The Forsaken Lands [WIP]

[qwertyu63]

The Forsaken Lands

It has been 12 long years since the event. The beginning of the end. That day was when all the boiling tensions came to a head, and all the nations went to war, champions of the gods leading the armies. As these champions fought, the gods’ unleashed greater and greater power, trying to help their army win this epic war. But none would succeed. As all the armies clashed directly, so did the gods. Then one day, the rising powers… I don’t know the exact word but I think overloaded would work. The aftermath was devastating. Most of the land was rendered barren. Millions died from the rippling power. I hear that the champions exploded from all the power being channeled through them. They say that the event even killed the gods themselves. There’s no way to know that for sure, but what I do know is that before the event people could channel the power of the gods, and now they can’t.

I was just 8 years old that day. Since that day, bands of survivors have been barely staying alive. Huge cities built around the small areas which are still workable are just about the only thing keeping the world together. One thing I can tell you for sure is that the only sure thing in the world is war. For obvious reasons, these cities are at endless war with each other.

I’ve heard rumors of powerful artifacts that can reshape the world. Some say they are the corpses of the gods. Others say they are the keys to reality. All I know is that even one can make my life infinitely better. So I’ve scraped together what little things I have, done a little bit of training, and I’m going to find one of these… I’ve heard them called Keys, so I think I will go with that… Keys, or die trying.

Premise:

Well, as that opening spiel said, this setting is a result of what amounts to a war of the gods, with the world as the playing field. This war left the world crippled, millions dead, and the gods either dead or powerless. Any gods that might have survived have long since abandoned this world for one worth fighting over. Almost all of the land still usable for farming has giant cities built around them, and these cities war to claim the land held by the others.

The Keys:
The Keys are a set of artifacts, each of which holds great power. In total, there are 6 Keys.
• Bracer of Creation
• Blade of Destruction
• Glasses of Knowledge
• Cape of Transportation
• Circlet of Obscuration
• Buckler of Protection

But I’ll get back to those soon (as in, I will edit this post to include more information about these). Information about the Keys has been posted out in the main Homebrew section here

Gameplay effects:
This should be short.
• You can only be a Sorcerer, Rogue, Fighter, Barbarian or a modified Ranger (Shown at the end of this section). The Horizon Walker prestige class may be taken.
• The valid races are Humans, Modified Duegars (Shown at the end of this section), Gnolls, Goblins, Half-Orcs and Halflings.
• The “Cure _____ Wounds” are added to the Arcane spell list, keeping their level.
• Remove Wish, Lesser Wish and Clone from the Arcane Spell list.
That’s it.

Modified Ranger:

Spoiler

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Rangers in this setting lose their spellcasting abilities, and gain the ability to use wildshape as a druid of the same level.

Modified Duegar:

Spoiler

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Duegars in this setting lose their Spell-like abilities, and are reduced to LA +0 (Their spell-like abilities were the result of their dark god's influence and with his death they are lost)

Something to note:
Just so this is clear, I have taken care to remove any spells with potential to return the dead back to the life. If there are any I missed, consider them gone too. Death is a far bigger deal in this setting.

The World and its cities:

World Map:

Spoiler

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These are the biggest cities in what's left of the world. The information is as follows...
Name: The name of the city, followed by a title.
Leader: The name of the leader (Along with class, and race)
Holdings: The amount of farmable land the city controls
Max Amount: The largest value of goods the players can easily buy/sell here.
Major Race: The most common race(s) in the city. None means the races are balanced.


Major Cities:

Name: Painesway, The Golden City
Leader: Embeleld (Figher 10, Half-Orc)
Holdings: 3500 sq ft
Max Amount: 6000 gp
Major Race: None

Painesway is the major trading hub for what's left of the world. Unless you saw it made locally, most things likely passed through Painesway at some point. In Painesway, the law is final. You do the crime, you will do the time. It is said that the leader, Embeleld, was a Paladin before the event, but no one knows for sure. Painesway is in major conflict with Coveburgh, for obivous reasons.


