[3.5]Alternative Energy Sources aka Never Ending Rage

[PapaNachos]

For my own amusement (and possible use in some ancient ruins) I'm trying to develop a never ending energy source based off of the Goliath Rage Ring from Races of Stone.

Currently I'm working with the idea of a giant hamster wheel made of aurorum (BoED) hooked up to a generator. I figure the aurorum will keep it from being worn out over time.

Throw a Barbarian 6/Frenzier Berserker 4 Killoren (Races of the Wild) in the wheel. Create a permanent illusion of a monster or something they can rage at. Make the illusion appear to run from them. Hook a crossbow that creates its own ammo (similar to the armbow in the Eberron Campaign Setting) and trigger it to fire at set intervals, just to insure the subject stays angry.

Equip a ring of sustenance and boots of the unending journey and it should be able to frenzy forever.

Can anyone spot any glaring flaws in this plan? Other than the obvious impracticality of it, of course. Any suggestion or ways to improve or streamline it would be appreciated as well.

[Coidzor]

Hmm, the principle problem is probably that is needs a level 10 character to use as the fuel source...

Can we cheese the level lower?

[PapaNachos]

I figured that only a frenzier berserker would be stupid enough to actually chase an illusion forever. It would probably work at level 7, since thats the minimum level for frenzied berserker. Also the boots require that you have at least 7 HD or a 4th level divine slot. I -could- use a warforged or something similar, but that feels like cheating to me.

I went ahead and gave him frenzied berserker 4, so that I don't have to worry about damaging him too much, since he can't actually die. If I had some way to mitigate the damage being dealt to him his level could be lowered to 7.

[Coidzor]

Hmm. A source of DR and a crossbow sized for something small enough that it'll do minimum damage for the infinite trap?

Counts as an attack, but doesn't actually do damage, still annoying enough to sustain a rage, especially if there were multiple bolts, like a hail of mosquitoes or sommat.

[PapaNachos]

Unfortunately barbarians don't get DR until level 7, so that means either another HD, DR from another source, or no frenzied berserker.

[Rannil]

Wasn't there a feat to give DR?

Also why the crossbow? Isn't once damaging enough to trigger and after the "enemy/illusion" needs to stay within 40 ft.

[The Rose Dragon]

I went ahead and gave him frenzied berserker 4, so that I don't have to worry about damaging him too much, since he can't actually die. If I had some way to mitigate the damage being dealt to him his level could be lowered to 7.

He can, however, fall unconscious, due to that class ability not making an exception for non-lethal damage being higher than your hit points. 0 is always greater than a negative number, and 0 is the minimum amount of non-lethal damage you can have suffered.

[PapaNachos]

I figure its better to keep pelting him, just to make sure he stays angry.

[PapaNachos]

He can, however, fall unconscious, due to that class ability not making an exception for non-lethal damage being higher than your hit points. 0 is always greater than a negative number, and 0 is the minimum amount of non-lethal damage you can have suffered.

He's not taking any nonlethal damage though, the boots make sure he's never fatigued or exhausted, so unless he takes it from another source he's fine.

[Rannil]

He's not taking any nonlethal damage though, the boots make sure he's never fatigued or exhausted, so unless he takes it from another source he's fine.

You take 2 points of non lethal damage per round in frenzy.
Also hunger and thirst deal non lethal damage.

[The Rose Dragon]

He's not taking any nonlethal damage though, the boots make sure he's never fatigued or exhausted, so unless he takes it from another source he's fine.

He doesn't have to. The moment you fall into the negative hit points, your non-lethal damage exceeds your hit points, due to 0 being higher than any negative number. Even if you are somehow immune to lethal damage, nothing makes an exception for that rule (mostly because no one really remembers the non-lethal damage rules).

[Rannil]

He doesn't have to. The moment you fall into the negative hit points, your non-lethal damage exceeds your hit points, due to 0 being higher than any negative number. Even if you are somehow immune to lethal damage, nothing makes an exception for that rule (mostly because no one really remembers the non-lethal damage rules).

Anyways, the frenzied berserker is immune to unconscious.

At 4th level and higher, a frenzied berserker can scorn death and unconsciousness while in a frenzy.

Al though that part isn't elaborated on.

[PapaNachos]

Okay, so it looks like he either needs to be immune to nonlethal damage or he needs to be able to heal. Ring of regeneration and eternal wands of cure [whatever] wounds hooked up to a setup similar to the crossbow come to mind.

The ring of sustenance takes care of the need for food and water.

[The Rose Dragon]

At 4th level and higher, a frenzied berserker can scorn death and unconsciousness while in a frenzy.

Al though that part isn't elaborated on.

That's entirely fluff. It has no bearing on the game rules. The mechanics of the ability starts in the sentence immediately after that one.

[Rannil]

That's entirely fluff. It has no bearing on the game rules. The mechanics of the ability starts in the sentence immediately after that one.

Either way, damage reduction should prevent negative hit points, thus the whole non lethal damage issue. Other things are covered as well, missed the ring.

I found the (non epic) DR-feat.
Roll With It, from Savage Spieces (p 39)
DR 2/-, stacks with itself. You do need 20 con and the toughness feat.

[Coidzor]

Well, a light adamantine chain shirt would give DR 1/- and thus negate fine or possibly diminuitive crossbowbolts.

Oh. Wait.

What about Trollblooded? That's just a feat and human in exchange for Regeneration 1, right?

