Tell me about Arcanis

Crazy 'Scaper

First Post
Could anyone tell me anything about the Arcanis setting that Paradigm Concepts produce? What is the general feel of this setting and does it deviate far from the core rules?
 

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talien

Community Supporter
Crazy 'Scaper said:
Could anyone tell me anything about the Arcanis setting that Paradigm Concepts produce? What is the general feel of this setting and does it deviate far from the core rules?
Hi uh...Crazy,

Check out my story hour here: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=103252

That will help give you a sense of the setting. You will also want to check out http://www.onaraonline.org.

Happy to answer any questions you might have. It does not deviate very far from the core rules, but it definitely has lots of additional rules for characters and situations you might already have in your homebrew (rules for lizardfolk, the infernally tainted, etc.).
 

Crazy 'Scaper

First Post
Thanks for that. I'll read through the Story Hour and hopefully that will give me an idea of whether Arcanis is for me or not. At the moment I'm looking for a new setting to replace my soon-to-be-ending Eberron campaign and much as I'd love to one day run a homebrew I really don't have the time to do one justice so I'm sticking with published settings. Post-Eberron, I'm looking for something more "traditional" (I don't want to say generic or vanilla as that might not convey the right impression) and the front runners at the moment are Greyhawk, the new version of Blackmoor or Kalamar (and I haven't ruled at Erde as I can get hold of a copy of the Codex of Erde going cheap). But there's a shrink-wrapped copy of the Players Guide to Arcanis that keeps catcxhing my eye at my FLGS so I don't want to rule this setting out.

How easy is it for a player to create a character just using the PHB and then drop it straight into Arcanis without them needed the Players Guide themselves? One of the "problems" I've had with Eberron is that to make a character that really seems to come from Khorvaire is that the player really needs access to the ECSB.
 

howandwhy99

Adventurer
The Player's guide is full of customizing prestige classes, equipment, and other things.
The Codex Arcanis lays out the fully fleshed out world. I for one like how well it is written and how they used both old and new ideas to flesh out the world. It is one in transition and plenty going on.

Check out the publisher's home site for more information.
http://www.paradigmconcepts.com/home/index.php
 

talien

Community Supporter
Crazy 'Scaper said:
How easy is it for a player to create a character just using the PHB and then drop it straight into Arcanis without them needed the Players Guide themselves? One of the "problems" I've had with Eberron is that to make a character that really seems to come from Khorvaire is that the player really needs access to the ECSB.

Hiya,

It's a good question. First, let me state up front that Arcanis prides itself on being unique. So it may not necessarily be the setting for you. However, we've played the following characters in the setting with no problems:

* Elf bard
* Human fighter
* Dwarf fighter

Characters from our story hour who use Arcanis-specific rules:
* Human cleric: he uses a legionnaire feat unique to Arcanis.
* Dark-kin sorcerer: Dark-kin are half-devils unique to Arcanis.
* Ss'ressen barbarian: Lizardfolk rules unique to Arcanis.
* Fihali druid: My own invention, taken from one of the adventures (in other words, Fihali are in the game but not necessarily meant to be PCs).
* Val psychic warrior/rogue: He makes heavy use of flintlocks.
* Human ranger/wizard: Also makes heavy use of flintlocks.

There are a few characters that can not be just dropped into the setting:
1) Only the "Val" (think half-angels without the celestial stuff, more like the Valinor from Lord of the Rings) and dark-kin can be sorcerers or have psionics.
2) Gnomes are ugly, half-dwarf/half-human crossbreeds.
3) No halflings. That I know of anyway.
4) Flintlocks are uncommon but definitely a part of the setting.

Religion is a big deal in Arcanis, so that changes cleric and paladin quite a bit. The rest of the classes are largely unchanged, but flipping through the Player's Guide would help explain the differences. What is up with the shrinkwrap? I hate when stores do that.

Anyway, the Player's Guide might give you the wrong impression, as it is chock full of new rules. Mostly, it creates a paladin and cleric class for EVERY deity in the setting. The religion is omnipresent in the game world, which I consider to be a good thing.

