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2019-08-18, 07:10 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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- In the Heart of Europe
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
Well, it should say everything that a obssessiv-compulsive Nerd or a naive Farmgirl with a Work Ethic (Mystra restart 1 and 2) are the Gods MOST competent at actually keeping the realms going remotely well.
Yes, it would all work better if Mystra gave off some of the responsibility towards other GOds/High level Mortals, but to quote a nice fic: "Of course I am responsible again. There is noone else around who COULD be responsible for anything!".
SO yes, I support "Hugs for Mystra".Last edited by GrayDeath; 2019-08-18 at 07:11 AM.
A neutron walks into a bar and says, “How much for a beer?” The bartender says, “For you? No charge.”
01010100011011110010000001100010011001010010000001 10111101110010001000000110111001101111011101000010 00000111010001101111001000000110001001100101001011 100010111000101110
Later: An atom walks into a bar an asks the bartender “Have you seen an electron? I left it in here last night.” The bartender says, “Are you sure?” The atom says, “I’m positive.”
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2019-08-18, 08:35 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2018
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
Oh yeah, Mystra’s the only one I respect unless Nobarion inherited more benevolent Aslan than what little there is about him lets us know. Myztra’s kinda of the same mold as Wee Jas in Greyhawk- ‘come on guys lets actually do our jobs OI VECNA STOP THAT’.
A god that does what she is meant to is surprisingly rare.OI YOU! Join this one Discord where people talk 3.5 stuff! Also chicken infested related things! It’s pretty rad! https://discord.gg/6HmgXhUZ
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2019-08-18, 01:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2005
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- 61.2° N, 149.9° W
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
There is a narrower spread of character options available, and those that exist are more and more focused on doing damage in combat. It seems that after 3.x the noncombat systems have become more and more relegated to "DMs have to make everything up" and there's no real interest in making books that aren't $60+ mega adventures or big books of hit point bags to fight.
I think that there's a reluctance to move beyond battle mat combats. Possibly due to the fact that non-combat abilities don't play nice with the current emphasis on some idealized concept of class balance.
This sort of thing is fine in a game where there are no questions beyond "where do we go and how hard do we have to hit things when we get there". But the question posed with "How soon does X know about Y and what do they know/do?" isn't about doing hit point damage to something.
Luckily this is a 3.x question so we have an answer that doesn't rely completely on individual DM fiat. Get out of FR or install a better set of gods.Last edited by Telok; 2019-08-18 at 01:20 PM.
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2019-08-18, 03:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2015
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
I'm able to post ICly at least once every other day, depending on my current schedule, if not more.
Extended Signature (doubles as a memorial over characters from games long since passed).
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2019-08-19, 05:07 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2011
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- Tula, Russia
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
Travel to Maztica or Zakhara, watch the firework from the safe distance?
I mean - 4E happened just in Faerűn...
Well, firstly - I'm really tired from people lumping Mystryl, Mystra, and Midnight into a single goddess
Secondly, you got it very backward - Karsus's Folly happened almost 1700 years earlier than the Time of Troubles
And thirdly, Karsus's Folly wasn't edition-changing event - Netheril: Empire of Magic was released at November of 1996 - literally years before the 3ELast edited by ShurikVch; 2019-08-19 at 05:08 PM.
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2019-08-20, 03:52 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2015
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
This thread is very disappointing. The OP specified that you start at level 3, but most answers say "of course I will quickly become incredibly powerful!" and utterly fail to say how they will do that.
Instead this thread is just another "everything that sucks about FR", which isn't exactly new.
The inability to pick your build is a shame, but I would almost certainly decide to be a Concept Cleric with the Commerce domain. This way you are sure that you won't starve or struggle with poverty !
Otherwise, Artificer is IMO the best pick. Magic item creation rules are vague and exploitable, after all.
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2019-08-20, 07:44 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2016
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2019-08-20, 08:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
I posted a link wherein I showed how easy it is to reach epic within days, and nearly all of that time is spent crafting scrolls.
