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  1. #1
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    A while back when I was actually DMing in FR, some player characters commented that magically healing is the best, and near limitless...I decided that I would teach the haughty cleric a lesson.

    The player characters were all from a single town and firends three of them were clerics and were fairly high-level (between 11-12th level...they had been playing the game for nearly a year and a half). Their hometown, while they were resting between adventures, was infected by the a diease similar to the Black Plague (the town had 11,237 residents). Within three days nearly 1/3 third of the population had the diease, and I had decided earlier anyone that was healed or cured would not relapse. The cleric was approached by an elderly woman who was caring for two children who were sick...he saw them and healed them immediately. He returned home. A few hours later a large mob of sick, unsick and dying were outside his door. The were screaming and pleading for him to heal them, or thier children. An NPC looked at the character and said "Now you must decide who will die...and why." I felt bad for doing this to the player, but everytime he would heal a child, a parent would plead and beg with him to heal them so that they might not leave their child alone I made every encounter for healing, heartwrentching...family firends begging for aid etc....within 5 days, 9000 residents were dead...including his parents when they refused to be healed when there were so many younger people who had their lives ahead of them. He had healed something like 75 people but with all his magic and power he still had to watch and listen to the dying and pleading of thousands more who knew he could help them.

    My players say I am evil...perhaps I am but I think something like this occuring to a preist regent in BR would be an excellent time to see them grow as players and challenge them as well.

  2. #2
    Birthright Developer Raesene Andu's Avatar
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    There was an adventure in the Legends of the Hero Kings book that sort of followed these lines. It involved a magical, incurable plague where healing magic was unable to help and the PCs had to risk an encounter with the Serpent to retrive a cure.

    I don't think the idea that player's have no possibility of succeeding is a good idea, it isn't much fun. You have to give them a change, perhaps to find a cure by another means.
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  3. #3
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    I had thought on doing that, but an adventurer need not succeed everything...but faliures should be far and few.

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    Birthright Developer Raesene Andu's Avatar
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    True, it doesn't pay for PCs to always win.

    One of my favourite reccuring characters from my campaigns always managed to stay one step ahead of the PCs, no matter how hard they tried to kil him.
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    Senior Member Trithemius's Avatar
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    Harvs 2:
    > I had thought on doing that, but an adventurer need not
    > succeed everything...but faliures should be far and few.

    I agree totally. Players need to know `lows` in order to benefit from
    `highs`. Having some unresolvable problems like the plague make the
    world more vivid in my opinion.

    --
    John Machin
    (trithemius@paradise.net.nz)
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    "Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."
    Athanasius Kircher, Ars Magna Sciendi.

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    John 'Trithemius' Machin
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  6. #6
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    Going back to the origional post, what was the DC of the disease, the onset time, the amount of Con loss per failed save? Obviously, if you were not just adjudicating fate on whim, then the DC was something reasonable if around 2100 people survived without magical aid. As a player, I would have realized that I only need 8 hrs of rest to regain spells, about an hour for curing the most suseptable people (ie children and willing elderly), leaving over half the day to tend to the ill. Assuming I only had enough Heal to 'combat bind' without rolling, I can tend six more people a day (combine long term care with treat disease) with a check of 24 (26 if I have enough healer's kits).

    So with three clerics of 11th level, that's 30 'Remove Disease's before any bonus spells of 3rd or higher or any extra 'Heal's from the Healing domain. Thats also 24 'Lesser Restorations' before bonus spells. That means 30+ saved each day, 42+ that will hopefully be given an extra day for help to arrive, and a party of high level adventures (minus three clerics) to high-tail it to nearby cities and churches to round up help (not going in, but getting within easy shouting range so as not to spread the disease). Now, what if I happened to have made one of more Wands of Remove Disease, or several potions and/or scrolls in the past.

    In a town of 11,000 that three clerics had come from, there would obviously be one or more churches, what were the clergy doing all this time? If nothing else, they could team up in pairs to try and tend to everyone. If one of those churches happened to have a paladin on hand?

