Piecing Together an Artifact [Archive] - Wizards Community

Piecing Together an Artifact [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
OgreBane99
05-22-07, 06:01 PM Okay... I'm writing a Cyre-based campaign currently that will focus on the origins of the Mourning/Mournland. I'm drawing much of my inspiration from the recent "Heir's of Ash" trilogy, so if you plan on reading it, don't look any further. Here's the basic premisis:

House Cannith had a well known and well loved arcanist/mage/artificer named Ashrem d'Cannith. He was a master of creating weapons of war. One such project he referred to only as his "Legacy." Later on the PCs will find that the "Legacy" is in fact a powerful weapon that has the ability to negate magic in an extremely large range (city-size), similar to an anti-magic field (or an EMP blast in modern times). This could be a very powerful weapon to use in the Last War and since many spies were after it, Ashrem decided to try and hide.

Looking for a fast way to end the war, King Borannel (of Breland) used his spies to hijack the Legacy in an attempt to use it in Cyre and end the war with them. Once the other nations saw this powerful weapon used in a terrorist-like attack (no one would know Breland was responsible), they would find ways to end the war as well. Unknown to Borannel (I don't think I'm spelling his name right) though, there was a powerful demon-rajah sealed beneath the city of Making, whispering evils into the mind of Ashrem. The demon wanted the item used since it would use its power to corrupt the Legacy and twist it in an effort to free the demon-rajah.

King Borannel's spies used the Legacy in the city of Making. Unfortunately, the demon did manage to twist the power of the Legacy... but too much. Instead of freeing the demon, it instead warped all the lands of Cyre into a twisted-image of the demon's "prison", thus forming the Mournland.

The PCs start the campaign by trying to piece together what exactly the Legacy was, and in the end they manage to find a way to build their own Legacy. They now have a choice: they can use it against Breland, who is ultimately responsible for the destruction the Mourning caused (I'm thinking no magic in Sharn... utter devestation), or they can use it to wipe away the taint of the Mournland, creating Cyre as it should be. Of course, if they do use it in the Mournland, they end up finally freeing the rajah....

So basically I need some help with the "meat" of the campaign. I want the PCs to travel far and wide around the lands of Khorvaire and into the Frostfell and Xen'drik (no Sarlona or psionics please) to put the pieces of the puzzle together and in the end, create their own Legacy. In order for this to be done, the Legacy can only be created one more time with whatever "pieces" are needed to create it (no multiple Legacies... just one of them). So I need some help/ideas on what exactly these "pieces" are that are needed to create the Legacy. Certain powerful giant artifacts? Special and exotic dragonshards? Etc. I'm looking for anyone that's ran a similar campaign or a campaign where the PCs need to "collect" things in order to build something out of those things. I'm doing fine on coming up with interesting locations that capture the spirit and flavor of Eberron, but I'm just really drawing a blank on what exactly the PCs are going to be hunting all over the continent(s) in search of.
OctaviusIII
05-22-07, 10:08 PM Well, such an eldritch machine has various aspects to it: the payload, the delivery system, the power system, and the magical strength to make it all work together. Here's what I have so far:

A very specific schema would be needed (get that from the last Xen'drik giants, holed up in a magically shielded valley in Frostfell) to control the power system. The power system would be a specially crafted magical "focus"/power system from Xen'drik crafted from the three kinds of shards - Siberys for the "circuitry", Khyber for the "battery", and Eberron for the "amplifier" - alone it channels anything cast into it into a [spell-lvl]d6 Eldritch Blast, 60ft radius. You would need to find an engineer to attune another Siberys/Khyber shard object, let's say a sphere with these shards forming a lens, to channel the energy into something that casts anti-magic field. This would overload the spell trigger device, causing the anti-magic "explosion". To shield the assembly from being destroyed in the explosion requires a special casing that allows magical energy out but not in. It requires a DC 30 craft check to be assembled, minus 15 if the proper plans are found (change up the DCs if it's too easy without the plans).

Final product? Anti-magic field, 25-mile radius sphere, DC 30 caster check. Also drains magical energy from casters and renders potions inert. Permanently enchanted items return to normal after 1 week. Anything that passes its check returns to normal in 6 hours.

Power source: the schema control mechanism
Power system: the dragonshard power assembly
Payload: specialized anti-magic spell trigger
Delivery system: hand delivery (too fragile to be launched or dropped)
OgreBane99
05-23-07, 11:20 AM Very good Octavius. I want the eldritch machine (or bomb, if you will) to wipe out all permanent magical effects in the area as well as close all Coterminous planar zones. So, the machine will get rid of all the bad magical effects in the Mournland and allow Cyre to be reborn. The magical "bomb" would destroy all current, operating magical effects, but would not get rid of all magic in the zone permanently. I guess it's more of a disjunction effect rather than antimagic.

