Personally, most of my "changes" have involved the devils and asmodeus and fleshing out their story more (seeing as how they are the central villians of my current campaign.) I named the god he overthrew and came up with a story of how 3 certain angels of the god refused to rebel and instead sacrificed themselves to bind asmodeus and all the devils in the 9 hells.
This becomes the focus of the campain as a certain man makes a deal with asmodeus, if he finds the 3 angels hearts and frees asmodeus his sister will be brought back from the dead (she's in the 9 hells for a not-yet=determined reason
) I also tied this to the fall of the tieflings, they also made a similiar pack with asmodeus, btu this time or the power to fight off the armies of the dragons. Then they renegaded on finding the hearts and asmodeus cursed them.The only other major change is I changed what the far realm is. Instead of being a realm of madness, its where the fates (not really people but large forces) live and where destiny realted things are determined. Kinda like greek mythology where even the gods can;t defy the fates. Makes starlocks cooler I think.
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The new cosmology I'm developing lacks a defined Astral Sea or Prime world. Instead, the cosmos is like a tangled ball of yarn, and everywhere the strings meet, mass collected and a world was formed. Some worlds are domains of gods, some are more mortal worlds.
The gods in this cosmology are rather distant, having to spend most of their time maintaining a barrier around the remaining worlds to keep out the utter chaos of the Far Realm (I say remaining worlds because some worlds have already been destroyed by the completely alien energies of the Far Realms). While the "True Gods" are busy defending existence, each of the worlds has a minor divinity that maintains that world. They rarely actively make their presence known to the inhabitants of a world, but if they leave or die, the world disintegrates. For some of these minor divinities, aspects of their minds will physical form (such as the Prince of Elemental Cold in the world of Niflheim) allowing beings to interact with at least part of that divinity's mind.
At one time, during the war between gods, travel between the worlds was easy, allowing humans and halflings from Midgard to mingle with elves from Aelfheim, dwarves and gnomes from Svartheim to mingle with dragonborn and kobolds from Wyrmwell, and so on. When the war ended and the gods began defending creation from the Far Realm, passage between worlds came almost to a dead stop (only a few portals to other worlds were still active on each world, and they were hard to get to).
Hell and the Abyss are not two separate locations in this cosmology, as Hell is located in the Abyss. Hell was originally created as a prison for all the monstrosities created by the gods to fight one another. An army of angels was assembled to serve as guards and a lesser god was made warden of the prison, with nine demigods to serve as commanders of the angel guards in each of the nine "cell blocks." The gods then threw the prison into the darkest corner of creation, the Abyss, where its impact awakened a great evil that slept in the depths. This evil entered Hell, killed the lesser god warden, and corrupted all other creatures within (demigods, angels, divine war machines) into vile servants of it. This Lord of Hell currently seems to be content to watch its servants try to stab each other in the back to win its favor, but its long-term goals are a mystery.
For mortals, I paired medium and small races and had them originally from different worlds (but are now more or less equally distributed among the worlds). Humans and halflings are from the same world, all the goblinoids are from one world, dragonborn and kobolds, dwarves and gnomes, shifters and tibbits, elves and ...something (I haven't figured that out), giants and genasi (okay, so that's large and medium, but it keeps with the pattern). Other races like Rakasta and Lupins exist as descendants of lycanthropes who can no longer shift out of hybrid form, and tieflings are descended from the refugees of a world that was once conquered by a demon demigod, whose very presence in the world caused everything to be infused with a small amount of demonic energy, causing all the human and elf women who became pregnant to give birth to tieflings.
In terms of game mechanics, the demons are not elementals, but a new category, abyssal (I haven't worked all the details out yet, but elementals in this setting are very distinct from demons). Also, at present, the eladrin and the drow don't fit with the cosmology, so I've dropped them entirely (driders still exist, but in this setting they were monstrous spiders given a somewhat human form by a spider demon).
Just thought I would tell you. If you're interested, it's in the 4e Monsters and Races forum.Bluescale Kobold? Haha, my best 4e custom monster is a blue kobold named karak who can make lightning form into two blades he duel wields, casts lightning bolt once per encounter, discharges electric energy in a burst around him and his attacks can stun, like a stun gun
The name is a nickname for a 3.5 kobold sorcerer I played once who drank a potion he got off the body of a goblin that was labeled "bul." He thought it was a potion of bull's strength. Turned out the goblin couldn't write, and the bottle should have said "blu," as in "magical permanent blue dye." His new scale color tended to make him stand out in crowds even more than usual after that.
I've also taken pains to make angels a lot less vanilla, making all sorts of specific types of angels to serve each god, that really look and feel like that god's servants. I can't tell you how unimpressed I am with the glowy pearlescent guys with blank faces, mist bodies, swords and energy wings and hair.
I've also tried to introduce more of the cosmology into the game through powers like the eladrin's fey step--actually showing the PC a snapshot of what's going on in the feywild at that moment. I've also been trying to make the various warlock pacts a big opportunity to bring in planar elements.
I've also been trying to make the various warlock pacts a big opportunity to bring in planar elements.
