Jemal
Adventurer
Hello again boys and girls. So I've been thinking about my Epic campaign idea since I came back (Come on you all knew that was coming the instant you saw I was back), and I've finally nailed down specifics (With some help from Albedo, who will be joining me as Co-DM).
I originally pondered reworking/restarting one of my old campaigns but eventually decided against it (For various reasons).
War of Gods is an Epic Campaign of 40th level. It will pit a group of mortals(and perhaps a few immortals) against the Gods themselves.
Over the past years the battles between good and evil have grown exponentially, finally breaking into full on war last year. All of the planes are in chaos as the most primal and powerful forces of the universe are pitted against each other. The Prime material plane is a primary battleground, and the mortals within it are on the verge of destruction.
The neutral deities have done their best to keep the balance, but with so many enemies to contend with, the best they've been able to do is to keep the gods from personally interfering. This does not, however, stop their servants, nor their Avatars, from wreaking havoc. The extent of the powers being used are such that magic itself is being 'drained' for lack of a better term. Spellcasters find themselves unable to perform the simplest of tricks, as the Gods are monopolizing the power.
As very powerful beings yourselves, you will band together in an attempt to end the war. How you choose to do that, which side you choose, is up to you. Who will prevail? Good? Evil? Will balance be restored, or will the gods fall completely?
As the campaign starts, you are all coming through a major port, a massive city built upon a chain of floating islands, the primary hub for airships. You've noticed signs and posters about a meeting for powerful adventurers, calling on those who are fed up with the Gods war to come help put an end to it.
Character Creation Info:
Allowed Sources: Anything goes, DM right to refusal as per usual. Also See spellcasting details.
40th level (Starting Xp = Base for level, we won't be allowing any XP spending or crafting)
Stat system: 90 points (1 for 1 basis, minimum 10 maximum 18. These are your BASE stats, not including racial/level/etc modifiers)
HP: Max for all HD.
13,600,000 GP (As standard). No item creation chart, item power stacking is allowed, slot-swapping is not. No repeat Times/day or expendable items.
Race/Templates:
Dissallowed Templates: Psuedonatural, Feral, Lolth-touched, Insectile
Dissallowed Races: Anything with a Good/Evil alignment subtype
More to be added, this will be updated as things come up.
[sblock=Paragon] : LA+16, with the following Changes:
The Speed Tripling is considered an Enhancement bonus like Haste/ Boots of swiftness, and does not stack with other enhancements.
SR = HD+26, not CR+25. This means that if it's your only Template, your SR will be 50, the equivalent of ECL+10.
DR 15/Epic
Also keep in mind that some of the Paragon's abilities state they replace(do not stack with) the existing creature's ability (Natural armour bonus, Fast Healing, Resistance/DR/SR).
Also, the creature's +10 Skill bonus is a Competence bonus, which is the same kind that most magical items give, and does not stack.[/sblock]
RE: Level Adjustment: We'll be working Epicness off of HD, so your BAB and Saves will continue to go up until you have 20 HD, after which they will begin progressing as Epic. This also affects Epic Feat progression in that you do not qualify for Epic Feats until you have 21+HD.
Spellcasting : OK, here's the big change between this campaign and most. NO SPELLCASTING. This includes similar styles such as Invocations, Incarnum, Psionics, or Book of Nine Swords(Which is designed to help fighters catch up to Casters). Magical items, Spell like abilities, and other magical effects still function, but the gods are using so much magic that spellcasting has lost its power. We do have allowances in place if people want to play spellcasting classes with other abilities (IE Bard, Druid, etc), so if you have a concept in mind mention it.
Divine Connections: No classes closely connected to divine/good or infernal/evil powers will be allowed, as they will have sided with a specific cause already. (Cleric, Paladin, Favoured Soul, etc). Same goes for Feats/Powers/etc with specific connections to Dieties or to Good/Evil. This also means that your characters should not directly worship a god, although Neutral gods may be acceptable. (Depending on whether the party decides to reset the status quo or go all-god-slaying)
IMMUNITIES - I dislike characters having numerous immunities, so I'm limiting each character to only have one or two immunities. I wouldn't suggest instant-death cuz I don't use it, so it'd be kinda pointless. What this means is you could be immune to one element, or crits, or have Mind Blank or Freedom of Movement, but not multiples. Minor stuff doesn't matter (immunities to poison/disease, shield=magic missile immunity, etc), but I don't want a bunch of characters running around immune to a dozen different things.
