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JEntropy
2007-07-24, 08:45 PM
I'm starting a game in the very near future, and I need some help fleshing out an idea.

The campaign is all NPC classes. My plan for the first arc is to have them stumble their way through foiling a BBEG with a plan in motion to destroying the world, because he hasn't factored them into his calculations. They are, in other words, the random variable.

The idea is a ritual involving five or six relics that, when activated in unison, act as a doomsday device. I toyed with the idea of tying each one to an element, and then having the ritual bring the various planes together, and the collision of all of these powerful energies destroys at least the material plane, if not the others.

Maybe its bogus, and I'm sure you'll tell me that. I haven't read the PH, so I'm no expert, but I thought it was a neat idea.

Anyway, I need a relic, if I continue in this direction. I was thinking of making something that scales with the players, much like a legacy weapon does, so that it continues to be useful throughout the campaign. However, I also want to avoid making something that will overpower one player, especially in a campaign where the party as a whole is underpowered (npc vs pc classes).

Alternatively, I could tailor each relic so that it only works for a specific player, but at that point they'd have to recover more of them quickly, otherwise we're back to overpowering one person. Possibly design it so that it works differently for each player?

I dunno, lets see what you think. The gates are open.

PsyBlade
2007-07-24, 08:58 PM
Your 'works differently for each player' idea, gave me an idea. Basically keep this idea, but tailor what the relic can do for a specific person based on what level they are when they first use the artifact. When they get the last one then they should have at least one character left for each artifact, thus making each artifact uber at that time.

Sorry if that confused anyone.

Cyrano
2007-07-24, 09:04 PM
Make it work well for everyone. Make it work differently for people (ie, better) that you feel fits the relic. Make sure the players have no idea what makes what better. It might be better not to make an obvious thing (sling for the sling focusing Halfing rogue, robe for the Wizard), but even that's better than a "This is a relic of Cool. It works better for John." It's cooler to have everyone fighting with X at least once, and working out notes afterwards.

Starsinger
2007-07-24, 09:20 PM
(sling for the sling focusing Halfing rogue, robe for the Wizard)

NPC classes, this is so the Warrior, Expert, Commoner, and Aristocrat have something like class features... atleast that's waht I think he wants.

Mike_Lemmer
2007-07-24, 09:56 PM
Why not just have it provide a party-wide buff, or provide a point pool that each player can tap? Look into the Guardian Spirits in the DMG2 and see if you can adapt that to relics the entire party can use.

Citizen Joe
2007-07-24, 10:01 PM
You should give an shield to the cavalier, a bow to the ranger, a club to the barbarian... oh wait... :smallbiggrin:

JEntropy
2007-07-24, 10:09 PM
Great response so far :) Thanks

Yes, the players are taking their first level in an NPC class, but I'm not allowing aristocrat because I think that having a higher average starting gold than a PC class doesn't make sense when you're trying to power down D&D.

I like the idea for it providing a partywide buff, but what? And how can I make it something that fits into the idea of the doomsday ritual without it being overpowered?

PC classes will come into play later on. They definitely won't be taking 20 levels of NPC, but they are going to start as sort of unlikely adventurers, before they take up the mantle. I may, at that point, let them trade class levels for an equivalent, or at least stack for certain bonuses ... not sure yet.

Well, keep it coming. :) I'm still batting ideas around on my end, but I'll post them if I come up with anything good.

Dairun Cates
2007-07-24, 10:37 PM
Well, it's not exactly a weapon, but for a one-shot, I made a lovely artifact of the God's that was really little more than a battery. The players assumed that since the villagers needed it so much, that it must've been powerful, but it was little more than something needed to power their mill. Later, in another campaign that one of the player's GM'ed, that same artifact was used to power an entire lab of alchemical and magical research that threatened the world.

Point is, batteries are always useful. There's always SOMETHING to give power to. Hell, you could even have it hook into weapons if you want. That way the artifact doesn't get more powerful, the weapons do.

