BG Planar Sphere? [Archive] - Wizards Community

BG Planar Sphere? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Telagaunt
09-21-07, 12:15 AM Anyone remember this thing from the Baldur's Gate games? I was thinking about it earlier. And I couldnt remember who 'created' the device, I think the tiefling's people, or genies, :rolleyes: but I can't remember. I remember in the game having to go to some plane and kill a bunch of them lol but this was many years ago. Anyway, I started thinking of a device, maybe similar, or same one (if enough 'fluff material). So can anyone please help me remember some of the aspects of this thing. a) How it worked, b) what exactly did it do (teleport to different planes?), c) who made it. Things like that? :eek:
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
09-21-07, 01:24 PM Yes, I remember that Sphere. No, I don't recall all of the niggling details.

Yes, one purpose of the sphere was to travel to other spheres. If you're making your own Sphere, you can probably work out the other details (who made it, how it worked) with your own creativity.:) In any case, how things work in fantasy is almost never as interesting as how they affect the protagonists.
MarkusTay63
09-21-07, 01:52 PM Sounds exactly like something the Imaskari would have created, though.
Meldread
09-21-07, 02:42 PM The Sphere was created by a relative (Great Uncle I believe) of one of the NPC characters that could join the party in the game. In order to gain access to the Sphere it required someone with that NPC Characters Bloodline. The Uncle, who had disappeared for some time, was believed to be dead until the Sphere re-appeared. The Cowled Wizards were making an attempt to enter and had placed a bounty on the NPC Character's head.

The PC could then choose to collect the bounty for the Cowled Wizards, assist the NPC Character, or kill the NPC Character and use his corpse to open the sphere for themselves. If you kept him alive and offered to assist him you'd take him back to the Sphere and he'd open it. You would eventually face off against the Uncle and end up in another crystal sphere somewhere controlled by demons. If you killed him and used his corpse to open the sphere the same thing would happen.

The Sphere required a demon's heart to operate. It was obviously an infusion of magic and technology. The Gnomes of Lantan or the Halruaans might possess the know how to create such a device, with the Gnomes of Lantan slightly more likely to create it simply because the machine had a more technological bend.
Shuuya
09-22-07, 06:48 AM How odd, I just started playing BG2 again for fun and just finished the Planar Sphere.

I think it was built by Valygar Corthala's ancestor, Lavok, who was a big bad caster who went plane hopping. Valygar wants to go in and fight him. After a short battle he says he only wants to die on the material plane, see the sky of his home again and that the sphere's core needs a new demon heart to run again. "Luckily" when you entered it plane shifted to the Abyss, so you can "easily" go and get one. I think the majority of enemies inside it were interlopers rather than guardians because Lavok had a golem to kill extraplanar creatures (which you use to kill an Elder Orb in there.) In the end Valygar carries Lavok outside and Lavok dies at the door of the sphere. That is, if you didn't kill Valygar of course (I don't know how the quest changes if Valygar dies.)

I don't know whether it says anything about where the Corthala's are from but I'd presume it was Amn, and I don't think it says if Lavok built the sphere on his own or whether he got assistance from others. Overall, I agree with Meldread that it sounds Lantanese or Halruaan if Lavok built it fairly recently that is, and got help doing so. The sphere was probably made pre-Time of Troubles so I'm not sure if Lantan was that technological before Gond turned up.

As for the schematics I believe the door only opened for people in the Corthala family and it used the demon's heart core to plane shift. After plane shifting the master's permission was needed before the door would open again and the sphere sheared any physical surface it landed on so it could land. (The house in Athkatla was still there but only the parts where the sphere was "disintegrated" for lack of a better word.)
Yaeri
09-22-07, 06:32 PM Yup yup. What Shuuya said.
Something funny I remember, was that a few people living in the houses where the planar sphere had appeared claimed it as their property, because it was on their ground/house.
Shuuya
09-22-07, 07:07 PM Yup yup. What Shuuya said.
Something funny I remember, was that a few people living in the houses where the planar sphere had appeared claimed it as their property, because it was on their ground/house.

