Steampunkette
2017-04-04, 10:59 AM
Yup. Just what it looks like. I plan to spend some time putting together the Princes of the Apocalypse as an adventure in Athas. The locations and names will change, but the core adventure/individual encounters won't.
Currently I plan to use some of the content from the 5e Darksun conversion by Gabriel Zenon Wach found here: http://archive.4plebs.org/dl/tg/image/1428/84/1428844188113.pdf I'll go ahead and spoiler this massive wall of text.
The races are pretty nice as presented. The Half Elf is really strong but... hey... what else is new? I do plan to use Low-Light vision and Darkvision as two separate things. I know 5e tried to simplify it, but I feel like Low-Light vision has a place in Athas.
The Aarakockra will come from the EEPG rather than this document, same with Goliath compared to Half Giant. Though I will add to powerful build that they can gain the benefit of a versatile weapon one handed. It's an extra point of damage in melee for a sword and board or dual-wielder, so it's not -too- huge to give to people who are meant to be giant-like. Especially since their stat mods will be the same as Mul. Should I give them the ability to get a natural strength of 22? I'm thinking about it.
For Thri Kreen I've got this in mind:
+1 Dex, +1 Con
Speed: 40ft
Standing Leap: Thri Kreen do not need a running start to make running jumps, and double all jump distances.
Athletic: Thri Kreen gain proficiency in Athletics.
Carapace: While unarmored their base AC is 13+Dex
Sleepless: Immune to Sleep Effects, does not need any sleep. One short rest per 24 hours gets designated a "Long Rest" for the purpose of recovering abilities, hit dice, and recovery from effects.
Bite: As an action on your turn you may make a special bite attack. This melee weapon attack deals 1 point of damage and injects poison into your target. The DC to save against this poison is 8+Con+Prof. On a failed save your target becomes poisoned for one minute.
Extra Limbs: Thri Kreen have a second set of slightly smaller arms located on their abdomen. You can use these arms to manipulate objects or hold items, but not to make individual attacks. If you are holding a weapon or a shield in your lower hands, you can ready that weapon without expending an action by trading objects held in your various hands.
Kreen Weapons Training: Proficiency in the Gythka and Chatkcha.
I'm almost worried they're overloaded with goodness. Their Carapace and Speed, alone, are fairly strong. So I did my best to limit other shenanigans. Hopefully it'll prove wrong.
Most of the weapons in the book are fine as is, but I do plan to explicitly bring back double weapons as they were in 3e, essentially. The ability to dual-wield d8s is strong, but the setting is meant to be harsh and impressive so the Gythka stays as is. Of course I'll ignore all the 3e speak on "This reach weapon can hit melee characters" or "Bonus to Trip Attacks" and such. Instead I will allow tripping/disarming weapons to specifically access the 5e rules for doing so in the DMG while other weapons cannot. I always hated the idea of tripping someone with a longsword, anyway.
For the Classes...
I plan to use this document's version of the Bard with two important differences: Valor and Whisper Bards are the Subclasses and the class will advance their number of Bardic Inspirations at 5 and every 3 levels after that by 1 per long rest. A second pool, essentially, to help offset the versatility lost from spells. Eventually they'll get 6/long rest and (Cha Mod) per short rest by level 20.
The Clerics will need a revamp in their domains. I'll probably use Tempest for Air, of course, but Fire, Water, and Earth all need their own domains.
The Druid options from the book are the fine (A few new weapon proficiencies and a listing of available animals for wild shape). Land and Moon both work just fine.
Fighters really don't need any kind of changes, though the removal of the Eldritch Knight is... sad..? Not really. The biggest problem with fighters is the issue of wearing heavy armor in Athas sucking hard. My current thought is that Medium armor will make you use two water rations while heavy armor will make you use four. To offset the fighter's need to wear heavy armor, I plan to make a feat that allows a character with heavy armor proficiency to use half rations (In light or no armor the person is halving their water rationing, while in medium they use as much as another character in light, and in heavy they use as much as someone in medium). Hopefully that will appease the one or two players that might choose to use it.
Monks work just fine as they are, though I'll take away the Shadowsteppers and have the Elemental Monks defile like Arcane Casters.
Paladins will be Oathbreakers and Vengeance and all of them will be Templars getting their power from the Sorceror Kings!
I plan do a splitting off Psionicist/Psychic Warrior out of Mystic. The Psionicists will get a d6 hit die and most of the same features otherwise (Some more power points), while Psychic Warriors will retain the d8 and still have the option of going Immortal to give them about the same HP as any fighter type. That way I can have them do Soul Knives with Rogue HP and Immortals with Fighter HP using the same core class.
