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do you have the 3.5 book "Lords of Madness"? if you do read the chapter on The Wearers of Flesh: Tsochar I always thought they were a nifty new monster and I never got a chance to use them, but they might be just what you are looking for
Korean Spammers.
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How about boredom.
If the city/Nation is ruled 5 godlike mages who have planned the next 5000 of the nations evolution. They will have systems to deal with natural human greed, aggression, etc. They will have extremely regimented food, water, legal and administrative systems. since no outside threat is really possible with 5 gods presiding over the city, that pcs could be expected to handle.
Really , the threat has to come from inside the council.
Maybe one of the council members gets bored. Just because he has a 40 wisdom doesn't mean he/she has to use it. Perhaps the bored council member wants to pit his mind against the others. He begins by creating a race of doppelganger-like simulacrums, that could sow discord, creating a perceived conspiracy between two groups, which escalates on its own. creates more discord by systematically murdering individual to break the redundant systems. The doppelgangers are magically untraceable and blink out of existence if killed, so no bodies are left. The Pc's are called in because magical means of determining their nature are not working. And of course the bored council member would set up another council member to take the fall.
ooh ... give the pcs orders to arrest one of the council members... that would be fun.
The council should begin tearing itself apart with suspicion .
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Throw in a villain who is without power, but has means, and is wholly unpredictable, to upset the balance. Like a super viruses appearing in hospitals, he is a product of the of a perfect environment, which ultimately spawned the perfect villain.
In other words, play the Joker card.
That guy had no real powers or abilities. He was just so crazy no one could predict his schemes, and so he successfully murdered hundreds of people and created chaos all throughout Gotham for decades. And like a virus, he excelled at spreading his infestation of "crazy" to all those around him.
On an unrelated note, I once played an epic v3.5 PbP/PvP game in which I played a level 30 shadow adept against over a dozen level 50-60 interplanar archmages who, much like your scenario, all formed the ruling council over a perfect society. My shadow adept schemed and manipulated key members of the council, ultimately splitting them and sparking a civil war.
Despite insurmountable odds. I was the last man standing. Hurray for a strategic mind and killer system mastery. I'll see if I can find the old thread for you, perhaps it will inspire you, though it is likely long defunct now.
I think internal conflict is the way to go.
A member of the council dies, the other four members differ in their fundamental ideology. The council splits either 2-2 or just the majority against any motions. The main issue they are divided over is the replacement of the fifth member, but since the council has stagnated they can't agree to replace him/her or if they should be replaced at all. This would probably devolve into civil war, the members of the council may be old rivals or have unsettled disputes from when they were mere mortals.
Unknown to the rest of the council, the fifth member made provisions for his death, perhaps a candidate to inherit his position. But due to the deadlock of the council and the civil war, these plans were never realized. This would create a role for the PCs, they become the agents of the fifth's will, they stop the war and set everything right again.
Or if one of the their number died, they would realize how little they really knew about existence (a la Socrates) and each would become embroiled in the search for the cause of death and it's prevention. They forget about governance and let the city rot. The task of the PCs would be to recall the council to itself and perhaps make them realize that death may be inevitable.
Aboleths crash starstone into planet?Hahaha I can hear Cinemasins in my head "Deus ex machina!"
For some reason, the first time I read this, I thought you said "Deus ex madness". Now that's an interesting thought . . . .
Aboleths crash starstone into planet?Hahaha I can hear Cinemasins in my head "Deus ex machina!"
On that note, maybe public opinion tanks after the Councillors are seen eating apples.
Also, great outcry about the lack of lapdances.
Throw in a villain who is without power, but has means, and is wholly unpredictable, to upset the balance. Like a super viruses appearing in hospitals, he is a product of the of a perfect environment, which ultimately spawned the perfect villain.
So, what you're saying is,
Korean Spammers.
How about this, the gods have sent a high priest to the city to punish the city for abandoning the god of magic, for the ruling council felt they had surpassed the gods themselves. The Priest performs a forbidden ritual to imbue the city with such a strong divine presence that arcane magics have difficulty functioning properly. The air seems to crackle slightly, the way it does just before a major storm, and everything within the barrier appears to glitter as if coated with gold dust. Spellcasters within the area suffer a spell failure chance of 95% for any arcane spells they cast while in this area. The ritual has no further effect on arcane spells that are successfully cast within the area, or on arcane spells that were already cast before the caster entered the arcane prohibition area of effect.
The only way for the city to be spared is to find and slay the high priest, or worse, destroy the hidden temple of magic which is the focus of the ritual. The adventurers are originally hired to investigate the issue as magical items don't seem to be effected at all by this, but in the end discover that the council had been stealing magic from the god of magic and had to split it amongst one another. Should one of the council members be slain, the balance would be broken thus destroying the council members, and restoring the stolen power to the God of Magic.
This makes Staves, Wands and Scrolls more valuable as they are the most reliable means of casting arcane spells. It will also be a boon to melee vs. mage as well. A rogue can easily fill the role of a wizard in this setup. The player's themselves, could decide to side with the God of Magic or oppose it (and it is very easy to switch in either case).
You can also for the purposes of this, allow arcane armor training and the improved arcane armor training feat to apply to the % to help wizards and sorcerers out. 75% vs. 95% is still much better. Create a trait that gives -5% since they were trained under the effects of the barrier and have grown accustomed to it. At level 7, they would have a 70% arcane spell failure chance versus a 30%. The enemy, will have a 95% chance which is still beneficial. The enemy, instead will use wands and staves, which is the only reason the PC's stand a chance of survival. To make matters worse, these items cost 75% of what they normally do for arcane staves, wands and scrolls, however divine versions can be purchased at 125%. You stated communism, and the government decides what items are to be manufactured primarily.
^As long as we're going this route, have not just one, but at least two (and the more the merrier) High Priests, each claiming that their God of Magic is the One True God of Magic, and that the others are imposters, hetetics, and heathens who must be wiped from the planet. Each one manages to create a region where their own magic works, but other divine magic (as well as arcane magic) is impaired. As if it wasn't bad enough that they are trying to overthrow the existing regime, they are also constantly plotting and carrying out hits on each other. Each one has the point of view that anyone who isn't with them is against them. They only ally with each other if the existing regime manages to start responding effectively against them, or if one of their number starts getting too much stronger than the others.
^As long as we're going this route, have not just one, but at least two (and the more the merrier) High Priests, each claiming that their God of Magic is the One True God of Magic, and that the others are imposters, hetetics, and heathens who must be wiped from the planet. Each one manages to create a region where their own magic works, but other divine magic (as well as arcane magic) is impaired. As if it wasn't bad enough that they are trying to overthrow the existing regime, they are also constantly plotting and carrying out hits on each other. Each one has the point of view that anyone who isn't with them is against them. They only ally with each other if the existing regime manages to start responding effectively against them, or if one of their number starts getting too much stronger than the others.
Very nice!
These rulers are very likely to be detached from their population. Given their enlightenment and intellect how can they stand the petty rivalries and jealousies that mar the everyday life of their citizens? At best they'll be like a patronising parent, at worst completely withdrawn from the people.
The culture of a civilisation is never static either, and values can shift dramatically within a generation. Being detached from this change could set up conflict between the rulers and parts of the populace. It could be any number of things:
A movement for democracy and representation that comes into conflict with their benevolent but unelected dictators.
The rulers might be socially conservative, favouring worship, marriage, traditional gender roles, outlawing drugs and homosexuality. Then the equivalent of the 1960s happens and half the populace suddenly demand change.
There could be some arbitrary but protective rule such as "don't go beyond our borders" or "magic can only be studied by state security forces" that creates an underground movement opposed to it.
In each case you could have a widespread legitimate social upheaval that even the most wise rulers might struggle to work out. The options are either compromise, in a way admitting that their original stance was wrong or conflict. I doubt many godlike casters are humble enough for the compromise to be easy.
*Edit* These circumstances can put LG characters at odds with each other, so they bypass the "detect alignment" aspect. They're not necessarily reliant on a ringleader or controlling council, and "disappearing" large numbers of people to socially cleanse the opposition is far from utopian.
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Not too long a thread yet but I only barely had interest so just dropping a quick idea. Maybe someone else already mentioned it.
Spell componets, at least some are becoming hard to get. This can cause unexpected inflation, then eyeballing stuff instead of precise magical measurement, a snowball rolls into a boulder. Maybe a natural disaster, or several interconnected disasters eschewed the production of said component that use to be so plentiful that no one had a contingintcy for a shortage of such.
One of these super leaders got depressed at the.unexpected death of a loved one and list the discipline to keep strict, when things get sloppy, stuff later spirals out of controll when contingentcies are no longer in proper supply and place.
Distracted when a natural illness is born into a child and magic has no quick fixes.
People of the nation see how prosperous life is in another nation during Olympic style games and tell friends and neighbors what they saw. Now many people want to defect, or are less productive in their jobs.
Magic is an unsustainable natural resource, like Earth's oil... Perhaps your world's magic is something that is not ubiquitous with only a certain amount that can be tapped. These demi-gods were not quite aware of this little tidbit and suddenly realize to their despair that the well of magic has been completely tapped. Magic begins to fail everywhere and their magically sustained utopia crumbles quickly.
^Alternatively, the tapping out of magic isn't sudden, but all the easily tapped magic has been used and increasingly destructive(*) means have to be used to get at the remaining magic, analogous with extracting tar sands/shale oil and then coal.
(*)Including but not limited to environmental destruction.
Also, sort of in line with the above, magical pollution is a problem, like Paradox in Old World of Darkness, except that (like Technocratic magick) it often affects other people.