Name: Lockcaster, The City of Magic.
Leader: Et'ther (Sorcerer 10, Halfling)
Holdings: 2100 sq ft
Max Amount: 2500 gp
Major Race: None

Almost everyone in this city is a Sorcerer. Those who aren't could be, but have chosen not to work at using the power within them. Almost everyone who is born into this world with the gift can trace their bloodline back to Lockcaster. Those without the gift are often looked down on by those in this city.


Name: Claypark, The City by the Sea
Leader: Angaend (Ranger 9/Horizon Walker 1, Human)
Holdings: 1900 sq ft
Max Amount: 2500 gp
Major Race: Humans, Half-Orcs

The major feature of this city is its harbor, which supplies most of the food for the city. Claypark has very good relations with Branmoor, as the link between them is very important to both cities. There is a very good mix of classes in this city.


Name: Coveburgh, The City of Shadow
Leader: Robel (Rogue 10, Goblin)
Holdings: 2000 sq ft
Max Amount: 3000 gp
Major race: Goblins, Gnolls

Coveburgh is a lawless city of thieves. In Coveburgh, you can get almost anything, just don't ask too many questions. In addition, there is a large mine in the city, second only to the mine in Garbridge.

Minor Cities:
For these smaller cities, things things are listed as follows.
Name; Leader; Holdings; Max Amount; Major Race; Other Important Notes.

• Branmoor; Kalarmor (Sorcerer 6, Human); 1000 sq ft; 50 gp; Human; Has a harbor, making it more valuable.
• Deerdam; Burban (Rogue 5, Goblin); 1100 sq ft; 50 gp; Goblin; Mostly Rogues, keep an eye on your wallet.
• Donnelsalia; Serina (Commoner 2, Gnoll); 900 sq ft; 50 gp; Gnoll; Almost no one here has PC class levels, other cities don't know that.
• Boshaven; Embeleld (Barbarian 7, Half-Orc); 1000 sq ft; 100 gp; Half-Orc; This city values keeping your word, breaking a deal can carry jail time.
• Garbridge; Turor and Notut (Twins, both Fighter 4, Duegar); 1100 sq ft; 50 gp; Duegar; This city is built into a mountain, most of its buildings are from before the event, has a large mine.
• Evenvale; Verrothorm (Ranger 4, Goblin); 900 sq ft; 100 gp; None; The source of most fruit in what's left of the world.

[motoko's ghost]

Were the other planes affected? without the good aligned deities banking them, will the celestials be able to stop the fiends running rampant?

Why only those 3 classes? I get with the gods dead and cure spells now on the arcane list clerics lose a lot of their schtick but what about the other classes?


other than that sounds interesting, Always quite liked post-apocalyptic fantasy.

[qwertyu63]

Were the other planes affected? without the good aligned deities banking them, will the celestials be able to stop the fiends running rampant?

They likely are still in an endless war, but they have abandoned anything relating to this world, as the event made it worthless to them.

Why only those 3 classes? I get with the gods dead and cure spells now on the arcane list clerics lose a lot of their schtick but what about the other classes?

Well, the Druid and Paladin are gone for the same reason (Divine magic going away). As for the others, there is no one around to teach how to be those classes, while Fighters and Rogues are a simple enough concept to be "re-invented" quickly and Sorcerers don't learn, so much as just know. Most of the other classes could return, but someone would have to re-invent or re-discover them, which in the idea I have hasn't happened yet.

[nyarlathotep]

Barbarian and ranger seem to be things that would come before fighters.

[qwertyu63]

Barbarian and ranger seem to be things that would come before fighters.

Barbarian I can see, but ranger would require me to remove the spellcasting abilities, as those are divine in nature. But your point is seen. Would the ranger class work without its spellcasting, or would that break things?

[Yora]

Do not think of the event! And remain indoors!

[qwertyu63]

Do not think of the event! And remain indoors!

Is this a reference to something? Because if it is, I don't get it.