Rangers will be Revised, but otherwise unchanged? Not really much they need, there, to be honest. Their animal companions will have to be Athasian, for Beastmasters, but that's mostly a fluff-change.
I plan to allow Sorcerers as they are, essentially. They'll defile like all the other arcane casters, but I'll be letting them defile for Sorcery Points as well. A nice tempting thing that makes them stronger so long as they're willing to destroy the land around themselves. Skip the "This is your Bloodline" fluff, while retaining the abilities. You're not the child of a Dragon: You're progressing toward becoming one. They'll be Intelligence casters rather than Charisma.
Warlocks I love and plan to keep. Instead of having Pacts with Demon Lords and Fey, however, Warlocks will gain power by stealing it from Sorcerer Kings or other powerful entities. What they draw at any moment might be small, but they constantly risk retribution to go along with their defiling of the world around them.
Wizards are gone. Sorcerers replace them.
Wild Talents are all well and good and I'll probably lob a few of them at the party...
So. With all that important setting up information out of the way:
Do you folks think it's a good idea? Do you have any suggestions? Have any of you attempted to move things into Athas from the current crop of 5e adventures?
Right now I'm mostly choosing where the various elemental temples will be in the world, thinking of different names for some of the smaller communities (Red Larch becomes Redstone, things like that). I know that the Elemental Evil will not be what it is in the original path. My current idea is a ploy by one or more of the Sorcerer Kings to corrupt the Elements as a way of improving their power to their own wicked goals while weakening the various elemental cults across Athas by corrupting some portion of them and defiling the very elements they hold so dearly...
Alternatively I might make it a tendril of Rajaat's power reaching out from his prison. Not 100% sure.
I'm currently planning to put the campaign between Nibenay and Gulg near the Great Ivory Plain and the Crescent Forest. The issue is that it's the most heavily watered area in the entire Tyr region. It kind of undercuts some of the feeling of the setting, traveling through trackless wastes with dwindling supplies and debating between betrayal and banditry because survival is all that matters...
There are a couple hundred miles between Altaruk and Gulg, though, and I could use the People's Road as a center of the problem with Redstone being a village somewhere along it. That way the things happening in the forested and wet region (Rivergard keep and such) can happen in the Crescent Forest while the players spend more of their time in a dry and sandy sort of region that fosters the cruelty of Athas...
What do you folks think?
Currently I plan to use some of the content from the 5e Darksun conversion by Gabriel Zenon Wach found here: http://archive.4plebs.org/dl/tg/image/1428/84/1428844188113.pdf I'll go ahead and spoiler this massive wall of text.
The races are pretty nice as presented. The Half Elf is really strong but... hey... what else is new? I do plan to use Low-Light vision and Darkvision as two separate things. I know 5e tried to simplify it, but I feel like Low-Light vision has a place in Athas.
The Aarakockra will come from the EEPG rather than this document, same with Goliath compared to Half Giant. Though I will add to powerful build that they can gain the benefit of a versatile weapon one handed. It's an extra point of damage in melee for a sword and board or dual-wielder, so it's not -too- huge to give to people who are meant to be giant-like. Especially since their stat mods will be the same as Mul. Should I give them the ability to get a natural strength of 22? I'm thinking about it.
For Thri Kreen I've got this in mind:
+1 Dex, +1 Con
Speed: 40ft
Standing Leap: Thri Kreen do not need a running start to make running jumps, and double all jump distances.
Athletic: Thri Kreen gain proficiency in Athletics.
Carapace: While unarmored their base AC is 13+Dex
Sleepless: Immune to Sleep Effects, does not need any sleep. One short rest per 24 hours gets designated a "Long Rest" for the purpose of recovering abilities, hit dice, and recovery from effects.
Bite: As an action on your turn you may make a special bite attack. This melee weapon attack deals 1 point of damage and injects poison into your target. The DC to save against this poison is 8+Con+Prof. On a failed save your target becomes poisoned for one minute.
Extra Limbs: Thri Kreen have a second set of slightly smaller arms located on their abdomen. You can use these arms to manipulate objects or hold items, but not to make individual attacks. If you are holding a weapon or a shield in your lower hands, you can ready that weapon without expending an action by trading objects held in your various hands.
Kreen Weapons Training: Proficiency in the Gythka and Chatkcha.
I'm almost worried they're overloaded with goodness. Their Carapace and Speed, alone, are fairly strong. So I did my best to limit other shenanigans. Hopefully it'll prove wrong.
