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The most important thing to do while making your PC (before or after picking race and class) is motivation. Everyone wants to survive. So why does your PC want to? What is their motivation for taking up the life of an adventurer as opposed to a more sane occupation, like brick laying or becoming a merchant or politician? This should be more than just fleeing Evil People/Relatives/Creditors/Ex-Wives and the like but a basic part of the character. As few people travel far from home, motivations for doing so can be varied but the most common is likely an urge to discover things or become famous.
PC PAST
As well, talk about your PC with the DM and the other players. There will be a maximum of 5 (maybe 6) players accepted for this game, tentatively scheduled for Monday evenings, starting at 10 - 11 pm EST. The players will be posted on the site before the campaign begins. Once the world is done, the DM will ask that PCs be done by the next week and the game will begin with the first group session the week after that. This allows players to make sure their PCs know each other and integrate each other in their backgrounds somewhat. A background of your PC that everyone else would know must be done for the site the week your PC is due as well. This can include rumour and fact but is not your completed background which should be more in depth. (If you're PC is unlikely to have met any of the others before the first session, put your summary as some fact/rumours a travelling bard might know about your PC or some such. It doesn't need to be long and is for player as much as PC reference.
BACKGROUND
PC backgrounds should include any living family, PCs religion and views on religion and magic, as well as the other races. If you like, include a basic personality write-up to give the DM (and you) some idea of how you plan to RP the PC. Decide why your PC would take up the adventuring life and incorporate that into the background as well as something about how your PC relates to his or her family. For example, people are superstitious and scared of magic: a wizard might be unwelcome at home just by virtue of using magic. You also need to include information on why your PC became the class they did and any interesting things in the past that could influence your PC, such as finding a magic item, prophetic dreams to go out and build a series of inns with glowing yellow arches in an M shape and the like. As well, consider their class (and why the became it). Has your PC killed? would they do it again? Did they like it? What does your PC think of the gods, magic, other races, having children, sex in general? These are just guidelines: backgrounds are not things written in stone.
An Example:
Reden was raised by his father Burl after his mother died in childbirth with him. His older sister (Elza (Reden) Fremas) got married when she was 14 - rather young, but she wanted to escape the tyranny of Burl's demands that a woman do all the work around the house. Stuck with doing the work around the home, caring for the animals with Burl and the home work, Reden got increasingly angry and bitter and finally told his father to hire someone to help work, and stormed out of the house. He was 11 at the time. His older brother, Hewel, is 22 and somewhere off in the world. Reden barely recalls him from childhood.Reden's relationship with his father improved after that, Burl being the sort who likes people to state their opinions and stand up to him. Burl taught Reden how to defend himself in combat, lessons from his mercenary days in the past and Reden was well on his way to becoming a fighter when he had a strange dream. He doesn't recall which God sent it (He's sure it was a god, though). The gist of it was that he was to take up a sword hidden in the basement of the cottage and become a holy warrior. The sword turned out to be a Paladin's blade, Burls from a long time ago. When he drew the blade, Burl felt it and came down into the basement, yelling at him to put the cursed sword away. In the ensuing argument, Reden found out Burl had been a paladin but failed in some duty [refused to kill one of the Elemental Spirits, maybe?] and lost his status. Heady with the new power flowing through him, Reden said things he shouldn't have, the kinds of words that can never be unsaid and in the heat of the moment, when Burl attacked him unarmed in a blind rage, Reden killed his father.
Turning himself in to the mayor, Reden was locked up. (They tried to remove the sword. It wouldn't leave Reden's side.) Elza eventually talked to him and found out what had happened. As most people believed that Burl and his children had a very bad relationship (Elza has never really gotten along with him even after they began to make up), Reden's murder being declared an accident was seen as a lie by many. Openly scorned by many people in the village, the dream began to gnaw at Reden's mind, an urge to travel in [DM determined direction] and do good. With the family farm being too much for him to manage, Reden bartered it with the town blacksmith in exchange for armour and basic adventuring supplies. He is now very eager to leave this town, so that his shame doesn't stain Elza any longer. Reden is now 16.
