North By North [NxN]

[Kellus]

North By North

Okay, this is where I'll be compiling things for the 3.5 setting I'm making, North By North. There's going to be a lot of activity in the next little while as I move stuff from scattered notes into one cohesive document, so you might have to bear with me as I incorporate things. I really just need somewhere to get all these ideas down.

Table of Contents

The World
{table]
Introduction (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=11427575#post11427512)|A Brief OverviewBasic Changes[br]What This Setting is All About

[b]Atlas (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=11427575#post11427517)|CosmologyT he Four Corners of FaeGeography[br]History[br]Map[br]Mythology[br]The Pit[br]Religion[br]The Source[br]Society and Civilization[br]Some Important Places

[b]New Rules|Armour ClassEnvironmental Dangers[br]Mass Combat[br]Naval Combat[br]Social Combat[br]Tiers of Play[br]Weak Points and Called Shots[br]Wealth[br]Wounds, Vitality, and Injuries[/table]

[b]The Characters
{table]
Races (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=11427575#post11427529)|Adjiri[b]BennuButhids[br]Cambions[br]Huldra[br]Humans[br]Igni[br]Imocari[br]Lycanolox[br]Nanuqi[br]Quicklings[br]Strigala

[b]Heroic Tier Classes|ApothecaryArcanitect[br]Bargainer[br]Cardsharp[br]Channeler[br]Corsair[br]Ghost Pirate[br]Gunslinger[br]Pioneer[br]Sawbones[br]Skinwalker[br]Trickster

[b]Royal Tier Classes|All-ChemistAnitu Artificier[br]Devilhunter[br]Dragonmech Pilot[br]Fae Agent[br]Forgelord[br]Indigo Instrument[br]Infernal Tamer[br]King of Thieves[br]Living Legend[br]Master Strategist[br]Merchant Lord[br]Pegasus Knight[br]Royal Assassin[br]Snow Captain[br]Siege Engineer[br]Sky Pirate[br]Spymaster[br]Warmaker[br]Witch-King

[b]Magic|The ColoursFae Seemings[br]Infernal Gifts[br]Monstrous Talents

[b]Extra Options|FeatsSkills[br]Stunts[br]Tricks[/table]

[b]The Dungeon Master
{table]
[b]Iconic Villains|

Fae Nobility|Day RoyaltyNight RoyaltySummer Royalty[br]Winter Royalty[br]

[b]Lesser Sins|

[b]Most Monsters|

What's Worse|

Dungeon Master's Aid|DMing in This Setting[br]Kinds of Combat[br]Incorporating All the Classes[br]Magic Items[br]Setting Exclusiveness[br]Using the Two Tiers[br]Wealthless Campaigns[/table]

[Kellus]

Introduction

A Brief Overview

At its most basic, North By North is a world where Dungeons and Dragons is combined with the western genre and the age of sail. It's a world of lawlessness that must be tamed, of wilderness to explore, mysteries to be studied. The mortal world is caught in a war between the immortal Fae and the Infernal monsters of the Pit. The battle having moved to realms beyond, the world lies devastated in its wake. Life still exists, but it must fight to survive in the wasteland left behind by the war between immortals. As kingdoms clash for the remaining resources and racial tensions rise, magic has been discovered by the civilized world for the first time. This powerful new force could provide the power to elevate mortals to supernal heights, or it could provoke another war which will be the end of what life still remains.

What will you fight for?

Basic Changes

This setting is designed to use the 3.5 system almost entirely so as to be most usable by the greatest number of people. The system has problems, but it's by far the most popular RPG there is. I'll be going far more in-depth will all of these rules in the appropriate sections, but this should give you some basic ideas what's to come.

Class-Based Defense Bonus: This works just as described in Unearthed Arcana. Every class base a base defense bonus that they can apply to their AC if they are not wearing armour.

