Here's the situation, I'm asking here since the the Shackled City board is mostly dead, and it's a rule question anyway.
I'm running this adventure path, and in a high level adventure, the adventurers must stop cultists to open a portal to a fiendish realm. They found a way to cast a wish spell and since they were too late and the portal was opened, they decided to wish for the portal to be closed definitively.
I thought that it's really above the guidelines of the spell, so I send the wisher into the future (and just him), when the portal has been finally closed by some epic adventurers. The player understood quickly he was sent in time, and want to try to come back. I told him it is going to be very difficult. He plans on tracking an NPC to have access to a wish spell, which is possible in the campaign.
But again, such a wish would be above the limits described in the spell. So it could be again dangerous.
What do you think ? Should it be possible ? Does a wish should be enough of more ? Another thing to do ? Another way for him to go back in time ? Ideas ?
Thanks in advance.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You're the GM, if you want him back, them let the wish work to bring him back. If you need to justify it, just say that ordinarily what he asked for in and of itself exceeds the power level of a wish, BUT in reality, he is just cancelling one wish with another, and that you consider that to be within the power of a wish. So back he goes and your campaign goes on.
If you don't want him back, then I guess you play it that way and either port your campaign into the future, or tell him his character is lost in time and to make a new one to joint the other PCs who presumably are still in the past.
If a wish was strong enough to send him from A to B it should be strong enough to send him from B to A.
I'm not sure why you think it can't send him home since it was explicitly your idea to use it to send him to where he is in the first place. (no snark intended.)
-S
A wish can undo a wish... though maybe the player needs it cast before the first wish's magic residue has completely vanished. Start the clock.
Or, if you're generous, allow him to wish for the portal to be open, then send him back to when the portal is first opened. He then has to find his group (what happens to the him that was when he finds himself?) and they can go back to trying to stop the cultists.
Thank you all for your replies.
Selgard: yes it's my idea, but it's also the best one I've thought it was to make for unpredictable result for a wish spell above the normal limit of its use.
Since the undo misfortune choice from a wish spell change reality for an event in the last round, I don't think a "normal" wish is enough to cancel the time travel.
Kadance, I like your second idea. If my player think of it, I might allow it to function, just for him to go back in time.
he wishes for the portal to be open, and the spell sends him back 5 min before the epic adventurers close the portal. LOL
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Think of it this way, do you want the character to rejoin the party and your normal campaign or not?
If you don't want him to then be prepared to tell your player that his character is stuck in time and to roll up a new character to join the party.
Otherwise, just allow the wish to work. Hell, if you really need some justification allow the character to contact one of the good gods (that presumably helped the epic level characters) close the portal to the Abyss and have that god transport him back through time with a MCGuffin of some sort to close the portal in their time.*
This doesn't mean it instantly happens, maybe they have an object they need to get to the portal at the right time. Or some specific knowledge on how to disable it. Oh, and obviously the player character gets teleported in time back to exactly where he was with the party some time before the portal is completed, but with this additional knowledge/object. He will then have to convince his party of what has happened, etc.
|
I'd recommend if he tries to find a wizard wiling to attempt a wish to send him back he gets accosted by followers of Pharasma. They should then judge him and either seal his fate to never return to the past (tell him he will have to make a new character if he wishes to continue playing), or send him back to attempt to correct the mistakes of the past and set the world back on the path it was supposed to follow.
I say Pharasma because she is the Goddess of Fate, not just Death.
Make this a roleplaying encounter, allow him to convince them that he should be sent back. Additionally, have them wipe his memories of this future save the memories you deem he needs to correct the mistake. This is an excellent chance for you to give them hints of what they need to do if they are currently clueless.
Here's the situation, I'm asking here since the the Shackled City board is mostly dead, and it's a rule question anyway.
I'm running this adventure path, and in a high level adventure, the adventurers must stop cultists to open a portal to a fiendish realm. They found a way to cast a wish spell and since they were too late and the portal was opened, they decided to wish for the portal to be closed definitively.
I thought that it's really above the guidelines of the spell, so I send the wisher into the future (and just him), when the portal has been finally closed by some epic adventurers. The player understood quickly he was sent in time, and want to try to come back. I told him it is going to be very difficult. He plans on tracking an NPC to have access to a wish spell, which is possible in the campaign.
But again, such a wish would be above the limits described in the spell. So it could be again dangerous.
What do you think ? Should it be possible ? Does a wish should be enough of more ? Another thing to do ? Another way for him to go back in time ? Ideas ?
Thanks in advance.
So a 9th level wish spell, was not powerful enough to close a portal, but was powerful enough to send a someone into the distant future.... (( while a typical cleshay of the spell, not a very wise use by GM, unless it is to kill off a character permanently )).
So how to Fix a Very bad situation !! With Comedy !!.
The player burns all his wealth for a Pair of Ruby Red Glitter High HeeL Women Shoes. Puts them on, Click his heels three times, say "I want to go Home" three times, and POOF... he is back with his party 2 second after he had vanished.
Now the Comedy part : The shoe are Permanently stuck to his feet, and he can not get them off. Go ahead and let him know that it will take 2 Wish ( one per shoe ), and that he has to wait 9 Year First, before the wishes will even work. .... Will make him think twice about every casting a wish or mirical spell, well at least as long as your DM.
Keep in mind that traveling forward in time is a lot easier than traveling back in time. Everyone travels forward in time just by existing. I can see that a wish would be easily able to move someone forward in time without too much trouble. When you travel forward in time the only person affected is the person traveling. He can’t change the course of the world any more than someone already there.
Traveling back in time is going to be a lot harder. Not only are you going against the flow of universe you have the ability to completely alter reality. Look up the butterfly effect to see what I mean. As Drake Brimstone mentioned Pharasm would probably get involved at this point. Probably any backward time travel will need her assistance.
Isn't there some creatures that chase after time travellers ?
I don't see any problem to come back in time, but being chased then by those creatures can be a funny thing to gives some spices to the adventure.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Trapped in the past, Doctor Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, putting things right, that once went wrong and hoping each time, that his next leap will be the leap home.
...sorry, had too.
|
|
To make something useful out of this so that the player feels like this whole detour had a point it might be interesting if during his time in the future he finds out some details about how the other group closed the portal or the challenge they faced. Maybe things got very dark before the other group managed to seal it and some of this could have been prevented had another group stepped up sooner. Give him something valuable that he can bring back to help the group going into the end stage of the campaign.
Otherwise it seems like the whole ordeal wasted a lot of group time and money. You could turn that around to make it a memorable detour.
So a 9th level wish spell, was not powerful enough to close a portal, but was powerful enough to send a someone into the distant future.... (( while a typical cleshay of the spell, not a very wise use by GM, unless it is to kill off a character permanently )).
Oliver, you should read the wish spell description, and with some examples there, maybe you will understand my decision.
With regards to the OP, you decided to remove a character from the game because you didn't want the Wish spell to work. That's pretty bad GM'ing and if I were the player, I'd be pissed at you.
The player was totally aware that if he wished something too powerful, the consequences could be dire. I don't see how this is bad GM'ing any more than killing a character behaving foolishly by attacking an opponent too powerful for him. Unless you want that characters can do anything without any consequences whatsoever.
Also, I didn't remove his character, I just wanted him to go through some trouble before he could eventually return. If I just wanted to remove his character, I would not have asked a question on how to make him come back by opening this topic in the first place.Anyway, thanks to all others for contributing with good ideas and hints.
As for the character, he has found a way to come back now, with an idea similar to the one Kadance proposed. Thanks again.
Try this:
If the portal was too powerful to close with a wish spell then perhaps it was more than just a simple portal. If it was a tear in the fabric of reality (or something equivalent) then its mere existence could be affecting magic that is cast near it, causing the wish spell to function incorrectly and send him into the future rather than moving him to any other location on any other plane of existence.
Now in the future; in order to travel back he must duplicate the circumstances of the original wish, which means he needs to find out how the group of epic adventurers did successfully close the portal so that he can undo their work and actually reopen the portal in the future.
Once it's open he can wish himself back into the past where he will return with the knowledge required for them to close the portal in their time.
You can even add in the psychological elements of his decision in the future: who and what is he sacrificing in order to reopen the portal? Will people die? Will he himself be forced to kill? Will closing the portal in the past even make for a better future? How drastically will he be changing the future by closing the portal earlier?
Whether by intent or mistake, you've created an excellent storytelling opportunity. With expansion on the ideas you could tie in another big chunk of story, even going as far as to having him recruit characters in the future (for the rest of your group to play) and having them all travel back to the past (for them to keep) because their timeline will be destroyed by closing the portal early.
You could make the future characters the children of the epic adventures who shut it down, explaining how they go about reopening the portal. Perhaps closing it has some unintended dire effect? By closing the portal early it creates a timeline where their parents never become adventures and never end up having children at all, so they travel back to ensure their own survival?
So many ideas, so much potential for you to work with. Remember rule Zero, have fun.