D&D 5E The Elementalists (FULL)

I have an inkling of campaign I'd like to run, but I need to know if anyone would even be interested. It has an elemental theme, though I do not own Princes of the Apocalypse, and my idea really has nothing to do with that, other than having an elemental theme.

The setting would be in a homebrew that I am currently developing. I do not have everything worked out, except that there is a problem with the elemental planes. Somewhere in the Prime Material Plane, someone, something, or somewhat, is corrupting them. The Genie Nobles of those realms see this corruption, and try to do something about it, but millennia of fighting amongst themselves, always trying to get the upper hand, and the fact that no genie can think of much other than their own pleasure, means that in short, they don't like each other. They can't work together. They need proxies.


Thus, the players! Throughout the world, those who have been touched in some way by the elemental planes feel a calling. They are being drawn from around the world, to help save it from...whatever it is that is threatening to destroy it! (I know what it is. You don't. That's how this works.)

This would be a High Magic, High level campaign, and not only elemental magic is used. That's just where the crisis is. However, it does determine what kind of character you can make. In other words, you must choose EITHER a qualifying race OR a qualifying class, as follows:

Qualifying Races:

Aarakocra
Goliath
Teifling
Triton
Any Genasi

Qualifying classes:
Druid
Monk (Way of the Four Elements, will be using a rehashed version I will post later)
Sorcerer (Stormborn only, but can also use homebrewed versions of the other three elements that I will also post later)


So basically, if you really want a fighter, you have to pick a qualifying Race. If you really want to play a Halfling, you have to pick a qualifying class. If you think another race or class should be included as a qualifying one, then ask, and I'll consider it based on your argument.

The point is that these characters have all been touched by the planes somehow. Aarakocra live in the Plane of Air, and Triton hale from the Plane of Water. Goliaths, in this world, stem from the Plane of Earth, while Teiflings...well, I wanted another fire race, and it was either Teifling or Dragonborn, and Dragonborn is not exclusively fire, so whatever. Genasi are, obviously, a classic choice for this type of campaign, but I wanted at least one additional race for each element.

I would love to have at least one character to represent each element. But, we'll see if anyone is actually interested before I put that kind of rule on it. I might say that these races are all fairly rare, so we shouldn't have more than one of the same elemental race.

So? Any takers? Any thoughts on how to a game like this would work? This would be my first time DMing a Pbp here on Enworld, though I've done it elsewhere and it's gone great. Tell me what you think!

Multiclassing is encouraged, as well. In fact, so much so that I'm going to homebrew some multiclassing rules. Such as, you get an ASI's based on character level, not class level, except for Fighter who gets an extra one at levels 6 and 14. If not using a Qualifying Race, then only the first three levels must be in the Qualifying Class. After that, you can multiclass them to their heart's content. After 3 levels, they are sufficiently bound to that elemental plane.


I have not decided on a starting level yet, but I will keep you updated.

I'm interested.

I am interested, although I must admit that it would be on top of the 4 PbP campaigns I'm currently playing in so I'm not sure if I have enough time. But the interest is here, on my part!

Just out of curiosity, why not include dwarves as a race connected to the earth?

Wonderful!

You know, I did think of that. I also thought of Deep Gnomes for Earth as well. I guess I really just wanted to have more uncommon races. You know, the fringe races that few people (that I've actually seen) will play. Though, you can make a case for Dwarves if you want to play a Dwarf that isn't one of the Qualifying classes, and I'll consider it.

Actually, here's a decent thought that I don't think would break the game much. Genasi shouldn't just be human based. They should be based off of any race. So here's what I'm going to do. If you want to play a race other than the four listed (Aarakocra, Goliath, Teifling or Triton), then your character is a Genasi of that race. Human Genasi have the stats listed in the Elemental Player's Companion. For races that have subraces, instead of picking a normal subrace for that race, you pick one of the Genasi subraces.

So, if you want a dwarf that is linked to the earth, then instead of being a 'hill dwarf' or 'mountain dwarf', it's an Earth Genasi Dwarf, so it gets the Strength increase, Earth Walk and Merge With Stone. If you want a Fire Genasi Dwarf, it gets Int increase, Darkvision, Fire resestance and Reach to the Blaze.

This way, it opens up to more races.

Dragonborn and Teifling cannot be Genasi, because they are already half something and don't have subraces to easily change out abilities. If you want to be half orc or half elf, we'll have to talk about what abilities they have, cause that's gonna be a little harder.

I love it!

I'm going to change the restrictions on class as well. Mostly, there won't be, but some of the classes will have a few restrictions, based on what race you chose.

Only Dragonborn can choose the Dragon Blood Archetype for Sorcerers. They don't have to be sorcerers, but if you want a dragon blood sorcerer, it has to be Dragonborn. No wild magic, so any other sorcerer has to pick an element, and that's where they get their power. I'll post the homebrew I'll be using for Water, Earth and Fire sorcerers once we have enough people to make this interesting. I'm going to allow Dragonborn as a race, because in this homebrew, I've decided Dragons have a connection to the elemental planes, and one in ten Dragonborn are born a Dragon Blooded Sorcerer. They become important figures in their clans.

Druids are different. Druids are about balance among the elements. As are Four Elements Monks. These two classes are allowed for any race, even non qualifying ones. Normal Humans, elves, dwarves, or whatever are allowed if they are one of these two classes. This is because of these classes' connection to the elements. You can be a Shadow Monk, but you'd have to be a qualifying race. I will also be using a homebrew rehash of the Four Elements Monks to make them more viable.