    Things should have been far from hopless for such high level characters because most diseases take a few days to kill all but those already frail. Besides, once the players figured out what was going on, one of those three clerics should have called up a 'Planar Ally' to help save everyone.


    Now to take the plot seed a little deeper. A friend once pulled a nasty trick on my party. 1) Infect the party with a magical disease that is incurable by magical means. 2) Make the party immune to the disease. 3) Send the party on a mission to 'stop those who want to spread the disease' in some resonable distant place.

    J
    May the blessings of divine Haelyn be always at hand for you, friend.

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    It was the Black Plague, i had a DC 30 save (onset 3d6 hours, next onset 5d6 hours, con loss half then the rest the following day, those once you got it once another DC of 5 to be reinfected)...those that survived rolled either 19-20 on a d20 (actually figured that about 10%-20% (ended rolling 4d4+4 for 8%-20%) of the population would be saved period). They actually saved quite a few people.

    They actually did try to sleep to regain spells it is just that in a town of 11,000 that know that only you can save them...it was a little noisy to say the least, and they had constant interruptions. Normal people do not understand 'Oh, I need to rest to regain spells' while people are dying around them.

    I guess that someone could have summoned a Planar Ally, it is just that normally I make the players truly PAY for such an ally. The ally is never like well go do this simply thing...I consider that the 16HD plantaur has lots of important things to do...now the PC can have one of those really really important things to do. Assuming it answered.

    Generally, when I have temples a majority of the clergy DO NOT have divine powers, those sould be rare and something that sets that particular faithful memeber apart from his/her bretheren. In this case though there was a 15th level druid that was attempting to make it back at the time, though he was engaged with a town a day away which had also been infected.

    Actually, I think I would have really enjoyed the bargining of the Outsider with the PC's...boy that would have been really really expensive.

  8. #8
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    harvs2 <brnetboard@TUARHIEVEL.ORG> wrote at 02-10-09 22.18:

    > Actually, I think I would have really enjoyed the bargining of the Outsider
    > with the PC`s...boy that would have been really really expensive.

    Why? Just summon the outsider and let it make it`s own descision - heal
    people, or go home and live with the guild of nor having healed people. It
    is the same problem the PCs themselves face.

    /Carl

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  9. #9
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    Gavin Cetaine <brnetboard@TUARHIEVEL.ORG> wrote at 02-10-09 21.49:

    > As a player, I would have realized that I only need 8 hrs of rest to regain
    > spells, about an hour for curing the most suseptable people (ie children and
    > willing elderly), leaving over half the day to tend to the ill.

    Divine spellcasters need not rest to prepare spells, but can only regain
    spells once per 24 hours. Arcane casters need rest, and still can only use
    one round of spells per 24 hours (though this is open for interpretation
    when dealing with arcane casters).

    So there will not be three rounds of Cure Disease per 24 hours. The Heal
    skill is a mighty tool, however.

    /Carl

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  10. #10
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    Actually, I think I would have really enjoyed the bargining of the Outsider with the PC's...boy that would have been really really expensive.
    I don't see why. If you summon a planetar or an astral deva - why would they want to get paid so much to cast a few thousand remove disease spells? It costs them nothing but six seconds per spell, and it fits perfectly with their way of thinking - they're saving lives and all. Now, if the PCs would've summoned them to just fight something on a dungeon crawl, that should cost something. But, I think the good-aligned celestials would probably be happy to undertake healing missions like that pretty much for free. It's not like a creature of _pure good_ is going to say "nope, sorry, I'll only save these people when you PAY UP BIG TIME hahahahaaa."

    If the PCs had done this, what would you've done, given that you originally stated that your idea was to "teach them a lesson" about humility? IMO, your attitude here seems to be one of denying the PCs their status - PCs of 11th+ level are certainly powers to be reckoned with on their own. Don't set up scenarios to "teach" the players something - set them up to challenge them. I think the idea here is good, but the premise of it is a bit wrong, IMO.
    Jan E. Juvstad.

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