So I've been running a Forgotten Realms home campaign using Pathfinder rules and surprise, surprise, the players have stumbled upon a portal. I went over everything I could find on portals, and in terms of keyed portals, I couldn't find anything on forging a portal key. What are your opinions on this? Should forging a portal key be within the realm of possibility, short of a miracle or wish spell? Is this something that plain old Use Magic Device should be allowed to do?
Depends on the portal key. Some keys might be very specific along the lines of having just the right tuning fork for Plane Shift. Others it doesn't matter it can be a very mundane common object, it just needs to be used 'correctly'. That is the key might be an ordinary red rose ... but when you climb over this particular balcony and go thru this window on the night of a full moon during the spring time months humming a certain lullaby while it activates the portal.
Don't take the word "key" too literally as a crafted material object. It may require a high degree craftsmanship or it may be something like a flower or musical note and not at all craftable. A key in this case is just what ever opens or activates the portal.
Planescape materials along with Faerun/Forgotten Realms material are very good sources for expanding on portals. They don't call Sigil, The City of Doors because of all the mundane doorways after all.
I haven't been able to find anything on UMD and portals - none of the Forgotten Realms books I've looked in mention it. Does anyone know of any rules on this, 3rd part or otherwise? Does anyone have any opinions on this?
Stronghold book has some rules about portals but heh, take that book with a grain of salt, since it wasn't built with pathfinder wealth assumption in mind, so would be wildly different.
There is a Gatecrasher PrC, and also a Feat. The former gets
Open Portal (Su):
At 3rd level, a gatecrasher's understanding of planar forces extends to the workings of magic portals, such that he may force them open without the correct device, spell, or key. The gatecrasher makes an Open Lock check using his Intelligence modifier instead of his Dexterity modifier. Portals typically have the following DCs:
Portal DC
Typical keyed portal 30
Portal sealed by seal portal spell 20 + caster's level
Portal created by deity 50
Opening a portal takes 1 round of work and a successful check. It is a full-round action. The portal remains open for 1d4+1 rounds afterward.
As stated before, the key is not usually a magically linked item, but rather a magically identified item or quality. It could be as simple as wearing a red hat. It could be showing a holy symbol of a particular god. It could be dropping a gold coin into a well to open it briefly so you can jump in, and land somewhere else. In Planescape, Sigil is the city of portals, and has a lot on portal keys.
I haven't been able to find anything on UMD and portals - none of the Forgotten Realms books I've looked in mention it. Does anyone know of any rules on this, 3rd part or otherwise? Does anyone have any opinions on this?
Personally whether UMD works or not and any associated DC is entirely in your hands (the GM's). A portal isn't generally speaking a 'device', you can't really pick it up and move it around (typically). That said I don't see any particular reason you couldn't use it for such especially if your campaign/setting doesn't have spells dealing with portals (such as Analyze Portal). The drawback is you are probably going to end up pretty much creating the mechanics and associated DCs. A portal most closely resembles a Gate spell or Teleportation Circle but with a specific manner of causing it to function i.e. the 'Key'. And in a setting such as the Realms or Planescape it isn't necessarily relegated to 'high level' only since anyone with the right key, even a level 1 Commoner, could potentially cause the portal to open and then use the portal to travel. Such travel can be but isn't necessarily interplanar.
I have an extensive 'fringeworthy/stargate' system. It has several parameters for each portal, all of which are straight forward: range, security, etc. and finally a cost to build. I hate it due to its crudeness, but it does work...mostly. Hopefully, a 3pp will put this on their list of things to do <hint-hint>. Most of my flaws are in the 'keys' and conditions to activate the portal (stock: it requires sue of a spell or spell power for energy).
Check the 3.0 Forgotten Realms book/Manual of the Planes.
I'd say that the key is created when the person creates the portal. The creator decides what "it" being an event ie a full moon at midnight or a physical key like fey blood or an actual key.
