The Dream of Metal

[Eldan]

Another idea: if we assume that a lich can have multiple phylacteries (I'm not sure if they can, but I've seen people argue that way), can the Traveler also be one? He would be virtually indestructible, in a way, right?

[Doc Roc]

There is no RAW suggestion that they can.

[arguskos]

There is no RAW suggestion that they can.

Yes there is. Aumvor's Shattered Phylactery says they can. It's an Epic effect, but there's nothing saying a lich can't research and cast a limited version at lower levels.

[Arutema]

I sort of like the idea that the plan went wrong halfway through and The Traveler, and all history with him is now stuck in an endless loop.

And, due to the wording of the power, it may be actual history is ending and beginning again every 1000 years, or it may be that "reality" is actually a dream that cycles every 1000 years.

Play up the ambiguity for Mind Screw potential.

But then, I just like a good Mind-Frak occasionally. (And yes, MGS2 is one of my favorite games.)

[Yora]

I have to say the biggest flaw with this plan is, that the spell makes no sense.
Is it actually a forced dream, or does it really turn back time?

Also, Microcosm is a telepathy effect, so it's only a trick played on the mind and doesn't actually create a demiplane.

[Eldan]

Well, it counts as a dream, and in DnD cosmology, at least by Planescape, dreams are actually places in the Dreamscape you can travel to. Hence the dreamwalk spell.

[Fishy]

Yeah. Hm.

Wait. So, if the Traveller resets time, and we're back in the past, didn't the psion cast Forced Dream?
And isn't the Traveller no longer affected by Forced Dream?
Thus, the Psion can see he just cast forced dream, and it disappeared from the Traveller, thus, the Traveller was awoken. Then, I guess, ask about whether the Traveller encountered anything in the last part of his dream, or if he simply woke up after 1000 years, found nothing, and activated Forced Dream.

Well, the problem with all this is initiative shenanigans. Forced Dream boots the user back to the beginning of his last turn: Everything is as it was, except that if Forced Dream gets 'unmanifested', the power points are still gone.

For example, if Kenny the Psion manifests Forced Dream, and in the process provokes an AoO that drops him to 0 hp, he can activate it as a swift action, go back to the beginning of the turn. He has full health, but he'll notice that several power points are missing. "Hunh. Must have just screwed with causality- something bad is about to have happeninged." It's not entirely clear, RAW, what he remembers, but at the maximum, it's one round of experience.

In order for the Clock to work, the Traveler has to be outside of the Quintessence at the beginning of his turn, and then activate Forced Dream before he has another turn.

If the Traveler is conscious, we can do this by the somewhat dubious method of having him ready an action to fire off Forced Dream when he wakes up, have Anderson Manifest Forced Dream, and then having Thrall Bull Rush the Traveler into the vat. When the Traveler returns, Anderson notices the power points gone 'before' he used them, cackles with glee that it worked, and can interrogate the Traveler about the first thing he saw when his eyes opened. For all that that's worth.

If the Traveler is part of the backup of the Dream of Metal, he needs to have a Delayed Microcosm on him and ready to go off, he can't perform any actions in the real world before he goes, and the whole thing becomes a lot more of a mess.

[RE:Insanity]

Great idea for a higher level lich. This is similar to my idea, and much better than my low-level lich idea.

[Roland St. Jude]

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