There you go. A quick background (made in 8 minutes) with information for the DM. The PC has good reasons for wanting to get away from home, a guilty conscience and perhaps a brother to find and explain he killed their father to. The DM asks the PC about his ideas about the other races, but the PC says that - unless the other players play one of those races - his PC knows little about them save rumour and distrusts magic as it isn't from the Gods, being a very devout sort. He also worships the Pantheon, since it was the local default.
The PCs summary for the site would be:
Reden was raised by his father Burl and did a lot of hard work, especially when his sister Elza got pregnant just to escape Burl and he had to do more work. They had lots of fights but seemed on better terms lately as Burl had begun teaching Reden how to fight properly. Three weeks ago, Reden killed Burl with a strange sword he claims to have found in their place but was acquitted of murder by the mayor. Most people believe he did it since he refuses to say why he killed his own father or to speak of it. He sold his home recently for weapons and armour and is about to leave home.
This says nothing about Reden being a paladin and obviously not about Burl having been one since losing that status is a shameful thing.
ATTENDANCE
Players must attend at least 80% of all sessions. I know Real Life is a pain (especially in the summer), but of a player misses more than 1 of every 5 sessions they may be worked out of the game. In missed sessions, a PC will be RPed by the DM but get no experience for the session. If a player wishes to arrange for someone else to RP their PC during the session, that is fine.
GM STYLE
I tend to run games based on a narrative format, so that telling the story is more important than the actual game rules. If you're a rules lawyer, find another game. Combat will not be a primary part of the campaign as combat often takes far to long to run and is rather boring. When it does occur, players are expected to RP their actions in the channel. Using the dice idea of Sintaqx's, all players will roll init, 20 d20 rolls for skills and saves and 20 combat rolls using a chosen melee and ranged weapon as well as damage rolls. When combat occurs, I'll go through the rolls and tell you if you hit and how much damage you did, to make combat that much faster. Yes, this means that few dice will be rolled during the session itself but it should make things faster.
RULES CHANGES
To summarise quickly, the racial and class outlooks are different as befits a new world, there is a Comeliness stat and magic is a lot different. It's all explained below, however.
LEVEL
Each PC begins at level one. This is planned to be an epic low-level campaign, such that each PC will be unique compared to other people. This can be a strange gift, or magical item or odd history. It can even occur later on in the campaign but whatever sets your PC apart should be worked out with the DM before the first session. The first few sessions will be low level, allowing players to get a handle on their PCs. After that, advancement should be faster to around level 5 then slow down again.
EXPERIENCE
The DM is keeping track of that and it won't be on the site. You'll be told when you level. Experience is based on group actions and RP, not combat.
ALIGNMENT
Alignment does not exist, as such. Players should not label their character. You can use D&D alignment if you want but your base alignment - i.e. if your PC is a good person or not - will change as you RP and will be the basis for detect alignment spells. If you have done evil recently, you will most likely detect as evil. Paladins AE required to hold to their honour,. which can lead to them being evil in certain situations or committing evil acts. It's part of the price they pay for being what they are. In many respects, holding to one's honour is considered good by the races, even if you're forced to do dishonourable things as a result.
STATS
Roll stats(54) with Sparkie, as often as you want until you get a set of stats you like.
Why 54? Because this game is adding a comeliness stat to the character and stats(54) rolls 7 dice, not the usual 6, for determining your stats. Comeliness can be used to bolster other skills (a low comeliness would be a benefit to intimidation, a high one to bluff-seduction etc.) It also allows a player to decide how socially adept their PC is (charisma) versus their actual looks (comeliness). A person with high comeliness can expect to be better received in social situations, especially among their own race. All nobility must have at least 10 in this stat.
