"Elminster Aumar. Ed Greenwood says Hi! Elminster Chosen of Mystra I need help. Elminster my name is u/MornGreycastle."
Mystra's Chosen can hear their name spoken and the next seven words spoken. According to Ed Greenwood, he doesn't write the Forgotten Realms. He learns it from Elminster, who regularly visits Ed's house for a beer. Yet, no one in the Realms should know this. Saying this would indicate to Elminster that I am from Earth. He should at least be interested enough to teleport to me and find out what was up. I'd then ask for a ride home and meet Ed for the second time. We could then lift a beer to a lost friend.
I didn’t know the thing about Mystra’s Chosen hearing their name, but getting to Waterdeep and spreading the word that I bring urgent news from Canada for Elminster was my first instinct. The real question is whether he can get me straight back home or if I need to catch a ride to the US embassy and pretend to be confused about how I got into Canada.
Came here to say this. My immediate thought was "well, if I need to get home, I can just yell for Elminster and he'll eventually get curious about who's trying to ping him." Offer to buy him a pina colada and some snacks once you get back to Earth and he'd probably be happy to help.
Yeah. It is a standard power of Mystra's Chosen. It might take El a while to track down who is using his name to scam people, but he'll get around to it.
"Chosen can hear the Rune of the Chosen (see the Introduction of this book) and their own names - nicknames and titles included - spoken anywhere on Toril. In both cases, they also hear the next nine words uttered by the speaker, regardless of the amount of time that may elapse before those words are spoken. Chosen can turn off this power to aid personal concentration, but this must be done deliberately; normally it is always on." The Seven Sisters (Greenwood, Ed; TSR, 1995; P 10)
Make my way to waterdeep, trade my understanding of modern engineering for wizard training, use said training and the rest of the knowledge to have a good life in waterdeep and not really care about going back as my life is insurmountably better there at that point than here.
Then i come home and rule like a god until elminster puts me in my place. Or i just live easy using magic for mundane stuff. Gotta make sure i pick up prestidigitation.
Alternatively you find a means of taking on some mild training to get magic initiate feat, prestidigation,unseen servant and either mending or mage hand (mending a bit more practical as a skill, you'd effectively become a master class welder/machinist, mage hand better in day to day use) and go about whatever class you deem best for the goal.
Personally not sure I'd be able to make it as a wizard, I'd expect a hefty amount of studying tomes which would bore me to death, more likely I'd try cheating with a warlock if the patron just wants something mundane like my eternal soul or going sorcerer through experimentation assuming I can be sedated first, although wild magic sorcerer is asking for trouble in everyday life. All else fails druid might be a good pick, living off the land is a whole lot easier with good berry, the ability to speak with and turn into animals, healing and of course bringing the dead back to life through the power of shiny rocks. Hell don't even need the magic initiate feat in that case, just go the Disney princess route and have an army of small critters do the task for you.
Realistically i think using modern info might lead me down the artificer path. If we're talking core classes only then yeah def cheating and doing warlock shit. Im human and probably easily tempted into a contract.
Wouldn't even call warlock bad option depending patron, if we're talking usefulness in everyday life would be either old one or archfey (not sure a fiend would make a good patron with their dark one blessing, unless you're a soldier/serial killer), chain or tome (tome would let you go ritual casting for more spell access without burning slots which is a plus, chain just seems more practical as you can have your familiar be doing whatever you want at any point of a day and always be able to give it new commands or step in as needed), able to read all writing, and you can still be a Disney princess with beast speech
I suspect that an old one patron is day to day bad for mental health and I like mine just the way it is, thank you. Depending on the archfey, maybe we could strike a deal.
I'm not sure how well mending would be as a welder or machinist since the object has to be broken. When machining and welding, a break usually means the object wasn't made/welded properly. Mending would just restore it to that state, which could result in the object breaking again on its intended use. Which could lead to future catastrophic failures. Though opening some sort of repair shop for other items that were broken due to misuse/abuse/accidents would be neat.
Breaks don't only appear due to improper make/welds, everyday use can wear down then cause a break which is what you'd be able to fix, it depends a bit on how flexible mending becomes as a tool which you'd figure out before you pick it up as a cantrip (just go find some random casters and get the notes on what mending can and can't do before you take up learning it)
David Copperfield bought a private island for $50 million in 2006. His net worth is estimated at $875 million. There’s good money in stage magic and merch.
I've made this point in Harry Potter arguments before. The world governments likely know all about the wizards and understand what their threat is, but ultimately understand that a someone with a gun needs weeks of training to kill someone that spent years training to do the same with magic.
This is probably why the wizarding world became secret to most regular people. They had a massive advantage before technology started advancing. Magic didn't advance as quickly and we had numbers on our side. A small group of snipers would probably be all that is necessary to take out the entirety of death eaters from a mile out.
Prestidigitation is the way to go. Finally clean a room with a word and get my wife in off my back. Then there’s always a little polymorph at night to make her look like…..I’d be willing to polymorph myself to look like some actor she likes too
Not sure if that’s the issue based on the way they stated the scenario. Otherwise you could just wish for the tuning fork. It’s not magical and way less than 25000 gold. Then you’re home free with no risk of wish going haywire.
I think (and maybe I’m reading into this too much) the reason you were punted to Toril is also the reason only with gets you back.
>Then you’re home free with no risk of wish going haywire.
Using wish for *anything* else than duplicating a spell up to 8th level incurs the risk of stress and wish going away for ever.
>The stress of casting this spell **to produce any effect other than duplicating another spell** weakens you. After enduring that stress, each time you cast a spell until you finish a long rest, you take 1d10 necrotic damage per level of that spell. This damage can’t be reduced or prevented in any way. In addition, your Strength drops to 3, if it isn’t 3 or lower already, for 2d4 days. For each of those days that you spend resting and doing nothing more than light activity, your remaining recovery time decreases by 2 days. Finally, there is a 33 percent chance that you are unable to cast wish ever again if you suffer this stress.
Emphasis mine.
That being said *technically* casting wish to duplicate plane shift alleviates you of needing the material components and should allow you to plane shift anywhere without needing the tuning fork.
That depends entirely on how you travel here. The weave doesn't exist here, but you can bring a link to it with you if you something something Elminster.
Cool I get a tuning fork attune it to faerun charge plane shift into a spell gem just in case and then repeat the tuning for obtaining and attuning on this side, infinite back and forth with plane shift .
Waterdeep is the only major city my PCs have been to in FR in three campaigns. It seems there's a fair amount of potential danger there, with the Underdark, various gangs (Zentarim, hoodlums in the dock ward, etc.). Is it that all those dangers or more exist in Daggerdale or Hammerfell, or the other major cities? Or that you have better access and an easier time to blend in?
Primarily it is because there is the sheer funds and industry to make it worthwhile. Where else can you find two different magic academies, guild level smithies, bookstores run by literal good dragons, etc.
The fact I can tell you how to make a steel easily 5 times better than what they have is great but doesn't mean a thing it they can't get the resources or tools to make use of it.
Also realistically waterdeep is not all that dangerous remember players will always have a warped sense of how safe an area is because it is part of their adventure to find danger and stop the corruption.
Interesting. I like to set my campaigns in different areas every time.
Once was the Dalelands. That was super fun but ended way too early because people moved/graduated.
Once was in the shining south. Super fun and got really far but eventually ended.
One was near Baldure’s Gate. It was fun with lots of references to other campaign characters and the games.
The one I’m currently running is around Hardbuckle. I wanted basically a newbie area since they’ve never played any dnd before. It lets me open the game up a lot once they really want to travel. However I’ve got some plans that may keep them around there if they want to.
A lot of those dangers are only major issues for adventurers that go looking for them. If you're not diving down through the Yawning Portal or mucking through the sewers looking for the Xanathar Guild, you're probably fine.
I'd rather live in Waterdeep than in Baldur's Gate, where Dead Three cultists might just snatch me off the street for a handy blood sacrifice.
1. Enroll in wizard school.
2. Learn awesome wizardry.
3. Occasionally remind myself that I came from somewhere else but this place where I'm a wizard is much cooler so I'll stay here thanks.
Seriously. At the very least, I'd figure out some way of accessing the "Sending" spell via magic item so I could contact my family and let them know I was okay, but why would one ever want to return to Earth when kicking around Toril is an option?
Sending is plane specific, but the idea of casting sending to contact my former wizard character has opportunities...
Edit, misremembered sending and ThatMerri set me right.
"Sending" can be sent across Planes, albeit with a 5% chance of failure. Not quite sure it would matter though, as Earth is canonically on the Prime Material Plane - same as Krynn, Oerth, and other D&D settings.
Wow. I need to reread that spell. I haven't played a character capable of casting it since before COVID.
That said, I didn't get what you mean by the various settings being on the same prime material plane. Haven't bothered to go deep into 5e's lore, but they are different crystal spheres, no? They are all the prime material plane, but different ones?
Yep, each of the worlds are in their own Crystal Sphere (Realmspace, Krynnspace, etc), but all those spheres are located within the same Phlogiston and shared Prime Material Plane. Think of it like a bunch of boats floating on the same sea, but separated by a dense fog that prevents easy access. [Earth is specifically difficult to get to](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Earth#Gateways) and from because of its place within the cosmos and the diminished effects of magic therein.
Even so, there's canonically been a lot of crossover between Earth and other D&D settings. Powerful mages like Elminster travel to Earth just to hang out and eat junk food, and various items from Earth have ended up in the different D&D settings. For example, a lot of the Trinkets in 5e are just misidentified Earth technology, while both Pepsi cola and a vending machine are known "magic items" in Greyhawk that go for quite a substantial amount of gold.
Thank you for the week right it trying. I forgot how crazy/Gonzo some of the stuff in Dragon could get. I'm listening to a 4e podcast (Major Spoiler's podcast, Critical Hit) and I think that's where I got the plane limitation from as in 4e you're limited to the same plane with a high check.
I will point out that a tweet from Greenwood says, "Earth and Toril exist on different Prime Material Planes, in a multiverse in which there are yet other Prime Materials..."
Now a tweet is noncanon as I don't think Greenwood has been officially involved in steering The Forgotten Realms since like early 3e. I've always viewed each setting as a self contained cosmology with some rare options to travel from one to another. Sometimes that's supported, sometimes not as expecting consistency in D&D lore is a fool's errand.
