Infundibular
2016-02-19, 11:16 PM
Hey, all! I'm working on a campaign setting for a group of fairly new players. It's in no small part a port of Ragnorra, from 3.5's Elder Evils to 5th ed, (since it's a lot more user-friendly than my beloved 3.5). If you have any advice about how I could make the setting better before I dive in, I'd greatly appreciate it! I'm mostly looking for feedback on the Notable Characters, New Rules, and Plot Arcs sections (the last three), although if you have thoughts about the other parts I'd be happy to hear them. Thank you so much!
The Age of Flesh
The titans rose from time untold
To usher in the age of gold.
The angels rose, as turned the Wheel,
To usher in the age of steel.
The living rose, as dawned the day,
To usher in the age of clay.
The devils rose from the Goddess Gash
To usher in the age of ash.
The heralds soon will rise afresh
To usher in the age of flesh.
-Illurien, the All-Knowing
References
This campaign setting is in no small portion an adaptation of the Ragnorra setting, and it references other 3.5 elements heavily. Those sources are credited below; everything else is original (to the best of my knowledge).
Copied Directly: (Only superficial changes, if any)
Ragnorra, many of the descriptions of her, the effects associated with her are from Elder Evils, as is the Worm that Walks (also from Age of Worms). Katarin and Edgar Tolstoff have been taken from Exemplars of Evil. Heironeous, Hextor, Limbo, Ysgard, and the Underdark are all from the core rulebooks. Anmark is essentially a reskinned Waterdeep, from Faerun. The name Waterdeep is used elsewhere, because it’s awesome.
Adapted: (Concept remains the same, but with significant changes)
Atlach-Nacha and her World Web could be considered benevolent versions of Lolth and her Demonweb, although they were not conceived as such. Ananka Tolstoff is an adaptation of Edwin Tolstoff, from both Elder Evils and Exemplars of Evil; same character, different plot arc; the same is true of Lolth. The Lady of Pain kept her nigh-infinite power and mysterious motives, but completely changed context. Athen is taken from Chris Abouzeid’s Anatopsis, a wonderful (non-D&D-related) novel.
Referenced: (I basically just hijacked the name)
Vlaakith and Illurien are from the Planar Handbook and Monster Manual 5 (or maybe 4), respectively.
Overview
The Age of Flesh is a horror setting; even if the players win their fights, they will not come away unscathed. Mutilations, maimings, diseases and the like are common and inevitable. The consequences of many fights or actions are permanent. Some PCs may die along the way, and they’re just going to have to get used to that. One of the main attributes of a horror campaign is that even if the PCs ‘win’, the costs are so high that it may not be worth it: the question that horror asks is ‘what if trying to be the hero makes you the villain’?
The Age of Flesh chronicles the rise of the being known as Ragnorra. A twisted creature of healing and life, she seeks to undo all that lives and remake it in her own horrific image.
Ragnorra is a twisted, irresistible force of creation who first rose before the Age of Gold, existing to spawn life in her own terrible image. Ragnorra is life without limit, nature without mercy, and rhyme without reason. If an entity like Apollo is a god of healing, Ragnorra is a god of cancer. A vast entity the size of a small island, she hurtles through both inter- and intra-planar space in a rough loop. As she flies, she spreads her spores, seeding planets which she flies by; a glancing pass is what seeded the campaign world with life in the first place, at the dawn of the age of Gold. The spores parasitize plants and animals, raising blisters that birth monsters, killing the hosts. Even inanimate objects sprout hideous creatures. Some unfortunate sentients infected by spores become abberrant hybrids.
Ragnorra is a vast intelligence, but not a conscious one. She operates on intuition, dreaming inexplicably deep plans. Destruction is not her purpose, but rather undoing her own past “errors” and reshaping all life according to her own vision. That this horrid new order is contradictory, destructive, and painful to her progeny does not matter to her. A group of outsiders from several planes have formed a cult- like society, the Malshapers. Rather than fearing Ragnorra, they revere her power and guide her plans. They create a sort of trail through the multiverse, seeding it with life from a chosen world to lead the Mother of Monsters to her next target. As the campaign setting dawns, the Malshapers’ plans are nearing completion, and Ragnorra approaches.
Cosmology
The cosmology of this world has three main planes in addition to a transitive one. Most are inhabited by one or more gods or titans, and all of them are difficult to reach. The Plane Shift spell doesn’t exist in this setting; the only ways between the planes are divine intervention, planar gates, and the World Web.
The Campaign World
This is pretty much what it says on the tin: it’s the Prime Material. It has fairly few defining features, aside from being where the majority of the campaign happens. Illurien, Hecate, and Zephaniah reside in the campaign world, in a variety of exotic and distant locales. They are essentially unreachable by mortals, despite their local position. Ragnorra also technically resides in the universe of the campaign world.
The Ever-Shifting Chaos of Limbo
Limbo is a plane in flux: a chaotic soup of all the elements, held in violent equilibrium. Very few people can survive Limbo, but there are a few who live there nonetheless; sufficient willpower can stabilize portions of the plane, and so there are occasional monasteries speckled throughout the plane. There are also a great number of elementals present, as well as those creatures lucky enough to be able to weather any of the four elements. Syrah and Belatiel both reside in Limbo, and some philosophers think that Syrah is some aspect of Limbo given sentience.
The Heroic Realms of Ysgard
Ysgard is the afterlife for all mortal beings, a near-endless battlefield between the forces of good and evil, law and chaos. In this setting, resurrection spells don’t work automatically; they involve bargaining with the appropriate divinity (based on alignment), and convincing that entity that they are better served by having the subject alive. Different regions of Ysgard are dominated by different alignments; creatures of diametrically opposed alignments have disadvantage on saving throws in such areas. Ysgard is home to both angels and demons (and their affiliates, like archons, yugoloths, etc.), as well as Heironeous, Hextor, Styx, and Vlaakith.
The World Web of Atlach-Nacha
Atlach-Nacha rules over the only transitive plane in this cosmology: the World Web. Accessible to mortal creatures by means of specially enchanted spiderwebs, the World Web allows travel between the planes. It has subjective gravity and slow time. Gods and immortals can enter the World Web, but doing so displeases its ruler, and even a god is wise to avoid the wrath of Atlach-Nacha. The World Weaver is quite genial towards mortals travelling in her realm, and she is happy to assist them on their journey if they happen to encounter her on her wanderings. The World Web is far from empty, however, and not all of its denizens are as friendly as Atlach-Nacha.
The Ages
The history of the campaign setting is loosely split into four ages: gold, steel, clay, and ash. The Age of Gold was largely devoid of life; only the titans and a few of the gods existed at this point. Syrah, Styx, and the Lady of Pain are older than this, but none disclose any information about what the world looked like at that time. Eventually, the titans created servants, and the angels heralded the rise of the Age of Steel, characterized by internecine warfare. Eventually, the evolution of mortals from Ragnorra’s spores brought about the Age of Clay, and when Zephaniah slew Nemesis and took her place, the Age of Ash began. These eras are of only passing academic interest to the denizens of the campaign world, but are useful for constructing a history.
Pantheon
There are eleven deities in the pantheon of this world: five gods, four titans, and three other entities. The gods occupy the axial positions on the alignment grid, the titans occupy the points. Clerics can derive power from entities removed from their own alignment by up to one step (making all domains available to clerics of Neutral or gooder). The pantheon didn’t arrive all at once; their age of arrival is marked in their entry.
http://i.imgur.com/QqD1Atm.png
Heironeous (Gold)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Portfolio: Law, valor, the sun
Domain: Light
Notes: Heironeous was one of the greatest heroes of any age, a leader of the Titans along with his brother, Hextor. As a united force, they were nigh-unstoppable: it was they who toppled Kyuss. However, in order to do so, the brothers made a deal with the Lady of Pain: in return for her assistance, the brothers would submit to a year and a day of her ‘testing’. Heironeous survived their period of service fairly unscathed, but Hextor did not. Driven violently insane, he betrayed his brother, becoming a god of slaughter and warfare.
