Mournland Side Effects [Archive] - Wizards Community

Mournland Side Effects [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
darko blades
06-22-07, 04:22 PM Don't know if this has already been addressed on this fine forum but i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on magical effects on people in and around cyre at the time of the mourning. I mean asside from dieing of course. I'm thinking things like:

a limb or portion of the body changes to another material (stone or glass for example)

voice changes (huntingly beautiful or rasping etc)

hair colour changes (possibly to something unnatural)

they don't need to sleep (if they previously needed to)

this is just some brief brainstorming here but any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm basically thinking of the mourning as a magical nuke and thinking of what magical radiation would do to people in terms of mutations. I'm sure i read somewhere of a cyran surviving the mourning but coming away with stone teeth.... anyway i look forward to your feedback. Thanks all. DB
naturax
06-22-07, 04:27 PM In one of my games a character who survived the Mourning could only eat valuable metals - the more valuable the material the less hungry he would get, but he could never fill up on copper coins. Swallowing real food without throwing it up required a DC 20 CON check.
DrNooch
06-24-07, 10:31 AM What if, much like Living Spells staying around, they had some sort of spell permanently grafted to their aura. Obviously this can't be too high a spell for PCs (but NPC encounters could be cool)...

PCs could have a light spell permanently on their hands... or a villain with a smaller (5 or 10 ft radius) obscuring mist that constantly surrounds him... maybe if it's as simple as a mage (or his lackey) having an arcane mark permanently on their face or other part of body...

All are cool ideas, and tons more could be created, although I think they'd have the best effect in game if there was a clear physical sign that the spell is there. Maybe have it be worth a Feat. Even if the possiblity of having it evolve to be more powerful (dragonmark-like)...
Amaril
06-25-07, 04:06 PM You could always apply taint effect (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/campaigns/taint.htm#effectsOfTaint).
Soltares
06-25-07, 04:52 PM What if, much like Living Spells staying around, they had some sort of spell permanently grafted to their aura. Obviously this can't be too high a spell for PCs (but NPC encounters could be cool)...

PCs could have a light spell permanently on their hands... or a villain with a smaller (5 or 10 ft radius) obscuring mist that constantly surrounds him... maybe if it's as simple as a mage (or his lackey) having an arcane mark permanently on their face or other part of body...

All are cool ideas, and tons more could be created, although I think they'd have the best effect in game if there was a clear physical sign that the spell is there. Maybe have it be worth a Feat. Even if the possiblity of having it evolve to be more powerful (dragonmark-like)...

Any useful game-affecting Mournland 'taint' effect should likely count as a Feat, while a punitive one could even count as a Flaw. To simplify matters, they could even be combined...

For example, someone 'infected' with some sort of living Light spell effect might glow with faint radiance, making very difficult for them to hide (-4 circumstance penalty to Disguise and Hide checks, representing how they have to cover up their skin, and even veil their eyes, to hide) and foes would count lighting/darkness related concealment effects one step lower (even in total natural darkness, his glow would cause him to stand out, and foes would only have a 20% miss chance, instead of a 50% miss chance!), but be able to concentrate to produce the equivalent of a Light effect from a hand or from their face at will (requiring use of a Free Action to maintain, so that they 'lose concentration' if they are stunned or dazed or otherwise unable to maintain the effect). So, hands-free torch, but serious problems being stealthy, or pretending to be someone else, or using natural darkness as cover.

A living Burning Hands could alter someone's hands to be permanantly hot to the touch, inflicting 1 hp of Fire damage to anyone gripped for a full round action. This would be beneficial in some cases, but make the user unable to manipulate anything in his hands that doesn't have a Hardness of 1 versus fire... (No scrolls, for instance.)

