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Thread: The White Witch

  1. #21
    Senior Member Osprey's Avatar
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    Or maybe an other effect of the orb of winters fury. similar to the warding spell it summons a snow storm trapping any units in the province and preventing units from entering it. Or another item.
    That's pretty much the effect of Winter's Fury as a realm spell. I'll repost Raesene's writeup here:

    Winter’s Fury
    (Transmutation)

    Spell Level: Divine [Kriesha] 3
    Gold: 4 GB
    Regency: 12 RP
    Target: One province
    Duration: 1 week + 2 days/level
    Required Holding: Temple 3

    In the cold wastes of Vosgaard, many travellers have reported sudden storms that appear out of nowhere and last for days. With this realm spell, a cleric can summon a powerful blizzard that covers an entire province, trapping invaders and potentially ending an attack if the invader is unprepared for the deadly conditions. The cleric may prevent the spell from taking effect for up to a week before its power overwhelms her control and the blizzard in unleashed.
    The spell is not limited by the season and even in the middle of summer; those caught in the province take the full effects of the conditions. After the blizzard has passed, the snow dropped by the blizzard can be up to several feet deep and this could cause additional problems for invaders and the province’s population.
    Army units caught unprepared by the blizzard conditions suffer one hit of subdual damage for each hour of exposure, unless they find suitable shelter. An army prepared for winter conditions must still find shelter, but have up to a day before the conditions begin to take their toll. If they are unable to find shelter after a day, units take one hit of subdual damage for each day of exposure. Soldiers in a unit reduced to 0 hits will die unless they are immediately given shelter and aid.
    Individuals caught unprepared by the blizzard suffer the effects of extreme cold and severe winds, as described in the section on the environment in the Dungeon Master’s guide.
    Pretty viscious, don't see much need to reinvent the wheel when Raesene has laid all the groundwork. :)

  2. #22
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    True enough osprey winters fury would do the the job.

  3. #23
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    Originally posted by graham anderson@Jun 15 2004, 04:42 PM
    Rhoubhe Manslayer and the Raven have changed through bloodform and the changes are not just physical but mental with rhoubhe being lawfull. They have both changed though while the kraken etc have not.
    Ummm... Rhoubhe is Neutral Evil... honest!

  4. #24
    Site Moderator geeman's Avatar
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    At 06:36 PM 6/17/2004 +0200, anacreon wrote:



    >Roubhe is Neutral Evil...



    That`s correct. There is, however, text that would indicate he`s on his

    way towards lawfulness and that he might be best described in 2e as

    "Neutral Evil (lawful)." How long might that change take place is

    anybody`s guess....



    Gary

  5. #25
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    Why would that happen? Azrai was NE not LE after all... so why would an awnshegh who is already NE change his alignment to grow further away from Azrai?

  6. #26
    Site Moderator geeman's Avatar
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    At 10:47 AM 6/20/2004 +0200, anacreon wrote:



    > Why would that happen? Azrai was NE not LE after all... so why would an

    > awnshegh who is already NE change his alignment to grow further away from

    > Azrai?



    Actually, there`s been a little debate on what Azrai`s alignment was. We

    don`t actually have anything that says what it was outright. He is, of

    course, evil but we don`t really know for sure what his disposition was

    towards law/chaos. You can find some discussion of the issue under the

    title "Azrai`s Alignment" in the archives.



    Generally, I think the gods are "above" such things as alignment. They

    might ascribe (or be ascribed) to one particular alignment, but on the

    whole their association is more directly related to some "primal force"

    that they embody. That primal force might lend itself to one of the

    cardinal alignment descriptions, but that relationship is incidental to the

    more direct relationship of the god to his/her spheres of

    influence. That`s why the priests of Cerilia`s pantheon have can have so

    many different alignments.



    When it comes to Azrai, for instance, I think one of this major areas is in

    the corruption or perversion of others both physically and mentally. If

    looked at from the standpoint of the alignment system that is most likely a

    chaotic (and evil) emphasis. However, the true motivating force is

    corruption not chaos. If there is some lawful aspect of corruption then

    that takes precedence over the generalized interpretation of the god as

    chaotic. Rhoubhe is a good example of such a situation. An elf is more

    fully "corrupted" by becoming more lawful since that race is by inclination

    chaotic. Rhoubhe has been perverted by his bloodline into something that

    is now a misanthropic (possibly even miselfthropic?) parody of his original

    self.



    Gary

  7. #27
    Birthright Developer irdeggman's Avatar
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    IMO Azrai's alignment was chaotic evil.