I didn't see him this playthrough but wasn't there a guy who tried to sell you it for something stupid like 5gp or 50gp?
Yaeri
09-23-07, 02:52 AM I didn't see him this playthrough but wasn't there a guy who tried to sell you it for something stupid like 5gp or 50gp?
lol. I totally forgot about that. Yup, that certainly rings a bell. Though I can't remember the amount of gold for the life of me.
Telagaunt
09-23-07, 06:18 AM Thanks for the responses. If I were making my own device, I was thinking the Gnomes or Imaskar would be optimal choices as creators of such a device, but wanted to see if I could find some of the game's fluff and see if it was 'good enough' to incorprate into what I was thinking.
Meldread
09-23-07, 09:53 AM I really like the idea of introducing the Planar Sphere. It can be a source of endless adventures and plots, having the ability to take them to different time periods, different planes, different prime material worlds, and even alternate realities. The possibilities become endless.

Here is how I would handle it. Get the PC's over to Waterdeep or Baulder's Gate. Have word come out via the Temple of Gond that 'Brave Adventurers Sought for Technological Experiment'. Basically, this is the hook. They take it, they find themselves over in Lantan shortly thereafter, meeting with a mysterious Gnome simply known as the Doctor. (My Doctor Who reference. :P)

The Doctor claims to have spent years excavating old Imaskari ruins in the Raurin Desert, and he eventually came across the blue prints to a Planar Sphere. He has made modifications, as he doesn't believe it had been built before (at least no evidence of it ever existing has been found) and the Doctor requires individuals who can assist him in testing the Sphere. It has been completed and the players would be shown the first prototype. It would appear roughly as a twenty foot tall and two-hundred foot wide steel sphere that is flat at the bottom with a large door. (It's only entrance).

The sphere itself is impenetrable. The Doctor claims that no force, even a god could penetrate the sphere without his permission. The door and only entrance to the sphere is keyed to individuals. You simply place your hand onto the door and it opens automatically.

The inside of the sphere is much larger than the outside, in fact the doctor explains that the inside space can be limitless. The inside of the sphere is almost strange and alien a mixture of natural things and technology.

Living inside is roughly the equivalent of a small gnomish village. They farm to produce food for those living inside the sphere. There are workers living inside who help maintain the sphere. It has its own ecosystem (plants and domesticated animals), its own weather and a day/night cycle. The weather and the day/night cycle can be regulated from the control room as well as the size of the sphere.

The control room is in the center of the sphere and appears as a miniature version of the sphere itself. The inside of the control room seems to match the "size" of the sphere it is within, although it at first appears disorientating. At the center of the room is a single control panel and from that panel the sphere is at your fingertips. Although, only the Doctor has any real knowledge on how to operate it.

The walls and the floor of the control room would seem translucent once inside and with the push of a few buttons from the panel you will be able to see (in full 3D) what it looks like on the outside of the sphere. (Think of it as a uber IMAX.)

Down below all of the above would be a "Maintenance Center" which is where most workers within the sphere would be stationed. The Maintenance Center would look something of a blend between a cave system and technology. It is not dark, but instead filled with a dim and strange unearthly light which can be made brighter or darker from the control center. Throughout the cave system would be "crystals" which seem to glow. These crystals are the "fuel" that the Planar Sphere uses to travel. It takes a lot of fuel to travel, and the crystals grow dim or turn dark once they are used up. They can be recharged overtime, however, and draw their energy primarily from the Astral Plane, although the energy of any plane would suffice. Though the Doctor claims that drawing from another plane other than the Astral may result in strange occurrences within the sphere that are difficult to predict and control depending on the plane.

In addition to being indestructible the sphere itself can hover above the ground until it can find a place to land, enter into a stealth mode making it impossible to see unless you are "keyed" to it (as the players would be), and have the ability to straddle itself in-between two planes at once. (Similar to how the Shadow Walk spell works.)