Illurien (Steel)
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Portfolio: Knowledge, learning, prophecy
Domain: Knowledge
Notes: Illurien is not a particularly nice goddess. She and her priests value knowledge above all else, up to and including the lives of others. Her greatest following is among the mind flayers of the Underdark. However, she does have other worshippers, especially wizards; not all of her clergy take her teachings so far. She is notable as a prophetess: it is she who gave the warning of Ragnorra’s arrival.
Hecate (Gold)
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Portfolio: Magic, the moon, witchcraft
Domain: Arcana
Notes: The titan Hecate is a schemer, one of the more involved and active deities of this world, second only to Zephaniah. She frequently appears in dreams, working towards some unknowable end. Hecate was the first witch, and she teaches first and foremost that all magic comes with a cost. It was Hecate who first discovered the existence of athen.
Vlaakith (Clay)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Life, undeath, healing
Domain: Vlaakith is the god of life in all its forms. Unlike most life gods, she supports both life and undeath. She hates Styx, and the feeling is mutual; Styx both resents Vlaakith for what she sees as heresy and is contemptuous of her as a newer god. Vlaakith is the second newest of the five proper gods, and also the patron of the peasantry: as such, she’s one of the most widely worshipped divinities.
Syrah (Pre-Gold)
Alignment: Neutral
Portfolio: The weather, plants, animals
Domain: Nature
Notes: Syrah, otherwise known as the Green Lady, is a primordial goddess who governs all aspects of the natural world; she is the only deity who could compete with Styx for the title of eldest. Although Syrah’s exact form has changed over the ages, she has always been a triune goddess. The ages of Gold and Steel knew Syrah as Sky, Land, and Sea; the Age of Clay knew her as Sun, Moon, and Stars. The Age of Ash calls her Maiden, Matron, and Crone. Different alignments worship different aspects of Syrah; a neutral evil cleric might worship her as a bringer of natural disasters, while a neutral good one might worship her as a fertility goddess.
Styx (Pre-Gold)
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Portfolio: Death, endings, peace
Domain: Death
Notes: Styx is one of the oldest entities in the multiverse, for she is death itself, created as Creation’s shadow. She has appeared in a number of guises throughout the ages. In the Ages of Gold and Steel, she was a vast snake with iron scales; by the age of Clay, she was a wolf with three heads, and in the Age of Ash, she appears as an old woman with a cloak of crow feathers. Styx is not necessarily a spiteful god, but she shows no mercy or compassion to those whose time has come.
Belatiel (Gold)
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Portfolio: Oceans, fish, sailors
Domain: Tempest
Belatiel is the titan of the seas, and as such he governs the ocean and all who depend on it. Belatiel is a very kind god, always happy to help those in need. Belatiel has no patience for pirates and their like, however. He is closely affiliated with Syrah, and some sources cite him as her son. Belatiel has no temples, but is worshipped with a ritual involving conch shells.
Zephaniah (Ash)
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Portfolio: Secrets, theft, cities
Domain: Trickery
Zephaniah is by far the newest and most active of the gods, and seems to have a specific agenda in a way that most others don’t. Although Zephaniah’s rites are fairly well known, nobody has much information about the goddess herself. In fact, Zephaniah is a completely new entity; she slew Nemesis, the previous occupant of her position in the alignment grid, and with the help of the Lady of Pain, she made the world forget Nemesis’ existence entirely. The highest servants of the gods, however, suspect that Zephaniah is not what she claims to be. (The corresponding phrase from Illurien’s prophecy has caused some very erudite heads to be scratched).
Hextor (Gold)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Portfolio: Slaughter, warfare, betrayal
Domain: War
Notes: Once a valorous hero and brother to Heironeous, Hextor has fallen far indeed. Driven mad by the tortures of the Lady of Pain, Hextor became a god of slaughter and needless warfare. He has some worshippers among the orcs and other particularly cruel societies, but civilization largely shuns his religion.
In addition to the four titans and five gods, there are three other notable divinities in the world, two of whom can grant spells. However, their worship is not typically available to the PCs, since it has strong negative effects on the worshipper. The third is a special case, discussed with the PC on creation.
The Lady of Pain (Pre-Gold)
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Portfolio: Knowledge, torture, magic
Domains: Death, Arcana
Notes: The Lady of Pain is a being of almost infinite power, the mover and shaker behind many of the greatest events in history. It was she who sealed Kyuss away in the Vast Labyrinth, she who engineered Hextor’s fall from grace, and she who enabled Zephaniah’s replacement of Nemesis. The Lady and her dedicates believes that magic is agony, and that only through pain can power be achieved. Dedicates of the Lady bear the scars of self-mutilation, and most are completely mad.
The Worm that Walks (Clay)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Portfolio: Rot, destruction, decay
Domains: Life, nature, death
Notes: The Worm that Walks was once a human who tried to ascend to divinity by murdering thousands of their followers in a twisted ritual. The ritual failed, and at the moment of their ascension to divinity, he or she was consumed by a rain of maggots. The cleric, now known as the Worm that Walks, was exiled from the Material Plane by the Lady of Pain into a demiplane called the Vast Labyrinth in return for being able to torture the titan Hextor for a year and a day. The Worm has no humanoid followers, and vanishingly few sentient ones; Ananka Tolstoff is the only one of any significance.
Atlach-Nacha (Steel)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Travel, spiders, exploration
Notes: Atlach-Nacha is also known as the World Weaver; she appears as an enormous spider with a human face. Despite her horrific appearance, Atlach-Nacha has always been a friend to mortals, and she seeks to protect and defend them against their enemies in the cosmos. She governs the World Web, the only transitive plane in the cosmology. If a PC wants to serve Atlach Nacha, they can; her custom domain focuses on mobility and combat versatility. Atlach-Nacha’s clerics are blessed (or cursed) with some portion of her arachnid form; they are respected and revered by all, but seldom welcomed.
The Campaign World
The campaign world features three main continents and an island archipelago.
Da’an
Da’an is the ‘basic’ continent, inhabited by all the standard fantasy races. Aside from that, it contains the city of Waterdeep, by far the largest metropolis on any of the continents. Waterdeep is where most of the action occurs once the story really starts rolling. Ananka and Edwin Tolstoff live on Da’an, on the Tolstoff estate, outside Waterdeep.
Anmark
Anmark is where the campaign begins, a small continent to the southwest of Da’an: a magocracy and a plutarchy, where thirteen merchants and sorcerer-lords rule in an ‘elected’ council. Most of them mean well, but some are corrupt and a few are outright evil. Unbeknownst to everybody, Zephaniah resides on Anmark, making her presence known as the Silver Lady, a local legend. Katarin Tolstoff resides in the high court of Anmark, under the name Serena Bellamy.
Hvath
Hvath was once a lush jungle continent, and sacred to Syrah, but it was also unfortunate enough to be the emergence point of Zephaniah and the site of the Lady of Pain’s ritual. These dual tragedies were sufficient to devastate the continent, turning it into a blighted wasteland, devoid of any but the dead. Illurien lives in a fortress-monastery in the middle of Hvath, known as the Iron Library, untouched by the twin calamities that wracked the land.
The Walker Archipelago
The archipelago is to the direct east of Da’an, an very mysterious island chain. Nobody knows too much about it; even the explorer who discovered it (Archibald Walker) didn’t dare to venture too far. Hecate lives there, along with her witch attendants and their creations. The majority of the Walker Archipelago is occasionally underwater, and there are many aquatic creatures in residence.
The Underdark
The Underdark is the same as in most worlds. There aren’t many physical entrances to the Underdark; there are a several on the Walker Archipelago, one on Da’an and at least were at least three on Hvath, although their condition after the continent’s collapse is in question. The World Web has many ways into the Underdark, and Atlach-Nacha has a fairly strong presence there, serving as a protector of travelers. The main inhabitants of the Underdark are the mind flayers (distinctly evil), formians (lawful neutral) and drow (some good groups, some evil ones).
