Last session, the PCs summoned some elementals in summoning circles - basically, a Pentagram spell. They left the elementals there.
Elementals can leave after an hour . . . but what if they are stuck in a Pentagram?
The PCs just don't know.
It's a big question, actually. Can a Pentagram basically contain a summoned creature forever? Or do they just get to leave after a time?
It's an unresolved question. So is the idea of casting Banish at a creature in a Pentagram. How do they interact?
I have answers for some of these, but the PCs do not. I'm curious if others have answered these questions in their own way in their games.
summoned creatures stuck in pentagrams waiting for release is part of the shtick, especially if they are invisible and the petagram fails if the edges are marred in any way...
ReplyDeleteUnder the basic GURPS Magic assumptions, aren't elementals actually just called from nearby on the 'material plane' rather than sucked out of some extra-dimensional space (like demons are)? That means they should be permanently trapped by a pentagram, since they don't have any mechanism to travel to or from some other plane of existence.
ReplyDelete"It's an unresolved question."
ReplyDeleteThat's kinda exactly what Thaumatology and Hidden Lore is for. Does Gerrald not have the skills or did he simply not care about the answer?
In my games a "summoned" creature does have a definitive time limit on this plane (which PCs usually won't know) and will return to whence they were summoned from (unless it was this plane, then it's stuck, but Elementals are not native of the Prime in my games). If the entity can cross planar boundaries of it's own free will, it can leave anytime it wants (following standard summoning strictures).
Conjured elementals have a definitive time limit that the PCs do know, as they are powered by the conjurer (I've altered the spells, pray I do not alter them further).