Greco-Roman D&D

[Voda Vosa]

Some classes will have to be changed a lot, for example clerics are no more, Priests take their rol, but they are totaly diferent characters, dressed with robes and holding staffs. There could be some sort of sorcerer , there allways be sorcerers anywhere =P
Nobles would be a nice char, like the ones in star wars d20. Influent people, wealthy and self centerd.
Barbarians must be count in, at least for some regions.

With races you could do the next, give diferent "race" bonus for the diferent cities. Atenas give its citizens a +2 Int or Sparta a +2 str. Roma could have charismatic felows. Corintos was known by its wise habitants, etc.

 

[Ambrus]

I second Sean K. Reynolds' "The New Argonauts" as a worthwhile ressource. It's short and covers all the pertinent issues you are no doubt debating in your own head. I'll wait to read more in this thread in regards to what you decide before pitching a character concept.

 

[Necro_Kinder]

Thanks for recommending that book, Defcon (and Ambrus), it actually is pretty helpful. I think, though, I shall use a homebrew of Iron Heroes (for defense modifiers and armor DR), New Argonauts (for scions and feats), and of course, core D&D. I will work on how this'll work this week and post character gen stuff hopefully on or before this weekend

I like the city state idea, that might fit in nicely, and as for classes, I think I shall have a combination of The New Argonauts class abilities-as-feats thing, plus some heavily modified core classes. Any input on this would be appreciated.

 

[jonathan swift]

Sounds interesting to me. I don't have any ideas off hand but if I think of anything I'll be sure to post them.

 

[Imperialus]

OH! If there is space I'd love a historical campaign. Sign me up for a fighter type.

One suggestion, at least if you can get your hands on it might be to use the combat rules from A Game Of Thrones D20. basically combat is an opposed roll with the attacker rolling D20+str+BAB and the defender rolling D20+Dex+Shield. If the attacker hits, then the armour DR is subtracted from the damage roll.

As for weapons and armour, most of what you have looks good, some name changes are all you'd really need. Personally I'd change the following

Long Sword = Xiphos
Saber = Makhaira
Scimitar = Kopis
Short Sword = Gladius or (a short version of the Xiphos developed by the Spartans that I can't remember the name of)
Spear = Doru (or the spear used by the Roman Triarii that again I can't remember the name of)
long spear = Sarissa
Javalin = Pilum

Those are the big ones... I'm at school right now so I don't have access to my books but I'll thumb through them once I get home

There is also a sort of laminated armour used by the greeks after bronze began to go out of fasion but I can't remember it either.

 

[Necro_Kinder]

As for weapons and armour, most of what you have looks good, some name changes are all you'd really need. Personally I'd change the following

Long Sword = Xiphos
Saber = Makhaira
Scimitar = Kopis
Short Sword = Gladius or (a short version of the Xiphos developed by the Spartans that I can't remember the name of)
Spear = Doru (or the spear used by the Roman Triarii that again I can't remember the name of)
long spear = Sarissa
Javalin = Pilum

Yeah, I had most of these written on my list, but I figured just to put up the D&D names on here for now, as to not confuse those who aren't history buffs

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Here are some Hebrew weapons and armors that were used in the same times of the Roman and Greek empires and even earlier

Magen – A wooden shield, crafted like "Star of David".
Tzina – Some sort of leather armor dipped with oil.
Shir'ion –armor, made of metal – usually copper, tainted with gold.
Pipiot – two sided metal sword.
Hanit – Wooden spear with iron tip

 

[Voda Vosa]

I ll sugest some clases:

Fighter
Priest (Here fit clerics druids and any class alike, the spells-all of them- will depend on the gods que pc folows. For example a priest of gea or persephone could be druids, and priests of Era could be the standar healer )
Barbarian
Ranger
Bard
Scoundrel or rouge

 

[Imperialus]

One thing that I think might be important is to decide what sort of metal working would be available? Is it bronze age Greece? Iron age Greece? Republican Rome (iron)? Imperial Rome (steel)? If you are allowing banded mail as lorica segmentata it also makes sence to allow chainmail, as lorica hamatta.

It's also important to note that one of the most important peices of equipment that a soldier would have is a shield, they were affordable and offered a great deal of protection. Heck the Roman Pilla was specifically designed to render shields useless which should evidence the importance that they have. They'd be far more valuable than simply adding +1 or 2 to your AC. That's one thing I liked about the GoT system. A large oak shield would give +8 to your AC forcing opponents to either hope for a lucky roll or bash through it and render it useless.

 

[Necro_Kinder]

Sorry Strahd, but I was thinking only Greek PCs

Imperialus: Hellenistic Greece, Republican Rome (so iron, not steel)

And what I have so far

[Sblock=Character stuff]Greek pantheon vs. Roman pantheon
Hellenistic Greece and Republican Rome


PCs will be Greek characters—Spartan, Athenian, Macedonian, or from other city-states and regions. Different places of origin will give different bonuses to characters, but I’m still working on them.

Starting level will probably be somewhere in the range of 4-6.


Simple Weapons
Dagger
Sickle
Club
Mace
Spear (Doru)
Long spear (Sarissa) (upped to 15 ft reach)
Quarter staff
Javelin
Slings
…?

Martial Weapons
Hand axe
Throwing Axe
Short sword
Battleaxe
Long sword (Xiphos)
Scimitar (Kopis? Makhaira?)
Trident
Great club
Greataxe
Short bow
…?

Exotic Weapons
Gladius (Always masterwork)
Pilum (As spear, but easily sunder opponents shields, might bend in melee, throw only once)
Net
Bolas

Armor and Shields
Leather
Studded Leather
Hide
Breast plate
Buckler and light and heavy shields

All as Iron Heroes: shields provide a defense bonus while armor provides damage reduction. The breastplate gives 1d6/magic DR.

Exotic Armor and Shields
Chain Mail (medium)
Half plate (Heavy, very expensive)
Tower Shields

Chainmail also gives 1d6/magic damage reduction, and half plate gives 1d8/magic.

Basically Greek weapons and armor, Roman/anyone else’s stuff is exotic.


Classes
Archer, using Shadowfoot’s class (http://boards1.wizards.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-174367); poor base defense

Fighter, as class; excellent base defense

Barbarian, as class; average base defense

Priest, as Cloistered Cleric (with modifications); poor base defense

Rogue, as class; poor base defense

Scout / Peltast, as class (with modifications); average base defense

War-priest, as Cleric (with modifications); excellent base defense


Prestige Classes
I’m making a Hoplite prestige class—HD 10, spear and shield oriented class for Fighters.

Others can also be used, but I’m working on a list for those too.

Gods and Classes
Priests vary depending on the god. Most deities have regular priests (Cloistered Clerics), but more martial ones have war-priests (Clerics).

Priest – Aphrodite, Apollo, Demeter, Dionysus, Hades, Helios, Hephaestus, Hera, Hermes, Hestia, Selene, and most other possible gods.
War-priest – Ares, Artemis, Athena, Poseidon, and Zeus.

The Cleric and Cloistered Cleric will be modified for use, but I haven’t finished the list of changes. Some changes include: both types of priest will be proficient automatically with their god’s weapon; turn undead will be replaced by something else; a few spells (Summon Monster, some Necromancy spells) will be unavailable; and Cloistered Clerics, instead of automatically receiving the Knowledge domain, will automatically receive a bonus domain depending on the deity (e.g. Dionysus’ clerics receive Madness, Aphrodite’s Charm, and so forth).
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