About a year or so ago, I was playing a Horizon Walker Ranger in my friend's Out of the Abyss campaign. I'd played this campaign before with this same DM, but he told me he was working in a few homebrew changes, and I assured him that I'd keep my lips sealed in regards to the plot that he kept unchanged (he did give me permission to spoil the solution to the Oozing Temple puzzle when nobody else could figure it out, including the other guy who had played in that campaign in the past). Anyways, I would occasionally use my Detect Portal ability while travelling or while in Gracklstugh, and learn there was a portal nearby. We never investigated, but a thought always nagged at me: supposing we did find a portal, what were we supposed to do about it? None of the Horizon Walker's features seem to give any hint as to how they might deal with a potentially dangerous portal once they find one. In this thread, I propose a method of doing just that. Note that since this was inspired by Out of the Abyss, I will focus strongly on demonic portals, a description of which can also be found in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, but this could also apply to other types of portals, such as a Shadowfell portal that the DM had us investigate near Neverlight Grove.
First off, I am assuming you want to create a portal which players can potentially close, either temporarily or for good. I'd assume some portals are stronger than others. To make things simple, I'd give the portal a set amount of hitpoints (say, 80) and an AC (say, 14). Additionally, it is immune to all damage except for force and possibly radiant, depending on what kind of portal you're dealing with. More than that, rather than making an attack roll against the portal or imposing a saving throw, you would instead make an Arcana check against its AC. Depending on the portal in question and your character, you might be able to make a Religion (Charisma) check against it instead. At the DM's discretion, certain spells (Dispel Magic, Banishment, Dispel Good and Evil) might automatically deal large chunks of damage to the portal.
To make things interesting, players shouldn't be able to just walk up to a portal and start smacking it. I would suggest having the portal lash out, perhaps using the mechanics of a complex trap from Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
MToF tells you how to close a demonic portal: you kill most of the demons that created or came through the portal, including the leader, if there is one, and then if the portal lasted long enough (stage 3 or 4) it creates a permanent weak spot you have to keep an eye on. In general portals are not material objects and cannot be damaged (spells that create portals include rope trick, magnificent mansion, demiplane, and gate).
Matthew Mercer allowed portals to be closed through dispel magic in Critical Role (though those were artificially created portals).
My preferred method as a DM is the one I saw in the High Rollers D&D campaign - a skill challenge where you expend [magical] power to try and seal the portal, like sewing up a bad rip, just in time and space.
I think your idea is another interesting possibility, though.
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About a year or so ago, I was playing a Horizon Walker Ranger in my friend's Out of the Abyss campaign. I'd played this campaign before with this same DM, but he told me he was working in a few homebrew changes, and I assured him that I'd keep my lips sealed in regards to the plot that he kept unchanged (he did give me permission to spoil the solution to the Oozing Temple puzzle when nobody else could figure it out, including the other guy who had played in that campaign in the past). Anyways, I would occasionally use my Detect Portal ability while travelling or while in Gracklstugh, and learn there was a portal nearby. We never investigated, but a thought always nagged at me: supposing we did find a portal, what were we supposed to do about it? None of the Horizon Walker's features seem to give any hint as to how they might deal with a potentially dangerous portal once they find one. In this thread, I propose a method of doing just that. Note that since this was inspired by Out of the Abyss, I will focus strongly on demonic portals, a description of which can also be found in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, but this could also apply to other types of portals, such as a Shadowfell portal that the DM had us investigate near Neverlight Grove.
First off, I am assuming you want to create a portal which players can potentially close, either temporarily or for good. I'd assume some portals are stronger than others. To make things simple, I'd give the portal a set amount of hitpoints (say, 80) and an AC (say, 14). Additionally, it is immune to all damage except for force and possibly radiant, depending on what kind of portal you're dealing with. More than that, rather than making an attack roll against the portal or imposing a saving throw, you would instead make an Arcana check against its AC. Depending on the portal in question and your character, you might be able to make a Religion (Charisma) check against it instead. At the DM's discretion, certain spells (Dispel Magic, Banishment, Dispel Good and Evil) might automatically deal large chunks of damage to the portal.
To make things interesting, players shouldn't be able to just walk up to a portal and start smacking it. I would suggest having the portal lash out, perhaps using the mechanics of a complex trap from Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
MToF tells you how to close a demonic portal: you kill most of the demons that created or came through the portal, including the leader, if there is one, and then if the portal lasted long enough (stage 3 or 4) it creates a permanent weak spot you have to keep an eye on. In general portals are not material objects and cannot be damaged (spells that create portals include rope trick, magnificent mansion, demiplane, and gate).
Matthew Mercer allowed portals to be closed through dispel magic in Critical Role (though those were artificially created portals).
My preferred method as a DM is the one I saw in the High Rollers D&D campaign - a skill challenge where you expend [magical] power to try and seal the portal, like sewing up a bad rip, just in time and space.
I think your idea is another interesting possibility, though.