Just post them up here!<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=282284.msg13883279#msg13883279">Quote from: Kunoichi on 31-01-2018, 09:10:41</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>Once upon a time, an eclectic group of grand villains from many different worlds and planes of existence gathered together and, united under one banner, threatened the very balance of the planes themselves.  Opposed by a gathering of noble heroes of equal power to their own, this alliance of villains plotted and schemed, and fought with all their might... and were ultimately defeated, and either scattered to the winds or destroyed outright by their foes.  Worshiping no gods but themselves, the unclaimed souls of these once-great villains eventually made their way to the lower planes, where they began to go through the long cycle of the soul that all evil men and women must face.<br/><br/>Reborn as pale, writhing maggots, crawling about on the infinite planes of the Abyss, the Nine Hells, or the Grey Wastes of Hades, the souls of these once-great villains forgot almost every detail of their once-mortal lives, their friends and enemies, their loves and losses.  They struggled in their new lives, suffered at the very bottom of the fiendish food chain, and were eventually transformed into proper fiendish forms themselves, becoming Demons, Devils, Yugoloths.<br/><br/>But every great villain always has a backup plan, and as these once-great villains clawed their way up the fiendish hierarchies of their respective afterlives, they began to feel a calling, something beckoning to some long-lost part of themselves, some secret buried deep within.  The strength of the calling grew as their own strength increased, spurring them on to achieve even greater heights of power, until eventually, as they transcended normal fiendish forms and became unique fiends, Altraloths, minor Demon Lords and Dukes or Duchesses of Hell, the calling itself became almost irresistible.  One by one, they made their way to a half-ruined castle in the fog-shrouded forests of Niflheim, the second layer of Hades.  One by one, they were greeted by the master of the castle, a wizened old fiend who treated them like long-lost friends.<br/><br/>And a thousand years after these once-great villains were defeated and destroyed, their memories of their former lives began to reawaken...</em></span><br/><br/><hr/><br/>Hello, and welcome to the recruitment thread for <strong>Dark M's Resurrection</strong>.  What does the M stand for, you ask?  Memory, perhaps.  Or Master or Mistress.  Either way, it's a game that originally sprang from the discovery of a template in one of the last issues of Dragon Magazine printed for D&amp;D 3.5 edition, a template designed to be applied to any ordinary monster in order to transform said monster into a Demon Lord.  It was a template that looked like it would be incredibly fun to play around with when creating characters, and that would allow for a type of game that the D&amp;D 3.5 rules would play a key part in, but that would be far removed from the typical D&amp;D experience.<br/><br/>The GM for this game will be Zaer Darkwail, one of Elliquiy's GMs who's had a great deal of experience running D&amp;D 3.5 games.  The basic premise is that the players themselves will be a group of young upstarts on the lower planes, or at least young upstarts by fiendish standards, who have come together and begun cooperating with one another when they would normally be at one another's throats due to discovering that they all possess a shared history that they were unaware of.<br/><br/>Rules for character creation are as follows:<br/><ul class="bbc_list" style="list-style-type: decimal;"><li>The characters in this game are not the usual adventurers of a typical D&amp;D campaign.  Instead, they are monsters, unique evil outsiders, Archfiends who live in the infinite layers of the Lower Planes.  To better reflect that fact, characters will be built along CR guidelines rather than ECL guidelines, which should allow for a large variety of different monster characters to be brought to the table, should a player wish to go looking through the various Monster Manuals for character ideas.</li><li>The game will make use of the Archfiend template provided below, and starting characters will be required to be CR 14 and have 16 HD before applying that template (which, as a CR +2 template on its own, will then bring the characters up to CR 16).  Due to the way the template works, both class levels and bonus HD added on to advance the base creature will wind up counting as Outsider hit dice in the end, so every two class levels or HD of advancement added onto the base creature chosen will be worth a +1 CR increase.  Additionally, if the base creature you choose has an odd number of racial hit dice, you can add 1 bonus racial HD without increasing your CR, though taking one extra class level instead will be enough to count for a +1 CR increase.  If you get up to 16 HD and still have extra points of CR left over, you can make up the difference with templates.</li><li>Speaking of templates, you can add on any templates that you have room for in your build without having to worry about whether you would normally be able to qualify for them.  Want to be an evil character with the half-celestial template?  No problem!  An aberration with the lycanthrope template?  Go for it!  