    References include BoR pg 26 the path of evil "When a scion with the blood of Azrai commits an evil or chaotic act. . ."

    Bloodspawn sidebar on pg 5 "That god became Lord of Shadow, the god of Chaos and change. He bacame Azrai."
    Duane Eggert

  8. #28
    Site Moderator geeman's Avatar
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    OK, here`s the first draft of the WW`s stats. Some notes:



    0. I`m using my own system and tweaks to come up with this character

    description, not the one in the BRCS. I`ll not go into my tweaks for the

    sake of everyone`s eyeballs, and because for the most part it should be

    invisible to the BR "user community" for the sake of the description

    itself. Ideally, one uses such a system and is left with a workable

    character whose stats, abilities and faults are balanced with the existing

    rules, and that still expresses the theme of the character. There may be

    differences here and there, but when it comes to actual play the end result

    should be fully functional.



    1. In the BP system the original 2e Charm Aura and Persuasion are combined

    into the Persuasion blood ability. Instead of Charm Aura (major) and

    Persuasion (major) this version of the WW has Persuasion with 7BP dedicated

    to it (which would be equivalent to a great ability.) This grants her all

    the powers of both those two original blood abilities, plus a few here and

    there.



    2. The original WW has Major Resistance (Charm) as a great blood

    ability. In this 3e conversion, that ability is a pretty redundant because

    she`s walking around with a +20 Will save modifier. (Actually, it was even

    more redundant in 2e if her wisdom was as high as it would appear to be

    since high wisdom in 2e granted spell immunities to most charm and fear

    effects.) I could still give her the blood ability, but it would require

    adding as many as three levels of the awnshegh class, and it just doesn`t

    seem worthwhile because the character already has 18 character levels.



    3. I raised her bloodline score to 21 from 20 because in the BP system at

    21 she gets another BP and she`s got a lot of blood abilities. Also

    because I`ve always been amazed that her bloodline score is so low in the

    first place.... In fact, I wouldn`t mind bumping her up to around major,

    30-35 since she is such a prominent character, but I`m trying to stay

    relatively close to the original character description, so a single point

    is a minor transgression. BTW: There is an older version of the BP system

    available on birthright.net download section, but an updated version will

    be forthcoming in my (seemingly never-ending) BR project now called

    _Legendary Beings and Mythic Monsters_.



    4. I reduced the WW`s cleric levels to 13 even though she is 14th level

    priest in the original BR material since that is the point at which a

    cleric can cast 7th level divine spells. Arguably, the WW had access to

    the most powerful 2e divine spells, so she should in a 3e/D20 conversion,

    but that would mean bumping up her cleric levels to 17. That doesn`t seem

    quite right, and in combination with portraying the character using an

    awnshegh character class would mean putting her a few levels into the epic

    level, which I`m trying to avoid.



    5. The feats Blood Aesthete and Major Transformation are part of the BP

    system and grant additional blood abilities, as do her levels as an

    awnshegh. I also gave her an increase to her wisdom score from the

    transformation effects of her awnshegh levels. Thematically, the WW has a

    kind of "old crone" theme, and wisdom is often associated with age. At

    least, that`s the justification for her wisdom bump as part of her awnshegh

    transformation.



    6. When it comes to the rest her feat selection, I figure the WW needs to

    manufacture several types of magic items, so I gave her three item creation

    feats; potions, rings and wondrous. It`s possible she created her ring of

    beauty, but its origin is unexplained, so we don`t know for

    sure. Regardless of that, rings figure prominently in Nordic myth, so she

    should be able to create them IMO. Creating potions is kind of a

    ubiquitous witch power, so she had to have that, and creating wondrous

    items has a similar vibe. When it comes to her spell related feats, I had

    her focus on both enchantment and necromantic. The WW is a sort of

    dualistic character; one half focusing on charm, the other half upon curses

    and other stereotypical witch-like, which is more necromantic. Game

    mechanically it probably makes more sense to stick to one or the other, but

    for the character I think a bit of both fits better.



    7. I`ve not added a list of memorized spells in this character write up,

    nor picked a domain for her since I haven`t found one yet that is quite

    right.... She should, however, have +1 spell/level for domain spells and

    some special ability.



    8. Most of the stats below assume that the WW is wearing her ring of

    beauty. The skill modifiers listed below, for instance, assume a charisma

    score of 19. They do not, however, include modifiers if her Heightened

    Ability (int) is in effect.



