Rules For Conquering The Dead Lands
Heat in the Dead Lands, Using Magic in the Dead Lands, Psionics in the Dead Lands
Heat in the Dead Lands
When travelling in the Dead Lands, heat is a large element to consider. During the daytime, the Obsidian Planes are a veritable furnace, with temperatures exceeding 190° F. This excessive heat can be attributed to many factors. One is the Dead Lands elevation, which is roughly one-fourth of a mile below "sea"-level. Another factor is the composition of the Dead Lands--highly heat-absorbing obsidian. This obsidian will also reflect a large amount of the sun's light, adding in more heat. Large ash clouds blanket the region, and while these do keep light out some of the time, they also keep the heat from escaping into the atmosphere. At night, when the sun is away, there is some lessening of heat. However, the ash clouds keep enough heat locked in for the temperature to maintain it's intensity. At night, the temperature is lowered to about 120°F, just about bearable for elves. PC's are recommended to travel only at night (which, incidentally, is the time the undead are at their strongest), unless they have some sort of magic that can protect them from the sun's brutal rays. If the PC insist on travelling during the day, you may use the following, optional rule table:
Hours Walking / Con Check* 1 Con -4 2 Con -5 3 Con -6 4 Con -8 5 Con -10 6 Con -12 7 Con -14 8 Con -16 9 Con -18 10 Con -19 *Failure means that the character cannot walk anymore in the terrible heat, and can do nothing but rest for a number of hours equal to that of which he walked. Fighting and other strenuous activity are even harder to maintain than walking. For these actions, the DM should use the "Fighting while wearing armor" rule in the rules book.
Travel in the Dead Lands
Heat is not the only thing an adventurer needs to worry about while travelling through the Dead Lands. There are many other dangers, including wandering monsters, obsidian blindness, and the incessant knicking caused by the rough, volcanic glass. During the daytime, the sun shines unrelentingly upon the obsidian ground. The obsidian is highly reflective and can become a problem for adventurer's eyes after a while. The shine is impossible to escape, except in regions where there is a structure large enough to cast some shade. The sun's reflection has been known to temporarily blind people (on days when the sun is particularly brutal), but will usually only result in a lessening of the character's ability to see. If the adventurer has no eye protection, the result is a -2 penalty to all attack rolls and a -1 penalty to the character's Armor Class. When the sun goes down, or when the PC's find a way out of the sun, they will suffer from blindness for 2d6 rounds. In that time, they suffer a -4 penalty to all ToHit rolls, and a -2 penalty to their AC. These penalties are not cumulative. The Dead Lands are covered by a thick layer of obsidian. This obsidian is laden with tiny rivulets. These small, jagged pieces can tear through any natural armor with an AC greater than 8. While not terrible enough to seriously injure someone after taking a few steps over the ground, the damage adds up after every mile or so. With nothing on one's feet, PC's suffer 1 point of damage for every mile travelled. Sandals, boots and shoes suffer from the rivulets to, and muxt save Vs. Acid after every five miles travelled on foot. Undead monsters are an integral part of the Dead Lands. Adventurers should encounter some Undead (whether friendly or not) at least twice in the day time and four times at night. The reason encounters are so common is that the PC's life force acts like a beacon, attracting flocks of Undead to their spark of life.
Using Magic in the Dead Lands
Of all the classes, preservers and defilers will have the hardest time of all surviving in the Dead Lands. Defiling and preserving utilizes the life energy of living plants and animals. The problem with drawing this energy when in the Dead Lands is that there is no "life" energy to draw from. This makes casting exceedingly difficult. Drawing energy doesn't happen instantaneously here, rather, it takes four rounds per level of the spell cast to gather enough energy from the far off Silt Sea and surrounding areas. For Defilers (who have no regard for endangering the plants life force) the time it takes to draw the energy is slightly shorter--only taking two rounds to gather it. Thus, it will take twelve minutes for a preserver to gather enough energy to cast a Fireball. One way to circumvent this delay is to carry plants into the Dead Lands, but this can be quite cumbersome. Not all mages are taxed within the Dead Lands. Shadow Mages suffer no penalties, nor do Cerruleans. Necromancers (wizards who pull their energy from the Grey) gain bonuses while casting magic in the Dead Lands. For these lucky mages, their casting times are halved and all spells are cast at a level two higher than normal. Therefore, when a 15th level Necromancer casts his or her Fireball, the spell is cast as if the mage was 17th level. This is a result of the extreme negativity of the Dead Lands and the gate to the Grey, detailed in the "Geographical Regions and other Points of Interest of the Dead Lands" section. Clerics have a number of problems also. The undead of the Dead Lands are extraordinarily powerful due to, again, the negativity of the area and the gate to the Grey. Therefore, turning the Undead is a challenging task. When turning Undead, the Cleric functions at half his level, rounded up. Thus, a 20th level cleric will only be able to turn at 10th level of ability. Another drawback is that all damage healed by a Healing spell is halved. The rapid onset of rot and infection is the cause of this. Clerics are not without benefits, as their spells do increase in strength while in the Dead Lands. One aspect of the spell cast can be augmented by one hundred percent. So a cleric can chose for the duration, damage, or an other effect to be doubled in potency. The gate connecting the Grey to the Prime Material Plane was once a linking point between the Elemental Planes and the Prime. There are still some residual effects of this, thus the strengthening of power.
Psionics in the Dead Lands
On the whole, psionics remains relatively unaffected by the Dead Lands. There are some drawbacks, however. The main problem lies in using Teleportation sciences and disciplines. The tremendous amount of obsidian has an odd effect on the Teleport and related powers, causing the occasional problem for Psionicists. Any failed result of using a Teleportation discipline or devotion means that the the Psionicist (or recipient of the power in some cases) is now trapped in the Grey. For rules concerning being stuck in the Grey, consult Preservers and Defilers of Athasİ.
Back to Rules Index
Heat in the Dead Lands, Using Magic in the Dead Lands, Psionics in the Dead Lands
Rot, Disease, and Infection, Ash Clouds, Death in the Dead Lands, Using the Obsidian for Magical or Psionic Items, Random Encounter Table