Building Al'Akbar - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Building Al'Akbar

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Feb 09, 2004 19:47:07 Just for the heck of it, I think it'll be fun to stat-up and flesh out Al'Akbar. Maybe it will help me fill out the western part of my Greyhawk campaign.

After as much research as I could do online and in the books, I have to admit that I think I've found paltry little to help me stat-up Al'Akbar.

First thing I think I have to do is to figure out the appropriate classes and levels for this guy.

I'm thinking of making Celestia his Home Plane and using the following for his classes:

Cleric 20/Paladin 10/Hierophant 5

I also think I'm going to omit Outsider hit die because he's an ascended mortal and I haven't seen many of those in the pantheon with outsider hit die.

I also think I will set his divine rank at 5, since the LGG says that his status as a demigod is principally due to his wish to pay deference to the other gods in the pantheon instead of some inherent limitation of his power level.

So, bare bones, it looks like this so far:

AL’AKBAR
High Cleric, Restorer of Righteousness
Demigod
Symbol: Cup and Eight-Pointed Star
Home Plane: Celestia
Alignment: Lawful Good
Portfolio: Guardianship, faithfulness, dignity, duty
Worshippers: Baklunish
Cleric Alignments: LG, LN, NG
Domains: Good, Healing, Law, Protection
Favored Weapon: Falchion

AL’AKBAR
Cleric 20/Paladin 10/Hierophant 5
Medium Size Outsider (Good, Lawful)
Divine Rank: 5
Hit Dice: 20d8+n (Clr) plus 10d10+n (Pal) plus 5d8+n (Hie) (300 hp + 70hp + nSum)

where n=adjustments due to Constitution modifiers.

I'm not going to do all this at once. That way, if you like, you can comment as I go along and you can watch it take shape as I try to incorporate into my build whatever knowledge and wisdom you all impart.

Cheers for now.
#2
zombiegleemax
Feb 10, 2004 9:26:44 Just to clarify, these are stats for his avatar? I admit I don't have MoP or the new Deities and Demigods and have never used stats for gods themselves. I have begun the thought that avatars should use Epic stats to represent the power of the deity made flesh.

Looks good so far. Some feats to accompany that falchion of his would be nice (maybe dervish like whirling attack). Also, perhaps some special abilities he can perform with the Cup and Talisman?
#3
zombiegleemax
Feb 10, 2004 10:06:07 I appreciate what you are doing, but you did ask for feedback, no?

I'm not sure I agree with a baklunish "arabian" type paladin, and Al'Akbar would deffinately command wizardly magic as well.
#4
zombiegleemax
Feb 10, 2004 11:02:22 Actually the Farises are "Arabian" type paladins and have already been written up in LGJ if I am not mistaken.

I also allow NG Farises of Azor'Alq in my campaign.
#5
zombiegleemax
Feb 10, 2004 11:53:18 Thanks for the questions and comments so far. I think they'll help out a lot.

Jag Arin:
I understand how statting him up would seem strange since deities' mechanics have changed so much between 2nd and 3rd edition (or 3.5).

In 3.5, the deities and not just their avatars actually do have stats. In the "D&D Pantheon" as the Greyhawk Gods are referenced in Deities and Demigods, gods themselves (and not just their avatars) may be slain -- although the book also mentions that such occurrences are very rare and explains why the enormous effort to do so makes deicide so unusual. Of course, this is all subject to change according to your particular campaign.

The ability to create an avatar -- or a duplicate -- of the deity is not available to all deities and not all have it. The Greyhawk deities, though, seem to commonly have it. The requirement is that a deity have a "divine rank" of 6 (on a default scale of 0 to 20) and Charisma of 29. But a deity need not be capable of using the avatar ability to manifest and thereby be subject to combat.

I think your ideas for special attacks and abilities are good ones. Will have to let them marinate for a while. If you have any source material that you think could provide inspiration for these, please let me know.

I'll try log on later today to respond to the points and questions raised by abysslin and Lassiviren, as best as I can. Gotta run for a few...
#6
zombiegleemax
Feb 11, 2004 1:09:20 Okay, here's the rest that I didn't get a chance to finish earlier today.

abysslin:

You first mentioned that you didn't agree with "a baklunish 'Arabian' type paladin." I'm assuming that means that you don't think Al'Akbar should have paladin levels. Am I right?

Assuming that's the case, I'm a little ambivalent on the point myself.

Here's where I'm coming from thus far: I want to give Al'Akbar a total of about 35 PC levels and I want to have an upper-limit for each class consistent with what we find in Deities and Demigods. I'm pretty sure that maxing out his Cleric and Hierophant classes fits with what we know about him based on source material. That leaves me with 10 levels to find from another class.

I've scoured descriptions of Al'Akbar in everything I could find and I couldn't find many hooks for additional character classes, to be honest.

However, I noticed two things: 1) Al'Akbar's clerics' favored weapon is the falchion, which suggests martial weapons proficiency, and 2) 1st edition descriptions of the Cup and Talisman of Al'Akbar specified that PCs belonging to one of four classes (i.e., Cleric, Druid, Paladin, and Ranger) could trigger additional special item powers.

So I had already maxed out his Cleric levels. Although I thought about Druid because of the Baklunish affinity for elemental magic, it didn't fit because Al'Akbar is Lawful Good and druids in 3.5 can't be Lawful Good. In addition, it turns out that Living Greyhawk Journal recently detailed Al'Akbar's paladins and described "elementalists" as their enemies. So that left the Paladin and Ranger classes (both classes include martial weapons proficiency), assuming I was going to take my cue from early descriptions of his relics.

Given his reported piety, therefore, Paladin seemed like the most natural fit.

Another possibility I thought about came from, shall we say, apocryphal sources. Assuming that Al'Akbar had temporal authority when he was mortal -- maybe he was a sultan or other Arabian-style ruler, it is possible that he may have been of noble birth. Apocrypha suggest that he was born of the union between a Baklunish deity and a princess, for example. In that case, you could make a pretty strong case for levels in the Aristocrat NPC class. At least one other demigod in DDG has NPC class levels, so that is a possibility.

Provisionally, I think that the Paladin levels more strongly support both the favored cleric weapon and ancient lore about use of Al'Akbar's relics. Of course, it's not an either/or thing and I could assign class levels in both Paladin and Aristocrat.

On your suggestion about class levels in some arcane spellcasting class, I'm not sure that I've come across any material that suggests Al'Akbar would be an arcane spellcaster. If you have something to point me to, of course I'd be happy to look it up.

Lassiviren:
Do you happen to know where in LGJ they've been written up? I'd be curious to compare them with Al'Akbar's "Exalted Ones" -- the paladins I mentioned before. I do know that the Ekbir Living Greyhawk website mentions an organization in Ekbir called the Order of the Faris.

That's all for now folks. Next, I'll try to post Al'Akbar's ability scores.
#7
zombiegleemax
Feb 11, 2004 9:53:47 I could be confusing an old Oerth Journal with a recent LGJ, I am sure someone with the relevant articles can chime in. I do remember there being a write up on the relevant paladins of the Flanaess with new feats for each deity. If I find it I will post here later.

In the Arabian Adventures book paladins were called farises, I don't remember if they were restricted to LG alignment.
#8
zombiegleemax
Feb 12, 2004 10:12:36 The relevant article was in Dungeon 104, by Gary Holian, and had write ups for Al'Akbar, Azor'alq, Pholtus, Heironeous, Hextor, and Trithereon. Trithereon not having paladins but a prestige class from Sword and Fist.

The juicy parts were the feats for each paladin, some divine feats that were based on turning ability and some combat related.
#9
zombiegleemax
Feb 13, 2004 19:37:48 Thanks Lassiviren. We were looking at the same article. Glad to know I didn't miss it.

As promised, here's the next step in building Al'Akbar: ability scores! Please don't ask me how much time I wasted trying to do this another way before I found the "standard divine array" in the Deities and Demigods FAQ.

Note that the HP are now calculated to account for the Constitution modifier. I've highlighted the changes so they're easier to follow:

AL’AKBAR
High Cleric, Restorer of Righteousness
Demigod
Symbol: Cup and Eight-Pointed Star
Home Plane: Celestia
Alignment: Lawful Good
Portfolio: Guardianship, faithfulness, dignity, duty
Worshippers: Baklunish
Cleric Alignments: LG, LN, NG
Domains: Good, Healing, Law, Protection
Favored Weapon: Falchion

AL’AKBAR
Cleric 20/Paladin 10/Hierophant 5
Medium Size Outsider (Good, Lawful)
Divine Rank: 5
Hit Dice: 20d8+140 (Clr) plus 10d10+70 (Pal) plus 5d8+35 (Hie) (545 hp)
Abilities: Str 24, Dex 24, Con 25, Int 26, Wis 44, Cha 31

As with the last time, comments and suggestions are definitely welcome.

Next installment: Al'Akbar's skills!
#10
zombiegleemax
Feb 14, 2004 13:50:32 I'm not done with the skills yet, but I hope you don't mind if I leak the following bolded new stats out for gaming goodness:

AL’AKBAR
Cleric 20/Paladin 10/Hierophant 5
Medium Size Outsider (Good, Lawful)
Divine Rank: 5
Hit Dice: 20d8+140 (Clr) plus 10d10+70 (Pal) plus 5d8+35 (Hie) (545 hp)
Initiative: +11 (+7 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)
Speed: 60 ft.
AC: 37 (+7 Dex, +5 divine, +5 natural, +10 deflection), touch 32, flat-footed 30
Base Attack/Grapple: +20/+40
Attack: +5 defending axiomatic merciful holy ghost touch falchion +45 melee (2d4+17/18-20)
Full Attack: +5 defending axiomatic merciful holy ghost touch falchion +45/+40/+35/+30 melee; or spell +40 melee touch or +40 ranged touch
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Smite evil 3/day (+10 on attack and +10 on damage), turn undead 26/day (effective cleric level 33rd), domain powers, salient divine abilities, spell-like abilities
Abilities: Str 24, Dex 24, Con 25, Int 26, Wis 44, Cha 31
Feats: Improved Initiative (and 13 others)
#11
zombiegleemax
Feb 15, 2004 13:21:04 Okay. Here's a question for those canonical experts out there.

Is Al'Akbar really a demigod?

The LGG and the official listing for deities for Living Greyhawk material specifically identify Al'Akbar as a demigod.

But both sources state that Al'Akbar has four domains.

According to Deities and Demigods, only Lesser Deities and higher ranked deities can have more than 3 domains, by way of the Extra Domain salient divine ability.

Any suggestions on how to resolve this? Which source controls? The game mechanic in the WOTC rulebook or the game setting and RPGA supplemental material?
#12
Aeolius
Feb 15, 2004 14:08:58
Originally posted by Advocatus
The LGG and the official listing for deities for Living Greyhawk material specifically identify Al'Akbar as a demigod...According to Deities and Demigods, only Lesser Deities and higher ranked deities can have more than 3 domains... Which source controls?

Remember, the LGG was written when 3e was still in its infancy (Which is why we NEED a v3.5 GH hardback supplement...oh, nevermind). I would go with either the most recent information or whatever suits your campaign.

Look at how the Cup and Talisman of Al'Akbar have been treated in the books. The entry in Book of Exalted Deeds is significantly different than that in the Epic Level Handbook. As, in my campaign, a neutrally aligned spectral hag holds the Cup and an elemental water weird holds the Talisman, I had to do some retooling. Yes, the hag wants to keep the C&T away from the hands of evil (in this case, her offspring) but their combined ability of resurrection has her interest as well.
#13
zombiegleemax
Feb 15, 2004 23:46:46 Someone else also pointed out that Living Greyhawk doesn't use the Deities and Demigods ruleset that I'm relying on to stat-up my deity here, which helps support your point about an updated GH supplement.

So here's how I'll resolve it:

The most recent document is the official listing of Living Greyhawk (LG) deities, dated September 5, 2003. That document lists the four domains and classifies him as a demigod.

But since I learned that LG uses a modified ruleset and my purpose here is to create a statted version of Al'Akbar that is consistent with the DDG stats, I don't feel bound by it.

So I submit the following question for comment by the community:

Assuming I adhere to the DDG rules on the number of domains for deities, would you prefer that I --

1. Be faithful to the Gazeteer "flavor" text, which states that "he remains a demigod out of respect for the rest of the pantheon," (which means dropping one of the four domains) or

2. Be faithful to the Gazeteer listing of four domains and make him a lesser deity?
#14
zombiegleemax
Feb 20, 2004 16:59:59 Okay...I slept on it...a lot. :D

I decided to try a "both/and" approach rather than an "either/or" approach.

So I made him a lesser deity. My "out" will have to be either that Al'Akbar was recently coaxed away from his humility by the entreaties of the rest of the Baklunish pantheon or that the numbers of his temporal worshippers were simply too overwhelming for the rest of the pantheon to ignore. Either way, my version of Al'Akbar is now a lesser deity and retains all his domains.

