Talon Bracers vs a Dragonwrought Kobold (aka the Basilisk)

[cure]

Stats are given in Gaz 2. 7th lvl fighters, AC 21 (Talon full armour plate + large shield), equiped with bastard swords, Ride +4.

I agree that five Talons together should not be an ordinary occurrence. But I am testing the limits of what the Basilisk annd his lizards can handle.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

right. sorry, i meant number as in how many exist, not stats.

yeah, I see your point. I was just mentioning that a group of talons is not, imho, the norm. I don't think Drakov would send that many against The Basilisk until he gets a bit more annoying than "thorn in the side" status.

[HuManBing]

I also don't have Talons cropping up that often in my campaigns in Falkovnia. More usually they'd work singly, with a single officer and about half a dozen soldiers beneath them. Then they may also have half a dozen conscripts with them too.

In my campaign, Drakov is throwing the greatest amount of resources against Gondegal, the Lost King. He does not yet grasp the possibility that the Basilisk may inflict truly major defeats on his men yet, so he's still only sending the "green" recruits against them.

[The Giamarga]

How known exactly is the name "Basilisk". Does S know it? Do the Talons know it ? Do common folk of Falkovnia know it ? If yes, I doubt that it's just a knickname among the kobolds and would have to have another origin/meaning.

[cure]

How known exactly is the name "Basilisk". Does S know it? Do the Talons know it ? Do common folk of Falkovnia know it ? If yes, I doubt that it's just a knickname among the kobolds and would have to have another origin/meaning.

S knows it. Although it does predate her. Officialdom in Falkovnia knows it. The resistance knows it and, at a minimum, is accused of cooperating with him. Probably the people know it, but that depends perhaps on how tight a totalitarian ship Drakov runs.

I am beginning to think the Fell Drain feat from Librus Mortis would go well with the Basilisk. Delivered with Acid Slash it will kill with no saves any first level character. And delivered with Magic Missile it will kill four (at the 7th level) 1st level characters standing within 15ft of each other. With Spectral Hand and Chill Touch or Corrosive Touch one has nice options too. Now it would take seven hits (or ten with magic missile as Talons have spell resistance) to terminate a Talon this way, but each strike is a negative level, so it makes the Talons more tacklable by the other kobolds and by other magicks. It could aslo be of use in cutting down their mounts.

[cure]

Do kobolds like bugs? A swarm of bees would throw any mounted Falkovnian unit way off balance. Horses panic and throw their riders, and armored enemies are helpless as the bees crawl in between plates and under rivets and start stinging.

Fiend Folio has a wasp swamp that would work admirably. But at a glance the poison DC of 18 for a CR 2 swarm seems somewhat out of wack. I have only seen a partial snap shot of the statistics, but it seems to be 4HD and I doubt that it has a constitution of 22. (DC = 10+1/2XHD+ability modifier.) The description says it has the poison of a medium-sized giant wasp, which is strange as giant wasps are large. Did they mean average (or averaged-sized) giant wasp? Stranger still, giant wasp poison DC is 14.

[cure]

Well, looking at the numbers, 12 kobolds armed with glaives (a high damage reach weapon), with surprise, charging, flanking, and delivering sundering attacks, have a pretty good chance of cutting loose a Talon's bastard sword and flail (he should have a bludgeoning weapon after all) and cutting the string and strap respectively on his bow and saddle. Centre a Sticky Floor spell (or a Grease spell I suppose) about his mount and the odds become very good indeed.

Whereupon he is prone, provoking an attack of opportunity to get up and taking a move action, and has to pick up a weapon, provoking another attack of opportunity and taking another action. With the Sticky Floor it is probably a standard action just to get free and unless he can get out of the area, provoking more attacks of opportunity, he may become stuck again in the next round. Add a tanglefoot bag for extra fun, although it is not clear whether the additional penalties to dexterity stack. The further limitation on movement should however. Your very slow moving Talon then is a sitting duck for alchemical fire attacks, or mere flaming oil, or, if you need the exercise, repeated hacks with the glaives.

[The Giamarga]

How known exactly is the name "Basilisk". Does S know it? Do the Talons know it ? Do common folk of Falkovnia know it ? If yes, I doubt that it's just a knickname among the kobolds and would have to have another origin/meaning.

S knows it. Although it does predate her. Officialdom in Falkovnia knows it. The resistance knows it and, at a minimum, is accused of cooperating with him. Probably the people know it, but that depends perhaps on how tight a totalitarian ship Drakov runs.

This would then contradict the following that you wrote

The name he bears is actually a nickname earned at a relatively young age for his stare. In a contest of locked gazes it is never he who blinks.

How would anyone know this name when it is just a koboldish knickname? I think rather that it is a knickname given by others. Only why?