The Obscuring Mist thing could just cause the character to exude mist, and unless he spends a full round in a particular area, it's of no actual benefit. Only in particular cases (standing still, underground or indoors) would the mist be powerful enough to provide partial concealment, and in any event it would also have the same sort of penalizing effects of the living Light effect, as the person 'gifted' with this living Mist would be unable to turn the effect off, and thus be unable to Disguise themselves as someone else. The mist effect would also give others partial Concealment against his own attacks, when it applies to their attacks against him!

The individual DM would have to determine whether or not the drawbacks are appropriate to the advantages, and make sure the advantages are situational and not potentially abusive. If people start deliberately going into the Mournlands hoping to get 'superpowers,' it's definitely not a good thing!
ryanroyce
06-25-07, 05:28 PM This is actually the basis for my whole campaign. :) All of my PCs were originally members of a blademarks company known as the Longstriders (light infantry/skirmishers). When the Mourning mists washed over them, 90% of them perished immediately. The 10% who survived (21 total) became gestalt warlocks, combining with whatever class they had beforehand. For each invocation they had (including detect magic and eldritch blast), they bore a dead gray rune conspicuously similar to a dragonmark somewhere on their body.

Also, in addition to the above and at the player's behest, I had a warforged PC whose wood bits were permanently transmuted to red organic crystal (a la Colossus) and his metal bits were transmuted to cyrite. What the PC has yet to discover is that the "red crystal" is actually pure eberron dragonshard and there's a Mad Scientist scheming to make him into the ultimate power component for his eldritch machine. Bwa ha ha! :evillaugh
GimliGloinson
06-26-07, 12:18 PM One of the things I've considered doing is implementing the Red Curse from the Red Steel/Savage Coast setting of Mystara (which I absolutely LOVED). Dragon #315 gives updated rules for it (this is one of the best all-around issues of the last 4 years, IMO) that I think work fairly well and are balanced. Basically, for a penalty to one of your attributes, you get a spell-like or supernatural ability. However, you have to keep a particular substance (cinnabryl) around or you'll suffer further debilitating effects and become Afflicted.