So in effect not only have you created a mobile fortress for the players that can act as their portable home base of operations, but you have also created a place where they can easily experience a series of endless adventures. Want to play in Grayhawk for awhile? No problem. Want to jump over to Eberron for a bit? Done. Want to go back in time and speak to Karsus before the fall of Netheril? Easy. Want to create a homebrew world for your PC's to experience and want them to use their current characters? Problem solved. You can spend one session in Lantan, one in Maztica, one in Kara-Tur, then jump over to the Nine Hells for a bit, followed by a quick detour in Grayhawk before finally settling down in Eberron for a few sessions and returning to Toril.
Shuuya
09-24-07, 07:44 AM This has inspired me to use this at the very end of my upcoming FR campaign. After the BBEG dies the players get a year or so of rest and the planar sphere arrives so they can take it to the planes. (Probably using Union or Sigil or another planar metropolis.)
Thanks to the OP for bringing it up. :D
The WarOverlord
09-25-07, 08:22 AM Anyone remember this thing from the Baldur's Gate games? I was thinking about it earlier. And I couldnt remember who 'created' the device, I think the tiefling's people, or genies, :rolleyes: but I can't remember. I remember in the game having to go to some plane and kill a bunch of them lol but this was many years ago. Anyway, I started thinking of a device, maybe similar, or same one (if enough 'fluff material). So can anyone please help me remember some of the aspects of this thing. a) How it worked, b) what exactly did it do (teleport to different planes?), c) who made it. Things like that? :eek:

The "Sphere" was a traveling Lab and home of a Mage that was either dead or lost by the time it crash landed in Baulder's Gate (Either senerio is possible as there were monsters and loose prisoners in the thing that might have either killed the owner or started the device when he was wondering around)

The Powersource is a partially mummified Demon in the "Plane Jump" control room and it uses up 1 Demon Heart per Plane Jump which must be harvested