Armour as DR: As an incentive to wear armour, armour now provides a damage reduction bonus to a player. Although this works like described in Unearthed Arcana, since there are entirely new sets of armour for use in this setting, the numbers won’t work exactly as written. In addition, if you’re wearing armour, you get the whole kit and kaboodle. You lose your class-based defence bonus. Some classes will rely on the armour bonus and have a low class defence bonus, while other classes will have a great class bonus and expect the character not to rely on armour. On this note, proficiency in armour and weapons is a much bigger deal in this setting.

Vitality Points and Wound Points: The Vitality Point/Wound Point system is in use, almost exactly as written in Unearthed Arcana. This replaces the normal hit point system.

Injuries: An addition to the vitality points and wound points, a player can choose to take injuries which represent long-lasting penalties in place of wound damage. Classes are also generally more fragile than normal, and combat in general is more dangerous. Players are encouraged in this setting to search for alternate or out-of-the-box solutions to problems instead of just running into combat.

Changes to Skills and Feats: Skills are different. Each skill has been reviewed, and possibly altered or adjusted. Many of the changes will be obvious, but each use of each skill has been examined. Most of the feats in the SRD have been rewritten to be more impressive or to scale, and they'll be reprinted as well.

Alignment: There isn't any. While Fae organize themselves into one of four courts that share various biological traits and ideals, that's the closest anyone in the setting comes to having actual alignment. Infernals pretty closely fit the mortal idea of Ultimate Evil but from the Infernal point of view mortals are basically ants, and they're not entirely wrong. It's too hard to get worked up over killing ants. Whatever you decide about the morality of the various factions, organizations, races, and beings in this setting, there certainly aren't any mechanical effects that depend on an arbitrary outside judgment of morality and ethics.

No Traditional Magic: There is definitely magic in the setting, but not of the Vancian variety. There are no spell slots or levels as you would normally think of them. There's also almost no recovery magic to emphasize the danger of the setting and the seriousness of injury. However, to make the most of having access to OGL SRD material, some abilities and effects may reference spell effects for purposes of brevity.

No WBL: This most sweeping change ties in with the last one. With no normal magic, there are also no normal magic items. There are new rules for crafting mundane items, and every character can expect a certain amount of such things (although at a certain point you don't actually have to track things like that anymore). But traditional WBL, as in having expectations of a certain amount of wealth and magic items at a given point, is gone. There are a few reasons for this, primarily to make the characters more interesting on their own merits, and less dependent on their gear to achieve their 'coolness' factor. In addition, this means that the characters can spend the wealth they accumulate on things that they would actually spend massive amounts of wealth on, such as their pleasure palaces or buying a personal army or having an enormous pile of gold coins to sleep on.

Magic items still exist, but only in two forms. Some classes have the ability to create special items, such as the arcanitect, and in this case the magic items are their actual class features. In this case the magic items are typically only usable by the class that creates them, although in some circumstances they can teach others to use them as well. But these things are still unique to the character, and cannot be purchased on the open market.

Other magic items are unique and cannot be mass produced. These are things like weapons enchanted by the fae eons ago or armour worn by an Infernal lord. These are almost always unique to the campaign, and while many of them will have stats provided for them, these are literally things that money can't buy. There is not an amount of money that you can provide to Iblees to exchange for his magical staff (if you know what I mean). The only way to get a true magic item in this setting is to find it or seize it. But now magic items are back where they've always belonged: in the hands of the DM. This might seem like it removes player agency, and it does. But the benefit for the campaign is that magic items become more memorable, more interesting, more relevant, and more exciting.

Two Tiers of Play: Mechanically, this makes no difference. But you'll find that material in this setting is divided into two seperate 'tiers' of play, called Heroic and Royal. The difference between these tiers is subtle, but has to do with the kinds of abilities that players receive and the challenges they're expected to overcome. Heroic tier games are probably what you're most familiar with, involving traditional dungeon crawls or explorations. Royal tier play focuses on world-affecting play, and things that are at a higher scale in general. This is the kind of level where you can lead armies, get a flying pirate ship, rule a kingdom, and have other kinds of adventures where you affect the entire campaign setting.