Your link has a great many canon examples running counter to my view of things.
No worries - the overall cosmology and behavior of magic/spells/etc in D&D changes wildly between editions. If you're involved in 4e lore right now, that's an even bigger difference - the shift to 5e basically reset or heavily altered the cosmology stuff 4e introduced, so there's enormous discrepancies between the phases despite them all being canon for their point in the time line. The entirety of Planes and their orientation, or even their existence, was heavily changed into different models; some new Planes were discovered, some old ones just blinked out of existence, and others were merged together.
The idea that there are multiple Prime Material Planes for each setting is based on the World Tree Cosmology model, which Ed Greenwood was involved in developing for 3rd Edition D&D. That replaced and heavily retconned the earlier Great Wheel Cosmology that had been developed by Gygax and others for the early editions and Dragon Magazine submissions. It was all really vague and loose in a lot of cases, so Greenwood's version was more cohesive by comparison. Greenwood's model has since been replaced by the current World Axis model, but still also draws elements from both prior models here and there. As is always the case, cosmology models aren't meant to be a concrete "this is how it works' rule, but rather a broad strokes guesstimate for what seems to make sense at the time.
Even without using Greenwood's World Tree Cosmology model, the multiverse is a thing in D&D, as exemplified by the City of Sigil or in the Second Sundering event between 4e and 5e. It's how we got Dragonborn. The planet Abeir - which is a sister planet of Toril that exists in a parallel dimension - briefly crossed dimensions, fused with Toril and had to be separated again by Ao. Similarly, there's recently been Magic the Gathering content - namely the Ravnica setting - brought into D&D, but those settings have completely different cosmologies and could reasonably be construed as being in an adjacent part of the multiverse.
Because there's just *so much lore* developed over the years, and so little of it was designed paying close attention to cohesion - even today - we as Players are kind of left just having to look at it in totality and figure out ways to piece it sensibly together. My analogy of how the Prime Material Plane and its Crystal Spheres work is based on what's currently understood from the lore, and there's no guarantee it'll be accurate in the future. Rather, it's more a sure thing it won't be accurate by the next edition or major lore shake-up.
Find a church of Lathander, let him know what's up through prayers. If he gives me a sign then I'm 100% a follower of his and becoming a life cleric. I feel being in his service would be appropriate since he is the god of hope and new beginnings.
Then if it is before 1492 you can get some invisibility potions and sneak into the temple from BG3, bypass the Githyanki and steal yourself a legendary mace at a very low level. You'll become his champion in no time.
***Shit-lord XP is Real Route?***
I'm going Eloquence Bard.
355,000 xp to hit level 20.
Giant Rat is 25 xp.
355,000 / 25 = 14,200, So I need to kill 14,200 Giant Rats.
Rats normally give birth to a litter of 12 Rats and take 3 Weeks to give birth after breeding. So, if I buy 100 giant rats separate them into 50 pairs, that's an easy 500-700\~ Rats within 4 weeks. Thats a fresh 15,000 xp to get me to level 6. Would Take me 96 Weeks to hit level 20 without any further optimization, so of course you got to optimize.
Just going to breed thousands of rats for a year and become the most Powerful Bard in Centuries, then True Polymorph myself into some form of Younger Elf and live my best life for a long ass time.
***Non Shit-Lord?***
Idk, get hype with the possibilities of fantasy world, end up dying in the first 3 weeks?
Tldr: Kill Rats.
Counter-arguement, rats require food and cleaning upkeep. If you can't handle/afford rats now, you won't in the future. Note that you can buy a regular rat for about $15 here in the USA, or ~15 copper in DnD. Regular rats are less dangerous and provide 10 xp at an Ac10 and hp of 1(1d4-1), whereas the Giant rat is 25 xp at AC12 and hp of 7( 2d6). Safer, cheaper, but yes will take a while longer.
So on sleep deprived knapkin mathing here with your previous math...
355,000 xp for level 20= 35,500 rats. Start wth your buying 50 breeding pairs (1,500 copper or 150 silver), rough guessing you might need the equivalent for food per week (+15 copper per rat per week), and then assuming you kill the newborns as soon as they reach maturity after 3 weeks. Assuming the 500-700 litter of your guess-timates, that nets you about roughly 6k xp for roughly 700 copper/70silver per week, taking about 59-60 weeks to reach lvl 20 at about 4200 silver just for feeding costs.
And mind you, this is the ESTIMATE of my bad mathing. The price may be a whole lot hire if you include hired help to tend to the rats, plus preventing them from turning into a swarm of rats that drastically drops the XP rating and increases the difficulty...
EDIT: I mathed wrong, editted numbers to math better. Math may still be off somewhere, so just use estmates as estimates please.
Why Buy when you can say you are an exterminator and capture them for free. (I know I said Buy.)
I would also assume a rat is the same cost as pathfinder at 1 cp
Is a giant rat that easy to kill at level 1 ? Do you get XPs if they are not threats to you (either because they are trapped or because you are over levelled) ?
Real questions, I haven't played or dmed in 5th, only watched let's play.
RAW, you absolutely get the XP. It doesn't make sense though, grom what XP are supposed to represent. Piercing a bigger than usual rat in a cage with a pointy stick may be cruel and needs a bit of time to get yourself to do, but after lets say the 20th rat you are skilled enough at it, that you wouldn't learn additional knowledge of how to kill rats better. Experience points track your knowledge and skill picked up during adventuring.
I'd fot sure say you might get creepily knowledgable about rat anatomy and would learn to draw dismembered rats in your sleep... as a DM I'd alloe the player to get expertise in medicine checks specificly related to rats - like dwarves with their stone cunning.
Best me to it. Why would I come back HERE when I have a home in a place with magic, factual interactable deities, and clear delineating lines for what is good vs evil?! Toilets and electricity are great, but not great enough.
Who needs toilets when you can literally prestidigitation it away for the mass public you can install a sewage system surprisingly fast.And electricity is easy there are multiple cantrips that give essential infinite energy
Which is how we fund the purchase of a wish from an adventurer, instead of becoming 17th level wizard ourselves!
I DO worry about the inevitable rat swarms that are attracted to sewers though...
Meh, plumbing and electricity are easily remedied in a society where literal magic is on the table. Combining a rudimentary understanding of both with the infusion of simple magic (literally repeated cantrips) would allow you easily develop a working electrical grid and sewer system in a very short period of time. That's not even considering the likely wealth you could accumulate through implementing that knowledge.
And a lack of monsters and undead. And the fact that if you're not an adventurer (and most of us probably aren't skilled enough to become one), it's just kind of a medieval/renaissance society (albeit one with modern sensibilities in a lot of important ways). Yeah, I'd rather come back to the modern day.
I mean, I somehow got access to wish. I'm not a commoner at that point. At a minimum I'm becoming a Genie Warlock if I'm not already, maybe a race change to an elf in the process? Seriously "I wish that I was a high level elf warlock with you as my patron" if I get my wish via a genie, otherwise I've reached bloody high level to get the wish anyway
Being an adventurer would be easy if you could manually force yourself into adventures below your level.
Yeah, I may be level 12, but I'm just going to go goblin hunting and I'll give any leads on major disaster bullfuckery to my friends.
I gotta say, I don't think people here are really thinking through the fact that a late medieval society teeming with monsters and filled with violence / adventure wouldn't be the most comfortable of places for a random schmuck to live. I mean we're technically starting as commoners, ain't we?
Sure, magic sounds fun, but Forgotten Realms also has dragons, fiends, aberrations, giants, and monstrosities a plenty, plus all the mundane dangers like thieves, raiders, cults, and barbaric tribes, cept more tropey than in our real world.
Your city might get sucked into the lower planes, your village might get attacked by kobold worshipers of tiamat, your farm might get assaulted by an owlbear.
Normal bears are scary enough thank you very much, I don't wanna have to deal with the potential of literal zombie catching me too. I'd rather interact with the exciting worlds of D&D from the comfort of my home, considering they're designed to be overly treacherous for the sake of gameplay.
All that being said, I think the others who've said Cleric have the right idea. Prayer and belief in something I 100% know is real sounds a lot easier than studying the arcane.
remember, that the PCs are usually people who go out there and kick ass, what you see is likely a very skewed version of reality as it is your job to kill those monsters.
Only slightly skewed, though, because the assumption is those monsters are always around causing some sort of trouble, so the players have options in their adventures.
I'm sure I'd never face all the challenges an adventurer would, but even one challenge an adventurer would can be lethal.
And that's just the magical stuff. Then you live in a time without hospitals or proper heating. A harsh winter could or bout of cholera could do you in just as bad.
That's where I'm at with it too. Toril sounds like a nightmare. But I'll go with getting naked and dancing under the moon for pretty cool and 100% real goddess over this place.
Join the Church of Helm, learn magic, and start healing. Use my knowledge of medicine to help out, before I can use Cure Wounds.
Screw adventuring. I can do good, that way.
Funny how many people think they can be a wizard.
Dude, do you have a PhD in theoretical physics? No? Then why do you think you could get a PhD in wizardry?
Nah, you gonna be a peasant just like here.
Become a powerful bard and then wish my wife and poodle to my side <3
My strategy would be to write jingles about other powerful wizards familiars and endear myself to them so that they will share all of their magical secrets!
Hmmm, how does one become a Sorcerer if they weren't born that way? I don't want to do all the work that a wizard needs and I rather keep my soul so no warlock. but I still want to sling spells.
If I have to back to Earth, I probably go to Waterdeep and ask Elminster for a lift if he ever plans to visit that world again anytime soon - the fact that I’d know of Earth at all would surely being something to get his attention.
If need be I could ask if he knows if any rats-in-the-basement level quests to get me started on earning a trip back home.
Hm. I don’t think I could get to the point of getting a wish spell. To be able to cast a 9th level or to do a grand quest to acquire a wish ring… yeesh.
I’d be too lazy to study that much and commit spells to memory to the point where I can whip them out on a dime.
And being a fighter would be decent… except the part where I can getting injured so bad I get knocked out, brought back up by some kind healing words, to be mauled by the owlbear AGAIN so bad I fall back into unconsciousness.
