The elder elven priestess stood on the edge of the balcony, overlooking the scrublands, the redwood forests, and below them, the sea, stretching away to the west. Northward, the small mostly-human fishing village sat quietly beneath the cliffy outcroppings that rose up out of the green hills like the giant stone fist of some primordial god. It had been a very long time since the god had been awake, though, if looks meant more than mere coincidence.
The younger priestess stepped forward and rested her arms on the railing. Pultiri had been born in Elendell, the Hylarin capital, but had now spent most of her life here in the western coast of Siricia, practicing the same religion, but in absence of, well, much of anything. The temple had a chamber that permitted travel - of sorts - that let Pultiri go home to visit her family and friends back home, but nobody
In any case, these adventurers had all expressed interest in joining - or starting - a group, the ultimate purpose would be to fight the tide of evil across all of existence. Most Themes - or Planes - had periodic great wars between light and darkness. Being separate realities or versions of reality, it was difficult to line them up with each-other in time, but they did seem to represent common conflicts. One of these, the one that Pultiri was most familiar with from her own studies, was the evil Dark Prince that had stolen the Virtue of Might from the Gods and become so infused with demonic power that to refer to him as anything other than a great Demon (or God) of evil himself would be inapt, a worthy successor to the true God of evil Melkor that her faith reviled.
She just hoped it wouldn't have to fall to them to save the
**
This is the Heavengames planning and OOC thread for the
I want
Each player will begin the game by creating a single PC who answers Belen's and Pultiri's call for adventuring heroes for help in addressing a multi-planar threat. Although each player will begin with a single PC, that PC can recruit more members, using a system that I will detail below (or link to). The rule system will be effectively Pathfinder, plus some adjustments that I will include in this post.
In addition to the rules dealing with characters, I will use another system that deals with the setting of the multiverse itself, including how it evolves over time, and the effect that the PCs (and other heroes) have on it. These will be contained in the appropriate section, below.
You may choose a class from either D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder for this role-play. All rules will be assumed to be the same except for a revamping of the magic system, plus a few additions.
-Classes: Elemental priest (see adaptation thread), Scout, Duskblade, Spirit Shaman, Favored Soul (but see magic system).
-Feats: Skirmish, Improved Skirmish, Agile Athlete, Fit and Healthy (see Staff of the Emerald Enclave thread), also Spell Mastery. Agile Athlete differs from that in the SRD in that it has no prerequisites and is available as a personality feat, but is otherwise the same.
Cleric, Druid, Elemental Priest, Favored Soul, Sorcerer, Spirit Shaman, Wizard - equal to level
Bard, Duskblade - equal to 3/4 of your level
Monk†, Paladin, Ranger - equal to 1/2 of your level
Barbarian, Fighter, Rogue, Scout - equal to 1/4 of your level*
†Monks in Pathfinder do not get mana pools. Their ki pool is already their mana pool.
*Only if you have a level of a class with a higher rate (i.e. a 20th-level fighter has a caster level of 0, whereas a character with 16 levels of fighter and 1 of wizard has a caster level of 5).
Duskblade, Fighter, Rogue, Scout, and Wizard all use
Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Elemental Priest, Monk†, Paladin, Ranger, all use
Bard, Favored Soul, and Sorcerer all use
*Bards, Favored Souls, and Sorcerers all get double their mana pools.
†3.5 Monks only
-Classes with intelligence-based spell casting cast arcane spells, and must prepare spells from a limited number of spells that they know. Learning spells follows the same rules as those for wizards under normal circumstances, and all classes with intelligence-based spells use the wizard spell progression table for prepared spells (based on caster level). If a prepared spell is cast, it is not expended; a caster may cast a spell she has prepared as many times as she likes until she runs out of components or mana. Fighters have the special ability that fighter spells have their arcane spell failure chance reduced by 5% per level of the fighter, to a minimum of 0%. Additionally, Scouts cast all their spells silently, without need of the Silent Spell feat.
-Classes with wisdom-based spell casting cast divine spells, and are considered to "know" all spells of their level, but can still only prepare spells based on their spell-progression table, which is the same as that of the cleric. If the caster has priestly domains, as clerics and elemental priests do, then these domains each have separate mana pools equal in size to 1/4 the mana pool size that the priest would normally have, but otherwise behave in the same way. Monk spells and the spells of some elemental priests are subject to divine spell failure, which works exactly the same as arcane spell failure but afflicts them as divine spellcasters.
