| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Dennis |
Posted - 15 Dec 2011 : 07:42:42
Has Ao personally destroyed a god? If not, would he? Under what circumstances? Would his unknown Master allow him to?
He seemed to have come close to obliterating Cyric. |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Dennis |
Posted - 02 Jan 2012 : 13:23:20
That's a question for Ed! |
| Quale |
Posted - 02 Jan 2012 : 08:21:42
what body slots would a body magic item take? |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 01 Jan 2012 : 09:03:07
quote:
Oh-no! Wooly's gone all 'Blue' on us! (psst... is that lifestyle choice?) 
It's impolite to point and stare. Even when they're blue. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 01 Jan 2012 : 08:35:19
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
EDIT: Hmph... just thought of something that was right in front of my face the whole time: A mortal's physical body is a magical item. 
Any corporeal and incorporeal thing can be affected by magic. And whatever magic can affect, it can turn into a magical item, physical body included. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 29 Dec 2011 : 19:26:59
Oh-no! Wooly's gone all 'Blue' on us! (psst... is that lifestyle choice?)
quote:
Originally posted by Lady Swiftstrike Assassin
Dungeon Master: "We play an iteration of the Dungeons and Dragons game in which Rules/Lores remain consistent across situations."
Player: "I cast 'Detect Magic'!"
Dungeon Master: "Everything is magical."
Player: "Uh... what?"
So you've seen me run games, eh? 
In Faerūn, when the Weave was intact, I would say that was an accurate summation. I usually described it similar to infrared, but instead of heat, things glowing the brightest would hold the most magic. An artifact would be hard to even look at (under this spell), and a god would make you blind. A magic-dead zone, on the other hand, would have no glow at all. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 29 Dec 2011 : 16:59:12
quote:
Originally posted by Thauranil
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Thauranil
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
The luminous timeless forgiving and harsh being, Ao's "Master", would be none other than Gary Gygax.
Who or what is Gary Gygax
One of the creators of D&D. He's the one that gets all the credit. He also created Greyhawk.
Oh umm well this is kind of embarrassing. i thought Ed greenwood was the one who did all that. Thanks for the info.
Ed Greenwood created the Forgotten Realms as a place to tell stories, and then began using it for D&D. The Realms as a setting predates the creation of D&D, but the Realms were not published until long after Gygax and Dave Arneson created D&D. |
| Thauranil |
Posted - 29 Dec 2011 : 15:08:35
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Thauranil
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
The luminous timeless forgiving and harsh being, Ao's "Master", would be none other than Gary Gygax.
Who or what is Gary Gygax
One of the creators of D&D. He's the one that gets all the credit. He also created Greyhawk.
Oh umm well this is kind of embarrassing. i thought Ed greenwood was the one who did all that. Thanks for the info. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 29 Dec 2011 : 14:53:59
quote:
Originally posted by Thauranil
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
The luminous timeless forgiving and harsh being, Ao's "Master", would be none other than Gary Gygax.
Who or what is Gary Gygax
One of the creators of D&D. He's the one that gets all the credit. He also created Greyhawk. |
| Thauranil |
Posted - 29 Dec 2011 : 12:40:50
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
The luminous timeless forgiving and harsh being, Ao's "Master", would be none other than Gary Gygax.
Who or what is Gary Gygax |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 29 Dec 2011 : 01:11:26
The luminous timeless forgiving and harsh being, Ao's "Master", would be none other than Gary Gygax. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 29 Dec 2011 : 01:08:22
quote:
Originally posted by Thauranil
quote:
Originally posted by Marc
At the end of Waterdeep that entity is described as having a luminous presence, both cold and warm, forgiving and harsh at the same time, and timeless.
Isnt this entity has also mentioned at the end of the time of troubles series. I believe Ao reports to him and this in thus implies that Ao is not omnipotent.
Faiths & Avatars later described Ao's superior as "A Luminous Being." But what that being is/was, has not been properly defined. Nor should it.
The 4e FRCG partly counters that, however, by suggesting that Ao "serves no one."
So as it stands according to 4e Realmslore, Ao is the "be-all and end-all" of Realmspace.
|
| Lady Swiftstrike Assassin |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 20:00:30
Dungeon Master: "We play an iteration of the Dungeons and Dragons game in which Rules/Lores remain consistent across situations."
Player: "I cast 'Detect Magic'!"
Dungeon Master: "Everything is magical."
Player: "Uh... what?" |
| Markustay |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 16:50:23
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
All magical constructs can be sentient, portals included.
Indeed. Magic makes possible even the impossible.
Any time you have an energy field - which could be as simple as chemical reactions in a primal pool of glop - you have the chance of sentience forming, even if that sentience is extremely primitive.
