Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="canucksaram" data-source="post: 6351308" data-attributes="member: 6778026">Here are some campaign setting notes and house rules that I will be using in my D&D fifth edition games.The  setting is based on the Moonsea region of the first edition of the  Forgotten Realms, and long-time gamers might recognize elements from the  Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Known World (Artesia) settings. Feel free to  use any elements that you like from this post.The canon nations  of Cormyr, Sembia and the Dales are now the Empire of Rozeis. The  region of the Smallsea (the Moonsea renamed) is home to a dozen small  kingdoms called the Blood Baronies. The area around Mulmaster is the  Duchy of Uelmor, broken away from the Empire; the Vast is the Kingdom of  Sylaire, once the Archduchy of Sylaire, also broken away from the  Empire and allied with Uelmor. The region of Impiltur is now The Free  Cities League. Damara is renamed Sorova and is home to giant-blooded men  who guard against the return of the White Wyrms and Frost Giants of the  High Ice. The last of the Lich Kings rules from the muck of Vazsvaya  (Vaasa renamed), north and west of Sorova but not yet swallowed by the  High Ice, and he actively seeks apprentices from those wizards who chafe  under the oversight of the White Tower and the Grey Council. Ogre Mages  rule a kingdom called Gorkor (Thar renamed), and there is a hobgoblin  empire called Khorshan west of Gorkor (in the area of The Ride).Across  the Inner Sea and far to the south lies the Empire of Vanyai, home to  Dragon Cult worshippers that claim to be dragon-blooded (Unther and  Mulhorand renamed), and farther south still are the realms of the Naga  Lords. The canon realm of Turmish is set to be a Dwarf realm (as yet  unnamed), and Calimshan is gone; in its place is a Dark Elf realm where  all non-elves fear to tread, also unnamed. The Anauroch and Narfell  areas are spellblighted wastelands fill with goblinoid tribes on the  fringes and who knows what sorcery-twisted monstrosities the further in  you travel. The Dragon coast is home to a handful of cities called The  Avisine League, founded by renegade merchant houses from Malathas (the  Amn and Tethyr regions renamed) and a variety of wizards that have  chosen not to join either The White Tower (wizards that follow the Seven  Laws of Magic a la The Dresden Files) or the Grey Council  (Dragonlance's three Towers of High Sorcery combined). The Sword Coast  is a vast and wild expanse of unsettled territory filled with teeming  herds of wild animals, multitudes of warring goblinoid tribes, hungry  giants, even hungrier dragons, and small pockets of Elves that have  refused to flee to Evermeet in the face of the coming Dark.The rest is still being written.1. Updated Skill ListAcrobaticsAnimal HandlingArcana (Arcane Lore)AthleticsBurglaryDeceptionExpertise: by TypeHistoryInsightIntimidationInvestigationLore: by TypeMedicineNaturePerceptionPerformance: by TypePersuasionProfession: by TypeReligion (Divine Lore)Specialization: by Narrow Focus (up to half prof. bonus)Sleight of HandStealthSurvivalBurglary  is the skill of a professional thief and is used for lock pick rolls,  trap detection and disarming, for casing places, and so on. The  Expertise, Lore, Performance, Profession, and Specialization skills  serve as placeholders for skills that might need to be accounted for  outside the current list of skills. For example, the Burglary skill  scold be represented by the Profession Skill (Profession: Burglar) or  the Expertise Skill (Expertise: Burglary).2. HealingCharacters  have a pool of healing dice equal to their proficiency bonus (instead  of their character level, which is the current rule in 5th ed). These  dice can be used during short rests when wounded characters have a  chance to assess their conditions and receive treatment for wounds,  injuries, and damage. This pool of healing dice refreshes at the rate of  one die per long rest. Any extended period of downtime (i.e., in  between adventures) completely refreshes the die pool. Otherwise,  natural healing will be per 3.5/Pathfinder. For those using Fate points  or the equivalent of "hero points" (or Conviction, from True20): A Fate  point can be spent to fully refresh one's pool of healing dice.Rationale:  the current 5th ed. rules state that all HP are healed at the end of a  long rest which is not only laughably unrealistic even for a fantasy  game, it takes away a lot of the specialness of healing spells. If a  long rest restores all HP then PCs will be all too happy to rely on  combat first and foremost, rather than as one of many options that they  could employ to resolve conflicts with NPCs and monsters, albeit one  that has real consequences and possible drawbacks for them. 3. Mana/Ambient Spell EnergyThere  are places in the world where the ambient level of magic can be greater  or weaker than the normal equilibrium that has settled throughout the  world. Ley lines crisscross the world and where two or more of the meet a  nexus forms, and in this place you will find mana welling forth.  