TuggyNE
2014-01-06, 10:30 PM
The P-SRFK (draft name) is designed to allow the study of eldritch texts and evil artifacts while minimizing the chance of the researcher undergoing permanent corruption.
Ingredients: One or more thought bottles
Researcher with knowledge skills, wisdom, and mental fortitude to properly understand the subject, and specific protection against Mordenkainen's disjunction
Safeguard(s) with very high effective CL against dispelling and the ability to cast: scrying, or some other means of remote observation
teleport, or some other means of quickly intervening, or else Craft Contingent Spell triggered by some long-range low-level spell
dispel ward
dominate person
protection from evil
An isolated study area, protected from intrusion, scrying, teleportation, and escape of persons or objects
An isolated observation area some distance from the study area, protected from general threats
Procedure:
The isolated study area is first warded with traps, guards, walls, spells, or other protective measures against most interference. In particular, either forbiddance or dimensional lock is necessary, along with screen. These should be cast using Selective Spell to allow the safeguard(s) to teleport or scry within.
Before each shift, the researcher submits to dominate person cast on them by the safeguard, and is then protected by protection from evil without any commands issued. The safeguard then travels to their remote observation area, where they begin scrying on the researcher at work (the save should also be failed in such a case, although precautions must be taken to avoid allowing random scrying attempts to succeed, probably by saving against all attempts except at a specified time). During study, the researcher must be protected against attempts by the object of study to dispel or disjoin their protections; the suggested method is to cast/craft all protections at least CL 30 and any anti-dispel-specific CL boosts available, and add one or more contingent wings of cover/resilient sphere instances triggered to Mordenkainen's disjunction being cast to affect the researcher, in order to block line of effect.
If the researcher is observed acting strangely or changing alignment, the safeguard must immediately travel to the location of research and cast dispel ward on the researcher, removing protection from evil and allowing the dominate person effect to resume. The researcher must then be instructed to store the day's research in the thought bottle, which also removes it from their mind; after this, protection from evil may be recast to suppress the domination once more. Appropriate precautions should then be taken based on previous remote observation before attempting to retrieve the results of the research.
Optionally, Craft Contingent Spell may be used in conjunction with dispel ward to allow the safeguard to trigger domination remotely, perhaps with whispering wind, sending or some other method of signaling the contingency. It may also be found desirable to have the safeguard monitored to prevent abuse of their powers or a second-order corruption overtaking them. Additionally, for objects that are expected or known to have significant physical dangers, using a simulacrum for the researcher can be useful, at the cost of substantially lower skill checks. Preparing a stasis clone, Crafted Contingent revivify, or similar beforehand can prevent permanent death, especially in conjunction with various lasting protections like energy immunity, death ward, and so forth.
Open questions: how to defend against unknown enemies using true seeing to bypass screen or wish to bypass forbiddance/dimensional lock; slow corruption that cannot be observed until more than a day after it has become irreversible.
Thoughts? This was inspired by Libertad's review of Ptolus' history, and the thought that so often, the trope of good characters being corrupted by evil could be avoided by some sensible precautions.
Ingredients: One or more thought bottles
Researcher with knowledge skills, wisdom, and mental fortitude to properly understand the subject, and specific protection against Mordenkainen's disjunction
Safeguard(s) with very high effective CL against dispelling and the ability to cast: scrying, or some other means of remote observation
teleport, or some other means of quickly intervening, or else Craft Contingent Spell triggered by some long-range low-level spell
dispel ward
dominate person
protection from evil
An isolated study area, protected from intrusion, scrying, teleportation, and escape of persons or objects
An isolated observation area some distance from the study area, protected from general threats
Procedure:
The isolated study area is first warded with traps, guards, walls, spells, or other protective measures against most interference. In particular, either forbiddance or dimensional lock is necessary, along with screen. These should be cast using Selective Spell to allow the safeguard(s) to teleport or scry within.
Before each shift, the researcher submits to dominate person cast on them by the safeguard, and is then protected by protection from evil without any commands issued. The safeguard then travels to their remote observation area, where they begin scrying on the researcher at work (the save should also be failed in such a case, although precautions must be taken to avoid allowing random scrying attempts to succeed, probably by saving against all attempts except at a specified time). During study, the researcher must be protected against attempts by the object of study to dispel or disjoin their protections; the suggested method is to cast/craft all protections at least CL 30 and any anti-dispel-specific CL boosts available, and add one or more contingent wings of cover/resilient sphere instances triggered to Mordenkainen's disjunction being cast to affect the researcher, in order to block line of effect.
If the researcher is observed acting strangely or changing alignment, the safeguard must immediately travel to the location of research and cast dispel ward on the researcher, removing protection from evil and allowing the dominate person effect to resume. The researcher must then be instructed to store the day's research in the thought bottle, which also removes it from their mind; after this, protection from evil may be recast to suppress the domination once more. Appropriate precautions should then be taken based on previous remote observation before attempting to retrieve the results of the research.
Optionally, Craft Contingent Spell may be used in conjunction with dispel ward to allow the safeguard to trigger domination remotely, perhaps with whispering wind, sending or some other method of signaling the contingency. It may also be found desirable to have the safeguard monitored to prevent abuse of their powers or a second-order corruption overtaking them. Additionally, for objects that are expected or known to have significant physical dangers, using a simulacrum for the researcher can be useful, at the cost of substantially lower skill checks. Preparing a stasis clone, Crafted Contingent revivify, or similar beforehand can prevent permanent death, especially in conjunction with various lasting protections like energy immunity, death ward, and so forth.
Open questions: how to defend against unknown enemies using true seeing to bypass screen or wish to bypass forbiddance/dimensional lock; slow corruption that cannot be observed until more than a day after it has become irreversible.
Thoughts? This was inspired by Libertad's review of Ptolus' history, and the thought that so often, the trope of good characters being corrupted by evil could be avoided by some sensible precautions.