Discworld Campaign Setting

[YoungSam42]

Hi all,

I'm planning on making a free Discworld campaign setting, based as loyally on the Terry Pratchett series as possible. I am trying to base things on D&D 5e for now, since most of the people I play with are on that. There was a thread about this a long time ago but it's now a closed thread :-( I'm hoping to make a PHB and maybe a DM guide presenting the setting as a sillier Eberron, where good and evil aren't so clearly-cut, and where roleplaying can take a bigger

I would love to get some help on this, as it's turning into a rather big effort. I don't have time to do it all on my own, and I don't have the stomach to do anything but proper justice to Pratchett's amazing world. Here's a pretty big list of things I want to have be a part of it. If any Discworld fans have ideas about what else definitely needs to be in there, or wants to volunteer to help with this, I'm hoping to make a big set of PDFs that I could share among my friends for the sake of doing some long-term campaigning, and maybe put a campaign setting out there for all the players who just want to play the not-that-combat-effective silly flavor characters, like me. Anyways, here's what I'm still trying to figure out/would love help with:

Witch class- a balanced class that keeps to the flavor of the witches of Lancre, i.e. lots of utility spells. Alternate path as a fairy godmother?
Wizard - would this need adjusting?
Given that some races, if loyal to canon, would be simply broken, what races other than human and dwarf could work?
Some decent maps, of each continent, and some of the major cities
NPC compendium, organized by city?
a few one-shot and long-term campaign ideas: I am thinking about adapting actual discworld novels to somehow have my players do things like accompany Rincewind and Twoflower. Which books would work for this? Any original ideas instead?


Would love it if there are some more Pratchett fans out there that wanted to get involved. Hoping to see some replies! I've got a job in front of me, and I want to do it.

NOTE TO MODS: I may have posted this elsewhere, so sorry mods if it looks like spam! I promise I'm just trying to get it in the right place, feel free to delete the old one.

[RazDelacroix]

I would be glad to help ya in trying to figure some generalities out. However, it's late for me so either PM me in the morn with concerns or let me answer yer concerns in the morn. TILL THE MORN! *Acrobatics to bed!*

[Toaau]

I'll be willing join in if/when I get the opportunity to sir down and read the next few books after book 1.

[MrStabby]

Unfortunatly I don't have too much time at the moment but I would love to see the results.

Playing through Jingo would be fun.

[JackPhoenix]

Discworld wizards actually use vancian casting (I can't really reference the book, one of the wizards mentioned it in one of the earlier ones...maybe Soul Music?), though their actual powers seems very mild, compared to D&D wizards. Of course, you can argue they just don't like swinging their spells around that much.

Witches may work as land druids (they are bound to their land and take some power from it, per the Tiffany Aching series), with wildshape refluffed to...I'm not sure about the english name, I've read the Discworld books only in an translation to my language, the animal-possession thing.

[smcmike]

Some races would certainly be broken if loyal to canon, but they still need inclusion. Just tone them down a bit - it's not like the numbers can really match the craziness of canon and be a balanced game.

I feel like the following HAVE to be playable options:

Humans
Dwarves
Trolls
Goblins
Gnomes

Other options could include -

Undead
Werewolves
Golems
Whatever Nobby Nobbs is

[MrStabby]

Golems and Elves also, if you are including the others?

[JackPhoenix]

Don't forget the mon... I mean apes! And Feegles

Also, I don't think elves would be good for player characters, though half-elves may exist. Imp Y Celyn was noted as looking "a little elvish".

[silveralen]

On the topic of races, I was thinking of existing races that lend themselves easily to conversion:.

Easy:


Trolls: Goliath. Large, tough, rocky races. The powerful build ability lends itself to mimicking a troll's strength without unbalancing the game.
Goblin: Rock Gnome. Small, resilient, quick learners, naturally good with machines. Could easily justify a dexterity bonus instead of constitution bonus.
City Dwarves/Copperhead Dwarves: Mountain Dwarves. Most often mentioned wearing chainmail, seems logical they'd have prof with it by default.
Deep Down Dwarves/Uberwald Dwarves: Hill Dwarves. Noted for wearing leather clothing and robes instead of chainmail, and being more prone to scholarship. Debatable, could easily be represented by mountain Dwarves as well.
Humans are humans.
"Elves":Half Elf. True Elves aren't suitable as a player race, being otherwordly creatures of great power, but mixed elven and human people exist, normally referred to as elves. Given they are known for their beauty and charisma, half elf works well.



