[Proposal] The Transitive Isles
- Thread starter covaithe
- Start date
garyh
First Post
I really liked how you managed to combine keeping Daunton small and having the savage lands be a source of occasional trouble (and adventure!), yet not too close to Daunton all the time. These are some really good ideas. I also particularly like all the info on Bacarte (not sure if it's new or I just hadn't clicked through to it before).
covaithe
Explorer
I've just had a look at he Hadeys page. It says: "He allows the dead to be raised -- they will eventually join the ranks of the dead -- and Hadeys can't resist the chance to be paid twice for the same thing." That's all there is that relates to resurrection.
So you're an adventurer, and a kobold gets a lucky shot in on your buddy. With his dying breath, he tells you he wants to be resurrected. Where do you go? Who do you talk to? Is there a resurrection shop on every street corner in all major cities, so that death is only a minor inconvenience and final death is uncommon except for old age? Are there only a handful of people capable of performing the ritual, such that it's rare and exceptional, and may require extra services in addition to gold? Is there a guild in Daunton that sells death insurance? How do priests of other gods besides Hadeys feel about resurrection?
If you've elaborated on this subject elsewhere and I've missed it, I apologize. Please tell me where to look.
The Goblin King
First Post
I like the idea from the book that only people with an unfulfilled destiny can be rezd.
Graf
Explorer
cov think you may be looking to include a lot of raise issues that don't really apply in default 4e.
Raise dead can be performed by anyone with heal skill and scroll or anyone with ritual caster feat and heal and knows the ritual provided you can pay the cost.
That's potentially a large pool of people.
The hadeys stuff just explains why it works that way (he can't say no to getting paid, when you're gonna eventually die and go back anyway).
A agree with gk that keeping something about unfulfilled destiny or only heroes or what have you is good.
(so a group of people who just sit around and raise each other would be odd).
But if you want to add all that? So long as it makes sense and doesn't contradict the big picture I'm cool.
Raise dead can be performed by anyone with heal skill and scroll or anyone with ritual caster feat and heal and knows the ritual provided you can pay the cost.
That's potentially a large pool of people.
The hadeys stuff just explains why it works that way (he can't say no to getting paid, when you're gonna eventually die and go back anyway).
A agree with gk that keeping something about unfulfilled destiny or only heroes or what have you is good.
(so a group of people who just sit around and raise each other would be odd).
But if you want to add all that? So long as it makes sense and doesn't contradict the big picture I'm cool.
Graf
Explorer
i think the design question is "if somebody wants to raise their character, and they are willing to pay should we stop them?"
My personal opinion is no, but the answer to that question informs how we fluff it.
As written anybody who wants to be raised can be raised.
Whether they can be raised during an adventure is up to their DM, but if they're body gets dragged back to Daunton then they can get raised by hadey's church on Daunton, and since they're money lenders, you can see them lending money to the character (allowing them to go into debt) to do it.
You -can- add a lot more of course, but I don't think its a "must have". Unless we want to really limit it in some kind of fashion for story reasons.
It would be interesting to say that any character who is raised "must have an unfufilled destiny" and give them an extra kicker...
My personal opinion is no, but the answer to that question informs how we fluff it.
As written anybody who wants to be raised can be raised.
Whether they can be raised during an adventure is up to their DM, but if they're body gets dragged back to Daunton then they can get raised by hadey's church on Daunton, and since they're money lenders, you can see them lending money to the character (allowing them to go into debt) to do it.
You -can- add a lot more of course, but I don't think its a "must have". Unless we want to really limit it in some kind of fashion for story reasons.
It would be interesting to say that any character who is raised "must have an unfufilled destiny" and give them an extra kicker...
covaithe
Explorer
Good points. I hadn't realized that it was quite that easy to get resurrected in 4e. Ah, well; it's certainly not the first time I've tripped over changes in 4e, and it won't be the last.
My main questions, I suppose, were two: Do we want to limit resurrection to be less easily available, and what is the default in-game way that characters go about getting resurrected. I think you've answered those questions pretty well now. Thanks for your patience.
I think it's a great idea to have Hadeys' temple be willing to lend money for a resurrection -- with a slightly painful interest rate and an enthusiastic team of thugs to collect payments. I can see that twist adding a bit of spice to low-level adventures.
