Here's how I adapted the various rules of 4E to my upcoming game. Some of them I ditched, some of them I didn't, and some of them I modified to my own advantage.
Alignment
Alignment remains unchanged from Third Edition. The original Nine Alignments remain with each side maintaining its original devotions and devotees. However, Neutral is now totally transformed into a need for Balance in one's life and Moderation. Thus, The Unaligned Alignment still exists as well for the majority of people (perhaps 80% of those) whom subscribe to no philosophy strictly.
It's thus the Ten alignments now.
Chosen
Chosen are now an Epic Destiny Path to pursue like Demigod. It requires the sponsorship of a divinity to achieve but bestows all the wonderful little goodies we expect. None of the Chosen are any different a hundred years later who survive.
The only difference is 29th level is no longer that particularly impressive and more the equivalent of 19th level for players to achieve with Elminster now someone that is at the top of what players can achieve.
Classes
Bards: Remain unchanged despite their current absence. No alignment restrictions on them, though.
Clerics: I like what they did with Clerics in that they do not gain their power from direct mystic revelation but a ritual ordination performed by the Church. This is now canon in the setting and Clerics now function somewhat like Eberron in that one must be formally defrocked by ritual to have one's Clerical abilities removed (unless you tick a god off enough his avatar appears to do it). Otherwise, you will maintain your clerical abilities. Defrocking I'm going to rule is a 4th Level Spell and only capable of being performed if the cleric really has seriously transgressed the faith.
Druids: I'm inclined to substitute Nature bonded Clerics until a New Druid Class arrives. Ditto on the alignment restrictions.
Fighters: Really, it's combining all the Book of Nine Swords options into the game. While I would prefer to keep the "mysterious arts of the East" flavor to them, I can just keep most fighters at a low level. Finally, Kensei is a base class and my campaign has been moving to overthetop anime showmanship to even them with evil wizards anyway. So, again, no problem but I can see how it would seriously bug some players.
Bladesingers are now a Paragon path for Elven Fighters.
Paladins: Overall, I am going to be adding the option at Fourth Level to Call a War Mount and am going to add an increasing option for every 4 levels for increasing the power of the Mount. Thus, 1st levels have their trusty Giant Badger/Warhorse while 30th levels have their beloved Silver Dragon. Otherwise, no real change though I don't particularly like that the Paladins seemed to be almost like Terra summoning Espers from FFIV with these smites. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and Defense, never for attack and all that.
Paladins are more common in the realm now and simple martial servants of the Gods with no particular reverence attached to them. Like clerics, they must be defrocked rather than lose their powers automatically.
Rangers: No real change here. Arcane Archers are now a paragon path for Elven Archers.
Rogues: Fine as is.
Warlocks: Something to be established for simple gamer backstory. The ascension of Asmodeus to Greater God status, accompanied by Gargauth's (and other Demon Princes/Archdevils) slowly expanding influence over the past century of misery is what's responsible for this giant increase in Warlocks. Plenty of wizards were unable to live without their sorcery and sold their souls for it.
Warlords: Fine as they were, retconned to always being there.
Wizards: One of the biggest changes here is purely thematic. The cataclysmic transformation of the Planes has resulted in most Spell Books from previous eras to become worthless. Thanks to wizards being an industrious sort, most figured out how to adapt things despite the fact that vast amounts of arcane knowledge is now dated and worthless (like textbooks describing the importance of the Aether). Angry peasants burned quite a few libraries as Wizards allowed them to do so.
Elvish High Mages are an Epic Destiny.
Epic Destinies
This is again, all largely unchanged. Archmages, Demigods, and the like have always been part of the world. Demigods are beings that must be sponsored by one of the remaining True Gods in the Forgotten Realms as they require that spark to be planted within them.
Geography Changes
Halruaa: The Spell Plague did in fact decimate the region as the loss of magic did irrepairable damage to the culture and the resulting civil war destroyed most of the region's culture. Halruaa is largely abandoned with large numbers of survivors living elsewhere as essentially a people in Diaspora. Many envision a return now that magic is returned.
Halruaans are distrusted for their ample practice of magic though.
Maztica: So far, the idea that an entire continent has disappeared is chalked up by most sailors as effectively bad navigation to newly discovered lands or changes on the actual continent. Contact with Maztica and her colonies was mostly lost during the Spell Plague and most suspect that there's probably been massive upheaval but no one has yet bothered to send any new ships to investigate.
Moonsea Draining: A severe exaggeration. Cities have been uncovered though but entire in-land cities haven't been left high and dry.
The Shaar: A lot of new lakes and underground rivers have surfaced in this land but much of it is simply result of these underground rivers to the ocean (and possibly portals) naturally erroding the soil to create these canyons with a little bit of magic. The locals have adapted a great deal since plenty of original land existed unchanged.
Unther: Recently invaded by a host of Dragonborn, Unther's 200 year streak of bad luck continues.
Gods
Asmodeus: Elevated to a Full God now. One of his many myriad evil plots.
Corellon: Still a Good God.
