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hendrack wrote:

Very_Svensk wrote:

This is so sad.

I was thinking of an epic character concept, an evil wizard whom would be insidious and disagreeable towards most. And most notably - Speak under his breath and be generally insulting, refer to himself in third person etc.

Every week you see a new wizard like this on Amia.

Yeah, you're... I mean, yeah.

Goddamnit. I will abandon this, it's far to ...Gah. Stupid game. Stupid baldur's gate.

Hendrack and mine's point was that pretty much every character concept out there is unoriginal. Someone's already done is first, and for evil, that goes double. There are a billion "random asshole under-the-breath-muttering" evil mages, and Edwin isn't the first nor the last.

Wyjyn: Loving all of you (and above all Disco) since 11 Jan 2007.

TormakSaber wrote:

Hendrack and mine's point was that pretty much every character concept out there is unoriginal. Someone's already done is first, and for evil, that goes double. There are a billion "random (censored) under-the-breath-muttering" evil mages, and Edwin isn't the first nor the last.

I disagree that most character concepts are unoriginal, honestly. However, stereotypes and cliches can be a very good starting block for a character.

Dubble-checking.

Do i, or do i not, need DM Aproval and RP story to Practice the "Shadow weave" ?

Make a homosexual barbarian who gives great thought to his appearence and tidyness. Someone probably did that before too, but I have yet to see one on Amia. Metrosexual bard is taken btw.

i -never- do social Rp. No Love intreagues for me. Ever.
If i want that, i'd download greys anatomy or scrubs

Tch, don't need to go social to play a male barbarian with a liking for other males. Just give your male party members some odd stares during hunts. Couple that with a high intimidate skill, and even otherwise fearless banites will run.

What's the story behind why things like Books of Transmutation, their pages, blank scroll paper and the like are only found in the belongings of monsters and such? Would the reason be well known to characters?
Are they all old ancient things?
I know the OOC reasons, obviously, but there was an awkward moment when I had to explain IC why blank scrolls aren't sold, and found it more difficult to be happy with than I'd have imagined.
Luckily enough I winged it and got across what I needed to without copping out by sending a tell. But, buck to the question: is there any reason behind it in Amian lore?

AlphaWaves wrote:

What's the story behind why things like Books of Transmutation, their pages, blank scroll paper and the like are only found in the belongings of monsters and such? Would the reason be well known to characters?
Are they all old ancient things?
I know the OOC reasons, obviously, but there was an awkward moment when I had to explain IC why blank scrolls aren't sold, and found it more difficult to be happy with than I'd have imagined.
Luckily enough I winged it and got across what I needed to without copping out by sending a tell. But, buck to the question: is there any reason behind it in Amian lore?

Yes, it has been interesting explaining this to folk at times:

"How can I get a Book?" "Kill things until you do."

Ulrik tends to have a cache of these things for aspirant mages - I am sure others horde them as well. I have usually just explained that like all magic items, the books and pages are valuable even if they do not do anything by themselves, or are immediately useful to the possessor. Why some wolf or something is carrying one, well.. maybe he ate a guy who possessed one, and then ate the book, and then you cut open the wolf? Seems to happen a lot. The same goes goes scrolls and wands. Although, all of these can be bought - albeit, it is part of a player driven economy. I'd explain this as the books, pages, wands and scrolls are specialized wares - things adventurers and mages want to get their grubby hands on - thus they have to seek them out from other adventurer and adventurer-merchants. Occasionally, occasionally the local merchant may have a blank wand, or book page, etc. Which again fits.

Very_Svensk wrote:

Dubble-checking.

Do i, or do i not, need DM Aproval and RP story to Practice the "Shadow weave" ?

I, personally, would like to see a bit of the RP story behind it. If you could send it to me in a PM, that'd be great. Also, if you have any questions about it, send them to me as well. What I'm really interested in is whether or not the character -knows- they're in fact using the Shadow Weave instead of the Weave, because there may be repercussions that can be imposed.

As for DM approval....depends on the story behind it, I suppose.

Nivo wrote:

Ulrik tends to have a cache of these things for aspirant mages - I am sure others horde them as well. I have usually just explained that like all magic items, the books and pages are valuable even if they do not do anything by themselves, or are immediately useful to the possessor. Why some wolf or something is carrying one, well.. maybe he ate a guy who possessed one, and then ate the book, and then you cut open the wolf? Seems to happen a lot. The same goes goes scrolls and wands. Although, all of these can be bought - albeit, it is part of a player driven economy. I'd explain this as the books, pages, wands and scrolls are specialized wares - things adventurers and mages want to get their grubby hands on - thus they have to seek them out from other adventurer and adventurer-merchants. Occasionally, occasionally the local merchant may have a blank wand, or book page, etc. Which again fits.

