Post by Lord Huthor on Oct 7, 2014 14:10:12 GMT
So earlier, was talking to Pres about Immortal rank posters and we were discussing the concept of 'gaining a plane'. He suggested I put some sort of Immortal thread on the BECMI/BX board - so therefore, here it is. Nobody need get excited over anything written here - it's mainly a) reference for Pres when someone in the far-flung future hits Immortal as a poster, b) might intrigue someone enough to go read the Immortal boxed set itself, and c) I have nothing better to do with my time.
LOOK WHAT I GOT!
1) Towards the end of Initiate training, each Immortal is granted a home plane. Each plane has five dimensions, and all planes granted are more or less similar so all Immortals start with an equal footing. The plane contains (almost) equal measures of all spheres (time, matter, entropy, etc), but the Immortal owner's sphere is slightly ascendant in dominance. The same rule obviously applies to elemental make-up (earth, air, fire, etc) as each element corresponds with a sphere of influence. So an Immortal of Matter is going to have slightly more solid material maybe, and a slightly larger proportion of Earth.
2) To begin with, most the plane is vacuum, but it does contain 2-5 stars and 16-20 planets. Smaller (moon-sized and lower) objects may be present in any number. Up to 3 of the planet-sized bodies may be megaliths (gigantic, sentient objects). Life forms may already be present on any of these bodies, but most will be microscopic, or from 2-5' in length. Again, DM-placed Megaliths may break this rule. In any case, no race will have a higher than average Intelligence score of 3. Renegade life forms may be present, missed by initial Immortal explorers. These will need cleansing.
So there's your starting point for a home plane. Developing it beyond this point requires undertaking what are termed 'Projects'. These may be attempted by a single Immortal, but like any job, having help from others is always better. Just like a Magic User compliments a Fighter, an Immortal of Thought will compliment one of Matter. Pooling abilities will make things easier.
Some possible Projects:
Adding elemental material - Fancy creating a race of aquatic beings on one of your worlds? Not a problem! Well, actually it is. First of all, you're going to have to modify the surface somewhat (unless you intend the whole planet to be below water level), then you're going to have to make arrangements with an Elemental Ruler and Elemaster of the Plane of Water to open a Gate. No, not one of those pissy little Magic User gates - global sized baby! Did I mention that aquatic race will need food? And yeah, you're going to have to pay attention to salinity maybe....and water temperature.....Fuck this shit. Stick to desert worlds.
So on that note of life forms - Any life form can be created magically, but there's a few drawbacks. They cannot reproduce, and have to be copies of those found elsewhere. This is usually for a specific short term reason: like drone worker force. Want to see your face on that mountain? Not a problem, create a few thousand stone golems and set them to work. Native life forms of the plane (if any) can be modified, or (the easiest method) you can just transplant life forms from elsewhere. Tell them you're taking them to a place with a higher property value.
Tote that bale - Don't like that star there? Well, you can shift it. Fancy adding a small moon to that world? Not a problem.
Okay, that's a lie.....they're all really big problems. That's why it's called a Project.
None of this stuff happens automatically. It's all based on dice rolls that determine success/failure, and the expenditure (usually permanent) of Immortal Power Points.
That's right kiddies - even the Gods don't get a free lunch. Okay, lunch they get, finished planets, not so much.
SOME OTHER PLANAR CONSIDERATIONS
Means of access to the Home Plane can be controlled by the Immortal who owns it. It's kind of like the 'No Junk Mail' sign, but people can't just ignore it.
Immortals are immune to attacks of mortal origin while on their home plane. Of course this doesn't apply to attacks by invading Demons, Blackballs, fellow Immortals who are tired of your voice and those asshole adventurers who were given god-slaying artifacts by someone else (Remember when you thought it was a good idea to allow your life forms to become civilized, and have technology and magic and shit? Yeah.......those jerks can get downright ungrateful eventually if you let them).
