I have the following changes in my campaign:
Single known prime world, which allows the use of only Greyhawk gods, changing much of the planes.
Dabus do not speak at all (I hated describing the rebus), it makes them more like the lady as well.
Sigil is shaped like a wheel with flat inner edge, not like a tire with curved inner edge.
It takes place in an era, 20 years before Faction War.
Those are my changes. Anyone else have any interestign changes?
These worlds are, seemingly, entirely populated by humans with a rare member of another race, apparently pulled their through a truly unique series of portals. These Humans have little to no knowledge of the planes and a knowledge of magic that is better defined as a vacuumous lack of such knowledge. Their faiths are apparently, though real to them, nearly totally lacking in divine presences. Instead being a faithful belief that chance and the lack of pain is proof enough. They imbraced primative alchemy and drove it into varying levels of advanced, near mystical, sophistication.
The few encounters that Planar explorers and adventurers have had with these Humans have resulted in the humans death as they react aggressively and with great fear and confusion to and other race. Those few with weapons wield highly powerful flintlock arcibus pistols and rifles and wih only a handful of bladed weapons among them. So far only two Have had the sence to act cordially with the planars encountered, and have voraciously sought to learn as much as possible with an openmindedness that few Clueless could ever comprehend.
What I've been doing in a few of my recent D20 modern games, both scifi, urban arcana and straight real world gumshoes themes has been to slowly and with great care expose them to a myriad of alternate realities. So far my Gammaworld(post apocalyptic sci fi) game is the closest to journeying into the planes and that is via an advanced teleportation experiment I pan to have go ary. The way I see it, D20 modern C's are slightly physically weaker due a certain softness in their more peaceful worlds(( come on we live in paradise compared to forgotten realms or the planes)) The idea came from a longstanding addiction to Micheal Moorcock's novels and concepts, most of which I've allowed to bleed into my games.
I tend to ignore spellkeys, but most of my adventures take place in Sigil anyway.
I invented a special weapon made by a Doomguard smith called an arrow of pain, that, when it strikes an opponent, it acts as symbol of pain spell and paralyzes the victim.
In my games, there are no Athar priests or paladins (or at least, none who can cast the spells they used to), though there may possibly be priests who serve a deity who's identity is unknown.
By the same token, gods don't need worshippers in order to survive. That was never part of the AD&D game to begin with before Planescape.
There are no tiefling rangers either, as I don't feel the class fits the race. The Planescape setting doesn't seem to be particularly keen on what rangers actually are anyway.
Nor are there any Bariaur paladins. A centaur-like creature in my game has a human AC against frontal attacks and an AC of the apporpriate animal versus side and flank attacks.
I use 1e stats for some of the fiends.
I also use 1e classes, like the assassin, monk, ninja, samurai etc.
The catacombs act, at least in part, as sewers (all that rain water must go somewhere).
By that I mean every world and every game setting out there including the non-d20 ones.
I'm keeping the old Planescape line as it was, with all the worlds of D&D in one multiverse, but introduce different game systems through the Shadow Plane.
Since it creates a lot of additional paperwork converting across game systems it isn't something we've done a lot of, but it creates interesting diversions from time to time.
1. Pandaemonium is inhabited by demons of the wild and howling kind
2. Some daemons can be good spirits, as in the original meaning of the Greek word
3. The Blood War doesn't really exist, apart from a strong rivalry between the baatezu and tanar'ri. I never quite understood why evil races would only fight each other. Demons would be fighting everyone, everywhere, while devils would war against celestials in subtle ways and corrupt mortals as their primary target.
4. I don't treat demons and devils as races, but as essences of chaos, destruction, and evil in all its myriad forms. They don't breed, don't breathe, don't consume except for pleasure, and behave more like creatures of spirit rather than flesh.
