Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Zardnaar Aug 25, 2014 16:43:55	Today my PHB should get here and in addition I will be getting to play the start set tonight which will be the 1st time I get to play 5E as a player. It is Tuesday over here. Edit PHB is here tonight but I will be at D&D, tomorrow for the book.    On Thursday or Sunday will be my 1st game with the group hopefully as a DM as I have just been running small one shot type games with no overarching plot line as such.    Now I need help with my campaign world in terms of things like organizations, NPCs and some adventure ideas. Allowed PC races are more or less the 3.5 ones, most classes will be available except maybe the Monk and Barbarian which probably won’t matter as the players seem to want to be bards, rogues, fighters, a war cleric and maybe a Knight (Fighter/Paladin noble back ground IDK). Some of the sub classes may not be available. Dragonborn, Drow and Warforged may exist but not as PC races.    The normal races will have their fluff changed a bit. My world has coastal/naval focus.   Halflings. My Halflings are not hobbits, but are based more on Darksun and Eberron Halflings. Think feral or riding dinosaurs or steppe nomads on ponies. My barbarians are more likely to be hordes of Halflings on ponies than the boring old rager. There is no Trail of Tears in my game- the Halflings won.   Dwarves: Similar to a traditional Dwarf but these guys often have higher levels of technology when it comes to mining, smelting and mechanics. Dwarves often have magi tech steam engines for underground mining rails and magisteam powered monitors for coastal defence. Dwarven arcane tradition focuses on Artifices to use an Eberron term.   Elves. My Elves are not CG dance in trees hippies. They are imperialist and are based roughly on the East India Company with competing houses for influence and money as opposed to outright warfare at least with other elves. An imperium exists as such but it decentralised. They are outnumbered 10-1 in general and often 100-1 in the colonies. They tend to have excellent naval technology and use slave labour.    Half Elves The 5E charismatic half elf is quite a good fit for my world. Half elves often are the administrators, bureaucrats, governors, viceroys and diplomats of the Elven Empire.    Half Orcs. Roughly based on the 1st ed ones and not really liked by everyone else. In 1st ed UA terms it is unlikely their parents are married to put it mildly. The proverbial fate worse than death and the slave trade explains the half orc.     Gnomes Often seen as a joke by other players/setting my Gnomes are the scientists, alchemist and innovators of my world. Unlike the tinkers of Krynn there stuff actually works and is well respected. Gnomes and Humans often drive new technologies and Greek Fire/Wild Fire is known as Gnomish fire on my worlds. Goblins and Hobgoblins serve the same role in the humanoid cultures.    As I said earlier this campaign will have an age of exploration theme probably with sub themes of piracy and slavery existing. It has been 300 years since the Thyatian Empire collapsed and the PCs will be located in the former out skirts of that empire. Using Earth Terms the former Imperial Capital was LA and the PCs will be in Florida/Caribbean. To the south are great jungles full of ruins and lost empires. The Empire was destroyed by a combination of humanoids and Dragons from the north (Canada).    For organisations I have so far.   Cult of the Dragon heavily associated with Tiamat’s cult. Semi ported from the Realms minus Sammaster. They want to rule the world. Dragonborn will be associated with them ie very evil.   Heldanic Knights. Formed in the aftermath of the Empires collapse the Knights and imperial remnants defeated the Dragon army but could not save the Empire. These Knights are based on the Teutonic Knights. They eradicate heretics and follow a Thyatian goddess known as Vanya. Ported from Mystara. Heretics can get boiled alive. A heretic is anyone not following Vanya in their lands.    Elven Imperium. Based on offshore Islands and assorted colonies. They want to rebuild their empire since the Thyatian Empire is gone and a new emperor has ascended the throne with dreams of power, glory and wealth. Overt force is difficult for the Elves but one can hire mercenaries and bribe people.     Coiled Cabal. The slave trade is alive and kicking in my world and the drivers are the Yuan Ti serpent mean. They will be more of a hidden/sublime menace as opposed to the blatant ones. People get kidnapped and eventually are taken south to the Amazon for feasts, breeding and menial purposes.   Red Mantis Assassins. Ported from Golarion/Pathfinder they have their own goals and sometimes do murders for hire. Greatly feared they tend to rely on rumour and fear as opposed to only murder.    Thyatian Empire. The Empire collapsed but the last imperial prince fled with a legion and the remnants of the navy. The imperial remnant is based in my equivalent of South America/Africa. The Thyatian Empire is modelled of Rome, the new one is Byzantine influenced circa 6th century AD and they have a Belisarius equivalent. Cataphracts vs the Knights of Vanya perhaps.    Well that’s the basic idea so far. Exploration and potential war/politics are going to be major themes. It is a Dark Ages inspired world with better technology in the aftermath of a collapse of a major empire with new kingdoms and realms emerging. The world is not a nice place and even the stereotypical CG elves deal in slaves. You can be kidnapped, enslaved, and in some parts of the world killed or abused for reasonably trivial things- wrong religion, wrong race, wrong sexuality. There is no unified church or concept of human rights along with interracial wars and politics brewing.    I would like 2 more knightly orders, some "good" factions ideas on a Tiamt influenced army darkness/evil/badness etc.
