* * * Wizards Community Thread * * * -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Thread : Realistic Campaign Concept?/Graz'zt statistics? Started at 04-23-07 03:21 AM by Zelatar Visit at http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=834406 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 1] Author : Zelatar Date : 04-23-07 03:21 AM Thread Title : Realistic Campaign Concept?/Graz'zt statistics? So my friends and I have decided to give D&D a try over the summer, and I figured I'd use the original books, since they were fifty cents a piece, rather than $90 for the newest editions. I myself like the Lower Planes and have the Fiendish Codexes and the Book of Vile Darkness, and want to incorporate Codex I into my campaign, since I guess I'll be DMing. Graz'zt is by far the coolest demon prince, followed closely by Orcus, so I want to tie both them and their realms into the gameplay, using Hordes of the Abyss to lesen my workload. My one niggling problem is, of course, that I don't have Graz'zt's statistics, which apparently are in the Monster Manual II. Call me a romantic, but I had hopes of relying on the bare minimum to create a rich and intriguing campaign, but I'm willing to cheat in this one regard. If anyone has that book handy, I would be ever so grateful if you could post his entry. Anyway, Graz'zt aside, I was thinking of doing something like this: ---- The adventure starts when our host of characters are confronted during their travels by a band of mounted warriors. Dressed in black, flowing robes and adorned with an evil brand, these men reveal that the adventurers have crossed into the realm of Lady Hassara, who recently supplanted the sultan ruling the city-state Va Shelar. The gang force the adventurers to come with them to their Lady's citadel, but when they reach the surrounding city, they find that the suppressed citizens have revolted against her undead and demonic police servants. Warriors kill the powerful mounted figures, and the adventurers are free to then help with the battle. They go up against despicable human servants and a few gnolls. They can't get into the citadel directly, so they have to delve into the catacombs beneath the city, which are now infested with zombies, ghouls, and giant leeches. Next, they enter into the vast, empty stone lawns surrounding the inner wall of palace/citadel, which is named Bhessh-Ne-Sahab. Ornate freestanding stone pillars act as archer posts, and can act as defense against the other long-range fighters atop the inner wall. Gnolls and ghouls (which I'm using as fallen gnolls imbued with undead life by their masters) make up the defensive force, but they release swarms of manes and packs of hyenas to flush the adventurers out of the tiny archer towers. There will be several ways to get through the wall, but I haven't thought them up yet. Just inside are the wondrous gardens, now blackened and dead. Lady Hassara overthrew the decadent sultan who dwelled here, and turned his famous giant peacocks into horrifying monsters (axe beaks for statistics, and just imagine them but more deformed and featherless). Dying, blackened dryads still dwell here, and will aid the adventurers with advice, or something. Fiendish mud wasps lurk in the muddy gardens, as do more hyenas and a nest of harpies. Next, the palace proper is inhabited by more gnolls, ghast-gnolls, jackalweres and dog packs, zombie warriors, a few undead pet jaguars, more axebeak horrors, and powerful cultists. A manticore harasses the adventurers when they venture into rooms exposed to the sky. It is mounted by a succubus named Lelsair. She's where the full campaign expands, so a moment for that: *Lelsair seduced the sultan who once ruled Va Shelar, and by enslaving him to her will, she had secretly claimed the kingdom for Graz'zt, her patron. This was to be an important mission for Graz'zt, one that demanded the utmost stealth. Lelsair guided the sultan's hand, excavating an ancient temple from beneath the sands in the wild. The temple was indeed home to a great and powerful "weapon" that Graz'zt had heard rumor of; an ancient vampire queen named Lady Nassara, a favored priestess of Orcus himself.* *Orcus sent a powerful lieutenant to aid Nassara in her takeover of Va Shelar, along with a host of demons and undead. A gnoll warband that had long plagued the deserts quickly sided with the demon-worshipers and the city fell in a single night. The chaotic-minded Lelsair was quick to jump ship to avoid Graz'zt's wrath.* *The Dark Prince has allowed the takeover, and as the adventurers clear out the Bhessh-Ne-Sahab, his lamia priestesses and a marilith general descend the ancient temple with hopes of reclaiming it. Graz'zt believes that an even greater power lies hidden in the temple.