[Eberron] Rezzing Siberys

[Djibriel]

Okay. So Siberys is this dragon that exploded into an asteroid belt. Siberys Dragonshards, small fragments of these asteroids, come tumbling down from the heavens every now and then. They're a bit pricey, but for adventurers of decent level easy enough to come by.

Assuming that this creation myth of the Eberron world is true, what's stopping anybody from, accidentaly or not, casting a revival spell powerful enough to restore Siberys? True Ressurection has the limit of 10 years dead per caster leve, but surely it can't be too difficult to craft an epic spell which doesn't care about the amount of time the deceased has been gone?

Btw;, this was just a thought I had. I personally think that Eberron works best for low-level games where stories like this are just that - stories.

[Project_Mayhem]

That may or may not have actually happened though. It's a creation myth.

[jcsw]

but surely it can't be too difficult to craft an epic spell which doesn't care about the amount of time the deceased has been gone?

It is when the maximum NPC level ever mentioned in an Eberron book is like, what, 14?

[Miraqariftsky]

Hmm, methinks that would upset the cosmic balance. How? Siberys comes back alive, seeks vengeance against Khyber. Khyber would then fight back but Eberron, caught in between as she is (and even were she to turn against Khyber) would be battered from both sides. Eberron, in short order, shall be torn asunder...

...at least that's how I reckon it.

[Djibriel]

I actually chose Siberys because it's the only dragon that would not tear the entire world in half when it would start to move. If you'd just cast Super True Ressurection II on a Siberys Dragonshard and nothing else, Khyber'd just be deep, dark soil and caves.

[vegetalss4]

the fact that the highest level spell caster is a mad wizard that only have 18 levels?
and just calling Siberys a dragons is a mayor understatement, when he/she/it/they lived siberys where a being like that where (almost) equal with the being whose sleeping body is the world and neither Khyber nor Eberron are dead khyber is pinned by Eberron and Eberron is just sleeping. So who can say how it would be if Siberys where suddenly alive? more like a third world than like a big creature.

[FoE]

You're speaking as though Siberys were a normal creature. The three dragons are more like the reality of Eberron divided into three chunks. A simple spell ain't going to cut it.

[daggaz]

He did say epic spell..

[FoE]

He did say epic spell..

Not enough gun. Think bigger.

[Tacoma]

But then your supply of Dragonshards might dry up for whatever reason.

A better choice would be to create a very simple unmanned space station that mines the asteroid field, using the non-valuable minerals to create casings in which the dragonshards are loaded, and anointed with the station's supply of Feather Fall ointment. Drop the pods at the perfect time to land exactly in your front yard - hey, it's magic - and you basically just harvest 300-pound kegs of magic crystals every day.

Since you can just fly up there with a Necklace of Adaptation I really don't see how this space station would cost more than a hundred grand.

[Da Beast]

the fact that the highest level spell caster is a mad wizard that only have 18 levels?
and just calling Siberys a dragons is a mayor understatement, when he/she/it/they lived siberys where a being like that where (almost) equal with the being whose sleeping body is the world and neither Khyber nor Eberron are dead khyber is pinned by Eberron and Eberron is just sleeping. So who can say how it would be if Siberys where suddenly alive? more like a third world than like a big creature.

Oalian has 20 lvls of druid. Also, I'm pretty sure that in one of the books a Rakshasa is mentioned who has enough levels in sorcerer that when combined with his racial casting ability makes him an epic sorcerer. Kind of irrelevant though as raising Siberys from the dead is pretty low on the Lords of dust's list of priorities.

[Waspinator]

But then your supply of Dragonshards might dry up for whatever reason.

A better choice would be to create a very simple unmanned space station that mines the asteroid field, using the non-valuable minerals to create casings in which the dragonshards are loaded, and anointed with the station's supply of Feather Fall ointment. Drop the pods at the perfect time to land exactly in your front yard - hey, it's magic - and you basically just harvest 300-pound kegs of magic crystals every day.

Since you can just fly up there with a Necklace of Adaptation I really don't see how this space station would cost more than a hundred grand.

Or just pay a Warforged to do it.

[olelia]

Not enough gun. Think bigger.

I think you underestimate the power of epic spells .

[FoE]

I think you underestimate the power of epic spells .

And I think you underestimate the power of the Dark Side.

[Tacoma]

I find your lack of Epic Spells ... disturbing.

[Nerd-o-rama]

This would be an entirely plot-driven effect, not mechanics-driven. Siberys would effectively be a god in any other setting, so reassembling him is going to take some work, if it would even work at all (it's quite likely the creation myth is just that).

If someone managed it though, I guarantee you, hilarity would ensue.

[Tacoma]

An interesting thought.

Destruction is always easier than creation. Imagine the difference in difficulty between snapping a twig and the effort the tree took to grow it. Or smashing a wine glass vs. the effort spent to make it.

Anyway, there's a reason healing spells restore less damage than harmful spells inflict. And resurrection is very difficult indeed. In order to bring someone back to life as a zombie, you need a fifth level Cleric right? But all you need is a first level Fighter to stab the subject dead again.

Point is, this dragon is a huge supergod. Eberron is sleeping. Can you use an epic spell to kill Eberron? Then it would take a more powerful epic spell to resurrect Siberys. But if you cannot use an epic spell to kill Eberron, there is no chance of resurrecting Siberys.

EDIT: Forgot a word.

