a) The other races, and how would they fit in.
b) What classes work.
c) Monsters? (all tiers)
d) Roleplaying it?
e) Instead of deities, ____?
I'd say that the Eladrin, Dwarf, Halfling, and Tiefling races would work out.
Eladrin would be the controllers over some of the Elemental that leak through into this world of yours; the Dwarves would be a part of a resistance group to overthrow the Eladrin controllers; the Halfling would be in a small village, and they would be in between the Eladrin and the Dwarves; the Tiefling would be the Outsiders, and controllers over the Kobolds, Goblins, and Dragons.
Essentially, the Warlock, Warlord, Cleric, Fighter, and rogue classes would be favored in this world. I do not have the PHB2 for 4e, so I don't know about the additional races/ classes. I do have the PHB1 for 4e.
The Kobolds would be the Shock Troops for the Tiefling outsiders; the Goblins would be another resistance group to fight against the Eladrin and the Elementals; the Dragons would be the cavalry for the Tiefling. Others: Githyanki/ Githzerai, Behemoths, Hobgoblins (Goblins), Warforged?, Giants/ Titans, Illithids?, Archons...
The dieties would instead be the Eladrin controllers, the Dwarven resistance, the Halfling settlement, and the Tiefling outsiders.
The Roleplaying is up to you- you decide what you want your adventure to be like! You are the DM, so you have control over the Roleplaying!
As for the ideas-Dwarves work, as the always seem connected to the earth and stone.
Halflings can be normal people, adn Tieflings work. The Eladrin idea seems iffy though.
- Why is the geography so disordered? Is the world just forming, is it just ending, or has there been some calamity?
- If it is a new world perhaps it was created by the planes 'rubbing together' and has no creator deity, therefore the gods do not know about it.
- If the world is ancient and physically falling apart perhaps the gods abandoned it and their worshippers.
- With the Elemental Chaos so close perhaps there are no gods because on this world the Primordials won. The gods' corpses now float through the Astral Sea.
- Maybe the Devas are the servants of a god trying to lay claim to this world. He wants it ordered and to his liking before he is willing to 'allow its people to worship him'. Perhaps the god wants a monopoly on the world and is keeping it a secret from other deities.
I think this is an excellent setting concept. I would work more on the history before I worried about the logistics of restricting classes and races. Actually, I do not see any reason to restrict any races or monsters, and the only classes I suggest restricting are those with a divine power source because you do not want gods. Here are some things to think about:
- Why is the geography so disordered? Is the world just forming, is it just ending, or has there been some calamity?
- If it is a new world perhaps it was created by the planes 'rubbing together' and has no creator deity, therefore the gods do not know about it.
- If the world is ancient and physically falling apart perhaps the gods abandoned it and their worshippers.
- With the Elemental Chaos so close perhaps there are no gods because on this world the Primordials won. The gods' corpses now float through the Astral Sea.
- Maybe the Devas are the servants of a god trying to lay claim to this world. He wants it ordered and to his liking before he is willing to 'allow its people to worship him'. Perhaps the god wants a monopoly on the world and is keeping it a secret from other deities.
Hmmm... excellent hypotheses, Dan VK! :lightbulb
It's a very PoL type setting. The world is normal, this is just a continent, or as close to it as floating, re-arranging islands can get. I want to focus on this area though. This place is just very close to the Chaos, almost a manifestation of it in the normal world. The Gods know of it, and many wanted to organize it-they see it as a leftover, and it needs to be fixed, (most have now given up.) The people of this place don't really care for religion (excepting the Deva), and just live here, and if there is any worship, it is to the Elemental forces personified. As for political parties, there is a loose organization called the Enforcers, a group of Genasi who, while not enforcing law, prevent crime, excessive violence, or attempts to order the lands. They are not very strict in their enforcing, but if they find you, they will deal swift, mercy-less justice. The Doomguard mantain a presence here as well. As for history, this was a continent, lush and varied, where many powerful mages bound elemental power to improve life. War broke out, and one group released the power, uprooting the continent, and bringing it to it's current state. Adventure is encouraged, as artifacts are praised, namely Elemental Hearts, stones filled with elemental power. They can be used to create many useful things (Airships, Archon Forges, etc.), as well as grant power to temporararily order the land to one's wishes.
