13th Age - It's D&D with Modern Mechanics, True Ways and Moar Owlbears

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fez_machine: Nov 27, 2004

PantsOptional posted:

Any thoughts on how one might go about converting PCs to monsters for things like evil duplicates? I could just straight up create monsters in the semblance of PCs, but I didn't know if anyone had tried this already. (Obviously copy-pasting their character sheets wouldn't work well.)

I guess the answer would be to take the average of their basic weapon damage with modifier as the monster's damage, don't use damage on a miss instead have one the player's abilities tied to a specific trigger, and copy and paste the player's PD/MD and Base AC, maybe adjust these down a little, use the guide on 254-255 to see where you should be aiming.

Chose two or three abilities, tie one of them to the monster's basic attack, figure out how they'll trigger using the existing ability as a guide.

Use anything else as a nastier option.

# ? Jun 30, 2014 21:49

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# ? May 7, 2024 17:42

Evil Mastermind: Apr 28, 2008

I'd just focus on modeling whatever "signature moves" the PCs have. Take their favorite go-to attacks and start using those as a base.

# ? Jun 30, 2014 21:52

RyvenCedrylle: Dec 12, 2010; Owner of Mystic Theurge Publications

PantsOptional posted:

Any thoughts on how one might go about converting PCs to monsters for things like evil duplicates? I could just straight up create monsters in the semblance of PCs, but I didn't know if anyone had tried this already. (Obviously copy-pasting their character sheets wouldn't work well.)

Another option would be to scrap the idea of copying their abilities and just make generic monsters with some kind of attack prediction/attack negation sort of thing. The old "I know all your tricks because I am you!" deal. The fighter's flex attacks don't trigger on her counterpart, the evil wizard has a couple of counterspells handy, the evil rogue attacks the PC rogue mid-Shadow Walk.

# ? Jun 30, 2014 22:14

moths: Aug 25, 2004; I would also still appreciate some danger.

Yeah PCs and NPCs have different rules for a good reason. If you want a mirror match, maybe set something up out of combat? Or a monster that perfectly reflects damages to the players?

Using the PC's sheets against them is just going to make a jumbled mess. You're doubling the net complexity at the table and I can't imagine a payoff that's worth that.

It might be interesting to run a game where the players are the duplicates and don't realize it, like mid fight one of their heads opens to reveal a snarling skull and the party realizes that THEY'RE the necro-clones.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 01:41

5-Headed Snake God: Jun 12, 2008; Do you see how he's a cat?

Covok posted:

To anyone playing a ranger with the animal companion talent, in 13 True Ways, the animal companion talent is updated. The Druid's animal companion talent is the updated version of it and applies to the Ranger's talent as well. This means you can spend 1 talent on animal companion instead of 2. This gives you the initiate version of the talent. You can choose to spend two talents on it for the Adept version of the talent.

You can find further details about this on pages 41-3 in 13 True Ways.

Just thought people might miss this feature and might like to know about it if they are playing a ranger. You would only find this out if you were making a druid and checked out that talent.

I don't think this is quite accurate. Although the upgraded mechanics of the talent do apply to the ranger, as far as I can tell it still costs the ranger 2 talent slots. This is mentioned in the multiclassing chapter, where it says that a ranger can get a good multiclassing option if he's willing to spend 2 talents to get Animal Companion.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 01:43

RPZip: Feb 6, 2009; WORDS IN THE HEART
CANNOT BE TAKEN

Maleketh posted:

I don't think this is quite accurate. Although the upgraded mechanics of the talent do apply to the ranger, as far as I can tell it still costs the ranger 2 talent slots. This is mentioned in the multiclassing chapter, where it says that a ranger can get a good multiclassing option if he's willing to spend 2 talents to get Animal Companion.

Sharing a talent with the ranger:We�ve decided to have the
druid use the rules for the ranger�s Animal Companion talent. We�re
also correcting and expanding upon those rules here, with the intent
that rangers who take the Animal Companion talent will now use
the updated version presented in the Druid�s class write-up as well.

The ability to put one talent slot towards it and get the Initiate version, or to put two into it and get the Adept version, is part of the new Animal Companion talent. At least that's how I'd read it, and it'd be pretty petty not to let Rangers benefit from the update.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 01:52

5-Headed Snake God: Jun 12, 2008; Do you see how he's a cat?

RPZip posted:

Sharing a talent with the ranger:We�ve decided to have the
druid use the rules for the ranger�s Animal Companion talent. We�re
also correcting and expanding upon those rules here, with the intent
that rangers who take the Animal Companion talent will now use
the updated version presented in the Druid�s class write-up as well.

