not to overshadow the others.
Right now I am trying to build more fleshed out generic bad guys who are similarly built and geared as our characters so I am hoping that helps make things more interesting. The issue of everyone charging into melee I am trying to solve by talking to them and explaining what they can do aside from swing swords.
The potentially big issue though is the wealth issue. I started off by using the tables in the DMG and the possessions on the enemies. Given the level of people our characters can fight this has generated quite a bit of wealth for them. I also didn't fully understand a few things at the start as far as selling items and enchanting items so they got more money than they should have and were able to spend it more efficiently than they should have. That is in the past now and I don't want to penalize them for my mistakes, but I have told them that I am going to cut down on the wealth they get from encounters and that I am going to enforce the rules I was getting wrong. The damage is probably already done but I can hopefully keep it from getting worse. Although, they are probably under WBL for their ECL but with me not being able to challenge them more effectively it is still an issue.
So, I have characters with massive LAs, they are evil, we meet infrequently, the number and composition of the possible players playing is unknown right up until we actually start, we aren't really tracking XP, they may have too much treasure, and I am playing a character while DMing. I think I could have tried to hit a few more bad ideas along the way but this is my first time.
Other threads where I have posed questions that I am always looking for more info/advice/inspiration about:
Assorted 3.5 Psionic, Mind Flayer, and Epic questions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?535271-Assorted-3-5-Psionic-Mind-Flayer-and-Epic-questions)
Psionic item pricing/function (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?533008-Psionic-item-pricing-function)
3.5 Teleportation Questions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?531186-3-5-Teleportation-Questions)
Plane Shift questions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?527601-Plane-Shift-questions)
Buying Feats (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?527563-Buying-Feats)
Savage Species Questions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?527562-Savage-Species-Questions)
3.5 Monster Advancement Questions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?525062-3-5-Monster-Advancement-Questions)
Forgotten Realms novels to game (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?494575-Forgotten-Realms-novels-to-game)
Epic Levels Question (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?490510-Epic-Levels-Question)
On the topic of buying feats I am probably going to allow it but given their respective wealth at this point I am going to limit the number (every other level maybe?) and the price will definitely be higher than the one in the thread (probably 50,000gp or 100,000gp).
So, I think that sums up the relevant backstory to how I find myself in my present situation. As I said, I know of a lot of the mistakes I have made up to this point so no need to point out the ones I already mentioned. I would like to try to keep things moving with this campaign with this much time invested in it and so far everyone is enjoying themselves. Any general advice is always appreciated though.
The characters have a keep and paying upkeep on it is going to start taking a chunk out of their loot. I am not allowing wish chaining shenanigans (though honestly I am probably the only one playing a spellcaster that even knows it's possible) and trying to avoid infinite wealth generation schemes.
Now for some assorted questions about areas I know are problems and to make sure I am doing things right.
1) If a character has the Ascetic Rogue feat (and a combination of Monk and Rogue levels) and a Monk's Belt do the belt and the feat stack in terms of improving unarmed strike damage?
2) Is essentially every unarmed attack a Monk makes an unarmed strike? As in is it the main attack and the iterative attacks or is it a specific attack like a Claw or Tail attack?
3) When a character has multiple templates and they all mention increasing their natural armor, do those all stack?
4) Are there any Bane-centric Prestige Classes or PrCs that are thematically compatible with Bane that I might advise the Cleric of Bane to look at?
5) Are there any good Sorcerer PrCs that would go good with the Redspawn Arcannis?
6) If I were to go down the road of allowing the PCs to get ahold of Artifacts, what level is that an even remotely good idea? I assume that varies per artifact.
7) Any ideas on an Epic Progression for the Mind Mage? It's abilities don't really present any obvious ways to advance them beyond the initial 10 levels that I see.
8) The Ulitharid has a few possible goals. In keeping with his emerging Illithid nature that couples nicely with his Netherese contempt for others he is pursuing means of acquiring slaves and subordinates, but he is paranoid and wants absolute loyalty. One avenue I have looked into is Voidminds. Another is Mind Seeding people. Another is Simulacrums. And finally there is straight up Dominating people. One way to merge all of this I have considered is creating some kind of Hive Mind with him as some kind of overmind controlling it and issuing psychic commands through it. Is there any way to achieve this? Barring that, is there an effective way to create a pyramid of control where he can communicate with his direct subordinates over any distance?
9) I'm probably going to try to merge the rules for organizations, guilds, businesses, Leadership, and possibly bits of the stronghold rules into something more cohesive to cover the kind of organization they are trying to establish. Any suggestions on this front would be appreciated.