RACES
| Racial Age And Height Table | |||||||
| Adult | Middle | Old | Ancient | Dead | Height | Notes | |
| Dwarf | 30 | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 3'-4.5' | |
| Elf | 100 | 10,000 | ? | N/A | N/A | 4'-5' | Elves don't age past middle age |
| Human | 14 | 25-30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 4.5'-5.5' | This is NOT a modern setting :p |
| Half Breeds | |||||||
| Gnome | 40 | 125 | 250 | 400 | 600 | 3'-4' | Dwarf + Elf mating. |
| Halfling | 20 | 60 | 80 | 120 | 200 | 3'-4' | Dwarf + Human mating |
| Half elf | 20/80* | 1,000 | 1,600 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 4'-5' | Elf + Human mating |
| Half orc** | 10 | 25 | 35 | 45 | 50 | 5'-6.5' | Human + Orc mating |
| Half orc | 15 | 40 | 60 | 80 | 100 | 4.5'-6' | Dwarf/Elf + Orc mating |
* Half elf maturity depends on who they are raised with, elves or humans. Almost all of them end up raised by humans since elves just pity them more than anything else.
** This is the default life span for "monster" races in this setting.
Dwarves
Dwelling in a mountain city underneath the lands of Winter, dwarves tend to be insular and distrustful of outsiders. They are constantly engaged in war with the other underworld races and trying to expand their own lands. Most of them nurture an ancient hatred of elves for banishing the other races into the underworld and the creation of the Four Lands, which destroyed the dwarven empire.
Society: Finding themselves suddenly in the city of Dur'arn'dkk, a dwarven mining city made to hold 20,000 dwarves, the 200,000 dwarves of the Four Lands were annoyed, to say the least. For millennia they had been the lords of the underworld, the first race to make it their home and holders of ancient secrets. The other races had respected and, to the dwarves surprised, envied them. They only realised the latter when various other races began trying to get into their other cities. Fortunately, the forges were off and most of the security measures in place. Even so, a dwarf's home is his castle. (Metaphorically, at any rate: bomb shelter might be more accurate.) The dwarves made was on the goblins who had taken over their other Winter city, Urkra'dei. It took them 350 years of warfare to recover it and the dwarves are now spread out among two cities and some small colonies, but things are rather cramped.
The direct result of this has been an implementation of several odd customs. Women who bear children aren't permitted potentially child-bearing sex for 20 years at the minimum. 50 tends to be the standard. Marriage doesn't exist in dwarven society so all children are raised by the community as a whole -- most dwarves have no idea who their parents are and never give the matter any thought. While the dwarves realise reproduction is vital to the survival of their species, the other issues associated with it are held as annoyances. Dwarves should love the weapons they make and the buildings they design, not waste their emotive energy on each other, or stupid things like falling in love and jealousy. It says a lot about the practical nature of dwarves that few ever question this notion. However, young dwarves are young and, besides being always underfoot, they do have sexual needs that their elders warn them of. No dwarven female wants to have sex then be stuck for 50 years with just the memory. Besides, child birth is very painful for dwarves. A result of this banning on reproductive sex has been a lot of same sex relations, which the dwarven elders thing is perfectly reasonable as long as no one falls in love. Most dwarves see it as a necessary compromise but even then having sex more than once a decade with anyone is seen as wasteful and, by dwarven standards, wanton. The energies of sex could be spent better elsewhere.
The other direct result of the dwarves being crammed in one city was the abolishment of the monarchy since they had 3 kingdoms shoved into one place. Over the 600 years since the Four Lands formed, the dwarves have developed a system of communal ownership of everything save the weapons they make themselves. Everyone takes their share of working at the less glamorous jobs and specialisation is largely unheard of save for their rare members of the clergy who serve the dwarves minimal magical needs. Dwarven colonies of up to 100 folk have been established in the other 3 lands and, after the long war to recover Urkra'dei, the dwarves are trying negotiation now that their anger has cooled off over their cities being invaded.
Stereotypes: Dwarves tend to see humans as a race that has potential to do hard work and wouldn't be all that bad if they just calmed down a little and took things as they came. They see elves as flighty and uncaring about the larger world and still harbour a massive grudge over the creation of the Four Lands. It was only the loss of their other cities that made recovering them paramount to declaring war on the elves. Some dwarves still think a statement should be made. Dwarves have no biases against half-breeds but seldom raise any among their own people and find the notion of gnomes and halflings coming to see their roots confusing.
Religion: The dwarves tend to hold the worship of the Pantheon and the God and Goddess as equal. None of them believe the druid idea of the world as a god, unless it's an evil uncaring god that like to collapse mines of perfectly good iron (and kill lots of dwarves in the process, but that's not as important). While dwarves realise the gods exist, they tend to have little use for them in everyday life and tend to cremate their dead in their forges so they can be part of the weapons and things the dwarves make.