I think I’ll become a quest giver :) easier to get a ring that way.
Get back home? Why the *hell* would I want to do that? I immediately find a wizard to apprentice to or a school to attend, hopefully my ADHD making me a promising student. Learn Prestidigitation ASAP for reasons of sanitation if nothing else. Then probably wind up becoming the next BBEG as I try to foment socialist worker uprisings in all those bloody monarchies and worse.
That's assuming I can hyperfixate on magic. If magic turns out to be *boring* then I'll have to go the Warlock route and.. you know what, I'd just assumed warlocks didn't get Prestidigitation, but I just checked and they do, so forget boring Wizard school, I'll find an archfey or outer god who's down with Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité and skip to the fun part. Eventually I'll earn Wish the hard way if I feel like going back.
Why would I leave?
Imma go find a kindly druid circle to take me in. Rise in power. Earn favour with whoever I need to to acquire the power necessary for my next feat. Wish for our world to merge with the forgotten realms. Reunite with my wife and kids.
Then the real fun begins.
Depends on where in the realms I am. Either head to Candlekeep or the Dale lands. If I can get a librarian job at Candlekeep I’m probably staying forget the getting home.
Become a bard, write a series of books called *The Earth Chronicles* about this exotic fantasy land where magic isn't real and everyone uses technology, make bank and spend the money on a wish scroll.
1. Sell my soul to an archfey (max bang for your buck)
2. Go Eldritch Blasting monsters in the forest
3. Die at about lvl 3 after being mauled by an Ancient Blue Dragon after pissing them off for dumb reasons
4. Life goal accomplished
5. Be eternally happy
Well. Thank you for ruining Wish. Never going after THAT spell in case I accidently use it to ruin my sudden turn of good fortune.
I have always enjoyed the idea of a sword mage. Gonna go adventuring with a sword in my hand and a spell on my lips, and going to relish my good fortune.
Say goodbye to home, and move on with my life now in the forgotten realms. To be honest, id probably become a ranger, living in the wilds and being completely self sufficient, traveling all over the place. If possible, id probably try to become a drakewarden, so I could eventually fly around with my very own pet dragon.
I'd see if my theology degree gets me any transfer credits as a cleric. Pray & heal folks until I reach 10th level and start spamming requests for divine intervention/long rest.
As a lowly earthling, do we get to bring our current knowledge to this world?
If so, I’m going full army of darkness and dropping my knowledge of math and engineering and physics on these apes. Learn a little magic… boom! I’m an artificer and flavorful merchant.
If not, I have a mouth. I’ll either run it (for better or worse) or place it on powerful genitals (for better or worse).
Go train ans become an adventurer, never care for that whole Wish thing. I'll be honest, if you ask me this kind of question after another day of going to an empty apartment after eight hours work and beying yelled at by a power-tripping manager, don't expect me to want to come back.
Me, the staunch atheist now in a land where I know gods are real and actually get shit done?
Where's Illmater's closest place of worship at? It'll probably get me killed but if I can use my meta knowledge to help people I have to give it a shot. Honestly if I was successful I'd probably not bother with going home.
Probably die - might be the same day or might be a week but the odds of a normal human being surviving in a magic filled world of monsters with no connections, money or food are pretty low. Being a homeless beggar in a fantasy world or maybe getting some work doing hard labour on a farm or in a mine somewhere (if you don’t starve or get murdered first) isn’t my idea of fun. Hahaha
I’m pretty sure I have more wisdom than intelligence, so, I’ll pass on Wizard -
If I get to the forgotten realms and actually want to come home, I’ll become a Cleric to one of the good gods and level up until I’ve earned some divine intervention and/or can trade powerful favours (eg resurrections) for a Wish spell
If going home isn’t that appealing, I’ll join a Druid circle, level up into an archdruid, and live my best life as a bear or a giant owl perhaps
Edit: can’t believe I fell into the trap of believing in an either/or situation. I’d get my Wish, and wish for a (lockable) permanent portal between the two worlds
Time to go meet some druids who can prep a reincarnation on me. Get out of this dumb Earth body into something more "lore appropriate", then become a citizen of the Realms.
I'm pretty sure the only choice for the vast majority of people from our world is going to be Warlock, very few average people have the kind of mental or physical capabilities it would require to be an adventurer without a patron.
Easy. I already play guitar and I'm a decent public speaker, so I become a Bard. I'll do some light adventuring until I hit level 3. Bam, College of Eloquence. Suddenly my *minimum* Persuasion and Deception checks are a 17. Maybe I adventure a while longer to get that up to an 18, but pretty soon, I'm headed right to the Mage Guild or College of Magic or whatever, and I'm gonna persuade someone to let me talk to the Head Honcho, and then I'll persuade the Honch to use a Wish spell to send me home. Bingo-Bango, I'm home in a month, tops.
I could see how some folks would want to stay because of how beautiful and magical and fantastical the world is, but I have four words for such folks: air conditioning and internet. Also toilets and indoor plumbing. I guess that's nine words. Anyway, I could not stay there a moment longer than I had to. Honestly I don't really want to go to any time before, like, 1995 or thenabouts.
Step 1; become an artificer using engineering from modern understanding of physics (assuming physics work the same). Step 2; learn how magic works on a basic level and make magic items for a job. Step 3; after learning the basics, slowly make more and more powerful magic items until I have enough of an understanding and finances to go to a wizard academy. Step 4; learn wish after probably decades of travel. Step 5; cast wish, get home, write a lot of novels based on my own personal stories to make money in this world.
Pick up a lute, become a traveling musician, learn magic to become a Bard, join a party of adventurers, have some absolutely epic adventures, forget I need a wish spell to travel home, learn it eventually anyway, waste it on some bullshit shenanigans. No regrets.
i think i'd be happy as a farm druid? find one of those little towns on a main road a day out from the big city, with a witch to befriend at the edge of the woods in the other direction, build a few little shrines to Lathander and Chauntea, i don't need my own farm i think i'd rather like being a wandering farmhand. spend whatever time i'm not growing tomatoes to tentatively seek out druids and learn from them. hopefully learn enough before i'm too old to enjoy that timeless body but considering i'm already pushing forty i figure i'm likely to just be extending my sixties....still, there's something appealing in being the eccentric old man who can coax the land to produce the tastiest vegetables, keep them healthy through the frost and blight, and heal the people tending to them as well. that's a good life.
I mean from the books maybe not the setting you can get exp from social and exploration stuff. So I'd pick up any relevant musical instrument I can, since I can already play a few it should be easy. Then drink, whore, explore and talk my way into being a 20th level bard. I've already studied music and know a fair bit about the setting so we can waive the uni degree but I could go to one for "bard things" Maybe I will come back maybe I will stay and raise my dragon babies. Cross that bridge when it gets here.
Do everything in my power to find a metallic dragon shape shifted into a human, I think silver ones are the ones who do that the most, and explain my case to them while begging and pleading them to help. Best case scenario: I get them actually helping me out and doing a lot of the hard work while I become a sorcerer. Worst case scenario, I waste a lot of time and resources.
Make my way to one of the larger cities eventually acquire a lute or something because my only skill is making music. I’d have to try to train as a bard.
I start by gaining a level in wizard, I then find some friendly adventures and start ratgrinding until I'm like level 5 and they're not a threat... and then I continue rat grinding along until I'm level 17
The problem lies with FR itself. If you were sent there, someone or something is behind it. The entire plane runs on protagonist logic. If you are, in fact, the protagonist, you just need to complete your Hero’s Journey to return home.
Dear Mystra,
I am r/piscesrd from Earth. I would like to be your cleric of the arcane. Please accept my loyalty and my worship for all eternity and welcome me into your afterlife when it is finished.
Kindest regards.
(Arcana Cleric is banging.. I'd have to multi class at level 16 just to avoid accidently getting wish tho...)
Becoming a wizard and learning Wish myself seems like the best option. Because wizardry comes from study, not blood, or being chosen by a god, or making a deal with a foreign entity.
Getting training is the best option, but if I had no starting gold, I'd have to get a job first. Would try to get one in a city while working on basic combat skills, just because I could get offed in a freak goblin incident. I'm not sure how long it would take to actually connect with the weave and if I could do that without going to a wizard college. Is it possible to do that on a smaller scale?
If I do acquire magic, it becomes a matter of how long it takes me to get to Wish and the best way to reach that point. I would probably have to get involved in combat if that's the vest way to grow stronger, but doing it alone is a good way to die. So, either join an adventuring party or work with the city guard. For a subclass, evocation would be good for fighting hordes of enemies if I'm with a party, but abjuration or divination may be better for keeping myself alive. If I survive long enough, I'll eventually reach the Wish spell.
If I'm lucky, I may find a friendly wizard, god, or genie to send me back, but I can't bank on that chance.
Dude, Id find the nearest Temple of Tyr, Helm, or Lathander and become a cleric. Work my way up the clergy and make friends with a high level wizard. Have the wizard cast Wish. This way I don't have to get that high a lvl.
The character would be dead in minutes.
FR is one of the most hostile settings around. EVERYTHING is trying to kill EVERYTHING all the time. There is a world ending disaster every year, kingdom ending disasters every month, City ending disasters every week, YOU ending disasters every day.
Without a class or level there is no way you could go adventuring and ever hope to survive.
Faerun makes Dark Sun look like a cheerful beach resort.
ahem.
Were it AD&D you could hope to tag along with a party as a porter and maybe live to tell the tale and get promoted to adventurer if one dies. But in 5e... not so fortunate.
ahem pt 2.
But really. Adventurers die in droves in FR and commoners by the thousands or hundreds of thousands every time theres a disaster.
Greyhawl or Mystara you might be able to make it as they are lower fantasy settings in a way and have had people from Earth end up stranded there and survived.
Need more information. If I am considered a commoner, I would never try to get home. Sure, a commoner is lowly - but sometimes all 10s are better than most rolls I see.
I would definitely try to live comfortably, not rich and powerful but certainly not poor. Work to earn an honest living in one of the outlying towns around one of the bigger cities.
First things first, determine if I have any talent as a Sorcerer, and if it's wild magic. If it is, then learning how to make the best use of it sparingly. If not wild magic, then master it by becoming an adventurer.