#2 JohnLynch Aug 25, 2014 19:38:47	I think I understand your flavour preferences and would like to argue against you banning the monk as with a couple of houserules it could easily work.   The monk is structured in such a way as to make the choice between unarmed attacks or a monk weapon largely meaningless and a matter of flavour. There's a minor mechanical advantage at low levels towards using weapons, but this quickly disappears (at which point they're equal). The Way of the Elements subclass has some abilities that only work with unarmed strikes but this is largely shortsighted and not really there for any mechanical reason. You could easily say that the Monk (Way of the Elements) class that takes fire powers is a monastic monk who gains his powers from the God of Light in your campaign. This keeps the class but retains the flavour your looking for in your setting.   As for organisations, I don't know how appropriate they are as my world is much more themed towards a medieval/dark ages world (traditional knights and dragons minus the dragons):   Order of the Chalice A chivalric order, the Order of the Chalice stands to protect the world from a prophecy surrounding the golden chalice that would spell doom for the land.   Whatever you need it to be. The Golden Chalice is reputed to be able to cure a creature of any planar influence that's effecting them when combined with water from the River Lethe. In my campaign it would probably be a prophecy about devils and Asmodeus ruling the world (as the Golden Chalice is most well known in my campaign setting for being able to cure tieflings of their infernal influence. The origin of tieflings can be found here). Order of the Sphinx A chivalric order, the Order of the Sphinx seek out secret knowledge no matter where it may hide. Created to uphold the promise of the First King to repay a debt owed by him to the Sphinx of Pomorum, the knightly order is searching for a tome that would be of equal worth to the one that was given to the king by the sphinx herself. Once a year a knight is chosen who has proven themselves to uphold the ideals of the Order and gone above and beyond the call of duty. This knight and their companions are charged with taking the best tome from the Order’s library to the Sphinx and see whether or not it repays the debt owed to the Sphinx. (the First King asked the Sphinx for an item powerful enough to unite several petty lords who had spent centuries fueding with each other. He received a Book of Laws that served the basis for the legal system of his kingdom). The Draconic Disciples This church (sometimes called a cult by their detractors) places dragons upon a pedestal and preaches that they are the ultimate of creation. The priests of Tiamat, the god of dragons whose most experienced with creating new permutations of them, who undergo a special ritual become infused with part of her divine essence (draconic sorcerer). These priests carry out the divine will of Tiamat and preach her gospel to the masses and those who live truly "good" lives in accordance with the teachings of Tiamat are transformed upon their death into a dragon and given the gift of near-immortality. The Discples preach that anyone is able to receive this gift of longevity if only they accept Tiamat into their hearts.   The Draconic Disciples are my take (in rough terms. Tiamat is not a god in my campaign) on the Cult of the Dragon to help fit it into my campaign. But I think I've edited it enough to make it usable in other settings as well.   -- If you're looking for more Knightly Orders then check out the Gauntlet faction from Adventurers League.
#3 Zardnaar Aug 25, 2014 19:52:00	JohnLynch wrote:
#4 JohnLynch Aug 25, 2014 21:48:12	Zardnaar wrote:
#5 CCS Aug 26, 2014 1:41:02	Not sure what you want concerning "good" factions of Tiamat. Good as in alignment good? Or good as in interesting?
#6 Zardnaar Aug 26, 2014 2:50:26	Good as in organizations that are not devotred to evil/war/conquest.    I don't iknow about freeing Tiamat. To me she is just the Dragon Queen so any left over metaplotfrom 4E will not be used. If anything I wioill use her fluff from 1st ed or 3rd ed Draconomicon.
#7 dmgorgon Aug 26, 2014 11:03:49	Zardnaar wrote:
#8 Zardnaar Aug 26, 2014 14:29:57	dmgorgon wrote:
#9 ankiyavon Aug 26, 2014 14:38:29	Zardnaar wrote:
#10 Zardnaar Aug 26, 2014 15:34:51	ankiyavon wrote:
#11 ankiyavon Aug 26, 2014 15:57:46	Zardnaar wrote:
#12 Zardnaar Aug 26, 2014 16:20:42	ankiyavon wrote:
#13 masterfat78 Aug 26, 2014 16:27:16	Zardnaar wrote:
#14 Zardnaar Aug 26, 2014 16:37:48	masterfat78 wrote:
#15 masterfat78 Aug 26, 2014 16:53:45	Zardnaar wrote:
#16 ankiyavon Aug 26, 2014 17:26:55	Zardnaar wrote:
#17 Zardnaar Aug 26, 2014 17:34:52	ankiyavon wrote: