Need help with a world-building project

[Coplantor]

Characteristics:
Races:ContinentHumans (behemoth)
Orcs
Elves
Githyanky and Githzerai
Satyrs
Fey
Felver (half orc/elf)
Half elves
Grimlocks
Yuan Ti
Illithids
and probably GnomesIslandsHumans (leviathan)
Hobgoblins
Kobolds
Goblins
Bugbears
Lizardfolk
Locathat
Base Classes:New:Elemental variants of the sorceror
Battle sorceror variant (UA)Core already inAll PHB
All complete adventurer
Warlock and Warmage
All complete warrior






original post
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Hi, I'm new here and i'm creating a world for a campaign setting to play with my friends and why not to share it. The main idea is that humans are outsiders in this world, some caataclysmic event destoyed the humans homeworld and they traveled through different dimensions guided by their main deity untill they found a new world to live in, this world is divided in two main parts, a huge continent and not so far from it an enormous group of islands. For some reason this god dissapears (i have to work in a reason) and leaves in charge his two main helpers, two other deities. The first one, Behemoth, believes that the main continent would be the best place for the humans to live in, because earth represents estability and permanency and he belives that only by keeping their old traditions humanity has a chance to survive. The other deity, Leviathan claims that the islands are the best place to settle because of the ever changing nature of the waves and the ocean, claiming that humanity needs to change and adapt to this new world. And so, humans divide themselves between those who support Leviathan and the followers of Behemoth. Those who stayed in the continent started to build a kingdom guided by lawfulness and the islanders with a more caothic nature created dispersed comunities through the islands bonded by the faith in Leviathan. This would be the origin of humanity, I also want a diversity of intelligent races but i want the world to be large enough that it would be very rare to see most of them interact. So if you can help me to develop this idea i'd be really grateful and if you can, please give me your opinion about this.

[The_Dead_Legion]

I love the names Behemoth and Leviathan. Sounds great. Do you want ideas for some intelligent races? If you provide a little more detail on the landmass climate and geography (cold islands, tropical, jungle, barrier reef?)I could suggest some ones. A map would be helpful for the large continent to flesh it out.

[Coplantor]

I think i will use the races of the monsters manual but change their typical society. I was thinking that if humans came later to this world then they must have some advantage over the other races so I decided that humans have a more advanced technology. Humans have medieval technology while the races of the world resemble the roman empire, the ancient greeks and egypt. Maybe the Hobgoblins because they are the most lawful of all monsters can live in a roman like empire, trying to conquer the islands, but with each one they conquer another one revolts. An idea i have is to gather the githyanki and the githzerai into one big kingdom, the githyanki are the warrior class and the githzerai the religious class and live in monasteries and some may be the king's advisor, I dont know why but I want this kingdom in the northernmost part of the continent wich does'nt have to be necesarily a frozen waste or a tundra, it may even be quite warm.
I'll be working on a map if I can, and I have some good ideas for the elves that i want to develop a bit more.

[zerombr]

i like the concept, it's more of a law/chaos thing than a good/evil.

[Coplantor]

This are the races I'll be using in the world, Those with an * next are the ones the need some changes to the race itself, the way they behave or I just dont know if I'll be using them afterall and those with a "P" are the Races that players should use.

Races of the mainland:

Behemoth's Humans. P
Giths (githyanki and githzerai). P
Satyrs*. P
Elves. P
Orcs. P
Yuan-Ti (at least the pure bloods)*. P
Different Half-Somethings*. P
Grimlocks
Mind Flayers*
Goblins*


Races of the islands:

Leviathan's Humans. P
Hobgoblins. P
Kobolds*. P
Bugbears*. P
Lizardfolk. P
Locathah
Goblins*


If anyone has any good idea for the races marked with an * (exept for the kobolds, I marked the because I'm still working on them) please post it and share it.

[Fostire]

How about we make the goblins a more savage species, maybe with animal intelligence and little to no organized society (a pack at most). Maybe people use them as guarding pets even. They could use very simple weapons (read: clubs) with training.

[Coplantor]

How about we make the goblins a more savage species, maybe with animal intelligence and little to no organized society (a pack at most). Maybe people use them as guarding pets even. They could use very simple weapons (read: clubs) with training.

Not my original idea but it could work, there could be different kind of goblins, some bigger than others and some with sligthly more intelligence. Can you imagine an Expert with ranks in "Profession (Goblin breeder)"? He'll sell the best, the biggest and the smartest. I know this does'nt sound right at all, but it could be an interesting quirk for the world. I'll just think about it.

Wierd things about this: Special mount: Goblin? Nah, but a goblin for animal companion? Mmmm...

[Triaxx]

Why not make the Hobgoblin's the original breeder's of the Goblin Guarddogs? Something along the lines of human's keeping monkey's as pets. That'll give you a good basis for comparison, and anyone playing as a Hobgoblin would get a bonus to handling Goblin packs.

And personally if you have tropical islands, I'd put the Yuan-Ti there, since they seem a more sea-faring race to me.

Let the Mindflayer's exist as small colonies, perhaps as a driving force behind a revolution that's trying to take place in the Gith community.

I wouldn't add another half something myself, but if you want to, put some Half-giants in the mountains deep inland. They can take the place that dwarves would usually occupy.

Are you going to have naval combat? If so, then try making the Bugbear's into coastal pirate's. A threat between the island's and the mainland.

If you're adding naval combat, make Kobold's expert sailors. Racial bonuses to ropework, and climb checks, so that a Kobold boat is a mass of bodies scampering about through the sails and rigging.

Try throwing the Satyr's into the deep wilderness. Favored Class is Ranger, or Scout, bonuses to hide in natural enviroments, Survival, and natural tracking.

For further help, I'd need to see a map of the place.

[Fostire]

Can you imagine an Expert with ranks in "Profession (Goblin breeder)"? He'll sell the best, the biggest and the smartest. I know this does'nt sound right at all, but it could be an interesting quirk for the world. I'll just think about it.

he he, pedegree goblins, perhaps a chiuaua goblin as a familiar, it could be fun having a little green monster on your shoulders.

[Coplantor]

And personally if you have tropical islands, I'd put the Yuan-Ti there, since they seem a more sea-faring race to me.

This was my original idea, it was either that or an egypt like civilization in a desert near the equator in the mainland with the purebloods in charge and the half bloods and aberrations being some kind of mutated version of the race that raids the dunes.


Let the Mindflayer's exist as small colonies, perhaps as a driving force behind a revolution that's trying to take place in the Gith community.

This is a good idea indeed, all i had in mind for the Ilithids was being the leaders of the grimlocks.


I wouldn't add another half something myself, but if you want to, put some Half-giants in the mountains deep inland. They can take the place that dwarves would usually occupy.


I dont know about half giants, i was going to se the giths for the master smithing stuff to cover the hole that dwarves left, i was thinking of Half Orc/Elf, I actually asked for this thing in the "Request a homebrew" thread and i got something really inetresting. When i said half something it did'nt implied half human half X, just cross breeds between races that live near each other.


Are you going to have naval combat? If so, then try making the Bugbear's into coastal pirate's. A threat between the island's and the mainland.

If you're adding naval combat, make Kobold's expert sailors. Racial bonuses to ropework, and climb checks, so that a Kobold boat is a mass of bodies scampering about through the sails and rigging.


I plan to have a lot of naval combat in the islands and part of the mainland, my idea of bugbears was a combination between pirates and vikings (more pirate than viking) and my idea for kobolds is quite strange, I thought that they have no real physical power so my question was: How did evolution managed to let this little fellows to survive? Being sneaky and stealthy was not enough for me so i decided to make them smarter, change their favored class from sorcerer to wizard and shape their society much like the ancient greeks and it even makes sense with the expert sailors thing.

I like how this world is going. Now I'm developing the mainland human society I'll post later again. :smallbiggrin:

[Fostire]

Being sneaky and stealthy was not enough for me so i decided to make them smarter, change their favored class from sorcerer to wizard and shape their society much like the ancient greeks and it even makes sense with the expert sailors thing.

Picture this: a kobold wizard with a goblin familiar

[Coplantor]

This is what I have for the humans of the mainland. A couple of hundreds of years passed since humans arrived to this new world, those who settled in the great continent (wich would be interesting if different races calls it in different ways) build a stronghold that would later become a metropolis and the capital of a small empire. This city goverment is a theocracy, the power of the king is belived to come directly from Behemoth and the king has the entire Temple of Behemoth supporting him. Usually rulers of the empire are lawful good or lawful neutral. Paladins are more likely to have raised in this city but it does'nt mean that they work for the empire or that they are followers of Behemoth, I dont want the paladins to be tied to any kind of organisation, I want them to be independent defenders of justice, trying to give an example of a life dedicated to the others, their souls are never calmed if they know that somewhere, no matter how far away, evil lurks waiting to expand. Far away from the main city there are villages that belong to the empire but because of their distance to it, their culture has merged with that of the races they live near, examples of this are human barbarians because of the contact with orcs (and thus the origin of the half orcs) or human druids that originated from elven teachings.
The empire punishes the practice of necromancy, anyone founded guilty of
necromancy charges usually pays with his own life, exeptions does exist, a necromancer may be locked up in jail or even pardoned if the crime was a lesser one or if he has important friends (did you you thought that just because the city is lawful neutral/good was free of corruption?). You will never see an adventurer being brought back to life from a devoted Behemoth priest, death is not a thing to play with.
The income and resources of the empire comes from the farming villages near the limits of the same, from the different mines they posses and from comerce with the other races and cities.

I think is time for me to work in a map.

[karmuno]

I like the concept. It reminds me of Foundation in a fantasy setting. Here are a couple questions to consider:

How involved with the humans are Behemoth and Leviathan? Do they even exist? What kinds of deities do the other races worship?

Are there people who don't believe in the origin myth, or is it still so fresh in society's memory that people still take it word for word? Perhaps there's a generation gap currently between the "elders" who believe in the old stories and the younger people who believe that it's untrue.

Do the humans feel like they are the rightful owners of the land? Will they eventually seek to conquer everybody else to fulfill their "manifest destiny?"


I won't answer these questions, because I find it much more rewarding to come up with answers myself when I'm world-building (no matter how much I'm subliminally copying someone else's work :smalltongue: )

[Coplantor]

I won't answer these questions, because I find it much more rewarding to come up with answers myself when I'm world-building (no matter how much I'm subliminally copying someone else's work )

This is exactly what i think, is easier and and as you say, much more rewarding to come up with the answers so if you have more questions please ask them.


How involved with the humans are Behemoth and Leviathan? Do they even exist? What kinds of deities do the other races worship?

Even though Behemoth and Leviathan were the guides of the people in the early years (some centuries ago), they are not really involved with humans and pay little atention to them even though they are their only followers. Beause of this some believe that they dont exist, they do exist but both believe that their job is done and finished when the humans settled, Behemoth is a Lawful Neutral deity so he may interfere with the world only if he believes that the order of things is under a big threat, is also an agresive deity and is worshiped mainly by soldiers, meanwhile, Leviathan is a Caothic Neutral deity so is even more distant to his followers.
Of course, there are other deities living in this world. I have'nt thinked of all but I have a few. The ones I have righ now are the three sisters Alraune (godess of the woods and the animals of the land), Undine (godess of the oceans and water beasts) and Sylph (godess of air and its respective animals). The three godesses are worshipped mainly by elves, orcs, satyrs and lizardfolk. They are worshipped as a group or individually. Their aligments are NG, LG, and CG respectively. Each one of the godesses has special beings working for them, Alraune has the nymphs, Undine the marmaids and Sylph the sirens.


Do the humans feel like they are the rightful owners of the land? Will they eventually seek to conquer everybody else to fulfill their "manifest destiny?"

The followers of Behemoth belive that theres a part of this world that belongs to them, much like a promised land while the followers of Leviathan believe the the world is for everyone but they have a tendency to believe that is theirs.

About the map.. well, it seems that inkscape wont run on my crappy PC:smallannoyed: so I'll just have to do it on MS Paint. Untill next post I guess.

[Coplantor]

This is what I want for Elves. Thy live in the wilderness, they favoured class is ranger. Each elf belongs to a clan but the elves live alone by themselves and the clans only gather in very special situations. Every clan has a leader or patriarch/matriarch wich is a wise druid and one of the oldest elves in the clan and this leader lives in the clan's sacred grounds, a special place for the clan.

Elves have children once or twice in a century, they usually have them with the same person they had the last one. Once the baby is born, both of the parents take care of him untill his 8th birthday, when the parents participate in a duel, the one who proves to be the stronger takes care of the children untill he is old enough to take care of himself (ussually when he is 16 years old). End so the couple wont see each other again for about a century. Exeptions to this does exist, there are a few elven marriages but are very strange, even though elves fell in love they are very individual beings and most of them live alone for their whole life, those who dont are ussually adventurers that travel in adventuring parties and become used to having company so once they retire from adventuring they get married.

Special events for the elves to gather involve: A marriage, a new patriarch's crowning, war coucils and others.

Cross breeds involving elves: Half Humans: Since the arrival of humanity, some of the villages that settled far away from the main cities live in contact with the local races more often than the other cities and it's not strange for an elf to fall for a human.

Half Orc: Orcs are the other numerous race living un the wild lands. This orcs are not evil like the orcs of other worlds. They live in tribes and sometimes an orc gets married with an elf as a sign of peace between an orc tribe and an elven clan (The patriarch or matriarch contacts the elf that believes is the most apropiate for the orc).

Elves religion: Most elves adore Alraune, those who live by the mountains have a thing for Sylph and the some of the few who live by the coasts worship Undine. The number of elves who converted to the human religion is really small and there are more Leviathan's followers than Behemoth's among the elves.

Elves hate Grimlocks, some elves meditate during daytime so they can be at their best during the night time when grimlocks go out to the surface and kill as much as they can.

[Fostire]

This is what I want for Elves. Thy live in the wilderness, they favoured class is ranger. Each elf belongs to a clan but the elves live alone by themselves and the clans only gather in very special situations. Every clan has a leader or patriarch/matriarch wich is a wise druid and one of the oldest elves in the clan and this leader lives in the clan's sacred grounds, a special place for the clan.

Special events for the elves to gather involve: A marriage, a new patriarch's crowning, war coucils and others.
This reminds me of the halfling tribes in AD&D Dark Sun setting.


Half Orc: Orcs are the other numerous race living un the wild lands. This orcs are not evil like the orcs of other worlds. They live in tribes and sometimes an orc gets married with an elf as a sign of peace between an orc tribe and an elven clan (The patriarch or matriarch contacts the elf that believes is the most apropiate for the orc).

This are half-orc/half-elf right? If so could you give us the stats on that?

I like the elves so far, very unlike stereotypes.

A couple of questions:
-Are there any sub-races of elves?
-How do elves feel about their half-breeds?
-What do elves think of humans?(kinda related to previous question)
-Are there half-orc/half-human?
-What do humans think of the orcs?(perhaps there were evil orcs where they come from and just assume this are evil too)
-What is the human opinion on all other races while youre at it?
-You said that elves sometimes worship human gods, so what do other elves think of this?

I realise many are questions about what the races think of each other, and you should really work a bit on this as it helps roleplay characters of these races, and it makes the setting have a more real feel to it.

[Yakk]

A bit of advice: fewer well developed races is better than a plethora of races thrown in. You have finite attention: spend it on interesting content rather than lots of less interesting content. :)

[SolkaTruesilver]

Hmm.. if I'd done it myself, I would have put the elves as a naval races. Ranger is a perfect choice for a naval warrior (high skills, light armor). I'd also have the elves owning the ARCANE magic in the world, and the dwarves have the high-technology (iron working, maybe a few gunpowder).

The humans arrive in the world, and they can conquer their lands because they are the first to introduce pure-divine magic with the concept of an abstract God, where as the other races are limited to druidic magic, and a shaman-based religion. The Leviamen encounters the elves in their naval land, befriend them. The elves teach them a little of their arcane magic, but keep them in a deception about something (pretty much like Warhammer's Bretonnia). Since deception is chaotic by nature, I think it fits the setting.

On the other hand, the Behemen settle on the continent, and help the dwarves fend of their ennemies. They develop a good relationship similiar to Warhammer's Empire. They are straightforward with their approach.

I think a long-lasting rivalry between Dwarves and Elves would also fuel the distrust between the two human peoples.

[Coplantor]

Are there any sub-races of elves?

No, there are no sub races of elves.


How do elves feel about their half-breeds?
If they prove to be strong enough there's no problem and is accepted normally, but the half elves that grow with the non elven parent are considered weaker and the elves can tell easily if a half elf was reaised by his elven parent.


What do elves think of humans?(kinda related to previous question)

The elves dislike the humans that live in the capital city and the cities near it, they do appreciate the simple way of life of the remote villages and the few barbarians that originaly came with behemoth and leviathan are considered as almost equals by the elves (of course, for the elves only those with a trace of elven blood in their veins who live the elven way of life are the true owners of the world and the favored ones of the three sisters)


-Are there half-orc/half-human?
Yes there are and I'll post about them later.


-What do humans think of the orcs?(perhaps there were evil orcs where they come from and just assume this are evil too)
That's pretty much what happens with the orcs in this world, if an orc decides to worship behemoth it may be "accepted" in human society but he wont be treated as an equal because of the human idea of the orcs. More about the orcs later.


-What is the human opinion on all other races while youre at it?
Behemoth humans (Or Behemen as Solka Truesilver calls them) are the ones I have developed the most so I will tell you what they they think:
About Giths: They are a great civilization that deserves respect, they could be a potential ally in the future because they have things in common with the Behemen, but they are to far away in the north so humans dont think about them a lot more than this.
About Satyrs: They are just savages that dwell in the forests and plains of the mid-part of the continent, they may be good guides and stuff, but humans prefer to have nothing to do with them.
About Orcs: If Satyrs are just savages then orcs are according to human beliefs the same kind of scum that the grimlocks are with the difference that some orcs can be teached to behave the same way you train a dog.
About Elves:Noble undisciplined people of the wilderness, if they just abandon they individualist way of life and accept Behemoth they could become humans best allies, but they are egocentric and barbaric so the most devoted behemen try to avoid the elves.
About Yuan-Ti:These beings once were a humanoid similar to humans so they can be also potential allies in this world, but they live in the desert and under constant raids of they most mutated relatives, humans usually dont travel deep into the desert and the contact they have with the Yuan-Ti is because of travelling caravans, no human has ever seen the cities of the Yuan-Ti. For most humans they are just strangers from a an unaccesible land and dont try to learn their language. The humans who speak Yuan-Ti are merchants and business men.
About Grimlocks:They are the scourge of the night. In the wild plains, forests and mountain regions, the dusk is a feared moment in wich these savage beings start raiding villages and caravans with a fierce attitude wich makes people believe that they spawn in hell itself. For humans they are a smarter and more dangerous kind of animal that should be erradicated.
About Mind Flayers:Humans dont know they exist.
Races in the Islands:Bugbears are pirates, they are enemies of the law abiding citizens of the empire and so they must be eliminated. Hobgoblins are allies of the empire and help them with the bugbear problem, the might be a little agressive but they are a disciplined race with a great militar training. Common people of the empire dont actually like them because of their agressive aproach to resolving things but are by far better than elves and orcs.


-You said that elves sometimes worship human gods, so what do other elves think of this?
The other elves see this elves as traitors to their own race so elves worshipping human gods try to keep it a secret, avoid other elves or settle in human cities hoping to find acceptance.


This are half-orc/half-elf right? If so could you give us the stats on that?

Half-Orc-Elf
+2 Strength, -2 Intelligence
Base land speed of 30ft
Immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects, and a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells or effects.
Darkvision out to 60 feet
+1 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
Elven Blood
Orc Blood
Automatic Languages: Common, Elf, Orc
Favored Class: Ranger
Thanks to the guys in the request a homebrew thread especially to TacoClone who created this and named them the "Felver".

[Fostire]

That's pretty much what happens with the orcs in this world, if an orc decides to worship behemoth it may be "accepted" in human society but he wont be treated as an equal because of the human idea of the orcs. More about the orcs later.

Wait, im confused, are orcs good or do they have no specific alignment?

By the way nice work so far.

[Lyndworm]

[These] orcs are not evil like the orcs of other worlds.

I think that they would have no alignment.

A question for the marvelous Coplanter, though: Are the grimlocks evil? You said that the (mainland) humans think so, but we also know that they're prone to prejudice. So are the grimlocks misunderstood thieves, or barbaric marauders?

[Coplantor]

A question for the marvelous Coplanter, though: Are the grimlocks evil? You said that the (mainland) humans think so, but we also know that they're prone to prejudice. So are the grimlocks misunderstood thieves, or barbaric marauders?

Humans dont know anything about this, but the grimlocks are being controlled by the Mind Flayers, that's the true reason behind their merciless barbric behavior. No one except for some few elder elves remember how these creatures were before the ilithids took control over them. In my mind, the grimlocks of this world look much more brutal than the ones of the monster manual, they wear heavy bulking full-of-spikes armors, pierciengs in most of their bodies and weapons fashioned in strange ways with extra pointed ends wich are not for using as part of the weapon but for looking even more intimidating, they are taller than an average human and their skin ranges from pale gray to white.

Orcs and Grimlocks:
Orkish lore tells that grimlocks were once a powerful tribe of orckish warriors. They hungered for power and it was thet same hunger what draw the atention of a lord of the underworld, Selthernas the Lord of Nightmares. This wretched overlord seeked to expand his influence in the horrors of the night and so he tempted this tribe with promises of power and a place in legends. Selthernas controlled the mind of this orcs and so the grimlocks were born.

Just in case someone did'nt got it, this "Selthernas" is an ilithid overlord.

So, there's a minuscular chance that a grimlock is raised outside of the underworld by a really and I mean REALLY tolerant person and overcome the racial madness to become a functional member of society or even an adventurer but he must be prepared to recieve an arrow or two in the head before someone asks him any question about what is he doing.

As for orcs go, I think they shall be semi nomadic people, the tribes are cattle ranchers, moving from one place to another so the cattle can feed propperly. Perhaps the hide of their cattle is a preciuos material and orcs know how to improve it during the animals life and through special ways of breeding and feeding. And I think to myself... should I take a real animal, a special beast from the monster manual, or should I create a new animal and make it the cattle of the orcs? Intresting...
So, this animals have a good hide, a decent meat to eat and maybe they produce something else wich I dont know yet what it could be (I dont even know what the animals are) and the orcs are the only ones who know how to obtain it and make something usefull of it.

The aligment of the orcs should remain neutral, not neutral as in "It is my destiny to bring balance to the world" but neutral as in "Why should I care for what is happening in a far away place? I have to take care of my animals, my family and myself"

Orcs live with the entire tribe wich is usually just a big family, they take care of th animals, women take care of the children, the adults of the animals and the elders of the spiritual aspects of the tribe.
Orcs worship the three sisters with a preference for Alraune. (A person looking at an aparition of the sisters sees them as a female of the same race as him/her, I think it was important to set it clear). They live in contact with elves and generally consider them as friends. They dont have any strong concept of the other races because of their way of life exept for the grimlocks wich they hate.

Just in case I forget, the capital city of the behemen now has a name, "Aran" and also the main port city of the same empire, "Barsis".
Now I can say that near a tree by the river there's a hole in the ground where an old man of Aran goes around and around. Those who got it, good for you, those who did'nt just have listen to listen more music.

[Fostire]

As for orcs go, I think they shall be semi nomadic people, the tribes are cattle ranchers, moving from one place to another so the cattle can feed propperly. Perhaps the hide of their cattle is a preciuos material and orcs know how to improve it during the animals life and through special ways of breeding and feeding. And I think to myself... should I take a real animal, a special beast from the monster manual, or should I create a new animal and make it the cattle of the orcs? Intresting...
So, this animals have a good hide, a decent meat to eat and maybe they produce something else wich I dont know yet what it could be (I dont even know what the animals are) and the orcs are the only ones who know how to obtain it and make something usefull of it.

The aligment of the orcs should remain neutral, not neutral as in "It is my destiny to bring balance to the world" but neutral as in "Why should I care for what is happening in a far away place? I have to take care of my animals, my family and myself"

Orcs live with the entire tribe wich is usually just a big family, they take care of th animals, women take care of the children, the adults of the animals and the elders of the spiritual aspects of the tribe.
Dark sun again :smallwink: this sounds just like the nomad tribes there, except those were human, and herded some ostrich-like creatures.


Now I can say that near a tree by the river there's a hole in the ground where an old man of Aran goes around and around. Those who got it, good for you, those who did'nt just have listen to listen more music.

:smallconfused: I, didnt get it, where's that from?

[Coplantor]

Giths:

A very strict society divided in levels and two different categories: The warriors and the monks.(When I say levels i mean social level not class levels) Githyanki are the warriors. Those of the lower levels work in farms and represent the main body of the gith army serving as militia units. Those of the middle levels work in the city as merchants or artisans and serve as city guards and those who advance in the militar ranks may become elite guards of noble giths. Those of the upper levels are the githyanki nobles, they are the leaders of the army and the authorities of the city, for gaming purposes the githyanki lords are gestalt fighter/warlocks or warmages. The githzerai are the members of the spiritual part of the society, the lower ones meditate outside the city and give advice to the farmers, those of the middle level are usually locked in a monastery meditating almost their entire life, gatheing knowlege and storing them in scrolls and books for the use of their people. The higher monks are th advisors of noble families and are, in gaming terms gestalt monk/wizard. The ruler of the land is the gith emperor, the emperor works just like king, when the father dies the sons takes it's place but when there is no heir ti the throne the strongest members of the main noble families participate in a duel to death untill one is victorious and takes his place as the new emperor establishing a new dinasty.
Gith cities are in the northernmost part of the continent, they are expert weapon and armor smiths wich gives them a tactical benefit in wars and in comerce.
They hate mindflayers and their grimlock minions because they are trying to control the gith society again. Some emisaries from the behemen hve reached this far north and made an alliance with the giths, the first ones would place strongholds in the north dedicated to the erradication of the grimlocks and the giths excanche with them knowledge and weapons. The gith keep to themselves the existance of the mindflayers, fearing that some vile hearted beings )probably the same humans they allied with to get rid of the grimlocks) may try to make pacts with them hoping to get long forgotten knowledge and arcane power that could put the world well fare at risk. Anyone who knows of the existance of the mindflayers will sooner or later found himself in front of a gith assasination squad (if they are lucky, if they're not they'll just die without knowing what hit them.
There are gith raiding parties dedicated to eliminate mindflayers nests in the underworld. Of course, the raiding parties are composed entirely by giths, but on very strange cases, a non gith who proves himself worthy to the githzerai who organize the "mindflyer inquisition" may be hired as an hunter or undercover inquisitor (This could be an interesting Prestige class).

[EvilElitest]

I like the Gith, it is interesting that you've moved away from the normal standards

I really like your idea, i'm good with cultures of races (ask Silentnight) and particularly race relations. Anything you need


Also does anyone know Powies from the Demon Awakens series by R.A. Salvator? I think taht would be an interesting dwarf concept to throw in

Also the gnomes would be interesting to reform. I"ve always liked a sort of mercenary trader aspect for them

How could i help?
from
EE

[Prometheus]

Two comments:
-There should be a physical division between the law and the chaos. Perhaps sea monsters are rampant, storms are terrible, a war wages between the two sides, or simply the distance is long.
-There should be a small group that acts as a go-between. Their life is hard, and they don't succeed it going back and worth much but at dire cost, but the payoff is great (trade, technology, knowledge, spells, what have you). Perhaps they are searching for a better path, but are yet to find it.