I also want it to close or destroy all Coterminous zones in the immediate area. For example, if it were used in the city of Sharn, it would wipe out the connection with Syrania. This would have devestating effects since many of the huge towers there are only able to stand due to the connection with the plane. If that connection were severed, well....

Get the idea? I really like the idea of the schema and dragonshard "power" device. Any things you can think of to incorporate the planar stuff?
OctaviusIII
05-23-07, 05:26 PM Well, anything that knocks out a manifest zone would have to be either Xen'drik or Gatekeeper technology (think of it like technology and things are a lot easier to think up: arcane energy = electricity, spells = mechanisms, and dragonshards the way to channel both). Without a planar seal, though, you won't be able to permanently hold off the manifest zone - a few days to a week, though, should be plenty of time to collapse Sharn. As to how the seals work, I have no idea. Possibly a divine schema of some sort, or else a special kind of stone, let's say the same ore that lightning rail paths are made of. Can't use one of those though - you need the raw ore; maybe you have to write the schema on the stuff for its effect (something akin to bane to outsiders and elementals) to work on the spell.

If you want to restore the Mournlands within the area of effect, there should probably be some druidic magic to clean up the latent magical effect while it's suppressed by the bomb. I mention druids because of the Druids of the Broken Path, a little-talked-about sect of warforged druids trying to restore the Mournlands. Think of them as a kind of hazmat cleanup team. They do some form of natural restoration spell to make sure that the permanent magical effect doesn't return after the bomb's field starts to degrade.
OgreBane99
05-25-07, 01:57 PM Okay that pretty much answers my questions, thank you very much OcatviusIII. Where can I find out more information about these Durids of the Broken Path?

So you think the best way to get rid of the "taint" that is the Mournland, I would need to work in some druidic magic for "cleansing the land." The simple Legacy (eldritch bomb) would not be enough to get rid of the taint permanently.
OctaviusIII
05-26-07, 03:38 PM So far as I know, there is almost nothing on those druids except a brief mention in the ECS. In my character's backstory, I used them in conjunction with a non-Lord of Blades warforged nation. Basically, they're trying to clean up the Mournlands, and they're warforged.

Yeah, if the Legacy can't rid permanent magical items of their effect permanently, it shouldn't do the same for land. I do think that it would help the process along considerably, though. Best part about it: it makes the place toxic for living spells.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
OgreBane99 05-22-07, 06:01 PM	Okay... I'm writing a Cyre-based campaign currently that will focus on the origins of the Mourning/Mournland. I'm drawing much of my inspiration from the recent "Heir's of Ash" trilogy, so if you plan on reading it, don't look any further. Here's the basic premisis: House Cannith had a well known and well loved arcanist/mage/artificer named Ashrem d'Cannith. He was a master of creating weapons of war. One such project he referred to only as his "Legacy." Later on the PCs will find that the "Legacy" is in fact a powerful weapon that has the ability to negate magic in an extremely large range (city-size), similar to an anti-magic field (or an EMP blast in modern times). This could be a very powerful weapon to use in the Last War and since many spies were after it, Ashrem decided to try and hide. Looking for a fast way to end the war, King Borannel (of Breland) used his spies to hijack the Legacy in an attempt to use it in Cyre and end the war with them. Once the other nations saw this powerful weapon used in a terrorist-like attack (no one would know Breland was responsible), they would find ways to end the war as well. Unknown to Borannel (I don't think I'm spelling his name right) though, there was a powerful demon-rajah sealed beneath the city of Making, whispering evils into the mind of Ashrem. The demon wanted the item used since it would use its power to corrupt the Legacy and twist it in an effort to free the demon-rajah. King Borannel's spies used the Legacy in the city of Making. Unfortunately, the demon did manage to twist the power of the Legacy... but too much. Instead of freeing the demon, it instead warped all the lands of Cyre into a twisted-image of the demon's "prison", thus forming the Mournland. The PCs start the campaign by trying to piece together what exactly the Legacy was, and in the end they manage to find a way to build their own Legacy. They now have a choice: they can use it against Breland, who is ultimately responsible for the destruction the Mourning caused (I'm thinking no magic in Sharn... utter devestation), or they can use it to wipe away the taint of the Mournland, creating Cyre as it should be. Of course, if they do use it in the Mournland, they end up finally freeing the rajah.... So basically I need some help with the "meat" of the campaign. I want the PCs to travel far and wide around the lands of Khorvaire and into the Frostfell and Xen'drik (no Sarlona or psionics please) to put the pieces of the puzzle together and in the end, create their own Legacy. In order for this to be done, the Legacy can only be created one more time with whatever "pieces" are needed to create it (no multiple Legacies... just one of them). So I need some help/ideas on what exactly these "pieces" are that are needed to create the Legacy. Certain powerful giant artifacts? Special and exotic dragonshards? Etc. I'm looking for anyone that's ran a similar campaign or a campaign where the PCs need to "collect" things in order to build something out of those things. I'm doing fine on coming up with interesting locations that capture the spirit and flavor of Eberron, but I'm just really drawing a blank on what exactly the PCs are going to be hunting all over the continent(s) in search of.
OctaviusIII 05-22-07, 10:08 PM	Well, such an eldritch machine has various aspects to it: the payload, the delivery system, the power system, and the magical strength to make it all work together. Here's what I have so far: A very specific schema would be needed (get that from the last Xen'drik giants, holed up in a magically shielded valley in Frostfell) to control the power system. The power system would be a specially crafted magical "focus"/power system from Xen'drik crafted from the three kinds of shards - Siberys for the "circuitry", Khyber for the "battery", and Eberron for the "amplifier" - alone it channels anything cast into it into a [spell-lvl]d6 Eldritch Blast, 60ft radius. You would need to find an engineer to attune another Siberys/Khyber shard object, let's say a sphere with these shards forming a lens, to channel the energy into something that casts anti-magic field. This would overload the spell trigger device, causing the anti-magic "explosion". To shield the assembly from being destroyed in the explosion requires a special casing that allows magical energy out but not in. It requires a DC 30 craft check to be assembled, minus 15 if the proper plans are found (change up the DCs if it's too easy without the plans). Final product? Anti-magic field, 25-mile radius sphere, DC 30 caster check. Also drains magical energy from casters and renders potions inert. Permanently enchanted items return to normal after 1 week. Anything that passes its check returns to normal in 6 hours. Power source: the schema control mechanism Power system: the dragonshard power assembly Payload: specialized anti-magic spell trigger Delivery system: hand delivery (too fragile to be launched or dropped)
OgreBane99 05-23-07, 11:20 AM	Very good Octavius. I want the eldritch machine (or bomb, if you will) to wipe out all permanent magical effects in the area as well as close all Coterminous planar zones. So, the machine will get rid of all the bad magical effects in the Mournland and allow Cyre to be reborn. The magical "bomb" would destroy all current, operating magical effects, but would not get rid of all magic in the zone permanently. I guess it's more of a disjunction effect rather than antimagic. I also want it to close or destroy all Coterminous zones in the immediate area. For example, if it were used in the city of Sharn, it would wipe out the connection with Syrania. This would have devestating effects since many of the huge towers there are only able to stand due to the connection with the plane. If that connection were severed, well.... Get the idea? I really like the idea of the schema and dragonshard "power" device. Any things you can think of to incorporate the planar stuff?
OctaviusIII 05-23-07, 05:26 PM	Well, anything that knocks out a manifest zone would have to be either Xen'drik or Gatekeeper technology (think of it like technology and things are a lot easier to think up: arcane energy = electricity, spells = mechanisms, and dragonshards the way to channel both). Without a planar seal, though, you won't be able to permanently hold off the manifest zone - a few days to a week, though, should be plenty of time to collapse Sharn. As to how the seals work, I have no idea. Possibly a divine schema of some sort, or else a special kind of stone, let's say the same ore that lightning rail paths are made of. Can't use one of those though - you need the raw ore; maybe you have to write the schema on the stuff for its effect (something akin to bane to outsiders and elementals) to work on the spell. If you want to restore the Mournlands within the area of effect, there should probably be some druidic magic to clean up the latent magical effect while it's suppressed by the bomb. I mention druids because of the Druids of the Broken Path, a little-talked-about sect of warforged druids trying to restore the Mournlands. Think of them as a kind of hazmat cleanup team. They do some form of natural restoration spell to make sure that the permanent magical effect doesn't return after the bomb's field starts to degrade.
OgreBane99 05-25-07, 01:57 PM	Okay that pretty much answers my questions, thank you very much OcatviusIII. Where can I find out more information about these Durids of the Broken Path? So you think the best way to get rid of the "taint" that is the Mournland, I would need to work in some druidic magic for "cleansing the land." The simple Legacy (eldritch bomb) would not be enough to get rid of the taint permanently.
OctaviusIII 05-26-07, 03:38 PM	So far as I know, there is almost nothing on those druids except a brief mention in the ECS. In my character's backstory, I used them in conjunction with a non-Lord of Blades warforged nation. Basically, they're trying to clean up the Mournlands, and they're warforged. Yeah, if the Legacy can't rid permanent magical items of their effect permanently, it shouldn't do the same for land. I do think that it would help the process along considerably, though. Best part about it: it makes the place toxic for living spells.