User:Ganteka Future/Fountain of Inspiration
| Author Notes |
| This was a rather grand experiment, and has ultimately proven that in its current form it is unfeasible. It is going in a sandbox for now until the benefits get reworked. It probably won't offer feats as a result. The location's usage ended with characters getting front-loaded at early levels when they can afford it and being too cheap to pass up at later levels. With the inclusion of Lore of the Legendary Land (3.5e Feat), balance became even more difficult, since that feat is designed to remove cost balancing factors into the magical location system, causing earlier level imbalances while causing those same characters to fall behind when the costs for these feats becomes easily affordable at higher levels, resulting in characters that are never balanced to their peers. I'll give it some thought and come back to it some time. |
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Contents
Fountain of Inspiration[edit]
Hidden away from the eyes of the unworthy is a realm warmly baked by gentle sunlight during the day and bathed in a glow of starlight at night. At the center of this realm, among the ruins of immemorial time, sits a fountain who's waters bring out the strength of training and effort in those who seek it.
Lore[edit]
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (the planes) or (history) can delve into research about the fountain of inspiration to learn more about it. When a character succeeds on a skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.
- DC 15: The fountain of inspiration allows those who find it to go above and beyond in their training, learning new tricks or honing their skills to a sharper degree.
- DC 20: With the investiture of travel expenses and training supplies, the fountain of inspiration allows the worthy to achieve feats they otherwise hadn't had the time for. Those that seek to bypass the wonders of the fountain's realm are said to never find the fountain itself.
- DC 30: Occasionally, the waters and essence of the fountain bleed through the cracks of the planes into other locales for a short time, infusing them with its power. Of course, it is often thought that it is the waters that are the source of inspiration, it is actually a property of the place itself.
Description[edit]
Within its hidden realm the locale of the fountain resides on a peninsula, surrounded by choppy waters, jagged rocky outcroppings and dangerous beasts of the sea. A weather-worn and aged forest surrounds and encroaches upon the grand court surrounding it. As if pulled and birthed from the world itself the entire grand court of the fountain emerges and rises raw from the earth, fully formed, never having been touched by tools, artisans or craftsmen.
The path to the grand court is rough and winding. On the edge of the aged forest is the field of titan's bones, a vast expanse of red clay wasteland where plants struggle to gain foothold. Bones of greater beasts from a past epoch can be found protruding from the crusted earth, along with the occasional weapon, armor or battlement fortification from a war long forgotten.
Within the court, travelers must first pass through the garden of swords and wine, a sprawling expanse of irregular stone monuments, countless ancient weathered weapons and grapevines so huge and overgrown, they've become towering trees, wrapping and tangling around the architecture. Many of the blades there are simply decorative, reaching sizes and scales and being made of materials not suitable for combat.
Past the garden is the sunken theatre, a stage set into the earth, now filled with clear water. The tops of the flag towers still jutting from the surface. Crags of remaining stone covered in moss and vines of morning glories reach above the surface. Boats, many worn and unworthy from years of disuse sit abandoned at the edge or sunken down below.
After the sunken theatre, a great set of giant steps leads into the labyrinthine monument that is the vault of lost memory, a multi-layered building of empty rooms and passageways of varying height and scale. Some rooms are small and dim while others have light filter in through enormous glass-less windows, illuminating titanic passages adorned with carven murals and tile frescoes.
At the center of the vault is a courtyard that houses three enormous primary towers of raw stone, shaped into figures. Each of the three towers is divided into three smaller towers, connecting with bridges and walkways of monumental figures, worn with age and weathering, still holding strong from incalculable time. The towers pierce the clouds and from their cores seeps the waters of the sky pulled pure to earth to drip and flow from the central fountain itself, which permeates cracks in the earth and stretches across the realm.
It is unknown by whom or why the fountain was created. Occasional animals may be found there, along with passing fey creatures keeping a watchful eye. Whispering words or music are often heard faintly on the wind.
Prerequisite[edit]
In order to make the trip, the character must be worthy. Only characters of 5th level or higher may enter the realm of the fountain of inspiration and learn through it.
Location Use[edit]
A character may gain the benefits of the fountain by drinking from or washing in the waters of the fountain each day during training.
Once training is complete, the abilities learned are permanently a part of the character.
Learning from the Fountain[edit]
The fountain of inspiration allows characters to train to learn feats (that she meets the prerequisites for) by investing monetary resources and time.
Any character can only ever spend 4 points of inspiration from the fountain, though they may make multiple visits until all of the points are spent. The training involved for each point spent takes two days.
Journeying to the fountain uses up resources costing 2,500 gp for travel expenses as a one-time fee plus 2,500 gp per point of inspiration spent. Once all points of inspiration are expended by a character, she can no longer gain additional benefit from visiting the fountain.
Example: Milly Chroma desires to improve her negotiating skills, so she travels to the fountain where she spends four days of training to learn Skill Focus (Diplomacy) and Negotiator, investing a single point of inspiration in each and a total cost in resources of 7,500 gp for the trip and the two points of inspiration spent. After the four days of training, the two low balance feats are hers. If she decides to later come back, she's already paid the travel cost of 2,500 gp for the trip and may spend up to the 2 remaining points of inspiration she has left, learning either a single Moderate feat or two Low feats.
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