|
While it's true that traveling the planes in standard DnD campaigns requires somewhat powerful magic, Planescape gets around this by having portals everywhere. Literally anything that forms an archway or gateway could be a portal, as long as you know the correct key. Portal keys can be physical objects, or more abstract or esoteric things like sensations, thoughts, memories or sensory input. This is what allows us to travel around so much. For example to get from Sigil to Tradegate we just need to have an acorn to open the portal. Of course you still have the regular dangers of having to be able to survive where you travel to. More Earthlike planes are fine but if you don't have the right spells, traits or equipment you're going to fry to a crisp in the Plane of Fire, or just get turbo-murdered stepping for into the Abyss. A GM could certainly pull a Dick Move with this but we're all friends, have played together for years and the group is (usually) smart enough to avoid those situations and the GM won't just ambush us with something like that. Our party has discovered a complication to portal travel though. Something about what we were tricked into smuggling into Sigil from Waterdeep has made it so that whenever we attempt to enter a portal to the Prime Material (worlds like Greyhawk, Eberron and others) we burn out and destroy that portal while being unable to pass through. The person that has a kind of mafia-esque stranglehold on the trade of portal keys in the city is annoyed we can destroy portals but has agreed to contract our "unique services" if they discover a portal that someone won't sell to them.
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2023 05:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 09:31 |
|
|
I may have gotten the impression from our long years of 2e that only very powerful, high-level things hang out in other planes... probably because we were already high level when we got there, so things had to be high level also to be any challenge. A sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2023 05:30
|
|
|
Very powerful high level things do live on the outer planes. But also in Sigil and a lot of places in Planescape. Many of the high level creatures and entities are more concerned with other high level things than low level adventurers, if you don't poke the proverbial nest. But it's also a good reason not to go to the more hostile places until you're strong enough. Our party has largely stayed in neutral urban areas and places near those urban areas, so we've dealt with some thugs and assassins but don't have to worry about a demon deciding to pick a fight.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2023 07:07
|
|
|
Golden Bee posted:THE BEST DEFENSE! The flood would wreck the city… But it could bury Lala’s secret! Las Vegas Nevada, America. Florence Zee is just stepping off stage at the Apache Club to adequate, confused applause. She and the Melodears put on a great performance, but as an Australian torch singer, she’s not hitting the country-western staples the crowd is expecting. Across the street, inspector Omour M’Tombe is working security at the Frontier Lounge. Some crossed wires led to Senegal’s greatest detective being hired for security, keeping people away from millionaire Buchanan “Buck” Seersroe, and protecting his prized possession: the golden spike that united the transcontinental railroad. The elderly inspector immediately noticed a pair of grifters trying to open the display case, strongly but firmly rejecting them from the premises. [Oddly, I had three players drop out of the game the day of! The initial quartet was the butler Aldous protecting the spike, with the gentleman thief Simon trying to steal it, and Florence, who allegedly made deals with devils, being protested by Sister Ynez. Instead, we had two player characters with jealousy as their main trouble, which led to an amazing adventure by itself.] Anyway... Gulia “La La” Santinella is in town, and like Florence, is an attractive foreign woman who wants Seersroes's money for her artistic endeavors. Santinella pushes past Florence’s roadie François, talks a bit of trash, and discovers Buck’s location. The two race upstairs…but are interrupted by the HellDorado Wild West parade*, celebrating 30 years of Vegas history. A few raindrops fall, but the fiery Italian stuntwoman La La isn’t going to let that or some parading horses stop her. She vaults across the street, dodging, ducking and rolling through the front door of the Frontier. Then, to help her chances, she tells M’Tombe thah François and Florence want all of Buck's money and shouldn’t be let upstairs. (Technically true, and utterly hilarious when, a few minutes later, the detective decodes the deception.) Upstairs, the group’s industrialist frenemy Mack Silver is pitching Buck on an airport. Santinella proposes a series of movies, cheapo westerns shot in Italy. Downstairs, François simply picks up the elderly detective and puts him on the other side of the velvet rope. Florence wants an American record contract, Santinella thinks she has a winner, and Buck is mad that the detective let all these dummies in here. Still, if they do Buck a favor, he’ll consider their plans. See, there’s this girl, Sara, who works as a waitress sometimes, and he’s sweet on her. Weirdly, she was speaking some Italian to some guys at the train station yesterday, but assuming that’s nothing, she would make a great Mrs. Seersroe. It’s a simple plan: find the girl, give her the love notes, report back. And she lives either at the shanty town here in Vegas, or up near Boulder City. Of course, it’s not simple for Giula. The employee photo of Sara looks identical to her childhood friend Stefani Narzoli…member of AISE. Sweet Sara is a spy for Mussolini! François impresses the detective with his tracking skills. Even as the rain is pouring down in sheets, he manages to find the guy she was shacking up with. The fella says she packed up her stuff and left a few hours ago; she was doing some part-time work up at Hoover Dam. Do you think she’s coming back? Santinella drives like a maniac, covering the nearly 40 miles of muddy terrain in under an hour. Florence is suspicious, able to pry out that Sara is an Italian friend… but not