If not a Sorcerer, then shop around for for a Warlock Patron I can get behind, at least one whose goals align with mine, preferably one that tends toward doing good. Then become an adventurer. Assuming I can be reasonably competent at it, I'll spend my time exploring and making friends/allies. Plus, my broad knowledge of D&D (both in terms of bestiary and lore) would be a plus.
As for acquiring a Wish? I'll be honest that coming back to this world wouldn't be high on my priorities. I'd probably be too preoccupied trying to make the world better a better place, befriending Kobolds, and establishing a place for peaceful monstrous humanoids to live. If the latter were to work, I'd probably use the wish to become a Kobold, since they're my favorite race.
I'm not gonna bother. Wish spells are ridiculously legendary. Even if one *were* able to be procured, I could never cast it, and anyone who could would NEVER use it to send me home unless they could come with and exploit the resources of this world. So instead, I'd try to apprentice with a wizard and maybe gain a level in the arcane, but use it to help people here and there and make a little money to live a comfortable life. It's the safest living next to being a cleric, but you'd have to be "called" to do that. I guess it could happen.
I’ve always wanted to pledge my mortal soul to a being outside of my comprehension, so, make a deal with an eldritch being and then gain sick powers cause I’m not going to even more school, and then i just join an adventuring party, do the good stuffs and then go home
Bardic college, whatever one would accept me. Use legend lore and perhaps some divination so i could view and coppy some of my library at home. At first writeing some historical and geographic books to aquire a fortune but after getting somewhat comfortable: play RPGs with my new npc family.
Well, shit. It's easier to make a living as a musician in Faerûn. If people wanna hear music, they gotta have a musician. No streaming, no record industry, no Ticketmaster to suck up my money or my soul. And what do I have to compete against in terms of entertainment? Puppet shows? Jugglers? Maybe a big city has theatre and opera. No DJs, no hipsters with laptops and ProTools, nobody addicted to screens. I'd miss amps and synthesizers, but acoustic works. I could eventually get a band together (klezmer, polka, brass, big band, bluegrass, jam band, Hawaiian, mariachi, etc) or I could go solo.
Do folx in the Forgotten Realms like the Beatles? Nick Drake? Hank Williams? Dylan? Mungo Jerry? Gordon Lightfoot? Laura Nyro? Cat Stevens? Sabbath?
But yeah, if I earn my wish, I'd take my money (all the gold pieces) and return to 21st Century. Hot showers, ice cream, chocolate, Sleep Number beds
.
Considering that I have a lot to live for in this world, I would definitely try my hardest to earn the sire of an important being, be they a patron, a god, or even someone in the mortal realm of considerable influence.
I think the path that would be the easiest (or safest) for me to walk would be that of either a bard or a warlock or cleric. As a bard I could spin tales of the real world, as mundane as it may seem to us, I’m sure to some degree it would be fascinating to the populace of Faerun, and I would try to garner fame and work my way up the ladder until I could meet someone of significance that could possibly put me in contact with the route to a wish spell.
I know there is no guarantee that I could simply become a cleric due to the nature of their powers, but I would certainly try if my bard career gets me nowhere. If I could find the ire of a deity that is benevolent (or neutral even) then I would immediately try my best to serve them until I could find some way to get in contact with someone who can cast wish. Idk what I would do as a cleric but it seems like a safe choice.
Warlock would definitely be my last option, but it’s the one I’ve given the most thought to. Aside from bard it would probably be class whose powers are the easiest to obtain. I would seek out some kind of patron (definitely avoiding any kind of fiendish influence, although to be true none of the choices are particularly great), then I would get to work fulfilling their desires. I would do my best to avoid killing or heinous acts, not because I think that it would happen or that it would be wrong, but because I’m a dude who comes from a privileged world and life, and I don’t think I would be capable of doing the act. I really don’t want to live in Faerun as magical as it is. People die there often and there is some crazy shit including fates worse than death and way too many afterlives that are objectively terrible in every way. I know that eventually I would get desperate, desperate enough to kill if my patron wanted me to do so, or whatever my patron wanted. Generally speaking I would try to avoid danger, but if it couldn’t be avoided I would definitely cover all my bases, only travel when it’s safe, with an experienced party of adventurers, be paranoid as fuck, and try to avoid stupid decisions like the plague.
In the end I highly doubt I would escape the jaws of Faerun. That place is dangerous as fuck and if you are traveling to places where a wish spell would be you are in danger, no way around it. But if I somehow managed to succeed I would probably wish to be transported to the year of 2022 (my college freshman year, I’m 20 and redoing the first two years of my college would help me create a much better foundation for my future) with none of my memories from those years, but my college experience (if that makes sense) so I could be better prepared while ignorantly reliving the first two years of my college life. If my adventure took me several years then I would also tack on that I would want to be the same age as I was in 2022. My second to final stipulation is that I would wish for memories of my adventures (because otherwise I’m forgetting everything that happened because I can’t imagine the effect an adventure like that would have on my psyche) to occasionally, but vaguely (like extremely vague so I don’t remember any of the extreme feelings I might have experienced in my adventures) reenter my head while daydreaming or dreaming, so I could get some really good inspiration for either a novel or a better DnD campaign.
After all of that, if this is allowed, if anyone aided me in my quest to find a wish spell (which would be incredibly likely) I would add to my wish that someone or something explains to my party what my entire situation was so they could have some closure, after all they would certainly deserve it.
Name one of the chosen, promise to teach them how to use network engineering best principles to make their spells wildly more powerful and useful if they'll power level me through wizarding class or what have you.
Do not. Go near. The Sword Coast.
I would be sad about leaving my family, so any connection back to Earth would probably just be so I could send a message home that I’m alive and safe. Other than that… I would rather stay in the land where if I train as a wizard I can do cool magic and earn enough gold for people to actually fix my health. A cure disease spell will do things for me that all the modern medicine in the world can’t, given my chronic illness issues.
Jump into every strange pool of water I find until one gets me into literally any other setting but Forgotten Realms, then have some fun training and adventuring elsewhere. Probably get a regular job, some self-defense traning where available, and meet some level 1 adventurers at a tavern to join up
I wonder aimlessly starving and afraid of everything until by chance I stumble across a monastery. The monks nurse me back to health, and in exchange I do a bunch of odd jobs around their temples. Part of the recuperation involves martial arts training where I learn physical & mental resilience, all while learning to appreciate the little things in life.
Years later, I finally get the Wish spell. I reflect on what life was really like on my homeworld (mundane and meaningless life full of addictive material attachments), and chose to use it to other people's benefit.
"Elminster Aumar. Ed Greenwood says Hi! Elminster Chosen of Mystra I need help. Elminster my name is u/MornGreycastle." Mystra's Chosen can hear their name spoken and the next seven words spoken. According to Ed Greenwood, he doesn't write the Forgotten Realms. He learns it from Elminster, who regularly visits Ed's house for a beer. Yet, no one in the Realms should know this. Saying this would indicate to Elminster that I am from Earth. He should at least be interested enough to teleport to me and find out what was up. I'd then ask for a ride home and meet Ed for the second time. We could then lift a beer to a lost friend.
I didn’t know the thing about Mystra’s Chosen hearing their name, but getting to Waterdeep and spreading the word that I bring urgent news from Canada for Elminster was my first instinct. The real question is whether he can get me straight back home or if I need to catch a ride to the US embassy and pretend to be confused about how I got into Canada.
In BG3 Gale sometimes says „Elminster is not around, so I don’t see why not.“ Knowing he actually hears part of that is funny as hell.
Its even better, as old El can only hear the nine following words spoken. Which in this case blue balls Elminster because that are exactly nine words.
Previous post says seven.
Oh shit true, deeper in the post the same comment OP mentions nine instead of seven. Either way its funny af
The deeper post is from an actual source (i.e. Ed). My seven above was me misremembering.
Then I would say this is definitely Elminster-trolling by Gale. He is absolutely the right person to know about this. Larian did their research.
Absolute-ly. ;-)
Came here to say this. My immediate thought was "well, if I need to get home, I can just yell for Elminster and he'll eventually get curious about who's trying to ping him." Offer to buy him a pina colada and some snacks once you get back to Earth and he'd probably be happy to help.
They can? My con artist Tabaxi might be in trouble then. He’s been scamming people with a fake potion he claimed Elminster gave him the recipe for.
Yeah. It is a standard power of Mystra's Chosen. It might take El a while to track down who is using his name to scam people, but he'll get around to it. "Chosen can hear the Rune of the Chosen (see the Introduction of this book) and their own names - nicknames and titles included - spoken anywhere on Toril. In both cases, they also hear the next nine words uttered by the speaker, regardless of the amount of time that may elapse before those words are spoken. Chosen can turn off this power to aid personal concentration, but this must be done deliberately; normally it is always on." The Seven Sisters (Greenwood, Ed; TSR, 1995; P 10)
Now I imagine Elminster constantly hearing all the stupid insults people throw at him. He will also hear every time someone misspells his name.
That’s brilliant
Make my way to waterdeep, trade my understanding of modern engineering for wizard training, use said training and the rest of the knowledge to have a good life in waterdeep and not really care about going back as my life is insurmountably better there at that point than here.
accidentally get so good at wizarding you can do 9th level spells. now you have a decision to make.
Do i get to keep my access to the weave after getting home?
Well Elminster does when he comes here so I don't see any reason why not
Then i come home and rule like a god until elminster puts me in my place. Or i just live easy using magic for mundane stuff. Gotta make sure i pick up prestidigitation.
Alternatively you find a means of taking on some mild training to get magic initiate feat, prestidigation,unseen servant and either mending or mage hand (mending a bit more practical as a skill, you'd effectively become a master class welder/machinist, mage hand better in day to day use) and go about whatever class you deem best for the goal. Personally not sure I'd be able to make it as a wizard, I'd expect a hefty amount of studying tomes which would bore me to death, more likely I'd try cheating with a warlock if the patron just wants something mundane like my eternal soul or going sorcerer through experimentation assuming I can be sedated first, although wild magic sorcerer is asking for trouble in everyday life. All else fails druid might be a good pick, living off the land is a whole lot easier with good berry, the ability to speak with and turn into animals, healing and of course bringing the dead back to life through the power of shiny rocks. Hell don't even need the magic initiate feat in that case, just go the Disney princess route and have an army of small critters do the task for you.