*NOTE: This does not mean you get to pick one or two FREE, just that you can't HAVE more than a couple.*
ALIGNMENT: your characters CAN be Good or Evil, but that shouldn't be a major part of their outlook (See above, re:divine connections). The only real requirement I have here is that the party work together.
THEME: The theme of the campaign is similar in style to Mythological Mortal vs Gods (Hercules, God of War, etc). I'm not going to dissalow any concepts b/c they're not 'medieval' or 'mythological', but keep it in mind. We're looking for epic (non-spellcasting!) battles between you and the primal forces of the universe.
Pantheon: We will be using pretty much every printed deity, plus a few of our own. The pantheon is Massive. It needs pruning.
PLANAR INFO: Important planes outside of the material
SIGIL = Central city of the planes, neutral.
Infinite layers of the Abyss = CG
Grey waste of Hades = Most Evil Plane
Nine hells of Baator = LE
Seven Heavens of Celestia = LG
Blessed Fields of Elysium = Most Good Plane
Olympian Glades of Arborea = CG
Hades and Elysium are actually the 'pinacles' of Good and Evil as far as the great wheel is concerned. (Just FYI, I would not suggest heading there unprepared)
We'll also be using planes outside of the Great Wheel (though I'm not going to allow you to start with portals to them), and much fighting will probaly happen on the Prime Material (It's the primary warground, hence why you're all trying to stop them from wrecking the joint) unless you guys decide to push into the outer planes right away.
[sblock= other Balance issue stuff]
One-hit-kills - I dislike attack forms meant to end a fight with a single attack, such as instant death attacks, "Save-OR" effects, etc. It's not as prevalent in a non-spellcasting campaign, and I'm not going to outlaw it, but be warned that every time you use one of these effects, I WILL use a similar method back on your character in the near future, and that's pretty much the only time I'll use such attacks. Just remember the rule of MAD.
And I'd prefer it if people didn't pump their stats TOO much (Specifically AC, Attack bonuses, Saves). I'd prefer not to have the case of "Monster needs a 20 to hit player X, a 2 to hit anyone else" or "OK, saves everybody.. X and Y need 20's, everyone else don't roll a 1".
It makes encounter design a lot more of a headache when the numbers are too far gone. SO, If you notice your numbers are a LOT higher (Say more than 20) than everyone else, either look into devoting less to that stat, or helping the others bring their power up to your level.
Don't be too worried about keeping in line with the other players, everyone SHOULD have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, just don't go overboard on pumping something. If any of your Attack/AC/Saves numbers has three digits, for example, it's probably too high...
Unless you can all swing such numbers in which case - Sweet, I can take off the gloves and throw the paragon pseudonatural half-draconic 3-headed tarrasquelich at you guys. j/k... mostly.[/sblock]
FATE POINTS
After each section/chapter/combat, or after a particularly good role playing stint, I will be giving Fate Points to characters who I feel did something noteworthy (Keeping in mind that they ARE Epic, and thus held to a different level of 'noteworthy' than most), or that helped to advance the story. VERY Occasionally, I will give a Fate point out of order just b/c somebody did something TRULY EPIC that needs rewarding.
Fate points will have several uses, primary among them being that once a character has accumulated 5 or more, they will be able to start unlocking powers simliar to Divine Beings.
Other uses:
Fate points can be used (Temporary, regenerating when a character rests) to gain a reroll (Like the clerical luck domain), or to have something happen that the Player wants to happen (Within reason, and provided it is not against the good of the story) IE A player could use it to 'find' a clue when he's stuck on a puzzle, or discover a weakness in an apparently unbeatable foe.
Fate points can be permanently spent (Burnt) to do one of the following:
Cast Wish or Miracle as a full-round action without spending XP. (DM still has final say, but I will be much more lenient on Wishes used like this, since Fate is a very powerful resource.)
Gain half a level of XP.
Gain a Non-epic Magical Item *can be added on to a current Item if slot is required*. (DM has final say on allowed Items. If i disallow the item you will retain the Fate point)
So basically you can keep them and build up towards 'divine' power (rather an alternative to Divine Power. ), or expend them to increase your Mortal powers or make your life a little easier.
INJURIES
How I'll be describing how injured enemies are will be based on a percentage of their total hp, modified by how difficult it is to gage their wounds (It's easier to tell how hurt a normal person is comapared to say Someone fully covered in platemail, or a strange monster). I'll post one of these up every few rounds.
