DM has 'painted' himself into a corner

[kkoie]

Firstly, anyone in KKoie's campaign, stop reading now, you know who you are.

In my campaign I've currently put myself into a cunundrum. Over the last several sessions, the characters discovered through actions of their own, they inadvertently released the spirit of a long dead, extremely corrupt and evil God. Since then, they've wondered how to get rid of it. The last few sessions they went on a quest for an item they heard rumors about thats very poweful. They finally found the item, but they know very little about it. It's an artifact built by a sorceror 2000 years ago whose power was almost godlike. He fashoned a gold ring with a black jewel and then promptly was destroyed in a battle with celestials (I know, sounds like I ripped off LOTR, but I needed a story for the ring and its the best I could do at the time). Anyway, through divinations spells, and consulting sages, they've discovered the following facts about the ring.

1: Who ever uses the ring will eventually become controlled by the ring.

2: The ring is an item of extreme evil, with the essence of the evil sorceror inside it.

3: Two characters tried on the ring, each time they noticed that their reflection in the jewel was smiling or winking back at them.

4: The celestials couldn't destroy the ring, so they changed the ring so that it's main purpose was to destroy evil, their logic being that a powerful weapon against evil would be the power of evil.

5: There is a prophecy that someday someone will use the ring to destroy a long and forgotten power of evil, but that this act would result in the demise of the user of this ring.


Ok, so here is the main cruxt of my problem, I've built up this ring to the point where the whole party is gung-ho to find out what it does, and they've tried it on to no avail of any clues (the ring doesn't radiate magic, and any identify or lore spells show it to be a mundane ring (a common quality among artifacts). My problem is, I can't come up with any decent ideas for the rings powers. All I know is the ring should have the power to destroy a god (or at least the spirit of a dead god who is slowly gaining power, eventually becoming it's former godlike self if enough time is allowed to pass), and will eventually take over the wearer, and result in the wearers 'demise' if they use it to destroy the god (this doesn't mean the character will die, it's quite possible they might just be force to pass beyond the vail, say become a spirit, outsider, or what have you, but basically no longer be a living mortal nor a PC). In any event, the characters have an idea that the ring holds a lot of power, but not without a significant price. I just need to come up with powers, before they stumble upon them.

Any possible suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[WaterRabbit]

Idea

I would look over the intelligent item rules in the DMG. Give it a special pupose power that gives the wearer something like Bane and Smiting when fighing this foe, but powered by the wearer's hit points (i.e. he automatically adds his current hit points to his damage roll like power attack). Make it work with spells and weapons. Allow the wearer to bypass DR and SR of the creature.

Or allow it to cast Imprisonment against the target creature with Greater Spell Penetration at caster level 20. If successful, both the wearer and the creature are Imprisoned. Once imprisoned, the wearer and the creature affected no both are granted an SR of 50. At 50, a 20th level mage with greater spell penetration is still only rolling a 44.

Or allow the ring to create a Sphere of Anhillation effect against the creature.

 

[LostSoul]

Don't worry about it.

Listen to the player's ideas about this artifact. Develop those ideas with a twist. Give the ring powers as the plot demands (the players won't know what its powers are, so you are free to have it spring any power you want whenever you want).

Use it as a plot device, not a tool for the PCs.

 

[oliverhenshaw]

LostSoul has the best idea.

But if you want some real nastiness, read Vernor Vinges' "A Fire Upon the Deep". The Countermeasure.

Then the rest of his books, but they're not so relevant.

 

[kkoie]

Thanks a lot for the advice! Some of the powers Waterrabbit listed are interesting and I'll look into them, but I think the idea of just continuing to use it as a plot device rather than a tool is probably a more realistic solution. And I'll definately look into the Vinges book, since I can always use more reading material.

K Koie

 

[Sodalis]

in psiHB, there is an artifact at the end that is able to destroy Gods - Annulus.

Read that and see if it gives you any idears...

 

[DoctorB]

If the ring is storing the essence of this incredibly powerful evil sorcerer, then why couldn't he or she be the power of the ring. Give the ring signs of intelligence. When the wearer calls on the power of the ring in some specific way, the sorcerer takes over their body with all his powers intact. Perhaps there is a spell or item that lets the posessed person keep their own mind with the sorcerer's power for a time.

Since the eviil sorcerer had access to most spells, the ring could manifest almost anything. It could even start to awaken by casting an occasional spell.

The PCs might have to discover more about the sorcerer to learn how to trigger the ring. Maybe just his name, or his TRUE name...

The PCs could discover more about the ring because someone else is looking for it and tries to take it from the PCs. They could learn more from their defeated foe's notes.

There could also be another prophesy. I like the idea of competing prophesies. One of them predicts the ring will aid the rise of evil. Both of them can't be right, can they? Either one is wrong, or there is an unexpected way where both can be right.

The final scene would be great if the PC in question knows he or she is sacrificing themselves to further the greater good. If you think the player will enjoy that, let them make a new character. The former PC now celestial could occasionally show up to help the party then. If not, you can have a celestial resurrect them.

 

[Hand of Evil]

One that I used was something I called the "Ring of the Library". A magic user had to use it and basicly could enter a library while in a dream like state.

In the library he would find the spell for moving books and other items into it and even out of it.

Well, the bad news was that after a period of time the player would find themselves trapped in the library, their body wasting away unless another magic-user took the ring and ended up freeing the trapped user.

As for the power to distroy a god? Knowledge is power.

 

[kkoie]

Since the eviil sorcerer had access to most spells, the ring could manifest almost anything. It could even start to awaken by casting an occasional spell.

The PCs might have to discover more about the sorcerer to learn how to trigger the ring. Maybe just his name, or his TRUE name...

There could also be another prophesy. I like the idea of competing prophesies. One of them predicts the ring will aid the rise of evil. Both of them can't be right, can they? Either one is wrong, or there is an unexpected way where both can be right.

Thats actually sorta of the version I had come up with, although I didn't consider the true name idea. Good idea! And I specially like the idea of a competing prophecy, I'll definately have to implement that, thanks!!

 

[Schmoe]

Here's an idea off the top of my head.

Perhaps the ring is a sort of vacuum - the bane of all magic and all life. Whoever wears the ring has his or her essence slowly sapped and reduced to nothing. When the bearer's essence is completely gone, his body becomes an empty shell that absorbs the "soul" of whomever he next touches. In addition, if the wearer of the ring is slain, his soul is immediately and irrevocably consumed and devoured by the ring, or perhaps it becomes trapped in the ring. Thus, to slay the evil god, the bearer must allow his soul to be completely absorbed, and then the body must touch the god. By doing so, the god will now be trapped in a mortal shell and can be slain.

If the ring-wearer's soul is completely absorbed, the body could potentially either be a mindless shell that can be controlled through domination, or it could come under the control of the sorcerer within the ring. If the latter, the PC's would then be required to negotiate with the dead sorcerer to help them slay the god, the process of which would destroy the sorcerer's newfound body. A tricky deal indeed.