As the poster before me said, the best way to handle the spellplague is to leave it behind entirely. Or you could become immune to it, grant that immunity to your followers, and either flip the gods off when they beg (read: threaten) you to save them or use their deific powers for your own purposes with the threat that if they don't, they die.Last edited by MaxiDuRaritry; 2019-08-20 at 08:53 AM.
⚣ Tanuki in the Playground. ⚣
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2019-08-20, 09:11 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2015
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
I saw your link, and liked it. It was exactly the sort of content I was expecting this thread to be full of.
On the other hand, I didn't quite understand what you meant when you started using Wishes. How do Wishes help you level ?
They're very useful and they allow for infinite Wish loops, but that's as far as I know how to abuse them.
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2019-08-20, 09:35 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
Thanks.
Remember: since you're using planar binding, they're spell-like wishes, meaning no XP costs are involved. Now, with that in mind, it completely uncaps the gp values of any magic items you ask for, since wishing for more expensive magic items merely ups the XP cost of the wish, which is then waived.
Now, your first act upon gaining planar binding is to find a friendly (or at least not actively hostile) djinn capable of granting wishes. Offer to enter a binding contract, wherein it grants you a wish in good faith, endeavoring to do its best to grant it without corrupting it, and you'll freely make the other two wishes on its behalf. Since most mortals who try to get free wishes will want them all for themselves, this is a pretty fantastic deal, and it's more than likely something that will tickle the djinn's interest. They can't normally use their wishes for themselves, after all.
What would be a faster way to gain levels than to get yourself a thought bottle that is already attuned to you and is filled with enough XP to get you to epic levels?
Alternatively, you can wish for a regular thought bottle, cast curse of lycanthropy to turn yourself into a were-[animal with huge numbers of HD], give yourself a single permanent negative level, and cast greater restoration to reset your XP to [your level + your animal HD + your new level adjustment]. Then store your new XP level in the thought bottle, cure your lycanthropy, and restore your XP to its previous level, but this time you're using it to gain class levels. Repeat this numerous times until you're whatever level you want to be.
I'm sure there are more ways to do this (such as using polymorph + Assume Supernatural Ability to gain HD through either dusk giant or barghest), but those are the best ones, I thinkLast edited by MaxiDuRaritry; 2019-08-21 at 11:57 AM.
⚣ Tanuki in the Playground. ⚣
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2019-08-20, 10:27 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2013
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- turkey
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
get 20th level quickly as possible and find the mercery named kelmavor lionsbane then shank his rouge buddy. then plane shift to golarion and live happily. lot of problems in 4th edition done due cedric becoming god thus killing him makes sure kelm and midnight become gods.
second plan replace midnight in above plan and fully rebuild weave from scrach
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2019-08-20, 11:25 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2013
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
Yeah, the Karsus's folly thing was my bad there. I remembered that it involved edition changes, that it was second edition, and third edition was related, but I was pretty off on the specifics. It was a second edition story that took place during first edition that was made fully canon in 3rd edition. In my defense, that's complicated and weird and still a solid reason for people to leave Mystra alone.
As for the second bit, I'd argue Mystryl, Mystra, and Mystra (Midnight) are all still the same entity, since Mystra is literally just the reincarnation of Mystryl (with a bit of an alignment shift) and Ao basically just shoved what was left of Mystra into Midnight after Mystra died, giving her the memories and powers of Mystra (who has the memories and powers of Mystryl). You might be going off a different classification, but by any metric I'd care to use they're all the same person.
The major point is, no matter what name the goddess of magic is currently going under you really should just let her keep doing what she's doing and not mess with it, because if you do you'll screw something up.Last edited by rmnimoc; 2019-08-20 at 11:38 AM.
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2019-08-20, 03:46 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2011
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- Tula, Russia
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
You see, there is a problem with that standpoint: why deities doing what they're doing with the Wall of Faithless?
The answer is dismayingly simple: to avoid dying by long and excruciating death!
Originally Posted by Faiths & Avatars
And, since most ofhumansmortalssentient beings are astonishingly careless in the matters of any importance, how can deities ensure mortals would actually sort their religious business before it's too late already?
Only by dire threat of impending doom!
After all, it's just rightful to inflict on those mortals the same fate those mortals jeopardized deities with - ether because of simple negligence, or by occasional case of outright antitheism?