Uninjured: HP>90%
Mildly Injured: 70-90%
Injured: 50-70%
Badly Injured: 30-50%
Severely Injured: 10-30%
Nearly Dead: HP<10%
I originally pondered reworking/restarting one of my old campaigns but eventually decided against it (For various reasons).
War of Gods is an Epic Campaign of 40th level. It will pit a group of mortals(and perhaps a few immortals) against the Gods themselves.
Over the past years the battles between good and evil have grown exponentially, finally breaking into full on war last year. All of the planes are in chaos as the most primal and powerful forces of the universe are pitted against each other. The Prime material plane is a primary battleground, and the mortals within it are on the verge of destruction.
The neutral deities have done their best to keep the balance, but with so many enemies to contend with, the best they've been able to do is to keep the gods from personally interfering. This does not, however, stop their servants, nor their Avatars, from wreaking havoc. The extent of the powers being used are such that magic itself is being 'drained' for lack of a better term. Spellcasters find themselves unable to perform the simplest of tricks, as the Gods are monopolizing the power.
As very powerful beings yourselves, you will band together in an attempt to end the war. How you choose to do that, which side you choose, is up to you. Who will prevail? Good? Evil? Will balance be restored, or will the gods fall completely?
As the campaign starts, you are all coming through a major port, a massive city built upon a chain of floating islands, the primary hub for airships. You've noticed signs and posters about a meeting for powerful adventurers, calling on those who are fed up with the Gods war to come help put an end to it.
Character Creation Info:
Allowed Sources: Anything goes, DM right to refusal as per usual. Also See spellcasting details.
40th level (Starting Xp = Base for level, we won't be allowing any XP spending or crafting)
Stat system: 90 points (1 for 1 basis, minimum 10 maximum 18. These are your BASE stats, not including racial/level/etc modifiers)
HP: Max for all HD.
13,600,000 GP (As standard). No item creation chart, item power stacking is allowed, slot-swapping is not. No repeat Times/day or expendable items.
Race/Templates:
Dissallowed Templates: Psuedonatural, Feral, Lolth-touched, Insectile
Dissallowed Races: Anything with a Good/Evil alignment subtype
More to be added, this will be updated as things come up.
[sblock=Paragon] : LA+16, with the following Changes:
The Speed Tripling is considered an Enhancement bonus like Haste/ Boots of swiftness, and does not stack with other enhancements.
SR = HD+26, not CR+25. This means that if it's your only Template, your SR will be 50, the equivalent of ECL+10.
DR 15/Epic
Also keep in mind that some of the Paragon's abilities state they replace(do not stack with) the existing creature's ability (Natural armour bonus, Fast Healing, Resistance/DR/SR).
Also, the creature's +10 Skill bonus is a Competence bonus, which is the same kind that most magical items give, and does not stack.[/sblock]
RE: Level Adjustment: We'll be working Epicness off of HD, so your BAB and Saves will continue to go up until you have 20 HD, after which they will begin progressing as Epic. This also affects Epic Feat progression in that you do not qualify for Epic Feats until you have 21+HD.
Spellcasting : OK, here's the big change between this campaign and most. NO SPELLCASTING. This includes similar styles such as Invocations, Incarnum, Psionics, or Book of Nine Swords(Which is designed to help fighters catch up to Casters). Magical items, Spell like abilities, and other magical effects still function, but the gods are using so much magic that spellcasting has lost its power. We do have allowances in place if people want to play spellcasting classes with other abilities (IE Bard, Druid, etc), so if you have a concept in mind mention it.
Divine Connections: No classes closely connected to divine/good or infernal/evil powers will be allowed, as they will have sided with a specific cause already. (Cleric, Paladin, Favoured Soul, etc). Same goes for Feats/Powers/etc with specific connections to Dieties or to Good/Evil. This also means that your characters should not directly worship a god, although Neutral gods may be acceptable. (Depending on whether the party decides to reset the status quo or go all-god-slaying)
IMMUNITIES - I dislike characters having numerous immunities, so I'm limiting each character to only have one or two immunities. I wouldn't suggest instant-death cuz I don't use it, so it'd be kinda pointless. What this means is you could be immune to one element, or crits, or have Mind Blank or Freedom of Movement, but not multiples. Minor stuff doesn't matter (immunities to poison/disease, shield=magic missile immunity, etc), but I don't want a bunch of characters running around immune to a dozen different things.
*NOTE: This does not mean you get to pick one or two FREE, just that you can't HAVE more than a couple.*
ALIGNMENT: your characters CAN be Good or Evil, but that shouldn't be a major part of their outlook (See above, re:divine connections). The only real requirement I have here is that the party work together.
