Okay, so I developed a spell, but I’m not sure what level to put it at. In some ways, it’s more powerful than a wish, but it’s more limited in what it can do and there’s the possibility of it not working.
Call Forth the Gatekeeper
Level: ?????
Conjuration (Calling)
Components: V, S, M, F, XP (see text)
Casting Time: One hour
Range: Close
Target: One specifically prepared door, window, or gateway
Duration: See text
Saving Throw: none
Spell Resistence: no
This dangerous spell summons the enigmatic thought-born entity known as the gatekeeper. To cast the spell, the caster must prepare a door, window or gateway by carving one hundred ancient mystic symbols into the posts and lintel with a dagger that the caster has used to draw enough of his own blood to do one point of temporary constitution damage. When the doorway is prepared, the caster spends one hour performing a set of rituals and chants, pouring his magic power and personal energy into the doorway in an attempt to convince gatekeeper to manifest.
If the spell succeeds, the amorphous form of the gatekeeper appears in the doorway by oozing out of the air with a horrid retching noise and demands to know why it has been called - often in an irritated voice, for it does not like to be called by mortals. The caster is then able to bargain with the gatekeeper for one of a specific set of services.
The first of the services is to ask three questions, which the gatekeeper will answer truthfully, if cryptically (see below). In return for this service, the gatekeeper usually demands 200 XP per question (for a maximum of 600).
The second service possible is to request the gatekeeper to locate and retrieve one specific object for the caster. The payment for this service varies depending on the nature and power of the object to be retrieved. The gatekeeper is not a fetch, however, and detests this service and always demands a high price and questions its summoner about the motives behind the request. It will not retrieve any object if its sole value for the caster is material wealth, power, or status and if asked to do so, it will loose a torrent of insults that cut right to the bone and then immediately withdraw.
The third service is that the gatekeeper can permanently ward any number of doors in the immediate area against intrusion by any number of specific creatures or types of creatures. In return for this service, the gatekeeper usually asks for at least 500 XP per door plus an additional 100 XP for each individual or type of creature he wards the door against. Once warded, the creatures that the door is warded against cannot pass through that door by any means, not even a wish or miracle.
The final service is that the gatekeeper can transform the doorway into a permanent magic portal which can be activated or deactivated by use of a command word, which the gatekeeper tells the caster upon creation. This portal can connect the door to any single, specific location anywhere in reality, be it any plane within the Egg of Time or the space beyond. The gatekeeper can even connect it to divine realms where the gods themselves dwell; however, the deity may resent this intrusion and an unwelcome visitor who, for example, suddenly enters Mordeth’s palace in the hadean planes of Dis without the assassin god’s permission will be lucky if he is simply slain. If the gatekeeper is amused with the caster, it may actually ask for permission from the deity first (it can be very persuasive when it chooses to be), but usually it will make no such effort.
The gatekeeper is a mighty beyonder, on a level of power comparable to the Progenitors themselves, so no means available to either man or god is capable of forcing it to come when called. The caster must sacrifice a part of his personal energy to the gatekeeper to get it to come and even if it chooses to manifest, there is no guarantee that any bargain will be reached, or even that the gatekeeper will bother to bargain at all. When cast, there is a base chance of 1% for every 10 points of XP sacrificed (to a maximum of 99%) that the gatekeeper will manifest. After that, it depends entirely upon the whims of the entity and negotiation of the caster that determines if any service is rendered. The gatekeeper usually demands XP from the caster in exchange for services, but often, it may demand other services, such as quests, or it may demand almost nothing in return for service if it suits its incomprehensible and universe-spanning purposes.
If the gatekeeper decides that the caster is stupid or belligerent, it will immediately withdraw. If it is particularly offended, it may do some mischief to cause grief or inconvenience to the caster, such as transforming the doorway into a portal that leads to some place the caster finds mildly unpleasant for a few years. If attacked, the gatekeeper mocks the caster for his foolishness and then takes hold of the unfortunate soul in a mass of tentacles that burst forth from its shifting mass and with a cruel laugh, draws him into its own realm, never to be seen again.
Material Component: Enough of the caster’s blood to cause one point of temporary constitution damage.
Focus: A door, gateway or window engraved with one hundred mystic symbols by a knife that has drawn the caster’s blood.
The gatekeeper is an entity shrouded in mystery and there are none who know exactly who, or what it is. It is common speculation among the gods that the gatekeeper is a thought-born, but the being is unlike other thought-born in that is not openly hostile to other life-forms and that it has a fully developed personality. In appearance, the gatekeeper is an amorphous, shifting mass of flesh. Tentacles form and unform to suit the needs of the being and rudimentary eyes boil to the surface constantly - those who look into these eyes can see glimpses of a thousand other universes.
The gatekeeper exists at every door, man-made or otherwise, and even exists in mental doorways and magical gates between planes. Being almost everywhere at all times, he posssess infinite knowledge, which he may share with those who meet him if they ask, but he never answers more than three questions per encounter. The gatekeeper never lies - it is uncertain if this is because it can’t, or because it chooses not to - but that doesn’t mean you always get the truth from it. The gatekeeper is cryptic in its answers and it loves to mislead people by giving answers that seem to imply something other that what it is really saying.
The gatekeeper, like most powerful beyonders, is beyond having any actual statistics. Should it ever matter, the gatekeeper should be considered to have a level power equal to a deity of divine rank 35, a universal immunity to all forms of energy, damage reduction of at least 65/+5 spell resistence of 80. Its attacks overcome all forms of damage reduction, even those that cannot normally be overcome and its base attack bonus is around 60 at least. Being amorphous, it is immune to critical hits, sneak attacks and death from massive damage and most of the force behind physical attacks is absorbed into the mass, doing only half damage (before DR is factored in). Given its unfathomable level of god-like power, it is assumed that the gatekeeper could have any number of salient divine abilities, including the power to alter reality, but none know for certain, since the only form of attack it has ever used is to grapple offending individuals and draw them back into its dimension. Not even the gods - and maybe not even the Progenitors - know what becomes of those taken by the gatekeeper, though speculations are universally unpleasant.
Of course, I’ll hammer out the details of XP costs in gameplay - this seems like something you’d roleplay on the spot anyway, rather than have a specific set of rules, but guidelines are nice. I’m just not sure what level it should be.
