I was simply wondering, any one ever thought of remaking the Green Star Adept to fit Athas by instead of using Star Metal, using some sort of Rare Obsidian?? And then twisting things so it fits a defiler more closely?? They'd make great Guardians and Assasins of SK's if it would work.
What if, Nibenay was really gay and he was just compensating by having hundreds of wives?
What if, Dregoth used the Planargateway to visit Krynn, but forgot to shut it while he was looking around Ansalon and group of Tinker Gnomes snuck in through the gate?
What if, Rajaat decided to start the cleansing wars before he discovered magic and magic was never unleashed upon Athas?
What if, Magic was really discovered by Rajaat friend Bob and Rajaat killed him and took credit out of jealousy?
What if, Myron was never replaced by Hammanu and Trolls still exsisted on Athas?
What if there was someone else, behind Rajaat?
What if the Thri-Kreen were the true First Race of Athas?
What if Corannu Star Runner came back?
What if the Rhulisti never went away, and the "savage halfling" bit is just an act?
What if, from all the destruction wreaked by the Defilers and the Sorcerer Kings, the Elemental Planes collapsed into ruin?
what if the halflings have a 'lost city' that still uses the old Rhulisti ways, unchanged since the blue age..
what if (and pardon me for revisiting this idea, I've been thinking of the old Obsidian Man of Urik.. and mixing it with the Green Star Adept..) would it paint a better picture, to have a defiler or a templar even.. incorporate some form of obsidian into a transformation process that leaves him as a 7' tall (or taller for an elf) jagged featured black humanoid with red glowing eyes like embers, and heat radiating from his body day and night? with a burning touch, great strength, no hair not sign of it on his crystaline body.. and who has the ability to drain the hp from animal life around him, and use it to regenerate himself or add metamagic feats to his spells? or enhance his strength? or to increase his immunity to magic/psioncs?? (just tossing out ideas here)
Ok, but for more ideas...
What if All Avangions eventually time travel, as part of their metamorphosis, throughout time, to view Athas's life cycle.. and what if "all" eventually end up in the blue age? And once there, have a nice little chat and share magic and psionic tips??? (the blue age is kinda the coffee shop for Avangions
)What if the reason all metal is rare on Athas, is due to the dimished state of the Elemental Plane of Earth?? the metal could have been stolen and taken back to that plane, in an effort to keep it from diminishing further..
What if the reason Athasian Dwarves are bald, is because they were cursed by an ancient sorceror or SK as a race?? and barely escaped?? (by the hair on their chinny chin chin ;) )
Ok that on ewas just silly ;) but still, ideas flowing .
to be honest my dragons in normal campaigns act more intelligent and cunning than they were portrayed in the novels.....(and my players rightfully fear them for it.) At the very least I would have researched both psionic and magical means of restoring me if anything ever happened to my body.... contingency clones or what have you in remote locations.... in my campaigns the pentad series only happens if the players cause it and they are in for big surprises if they try to do it like in the books.
What if the final powers of Avangions and Dragons are actually related to the abilities of the rebirth. (dragons can cause further mutation down the path of the rebirth in a target and avangions can actually reverse a creature back to its purest rebirth form..... dwarves would become hairy, elves not so tall or quite so thin, villichi become humans, half breeds become one or the other of a race.)
I was simply wondering, any one ever thought of remaking the Green Star Adept to fit Athas by instead of using Star Metal, using some sort of Rare Obsidian?? And then twisting things so it fits a defiler more closely?? They'd make great Guardians and Assasins of SK's if it would work.
I use a variant of the Green Star Adept that is linked to the Messenger (details are in that long prestige class conversion thread that I posted a while back).
I'm liking the alternate history bits coming out..
what if the halflings have a 'lost city' that still uses the old Rhulisti ways, unchanged since the blue age..