Yea, that's how I've always seen it too. But still explaining it IC isn't helped by it all that much, other than a place to start with one's winging it.

"Occasionally you can find them in adventurer shops" loses clout when standing in the Monolith, for example.

"The magical writings only take hold on exceptionally special pieces of parchment, something that we've not yet learned to reproduce."
Would be my IC response, tbh.

Of which thousands if not millions are used for the scrolls in with spells on already and sold in many a shop? Seems unlikely, ICly said or not.

Far too common to say they can not be reproduced, I would say. Also, as it were, they are magical, and provide instructions on how to alter pre-existing spells. A slight change to the spell's formula, for wizardly types.. a slight change to the invocation and casting for sorcerous and intuitive types, and a few prescribed changes to the prayers of divine types is how I have explained such ICly (winging it, as Alpha said, and as much magical RP is, and why I do so enjoy it :wink:

)

Research wizards do this type of tweaking all the time, with their custom spell research (I know I have.) To say its something that has not been able to be reproduced is not something I would agree with.

It may be an instance where OOC reasoning takes precedence over the IC. So, the cliche that 'monsters horde stuff that adventurers want' may suffice.

"Thayvians write all their spells and research in old empire script. This is incredibly hard to read or decipher."

Is this the same as Netherese? The language used by the ancient netherese empire?

Hrothmus wrote:

"Thayvians write all their spells and research in old empire script. This is incredibly hard to read or decipher."

Is this the same as Netherese? The language used by the ancient netherese empire?

Not at all. The Netherese Empire existed mainly in what is now the huuuuge, sprawling desert of Anauroch. Thay, on the opposite end of the Sea of Fallen Stars, was once part of the Mulhorandi Empire (the "old empire").

Historical note - For centuries, the region of Thay was under the rule of the powerful Mulhorandi Empire. Its native people, a Rashemi race, were subject to the rule of a noble class, the Mulan of Mulhorand. The great mage Ythazz Buvarr, a member of a Mulhorandi secret society called the Red Wizards, sought to create a separate realm where wizards would rule instead of the god-kings. Ythazz and his followers raised an army and sacked the capital of the (Mulhorand-controlled) Thayan province. The Red Wizards succeeded in destroying all opposition from their former masters and established the land of Thay in 922 DR.

Two completely different places with equally different "empire script".

Another note - Thayans speak a variation of Mulhorandi, but use a different script than their ancient rulers did. The Mulhorandi alphabet uses Celestial script, while the Thayan variant uses Infernal. The ancient Netherese had two languages, Netherese (the "commoner" tongue), and Loross (the "noble" tongue). Both ancient Netherese languages used the Draconic alphabet. (Netherese is also the precursor language to Halruaan.)

As far as which Mulhorandi script Thayans use for spells and research....it doesn't say. Without actually -knowing-, I would have to take a guess that, since the Infernal-scripted Mulhorandi variant is the common tongue of Thay now, then the Red Wizards would use the Celestial-scripted Mulhorandi "old empire" script for their spells and research. I say Red Wizards, of course, since they're the ones generally controlling magic and its use in Thay.

If anyone has information that would refute my theory on which script (read: alphabet) the Thayans use for their spells/research, I would gladly welcome it, btw. Looooove geting my hands on some lore.

=======

By the way, it's great to have my source books with me again. ^.^

EDIT: Oh! Sources for the above are Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, and Lost Empires of Faerun.

Thanks a bunch for the reply and the excellent information.

PS: Oh another question popped into my head, how Is Power Word: Kill a Divination spell?

All of the Power Words are divination. I suspect it has to do very very vaguely with True Naming, and the sort of insight needed into Naming the very concepts of creation makes the spell fall into Divination.

Or maybe Wxizards just wanted to give Divination some combat spells.

Doesn't have to be true naming, really. Could be that the divination aspect of the spell works to find the target's heart or other vital organ (possibly brain? *shrug*) and its exact functions at the moment, then at the final conjecture of the spell, simply interrupts the organ's functions. "Die." *target's heart/brain/any other organ that might cause instant death if not working properly ceases to function*

Anyway, just another take on it. ^.^

Question about Fort Summer and that region in general:

Who built Fort Summer? And Why? What kind of people lived up there? Was there a country who used the place as an outpost? And who was supposed to reinforce the place? And who built and ran the Snowed Inn?

QPR wrote:

Make a homosexual barbarian who gives great thought to his appearence and tidyness. Someone probably did that before too, but I have yet to see one on Amia. Metrosexual bard is taken btw.