{Scrubbed} They "solved this ages ago" by don't having the problem in the first place!
Main problem there: the very conception of Spellplague is faulty, and just couldn't happened outside of major Deus ex Machina - after all, there were already three different deities of Magic who died on Faerűn, and - while their deaths caused certain magic-related problems - there weren't nothing on the scale of Spellplague. So, what's so different now?
(In my headcanon, Spellplague is never happened - like the all 4E)
Attempting to fight Deus ex Machina with game mechanics is futility on the same scale as for DM words "Rocks fall, everyone dies!" to respond: "But my PC is immune to rocks! There, look the character sheet!"
So, it's simpler to circumvent the whole situation by getting the hell out of Dodge - after all, there wasn't Spellplague in Kara-Tur, Zakhara, or Sigil.
But if you want a PC solution - there it is: track down a Were-Legendary Shark, contract Lycanthropy from them, and sacrifice your shiny new [epic] feats for Epic Destiny - this way, you would be OK in both 3.X and 4E
Deities - unlike mortals - are incapable to change their alignment - at least, without direst consequences - say, Araushnee turned into monstrous Spider Queen, and Tyche suffered from a (very literal) split personality
Ao had decreed that none of the gods fallen during the Time of Troubles should be reinstated; the single known exception was Torm; Mystra - killed during the Time of Troubles...Last edited by Ventruenox; 2019-08-21 at 02:42 PM. Reason: Forbidden content
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2019-08-20, 05:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2005
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
To be fair, if you pick a setting which is arguably already dystopian due to one of its major features and then say “what do you do when there is a major apocalypse coming on top of it all?” then “leave!” with reasons why is an eminently reasonable response.
This.
To be fair, MaxiDuRaritry posted a “get arbitrarily large power quickly” strat that could apply to anything, in principle, assuming that a DM doesn’t mind various forms of shenanigans that obviate playing the actual game and culminate in a custom-written feat that overtly says “I am immune to this apocalypse” and serves it up to adoring followers as a sort of cherry on top.
If infinite XP is this freely available, it should have already happened, including by BBEGs, and a Spellplague is the least of one’s apocalypses. (And “leave” is arguably still a better strategy, i.e. have your infinite power in some campaign setting that isn’t a total fixer-upper.)
Or, you know, gods could actually EARN worship through their deeds and/or the deeds they exhort from their followers. Instead, the FR gods—either willfully, or tacitly going along with Ao’s “dance mortal monkeys dance!” sadism—run an extortion racket; that’s not symbiotic, it’s parasitic.
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2019-08-20, 08:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2005
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- 61.2° N, 149.9° W
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
{Scrubbed}
Last edited by Ventruenox; 2019-08-21 at 02:32 PM.
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2019-08-21, 02:17 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2009
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- Perth, West Australia
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
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2019-08-21, 04:51 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
Getting rid of the Feats should be easy. Retraining, Chaos Feat Shuffle or Psionics.
So, you've got ten years in the world to amass all the power you can before fourth edition nerfs literally everything and you're left with as much of your power as the new system allows. Of course, if in those ten years you can manage to stop Mystra from getting ganked (again) or otherwise stop the spellplague (even the overdiety Ao couldn't so that might be a bit above your level) you might be able to prolong the age of greatness that was the Third (and a half) Edition. So, what do?
Could I say: Pazuzu, Pazuzu, Pazuzu?
Deals with Efreeti?
Is there Epic Spellcasting?
Is there a way to become a Gestalt build?
Assuming the Abuses are there so I can use them and there are Magic Shops.
I would try to get an Candle of Invocation (8.400 GM) ASAP, to get an unlimited wish ring and get levels fast with Thought Bottle and Lycantrophy.
I would Chaos Feat Shuffle the useless Racial Feats and poor choice Feats away into something usefull.
Buildwise (if Gestalt is not an option) I am not shure at the Moment, but probably something with Ur-Priest.
(I would not count on psionics, because psionics got changed in 4e too.)
I then would Research about getting back to (our) Earth (could I still use magic here?), if yes. I would get there to research the spellplague, because I'm unshure about the in game justification.