The practical reason for this is simple: it minimizes the fragmentation of anyone who may want to import my statted version into their Greyhawk campaign and still use Living Greyhawk as a principal source of "canon" material.

Here's the latest revision, with changes in bold:

AL’AKBAR
High Cleric, Restorer of Righteousness
Lesser Deity
Symbol: Cup and Eight-Pointed Star
Home Plane: Celestia
Alignment: Lawful Good
Portfolio: Guardianship, faithfulness, dignity, duty
Worshippers: Baklunish
Cleric Alignments: LG, LN, NG
Domains: Good, Healing, Law, Protection
Favored Weapon: Falchion

AL’AKBAR
Cleric 20/Paladin 10/Hierophant 5
Medium Size Outsider (Good, Lawful)
Divine Rank: 6
Hit Dice: 20d8+140 (Clr) plus 10d10+70 (Pal) plus 5d8+35 (Hie) (545 hp)
Initiative: +11 (+7 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)
Speed: 60 ft.
AC: 39 (+7 Dex, +6 divine, +6 natural, +10 deflection), touch 33, flat-footed 32
Base Attack/Grapple: +21/+41
Attack: +5 defending axiomatic merciful holy ghost touch falchion +46 melee (2d4+17/18-20)
Full Attack: +5 defending axiomatic merciful holy ghost touch falchion +46/+41/+36/+31 melee; or spell +41 melee touch or +41 ranged touch
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Smite evil 3/day (+10 on attack and +10 on damage), turn undead 17/day (effective cleric level 32nd), domain powers, salient divine abilities, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Divine immunities, DR 20/epic, fire resistance 11, spontaneous casting of divine spells, understand, speak, and read all languages and speak directly to all beings within 6 miles, remote communication, godly realm, teleport without error at will, plane shift at will, aura of courage, blast infidel, detect evil at will, divine grace, divine health, empathic link with mount, faith healing, gift of the divine, lay on hands (100 hp/day), metamagic feat (*), remove disease 2/week, share saving throws with mount, share spells with mount, spell-like ability (*), SR 38, divine aura (600 ft., DC 26).
Saves: Fort +45, Ref +36, Will +52
Abilities: Str 24, Dex 24, Con 25, Int 26, Wis 45, Cha 31
Feats: Extra Turning, Improved Initiative (and 12 others)

Divine Immunities: Ability damage, ability drain, acid, banishment, cold, death effects, disease, disintegration, electricity, energy drain, imprisonment, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stunning, transmutation.

Notice that I have tentatively assigned his Hierophant special abilities but have not yet selected his metamagic feat or his spell-like ability. Suggestions for these items or anything else anyone sees continue to be welcome (including those folks who want to try to check my math!).

Anyway...we're gettin' there. More installments and additions to come...
#15
zombiegleemax
Feb 23, 2004 12:46:23 More additions and changes...

Attack: +5 defending axiomatic merciful holy ghost touch falchion +46 melee (2d4+17/15-20)

Special Attacks: Smite evil 3/day (+10 on attack and +10 on damage), turn undead 17/day (effective cleric level 33rd), domain powers, salient divine abilities, spell-like abilities.

Special Qualities: Divine immunities, DR 20/epic, fire resistance 11, spontaneous casting of divine spells, understand, speak, and read all languages and speak directly to all beings within 6 miles, remote communication, godly realm, teleport without error at will, plane shift at will, aura of courage, blast infidel, detect evil at will, divine grace, divine health, empathic link with mount, faith healing, gift of the divine, lay on hands (100 hp/day), metamagic feat (Extend Spell), remove disease 2/week, share saving throws with mount, share spells with mount, spell-like ability (*), SR 38, divine aura (600 ft., DC 26).

Feats: Alertness, Divine Might, Enlarge Spell, Extra Turning, Improved Counterspell, Improved Critical (falchion), Improved Initiative, Improved Turning, Maximize Spell, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Ride-By Attack, Sacred Spell, Trample.

Salient Divine Abilities: Extra Domain

I'm still throwing around some ideas on feats.

Jag Arin, if you're still following this thread:

I experimented with the whirlwind attack you mentioned, but it is such an "expensive" and essentially a fighter-feat (there are so many other prerequisites), that I would have sacrificed too many spellcaster feats to get it in. So until I can figure out how else to get that or some other core cool falchion-feat in there, I'm going to hang on to the Improved Critical, which I hope you like.

