Need some help getting the creative juices flowing.

[Aychek]

Hello.

Frist time poster, but I’ve spent the past couple of weeks looking over the gaming boards here, and I believe you all might be able to help me. As a bit of background, I am currently DMing a game for some friends online. I’ve been gaming with this group for a few years now, and am usually able to bounce ideas off of them to help gain inspiration. Unfortunately those that I would normally ask are currently in my game…

The game in question is a Final Fantasy conversion of Pathfinder (will provide a link if people are curious, but it’s pretty easy to find with a quick search) and so far it’s been a blast! My party’s fought beastmen, beaten 2 of the 6 elemental fiends, saved several of the world’s crystals from being corrupted by other-planar darkness, the party’s Paladin built himself an over/under shotgun and a 1911 (he’s a Russian American military tech who was transplant from Earth), etc.
The world they are in is a sort of mish-mash of the various Final Fantasy worlds, including lands and cities like Baron, San Doria, the Ghestal Empire (which fell years ago and is now known as the Arcadian Empire) and the like. Along with these are some familiar faces, some literally the same character (Kefka, Seymour) and others homages (Quistis is a Taru taru Blue Mage, the royal ninja family of Eblan are Mithra).

My party has a couple of homages themselves, though these are a group of Roleplayers who know how to construct some awesome backstories so they aren’t blatant copies.
Last session my party ran into a couple of such characters, whom they had already met, being Balthier and Fran from ffXII. Long story short these two ran an adventurer’s club in Roldem, the capital city of the kingdom of Brennan, and fled when the Paladin’s evil shadow clone pretty much took over and declared martial law causing some of its people to attempt a revolt. (Ex sky-pirates rarely wish to be involved in political battles…at least that’s what he claims.) To make matters worse, Brennan is at war with Arcadia…fun times.

The party had to flee Roldem as well at the time, and are currently being supported by the kingdom of Baron, who is a neutral party in the war. They’ve been leant Baron’s newest, experimental airship the Enterprise, which uses a Magitech engine and is easily twice the size of the standard Pathfinder airship They are currently trying to make it across the border into Arcadia in order to visit the Temple of Ramuh, but the borders have been closed even to legitimate air and foot travel thanks to attacks by Sky Priates waving the colors of Baron. They could try to fly the Enterprise across the border anyway, buuut…yeah, that’d cause them some pretty severe complications…

So, in comes Balthier, offering the help of the Strahl once he gets it back from Vaan. A small, fast airship with a magical invisibility field? Awesome. Unfortunately it seems Vaan’s been kidnapped and the Strahl stolen by said Sky pirates (Who are headed by the self-named rival of one of the party members.) So the party has diverted to find the Sky Pirates and whoop them one good!
Now, to the meat of my questions (There was a bit more background then I thought there’d be <.<;;). The Sky Pirate base is in a place called The Ruined Plains. Some many years ago a magical calamity happened, causing a giant crater (at least a dozen miles in diameter) in the plains, and throwing huge chunks of earth up into the sky. The effects have left the place in a state of magical flux (a Wild Magic field), where giant asteroid-like pieces of earth just float in place.

It’s in one of these larger asteroids that the Sky Pirates have their base. They’ve literally dug out what amounts to an asteroid base into one of the larger chunks, and have tethered and connected several of the other satellite chunks to it for extra room. Once again the party can’t take in the Enterprise, as the Wild Magic field would wreak havoc with its engines. And several of the party members will have difficulty in such a place (Viera have a sensitivity to mana for instance, and can go berserk in such a place. Aanother member of the party is a SOLDIER who’s been infused with raw mana instead of Mako, which could have a similar effect).

TL:DR for Background – Party’s going into the floating, asteroid-like base of a bunch of Sky Pirates that’s in the middle of a Wild Magic zone.

System – Final Fantasy D20 (Pathfinder conversion)

Party levels/makeup – Levels 8/9, and a varied setup. Each player has a main who’s level nine, and at least 1 backup/alt character to give that Final Fantasy party switching feel. I can offer a more detailed list, if anyone wishes.

My DMing style – I’m the storyteller, which my players appreciate. I have a reputation amongst my friends for telling a good story and incorporating story ideas and thoughts from my players to make an engaging and fun narrative. I’m also known for finding odd and unusual creatures with skills that make battles interesting as opposed to looking for the hardest hitting, death attack spamming monsters. In a similar vein I like throwing puzzles/encounters at my players that make them have to think and adapt (For instance, I will eventually be sending them into the Lodestone Cavern, where metal equipment becomes so heavy it will be useless to them.)