[olelia]

And I think you underestimate the power of the Dark Side.

The Dark Side doesn't animate planets...at will >.>

Spoiler

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I figure this makes more sense here.

The contest is simple, Get this spell down to a reasonable level, as well as improving it beyond the basics here.

Seed Used: Animate

Earth is 1,083,206,246,123,080,894,852 m3
This is translated to 1.0832062461230809e+21 or 1,083,206,246,123,080,900,000 Cubic Feet
1,083,206,246,123,080,900,000 shall be rounded up to 1.1e+21 for simplicity.

(1000-20)/10 = 98
(1,100,000,000,000,000,000,000-1000)/100 = 10,999,999,999,999,999,990
10,999,999,999,999,999,990 + 98 +25
10,999,999,999,999,999,990 + 123

11,000,000,000,000,000,113
This is your base spell craft DC. Make it into a reasonably learnable Spell

And the answer

Spoiler

Show

11,000,000,000,000,000,113
All right, I need 647,058,823,529,411,772 9th level spell slots to mitigate.

I have a Wizard. All spells have a final spellcraft DC 0 (unless the DM sets a minimum DC) and so have no research time or cost.

He doesn't start with that spell straightaway. Using the method I outlined in a thread on the rules forums, he arranges to have 64 Called Couatls under his command at all times (warm up time: 20 days, maintinable indefinately; we only need 40 of them, for a 12 day warmup time, if we're in a hurry). He then starts Permanently Summoning Solars (Base DC 14, +42 for CR 23, *5 Permanent, DC 280 before Mitigation - and with 64 Couatls, we can get a mitigation of -448, so DC 0, unless the DM sets some minimum), twice per day. Each Solar Summoned Permanently can give him 9th level spell slots for later castings (more than he has Epic slots each day), at a mitigation factor of -17 each. After nine days (18 Solars Permanently Summoned, -306 in mitigation factors), we can safely drop the Couatls. After another eight days (16 more Solars, 34 total; note that we're on day 37), we research a new Epic spell (again, DC 0) that Permanently Summons two Solars (DC 560, I think, but with 34 Solars, he has -578 from extra spell slots, so it's DC 0). Thereafter, he's getting 4 Solars a day (two castings, two Solars each time). After four days (day 41), he has 16 more solars, for a total of 50 (which provide a mitigation factor of -850). At this point, he researches another DC 0 Epic spell, which Permanently Summons three Solars (DC 840, I think, before mitigation - but we can mitigate up to DC 850 down to 0, just with spell slots, so....). Which he then switches over to. So he now gets 6 Solars a day. Three days later (day 44), he has 18 more Solars, for a total of 68 (which provide a mitigation factor of -1156). You can see where I'm going with this.

Putting some nifties into a spreadsheet, He's making the target mitigation DC on day 366, with 6.47756*10^17 Solars, providing a mitigation DC of 1.10118*10^19. At which point, he can mitigate the base DC down to 0.

At all points, he's reasonably well protected (army of Called or Summoned critters, still has some spell slots to use in personal defense, not that he's adventuring).

Note that researching the base spell would take 1.98*10^18 days, without mitigation factors. In a little over a year of dedicated work, he can arrange to do so, for no GP or XP cost.

Enough cheese?

[Tadanori Oyama]

Could totally destory Eberron's social structure, if not the land itself.

I mean, I'd think when you "raise" Siberys that the other parts (ie the Shards) would either vanish or lose their power. Since Siberys shards are used to enhance Dragonmarks, where's that leave the Houses?

For that matter, where does that leave the Dragonmarked, especially the Heirs of Siberys?

You know I'm starting to like this idea.

[Ealstan]

The last Eberron game I was in actually covered this. Only it was the BBEG (Rakshasa) doing an epic spell to Resurrect Khyber, and thus usher in the age of Darkness or some such. That was a bit tough.

[Inyssius Tor]

The Dark Side doesn't animate planets...at will >.>

Yes, but where's a guy going to find six hundred and forty-seven quadrillion solars in Eberron?

[Devils_Advocate]

Assuming that this creation myth of the Eberron world is true, what's stopping anybody from, accidentaly or not, casting a revival spell powerful enough to restore Siberys?

Lack of caster levels. That's not to say that Eberron has zero epic casters (Obviously, the vast majority of people don't know about them, but high power level often comes with an equivalent amount of secrecy in Eberron), nor that some mad wizard with the right highly advanced eldritch machine couldn't get the job done. It's just that obviously no one who wants to revive Siberys has the means to do so. If they did, they'd have done it already!

But I'm guessing that you didn't mean to ask a real question so much as say "Hey, look at this crazy idea I had."

Yes, it's an interesting idea. It could make for a good plot for an Eberron campaign that's gone on into epic.

I mean, I'd think when you "raise" Siberys that the other parts (ie the Shards) would either vanish or lose their power.

Seems like they'd become even more powerful, if they didn't disappear, since they'd then have a living source of magic. Not that the power imbalance created as a result of that would necessarily be better for anyone than the shards losing power.

But I suppose that they probably would disappear. Putting an eldritch dragon-god back together and reviving it seems like it would be easier than reviving it without putting it back together.

[Waspinator]

Trying to bring part of the world to life is not going to end well. I'd say you'd probably wind up having to break out these rules:
http://www.brokensolaris.com/Books/MemoryofSolaris.htm
A post-Eberron apocalypse setting could be neat, though.