Epic Forgotten Realms

[ashockney]

You have got to be joking. Undermountain at its deeper levels would eat an epic party alive. We're talking about a dungeon constructed by a guy with more arcane spellcaster levels than Elminster himself, whose spent the last several centuries in his dungeon, modifying it to suit his whims. Little things like Astral or Ethereal movement would have been the first thing he took care of, and the rest of what you listed wouldn't be hard either. Undermountain is never easy, not for anyone.

What would be an example of an "epic" encounter at the bottom of Undermountain? I can't say I've seen anything in print that would challenge the party I'm dm'ing currently.

Just curious...

 

[Azazyll]

I have to agree that there are a lot more epic level characters running around than just the ones that are stipulated. Virtually every suplement that has come out for FR has mulitple high level characters and at least a few epics. Check out the lich (Larloch?) in Lords of Darkness. And he's just one example. In Underdark virtually all of the cities are being run by extremely high level characters, and the Drow in particular seem to have a bunch of epic characters running around if I remember correctly. The epic level handbook actually stats our a few random extra epic level characters, like one of Auril's chief priestesses and a frost giant princess, as well as the former hand of Gileam. The write up of the new god of necromancy, Velsharoon the Vaunted, says he was a powerful Red Wizard who lost out to Szath Tam. To even be considered worthy of thinking about taking on Szath you'd have to be epic. similar epic extras pop up everywhere. That's part of the fun of the setting, IMHO. sure, it means if your characters are epic they don't stick out as much, but at least they'll have friends powerful enough to help them and villains worthy to oppose them without having to resort to deific encounters. not that there's any shortage of those...

speaking of which, check the plot hooks in the back of Faiths and Pantheons. One of the three takes place on an island off the coast of one of Sembia's major ports ties into an adventure seed with a quasi-deity banished by Shar whose gone mad and thinks he's one of the Shadow Kings who pre-date most of the deities. Most interesting of all, a random plot hook is thrown in: the dagger Bane, Myrkul, and Bhaal used to kill one of the "Elder Gods" to gain enough deific might to take on Jergal is randomly on the island, for no apparent reason that I can tell. But a cool idea none-the less. the fact that it's in the still beating heart of said deity is perhaps the best part. Definitely a book worth picking up if you're looking into epic levels.

If I have accidentally violated copyright, somebody let me know.

 

[Ssyleia]

Ever since the first Campaign Setting in 1988 the FR have been home to a number of Epic characters.

Every supplement since then has pushed up the number by 1-2. So it seems there's about 2-3 epic characters per region. Some - like Elminster or Shoon VII - take a very active stand in the politics of Faerun while others, especially villainos epics - like Szass Tam or Tan Chin - basically live in their "own little world"...

I'd not expand this list by more than 1 per region to stay true to the setting. Even if you don't care much about continuity between your game and the canon FR I'd limit the number of epic character to a maximum of 5 or 6 per region.

Also, a great way to introduce Epic characters into a campaign without having to rewrite part of what is published is to have the character come from another world/settin/plane extending his/her ambition now to Faerun. This is also a great way to get the players on the same table as existing epic NPC's as they might want to collaborate to eliminate the new "threat"

Happy Easter

 

[ashockney]

I went through the FRCS, Silver Marches, Magic of Faerun, and Lords of Darkness and found approximately 100 "epic" level NPC's. The bad guys seem to outnumber the good guys by about a 2:1 ratio.

The biggest badguys: The City of Shade, The Twisted Rune, and The Red Wizards.

What can you imagine causing havoc between these three super power groups?

How would you (if at all) involve avatars of the FR gods? Which ones?

I'm looking for ideas to keep an epic campaign "on the ground" in the FR from 20th - 40th level, without having to do much plane hopping.

What would be some epic "accomplishments" in the Forgotten Realms?

Could an epic party wipe out any of the above "super powered" bad guys? Or, does an epic FR campaign play out more like JLA, where there are SUPERPOWERFUL good guys and bad guys who seem to play in an unending dance where neither is really, ever destroyed?

 

[Mystery Man]

I went through the FRCS, Silver Marches, Magic of Faerun, and Lords of Darkness and found approximately 100 "epic" level NPC's. The bad guys seem to outnumber the good guys by about a 2:1 ratio.

Holy cow, thanks for taking the time and doing the math on that. That's really interesting, I wonder if that is by design or a happy accident done on purpose subconsciously?

How would you (if at all) involve avatars of the FR gods? Which ones?

Personally, I don't like involving gods in my campaign but there are some who may have good ideas here.

I'm looking for ideas to keep an epic campaign "on the ground" in the FR from 20th - 40th level, without having to do much plane hopping.

I was involved in a thread on another board discussing Halaster and the town of Skullport. Seems there's all kinds of trouble to get into if you wanted to tangle with the 13(?) demiliches that run the town.

If you wanted to get your hands on some of Larloch's goodies you still have to get through his many archmage turned lich guards before you even get to him per se. That could prove quite problematic for an epic party.

The thayans, or perhaps a cult of orcus could unwittingly (or wittingly) release an umbral blot that rampages across the countryside wiping from existence everything in its path.

