[4E] Spirits of Eden Campaign Setting (PEACH) (Topic II)

[Meek]

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Eden Campaign Guide

Short of it – there isn't much of one yet! But you can help, by telling me what you'd like to see in one! I'm already planning on doing some small write ups of the different nations so that they can actually be run somewhat before they get more thorough articles. So suggest any specific and Eden-related topics you want to see covered, basically any questions or concerns you as a DM would have running Eden that I can help you with. I'll take this into consideration when writing.

Things I will NOT do:

–Write mini-adventures. I'm not good at that and I don't like those. Plus there's nary enough space in a wordpress article or blog post, and it requires things like maps and whatnot that I'm not currently equipped to produce.

–Items, Rituals, crunch of any sort. That's for other articles.

Here's what's already written down:

Eden and D&D 4th Edition:

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Spirits of Eden requires a D&D 4th Edition Player's Handbook, and preferably also a Monster Manual and Dungeon Master's Guide. Spirits of Eden is not compatible, and will likely not try to be compatible, with anything beyond these three books. Swordmages, Artificers, Barbarians, and any other additional material, is up to you to include, and will not be assumed nor accounted for in this writing. Spirits of Eden materials will concern the eight classes in the first player's handbook.

Why does Eden not support any material beyond this? Because I know a lot of people who liked the old OGL for 3.5 because it was just three books and they didn't have to buy any more to use a wealth of material that was available from third parties and online homebrewers. Furthermore, I believe quite sternly that the first eight classes (From Cleric to Wizard in the first 4th Edition Player's Handbook) are so amazingly flexible if you do a bit of work, that they can encompass so many of the supplemental classes that are later being added. So my work will be to expand the first core eight classes, rather than adding a lot of new ones that'd require more work to balance, to differentiate from the core eight, and to keep from redundancy.

Any power names, flavor texts, and effects written for Eden being reproduced by an official source is almost inevitable. If an Eden power is similar to a power from another source, it's purely coincidental – my powers are balanced, typeset and checked only against the Player's Handbook and nothing else. If you wish to include powers from another source, and there is a redundancy, consider which power you like best, and use that one.

Eden And Other Races:

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A lot of the old races of D&D, such as humans, elves and halflings, have been mostly wiped out by the circumstances in the Spirits of Eden Campaign Setting. They are at the twilight of their race. Though they serve as important minorities in a number of areas, you can search a number other areas and find little or none of them. This was done in order to differentiate the flavor of Eden from the other settings and to produce something new.

Some races iconic to other settings do not, canonically, exist in Eden. Warforged do not exist. Genasi do not exist. Monstrous races like Minotaurs, Dopplegangers and Gnolls are rare. Goblinoids and Orcs are the more common of these types. Shadar-Kai do not exist. Tieflings and Dragonborn would be greatly, greatly diminished.

If you want to really exemplify the flavor of Eden, it is best to discourage those races and use the core races mentioned in the main Eden article, along with the new races of Eden. As a rule, most material in Eden is balanced against the Core 4th Edition books, not against every setting and its creatures and their features. So using the “eden-approved” races is what the setting tends to assume.

However, if your players are very dead-set on wanting to play a race from another source, you can tweak it to fit into Eden. Genasi could remain the same, and be humans that survived being caught in a freak shift or surge or elemental essence. Warforged could be a select few golems created by a magic elite in Andaliel, or a terrifying new weapon from Vedaria. So on.

If your players only want a certain race because its racial modifiers fit their class better than another Eden race, you might allow them to change the ability modifiers for an Eden race to be +2 to any one ability score to coax them towards the race. It’s better than saying “No” to everything they try to do. Ultimately though, consider what you are doing, both mechanically and thematically, in allowing other races.

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Spirits of Eden FAQ:

Q: Is there any sort of conflict between Eden-bound Dromidae and In-Space Dromidae? Do space Dromidae think Eden bound Dromidae are an embarrassment? Would the average Edenborn person be able to tell the difference between a Dromidae born in the world to one born in space?

A:

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Outer Dromidae don't, in general, have a conflict with Adel Dromidae. Individuals can, and do, find problems with Adel Dromidae, and do find them inferior. One major point is that most Adel Dromidae escaped from the Dromidae Empire because of the social pressures there. Blood Priestesses, for example, have their lives mostly controlled by the Queen and her servitors, without any say in their destiny. Not that it's a bad destiny per say. But some just don't like the responsibility.

