Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Prak, the Mad 07-04-06, 03:26 AM	I was looking at the Cyberpunk book(the old R. Talsorian Games one) and thinking about how much I like the flavour and the feel, and how I'd love to run these quick friday night firefight games that are just fun and light, but can also allow the players to get indepth if they want. however... my friend's and I don't know cyberpunk, but we know D&D, so, I was think about combining them and thought of taking the feel of cyberpunk and putting it in a D&D world and I came up with "Graftpunk". basically take the noir style of Ebberon and root through all of the books and compile a big list of Grafts of all types, make them ubiquitous, put Graftshops on every corner, and, due to demand, add in some moral greyness for mind flayers, undead, yuan-ti, etc., due to moral greyness, those races are more likely to enter cities and set up shop, causing an influx of supply, especially when the supply of parts is high(through magic, usually, but also through choppers[adventurers who hunt down creatures and steal their body parts, graft or natural, and sell them to graftshops/grafters, this also provides a perpetual adventure excuse]) so what do you guys think? I'm thinking of adding in the half-golem/machine templates and some steampunk stuff.
razorboy 07-04-06, 08:30 AM	Take a look at Chaositech book by Monte Cook published by Malhavoc Publishing. Another great source book for chaos (pure chaos) related grafts, rules, some PrCs, even new related monsters and pre-made NPCs available for free on Monte's website. It's a very good book and I use it in my games (although sparingly) to put the fear of DM in my players, or when I need a particularly memorable BBEG. For Steampunk grafts, check out DragonMech books, lots of machine-like grafts and steampunk stuff, as well as rules for creating, applying and using them. Personally I like the idea. I would however give some thought to whether or not grafts count as magic items for purposes of magic item body slots. Depending on different source books, they do and they do not, so it opens a nasty can of worms for optimizing players in your group. I would also try to establish how common grafts are in your game. In cyberpunk games (particularly the old Cyberpunk RPG, Shadowrun, Rifts), cybernetics are common and cheap (for lower quality stuff anyways) that even common people might have a couple. If, on the other hand, you are keeping graft prices from Fiend Folio, Libris Mortis, etc, that makes them on par with magic items and thus makes them common only among adventurers, powerful NPCs and bad guys, so that would make graft stores somewhat less common that you would like to see. Also, will grafts just cost money, or will they cost XP such as in variant cybernetics rules in D20 Future? How about grafting entire templates? That could lead to some broken characters, but could be potentially useful (the entire half-golem template is nothing but a series of very invasive grafts IMO). Just something to think about.
Prak, the Mad 07-04-06, 03:36 PM	I will definately check out the chaositech and dragonmech books. I was thinking of lowering the graft prices, making them not cost xp, so that the average person in a fair sized settlement would have maybe a couple of cosmetic ones at least. and I know all about how Half-golem works, which is why I mentioned it, but you bring up a good point about other templates, certainly something I'll have to think about.
stsword 07-05-06, 03:35 AM	Actually you wouldn't even need to have Yaun-ti and the like setting up shop to make grafts available. Fleshwarpers from lords of madness bypass the racial requirements for grafts. Also for other ideas d20 Cyberscape has magical equivalents of cyberware that could be added to a Graftpunk campaign. Golemtech which is just magical cyberware, necrotech which is basically more undead grafts for ones enjoyment, and bonerunes which allows one to transfer magic item properties into runes carved in ones own bones.
Prak, the Mad 07-05-06, 03:52 AM	oh yeah, that's right, flesh warpers do... meh, I like moral greyness. so there will be some fleshwarpers, prolly more of them than illithids, beholders, yuan-ti, etc. and I did not know that about cyberscape... I'll have to take a look. thanks.
razorboy 07-05-06, 08:43 AM	Check the Dragon magazine back issues on paizo.com as well. There is an issue that's a companion for Lords of Madness for example, that contains a number of illithigrafts. Yuan-ti, in response to stsword, are needed if one wanted to make use of yuan-ti grafts from Serpent Kingdoms and some third-party products and some issues of Dragon magazine. I personally like Prak's idea to include these monsters - normally trying to hide from ordinary population - as the providers of grafts. As for fiendish grafts, I think Rakshasa would be great as providers of fiendish grafts. One further question on fiendish grafts topic. How does one procur them? Is there a whole order of fiend hunters (and of other creatures, such as undead) that exists for a sole purpose of harvesting body parts from slain fiends, aberrations and undead? I think that would be a pretty cool twist on some of the PrCs out there that hunt specific monster types. Or perhaps there is a guild of powerful spellcasters who gate in fiends, only to capture them, and farm limbs from them (especially since some fiends can regenerate lost limbs and organs). That would be really neat for that whole moral greyness thing. Adventurers typically expect to venture into lairs of fiends and liches to find gruesome experiments performed on hapless mortals. Well in such a setting, they could venture into the lair of a wizard guild to find gruesome experiments and harvesting performed on hapless fiends and chained undead. Aberrations, undead, fiends are evil (or at the very least unwholesome) but is exploiting them in gruesome ways any better in the moral sense?
Endless_Helix 07-05-06, 09:52 AM	Or how about you have Abberation farms, where they breed chaos beasts and whatnot for grafts? You could also have fiend farms, but those would be a bit harder as fiends are a bit more intelligent than most abberations. Perhaps the mage guilds are actually trying to stamp out the whole grafting buisness but it is still extremely common on the illegal side of things.
Prak, the Mad 07-05-06, 03:20 PM	razorboy: will do, I've been away from dragon for awhille, but I've always loved their stuff(well, wasn't too thrilled when they reformatted a few months back, but...) and yeah, there are adventurers that harvest parts from aberrations, fiends, etc. just like the choppers in Cyberpunk, and I'll prolly include chopper docs too, since they're somewhat integral to the feel of cyberpunk ("want a ink sac, do ya? well, I can't do it here, illegal in this area, however, you and I both know "illegal" never stops a 'punk, I know this place, little shack a half a day's walk outside of town, the guy there is an illithid, now don't mind the way he looks at ya, hard for his kind out here, difficult to get their natural diet, and because of that, you may want to have someone in there with ya, just in case he get's a bit too hungry while yer out.")
ewancummins 07-06-06, 03:19 AM	Wow, what a sweet idea! A graftpunk game sounds awesome. It's a good way to get the PCs to spend their loot! How common is other magic? Is grafting the primary source of supernatural power for most humanoids? Whats the overall tech level? Which races are present? What about religion? Have you considered ditching the alignment system? Detect evil can be replaced with other divination spells[an article in DR magazine gave good examples- sorry cannot remember which issue].
stsword 07-06-06, 03:48 AM	[QUOTE=razorboy]Check the Dragon magazine back issues on paizo.com as well. There is an issue that's a companion for Lords of Madness for example, that contains a number of illithigrafts. Yuan-ti, in response to stsword, are needed if one wanted to make use of yuan-ti grafts from Serpent Kingdoms and some third-party products and some issues of Dragon magazine. I personally like Prak's idea to include these monsters - normally trying to hide from ordinary population - as the providers of grafts. As for fiendish grafts, I think Rakshasa would be great as providers of fiendish grafts. Actually no, a fleshwarper as I mentioned bypass racial requirements for graft feats. In fact any fleshwarper could have up to four racially specific graft feats. Unless you're pointing out that yaun-ti would still be needed for spare parts. :)
razorboy 07-06-06, 08:38 AM	What I meant by referring to illithigrafts in an issue of Dragon magazine, is that it offers even more grafts and illithid-made items for players to use, so Prak doesn't have to come up with even more on his own to save some time. I didn't say that one had to be a mindflayer to install those grafts. Just wanted to point out that there is one more source for mindflayer grafts. That's all. :) Yeah... You might need some Yuan-ti to harvest some particular bodyparts. *wink wink nudge nudge*
Araes 07-06-06, 08:53 AM	Actually been just talking about this idea over at my thread, and as far as the ubiquity of these things go, it is fairly important to take into account due to the massive CR shift that could happen due to over abundance of them. Heck, if every other peasant can afford one, then the whole power structure of the world is going to be quite interesting, as a commoner is suddenly more than a match for a low CR monster. Course, one way to handle that would be to make it so that many of the monsters are also getting grafts, steamtech, chaositech, whatever, which would substantially even the playing field. The other problem though too, is that if they are relatively cheap, but provide gains outside the curve for magic items, then at high levels characters with 15th-20th level gold reserves are going to go crazy with the things. Anyhow, obviously like the concept in general as my campaign world uses it. Oh, and stand firm to the moral grayness. Alignment is the mind killer.
Prak, the Mad 07-06-06, 05:43 PM	@ewancummins: I'm thinking of making it a fairly high magic world, possibly enabling steamtech grafts(create water+heat metal=instant steam power) I'm thinking over all the tech level is steam, so farmers have enough life savings to get dad a new arm if he gets injured on the farm most of the usual races are present, I'm thinking, haven't really thought about religion... @araes: hmm... yeah, I'll prolly have to figure out some kinda "grafts by cr" table, and tuck it into the npc chapter of my dmg.
Cam S. 07-08-06, 12:58 AM	You might want to check out d20 cyberscape (a d20 future cupplement). There are a few feats and advanced (prestige) classes. Also, might I suggest making a "repo man" prestige class--I imagine that repo men would be much more vicious in a setting that includes grafts/cyberware.
Prak, the Mad 07-08-06, 02:53 AM	You might want to check out d20 cyberscape (a d20 future cupplement). There are a few feats and advanced (prestige) classes. Also, might I suggest making a "repo man" prestige class--I imagine that repo men would be much more vicious in a setting that includes grafts/cyberware. repoman? :smirk: as in repossession? that's kinda more of an occupation, would certainly make for an interesting npc.... but I don't think it needs to be a PrC..... maybe though...
DaemeonBlack 07-08-06, 03:31 PM	I was toying with a very similar idea a few years back with Shadowrun meets D&D. Without the "real" technology but everything is magic based replacing it, kind of Eberron in the later years. Magic powered lightning rails are common, magic air ships and teleportation guilds allow long range travel on the cheap. Megaguilds (instead of mega corporations) are the new government in everything but title, the original governments are nothing more then guild faces to let the public think they are not the true movers and shakers in the world. Magical equivalents of cyberware using grafts or universal magic items grafted into the body ( I love stsword's idea of Bonerunes :) ). Giant urban sprawls built around the Megaguilds power centers, rife with urban decay. Adventurers hired to spy/attack/steal from rival megaguilds holdings. Black market chop shops, kidnapping monstrous things in the cities or people with grafts/augmentations taken to back alley shops to be harvested. I love the whole concept. I would agree 100% in removing the alignment system in this type of game. I had toyed with the idea of taking the cybernetics from other games, making them magic or biological based and adding them into the game almost as is. As mentioned before they need to be cheap enough that the average person may be able to either save for one or go into debt/take out a loan for the upgrades/replacements or else the market would not exist. Supply and demand at it’s finest. All in all I give this idea a 10/10. I love the concept and it allows for some very interesting play while still keeping that D&D feel, skewed slightly into something grittier.
Prak, the Mad 07-08-06, 04:34 PM	thanks daemeonblack, have you run the setting? if so, how'd it go?
feartheinvinceblehamster 07-08-06, 08:32 PM	Excellent idea Prak. Perhaps you can play up a setting of fear and mistrust between the races-a classic concept. Perhaps their are "purists" (I.E.: Supremists") Who believe that all Mind Flayers and Yuan-ti and grafts and half-golems and that kinda stuff are evil and must be eradicated, a radical group of half-golems who want to "improve" the human race, and all that other fun stuff. Heh, improving... Reminds me of a game my cousin ran in FR where all members of the church of...I think it was Tyr were convinced they were right and would implant these magical things into peoples heads which basically made them unable to do anything except walk around and say "May Tyr's good will be upon you today" or some such thing in an incredibly creepy, upbeat voice...
ewancummins 07-09-06, 01:39 AM	Here's an idea for religion: maybe the gods are dead or long vanished. People are pretty much on their own, no divine force is going to bail them out. Perhaps a powerful planar interdict cuts this world off from the outer planes? Clerics might serve competing philosophies, rather than gods. Maybe divine magic is pretty rare. Less healing magic could help explain all the interest in grafts and prosthetics.
feartheinvinceblehamster 07-09-06, 11:03 AM	Maybe a city ruled by a half-iron golem whose only remaining human part is his head?