THEME: The theme of the campaign is similar in style to Mythological Mortal vs Gods (Hercules, God of War, etc). I'm not going to dissalow any concepts b/c they're not 'medieval' or 'mythological', but keep it in mind. We're looking for epic (non-spellcasting!) battles between you and the primal forces of the universe.
Pantheon: We will be using pretty much every printed deity, plus a few of our own. The pantheon is Massive. It needs pruning.
PLANAR INFO: Important planes outside of the material
SIGIL = Central city of the planes, neutral.
Infinite layers of the Abyss = CG
Grey waste of Hades = Most Evil Plane
Nine hells of Baator = LE
Seven Heavens of Celestia = LG
Blessed Fields of Elysium = Most Good Plane
Olympian Glades of Arborea = CG
Hades and Elysium are actually the 'pinacles' of Good and Evil as far as the great wheel is concerned. (Just FYI, I would not suggest heading there unprepared)
We'll also be using planes outside of the Great Wheel (though I'm not going to allow you to start with portals to them), and much fighting will probaly happen on the Prime Material (It's the primary warground, hence why you're all trying to stop them from wrecking the joint) unless you guys decide to push into the outer planes right away.
[sblock= other Balance issue stuff]
One-hit-kills - I dislike attack forms meant to end a fight with a single attack, such as instant death attacks, "Save-OR" effects, etc. It's not as prevalent in a non-spellcasting campaign, and I'm not going to outlaw it, but be warned that every time you use one of these effects, I WILL use a similar method back on your character in the near future, and that's pretty much the only time I'll use such attacks. Just remember the rule of MAD.
And I'd prefer it if people didn't pump their stats TOO much (Specifically AC, Attack bonuses, Saves). I'd prefer not to have the case of "Monster needs a 20 to hit player X, a 2 to hit anyone else" or "OK, saves everybody.. X and Y need 20's, everyone else don't roll a 1".
It makes encounter design a lot more of a headache when the numbers are too far gone. SO, If you notice your numbers are a LOT higher (Say more than 20) than everyone else, either look into devoting less to that stat, or helping the others bring their power up to your level.
Don't be too worried about keeping in line with the other players, everyone SHOULD have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, just don't go overboard on pumping something. If any of your Attack/AC/Saves numbers has three digits, for example, it's probably too high...
Unless you can all swing such numbers in which case - Sweet, I can take off the gloves and throw the paragon pseudonatural half-draconic 3-headed tarrasquelich at you guys. j/k... mostly.[/sblock]
FATE POINTS
After each section/chapter/combat, or after a particularly good role playing stint, I will be giving Fate Points to characters who I feel did something noteworthy (Keeping in mind that they ARE Epic, and thus held to a different level of 'noteworthy' than most), or that helped to advance the story. VERY Occasionally, I will give a Fate point out of order just b/c somebody did something TRULY EPIC that needs rewarding.
Fate points will have several uses, primary among them being that once a character has accumulated 5 or more, they will be able to start unlocking powers simliar to Divine Beings.
Other uses:
Fate points can be used (Temporary, regenerating when a character rests) to gain a reroll (Like the clerical luck domain), or to have something happen that the Player wants to happen (Within reason, and provided it is not against the good of the story) IE A player could use it to 'find' a clue when he's stuck on a puzzle, or discover a weakness in an apparently unbeatable foe.
Fate points can be permanently spent (Burnt) to do one of the following:
Cast Wish or Miracle as a full-round action without spending XP. (DM still has final say, but I will be much more lenient on Wishes used like this, since Fate is a very powerful resource.)
Gain half a level of XP.
Gain a Non-epic Magical Item *can be added on to a current Item if slot is required*. (DM has final say on allowed Items. If i disallow the item you will retain the Fate point)
So basically you can keep them and build up towards 'divine' power (rather an alternative to Divine Power. ), or expend them to increase your Mortal powers or make your life a little easier.
INJURIES
How I'll be describing how injured enemies are will be based on a percentage of their total hp, modified by how difficult it is to gage their wounds (It's easier to tell how hurt a normal person is comapared to say Someone fully covered in platemail, or a strange monster). I'll post one of these up every few rounds.
Uninjured: HP>90%
Mildly Injured: 70-90%
Injured: 50-70%
Badly Injured: 30-50%
Severely Injured: 10-30%
Nearly Dead: HP<10%
Last edited: