Post/Author/DateTime	Post
mustafathered 07-11-07, 09:37 PM	And am hoping you don't mind me bouncing some ideas off of you guys. I'm looking to start in Thesk, and trying to keep people within 2 regions of Thesk for their starting regions (although if someone wants to play a character who regularly does impulsive things like jumping into random portals he could get to Thesk that way too. I'm also going to allow Oriental Adventures characters. My initial idea is to ask the players to be willing to have signed on as caravan guards and go from there. The plan is that the caravan will stop at a few towns and at each stop the caravan master will say how long he will be in the town and let the characters explore for a bit if they want. Is this too much like railroading? Also, since I think there are a lot of feats out there that don't get picked often but would give a lot of character, I'm thinking of giving everyone a regional feat at first level as a bonus feat (with the exception of Daylight Adaptation) and still allow one regional feat to be bought as normal. I am then also thinking of giving a feat every level or two (on top of the every three levels) but these extra feats cannot be used as prereqs for prestige classes nor can they appear on any class's bonus feat list. I should probably add an in character justification for the feats too. Looking forward to opinions, thanks!
Mr_Miscellany 07-11-07, 10:16 PM	Hello Mustafathered! It doesn’t seem to me like you’re railroading. Campaigns have to start somewhere! And besides play can easily move away from this opening concept if you like. As for feats: they are definitely fun, but I would not advise granting extra feats every two levels on top of the normal progression. I suppose granting a second regional feat is OK, but I wouldn't go past that. Otherwise characters get too powerful too fast and they may try for PrCs too soon. Also I would not recommend limiting feat selection if you do decide to grant the extra feats anyway, because I don’t see that as being fun at all for your players. After all, what good are feat slots if you can’t use them? Just my opinion, based off of experience. Best of luck with your campaign!
MerrikCale 07-11-07, 10:31 PM	As for feats: they are definitely fun, but I would not advise granting extra feats every two levels on top of the normal progression. I suppose granting a second regional feat is OK, but I wouldn't go past that. My thoughts exactly. You'll be overpowering these characters fast
Slayergnome 07-12-07, 06:37 PM	Just remember if your making the players more powerful you should do the same for the monsters. The whole Thesk portal thing is good. I mean FR is famous for its many bizillion portals. The merchant could very easily have sales and trades to make in each little small town. Alot of coasters would I assume take one thing to the first place trade it in the second, sell that in the third...etc etc.
ShadezofDis 07-13-07, 10:21 AM	If you want you're players to be a bit tougher then just start them out a level or two (or three or 10 or whatever) higher and modify your campaign accordingly. I commonly start my players off at 3rd (or equivalent if they chose a +LA race) but in my newest campaign I'm starting I'm allowing the players to start at 11 with the leadership feat for one of them and they plan to try and carve out a kingdom in the Border Kingdoms. Basically, if you want tougher PCs then giving them a few levels to start would be better than messing with the feat progression IMO. :) All that said though, do whatever you'd like.
mustafathered 07-13-07, 09:52 PM	I'm trying to not increase the power level so much as to increase the character flavor more. Perhaps it would be better to every now and then reward particularly good in-character RP with an appropriate bonus feat or extra skill ranks for a specific skill.
MerrikCale 07-13-07, 11:16 PM	I'm trying to not increase the power level so much as to increase the character flavor more. Perhaps it would be better to every now and then reward particularly good in-character RP with an appropriate bonus feat or extra skill ranks for a specific skill. why do that?
ShadezofDis 07-15-07, 04:46 PM	I'm trying to not increase the power level so much as to increase the character flavor more. Perhaps it would be better to every now and then reward particularly good in-character RP with an appropriate bonus feat or extra skill ranks for a specific skill. I would go more knowledge and craft skills then. Have the players write a short history and depending on what they do in that history give them some bonus skills to reflect this. Example; A fighter who grew up as an innkeepers son. He would potentially get bonuses to things like; Handle Animal (due to being a part time stable boy) Knowledge Local (due to being at the inn all the time) Diplomacy (having to deal with a lot of people, I'd only get into this if the character spent up to age 16 - 20 working the inn, as a 13 year old isn't going to become too savvy in this quite yet) Craft, Cooking or Brewing Perhaps just one bonus going along with these lines or something like that.