Wraithy
2007-07-25, 04:29 AM
if its 4 items then the elements idea would probably work.
instead of keying an item to its owner you could have items that offer apropriate spell like abilities (5 charges per day etc.)
as for how the doomsday ritual works: possibly the 4 relics when combined in different hiding places in a temple (fire relic in the incense, earth relic under the floor, air relic on the roof, water relic in the holy/un-holy water), they move their corresponding elemental plains spiraling through the cosmology and ripping up the other plains in their paths.
the elements idea is quite solid, if a cliché. but I find clichés some of the most enjoyable parts of D&D.

Citizen Joe
2007-07-25, 07:15 AM
You could used the four elemental artifacts and if you need two more use the energy planes as foci. When brought together they form the Loom of Creation. The trick is that it will remake the universe, but without a practiced hand and godlike wisdom this usually results in a total unraveling of existence.

iop
2007-07-25, 08:25 AM
You could also have the artifacts fuse with the characters, and give them some kind of additional ability per character level.
For example, elemental artifacts could allow a character of level L to turn into an elemental of the same type with L hit dice for a total of L rounds per day (changing into that state is a full-round action). In addition, you can give the elementals access to the corresponding cleric domains, from which they could cast a total of L spells as a level L cleric.

JEntropy
2007-07-25, 08:28 AM
Well, it's not exactly a weapon, but for a one-shot, I made a lovely artifact of the God's that was really little more than a battery. The players assumed that since the villagers needed it so much, that it must've been powerful, but it was little more than something needed to power their mill. Later, in another campaign that one of the player's GM'ed, that same artifact was used to power an entire lab of alchemical and magical research that threatened the world.

Point is, batteries are always useful. There's always SOMETHING to give power to. Hell, you could even have it hook into weapons if you want. That way the artifact doesn't get more powerful, the weapons do.

This is an interesting idea. I'm thinking of toying with it and making a relic that accelerates motion in its aura. It could still be used, as you mentioned, to power a mill, but it could also give some interesting buffs to the party...

And there's a great rationale for it being in the DD: get things moving. :smallwink: Thanks


if its 4 items then the elements idea would probably work.
instead of keying an item to its owner you could have items that offer apropriate spell like abilities (5 charges per day etc.)
as for how the doomsday ritual works: possibly the 4 relics when combined in different hiding places in a temple (fire relic in the incense, earth relic under the floor, air relic on the roof, water relic in the holy/un-holy water), they move their corresponding elemental plains spiraling through the cosmology and ripping up the other plains in their paths.
the elements idea is quite solid, if a cliché. but I find clichés some of the most enjoyable parts of D&D.

It is a bit cliche, but at least its something the PC's will catch onto, since we know they're only half-listening outside of combat anyway ;)

Thanks for the ideas, really. Spell-like abilities, and how the ritual works = great stuff, I'll definitely steal from you there. I was toying with the ideas of party-wide buffs several times per day, that scaled with the party ecl - meaning that one person could activate it for "X, Mass" so many times per day, and as they progress through the game, open up new spells they can activate, but not increase the daily limit. That would promote conservation of resources and versatility in application. I like it.

Much thinking still to do, obviously, but I'm getting great thoughtfodder!


You could used the four elemental artifacts and if you need two more use the energy planes as foci. When brought together they form the Loom of Creation. The trick is that it will remake the universe, but without a practiced hand and godlike wisdom this usually results in a total unraveling of existence.

(Emphasis mine)

This was a really interesting idea, too. Save the world/multiverse stories are fun, but I was struggling with a rationality. Remaking the universe is much easier to rationalize, so long as our BBEG is super-smart/wise.

High quality stuff, thanks :)


You could also have the artifacts fuse with the characters, and give them some kind of additional ability per character level.
For example, elemental artifacts could allow a character of level L to turn into an elemental of the same type with L hit dice for a total of L rounds per day (changing into that state is a full-round action). In addition, you can give the elementals access to the corresponding cleric domains, from which they could cast a total of L spells as a level L cleric.