My main questions, I suppose, were two: Do we want to limit resurrection to be less easily available, and what is the default in-game way that characters go about getting resurrected. I think you've answered those questions pretty well now. Thanks for your patience.
I think it's a great idea to have Hadeys' temple be willing to lend money for a resurrection -- with a slightly painful interest rate and an enthusiastic team of thugs to collect payments. I can see that twist adding a bit of spice to low-level adventures.
Binder Fred
3 rings to bind them all!
Nice maps (all of them)! I like.
I'll see what I can do over the weekend -- phrase things more wiki-like, as you say.
Which got me thinking about the issue of *control*, i.e. can the smaller isles (or even the main ones) be made to move? At all? In a reliable way? I guess that wholly depends on first setting the nature of the main isles themselves and on that score I can see three possibilities (feel *encouraged* to add more) :
I) CRAWLING SEAS : From above, all seems as it should with broad islands surrounded by shallow shelves that eventually slope away into darkness. When one goes deep enough though, heat progressively rises... and then one encounters the legs in their thousands -- bigger than rivers, taller than most mountains, more numerous than trees. Deeper still, below leagues of water, and ones comes face to face with the island itself, the beast on which we all live. Lava is its blood, sealing cracks/wounds on the surface. Rocks is what it eats, gobbling up the sea bottom, recycling diamonds and metals which eventually make their way into its hide. Buyoed by salt water, the beasts wander, living their lives on the sea floor.
Possible consequences :
- RISE AND FALL : The sea floor isn't exactly a flat place. The great beasts sometimes have to rise up, sink or tilt as the case may be. Pitons and other small produce sudden changes up top, the sea seeming to suddenly draw back, uncovering 3 or 10 meters of new land, or conversely suddenly advance, flooding formerly dry spots. These are mostly temporary changes, as the beasts all have a prefered cruising attitude which they try to resume as soon as they can. Should an island venture into deeper and deeper waters though, it could eventually have no emerged bits at all (the reverse is of course entirely possible as well).
N.B. Navigationg is indeed going to be a chancy affair. Imagine sailing "N" out of the horns of the crescent isle... only the beast has swiveled during the night so you're actually sailing SW!
- DAUNTONIUM : If you dig deep enough, a mine or equivalent will eventually hit flesh. Incredibly resistant flesh. In addition to possible spurts of the lava-blood mentioned above (a spurt being a small volcano in this context, said flesh might be of value in itself. Wether simply as a very resistant material (it could possibly take the place of one of the traditional fantasy "super metals") and/or it could have magical properties of its own...
II) FLOATING SEAS : Another possibility, purer in a way. Say the main islands are land plugs surrounded by a short space of shallow waters (from a hundred meters to a few klicks depending on island size). Beyond that the bottom plunges straight down into the inky depths for - well - basically forever. The islands are gigantic colums plunging straight down and "pining" the Transitive sea "on top of" the boundless depths of the elemental plane of Water. Are the colums elementals frozen in place? Are they awesome constucts of some alien gods? If so, what is the purpose of it all? Scholars (those few that even suspect the truth) are working on it. In the meanwhile, the mystery of the infinite abbyss stretching below us remains whole, our only clue it is even there giant, titanic "things" periodicaly rising out of the depths, out of all proportion to anything existing in our world.
One disadvantage I can see here : volcanoes and lava, that staple of evil hideouts, are a bit difficult to explain in this context... Some consequence of the rock elementals inner system maybe? Blood again? Parasitic/White-blood-cell lava elementals? Um, rather like that last, actually...
RISE AND FALL : movement would be essentially up and down here, no tilt and probably little twist, though it could be severe : Daunton surrounded by 30 meters cliff anyone?
III) STRETCHING SEAS : Haven't thought this one through, but it rests on a simple question : do the islands shift relative to one another or is it really the *bottom* that stretches and contracts? Accelerated version of our own plate tectonics? Rocky pimples set on a living membrane? Needs some thought.
All this applies (mostly) to the main isles. The boat isles would probably have to have (several?) different mechanisms to explain them. Anyway... Comments/insults/scattered brain showers?
