ufo
2007-03-11, 01:50 PM
I have had an idea for a setting for some time, changing alot of the classic stuff about D&D.
It's a rennaisance-like setting, with gunpowder weapons, using (until I find some good ones) the gunpowder rules in the DMG.
Looks
The world is, literally, one big, gigantic jungle, with alot of wide rivers. Most of the openings in the forest are above the roads.
Now, being a jungle doesn't mean unpopulated - far from. Lots of races wander around in great numbers. The basic playable races are these (no stats yet):
Human
Many humans specialize in flying, sailing and trading, and many are quite good at using light weapons and moving fast, but they are averagely of a weak build.
Delvun
Delvun are green humanoid creatures. They are often muscular and have a natural strong build. They are very un-charismatic, and they tend to resolve conflict via force, but they are still traders. They often specialize in heavy non-gunpowder weapon
Kudd
Kudds are small intelligent, purple humanoid creatures. They often build great cities and are nearly always responsible of many trade routes. They stand a bit over half the size of an average human man. They tend to specialize in light non-gunpowder weapons, although they rarely fight
Pello
Pellos are averagely human-sized creatures, with their skin being red-brown. They have small sharp teeth, only just extending from the mouth. They most often live in the wild, but many have still decided to move to the cities, most often as mercenaries. Along the sides of their backs, they have evolved extra bone, shielding their flesh. These places from just under the neck and down to right under the lungs have no nerves, and thus, the Pellos will not feel pain if they are hit in these places, except, of course, the bones are penetrated. Many, especially humans, find Pellos of the opposite gender very attractive.They often specialize in using light weapons of all kinds.
(The Pello might seem slightly unbalanced, but due to their wild nature they will have lots of penalties on skills such as Appraise.)
I still need one race, if you ask me, but these might suffice.
Back to the world!
In the western part of the world/forest, there are small sandy beaches, and a gigantic ocean, spanning great lengths. Noone has yet reached the end of it. Cities by the beach are extremely rare.
But to make up for that, most cities are based on, above or at the edge of the rivers, thus making river piratey very common. Another common thing is airships, mostly you for trips between cities, in the safety above the trees.
Over 70% of the cities have stone walls that reach minimum (often higher) halfway up the surrounding trees. Many cities (including almost all made by the Kudd) are very very big, and via masterwork building, many bridges are made that can actually hold buildings up, thus that cities might extend as far as a kilometre or two in the air. The most common stone used for building is granite, which is - to say the least - much stronger than in our world. This makes it a splendid sight to approach a city via airship, seeing white-grey towers and bridges, twisting kilometres in the air.
The most common weapon is proably cutlass or rapier, due to the large amount of piratey, also, heavy armours are uncommon among people not employed by an army. Survival in this world relies on extreme strength or speed. Thus dexterity-fighters would be a good choice.
Update: This world is extremely low-magic. Approximately 1 of 100.000 people is a sorceror, born with magical powers. Wizards will be replaced with an alchemist class. Rangers, paladins and cleric and other fighter/casters will get other bonuses to make up for the loss of spells. Perhaps extra feats. But cleric will probably be taken away, if you want a cleric, play a religious fighter.
Bard will probably be a hard class to play, with the loss of magic. But I'm going to add it anyway and give it some new feats and stuff, to make it a pure teamplayer.
Classes until now
Fighter
Barbarian
Sorceror (rare!)
Paladin (modified)
Ranger (modified)
Paladin (modified)
Monk
Rogue
Bard (heavily modified)
Alchemist - An alchemist is a mastermind at making alchemical mixtures, such as healing potions. A unique feature for alchemists are their ability to make special throwing potions at a low cost, so that the wounded will not have to drink, and can thus be healed while fighting. This makes alchemists a potential ally while adventuring, and most adventuring parties seek alchemists to adventure with them - often with the payment of a fair part of what they find. While not physically a challenge for enemies, an alchemist can deploy a large range of mixtures for throwing at the enemy, and should their arsenal be empty, they often have a dagger or gun by the hand, to take on enemies that get a bit too close.
Important-ish! Read-o read-o!
I ask all of you to come with suggestions, as I posted here to make it some sort of joined mini-project and because I'm too lazy to do anything myself
UPDATE! Looks part have been updated!
UPDATE! Factions! Look under this text.
First prototype factions:
The Knowing - A relatively large group of mainly rangers, but also barbarians and few others that fight to keep the number of cities and technology to a minimum. They call themselves "The Knowing", as they claim to be the only intelligent beings, as they believe that technology will be the end of all. Common names outside the group are "Tree-huggers", "Treebies" and "Technos" are just a few. (the last one only intended to provoke members of them). Members are in some cities often accused of murders, which is in more than a few cases true, as the Knowing are more than willing get rid of anyone that participates in evolving technology.
Rainwalkers Corp. - A large trading comapny. They took the name as an advertisment off that they stop at nothing in the wild jungle - not even harsh storms, which has proven to be true - a few times.
Mecchers - A relatively small group of Kudd, known for their ability to build mechanical things. Originally they had no name, but people began to call them "Mecchers" in everyday talk, and the name hung around, until declared the official name.