If not, I would try to summon someone from Earth with more Knowledge about it. If it's as simple as warning Mystra I would send her a message and to be safe planeshift away to somewhere, where I could keep my power and the spellplague is not happening.
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2019-08-21, 07:41 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2011
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
Willing to do extremely evil acts to preserve their immortality? That sounds familiar… and not in an "exalted good" kind of way.
Murder all the gods, replace them with their betters?
May noone who believes this ever be in any position of power.
Interesting question. Playground?
Tiered afterlives.
Curiously, other D&D worlds don't need the Wall of Evil. Sounds like it's not a "necessary" evil, after all. The FR deities are just idiots.
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2019-08-21, 08:04 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2013
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
That's all true, but Midnight still has all the memories and emotions of both the others (though she tries to avoid them, since the memories of a diety are a big deal and the more of them the views the less Midnight and the more Mystra she becomes). She knows what it felt like to have Karsus usurp her power, for example, and that means the other Mystra did too, so there's a continuity of consciousness there as well.
I don't know what you use to determine if someone's the same person, but continuity of consciousness is good enough for me and they've all got it. Ao can make whatever decree he wants, but the fact of the matter is that Midnight remembers being Mystra who remembers being Mystryl and interfering with whatever entity has those memories and the slot in the narrative that Mystra has ranges from "a bad idea" to "literally apocalyptic" and Mystra could really use a hug.
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2019-08-21, 09:16 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2011
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- material & internet plane
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
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2019-08-21, 11:29 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2013
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- Middle of nowhere USA.
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
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2019-08-21, 02:05 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2016
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
im honetsly curious why its so bad people want to leave Faerun.
The part about killing and replacing most gods though? that will be a bit hard, what with the parasitic relation they have with the world.
Best methold would be probably beheading the dragon, literally, as the start, just so, there wont be heavy interference.
as for the rest of the gods? i dont even know most of them, so SOME may be rehabilated (maybe the nature gods most likely?) though there will be opposition, maybe even more so as not everyone of them will die (so if you wanna spare Mystra, you gotta do it smart, so the idiots dont kill her, force her to fight or use as a shield).
...again i dont know enough to jug who needs killing and who not, so i leave it to others to judge.
aside from that, im swayed by the "hug Mystra" club, so yeah, heads up and hugs for her.
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2019-08-21, 02:53 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2011
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- Tula, Russia
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
And they do!
Look there - Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting have almost a hundred of various deities, yet there are enough worship to all of them.
Deities who're really unpopular are suffering for it terribly - see the declination of Gorellik, coma of Ramenos, or - once again - death of Amaunator.
What sadism?
They set the punishment for endangering their lives.
Where's Ao involved there?
Is grazing cow symbiotic to a grass?
Note: it's manure fertilizing a soil on which grass grows.
So, deities are "cows", and mortals are "grass" (like it or not)
Except, grass can't just stand up and go somewhere where are no cows.
People - can.
Yet, there are no mass migrations to other realms...
By this metrics, none of the best warriors are, actually, in Valhalla: best warriors don't die fighting - their enemies do
D&D deities are answering prayers pretty much all the time...
Also isn't unheard of (even outside the Time of Troubles): say, horde of the No-Nose from the Bloodier Teeth tribe at Orsraun Mountains was vanquished by a mysterious knight in shining white armor, who was said to be the god Torm (Swords of the Iron Legion)
Exactly!
Any quotes?
If Ao declared that none of the gods fallen during the Time of Troubles should be reinstated, than why Torm called the single known exception?
I mean - Ao can change his mind (like he did it with Torm), but he should at least admit it (like he did it with Torm)
One more thing about Mystra: Weave is artificial construct which is just constraining magical abilities (spellcasters from other realms are able to use magic in Faerűn just fine, but opposite isn't true for faerűnian spellcasters in another realms; and Epic Spellcasting doesn't using Weave at all). Mystra maintaining Weave, thus keeping shackles on magical abilities of faerűnian population. Maybe, when she wouldn't be there anymore, and the Weave will finally crash down, it will allow for some new magic...
Also, if it's the same goddess, then why we call her by the "middle name" - not the "original" (Mystryl), nor the "latest" (Midnight)?