The Rule of cool is alive and well at my table and if a player figures out an interesting way to solve an issue or puzzle that I didn’t think of, so long as it’s viable, I will figure out a way to allow it to happen. My ability to adlib/improvise in these sorts of situations is pretty good.

Now, my actual questions/musings.
1. What sorts of creatures would you expect to live in a zone like this? By that I mean weird, magically warped sorts of things that would make the place dangerous for the average person.

2. What sorts of tactics/traps do you think the pirates might have devised having lived there for so long? I’d imagine something that can take advantage of the Wild Magic effects in some way.

3. What other sorts of effects do you think the cataclysm might have had? Wild Magic’s good and all, and the party’s already talking about turning off all active magical effects (Fiery/burst, etc.) as well as keeping spellcasting to a minimum and taking their more martial characters. What sorts of other fun things do you think the field could affect? I considered doing something with weapon/armor enhancement bonuses going funky, but I think that may be a bit too much.

I may come up with more thoughts later, but these are the ones to start. Like I said, I just like having people to bounce ideas off of, especially when my own creative juices are a bit dried out, and you all seem like a pretty inventive crowd!

[DrMotives]

Weird stuff in the sky? You could look to convert old Spelljammer monsters (it has outer space sharks & dolphins). Also, the Lords of Madness book had a great idea to make clouds weirder, cloud-living aboleth. I know those aren't in PF, but some other Lovecraftian thing living in caves & tunnels of clouds catches the same idea. I just love solid clouds not as happy cutesy islands, but as foggy marshy places with lousy visibility and alien biomes.

[Aychek]

Weird stuff in the sky? You could look to convert old Spelljammer monsters (it has outer space sharks & dolphins). Also, the Lords of Madness book had a great idea to make clouds weirder, cloud-living aboleth. I know those aren't in PF, but some other Lovecraftian thing living in caves & tunnels of clouds catches the same idea. I just love solid clouds not as happy cutesy islands, but as foggy marshy places with lousy visibility and alien biomes.

Hm...some interesting ideas, here. Will have to look into the Spelljammer stuff! Hadn't thought of that.

[Captain Kablam]

I'd suggest looking at Stormwrack for ship to ship combat stuff. Typicaly good tactics is using cloud cover, or board using sky drops via squirrel suits. Also if you're feeling particular jerkish, I'd give magic users unlimited spells on certain days, but pull a Ron Weasly on them and have them randomly fire off spells each round against their will. And on other days just have them be boosted, but consistency is nice so do it sparingly.

[Aychek]

I'd suggest looking at Stormwrack for ship to ship combat stuff. Typicaly good tactics is using cloud cover, or board using sky drops via squirrel suits. Also if you're feeling particular jerkish, I'd give magic users unlimited spells on certain days, but pull a Ron Weasly on them and have them randomly fire off spells each round against their will. And on other days just have them be boosted, but consistency is nice so do it sparingly.

I'm not so worried about the ship to ship combat stuff. More the stuff that the pirates might do to protect the interior of their base. One of my thoughts is magical traps that are already set up and then moved into the base, that way when someone sets it off it has the magical effect as well as the Wild Magic effect.

[Captain Kablam]

I'm not so worried about the ship to ship combat stuff. More the stuff that the pirates might do to protect the interior of their base. One of my thoughts is magical traps that are already set up and then moved into the base, that way when someone sets it off it has the magical effect as well as the Wild Magic effect.

You mean like this?

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/traps.htm#magicTraps

[JyP]

1. What sorts of creatures would you expect to live in a zone like this? By that I mean weird, magically warped sorts of things that would make the place dangerous for the average person.
Well, you are talking a zone with a big crater and floating rocks - so you could have flying wildlife which used to be underground and/or oversized : moles, worms, land sharks... or sea creatures swimming in the air : That Damn Crab, krakens, corals...

(or think about FF7 with the old Ancient town with shell houses and flying fish monsters)

2. What sorts of tactics/traps do you think the pirates might have devised having lived there for so long? I’d imagine something that can take advantage of the Wild Magic effects in some way.
rotten planks with acid sharks from Dungeonscape under them :smallbiggrin:

3. What other sorts of effects do you think the cataclysm might have had?.
To keep with the theme : it would be a zone of "aerial ocean", so anyone can swim in it. Plunder ideas from the Astral Plane book done for Planescape.

[BowStreetRunner]

A couple of ideas spring to mind.

First, from a Discworld campaign in which I played a while back. We had a character who was allergic to magic. Any time he was the target of a spell (and not just hit by its effect) there was a chance for him to have an allergic reaction. If he did he would sneeze loudly and the effect would randomly change to something else. So in practice it was like a Spell Resistance that instead of cancelling the effect just turned it into wild magic. It would be interesting if some creatures developed in a wild magic zone with such an ability. In particular the ability would remain even if they leave the zone - making them potentially valuable to someone at a later time.

