Errant's Declarations

The Oath

Before we can continue as companions, I need everyone to swear the following oath. This oath will be quite restrictive and some of you will be unwilling to take it. I understand and I will not think less of you for not taking it.

However, if you do not, it will end my oath of companionship and I will no longer be able to travel with you. If there are a significant number of you that can not take the oath, I will move on, finding new companions and wishing you the best in your endeavors.


I swear on the Power that protects me, that I will abide by this oath unerringly. I swear that I will never attack an enemy without justification.

Justification for making an attack is defined by the following three cases.

  1. All attempts to parley have failed and we have been attacked first. An attack is defined as an offensive action and does not include defensive spell casting or attempts move into a defensive position.
  2. A duly appointed body of justice has determined that the targets involved need to be brought to justice and direct attack is the only means available. In the absence of a duly appointed body, the group will take a vote and majority rule will determine the justness of the cause of action, becoming, in effect, a temporarily appointed body of justice.
  3. Our inaction will result in the death of an innocent. This case is to cover situations where waiting for the stipulations of either Case One or Case Two will cause a delay resulting in the potential death of an innocent third party, such as in an immediate hostage situation. This Case is not to be abused and anybody making a preemptive attack under this Case will be judged by the group following the situation and must be found innocent of breaking the oath by a majority vote.

Definition of an attack is defined by the following two cases.

  1. Direct assault with intent to harm. This can be through the use of weaponry, including unarmed physical attacks, or spells, including the non-magical power of Sevitor and innate magical abilities. Harming includes physically damaging attacks as well as less lethal means, such as darkness or slow spells that will directly hinder the target.
  2. Provoking an attack by the other side. This includes the casting of informational or defensive spells that could be misinterpreted by the enemy as an attack as well as moving in what could be considered an aggressive manner.


Magic Weapons and the Planes

Here is a short lesson on an important topic. As a native of the outer planes, I have had more opportunity to learn about the following topics and I feel it's important to share my knowledge with you all.
Enchanted Weapons:

Enchanted weapons come in a variety of potencies. Prime wizards group them loosely by power level based on the results of their divination magics. The power levels they group them into are "minor", "moderate", and "major".

On the planes, we have a more accurate method of measure and identification. As an enchanted weapon is carried across the planes, it loses it's power (temporarily) in discrete increments. Each plane traversed can be considered a single power level.

In this manner, an enchanted weapon can be more accurately identified as to it's power level. A weapon that loses it's power completely after having traversed a single plane, can be referred to as "singly enchanted". A weapon that still retains some power after a single plane traversal, but loses it after two, can be referred to as "doubly enchanted". And so on.

The prime wizard's designations roughly correspond as follows:

  • Minor equals singly or doubly enchanted
  • Moderate equals doubly or trebly enchanted
  • Major equals anything greater than trebly enchanted

As you can see, this allows the planar traversal method more accurate than the primal divination method. For the rest of this lesson, I will refer to weapon enchantments as single, double, etc.

Invulnerability:

As you may be aware, there are some creatures, typically constructs or of extraplanar origin, that are immune to weapons that are not enchanted. This power is referred to as invulnerability.

Invulnerability can come in varying power levels similar to enchanted weapons. The most basic level involves resistance to weapons that are enchanted only, with no respect to how many planes they have traversed. This type of invulnerability is rare and quite weak.

Most invulnerable creatures are resistant to weapons that are less than singly enchanted. More powerful creatures are resistant to weapons that are singly enchanted. A few, fortunately rare, creatures are resistant to weapons that are doubly, trebly, etc. enchanted.

How this affects our combat activities:

In the future we must strive to attack invulnerable creatures with weapons that are capable of damaging them and to redirect weapons that are not capable to creatures that they can hit.

In the first battle of the Kuo-Toa temple, it was discovered in the first few minutes of battle that the enchanted statue required a weapon that was at least doubly enchanted. One member of our party continued to attempt to strike the creature with a weapon known to be only singly enchanted to no effect throughout the battle. Another member of our party held one of only three weapons capable of striking the creature did nothing to utilize that weapon until the very end of the battle, when one of us was dead and several very close.

Because of this situation, Sev, who is not a warrior, was forced to engage the creature directly and I was forced to wield a weapon not appropriate to true warriors. I do not blame anyone for their behavior in this particular battle since the individuals involved are primes and have not had many dealings with invulnerable creatures. I have taken this opportunity to describe these powers so we do not make these mistakes again.

To assist with future battle strategies, I need everyone to register their enchanted weapons with Sev so that we can best allocate resources when facing invulnerable creatures. Please list all enchanted weapons and what their level of enchantment is (using the planar traversal description) at this time.

I appreciate your cooperation in this matter, and look forward to more successful battles in the future.

Errant Mourningson

Magic Weapons in the Party:

Errant:
  1. Long sword of single enchantment ("Friendlight")
  2. Long sword that has no enchantment that can be measured by planar traversal, but can damage non-corporeal undead with invulnerability inspite of that invulnerability ("Spectralight")

Jean:

  1. Long sword of single enchantment (this weapon was identified as having a moderate enchantment, but has not proved to display that capability against any creatures encountered so far).

Fenerath:

  1. The elf-worked blade that I wield in the name of my fallen cousin, Sethril Nighteye, holds enchantments of the second order.

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