Quick question: When bringing characters from different campaign settings (i.e. FR, DL, Eberron, Oriental, etc.) into Ravenloft, how does a DM handle the characters? Do the PCs get to keep all their previous setting-specific powers they have? I've ran Ravenloft in the past, but I wanted to get advice from other gamers as to their opinions on the matter.
It's up to the DM. Anything that will make them too powerful is either going bye-bye, or going to be manipulated by the Dark Powers. Loads of ways to be nasty about it. Also plenty of ways to handle it effectively. It's mostly up to the DM, sadly enough.
Joël
Note that if a PC would lose so much power as to become unplayable, it's best to either ask their player to accept a substitute PC for the time being, or else allow their character some alternative (spooky!) ability whilst in the Ravenloft setting. A PC thaumaturgist, for example, might lose the power to conjure beings from other planes, but instead could conjure up fey creatures from the Shadow Rift -- which can be every bit as treacherous as fiends, and much harder to predict -- for the duration of his visit to the Land of Mists.
Common sense should prevail in most cases, with allowances for game balance. If a PC's power is rooted in something highly setting-specific -- for instance, if a character's PrC lets her draw power from a spellpool that's located in her home city -- then leaving their world of origin likewise may mean leaving the power's source behind. OTOH, power that comes from a more esoteric source should "travel" well -- despite some gamers' confusion on the subject in the very early days of the Ravenloft setting, outlander clerics do keep getting spells there, even if no native of the Land of Mists has ever heard of their deity -- provided it's not something (like planar travel or detecting evil) which the basic metaphysics of Ravenloft specifically inhibit.
Note that if a PC would lose so much power as to become unplayable, it's best to either ask their player to accept a substitute PC for the time being, or else allow their character some alternative (spooky!) ability whilst in the Ravenloft setting. A PC thaumaturgist, for example, might lose the power to conjure beings from other planes, but instead could conjure up fey creatures from the Shadow Rift -- which can be every bit as treacherous as fiends, and much harder to predict -- for the duration of his visit to the Land of Mists.
Thanks so much for all the help, Rotipher A PC thaumaturgist, for example, might lose the power to conjure beings from other planes, but instead could conjure up fey creatures from the Shadow Rift -- which can be every bit as treacherous as fiends, and much harder to predict -- for the duration of his visit to the Land of Mists.
You can summon fiends just fine. They'll just be SUPER-****** when they find out what's happened to them :D
You can summon fiends just fine. They'll just be SUPER-****** when they find out what's happened to them :D
As I'd said, the change in a PC's abilities should be applied if their loss of power makes them unplayable. A thaumaturgist who has lost the power to safely send a fiend back home when he or she is done with it -- and hence, has been reduced to a charred, mangled carcass smeared all over a summoning-chamber -- sounds fairly "unplayable", to me. ;-D