What's so bad about the protecting themselves from impending death?
Lex talionis!
Oh, my sweet summer child, you're believing "their betters", whoever they may be, would be devoid of self-preservation instinct...
Except they already are - every time and everywhere
And faerűnian deities - didn't?
Is it really worse than the Dark Sun or Eberron, where everybody are suffering regardless?
What "other D&D worlds"?
Al-Qadim, where afterlife is completely unknown?
Dark Sun, where everybody are suffering regardless?
Dragonlance, where afterlife is completely unknown?
Eberron, where everybody are suffering regardless?
Ghostwalk, where afterlife is completely unknown?
Midnight, where is no afterlife?
Mystara, where are no deities?
Ravenloft, where is no afterlife (and also, everybody are suffering despite of it)?
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2019-08-21, 05:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2016
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
first, the whole thing is Ao's fault. He is supposed to keep EVERYONE in line, alas, he ****ed up and punished the weakest lot - mortals. He made the gods dependent on fate, why? because they didnt care about mortals. but aside from that? he hardly even glanced sternly at them, aside some exception.
Second, dieties/gods under Ao? there is just too much enmity to fight together and kill him, not to mention the ambigius ones having "better" ideas about what to do after (and most of those are on the "good" side sadly.
They dont protect themselves, they just automated the food delivery.
as for the afterlives, does it really matter of your memories fade, you yourself case to exists or a hivemind/gestalt inteligence devours?
also, isnt ravenloft a prison plane?
And you forgot Oerth, home of tthe greyhawk setting WICH IS THE DEFAULT ONE!
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2019-08-21, 06:21 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2015
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- 41°6'53N, 73°24'21W
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
3e │ 5e : Quintessa's Dweomerdrain (Drain power from a magic item to fuel your spells)
3e │ 5e : Quintessa's Dweomershield (Protect target from the full effects of a magic item)
3e │ 5e : Hordling Generator (Edit "cr=" in the address bar to adjust the Challenge Rating)
3e │ 5e : Battle Sorcerer Tables (For Unearthed Arcana)
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2019-08-21, 10:52 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2013
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
Spoiler: Would a Mystra by any other name still die as often?
Originally Posted by Ed Greenwood via The Hooded One, 2006
As for why I call the combined entity Mystra instead of Mystryl, the biggest reason is that of the four incarnations have been Mystryl (the original), Mystra (the reincarnation), Mystra (Midnight), and Mystra (the one that was reformed from the power she gave her chosen). If Mystra wants to be called Mystra, I'll call Mystra Mystra. The other reason is that whenever I type Mystryl I always feel like I spelled it wrong (and a solid half the time I did), so avoiding having to type it is always a plus for me.
So the two most common paths are Bail or Deicide? I suppose the first makes sense and the latter is potentially theoretically possible. The spellplague showed that Ao is a lot more limited in power when dealing with things that aren't from his world and maybe an argument could be made that that happens to include you, but I don't think I'd be particularly comfortable trying to go toe to toe with someone on his level, regardless of how powerful I might happen to be, and I doubt you could go full-on God of War for too long before he got decided to do something about it.
I'd be a bit hesitant to say with confidence that any of the worlds are a (significantly) better bet than the one you're on. Sure, most are safer and more stable to one degree or another, but it's hard to beat the opportunities for promotion that Toril's got. I mean, in a mere hundred and ten years basically every divine seat goes up for grabs and all you've got to do to is take one. Granted, you've still got to beat out a deity for it, but none of them will be in the best of shape, everyone is looking to get rid of rivals, and best of all, there's a not insignificant number of gods who are happy and willing to make absurdly self-destructive decisions to inconvenience the other gods they don't like. All you've got to do is survive the spellplague, get epic, find a portfolio you want, and then find a god willing to go split the portfolios of a god they hate between you. It's pretty rare that you get a better chance to godhood than that.Last edited by rmnimoc; 2019-08-21 at 11:19 PM.
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2019-08-22, 06:37 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2011
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
So, liches are cool for committing atrocities to maintain their immortality?
