Artifact Ideas (help) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Artifact Ideas (help) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Sargon
05-19-05, 12:08 AM I want to introduce an Artifact into my game.. its a Super weapon used by demons against devils. But i don't know enought about core rules to know what type of weapon Demons could use against Devils that would turn the tide of the Blood war (or atleast tip it)

The only thing i do know is that this weapon is powered by mortal souls... The Demon Princes that is making this super weapon has been buying up slaves and using thier tortured souls to power this weapon..

Any Ideas on what this Weapon is ?
Sarella Starshine
05-19-05, 12:18 AM the best thing is it does massive damage of unholy and either lawful or chaotic damage (i can't remember which one is lawful and which one is chaotic) and the ammount of damage is in direct relation to the ammount of souls in it (i.e. 1 soul =2 damage), or radiate in an xft (where x is some insanely large number) radius and aura that grants negatives or damage per round in the aura if your evil and lawful (or chaotic) and/or bonuses and hp regen if your evil and chaotic (or lawful). have x ammount of souls will make the thing work y ammount of rounds, or have the rounds be set, but the ammount of souls determines the radius of the aura.
Szat
05-19-05, 04:53 AM Just make it one of those Eldritch Machines from Eberron. It's like a super weapon. Based on the amount of souls harnessed by the machine it deals a proportionate amout of damage to whatever devils are in proximity. I'd say it would immoblize or deaden then supernatural and spell-like abilities.

Just a thought.
Flushmaster
05-19-05, 05:42 AM Devils are lawful, demons are chaotic, so it should be some kind of chaotic weapon that deals special damage to lawful creatures. It could also have a devil-bane quality that specifically targets devils. A standard weapon or spell tosser (staff, wand, etc) won't be enough; both sides of the bloodwar no doubt have artifact caliber weapons of that sort.

I'm not sure offhand what could do something to "tip" the Blood War; we're talking about a battle between literally uncountable fiends that has been going on since pretty much the beginning of time. I would find it hard to believe that extremely powerful demons, devils, and even several deities aren't personally going after such an artifact. Unless your group is at least level 50 or so, this would be completely out of their league.

Remember, low level heroes don't save the multiverse. Gods do that. Epic level heroes save the world (or a world, but rarely more than one at a time). High level heroes save kingdoms, maybe continents. Mid level heroes save cities and small kingdoms. Low level heroes save small villages. First level heroes save the child of a redneck farmer who lives in the middle of nowhere after she was kidnapped by a pair of crippled old kobolds trying to relive their "glory days."

Which level are your PCs at? Maybe midlevel characters somehow get involved with the plot around a particularly wicked weapon (by their scale of reference) that a demon lord heard about and sent a few minions to fetch; a succubus leading a pair of vrocks and a dozen or three dretches, for example. Keep things to scale.
Puskara
05-19-05, 07:29 AM I agree this is most likley out of you players league, but what the hell.

I woudl say somethign that changes the area around it to have an overwhelming chaotically dominant planar trait. This woudl end up blocking or disempowering most of thier abilitites and woudl also severly weaken the Devils.

I am not certain there is such a trait so you may have to scale up the minor chaotic trait on yoru own. But basically it makes Demons super powerfull and makes Devils very weak. This allos the Devils the joy of ripping up enimies that are ill equiped to defend and I can think of nothign a demon woudl like more.

Better yeat I woudl say the use of such an artifact woudl casue a permenant destabalization resulting the a zone of wild magic or the complete dissoloution of the voume of land the aritifact effects. This would leave behind large craters and have the side effect of wiping out towns, portions of large cities, etc that are in range.

