Post/Author/DateTime	Post
uglykitten 07-13-07, 02:35 AM	I've been kind of working around with this setting since I started DMing about two months ago. It's a world based on my dreams, based on my characters, based on the people I've written of in my many stories, and now based on the Dungeons and Dragons worlds that I've played minimally in and around. It is based sheerly on the idea that D&D can encompass any possibility, any homebrew world, and any set of house rules. Basically, applying a story built prior to D&D, and being applied to it. The world was entirely built on the idea that the peoples of the Mediterranean area, plus the Norse folk a little farther north, had "met". I used the basic map of the area (a few modifications) and built. I started, oddly enough, with the gods of the four corners of that area. Generally, we have the Greeks to the East, the Romans the the West, the Norse to the North and the Pharaonics to the South. (Despite the similarities between the Greeks and the Romans, there are significant differences to the deities I chose to be in charge of Domains/Portfolios in the more powerful gods of either area.) Hence the beginning of the name of the setting, Rose. Rose refers to the four Cardinal directions because the compass was once known as a "rose" within ancient areas of the world. I forget where I found that tidbit of information. You could also relate it to the cardinal being a red bird and the red rose being the flower of passion and all that. Anyway, most of the campaign so far that I've run in my little homebrew is based in the Pharaonic Southern region, specifically where Bast's daughter resides. The gods in this campaign that are born have a choice of where to reside when they are old enough to leave their parents: Their own new Plane (most take this), the Olympian Plane (the gods' major gathering place), or on the actual Material Plane. Gods can travel freely if they please (most just don't). I gave Bast's daughter (named Relic) the Salient ability of Divine Creation. It was a lot of work figuring out how she got it considering the Salient tree was enormous for it. And there, she created a new race. Known as the Similians. I'm still working out racial abilities and stuff. For the most part, they were recently created, so very few beings know of them as of yet. Anywho, I really just wanted to get this thread started. Otherwise, here is one of the beings that resides in the Roseword Setting that I've finally completed. Tell me what you think. ^-^ I'm still not sure if I should have it have a LA or not, considering that this is all it gets until it advances character class as a Druid... Bellalace Druid 1 A bellalace is a 9-10 foot creature with the lower body of a wolf and the upper body of an extraordinarily beautiful woman or man. It retains all four paws on the ground as a wolf, with two hands as a humanoid. from the lower torso down it is covered in a sumptuous mass of dun, grey, forest green, or brown fur. Its ears are long and pointed, and able to move about similar to a cat's. Large Monstrous Humaoid Hit Dice: 12d8+24 Initiative: +3 Speed: 50 ft. Armor Class: 24=(-1 size, +3 Dex, + 5 Deflection, +7 Natural Armor), touch 17, flat-footed 21 Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+11 Attack: Rapier +12 melee (1D8+7/18-20x2) Full Attack (same) Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft. Special Attacks: Blinding Beauty, Improved Trip Special Qualities: Unearthly Grace, Damage Reduction 5/-, Lowlight vision, scent, animal companion, Nature Sense, Wild Empathy, Spells, Great Stamina Saves: Fort: +13, Ref +15, Will +17 Abilities: Str 25, Dex 17, Con 17, Int 16, Wis 17, Cha 20 Skills: Hide +10, Listen +9, Move Silently +7, Spot +9, Survival +12, Concentration +5, Knowledge (nature) +5, Diplomacy +15, Handle Animal +12, Sense Motive +15, Swim +12 Feats: Weapon Focus (rapier), Track, Alertness, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip Environment: Temperate to Warm Forests Organization: Solitary Challenge Rating: 13 Treasure: Standard Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Advancement: 13-20 HD (Huge) Level Adjustment:-- The beauty that is this creature is beyond poetry--the words are snatched from your lips by its diplomatic ways. Until you make it mad. Then you'd better wish there is a someone who could teleport you. Even if you run, a bellalace's tracking capabilities make it something you do not want tailing you. Like the nymph this being is similar to, the bellalace is famously attuned to nature. She believes in the balance of it, and strikes out with fearsome skills at anyone who dares to take more than their fair share. Although she is worried about her safety and her animal companion's safety first and foremost, she will attack large cities in the night if she can. Bellalaces speak Common, Sylvan, and the language that her animal companion speaks (ie, Feline, Canine, Bird, etc). Combat A Bellalace is worried, first and foremost, about the safety of herself and her animal companion. Unlike the similar nymph, she is not concerned with a certain place, but with nature overall. She will attack traveling parties if she has confirmed a lack of concern for nature, or if they have made themselves known as "city folk". If the Bellalace finds a city or town that is made of more than just simple shapes or wasting nature's gifts in any way, she waits for nightfall and attacks by setting fires. Blinding Beauty Like the nymph, only this effect does work on monstrous humanoids and creatures of the animal, beast, and magical beast types. The save DC is still Charisma-based, with a Fortitude save of 25. Spell-like abilities 1/day--Produce Flame. Caster Level 13 Spells: Bellalaces cast druid spells beginning from birth as if they were a level 1 druid. Most bellalaces do not gain enough experience to move beyond that first level, however. The spell DC is 11+ spell level. She casts 3/2 per day, and usually prepares (0-level) create water, detect magic, cure minor wounds, (1-level) produce flame, and cure light wounds. Improved