Similarly, there can be places of relative mana drought. You can guess  where most wizards build their towers.Mana can coalesce into  physical objects and be harvested from them. For example, one might find  that the mushrooms growing at the base of an elder tree in a grove of  sacred oaks might be resonant with a buildup of magical energy and thus  make excellent components for a spell or a potion, or they might even  give a wizard that eats them enough spell energy to recover a lower  level spell slot. Mana will often resonate with the nature or character  of the place in which it accrues. Elemental mages in particular look for  this sort of coalescent mana, as do workers of white and black magic.The  most common form of coalescent mana in many parts of the world is  Passarite, a crystal that usually forms in hexagonal sticks of six to  twenty centimeters in length and one to three centimeters in width. When  broken these crystals release a form of mana that can be absorbed by  mages. This process requires concentration and takes a number of rounds  equal to the spell slot level of energy released by the crystal. A DC10  concentration check (Wisdom and Proficiency modifiers apply) must be  made each round for this to succeed; a single failure means that the  energy is released into the environment instead of being absorbed. Total  concentration on this process, in the form of meditation, will  guarantee success on each roll.If a Passarite crystal is used in  combat, no spells may be cast during those rounds that the mage spends  concentrating on absorbing the released mana, and he or she may not  attack, though normal defensive reactions are allowed. A grade 1  Passarite crystal can cost anywhere from 10 to 50 gp. The cost goes up  from there according to the cube of the crystal's grade, i.e. a grade 3  crystal would cost 25 to 30 times as much as a grade 1 crystal, and an  exceedingly rare grade 9 crystal would cost over 700 times as much as a  grade 1 crystal.4. CantripsCantrips seem very over powered  because of their "unlimited use" designation in the rules as written.  Further, the idea of unlimited use cantrips does not make sense within  the context of a world where mana flows and can even be used up until  natural replenishment takes place, and there is only so much divine  energy that a mortal can channel through their body. To wit: any  spellcaster can use a cantrip a number of times equal to (Proficiency  Modifier + Spell Attribute Modifier) until needing a short rest. This  ability can be recharged once by expending a level 1 spell slot, but  creates a feedback effect in the caster's aura . This feedback has no  game effect unless the caster wishes to yet again recharge their cantrip  casting ability without taking a short rest, whereupon it costs a level  2 spell slot to recharge a second time, a level 3 spell slot to  recharge a third time, and so on.5. Specialization Skill PointsEach  time you go up in level you gain a skill specialization point. This  skill point can only be spent on specializing an existing skill you  have, for example: +1 to Arcane Lore (Elementals), or +1 to Animal  Handling (Horses), or +1 Survival (Temperate Woodlands). The maximum  value for a skill specialization is half your base proficiency bonus  (round up). Combat skills cannot be improved like this---that is what  class abilities and feats are for.6. Experience Point Requirements for AdvancementLevel        XP Needed        Advancement Notes                    1        0            See PHB or DMG for notes.2        500            3        1,0004        2,5005        5,0006        10,0007        25,0008        50,0009        75,00010        100,00011        125,000 12        150,00013        175,00014        200,00015        250,000 16        300,00017        350,00018        400,000    19        450,00020        500,0007. LanguagesCharacters  begin with oral fluency in their native tongue (see below) and with  Tradespeak. For Halflings, their “native tongue” is a dialect of the  native language spoken in the greater culture within which they dwell,  much as Jamaican English is a “dialect” of English, but good luck  understanding it unless you have learned it! (Think of Brad Pitt's  character in the movie Snatch!). For each skill level in Arcane Lore,  History, and Divine Lore a character can choose written fluency in one  of the languages for which they have oral fluency.Dwarves speak their own tongue, Khûzsûl, and do not willingly teach it to outsiders.The  humanoid races speak a polyglot tongue that humans call “Goblin,” which  functions much like their