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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
 Posted - 18 Apr 2007 : 20:25:19
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I was thinking about this the other day. Most conventional wisdom about using spellfire as a campaign component revolves around rescuing a spellfire wielder from the bad guys that want them, or hiding spellfire ability and the like. I've never really used a spellfire weilder in my campaign, in part to keep it really rare, in part because if I did it would be more along the lines of a plot point, where a 1st level commoner can blast a dracolich and nearly destroy it.
But upon thinking about it, I started formulating a different angle. What if an evil organization already captured the Spellfire weilder? What would they do with them, and how would it manifest in the campaign? A smart group wouldn't squander a resource like this by shoving them out on the battlefield and having them work as a magical flamethrower. Spellfire is a conduit to the raw power of the Weave itself. So I thought of a few things that might be evident if a given organization managed to quietly obtain a spellfire weilder.
1. Use lots of expendable magic. All of the sudden, if you can train them the right way, you might just have a means of recharging all of your charged magic items. All of your agents with wands, rods, or staves might be a lot more bold in using their charges if they have access to a spellfire weilder that will expend some energy to revive the power of these items.
2. Potentially more magic items in the hands of one's foes. It could be that given time, having access to a spellfire wielder might just make it easier to create even permanent magic items. Agents of this group might be better outfitted with more intimidating items of lasting magic.
3. Muddied scrying. After a while, the use of spellfire in a given region, over and over, might just make it harder to scry anyone near the original source. Now, the "negative space" might make it obvious who is in possession of the weilder (i.e. once you can't scry ANYONE in Zhentil Keep, Darkhold, or Eltabar, you might make a wild guess where the spellfire weilder is in a general sense), but it would make individuals in that geographic region much safer from specific gathering of information.
4. Magical prisons. A spellfire weilder might be used to create a magical prison that syphons off any power that spellcasters try to use, thus making a perfect wizard's prison.
5. Taking control of magically controled constructs/undead/items/effects. It could be that if a spellfire wielder is so trained, they might wrest control of golems, undead, and various other magical creations from their creator and control them via the silver fire.
6. Powering the "ultimate weapon." The group in question might be able to create an artifact level item as long as the spellfire weilder "charges" it from time to time. It could be a staff or a sword, or it might be something like a colossus from the Epic Level Handbook.
Granted, all of this is assuming that either magic can be used to "funnel" the spellfire in a direction not previously seen before, or that hooking a spellfire wielder up to some device designed to channel the power might allow for some of these effects, or that a spellfire wielder might (extra feats, new PrCs for them never defined before) be able to learn off the beaten path for a spellfire wielder.
It might be a fun campaign to show why a given organization is now becoming bolder and more dominant, and then have the PCs have to find the weilder and find a way for them to rescue the weilder.
Or for a really nasty twist, the spellfire weilder might have started out as an inexperienced innocent, but eventually they actually like the power their weild, and are now willingly moving up in the ranks of the organization. The PCs might "rescue" them only to have them turn on the PCs and hand them over to the organization they rescued them from (or one that the oppourtunistic wielder thinks will treat them better and afford them more power).
So, what do you think of this idea for a campaign, and perhaps how you might have used spellfire weilders in a similar manner.
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warlockco
Master of Realmslore
USA
1695 Posts |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 18 Apr 2007 : 22:44:01
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| Interesting . . . heck, a spellfire wielder in any spelljamming helm might have non standard results. |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 18 Apr 2007 : 23:34:22
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| Well for my games, I ruled that the spellfire wielder would drain the helms. But, I used the old spellfire rules since they are, to me, closer to what Ed wrote in his spellfire novels. :) |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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warlockco
Master of Realmslore
USA
1695 Posts |
Posted - 19 Apr 2007 : 17:34:49
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quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
Well for my games, I ruled that the spellfire wielder would drain the helms. But, I used the old spellfire rules since they are, to me, closer to what Ed wrote in his spellfire novels. :)
Quite true, and I personally would never allow a PC Spellfire Wielder in my campaigns.
I have already seen one that was made into an extremely broken character in another person's campaign. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1775 Posts |
Posted - 22 Apr 2007 : 02:11:03
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would a evil spellfire wielder be the biggest adversary for the Chosens ?
If it was, the PCs are really going to have to find a way to beat this new BBEG... |
Edited by - questing gm on 22 Apr 2007 02:20:56 |
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Darkmeer
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2007 : 04:40:42
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Okay, take this with a grain of salt, since I AM a player in your games...
Spellfire is great. However, given that it actually DAMAGES the weave, having access to one isn't necessarily a good thing. I'll go point to point:
1. The recharging of wands and such might be a good thing (although I'm a fan of recharging the items myself, provided you have the proper feat, like craft wand + 3 slots of 3rd level fireball=3 charges fireball back in the wand). Spellfire might be good at recharging (1 slot per point of spellfire used), but since it damages the weave I'd also say the maximum number of charges would go down over time (-1 charge per 3 points of spellfire used).
2. Really, the extra magic from the spellfire wielder would come from the absorbing of magics from said wielder's foes. That raw energy could be channeled, although I'm not quite sure how offhand (gotta go get Magic of Faerun, thanks a lot KEJR...). Oh, wait 'til #6, that covers this pretty well.
3. I really like this one. I REALLY like this one. The ring of mind-shielding isn't necessary, provided we're at home... I like it. It's properly evil and twisted, while maintaining continuity. Perfect. This would be perfect if an adventure featured anyone dealing with Savras & his divinations... (yoink!) Problem being, the weave's damage could cause a slight altered magic field...
4. This would definitely require some consideration. I wouldn't allow a PC this ability... ever. There are potent enough spells that would cover this, but the idea that spellfire siphons off the power implies a living prison for a spellcaster. This would be especially effective on Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Favored Souls.
5. The natural resistances of Golems to spellcasting in general (SR) seems to me to be less likely. What I do agree with is that control would be completely wrested from the original creator. So, you now have an insane, angry Iron Golem attacking everyone and everything in sight. Still, it has promise. The other thought is that it would have a similar effect to the "awaken construct" from Savage Species, which has even more promise than the break everything idea.
6. I think that there's an adventure in Dungeon Magazine (or two) that fit this bill quite well. This would be an interesting way of going about it, but I think that it's an excellent idea. The adventures are "heart of the Iron God" and "Kambranex's Machinations" from Dungeon # 97 & 91 respectively will provide lots of fun for this type of scenario, especially considering the possibility of breaking Oghma's normal stipulation on technology... This scenario could be very interesting.
Having run Kambranex's Machinations in the Realms/Planes once for another group (including Foghorn & a few others), I actually see a good fit for a spellfire wielder in that adventure, or at least a spellfire wielder's corpse... Take a look, it's one of my personal favorites, and it came out well before the "Living Construct" idea hit.
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"These people are my family, not just friends, and if you want to get to them you gotta go through ME." |
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Spellfire in the Campaign