Have fun

Puskara
Morka
05-19-05, 08:00 AM Could the demons be crazy enough to use weapons dealing massive Holy damage? That would be suicidal, and powerful demons don't care to sacrifice a low-level demons for this. But they might be afraid the low-level demons would turn against them. So they charm mortals, they equip them with weapons of massive Holy damage, and they send them against the devils.
jasper
05-19-05, 08:50 AM blood war is that when O+ will fight ab+? First who cares what the books say about the blood war. You are the DM change it.
The glove of Orcus. Or what ever demon. Cast spells as 12th cleric with evil domain., Sr 10, damage 1d10 unarmed damage. Heal 3x a day.
After the owner wears the glove for a mth or exhausts all the spells in one day the glove becomes part of the user. Etc. After so many kills acts like a ring of vampire renegeneration.
Just some off the top of head ideas.
Syrus The Red
05-19-05, 10:44 AM In keeping with the tradition that artifacts of immense power are usually orbs, I suggest an artifact that causes all of one kind of outsider (within some vicinity to the possesor of the artifact) to receive a boost in attk/AC according to wether or not they share the same type of subdescriptor as the possesor. Ex: If a devil has this artifact, all devils within x-feat receive +x attk and +x AC. You could throw in some spell-like abilities as well.

Hope this helps :)
dannalbob
05-19-05, 11:17 AM Huge Silvered, Anarchic Golemn. Model it after an iron golemn and give it some extra size and hit dice. Its got some sort of furnace in its mid-section that you can toss people into to "fuel" the golemn.

woot!
Sargon
05-19-05, 11:29 AM Thanks for some awsome Ideas guys.

Just so you know though The characters in the game have little to do with the weapon itself (for now anyway).

A PC's husband has trapped in the Abyss by the demon Lord (that has bought/captured a lot of slaves to power this artifact)

I was Thinking that i could offer the hook to the PC that Bel wants the plans for that Artifact (not the artifact itself). Bel belives He can use the PC to retrieve the plans for him all he has to do is provide a means for them, Also if the PC's can free as many slaves as possible it would be a minor set back for the Demons... Also during this time Bel could take advantge of the fact to launch a strike of his own.

Just trying to make a good detailed Story that makes since...
I know the players will love it but i'de like for my plots to atleast make since.
Lord of the Underdark
05-19-05, 12:17 PM Here's my rough draft of an idea.

The Chaos Generator(the name is lame but I'm just doing this off the top of my head...)

Origin:
The true origin of this machine is unknown, but it was rumored to be created by Graz'zt, Demogorgon, and Orcus long before the wars between them broke out.

Physical Description
The device appears to be a low, wide cauldron (20ft tall with a 20ft radius) with 5 towers extending from the top (and additional 10ft), and a single level on the side. Its mechanical arms (2) (reach 40 ft) are hidden from view until the machine is activated. Once activated, it begins to hum and buzz with raw power as the arms exit their hidden compartments and begin to grab anything sentient and inserting it into the open “grinder” on the top. Once inside the machine the souls are extracted and used to fuel it’s unholy powers. Once the machine has collected 2d4 souls it’s true powers are unleashed, for a maximum of 1d10 rounds per 4 souls.

Combat Stats

This device acts as is constantly under the effect of a heightened, empowered, enlarged Magic Circle Against Law, and Dimensional Anchor. (As cast by a 21 level spellcaster) Thusly, trapping all lawful creatures caught within the aura of the machine once activated. (Which then become the souls which the machine harvests.)

Any and all Chaotic creatures within the range of the machines aura, receive a +5 chaotic bonus to all attacks, damage, saves and SR per 10 souls collected. The device also grants chaotic beings 4d6 temporary hit points for every 5 souls consumed.
Blue Paladin
05-19-05, 02:39 PM Any Ideas on what this Weapon is ?
Brace yourselves gentlemen. According to the gas chromatograph, the secret Weapon is... Love!? Who's been screwing with this thing?

Ahem. Really, the weapon can be anything. It might not even be a weapon explicitly. Maybe everyone thinks its some superweapon, but its real purpose is for something else (that could end up ending the War anyway, just not in the way everybody thinks).

For instance, some Gargantuan +5 Black Adamantine (even the haft!) Maul of the SuperTitans, 16 feet long, triple damage vs inanimate objects, can only be wielded properly by someone with Strength 25 (otherwise they take -8 to hit). So everyone assumes its a beatdown tool. Its real purpose is to strike the Bell of Eternity, long lost in the deepest reaches of hell. It's Asmodeus' alarm clock; when he wakes up, ring ring, hey stop messing around you guys (snap fingers). War's over.
Szat
05-19-05, 06:13 PM Just bear in mind that the Blood Wars have been going on for.........ever. They've been battling since before time was time.

