If you're not familiar with the Shadow Weave, it's basically another sort of magic which exists in Toril, created and controlled by an evil godess, which can be tapped if you know how to do it, granting you access to specific effects and abilities.
But now that I'm sending them to Sigil, will she still be able to tap the magic of the weave or what? I mean, if she can't, what then? Will she be rendered completely magic-less (not very nice), or will she merely be reverted back to normal magic? What IS the explanation for magic even in PlaneScape? How does it... exist?
Any input would be much appreciated
I'd say that your weave user could, theoretically, bring some of the shadow weave with them allowing them access to the shadow magic, just like I'd let a Krynnish mage still feel the effects of the moons of High Sorcery. The mortals of Toril are infused with the energies of these 'weaves' and the use of this magic is tied into them by the deities.
Planars would look at this shadow weave mage as a backwoods sod, though, so he shouldn't waste too much energy trying to describe it or convert others to his ways.
However, that said, belief being what it is, I'd allow their magic to retain some of the special influences of say, the shadow weave, despite the shadow weave not existing beyond the borders of Toril (or The Weave for that matter either). It's entirely up to you how you'd like to treat it, but myself, I'd treat them the same on the planes as I would on Toril with a few restrictions. Ie. some spells or abilities that exist solely because of a deities powers over a source of magic may not work. Ie. the initiate of Mystra feat that gives a chance to cast in a dead magic or antimagic area by drawing portions of the weave into that area, that simply wouldn't work since Mystra in this example has zippo influence over the nebulous source of magic on the planes.
Plus, each plane has a different influence on magic and you could take that into account when looking at weave or shadow weave casters. For example, you might enhance the shadow weave magic on the shadow plane, or enhance it on the lowest layer of the Beastlands that is perpetually night; alternately you might make it suffer penalties or a chance to not work at all in the Quasielemental plane of Radience.
Lots of wiggle room to be creative as a DM.
Of course, it probably has a very strong tie to the Shadow Plane.
Originally posted by moogle001
I would say that Shadow Weave magic operates normally throughout the multiverse. You can make any sort of explaination you want, from the Weave extends to the planes (though Mystra/Shar does not control it) or the Weave is just another way of looking at the universal force of magic.
Of course, it probably has a very strong tie to the Shadow Plane.
Except that the Weave and Shadow Weave don't extend past Realmspace.
It says so right in any material, be it 2e/3e, that they do not extend to the planes.Originally posted by moogle001
Really? Didn't see anything to that effect in the FRCS.
Page 11 of Magic of Faerun "Mystra can also bar a deity from accessing the Weave, which would prevent the deity from using magic while in Faerun but not while the deity was on another plane where the Weave does not exist, such as any of the planar homes of the deities."
Also Rich Baker (who invented the Shadow Weave) said earlier last week that the Shadow Weave has the same restrictions.
Originally posted by Incenjucar
Torilian Magic doesn't work very well off the planes. Even Elminster, mister big bad uberwizard, had some serious problems with magic in Elminster in Hell. Basically, a Wizard from Toril needs to relearn the basics to cast spells normally anywhere else. However, I can see Shadow Magic being made something seperate from Shar. Kinda silly to attatch it all to one deity, anyways.
We had this debate a week back on the FR boards. Shar is exactly like Mystra in that Shar controls the Shadow Weave. Shar has the SDA, just like Mystra, to do so. Except AO has not restricted Shar like he has Mystra so Shar can sever a mortal and deities ties to the Shadow Weave without getting smacked around by the gods.
About Weave and Shadow Weave - they're confined to "RealmSpace" - some sort of "metaphysical" zone on Toril's Prime Material Plane - to permit the use of magic. Without Weave(s) - "Raw Magic" (some cosmic mysterious native energy of the universe) can't be "channelled" into spell use in Torilian Realmspace.
A Dead Magic Zone - is an area where Weave has been "rent" or ruined. Inside DMZ's - you can't cast spells. But - on Toril, The Chosen of Mystra - can "heal" rents in Weave with a special power called "Silverfire".
When you leave Toril - and go into other Planes - you can still use Magic. But - such magic is not Weave-dependent. As Incenjucar says - some have argued that you need to "relearn" how to cast "weaveless" if you go into another plane - others don't think this "relearning" is necessary. As an example, I seem to remember, that Shadow Weave doesn't extend into the Demi-plane of Shadow - but that from this plane - you can still use Shadow Magic and other kinds of magic. If anyone remembers the Moment of No Magic on Toril - all the Flying Cities crashed when a big weave-disaster occurred. One city (the city of shades) that was powered by a Mythallar - escaped to the Demi-plane of shadow where it was trapped for 1000 years before they figured out how to return to Realmspace. Strangely, this city was powered by a Weave-Mythallar - and remained afloat in the Demiplane of Shadows where there is no Weave.
Hope this helps.
stav
The last option I used as the basis for a Prestige Class (Weaveless Casting). The player actually learns how to do this in planescape.
stav
The last option I used as the basis for a Prestige Class (Weaveless Casting). The player actually learns how to do this in planescape.
stav
How about starting the check off at perhaps 60, and then letting it drop by 1 for each spell cast. Then, when the DC reached the spellcraft modifyer of the PC, it would no longer be necessary. Does this sound reasonable? Or did you have something completely different in mind?
.....I really like the DC concept in V3.5 it's a great tool. You might want to decide what the "probability of success" should be - say 25% initially - and set the DC - depending on the Spellcraft skill slots of the best spell-caster. Or - if you want to make it easier - set the DC wherever you reckon it should go. One lower DC for each success sounds cool too.
For the "mishaps" and failures that you could use any of the magic-mishap tables around. Or make your own up - like - um, "back-lash" damage, "randomly cast another spell of same level", "blackouts", "insanity", "burns", "open portals to other dimensions", "disruptions to the temporal time line", "accidentally harming creatures on other planes"......
.....i've given some thought to the 'flavour' rationale too. I suspect that a caster would "feel" different sensations as they cast - that might guide their weaveless casting. In particular, "warning sensations" (internal magical power surges, headaches, perceptual phenomena like stars, etc) that would guide their spell-casting development - in the same way that they learned to cast in the first place.
The idea here is that without the "invisible but felt presence" of the weave - a caster's weave-laden verbal, material and somatic components might trigger the "warning sensations". So - the caster might learn to intonate with a subtle difference - change an Arcane word or two to contain emergent power surges, gesture differently to contain the expression of magic....etc.
hope this helps
stav
I'd start with a medium-high difficulty class, and then reduce it as the person continues to cast spells, until they've eventually adjusted. At that point in time, the penalties go.