    Here`s the 1st draft:



    ---ooOoo---



    The White Witch

    Cleric 13, Awnshegh 5

    Medium-sized Awnshegh

    Hit Dice: 13d8-13, 5d10-5 (71 hp)

    Initiative: +1 (+1 dexterity)

    Speed: 30 ft

    AC: 15 or 18 (+1 dex, +4 or 7 magic)

    Base Attack/Grapple: +13/+11

    Attack: Dagger +13 melee (1d4)

    Full Attack: Dagger +13/+8/+3 melee (1d4)

    Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft.

    Special Attacks: Persuasion, Rebuke Undead (12/day), icy burst, spells

    Special Qualities: Heightened Ability, Unreadable Thoughts

    Saves: Fort +11 Ref +8 Will +20

    Abilities: Str 6, Dex 12, Con 8, Int 16, Wis 24 or 28, Cha 9 or 19

    Skills: Bluff +20, Concentration +12, Diplomacy +20, Intimidate +20,

    Knowledge, arcana +12, Knowledge, religion +15, Profession, trade/finance

    +20, Sense Motive +15, Spellcraft +15.

    Feats: Blood Aesthete, Brew Potion, Craft Ring, Craft Wondrous Item,

    Major Transformation, Spell Focus-Necromantic, Spell Focus-Enchantment/Charm.

    Environment: Cold

    Organization: Solitary

    Challenge Rating: 14

    Treasure: Standard

    Alignment: Chaotic Evil/Lawful Good

    Advancement: By character class

    Level Adjustment: +0

    Bloodline: Azrai, minor, 21.

    Bloodline in BP Style: Az(5/21) Heightened Ability(1) Persuasion(7)

    Unreadable Thoughts(3).



    Inventory: Withering (see below), ring of beauty (see below), periapt

    of wisdom +4, bracers of armor +4, dagger +2 of icy burst.

    In addition to the items listed above that the White Witch carries on

    her person she has access to a large supply of magic items. Some of these

    items were made by the White Witch herself, others have been acquired from

    various travellers in her domain. Amongst her hoard at any given time will

    be 20-30 potions, a like number of scrolls, 5-10 magical weapons or armor

    of +1 to +3 enchantment, and



    Wintering: This magical ring was a gift direct from the White Witch`s

    patron, Karesha. It is a minor artifact that renders the wearer immune to

    cold-based damage and allows the wearer to use the following spell-like

    abilities as standard actions:

    * Freezing Sphere (at will.) This power is the equivalent of a Flaming

    Sphere spell with the energy type changed to cold.

    * Ice Storm (3/day.)

    * Call Blizzard (1/week.) This power is equivalent to the Control

    Weather spell`s blizzard effect.

    Strong abjuration and evocation; CL 12th



    Ring of Beauty: When the White Witch dons her ring of beauty she is

    physically transformed (equivalent to Alter Self) into a youthful and

    beautiful woman. The power of this ring is such that it can overcome the

    changes of an awnsheghlien transformation, not only returning the character

    to her original physical appearance, but enhancing that appearance to its

    most comely form. In addition, the ring of beauty grants her a +10

    enhancement bonus to her charisma. As a side effect, the wearer must at

    all times behave in a lawful and good manner while wearing the ring. Any

    attempt to lie, cheat, steal or otherwise deceive while wearing the ring of

    beauty fails (no use of bluff skill and -20 penalty to diplomacy checks

    made to negotiate.) No actions can be performed to harm another person

    that are not in self-defense. The wearer of the ring of beauty is aware of

    the changes made to her personality, and can remove the ring whenever she

    desires in order to perform actions that it will not allow the wearer to

    perform.

    Strong transmutation; CL 12th

    Note: The White Witch may not use her ability to rebuke undead while

    wearing the ring of beauty.



    COMBAT

    The White Witch prefers not to engage in melee combat. She will let her

    henchmen, hirelings and those she has charmed do her fighting while she

    supports them by casting spells. If cornered she will fight with her dagger.

    Heightened Ability: Once per day the White Witch may apply a 2-5 point

    enhancement bonus to her intelligence score. This bonus remains in effect

    for 1-4 hours.

    Persuasion: This blood ability gives the White Witch the ability to cast

    the following spells 1/day: Suggestion or Mass Suggestion, Charm Person or

    Mass Charm, Charm Monster or Mass Charm Monster.

    Unreadable Thoughts: The White Witch is immune to magics that detect her

    alignment, presence, or read her thoughts.

    Spells: 6/8/7/6/6/5/3/2 (plus domain spells.)

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