Classes: Most dwarves lean towards the martial classes, excluding paladins. Dwarf paladins are extremely rare and tend to be the most open minded paladins. Dwarf bards tend to be historians for the dwarves and, aside from their clerics who (for reasons not known to other races) can serve gods without being bound to them, dwarven magic users are almost non existent save for a few to deal with magic users from other races trying to take over dwarven lands. Dwarven thieves tend to be more scouts than actual thieves, since theft is unknown to the dwarves: except for your weapons, everything you own belongs to everyone and if someone takes your weapons it's your own fault.
Adventures: Few dwarves adventure in the world and most go their entire lives without even seeing the sun. Dwarven adventurers tend to be rebels against some aspects of the communistic dwarf society, or dwarves who decided they just wanted to see more about the rest of the world. Dwarves don't exactly encourage young dwarves to leave home but it does help with the population problem so they're never against it. Most dwarves seldom push their own life style on others and tend to be extremely tolerant of other beliefs, even if they really don't understand the fuss humans make over sex and the poems they tend to write about it.
Dwarven Racial Traits: Dwarves have darkvision equal to regular vision in this setting. They suffer a -1 to attack in daylight until they have adapted to sunlight. All other traits are the same as in the Players Handbook.
Elves
Dwelling almost entirely in the land of Autumn, the elves tend to keep to themselves and avoid contact with other races save where the road passing through their lands makes it a necessity. No one, not even the elves, know how many of them survived the short war (from an elven perspective) with the humans but the elves have adapted a general belief that isolationism is better and letting the humans just kill themselves off instead.
Society: Elves live forever, in theory. Barring death by murder, accident, disease or suicide they keep living and living and living. One result of this is that elves have tried every possible ideology for government over thousands of years and sometime after their long ago war with the other surface species that drove the other races underground to the drawn empire (perhaps because of that war) they became an anarchy. In effect, the elves did away with any form of government at all. In practice, they've kept their monetary system (trading in beads and pretty feathers for things) and constantly work against attempts to re-establish a government. The elves believe that isolationism and a lack of government will keep them from entering into another war. The Thousand Year War with the humans was the result of some elves forming an informal military alliance to keep watch on the humans that escalated into it's own little national system quickly. Even elves - especially elves - forget things, including that all revolutions never, ever end. The lessons of that bitter war mean that most elves are not fanatically for freedom and anarchy, seeing it as the purest expression of freedom.
The humans just find it completely confusing that a species could develop a society that's purposely anti-social in many ways. What few understand is that the elves see it as vital and necessary. They breed rarely, mostly because their young are eggs and take a long time to incubate, something in the order of one thousand years. On the plus side, aside from sorcerers, there are no physically deformed elves. The downside is the sheer amount of time necessary to ensure a proper birth. The obvious result is that elves can't afford to have any more members of their species die off. To dwarves, the elven proclaimed reverence for life (most elves are vegetarians) is a hypocrisy, one of those "if they know we won't hurt them, they won't hurt us and, besides, we'd suffer more if they hurt us" ideas. Despite that, elves do tend to reverse other life, if only to cherish the brief moment of it compared to their own lives.
Stereotypes: Elves see dwarves as largely very boring and humourless people who nonetheless have a good work ethic. When you're going to live millennia, you want weapons that last. Dwarves are good for that. Humans, on the land hand, the elves see largely as, well, fruit flies. Here today, gone tomorrow. The war with the humans the elves technically one has revised their estimate of humans to mosquitoes however. Elves tend to look on half breeds with pity more than anything else and half elves are seldom welcome among them.
Religion: Elves don't really have religion. When you don't plan to die it's not that useful for you. They tend to follow the world as a god idea in the abstract and the God and Goddess in actuality. Some elves like the Pantheon but most don't really pay attention to it all that much. Elven clerics tend to be rare.
Classes: Elves tend to follow any class. Elven clerics, due to the binding of ones will to a deity, tend to be rare. Elven sorcerers all have physical defects of some sort, for unknown reasons.