A complicated magical construct, containing various fields of Arcane (and perhaps other) energies, is the PERFECT environment to nurture a newly formed consciousness. It is also the perfect home for 'untethered' spirit - be it ancestral, fiendish, or even Divine (think Myrkul) - that is looking for a permanent anchor on the Material Plane.
In fact, a phylactory could be nothing more then a magical item that the Lich used in his/her ritual - it needn't even be anything overly potent.
A 'haunted house' is an interesting case - it may be that emotional energy is sufficient to maintain a consciousness.
This, BTW, is how I do things in D&D (and everything else as well), and I think maybe Ed and other world-builders/great designers do - things (rules, etc) don't exist in a vacuum - everything must be interrelated to establish a continuity. One of the biggest problems with 1e/2e was that the rules did not try to relate things to each other, which caused a lot of 'rules conundrums' (the Sagely Advice column in The Dragon took care of some of this for many years). I think - thanks to WotC's input - that 3e tried to bridge a lot of the disparate lore and rules to make them 'flow' better... something that CCG's have been having to deal with since day one. You can't create 'rule 37', unless you take into account how it effects rule 1, rule 2, rule 3, etc, etc. You can't have similar things (like Fatigue) have seven different sets of rules in different situations. Rules/Lore must remain constant - just alter the details (fluff) around it for the different usages.
And taking this full-circle back to the topic, this is why I think Godly Domains function in much the same way as phylactories - they house the sentience of the god, and the energies involved to maintain the Domain stem from worship. Moving up the Divine pecking-order, that means Realmspace is Ao's phylactory - a massive artifact (as all crystal Spheres are) that houses Ao's sentience... and it could be the god's themselves that maintain the energy necessary for Ao's continued existence (or not). Theoretically, that means a 'godless' sphere might be the way an Overgod dies (and perhaps, how a Sphere 'cracks').
EDIT: Hmph... just thought of something that was right in front of my face the whole time: A mortal's physical body is a magical item. |
| Thauranil |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 14:46:54
quote:
Originally posted by Marc
At the end of Waterdeep that entity is described as having a luminous presence, both cold and warm, forgiving and harsh at the same time, and timeless.
Isnt this entity has also mentioned at the end of the time of troubles series. I believe Ao reports to him and this in thus implies that Ao is not omnipotent. |
| Marc |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 14:37:18
At the end of Waterdeep that entity is described as having a luminous presence, both cold and warm, forgiving and harsh at the same time, and timeless. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 14:12:54
quote:
Originally posted by glitter
I thought it was official that Ao's master is the GM, am I wrong ?
As per canon, Ao answers to a higher being known only as "The Master." Nothing else is revealed about the said entity. |
| glitter |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 13:30:12
I thought it was official that Ao's master is the GM, am I wrong ? |
| Dennis |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 12:45:34
quote:
Originally posted by glitter
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
Or both could be part of his grand design. I once postulated that by proxy he started the Spellplague for two reasons. First, to regulate Mystra's ever-increasing power. Another explanation: he hard-wired Mystra to automatically reboot once in a while, thus preventing her to grow more in power and possibly challenge him.
No god can challenge Ao.
Ao has a Master. |
| glitter |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 12:28:45
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
Cyric deserves some solid smacking around, no reason required.
The only question "Did Cyric followed a behaviour consistent with his Portfolio ?"
From Ao point of view, it's just "usual business"
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
The Spellplague certainly disrupted Ao's "Balance" - at least briefly.
I must admit I'm a bit lost. What do you call "Ao balance" ?
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
But more to the point, Ao deliberately segregated Abeir and Toril to maintain Balance, I doubt he'd willingly allow an apocalyptically convulsive event like the Spellplague (caused by underling gods he created/appointed) to mix it all up again.
Someone asked again the question, what is Ao's job ?
World shaterring events that affect only mortals don't appear in his radar.
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
Ergo, he couldn't see it coming and/or couldn't do anything to stop it (which means he is not omniscient and/or omnipotent, ie: incompetent). Or he could have seen it or prevented it but chose not to (which means he is omniscient or omnipotent but did nothing, ie: uncaring). I think Ao must be not-omniscient (because he made a mistake when originally separating Abeir-Toril) and not-omnipotent (because he was powerless to fix this mistake in a "Balanced" manner). Hardly a worthy overgod, IMO.
The "logic" of Ao is limited by the logic of authors anyway, and since the 4th Ed, I don't see much logic from WoTC.
The death of Mystra is a problem ? Ao just have to snap his fingers to resurrect her, so ?