Your game can shift it but something that would tip the scale of the Blood Wars would require more than a few paltry human souls. We're talking power on a deific level. Past the 9th sphere of magic and into the 10th and beyond.
scott644
05-19-05, 06:35 PM Szat's got a good point. All the existing artifacts combined might begin to make a hint of a difference, but really with so many thousands of powerful evil outsiders ripping one another apart on such a regular basis it's not going to be noticed for a very long time. Especially since their numbers are being constantly renewed by "fresh recruits" (dead souls) from the mortal realm. If one side starts getting an advantage the deities on the other will simply create a few more for their own side.

That's not to mention the issues with the celestials being involved. I've seen references here and there to a lot of them working very hard to keep the Blood War going and relatively balanced, as a means of keeping them distracted from the celestial and mortal realms.

So the instant such an item that could tip the scales appears, expect a massive response from multiple directions.
dannalbob
05-19-05, 06:44 PM Especially since their numbers are being constantly renewed by "fresh recruits" (dead souls) from the mortal realm. If one side starts getting an advantage the deities on the other will simply create a few more for their own side.

Yeah... this brings up some serious problems with any artifact

Are there even enough souls on the mortal realm that would even make an impact on the battle? If this doomsday device were to reap every soul on earth would have an impact? Probably not much I'd wager. The thing would have to consume the very deitys themselves (at least the lesser ones :D)
Quoriil
05-19-05, 06:57 PM Hmmm... perhaps something immaterial or located on widely different planes of existence and disguised to protect them...

"The Axxz'graalizzt Word": An swirling, multi-colored, incorporeal mass of text that requires epic levels of decypher script and spell casting to unravel and use. This word is rumored to be able to consume the essence of all non-chaotic beings who perish within hearing of it and then channel this 'soul' energy into the 'Speaker of the Word'. The power augments the spells of the caster, replaces xp for epic castings, and allows a number of lesser effects...

"The 13 Towers of Darkest Night": These towers are each located on a different prime and can only be reached by a harrowing journey through the plane of shadow. What is little known, even to the greatest of mortal sages, is that these thirteen towers together make up the greatest weapon ever concieved. In order to control them a specially prepared deepcrystal sphere must be used in a ritual so foul that the gods caused even their own knowlege of its intricacies to be lost from time... (I imagine that the sphere must be used to kill a god, while at the same time the towers must be fed souls, in order to power the things...) The power of the weapon isn't for the use on a single battlefield, but to undo existence itself and plunge the multiverse into a sea of chaos...
Always-Late
05-19-05, 09:54 PM I just had an insane idea. It takes the souls of dead people/demons/whatever within ten thousand feet to power itself. Since in the blood war, devils and demons have been murdering each other, this artifact was stored under the middle of the greatest battlefield. Thus it's powered by approximately... billions and billions of souls. There you go.
dantedarkstar
05-20-05, 09:34 AM Entropy Engine