The ability to put one talent slot towards it and get the Initiate version, or to put two into it and get the Adept version, is part of the new Animal Companion talent. At least that's how I'd read it, and it'd be pretty petty not to let Rangers benefit from the update.

Ahhhh. I'll admit that I have not read the new rules that closely.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 01:58

PantsOptional: Dec 27, 2012; All I wanna do is make you bounce

RyvenCedrylle posted:

Another option would be to scrap the idea of copying their abilities and just make generic monsters with some kind of attack prediction/attack negation sort of thing. The old "I know all your tricks because I am you!" deal. The fighter's flex attacks don't trigger on her counterpart, the evil wizard has a couple of counterspells handy, the evil rogue attacks the PC rogue mid-Shadow Walk.

I really like this notion, if for nothing else than for the Fantastic Four style "switch up! don't fight your double!" trope.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 02:45

RyvenCedrylle: Dec 12, 2010; Owner of Mystic Theurge Publications

PantsOptional posted:

I really like this notion, if for nothing else than for the Fantastic Four style "switch up! don't fight your double!" trope.

I read a lot of Order of the Stick as well.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 03:06

Just Burgs: Jan 15, 2011; Gravy Boat 2k

Evil Mastermind posted:

I'd just focus on modeling whatever "signature moves" the PCs have. Take their favorite go-to attacks and start using those as a base.

That's what I did, when I made my mirror mode PCs. The Rogue had a bit of a Shadow-Walk like move that triggered on a Natural Roll above Dexterity score attack against a PC (not with doubling damage, naturally), the Commander had some pretty good buff moves, the Monk had some combo-y moves meant to slightly mimic opening, flow, and finishers.

It's not too hard, just don't worry about copying every ability word for word. Pick stuff that your players will recognize about their characters, and make nods to their tactics.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 04:39

PublicOpinion: Oct 21, 2010; Her style is new but the face is the same as it was so long ago...

Here's what I used for an evil alternate version of the party in my game. A lot of the correspondence is more thematic than mechanical. Here's roughly how I did it:
' is mostly a thematic mirror of the party barbarian. She has the talent that gives an extra attack flavored as an animate mind construct, so ' also has a crew of weird psychic shades.
Party cleric has the domain that nullifies critical hits and really gives me trouble when a monster is supposed to get its threat from inflicting Vulnerable, so Julius ignores 1 critical hit per round. His melee attack's ancillary effect is a ripoff of Bless, which the party cleric uses, as is Damnation for Javelin of Faith.
Party paladin takes hits for everyone and yet somehow still hasn't died, so Hannah is supposed to be the trickiest to kill. She also has a Bastion-type effect, and a semi-mark effect to mirror the paladin. Party paladin uses an Inimical sword to weaponize his own high HP, so Hannah has a similar effect on her main attack.
Zede has two separate forms because the party bard got wholly restatted from a ranged bard to a melee bard during the middle of the campaign. The bard has the spell that swaps the positions of party members, so Zede gets a similar effect except as an attack. Party bard got a lot of use out of the spell that inflicts Confuse, so Omega Zede puts the shoe on the other foot except slightly less punishingly than requiring two saves and instead of having the HP threshold it targets the party member with the lowest HP. The monsters that go with Zede were designed because I wanted to have a fight that highly incentivized moving around every turn.
Gorge casts spells with her fists and the party sorceror is a spellfist whose signature moves are Chain Lighting and Breath of the Green.
Party rogue has a dozen ways to mitigate damage and uses Bleeding Strike by default, so Sumiya does either ongoing or gets a damage resistance with her main attack. Turning into a swarm of bats combines damage mitigation with the rogue's High Elf teleport.

The PCs never fought the evil party as a whole party since I wanted to give each of them some spotlight and was also worried about the pileup of gimmicks.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 06:53

djw175: Apr 23, 2012; by zen death robot

PublicOpinion posted:

Here's what I used for an evil alternate version of the party in my game. A lot of the correspondence is more thematic than mechanical. Here's roughly how I did it:
' is mostly a thematic mirror of the party barbarian. She has the talent that gives an extra attack flavored as an animate mind construct, so ' also has a crew of weird psychic shades.
Party cleric has the domain that nullifies critical hits and really gives me trouble when a monster is supposed to get its threat from inflicting Vulnerable, so Julius ignores 1 critical hit per round. His melee attack's ancillary effect is a ripoff of Bless, which the party cleric uses, as is Damnation for Javelin of Faith.
Party paladin takes hits for everyone and yet somehow still hasn't died, so Hannah is supposed to be the trickiest to kill. She also has a Bastion-type effect, and a semi-mark effect to mirror the paladin. Party paladin uses an Inimical sword to weaponize his own high HP, so Hannah has a similar effect on her main attack.
Zede has two separate forms because the party bard got wholly restatted from a ranged bard to a melee bard during the middle of the campaign. The bard has the spell that swaps the positions of party members, so Zede gets a similar effect except as an attack. Party bard got a lot of use out of the spell that inflicts Confuse, so Omega Zede puts the shoe on the other foot except slightly less punishingly than requiring two saves and instead of having the HP threshold it targets the party member with the lowest HP. The monsters that go with Zede were designed because I wanted to have a fight that highly incentivized moving around every turn.
Gorge casts spells with her fists and the party sorceror is a spellfist whose signature moves are Chain Lighting and Breath of the Green.
Party rogue has a dozen ways to mitigate damage and uses Bleeding Strike by default, so Sumiya does either ongoing or gets a damage resistance with her main attack. Turning into a swarm of bats combines damage mitigation with the rogue's High Elf teleport.

The PCs never fought the evil party as a whole party since I wanted to give each of them some spotlight and was also worried about the pileup of gimmicks.

It never even occurred to me that Zede had two forms because I switched my build. Also, I don't think ranged!Rieta ever had the party teleport thing. I think I may have switched before I had access to that.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 07:27

PantsOptional: Dec 27, 2012; All I wanna do is make you bounce

Sent to me by one of my players just now:

She says it came out creepier than intended, I think it's spot-on.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 17:48

Evil Mastermind: Apr 28, 2008

I love the effect Sammy is having on people.

I love Sammy.

Sammy.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 17:55

Cras: May 2, 2006; if wise be he who wields it

Wizard/Sorcerer. Gather Power, use multiclass adventurer feat to cast empowered wizard spell, then use the wizard talent Evocation to evoke the empowered wizard spell - legal or no?

# ? Jul 1, 2014 19:21

Mr. Lobe: Feb 23, 2007; ... Dry bones...

It would take an act of impressive skill or uncanny luck to make something more unsettling than Sammy.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 19:44

PantsOptional: Dec 27, 2012; All I wanna do is make you bounce

Off the top of my head, I'd say no because you're using functions of two different classes to affect one attack roll.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 19:45

Jolyne Cujoh: Dec 7, 2012; It's not like I've got no worries...
But I'll be fine.

Cras posted:

Wizard/Sorcerer. Gather Power, use multiclass adventurer feat to cast empowered wizard spell, then use the wizard talent Evocation to evoke the empowered wizard spell - legal or no?

Yes, you can totally become the living nuke once per day. Empowered Evoked Reckless Fireball has a max damage output of 3200 damageShit's ridic, yo

# ? Jul 1, 2014 19:51

Golden Bee: Dec 24, 2009; I came here to chew bubblegum and quote 'They Live', and I'm... at an impasse.

PublicOpinion posted:

Party rogue has a dozen ways to mitigate damage and uses Bleeding Strike by default, so Sumiya does either ongoing or gets a damage resistance with her main attack. Turning into a swarm of bats combines damage mitigation with the rogue's High Elf teleport.

The PCs never fought the evil party as a whole party since I wanted to give each of them some spotlight and was also worried about the pileup of gimmicks.

I didn't know Sumiya was a lawyer until AFTER we glassed her. Might've gone with recruitment instead of a staking.

Still, if a rogue doesn't need to disengage, they don't have a ton of attack options. Bleeding Strike -is- the default attack from level 3-7.

# ? Jul 1, 2014 21:52

Helmet 10 Warehouse: Jul 21, 2007; ...

PublicOpinion posted:

Party cleric has the domain that nullifies critical hits and really gives me trouble when a monster is supposed to get its threat from inflicting Vulnerable, so Julius ignores 1 critical hit per round. His melee attack's ancillary effect is a ripoff of Bless, which the party cleric uses, as is Damnation for Javelin of Faith.

Community is the best domain. In addition to the no crit thing, being able to cast Bless or Mighty Healing on 5 people is ridiculous.