[Coplantor]

OK, it's been a while since my last post I really need to do that map to help me focus.
Iim thinking about the gith religion and I think I'll go with one major god (related to mind and soul illumination) and a great variety of minor deities.
I dont think I'll be adding dwarves unless i feel they are truly necessary (wich, even considering that I love dwarves, i dont) or I come up with something great for them.

At first I did'nt like the idea of gnomes in the world as EE said, but after thinking about them for a little longer I decided that they would be a good thing, specially considering gaming, gnomish caravans would be great for adventurers to travel with and a good way to start a campaign. Gnomes would be more warrior like (I'm seeing them with armors like the gnomes of the "Looking for Group" comic) and travel with oversized burden beast wich would also please a friend of mine who once told me "Picture this... Gnomes riding Rhinos" (probably not rhinos but some other big animal)

Im still thinking about Yuan-Tis (is that the correct plural?) but I have nothing new, they live in egypt like cities in a desert near the middle part of the continent. Probably they once were elves who made a pact wth a reptilian deity in order to recieve new powers, the cities are inhabited by pure bloods who still mantain their sanity but the most corrupted are the half bloods and the aberrations who explored deeply their new powers and become some twisted version of their former selves, exiliated to the desert they now raid the dunes looking for caravans or unlucky adventurers to attack in order to survive and with the arrival of the behemen empire they now have more travelers to attack and because of their great hiding abilities, this hit and run tactics allowed them to increase their numbers making some parts of the desert to dangerous to cross,there are rumors of raiding groups that gathered together and stablished a hiden city in the desert.

Some parts of the above i dont like a lot so this is not permanent. I listen to all critics you may have.

[Fostire]

"Picture this... Gnomes riding Rhinos"

This world just gained 1000 awesomenes points.

[EvilElitest]

Ok, rhino gnomes are amazing

Anyways, i think hte Snake men could use their own unique spin to them. I'd think they'd live on the Islands, but have you considered that instead of the normal Egyptian/evil snake ideal they always wind up playing maybe you could try something more creative? Possible ideas

1) Barbaric, savage, tribal, primitive, and fervous, these Snake men represent the inner rage and beast rial qualities of humanity. They warrently act in the most cruel and sadistic ways possible. They often try to convert humans to embrace their primal sadistic instincts.
2) Cold, calculating, ruthless racists. As they are cold blooded, they view emotion as weak and unneeded. Racialist to an extreme, they always keep their emotions under control and live by a social Darwinist code "If your strong you live, if your weak you die. Those who protect the weak are in fact allowing the weak to taint the society and weaken themselves by doing so. Races who aren't strong are destroyed and go extinct. Those who adept survives. Thus it is our duty as a race to survive. Those who interfere with out duty to survive are natural rivals and predators who must be destroyed. Those other races who are weak can be made strong by mingling the blood of the strong with the weak, creating new stronger beings who exist to serve the strong. The crossbreeds are the natural commanders of the other races, and slaves to the abominations. There is no god, no meaning to life, no salvation, no morals, no inner understanding, no reason but survival of the fittest. And we shall do anything to find our place as the fittest
3. Cold ruthless traders willing to do anything to get a deal, trade anything (drugs, slaves, poison ect).
from
EE

[Fostire]

"If your strong you live, if your weak you die. Those who protect the weak are in fact allowing the weak to taint the society and weaken themselves by doing so. Races who aren't strong are destroyed and go extinct.

Wait, isn't that part of the sith code

[EvilElitest]

Wait, isn't that part of the sith code

And Shisho
from
EE

[Coplantor]

Satyrs, mmmm. Ok, they are keepers of the forests, specially since humans came in and begun cutting trees down in epic proportions. Others take as theirs the cause of protecting the animals in the wilderness so druid would be a natural class choice for this race, but they ussually opt for ranger or scout because of the survival skills, movement and ranged combat capabilities. They ussually dislike humans, elves are friends of the satyrs just like the orcs, some of the most powerful satyrs are called by a nymph (a daughter of alraune) to serve as holy guardians of the nymph forest, so if you are looking for a nymph just look for the over powered satyr that might just kill you on sight and ask him politely, just joking. There's still a lot to develop about this guys but i decided to post more often so at least i can get ideas and opinions on the things im thinking.

[Fostire]

You didnt say much on the satyrs, but if they are some sort of tribal race, they could have some druids as shamans and their warriors would be rangers.

[EvilElitest]

Wait, isn't that part of the sith code

Along with social darwinism to an extend, through the sith code works off that

As for the satyr idea, i'm going to work off the Greek idea somewhat and cal this guys total hedonists maybe.

1) They could own a city where everything is legal, drugs, sex (with anything/anyone), food, spices, gambling, you name it.
2) they are somewhat hippy like, nice and well intentioned, but also sex and drug open that can lead to some problems
3) they think only in a present mind set, only aware of waht is currently part of their attention with no mind to the long run or what has already happened.

from
EE

[Liadel]

Different approach to the Satyrs:

-Resent humans for destroying forests
-Frequently attack/harrass settlements (gurrilla warfare?)
-Attempted major war against humans and failed
-Plan to try again
-Possibly following a vengeful nymph who urges satyrs to eradicate humans
-Distrustful of most outsiders except elves (allied?) and rangers/druids
-Possible for outsiders to earn trust

Hope it helps.

[Fostire]

As for the satyr idea, i'm going to work off the Greek idea somewhat and cal this guys total hedonists maybe.

1) They could own a city where everything is legal, drugs, sex (with anything/anyone), food, spices, gambling, you name it.
2) they are somewhat hippy like, nice and well intentioned, but also sex and drug open that can lead to some problems
3) they think only in a present mind set, only aware of waht is currently part of their attention with no mind to the long run or what has already happened.

This looks like a chaotic society and if i understood correctly the chaotic part of the world was at sea (or was that just for humans?), and those hoofs dont look good for swimming.
I like your idea for the satyrs but i dont think such a society would pose much of a threat to the humans cutting their forests.

[Coplantor]

Lots of good ideas, the lawful thing was mostly dor humans but most of the races of the landmass are also lawful. Once I'm finished with the Yuan-Ti, the Satyrs and the Gnomes I'll probably playtest the continent with my gaming group and I'll tell you how was it

[Sonar009]

At EE: Why are you thinking of the Yuan-Ti as evil? Coplantor never said they were evil, and I like the idea of Yuan-Ti that aren't so aggressive and cultist-like.

In general: I'm not sure Orks being seen as lower beings would be wise, as that HUGELY handicaps players who want to play an Ork character. A player can deal with prejudice, but by what your saying Orks in human society would have a hard time getting a SYMPATHETIC human merchant to sell them goods, let alone at fair prices.

[Coplantor]

Yeah, you're probably right, still, it gives flavor to the world, remember that some orcs may become respected members of human societies and most of the prejudice against them comes from the capital city wich is just a small point in a huge continent and the most distant villages feel more tied to the locals than to the empire, poeple in this villages may live their entire lives without ever seeing an imperial officer, but they may share a drink every weekend with the orcs near the river that keep the grimlocks away from their lands.

The more I think of it, the more I like Liadel's idea of the satyrs and my original idea of the yuan-ti. A PC yuan-ti may be an emissary travelling through the land looking for allies or secrets for their war against the most twisted of their kin...

P.S: Pirates rule indeed...

[EvilElitest]

At EE: Why are you thinking of the Yuan-Ti as evil? Coplantor never said they were evil, and I like the idea of Yuan-Ti that aren't so aggressive and cultist-like.

In general: I'm not sure Orks being seen as lower beings would be wise, as that HUGELY handicaps players who want to play an Ork character. A player can deal with prejudice, but by what your saying Orks in human society would have a hard time getting a SYMPATHETIC human merchant to sell them goods, let alone at fair prices.

The differences between orcs and Yuan-Ti in terms of evilness is that they are like drow, very dangerous evil and cunning (not "Me smash"). A good Yuan-Ti would be possible certainly, and evil/neutral ones working with good people make sense, however i have trouble seeing the Yuan-Ti, race that normally likes to cross breed/inbreed other people along with their own, a race of cold blooded ruthless snakes has typically good. Oh it could happen certainly, but i don't think that it is something that would often occur.

So using the iconic Yuan-Ti, i like my Social darwin ideal. Sure you could go away from Iconic certainly, i simply like to twist the iconic to new places. A good Yuan-Ti would most likely involve druidism
from
EE

[Coplantor]

Now, I remeber that somewhere here I sqaid that satyrs sometimes have pacts with nymphs, so this is what I decided for them. Satyr favored class: Warlock. This solves two different problems, first, it solves part of the satyr background, they live in families, the main branches are the ones affected by the pacts with nymphs and thus become warlocks, secondary branches are rangers, scouts, bards and druids each class filling a different role in the comunity. The second problem it solves is the lack of aracnist oriented races in the main continent. There's no real way to tell how much I like this idea, in my head I can see an intruder in a forest, overwhelmed by a rain of arrows, then, when he finds an unarmed satyr and believes that he is finally getting lucky he is tossed to oblivion by an eldritch blast Mbuahahaha!!!!!