[Landis963]

Is this a reference to something? Because if it is, I don't get it.

Ah, a newcomer as well as a new poster. "The Event" was the source of a few jokes back in the Azure City arc of OotS, referring to Belkar kissing Vaarsuvius under the influence of a loooooot of alcohol. This led to Vaarsuvius pranking Belkar multiple times (with Explosive Runes and one amusing instance of Charm Animal) under the theory that Belkar, as an especially stupid and sociopathic halfling, had only two ways to relate to characters: "Hate" and "Lust". (Complete with explanatory chart: Hate: Miko, Roy, "That Bilbo tool", Lust: Haley, Mrs. Butterworth, Hermione Granger). His conclusion: V needed to cause Belkar enough physical inconvenience/pain that his mind reclassified V from "Lust" (further theorized to be the result of V defending him from Miko out of greater dislike) to "Hate" (The alternative, a Belkar who lusts after me, is too horrific to comtemplate. Och, ain't tha the truth.)

[Bearpunch]

So are there no available prestige classes? And I am assuming multiclassing is still allowed, yes?

And post-apocalyptic fantasy is a favorite setting of mine, this has my attention. Do you plan on doing anything with the races?

[qwertyu63]

(Snip for size)

Ah, I completely forgot about that one.

So are there no available prestige classes? And I am assuming multiclassing is still allowed, yes?

Correct and correct.

And post-apocalyptic fantasy is a favorite setting of mine, this has my attention. Do you plan on doing anything with the races?

I hadn't put any thought into races. I'll have to think about that one.

[Yora]

Ah, a newcomer as well as a new poster. "The Event" was the source of a few jokes back in the Azure City arc of OotS, referring to Belkar kissing Vaarsuvius under the influence of a loooooot of alcohol.

No, I actually never heard of that one. I meant a running gag from a british comedy show. Remain Indoors!

[Ninjadeadbeard]

I hadn't put any thought into races. I'll have to think about that one.

I have a similar setting sitting idle on my computer. In that I actually upgraded the monster races to PC's. No humans, Elves, Halflings, Dwarves or otherwise. Goblins, Orcs and Trolls only.

[nyarlathotep]

Barbarian I can see, but ranger would require me to remove the spellcasting abilities, as those are divine in nature. But your point is seen. Would the ranger class work without its spellcasting, or would that break things?

There are several spelless ranger variants. The basic one would be fine (widely regarded as less powerful than a normal ranger).

Potentially you could also have rangers be a sort of gish class to represent a person with magical talent but less strong than a sorcerer's so they use more physical prowess to make up for it. They would basically be sword of the arcane order, but as a class rather than a feat, and lose all the old ranger spells (the feat puts wiz/sorc spells on the ranger list).

You could also use the wildshaping ranger to represent humans that are able emulate animals to such a degree that they can temporarily become them.

As for prestige classes horizon walker would likely be one of the first ones rediscovered as it is just picking up talents from extensive traveling.

Edit: I'd have races primarily consist of the races who would have the easiest time surviving without divine magic or society and various monster races that would be able to flourish with the largest empires destroyed.

Current PC races

Humans: We can survive anything and don't have a patron deity anyways
Duegars: They lived deep enough underground to avoid the mass destruction and their rigidly structure society meant that even though the larger empire dissolved smaller settlements could survive. Additionally the death of their evil patron deity means that they are only minorly predisposed to evil. Slavery is still common but because of how vital every single settlement member is to society they are able to become full citizens. (If you don't want to include level adjustment in your game it is easy enough to claim that their spell-like abilities were the result of their dark god's influence and with his death they are lost)
Gnolls: Already used to horrible living conditions the hyena men were able to come out of the devastation almost unharmed. Additionally the death of Yeenoghu means that they are finally freed of demonic influence.
Goblins: Rarely considered worthy of attention by the major evil powers goblins for the most part able to high from the rapaging gods and demons, avoiding extinction through their lack of importance. Now with little to limit their population goblin birthrate has led to all major settlements containing at least a small goblins presence.
Half-orc: Already living on the fringes of human society half-orcs were able adapt to its fall easily. Those that were good aligned helped the less adept to survive in this horrible wasteland, while those that were evil took brutal advantage.
Halflings: Although normally nomadic the End of Days forced halflings to become even more migratory. Rarely developing any permanent attachments halflings constantly search for escape routes from any enclosed space they might find themselves in.

