My next campaign is starting soon... [Archive] - Wizards Community

My next campaign is starting soon... [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Jack Daniel
03-30-04, 08:20 PM I finally get to run a game with UA material. I've decided to run a campaign in a Caribbean-like region. The game's arc will combine dungeon crawling with pointless, Monkey Island style item-retrieval quests, all tied together within the context of a humorous, swashbuckling-oriented plot. Apart from the core rulebooks & UA, the other major book of sorce material is FFG's Sorcery & Steam, since another theme of my campaign (most of my campaigns, in fact) is anachronistic steam tech, like in Jack of All Trades and Brisco County Jr. Here's how I plan on tying everything together.

Character Creation & Advancement: I'm starting the campaign off at 4th level; everyone will begin with one level in a normal class, and three levels in their appropriate racial paragon class. Experience levels advance using the level-independent experience table.
Action Points: Action points will be used, but characters will only recieve 5 + half their level in APs when advancing in thier favored class; otherwise, they recieve 3 + half their level APs. This replaces EXP penalties for uneven multiclassing, so everyone (including monks & paladins) can multiclass freely with no restriction.
Wounds & Vitality: Apart from a few holes that need patched, the WP/VP system from UA works very well in a swashbuckling campaign. I'll grant player characters +3 bonus WPs at every 5th character level. Characters still "hover at death's door" from -1 to -9 WPs and die at -10. NPC classes get VPs. Spells that critically hit (and regenerative creatures getting toasted by fire and acid) allow a Fortitude save vs. DC ~15 to avoid much of the automatic wound damage.
Armor Damage Reduction: Armor grants damage reduction that protects against wound damage (and is not negated by a critical hit). Otherwise, this is just like it appears in UA.
Base Evade Bonus: Instead of UA's defense bonus, I ripped the defense progressions from d20 modern. I call it "base evade bonus" to make it clear that the bonus is treated like a dodge or DEX bonus, and is lost when the character is flat-footed. But it still stacks with armor and shield bonuses to AC (which are lower anyway because of the DR rules). Classes with the good base attack bonus use evade bonus A; classes with the medium attack bonus use evade bonus B; and classes with the poor attack bonus use evade bonus C.

Level A B C
================
1st +1 +1 ą0
2nd +2 +1 +1
3rd +2 +2 +1
4th +3 +2 +1
5th +4 +3 +2
6th +4 +3 +2
7th +5 +4 +2
8th +6 +4 +3
9th +6 +5 +3
10th +7 +5 +3
... .. .. ..

Classes: The campaign will use a system of ten basic classes and four advanced classes. The basic classes are berserker, dragoon, fighter, monk, priest, rogue, sorcerer, technologist, witch, and wizard. The advanced classes (15-level prestige classes) are paladin, ranger, bard, and ninja.
Berserker: It's the barbarian... but literate.
Dragoon: I took this class from the musketeer in Sorcery & Steam, but felt like changing the name... either because of Jack of All Trades or Final Fantasy, I'm still not sure which.
Monk: Monks use the martial art styles in UA, but instead of the poetic names given in that book, I instead just call the styles "kungfu," "karate," "jujutsu," etc.
Priest: It's the cleric... but gets the ability to banish outsiders (as described in UA) at 11th level.
Technologist: Pretty much the artificier from Sorcery & Steam, but I prefer the name "technologist" because I play too much Arcanum.
Witch: An altered version of the druid who has a familiar instead of an animal companion, and the hexblade's curse ability.
Ranger: The prestige ranger from UA, but with the d10 hit die, 4 skill points, the low reflex save... oh, and Rapid Shot won't get you into the class -- Two-Weapon Fighting is required. What can I say, I'm still a 2nd edition groupie at heart.
Ninja: I built this class from OA's ninja spy and the Dragon 318 ninja, but it was mostly made to resemble the 2nd edition ninja.
MattMart
03-31-04, 11:02 AM my solution to WP & "hovering at deaths door"

if you think about it...WP is allready giving them a bunch of extra hp...so you dont really need to give them an extra 10...

when you roll to get stunned by a hit to wounds...if you make it...your fine...if you fail by 5 or more you fall unconscious and begin dying....

so...you get hit with 10 points of wound damage...thats dc 20...if you fail by 5 your stunned for 1d4 rounds...if you fail by more than 5 you are out and losing a wound point a round....

this tends to work well without giving them too many extra hp...

when you reach 0....your dead

edit:
by the by...what exactly is the point of this thread? is there a specific question you're asking....or something you're suggesting to other people?
Jack Daniel
03-31-04, 12:35 PM Call it a demonstration of how the various bits and pieces of UA can be strung together around a themed campaign.

By the by... threads have to have a point?
MoonHawk
03-31-04, 01:06 PM Originally posted by Jack Daniel
By the by... threads have to have a point?

YES! They're sort of like conversations that way.
Aman the Rejected
03-31-04, 03:09 PM Jack, your collection of rules and setting are intriguing; best of luck on the game ... however, my mind goes all a swirl with all the alternate rules systems you're going to be using ... is there any way you could compile a document with the info needed to play in your game, I'd love to see how those variants work together :)

If you don't want to post all of that, feel free to email me. If my email address doesn't show up, it is mark (dot) causey (at) siemens (dot) com ! Thanks in advance!
DaTedinator
04-02-04, 09:09 AM Action Points: Action points will be used, but characters will only recieve 5 + half their level in APs when advancing in thier favored class; otherwise, they recieve 3 + half their level APs. This replaces EXP penalties for uneven multiclassing, so everyone (including monks & paladins) can multiclass freely with no restriction.

That... is... BRILLIANT!