More complex:

1. Werewolf: Heavily Modified Shifter. +2 wis, +1 dex or +1 str. Perception as trained skill. Can shift at will as BA, no time limit, but cannot use equipment while shifted and gains the long tooth, long stride, and wildhunt shifter traits but not the attribute bonuses.

Also unclear is exactly how they can be killed. Massive Trauma may work, such as destroying the head, as may fire, going by the fifth element and silver obviously works, and in fact appears to be more effective and causes serious distress. However, their regeneration appears to be much slower than DnD regeneration, to the point it comes closer to the 5e default healing rate.

Personally I recommend disadvantage when in contact with silver or for a turn after being struck by a silver weapon and have them fall unconscious when under 0 HP, but don't require death checks, have them bleed out, etc unless the damage is dealt by a silver weapon or fire, though if they are dealt enough damage to bring them past -hp, assume their body was mutilated to badly to regenerate.

2. Golem: Goliath with construct traits (immunity to poison, no sleeping/eating, can't be healed by magic or drink potions, etc) and possibly a built in AC. Questionable balance.

3. Vampire (black ribboner): Heavily Modified Drow. +2 cha, +1 str instead of normal attribute bonuses. Replace the spells with something like feather fall/levitation and a limited ability to shapeshift into a swarm of bats. Keep all other abilities.

Additionally, give them resistance to non magical weapons, but take damage from sunlight (look at the MM for ideas as to how much) and vulnerable to radiant and fire damage. Additionally, remember they can regenerate from dust if given a drop of blood, as well as the miscellaneous weakness which like garlic, holy symbols, etc all of which likely impose disadvantage.

Finally, obsessions with an object, activity. For each day they cannot access it, give them a level of non exhaustion that cannot be removed until they sate their craving.


I have no idea what to do with feegles or gnomes honestly.

[smcmike]

Why not war forged for golem?

For something a bit wilder, what about Igors?

[silveralen]

As for classes,

Discworld wizards are actually closer to wild magic sorcerers in operation by the later books. They tend fewer spells, and often avoid or curtail magic use due to the unpredictable nature. Metamagic can also help represent the more fluid nature of discworld magic.

Land Druid works well for the Witches, especially if one trades shapeshifting for limited possession of an animal's body.

Most priests don't seem to draw magic from their gods, with the exception of high priests who seem to be able to make requests to some degree. In practice these wouldn't operate much like cleric's but could be treated as such for simplicity.

A high priest of a demon or a being the dungeon dimension might be a warlock, as are those who've made pacts but don't strictly worship.

Druids who actually worhsip the land are mentioned in multiple places with a variety of abilities in practices, they fit everything from DnD druids to cultish warlocks.

Rangers don't seem to be particularly prevalent in discworld. Most rangers would likely be the non magic variety from unearthed arcana that has maneuvers.

Paladins likely do not exist in discworld. The only examples of paladin I can come up with are:
Sam Vines, as a paladin of vengeance/justice, and Mightly Oats mainly offscreen, who are very tenuous links at best

Bards of the magical variety aren't really known except a couple examples in soul music and moving pictures. Possible but unlikely.

Fighters, rogues, and barbarians are all well represented in all their variations. Monks, particularly open hand monks, are represented as well.


Why not war forged for golem?

For something a bit wilder, what about Igors?

Warforged I avoided mainly because the race barely even exists in 5e, and needs work to be balanced. The only real ways their construct nature is defined mechanically, like being able to eat/drink but not needing to and having 4 hours of required downtime a day, conflict with golems. Goliath, with powerful build, more strength, and their damage resistance ability, serve as a better baseline, since neither has any of the proper construct traits.

I'll think about Igors. I'm not entirely sure what i'd do with them as they are as much a class/vocation as a race. I think humans with the medic feat serve as a decent baseline for them, possibly with a modified thief rogue to represent their ability to go unseen, their expertise, ability to use devices, take people apart carefully etc.

I also forgot "elves" exist, most of whom are actually mixed elven and human(as true elves are otherworldy creatures in discworld. Half elves work for them.