much else. A quick stop in Boulder City finds Stef’s new digs. With no “security specialists” in the group, François simply removes the hinges from the door. The spy had been here, but she took all her stuff, including some ammunition she stored in the floorboards. (The group was delayed as François kept trying to get the door reattached discreetly, before being reminded that she had already cleared out the place and wasn’t going to notice any intrusion!) --- Florence was able to charm their way past the Hoover security gates, but Santinella’s ‘confused Italian’ act revealed that Stef Narzoli had associates among the staff. The group took the elevator down, before discovering the sabotage, and took a painter’s scaffold the rest of the way to the giant turbine room. François dealt with the explosives, slowly dissembling all the detonators. Lala was caught away from the group, unable to explain why she was there without giving away her old buddy. Florence and the inspector found the spy, and accomplice “Lewis”, and got into a pitched gun battle. The Italian agent had a briefcase with dam plans, handcuffed to her arm. When the fight turned against her, she fled. Lewis, despite a bullet hole in his hand from the Senegalese detective, was able to put up quite a fight. Lala was able to escape from the security team, Tarzan-swinging over an abyss to tie two broken cables together. She stole a construction cart and somehow drove the single stoke putt-putt vehicle at 30 mph. Florence tries to pursue the spy, but was deterred by a grenade; Lala drove the vehicle after her friend, who tried to escape out of the vent via parachute. Giula dove from the speeding vehicle, grabbing her friend and ensnaring them. As they both tried to convince each other to surrender, the elderly detective reached the vent. Steadying his aim, he took a deep breath… And shot a hole in the briefcase. Narzoli screamed as stolen plans became waterlogged and useless. The Italians, when they landed, were barely able to avoid prison, throwing Lewis under the bus. --- Man, that was only half the adventure! Will Florence get the publicity she desperately needs? Will Gulia forgive or forget? And will Las Vegas ever get an airport? Find out in Part 2: Don’t ask me, I'm Stuffed! *You know it's real. Golden Bee fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Apr 30, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2023 08:15
|
|
|
JustJeff88 posted:I may have gotten the impression from our long years of 2e that only very powerful, high-level things hang out in other planes... probably because we were already high level when we got there, so things had to be high level also to be any challenge. A sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm no expert on the Planescape-specific lore around planer cosmology, but the gist of it that I got is that while there are a lot of creatures (termed as Exemplars, including stuff like, angels, fiends, etc) of all sizes and power that serve as agents of either the gods or the very idea of their home plane, the outer planes are also filled with planar variants of all kinds of mortal races that can be considered native to the planes in the sense that their race has lived there for so long that it doesn't make sense to try identify them by any other origin, but they are otherwise identical to mortal races of the prime material and aren't inherently connected to the planes themselves in the same way Exemplars are. It's basically taking the idea that since planar travel makes it possible to travel to your afterlife, then of course some people would have had the idea to try and settle there, and that's been going on long enough now that the outer planes are absolutely rife with settlements where mortal settlers and their descendants live side by side with Exemplars and Petitioners (the souls of the dead that have made it to the afterlife) to various degrees and have adapted to the philosophy underpinning their new home. Slashrat fucked around with this message at 11:46 on Mar 6, 2023 |
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2023 11:44
|
|
|
Slashrat posted:I'm no expert on the Planescape-specific lore around planer cosmology, but the gist of it that I got is that while there are a lot of creatures (termed as Exemplars, including stuff like, angels, fiends, etc) of all sizes and power that serve as agents of either the gods or the very idea of their home plane, the outer planes are also filled with planar variants of all kinds of mortal races that can be considered native to the planes in the sense that their race has lived there for so long that it doesn't make sense to try identify them by any other origin, but they are otherwise identical to mortal races of the prime material and aren't inherently connected to the planes themselves in the same way Exemplars are. That makes perfect sense, although being on a plane and being the spirit of a dead Primer on a plane or two different things. Given that, as I understand it, planes are all infinite, that's bound to happen a great deal. We just never interacted with planes until high levels and high stakes. HiKaizer posted:Very powerful high level things do live on the outer planes. But also in Sigil and a lot of places in Planescape. Many of the high level creatures and entities are more concerned with other high level things than low level adventurers, if you don't poke the proverbial nest. But it's also a good reason not to go to the more hostile places until you're strong enough. Our party has largely stayed in neutral urban areas and places near those urban areas, so we've dealt with some thugs and assassins but don't have to worry about a demon deciding to pick a fight. I also realised how EverQuest shaped how I thought of 'the Planes' as well. I started playing that, I say with some chagrin, not long after I hung about my D&D boots. I started playing just after the first expansion, but in the base game that came out in 1999 there were three planes: Fear, Hate and Sky, which were the ultimate destination of high-level players and high-level gear. Sky is a plane that I had a weird fascination with and in many ways might be the most hosed-up zone design in the history of ever - I mean that in both the good and bad ways.
