D&D (2024) Karsus Post BG3?

[Zardnaar]

So the netherbrain is a big part of BG3 and the Crown of Karsus.

Early brainstorming. I'm doing a BG 3.5 themed game. Next one will involve Netheril in some. capacity picking up leftover thread from 3.5 and the second sundering.

AFAIK Karsus is a vestige now I missed that book.

Rough idea is Karsus Avatar. Not going to be cast but has to be a plausible threat of it being cast. Karsus returns or someone wants to power it with something Mystra can't veto.

Thoughts? Anythings up left over shades, big K, Larloch, Aumvor, Ioulaum etc.

 

[cbwjm]

I like to have psionics being different from magic, so Mystra can't touch it. So perhaps whatever ritual to restore Karsus (or perhaps one of the others) to life uses the psychic energy of captured psions.

I'd have liked to see Karsus return in some fashion in the forgotten realms, beyond a vestige (I also don't have that book). Perhaps his brief time as god of magic makes him immune or unseen by Mystra.

 

[Zardnaar]

I like to have psionics being different from magic, so Mystra can't touch it. So perhaps whatever ritual to restore Karsus (or perhaps one of the others) to life uses the psychic energy of captured psions.

I'd have liked to see Karsus return in some fashion in the forgotten realms, beyond a vestige (I also don't have that book). Perhaps his brief time as god of magic makes him immune or unseen by Mystra.

I was thinking using his corpse, heavy magic or a mythallar to power forbidden magic.

 

[cbwjm]

I was thinking using his corpse, heavy magic or a mythallar to power forbidden magic.

That's a good idea, his body used for magic, his soul bound to it (I read that his soul was never collected from the Fugue Plane which might be why he became a vestige).

I recall reading somewhere that there was a place which had beheaded clones of Karsus, might have been a 5e background but can't remember.

A mythallar powered by his body instead of one of those large orbs might be interesting, perhaps they're trying to get their own flying city?

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Karsus’s current form is a giant bleeding rock in the High Forest. He became a Vestige because he died on the material plane, and his soul was trapped inside his petrified body. I once played a Changeling Hexblade Warlock devoted to him that was trying to restore Netheril. I hunted down and killed the various Chosen of Mystra (Elminster, Laeral Silverhand, Alustriel, etc). If we were did this campaign now, the Crown of Karsus would probably be involved. So maybe you could have a cult dedicated to Karsus that is trying to get the Crown to resurrect Karsus as a God of Magic/Ambition rival to Mystra.

Phaerimm are in Minsc and Boo’s Journal of Villainy. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden has a lot of Netheril content that you could use (living spells, Magen, Tomb Tappers, a fallen Netheril city and tower, stats for a mythallar, etc).

 

[Zardnaar]

Karsus’s current form is a giant bleeding rock in the High Forest. He became a Vestige because he died on the material plane, and his soul was trapped inside his petrified body. I once played a Changeling Hexblade Warlock devoted to him that was trying to restore Netheril. I hunted down and killed the various Chosen of Mystra (Elminster, Laeral Silverhand, Alustriel, etc). If we were did this campaign now, the Crown of Karsus would probably be involved. So maybe you could have a cult dedicated to Karsus that is trying to get the Crown to resurrect Karsus as a God of Magic/Ambition rival to Mystra.

Phaerimm are in Minsc and Boo’s Journal of Villainy. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden has a lot of Netheril content that you could use (living spells, Magen, Tomb Tappers, a fallen Netheril city and tower, stats for a mythallar, etc).

Own RotFM kinda forgot about it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Phaerimm are in Minsc and Boo’s Journal of Villainy. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden has a lot of Netheril content that you could use (living spells, Magen, Tomb Tappers, a fallen Netheril city and tower, stats for a mythallar, etc).

I had a lot of fun with the dead Phaerimm in RotFM!

Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Udrentide has another take on a fallen Netherise city, and deals directly with Karsus (not necessarily canonical!)

 

[Chaltab]

Karsus’s current form is a giant bleeding rock in the High Forest.

Now I want to play a semi-literate hick who sees that name and and refers to it as "Karsus Butt" the whole game.

 

[Veritasinpersonam]

FYI, Ed Greenwood shared his view that if Karsus had cast it on another deity, it would burn out his brain until the spell wore off as it has a temporary duration. In other words, there was no good result to using the spell. Karsus just happened to disrupt the deity that would cause the most collateral damage to a crucial resource.

Of course you should do whatever you want in your campaign but it might be a twist that you want to play up or a problem to solve for the party to get involved in.