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I need some help brainstorming ideas for a planescape
campaign. The situation is convoluted, bear with me:
Rennick is a man with an unusual ability: he can predict
random events (quite limited). This ability has made him a
person of interest for many people with many different
agendas - including Tymora, goddess of Luck. The PCs are
working for Tymora, and they have been tasked with finding
and questioning Rennick.
Another group that had an interest in Rennick is the Sign of
One. In my campaign, the Signers believe the universe is
just a dream. As for *whose* dream, they believe in the
"grandmaster theory." A master painter will often sketch
out a painting, and do a little work, then turn it over to
his journeymen, who will finish the painting. The
journeymen will sometimes even delegate further, to their
apprentices. The master takes credit, but the painting is
actually the work of many people. The grandmaster theory is
that the universe is just like the painting: the grandmaster
has sketched out the rough outlines, but we're all
contributing to varying degrees.
The Sign of One employ a team of "seekers" whose job is to
try to find the grandmaster and the masters. The seekers
are curious about Rennick: they theorize that he isn't
predicting random events, so much as actually dreaming them
up. Is he a master?
Yet another person who has an interest in Rennick was a
murderous wizard name Crow, who is convinced that Rennick
is an oracle. Crow has the ability to steal peoples powers,
and he thinks he can drain Rennick's life to acquire the
powers of an oracle. Rennick went into hiding to evade
Crow. Now the PCs have defeated Crow, so it's safe for
Rennick to come out of hiding. However, there's a catch.
In order to hide from Crow, Rennick decided the safest place
was a demiplane. Demiplanes are great hiding places for two
reasons: first, a divination spell asking "where's Rennick"
will just tell you, "in a demiplane that doesn't have a
name." That's super not-helpful. Second: to plane shift to
a plane, you need a tuning fork. Nobody has a tuning fork
for a demiplane. So: demiplanes are good hiding places, if
your opponent is a powerful wizard.
Rennick lives in the City of Sigil, which has portals to
many planes and probably many demiplanes. However, when
Crow attacked, Rennick didn't have time to do a lot of
research. He had to flee to the one demiplane he knew about
off the top of his head.
You see, about two weeks before Crow's attack, the
Signer-Seekers brough Rennick to the hall of speakers, where
he was examined by factol Darius. Darius concluded that
despite Rennick's special ability, he's no master. However,
Darius confided in Rennick: morale is low among the seekers.
They've been searching for masters for years, and have found
nothing. Darius asked Rennick to pretend, to put on a good
show, in order to boost morale among the seekers. Darius
explained that this would involve submitting to a testing
procedure, in which Rennick would be placed into a
"visualization chamber" designed to test his ability to
imagine things. The visualization chamber is actually a
demiplane that causes people's unconscious imaginations to
manifest. When Darius offered, Rennick was curious, but in
the end he decided that he simply didn't have time. Darius
let him go.
However, when Crow attacked and almost captured Rennick,
Rennick escaped and fled to the Signers. He took Darius up
on her offer, on the condition that he be placed into the
visualization chamber immediately. He knew Crow would not
be able to find him there. He submitted to testing, but
when the testing was over, he refused to leave the chamber.
The signers tried to remove him, but luckily for Rennick,
the manifestations of his imagination defended him.
This strategy worked: Rennick managed to barricade himself
in the chamber for several weeks, aided by the figments of
his own imagination, and in the meantime, Crow failed to
locate Rennick, and now Crow has been defeated.
At some point, Rennick unintentionally imagined an army of
himself fighting off an army of signers. This was a huge
mistake. There are now hundreds of Rennick clones in the
chamber. They know everything that Rennick knows, including
the fact that they are figments of the real Rennick's
imagination. They know that if they leave the chamber, they
cease existing, and they know that if the real Rennick
leaves, they cease existing. They're protecting Rennick
from being extricated from the chamber, which is what
Rennick originally wanted. But now that Crow's dead, the
clones still aren't going to let him leave.