As for Yuan Tis goes, I'll keep them as a mistery race untill I'm dne planning what I'll do with them.

Gnomes, they must be versatile, it should'nt be wierd to see a fighter gnome, a mage or a rogue. I decided to create a double weapon, a double scythe with a blade at both ends of the pole known as the gnome double scythe, this is the emblematic weapon of the gnomes in this world and I'll probably creat a prsetige class for gnomes that focuses on mastering the art of combat with the double scythe.

[Fostire]

I like what you did with the satyrs. I had proposed druids on a previous post for the shaman types, but warlocks work so much better with the fluff.

One thing i noticed with gnomes on different settings is that they dont have a type. Elves have the mage ,ranger and nature types, Dwarves are fighter and miner types, halflings are rogue types, and half orcs are barbarian type. Gnomes currently dont have a real type, they have illusionist which kinda goes into elf terrain, and jewlery type, which kinda goes into dwarf terrain. The one type they do fit in and are unique is the tinkering type, but this doesn't go well with low tech campaigns. The fact that they dont have their own unique thing is, if i recall correctly, why the gnomes aren't a base class in 4E.

Anyway, i think that when you gave the gnomes the versatile type youre falling in the same trap since the versatile type belongs to the humans along with quick learning.
Just something thought you should consider. :smallsmile:

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

In my setting, gnomes are the magic race, elves are the warrior/poet/danish culture.

[Coplantor]

Well, in 2ed, elves were more rogueish, the only real advantage that an elf had over other wizards was that he was able to cast while wearing elven chain mail while the gnomes, if you cutted alittle the class/race restriction were the best wizards, they had an intlligence bonus and a wisdom penalty representing the "oh, I'm such a curious little fella, I wonder what this button is for?". When I started playing 3ed i was a little shocked by the "favored class: bard" thing, in 2ed, only humans and half eves were allowed to become bards! And what's the reason behind the +2 con -2 str? A +2 int and a -2 wis would've been much better.

This are my ideas for the favoured class of gnomes: spellthief, warmage, or they have to choose when they begin their adventuring carrier one FC from a small list like rogue, fighter and wizard.

Looking for advice: Wich adventuring class you believe represents the most a travelling/merchant race?

As for aligment, I know that they are lawful, but I dont know if making them evil merchants who care only about them, maybe even slave traders. Or, just some LG merchant people who once were the proud owners of their own kingdom but were conquered by the giths in the north and those who escaped started this travelling merchant lifestyle to survive... Uh, maybe, just maybe, gnomes are not welcome in the gith lands, they did something terrible up there in the north lands wich caused the war between the gnomes and the giths wich eventually ended with the gnomes efeated and forced to leave their home land. They are probably not LG then, some might be, but not all of them...

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Oooh, I like warmages! But doesn't fit with the fluff at all...

[Coplantor]

Yea, I'll probably just use warmages as a specially trained unit ooof the human empire.

[Fostire]

Looking for advice: Wich adventuring class you believe represents the most a travelling/merchant race?

Bard for travelling perhaps?
If they are some sort of smugglers, rogue would be best.

[Liadel]

Both the bard and the rogue could be useful, but also consider combining their atributes to create a merchent class.

The merchant doesn't really need to be able to sing, but it's also going to focus less on sneak attack and more on diplomacy (why kill your customers?). Bardic knowledge is good, considering their travel. Some special ability that affects prices for buying/selling?

The class is starting to feel too weak for PC's, so maybe as an NPC class?

[Coplantor]

we take out sneak attack and "gnomish lore" gets in, then, a special abilty that adds the intelligence bonus to all bluff checks involving business. Sleight of hand is important as well as diplomacy and sense motive. It must be proficient with small and light easy to hide weapons like daggers and rapiers that wont make those around them suspicious or intimidated by the gnomes. I dont know if this should be a class or just take some of the abilities and turn them into racial features.

[Coplantor]

So, probably i'll start a new thread with the mechanics and the already decided stuff of this new world, there are two reasons for this, have an ordered clean list easy to use and make me post more often. Problem with this... I need a name for the project, I'm listening to any idea, all I have right now is something like "broken lands", "new found world" or "colony".

[lord of kobolds]

What happened to the Kobolds????:smallconfused::smallfrown::smallfrown:
perhaps adapting them to be an aquatic race, as in a race that lives underwater.

[Coplantor]

I said before that kobolds are an advanced civilization that resembles ancient greece with a lot emphasis in the arcane arts (Yeah, they are the wizards of the setting)

[EvilElitest]

I said before that kobolds are an advanced civilization that resembles ancient greece with a lot emphasis in the arcane arts (Yeah, they are the wizards of the setting)

I think some Mayan stuff would be interesting, like the calender
from
EE

[Coplantor]

I'm still looking for a name for the project. Kobolds, they will be spreaded all along the islands, lots of city states, each one with it's own cultural twists. Every city adores a different dragon god (no one know if they really exist but legends tell that in times of need, the dragons help their kobold worshippers). Dragons are quite common in the islands, much more than the continent, of course, you wont see one every day, but some dragons own islands and are very territorial about it, this dragons are not related to the dragon gods but it was something i needed to say.

Monks are going to work a lot different in my world. 99% of them are githzerai. Monks will have spell like abilities like the invocations of the warlocks but much more limitated and the bonus AC comes from intelligence rather than wisdom.

[Fostire]

I'm still looking for a name for the project.
I suck at naming so my advice is probably not the best, but you should name it someway people can easily relate to the world your building. If they can relate its easier to remember.


Kobolds, they will be spreaded all along the islands, lots of city states, each one with it's own cultural twists. Every city adores a different dragon god (no one know if they really exist but legends tell that in times of need, the dragons help their kobold worshippers).
The thing about gods that might not exist, is that if they dont, where do clerics get their powers?


Monks are going to work a lot different in my world. 99% of them are githzerai. Monks will have spell like abilities like the invocations of the warlocks but much more limitated and the bonus AC comes from intelligence rather than wisdom.
I would make them psi-like abilities as it goes more with the gith's (usual) fluff. Unless of course there are no psionics in this campaign.

[Coplantor]

The thing about gods that might not exist, is that if they dont, where do clerics get their powers?

It's pure fluff, of course they exist and I know you suck at naming. Howard...

[Fostire]

It's pure fluff, of course they exist and I know you suck at naming. Howard...
Hey! That character is long dead.

Anyway if gods do exist and clerics get their powers from them, then why would people doubt their existance. I mean whenever a cleric casts a spell thats proof that the gods exist.

[Coplantor]

Well, somewhere in the players handbook says that clerics gain their powers from gods and they can also draw their powers from ideals and/or philosophies (quite a strange variant). This could be the case of kobolds, but it is'nt. Mmmh, now i feel the urge to play a cleric who gain its powers this way and convince the entire party to convert to a fake god that I claim that i follow and worship an then lenjoy the look on their faces when I tell them that the god was fake.

[Fostire]

That is one stupid rule, just believing firmly in something shouldnt grant you powers.
Its like:
Person: How do you do that?
Cleric (Casting spell): I rape babies
Person: what? :smalleek:
Cleric: well, i believe that raping babies is the one true path to enlightment, and by believing in that i have the power to heal.

I know that its supposed to be something like some god shares youre beliefs and grants you powers to spread those beliefs. But still if i were a god i wouldnt go arround giving spells to whoever happens to think like me, instead i would try to make them join my religion, or start one if there isnt one already (this is of course thinking in a world where a god gets more powerful the more worshippers it has).

A question:
You said that the "thing" about your world is that division between law and chaos and sea and land, but how does this affect the game mechanics? Is there anything more than just fluff for this division? Maybe you could make the sea infused with chaos and the mainland ifused with law, therefore spells with the appropiate descriptor would be stronger or weaker on the respective area. I dont think there are many law and chaos spells (aside from summons) so i dont think balance would be to much of a problem with that. Also if you go with the previous idea is to add areas where the law/chaos is to strong and opposing spells are imposible to cast.

[Coplantor]

That is one stupid rule, just believing firmly in something shouldnt grant you powers.
Its like:
Person: How do you do that?
Cleric (Casting spell): I rape babies
Person: what? :smalleek:
Cleric: well, i believe that raping babies is the one true path to enlightment, and by believing in that i have the power to heal.

I know that its supposed to be something like some god shares youre beliefs and grants you powers to spread those beliefs. But still if i were a god i wouldnt go arround giving spells to whoever happens to think like me, instead i would try to make them join my religion, or start one if there isnt one already (this is of course thinking in a world where a god gets more powerful the more worshippers it has).

A question:
You said that the "thing" about your world is that division between law and chaos and sea and land, but how does this affect the game mechanics? Is there anything more than just fluff for this division? Maybe you could make the sea infused with chaos and the mainland ifused with law, therefore spells with the appropiate descriptor would be stronger or weaker on the respective area. I dont think there are many law and chaos spells (aside from summons) so i dont think balance would be to much of a problem with that. Also if you go with the previous idea is to add areas where the law/chaos is to strong and opposing spells are imposible to cast.

Well, first thing off, i also think that the "I believe in X thus I cast spells" was a little stupid in 3rd ed and its a big stupidity in 4th ed.