This huge machine is an artifact of cosmic power that demons used since the dawn of time to wage the Bloody War. Some sages across the multiverse speculate that it is the very reason of the Bloody War has started but nobody was able to confirm or deny that. No demon or devil knows the truth or doesn't want to speak it, but it's doubtful that more than few highest demon princes or devil lords have even a clue.
The entropy engine looks like a metallic object in the shape of rough cylinder. The surface is uneven, seemingly dotted with countless patches of metal. It appears to be extremely old, with countless burn marks, dents and cracks, and in reality it probably is even older than it looks like. When a mortal approaches within 100ft of the engine, it's soul is sucked out of the body and absorbed by the engine. It is possible to resist with a Fort saving throw (DC 30) but it must be repeated every round until the mortal leaves the engine's area of effect. No known magic or power can protect against it, and nothing can grant automatic success on that saving throw. When a soul is sucked out, the body turns into an inert lump of flesh and then rots away, is turned into dust, or disappear in some other way seemingly at random. The victims of entropy engine cannot be resurrected. Not even highest gods can restore life to such mortal. The engine is effective against any creature that has sort of animating force (soul, elemental spirit, negative energy), but not purely mechanical constructions. In effect it kills/destroys any creature without divine rank (demon princes are assumed to have divine rank 0). However, when a creature with actual soul dies, the soul powers up the engine.
Anything and anyone within 100ft of the engine also suffers -2 penalty on all checks, saves, attack rolls, AC and caster level, regardless of being mortal or not.
When the engine is powered up, it consumes 10 HD worth of souls per round, and if there isn't enough provided, it deactivates and returns to it's dormant state. When activated, the metallic covering expands, each metal patch and plate moving away from the core, creating a cloud of metal plates around the core. The core is ever-changing. It changes colors, sizes, shapes many times per second. Any sentinent creature within 100ft of active engine (meaning only divine ranked beings or others who passed Fort save for the round) can designate any place it knows as a target. The target location and anything within 1 mile radius is subject to the explosion of chaotic energy. The target can be any location in the multiverse, provided the user have at least good description of the place, similarly to teleport spell. Depending on the degree of familiarity with the place, the accuracy of the entropy engine is different:
Familiarity On target Off target Similar place Jammed
Very familiar 01-97 98-99 100 -
Studied carefully 01-94 95-97 98-99 100
Seen casually 01-88 89-94 95-98 99-100
Viewed once 01-76 77-88 89-96 97-100
Know description 01-52 53-76 77-92 93-100
False target - - 01-66 67-100
Roll d100 to see whether the explosion occurs exactly where you wanted, off the intended target by given distance and random direction, occurs in completely different but similar place or the engine jammed. When the engine jams, the user takes 10d6 damage due to chaotic energy and 1d6-1 explosions occur through the multiverse in random places (although the engine seems to somehow "prefer" the areas with large density of living beings).
The explosion deals 10d6 damage to anything within 1 mile area (regardless of obstacles), with no save. The whole area is turned into highly morphic (see planar handbook) for 1d20 days. If the target plane is already highly morphic, it changes to stable for 1d20 days (the content of the stable part is completely random).
The engine is also capable of greater havoc. It is known to have been used once, powered by souls of million and one mortals at once. The machine backfired however, utterly destroying the thought-to-be-immortal demon prince (subsequently forgotten, although other demon princes probably remember his former "comrade" quite well) and half the layer of Abyss. It was found millenia later on a small demiplane that is thought to be part of the original Abyss layer that was blown up back then.
The exact whereabouts of the engine are currently not known, but Orcus is commonly believed to have it in his posession, kept somewhere under extremely heavy guard. Some lords of hell constantly get to feel the effects of the artifact in their domains so it's rather obvious it's in possesion of one of Nine Hells' antagonists.
Szat
05-20-05, 04:45 PM That engine is probably the best mock-up of a debilitating artifact I could come up with but I'm still speculative of any artifact that sways the balance in the Blood Wars. It's coined the "Infinite Abyss" for a reason and the Archdevil have virtually limitless resources at their disposal.
MarkB
05-20-05, 06:05 PM Planar Lock
This massive artifact, standing over 100 feet tall and covering nearly a square mile of ground, appears to be a mass of interlocking twisted beams of various precious and esoteric metals - gold, platinum, silver, mithral and adamantine all feature - whose intertwining tentacle-like branches form hundreds of gatewaylike intersections. Once activated - in a ceremony which requires the sacrifice of over a thousand humanoids, or half that number of Devils - these gateways act as planar traps: All portals into or out of the plane become realigned and captured within the gateways.

Any being attempting planar travel to or from the plane on which the Planar Lock currently stands is drawn into the apparatus. Its body is thrown back out through a random gateway and becomes a mindless undead, and its soul is utterly consumed by the Planar Lock.

The Lock remains in operation, consuming all planar travelers, so long as at least fifty travelers per hour are drawn into it and consumed (with Devils counting as double again). If it consumes less than fifty souls in each of two consecutive hours, or if one hour passes in which it receives no victims, it becomes inactive, and the activation ceremony must be repeated.