Apupunchau 07-15-07, 06:54 PM	What you may want to do if you want the flavor of Regional feats (and I do love regional feats) is allow an extra feat at first level which has to be a regional feat. Again you'd have to keep consistency and give the same to all the NPCs you make as well. This way everyone will have a regional flare and you'll be abel to see which aspect of their culture they took to most.
Aaron Highcolor 07-15-07, 09:19 PM	What you may want to do if you want the flavor of Regional feats (and I do love regional feats) is allow an extra feat at first level which has to be a regional feat. Again you'd have to keep consistency and give the same to all the NPCs you make as well. This way everyone will have a regional flare and you'll be abel to see which aspect of their culture they took to most. I do this, and I also give my players a "background" sheet that has history, personality and motivation. If they complete it before the first session, I give them a bonus of some type (i.e., some bonus XP, minor magic item, etc) that is not party/game unbalancing.
MerrikCale 07-15-07, 11:27 PM	I do this, and I also give my players a "background" sheet that has history, personality and motivation. If they complete it before the first session, I give them a bonus of some type (i.e., some bonus XP, minor magic item, etc) that is not party/game unbalancing. thats a good idea. One extra backround/regional type feat is no big deal
Aaron Highcolor 07-16-07, 07:15 AM	thats a good idea. One extra backround/regional type feat is no big deal Especially when most of them are the "can only be taken at 1st level" type feats.
mustafathered 01-25-08, 10:12 PM	I finally started the campaign. The players all had a ball - I gave everyone a regional feat as a bonus feat at first level, on top of which they could buy ONE additional regional feat if they wanted to. Instead of bonus feats from roleplaying, I might instead offer awards similar to what gets given out in Living Greyhawk - things like, for example, "You stopped to orc children from chopping down the earth node tree without bloodshed - +2 to Diplomacy checks with elves from the Forest of Lethyr and orcs from Thesk." I told them that the game will start with the PC's as caravan guards and then we roleplayed into how / why everyone decided to join the caravan. There are three Rashemi, one Thesk-born and a Cormyri. There will be another PC joining the party on session 2. If people are interested, I could post summaries of what happened in the game.
Mr_Miscellany 01-25-08, 11:56 PM	Please do! Also, I like how you're integrating roleplaying and game events with the mechanics. That's exactly how 3E is supposed to be used. Looking forward to reading more! :)
mustafathered 01-26-08, 08:55 AM	One major house rule - I abolished the existence of any common language. I told the PC's that I would prefer them to have Damaran as either an automatic or bonus language, but that they could spend the skill points for Speak Language if they obtained my prior approval for a PC that needed to buy Speak Language with skill points. Every PC will / does speak Damaran. As an aside, having a common language in the Realms kind of nerfs a class feature of the Goldeye PrC (see the FR Faiths and Pantheons book), the special Waukeen PrC. The game started with two Rashemi (Lili an ethran sorceress and Cullin a barbarian) leaving Rasheman to make an exploratory journey of the world around them (I'm away from my Unapproachable East book right now, but there is a special word for this journey). They decided to explore into Thesk and discovered that a caravan had recently left and was seeking caravan guards. They followed the path of the caravan and caught up to it a day outside of Phent. The caravan master is Daidoji Sama (no given name is known yet) but communication with the caravan is through a priest of Waukeen assigned to the caravan while the caravan is in Thesk, Gor'ag, a full blooded grey orc. Daidoji Sama is of the samurai social class and his retinue fly the colors and mon of the Crane clan, though the significance of this information is not known to the party (i.e. no one knows anything specific about the social class of Daidoji Sama or that the "banner" his wagon supports is of the Crane clan). [I like the flavor of Rokugan as given in Oriental Adventures (an easy way to add human regions - the clans) and decided to just drop it wholesale into Kara-Tur somewhere, probably in Wa, but I am not sure yet where it lives.] When the caravan made it to Phent, word of it's arrival spread to the Dancing Camel inn, frequented by a Theskite of Rashemi descent (Satin, a rogue - as an aside, am I the only one who feels like they're reading a glyphed document when rogue is misspelled rouge?). Satin decided to join the caravan