Could a Miracle spell Close a Rift to Another Plane?

[Mazikeen]

My players are 16th level and they have encountered a 20 foot diameter, 100 foot deep pit that is a permanent natural rift into the plane of negative energy, and they want to close it. Could Miracle be used for this? Or is that outside the scope of Miracle? If not, is there anything that might be able to? Does anyone know how people are dealing with the World Wound?

Thanks!

[Diego Rossi]

It all depends on the level of narrative power you want to give to Miracle.
If the rift is something that has only a "cosmetic" function in the adventure, closing it with Miracle could be feasible (but is better to add some mumbo-jumbo explanation about it being only semi-permanent, so it easy to disrupt, to avoid future discussion about "But the other time it worked, so why now it won't?"). If it is something central in the adventure it should require more.

About closing the World Wound, there is a whole adventure path for mythic characters were, at the end, after defeating a Demon Lord, they close the World Wound (I haven't read it, so I know only the synopsis). So closing it requires way more than Miracle alone. The powerful version of Miracle, probably, could block it for a short time, hours at most.

[Mazikeen]

Diego Rossi wrote:

It all depends on the level of narrative power you want to give to Miracle.

If the rift is something that has only a "cosmetic" function in the adventure, closing it with Miracle could be feasible (but is better to add some mumbo-jumbo explanation about it being only semi-permanent, so it easy to disrupt, to avoid future discussion about "But the other time it worked, so why now it won't?"). If it is something central in the adventure it should require more.

About closing the World Wound, there is a whole adventure path for mythic characters were, at the end, after defeating a Demon Lord, they close the World Wound (I haven't read it, so I know only the synopsis). So closing it requires way more than Miracle alone. The powerful version of Miracle, probably, could block it for a short time, hours at most.

That makes sense, thanks!

[SheepishEidolon]

If miracle simply closes the rift, with no delay, no interaction, no challenge and no consequences, you throw away a chance on adventure. And there is little satisfaction on such an effortless success, unless you really play up the story of this rift and your players buy it.

Miracle could help you find an artifact to close the rift, allow you to get some support from a lhaksharut (powerful inevitable concerned with the separation of planes) or protect the entire party from the Negative Energy Plane for a while, so you can close it from the other side.

I'd try to make the deity's way of support fit to their personality and portfolio. For example: Nethys points you to the artifact, Abadar wants you to strike a deal with the inevitable and Sarenrae enevelopes you in holy light.

So miracle would help you more than a lower-level spell, but still it's up to the adventurers to actually do the job.

[Meirril]

It honestly has a lot to do with the narrative. If it is important for the rift to be open, then the answer is no. The GM needs it to be open for the game so no.

If it isn't important...the answer is maybe. If by backstory something like a god was responsible for the rift, or this is a problem the gods can't handle, or this was created by a Major Event then a wish probably shouldn't be able to do anything about it.

If it was created by mortal magic...a wish should be able to do something. There may be a huge extra cost that needs to be covered. Both Miracle and Wish say if you want something beyond the scope of the spell you pay extra.

But if you describe a beautiful region of Galorian where a portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire allows memphits to turn this desert into molten pools of glass and magma there is no reason an irate druid couldn't Miracle the portals closed to 'defend nature'.

[Ryan Freire]

My gm once described his "scope of wish/miracle" to me as "If it makes me uncomfortable that you're getting off easy but isn't enough to make me want to quit running the game its probably going to work"

[Claxon]

You're the GM, do you want it to work?

Is this planar rift a plot point or a minor side note your players latched onto?

If it was intended to be a plot point then, no you probably shouldn't let it work.

If it was a side note, sure. Just let it happen.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

My guidelines for Wish and Miracle are if it advances the plot progression it's probably fine, but if it solves the plot, probably not.

If you want the players to struggle to get to the rift and require a Miracle to close it as the climax of an adventure, fine. If you want the players to find some obscure ritual with specific ultra-rare conditions and implements in order to close it, a Miracle won't be enough.
I would not allow it if they just sit in the comfort of their own home and try to Miracle away a problem half the world away.