Sylrae
First Post
It always bugs me when they make new material that contradicts old material. In Forgotten Realms Time travel was quite restricted, and in 3e its not so much. This is me updating the 2e timetravel rules to 3.5. Tell me what you think.
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Forgotten Realms Time Travel Updated to 3e
Time Travel
Time travel has been possible both in the past and present Realms, but it is never easy, never without sacrifice, and never without consequence. Before the fall of Netheril in the Year of Sundered Webs (‐339 DR), the goddess Mystryl strictly limited time travel to the past, since she was the goddess and guardian both of magic and time. Any methods used to broach the time stream, whether they are the methods below, planar travel, spells from the Chronomancer supplement or even wishes or errands of the gods, automatically revert to the effects and limitations of Mystryl’s own Time Conduit. The travelers suffer all the drawbacks of their chosen mode of travel in addition to those of the Time Conduit, and neither of these effects can be avoided. Mystryl notices all time anomalies such as time travelers, no matter their attempted method of entry, and she either allows time travel to happen on her terms or not at all. Characters attempting to time travel in other planes and then enter the Prime Material at Toril will find they cannot pierce the dimensional barriers or crystal sphere leading to Abeir‐Toril due to Mystryl’s opposition to their alien existence in this time and place. Mystryl created the time conduit spell to allow travel through time strictly on her terms. Wizards who sought to bypass her rules of time travel through new spells ultimately failed. No matter their methods, they found that Mystryl’s Time Conduit spell was the only way to time travel. The official ARCANE AGE timelines of the Realms are detailed in this product and in the Netheril: Empire of Magic boxed set. Details on the Fall of Netheril are found in the How the Mighty are Fallen campaign expansion adventure, while the times that bring Cormanthyr low are in the Fall of Myth Drannor campaign accessory. Mystryl’s time travel magic is tied to annual cycles; spellcasters and their companions who traveled back through time always arrive on the first day of a new year, and the magic recalls them to their original time at the end of the last day of that year. No magic within the past or present timeline, not even antimagic shells or prismatic spheres, can prevent the recall of a time‐traveler back to his original time. There are a wide range of side effects to travel by time conduits that were far more surprising and disturbing to time‐travelers; these are noted below within the
spell itself. Creatures entering the time conduit are immediately stripped of all magical items and memorized spells and psionics, though the psionics return at the standard rate of restoration. Spell books and scrolls remain intact in function; though they are slightly altered (see below). Items that do not yet exist among the culture specified within the casting or among the race to which the caster belongs (if a culture was not chosen by the caster by the use of its calendar) also disappear; for example, plate armor disappears from all folk but
dwarves and elves, while arquebuses vanish from all folks’ grasp. (Refer to the Equipment section at the end of this chapter for more details on technology shifts across time.)
All appropriated items are shunted into sub dimensional pockets within the time conduit itself, and all of these are returned to the proper time travelers upon the voyage home. This return trip likewise strips travelers of items they collect during their stay in the past and stores them within the time conduit; where these items go after the conclusion of the spell is unknown, though many wizards believe any time‐lost items simply drift into the Ethereal Plane. Spells that do not exist for the caster’s race in the now‐current year appear as blank pages in a caster’s spell book. Scrolls for spells or effects that do not yet exist are also blank. These blank pages are restored to normal upon reaching the caster’s own time or a point in time where the spells exist for the caster’s race (by being created during the year they currently inhabit).
There is never a way to determine the precise physical destination when using a time conduit spell. The only thing for certain is that the time travelers appear somewhere in the lands of the culture they seek. Travelers seeking Netheril might arrive in the Netherese city of Thiefsward, while those seeking contemporary Cormanthyr could exit on the shores of Lake Sember in the same year. Depending on the concentration and focus of the caster, a time conduit generally lands its travelers within 100 miles of areas claimed by the chosen culture. If no culture is specifically sought, the PCs could exit the time conduit at the chosen time, but they could arrive anywhere within 500 miles of their physical location where the time conduit is cast. Time travelers always arrive during the early hours of the first day of the new year, and they always return to their own original times during the final night of the year. The arrival and return magic of the conduit focus on these days as they correspond to when mystical energies and the potent magics tied to time are at their greatest on Toril. Nothing can prevent a time traveler from being drawn back into the time conduit at the
close of the year, not even spells that negate magic or shield against its effects. Creatures return to their own time 30 days after they entered the time conduit originally, though they have physically aged one year due to their time trip.