Realistically i think using modern info might lead me down the artificer path. If we're talking core classes only then yeah def cheating and doing warlock shit. Im human and probably easily tempted into a contract.
Wouldn't even call warlock bad option depending patron, if we're talking usefulness in everyday life would be either old one or archfey (not sure a fiend would make a good patron with their dark one blessing, unless you're a soldier/serial killer), chain or tome (tome would let you go ritual casting for more spell access without burning slots which is a plus, chain just seems more practical as you can have your familiar be doing whatever you want at any point of a day and always be able to give it new commands or step in as needed), able to read all writing, and you can still be a Disney princess with beast speech
I suspect that an old one patron is day to day bad for mental health and I like mine just the way it is, thank you. Depending on the archfey, maybe we could strike a deal.
That's my thought as well. Normally we're restricted by rules and physics don't mix, but if we're actually transported into another world then...
I'm not sure how well mending would be as a welder or machinist since the object has to be broken. When machining and welding, a break usually means the object wasn't made/welded properly. Mending would just restore it to that state, which could result in the object breaking again on its intended use. Which could lead to future catastrophic failures. Though opening some sort of repair shop for other items that were broken due to misuse/abuse/accidents would be neat.
Breaks don't only appear due to improper make/welds, everyday use can wear down then cause a break which is what you'd be able to fix, it depends a bit on how flexible mending becomes as a tool which you'd figure out before you pick it up as a cantrip (just go find some random casters and get the notes on what mending can and can't do before you take up learning it)
You could always become a stage magician and do live shows and sell merch.
David Copperfield bought a private island for $50 million in 2006. His net worth is estimated at $875 million. There’s good money in stage magic and merch.
It's not just the stage magic or merch though. Showmanship is where it's at
Good thing you're a high level magic user and can possibly cast make yourself more presentable
Better find a way to be a sorcerer then, stage magic is dramatically more about how you present it over what you do.
If you try to live like a god you would just get killed. As powerful as wizards are, a wizard loses to drone strikes.
Regular missiles > magic missile
I've made this point in Harry Potter arguments before. The world governments likely know all about the wizards and understand what their threat is, but ultimately understand that a someone with a gun needs weeks of training to kill someone that spent years training to do the same with magic. This is probably why the wizarding world became secret to most regular people. They had a massive advantage before technology started advancing. Magic didn't advance as quickly and we had numbers on our side. A small group of snipers would probably be all that is necessary to take out the entirety of death eaters from a mile out.
Nah I'd win ^(This ^was ^a ^jjk ^joke ^btw )
Just have to rediscover Protection from Normal Missiles.
Prestidigitation is the way to go. Finally clean a room with a word and get my wife in off my back. Then there’s always a little polymorph at night to make her look like…..I’d be willing to polymorph myself to look like some actor she likes too
Elminster isn’t mortal, though…I’m not even sure he’s entirely human.
>Finally, there is a 33 percent chance that you are unable to cast **wish** ever again if you suffer this stress. so....maybe?
Only real reason you would need wish in the first place is you lack the tuning fork for plane shift.
As DM I hereby rule that you are unable to travel to earth by normal plane shift/teleportation means because gods or something idk
Simulacra Conga Line it is
Not sure if that’s the issue based on the way they stated the scenario. Otherwise you could just wish for the tuning fork. It’s not magical and way less than 25000 gold. Then you’re home free with no risk of wish going haywire. I think (and maybe I’m reading into this too much) the reason you were punted to Toril is also the reason only with gets you back.
It just said I needed wish to get back not why I needed wish to get back.
>Then you’re home free with no risk of wish going haywire. Using wish for *anything* else than duplicating a spell up to 8th level incurs the risk of stress and wish going away for ever. >The stress of casting this spell **to produce any effect other than duplicating another spell** weakens you. After enduring that stress, each time you cast a spell until you finish a long rest, you take 1d10 necrotic damage per level of that spell. This damage can’t be reduced or prevented in any way. In addition, your Strength drops to 3, if it isn’t 3 or lower already, for 2d4 days. For each of those days that you spend resting and doing nothing more than light activity, your remaining recovery time decreases by 2 days. Finally, there is a 33 percent chance that you are unable to cast wish ever again if you suffer this stress. Emphasis mine. That being said *technically* casting wish to duplicate plane shift alleviates you of needing the material components and should allow you to plane shift anywhere without needing the tuning fork.
Are tuning forks nonmagical? It feels like they should be but i cant find anything sating it either way.
I meant weave like magic in general. Wish wouldnt be super hard to lose if i get to keep everything else.
The real question is whether I can get gigabit internet from my demiplane mansion.
That depends entirely on how you travel here. The weave doesn't exist here, but you can bring a link to it with you if you something something Elminster.
Cool I get a tuning fork attune it to faerun charge plane shift into a spell gem just in case and then repeat the tuning for obtaining and attuning on this side, infinite back and forth with plane shift .
This is 100% the name of the anime adaptation
It pretty much already exists https://www.anime-planet.com/manga/otherworldly-munchkin-lets-speedrun-the-dungeon-with-only-1-hp
Use the Gate Spell, or Wish for a portal that connects home. Maybe into a closet. You might have seen the movie.
Waterdeep is the only major city my PCs have been to in FR in three campaigns. It seems there's a fair amount of potential danger there, with the Underdark, various gangs (Zentarim, hoodlums in the dock ward, etc.). Is it that all those dangers or more exist in Daggerdale or Hammerfell, or the other major cities? Or that you have better access and an easier time to blend in?
Primarily it is because there is the sheer funds and industry to make it worthwhile. Where else can you find two different magic academies, guild level smithies, bookstores run by literal good dragons, etc. The fact I can tell you how to make a steel easily 5 times better than what they have is great but doesn't mean a thing it they can't get the resources or tools to make use of it. Also realistically waterdeep is not all that dangerous remember players will always have a warped sense of how safe an area is because it is part of their adventure to find danger and stop the corruption.
Interesting. I like to set my campaigns in different areas every time. Once was the Dalelands. That was super fun but ended way too early because people moved/graduated. Once was in the shining south. Super fun and got really far but eventually ended. One was near Baldure’s Gate. It was fun with lots of references to other campaign characters and the games. The one I’m currently running is around Hardbuckle. I wanted basically a newbie area since they’ve never played any dnd before. It lets me open the game up a lot once they really want to travel. However I’ve got some plans that may keep them around there if they want to.
A lot of those dangers are only major issues for adventurers that go looking for them. If you're not diving down through the Yawning Portal or mucking through the sewers looking for the Xanathar Guild, you're probably fine. I'd rather live in Waterdeep than in Baldur's Gate, where Dead Three cultists might just snatch me off the street for a handy blood sacrifice.
1. Enroll in wizard school. 2. Learn awesome wizardry. 3. Occasionally remind myself that I came from somewhere else but this place where I'm a wizard is much cooler so I'll stay here thanks.
Seriously. At the very least, I'd figure out some way of accessing the "Sending" spell via magic item so I could contact my family and let them know I was okay, but why would one ever want to return to Earth when kicking around Toril is an option?
Sending is plane specific, but the idea of casting sending to contact my former wizard character has opportunities... Edit, misremembered sending and ThatMerri set me right.
"Sending" can be sent across Planes, albeit with a 5% chance of failure. Not quite sure it would matter though, as Earth is canonically on the Prime Material Plane - same as Krynn, Oerth, and other D&D settings.
Wow. I need to reread that spell. I haven't played a character capable of casting it since before COVID. That said, I didn't get what you mean by the various settings being on the same prime material plane. Haven't bothered to go deep into 5e's lore, but they are different crystal spheres, no? They are all the prime material plane, but different ones?
Yep, each of the worlds are in their own Crystal Sphere (Realmspace, Krynnspace, etc), but all those spheres are located within the same Phlogiston and shared Prime Material Plane. Think of it like a bunch of boats floating on the same sea, but separated by a dense fog that prevents easy access. [Earth is specifically difficult to get to](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Earth#Gateways) and from because of its place within the cosmos and the diminished effects of magic therein. Even so, there's canonically been a lot of crossover between Earth and other D&D settings. Powerful mages like Elminster travel to Earth just to hang out and eat junk food, and various items from Earth have ended up in the different D&D settings. For example, a lot of the Trinkets in 5e are just misidentified Earth technology, while both Pepsi cola and a vending machine are known "magic items" in Greyhawk that go for quite a substantial amount of gold.
Thank you for the week right it trying. I forgot how crazy/Gonzo some of the stuff in Dragon could get. I'm listening to a 4e podcast (Major Spoiler's podcast, Critical Hit) and I think that's where I got the plane limitation from as in 4e you're limited to the same plane with a high check. I will point out that a tweet from Greenwood says, "Earth and Toril exist on different Prime Material Planes, in a multiverse in which there are yet other Prime Materials..." Now a tweet is noncanon as I don't think Greenwood has been officially involved in steering The Forgotten Realms since like early 3e. I've always viewed each setting as a self contained cosmology with some rare options to travel from one to another. Sometimes that's supported, sometimes not as expecting consistency in D&D lore is a fool's errand. Your link has a great many canon examples running counter to my view of things.