-Classes with charisma-based spell casting cast arcane spells with the exception of the Favored Soul, which casts divine spells. These classes have a limited number of spells that they can know at each level, period, which uses the same progression as that of the Sorcerer.
Barbarian - Barbarians have access to spells that enhance athletic performance, as well as spells that deal with animals in some way, including symbolically (e.g.
Bard - The Bard spell list is essentially unchanged in theme, including healing, misdirection, beguiling, and sound-based magic, except that it now extends to 9th-level.
Cleric - Elemental spells that have little or no general religious significance such as
Druid - Unchanged
Duskblade - The Duskblade spell list is unchanged, except that it is extended to 9th-level. Duskblade spells include short-range targeted attack spells and touch attack spells - the sort of spells that could be cast together with a melee attack.
Elemental Priest - Elemental priests choose an element from the following list upon gaining their first level of elemental priest. Choices are Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Light, Darkness, Death, and Wood/Flesh. Every six class levels, an elemental priest can add another element, but her maximum spell level in each new element is one lower than all of her previous elements (e.g. at 18th level, an elemental priest would cast 9th-level spells of her first element, 8-th level of her second, 7th-level of her third, and 6th-level of her fourth). Fire includes anything having to do with heat and burning emotions (anger, lust). Air includes gasses, electricity, and illusions. Water includes spells having to do with aquatic creatures of any kind. Earth includes anything having to do with metal, or most spells dealing with objects. Light includes figment-type illusions, judgement-based magic, good-aligned magic, and also includes electricity. Darkness includes most non-illusion deception magic (e.g. mind-affecting enchantments) but does include
Favored Soul - Favored Souls generally cast cleric spells, but potentially should have some additional judgement-related spells, such as the Druid's
Fighter - Fighter spells include any arcane combat magic, be it attack spells, combat buffs, or combat shielding.
Monk - Monk spells include all athletic enhancements. In addition, all monks must choose an element when they gain the ability to cast magic; options include Fire, Wind, Water, Metal, and Wood (yes, five - read your Chinese philosophy). Monks generally get the same powers that Elemental Priests of the corresponding element do.
Paladin - The Paladin spell list is essentially unchanged except that it goes up to 9th-level. Paladin spells heal, protect, deliver holy justice, and seek out and identify evil.
Ranger - The Ranger spell list is essentially unchanged except that it goes up to 9th-level. Ranger spells deal with animals, plants, include (very) limited access to healing, and a few alchemical-type spells that take place in nature.
Rogue - Rogue spells enable stealth, beguiling, and targeted attacks and assassinations (but not area attacks).
Scout - Scout spells deal with stealth, observation, mobility, and targeted attacks.
Sorcerer - Unchanged
Spirit Shaman - Unchanged
Wizard - Wizards must choose a focal school. Wizards cannot cast spells of their maximum spell level except from their focal schools.
Benefit: You may add +1 to the class level when using the spell progression table for any of your classes.
Special: If this bonus makes your class level higher than your caster level, then your caster level will be the limiting factor.
Note: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time you take it, you add an additional +1 to class level when using the spell progression table for any of your classes. If this makes your class level higher than your caster level, your caster level remains the limiting factor.
Benefit: You are able to recruit members into your Company using seduction. You must choose a skill when you choose this feat. Your seduction roll will be use the bonus you have in that skill. Seduction targets must be in some fashion appropriate to or interested in your skill.
Normal: Your capabilities of recruitment via seduction are limited to those of your class(es).
Special: You must take this feat at first level. If you take a skill-related feat as your personality feat, you may take Seductive as a bonus feat if it is related to a corresponding skill.
You attempt to make a lethal attack against a target, using your knowledge of the target's anatomy.
Making a kill shot is a standard action. When you declare a kill shot, you first declare the part of the body you are aiming for. The DM may impose modifiers or declare that it is impossible if you cannot locate or do not have line of sight to the targeted organ (knowledge
If you make a kill shot against a target during a surprise round, or if the target does not know that you are there, then you immediately make your attack roll normally. Otherwise, the target gets a Reflex save. If the target is flat-footed but not surprised (i.e. the target knows about you and that you are a threat but hasn't acted yet), then the DC is 10 + your base attack bonus. If the target is not flat-footed, then the DC is 5 + your base attack bonus. If the target makes the save, then you do not get to attack; you spend your action drawing a bead on the target, but not tracking well enough to confidently fire.