I consider Arcanis to be the closest to my own original setting, in that it has a Romanesque empire, lizardfolk that are actually integrated into the world, and firearms. This probably is representative of a lot of homebrews, now that I think about it.

By far the most appealing part of running a home game in Arcanis is the five years worth of free adventures downloadable through the RPGA. They're broken up into four hour segments, are all free, and have a continuous storyline with recrurring characters. For that reason alone I recommend the setting for harried DMs who have to deal with real life.

Hope that helps!
 

kenobi65

First Post
Having played a few games of the RPGA's Living Arcanis campaign, here's my two cents:

- It's a great setting, but I don't think I'd consider it to be a "traditional" D&D setting.

- It's possible to create a PC using only the PHB, and drop them in (esp. if it's a non-spellcaster). But, there are an absolute ton of options in the Player's Guide to Arcanis, including new races, new classes, new feats, etc.

- Spellcasters can be considerably different from "stock" D&D.
--- Clerics have to choose a god to worship; each god grants his or her clerics special abilities. (And, the gods do not have alignments, so you could, in theory, have a LG and a CE cleric of the same god.)
--- Paladins can be of any good alignment. In addition to paladins, each god has its own "Holy Champion" class, with particular abilities relevant to that god.
--- There are race and gender restrictions to druids.
--- Arcane spellcasters have their own problems. The country of Ymandragore considers all arcanely-gifted people to be their property, and Ymandragore sends out hunters to track down arcanists. Thus, wizards, sorcerers, and bards have to be very careful about using their gifts.

- Races are considerably different from "stock" D&D, as well
--- Humans are pretty much the same
--- There's a human-like race called Vals (not dissimilar from aasimar); there are "bloodlines" of Vals related to each of the Gods, and each bloodline grants a particular set of powers. Vals were created by the Gods to watch over and lead the humans.
--- Dwarves are a cursed race; they used to be the Celestial Giants, and had the role that Vals have now. The Gods felt that the Dwarves failed in their task, and shrunk them to be smaller than humans. Dwarves are also banned from the afterlife, so there's some interesting rules on dwarves and death.
--- Gnomes are even more cursed; a gnome is a dwarf / human hybrid, and is usually an outcast, in addition to being physically stunted.
--- Dark-kin are a little like tieflings.
--- Elorii (elves) predated the humans, and the human gods wiped out 4/5 of the Elorii pantheon. As such, they tend to be holding a very deep grudge. :)
--- As talien mentions, there's a lizardfolk race, as well as half-orcs and half-hobgoblins.

- There is a ton of detail on the political and religious situation in Arcanis, and that can (and should) figure very strongly in an Arcanis campaign. The country a PC comes from, his religious leanings, etc., can play a very big part in that PC's development.
 

yipwyg

First Post
3.5 Arcanis products

Could someone post which products are upgraded to 3.5.

I know the players guide of Arcanis is, but how about these ones.

Legacy of Damnation
Ssethragore: In The Coils of the Serpent Empire
 

kenobi65

First Post
yipwyg said:
Could someone post which products are upgraded to 3.5.

I know the players guide of Arcanis is, but how about these ones.

Legacy of Damnation
Ssethragore: In The Coils of the Serpent Empire

Legacy of Damnation is brand-new, I'm sure it's 3.5. I'm pretty sure Coils is, too, as it came out in June of 2004.
 

SamhainIA

First Post
Talien said : 3) No halflings. That I know of anyway.

if you look in one of the books (I think ssethregore, it could be in the Elorii (elf) section of the PGtA) you find that during the ssethric (lizardman yuan-ti trogs etc etc) empire the technomancers created a "perfect servant" the elorii, and that the Elorii wiped off the face of the planet 12 entire races, including a psionicaly (sp?) active halfling race, some of whom were captured and the psi ability was put into some of the "created" lizard folk (dont hold me to it but I think only Ssanu are Psi-active)

Legacy of damnation (i am getting it today) is an AMAZING book for both the cruchy bits (infernal warrior goodness) and fluffy bits (the fallen valinor (solar ish but more powerful) of sarish)

Ssethregore: in the coils of the empire, also is an amazing book all about the ssethric empire equally good in crunch and fluff

3.0 book that are going to see an update:
eldest sons: all about elorii, i own it but havent read it all the way yet
Forged in magic: like the arms and equipment guide, the fluff comes in the description of items
Lord of the peaks: dont own
Nyambe and freeport books are use in the living campaign to good ends
broadsides is also, but not as much.

for a really good feel of the world, jump on onara online and look for the fiction section.