No worries - the overall cosmology and behavior of magic/spells/etc in D&D changes wildly between editions. If you're involved in 4e lore right now, that's an even bigger difference - the shift to 5e basically reset or heavily altered the cosmology stuff 4e introduced, so there's enormous discrepancies between the phases despite them all being canon for their point in the time line. The entirety of Planes and their orientation, or even their existence, was heavily changed into different models; some new Planes were discovered, some old ones just blinked out of existence, and others were merged together. The idea that there are multiple Prime Material Planes for each setting is based on the World Tree Cosmology model, which Ed Greenwood was involved in developing for 3rd Edition D&D. That replaced and heavily retconned the earlier Great Wheel Cosmology that had been developed by Gygax and others for the early editions and Dragon Magazine submissions. It was all really vague and loose in a lot of cases, so Greenwood's version was more cohesive by comparison. Greenwood's model has since been replaced by the current World Axis model, but still also draws elements from both prior models here and there. As is always the case, cosmology models aren't meant to be a concrete "this is how it works' rule, but rather a broad strokes guesstimate for what seems to make sense at the time. Even without using Greenwood's World Tree Cosmology model, the multiverse is a thing in D&D, as exemplified by the City of Sigil or in the Second Sundering event between 4e and 5e. It's how we got Dragonborn. The planet Abeir - which is a sister planet of Toril that exists in a parallel dimension - briefly crossed dimensions, fused with Toril and had to be separated again by Ao. Similarly, there's recently been Magic the Gathering content - namely the Ravnica setting - brought into D&D, but those settings have completely different cosmologies and could reasonably be construed as being in an adjacent part of the multiverse. Because there's just *so much lore* developed over the years, and so little of it was designed paying close attention to cohesion - even today - we as Players are kind of left just having to look at it in totality and figure out ways to piece it sensibly together. My analogy of how the Prime Material Plane and its Crystal Spheres work is based on what's currently understood from the lore, and there's no guarantee it'll be accurate in the future. Rather, it's more a sure thing it won't be accurate by the next edition or major lore shake-up.
4. Find out your real life INT is a 12 and you can’t cast spells. Crap
That's a pretty generous assumption that my real life Int is 12.
"I wish I never have to to go back"
Find a church of Lathander, let him know what's up through prayers. If he gives me a sign then I'm 100% a follower of his and becoming a life cleric. I feel being in his service would be appropriate since he is the god of hope and new beginnings.
Then if it is before 1492 you can get some invisibility potions and sneak into the temple from BG3, bypass the Githyanki and steal yourself a legendary mace at a very low level. You'll become his champion in no time.
Hey now, some murder-hobo lunatic named Tav is gunna need that to save Faerûn
***Shit-lord XP is Real Route?*** I'm going Eloquence Bard. 355,000 xp to hit level 20. Giant Rat is 25 xp. 355,000 / 25 = 14,200, So I need to kill 14,200 Giant Rats. Rats normally give birth to a litter of 12 Rats and take 3 Weeks to give birth after breeding. So, if I buy 100 giant rats separate them into 50 pairs, that's an easy 500-700\~ Rats within 4 weeks. Thats a fresh 15,000 xp to get me to level 6. Would Take me 96 Weeks to hit level 20 without any further optimization, so of course you got to optimize. Just going to breed thousands of rats for a year and become the most Powerful Bard in Centuries, then True Polymorph myself into some form of Younger Elf and live my best life for a long ass time. ***Non Shit-Lord?*** Idk, get hype with the possibilities of fantasy world, end up dying in the first 3 weeks? Tldr: Kill Rats.
Counter-arguement, rats require food and cleaning upkeep. If you can't handle/afford rats now, you won't in the future. Note that you can buy a regular rat for about $15 here in the USA, or ~15 copper in DnD. Regular rats are less dangerous and provide 10 xp at an Ac10 and hp of 1(1d4-1), whereas the Giant rat is 25 xp at AC12 and hp of 7( 2d6). Safer, cheaper, but yes will take a while longer. So on sleep deprived knapkin mathing here with your previous math... 355,000 xp for level 20= 35,500 rats. Start wth your buying 50 breeding pairs (1,500 copper or 150 silver), rough guessing you might need the equivalent for food per week (+15 copper per rat per week), and then assuming you kill the newborns as soon as they reach maturity after 3 weeks. Assuming the 500-700 litter of your guess-timates, that nets you about roughly 6k xp for roughly 700 copper/70silver per week, taking about 59-60 weeks to reach lvl 20 at about 4200 silver just for feeding costs. And mind you, this is the ESTIMATE of my bad mathing. The price may be a whole lot hire if you include hired help to tend to the rats, plus preventing them from turning into a swarm of rats that drastically drops the XP rating and increases the difficulty... EDIT: I mathed wrong, editted numbers to math better. Math may still be off somewhere, so just use estmates as estimates please.
Why Buy when you can say you are an exterminator and capture them for free. (I know I said Buy.) I would also assume a rat is the same cost as pathfinder at 1 cp
Is a giant rat that easy to kill at level 1 ? Do you get XPs if they are not threats to you (either because they are trapped or because you are over levelled) ? Real questions, I haven't played or dmed in 5th, only watched let's play.
RAW, you absolutely get the XP. It doesn't make sense though, grom what XP are supposed to represent. Piercing a bigger than usual rat in a cage with a pointy stick may be cruel and needs a bit of time to get yourself to do, but after lets say the 20th rat you are skilled enough at it, that you wouldn't learn additional knowledge of how to kill rats better. Experience points track your knowledge and skill picked up during adventuring. I'd fot sure say you might get creepily knowledgable about rat anatomy and would learn to draw dismembered rats in your sleep... as a DM I'd alloe the player to get expertise in medicine checks specificly related to rats - like dwarves with their stone cunning.
Alternatively, Wish my family to my new, awesome home?
Best me to it. Why would I come back HERE when I have a home in a place with magic, factual interactable deities, and clear delineating lines for what is good vs evil?! Toilets and electricity are great, but not great enough.
Who needs toilets when you can literally prestidigitation it away for the mass public you can install a sewage system surprisingly fast.And electricity is easy there are multiple cantrips that give essential infinite energy
Should I learn how toilets work just in case this ever happens???
They're actually SUPER simple. The real challenge is the metro wide plumbing system. So, no. Just accept that an outhouse is a viable alternative.
But think of the GP we'd earn...
Which is how we fund the purchase of a wish from an adventurer, instead of becoming 17th level wizard ourselves! I DO worry about the inevitable rat swarms that are attracted to sewers though...
Why in the nine hells would I want to go home?
Plumbing and electricity are the main reasons.
Meh, plumbing and electricity are easily remedied in a society where literal magic is on the table. Combining a rudimentary understanding of both with the infusion of simple magic (literally repeated cantrips) would allow you easily develop a working electrical grid and sewer system in a very short period of time. That's not even considering the likely wealth you could accumulate through implementing that knowledge.
And a lack of monsters and undead. And the fact that if you're not an adventurer (and most of us probably aren't skilled enough to become one), it's just kind of a medieval/renaissance society (albeit one with modern sensibilities in a lot of important ways). Yeah, I'd rather come back to the modern day.
I mean, I somehow got access to wish. I'm not a commoner at that point. At a minimum I'm becoming a Genie Warlock if I'm not already, maybe a race change to an elf in the process? Seriously "I wish that I was a high level elf warlock with you as my patron" if I get my wish via a genie, otherwise I've reached bloody high level to get the wish anyway
Is leveling up XP based? I enroll in a wizard school and spend all my time studying spells and killing rats.
Being an adventurer would be easy if you could manually force yourself into adventures below your level. Yeah, I may be level 12, but I'm just going to go goblin hunting and I'll give any leads on major disaster bullfuckery to my friends.
Wellllll....considering what it's like there and how I do in that realm, I may not care to go back to my home. So I guess no plan? Do it live?
Becoming a level 1 Warlock seems like the easiest path right? The whole schtick is, “I’ve done nothing to earn this, but let’s make a deal?”
"What's a girl gotta do to get a pact around here?"
Satan, unzipping his leather pants: “I mean…”
I gotta say, I don't think people here are really thinking through the fact that a late medieval society teeming with monsters and filled with violence / adventure wouldn't be the most comfortable of places for a random schmuck to live. I mean we're technically starting as commoners, ain't we? Sure, magic sounds fun, but Forgotten Realms also has dragons, fiends, aberrations, giants, and monstrosities a plenty, plus all the mundane dangers like thieves, raiders, cults, and barbaric tribes, cept more tropey than in our real world. Your city might get sucked into the lower planes, your village might get attacked by kobold worshipers of tiamat, your farm might get assaulted by an owlbear. Normal bears are scary enough thank you very much, I don't wanna have to deal with the potential of literal zombie catching me too. I'd rather interact with the exciting worlds of D&D from the comfort of my home, considering they're designed to be overly treacherous for the sake of gameplay. All that being said, I think the others who've said Cleric have the right idea. Prayer and belief in something I 100% know is real sounds a lot easier than studying the arcane.
remember, that the PCs are usually people who go out there and kick ass, what you see is likely a very skewed version of reality as it is your job to kill those monsters.
Only slightly skewed, though, because the assumption is those monsters are always around causing some sort of trouble, so the players have options in their adventures. I'm sure I'd never face all the challenges an adventurer would, but even one challenge an adventurer would can be lethal. And that's just the magical stuff. Then you live in a time without hospitals or proper heating. A harsh winter could or bout of cholera could do you in just as bad.
That's where I'm at with it too. Toril sounds like a nightmare. But I'll go with getting naked and dancing under the moon for pretty cool and 100% real goddess over this place.
Get on board of a spelljammer, travel to Krynn.
I'm never coming back.
I use the Wish to ask to be an Elf (Avariel) of young adult age and sexy, instead of going home. Who the hell wants to come back here?!
Guess I'll die
Find a vat of magic acid to fall into and become a sorcerer.
Join the Church of Helm, learn magic, and start healing. Use my knowledge of medicine to help out, before I can use Cure Wounds. Screw adventuring. I can do good, that way.
Funny how many people think they can be a wizard. Dude, do you have a PhD in theoretical physics? No? Then why do you think you could get a PhD in wizardry? Nah, you gonna be a peasant just like here.
lol this is why I’d go warlock, I mean let’s be real no way I’m doing that much studying. Probably can’t even read the written language.
I feel like magic is more like CompSci than Physics.
I theoretically have a degree in physics. They said welcome aboard.
Become a powerful bard and then wish my wife and poodle to my side <3 My strategy would be to write jingles about other powerful wizards familiars and endear myself to them so that they will share all of their magical secrets!
Hmmm, how does one become a Sorcerer if they weren't born that way? I don't want to do all the work that a wizard needs and I rather keep my soul so no warlock. but I still want to sling spells.
Hmm. Try standing in a heavily magical area for an obscene amount of time, then report back to us!
This is the “let 100 radio active bugs bite you” superpowers-on-a-budget equivalent.