5. Don't abide by the 1 bonus point drop in magical weapons and armor rule.
6. I've rearranged the Great Wheel cosmology somewhat to include individual planes for the Hindu, Egyptian, Sumerian, Slavic and Buddhist pantheons. Hey, if the Greeks get something like four whole planes to themselves, why can't other cultures have at least one?
As far as I am concerned the stats of creatures are 'under the hood' and every individual creature is different. This means I am not constrained by , for example wanting to use an agressive night hag in a lower level adventure but needing to justify why the hag doesnt just harvest them as lavae on sight. It also keeps the stat crunchers in line. They cant just memorise monster stats and judge when to run/fight.
Apart from that the only real change is my Lady of Pain doesnt communicate at all , even through dabus. Residents of sigil over the years have spotted general patterns to her Serenity's behavior (flayings and mazings) and thats how they judge her edict. 'Course, some have asked Dabus and while they have a little more insight their answers in relation to the lady are largly cryptic.
Events like the great upheaval still happened but with changes. Factols and factioneers just started getting flayed and mazed. After a short time many remaining factols fled sigil with the factioneers largly renouncing the 'cowards'. Eventually, seemingly without reason the flayings and mazings stopped. Left over were the stongest and most resolute Factions (or those who just didnt care).
I think this just makes Her Serenity all the more mysterious and alien. It also enforces her neutral position. You can somtimes trace patterns in her actions , but dont rely on them holding true.
Lorft
3. The Blood War doesn't really exist, apart from a strong rivalry between the baatezu and tanar'ri. I never quite understood why evil races would only fight each other. Demons would be fighting everyone, everywhere, while devils would war against celestials in subtle ways and corrupt mortals as their primary target.
I thought the Blood War was a little silly, or at least somewhat overplayed. I tend to place less emphasis on it myself.
4. I don't treat demons and devils as races, but as essences of chaos, destruction, and evil in all its myriad forms. They don't breed, don't breathe, don't consume except for pleasure, and behave more like creatures of spirit rather than flesh.
So do you have cambions, alu-demons, and tieflings?
5. Don't abide by the 1 bonus point drop in magical weapons and armor rule.
I don't do that either; forgot to mention it.
6. I've rearranged the Great Wheel cosmology somewhat to include individual planes for the Hindu, Egyptian, Sumerian, Slavic and Buddhist pantheons. Hey, if the Greeks get something like four whole planes to themselves, why can't other cultures have at least one?
Sounds like a good idea. I thought Arcadia was partially Egyptian, or that just might have been where they lumped the Egyptian gods. I also have to keep in mind, however, that some gods and realms could belumped together. In ancient times, for instance, it was common for cultures to equate the gods of other peoples to their own; Zeus was thought to be Amon-Ra, and Anhur was equated with Ares.
In ancient times, for instance, it was common for cultures to equate the gods of other peoples to theie own; Zeus was thought to be Amon-Ra, and Anhur was equated with Aries.
Depending on the culture of course- the Romans only did that with the Greek deities and then started cults to pretty much everyone else in the entire east. Up to and including the god of blood (with genuine blood sprinkler system in the temple at Rome) (and I assume you meant Ares the god of war, not Aries the Ram?)
As to changes... I ignore a lot of the spell alterations unless I have a reason not to, or I think its important to make life difficult. I've moved some locations around, but nothing big... oh, and I completely ignore the clerical and magic weapon restrictions.
*edits*
1. All D&D Prime worlds are available. Including Ebberon and Athas and Rokugan (or any other Oriental worlds).
2. Concerning Ebberon and Athas, are freakishly hard to get into to for a few reasons. With Athas, the crystal sphere about it is much harder to penetrate with spells and portals then most other prime worlds, reflecting the harsh nature of that world. With Ebberon, there are several demi-planes that interfere with spells and abilities like plane shift and astral projection.
3. Ebberon's action point system is implemented as well as Planescape's 2ed Belief Points. Where action points are automatically granted each level, Belief points are earned via roleplaying one's beliefs, and the die is d10 instead of d6, and also even harder to gain, though it is renewable.