The Lower Planes are filled with all sorts of strange, improbable, and downright horrific creatures that have never seen the light of day before, and this rule is intended to help reflect that fact.</li><li>At CR 16, the characters in this game will still fall well short of the power of even the weakest of published Demon Lords or Archdevils, who all have challenge ratings that start in the mid-20s and only go up from there.  This is intentional.  The PCs in this game are intended to be characters who were raised to a unique fiendish form through luck, accident, or the plotting of rivals, and who are now finding themselves in the unenviable position of having a title that many around them covet, and that they don't have the personal power to hold onto for long.  When the upper echelons of the normal fiendish hierarchy are still capable of posing a threat to you, your only chance for survival is working together with other weak Archfiends in similar positions to yourself.</li><li>Characters will be made with Pathfinder-style feat progression (one feat every odd-numbered level), and will be making use of Zaer Darkwail's preferred houserules for empowering some of the game's weaker classes, which can be found here (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=247069.msg12220105#msg12220105).</li><li>For the other small details of character creation, attributes are to be generated using the Elite Array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) and starting wealth is 130,000 gp.  The characters are powerful and exceptional monsters, to be sure, but they're neither the heroes destined to save the world, nor the big villains threatening to destroy it (or at least, not yet).  That said, given the grand history of such items as the Wand of Orcus, Charon's Claw, or the Ruby Rod of Asmodeus, players are allowed (and indeed, heavily encouraged) to spend up to 100,000 gp of their starting wealth on an 'item of power' for themselves, a magic item that doesn't quite measure up to the mighty artifacts held by other Archfiends, but that are nonetheless powerful items in their own right, and that might grow to become proper artifacts with time.</li><li>On a final note, rules are also given below for generating Fiendish Aspects for Archfiend characters.  While aspects are too weak to be of any use in combat, they can often serve well when used for utility purposes, and Archfiends who have had bad experiences being bound and imprisoned on the material plane have learned the hard way that it's usually better to send an aspect when faced with a situation that requires their personal presence in some way.</li></ul><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">The Archfiend template</div><div class="spoiler_body"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;">CREATING A LORD OF THE LOWER PLANES</span><br/>"Archfiend" is an acquired template that may be added to any creature that has taken the Dark Speech feat.  Archfiends are those rare and powerful fiends, be they Dukes and Duchesses of the Nine Hells, Demon Lords of the Abyss, or even the rare Yugoloth who makes a deal with the Night Hags of Hades to be transformed into a uniquely powerful Altraloth, who possess both greater power than the normal rank and file of their kind, and a unique form and set of abilities all their own.<br/>   Upon becoming an Archfiend, the creature's type changes to Outsider and it gains the Evil subtype.  All Archfiends are either Demons, Devils or Yugoloths, and so gain either the Baatezu, Loumara, Obyrith, Tanar'ri or Yugoloth subtype, as appropriate.  Additionally, Archfiends of demonic origin gain the Chaotic subtype (and lose the Lawful subtype, if they previously possessed it), and those of devilish origin gain the Lawful subtype (and lose any Chaotic subtype they once possessed).<br/>   Creatures that possess the Good subtype lose that subtype upon becoming an Archfiend, though they still retain any other subtypes they may possess.<br/>   <strong>Hit Dice:</strong> The creature's Hit Dice from race and any class levels become d8.  The Archfiend retains all special abilities granted by any former class levels (including spellcasting), but calculates its base attack and base saving throws using its new Hit Dice totals as an outsider.<br/>   <strong>Armor Class:</strong> An Archfiend's Armor Class can vary, but in order to remain a challenge for a creature of its CR score, you should add natural armor bonuses to the base creature's AC so that its final Armor Class is close (within a few points) to its CR + 20.<br/>   <strong>Base Attack:</strong> An Archfiend's base attack bonus equals its number of Hit Dice.<br/>   <strong>Special Attacks:</strong> Feel free to give your new Archfiend a unique and powerful special attack (or just steal a good one from an existing monster, class or prestige class).  Additionally, the archfiend will gain the <em>form of madness</em> special attack if an obyrith, or the ability to <em>summon</em> more of its kind if any other subtype.<br/>   <em>Form of Madness (Su):</em> Use the forms of madness of existing obyriths and obyrith demon lords as a guide for making your own.<br/>   <em>Possession (Su):</em> Use the possession abilities of existing loumaras and other possession-based monsters as a guide for making your own, and feel free to ask if you need examples.