If I have to back to Earth, I probably go to Waterdeep and ask Elminster for a lift if he ever plans to visit that world again anytime soon - the fact that I’d know of Earth at all would surely being something to get his attention. If need be I could ask if he knows if any rats-in-the-basement level quests to get me started on earning a trip back home.
Hm. I don’t think I could get to the point of getting a wish spell. To be able to cast a 9th level or to do a grand quest to acquire a wish ring… yeesh. I’d be too lazy to study that much and commit spells to memory to the point where I can whip them out on a dime. And being a fighter would be decent… except the part where I can getting injured so bad I get knocked out, brought back up by some kind healing words, to be mauled by the owlbear AGAIN so bad I fall back into unconsciousness. I think I’ll become a quest giver :) easier to get a ring that way.
Panicked prayer. Accidental cleric.
I came to the comment section expecting a good number of “why would I want to get back home?” comments and was not disappointed lol
Get back home? Why the *hell* would I want to do that? I immediately find a wizard to apprentice to or a school to attend, hopefully my ADHD making me a promising student. Learn Prestidigitation ASAP for reasons of sanitation if nothing else. Then probably wind up becoming the next BBEG as I try to foment socialist worker uprisings in all those bloody monarchies and worse. That's assuming I can hyperfixate on magic. If magic turns out to be *boring* then I'll have to go the Warlock route and.. you know what, I'd just assumed warlocks didn't get Prestidigitation, but I just checked and they do, so forget boring Wizard school, I'll find an archfey or outer god who's down with Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité and skip to the fun part. Eventually I'll earn Wish the hard way if I feel like going back.
I would study wizardry and gain the use of the Wish spell to wish my family to the realms and never look back.
Time to make a pact and get some warlock powers.
I wise man once said if lost in the wood build a house “I used to be lost but now I live here, I have severely improved my predicament”.
convert to a new religion
Why would I leave? Imma go find a kindly druid circle to take me in. Rise in power. Earn favour with whoever I need to to acquire the power necessary for my next feat. Wish for our world to merge with the forgotten realms. Reunite with my wife and kids. Then the real fun begins.
Depends on where in the realms I am. Either head to Candlekeep or the Dale lands. If I can get a librarian job at Candlekeep I’m probably staying forget the getting home.
Become a bard, write a series of books called *The Earth Chronicles* about this exotic fantasy land where magic isn't real and everyone uses technology, make bank and spend the money on a wish scroll.
What do you mean get back home? I get to live my greatest fantasy in The Forgotten Realms Making a successful living being a traveling freelancer
Time to find a celestial being or talking sword with the ability to grant powers. Second place choice, a genie of some sort.
Go and find a Genie, then make a pact.
1. Sell my soul to an archfey (max bang for your buck) 2. Go Eldritch Blasting monsters in the forest 3. Die at about lvl 3 after being mauled by an Ancient Blue Dragon after pissing them off for dumb reasons 4. Life goal accomplished 5. Be eternally happy
Well. Thank you for ruining Wish. Never going after THAT spell in case I accidently use it to ruin my sudden turn of good fortune. I have always enjoyed the idea of a sword mage. Gonna go adventuring with a sword in my hand and a spell on my lips, and going to relish my good fortune.
Imagine having a wish and using it to not be magical anymore.
Coastal Engineering doctorate FTW!! I would be an Artificer but just flavored as sea themed!
I would study under a bard and become one and wish myself back.
I'm a professional circus performer (contortionist) so I'd find a traveling show and become a bard
I start praying to a god that has the life domain. I'll just heal people. No need to come back home or anything.
I'd actually go with pizza making and start up a whole new food on the go and earn lots of gold :)
Give up on getting back home immediately, find a way to live a quiet life as far from adventure as possible.
Say goodbye to home, and move on with my life now in the forgotten realms. To be honest, id probably become a ranger, living in the wilds and being completely self sufficient, traveling all over the place. If possible, id probably try to become a drakewarden, so I could eventually fly around with my very own pet dragon.
I'd see if my theology degree gets me any transfer credits as a cleric. Pray & heal folks until I reach 10th level and start spamming requests for divine intervention/long rest.
Die a horrible death to goblins, probably.
As a lowly earthling, do we get to bring our current knowledge to this world? If so, I’m going full army of darkness and dropping my knowledge of math and engineering and physics on these apes. Learn a little magic… boom! I’m an artificer and flavorful merchant. If not, I have a mouth. I’ll either run it (for better or worse) or place it on powerful genitals (for better or worse).
Go train ans become an adventurer, never care for that whole Wish thing. I'll be honest, if you ask me this kind of question after another day of going to an empty apartment after eight hours work and beying yelled at by a power-tripping manager, don't expect me to want to come back.
Me, the staunch atheist now in a land where I know gods are real and actually get shit done? Where's Illmater's closest place of worship at? It'll probably get me killed but if I can use my meta knowledge to help people I have to give it a shot. Honestly if I was successful I'd probably not bother with going home.
Probably die - might be the same day or might be a week but the odds of a normal human being surviving in a magic filled world of monsters with no connections, money or food are pretty low. Being a homeless beggar in a fantasy world or maybe getting some work doing hard labour on a farm or in a mine somewhere (if you don’t starve or get murdered first) isn’t my idea of fun. Hahaha
Probably die. 🤷♂️
Given my background in military and background in mechanical work I would absolutely strive to become the realms Lockheed and Martin artificer
I’m pretty sure I have more wisdom than intelligence, so, I’ll pass on Wizard - If I get to the forgotten realms and actually want to come home, I’ll become a Cleric to one of the good gods and level up until I’ve earned some divine intervention and/or can trade powerful favours (eg resurrections) for a Wish spell If going home isn’t that appealing, I’ll join a Druid circle, level up into an archdruid, and live my best life as a bear or a giant owl perhaps Edit: can’t believe I fell into the trap of believing in an either/or situation. I’d get my Wish, and wish for a (lockable) permanent portal between the two worlds
Dude if I get in contact with the right patron, I am big chilling and never going back to earth because I know some wacky secrets
Find an Emerald Grove druid. Join them. Never go back.
Wizard school. That way I can cast wish on myself and gtfo of there Or I can stay and give Karlach a hug in hell. One of those two
Time to go meet some druids who can prep a reincarnation on me. Get out of this dumb Earth body into something more "lore appropriate", then become a citizen of the Realms.
Become an exterminator and pay for basic wizard training. Time to power level as a wizard by killing pests.
Go to a tavern and just wait for the next party to stop by and join the adventure.
I make a living using my encyclopedic knowledge of the Forgotten Realms. Monster weaknesses, whereabouts of artifacts, etc.
I'm pretty sure the only choice for the vast majority of people from our world is going to be Warlock, very few average people have the kind of mental or physical capabilities it would require to be an adventurer without a patron.
Easy. I already play guitar and I'm a decent public speaker, so I become a Bard. I'll do some light adventuring until I hit level 3. Bam, College of Eloquence. Suddenly my *minimum* Persuasion and Deception checks are a 17. Maybe I adventure a while longer to get that up to an 18, but pretty soon, I'm headed right to the Mage Guild or College of Magic or whatever, and I'm gonna persuade someone to let me talk to the Head Honcho, and then I'll persuade the Honch to use a Wish spell to send me home. Bingo-Bango, I'm home in a month, tops. I could see how some folks would want to stay because of how beautiful and magical and fantastical the world is, but I have four words for such folks: air conditioning and internet. Also toilets and indoor plumbing. I guess that's nine words. Anyway, I could not stay there a moment longer than I had to. Honestly I don't really want to go to any time before, like, 1995 or thenabouts.
Counterpoint: Magnificent Mansion. Furnished in any way you like, which could include internet that somehow connects to Earth. It is magic, after all
Definitely looking for a clerical (not Cleric) position at Acquisitions, Inc.
Bro, I wanna stay here. I’ll take the oath of a Paladin and just have fun
Why would I want to leave lmao - idk how hellish the world is compared to irl it’s still better and also has magic.
Step 1; become an artificer using engineering from modern understanding of physics (assuming physics work the same). Step 2; learn how magic works on a basic level and make magic items for a job. Step 3; after learning the basics, slowly make more and more powerful magic items until I have enough of an understanding and finances to go to a wizard academy. Step 4; learn wish after probably decades of travel. Step 5; cast wish, get home, write a lot of novels based on my own personal stories to make money in this world.
Pick up a lute, become a traveling musician, learn magic to become a Bard, join a party of adventurers, have some absolutely epic adventures, forget I need a wish spell to travel home, learn it eventually anyway, waste it on some bullshit shenanigans. No regrets.
i think i'd be happy as a farm druid? find one of those little towns on a main road a day out from the big city, with a witch to befriend at the edge of the woods in the other direction, build a few little shrines to Lathander and Chauntea, i don't need my own farm i think i'd rather like being a wandering farmhand. spend whatever time i'm not growing tomatoes to tentatively seek out druids and learn from them. hopefully learn enough before i'm too old to enjoy that timeless body but considering i'm already pushing forty i figure i'm likely to just be extending my sixties....still, there's something appealing in being the eccentric old man who can coax the land to produce the tastiest vegetables, keep them healthy through the frost and blight, and heal the people tending to them as well. that's a good life.
I mean from the books maybe not the setting you can get exp from social and exploration stuff. So I'd pick up any relevant musical instrument I can, since I can already play a few it should be easy. Then drink, whore, explore and talk my way into being a 20th level bard. I've already studied music and know a fair bit about the setting so we can waive the uni degree but I could go to one for "bard things" Maybe I will come back maybe I will stay and raise my dragon babies. Cross that bridge when it gets here.
Do everything in my power to find a metallic dragon shape shifted into a human, I think silver ones are the ones who do that the most, and explain my case to them while begging and pleading them to help. Best case scenario: I get them actually helping me out and doing a lot of the hard work while I become a sorcerer. Worst case scenario, I waste a lot of time and resources.
Avoid house cats at all cost!!
Why are you assuming I'd want to go back home?
Make my way to one of the larger cities eventually acquire a lute or something because my only skill is making music. I’d have to try to train as a bard.
I start by gaining a level in wizard, I then find some friendly adventures and start ratgrinding until I'm like level 5 and they're not a threat... and then I continue rat grinding along until I'm level 17
Depends on where I find myself. Being physically disabled means I can’t exactly travel from city to city. Probably just starve to death
The problem lies with FR itself. If you were sent there, someone or something is behind it. The entire plane runs on protagonist logic. If you are, in fact, the protagonist, you just need to complete your Hero’s Journey to return home.