If the activation ceremony is performed whilst the Planar Lock is active, it can realign the portals and use them to planeshift its entire structure and all surroundings out to a radius of up to five miles to any other plane from which it has captured at least ten portals. The arrival point will be random unless the ten portals all exit to points within 500 miles of each other, in which case the Planar Lock will appear at a surface position somewhere within those 500 miles.
Szat
05-20-05, 09:19 PM MarkB - That was REALLY cool..........Very impressed.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Sargon 05-19-05, 12:08 AM	I want to introduce an Artifact into my game.. its a Super weapon used by demons against devils. But i don't know enought about core rules to know what type of weapon Demons could use against Devils that would turn the tide of the Blood war (or atleast tip it) The only thing i do know is that this weapon is powered by mortal souls... The Demon Princes that is making this super weapon has been buying up slaves and using thier tortured souls to power this weapon.. Any Ideas on what this Weapon is ?
Sarella Starshine 05-19-05, 12:18 AM	the best thing is it does massive damage of unholy and either lawful or chaotic damage (i can't remember which one is lawful and which one is chaotic) and the ammount of damage is in direct relation to the ammount of souls in it (i.e. 1 soul =2 damage), or radiate in an xft (where x is some insanely large number) radius and aura that grants negatives or damage per round in the aura if your evil and lawful (or chaotic) and/or bonuses and hp regen if your evil and chaotic (or lawful). have x ammount of souls will make the thing work y ammount of rounds, or have the rounds be set, but the ammount of souls determines the radius of the aura.
Szat 05-19-05, 04:53 AM	Just make it one of those Eldritch Machines from Eberron. It's like a super weapon. Based on the amount of souls harnessed by the machine it deals a proportionate amout of damage to whatever devils are in proximity. I'd say it would immoblize or deaden then supernatural and spell-like abilities. Just a thought.
Flushmaster 05-19-05, 05:42 AM	Devils are lawful, demons are chaotic, so it should be some kind of chaotic weapon that deals special damage to lawful creatures. It could also have a devil-bane quality that specifically targets devils. A standard weapon or spell tosser (staff, wand, etc) won't be enough; both sides of the bloodwar no doubt have artifact caliber weapons of that sort. I'm not sure offhand what could do something to "tip" the Blood War; we're talking about a battle between literally uncountable fiends that has been going on since pretty much the beginning of time. I would find it hard to believe that extremely powerful demons, devils, and even several deities aren't personally going after such an artifact. Unless your group is at least level 50 or so, this would be completely out of their league. Remember, low level heroes don't save the multiverse. Gods do that. Epic level heroes save the world (or a world, but rarely more than one at a time). High level heroes save kingdoms, maybe continents. Mid level heroes save cities and small kingdoms. Low level heroes save small villages. First level heroes save the child of a redneck farmer who lives in the middle of nowhere after she was kidnapped by a pair of crippled old kobolds trying to relive their "glory days." Which level are your PCs at? Maybe midlevel characters somehow get involved with the plot around a particularly wicked weapon (by their scale of reference) that a demon lord heard about and sent a few minions to fetch; a succubus leading a pair of vrocks and a dozen or three dretches, for example. Keep things to scale.
Puskara 05-19-05, 07:29 AM	I agree this is most likley out of you players league, but what the hell. I woudl say somethign that changes the area around it to have an overwhelming chaotically dominant planar trait. This woudl end up blocking or disempowering most of thier abilitites and woudl also severly weaken the Devils. I am not certain there is such a trait so you may have to scale up the minor chaotic trait on yoru own. But basically it makes Demons super powerfull and makes Devils very weak. This allos the Devils the joy of ripping up enimies that are ill equiped to defend and I can think of nothign a demon woudl like more. Better yeat I woudl say the use of such an artifact woudl casue a permenant destabalization resulting the a zone of wild magic or the complete dissoloution of the voume of land the aritifact effects. This would leave behind large craters and have the side effect of wiping out towns, portions of large cities, etc that are in range. Have fun Puskara
Morka 05-19-05, 08:00 AM	Could the demons be crazy enough to use weapons dealing massive Holy damage? That would be suicidal, and powerful demons don't care to sacrifice a low-level demons for this. But they might be afraid the low-level demons would turn against them. So they charm mortals, they equip them with weapons of massive Holy damage, and they send them against the devils.