<br/>   <em>Summon (type) (Sp):</em> Once per day, an Archfiend of any type other than obyrith or loumara may summon other creatures that share a type or subtype with them.  They may choose up to two of the following options for their summon ability: 1 creature of CR 13-14, 1d3 creatures of CR 11-12, 1d4+1 creatures of CR 9-10, or 1d6+2 creatures of CR8 or below.  This ability functions as a 9th-level spell.<br/>   <strong>Spell-Like Abilities:</strong> All Archfiends have the following spell-like abilities in addition to any the base creature possesses:<br/>   At-will - <em>blasphemy</em> (or <em>word of chaos</em> for obyriths)<em>, desecrate, detect good, detect law</em> (or <em>detect chaos</em> for devils, or <em>detect magic</em> for yugoloths)<em>, greater dispel magic, greater teleport, plane shift, telekinesis</em> (or <em>flame strike</em> for devils)<em>, unhallow, unholy aura</em> (or <em>cloak of chaos</em> for obyriths)<em>, unholy blight</em> (or <em>chaos hammer</em> for obyriths).<br/>   3/day - any one <em>symbol</em>.<br/>   Each Archfiend also possesses two additional at-will spell-like abilities of no higher than 3rd level, two additional 3/day abilities of no higher than 5th level, and two additional 1/day abilities of no higher than 7th level.  These additional spell-like abilities should be chosen to match the Archfiend's "theme."<br/>   An Archfiend has a base caster level for all spell-like abilities equal to their hit dice (to a maximum of 20th level).<br/>   <strong>Special Qualities:</strong> An Archfiend gains all the special qualities granted by her fiendish race subtype.  In addition, all Archfiends possess the following special qualities in addition to any the base creature possesses:<br/>   <em>Astral Projection (Su):</em> Any Archfiend may use <em>astral projection</em> as the spell, at a caster level equal to their Hit Dice, when within the astral projection room of an iron fortress or a similar locale built into their own personal domains.<br/>   <em>Damage Reduction:</em> All Archfiends possess DR 20/magic and good (and cold iron for demons or silver for devils).<br/>   <em>Spell Resistance:</em> An Archfiend's spell resistance is equal to its CR +13.<br/>   <em>Telepathy:</em> All Archfiends possess telepathy to range of 300 feet (or 100 feet for obyrith lords).<br/>   <em>Additional Qualities:</em> Most Archfiends possess two additional unique special qualities as well.<br/>   <em>Special Weaknesses:</em> While the basic concept behind flaws is solid, the majority of listed flaws are too weak and ineffectual to be dramatically appropriate for player character Archfiends.  Instead, the Archfiends may take up to two thematically-appropriate special weaknesses in exchange for the same number of bonus feats.  These special weaknesses are typically things like having one's special defenses bypassed by attacks with certain properties or items made of a certain material, or taking double damage from certain energy types, or perhaps being treated as a certain creature type for the purposes of harmful spells, supernatural effects, and/or class features (such as a fallen angel turned demon lady who is still treated as having the good subtype whenever it would be harmful to her to do so, even though she no longer has that subtype).<br/>   <strong>Saves:</strong> All of an Archfiend's saving throws are good saves, based on its total Hit Dice.<br/>   <strong>Abilities:</strong> Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +6, Dex +4, Con +6, Int +2, Wis +4, Cha +6.<br/>   <strong>Skills:</strong> Archfiends gain skill points according to their Hit Dice as if they were outsiders.  Their class skills are those the base creature possessed from its race and any class levels it has, but the actual number of skill ranks should be recalculated using the dark lord's outsider Hit Dice.<br/>   <strong>Feats:</strong> Archfiends gain Dark Speech as a bonus feat.  Upon becoming an Archfiend, the creature may retrain any feats that it finds itself no longer needing (such as if the creature's new class skill list and recalculated skill ranks make qualifying for a prestige class easier, for example).  The newly-chosen feats must be ones the Archfiend would have qualified for at the time that it originally selected the feat, as normal for retraining.<br/>   <strong>Challenge Rating:</strong> +2</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Guidelines for creating Archfiend Aspects</div><div class="spoiler_body">NOTES ON CREATING ASPECTS<br/>For aspects for player character Archfiends styled after those in the Fiendish Codex (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060609b) web enhancements (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070216a), a few simple rules seem to hold true.  The aspects are to be CR 7 creatures with 8 HD, of the same size, type, and subtypes as the Archfiends from whom they are generated.  An Archfiend can create an aspect as a full-round action, and can have a total of 4 aspects active at any one time.<br/>   Aspects are facets of an Archfiend's existence given some semblance of independent life, and so count as separate creatures from the Archfiend that created them.  While they're separate creatures, however, they're still connected to the being that they're a part of, and this connection manifests in a few specific ways.