[3.5] puzzled by an adventure

[OnePep]

Hello Playgrounders,

I’m building a campaign, my first. I’ve designed an island, quite original huh?
This island (Pakh) was inhabited by many pixies. A few hundred years ago, men, elves and other races started to live there and that startled one pixie in particular, up. It made him a bit more crazy then he already was. He heard of wizardry and was eager to learn some himself to annoy the hell out of all humans, dwarves and whatsoever who now lived in his home.

He has cast a spell that shrunk everything alive on Pakh, so stone, minerals, water and especially gold would keep it’s original size.
Then he placed some kind of bubble around the island that shrunk living things when they entered and enlarges everything when it leaves the bubble. Which means gold will be (about) twice as much.
Then he let’s every other ship or so be raided by some pirates. Sometimes killing the crew of the islandboat to revenge the intrusion of the island.

My problem with this is, I really don’t know what spells the pixie should know to pull something off like this. I was thinking he might be using some items (out of books or made up….( as if the items in the books aren’t made up…)), for I don’t want him to be like level 20. I’d like him to be about level 10 or so.

My second issue: you sail out with gold on board. Suddenly, everytime you leave Pakh at a certain distance, the gold is suddenly twice as big. The way I see it, there are two solutions to it. Either, the inhabitants of Pakh are aware of it and have explained it with myths (a deity makes it happen; it’s the blessings we deserve for… whatever).
Or the bubble also contains an illusion spell, that only influence those who pass the bubble and resets it when they enter again.
Maybe there are more options, but I can’t think of them.

So I was wondering if the hyve-mind of the playground could help me with this.
What are my options to make this work?

Thanks in advance!

[Morghen]

water and especially gold would keep it’s original size.I... what? I'm having trouble understanding what you're talking about.

Do things shrink when people bring thing them onto the island? Do the people shrink?
Or do people who visit the island find very small... um, water and gold? And then it suddenly doubles in size when removed from the island?


I want him to be able to perform epic-level, world-changing magic on the scale of an entire island. I’d like him to be about level 10 or so.I'm pretty sure you can't have it both ways.

[OnePep]

I... what? I'm having trouble understanding what you're talking about.
Do things shrink when people bring thing them onto the island? Do the people shrink?
Or do people who visit the island find very small... um, water and gold? And then it suddenly doubles in size when removed from the island?

The pixie made all living things small. So rocks, soil, water, gold etc stays the size it always was.
When something leaves the magic bubble, it gains size, so the people (or other living stuff) will be the same size again as everything of its kind outside of the bubble.


Quote:
I want him to be able to perform epic-level, world-changing magic on the scale of an entire island. I’d like him to be about level 10 or so.
I'm pretty sure you can't have it both ways.
If you put it that way...
But I'm in denial. I think it might be done with some items. So if you have any ideas, please let me know.

[erikun]

Then he placed some kind of bubble around the island that shrunk living things when they entered and enlarges everything when it leaves the bubble. Which means gold will be (about) twice as much.

My second issue: you sail out with gold on board. Suddenly, everytime you leave Pakh at a certain distance, the gold is suddenly twice as big.
What? I understood most of what you said elsewhere, but this makes no sense. The shrinking/expanding only effects living things. The crew would shrink. The ship itself would stay the same size, along with all their cargo: food, gold, spices, silk, and everything else.

The biggest problem is that dwarves on the island need to work twice as hard to produce the same amount of gold, because they can only dig out half as much while at half the size (approximately).


Then he let’s every other ship or so be raided by some pirates. Sometimes killing the crew of the islandboat to revenge the intrusion of the island.
First, how would a pixie isolated on an island control the habits of pirates?

Second, what would this have to do with anything? The main thing heavy pirating would do is to limit/redirect sea travel or increase security of boats. The pirates would be just as vulnerable to the shrink/expand problems as their victims, so you wouldn't see giant pirates invading tiny supply ships.

[OnePep]

What? I understood most of what you said elsewhere, but this makes no sense. The shrinking/expanding only effects living things. The crew would shrink. The ship itself would stay the same size, along with all their cargo: food, gold, spices, silk, and everything else.
The pixie shrinks only the living things on the island itself. Once that is done he places a bubble around it. That bubble shrinks or expands everything equally.


The biggest problem is that dwarves on the island need to work twice as hard to produce the same amount of gold, because they can only dig out half as much while at half the size (approximately)
In short term thinking, yes. In the long run, you'll get twice the amount of gold from the island. It's the pixies plan to stay alive for a very long time (but we'll see how that'll turn out), so he does see profit in that.


First, how would a pixie isolated on an island control the habits of pirates?
Good point. Any ideas?


Second, what would this have to do with anything? The main thing heavy pirating would do is to limit/redirect sea travel or increase security of boats. The pirates would be just as vulnerable to the shrink/expand problems as their victims, so you wouldn't see giant pirates invading tiny supply ships.
But that's not the point. I just didn't see the pixie rob or kill (all of the time) himself, so I figured he should have some "minions" to do the job for him. This way he gets the gold and revenge without doing much himself.

But does anybody have a thought about a solution?

[erikun]

The pixie shrinks only the living things on the island itself. Once that is done he places a bubble around it. That bubble shrinks or expands everything equally.
So, uh... huh.

