Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 19 of 19
  1. #11
    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    London, England
    Posts
    2,476
    Downloads
    30
    Uploads
    2
    Quote Originally Posted by Nicholas Harrison View Post
    In my mind, he's already a demigod but refuses to go higher on that totem pole because it carries godhood portfolio issues. And, he has other focuses. He doesn't want to bother with shepherding along a religion. He's already got the semblences of a cult in the Hand of Azrai. And, he doesn't want to get shoved off the prime material plane. So, his ambitions are more along the lines of a demilich or something.
    mmm, old threads

    If the Gorgon ascends further he runs into Belinik, etc - with the existing gods holding all the current power which is near certain destruction for him if he ascends without either destroying their power-base of faith, building his own, or both. He could simply be stuck -unable to go up, and unwilling to 'accept his mortality' and give up his pretensions on godhood.

    One possibility re: 100+ bloodlines is that once bloodline goes over a certain level you could get a paradigm shift where the 'benefits' that accrue from increases are in terms that probably don't make much sense to mortals. These benefits could instead affect the Gorgon's battles with the demons of the Shadow World, the Lost and the Gods - who are likely bigger foes to him than the petty dukes, counts, etc that remain of the empire.

    Quote Originally Posted by Magian
    The other mention of this was with Rhoubhe doing the same thing. My main problem with that is his domain power is so small compared to his blood str already that its not worth it. It would be like going out and getting an entire farm to have more food when you have more than enough food to eat as it is.
    My thought is that Rhoubhe may have a wide-ranging source network in the Shadow World, or in the long caverns under the mountains that were touched on in some of the adventures which increase his domain power significantly. To me though Rhoubhe is still an elf - he was immortal beforehand so his worldview probably hasn't changed much. I'd put Rhuobhe as in my view fairly uninterested in his bloodline as a result - its a tool he uses nothing more, certainly I'd have him uninterested in divinity (the polar opposite of the Serpent in effect).

    Quote Originally Posted by Magian
    He is a despot and doesn't even allow trade. He is backward and is more action oriented than a planner as his failed campaigns have shown. Then again has he learned and is taking a new path?
    I thought at one point of a wholesale rebuild to make the Gorgon usable as more than the bogey-man / campaign finale big bad.

    I'd figured that he should run the realm through a series of lieutenants and simply cream off most of the RP leaving them to do all the actual work (allowing people to fight 'his realm' without fighting 'him' and creating intrigue). I'd then have him noted as spending much of his time as 'a statue' with his court run by another lieutenant (a Dosiere of course!) and make the Gorgon the source of the spells used by the HoA and aiming to ascend to godhood leaving mortal concerns to his lieutenants unless their failures dragged his gaze back to Cerilia - the ascension process allowing me to bring in some rules-changes as 'the new god' started to influence the world about him.

    I had planned to have his looeys try to 'prove themselves' to him by dominating more land, etc which would then give me the backing campaign arc and let me create the chaos needed for an upstart PC realm to have a chance for greatness. The end result was planned to be either the crushing of his realm by simultaneous invasions from multiple nations, or the ascent to godhood of the Gorgon and perhaps one or two PC's who would have to steal access to his vast reservoir of stolen bloodline and faith while he was ascending to ensure that he could be opposed as a deity (in the campaign I had planned there were no gods so his ascension would have been a big problem if no-one followed him!)

  2. #12
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Malden, MA
    Posts
    761
    Downloads
    2
    Uploads
    0
    Quote Originally Posted by AndrewTall View Post
    any scion-breeding program is so good at boosting bloodlines given the basic rules, that someone would be doing it and it would then have a huge game effect... canon does describe the Gorgon as undertaking generational harvests at least in Anuire
    This is exactly why I long ago adopted Gary's option two,

    Quote Originally Posted by Birthright-L View Post
    Some folks have suggested that one can`t perform bloodtheft on one of your own offspring as that bloodline is too directly related to the original source.
    Otherwise I simply could not explain why the Gorgon had to bother to harvest anyone outside his own basement. Even Gary's mechanic of needing a high bloodline doesn't fix it: the Gorgon breeding with any random commoner yields offspring with bloodlines higher than Avan's and Boeruine's put together, so there must be a game metaphysics reason why killing them by the boatload just doesn't help.

  3. #13
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    BR mailing list
    Posts
    1,538
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0
    At 04:35 PM 5/31/2011, ryancaveney wrote:

    >Otherwise I simply could not explain why the Gorgon had to bother to
    >harvest anyone outside his own basement. Even Gary`s mechanic of
    >needing a high bloodline doesn`t fix it: the Gorgon plus any random
    >commoner equals someone with a bloodline higher than Avan`s and
    >Boeruine`s put together, so there must be a game metaphysics reason
    >why killing them by the boatload just doesn`t help.

    Actually, if using New Scions, the Gorgon wouldn`t gain any
    improvement to his bloodline from an act of bloodtheft against one of
    his own offspringe with and commoner. To shamelessly plug and quote myself:

    "When bloodtheft occurs it may increase the bloodline score of the
    scion who committed the act depending upon the bloodline score of the
    slayer and his victim. If the bloodline score of the victim is less
    than or equal to the bloodline score of the slayer use the respective
    bloodline scores as modifiers on an opposed roll. If the result of
    the victim`s roll is higher than the slayer`s roll then the slayer`s
    bloodline score increases by at least 1 point.

