This world lies within the vast expanse of the Forgotten Realms of DnD, yet it has been brought to its knees.
Aronyx was once a realm of breathtaking beauty, where life flourished in harmony. The demons were bound to their infernal planes, and the gods generously bestowed their blessings upon the faithful. Conflict was a creation of men, but the world itself remained serene. All of that changed with the coming of the Great Sundering. What began as a faint crack, revealing a sinister purple gloom beneath the earth, soon spread like a virulent plague, threatening to rend Aronyx asunder. Desperate and terrified, the people raised their voices in prayer, begging the divine pantheon for salvation. But their pleas echoed into an empty void—the gods remained eerily silent.
As the land crumbled, and the skies darkened with the specter of doom, the end of days loomed over all. The demons of Avernus, sensing vulnerability, sought to exploit the chaos, but even their hellish domain began to fracture, unable to withstand the catastrophic forces at play. The very fabric of existence was unraveling, and neither mortal nor divine could halt the impending annihilation.
In this final, desperate hour, when hope seemed lost, the god of protection, Bahamut, made his stand. With a roar that echoed across the heavens, he summoned forth a colossal chain of shimmering magic that encircled the world itself—a last, desperate attempt to hold Aronyx together. This mighty construct became known as the World Shackle, a final bulwark against total destruction. As the chain tightened, Bahamut, drained of his divine essence, faded into the void, succumbing to the same mysterious force that had claimed the other gods.
And so, the world teetered on the brink, held together by the last act of a dying god, as the shadows of oblivion loomed ever closer.
i have 2 questions: first my plan was to give players the chance to reset their characters to lvl 1-3 by sacrificing their battle experience to the shackle, the shackle slowly decays and characters are chosen by a birthmark, they can repair a weakened link, is this a good idea? role play wise? (that would be up to the player if they choose to incase they want to have an ending or show up as a villain in a future campaign)
second question: im planning on giving it a twist where the gods were actually quiet evil/greedy in nature and they are actually had their power siphoned off by something they created, bahamut only created this "shackle" to keep themself protected with whatever the gods had left. Is there something besides Asograth/io that is powerful but maybe not AS powerful as IO?
first my plan was to give players the chance to reset their characters to lvl 1-3 by sacrificing their battle experience to the shackle, the shackle slowly decays and characters are chosen by a birthmark, they can repair a weakened link, is this a good idea? role play wise? (that would be up to the player if they choose to incase they want to have an ending or show up as a villain in a future campaign)
Why would such an act of self-sacrifice turn them into a villain? How is it an ending if they just reset to the start of the campaign? I think this is a neat idea for an alternate ending incase the party is unable to defeat the BBEG & save the world - the party can sacrifice itself to create the conditions for the next campaign. But I'd have the characters die rather than revert to level 1-3.
im planning on giving it a twist where the gods were actually quiet evil/greedy in nature and they are actually had their power siphoned off by something they created, bahamut only created this "shackle" to keep themself protected with whatever the gods had left
How are you going to foreshadow that to the players? IMO a twist like that that comes out of nowhere is pretty unsatisfying, but if there were little hints along the way that the players only realize were hints after the twist is revealed they think you are a genius, and if there were lots of hints along the way and they figure it out before it is explicitly revealed they think they are geniuses.
Why would such an act of self-sacrifice turn them into a villain? How is it an ending if they just reset to the start of the campaign? I think this is a neat idea for an alternate ending incase the party is unable to defeat the BBEG & save the world - the party can sacrifice itself to create the conditions for the next campaign. But I'd have the characters die rather than revert to level 1-3.
the sacrifice does not turn them into a villain, apologies if that came across wrong, what i ment to say is that they can choose to either 1. give up their expierence and magical items in a ritual to re-link one fading link 2. stray from the path and have the character do whatever the player wants.
How are you going to foreshadow that to the players? IMO a twist like that that comes out of nowhere is pretty unsatisfying, but if there were little hints along the way that the players only realize were hints after the twist is revealed they think you are a genius, and if there were lots of hints along the way and they figure it out before it is explicitly revealed they think they are geniuses.
I thought about subtle hints, i dont plan on throwing it out all at once. main idea sofar was an enemy group of other "chosen" that are trying to sabotage things, i admit its not fleshed out that much since im still writing the main plot, everything else comes then when planning the actual adventures. For example while they believe the shackle is good thing, its massive shadow is feezing other parts of the world by blocking out the sunlight, maybe one of those frozen parts have a hidden library of "pre-shackled" divine sholars taking note of the gods sacrificing human lives to fuel a device or a being. maybe even so much that even after the world the BBEG is defeated that the shackle threatens to come down and they have to find even a longer solution which a new BBEG has but is using to making come down all at once.
