Freezy
2014-08-14, 07:25 AM
Lacking all the rules, just hinting at 200 spell levels I decided to flesh out the ritual for my campaign.
After playing through the ritual once, I tweaked and updated it a bit.
Posted here for your reviewing/altering/commenting/cheese/trolling pleasure.
Gates are in need of repairs and supervision, most but not all are in the areas where gatekeepers are active.
Some groups travel all over Khorvaire restoring power to the lost, forgotten and ancient gates, ensuring they remain closed.
Other gates long forgotten remain opened, with no incident. Some leading to the void left by demi-planes whose gods no longer exist.
Basic sealing rules:
Each participant must have taken the gate keepers oath (thus becoming a gatekeeper), never to reveal the details of the ritual to non-gatekeepers
Do not touch or enter the portal
Do not leave the circle
Any spell like effects inside the circle increase the concentration needed to weave the seal into existence. Add each effects spell / power level to the DC of the ritual.
This includes items, spell like, supernatural and extraordinary abilities that might interact in any way with the sealing (DM's discretion).
The entire ritual takes up several hours. It is recommended that a first time ritual leading Gate Keeper reads the entire ritual and does a dry run (simulating the character witnessing or participating in the ritual with other Gatekeepers). Also it is recommended to discus a strategy with all the participants before an attempt is made.
A single sealing requires roughly 200 spell levels (allowing for a single failed check during the sealing, with a few spells left over for contingencies).
The entire ritual is comprised of several steps and is meant to feel large and complex enough to represent the difficult task.
It could take one or two sessions to complete all the stages, though the DM should speed it along with 'after repeating the task again and again the seventh day you succeed'.
In any gatekeeper campaign that actively deals with sealing portals I would recommend doing this at least once, so that the players realize the difficulty involved (not just plopping in some spells and sleeping afterwards).
It's not meant as an impossible task, just a difficult and dangerous one.
Stage 1: Gate building
Surrounding the portal with an arch of stone (or use campaign specific stuff), placing a very large Khyber shard as the keystone as the top of the arch.
Trapping a soul inside the gate increases the strength of the seal and the length of time the gate can remain closed.
If the entity trapped is from the plane being sealed away the number of years increases significantly.
Any soul being trapped in the shard needs to be alive during the ritual, either willing, unconscious or enslaved.
Many orginizations would jump at the chance of harnessing the power of the beings entrapped or getting their hands on a khyber shard worth a kings ransom.
Part of the gatekeepers oath is to maintain the secret of the monetairy value of the gates.
Getting both a suitable shard and a soul to trap are both excellent adventure hooks.
After setting the stone gate around the portal, a large circle is drawn on the floor.
The ritual leading gatekeeper starts with creating a ritual circle big enough to encompass all the participants around the portal.
A large portal or sealing a portal with a large group is a more difficult task, increasing the ritual DC as the DM deems appropriate.
The circle needs not be drawn completely, merely serving as a method of focus for the ritual leader, this allows for walls or rivers of lava inside the ritual area.
After the circle has been drawn, all participants then take a seated position inside the circle. Spread out evenly around the portal.
Stage 2: Prepairing the seal
The weave is badly damaged by the interaction of the planes around the portal, repairing it will be difficult.
Print out a maze and cut it into pieces, let the players assemble the puzzle. Leave out the corner pieces or get creative with the border to increase the difficulty.
The lines are an excellent metaphor for the magical weave and gives the players something physical they can contribute to.
Example:
http://coolrain44.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/micro-chip-maze.jpg
I chose this one for a group of 4 participants working on a gate with an unconscious demon, the puzzle represented the area around the gate and painted the picture of the magical for steps of the actual sealing.
Alternatively this step could be done by the ritual leader as the first step of the Ritual.
Stage 3: The Ritual
All spells are focused into the weave, once it is set, the seal is triggered.
The ritual leader is the only one allowed to make the checks and may use:
Spell craft, knowledge arcana or knowledge planes
Alternatively use magic device with a -5 penalty
Each check takes roughly 10 minutes (depending on the casting times of the individual powers/spells used to send the energy to the ritual leader) and uses up 30 spell levels (taken as evenly as possible from all participants), the leader makes a single check regardless of the amount of spells spent this way.
The final step ends with the sudden physical manifestation of the seal which throws the participants around like leaves on the wind or could include (anti-)thematic effects related to the plane being sealed.