The PCs know that Rennick is somewhere in the basement of
the hall of speakers, and they know that they need to talk
to factol Darius.
OK, so here's what's missing from this picture:
* What are the original figments that helped protect Rennick,
in the beginning, before the clones manifested?
* What figments of the PCs imaginations will manifest, now
that they're in the chamber?
* What kind of mini-adventure is going to take place inside
the chamber? I should note that the chamber is as big as
it needs to be.

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## Prelude
Darius tells the PCs that Rennick is in the chamber. She
explains that Rennick and his manifestations are reflexively
defensive and that they've learned to be hostile to Signers,
and that she's already lost some faction members trying
to extricate him. She thinks that if the PCs bring Signers
along, they'll get a more hostile reaction than if they go
alone. So Darius refuses to send Signers along with the
PCs. Instead, she instructs one of her assistants to lead
the PCs into the basement, but the PCs won't be led the whole
way: they'll have to go the last few hundred feet themselves.
Darius also warns the PCs that manifestations can actually
exit the chamber and continute to exist for a few minutes to
a few hours, depending on how complicated the manifestations
are. So, she cautions, there may be some weird phenomena
before they even get there.
## Lost in the basement
Outside the chamber there are no overt manifestations, but
there is one very subtle one: the portal to the chamber is
disguised as just more hallway. The PCs enter the chamber,
but they don't know they have. Beyond the portal, they
see what appears to be just more hallways in the basement
of the hall of speakers.
Along the sides of the hallways they start to see doors
that lead into rooms. The first room appears to be a
classroom. The next, an office with a desk and lots of
papers and books, but the papers and books are all blank.
Continue to invent random empty rooms as necessary.
As the PCs wander, the hallways get increasingly twisty
and weird, and the PCs should have long since figured out
that they're in the chamber.
The PCs turn a corner, and the walls around this corner have
a different appearance: they look like the labyrinth below
castle Green. They imagine the feeling of a presence in the
labyrinth, just as they did last time. If they try to
communicate with the presence, a scroll appears: the scroll
says, "A conversation will cost you 5gp".
If the PCs wander further, they come to a steel door. The
steel door has 5 coin slots in it. Putting a gold piece
into each one causes the door to open, and an
imaginary version of Rico Sparks steps forth.
## Talking to Rico Sparks
Rico is his usual cheerful self. He knows that he's a
figment, and it doesn't seem to bother him.
he says:
"I manifested just about 10 minutes ago. When I did, I
wandered around hallways that looked like the basement of
the hall of speakers, then they changed to look like a
wooden labyrinth (the labyrinth under Castle Green). Then
Rennick popped out of a door - I don't know how I recognized
him, but I did. I introduced myself, and I asked Rennick
how to get out of this maze, and Rennick said, "I'm just as
lost as you, this isn't from *my* imagination." Rennick and I
walked together for a few minutes, but then he was gone.
Then, I encountered a steel door, and now we're all here."
He says, "but I guess I haven't really done anything to earn
my 5gp, hm. Got any questions for me?" He is able to
answer any reasonable question that a tout can normally
answer. He doesn't know too much about the chamber, but
he's willing to investigate. He says, "I won't even charge
the hourly rate for investigation, given that you're
probably going to pay me in imaginary money anyway." He
asks the PCs if there's anything in particular they want
investigated.
Rico, despite being a figment, is perfectly capable of being
a competent tout. He can move around independently inside
the chamber, and he will ask questions and follow up on
whatever the PCs want investigated. As a figment, Rico has
an unfortunate tendency to just "not be there" when you look
away for a few moments, but he's not gone forever, he's just
somewhere else in the chamber.
You, the DM, can use Rico to help keep things moving
whenever the PCs get stuck. He can appear and offer useful
information or advice. Use your judgement about when he
should appear: it should only be when things are bogging
down and the PCs need a boost.
## Meeting Some Clones
After Rico vanishes, four clones of Rennick emerge
from a doorway. The PCs can talk to the clones.