But like I said, I'm still fussing with the feats list.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Feb 09, 2004 19:47:07	Just for the heck of it, I think it'll be fun to stat-up and flesh out Al'Akbar. Maybe it will help me fill out the western part of my Greyhawk campaign. After as much research as I could do online and in the books, I have to admit that I think I've found paltry little to help me stat-up Al'Akbar. First thing I think I have to do is to figure out the appropriate classes and levels for this guy. I'm thinking of making Celestia his Home Plane and using the following for his classes: Cleric 20/Paladin 10/Hierophant 5 I also think I'm going to omit Outsider hit die because he's an ascended mortal and I haven't seen many of those in the pantheon with outsider hit die. I also think I will set his divine rank at 5, since the LGG says that his status as a demigod is principally due to his wish to pay deference to the other gods in the pantheon instead of some inherent limitation of his power level. So, bare bones, it looks like this so far: AL’AKBAR High Cleric, Restorer of Righteousness Demigod Symbol: Cup and Eight-Pointed Star Home Plane: Celestia Alignment: Lawful Good Portfolio: Guardianship, faithfulness, dignity, duty Worshippers: Baklunish Cleric Alignments: LG, LN, NG Domains: Good, Healing, Law, Protection Favored Weapon: Falchion AL’AKBAR Cleric 20/Paladin 10/Hierophant 5 Medium Size Outsider (Good, Lawful) Divine Rank: 5 Hit Dice: 20d8+n (Clr) plus 10d10+n (Pal) plus 5d8+n (Hie) (300 hp + 70hp + nSum) where n=adjustments due to Constitution modifiers. I'm not going to do all this at once. That way, if you like, you can comment as I go along and you can watch it take shape as I try to incorporate into my build whatever knowledge and wisdom you all impart. Cheers for now.
#2 zombiegleemax Feb 10, 2004 9:26:44	Just to clarify, these are stats for his avatar? I admit I don't have MoP or the new Deities and Demigods and have never used stats for gods themselves. I have begun the thought that avatars should use Epic stats to represent the power of the deity made flesh. Looks good so far. Some feats to accompany that falchion of his would be nice (maybe dervish like whirling attack). Also, perhaps some special abilities he can perform with the Cup and Talisman?
#3 zombiegleemax Feb 10, 2004 10:06:07	I appreciate what you are doing, but you did ask for feedback, no? I'm not sure I agree with a baklunish "arabian" type paladin, and Al'Akbar would deffinately command wizardly magic as well.
#4 zombiegleemax Feb 10, 2004 11:02:22	Actually the Farises are "Arabian" type paladins and have already been written up in LGJ if I am not mistaken. I also allow NG Farises of Azor'Alq in my campaign.
#5 zombiegleemax Feb 10, 2004 11:53:18	Thanks for the questions and comments so far. I think they'll help out a lot. Jag Arin: I understand how statting him up would seem strange since deities' mechanics have changed so much between 2nd and 3rd edition (or 3.5). In 3.5, the deities and not just their avatars actually do have stats. In the "D&D Pantheon" as the Greyhawk Gods are referenced in Deities and Demigods, gods themselves (and not just their avatars) may be slain -- although the book also mentions that such occurrences are very rare and explains why the enormous effort to do so makes deicide so unusual. Of course, this is all subject to change according to your particular campaign. The ability to create an avatar -- or a duplicate -- of the deity is not available to all deities and not all have it. The Greyhawk deities, though, seem to commonly have it. The requirement is that a deity have a "divine rank" of 6 (on a default scale of 0 to 20) and Charisma of 29. But a deity need not be capable of using the avatar ability to manifest and thereby be subject to combat. I think your ideas for special attacks and abilities are good ones. Will have to let them marinate for a while. If you have any source material that you think could provide inspiration for these, please let me know. I'll try log on later today to respond to the points and questions raised by abysslin and Lassiviren, as best as I can. Gotta run for a few...