For the mechanincs: The stonghold of law in the world is Aran, the capital city of the human empire so, every lawful spell caster gains a +1 to his caster level whenever he casts spells at behemoth's shrines or blessed lands, also, every lawful spell casted inside this areas gains the benefit of any metamagic feat of the caster's choice just as long as he can cast a spell of the resulting level but uses a slot of the spell original level: I.E: a 7th level cleric uses a 1st level lawful spell, he decides to apply two metamagic spells that gives +3 level so now the spell is considered a 4th level spell, he is able to cast a spell of 4th level so he casts it without any problem and uses a 1st level spell slot.

In the islands there are similar areas, but because of their caothic nature this areas are constantly moving. This caothic energy manifests itself as caothic storms that improves in the same way as the lawful zones the caster level and also gives negative levels to lawful creatures. Being the hobgoblins the main lawful force in the islands they avoid storms at all costs (if you consider that most of the population is composed by 1st level commoners, this is a great danger).

There are other lawful zones in the continent, near the gith cities by the north.

Both the continet and the islands have an important influence of the human gods and their presence has effected everyone. Persons exposed during long periods of time to the lawful and caothic zones start to change their aligments towards the ones of the zones, only those with a strong will force or stubborness (I.E: adventurers, elves or hobgoblins)) are capable of mantaining their original beliefs. Im working on some mechanic to express this in game mechanics, I think that hobgoblins will have a racial feature that allows them to make fortitude saves instead of will to resist aligment change.

[Fostire]

Well, first thing off, i also think that the "I believe in X thus I cast spells" was a little stupid in 3rd ed and its a big stupidity in 4th ed.

For the mechanincs: The stonghold of law in the world is Aran, the capital city of the human empire so, every lawful spell caster gains a +1 to his caster level whenever he casts spells at behemoth's shrines or blessed lands, also, every lawful spell casted inside this areas gains the benefit of any metamagic feat of the caster's choice just as long as he can cast a spell of the resulting level but uses a slot of the spell original level: I.E: a 7th level cleric uses a 1st level lawful spell, he decides to apply two metamagic spells that gives +3 level so now the spell is considered a 4th level spell, he is able to cast a spell of 4th level so he casts it without any problem and uses a 1st level spell slot.

In the islands there are similar areas, but because of their caothic nature this areas are constantly moving. This caothic energy manifests itself as caothic storms that improves in the same way as the lawful zones the caster level and also gives negative levels to lawful creatures. Being the hobgoblins the main lawful force in the islands they avoid storms at all costs (if you consider that most of the population is composed by 1st level commoners, this is a great danger).

There are other lawful zones in the continent, near the gith cities by the north.

Both the continet and the islands have an important influence of the human gods and their presence has effected everyone. Persons exposed during long periods of time to the lawful and caothic zones start to change their aligments towards the ones of the zones, only those with a strong will force or stubborness (I.E: adventurers, elves or hobgoblins)) are capable of mantaining their original beliefs. Im working on some mechanic to express this in game mechanics, I think that hobgoblins will have a racial feature that allows them to make fortitude saves instead of will to resist aligment change.

ok first question: How often do you have to make a save to resist alignment changes?, cause its really annoying to have to make will saves every five minutes.
second question: What's the DC of the save?
I love how the chaotic zones move around.

About the metamagic thing, It's probably to broken. A 9th level wizard could cast 5 quickened 1st level spells without consuming his only 5th level slot. He could cast a quickened magic missile and an empowered fireball and still have a slot open to cast cloudkill.
What i would do is allow them to, in those zones, expend a higher level spell to apply a metamagic feat (in the case of wizards and clerics) or apply a metamagic feat to a spell without increasing its casting time (for sorcerors). This way the 9th level wizard could sacrifice his prepared cloudkill to quicken his magic missile (which he prepared as a regular magic missile) or a 10th level sorceror could cast an empowered fireball as a standard action instead of a full action.

[Coplantor]

I said that the metamagic thing applies to lawful spells in the lawful zones and to caothic spells in caothic storms, not to casters, to spells.


What i would do is allow them to, in those zones, expend a higher level spell to apply a metamagic feat (in the case of wizards and clerics) or apply a metamagic feat to a spell without increasing its casting time (for sorcerors). This way the 9th level wizard could sacrifice his prepared cloudkill to quicken his magic missile (which he prepared as a regular magic missile) or a 10th level sorceror could cast an empowered fireball as a standard action instead of a full action.

This one is also a good idea, i shall consider it when makig final decisions.

Saving throws to resist aligmen change should be made evrey 24 hours spent in an aligment infused zone.

I still have no idea of how high the DC should be.

[Fostire]

Heres an idea: You dont get to choose which metamagic you apply in the chaotic zones. When you cast a chaotic spell in these zone a random metamagic is applied to the spell even if you cant cast a spell of the adjusted level. of course if you cant apply that metamagic to that spell (ie: extend spell to an instant spell) nothing special happens.
Alternatively you could make the chaotic zones, wild magic zones in which, when you cast a spell, there is a chance of a random effect ocurring.

[Coplantor]

Just to post something so I dont forget.

Warmages are in, they are specially trained in the capital city of Aran. Actually there are two colleges of special trained wizards for combat, war mages and the UA battle sorceror variant.

Sorcerors living in the rst of the world are divided into 4 groups: Fire, Earth, Water and Cologne.

Just joking, of course that the groups are fire, earth, water and air.

Each one with different skills, abilities and even hp reflecting their element (Air will get dodge or bonus AC for touch attacks, fire will probably have rage, earth uses a d8 for hit points and water has access to healing spells)

Priests of Behemoth choose their domains according to a patron saint (I'm developing the list right now)

Priests of Leviathan gets their domains according how they feel is the best aproach to freedom, the list of domains shall be ready soon.

[Fostire]

Can fire sorcerors cast while raging? In my opinion they should, otherwise the rage ability is only useful if you run out of spells (which will only happen at low levels)

[Coplantor]

Can fire sorcerors cast while raging? In my opinion they should, otherwise the rage ability is only useful if you run out of spells (which will only happen at low levels)

Yeah, probably. They also have a 6 sided hp dice.
This goes quite well with a series of special abilities that I was creating. Like a prestige class that combines the bard and the barbarian. The sorcerors SA is Furious casting wich removes casting from the list of things you cant do while raging. This SA works only for spells from the fire sorceror list of spells known.

Also, yesterday I woke up after a strange dream. I dreamed of a city built around a tower over a mountain. Along the sides of the mountain the city was divided in 9 layers, each one over the other with the ones above being the only one without a layer over it (except for the tower) and the lower one without any other below. Each layer was like a separeted city by itself although the upper ones depended on the lower ones wich handled the production of food. I'm using this city for two things, this is going to be Aran, the capital city of the empire and I'm also creating another setting that consists only of this city but with more layers underground.

[Garphor Drinfan]

Maybe it could be a wizards tower, home to the most famous wizard in the world of whom everyone flocks too to learn his wisdom, and settles around, thus creating the city.

[Coplantor]

OK, here I go after a long time with almost nothing to give you but the difference between sorcerors.

battle sorceror: Just as it is on the UA.

Earth sorceror: Gradually gains natural armor class bonuses (+1 per 5 levels???). Hit dice: d8. Somewhere between level 4 and 7 recieves a natural slam attack.

Water sorceror: 4 skill points per lvl and access to all knowledge skills. Minor psionics abilities and a amall selection of healing spells too.

Air sorceror: Fast movement +10 (and might get better) and dodge bonuses to AC (probably evey 5 lvls too). Som reduced healing capabilities and good access to divination spells.

Fire sorceror: d6 hit dice. Rage, furious casting. Might turn/rebuke undead but at higher levels (starting at 5 probably)

Sorcerors will probably recieve energy resistance according to their type and might get special vulnerabilities against the opposite element.

Familiars of sorcerors get special abilities related to the element of the sorceror and should have some relation to the element (mole for earth, bird for air, toad for water, salamander for fire or any other that makes sense), not sure of what these abilities should be.

As soon as I learn how to make a stat table on the forum i'll post the tables for the sorcerors.

This is the suckiest post ever...

[Shademan]

You Need Demons?
'cus Im In Mood Fer Some Demons Right Now.

[Coplantor]

Well, the last month and half has been tough for my creativity (can you believe that those bastards of the U actually got me to study? that's ridiculous...) Anyway, at those moments of pure loneliness, calm and tranquility (the bathroom) i was able to think about the cataclismic event that forced the humans to move from one world to another... here it goes:

(WARNING: Contains lots and lots of cliches)

In the human original world, peple lived peacefully following the laws of their god Akael, a being of pure good. But, because good needs evil to exist, the counter part of Akael existed, Vernael. As long as Vernael existed, evil in the world would also exist, thus, Akael called his most devoted follower, a young priest of amazing powers and gaved him the mission to defeat Vernael. Akael's plan was to help the young priest in his quest and his battle against Vernael, without telling him that once Vernael was destroyed so was going to be Akael, who decided to retire from godhood, hoping that his teahings would remain in the conscience of people, thus, giving them the true gift of free will, without a good or an evil entity manipulating their fates.

The priest and Akael were victorious in their batle against Vernael, but a god cannot be completly destroyed, the esence of both divinities becomed trapped in the body of the priest, who was told by Akael in his last breath that now the power of both good and evil resided in him, that he was now immortal and that he was sorry about lying about the true meaning of the battle. Centuries passed and people forgot about both gods teachings (but not their existance), although the teachings of Akael were no long in the mind of the people, there was no evil threat to world now. The young priest, still looking like a young human wanders the lands of the world, untill one day he meets a girl...

