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Old 02-14-2019, 09:46 AM   #1
hcobb
 
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Default How to live forever in TFT

  1. Have a goblin sorceress in your party.
  2. No really, I mean it. Get a goblin sorceress in your party.
  3. Have her geas you to live forever.
  4. When you fail to accomplish this your ghost will pop up to complete this quest.
  5. Then she wishes you back to life 95% of the time.
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Old 02-14-2019, 10:30 AM   #2
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Default Re: How to live forever in TFT

What's this "wish back to life" business?
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Old 02-14-2019, 10:49 AM   #3
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Default Re: How to live forever in TFT

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Originally Posted by Skarg View Post
What's this "wish back to life" business?
ITL84: A ghost can sometimes be brought back to life by a Wish. Make a 3-die roll vs. the wisher’s IQ to see if it works. The person thus returned to life will have a one-track mind until his/her ghostly desire is satisfied.

Other notes: Be sure and geas the ghost to an item you can carry out of the dungeon so you can wish back Beefie the Barbarian back at the Wizard's Guild.
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Last edited by hcobb; 02-14-2019 at 11:15 AM.
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Old 02-14-2019, 03:17 PM   #4
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Default Re: How to live forever in TFT

Loligoth Valhalla

The encounter will be with around a dozen beefy barbarians and one goblin sorceress. The barbarians have all been Word of Command - Believed into thinking that she is their goddess and have all been geased into serving and protecting her forever. This geas compels them to rise as ghosts when slain so she can wish them back to life, hence proving that she is a goddess. (Costs the poor saps five attribute points each time they die, but they do fight a lot so they make it back up in XP.)

She recharges her Mana pools by Drain Strength on her followers through a divine kiss.

Dulcina X. Magikina
Goblin sorceress of an age she'll never tell.
ST 6 DX 11(14) IQ 22 Mana 22
Umbrella-staff(-/1d+2) with 10 point powerstone, Brand(1d-2), Stone Flesh ring, +3 DX ring, Pathfinder necklace, Reverse Missiles ring
Literacy, Goblinish, Humanish, Sex Appeal, Sorceress Tongue
Aid, Control Gate, Drain Strength, 7-hex Fire, Geas, Great Voice, Lock/Knock, Mage Sight, Persuasiveness, Remove Thrown Spell, Reveal/Conceal, Scrying, Spellsniffer, Staff I-V, Summon Demon, Word of Command - Believe

39 attributes: 4300 XP
24 skill points: 1000 XP
22 Mana: 4400 XP
Total: 9700 XP

Fancy Umbrella: $50
10 point powerstone: $11,000
+3 DX ring: $8,000
Fireproofing ring: $5,000
Stone Flesh ring: $4,000
Reverse Missiles ring: $5,000
Pathfinder necklace: $2,000 (Drop staff or take off one ring to use)
Fine Loligoth clothes: $200
Fancy purse with a silver latch: $100 (And five levels of lock)
In the purse:
Silver hand mirror in silk case: $200
Remove Cursed Object scroll: $1,000
Skin of wine: $3
1-days rations: $5
Book: ?
Total: $36,558
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Old 02-15-2019, 12:10 AM   #5
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Default Re: How to live forever in TFT

Seems to me ghosts are rare and only happen when the GM says they do, generally "some emotion so strong that they simply refused to leave this life", which to me seems very different from a player who is looking for a rule loophole.

The word "sometimes" in the line you quoted is in italics and to me reads like it's yet another indication it would be exceptional rather than routine. It also goes on to say, "The person thus returned to life will have a one-track mind until his/her ghostly desire is satisfied." which to me strongly implies that having a passionate ghostly desire is probably a prerequisite.

It also requires a greater Wish, which can revive you anyway. And it doesn't say anything about helping with aging.

This seems to me nothing like a technique "to live forever" (not to mention that it's a strategy that involves dying, and that something that kills you might kill your goblin friend too).

To me, it seems like if someone likes the idea of someone devising a way to live forever, it makes more sense to invent something with a flavor you like and add it to a campaign, rather than looking for a loophole in the wording of rules. Maybe I misunderstand you though, and this is a tongue-in-cheek way of pointing out a potential mechanic that might get GM'd weirdly and wants some different mechanics?

