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YRM
Acolyte
17 Posts |
 Posted - 21 Aug 2006 : 18:59:22
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Are there any specific rules or writings on Portals in the Realms as far as how they must be viewed?
In the FRCS I believe, it's implied that Dwarves, trying to reclaim the Tethyamar mines, accidentally go through a portal to the lower levels. Perhaps this happened when a pit opened up under their feet into a portal, but, could you walk through a portal without realizing it?
Let's say I wanted to disguise a portal as an ordinary doorway. (this actually doesn't happen in Tethyamar, where my players would suspect it, but in the mansion of an NPC ally)
1 - Would I even have to disguise it?
2 - A permanent image over the portal should disguise it fairly well, but, any sounds or smells coming from the "room" would provoke a will save. (possibly with a required listen check) Searching the opening or throwing something through it would provoke a save too.
3 - Obviously, detect magic would detect a strong aura from the entire doorway opening.
What if the area on the other side of the portal was designed to look just like the area you'd see through the portal if you had a True Seeing spell in place?
Essentially, I want a one way portal that the party would have to make some checks to avoid stumbling through... and if one PC goes through it, the other PCs could either see him or hear him so that they would realize he's not dead (and heroicly follow him through).
Obviously, if they avoid the trap, more power to them, but, the will saves are pretty difficult, even if they do get a check.
Thoughts?
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Sian
Senior Scribe
Denmark
596 Posts |
Posted - 21 Aug 2006 : 19:24:39
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well ... i would say that there is three ways
1. able to see though the portal (either being aware of the portal or not dependin on what is on either site of it)
2. a portal that goes *puff* gone from sight
3. a portal that makes a illusion that makes you think that persons in front of you is still in front of you either in a room or futher down a alley/tunnel/etc (paticulary nasty if the portal is one-way to a place where you rather not wanna be) |
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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YRM
Acolyte
17 Posts |
Posted - 21 Aug 2006 : 20:09:23
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I'm thinking that the other side of the portal on the same plane looks like the destination side of the portal, and you need a special command word to shut the portal off and pass through the opening on the same plane.
The illusion is likely to be a permanent image.
1 - It masks any telltale signs that a portal exists.
2 - It covers any magical runes or framing of the portal, making it look like a mundane doorway.
3 - It reproduces any smells or breezes that would help to assure the party they're not going to go to another location.
I'd give a save to anyone searching the door or detecting magic.
I'd give a save to anyone with some degree of survival check to smell the illusionary smell and note something seems wrong.
But if a person goes through it, that person would know something happened, turn around, and see a blank wall.
The party would just see him turn around though, and they wouldn't hear him, so they might not know what is going on.
If a party member tries to reach through to pull him out, I'd say that won't be successful, and probably require a STR check not to get sucked in.
Sound alright? |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4689 Posts |
Posted - 21 Aug 2006 : 21:19:15
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Well Teleportation Circle provides a good model for a one direction portal. quote:
The circle itself is subtle and nearly impossible to notice. If you intend to keep creatures from activating it accidentally, you need to mark the circle in some way.
It is subject to detect magic, but other ways of spoting it or detecting it is hard.
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"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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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
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Wandering_mage
Senior Scribe
688 Posts |
Posted - 22 Aug 2006 : 16:09:34
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| The things DMs do to get players to do things. I like your hiding the portal idea but having used many a portal with my players the easiest way to get a player to go into a portal is to..... make the room a deadend and put the portal right there. Players always fall for it. Always! Now if this is a portal that leads somewhere bad you can always have an encounter near the portal and have the enemy combatants flee through the portal. Once again, this is almost fullproof and the players will follow. :) That is just what I have to say. Take it or leave it, and good luck. Portals are fun. :) |
Illum
The Wandering Mage |
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ShadowJack
Senior Scribe
USA
350 Posts |
Posted - 26 Aug 2006 : 13:27:47
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| I always get a chuckle at the detailed plans my PC's make before going through a portal. Wandering Mage is right; PC's can never resist a portal! They will plan out how to go through it in minute detail, but it is never discussed NOT to go into it... |
ShadowJack |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 26 Aug 2006 : 16:33:59
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quote:
Originally posted by ShadowJack
I always get a chuckle at the detailed plans my PC's make before going through a portal. Wandering Mage is right; PC's can never resist a portal! They will plan out how to go through it in minute detail, but it is never discussed NOT to go into it...
Actually, I've had past PC's that managed to resist some of my portal adventures after they ran into a few that left them quite afraid and so when they found some more portals later on, they looked at each other, discussed, and moved on. :) CHICKENS!.
