Ecology of the inevitable (Dragon #341)

[RUMBLETiGER]

So the 'target' just emerges in their minds and they instinctively know what has to be done?


Huh. I thought inevitables weren't really interested in day-to-day lawbreakers, and only had it in for the cosmically imbalanced sorts?

Read the Monster Manual I fluff for the Kolyarut. It reads in part, "Originally sent from Mechanus to avenge major betrayals, once on the Material Plane they hunt down everyone from unscrupulous merchants to army deserters."

SO, they start out with Cosmically imbalanced, then once that's done, day-to-day lawbreakers.

 

[Quickleaf]

Read the Monster Manual I fluff for the Kolyarut. It reads in part, "Originally sent from Mechanus to avenge major betrayals, once on the Material Plane they hunt down everyone from unscrupulous merchants to army deserters."

SO, they start out with Cosmically imbalanced, then once that's done, day-to-day lawbreakers.

So they become dogs without a bone?

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Here's the question: What if your character just happens to be death prone due to the occupational hazard of fighting balors?

Than an Inevitable is the least of your problems. And you Rock.

 

[RainOfSteel]

The MMI entry on Maruts reads in part, "Those who use magic to reverse death (raise dead spell, for example) aren't worthy of a Marut's attention unless they do so repeatedly or on a massive scale."

That was a crock as far as I am concerned.

"Hi, I am going to kill you because you used beneficial forces* to raise yourself a bunch of times."

How is that different than being healed a bunch of times? It isn't.

I call this Inevitable activity murder as plain as any demon laying waste to a town for fun. Being calm and implacable about committing an evil does not make it right. In the world of alignments, such a drastic action would place a being in danger of immediately shifting to an Evil alignment. Making up Evil rules and calling them laws that you are enforcing does not save you. If anyone was acting as a base of support for them, endorsing their actions, it would endanger their alignments, as well.

Anyway, it's obvious I have some issues with the Inevitables and their stated purposes.

* In most cases, as I am talking about your average raise dead or resurrection spells, not rare systems like sacrificing other people's lives to return your own (of which you see occasional examples).

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=24460]RainOfSteel[/MENTION]
I thought long and hard before including inevitables in my current adventure - there just seemed to be something mystical (?) that was missing. Killing someone cause they were resurrected by a raise dead spell one too many times seems...silly. But if that same resurrection occured only at the cost of killing others in their stead, then I could see it warranting an inevitable's attention.

I recall the Planescape Monstrous Compendium had an evocative story about an arrogant prince who sealed himself off from his people who were dying of plague and spent all his money on lavish parties, boasting how the wrathful plague of the gods would never touch him. One day he found an old divine statue in the cellar and brought it into his court to belittle the gods before his courtiers. The statues eyes flashed open and, well, fill in the blank.

 

[RainOfSteel]

But if that same resurrection occured only at the cost of killing others in their stead, then I could see it warranting an inevitable's attention.

If that were a condition, then it would be a different story.

It would be worth it to stop those who sacrificed other lives to a spell to extend their own lives.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

The MMI entry on Maruts reads in part, "Those who use magic to reverse death (raise dead spell, for example) aren't worthy of a Marut's attention unless they do so repeatedly or on a massive scale." (Bolded for emphasis)

That was a crock as far as I am concerned.

"Hi, I am going to kill you because you used beneficial forces* to raise yourself a bunch of times."

How is that different than being healed a bunch of times? It isn't.

I call this Inevitable activity murder as plain as any demon laying waste to a town for fun. Being calm and implacable about committing an evil does not make it right. In the world of alignments, such a drastic action would place a being in danger of immediately shifting to an Evil alignment. Making up Evil rules and calling them laws that you are enforcing does not save you. If anyone was acting as a base of support for them, endorsing their actions, it would endanger their alignments, as well.

Anyway, it's obvious I have some issues with the Inevitables and their stated purposes.

* In most cases, as I am talking about your average raise dead or resurrection spells, not rare systems like sacrificing other people's lives to return your own (of which you see occasional examples).

Two things:

First, I interpreted "unless they do so repeatedly or on a massive scale" as either finding some way to extend your life for thousands of years, or perhaps raising an entire city back to life that had died from some massive calamity. Restoring oneself to life, having died in adventures, living the ultimate equivalent of a normal lifespan, is not likely to get a Marut's attention. Dandu's example of exploiting the Reincarnation spell that says you get "an entirely new young adult body, therefore resetting aging.

Second, remember that Marut's and other Inevitables are not Good. They're Lawful, the epitome of Lawful. They are unconcerned with good and evil, right and wrong. All that matters is if a rule has been broken. The context, the reasons why the rule had been broken, don't matter. This means an Inevitable will persecute the Saint and the Sinner just as much.

 

[Quickleaf]

Two things:

First, I interpreted "unless they do so repeatedly or on a massive scale" as either finding some way to extend your life for thousands of years, or perhaps raising an entire city back to life that had died from some massive calamity. Restoring oneself to life, having died in adventures, living the ultimate equivalent of a normal lifespan, is not likely to get a Marut's attention. Dandu's example of exploiting the Reincarnation spell that says you get "an entirely new young adult body, therefore resetting aging.

Second, remember that Marut's and other Inevitables are not Good. They're Lawful, the epitome of Lawful. They are unconcerned with good and evil, right and wrong. All that matters is if a rule has been broken. The context, the reasons why the rule had been broken, don't matter. This means an Inevitable will persecute the Saint and the Sinner just as much.

That's actually what prompted this thread. My adventure has a mass resurrection and I am looking at the maruts' response. I'm leaning towards how you describe them as implements of Law, which in the case of mass resurrection includes social and natural law, such as inheritance or food shortage.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

That's actually what prompted this thread. My adventure has a mass resurrection and I am looking at the maruts' response. I'm leaning towards how you describe them as implements of Law, which in the case of mass resurrection includes social and natural law, such as inheritance or food shortage.

If I were DM, I would consider a Marut, by RAW, to potentially be sent in the event of a mass resurrection, Assuming there is some justification for why all those people should have died.