Demon Princes and Archdevils: Exarchs and seething about Asmodeus' trickery.
Sehaine: Still a Good God.
Exarchs: From a mortal perspective, not really much has changed. All the previous churches remain and draw their energy from one of the gods they worship (or the forces they represent). The only real difference now is that the Greater Gods can smush Exarchs like a bug, which they always could do.
Mystra: The Weave is still in existence according to most wizards. Instead, most wizards believe it is simply "tattered" and it will take centuries for Mystra to restore herself. Others don't revere her but still use the Weave as the belief for the basis of her powers. Many modern wizards find the distinction between Shadow Weave and Weave to be nonsensical, not understanding its fundamentals since so many different ways to access magical energy exists now.
Most of her followers have moved on to worship Oghma or Lathander since then.
Mythology
Cyric's Imprisonment: Is entirely true but no doubt caused by his many previous acts of villainy rather than probably the Spell Plague itself. His causing it is just one of the many suspected reasons for it.
Mystra's Death and the Spell Plague: Is a mystery equivalent to the Mournlands. Cyric and Shar killing her is pretty much just the speculation from the Church on most likely scenarios. Literally, all deities have said that their faithful are not to look into the matter and refuse to answer any questions related to it.
Which hasn't stopped people from searching.
Tyr's Fall and Helm's Death: Is actually just a piece of local storytelling that has become common place on the Realms. The Church of Sune and Tymora have both denounced it as heresy while the Church of Torm has proclaimed it a slight against a long standing ally against their god. Helm and Tyr's faithful have no real comment as they're both wandering around in a fugue state.
Races
Dragonborn: Dragonborn have always been the result of Dragons crossbreeding with humans, disturbingly enough. However, the only vast amounts are the result of a portal accident filling Unther with them like a second Orcgate War. Most people react to them with shock and surprise, often confusing them with Saurials (whom are retconned into being a type of Dragonborn from the same world as the new one) or Lizard men.
Eldarin: The Gold Elves and Moon Elves are both members of this particular species and all of them maintain some remaining ties to the Fey. The in-story justification is the Spell Plague had an unusual effect on the Elves by super-charging their lost ties to the Faerie and causing them no end of shock.
Elves: The Dark Elves and Wild Elves are both Native races of these on the planet. Their long enimity to the Eldarin is partially traced back to the fact they're considerably more tied to Chauntaea than they are to Faerie.
Tieflings: A lot more of them have been born in recent years thanks to the Demon Infestation. Their "pacts" include a lot of Sex, as always.
1) None.
So your still going to use 3.5 material and add in stuff you liked about 4th or is it the other way around with you using the epic destinies and paragon paths? Sorta confused, sorry.
Elves: The Dark Elves and Wild Elves are both Native races of these on the planet.
-Just so you know, neither are native to Realmspace. The Green Elves migrated to Realmspace unintentionally circa -28,000 DR, and the Dark Elves followed, intentionally, shortly thereafter.
Tyr's Fall and Helm's Death: Is actually just a piece of local storytelling that has become common place on the Realms. The Church of Sune and Tymora have both denounced it as heresy while the Church of Torm has proclaimed it a slight against a long standing ally against their god. Helm and Tyr's faithful have no real comment as they're both wandering around in a fugue state.
That seems like an awful lot of people to have wandering around with amnesia (dissociative memory loss pertaining to identity and prior life is the hallmark definition of a "fugue" state). Even if it's just the priests and paladins, and not all of the lay faithful. How would you handle that, campaign-wise? Are the other faiths helping out all of these people with amnesia?
Or did you mean something different?
-Just so you know, neither are native to Realmspace. The Green Elves migrated to Realmspace unintentionally circa -28,000 DR, and the Dark Elves followed, intentionally, shortly thereafter.
Yeah, I just simply make them natives.
Yeah, I just simply make them natives.
-Just wanted to point it out, in case you were not aware of the fact.
but yes, the fugue state meant "We're in shell-shock because our god died and don't really care how they did at this point."
Okay, that's not really the same as a fugue state. I was just curious.
But most, as you can imagine, are sorta dead by now.
Fourth Edition Adaptations for my Campaign Setting
Chosen are now an Epic Destiny Path to pursue like Demigod. It requires the sponsorship of a divinity to achieve but bestows all the wonderful little goodies we expect. None of the Chosen are any different a hundred years later who survive.
Love this idea. Would be great if this would be in the FR Players Guide. Nice Work
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Clerics: I like what they did with Clerics in that they do not gain their power from direct mystic revelation but a ritual ordination performed by the Church. This is now canon in the setting and Clerics now function somewhat like Eberron in that one must be formally defrocked by ritual to have one's Clerical abilities removed (unless you tick a god off enough his avatar appears to do it).
Druids: I'm inclined to substitute Nature bonded Clerics until a New Druid Class arrives. Ditto on the alignment restrictions.
I like the cleric as well. As for the druid, they will be less nature priest and more shapechanger in the PHB2. Are you going to adapt that change later?
[size=4][Bladesingers are now a Paragon path for Elven Fighters.
