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Blake_Alexander
Acolyte
14 Posts |
 Posted - 12 Nov 2006 : 02:33:57
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I'm in the process of reading the novel "The City of Splendors", and there is a reference in Chapter 14 to healing not working normally for Piergeiron due to his use of longevity potions. Although I realize that this is a plot device I was wondering if there is anything offically in the role playing game side of things to reflect this. I've looked and I've yet to find anything, but I may have missed something.
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2006 : 02:43:04
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There wasn't anything official that I knew of, but given that longevity magic is no longer a quantified matter in D&D, I had some ideas about the effects that it might have. I would have to think about it for a while, but when I read it I was thinking that perhaps for each age category that you "cheated" death, that you might halve the effectiveness of healing magic, meaning that if you have lived, say, 100 years past your normal lifespan as a human, and you are currently an old man, you have lived, say, five age categories past your prime, and you would divide healing magics by five when they are cast on you . . . and further more, you would keep track of what the healing magic would normally heal, and if the spell would normally heal you up to your full capacity, then you couldn't receive any more healing magic that would actually help you.
In general, healing magic could be used to remove poison or disease, or to stabilize you if you fell below -10, it could restore lost limbs and the like, but it would be severely limited in regards to actual repair of hit point damage.
As I said, its just the "on the fly" ideas that I had when reading that particular section of the book. I would also say that people that have long life as granted due to their status as Chosen or by divine gift wouldn't have this same issue, but that is just conjecture on my part. |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4686 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2006 : 03:30:51
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Well a potion of longevity no longer exists, however in prior editions their usefulness was limited. It was a way to live beyound the time one would die of old age. It thus indeed can follow healing someone suspose to be dead or even not at terminal age (avioding normal stat reductions for age) would not be granted the full effects of divine healing (It might leave open arcane healing as nomal, however even that power comes though a deity).
Past editions offered a risk of adverse effects of trying to cheat death too lomg. One IIRC limited number you could take, that more would have no effect. I also seem to recall one version offered a 10 percent failure rate, that should failure occur all years of extended life disappeared. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2006 : 03:35:30
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| I just want to point out that potions of longevity do still exist in FR. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2006 : 03:43:12
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Indeed.
quote:
Originally posted by Kentinal
Well a potion of longevity no longer exists...
Actually, they still do exist even though there's been changes to the rules.
As Ed said back in May '05 -
"Thanks for reminding everyone, kuje31: yes, there’s still longevity magic in the Realms. Rules changes don’t alter established lore. Even if your PCs can’t find or get potions of longevity, or you as players can’t find them in the rulebooks, it doesn’t mean NPCs in the established Realms (such as Mirt, Durnan, Filfaeril, and dozens more) didn’t find and imbibe (or even store, for future use) them in the past.
Rules should never trump accumulated Realmslore (our collective imagined ‘reality’)." |
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Edited by - The Sage on 12 Nov 2006 03:43:35 |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2006 : 03:45:14
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Hence why I said "no longer quantified" as opposed to no longer existing . . .  |
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Drunken Master
Acolyte
USA
39 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2006 : 05:22:14
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Has anyone come up with a conversion of the potion of longevity to work with 3.5?
I was pretty disappointed that this was eliminated from the current ruleset.
I don't have any of my old second edition stuff handy, so I can't reference the effects or anything to do it myself. Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated! |
Erik Nowak
Graphic Designer, Blackdirge Publishing |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4686 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2006 : 12:24:48
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From 2nd quote:
Longevity: The longevity potion reduces the character's age by 1d12 years, restoring youth and vigor. The entire potion must be consumed to achieve the desired result. It is also useful as a counter to magical or monster-based aging attacks.
Each time one drinks a longevity potion, there is a 1% cumulative chance the effect will be the reverse of what the consumer wants—all age removed by previous drinks will be restored!
As far as a conversion the big problem is pricing and determining selecting what components should be. I would change eandom factor some perhaps 2d6 or 3d4. I would remove testing makes potion weaker. Not sure what I would do about cumulative chance yet, but I believe there should be risk of adverse effect from trying to extend life. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2006 : 15:32:15
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I saw a third party version in one of my books. I'll have to look through them later and try to find it. I'll get back to you on that. :)
Edit: Can't recall which book it was in. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
Edited by - Kuje on 12 Nov 2006 17:03:51 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2006 : 15:50:07
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quote:
Originally posted by Kentinal
Not sure what I would do about cumulative chance yet, but I believe there should be risk of adverse effect from trying to extend life.
I'm not as sure about that... 2E had two youth-restoring potions in the DMG: the potion of longevity that is the topic of discussion, and the elixir of youth. The potion of longevity restored 1d12 years, but had the chance of backfiring -- which grew larger, the more potions you drank. The elixir of youth only restored 1d4+1 years, but had no chance of bacfiring. I know which one I'd be drinking, if I was interested in not dying for a long time...
Anyway, my point is that I'd only have the chance of backfiring if the potion of longevity was directly replicated -- because it's obvious that even in 2E, there were ways to circumvent aging without risking instant death in a single gulp. |
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 12 Nov 2006 : 22:23:05
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The Realms abounds in this kind of subtlety, where the detailed situation is more complex and nuanced than the broad letter of the rules. Prolonged use of magic tends to cause long-term changes to people and places. (This is far from a knock on the rules: that kind of nanomanaging would be horrible.)
We don't know if this was pre-existing or created for the novel, and it doesn't really matter. |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 13 Nov 2006 : 04:19:05
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I do think there are a lot of things that can come up in a Realms campaign that don't need to be explained. If someone is immune to a certain type of magic by a quirk of birth, or if someone can cast a spell that is very practical but not a normal "game spell" (which also happened in City of Splendors), it can just stand on its own.
On the other hand, the main reason I was working it out was for potential use in a campaign. If you have the PCs escorting a very old NPC that has used a lot of longevity magic, and can't be healed normally, where do you draw the line. The ideas I had were that you could stabilize him normally, but everything else you did to him would be wasted effort. This could be a very fun adventure as they try to keep said NPC alive, since they wouldn't be able to just keep pumping him up with healing magic if they let attackers through to him.
Of course, all of this gets me to wondering what other kinds of "non quantified" effects we could mine from the Realms that might make fun plot points in adventures, but I don't want to derail the original topic. |
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Longevity Potions affects on magical healing
