Mr. Badguy
2014-04-12, 06:41 PM
Wasn't sure if this should go in Homebrew, since it deals with a custom campaign setting, or here in the 3.5e section, since it's mainly focused on changing some mechanics regarding classes and races. I apologize in advance if I botched on this one, and if that is the case, any mod who comes across this thread is free to move it to the correct subforum or however else a mistake like this is handled. Sorry for the inconvenience in such a case.
Anyways, with that bit of covering my posterior out of the way, let's get to the meat of the issue, shall we? Basically, the gist of it is that I'm putting together my own campaign setting to run in Pathfinder. It's my first campaign, it's my first time DMing, and on top of that, I haven't played a game of D&D in years, and the group is gonna be comprised entirely of new/novice players. But I like to think I've retained enough that I can handle a rather basic campaign, with some help from the folks romping around the Playground.
Now, without boring you guys to tears, I'll give you a brief rundown of what I've got for this campaign, fluff-wise, so that you have context to go off of. The setting is the world of Illyria, having been literally dreamed up by a sleeping goddess sometime before the first millennium. This goddess also dreamed up the rest of the pantheon to aid her in populating the world with animals, as well as the mortal races. At least, this is the accepted story amongst the elves, dwarves and humans. Orcs have their own pantheon and creation story, halflings have their own pantheon and creation story, and gnomes... well, nobody really knows where the bloody hell gnomes came from or who they worship.
Now, I've sorta flipped the roles with the elves and dwarves, if only to avoid my players running off the usual preconceptions of those races. Dwarves, instead of being ale-swilling, thick-bearded mountain dwellers who are world-renowned for their smithwork and greed, live above ground in the middle of the desert, and are the most magically-attuned of the setting, with many of the best wizards and sorcerers being dwarves (though all races have the potential for magical aptitude). Elves aren't the usual nigh-immortal, wise masters of the magical arts that you usually find. Their culture is highly militant and pious, and are famous for their royal paladins, inventions, and the weapons and armor that they smith.
Those are the big ones, in terms of changes to the races. I'm allowing orcs to be a playable race, and I'm not going to say in-universe that they're big, dumb uncivilized types that only know how to pillage and burn. Gnomes, I plan on being from another plane entirely, and I'm gonna pull a Forgotten Realms and just say that they've been around for so long that they're basically considered native humanoids of the world, on the cosmic side of things. Halflings, I'm not really gonna touch, and I'm keeping half elves and half orcs, probably as is if I can get away with it.
So I come to the Playground for aid in determining how I should reflect these changes in terms of the statistical racial bonuses and whatnot. I've got notes for dwarves and elves jotted down, which I'll include in spoilers at the end of this post so you guys can provide feedback. As for the gnomes, as I said before, I plan on them being outsiders that have gone so native that even the cosmos itself is like, "Yeah, they're part of the world now." I also plan on them being an underground-dwelling race, so some changes may need to be made for the racial traits. So I'll take your two cents on that one. Orcs... Eh. I just don't want them to be the stupid "Usual Adversaries" types, y'know? So I'm not entirely sure what changes may need to be made, statistically.
Now, the other part of my dilemma is the classes. I don't have access to a lot of the supplemental materials for Pathfinder due to lack of funds, so I'm going to be sticking to the base classes for simplicity's sake. But from what I've heard and read, both here and elsewhere, some classes just don't cut it as much as the others, even with the changes made to them in Pathfinder (if any). Fighters and monks being the examples that spring to mind immediately. So, if you more experienced folks could impart me with knowledge of some basic fixes or optimization I could use to ensure that every basic class is a viable option, I would be appreciate it greatly. I just want my players to be able to say, "I wanna play a monk," and not be screwed over by that decision. These are new players, without any supplemental material or knowledge of how to optimize, and I don't want them to unwittingly screw themselves with class selection. Maybe I'm worrying too much, and this is some form of handholding, but I would like to nip this problem in the bud if I can.
So yeah. Any help that you guys can provide to me would be greatly appreciated, especially since is my first time taking on the daunting task of DMing. And I hope this doesn't come off as being a waste of time.
+2 to Charisma, +2 to Intelligence, -2 to Dexterity
Base speed 20ft.
Medium size
+2 to Spellcraft checks, +2 to Knowledge (Arcana) checks, and +2 to Use Magic Device
+2 bonus to attack rolls against desert dragons (Custom dragon type for the setting which I'll be putting together myself, since it's the only custom monster I'm gonna be stating out. At least, I hope..)