Last edited by Skarg; 02-15-2019 at 12:22 AM.
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Old 02-15-2019, 12:26 AM   #6
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Default Re: How to live forever in TFT

I do like the Loligoth Valhalla concept and the Word of Command and Geas use to create a fanatic following of worshipper-servants.

I just don't think the part about Ghosts and using Wishes to revive them seems like it would work, or practical even if it did. Seems like it would be vastly easier to do it the conventional way and have some hobgoblin apprentice slaves who cast Aid so she can just cast Revival on them. Or I'd have her invent her own spell(s) that do whatever I want her to be able to do, rather than using a strained interpretation of the ITL Ghost description.

Last edited by Skarg; 02-15-2019 at 12:38 AM.
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Old 02-15-2019, 05:36 AM   #7
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Default Re: How to live forever in TFT

My bad, it's Wights that are Geased. Will refactor as a "spooky little witch" in a haunted house. (Which is all her fault.)

"You'll keep me safe forever, won't you kind sir?" Switching to GM voice "Roll 4/IQ please."

or...

The players are geased to go retrieve some item from the "dark lord" in a castle surrounded by an army of wights, but the wights are all previous geas victims and the dark lord is either quite innocent or long since departed.
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Last edited by hcobb; 02-15-2019 at 06:36 AM.
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Old 02-20-2019, 01:33 PM   #8
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Default Re: How to live forever in TFT

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
Loligoth Valhalla

The encounter will be with around a dozen beefy barbarians and one goblin sorceress. The barbarians have all been Word of Command - Believed into thinking that she is their goddess and have all been geased into serving and protecting her forever. This geas compels them to rise as ghosts when slain so she can wish them back to life, hence proving that she is a goddess. (Costs the poor saps five attribute points each time they die, but they do fight a lot so they make it back up in XP.)

She recharges her Mana pools by Drain Strength on her followers through a divine kiss.

Dulcina X. Magikina
Goblin sorceress of an age she'll never tell.
ST 6 DX 11(14) IQ 22 Mana 22
Umbrella-staff(-/1d+2) with 10 point powerstone, Brand(1d-2), Stone Flesh ring, +3 DX ring, Pathfinder necklace, Reverse Missiles ring
Literacy, Goblinish, Humanish, Sex Appeal, Sorceress Tongue
Aid, Control Gate, Drain Strength, 7-hex Fire, Geas, Great Voice, Lock/Knock, Mage Sight, Persuasiveness, Remove Thrown Spell, Reveal/Conceal, Scrying, Spellsniffer, Staff I-V, Summon Demon, Word of Command - Believe

39 attributes: 4300 XP
24 skill points: 1000 XP
22 Mana: 4400 XP
Total: 9700 XP
Max starting IQ for Goblins is 18 (assuming she could survive for a while with DX 8 -- maybe with barbarian protection) so if you're going by the RAW she'd need at least 3000 XP to reach 24 talent points instead of 1000 XP bringing her total to 11700 XP.
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Old 02-20-2019, 01:41 PM   #9
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Default Re: How to live forever in TFT

More in line with the subject line, does anybody else handle aging avoidance through Shapeshifting the same way as my house rules?
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Old 02-20-2019, 03:50 PM   #10
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Default Re: How to live forever in TFT

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
More in line with the subject line, does anybody else handle aging avoidance through Shapeshifting the same way as my house rules?
I fortunately don't see a lot of attempted Shapeshifting. I don't think anyone has ever attempted to use it to avoid aging in my games.

The TFT Shapeshifting spell description mentions attributes may be assigned within limits, but IQ can't raise and the total of ST+DX can't raise, and it does not mention aging, so I think you are asking how you limit a fringe side effect that you are assuming exists but isn't actually mentioned.

I'm confident that, given the difficulty and cost of the Youth potion, for example, that there is no intention that any wizard with Shapeshifting can reset his age by casting a spell for 10 fatigue. So I'd tend to pro-rate your effective age relative of the lifespan of the creature you shift into. That means shifting into an 18-year-old is not an option, and you'd never increase your longevity except by becoming something naturally long-lived and hanging out in that form (unless the GM says you still age according to your original race).

When I review spells for who knows what variant of what spell in a campaign, and I get to Shapeshifting, I usually find I want to re-think it and its details and implications each time. I think about how I want it to be used (or not) and adjust to taste. Usually my choice ends up being that very few people know or use Shapeshifting, if it's known at all, except when I think of some interesting application I want some people to use it for.
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