#6 zombiegleemax Feb 11, 2004 1:09:20	Okay, here's the rest that I didn't get a chance to finish earlier today. abysslin: You first mentioned that you didn't agree with "a baklunish 'Arabian' type paladin." I'm assuming that means that you don't think Al'Akbar should have paladin levels. Am I right? Assuming that's the case, I'm a little ambivalent on the point myself. Here's where I'm coming from thus far: I want to give Al'Akbar a total of about 35 PC levels and I want to have an upper-limit for each class consistent with what we find in Deities and Demigods. I'm pretty sure that maxing out his Cleric and Hierophant classes fits with what we know about him based on source material. That leaves me with 10 levels to find from another class. I've scoured descriptions of Al'Akbar in everything I could find and I couldn't find many hooks for additional character classes, to be honest. However, I noticed two things: 1) Al'Akbar's clerics' favored weapon is the falchion, which suggests martial weapons proficiency, and 2) 1st edition descriptions of the Cup and Talisman of Al'Akbar specified that PCs belonging to one of four classes (i.e., Cleric, Druid, Paladin, and Ranger) could trigger additional special item powers. So I had already maxed out his Cleric levels. Although I thought about Druid because of the Baklunish affinity for elemental magic, it didn't fit because Al'Akbar is Lawful Good and druids in 3.5 can't be Lawful Good. In addition, it turns out that Living Greyhawk Journal recently detailed Al'Akbar's paladins and described "elementalists" as their enemies. So that left the Paladin and Ranger classes (both classes include martial weapons proficiency), assuming I was going to take my cue from early descriptions of his relics. Given his reported piety, therefore, Paladin seemed like the most natural fit. Another possibility I thought about came from, shall we say, apocryphal sources. Assuming that Al'Akbar had temporal authority when he was mortal -- maybe he was a sultan or other Arabian-style ruler, it is possible that he may have been of noble birth. Apocrypha suggest that he was born of the union between a Baklunish deity and a princess, for example. In that case, you could make a pretty strong case for levels in the Aristocrat NPC class. At least one other demigod in DDG has NPC class levels, so that is a possibility. Provisionally, I think that the Paladin levels more strongly support both the favored cleric weapon and ancient lore about use of Al'Akbar's relics. Of course, it's not an either/or thing and I could assign class levels in both Paladin and Aristocrat. On your suggestion about class levels in some arcane spellcasting class, I'm not sure that I've come across any material that suggests Al'Akbar would be an arcane spellcaster. If you have something to point me to, of course I'd be happy to look it up. Lassiviren: Do you happen to know where in LGJ they've been written up? I'd be curious to compare them with Al'Akbar's "Exalted Ones" -- the paladins I mentioned before. I do know that the Ekbir Living Greyhawk website mentions an organization in Ekbir called the Order of the Faris. That's all for now folks. Next, I'll try to post Al'Akbar's ability scores.
#7 zombiegleemax Feb 11, 2004 9:53:47	I could be confusing an old Oerth Journal with a recent LGJ, I am sure someone with the relevant articles can chime in. I do remember there being a write up on the relevant paladins of the Flanaess with new feats for each deity. If I find it I will post here later. In the Arabian Adventures book paladins were called farises, I don't remember if they were restricted to LG alignment.
#8 zombiegleemax Feb 12, 2004 10:12:36	The relevant article was in Dungeon 104, by Gary Holian, and had write ups for Al'Akbar, Azor'alq, Pholtus, Heironeous, Hextor, and Trithereon. Trithereon not having paladins but a prestige class from Sword and Fist. The juicy parts were the feats for each paladin, some divine feats that were based on turning ability and some combat related.
#9 zombiegleemax Feb 13, 2004 19:37:48	Thanks Lassiviren. We were looking at the same article. Glad to know I didn't miss it. As promised, here's the next step in building Al'Akbar: ability scores! Please don't ask me how much time I wasted trying to do this another way before I found the "standard divine array" in the Deities and Demigods FAQ. Note that the HP are now calculated to account for the Constitution modifier. I've highlighted the changes so they're easier to follow: AL’AKBAR High Cleric, Restorer of Righteousness Demigod Symbol: Cup and Eight-Pointed Star Home Plane: Celestia Alignment: Lawful Good Portfolio: Guardianship, faithfulness, dignity, duty Worshippers: Baklunish Cleric Alignments: LG, LN, NG Domains: Good, Healing, Law, Protection Favored Weapon: Falchion AL’AKBAR Cleric 20/Paladin 10/Hierophant 5 Medium Size Outsider (Good, Lawful) Divine Rank: 5 Hit Dice: 20d8+140 (Clr) plus 10d10+70 (Pal) plus 5d8+35 (Hie) (545 hp) Abilities: Str 24, Dex 24, Con 25, Int 26, Wis 44, Cha 31 As with the last time, comments and suggestions are definitely welcome. Next installment: Al'Akbar's skills!
