Permanent antimagic zones


Advice

Scarab Sages

From a GMing perspective, Antimagic Field is a pretty scary way to turn off a large number of things. The only issue being duration and AoE - it seems like a combat buff, or possibly a means of securing important meetings against scrying, charm spells, and social-booster items.

However, if influential sorts with access to a lot of money and high-level hirelings/advisers/etc were worried about magical intrusion or attack on a space that needed to be permanently secure, I can't help but think that they would find a way to make permanent antimagic fields or similar zones, if such a means existed. The main problem being that Antimagic Field cannot be made permanent

Does anyone know of any rules, spells, abilities, etc, in Pathfinder (or 3.5) that allows for the creation of a permanent antimagic zone without any GM handwaving? (or, for that matter, hiring a Sorc/Wiz to stand in a room and use all of their 6th-level slots to keep the field up all day)

Thanks!


The easiest way would to create a magic item that generates a constant antimagic field. It will cost 132,000 GP so they will be rare.

Scarab Sages

Mysterious Stranger wrote:
The easiest way would to create a magic item that generates a constant antimagic field. It will cost 132,000 GP so they will be rare.

Yeah, that would be the sort of thing monarchs have in their private quarters and that would be about it.


Wait, a magic item that creates an antimagic field? Wouldn't the field prevent it from operating? But would it them reactivate and turn itself off? Damn you circular reasoning!

Scarab Sages

GM fiat works. If you need a permanent anti magic zone just say there is one and make it work in the bounds of the story. Maybe there was a lost ritual to drain magic from reality. Maybe it is an item. As a gm it's your game. You are the rules.


If Mysterious Stranger's idea worked out then a severely rich individual could have an entire palace or other such place be built out of antimagic bricks or wands encased in supporting beams. Thus making the entire structure as mundane as my own house and safe in that world. I have created that exact thing in my current campaign I'm running and have basically created my own prestige class to allow for individuals to be able to cast within that field. Thus making the palace mages the only ones able to cast within the field. It's highly restrictive and most players wouldn't want to be that prestige class as you can ONLY cast within an antimagic field, but if I wrote it up and published it would there be any interest? I realize I'm probably polling a dead thread, but I'm interested in any feedback whatsoever.


Mysterious Stranger wrote:
The easiest way would to create a magic item that generates a constant antimagic field. It will cost 132,000 GP so they will be rare.

This would turn on, last for the duration and then turn off for the activation time thereby leaving a short window for magic to work. 2 of them ensuring an area is secure would be capable of keeping an area free of magic forever so long as their fields do not overlap each object and their activation times are not synchronized.

Scarab Sages

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Another idea is to create some sort of rare mineral that is "magic dead." Rooms made of the stuff are magic dead zones, cavern complexes etc.

If you make it a stone, then it can be a building material. heck, if you want you can mix it with the grout in the building, and don't tell anyone about it. In trace amounts (in the grout) it blocks magical intrusion (teleportation, scrying etc.) In large amounts it creates a magic dead zone.

if you make it a metal then it becomes more workable, and you can make armor and weapons out of the stuff (be careful with this one though).

You could even make it a liquid at room temperature (like mercury), and fool around with that.

The existence of this stuff could be a closely guarded secret. Even most monarchs don't know about it - maybe only a secret society or two has any idea of what it is or how it works.

Call it "unobtainium magicdeadium"


Don't make it a magic item. Make it an artifact. Artifacts are unaffected by anti magic fields.

What happens to an extra dimensional space in an anti magic field? Like a bag of holding? And what happens if you put an anti magic field inside an extra dimensional space?

Scarab Sages

If you have a bag of holding in an antimagic field, the following apply: The extra-dimensional space of a bag of holding is not in the anitmagic field, and it and its contents are unaffected by it. The bag itself IS in the antimagic field, and it is unable to access the space to retrieve any items from the bag while inside the field.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Imbicatus wrote:
GM fiat works. If you need a permanent anti magic zone just say there is one and make it work in the bounds of the story. Maybe there was a lost ritual to drain magic from reality. Maybe it is an item. As a gm it's your game. You are the rules.

I can't help but think that a permanent magic field deus ex machina would only serve to upset the players.

Scarab Sages

Ravingdork wrote:
Imbicatus wrote:
GM fiat works. If you need a permanent anti magic zone just say there is one and make it work in the bounds of the story. Maybe there was a lost ritual to drain magic from reality. Maybe it is an item. As a gm it's your game. You are the rules.
I can't help but think that a permanent magic field deus ex machina would only serve to upset the players.

Eh, it depends on how common it is and if you know about it during character creation. The occasional magic dead zone is fine. Even Golarion has the Mana Wastes.


Ravingdork wrote:
Imbicatus wrote:
GM fiat works. If you need a permanent anti magic zone just say there is one and make it work in the bounds of the story. Maybe there was a lost ritual to drain magic from reality. Maybe it is an item. As a gm it's your game. You are the rules.
I can't help but think that a permanent magic field deus ex machina would only serve to upset the players.

Why? Golarion has such places. Granted, the forces that created them were fairly epic. I wouldn't expect the average noble to have a permanent antimagic field around their mansion, but a particularly canny (and rich) one might have a device to create one about his person.


My favorite way of accomplishing this (without it being moveable) it to create a dead magic demiplane and applying permanency.

The Exchange

Although I agree that the occasional "dead magic zone" is a fun campaign conceit, I think you're better off leaving them as (un?)naturally occurring phenomena or the result of divine activity (or divine neglect?)

In other words, King Cole may not be able to have a permanent anti-magic field installed in his throne room. But he could have a naturally dead zone located and then go to the considerable expense of having a castle constructed there... Honestly, though, since 'magic dead' means good effects are just as useless as bad ones, I'd probably build a prison there, not a palace.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
blahpers wrote:
Ravingdork wrote:
Imbicatus wrote:
GM fiat works. If you need a permanent anti magic zone just say there is one and make it work in the bounds of the story. Maybe there was a lost ritual to drain magic from reality. Maybe it is an item. As a gm it's your game. You are the rules.
I can't help but think that a permanent magic field deus ex machina would only serve to upset the players.
Why? Golarion has such places.

Yes, so the campaign setting could accommodate guns and various styles of play that preclude magic altogether. I doubt it would exist otherwise.

The Exchange

I... don't quite follow your reasoning there, RD. At least, not as far as "dead magic" leading to "accommodating guns". Lantan (in Faerun) had guns, as did certain regions of Ravenloft. Sorry. Nit-picking here.


What blahpers, Imbicatus and others have said. Rare dead magic or antimagic is probably a cool thing to amp up the difficulty and provide story at high levels. If it's common then it smells of GM cheesiness and a bit of lazy unless the campaign background from the get go somehow explains it and the players are aware from the start that this is so.

I wouldn't expect many monarchs to use Antimagic as permanent warding feature for their living and working quarters (a storage/treasure vault maybe). There are usually better options spell wise -> Private Sanctum, False Vision, Alarm, Phase Door, Forbiddance, etc. which can be made Permanent. And typically, as wealthy and powerful individuals, using magic (or hiring magic wielding help) is to their advantage against almost everyone else.

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