The goal is to reach 5 Successes before 5 failures. Reaching 5 failures the entire stage 3 must be restarted from scratch, requiring a new supply of spell levels.
DC 20 (for a 10th level encounter, assuming the main caster is using a skill of roughly 13-17, each failure can increase the DC further)
Power points may also be used in the ritual, adding a 1/2 spell level for each power point spent.
Using up scrolls, wands and other power storage devices is allowed, but might be costly.
At will powers / abilities do not count towards spell levels, but might interfere with the concentration of the ritual leader.
So no cheating using a spell-thief to steal an infinite at will level 1 spells from a unconscious demon in the haversack...
Successes:
You reach out to the magic of the other participants in the circle
Balancing the flow and locating and smoothing out wrinkles in the weave
Your combined energy starts to coalesce in the khyber shard
The seal is almost ready, just a few more spells to go
The seal activates, brace yourselves (Proceed to stage 4)
Failure Ideas:
One of the participants is not giving his or her all, giving some gentle coercion distracts you from complete focus.
If you ignore it, rebalancing the weave taxes you to your limits, +2 to ritual DC and you become exhausted (-6 strength and dexterity).
A single moment of distraction tangles up a part of the seal into a knot, repairing it is possible but it will remain a weakness in the seal. +2 to ritual DC.
Someone is giving too much, they are at the edge of becoming the trapped soul. Rebalance the weave to give them some of their power back. Concentration DC 30, failure leaves you with two options, trapping them in the shard or restarting the ritual.
Possible ideas to recover from such failures (DM'S discretion as to which he calls for):
Use diplomacy to (re)gain the trust of a hesitating participant. You need all they have and more.
Recall what others did in the past. You see the ritual leader jab the tip of a dagger into his leg, the blood clearly flowing, the pain seems to restore his focus (Deal damage to yourself with any weapon you are proficient with and can use while seated, then roll a Concentration check against 10 + damage dealt, if successful re-roll the failed check with a bonus equal to the damage dealt). The pain however also gives you -2 strength.
Abort the entire effort, losing all spells invested so far, starting again from scratch.
Ways to get additional spell levels (in case of emergency):
Willingly joining the soul being sealed
Buy wands or staffs and use them in the ritual, being level limited items, this might extend the duration of the ritual reacquiring more successes before the ritual can be completed.
Summon help before the ritual begins, anyone with access to planeshift or teleport could join instantly enough
Stage 4: Raging Void
As the worlds are ripped apart once more, space within and around the circle will rapidly contract and expand.
The stress can be severe, it's not uncommon for bones to break. In extreme cases lives or souls might be lost.
The gate itself is magically protected against any damage done by these planar winds, but a large enough character might smash into the gate itself and break it.
At this point the seal is very near complete, but is taxing the participants drawing from their physical strengths to lessen the planar tides before the portal can be closed.
Moving is now allowed freely inside the circle, as is spell casting (if you have any spells or ability's remaining).
However each round you must take a strength check as a move action, fighting the strong forces in the circle.
The ritual leader must remain in the circle at all times, concentrating on extending the quality of the seal and the binding of the trapped soul.
It is smart to use mundane items near the gate to tether one's self to a very heavy object or the ground.
Based on carrying capacity heavy load:
Strenght score, heavy load, Bonus granted
15 200 lb. +0
17 260 lb. +1
19 350 lb. +2
21 460 lb. +3
23 600 lb. +4
25 800 lb. +5
27 1040 lb. +6
29 1400 lb. +7
Once per round roll any even sided die (or flip a coin), the DM might choose to repeat this per player for more randomness.
The outcome determines the direction of forces applied to the participants:
even: pull towards the portal
uneven: push away from the portal
The opposed strength DC starts at 15 and increases to +2 per round
Until three participants leave the circle (or fall through the closing portal to the other plane).
Participants with a high strength score can voluntarily lower their strength score to give another participant the same amount as a bonus as a standard action. This requires being in reach of the intended recipient and counts as 'aid another' for the purposes of other effects that might apply.
Giving characters without magic a good reason to participate.
Failing a strength check moves the character 5ft +5 for each 5 below the DC. Ropes etc. might hold you in place for a short time (or lift you up from the ground, possibly negating your future strength checks), until the strength score of the forces in play break the rope.