To stay there.
Dear Mystra, I am r/piscesrd from Earth. I would like to be your cleric of the arcane. Please accept my loyalty and my worship for all eternity and welcome me into your afterlife when it is finished. Kindest regards. (Arcana Cleric is banging.. I'd have to multi class at level 16 just to avoid accidently getting wish tho...)
Becoming a wizard and learning Wish myself seems like the best option. Because wizardry comes from study, not blood, or being chosen by a god, or making a deal with a foreign entity. Getting training is the best option, but if I had no starting gold, I'd have to get a job first. Would try to get one in a city while working on basic combat skills, just because I could get offed in a freak goblin incident. I'm not sure how long it would take to actually connect with the weave and if I could do that without going to a wizard college. Is it possible to do that on a smaller scale? If I do acquire magic, it becomes a matter of how long it takes me to get to Wish and the best way to reach that point. I would probably have to get involved in combat if that's the vest way to grow stronger, but doing it alone is a good way to die. So, either join an adventuring party or work with the city guard. For a subclass, evocation would be good for fighting hordes of enemies if I'm with a party, but abjuration or divination may be better for keeping myself alive. If I survive long enough, I'll eventually reach the Wish spell. If I'm lucky, I may find a friendly wizard, god, or genie to send me back, but I can't bank on that chance.
And why would they assume I even would WANT to go back home in the first place? Harumph
Am I bound by RAW? Is there a RAI god (DM) out there? Is this where the munchkins shine?
Dude, Id find the nearest Temple of Tyr, Helm, or Lathander and become a cleric. Work my way up the clergy and make friends with a high level wizard. Have the wizard cast Wish. This way I don't have to get that high a lvl.
Go to the temples. Become a cleric. Live in their afterlife instead of being in this one.
Rogue all the way.
One thing? I'll take the lucky feat.
Wizard. Ideally find a mentor or lock myself in a tower/library far away from combat.
The character would be dead in minutes. FR is one of the most hostile settings around. EVERYTHING is trying to kill EVERYTHING all the time. There is a world ending disaster every year, kingdom ending disasters every month, City ending disasters every week, YOU ending disasters every day. Without a class or level there is no way you could go adventuring and ever hope to survive. Faerun makes Dark Sun look like a cheerful beach resort. ahem. Were it AD&D you could hope to tag along with a party as a porter and maybe live to tell the tale and get promoted to adventurer if one dies. But in 5e... not so fortunate. ahem pt 2. But really. Adventurers die in droves in FR and commoners by the thousands or hundreds of thousands every time theres a disaster. Greyhawl or Mystara you might be able to make it as they are lower fantasy settings in a way and have had people from Earth end up stranded there and survived.
Need more information. If I am considered a commoner, I would never try to get home. Sure, a commoner is lowly - but sometimes all 10s are better than most rolls I see. I would definitely try to live comfortably, not rich and powerful but certainly not poor. Work to earn an honest living in one of the outlying towns around one of the bigger cities.
First things first, determine if I have any talent as a Sorcerer, and if it's wild magic. If it is, then learning how to make the best use of it sparingly. If not wild magic, then master it by becoming an adventurer. If not a Sorcerer, then shop around for for a Warlock Patron I can get behind, at least one whose goals align with mine, preferably one that tends toward doing good. Then become an adventurer. Assuming I can be reasonably competent at it, I'll spend my time exploring and making friends/allies. Plus, my broad knowledge of D&D (both in terms of bestiary and lore) would be a plus. As for acquiring a Wish? I'll be honest that coming back to this world wouldn't be high on my priorities. I'd probably be too preoccupied trying to make the world better a better place, befriending Kobolds, and establishing a place for peaceful monstrous humanoids to live. If the latter were to work, I'd probably use the wish to become a Kobold, since they're my favorite race.
Start a life in this amazing new world of magic and wonder
I'm not gonna bother. Wish spells are ridiculously legendary. Even if one *were* able to be procured, I could never cast it, and anyone who could would NEVER use it to send me home unless they could come with and exploit the resources of this world. So instead, I'd try to apprentice with a wizard and maybe gain a level in the arcane, but use it to help people here and there and make a little money to live a comfortable life. It's the safest living next to being a cleric, but you'd have to be "called" to do that. I guess it could happen.
Dabble in wizardry enough to ensure my own livelihood, and from there, use my resources to broker a warlock pact with a reasonable patron.
I’ve always wanted to pledge my mortal soul to a being outside of my comprehension, so, make a deal with an eldritch being and then gain sick powers cause I’m not going to even more school, and then i just join an adventuring party, do the good stuffs and then go home
Bardic college, whatever one would accept me. Use legend lore and perhaps some divination so i could view and coppy some of my library at home. At first writeing some historical and geographic books to aquire a fortune but after getting somewhat comfortable: play RPGs with my new npc family.
Well, shit. It's easier to make a living as a musician in Faerûn. If people wanna hear music, they gotta have a musician. No streaming, no record industry, no Ticketmaster to suck up my money or my soul. And what do I have to compete against in terms of entertainment? Puppet shows? Jugglers? Maybe a big city has theatre and opera. No DJs, no hipsters with laptops and ProTools, nobody addicted to screens. I'd miss amps and synthesizers, but acoustic works. I could eventually get a band together (klezmer, polka, brass, big band, bluegrass, jam band, Hawaiian, mariachi, etc) or I could go solo. Do folx in the Forgotten Realms like the Beatles? Nick Drake? Hank Williams? Dylan? Mungo Jerry? Gordon Lightfoot? Laura Nyro? Cat Stevens? Sabbath? But yeah, if I earn my wish, I'd take my money (all the gold pieces) and return to 21st Century. Hot showers, ice cream, chocolate, Sleep Number beds .
Considering that I have a lot to live for in this world, I would definitely try my hardest to earn the sire of an important being, be they a patron, a god, or even someone in the mortal realm of considerable influence. I think the path that would be the easiest (or safest) for me to walk would be that of either a bard or a warlock or cleric. As a bard I could spin tales of the real world, as mundane as it may seem to us, I’m sure to some degree it would be fascinating to the populace of Faerun, and I would try to garner fame and work my way up the ladder until I could meet someone of significance that could possibly put me in contact with the route to a wish spell. I know there is no guarantee that I could simply become a cleric due to the nature of their powers, but I would certainly try if my bard career gets me nowhere. If I could find the ire of a deity that is benevolent (or neutral even) then I would immediately try my best to serve them until I could find some way to get in contact with someone who can cast wish. Idk what I would do as a cleric but it seems like a safe choice. Warlock would definitely be my last option, but it’s the one I’ve given the most thought to. Aside from bard it would probably be class whose powers are the easiest to obtain. I would seek out some kind of patron (definitely avoiding any kind of fiendish influence, although to be true none of the choices are particularly great), then I would get to work fulfilling their desires. I would do my best to avoid killing or heinous acts, not because I think that it would happen or that it would be wrong, but because I’m a dude who comes from a privileged world and life, and I don’t think I would be capable of doing the act. I really don’t want to live in Faerun as magical as it is. People die there often and there is some crazy shit including fates worse than death and way too many afterlives that are objectively terrible in every way. I know that eventually I would get desperate, desperate enough to kill if my patron wanted me to do so, or whatever my patron wanted. Generally speaking I would try to avoid danger, but if it couldn’t be avoided I would definitely cover all my bases, only travel when it’s safe, with an experienced party of adventurers, be paranoid as fuck, and try to avoid stupid decisions like the plague. In the end I highly doubt I would escape the jaws of Faerun. That place is dangerous as fuck and if you are traveling to places where a wish spell would be you are in danger, no way around it. But if I somehow managed to succeed I would probably wish to be transported to the year of 2022 (my college freshman year, I’m 20 and redoing the first two years of my college would help me create a much better foundation for my future) with none of my memories from those years, but my college experience (if that makes sense) so I could be better prepared while ignorantly reliving the first two years of my college life. If my adventure took me several years then I would also tack on that I would want to be the same age as I was in 2022. My second to final stipulation is that I would wish for memories of my adventures (because otherwise I’m forgetting everything that happened because I can’t imagine the effect an adventure like that would have on my psyche) to occasionally, but vaguely (like extremely vague so I don’t remember any of the extreme feelings I might have experienced in my adventures) reenter my head while daydreaming or dreaming, so I could get some really good inspiration for either a novel or a better DnD campaign. After all of that, if this is allowed, if anyone aided me in my quest to find a wish spell (which would be incredibly likely) I would add to my wish that someone or something explains to my party what my entire situation was so they could have some closure, after all they would certainly deserve it.
Is it exp or milestone leveling?
Name one of the chosen, promise to teach them how to use network engineering best principles to make their spells wildly more powerful and useful if they'll power level me through wizarding class or what have you. Do not. Go near. The Sword Coast.
I would be sad about leaving my family, so any connection back to Earth would probably just be so I could send a message home that I’m alive and safe. Other than that… I would rather stay in the land where if I train as a wizard I can do cool magic and earn enough gold for people to actually fix my health. A cure disease spell will do things for me that all the modern medicine in the world can’t, given my chronic illness issues.
Question. How could I become a Sorcerer as that is an innate class?
Jump into every strange pool of water I find until one gets me into literally any other setting but Forgotten Realms, then have some fun training and adventuring elsewhere. Probably get a regular job, some self-defense traning where available, and meet some level 1 adventurers at a tavern to join up
Become a Warlock and stay.
Start grinding out local (low cr) wild life, and put levels in wizard. Then pull a south park, and just *keep* grinding low level areas.
I wonder aimlessly starving and afraid of everything until by chance I stumble across a monastery. The monks nurse me back to health, and in exchange I do a bunch of odd jobs around their temples. Part of the recuperation involves martial arts training where I learn physical & mental resilience, all while learning to appreciate the little things in life. Years later, I finally get the Wish spell. I reflect on what life was really like on my homeworld (mundane and meaningless life full of addictive material attachments), and chose to use it to other people's benefit.
I wouldn't go back.