Any suggestions against the Balor? --SPOILER--

Cold wrought iron is what people who don't have or can't afford magic weapons use to battle certain creatures. This is a limiting factor imposed by the powers that be so that these super-natural entities don't take over the world. It is kind of like using silver; it works due to supernatural properties imbued in the materials. For the record, cold wrought iron is to demons what silver is to devils. These weapons DO NOT work in reverse. However, it is important to note that some of the weaker creatures can be affected by normal weapons, so needing some special material might simply be moot. In which case a silver weapon or one of cold-wrought iron would work just as well as a stick or a rock.

I personally prefer rocks. BIG rocks.

 

Just for the record, I am not against folklore in D&D.

I thought the movie "Van Helsing" was a solid, good enjoyable movie. Plus, I thought the same about the movie "League of Extraordinary Gentleman". I even bought a dvd of both movies. The same goes for the movie "Brotherhood of the Wolves", a good movie and bought the dvd. Although, I would not go see and will never buy a dvd of The Brothers Grimm because its previews made it look more like a horror flick rather than a fantasy film.

 

[EDITED by krunch] Thnx for the clarification, Spike [for this community]. Your vast knowledge of D&D never ceases to amaze me [and others, I'm sure].

 

See it; if you can get past the fact that it is a foreign film (and thus, foreign to many of our "american" film expectations) you might like it. I thought it dragged at times. I think of it as Bram Stoker meets Walt Disney. Sophie Marceaux = eEEee-vil. It blends a lot of fairy tale stuff into one showing, and has got some groovy effects. You'll love the Woodsmen's Axe, although he finds it less so worthy in the end.

Hansel & Gretl
Red Riding Hood
Sleeping Beauty
Rapunzel
Baba Yaga
Napoleonic Wars
Other things I've forgotten...all are blended here.

Not nearly as good as Sleepy Hollow; but it's the same sort of dark fantasy.

 

Cold iron is an archaic term for wrought iron that is hammered without heating in order to compress the metal's fibers, thus hardening the metal. During the Middle Ages, steel was difficult and expensive to obtain, so ferrous goods used by the peasantry were often made from cold iron if they needed to be harder than standard wrought iron. Items like knife blades needed this hardening to provide qualities like edge retention and durability.

and if you care about iron in folklore look here

 

a PDF version of that web page

 

well as it is a fantasy game and there are a few different isotopes of iron, cold iron could just be the common name for a rare isotope the just happens to hurt demons

 

Just as a point of interest, cold iron, aka cold forged iron, has been around since 1E AD&D. In the 1E MM the Jackalwere is listed as needing a "cold iron or magic weapon to hit".

 

I am not, entirely, against cold wrought iron being in the game, just the new rules relating to cold iron and demons [in this case, the balor] because the new rules in some aspects blow green butt cheese.

My point was in reference to Kalshane stating that the new version of rules exclude bypassing the DR of balors with magic weapons that are not made of cold iron. That means if you have a +6 artifact weapon made of anything other than cold iron, you can hit a balor all day with a +6 artifact weapon and see mostly zero damage with the vast majority of hits.

It should not be that way. It should be magic or cold iron. IMO - The new rules have gone too far.

 

I disagree. Balors are pretty friggin' important, and if you're fighting one then be prepared. Give some impetus to tactical thinking. It also increases the chances of the players being crushed mercilessly. This makes them play better.

I'm not seeing a downside.

(Of course it doesn't really apply much to TOEE...but that has all been said.)

 

I guess its like saying you can hurt superman with kryptonite but not with anything else when the anything else would take out pretty much everyone else and the kryptonite wouldn't

 

Back to the Balor. I defeated him easily and everyone who tried to charm my characters, main thing? Protection vs. Alignment spells (Protection vs. Evil e.g) all mind affect spells fail when this is on regardless of alignment. Aside from that great buffs, items and weapons to be as accurate as possible and ray of clumsiness to make Balor patetically easy to hit.

 

Yes that lv.1 spell is quite useful. Also keep in mind you can add lower spells in higher slots if need be.

 

The protection spell does nothing against FEAR, though...which is the real issue.

I had a magic circle of protection:evil and chaos surrounding my party, with bless, remove fear, resistance and aid. Fear still penetrates the majority of the party, if not all of them.

I think it might actually be worth it to have your priest/priestess with the red demon armor (hordrack, whatever) in front with the circles up, along with two other members of your party. You probably want to have your rogue and [insert character] walk behind the balor with invisibility prior to starting the fight. You will get a fear in the face, but he usually shoots it forward into the cleric group. You will have at least one turn to attack with whoever is behind him.