The One Ring [3.5/PF] |Help|

[WeeFreeMen]

Evening playground.
As usual, Ill be running my weekend 3 shot campaign as my last one just ended.
This time around I wish it to be Lord of the Rings influenced by way of "The One Ring"

Now the BBEG will be a Lich, and the Ring its Phalecy.
However, Im not sure how to build the ring the way it functions from the movie.

I wish it to be Indestructable to Melee/Elemental damage so a strong material used to craft it.
I need it to cause the wearer to be com-pulsed to obsession (Maybe even Insanity?)
and lastly I need it to cause the wearer to go invisible but perhaps also activate a ward of some kind that discerns the wearers location.

The premise for the players is that they have 2d10+5 days to get the ring to Mt Mood (clever, amirite? ;p ) and destroy it before the VERY POWERFUL lich re-materializes.

tl;dr: Looking for a way to simulate the effects and durability of The One Ring from LotR Trilogy

[Sinfonian]

Could probably do this relatively easily by creating a custom intelligent item with a really high Ego score that gives it a use-activated/continuous greater invisibility effect. Anything needed to discern location or other effects could simply be a spell that could have been previously cast upon the phylactery (like the spells Xykon put on his).

[faceroll]

Artifacts can't be destroyed by mortal means- make it an artifact!

[Galsiah]

Disjunction can "destroy" artifacts, and mortals can cast it

[nedz]

It should probably do Spirit Walk as per Spirit Shamen rather than Invisibility.
To a simple hobbit they appear the same, but to incorporeal undead (wraiths on weathertop for instance) it is somewhat different.

[Zeofar]

For durability, do whatever you want. You don't have to use prewritten in-game mechanics if you're the DM. Only the things that you say destroy it destroy it, and you can change it at will if you think some plan is clever enough.

[Beelzebub1111]

With artifacts of doom, the best thing that you can do is Plot Device it. Craft it from Phlebotinum

[ajkkjjk52]

For durability, do whatever you want. You don't have to use prewritten in-game mechanics if you're the DM. Only the things that you say destroy it destroy it, and you can change it at will if you think some plan is clever enough.

Amen! Rules-as-written are for players; GMs do what they want. And if the players ask for an explanation, "A wizard did it!"

[Frosty]

Also, using it makes it easier for certain people to Scry on you...

[blackjack217]

or you could make it so that if it is destroyed it reforms next to the BBEG tell them upfront though. Or just make it of the most powerful material in existence railroad tracks.
I kid I kid

[grimbold]

adamantite might work
but remember that you dont HAVE to strictly follow the rules
you can just be like
"All right, so this ring makes you invisible and you can't ever get detected by it. It can not be destroyed except by throwing it into mount mood (very clever) and you become more attached to it every day and for you it appears to raise 10,000 gp in value every day (aka you want to keep it more desperately every day) but to others it stays the same."
or something like that
dopn't worry overmuch about game mechanics.


also am i the only one who upon starting D&D was like, "dude ima be a halfling and get a ring of invisibility and be awesome man!", and then you discovered that rings of invisibility arent particularly special?

[Tokuhara]

I like the idea of it being an artifact or an intelligent item, but why not both? The Ring actually "spoke" to Frodo, Gollum, and Bilbo in their heads, so it could be truly creepy.

And I agree with the Spirit Walk spell thingy.

As for "indestructible," I suggest giving it ungodly DR and immunity to elements. However, the special magma of Mt. Mood, where it was crafted, literally erases these immunities.

As for the bond, I almost suggest giving a Sanity-meter from Cthulhu, so that the longer you carry it, the more demented you become

[LibraryOgre]

I'd make it an intelligent, High Ego, Ring of Greater Invisibility, able to communicate through Semi-Empathy, with a lot of functions as a high-end Ring of Wizardry, but only functioning for someone who is attuned to it (either able to defeat its Ego or in line with it).

Thus, it's very powerful, but the player's can't use it, save as a ring of greater invisibility... which means they expose themselves to control.

[Devmaar]

I always thought the ring's 'invisibility' was more like etherealness. So when you put it on, you become invisible to most people, but the Ringwraiths (incorporeal spirits in ghost-touch robes) are actually able to interact with you in a way they couldn't before.

Also explains why the Ringwraiths are just a cloak full of shadows normally but can be seen fully by someone wearing the ring.

[Susano-wo]

I third or fouth or whatever the "just make is indestructible aside from X means" side. ALso, I htink everyone's pretty much covered all the special qualities it exhibits, though I'd phrase the scrying as something like"When you wear it, the maker gets scry bonuses, and can imbue them in spirit linked minions."