<br/>   First, the base Archfiend is aware of the relative position and general condition of any aspects it creates, as a <em>status</em> spell, except that this connection extends across planar boundaries.  Second, at any time that it wishes to, an Archfiend can spend a full-round action to scry on its aspect, as the spell <em>scrying</em> (the aspect always counts as a willing creature for the purposes of this effect).  While scrying on one of its aspects, the Archfiend can initiate telepathic contact with it, and this contact allows the Archfiend to use the aspect as a relay for the use of its own social skills.  A Fiendish Aspect being used in this way can make social skill checks using the base Archfiend's ranks in the relevant skills, but otherwise uses its own statistics to determine the final modifier for the skill check.  Finally, the Aspect itself can attempt to contact its base Archfiend as a standard action, essentially sending a signal back along the connection to the Archfiend in an attempt to gain its attention.<br/>   While Fiendish Aspects are artificially-created beings, they are fully viable creatures, not magical effects, and so can survive events such as passing into an Antimagic Field or the death of their base Archfiend.  When such events occur, the connection between Archfiend and Fiendish Aspect is either suppressed or severed, as appropriate for the situation, causing the Archfiend to lose access to the <em>status</em>- and <em>scrying</em>-based effects and the Fiendish Aspect to lose its Fast Healing ability (unless it has the Obyrith subtype) and ability to contact the Archfiend until the connection can be resumed.  Narratively-speaking, if an Archfiend permanently perishes but at least one of its Aspects survives, its fellow Archfiends should probably be able to go on a quest of some sort in order to boost up the Aspect's power and essentially grow it into a full version of the Archfiend it was based on.  If the Archfiend perishes and all four of its Aspects survive, the Aspects should have a Highlander-style battle to the death, with the winner absorbing all the power from the losing Aspects and, again, growing into a full version of the Archfiend it was based on.<br/>   Much like dismissing an active spell effect, an Archfiend that wishes to end the existence of one of its Aspects can do so at any time as a standard action.<br/>   <strong>Armor Class:</strong> Between dexterity, bonuses from items, and other enhancements, the aspect's AC should be equal to its CR+17.<br/>   <strong>Special Abilities:</strong> Aspects should have all the special abilities granted by their various subtypes (but with their innate <em>summon</em> or <em>form of madness</em> special attacks weakened accordingly to fit the aspect's CR), and should have an additional one or two special abilities to reflect the specific aspect of their base Archfiend that they represent, be they special attacks, special qualities, spell-like abilities, or even bonus feats.<br/>   Aspects should also have DR 10/Good (and Cold Iron for demons or Silver for devils), and Fast Healing 5 (aspects are the result of conscious effort on the part of their base Archfiends, and receive a steady stream of sustaining power from them).<br/>   If the base Archfiend has taken on any special weaknesses in exchange for bonus feats, the aspect can take on those same weaknesses in exchange for the same number of bonus feats.<br/>   <strong>Ability Scores:</strong> The aspect's ability scores should be 3/4ths the base ability scores of the base Archfiend (round up if the result is a fraction).<br/>   <strong>Skills:</strong> The aspect's racial skills are any that the base Archfiend has ranks in.  The aspect may not have more ranks in a skill than its base Archfiend has.<br/>   <strong>Feats:</strong> The aspect is not required to take the exact same feats in the exact same order as the base Archfiend, but feats should be selected carefully in order to give the aspect similar, but weaker abilities to its base Archfiend.<br/>   <strong>Treasure:</strong> The aspect is brought into being possessing equipment of up to 9,400 gp in value (equivalent to the starting wealth of an 8th-level NPC).</div></div><br/>Edit: Oh, and here's some useful templates for character creation, if needed.<br/><div class="codeheader">Code: (Character Templates and Special Abilities) <a class="codeoperation" href="#" onclick="return smfSelectText(this);">[Select]</a></div><pre style="margin: 0; padding: 0;"><code class="bbc_code">[b]Name here[/b]<br/>Base creature, templates, and class levels here (fiendish subtype here)<br/>[b]Additional Spell-Like Abilities[/b]<br/><span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>At-will - [i]two spell-like abilities of third level or below[/i]<br/><span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>3/day - [i]two spell-like abilities of fifth level or below, one symbol spell[/i]<br/><span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>1/day - [i]two spell-like abilities of seventh level or below[/i]<br/>[b]Additional Weaknesses[/b]<br/>[i]Additional weakness name (Ex)[/i] Description of additional weakness<br/>[b]Special ability name[/b] List two special qualities and one special attack gained from archfiend template, as well as additional special attack specific to fiendish subtype (Summon for Baatezu, Tanar'ri and Yugoloth, Form of Madness for Obyrith, Possession for Loumara).