10) With the current set up, is there anything I should absolutely avoid/disallow to stop things from sliding further?
I'm sure I will have more questions as time goes on and I recall more of why I started this thread. Thanks in advance for any help or constructive criticism.
Edit to add questions 11-14 and clarify question 8:
11) Is there any reason to not use the 3.0 Psionic power Thrall in 3.5? Either allowing it to be chosen or having it be researched to create.
12) This is a holdover from another thread. Can an Illithid create two simulacrums of itself and then the 3 of them combine their abilities to create Voidminds (which require 3 Illithids to create)?
13) On the player front, the rogue is generally dishing out the most damage in melee and is quite hard to hit (and subsequently damage). The few times I have had enemies that can reliable harm him he has been nearly killed. That has been by having a magic user target his weak save with spells that do tremendous damage. The issue is that in melee if someone can hit him they can easily hit just about everyone else and I would prefer to not just keep blasting him with spells that might end up killing him without meaning to. Is there a way to reliably overcome high AC (aside from a high to-hit bonus) or to bring down his reflex save to mortal levels? I don't want to have to design enemies specifically to counter him if I can help it.
14) If an item grants a feat can the character who possesses it take other feats that have the item-granted feat as a prerequisite? For instance a Ring of Evasion grants the Evasion feat. Can someone using one use that feat to meet the prerequisite for another feat requiring Evasion?
Question 8 clarification: Unless the Ulitharid becomes the villain down the road question 8 is largely for role playing purposes. He very likely won't be rolling into the dungeon with an army of slaves, thralls, and subordinates leading the charge.
Edit to add question 15:
15) Given the high LA of the characters, would it (in general) be better for me to try to create monsters/characters to fight them by building similar things (high LA, similar class level) or by going with higher class levels or higher CR monsters? I have been trying the latter 2 and I am still not sure where the sweet spot is on that idea and I don't want to go way overboard. I'm thinking the former idea is best (make their challenges similar to how they were made) but any and all advice is appreciated.
Edit to add questions 16-20:
16) If the player of the Redspawn Arcannis (mainly) Sorcerer prefers to remain viable in melee, would the Eldritch Knight PRC be something worth considering or is there another PRC that does the same thing (or something fairly similar) only better (or with more flavor/better benefits)?
17) How does the Skillful weapon property interact with Racial HD? For instance, the Ulitharid has this enchantment on his weapon. He has 12 RHD and 10 Character Levels (5 Wizard, 2 Guild Wizard of Waterdeep, 1 Psion, and 2 Mind Mage) and if my math is right he has a +13 BAB (+9 from RHD, +2 from Wizard 5, +1 from GWoW 2, +0 from Psion 1, and +1 from 2 levels in Epic Progression due to having over 20 HD). Skillful would give me the BAB of a Cleric of the same level. So do I use my character level (in which case it would be level 10), and if so do I add that onto my BAB from my 12 RHD? Or do I calculate it as if I had 22 HD of Cleric? Or do I go with a strict reading which says that my BAB is already above what a 10th level Cleric would have so it does nothing on that front? Or some other option?
18) Since the Vampiric Mind Flayer isn't created by adding the Vampire template to a Mind Flayer (which I didn't notice until rereading the entry in Lords of Madness recently), will adding the Vampire template to a Mind Flayer just create a Mind Flayer Vampire or is there some other bizarre thing that results?
19) In the Forgotten Realms, what is west of Waterdeep? Out in the ocean I mean. I mainly know about the primary continent. I know the Moonshaes are out there somewhere, but is there anything else? Islands, other continents?
20) Can Metamagic Feats also work with Divine spells? I don't have much experience using Divine Casters so I had never really considered the possibility.
21) Is there any information about how someone could become one of the Masked Lords in Waterdeep? This doesn't have to be limited to 3.5.
21) I am at a loss as to what to advise the Cleric player to buy in terms of equipment/items. Beyond the usual "boost your stats" items, any recommendations? She's a Cleric of Bane for those who didn't go through the first post.
22) Does a Ring of Magic Fang stack with the effects of a Necklace of Natural Attack (I think that's the name, the one that allows a Monk to enhance his attacks as if they were weapons)? I'm assuming no due to both being enhancement bonuses, but figured it was best to ask.
23) Given the party's relatively high power level, are there any forms worth using Polymorph to become? Also, does the limit of what you can become with Polymorph cap at 15HD?
