Looking for a little campaign planning help

[Emperor Tippy]

So I'm preparing to run a campaign where the characters are all Elan's and Psions (and possibly Psychic Warriors) are the only allowed classes. The basic idea is that the players are in a world that is mostly pre-civilization; there is the odd city but those are relatively rare and none of them are unified. Maybe a dozen places on the entire planet have a population in excess of 20,000. Arcane Magic is limited to the very rare sorcerer (everyone of them is the first or second generation descendant of a creature with natural casting and their parent race pairing) and the odd warlock who has managed to either sell their soul to something else for power or acquire their power using some other method, if the PC's want to be wizards they will have to develop the art whole cloth by studying creatures with natural casting, Sorcerers, and Warlocks. Divine Magic is limited as the gods are *very* weak thanks to every city basically having it's own Parthenon; druids are by far the most common casting class on the planet and they are still very rare.

The PC's arrive in the world with no real knowledge of their past. OOC their society is a highly advanced, multiversal, Empire based on Psionics (the reason for this and not magic is that Psionics are truly universal across the mutiverse while magic can vary quite widely, to the point where a level 20 wizard in one verse needs to virtually reinvent the art and start over to be able to do magic in another verse) and as their coming of age rite individuals undergo and improved Elanification rite that comes with straight 18's for their stats, Elan Repletion, Resilience, and Resistance as bonus feats, and a Psionic Tongues ability. In addition they get a general data dump (so that, for example, they know what Beer is) that is lacking in knowledge about them or their parent society and an hardwired, implanted, compulsion to conquer and unite the world they are on (and if successful a hidden knowledge cache in their minds will unlock and let them know about the Empire) and an instinctive trust in and caring for other Elans.

So the PC's basically appear in common clothes in the middle of nowhere on this planet and they must conquer it. The world has limited magic items, very limited civilization, and a hell of a lot of virgin death world wilderness.

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I'm sure that I already know most of the potential problems and what to look out for but it never hurts to be thorough so please mention and potential problems or pitfalls that you see. Oh, starting level is 1 or 2 (I haven't decided yet).

[Kaje]

You say that psions and psywars are the only allowed classes due to other forms of magic being rare. What about non-magical classes?

[Emperor Tippy]

You say that psions and psywars are the only allowed classes due to other forms of magic being rare. What about non-magical classes?

Not allowed, they exist around the world for the PC's to interact with and I'm debating between a few mechanics for letting them gain some abilities through in-story training and the like but the PC's are going to be Elan Psions with the Psi Warrior powers added to the Psion Powers list, and with one extra power known per level that must come from the Psi Warrior list.

[Dimers]

Sounds like WBL would be hard to justify, if there's so little in the way of manufactured goods in the world. And if you don't use standard WBL, they'll need to know that for purposes of item creation feats. They might still be expecting otherwise by the time they hit 3rd level and can take Craft Universal Item. You should probably be ready for the party to try harvesting EVERYTHING.

Might also be the case that they'll want to pick up minions sooner or later. Thrallherd and Leadership are both obvious choices, but a player might also ask you about turning a local into an Elan. Are you going to let them know or develop a ritual?

Should also be prepared for the players who think they just HAVE to have a lurk or mantle power RIGHT AWAY and/or without "wasting a feat" to get it.

Sounds like a fun premise!

[Malachei]

Why would an advanced civilization invest so heavily (feats, memory, stats straight 18s) in the preparation of potential conquerers and then send them out as 1st or 2nd level characters?

The risk of losing the resources would be much higher than dropping higher-level characters. Even if they are only, let's say, 6th level, survival rate would be much higher.

Unless, of course, implementing the feats, straight 18 ability scores and memory modification is no big deal, in which case the question is why the empire does not already rule most of the planets or does not drop a larger number of characters as units.

[Gavinfoxx]

Hmmm... Pantheon, not Parthenon.

What about Ardents and Psychic Rogues and Wilders and other psionic classes?

I once did a thought experiment for what a particular type of stone age world would be like...

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163569

I dunno if that would help... but I was thinking of people that got a data dump on a pristine world. I mostly thought that this would be a good way to do the exotic types of wood as iron or mithral replacements...