You obviously never met my Orc Barbarian/Weapon Master of Garagos: Barber-Boy Brick.

QPR wrote:

Question about Fort Summer and that region in general:

Who built Fort Summer? And Why? What kind of people lived up there? Was there a country who used the place as an outpost? And who was supposed to reinforce the place? And who built and ran the Snowed Inn?

Clues can be found in the region. There's an abundance of ogres in the area, so my conclusion, drawn from that, is that they were mawed over by an ogre tribe.

And i'm guessing settlers of shakundau(Whatever deity endir's have) built the fort.

I know what happened to the fort, but nothing indicates just who built the place, and my other questions.

QPR wrote:

I know what happened to the fort, but nothing indicates just who built the place, and my other questions.

Woops, misread your questions there.

But, Hm... I would -strongly- suggest requesting a NPC Possession of one of the endir's point npc's. I'm sure there would be lots to hear from them

So no official, easily accesible lore on this?

Disco made the area. Or you could attempt to find out ICly.

I know that deity system here does not support Amia, but I'm wandering would Sebek be fitting deity for Amia version?

Dead wrote:

I know that deity system here does not support Amia, but I'm wandering would Sebek be fitting deity for Amia version?

Sebek, the crocodile god, exists in game.

Edit: OH, you ment on amia 'island' right? Um...Ignore my comment then, i don't know anything about an amia version. Maybe Urlden the gnome mole god?

No what I mean is that I am not sure if Sebek is a legit deity to worship on our server since we are playing in time when some 4e gods (like Tamara) are not yet gods.

Sebek does exist in 3rd Ed. and is a current god of the Mulhorandi pantheon (which is worshipped in Khem). In fact, there's been some events in the past that involved Sebek followers. So he's by no means off limits.

As for his followers existing on Amia Isle itself, there's no reason why they couldn't. People can easily travel from Khem to Amia and back via portals.

Every god of the Mulhorandi pantheon featured PC followers in Khem. You'll likely meet some hostiliy in Djedet as follower of Sebek. Not as bad as follower of Set though, I reckon.

Well....not every Mulhorandi deity, on a technicality. Sharess is still worshipped in Mulhorand as Bast, yet there's no idol (or religious following) for Bast in Khem that I'm aware of.

Like I said, a technicality. Still....I, presonally, have a Mulhorandi PC who follows Bast, even if I had to put Sharess in his deity field.

*shrug* My two cents on the subject.

Sebek is canon before 4.0 so he's good to go. Hell, there's even a shrine for him.

Aye, no idol of Bast in Khem, which is strange to me. But I wouldn't say there's no worship. Maybe not much from PC's but surely there are commoners (NPCs) who would worship her. Makes sense that there would be, anyway.

Sharess may be venerated as Bast in Mulhorand, she's not part of the Mulhorandi pantheon though. From an IC standpoint my and Mosh's mulan consider her a god who went for the decadent 'West' and don't like her much. Dunno if it is correct to assume Mulans have that IC knowledge.

It is correct. Bast isn't exactly venerated according to Old Empires and another book (i will remember which source book says it), she's used as an example of what happens if Mulhorands people are given to flights of fancy, distraction, wanderlust, overt hedonism and disloyalty. What happens when Selfish Pleasure takes priority over Duty. She's actually one of the many bones of contention between Anhur and Horus-Re because Anhur very simply on occasions forgets duty when Bast is around.

The entire population knows of the fall and subsequent redemption of Bast, because at the time Mulhorands dieties walked the earth as Incarnations. Similiar to why all Mulhorands Aasimar that are part of the noble houses know exactly which diety or dieties they are descended from. They literally are children of the Gods.

Mulhorand has the most complete knowledge of itself out of all the realms in Faerun because prior to the Imaskari barrier being dissolved they had thousands of years of continous memory (when a diety manifested itself upon its own death in the eldest offspring of its prior incarnation).

I have some general questions regarding paladins of mystra.

I've never played a paladin before and I'm wondering if it's feasible to use paladin levels in a character who isn't technically at the moment, as far as his stay on amia, in the Knights of Mystic Fire. Essentially, wondering if it's possible that he still "lives" as a paladin of mystra despite not really having any contact or interests in the goings-on of the church. I would rather make him a Favored Soul if it were available, but wondering if I can somehow work in a similar context.

wuhwuhwolves wrote:

I have some general questions regarding paladins of mystra.

I've never played a paladin before and I'm wondering if it's feasible to use paladin levels in a character who isn't technically at the moment, as far as his stay on amia, in the Knights of Mystic Fire. Essentially, wondering if it's possible that he still "lives" as a paladin of mystra despite not really having any contact or interests in the goings-on of the church. I would rather make him a Favored Soul if it were available, but wondering if I can somehow work in a similar context.