That's a great idea, and it will probably show up in the high-level list of bonuses. Since druids can't wild shape into an elemental til level 16, I'm a little wary to toss it to my ECL 1 NPC party :smallwink:

Still, great stuff, and very flashy to keep players interested. Thanks!

Citizen Joe
2007-07-25, 09:18 AM
I think there was a Star Trek Voyager story arc with something along the lines of a Loom of Creation. An alien developed a means of unmaking various things by yanking them from time. All the while, he's trying to make it so he didn't lose his wife. Every time he yanked a thread, the whole area changed, usually for the worse.

In the end, he ended up unmaking the device so that he never mucked with reality. So, as a bit of fluff, figure that the BBEG has lost someone and has tried repeatedly to bring that person back. But everything he tries gets twisted. So in the past, he would have tried wishes that were too over powered and got twisted. The end result of the Loom would grant unlimited wishes to the user. Of course, these would all get perverted and start to unravel. So you'd have to wish something else to fix that... then again... and again. This is why the Loom was dismantled in the first place. Once the Gods got the world close enough and relatively stable, they took apart the Loom and scattered the bits (just in case they'd have to fix something later). True wisdom would let the BBEG accept the universe as it is and move on.

WhyBother
2007-07-25, 02:33 PM
You gave me a pretty decent idea here for an elemental/planar adventure. (Or at least the capstone to it.) I thought I'd throw it back up in case it would help you, and because work has been really slow today. I assumed talismans that created aura effects based on their element. Each is tied to a plane representing an element: earth, fire, water, wind, void. (These were the five elements used in Rokugan, so I figure it's a chance to dust of the rarely-used plane of Void. I'm pretty sure there's nothing there but Void Genasi.) I also presumed talismans related to the inner non-prime planes: Astral, Ethereal, Shadow and Dream. (Only Astral and Ethereal are core; Shadow and Dream were added later.)

It has been five years since the prefect sent the expedition to the ruins of T'mujan. Five years since they returned bearing news of the strange evil that had befallen the merchants there, and of the plot which they had only just managed to foil with the aid of Fortune more than skill. Five years since they had returned with the talismans, confiscated in the aftermath, which gave each of them powers that grew stranger by the day. Empowered by the sigils etched into their surface -- a flicker of flame, a mountin rising proud above the earth, a whisp of fleeting wind, a crashing wave, and a series of circles that left the impression of a tunnel descending into a deep, inescapable void -- the underlings had since risen to become the prefect's favored guard, then abandonned him altogether. More and more they had become driven, drawn on by the lure of a doom that was greater than the one to which they had been born.

Now it draws them here, to the small, circular chamber at the heart of these ruins, and the small machine at its center....

The Gate
The small machine, known through tertiary sources (the only source that remain in the current age) only as "the Gate" is the most important relic of an ancient cult (or guild or civilization, as the DM sees fit) of powerful wizards. It consists of a series of cocentric silver rings, each attached its neighbors like a gyroscope, with a brilliant, green gem at the center. Two such rings are wider and more platter-like than the others, each with several shallow sockets and arcane writing etched along its surface. The delicate aparatus is surrounded by four curved columns of black iron, rising like stalagmites from the floor.

The gate, powered by several planar keys (the players talismans), allowed the Cult of the Hidden Web to draw on tremendous elemental power, travel to the planes, and even channel raw elemental power into auras. See History for more.

Further inspection by the players will reveal:
The writing does not appear to be done by a single hand, or even in a single language; even, flowing, finely etch scipt is interrupted by sharp, sigil-like marks crudely scratch into the silver, then continues on around the circle. (Decipher Script or Knowledge (arcane) checks of an appropriate level will reveal that these are, in fact, not the same language. In fact, it is a series of mystical invocation in draconic, sylvan, and infernal, with the latter languages being written over and around the former. They do not appear to form a coherent message or spell.)

The five sockets on the inner large ring have symbols corresponding to each of the five talisman's in the party's possession. The outer large ring has four sockets marked with arcane sigils.