At this point of the ritual the longer the participants remain in the circle, focused on the sealing (only the ritual leader needs to make a concentration check DC is the same as the final ritual DC), the longer the seal will hold. Each round all participants can withstand adds roughly a single year per participant to lifespan of the seal, once participants fall through the closing portal (possibly getting trapped on the other side) or outside of the circle, the number of years is decreased by 2. More participants thus grants more years the seal might hold, but using a lot of weak participants on a weak seal might actually collapse the entire seal immediately.
Examples:
Inside a nearby mountain a small gate to another world lies in slumber, it's seal is in dire need of repair.
Choosing not to use a trapped soul (still requires the Khyber shard to store the magical energy), 6 gatekeepers make the journey and attempt to restore the seal.
The first round closes the gate for 6 years with little incident. The second round a single participant falls through the portal and is possibly lost forever. The second round added 4 more years to the seal, so the sacrifice was not in vain. Seeing her companion dissapear into the void, the ritual leader panics as she has no way to end the ritual at this point, she loses focus and gets thrown out the circle. As the other participants realize the fight is over they quickly leave the dangerous circle, safely awaiting the forces to calm over the course of an hour before the gate finally closes for 12 years. The ritual leader now has 12 years to amount a rescue for the missing gatekeeper.
A forgotten portal leading to a hellish plane, has spilled out various demons and terrorizing a nearby city. A group of gatekeepers discovering the story venture deep into the jungle. Arriving at the site of an ancient seal, the party discovers that the Khyber shard key stone is missing, with no traces leading out of the site except the demons they already defeated the party concludes that they must pass through to the other side and the shard must have been taken there.
After fighting through the demon wastes, the party recovers the stone and captures a particularly nasty demon to serve as the trapped soul. The party calls upon help from some angels they met on the plane to add more spells to the sealing. The angels have reservation against trapping the demons soul, but ultimately after a few heart felt diplomacy checks they consent.
Everything goes smoothly thanks to the master work climbing gear the party used and the party manages to seal the gate for at least a thousand years before they step out of the circle before anything really bad happens. Aside from the barbarian head butting a boulder and losing. They remain at the site, making sure the gate closes completely before storing the body of the demon in a special cage that keeps it alive for a thousand years, setting up traps to protect it and the gate from intruders, while still allowing future gatekeepers access to the site to reseal the gate.
After playing through the ritual once, I tweaked and updated it a bit.
Posted here for your reviewing/altering/commenting/cheese/trolling pleasure.
Gates are in need of repairs and supervision, most but not all are in the areas where gatekeepers are active.
Some groups travel all over Khorvaire restoring power to the lost, forgotten and ancient gates, ensuring they remain closed.
Other gates long forgotten remain opened, with no incident. Some leading to the void left by demi-planes whose gods no longer exist.
Basic sealing rules:
Each participant must have taken the gate keepers oath (thus becoming a gatekeeper), never to reveal the details of the ritual to non-gatekeepers
Do not touch or enter the portal
Do not leave the circle
Any spell like effects inside the circle increase the concentration needed to weave the seal into existence. Add each effects spell / power level to the DC of the ritual.
This includes items, spell like, supernatural and extraordinary abilities that might interact in any way with the sealing (DM's discretion).
The entire ritual takes up several hours. It is recommended that a first time ritual leading Gate Keeper reads the entire ritual and does a dry run (simulating the character witnessing or participating in the ritual with other Gatekeepers). Also it is recommended to discus a strategy with all the participants before an attempt is made.
A single sealing requires roughly 200 spell levels (allowing for a single failed check during the sealing, with a few spells left over for contingencies).
The entire ritual is comprised of several steps and is meant to feel large and complex enough to represent the difficult task.
It could take one or two sessions to complete all the stages, though the DM should speed it along with 'after repeating the task again and again the seventh day you succeed'.
In any gatekeeper campaign that actively deals with sealing portals I would recommend doing this at least once, so that the players realize the difficulty involved (not just plopping in some spells and sleeping afterwards).
It's not meant as an impossible task, just a difficult and dangerous one.
Stage 1: Gate building
Surrounding the portal with an arch of stone (or use campaign specific stuff), placing a very large Khyber shard as the keystone as the top of the arch.
Trapping a soul inside the gate increases the strength of the seal and the length of time the gate can remain closed.
If the entity trapped is from the plane being sealed away the number of years increases significantly.
Any soul being trapped in the shard needs to be alive during the ritual, either willing, unconscious or enslaved.
