Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ohtar_turinson Dec 05, 2004 21:13:24	Are there any details about exactly how becoming an Altroloth works? Especially how the Night Hags opperate on this, and the whole contract dealie. How long would that take to fulfill do you think? I'm thinking of having a (relatively) recently created Altroloth in my game, who's trying to infiltrate the ranks of the Guardianals, with the hope of maniplating the upper planes into something of the level of Blood War (which is ambitious and more than a little bit crazy) by impersonating a mid to high ranking Guardinal- and they need powers similar to a guardinal to do that. The reason I need details is that the "guardinal" will ask the PCs to help him later on, and eliminate the Night Hags involved in the process, to insure that no one, not even other 'loths, know who and what he (or she, I haven't detailed things yet) is.
#2 ohtar_turinson Dec 08, 2004 19:16:03
#3 zombiegleemax Dec 09, 2004 9:28:37	The exact process was detailed in Dragon Annual 2, IIRC. It involves literally "cooking" the yugoloth in a stewpot, with the hags pouring all sorts of vile things in the brew, like witch crones. [indent]A dark cave in one of the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna' volcanoes. In the middle, a cauldron boiling. [Pyroclastic explosion. Enter the three Night Hags.] FIRST NIGHT HAG. Thrice the bezekira hath mew'd. SECOND NIGHT HAG. Thrice; and once the hezrou whin'd. THIRD NIGHT HAG. Harpies cry:--"tis time, 'tis time. FIRST NIGHT HAG. Round about the cauldron go; In the poison'd entrails throw.-- Toad, that under cold stone, Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter'd venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i' the charmed pot! ALL. Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble. SECOND NIGHT HAG. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of flumph, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Behir's fork, and frost worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and slasrath's wing,-- For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. ALL. Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble. THIRD NIGHT HAG. Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Night Hag's mummy, maw and gulf Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark, Heart of grimlock livin' i' the dark, Liver of molydeus, Gall of goat, and slips of pus Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse, Nose of Orc, and Goblin's lips, Finger of birth-strangl'd babe Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,-- Make the gruel thick and slab: Add thereto a mephit's chaudron, For the ingredients of our cauldron. ALL. Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble. SECOND NIGHT HAG. Cool it with a wyvern's blood, Then the charm is firm and good.[/indent] The gruesome brewing takes a long time, during which the yugoloth is totally defenseless. If the process is interrupted, it dies. Also, the night hags imparts one part of their power in the yugoloth, and they are thereafter weakened (I suppose you could rule that as giving collectively to the night hags one negative level per HD of the finished altraloth, so for a 15 HD altraloth, and three night hags, each would get 5 negative levels). Once the process is complete, the yugoloth must make a Fort save, if it succeeds, it is transformed into a brand-new altraloth, the cauldron explodes, and in the crater here it lies. Each altraloth has to fit in one of these four themes: War (Taba the infiltrator, possibly the General of Gehenna -- whether this one is an altraloth is deliberately left unknown), Plague (the most common, Anthraxus, Bubonix, Cholerix, etc.), Death (Charon aka Cerlic, Xenghara), or Famine (this theme hasn't been used). An altraloth cannot go against the will of the Night Hags who created it, unless the Night Hags set it free. (That's what happened to Xenghara, which then proceeded to kill the Hags.)
#4 ohtar_turinson Dec 09, 2004 20:27:14	Hm... excellent, thanks Gez. An altraloth cannot go against the will of the Night Hags who created it, unless the Night Hags set it free. (That's what happened to Xenghara, which then proceeded to kill the Hags.) Hm... I seem to recall seeing it said somewhere that there is some kind of contract involved and that Xenghara killed them all after completing his contract- was this made up by one of the locals, or is that canon? (Doesn't really matter- I'm happy to change the means by which things work- I'm just curious)
#5 zombiegleemax Dec 10, 2004 3:13:40	You were right, an altraloth is free once he finishes his contractual task. Of course, some contracts may take forever to complete...
#6 Shemeska_the_Marauder Dec 10, 2004 8:46:15	You were right, an altraloth is free once he finishes his contractual task. Of course, some contracts may take forever to complete... Yep, as I recall all of them are free w/ the exception of Cerlic whose task in many ways doesn't end. Xenghara just went crazy go nuts and killed his hag makers. :P
#7 ohtar_turinson Dec 10, 2004 20:45:49	Excellent. Thank you both, you've been most helpful.
#8 zombiegleemax Dec 12, 2004 3:08:25	What's an altroloth? Where can I find more information about them? Different from ultroloth or baernaloth? For that matter, is there anywhere that has a complete listing of all yugoloths, tanar'ri, baatezu and what-nots? nic
#9 ripvanwormer Dec 12, 2004 3:50:44	What's an altroloth? Where can I find more information about them? Different from ultroloth or baernaloth? For that matter, is there anywhere that has a complete listing of all yugoloths, tanar'ri, baatezu and what-nots? nic Altraloths were created by Ed Bonny for his Ecology of the Night Hag in the Dragon Magazine Annual #2. As mentioned above, they're yugoloths who have been altered by night hags into unique creatures of great power. As for a list of fiends, here's one I made some time ago. It's not up to date.
#10 zombiegleemax Dec 12, 2004 3:55:44	Baernoloths are the progenitors of the yugoloth daemons. Ultroloth is the highest caste of yugoloth. [thread=313423]Altraloths are yugoloth enhanced by Night Hags.[/thread] Watch your spelling! Lots of people will spell "Ultraloth" or "Altroloth" and then you have to guess which typo they did, either the first vowel or the second, and it can mean two different things. As for a complete listing of planar whatnots, please, just follow this [post=4503956]--►◄--[/post].
#11 zombiegleemax Dec 15, 2004 3:22:22	You mentioned several fiend types I've never heard of Rip....forgive me for my ignorance, but what are they?
#12 zombiegleemax Dec 15, 2004 4:14:48	If you follow my [post=4503956]--►◄--[/post], you'll find the source for a lot of them. And much more. Rip is drawing material from AD&D2/Planescape sources, as well as from third party d20 sources. For example, Hordlings are 2e and Vierhaanders are from the d20 sourcebook Book of Fiends by Green Ronin Publishing. My [post=4503956]--►◄--[/post] does only contain 3e stuff, not 2e, but it's one of the most exhaustive there is on planar critter. Just click on that [post=4503956]--►◄--[/post] and you'll see. Besides, Rip made a mistake. There are no "Canomorph, Vulvitor", it is "Canomorph, Vultivor" instead. Fortunately.