Tower of the Elephant [spoiler]

[MadDog]

A good module. It considers the implications of Conan not participating, and it considers the different end-games. I would of liked to see a map scale on the back page map, but its not a big deal.

One question, it says on page 30 that the crystal ball was created by Yag-Kosha. The stats for Yag-Kosha do not give him the necessary feats (Create Magic Item and Craft Major Magic Item and Permanent Sorcery) for this. Since he only has 4 feats listed, is he missing those feats in the read-out ?

Mad Dog

 

[MadDog]

Can I get an official ruling on my question ?

thanks,

Mad Dog

 

[Brass Jester]

Erm, why do you need it? It's not likely that he's going to make another one in a hurry. Maybe he did know how to do it once; but years of torture by Yara made him forget.
REM: NPC's don't have to follow the same rules as PC's do. They can do whatever the GM says they can (or can't) do. If you need a ruling; make it yourself for your gaming group.

 

[MadDog]

An official ruling helps avoid arguments at the table and in the forum. I like to know that the company I purchase from supports its products.

Mad Dog

 

[GregLynch]

Mea culpa.

I took Yag-Kosha's stats from Scrolls of Skelos and never went back to change him from the standard garden variety Yaggite. Feel free to give him any extra feats you like.

That said, remember the crystal ball is no more permanent than the rest of the tower. With Yag-Kosha's death, the tower and pretty much everything inside it will cease to exist. This includes the crystal ball and the vast majority of the wealth inside the tower. If the scenario doesn't give a silver value for it, assume it was created by Yag-Kosha and is subject to the Rule of Impermanence.

Tower of the Elephant was written assuming the PCs are not monsters, and will give the poor Yaggite the death it longs for. If they decide to take over where Yara left off, then yeah, they get to keep the stuff in the tower for a little while. Until someone meaner and nastier shows up to take it.

 

[MadDog]

Somewhere there was a rule on assigning feats to monsters as a function of something, but I cant remember where.

I have a hard time predicting what the PCs will do. Some have codes of honor so they would probably help out the Yaggite, but heaven forbid you have a party of Zamorans......

thanks,

Mad Dog

 

[urdinaran]

No plan (adventure) survives contact with the enemy (players)...

BTW, not to change the subject but, it's impossible to throw a rope w/ grappling hook 150' up. The average person would have trouble throwing it to a 3rd story window.

Yeah, I know, suspension of disbelief...

 

[thulsa]

Somewhere there was a rule on assigning feats to monsters as a function of something, but I cant remember where.

If I remember correctly, in the 3.0 rules creatures were given different numbers of feats based on the creature type (animal, construct, magical beast, etc.). [There was an article titled "How to Create a Monster" by Skip Williams in Dragon Magazine with the details.]

In the 3.5 revision they changed this so that all creatures, regardless of type, gain feats at the same rate as characters (ie. one at 1st level, one at 3rd, one at 6th, and so on). Which makes it much easier to remember.

There are still some monsters (such as golems, oozes) that don't have any feats at all regardless of their number of hit dice (probably because they are mindless).

- thulsa

 

[Mark Dunder]

"Taurus threw the line with a smooth, rippling motion of his mighty arm. The hook curved upward and inward in a peculiar manner, hard to describe, and vanished over the jeweled rim."
Before this, Conan questioned the strength of the rope, and Taurus said, "It was woven from the tresses of dead women, which I took from their tombs at midnight, and steeped in the deadly wine of the upas tree, to give it strength."
This sounds suspiciously like a magic formula, and combining this with the peculiar way it moved, might account for the ease of tossing it over the parapet.
With a lot of practice, the right weight of the hook, light rope, and very powerful arms, I can't see why it's not impossible to do. But I would like to know if anyone has any real life experiences with this.