It's a rennaisance-like setting, with gunpowder weapons, using (until I find some good ones) the gunpowder rules in the DMG.
Looks
The world is, literally, one big, gigantic jungle, with alot of wide rivers. Most of the openings in the forest are above the roads.
Now, being a jungle doesn't mean unpopulated - far from. Lots of races wander around in great numbers. The basic playable races are these (no stats yet):
Human
Many humans specialize in flying, sailing and trading, and many are quite good at using light weapons and moving fast, but they are averagely of a weak build.
Delvun
Delvun are green humanoid creatures. They are often muscular and have a natural strong build. They are very un-charismatic, and they tend to resolve conflict via force, but they are still traders. They often specialize in heavy non-gunpowder weapon
Kudd
Kudds are small intelligent, purple humanoid creatures. They often build great cities and are nearly always responsible of many trade routes. They stand a bit over half the size of an average human man. They tend to specialize in light non-gunpowder weapons, although they rarely fight
Pello
Pellos are averagely human-sized creatures, with their skin being red-brown. They have small sharp teeth, only just extending from the mouth. They most often live in the wild, but many have still decided to move to the cities, most often as mercenaries. Along the sides of their backs, they have evolved extra bone, shielding their flesh. These places from just under the neck and down to right under the lungs have no nerves, and thus, the Pellos will not feel pain if they are hit in these places, except, of course, the bones are penetrated. Many, especially humans, find Pellos of the opposite gender very attractive.They often specialize in using light weapons of all kinds.
(The Pello might seem slightly unbalanced, but due to their wild nature they will have lots of penalties on skills such as Appraise.)
I still need one race, if you ask me, but these might suffice.
Back to the world!
In the western part of the world/forest, there are small sandy beaches, and a gigantic ocean, spanning great lengths. Noone has yet reached the end of it. Cities by the beach are extremely rare.
But to make up for that, most cities are based on, above or at the edge of the rivers, thus making river piratey very common. Another common thing is airships, mostly you for trips between cities, in the safety above the trees.
Over 70% of the cities have stone walls that reach minimum (often higher) halfway up the surrounding trees. Many cities (including almost all made by the Kudd) are very very big, and via masterwork building, many bridges are made that can actually hold buildings up, thus that cities might extend as far as a kilometre or two in the air. The most common stone used for building is granite, which is - to say the least - much stronger than in our world. This makes it a splendid sight to approach a city via airship, seeing white-grey towers and bridges, twisting kilometres in the air.
The most common weapon is proably cutlass or rapier, due to the large amount of piratey, also, heavy armours are uncommon among people not employed by an army. Survival in this world relies on extreme strength or speed. Thus dexterity-fighters would be a good choice.
Update: This world is extremely low-magic. Approximately 1 of 100.000 people is a sorceror, born with magical powers. Wizards will be replaced with an alchemist class. Rangers, paladins and cleric and other fighter/casters will get other bonuses to make up for the loss of spells. Perhaps extra feats. But cleric will probably be taken away, if you want a cleric, play a religious fighter.
Bard will probably be a hard class to play, with the loss of magic. But I'm going to add it anyway and give it some new feats and stuff, to make it a pure teamplayer.
Classes until now
Fighter
Barbarian
Sorceror (rare!)
Paladin (modified)
Ranger (modified)
Paladin (modified)
Monk
Rogue
Bard (heavily modified)
Alchemist - An alchemist is a mastermind at making alchemical mixtures, such as healing potions. A unique feature for alchemists are their ability to make special throwing potions at a low cost, so that the wounded will not have to drink, and can thus be healed while fighting. This makes alchemists a potential ally while adventuring, and most adventuring parties seek alchemists to adventure with them - often with the payment of a fair part of what they find. While not physically a challenge for enemies, an alchemist can deploy a large range of mixtures for throwing at the enemy, and should their arsenal be empty, they often have a dagger or gun by the hand, to take on enemies that get a bit too close.
Important-ish! Read-o read-o!
I ask all of you to come with suggestions, as I posted here to make it some sort of joined mini-project and because I'm too lazy to do anything myself
UPDATE! Looks part have been updated!
UPDATE! Factions! Look under this text.
First prototype factions:
The Knowing - A relatively large group of mainly rangers, but also barbarians and few others that fight to keep the number of cities and technology to a minimum. They call themselves "The Knowing", as they claim to be the only intelligent beings, as they believe that technology will be the end of all. Common names outside the group are "Tree-huggers", "Treebies" and "Technos" are just a few. (the last one only intended to provoke members of them). Members are in some cities often accused of murders, which is in more than a few cases true, as the Knowing are more than willing get rid of anyone that participates in evolving technology.
Rainwalkers Corp. - A large trading comapny. They took the name as an advertisment off that they stop at nothing in the wild jungle - not even harsh storms, which has proven to be true - a few times.
Mecchers - A relatively small group of Kudd, known for their ability to build mechanical things. Originally they had no name, but people began to call them "Mecchers" in everyday talk, and the name hung around, until declared the official name.