Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 DalekOverlord Mar 09, 2015 14:51:23	I am trying to start my own homebrew campaign and am looking for constructive criticism, thoughts and ideas. Comments such as "That is a stupid idea" are not welcome, comments of "That is a stupid idea, because..." are better.    Now to start off, the campaign is centered around a powerful Alhoon bent on dominating the material plane by attaining godhood and unleashing an undead horde as his army. It is a low magic campaign (minimal magic items, spell casters are rare but still present. However the party will have limited restrictions that will be discussed later).    As the world will stand at the beginning of the campaign:   Xal'dyhur (the alhoon villain) is only a phylactory encased in an anti-magic crystal. The force that has been acting in his stead is a powerful cult comprised of mind flayers, human fanatics, slaves of varying races, etc. Now many will say that mind flayers would not be worshipping an alhoon. Not all of them do, the ones working for Xal'dyhur were raised that way, the others are enslaved and the free mind flayers oppose the Cult of Xal'dyhur. To circumvent the dying magic of the world, the Cult has been breeding and enslaving those that can still use magic to increase their chances of wielding magic when they ceramorphize. Not all magic users are turned into illithid however, as they are an underground and widely unknown threat, and they know they need spies and those that can get around on the surface.   The cult has spent the past 1000 years or so increasing their numbers, growing their undead army and attempting to release Xal'dyhur from his anti-magic prison.    For a little history:   1000 or so years ago Xal'dyhur attempted godhood for the first time. His followers were fewer, his undead legion was more of an undead annoyance, and magic was more plentiful making him easier to stop, but not by much. Xal'dyhur was defeated by a group of adventurers, barely. The group died defeating him, the final member sacrificing his life to encase Xal'dyhur in the anti-magic crystal he is currently in. In sacrificing his life he placed wards on the spell making it invulnerable to everyone until someone of his, or the other group members', bloodline touches the crystal (for the intended purpose of destroying the phylactory).   Time of the campaign:    Undead have become more frequent, the Cult (while still a mystery to most) have begun to be more more active on the surface. Most of the town's, villages and cities in the northwest have been overrun by undead and abandoned. The Cult of Xal'dyhur has finally discovered the wards placed on the crystal and have been searching for the descendants of the original group (which is actually the group now). The party has each received a mysterious letter calling them to the city of Whitefalls in the east after being hired to help guard a small caravan of refugees to the town of Harhaven, a medium sized town surrounded by a high wooden wall (the distance between Harhaven and Whitefalls is currently undetermined as I don't have a map yet, going to modify a map of Faerûn).    Besides a few plot twists I have planned and a couple of the more important NPCs that is all I have completely planned out. I have quite a few ideas but nothing is solid yet as I am still working on the campaign and as of yet do not have a group.
#2 DM_Craig Mar 10, 2015 9:03:26	I really like the plot premise for this. Sounds intriguing.   One thought I had was regarding the bloodline premise for the adventurers though. What happens if the characters all die and the players reroll new characters? I would suggest having some sort of explanation story on hand as to how those new characters became involved with the quest. Also, on the bloodline note, if 1,000 years have passed, it figures that there will be plenty of bloodline descendants who might be competing for the quest, or who might even be in league with the Cult. Has the Cult found other members and wiped them out? You could have the party getting involved in some of this stuff as not-so-side-quest material.
(Reply to #2) DalekOverlord	The reason I had for making it 1000 year was primarily for the bloodline. I wanted the characters to have the option to reroll should they make a terrible mistake. And the Cult (before figuring out that the bloodline was needed to destroy the wards making the crystal prison invulnerable) were wiping them out. However not all of the bloodline can break the wards. There are only a few bearing a magically infused birthmark (the birthmark is rare because they are only found on the most direct descendants, it is still undesigned as of yet) and the birthmark is the reason they are unaffected by the dying magic. They are essentially able to bring magic back to life. Many magical artifacts and items have become dormant in dead magic zones (the party will either have disadvantage to cast magic in those areas, be able to restore the magic in the area to normal, or create zones of wild magic that eventually stabilize or die again) And the party is considered to be the only ones currently working against the Cult directly, the others are either dead, traveling great distances, or simply ignoring the summons. I never actually thought of having the party searching for other descendants, that's actually a really wonderful idea thank you. The other descendants could establish themselves as heroes out in the wild, unable to make it to Whitefalls or unwilling to abandon those they are protecting against the ravages of the dying world. Again thank you for response and questions, it really helps me fill in gaps I hadn't thought about and ideas are always welcome
#4 Timpookie Mar 13, 2015 1:21:56	Awesome idea, but I have one question - Why was magic more common a thousand years ago, or, to be more precise, why has magic become more uncommon?
(Reply to #4) DalekOverlord	Timpookie wrote: