I was thinking about Limbo yesterday...

9 posts / 0 new
Last post
astralsahu's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2005-07-22
I was thinking about Limbo yesterday...

Zerreck ran through the streets of Kar'netet. The adrenaline rush of anger sped him on.

An anarch had been killed. At the thought, his heart beat harder still. Surrdar the Maintainer had lived in this ward, but had not been seen for two days. No one took notice until the outer wall fell down. Already twenty houses had returned to the chaos, as burning wind and acidic ice brushed the city's edge.

Once the city was safe, there would be punishment for whoever caused this.

The bricks turned hard as steel under each step Zerreck took. As the Creation Master reached the wall at the end of the street he squinted, and an archway sprung up to give passage. The churning Limbo 'sky' stretched before him as he reached the scene.

The front wall of a destroyed home drifted nearby, finally crumbling as a storm cloud bubbled through it. There was a noise somewhere between a rumble and a hiss as the chaos intruded more and more into the still city atmosphere. Broken off from the street but still intact there floated a squat building marked as the home of an ascetic. The anarch was slightly impressed by this. The monk would have to be quite strong-willed to hold a house together alone.

Without slowing, Zerreck ran off the torn edge of the city. A stair of white bricks extended itself along with him under his feet. From six house-lengths out into the raw Limbo, he stood at the end of his narrow bridge and looked back on the city. He could see Ach'tai reach the scene from another street. Good. Two Creation Masters should make short work of this, he thought. His fellow anarch dove off into the soup and quickly swam to a similar distance from the street.

Zerreck concentrated and slowly started to walk back along his narrow steps. Behind and beside him more white bricks coalesced and interlocked, widening the stairway into the beginning of the new street. Occasional red blocks joined in the complex pattern spreading toward the stable city center. New walls began to assemble themselves on the perimeter, each new house slowly taking a unique form. As an afterthought Zerreck firmed up the foundations of the monk's residence as it was reanchored to the street. Meanwhile, Ach'tai floated in the chaos-stuff while below her thick roots of stone with veins of jade wound and stretched back toward Kar'netet. Between them simple square homes grew up at irregular intervals.

In minutes the new streets had met and merged with the city. Ach'tai floated around the perimeter, shaping a thick wall around the rebuilt neighborhood. Zerreck stood at the point where his street joined the rest of Kar'netet and closed his eyes. Around him, a perfect circle sunk into the street and filled with coarse grass. Two wide black trees with bright blue leaves grew up to twice his height in the center of the small park. Here we will honor the lost homes and lives, he thought. And Surrdar.

And here we will punish the one who dared strike down an anarch and strike against the city. He opened his eyes and ran back towards the heart of Kar'netet.

----------

ANARCH [General] You have a natural talent for chaos-shaping. Prerequisites: Wis 13, chaotic alignment, permission from the DM.

After making a Control (Limbo) check to alter your environment, multiply the determined radius of terrain controlled and stabilized by your Wisdom score. You are also immune to damage from unshaped chaos matter, and can breathe in it. You can move through chaos matter at your highest speed. Control is always a class skill for you. See new uses of Control (Limbo) below.

MASTER ANARCH [General] You have been trained by the Anarchs Guild in the advanced chaos-shaping techniques that maintain githzerai cities. Prerequisites: Wis 17, chaotic alignment, Anarch, 8 ranks in Control (Limbo), permission from the DM.

Using the Control (Limbo) skill to actively change your environment is a swift action instead of a standard action. You can focus to give yourself a +2 bonus on Control checks for one round. This is a full-round action which does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Apply both your Intelligence and Wisdom modifiers to Control checks. Multiply the radius of terrain controlled and stabilized by the sum of your Intelligence and Wisdom scores. See new uses of Control (Limbo) below.

CREATOR ANARCH [General] You have achieved the highest rank and ability within the Anarchs Guild. Prerequisites: Wis 21, chaotic alignment, Anarch, Master Anarch, Skill Focus (Control (Limbo)), 15 ranks in Control (Limbo), permission from the DM.

You may choose to stabilize all or any part of your controlled area. You may focus as a standard action to gain a +2 bonus to Control checks for one round, or as a full-round action to gain a +5 bonus. Your control automatically supercedes that of anyone else within your controlled area. See new uses of Control (Limbo) below.

Control (Limbo) (Wis)

Assist crafting - DC 16 A successful check against DC 16 allows a character using the Craft skill to ignore material costs. Objects made using this method are just as sturdy and permanent as normal ones. This use cannot create special or highly valuable materials, such as adamantium or gold. Action: This is a standard action made before a weekly Craft check. You can take 20 on this check before making your Craft check.

Create an object - DC Varies (or 20) Make a Control check against the Craft DC to create an object, or DC 20 at minimum. There is no cost for materials. Such objects dissolve after one hour. This use cannot create special or highly valuable materials, such as adamantium or gold. Action: It takes at least one minute to create an item. Large objects require one check and one minute per 5-foot cube of space. Special: A character with the Anarch feat can create 10 times as fast. Creating an object is a full-round action per 5-foot cube. This action provokes attacks of opportunity. A character with the Master Anarch feat can choose to make objects just as sturdy and permanent as normal ones. A character with the Creator Anarch feat can create objects even of special materials, and can create large objects much faster. Creating an object is a full-round action per 10-foot cube.

Create inanimate life - DC 30 A character with the Anarch feat can use Control (Limbo) to create non-creature plant life. These plants dissolve after one day. Action: It takes one minute for an Anarch to create plant life per 5-foot cube. Special: A character with the Master Anarch feat can create plants 10 times as fast, and can choose to make plant life permanent.

Create animate life - DC 40 A character with the Master Anarch feat can use Control (Limbo) to create animal life. These creatures are of Small size or smaller, with Intelligence scores of 1, and with no supernatural or spell-like ablities except, at the creator's option, the ability to survive in unshaped Limbo. They will dissolve into chaos-matter after one day. Action: Creating animal life takes ten minutes for each creature. Special: A character with the Creator Anarch feat can make creatures up to Large size, and can choose to make animate life permanent.

Wexquif's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2007-04-07
I like these, although they

I like these, although they may be overpowered. They should be ok though, as they will probably be just for NPCs.

astralsahu's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2005-07-22
The abilities of anarchs as

The abilities of anarchs as described in fluff are pretty big. I was trying to approximate them, while making sure they still required a considerable investment, especially since they only work on Limbo. (I would probably not let PCs be anarchs in a campaign that spent a lot of time on Limbo, and the second and third feats require that in the setting, so they pretty much are NPC-only.)

What about the two skill uses anyone can access? Do you think the DCs are about right? What about durations?

Kobold Avenger's picture
Offline
factotums
Joined: 2005-11-18
I'm of the opinion that

I'm of the opinion that anyone who wants to play a PC anarch, should simply play a Githzerai Psion of the Shaper Discipline.  Because the discipline of metacreation is all about creating things from your mind, and manipulating ectoplasm can be easily replaced with manipulating chaos stuff.

Wexquif's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2007-04-07
I DCs seem fine. Also, I

I DCs seem fine.

Also, I like these more than a class, because it makes it seem more like an natural ability.

astralsahu's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2005-07-22
Re: I was thinking about Limbo yesterday...

To illustrate how these help explain the usefulness of guides and the stability of Gith cities:

Prime, Wis 11:
16 (lucky roll)
=16 vs. DC 16
25% chance per turn to control radius of 5 ft.

Planewalker, lvl 10, Wis 15:
10 (avg. roll) + 13 (ranks) + 2 (Wis)
=25 vs. DC 16
Controls radius of 30 ft.
Stabilises radius of 15 ft.

Friendly guide Anarch, lvl 5, Wis 15:
10 (avg. roll) + 8 (ranks) + 2 (Wis)
=20 vs. DC 16
Controls radius of 300 ft., an area of 6.5 acres.
Stabilizes radius of 75 ft., an area of .4 acres.

Master Anarch, lvl 10, Int 12, Wis 17, focusing, taking twenty:
20 (roll) + 13 (ranks) + 3 (Wis) + 2 (focusing)
=38 vs DC 16
Controls radius of 2175 ft., an area of .53 square mi.
Stabilizes radius of 1740 ft., an area of .34 square mi.

Creator Anarch, lvl 20, Int 15, Wis 25, focusing, taking twenty:
20 (roll) + 23 (ranks) + 7 (Wis) + 3 (Skill Focus) + 5 (focusing)
=58 vs. DC 16
Controls radius of 5200 ft., an area of 3 square mi.
Stabilises radius of 4600 ft., an area of 2.4 square mi.

Chaotic_Goth1431's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2010-01-12
Re: I was thinking about Limbo yesterday...

I will now proceed to worship you. Very well done! Laughing out loud

__________________

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself. - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

disorder_cleric's picture
Offline
Namer
Joined: 2009-10-28
Re: I was thinking about Limbo yesterday...

I kind of like the idea of a constantly changing Limbo. The Idea of permanence in Limbo seems a little foreign.

I think of something like orbs floating around in an ever changing environment, maybe a bit like a sea.

It would be kind of interesting to bring a small portion of those abilities to other planes.

If one thinks about it. An Anarch could be a variation of an illusionist. Forming matter into semi permanent structures. The more complicated the structure the more points you spend.

Also I always thought an interesting slant, since we are talking about Limbo would be occasionally your creation develops a mind of its own.

Bob the Efreet's picture
Offline
factotums
Joined: 2004-05-11
Re: I was thinking about Limbo yesterday...

Occasionally?

__________________

Pants of the North!

Planescape, Dungeons & Dragons, their logos, Wizards of the Coast, and the Wizards of the Coast logo are ©2008, Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc. and used with permission.