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View Full Version : Abhorsen Trilogy Based Setting



AnachroNinja
2016-03-30, 07:17 PM
I have an idea I have been tinkering with for a while for an alteration to the standard DND setting. For those of us who are not familiar with the writing of Garth Nix, the Abhorsen Trilogy centers mainly around a somewhat novel view of death, the undead, and necromancers. The main premise is that death is a plane that consists of a river flowing through 9 precincts. Most souls just flow through and to a final afterlife, some struggle to return, becoming evil undead spirits who must feed on life. Necromancers are evil and use magic bells to control the undead. The Abhorsen is a necromancer who binds the undead instead.

There is more to it, but that's the part of the premise I want to make use of. I like the idea of a plane that the dead travel to, with various dangers and hazards. Raising a dead character would become a mini adventure of helping the spirit return from the brink. Creating undead would involve traveling to the plane and bringing bound spirits back into life. I would want to alter the undead creation spells to actually function, giving a range of undead who can be brought back, possibly applying the evolved undead template to spirits who reside in death for a longer period.

I see clerics of a certain diety or Pantheon filling the Abhorsen role, with evil clerics and arcane necromancers being the one's who are distrusted. Likely giving them all a native ability for spirit walking into death, possibly treating it as a coterminous plane similar to the astral or ethereal plane.

I've got other ideas but I'm just not sure if it would actually be fun for players and I was hoping for some input on ideas and whether it would be of interest to you guys if you were players. Thanks for reading. I'll answer any questions I can.

Tvtyrant
2016-03-30, 07:33 PM
The setting is fine for D&D, you are just going to need the pare down the number of classes.

Spirit Shaman becomes Wild Mage.

Sorcerers with Necromancy banned become charter mages.

Artificer with only sorcerer spell items becomes the Wall Makers.

Dread Necromancer with bells becomes a Necromancer.

All of the mundane classes stay where they are.

AnachroNinja
2016-03-30, 08:22 PM
I'm not sure I want to go that deep with it though. Going all the way into the setting also requires a lot of linting with monsters and such as well. Mostly I just want to bring their version of death and afterlife into play, along with their version of necromancy. Thanks for the ideas though