I'd say...
It's a very PoL type setting. The world is normal, this is just a continent, or as close to it as floating, re-arranging islands can get. I want to focus on this area though. This place is just very close to the Chaos, almost a manifestation of it in the normal world. The Gods know of it, and many wanted to organize it-they see it as a leftover, and it needs to be fixed, (most have now given up.) The people of this place don't really care for religion (excepting the Deva), and just live here, and if there is any worship, it is to the Elemental forces personified. As for political parties, there is a loose organization called the Enforcers, a group of Genasi who, while not enforcing law, prevent crime, excessive violence, or attempts to order the lands. They are not very strict in their enforcing, but if they find you, they will deal swift, mercy-less justice. The Doomguard mantain a presence here as well. As for history, this was a continent, lush and varied, where many powerful mages bound elemental power to improve life. War broke out, and one group released the power, uprooting the continent, and bringing it to it's current state. Adventure is encouraged, as artifacts are praised, namely Elemental Hearts, stones filled with elemental power. They can be used to create many useful things (Airships, Archon Forges, etc.), as well as grant power to temporararily order the land to one's wishes.
So, my guess is that this is the world that has been ravaged by many grueling battles, and the Gods have found it and are trying to fix it. The Gate to the Elemental Chaos is growing unstable, and is keeping the Gods away from it. The only ones how can seal the gate are a band of courageous heroes, but you just need to figure out how the battles will work, and how the battle maps will fit in to the adventures.
Sounds intruiging! :D
So, my guess is that this is the world that has been ravaged by many grueling battles, and the Gods have found it and are trying to fix it. The Gate to the Elemental Chaos is growing unstable, and is keeping the Gods away from it. The only ones how can seal the gate are a band of courageous heroes, but you just need to figure out how the battles will work, and how the battle maps will fit in to the adventures.
Sounds intruiging! :D
Thanks!
Actually, order is frowned upon. The people on this floating continent have grown used to the change, and it provides their way of life. The gods have found it too frustrating to fix, and many have given up. Some adventurers might try to fix it, led by a god and backed with Deva, or they might try to further combine the area with the Chaos. Someone might be pumping out an Archon army, or maybe someone needs a Heart for a super awesome weapon. The key interesting part is the randomosity of the land and the reversal of law and chaos. Why impose order on a land that wants discord?
Genasi, Dragonborn, and Gith are all normal. Humans and Dwarves have adapted. Deva fight for Order and Gods. Halflings are rarer than Humans, but are not unusual. Tieflings are frowned on, as they seem inherently evil. Elves, Half-Elves, and Eladrin are rare. Shifters prowl the floating forests, Golaiths stay to the mountains, Half-Orcs carve out rough communities. Warforged are rare, and the rest of the races are even rarer.
e) Instead of deities, ____?
....if there is any worship, it is to the Elemental forces personified.
Seems like you've already answered this question yourself. Elemental forces instead of gods for divine power (like Dark Sun, I'm told). Maybe they worship the Primordials the that are made so much of in the core assumed setting?
Races:
Dwarves: Maybe they are a stout earthling race, with a link so powerful to earth they have stone-like little formations in their skin, boulder-like broad shoulders and arms, gem-like eyes and stone-like braids instead hair.
Elves: They could be slightly lighter, with skin tones ranging from white to light blue, almost "breezy" speech and a penchant for travel. In this way, they are more related to sylphs than to classical elves. Maybe the elven accuraccy power is named "sylph blessing" or so. The idea is linking them to the forces of elemental air, thus having a full culture based on travel, and having cities in cloud-like formations many feet above the ground (probably the Githyanki power could replace the Elven accuracy).
Tieflings: They could be ancient fire beings, cursed by the gods for helping the devils and demons in the Old Wars. That's why they have that horrific horns and hooves, to be more like their old allies, but they now are attoning for their sins. Maybe some are driven by greed and anger, trying to take away everything from the other races, others could be seeking the forgiveness of the world doing good deeds in their wake.
Halflings: As with the other races, linking them to an elemental force could be the nicest way to go. Make them a beach and rivers race, disconnected to the "material" water but with an ancient bond to the Elemental one. Maybe the don't have some characteristics of their more normal counterparts but they can breathe water.
