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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nyeshet" data-source="post: 2450640" data-attributes="member: 18363">I too like the idea of a 'reversed alignment' FR, but I would do it more as a Twilight Zone game. The players, say in their early mid levels, are in a dungeon that partially exists in the Shadow Plane. In succeeding to destroy the BBEG at its heart they learn too late that the shadowy aspects of the dungeon were somehow empowered directly by the BBEG. Without his stabilizing influence everything goes wild for a few moments. Afterwords, they find that all shadowy sections of the dungeon are now just large empty spaces - all traces of the Shadow realm absolutely removed. They managed to find their way out, but upon exitting they find things much altered. Their momentary exposure to deeper shadow has drawn them into another version of the FR - with no obvious way back. Here Shar is good, the comforting darkness, and Selune and Mystra are evil. Here the drow are good but forced into the underworld by the evil non-drow elves, etc. And eventually the PCs will discover that their evil opposites also exist in this realm. Anyway, that is how I would do an alignment reversal FG. Back to the main question of this thread. I would destroy Faerun more subtly. A few of the evil deities work together to bring about the end of Mystra. Perhaps Cyric spreads misinformation with the aid of Shar and Mask. Perhaps a few of the dieties, with Shar's help, manage to create a divine disease. It will have to involve at least one deity higher in rank than Mystra for this to work. I think Shar is high enough. And it works. Mystra sickens. Nothing seems to help her. But this is only the beginning. Unforeseen, as Mystra sickens so too does the magic of the Weave - and all that draw upon it. Upon the first day it affected all arcanists of Mystra's level (ie: only herself). Then, two days later, it affected all those of a level less. Three days after that fell all those of two levels less. After a few weeks the deities with highest levels in arcane casting classes that were not adherents of the Shadow Weave also began to suffer (although not as greatly as Mystra). After a month or two epic level characters also start to suffer, but unlike the deities they are less able to resist the divinely created disease. Most die within a few days of contracting it, and short of permanently separating themselves from the Weave there is no way to prevent exposure. Within a little over two months Mystra is dead - along with all other deities having only arcane casting classes and no access to the Shadow Weave (and Shar will not grant access to her enemies). All arcane casters - Bards, Sorcerers, Wizards - that have not abandoned the Weave are also dead. Those deities with levels in other classes are reduced in power by one grade (from greater to intermediate, lesser to demi, demi to mere mortal), with the levels as a caster all but lost as they cannot lose them but also cannot cast arcane spells without suffering greatly - perhaps risking death. The Weave continues to exist, but it is permeated with disease. Mystra is affectively dead, alive only in the sense that the Weave continues to exist. She might possibly be raised, but she would certainly die again the next instant due to the continued presense of the divine disease within the Weave - her body. Thus is faerun tossed into turmoil as most of its heighest ranking NPCs and many of its deities are slain. Entire countries collapse amidst the disturbance, a second "Time of Troubles" effectively rocks the world as it tries to come to grips with a new order where only the Shadow Weave allows use of arcane magic. This scenario works best in a world where clerics gain their powers from their deities and druids gain theirs from the essense of the natural world / order. Otherwise all deities having only casting classes and no access to the Shadow Weave are dead, making the world a much worse place than I intended. In such a world where all clerics cannot gain spells without Shar's permission, Evil rules unopposed. Note that all potent magical beings (Magical Beasts, Dragons, Fae, some others), unless able to swich over to the Shadow Weave, are also dead - dragons, outsiders, undead, constructs, some fae, some magical beasts, etc. Personally, I would allow magical creatures to continue as normal if the Druids could continue as normal. They draw their power from the natural world, which draws equally upon both Weaves and acts as a filter from both Shar and the diseased essense that taints the Weave. Outsiders I would say are empowered either by their deities (as are Clerics) or by their plane - a sort of extraplanar natural world / order empowerment. The latter would result in those Outsiders not drawing upon the Shadow Weave to weaken significantly while upon the Prime (or risk death by exposure to the Divine Disease). Constructs would be dead. Undead I consider all but joined to the Shadow Weave already, so they are okay. Aberrations would vary greatly, as some would draw upon one weave or the other, and perhaps some that draw upon the Weave are somehow immune. That could be a quest by itself. Perhaps an extract from a rare aberration would allow say a day's exposure to the Weave without consequence. Of course, I would likely have such an aberration develop years after Mystra's death - no use for the epic beings, and hunted near to extinction by loyal users of the Shadow Weave (who do not wish to see the Weave reemerge as the dominate web of power in FR). I might also make the extract a drug like substance with either negative &/or additctive traits. (Say, 1d3 dmg to an ability (cha? con? both? wis?) after it wears off for the negative aspect.) As for the penalties for using the diseased Weave. I'm thinking perhaps 1 Con drain +1 per level of spell cast, and 1 Cha + one level drain (arcane classes only) per day connected to the Weave (even if no casting occurs). The level drain only affects magical traits of the class - not other specials (such as bardic lore), skill use, or combat ability. Of course, for pure casters this is nearly as bad. After Cha is 0 Con starts being drained. Growing up in such a world could be interesting for the PCs. Once they are high level they might attempt a quest to restore the Weave. Magic items from when the Weave was pure can still be used with Use Magic Device, and most permanent magic items still work (although intelligent items had the Cha reduced to 0 due to the disease and so are all comatose).</blockquote>

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