Balrogs in AD&D?

Cerek...thats right up there with the house says "Get OUT!!!" and the stupid people say "We love it...we will buy it" and "I heard a noise...lets split up!" [img]smile.gif[/img]


Sir T.... yet another Gaff by the gaffer [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Tancred]

Originally posted by Attalus: Aw, don't worry, Tancred, we're just sparring. I can see, though, how in a forum with really dedicated Tolkienists, ink (if not blood) would spill. To quote Michael Martinez, "People are very impassioned about their vision of Tolkien's world." True words!

Martinez. Holy oiks. I was on a forum where that man posted. He was psychotic. At the very least, very ill... :/ The dark side of Tolkien passion.

Sorry for the overreaction... I keep getting flashbacks. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Attalus]

Originally posted by Sir Taliesin: But weren't the Spiders of Mirkwood Shelob's children? Seems like I read that somewhere. If that was the case, then obviously, Shelob wasn't the last of her line!

Yep, I shold have said "last child of Ungoliant." From "Shelob's Lair": "Far and wide her lesser broods, bastards of the miserable mates, her own offspring, that she slew, spread from glen to glen, from the Epel Duath to the eastern hills, from Dol Guldur and the fastnesses of Mirkwood. But, none could rival her, Shelob the Great, last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world."

[ 06-18-2003, 07:57 PM: Message edited by: Attalus ]

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Sorry for the delay, I've been trying for an hour to find a good picture of a Balrog to include in my write-up. Finally found one, then couldn't get Microsoft Photoshop or Paint to open it.

Oh well, for what it's worth....here is my AD&D 1st Edition version of Tolkien's Balrog......

BALROG – DEMON of TERROR

Level: Fights as 40th level fighter
Hit Points: 500
AC: -10
Attacks/Round: 5 attacks per round (3 with sword/2 with flail)
Magic Resistance: 95% (unaffected by casters level). Immunity to all spells lower than 7th level (Lower Resistance, Malison, etc have No Effect).

Balrog Sword: Lava Sword (SoulSear)
The blade of this 2-hand sword is made of partially solidified lava wreathed in perpetual flames. It radiates intense heat in a 10ft radius. Each strike from the sword does 5-30 pts (5d6) + 15pts elemental heat dmg + +3 for weapon specialization (grandmastery) + 12 pts for Strength (24). Total damage per hit is 35-60!.
Special Purpose: Slay humanoids.
Special Power: Drain 5 energy levels on any unmodified roll of 18-20 (no save).

Balrog Whip:
The fiery tendrils of this weapon are designed to inflict terrible wounds. Each hit does 5-20 (5d4) + 5 pts heat damage + 15pts for Strength and proficiency. In addition, each successful hit has a chance to cause Paralysis in the victim (Save for no effect). The Balrog can entangle their victim on an unmodified attack roll of 15 or better. While entangled, the victim takes an additional 5 pts of heat damage per round and must Save vs Paralysis each round. The victim may continue to fight or try to break free (requires a successful roll to open magically barred doors). If the attack roll is an unmodified 18-20, the victims’ arms are entangled and he/she cannot attack. They must try to break free. They also suffer a –4 to the Save vs Paralysis in this situation. The Balrog can drag an entangled victim into the abyssmal flames in which it immolates itself…causing 25pts of damage per round.

Innate Abilities:
Requires +5 or better weapon to hit.
Generate an aura of fear – 100’ radius. This is similar to the fear aura generated by dragons, but is twice as strong.
Generate aura of heat – 50’ radius. The Balrog radiates heat and acrid smoke in a globe around it’s body. Any character within this area will suffer 10pts of damage per round unless magically protected from fire and/or heat.
Cause critical wounds, disease, blindness, or deafness by touch (at will).
Cause Harm (5 x day)
Globe of Protection from Good (200% +4/-4 100’ radius).
Dispel magic by gaze.
Immune to energy drain.
Immune to death spells and death magic.
Immune to vorpal, sharpness, or heartseeker attacks.
Immune to petrification, paralyzation, and polymorphing.
Immune to maze and imprisonment.
Regenerates 25 hit points per round.
Can summon 2-5 nycodaemons (1 x day)

[Night Stalker]

That's damn impressive Cerek! But, Ummmm, that's also more fearsome than the write ups from Deities and Demigods for most GREATER gods.

[Chewbacca]

Cool Cerek, I love crocked monsters. That is a doozie though!!

Well, I'll hafta dig up my old crocked 30 fighter/35 mage with his tenth level crocked spells and +7 crocked sword to take this guy on.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Night Stalker: That's damn impressive Cerek! But, Ummmm, that's also more fearsome than the write ups from Deities and Demigods for most GREATER gods.

That's true, Night Stalker, but as I mentioned earlier....Gygax severely underestimated the levels that characters would reach in his game. He didn't expect any player characters to advance past about 15th level max (in the DDG, King Arthur was only a 15th level paladin).

Most of the guys in my group had been gaming for a few years before I started. They ALL had characters that were around 30-36. Even with the huge amount of experience required for the UA barbarian to advance in levels, I managed to raise Cerek to 28th level before I quit playing.

And even then, these high-level characters aren't going to take the Balrog on one at a time. IT has to be strong enough to face an entire party of that power.

AFA the stats for the GREATER gods in the DDG, we determined those were the stats for their Prime Material avatars only. If you actually faced the god himself on his home plane, those stats would be increased ten-fold.

Hate to be nit picky (ok not really) but Cerek..was there weapon specialization or grandmastery in the 1st Edition AD&D? I thought that came much later.

[Morgeruat]

Actually Magik, weapon specialization was added in the Unearthed Arcana (as well as double specialization... +3/+3 instead of the measly +1/+2 specialization gave, I beleive this is what Cerek meant)

all part of 1st Ed AD&D

[ 06-19-2003, 09:02 AM: Message edited by: Morgeruat ]

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by MagiK: Hate to be nit picky (ok not really) but Cerek..was there weapon specialization or grandmastery in the 1st Edition AD&D? I thought that came much later.

Weapon specialization was introduced in the Unearthed Arcana. A character could spend an extra proficiency slot on a single weapon to become "specialized" with it. This gave an attack bonus of +1 to hit/+2 to damage an extra attack (with the specialized weapon only) every other round. A third proficiency slot allowed the character to be "double-specialized". This granted an attack bonus of +3 to hit/+3 to damage and increased number of attacks per round accordingly.

Weapon-specialization was restricted to straight fighters and rangers. Cavaliers and paladins were allowed "weapons of choice" which exceeded even the generous bonuses granted by "specialization" and barbarians were not allowed to either option (but they had a kettle full of hit points and bonuses to offset that).

The most common option for fighters and rangers was to "double-specialize" (as the "double specialization" option only applied to melee weapons), but there were some other weapons that offered interesting bonuses through specialization.

For example, a fighter specialized with the bow could fire 4 arrows per round rather than two (after 13th level). One of the most interesting options was the thrown dagger. A fighter specialized in this weapon could throw 5 daggers per round after 13th level. Add the obligatory Haste, and you have a mobile quisinart machine. I created a dwarven fighter that chose this option and went by the name of Dirk! - but my college roommate (VulcanRider) came up with an even better application of this method.

He envisioned a Quickling fighter/thief that was "specialized" in the thrown dart. Since Quicklings have a natural movement rate of 96" (which is the effectively the same as being permanently double-Hasted, you can imagine what kind of "firepower" this character could have produced ( [img]graemlins/shooter04.gif[/img] ). He was named - appropriately enough - Gat'lyn [img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img] .