I don't think we would see any problems with the shipping of gold. Volume expands by 8x (assuming a doubling in every dimension) and weight would increase by the same factor. A boat floats due to the water that it displaces - the volume of the craft in total - compared to the weight of the boat in total. If the weight/volume ratio is less than the density of water, the boat floats. Given that we are increasing the weight and volume by the same amount, the ratio would be the same, and the boat would still float.


The biggest problem I see is either magical teleportation or dimensional travel bypassing the bubble. This would mean you could export the same material several times, increasing the amount every run. It wouldn't take long to destroy the economy that way.



But that's not the point. I just didn't see the pixie rob or kill (all of the time) himself, so I figured he should have some "minions" to do the job for him. This way he gets the gold and revenge without doing much himself.

But does anybody have a thought about a solution?
Well, the easiest solution is a permanent Reduce Person/Shrink Object trap in a radius around the island. Anything passing through would shrink coming in (and be reversed going out). Given that Shrink Item is a 3rd level spell and only affects objects, it wouldn't be far-fetched to create a Shrink Anything as a 5th or 6th level spell. That gives us a 9th-11th level spellcaster, which is what you want anyways.

Both Shrink Item and Reduce Person can be made Permanent (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/permanency.htm), so that isn't a problem. A larger issue, though, is Dispel Magic; if you cast it on something on the island, the shrinking would be dispelled and you would have a large-sized object. Following this logic, it would remain the same size (would not enlarge) upon leaving the island - the active magic I am proposing is shrinking everything on the island and dismissing it as you leave, so dismissing the shrinking twice would not enlarge it any more.

As for the traps... I'm not sure how much they would cost. Probably considerably expensive. Still, as an NPC, I suppose we could waive the cost. They would likely be tied to a coral reef surrounding the island, to provide a logical reason why the magic would extend from the seabed. (It would also give the characters a clear visual reason for the changes.)

Is that more helpful?

[Gamer Girl]

1.Shrink Bubble This is a good spot for an artifact or such. Maybe just a ring of stone with ancient fey magic. That way your wizard just uses that power and is not all that powerful himself.


2.Well, there can't be all that much trade..why would people bother. There is no gain in going to the island to trade. All the small stuff will become big, so you can only take half a cargo hold of stuff.

Maybe the small stuff can't leave the bubble.....the bubble stops it like a wall of force. Or maybe it just gets teleported back to a random spot on the island.


I like the 'dark' side of Fey myself (not evil, just dark). The kind of thing like 'if you dance with the fey you can never stop' and such. So I like the idea of people that sail from the island with stuff might get a curse......maybe like trapped forever at the edge of the bubble..always sailing away. Or the small fey island stuff just turns to dust outside the bubble.

[OnePep]

Sorry I didn't reply sooner.
But this has been helpfull for me. So... Thanks :smallwink:

[supermonkeyjoe]

This sounds like an amazing idea but I still don't get how your bubble works,

if only living things get shrunk then does everyone basically lose all of their armour/weaponry as it no longer fits?

Also if only living things get affected how come the gold gets bigger? Or does everything grow when you leave? In which case you will have PCs with equipment that is now too big for them.

[OnePep]

About shrinking only living things, that was only when the wizard cast the spell on the entire island. After that he placed the bubble around the island. So the bubble doesnt shrink only living things, it shrinks everything.
So there are two spells in effect basically.

Which makes me think about that dispell thingy again...
I can see a week full of reading books to look something up to work my way around that.

[NecroRick]

It seems that because gold gets larger coming out but stays the same size going in, that someone who wanted infinite wealth would just stand on the edge and wave their handful of gold dust back and forth all day long for an instant mountain of gold (tm).

Really, for that reason alone I think the idea you have is too broken to be workable.

Now, in terms of flavour, the one spell that comes closest is Genesis. If you want an island in a bubble where weird stuff happens, then some people consider the Genesis wording where it says you can do anything that you want with the environment to basically give you better than godlike powers over it. So why not have a demi-plane where everything is smaller, and gets larger (read as: returns to normal size) when they leave.

The problem is that this then moves the island into either the astral or ethereal planes. In either case, make the pirates Spelljammer pirates! Someone raised the question of why would the pirates obey the pixie, but if they want to use his demi-plane as a hideout or trading post or base of operations then they need his permission to get to it.

[Cipher Stars]

It seems that because gold gets larger coming out but stays the same size going in, that someone who wanted infinite wealth would just stand on the edge and wave their handful of gold dust back and forth all day long for an instant mountain of gold (tm).

Really, for that reason alone I think the idea you have is too broken to be workable.

Now, in terms of flavour, the one spell that comes closest is Genesis. If you want an island in a bubble where weird stuff happens, then some people consider the Genesis wording where it says you can do anything that you want with the environment to basically give you better than godlike powers over it. So why not have a demi-plane where everything is smaller, and gets larger (read as: returns to normal size) when they leave.

The problem is that this then moves the island into either the astral or ethereal planes. In either case, make the pirates Spelljammer pirates! Someone raised the question of why would the pirates obey the pixie, but if they want to use his demi-plane as a hideout or trading post or base of operations then they need his permission to get to it.

Whats broken about it. You take a gold piece in, it shrinks. you take it out, it grows.
Its just that the island itself is double in its worth. Sorta. Everything there is likely scaled to the inhabitants. gp being tiny for all the small people.
If you KNOW your small, you could have an operation to mine gold and forge it as normal (not for your reduced size)
But most would probably be unaware they shrunk when they entered the bubble, or they simply shipwrecked and not much at all is different to them. Just another wake up in an unknown island...