In addition, I've been working on altering the cinnabryl/red steel thing to include purple mournlode and arcane steel; sort of a three-tiered thing.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
darko blades 06-22-07, 04:22 PM	Don't know if this has already been addressed on this fine forum but i was wondering if anyone had any ideas on magical effects on people in and around cyre at the time of the mourning. I mean asside from dieing of course. I'm thinking things like: a limb or portion of the body changes to another material (stone or glass for example) voice changes (huntingly beautiful or rasping etc) hair colour changes (possibly to something unnatural) they don't need to sleep (if they previously needed to) this is just some brief brainstorming here but any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm basically thinking of the mourning as a magical nuke and thinking of what magical radiation would do to people in terms of mutations. I'm sure i read somewhere of a cyran surviving the mourning but coming away with stone teeth.... anyway i look forward to your feedback. Thanks all. DB
naturax 06-22-07, 04:27 PM	In one of my games a character who survived the Mourning could only eat valuable metals - the more valuable the material the less hungry he would get, but he could never fill up on copper coins. Swallowing real food without throwing it up required a DC 20 CON check.
DrNooch 06-24-07, 10:31 AM	What if, much like Living Spells staying around, they had some sort of spell permanently grafted to their aura. Obviously this can't be too high a spell for PCs (but NPC encounters could be cool)... PCs could have a light spell permanently on their hands... or a villain with a smaller (5 or 10 ft radius) obscuring mist that constantly surrounds him... maybe if it's as simple as a mage (or his lackey) having an arcane mark permanently on their face or other part of body... All are cool ideas, and tons more could be created, although I think they'd have the best effect in game if there was a clear physical sign that the spell is there. Maybe have it be worth a Feat. Even if the possiblity of having it evolve to be more powerful (dragonmark-like)...
Amaril 06-25-07, 04:06 PM	You could always apply taint effect (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/campaigns/taint.htm#effectsOfTaint).
Soltares 06-25-07, 04:52 PM	What if, much like Living Spells staying around, they had some sort of spell permanently grafted to their aura. Obviously this can't be too high a spell for PCs (but NPC encounters could be cool)... PCs could have a light spell permanently on their hands... or a villain with a smaller (5 or 10 ft radius) obscuring mist that constantly surrounds him... maybe if it's as simple as a mage (or his lackey) having an arcane mark permanently on their face or other part of body... All are cool ideas, and tons more could be created, although I think they'd have the best effect in game if there was a clear physical sign that the spell is there. Maybe have it be worth a Feat. Even if the possiblity of having it evolve to be more powerful (dragonmark-like)... Any useful game-affecting Mournland 'taint' effect should likely count as a Feat, while a punitive one could even count as a Flaw. To simplify matters, they could even be combined... For example, someone 'infected' with some sort of living Light spell effect might glow with faint radiance, making very difficult for them to hide (-4 circumstance penalty to Disguise and Hide checks, representing how they have to cover up their skin, and even veil their eyes, to hide) and foes would count lighting/darkness related concealment effects one step lower (even in total natural darkness, his glow would cause him to stand out, and foes would only have a 20% miss chance, instead of a 50% miss chance!), but be able to concentrate to produce the equivalent of a Light effect from a hand or from their face at will (requiring use of a Free Action to maintain, so that they 'lose concentration' if they are stunned or dazed or otherwise unable to maintain the effect). So, hands-free torch, but serious problems being stealthy, or pretending to be someone else, or using natural darkness as cover. A living Burning Hands could alter someone's hands to be permanantly hot to the touch, inflicting 1 hp of Fire damage to anyone gripped for a full round action. This would be beneficial in some cases, but make the user unable to manipulate anything in his hands that doesn't have a Hardness of 1 versus fire... (No scrolls, for instance.) The Obscuring Mist thing could just cause the character to exude mist, and unless he spends a full round in a particular area, it's of no actual benefit. Only in particular cases (standing still, underground or indoors) would the mist be powerful enough to provide partial concealment, and in any event it would also have the same sort of penalizing effects of the living Light effect, as the person 'gifted' with this living Mist would be unable to turn the effect off, and thus be unable to Disguise themselves as someone else. The mist effect would also give others partial Concealment against his own attacks, when it applies to their attacks against him! The individual DM would have to determine whether or not the drawbacks are appropriate to the advantages, and make sure the advantages are situational and not potentially abusive. If people start deliberately going into the Mournlands hoping to get 'superpowers,' it's definitely not a good thing!
ryanroyce 06-25-07, 05:28 PM	This is actually the basis for my whole campaign. :) All of my PCs were originally members of a blademarks company known as the Longstriders (light infantry/skirmishers). When the Mourning mists washed over them, 90% of them perished immediately. The 10% who survived (21 total) became gestalt warlocks, combining with whatever class they had beforehand. For each invocation they had (including detect magic and eldritch blast), they bore a dead gray rune conspicuously similar to a dragonmark somewhere on their body. Also, in addition to the above and at the player's behest, I had a warforged PC whose wood bits were permanently transmuted to red organic crystal (a la Colossus) and his metal bits were transmuted to cyrite. What the PC has yet to discover is that the "red crystal" is actually pure eberron dragonshard and there's a Mad Scientist scheming to make him into the ultimate power component for his eldritch machine. Bwa ha ha! :evillaugh
GimliGloinson 06-26-07, 12:18 PM	One of the things I've considered doing is implementing the Red Curse from the Red Steel/Savage Coast setting of Mystara (which I absolutely LOVED). Dragon #315 gives updated rules for it (this is one of the best all-around issues of the last 4 years, IMO) that I think work fairly well and are balanced. Basically, for a penalty to one of your attributes, you get a spell-like or supernatural ability. However, you have to keep a particular substance (cinnabryl) around or you'll suffer further debilitating effects and become Afflicted. In addition, I've been working on altering the cinnabryl/red steel thing to include purple mournlode and arcane steel; sort of a three-tiered thing.