Adventures: Few elves save young ones or ones "on their next life" tend to adventure. Elves tend to adventure solely to combat boredom, the disease that kills more elves (via suicide) than any other but few will die for members of other races, since they'll die anyway.
Elven Racial Traits: All the same as in the PHB. As elves are hatched, some tend to have reptilian features but it's not that common.
Humans
Humans currently rule - if anyone can rule any of the Four Lands - Spring and Summer. Of the three races, they're the only one to have established working governments, and consequently the only one to have had a lot of internal strife since the Four Lands were formed. Perhaps because of their short life spans, humans seem driven to make a name for themselves, to find fame, to leave a mark on the world that says "I was here!" One aspect of this is that humans are obsessed with honour and this, more than anything else, has earned them some respect in the eyes of the elves and dwarves.
Society: Human society is very much Us and Them. Us is the highborn nobility, them the lowborn commoners. The only professions in which a commoner can outrank (or even order about) highborn tend to be the military and healing ones, the latter if the highborn is your patient. Mages and clerics tend to be off to the side of the equation, because not even the most stupid highborn would be willing to try and get a mage to do what they wanted and expect to survive the incident unscathed.
The caste system of the humans survives because the 20 noble families have powers, strange gifts that allow them to Command lowborn and Bind them to them. Once a lowborn is bound to a certain house she cannot be controlled by the highborn of another house. However, there is an upper limit to how many people any lord can bind and due their duty to them as well. The rite of binding can be done by spoken oath or, more rarely, sharing blood. Once done, the lowborn is bound by word and honour to serve the highborn and the highborn to care and protect those bound to him. All people in military services are either highborn or bound, for obvious reasons. Most humans are not and peasants tend to live their brief lives in squalor. "Honour has no meaning in the face of starvation," is an oft-quoted proverb. Nobles use it in scorn. Peasants, who know what starving is like, use it as a simple truth. To them, honour is a luxury they can rarely afford. Many of them find the way some highborn abuse their powers over them to be dishonourable, but somehow the system remains in place, more due to tradition than anything else.
Below is a listing of the families and the traditional powers of each summed up into one word. Due to inbreeding among the families, and occasional bastards with commoners, many members tend to have a wide range of abilities, not just those associated with their own house. However, those who do hare given higher esteem. The families are ranked by population. The first 3 run the Palaver nations of Summer (Hill, Plain, and North respectively).
| The Twenty Families | |
| Famly | Synonymous With |
| Almert | Expansion (Business acumen) |
| Belize | Practicality (Ruthlessness) |
| Mantage | Courage (Warfare) |
| Garyle | Diplomacy (Theft) |
| Nagul | Leadership (Generals) |
| Sorrin | Warriors (Mercenaries) |
| Cagax | Duty (Sacrifice) |
| Adyab | Bargaining (Theft) |
| Xandu | Builders (Architects) |
| Perim | Loyalty (Obedience) |
| Remoreth | Scholars (Bards) |
| Edara | Religious (Seekers) |
| Jandos | Healers (Doctors) |
| Framen | Humour (Jest) |
| Indin | Music (Bards) |
| Tarlien | Honour (Insane :p) |
| Jexel | Wanderers (Seekers) |
| Vittar | Understanding (Empathy) |
| Ugarda | Visionaries (Dreamers) |
| Yolars | First Family (God chosen) |
| Delshel | The Broken House (Sorcerers./Assassins) |
The First Family ruled the Summer Empire that began 500 years ago and lasted until 300 years when it fell into civil war. The 3 Palavers were formed over the next 50 years and have ruled ever since. The house of Yolars has never recovered from that. Delshel was a house that was destroyed during the Thousand Year War and is one of them few of the 10 destroyed houses still remembered. The other is the House of the Sun (Fire Bearers) but the name of that house has been lost to the ravages of time.
Stereotypes: Humans tend to see elves as lazy. "If we lived that long, we'd do things that are useful" is a common refrain. Many humans think themselves superior to the elves because they believe they would have won the war against them, not knowing the elves were still not recovered from the long ago war that drove the other races into the underworld. Dwarves are seen as very hard workers, if a tad boring. Most humans find the idea of an economy without money too strange for words though some humans secretly think it would be a good idea. Alone of the three races, humans tend to welcome half breeds without reservations, though the half breeds can expect to be envied for their long lives and likely made fun of a lot.