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
Ao clearly ignored the abusive conduct of the Realms gods with respect to their worshippers. Whether that was a deliberate choice or not, Ao's "mind" wasn't on the job -- thus, inattentive.
He has the patience of an overgod |
| The Sage |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 10:42:30
quote:
Originally posted by glitter
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
Which is largely what I meant by Ao's "inattentiveness," earlier.
You cannot be omniscient and innatentive.
I'm inclined to disagree. Ao clearly ignored the abusive conduct of the Realms gods with respect to their worshippers. Whether that was a deliberate choice or not, Ao's "mind" wasn't on the job -- thus, inattentive.
|
| Ayrik |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 10:26:26
quote:
glitter
About the spellplague, what would be the reason for Ao to stop Cyric ?
Cyric deserves some solid smacking around, no reason required.
The Spellplague certainly disrupted Ao's "Balance" - at least briefly. But more to the point, Ao deliberately segregated Abeir and Toril to maintain Balance, I doubt he'd willingly allow an apocalyptically convulsive event like the Spellplague (caused by underling gods he created/appointed) to mix it all up again. Ergo, he couldn't see it coming and/or couldn't do anything to stop it (which means he is not omniscient and/or omnipotent, ie: incompetent). Or he could have seen it or prevented it but chose not to (which means he is omniscient or omnipotent but did nothing, ie: uncaring). I think Ao must be not-omniscient (because he made a mistake when originally separating Abeir-Toril) and not-omnipotent (because he was powerless to fix this mistake in a "Balanced" manner). Hardly a worthy overgod, IMO. |
| Brimstone |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 10:17:28
I found balance to be that little thing I trip over when going from one extreme to another!
 |
| glitter |
Posted - 28 Dec 2011 : 09:47:53
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
Ao is described as omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Yet in the end he did not prevent the Avatar Crisis nor the Spellplague ... which suggests that either he is omni-lacking in one or more ways, or that he is an uncaring and incompetent overgod.
About the spellplague, what would be the reason for Ao to stop Cyric ?
And be careful, be omniscient, omnipotent don't mean that you're perfect
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
Or both could be part of his grand design. I once postulated that by proxy he started the Spellplague for two reasons. First, to regulate Mystra's ever-increasing power.
Another explanation: he hard-wired Mystra to automatically reboot once in a while, thus preventing her to grow more in power and possibly challenge him.
No god can challenge Ao.
And about the ever-increasing power of Mystra, where does it come from ? You want more power, you need more worshippers. With the popularity of the shadow weave, we can consider that it's less wizards who pray for Mystra favors.
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
Which is largely what I meant by Ao's "inattentiveness," earlier.
You cannot be omniscient and innatentive.
Which lead to the question, how powerful is Ao ?
Perhaps we should "limit" his capabilities to "Omnipotent", he can do whatever he want, but only if he want. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 26 Dec 2011 : 12:30:40
quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
All magical constructs can be sentient, portals included.
Indeed. Magic makes possible even the impossible. |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 25 Dec 2011 : 01:11:04
All magical constructs can be sentient, portals included. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 24 Dec 2011 : 15:37:29
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Chosen of Asmodeus
Which raises an interesting question; can portals be sentient?
Pretty sure there was one in the Perilous Gateways series.
Indeed. 'Twas the "Mishap-Prone Portal." |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 24 Dec 2011 : 15:17:02
quote:
Originally posted by Chosen of Asmodeus
Which raises an interesting question; can portals be sentient?
Pretty sure there was one in the Perilous Gateways series. |
| Chosen of Asmodeus |
Posted - 24 Dec 2011 : 14:22:38
Which raises an interesting question; can portals be sentient? |
| The Sage |
Posted - 24 Dec 2011 : 00:32:10
quote:
Originally posted by Brian R. James
quote:
Originally posted by Therise
Is this true also for the 4E Realms? Given that there are (most likely) star-pact warlocks in the new Realms, perhaps yes?
Nope. Stars in Realmspace are portals to a radiant region of the Elemental Chaos. Pretty much as it's always been.
Indeed. The stars of Realmspace were specifically noted as being portals to the Plane of Radiance in the older lore. Which, I guess, has been folded into the Elemental Chaos now in the 4e cosmology, given that plane's correspondence to the older Inner Planes framework. |
| Therise |
Posted - 23 Dec 2011 : 19:18:21
quote:
Originally posted by Brian R. James
quote:
Originally posted by Therise
Is this true also for the 4E Realms? Given that there are (most likely) star-pact warlocks in the new Realms, perhaps yes?
Nope. Stars in Realmspace are portals to a radiant region of the Elemental Chaos. Pretty much as it's always been.
So how do star-pact warlocks work in the Realms?
Or are there none?
|