Prak, the Mad 07-09-06, 11:50 PM	@ewancummings: that's a great idea, and one I hadn't thought of, thanks. @feartheinvinciblehamster: I like that idea too.
razorboy 07-11-06, 02:46 PM	People will probably bash me for this, but psionics would fit in pretty cool with "graftpunk" (love the name btw) setting and feel; in fact, the prominence of certain races (yuan-ti) and aberrations (like aboleths or mind flayers) practically begs for more widespread psionics, but perhaps I'd implement that in my own game. As for a half-golem whose only remaining human part is the head - Brain in a Jar mounted on a shield guardian (advanced of course) or a mithril golem would be devastating indeed. :)
Prak, the Mad 07-11-06, 03:47 PM	actually, yeah, psionics would fit well into it, hadn't thought about that, and the brain in a jar idea is great
feartheinvinceblehamster 07-11-06, 05:48 PM	Dude, brain jar mounted on a mythril golem... so...evil... :twitch:
razorboy 07-18-06, 08:37 AM	Don't think of it as evil - think of it as player management. ;) A setting such as Graftpunk would have to be pretty high (those grafts are pretty expensive after all), and there should be some high level opponents or law-enforcements in such a setting. That actually brings up another question to ponder? How do the authorities in your setting view those with grafts and the grafts themselves? Are they illegal, are those using them considered criminals and monsters? How do the authorities police the graft market? How do the authorities deal with graft-equipped threats? There would be some pretty powerful NPCs involved in law-enforcement I would think... Or maybe even the players themselves. :)
Prak, the Mad 07-21-06, 01:41 AM	I was actually thinking that grafts would be, by and large, perfectly legal, considered little more than magic items integrated into the body. I imagine this would be an appropriate setting in which to have high level guards in most cities, maybe around tenth level. maybe there's a town SWAT team composed of tenth+ level Spellthieves(or maybe a new class altogether) with max ranks in Use Magic Device that's sanctioned in the use of high level magic items with extreme prejudice who's sole job is to deal with Graft-psychos
tryco 07-21-06, 07:40 AM	why don't we just make new grafts here. (and a setting around it). i thought of one: adrenal gland (from WH 40k) bonus: +2 dex, +2 wis, +2 intintiative (makes +3 with dex bonus). slow creatures (like zombies) begin to move faster (up to 30 ft.). place: the adrenal gland sits on the back of the nek of the creature. usualble by: all creatures with a blood systems (so, zombies will work, but skeletons not), not by oozes. Price: 12.000 gp the adrenal gland was first used by the invading tyranids, but after their defeat, some wizards found out how to use them and made more of them.
Prak, the Mad 07-22-06, 02:36 AM	hell, that's a good idea tryco, nice writeup, though the total init mod would be +3, not +4.
tryco 07-22-06, 05:55 AM	hell, that's a good idea tryco, nice writeup, though the total init mod would be +3, not +4. :banghead: sorry, stupid of me.
Prak, the Mad 07-23-06, 11:42 AM	meh, I notice alot of minor mistakes like that in write ups on the threads, I think it's inherent in the psychology of writing on the boards. plus you posted at 4:40 am.... finally got ahold of chaositech, looked at the grafts and chaos surgery stuff, looked really good, and gave me some ideas, thanks to razorboy for suggesting it.
Endless_Helix 07-23-06, 12:46 PM	Deal with the cheapness of grafts at high levels, how about you set a maximum number of grafts? Like, say, their constitution mod or something. People with low mods couldn't get many grafts, people with high mods (Like the underpowered fighters) could have more. To limit them even further you could give them harsh penalties as they stack (based off of the # of grafts on the PC)
Prak, the Mad 07-23-06, 02:33 PM	sounds good, I think I'll also add a humanity trait like in Cyberpunk, saying that when all the player's humanity is gone they turn into a Graft-psycho, become an (aberration, dragon, construct, whatever seems appropriate), and the character becomes an NPC under DM control. *edit* *facesmack* or I could just use sanity points and assign a certain cost of sanity points to each graft or replacement...
Prak, the Mad 07-23-06, 04:19 PM	here's an interesting thought, why are there no Celestial Grafts in Wizards' books? I might have to make some...
Prak, the Mad 07-23-06, 06:54 PM	worked out a list of Grafts, their prices(in book) and whether they're regulated, illegal in most cities or illegal in all cities, or not cared about by law enforcement, I'll post it in a bit when I feel more like transcribing a huge list into a computer... edit: K, here it is, a list of grafts etc. from Races of the Dragon, Libris Mortis, Fiend Folio, Chaositech, Lords of Madness, and Monster Manual II *-regulated, generally towns keep records of every person with these grafts, where they got them and when **-Illegal in most towns, most towns find these too dangerous to allow inside the walls, though some towns have countermeasures for people who have affairs to handle inside the city ***-illegal in all towns, and most won't permit visitors possessing these grafts. Races of the Dragon Dragonbone Legs-8000 Gleaming Scales-9000 Glaring Eye-10000 Dragonheart Presence-12000 Frightful Crest-28000 Smashing Tail-30000 Taloned Arm-34000 Metabolic Fire-56000* Resilient Scales-70000 Buffeting Wings-100000 Libris Mortis Bone Mail-16000 Bodak's Eye-25000* Enervating Arm-40000* Eye of Flame-10800* Ghostly Arm*** Mohrg's Tongue-24000 Mummified Eye-50000* Mummified Hand-16200*** Paralyzing Arm-40000* Skeletal Hand-3000 Undead Skin-16000 Vampire Fangs-26000 Weakening Arm-40000* Zombie Arm-25000 Fiend Folio Aboleth Grafts Aboleth Tentacle-50000** Mucus Sheath-5000 Skum Eyes-600 Skum Tail-6000 Beholder Grafts Crown of Eyes-60000 Eye Stalk-195000* Gazing Eye-195000* Third Eye-165000 Plated skin-64000 Replacement Eye-195000* Fiendish Grafts Charming Eye-129999* Clawed Arm-50000 Fast Leg-4000 Fearsome Eye-120000 Feathered Wings-10000 Fiendish Ear-2500 Fiendish Jaw-2000 Fiendish Skin-55000 Flexible Arm-27000 Grappling Tentacle-20000 Long arm-5000 Membraneous Wings-50000 Springing Leg-35000 Sting Tail-50000 Strong Leg-8000 Trampling Leg-5000 Whip Tail-8000 Illithid Grafts Antennae Graft-20000 Climbing Legs-4000 Goring Horn-8000 Gasping Mandibles-15000 Hauling Back-2000 Raking Tentacle-5000 Rending Claw-5000 Weapon Graft-weapon price+1000 Maug Grafts Locking Hand-2000 Rollers-10000 Shoving Arm-2000 Shudder Plate-8000 Spike Stones-4000 Stone Spitter-2000 Yuan-Ti Grafts Added Tail-6000 Poison Fangs-8000*** Replacement Tail-12000 Scaly Skin-36000 Serpent Arm-12000 Symbionts Cerebral Hood*** Mind Leech*** Psionic Sinew Fiendish Familiar Gutworm*** Soul Tick** Ghostly Visage** soon to come, chaositech, Lords of Madness, and MMII
Prak, the Mad 07-24-06, 10:47 PM	bump, started adding a list of grafts, there book price and whether they're legal or what.
razorboy 07-25-06, 07:38 AM	Didn't know Races of the Dragon had dragon grafts, now I finally have a reason for buying it! Well thanks very much for the compendium list, this thread's going in my bookmarks. :) I'm trying to find an issue of Dragon that had nautical-themed grafts for pirates, I'll post the issue number as soon as I find it. There were some interesting ones in there.
Prak, the Mad 07-25-06, 12:02 PM	I know the one you're talking about, I've got it at home(house/dogsitting for relatives), so I was planning on adding it in. and yeah, RotD has some cool grafts, especially Metabolic Fire and Buffeting Wings.
Prak, the Mad 07-28-06, 05:00 AM	bump, more grafts shall be added soon.
Dumat 07-28-06, 12:13 PM	Just browsing the thread, but I think the idea is awesome. Just a random idea, a setting like this seems to fit perfectly well in a given world's "Underdark." That would add a fun element of darkness to it, and for some reason seems to go well in my head with the moral ambiguity. Hehe your illithid grafters could sell brain cannisters (see lords of madness) to would-be graftees, and the graftees could bring back the heads/brains of the baddies they stomp as payment or "discount coupons."
Endless_Helix 07-28-06, 02:28 PM	1. Magic of Eberron has some elemental grafts and plant grafts that could be useful to cannibalize. 2. Artificers- Yeah or nah? If yeah, then it would probably be a cool idea to give them the grafting feats as bonus feats (perhaps replacing homuculus or something). Plus it would also cheapen magic items over all- which would make grafts less expensive (or at least the lower level ones). If nah, then we should focus more on the fleshwarpers. 3. A crazy graft PrC would be awsome, one that focuses on attaining as many grafts as possible.
Dumat 07-28-06, 03:39 PM	Sorry, another random thought: Ubergrafts: the Hand and Eye of Vecna....those two artifacts could be adapted into this campaign very beautifully.....
Verelor 07-28-06, 03:53 PM	Hmm, I am not too familiar with the grafts concept. From what I deduce it is: A way of adding minitemplates to your character to change the physical form. It may get out of hand if you graft too many, when your character changes into a horrendous Lovecraftian thing-that-should-not-be. Druids, paladins, rangers, most clerics, most sane people...not big fans?? :rolleyes: A very nice list, Prak. I think you just about have them all listed. There probably aren't any celestial grafts because it is rather out of flavor with the entire concept. Ways to pin down the grafts system, as has been requested: Mainly twofold. First, a certain amount of Sanity damage for each graft (normally small, but generally more for those that gradually turn you into a walking chuul/barbed devil/mummy). Alternately, Wisdom drain for those that don't want to include Sanity. Also, if the character takes so many grafts that he/she becomes Insane, and at least half her Sanity points were lost because of grafts, her type also changes to abberation (or dragon if the majority of the grafts were the RotD grafts).
PariahSquirrel 07-28-06, 03:53 PM	Going with your idea of making them cheap and ubiquitous: Visual Broad Spectrum Eyes - Capable of seeing beyond the 'normal' range for a human. User can see UV and/or Infared in addition to standard light. Magnavision - See things in terms of how magnetic they are in addition to their color. A must have for bodyguards (see that knife hidden under the robe of the assassin) Light Amplifying (Low light) - Allows the user to see in low levels of light. Audual Above average hearing - Offering a marked improvement over normal human hearing, it's still confined to normally hearable ranges, you just hear them better. Wide Frequency Hearing - Gain hearing like that off a do, just try not to come running for a snack when someone blows a doggy whistle. Quick Translation - While in no way and effective substitution for a quality translator, this'll give you the gist of what the other person was trying to say. Organs Blood Filtration - Don't know if you can trust your food? Don't worry, with this most poisons don't stand a chance. This organ rests right by your heart and will filter most dangerous substences out of your blood. That any help?
stsword 07-29-06, 04:46 AM	[QUOTE=Verelor]Hmm, I am not too familiar with the grafts concept. From what I deduce it is: A way of adding minitemplates to your character to change the physical form. It may get out of hand if you graft too many, when your character changes into a horrendous Lovecraftian thing-that-should-not-be. Druids, paladins, rangers, most clerics, most sane people...not big fans?? :rolleyes: Not really, they're more like magic items that are permanently attached to the character. Each type is a different item creation feat, differentiated by what the graft is from or what usually provides the graft. Beholder grafts for example actually involve implanting beholder parts, but some illithid grafts are simply things illithids are known for doing to their slaves, like fusing a weapon to the end of your limb so you can't be disarmed without being dismembered. As for how npcs react it would probably depend on what kind of graft it is. Someone with an exoskeleton of bones grafted on top of their skin would probably be shunned except in necromantic friendly societies, but in magic of eberron there are plant grafts that druids use for example. And of course it depends on how cyberpunk the surroundings are, heck one could add in the rituals from savage species and people might be in the habit of buying race and templates! "Oh, you didn't hear? Bob decided to become a wyrmling dragon over the weekend." As for limiting grafts, magic of eberron has a couple of rules one could use. One rule it has is that someone can only have one type of graft, which personally I don't like. Another is to make grafts take up magic item slots, to compromise on that one you could make available grafts that don't take up magic item slots at the usual 100 percent price hike. Or go the magic of incarnum route and make feats to get by that restriction.
Prak, the Mad 07-29-06, 04:26 PM	looks good pariahsquirrel, I could also crack open the cosmetic mutations section of d20 future and the cosmetic cybernetics of Cyberpunk and adjudicate them on the fly.