Many orginizations would jump at the chance of harnessing the power of the beings entrapped or getting their hands on a khyber shard worth a kings ransom.
Part of the gatekeepers oath is to maintain the secret of the monetairy value of the gates.
Getting both a suitable shard and a soul to trap are both excellent adventure hooks.
After setting the stone gate around the portal, a large circle is drawn on the floor.
The ritual leading gatekeeper starts with creating a ritual circle big enough to encompass all the participants around the portal.
A large portal or sealing a portal with a large group is a more difficult task, increasing the ritual DC as the DM deems appropriate.
The circle needs not be drawn completely, merely serving as a method of focus for the ritual leader, this allows for walls or rivers of lava inside the ritual area.
After the circle has been drawn, all participants then take a seated position inside the circle. Spread out evenly around the portal.
Stage 2: Prepairing the seal
The weave is badly damaged by the interaction of the planes around the portal, repairing it will be difficult.
Print out a maze and cut it into pieces, let the players assemble the puzzle. Leave out the corner pieces or get creative with the border to increase the difficulty.
The lines are an excellent metaphor for the magical weave and gives the players something physical they can contribute to.
Example:
http://coolrain44.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/micro-chip-maze.jpg
I chose this one for a group of 4 participants working on a gate with an unconscious demon, the puzzle represented the area around the gate and painted the picture of the magical for steps of the actual sealing.
Alternatively this step could be done by the ritual leader as the first step of the Ritual.
Stage 3: The Ritual
All spells are focused into the weave, once it is set, the seal is triggered.
The ritual leader is the only one allowed to make the checks and may use:
Spell craft, knowledge arcana or knowledge planes
Alternatively use magic device with a -5 penalty
Each check takes roughly 10 minutes (depending on the casting times of the individual powers/spells used to send the energy to the ritual leader) and uses up 30 spell levels (taken as evenly as possible from all participants), the leader makes a single check regardless of the amount of spells spent this way.
The final step ends with the sudden physical manifestation of the seal which throws the participants around like leaves on the wind or could include (anti-)thematic effects related to the plane being sealed.
The goal is to reach 5 Successes before 5 failures. Reaching 5 failures the entire stage 3 must be restarted from scratch, requiring a new supply of spell levels.
DC 20 (for a 10th level encounter, assuming the main caster is using a skill of roughly 13-17, each failure can increase the DC further)
Power points may also be used in the ritual, adding a 1/2 spell level for each power point spent.
Using up scrolls, wands and other power storage devices is allowed, but might be costly.
At will powers / abilities do not count towards spell levels, but might interfere with the concentration of the ritual leader.
So no cheating using a spell-thief to steal an infinite at will level 1 spells from a unconscious demon in the haversack...
Successes:
You reach out to the magic of the other participants in the circle
Balancing the flow and locating and smoothing out wrinkles in the weave
Your combined energy starts to coalesce in the khyber shard
The seal is almost ready, just a few more spells to go
The seal activates, brace yourselves (Proceed to stage 4)
Failure Ideas:
One of the participants is not giving his or her all, giving some gentle coercion distracts you from complete focus.
If you ignore it, rebalancing the weave taxes you to your limits, +2 to ritual DC and you become exhausted (-6 strength and dexterity).
A single moment of distraction tangles up a part of the seal into a knot, repairing it is possible but it will remain a weakness in the seal. +2 to ritual DC.
Someone is giving too much, they are at the edge of becoming the trapped soul. Rebalance the weave to give them some of their power back. Concentration DC 30, failure leaves you with two options, trapping them in the shard or restarting the ritual.
Possible ideas to recover from such failures (DM'S discretion as to which he calls for):
Use diplomacy to (re)gain the trust of a hesitating participant. You need all they have and more.
Recall what others did in the past. You see the ritual leader jab the tip of a dagger into his leg, the blood clearly flowing, the pain seems to restore his focus (Deal damage to yourself with any weapon you are proficient with and can use while seated, then roll a Concentration check against 10 + damage dealt, if successful re-roll the failed check with a bonus equal to the damage dealt). The pain however also gives you -2 strength.
Abort the entire effort, losing all spells invested so far, starting again from scratch.
Ways to get additional spell levels (in case of emergency):
Willingly joining the soul being sealed
Buy wands or staffs and use them in the ritual, being level limited items, this might extend the duration of the ritual reacquiring more successes before the ritual can be completed.