jasper 05-19-05, 08:50 AM	blood war is that when O+ will fight ab+? First who cares what the books say about the blood war. You are the DM change it. The glove of Orcus. Or what ever demon. Cast spells as 12th cleric with evil domain., Sr 10, damage 1d10 unarmed damage. Heal 3x a day. After the owner wears the glove for a mth or exhausts all the spells in one day the glove becomes part of the user. Etc. After so many kills acts like a ring of vampire renegeneration. Just some off the top of head ideas.
Syrus The Red 05-19-05, 10:44 AM	In keeping with the tradition that artifacts of immense power are usually orbs, I suggest an artifact that causes all of one kind of outsider (within some vicinity to the possesor of the artifact) to receive a boost in attk/AC according to wether or not they share the same type of subdescriptor as the possesor. Ex: If a devil has this artifact, all devils within x-feat receive +x attk and +x AC. You could throw in some spell-like abilities as well. Hope this helps :)
dannalbob 05-19-05, 11:17 AM	Huge Silvered, Anarchic Golemn. Model it after an iron golemn and give it some extra size and hit dice. Its got some sort of furnace in its mid-section that you can toss people into to "fuel" the golemn. woot!
Sargon 05-19-05, 11:29 AM	Thanks for some awsome Ideas guys. Just so you know though The characters in the game have little to do with the weapon itself (for now anyway). A PC's husband has trapped in the Abyss by the demon Lord (that has bought/captured a lot of slaves to power this artifact) I was Thinking that i could offer the hook to the PC that Bel wants the plans for that Artifact (not the artifact itself). Bel belives He can use the PC to retrieve the plans for him all he has to do is provide a means for them, Also if the PC's can free as many slaves as possible it would be a minor set back for the Demons... Also during this time Bel could take advantge of the fact to launch a strike of his own. Just trying to make a good detailed Story that makes since... I know the players will love it but i'de like for my plots to atleast make since.
Lord of the Underdark 05-19-05, 12:17 PM	Here's my rough draft of an idea. The Chaos Generator(the name is lame but I'm just doing this off the top of my head...) Origin: The true origin of this machine is unknown, but it was rumored to be created by Graz'zt, Demogorgon, and Orcus long before the wars between them broke out. Physical Description The device appears to be a low, wide cauldron (20ft tall with a 20ft radius) with 5 towers extending from the top (and additional 10ft), and a single level on the side. Its mechanical arms (2) (reach 40 ft) are hidden from view until the machine is activated. Once activated, it begins to hum and buzz with raw power as the arms exit their hidden compartments and begin to grab anything sentient and inserting it into the open “grinder” on the top. Once inside the machine the souls are extracted and used to fuel it’s unholy powers. Once the machine has collected 2d4 souls it’s true powers are unleashed, for a maximum of 1d10 rounds per 4 souls. Combat Stats This device acts as is constantly under the effect of a heightened, empowered, enlarged Magic Circle Against Law, and Dimensional Anchor. (As cast by a 21 level spellcaster) Thusly, trapping all lawful creatures caught within the aura of the machine once activated. (Which then become the souls which the machine harvests.) Any and all Chaotic creatures within the range of the machines aura, receive a +5 chaotic bonus to all attacks, damage, saves and SR per 10 souls collected. The device also grants chaotic beings 4d6 temporary hit points for every 5 souls consumed.
Blue Paladin 05-19-05, 02:39 PM	Any Ideas on what this Weapon is ? Brace yourselves gentlemen. According to the gas chromatograph, the secret Weapon is... Love!? Who's been screwing with this thing? Ahem. Really, the weapon can be anything. It might not even be a weapon explicitly. Maybe everyone thinks its some superweapon, but its real purpose is for something else (that could end up ending the War anyway, just not in the way everybody thinks). For instance, some Gargantuan +5 Black Adamantine (even the haft!) Maul of the SuperTitans, 16 feet long, triple damage vs inanimate objects, can only be wielded properly by someone with Strength 25 (otherwise they take -8 to hit). So everyone assumes its a beatdown tool. Its real purpose is to strike the Bell of Eternity, long lost in the deepest reaches of hell. It's Asmodeus' alarm clock; when he wakes up, ring ring, hey stop messing around you guys (snap fingers). War's over.
Szat 05-19-05, 06:13 PM	Just bear in mind that the Blood Wars have been going on for.........ever. They've been battling since before time was time. Your game can shift it but something that would tip the scale of the Blood Wars would require more than a few paltry human souls. We're talking power on a deific level. Past the 9th sphere of magic and into the 10th and beyond.
