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Razorvine

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Mon, 2008-05-12 00:07
#1
BruisedOoze
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Razorvine

Hi everyone,

Long time lurker, and a quest for information,opinions, and experiences has drawn me out of the wood work.

I have just started running a PS campaign (last time has been about a decade) and one of the players in my game is a druid. I hadn't considered this possibility years ago but it came up during our first session last week and I have to think of a way to deal with it. The problem is razorvine in conjunction with the entangle spell.

Do you allow this? If so how much damage do you elt it do? Falling in the stuff deals 3d6 damage (minus armour benefits). Being entangled in the vines is disaster for those caught in the vines.

I feel I have to put some reasonable limitations on the weed, otherwise if the vines are affected as in the spell description, then a druid in the hive becomes an exceptionally dangerous foe.

I'm fine with some damage (1d6 or 2d6 a round maybe) but reconciling this with the 3d6 from just falling in is something I'm not entirely sure about.

Thoughts?

I'm largely using Desire and the Dead for the initial adventure(Great work on the adventure Armoury99 et al!), and being in the Hive this gives the Druid ample number of opportunities to use entangle.

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Mon, 2008-05-12 08:11
#2
ripvanwormer
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Razorvine

I suppose you could say that razorvine's fiendish nature makes it too divorced from the natural world for a druid to have power over it.

Or maybe they just don't have as much power over it, thus the lesser damage. It would feel unfair to me as a druid not to be able to use one of the class's signature powers at all on Sigil's foliage.

Mon, 2008-05-12 08:49
#3
Jem
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Razorvine

I would definitely let it have some benefits for the druid -- after all, turning the terrain to your advantage is one of the things a nature class is supposed to be about. Same if he were in a locale with poisonous plants, etc.

Of course, in order to use the terrain like this one has to know the terrain. So, suggestion: have entangle, and related spells, have simply its normal effects in most cases. If the druid wants to pull something special in a given terrain, let him make a Survival check for the terrain type or a Knowledge check for the region, and grant some small bonus if he passes, or make a mistake in his knowledge of the special properties of the flora on a critical failure.

In the case of razorvine, for example, the check represents his familiarity with getting the fiendish stuff to turn in the right ways to stick it to a foe. Full damage, as rip said, probably not; some, yes.

Mon, 2008-05-12 09:48
(Reply to #3) #4
Clueless
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Razorvine

A survival check sounds good, you could set some DC boundaries for 1 to 3d of extra damage and go from there. I would suspect that given the fiendish nature of the razorvine there may be a possible chance of it objecting and lashing out at the druid - but that would only be if you wanted a chance of critical failure in an attempt like that.

Of course - given the fiendish nature, and the implication if I recall - that it may be being used by some powerful entity in the Abyss to watch what happens on the planes... you could have constant use of the entangle power start affecting the druid over time. Just as an interesting plot hook.

Mon, 2008-05-12 14:33
#5
BruisedOoze
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Razorvine

Thank you for the input.

I like the idea of integrating a survival check to determine the extent of the effects. And using this as a possible hook, as Clueless suggests, is very attractive as this would be something that player of the druid could really get interested in.

As Rip and Jem mentioned, it wouldn't be fair for the razorvine to do nothing. The survival check is a good way to keep it under control while still rewarding the use of the environment.

Again, thank you for your thoughts and input. Smiling

Mon, 2008-05-12 14:37
#6
Zsu-Et-Am
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Razorvine

I would consider the 'fiendish nature' of it. If razorvine comes from the Abyss or other nasty place, then using it to entagle some berks should be always considered evil deed (which would matter for a non-Evil druid). Anyway, because of its 'supernatural' origin, anyone trying to enchant a path of razorvine should probably struggle with some kind of magic resistance (which could be another reason, why it's so hard to weed out). Just treat it like a monster and give some SR (possibly variable depending on the size, and only against specific - for instance 'nature-oriented' etc. - spells).

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