They freely admit that they aren't the real Rennick.
Clones have shared knowledge: anything you tell any clone is
known by all clones, and by Rennick himself. The clones
have no *individual* survival instinct. There are an
infinite number of clones, so losing a single clone means
nothing. But collectively, they don't want "the clones"
to stop existing.
The clones can discuss anything that the real
Rennick would be able to discuss:
* They can explain the logic of hiding in the
demiplane.
* They will probably express some fears about Crow.
They don't know that Crow is dead yet.
* They can explain that no, Rennick didn't deliberately
conjure a bunch of clones, it kinda just happened
when a bunch of Signers tried to force him out, and
he needed numbers to fight back.
* They can speculate about where the real Rennick
is - probably in his office in the courthouse?
* They aren't sure about how to get to the courthouse,
but they say that the landscape in here is pretty
mutable, and the courthouse is important, so it will
probably just show up.
If the PCs tell Rennick that Crow is dead, Rennick will
demand some evidence. If the PCs provide anything
reasonable, the Rennicks will get real quiet for a
moment, then one of them will say, "so... there's no
reason to stay in here any more, is there."
They are suddenly realizing that this means that Rennick
can leave, which means the clones would cease to exist.
A moment after this realization, all four clones just
pop out of existence.
## The Courthouse Square
The PCs emerge from the labyrinth into the courthouse
square. The square is filled with "people" moving around,
doing things, just like it would be if the PCs were really
in Sigil. But looking too closely at any one person, or
trying to talk to one of them, causes that person to fade
into vapor and drift away.
The reason for this is that these people are part of
Rennick's imagination, but he hasn't bothered to imagine
them individually, he has only imagined "a square full of
people." These individuals simply don't *have* any
details, because they weren't imagined in full.
If the PCs look carefully, there are a few Rennick clones
in the square. Any effort to contact them will cause them
to rush into doorways and vanish.
On one side of the courthouse square is the courthouse.
It looks the same as it does in Sigil. Surrounding the
other sides of the square are a variety of administrative
buildings and some restaurants.
Entering any building other than the courthouse will cause
the building to be revealed as a facade. It's just a flat
cutout with a doorway. On the other side are some logs
propping up the facade, and beyond that, an endless sea of
giant gears, as you would find if you were in mechanus. If
the PCs want, they can go back through the facade to reenter
the square, or they can explore the sea of gears.
If the PCs are in the square and they try to approach the
courthouse, the courthouse quickly recedes. The square gets
much, much bigger. The people dissipate. The courthouse
rises up on top of a huge, steep hill, and a 100-foot wide
moat forms around it. Two more hills with two more moats
appear: there is nothing on top of the other two hills.
The square is much larger now, but it's still feasible
to cross it on foot. It just takes a good 15 minutes.
It's possible to walk up to the moat. The building-facades
that surround the square are still there, and it is still
possible to go through to the sea of gears.
There are basically two directions the PCs can go now:
toward the courthouse, or into the Sea of Gears.
## Approaching the Courthouse: Attempt 1
The PCs can cross the moat, if they can figure out some way
to do it. Swimming is problematic: the moat contains biting
fish. Flying works. Walking on water works. Building a
boat could work, although there's not much to build a boat
from.
Assuming the PCs figure out some way to cross, they end up
at the base of the very steep hill, which gets steeper as
soon as they touch it. They have to climb cliffs. Ask
the PCs to make a variety of DEX and STR rolls as they climb.
All of this difficulty is defenses that Rennick imagined,
unconsciously. It is all here to protect him from Crow, and
from the various people trying to eject him from the
visualization chamber.
When the PCs finally get 80% of the way up the hill, the
entire courthouse gets up baba-yaga-style and walks over to
one of the other three hills.
Underneath where the courthouse was sitting are stairs
leading down into the basement of the hall of speakers.
Yes, under the courthouse is the basement of the hall
of speakers. If the PCs go down, they find themselves
back in the labyrinth where they entered the chamber.