and learned that the Crane members of the caravan do not speak Damarran, the language most often used in Thesk. At this point, Lili and Cullin intercepted Satin and told him to see Gor'ag to get into the caravan, who had gone to the Temple of Waukeen. Satin went to the temple and signed on with the caravan. Gor'ag brought Satin back to the caravan and asked the three Rashemi to travel north a couple days to seek the blessings of a druid living just within the Forest of Lethyr. The party was given rooms at the Dancing Camel, where it came out that the innkeeper's son had once served with Daidoji Sama but fell during a battle. The death benefit that Daidoji Sama provided was enough for the innkeeper to buy the inn. The two Rashemi retired early, while Satin remained in the common room a bit playing dice. Meanwhile, a young knight from Cormyr (Tzliche, a knight) arrived by river boat to Phent seeking the caravan as instructed by the knight he recently squired to. After getting directions from the port guard he found the caravan. He attempted to introduce himself to Daidoji Sama, but was ignored. Gor'ag, however, talked with him and got him squared away. Tziliche made his way to the Dancing Camel where the innkeeper said that the inn was full due to the late hour of his arrival. After some awkwardness, it came out the he too was in service to Daidoji Sama. The innkeeper, a Mulhorandi woman, then warmed to him and told Satin to take care of him. The city of Phent was so different from what the knight was used to that he forgot to present his letter to anyone with the caravan. In the morning the party headed north on a road ending at an orcish village, Tharkul. Not being used to orcs in society, the Cormyri knight was acting very nervous and his hand drifted to his sword hilt, so Satin started explaining some of the ways of Thesk to him. An orc overheard some of the conversation and there was an interesting conversation between the party and a couple of orcs. As the party was leaving Tharkul to continue north, they noticed a group of four cloaked humanoids that appeared to be following them. After making camp not as far along as they had hoped they'd be (the Cormyri's armor slowed the group down), the party was attacked by what is suspected to be some sort of undead. (The party is notably missing healing and knowledges of planes and religon at this point). The party then noticed that they were still being followed the next day just before encountering some orc children in a geometrically aligned clearing. The party convinced them to not chop down any living trees, but instead to gather recently fallen trees for firewood. The orc kids told the party that their father had not returned after investigating strange lights in a tower off to the northwest a week ago. The party then set out toward the tower. Lili knows that this place is some sort of place of power, but is unable to determine that this is a rare earth node whose power radius extends to the surface. Upon getting to where the trees ended in a poorly maintained, overgrown clearing surrounding the tower, skeletons wielding longbows attacked the party. Cullin was just about skewered so the party decided to retreat. However, at about this time, the party heard a loud bellow of an orc war cry from within the tower. Tziliche put up his shield and advanced openly, struggling with the overgrowth, while the rest of the party dropped into the overgrowth to hide. Eventually the part vanquished the skeletons with the help of Uthog, the orc who was within the tower. The orc was occupied with a burning skeleton while within the tower until the party was able to advance to the tower. The party then discovered some sort of arcane construct stirring a pot above which an egg of some sort was suspended. The construct replied to the parties questions that it's master was not in and that all it knows is that it is supposed to stir the pot. And this is when we needed to stop. We meet once a month for a full Saturday of gaming, so you'll have to wait a bit for the next installment.
DMD 01-28-08, 06:10 PM	I give my players Regional Feats at 1st 10th and 20th level, I abolish the only take at first level restriction. I also included two features from other games 1) Background Points from Vampire the Masquerade, it helps them flesh out character backgrounds more 2) I also allow for characters to take Hero Points from Kult (may be in other games as well) allows characters to spend the points if they miss rolls by one or two numbers the points are spent each chronicle and not renewed until the next new chronicle. I think these add ons allow some flavor without allowing the characters to be overpowered with too many feats. Interesting game notes. I miss first level adventures, so much easier to prepare. :)