Prak, the Mad 07-29-06, 04:46 PM	Just browsing the thread, but I think the idea is awesome. Just a random idea, a setting like this seems to fit perfectly well in a given world's "Underdark." That would add a fun element of darkness to it, and for some reason seems to go well in my head with the moral ambiguity. Hehe your illithid grafters could sell brain cannisters (see lords of madness) to would-be graftees, and the graftees could bring back the heads/brains of the baddies they stomp as payment or "discount coupons." the underdark is certainly a good plalaws generally don't care too much about poison and such... and I like the idea of brains as payment, could also ensure that the doc doesn't get hungry during your surgery...
Endless_Helix 07-30-06, 12:43 PM	In one of the Dragon issues (I forget which one) there was some inevitable grafts (Kolyarut Hand and Zelekhut Wings, IIRC) from Planescape.
Prak, the Mad 07-30-06, 04:41 PM	oh yeah, I vaguely remember those... maybe I'll go ask around on paizo...
razorboy 07-31-06, 08:12 AM	It was the issue with the "Dead Settings" being updated for 3.5 if that helps even a little. The article is the Planescape setting. The inevitables grafts are for the Fraternity of Order faction. Just do a search for inevitable-planescape on Paizo.com and you'll find the issue number.
Endless_Helix 07-31-06, 07:44 PM	Issue 317. I found it in my stack of old Dragon magizines. Also, how about we work on a couple of the nations? Couple thoughts -a nation based on victorian england, very expansionist. aiming toword conquering the entire world, including the surface. -perhaps have a nation of the weak humanoids from the surface, surrounded by enemies, that has managed to survive by basically being a bunch of hard***es and using modern Israeli tactics to eke through. -Yuan ti don't get a lot of attention usually and are shuffled off to the side for the Mindflayers. They should get some love too. -Pech? Yes? No? -Fae? Actually, it'd be pretty cool to mock up some fae grafts.
Verelor 07-31-06, 08:08 PM	IMO, fey and grafts don't mix very well. Except for the faerie wings. Yay faerie wings. ;)
Prak, the Mad 08-01-06, 05:10 AM	You may be looking here for some crunch I designed. It is no longer here, or anywhere on the Wizards boards, for that matter. This is because Wizards has established a clause in the ToS saying that any material submitted to these boards becomes their property, and I like retaining the rights to my intellectual property when I'm not getting paid for them. Wizards is slowly turning facist and greedy. I will not support this. If anyone wishes to see the Nymph Eyes graft, PM me, I will be happy to email it to them.
razorboy 08-01-06, 08:21 AM	*COUGH* Silthilar from Lords of Madness. They are actually good aberrations/fey who grant mortals grafts. They are a sort of a swarm, a collective consciousness of thousands of tiny little faeries (or something like that, I wish the book went into greater detail because they sound pretty cool). So fey and grafts are yes. :) Yuan-ti should definitely get more of a spotlight, they are a very interesting race with lots of potential. On the subject of nations and geography. Cyberpunk (and to lesser extend steampunk) goes to one of two extremes. Either set everything in one city (i.e. London in The Difference Engine, or Neo-Tokyo in Idoru/All Tomorrow's Parties) or have as much travel as possible to different and exotic locations around the world (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Neuromancer, etc). So it would depend on the focus of campaign. Creating one huge metropolis, with recurring NPCs, locations, organizations can lead to a pretty cool Metropolis/Neo-Tokyo/Sprawl kind of look and environment, and more RP intensive campaign, probably on the darker side of fantasy feel. Creating many different nations and entire geography is only necessary if the DM expects there to be a lot of travelling, and that would probably be a more swashbuckling, rollercoaster ride of a campaign. Victorian England kind of nation would be quite interesting. Huge class divide (tons of people in poverty, oppressed workers, a small but extremely rich elite - perhaps working for the mega-guilds), lots of political intrigue, social and political repression of certain views and opinions. Perhaps a few smaller nations who feel oppressed by the Victorian nation as Helix suggested. I can see a few ways to weave grafts into it. Either grafts are a weapon of choice and generally accepted in the Victorian-type nation, and its enemies see grafts as abominations, or the other way around: Victorian-type nation depends exclusively on the force of its arms and standard nation, while the weaker nations come up with grafts to beef up its smaller armed forces (I like the second scenario better myself). Grafts could also be a neutral product, peddled by mercenaries like yuan-ti and mind flayers to the highest bidder. All sides distrust grafts, but secretly try to use them for their own means. You could have a sort of a cold war-esque graft race. Who will be on the bleeding edge of grafting technique (heh, perhaps literally)? Alternatively, grafts could be a left-over from a past age, and the modern nations are new nations climbing out of the pit of a post-apoc world, and seeking to use the salvaged weapons and knowledge of the past age (i.e. grafts) to achieve dominance. In such a scenario, I could see graft users being a sort of a martial/economic/intellectual elite, leading their societies. What do ya think?
Endless_Helix 08-01-06, 08:31 PM	Actually, I'm kind of sick of mind flayers. Or at least the traditional kind, highly dangerous manipulators with mind powers. How about primitive mindflayer tribes populate the "dark continent" or the underdark? Of all the super-intelligent bbegs, Mindflayers are practically gift-wrapped for savage tribal societies. I mean, they mimic the tradition of eating one's brain/heart to gain the powers of the original owner. Actually, I am going to use that in my world. That's the first thing in the ocean bottom. Muahhahahahah! Couple more thoughts on the nations -One large Confederation, based on victorian england/ancient india, ruled by an elite of mages perhaps. Or something like that. But anyway, it would be very focused on tradition and keeping the old ways alive. It would also be very magi-industrial, turn of the century. Perhaps areas are so magically polluted (think Mournland level) that are now all but uninhabitable. -One moderately large hyper-modern nation all about cultural imperialism and economics. I'd base it on modern japan, modern US, and ancient egypt. Needs something similar to the web. Also, grafting is very popular there, I'd imagine it would sort be like a lot of cyber-punk worlds in that sense but powered by magic. Shadowrun would be good inspiration for this country. -Four or five nations called "the buffer nations" which are manipulated ruthlessly by the two larger nations, who are locked in a sort of cold war. One of these nations was placed at then end of an interplanar war or something, right on a massive resource node or holy place or historical site or something of immense cultural or economic value to the rest of the buffer nations, who now want this nation destroyed. Yep, this is Israel. - If there is a victorian england equivalent, there must be a mysterious area full of ancient cultures with dangerous magics (and mindflayers). Perhaps the Underdark? -Yuan-ti would be perfect for the chinamen who are trying to subvert the english in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. In the end they could be run by either the Israeli state or the hyper-thaumitugical state. Their origin could be in the underdark or the dark continent. -Also it would be awesome if we could incorporate ancient secrets from beyond the fourth dimension. Cuz that would totally get points for style.
Prak, the Mad 08-02-06, 01:59 AM	You may be looking here for some crunch I designed. It is no longer here, or anywhere on the Wizards boards, for that matter. This is because Wizards has established a clause in the ToS saying that any material submitted to these boards becomes their property, and I like retaining the rights to my intellectual property when I'm not getting paid for them. Wizards is slowly turning facist and greedy. I will not support this. If anyone wishes to see the Fourth Dimensional Gland or the Pouch of Infinite Holding, PM me, I will be happy to email it to them.
Endless_Helix 08-02-06, 06:56 AM	how about these? Fourth Dimensional Gland this graft is an odd looking spherical organ harvested from some unknown being, and appears very similar to a pouch of infinite holding... Benefit: The bearer is a Fourth Dimensional Being. In other words, the bearer of this graft exists not only in the three dimensions that normal beings do, but also in the fouth dimension of Space. This graft grants the bearer the ability to make one automatic escape from a grapple or other bonds per turn as a move action, as the bearer phases a part of himself out of the third dimensional intersect and another part in. The bearer gains a +10 circumstance bonus to Intimidate checks and may on occasion cause people to run in fear just from his moving. The bearer also attains a reach that 5x normal for his race, as he may in effect reach around the third dimension. Finally, the bearer suffers no ill effects from the nature of the Far Realms simpl by being in them, and even gets a +2 morale bonus to all actions due to their new sense of freedom in said plane. Price: 1,000,000gp Sanity Cost: 1d20/2d20 Pouch of Infinite Holding(not a graft, just a quasi-magical item.) Effect: This small spherical pouch may contain any amount of matter, as long as no one piece is larger in dimension than the pouch itself(pouch is a sphere with a diameter of 2 inches). Price: 300,000gp Actually, since every human is a four dimensional being (length, witdth, breadth, time), Perhaps it should be called 5th dimensional gland. A fourth dimensional gland would do one of two things(probably) A) Timestop or B) Go backwards in time.
razorboy 08-02-06, 08:43 AM	Sounds cool Prak. I always imagined Githzerai and Githyanki to be very religiously zealous, and it kinda pained me to see Githzerai religiosity and culture reduced in 3rd ed to fortified monasteries, with almost no material on the normal githzerai ouside of the monasteries. It would be cool to have the two gith races maintain uneasy truce, perhaps they both worship the same religion but are two different sects (sorta like early protestants and catholics). And in an ironic twist you could have githzerai and githyanki be the suppliers of mind flayer grafts (since mind flayers have been reduced to savage primitive tribes). Perhaps the gith are the only ones with sufficient knowledge of the advanced illithid grafting techniques from before they became the savages they are now. I think it would be kind of cool - the gith are still using the weapons of their ancient foes, while the descendands of their enemy are no longer capable of doing so. On the subject of mysterious land with ancient cultures. How about frozen lands? Perhaps the world is experiencing another encroaching ice age, or a massive glacier have swallowed lands to the north where once mighty empires thrived? Beneath the ice, entire cities, temples and catacombs are frozen in time, their inhabitants still stand covered in rime - a mute testament to the inexhorable progress of winter... Endless_Helix mentioned creating something akin to the web. How about The Web of Dreams (just a name for now)? A magically (or psionically perhaps) created extradimensional space that links dreams of all "connected" individuals, which spellcasters using certain spells (or psionics), or even ordinary people using some sort of magical item, can access? When connected people (call them Dreamers perhaps) go into that space, it would function as a variation of Astral Projection spell, except that the projected body would appear in the Web of Dreams and The Dreamer would be able to interact with the objects and people inside of it, just as if it was the real world. Physical damage taken within The Web of Dreams (or magical items destroyed or consumed) would not affect the actual body of The Dreamer, but some spells cast within the Web of Dreams would affect The Dreamer even when he wakes up (think Suggestion, Dominate, Nightmare, Phantasmal Killer, etc). The Web of Dreams would be a space of shared dreams, instanteneous communication across vast spaces (and perhaps even time...!), a great repository of knowledge, but also a dangerous place where one could "hack" into another person's memories and psyche and play havoc with them, using spells and other effects. Also, things such as monsters created of nightmares, traps (think ICE) and other dangers could exist within the Web of Dreams. What do you think?
Dumat 08-02-06, 10:17 AM	A fun idea for a subversive enemy: symbiots similar to the Eberron Daelkyr symbiots or the puppeteers in the XPH. They could either be creatures posing as grafts as either the primary villians themselves or to compromise society for the advent of the invasion by the primary villians...(i.e. if you have one of the subversive symbiots unknowingly grafted onto you, when you come up against the BBEG, you get a massive penalty to your saves against him). Also....graft-transmitted diseases from substandard (but much cheaper!) shops... Another: grafts reverse-engineered from a recently-discovered trove of psionic/magical items/beings (think tombs of ancient egypt type troves), which are tremendously powerful....but watch out when the ancient uglies reappear and can make your grafted arm punch you in the face....:) One last one........graft-based version of the Borg. (wow do i have my nerd cred yet?) They could be ridiculously grafted-up, but at the cost of their human identity, providing a nice moral/societal question-mark..."how far will this graft thing go? will we end up like them?"