Religion: Humans worship the Pantheon largely. Worship of the God and Goddess is rare but a bit more common that the druid belief that the world is a god.
Classes: Humans tend to be any class, and their bent towards honour makes human paladins not excessively rare. A Tarlien paladin, on the other hand, often scares other paladins. Most high born tend to be fighters or aristocrats. Highborn wizards are called rune lords, to distinguish them from normal rune casters and are forbidden from getting involved in politics.
Adventures: Humans tend to adventure to try and see what the world is like and see as much of it as they can before they die. Many of them go seeking fame, fortune and love. A rare few even find all three.
Human Racial Traits: Same as in the PHB.
Half Breeds
Half breeds are very uncommon and often looked on with envy, pity or loathing by many. Few of them every breed since most people don't want 'breed blood in their families and a good portion of them, especially gnomes, tend to be sterile.
Society: Half breeds tend to end up in human society, where their added protection against highborn powers tends to make the highborn dislike them. Thanks to The Bastard and the whole Thousand Year War, few commoners like they either. Unless they find other half breeds or, more rarely, half breeds of the same species, they tend to live apart from everyone else.
Stereotypes: Not printable. Most half breeds despise either their mother for giving them birth or their father for having raped their mother and tend to have a rather bitter outlook on life.
Religion: Few half breeds tend to be religious and most tend towards agnosticism or a "Screw you, Gods!" type of atheism.
Classes: Any. Gnomes tend to prefer to be sorcerers and half orcs to be barbarians or fighters, naturally.
Adventures: If you were a half breed, wouldn't you want to get the hell away from home, too?
Half Breed Racial Traits: Same as in PHB, except gnomes can cast their 3 spells up to 24 times a day each.
CLASSES
Barbarians are the most common class and found pretty much everywhere.
Bards are rare and generally considered to me minor druids by most they meet. They also act as informal historians and often have very good memories for songs, places, dates and faces.
Clerics tend to be feared by most since they can call up their God(s) and are bound to the deity in bonds that can be stronger than death itself. See magic (below combat) for more information on them and how their magic works.
Druids are the most common spell casters and generally revered by most people. Besides casting magic, druids are linked to one animal (as a familiar, but they don't have one with them). They can speak the language of this type of animal and said animal will aid them and be kinder to them than to others. A druid who forsakes this bond seldom lives very long. They gain the benefit of being a familiar to an entire species, essentially.
Fighters aren't too common and one only becomes one by being trained by another fighter during their youth. You can only cross class into a fighter if you have been trained by one to be a fighter which often involves joining the military.
Monks exist, but are considered exotic fighters. There are no monk orders currently but informal teaching can be found by monks and meditation is considered key to unlocking ones inner powers. Self taught monks exist, but most people become true monks in more than martial arts by meeting another monk, so they tend to travel widely.
Paladins are warriors who gain powers for serving the gods. They can either serve all the gods, the Pantheon or the God and Goddess or a specific deity alone. A paladin never lies, never breaks an oath and upholds his or honour to the best of their ability. A paladins word is considered just almost everywhere (Nimih hasn't visited this world :p) and a paladin breaking their oaths is often liable to kill themselves so ex-paladins tend to be rare.. All paladins have a magical sword of justice that is considered active when they're on a quest for their deity. The powers of each paladins sword varies.
Rogues exist, but as currency mostly doesn't exist they tend to encompass the wastrels of society and the bandit raiders more than anything. Robbing others is considered dishonourable by most, but quite a few rogues get by as scouts.
Rangers are very common as trackers are vital as scouts and trail setters. They are more common than monks or fighters and often very curious about the world.
Sorcerers are very rare and all strange. Human ones tend to have reptilian features and elven ones are all physically deformed in some manner. Dwarven sorcerers are unheard of and gnome ones have enough problems with being a half breed. See magic (below combat) for more information on them and how their magic works.
Wizards are divided into human rune casters and elven changers. Rune casting could be taught to other species, but would be very rare. Elves might teach their magic to a gnome but none have yet after The Bastard learned changing. See magic (below combat) for more information on them and how their magic works.