version of Tradespeak. Hobgoblins speak a  highly structured and harsh sounding tongue called Ugushul, said to be  derived from the speech of demons; unless this tongue is learned from  birth it costs two slots for full fluency (one slot grants you  functional but obviously accented and sometimes awkward speech). Orcs  and goblins each speak a baser version of Ugushul that is nuanced with  different vocabularies, slang, and grammar.Elves speak a variety  of languages, which they delight in devising, modifying, and  perfecting. High Elvish (called Truespeech by the elves) is  never  taught to outsiders. Low Elvish (“Elvish” to most) is known by many  dwarf scholars and to a few human sages, particularly in its written  form, and has at least five fully distinct dialects.Humans of  the Inner Sea primarily speak Branach or a dialect thereof. High Branach  is also spoken by the nobility and learned classes and is distinct  enough in its spoken and written forms to require being learned as a  separate language. Being able to speak, read, and write High Branach is a  must for any mage, scholar, cleric, or historian. The plainsmen of  Valhassa, valley peoples of Essarhan, and citizens of Malathas speak  their own tongues and their merchants and traders are typically fluent  in Tradespeak. The giant-blooded men of Sorova have their own tongue  related to no others and the only foreigners they teach it to are those  who have become adopted bloodkin. Characters can learn Sorovese from  books and from a few traders and language scholars, but it will be a low  version of it, rather than the true tongue, until he or she has a  chance to live among the Sorovese and practice with native speakers.The  last two prominent languages are Vanyish and Gorkoror. Vanyish is at  least as complex as Ugushul and is spoken by the people of the Undying  Empire of Vanyai, who claim to be dragon-blooded and who are said to  still worship foul dragon gods. Gorkoror is spoken by the Ogre Magi of  Gorkor, the vast land of moors and badlands north of the Smallsea.8. What the average (educated) person knows about the world.We  live in what many count to be the First Era  of the Fourth Age.  Superstitious scholars avoid calling it the Thirteenth Era, but that  reckoning is considered valid by many. The Age of Men (ca. 5,000 years ago)The  realms of men spread after their victory against the elves in the  Second Era of War. Humans spread far and wide from their earliest  enclaves and found the first great cities, realms, kingdoms, and empires  of what is now a forgotten age. Humans begin to master magic in untold  ways. The last of the Dragon Cults are eradicated and worship of the Old  Gods flourishes.The War of Colors/The Time of Worms (ca. 2,000 years ago)The  Sorceror Kings vie for supremacy and their escalating conflicts, called  The War of Colors, nearly destroys the world; the greatest number of  survivors are dwellers of the Inner Sea lands and those refugees who  flee there; rise and fall of the Worm Kings in the centuries of  aftermath, as the Sorceror Kings cheat death through unlife and become  liches. Ascendance of the worship of the True Gods called The Singers.Time of Ruin (ca. 500 years ago)Aftermath  of the War of Colors; the last Worm Kings are defeated; the Bibliocaust  occurs and all writings on paper, parchment, reed, and vellum wither  and crumble into ash; the hobgoblin realm of Khorshan is founded; the  Ogre Mages of Gorkor expand their territories; the goblin races engage  in decades of frenzied raiding, pillage, and murder; spellblights,  spellstorms, and spellfogs (from the War of Colors) occur less  frequently and with reduced intensity.Time of Recovery (ended 80 years ago)Power  of men grows and human kingdoms vie for dominion; rise of empires  (Rozeis, Vanyai); the appearance of the Red Doom (a blazing red comet  that hangs in the sky for seven, eight, or nine days, according to  differing records); the gods begin to weaken; the Church of Purifying  Fire is founded in Rozeis and is instrumental in the ascendance of Hanse  I of House Rennsyr to the Throne; the very last of the Elves go into  retreat.Time of Sundering (the Present)The gods grow even  weaker in what is being called The Sundering; continuing rise of the  Church of Purifying Fire; various new cults emerge, as does worship of  half-remembered gods that predate worship of the Singers; the Elves have  vanished, except for remnants of the svart alfar (the Dark Elves) and  the grugach alfar (the Wild Elves); the Blood Barons war for supremacy  in the lands of the Smallsea; reported sightings of dragons increase;  the armies of Khorshan war with Gorkor, and the lesser goblin races  embark on new campaigns of plunder; the Dwarves of the High Horns (the  Desertsmouth Mountains renamed) renounce the rule of Rozeis and rebel;  rumors from the south speak of war between Vanyai and the Naga Lords of  Kesesh.9. The Church of Purifying FireThe gods Sik'kahlis,  Arras, and Annikar are the gods worshipped by this church. Chief among  The Pure Three is Arras the Mighty, Divinity of Honor and Lord of War.  