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RodOdom
Senior Scribe
USA
509 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 01:43:19
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Hi, in my game need a way to get Khelben and Larael out of the way temporarily. Is there such a thing as a dimension door booby trap? (Apologies for my lack of imagination  )
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4703 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 01:50:30
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Well dimension door (at least the version that comes to mind) only moves a body 120 feet which makes it hard to be effective trap.
Having Chosen in your campaign that active indeed causes problems because Chosen are imuneto some spells and saves against others are high. It is hard to use Magic on the Chosen of Magic.
At best as DM you would need to get these two out of the area for a time because of a greater threat, perhaps that Necromancer *wink*. I do question the reason you want these two out of the way, you planing a raid on their tower? |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36977 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 04:22:35
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quote:
Originally posted by Kentinal
Well dimension door (at least the version that comes to mind) only moves a body 120 feet which makes it hard to be effective trap.
So you have to be creative about where the endpoint is. If the endpoint is right on the edge of a pit that contains a dead magic area (a seriously iffy prospect, but hypothetical possible), and the edge of the pit collapses as soon as someone steps on it, you've got them temporarily sidelined. |
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tauster
Senior Scribe
Germany
399 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 09:06:05
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sorry to hijack this thread a bit, but since we are talking about traps and dimension doors:
is there anything that prevents the 2E psionic power "Dimension Door" to be used in combat against your enemies?
one of my players uses it rather effectively:
- setting it in the way of a on-rushing foe (who has too much momentum to slow down or evade it)
- setting it in the doorframe in an area with magical darkness and a lot of scared enemies who want to flee through said door.
...the other end of the dimension door hangs 50m above the town, so the enemies are falling to their death. the party is about level5-6, so this is a quite powerful ability. a little TOO powerful for my taste.
One of the problems is that it can be used as a "certain death"-spell, and used in a clever way (which I don't blame the group for - on the contrary: I love clever parties!), it's not even a "save or die"-spell; it's "just die". 
Another problem is that the character has about 50 Psi Points (using the "Skills and Powers" rules, btw) and can use this power about 20 times in one battle (or to be exactly, per day)!  
Any ideas?
Here is the Powers Description from 2E's Psionic Handbook:
Dimensional Door
Power Score: Con -1
Initial Cost: 4
Maintenance Cost: 2/round
Range: 50 yards+
Preparation Time: 0
Area of Effect: na
Prerequisites: none
Like teleportation, a dimensional door takes a character from one location to another. The similarity stops there, however. With dimensional door, the psionicist opens a man-sized portal which leads to the edge of another dimension. The edge acts as a lightning-quick transit system, carrying travelers to a destination chosen by the psionicist who uses this power. When the psionicist uses this devotion, he creates a door leading into the alternate dimension. The door is a vaguely outlined portal, which appears in front of the psionicist. At the same time, an identical portal appears wherever he wants it, within range (see below). The door can have whatever orientation the psionicist chooses. If someone (including the psionicist) steps into either portal, he immediately steps out of the other. Both doors remain in place for as long as the psionicist maintains the power.
The dimension accessed by this power is not fully understood. Clearly, it has very different qualities of time and space, such that motion is greatly accelerated. For many years this transit was thought to be instantaneous, but arduous experiments by Larue d'jar Azif of Dhaztanar have proved that a very tiny bit of time does elapse. What this means is still unknown. Travel via this power is disorienting. Presumably, exposure to the alternate dimension traumatizes the body in some way. As a result, a traveler is dazed and cannot attack or move for one round after stepping through a dimensional skip portal.
Quick transit is advisable. People who shove only an arm through a portal suffer intense pain. Fools who poke their head through a portal must make a system shock roll; failure means they lose 50% of their current hit points and pass out. Inanimate objects are not affected by exposure to the dimension's edge. In fact, a character can throw or fire objects through a portal, and they'll come out on the other side. Attackers suffer a -4 penalty on their to-hit rolls against targets on the other side of the dimension's edge.
Range: The normal range of this power- i.e., the maximum distance between the two portals-is 50 yards. The distance can be extended only with severe reductions to the characters power score, as shown below. Increasing the range does not increase the PSP cost, however.
Distance Between Doors Power Score Modifier
50 yards 0
75 yards - 2
100 yards - 5
150 yards - 8
200 yards -12
Power Score: Transit does not cause disorientation.
20: The psionicist is momentarily exposed to the transit dimension and is disoriented as if he had stepped through the portal. |
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At your Behest
Acolyte
Germany
46 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 12:00:32
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Well you could use a spell trap although I have no clue how they work rulewise.
In the Shadow of the Avatar Series (I think) Eliminster got stuck in a spell trap by Malaugrym [experiencing a continuous loop of which he could not escape by himself] and IIRC one of the Seven sisters was spelltrapped in Silverfall (the Trap (at least the development of it) was attributed to Halaster in the novel).
These kind of traps seemed to be able to take out even a chosen for a while...
Cheers,
AYB
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Beware the beast man, for he is the Devil's pawn.
Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yeah, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land.
Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him, for he is the harbinger of death. |
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Iliphar1
Learned Scribe
Austria
133 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 14:40:15
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I also wouldn't recommend to use magic against a chosen of the Goddes of Magic *ggg*
If you really need to "get rid" of Khelben let him be distracted, for example, why not let the "Twisted Rune" or the "Cult of the Dragon" or a similar powerful organisation do something in Waterdeep that would bother Khelben very much at the same time as your PC (or NPC *g*) need to have a free way. This way, your world would even be more alive, because some things happen simultanously. |
'You see dead bones? ... I see an army!' Ezechiel 37 |
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RodOdom
Senior Scribe
USA
509 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 18:06:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Kentinal
It is hard to use Magic on the Chosen of Magic.
That's a really good point.
Basically, the player envisions her character to be a good friend to the Chosen of Waterdeep. In order for my villain to make life difficult for the PC, I need to get the Chosen out of town for a while. Perhaps Khelben and Larael are off saving the world when the villain strikes, like how Elminster in the novels gets waylaid whenever an RSE occurs. |
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RodOdom
Senior Scribe
USA
509 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 18:07:33
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quote:
Originally posted by At your Behest
Well you could use a spell trap although I have no clue how they work rulewise.
In the Shadow of the Avatar Series (I think) Eliminster got stuck in a spell trap by Malaugrym [experiencing a continuous loop of which he could not escape by himself] and IIRC one of the Seven sisters was spelltrapped in Silverfall (the Trap (at least the development of it) was attributed to Halaster in the novel).
These kind of traps seemed to be able to take out even a chosen for a while...
That's interesting ! |
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RodOdom
Senior Scribe
USA
509 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 18:08:07
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quote:
Originally posted by Iliphar1
I also wouldn't recommend to use magic against a chosen of the Goddes of Magic *ggg*
If you really need to "get rid" of Khelben let him be distracted, for example, why not let the "Twisted Rune" or the "Cult of the Dragon" or a similar powerful organisation do something in Waterdeep that would bother Khelben very much at the same time as your PC (or NPC *g*) need to have a free way. This way, your world would even be more alive, because some things happen simultanously.
Excellent idea. |
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MaxKaladin
Seeker
77 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 19:13:05
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quote:
Originally posted by tauster
sorry to hijack this thread a bit, but since we are talking about traps and dimension doors:
is there anything that prevents the 2E psionic power "Dimension Door" to be used in combat against your enemies?
It doesn't look like it, but that doesn't surprise me as 2E psionics was incredibly overpowered and there were about 9278520 ways to destroy game balance with them. I was convinced to allow them a few times and only once did they NOT wreck the game. And that one time was someone who was basically incompetant.
Anyway, on the subject of sidelining Khelben and Laerel, I'd also suggest something that distracts them. Magic just seems to unreliable when dealing with the chosen, though I suppose this new shadow weave stuff might do the trick.
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boddynock
Learned Scribe
Belgium
258 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 19:18:45
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| In my third edition campaign I had a player with psionic power and the game balance wasn't harmed. Otherwise, a friend of me who plays Ad&d also dislikes psionics because he argued that they were overpowered. One of his players could destroy a dragon with only using his powers. |
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Varl
Learned Scribe
USA
284 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2007 : 19:19:17
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| PM sent Tauster. Psionics in any system are horribly broken. See my PM for details and possible corrective measures you can take. |
I'm on a permanent vacation to the soul. -Tash Sultana |
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Sian
Senior Scribe
Denmark
596 Posts |
Posted - 11 Mar 2007 : 08:37:40
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| in 2e they are extremly overpowered ... in 3e they aren't that bad anymore ... (though its still 'easy' to overpower them if you take Psion Telekinetic) |
what happened to the queen? she's much more hysterical than usual
She's a women, it happens once a month |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36977 Posts |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 11 Mar 2007 : 17:49:24
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As was pointed out earlier, even Elminster has fallen prey to magical traps before, so I don't have a big problem with using that plot thread. Heck, even a magical trap that phases them out of Faerun and takes them a bit to return would work (for some reason the Star Trek: TNG episode with the Romulan reactor accident comes to mind, with Khelben and Laeral etherial and trying to figure out how to affect Faerun). The main issue would be figuring out how powerful a thread would have to be to make a magical trap that could affect both of them.
As far as the other conjecture goes, you could argue that a psionic trap might be more likely catch Khelben and Laeral, as they are less psinically focused. Again though, you would have to come up with what kind of a threat would be bold enough to target them (its perhaps cliche, but an illithid psion that has issues with the two might fit the bill).
Honestly though, they are both busy people, and Khelben espcially isn't in the habit of explaining where he has been when he is too busy to "help out."
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 11 Mar 2007 : 17:55:44
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Right: you don't need to do anything special -- they're usually going to be working against some other threat, on urgent Waterdeep business, planewalking, and so on. The Realms is full and busy.
You're unlikely to catch an archmage in a simple magic trap unless it's a rare, forgotten magic without well known counters. You have to guess your target's likely defences, work out how to overcome them, anticipate how they might anticipate that, and in the end think one step ahead of them. |
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A dimension door trap?