Extinct Races

Normal Dwarves: Sadly they did not dig too deep, quite the opposite in fact. Devotion to their gods led to dwarven citadels being some of the most prominent battlegrounds in the battles of the End Times. These bastions lay as shattered testament to the price of loyalty and honor.

Elves: Without druidic magics the elves forest homes withered and died before the onslaught of demons formed from salt, fire, and rot.

Drow: Most of the dark elves were consumed in Lloth's last ditch attempts to survive as her Demon Webpits were burned by Surtr, god of the fire giants. Those few who remained quickly kill each other without their goddess to stabilize a society built on treachery.

Gnomes: Never one for a fight Garl Glittergold gathered as many of his followers as possible and took them up from the mortal realms. It is unknown if any gnomes survive and if they do it is almost certainly in a form hard to recognize as gnomish.

[qwertyu63]

There are several spelless ranger variants. The basic one would be fine (widely regarded as less powerful than a normal ranger).

Potentially you could also have rangers be a sort of gish class to represent a person with magical talent but less strong than a sorcerer's so they use more physical prowess to make up for it. They would basically be sword of the arcane order, but as a class rather than a feat, and lose all the old ranger spells (the feat puts wiz/sorc spells on the ranger list).

You could also use the wildshaping ranger to represent humans that are able emulate animals to such a degree that they can temporarily become them.

As for prestige classes horizon walker would likely be one of the first ones rediscovered as it is just picking up talents from extensive traveling.

I think I will go with "Ranger minus spellcasting plus wildshape", which I should come up with a better name for. And after reading the Horizon Walker, I think they would have already rediscovered that, so adding that now.

Edit: I'd have races primarily consist of the races who would have the easiest time surviving without divine magic or society and various monster races that would be able to flourish with the largest empires destroyed.

Current PC races

Humans: We can survive anything and don't have a patron deity anyways
Duegars: They lived deep enough underground to avoid the mass destruction and their rigidly structure society meant that even though the larger empire dissolved smaller settlements could survive. Additionally the death of their evil patron deity means that they are only minorly predisposed to evil. Slavery is still common but because of how vital every single settlement member is to society they are able to become full citizens. (If you don't want to include level adjustment in your game it is easy enough to claim that their spell-like abilities were the result of their dark god's influence and with his death they are lost)
Gnolls: Already used to horrible living conditions the hyena men were able to come out of the devastation almost unharmed. Additionally the death of Yeenoghu means that they are finally freed of demonic influence.
Goblins: Rarely considered worthy of attention by the major evil powers goblins for the most part able to high from the rapaging gods and demons, avoiding extinction through their lack of importance. Now with little to limit their population goblin birthrate has led to all major settlements containing at least a small goblins presence.
Half-orc: Already living on the fringes of human society half-orcs were able adapt to its fall easily. Those that were good aligned helped the less adept to survive in this horrible wasteland, while those that were evil took brutal advantage.
Halflings: Although normally nomadic the End of Days forced halflings to become even more migratory. Rarely developing any permanent attachments halflings constantly search for escape routes from any enclosed space they might find themselves in.

Extinct Races

Normal Dwarves: Sadly they did not dig too deep, quite the opposite in fact. Devotion to their gods led to dwarven citadels being some of the most prominent battlegrounds in the battles of the End Times. These bastions lay as shattered testament to the price of loyalty and honor.

Elves: Without druidic magics the elves forest homes withered and died before the onslaught of demons formed from salt, fire, and rot.

Drow: Most of the dark elves were consumed in Lloth's last ditch attempts to survive as her Demon Webpits were burned by Surtr, god of the fire giants. Those few who remained quickly kill each other without their goddess to stabilize a society built on treachery.

