Some of these questions could also be asked about clerics and templars... are they to far from their elements or their SKs to cast spells?
Thanks in advance for your wisdom.
1. "normal" preservers & defilers cannot cast there unless there is some sort of vegitation.
2. Necromants (formerly Necromancers, but I really like this name change) can cast in the Black like they do on Athas. In the Gray, I grant them a bonus of +1 caster levels, due to the fact that the energy they use comes from that plane.
3. Shadow Wizards, much like the Necromants, have similar rules, just with "Black" and "Gray" being swapped.
4. Ceruleans can cast normally in the Black, however they have difficulty in the Gray (-1 caster level). This is due to Rajaat's influence and connection to the Black, something he does not apparently have with the Gray.
5. Dragon Magic (and magic utilized through Empowered Obsidian Orbs) can function in the Black and Gray, as long as there is actual living creatures nearby.
6. As with the Black and Gray, there are similar restructions to Arcane spellcasters who enter the inner planes. However, there *are* living creatures and even some vegitation potentially more frequently present in the Inner Planes than the Black or Gray.
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And there are three Prestige Classes (found on Jon's site, Athas Online, but need to be updated to 3.5e rules last I checked) that help with using magic differently than the prescribed plant-life-energy system.
Since defilers are tainted by the death they absorb into themselves when they defile, I would expect there would be a similar reaction to absorbing the dead, though more severe.
Originally posted by Phoenix_Down
It may be possible to tap into the spiritual energy of the Gray, but I don't think that's ever been documented.
Defilers & Preservers: The Wizards of Athas (2E) has a kit for using Gray energies and one for the Black. Jon' site has a PrC document with 3E versions of those two kits.
Originally posted by Pennarin
Defilers & Preservers: The Wizards of Athas (2E) has a kit for using Gray energies and one for the Black. Jon' site has a PrC document with 3E versions of those two kits.
There's also one for using the Cerulean Storm.
In the Amber Enchantress Sadira (before her transformation) is able to suck the energy out of an undead to cast a spell in the Gray.
xloredarkhelm
the Black and Gray seem to be seperated from each other in the fluff. Why the lack of penalty for Shadow Wizards and Necromants? I admit to knowing nothing about the rest of your mechanics and how you handle game balance in your campaign.
Originally posted by Enslaved DM
xloredarkhelm
the Black and Gray seem to be seperated from each other in the fluff. Why the lack of penalty for Shadow Wizards and Necromants? I admit to knowing nothing about the rest of your mechanics and how you handle game balance in your campaign.
Well, I have it that:
a) someone has to somehow discover that it is possible to gather energy from the gray, black and cerulean storms. I'm not fond of simply handing over the information that these kinds of arcane spellcasters exist to my adventuring party, and I penalize people for bringing in player knowledge that their character could not possibly have known (which is dictate by what has been developed for the character - if people don't provide me with a completed character with personality, motivations and background, then I take the minimalistic approach to that character - basically, they did nothing of merit, worth or importance up to the moment of the start of the campaign. They went with the flow, and accepted everything at face value, and therefore have absolutely no knowledge of any of the secrets in the world.
b) that person has to somehow be tutored/trained by another individual as to how to accomplish this. The only other method for them to develop the ability is to be an epic spellcaster. The prestige classes themselves are not epic, but the fundamental understanding and grasp of arcane magic in order to tap energy from atypical sources requires an epic spellcaster to discover on his or her own. However, anyone who meets the requirements of the Prestige Classes, and has a master who trains them in how to draw energy from the alternate sources, can learn as normal.
c) Necromants, Shadow Mages, and Cerulean Mages are all exheedingly rare when it comes to arcane spellcasters. Arcane spellcasters are already a rarity on my Dark Sun (they are frequently hunted and killed for simply existing and using arcane magic despite their preserver or defiler differences), and less than one hundredth of a percent of them have learned how to use alternate energy sources.
d) Cerulean Mages actually end up pretty much losing their soul to do Tithians & Rajaat's bidding eventually in my setting.
e) Black Mages, similarly, end up becoming "infested" with the essence of Rajaat which is slowly filling and taking over the Black.
f) Necromants have.... other problems. The kind that doesn't sleep, doesn't eat, and generally hates the living.
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And yes, I reward those who are willing to put an effort into actually roleplaying their characters, and develop a character that is more than a set of statistics on a piece of paper - they get many little advantages in my games that those who don't want to even try, won't get. Those who make the effort, but aren't good at it, still make the effort, and are rewarded for the effort. I even use an experience point system that basically divides the XP in thirds - one third is from kills/normal D&D XP (individual character). 1/3 is from group accomplishments, and 1/3 is from roleplaying. You can advance and ply in my games without roleplaying or fleshing out your character - but doing so, you are really limiting your options. Some people say I'm rather harsh about this, and very strict, but generally, my players have a LOT of fun in my games, and enjoy the amount of detail and realism I put into it. They also frequently find that roleplaying, actual roleplaying, is a lot of fun.
The Black, the Gray, and all the other planes are not seperate "places" from Athas -- they're seperate "planes" -- they do not exist in some sort of elsewhere, but are an actual part of Athas metaphysically (ie: they do not physically exist "elsewhere" on Athas or in this/some other universe...instead, they are physcially present in Athas' universe, as a part of Athas). The planes are all conterminous with one another (existing within the same common spatial boundaries).
That is, they all occupy the same physical space -- rather than being stacked on top of each other, or side-by-side.
When you "step into" the elemental plane of fire, for example, you are not going somewhere else (such as into another dimension). In "physical space," you are still right where you were -- you are simply now attuned to an idealized form of Athas as it appears regarding the element of Fire and its influence upon the world. Consider this like a prism: white light contains all colors. Athas is white light...seperate that light into its various components and you get a spectrum...it is the same spectrum that combines together to create white light. So when you cross over a planar boundary, you are shifting yourself towards that color of the spectrum and away from white -- it is the same light, though.
Following from this, when you are in the Gray, or in the Black, you are still on Athas, and right where you were, but attuned to the idealized form of the local area/the world with respect to the nature of the Gray or the Black (ie: the Black is "the shadow" of Athas -- being cast upon something else (?) -- so you are now looking at Athas as it appears in the shadow, a "distorted," multifacted Athas created from the shadows of that which exists (the "light source" -- so to speak)).
As such, I might rule that you can still cast magic, but you must draw the life-energy of Athas' local plant life across the planar boundaries in order to do so. Life, as a function of the combination of the elements, is difficult to draw across into the specific planes, because the planar energies of each are seperated out there, rather than a balanced mixing of all the planar energies (as on Athas). However, the fact that life exists means it is reflected in those other planes in some fashion, since the planes are simply "color-seperated" versions of Athas (and you get "color-seperated" versions of life in the forms of elementals, etc), means you can cast, rather than it being impossible.
You really should write something for the athasian Manual of the Planes!
Originally posted by Elonarc
Greyorm, man...
You really should write something for the athasian Manual of the Planes!
Agreed, hey athas.org team, put that guy into the Templerate before somebody else do!
