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ghost_warlock
2009-08-17, 12:18 AM
Taking a break from work on his homebrew campaign setting, a buddy of mine is thinking about running an evil campaign with a somewhat different angle than usual. In the campaign, the PCs will be powerful entities that came close to conquering/destroying the world in ancient times but were defeated and imprisoned. A millenia later the wards that kept them imprisoned have failed, or were broken, allowing the PCs to begin their reign of terror once again - although in a greatly weakend state.

Player characters will be created as 6th level gestalts using the 32-pt. buy method for attributes.

In addition to possibly using homebrew weapons of legacy that the characters will be searching for as they seek to reclaim their former power/glory, the characters will also be drawing some of their power from an atifact they encountered long ago. This is the current draft of the artifact being considered:


The Voidgate
Noone yet living knows when the Voidgate was constructed, or who contructed it. So far as anyone knows, it may have always existed. Its location is a closely guarded secret, compounded by powerful wards against detection as well as its tendency to not remain in one place for long. Instead, the Voidgate seems to drift across the material plane or suddenly vanish and reappear elsewhere. Only those bound to it can say with any certainty where it exists at any given time.

Sought by many, the Voidgate is rumored to grant great power and invulnerability upon those willing to pay the price it demands. Most who undertake the search are doomed to failure, however, and even some of those who locate the Voidgate are consumed by its power rather than bolstered by it.

Seen as a great force of evil, many have tried without success to destroy it and some fear it is indestructible. Though little is known about its true propertiese, it is known that the Voidgate is closely associated with the Negative Energy Plane. Rumors abound regarding its other properties.

The Voidgate appears as a thirteen-foot-wide ring of glossy black spines, each spine standing six-and-one-third feet tall. The spines are interconnected around its perimiter by black chains. The center is a pit, a void of utter darkness. Each of the thirteen spines around its perimeter bear a pair of manacles made of the same indestructible black material as the rest of the Voidgate. The Voidgate seems to whine or hum when approached and those who have had prolonged contact or proximity with the structure claim that these noises are actually sweet, sinister whispers decipherable only to those acclimated or bound to the Voidgate.

Though the structure can be approached safely, anything that plummets into the central cavity is utterly destroyed (treat as a sphere of annihilation).

Creatures that willingly shackle themselves to the Voidgate for 23 hours and make a sacrifice of one character level permanently bind their souls to the structure and acquire the Voidbound template. However, characters of less than sixth level who attempt to bind themselves to it are, instead, utterly destroyed. Once bound, a character need not fear destruction in this manner due to level loss.

The Voidbound template confers the following qualities:
Extraplanar subtype: treated as a native to the Negative Energy Plane.
Tomb-Tainted Soul as a bonus feat.
Damage Reduction (Ex): Voidbound creatures have DR based on their character level. Characters less than 5th level have no DR. Characters of 5th-9th-level have DR 5/magic. Characters of 10-14th-level have DR 10/magic. Characters of 15th-level and higher have DR 15/silver and magic.
Darkvision (Ex): 60 ft.
Nondetection (Su): Permanently warded as though by the nondetection spell (DC 15 + character level).
Spell-Like Abilities: Caster level = Character's HD: At-will - deathwatch, 3/day - death knell, 1/day - vampiric touch. Save DC's are based on either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (character's choice when the template is applied); once chosen the choice cannot be changed.
Feed the Voidgate (Su): Whenever the character uses his death knell spell-like ability, the soul of the target creature is utterly destroyed, fed to the Voidgate itself regardless of distances or planar travel. In addition to the normal effects of the death knell ability, the character is warded against aging for 10 years. During the warded time period, the character retains a his apperance and acrues none of the normal penalties associated with aging (if applicable), though he may still gain positive ability modifiers through aging. Warding against aging in this manner is cumulative, thus a character may potentially build up a warding against aging of hundreds or thousands of years by culling a large number of souls over a short time period, expanding his lifespan indefinitely.
Soul Siphon (Su): A character who has not built up a buffer against aging through the death knell ability, or whose buffer has been expended, may sacrifice a part of his life force to avoid suffering aging penalties and retain youth. For each character level so sacrificed, the character is warded against aging in the same manner as that described in the Feed the Voidgate ability (10 years per one character level; aging penalties do not acrue but benefits may). A character with only a single character level who attempts to prevent aging in this manner (for whatever reason) is utterly consumed by the Voidgate.