[cure]

How known exactly is the name "Basilisk". Does S know it? Do the Talons know it ? Do common folk of Falkovnia know it ? If yes, I doubt that it's just a knickname among the kobolds and would have to have another origin/meaning.

S knows it. Although it does predate her. Officialdom in Falkovnia knows it. The resistance knows it and, at a minimum, is accused of cooperating with him. Probably the people know it, but that depends perhaps on how tight a totalitarian ship Drakov runs.

This would then contradict the following that you wrote

The name he bears is actually a nickname earned at a relatively young age for his stare. In a contest of locked gazes it is never he who blinks.

How would anyone know this name when it is just a koboldish knickname? I think rather that it is a knickname given by others. Only why?

Well there are at least two humans reputed to have dealings with the Basilisk, Gondegel and a ranger from Aerie. I am sure the Basilisk still has his gaze and is more than happy to translate the nickname into Falkovnian, and all the more so since true names have power.

But another possibility I am toying with is that he has the Fell Drain feat from Librus Mortus. With it he could kill at a touch, or even at range, one or more first level characters. And multiple applications of it could kill higher level characters. This would certainly keep his kobold brethern rigorously in line at the very least.

More esoterically, he perhaps uses the Baleful Transposition spell. Using an unconscious subject as one of the transposees greatly improves the chances of success. Less bothersome than beating something unconscious everytime one wants to use the spell, is using a petrified subject, say a rat, as it would be portable. Falkovnia has cockatrices so finding a stoned rat or snake should not be that difficult. A Falkovnian is spirited away but appears to have been transformed into a tiny animal and petrified. Hence the 'Basalisk.'

Finally, there is much confusion in the literature between basilisks and cockatrices. Maybe, he has a trained cockatrice. Or more dramatically, a trained basalisk. But not both in anycase.

Leaving stone statues about of fallen Falkovnians is an amusing thought. But do he and his kobolds make the effort of carving them? And transporting real stoned victims of the cockatrices is no hard still since, as magic objects, you can't shrink them with the spell of that name. Although you could reduce them with reduce person, but only briefly.

Unless one wants to mix the Dark Powers into the equation, it is difficult to see how he has the spell or the spell-like ability Poison or empowered Poison touch. It is a 3rd level spell for druids, who, to my eye, do not fit at all with kobolds. And it is a 4th level spell for clerics, and I don't see a religious agenda in what the Basilisk is up to, but maybe that is just me.

I briefly wondered about him summoning grave elementals and having them drag down into the ground victims, in effect stoning them, to the greatest amusement of his fellow kobolds, but that is rather too complicated and unless the victim is greatly weakened requires a medium sized elemental and a high level caster.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

It seems questions and suggestions on individual campaigns are not well loved by the community.

I feel your pain.

Bumping this thread because I want to mine it for ideas re: the Basilisk.

Random thought: what if the Basilisk was an ordinary sized kobold...who has only ever been seen while subjected to an Enlarge spell? ROTFL!

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Okay, reread the thread, another random thought: weren't the first gargoyle golems created for Vlad Drakov? Could the Basilisk have somehow garnered control of one? These things petrify people, after all, and they're in Falkovnia, and they follow orders. Is it a stretch?

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Not a stretch at all; good catch!

Of course, the same text that tells us Drakov ordered their creation also tells us that all the gargoyle golems might be programmed not to attack Drakov, or even to obey his orders. If that's the case -- or even if the kobolds just think it's true -- that may explain why they came up with the whole "Basilisk" idea: it's a red herring, to ensure Drakov doesn't figure out the truth and turn their secret weapon against them.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Sure, except I'm not sure the kobolds started the "Basilisk" myth themselves. It may have been a Falkovnian officer who gave this name to his opponent.

Either way, how would the kobolds acquire control of such a golem? They normally protect structures, so did they manage to lure one away? Is this a unique golem, perhaps the prototype for all the rest, such that it isn't keyed to a building, but just to basic commands?

[cure]

It is a golem. Was it created magically or by desire? If the latter, then maybe it finally got around to killing its creator and flew off, adopting the kobolds as its new 'master', in which case this is going to end badly for them.

[Dr Bloodworth]

Re: his name
Basilisk comes from the Greek for "little king". So I'd wonder if his common name in Falkovnian is Kleinkonig or something similar in that Slavic-Germanic hybrid tongue.

His...identity?
I don't have the Falkovnian Gazetteer handy, but is it ever specified that he himself is a kobold? His army is, but is he? I'm wondering about how Falkovnia is one of the Dragonlance domains (at least Drakov himself is) and the possibility that maybe a draconian could have been brought in at the same time as Drakov, or more likely one of the bakali (dragonmen) who inhabit the area around Thenol.

Bakali possibly being corrupted into basilisk over the years.