This change is all about creating a tangible difference between low level characters and high level characters. Some campaigns, indeed a majority of them, will take place entirely inside of the heroic tier. But the setting is set up to allow for a higher level of play where characters are able to actually interact with the world and do things high level characters are supposed to be able to do.

What This Setting is All About

Right, so again there will be more about the history of the world, the places to explore, and so on later. This is mostly to give you some background so you don't feel totally lost as you read.

The world of North by North is, as mentioned, an unholy cross between D&D, westerns, and high seas adventure. The campaign setting is centered around the seven magnetic poles which wander the arctic circle of the main continent. This was the battleground for an ancient war between the unknowable Fae and the diabolical Infernals.

The war was eventually ended when mortals managed to trap the monsters of the Pit, and the power they harnessed from them allowed a mighty mortal empire which covered the main continent. For thousands of years the empire of the rakshasa ruled and the rest of the mortal races were either marginalized into fringe nations that weren't worth conquering or forced into slavery.

In recent history, this all changed. The trapped Infernals broke free from the prisons of the rakshasa and laid waste to them, reducing their empire to a frozen wasteland. Now the other races are beginning to explore the ruins of their former overlords and are discovering primal forces which can be harnessed. Seven magnetic poles circle through the iceland, shining with auroric light that can manipulate primal energies beyond mortal ken.

All of the mortal nations are eager to seize this new power for themselves, but the territory has been laid to waste by the escaped Infernals and millenia of hard use by the rakshasa. The land is hostile, the conditions brutal, but the rewards could be enough to allow one of the lesser mortal races an advantage over the others. Adventurers come from all over the mortal world to explore the waste and discover what secrets remain for them to plunder.

Meanwhile, the Fae are stirring from an age old civil war between their four Courts and have noticed that their ancient enemy is free once more. Their incursions in the mortal realm have increased as they send scouts in preparation for a new reckoning. The Infernals are marshalling their strength from inside their stronghold of the Pit, a desolate place of enternal damnation where they feed off of mortal souls. In short, the powers of the realms beyond are moving once more. If mortals are to survive this second war they will need to not only master the magics of their old rulers but to also find a way to work together against their common enemies. One way or another the players will be able to tip the balance, but in what direction?

[Kellus]

Atlas

Cosmology

http://i51.tinypic.com/16h9aw4.jpg

The world of North By North is set in the mortal Realm known as Bruma. This Realm is the largest of the three known physical Realms and the most removed from the single Source of all magic. On Bruma the physical laws as we know them mostly apply. There is a constant source of gravity, heat, light, and so on. As you descend into the other Realms, however, these things don't necessarily hold true.

Cosmologically speaking, the universe is split into three primary Realms roughly analogous to Planes in other settings. They are arrayed in an inverse pyramid, with the mortal Realm of Bruma being the largest physically and the Infernal Pit being the smallest. Physical proportions break as you step into lower Realms, and small distances covered in Fae or the Pit can move you massive distances relative to Bruma.

At the bottom of the cosmological pyramid is the Source, the singularity from which all magic flows. As magic flows upwards through the Realms it's diffused like light through a prism, and refined into its composite elements. Practically speaking, this means that the Realm closest to the Source, the Pit, is full of wild and primal magic, whereas by the time magic reaches Bruma it has been diffused into seven spectral composite elements which represent the seven primary elements of the mortal Realm. In general, the closer you get to the Source the more the physical laws break down and the more malleable reality becomes. Infernals can reshape their demesnes in the Pit to their liking with nothing but concentrated thought.

Although there are three commonly known Realms, planar scholars have long theorized the existence of twelve higher Realms arrayed above Bruma. These Pillars are seen in the night sky above the mortal Realm, and represent a further refinement of magic into its constituent elements. In theory, each Pillar follows the same progression of size of the lower Realms, and are finite in dimensions but infinite on the interior. This essentially means that while each Pillar takes up a real location in the cosmos, inside of that pillar there is nothing but an infinite reserve of the corresponding magical element. This theory was recently (within the last few generations) validated when human arcanitects were able to make contact with the Forge, an infinite source of elemental fire. But more on that later.