Trip: If the bellalace hits a Medium or smaller opponent with her rapier, she gains a free action to trip her opponent with her paws (+5 to the check). If the check succeeds, the opponent falls. The Bellalace does not gain an AoO, nor does the opponent have time to react to the trip. Great Stamina: A bellalace can hustle (or walk twice as fast) for up to four days with only normal rest. After four days, it must rest entirely for twenty-four hours doing only light work before being able to hustle or run again. Animal Companion: Normally, a bellalace chooses a wolf or hawk, or a leopard if it is available geographically. An example companion is as follows: Wolf Medium Animal Hit Dice: 2d8+4 (13 hp) Initiative: +2 Speed: 50 ft. Armor Class: 14 (+2 Dex, +2 Natural) Touch 12, flat footed 12 Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+2 Attack: Bite +3 melee (1d6+1) Space/Reach: 5/5 Special Attacks: Trip Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent Saves: Fort +5 Ref +5 Will +1 Abilities: Str 13 Dex 15 Con 15 Int 2 Wis 12 Cha 6 Skills Hide +2 Listen +3 Move Silently +3 Spot +3 Survival +1 Feats: Track, Weapon Focus (bite) Environment: Temperate Forests Organization: Solitary Challenge Rating:1 Advancement: 3 HD (Medium), 4-6 HD (Large) LA:-- Trip: Hits with a bite, gains a free action to trip opponent with a +1 check modifier. No AoO or touch attack needed. The opponent can't react if the attempt fails. Trick: Typically Come, Heel, or Stay. In this case, we'll go with Stay.
uglykitten 07-13-07, 05:39 PM	A little history in the Roseword setting. When human society reached approximately 5000 BC, a terrible thing happened in the realm of Death. Cerberus, the guardian of the entrance of Hell, discovered his master, Hades, dead on his throne. No injury. No weapon. Just...dead. Zeus, Hades's brother, was furious. A search went out for the killer, but none was found. This was shortly after Hercules regained his stature as god. Cerberus, being the only god in Hell other than the occasional visits of Anubis, became the god of Death. However, the sudden power that Cerberus gained with his new title literaly drove the three-headed dog insane. Anubis, who was Cerberus's friend, recounted the sudden changes to his godking, Ra. Cerberus's three heads had each gained a new personality, all speaking and attempting to act all at once. Ra, Zeus, Jupiter, and Odin gathered in Olympus and discussed what to do with the new Cerberus. It was obvious that the new god of Death would not be able to take the duties of Death as he was. After nearly a hundred years of arguing, a thirteen-year-old child walked into the hall and listened to the arguments of the four men. Ra's daughter, Bast, was a bright young girl at thirteen (hundred) and spoke in a tiny voice that nonetheless was heard. "Why not just split them up?" Ra considered his daughter's wisdom for a moment, and then the four gods agreed on a course of action. Every 1000 years, a different head (and therefore a different Cerberus altogether) would take over the body for that time. After the thousand years was up, another head would take over. The first thousand years, a very joyful Cerberus played and froliced with the young Bast, having taken very much with her beauty and her laughter. A very saddened head took over for the second thousand, leading to many suicides on the Material Plane and a backwards time in the worlds. The third thousand years, a very angry Cerberus took over, and death rates were so high on the Material Plane that Zeus considered killing that head so as never to see that period again. As he plotted and brainstormed for ideas, however, Ra's other daughter, Sekhmet, pleaded with her father not to destroy any of Cerberus's heads. She had secretly fallen for the anger and hatred that was Cerberus's angry head. The changes in Sekhmet continued to corrupt the young cat goddess even as the happy head took over again and Bast frolicked in grass fields with a shape-shifted Cerberus. This continued all the way until 1000 AC, where a very strange thing occured between Cerberus and Bast. A child was born in Olympus, with all of the cat qualities of Bast and the happy-go-lucky personality of the happy Cerberus. The new child was named Relic, as all the gods of Olympus wished the new child a long and happy life. Relic grew up in her mother's area in Olympus before deciding to build her own home on the Material Plane. Relic chose a remote grassy area in the South and grew magic vines all around her area. The single square mile was all that Relic needed to thrive and grow more. She was ravenously intelligent, and learned all she could from the mortals around her. And then, she created a race in her own image, and magically expanded her own divine area within the mile square of vines and thickets. (Think of the spells used to make Bags of Holding, only on a Divine level. Still need to come up with a Salient ability that does it.) The ten original people whom Relic created grew larger, and built a main city. Relic watched with a smile, never really revealing herself as anything more than just another one of them. She even had a child with one of the men--that child became the queen of the people through sheer strength and will and charisma. After careful thought of over a hundred years of watching her people thrive, Relic named them. The Similians. My husband never did understand the reasoning why the queens and princesses of Similia all had Divine Ranks of 0. They had divine blood. =P
chimpman 07-13-07, 09:26 PM	This is a very interesting setting, and I hope you continue to expand on it here. Your introduction reminded me of some authors I've read recently,Thomas Harlan and Harry Turtledove. Both of them like to write alternate history type stories. Harlan's series was called Oath of Empire, and Turtledove has written so many I couldn't possibly name them all. Anyway I'm hooked. I can't wait to fnd out what happens with Relic and her children. I'd also like to know more about these neat interactions you alluded to between ancient earth civs.
