Out of Order in the Court!

I keep mentioning how I want to run X2 - Castle Amber as a solo adventure because the characters in my last solo adventure lost all of their gold and equipment. This state disallowed X2 - Isle of Dread. No cash for a ship. This also creates a couple of side issues. 

First, the Bills are in the playoffs. Second, the party is too small. Third, I have a bunch of laser crafts to finish. And suppose that someone should do the dishes and laundry. 

Ok. Laundry and Dishes are done. 

I'm back to the main issue at hand. 

I need more characters. So I rolled up a few to reach the 36 levels needed for X2. I'll describe a few of them after the list, because I stole their names from good books. 

Yes, this is turning into an Amazon Ad. 

• Merry the Halfling, Paladin, 4th level
• (Ana) Khouri, Post Human, Fighter, 4th level
• Lance, Human, Fighter, 1st level
• Alexei, Elf, Bard, 2nd level
• Pizzaballa, Elf, Cleric, 2nd level
• Nodonn, Human, Fighter, 4th level

I stole the following names from books: Merry is from The Lord of the Rings, Ana Khouri is from Revelation Space, and Nodonn Battlemaster is from the Many-Colored Land Series. Pizzaballa was stolen from a real person: He is a Cardinal at the Vatican. I find that hilarious. 

Let's start with Merry. In every edition of D&D that I own, Halflings are not allowed to be paladins. In 3.5 and beyond, it is possible. The reason I allow Halfling Paladins is, according to LotR lore, by any imaginable measure, Merry, Pippin, and Sam all became powerful heroes and leaders. Technically, they do not remotely match a D&D Paladin except in name, but I allow it. Here is a link to the books. This is a link to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The next two links are also Amazon ads.  

Nodonn Battlemaster is a lord from the book The Nonborn King, a part of the Many-Coloured Land Series. He is an alien, but I cast him as a human. His people, the Tanu, are the prototype for Elves. 

The last character I stole is the most interesting, in my opinion. My campaign world is post-apocalyptic, so Ana Khouri is stolen from a series of science fiction novels, Revelation Space. She has travelled to the stars before returning home to Earth. She is thousands of years old, thanks to high-tech rejuvenations and time dilation. She has been many things: spacer to soldier, mother, and assassin. 

With that background in place, she should have all kinds of superpowers. I decided against that. She does have some special abilities: She has infravision and vision like a starlight scope. She has machines in her blood that make her immune to two very particular spells: slow and haste. This is because she has been engineered for long life. She also receives the maximum number of HP per level. 

Mechanically, she started life having 18s in every stat, but as she ages and becomes more removed from the high-tech society that did this to her, all of her stats are falling. She appears typical for a human fighter of this epoch. Her highest stat is a 17 in Dex. She is agile like a dancer, but not inhumanly so. 

Having described these new characters, I can list off the remaining characters from my B2 sessions: 

• Solvo, Elf, 3rd level
• Thomas, Cleric, 3rd level
• Jude (aka Punch), Knight, 2nd level
• Rety, Thief, 3rd level
• Dorian, Cleric, 3rd level
• Sybil, MU, 4th level
• Belaphon (aka Bel), MU, 3rd level

In reading over the module, there are no particular items the player characters need. I have decided that the party has 6 healing potions. The old party will keep all of the items they used to have, but have accidentally misplaced the Eyes of the Eagle. They lost those, like I do with my glasses, 3 times a day. 

The new party members will have magical main weapons, but they lack other magic items. Two of them have an elven chain, which is AC 4 due to the craftsmanship, not magic.  

The only magic item I had my eye on was a Staff of Healing. But it felt unnecessary as the party has 3 clerics and a paladin, plus those 6 healing potions. Castle Amber has a lot of nooks and crannies to hide in for healing. A magical healing device is pointless. 

The next challenge will come soon enough. I need to plan a dinner for 13 people at Chateau d' Amberville. I shall consult with my family. 

One of the issues with this meal plan is how time-consuming it is. Each and every character is being offered 10 items, for a grand total of 130 choices, and 36 of them don't mean anything. It's like going to Panera Bread on Hangover Day. The line is long and grumpy. I need to find a way to streamline this. What I had in mind doesn't seem very good. I will get back to you once I finish this deadly meal plan.