If I remember correctly, ending up in the 9 Hells was a predetermined destination on the Planejump Controls as there were no extra Demon Hearts lying around, and even if you collected more then 1 demon heart the Shpere "Breaks down" on the jump nack to Baulder's Gate and "can't go anywhere without repairs" that you don't know how to do so the Sphere is effectively broken but usable as your "Stronghold" if you are a Mage or Sorcerer
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
09-25-07, 01:46 PM The Planar Sphere is in Athkatla, not Baldur's Gate.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Telagaunt 09-21-07, 12:15 AM	Anyone remember this thing from the Baldur's Gate games? I was thinking about it earlier. And I couldnt remember who 'created' the device, I think the tiefling's people, or genies, :rolleyes: but I can't remember. I remember in the game having to go to some plane and kill a bunch of them lol but this was many years ago. Anyway, I started thinking of a device, maybe similar, or same one (if enough 'fluff material). So can anyone please help me remember some of the aspects of this thing. a) How it worked, b) what exactly did it do (teleport to different planes?), c) who made it. Things like that? :eek:
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin 09-21-07, 01:24 PM	Yes, I remember that Sphere. No, I don't recall all of the niggling details. Yes, one purpose of the sphere was to travel to other spheres. If you're making your own Sphere, you can probably work out the other details (who made it, how it worked) with your own creativity.:) In any case, how things work in fantasy is almost never as interesting as how they affect the protagonists.
MarkusTay63 09-21-07, 01:52 PM	Sounds exactly like something the Imaskari would have created, though.
Meldread 09-21-07, 02:42 PM	The Sphere was created by a relative (Great Uncle I believe) of one of the NPC characters that could join the party in the game. In order to gain access to the Sphere it required someone with that NPC Characters Bloodline. The Uncle, who had disappeared for some time, was believed to be dead until the Sphere re-appeared. The Cowled Wizards were making an attempt to enter and had placed a bounty on the NPC Character's head. The PC could then choose to collect the bounty for the Cowled Wizards, assist the NPC Character, or kill the NPC Character and use his corpse to open the sphere for themselves. If you kept him alive and offered to assist him you'd take him back to the Sphere and he'd open it. You would eventually face off against the Uncle and end up in another crystal sphere somewhere controlled by demons. If you killed him and used his corpse to open the sphere the same thing would happen. The Sphere required a demon's heart to operate. It was obviously an infusion of magic and technology. The Gnomes of Lantan or the Halruaans might possess the know how to create such a device, with the Gnomes of Lantan slightly more likely to create it simply because the machine had a more technological bend.
Shuuya 09-22-07, 06:48 AM	How odd, I just started playing BG2 again for fun and just finished the Planar Sphere. I think it was built by Valygar Corthala's ancestor, Lavok, who was a big bad caster who went plane hopping. Valygar wants to go in and fight him. After a short battle he says he only wants to die on the material plane, see the sky of his home again and that the sphere's core needs a new demon heart to run again. "Luckily" when you entered it plane shifted to the Abyss, so you can "easily" go and get one. I think the majority of enemies inside it were interlopers rather than guardians because Lavok had a golem to kill extraplanar creatures (which you use to kill an Elder Orb in there.) In the end Valygar carries Lavok outside and Lavok dies at the door of the sphere. That is, if you didn't kill Valygar of course (I don't know how the quest changes if Valygar dies.) I don't know whether it says anything about where the Corthala's are from but I'd presume it was Amn, and I don't think it says if Lavok built the sphere on his own or whether he got assistance from others. Overall, I agree with Meldread that it sounds Lantanese or Halruaan if Lavok built it fairly recently that is, and got help doing so. The sphere was probably made pre-Time of Troubles so I'm not sure if Lantan was that technological before Gond turned up. As for the schematics I believe the door only opened for people in the Corthala family and it used the demon's heart core to plane shift. After plane shifting the master's permission was needed before the door would open again and the sphere sheared any physical surface it landed on so it could land. (The house in Athkatla was still there but only the parts where the sphere was "disintegrated" for lack of a better word.)
Yaeri 09-22-07, 06:32 PM	Yup yup. What Shuuya said. Something funny I remember, was that a few people living in the houses where the planar sphere had appeared claimed it as their property, because it was on their ground/house.
Shuuya 09-22-07, 07:07 PM	Yup yup. What Shuuya said. Something funny I remember, was that a few people living in the houses where the planar sphere had appeared claimed it as their property, because it was on their ground/house. I didn't see him this playthrough but wasn't there a guy who tried to sell you it for something stupid like 5gp or 50gp?
Yaeri 09-23-07, 02:52 AM	I didn't see him this playthrough but wasn't there a guy who tried to sell you it for something stupid like 5gp or 50gp? lol. I totally forgot about that. Yup, that certainly rings a bell. Though I can't remember the amount of gold for the life of me.
Telagaunt 09-23-07, 06:18 AM	Thanks for the responses. If I were making my own device, I was thinking the Gnomes or Imaskar would be optimal choices as creators of such a device, but wanted to see if I could find some of the game's fluff and see if it was 'good enough' to incorprate into what I was thinking.