# ? Jul 2, 2014 01:54

Rutibex: Sep 9, 2001; by Fluffdaddy

I just started reading about this game and I have to say it is rubbing me the right way. I mostly played 3rd edition D&D but after many years found it to have some serious problems. Mostly it was too mechanical and rewards a player that knows the system and splat books too much. It makes it hard to mix people of different skill/interest levels. We tried 4th Edition but the combat felt way to fiddly; we never played with miniatures before. It was more like we where playing Heroclix than D&D. We tried Pathfinder but it was basically 3.5 D&D and didn't address any problems we had with the system at all. We tried Dungeon World but found it went way to far in the opposite direction; there wasn't enough mechanical meat there to get anyone excited about the game part and just sort of tuned into story time.

This game however seems to be just right. Not too hot not too cold. Gets rid of a lot of mechanical cruft from 3.5, no fiddly miniature combat, stats and treasure and all the numbers that get the players excited about the game but with the story driven stuff of Dungeon World. I can't wait to get this onto the table!

# ? Jul 2, 2014 07:42

MartianAgitator: Apr 30, 2003; Damn Earth! Damn her!

RyvenCedrylle posted:

A comedian. Saturday Night Live maybe? Mid '90s? I can't place it either but man does it look familiar.

Our July Jamboree-man

=

Jim Breuer

+

Joel McHale

# ? Jul 2, 2014 08:53

Danoss: Mar 8, 2011

When I first looked at Sammy, it appeared to me as if they merged the facial features of Jonathan Tweet and Rob Heinsoo into one.

# ? Jul 2, 2014 14:39

MollyMetroid: Jan 20, 2004; Trout Clan Daimyo

I have at least two friends who could pull off convincing Sammy given appropriate attire.

You have no idea how disturbing that is.

# ? Jul 2, 2014 15:11

Mr. Lobe: Feb 23, 2007; ... Dry bones...

Zero Suit Ridley posted:

I have at least two friends who could pull off convincing Sammy given appropriate attire.

You have no idea how disturbing that is.

Do they have the same unnatural smile and eyes which betray a deep hunger and depravity?

# ? Jul 2, 2014 15:17

MollyMetroid: Jan 20, 2004; Trout Clan Daimyo

Yes.

Yes, they do.

# ? Jul 2, 2014 15:21

Kenderama: Mar 12, 2003; Herding Nerds from
2007-2012

Head's up, everyone! Jonathan Tweet is holding an AMA on Reddit at 2pm ET

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA

Ostensibly to discuss his recent Kickstarter, but no reason we can't ask him +13th Age questions! Please tune in!

# ? Jul 2, 2014 18:34

PantsOptional: Dec 27, 2012; All I wanna do is make you bounce

Mr. Lobe posted:

Do they have the same unnatural smile and eyes which betray a deep hunger and depravity?

I was trying to think of where I'd seen that exact combination before...

THEE! I WISH TO TAKE THEE TO A BATH HOUSE! I WISH TO TAKE THEE TO A BATH HOUSE, BATH HOUSE, BATH HOUSE, WAOOOOW! HARP SOLO!

# ? Jul 2, 2014 18:50

Just Burgs: Jan 15, 2011; Gravy Boat 2k

It's always a little startling when Rob Heinsoo emails you to tell you that your character has become a meme

But then I start smiling, and my face

just

wants

to

# ? Jul 2, 2014 20:35

lenoon: Jan 7, 2010

He's almost as frightening as the d100 chaos Mage table

# ? Jul 2, 2014 22:42

Jolyne Cujoh: Dec 7, 2012; It's not like I've got no worries...
But I'll be fine.

Chaos Mage table owns, though I may be biased since I whipped up a table that rolls and tells you what the roll does automatically so it doesn't take forever in Roll20

# ? Jul 2, 2014 22:50

HomegrownHydra: Feb 25, 2013

Reading between the lines, it seems pretty clear that the Monk talents that were cut will appear in a future supplement. I'm certain there is tons of stuff that was worked on for 13 True Ways that weren't included for time or space reasons. Hopefully soon we'll hear about other projects in the works.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 00:59

Jolyne Cujoh: Dec 7, 2012; It's not like I've got no worries...
But I'll be fine.

HomegrownHydra posted:

time or space reasons.