The columns are decorated with line drawings of various mythical figures: a fiend wreathed in flame, a winged angel bearing a sword, a hideous monster with three mouths and a multitude of small limbs running down his belly, a clockwork man whose pose suggests nothing particular at all. (When the players see any of the etchings, have them role an appropriate knowledge check to recognize any of the cratures as Archons, demons, devils, or modrons. Without much prompting, they should be able to figure out that the creatures on any given column share only one thing in common: alignment along one axis -- chaotic, lawful,good, or evil.) The curved iron columns are not part of the floor. Rather, they are protruding from deep, wide grooves in the floor. Anyone familiar with clockwork devices (such as a rogue with ranks in Disable Device) will be able to recognize that the columns actually act as pincers or clamps, though this makes little practical sense as the clamps would only crush the delicate rings at the heart of the device.

Checks:
Knowledge(arcane) or Decipher Script -- recognize that the writing on the rings does not form a coherent message or spell, though it is definetely arcane in nature. If spun, the players may notice that the writing is the same on both sides, and the there is writing along the edge of each thinner ring. A particularly successful check will notice that two rings do seem to form a partial message in one place, so perhaps proper arrangement of the rings will leave a complete message.
Knowledge(planes) or Knowledge(arcane) -- If it hasn't been realized yet, the symbols on the inner ring and talismans represent the fifve elements -- fie, air, earth, water, and the void -- while the outer ring's sigils correspond to the Astral, Ethereal, Shadow, and Dream planes. (Note: Shadow and Dream planes were added by later books, so if you use core-only planes, you may want to drop this down to two sockets.)
Int check -- if the part about a partial message above is revealed, pretty much anyone should able to realize that, if the writing is the same on both sides, and an axis of rotation joins two adjacent rings (with flipping them only changing the "location" of the text on the ring), then there are 2^(N-1) arrangements which might reveal a message, N being the number of rings.
Knowledge(as monster type) -- recognize monster on the column. Each is a typical (if powerful) creature with alignments that are always good, evil, chaotic, or lawful.
Int check or maybe Knowledge (the planes) -- The characters may be entitled to an check to determine that all the creatures on a column share a common alignment (one column, for example, will have creatures which are lawful evil, lawful good, and lawful nuetral.)
Appraise -- though the sharp iron columns and delicate rings beyong make it difficul to get near enough to tell, the gem at the center of the machine is an large, mundane emerald. If anything should happen to the rest of the machine, it would still be worth a small fortune.

History:
the gate was originally created by the wizard Therodocius, a planewalker who had been to the elemental plane numerous times to connect with fabled places of power, and thus increase his own abilities. At one point, Therodocius realized that the processes that naturally vested these locations with elemental magical power could be duplicated in a smaller scale through various rituals. It is in this manner that he created the talisman, drawing a small part of the elemental planes through each of them to power his spells. Therodocius established a small college of elementalist, where he and his disciples delved deeper into the power of the planes. In time, Therodocius grew to know enough about the planes themselves that he could construct the beginning of the Gate, a series of rings to corrodinate and channel the elements drawn by the talismans into a single font of raw magical power. The writings and symbols on the rings allign and separate as the rings rotate. By manipulating them in the correct order, power could be channeled from the elemental planes through an intermediary planes, and to the prime plane. Theodocius realized several configurations channeled the power into "dead ends, and left some sections blank to avoid accidental loss of mystic energy.

After Therodocius' death, his most powerful disciples took possession of the talismans, which they took to calling keys. Each was a specialistic elementalist, with particular knowledge of the plane corresponding to his key. With power divided among the new masteres, each became more secretive, and the enitre college eventually devolved into a cult dedicated to preserving their secrets and drawing more power. It was a later generation that the discovered that the keys not only drew power across dimensional barriers -- which explains the elemental aura taken on by the bearer -- but actually allows one plane to encroach further on another. The sections Theodocius had left blank were in fact references to planar conjunctions that simply don't exist... yet.