Summon help before the ritual begins, anyone with access to planeshift or teleport could join instantly enough
Stage 4: Raging Void
As the worlds are ripped apart once more, space within and around the circle will rapidly contract and expand.
The stress can be severe, it's not uncommon for bones to break. In extreme cases lives or souls might be lost.
The gate itself is magically protected against any damage done by these planar winds, but a large enough character might smash into the gate itself and break it.
At this point the seal is very near complete, but is taxing the participants drawing from their physical strengths to lessen the planar tides before the portal can be closed.
Moving is now allowed freely inside the circle, as is spell casting (if you have any spells or ability's remaining).
However each round you must take a strength check as a move action, fighting the strong forces in the circle.
The ritual leader must remain in the circle at all times, concentrating on extending the quality of the seal and the binding of the trapped soul.
It is smart to use mundane items near the gate to tether one's self to a very heavy object or the ground.
Based on carrying capacity heavy load:
Strenght score, heavy load, Bonus granted
15 200 lb. +0
17 260 lb. +1
19 350 lb. +2
21 460 lb. +3
23 600 lb. +4
25 800 lb. +5
27 1040 lb. +6
29 1400 lb. +7
Once per round roll any even sided die (or flip a coin), the DM might choose to repeat this per player for more randomness.
The outcome determines the direction of forces applied to the participants:
even: pull towards the portal
uneven: push away from the portal
The opposed strength DC starts at 15 and increases to +2 per round
Until three participants leave the circle (or fall through the closing portal to the other plane).
Participants with a high strength score can voluntarily lower their strength score to give another participant the same amount as a bonus as a standard action. This requires being in reach of the intended recipient and counts as 'aid another' for the purposes of other effects that might apply.
Giving characters without magic a good reason to participate.
Failing a strength check moves the character 5ft +5 for each 5 below the DC. Ropes etc. might hold you in place for a short time (or lift you up from the ground, possibly negating your future strength checks), until the strength score of the forces in play break the rope.
At this point of the ritual the longer the participants remain in the circle, focused on the sealing (only the ritual leader needs to make a concentration check DC is the same as the final ritual DC), the longer the seal will hold. Each round all participants can withstand adds roughly a single year per participant to lifespan of the seal, once participants fall through the closing portal (possibly getting trapped on the other side) or outside of the circle, the number of years is decreased by 2. More participants thus grants more years the seal might hold, but using a lot of weak participants on a weak seal might actually collapse the entire seal immediately.
Examples:
Inside a nearby mountain a small gate to another world lies in slumber, it's seal is in dire need of repair.
Choosing not to use a trapped soul (still requires the Khyber shard to store the magical energy), 6 gatekeepers make the journey and attempt to restore the seal.
The first round closes the gate for 6 years with little incident. The second round a single participant falls through the portal and is possibly lost forever. The second round added 4 more years to the seal, so the sacrifice was not in vain. Seeing her companion dissapear into the void, the ritual leader panics as she has no way to end the ritual at this point, she loses focus and gets thrown out the circle. As the other participants realize the fight is over they quickly leave the dangerous circle, safely awaiting the forces to calm over the course of an hour before the gate finally closes for 12 years. The ritual leader now has 12 years to amount a rescue for the missing gatekeeper.
A forgotten portal leading to a hellish plane, has spilled out various demons and terrorizing a nearby city. A group of gatekeepers discovering the story venture deep into the jungle. Arriving at the site of an ancient seal, the party discovers that the Khyber shard key stone is missing, with no traces leading out of the site except the demons they already defeated the party concludes that they must pass through to the other side and the shard must have been taken there.
After fighting through the demon wastes, the party recovers the stone and captures a particularly nasty demon to serve as the trapped soul. The party calls upon help from some angels they met on the plane to add more spells to the sealing. The angels have reservation against trapping the demons soul, but ultimately after a few heart felt diplomacy checks they consent.
Everything goes smoothly thanks to the master work climbing gear the party used and the party manages to seal the gate for at least a thousand years before they step out of the circle before anything really bad happens. Aside from the barbarian head butting a boulder and losing. They remain at the site, making sure the gate closes completely before storing the body of the demon in a special cage that keeps it alive for a thousand years, setting up traps to protect it and the gate from intruders, while still allowing future gatekeepers access to the site to reseal the gate.