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View Full Version : Ancient Powers of Destruction Needed!



Halcyon_Dax
2008-05-18, 11:46 PM
So I'm working on our upcoming 4e campaign and was starting to sketch out some of the things that might be going on in epic levels. (I know this is far away, but I like to plan far ahead so I can plant early seeds, etc etc).

Well, I plan on sending the party to collect the 'essences' of four ancient and colossal powers of destruction. The general premise is that these forces of destruction were the original weapon designed to kill the Big Bad, and now the heroes must reclaim their power (which will be forged into their weapons, as they are the newest 'weapon' against Big Bad.

We have a four person party of a Paladin, Rogue, Cleric, and Wizard. So I would like to have the 'essences' semi-thematically appropriate for the players (only vaguely).

So far I have:

Fury of Nature (Tarresque) -> Eventually goes to Cleric
Wrath of Mana (Homebrewed) -> Goes to Wizard
*Blank* of Death (Homebrewed or big undead) - > Rogue

Not sure what to call the 'of death' one. I was thinking 'Inevitability' but its kind of cumbersome.

Also, I'm totally at a loss as to what the fourth might be? Keep in mind it will probably go to the paladin.

Any suggestions?

KillianHawkeye
2008-05-19, 12:26 AM
For Death I suggest going with something like Bleakness or Shadow. The Shadow of Death sounds cool.

As for the fourth one, hmm... How about the Veil of Truth? Alternatively, you could go with the Horror of Truth, since exposure to utter, absolute truth tends to be horrifying and make people go insane. Don't know what kind of creature that would come from, though. Maybe something from the Far Plane?

The_Werebear
2008-05-19, 12:53 AM
Mantle of Death, maybe?

as for the Paladin
The Weight of Honor
The Shield of Truth
The Light of Purity
The Aegis of Valor

As for the source, I would suggest a high powered celestial like a Solar. It's willing to surrender its essence only to a worthy foe, both in combat and in general life.

Halcyon_Dax
2008-05-19, 01:17 AM
Hmm. Thanks guys.

Werebear, yours are good, but they are starting to get away from the 'ancient living weapon of destruction' angle I was going for. Good inspiration though.

Killian: awesome. Shadow of Death it is. And for the fourth I have decided on The Weight of Truth. That will probably be the last one they obtain so they will have gotten used to a big epic 4v1 bossfight (as far as you can get used to things like that), so of course, I will take the opportunity to throw them for a loop.

They will probably fight a mirror image of their party, that, when slain, rises as a pseudonatural version of their party. Either that or when bloodied.


Thanks for the burst of inspiration, fellas.

Azerian Kelimon
2008-05-19, 01:52 AM
Hmm. Thanks guys.

Werebear, yours are good, but they are starting to get away from the 'ancient living weapon of destruction' angle I was going for. Good inspiration though.

Killian: awesome. Shadow of Death it is. And for the fourth I have decided on The Weight of Truth. That will probably be the last one they obtain so they will have gotten used to a big epic 4v1 bossfight (as far as you can get used to things like that), so of course, I will take the opportunity to throw them for a loop.

They will probably fight a mirror image of their party, that, when slain, rises as a pseudonatural version of their party. Either that or when bloodied.


Thanks for the burst of inspiration, fellas.

Actually, one last thing to add. Try to make one extra, very final bossfight, because if the players catch on to the theme of your bosses, the other guys will feel diminished by how the paladins is the biggest challenge.

Halcyon_Dax
2008-05-19, 01:06 PM
AK, you bring up a good point, however, my players will not know that the 'essences' they are collecting are tied to any specific character, or even that they will eventually become their weapons. All of the challenges are aimed towards the whole group, and they can approach them in any order, that being said, they will probably find the Weight of Truth last.

Only after all of them are collected will the weapons be made, that way half the party is walking around with artifact level weapons while the other isn't.

Also, these four are simply a grand power-up stage for the party to fight the real big bad.

I'm thinking it will go down like this, but not necessarily in this order:

Fury of Nature: Straightforward - kind of. The party has to fight its way through an unnaturally horrible jungle and fight the Fury at the center.

Shadow of Death: Mostly RP. Party finds out that it is powering essentially a giant bubble of necromantic energy that surrounds a neutral / neutral good city of undead. If they were to remove or fight the Shadow, the field of necrotic energy would dissipate and the entire city would 'die'. Tough choices.

Wrath of Mana: Was already captured in a weapon, but drove the too-weak current owner insane with power. I want it to eventually dawn on my players that they are fighting Elminister (or a homage, at least) gone insane and with a powerful artifact. About halfway through the fight he will loose control of the weapon and die horribly, the actual Wrath of Mana speeding away as an interplanar chase begins.

Weight of Truth. I want to worry the players. They will have just spent a great deal of time dealing with insane cosmic powers of a very overt nature. When they are looking for the Weight of Truth, their angel informants will know not nearly as much as they did for the rest of the powers, yet be far more frightened about it. This will be a strongly far-realms themed fight, which will approach them itself, while they are attempting to research it. I said what the fight will be like a few posts up.

Anyway, thanks again guys. Any additional comments welcomed!

KillianHawkeye
2008-05-19, 05:37 PM
Sounds pretty cool. And I'm glad I could help! :smallbiggrin:

Hal
2008-05-19, 09:34 PM
Vessel of Faith?