The Four Corners of Fae

The world of Fae is strange and alien to mortals. Time is extremely subjective there, and morning and night are more geographical in nature and have nothing to do with time. The entire Realm is magical in nature, and things like weather, terrain, and even the flora and fauna are influenced by the Four Corners. In each of the corners of the Realm is established a Fae Court, Summer and Winter, Day and Night. Each of these Courts is old beyond memory, and utterly unchanging. The Realm as a whole is incredibly conservative, since the fae royalty is the same now as they were millenia ago. The different courts may achieve small victories over another, but in the long run they are essentially at the same impasse that they were at five thousand years ago.

Each Fae Court has a king and queen after a fashion, and typically the king takes care of interrealm matters while the queen takes care of the civil war between Courts.

The Day Court: The Day Court is a quasi-medieval court where the royalty lives in splendour. They have a court of actual noble fae who spend their time entertaining the King and Queen and protecting them from the other fae courts. The Day Court is the embodiment of freedom, honour, and sportsmanship.

The Day Court agent race in Bruma are the huldra. These are faelings who have assumed mortal bodies and are now tied to the mortal trees and sun instead of the Fae Light like their kin. Like the other fae mortal races, the huldra were originally intended as ambassadors and spies for the Day Court in the world above. Unfortunately, their mortal forms have corrupted them, and most huldra exult in the physical sensations and stimulations that are far more powerful than those in Fae. Huldra tend to live apart and in the wild, preferring the woods and the trees to interaction with barbaric humanoid races.

Gwyn ap Nudd is the Day King. He rules the court and entertains himself by pitting the Day nobles against each other in attempts to gain his favour. His closest companions are his knights, and his favourite pursuit is the Wild Hunt, where they ride out into the mortal realm to hunt people down and kill any Night fae they come across.

Gloriana is the queen of the Day Court. Unlike most of the fae, she's actually pretty nice, because her whole thing is that she embodies all of the heavenly virtues. She has seven handmaidens who each embody one of them, and she's the most virtuous of all. Like all the queens, she runs the Fae war campaign for her Court. She's most fervent in murdering Night fae, who she sees as an abomination. Sometimes she sends the Wild Hunt out to take out some Night fae, although her and her husband's reasons for hating the Night Court are pretty different. She hates the Night fae because they murder people and drink their blood. Her husband objects to the way they hunt them, by stealing their bodies. He doesn't feel it's sporting.

The Day Court is composed of both beasts and humanoid fey, and their breeding program is one of their most famed exploits. The Horsemaster is probably the second most important fae in the court (after the King) even if he's not technically ranked that high. Many of the beast fae can assume a human Seeming to interact with the rest of the court.

There are many different kinds of Day fae, and all of them exude sunlight. Many of them are intelligent beasts who can take on a humanoid Seeming for the court or to blend in mortalside. There are various ways to see through their disguise, such as by examining the tracks such fae leave behind. More than one Day fae has been given away by leaving paw prints in mud instead of bootprints. Day fae draw their power from the sun, which shines perpetually over their Corner. They're considerably weakened when deprived of their energy source, and their illusions fall apart in darkness.

Day fae are primarily opposed to the Night Court, which steals mortal bodies and eats them alive. Believing very much in fair play and right and wrong (from a certain point of view) the Day fae will hunt down those who break the arbitrary laws they declare. Day fae find the Summer Court lazy and indolent, and the Winter Court distasteful. They don't hate either of them to the degree that they clash with Night, but they're certainly not on good terms with them.

The Night Court: The Night Court is the spookiest of all of the Fae courts. Its members and nobility are mostly ghostly incorporeal spirits. They can only experience the mortal world by seizing mortal bodies and making them puppets. They have a thing for blood and other vital fluids, but any experience with them is typically fatal for the mortal involved. Although they try to keep such things from spreading, there is a vast folklore about their tactics and weaknesses that mortals use to protect themselves.