Notable Figures
The Tolstoffs
Some of the highest ranking cultists among the Malshapers, the Tolstoffs are a family that has served a variety of eldritch horrors over the years; the quintessential high priests and priestesses. Despite the best efforts of both church and state, the Tolstoffs have managed to evade eradication down the years, although their clan has shrunk considerably from its prime. There are only three Tolstoffs currently active to any significant degree, although there are several others living who have disavowed the family, and several more are either incarcerated or institutionalized.
Katarin Tolstoff
The elder of the Tolstoff siblings, Katarin currently resides in the high court of Anmark under the name Serena Bellamy. A powerful enchanter, she uses her magic to gain influence over the noble classes in hopes of sabotaging their efforts to discover the plans of the Malshapers. She may appear friendly to the PCs at first, even employ them, but she is always looking to advance her own nefarious influence. Once the Plague is introduced, Katarin becomes a willing carrier.
Katarin seems friendly, and gives most of the starting quests, but ultimately seeks to use the PCs, not to aid them. She is fiercely protective of Edwin, and will cave to threats on his safety. In gameplay terms, Katarin is an enchanter; she has many powerful friends, however, who may fight on her behalf. Her use of magic has turned her hair to athen, which she’s quite touchy about; she usually hides it under elaborate hats.
Edwin Tolstoff
The younger of the Tolstoff siblings, Edwin lives and works on the Tolstoff family estate, on Da’an. Edwin’s service to Ragnorra has given him the powers of a warlock, but his true passion has always been alchemy. It was he who first introduced Malshaper Plague to the world, working with ancient spores. However, as a warlock, he is not immune to the effects of the plague, and his appearance has been greatly degraded by its influence. He remains secluded in the manor, working on ever-more virulent creations and attempting to convince Ananka to convert.
Edwin is a merciless psychopath; he’s the kind of child who plucked the wings off of butterflies. Disfigured by the plague, he resents normal humans, and rules the serfs of the Tolstoff land with a misshapen iron fist. He reacts violently to all intruders. In gameplay terms, Edwin is a warlock with regenerative powers; he’s been performing experiments on living creatures, some of which may have produced viable soldiers.
Ananka Tolstoff
The grandmother of Katarin and Edwin, Ananka raised them after the tragic deaths of their parents. However, Ananka didn’t raise them in the service of Ragnorra. Ananka follows Kyuss, the Worm that Walks, seeking to bring him out of the Vast Labyrinth and into the world, where she believes that he will guide his chosen followers to apotheosis alongside him. Edwin and Katarin, however, disappointed with the generations-long pace of Ananka’s plan, sought a more immediate goal, discovering and rapidly dominating the Malshapers. When Ananka discovered their betrayal, she was furious, and engaged in an epic battle against the siblings. Although she fought valiantly, Ananka was eventually defeated. Unwilling (or perhaps unable) to kill the woman who raised them, the pair sealed her in one of the tombs beneath the Tolstoff mansion, where she plots her revenge. Being too near Edwin’s experiments has made her a carrier of Malshaper Plague.
Although Ananka is unequivocally evil, the danger she poses is long-term, and she can be of aid to the PCs. Unless they move to attack her, she hates the Tolstoff siblings far more than the party. Blessed by the Worm, Ananka is no longer remotely human, rather, she takes the shape of a massive pile of worms that hold themselves in a roughly human shape. She wears a long blue robe, tattered but magnificent, and an athen mask. In gameplay terms, she’s a druid with a suite of aberrant extra quirks to her abilities. Whenever she uses magic, some of her worms turn to athen, but they are soon replaced.
Archibald Walker
One of the merchant lords of Anmark, Archibald Walker was once one of the great explorers of the Age of Ash. It was he who discovered (and named) the Walker Archipelago, and the fame that this discovery granted him catapulted him to the heights of the council. This discovery was also his downfall, however; while on the Archipelago, he discovered a flower which he named ‘ink bloom’, a potent narcotic to which he became addicted. In order to fuel his habit, he became the head of a smuggling enterprise that brings ink bloom and other illegal commodities to Anmark. Archibald regrets some of his actions, and has tried to repent before; he might be convinced to repent again, at least for a time, but his addiction will take hold again before long.
Zarkana Atheneyes
The high priestess of Atlach-Nacha on the Material Plane, Zarkana is a nomad who has travelled extensively on all of the continents, even venturing to the Iron Library of Illurien on Hvath to negotiate a treaty behalf of the World Weaver. Zarkana is the one who first told the world of Illurien’s prophecy. Zarkana’s magic has turned her original eyes to sightless athen, but her service to Atlach-Nacha has given her six more around the originals, turned her hair to spider silk, and given her four insectile legs growing from her back. As with all those who serve the World Weaver, people are happy to see her arrive, since she brings news, answers questions, and grants boons, but they are just as happy when the time comes to bid her goodbye. Zarkana may have quests for the PCs, and she’s certainly a good way to get around the planes. As Ragnorra approaches the campaign world, she opens vast gates, ushering thousands or millions into the the World Web.
Milo Wireman
Milo is one of the most powerful people on Da’an. As the leader of the largest and strongest of the vampire enclaves, Milo has a tremendous amount of influence over all undead on the continent and, therefore, a good deal of sway with the living, as well. Milo rose to power largely by accident; he was converted unintentionally and the lineage of vampires that spawned him were largely destroyed soon afterwards, leaving Milo, the most senior vampire remaining, in charge. Unlike many of the vampire lords of old, nihilists who worshipped Styx and killed indiscriminately, Milo worships Vlaakith and has led many of the undead to integrate into living society. Some resent him for this, remembering the old ways, but Milo has taken to vampire politics like a fish to water. Milo still drinks blood (his ideology can’t shift the laws of nature), but fortunately, his still-living husband volunteered for the duty, and the pair been working on plans to help other parasitic undead address their needs humanely.
New Rules
The Age of Flesh setting differs from the vanilla setting in several mechanical and flavorful ways.
Athen
A dull golden metal, athen is magic’s opposite; one is a force that transforms matter, and the other is matter that no force can transform. All use of magic produces some quantity of athen (a nugget or two nearby, perhaps a dusting on an area); extremely powerful spells might convert some portion of the area (a layer of topsoil, the leaves on a tree) to athen.
Using magic takes a severe toll on those who use it; their bodies slowly but inevitably turn into athen. Training and meditation can slow the process, but most hedge wizards have significant portions of their bodies turned to athen, and even the greatest mages in the world have hands, eyes or skin of athen. For the PCs, whenever a spellcaster gets an ability enhancement or feat, they lose two from their physical ability scores, distributed as they choose.
Although athen can’t be worked, it can be wired and mounted into useful shapes; sharp edges can be aligned to form blades, flat panels can form armor, and so on. Any kind of armor made largely of metal (not hide, for example) can be made of athen, although it significantly increases the price. Athen armor is indestructible and conveys resistance to magic damage. Metallic weapons can also be made of athen; athen weapons have advantage to hit against spellcasters. Casting classes (though not warlocks) and monsters with spell-like abilities (not just abilities that mimic spells) are spellcasters for these purposes.
Ragnorra’s Rise
The Mother’s approach manifests as a surge of corrupt positive energy that resculpts life on the world. Growth and healing are accelerated. At first crops and animals grow and reproduce with unnatural swiftness, and injuries vanish overnight. As the sign intensifies, these early benefits run out of control. Fruit bursts and rots on the vine before it can be harvested. Weeds crack pavement and damage build- ings. Clouds of vermin boil up from the earth, laying eggs that hatch and spawn new life in moments, and with them come equally virulent disease. Living creatures and inanimate objects become covered with festering boils, which burst to expel swarms of pests. As Ragnorra draws near, wounds close almost instantly, but flesh grows pustulent and bones distend as life becomes corrupted. At its peak, all undead but the most powerful and hidden are obliterated. The dead rise as gibbering aberrations, and the living mutate into twisted progeny.