The Druid says hi, on both accounts

@V :thejoke:

Jolyne Cujoh fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Jul 3, 2014

# ? Jul 3, 2014 01:18

HomegrownHydra: Feb 25, 2013

Raenir K. Artemi posted:

The Druid says hi, on both accounts

The druid is probably why a lot of stuff was cut.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 01:43

UrbanLabyrinth: Jan 28, 2009; When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence; College Slice

Rob posted:

We ended the Kickstarter promising a 180-page book. Once we got into the design phase, our labor-of-love approach pushed us up to 256 pages. And because it was a labor of love, Jonathan and I prioritized the things we thought would be the most fun, and held our work to a very high standard. If we felt meh about something, and believed that you would feel meh about it too, it didn’t go in. We ended up delivering on all the stretch goals in the Kickstarter along with all the backer rewards, but some of our ideas in the original 13 True Ways Kickstarter plan didn’t make it into the book.

So here’s what we plan to do about it.

We’re going to finish those pieces properly as part of the upcoming subscription-based 13th Age annual (name to be determined), along the lines of the excellent Ken Writes About Stuff from Pelgrane Press. I should be clear that the we I’m mentioning includes me, but not always the other members of the original 13TW team. Sometimes I’ll be the designer, other times I’ll act as developer with other talented contributors handling the design work. Sometimes we’ll be completing work that we started on 13 True Ways but didn’t finish to my satisfaction.

As a 13TW Kickstarter backer, you’ll have two options when the annual goes live:

1. You can choose to get only the issues that contain 13 True Ways follow-up content, for free

2. You can choose to purchase the entire first 13th Age annual at a discount which covers all of the free content to which you’re entitled, plus a bit extra

Not every month’s installment will contain 13 True Ways follow-up content, and there’s no set schedule about when a particular piece of 13 True Ways follow-up content will be completed. This may stretch out for quite some time, because during the design phase of 13 True Ways we unexpectedly hit on a few things that could serve as the basis for larger books. If they do get turned into books, when those surprises get unveiled we’ll send a related freebie to 13TW backers. Think of this operation as a purchase that keeps on providing surprising micro-rewards.

With that in mind, I’m going to go ahead and list the things that didn’t make it into 13 True Ways and my current thoughts on how they’ll be part of the 13th Age annual subscription, or not.

Appearing in the annual at some point

Details on forests & woods to make them distinct: This grew into something a bit different than I thought originally. More on gladiatorial games: Yeah, there’s some more we can explore here.

Rules for dragon-riding: I know that a lot of you were really looking forward to this—I was, too—and some of you even backed the project because of it. So I’ll be blunt: so far all the systems we’ve come up with have been worse than no system at all in terms of their impact on the game. I'm not interested in publishing bad systems, and I’m pretty sure you’re not interested in getting them. ASH and I are continuing to work on these rules, and we’ll do everything we can to ensure they get included in the first annual. I can promise that we’re not going to shrug our shoulders and send you something that we think isn’t worth using, just so we can check off a box on our to-do list. If for some reason we never make these work, we’ll give you something equally awesome that we CAN make work.

Illustrated comparisons of the adventurer, champion, and epic tier: We’ll do these, but probably not by Aaron and Lee.

Some fantastic maps of the overworld and portions of the underworld: Ditto.

A cutaway map of a typical elven wood: Same.

Partially appearing in the annual after their actual potential is realized in future books

Racial feats: because they do appear to have a place in the game, but that place may come as a surprise.

Feats associated with the icons: same story. The obvious mechanics weren’t so good, but there is something interesting hidden behind the idea.

Stats for the 13 icons themselves: As the game evolved and matured through further development and play, we became increasingly convinced that this was an idea we didn’t want to pursue half-cocked. You can see the care we took detailing the 4 backer-created NPCs in the Gamemasters’ Grimoire chapter of 13TW. In a sense, those NPCs function a bit like mini-icons, and our final approach to this topic may bear some resemblance to the multi-option approach used for the NPCs. But when I say ‘final approach,’ I’m acknowledging that this isn’t something we intend to pursue soon. When we do finally take this path, it’s almost certainly going to be the basis for a book rather than a slice of a different book. In the near-ish future, we will be doing monster-style stats for various servants and followers of the icons. Some of the high-level lieutenants of the icons will find their way into a 13TW-backers update to provide touches of the high-level play people might have been looking for from actual icon stats.

There are also going to be surprise backer freebies along the way, some of which expand on ideas that made it into 13TW.

That’s all I’ve got for now. We’ll be in touch about the annual’s start date and other details once we’ve built the plan out further, probably before or around GenCon.

Yours in the whirl,

Rob Heinsoo

Lead Designer, Fire Opal Media

# ? Jul 3, 2014 02:11

Captain Walker: Apr 7, 2009; Mother knows best
Listen to your mother
It's a scary world out there

Fire Opal continues to rock, even when delivering bad news.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 02:45

Danoss: Mar 8, 2011

Captain Walker posted:

Fire Opal continues to rock, even when delivering bad news.