Quick run down:
Races:

Dwarf (Solanis mor) stats like phb Weapon smiths
Dwarf (encali) gem smiths
Dwarf (Tir Betoq) demon hunters, glassteel workers
Dwarf (Nol Dappan) they live in a volcano, i forget their specialty
Dwarf (Tultipetan)
there are 2 more dwarven enclaves, but one is hidden, because they hate all other dwarves and the other is on the isle of Ymandragore, cause they were gifted int he art and were stolen.

Val (at least one blood line for every god, some have two and Val'Holryn who's blood they descended from is unknown but they can manifest with any bloodline power) The only PC playable Psi active race

Human (cant be sorcerors)

Elorri (elf) hella non standard there are 5 flavors, one for each element and "life" elves (I am disinclined to find and type the name they call them selves) they havea feat based bloodline, and differing stats for each subrace

Darkkin, humans who in their past ancestry (reign of the demons after the first imperium i think) were interbred with demons or devils. Socially shunned, animals fear them, also blood heritage feat chain thats pretty nice

Gnomes the twice cursed offspring of dwarves and humans, socially shunned to the extreme.

Half Hobgoblin
Half Orc

Classes
PHB class shanges:

specific changes for all of the dieties for clerics/paladins
ie the god of knowledge althares grants clerics bardic knowledge at level 5, they tuen at 2 levels lower and they are allowed to carry flintlocks

druids have alternate animal companions + above mentioned restrictions
ie Dire bulls

a slew of monastic orders

a restriction on paladins (only 7 gods have paladins, and they each have changes)

ranger, variant weapon styles( flintlock spec) and "urban sentinel" variant ranger

rogues no significant changes

sorcerer, no draconic bloodlines, either celesian infernal or elemental blodlines, free eschew materials and no humans

wizzies no chages except for new familiars

Holy champions for each god, and man are they good classes

priest class i think its a watered down cleric, but may just be me

and the patrician class, a poor fighter and non caster, a class built for skills

you also need to pick nationalities, they usually have an impact on your character
the feats and spells in the players guide are worth looking at.

one of my favorite feats:
Flowing sand (FTR Gen)
Prerequisites: dex 17, cleave, Whirlwind attack
when using a full attack action, you may forego all of your regular attacks, and choose to move upto your base movment in a linear path, attacking every opponent you are able to reach while moving along that path. you may not attack any opponet more than once unless your attack is an extra attack (such as cleave). These attack are made at your highest attack bonus
Special: yadda you still take AoOs from movment, may not make special attacks

needless to say i like arcanis alot
 

sidonunspa

First Post
Greetings from Paradigm Concepts

Hi

Let me quickly introduce my self, my name is Pedro Barrenechea A.K.A.: "Stat Monkey" and I'm a member of the Paradigm Concepts Development Team.

Arcanis has become my favorite campaign setting for numerous reasons, and none of them are because I helped write a large chuck of the rules and help in its development. I use to be a huge FR fan, and though I still like FR, Arcanis has fully captured my heart & imagination.

Why? But because in so many subtle ways Arcanis is unlike any fantasy game world I have seen.

When we started work on Arcanis (which was created from through a home game run by Henry Lopez, the president of paradigm) we wanted to create a world that would be Familiar and yet surprising to players and game masters alike. Being big fans of story based games such as Legend of the five rings, 7th sea, and varied world of darkness settings, we wanted to bring these powerful story telling aspects into our fantasy games.