Faint (3-6)
All spells and effects that use positive energy are cast at +1 caster level, conjuration (healing) spells are cast at +2 caster level, and turn undead attempts are treated as though they were made by a cleric of 1 level higher.
Ordinary plants are enhanced as if by the plant growth spell. Crops benefit from the enrichment effect, while other vegetation suffers from overgrowth and chokes open spaces.
Moderate (7-11)
As faint, but in addition, warts and blemishes appear on living targets of conjuration (healing) spells. These unsightly growths impose a –2 penalty on CHA-based checks. Once per day, an affected creature can attempt a DC 15 CON or WIS saving throw; success removes the blemishes.
All areas of natural growth are affected as if by the entangle spell (PH 227; CL 20th).
Spores fall to earth, taking root in rock, roofs, and living creatures. Treat this effect as a disease (contact, incubation period 1 day, damage 1d4 Con, DC 15), but three successful saving throws are required to throw off the infection instead of two (DMG 292). The spores create pustules that grow as the disease progresses, bursting when the infected creature’s Con is reduced to 0. The creature’s death releases one swarm of mundane pests (such as bats, rats, spiders, or locusts) per 5 Hit Dice of the infected creature (minimum one swarm).
Strong (12-16):
As moderate, but the DC of saving throws to resist the spores or to remove blemishes increases to 20.
Conjuration (healing) spells and other spells using positive energy are impeded, meaning that a caster must succeed on a caster level check (DC 20 + the level of the spell) or lose the spell or spell slot without effect.
Living creatures that require sleep lose the ability to do so, as their bodies fidget and their thoughts race. Physical exhaustion sets in, and eventually minds break. A living creature can go without sleep for a number of days equal to its CON modifier (minimum one). Thereafter it is fatigued, remaining in this state for a number of days equal to its CON modifier (again, minimum one); if it would become fatigued during that time, it is exhausted instead. Each day after that period, the creature takes 1 point of WIS damage. If the total WIS damage exceeds its Hit Dice, the creature is affected as if by an insanity spell. Once its WIS score drops to 0, the creature becomes unconscious but cannot recover lost WIS naturally. Only a sleep or deep slumber spell or equivalent effect can grant rest for a time, after which the effects of the sign begin anew.
The surge of positive energy repairs flesh. Once per day, an injured living creature regains 2d8+10 hit points, as if by an empowered cure moderate wounds spell (caster level 20th). Undamaged living creatures gain temporary hit points instead. The temporary hit points last for up to 24 hours. This unnatural growth twists living, corporeal creatures. Once per day, an affected creature can attempt a DC 20 CON or WIS save to resist the effect. If the save fails, 1 Hit Die of the creature becomes corrupted; this corruption can be removed only with a remove curse spell or effect (cleansing all affected Hit Dice). Corrupted hit die can’t be used to heal, and as long as at least 1 Hit Die is corrupted, the creature takes a –2 penalty on CHA-based checks. Undead creatures are damaged by the effect, instead, although they cannot be corrupted by it.
Overwhelming (17):
As strong, but the DC of saving throws to resist the spores, to remove blemishes, or to avoid corruption increases to 25. Dead creatures rise a number of days after death equal to their HD.
Flesh grows and heals with terrible speed. Each hour, all living creatures gain 1d6 temporary hit points. For each hour that a creature’s temporary hit point total exceeds its full normal total, it must succeed on a DC 20 CON save or explode in a shower of gore.
The overwhelming aura of positive energy is anathema to undead. Once per day, exposed undead are affected as if by a turn undead attempt by a 20th level cleric. Undead can avoid this effect by remaining underground (minimum 15 feet depth) or within a stone or metallic vault whose walls are at least 15 feet thick, provided all entrances to the chamber are sealed.
Malshaper Plague
Edwin has developed a virulent plague that spreads through the use of magic. Spellcasters act as carriers for the plague, and it is spread through their spells. All vectors of infection, unless otherwise noted, can be resisted by a DC 15 CON or WIS save; if the number of failures becomes greater than the number of hit dice that the caster has, they become a carrier. Despite using magic, warlocks are not spellcasters, nor are creatures with abilities that simply mimic spells, like a beholder’s eye rays.
Different kinds of spells spread the plague in different ways.
Single target spells cast by carriers force a saving throw from the target.
Single target spells on infected targets force a saving throw by the caster with advantage.
Area of effect or multi-target spells by carrier casters force a saving throw with advantage by affected creatures.
Area of effect or multi-target spells on infected targets do not spread the plague
Remove Disease, Remove Curse or other comparable magic removes all effects of the plague, but forces a saving throw by the caster with disadvantage.
Malshaper plague causes affected non-carriers to lose one point of CHA per day, up to their hit die, as their flesh warps and shifts. At the beginning of each day, affected non-carriers must make a CON or WIS saving throw with their unmodified score; if they fail, one of their physical ability scores (chosen at random) drops by D6, to a minimum of their CHA score, for the day.
Plot Arcs
Levels 3-6
The faint sign (stronger healing, plant growth) is active; people mostly offer praise to Vlaakith or Syrah for the blessing. The campaign starts with the party arriving in the city-state of Anmark; they tool around for awhile before discovering that the ship they came in on was also smuggling ink bloom into the city. If they make a fuss about this, they come to the attention of Katarin. She meets with the PCs, and, seeking to take down Archibald one of her main rivals on the council, she helps them to investigate and work their way up his smuggling organization. When they finally confront him, he reveals what he knows about Katarin and promises to repent; what they do with him is up to them.
Levels 7-11
The moderate sign (spores, blemishes, entangle) is active. The peasantry blames Styx, Hecate, or the Lady for corrupting Vlaakith’s gift, although some question if Vlaakith was behind it at all. Investigating Katarin further, but sensing that her connections in Anmark render her untouchable, the party travels to Da’an to investigate her brother, Edwin. Although Katarin couldn’t stop the PCs without risking blowing her cover, she has warned her brother, who stirs up trouble for them as they approach, including infecting some of them with Malshaper Plague. As they journey through the countryside, they spread disease with them, and they may get run out of town if they don’t work out what’s happening. Whether or not Edwin survives their confrontation with him is up to them. The other event of note that occurs at the Tolstoff manor is the introduction of Ananka to the campaign; she offers to help stop Katarin and the Malshapers from completing their plan. Even if the PCs refuse her aid, she’ll tell them what she knows about them and she’ll move against Katarin on her own.
Levels 12-14
The strong sign (corruptive regeneration, impeded healing, inability to sleep) is active. People appeal to and curse the gods for what they have wrought, and may attack the PCs if they didn’t fix the diseases they brought to the town. Mages everywhere are stretched thin providing enough sleeping spells to keep the populace from going mad. Finally, Ragnorra is faintly visible in the nighttime sky. When the PCs return to Waterdeep, they’ve gained some portion of notoriety among the movers and shakers of the city, attracting the attention of Milo Wireman. Greatly weakened by the influx of positive energy into the campaign world, many of the other vampire enclaves have rebelled against his rule, claiming that only a sufficient influx of blood can counteract Ragnorra’s influence. He implores them to help him quash this rebellion. On the way, they encounter Zarkana, who has been fighting vampires and helping refugees for some time now. Unbeknownst to her, she’s also a carrier of Malshaper Plague. She hadn’t heard Milo’s news, however, and if the PCs tell her, Zarkana offers to help shut down the vampire uprising as best she can.
Levels 15-16
The strong sign remains active. Zarkana has a refugee crisis on her hands, and enlists the party to make a foray into the World Web to clear out a space for refugees to live until Ragnorra’s influence fades (if it does). She recommends that the party attempt to clear out a portion of web recently invaded by a force of demons from Ysgard and seal the gate that let them through, although there are other options.