24) This is just a general question. I see people mention that there are a number of save or die or save or suck spells. Is there a list of these somewhere? Likewise any kind of don't save just die or just suck type spells?
I want to thank everyone who has answered my previous questions on here and hopefully you guys can come through again with answers or inspiration.
I will spoiler the lengthy explanation of the campaign up until this point.
The Campaign
The campaign is set in the Forgotten Realms. The year is 1374 DR, though I am still working out which events have and have not occurred in our campaign. I know for sure that the Time of Troubles occurred, Cyric has ascended, Shade has returned, and The Manshoon Wars have occurred. Thus far it has been primarily around Waterdeep on the Sword Coast. The characters are working for the Knights of the Shield trying to spread their influence into Waterdeep and further north and possibly East. There are two other ongoing quests that they are involved in. They are also trying to find an item that is important to Shar in return for an as yet unspecified divine favor and they are interested in finding out the identity of someone who wronged them in their mutual past (and presumably get revenge). So far the latter two haven't figured prominently into the plot and the first has consisted primarily of doing jobs for the City Watch (mainly outside the city). I have no idea how long these plots will run and am still finalizing the possible end games of each one.
To better enable them to pursue their quest for Shar they were given rings by the Cleric that approached them. These rings allow them to pass as "normal" characters (immune to True Sight) and avoid alignment detection, but they can't be removed, have as of yet unknown properties, and force them to avoid killing one another.
So far they have fought a Dragon, some Drow, a group of Vampires, some Golems, and an allied group consisting of the Cult of the Dragon and the Zhentarim. I am toying with the idea of pointing them North towards Neverwinter and Luskan.
As some of you may realize by the mention of the Knights of the Shield and Shar, they are evil characters. Due to their need to gain legitimate influence in Waterdeep their more evil impulses have to be somewhat held in check or hidden. They have worked for the Knights of the Shield for a few years swiftly rising through their ranks due to their power and abilities. The group has some history of working together. This is why they were chosen for this mission.
The Setup/Style of the sessions
We have been playing for about a year and a half. We are only able to meet once a month if we are lucky, though we usually play for the better part of 6-8 hours when we do. We have a group of 8 possible players though we have never had more than 5 at once (which presents a few problems). Things have mainly been the "kick in the door" style thus far though I have made attempts to add more roleplaying (and in fairness, part of the problem is on my end for not fleshing out characters). Some people in the group want to engage in roleplaying more while others seem indifferent to the concept. Given the infrequency of the meetups and everyone's newness to the game (and since I'm still not sure how long this will last and it is something of a test for possible later games) I have mainly been handling it like a video game and telling them to level up every so often instead of strictly tracking XP. They started on Level 5 and have just got to Level 10.
The Characters
This is where some things have gone off the rails. For the record, I realize some of the mistakes I have made here.
This whole game spun out of talking to some people about some of the possibilities in player creation. They liked some of the ideas and had never played D&D. Neither had I for that matter. I used to play the D&D minis skirmish game and have played Neverwinter Nights 2 quite a bit, along with buying a number of 3.5 source books to better understand the game that the skirmish game was built on. So, the players were interested in playing evil characters and I went along with it (I don't see the problem in it if they don't play Evil Stupid). Then one player wanted to play a Vampire. I noticed it had an LA of +8 before I realized that was probably too high for what the Vampire gets and before I knew about things like LA buyoff and Monster Classes like in Savage Species. So to me this meant the other players would need to be LA +8 (they were already going to have level adjustments due to wanting to play monsters and template creatures so it was primarily a matter of determining how high they could go). On top of that he wanted to be a Drow Vampire. So that was another +2. I decided the limit would be +10. Although to somewhat level things I still had to give him some Hit Dice since everyone else took monsters that started with Racial Hit Dice. I also said that I wasn't too concerned about how exactly templates were supposed to stack. It's a magic world and anything is possible was my reasoning, although most of them came up with some kind of reasoning for their backstories. To add to this, I also have a character that I run.
Character specifics
We have the following characters:
An Ulitharid with the Lolth-Touched template, Mind Mage.
Building off of an idea I came across in one of the books mentioning the Illithid, the character was a Netherese Wizard who replicated the means of surviving the Illithid implantation and becoming an Illithid (his memories/soul/etc. in the new Illithid body). Then shortly after transforming himself into the more powerful Ulitharid he was attacked by the groups common enemy that they are seeking out. The attack left him with his memories scrambled along with the Illithid knowledge/racial memories/personality trying to assert itself leaving him with a voice that is poisoning his mind and feeding his negative impulses (though he was evil to start with) as the two sets of personalities slowly merge. He is trying to find his wife who's fate is unknown. He has found his daughter who he has used to mentally steady himself by reading her mind for memories of himself. Beyond finding his wife and seeking revenge he is still continuing his quest for power.