Second to him are his consort The All-Mother, Sik'khalis the Glorious,  and their son Annikar the Wise, Lord of Pacts and Master of Law. This  arrangement is unlike other churches of The Singers wherein Sik'khalis  is supreme among the Song Stealers and Arras is her consort. In the  early days of the Church's foundation many of the High Priests of  Sik'khalis insisted that the Pure Three were false gods, but they were  purged for the crime of heresy. Rumors tell of surviving Old Order  worshippers of Sik'khalis fleeing to Ellisyr, Sylaire, the Blood  Baronies, the Free Cities League, and even Khorshan and Gorkor where  Sik'khalis is worshipped as The Dark Mother. The Church teaches that all  races are impure in varying degrees. Because humans are the youngest  race, they are the least impure. Most notable of all, clerics of the  Church of Purifying Fire have access to all levels of clerical magic—for  some reason The Pure Three have not been affected by the Sundering.10. Religion in the Sundered RealmsNote:  The following description of the gods of the Realms is presented from  the point of view of a human (Bran) scholar and follower of the Choir of  Light and only touches on The Singers.The true gods of the  Realms are The Singers, a pantheon of deities aligned in three factions  called the Choir of Light (proponents of good/law/light), the Song  Stealers (proponents of evil/chaos/shadow), and the Lone Singers  (proponents of neutrality/balance/twilight). There are other less  accepted and less powerful religions in the Realms; some are tolerated,  most are considered heathen, and a few are forbidden outright. There is  growing agreement among high religious scholars that each faction of The  Singers is needed for the cosmos to thrive—that the conflict between  the forces of light and darkness is a fundamental part of what drives  creation, and that if one side wholly dominates the other there will be  an end to all things either by stagnation or by destruction.The Choir of LightThorokir,  Lord of the Watch; called the Shining Knight, Battlemaster of the Gods;  Divinity of Valour, Righteousness, and Duty; the Embodiment of Majesty.Elennekka,  Lady of Solace; called The Blue Lady, The Healing Hand; Divinity of  Healing, Charity, and Tolerance; the Embodiment of Benevolence.Shay-Ohn,  Lord of Seekers; called Dreamsender, Keeper of the Roses; Divinity of  Temperance, Contemplation, and Diligence; the Embodiment of  Self-Perfection.Jiri-Shona, Lady of Justice; called The Sword of  Heaven; Divinity of Fidelity, Sacrifice, and Hope; the Embodiment of  Justice/Justness.Aurian, Lord of Cycles; called The Bow of  Heaven, Master of the Hunt; Divinity of Skill, Resolve, and Daring; the  Embodiment of Perseverance.Elloquar, Lord of Music; called The Bard King; Divinity of Happiness, Music, and Art;     the Embodiment of Inspiration.The Lone SingersBelekhor,  Lord of Crafts; called The Great Smith, The Maker; Divinity of Shaping,  Building, and Industry; the Embodiment of Creation.Na'oma, Lady  of Leagues; called The Silver Mistress; Divinity of Enterprise,  Ventures, and Risk; the Embodiment of Interaction (Reciprocity).Bendarath,  Lord of Letters; called The Gray Sage, The Loremaster; Divinity of  Learning, Inquiry, and Veracity; the Embodiment of Knowledge.Dannala,  Lady of Beasts; called Wild Mother, Mother of the Wood; Divinity of  Nature, Wild Things (Flora and Fauna), and Primal Urges; the Embodiment  of Instinct.Hethoros, Lord of Forms; called The Flowing One,  Master of Elements; Divinity of Natural Power, Passion, and Change; the  Embodiment of Transformation.Khay-El, the Wise One; called The  Keeper of Riddles; Divinity of Experience, Comprehension, and  Enlightenment; the Embodiment of Wisdom.The Song StealersSik'khalis,  The Dark Lady; called Dark Mother, The Tyrant; Divinity of Glory  (Pride), Control, and Mastery; the Embodiment of Domination.Arras,  Lord of War; called The Red Blade, The Tireless One; Divinity of Honor,  Might, and Vengeance; the Embodiment of Retribution.Annikhar,  Lord of Pacts; called Silvertongue, The Master of Law; Divinity of  Manipulation, Cunning, and Acquisition; the Embodiment of Exploitation.Sasasha,  Lady of Tempests; called The Darkling Lady, The Weather Witch; Divinity  of Desire (Covetousness), Passion (Lust), and Unbridled Power; the  Embodiment of Fury.Eshadi, Lady of Pain; called The Black Tongue; Divinity of Hate, Punishment, and Jealousy; the Embodiment of Malice.Torrikhol,  Lord of Maggots; called The Defiler, Lord of the Undead; Divinity of  Darkness, Rejection, and Decay (Enervation); the Embodiment of  Perversion.</blockquote>

Verification