The strigala represent the Night Court in Bruma, which are Night fae that own a body of their own. Being somewhere in between mortal and fae, strigala are intended to act as intermediaries and scouts for the Night Court. The plan sort of fell through since strigala are even more reliant on mortal blood than their immortal kin. Most strigala are too busy hunting mortals to do much active work on behalf of their Court.

Night fae move up in ranks by feasting on mortals and weirdly enough also by assimilating other Night fae. This constant eat or be eaten mentality is one of the factors that makes the Night fae population managable, considering the rate that Raja Jinn Peri pumps new ones out.

The Night King is Raja Jinn Peri, a terrible spirit who enters the bodies of massive hunting animals. He has an entire division of fae whose whole purpose is to go mortalside, steal the bodies of beautiful girls and walk them back to the Night Palace where they surrender the bodies so that Raja Jinn Peri can have his way with them, drink their blood, and dispose of their corpse on his throne. After destroying a victim their anitu leaves their body and creates a new Night fae.

Queen Rangda is technically the Queen of the Night Court, but she is incredibly ugly and withered, and has no real power. Most of the time she sits around and complains a lot while Raja Jinn Peri steals and murders girls by the truckload. She does take care of the war against the other Courts, and she has a division of Night fey known as the pari-pari under her command, which are unique in that they can only enter the bodies of other fae.

Night fae have various weaknesses which are possible to exploit. They are bothered by sunlight, repelled by garlic, and their reflection reveals their true nature. If you show the reflection of a Night fae to themself, it chases them from the body. This is mitigated in Fey, where there are no reflections.

Night fae are primarily opposed to the Day Court, which is philosophically opposed to the way Night fae use mortals to sustain themselves. The Night Court mostly likes to be left alone so they can steal mortals and feed them to their king. The Day Court very much doesn't want to let them do this, not because they care about mortal lives, but because they disagree with the way the Night Court steals their bodies. It's not sporting. Summer fey find Night fae distasteful, and strike back brutally when the Night fae infringe on their territory or decide to knock off a couple Summer fae out for a stroll. Winter fae are the closest thing to allies that Night fae have, but they prefer the sweet cold embrace of death to sticking themselves inside of bodies and sucking all the juices out. While they occasionally scuffle over particular victims or land disputes, both armies recognize that they have more important enemies.

The Summer Court:

The Winter Court:

Geography

History

Map

Mythology

The Pit

Religion

Society and Civilization

The Source

Some Important Places

[Kellus]

Reserved for future use (New Rules)

[Kellus]

Races

Adjiri

"You shouldn't feel bad that you're uglier than me, stupider than me, less graceful than me and less wealthy than me. You shouldn't feel bad that I live in luxury without having worked a day in my life. You shouldn't even feel bad that I'll be alive long after your frail human bones have crumbled into dust. What you should feel bad about is that your wife is under the table right now."

The adjiri are half-fey born from mortals and djinni from the Summer Court. Although they're intended to serve as agents and intermediaries for Summer, the plan sort of fell apart when the adjiri turned out to have all the indolence and sloth of the Summer fae. These days adjiri generally stay out of civilized society and keep to themselves, indulging in mortal pleasures and experiencing everything life has to offer.

Personality: Basically, adjiri are kind of annoyingly awesome. They're great at everything they do, and don't really have any flaws. An adjiri is stronger and more handsome than a human, and they know they'll live for hundreds of years without needing anything like food or water to survive. They generally think they're better than everyone else, and the annoying this is that they're usually right.

Physical Description: An adjiri is well-muscled without any particular effort, and always has tawny tan skin even if they never spend a day outside in their long lives. One interesting thing that scholars have noticed about the adjiri is that even though they're always incredibly beautiful, they're forms actually change as mortal ideas of beauty evolve. Presumably a side-effect of their Summer bloodline, adjiri are always beautiful to behold no matter who's doing the looking.