Level 17
The overwhelming sign (walking dead, explosive growth, turn undead) is present. Most who fail to reach one of Zarkana’s gates die horrifically, only to be reanimated within days or weeks to roam the land. As the sign reaches its peak, Ragnorra slams into the earth, creating a massive crater full of putrescent life. The final battle has begun.
The Age of Flesh
The titans rose from time untold
To usher in the age of gold.
The angels rose, as turned the Wheel,
To usher in the age of steel.
The living rose, as dawned the day,
To usher in the age of clay.
The devils rose from the Goddess Gash
To usher in the age of ash.
The heralds soon will rise afresh
To usher in the age of flesh.
-Illurien, the All-Knowing
References
This campaign setting is in no small portion an adaptation of the Ragnorra setting, and it references other 3.5 elements heavily. Those sources are credited below; everything else is original (to the best of my knowledge).
Copied Directly: (Only superficial changes, if any)
Ragnorra, many of the descriptions of her, the effects associated with her are from Elder Evils, as is the Worm that Walks (also from Age of Worms). Katarin and Edgar Tolstoff have been taken from Exemplars of Evil. Heironeous, Hextor, Limbo, Ysgard, and the Underdark are all from the core rulebooks. Anmark is essentially a reskinned Waterdeep, from Faerun. The name Waterdeep is used elsewhere, because it’s awesome.
Adapted: (Concept remains the same, but with significant changes)
Atlach-Nacha and her World Web could be considered benevolent versions of Lolth and her Demonweb, although they were not conceived as such. Ananka Tolstoff is an adaptation of Edwin Tolstoff, from both Elder Evils and Exemplars of Evil; same character, different plot arc; the same is true of Lolth. The Lady of Pain kept her nigh-infinite power and mysterious motives, but completely changed context. Athen is taken from Chris Abouzeid’s Anatopsis, a wonderful (non-D&D-related) novel.
Referenced: (I basically just hijacked the name)
Vlaakith and Illurien are from the Planar Handbook and Monster Manual 5 (or maybe 4), respectively.
Overview
The Age of Flesh is a horror setting; even if the players win their fights, they will not come away unscathed. Mutilations, maimings, diseases and the like are common and inevitable. The consequences of many fights or actions are permanent. Some PCs may die along the way, and they’re just going to have to get used to that. One of the main attributes of a horror campaign is that even if the PCs ‘win’, the costs are so high that it may not be worth it: the question that horror asks is ‘what if trying to be the hero makes you the villain’?
The Age of Flesh chronicles the rise of the being known as Ragnorra. A twisted creature of healing and life, she seeks to undo all that lives and remake it in her own horrific image.
Ragnorra is a twisted, irresistible force of creation who first rose before the Age of Gold, existing to spawn life in her own terrible image. Ragnorra is life without limit, nature without mercy, and rhyme without reason. If an entity like Apollo is a god of healing, Ragnorra is a god of cancer. A vast entity the size of a small island, she hurtles through both inter- and intra-planar space in a rough loop. As she flies, she spreads her spores, seeding planets which she flies by; a glancing pass is what seeded the campaign world with life in the first place, at the dawn of the age of Gold. The spores parasitize plants and animals, raising blisters that birth monsters, killing the hosts. Even inanimate objects sprout hideous creatures. Some unfortunate sentients infected by spores become abberrant hybrids.
Ragnorra is a vast intelligence, but not a conscious one. She operates on intuition, dreaming inexplicably deep plans. Destruction is not her purpose, but rather undoing her own past “errors” and reshaping all life according to her own vision. That this horrid new order is contradictory, destructive, and painful to her progeny does not matter to her. A group of outsiders from several planes have formed a cult- like society, the Malshapers. Rather than fearing Ragnorra, they revere her power and guide her plans. They create a sort of trail through the multiverse, seeding it with life from a chosen world to lead the Mother of Monsters to her next target. As the campaign setting dawns, the Malshapers’ plans are nearing completion, and Ragnorra approaches.
Cosmology
The cosmology of this world has three main planes in addition to a transitive one. Most are inhabited by one or more gods or titans, and all of them are difficult to reach. The Plane Shift spell doesn’t exist in this setting; the only ways between the planes are divine intervention, planar gates, and the World Web.
The Campaign World
This is pretty much what it says on the tin: it’s the Prime Material. It has fairly few defining features, aside from being where the majority of the campaign happens. Illurien, Hecate, and Zephaniah reside in the campaign world, in a variety of exotic and distant locales. They are essentially unreachable by mortals, despite their local position. Ragnorra also technically resides in the universe of the campaign world.
The Ever-Shifting Chaos of Limbo
Limbo is a plane in flux: a chaotic soup of all the elements, held in violent equilibrium. Very few people can survive Limbo, but there are a few who live there nonetheless; sufficient willpower can stabilize portions of the plane, and so there are occasional monasteries speckled throughout the plane. There are also a great number of elementals present, as well as those creatures lucky enough to be able to weather any of the four elements. Syrah and Belatiel both reside in Limbo, and some philosophers think that Syrah is some aspect of Limbo given sentience.
The Heroic Realms of Ysgard
Ysgard is the afterlife for all mortal beings, a near-endless battlefield between the forces of good and evil, law and chaos. In this setting, resurrection spells don’t work automatically; they involve bargaining with the appropriate divinity (based on alignment), and convincing that entity that they are better served by having the subject alive. Different regions of Ysgard are dominated by different alignments; creatures of diametrically opposed alignments have disadvantage on saving throws in such areas. Ysgard is home to both angels and demons (and their affiliates, like archons, yugoloths, etc.), as well as Heironeous, Hextor, Styx, and Vlaakith.
The World Web of Atlach-Nacha
Atlach-Nacha rules over the only transitive plane in this cosmology: the World Web. Accessible to mortal creatures by means of specially enchanted spiderwebs, the World Web allows travel between the planes. It has subjective gravity and slow time. Gods and immortals can enter the World Web, but doing so displeases its ruler, and even a god is wise to avoid the wrath of Atlach-Nacha. The World Weaver is quite genial towards mortals travelling in her realm, and she is happy to assist them on their journey if they happen to encounter her on her wanderings. The World Web is far from empty, however, and not all of its denizens are as friendly as Atlach-Nacha.
The Ages
The history of the campaign setting is loosely split into four ages: gold, steel, clay, and ash. The Age of Gold was largely devoid of life; only the titans and a few of the gods existed at this point. Syrah, Styx, and the Lady of Pain are older than this, but none disclose any information about what the world looked like at that time. Eventually, the titans created servants, and the angels heralded the rise of the Age of Steel, characterized by internecine warfare. Eventually, the evolution of mortals from Ragnorra’s spores brought about the Age of Clay, and when Zephaniah slew Nemesis and took her place, the Age of Ash began. These eras are of only passing academic interest to the denizens of the campaign world, but are useful for constructing a history.
Pantheon
There are eleven deities in the pantheon of this world: five gods, four titans, and three other entities. The gods occupy the axial positions on the alignment grid, the titans occupy the points. Clerics can derive power from entities removed from their own alignment by up to one step (making all domains available to clerics of Neutral or gooder). The pantheon didn’t arrive all at once; their age of arrival is marked in their entry.
http://i.imgur.com/QqD1Atm.png
Heironeous (Gold)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Portfolio: Law, valor, the sun
Domain: Light
Notes: Heironeous was one of the greatest heroes of any age, a leader of the Titans along with his brother, Hextor. As a united force, they were nigh-unstoppable: it was they who toppled Kyuss. However, in order to do so, the brothers made a deal with the Lady of Pain: in return for her assistance, the brothers would submit to a year and a day of her ‘testing’. Heironeous survived their period of service fairly unscathed, but Hextor did not. Driven violently insane, he betrayed his brother, becoming a god of slaughter and warfare.