Diving headlong into these mysteries, the cult eventually determined how to control these planar shifts, filling in the gaps with new incantations and invocations to control the effects. eventually, they constructed the remainder of the machine, which finally accounted for the outer planes as well as the inner ones. The large iron clamps that flank Theodocius' rings are the only visible part of this complicated control apparatus, the rest being hidden beneath the stone floor. The cult fell to infighting only a few years after the control mechanism was complete, wreaking havoc with the surrounding area as one, then another cult leader shifted the environment to suit his chosen magic. When one tried to remake the world as a utopia by shifting it towards the outer plane of Good, the now mostly-evil cultists were devastated. Reseting the machine, the most powerful surviving cultists fled with the key of his choice, leaving their inferiors to try and rebuild. They never did, and the ruins have been as the players found them for some years now.

The Cult of the Hidden Web in the world:
The cult was by-and-large made of elementalist wizards, as was the college before it. The name "Hidden Web" refers to the web of portals, channels, and lines of magic that connect the planes, and was taken only after the college devolved into a cult. In the later years of the college, more general wizards were valued for their broader insights on the planes, portals, and planar travel. Such "general" wizards were rare, however, as the college was originally founded as a college of elemental specialist, and because the cult did little to attract new members, hording information for themselves. There were a few sorcerors among its ranks, but because their spellcasting ability is derived from their bloodlines, most are not introspective enough to care about the philosophical entries of elemental and planar magic that were so alluring to the other cultists. The cult envied the ability of Incarnates to so thoroughly integrate the power of the outer planes with their own bodies, but the cultists were mainly concerned with the inner, elemental planes, and there is no evidence that they attempted to find a way to apply soul melds or similar magic to channel the those planes. The odd archivist or artificer was prized by the cult for their mechanical aptitude and ability to craft items used to augment rituals and experiments.

Adventure Ideas:
It goes without saying that this was lifted from JEntropy's elemental-relic idea. He has stated that he finds the ideas of auras that provide a bonus to all party members appealing. However, there are a few ideas that occur to me:
* The BBEG is a cleric of a lesser chaotic good deity. His intentions are noble, if misguided, and he is allowed to pursue them by his god. His objective is to shift the prime material plane out of conjuction with the outer plane of evil, essentially cutting evil off at the root. Without the plane of evil to draw power from, he reasons, evil will cease to be a naturally occuring phenomenon. The process of planar shifting is slow, and it's doubtful that more than the planet that the Gate is located on will fully shift towards the outer plane of Good, but that seems like a good start. There will be epic levels of devastation as parts of teh world die off or are replaced by new, non-evil counterparts, but that seems like a sacrifice well worth making.
* Another party of non-good adventures believe that the Gate can be tapped as a location of power. Simply activating the Gate gives the user access to more mystic might than she will realistically need, and they have no interest in "shifting the material plane" one way or another. They just want more powerful fireballs, more spells per day, and a nice aura of impentrable solid shadow. They see the players as overly pessimistic, and standing the way o feasy power. Their leader will be an archivist, who knows about the Gate from ancient elemental treatises, and has been a wise (in self-interested) leader for the bulk of their adventuring career. Other party members may include Shadowcasters, ninja, and wizards, who feel that the gate will augment their abilities. They already have the keys for the Shadow, Dream, Etheral, and Astral planes. If the players leave them alone, they may be content with their power, or they may come seeking more power in the form of the players' keys, or they may wreak until havoc when they try to start the machine with only half the keys.
* Several bands of devils and demons antagonize the party, seeking the keys for themselves. The Gate could be used as a model to create a more powerful planar shifting artifact. That could then be used to create a hellish prime just as well as it could a utopian one, and the elements filling the prime could be re-alligned to favor one side over another in the eternal Blood War. The closer the party gets to unraveling the mystery, the more fiends will take interest.