[PapaNachos]

It looks like the 2 nonlethal damage/round from frenzying is more of a problem. If we ditch frenzied berserker for barbarian we just get DR 1/-

Edit: Humans also die of old age, so unless we can find a way around that I don't want to go with them.

[Rannil]

It looks like the 2 nonlethal damage/round from frenzying is more of a problem. If we ditch frenzied berserker for barbarian we just get DR 1/-

Edit: Humans also die of old age, so unless we can find a way around that I don't want to go with them.

Non lethal damage can be healed with normal healing, right.

Also there is a Dragon Magazine way of becoming an immortal human. Other options are undead humans, but I guess that's A) cheating and B) trollblood wouldn't work.

Edit: If you ditch frenzied berserker, doesn't that mean the barbarian can quit rage and go on a strike?

[PapaNachos]

A frenzied berserker could end their frenzy as well, if they make a will save. I figured I would come up with some way to make them never want to, or be to stupid to.

[Rannil]

But a DC20 Will save is quite hard for a barbarian, With a poor save he needs like 15+ on a D20, 25% chance. Owh well, getting annoyed by arrows and seeing a guy would work I guess, especially if wisdom and int are low.

I was also thinking, if you could get a eternal wand of heal, with 3 charges. You could heal him each time he gets fatigued, not needing the shoes and possibly making the minimum level 1. Not sure if that would work.

[PapaNachos]

Well, I figured that whoever builds this has a lot more money than a standard 7th level character and they're just funding it. As such, WBL isn't terribly important.

Like I said, I want this thing to run forever once its hooked up, so if they even have a chance to roll to escape its unacceptable. I was considering having a triggered geas be cast on them or something similar.

Anyway, I'm going to bed.

[Rannil]

Anyways, if you afraid for escaping, why don't seal the exits. Or make a closed hamster wheel. If he doesn't die, there is no point of giving a option of him leaving.

Anyways:
A eternal wand of healing that triggers every 8 hours to cure fatigue.
A ring of sustenance.
A Goliath Rage Ring.
A permanent illusion (possible with the ability to taunt)
A crossbow shooting fine or possibly diminutive crossbowbolts (to make the threat "real")
A light adamantine chain shirt.
A Killoren, level 1 barbarian, with a int and wis of 3.

No damage, no hunger, no thirst, a low will save vs illusions, a low int and the feeling the threat is real, endless rage, immortal, immoral and a way to cure fatigue. I think that's all, I still prefer zombie hamsters, less work, but this is more delicious evil.

[molten_dragon]

The biggest flaw in your plan is that the Goliath Rage Ring only works for Rage, not Frenzy, so whatever poor critter you have strapped to your wheel will run out of frenzies after just a minute or two, and then they can stop raging and leave whenever they want. There are some other problems, but that's the biggest one.

Edit: Rannil has the right idea with the undead. Just create some skeletons to run on your wheel. They are undead, so they're immune to aging and fatigue, and they're mindless, so they'll literally do whatever you tell them to do forever (assuming someone else doesn't break your control and tell them to do something else).

[Coidzor]

There some kind of way to prevent an auto-success on a natural 20?

Some kind of resetting spell turret trap could spam him with a will save debuff. And/Or Allip him down to a low wisdom.

[2xMachina]

The biggest flaw in your plan is that the Goliath Rage Ring only works for Rage, not Frenzy, so whatever poor critter you have strapped to your wheel will run out of frenzies after just a minute or two, and then they can stop raging and leave whenever they want. There are some other problems, but that's the biggest one.

Edit: Rannil has the right idea with the undead. Just create some skeletons to run on your wheel. They are undead, so they're immune to aging and fatigue, and they're mindless, so they'll literally do whatever you tell them to do forever (assuming someone else doesn't break your control and tell them to do something else).

Next, you'd be using Permanent Wall of Fire... No work needed.

[Reluctance]

Your plan involves a ring of regeneration, and either an infinitely-resetting crossbow with infinite bolts, or else an infinitely-resetting trap to do energy damage. And you're trying to make a rube-goldberg-esque perpetual motion machine.

Wouldn't it be easier to take the infinitely-resetting energy trap, have it use lightning, and fire into a capacitor repeatedly? Magic already gives you free infinite energy, why include the character and the hamster wheel into the mix?

Edit: Nijna'd

[Bayar]

1. Swap the guy in the wheel with a level 1 warforged commoner
2. Tell him to run until he drops from fatigue.
3. ???
4. PROFIT !

[PapaNachos]

I'm fully aware I could use undead or a construct to make this work more easily. Thats not the goal here.

Edit: I didn't really want him to actually be trapped in there. Ideally it will use someone too stupid to contemplate escape.

[Rannil]

I'm fully aware I could use undead or a construct to make this work more easily. Thats not the goal here.

Edit: I didn't really want him to actually be trapped in there. Ideally it will use someone too stupid to contemplate escape.

Like I said before, 3 int and 3 wis keeps the bugger stupid enough to prevent escaping. Would even work for a level ten char.

[sofawall]

He doesn't have to. The moment you fall into the negative hit points, your non-lethal damage exceeds your hit points, due to 0 being higher than any negative number. Even if you are somehow immune to lethal damage, nothing makes an exception for that rule (mostly because no one really remembers the non-lethal damage rules).

So what you are saying is any ability that allows you to remain conscious at less than 0 HP is totally useless? Or perhaps what you are saying is if you deal non-lethal to them, they fall unconscious, then they proceed to wake up again when you smash their head in?