Airwalkrr's Shatterscape OOC (D&D 3.5)

[Kenku17]

I'm sensing a bit of a contradiction here. On page 1 we have a proposal for a philosophical religion without gods. Now we're adding gods. So, in an attempt at reconciliation...

[sblock=The Invested]
Beyond the realm of dream is a sea of chaos where all order breaks down. Intelligences and powers rise and shatter unable to maintain form or thought for long in the churning of chaos. Until the Dreamer came and showed those quicksilver intelligences a path back to the lands of law. Bursting forth from the dream, those powers clothed themselves in the material at hand: stone and shadow and sky and the other substances that make up Terrus. Many of these Invested found their power greatly bound by the substance they clothed themselves in. Others, however, still held great reserves of power and could also tap the dream-realm to maintain it. Eventually they learned they could transfer some of that ability to mankind...

So, this allows 'gods'; if by 'god' it is meant 'something with a lot more power than man'. And elementals, too, I suppose.
[/sblock]

By the way, my vote would be for Shatterscape/Terrus.

I apologize if I am causing a contridiction...I guess I thought the no god thing was more of the christian mirror in that there is a belief he is there and he controls things from afar(even though there is no real evidence) more than that there is the belief in that there is no gods at all. The Invested is a very good concept.

I seem to be constantly stepping on toes right now, just coming in...Ill try my best to read over whats happening agian, and try to post things that follow within it.

Edit:talking about stepping on toes, I see the title Dreamwraiths are already in use, and gave my ghostly idea the term "The Moaners"...will try topry into my mind later

 

[airwalkrr]

Don't worry about stepping on toes. As the DM, I would have said something if I felt your ideas would be pressing the envelope of the overall vision of the project. I believe there is room for hafrogman's proposal GlassEye refers to in this post as well as your proposal for Kredon. Whether Kredon is truly a full-fledged god as the rules of the game define it is probably a matter of philosophy anyway. Kenku17's idea could be one way of looking at it. There are probably a myriad of other possible explanations for characters in the game world. But you can still assign him domains and a portfolio and such.

The main idea to take away here is that there is not a vast pantheon on gods and goddesses scheming and breeding and bickering and getting involved in the affairs of the world as you see so often (Forgotten Realms, I'm looking at you). As it stands, the world "as we know it" has one faith, that of the Lawgiver, and everyone else is considered a heretic. But what about everyone else? There is still room for corner cases and other beliefs, even if they are not mainstream. The Lawgiver's church is likely to be the one with temples in every city however, so a priest of Kredon is not likely to find a lot of allies.

Also, it is ok for you to add to the lore of the dreamwraith, even though you didn't realize someone else had already used the term. It could just be a rumor that they are perfectly harmless. Or maybe the other way around.

Oh, and one more class to add. I'll probably do all the DMG ones, except the archmage and heirophant, whose abilities can just be made available as feats to wizards and clerics of 13th level and higher.

Edit: 2nd version of the blackguard uploaded. I realized I forgot to add an Ex-blackguard section (even though there isn't one in the DMG) and the fiendish servant chart was the still based on the old one.

 

[GlassEye]

I feel I need to apologize. Kenku, I didn't mean to imply that you were doing something wrong. Nor did I mean to imply that you weren't doing your job, Airwalkrr. I was posting from work as we were closing and I didn't give as much thought to my choice of words and phrasing as I should have. For all that, I apologize.

The idea of the Invested as elementals has been rattling around in my head since early on when I was considering a summoning sorceress. When I read Kenku's write-up for Kredon it seemed to fit pretty well with that idea but from the point of view of a Lawgiver. Unfortunately, in my haste that last part didn't make from my brain to my fingers and into my post.

 

[GlassEye]

...dreamwraiths... and dreamblades...

The dreamblade = actual item works for me.

The two terms could also work in a generic sense. A dreamblade could be anyone who manifests the powers of chaos and dream. This opens the idea to well, just about anybody who can do something strange that the Lawgivers don't like: sorcerers, wizards, psi of all kinds, clerics even. And a dreamwraith could be any number of creatures that manifest from chaos/dream. Given the mutable nature of dreams there are bound to be lots of different types.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Since we are talking about the divinations brought about by those connected to Dream, should we also look at alternating some of the divination spells so that Diviners have to enter sleep or a trance in order to use a small portion of their magic?

 

[GlassEye]

[sblock=Illene Mystics redux]Since the Illene Mystics announce their affiliation to the order with the tattoos crossing their faces and hands it has been joked that the only way to leave the order is by the hand of a Lawgiver. The Illene themselves say there are two ways. The first is to achieve a perfect understanding of the law and transcend this life into a higher state of existence. While they claim this state has been achieved by several anakoretes (high level mystics) there is no way to prove it one way or the other.