It's not "wanting to stay alive" that's evil - it's the evil acts that they (liches, the FR deities) are willing to take to stay alive that's evil.
No. I am stating that, under every moral system I know, "their betters" would make better moral choices.
Contrary to your assertion, I've actually met people worthy of respect. Ones who don't believe that threats are the only possible answer.
Um, have you read this thread? The only reason that there's no such mass migration is bad writing (or ignorance). Because, as this thread (and many like it) clearly show(s), were the people informed, there would be a mass migration. And then the gods might get the starvation that they deserve.
Also, less "cows and grass" and more "fruit trees and bees" (the gods are the bees).
Well, Playground? Are we escaping the spell plague, 4e, the morality-impared deities, and/or the Wall?
For those whose answer includes "the Wall", what alternatives are better?
Myself, I'd be fleeing for one of my own homebrew campaign worlds, where I know that the gods, morality, and the afterlife are at least not completely objectionable or amoral. But what do my better-informed peers have to say on this matter?
How about killing all the gods (or maybe just hug M (if she is capable of comprehending how evil the Wall is), whatever), *then* take on AO with their combined portfolios?
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2019-08-22, 07:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2016
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
would be a lot easier if you escaped Faerun and got strong enough to kill Ao, then go back and kill him, less opposition that way imo.
After that, you can chose if you devour the other portfolios and give it to new gods or re-educate some of the current ones.
Also, tear down the wal lits only there because the gods are lazy and Ao forced them to feed on mortal souls.
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2019-08-22, 09:00 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2011
Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
Did he? In most worlds, gods feed on prayers, on belief, on actions that support their portfolio. If AO forced them to feed on souls, then the gods of soulless beings (the elemental lords, for example), or ones whose followers souls get eaten (Illithid) can't exist in FR.
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2019-08-22, 10:12 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2016
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Re: The spellplague is in a decade, what do?
yes he did, it was kinda hard to find, as i didnt remembered what the event was called, alas, google is our (shady) friend!
From tvtropes:
Spoiler: Beware, this rabbit hole is deep ideedIn the Forgotten Realms, a god's power is determined by his/her number of worshippers, and needs at least one worshipper to maintain Divine status (albeit at a demigod level). The only exception is the overdeity Ao, who needs no worshippers to maintain power because he rules over other gods. This development took long to come, as the deities were independently powerful before the Avatar Crisis, when Ao got fed up with nobody doing their duties or taking care of their worshippers any more. The post-Avatar Crisis fluff tended to suggest, when the subject came up, that the Gods did gain power from being prayed to and having followers before the Crisis. What Ao did after the Crisis was, essentially, toning down the power you gained from your Portfolio, and ramping up how much power you gained from belief.
Under the tabletop spoiler
From faerun wiki:
Spoiler: here it isThe Time of Troubles was precipitated by an attempt by the gods Bane and Myrkul to steal the Tablets of Fate from the overdeity Ao. Angry at the gods for their habitual pursuit of power and negligence toward their mortal faithful,[2] Lord Ao relegated every god (except for the guardian god Helm, selected to protect the gates to the heavens[3]) to walk among their followers on the earth.[2] The immediate effects of this edict were threefold. First, divine magic (spells granted to clerics by their patron deities) ceased to function altogether[4] unless the cleric was within one mile of their deity's avatar. Second, arcane magic (a force channeled from the Weave by wizards and sorcerers) ceased to be regulated by its steward, Mystra and became dangerously unpredictable.[2] Third, the characteristically immortal and aloof deities were now vulnerable (though still devastatingly powerful) and dwelling among the civilizations of Faerűn.[5]
from a more "offical" source
also, here what Ao did after the tablets were recowered:
Spoiler: so much trouble for no- wait thats even worse!Most scholars believed that the Era of Upheaval started with the calamitous event known as the Time of Troubles, that took place in 1358 DR, when the gods were cast down from the Upper planes and roamed the land incarnated as mortals.[1] The chaos of the Time of Troubles left a lasting mark into the world. When Lord Ao destroyed the Tablets of Fate, he unraveled the laws of Realmspace and the worlds of Abeir and Toril, separated since the Tearfall, began to join once again
They just cant catch a break huh?