Café de Nuit

When evil threatens to overwhelm a world, the Rilmani step in to set things right. As a Servant of the Rilmani, once per my character level that I have, I can summon one Cuprilach to my aid whenever I am in Ravenloft. The Rilmani don't like the evilness of Ravenloft and I have the power to invade Ravenloft and change it from evil to strongly-neutral. A Cuprilach assassin will join me in my adventures until we kill one Darklord of one Domain. I think the Rilmani can enter Ravenloft without interference from the Dark Powers because the Rilmani are truly powerful beings. A Cuprilach that I summon will also gate in an Aurumach and|or a Ferrumach if we are hard-pressed and then the Darklords and Dark Powers will be in serious trouble.

Err, sorry to spoil the idea, but the DPs are certianly more than powerfull enough to stop the Rilmani mucking up their world like that. They managed to imprison a god (Vecna), and a former abysmal lord (Gwidion) . They could certianly stop the Rilmani if they wanted to

Mind you, if they wanted to get rid of a darklord, what better way to do it?

what's a rilmani?

Wikipedia is your friend. Short version, they're the exemplars of True Neutral in the Planescape setting. As for why they would have the power to enter and leave Ravenloft at will, I have no idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rilmani
They're in Fiend Folio and likey big players in Planescape.

Can they enter Ravenloft? Yes. Can they leave? Debatable.

Rilmani don't work to stop evil, they work to preserve balance. As long as something balances out Ravenloft (perhaps an anti-Ravenloft where good deeds are rewarded and punished by greater powers and curses) they wouldn't get involved.

Also, Rilmani are concerned about balance in the multiverse. It is questionable if Ravenloft, as a demi-plane in the deep, deep ethereal, is a recognised part of the multiverse.

Servant of the Rilmani wrote:As a Servant of the Rilmani, once per my character level that I have, I can summon one Cuprilach to my aid whenever I am in Ravenloft. The Rilmani don't like the evilness of Ravenloft and I have the power to invade Ravenloft and change it from evil to strongly-neutral.

You are correct; the Rilmani do have the power to invade this demiplane. However, despite their power, they do not necessarily have the power to leave the demiplane once they are there. As Mach pointed out, more powerful beings have been caught in this demiplane's snare...

Jester of the FoS wrote:Also, Rilmani are concerned about balance in the multiverse. It is questionable if Ravenloft, as a demi-plane in the deep, deep ethereal, is a recognised part of the multiverse.

I would have to agree with Jester on this issue, especially from a planar philosophy view. With the Rilmani being so concerned about the balance of the multiverse, I doubt that they would deign such a small demiplane as a significant imbalance. Honestly, I would think that they would remain much more concerned with the ebb and flow of the outer planes (ensuring that neither good nor evil and neither law or chaos overtook the other).

To play baatezu's advocate, I would think that if the Rilmani ever considered Ravenloft as an imbalance. They might be more likely to create the above mentioned Anti-Ravenloft to balance out the scales. Much as each outer plane has an opposing plane.

Not to be rude, but the DPs make outsiders their b****. Vecna was a deity.

Once you get in, they have your @$$.

An Aurumach is the most powerful of the Rilamni. One of you take a look at how the Aurumach and the rest of the race is described in the Fiend Folio book for DandD 3.0 or|and 3.5. An Aurumach can enter into any dimension and|or leave from anywhere at will and can use the supernatural power of Antithesis against any Ravenloft power. It can be true for a Cuprilach, Ferrumach, and Plutach not being able to leave Ravenloft. But all they have to do is summon one Aurumach and thereby gain the power to leave. In case any person is wondering, a Plutach is a lesser Rilami, but is still powerful. A Plutach is from 2nd edition ADandD. It should have been included in the Rilmani races for 3rd edition DandD or|and revised 3rd edition DandD. Anyway, my point about all this stuff about me liking the Rilmani is simple: strongly-neutral is the best alignment there is because it means fairness and equity. If there could ever be a deity of Fairness in the rpgs of ADandD or DandD, can that deity be an Aurumach?

Servant of the Rilmani wrote:An Aurumach is the most powerful of the Rilamni. One of you take a look at how the Aurumach and the rest of the race is described in the Fiend Folio book for DandD 3.0 or|and 3.5. An Aurumach can enter into any dimension and|or leave from anywhere at will

No, it can cast "Teleport without error" on itself, at will. Which is all good and handy, except according to the Ravenloft rules, Teleport and it's variations fail if they are out of Ravenloft or past a closed border (because it is still "mortal magic" - i.e. not from a deity or major artifact). You will notice that these special abilities all retain their saves - this is because of exactly that fact - they are still just equivalents of mortal spells.

Rilmani are nothing more than neutral demons - Ravenloft has nothing to fear from them. I'm sure the Dark Powers would quite enjoy messing with all their divinations, causing them to cause more evil, rather than restoring balance. Now maybe there's an adventure thread in there somewhere...

Luke Fleeman wrote:Not to be rude, but the DPs make outsiders their b****. Vecna was a deity.

Once you get in, they have your @$$.

Can you will get a better level of language, please. We enforce the grandma rule here.

Joël

Wait a minute, though. I mean the Rilmani all have the inherent supernatural power to travel the planes by being residents of the Concordant Domain of the Outlands. All Outlands petitioners and residents can plane shift at will.

But this power doesn't work as usual on the demiplane of Dread. Several devils and demons have been stuck on the Ravenloft for decades because their planeshift powers don't work. It also works on Celestials, Gehreleth and Yugoloths so I don't see why it wouldn't affect Rilmani.

Has there ever been anything official from TSR as to anything that allows an escape from Ravenloft? Also, if Ravenloft is a demiplane in the Deep Ethereal plane, it should be known how to locate it because the Deep Ethereal is well known? I think I remember reading something about a Rift Spanner machine constructed by a Night Hag. Supposedly, the Rift Spanner can allow escape, but it is unclear how to use it.

There are several methods of escaping (after all, early Ravenloft adventures were designed around the weekend in hell formula, which generally ended with the outlander PCs getting back to their world). First of all, there are a few permanent portals (sort of, anyway. Even permanent portals generally only open under specific circumstances), which are exceedingly hard to find. I believe there's one in Adam's lair in the Isle of Agony, and I suppose you could theoretically use the Obsidian Gate (in the Shadow Rift) to get to the plane of shadows. The problem is that you'd have to open it and release Gwydion, and that's very bad, both for the PCs and everyone else.

Then there's the will of the Dark Powers. If they want to send you home, off you go. Otherwise known as "the DM wants to get back to prime material gaming."

Then you have various artifacts. The Black Box presented the Scroll of Return, which did exactly what it sounds like (it made a temporary portal to somewhere when read). The Rift Spanner, created by the night hag Styrix, is entirely functional. The problem is that it has to be powered by the souls of a hundred people to transport you reliably, so it's not a good choice for non-evil PCs.

And yes, Ravenloft floats in the deep ethereal, but you can't see it as such. If you happen to cross its path, then one second you're floating around in the ethereal, and one second you're standing in Ravenloft, a few swirls of misty vapor curling around your feet.

What Malus said. Also, if the DPs want to, i think (can't remember), that they can block these too?

And the deep ethereal is not very well known. It is the opposite (Primarily because of all those foolish planewalkers getting caught by ravenloft) Also, going by cannon, even planescapes best sages have only got a very sketchy idea of where ravenloft is. Most think it is a myth. As almost no-one would survive getting out with their sanity, anyone who did would be assumed either insain, or a bad lier.

We apologise for this rant, now returning to "normal" insanity (You know it makes sense)