I've done Core only: What about Complete Only?

[CrusadeDave]

I was thinking about this earlier today: My current campaign has been Core only. I did this for simplicity sake, as well as saving a few of my players the dangers of buying 4 more books.

What if I were to do the opposite?

What would a campaign look like with no Wizards, Rogues or Fighters, but with only the core classes from the Complete books? (Hexblade, Ninja, Warlock, Favored Soul, etc..) How would the campaign differ?

What about a campaign where all the spells in the Player's Handbook was off limits. Would conventions be that different if you were limited to spells in the Magic Compendium?

What about a campaign where you couldn't use the monsters from Monster Manual 1, but 2, 3, and other sourcebooks were legal. What would be the big difference?

Just a random idea.

To answer my first question, I think that combat would be much less "tank" oriented. With the exception of the Samurai, all of the melee classes either allow spell casting, provide bonuses for either sneak/sudden attacks, or focus more on movement (Swashbuckler/Scout).

With the Wu Jen, Ninja, Samurai, and Shugenja it would definately have an oriental flair to it. but arcane magic would be very pervasive. Spell Thieves and Warlocks being common classes seem to indicate that magic would be an everpresent part of society.

With no turning from Paladins and Clerics.. Undead are going to be much more deadly.

Other thoughts?

 

[Thanee]

Well, classes are no problem, but feats and spells (leaving out skill won't work at all) in the PHB are simply too basic and too much a foundation of the system to simply drop them.

Try playing a Warmage without PHB spells, for example.

Of course there are some spellcasting classes, which would still work fine, but those that heavily use the core spells would not.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Frostmarrow]

-Great Idea!

Sure, you are going to run into problems but if you solve any issues "in game" problems will only act to fuel the game. Things will sort itself and it will be a memorable campaign, I'm sure.

 

[Thotas]

You know, banning the core stuff for a while might be a way to get jaded players to rediscover it when it's allowed back in again.

 

[Nyaricus]

neat idea! I say keep the feats and spells and skills, but keep out the classes - they are truely the building blocks for characters anyways (becasue feats, spells and skills are based on them).

I don't think i'd ever go as far as to do this in my game, but i could see this as a neat campaign concept. Try adding in the mini's HB healer, and XPH for even more odd-goodness

cheers!

 

[wingsandsword]

I've got a friend who, as a game-design exercise, actually created a setting where the only character classes were the ones from the Complete books.

It's apparently possible, albeit it creates a very unusual setting. Completely swapping out core character classes for other ones is a way to make big changes to the feel of a setting relatively easily (when you don't have Paladins and Sorcerers, but have Hexblades and Warlocks instead, the setting gets a lot Darker, for example).

But yeah, spells and feats in the PHB are just too integral to the setting to ignore.

 

[Li Shenron]

I think you can do this as an experiment, but it's not going to work very well after a while. Spells & feats will suffice only to a certain extent, and not having core feats also means that the PCs couldn't qualify to many non-core feats as well. The equipment outside PHB is scarce, so you'll just have to allow the PHB basic weapons/armors early or late. Skills of course are more rules than character materials, so you could just not live without them.

The only part which could work is the classes. It will work for once, but then you'll be stuck with classes which are much less generic than the PHB in both flavor and mechanic (although some non-core spellcasters are generic enough), meaning that the players cannot easily come up with many character ideas. To be worth more than 1-2 campaigns, you'd have to pick the right players for it.

 

[Herobizkit]

I am one of those jaded players who hates core rules, so something like this would be great for a player like me.

I will echo what other posters have said and include base feats.

For spells, ignore the PHB and go straight to the Oriental Handbook. And, include the Expanded Psionics Handbook (XPH) for a whole genre of weirdness. Ditto for adding classes from the Minis Handbook.

I don't own any of the Completes, and probably never will. I wouldn't sink the required amount of cash to pull off such a campaign.

 

[Particle_Man]

One quick work-around is to only allow the phb spells that are on the spell-lists of the completes, and only allow the phb feats that are prerequisites for any feats in the completes, or are part of a class's abilities (The Hexblade's bonus feats, for example), and in the latter case, restrict it to those classes only.

I was thinking of doing something like this, but without the Oriental classes, and adding in psionics.

 

[Mouseferatu]

You know, I had this exact thought about a week or two ago. If you get the chance to actually put it into practice, I'd love to hear how it goes. I'm not going to have the chance to try it myself for quite some time.

The other idea I've been toying with is a "no arcane or divine magic, only psionics and incarnum" campaign, but it'll be some time before I can try that, either.