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The work contained on this page has been provided by Ed Bonny, one of the authors of the Lost Empires of Faerûn sourcebook. Candlekeep claims no rights to ownership of this material and it is provided here with permission from the author.
Imaskari Portal Lord
By Ed Bonny
The Imaskari Portal Lord is a draft prestige class that did not get turned over for Lost Empires of Faerûn. It was concepted early in the design phase as an arcane spellcasting class. It was not written in the enhanced format but I have added a little more background here to flesh it out.
IMASKARI PORTAL LORD
Absolute mastery over extradimensional space and instant teleportation magic was haled as the highest achievement of an artificer in Imaskari society. Their cities and even their homes were interconnected with innumerable portals and filled with permanent extradimensional spaces that expanded even the smallest of buildings into tremendous places on the inside. The portal lord is the last practitioner of this lost and forgotten Imaskari art. Few know these esoteric secrets. Key to the underpinnings of Imaskari society, teleportation and extradimensional space were like the mythallar of Netheril and the mythals of the elves. They were instrumental to maintaining a certain magical-assisted lifestyle.
As he advances in level, a portal lord becomes more attuned to the nature of such magic, gaining greater insights on how to better manipulate and control such forces.
Hit Dice: d4
Requirements: To become a portal lord, a character must fulfill the following criteria:
Skills: Knowledge (arcane) 8 ranks, Knowledge (History - Imaskar) 8 ranks, Spellcraft 8 ranks
Feats: Craft Wondrous Items, Portal Master, any two metamagic feat
Spellcasting: Must be able to cast 3rd level arcane spellsClass Skills: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (arcana)(Int), Knowledge (history)(Int), Knowledge (Geography)(Int), Spellcraft (Int)
Class Features
The following are features of the portal lord prestige class.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Portal lords gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Spells per day: At each portal lord level, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class level.
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Spells per Day Warp Shield +1 level arcane Prolonged Artifice +1 level arcane Spatial Fluency +1 level arcane Improved Warp Shield Reject Anchoring +1 level arcane Dimensional Touch +1 level arcane Greater Warp Shield +1 level arcane Permanent Insight +1 level arcane Command Porta +1 level arcane Superior Warp Shield +1 level arcane
Warp Shield (Su): 1/day call forth an invisible cocoon of teleportation magic that has a 20% of redirecting any magical, melee or ranged attacks upon the portal lord. Attacks made upon the portal lord that are affected by the warp shield instead strike an area adjacent to the portal lord (use random grenade for area that is struck). Creatures standing in the space where an attack is redirected risk being subject to that attack. A warp shield lasts for 1 round/portal lord level.
Prolonged Artifice (Su): Conjuration spells of the teleportation subschool and spells that create extradimensional spaces (roper trick, Mordekainen's magnificent mansion) are affected as if modified by the Extend Spell feat. This is automatic and does not increase the spell slot requirements when preparing a spell.
Spatial Fluency (Ex): Metamagic feats applied to any conjuration spells from the teleportation subschool use up a spell slot one less than what the feat requires. This can never reduce the spell slot requirement to less than 1.
Improved Warp Shield (Su): The portal lord's warp shield now has a 50% chance of intercepting and redirecting magical and physical attacks.
Reject Anchoring (Su): The portal lord becomes immune to spells and effects such as dimensional anchor and dimensional lock.
Dimensional Touch (Su): A portal lord can use touch spells on targets up to 30 feet away. If the spell requires a melee touch attack, the portal lord must make a ranged touch attack instead.
Greater Warp Shield (Su): The portal lord's warp shield now allows the portal to redirect a spell effect where the portal lord is the target. The spell must be affected by the warp shield to be redirected. The portal lord must ready this action (as if attempting to counterspell). On a successful Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell's level), the portal lord as a standard action successfully teleports the spell to another target within the portal lord's sight. The spell's new target must be within the spell's original range and be an appropriate target.
Permanent Insight (Ex): A portal lord can make the following spells permanent using the permanency spell. The portal lord does not have to research the use of permanency on these spells. The knowledge of how teleportation and extradimensional space magic works grants this knowledge automatically.
Rope Trick - 1,000XP
Mordekainen's magnificent mansion - 3,500XP
guards and wards - 3,000XP
maze - 4,000XP
refuge - 4,500XP
Command Portal (Su): A portal lord can force a portal to submit to his will. On a successful Spellcraft check (DC 25), the portal lord can command a portal to do one of the following:
> Portal becomes transparent
> Lockdown - portal is shut down preventing it from functioning.