And I really like the way Mark's idea hand;es the whole powerful artifact, but most people cannot utilize it aspect.
also, seconded, the etherialness idea vs greater invis.

I would, however disagree with the 'let the players know what it does' thing. If the players want to use the powerful artifact of the evil overlord, let em figure it out.
That is, I would not obfuscate things, or have people who should be knowledgible ignorant, but I would not specifically give them the rundown on how it works.

[hamishspence]

Biggest difference is that people wearing the Ring can still be bumped into- they're not quite like something on the Ethereal Plane would be.

The Wraiths as incorporeal is an interesting idea though.

Gandalf describes Frodo as "half in the wraith world" when he wears the ring.

[WeeFreeMen]

To all who replied thank you very much, sorry for not being able to respong earlier. School and Work got in the way, however, I appreciate all the advice.

So from your guys' advice Im going to do the following:
1) As far as Invulnerable goes it is made of "Plot-o-mantium" and only the fires of Mt. Mood can remove its resistances. (DR 200/- | E-Resists of 200) and is an Artifact of "The Great War" and is a Major Intelligent Item with an Ego score equal to Wears Cha (score, not bonus) + 4 (This way it plays on the players Ego as well, which can be exemplified by their Cha score).

2) Spells cast upon it allow: -User must make a Will save upon putting the ring on or be susceptible to a Scry Spell. -Upon possession of the ring the owner must make daily will saves or be put under the Lesser, Insanity spell. It will function as obsessive and progressively get worse. -Upon seeing the ring in plain sight, observers must make a will save or be put under the "Command" spell and try to retrieve it for 1d4 rounds. -Upon using the rings powers by putting it on the wearer is affected by a Spirit Walk spell

Am I missing anything? :]

[Logalmier]

Disjunction can "destroy" artifacts, and mortals can cast it

Make it a major artifact then. After all, there is only one left.

[Gorgondantess]

Remember that the ring's effects weren't limited to invisibility & all that crazy insanity stuff.
Simply clutching the ring on his chest- not wearing it- Frodo became powerful such that his words made Gollum fall to the ground and cringe and grovel. Wearing the one ring, Sauron was able to stop men (and not the short lived men, but the powerful ones that Aragorn is descended from) and high elves in their tracks simply from being there.
It should definitely grant a high bonus to charisma (+8, maybe) and at-will powers like suggestion as an SLA and fear auras.

[Devmaar]

Also don't forget that just carrying the ring severely weakened Frodo. That looks to me like negative levels to non-good characters for using it

[olthar]

The power of the ring was not invisibility. The ring's power was domination. Sauron created the ring to control the other rings (9 for men, 7 for dwarves, 3 for elves).

In the hands of those too weak to actually dominate those around it, the ring would manifest this power as a really strong suggestion that the person was not there, thereby dominating their mind. Presumably, if someone with the power of gandalf, elrond, galadriel, and maybe even aragorn had worn the ring, then they wouldn't have turned invisible. Instead they may have had the ability to command others (never quite understood exactly how this mechanic of the ring worked since Sauron had it for a while and didn't have the ability to command others at will).

The only reason this matters is that it keeps the ring's power constant if you use that mechanic. Therefore, if the person succumbs to the ring's power (and then passes some ridic power check that pretty much only gamebreakingly powerful characters should be able to pass) then the ring should give them some sort of ability to command others. Otherwise, all that putting the ring on would do is keep a constant suggestion of "I'm not here" going, which is essentially the same as invisibility.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I'd make a Will save daily, with DC starting out at 20 and increasing by two every day. Failure indicates the individual has become addicted to the ring. While addicted, the individual sees the ring as his most precious possession, and will not willingly relinquish it. Forcibly removing it from him forces him to consider the individual(s) to be Hostile, and should act appropriately, and will use lethal force to regain possession of the item. The individual who took it also needs to make a Will save to avoid addiction.

[Skjaldbakka]

I'd let disjunction work. After all, it is only a 17-20% chance that it will actually work, and it still gets its Will save, which as an uber artifact would probably be decent.

Of course, succeeding would be highly detrimental to the caster, as they risk losing all spellcasting ability (small chance, DC 25 Will as a high level caster isn't bad), and are almost guaranteed to get turned to paste by some associated being with divine rank.

As opposed to destroying it the "right way".

That and there are so many options at a high level caster's fingertips to deal with an item like this that you shouldn't really run a 'destroy the one ring' type plot as a high level campaign. After all, they say Gandalf was a 6th level wizard.

[turkishproverb]

Simple solution to disjunct?

You successfully unmagic the item, but in the process the malevolent force and power in it are RELEASED rather than destroyed. Congrats, you've just empowered Sauron.