As part of the ongoing story, there are going to be four Genies, one of each type, that will act as guides/quest givers. They will, of course, favor those characters who align with their element. They are trying to stop whatever it is threatening the foundation of the universe, but they are Genies. This means they aren't exactly to be trusted. They love to manipulate people, and they hate each other. This will cause some interesting strife as some may try to undermine other Genies while at the same time still trying to accomplish the goals. This will give some players the opportunity to potentially gain more power, if they can gain the favor of their genie, but only their own Genie. No Genie would be caught giving favor to someone touched by a different element.

Druids and Monks could gain favor from any of the Genies, or none of them, depending on their actions.

tglassy said:

Actually, here's a decent thought that I don't think would break the game much. Genasi shouldn't just be human based. They should be based off of any race. So here's what I'm going to do. If you want to play a race other than the four listed (Aarakocra, Goliath, Teifling or Triton), then your character is a Genasi of that race. Human Genasi have the stats listed in the Elemental Player's Companion. For races that have subraces, instead of picking a normal subrace for that race, you pick one of the Genasi subraces.

So, if you want a dwarf that is linked to the earth, then instead of being a 'hill dwarf' or 'mountain dwarf', it's an Earth Genasi Dwarf, so it gets the Strength increase, Earth Walk and Merge With Stone. If you want a Fire Genasi Dwarf, it gets Int increase, Darkvision, Fire resestance and Reach to the Blaze.

Click to expand...

Simple and elegant. I really did think that the Genasi, Aasimar and Tiefling should have been subraces of a "Plane touched" race anyway.

Starting to think about character ideas now. Looking forward to more information and hoping for enough interest.

I will warn... I suck at this game.

Don't worry about sucking or not. Just worry about having fun. Make an interesting character that you like, play them true to themselves. The people I've met who have the most fun at this game are the ones who make "Characters", not just characters. In other words, "I'm a dwarven cleric that worships a god of Fire, so I stare longingly at the sun for hours every morning, and I talk with a Belgian accent." And then he actually does, every time he talks for the character. Or "I'm an aarakocra, and so I act like a bird". And so he does. Every time his character did something, he acted like a bird.

If you suck at creating a character for combat reasons, just decide what role you want to play in combat. Melee attacker? Damage Soaker? Sniper? Battlefield control? Rain down the heavens on to your enemies? Decide that, and the combat portion of the build will take care of itself.

But not everything is about combat. I enjoy a lot of role play as well (though I'll tailor the game to what the players like). So maybe you're the party face who just isn't that good at combat. When you need to persuade the guard to leave his post, you're the guy to go to. When the fecal matter hits the oscillating household appliance, you're scrambling to stay alive and find a way to help the others. You'd still be useful, you just don't do combat well. I'd still make sure you had fun.

What follows is just one school of belief regarding the creation of the world, and is the most widely accepted explanation in the Continent of Elindil.

The Elemental Planes have a more direct role in the creation of the world than in some other settings. The gods, or at least some powerful beings who wanted to create the world, delved into those planes at the beginning, bringing out Elementals to help them shape the world. Those Elementals did so, acting as a channel from their plane to the Material Plane.

Thus, every body of water, area of land, mountain, and current of air has their own Elemental. The Sun was born from a single Fire Elemental. These Elementals keep the world together through the force of their will, siphoning power from their planes to do so. This process has been stable for thousands of years.

But this is just how the world was created. More specifically, the matter of the world. Life came elsewhere, magic from somewhere else. A number of pantheons have risen, each of them claiming to be the original. But everyone knows of the Elementals.

Travel to the Elemental planes is possible. And at times, living souls have died there. Souls that die in the elemental planes are unable to leave. After millennia trapped in that elemental plane, the living soul eventually coalesces a body. These are the Genies. They do not remember anything from the soul that gave them birth. That soul simply gave them life, their personality, who they are, is determined by the element they rose from.

These Genies declared themselves the natural rulers of the Elemental Planes, and few could argue. They are powerful. Some are so powerful, they can even alter the very fabric of reality, granting wishes to those to whom they grant favor. Sometimes, they come to the Material Plane, or mortals make their way to the Elemental Planes. Having started their existence as mortals with mortal souls, they are capable of having children with mortals. When this happens, a Genasi is born, though the Genie rarely care about their offspring.

In ancient times, whole groups of people went into the planes, and decided to stay. Over generations, their bodies were altered by the magic of those realms, to create the Aarakocra, the Tritons, the Goliaths and the Teiflings.

When these races made their way back to the Material Plane, they were met with mostly fear and revulsion, especially Teiflings, who resembled the demons of their collective religions.

The Genasi were accepted a little more, for often they could hide their heritages.

Divine magic is not unheard of, but rare. Many people don't believe in the gods, or in demons for that matter. They know the Elementals exist, but for some, the divine is just too much. There are Clerics, but they are typically met with suspicion by those who doubt, and awe by those who believe.

Every now and then, a surge in elemental power escapes into the Material world. Those who are touched by it can sometimes have power awaken in them. These are the Sorcerers.

Then there are dragons. They are the first race to learn how to harness the power coming from the Elemental Planes. They later took mortal form, and sired the Dragonborn Race. There is at least one clan for each color of Dragon.