Gnomes: Never one for a fight Garl Glittergold gathered as many of his followers as possible and took them up from the mortal realms. It is unknown if any gnomes survive and if they do it is almost certainly in a form hard to recognize as gnomish.

That's... that's brilliant. I did have to look up what Duegars even were, but that works perfectly. Thank you for all of your help.

BTW, will be putting some cites up later today. They are up now.

[Omeganaut]

I was looking through the prestige classes, and there are an awful lot that require teaching or divine magic. Aside from Horizon Walker, the only other two that I thought would still work would be Dwarven Defender and Dragon Disciple. However, Dwarven Defender is obviously limited to the Duergar, and the Dragon Disciple depends on the continued existence of dragons in the world, which is something I can't tell from what you have so far.

[nyarlathotep]

A good place to look for monsters for this would be 3.5 conversions of Darksun monsters be they monsters that were officially updates (like the braxat) or converted by Athas.org.

Also there could be monsters that were once bound to gods but now have little meaning or purpose in life with their god gone and cut off from their home, most of these would be the outsiders that are designated as the emissaries of a specific god (those slime demons for Lloth, viasges for Orcus, Titans, etc.). Some have attempted to set themselves of as new gods of this wasterland, while others rampage across the scorched earth blindly, and others still have turned their back on the world entirely sleeping fitfully in dark caves.

[qwertyu63]

Arise thread long since dead, come back to the land of the living!

Bringing this back to show-off the map I have made of the main wasteland.

Also, I am planning to add Revelation quests. These are quests that unlock new classes into the world. But that's for the future.

Woo! I finished the core. It only took 9 months, 1 day...

[nyarlathotep]

An idea I had while skimming this thread after I noticed I had posted on it many moons ago. Here's an idea feel free to use or disregard it as you see fit.

Fiend Gates

"Grandfather why do we still guard the Abyssal Gate? I thought all of the demons died long ago?"

"Child just because the tanar'ri lords perished at the hands of our master Laduguer thousands of years ago does not mean that the Abyss gave up its seat as source chaos and evil. It is still just as dangerous as ever."

"But I thought that it was the demons who made their realms dangerous."

"They did little one, but it was the plane itself which spawned them. So no there fester demons lords either too ancient to heed the tanar'ri's call to arms or too young to be considered worth recruiting. These beasts both young and old now call themselves masters of the Pit. And even if they too are brought down new horrors will be spawned to replace them."

During the Gods' War thousands of portals were opened between the lower planes and the material to allow demons beyond counting to spill forth into the realms of man, including all of the most powerful tanar'ri and baatezu lords. These invaders were however slain by the same cataclysm that consumed the gods.

Their destruction left huge power vacuum in the lower planes which are only now being filled by the ancient obyrith demons and the immaterial loumara in the abyss, and the mysterious chain devils of the Nine Hells. Each of these groups was initially too small or weak to challenge the old order but the Gods' War empowered them enough to survive its disastrous fallout. The obyriths creatures of corrupted primordial chaos were greatly by the fall of Mechanus and their creation forges. Meanwhile the loumara creatures spawned by the dreams of dying gods experienced a population boom beyond compare from the deaths of pantheons beyond counting. Finally the kytons creatures born of mortal suffering were able to harvest not from single mortals but whole dying races.

Despite the surge in power felt by each race of fiends, they were still only able to avoid extinction just barely. The cataclysm spared only those fiends most empowered by the war that proceeded it or those still hiding in Hell's lowest pits, and even these were left severely weakened. It is only in the present day that the fiends have rebuild enough to attempt invasion through the many gate left standing after the war's end. Which is why groups of adventurers and practitioners of the old ways must work to destroy or seal these portals or else risk a world overrun with demons.

I'd recommend using pathfinder's kyton if this idea is used simply because it has supspecies that range from CR 2 to CR 20 just to add enemy variety even if you aren't using pathfinder.