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View Full Version : Homebrewed item: "breadcrumbs"



PandaPhobia
2017-08-27, 02:26 PM
So I'm running a heavily combat oriented campaign, with a fairly straightforward and controlled path. However, I needed a way to introduce some social elements into it as well. Here is what I came up with: a magic gem, given to the players at the beginning of the campaign. When activated, it would produce a spectral orb. Every once in a while, the charecters would have to activate it again, producing another spectral orb that would link up to the last. In times of danger, or whenever they needed to rest, the players could teleport back to town with the gem. There is a catch, however. If the link between orbs is broken (either by a solid object or being delt 10 dmg), or the orbs are broken (either by being cut through with a silver weapon or by being felt 25 dmg),then the link does not work and the gem explodes, dealing 3d4 force dmg in a 20 ft radius.

Please try to give me ways this could fail and/or ways to make it better.
Thanks!

rferries
2017-08-27, 04:51 PM
So I'm running a heavily combat oriented campaign, with a fairly straightforward and controlled path. However, I needed a way to introduce some social elements into it as well. Here is what I came up with: a magic gem, given to the players at the beginning of the campaign. When activated, it would produce a spectral orb. Every once in a while, the charecters would have to activate it again, producing another spectral orb that would link up to the last. In times of danger, or whenever they needed to rest, the players could teleport back to town with the gem. There is a catch, however. If the link between orbs is broken (either by a solid object or being delt 10 dmg), or the orbs are broken (either by being cut through with a silver weapon or by being felt 25 dmg),then the link does not work and the gem explodes, dealing 3d4 force dmg in a 20 ft radius.

Please try to give me ways this could fail and/or ways to make it better.
Thanks!

This is a cool concept. The problem is, how will you determine the chance that it will fail? 5% chance each day that a beer/deer/falling tree passes through the links, breaking the chain? Roll to see if a random encounter (i.e. band of orcs) runs into one of the orbs and decides to destroy it? Or will this always work 100% of the time, except on those occasions when you as the DM decides to make it a plot point (i.e. "You try to teleport back to town, but your nemesis has destroyed the orbs/re-routed them back to his dungeon").

Otherwise a very cool concept!

jqavins
2017-08-29, 02:13 PM
What he said, and more. The party only needs to go around a corner with a building in the way and BOOM!. If you make the mistake of creating an orb indoors, the moment you step outside the party takes 3d4.

So, I'd eliminate the solid object between orbs restriction, and give the orbs more HP.

How about the ability to deliberately dispel an orb. That way the party can jump, orb by orb, further back along their path. But they can't use it to jump forward, since the orbs had to be dispelled along the way.

Also, how does this add a social element?

rferries
2017-08-29, 04:20 PM
What he said, and more. The party only needs to go around a corner with a building in the way and BOOM!. If you make the mistake of creating an orb indoors, the moment you step outside the party takes 3d4.

So, I'd eliminate the solid object between orbs restriction, and give the orbs more HP.

How about the ability to deliberately dispel an orb. That way the party can jump, orb by orb, further back along their path. But they can't use it to jump forward, since the orbs had to be dispelled along the way.

Also, how does this add a social element?

I imagine it could be rewritten that the party could set the lines between the orbs when they first activate them, and that the lines need not be straight (e.g. they could "unspool" the line from an orb as they carry it away from the last orb, around corners/up hills etc.). Either that or the orbs can be made to levitate high above treelines etc (to maintain direct line of effect) and materialise parties on the ground directly below each orb.

Re: dispelling - that makes for a cool pursuit scenarion, where the party is desperately retreating from orb to orb and smashing each one to prevent a monster from catching up to them...

Presumably the social aspect comes from having easy access to a town, where they can interact with NPCs/questgivers and unwind in a tavern rather than spending all their time fighting in the dungeon. Obviously travel time to town can be handwaved anyways by the DM but the orbs provide a rationale.

I will say the orbs seem like a pretty "high-magic" solution; in a setting where the party has access to a set I feel like there would already be orbs/portals set up by local governments (except on a frontier). Maybe it would be easier to just give the PCs a collapsible flying vehicle, or a helm of teleportation for the full party... though obviously these have different flavour.

jqavins
2017-08-29, 05:57 PM
I will say the orbs seem like a pretty "high-magic" solution; in a setting where the party has access to a set I feel like there would already be orbs/portals set up by local governments (except on a frontier). Maybe it would be easier to just give the PCs a collapsible flying vehicle, or a helm of teleportation for the full party... though obviously these have different flavour.
In one of my favorite sandbox worlds, the party had what looked like a flying carpet but was actually a Teleport carpet. A big one, so our horses fit.

rferries
2017-08-29, 09:24 PM
In one of my favorite sandbox worlds, the party had what looked like a flying carpet but was actually a Teleport carpet. A big one, so our horses fit.

Ha! That's a nice play on the trope.

PandaPhobia
2017-08-30, 10:54 PM
This is a cool concept. The problem is, how will you determine the chance that it will fail? 5% chance each day that a beer/deer/falling tree passes through the links, breaking the chain? Roll to see if a random encounter (i.e. band of orcs) runs into one of the orbs and decides to destroy it? Or will this always work 100% of the time, except on those occasions when you as the DM decides to make it a plot point (i.e. "You try to teleport back to town, but your nemesis has destroyed the orbs/re-routed them back to his dungeon").


Otherwise a very cool concept!

I'm not anticipating that that will be a problem, because most of that campaign is set in a dungeon, so it's fairly well controlled. However, I am planning on cutting off this ability with something like a rock slide partway through the first half of the campaign so they will move on. Also, I should mention that the breadcrumbs only work one-way; they will have to walk all the way back. And as I am putting a summoning room before the rock collapse, the rooms will keep filling up. Thanks for the feedback!

PandaPhobia
2017-08-30, 10:58 PM
What he said, and more. The party only needs to go around a corner with a building in the way and BOOM!. If you make the mistake of creating an orb indoors, the moment you step outside the party takes 3d4.

So, I'd eliminate the solid object between orbs restriction, and give the orbs more HP.

How about the ability to deliberately dispel an orb. That way the party can jump, orb by orb, further back along their path. But they can't use it to jump forward, since the orbs had to be dispelled along the way.

Also, how does this add a social element?

It adds a social element by giving the players the ability to go back and rest up when they need too, interacting with all of the NPCS in the town they start in.

PandaPhobia
2017-08-30, 11:03 PM
I imagine it could be rewritten that the party could set the lines between the orbs when they first activate them, and that the lines need not be straight (e.g. they could "unspool" the line from an orb as they carry it away from the last orb, around corners/up hills etc.). Either that or the orbs can be made to levitate high above treelines etc (to maintain direct line of effect) and materialise parties on the ground directly below each orb.

Re: dispelling - that makes for a cool pursuit scenarion, where the party is desperately retreating from orb to orb and smashing each one to prevent a monster from catching up to them...

Presumably the social aspect comes from having easy access to a town, where they can interact with NPCs/questgivers and unwind in a tavern rather than spending all their time fighting in the dungeon. Obviously travel time to town can be handwaved anyways by the DM but the orbs provide a rationale.

I will say the orbs seem like a pretty "high-magic" solution; in a setting where the party has access to a set I feel like there would already be orbs/portals set up by local governments (except on a frontier). Maybe it would be easier to just give the PCs a collapsible flying vehicle, or a helm of teleportation for the full party... though obviously these have different flavour.

The campaign is set in a pretty remote location, so this seemed like an OK solution. The orb connections do bend around stuff, but only to a certain distance, and they can be broken by a complete blockage, i.e. a tunnel collapse.