#10 zombiegleemax Feb 14, 2004 13:50:32	I'm not done with the skills yet, but I hope you don't mind if I leak the following bolded new stats out for gaming goodness: AL’AKBAR Cleric 20/Paladin 10/Hierophant 5 Medium Size Outsider (Good, Lawful) Divine Rank: 5 Hit Dice: 20d8+140 (Clr) plus 10d10+70 (Pal) plus 5d8+35 (Hie) (545 hp) Initiative: +11 (+7 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative) Speed: 60 ft. AC: 37 (+7 Dex, +5 divine, +5 natural, +10 deflection), touch 32, flat-footed 30 Base Attack/Grapple: +20/+40 Attack: +5 defending axiomatic merciful holy ghost touch falchion +45 melee (2d4+17/18-20) Full Attack: +5 defending axiomatic merciful holy ghost touch falchion +45/+40/+35/+30 melee; or spell +40 melee touch or +40 ranged touch Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: Smite evil 3/day (+10 on attack and +10 on damage), turn undead 26/day (effective cleric level 33rd), domain powers, salient divine abilities, spell-like abilities Abilities: Str 24, Dex 24, Con 25, Int 26, Wis 44, Cha 31 Feats: Improved Initiative (and 13 others)
#11 zombiegleemax Feb 15, 2004 13:21:04	Okay. Here's a question for those canonical experts out there. Is Al'Akbar really a demigod? The LGG and the official listing for deities for Living Greyhawk material specifically identify Al'Akbar as a demigod. But both sources state that Al'Akbar has four domains. According to Deities and Demigods, only Lesser Deities and higher ranked deities can have more than 3 domains, by way of the Extra Domain salient divine ability. Any suggestions on how to resolve this? Which source controls? The game mechanic in the WOTC rulebook or the game setting and RPGA supplemental material?
#12 Aeolius Feb 15, 2004 14:08:58	Originally posted by Advocatus The LGG and the official listing for deities for Living Greyhawk material specifically identify Al'Akbar as a demigod...According to Deities and Demigods, only Lesser Deities and higher ranked deities can have more than 3 domains... Which source controls? Remember, the LGG was written when 3e was still in its infancy (Which is why we NEED a v3.5 GH hardback supplement...oh, nevermind). I would go with either the most recent information or whatever suits your campaign. Look at how the Cup and Talisman of Al'Akbar have been treated in the books. The entry in Book of Exalted Deeds is significantly different than that in the Epic Level Handbook. As, in my campaign, a neutrally aligned spectral hag holds the Cup and an elemental water weird holds the Talisman, I had to do some retooling. Yes, the hag wants to keep the C&T away from the hands of evil (in this case, her offspring) but their combined ability of resurrection has her interest as well.
#13 zombiegleemax Feb 15, 2004 23:46:46	Someone else also pointed out that Living Greyhawk doesn't use the Deities and Demigods ruleset that I'm relying on to stat-up my deity here, which helps support your point about an updated GH supplement. So here's how I'll resolve it: The most recent document is the official listing of Living Greyhawk (LG) deities, dated September 5, 2003. That document lists the four domains and classifies him as a demigod. But since I learned that LG uses a modified ruleset and my purpose here is to create a statted version of Al'Akbar that is consistent with the DDG stats, I don't feel bound by it. So I submit the following question for comment by the community: Assuming I adhere to the DDG rules on the number of domains for deities, would you prefer that I -- 1. Be faithful to the Gazeteer "flavor" text, which states that "he remains a demigod out of respect for the rest of the pantheon," (which means dropping one of the four domains) or 2. Be faithful to the Gazeteer listing of four domains and make him a lesser deity?