</code></pre><div class="codeheader">Code: (Character Sheet) <a class="codeoperation" href="#" onclick="return smfSelectText(this);">[Select]</a></div><pre style="margin: 0; padding: 0;"><code class="bbc_code">[b]Name here[/b]<br/>Build here<br/>[b]Size/Type:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span><br/>[b]Hit Dice:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>16d8+0 (0 hp)<br/>[b]Initiative:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>+0<br/>[b]Speed:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>0 ft. (0 squares)<br/>[b]Armor Class:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>10 (+0 Dex), touch 10, flat-footed 10<br/>[b]Base Attack/Grapple:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>+0/+0<br/>[b]Attack:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span><br/>[b]Full Attack:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span><br/>[b]Space/Reach:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>0 ft./0 ft.<br/>[b]Special Attacks:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span><br/>[b]Special Qualities:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span><br/>[b]Saves:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>Fort +0, Ref +0, Will +0<br/>[b]Abilities:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>Str 0, Dex 0, Con 0, Int 0, Wis 0, Cha 0<br/>[b]Skills:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span><br/>[b]Feats:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span><br/>[b]Environment:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>An evil-aligned plane<br/>[b]Organization:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>Solitary<br/>[b]Challenge Rating:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span>16<br/>[b]Alignment:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span><br/>[b]Treasure:[/b] <span style="white-space: pre;">	</span><br/><br/>Description here<br/><br/>[b]Combat[/b]<br/>Combat tactics and abilities here.</code></pre><br/><br/>And that's it for now.  Extra guidelines and restrictions might be added in as needed, but for now, this recruitment thread is officially open.<br/><br/>Edit: And speaking of extra guidelines and restrictions...<br/><br/><ul class="bbc_list"><li>Even if a given race or template would grant your character spellcasting ability in excess of their HD, caster level and spellcasting is capped at an amount equal to HD.  For most spellcasting classes, this will mean starting out with access to 8th-level spells, but not 9th-level spells.</li><li>When determining the racial stat bonuses of a given monster, subtract 11 from odd-numbered attributes or 10 from even-numbered attributes to figure out the monster's stat bonuses.</li><li>The hard cap on an Archfiend's innate, un-buffed AC is 36-40, though buff spells or powers then pumping AC up beyond that range is fine.  If your combination of templates and race and/or class abilities would increase your character's innate AC beyond that range, you can take a constant AC penalty as a special weakness to bring it down and instead gain a bonus feat.</li><li>Archfiends can choose to use their template-granted special attack to gain spellcasting ability.  On its own, this grants spellcasting equal to a 12th-level member of a full-casting base class (wizard, sorcerer, cleric, etc.).  Alternately, they can improve any innate spellcasting they have from racial, template, or class choices to that of a 16th-level caster.</li><li>For determining the save DCs of abilities with saves based on your racial HD, you get to treat your class levels as racial HD, thanks to the Archfiend template.  The reverse isn't true for save DCs from class features, however.</li><li>As is normal for high-level player characters, PCs in this game get four +1 stat increases for being level 16.</li><li>Much like PCs, cohorts (as from the Leadership feat or the Thrallherd prestige class) will be built via CR and will use the elite array.  In order to allow the cohorts to have a meaningful impact on the game without things getting too out of hand, standard cohorts as granted by the Leadership feat (character level -2) are to be built as up to CR 12 individuals with up to 14 HD, and those granted by the Thrallherd prestige class and/or boosted by the Improved Cohort feat (character level -1) are to be built as up to CR 13 individuals with up to 15 HD.  Unlike PC Archfiends, cohorts must follow the standard rules for applying templates and for advancing monsters (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/improvingMonsters.htm), though they do get to count all class levels as non-associated class levels (1 class level = 1/2 CR, in other words).</li><li>Followers are built as normal, being effectively a mortal cult devoted to the worship of your character.</li><li>If you wish, your 100,000 gp item of power may be a set of linked magic items, such as a pair of swords or other weapons that your Archfiend dual-wields.  Such items must be paid for as normal, with their combined cost adding up to no more than 100,000 gp.  However, players may add a single special ability that is not equivalent to a +X enhancement bonus in cost to all items in the set, while only paying for it once.  This ability functions as a special set bonus that only functions when all items in the set are equipped, worn or wielded.</li></ul></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div>