SKILLS & FEATS
Skills and Feats remain the same as in 3e. Ask the GM about using feats from other books than the main rule book. Odds are, it will be allowed. You'll need to write out what it does on the PC sheet, however. (Custom feats or ones from sites are more iffy. The same applies to prestige classes.)
BUYING THINGS
This game is set up in a barter system. There is no market economy running around and wealth lies in land and property. Coins tend to be rare and jewels or gems much more common for trading with others. Besides the three empires in Summer, there are no currencies minted anywhere. (For the curious, elves use bird feathers and beads and dwarves don't have a monetary system at all.) This means that PCs will rarely begin with more than 1 large metal weapon, a dagger or two and the rest wooden. Dwarves are the exception to this and all dwarven weapons count as masterwork. However, they're also made for dwarves and unless the weapon is crafted for taller folk, those over 5' tall don't get than bonus unless they're familiar with the weapon.
The in game result of this is that PCs will camp out in the woods more than not, or in a farmers hayloft in exchange for helping with the chores and tales of the world. PCs should carry lots of items to barter with for things like meals at inns, especially when leaving the land of Summer.
COMBAT
Combat tends to be slow in D&D. Actually, that's an understatement. Using the dice idea of Sintaqx's, all players will roll init, 20 d20 rolls for skills and saves and 20 combat rolls using a chosen melee and ranged weapon as well as damage rolls before the session begins. When combat occurs, I'll go through the rolls and tell you if you hit and how much damage you did, to make combat that much faster. Yes, this means that few dice will be rolled during the session itself but it should make things faster.
Players are expected to be descriptive about combat and RP it at all times.
MAGIC
The magic used in the found lands differs form normal D&D magic to a large degree. For one, there are two types of wizards (The term being used even though they are not, strictly speaking, wizards), human rune casters and elven changers. Rune casting is the human magic and allows them to cast spells to change and effect the world and objects around them. As well, they can also put runes into objects, writing them down as glyphs. Changing magic allows the elves to affect themselves, and sometimes other people they touch.
Taken in broad D&D terms:
Rune casting (human magic) encompasses Abjuration (some), Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment (some), Evocation, Illusion (some), Necromancy (some).
Changing (elven magic) encompasses Abjuration (some), Enchantment (some), Illusion (some), Necromancy (some), Transmutation.
Most touch affect spells would be changing, while most ranged would be runes. Glyphs - written runes such as putting a rune of mending on clothing - are possible as well. Most glyphs stay in place for one year per level of the caster before they break down.
Glyph magic is basically human runes placed onto items, such as mend spells or making magic weapons. As magic tends to break down and/or change over time, permanent magical items that survive the death of a caster tend to be very rarely made.
The magic system below uses a spell points system to cast spells. Each spell caster invents their own spells based on what effect they desire to achieve.
Spell Points
Each spell caster gets 50 points + int mod per level for wizards, 75 + cha mod for sorcerers and 40 + wis mod for clerics. Also, starting PCs gain +10 due to their Cha/Int/Wis modifier, such that 18 Int would give a wizard +40 points. If their stat increases, they gain the bonus points at the time.
Recovering Points
All spell casters recover their points spent at dawn.
Casting Spells (Effects)
Spells are cast by picking the desired variable from each row of the table below and scaling down for the cost of your choice:
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| P O I N T C O S T |
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Die: This is the amount of damage the spell does per level of the caster.
Type: This is the type of damage done or effect of the spell.
Bonus: The bonus to damage, such as during 1d6 to 1d6+1 damage.
Result: Result is used instead of damage/type for spells that deal no damage.
Other Mod.: This is the bonus or penalty for other modifiers, such as a + to AC or a - to hit as a result of a spell.
Thing Size: This is the size of a creature/object summoned or created.
Changing This is the result of a changing for elven magics to alter the shape or form of things.
Range: The range of the spell.
Targets: How many targets and what area the spell works in.
Attack type: The kind of attack cast with the spell.
Save Type: What kind of save can be made against the spell.
Duration: How long the spell lasts. Forcus = Concentration, by the way.