> Access - The portal grants access to anyone whom the portal lord designates.
Each commanded effect is temporary and lasts for 1 rd/portal lord level. A portal lord can attempt to command a portal a number of times per day equal to his portal lord level.
Superior Warp Shield (Su): The portal lord's warp shield now has a 75% chance to intercept and redirect attacks against the portal lord.
History of the Amethyst Sodality
In the last days of Ancient Imaskar, when it seemed all but sure that their glorious empire would fall to its rebellious slaves, some Imaskari decided to escape rather than fight against the Mulan and their deities. One group secretly fled underground never to be heard from again. Another group of artificers who created and maintained the portals and extradimensional spaces of the empire used their powers to flee south to an Imaskari outpost in Ulgarth. Using abjuration magic to thwart detection, they hid the fortress from prying eyes
Ulgarth, a coastal nation of barbarians. was not enslaved by the Imaskar but they were coerced into paying annual tribute to the empire. The barbarians of Ulgarth had no love for the Imaskari Empire but when they learned of the Mulan uprising, the barbarians grew terrified at the thought of vengeful gods walking the earth.
In the years following the fall of the Imaskari empire, the Ulgarth barbarian tribes thrived without the Imaskar yoke. They roamed throughout their ancestral coastal lands avoiding the handful of seemingly abandoned Imaskari outposts.
The artificers in Ulgarth hid in secret for years. They would teleport to distant lands to trade magic for food and other necessities. They would also follow up on rumors of Imaskar refugees hiding out in the desolate steppes east of Imaskar but these investigation would only occasionally turn up a lone survivor or two.
The artificer's spells also allowed them to spy on the new nations created by their former slaves - Unther and Mulhorand. So long as the artificers could successfully hide in the somewhat familiar territory of Ulgarth, they felt little pressure to abandon this last bit of Imaskar to join some strange "lesser" foreign peoples.
The cultural need to create a permanent record of their people was deeply ingrained in all Imaskari - as ingrained as their lust for power. The artificers were no different. More than a decade after the fall of Imaskar when it was clear that their peoples were mostly slain, the artificers planned for the return of their empire.
They formed the Amethyst Sodality - a secret society to ensure the survival of their Imaskari arcane tradition. They vowed were to work steadily and secretly to weaken their enemies, take advantage of the usurpers of their former lands, and pave the way for a glorious return to Inuprus. The Sodality demanded: that no god be worshipped ever; that the Mulhorandi and Unther were to be forever their enemies; that their portal and teleportation lore of the Imaskar was to be kept hidden for it was their greatest secret and possibly the key to their ultimate victory.
The artificers visited many of their former ruins, reclaiming arcane geode towers and using them to store recovered Imaskari magic and lore. They lived in Ulgarth though for fear of alerting the Mulhorandi of their presence. Over the centuries, Ulgarth grew more and more civilized and the Sodality chose to operate out of Kelezzan. By -1000 DR, the members of the Sodality bore little resemblance to the artificer founders. They spoke and dressed in the manner of the Ulgarth. The artificers also married the Ulgarth people becoming integrally a part of the Ulgarth people. The desire for an Imaskari empire slowly dwindled as opportunities for greater wealth and local power became more realizable.
Today the dreams of rebuilding the ancient Imaskari empire have long since gone away. The Sodality functions more as a secret society that promotes its members' financial interests. Few members of the Amethyst Sodality practice arcane magic although there are two families closely adhere to the ancient rules as set forth by the founding artificers. These two families, the Samangur and the Omprakesh, work together separate from the other members of the Sodality to foment unrest in Semphar and Murghom. Each family prides itself on having at least three Portal Lords in its ranks. The efforts of the Samangur and Omprakesh families are not respected by other members of the Sodality who see the Sodality's ancient vows as archaic directives which hold little meaning today.
Most of the Sodality's members belong to wealthy families throughout Ulgarth and Durpar. They secretly use the portals and extradimensional spaces created by their ancient ancestors to great financial and political advantage.Penetrate Portal (Metamagic)
You can cast spells that affect targets on a portal's destination side.
Prerequisites: Transdimensional Spell (from UE)
Benefit: When you cast a spell modified with this feat, you are able to establish a line of effect through a portal to an area or target on the other side.
To cast a portal penetration spell, you must have line of sight through the portal to its destination side. If the portal does not have the transparency quality, you must provide some other means to see through it.
A portal penetrating spell uses a spell slot three levels higher than the spell's actual level.
Normal: Spells cannot cross a portal because no line of effect exists.
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