The second way is to lose control of the chaos that they have invited into their bodies. If the Illene cannot regain control fairly quickly they are lost to the dream. And so are born the Reaverwraiths. Their presence is announced by obscene black symbols that hover and pulse to some unheard manic beat. Since the reaverwraiths haunt the night these symbols are rarely seen until it is too late and the reaverwraith begins to manifest. The bodies of reaverwraiths vary greatly but are generally horrid mockeries and mutations of the men and women that they used to be. The only constant seems to be the symbols that stain the beasts body where the face might have once been. Understandably, the Lawgivers point to the existance of reaverwraiths as an argument against the Illene Mystics.[/sblock]

 

[Kenku17]

Is there anything on the peeps that run the House of Light yet? If not I may have an idea there. Also, what would be a good area to stick a drudic-esque woods?

 

[airwalkrr]

Since we are talking about the divinations brought about by those connected to Dream, should we also look at alternating some of the divination spells so that Diviners have to enter sleep or a trance in order to use a small portion of their magic?

I wouldn't want to make it mandatory, but as a variant we might be able to come up with something along those lines. I would imagine it would be a feat or something though. Such as a feat that grants you a benefit when using spells of the scrying subschool as long as you enter a dream-like trance.

Re: reaverwraiths, so they are essentially Illene mystics who got in over their head. Interesting stuff.

Not sure about the House of Light, Kenku17. Not sure if I have seen a reference to it yet. Are you talking about a religious order? And right now our map is fairly tiny. We know we have mountains to the south and a forest with some elves to the west, but other than that feel free to place the druidic order wherever you like. They could even share the forest with the elves. Of course, nothing says druids have to live in forests.

 

[hafrogman]

Not sure about the House of Light, Kenku17. Not sure if I have seen a reference to it yet. Are you talking about a religious order?

He may be referring to the Dawn House that was the first thing I ever threw into the campaign, back on the first page.

If I recall, I set that up to be look after by orphans previously saved by the house. But that still leaves plenty of room for founders, funders, secret backing organizations, not so secret backing organizations, etc. etc.

Throw anything in there you like, Kenku.

 

[Kenku17]

Ok, and yea I meant the Dawn House

[sblock=Guardians of the Dawn House]
Ran under the Church of the Lawgiver, the Guardians of the Dawn House are a small set of warriors that work with the Orphans of the Dawn House during the night to keep the patrons of it and their employees safe from whatever comes their way. During the day however, the Guard is primarly set out on small quests around Narovan to help support the common folk who are in need of services, and to fight for the justice of thoes who cannot do it themselves(as long that it doesn't require the breaking of laws that is). The Gaurd is largely made of LG(and sometimes NG) Clerics, Fighters and Wizards, but there are exceptions.

Figured thats a preety good start of what I have been thinking...in some ways with how religion is here, Im thinking domain rules for clerics are going to be based more so on "who you work for" so...

Alignment:Lawful Good, Neutral Good
Dawn House Guardian Domains:Law, Good, Healing, Sun?(since there is no light domain), Protection
Non Cleric Guardians have as a Class Skill Knowledge: (Religion)
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As for the other thing...meh...its not actually drudic, but this is what I was thinking of...

[sblock=Forest of the Bronze Dragon]
To the eastern side of the road that leads between Narovan and Westfork is a rather large forest with an ancient tale. Legend has it that the original trees of the forest were first grown from the body of a thousand year old Bronze Dragon as a gift from him to the Elves and Townsfolk of the region for all the help they had given him in his life. Before the time of the nightmares, the forest was a rich and full of life, and very much a paridise of sounds and smells to thoes who chanced a walk though it. The forest seemed to also give a blessing of a plentiful harvest to thoes that farmed around it.

This all changed when the nightmares came, as the forest and the animals within it were thoroghly thrashed and twisted by the nightmares, warping the place and blacking the wood, and removing much of the living life from within. Since that time, very few people have ventured within, as the warped tries, and sudden growls heard when you are near scare them away.

There is a strange hope however, as there seems to be a new lively, rampant growth occuring along the fringes of the forest which is very primal in nature...a rampant growth which is scaring the farmers as the forest seems to be attempting to rapidly gain more ground from thoes that live around it. This strange growth has led to many a whisper, including talk of the emergance of a council of druids inside the forest, the forest itself taking land that supposedly the farmers took long ago...or possibly even that the dragon has been reborn agian within it...

(The forest is temprate in nature, even though the dragons supposedly aren't as I last remeber)
[/sblock]