On the plus side, get killed anywhere else, and you can usually just go back to your home plane and inhabit a spare body you've created - you did remember to create some other forms before you left right? Right?? Always a good idea to have various other forms to inhabit stashed around your home plane. Immortals can exist as pure energy/life-force/whatever, but it can make it difficult to do some types of interactions with both Immortals and mortals.
Creating Artifacts - It sounds really cool to create the Rod of Huthor. And frees up a lot of your time. Give it to a minion and say: "Use this to finish up my latest project - I'm off to the Celestial pub."
Dispersion - So you've been an Immortal for many years and have grown weary of it. Via the act of dispersion, you can send your essence into your home plane. This allows for duplication of a lot of other Immortal acts on the home plane, but with a greater magnitude. This needn't be the end of the character however. At this point you have a choice of sending your intelligence/will/whatever deep within the plane (you are aware of things happening within it, but can't affect anything - other Immortals however can contact you, but cannot attack you in anyway), or you can be reborn as a mortal.....and start the whole trip all over again from level: 1.
A few personal notes:
If you're a DM tired of being a DM.....this is a great way of getting PC's interested in world/universe building and getting the yen to start DM'ing themselves in a thing they created while being a PC still.
If you're a DM and tired of being a DM, but you have lazy players - it's a great source of new worlds/universes without you having to create them yourself - and the players already have something of a bond with it. Plus you don't have to explain the history and all the little details constantly. They already know them. Caused them in fact.
For those who might be reading this that haven't played at Immortal level - the creation and development of home planes is not the be-all, end-all of Immortal play. Like Domains for Companion/Master level play, it's just a single element. It can be given minimal treatment, or ignored totally in favor of all the usual adventuring elements. By the same token, the above stuff is only the barest scratchings of the home plane surface (from the Player's Guide). There is far more in the Dungeon Master's Guide on the subject.
Right - Pres, I expect this to count as 100 posts towards me becoming Immortal.
No wait - 200, and from now on, you have to call me 'Sir'.
Actually, had a lot of fun going through this stuff, happy to add more to it.
Also, I know from experience that a lot of the Immortal Set procedures can be difficult to understand, so no problem if anyone would like me to try explaining any of it.
LOOK WHAT I GOT!
1) Towards the end of Initiate training, each Immortal is granted a home plane. Each plane has five dimensions, and all planes granted are more or less similar so all Immortals start with an equal footing. The plane contains (almost) equal measures of all spheres (time, matter, entropy, etc), but the Immortal owner's sphere is slightly ascendant in dominance. The same rule obviously applies to elemental make-up (earth, air, fire, etc) as each element corresponds with a sphere of influence. So an Immortal of Matter is going to have slightly more solid material maybe, and a slightly larger proportion of Earth.
2) To begin with, most the plane is vacuum, but it does contain 2-5 stars and 16-20 planets. Smaller (moon-sized and lower) objects may be present in any number. Up to 3 of the planet-sized bodies may be megaliths (gigantic, sentient objects). Life forms may already be present on any of these bodies, but most will be microscopic, or from 2-5' in length. Again, DM-placed Megaliths may break this rule. In any case, no race will have a higher than average Intelligence score of 3. Renegade life forms may be present, missed by initial Immortal explorers. These will need cleansing.
So there's your starting point for a home plane. Developing it beyond this point requires undertaking what are termed 'Projects'. These may be attempted by a single Immortal, but like any job, having help from others is always better. Just like a Magic User compliments a Fighter, an Immortal of Thought will compliment one of Matter. Pooling abilities will make things easier.
Some possible Projects:
Adding elemental material - Fancy creating a race of aquatic beings on one of your worlds? Not a problem! Well, actually it is. First of all, you're going to have to modify the surface somewhat (unless you intend the whole planet to be below water level), then you're going to have to make arrangements with an Elemental Ruler and Elemaster of the Plane of Water to open a Gate. No, not one of those pissy little Magic User gates - global sized baby! Did I mention that aquatic race will need food? And yeah, you're going to have to pay attention to salinity maybe....and water temperature.....Fuck this shit. Stick to desert worlds.
So on that note of life forms - Any life form can be created magically, but there's a few drawbacks. They cannot reproduce, and have to be copies of those found elsewhere. This is usually for a specific short term reason: like drone worker force. Want to see your face on that mountain? Not a problem, create a few thousand stone golems and set them to work. Native life forms of the plane (if any) can be modified, or (the easiest method) you can just transplant life forms from elsewhere. Tell them you're taking them to a place with a higher property value.
Tote that bale - Don't like that star there? Well, you can shift it. Fancy adding a small moon to that world? Not a problem.
Okay, that's a lie.....they're all really big problems. That's why it's called a Project.
None of this stuff happens automatically. It's all based on dice rolls that determine success/failure, and the expenditure (usually permanent) of Immortal Power Points.
That's right kiddies - even the Gods don't get a free lunch. Okay, lunch they get, finished planets, not so much.
SOME OTHER PLANAR CONSIDERATIONS
Means of access to the Home Plane can be controlled by the Immortal who owns it. It's kind of like the 'No Junk Mail' sign, but people can't just ignore it.
Immortals are immune to attacks of mortal origin while on their home plane. Of course this doesn't apply to attacks by invading Demons, Blackballs, fellow Immortals who are tired of your voice and those asshole adventurers who were given god-slaying artifacts by someone else (Remember when you thought it was a good idea to allow your life forms to become civilized, and have technology and magic and shit? Yeah.......those jerks can get downright ungrateful eventually if you let them).
On the plus side, get killed anywhere else, and you can usually just go back to your home plane and inhabit a spare body you've created - you did remember to create some other forms before you left right? Right?? Always a good idea to have various other forms to inhabit stashed around your home plane. Immortals can exist as pure energy/life-force/whatever, but it can make it difficult to do some types of interactions with both Immortals and mortals.
Creating Artifacts - It sounds really cool to create the Rod of Huthor. And frees up a lot of your time. Give it to a minion and say: "Use this to finish up my latest project - I'm off to the Celestial pub."
Dispersion - So you've been an Immortal for many years and have grown weary of it. Via the act of dispersion, you can send your essence into your home plane. This allows for duplication of a lot of other Immortal acts on the home plane, but with a greater magnitude. This needn't be the end of the character however. At this point you have a choice of sending your intelligence/will/whatever deep within the plane (you are aware of things happening within it, but can't affect anything - other Immortals however can contact you, but cannot attack you in anyway), or you can be reborn as a mortal.....and start the whole trip all over again from level: 1.
A few personal notes:
If you're a DM tired of being a DM.....this is a great way of getting PC's interested in world/universe building and getting the yen to start DM'ing themselves in a thing they created while being a PC still.
If you're a DM and tired of being a DM, but you have lazy players - it's a great source of new worlds/universes without you having to create them yourself - and the players already have something of a bond with it. Plus you don't have to explain the history and all the little details constantly. They already know them. Caused them in fact.
For those who might be reading this that haven't played at Immortal level - the creation and development of home planes is not the be-all, end-all of Immortal play. Like Domains for Companion/Master level play, it's just a single element. It can be given minimal treatment, or ignored totally in favor of all the usual adventuring elements. By the same token, the above stuff is only the barest scratchings of the home plane surface (from the Player's Guide). There is far more in the Dungeon Master's Guide on the subject.
Right - Pres, I expect this to count as 100 posts towards me becoming Immortal.
No wait - 200, and from now on, you have to call me 'Sir'.
Actually, had a lot of fun going through this stuff, happy to add more to it.
Also, I know from experience that a lot of the Immortal Set procedures can be difficult to understand, so no problem if anyone would like me to try explaining any of it.
