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| #1Chiba_MonkeyMay 25, 2010 13:27:04 | [b]"Planescape" Campaign[/b] At the behest of one of my players, who played Planescape: Torment a number of times and has since done research into Planescape of editions past, I delved into what exactly would be necessary to run a planar campaign. I decided that, true to Planescape tradition, the game would start in Sigil, and that place would be important to many adventures. As I wanted a different feel to it, the Green/Yellow/Red Light system for Races and Classes would be different for a Planar Campaign than a normal one. This is especially true for Divine Classes (as the Lady of Pain does not tolerate the gods in her realm), and Primal Classes (who are cut off from the natural world). It should be noted that in my campaign world, the Great Wheel Cosmology used to be in effect, and the current (4e) cosmology is a result of a cataclysm that rocked the Planes. Also, while I may place backstory restrictions on some classes (such as assassin), these are my personal campaign rules. Furthermore, the Yellow Light races are simply less common. There are no real special conditions for them. I invite anyone to cherry-pick or borrow wholesale any of the rule modifications/suggestions I post here. Green Light material is permissable without any special considerations Yellow Light material is permissable under certain conditions, detailed below. Red Light material is, by default, inadmissable. An EXCEPTIONAL backstory with good roleplaying (judged by my previous experience with a player, or perhaps, with a new player, some in-depth discussion before the game) is required for a player to use this, if at all. Propositions to use this material are still subject to veto by the DM. Such restrictions for my Planar Campaign are as follows: Races: Green Light: -Tieflings -Deva -Genasi -Githzerai -Bladelings (from the Manual of the Planes. This race consists of displaced beings from Acheron, selling their services as mercenaries throughout the planes) Yellow Light: -Shadar-kai - As a race from a transitive plane, they are uncommon. -Eladrin/Gnomes - Fey races, they have a closer tie to the feywild than Elves or Wilden, which are too closely tied to the Prime; very uncommon. -Shardmind - EXTREMELY uncommon. -Githyanki - Githyanki PCs are not a part of normal Githyanki society, but for one reason or another are outcasts or rebels. -Warforged - Warforged I accept in a Planar Campaign as the thematic descendants of modrons. They are displaced automatons from Mechanus, which has fallen into disrepair and decay in the wake of the apparent "death" of Primus. Red Light: -Dragonborn -Drow -Dwarves -Elves -Humans -Half-Elves -Half-Orcs -Halfling -Goliath -Minotaur -Shifter -Wilden Classes: Green Light: -All Martial Classes -All Psionic Classes -All Arcane Classes -Runepriest - Runepriests may worship deities, but they draw their power from the runes, which are themselves the divine language of creation. As such, they do not draw the ire of the Lady of Pain. Yellow Light: -Assassin - A FULL backstory is required for Assassin PCs. The exchange of (at least part of) one's soul to the Shadowfell requires some exposition. -Invoker - Invokers have a direct Covenant with their deity and channel their divine power differently than clerics or paladins. They have direct access to their deity's power. While they must still be wary of the Lady of Pain, as direct conduits of divine energy, they can use their power without restriction in Sigil. -Avenger - Avengers also must tread with care. Only the classes inherent tendancy towards secrecy allows any of them to function in Sigil at all. Red Light: -All Primal Classes -Cleric and Paladin |
| #2The_SilverswordMay 25, 2010 18:49:52 | Mechanus, which has fallen into disrepair and decay in the wake of the apparent "death" of Primus. This is what really caught my eye. Ive always liked Primus and the Mordrons. Ive always thought they were under used. I was hopin for some mention of Mechanus, or as it was called in 1e, Nirvana, in the Astral Sea book. But instead they killed him off!? Say it aint so!! Is that official or just something you Homebrewed in there? |
| #3Chiba_MonkeyMay 26, 2010 15:55:56 | Mechanus, which has fallen into disrepair and decay in the wake of the apparent "death" of Primus. Since I'm going with a 4e cosmology, and the planes with deities (or deity-like powers) to protect them were intact, all those that did not were destroyed or abandoned. Mechanus in this cosmology still exists as an Astral Desmene, but with the abolition of a strict 9x9 alignment grid and the Great Wheel, a LN plane was not necessary. The advantage to a scenario where the cosmos progressed from the Great Wheel to the current cosmology is that most of the old planes remain, but will be adventure sites. Having Warforged be denizens of Mechanus made sense in a way that I could integrate a non-organic PC race (as I have no place for Eberron races in my home game world). The only way to get them to have incentive to LEAVE Mechanus, however, was to allow it to fall like other non-deity protected planes. However, I do believe Primus is dead in canon lore. I don't have The Plane Above yet (wasn't published yet when I wrote this), so I don't know the official fate of Mechanus, but it wasn't mentiond in Manual of the Planes (4e). |
| #4deacon_liadonMay 30, 2010 17:22:21 | This is what really caught my eye. Ive always liked Primus and the Mordrons. Ive always thought they were under used. I was hopin for some mention of Mechanus, or as it was called in 1e, Nirvana, in the Astral Sea book. But instead they killed him off!? Say it aint so!! Is that official or just something you Homebrewed in there? Primus was killed by Tenebrous, the undead form that Orcus took. Tenebrous somehow managed to sneak in to the Primus' cathedral and stuck 'im in the dead books using the Last Word. (He did the same to a few other powerful information deities around the planes before this as well). Then, he took Primus' place as head Modron and forced them on an early march to discover the whereabouts of his lost wand. For more information, consult the 2e adventures "Dead Gods" and "The Great Modron March". Currently, I believe the Modrons have barricaded themselves in to Regulus and have been purging themselves of the corruption that set in when Tenebrous took over. This included about a million modrons going rogue and moving to Acheron. |