I'm going to leaving aside issues such as DM approved variants.

But purely on the subject of Paladin:

I dont like this favoured soul idea. All Paladins must have had (at some point) contact with a Paladin Order, to be able to use Paladin abilities. I cant see someone going around smiting someone and using Divine Magics, just because they are Lawful Good. Paladin is not Barbarian. You don't just 'become' a Paladin. You need to be taught, to be called to serve. I definetly feel that needs to be in the characters story somewhere, before you can be sticking smite evil in the quickbar.

In order to have a character that is a Paladin thats not part of the Mystran Church?

I see 3 ways off the top of my head. But I'm not sure if this a new character, or an existing one that youre considering multiclassing to Paladin with, so some of this wont be at all relevant.

1) Was formerly part of the Order, but was cast out for some reason. Politics, what have you. It would have to be something personal (or perhaps plain wrong. Probably a woman invoved.) in order for him to retain his Divine Grace, but it might have caused him to become disillusioned with the church. He would still retain his sense of duty and all that, but would be a lone wolf rather than the High Priest's attack dog.

2) Was never part of the order. PHB: "Typically, they (Paladins) become squires or assistants to experienced paladins, train for years, and finally set off on their own ". How could you be a Paladin of Mystra without being part of the order? Well, I suppose its possible that your character could have fallen under the wing of a Paladin such as the one in answer 1, who had taught him. Other than that, I suppose he could be part of a different order, if there are more than one Paladin Orders of Mystra, that has no representation on Amia (Not sure how Mystra RP is set up tbh), or more likely, he could be part of a different chapter of the order that holds no domain in Amia.

On the subject of multiclassing to Paladin.....grmbl. I dont really like the idea. You can't just take (a) level(s) in Paladin on a character who hasn't been taught the way things work. It misses out on the indoctrined spoon-up-the-arse fundementals of being a Paladin! As spideyman says "With great power comes great responsibilty!".

But! it could work, if...

3) Your character had met an existing Paladin who taught him while he served as his squire. Im not sure how that would work, given different faiths, if there would be an attempt to convert or an acceptance of differences. Which sounds like fun RP in the main, actually. Be nice to do that one day.

Matter of opinion, of course. Paladins tend to opinionate people.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

To advertise myself, here's what I've written about Paladins of Mystra in general and what's accepted on Amia. It doesn't actually answer your questions, but it might be helpful:

Quote:

Mystra is the lady of mysteries and guardian of the Weave. Unlike the previous incarnations of Mystra, the current goddess is of the Neutral Good alignment. This change has drawn some paladins into the ranks of Mystra's clergy. They are not common, however, and the amoral attitude many wizards have towards magic causes some disagreements between paladins of Mystra and the arcanists of the church.

Due to their rarity, paladins have no set role within Mystra's clergy. They act as the sword-arm of the church and often accompany clerics and mages on missions to recover lost artifacts or magical lore from ruins, tombs and other dangerous places. While most paladins have an aversion to grave robbing, paladins of Mystra understand the importance of bringing certain magic items and writings to safety, even from the crypts of the deceased. Mystrans are also charged with preserving magical lore, so a paladin would be most fitting a guard for a Mystran library. If a paladin comes across an evil spellbook or a horrible magic item, he'll take it to good Mystrans for safe-keeping rather than destroy it. Mystra expects her followers to create magic of their own, so sometimes her paladins will craft wands or scribe scrolls of the spells they recieve from her. They are directly responsible for what is done with such items, however, and therefore will not let them end up in the wrong hands. If a paladin gives such items to his friends, he will want to know how they are going to be used.

Despite the wide variety of alignments in Mystra's service, her paladins are still Lawful Good and take oaths of honour and virtue similar to other faiths. They do not approve of foul spells or an amoral view of magic. To them, magic is beautiful art that must be used for the good of people, not for personal gain. While a devout Mystran might argue that studying necromancy is a part of understanding the Weave, her paladins will do their best to stop the creation of undead peacefully. If a paladin of Mystra knows some faithful are practicing necromancy for purely academic purposes, he will try to persuade them to stop or use whatever honourable means he can think of to put an end to it. In the end, he might have to accept this part of Mystra's nature, and wouldn't be punished for not stopping the scholars with force.

