PHB and MM races and their place in the setting

Graf · Aug 21, 2008

I took another pass at the character page. I can see you put a lot of effort into correcting small details and expanding things which is really awesome.

I cut the monsterous races on Daunton down the bugbears (who fought with shifters during pre daunton days). So they could still be in there, ploting and sneaking around, but moved most of the other races to "other islands in the shifting seas".

I added a bit about minotaurs and orcs being the decidenents of two great empires that have colapsed and that they fight.

[d]--[/d]

I've generally tried to build on everything you added; so there is now a rumored eladrin court on Kythira (instead of an actual well known elvin court).

Covaithe talked a lot about making sure that Daunton is the center in the context of Nova Imperium and I think it applies here as well.

garyh · Aug 21, 2008

Graf said:
Thanks for the input and corrections!
(Particularly fixing the hideousness that is my writing).

I have two questions... how are their savage tribes of humanoids living in land in daunton... what do they do? how do they do it? How have they resisted civilization? Do they raid daunton regularly?

I guess I'd imagined Daunton as being well defended, peaceable and not being subject to regular monstrous attacks (i.e. the threats are more hidden things...).

Personally I'd prefer to keep the monsters off a bit further. Just have shifters on the island maybe?

You're welcome. As far as the monsters on Daunton's isle go, I pictured Daunton's end of the island to be fairly civilized, but the far end of the island to still have monsters. This lets the occasional threat move towards Daunton, and gives characters somewhere dangerous to adventure without getting on a boar.

Ditto the Eladrin. If they skip and frolic amongst the trees of the fey isle (which has a massive rift in it leading to the shadowfell...) how do they interact with the Eladrin who immigrated from Allaria to Daunton.
Eladrin won't be rare at all in that case... they'd be one of the more common races...

People generally like their special happy magical elves to also be rare children of a magical land.... no?

I kind of prefer the fey/shadowfell isle to be more.... spooky. Gnomes live around the edges, hiding from dangerous forces; only brave adventurers dare to plumb its depths... etc. Making it a shiny happy elvin land where everyone lives carefree lives of fun would make it a great vacation spot and an unattractive place to adventure....

Shifters and gnomes as original inhabitants is interesting...

I'm thinking that the eladrin on the Isle of the Fey Court could project the image of a happy woodland home, but there could be more serious internal threats or spookiness.

covaithe · Aug 21, 2008

garyh said:
I pictured Daunton's end of the island to be fairly civilized, but the far end of the island to still have monsters. This lets the occasional threat move towards Daunton, and gives characters somewhere dangerous to adventure without getting on a boar.

I agree with this.

As regards the fey, I lean towards the spooky side. Possibly a small Eladrin enclave where they frolic among the trees, but it's not quite fully there, somehow magically separate from the rest of the island, and hard to get to.

garyh · Aug 21, 2008

garyh said:
This lets the occasional threat move towards Daunton, and gives characters somewhere dangerous to adventure without getting on a boar.

I just noticed this typo, and it amuses me so much I'm going to leave it as is.

covaithe said:
I agree with this.

As regards the fey, I lean towards the spooky side. Possibly a small Eladrin enclave where they frolic among the trees, but it's not quite fully there, somehow magically separate from the rest of the island, and hard to get to.

That works for me. I think the Fey Court being partially not of this world probably works best (maybe the king can be named Oberon.

)

Dunamin · Aug 29, 2008

As mentioned elsewhere, I’ve been meaning to put some work into the giths in 4LW. I had something like this in mind:

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Basic premise
A few decades ago, in the deepest reaches of illithid society an elder brain came to know a terrible prophecy that would spell doom of its kind: the Liberator of the gith would return.
In ancient times the illithids had a grand empire that spanned worlds, but the slaves known as gith rose against them under the guidance of a legendary figure and the empire was no more. The site of her return is now believed to have been located on a grand island and an immense invading illithid force has been sent to conquer it. Kingdoms of mortals have been enthralled and the search begun, yet soon after they were followed by their ancestral enemies – the githyanki and the githzerai. The sundered progenitors would eradicate the illithid and find the Liberator, though neither side will allow the other to succeed.

Now war wages between gith and illithid and gith between, as it always have been. Yet the battleground is mortal land, far removed from their planar homes. No one knows for sure if the Liberator truly will or has returned, nor what she or the three parties will do if it happens. Some say she will cleanse the illithids from time itself, others that she will be broken and become their tool to bring the end of her divided people. Many suspect that most githyanki would rally under her, while most githzerai would seal her away forevermore. A few dare speculate that she will unite the giths and make them one people again.

Whatever the truth, brains will be devoured and lives will be taken. War will rage with flames of the mind.

-

So, we have the traditional three sides and a dramatic prophecy that could be the turning point of them all. Central concepts here are psionics, war, racial history, and destiny – besides the classic elements I plan to include a rift to the Far Realm, forbidden githyanki-githzerai alliances, and more.
I’ve tried to be vague enough to not “infringe upon” WotC intellectual property, yet traditional enough that most seasoned D&D players will feel instant familiarity. What do you guys think?

Phoenix8008 · Aug 29, 2008

Dunamin said:
What do you guys think?

Well, it sounds pretty good to me. I've always had a fondness for the Gith and the stories surrounding them. Now if I could only play one as a character. Or can I here? Are they in the MM as playable races? Gotta check that out. Just wish we had 4E psionics rules. No psionics and no monks kinda cripples the Githyanki/Githzeri.

Dunamin · Aug 29, 2008

Phoenix8008 said:
Well, it sounds pretty good to me. I've always had a fondness for the Gith and the stories surrounding them. Now if I could only play one as a character. Or can I here? Are they in the MM as playable races? Gotta check that out. Just wish we had 4E psionics rules. No psionics and no monks kinda cripples the Githyanki/Githzeri.

Thanks.

Both gith races are in the MM as playable races and are allowed in L4W, as I understand it. I'm looking forward to 4E psionics too, though while we wait I think one can make do with reflavoring other classes (here's the WotC PHB-only suggestions for psionics and for the monk).

garyh · Aug 29, 2008

Your take on the gith sounds fine to me, Dunamin. Need a good name for the island(s) they're on.

And yes, the gith are both in the MM as monster races, and thus playable in L4E.

Phoenix8008 · Aug 29, 2008

Sweet! I may have just found my first character concept. Now I just gotta figure out which class to put with that...

garyh · Aug 29, 2008

Glad you've got an idea, Phoenix. And speaking of MM races, my main idea has been an orc pirate (originally Bacartan but now maybe from the Gallows). I've got lots of ideas for the character and his backstory, but am similarly looking for which class I want to match it with. Fighter or rogue would work, of course, but I'm even contemplating a warlord, a ranger, or a paladin or cleric of Netari. Heck, now that I think of it, even an infernal warlock could fit. Basically, not a wizard.

I'm actually pretty excited that I can work almost any class into my concept. Says something about the classes, to me, that almost any of them could reasonably fit an orc pirate.