| #5impexusMay 31, 2010 20:09:34 | Might I ask why you have put humans under red light? I'm pretty sure they are allowed in 2e edition of Planescape campaign settings? |
| #6The_SilverswordJun 13, 2010 16:41:44 |
Thank you Deacon_Liadon for clearing that up for me. That really bums me out, Ive always liked Primus, not just the band. Well that sucks, still in my home games I could always say that that didnt happen, or perhaps a new Primus rose from the ranks of the Modrons. I remember in 3e they had a bunch of giant ants in Mechanus, so maybe theyre duking it out with the Modrons for control of the plane? Any way sorry to focus on this part, the rest looks pretty good to me Chiba_Monkey, looking foward to see what else you got, |
| #7balrokJun 17, 2010 13:46:58 | Might I ask why you have put humans under red light? I'm pretty sure they are allowed in 2e edition of Planescape campaign settings? I completely agree, humans do not necessarily need to be tied to the prime, and under certain circumstances, are known to travel throughout the planes. |
| #8erik_the_guyJul 16, 2010 17:38:33 | Hi, when the Primus was/is killed, a Secendus immediately rises from the ranks to replace it. In fact, whenever any modron is killed, its essence returns to Mechanus to be reincarnated as a monodrone (the lowest modron rank), a modron from the rank below it is immediately promoted to the next highest rank. That modron is replaced by the promotion of a lower ranked modron, and so on until a monodron is replaced by a duodrone. In this way, the number of each type of modron remains constant, unless a modron goes rogue or is captured. Also, many of the races you have listed in red live in sigil and the planes in vast numbers, such as humans. Even the 4e blurb in DMG 2 states that any race can be found in Sigil. Even if this 'planar catstrophe' separated Sigil from the prime material plane, it's not as though all the humans, elves, dwarves and halflings in Sigil would suddenly stop reproducing. |
| #9grumphAug 24, 2010 11:04:20 | According to the primal power source book released by WotC, the primal character does not have to be in the natural world to channel the power of the primal spirits, but rather takes that power with him. I believe they specifically mention that primal characters can enter other worlds and planes without becoming disconnected from their power source. Your rules, just thought I'd point it out. |
| #10Chiba_MonkeySep 07, 2010 1:42:59 | Sorry for the long wait for responses, I'm in the Navy and was on a boat.Might I ask why you have put humans under red light? I'm pretty sure they are allowed in 2e edition of Planescape campaign settings? I suppose that's true. I may want to move them to Yellow Light. they were intially in red to reflect that Prime Races tend to be very uncommon in the planes. According to the primal power source book released by WotC, the primal character does not have to be in the natural world to channel the power of the primal spirits, but rather takes that power with him. I believe they specifically mention that primal characters can enter other worlds and planes without becoming disconnected from their power source. Right, but characters who originated in Sigil probably wouldn't have had the contact with said Primal Spirits to obtain Primal class levels to begin with. That's not to say that Primal characters can't come to Sigil, but they won't be from there. |
| #11LhikanNov 16, 2010 13:46:29 | [b]"Planescape" Campaign[/b] The exact description of "red light" should probably be altered, ESPECIALLY if you want to be consistent with 2e Planescape. Planescape allowed humans and half-elves to be either planar or prime (a planar half-elf has a prime elf as one of his/her parents), and put the rest of the races listed here (at least, of the ones that were in 2e) into the prime category, but allowed them all. One of the things I always liked about Planescape, actually, was how permissive it was: nearly any character concept could work, since Sigil allows for any number of prime worlds to exist. Your racial green light and yellow light categories work well for distinguishing which races are planar and which aren't, but saying "no primes PERIOD" is kind of a dick move.
And this just feels weird. I can SORT OF see how you justify red-lighting the primal classes, but not the divine classes. Clerics, Druids, and Paladins were allowed in 2e Planescape, and they were even allowed in Sigil: the Lady's fine with letting god-worshipers into the Cage as long as they don't set up temples and stuff like that. She just keeps the gods THEMSELVES out. If you check out the Cleric fluff for 4e, you'll note that there's been even further separation between the gods and their servants: a 4e Cleric derives his power from the power invested in him by his order and/or his god, not directly from the god each morning. Once he has the power, it's stuck to him like glue, and he doesn't need to pray each morning to get it. As for the Primal classes, their separation from the nature they came from doesn't seem like it should necessarily make them powerless; they can still tap into the nature wherever they are (though that might be difficult in Sigil, since the only things natural there are the Dabus and the Razorvine). Remember, the Lady's not trying to stamp out all belief in the gods, she just doesn't let the gods enter Sigil. Their servants are free to come and go as they please/can. |