uglykitten 07-14-07, 05:20 PM	Chimpman: Thanks! ^-^ I really hope to turn some of this into a more focused novel, but at the moment worldbuilding beckons. I love to build worlds. Ask my husband, who listens to me ramble about things like what the homeless Similians would find in the trash outside the palace all the time. ^^; Some of my ideas are radical, but I like keeping it to something that will be familiar: ie, the four major pantheons. I wonder how many people really look into them any more. I've been working around with what kind of monsters/creatures would be found in Roseword, at least in the Pharaonic South, and hit upon a few more ideas. This one I just finished. I'm not certain about the CR or LA, because I didn't expect the two templates I used to base this off of to be quite so powerful. I may dumb down some of these later, once I get a better idea on how the Analos work. This creature is a child of Neptune’s and a silver dragon named Moraldir. The story goes that Moraldir reached the sky high enough that she tore through the very fabric of the planes and found her way by accident into Neptune’s chambers. She shape-shifted into a beautiful woman upon seeing the god. When Neptune found out his lover’s true form, he banished Moraldir and her children to the Rivers. Moraldir weeps to have lost the only person to have ever cared for her, and her children travel the Rivers in search of food to bring her. Moraldir named her children Analos. They are roughly dragon-shaped with a tendency to walk on their hind legs. Unlike dragons, they have manes of long hair on their heads, ranging from midnight blue to ice blue. They also have a set of feathered wings, usually the same color as their hair. Analos Medium Celestial Dragon Hit Dice: 2d10+12 (16 hp) Initiative: 6 Speed: 30 ft. Flight 60 ft. (good) Armor Class: 21=Dex +6, Natural +5 BAB/Grapple: +2/+10 Attacks: Clawx2: +10 melee 1d6+8 Bite: +10 melee 1d4+8 Saves: Fort: +5 Ref: +8 Will: +6 Special Attacks: Breath Weapon (Cold), Smite Evil (1/day), Protection from Evil (2/day), Bless (2/day) Special Qualities: Dark Vision 60, Lowlight vision, immune to cold, sleep, paralysis, disease, resistance acid 10, electric 10 Abilities: Str 26, Dex 22, Con 16, Int 14 Wis 18 Cha 24 Skills: Spot +11, Listen +12, Sense Motive +15, Bluff +9, Hide +9, Concentration +8, Diplomacy +10, Heal +12, Intimidate +18, Swim +16 Feats: Weapon Focus (Claw), Ability Focus (breath weapon), Skill Focus: Hide CR: 8 Environment: Rivers only Treasure: Double Standard Alignment: Neutral Good Level Adjustment: +4 Breath Weapon: An Analos uses a 30 foot cone of icy cold water as a breath weapon, doing 8d10 dmg with a Reflex save of 21 for half damage. Smite Evil: Once per day, an Analos can add its Hit Dice to a normal melee attack.The Analos are doomed to forever be found in the rivers of the Material Plane. They are typically found carrying fish upstream to their “mother”, who is long dead. Usually, a new dragon takes the place of the Analos’ mother, and collects the food they give her for her own young, or even just for herself. Despite the Analos’ intelligence as a species, they tend to believe that this new dragon is indeed really their mother.
uglykitten 07-15-07, 05:37 PM	I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but I'm something of an artist, so from time to time I will post links to pictures of my creations. I've named and drawn Relic's first husband (she later has two others). His name is Edaniel Blake (ignore my stupidity at reversing his name on the image) and he is purely Druid in every way. Although I believe I'm not going to have him go any farther than first level Druid, that does mean he has an animal companion. At the bottom is his wolf puppy, named Warrior. http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/59871153/ I've also decided that somewhere along the way, a Similian will become a god aside from Relic, their creator. Since I really don't have a god specifically for the Void, and I want one available for the setting, I've decided she would be perfect. This is actually a character I played BEFORE I began making the Roseword setting. Since I'm not sure what my old DM would say about me posting information on his race here, I won't be posting the drawings I have of Sindri prior to her "transformation" into a Similian. Her name is Sindri Balim the Crooked. If you full view the image, you'll notice that the tips of her ears are crooked just slightly. As I say in the comments on DevArt, she may be beautiful (high Cha) but she has a penchant for torture. Her alignment is fully Chaotic Evil. http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/59871725/ In addition, I have a concept for one of the monsters that Cerberus commands. This little beastie looks just like him--only dead. Undead, that is. I can't wait to try and write up the stats on this nasty little guy. I have a little story about him, too. A witch, in the name of her worship of Cerberus, casted charm person on three teenage humans. Through bizarre rituals, she pulled their skulls, still screaming, from the lower spine up and plunged them into her dead familiar. She rose the beast and named it... The Spine Wolf. ^-^ I really like it. Don't you? http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/59872050/