|
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2023 14:52
|
|
|
Golden Bee posted:“NO DROUGHT ABOUT IT!" Golden Bee posted:I ran a Western adventure with the least Western characters ever. What started as a dangerous puma stalking the town... Don’t ask me, I'm Stuffed! Back in Vegas, Florence used her natural charm to win over the newspapers. Photographer Javid came in from Barstow to cover the story, and miss Santinella barely avoided getting her passport revoked. Seeking advice, Buchanan suggested she head to town a few hours south of Vegas, which was menaced by a puma. She guilted the others into coming with her and covering the story. In town, girl-crazy Florence started flirting with Lily the local waitress, who quit when some tourists started getting rowdy. She agreed to collect her last paycheck and meet the Australian chanteuse late at night at her boarding house. Javid was easily able to bait the puma with sandwiches from the train. He defeated it with a nice clean shot, but was distracted by local tracker, Little Crow, who told him that man was more dangerous than any beast. Over at the campsite, Giula took exception to Florence blaming her for the Hoover incident. She was about to redo the Ozzie’s hair… when another puma jumped her! It turns out there were two! The group barely dealt with the second one, took some photographs, returned to town, and discovered bar owner Zeke’s duplicity. Waitress Lily and half a dozen others were taxidermied in the basement! The trio eventually overcame the wild man, with the tide turning when they started firing guns and alerted the patrons upstairs. It was easy to convince the barflies that Zeke had been committing ghastly crimes, and he was swiftly hanged by the neck until dead. The group decided to give away all the upstairs taxidermy animals, while photographing and then burning the secret basement to the ground. Golden Bee fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Nov 4, 2023 |
|
#
?
Mar 6, 2023 18:07
|
|
|
JustJeff88 posted:That makes perfect sense, although being on a plane and being the spirit of a dead Primer on a plane or two different things. Given that, as I understand it, planes are all infinite, that's bound to happen a great deal. We just never interacted with planes until high levels and high stakes. There's absolutely a difference between the two, yeah. Petitioners are the souls of the dead. Exemplars are the creatures that are inherently tied to their origin plane's philosophy. I don't know if there's an official catch-all term for mortals that have settled on the planes, but I've heard Planars used on occasion to refer to them (to differ them from Primes). Afaik there's nothing stopping Planars from becoming Petitioners when they die, just like Primes do.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2023 15:46
|
|
|
Slashrat posted:There's absolutely a difference between the two, yeah. Petitioners are the souls of the dead. Exemplars are the creatures that are inherently tied to their origin plane's philosophy. I don't know if there's an official catch-all term for mortals that have settled on the planes, but I've heard Planars used on occasion to refer to them (to differ them from Primes). Afaik there's nothing stopping Planars from becoming Petitioners when they die, just like Primes do. I do remember that the souls of the dead have no memory of their names and lives while alive, which is probably for the better, and that it's highly discouraged for mortals to remind them of such. It's one thing to have a world full of bastards in IRL where the afterlife is a total mystery, but given that a lot of people know what happens when they die in D&D settings, one would think that there would be less rotten bastards. If I knew that I might end up fighting forever as a grunt in the Blood War, I'd get my poo poo together.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2023 21:14
|
|
|
You can skip being a blood war grunt and enlist as an officer if you become a big enough bastard
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2023 21:25
|
|
|
I really wish that there was some thing like in Glorantha where Troll Hell is Sky people Heaven.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2023 22:14
|
|
|
Losing your memories of life makes the whole afterlife thing someone else’s problem. If I’m a bastard in life, then a stranger will live forever fighting in the Blood War. If I’m good, that stranger gets to live forever doing whatever they do in the Upper Planes. Either way, the mind of the character just stops.