4. Rogue Modron's have the Living Construct type like the Warforged.
5. Nezumi (Ratlings) are immune to the diseases of the Gray Waste as they would be to the Taint of the Shadowlands.
6. Since I know not of this Ordial transition plane, the Shadow Plane has grown beyond it's demi-plane boundries and has established itself as a new transitive plane.
7. Faction abilities granted are determined via roleplay and the character's level.
8. Character's ancestry plays a role when visiting certain planes (some effects include seeing an old deceased family member walking about, while in truth it's just an illusion by the plane to lure you into a trap, while others may include slight monuments or spiritual resonance of an entire family tree left upon a single, small plot of land in a plane)
9. Faction War occurs 5-years back (making the current year 5 L.E -Lady's Edict-) and the events of Hellbound occured 7.
10. Ghostwalk campaign world is an anamoly within the Prime Material Plane, here, Orcus has recently slain an imposter that decided to 'fill in' while he was Tenebrous.
11. 'Alien' races from Alternity, the Fraal, Weren's, Seshayens, and T'sa are available.
4. Rogue Modron's have the Living Construct type like the Warforged.
What about non-rogue modrons?
5. Nezumi (Ratlings) are immune to the diseases of the Gray Waste as they would be to the Taint of the Shadowlands.
By "diseases" what do you mean exactly? Does that include the entrapping trait?
Wyvern
Dabus speak |33+ (the campaign is online), and it's turned out to be quite effective (and lets me have a conversation with the players, instead of describing a rebus or drawing one beforehand and scanning it in for them to decipher).
The four-horned feathered fowl from the Oathbound campaign setting by Bastion Press be-bop all over the multiverse, meddling in peoples' lives.
Warforged were constructed by Heiron Lifegiver (from The Great Modron March ). Modrons are still the dominant race on Mechanus. The Faction War hasn't happened yet (although it will, when we get to that module in the series).
There's more, but I think you get the idea... :D
Warforged were constructed by Heiron Lifegiver (from The Great Modron March ).
I like.
Dabus speak |33+ (the campaign is online), and it's turned out to be quite effective (and lets me have a conversation with the players, instead of describing a rebus or drawing one beforehand and scanning it in for them to decipher).
So, do they use "l33t" slang words (e.g. r0XXorz, pwn) as well as the spelling?
Wyvern
So, do they use "l33t" slang words (e.g. r0XXorz, pwn) as well as the spelling?
Wyvern
I'm not that hip, so they just use |33+ spelling -- I'm too old to know |33+ slang. :P
-Aphyosemion
I've always thought spell keys were a bit of a cop out, letting someone bypass the fundamental nature of a plane. Since magic restriction now requires a spellcaster to make a Spellcraft check in order to succeed at casting an impeded spell, I think that's sufficient.
Since magic restriction now requires a spellcaster to make a Spellcraft check in order to succeed at casting an impeded spell, I think that's sufficient.
Planar alteration wise, I do slightly more than is printed in the DMG, but not nearly as much as they did for 2e. I put back in the big things about a plane like divinations requiring a pool of blood in Carceri or entrails from a sentient creature in Gehenna. There are still spell keys around, but they just provide a bonus to the spellcraft check to cast an impeded spell or occasionally to bypass a nasty yet flavorful restriction.
I can post what I have so far if anyone's interested.
Sure. That's what these boards are for, I thought. Unless they're only for asking questions.
It's basically the normal system for creating outsiders with some thematic changes thrown in.
System? I didn't know there was a system for creating outsiders. Do tell.
Wyvern
Well, the monster manual itself does a fairly good job of demonstrating how to build custom or brand new monsters. The pages that show all the monster BAB's, saves, # of skills, HP, etc. is a pretty good starting point.
Well, yeah, I knew that. I thought you were talking about a system specifically for designing new outsiders, maybe something like the fiends in d20 Modern.
Anyway, I'd be interested in seeing what you've come up with too.
Wyvern