Brilliant Gameologists Forum

The Thinktank => Min/Max It! => : Sobolev December 10, 2010, 11:21:45 PM

: Sabriel
: Sobolev December 10, 2010, 11:21:45 PM
Trying to make the bandoleer of bells from Sabriel as Magic Items.  For those of you who aren't familiar, here are the names of the bells and what they vaguely do from the story.

Ranna.  "The Sleeper."  Puts people to sleep.
Mosrael. "The Waker." Wakes the dead, harms the user.
Kibeth. "The Walker." Forces the dead to march.
Dyrim. "The Speaker." Grants or takes away the ability to speak.
Belgaer. "The Thinker." Gives independant thought, restores memories, erases memories.
Saraneth. "The Binder." Binds undead to the Ringer's Will.
Astarael. "The Weeper." Kills/Destroys everyone who hears it.

All of them have a chance of backfiring on the person ringing the bell. 

Ranna.  Cast sleep on people who hear the bell regardless of HD? Can sleep the user.
Mosrael.  Cast Animate Dead or some similar spell?  Damages the user in some way (It kills the user a little bit with each use in the book)  Not really sure how this backfires, but I'm sure it can.
Kibeth.  Forces the undead to walk a certain way, though technically not under your control.  Weak people can find themselves marching themselves toward cliffs on backfire.  No idea of the    spell that would replicate.
Dyrim.  Speak with Dead, though I'm not sure how to replicate the take away speech part.
Belgaer.  Basically gives people their memories from being alive back or erases memory.  No idea how to do this.
Saraneth.  Control Undead.  Similarly not sure how this would backfire.  Dazes the user on a fail?
Astarael.  "The Weeper" backfires even when it works as intended, killing everyone (and I mean everyone) who hears it.  Wail of the Banshee might be appropriate.
: Re: Sabriel
: Archao December 11, 2010, 01:58:17 AM
Ah, makes me want to go find my books to read them again.

Mosrael "The Waker" : Point(s) of CON damage as repercussion?
Belgaer "The Thinker" : Limited Mind Rape? Maybe Memory Rot and/or Mind Poison? (SpC, INT damage)
Saraneth "The Binder" : Repercussion of Suggestion?

Would these items count as cursed due to their double-edged nature?
: Re: Sabriel
: The_Mad_Linguist December 11, 2010, 02:07:48 AM
Astarael probably works best as a non-alignment-based holy word spell, with CL= your hd.
: Re: Sabriel
: nijineko December 11, 2010, 06:47:58 AM
enjoyable books.

the bells in some cases directly affect the spirit rather than the body. probably a dex and/or concentration check to wield them properly.  they also affect both living and dead, not just the dead.

ranna can bring sleep or quiescence, will affect the ringer if not careful. deep slumber / sleep effect.

mosrael wakes the dead, so likely functions as a summon.

kibeth walks the victim or the wielder. fort save i would guess. control body power (psionics) would be a good fit.

dyrim, speak with dead, as you say. as for the silence part, just use a self only silence, but longer lasting.

belgaer, probably use the remove memory and something like legend lore to recall or know something. maybe limit it to what one has actually experienced.

saraneth, sounds like the cleric ability of control/rebuke/turn undead with a little bit of geas in there. simply reverse the effects if you epic fail, or just brain lock (again, psionics) them if the minor fail.

astarael, can be resisted if far enough away. otherwise a combined slay living and that sever the tie (?) spell / stygian disruption power so that it pulls down the dead too.

borrow (and alter) some stuff from the ghostwalk campaign setting too.
: Re: Sabriel
: kadeity December 11, 2010, 11:14:34 PM
all of them should be a legacy item set, since using two of them in conjunction can have stronger effects, and they are more powerful in the hands of a wielder who understands their use and history better.
: Re: Sabriel
: geniussavant December 11, 2010, 11:31:45 PM
I haven't read the books in a while, but IIRC making them a set of cursed legacy items that the legacy suppresses the worst of the drawback would be appropriate.
: Re: Sabriel
: nijineko December 13, 2010, 03:13:43 AM
quite so... the book of the dead speaks of using entire choruses of bells for certain effects. interestingly enough, the lethal effects of astarael are subsumed during such multiple uses (minimum 7 i think for the death effect to cancel) and instead of slaying produces a lingering bittersweet sorrow.

item set for sure.

probably legacy, too, as each bell set seems to have an history and previous sets of owners. and a wallmaker has to be the one to make them, normal crafting doesn't work.