To wit, most of the Dromidae who wind up on Adel are either children of diplomats and legitimate immigrants (many of whom went down there just to see what was going on with all the earthbound monkeys, then decided to settle down to study them), or criminals and vagrants who went down solely to escape responsibilities or the Dromidae law. And since only the criminals affect life on the Empire directly, the common Outer Dromidae can easily associate Adel as being full of Dromidae vagrants and criminals, rather than actual decent people. But as in all things, it depends on the individual.

So it's much like what we have today. Some people think all black people are criminals, others don't, but a fair government in general has to have a positive attitude towards them. The Outer Dromidae and their Empire have a positive attitude in general, but individuals can think all sorts of nasty things about Adel Dromidae. Adel Dromidae in turn either don't care about the Empire, or think they're a bunch of socially oppressed sheep being stomped on by the Queen. Your mileage may vary.

Though, one type of Dromidae is UNIVERSALLY hated by Outer Dromidae – Illegitimate Queen Dromidae born on Adel are an insult to the Queen in the Voids, and Outer Dromidae have nothing but contempt and hatred for illegitimate queens. They wouldn't just go down to Adel explicitly to kill one (that would violate the sovereignty of whatever Nation was harboring that Queen, even unwittingly), but if they ever found one by chance when exploring Adel, or if one ever tried going up, they'd catch and do horrible, horrible things to her.

The average person can't tell the difference physically, because there isn't any. However, most Adel Dromidae won't have fleshcraft stuff. They'll be wearing cloth and leather, they'll have normal swords, and things like that. Outer Dromidae are decked out with fleshcraft loot – they have robes full of eyes looking around, diadems or crowns with eyes, swords that can open up and bite somebody, whips with snake-heads that bite down on people, rods with mouths on them that can spit out acid or fire, and things of that nature. (Outer Dromidae typically don't know any better than to appear decked out in alien gear, or they just don't care to be subtle.)

Q: Do people eat spirits?

A:

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They could, but for a number of reasons, unless they're pretty much clinically insane or chaotic evil, nobody really does.

To begin with, the weakest Spirits are Soulseekers and Pekor. Pekor move around in enormous swarms and are usually shaped like bugs, so most people wouldn't find them palatable. Soulseekers are little humanoids, and most people would be repulsed by eating what is essentially a small person.

A lot of spirits are humanoid or humanoid anthropomorphisms, and most people would have an empathic response to their appearance that would make them not want to eat them. Just like most people aren't cannibals, they also wouldn't eat a humanoid spirit. Exceptions exist, like I said.

Another factor is religion. Spirits, even the bad ones, are still afforded a measure of respect. Eating a spirit is likely to be subject to a taboo or associated with a bad omen. Superstitions are likely to abound about this subject. The Ainu people of Japan have a couple of legends about eating the wrong thing and being killed by it, and most indigenous cultures do too. Assume that same level of superstition is at play in Eden.

One last detail is that most spirits will cause great harm to any normal human being that accosts them. You would not go hunting for creatures that can do magic or move faster than you can see, to eat for breakfast. There are plenty of sources of food far less dangerous. So to answer your question shortly, no, people don't eat spirits.

[Meek]

One more for an even ten! I'm OCD like that.

[Reverent-One]

Well, you have my general comments already in the other thread. I do have a question though, about the Eden Campaign guide you're working on. What exactly would that involve? More detail on areas, conflicts, plot hook type stuff?

[Meek]

Yeah. Basically, it'd be like a Campaign Guide for 4e usually is, but then I'm also making separate fluff articles that really go into detail in each place. But I also want to include tips and guidelines for playing in Eden the way you want, because I've already received emails and comments about Eden being one way, which is not true. One such example was "It seems impossible to play a war campaign in Eden since all the states are very stable." The guide will have a part about breaking such assumptions and letting you play the games you want within the context of the setting. And using the things in the setting to emulate your favorite classic fantasy stuff, even if it isn't exactly classic D&D fantasy and diverges from it on many counts.

