Jendekit
2015-02-28, 01:03 AM
"The world was different once. Once magic was the domain of the nobility and priests. The magic from before Skybreak worked differently, there were two kinds, arcane and divine, and those that had magic would have to memorize specific spells and they only could memorize a few spells each day. Despite this limitation, kings would have them research new weapons and rituals to fuel their war machines.
"We don't know when it started, why, or who was involved, but at some point in the end part of Last World, a war broke out between kingdoms. All sides involved were having their intellectuals researching new ways of using magic to wage war in a magical arms race. Then, one hundred years ago today, it happened. Skybreak.
"The very heavens tore apart, draining magic out of everyone capable of using it. Mage, Priest, Paladin, it did not matter. Most of them died, the sheer force of the magic that they wielded taking their lives with it as it left. And it was not just those that wielded magic that lost it, the creatures that had magic as a part of their nature also lost it, and without exception those died.
"The time immediately after Skybreak was a difficult, chaotic time. Every kingdom that existed at the time was torn apart from civil war and uprisings of the people that lived in them. In less than five years there weren't any kingdoms or cities larger than a thousand living souls left in the land.
"It was around that time that the sky began to heal. It was gradual at first, but pockets of blue sky appeared instead of the roiling chaotic mix of red, green, and purple would appear. At first it was small pieces that would disappear as soon as they appeared, but it was healing. Now, one hundred years later, the only remnants of the Skybreak are above the Vynst Islands to the west and the scattered planar breaches that appear and dissapear.
"At the same time that the Skybreak began to heal, the magic of today started appearing. Devices from before Skybreak existed that could detect the presence of magic, devices that to the amazement of the scholars that survived the collapse of the kingdoms still worked. When one of these devices was found by a man that could create and manipulate fire, it began glowing. The man had magic. But it wasn't like the magic that had been used before Skybreak. All that this magic user needed was to will fire to do something, and it did it. No memorizing, no limit to how much he could do in a single day, it was nothing like from before Skybreak. It lacked to limitations of magic from before, but it also lacked a flexibility that existed. One person with magic today cannot do all the things that a person with magic before could. But that, young acolyte, is for another day."
-Monk Kunchen to Acolyte Rabten
Here's a basic introduction to the world of Skybreak, a fantasy setting that I threw together to run a Mutants & Masterminds game in. As you may have guessed from the above, the wetting used to be your standard D&D/Pathfinder setting until the event later called Skybreak. After that, the rules changed. Vancian magic disappeared, and the insanely free-form magic of M&M took its place.
What I would like from the Playground are ideas for just abut anything in the setting. Got an idea for an NPC, genus loci, or city? Post it here! Just be sure to check the basic rules below before posting anything.
Basic World-Related Rules
When submitting an NPC, provide a name, description, their capabilities ("powers" or otherwise), and how they discovered any special powers if any
Please do not provide a character sheet, I use a number of houserules and to me one of the best parts of gaming is sitting down and making character stats
The only sources of powers are training (like D&D fighters, rogues, etc) and magic
Sifreri: A nearly ten foot giant that was once a human, shortly after Skybreak Sifreri was buried in an avalanche. Not only did he survive, but somehow ice and snow became a part of him. Able to command ice, snow, and cold, Sifreri doesn't consider his abilities a gift, but a curse. That is because he constantly emits a 15' field of freezing cold around himself. He can pull this field inwards to where it is just covering his skin, but doing so is incredibly painful and takes such concentration that he has to focus almost all his efforts on doing so.
Falcon: A bounty hunter that specializes in the longbow, Falcon has three skills beyond his seemingly supernatural aim. His eyesight is far beyond what the average person is capable of, even with specialized training, and he is capable of healing grievous wounds with but a touch. His last seemingly magical gift is his natural skill with artifice. While he doesn't have any formal training, his mind is able to innately see the formulas and patterns in the creation of magical devices, even though this ability in and of itself is not magic-based.
"We don't know when it started, why, or who was involved, but at some point in the end part of Last World, a war broke out between kingdoms. All sides involved were having their intellectuals researching new ways of using magic to wage war in a magical arms race. Then, one hundred years ago today, it happened. Skybreak.
"The very heavens tore apart, draining magic out of everyone capable of using it. Mage, Priest, Paladin, it did not matter. Most of them died, the sheer force of the magic that they wielded taking their lives with it as it left. And it was not just those that wielded magic that lost it, the creatures that had magic as a part of their nature also lost it, and without exception those died.
"The time immediately after Skybreak was a difficult, chaotic time. Every kingdom that existed at the time was torn apart from civil war and uprisings of the people that lived in them. In less than five years there weren't any kingdoms or cities larger than a thousand living souls left in the land.
"It was around that time that the sky began to heal. It was gradual at first, but pockets of blue sky appeared instead of the roiling chaotic mix of red, green, and purple would appear. At first it was small pieces that would disappear as soon as they appeared, but it was healing. Now, one hundred years later, the only remnants of the Skybreak are above the Vynst Islands to the west and the scattered planar breaches that appear and dissapear.
"At the same time that the Skybreak began to heal, the magic of today started appearing. Devices from before Skybreak existed that could detect the presence of magic, devices that to the amazement of the scholars that survived the collapse of the kingdoms still worked. When one of these devices was found by a man that could create and manipulate fire, it began glowing. The man had magic. But it wasn't like the magic that had been used before Skybreak. All that this magic user needed was to will fire to do something, and it did it. No memorizing, no limit to how much he could do in a single day, it was nothing like from before Skybreak. It lacked to limitations of magic from before, but it also lacked a flexibility that existed. One person with magic today cannot do all the things that a person with magic before could. But that, young acolyte, is for another day."
-Monk Kunchen to Acolyte Rabten
Here's a basic introduction to the world of Skybreak, a fantasy setting that I threw together to run a Mutants & Masterminds game in. As you may have guessed from the above, the wetting used to be your standard D&D/Pathfinder setting until the event later called Skybreak. After that, the rules changed. Vancian magic disappeared, and the insanely free-form magic of M&M took its place.
What I would like from the Playground are ideas for just abut anything in the setting. Got an idea for an NPC, genus loci, or city? Post it here! Just be sure to check the basic rules below before posting anything.
Basic World-Related Rules
When submitting an NPC, provide a name, description, their capabilities ("powers" or otherwise), and how they discovered any special powers if any
Please do not provide a character sheet, I use a number of houserules and to me one of the best parts of gaming is sitting down and making character stats
The only sources of powers are training (like D&D fighters, rogues, etc) and magic
Sifreri: A nearly ten foot giant that was once a human, shortly after Skybreak Sifreri was buried in an avalanche. Not only did he survive, but somehow ice and snow became a part of him. Able to command ice, snow, and cold, Sifreri doesn't consider his abilities a gift, but a curse. That is because he constantly emits a 15' field of freezing cold around himself. He can pull this field inwards to where it is just covering his skin, but doing so is incredibly painful and takes such concentration that he has to focus almost all his efforts on doing so.
Falcon: A bounty hunter that specializes in the longbow, Falcon has three skills beyond his seemingly supernatural aim. His eyesight is far beyond what the average person is capable of, even with specialized training, and he is capable of healing grievous wounds with but a touch. His last seemingly magical gift is his natural skill with artifice. While he doesn't have any formal training, his mind is able to innately see the formulas and patterns in the creation of magical devices, even though this ability in and of itself is not magic-based.