A Rakshasa with the Half-Dragon Template, primarily Sorcerer (going Frost Mage) with some levels of Monk.
Using the 4th Edition Deva/Rakshasa lore, this character was a Deva who was slipping to the dark side. He chose to work with the character who wronged most of us in the past (we haven't clarified in what capacity yet and the other don't know this) in return for greater power. This came in the form of the Half-Dragon Template which also merged the essence of the (Black) Dragon with the Deva sealing his fate to be reincarnated as a Rakshasa for having fallen into Evil. He seeks revenge because he's pretty sure he got screwed.
A Midgard Dwarf with the Two-Headed Template (and something else I think), Cleric of Bane.
She was a Zhentarim member before the Cyricists rose to power. She fled West towards the Sword Coast after they took over the Zhentarim and she took up with the Knights of the Shield. She too seeks revenge on the one who gave her a second head.
A Redspawn Arcannis with the Two-Headed Template (and possibly something else), Sorcerer with some levels of Rogue.
She is trying to figure out where she fits in with everything. The Dragonspawn are only now appearing in any real numbers. She feels betrayed as she believes she was left behind to be experimented upon by our common foe. She is also driven by a lust for treasure.
A Drow Vampire Warmage
He was liberated when the rest of our group destroyed his master on a mission for the Knights of the Shield. He took a ring that was in his master's possession that allows him to circumvent some of the limitations of being a Vampire and joined our group as thanks for freeing him.
A Greater Doppleganger (had to come up with an LA since it didn't have one) with I believe Half-Fey and Unseelie Fey (though I am probably going to have him drop this one as it seems to be somewhat overpowered for a LA+0) Rogue with Monk levels.
He, like the Ulitharid, has serious memory issues. His are brought on from a combination of the experiments and the nature of his identity assumption abilities. He too wants revenge. He is also trying to build a secretive power base in Waterdeep and possibly make a move on the Underworld.
And two others who are rarely there.
The characters are primarily bound by their common desire to get revenge on their mutual enemy and their quest for Shar (one of the parameters of that quest is that they are unable to try to kill one another). Their allegiance to the Knights of the Shield is born out of convenience and possibly repaying the debt of being liberated from a laboratory/torture chamber by them. Eventually double crossing them is quite likely. I have been trying to encourage everyone to think like evil characters and try to develop their own schemes and plots. My character (the Ulitharid) and the Doppleganger are trying to do so.
One of the limits I put in place was that characters with innate spellcasting/manifesting that stacks with character levels could not exceed the current character level. I allowed everyone to rebuild their character on level 9 after they had used them for a while and had a better idea of what was and wasn't working. This allowed for a little bit of wiggle room with that stipulation. That is why the Redspawn and Rakshasa have non caster levels. The Ulitharid was capped at manifesting as a Psion Level 8 so that after the one Psion Level (at character level 8) he was effectively a 9th Level Psion (the first Mind Mage Level is a dead level for the Psionic half).
Encounters
Due to their levels and LAs it has been difficult to design encounters that are something other than "cake walk", "slug fest", or "possible TPK" (that hasn't happened as I have been somewhat holding back). I have been using the generic Fighters, Wizards (without going too overboard on the spells as I am trying to pin down what they can and can't handle), etc. in the DMG with some minor tweaks along with monsters from the MMs and the stats on the back of some of the Skirmish game cards for opposition. The first few battles were cake walks as I had no idea what they could handle. Now they are mostly slug fests where our characters can't kill the enemies real quickly and they have trouble even hurting us. Again, I am still trying to narrow down the limits of these characters, but the other issue is that just about everyone seems to want to fight in melee no matter what class they are. The spellcasters use the occasional spell but they seem to think they can do more damage with weapons (and in terms of HD damage they are probably right, though at least one is starting to come around to the other possibilities of magic). The only two characters that seem to really be able to put the hurt on enemies is the party rogue and my character (a Mind Mage), and I try to hold back so as not to overshadow the others.
Right now I am trying to build more fleshed out generic bad guys who are similarly built and geared as our characters so I am hoping that helps make things more interesting. The issue of everyone charging into melee I am trying to solve by talking to them and explaining what they can do aside from swing swords.