#14 zombiegleemax Feb 20, 2004 16:59:59	Okay...I slept on it...a lot. :D I decided to try a "both/and" approach rather than an "either/or" approach. So I made him a lesser deity. My "out" will have to be either that Al'Akbar was recently coaxed away from his humility by the entreaties of the rest of the Baklunish pantheon or that the numbers of his temporal worshippers were simply too overwhelming for the rest of the pantheon to ignore. Either way, my version of Al'Akbar is now a lesser deity and retains all his domains. The practical reason for this is simple: it minimizes the fragmentation of anyone who may want to import my statted version into their Greyhawk campaign and still use Living Greyhawk as a principal source of "canon" material. Here's the latest revision, with changes in bold: AL’AKBAR High Cleric, Restorer of Righteousness Lesser Deity Symbol: Cup and Eight-Pointed Star Home Plane: Celestia Alignment: Lawful Good Portfolio: Guardianship, faithfulness, dignity, duty Worshippers: Baklunish Cleric Alignments: LG, LN, NG Domains: Good, Healing, Law, Protection Favored Weapon: Falchion AL’AKBAR Cleric 20/Paladin 10/Hierophant 5 Medium Size Outsider (Good, Lawful) Divine Rank: 6 Hit Dice: 20d8+140 (Clr) plus 10d10+70 (Pal) plus 5d8+35 (Hie) (545 hp) Initiative: +11 (+7 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative) Speed: 60 ft. AC: 39 (+7 Dex, +6 divine, +6 natural, +10 deflection), touch 33, flat-footed 32 Base Attack/Grapple: +21/+41 Attack: +5 defending axiomatic merciful holy ghost touch falchion +46 melee (2d4+17/18-20) Full Attack: +5 defending axiomatic merciful holy ghost touch falchion +46/+41/+36/+31 melee; or spell +41 melee touch or +41 ranged touch Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: Smite evil 3/day (+10 on attack and +10 on damage), turn undead 17/day (effective cleric level 32nd), domain powers, salient divine abilities, spell-like abilities Special Qualities: Divine immunities, DR 20/epic, fire resistance 11, spontaneous casting of divine spells, understand, speak, and read all languages and speak directly to all beings within 6 miles, remote communication, godly realm, teleport without error at will, plane shift at will, aura of courage, blast infidel, detect evil at will, divine grace, divine health, empathic link with mount, faith healing, gift of the divine, lay on hands (100 hp/day), metamagic feat (), remove disease 2/week, share saving throws with mount, share spells with mount, spell-like ability (), SR 38, divine aura (600 ft., DC 26). Saves: Fort +45, Ref +36, Will +52 Abilities: Str 24, Dex 24, Con 25, Int 26, Wis 45, Cha 31 Feats: Extra Turning, Improved Initiative (and 12 others) Divine Immunities: Ability damage, ability drain, acid, banishment, cold, death effects, disease, disintegration, electricity, energy drain, imprisonment, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stunning, transmutation. Notice that I have tentatively assigned his Hierophant special abilities but have not yet selected his metamagic feat or his spell-like ability. Suggestions for these items or anything else anyone sees continue to be welcome (including those folks who want to try to check my math!). Anyway...we're gettin' there. More installments and additions to come...
#15 zombiegleemax Feb 23, 2004 12:46:23	More additions and changes... Attack: +5 defending axiomatic merciful holy ghost touch falchion +46 melee (2d4+17/15-20) Special Attacks: Smite evil 3/day (+10 on attack and +10 on damage), turn undead 17/day (effective cleric level 33rd), domain powers, salient divine abilities, spell-like abilities. Special Qualities: Divine immunities, DR 20/epic, fire resistance 11, spontaneous casting of divine spells, understand, speak, and read all languages and speak directly to all beings within 6 miles, remote communication, godly realm, teleport without error at will, plane shift at will, aura of courage, blast infidel, detect evil at will, divine grace, divine health, empathic link with mount, faith healing, gift of the divine, lay on hands (100 hp/day), metamagic feat (Extend Spell), remove disease 2/week, share saving throws with mount, share spells with mount, spell-like ability (), SR 38, divine aura (600 ft., DC 26). Feats: Alertness, Divine Might, Enlarge Spell,* Extra Turning, Improved Counterspell, Improved Critical (falchion), Improved Initiative, Improved Turning, Maximize Spell, Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Ride-By Attack, Sacred Spell, Trample. Salient Divine Abilities: Extra Domain I'm still throwing around some ideas on feats. Jag Arin, if you're still following this thread: I experimented with the whirlwind attack you mentioned, but it is such an "expensive" and essentially a fighter-feat (there are so many other prerequisites), that I would have sacrificed too many spellcaster feats to get it in. So until I can figure out how else to get that or some other core cool falchion-feat in there, I'm going to hang on to the Improved Critical, which I hope you like. But like I said, I'm still fussing with the feats list.