Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Harsk 09-19-04, 04:39 PM	I find myself in an odd situation. I'll try to provide the short form of the background, but to foreshadow: Through a combination of in-game events, my character has come to believe that he's cracked, and that what he's seeing in the world around him isn't real. The character: High-level wizard from the FR, currently stuck in an alternate prime with the rest of the party due to the machinations of an evil deity. He has always been paranoid, owing to being evil for 300 years before redemption. The backdrop: The villain back in the Realms is a master of dream magic and operates many of his plans (a) out of the dream realm or (b) out of hidden pocket dimensions. The current task: Save this alternate prime by destroying "The Throne," an artifact that is both a massive spellpool and the means of cutting the world off from the gods. Without destroying The Throne, we can't get home. The Throne is powered by phylacteries created to store the essence of two avatars of the evil god who sent us here. The problem: My character began to wonder prior to the last session if this might not all be a dream, and was half-convinced none of it was real. Then, in the last session, someone else in the group came up with a plan: We need to supplant one of the phylacteries in The Throne with another phylactery (one of the ones in the throne is currently empty, because there's an avatar of the evil god loose in the world). My character is the one best equipped to (a) become a lich, and (b) have his soul stuffed into The Throne. But this would basically mean that he's got control over how magic is structured in the world, functionally succeeding where Karsus failed, at least for a little while. He just needs to maintain control long enough to lower the barrier and let the gods back in, so that Mystra can take over. The fracture: He's pretty certain there's no way this plan could have been come up with by sane people. He thinks he's lost it, because only an insane person would agree to become a lich and take over how magic is structured in a world. He's not excited about it at all -- he's scared to death, and is completely convinced that he's cracked and that it doesn't matter what he does. I, the player, am too close to the character to figure out how to help him. Any advice how to deal with this would be greatly appreciated, because I like the character, but if he falls into this solipsistic insanity, I fear he's at a developmental dead-end. Help? ~Harsk
Morka 09-19-04, 06:24 PM	I'm not sure who is the most insane here? I also think one should be insane to become a lich... But back to your plan. Once you become a lich, your alignment shift to evil, so I doubt that you will sacrifice your phylactery to save the world, since sacrifying one's life is a good act. Of course, the other player could "steal" your phylactery, so you will have no choice. But once your party save this world, will you remain a lich? Will Mystra resurect you and resume your previous alignment, and be grateful to sacrifice yourself to save a world? Unless you are far more powerful and/or evil than I tought, I think your character is right to be affraid of this experience!
Kitt-su 09-19-04, 06:48 PM	Wait now. In the Forgotten Realms there are some elves who undergo a similar process in order to become a good lich. Those good-liches have some different abilities (Found in the Monsters of Faerun) and retain they're good alignment (They must be good to become a good-lich). As for the insanity part, I have no good advice. Have someone beat the crap out of you maybe? To show you that, in dreams, you can't be hurt but here ya can.
Harsk 09-21-04, 01:27 AM	Wait now. In the Forgotten Realms there are some elves who undergo a similar process in order to become a good lich. Those good-liches have some different abilities (Found in the Monsters of Faerun) and retain they're good alignment (They must be good to become a good-lich). As for the insanity part, I have no good advice. Have someone beat the crap out of you maybe? To show you that, in dreams, you can't be hurt but here ya can. Yes, those are baelnorns. My target is actually archlichdom, but if all else fails they've also inscribed a symbol of persuasion (still in 3.0) on the to-be phylactery, with the persuasion being my spell cast while I'm still a CG follower of Mystra. If that doesn't work, I guess they just blow me up. The interesting thing about your last suggestion (have someone beat the crap out of me) is that I haven't managed to well-and-truly die since we've been in this world. I got my rear-end handed to me in the last session, but because a reality-shifting miracle was cast by our friendly cleric, I don't know exactly what I remember -- further contributing to the perception of insanity. The character has had quite an arc. He was originally a vampire (hence the evil for several hundred years) and since being restored he's been struggling to do what's right and stop the further misuse of magic (he wasn't ever bitten -- he was transformed into a vampire via some ritual). Becoming a lich, even an archlich, is very frightening because he isn't sure he knows enough to not turn himself evil (plenty of ranks in knowledge (undeath) and a ridiculous knowledge (arcana) can't hurt, though). Don't get me wrong, he thinks it's a ridiculous idea, but he is also pretty certain he can pull it off. Delusions of grandeur, too. :) The answer is probably very simple: Faith. But I don't know how to get him there from here, since the only gods he's familiar with who have a presence in this world are the draconic pantheon. If this is the way the character goes out, I can think of a lot worse ways to die. I'd just prefer it be a rational decision rather than an, "I'm nuts, mise well get myself killed!" decision. ~Harsk
sukael 09-22-04, 10:26 AM	If the gods he's familiar with are from the draconic pantheon . . . maybe some sort of quest involving them? Maybe there's an artifact of some kind specifically made to keep a potential lich from turning evil, and it's currently in the possession of a favored follower or avatar of one of the dragon gods.
White rabbit 09-22-04, 10:56 PM	There is a dragon God of magic (Arcanic) as well as a dragon God of undeath (Faluzure). Perhaps speak to some of their clerics, maybe?
Harsk 09-23-04, 03:08 PM	There is a dragon God of magic (Arcanic) as well as a dragon God of undeath (Faluzure). Perhaps speak to some of their clerics, maybe? "Presence" is very loosely-defined. The artifact we're trying to kill has functionally supplanted the gods. The worship of the draconic deities survives, but most clerics who receive spells are actually getting them from an incarnation of Nature (who really doesn't seem to care exactly who is being worshipped, and is more interested in the faith itself). We have, however, been looking for active priests of any gods or goddesses, on the off-chance that someone may have a line back to Godsville. Good suggestion, Harsk