How so? That sounds rather interesting; elaborate, please.
Planes very close to your own plane may be almost indistinguishable from your point of origin, and events on one plane are mirrored on nearby planes. As you get further away from your home plane, the worlds begin to become very different. It also becomes more and more difficult to travel away from your home plane. So very distant planes are very difficult to reach.
-Feywild: The Feywild would be essentially Changeling: The Lost's Arcadia. There would be the central region of the Feywild where reality itself is ruled by the True Fey then scattered around the edge are Eladrin and other non-slaves to the True Fey who live in the Hedge. The Hedge is the border between the Feywild and our World. It is usually influenced by the territory of the World where someone entered or a permanent portal resides.
-Shadowfell: For the most part this stays true to the core. However I emphasize the mirror aspect of it. I have any structure or piece of land that has been tainted by death grow into a twisted version of itself within the Shadowfell. To give a real-life example Hiroshima as it was upon the atom bomb exploding would be found in the Shadowfell. This is somewhat influenced by Werewolf: The Forsaken.
Everything else basically remains the same, more because they don't come into effect that much in my games. Besides well Sigil, which would remain mostly the same and Far Realms which can't be really explained anyways :P
The Far Realm is taking on a special significance in my setting. It's believed to be the place where the Creators went after they made the world and planes. No one knows quite what they were, or what they wanted, but it's clear that they're just not around anymore. The Far Realm is the place everyone points to for where they are now, but nobody's really sure.
I'm also tempted to bring back Sigil, in all its egocentric glory ("We're the city at the center of the Astral Sea." "But it's an infinite plane!" "Yes. And we're at the center of it."), but I'll wait until my players explore the Sea more to decide. The Lady of Pain would be around, and the debates on what she would still be raging, with her as a rogue Creator being one of the more common stories.
Another change I've made is that the Feywild and the Shadowfell are chaotic influences of creation and destruction, respectively. They each drift closer and farther away from the Prime Material on a regular, eon-long schedule. When the Shadowfell is close, the world tends more toward destruction and death, with plagues being more and more common. When the Feywild is close, expanding nature and rampant growth forces change and disorder into the world. When they're equally far away, they cancel each other out, allowing civilization and order to reign. The world at 1392 Imperial Reckoning (the present day) is on the brink of the Feywild gaining major influence.
How so? That sounds rather interesting; elaborate, please.
Well one of the things I really enjoy about the warlock class is that it ties the character to some faction within the planes. You can't be an infernal warlock without a patron associated with the hells of the Astral Sea (this has become stretched to the elemental chaos by some folks too--with demon warlocks), likewise being a fey pact warlock means you have ties to powerful fey who have granted you powers, star pact grants similar ties to weird powers from Outside. Dark pacts (for those who use those outside Forgotten Realms) tie into powers from the Shadowfell.
I guess rather than just using it as a class, like a ranger, and ignoring the deeper implications, I like to use it as an excuse to bring their planar masters front and center whenever I can. They've got creatures that have invested significant power in them and so these powers have an investment in them. You make the pact and you suddenly find yourself enmeshed in planar affairs. It adds some depth to the class that makes it different from other classes, and it gives me another story thread to weave into my stories.
Another change I've made is that the Feywild and the Shadowfell are chaotic influences of creation and destruction, respectively. They each drift closer and farther away from the Prime Material on a regular, eon-long schedule. When the Shadowfell is close, the world tends more toward destruction and death, with plagues being more and more common. When the Feywild is close, expanding nature and rampant growth forces change and disorder into the world. When they're equally far away, they cancel each other out, allowing civilization and order to reign. The world at 1392 Imperial Reckoning (the present day) is on the brink of the Feywild gaining major influence.
Sort of an Eberron take on the planes, but a bit easier to manage?
Sort of an Eberron take on the planes, but a bit easier to manage?
I dunno. I've never played Eberron much. It's just a take on the old world-collision type of idea. There's no real rules ramifications to mine. It just helps me determine what kinds of events take place based on which plane the world is more aligned with.
You can't be an infernal warlock without a patron associated with the hells of the Astral Sea (this has become stretched to the elemental chaos by some folks too--with demon warlocks), likewise being a fey pact warlock means you have ties to powerful fey who have granted you powers, star pact grants similar ties to weird powers from Outside. Dark pacts (for those who use those outside Forgotten Realms) tie into powers from the Shadowfell.
Really? I thought that a "pact" didn't necessarily mean that you actually had an agreement or a patron of any sort.
Really? I thought that a "pact" didn't necessarily mean that you actually had an agreement or a patron of any sort.
I think he meant in his campaigns. Flavor is mutable, and all that.
I think he meant in his campaigns. Flavor is mutable, and all that.
Ooooooooooo.
Yes, that makes sense. I do actually think that's a neat idea, as long as it doesn't bar Good characters from Infernal.
Really? I thought that a "pact" didn't necessarily mean that you actually had an agreement or a patron of any sort.
They don't, by default. Pacts are past-tense. You met an entity who taught you arcane secrets. Warlocks don't use outsiders like batteries. They trade something for secret knowledge, and then never see their tutor again (usually).