JEntropy
2007-07-26, 12:31 AM
You gave me a pretty decent idea here for an elemental/planar adventure. (Or at least the capstone to it.) I thought I'd throw it back up in case it would help you, and because work has been really slow today. I assumed talismans that created aura effects based on their element. Each is tied to a plane representing an element: earth, fire, water, wind, void. (These were the five elements used in Rokugan, so I figure it's a chance to dust of the rarely-used plane of Void. I'm pretty sure there's nothing there but Void Genasi.) I also presumed talismans related to the inner non-prime planes: Astral, Ethereal, Shadow and Dream. (Only Astral and Ethereal are core; Shadow and Dream were added later.)

It has been five years since the prefect sent the expedition to the ruins of T'mujan. Five years since they returned bearing news of the strange evil that had befallen the merchants there, and of the plot which they had only just managed to foil with the aid of Fortune more than skill. Five years since they had returned with the talismans, confiscated in the aftermath, which gave each of them powers that grew stranger by the day. Empowered by the sigils etched into their surface -- a flicker of flame, a mountin rising proud above the earth, a whisp of fleeting wind, a crashing wave, and a series of circles that left the impression of a tunnel descending into a deep, inescapable void -- the underlings had since risen to become the prefect's favored guard, then abandonned him altogether. More and more they had become driven, drawn on by the lure of a doom that was greater than the one to which they had been born.

Now it draws them here, to the small, circular chamber at the heart of these ruins, and the small machine at its center....

The Gate
The small machine, known through tertiary sources (the only source that remain in the current age) only as "the Gate" is the most important relic of an ancient cult (or guild or civilization, as the DM sees fit) of powerful wizards. It consists of a series of cocentric silver rings, each attached its neighbors like a gyroscope, with a brilliant, green gem at the center. Two such rings are wider and more platter-like than the others, each with several shallow sockets and arcane writing etched along its surface. The delicate aparatus is surrounded by four curved columns of black iron, rising like stalagmites from the floor.

The gate, powered by several planar keys (the players talismans), allowed the Cult of the Hidden Web to draw on tremendous elemental power, travel to the planes, and even channel raw elemental power into auras. See History for more.

Further inspection by the players will reveal:
The writing does not appear to be done by a single hand, or even in a single language; even, flowing, finely etch scipt is interrupted by sharp, sigil-like marks crudely scratch into the silver, then continues on around the circle. (Decipher Script or Knowledge (arcane) checks of an appropriate level will reveal that these are, in fact, not the same language. In fact, it is a series of mystical invocation in draconic, sylvan, and infernal, with the latter languages being written over and around the former. They do not appear to form a coherent message or spell.)

The five sockets on the inner large ring have symbols corresponding to each of the five talisman's in the party's possession. The outer large ring has four sockets marked with arcane sigils.

The columns are decorated with line drawings of various mythical figures: a fiend wreathed in flame, a winged angel bearing a sword, a hideous monster with three mouths and a multitude of small limbs running down his belly, a clockwork man whose pose suggests nothing particular at all. (When the players see any of the etchings, have them role an appropriate knowledge check to recognize any of the cratures as Archons, demons, devils, or modrons. Without much prompting, they should be able to figure out that the creatures on any given column share only one thing in common: alignment along one axis -- chaotic, lawful,good, or evil.) The curved iron columns are not part of the floor. Rather, they are protruding from deep, wide grooves in the floor. Anyone familiar with clockwork devices (such as a rogue with ranks in Disable Device) will be able to recognize that the columns actually act as pincers or clamps, though this makes little practical sense as the clamps would only crush the delicate rings at the heart of the device.