Those are three that I can think of right off the bat that have the most potential of staying on the prime. I think that's what your looking for right?

 

[jgsugden]

A few comments:

The FR has a tendency to be ripe with secret organizations and long forgotten demi-Gods. Dating back to the beginning, we see entities like Moander make trouble of a regular basis. These make great BBEGs for epic PCs.

Extraplanar adventures are always a good choice. Getting off the PMP allows you to have CR 20+ creatures walking around without explaining why they did not destroy everything on the map years ago.

I enjoyed one adventure where the PCs traveled to an alternate pmp plane with nothing but constructs 'surviving'. The entire plane was under the control of a hive mind. You can do a lot to hamper PCs with constructs, especially if you're creative. Watching the PCs face off against fantasy equivalents of futuristic technology was fun as a change of pace. And you don't have to worry about 'techno-bleed' into your normal campaign if all the technology from the other plane is powered by something unique to that plane that may not be removed from that plane.

Consider a change in time frame. If the PCs travel into the past of the FR, there are a few periods of high power where you'd be more likely to see epic magic flowing around.

 

[Storminator]

I went through the FRCS, Silver Marches, Magic of Faerun, and Lords of Darkness and found approximately 100 "epic" level NPC's. The bad guys seem to outnumber the good guys by about a 2:1 ratio.

The biggest badguys: The City of Shade, The Twisted Rune, and The Red Wizards.

What can you imagine causing havoc between these three super power groups?

How would you (if at all) involve avatars of the FR gods? Which ones?

I'm looking for ideas to keep an epic campaign "on the ground" in the FR from 20th - 40th level, without having to do much plane hopping.

What would be some epic "accomplishments" in the Forgotten Realms?

Could an epic party wipe out any of the above "super powered" bad guys? Or, does an epic FR campaign play out more like JLA, where there are SUPERPOWERFUL good guys and bad guys who seem to play in an unending dance where neither is really, ever destroyed?

I was DMing a Red Wizard group, and they had big plans. They wanted to kill Simbul. So I started thinking about what that would take. Attack Simbul and very shortly you end up with Elminster and the Seven Sisters attacking you. So you need to short that out. "Easiest" way: take down Mystra. How? Enlist Shar. Attacking Mystra means you need to deal with Azuth. Hmmmm. Perhaps Savras could be interested, as he had Azuth's portfolio before him.

OK, so work backwards. Get to Savras, figure out how to free him and set him to work on Azuth. Savras knows things, so with the right firepower to back him up, he might be able to replace Azuth again.

Get in tight with the Shades, and see if you can f*** up Mystra. I had this idea of making a Shadow Weave artifact that turned a spell-fire weilder into a "Weave Burner," chewing up whole swathes of Weave. Kill the Weave, kill Mystra. Turn the whole affair into a big distraction for the Chosen so you can whack the Simbul.

So you've got Shades, you can use some Red Wizards, but some won't like you trying to kill the Weave, and perhaps the Twisted Rune can be aligned with Savras (not toooooo much of a stretch), so you've got bad guys galore, you've got various god plots, you've got epic NPCs, artifacts, rearranging magic, run on sentences, it's all good.

PS

 

[ashockney]

I had this idea of making a Shadow Weave artifact that turned a spell-fire weilder into a "Weave Burner," chewing up whole swathes of Weave. Kill the Weave, kill Mystra. Turn the whole affair into a big distraction for the Chosen so you can whack the Simbul.

So you've got Shades, you can use some Red Wizards, but some won't like you trying to kill the Weave, and perhaps the Twisted Rune can be aligned with Savras (not toooooo much of a stretch), so you've got bad guys galore, you've got various god plots, you've got epic NPCs, artifacts, rearranging magic, run on sentences, it's all good.

PS

I like it, I like it. It is all good.

Our campaign is in mid flight right now. Here's what is shaping up.

City of Shade is back. One of their chief spys is in the party. Should make for some interesting twists.

Laeral and Storm are dead. Elminster is missing. Very long stories...just go with me.

Someone unleases an epic disease on the realms, through 32 Vrocks. The party intercedes.

Khelben is losing it, a hair, and has been brokering deals with Fzoul, including giving him a powerful Bane artifact (Glorious Hand of Bane)? They are seeking a way to jointly stop a mutual enemy, the City of Shade.

Khelben authorizes the moonstars to attempt to ressurect from Undermountain the dead God of Caverns, etc, a rival who was killed by Shar, portfolio taken. Shar mucks it up. Insert, ironically, an Epic Umbral Taint (Undead God form). Right smack dab under Waterdeep. Fortunately for all, it's stuck, thanks to Halaster and his Mythals.

The party goes in and wipes the thing out (a tough fight, mind you). So, now they're trying to figure out what brought this about.

Thoughts? Ideas? Where would you go with it? There is also a lich in the party, who has ties to the Twisted Rune. Whoops.

Here's a thought...let the party be the link that pulls the two together, with a bend towards domination of the Western Heartlands?

 

[Mystery Man]

Khelben is losing his hair?? Nooooo! Anything but that!!