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2023 23:40
|
|
|
JustJeff88 posted:I do remember that the souls of the dead have no memory of their names and lives while alive, which is probably for the better, and that it's highly discouraged for mortals to remind them of such. Yeah but it's not like I'm going to die anytime *soon*, I'll just be a bastard for now and then I'll definitely have plenty of time to- e: next cleric or paladin character is going to have some very involved and confusing Chick tracts
|
|
#
?
Mar 7, 2023 23:42
|
|
|
There are also the followers of Gods who mostly get to ignore being sorted.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 00:23
|
|
|
MonsterEnvy posted:There are also the followers of Gods who mostly get to ignore being sorted. Yes, I really liked the cosmic philosophy in Mask of the Betrayer. Basically, mortals have to worship gods or have a terrible afterlife so that gods can exist because Ao wants them too. And you thought capitalism was hell.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 02:22
|
|
|
JustJeff88 posted:Yes, I really liked the cosmic philosophy in Mask of the Betrayer. Basically, mortals have to worship gods or have a terrible afterlife so that gods can exist because Ao wants them too. And you thought capitalism was hell. Golarion, the main Pathfinder setting, has an interesting twist on this. There are angels and fiends hanging out in the death plane like Hare Krishnas trying to sway the unfaithful toward whatever god they're working for and the death goddess sorta just allows this because it saves her paperwork.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 07:04
|
|
|
JustJeff88 posted:Yes, I really liked the cosmic philosophy in Mask of the Betrayer. Basically, mortals have to worship gods or have a terrible afterlife so that gods can exist because Ao wants them too. And you thought capitalism was hell. Well not quite. Ao does not care, the Wall was put there by Myrkul and Ao had nothing to do with it. When Kelemvor wanted to get rid of it, Ao was not involved in him being forced to keep it up. For FR at least how it worked is that if you worshiped no god in particular, but still showed them basic respect, you get sorted by your beliefs and alignment more or less. If you took a certain god as a patron a Divine Agent will come and collect you to bring you to that God's afterlife for their followers. If you took a god as a patron, but did not actually follow their teachings and or blasphemed against them without actually switching to another deity, you are marked as one of the False and no Divine Agent will pick you up. Kelemvor gets to decide what to do with the False and currently he keeps them as helpers that are left with other False that shared their outlook in their free time. The Faithless were those who refused to respect any of the gods and were mortared into the Wall of the Faithless as punishment by Myrkul as like the False he was free to do with the Faithless as he saw fit, Kelemvor disapproved of the Wall, but was forced to keep it by a majority vote of the other Greater Gods who viewed it as something necessary now that Ao had decreed that the majority of a Gods power would come form worship.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 12:02
|
|
|
MonsterEnvy posted:Well not quite. Ao does not care, the Wall was put there by Myrkul and Ao had nothing to do with it. When Kelemvor wanted to get rid of it, Ao was not involved in him being forced to keep it up. Well said, but the basic premise remains the same... it has to exist because it's in the best interests of the gods but horrible for mortals. The idea of having to do more to earn the adoration of mortals being far too much work.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 16:59
|
|
|
JustJeff88 posted:Well said, but the basic premise remains the same... it has to exist because it's in the best interests of the gods but horrible for mortals. The idea of having to do more to earn the adoration of mortals being far too much work. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 18:27
|
|
|
It always seemed to me like you could game that system by believing in Ao, whose core tenets are: nothing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 18:29
|
|
|
Preechr posted:It always seemed to me like you could game that system by believing in Ao, whose core tenets are: nothing. That works up until the point where you are waiting for a Divine Agent of Ao to show up and Kelemvor patiently asks you if you'd like some long-term lodging to stay in while you wait.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 18:40
|
|
|
In 3e there was the elder evil Sertrous, a giant snake who grants every single clerical domain. His crime? Telling people 'hey the gods are kinda unnecessary to the whole divine caster system, this is 3e and you can just devote yourself to an ideal". His main goal if he gets freed is A) build an army to B) go conquer one of the hells to get revenge on one of the demon lords Dude is supposed to be CE, but is more ethical and honest than most player characters, as well as giving a better deal for worship than any of the gods (since they get bonus feats for worshipping a cosmic horror). Tunicate fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Mar 9, 2023 |
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 19:55
|
|
|
If one worships Ao, he just ignores him. If one worships the Lady of Pain, one gets flensed.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 22:55
|
|
|
A world of contrasts.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 22:57
|
|
|
It should be noted that until the Time of Troubles, which resulted in a lot of God Shuffling and the Gods becoming fueled by worship, Ao was not known to exist in FR. He's explicitly not supposed to interact with the world and his only purpose is to make sure Divine Portfolio's are upheld.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 23:33
|
|
|
Preechr posted:It always seemed to me like you could game that system by believing in Ao, whose core tenets are: nothing. Isn't the fact that Ao even exists a...well not a secret, no one is trying to hide the fact...it's just really obscure knowledge since he does stay so very hands off with the world and makes absolutely no effort to advertise himself in any way shape or form.