[TheCheshireHat]

Wow, this is certainly... massive. I´m only skimmed over a few pieces but I like what I see so far. I won´t comment just yet because I´ve only been able to scratch the surface so far, but I´ll do my best to set aside few umm, hours to read all this properly

Seriously, how long have you been developing this?

[Meek]

About 5 months on and off for the 4e version. Like nine months on and off for the 3.5 version.

Having the 3e version certainly sped up a lot of things though, because the bottomline was nearly the same for the two. A lot of the feats could almost have been translated verbatim, if it weren't that they were kinda lame in 4e and needed to be made interesting enough that I just decided to rewrite them.

Thanks for your interest! Hope you enjoy.

Also, I'm doing some tweaking, everyone, so expect a small update soon. I'm notoriously bad at comparing my revisions, but it's mostly the races that got a bit of a cleanup.

[Vic_Sage]

One thing I've been wondering, why don't Inaw have a racial power? As is there one of the weaker (if not the weakest race) in the setting?

[Meek]

That's part of the tweaks I'm working on :)

The Inaw aren't really meant to have a racial power though, from the beginning. I'm looking to increase their potential in other ways. I have just been terribly busy and these tweaks have been coming along slowly.

One other thing is that I work mostly off of feedback and testing. I can't do a whole lot of testing nowadays due to all the bloody work I've been getting, so I depend on feedback. And not many people gave me feedback on the Inaw...they were mostly convinced that the Dromidae were broken in half and the Athirua were stupid, and that's the bulk of the Eden mail I got...

Thanks for reminding me of that.

[Meek]

If any interested parties are still around, here's the new look of the Inaw thus far:

INAW:

From the flesh of another, a new race is born...

(Blood Servant)

Origin: Shadow (Undead)
Average Height: 5′4″-6′0″
Average Weight: 115-180 lbs
Ability Scores: +2 to any one physical ability score, +2 Wisdom
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Darkvision
Languages: Common, One other
Skill Bonuses: +2 Athletics, +2 Acrobatics
Undead Traits: Inaw do not need to sleep, eat, drink or breathe, though they can pretend to do these. This does not render them immune to any effects, and they must still rest in order to recover powers and action points as normal.
Components: Inaw can attach components to the arms and shoulders. They suffer only a -1 penalty for attaching two-handed weapons to component slots.
Killing Mastery: Inaw have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls against bloodied creatures and creatures suffering from conditions that saving throws can end. These bonuses improve to +2 against grabbed or helpless creatures.
Combat Defense: Inaw have a +1 bonus to AC and Fortitude saves.

(Adept Vassal)

Origin: Shadow (Undead)
Average Height: 5′2″-5′8″
Average Weight: 100-150 lbs
Ability Scores: +2 Constitution, +2 to any one mental ability score
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Darkvision
Languages: Common, One other
Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana, +2 Religion
Undead Traits: Inaw do not need to sleep, eat, drink or breathe, though they can pretend to do these. This does not render them immune to any effects, and they must still rest in order to recover powers and action points as normal.
Components: Inaw can attach components to the arms and shoulders.
Fortifying Mastery: Powers that grant bonuses to attack rolls, ability checks or skill checks grant bonuses +1 higher when used by an Inaw. This bonus improves to +2 if the creature to whom the benefit is conferred is bloodied.
Spell Defense: Inaw have a +1 bonus to Reflex and Will defense.

Note: Rules for component parts can be found here. Inaw use the same rules as the Warforged in this regard.

Play an Inaw if you want...

•To play as an undead character manufactured by another.
•To have once been a servant to a dark and terrible lord.
•To be a member of a race that favors the Fighter, Ranger and Rogue classes (Blood Servant).
•To be a member of a race that favors the Wizard, Warlock and Cleric classes (Adept Vassal).

[Vic_Sage]

Thats better but something about them just seems missing IMO. It seems like the skill bonuses should be switched all so.

[Meek]

Thats better but something about them just seems missing IMO. It seems like the skill bonuses should be switched all so.

I'm not really sure what could be missing. The Blood Servant is a killer undead thing that hops around with a big weapon stuck in its slots (or two little ones), and the Adept Vassal is like a Lich's assistant caster/secretary.