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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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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11830 Posts |
Posted - 27 Aug 2006 : 17:01:07
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>>The things DMs do to get players to do things. I like your hiding the portal idea but >>having used many a portal with my players the easiest way to get a player to go into a >>portal is to..... make the room a deadend and put the portal right there. Players always >>fall for it. Always! Now if this is a portal that leads somewhere bad you can always have >>an encounter near the portal and have the enemy combatants flee through the portal. Once >>again, this is almost fullproof and the players will follow. :) That is just what I have to >>say. Take it or leave it, and good luck. Portals are fun. :)
Yeah, I had a emerald golem open a portal into Bezantur's open field used for Evocation throwing at the school of evocation. The players followed him right through. I asked them, why the hell would you do that? It was hellish for them, but some quick thinking (and a little npc aid) allowed them to survive.
Then a few months later, they run across some golems looting a Thayan enclave and running through a portal. Sure enough, two of the characters run through. I took them in the other room, where they got into a fight with a pair of golems set to guard the portal. They managed to destroy both, but 1 player died. The other ended up meeting up with Velsharoon in his mortal form (i.e. pre-ascension) and ended up with his soul sucked into a gem (again.... he was a fey'ri of old who had been turned good by the BoED spell that sucks an evil being in for a year, and then stuck in stasis because he was working as a spy and not everyone knew it). |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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YRM
Acolyte
17 Posts |
Posted - 06 Sep 2006 : 14:42:23
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Well, here's the truth of what happened.
I'm very paranoid, so, I changed my question to you guys somewhat just in case my players read this forum.
The real story.
1 - Party is raiding Tethyamar Mines in retribution towards the Zhents, who, with their worghest allies, are striking at Dagger Falls caravans from outposts at the mines.
2 - The Party knows they can't take out the whole mines, so, they want to gather information and do some damage, then leave.
3 - I build a whole level of the mines out of Master Maze, and give the PCs reliable scouting details.
4 - They get in, have some tough fights, but, as you guys said with the portal, whenever a dungeon is built, the PCs feel compelled to explore every room.
5 - They used thunderstones taken from earlier goblin victims in the elevator room, which is in a bottleneck in the middle of the level. This rouses imp scouts, which flap invisibly up the elevator shaft (dwarven make, adamantine chains in the corners) to investigate.
6 - The party scout doesn't hear the imps because, fortunately for me, he was deafened by a thunderstone earlier (and he would have made his listen check... I don't fudge rolls).
7 - The party interrogates goblins who, in fear, tell them EVERYTHING they know. But the goblins are forbidden to go farther back into the level past the bedrooms of the Zhentarim Wizard and Cleric, but, the goblins think there is some kind of exit because the Wizard and Cleric can be gone for days at a time.
8 - The party moves on to investigate the bedrooms, expecting a fight, but find the rooms empty (and trapped). They happily loot the rooms of the absent enemy captains.
9 - The Black Network wizard and cleric are actually on the 7th layer of Baator, conducting a trade with a PitFiend who represents Baalzebul (and there is an alliance with Bane, which is how I explain the devil allies of the Zhents that live in the Tethyamar mines). The party actually stole the wizard's journal, which details this, but, as they were hitting these rooms, the clock was ticking on the Imps, who'd gone back to report.
10 - Two beholders appear out of the elevator shaft, cutting the party off from the way out of that level of the mines, and, four rounds later, a horrible, echoing clacking sound (the elevator) indicated that something heavy was being raised ( a Cadaver Collector ).
11 - The party clung to goblin speculation about a "way out" and blundered through the portal (legitimately failing all of their saves for the overlaid illusion).
12 - When the first two party members went through, the rest did pass listen checks to realize they stopped hearing their friends, and, I explained to the lead runner and deaf follower that they were in slightly different caverns that smelled of sulfur.
13 - The rest of the party eventually jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire, especially after they saw a chain devil attacking their allies.
14 - Once they realized that the devils they killed were actually dying, and not vanishing into mist, they were worried.
15 - When they stepped out into the red-orange daylight, under dark, roiling clouds, and looked at a landscape of blasted ruins (an attempt at a perfect city that Baalzebul destroyed in a fit of rage at a minor imperfection), the party cohort ended the session with "Where in the Nine Hells are we?"
Then, they (the players) went home, having ended on a cliffhanger.
Of course, they'll read the wizard's journal and come up with some strategy to grasp at one or two straws which might lead them home. At level 9, they can face down some devils, but will be in real trouble if they run into a Cornugon or Pit Fiend.
The group could have avoided the portal by ending the fight quietly in the elevator room, detecting and killing the invisible imp scouts if they were not quiet, and then leaving after they looted the captain's bedrooms (or detected the portal illusion and avoided the portal).
It was very likely that I was going to get them through the portal, but, I was prepared for them to thwart my plans with detect magic, detect invisibility, or by actually leaving the dungeon when they'd accomplished their goals instead of exploring every last square foot.
They enjoyed the whole thing, and didn't feel like I'd unjustly leashed them into moving forward (especially since they were using the equivalent of M-80s in an elevator room where they KNEW more powerful creatures might lurk on lower or higher levels) |
Edited by - YRM on 06 Sep 2006 14:44:50 |
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Portals in the Realms