Time travelers also cannot physically exist in two places at once within the same timeline. Therefore once a creature has traveled back to a particular year (no matter where on Toril he was geographically) he can never visit that particular year again. Any attempt to do so fails utterly, and the caster (or a traveler who has visited the conduit’s exiting point in time) is hurled 1d100 years and 10d100 miles to a random time and place in Toril’s past. The material components for this spell are three scales from three different aligned ancient dragons (one from each), the dust from a slain time elemental, soil or stones from the land that is the time conduit’s destination, and knowledge of the age and time to be visited. The physical components are consumed during the casting, though the knowledge of the realm remains.
Time Conduit
Transmutation [Chronomancy]
Level: KNOWLEDGE 9, TRAVEL 9, TIME 7, MAGIC
9, Sor/Wiz 9, Brd 6
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S, M
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 1 full‐round action
Upon casting this spell, a shimmering, golden
portal appears somewhere within 30 feet of the
caster (though the caster has no control over
where the portal appears). This golden disk
appears upon the fourth round of casting, and it
grows, expanding as if it were an opening eye until
it reaches its maximum diameter. At the
completion of the casting, the 10‐foot circular
opening goes translucent as the golden light of its
edges dissipates back inside its radius, making the
portal suddenly seem to lead into a long tunnel
filled with electric silver‐and‐blue flashes of light.
Creatures that gaze into the opening for more than
one round see quick glimpses of their pasts
cascading along the walls of the tunnel, but no
memories or revisited scenes cause any damage.
The portal remains for one round per level of the
wizard or until the wizard enters the conduit,
whichever occurs first.
During the casting, the wizard names the age and
year that the time conduit is to transport those
who enter it. For example, a wizard who wanted
to visit Netheril around the time of the birth of
Karsus would state: .The conduit shall exit during
the Shadowed Age of Netheril in the year 3163 in
Netheril Years.. Bear in mind that the phrasing or
the choice of calendar is less important than the
wizard’s focus on and knowledge of the time he
wishes to visit and his calculating of the years
between his time and the one he wishes to visit.
The same time could be reached with these
phrases: The conduit shall exit during the Fifth
Rysar of Cormanthor in the 14th winter of the
Coronal Tannivh (travel to old elven realms); The
conduit shall exit during the Fourth Age of
Calimshan in the 72nd year of the rule of the
Pasha Vydraq (travel to ancient Calimshan); or
The conduit shall exit during the 696th year
before the advent of Dalereckoning (travel back
2,000 years without focus on geographic
destination).
DM.s Note: This spell is an extraordinarily rare
and difficult spell to obtain, let alone master.
Lifelong campaigns could be run by mages seeking
such a spell, whether by acquisition from another
wizard or researching the magic themselves.
While it is certainly possible that the spell could
be placed on a scroll in a long‐lost tomb, it is more
likely that the few upon the Realms who know the
time conduit spell must be approached and wooed
by the seeking wizard. Major campaign NPCs such
as the lich Larloch, the wizards among Mystra’s
Chosen, the Magister or agents of Azuth, and
others might trade the knowledge of this spell for
such costs as a favor in the future, a small errand,
or the payment of a valuable possession of the
character (from another equally rare spell of
equivalent rank to items or worldly possessions
such as real estate). Many of the folk who might
have access to this spell are also quite particular
over whom would learn it, and many who finally
discover the NPC with the knowledge they covet
also find she has no desire to grant it to the PC.
This situation can only be handled through roleplaying,
though be warned: Once the Simbul
makes her mind up, you’ll have better luck finding
a tanar’ri priest of Tyr than changing her mind…
Time Gates
There are time gates on Faerûn, but their locations
remain a mystery. Ancient texts of Mystryl’s faith
talk of three gates that were created either
through accidents or great fortune. Unknown to
any other races on Toril, there is one other time
gate, and that is known only to the High Mages of
the elves. The time gates are older constructs than
anything else in the Realms, either Arcane Age or
modern time periods. They predate the first
dwarven realm on Faerûn, and even the elves
seem in awe of their age and power.
While the time gates do not require the material
components of the previous spell, their effects are
identical to the time conduit spell. Bear in mind
that if a seeker walks through a time gate without
something to act as a place anchor (i.e., a stone
from a certain place, an item from a past land,
etc.), the gate will (just like the spell) deposit the
traveler in a random location on Toril in the past.
Discovering the location of any of the time gates is
definitely a quest of epic proportions, with many
adventures along the way. Many adventurers have
looked hard and long for centuries, to no avail.