Checks:
Knowledge(arcane) or Decipher Script -- recognize that the writing on the rings does not form a coherent message or spell, though it is definetely arcane in nature. If spun, the players may notice that the writing is the same on both sides, and the there is writing along the edge of each thinner ring. A particularly successful check will notice that two rings do seem to form a partial message in one place, so perhaps proper arrangement of the rings will leave a complete message.
Knowledge(planes) or Knowledge(arcane) -- If it hasn't been realized yet, the symbols on the inner ring and talismans represent the fifve elements -- fie, air, earth, water, and the void -- while the outer ring's sigils correspond to the Astral, Ethereal, Shadow, and Dream planes. (Note: Shadow and Dream planes were added by later books, so if you use core-only planes, you may want to drop this down to two sockets.)
Int check -- if the part about a partial message above is revealed, pretty much anyone should able to realize that, if the writing is the same on both sides, and an axis of rotation joins two adjacent rings (with flipping them only changing the "location" of the text on the ring), then there are 2^(N-1) arrangements which might reveal a message, N being the number of rings.
Knowledge(as monster type) -- recognize monster on the column. Each is a typical (if powerful) creature with alignments that are always good, evil, chaotic, or lawful.
Int check or maybe Knowledge (the planes) -- The characters may be entitled to an check to determine that all the creatures on a column share a common alignment (one column, for example, will have creatures which are lawful evil, lawful good, and lawful nuetral.)
Appraise -- though the sharp iron columns and delicate rings beyong make it difficul to get near enough to tell, the gem at the center of the machine is an large, mundane emerald. If anything should happen to the rest of the machine, it would still be worth a small fortune.

History:
the gate was originally created by the wizard Therodocius, a planewalker who had been to the elemental plane numerous times to connect with fabled places of power, and thus increase his own abilities. At one point, Therodocius realized that the processes that naturally vested these locations with elemental magical power could be duplicated in a smaller scale through various rituals. It is in this manner that he created the talisman, drawing a small part of the elemental planes through each of them to power his spells. Therodocius established a small college of elementalist, where he and his disciples delved deeper into the power of the planes. In time, Therodocius grew to know enough about the planes themselves that he could construct the beginning of the Gate, a series of rings to corrodinate and channel the elements drawn by the talismans into a single font of raw magical power. The writings and symbols on the rings allign and separate as the rings rotate. By manipulating them in the correct order, power could be channeled from the elemental planes through an intermediary planes, and to the prime plane. Theodocius realized several configurations channeled the power into "dead ends, and left some sections blank to avoid accidental loss of mystic energy.

After Therodocius' death, his most powerful disciples took possession of the talismans, which they took to calling keys. Each was a specialistic elementalist, with particular knowledge of the plane corresponding to his key. With power divided among the new masteres, each became more secretive, and the enitre college eventually devolved into a cult dedicated to preserving their secrets and drawing more power. It was a later generation that the discovered that the keys not only drew power across dimensional barriers -- which explains the elemental aura taken on by the bearer -- but actually allows one plane to encroach further on another. The sections Theodocius had left blank were in fact references to planar conjunctions that simply don't exist... yet.

Diving headlong into these mysteries, the cult eventually determined how to control these planar shifts, filling in the gaps with new incantations and invocations to control the effects. eventually, they constructed the remainder of the machine, which finally accounted for the outer planes as well as the inner ones. The large iron clamps that flank Theodocius' rings are the only visible part of this complicated control apparatus, the rest being hidden beneath the stone floor. The cult fell to infighting only a few years after the control mechanism was complete, wreaking havoc with the surrounding area as one, then another cult leader shifted the environment to suit his chosen magic. When one tried to remake the world as a utopia by shifting it towards the outer plane of Good, the now mostly-evil cultists were devastated. Reseting the machine, the most powerful surviving cultists fled with the key of his choice, leaving their inferiors to try and rebuild. They never did, and the ruins have been as the players found them for some years now.

The Cult of the Hidden Web in the world:
The cult was by-and-large made of elementalist wizards, as was the college before it. The name "Hidden Web" refers to the web of portals, channels, and lines of magic that connect the planes, and was taken only after the college devolved into a cult. In the later years of the college, more general wizards were valued for their broader insights on the planes, portals, and planar travel. Such "general" wizards were rare, however, as the college was originally founded as a college of elemental specialist, and because the cult did little to attract new members, hording information for themselves. There were a few sorcerors among its ranks, but because their spellcasting ability is derived from their bloodlines, most are not introspective enough to care about the philosophical entries of elemental and planar magic that were so alluring to the other cultists. The cult envied the ability of Incarnates to so thoroughly integrate the power of the outer planes with their own bodies, but the cultists were mainly concerned with the inner, elemental planes, and there is no evidence that they attempted to find a way to apply soul melds or similar magic to channel the those planes. The odd archivist or artificer was prized by the cult for their mechanical aptitude and ability to craft items used to augment rituals and experiments.