scott644 05-19-05, 06:35 PM	Szat's got a good point. All the existing artifacts combined might begin to make a hint of a difference, but really with so many thousands of powerful evil outsiders ripping one another apart on such a regular basis it's not going to be noticed for a very long time. Especially since their numbers are being constantly renewed by "fresh recruits" (dead souls) from the mortal realm. If one side starts getting an advantage the deities on the other will simply create a few more for their own side. That's not to mention the issues with the celestials being involved. I've seen references here and there to a lot of them working very hard to keep the Blood War going and relatively balanced, as a means of keeping them distracted from the celestial and mortal realms. So the instant such an item that could tip the scales appears, expect a massive response from multiple directions.
dannalbob 05-19-05, 06:44 PM	Especially since their numbers are being constantly renewed by "fresh recruits" (dead souls) from the mortal realm. If one side starts getting an advantage the deities on the other will simply create a few more for their own side. Yeah... this brings up some serious problems with any artifact Are there even enough souls on the mortal realm that would even make an impact on the battle? If this doomsday device were to reap every soul on earth would have an impact? Probably not much I'd wager. The thing would have to consume the very deitys themselves (at least the lesser ones :D)
Quoriil 05-19-05, 06:57 PM	Hmmm... perhaps something immaterial or located on widely different planes of existence and disguised to protect them... "The Axxz'graalizzt Word": An swirling, multi-colored, incorporeal mass of text that requires epic levels of decypher script and spell casting to unravel and use. This word is rumored to be able to consume the essence of all non-chaotic beings who perish within hearing of it and then channel this 'soul' energy into the 'Speaker of the Word'. The power augments the spells of the caster, replaces xp for epic castings, and allows a number of lesser effects... "The 13 Towers of Darkest Night": These towers are each located on a different prime and can only be reached by a harrowing journey through the plane of shadow. What is little known, even to the greatest of mortal sages, is that these thirteen towers together make up the greatest weapon ever concieved. In order to control them a specially prepared deepcrystal sphere must be used in a ritual so foul that the gods caused even their own knowlege of its intricacies to be lost from time... (I imagine that the sphere must be used to kill a god, while at the same time the towers must be fed souls, in order to power the things...) The power of the weapon isn't for the use on a single battlefield, but to undo existence itself and plunge the multiverse into a sea of chaos...
Always-Late 05-19-05, 09:54 PM	I just had an insane idea. It takes the souls of dead people/demons/whatever within ten thousand feet to power itself. Since in the blood war, devils and demons have been murdering each other, this artifact was stored under the middle of the greatest battlefield. Thus it's powered by approximately... billions and billions of souls. There you go.
dantedarkstar 05-20-05, 09:34 AM	Entropy Engine This huge machine is an artifact of cosmic power that demons used since the dawn of time to wage the Bloody War. Some sages across the multiverse speculate that it is the very reason of the Bloody War has started but nobody was able to confirm or deny that. No demon or devil knows the truth or doesn't want to speak it, but it's doubtful that more than few highest demon princes or devil lords have even a clue. The entropy engine looks like a metallic object in the shape of rough cylinder. The surface is uneven, seemingly dotted with countless patches of metal. It appears to be extremely old, with countless burn marks, dents and cracks, and in reality it probably is even older than it looks like. When a mortal approaches within 100ft of the engine, it's soul is sucked out of the body and absorbed by the engine. It is possible to resist with a Fort saving throw (DC 30) but it must be repeated every round until the mortal leaves the engine's area of effect. No known magic or power can protect against it, and nothing can grant automatic success on that saving throw. When a soul is sucked out, the body turns into an inert lump of flesh and then rots away, is turned into dust, or disappear in some other way seemingly at random. The victims of entropy engine cannot be resurrected. Not even highest gods can restore life to such mortal. The engine is effective against any creature that has sort of animating force (soul, elemental spirit, negative energy), but not purely mechanical constructions. In effect it kills/destroys any creature without divine rank (demon princes are assumed to have divine rank 0). However, when a creature with actual soul dies, the soul powers up the engine. Anything