* Anyway, after killing that succubus they gain access to the palace's dungeons. Powerful undead like wraiths and warrior zombies dwell here, along with servants of Orcus. The adventurers also can release a variety of prisoners and goodly creatures, and battle those that have been turned by the vampiress. She remains locked within an iron maiden with Orcus's visage on it, and floats through the air. She is guarded by Orcus's lieutent, a glabrezu named Shurakk. There we go, the first leg. The adventurers have liberated Va Shelar from Orcus's clutches. The palace's greatest riches are theirs, and the citizens who survived the uprising will be able to recover. Graz'zt, however, is most pleased of all, and his marilith general invites them to the desert--or kidnaps one of their number and forces the rest to venture to the temple. From there, I'm not sure where I want to go quite yet. Graz'zt will want to use these proven mortals against Orcus, of course, and they will journey to both Azzagrat and Thanatos, and ultimately square off with one or both of the demon princes. But what do y'all think so far? I don't know if I balanced out the monsters well at all. If necessary, I wouldn't mind making it like a "levels 8-12" adventure or something, because I really want them to fight that vampire and a glabrezu. If I balanced it all wrong, I'd enjoy having them go up against a marilith, and Graz'zt can instead have a balor positioned out in the desert, or something. ---- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 2] Author : longlivelavey Date : 04-23-07 06:08 AM Thread Title : Re: Realistic Campaign Concept?/Graz'zt statistics? If anyone has that book handy, I would be ever so grateful if you could post his entry. ---- Here you go: *UPDATE 20070427* URL has been removed. longlivelavey -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 3] Author : tenacious_kev Date : 04-23-07 07:09 PM Thread Title : Re: Realistic Campaign Concept?/Graz'zt statistics? http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads For Duty and Deity This is a link to a dungeon that you can download of wizards. This dungeon is about going into the abyss to save a fallen diety from Graz'zt. His stats are here and there are also maps of his domain, other demons you will accounter and also some ideas if you dont want to use it. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 4] Author : Zelatar Date : 04-28-07 04:28 AM Thread Title : Re: Realistic Campaign Concept?/Graz'zt statistics? Thanks guys for the links, they were really useful. I'm thinking of adding the fiendish template to a lot of the monsters--would the 3.5-edition rules be nice and smooth and compatible? I worry. Also, if anyone knows--does the dracolich appear in any of the 1st Edition rulebooks, and if so, which one? -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 5] Author : longlivelavey Date : 04-28-07 03:07 PM Thread Title : Re: Realistic Campaign Concept?/Graz'zt statistics? Also, if anyone knows--does the dracolich appear in any of the 1st Edition rulebooks, and if so, which one? If you're looking for stats, I don't believe you'll have much luck in the area of 1st edition rulebooks. Dragon magazine, Issue 110 - June 1986, did have an article by Ed Greenwood called, "The Cult of the Dragon". It contained a good description about them (including stats), and how they are created. longlivelavey -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 6] Author : Fulnitus Date : 04-29-07 07:57 AM Thread Title : Re: Realistic Campaign Concept?/Graz'zt statistics? The cult of the dragon actually made it into a sourcebook: FOR 11 (9547), 'the cult of the dragon' by Dale Donovan. 2nd edition though. The dracolich in there is the one in the 2nd edition monstrous manual (some formatting stuff aside). Nice touch is that they also included descriptions of ghost, zombie and skeletal dragons. The book does cover the creation of dracoliches exstensively. Since I don't have the dragon article I'm not sure if this is exactly the same set of rules. Like more of the FOR series it's technically Forgotten Realms content, but can be fitted into any campaign world without too many difficulties. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Post 7] Author : SamualT Barronsword Date : 04-29-07 05:24 PM Thread Title : Re: Realistic Campaign Concept?/Graz'zt statistics? "Cult of the Dragon" can be obtained as a free download from the WOTC Downloads - Previous Edition Downloads - section of thier website, if your interested in looking at it. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Downloaded from Wizards Community (http://forums.gleemax.com) at 05-10-08 08:21 AM.