where is the water demon? there are five.Repurposing existing rules...
Xianxia Basic Rules
Lineages:
Human
Gnome
Half-Orc
Dragonborn
Teifling
View attachment 136415
Classes:
Monk
Warrior*
Expert*
Spellcaster*
* as sidekick class, but with Monks martial arts progression
Rad. As. Hell.After some cataclysmic Great Fractionation event, the mundane world came apart, then reassembled itself into a reality dominated by the planar energies, Elemental, Light, and Dark. Ordinary humans dissolved. While souls remained intact, their bodies re-coalesced into new beings, each subtly marked by their primary constituent energies.
Races
(Sorry no in-world names or thematic tweaks for these.)
The world is a composite reflection of the worlds of planar energies, and of the Powers that dwell within them. All "magic" derives from those Powers, but people can draw on inner reserves to ends both mundane and mystical.
- Tiefling, Aasimar, Genasi - each based strongly upon its dominant energy
- Changeling - those of perfectly balanced fractions, but less stable than the others.
Classes
(It's tough to not include Ftr & Rog, as only really non-magical option, so I kept them!)
(Sorry no in-world names or thematic tweaks for these. )
Campaign / Setting
- Fighters and Rogues hone their own natural wits, muscles and skills.
- Warlockspull energies from a patron (though not necessarily one tied to their own bodily composition)
- note: Many adventurers dual-class between Warlock, and Fighter or Rogue
- (There are no other spellcasters in the world.)
- Monks draw on and amplify their own internal energies, more so than the average person.
- Artificers study the order of the world, and channel its energies through devices, reagents, and the like
(Sorry, nothing especially intersting regarding society in the world.)
For some reason I see this a distant post-apoc, Sword & Sorc'y world, long after the collapse of our own. The races and classes would be more "tuned" than bog-standard rulebook stuff. Themes of yin/yang-like balance, rediscovering civilization vs Patrons and their magic, etc. Who knows.
First off, super cool idea. Worldbuilding with constraints is always a fun mental exercise.You can use only non "core" folk to populate your world, and I challenge you to make their place in the world unique without making them nothing more than a joke or pun.
What are the 4 or more core peoples of your world, how are you building the world to make it feel like a world they belong in, and what do they think of eachother?
Bonus points if you can think of 4 classes outside the core 4 that are the most common classes in this world, and talk about how that changes worldbuilding and adventuring in your world!
Ready go!
well, here you go:Also...I won’t be mad if you cheat and include Halflings, because they so rarely get to be a historically and culturally important race in settings.
I like that a lot. Hell yeah.First off, super cool idea. Worldbuilding with constraints is always a fun mental exercise.
There's a setting premise I've been brainstorming which I think works for this with minor modifications.
The pitch:
Most S&S type settings (such as Primeval Thule) call back to a time when the world was a jungle ruled by serpentmen and suchlike. So why not set a game in that time.
Core peoples:
yuan-ti pureblood--rulers of many competing empires, led by stereotypical dark-magic-having evildoers (but with many dissenters & exiles)
dragonborn, tortle, lizardfolk, kobold--reptilian species uplifted by unethical yuan-ti science/magic to be soldiers and servitors
there was a revolution against one yuan-ti empire--its former territory is now a confederation of free cities ruled by these folks
tabaxi--evolved natively in a northern savanna region, which now has many small-ish tabaxi kingdoms
they are found as a minority everywhere--including the yuan-ti empires--in a wide variety of roles
githzerai--it is ancient times; the gith civil war isn't over yet, and this world is a githzerai refuge
there are many githzerai colonies--most at war with the yuan-ti, but otherwise neutral, some gith inhabit the free cities
githyanki--arrived with a military force to harass the githzerai, naturally
changeling--surveilance agents employed by the githyanki, particularly in the free cities, many have gone rogue or over to other sides
this a setting with 1910s level state and military sophistication, so there's lots of high level intrigue
well, here you go:
halflings--being as this is, from a human perspective, a prehistoric age lost to time, there are no homo sapiens sapiens, but there are australopithecines, the smaller hirsute ancient ancestors of humankind--they have lived at the margins in hiding from the cruel yuan-ti, but are now able to find security in small communities within the free cities, some of which explicitly welcome them
Most common classes (bonus):
Warlock: the yuan-ti pact with a lot of fiendish and eldritch beings; the shortcut path to arcane power is well known and well trod
Barbarian: the yuan-ti engineered a blood-rage in their soldier castes, and the corresponding warrior ethos has had staying power
Monk: the primary military discipline of the githzerai, which has diffused widely to the other peoples others via mimicry
Druid: the halflings have used nature magic to survive yuan-ti rule since time immemorial, they teach it widely in the free cities
there are plenty of fighters, rangers, rogues, sorcerers, and wizards (and maybe mystics for the gith), but other classes are uncommon
It probably goes without saying, but the primary adventuring area is the free cities region, which contains all playable classes and peoples, and still has lots of hidden underground military and science/magic compounds leftover from the old regime.