The priest falls for her and so does she, they live happy for a couple of years, the priest wandered through the lands and always returned to the village when he was done wandering, returning with her, untill one day...

The Priest returned to the village just to fin it completly destroyed by bandits, he looks everywhere but there are no signs of the girl he loves untill someone told him that she was taken prissioner by the bandits. In that moment, something that never happend before occured, he was so angry, and his mind was in such chaos that part of the essence of the elder gods got free, and Vernael controled his emotions. He went to the bandits camp looking for vengance, everything around himstarted to decay, plants withered, animals died and people loosed their will to live. He slaugthered all the bandits and found the dead body of his lover, he used a part of the divine essence in his body to return her to life, as an immortal being like him. What she saw when she opened her eyes scared her in ways that are impossible to imagine for a regular man or woman. She saw the face of the person she loved, but it was not the same person, the eyes irradieted hate, and the presence of that person produced an aura of death, sorrow and despair, it was no longer the person she once loved. She rejected him, and runned in fear through the burning bodies of the bandits that abducted her.

The already fragile state of mind of the priest completly collapsed after this, from the internal chaos and conflict of his mind, Leviathan and Behemoth were born. The priest used his power to bring an end to the world, fire rained from the sky, the dead raised from the graves, the sea swallowed entire cities in a matter of seconds. He believed that the reason why people suffered, was because of other people, so he started to absorb the essence of everyone who died, so everyone would exist together in one being. Somehow, he snapped out of that state of madness and realized what he was doing, and more important, that the destruction that he brought upon the world was impossible to fix, because the only thing that he could'nt control was the flow of time. He knew that he was responsible for the destruction of the world, and he knew that the future of the people was in his hands once again. So, he appeared in front of every living person, he said his name was Ziz, the overgod of the realm, and that in order to save the people of the world, he was going to open a portal to another world, the new promised land, and that behemoth and leviathan were going to guide them through the gate. Ziz decided to stay in the original world, so he wouldnt hurt anyone again if Vernael's essence took over his mind.

So, the humans reached the new world and history proceeded just as I said before, humans divided into leviathans followers and behemoth's followers. They lived for centuries in the new world, the behemen grew as an empire called the empire of Aran and the rest is history...

There, that was all i could do this few months, i know, lots of cliches, semi EMO characters. I'd apreciate critics...

[mizzim]

you should actually have people who have wings (not unlike my avatar) for the main race. you should also have some dragons.

[WychWeird]

Well, first thing off, i also think that the "I believe in X thus I cast spells" was a little stupid in 3rd ed and its a big stupidity in 4th ed.

How about something along the lines of 'localised' spirits similar to kami within the Japanese culture? (Kami (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kami)) This would be an underlying level to the two main gods. Cities, towns and villages can believe in the predominating natural forces and draw (clerical) energy from those - the greater the belief the stronger the kami's personality. This would help prevent LordRod's concerns but additionally, if someone managed to create a faith on a 'fake' deity it would become a real deity due to the belief.... It also gives the gods a reason to involve themselves (through their agents) in the affairs of all thinking creatures.

Additionally, you could then enhance/penalise certain spells based on the type of spell and the underlying energy of the kami - as an example, a sun kami would enhance fire/light spells but reduce the effect of cold/dark spells.

Just ideas!

[Coplantor]

Mmm, funny. Yesterday I started to think about this setting again wich I had completly forgotten and today I found another post in the thread. I decided that Yuan-Tis are out, and the gnomes are probably out too, I'll just keep them for another setting I guess.

The Kami Idea is kinda intresting though I'll have to think a little better about the overall impact it'll have once Im also done designing the isands.

[Kagehime]

Oh, if you do go with that, I smell a Big Bad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amatsu-Mikaboshi)!

[The Gremlin]

Hey, I just wanted to say that I love this setting idea. The kobold sailors are my favorites. I've actually thought on similar lines. :smallsmile:

[Coplantor]

Great, thanks. This is the kind of posts that actually makes me try to finish this thing. My players and I had a little "playtest" a couple of weeks ago (or was it a month and a couple of weeks ago?) and we noticed that the way that githyankis and githzerais are stat-ed in the MM needs to be changed to make them work in this setting. Githyankis are supposed to be the warrior like of the two and Githzerai the mage like, yet, Githyankis have an intelligence bonus and githzerais have far more supperrior spell like abilities and stat bonuses, and both of them have the same LA. Now, due to some series of events, I dont have the PHB, MM or DMG with me except for the weekends so I cant really check them up right now and see whart should be changed and what not. My idea is to bring their LA to +1 instead of +2, balance them to be in the same power level, and change their stat bonuses according to their favored classes, wich will be (at least by now) fighter and wizard. Now, if I can get my hands on some other books like PHB 2 or CW, I could check some other classes, I liked the idea of a japanese like culture for this two so maybe instead of wizard, githzerais FC could be Wu Jen. I have to check the class a little more, i dont know.

[The Gremlin]

Great, thanks. This is the kind of posts that actually makes me try to finish this thing. My players and I had a little "playtest" a couple of weeks ago (or was it a month and a couple of weeks ago?) and we noticed that the way that githyankis and githzerais are stat-ed in the MM needs to be changed to make them work in this setting. Githyankis are supposed to be the warrior like of the two and Githzerai the mage like, yet, Githyankis have an intelligence bonus and githzerais have far more supperrior spell like abilities and stat bonuses, and both of them have the same LA. Now, due to some series of events, I dont have the PHB, MM or DMG with me except for the weekends so I cant really check them up right now and see whart should be changed and what not. My idea is to bring their LA to +1 instead of +2, balance them to be in the same power level, and change their stat bonuses according to their favored classes, wich will be (at least by now) fighter and wizard. Now, if I can get my hands on some other books like PHB 2 or CW, I could check some other classes, I liked the idea of a japanese like culture for this two so maybe instead of wizard, githzerais FC could be Wu Jen. I have to check the class a little more, i dont know.

Use This (d20srd.com) website. It's a lifesaver to people in PbPs and people missing their books.

[Immutep]

Got to say, i'm very intrigued by this campaign world you're creating. I especially enjoy the seeming lack of large scale internal Species conflict with the sole exception of humans (makes sense seen as we're the only species on this planet to "war" with others of the same species).

I take it that while the behemoth empire regard orcs as evil just like the one's where they come from, Humans that have a more elven way of life will be much more tolerant?

Whereabouts were you setting the campaign? It might help you to focus on one area of this world in depth and just lightly sprinkle some fluff across the rest of it, the continent is obviously MASSIVE (like, at least as big as pangea-pardon if spelled wrong) so you're campaign isn't going to need it all. This way you could possibly leave other regions for future campaigns, maybe even simultaniously run with the chance of both parties meeting in the future. It should help cut your work down and leave the possibility to alter things that are far off to suit your needs. Maybe the maps of distant lands aren't very accurate ect.

[Immutep]

P.s. have to say, love the idea of the Felvers, Might try and get my DM to incorperate them in the next campaign. :smallbiggrin:

[Coplantor]

Wow, this thread has expirienced a sudden resurrection.

I dont know if I already said this before, but Im eliminating the yuan tis and the desert region. The gnomes are probably going. I already have a general idea of the mainland designed so I should start working on the islands.

Lets see. I have the kobolds, a wise civilization resembling the ancient greeks. Hobgoblins will be based upon the roman empire, probably the las years of it since they cannot keep the isands under control. Human settlements will have no relation to each other as a nation has, they share a faith, a past and common morals and ethics.

The other groups of the islands are the goblins, wich are animals, lizardmen, a spiritual tribe of barbarians and locathahs, the island equivalent of a generic cmpaign orcs.

[Coplantor]

OK, I'm really needing help from you guys. My inspiration ussually comes when I take ling walks, through interaction with other people and when I'm in the bathroom. It's almost the end of the semester and I have a lot to do for the U, all the time Im dedicating to the U right now makes impossible for me to take long walks, and it's consuming most of my imaginative potential. I would really apreciate if you guys post any ideas, questions or anything regarding the development of this setting, you can also PM me or if you use MSN we can talk there.

Right now, I have to work about the giths stats. It would be awesome to have a small series of adventures to playtest this, if someone can help me with it, I will sell him my friends souls (I already sold mine to the guys in AMEN). The adventures must involve each one at least one major feature of the setting, otherwise it would be no different from a generic adventure.

[dragonhand]

Two things, one minor one moderate to major.
minor:do you read dominic deegan?:smallconfused:
mod.-major:the kobolds adore different dragon gods but in actuality they are different aspects of one god, that knowledge was known only to the spartan kobolds who got eradicated (sort of like 300 only on a larger scale.)

[Coplantor]

Hey, I liked he kobolds thing, and no, I dont know who dominic deegan is.

That aspects of a god thing gives me ideas for feats and PrC, I should start checking races of the dragon right now.

[dragonhand]

minor:just asking because of this http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2003-05-21

mod.-major::smallsigh:it was a good dream while it lasted.

[Coplantor]

Wait, what dream?

[dragonhand]

in this case dream means idea.

