Is it made of living Petitioner heads, as per Well of Worlds, or is it made of Demon skulls, as per Manual of the Planes, Planar Handbook, etc? I'm confused... I suppose Well of Worlds takes preccedence since it's the first mention and it's a Planescape module, but the Demon-skull idea seems kinda nifty too... didn't Morte the talking Skull come from the Pillar? I can't find my copy of Torment to see what it says there...
About the Pillar of Skulls...
Thu, 2007-12-06 12:32
#1
About the Pillar of Skulls...
Thu, 2007-12-06 16:11
#3
About the Pillar of Skulls...
So his odd statment of being a mimir is a lie, right?
Thu, 2007-12-06 17:11
#4
About the Pillar of Skulls...
Morte was not a Mimir. He tells TNO that somewhere along the plotline. There is a flashback in which Morte tells him and TNO breaks the poor guys jaw.
As for the Pillar, it is filled with those who made a life out of lying. They were treacherous but knowledgeable. Their treachery bought them a one way ticket to Baator where their knowledge combined with others in the pillar, making it a rich source of information if one can either appease them/force them to tell the truth/wade through the lies.
My two,
B
Fri, 2007-12-07 04:18
#5
About the Pillar of Skulls...
"Don't trust the skull."
Fri, 2007-12-07 09:16
#6
About the Pillar of Skulls...
hehe 
I dont care what anyone says, the old games are the best and Infinity Engine rocked...
Fri, 2007-12-07 12:15
#7
About the Pillar of Skulls...
Yes, Morte, the impish little miscreant that he was, said a bunch of screed in the game. From time to time he would boast that he was the skull of Vecna, and he usually implied, if he didn't say it outright, that he was a mimir. However, he couldn't have been a mimir, since those are made out of strange silvery metal. Not to mention that mimirs don't fly around making wisecracks and borderline-anachronistic commentary. But a zany sidekick character voiced by a former Animaniacs actor was apparently just what the game needed.
Fri, 2007-12-07 17:09
#8
About the Pillar of Skulls...
But a zany sidekick character voiced by a former Animaniacs actor was apparently just what the game needed.
Dang straight it was. They had to stay on par after roping in Mitch Pileggi and Dan Castellaneta as Dak'kon and Nordrom, respectively. Incidentally, some years back they released an "easter-egg" pack featuring Morte which included some of Rob Paulsen's lines which were left out or replaced in the game.
In regards to the Pillar of Skulls -- I always followed the school of thought that it was formed from the heads of petitioners. I believe the new-school revision (that it's made of the heads of defeated demons) was the result of WoTC's attempts to make the Nine Hells less influenced by Dante's Inferno and more neutral.
Personally, having the Pillar made of the skulls of sages and wise men whose lies lead to the deaths of others sets a more emotionally powerful mood, in a "You guys are in hell, and this is what happens to you when you do bad things in your lifetime," sort of way.
Fri, 2007-12-07 17:34
#9
re
I have to agree, the whole "demon skulls" approach just doesn't excite me nearly as much. If the only thing you run into in the hells is devils and monsters, how are they really the hells? Things like that remind us what the plane is about.
And Morte - yeah, best sidekick ever.
Fri, 2007-12-07 20:58
#10
About the Pillar of Skulls...
I've found two sources for the pillar of skulls. One states that it is an enourmous pillar that is made up of the lives of people whos lies have brought the death of someone. I believe in mortes case it was most likely it was he who convinced the nameless one to seek immortality with the nighthag Ravel.
In another reference it was in fact and enourmous step ladder/blood war trophy rack. Its main purpose seemed to be that it was used as a way to descend from avernus to the further reaches of the nine hells. As well as hold the gruesome skulls of tannari victims.
Now I've always preferred the Planescape: Torment concept as it gives the pillar a bit more life. However I would see it to actually try and combine the two ideas.
Fri, 2007-12-07 23:44
#11
About the Pillar of Skulls...
Why couldn't there be more than one pile of skulls in Baator? One might be a stack full of the heads of petitioners who lied in life. Another might be a pile of trophies. Another might be a pile of construct heads ready to be screwed on to any decapitated bodies the baatezu have handy, or even a group of skull-like predators ready to decapitate any victims who venture nearby and replace their heads with themselves. Still another might be a pile of beholder-like creatures with eyebeam attacks. The plane is big enough to hold any number of skull-towers.
Sat, 2007-12-08 04:04
#12
About the Pillar of Skulls...
Which, ironically, never seem to actually be pillars. The PS/Torment one basically seems to be a big pile of skulls that doesn't actually support anything and doesn't even look like a pillar (well, maybe if you squint a little), and the WotC version is just a pig ol' stack of skulls that happens to lead to Avernus. Is it possible that neither of them is the "true" pillar of skulls? It could be that the real pillar is a lost relic of the ancient baatorians or maybe the beginnings of a yugoloth plot to build their fourth tower in Baator (most people would wait until they finished the third tower, but Yugoloths are not most people).
Sun, 2007-12-09 14:54
#13
About the Pillar of Skulls...
Anyone ever wonder why if (as WotC implied) the Pillar was so close to the lair of Tiamat; why was it that the pillar TNO saw was an enclosed space with no GOD-OF-DRAGONS lair in sight...even if she was there, why was this god/godess not taking an interest in the immortal kicking up a fuss in and around her domain?
Kind of a sucky god if she/he/it either didn't notice or didn't care that such a potentially powerful (and morally malleable) creature was milling around under her nose. Im gunna have to do some research because im guessing its just shoddy work by WotC plonking the pillar next to a big name in gaming to give it some credibility. Can't believe TSR would take gamers to such a location without so much as a sniff of Tiamat even just as a casual reference to make gamers smile.
Anyone who can decipher my ramblings able to shed some light on my madness?
Thanx
B
xxx
Sun, 2007-12-09 19:59
#14
About the Pillar of Skulls...
Can't believe TSR would take gamers to such a location without so much as a sniff of Tiamat even just as a casual reference to make gamers smile.
It originally appeared in Fires of Dis, where it wasn't anywhere near Tiamat's lair. You have to cross the River of Blood, the River Styx, seven other encounters, and a thousand-foot wide lake of maggots before you reach the realm of the dragon goddess.
Sun, 2007-12-09 21:43
#15
About the Pillar of Skulls...
The reason I can come with as to why the pillar of skulls was not guarded by Tiamet in Torment, is because they were trying to avoid using standard generic RPG races, or gods for that matter.
Although there is actually a dragon in the game, a gold one that the spell celestial host invokes, but its not really an NPC as such.
So no one get so fussy over the lack of Tiamet. The game was better of without her. Them. Whatever.
Tue, 2007-12-11 21:38
#16
About the Pillar of Skulls...
When Planescape: Torment came out in 1999, there was no source that claimed the Pillar of Skulls was next to Tiamat's lair.
This is an idea that wasn't proposed until the Manual of the Planes, in 2001.
This is why Torment didn't mention Tiamat. It had no reason to.
Yes Morte was taken from the Pillar of Skulls by the Nameless One.