Mystra's clergy keeps an eye on promising new mages. A Mystran paladin may take it upon him to teach an aspiring arcanist the ethical use of magic. Some spellcasters are too rotten and blinded by power to be redeemed, however. To prevent reckless use of magic and damage to innocent bystanders, paladins sometimes have to hunt down these Weave-abusers and bring them to justice – or more likely, knowing how hard it is to capture a wizard, bring them swift death. Halruaa, a land where Mystra is very popular, regulates the use of magic heavily. While paladins are uncommon there, the few that do serve the local temples are often charged with capturing corrupt mages. Mystrans are particularly hostile towards Sharrans, and work against the Shadow Weave. Protecting the Weave and repairing Dead and Wild Magic Zones are a part of their duties, as well.

There is one paladin order working in Mystra's church: The Knights of the Mystic Fire. They are mostly an adventuring order, going on quests to find and secure ancient hoards of magic or to destroy liches and other evil spellcasters . They have no particular dress code, but shades of blue and the symbol of Mystra on their shields are preferred. Mystra's church is rather relaxed in organization, so her paladins also have to work a lot on their own. Their loyalty is to magic and the goddess who governs it, which is why it's uncommon to find Mystran paladins working for a mundane patron of any sort.

-Cloak-and-Dagger- wrote:

(Not sure how Mystra RP is set up tbh), or more likely, he could be part of a different chapter of the order that holds no domain in Amia.

Just mah $0.02 on the Mystran faction.

There is currently no presence of the Knights of Mystic Fire (as said, the only paladin order working out of the church) on Amia, at least, to the Mystran faction's knowledge. The closest thing to this would be the Weave Knights, who are not an order of paladins, but, a group whom would welcome a paladin of Mystra to their ranks (and, have in fact had one in their ranks, who did want to try and establish a chapter of the Mystic Fire a while ago).

Great, thanks much to all of you for the information, looks like the character will work perfectly.

O_o I have a question, do you actually count 4e as dnd cause I am never going to read.....install, and read it. anyone who was disgusted as I was when they saw said trailer for 4th ed will know what i'm refering to, idk if they ever made actual books, you know, pen and paper...

I do have a lore question, or rather request. can anyone expland on the whole dragons thing relating to amia, because 1 I do not own the dragonomicon

and 2 my story involves dragons.

I've read through the timeline on the wiki, and a random npc very recently was talking about dragons, i'd like to know more on the subject and more to the point if and how IC i can find dragons at present (after some serious leveling...)

Dragons - not as cool as devils or demons or <insert everything else>.

Dragons on Amia - they look cool, but not as cool as devils or demons or <insert everything else>.

Glyph wrote:

I've read through the timeline on the wiki, and a random npc very recently was talking about dragons, i'd like to know more on the subject and more to the point if and how IC i can find dragons at present (after some serious leveling...)

What specifically are you after? There's enough information on dragons to fill several books. Are you after more information about the recent events involving dragons? Or about draconic lore in general? Dragon history?

like, it says there we're green and white dragons, then they died out, then theres a purple one out of no place, and more to the present the last entry to do with dragons is 1374 DR, Year of Lightning Storms, about dragon eggs and the spires.

this does not tell me what dragons occupy amia now, if any, what kind they are (I could swear the npc said silver)

I have (had O_o) the dragon magazine where they went through the metallic and chromatic traits so i'm ish on that front, what i'm interested in is present/recent occurances so I can sort out my backstory and not go after a dragon that isn't going to be there (got black adult dragons on amia? until i'm level 20+ theres no way IC I could figure it out, meaning I have no solid backstory until level 20.)

basically, i'm hunting [insert colour] dragon because it killed my character and his brothers dad. he was a smithy, and imo thats better than me sitting here for three days trying to pen the whole thing into a mini novel. I guess I just need to know what colour dragons occupy amia, and perhaps not where they are. better for RP that way.

any extra dragon info is great like I said no dragonomicon, gotta trawl the net for colour traits, likes dislikes, violent or non etc. which is kind of important cause if amia's dragons are non violent it kills my story dead.

There are no, live, NPC Dragons on Amia that are publically accessable / usable. Imperator, of Kohlingen, is beyond Twilight, Morningdew and Rockhopper are both retired NPCs after the end of the Wyrmshadow Prophecy plot arc, and every other dragon is currently dead.

That said, if you're looking for justification of a character's hate, as opposed to blood links or anything of the like - during the Wyrmshadow Prophecy plot arc, members of the Dark Flight (A group of evil dragons previously ruling from the fortress Wyrmhold) caused quite a large amount of catastrophy to remote, non-city areas. That said, they're dead now, so it works for nothing more than past-tense.

Isn't there a dragon in a cave on Amia B? Gives you a quest and all.

Nu'uh! I see's Rockhopper!

What was the name of the green one that lived in the cave on the Skull Crags? Tal'ish-something.
Ta'lishima?

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