I think I'm in need of a bit of consulting, and Veeky Forums is the one place I don't think my party actively reads.
The premise is that we're a 4+ player party who are playing this awesome campaign lasting 2 years. I say 4+ because people here and there drop in & out, but the 'core' is the 4 of us + DM All chars are lv 19 in D&D 3.5, roleplay heavy, chars are not min-maxed.
2 of us basically started the elven civil war(because of taxes), and after talking to another player, I'm starting to worry that a) I'm gonna lose badly due to GM fiat b) we might fuck up the setting.
That said, I should also note that my side's opponent is the DM's girlfriend...
Party as follows: Blender: NG !notHighElf female. mobility fighter specced for polearms. Spends everything on equip and consumables. Started as merc, previous owner of my city, currently VP of the !nothighelf council. Also DM's girlfriend Pyro: NG human sorcerer that loves fire spells. In setting it was discovered that he's got dragonblood which is kind of a big deal. Our dragons are the shadowrun kind, not the D&D 'killme' kind. Used to hoard loot, lately owns much less cash because empire. By which, I mean that during the 6 months that DM's girlfriend dropped we ran a campaign to exploit his claim to the throne of half the states in a peninsula. Getting people dethroned was getting too difficult(at one point everybody joined a league against us), so we had them swear fealty to him and he's got now an empire the size of texas (think of something like free cities for scope). Started as a gloryhog adventurer.
Cleric: CG city-elf female cleric of !notCorellon. 2nd 'face' for the party (higher cha than my rogue, skills not maxed). Some of her income goes into solidifying her hold on the city elves' kingdom. I'm pretty sure she's going for a power grab in the next future(elective monarchy). Head of the clergy for the war god, started as a cleric that was given the task of recovering a sacred relic(advancement test). Wrecker of undead. Can surprisingly hold a grudge against a fictional character. Me: N city-elf rogue. Face for the group and skill-monkey with TWF. I got leadership at lv6 to go on and make my own spy organization (wizard cohort and followers). Got a city(mainly city-elves in a high elf kingdom) after DM's girlfriend got bored of the added work. Got it into pretty good levels, we're netting the highest GDP for the high-elf kingdom thanks to not being assholes or tree-hugging hippies and trading through river AND sea. Always spending resources/loot to expand connections and political power. I started as a diplomat for the city elf kingdom, went on to make a spy network and my own nar-shaddaa
The war started because during the last 3 months the GM and his GF basically started rising taxes on my city (GM as the high-elf council and his GF as herself) at a rate I'm not really comfortable with. Resources and gold are going into infrastructures(we're growing too quickly) and the wizard academy (we need to import/export something that is not merch or crime). Sensing treachery was afoot I asked the GM what's up and he said to 'deal with it'. We started with the saber rattling and the cash stopped flowing from us to them. I got word that 'the city elves are looking with interest at our predicament'. I also got word that they're preparing an expeditionary force commanded by the blender.
Jaxson Green
I'm just gonna be that guy and say the phrase you are looking for is "intra-party conflict".
Inter-party would be two or more parties fighting one another. Intra-party means conflict within the party.
Nicholas Williams
We then prepare to send a diplomatic delegation to stall them (my intent) and prevent war/peace talks (city council's). To appease the peaceful party I leave everything up to them aside from the fact that they have to stall them for time. When we get our delegation back in pieces it seems like there is only one path forward. It also seems like somebody spread the rumor that our delegation was going to kill key figures in their camp (one of their councilman's sons and captain of the guard).
Before I drone on and on, is there somebody with a similar experience? Open battles in D&D and stuff who can give me some advice? I'm actually worried because the blender spends everything on herself (and got a mysterious boost lately). I can't go WWI dirty bombs on them because I could not dodge responsibility and I'm not willing to dump it on my henchman (too useful) Army-wise they have the advantage, but I think we can count on morale (elf-on-elf action is somewhat a morale malus if you're attacking) and on dwarven war machine supply (good relations with them). Unfortunately no wizards or apprentices from the academy outside of payroll, since they are mostly human nobles and if they die daddy might be a little pissy about that.
Dominic Richardson
>I'm just gonna be that guy and say the phrase you are looking for is "intra-party conflict". >Inter-party would be two or more parties fighting one another. Intra-party means conflict within the party. You know what? I'm an idiot
Robert Martinez
Well, for open battles we took it in the sense that, we were outnumbered (barely 500 vs ~3k) so we had only 2 "name" npcs support us while the enemy throw lots of mooks at us before the enemy general came out. Then we killed em and the enemy scattered. The "big clash" was happening all around us, but ultimately it was our success in killing their leader that made it a victory (since they scattered and routed), with conditions of our respective forces determining how much help each side got in relative to the other in the PC fight.
The Game of Thrones rp does a good job though simulating how name characters actually do dick in mass warfare where numbers are way more important then a few name people. Considering she's just a warrior, I'd say if she doesn't get directly to you then she'll only have margin effects on the battle.
For emphasis, the "blender" is just a warrior. Counter her as such. Got clerics(that lvl19 one on your side)? Get a few, even low level ones with a good WIS bonus, and make them spam "command" until it works, and it will unless the warrior took wisdom proficiency at some point. Then just make her grovel to gain advantage against her and make her loose her turns. Get a Paladin, Oath of vengeance or Conquest, even lower level ones with a good CHA bonus, and spam hold person until it works. She'll be paralyzed and you autocrit +advantage.
Just a few ideas. Or, you know, get 30 level 1 clerics with arcana domain, the second they see her at 120 ft make them all cast magic missile and direct all 3 of each ones bolts at her. That's 90d4 +30 damage, she dead as dead. If you like cheese.
Joseph Nelson
The cleric and the sorc at the moment are looking for an angle. This was mainly a fuckup between me and the blender, I think either she thought that I'd agree to the raised taxes, or this is the GM forcing a conflict.
We are actually going to be outnumbered 3:1 even if I spend on mercs(which are easy to acquire with my connections)
I also think that she's gonna walk on this with either more damage resistance, anti-magic field, or both. Between the four of us she's the one more suited to a dungeon crawl, so she's armed/armoured to the teeth.
I have the wizarding side covered with 10 lv1 and 2-3 level 3-4
She won't get within a mile of me, as far as I'm concerned. She also will try to challenge, but I'm not going to accept
Logan Fisher
If your DM is gonna run war in a realistic-ish sense, you can do lost. Slow down the expedition. Every night they unpack, and every morning when they pack up, make them suffer. Send forward teams of rouge/sneaky soldier types. Harass at a range, kill scouts/ outlying groups, poison the food at night, light tents on fire, cut horses loose and spook them, destroy wagons of supplies. Make getting to you hell, and if they make it, make them tired, sick, and regretful of it.
Fight them in a forest, or a valley where their numbers don't matter as much.
Again, anything that with a CHA/WIS save is good against her if it can debuff/disable her (so kudos to you for having mages, though I don't know much about their spells desu) . If she manages to have an entire fucking anti-magic field then get them in a pass and bring it down on them.
If you can vet her at a range and see loopholes in her preparation, accept the challenge and make it a trap. Honor if for those who can afford it.
Start insurrection/turmoil in their city/area. Distract from you as much as possible. Become russian and spread counter-rumors to slander them and wane support.
Gabriel Stewart
send sappers and terrorists rouse up a rabble in their city and burn down essentials. If for not their civilians, go for their military. training grounds, equipement storerooms, barracks at night.
You're a rogue. be a rogue. if you're built even remotely well at level 19 no one in the city would ever know YOU were there. burn shit, murder officials that arn't PCs, instill a civil war, etc
play dirty. that's how lesser powers overthrow hegemonies.
Parker Russell
There was a thread a while back (Headmaster?) Wherein something vaguely similar happened, I'll see if I can find an Archive link
This all boils down to GM's gf wanting her fingers in your cookie jar.
You're going to lose for that reason. You should know better. You're literally against both the DM and his gf.
Good luck friend.
John Price
Was the continued thread archived? I must know how the siege ended.
Owen Bell
Make a decoy camp and undermine it or fill the area with explosives. Wait until they decide to be smart and night attack you
Austin Sanders
Got a reply back from DM, since I asked if I have someone on the expeditionary force and a general spy report.
I have a captain who owes me and a few sarges here and there, nothing major. Which suits me just fine, I'll have them undermine morale. Which is apparently low enough since many are against this.
One of the 7 councilman from the high elves will help out as long as I don't go full murderhobo Another councilman is tied to my second best henchman (6th lv druid) and I'll get second-hand reports from
Will be funding protests and general malcontent in their kingdom since they're basically extorting from their people.
Can't draw blood yet, they have to for political reasons. They also have to go through a village under my influence, where a guy is paid to throw them rocks. If blender gets too hot-blooded I'm going to have advantage.
Joshua Ortiz
This. Just make a bunch of decoys filled with wards, explosives and whatever. The only problem is the DM might let the GF know about it. In which case hes a dog and you probably had no chance to win.
Can't go nuke since there is no reason to and (at least at the moment) this is a powertrip of blender and a councilman. No DMPC no BBEG
I mean... I don't get it at all, the treasury is in my bag of holding(s), most of the people who run the city are on my payroll
What I could do is, instead of going terrorist myself, I could get the ear of an orc tribe, fund them with a few magical items and send them to the high elves for hugs.
Ryder Peterson
>What I could do is, instead of going terrorist myself, I could get the ear of an orc tribe, fund them with a few magical items and send them to the high elves for hugs Wouldn't work, because the GM wouldn't let it succeed.
Jaxson Davis
That's why I'm worried mate. I don't like this because, as I'm sure the GM knows, this is how campaigns go die. This is the same thing as stealing from the party at low lvls.
Also had no idea they were going to go spike up taxes, they have no reasons to since the capital is very well off financially and we're just in an economic boom because of new trade routes. I know they're rich because I'm getting tax returns from people who embezzle their money
Lincoln Gray
Would a night attack even work with low-light vision?
Julian Rogers
Then I'll know to give up and start anew somewhere else :/