That would actually be a great thing to put in some far corner of the Map with Brain's Map project, possibly around C1 or D2, or even on the other side of the planet.
what if (and pardon me for revisiting this idea, I've been thinking of the old Obsidian Man of Urik.. and mixing it with the Green Star Adept..) would it paint a better picture, to have a defiler or a templar even.. incorporate some form of obsidian into a transformation process that leaves him as a 7' tall (or taller for an elf) jagged featured black humanoid with red glowing eyes like embers, and heat radiating from his body day and night? with a burning touch, great strength, no hair not sign of it on his crystaline body.. and who has the ability to drain the hp from animal life around him, and use it to regenerate himself or add metamagic feats to his spells? or enhance his strength? or to increase his immunity to magic/psioncs?? (just tossing out ideas here)
It might also be cool to have that PrC, be the product of a distant land, like maybe the dragon's region from the Sundred Region.
What if All Avangions eventually time travel, as part of their metamorphosis, throughout time, to view Athas's life cycle.. and what if "all" eventually end up in the blue age? And once there, have a nice little chat and share magic and psionic tips??? (the blue age is kinda the coffee shop for Avangions
, that must be what's really happening.What if the reason all metal is rare on Athas, is due to the dimished state of the Elemental Plane of Earth?? the metal could have been stolen and taken back to that plane, in an effort to keep it from diminishing further..
Nah, it's definately from the Druid wars and the mass summonings of Rust Monsters! The second part of your idea is intriguing though, good stuff for Athasian legends (like the ones in DKs).
What if the reason Athasian Dwarves are bald, is because they were cursed by an ancient sorceror or SK as a race?? and barely escaped?? (by the hair on their chinny chin chin ;) )
Ok that on ewas just silly ;) but still, ideas flowing .
Thats a great one for a legend too :D
What if The Gods of Athas aren't dead, merely waiting?
But, what are they waiting for? Maybe Athas is an expiriment to see if mortals can manage a world without gods, and the gods are merely watching to see how things turn out.
What if Corannu Star Runner came back?
That could be the basis of a good legend, something similar to the Once and Future King or the Messiah. When Corannu Star Runner returns he will lead the elves to overthrow the SKs and build a might empire once more, or something
What if the Rhulisti never went away, and the "savage halfling" bit is just an act?
I think that's true to an extent, though very few halflings are in on it.
What if, from all the destruction wreaked by the Defilers and the Sorcerer Kings, the Elemental Planes collapsed into ruin?
It would be interesting to to take this idea further. What would that be like? What would the elemental lords be trying to do about it? How would that affect there clerics? Has it perhaps already begun to happen?
What if, instead of how they were portrayed in the novels the SK's were actually extremely intelligent and experienced immortals......
:D , thats just too much to ask for.
to be honest my dragons in normal campaigns act more intelligent and cunning than they were portrayed in the novels.....(and my players rightfully fear them for it.) At the very least I would have researched both psionic and magical means of restoring me if anything ever happened to my body.... contingency clones or what have you in remote locations.... in my campaigns the pentad series only happens if the players cause it and they are in for big surprises if they try to do it like in the books.
Maybe you can't do that as a dragon... for... some... reason. At least Dregoth seemed to have worked something out.
What if the final powers of Avangions and Dragons are actually related to the abilities of the rebirth. (dragons can cause further mutation down the path of the rebirth in a target and avangions can actually reverse a creature back to its purest rebirth form..... dwarves would become hairy, elves not so tall or quite so thin, villichi become humans, half breeds become one or the other of a race.)
I remember there was a spell in the Dragon Kings book that allowed you to change a half-breed into a pure breed. Its an interesting idea, dragons do seem to have mutanegenic propertise and avangions restorative ones, as for final powers though, I think not.
I use a variant of the Green Star Adept that is linked to the Messenger (details are in that long prestige class conversion thread that I posted a while back).
do tell
post it here too, or at least lay down a link As for the SK's acting more intelligent, I agree, I wish they would also :P its so hard to find decently described powermad immortals these days ;)
oh, and i loved the take that yes the halflings are pretending to be uncivilized, but only few halflings are in on the pretending ;) lol good job
But, what are they waiting for? Maybe Athas is an expiriment to see if mortals can manage a world without gods, and the gods are merely watching to see how things turn out.
They're waiting for the right time to kick SK butt. Or maybe to wreak revenge on Rajaat. Or maybe just for the damage Rajaat did to heal enough they can break through the Grey.
It would be interesting to to take this idea further. What would that be like? What would the elemental lords be trying to do about it? How would that affect there clerics? Has it perhaps already begun to happen?
It could be catastrophic - perhaps suddenly no Clerical magic works - not Elemental Clerics, not Templars (the Vortexes have helped suck the Planes dry), only the Druids have the last dregs still remaining in the Spirits of the Land, and even that is beginning to run dry.
Perhaps Arcane Magic also begins to fail, as ultimately it's linked to the Elemental Planes too, sucking the Elemental energy out of the land itself.
The Dragons begin to discover that their transformations are beginning to revert - or that a Dragon's body can't sustain itself without the flow of Magic.
Only Psionics remains, taking power from the inner self. But can even that last?
In the end, the only way to restore the world before it slowly freezes into the Grey Age, is for a Great Alliance - where even Sorcerer King and Avangion must work together - to rebuild the Elemental Planes.
How's that for a quest idea? :D
Rajaat would obviously be the darklord of this realm, cursed so that all his actions to fulfill his dream (to recreate the blue age) are not only in vain but also cause the "world" to drift even further away from the blue age ideal...
And if Athas is a domain in the Realms Of Dread, what happened to the real world of Athas?
do tell
Oh, there's nothing meaty there, really - just a couple of lines of flavour. I can't find the thread, so here's the entry:
Green Star Adept: Known on Athas as an Adept of the Messenger, these spellcasters draw their power from the comet known as the Messenger, which visits Athas once every 45 years. Often accompanied by starfalls and meteorites, the visits of the Messenger are the very source of the Adept’s power.
The idea behind it was that the Messenger, although a rhulisti vessel, was originally a comet or asteroid that they had adapted and inhabited, hence the fact that it has an accompanying debris field to provide the "starfalls and meteorites" in the note above.
What if you guys are all a figment of my twisted mind and I am actually just a brain floating in a vat of chemicals...wait, sorry, flash back to way too many philosophy classes :D
What if the 'planet' of Athas is actually a moon of a much larger planet- the smaller of Athas' two 'moons'. This larger planet is actually the homeworld of the halflings and the Messenger comet was actually their way of maintaining contact with their outpost on the moon of Athas. And now a host of halfling lifeshapers are riding intersteller ships and are going to invade Athas and punish all fo the worlds inhabitance.
What if you guys are all a figment of my twisted mind and I am actually just a brain floating in a vat of chemicals...wait, sorry, flash back to way too many philosophy classes :D
That reminds me of something I saw on one of the background/wallpaper sites I visit:
"The Second Moon"
What if Earth was only a moon, the second moon, of some large planet?.
the picture's a link to the original page for this image.
Oh, there's nothing meaty there, really - just a couple of lines of flavour. I can't find the thread, so here's the entry:
Green Star Adept: Known on Athas as an Adept of the Messenger, these spellcasters draw their power from the comet known as the Messenger, which visits Athas once every 45 years. Often accompanied by starfalls and meteorites, the visits of the Messenger are the very source of the Adept’s power.
The idea behind it was that the Messenger, although a rhulisti vessel, was originally a comet or asteroid that they had adapted and inhabited, hence the fact that it has an accompanying debris field to provide the "starfalls and meteorites" in the note above.
And the whole life shaping technology of the halflings of the blue age mixes in astoundingly well with the transformation of the green star adept.
excellent job. :D i love it! have you made any green star Adepts on athas yet??What if the 'planet' of Athas is actually a moon of a much larger planet- the smaller of Athas' two 'moons'. This larger planet is actually the homeworld of the halflings and the Messenger comet was actually their way of maintaining contact with their outpost on the moon of Athas. And now a host of halfling lifeshapers are riding intersteller ships and are going to invade Athas and punish all fo the worlds inhabitance.
What if you guys are all a figment of my twisted mind and I am actually just a brain floating in a vat of chemicals...wait, sorry, flash back to way too many philosophy classes :D
What do you mean, "what if"? That's what the designers were planning
And the whole life shaping technology of the halflings of the blue age mixes in astoundingly well with the transformation of the green star adept.
Glad you like it - I found that most prestige classes could easily be tweaked to fit DS with some really interesting results. I haven't brought any Green Star Adepts into play yet, but plan to introduce them when the campaign rolls around to Free Year 6 and the Messenger fails to appear (we are about to enter FY 3 at the moment). I figured it would be a neat idea to have a couple of Adepts competing with each other to get their hands on the rapidly dwindling supplies of star-stone and trying to figure out where their comet had gone. Their investigations would lay the seeds for the eventual discovery of the Messenger's fate and true significance.
Male half-elf named Luminar Solari
Wizard 5 / Ruathar 3 / Geometer 5 / Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil 7 / Green Star Adept 10
Obviously in DS the Ruathar PrC would need a heavy overhaul, or at least a background switch (maybe to the halflings or Pyreen??) and as you've said, the Green Star Adept would be tricky but doable with the Commet.. but when I came accross these PrC's they so fit my own personal tastes that I just had to see if I could tie them all together (surprisingly, I could.. and as a 30th level character, he's a 30th level caster.. he looses nothing! and gains a ton of innate abilities!!)
If I had such a character in DS, it would need some major tweaking.. But I think it would be very fun to have such a character serve an Avangion.. the focus on light effects with the Initiate mixing well with the Avangions Aura and theme of inate defenses.. its Green tinge from the Adept being reminiscent of a Green age of life.. along with the host of defensive and physical upgrades there are also again in keeping with an epic character, especially one who is touched by an AB such as an Avangion.. And being a Preserver mage with a caster level of 30+ would be a much needed factor in any long term servant of an Advanced being.. I'd see him as sort of a guardian/messenger.. a servant of sorts....
(work out the prereques involved in crafting such a combo of classes, there's still tons of room for flexability after they are met..)
(... Oh, and btw.. I'm really intrigued by this class combo I've just described above.. if you do have any comments on it.. please.. do share..
)If you've read the Ruathar PrC.. do you think it could be easily molded to something for the Pyreen or perhaps that Last Tree halfling of the blue age??
Ok, here are the items that are needed for this quest, place these in the DM's handbag..
Deurgothoth (Dracolich from the Forgotten Realms Setting)
Dregoth (we all know him)
Kalid-Ma
Daskinor (mad as usual)
The Bloodstone of Fistandantilus (Dragonlance Setting)
The Orbs of Kalid-Ma
The Planar Gate (in Dregoth's Posession)
PC's perspective: the PC's begin receiving dreams regarding the locations of powerful artifacts, the orbs of Kalid-Ma, though of course, they need not be aware that is what they begin hunting.. they feel compelled to search them out..
Background :
Deurgothoth is contacted mentally by the Spirit of Kalid-Ma, which has been trapped on another plane by the powers in the realm of Ravenloft (I seem to recall that theory on the boards somewhere, notify me if you know where or who). Kalid-Ma entices Deurgothoth with thoughts of power and a restoration to life from his undead state.. He coaches him to collect an artifact, the Bloodstone of Fistandantilus, this to be used by Deurgothoth as a new, and special phylactery..
With this artifact, he travels (from Krynn) to the Ravenloft setting (what's that world called? I've never played it) from there, he performs a ritual, using the bloodstones unique abilities to incorporate a subjects knowledge and power, even send their soul to another realm, to forge a bond between himself, and Kalid-Ma, that bond, links Deurgothoth's spirit and mind through a portal only he could travel through (he had the ability to posess multiple bodies, should one be destroyed he'd move to another). He now shunts his essence through the planes (starting from ravenloft merely because that was the prime nearest to Kalid-Ma, and the powers of that realm originally influenced Athas in the past creating a bridge of sorts, though tenuous).
His spirit now exists in the gray on Athas, and is perfectly protected.. From there, he uses his abilities to project dreamlike compulshions into various PC and NPC's encouraging the collection of the Orbs of Kalid-Ma (which was Kalid-Ma's purpose, he needed a creature like Deurgothoth to make its way back to Athas as he could not) However, its not done yet..