The potentially big issue though is the wealth issue. I started off by using the tables in the DMG and the possessions on the enemies. Given the level of people our characters can fight this has generated quite a bit of wealth for them. I also didn't fully understand a few things at the start as far as selling items and enchanting items so they got more money than they should have and were able to spend it more efficiently than they should have. That is in the past now and I don't want to penalize them for my mistakes, but I have told them that I am going to cut down on the wealth they get from encounters and that I am going to enforce the rules I was getting wrong. The damage is probably already done but I can hopefully keep it from getting worse. Although, they are probably under WBL for their ECL but with me not being able to challenge them more effectively it is still an issue.
So, I have characters with massive LAs, they are evil, we meet infrequently, the number and composition of the possible players playing is unknown right up until we actually start, we aren't really tracking XP, they may have too much treasure, and I am playing a character while DMing. I think I could have tried to hit a few more bad ideas along the way but this is my first time.
Other threads where I have posed questions that I am always looking for more info/advice/inspiration about:
Assorted 3.5 Psionic, Mind Flayer, and Epic questions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?535271-Assorted-3-5-Psionic-Mind-Flayer-and-Epic-questions)
Psionic item pricing/function (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?533008-Psionic-item-pricing-function)
3.5 Teleportation Questions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?531186-3-5-Teleportation-Questions)
Plane Shift questions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?527601-Plane-Shift-questions)
Buying Feats (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?527563-Buying-Feats)
Savage Species Questions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?527562-Savage-Species-Questions)
3.5 Monster Advancement Questions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?525062-3-5-Monster-Advancement-Questions)
Forgotten Realms novels to game (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?494575-Forgotten-Realms-novels-to-game)
Epic Levels Question (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?490510-Epic-Levels-Question)
On the topic of buying feats I am probably going to allow it but given their respective wealth at this point I am going to limit the number (every other level maybe?) and the price will definitely be higher than the one in the thread (probably 50,000gp or 100,000gp).
So, I think that sums up the relevant backstory to how I find myself in my present situation. As I said, I know of a lot of the mistakes I have made up to this point so no need to point out the ones I already mentioned. I would like to try to keep things moving with this campaign with this much time invested in it and so far everyone is enjoying themselves. Any general advice is always appreciated though.
The characters have a keep and paying upkeep on it is going to start taking a chunk out of their loot. I am not allowing wish chaining shenanigans (though honestly I am probably the only one playing a spellcaster that even knows it's possible) and trying to avoid infinite wealth generation schemes.
Now for some assorted questions about areas I know are problems and to make sure I am doing things right.
1) If a character has the Ascetic Rogue feat (and a combination of Monk and Rogue levels) and a Monk's Belt do the belt and the feat stack in terms of improving unarmed strike damage?
2) Is essentially every unarmed attack a Monk makes an unarmed strike? As in is it the main attack and the iterative attacks or is it a specific attack like a Claw or Tail attack?
3) When a character has multiple templates and they all mention increasing their natural armor, do those all stack?
4) Are there any Bane-centric Prestige Classes or PrCs that are thematically compatible with Bane that I might advise the Cleric of Bane to look at?
5) Are there any good Sorcerer PrCs that would go good with the Redspawn Arcannis?
6) If I were to go down the road of allowing the PCs to get ahold of Artifacts, what level is that an even remotely good idea? I assume that varies per artifact.
7) Any ideas on an Epic Progression for the Mind Mage? It's abilities don't really present any obvious ways to advance them beyond the initial 10 levels that I see.
8) The Ulitharid has a few possible goals. In keeping with his emerging Illithid nature that couples nicely with his Netherese contempt for others he is pursuing means of acquiring slaves and subordinates, but he is paranoid and wants absolute loyalty. One avenue I have looked into is Voidminds. Another is Mind Seeding people. Another is Simulacrums. And finally there is straight up Dominating people. One way to merge all of this I have considered is creating some kind of Hive Mind with him as some kind of overmind controlling it and issuing psychic commands through it. Is there any way to achieve this? Barring that, is there an effective way to create a pyramid of control where he can communicate with his direct subordinates over any distance?
9) I'm probably going to try to merge the rules for organizations, guilds, businesses, Leadership, and possibly bits of the stronghold rules into something more cohesive to cover the kind of organization they are trying to establish. Any suggestions on this front would be appreciated.
10) With the current set up, is there anything I should absolutely avoid/disallow to stop things from sliding further?