    If the bloodline score of the victim is greater than that of the
    slayer then the slayer`s bloodline score automatically increases by
    +1. Subtract the slayer`s new bloodline score from that of the
    victim. If the remainder is still greater than that of the slayer
    then increase the slayer`s new bloodline score by another +1 and
    subtract this new, increased score from the remainder of the victim`s
    bloodline score. If this second remainder is still greater than that
    of the slayer`s new bloodline score continue the process until the
    remainder is less than or equal to the slayer`s bloodline score. Any
    remainder then becomes a modifier in an opposed roll just as if the
    bloodline score of the victim were lower than that of the slayer per
    the rules above."

    Its a little unwieldy, but it does deal with the issue, and make that
    bloodtheft system in general a little more sensible....

    Gary

  4. #14
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    BR mailing list
    Posts
    1,538
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0
    I forgot to mention, however: The Gorgon does have access to
    tighmaevril weapons.... In my New Scions system that doubles the
    victim`s bloodline score for the purpose of bloodtheft, so it`s a
    good 50/50 that the Gorgon would gain a point of bloodline were he to
    kill his own offspring with a commoner.... Were he to get hold of a
    minor noble and do the same thing then he`d have a good shot at a
    point or two using one of those weapons.

    Maybe I should consider changing that. I didn`t really have the
    Gorgon in mind when I wrote that section, and I`d hate to change it
    for that one character, but maybe if the bloodline score of the
    victim was +30 or so rather than doubled that would make better sense.

    Gary

  5. #15
    Site Moderator Magian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Thief River Falls, MN
    Posts
    497
    Downloads
    219
    Uploads
    19
    Are you forgetting? The Gorgon is a warrior monk. He'd never have pre-marital sex nor would he marry simply to produce offspring. He is a man of honor and a lover not a fighter. He'd instantly fall in love with each and every one of his kids and he could never do such a thing.

    Although April 1st has long passed, this is my feeble attempt at celebrating that day.
    One law, One court, One allied people, One coin, and one tax, is what I shall bring to Cerilia.

  6. #16
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    BR mailing list
    Posts
    1,538
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0
    At 02:52 AM 6/1/2011, Magian wrote:

    >Are you forgetting? The Gorgon is a warrior monk. He`d never have
    >pre-marital sex nor would he marry simply to produce offspring. He
    >is a man of honor and a lover not a fighter. He`d instantly fall in
    >love with each and every one of his kids and he could never do such a thing.
    >
    >Although April 1st has long passed, this is my feeble attempt at
    >celebrating that day.

    Heh. That cute, cuddly Raesene just can`t resist getting all lovey-dovey....

    Though, it occurs to me that there is an argument to be made that the
    Gorgon transformation may mean he can no longer
    procreate.... Granted, in BR elves and humans can mate, and the
    setting is part of a rules set that has things like half-orcs,
    half-ogres and even half-dragons in 3e+, but at a certain point even
    the mystical nature of D&D biology starts to make such combinations
    more and more unlikely. Having transformed into a giant creature of
    stone may mean that the Gorgon`s biology is sufficiently changed that
    he can no longer mate with humans, or that offspring from such a
    pairing is unlikely. He`s certainly not the most transformed of the
    awnsheghlien, but he has changed quite a bit. The Kraken or the
    Seadrake can no longer have children with humans, I would think. At
    a certain point the awnsheghlien transformation must be too profound
    to allow one to have human children.

    On the other hand, maybe he could find a nice, galeb duhr to settle
    down with and start murdering his children.

    Gary

  7. #17
    Site Moderator Magian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Thief River Falls, MN
    Posts
    497
    Downloads
    219
    Uploads
    19
    Speaking of his transformation. I came up with a tid bit scenario where the Minotaur and Gorgon were actually there at Deismaar together. The Minotaur was so close to Raesene as to be like his standard bearer or something. This to (1) use the bit in the Blood Enemies about them possibly knowing each other, (b) explain the sources under the Minotaur's control through Raesene's help, and (III) to explain why the Gorgon has the top half of a gorgon and bottom of a minotaur and the Minotaur has the top half of a minotaur and the bottom half of a gorgon.
    One law, One court, One allied people, One coin, and one tax, is what I shall bring to Cerilia.

  8. #18
    Ehrshegh of Spelling Thelandrin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,086
    Downloads
    68
    Uploads
    0
    That's an amazing thought experiment concerning Raesene and Maalvar. What an interesting comparison!

    Ius Hibernicum, in nomine juris. Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.

  9. #19
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    BR mailing list
    Posts
    1,538
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0
    At 02:22 PM 6/3/2011, Thelandrin wrote:

    >That`s an amazing thought experiment concerning Raesene and
    >Maalvar. What an interesting comparison!

    I have to say, I really like it too. It approaches genius. And then
    backs away giggling....

    Gary

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. What Birthright DOESN`T Mean to Me
    By geeman in forum The Royal Library
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 03-06-2008, 07:24 PM
  2. Harvest god: Erik or Avani?
    By AndrewTall in forum The Royal Library
    Replies: 62
    Last Post: 01-12-2007, 04:13 PM
  3. The Gorgon
    By Midnight in forum The Royal Library
    Replies: 29
    Last Post: 04-09-2005, 03:50 PM
  4. children of the light in BR
    By marcum uth mather in forum The Royal Library
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 10-05-2002, 10:44 AM
  5. Bloodtheft on your own children
    By Sivar Windlass in forum The Royal Library
    Replies: 33
    Last Post: 12-16-2001, 06:31 AM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
BIRTHRIGHT, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, the BIRTHRIGHT logo, and the D&D logo are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used by permission. ©2002-2010 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.