Binder Fred, wondering if there,s a place that expands a bit on
P.S. The Grindstones :
It's come to me that they could be an ideal environment for flying creatures : I had, in fact, a flash of that winged dragonborn in the MM. Might it be an origin spot for those who want to play barbarian/more primitive dragonborns than those originating from the Jade Empire?
Graf said:
I'll see what I can do over the weekend -- phrase things more wiki-like, as you say.
Garyh said:
Which got me thinking about the issue of *control*, i.e. can the smaller isles (or even the main ones) be made to move? At all? In a reliable way? I guess that wholly depends on first setting the nature of the main isles themselves and on that score I can see three possibilities (feel *encouraged* to add more) :
I) CRAWLING SEAS : From above, all seems as it should with broad islands surrounded by shallow shelves that eventually slope away into darkness. When one goes deep enough though, heat progressively rises... and then one encounters the legs in their thousands -- bigger than rivers, taller than most mountains, more numerous than trees. Deeper still, below leagues of water, and ones comes face to face with the island itself, the beast on which we all live. Lava is its blood, sealing cracks/wounds on the surface. Rocks is what it eats, gobbling up the sea bottom, recycling diamonds and metals which eventually make their way into its hide. Buyoed by salt water, the beasts wander, living their lives on the sea floor.
Possible consequences :
- RISE AND FALL : The sea floor isn't exactly a flat place. The great beasts sometimes have to rise up, sink or tilt as the case may be. Pitons and other small produce sudden changes up top, the sea seeming to suddenly draw back, uncovering 3 or 10 meters of new land, or conversely suddenly advance, flooding formerly dry spots. These are mostly temporary changes, as the beasts all have a prefered cruising attitude which they try to resume as soon as they can. Should an island venture into deeper and deeper waters though, it could eventually have no emerged bits at all (the reverse is of course entirely possible as well).
N.B. Navigationg is indeed going to be a chancy affair. Imagine sailing "N" out of the horns of the crescent isle... only the beast has swiveled during the night so you're actually sailing SW!
- DAUNTONIUM : If you dig deep enough, a mine or equivalent will eventually hit flesh. Incredibly resistant flesh. In addition to possible spurts of the lava-blood mentioned above (a spurt being a small volcano in this context
, said flesh might be of value in itself. Wether simply as a very resistant material (it could possibly take the place of one of the traditional fantasy "super metals") and/or it could have magical properties of its own...II) FLOATING SEAS : Another possibility, purer in a way. Say the main islands are land plugs surrounded by a short space of shallow waters (from a hundred meters to a few klicks depending on island size). Beyond that the bottom plunges straight down into the inky depths for - well - basically forever. The islands are gigantic colums plunging straight down and "pining" the Transitive sea "on top of" the boundless depths of the elemental plane of Water. Are the colums elementals frozen in place? Are they awesome constucts of some alien gods? If so, what is the purpose of it all? Scholars (those few that even suspect the truth) are working on it. In the meanwhile, the mystery of the infinite abbyss stretching below us remains whole, our only clue it is even there giant, titanic "things" periodicaly rising out of the depths, out of all proportion to anything existing in our world.
One disadvantage I can see here : volcanoes and lava, that staple of evil hideouts, are a bit difficult to explain in this context... Some consequence of the rock elementals inner system maybe? Blood again? Parasitic/White-blood-cell lava elementals? Um, rather like that last, actually...
RISE AND FALL : movement would be essentially up and down here, no tilt and probably little twist, though it could be severe : Daunton surrounded by 30 meters cliff anyone?
III) STRETCHING SEAS : Haven't thought this one through, but it rests on a simple question : do the islands shift relative to one another or is it really the *bottom* that stretches and contracts? Accelerated version of our own plate tectonics? Rocky pimples set on a living membrane? Needs some thought.
All this applies (mostly) to the main isles. The boat isles would probably have to have (several?) different mechanisms to explain them. Anyway... Comments/insults/scattered brain showers?
Binder Fred, wondering if there,s a place that expands a bit on
P.S. The Grindstones :
It's come to me that they could be an ideal environment for flying creatures : I had, in fact, a flash of that winged dragonborn in the MM. Might it be an origin spot for those who want to play barbarian/more primitive dragonborns than those originating from the Jade Empire?
garyh
First Post
Rituals.
More interesting ideas. I like the 3rd movement options, myself.
And glad you like the maps!
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