Micro Campaign Help

[GutterFace]

So i've decided to create a small L1-5 3.5 campaign with a lot, and i mean a lot, of house rules...incoming wall o text

basically i want my players to create a character at level 3. i will have them enter the story (set in a small town, or hamlet on the edge of a bog). all Pc's will come down with a plague and be expelled to the bog. In the bog they encounter an old jar. (a brain in a jar)! upon meeting a deal is struck and the Brain agrees to "cure" them so they can reclaim their homes. i will have them undergo the rite to become Necropolitain. so now they will revert to level 1.

Here is the homebrew/house rules part...

in addition to their class i will grant each of them a bite attack as a standard action

level 1: 1 damage
level 2: 2 damage
level 3: 1d4+0 damage
level 4: 1d4+1 damage...etc

if damaged the receiver makes 2 saves, Fort Dc10+level of character, and a Will save, same save dice

if they fail fort they get -2 str, if they fail will they get -2con. if they fail both upon death there is a 50% chance for the bitten to rise as a level 1 zombie that follows the player (undead leadership a given and yet background feat)

ALSO i know necropolitan once they hit zero hp they just die...thats it. so im once again reaching...i want the fallen pc to rise as a level they died at skeleton commoner (i will work up the template). this is to keep the campaign moving and make it funny. they die a second time they resurrect as a level 1 ghost that haunts the spot they died.

the point of all of this is:

1)is this too much nonsense to add to a campaign?

2)the point of the campaign is now going to be a siege to take the town and reclaim their homes. so i need help with some ideas or strategy....ideas?

[JeminiZero]

I would start them off as level 1 Necropolitans after the ritual, rather than having them start at 3 and lose 2 levels. That sort of thing tends to screw up certain builds rather badly. Especially anything that was reliant on Con scores like Rage, Breath Weapon and Soulmelds.

Or, you could start them at level 3, but let them know before hand that they will ALL become undead, and lose 2 levels.

As for dying, there is Revive Undead (SpC 175), rather than having them become commoners.

[GutterFace]

interesting thank you


also after they roll scores and come back as Necro's i would re-allocate their Con mod to another stat probably Cha?

[Nepenthe]

The PC's refuse the ritual and kill the brain-in-a-jar. What happens now?

[Urpriest]

There's really no reason to start with the characters at level 3. Tell the players this is a zombie apocalypse campaign, from the point of view of the zombies, then start them out as Necropolitans. You can put the brain in a jar stuff in their backstory. This allows them to actually plan their classes around the campaign mechanics.