Hope this little changes helps you in any way. About the other stuff, it's your world, you can do whatever you want. Maybe you can replace gods with animism (spirits everywhere, so they worship the whole world) or entities so strange they are know just by the elemental aspect they command (The Flame, The Sea, The Stone, so on) and minor gods commanding everything else connected to those.
Classes? All you can handle.
Monsters? Try doing some mixed elemental beings. Magma goblins raiding raised Hellhounds, Ice hobgoblins rebelling against their Frost Giant masters, Lightning-powered War Machines built by "Thunderstroke" Minotaurs, and so...
I am talking about little cosmetic changes for the whole races, so they can fit the elemental campaign. Maybe a little tweak here or there to give them so flavor.
Races:
Dwarves: Maybe they are a stout earthling race, with a link so powerful to earth they have stone-like little formations in their skin, boulder-like broad shoulders and arms, gem-like eyes and stone-like braids instead hair.
Elves: They could be slightly lighter, with skin tones ranging from white to light blue, almost "breezy" speech and a penchant for travel. In this way, they are more related to sylphs than to classical elves. Maybe the elven accuraccy power is named "sylph blessing" or so. The idea is linking them to the forces of elemental air, thus having a full culture based on travel, and having cities in cloud-like formations many feet above the ground (probably the Githyanki power could replace the Elven accuracy).
Tieflings: They could be ancient fire beings, cursed by the gods for helping the devils and demons in the Old Wars. That's why they have that horrific horns and hooves, to be more like their old allies, but they now are attoning for their sins. Maybe some are driven by greed and anger, trying to take away everything from the other races, others could be seeking the forgiveness of the world doing good deeds in their wake.
Halflings: As with the other races, linking them to an elemental force could be the nicest way to go. Make them a beach and rivers race, disconnected to the "material" water but with an ancient bond to the Elemental one. Maybe the don't have some characteristics of their more normal counterparts but they can breathe water.
Hope this little changes helps you in any way. About the other stuff, it's your world, you can do whatever you want. Maybe you can replace gods with animism (spirits everywhere, so they worship the whole world) or entities so strange they are know just by the elemental aspect they command (The Flame, The Sea, The Stone, so on) and minor gods commanding everything else connected to those.
Classes? All you can handle.
Monsters? Try doing some mixed elemental beings. Magma goblins raiding raised Hellhounds, Ice hobgoblins rebelling against their Frost Giant masters, Lightning-powered War Machines built by "Thunderstroke" Minotaurs, and so...
/impressed
I like the cosmetic changes idea.
Some ideas:
Dwarves: Terribly xenophobic. They spend almost all their time inside massive "battlerocks", huge floating rock islands fortified with earthmote-spanning castlecities.
Humans, Halflings, Half-Elves, and Gnomes: Live in traditional cities built on earthmotes.
Goliaths: Uncivilized rock-dwellers.
Drow: Less evil than normal, the drow simply live in mostly isolated communities on cave-ridden earthmotes.
More later.
About the Dwarves:
Maybe some subraces of them are terribly xenophobic. I was thinking to build upon the "Cosmetic Change" idea specifically for the dwarves, and maybe is not a really good idea to generalize for them. After all, i think you still want your PC's to have Dwarf as an option, don't you?
About the Goliaths:
Nice nice idea.
Well, now, the CC improvement:
As with the earth itself, the dwarves are composed of various types of stones and minerals. Some of them, however, develop a number of characteristics akin to some specific "earth" material. There are some of them who develop ore-like metallic skin, others take on the crystalline look of gems, and yet there are others who become almost jet-black in skin color.
These could be subraces of the dwarves, based on metals, gems and stones instead of using the standard subrace system of 3rd edition.
Or maybe they are like the Genasi, able to manifest an specific "earth-based" material depending on the mood and their needs.
About the Halflings:
I was thinking this CC race needs a better connection, maybe to another element or strengthen the bond to the Elemental Water. They are fluid, flexible and really adaptable (characteristics of the liquid), but maybe there's a subrace of them more akin to the ice, with analitic minds, cold temperaments and a freezing hatred of the other races. A hatred so intense it almost seems out of place.