Illurien (Steel)
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Portfolio: Knowledge, learning, prophecy
Domain: Knowledge
Notes: Illurien is not a particularly nice goddess. She and her priests value knowledge above all else, up to and including the lives of others. Her greatest following is among the mind flayers of the Underdark. However, she does have other worshippers, especially wizards; not all of her clergy take her teachings so far. She is notable as a prophetess: it is she who gave the warning of Ragnorra’s arrival.
Hecate (Gold)
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Portfolio: Magic, the moon, witchcraft
Domain: Arcana
Notes: The titan Hecate is a schemer, one of the more involved and active deities of this world, second only to Zephaniah. She frequently appears in dreams, working towards some unknowable end. Hecate was the first witch, and she teaches first and foremost that all magic comes with a cost. It was Hecate who first discovered the existence of athen.
Vlaakith (Clay)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Life, undeath, healing
Domain: Vlaakith is the god of life in all its forms. Unlike most life gods, she supports both life and undeath. She hates Styx, and the feeling is mutual; Styx both resents Vlaakith for what she sees as heresy and is contemptuous of her as a newer god. Vlaakith is the second newest of the five proper gods, and also the patron of the peasantry: as such, she’s one of the most widely worshipped divinities.
Syrah (Pre-Gold)
Alignment: Neutral
Portfolio: The weather, plants, animals
Domain: Nature
Notes: Syrah, otherwise known as the Green Lady, is a primordial goddess who governs all aspects of the natural world; she is the only deity who could compete with Styx for the title of eldest. Although Syrah’s exact form has changed over the ages, she has always been a triune goddess. The ages of Gold and Steel knew Syrah as Sky, Land, and Sea; the Age of Clay knew her as Sun, Moon, and Stars. The Age of Ash calls her Maiden, Matron, and Crone. Different alignments worship different aspects of Syrah; a neutral evil cleric might worship her as a bringer of natural disasters, while a neutral good one might worship her as a fertility goddess.
Styx (Pre-Gold)
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Portfolio: Death, endings, peace
Domain: Death
Notes: Styx is one of the oldest entities in the multiverse, for she is death itself, created as Creation’s shadow. She has appeared in a number of guises throughout the ages. In the Ages of Gold and Steel, she was a vast snake with iron scales; by the age of Clay, she was a wolf with three heads, and in the Age of Ash, she appears as an old woman with a cloak of crow feathers. Styx is not necessarily a spiteful god, but she shows no mercy or compassion to those whose time has come.
Belatiel (Gold)
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Portfolio: Oceans, fish, sailors
Domain: Tempest
Belatiel is the titan of the seas, and as such he governs the ocean and all who depend on it. Belatiel is a very kind god, always happy to help those in need. Belatiel has no patience for pirates and their like, however. He is closely affiliated with Syrah, and some sources cite him as her son. Belatiel has no temples, but is worshipped with a ritual involving conch shells.
Zephaniah (Ash)
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Portfolio: Secrets, theft, cities
Domain: Trickery
Zephaniah is by far the newest and most active of the gods, and seems to have a specific agenda in a way that most others don’t. Although Zephaniah’s rites are fairly well known, nobody has much information about the goddess herself. In fact, Zephaniah is a completely new entity; she slew Nemesis, the previous occupant of her position in the alignment grid, and with the help of the Lady of Pain, she made the world forget Nemesis’ existence entirely. The highest servants of the gods, however, suspect that Zephaniah is not what she claims to be. (The corresponding phrase from Illurien’s prophecy has caused some very erudite heads to be scratched).
Hextor (Gold)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Portfolio: Slaughter, warfare, betrayal
Domain: War
Notes: Once a valorous hero and brother to Heironeous, Hextor has fallen far indeed. Driven mad by the tortures of the Lady of Pain, Hextor became a god of slaughter and needless warfare. He has some worshippers among the orcs and other particularly cruel societies, but civilization largely shuns his religion.
In addition to the four titans and five gods, there are three other notable divinities in the world, two of whom can grant spells. However, their worship is not typically available to the PCs, since it has strong negative effects on the worshipper. The third is a special case, discussed with the PC on creation.
The Lady of Pain (Pre-Gold)
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Portfolio: Knowledge, torture, magic
Domains: Death, Arcana
Notes: The Lady of Pain is a being of almost infinite power, the mover and shaker behind many of the greatest events in history. It was she who sealed Kyuss away in the Vast Labyrinth, she who engineered Hextor’s fall from grace, and she who enabled Zephaniah’s replacement of Nemesis. The Lady and her dedicates believes that magic is agony, and that only through pain can power be achieved. Dedicates of the Lady bear the scars of self-mutilation, and most are completely mad.
The Worm that Walks (Clay)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Portfolio: Rot, destruction, decay
Domains: Life, nature, death
Notes: The Worm that Walks was once a human who tried to ascend to divinity by murdering thousands of their followers in a twisted ritual. The ritual failed, and at the moment of their ascension to divinity, he or she was consumed by a rain of maggots. The cleric, now known as the Worm that Walks, was exiled from the Material Plane by the Lady of Pain into a demiplane called the Vast Labyrinth in return for being able to torture the titan Hextor for a year and a day. The Worm has no humanoid followers, and vanishingly few sentient ones; Ananka Tolstoff is the only one of any significance.
Atlach-Nacha (Steel)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Travel, spiders, exploration
Notes: Atlach-Nacha is also known as the World Weaver; she appears as an enormous spider with a human face. Despite her horrific appearance, Atlach-Nacha has always been a friend to mortals, and she seeks to protect and defend them against their enemies in the cosmos. She governs the World Web, the only transitive plane in the cosmology. If a PC wants to serve Atlach Nacha, they can; her custom domain focuses on mobility and combat versatility. Atlach-Nacha’s clerics are blessed (or cursed) with some portion of her arachnid form; they are respected and revered by all, but seldom welcomed.
The Campaign World
The campaign world features three main continents and an island archipelago.
Da’an
Da’an is the ‘basic’ continent, inhabited by all the standard fantasy races. Aside from that, it contains the city of Waterdeep, by far the largest metropolis on any of the continents. Waterdeep is where most of the action occurs once the story really starts rolling. Ananka and Edwin Tolstoff live on Da’an, on the Tolstoff estate, outside Waterdeep.
Anmark
Anmark is where the campaign begins, a small continent to the southwest of Da’an: a magocracy and a plutarchy, where thirteen merchants and sorcerer-lords rule in an ‘elected’ council. Most of them mean well, but some are corrupt and a few are outright evil. Unbeknownst to everybody, Zephaniah resides on Anmark, making her presence known as the Silver Lady, a local legend. Katarin Tolstoff resides in the high court of Anmark, under the name Serena Bellamy.
Hvath
Hvath was once a lush jungle continent, and sacred to Syrah, but it was also unfortunate enough to be the emergence point of Zephaniah and the site of the Lady of Pain’s ritual. These dual tragedies were sufficient to devastate the continent, turning it into a blighted wasteland, devoid of any but the dead. Illurien lives in a fortress-monastery in the middle of Hvath, known as the Iron Library, untouched by the twin calamities that wracked the land.
The Walker Archipelago
The archipelago is to the direct east of Da’an, an very mysterious island chain. Nobody knows too much about it; even the explorer who discovered it (Archibald Walker) didn’t dare to venture too far. Hecate lives there, along with her witch attendants and their creations. The majority of the Walker Archipelago is occasionally underwater, and there are many aquatic creatures in residence.
The Underdark
The Underdark is the same as in most worlds. There aren’t many physical entrances to the Underdark; there are a several on the Walker Archipelago, one on Da’an and at least were at least three on Hvath, although their condition after the continent’s collapse is in question. The World Web has many ways into the Underdark, and Atlach-Nacha has a fairly strong presence there, serving as a protector of travelers. The main inhabitants of the Underdark are the mind flayers (distinctly evil), formians (lawful neutral) and drow (some good groups, some evil ones).