Relations: Adjiri don't really mesh well with the lifestyles of other mortals. Thanks to their fae blood they don't really have the same pressing day-to-day concerns of most people over, say, getting enough food. They live for hundreds of years, and spend most of it loafing around and having orgies. If they weren't so aloof from society as a rule, they'd probably be running the show. Adjiri prospered under the rule of the rakshasa, since they had no stake in the lands the tiger lords wanted to rule. They mostly weathered the empire's rule in their ancestral home of Alathann.

Language: Adjiri speak Common, and the older ones will know Summertongue as well. The younger adjiri who are more recently born are further removed from their fae forefathers and are usually a little more integrated into mortal society. They're more likely to know some of the other humanoid tongues.

Adventurers: Most adjiri who set off to have adventures are either trying to spice things up a little from their normal tedium or simply enjoy showing off to the lesser humanoid races. Although some of them might have nobler reasons, the vast majority of adventurer adjiri are just doing it as a lark. Many adjiri adventurers take the easy road to power, and borrow magical talent from external sources by becoming bargainers. In general an adjiri always takes the route of action which will cause the least stress or inconvenience for themselves.

Racial Features
Humanoid (Extraplanar): Adjiri are native to Fae.
+2 Str, +2 Cha: Adjiri are very strong and charismatic, everything the average human wishes he was but isn't.
Medium: As Medium creatures, adjiri have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Speed: Adjiri have a base land speed of 30ft.
Beautiful Visage (Sp): An adjiri can create a mirage which allows it to look pretty much however it pleases. An adjiri can use disguise self as a spell-like ability once per day per HD (until they reach 5 HD, when they can use it at-will).
Fluid Fighter (Ex): Adjiri are graceful fighters, and they make swordplay look easy. An adjiri gains either Power Attack or Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat at character creation. They also gain the ability to treat one-handed weapons as light weapons or light weapons as one-handed weapons, whichever is more beneficial to them at the time.
Immortal Heritage (Su): Adjiri don't need food or water to survive, although many adjiri enjoy the tastes and flavours of food and eat regularly for enjoyment.
Slow Starter (Ex): Adjiri have a hard time taking threats seriously because of their racial mentality. Whether it's laziness or bravado, an adjiri takes a -4 penalty on all initiative checks.
Automatic Language: Common
Bonus Languages: Alathi, Summertongue, Old Infernal
Favoured Class: Bargainer

Bennu

Bennu

"I've lived countless lives before this and faced foes so mighty they make you look like a summer breeze. And I'd tell you all about those times, if I could just remember any of them."

The bennu are a bird-headed race of mortals connected to the ancient bennu bird, or phoenix. They're short-lived, but if they achieve what they know as purification during their lifetimes, they are reborn in fire when they die, and receive another lifetime. Thus every bennu seeks a way to prove himself through adventure and grand exploits. Purification of the soul requires great challenges and great sacrifice, and is not for the faint of heart.

Personality: The bennu is a tragic race, because the only way to make a new bennu is to undergo rebirth. Since not every bennu achieves purification in their lifetime, their numbers continually shrink and the race as a whole is endangered. Every bennu is born in fire without memories of their past lives, but when they become an adult they are traditionally presented with a collection of stories of their previous exploits for them to live up to. Benue are eager adventurers, because proving their worth and earning glory is the only way to ensure the continuation of the race.

Physical Description: Bennu look like humans with the head of a heron. They have a beak in place of a mouth and feathers often grow all over their bodies. Nobody's entirely sure if or how bennu actually reproduce, because as long as anyone can remember the only way there have even been new bennu has been when an old bennu bursts into flame. Bennu sometimes have vestigial wings, but they can't fly with them.

Relations: The bennu get along well with other races, but mostly because they avoid pointless conflict at all costs. Unlike virtually every other race the bennu cannot afford needless bloodshed, because there's a finite number of them. The bennu were mostly ignored by the rakshasa, and during their rule they fled the warzones for the fringes of the empire. Nobody really knows where the bennu first came from, but there are legends of them arriving in ships from across the ocean. Despite several attempts to seek out the ancestral homeland, no bennu have been able to find a trace of their origin. They are, however, accomplished sailors, as at home on the sea as they are on solid ground. In more recent times with the invention of iceships the bennu have taken to the vessels with a passion, and there are no better crewmen to be found.