They really do! I'm not even the slightest bit sad about any of what has happened or what Rob wrote in that update.

The success of the 13TW Kickstarter seems to have provided many things for the future of 13th Age and it's looking very promising and exciting. The annual alone is pretty sweet; monthly content will sate my appetite for more cool stuff to read and use.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 03:23

Evil Mastermind: Apr 28, 2008

Honestly, I think this is the best way to do regular content without worrying about power creep or turning into a D&D-esque supplement treadmill.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 03:32

Selachian: Oct 9, 2012

I'm finally getting a chance to run 13A myself. If anyone's willing, can I get a quick critique of my first attempt at doing a "solo" enemy? I'm adapting a Pathfinder adventure intended for an evil party, and this is from an encounter where the party takes on a paladin knight. I think I've got the defenses a bit high and the HP a bit low, but I'm not sure.

He's intended as opposition for a party of 4-5 level 2 characters.

quote:

Sir Balin

Level 3 double-strength troop (humanoid)

HP 100, AC 20, PD 17, MD 13

Init +5

M: Singing Sword: +8 vs. AC, 10 damage.
Natural even miss: Sir Balin shield-bashes an enemy engaged with him for 5 damage.

M: Sweeping Blade: When the escalation die is odd, once per round Sir Balin can strike all enemies engaged with him: + 8 vs. AC, 8 damage.

M: Smite Evil: Sir Balin makes a Singing Sword attack with damage increased to 15 (8 on any miss). He can use this once per combat (but see below).

Shining Shield: Once per round, Sir Balin can deflect a ranged attack, taking no damage from it, by making a normal save. If he makes a hard save, he can reflect the attack at the person who launched it. He loses this ability if he is not wielding his shield, or if its face becomes dirtied, obscured, or marred so it does not shine cleanly. Normal melee will not mark the shield enough to spoil it.

Battle veteran: Sir Balin acts twice per round, once at his normal initiative and once at half that total. If he becomes stunned or hampered, he loses his next action and then the condition ends.

Strength of will: Sir Balin gains +5 on all saves.

As this battle goes on, the following events occur as Sir Balin's fight for life draws divine attention:

Escalation die 1: The cell fills with soft shimmering light. All effects on Sir Balin end, and his Smite Evil power recharges if he has used it.

Escalation die 2: With the sound of wings, an angel enters the cell from nowhere. The angel stands beside Sir Balin, untouched by the battle raging around it. The light becomes bright as day, and reflects with blinding brilliance from Sir Balin's mirrored shield. Everyone facing the paladin must make a normal save or be dazed until the end of their next turn. Those engaged with Sir Balin roll this save at -2. This save need only be made once.

While the angel is present, it radiates a level 3 fear effect (15 hp threshold) on anyone fighting Sir Balin.

Escalation die 3: The angel touches Sir Balin's shoulder, and white fire runs down his arm to set his sword ablaze. Sir Balin may now use his Smite Evil power once every round until the combat ends.

Dealing with the angel: At this point in the PCs' careers, there is no way they can directly harm the angel. Attacks aimed at it will miss or fizzle, and the attacker takes holy damage equal to the damage of his or her attack. Other than this, however, the angel will take no offensive action.

However, this area is consecrated to the power of Asmodeus, and it is difficult for the angel to remain within it. If Asmodeus's name is spoken, the angel's light will noticeably dim. A follower of Asmodeus who invokes his power can force the angel to retreat (DC 15 check using Charisma and an appropriate background). If the angel retreats, Sir Balin loses all the benefits he has gained from the escalation die.

The angel also cannot leave the cell. If Sir Balin is tricked or forced out of the cell, he loses the benefits the angel gives him unless he is able to return.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 17:24

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 7, 2024 17:42

Jolyne Cujoh: Dec 7, 2012; It's not like I've got no worries...
But I'll be fine.

As long as you're okay with the fact that this monster that you spent all this work on is dying as soon as the escalation die hits 3 at most, it looks like a good encounter! I'd lower both of the reflection effects to half damage, as PCs tend to do a lot more damage than they have health, and they might try a couple different attacks on the angel, but otherwise it seems like an interesting fight.

# ? Jul 3, 2014 17:47

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > 13th Age - It's D&D with Modern Mechanics, True Ways and Moar Owlbears

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