The PC's get the Orbs together, and rather than Kalid-Ma returning as a fully formed Dragon, Deurgothoth gains the physical form, and is in that world.. The planar link through Kalid-Ma to Deurgothoth's original body still exists, allowing him to access his original draconic nature he left behind as a dracolich, with the full powers he possessed there.. however, his inclusion of the body of an Athasian Dragon now allows him to defile for magical energy. (the only reason he can do this right off the bat is due to his connection to Kalid-Ma).
Now Deurgothoth doesn't want to be trapped on this plane, and there is still a planar link between himself and Kalid-Ma to consider, so, he decides he needs to get his body back home.. this is all to Kalid-Ma's liking.. and according to his plan.. he wants his body brought to him.. so he informs him of another artifact he's discovered.. the Planar Gate.. in Dregoth's posession..
After careful planning and many aquired resources Deurgothoth learns that Dregoth is preventing his madness from overtaking him, even in his undead state, by pushing the madness onto Daskinor, and the madness is so great it overflows to affect many of his citizens.. He disrupts that connection with Kalid-Ma's help, vastly afflicting Dregoth, and though Dregoth is still powerful, he isn't sane enough to properly defend himself.. Deurgothoth engages in an epic battle against Dregoth.. the advantage, and the reason Deurgothoth comes out on top, is because he amplifies the link between himself and the Bloodstone of Fistandantilus so that he can absorb the powers and abilities of Dregoth. And since Deurgothoth is in a fully formed Dragon of Athas body, he is not affected by the madness, and Daskinor is at last free to regain his mind after centuries..
Again, this strengthening of the bond between Deurgothoth and Kalid-Ma is to Kalid-Ma's advantage.. for it also strengthen's thier bond as well.. Now when Deurgothoth uses the Planar Gate, the only place he can go, is strait back to Kalid-Ma, where Kalid-Ma tries to posess his body, and overpower his pawn..
At this point its up to the DM who comes out on top, either way, the victor is free to roam back to Athas or away from it.. and you could even have Deurgothoth use the Bloodstone's power upon Kalid-Ma if you like, though he may have a defense against it..
The PC's job durring all this?? well, after the orbs are brought together, some try to hunt down Deurgothoth, some help him seeking for power, mostly, in the course of his epic incursion, Deurgothoth is going to cause a lot of havoc and disruption, so PC's from various city states and organizations will be called upon to deal with this Dragon Reborn.. they could harass Deurgothoth all the way till his battle with Kalid-Ma, and tip the balance in favor of one, another, or neither... perhaps destroying both once and for all??
Ok... Any thoughts?? I thought this was rather fun.
And I could also see him just interfearing with both Kalid-Ma, Dregoth, and Deurgothoth, just to in essence, flip everyone the bird 
. But you have an interesting idea, I hadn't considered what would happen when he got his mind back.. I was just going to have him run things like any other SK with a decent head on his shoulders.. Then again, he may have some items that were crafted durring his madness.. they could cause him, and his plans, a bit of trouble. ahh. so many possibilities ;)thanks for the feedback
I hope I get more from peeps It could be catastrophic - perhaps suddenly no Clerical magic works - not Elemental Clerics, not Templars (the Vortexes have helped suck the Planes dry), only the Druids have the last dregs still remaining in the Spirits of the Land, and even that is beginning to run dry.
Perhaps Arcane Magic also begins to fail, as ultimately it's linked to the Elemental Planes too, sucking the Elemental energy out of the land itself.
The Dragons begin to discover that their transformations are beginning to revert - or that a Dragon's body can't sustain itself without the flow of Magic.
Only Psionics remains, taking power from the inner self. But can even that last?
In the end, the only way to restore the world before it slowly freezes into the Grey Age, is for a Great Alliance - where even Sorcerer King and Avangion must work together - to rebuild the Elemental Planes.
How's that for a quest idea? :D
Wow
, I can't believe I skipped over this post before! "How's that?" Its fricken awesome! That's the best metaplot idea I've heard in a long time.