Notable Figures
The Tolstoffs
Some of the highest ranking cultists among the Malshapers, the Tolstoffs are a family that has served a variety of eldritch horrors over the years; the quintessential high priests and priestesses. Despite the best efforts of both church and state, the Tolstoffs have managed to evade eradication down the years, although their clan has shrunk considerably from its prime. There are only three Tolstoffs currently active to any significant degree, although there are several others living who have disavowed the family, and several more are either incarcerated or institutionalized.
Katarin Tolstoff
The elder of the Tolstoff siblings, Katarin currently resides in the high court of Anmark under the name Serena Bellamy. A powerful enchanter, she uses her magic to gain influence over the noble classes in hopes of sabotaging their efforts to discover the plans of the Malshapers. She may appear friendly to the PCs at first, even employ them, but she is always looking to advance her own nefarious influence. Once the Plague is introduced, Katarin becomes a willing carrier.
Katarin seems friendly, and gives most of the starting quests, but ultimately seeks to use the PCs, not to aid them. She is fiercely protective of Edwin, and will cave to threats on his safety. In gameplay terms, Katarin is an enchanter; she has many powerful friends, however, who may fight on her behalf. Her use of magic has turned her hair to athen, which she’s quite touchy about; she usually hides it under elaborate hats.
Edwin Tolstoff
The younger of the Tolstoff siblings, Edwin lives and works on the Tolstoff family estate, on Da’an. Edwin’s service to Ragnorra has given him the powers of a warlock, but his true passion has always been alchemy. It was he who first introduced Malshaper Plague to the world, working with ancient spores. However, as a warlock, he is not immune to the effects of the plague, and his appearance has been greatly degraded by its influence. He remains secluded in the manor, working on ever-more virulent creations and attempting to convince Ananka to convert.
Edwin is a merciless psychopath; he’s the kind of child who plucked the wings off of butterflies. Disfigured by the plague, he resents normal humans, and rules the serfs of the Tolstoff land with a misshapen iron fist. He reacts violently to all intruders. In gameplay terms, Edwin is a warlock with regenerative powers; he’s been performing experiments on living creatures, some of which may have produced viable soldiers.
Ananka Tolstoff
The grandmother of Katarin and Edwin, Ananka raised them after the tragic deaths of their parents. However, Ananka didn’t raise them in the service of Ragnorra. Ananka follows Kyuss, the Worm that Walks, seeking to bring him out of the Vast Labyrinth and into the world, where she believes that he will guide his chosen followers to apotheosis alongside him. Edwin and Katarin, however, disappointed with the generations-long pace of Ananka’s plan, sought a more immediate goal, discovering and rapidly dominating the Malshapers. When Ananka discovered their betrayal, she was furious, and engaged in an epic battle against the siblings. Although she fought valiantly, Ananka was eventually defeated. Unwilling (or perhaps unable) to kill the woman who raised them, the pair sealed her in one of the tombs beneath the Tolstoff mansion, where she plots her revenge. Being too near Edwin’s experiments has made her a carrier of Malshaper Plague.
Although Ananka is unequivocally evil, the danger she poses is long-term, and she can be of aid to the PCs. Unless they move to attack her, she hates the Tolstoff siblings far more than the party. Blessed by the Worm, Ananka is no longer remotely human, rather, she takes the shape of a massive pile of worms that hold themselves in a roughly human shape. She wears a long blue robe, tattered but magnificent, and an athen mask. In gameplay terms, she’s a druid with a suite of aberrant extra quirks to her abilities. Whenever she uses magic, some of her worms turn to athen, but they are soon replaced.
Archibald Walker
One of the merchant lords of Anmark, Archibald Walker was once one of the great explorers of the Age of Ash. It was he who discovered (and named) the Walker Archipelago, and the fame that this discovery granted him catapulted him to the heights of the council. This discovery was also his downfall, however; while on the Archipelago, he discovered a flower which he named ‘ink bloom’, a potent narcotic to which he became addicted. In order to fuel his habit, he became the head of a smuggling enterprise that brings ink bloom and other illegal commodities to Anmark. Archibald regrets some of his actions, and has tried to repent before; he might be convinced to repent again, at least for a time, but his addiction will take hold again before long.
Zarkana Atheneyes
The high priestess of Atlach-Nacha on the Material Plane, Zarkana is a nomad who has travelled extensively on all of the continents, even venturing to the Iron Library of Illurien on Hvath to negotiate a treaty behalf of the World Weaver. Zarkana is the one who first told the world of Illurien’s prophecy. Zarkana’s magic has turned her original eyes to sightless athen, but her service to Atlach-Nacha has given her six more around the originals, turned her hair to spider silk, and given her four insectile legs growing from her back. As with all those who serve the World Weaver, people are happy to see her arrive, since she brings news, answers questions, and grants boons, but they are just as happy when the time comes to bid her goodbye. Zarkana may have quests for the PCs, and she’s certainly a good way to get around the planes. As Ragnorra approaches the campaign world, she opens vast gates, ushering thousands or millions into the the World Web.
Milo Wireman
Milo is one of the most powerful people on Da’an. As the leader of the largest and strongest of the vampire enclaves, Milo has a tremendous amount of influence over all undead on the continent and, therefore, a good deal of sway with the living, as well. Milo rose to power largely by accident; he was converted unintentionally and the lineage of vampires that spawned him were largely destroyed soon afterwards, leaving Milo, the most senior vampire remaining, in charge. Unlike many of the vampire lords of old, nihilists who worshipped Styx and killed indiscriminately, Milo worships Vlaakith and has led many of the undead to integrate into living society. Some resent him for this, remembering the old ways, but Milo has taken to vampire politics like a fish to water. Milo still drinks blood (his ideology can’t shift the laws of nature), but fortunately, his still-living husband volunteered for the duty, and the pair been working on plans to help other parasitic undead address their needs humanely.
New Rules
The Age of Flesh setting differs from the vanilla setting in several mechanical and flavorful ways.
Athen
A dull golden metal, athen is magic’s opposite; one is a force that transforms matter, and the other is matter that no force can transform. All use of magic produces some quantity of athen (a nugget or two nearby, perhaps a dusting on an area); extremely powerful spells might convert some portion of the area (a layer of topsoil, the leaves on a tree) to athen.
Using magic takes a severe toll on those who use it; their bodies slowly but inevitably turn into athen. Training and meditation can slow the process, but most hedge wizards have significant portions of their bodies turned to athen, and even the greatest mages in the world have hands, eyes or skin of athen. For the PCs, whenever a spellcaster gets an ability enhancement or feat, they lose two from their physical ability scores, distributed as they choose.
Although athen can’t be worked, it can be wired and mounted into useful shapes; sharp edges can be aligned to form blades, flat panels can form armor, and so on. Any kind of armor made largely of metal (not hide, for example) can be made of athen, although it significantly increases the price. Athen armor is indestructible and conveys resistance to magic damage. Metallic weapons can also be made of athen; athen weapons have advantage to hit against spellcasters. Casting classes (though not warlocks) and monsters with spell-like abilities (not just abilities that mimic spells) are spellcasters for these purposes.
Ragnorra’s Rise
The Mother’s approach manifests as a surge of corrupt positive energy that resculpts life on the world. Growth and healing are accelerated. At first crops and animals grow and reproduce with unnatural swiftness, and injuries vanish overnight. As the sign intensifies, these early benefits run out of control. Fruit bursts and rots on the vine before it can be harvested. Weeds crack pavement and damage build- ings. Clouds of vermin boil up from the earth, laying eggs that hatch and spawn new life in moments, and with them come equally virulent disease. Living creatures and inanimate objects become covered with festering boils, which burst to expel swarms of pests. As Ragnorra draws near, wounds close almost instantly, but flesh grows pustulent and bones distend as life becomes corrupted. At its peak, all undead but the most powerful and hidden are obliterated. The dead rise as gibbering aberrations, and the living mutate into twisted progeny.
Faint (3-6)
All spells and effects that use positive energy are cast at +1 caster level, conjuration (healing) spells are cast at +2 caster level, and turn undead attempts are treated as though they were made by a cleric of 1 level higher.
