Story questions

markhawkman

I'm rather inexperienced with the D&D backstory, and less so how it has been adapted for NWO. Soo..... I'm curious as to how certain aspects work.

1: How do dragons interact with spell plague? One of the ideas I ha was a dragon who's no really a good person but who hates the spell plague more than she hates humans.

2: backstories of various races... Dragons, teiflings, ashmadai, order of the dragon...don't know where they come from.

3: human mages, one idea was a mage who can common bismuth crystals.

ravenskya

Tieflings have been across most ADnD worlds - they are half human half demon hybrids. There are all types of them (one of my favorite PnP characters was a Rakshasa born Ranger). Generally if you find demons in a DnD world there are Tieflings, usually a woman seduced by a demon is the back story. They have some demonic powers but they are limited. In Neverwinter they are sort of a stripped down version of the Tiefling, with only minimal natural power and none of the natural drawbacks.

IIRC the Ashmadai were a cult that either worshipped demons or summoned them (my memory is sketchy). I remember them being involved with Velandria, I believe they were working for her, but I didn't get the vibe that they got along all that well and that one side or the other was working on a betrayal.

Now when you ask about dragons, I wasn't sure if you were talking about actual Dragons or the Dragonborn race. In DnD Some dragons would morph into other forms. Dragons are some of the most intelligent beings in FR and other DnD worlds, and often they would take on the appearance of humans and stir up trouble (or have half dragon children). Dragons were never the mindless beasts that other mythos portrayed them as. Lostmauth is the closest to the FR dragons, the others that you run across (Char, Veri) are more just giant beasts to kill.

beckylunatic

Devils not demons. They are not interchangeable in D&D.

iandarksword

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

markhawkman

When I think of the quintessential dragon I think of Smaug the Golden. Huge, powerful and smart enough to know how to defend himself.

Well this dragon was much like Smaug in that she had a cave she lived in and utterly terrified the smaller races who lived nearby. Eventually a group of magic wielders came up with a plan to use magic to trap her in the cave. Which is where she's been stuck for a few thousand years. An order of mages has been watching over her tomb to ensure she doesn't get out. Actually they're hoping she'll finally die, but so far that hasn't happened. If she was to escape... well.... angry rampage, probably wipe out a small kingdom, etc....

Well, things had been quiet for a long time, but the Spell plague happened and the mages who are her jailers had issues with that. Then a group of monsters corrupted by the spell plague tried to break the seal. Now the mages need you to help them restore the seal to prevent her escape.

well, that's what the mages want.... They fail and she gets loose. One odd thing with this dragon is that she absorbs life force from her environment to feed. Then she goes to a nearby town and sucks the life from their crops..... and almost pukes when she inadvertently absorbs a small amount of the spell plague.

So she decides that she wants to eradicate the spell plague once and for all... because it tastes bad. Not because it's evil and unnatural, but because it tastes bad.

So about the bismuth crystal thing... would that be out of the question?

beckylunatic said:

Devils not demons. They are not interchangeable in D&D.

elaborate please, this arouses my curiosity. It's not likely to be relevant, but I'm curious.

sockmunkey

This is the most concise explanation I could find.

Devils come from the 9 Hells of Baator, they are Lawful Evil and are generally structured and Tyrannical. They seek to subjugate and control over everything else. They are the embodiment of selfish structure in the Planes.

Demons come from the Abyss and are Chaotic Evil. They represent disorder, wickedness and a deconstruction of all that is good and just. They are forces of destruction, and abhor a higher order. They seek to seed chaos and mistrust.

ravenskya

beckylunatic said:

Devils not demons. They are not interchangeable in D&D.

Ahh you are correct - It has been a long time since I did any reading about FR I couldn't recall which the Ashmadai summoned.

Devil - Lawful Evil (think Lex Luthor)
Demon - Chaotic Evil (think the Joker)

The Blood Wars are the eternal battle between the Baatezu (Devils) and the Tanar'ai (Demons).

I personally have been trying to figure out how closely the boons and such in this game match up with everything from the lore. Does a boon that gives you + vs demons apply to Demogorgon or Orcus (Demon Princes) or any bonuses vs Devils help you with The end of the Maze engine (I seem to recall that being a Baatezu). Do bonuses vs undead work against Velandria (she's a lich right?)

markhawkman

Ok, so... how well does the basic story idea work?

valcontar73

The story is good, really, but I wonder how you'll do the Dragon, since the foundry doesn't have any.

markhawkman

I made this:

It's obviously a transformed state that makes her smaller than she would be at full size, but it looks scary enough.

valcontar73

Pretty good job! Be sure to post your foundry once is done, I'll like to see it.

markhawkman

What rules does D&D have on the powers mages can wield? One idea was for a human wizard to create Bismuth crystals as tools.

torontodave

https://dandwiki.com/wiki/Geomancer,_Wizard_(4e_Class_Variant)

markhawkman

enh,, that helps I guess.