Alienists in Forgotten Realms

[andrew_kenrick]

One of my players wants to play a genasi wizard with the alienist prestige class in my new FR game. I love the class, so agreed, but now am at a loss as to how it would actually fit in with FR. To my mind, the idea of summoning squamous horrors from beyond reality is not very FR.

Perhaps the FR alienist dabbles with the ancient and forgotten magicks of the realms, or calls forth creatures from some of the more Realmsian planes (such as the places where the Phaerimm or the Malaugrym or the Netheril hail from), or perhaps from one of Toril's moons.

Or perhaps I can tie it into his efreeti heritage - the genies and efreet that came to Calimshan hailed from "otherwhere" (FR, p156), perhaps the FR alienist dabbles with magic drawn from otherwhere.

I don't want to change the rules (unless you feel its necessary), merely tweak the background to fit the setting more. What do people think?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Perhaps the FR alienist dabbles with the ancient and forgotten magicks of the realms, or calls forth creatures from some of the more Realmsian planes (such as the places where the Phaerimm or the Malaugrym or the Netheril hail from), or perhaps from one of Toril's moons.

This is a solid idea. But me? I like to screw with my players a bit more.

I'd have it so he never exactly knew where his power came from...it just came. It arrived to him, spoke through him, manifested of him. Maybe he's the first one to stumble upon this mighty force, and maybe this mighty force has just now stumbled upon Faerun...

Tentacled things may not be exactly part of FR.....yet.....but one PC with a wild PrC could forever change the face of your Realms.

Kamikaze "I ran Forgotten Realms + Call of Cthulhu" Midget

 

[Babel]

I'm personally a great fan of the 'if you don't like it, throw it away' school of DMing, and as such any campaign I run tends to evolve fairly rapidly into a free-for-all of various ideas, 'campaign options' and cool things I saw in other books/movies etc. As such, my present Forgotten Realms campaign is set in Waterdeep in the middle of a Realmsian industrial revolution, with steam power and smokepowder rising to prominance. Oh, and I've just levelled half the North with a revived celestial/infernal war orchestrated by the shadevari, who I've cast as forces of manifest entropy looking to drag all of existence down into oblivion. In short, just run with whatever you think will enhance the game. I mean, Alienists (one of my favourite prestige classes, btw) aren't really that different to Wild Mages, and they're quintessentially Forgotten Realms.

 

[Gez]

squamous horrors from beyond reality is not very FR

Excuse me? The setting with the Phaerimm, the Malaugryms, the Deepspawn, the Nishruu, the Hakeashar; the setting with Moander, the setting with beholder cities and aberrations in every criminal guild; this is the setting that's not fit for squamous horrors?

 

[andrew_kenrick]

Excuse me? The setting with the Phaerimm, the Malaugryms, the Deepspawn, the Nishruu, the Hakeashar; the setting with Moander, the setting with beholder cities and aberrations in every criminal guild; this is the setting that's not fit for squamous horrors?

Perhaps I should explain - the sum of my FR knowledge is from the core book and some of the supplements (Unapproachable East and Faiths & Pantheons, really), as well as some of the novels, plus the various computer games. I've ran a couple of one-off FR games before, but am about to launch into a campaign. So, as you can see, I'm a bit of a newcomer to DMing the Realms

So, what with squamous horrors and unmentionable monsters, is it feasible (or advisable) to run it as Realms meets Lovecraft? Can the alienist, if run as in written, fit into this idea? And would having a campaign focused on this sort of thing diminish the Realms experience?

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

You could aways have the powers come from one of the outer planes... and like Kamikaze Midget mentioned, the PC never knows where his power came from...

 

[Kesh]

You could always switch to Eberron. Horrors like that are perfect for the setting.

Anyway, in FR, isn't there a god of Madness? Just link that god's followers to an attempt to bridge the gap between the Far Realm (see Manual of the Planes) and the Material Plane of Faerun, in order to spread madness throughout the realm.

 

[Derulbaskul]

I would go with the malaugrym as the source of the alienist's abilities. I would also recommend reading the 2E descriptions rather than the description given in 3E's Monsters of Faerun. Malaugryms in 3E seem to have a common form; in 2E they were true tentacled horrors.

Also, if you choose this route, you might also want to slap an additional drawback on the alienist: let his eyes glow gold from time to time. If this is spotted, then let the great malaugrym hunt begin....

I wouldn't go with either Netheril or the phaerimm (2E version of the spelling of the plural ) because both are from the Material Plane originally.

 

[Alzrius]

One of my players wants to play a genasi wizard with the alienist prestige class in my new FR game. I love the class, so agreed, but now am at a loss as to how it would actually fit in with FR. To my mind, the idea of summoning squamous horrors from beyond reality is not very FR.

While it doesn't seem particularly in sync with anything FR we've seen so far, it doesn't seem particularly out of sync either.

I don't want to change the rules (unless you feel its necessary), merely tweak the background to fit the setting more. What do people think?

Well, there is a way to go about it without altering any planar structures, it's just a bit more elaborate: The Far Realm itself doesn't seem to touch the FR cosmology, but according to the Player's Guide to Faerun, you can get to the Greyhawk "Great Wheel" cosmology through the Shadow Plane, and the Far Realm is part of that cosmology (though it's not on the planar map, but it's been featured there before, so it is part of it). Maybe your Alienist is managing to channel power from the Far Realm, through Shadow, to himself. It'd make a great way to throw the PC off-track, when he thinks its coming from the depths of Shadow, only to realize its coming from much further beyond that.

 

[I'm A Banana]

So, what with squamous horrors and unmentionable monsters, is it feasible (or advisable) to run it as Realms meets Lovecraft? Can the alienist, if run as in written, fit into this idea? And would having a campaign focused on this sort of thing diminish the Realms experience?

Well, my campaign isn't exactly normal, but it definately collapsed the 'normal Realms experience,' but, then, that's what I was shooting for.

Let's say to start with that when the rules of magic change out from under you in a highly magical world, stuff starts to fall apart. When those who have been protecting your realm for millenia suddenly are missing, go mad, or wind up dead and slimy...well, it means that the way the world works has all of a sudden changed.

With a single Alienist, you don't need to go to those lengths, but he could definately be interested in it...the way he works magic is very different, and should unnerve those experienced in such things...but since FR is chock full of outcasts (as a Genasi, he already is one...), it might fit good.

And if you do decide to go with the more mundane origin (e.g.: it's something like the phaerimm or whatever), the Realmsian focus on history and lore can be emphasized as you slowly uncover the origin of the Alienist's bizzarre powers...