I've been trying to find a way to get rid of multiclassing penalties (without giving humans and 1/2-elves the shaft) for a long time, looks like I found it!

Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jack Daniel 03-30-04, 08:20 PM	I finally get to run a game with UA material. I've decided to run a campaign in a Caribbean-like region. The game's arc will combine dungeon crawling with pointless, Monkey Island style item-retrieval quests, all tied together within the context of a humorous, swashbuckling-oriented plot. Apart from the core rulebooks & UA, the other major book of sorce material is FFG's Sorcery & Steam, since another theme of my campaign (most of my campaigns, in fact) is anachronistic steam tech, like in Jack of All Trades and Brisco County Jr. Here's how I plan on tying everything together. Character Creation & Advancement: I'm starting the campaign off at 4th level; everyone will begin with one level in a normal class, and three levels in their appropriate racial paragon class. Experience levels advance using the level-independent experience table. Action Points: Action points will be used, but characters will only recieve 5 + half their level in APs when advancing in thier favored class; otherwise, they recieve 3 + half their level APs. This replaces EXP penalties for uneven multiclassing, so everyone (including monks & paladins) can multiclass freely with no restriction. Wounds & Vitality: Apart from a few holes that need patched, the WP/VP system from UA works very well in a swashbuckling campaign. I'll grant player characters +3 bonus WPs at every 5th character level. Characters still "hover at death's door" from -1 to -9 WPs and die at -10. NPC classes get VPs. Spells that critically hit (and regenerative creatures getting toasted by fire and acid) allow a Fortitude save vs. DC ~15 to avoid much of the automatic wound damage. Armor Damage Reduction: Armor grants damage reduction that protects against wound damage (and is not negated by a critical hit). Otherwise, this is just like it appears in UA. Base Evade Bonus: Instead of UA's defense bonus, I ripped the defense progressions from d20 modern. I call it "base evade bonus" to make it clear that the bonus is treated like a dodge or DEX bonus, and is lost when the character is flat-footed. But it still stacks with armor and shield bonuses to AC (which are lower anyway because of the DR rules). Classes with the good base attack bonus use evade bonus A; classes with the medium attack bonus use evade bonus B; and classes with the poor attack bonus use evade bonus C. Level A B C ================ 1st +1 +1 ą0 2nd +2 +1 +1 3rd +2 +2 +1 4th +3 +2 +1 5th +4 +3 +2 6th +4 +3 +2 7th +5 +4 +2 8th +6 +4 +3 9th +6 +5 +3 10th +7 +5 +3 ... .. .. .. Classes: The campaign will use a system of ten basic classes and four advanced classes. The basic classes are berserker, dragoon, fighter, monk, priest, rogue, sorcerer, technologist, witch, and wizard. The advanced classes (15-level prestige classes) are paladin, ranger, bard, and ninja. Berserker: It's the barbarian... but literate. Dragoon: I took this class from the musketeer in Sorcery & Steam, but felt like changing the name... either because of Jack of All Trades or Final Fantasy, I'm still not sure which. Monk: Monks use the martial art styles in UA, but instead of the poetic names given in that book, I instead just call the styles "kungfu," "karate," "jujutsu," etc. Priest: It's the cleric... but gets the ability to banish outsiders (as described in UA) at 11th level. Technologist: Pretty much the artificier from Sorcery & Steam, but I prefer the name "technologist" because I play too much Arcanum. Witch: An altered version of the druid who has a familiar instead of an animal companion, and the hexblade's curse ability. Ranger: The prestige ranger from UA, but with the d10 hit die, 4 skill points, the low reflex save... oh, and Rapid Shot won't get you into the class -- Two-Weapon Fighting is required. What can I say, I'm still a 2nd edition groupie at heart. Ninja: I built this class from OA's ninja spy and the Dragon 318 ninja, but it was mostly made to resemble the 2nd edition ninja.
MattMart 03-31-04, 11:02 AM	my solution to WP & "hovering at deaths door" if you think about it...WP is allready giving them a bunch of extra hp...so you dont really need to give them an extra 10... when you roll to get stunned by a hit to wounds...if you make it...your fine...if you fail by 5 or more you fall unconscious and begin dying.... so...you get hit with 10 points of wound damage...thats dc 20...if you fail by 5 your stunned for 1d4 rounds...if you fail by more than 5 you are out and losing a wound point a round.... this tends to work well without giving them too many extra hp... when you reach 0....your dead edit: by the by...what exactly is the point of this thread? is there a specific question you're asking....or something you're suggesting to other people?
Jack Daniel 03-31-04, 12:35 PM	Call it a demonstration of how the various bits and pieces of UA can be strung together around a themed campaign. By the by... threads have to have a point?
MoonHawk 03-31-04, 01:06 PM	Originally posted by Jack Daniel By the by... threads have to have a point? YES! They're sort of like conversations that way.
Aman the Rejected 03-31-04, 03:09 PM	Jack, your collection of rules and setting are intriguing; best of luck on the game ... however, my mind goes all a swirl with all the alternate rules systems you're going to be using ... is there any way you could compile a document with the info needed to play in your game, I'd love to see how those variants work together :) If you don't want to post all of that, feel free to email me. If my email address doesn't show up, it is mark (dot) causey (at) siemens (dot) com ! Thanks in advance!
DaTedinator 04-02-04, 09:09 AM	Action Points: Action points will be used, but characters will only recieve 5 + half their level in APs when advancing in thier favored class; otherwise, they recieve 3 + half their level APs. This replaces EXP penalties for uneven multiclassing, so everyone (including monks & paladins) can multiclass freely with no restriction. That... is... BRILLIANT! I've been trying to find a way to get rid of multiclassing penalties (without giving humans and 1/2-elves the shaft) for a long time, looks like I found it! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!