Sample Spells
A fireball would cost 2 (d6 damage) + 2 (Damage type fire) + 4 (medium range) + 4 (area targets) +1 (attack), +2 (save for half) +1 (instantaneous duration) for a cost of 16.
A magic missle would cost 1 (d4 damge) + 1 (damage type force) +1 (+1 damage bonus) +4 (medium range) +1 (single) [or +2 for more than 1 target] +5 (auto hit) + 2 (save for half) +1 (instant duration) for a cost of 16 or 17 as well.
A spell to give a bonus to AC would cost 1 (type force) +4 (Other mod +4) +1 (personal) +3 10 minute duration) for a cost of 9 points for a +4 to AC for 10 minutes.
Spell Notes:
Not that making a spell permanent just means it lasts until dispelled.
To dispell a spell, the caster has to put double the points put into the spell into a dispelling if it is permament Otherwise, a caster just spends an amount of points equal to the spell's cost, on a successful spellcraft check.
All true spellcasters (clerics, druids, sorcerers and wizards) can cast detect magic at will, for no cost. Bards can do it while playing an instrument or singing and rangers and paladins pay to cast it as per normal d&d.
Minor spells (basically Cantrips and Orisons) can be cast for one point each. Druids can cast them at will.
Spell DCs
Spells have a dc of 10 + relevant mod + points spent in spell/10.
Detect Magic
Clerics, druids and wizards can cast detect magic at will. Each players must decide what form their detection takes (smell, feeling, glowing light around magical things etc.). Bards can cast detect magic when playing an instrument or singing. Sorcerers cast it all the time and must make a conscious effort in order to not detect magic around them.
Other Magic Users
The spell effect system above is just for changers, rune casters (both count as wizards), sorcerers (who are either changers rune casters, just more powerful) or and clerics. Druids cast spells as normally for D&D but get double the usual base spell slots. Other spell casting classes do not change at all save that bards can cast detect magic whenever playing or singing music as noted above and druids can cast level 0 spells at will.
Arcane Magic (Wizards & Sorcerers)
Wizards are divided into human rune casters and elven changers. Sorcerers are the same, but gain more points for casting spells and have the ability to make spells truly permanent.
Rune Casters (humans)
Rune casters can only cast spells that don't affect them directly. In other words, they cannot cast personal or touch spells and need to speak the rune (out lond is easier than in the head, which can lead to odd confusion) and draw it (again, in the mind or with a gesture). Casting a spell entirely in the mind takes 2 rounds, not the usual 1 for most simple magics. Complicated magics, such as making magical weapons, can rarely be made entirely in the mind since focusing your magic through your mind causes hallucinations and odd visions.
Changers (elves)
Changers can change things. They're the only spell casters that can polymorph or alter living creatures with magic. However, their magics are limited to touch and personal ranges. Elves tend to excell at illusionary effects as well.
Sorcerers (either rune casters or changers, by race)
Sorcerers can make spells truly unbreakable, as well as geting 75 points each level, not 50. However, they rarely make magical items which is where rune casters (and to a lesser extent changers) really do well.
Divine Magic (Clerics)
Clerics can cast domain spells a number of times a day equal to their (level + wisdon modifier) X2. This is the total amount they can cast for each domain (if they have more than one), not for each spell in the domain. Elemental domains aren't common for the most part. Priests and shamans can cast as many level 0 spells as they like, but it does get tiring over time. (In game terms, over 24 level 0 spells cast in one day reduces your PC by a level 1 spell slot.)
While clerics seem less powerful that wizards, they have one very, very potent aid. All clerics can pray at will for effects, granted based on the eloquence of the prayer and their need. As well, any cleric can call up power by using one of the names of their deity. Lastly, Gods intervene directly in the lives of their Own, not only binding them to the god and reducing their freedom but also defending them if the God deems they need it. In game terms, the God (via the DM) will sometimes tell your PC to do something. Then, you have to do it in most cases. However, the God may intervene to save your life if needed. (If you need it too often, the God will just let you die often enough). This ability of clerics to call their deities into the world is what scares anyone. Sure, changing and rune casting is powerful, but it's nothing compared to even the lesser names of Gods.
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