So, any questions, comments, advice?

Milskidasith
2009-08-17, 12:22 AM
Why is it that as you increase in strength your damage resistance gets more weaknesses? (not that, at level 15, nonmagical silver weapons are a huge concern.)

Also, it's... interesting, but there are already spells that allow you to steal the life force from creatures you kill, so it's not particularly new ground. It's basically a LA +1 template (with built in buyoff) that's best attribute is a few weak SLAs, a nondetection spell, and Tomb Tainted Soul.

You should probably add in a clause about Nondetection being dismissable and recallable; it would be really annoying, for example, if your characters wanted to scry on each other but couldn't despite any trust between them.

ghost_warlock
2009-08-17, 11:39 PM
Why is it that as you increase in strength your damage resistance gets more weaknesses? (not that, at level 15, nonmagical silver weapons are a huge concern.)
Hm. Good point. Changes made. :smallsmile:


Also, it's... interesting, but there are already spells that allow you to steal the life force from creatures you kill, so it's not particularly new ground. It's basically a LA +1 template (with built in buyoff) that's best attribute is a few weak SLAs, a nondetection spell, and Tomb Tainted Soul.
That was more-or-less the intention - have it apply a thematic freebie template with mostly plot-driven qualities.

The Voidgate itself could probably benefit from a longer write-up, but it's not really that big of a concern unless the characters decide to seek it out again for some reason (maybe to waylay the latest group of heroes on a quest to destroy it).


You should probably add in a clause about Nondetection being dismissable and recallable; it would be really annoying, for example, if your characters wanted to scry on each other but couldn't despite any trust between them.
Well, the blessings of the 'gate aren't intended to be 100% beneficial. Something to consider, though.

Milskidasith
2009-08-17, 11:43 PM
Wait, DR 15/magical and silver is still DR 15 with a weakness to either magic or silver, right? Unless you mean it's DR 15/magical silver, which is kind of weird, especially considering I'm not how that would work with just plain magic attacks (since it is based on a weapon type, magic would normally bypass it.)

Also, since it's a plot hook, it really doesn't matter that it's probably not worth the LA +1, especially since everybody takes it.

Also, what happens if the voidgate is destroyed? Do they lose the template?

Kylarra
2009-08-17, 11:51 PM
Wait, DR 15/magical and silver is still DR 15 with a weakness to either magic or silver, right? Unless you mean it's DR 15/magical silver, which is kind of weird, especially considering I'm not how that would work with just plain magic attacks (since it is based on a weapon type, magic would normally bypass it.)DR Magic and Silver means you need a silver magic weapon to bypass it.



A few other creatures require combinations of different types of attacks to overcome their damage reduction. A weapon must be both types to overcome this damage reduction. A weapon that is only one type is still subject to damage reduction.

ghost_warlock
2009-08-17, 11:55 PM
Wait, DR 15/magical and silver is still DR 15 with a weakness to either magic or silver, right? Unless you mean it's DR 15/magical silver, which is kind of weird, especially considering I'm not how that would work with just plain magic attacks (since it is based on a weapon type, magic would normally bypass it.)
DR 15/magic and silver means DR 15 bypassed only by an enchanted weapon that is also silvered. Ninja'd. :smalltongue:
It's the same DR that nightshades (http://www.dndsrd.net/monstersMtoN.html#nightshade) have.


Also, since it's a plot hook, it really doesn't matter that it's probably not worth the LA +1, especially since everybody takes it.
Yeah, it's supposed to be a set of abilities all the PCs have with a mechanical hand-wave to avoid having to fiddle with the LA buyoff mechanics. Since the abilities are somewhat based on nightshades, I considered giving the characters a desecration aura/desecrate as a SLA and maybe telepathy, but I'll have to run it by the DM.


Also, what happens if the voidgate is destroyed? Do they lose the template?
In game: nobody knows. OOC: dunno, up to the DM. Since there's no known way to destroy the thing after thousands of years of people trying, a successful attempt would likely be a plot device. :smallwink:

Riffington
2009-08-18, 08:39 AM
I like this.