Endless_Helix 08-02-06, 11:49 AM	A fun idea for a subversive enemy: symbiots similar to the Eberron Daelkyr symbiots or the puppeteers in the XPH. They could either be creatures posing as grafts as either the primary villians themselves or to compromise society for the advent of the invasion by the primary villians...(i.e. if you have one of the subversive symbiots unknowingly grafted onto you, when you come up against the BBEG, you get a massive penalty to your saves against him). I'd lean toword the puppeteers from the XPH, primarily because then the Web of Dreams is so much more dangerous. Also, daelkyr are more something for the players to awaken (IMO), rather than an immediate problem from day 1. Also....graft-transmitted diseases from substandard (but much cheaper!) shops... You just stuck solid gold. No, Solid Platinum. It nearly made my squirt iced tea out my nose. Another: grafts reverse-engineered from a recently-discovered trove of psionic/magical items/beings (think tombs of ancient egypt type troves), which are tremendously powerful....but watch out when the ancient uglies reappear and can make your grafted arm punch you in the face....:) Good possibility for the ever expanding Frozen Waste. Who knows what horrors lie beneath the ice, sleeping? "That which does not live, may eternal lie, but in strange aeons even death may die" One last one........graft-based version of the Borg. (wow do i have my nerd cred yet?) They could be ridiculously grafted-up, but at the cost of their human identity, providing a nice moral/societal question-mark..."how far will this graft thing go? will we end up like them?" Your "nerd cred" was earned with the graft-transmitted diseases. On the super-grafted, this was kind of the intent from the beginning as far as I can tell. Hence the humanity system from Shadowrun.
razorboy 08-02-06, 12:22 PM	Perhaps those disease could even lead to full-blown mutations (like Chaositech system)... Aberration grafts just might lead to a pseudonatural template, undead grafts or golem grafts can make one more like the cold undead or the unfeeling constructs, and so on. I'm thinking that PrCs like Alienist and Acolyte of the Skin would be especially appropriate, but so would Green Star Adept (altered to emphasize becoming a construct even more). Perhaps you could even adopt Fey'Ri from FR as a race of elves that have become so dependent on grafts that they've actually been altered by the grafts and now breed true.
Prak, the Mad 08-02-06, 04:50 PM	Actually, since every human is a four dimensional being (length, witdth, breadth, time), Perhaps it should be called 5th dimensional gland. A fourth dimensional gland would do one of two things(probably) A) Timestop or B) Go backwards in time. well, actually it depends, on whether you're talking traditional 5 dimensions or string theory. and trust me, I(and another friend) was practically lectured on the fourth dimension by my friend that wanted to play a 4-d creature. and so I wrote up the 4-d stuff based on that. it's also the traditional D&D way to handle 4-d. a long time ago there was a Dragon article dealing with hypercube dungeons, and there's actually a rule saying that a 3-D creature that gets exposed to a fourth dimensional plane of existance dies, instantly. (yes it's a sh*tty rule, but...)
Verelor 08-02-06, 09:08 PM	Also, it is impossible to reverse the flow of time (though a particular area of space-time can be accelerated when an object approaces C). It always flows one way.
Endless_Helix 08-03-06, 12:14 PM	Also, it is impossible to reverse the flow of time (though a particular area of space-time can be accelerated when an object approaces C). It always flows one way. Depends on the theory you subscribe to. But that really isn't the point of this thread. --- Anyway, back on topic. Web Diamdem A Web Diadem is one of the more common ways of accessing the Web of Dreams. It is usally made of either silver or bronze with a jewel worth 50 gp set into it. Once it is put on the user's head, the user goes into a trance. If the user is physically hurt in the real world, they immediately wake up out of the trance, unless they've been hacked. Pre-reqs: Sleep, Forced Dream or Astral Projection, 50 gp of silver or bronze and a gem worth 50 gp. Market price: 400 gp Variations: Some of the hackers around the web have upgraded their web diadems to give themselves more priviliges on the web. (You guys can take it from here).
Verelor 08-03-06, 07:55 PM	Depends on the theory you subscribe to. But that really isn't the point of this thread. They have tested it with tiny amounts of particles in laboratories, and Relativity is indeed true. It doesn't bust String Theory, though. Not to get anyone off topic ;)
Endless_Helix 08-03-06, 08:42 PM	Not to get anyone off topic ;) Of course not :rolleyes: The topic was "Which is better: String Theory or Noncommutative Geometry," right? Alright, so who wants to work on what? Up for grabs are -Nation 1: Victorian England/ Ancient India -Nation 2: Modern Japan/US -Nation 3: Israel -Buffer Nations -"The Dark Continent"
Prak, the Mad 08-06-06, 01:31 AM	The gods have died and their temples have crumbled. The faithful turned their backs on them, and filed out of the temples. Temple steps are now the scene of some of the very things those temples preached against. 'Punks sit upon them drinking and carousing. The marble columns are covered in graffeti, much of which is epithets against the old god to which the temple was built. Those who remain faithful worship mere vestiges of the gods they used to exhault. The have been driven into secrecy, as they have no special protection, and the world of Graftpunk is rather violent. Little good would special protection do anyway, the law in most cities is often as amoral as the punks that would do the faithful harm. The law wouldn't uphold the special protection, and would often cause the need for such protection anyway, so no one rallies for it. only three cultures still worship gods, the tenuously allied githzerai and githyanki in their floating cities, and the savage illithids in their frozen wastes. (hows that for religion so far? I'll prolly add more later...)
Verelor 08-06-06, 03:14 PM	Wait now, a "world" or Graftpunk? I think you should change the name. This is, in every way, a campaign you are designing and not so much a campaign setting.
Prak, the Mad 08-06-06, 10:00 PM	meh, "World of Graftpunk" works, because we are designing a world, we're just leaving out pointless decisions like world shape, and focusing on things that will actually impact game play.
razorboy 08-08-06, 08:10 AM	I like the idea of tenously allied githyanki and githzerai. I was thinking that perhaps the gith in "Graftpunk" were the descendants of original gith crusade against Illithids that entered the plane in pursuit of their former masters. Once the aberration empire had been destroyed (whether by the gith, or the encroaching glacier, or something/somone else), the gith invaders splintered along religious lines without a common enemy to keep them together. Their floating cities might be constructed on top of the original fortresses of the gith crusade, and in that case, who knows what wondrous and destructive items of technology and magic hide in the depths of gith cities, and what horrific trophies and captured remains of the vanquished mindflayers and their servant aberrations still linger behind? What would the gith worship in this game by the way? I see them as monotheistic, perhaps almost Zen-Buddhist in their concentration, but slight (to the outsider - almost imperceptible) differences in dogma drive the differences in their society. As for the gods of illithids - perhaps they are frozen and trapped (but not forever) under the mile-thick glacier that covers the remains of mind flayer cities of old. Those gods may not be gods in a true deity sense, but are instead the god brains who can only send out weak telepathic signals through the glacier - signals that appear as dreams, portents and nightmares. Of course the apparently savage illithids (how do they procreate now, is an interesting question) are better equipped to receive and understand these signals...
Endless_Helix 08-08-06, 06:18 PM	Why have "real" gods at all? I mean, the whole point of having real gods is to create the whole "good vs evil" combat through the multiverse. That and having something for those level 100 pc's to fight. Cyberpunk is designed to be morally corrupt and dark. Gods tend to add a sort of romantic touch that I personally don't think that graftpunk needs. Now, horrors with obscene powers that claim they're gods are much, much different... @Verelor: Well, campaigns need to happen somewhere. Why not a world built around them? On religion, I think there should be *some* fanatics who still worship the gods, but most people just don't care anymore. Plus I think that small cults of "defenders of the faith" that cause general havoc for the rest of the population, would be a fun concept. Also, an official "Orzhov-esque" church would be cool in one of the nations. - Here's a couple of names for cities, nations, continents, whatever, to futz around with. --Ghaazach --Illistra --Sychofan- possibly a nation that is a yes-man to one of the larger powers. --Drafir --Xoldor --Vurgenhold --Thavel --Ferring --Hierdrogam
Prak, the Mad 08-09-06, 06:00 PM	Why have "real" gods at all? I mean, the whole point of having real gods is to create the whole "good vs evil" combat through the multiverse. That and having something for those level 100 pc's to fight. Cyberpunk is designed to be morally corrupt and dark. Gods tend to add a sort of romantic touch that I personally don't think that graftpunk needs. Now, horrors with obscene powers that claim they're gods are much, much different... Cyber-thulhu, anyone? lol, anyway, that's pretty much what I was thinking of for the Mindflayer gods, for the other gods, I meant Vestiges when I said vestiges, as in they are non-existant gods floating around in some other-space, and yet still have a few worshippers, worshippers who abhor binders. @Verelor: Well, campaigns need to happen somewhere. Why not a world built around them? On religion, I think there should be *some* fanatics who still worship the gods, but most people just don't care anymore. Plus I think that small cults of "defenders of the faith" that cause general havoc for the rest of the population, would be a fun concept. Also, an official "Orzhov-esque" church would be cool in one of the nations. I like the defenders of the faith idea, maybe worshippers who have succumbed to the new ways to defend the old ways? (Graft-psycho of pelor?), and the Orzhov thing would be good, since there will be a need for healing. - Here's a couple of names for cities, nations, continents, whatever, to futz around with. --Ghaazach --Illistra --Sychofan- possibly a nation that is a yes-man to one of the larger powers. --Drafir --Xoldor --Vurgenhold --Thavel --Ferring --Hierdrogam sound good.
Prak, the Mad 08-09-06, 06:03 PM	oh, and dibs on creating the mind flayer gods.
razorboy 08-10-06, 08:15 AM	Hehe, elder brains = almost godlike psionic powers = pretender gods waiting to happen. Now just have them frozen under the ice, or floating high in the sky. :) An all-seeing eye in the sky... Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia! Errrrrrr, sorry, got a little carried away there. I'd like to do one of the Gith floating cities if no one minds. And I'm gonna steal one of Helix's names to do it - dibs on Gaazach!