+2 to Dexterity, +2 to Constitution, -2 to Wisdom
Base speed 30ft.
+2 to to Appraise checks for nonmagical weapons and armor, +2 to Craft (Weapons) and Craft (Armor) checks
+2 to Perception checks
Anyways, with that bit of covering my posterior out of the way, let's get to the meat of the issue, shall we? Basically, the gist of it is that I'm putting together my own campaign setting to run in Pathfinder. It's my first campaign, it's my first time DMing, and on top of that, I haven't played a game of D&D in years, and the group is gonna be comprised entirely of new/novice players. But I like to think I've retained enough that I can handle a rather basic campaign, with some help from the folks romping around the Playground.
Now, without boring you guys to tears, I'll give you a brief rundown of what I've got for this campaign, fluff-wise, so that you have context to go off of. The setting is the world of Illyria, having been literally dreamed up by a sleeping goddess sometime before the first millennium. This goddess also dreamed up the rest of the pantheon to aid her in populating the world with animals, as well as the mortal races. At least, this is the accepted story amongst the elves, dwarves and humans. Orcs have their own pantheon and creation story, halflings have their own pantheon and creation story, and gnomes... well, nobody really knows where the bloody hell gnomes came from or who they worship.
Now, I've sorta flipped the roles with the elves and dwarves, if only to avoid my players running off the usual preconceptions of those races. Dwarves, instead of being ale-swilling, thick-bearded mountain dwellers who are world-renowned for their smithwork and greed, live above ground in the middle of the desert, and are the most magically-attuned of the setting, with many of the best wizards and sorcerers being dwarves (though all races have the potential for magical aptitude). Elves aren't the usual nigh-immortal, wise masters of the magical arts that you usually find. Their culture is highly militant and pious, and are famous for their royal paladins, inventions, and the weapons and armor that they smith.
Those are the big ones, in terms of changes to the races. I'm allowing orcs to be a playable race, and I'm not going to say in-universe that they're big, dumb uncivilized types that only know how to pillage and burn. Gnomes, I plan on being from another plane entirely, and I'm gonna pull a Forgotten Realms and just say that they've been around for so long that they're basically considered native humanoids of the world, on the cosmic side of things. Halflings, I'm not really gonna touch, and I'm keeping half elves and half orcs, probably as is if I can get away with it.
So I come to the Playground for aid in determining how I should reflect these changes in terms of the statistical racial bonuses and whatnot. I've got notes for dwarves and elves jotted down, which I'll include in spoilers at the end of this post so you guys can provide feedback. As for the gnomes, as I said before, I plan on them being outsiders that have gone so native that even the cosmos itself is like, "Yeah, they're part of the world now." I also plan on them being an underground-dwelling race, so some changes may need to be made for the racial traits. So I'll take your two cents on that one. Orcs... Eh. I just don't want them to be the stupid "Usual Adversaries" types, y'know? So I'm not entirely sure what changes may need to be made, statistically.
Now, the other part of my dilemma is the classes. I don't have access to a lot of the supplemental materials for Pathfinder due to lack of funds, so I'm going to be sticking to the base classes for simplicity's sake. But from what I've heard and read, both here and elsewhere, some classes just don't cut it as much as the others, even with the changes made to them in Pathfinder (if any). Fighters and monks being the examples that spring to mind immediately. So, if you more experienced folks could impart me with knowledge of some basic fixes or optimization I could use to ensure that every basic class is a viable option, I would be appreciate it greatly. I just want my players to be able to say, "I wanna play a monk," and not be screwed over by that decision. These are new players, without any supplemental material or knowledge of how to optimize, and I don't want them to unwittingly screw themselves with class selection. Maybe I'm worrying too much, and this is some form of handholding, but I would like to nip this problem in the bud if I can.
So yeah. Any help that you guys can provide to me would be greatly appreciated, especially since is my first time taking on the daunting task of DMing. And I hope this doesn't come off as being a waste of time.
+2 to Charisma, +2 to Intelligence, -2 to Dexterity
Base speed 20ft.
Medium size
+2 to Spellcraft checks, +2 to Knowledge (Arcana) checks, and +2 to Use Magic Device
+2 bonus to attack rolls against desert dragons (Custom dragon type for the setting which I'll be putting together myself, since it's the only custom monster I'm gonna be stating out. At least, I hope..)
+2 to Dexterity, +2 to Constitution, -2 to Wisdom
Base speed 30ft.
+2 to to Appraise checks for nonmagical weapons and armor, +2 to Craft (Weapons) and Craft (Armor) checks
+2 to Perception checks