A couple of questions about FRCS and Immortality

[questionmark]

Here are a couple of questions I need some outside perspective on.

In epic play,or low level for that matter, has anyone had a pc that was immortal? How did it affect the game? As far as I can tell, because of true res. and the like dying really is not a factor but the roleplaying aspect of immortality is what i am concerned about. I have no intention of making the pc divine but I thought about making him immortal? What do you think?

Secondly, when is a chosen of Mystra chosen? At birth? At high level? What do you think?

 

[Vanye]

Secondly, when is a chosen of Mystra chosen? At birth? At high level? What do you think?

When Mystra wills, pretty much. Some of them, like the Sisters, were groomed since literally since birth; most were Chosen later (Elminster, Khelben, Noumea) and have managed to survive, others (Sammaster, an elven princess from the realm of Ardeep who's name I don't recall offhand) couldn't handle the power and were either driven insane or were destroyed by it.

That said, I'm not sure that i'd want to run a game with a chosen. I have problems enough sometimes with normal characters, that much extra power I don't have the time to deal with...

 

[questionmark]

Thanks for the imput about the chosen. That makes alot of sense. I want to adress immortality as well though. I want a pc to be immortal but not know it. Make something he discovers along the way. Also trying to figure out why the pc is immortal will be fun as well. My question is " is immortality a big deal in Dnd?" If the consensus is no it really doesnt change that much should I adopt a "chosen type idea for the character" Or is immortality good enough.

 

[RangerWickett]

This is in my home campaign, not FRCS, but there's an NPC ally of the party in my game who is immortal. Sure, it helps her, but her being immortal won't save the rest of the party if they're overwhelmed. I have almost no raise dead in my game, so being immortal is a really big deal.

She has regeneration 1/level/round, so as a 14th level character she heals 14 hp per round. I also use a Wound Point system, so she heals 1 WP per minute. Twice now she has died, just through sheer dumb luck and me rolling well on the dice. She got a pair of sneak attack arrows into her eyes by a 17th level rogue, but the party cleric bluffed that he resurrected her, in exchange for her owing him a favor. The second time, she fell 60 feet to her death, and her body lay limp for the next minute while a battle raged, during which she was caught in two fireballs. She managed to wake up in the last round of combat (coming up from a low point of -68 hit points) to kill off one of the villains who was making an escape.

Now everyone knows she's immortal, so no doubt they're going to start using her as scout and test subject. Yay her.

 

[Davelozzi]

Are we really talking about immortality or invulnerability here? An immortal is someone who won't die from aging but is usually still vulnerable to harm and can be killed.

If we're talking simply about immortality, I wouldn't see how it would make a huge difference on the game. I can't speak for anyone else, but I've never seen a game reach the point where characters were dying of old age.

That said, being a Chosen of Mystra (or any other god) involves a lot more powers than that, so it's really not the same question. Chosen status would definately have an effect on the game. An Chosen template with an ECL or something similar could balance that a bit, but there would probably still be an issue campaign wise if the character's role as Chosen was widely known.