razorboy 08-10-06, 11:00 AM	Ghaazerth – City of Zerth’s Eye Large City – 25,000-30,000 inhabitants Races – Githzerai 65%, Githyanki 18%, Dwarf, 2%, Human 5%, Halfling 3%, Gnome 3%, Other 4%. (Tiefling, half-orc, goblinoid, etc) Theocracy/Magocracy/Oligarchy (Alignments: LE, NE, LN, N, CG) Imports: food, lumber, bamboo, raw ore, wool, silk. Exports: magic items, magic constructs, art, textiles, tapestries, wine, manufactured goods. Ghaazerth is one of the floating cities of the Gith – descendants of a humanoid race that pursued the nightmarish illithids to this world. The city’s population is primarily githzerai and githyanki – Gith who follow The Will of Zerthimon. It is a community that takes great pride in the accomplishments of the past and one that is unusually religious, yet it stands on the brink of decay and civil war. Floating slowly on a north-south axis, it has also become a major trading center and caravan. Ghaazerth is built on top of a massive Gith fortress – a marvel of magic, engineering and planar energies. The fortress itself constitutes the bottom third of the city and is shaped as a rough pentagon, with three huge stalactites protruding from the center. The city was built outward and up from the fortress, using whatever materials were on hand; stone, metal, treated wood, bamboo are not uncommon to be seen together in one house’s construction. Gith architecture tends to lean towards tall buildings with tall ceilings and windows (reflecting the race’s general leanness and height), multi-story (some buildings can reach as high as 10 floors), sharp angles, roofs slanted outward, and intricate – almost baroque – carving on almost every available inch of outside surface. Inside, the dwellings tend to be simple, decorations lean towards tapestries for those who can afford them, and geometric paintings on the walls for those who can’t. The city itself is divided into districts and layers. The layers generally reflect the purpose of the layer, while the districts reflect the castes that dwell in them. The actual layers themselves are huge levitating disks, connected to each other via many stairs, ladders, ramps and simply dangling ropes. Since the population had outgrown the designs of original architects, the city also grew outward from the disks, producing a tangled mess of buildings, ropes, support beams for yet unfinished projects – all dangling from the edge of the city. One gets around the city by walking and climbing, or flying for those more wealthy. The bottom-most layer is actually built on top of the original fortress, not on a disk. This is the military layer and is not divided into districts. Ghaazerth has a relatively small military, but one that is well-armed, equipped and trained. They usually fight on flying mounts – gryphons, spider eaters, magical constructs, and even dragons. The military force is composed equally of Githzerai and Githyanki, and no members of other races are permitted to join. The troops also guard the fortress itself, which has been sealed off since the city was built on top of it. Only the high priests can enter the fortress, and even then only on special occasions. Nonetheless, daring youths and visiting adventurers frequently try to get into the sealed fortress. Most are stopped and detained by the guards, most of those who make it inside never return, and those that do never speak of what they saw inside. Huge platforms reinforced with mithril hanging from magically reinforced endless ropes can lower all the way to the ground and bring up cargo and visitors. All are thoroughly searched and questioned by the guards, and accompanying priests using divination magic to point out spies, and forbidden magic items and grafts. The next layer is the oldest disk, and it is actually the least crowded disk of all, mostly due to the fact that the elite of the city took the disk for themselves. Grand temples, broad avenues leading to perfectly circular public spaces, palaces of the high priests, mercenary captains, and other important, powerful and wealthy citizens, as well as other public buildings such as bathhouses, courts, and so on, occupy this layer. Guards patrol this area most frequently at all times of day, and all non-Gith are always under observation and frequently escort. Frequent religious ceremonies, gatherings and parades take place on this layer. Crowds of worshippers kneel and meditate in orderly silent rows under watchful eyes of priests and guards daily. The third layer (always counting from the bottom) is particularly crowded, in contrast to the second layer. The city’s markets, many inns and taverns, shops, workshops and warehouses dominate this layer. Most visitors to Ghaazerth, and most non-Gith residents, don’t go beyond this layer. It is the most boisterous and lively part of the city. The inn Red Ladder specifically caters to non-Gith, yet features exquisite exotic cuisine of the Gith, the more prosperous visitors to Ghaazerth usually frequent this inn. “Lakkari’s Exchange” is a large store that also caters to outsiders, and one can usually buy Ghaazerth-made magic items or trade for them here as well – the prices are quite reasonable. “The Withered Claw” is a graftshop that has the most variety of Ghaazeerth-made grafts and also trophies from elsewhere in the city. The prices are not necessarily cheap, but one can find any draconic graft, almost any fiendish grafts, and some aberration and undead grafts for the discerning (and discreet) customer. One can also arrange for cosmetic and custom modifications and grafts here as well. If the Withered Claw’s prices are too high, one can find cheaper (but potentially more hazardous) grafts for sale at Three Curved Knives (run by a one-legged tiefling Bakkhar) or Brothers Mak’knil (two old githyanki twins). Finally The House of Fifteen Windows is a large and fairly cheap (albeit very crowded) inn and tavern, offering decent food, staggering variety of alcohols (and drugs for those with coin), and the best place for rumors, finding native guides, and various dealings – both honest and illicit. The House of Fifteen Windows is taciturnly tolerated by the priesthood, but rumor has it that a few of the inn’s staff are actually informants for the priesthood. The fourth and fifth layers are constructed on the two largest disks and are quite similar. Both are so crowded with buildings, tangled ladders, rope-bridges with entire streets dangling precariously on them, that the two layers appear to practically merge into one. Most of the city’s Gith residents – fairly poor in contrast to the city’s elite – live on these layers. Despite the incredible crowding of these layers, most of the residents are still polite and courteous in respecting their neighbors’ privacy and personal space. Since the high priests of Zerthimon are the judges and distributors of living space and arrangements, most of the Gith residents do not choose where they live. When a need for additional room arises, a priest usually arrives and lays out the construction plans, then watches over the creation of a new building. It is one of the most important ways in which the Ghaazerth theocracy maintains its control of the population, as tenuous as it is in recent years. The seventh layer is a fairly recent (only a mere 300 years old) addition to the city, and is the smallest disk of all. It does not float above the sixth disk, but instead floats side by side with the fifth. The seventh layer houses the Gith Mercenary Regiments that have become one of the city’s chief export, an academy of magic – the School of Infinite Arcana (which recently began accepting non-Gith for additional fee), numerous workshops dedicated to producing magic items and constructs (another of city’s major exports), and docking stations for visiting airships. There are several guard towers situated throughout the layer armed with siege engines, magical weapons, and vigilant guards ready to take to the air and repel any airborne invaders. The sixth layer floats above the fifth and it is on this disk – exposed to the sky completely – that most of the city’s food production takes place. Artificial lakes, carefully managed plots and pastures dot the layer. One of the marvels of Ghaazerth is the Endless Fountain – a massive decanter of endless water from which the lakes and irrigations of the sixth layer spring. Numerous massive pipes constructed, maintained and upgraded over the centuries, carry the always-fresh water to the other layers. Ultimately the used water is collected on the first layer (the fortress) and deposited through a permanent one-way portal to another plane of existence. The sixth layer also has a few guard towers watching for any invaders or marauders.
razorboy 08-10-06, 11:04 AM	Ghaazerth’s social structure and factions: The priesthood of The Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon are the chief rulers of the city. Most of the Gith population are devout worshippers, and usually obey the edicts of the priesthood without question. The priests – led by a council of High Priests (usually between 9 and 15 priests) – control the real estate, distribution of food and water, the courts, and have great power over the personal lives of worshippers. The priesthood itself numbers approximately 600 to 700 priests. Most are of low-rank, stationed throughout the city to tend to the temporal and spiritual matters of its inhabitants. Most priests are adepts, the higher-ranking priests are actually wizards and sorcerers, using arcane magic and the little divine magic available to adepts, to create miracles as well as to maintain the magic wards and effects that keeps the city running. Many priests are fairly devout themselves and take their faith seriously, but the higher ranked priests know that their power springs from the hold they have on society, and their learned or inborn arcane talents. Since it is the magical might and knowledge of the priesthood that keeps the city running, the high-ranked priests take for granted that they should be the rulers of the city and enjoy the fruits of their creation. A small group of priests, no more than 30 – calling themselves Zerth’i’a (The Inner Zerth) – believe that The Unbroken Circle that represents all the ties of the universe does not manifest in grand temples and ceremonies, but is inherent in each and every person and living being. It just takes dedication, utmost concentration and focus, and asceticism in order to ignore superfluous pursuits, to see those ties and become one with the Circle. This small group of priests actually began manifesting divine powers recently, and are mostly low-level multi-class adepts and clerics, or multi-class adepts and druids. The High Priests are worried about this growing heresy but have not made any open moves to banish the Zerth’i’a, instead relegating them to minor and menial tasks. Nonetheless, a small congregation began to form around the doctrine of Zerth’i’a, composed primarily of disillusioned and poor Gith, and even a few non-Gith. The next powerful faction in the city are the Mercenary Regiments that have recently became one of the city’s major exports. These battle-hardened, well-trained and equipped troops serve any master with sufficient coin, showing uncommon loyalty and bravery. The Regiments are composed primarily of Githyanki and some Githzerai and even a few outsiders. The Regiment Captains have pledged the Regiments to the defense of the city at any time, and in return the High Priests have agreed to give the Regiments a degree of independence and low taxes on their earnings. Each Regiment has a storied history, archives of battles and famous leaders, its own banners and barracks, and accepts members only for life – new members are branded on the face after their first battle. The Regiment Captains have so far not made a move to challenge the priesthood, but as their might and numbers constantly increase the High Priests are becoming more and more worried. The rich merchants, and wizards and artificers of the School of Infinite Arcana, are another source of worry for the priesthood. As Ghaazerth drifts on a north-south axis, it became an equivalent of a huge and very well protected caravan, making Gith merchants and owners of shops, taverns and workshops very rich in the process. Furthermore, the wizards and artificers of the School of Infinite Arcana have become famous and rich for high quality and relative cheapness of the magic items and various grafts that they make for sale. Since the high priesthood is interested in high taxes and keeping the masses ignorant, devout and poor, the growing middle class of merchants, shop owners and casters that is rich, educated and worldly is becoming a source of concern. Since the trade brings in so much money in taxes for the priesthood, the High Priests are leery of crushing the middle class completely. For now… The last and most recent challenge of the priesthood’s power are the Rrakma. In old days, the Rrakma were hunter-killer bands of Gith warriors and monks that went out to hunt illithids and other aberrations. Of course with the illithid empires destroyed and thrown into savagery, the tradition of Rrakma withered away. Approximately 15 years ago however, dissatisfied poor Gith youth began banding together and calling themselves Rrakma, trying to find solace in the noble warrior brotherhood traditions of their ancestors. While outsiders often mistake the Rrakma of the Ghaazerth warrens for youth gangs and criminals, they are almost nothing of the sort. Firstly, the Rrakma genuinely try and go after the savage illithids of the north when the city approaches that area. Most die, but those that return are hailed as heroes by the young and the poor. Some Rrakmas try to infiltrate the old fortress and steal away with trophies of the old victories over the mind flayers, as well as the weapons that were once used to destroy illithids and their servants. Lastly, the Rrakma are a youthful rebellion against the status quo. The members of the Rrakma are almost always distrustful of the priests, impious and frequently utter blasphemous statements, making them instant criminals in the eyes of the priesthood and the courts. Nonetheless, they represent a sort of an escape from the dreary life of Ghaazerth’s warrens and the constant poverty, so their numbers are swelling every day. Another important thing about the Rrakma (and why so many outsiders consider them youth criminal gangs) is that recently the Rrakma began targeting not only mind flayers and aberrations, but all non-Gith as impure inferiors that should be driven out from Ghaazerth completely; thus quite a few non-Gith (even those who have been born in Ghaazerth) have become victims of abuse, robbery and murder in the last 3 years at the hands of various Rrakma. So far, the guards and the priesthood have done little to protect the non-Gith from Rrakma vengeance. More to come: The Will and Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon - a look at the faith of Ghaazerth.
MagicMouth 08-14-06, 02:12 PM	I sense a mental calling... I sense people discussing grafts and aberrations... The idea that mind flayers have turned into savage yet diabolically intelligent beasts is really interesting, a bit similar to what they did to the drow in Eberron. But anyone doing the same to the cuddly illithids, now that is just pure genious. As soon as I´ve read the thread again I´ll try to post a few of my own ideas, if you don´t mind. :D Yes, I like Lords of Madness. :coolcthul By the way, this is my first post. It feels good to be here!
Prak, the Mad 08-14-06, 06:28 PM	welcome aboard MagicMouth, I'd love to see what you come up with. I'll prolly give the Illithid dieties a go in a bit, when I'm not doing anything else.
MagicMouth 08-15-06, 11:45 AM	Well, I think I´ll try to create some different Illithid tribes to spice things up a bit. I´ll leave out specific religious details until their deities have been decided. I´ll write in English as I don´t read Qualith. :P The Frost Eaters One of the largest tribes, it is also one of the most savage. From a crudely built ice citadel in the mountain dephts they send out their warriors and thralls to conquer the other tribes and force them to adapt to their own preferred lifestyle. Frost Eaters rarely seem eager to recreate the old empire, in fact they often think of their ancestors as decadent weaklings. A rather odd habit is how they prefer their meals; they can only eat the brains of foes defeated in personal combat, and before consumption it must be submerged in cold water. The idea is that this captures the victim´s spirit, which is devoured along with the brain and increases the warrior´s strength. Frost Eaters are usually heavily armed, and various blunt weapons are the most popular ones. Their armor is crafted from the scales of large underground lizards and cover most of their bodies. Tribal symbol: Mountain of purple ice. Authority figures: Juthi´vazz (Ulitharid Barbarian/Blackguard), warlord of the tribe; Ulorrnt (Soulknife), elite enforcer of the warlord´s will. The Dark Striders Curiosity is one of the few positive traits common in the Mind Flayer race, and few embody this as much as the Dark Striders. While the tribe has rather few members, they can be found across the entire frozen wastes, thirsting for remnants of the ancient past. Additionally, they aren´t above kidnapping humanoids and utilizing the lesser races´ own knowledge in their quest; the art of poisoncrafting in particular has been adapted by the Dark Striders. In recent years, explorers have turned their attention towards the south, with the plan of quietly absorbing all the secrets therein. Dark Striders are recognized by their dark leather armor and by the furs taken from northland beasts to keep warm in the cold winds. The weapons used are usually various piercing weapons such as spears and daggers, these are almost always poisoned. Tribal symbol: Dark tentacles slithering across a sphere symbolizing the world. Authority figures: Xarrexx (Ranger/Horizon Walker), the most experienced explorer; Celuth (Rogue), infiltrator in the humanoid lands. The Warpers The thing that separates The Warpers from other tribes is the fact that they descended into savagery before the fall of the Illithid empire. Their ancestors were cast out of society because they conducted experiments considered unethical even by Illithid standards: that is, they frequently tried to experiment on their own kind, and weren´t above sacrificing tadpoles for such things. Even today they must hide from the other tribes to avoid being annihilated. But, because they have nurtured their own twisted habits since the exile, they have managed to hold on to hidden secrets most other Mind Flayers consider lost, including some of the more advanced fleshgrafting methods. Because of this, they sometimes trade with the humanoid races, requesting aid in return for the grafts... that is, if they don´t eat the customers first. Warpers are easily identified by their intricate, flowing thick robes which no other tribes bother creating. They rarely use any weapons, instead relying on their own innate powers and enslaved thralls. Tribal symbol: A Mind Flayer head with horns and spiked tentacles. Authority figures: Thiluvajdnol (Alhoon Monk/Wizard/Fleshwarper), the only "survivor" of the old empire; Decolakh (Bard), keeper of ancient Illithid culture. By the way, are you going to use the standard Illithid history, where they travel back in time to escape the apocalyptic future, or something different? Might be good to know, you know.