I added a Wisdom bonus because the Blood Servant would want to have a good awareness of its surroundings and a good instinct, and the Constitution bonus to the Adept Vassal because you'd want your assistant to be able to handle weird substances, and to be decently hardier. They also have some pretty good racial feats. I think the flexibility (which fluffwise is important as each Inaw is made to a specification), components, darkvision, +2/+2 stats (which are often hardset), the Mastery and the defense bonus make up for not having a racial power. I didn't want to give them racial powers from the start.

Edit: I'd like to hear more on the subject...I'm completely against giving them a racial power, but does anyone else find the Inaw weak/overpowered? Could you explain why?

[Meek]

The overall changes to the races have now been added to the new Eden blog:

Spirits of Eden Player's Guide

They will, as soon as I get the time to properly format everything, be here too.

One idea I've been toying with is giving the Inaw a saving throw bonus for being undead, much like Eladrin get one against Charm and such. Perhaps +2 against poisons, sleep and charm? (Roughly comparable to +5 against Charm an Eladrin would get.) Sound off on it before I add it.

[Vic_Sage]

Sounds good and makes sense.

[Meek]

Bumping this up. In other news, I just finished an outline for an article on the Rulers of Eden, the most powerful political figures in Eden, and for the Nation-Spirits of each of the 7 areas. The only exceptions are Periterim and Selvage, which don't have a central figure of leadership (and selvage also doesn't have a nation-spirit). But the rest do: Andaliel has the Prime Minister, Emderuer has a King, Sargasso has a Queen (well, to be precise, it's ruled by the Queen's mother), Vedaria has the Vizier, and Noshiki has the Mithral Throne.

The interesting bit is that none of these characters have powers at first that are threatening to PCs (or anyone else). But their Nation-Spirits can give them powers, by whatever oath of rulership they took, that will thus propel them to a Paragon-Level challenge. The only one of the rulers who has her own power and doesn't need a Nation-Spirit's oath is Magdalena Keehl of Vedaria, who's a Level 20 Solo Controller by her own power (and indeed, Vedaria has no real Nation-Spirit anyway).

Anyway, I think this article will be fun to write and interesting to read

[Meek]

Spirits of Eden has been accepted into the RPG Blogger's Network. Wooo!

To that end, I wrote a little preview of the stuff Might of Eden will be giving casters. Expect a Ranger, Rogue and Fighter preview, then a Paladin/Warlord/Dragonseeker preview sometime after.

[Meek]

Sadly, very little was actually accomplished today on any front due to my enormous lack of attention span leading me to want to work on everything at once. While putting up Christmas decorations. And running a test game on some of the Might stuff (coincidentally, I think my Fighter powers will piss off a lot of people, but I never minded any of that before.)

[Daracaex]

Posting so you don't feel ignored here.

I haven't read much, but I like what I've seen thus far. Reading this completely is on my "list."

[Meek]

Great! Hope you enjoy it.

[Meek]

Designing new rogue powers is hard. I don't know why. They just seem all over the place mechanically. Rangers have the opposite problem – they're so focused on this thing, or that thing, that you wonder "Well, how does MY power contribute to this class? How can it not just be a mirror of every other 'I slash you with two swords' or "I shoot you with two arrows' power?". I think I've managed to make some powers, but it's not satisfactory. Now I'm worried that I'll only be able to make a few rogue and ranger powers, whereas I'm bursting with ideas for viable cleric, wizard, fighter, paladin and warlock powers. Warlord is sort of in-between these scales of inspiration/difficulty.

[Reverent-One]

Designing new rogue powers is hard. I don't know why. They just seem all over the place mechanically. Rangers have the opposite problem – they're so focused on this thing, or that thing, that you wonder "Well, how does MY power contribute to this class? How can it not just be a mirror of every other 'I slash you with two swords' or "I shoot you with two arrows' power?". I think I've managed to make some powers, but it's not satisfactory. Now I'm worried that I'll only be able to make a few rogue and ranger powers, whereas I'm bursting with ideas for viable cleric, wizard, fighter, paladin and warlock powers. Warlord is sort of in-between these scales of inspiration/difficulty.

Have you gotten the Martial power book? The addition builds for each may help provide a spark.

[Meek]

I did get Martial Power, but haven't been able to give it the kind of read that I want (I got it as a PDF, whereas my core set are physical books.)