I'm sure I will have more questions as time goes on and I recall more of why I started this thread. Thanks in advance for any help or constructive criticism.
Edit to add questions 11-14 and clarify question 8:
11) Is there any reason to not use the 3.0 Psionic power Thrall in 3.5? Either allowing it to be chosen or having it be researched to create.
12) This is a holdover from another thread. Can an Illithid create two simulacrums of itself and then the 3 of them combine their abilities to create Voidminds (which require 3 Illithids to create)?
13) On the player front, the rogue is generally dishing out the most damage in melee and is quite hard to hit (and subsequently damage). The few times I have had enemies that can reliable harm him he has been nearly killed. That has been by having a magic user target his weak save with spells that do tremendous damage. The issue is that in melee if someone can hit him they can easily hit just about everyone else and I would prefer to not just keep blasting him with spells that might end up killing him without meaning to. Is there a way to reliably overcome high AC (aside from a high to-hit bonus) or to bring down his reflex save to mortal levels? I don't want to have to design enemies specifically to counter him if I can help it.
14) If an item grants a feat can the character who possesses it take other feats that have the item-granted feat as a prerequisite? For instance a Ring of Evasion grants the Evasion feat. Can someone using one use that feat to meet the prerequisite for another feat requiring Evasion?
Question 8 clarification: Unless the Ulitharid becomes the villain down the road question 8 is largely for role playing purposes. He very likely won't be rolling into the dungeon with an army of slaves, thralls, and subordinates leading the charge.
Edit to add question 15:
15) Given the high LA of the characters, would it (in general) be better for me to try to create monsters/characters to fight them by building similar things (high LA, similar class level) or by going with higher class levels or higher CR monsters? I have been trying the latter 2 and I am still not sure where the sweet spot is on that idea and I don't want to go way overboard. I'm thinking the former idea is best (make their challenges similar to how they were made) but any and all advice is appreciated.
Edit to add questions 16-20:
16) If the player of the Redspawn Arcannis (mainly) Sorcerer prefers to remain viable in melee, would the Eldritch Knight PRC be something worth considering or is there another PRC that does the same thing (or something fairly similar) only better (or with more flavor/better benefits)?
17) How does the Skillful weapon property interact with Racial HD? For instance, the Ulitharid has this enchantment on his weapon. He has 12 RHD and 10 Character Levels (5 Wizard, 2 Guild Wizard of Waterdeep, 1 Psion, and 2 Mind Mage) and if my math is right he has a +13 BAB (+9 from RHD, +2 from Wizard 5, +1 from GWoW 2, +0 from Psion 1, and +1 from 2 levels in Epic Progression due to having over 20 HD). Skillful would give me the BAB of a Cleric of the same level. So do I use my character level (in which case it would be level 10), and if so do I add that onto my BAB from my 12 RHD? Or do I calculate it as if I had 22 HD of Cleric? Or do I go with a strict reading which says that my BAB is already above what a 10th level Cleric would have so it does nothing on that front? Or some other option?
18) Since the Vampiric Mind Flayer isn't created by adding the Vampire template to a Mind Flayer (which I didn't notice until rereading the entry in Lords of Madness recently), will adding the Vampire template to a Mind Flayer just create a Mind Flayer Vampire or is there some other bizarre thing that results?
19) In the Forgotten Realms, what is west of Waterdeep? Out in the ocean I mean. I mainly know about the primary continent. I know the Moonshaes are out there somewhere, but is there anything else? Islands, other continents?
20) Can Metamagic Feats also work with Divine spells? I don't have much experience using Divine Casters so I had never really considered the possibility.
21) Is there any information about how someone could become one of the Masked Lords in Waterdeep? This doesn't have to be limited to 3.5.
21) I am at a loss as to what to advise the Cleric player to buy in terms of equipment/items. Beyond the usual "boost your stats" items, any recommendations? She's a Cleric of Bane for those who didn't go through the first post.
22) Does a Ring of Magic Fang stack with the effects of a Necklace of Natural Attack (I think that's the name, the one that allows a Monk to enhance his attacks as if they were weapons)? I'm assuming no due to both being enhancement bonuses, but figured it was best to ask.
23) Given the party's relatively high power level, are there any forms worth using Polymorph to become? Also, does the limit of what you can become with Polymorph cap at 15HD?
24) This is just a general question. I see people mention that there are a number of save or die or save or suck spells. Is there a list of these somewhere? Likewise any kind of don't save just die or just suck type spells?