razorboy 08-16-06, 11:00 AM	Love your stuff MagicMouth. Personally I don't think how and why Illithids came to the world of Graftpunk is important (as long as it involved the Gith in some way), but the history of their empire on this world and the reason for its fall are more pertinent. I like how you took the idea of savage illithids, and yet there is still a plausible explanation for where illithid and aberration grafts might come and why there might still be illithid graft merchants. Can't wait to see more. :)
MagicMouth 08-16-06, 02:45 PM	Heh, thank you. Coming up with good yet not totally weird Illithid names can be a pain, though. The Iron Breakers Martial prowess may be highly respected among The Frost Eaters, but The Iron Breakers take this respect to a near-divine reverence. Though few in numbers, the tribesmembers´ skills with weapons ensure that most potential foes give them a wide berth. They aren´t above studying humanoid armor- and weaponsmithing and utilizing the most efficient types themselves; on the contrary, this is the reason why the Iron Breakers have been so successfull. And if this wasn´t enough, the tribe has a particular talent for the capture and breeding of various creatures who are then trained as beasts of war; Frost Worms, Hydras and Winter Wolves are just a few of these monsters. Iron Breakers are clad in finely crafted metal armor and primarily wield sword of masterwork quality. Another recognizable trait in larger groups is the presence of powerful trained beasts of the north. Tribal symbol: An Illithid skull pierced by a jagged blade. Authority figures: K´graal (Fighter/War Mind), first weapon master; Zyss´llk (Expert/Ranger), first beastmaster. The Storm Hunters Although amphibious by nature, few Mind Flayers ever converted to a life among the waves of the sea. Yet as the old kingdom crumbled away, some daring individuals decided that the underground tunnels and windswept mountains were to narrow for their tastes. Thus, they took the opportunity to capture a few wayward ships and their crew at the coast. It did not take long for them to learn to sail from the minds of the sailors, and after a few years they replaced the mind thralls with an entirely Illithid crew. Since then, they have learnt to build more specialized longboats for quick raids, and in the process of adapting to the sea they have come to respect the forces of nature in a way unique to the aberrant Mind Flayers. Storm Hunters usually wear little clothing (much to many humanoid explorers´ dismay), instead letting the seawater moisten their slimy skin. Simple cloaks are commonly worn, however, as protection from the harsh winds. The weapons used vary quite much, but most tribesmembers are skilled with ranged weapons in order to be able to attack from their own ships without leaving them. Tribal symbol: Green lightning bolt. Authority figures: Zol´kannor (Psychic Warrior), high captain of the tribe; Hithaarrk (Druid), eldest "weather witch". The Reavers With a bloodthirst surpassing that of all other tribes, the Reavers are a danger to all creatures in their way; humanoids, wild beasts or even other Illithids. They lack any permanent stronghold, instead they move from place to place in search for suitable camp sites and slaughter any previous occupants. Many wonder why the tribe behaves this way; the most common explanation is that they are affected by some curse, but from time to time they act with far too much logic and tactical cunning, targeting specific sites of other tribes. Some kind of influence from an unnamed source, perhaps? In any case, researchers have a disturbing tendency to disappear without a trace even if they were last seen hundreds of miles away from the frozen coast. Reavers wear the hides of the creatures they have killed, no matter their origin, and the preferred weapons are massive axes. All the equipment is covered in gore both fresh and old. Tribal symbol: Two entwined flames; one dark blue, one blood red. Authority figures: Ycerozzh (Pyrokineticist), fire shaman and temporary chieftain.
VandalSidereal 08-17-06, 02:42 AM	For a collective of Elder Mind Flayers frozen into a sweet glacier, I think the name 'MizzenMind' is pretty freakin sweet. Also, I love this thread. As soon as I'm up for running the game with my group, I'm including this stuff. Too bad I don't have any books with grafts in them. That means I have to make it up.
razorboy 08-17-06, 08:03 AM	Not really. Prak had compiled a great list of grafts from 7-8 books I think, you can find it near the top of this thread. If you really can't afford all the books on the list (I don't blame ya), I'd say the most important ones to pick up would be the Fiend Folio, or Lords of Madness or Libris Mortis: fiendish, aberration, and undead grafts respectively (as well as the reprint of the Craft Graft feat and graft pricing). Chaositech by Malhavoc Press is also a great source for grafts, mutations and spells that deal with and affect grafts and mutations (and it's cheap compared to the other books on the list to boot). Question about illithids (since I don't have Lords of Madness on me at the moment): can illithids eat the brains of other illithids? If so, is there a possibility of a Mad Mindflayer Disease? :P In that case, the Reavers could be as feared by other illithids as the humanoids, because the Reavers just might be the mind flayer cannibals. Perhaps they actually do derive new fearsome psychic powers by consuming illithid brains, but at the cost of their sanity (as much of it as is left) as well as their physical health. Mad Mind Disease Caused by the consumption of illithid and aberration brains, Mad Mind most commonly affects the dreaded mind flayers, and any other being that is not too squaimish to eat aberration flesh. It typically slowly withers the afflicted flesh, and warps the ingester's perception of reality, inducing auditory and visual hallucinations. Some believe that the psyche of the ingested brain can actually take over the body of the afflicted person. Infects on ingestion; Fort DC 14 to resist Incubation Period 1 day; Initial Damage 1d6 Con, 1d6 Wis, Secondary Damage 1d2 Con, 1d2 Wis. Special: While afflicted, the diseased person manifests as if his Manifester level is 2 higher, and the DC of all manifested powers is increased by +1. Each day that the Manifester fails his Fort save against disease, he gains 5 bonus Power Points. Special: When the ingester is first afflicted (fails his first Fort save against Mad Mind), there is a 5% chance that the ingested psyche will attempt to possess the diseased person. Each day that the afflicted person fails a fort save, there is a cumulative 1% chance added to the 5% chance above. Use the fiend Possession rules from Fiendish Codex, with the following exception: the possessor can only attempt to completely take over the body (Dominator role), the possessor cannot attempt to take on rider, advisor or any other role. Also, if the possession is successful, the possessor immediately loses 1d6 Wisdom and becomes a murderous psychopath - his alignment automatically changes to Chaotic Evil. I don't remember the Possessor rules very well, so I'll probably edit the disease once I get home and look at the book. Let me know what you think.
VandalSidereal 08-17-06, 03:19 PM	Razorboy, you are an awesome dude, and this is an awesome forum. Personally, for flavour, I find the idea of golemtech style grafts cooler, so I am assuming that I'd want to buy DragonMech for that kind of stuff. How many grafts does that book have? Anyone know? Essentially, what I'm asking is: is it on par with the other books (RoD, Fiend Folio) for number of grafts? I'll probably buy fiend-folio simply because it's got so darn many. Also, thanks a bunch.
MagicMouth 08-17-06, 04:58 PM	Indeed, razorboy, very cool stuff. I haven´t read anything about Illithids being unable to eat their own kind´s brains. In fact, I think there was some cover of Dungeon or Dragon magazine where a ferocious Mind Flayer had torn free from its chains and consumed its jailor´s brain. Perhaps we should start to fill out the details about the other humanoid nations. Perhaps I´ll give it a try... or I´ll continue with the Illithids.
razorboy 08-21-06, 09:00 AM	Anyone has any ideas on the fiends, where they come from, are they extraplanar creatures or native to the world? Also, if grafts are supposed to be cheaper and more common, that means they're more plentiful, so where can a large number of fiendish grafts come from? I was thinking that perhaps there is an organization of summoners (thaumaturgists perhaps) who have an ability (or an artifact or a gate) to force demons to enter this world physically, and they're using this capacity to "farm" fiends for their grafts. Alternatively, I am also thinking there might be a guild of fiend hunters - harvesters who hunt fiends for their body parts. Imagine adapting anti-fiend PRCs like Knight of the Chalice or Sacred Exorcist to become unscrupulous greedy fiend hunters, rather than holy avenger types. I think that fits pretty well into the darker mood of Graftpunk, and embodies moral decay: the evil of mortals preying on the evil of outsiders. Anyone else want to take this up?
Prak, the Mad 08-29-06, 06:06 PM	bump, I'd post some stuff on the Illithid gods, but illithid names are very difficult to come up with, and as faceless elder evils, there aint much else...
Viashino_Mage_Guy 09-07-06, 11:14 AM	Most original thread I've read yet! Here are some more Ideas to tinker with: What would happen to people who had received grafts and were shape shifters? (A.k.a. lycanthropes, druids, shifters, changelings, etc.) I read something about chaos beasts and aberrations farms and hunting monsters to get body parts for grafting, but what about the SENTINENT races that have animal or shape shifting anatomies like monstrous humanoids and Doppelgangers? Maybe they are a persecuted people or maybe their held in slave camps, used for forced labor until they are ready to be chopped up and sold for grafting. Could these unwilling donors be plotting a rebellion of some kind? World-scale slaughter or biological warfare? What happens to people who by a shifter’s arm for example? What if all of a sudden they can’t control it’s shifting r it’s movement altogether? What would be the effect of a shapeshifeting graft on the rest of the body? And the mind of that person? Could the experience of having an alternative/extra body part actually give you insight on an other way of life? And give them a special edge over other people around you who don’t know that about you? Grafting things like a second brain/heart/set of muscles should double the power and… the confusion. Could you graft things like minds, personalities, souls, ghosts? Would it be a graft or a spell? What are the advantages of getting a surgical versus magical graft? Could you die during a graft attempt? What guarantees you that your surgeon is not some ‘chopper’ who wants to recycle your parts? *spooky* (especially if you paid him in advance, Muhahahahahahahah…)
razorboy 09-08-06, 09:31 AM	I believe most grafts provide an inherent bonus, so someone wildshaped would retain the benefits of most grafts as long as the new shape can accomodate them. It's still a good question as to what happens to those who change shape and have grafts. Does a druid with amputed arm and arm graft lose the graft when he changes into a bear and thus becomes a three-legged bear? Grafting minds would be akin to grafting brains. Under D20 Modern rules at least, this is perfectly possible. THere are no existing D&D grafts for that however, unless you consider Magic Jar spell an equivalent. Grafting ghosts seems a little redundant to me, a ghost can simply try and possess the body. "Could the experience of having an alternative/extra body part actually give you insight on an other way of life? And give them a special edge over other people around you who don’t know that about you?" I really like this concept! We need to come up with more feats that revolve around grafts and characters that use them. Something like this is a prime candidate!
die 09-18-06, 12:24 PM	I really like some of the ideas here and I'm going to add something similar to my Tako Bell (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=10054403#post10054403) thread. So maybe you can get some ideas for a buffer country or something from the following... Cthulhupunk the Masquerade Dark, under populated soot-covered industrial city, most of the population of the ruined temple district were turned into shadows long ago, cannibalistic skulks and packs of ghouls prowl the streets at night, a Master of Flies (Savage Species prestige class) and his awakened giant spiders spin webs in dark alleys and abandoned buildings selling silk and the urchins they don't eat to slavers, in the undercity rat swarms carry the Zombie Plague and duergar forges belch black smoke into the city above as tireless golems hammer away in unison beneath the streets, giving the city a pulse. Powerful merchant guilds run the city and vie for control of the weapon, spider silk, graft and slave trade, cults of Pazuzu and prophets of a mad dreaming god are rampant among the poor, the city's nobles are decandent vampire spawn who idle away the night hours in an unending sanguinary grand ball. Those who no longer openly serve one of the merchant guilds like the ronin half flesh golems, renegade swordsages and outlaw shadowdancers make a living snatching the best craftsmen for rival guildlords, rounding up jungle abberations, zombies and ghouls for the fleshwarper shops and smuggling green lotus wine into the city. Far Realm Fae The twisted trees in the encroaching corrupted jungle surrounding the city resemble a cross of wet mottled purple fungus and wood, they grow unnaturally fast and when cut slowly writhe for a few moments leaking sickly yellow sap and releasing spores that leave irritating red whelps. Fae creatures burst into masses of writhing tentacles when attacked and the dark sidhe brew an addictive green lotus wine that causes vivid dreams and nightmares slowly eating away the addicts sanity. Dark Sidhe - Elves with half fey and pseudo natural templates sacrifice intruders to an awakened fiendish dire bear they worship as a god, they start life as shark toothed Petals for a 100 or so years then form a red veined, black pulsing oozing cocoon, the vile ooze is one of the ingredients in the green lotus wine.
