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View Full Version : Far realms research.[3.5]



Epsilon Rose
2011-01-12, 09:18 AM
I was hoping for some advice on researching the functions of a far realms artifact.
I'm currently playing a god-emperor with dr 5 during a bid by Nerull for all of reality and I've been researching the far realms as a means of countering him. Recently I've acquired an artifact of possible far realms origin but unknown function and I'm not entirely sure how to go about "safely" researching it. Would anyone have any suggestion for research methods or safety precautions?

Greenish
2011-01-12, 09:20 AM
The only measure that could save your mind and sanity is to stop all the research and pretend Far Realms do not exist.

The-Mage-King
2011-01-12, 09:28 AM
Drop it in the Tarrasque's stomach, and amscray.

Use tongs when you do so. Failing at that, slap a telekinetic sphere over it, then warp over to there.

Don't pick it up and shout "It's power is MINE!". Really. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilOverlordListCellblockB)

Eldan
2011-01-12, 09:32 AM
Well, I'd suggest not going on the same plane, and never looking at it, not even through sensors, but that might be impractical if you want to actually study it.

if you are DR 5, you likely have followers. Let them do it, then interview them later.

The-Mage-King
2011-01-12, 09:40 AM
if you are DR 5, you likely have followers. Let them do it, then interview them later.

If they survive. And aren't trying to kill everything.

JeminiZero
2011-01-12, 10:01 AM
Bah, what would you lot know? Sanity is a small price to pay for ultimate power! :smalltongue: The 11th whispering voice assures me so! (Unlike the 5the shouting voice which generally says everything I do is a big mistake).



Yeah... I got nothing.

JBento
2011-01-12, 10:38 AM
The function of any and all things originating in the Far Realm is "to be thrown into a spehere of annihilation by someone's else hireling using telekinesis."

Darrin
2011-01-12, 02:53 PM
Would anyone have any suggestion for research methods or safety precautions?

Make a Knowledge (The Planes) DC 43 check. If you fail, you gain 369-degree vision but anything with an angle greater than 90-degrees becomes permanently invisible and immune to see invisibility, your left ankle turns into a ham-flavored watermelon, all spoons within a 109 mile radius explode, and the imaginary flying spleenfilcher beast that has been lurking behind you all this time kills you with a runcible fish.

If you succeed, the same thing happens, but you learn everything you need to know about the artifact and can recite it perfectly from memory... in whalesong only, though, and it takes 3 months of plaintive moaning to pronounce the first syllable.

...and I should probably close the [/UNHELPFUL] tag at this point.

Keinnicht
2011-01-12, 04:15 PM
Attempting to use an artifact from the Far Realm in D&D is in the same category as dumping arterial blood on an ancient seal you found in a book written on dried human skin and screaming "HASTUR HASTUR HASTUR HASTUR" into a megaphone when you're the main character in a Lovecraft short story. And they probably have similar results.

In short: Don't do it.

Sure, you're a god, so IIRC you're not at risk of wisdom drain. You are, however, at risk of gaining the attention of the things that live on the Far Realm, which, if you've ever read much of the fluff, probably have a Divine Rank of about three hundred and seventy five trillion and could kill you just by landing on top of you, never mind their uber-bizarre deity powers.

hamishspence
2011-01-12, 04:29 PM
Some things in the Far Realm do present themselves as deities, and are revered by some aberrations.

"Mak Thuum Ngatha, The Nine Tongued Worm" is one.

So- depending on what you choose to look for- it might be possible for a character to get Far Realm-associated allies. If they are lucky.

holywhippet
2011-01-12, 07:54 PM
If they survive. And aren't trying to kill everything.

And haven't acquired extra tentacles/eyes/mouths.

Psychonix
2011-01-12, 08:22 PM
Have a psion create a save point, research at leisure, find some means of sending research back in time, revert to save[/totally serious suggestion]

How far are you willing to go to save the world? Are you willing to risk your sanity? If so, go ahead with researching it. Otherwise, get rid of it, or at the very least have it researched by those who are disposable, have them record their results, then have them killed to help alleviate any risk of eldritch "FUN".

lyko555
2011-01-12, 08:45 PM
give it to nerull in some sneaky handed oops no my secret way to stop you schtick.

Epsilon Rose
2011-01-15, 12:33 AM
Hm, at the moment my plan is as follows:

Leave artifact in it's own pocket dimmension
Transport an effigy that's been designed for reseach and a com console desgined to transmit messedges in 300 char blocks of text

Both the effigy and console will have multiple self destructs (at least one in each will be non-magical) and all of them will be connected to a single trigger I carry (it will be usable from another plane)
Have the autonomus effigy do the work
Have the effigy use the console to transmit findings


Any thoughts on the relative safety of that plan?

NichG
2011-01-15, 12:52 AM
The real question is, is your DM the sort to genie things? If so, there's probably nothing you can do to research it safely - your best hope is that however it messes with you, its recoverable. If its a far realms artifact, it could basically do anything - follow your time line back to when you created the effigy and write that event out of time, placing you in an infinite loop where you keep trying to create an effigy to research it safely and it keeps getting unwritten, etc, etc.

If not, then thats probably sufficient. Given the situation you describe I'd be more worried about leaving it somewhere that an opposing power could nab it while its unprotected than about personally protecting yourself.

Then again, if it were me I'd probably just say 'I attempt to use it, no precautions taken,' and use whatever way I get screwed over to try to figure out how it works. After all, part of the fun is getting out of scrapes, not just avoiding them.

Shpadoinkle
2011-01-15, 01:51 AM
The only measure that could save your mind and sanity is to stop all the research and pretend Far Realms do not exist.

Pretty much this.

The Far Realm is where laws of reality shift and change constantly. Even Limbo has a couple universal rules, but the Far Realm doesn't even have those. At least as far as anything mortal can comprehend. Even most immortals can't even begin to really approach anything called understanding it.

You know that Nietzsche quote, "When one gazes into the abyss, the abyss gazes back?" Well, it's kinda like that. Except instead of gazing back, the abyss of the Far Realm jumps into your mind and turns it into a 17-dimensional quarthex.

Silus
2011-01-15, 02:19 AM
I recommend prodding it with a stick a few times to see what happens. Knowing the Far Realm, something will happen. Probably with tentacles.

NMBLNG
2011-01-15, 03:19 PM
I'd suggest 'Lords Of Madness'. Has a lot of material on far Ream creatures and the Far Ream itself.

4e has a few bits of interesting lore scattered here and there as well.

Keinnicht
2011-01-15, 03:44 PM
Some things in the Far Realm do present themselves as deities, and are revered by some aberrations.

"Mak Thuum Ngatha, The Nine Tongued Worm" is one.

So- depending on what you choose to look for- it might be possible for a character to get Far Realm-associated allies. If they are lucky.

I'm not sure I would call someone with an ally in the Far Realms "lucky."

Jack_Simth
2011-01-15, 04:20 PM
If they survive. And aren't trying to kill everything.
Q: In D&D, where do worshipers go when they die?
A: Their deity's realm.

Just because they don't survive doesn't mean you can't interview them afterwards anyway.

Mind you, if the artifact is eating their souls, you probably don't want to use it anyway.

Epsilon Rose
2011-01-15, 06:25 PM
Q: In D&D, where do worshipers go when they die?
A: Their deity's realm.

Just because they don't survive doesn't mean you can't interview them afterwards anyway.

Mind you, if the artifact is eating their souls, you probably don't want to use it anyway.

Actually at the moment Nerull is taking all souls... Even if the soul went to the far realms stealing from an outer god seems like a very bad idea.