Next, what about an item - let's say a crystal in this case - that can actually ameliorate some of the effects of wild magic. In this case someone could craft one of these crystals to fit on the end of a wand or as a weapon or armor crystal. The crystal would need to be attuned to a specific spell or effect so could only be transferred between items with the same power. When used the crystal allows the item to be used normally without the wild magic effect. So a group of pirates in the wild magic space might use these on various items so that they can use magic normally without risk of wild magic effects.

Another thought comes from a game in which we encountered a lock which was warded against magic. If it became the target of a spell the spell failed and there was an area-effect blast. So when one of our players cast Knock on it the thing blew up on us. Later in the game we were fighting a battle in a corridor with a bunch of these locks on doors and the wizard started targeting locks with Knock spells wherever the resulting blast would hit our enemies and not us. He turned this negative into a positive and used Knock spells offensively! In the same light, anyone who spends a lot of time in a wild magic zone is going to realize the potential of unleashing such effects is a controlled situation. Spell traps with even a low level spell become potential major hazards. Low-level creatures with minor spell like abilities become a dangerous threat - even a CR1 Rune Guardian could unleash potentially devastating effects if it attempts to use its SLAs.

[Nibbens]

I second the lovecraftian Eldritch Horror monsters for space themed stuff. I mean, that's where they're from anyway. Have you seen the Colour out of space (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/oozes/colour-out-of-space)? It's downright amazing as an amorphous gas/ooze that could take multiple sessions to identify and fight. Let your imagination run wild.

[Aychek]

A couple of ideas spring to mind.

First, from a Discworld campaign in which I played a while back. We had a character who was allergic to magic. Any time he was the target of a spell (and not just hit by its effect) there was a chance for him to have an allergic reaction. If he did he would sneeze loudly and the effect would randomly change to something else. So in practice it was like a Spell Resistance that instead of cancelling the effect just turned it into wild magic. It would be interesting if some creatures developed in a wild magic zone with such an ability. In particular the ability would remain even if they leave the zone - making them potentially valuable to someone at a later time.

This idea I like. I can definitely figure out some way to use it, I'm sure...sorta a fantasy, magic version of the ysalamiri from the EU of Star Wars.



Next, what about an item - let's say a crystal in this case - that can actually ameliorate some of the effects of wild magic. In this case someone could craft one of these crystals to fit on the end of a wand or as a weapon or armor crystal. The crystal would need to be attuned to a specific spell or effect so could only be transferred between items with the same power. When used the crystal allows the item to be used normally without the wild magic effect. So a group of pirates in the wild magic space might use these on various items so that they can use magic normally without risk of wild magic effects.

I was also thinking about something like this, as well. And in a similar vein, the misc magical items for this ruleset has items that cause magical effects to go off. It I rule them to be like the Thunderstone and such, where they go off on impact, I could see the pirates using slings and such to throw them at the party, then they off off and bam! Wild magic!


Another thought comes from a game in which we encountered a lock which was warded against magic. If it became the target of a spell the spell failed and there was an area-effect blast. So when one of our players cast Knock on it the thing blew up on us. Later in the game we were fighting a battle in a corridor with a bunch of these locks on doors and the wizard started targeting locks with Knock spells wherever the resulting blast would hit our enemies and not us. He turned this negative into a positive and used Knock spells offensively! In the same light, anyone who spends a lot of time in a wild magic zone is going to realize the potential of unleashing such effects is a controlled situation. Spell traps with even a low level spell become potential major hazards. Low-level creatures with minor spell like abilities become a dangerous threat - even a CR1 Rune Guardian could unleash potentially devastating effects if it attempts to use its SLAs.

The latter portion of this I like, definitely. The players are going to be keeping magic usage to a minimum, but finding places to put minor magical traps that the party can set off will be fun.

[dascarletm]

1. I would include living spells from 3.5's Ebberon campaign setting. Add a pseudo-natural or other template to regular flying things, but refluff the aberration part.

2. Have you seen Stardust? If not, watch it. The pirates there have large "nets" that they capture lightning with. You should have the pirates implement something like that, but instead it captures these rogue spells. They are then converted into energy which is used to make wands/ other magic items. Perhaps they could even power a spell-storing weapon. You could devise a system where the ship makes a dispel-like check against the living spell.

3. You could make the area have plane traits affected in various ways. I would suggest having the "center" be more wild. Perhaps some areas experience time erratically, or gravity gets directional/turned off. Other planar traits could be interesting too. These might be more constant/sporadic to your tastes. Again, I suggest making some areas less malleable to planar traits than others.