razorboy 09-18-06, 01:50 PM	I love the Far Realm Fae idea. It's a great spin on the fey, one of the most under-appreciated monster types in D&D. Add in some existing neat fey and aberrations and plants like Silthilar or Red Caps, and you're really one to something great (or monstrous ;) ) /steal idea :D
bwilhite 10-13-06, 10:56 AM	Is anyone still reading or working on this thread? I like the ideas found here...I might be able to give some ideas for the "victorian England" nation.
tryco 02-06-07, 10:49 AM	:bump: anybody thinking about this one. i really really enjoyed the illithid clans. i have to re-read this thread to come up with another idea.
d24478667 02-07-07, 06:29 PM	Since the other person never posted the rest of the list: (The periods are to avoid confusion; In the prices, they are like commas) Chaositech] Standard: Blade, 900g Clawtips, 10.000g Clingskin, 2.500g Cool Patch, 1.000g Cosmetic, 2.000 Eye Cusp: Underwater Vision, 1.000g Darkvision, 12.000g Low-Light Vision, 6.000g Accurate Vision, 3.000g Clear Vision, 2.000g Familiar, 29.000g Filter, 2.300g Lantern, 750g Pouch, 190g Warm Patch, 1.000g Webbing, 3.500g New Flesh Grafts Arachnid Totality, 12.000g Burning, Corrosive, Freezing, Shocking Sheath, 18.000g Burning, Corrosive, Freezing, Shocking Totality, 40.000g Chuulean Sheath, 8.000g Chuulean Totality, 128.000g Cloaking Totality, 86.000g Cool Totality, 15.000g Doppelganger Totality, 12.000g Draconic Totality, 74.000g Piscean Totality, 41.000g Razorflesh Totality, 9.000g Spiny Totality, 1.000g Warm Totality, 15.000g Winged Totality, 30.000g Lords of Madness Aboleth Ambhipious Skin, 30.000g Inksac, 9.000g Mucus Projector, 36.000g Waterjet, 2.500g Illithid Burrowing Claws, 30.000g Darksight Eyes, 24.000g Mind Blast Relay, 50.000g Silithar Chitin Plating: +1, 4.000g +2, 16.000g +3, 36.000g +4, 64.000g +5, 100.000g Flexible Spine, 91.000g Extended Legs, 91.000g Healing Blood, 182.000g Rudimentary Eyespots, 60.000g Silithar Bones, 110.000g Silithar Heart, 91.000g Silithar Muscles, 110.000g Silithar Tendons, 110.000g
razorboy 02-09-07, 05:13 PM	Bumped for awesomeness. I'm still using this thread as an index for all things grafts.
Prak, the Mad 03-25-07, 11:40 PM	You may be looking here for some crunch I designed. It is no longer here, or anywhere on the Wizards boards, for that matter. This is because Wizards has established a clause in the ToS saying that any material submitted to these boards becomes their property, and I like retaining the rights to my intellectual property when I'm not getting paid for them. Wizards is slowly turning facist and greedy. I will not support this. If anyone wishes to see Illsenordellrint, PM me, I will be happy to email it to them.
Prak, the Mad 03-28-07, 12:16 PM	Lugrisine He Who Thaws When the Age of Chill came, the elder brains of the great cities were frozen in their pools, locking them away from their servents. One brain, however, has begun to thaw out. The forges of the Iron Breakers, mingled with geothermal vents, have raised the temperature of their lair enough to begin melting the ice which entraps their elder. As Lugrisine gains more use of himself, and easier access to his subjects, he gifts them with skill and bravery to make war and claim the world for Iron Breaker Illithid kind. Portfolio: War, Weapons, Fire, Strategy, Beasts Domains: Glory, Evil, War, Strength, Domination
MagicMouth 03-28-07, 03:05 PM	I´m glad ye found my Illithid tribes useful. :D I´d post something of my own... but I have some nasty schoolwork to do now. Hopefully I´ll come up with some ideas later.
Prak, the Mad 03-28-07, 04:05 PM	very much so, I coulda sworn there was a fire-themed tribe... made for some confusion in my mind when I was working on Lugrisine...
MagicMouth 03-28-07, 04:18 PM	You were probably thinking of the Reaver tribe, whose chieftain is a Pyrokineticist and has two entwined flames as a symbol. The whole fire thing was supposed to represent destruction, that was before razorboy came up with the more interesting cannibalistic theme.
Prak, the Mad 03-28-07, 04:54 PM	yeah, that's what I figured I was thinking when I was working on this, and decided I'd just make the thawing brain the master of the iron breakers.
MagicMouth 03-28-07, 07:02 PM	Well well, it´s past midnight here in Sweden... I have two speeches tomorrow... still I come here. Perhaps we could change the fluff of the standard PHB races, adapting them to this campaign in a way like they did in Eberron, for example. I came to think of the idea of a Graft Golem of some sort, perhaps something resembling the Cadaver Golem from Heroes of Horror. It could have customizable options to attach the grafts of its choice: imagine an intelligent flesh golem with illithid tentacles, demonic wings and eye stalks. I´m not all that great at balancing all new monsters, though. The whole Victorian era industrial city seems like a cool concept; perhaps it´s placed at the northern part of the main continent, near the frozen wastes, meaning that sinister forces could be at work there. The architecture could reflect this at certain places, having buildings with slightly strange geometries. I can imagine big eldritch machines at work in various places, casting eerie shadows over the city. The cause and nature of the Age of Chill could also be detailed a little. It looks like it was a rather sudden event, seeing as the Elder Brains would probably notice a slower temperature change and deal with it in some way. I also took the liberty of bumping the Tako Bell (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=696061) thread, because it shares a similar theme and could be a source of inspiration. For example, the more lovecraftian drow I posted there could possibly be intergrated into the World of Graftpunk.
Prak, the Mad 04-01-07, 02:54 AM	hmm... I like the idea of re-flavouring the base races a bit, possibly with Dwarves being known for great craftsmanship in golems and mechanical grafts, just as an idea. I think all the races need to be a bit shadier, more morally grey, which will be intresting with gnomes and halflings... I've not looked at Tako Bell, I think I will soon, if only to see the lovecraftian drow you came up with... as to The Age of Chill, perhaps a Mage Storm got out of hand and caused it? ... or perhaps a great collusion of psionic energy met with a bit too much eldritch energy and snowballed into a freezing storm that blasted an entire area and civilization into an ice age...
Prak, the Mad 04-09-07, 12:11 PM	bump
Prak, the Mad 04-12-07, 02:34 PM	is anyone still out there?
MagicMouth 04-12-07, 04:07 PM	I am, at least. There are some ideas regarding the reflavoured races flying around in my head, but I´ve been unable to put them down in text properly. Haven´t been able to get into the right mindset: too many other things taking up valuable brain space (or lack thereof :D), you know. The Gnomes in particular require my fullest attention to make sure they get a worthy treatment. :D
Prak, the Mad 04-17-07, 05:20 PM	*nod* Well, we've got a good implication of what Illithids and the Giths are like through the stuff posted for them, So I suppose the best way to get the reflavouring for them together and laid out properly, is to write up full race descriptions as in the Player's Handbook...
Werral 04-18-07, 07:12 AM	I wanted to do a Victorian campaign too. Anyway some ideas: Neil Gaiman style gods (Sandman, American Gods) ie beings created by the faithful, once the faithful forget them or die you end up with unemployed gods wandering around (and weakened to near mortality). That way you get gods with no moral authority. You could saw that PC clerics/druids are actually drasticly weakened gods - their powers are from their own divine power. Huge factories where workers are grafted into the steam/construct machinery - effecively the workers are the grafts and the machine in the subject. Look up conditions in Victorian England's factories and combine with the whole graft aesthetic. Conspicuous consumption: Middle Class Victorians spend a great amount of time trying to impress others with how moral they were, how rich they were and how well-bred they were. All sorts of useless, but pretty grafts could be invented to pander to this. For example women had to wear corsets (some men also wore corsets), dresses with huge trains and other such restrictive garments - what could be the graft equivelants? Magicmouth: I can see gnomes as industrialists, inventors and venture capitalists. Anti-gnomism could be a growing phenomenon. Luddites: In the early 19th C these were artisans who ran riot smashing the factories that put them out of work. They usually sent a letter from Ned Lud to the factory owner then smashed/burnt/sabotaged the factory (the expression "to throw a spanner in the works"comes from the Luddites) Luddites in graft punk could be wizards/adepts who hate the whole graft scene. They could sabotage Graftmills, poison grafts, create fake explosive grafts... "More churches were built that at any other time of British history and 1 in 60 houses was a brothel" (I forget where this quote comes from). Grafts for servants: Washerwoman - a kind of wringer system for drying clothes instead of arms (improved grapple and 2d6 damage on a successful grapple check?). Servants were the appliances of the Victorian age and grafts could enhance this idea. If you're scrapping alignments how about using personality traits al la "Ars Magica" or Pendragon? Traits are stuff like Kind/cruel, Pious/worldly, Chaste/Lustful etc... That way you can have guidelines for your player while not giving them the whole high fantasy AL feel. Some classes might demand a certain outlook and some cultures favour certain traits over others as "good" while other traits may be considered undesirable.
Prak, the Mad 04-18-07, 01:55 PM	wow, all very nice suggestions, werral...
MagicMouth 04-21-07, 08:03 AM	:bump: Like your stuff, Werral. I´ve also been thinking of an alternative alignment system, like the Virtues/Vices from World of Darkness (you pick one defining Virtue and one defining Vice: a Paladin-like character could, for example, have the Virtue of Justice and the Vice of Wrath). Oh, and I started working on the full race descriptions earlier today, but it may take a while before I post them.
sabrewolf 04-22-07, 07:32 PM	hsss..... interessting... mosst interessting.. :P A :coolcthul blessed :cookie: :cookie: for you guys, specially Prak and Magic Mouth.. While i cant read all the thread (gotta work, ya know) and wont be using this material due to having my own campaign running and a couple others on stand by, gotta say all this got my odd blood flowing, oozing and slithering inside my veins.. that is.. giving my ideas unsafe for my little unsuspecting group of players. :evillaugh On my game i´m putting a race as planar invaders, a race of high magic artificers (lack casters but have itens like sci-fi stuff) whose "magi-teck" is based heavily in elemental shards (solid elements) and symbionts... Thing is i gave them some weapons and armors that are symbiont-based and imagined a use for the strogg-ification scene from quake 4 to give them a special soldier from captured humanoids.... I gotta thank you guys for making me think of using grafts both to improove these "soldiers" as well as healings some bits, like a lost arm or too great a wound to be healed in their regen-vats.. It shall sure improove things in that plot in my campaign.. :bow: T H A N K Y O U . Now my aditions.. Aboleths, yuan-ti, illithids.... one gotta ask: - "Where are the Kythons from BovD??" With their spawning/hatching of living weaponry, they need only a smarter leader with acess to some knowledge to improove it beyound the edge, adding symbionts and grafts into their hives.. this can lead to a bold new race and culture under the banner of one great charismatic (and mighty) leader. - that´s something i´m gotta use somewhere.. somewhen.. :evillaugh - I can see a race/culture where all have given up their former selves in quest for "perfection", and went over the edge: instead of grafting things into themselves, they use a clone-variant to create bodies (insectoids keep shrieking in my mind) and graft their contiousness into them. They could stand against other races, despising their inferior bodies and seeing their pursue for grafts as an attempt to echoe their kin´s greatness. - Yeah, you can blame RF Online if this seems too much like the Acretians. :P This idea could be fused with the Kythons idea to spawn a unique nation/hidden manace/planar threat.. Sure a thing i´d love to play as.. :D *Mind-Ascendant ( Parasyte ) : Unique to the race above and the reason other races referr to them as parasytes, this soft-shelled, tentacled, slithering tinny creature is created by a complex ritual based on clone and mayhaps magic jar. Once it was used to transfer to mind and soul of the first of their kind so to free them from their former frail selves and be grafted inside the shells of their new bodies... Now little is known if they still use it to "ascend" their newborns, or if the ritual have been adapted again to infuse their eggs so the newly hatched share the same capabilities to "ride" their "superior" mindless bodies. - About the gods. Mostly loose ideas here, but ideas nonetheless... All your ideas seems nice but there could also be "true gods".. newly ascended ones to replace part of the vacuum from the vanishing deities of old. If full fledged deities or demi-deities it´s up to be decided. But instead of solid-oral entities, these gods would originate from mortals, either from after the fall of the gods or after the graft-age begun. They´d have a greyish morale and probably slightly twisted - if at best - as a reflect of the graft-age (or maybe they once got grafts as well and that costed some of their sanity/reason)... They could also favor and/or hunt a certain theme of grafts.... Maybe they have also a mortal form/avatar that´s very powerfull and huge (cerebrate/overmind, someone?) but either with some limitation or too busy with their own matters with their "chosen kin"... (hmm.. gotta stop listening to "evil devolution" from ayreon.. but fits so well this last bit.. mrf) Ah well... guess that´s all for now...