[Coplantor]

You mean the kobolds being an aspect of a god without knowing it?

[dragonhand]

i meant that they (the kobolds) worship seperate aspects of the same god but they don't realize it. thus they are calling them "seperate gods". but it's your world, do whatever you want with it.

[Coplantor]

Ah, sorry, I misunderstood you. Then agai, oth things could be combined, different aspects of a same god for the kobolds, and they have an inner divinity unknown to them, the only ones who knew how to channel their divine heritage have dissapeared as a civilization, but a few still remain, as wandering travellers, adventurers if you want.

[dragonhand]

I was also thinking that those who had the knowledge were shunned and then they were part of a 300 battle and died, thus the knowledge is no more (unless someone looks it up and makes the ridiculously high dc) if you don't want to do this you don't have to but if we're doing greece we need to do a 300 battle somewhere.

[Coplantor]

Well, hobgoblins are the dominant empire of the seas, maybe the spartan-esque kobolds leaded a final stand against the northern invaders, they lost the battle, but their combat was so impressive, that the hobgoblins learned to respect these little fellows, and thus offerd hem to be a part of the empire and yet keep most of their culture intact. Those brave kobolds with a divine lineage are now dead, yet, their blood still runs through the veins of a few, waiting for the day of their great return, waiting to restore the lineage of the ancient dragons in the southern islands.

In game mechanics, this will open the draconic feats for kobolds.

I need a name for this powerfull kobolds. Lets change the word spartan a little and see what happens... Perlans? Pearlans? Not sure about it yet.

[dragonhand]

Tranaps, Napstra, Stapran, Natraps, Ranstap, need i continue?

[Coplantor]

You know, Tranaps sounds kinda right, we are in the right direction there. Trenaps?
Terlans?
Sterlans?

[dragonhand]

Starlys (oh wait, don't use this, you'll be sued:smalleek:), Tetians, Terians, Treiaps, Trenais, Lretans... give me a moment.

[kopout]

Ranstap this gets my vote. Also you may want to consider that the goblins are smarter than the hobos think, or will admit, and have a plant of the apes thing going on

[Coplantor]

Ranstap this gets my vote. Also you may want to consider that the goblins are smarter than the hobos think, or will admit, and have a plant of the apes thing going on

This doesnt convince me a lot but will be considered. But if goblins are actually smarter then all my dreams of a player having a goblin familiar/animal companion will be lost

[dragonhand]

How about this, the familiar goblins are a subspecies or a malformed or are a neuter version of the regular goblins.

[Limos]

You could have a whole industry of partially lobotomized goblins.

The Breeders could "fix" them at birth and then train them to be familiars or pets.

Then just have it that all free Goblin societies were already subsumed into the Hobgoblin domains, their populace lobotomized and bred for labor. (That would make the hobgoblins deliciously evil, and make Goblins into a good race.)

[Coplantor]

Meh, this campaign is'nt really about good and evil, and I actually wanted the goblins to be what monkeys are to humans in regard of their realationship with hobgoblins.

[Solaris]

You could have a whole industry of partially lobotomized goblins.

The Breeders could "fix" them at birth and then train them to be familiars or pets.

Then just have it that all free Goblin societies were already subsumed into the Hobgoblin domains, their populace lobotomized and bred for labor. (That would make the hobgoblins deliciously evil, and make Goblins into a good race.)
Emphasis mine.

Just popping in to point out one huge, glaring fault in that logic: opposing evil, being tortured, enslaved by evil, etcetera, does not in any way, shape, or form, make you Good.
Just ask Miko.

[The Gremlin]

Emphasis mine.

Just popping in to point out one huge, glaring fault in that logic: opposing evil, being tortured, enslaved by evil, etcetera, does not in any way, shape, or form, make you Good.
Just ask Miko.

I agree. I kind of like the idea of goblins being normal at birth and getting 'fixed', but a lot of races are just evil because they have always been oppressed. Just ask the kobolds. Or the necromancers. Or, for that matter, the default goblins.

[dragonhand]

Solaris, do you read any of Mercedes Lackey's books?

EDIT SPECIAL: MERRY CHRISTMAS
for those who don't celebrate christmas, Happy Winter.

[Coidzor]

Just popping in to point out one huge, glaring fault in that logic: opposing evil, being tortured, enslaved by evil, etcetera, does not in any way, shape, or form, make you Good.
Just ask Miko.

Just ask Tolkien. The basic origin of Trolls and Orcs were that they were the native creatures of the world (I believe Ents and Elves respectively), but were tortured, corrupted, and enslaved by Melkior and by turns twisted into a slave race that was filled with spite and hatred and fear towards their masters but with a desire to inflict the same horrors to anyone and everyone they can get away with it (underlings, captives mainly).

That is an interesting idea, making the goblins more or less the chimps(or maybe bonobos) to the hobgoblins' man... Though with a bit of dog in there for the trainability.

Ed: So are they more like monkey-sized goblin-animals or more goblin-sized brute labor animals/packmule types? Or do the breeds run the gamut, maybe?

V: A cool idea, indeed. Though, since rhinos themselves didn't seem quite your alley, maybe a sort of rhino-elephantine hybrid with a sort of elongated snout-trunk with a club-end rather than horns or tusks. Since you were considering the idea for elsewhere even if it doesn't fit in here so much.

[Coplantor]

You can thank lord rod for that, for that and for the rhino riding gnomes.

[Coidzor]

I'm liking what I've read so far. One thing I'm uncertain about is how old this world is, and what sort of prejudices the humans have taken with them. Other than having a distrust of orcs (though that might just be because the orcs are a pastoral, herding barbarian people rather than a civilized, agrarian one)

Was the world they came from basically humans only? Or are there various folktales and legends from the beforetimes that are oddly jarring when compared with what this world's natives look like. And maybe led to some bad blood/awkward/interesting tales from when humans first entered the world and thought that, say, the elves here were the exact same cousins of humanity that had died out in the cataclysm....

Seems to me that the Humans have basically developed one of the southern corners of the Continent, and are pushing west into a sort of Great Plains/Steppe area with smaller patches of woodland centered on bodies of water and north into more wooded areas going into the continental divide and wilderness before the foothills and mountains of the Giths. Who, from what I've read, seem to control between 1/8 or 1/6 to 1/5 of the continent in the northern half, possibly mostly in the form of mountains and foothills and terraced farmlands in the valleys and running up the slopes of some of the mountains. I got a vision of a sort of cross between china and peru in a way. Or maybe they just have their influence/settlements mostly centered around the mountain chains, since the lower, flatter areas are where the grimlocks emerge from?

An idea: In the southern lands the biggest Satyr-Human conflict (say, their first war, which the Satyrs "lost" by agreeing to a set of treaties mediated by a group of elves and some of the first druids) basically resulted in a fair part or all of a major magical forest (Yeah, I subscribe to ideas similar to radiation when it comes to magic, sometimes) coming into human hands and basically being the source of lumber for the empire's navy, with foresters (rangers, the successors of the first human druids/keepers of the treaty) and the magic of the land ensuring that it thrives enough for them to keep using it.

You mentioned a map several times, but I didn't catch a link to anything when I was reading through. Is there one and I just missed it, or is that still something in the works? I know the Islands are something mutable and probably not worth mapping beyond rough "spheres of influence."

For the Leviathan culture, you might look to what we know of the Celts for an example of a group that shares religion and culture without being bound in any sort of nation-state/over-tribe affiliation. Since you seemed to indicate that while they're not unified, they do share many cultural aspects. Of course, for that matter, the greeks, mesopotamians, and italians had a similar set up in their city-state periods, but those are basically a large number of smaller centralized authorities as opposed to a vast decentralized morass.

[Goblin Scribe]

Wow, this is really awesome. Some ideas:
Hobgoblins once tried to conquer the world, which resulted in the near-genocide of the goblins (who were then for the most part enslaved and 'domesticated'). They were never really fully turned back, but the bugbears had an uprising, in which most of them turned to the seas. The economy of the hobgoblins was badly damaged, as was the military, and the invasion force had to withdraw.

This is also what started the Satyr War, because the satyrs saw that their enemies, the humans, were weak and thought it a prime time to attack.

Because of all this, hobgoblins are despised in the human lands, treated something like the germans right after WW 2 (Can we talk about that on these forums? Best to be safe) like evil self-superior murderers.

Kobolds, meanwhile, are the victims of a lot of racism, seen as yappy Napoleon-complex'd lizards. In short, how we generally see them in D&D. They are often featured in plays and tales as tiny crazy savages. This has had to slow lately, though, since the kobolds are becoming a significant power and the humans rely on them for trade (and maybe military support?).

Satyrs are seen as savage sex-crazed goatmen, completely amoral. Orcs might be often mistaken for grimlocks by those who are uninformed. "Meh, what's the difference?"

(man, it's hard to do this without giving real-world examples. :smalltongue:)

Elves are kind of treated like hippies, because humans just don't know much about them. Sometimes they get a more fey-like treatment, too. Their relationship with the orcs might make things difficult, though.

Just random ideas. :smallbiggrin:

[Coplantor]

Um, thakns for the compliments and the ideas, but this project is sort of, frozen at the moment, I still want to finish it some day, since it holds a special place in my heart, but the last post before yours was almost two years ago. I dont know how the thread necromancy rules apply to this part of the forums, but you should be careful with it.