Language: Bennu often have trouble pronouncing the sounds of words in the Common language, but they can make themselves understood well enough. They have their own language, Benn, which is much more suited to their physiology. Unfortunately, while other races can learn to understand it the language is almost impossible to speak without a beak to make the proper whistles and trills.

Adventurers: A strange dichotomy faces the bennu: in order to survive they need to seek out grand adventurer and purify their soul, but if a bennu dies before that point the race as a whole suffers. Bennu are brave, but never foolhardy, and rarely reckless. They will accept and even look for challenges to prove themselves, but they never leap before they look.

Racial Features
Humanoid
+2 Dex, -2 Con: A bennu is quick and agile in nature, but weak. They don't have as hardy a constitution as most races, which means they need to solve most problems by outthinking them instead of facing them straight on.
Medium: As Medium creatures, bennu have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Speed: Bennu have a base land speed of 30ft.
Gliding (Ex): Bennu can use their birdlike traits to their advantage, catching the wind with their vestigial wings. When they fall, they can choose to move 20ft. horizontally for every 5ft. they fall. A bennu takes damage from falls as if they were half their actual height.
Great Ally (Ex): Bennu work exceptionally well with their allies. When successfully aided on a skill check or attack roll by an ally, or when aiding another, a bennu applies or gains a +3 bonus on its check or attack roll (instead of the normal +2 bonus). Furthermore, a bennu gains a +4 bonus on attack rolls against an opponent flanked by an ally (instead of the normal +2 bonus).
Heart of Fire (Su): Being blessed with the heat of the phoenix, a bennu stays warm even in the coldest of environments. Bennu are immune to effects from cold temperatures.
Purification (Su): When a bennu achieves 10 HD they can undergo purification, which requires them to explode into flames. This is a full-round action that deals 100 fire damage to everything within 100ft. of the bennu, and can only be performed once (Reflex save DC 15 + the bennu's Constitution modifier for half damage). The bennu's health is fully restored, and any injuries they might have are removed. They can also select one of the following benefits to be reborn with
Ability Boost: The bennu can add +2 to one of their ability scores as an untyped permanent bonus.
Soul Flame (Su): The bennu's soul burns brighter than any fire. Mundane flames pale before his inner glow. The bennu gains immunity to fire damage.
Wings (Ex): The bennu's wings develop fully, allowing them the gift of flight. They gain a fly speed of 40ft. (average maneuverability).
Skills: A bennu has a +4 racial bonus on Climb and Use Rope checks thanks to them spending so much time on ships.
Automatic Language: Benn, Common
Bonus Languages: Any
Favoured Class: Corsair

Buthids

Cambions

Huldra

Humans

Igni

Imocari

Lycanolox

Nanuqi

Quicklings

Strigala

Vital Statistics

[Kellus]

Reserved for future use (Heroic Tier Classes)

[Kellus]

Reserved for future use (Royal Tier Classes)

[Kellus]

Reserved for future use (Magic)

[Kellus]

Reserved for future use (Extra Options)

[Kellus]

Reserved for future use (Iconic Villains)

[Kellus]

Reserved for future use (Fae Nobility)

[Kellus]

Reserved for future use (Lesser Sins)

[Kellus]

Reserved for future use (Most Monsters)

[Kellus]

Reserved for future use (What's Worse)

[Kellus]

Reserved for future use (Dungeon Master's Aid)

[Pokonic]

Well, this looks good! Also,how powerful are Royal Tier classes compared to the Heroic classes?

[Kellus]

Well, this looks good! Also,how powerful are Royal Tier classes compared to the Heroic classes?

Good question. It depends what you mean by more powerful. Royal tier classes receive abilities that are broader in scope than Heroic tier classes, but not necessarily more powerful. Almost everybody in the world as far as NPCs go fall into the Heroic tier, and the Royal tier is reserved for the people that really matter and can change the world.

