Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Fithero 12-14-05, 12:23 AM	Ok im trying to make an item (and a npc) that is focused around the dead, although not in the standard way. This guy (im thinking he will be a follower of jergal or something like that) will carry around this massive tome, which lists every single person who is dead (and the date of death), undead (and the date turned) aswell as those who have been resurected (how many times and the dates of each time) These events get magically penned into the book, ie they just appear when any of the above events happens. But the npc also wants the living to be penned into the book aswell (just for referance, and because it becomes more comprehensive...or something). Now this npc will just walk the land taking peoples names to pen into the book, but im thinking that *something* has happened to the book. People whose names are put into the book die a couple of days later. Perhaps the book is cursed... perhaps the person has gone mad and wills it to happen... i dont know. So this is what i need help with. - Why are people dying when they get their names put into the book? - What classes/background would the character be? So far all i know is that he follows Jergal (god of death) and is either a wizard (spec in divination) with lvls of loremaster. Any help would be appreciated. Later
ĐēşţĩŊŷ 12-14-05, 07:17 AM	The book seems like a mighty artifact actually. You've got some ideas to run with i see, perhaps the book condemns all souls with their names written in the book, perhaps it reanimates them afterwards as undead creatures to serve Jergal. Perhaps the person has the ability to cast his spells through his book, affecting people directly (slay living) and then the book reanimates them. Your character should be something spooky and mystic seeing as he wanders the countryside, perhaps base him off some watcher of the dead, like the skeleton guarding styx.
Setherial 12-14-05, 07:55 AM	I love this idea of yours, it's so cool. Ofcourse take in concideration that if you create a book that can kill people when one writes their names into it you create a very dangerous weapon that many will seek out and will try to ket their hands on. Some to kill their enemies, some to abuse the power it holds over mortals and enslave everyone, some out of fear it will be used against them, some will want to destroy, some will simply want it for closure, to find out what happened to a certain missing person, is he truely death or not etc... If the PC's get their hands on it they would have power but also suddenly a world of enemies. The more I think about it the crazier this thing gets, it could feed an entire campaign, throw the world in chaos and anarchy. Wars would be fought over this book. I'm so gonna use it :) The one who carries the book would be a very remarkable person indeed, a loner who walks the earth for all eternity or perhaps there is a system where this caretaker of the book travels until he find the perfect individual to continue the burden when the old caretaker dies....
Fithero 12-14-05, 09:24 AM	I dont want to make the book *too* powerfull, in that origionaly it was only meant to be used as a record keeping device. Technically speaking, the book could be used to scry on people (well, to grant the info to be able to anyway) but that would just be waaaaaaaaay too over the top. Basically this is the idea that *im* going to use for the book (in other words, feel free to run with this idea as far as you want). The book is split into different chapters, each chapter being a different race, each chapter being split into 2 parts, for male and female. -Everybodies name appears in the book when they are born (including the date) -The date you die appears next to your name -The date your raised as an undead -The date you get ressurected appears next to your name (as well as the date, if more than once, consecutive times appear aswell) -If reincarnated, you gain a new entry which includes your name and date of re-birth (as your a new person) but you have a link back to your previous lifes name. If you hold your hand over the cover of the book and speak (or think) the name of a person, the book will open to that persons entry. So thats the basics of the book, purely for record keeping. Now im thinking that this guy with the book is going round and getting people to pen their signature's next to their names (which will add some positive effect to the book, perhaps stop the person's soul from being destoryed if they dont follow another god when they die. This is one point i need help with, any ideas here would be great). Now that positive effect has been screwed up and replaced by some curse or something. Instead of doing that (hell it might actually *still* do that) it kills people in exactly 3 days after they sign. The holder of this book would be considered an unexpeted bad guy, somebody who isnt evil but is inadvertedly doing evil things (killing people) So basically, to make things easier, this is what im looking for. -What benefits *should* people gain from signing the book? (its supposed to be beneficial after all) -Should the current holder of the book be immune to natural death for aslong as the book is in their possession? So they can continue to gain signatures... and sadly due to this curse... continue to kill people. Any help would be great. Later
Setherial 12-14-05, 09:39 AM	my number one question would be what his system is to map people. I mean does he go from town to town and ask everyone to sign or does he seek out individuals and convince them to sign. In case of the former it would take quite a while to talk to everyone in a village and convince them to sign, by the time he leaves deaths will already have start occuring and he would notice. He would most likely notice it anyway after a while if all the ones he has signatures from die after 3 days and a date of death appears in the book for every single signed name. Anyway people would figur it out and they would hunt him down. One person here and there would draw less attention to others. Question 2, how does he convince people to sign ???? As for a class for him I thinking of looking into book of Exalted deads and make him some kind of saint with vow of poverty and all.
Fithero 12-14-05, 10:09 AM	Question 2, how does he convince people to sign ???? Thats something im trying to figure out, the positive effect that you get from signing next to your name. What could it be? I seem to recall in the FR setting that if you dont have a god, and that if you dont choose one within a certain amount of time after you die, your sould becomes part of this wall that surrounds a ghost city or something... i dunno. Basically it sounds like a pretty undesirable fate, perhaps if you sign, you can avoid that fate no matter what. OR Perhaps signing that assures that you cannot become an undead creature. This guy is walking around getting people to sign their names in the book so that there will be less undead walking the lands. Once they sign, neither their soul OR body can be turned into an undead creature. It seems like a likely goal for a god of death (NOT undeath... im pretty sure Jergal, along with Kelemvor, hate the undead) This would actually allow for many powerfull people to hate the item and want it destoryed (necromancers of all kinds... vampires... you get the jist) Im thinking that ill run with that idea. Later
Setherial 12-14-05, 01:33 PM	somehow reading your approach makes him sound like a door on door salesman to me. My response would be why would I believe some guy who assures me that my body will rest after death, what's the catch ?? There must be a lot of conmen in a fantasy world selling all sorts of charms and ********. I'm more inclined to go a slightly more magical way. Lets say he picks out certain individuals following some pattern I've not fleshed out yet. He seeks out these people and just by talking to them they are automatically charmed (very high DC). Days after signing the book they still talk about this stranger/prophet/messiah who came to them and enlightened them. His words are like those of some charismatic guru and he seems to understand the inner struggle of each individual and he helps people deal with their inner demons by a few simple words while he asks them to sign his book. Ok now poeple start dying, but not al of them, there is a pattern, something the players can figure out. Something these poeple have in common other then having signing this guys book. anyway I think I'll give it some more thought before continueing... S