Ordinary plants are enhanced as if by the plant growth spell. Crops benefit from the enrichment effect, while other vegetation suffers from overgrowth and chokes open spaces.
Moderate (7-11)
As faint, but in addition, warts and blemishes appear on living targets of conjuration (healing) spells. These unsightly growths impose a –2 penalty on CHA-based checks. Once per day, an affected creature can attempt a DC 15 CON or WIS saving throw; success removes the blemishes.
All areas of natural growth are affected as if by the entangle spell (PH 227; CL 20th).
Spores fall to earth, taking root in rock, roofs, and living creatures. Treat this effect as a disease (contact, incubation period 1 day, damage 1d4 Con, DC 15), but three successful saving throws are required to throw off the infection instead of two (DMG 292). The spores create pustules that grow as the disease progresses, bursting when the infected creature’s Con is reduced to 0. The creature’s death releases one swarm of mundane pests (such as bats, rats, spiders, or locusts) per 5 Hit Dice of the infected creature (minimum one swarm).
Strong (12-16):
As moderate, but the DC of saving throws to resist the spores or to remove blemishes increases to 20.
Conjuration (healing) spells and other spells using positive energy are impeded, meaning that a caster must succeed on a caster level check (DC 20 + the level of the spell) or lose the spell or spell slot without effect.
Living creatures that require sleep lose the ability to do so, as their bodies fidget and their thoughts race. Physical exhaustion sets in, and eventually minds break. A living creature can go without sleep for a number of days equal to its CON modifier (minimum one). Thereafter it is fatigued, remaining in this state for a number of days equal to its CON modifier (again, minimum one); if it would become fatigued during that time, it is exhausted instead. Each day after that period, the creature takes 1 point of WIS damage. If the total WIS damage exceeds its Hit Dice, the creature is affected as if by an insanity spell. Once its WIS score drops to 0, the creature becomes unconscious but cannot recover lost WIS naturally. Only a sleep or deep slumber spell or equivalent effect can grant rest for a time, after which the effects of the sign begin anew.
The surge of positive energy repairs flesh. Once per day, an injured living creature regains 2d8+10 hit points, as if by an empowered cure moderate wounds spell (caster level 20th). Undamaged living creatures gain temporary hit points instead. The temporary hit points last for up to 24 hours. This unnatural growth twists living, corporeal creatures. Once per day, an affected creature can attempt a DC 20 CON or WIS save to resist the effect. If the save fails, 1 Hit Die of the creature becomes corrupted; this corruption can be removed only with a remove curse spell or effect (cleansing all affected Hit Dice). Corrupted hit die can’t be used to heal, and as long as at least 1 Hit Die is corrupted, the creature takes a –2 penalty on CHA-based checks. Undead creatures are damaged by the effect, instead, although they cannot be corrupted by it.
Overwhelming (17):
As strong, but the DC of saving throws to resist the spores, to remove blemishes, or to avoid corruption increases to 25. Dead creatures rise a number of days after death equal to their HD.
Flesh grows and heals with terrible speed. Each hour, all living creatures gain 1d6 temporary hit points. For each hour that a creature’s temporary hit point total exceeds its full normal total, it must succeed on a DC 20 CON save or explode in a shower of gore.
The overwhelming aura of positive energy is anathema to undead. Once per day, exposed undead are affected as if by a turn undead attempt by a 20th level cleric. Undead can avoid this effect by remaining underground (minimum 15 feet depth) or within a stone or metallic vault whose walls are at least 15 feet thick, provided all entrances to the chamber are sealed.
Malshaper Plague
Edwin has developed a virulent plague that spreads through the use of magic. Spellcasters act as carriers for the plague, and it is spread through their spells. All vectors of infection, unless otherwise noted, can be resisted by a DC 15 CON or WIS save; if the number of failures becomes greater than the number of hit dice that the caster has, they become a carrier. Despite using magic, warlocks are not spellcasters, nor are creatures with abilities that simply mimic spells, like a beholder’s eye rays.
Different kinds of spells spread the plague in different ways.
Single target spells cast by carriers force a saving throw from the target.
Single target spells on infected targets force a saving throw by the caster with advantage.
Area of effect or multi-target spells by carrier casters force a saving throw with advantage by affected creatures.
Area of effect or multi-target spells on infected targets do not spread the plague
Remove Disease, Remove Curse or other comparable magic removes all effects of the plague, but forces a saving throw by the caster with disadvantage.
Malshaper plague causes affected non-carriers to lose one point of CHA per day, up to their hit die, as their flesh warps and shifts. At the beginning of each day, affected non-carriers must make a CON or WIS saving throw with their unmodified score; if they fail, one of their physical ability scores (chosen at random) drops by D6, to a minimum of their CHA score, for the day.
Plot Arcs
Levels 3-6
The faint sign (stronger healing, plant growth) is active; people mostly offer praise to Vlaakith or Syrah for the blessing. The campaign starts with the party arriving in the city-state of Anmark; they tool around for awhile before discovering that the ship they came in on was also smuggling ink bloom into the city. If they make a fuss about this, they come to the attention of Katarin. She meets with the PCs, and, seeking to take down Archibald one of her main rivals on the council, she helps them to investigate and work their way up his smuggling organization. When they finally confront him, he reveals what he knows about Katarin and promises to repent; what they do with him is up to them.
Levels 7-11
The moderate sign (spores, blemishes, entangle) is active. The peasantry blames Styx, Hecate, or the Lady for corrupting Vlaakith’s gift, although some question if Vlaakith was behind it at all. Investigating Katarin further, but sensing that her connections in Anmark render her untouchable, the party travels to Da’an to investigate her brother, Edwin. Although Katarin couldn’t stop the PCs without risking blowing her cover, she has warned her brother, who stirs up trouble for them as they approach, including infecting some of them with Malshaper Plague. As they journey through the countryside, they spread disease with them, and they may get run out of town if they don’t work out what’s happening. Whether or not Edwin survives their confrontation with him is up to them. The other event of note that occurs at the Tolstoff manor is the introduction of Ananka to the campaign; she offers to help stop Katarin and the Malshapers from completing their plan. Even if the PCs refuse her aid, she’ll tell them what she knows about them and she’ll move against Katarin on her own.
Levels 12-14
The strong sign (corruptive regeneration, impeded healing, inability to sleep) is active. People appeal to and curse the gods for what they have wrought, and may attack the PCs if they didn’t fix the diseases they brought to the town. Mages everywhere are stretched thin providing enough sleeping spells to keep the populace from going mad. Finally, Ragnorra is faintly visible in the nighttime sky. When the PCs return to Waterdeep, they’ve gained some portion of notoriety among the movers and shakers of the city, attracting the attention of Milo Wireman. Greatly weakened by the influx of positive energy into the campaign world, many of the other vampire enclaves have rebelled against his rule, claiming that only a sufficient influx of blood can counteract Ragnorra’s influence. He implores them to help him quash this rebellion. On the way, they encounter Zarkana, who has been fighting vampires and helping refugees for some time now. Unbeknownst to her, she’s also a carrier of Malshaper Plague. She hadn’t heard Milo’s news, however, and if the PCs tell her, Zarkana offers to help shut down the vampire uprising as best she can.
Levels 15-16
The strong sign remains active. Zarkana has a refugee crisis on her hands, and enlists the party to make a foray into the World Web to clear out a space for refugees to live until Ragnorra’s influence fades (if it does). She recommends that the party attempt to clear out a portion of web recently invaded by a force of demons from Ysgard and seal the gate that let them through, although there are other options.
Level 17
The overwhelming sign (walking dead, explosive growth, turn undead) is present. Most who fail to reach one of Zarkana’s gates die horrifically, only to be reanimated within days or weeks to roam the land. As the sign reaches its peak, Ragnorra slams into the earth, creating a massive crater full of putrescent life. The final battle has begun.