Sitting on the stairs is a signer: his name is Carruth.
## Meeting Carruth
Carruth is not a figment of anyone's imagination: it's a
real person. He and his squad were sent in by factol Darius
to try to extricate Rennick. He got separated from his
group and now he's stuck in here. He's exhausted, he's been
in here a week trying to unravel the knots, and he's getting
nowhere. Fortunately for him, the Rennick clones have been
bringing him food and water.
Carruth explains that Rennick has a pretty vivid
imagination: definitely in the top 10%. He says that
Rennick is good at weaponizing his imagination: most people
imagine things that may or may not be helpful, but Rennick
seems to be mainly imagining things that are effective for
protecting him. He points out the moat, the steep hill,
the courthouse that walks away - he says all of that is
designed to keep Rennick from being nabbed.
He says, "one thing I'm grateful for is that there have
been a few attacks, but they've all been pretty half-hearted.
Rennick just doesn't have the mindset of a killer. Thank
goodness."
However, Carruth points out that no matter how disciplined
we are, we don't have total control over our imaginations.
He says: "I have no doubt that Rennick's greatest fears are
all in here too."
As soon as he says "Rennick's greatest fears," there's a
rumble, and Carruth says: "oh, I shouldn't have mentioned
his Greatest Fears." Then he points to the skyline: it's
Crow, and he's approaching.
As soon as Crow appears on the horizon, a few Rennick clones
emerge from the labyrinth and say, "come down here, he
won't come down here." If the PCs reenter the labyrinth,
they don't have to fight Crow. If they refuse, they do.
## The Sea of Gears
## The Desk
The PCs enter a room with grey walls. In the center of the
room is a grey desk, with an inbox and an outbox. There is
a big stack of grey papers in the inbox, there's an inkwell
full of grey ink, and a quill. There's a grey chair.
You would think that Crow would be Rennick's greatest fear.
No. Crow is Rennick's immediate-short-term fear. The Desk
is Rennick's greatest fear.
As soon as Lada sees the Desk, she stiffens up, and says:
"Don't touch that desk. Don't touch anything. We should
get out of here." This is one of her greatest fears too.
If anyone touches the desk, their hand immediately fuses to
the desk. If anyone sits in the chair, their body immediately
fuses to the chair. If anyone picks up the quill, their
hand fuses. If somebody sits in the chair, and touches the
desk, their eyes glaze over. They pick up a paper from the
inbox, write on it with grey ink on grey paper (leaving no
mark), and then they put it in the outbox. They continue,
automaton-like, forever.
This is Rennick's greatest fear: that he will work a desk
job, filling out paper after paper, but never accomplishing
anything meaningful, and leaving no mark on the universe.
If you touch a small object like the quill or a piece
of paper, then separating your hand from the object is
possible with a sharp knife: 2D6 damage. Separating your
hand from the desk is also possible with a sharp knife: 3D6
damage. But if somebody sits in the chair, and their whole
body fuses to the chair, it's too much: a knife isn't going
to do it.
Once somebody is in this state, there's only one cure. One
of Rennick's clones enters via the door and says, "move
aside." Then he speaks to the Desk: "you're not here for
him, you're here for me." Rennick puts his hand on the desk,
and fuses with it. As soon as Rennick's hand fuses with the
desk, the PCs' hand is freed. Rennick scoots his butt onto
the chair, and fuses with the chair: as soon as he does, the
PCs' butt is freed from the chair. When Rennick's eyes
glaze over, and he starts writing, the PC is free to go.
If the PCs try to dissuade Rennick from doing this, Rennick
says, "I'm not the real Rennick. I'm just a figment of his
imagination. He imagines this desk, and he imagines himself
stuck at the desk (pointing to himself). But if it's me,
a figment, stuck at the desk, then it's all just imaginary.
An ugly nightmare, but still just a nightmare."
When the PCs leave the room, Lada says: "Fuck."