Since none ever had ever found anything (or at
least had later developed the sense to keep quiet
about it), most adventurers gave up hunting for
the fabled gates while Myth Drannor was still
aborning. The last recorded expedition to seek a
time gate seems to have been in the Year of
Withered Flowers (404 DR).
The first of Mystryl’s legends that reveals a hint to
a time gate’s location states that it lies hidden
upon the back of the mountains, where the ice and
rocks touch the summer sky of Amaunator’s belt.
This is actually a reference to an ancient
constellation of Amaunator that appeared in the
summer months over the Spine of the World.
Adventurers could spend many months in the
frozen wastelands of the Spine searching for the
deep cave that holds the gate with no luck. For
those few who do actually find the cave, they also
discover that the time gate has a guardian, an
ancient white dragon. She is vain, greedy, and far
less crafty than she believes herself to be. She is
smart enough to lay her bulk in front of the gate,
and none get past her to use the gate unless they
provide a service for her or pay her dearly in gems
and magic.
The second time gate is north of Novularond,
shining bright upon Misken’s Peak at Highsummer..
While the Novularond range has been
searched repeatedly, adventurers have failed to
discover the gate simply because the Great Glacier
sheared off Misken’s Peak centuries ago. The
portal still exists, however, though it’s much more
difficult to locate now, buried as it is deep within
the glacial ice and moving slowly along with the
glacier.
The third gateway known to humans of Mystryl’s
faith (or later scholars of the same) exists at
Andrio’s Peak near the Garden of Eldath. A scribe
actually misspelled the original place name of the
peak, which was Andrus. The garden is an obscure
hint to the city of Cedarsproke in the Guthmere
Forest of the Vilhon Reach. The time gate has
survived the centuries inside Mount Andrus
despite several volcanic eruptions, shielded from
the monstrous heat by first Mystryl’s and now
Mystra’s magic.
The final and most mysterious time gate lies in
Synnoria, the elven realm hidden high above
Myrloch Vale in the Moonshaes. No legends speak
of it, nor do any songs, for it is a gate that no more
than ten Synnorian elves have even spoken of
since they founded their grand city of Chrysalis
millennia ago. They know what it is and what it
can do, and they simply keep a sharp eye out for
any who would abuse its powers. Whether the
elves have used it for themselves, they do not say.
The time gate is simply the open arch at the end of
a clouded, misty cave behind the eastern falls that
feed Mirror Lake.
Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves, page 4. Updated to be more D&D 3.5 and to be in a more readable order.
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Forgotten Realms Time Travel Updated to 3e
Time Travel
Time travel has been possible both in the past and present Realms, but it is never easy, never without sacrifice, and never without consequence. Before the fall of Netheril in the Year of Sundered Webs (‐339 DR), the goddess Mystryl strictly limited time travel to the past, since she was the goddess and guardian both of magic and time. Any methods used to broach the time stream, whether they are the methods below, planar travel, spells from the Chronomancer supplement or even wishes or errands of the gods, automatically revert to the effects and limitations of Mystryl’s own Time Conduit. The travelers suffer all the drawbacks of their chosen mode of travel in addition to those of the Time Conduit, and neither of these effects can be avoided. Mystryl notices all time anomalies such as time travelers, no matter their attempted method of entry, and she either allows time travel to happen on her terms or not at all. Characters attempting to time travel in other planes and then enter the Prime Material at Toril will find they cannot pierce the dimensional barriers or crystal sphere leading to Abeir‐Toril due to Mystryl’s opposition to their alien existence in this time and place. Mystryl created the time conduit spell to allow travel through time strictly on her terms. Wizards who sought to bypass her rules of time travel through new spells ultimately failed. No matter their methods, they found that Mystryl’s Time Conduit spell was the only way to time travel. The official ARCANE AGE timelines of the Realms are detailed in this product and in the Netheril: Empire of Magic boxed set. Details on the Fall of Netheril are found in the How the Mighty are Fallen campaign expansion adventure, while the times that bring Cormanthyr low are in the Fall of Myth Drannor campaign accessory. Mystryl’s time travel magic is tied to annual cycles; spellcasters and their companions who traveled back through time always arrive on the first day of a new year, and the magic recalls them to their original time at the end of the last day of that year. No magic within the past or present timeline, not even antimagic shells or prismatic spheres, can prevent the recall of a time‐traveler back to his original time. There are a wide range of side effects to travel by time conduits that were far more surprising and disturbing to time‐travelers; these are noted below within the
spell itself. Creatures entering the time conduit are immediately stripped of all magical items and memorized spells and psionics, though the psionics return at the standard rate of restoration. Spell books and scrolls remain intact in function; though they are slightly altered (see below). Items that do not yet exist among the culture specified within the casting or among the race to which the caster belongs (if a culture was not chosen by the caster by the use of its calendar) also disappear; for example, plate armor disappears from all folk but
dwarves and elves, while arquebuses vanish from all folks’ grasp. (Refer to the Equipment section at the end of this chapter for more details on technology shifts across time.)