This world lies within the vast expanse of the Forgotten Realms of DnD, yet it has been brought to its knees.
Aronyx was once a realm of breathtaking beauty, where life flourished in harmony. The demons were bound to their infernal planes, and the gods generously bestowed their blessings upon the faithful. Conflict was a creation of men, but the world itself remained serene. All of that changed with the coming of the Great Sundering. What began as a faint crack, revealing a sinister purple gloom beneath the earth, soon spread like a virulent plague, threatening to rend Aronyx asunder. Desperate and terrified, the people raised their voices in prayer, begging the divine pantheon for salvation. But their pleas echoed into an empty void—the gods remained eerily silent.
As the land crumbled, and the skies darkened with the specter of doom, the end of days loomed over all. The demons of Avernus, sensing vulnerability, sought to exploit the chaos, but even their hellish domain began to fracture, unable to withstand the catastrophic forces at play. The very fabric of existence was unraveling, and neither mortal nor divine could halt the impending annihilation.
In this final, desperate hour, when hope seemed lost, the god of protection, Bahamut, made his stand. With a roar that echoed across the heavens, he summoned forth a colossal chain of shimmering magic that encircled the world itself—a last, desperate attempt to hold Aronyx together. This mighty construct became known as the World Shackle, a final bulwark against total destruction. As the chain tightened, Bahamut, drained of his divine essence, faded into the void, succumbing to the same mysterious force that had claimed the other gods.
And so, the world teetered on the brink, held together by the last act of a dying god, as the shadows of oblivion loomed ever closer.
i have 2 questions: first my plan was to give players the chance to reset their characters to lvl 1-3 by sacrificing their battle experience to the shackle, the shackle slowly decays and characters are chosen by a birthmark, they can repair a weakened link, is this a good idea? role play wise? (that would be up to the player if they choose to incase they want to have an ending or show up as a villain in a future campaign)
second question: im planning on giving it a twist where the gods were actually quiet evil/greedy in nature and they are actually had their power siphoned off by something they created, bahamut only created this "shackle" to keep themself protected with whatever the gods had left. Is there something besides Asograth/io that is powerful but maybe not AS powerful as IO?
first my plan was to give players the chance to reset their characters to lvl 1-3 by sacrificing their battle experience to the shackle, the shackle slowly decays and characters are chosen by a birthmark, they can repair a weakened link, is this a good idea? role play wise? (that would be up to the player if they choose to incase they want to have an ending or show up as a villain in a future campaign)
Why would such an act of self-sacrifice turn them into a villain? How is it an ending if they just reset to the start of the campaign? I think this is a neat idea for an alternate ending incase the party is unable to defeat the BBEG & save the world - the party can sacrifice itself to create the conditions for the next campaign. But I'd have the characters die rather than revert to level 1-3.
im planning on giving it a twist where the gods were actually quiet evil/greedy in nature and they are actually had their power siphoned off by something they created, bahamut only created this "shackle" to keep themself protected with whatever the gods had left
How are you going to foreshadow that to the players? IMO a twist like that that comes out of nowhere is pretty unsatisfying, but if there were little hints along the way that the players only realize were hints after the twist is revealed they think you are a genius, and if there were lots of hints along the way and they figure it out before it is explicitly revealed they think they are geniuses.
Why would such an act of self-sacrifice turn them into a villain? How is it an ending if they just reset to the start of the campaign? I think this is a neat idea for an alternate ending incase the party is unable to defeat the BBEG & save the world - the party can sacrifice itself to create the conditions for the next campaign. But I'd have the characters die rather than revert to level 1-3.
the sacrifice does not turn them into a villain, apologies if that came across wrong, what i ment to say is that they can choose to either 1. give up their expierence and magical items in a ritual to re-link one fading link 2. stray from the path and have the character do whatever the player wants.
How are you going to foreshadow that to the players? IMO a twist like that that comes out of nowhere is pretty unsatisfying, but if there were little hints along the way that the players only realize were hints after the twist is revealed they think you are a genius, and if there were lots of hints along the way and they figure it out before it is explicitly revealed they think they are geniuses.
I thought about subtle hints, i dont plan on throwing it out all at once. main idea sofar was an enemy group of other "chosen" that are trying to sabotage things, i admit its not fleshed out that much since im still writing the main plot, everything else comes then when planning the actual adventures. For example while they believe the shackle is good thing, its massive shadow is feezing other parts of the world by blocking out the sunlight, maybe one of those frozen parts have a hidden library of "pre-shackled" divine sholars taking note of the gods sacrificing human lives to fuel a device or a being. maybe even so much that even after the world the BBEG is defeated that the shackle threatens to come down and they have to find even a longer solution which a new BBEG has but is using to making come down all at once.