Frequently Asked Questions
- Why did Azareth and Creighton join the others later?
- The Player characters are all called assassins, yet none of them have qualified for the assassin Prestige Class. What is going on?
- What were the PC's given to start the game?
- Why did Craven start out as a 2nd Level Character?
- Does the Assassin Family impose any restrictions on the PC's?
- Where on Oerth is Del Mord?
- Some places in Del Mord sound suspiciously familiar... why is that?
- Who or what is a Vesper?
- What is the Vilus Corumdak, and what does it do?
- What is a Diamond Garrotte?
- Who is Vypre?
- What is a Trill?
- Why does Azareth's picture look like that?
1. Why did Azareth and Creighton join the others later?
First of all only Keldirk and Craven were to play in this campaign. Soon after Azareth and Creighton joined in the game and I just extended the assassin group from two to four (highly irregular I know - but The Marque de'Ahb has his reasons).
2. The Player characters are all called assassins, yet none of them have qualified for the assassin Prestige Class. What is going on?
I have called all four players assassins as they all have been trained to kill for money. They all belong to the guild of assassins. While each PC has different abilites, they are all more than capable of fullfilling a contract - which is after all what an assassin does.
3. What were the PC's given to start the game?
All members of The Family are trained to resist torture and have limited resistance to ESP and other divination magics. This protection is granted by Vypre.
Craven:
- Bonus proficiencies:
- Reading/writing
- cooking/cleaning (from his time spent with Axion)
- Knowledge (anatomy)
- Bonus equipment:
- Rapier: His father's rapier - an exceptional weapon. This sword was taken by pirates in the very first session we played. It was a magical +1 rapier.
Keldirk:
- Bonus proficiencies:
- Reading/Writing
- Fishing
- Knowledge (Torture)
- Bonus equipment:
- Knife: This black-bladed knife has a pommel that is the head of a black wolf. There are grooves along the blades length that are designed to better hold poison. Each dose can be used twice. The wolf has two eyes, one has a small ruby the other a small sapphire - these signify the blood of victims and the coldness of death, respectively. No Gnoll will harm the bearer or his companions unless the cause harm first. Even then the bearer will only be captured then released elsewhere. It is said in Gnoll mythology that friends of the Gnoll god use such a knife and should not be harmed. In fact, if the bearer tries to actively befriend a Gnoll - a Charm Monster is effectively cast at -4 for save. The knife is called a Dhak Foq Shickal - translated as 'Friend of Yeenoghu'. The knife does radiate magic.
Azareth:
- Bonus proficiencies:
- Reading/Writing
- Spellcraft
- Sailing (Ocean Craft)
- Required proficiencies:
- Garrotte or dagger
- etiquette
- Bonus equipment:
- Spell Book: Spellbook has Red Dragon scales for a cover and back plate, while the pages are of the finest velum. It is trapped - those who open it without first speaking Kiranan are electrically shocked. There is an excellent lock on the book also, you have two keys. When closed the book is impervious to fire, magical or otherwise. It is so well manufactured as to be semi-waterproof. Only a prolonged immersion in water will cause serious damage. (Immune to fire - if closed. Damage for Electrical Trap is 2d20 +5, save for «. Trap is permanent unless successful Dispel Magic. A successful remove traps disarms it for 24 hours.)
- Special:
- Ability to use dagger or garrotte as a thief of the same level (for THAC0 tables)
Creighton:
- Bonus proficiencies:
- Reading/Writing
- Tracking Feat
- Special:
- Magical Eye that seems to give him immunity to the effects of (normal) fire. This eye is blind except when engulfed in flame. As such Creighton is -2 to hit for ranged attacks due to lack of depth perception.
4. Why did Craven start off as a second level character?
This campaign originally started life as a 2nd Edition Campaign and under those rules a multi-classed character was considered 1st level despite having one level in multiple classes. We have retained that for the purposes of the story but when we converted to 3rd Edition when it came out we went back and redid the characters from scratch so in reality Craven started life as a Rogue and then decided to add fighting to his skills.
5. Does the Assassin Family impose any restrictions on the PC's?
The Laws:
- Field assassins are generally not permitted to deal directly with those who desire their services. This is to ensure that no assassin can knowingly or unknowingly reveal sensitive Family matters.
- To kill another Family member - without the death first being sanctioned by a senior member - is a crime punishable by death. (This rule was put in place by me to keep the players from killing each other. As the players were playing "Evil" characters I was concerned that at some time in the future the desire to kill one another may prove too strong to ignore. This rule was intended to make the players carefully review any offensive action aimed at one another.)
- To divulge Family-related information to a non-Family member is punishable by Death.
- To betray family honor is punishable by several means - ranging from relocation (minimum) to death (maximum). (This includes theft, lies, betrayal, etc)
- Family members who have received death sentences are to be hunted by every available assassin in the region. No expense is to be spared. No assassin sleights The Family and lives!
- If an assassin is scheduled for death then, if the situation allows, The Family prefers to give warning to that assassin. This warning comes by way of a black scroll case. Within the case is a scroll sealed by the Marque de'Ahb and bearing the assassins name, that details the crimes against the Family. From the moment an assassin receives a scroll case he or she knows that they will be dead - one way or another - within the week. Nine out of ten assassins choose to end their own lives. The ones that flee are, without exception, hunted down and made to pay. Death is often slow and painful.
6. Where on Oerth is Del Mord?
Del Mord lies on the Northern bank of the Harp river where it splits in a "Y" - the Harp continues North-West to the Flinty Hills and ultimately the Adri, while the Eastern fork flows towards Dashar Ghul.
Unfortunately I planned and played a good deal of the campaign before I discovered the maps that were scheduled to accompany Ivid The Undying. As it turns out (from these Ivid the undying maps) there are two cities located where Del Mord and Dashar Ghul is located in my campaign; these are Ralsand and Tarrentch, respectively.
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7. Some places in Del Mord sound suspiciously familiar...why is that?
Del Mord (Ralsand), in my campaign, is the sister city to the Free City of Greyhawk. I used various sections of the "City of Greyhawk Box Set" (an excellent TSR product) when I planned Del Mord. What this means is that in my campaign Del Mord is also a sprawling metropolis like Greyhawk, divided into several quarters (River, Foreign, Garden, High, Poor, Academic and Artisan). There are some things I haven't carried over - like the the Oligarchy, the Circle of Eight and other "Greyhawk specific" things. There is, though, a smaller version of the pyramid of magic in Del Mord - that was too cool to leave out :)
A Vesper is the title given to The Family member who acts as the intermediary between the assassins and the clients. They are responsible for managing all financial transactions for a contract as well as being the immediate superior for most field agents. Some Vespers are retired assassins while others can be commoners that were groomed for the role.
9. What is the Vilus Corumdak, and what can it do?
The Vilus Corumdak or the Cloak of the Vanquished. It is a huge cloak some twenty feet in length that is worn when the Marque de'Ahb assumes the golden throne. The cloak is made up of many cured human, (and some non-human) faces, that were taken by the assassins on select contracts, and are sewn together in a tapestry of death. The assassins are trained how to remove and cure the faces of their victims after which time it is added to the hem of the Vilus Corumdak. It is understood that the Marque de'Ahb knows the names and histories behind each and every face on the cloak.
It game terms The Vilus Corumdak gives the wearer several powers and benefits:
- +2 bonus for All Saves
- E.S.P with 1 person/round in a 20' Radius
- Speak with dead, once/week only those people who are represented on the cloak.
- True Seeing 1/day
- Fear - As spell. The wearer need only assume a fearsome expression to initiate.
- Fly, at will
- No movement, other than flying, possible when cloak is worn.
- Any good aligned being will be repulsed by the cloak and the wearer thereof.
- When the Speak with Dead Power is activated the wearer may (save vs Spells) become insane due to shock and exposure to the rare magics associated with the Kingdom of the Dead. The chance for insanity is decreased with each successful operation of this power by a factor of one. (The current Marque de'Ahb is virtually immune to this effect; he has a saving throw bonus exceeding +20).
- When the cloak is removed, the wearer suffers nausea and a great sense of loss and hopelessness for about an hour. During this time he/she may not enter combat, move under his own power or talk with any cohesion. This is known as The Varisk asp Lhmor : The Revenge of the Fallen.
10. What is a Diamond Garrotte?
The Grand Master wears the cloak of the vanquished. To meet this end certain targets are declared as special and their faces are removed. A special diamond bladed instrument - similar in a apearrance to a garrotte - is used to remove the face. The instrument is an almost sacred symbol of the assassins and is never to be used in any other way other than that for which it was designed. To lose the symbol is to bring disgrace upon oneself. All efforts to retreive the lost symbol are to be made before another is issued. The garrotte is a precision instrument and slices off the face of the victim in one, thin sheet. (Each assassin is trained how to cure these faces to prevent decay)
Vypre (pronounced viper) is a Quasi-diety that is unknown to most (if not all) of Greyhawk's Pantheon. Vypre was the first Grandfather of Assassins on Oerth and since ascended to immortality. He is worshipped by The Family, and The Family alone. Indeed, most assassins do not pay homage to Vypre, that task is left up to the Druaghai - or the Spirits of Darkness - priests of Vypre. The Marque de'Ahb is always the Patriarch of Vypre (there has not yet been a Matriarch).
The Druaghai are limited to 5th level of magic use.
A Trill is a dark reddy/brown worm, roughly one foot in length. . The Trill has small teeth that it uses to burrow into the host body. The teeth can inject a powerful paralysation poison (-2 to fortitude save). The host must either be alive or recently deceased (0 to -20 HP) for the infestation to be a success. Once the scars have healed, there is no way - short of magical detection - to identify a host of a Trill. When a Trill enters a recently deceased body a 'raise dead' effect takes place. This is some inherent, as yet, unidentified magic related to Trills. Trills are not aligned to any one religion or entity. Trills can only multiply when one host make love with another host. Trill hosts therefore tend to be very promiscuous. They can infest any human, demi-human or humanoid creature.
The original inspiration for the Trill was taken from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. There's no law against pinching ideas from TV shows... is there? :)
13. Why does Azareth's picture look like that?
You might be surprised to see Azareth's picture depicting what - by all accounts - looks like a thoroughly evil necromancer. And that's why you are reading the answer to this question. Well the explanation is quite simple. Something will happen to make Azareth look that way. I don't want to give too much away but "the inoffensive bumbling type with a harmless look who tries to be nice" - if I may borrow from one reader - is no more.
This transformation is a long way down the track so this picture is perhaps a tad premature but ... trust me, it's more interesting than what the other would have been.