And the PHB's descriptions even allows for Warlocks who didn't learn these secrets first-hand!
Of course everyone is free to redefine the classes as they wish. Grimcleaver's interpretation is interesting. But if it's forced upon every Warlock in Grimcleaver's game, then I wouldn't want to play one. I'd rather have more wriggle room in defining what the Warlock class means to my character.
Hey, I ws just wondering, for all you dm's who play in core esque settings, what changes have you made the the little history of the planes set up in the dmg?
I have a D&D 3.5 homebrew setting into which I've carried over (ported) a few of the more flavorful elements of the new edition. I call 'em "nods to 4e" in my notes ;).
I love the reimagined cosmology. I take it as written, right out of the DMG. For now, it's all just fluff; in time, I'll determine what the actual game mechanics are s'posed to be (it's a 3.5 game, after all).
Here are a few "nods" I give to 4e in my 3.5 setting: The Elemental Chaos, the Astral Sea; Feywild and Shadowfell; demons and devils as destroyers and tempters (respectively) and angels are refluffed.
The Feywild and the Eladrin: In my homebrew, elves arrived on the shores of our world ages ago, natives of a distant realm. This is the feywild (a nod to 4e), known to the elves as Arvanaith. The elves of Arvanaith are known as eladrin (another nod to 4e); they're merely a backround element, not an actual playable race.
The Planetouched: I have yet to actually introduce them but I've a few ideas if I do. Aasimar are better known as devas (a nod to 4e).
Really? I thought that a "pact" didn't necessarily mean that you actually had an agreement or a patron of any sort.
I think there's some latitude with warlocks--but it's always a relationship at some level. I tend to see it as secret lore, much like being a wizard. Nobody zaps you with the magical ray that turns you into one. You learn enough to start out, and then you have to keep at it. Trouble is, with warlocks that knowledge is given to you by something sinister--and to get more you have to either work through your patron, or perhaps do an end run around your patron to find out things on your own (an arguably even more dangerous process). Even in situations where your patron just trades you straight across, warlock lore for something else, you're still going to have to arrange another deal the next time you're interested in advancing your art.
The idea of just sort of getting a pact without actually pacting with anyone seems like a cheap out to me. You've pacted, after all, and that should count for something--pacts should be binding, an agreement made between Warlock and patron to get power in exchange for something. That creates a relationship--even if it doesn't always come up in every game. Promises were made and power isn't given away for free. That said, I tend to be one of those folks who prefer to have the classes be what they are in the world, rather than just adapt them into templates for a type of character. To do that I have to try to figure out how they work in the setting. So, yeah in my games each of the classes is a pretty specific thing--but I try to base that off of a painstaking study of the flavor and mechanics of the class, so I can be as true to the original ideas as I can be.
Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with making custom classes based on reflavorings of established classes, but in those cases the new classes are something totally different. At the same time I try to have a pretty solid idea of what the core classes mean--and if you pick one of those, it means some real solid things in my games. Often it means people who play in my games usually end up having to work with me a bit more to flesh out or adapt some parts of their concept--but it usually ends up being a much stronger and more developed character in the long run.
Likewise, some "pacts" may not involve an agreement at all. Whether by whim or design, some patron simply chooses to bestow that power on a mortal. Fey are particularly likely to do this on a whim, while the infernal pact is more apt to represent some dark power choosing to "gift" someone with dark purposes in mind. Star pact could go either way (it's not as though those patrons' motives are particularly comprehensible).
An example of the latter from one of the dragon articles is that Yeenoghu occasionally chooses to "gift" a gnoll with a warlock's power; though the source is demonic, it's treated as an infernal pact. The gnoll may not have sought this out though - in fact, the gnoll may not even be one of Yeenoghu's followers, or may subsequently turn away, but once this "gift" has been bestowed, they have to live with it, for better or for worse. (One of the iconic three gnolls is just this type - and very much unnerved by it.)
But yeah, I mean I do see there being some lattitude as to the nature of the relationship. It might be something where the patron barters away the first level of warlock for something he wants and that's it...but then if the warlock wants to gain levels, he's going to need to find a new supplier. I don't know if I'd be so okay with a warlock who just gets his powers thrown at him one day by a star-creature or fey princess just because. I think there's gotta' be more of a relationship than that. It's a pact for a reason. I can't just see it getting dolled out as an unsolicited favor just for nothing. That feels too cheap to me.
That said, if a player wanted to take the chassis of the warlock class and make something akin to an invoker, exalted by the mad powers beyond the stars or some doe-eyed fey creature--who has warlock-like powers but with a different rationale behind them, more of a favor than a pact, I'd be totally okay with working out the details with them. That said, I think it strays further from the idea of a pacted warlock than I'd probably let into one of my games without some work.
I can see where you're coming from on that. Personally, I don't like the continued contact with a patron. Too likely to dominate the campaign.
What about the character being given this power, but they don't know how to use it all yet; as they level up, they gain more access to the power they already bought (ie, they learn to use it in new ways)? That's how I tend to think of it.
They could also be stealing the power, which is a fun hook for an adventure or two.