About the Drow:
They could be more tied to the shadow than to a certain element. Maybe they are ancient elf worshippers of a long-gone deity, and they severed their own link to the Elemental Air and replaced it with a Shadow one, too weak to manifest in other way than the coloration of their skin. One thing i don't like about the modern drow is that they are fanatical spider cultists, and doing these strips the race from all the other options given to other races.
Or maybe they worship Night (as a concept and not as a deity), so they take on their characteristics and powers.
Or maybe they are not born, but created from an elven infant. Possibly they are elves touched by the Unseelie forces in the world, so they kidnap elven children and transform them into drows in a gruesome, horrific ceremony that darkens the victim's skin. (Inspired by the old fairy tales).
Or maybe being a drow is being marked as a survivor of a weird elemental disease that spreads through darkness.
@Fey Feline: Thank you. :3
About the Dwarves:
Maybe some subraces of them are terribly xenophobic. I was thinking to build upon the "Cosmetic Change" idea specifically for the dwarves, and maybe is not a really good idea to generalize for them. After all, i think you still want your PC's to have Dwarf as an option, don't you?
About the Goliaths:
Nice nice idea.
Well, now, the CC improvement:
As with the earth itself, the dwarves are composed of various types of stones and minerals. Some of them, however, develop a number of characteristics akin to some specific "earth" material. There are some of them who develop ore-like metallic skin, others take on the crystalline look of gems, and yet there are others who become almost jet-black in skin color.
These could be subraces of the dwarves, based on metals, gems and stones instead of using the standard subrace system of 3rd edition.
Or maybe they are like the Genasi, able to manifest an specific "earth-based" material depending on the mood and their needs.
About the Halflings:
I was thinking this CC race needs a better connection, maybe to another element or strengthen the bond to the Elemental Water. They are fluid, flexible and really adaptable (characteristics of the liquid), but maybe there's a subrace of them more akin to the ice, with analitic minds, cold temperaments and a freezing hatred of the other races. A hatred so intense it almost seems out of place.
About the Drow:
They could be more tied to the shadow than to a certain element. Maybe they are ancient elf worshippers of a long-gone deity, and they severed their own link to the Elemental Air and replaced it with a Shadow one, too weak to manifest in other way than the coloration of their skin. One thing i don't like about the modern drow is that they are fanatical spider cultists, and doing these strips the race from all the other options given to other races.
Or maybe they worship Night (as a concept and not as a deity), so they take on their characteristics and powers.
Or maybe they are not born, but created from an elven infant. Possibly they are elves touched by the Unseelie forces in the world, so they kidnap elven children and transform them into drows in a gruesome, horrific ceremony that darkens the victim's skin. (Inspired by the old fairy tales).
Or maybe being a drow is being marked as a survivor of a weird elemental disease that spreads through darkness.
-Dwarves: Dwarves would have various manifestations linked to various metals and ores, and eyes like gems. They often descend into civil war amongst each other, with huge, multi-clan fights. The stereotype is that dwarves think they are the perfect race. This stereotype is mostly true. Also, Duergar are equally common, and have the same basic lifestyle.
-Halflings: Linked to water, they are much like you stated. They look mostly mundane, but have ice-blue eyes, often have blue-ish hair, and move with unnatural fluidity and ease.
-Drow: Elves who severed their connection to Air, favoring the seemingly more powerful Shadow.
-Deva: Most are sad, broken worshippers of dead or powerless gods, the Broken Seal pantheon, and have little to no contact with most other races. When Deva encounter others, the conflict is most often violent.
I'd say...
It's a very PoL type setting. The world is normal, this is just a continent, or as close to it as floating, re-arranging islands can get. I want to focus on this area though. This place is just very close to the Chaos, almost a manifestation of it in the normal world.
I lied: some retarded artificiers blew up this continent in a past age.
No joke-part of the reason artifice is commonly distrusted.
I'd love to hear your ideas.
Hey Fey Feline, what's your conception of Elemental Hearts? I heard you say they're used for creating stuff like airships and whatnot, and I'm interested in using something like that in my campaign. What do you see them being, looking like, doing exactly, etc.
I'd love to hear your ideas.
Something like the raw elemental energy of the Chaos coalescing into a crystalline form that has great magical power, and can be used to fuel great constructs, items, and the like.