Fighters? What about the coming swordmages. I suspect thats what the Players Guide will do
[size=4][b]Paladins are more common in the realm now and simple martial servants of the Gods with no particular reverence attached to them. Like clerics, they must be defrocked rather than lose their powers automatically.
I love the non-aligned paladin. I never could figure out why CG or Neutral gods wouldn't have their own holy warriors
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Asmodeus: Elevated to a Full God now. One of his many myriad evil plots.
Demon Princes and Archdevils: Exarchs and seething about Asmodeus' trickery.
Another cool change in 4e IMHO is the elevation of Asmodeous to a god status.
Classes
Bards: Remain unchanged despite their current absence. No alignment restrictions on them, though.
Druids: I'm inclined to substitute Nature bonded Clerics until a New Druid Class arrives. Ditto on the alignment restrictions.
I like that.
I don't think those classes need alignment restrictions (I have the feeling they won't have them for 4E, when they appear).I like that.
if paladins aren't going to have alignment restrictions, I think thats a safe bet
if paladins aren't going to have alignment restrictions, I think thats a safe bet
-Monks. Eventually.
-Monks. Eventually.
ew, monks should've never had alignment restrictions in the first place. For that matter, alignment restrictions are a stupid rule IMO which was better left out of any supplement.
ew, monks should've never had alignment restrictions in the first place. For that matter, alignment restrictions are a stupid rule IMO which was better left out of any supplement.
-That's just stupid...Chaotic Monks...
no so, how about githzerai
-Law is the hallmark of martial arts. Even the "mythical" 'Drunken Style' is highly lawful, despite it's appearance.
-That's just stupid...Chaotic Monks...
Discipline does not necessarily mean Lawful. You can be as disciplined as any other monk but your action can bend towards chaotic deeds. Again, more forced role-playing which I don't think was necessary.
I have the feeling none of the base classes are going to have alignment restrictions, especially considering that paladins no longer have them. But that's just me.
well, paladins have the restriction of being the same alignment as their god.
Discipline does not necessarily mean Lawful. You can be as disciplined as any other monk but your action can bend towards chaotic deeds. Again, more forced role-playing which I don't think was necessary.
This.
This may not be the best example, but look at Drizzt. He has a very strict self-discipline/moral code, and yet he is, as his actions dictate, chaotic good (or now, just good).
That whole monks have to be lawful crap never made it into my campaigns.
Almost as ridiculous as 2nd Ed's race restrictions (only humans can be paladins, etc.). Blah.
-That's just stupid...Chaotic Monks...
Thank god we can do away with alignment restrictions and still won't be getting those in 4e
-Discipline and law are synonymous.
Interesting take on it, although I don't necessarily agree that's what 3.5 means when it says "Lawful".
Alignment and it's forced roleplaying nonsense is slowly being weeded out and i am happy about it. Eberron had a little hand in this when I look back on it all. The designers kept the couple of alignements in the main book just to appease some people who would have had a mental breakdown if there zero alignments in the book. Basically they could always be ignored especially now when they do not even serve a game mechanic purpose.
Interesting take on it, although I don't necessarily agree that's what 3.5 means when it says "Lawful".
-Law is the ultimate governing force in the universe.
well, paladins have the restriction of being the same alignment as their god.
I meant they aren't restricted in the sense that they must be Lawful Good (or any other alignment).
-Law is the ultimate governing force in the universe.
That would be neutrality, it's what you get at the end when you add everything in the multiverse.;)
I think there should always be a separation between alignment and things that govern your fighting style. You can be disciplined enough to punch through stone walls with your bare fists, but that doesn't mean, that you have always to be calm, calculating and planning. You can use your abilities too steal, getting in fights too quickly, can drink more than you can handle in really bad moments, jump above the next wall when a cute girl is talking to you or whatever. You're disciplined enough to control your body to a near-magical extent, that's why you're a monk. Your alignment governs what you do with it.
All Jedi Knights should be lawful neutral or lawful good, but that doesn't mean, that somebody who is chaotic can't learn to channel the force.;)
@ Topic
Very interesting, it would be really cool if you would post some of your hombrewed epic destinies and paragon paths, but I think it incorporates too much of the 4E setting changes. ;)
That would be neutrality, it's what you get at the end when you add everything in the multiverse.;)
-And, "neutrality" itself follows set laws, thus, the concept, too, is governed by law. ;)
I mean Patch in the Tech Support sense. Some of my favorite video games are filled with bugs on their initial release, I think that it would be fun for Realms fans to do something about some of the major problems that they see with the Fourth Edition Realms yet not completely reject the New Edition.
This will be a thread devoted to providing material to create "Fixes" for the changes that don't particularly fit the Realms and ways of explaining or retconning the stuff that is most problematic for the game. DM's Option is also present in that it will also present Optional Non-Canon material for those who want to go against established canon (Mystra is alive, The Weave still exists, Eli is alive, etc).
I'll sort of unofficially moderate this thread and provide a link in the first posts for the stuff that makes the most sense. I did a lot of similiar stuff in my 616-thread. http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=983248
So whose up for it?