If the target fails its save, or does not get a save because it is surprised, then you make an attack roll, but this roll is penalized due to the smaller size of the organ you are targeting and, potentially for natural armor or other factors as well (a vaguely humanoid creature's rib cage or skull offers a +2 natural armor bonus to AC in addition to any other armor, natural or otherwise, they may have). If you hit, you not only automatically threaten critical, but then the target must make a Fortitude save against a DC of 10 + the damage dealt or die. If you would have normally threatened critical, you automatically confirm. If you hit the target, but not by the margin required to make a kill shot, then the DM may determine that you made a normal hit (e.g. you aimed for the heart and failed to penetrate the breastbone, but you did hit the chest), causing you to roll damage normally with no death chance. Death by kill shot is clinical death.
Each quest or other action undertaken by PCs will affect different trends for the different universal conflicts and factions that the quest relates to. These trends in turn cause shifts in the status of the factions and universal conflicts across the multiverse. The results of these shifts in turn affect the Destiny of characters (PC and NPC) who are related to one or more of these conflicts or factions. Players will see the status of the different universal conflicts and factions, but will need to do some work to get a good idea of what the trends driving them are. I will, however, post announcements whenever something changes as well as the way it changed.
I am, for the moment, including all factions that I could find in the games linked in
As an example of what the setting side of the game will look like, see below (note this will eventually be recorded in a separate thread):
The
Looking at
Factions are a little more complicated; I've posted only the various gods and their worshippers here, but there are other factions for nations, noble houses, guilds and corporations, etc. as well. Looking at
-Corellon's color is cyan. This indicates two things: first, that Corellon's worshipping is at a state of +1, meaning good definitely has the upper hand, but isn't quite victorious. The second thing that it tells is about Corellon's alignment - his following benefits from the triumph of good in relevant conflicts (in this case, Realms of the Elf-lords and Legacy of the Gods, respectively). The fact that Legacy of the Gods is red (state is -2) means that Corellon's following is fighting a losing battle against the enemies of the Gods, even if, for the moment, they're still strong!
-The series of abbreviations after the first set of periods indicates the sources (and thus planes and games) in which Corellon and His following have made an appearance, and where to go and whom to help in order to aid him, as well as just to find information about him for players' reference. In His case, these are:
-The final entry tells you what kind of faction Corellon is. As we've already mentioned, he's a god - a divine being worshipped by mortal followers. Other kinds of factions have different entries here. For example, the Hylarin Empire, which isn't listed here but is in the game, is a nation, and the Fire Knives are a guild.
-The series of abbreviations after the first set of periods indicates the sources (and thus planes and games) in which Corellon and His following have made an appearance, and where to go and whom to help in order to aid him, as well as just to find information about him for players' reference. In His case, these are:
CRS - Companions of the Red Sword (mentioned in the setting intro)
D&D - Corellon is part of the standard D&D pantheon
FC - Faerûn Colonists (mentioned several times)
GT - Giant Trilogy (the PC Eros Estot worships him)
JW - Jade Warrior (Corim Nailo worships him)
-After the second series of periods is Corellon's alignment, and correspondingly the dominant alignment of His church. As you can imagine, CG is an abbreviation for Chaotic Good.D&D - Corellon is part of the standard D&D pantheon
FC - Faerûn Colonists (mentioned several times)
GT - Giant Trilogy (the PC Eros Estot worships him)
JW - Jade Warrior (Corim Nailo worships him)
-The final entry tells you what kind of faction Corellon is. As we've already mentioned, he's a god - a divine being worshipped by mortal followers. Other kinds of factions have different entries here. For example, the Hylarin Empire, which isn't listed here but is in the game, is a nation, and the Fire Knives are a guild.
Over time, these will change, both because they influence each-other, but mainly because they have these underlying trends that the PCs can influence.
[This message has been edited by Beren V (edited 05-17-2015 @ 10:17 AM).]