hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (Jerry Hollombe) (11/05/84)
I'm currently playing in a AD&D campaign in a relatively high-level party
(PC's range from 14th to 18th level). An interesting situation has just
come up which throws some light on what can happen when the hidden checks
and balances in the game are disturbed.
One of our PC's is a female elven mage/thief. A while ago our party did a
big favor for a fairly powerful god for which we were all richly rewarded.
Her reward was to become unlimited in level as a mage (she can increase in
levels as if she were a human). During our last session, she finally
managed to attain 18th level (spent a LOT of money on books and wishes).
At this level she can now throw her own wish spells. Given the longevity
of elvenkind, this means she can easily throw enough wishes to reach 90th
level without aging to death first. In effect, she can become a demi-
goddess any time she wants to. Talk about unbalance! Now we know why
elven mages are usually limited to 12th level.
We ended play at that point, to be continued next week. Consequences
remain to be seen as she's now considering her next course of action. Our
other elven mage, who is also unlimited as to level but hadn't thought of
this angle, is now very worried. He's the only logical consort for her,
but she doesn't like his personality and is considering changing it. This
should get interesting ...
--
Jerry Hollombe (The Polymath)
Transaction Technology, Inc.
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(213) 450-9111, ext. 2483
{vortex,philabs}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombeasente@Cascade.ARPA (11/08/84)
> One of our PC's is a female elven mage/thief. A while ago our party did a > big favor for a fairly powerful god for which we were all richly rewarded. > Her reward was to become unlimited in level as a mage (she can increase in > levels as if she were a human). During our last session, she finally > managed to attain 18th level (spent a LOT of money on books and wishes). > At this level she can now throw her own wish spells. Given the longevity > of elvenkind, this means she can easily throw enough wishes to reach 90th > level without aging to death first. In effect, she can become a demi- > goddess any time she wants to. Talk about unbalance! Now we know why > elven mages are usually limited to 12th level. *** POLYMORPH THIS LINE INTO YOUR MESSAGE *** An easy problem to fix--just make all aging by spells proportional to lifespan. Since this aging reflects wear and tear on the magic user, it even makes sense in the game (far more than a level restriction does!) The other problem with long-lived races is that there is no reason that they can't spend 100's or 1000's of years advancing and become too high level. Our DM solved this by saying that the longer-lived races are culturally/tempermentally/physically (choose one) unable to spend all that time adventuring. Over the short run they can adventure just as much as humans (so as not to disadvantage the player characters) but elves must, in the long run, spend 10 years not adventuring for each year spent adventuring. -paul asente aka Selig, ranking cleric to Mamanta, goddess of healing aka Brace, king of the western dwarves aka Arkeved, rightful but unrecognised ruler of the elves aka Claude, ranking cleric to Dithshard, goddess of herbs and flowers (really!) [Note--these characters took about 6 years of playing to get where they are]
chenr@tilt.FUN (The 1200 baud hacker) (11/08/84)
> One of our PC's is a female elven mage/thief. A while ago our party did a > big favor for a fairly powerful god for which we were all richly rewarded. > Her reward was to become unlimited in level as a mage (she can increase in > levels as if she were a human). During our last session, she finally > managed to attain 18th level (spent a LOT of money on books and wishes). > At this level she can now throw her own wish spells. Given the longevity > of elvenkind, this means she can easily throw enough wishes to reach 90th > level without aging to death first. In effect, she can become a demi- > goddess any time she wants to. Talk about unbalance! Now we know why > elven mages are usually limited to 12th level. > > We ended play at that point, to be continued next week. Consequences > remain to be seen as she's now considering her next course of action. Our > other elven mage, who is also unlimited as to level but hadn't thought of > this angle, is now very worried. He's the only logical consort for her, > but she doesn't like his personality and is considering changing it. This > should get interesting ... Hmmm, this shoudn't be a problem. For the DM, that is. First of all, I and most DM's I know don't usually allow wishes to give you a "gift" level. I usually make wishes phrased like "I wish I were one level higher" lead to a situation in which the PC has the opportunity go up a level, if she survives it. An example would be a messenger of some deity appearing and telling the PC that she has been selected to some particular task for the church and as an aid, she will be able to function one level higher than she is currently until the task is done. Then, she gets geased to perform said task, which will be tough enough so that if survives, she'll go up a level. Naturally, the party will probably, out of party loyalty, try to help her out, bitching in the process if anything bad happens. This approach is really good for stimulating peer pressure against such wishes. A friend of mine makes the PC somehow pay for the additional level in money or magic, etc. Either way, the idea is to grant her the level but make her regret having made the wish in the first place. Now as for trying to change someone else's personality, that, I think, is grounds for an A1-royal hosing. First of all, just making the wish is going to do something to her alignment "pointer". At the very least, move it 1/2 way of an alignment towards the evil side. (I'd say a full shift, myself, from good to neutral, and neutral to evil.) Second, there's the question of backlash. An ordinary wish many times can leave you sick for days, etc. How is one like this going to affect her sanity, powers, health? Will changing somebody else's personality have an affect on their sanity/personality? Will it somehow corrupt him because deep down in the depths of his soul, he knows he's been changed? Will his god get peeved since she's screwed with one his potentially very powerful worshippers? Depending on the circumstances of the campaign, some or all of the above might apply. A wish is powerful, but not that powerful. Don't let it hold a campaign hostage. Ray Chen princeton!tilt!chenr
john@x.UUCP (John Woods) (11/08/84)
> I'm currently playing in a AD&D campaign in a relatively high-level party > (PC's range from 14th to 18th level). An interesting situation has just > come up which throws some light on what can happen when the hidden checks > and balances in the game are disturbed. > ... > level without aging to death first. In effect, she can become a demi- > goddess any time she wants to. Talk about unbalance! Now we know why > elven mages are usually limited to 12th level. Well, a human being who gets the wish spell can probably also defeat aging, to some degree. More likely that the limit on elven mages comes from the fact elven mages are also elven super-hero class fighters (you cast Dispel Magic and Permanence on the ground in front of the Elven SuperMage from your staff. She beats your head in with a mace.). However, becoming a demi-goddess will take some time, and the process will certainly arouse the interest of the current set of demi- and full- god{,dess,oid}s. Could be quite an interesting time for all involved... > this angle, is now very worried. He's the only logical consort for her, > but she doesn't like his personality and is considering changing it. This > should get interesting ... Player characters, as many have mentioned, often provide the best checks for uncontrolled player characters. Presumably this other PC is roughly as power- ful as the female mage, hence not likely to be a pushover for this shotgun (staffpoint?) wedding... Again, looks like a good time... Having played in unbalanced over-high level games (as I've mentioned) and also in fairly well balanced high level games, this situation doesn't sound so bad: clearly this is an unusual occurance, and not one which *has* to get out of hand (unlike the games where the DOOMKILL(n) spells run rampant...). -- John Woods, Charles River Data Systems, Framingham MA, (617) 626-1114 ...!decvax!frog!john, ...!mit-eddie!jfw, jfw%mit-ccc@MIT-XX.ARPA