[Dimers]

Why would an advanced civilization invest so heavily (feats, memory, stats straight 18s) in the preparation of potential conquerers and then send them out as 1st or 2nd level characters?

I expect they've far surpassed the need to conquer more planets. This is probably for natural selection -- improving the species by only allowing the most successful to continue. It's not genetic, for elan, but it's still a process that weeds out the weak and retains the survivors.

[Emperor Tippy]

Sounds like WBL would be hard to justify, if there's so little in the way of manufactured goods in the world.
Part of the reason for the upgrades I'm giving out is the limited availability of magic. I also have a planned method of handling most of the magic item needs. The players can undergo psionic rituals that just happen to cost half as much XP as a given magic item's market price and just happens to give them that items ability as an unslotted, permanent, ability of their own. Take the Headband of Intellect +6, it's been replaced with an Intelligence Improvement ritual that costs 18,000 XP.

Bags of Holding and the like have been refluffed as hammer space.


And if you don't use standard WBL, they'll need to know that for purposes of item creation feats. They might still be expecting otherwise by the time they hit 3rd level and can take Craft Universal Item. You should probably be ready for the party to try harvesting EVERYTHING.
Oh, the players will be informed of all of this.


Might also be the case that they'll want to pick up minions sooner or later. Thrallherd and Leadership are both obvious choices, but a player might also ask you about turning a local into an Elan. Are you going to let them know or develop a ritual?
Nah, Leadership is banned; probably Thrallherd as well. The PC's will have to RP getting followers and using them. And no, the PC's have no idea how to Elanify someone.


Should also be prepared for the players who think they just HAVE to have a lurk or mantle power RIGHT AWAY and/or without "wasting a feat" to get it.
Pff, a large swath of those are being banned. Complete Psi is only in play as an explicit approval required source, they have to ask for anything they want to use from that and I have to specifically approve it (I hate that book).


Sounds like a fun premise!
Thanks.


Why would an advanced civilization invest so heavily (feats, memory, stats straight 18s) in the preparation of potential conquerers and then send them out as 1st or 2nd level characters?
Because it's really not an investment for them. This is the standard Elanification package for the Empire. And what the ritual was created the people doing the creating at the time didn't think anyone was worthy until they proved themselves, so they added in a random plane shift to a randomly chosen prime material plane for the targets. Evey Elan who returns to the Empire is inevitably a level 20 or so Psion (often higher and with exceptional other abilities) and has conquered a world on their own merits; it's just about the best test of worth that could be devised.


The risk of losing the resources would be much higher than dropping higher-level characters. Even if they are only, let's say, 6th level, survival rate would be much higher.
They really don't care, so what if only one in a hundred thousand makes it back; they dump tens of millions a year out into the multiverse.


Unless, of course, implementing the feats, straight 18 ability scores and memory modification is no big deal, in which case the question is why the empire does not already rule most of the planets or does not drop a larger number of characters as units.
The Empire does rule billions of worlds and planes, it's just that it is an infinite multiverse with an infinite number of prime material planes with their associated planes. And the *only* constant across all of those planes is the existence of Sigil with the Lady of Pain inside (Sigil really is the fulcrum upon which creation rests and it is the true center of *everything*, and the Lady of Pain is the true creator god)

If the party fails to conquer the world, well eventually another party will be sent along to try again.


Hmmm... Pantheon, not Parthenon.
*shrug* spell check got me.


What about Ardents and Psychic Rogues and Wilders and other psionic classes?
Not for the PC's.

I once did a thought experiment for what a particular type of stone age world would be like...

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163569

I dunno if that would help... but I was thinking of people that got a data dump on a pristine world. I mostly thought that this would be a good way to do the exotic types of wood as iron or mithral replacements...[/QUOTE]
I'll give it a look.


I expect they've far surpassed the need to conquer more planets. This is probably for natural selection -- improving the species by only allowing the most successful to continue. It's not genetic, for elan, but it's still a process that weeds out the weak and retains the survivors.
Mostly true. The Elan have a natural drive to learn, master, and advance. They conquer worlds to learn new things and improve themselves. And yes, it's primarily done to ensure that every Elan in the Empire is smart enough, lucky enough, and capable enough to hold their position. These people are the ruling class of a multiversal empire made up of billions of worlds and trillions of sentient beings; they must be the best if they want to succeed and thrive.