I had an idea for a plot element I wanted some feedback on. It would be a somewhat world changing element but I have the space for it in my homebrew.
There is a rare metal/ore/material that inhibits magic of all types. However the way it does this is the difference. Instead of simply cutting off magic nearby, it decays magic.
So lets say you are in a cave that happens to be surrounded by deposits of this stuff.
What happens is after 1 hour you loose access to your highest level spells. 2 hours for 2nd highest. 4 for 3rd highest. 8 for 4th highest. Etc.
The spells take half the time outside the influence of the material to return.
The way that this would interact with magical items needs to be determined but I am thinking that an item makes a check against a dc that increases after each time interval adding either its cl or the cl of its wielder, whichever is higher.
So a cl 11 item wielded by a fighter has a +11. The dc's would need to be fiddled with. I could also numerically decay things like enchantments at the same rate people loose access to spells. I actually quite like that.
Thoughts? Criticisms? Suggestions?
What does the magic decay into? Does it just go away mysteriously, or does it heat up or damage the material, or spontaneously animate undead nearby, or what?
If magic items get a save then casters should too; or neither should.
Suppose you swallow some dust of the material. Can you ever cast spells again? I'd say yes, but you need a justification (minimum amount of the material for an effect, etc.)
Imagine something along the lines of kryptonite but for casters instead of superman. By decay I was thinking the magic simply disperses harmlessly. Kind of like a leak in a balloon, the helium inside just leaks out and diffuses. It also depends on where you divine the magical power as coming from.
We could perhaps say that it actively saps arcane energy from any sources nearby, and that it interferes with the ability of a god to provide power to their followers. There are similarities in divine and arcane casting, they can both be identified by the same spells, and the same spells interfere with them, so we can assume there is a fundamental similarity that this material interferes with.
Yes amounts need to be defined I agree. Perhaps mass of material per range? Have it at a break even point? Nothing happens until a certain amount, and then it doesn't get worse? Or perhaps have a scaling system where nothing happens till the first increment but every doubling in mass from there halves the time to decay?
What other suggestions do you have for handling magic items? Perhaps casters and items make a check at every milestone? I would have it as a high chance to fail. Lets say 75% chance to fail at each milestone based off of caster level? Or should we base it off of that and core casting stat? Perhaps have a 90% fail chance with a 0 modifier and add CL + Main Stat.
This whole thing stemmed from an idea of having a dungeon the party needed to access surrounded by this stuff, and have a reason the party needs to get a caster to the end of the dungeon. It is an interesting mechanic I feel and unusual, and puts a timer on the mission
You would need to decide if the casters also get saves, or not. Also you would have to tell your players. That's kind of lame in my opinion.
An antimagic field just surpresses magic. Starting from that I would just say, it puts a dampener on the caster. So your deadly fireball would loose dice over time. Strike that. You loose caster levels. Once you don't have enough caster levels to cast a spell it just fizzles.
You just set the time to loose a caster level nad the time to regain it, once you're outside area of effect of the material.
Magic items have caster levels too. You might need to deconstruct them to see wich effect has which caster level, but for simple one effect items and simpler +1, +2,... items it's pretty straight forward.
my 2cents worth.
From Foxy
For every hour you spend in this cave you and every magic item you bring loses 1 CL. After leaving it they are restored at 1 CL per half hour
I would probably do away with the 'decay' mechanic, because I think it would be clunky and difficult to keep track of. Instead I would probably use limited 'no magic zone' where instead of eliminating all magic, it would just cap how powerful magic could be.
So the weakest (say nearest the cave entrance) would eliminate 9th level spells. As you go deeper i.e. have higher concentrations of the material, it effects more and more spells, so next is no 8 or 9th level, eventually only allowing 1st level spells (before no magic at all.)
I would probably have each 'level' of reduced magic also have a cap on how powerful of magic items would function based on the cost of the item, using 50% of expected WBL based on when a wizard would get that level of spell (17th for 9th, 3rd for 2nd etc.) as the formula. So when 9th level spells were cut off, any item costing 205,000 or more would cease functions, when 2nd level spells were cut off 1500 or more would cease functioning.
The other issue is how to deal with supernatural abilities. If you don't do anything to reduce them, then some classes will have a pretty big advantage, but figuring out a formula for that isn't very obvious.
So, kind of like noqual with a radiating effect? Maybe large doses of djezet could stave off the antimagic effects.
Noqual seems to increase saves and increase failure chance and a bunch of other stuff.
I assume you are specifically refering to the arcane spell failure chance?
Dave, I like what you have said and will think about it. I like the tine element forcing them to do it quickly though. I think the wbl would get a bit conplicated.
I think the easiest way to run this would be for every hour spent in the cave/near the material anything with a caster level decreases its caster level by 1. This includes the caster level used for supernatural abilities.
I think that might be simplest. Will keep thinking about it
Agree with the idea that the Decay mechanic could become a pain keep track of. On the other hand, if you simply did it as a arbitrary ruling for RP / storyline reasons, then you don't have to really flesh out the mechanics of it.
EX: "You enter the cave for the night to rest but the mage notices the strange glowing rocks..." In this way you can play up on it, without really having to go deep into why it works. Magic is a strange thing after all and works differently depending on who is using it and sometimes where they are at the time (ala Leylines).
Casters ignore the campaign and make it their goal in life to hunt down and destroy every instance of this material in the multiverse.
With the backing of the entire church of Nethys.
Lazio
I agree it doesnt NEED to be mechanically fully fleshed out. I just enjoy trying to define mechanics
Dominus
Good thing there are no major churches in the area of the world the pcs are in right now. And our caster players are pretty content with having a weakness like this.