Adventure Ideas:
It goes without saying that this was lifted from JEntropy's elemental-relic idea. He has stated that he finds the ideas of auras that provide a bonus to all party members appealing. However, there are a few ideas that occur to me:
* The BBEG is a cleric of a lesser chaotic good deity. His intentions are noble, if misguided, and he is allowed to pursue them by his god. His objective is to shift the prime material plane out of conjuction with the outer plane of evil, essentially cutting evil off at the root. Without the plane of evil to draw power from, he reasons, evil will cease to be a naturally occuring phenomenon. The process of planar shifting is slow, and it's doubtful that more than the planet that the Gate is located on will fully shift towards the outer plane of Good, but that seems like a good start. There will be epic levels of devastation as parts of teh world die off or are replaced by new, non-evil counterparts, but that seems like a sacrifice well worth making.
* Another party of non-good adventures believe that the Gate can be tapped as a location of power. Simply activating the Gate gives the user access to more mystic might than she will realistically need, and they have no interest in "shifting the material plane" one way or another. They just want more powerful fireballs, more spells per day, and a nice aura of impentrable solid shadow. They see the players as overly pessimistic, and standing the way o feasy power. Their leader will be an archivist, who knows about the Gate from ancient elemental treatises, and has been a wise (in self-interested) leader for the bulk of their adventuring career. Other party members may include Shadowcasters, ninja, and wizards, who feel that the gate will augment their abilities. They already have the keys for the Shadow, Dream, Etheral, and Astral planes. If the players leave them alone, they may be content with their power, or they may come seeking more power in the form of the players' keys, or they may wreak until havoc when they try to start the machine with only half the keys.
* Several bands of devils and demons antagonize the party, seeking the keys for themselves. The Gate could be used as a model to create a more powerful planar shifting artifact. That could then be used to create a hellish prime just as well as it could a utopian one, and the elements filling the prime could be re-alligned to favor one side over another in the eternal Blood War. The closer the party gets to unraveling the mystery, the more fiends will take interest.


Wow. So much good stuff here, I don't even know where to start. How about with a thank you :)

The CG Wizard attempting to realign the planes was a little different from my initial idea, which makes it intriguing, but what do you guys think of this:

Our wicked awesome BBEG is probably the most powerful mortal on the planet. His ambitions for apotheosis are denied by the gods, so he has decided to destroy the universe and remake it in his own way, via this doomsday device (nod to Citizen Joe for this one). For whatever reason, he doesn't want to die, doesn't want to pursue lichdom, and doesn't like being denied deification. The act of destroying and remaking the world won't give him what he wants, but shows the gods that he is not only on their level, but that they're not as powerful as they think they are.

Important elements of this would be that the gods cannot directly interfere in the material plane, only through conduits (otherwise they'd all go and crush him). Moreover, the BBEG has manifested a shield against scrying, so the gods aren't sure where he is within the world; therefore, as long as he acts through pawns, none of their conduits will see him, and his location remains hidden.

Gives me a great opportunity for some deity-based intervention on the party, as they obviously don't want the BBEG's plan to work (even the evil gods), though this will not be overhanded (only in extreme cases will the gods intervene, since there's no accounting for the party's religion, and you can even toy with evil gods stepping in to augment good heroes, and other alignment-based-oppositions).

I like your gate idea, as well, and may make that part of the game. I'm going to blatantly steal an idea I saw (somewhere? I can't find it in a cursory search) which was to have an inverted tower created by an old wizard -- basically one that was subterranean. The gate could be at the deepest level, with all manner of traps and defenses to guard it and said BBEG.

And, for the icing on the cake, how do you hide this tower? Put a boring, podunk town on top of it. :smallbiggrin: Home, sweet home. Though this blatantly steals from Buffy, so I might need to do something else...