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    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Hyudra's Avatar

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    Apr 2008

    Default Re: [3.5]Improved monster classes: adapting creatures for player use-taking requests!

    Dead levels make Flumphs cry. Don't make Flumphs cry.

    Think flavor. What does the Arcanaloth do in the lower planes? They're scribes, record keepers, merchants and businessmen. Sometimes they are governors (reaching into earlier editions there). Key elements there are manipulation, knowledge, words and more words.

    Just brainstorming, what if you gave him the ability to corrupt words? Like, he can touch a written work and change it so it spreads misinformation, misleads or outright lies. Whatever he wants. It might be keyed off of forgery, but the basic idea would be that it would let the Arcanaloth turn scrolls, spellbooks and symbols to his own purposes. As a touch attack against a spellcaster, he could corrupt their spellbook. With a bluff check, he might even do it without their knowledge.

    What would this do? Maybe a suggestion effect, or a geas, or something like making a set number of spells have unintended effects until the wizard/archivist figures out what's what. In simpler terms, it would work like a curse spell. If you feel the Arcanaloth is viable as a class (and I can't pass verdict here, it's a mess as written, and I can't interpret it), then it's a thematic ability that works as an adventure seed (If the Arcanaloth is a player, using the ability on the big bad is a story element. If he's a monster you're throwing at the group, well, it's just lulzy.)
    Last edited by Hyudra; 2010-08-05 at 01:54 AM.