Werral 04-23-07, 06:56 AM	:bump: Like your stuff, Werral. I´ve also been thinking of an alternative alignment system, like the Virtues/Vices from World of Darkness (you pick one defining Virtue and one defining Vice: a Paladin-like character could, for example, have the Virtue of Justice and the Vice of Wrath). Oh, and I started working on the full race descriptions earlier today, but it may take a while before I post them. Sounds good. Another one that might work is the Vampire system: You choose a Nature which is how your character is deep down (like "bully", "rebel", "leader", "nurturer" whatever) and a demeanor from the same list, which is how the character appears to be (can be the same). In addition you have "humanity points" The higher the total, the more humane, kind and forgiving you are. As you do nastier stuff you total goes down, it get harder to lose them as the total gets lower (if you're the equivalent to Gandhi, than a nasty look is enough, if you're Vlad the Impaler then it takes a lot to be considered "worse"). At 0 Humanity you're an inhuman monster and an NPC. Paladins would have to maintain a certain minimum humanity or lose powers. Grafts could encourage humanity loss. Obviously which system you chose would affect the flavour of the campaign a lot.
Prak, the Mad 04-23-07, 04:40 PM	hsss..... interessting... mosst interessting.. :P A :coolcthul blessed :cookie: :cookie: for you guys, specially Prak and Magic Mouth.. thanks! While i cant read all the thread (gotta work, ya know) and wont be using this material due to having my own campaign running and a couple others on stand by, gotta say all this got my odd blood flowing, oozing and slithering inside my veins.. that is.. giving my ideas unsafe for my little unsuspecting group of players. :evillaugh On my game i´m putting a race as planar invaders, a race of high magic artificers (lack casters but have itens like sci-fi stuff) whose "magi-teck" is based heavily in elemental shards (solid elements) and symbionts... Thing is i gave them some weapons and armors that are symbiont-based and imagined a use for the strogg-ification scene from quake 4 to give them a special soldier from captured humanoids.... I gotta thank you guys for making me think of using grafts both to improove these "soldiers" as well as healings some bits, like a lost arm or too great a wound to be healed in their regen-vats.. It shall sure improove things in that plot in my campaign.. :bow: T H A N K Y O U . always good, hmm... be an interesting race to stat out... though not impossible... I've an idea, but I need a Dragon Magazine from home before I can codify it for graftpunk, I'll get back to this later.... Now my aditions.. Aboleths, yuan-ti, illithids.... one gotta ask: - "Where are the Kythons from BovD??" With their spawning/hatching of living weaponry, they need only a smarter leader with acess to some knowledge to improove it beyound the edge, adding symbionts and grafts into their hives.. this can lead to a bold new race and culture under the banner of one great charismatic (and mighty) leader. - that´s something i´m gotta use somewhere.. somewhen.. :evillaugh they could also be farmed for their natural weaponry to be used as grafts... - I can see a race/culture where all have given up their former selves in quest for "perfection", and went over the edge: instead of grafting things into themselves, they use a clone-variant to create bodies (insectoids keep shrieking in my mind) and graft their contiousness into them. They could stand against other races, despising their inferior bodies and seeing their pursue for grafts as an attempt to echoe their kin´s greatness. - Yeah, you can blame RF Online if this seems too much like the Acretians. :P This idea could be fused with the Kythons idea to spawn a unique nation/hidden manace/planar threat.. Sure a thing i´d love to play as.. :D *Mind-Ascendant ( Parasyte ) : Unique to the race above and the reason other races referr to them as parasytes, this soft-shelled, tentacled, slithering tinny creature is created by a complex ritual based on clone and mayhaps magic jar. Once it was used to transfer to mind and soul of the first of their kind so to free them from their former frail selves and be grafted inside the shells of their new bodies... Now little is known if they still use it to "ascend" their newborns, or if the ritual have been adapted again to infuse their eggs so the newly hatched share the same capabilities to "ride" their "superior" mindless bodies. also interesting, maybe use some kind of level-dependant racial ability to determine number fo grafts? - About the gods. Mostly loose ideas here, but ideas nonetheless... All your ideas seems nice but there could also be "true gods".. newly ascended ones to replace part of the vacuum from the vanishing deities of old. If full fledged deities or demi-deities it´s up to be decided. But instead of solid-oral entities, these gods would originate from mortals, either from after the fall of the gods or after the graft-age begun. They´d have a greyish morale and probably slightly twisted - if at best - as a reflect of the graft-age (or maybe they once got grafts as well and that costed some of their sanity/reason)... They could also favor and/or hunt a certain theme of grafts.... Maybe they have also a mortal form/avatar that´s very powerfull and huge (cerebrate/overmind, someone?) but either with some limitation or too busy with their own matters with their "chosen kin"... (hmm.. gotta stop listening to "evil devolution" from ayreon.. but fits so well this last bit.. mrf)hmm... that could be interesting.... sopmething came to mind, but now I can't recall(dammit....) maybe I'll think of it while I'm surfing around...
MagicMouth 04-30-07, 06:16 PM	Well, I WAS going to wait until I´d done all the races before I posted them. But my creativity seems to have been drained lately, and there are still RL matters to deal with. Dinnae want to have you waiting too long... ...so instead, I now bring you the Elves and Gnomes of Graftpunk. Ideas on how to do the other races would be appreciated: so far, I have the Dwarves as both graft creators and ruthless graft hunters, while the Humans are the pioneers who revolutionized grafting among the humanoid races. The rest... I haven´t thought much of them. Elves A race on the decline, the Elves still consider themselves superior to the other races. Ancient legends claim that the Elves were the favored servants of the gods, possessing immortality and great magical powers. But as the deities died ages ago, the Elves found themselves vulnerable and weak. In time they turned to science, hoping to discover the very secrets of lie itself, a way to regain their immortality. However, their experiments grew darker and more desperate, spawning many aberrant creatures that still haunt the world. Whether these tales are true or not, the fact remains that the Elves of today are bioengineers of great and terrible skill. Personality: Elves are characterized by their arrogant, overbearing attitude towards the “lesser” races: they are descended from the gods themselves, why should they follow the standards of the filthy primitive beings? But all Elves also have an empty space in their souls, the place once occupied by their claimed immortality. Combined with their scientific outlook on things, many Elves thus try to find an artificial way of extending their already considerable lifespans. This almost universally fails, resulting in them pursuing other thoughts and trying to improve (from their viewpoint anyway) various lifeforms in different ways. They may not be able to retain their near-deific status, but they can at least play gods. This is the basis of much of their racial hubris. Appearance: Elves possess an alien beauty which intrigues some people while it disturbs others. While moving around in public, they dress in old-fashioned clothes to point out their ancient history – various robes are the preferred outfits. It is not uncommon, however, to encounter Elves clad in typical laboratory gear, especially in areas where there´s little use for formalities (such as graft factories and various research facilities). Many Elves undergo grafting and other body modifications, attempting to ascend to a higher state of being, although they prefer methods that doesn´t alter their appearance too much (they save those for their test subjects...) Relations: Their extremely haughty manners makes the Elves hard to befriend, and most other races prefer to give them a wide berth: not only for their personality, but also because of rumors of what the Elves do with people who get on their nerves... nevertheless, their brilliant scientific minds ensure that they are wanted in many industries, as long as they are given enough personal space. Elves find it especially difficult to be around Dwarves, seeing them as far too rough and down-to-earth. In return, the Dwarves think of Elves as feeble bookworms with no experience of the real world. Elven Lands: The Elven civilisations of old are but weak remnants of the glorious past. Ancient sacred sites have been defiled by meddling with the nature of magic, soaring towers have crumbled to the ground, and the Elves remaining in these places have lost what´s left of their sanity. Many Elves have instead moved to younger lands to find their fortunes elsewhere: painful as it may be to live among the lesser races, they can at least make a profit by putting their superior scientific skills to good use. Adventurers: Elves don´t like to do the dirty work themselves, so they usually remain in their homes and employ adventurers to accomplish tasks in the world outside. However, some more ambitious individuals prefer to trust only themselves and can be found in adventuring parties. There are also those who travel the world in the hopes of finding a way to restore he immortality and powers they used to have. Gnomes When humanoids first started using grafts on a larger scale, there were many who doubted this new industry would be successfull due to the inherently dubios nature of its conception. However, the heads of several large Gnome clans found this new business quite interesting, and invested a lot of resources in it. As time went by, grafting became more popular, and the Gnomes who made the early investments rose in both power and influence. They brought their respective clans to Human lands, and these have been important political players in the years since. So, while the ranks of the grafting industry are largely filled by Humans, it is the Gnomes who own the largest shares of the companies. Personality: Gnomes are quite fond of wealth in all its forms, but unlike Dwarves they con-sider its monetary value more important than its beauty or the material it´s made of. They are also recognized by their ambition and desire to occupy a higher place in society, a trait which can make them quite ruthless at times: outright murder is usually considered far too uncivilized, but they´re not above blackmailing, threatening or discrediting those standing in their way. Many political rivals have found themselves deprived of their homes, wealth and reputa-tion thanks to the machinations of a nefarious Gnome. Appearance: Gnomes prefer to dress in a manner appropriate for the upper class in the soci-ety they live in, so their appearance can vary wildly in different parts of the lands. They do like to display their wealth and clothe themselves accordingly, and even members of poorer families usually try to uphold the illusion of power. Gnomes generally consider grafts as something for the lower classes, but some do have implants of a more subtle kind to give an edge in courtly battles. Relations: Historically, Gnomes have always gotten along splendidly with Dwarves, and this partnership continues in the modern day between the two races: Dwarves provide and/or hunt down grafts, the Gnome-owned companies sell them, and they share the profit. Members of many other races resent the Gnomes for their wealth and high status, and often blame them for the sorry state of affairs in the lower class. The Gnomes respond to this in various ways: the more benevolent ones feel bad and donate money to charity, while some more ruthless indi-viduals decide to silence these unconvenient voices. In any case, the Gnomes hold considerable power in most cities where grafting occurs on a larger scale. Gnome Lands: Most Gnomes encountered in civilized lands are members of the clans who moved there so many years ago. As such, they have mostly adopted to these new cultures, but retain a few traditions from the old days. There are a few other clans spread throughout the world, their populations are quite different from the “norm” and have little respect for the more modern Gnomes or their hunger for profit. Adventurers: It is quite rare for Gnomes to go out on adventures, seeing as they prefer the comfortable lives of wealthy folk. There are, however, a number of Gnomes who have been cast out of their ordinary lives due to political failures, bankruptcies or revolts among the working class, and these individuals usually have an overwhelming desire to regain power (as well as taking sweet revenge on those responsible for their fall).
razorboy 05-07-07, 12:13 AM	Bumped for great justice. :bump: As soon as the last worries of semester are over I'll contribute more. :)
MagicMouth 08-26-07, 03:17 PM	Bump. Well, a few months ago I obviously got stuck when it comes to races. Perhaps I´ll finish them sometime in the future, but we´ll see about that. I´ve also been thinking about the current status of some Elder Brains other than those you´ve already covered. A while back I got a little idea (best suited for Epic campaigns, but still): How about, after repeated attempts to free themselves directly, some of the most powerful Elder Brains perform some kind of massive psionic ritual to create a mighty herald of their will in the world, drawing upon the power of the frozen, tainted land itself. This herald would be under their direct influence, and the Mind Flayer tribes would unite in veneration of this "divine" messenger. And so the world faces a threat not seen since the height of the Illithid empire... Half-Illithid Xixecal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm#xixecal), anyone? :D I also saw the trailer (http://youtube.com/watch?v=WF_1Pk_4UZk) for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King a few weeks ago, and the landscapes it showed were really inspiring. Perhaps the frozen north of Graftpunk could be similar to Northrend in some ways? Replacing the Undead Scourge with aberrant horrors, of course. For those out there familiar with Warcraft lore, the vast underground ruins of Azjol-Nerub in particular seems like a thematically interesting choice.
Dog_O_War 08-27-07, 02:52 PM	Wow, I only read the opening post, but wow this is one of the coolest ideas I have heard in a while. This is the sort of thing that most definately deserves its own setting. Bravo, I like this very much.
MagicMouth 01-27-08, 02:25 PM	:bump: Saving this thing from the archives. I plan to create stats and/or information for some characters and creatures appropriate for this campaign, or perhaps come up with new locations, Illithid tribes or something else...