This is the introduction from the Players Guide to Arcanis; I think it will give you a good idea of what Arcanis is about. Yes there are rules differences, but most have already been posted above by our players

~~~~

Arcanis is a world of high fantasy, intrigue and suspense. What a character is will be more important than what a character has. Diplomacy, skill and discretion will carry you as far or farther than skill at arms or the arts of magic. Subtlety is the benchmark of both successful play and game mastering. Things that appear to have no importance often turn out to be vital; the obvious villain is often not the primary foe. Sometimes he is not a foe at all. The true measure of the mettle of a hero is in his decisions, as all actions have consequences. Many thousands of inhabitants of Onara are mighty warriors able to kill numerous enemies through skill at arms; the hero does this for the right reasons against the proper foe.

Arcanis is a world of fantastic beings, born with the blood of Valinor or the souls of elementals. It is inhabited by the descendents of Celestial Giants who once roamed the stars as freely as a fish swims the sea. It has nations ruled by the immortal servants of the Gods and undying travelers from other worlds. Yet many of its greatest heroes are simple mortals of mundane blood with lofty ideals.

The peoples of Arcanis are menaced by many things. From the mundane concerns of plague, hunger, and war with rival nations to the fantastic threats of enslavement by an ancient Reptilian race, conquest by a being that would be a God to invasion by an alien foe that would devour creation.

It is a world of heroes who stand between the common folk and destruction; a world where you can be that hero.

~~~~

And here is a little opening Text from the Living Arcanis Primer, currently in its development stages.

~~~

In barren Canceri, the Swords of Nier have retaken the city of Nishanpur for their bloodthirsty god, defeating the undead and demonic forces of the Church of the Dark Triumvirate. But their victory is a desperate one, and no one truly believes that the final blow has been struck. In the courts of Milandir, the young King Osric faces opposition from Duke Adolphous val’Tensen of Morotavia, and it seems that for the first time since the War of the Usurper their country will be divided. In Enpebyn the forces of Menesis val’Tensen, once Defender of the Empire and now declared traitor, led a desperate band of rebels against the Emperor of the Coryani Empire, barely securing the city’s freedom. But the Emperor, also Patriarch of the church, is not likely to let the rebels rest easy after their victory. Entrances to the vast Lavender Way, that strange network of tunnels that runs under the kingdoms of man, have suddenly opened up, spewing forth ancient horrors from dark myths that threaten to overwhelm human defenses. And, to the north, the Wall of the Gods has fallen, and the vast Infernal army, trapped in the sealed lands for over a millennium, is now free to exact revenge on the nations of man that once defeated them.

Arcanis, the world of Shattered Empires, has never been so fractured. When the Living Arcanis campaign began, Paradigm Concepts promised that this would be a campaign of epic heroism, where the players would have a direct hand in the shaping of the world. Now, soon to be entering its fifth year, Living Arcanis has remained true to this goal. Whether stalwart legionnaires, dark demonbinders, dwarven craftsmen, elven warriors, or faithful priests, it is the heroes of Arcanis that have been called upon to save the day, and to make the choices that shape the campaign. Arcanis is a world of greys, where, like our own world, good and evil are rarely obvious. It is a world of political intrigue and canny maneuvering behind closed doors, as well as a world of epic battles against both fierce creatures of evil, and against the other nations of Arcanis. Characters may side with nations, with factions, or with the elusive secret societies that ply their trade in the shadows, or they may become mercenaries for hire. But eventually, all the heroes of Arcanis must make the hardest choices, choices of honor, of loyalty, of justice, and of the fate of the world.

Come join one of the fastest growing gaming communities anywhere. At Origins 2005 Arcanis broke all previous records for attendance and during the first weeks of registration the top three events sold were all Arcanis events. If you want deep and tangled storylines, shadowy political intrigue, epic battles against fearsome foes, and fellow heroes to stand by you (or against you,) then you want Arcanis, the world of Shattered Empires.

~~~~~

If you have any questions please post away, I love talking to players and GMs alike!

Pedro Barrenechea
Stat Monkey & Living Arcanis Coordinator
Paradigm Concepts, Inc.
 
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