Middle Earth FA63 D&D Game, the Game itself

Thread Games
821

The party completes the ride to Minas Tirith.

The rescued are taken to the House of Healing.

The Prisoners to a Guard House within the second circle.

The extended party is escorted to the highest circle near the Citadel.

Caramir makes arrangements for two key things. One, all of out plunder is place in a guard house and two some raw meat is acquired for Fang. Fang seems quite happy to escort the party and eat. Moose of course remains outside the outer walls.
At one point the girl in white manages to get next to Thoroncir to talk privately to him. She ensures that no one, not even a Hobbit could overhear the talk.

822

All right, I’m doing it!
“Ghan, one necessary component of my Identify spell is a live carp. This seems like your domain- could you help me acquire one? I promise that the fish will remain unharmed.”

823

Each spell will only identify on item and you will need some quiet.

824

Is that code for “No Tooks Allowed!”?

Brin would like to visit the White Tree.

825

Caramir offers to escort all to the White Tree where we will await our summons with a fine picnic lunch and good cheer.

826

Thoroncir, too, would like to see the White Tree and the Courts of the King again after his private meeting with the lovely young Gilraen.

What Exit?, I’ve enabled PM, as you asked. Thanks.

827

I’ll take that, gladly. The fame of the White Tree has most certainly reached the Elves, and it delights us as a symbol of the Crown’s restoration - and as a wondrous tree in itself, of course.

828

If we are playing material components* (are we, DM?), then I assume that existing Magic Users in Minas Tirith have a well-stocked pond for exactly this kind of thing.

*This is as good a time as any to say that [COLOR=Blue]Identify as per 1st Edition is an amazingly useless spell. :eek:

  1. To start with, you need a 100gp pearl, an owl feather, wine and a live carp - for each use of the spell.
    They are all swallowed during the casting. :rolleyes:

  2. Having done this, for a 3rd level caster you have a ‘magnificent’ 30% chance that exactly one ‘property’ of the item becomes ‘known’. :rolleyes:

  3. N.B. If an item is Cursed, the MU is affected (there is a save). :rolleyes:

  4. However if a ‘property’ becomes ‘known’, the MU must first save v magic. The results can be true, false or unknown, depending on the save. :rolleyes:

  5. None of this will work if the item is not Identified within 3 hours of being found. :rolleyes:

  6. Having done one Identify, the MU promptly loses 8 points of Constitution. It takes an hour to regain 1 point of constitution. :rolleyes:

So to sum up, let’s assume that the necklace we found has a couple of spells on it, say Resist Fire and Detect Magic.
Our MU spends 100gp and eats a carp to get a 30% chance of learning one property. Every time he fails that roll, it’s another 100gp and another carp.
(So he probably spends 300gp and eats 3 fish per property.)
Now he rolls v magic. If he fails, he learns nothing (or gets a false answer).
Each time he loses 8 points of Constitution, and takes 8 hours to recover them.
Oh, and since it’s over 3 hours since he found it, he can’t learn anything anyway. :smack:

My group play that:

  • Identify always works
  • each item is perfectly Identified
  • you can’t be Cursed
  • you can Identify one item per level.[/COLOR]
829

This would have been better in the setup thread, but here goes.

The Pearl is not consumed and he has one. It does not need to be done within the three hours of being found. Silly anyway as so many items are found in chests or hidden away.

There are many replacements for the Carp and things that will aid the success of the spell, but he is just starting out and will fail most of the time. The Constitution hit is only 4 pts in my game. The false answer does not end the spell.

The biggest restriction is one item per spell and the carps.

You are in a city that trains Mages, go find a Mage or a Sage to help or track down some better equipment for him to use as this will be a big asset to the party.

Sorry, but on this one, I will not budge. Nothing is suppose to be too easy when it comes to magic items. Especially when the Item can come from dozens of different magic types. Dwarves or Elven Smithing, Dunedain enchantment, Actual Wizards and Sorcerers, relics from far ages, natural magic, accumulated magic, Gems made in the depths of time by Aulë and his helpers, etc.

BTW: Don’t overlook the fact you have a Bard in training that is older than the rest of you put together. Give him a chance to look things over. It is a small chance, but the more he learns, the more useful he will be.

Finally, **Deor ** has actually heard of a third level spell simply known as ID at Distance, that is easier to use, works better, does not require handling of the item and thusly greatly reduces the danger of curses.

The fish are readily available as a Gold Fish is a carp for this purpose.

830

Sorry, I was quite angry at suddenly being reminded how useless the spell is. Our group changed it 29 years ago.

Ghân will not let animals be killed for profit.

831

But…he eats it…

832

I apologise to What Exit? for posting in the wrong thread. :o

It’s not like he has it with chips. :rolleyes:

I think we are going to have to:

  • ask our Bard to do Legend Lore
  • see what local MU’s do in this case
  • perhaps wait for Deor to get to 5th level and cast ID at Distance
833

Meanwhile Ghân would love to visit the White Tree.

834

While I can understand, from a druid POV, this also means you have a problem with anyone who raises domesticated animals for sale. Do you rail against the farmer who slaughters cows and sells what he can’t eat himself, and sells the hides he cannot use? Are you a…vegan?!

ETA: Geez, I shoulda PMed the White Tree visit…now it is a high school field trip.

835

It was already planned and Ghân had mentioned his strong desire to see the White Tree early on. So you and Gil-Gandel at least would know about it.

836

I’d better answer in the setup thread…

837

Other than seeing the White Tree, I would expect Brin to be staying in visitors’ barracks. So he’ll take care of the obvious stuff (weapon and armor inspection and maintenance, boot repair, etc.) He will have the disadvantage of being a country bumpkin in the big city, and he’ll have more coin than he has ever known in his pocket, and he’ll be in the company of local soldiers. I’m sure a GM can have a little fun with a shy, quiet, gangly, unsure kid with that kind of set-up. That said, I would look forward to a few archery contests while we wait for our next expedition, and might use that to scam back some of the coin that I lose to them in other ways.

838

While the rest of the party goes on the field trip to the White Tree, Deor will go and ask his former master for advice and help- possibly he (she?) will be able to either identify things for us for a small price if we provide the owl’s feathers, wine, and fish, or else be able to direct us in how to improve our chances.

839

Ghân thanks Deor and says of course the party will pay for the expenses.

840

Brownie can provide some feathers, right? I mean, surely he can afford eight or ten before he suffers, right?