The best way I've found to explain it is this: one of the Heroic tier classes is the gunslinger. He's got a few things he can do, like pull off fancy trick shots and intercept attacks and he even gets some prestige that he can spread around to make himself more famous. But at the end of the day, his entire character concept can be summed up by "has a gun". That's entirely okay for the Heroic tier, because that's enough for the kinds of adventures that are common there (dungeon crawls, mysteries, and generally typical D&D 3.5 stuff). But when you enter into the Royal tier it really makes no difference to people who are also in that tier how good with a gun you personally might be. Far more important are the resources under your control, land you own, armies you can marshal and lead, your ability to move between Realms, your ties in the Fae courts, Infernal servants you command, and so on. The Royal tier is bigger than any one character's personal power.

If you want to go strictly by numbers, one Royal tier character is worth about 50 Heroic tier characters in a fight, which makes them incredibly powerful. But they're also incredibly rare, and it's much cheaper and easier to hire and train 50 common soldiers than it is to enlist even one Royal character to your cause. A Royal character continues to advance his Heroic abilities, since every ability for every class is based off of Hit Dice and not Class Level (as well as to facilitate multiclassing inside tiers). But the new abilities and talents that a Royal tier character receives are geared towards a different kind of play altogether.

The setting will be introducing rules for regular combat, naval combat, social combat (for realz), mass combat, and vehicular combat that make sense and mesh together with the setting. A Heroic tier can fight in regular combat, and maybe touch on naval and social. Royal tier characters go beyond that and can lead mass combats, change the landscape of the world with social combat, lead armadas of snowships through the icescape, and generally have adventures with a broader scope and more far-reaching consequences.

When I get to that part I'll have 20 sample adventures that are appropriate for each tier to give people an idea of what kinds of things are normal for campaigns at that point. It's also worth mentioning that a lot of campaigns will take place entirely inside of the Heroic tier, and that's totally okay and expected. High level play doesn't see much use in the rules right now, but this setting is prepared for people that can actually get things done.

[Pokonic]

Oh, sounds very interesting.A tier for more traditional play and one for more far-reaching games. Interesting. Also,the faction you call the Infernals,are they a combination of all the evil outsiders or are they something original?

[Kellus]

Oh, sounds very interesting.A tier for more traditional play and one for more far-reaching games. Interesting. Also,the faction you call the Infernals,are they a combination of all the evil outsiders or are they something original?

The Infernals use a lot of the same source material as tanar'ri and baatezu, but they're entirely seperate. They have different breeds and characteristics from the traditional evil outsiders, but they are still Outsiders. They're also significantly more powerful for the most part, and there are less of them. When they travel to the mortal Realm they're usually worshipped as gods. They're most appropriate as actual enemies in the Royal tier, but their influence can be felt long before that.

Glad you're interested! There's going to be a lot more going up over the next little while!

[Pokonic]

Oh, fantastic! Also, yet another question. About the fey courts: do they have individual, uniqe leaders, or are they more of a general group of fey races that war between one another? Never mind, text got updated.

I am patiently awaiting for the angelic casts to get done!:smallwink:

[Kellus]

Oh, fantastic! Also, yet another question. About the fey courts: do they have individual, uniqe leaders, or are they more of a general group of fey races that war between one another?


I am still waiting for the angelic casts to get done!:smallwink:

This is great, you're asking the questions in the same order I was planning to put the material up in. :smallsmile:

The basic information on the Night Court is finished, and should give you a pretty good idea what the organization of the Fae is like. The other Courts will be up soon, starting with Night's prime enemy of Day.

As for angels, I'm afraid you might be in for quite a wait. :smallwink:

[Pokonic]

Arg, rendered pointless by that stupid thing called time! My questions are meaningless!:smalltongue:

Also, I am a patient person. Very patient.

[Mulletmanalive]

Thing i'm most interested in is your take on social combat; i look forard to comparing notes [mine needs some tweaking in light of playtesting]