Midnight: the Shadow Killers player Andrew
Contents
Andrew's Characters[edit]
Andrew's GM Requests[edit]
Orc Fighting Techniques[edit]
Orc Fighting Techniques - Special fighting techniques that can be learned by a player who has taken the Orc Fighting Initiate feat (Steel and Shadow, pp. 11).
- Power Sunder: Benefit: If you successfully sunder an opponent's weapon or shield, you may immediately initiate a trip attack without provoking an attack of opportunity. If you fail, you may not be tripped in return.
- Lunging Cleave: Benefit: Once per round immediately after dropping an opponent, you may make a 5-ft. step. If you have the Cleave feat, you may make this 5-ft. step before your immediate additional attack. In any case, this movement does not count against your movement for the round or as your one 5-ft. step in the round.
- Quick Charge: Benefit: When you charge, you can choose to move 10 feet farther than normal.
- Iron-Handed Grappling: Benefit: You deal +2 damage whenever you make a grapple check to damage an opponent, including applying damage after the initial grapple check.
- Chaotic Overrun: Benefit: When you move into the defender's space during an overrun, he can either choose to avoid you or take an attack of opportunity, but not both. Furthermore, if you lose the opposed Strength check to knock the defender prone, he may not attempt to knock you prone in return.
- Savage Throw: Benefit: If you have the Power Attack feat, you may use it when attacking with a thrown weapon. The benefit is halved, however, so for every 2 you subtract from your attack rolls, you may only add 1 to your damage rolls with thrown weapons.
- Specifically, the ones that interest me most are the Power Sunder and Lunging Cleave techniques (Steel and Shadow, pp. 17).
Learning a new technique requires one month of study and the expenditure of a certain amount of XP, determined by the number of special techniques the character already knows (50 xp for the first technique, 150 for the second, 300 for the third, etc).
Normally, learning a technique also requires that an appropriate teacher be found. However, given that Durgaz already has the appropriate background for this fighting technique, and has undoubtedly been exposed to it in the past even if he hasn't actually mastered it himself, perhaps he could pick up the ability through practicing it on his own, albeit at a higher XP cost or increased study time. His pathwalker abilities might also be useful in this regard; he might experience a vision in which he possesses this ability, and awaken to attempt to learn it later, effectively acting as his own teacher (paradox be damned!!). After all, if he has a vision of the future in which he has these abilities, clearly he will need to learn them in the present if he wants that vision to come to pass...
Possible Solution: Quest Learning[edit]
This is from the Sorcery and Shadow book. An alternative to just "finding" spells. We could use this as a base direction to avoid you "needing" to find a teacher all the time. Here's the explanation text. I'd be willing to listen to your new ideas for adventuring to learn new techniques... Check it out.
One way PC spellcasters learn new spells is through experimentation. As suggested in the MIDNIGHT campaign sourcebook (page 75), experimentation can involve a quest for the arcane knowledge behind a new spell. Gaining new spells through adventuring replaces the dry behind-the-scenes element of playing a wizard and replaces it with an exciting mission for the whole party. Plus, the experience PCs gain on the journey helps to pay the XP cost of learning the spell through experimentation. Questing for spells can blur the line between being taught and spontaneously experimenting. Several of these sample quests suggest that spirits or ghosts teach new spells to PCs; the DM can interpret this language any way he likes and charge the questing spellcaster the rates of whatever method best corresponds to the manner in which the new spell was learned, be it taught or discovered. At the same time, the DM might design the adventure so that the XP and treasure the character would have received amounts to about what it would cost to learn her desired spell. This puts less emphasis on a specific learning process and makes discovering new spells a heroic act—spells therefore become another tangible reward for a successful adventure.
EXAMPLE:
Transmutation
SOME OF THE FISH IN THE EREN used to be gnomes. Find one that was and listen to its story.
THE CEMETARY TREES of the Autumn Valley in Erethor are said to be widowers grieving over the graves there. Find their faces and you’ll understand the magic that changed them.
Durgaz's To-Do List[edit]
The following are things that Durgaz would be interested in accomplishing, either in the near or not-so-near future.
- Get some downtime somewhere with access to a forge and anvil. Finish crafting his vardatch.
- Take Radagug alive.
- Progress to the Bladebond prestige class.
Suggestions for Covenant Items[edit]
- A suit of armor that he didn't make himself, and that can't be easily destroyed. Some sort of enchantment providing protection from mental attacks would be helpful, as this is one of his greatest weaknesses at the moment.
- Some item ... a bowl, a scrying crystal, a pouch of bones, or something similar ... to supplement his seer abilities, perhaps related to the long orcish tradition of receiving direction through dreams.