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2023 23:41
|
|
|
the_steve posted:Isn't the fact that Ao even exists a...well not a secret, no one is trying to hide the fact...it's just really obscure knowledge since he does stay so very hands off with the world and makes absolutely no effort to advertise himself in any way shape or form. Even a lot of the realms gods did not know he existed until the above mentioned Time of Troubles. Like the ideal would have been that the world never even knew he was even a thing.
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2023 00:00
|
|
|
MonsterEnvy posted:It should be noted that until the Time of Troubles, which resulted in a lot of God Shuffling and the Gods becoming fueled by worship, Ao was not known to exist in FR. He's explicitly not supposed to interact with the world and his only purpose is to make sure Divine Portfolio's are upheld. Maybe getting a little too into the weeds here but how does he cope with the fact that since time immemorial people have called his name every time they bang a shin on the coffee table
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2023 00:12
|
|
|
Phy posted:Maybe getting a little too into the weeds here but how does he cope with the fact that since time immemorial people have called his name every time they bang a shin on the coffee table I'd love to see a novel where someone takes an arrow in the shoulder and says 'Ao drat it!' It is true that Ao was unknown until the Time of Troubles. Cults sprang up when they found out about him, and they quickly died out because he didn't grant spells.
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2023 00:21
|
|
|
Phy posted:Maybe getting a little too into the weeds here but how does he cope with the fact that since time immemorial people have called his name every time they bang a shin on the coffee table so Ao is basically an Oh God instead of a God.
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2023 18:28
|
|
|
I think you mean Ao God. 😏
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2023 18:33
|
|
|
The theologians in Tanicus have been flummoxed since the Third Invasion of Kaos - does Nacrol, the demigod of subterfuge, treachery, and insincerity, especially the dishonesty which comes with sycophancy, really exist? Or, because no one's seen him, not even his disciples, is he one big scam being pulled off by a divine being? X X X X X According to my DM, there is no such spell as Power Word: Minor Inconvenience.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2023 01:09
|
|
|
CobiWann posted:According to my DM, there is no such spell as Power Word: Minor Inconvenience. There really should be. You telling me that rear end in a top hat apprentices wouldn't come up with that day one?
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2023 01:16
|
|
|
Prism posted:There really should be. You telling me that rear end in a top hat apprentices wouldn't come up with that day one? I'm picturing some scenario where the BBEG is about to complete the incantation to their doomsday ritual, only for PW: Minor Inconvenience to force them to bite their tongue mid-sentence, ruining the cast.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2023 02:33
|
|
|
Power Word Distract was that in 3e It distracted an enemy for one turn. It was allegedly a fourth level spell. A common theory is they accidentally swapped the spell level with Power Word: Pain, which was a 'first level' spell that dealt from 4d6 to 16d6 damage with no save
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2023 03:37
|
|
|
Tunicate posted:Power Word Distract was that in 3e it... what? is this some sort of 3e joke you needed to be there to understand?
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2023 13:04
|
|
|
3e was the joke. A first level spell that usually kills someone with less than 35 HP with no save or even concentration versus using a fourth level spell slot and an action to make someone flatfooted for a round.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2023 16:21
|
|
|
redleader posted:it... what? is this some sort of 3e joke you needed to be there to understand? 3e had grotesquely bad proofreading, including the errata. On one book they released an eratta document which mid-sentence turned into the previously-released fixes for a different book. They never fixed that. Tunicate fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Mar 10, 2023 |
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2023 19:34
|
|
|
CobiWann posted:According to my DM, there is no such spell as Power Word: Minor Inconvenience. Cast it on beholders to make them lose their contact lenses.
|
|
#
?
Mar 10, 2023 19:35
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 09:31 |
|
|
Man, it sounds like all these campaign settings made by creepy, horny, racist, or badly religious white dudes in the 70's and 80's all suck rear end.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2023 00:01
|
|