Meldread 09-23-07, 09:53 AM	I really like the idea of introducing the Planar Sphere. It can be a source of endless adventures and plots, having the ability to take them to different time periods, different planes, different prime material worlds, and even alternate realities. The possibilities become endless. Here is how I would handle it. Get the PC's over to Waterdeep or Baulder's Gate. Have word come out via the Temple of Gond that 'Brave Adventurers Sought for Technological Experiment'. Basically, this is the hook. They take it, they find themselves over in Lantan shortly thereafter, meeting with a mysterious Gnome simply known as the Doctor. (My Doctor Who reference. :P) The Doctor claims to have spent years excavating old Imaskari ruins in the Raurin Desert, and he eventually came across the blue prints to a Planar Sphere. He has made modifications, as he doesn't believe it had been built before (at least no evidence of it ever existing has been found) and the Doctor requires individuals who can assist him in testing the Sphere. It has been completed and the players would be shown the first prototype. It would appear roughly as a twenty foot tall and two-hundred foot wide steel sphere that is flat at the bottom with a large door. (It's only entrance). The sphere itself is impenetrable. The Doctor claims that no force, even a god could penetrate the sphere without his permission. The door and only entrance to the sphere is keyed to individuals. You simply place your hand onto the door and it opens automatically. The inside of the sphere is much larger than the outside, in fact the doctor explains that the inside space can be limitless. The inside of the sphere is almost strange and alien a mixture of natural things and technology. Living inside is roughly the equivalent of a small gnomish village. They farm to produce food for those living inside the sphere. There are workers living inside who help maintain the sphere. It has its own ecosystem (plants and domesticated animals), its own weather and a day/night cycle. The weather and the day/night cycle can be regulated from the control room as well as the size of the sphere. The control room is in the center of the sphere and appears as a miniature version of the sphere itself. The inside of the control room seems to match the "size" of the sphere it is within, although it at first appears disorientating. At the center of the room is a single control panel and from that panel the sphere is at your fingertips. Although, only the Doctor has any real knowledge on how to operate it. The walls and the floor of the control room would seem translucent once inside and with the push of a few buttons from the panel you will be able to see (in full 3D) what it looks like on the outside of the sphere. (Think of it as a uber IMAX.) Down below all of the above would be a "Maintenance Center" which is where most workers within the sphere would be stationed. The Maintenance Center would look something of a blend between a cave system and technology. It is not dark, but instead filled with a dim and strange unearthly light which can be made brighter or darker from the control center. Throughout the cave system would be "crystals" which seem to glow. These crystals are the "fuel" that the Planar Sphere uses to travel. It takes a lot of fuel to travel, and the crystals grow dim or turn dark once they are used up. They can be recharged overtime, however, and draw their energy primarily from the Astral Plane, although the energy of any plane would suffice. Though the Doctor claims that drawing from another plane other than the Astral may result in strange occurrences within the sphere that are difficult to predict and control depending on the plane. In addition to being indestructible the sphere itself can hover above the ground until it can find a place to land, enter into a stealth mode making it impossible to see unless you are "keyed" to it (as the players would be), and have the ability to straddle itself in-between two planes at once. (Similar to how the Shadow Walk spell works.) So in effect not only have you created a mobile fortress for the players that can act as their portable home base of operations, but you have also created a place where they can easily experience a series of endless adventures. Want to play in Grayhawk for awhile? No problem. Want to jump over to Eberron for a bit? Done. Want to go back in time and speak to Karsus before the fall of Netheril? Easy. Want to create a homebrew world for your PC's to experience and want them to use their current characters? Problem solved. You can spend one session in Lantan, one in Maztica, one in Kara-Tur, then jump over to the Nine Hells for a bit, followed by a quick detour in Grayhawk before finally settling down in Eberron for a few sessions and returning to Toril.
Shuuya 09-24-07, 07:44 AM	This has inspired me to use this at the very end of my upcoming FR campaign. After the BBEG dies the players get a year or so of rest and the planar sphere arrives so they can take it to the planes. (Probably using Union or Sigil or another planar metropolis.) Thanks to the OP for bringing it up. :D
The WarOverlord 09-25-07, 08:22 AM	Anyone remember this thing from the Baldur's Gate games? I was thinking about it earlier. And I couldnt remember who 'created' the device, I think the tiefling's people, or genies, :rolleyes: but I can't remember. I remember in the game having to go to some plane and kill a bunch of them lol but this was many years ago. Anyway, I started thinking of a device, maybe similar, or same one (if enough 'fluff material). So can anyone please help me remember some of the aspects of this thing. a) How it worked, b) what exactly did it do (teleport to different planes?), c) who made it. Things like that? :eek: The "Sphere" was a traveling Lab and home of a Mage that was either dead or lost by the time it crash landed in Baulder's Gate (Either senerio is possible as there were monsters and loose prisoners in the thing that might have either killed the owner or started the device when he was wondering around) The Powersource is a partially mummified Demon in the "Plane Jump" control room and it uses up 1 Demon Heart per Plane Jump which must be harvested If I remember correctly, ending up in the 9 Hells was a predetermined destination on the Planejump Controls as there were no extra Demon Hearts lying around, and even if you collected more then 1 demon heart the Shpere "Breaks down" on the jump nack to Baulder's Gate and "can't go anywhere without repairs" that you don't know how to do so the Sphere is effectively broken but usable as your "Stronghold" if you are a Mage or Sorcerer
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin 09-25-07, 01:46 PM	The Planar Sphere is in Athkatla, not Baldur's Gate.