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# Crow's Encounter — Stat Blocks
---
## Crow (The Wizard)
*9th Level Conjurer*
**Subclass Features:**
- Conjuration Savant (2nd) — half time/gold to copy conjuration spells
- Minor Conjuration (2nd) — conjure inanimate object up to 10lbs as an action, lasts 1hr
- Benign Transposition (6th) — action: teleport 30ft OR swap with willing creature within 30ft; recharges after casting any 1st+ level conjuration spell (primary escape mechanic)
**Spell Slots:** 4 / 3 / 3 / 3 / 1
**Spells:**
- L1: Puppet - instant, 120ft, move humanoid 5ft + drop item, CON save (self-movement when physically frail)
- L1: Ice Knife - instant, 120ft, 1d10 piercing (hit) + 2d6 cold in 5ft radius (miss), DEX save for half cold [Conjuration]
- L2: Cloud of Daggers* - concentration 1min, 120ft, 5ft cube, 4d4 slashing on enter/start turn [Conjuration]
- L3: Fly* - concentration 10min, touch, fly speed 60ft (emergency self-movement if Movement Construct is down)
- L3: Stinking Cloud* - concentration 10min, 60ft, 20ft radius, poisoned while inside, CON save each turn to end [Conjuration]
- L4: Stoneskin* - concentration 1hr, touch, resistance to nonmagical physical damage (fallback defense when sphere is down)
- L4: Dimension Door - instant, 500ft, teleport self + 1 willing creature (nuclear option — constructs enter homing mode, stop fighting, move toward new position) [Conjuration]
- L4: Polymorph* - concentration 1hr, 120ft, single-target control
- L4: Evard's Black Tentacles* - concentration 1min, 120ft, 20ft square, 3d6 bludgeoning + restrained on entry/start, difficult terrain, DEX save, STR/DEX check to escape [Conjuration]
- L5: TBD
*Note: Benign Transposition replaces Misty Step as Crow's primary escape. Strategy layers: (1) Normal — inside Otiluke's sphere, constructs fight. (2) Sphere down — constructs recast OR Movement Construct casts Fly on Crow. (3) Grappled while exposed — Benign Transposition (action, no movement required). (4) Extreme emergency — Dimension Door.*
---
## Construct 1 — Fire
*Specialization: Fire*
**Spells:**
- C: Fire Bolt - 120ft, 1d10 fire, ranged spell attack
- C: Create Bonfire* - concentration 1min, 60ft, 5ft cube, 1d8 fire on entry/start turn, DEX save
- L1: Burning Hands - instant, 15ft cone, 3d6 fire, DEX save
- L1: Hellish Rebuke - reaction (when damaged), 60ft, 2d10 fire, DEX save
- L2: Heat Metal* - concentration 1min, 60ft, 2d8 fire initially then bonus action 2d8/round, disadvantage on attacks/checks
- L2: Aganazzar's Scorcher - instant, 30ft line (5ft wide), 3d8 fire, DEX save
- L3: Fireball - instant, 150ft, 20ft radius, 8d6 fire, DEX save
- L3: Melf's Minute Meteors* - concentration 10min, self, create 6 meteors, bonus action launch 1-2 per round, 5ft radius each, 2d6 fire, DEX save
- L4: Wall of Fire* - concentration 1min, 120ft, 20ft high × 60ft long × 1ft thick wall OR 10ft radius × 20ft high cylinder, 5d8 fire on one side, 2d8 when passing through, DEX save
---
## Construct 2 — Movement / Teleport
*Specialization: Movement & Teleportation*
**Spells:**
- C: Mage Hand* - concentration 1min, 30ft, spectral hand, 10lb capacity
- C: Gust - instant, 30ft, push 5ft OR disperse gas/move light object
- L1: Puppet (UA) - instant, 120ft, humanoid target, move 5ft + drop item, CON save
- L1: Catapult - instant, 60ft, 1-5lb object becomes projectile, 3d8 bludgeon, DEX save
- L2: Misty Step - bonus action, instant, self, teleport 30ft
