The Grateful Merchant

[AlanBruce]

Greetings! In my latest 3.5 game, my player's PCs, after a most grueling battle in some mad wizard's house, unknowingly freed a creature the wizard had trapped via a complex ritual and rather than stick around and try and fight said mad wizard, escaped with her captive.

It wasn't a wholesome victory- they had to leave their own wizard friend behind, turned into a monster by the Big Bad. They have vowed to return and save him later.

Now, the freed creature turned out to be a Mercane (ELH). Mercanes are said to be Planar Merchants who sell and sometimes craft impressive items all over the Multiverse.

This one in particular lives in Sigil and has been known only in tales and myths in the Prime Material. Now, back in his shop in the City of Doors with the party, he has offered to assist them by improving or crafting items for them- a one time freebie deal.

He knows they (the party) cannot access Sigil and he will not be returning to the Prime, so I wanted to make it a memorable reward. Something that will allow them to strike back at their enemy and save their friend all the same.

That being said, a few of my players have already mentioned- some being more specific than others- what they want.

1. The Human Paragon / Fighter / Warblade wields a +1 Adamantine Heavy Hammer with a wand chamber. He uses wraithstrike in the chamber and likes to crit fish.

He asked me if his hammer could have the Bodyfeeder (MIC p. 30) enchatment on his Hammer. This property fits with his theme and so it's a go.



2. The Desert Dwarf Crusader 4/Cleric 1/Prestige Paladin 1/Ruby Knight Vindicator 4 wields a +1 guisarme with a least acid energy crystal attached to it and also has a wand chamber with wraithstrike in the guisarme.

When asked if the player would like offense or defense (His AC before buffing is 20... not the best), he responded that "the best defense is a good offense", so he wants something done on his guisarme.

Sadly, I have drawn a blank here on what to do to make it better.



3. The desert halfling Stormcaster is an electric based blaster sorcerer and already has pretty much all damage boosters covered- shards, robes of the master evoker, electric ring (I forget the exact name, but it boosts his electric damage output exponentially).

Of note, he has an air elemental familiar whom he is always casting alter Self so he can ride him, Goku style, and dominate the battlefield through aerial superiority.


4. The party's healer is a mix of bard, cleric and MT. She is physically very weak (her max health is 24 before temporary HP come into play by virtue of her feats and bardic items that boost attack and grant fast healing).



5. The party wizard is a straight Conjurer 10 and is not with them at this point, but given that he;s a wizard already, I was contemplating having The Mercane give his fellow PCs a copy of Boccob's Blessed Book and the Quill Of Scribing so, when he is (hopefully) rescued, he will be able to cram that book with more spells than he could ever imagine and with a self writing quill to boot.


I hope I was able to confer enough information regarding my PCs and their situation. Mainly, what to hand out to the paladin, healer and blaster? Fluff is good, but ultimately, they will want crunch as well and the Mercane did give his word that the warriors in the group would get weapons "unlike any their peers have ever seen".

Any ideas are more than welcome.

Thank you very much in advance.

[Nifft]

The "best defense" guisarme wielder might get something that allows better effects via AoOs, since a Reach weapon AoO is a form of offensive defense.
- Suppression (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/weapons.htm#suppression) removes magic buffs from targets. Better for a Manifester but not useless at mid-levels since you get a lot of attacks, thus a lot of chances to roll high.
- A custom effect that grants the Stand Still (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#standStill) feat.
- Improved Trip is pretty great for a guisarme. If the PC already has that, then give a bonus to Trip checks.


The air-bender storm Sorcerer... maybe some way to convert electric damage into another damage type? Perhaps modeled on the feat Born of the Three Thunders, or the feat Energy Substitution (which you could put on a cheap Metamagic Rod along with Empower or Sculpt Spell), or even Energy Admixture on a Rod by itself. Demons are immune to electricity, so having more damage types can help a lot at higher levels, and that's exactly the sort of thing that a planar merchant would know.


For the Bard/Cleric, something that buffs Constitution, plus a buff to Inspire Courage. Alternately, a Crown of the White Raven that gives White Raven Tactics 1/encounter (plus two other White Raven maneuvers). If the player wants to be a support character, then White Raven Tactics can fulfill that role superbly.


Blessed Books are awesome, so yeah that's a good Wizard reward.

[AlanBruce]

The "best defense" guisarme wielder might get something that allows better effects via AoOs, since a Reach weapon AoO is a form of offensive defense.
- Suppression removes magic buffs from targets. Better for a Manifester but not useless at mid-levels since you get a lot of attacks, thus a lot of chances to roll high.
- A custom effect that grants the Stand Still feat.
- Improved Trip is pretty great for a guisarme. If the PC already has that, then give a bonus to Trip checks.


We don't use psionics here, but Suppression could easily be translated into magic via the psionics/magic transparency rules. I believe MiC has a property that allows a weapon to cast a Dispel Magic effect X times per day, so may go with that on his guisarme.

Stand Still is a nice feat to put into a custom item, although I don't know how much the crusader in this game would want the foe stopping right next to him, unless he has back up.

Improved Trip was not considered and the PC does not have the feat. May work well since as a cleric of Wee Jas and having access to the Magic Domain, he has a wand of Enlarge Person which he uses sparingly.



The air-bender storm Sorcerer... maybe some way to convert electric damage into another damage type? Perhaps modeled on the feat Born of the Three Thunders, or the feat Energy Substitution (which you could put on a cheap Metamagic Rod along with Empower or Sculpt Spell), or even Energy Admixture on a Rod by itself. Demons are immune to electricity, so having more damage types can help a lot at higher levels, and that's exactly the sort of thing that a planar merchant would know.

The storm sorcerer is question is a Desert Halfling Sorcerer 6/Sea witch 1/Stormcaster 3

Looking at his items, he already has:

Empowered Spellshard (lesser orb of electricity)

ring of mystic lightning

rod of sculpt spell

robes of the master evoker

He also has a custom Runestaff of Protection that includes Shield, False Life, Heart of Water & Dragonskin

He does not have Energy Admixture and he relies heavily in electricity, but perhaps having Energy Admixture somehow crafted into his Runestaff would make it far more unique and give him an extra punch against enemies normally immune or resistant to his main energy type.



For the Bard/Cleric, something that buffs Constitution, plus a buff to Inspire Courage. Alternately, a Crown of the White Raven that gives White Raven Tactics 1/encounter (plus two other White Raven maneuvers). If the player wants to be a support character, then White Raven Tactics can fulfill that role superbly.

The healer in question is a Bard 1/ Cloistered Cleric 3/Mystic Theurge 5

Looking at her sheet, her items are: Dove's Harp, Armband's of Maximized healing, Empowered Spellshard , Healing Belt, Ring of Mystic Healing and a Periapt of Wisdom +2 and Cloak of Charisma +2, leaving her head slot empty.

The party has the crusader use WRT constantly. The warblade had it too, but they agreed it got silly and so, only the Crusader has access to it now, with the warblade retraining his own for another maneuver.

I may have to give the healer a Constitution boosting item definitely, but will have to think a bit further into what would be best for her, since she can't do melee at all, but is a very good healer.

Thank you for the suggestions! If you have any more, please keep them coming!