All appropriated items are shunted into sub dimensional pockets within the time conduit itself, and all of these are returned to the proper time travelers upon the voyage home. This return trip likewise strips travelers of items they collect during their stay in the past and stores them within the time conduit; where these items go after the conclusion of the spell is unknown, though many wizards believe any time‐lost items simply drift into the Ethereal Plane. Spells that do not exist for the caster’s race in the now‐current year appear as blank pages in a caster’s spell book. Scrolls for spells or effects that do not yet exist are also blank. These blank pages are restored to normal upon reaching the caster’s own time or a point in time where the spells exist for the caster’s race (by being created during the year they currently inhabit).
There is never a way to determine the precise physical destination when using a time conduit spell. The only thing for certain is that the time travelers appear somewhere in the lands of the culture they seek. Travelers seeking Netheril might arrive in the Netherese city of Thiefsward, while those seeking contemporary Cormanthyr could exit on the shores of Lake Sember in the same year. Depending on the concentration and focus of the caster, a time conduit generally lands its travelers within 100 miles of areas claimed by the chosen culture. If no culture is specifically sought, the PCs could exit the time conduit at the chosen time, but they could arrive anywhere within 500 miles of their physical location where the time conduit is cast. Time travelers always arrive during the early hours of the first day of the new year, and they always return to their own original times during the final night of the year. The arrival and return magic of the conduit focus on these days as they correspond to when mystical energies and the potent magics tied to time are at their greatest on Toril. Nothing can prevent a time traveler from being drawn back into the time conduit at the
close of the year, not even spells that negate magic or shield against its effects. Creatures return to their own time 30 days after they entered the time conduit originally, though they have physically aged one year due to their time trip.
Time travelers also cannot physically exist in two places at once within the same timeline. Therefore once a creature has traveled back to a particular year (no matter where on Toril he was geographically) he can never visit that particular year again. Any attempt to do so fails utterly, and the caster (or a traveler who has visited the conduit’s exiting point in time) is hurled 1d100 years and 10d100 miles to a random time and place in Toril’s past. The material components for this spell are three scales from three different aligned ancient dragons (one from each), the dust from a slain time elemental, soil or stones from the land that is the time conduit’s destination, and knowledge of the age and time to be visited. The physical components are consumed during the casting, though the knowledge of the realm remains.
Time Conduit
Transmutation [Chronomancy]
Level: KNOWLEDGE 9, TRAVEL 9, TIME 7, MAGIC
9, Sor/Wiz 9, Brd 6
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S, M
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 1 full‐round action
Upon casting this spell, a shimmering, golden
portal appears somewhere within 30 feet of the
caster (though the caster has no control over
where the portal appears). This golden disk
appears upon the fourth round of casting, and it
grows, expanding as if it were an opening eye until
it reaches its maximum diameter. At the
completion of the casting, the 10‐foot circular
opening goes translucent as the golden light of its
edges dissipates back inside its radius, making the
portal suddenly seem to lead into a long tunnel
filled with electric silver‐and‐blue flashes of light.
Creatures that gaze into the opening for more than
one round see quick glimpses of their pasts
cascading along the walls of the tunnel, but no
memories or revisited scenes cause any damage.
The portal remains for one round per level of the
wizard or until the wizard enters the conduit,
whichever occurs first.
During the casting, the wizard names the age and
year that the time conduit is to transport those
who enter it. For example, a wizard who wanted
to visit Netheril around the time of the birth of
Karsus would state: .The conduit shall exit during
the Shadowed Age of Netheril in the year 3163 in
Netheril Years.. Bear in mind that the phrasing or
the choice of calendar is less important than the
wizard’s focus on and knowledge of the time he
wishes to visit and his calculating of the years
between his time and the one he wishes to visit.
The same time could be reached with these
phrases: The conduit shall exit during the Fifth
Rysar of Cormanthor in the 14th winter of the
Coronal Tannivh (travel to old elven realms); The
conduit shall exit during the Fourth Age of
Calimshan in the 72nd year of the rule of the
Pasha Vydraq (travel to ancient Calimshan); or
The conduit shall exit during the 696th year
before the advent of Dalereckoning (travel back
2,000 years without focus on geographic
destination).
DM.s Note: This spell is an extraordinarily rare
and difficult spell to obtain, let alone master.
Lifelong campaigns could be run by mages seeking
such a spell, whether by acquisition from another
wizard or researching the magic themselves.
While it is certainly possible that the spell could
be placed on a scroll in a long‐lost tomb, it is more
likely that the few upon the Realms who know the
time conduit spell must be approached and wooed
by the seeking wizard. Major campaign NPCs such
as the lich Larloch, the wizards among Mystra’s
Chosen, the Magister or agents of Azuth, and
others might trade the knowledge of this spell for
such costs as a favor in the future, a small errand,
or the payment of a valuable possession of the
character (from another equally rare spell of
equivalent rank to items or worldly possessions
such as real estate). Many of the folk who might
have access to this spell are also quite particular
over whom would learn it, and many who finally
discover the NPC with the knowledge they covet
also find she has no desire to grant it to the PC.
This situation can only be handled through roleplaying,
though be warned: Once the Simbul
makes her mind up, you’ll have better luck finding
a tanar’ri priest of Tyr than changing her mind…
Time Gates
There are time gates on Faerûn, but their locations
remain a mystery. Ancient texts of Mystryl’s faith
talk of three gates that were created either
through accidents or great fortune. Unknown to
any other races on Toril, there is one other time
gate, and that is known only to the High Mages of
the elves. The time gates are older constructs than
anything else in the Realms, either Arcane Age or
modern time periods. They predate the first
dwarven realm on Faerûn, and even the elves
seem in awe of their age and power.
While the time gates do not require the material
components of the previous spell, their effects are
identical to the time conduit spell. Bear in mind
that if a seeker walks through a time gate without
something to act as a place anchor (i.e., a stone
from a certain place, an item from a past land,
etc.), the gate will (just like the spell) deposit the
traveler in a random location on Toril in the past.
Discovering the location of any of the time gates is
definitely a quest of epic proportions, with many
adventures along the way. Many adventurers have
looked hard and long for centuries, to no avail.
Since none ever had ever found anything (or at
least had later developed the sense to keep quiet
about it), most adventurers gave up hunting for
the fabled gates while Myth Drannor was still
aborning. The last recorded expedition to seek a
time gate seems to have been in the Year of
Withered Flowers (404 DR).
The first of Mystryl’s legends that reveals a hint to
a time gate’s location states that it lies hidden
upon the back of the mountains, where the ice and
rocks touch the summer sky of Amaunator’s belt.
This is actually a reference to an ancient
constellation of Amaunator that appeared in the
summer months over the Spine of the World.
Adventurers could spend many months in the
frozen wastelands of the Spine searching for the
deep cave that holds the gate with no luck. For
those few who do actually find the cave, they also
discover that the time gate has a guardian, an
ancient white dragon. She is vain, greedy, and far
less crafty than she believes herself to be. She is
smart enough to lay her bulk in front of the gate,
and none get past her to use the gate unless they
provide a service for her or pay her dearly in gems
and magic.
The second time gate is north of Novularond,
shining bright upon Misken’s Peak at Highsummer..
While the Novularond range has been
searched repeatedly, adventurers have failed to
discover the gate simply because the Great Glacier
sheared off Misken’s Peak centuries ago. The
portal still exists, however, though it’s much more
difficult to locate now, buried as it is deep within
the glacial ice and moving slowly along with the
glacier.
The third gateway known to humans of Mystryl’s
faith (or later scholars of the same) exists at
Andrio’s Peak near the Garden of Eldath. A scribe
actually misspelled the original place name of the
peak, which was Andrus. The garden is an obscure
hint to the city of Cedarsproke in the Guthmere
Forest of the Vilhon Reach. The time gate has
survived the centuries inside Mount Andrus
despite several volcanic eruptions, shielded from
the monstrous heat by first Mystryl’s and now
Mystra’s magic.
The final and most mysterious time gate lies in
Synnoria, the elven realm hidden high above
Myrloch Vale in the Moonshaes. No legends speak
of it, nor do any songs, for it is a gate that no more
than ten Synnorian elves have even spoken of
since they founded their grand city of Chrysalis
millennia ago. They know what it is and what it
can do, and they simply keep a sharp eye out for
any who would abuse its powers. Whether the
elves have used it for themselves, they do not say.
The time gate is simply the open arch at the end of
a clouded, misty cave behind the eastern falls that
feed Mirror Lake.
Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves, page 4. Updated to be more D&D 3.5 and to be in a more readable order.