- L2: Vortex Warp - instant, 90ft, teleport creature 90ft, CHA save if unwilling
- L2: Immovable Object - instant, touch, fix object (10lbs) in place 1hr, designated creatures can still move it, STR check vs spell save DC to move (upcasts to 4th: DC+5, 24hrs)
- L3: Fly* - concentration 10min, touch, fly speed 60ft
- L3: Slow* - concentration 1min, 120ft, 40ft cube up to 6 targets, half speed/AC/attacks, WIS save
- L4: Dimension Door - instant, 500ft, teleport self + 1 willing creature
---
## Construct 3 — Force / Barrier
*Specialization: Force & Barrier*
**Spells:**
- C: TBD
- C: TBD
- L1: Magic Missile - instant, 120ft, 1d4+1 force per missile, 3 missiles base, auto-hit (upcasts to +1 missile per slot)
- L1: Shield - reaction (when hit), instant, self, +5 AC until start of next turn
- L1: Magnify Gravity - instant, 60ft, 10ft radius, 2d8 force + half speed until end of next turn, CON save (upcasts +1d8 per slot)
- L2: Spiritual Weapon - bonus action to cast/move/attack, 60ft, spectral weapon, 2d8+spellcasting mod force damage, NOT concentration
- L3: Pulse Wave - instant, self, 30ft cone, 6d6 force, push or pull 15ft, CON save
- L4: Otiluke's Resilient Sphere* - concentration 1min, 30ft, 10ft diameter sphere, nothing passes through, DEX save to avoid (has 2 slots for this spell)
*Note: No 2nd-level spells. Magic Missile and Magnify Gravity can be upcast into open higher slots. Primary role: cast Otiluke's on Crow round 1 and maintain concentration. All other spells are non-concentration backups for if the sphere goes down.*
---
## Construct 4 — Divination / Mental
*Specialization: Divination & Psychic*
**Spells:**
- C: Vicious Mockery - instant, 60ft, 1d4 psychic + disadvantage on next attack, WIS save
- L1: Dissonant Whispers - instant, 60ft, 3d6 psychic, target uses reaction to flee away, WIS save
- L1: Detect Magic* - concentration 10min, self, sense magic within 30ft
- L1: Command - instant, 60ft, one-word command, target obeys on next turn, WIS save
- L2: Mind Spike* - concentration 1hr, 60ft, 3d8 psychic, always know target's location on fail, can't hide/benefit from invisibility, WIS save
- L2: Detect Thoughts* - concentration 1min, self, read surface thoughts within 30ft, probe deeper with WIS save
- L2: See Invisibility* - 1hr, self, see invisible creatures/objects
- L2: Locate Object* - concentration 10min, self, sense direction to object within 1000ft
- L3: Antagonize - instant, 60ft, 4d4 psychic + target uses reaction to melee attack ally of your choice, WIS save
- L3: Hypnotic Pattern* - concentration 1min, 120ft, 30ft cube, charmed + incapacitated (can't move/act), breaks on damage, WIS save
- L3: Dispel Magic - instant, 120ft, end one spell (auto if 3rd level or lower, ability check if higher)
- L3: Counterspell - reaction (when a creature casts a spell), 60ft, auto-cancel if 3rd level or lower, ability check if higher
- L4: Greater Invisibility* - concentration 1min, touch, target (or self) is invisible for duration
- L4: Arcane Eye* - concentration 1hr, 30ft, invisible magical eye, fly 30ft, see through it
- L4: Crow's Lingering Clairvoyance* - concentration 4hrs, 1 mile, invisible sensor sees/hears (custom spell, homebrew extension of Clairvoyance)
*Note: Detect Magic, Detect Thoughts, Locate Object, and Crow's Lingering Clairvoyance are out-of-combat spying tools. In combat, Mind Spike is the primary concentration spell.*
---