and anyone within 100ft of the engine also suffers -2 penalty on all checks, saves, attack rolls, AC and caster level, regardless of being mortal or not. When the engine is powered up, it consumes 10 HD worth of souls per round, and if there isn't enough provided, it deactivates and returns to it's dormant state. When activated, the metallic covering expands, each metal patch and plate moving away from the core, creating a cloud of metal plates around the core. The core is ever-changing. It changes colors, sizes, shapes many times per second. Any sentinent creature within 100ft of active engine (meaning only divine ranked beings or others who passed Fort save for the round) can designate any place it knows as a target. The target location and anything within 1 mile radius is subject to the explosion of chaotic energy. The target can be any location in the multiverse, provided the user have at least good description of the place, similarly to teleport spell. Depending on the degree of familiarity with the place, the accuracy of the entropy engine is different: Familiarity On target Off target Similar place Jammed Very familiar 01-97 98-99 100 - Studied carefully 01-94 95-97 98-99 100 Seen casually 01-88 89-94 95-98 99-100 Viewed once 01-76 77-88 89-96 97-100 Know description 01-52 53-76 77-92 93-100 False target - - 01-66 67-100 Roll d100 to see whether the explosion occurs exactly where you wanted, off the intended target by given distance and random direction, occurs in completely different but similar place or the engine jammed. When the engine jams, the user takes 10d6 damage due to chaotic energy and 1d6-1 explosions occur through the multiverse in random places (although the engine seems to somehow "prefer" the areas with large density of living beings). The explosion deals 10d6 damage to anything within 1 mile area (regardless of obstacles), with no save. The whole area is turned into highly morphic (see planar handbook) for 1d20 days. If the target plane is already highly morphic, it changes to stable for 1d20 days (the content of the stable part is completely random). The engine is also capable of greater havoc. It is known to have been used once, powered by souls of million and one mortals at once. The machine backfired however, utterly destroying the thought-to-be-immortal demon prince (subsequently forgotten, although other demon princes probably remember his former "comrade" quite well) and half the layer of Abyss. It was found millenia later on a small demiplane that is thought to be part of the original Abyss layer that was blown up back then. The exact whereabouts of the engine are currently not known, but Orcus is commonly believed to have it in his posession, kept somewhere under extremely heavy guard. Some lords of hell constantly get to feel the effects of the artifact in their domains so it's rather obvious it's in possesion of one of Nine Hells' antagonists.
Szat 05-20-05, 04:45 PM	That engine is probably the best mock-up of a debilitating artifact I could come up with but I'm still speculative of any artifact that sways the balance in the Blood Wars. It's coined the "Infinite Abyss" for a reason and the Archdevil have virtually limitless resources at their disposal.
MarkB 05-20-05, 06:05 PM	Planar Lock This massive artifact, standing over 100 feet tall and covering nearly a square mile of ground, appears to be a mass of interlocking twisted beams of various precious and esoteric metals - gold, platinum, silver, mithral and adamantine all feature - whose intertwining tentacle-like branches form hundreds of gatewaylike intersections. Once activated - in a ceremony which requires the sacrifice of over a thousand humanoids, or half that number of Devils - these gateways act as planar traps: All portals into or out of the plane become realigned and captured within the gateways. Any being attempting planar travel to or from the plane on which the Planar Lock currently stands is drawn into the apparatus. Its body is thrown back out through a random gateway and becomes a mindless undead, and its soul is utterly consumed by the Planar Lock. The Lock remains in operation, consuming all planar travelers, so long as at least fifty travelers per hour are drawn into it and consumed (with Devils counting as double again). If it consumes less than fifty souls in each of two consecutive hours, or if one hour passes in which it receives no victims, it becomes inactive, and the activation ceremony must be repeated. If the activation ceremony is performed whilst the Planar Lock is active, it can realign the portals and use them to planeshift its entire structure and all surroundings out to a radius of up to five miles to any other plane from which it has captured at least ten portals. The arrival point will be random unless the ten portals all exit to points within 500 miles of each other, in which case the Planar Lock will appear at a surface position somewhere within those 500 miles.
Szat 05-20-05, 09:19 PM	MarkB - That was REALLY cool..........Very impressed.