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I want to give my players a lot of dimensions and options to be clever.

I've already given the spellcaster a horrible device that I read about on reddit: A ring of the Grammarian (allows you to change one letter of a spell's name to change the effect). That was already interesting when he once cast "Firebaal" instead of Fireball.

I want to give each character a ring that's part of a multi-ring set. The general working idea is that it allows each player to "borrow" an ability from another. Not a race ability but a class ability. For example, the thief might be able to "steal" the wizard's "blink" spell. The ranger might be able to borrow the backstab ability from the thief. And the wizard might be able to borrow "pick lock" when he fizzles on a knock spell. And so on.

The idea isn't to give them power but to coordinate more during combat and tactical situations where the players must line up their actions to build to a crescendo action. Get them communicating and planning, really get into their character more.

Thoughts?
I want to give my players a lot of dimensions and options to be clever. I've already given the spellcaster a horrible device that I read about on reddit: A ring of the Grammarian (allows you to change one letter of a spell's name to change the effect). That was already interesting when he once cast "Firebaal" instead of Fireball. I want to give each character a ring that's part of a multi-ring set. The general working idea is that it allows each player to "borrow" an ability from another. Not a race ability but a class ability. For example, the thief might be able to "steal" the wizard's "blink" spell. The ranger might be able to borrow the backstab ability from the thief. And the wizard might be able to borrow "pick lock" when he fizzles on a knock spell. And so on. The idea isn't to give them power but to coordinate more during combat and tactical situations where the players must line up their actions to build to a crescendo action. Get them communicating and planning, really get into their character more. Thoughts?

21 comments

[–] [Deleted] 1 points (+1|-0)

So...? How did it go?
[–] ScorpioGlitch [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

We didn't get to game, one of the players was ill. Also, I'm turning this idea into a major campaign. I looked a little into D&D history and it turns out that Mordenkainen was one of Gygax's original characters. He managed to get 8 of his original characters together into a party, 7 of them died. So Mordenkainen figured out how to clone them.

So what if these clones decided to do something like this on their own but instead of just cloning the bodies, they had a way to transfer their essences into another clone at the time of death? So according to my lore/story, they tried and it didn't work out (transferring a fraction or shadow of the essence of the wearer) so they had a set of clones that they couldn't just kill so they banished them with the one set of rings.

So we have a set of 8 rings, one for each of the major characters we know from D&D lore (including Mordenkainen and Bigby). And I'll embed Mordenkainen's ring in the tree tower for them to find.

I'm still hashing out the details but the players still have an entire town to deal with, a one shot dungeon/mini-campaign, and finding the tree to deal with. Once I get it completed though, I'll post it for you guys to look at.

[–] [Deleted] 1 points (+1|-0)

Out-fucking-standing!
[–] ScorpioGlitch [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

Thank you. I try to do things right for my players. Usually this means I somehow accidentally do something completely epic by accident and still get the lore correct.

I gave one of the players a ring that lets him change one letter of any spell cast with appropriate effect changes. So he cast "Firebaal"... fire ba'al. Baal is, of course, another way of saying "Bhaal." So he summoned a burning Bhaal.

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Bhaal

Yeah, that one. And managed to set off the Time of Troubles about 20 years too early. They happened to have a ring with a single wish in it and a contingency spell scroll and managed to keep me from completely twisting the wish to undo the problems they caused.

He has since decided that he's not going to cast "Firebaal" again. I am, however, waiting for him to cast "Nunburst" while a female cleric is around and in battle. That will be glorious.
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