Most of the weapons in the book are fine as is, but I do plan to explicitly bring back double weapons as they were in 3e, essentially. The ability to dual-wield d8s is strong, but the setting is meant to be harsh and impressive so the Gythka stays as is. Of course I'll ignore all the 3e speak on "This reach weapon can hit melee characters" or "Bonus to Trip Attacks" and such. Instead I will allow tripping/disarming weapons to specifically access the 5e rules for doing so in the DMG while other weapons cannot. I always hated the idea of tripping someone with a longsword, anyway.
For the Classes...
I plan to use this document's version of the Bard with two important differences: Valor and Whisper Bards are the Subclasses and the class will advance their number of Bardic Inspirations at 5 and every 3 levels after that by 1 per long rest. A second pool, essentially, to help offset the versatility lost from spells. Eventually they'll get 6/long rest and (Cha Mod) per short rest by level 20.
The Clerics will need a revamp in their domains. I'll probably use Tempest for Air, of course, but Fire, Water, and Earth all need their own domains.
The Druid options from the book are the fine (A few new weapon proficiencies and a listing of available animals for wild shape). Land and Moon both work just fine.
Fighters really don't need any kind of changes, though the removal of the Eldritch Knight is... sad..? Not really. The biggest problem with fighters is the issue of wearing heavy armor in Athas sucking hard. My current thought is that Medium armor will make you use two water rations while heavy armor will make you use four. To offset the fighter's need to wear heavy armor, I plan to make a feat that allows a character with heavy armor proficiency to use half rations (In light or no armor the person is halving their water rationing, while in medium they use as much as another character in light, and in heavy they use as much as someone in medium). Hopefully that will appease the one or two players that might choose to use it.
Monks work just fine as they are, though I'll take away the Shadowsteppers and have the Elemental Monks defile like Arcane Casters.
Paladins will be Oathbreakers and Vengeance and all of them will be Templars getting their power from the Sorceror Kings!
I plan do a splitting off Psionicist/Psychic Warrior out of Mystic. The Psionicists will get a d6 hit die and most of the same features otherwise (Some more power points), while Psychic Warriors will retain the d8 and still have the option of going Immortal to give them about the same HP as any fighter type. That way I can have them do Soul Knives with Rogue HP and Immortals with Fighter HP using the same core class.
Rangers will be Revised, but otherwise unchanged? Not really much they need, there, to be honest. Their animal companions will have to be Athasian, for Beastmasters, but that's mostly a fluff-change.
I plan to allow Sorcerers as they are, essentially. They'll defile like all the other arcane casters, but I'll be letting them defile for Sorcery Points as well. A nice tempting thing that makes them stronger so long as they're willing to destroy the land around themselves. Skip the "This is your Bloodline" fluff, while retaining the abilities. You're not the child of a Dragon: You're progressing toward becoming one. They'll be Intelligence casters rather than Charisma.
Warlocks I love and plan to keep. Instead of having Pacts with Demon Lords and Fey, however, Warlocks will gain power by stealing it from Sorcerer Kings or other powerful entities. What they draw at any moment might be small, but they constantly risk retribution to go along with their defiling of the world around them.
Wizards are gone. Sorcerers replace them.
Wild Talents are all well and good and I'll probably lob a few of them at the party...
So. With all that important setting up information out of the way:
Do you folks think it's a good idea? Do you have any suggestions? Have any of you attempted to move things into Athas from the current crop of 5e adventures?
Right now I'm mostly choosing where the various elemental temples will be in the world, thinking of different names for some of the smaller communities (Red Larch becomes Redstone, things like that). I know that the Elemental Evil will not be what it is in the original path. My current idea is a ploy by one or more of the Sorcerer Kings to corrupt the Elements as a way of improving their power to their own wicked goals while weakening the various elemental cults across Athas by corrupting some portion of them and defiling the very elements they hold so dearly...
Alternatively I might make it a tendril of Rajaat's power reaching out from his prison. Not 100% sure.
I'm currently planning to put the campaign between Nibenay and Gulg near the Great Ivory Plain and the Crescent Forest. The issue is that it's the most heavily watered area in the entire Tyr region. It kind of undercuts some of the feeling of the setting, traveling through trackless wastes with dwindling supplies and debating between betrayal and banditry because survival is all that matters...
There are a couple hundred miles between Altaruk and Gulg, though, and I could use the People's Road as a center of the problem with Redstone being a village somewhere along it. That way the things happening in the forested and wet region (Rivergard keep and such) can happen in the Crescent Forest while the players spend more of their time in a dry and sandy sort of region that fosters the cruelty of Athas...
What do you folks think?