Bloodlines

[Roman]

Fey are majourly important in my campaign, since a good number of important NPCs are part-fey. The PCs have spent a good deal of time in Ireland, and they went to Pictland and Wales, and are planning a voyage to Aiaia (Kirke's home in the Mediterranean), although they are going to Ireland right now to commune with the Tuatha de Danaan. All my Arthurian and Celtic research (Fenian Cycle, Mabinogion, Book of Invasions, Chretien de Troyes, Nennias, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Marie de France, and more ).

Sounds interesting - I do not know that much about the Arthurian setting. I have basically heard one version of the Arthurian legend once or twice and the rest of my Arthurian info comes from the campaign I am playing. I am from Slovakia and the Arhurian legend is pretty much unknown in my country - well, it is known, but approximately in the same way as people in the U.S. know say about the Mahabarata. I would guess they know it exists and know the basic premise but only a few know any details about it.

Fey are cool.

Agreed!

I made a large number of different half-fey templates too (Nia has her own, and its different than Selene's [Morgaine le Fay's daughter]). I'd be happy to share anything of mine with you.

Well, my character, Sir Anton is now an elf of Auberon and owes direct fealty to Nimue (he is a Blue Knight), so anything related to any of these would be particularly interesting.

Your homebrew sounds cool; it sounds like the WoT, which is a great setting. I have a few homebrew worlds too, with fun stuff going on like that.

Thanks, the homebrew is working well and the campaign has been running for some years now to everybody's general satisfaction. Currently, the PCs are about 13th level and they are children of the previous PCs in the campaign who are now retired. I have plans to bring the old PCs out of retirement and let the players use them in truly legendary adventure that has already been set in motion by their actions, but the old PCs were 2nd edition characters, and I hate the current implementation of Epic rules (I did not care for the 2nd edition interpretation too much either but it was better than this one), so it will have to wait...

 

[Rystil Arden]

Sounds interesting - I do not know that much about the Arthurian setting. I have basically heard one version of the Arthurian legend once or twice and the rest of my Arthurian info comes from the campaign I am playing. I am from Slovakia and the Arhurian legend is pretty much unknown in my country - well, it is known, but approximately in the same way as people in the U.S. know say about the Mahabarata. I would guess they know it exists and know the basic premise but only a few know any details about it.



Agreed!



Well, my character, Sir Anton is now an elf of Auberon and owes direct fealty to Nimue (he is a Blue Knight), so anything related to any of these would be particularly interesting.



Thanks, the homebrew is working well and the campaign has been running for some years now to everybody's general satisfaction. Currently, the PCs are about 13th level and they are children of the previous PCs in the campaign who are now retired. I have plans to bring the old PCs out of retirement and let the players use them in truly legendary adventure that has already been set in motion by their actions, but the old PCs were 2nd edition characters, and I hate the current implementation of Epic rules (I did not care for the 2nd edition interpretation too much either but it was better than this one), so it will have to wait...

Hmm...the problem with my info on Nimue and coloured knights is that it is completely homebrew, and my guess is you guys are using one of those published setting supplements? For instance, there are so many different versions of the Arthurian cycle, that even though both of us have a Nimue, yours might be the Lady of the Lake (for me, that's Vivienne), whereas mine is the daughter of a siren who trapped Merlin after learning his magics.

So my fluff won't help, but if you need any crunch, I can see if I have it.

Oh, and my elves are also fey, but they have Level Adjustments because they have big stat and skill bonuses, and its all homebrew.

As for the current epic system, its much better than 2E DM's Option High Level Campaigns, but it breaks badly at around level 30-40 or so.

 

[Roman]

Hmm...the problem with my info on Nimue and coloured knights is that it is completely homebrew, and my guess is you guys are using one of those published setting supplements? For instance, there are so many different versions of the Arthurian cycle, that even though both of us have a Nimue, yours might be the Lady of the Lake (for me, that's Vivienne), whereas mine is the daughter of a siren who trapped Merlin after learning his magics.

So my fluff won't help, but if you need any crunch, I can see if I have it.

Well, the crunch is always nice too. The DM of the campaign is always on the lookout for inspiration and crunch. Besides, that it is homebrew is not bad - we do use a supplement (Arthurian Legends: Legends of Excalibur - great book BTW), but the DM combines this with his own homebrewed creations as well as other external sources depending on what he likes most. I am also always on the lookout for things (fluff & crunch) to suggest/show to the DM that could enrich the campaign.

Oh, and my elves are also fey, but they have Level Adjustments because they have big stat and skill bonuses, and its all homebrew.

Level adjustments are not a problem at all. If you have unique fey elves they would be greatly appreciated.

As for the current epic system, its much better than 2E DM's Option High Level Campaigns, but it breaks badly at around level 30-40 or so.

I actually like the current epic system even less than 2E DM's Option: High Level Campaigns, but I was not particularly fond of that implementation either. I particularly dislike the treatment of magic - the entire 'epic spell/true dweomer' system does not sit well with me at all - I would have much preferred simply having higher level spells (10th and perhaps even 11th and 12th and maybe even higher). Also, I would like to have seen more seemless transition between normal and epic levels (no sudden stop in progressions of BAB, etc.). Furthermore, I dislike the reliance on Feats for Epic Progression - I think that instead of trying to make Epic levels infinitely scalable, they should have limited the system to another 10-20 levels and done those well, while seamlessly connecting it to levels below 20.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Here's an example:

Ilsyra shi'Larizana Baarys, heir to the throne of Svartalfheim (aka. Ilsyra of Niflheim)
Svartalf Asn10/AAr2
14 29 16 22 16 22
HP 95 AC 22 (18 touch, 14 ff) F + 9 R + 18 W + 9
Ranged: +22/+17 or +20/+20/+15 1d8+4 (+6d6 SA) (+4d6 vs good) (+4d6 vs human)
Melee: +21/+16 or +19/+19/+14/+14 1d8+2 (off 1d6+1) (+6d6 SA)
Death Attack DC 23, Poison Save +5, HideIPS, Imbue Arrow, Spell-like Abilities

-------------------
Svartalf: -2 Str, +8 Dex, -2 Con, +6 Int, +2 Wis, +6 Cha, Free Ranks (gain 5*(8+Int bonus) skill points to purchase up to 8 ranks in skills. This may allow the Svartalf to qualify for the Assassin PrC at level 1), Fey traits, Spell-like Abilities (Svartalfs can cast Invisibility, Silence, and Darkness each once a day as a sorcerer with a caster level equal to their character level). LA +4, CR +2

 

[Roman]

Here's an example:

Ilsyra shi'Larizana Baarys, heir to the throne of Svartalfheim (aka. Ilsyra of Niflheim)
Svartalf Asn10/AAr2
14 29 16 22 16 22
HP 95 AC 22 (18 touch, 14 ff) F + 9 R + 18 W + 9
Ranged: +22/+17 or +20/+20/+15 1d8+4 (+6d6 SA) (+4d6 vs good) (+4d6 vs human)
Melee: +21/+16 or +19/+19/+14/+14 1d8+2 (off 1d6+1) (+6d6 SA)
Death Attack DC 23, Poison Save +5, HideIPS, Imbue Arrow, Spell-like Abilities

-------------------
Svartalf: -2 Str, +8 Dex, -2 Con, +6 Int, +2 Wis, +6 Cha, Free Ranks (gain 5*(8+Int bonus) skill points to purchase up to 8 ranks in skills. This may allow the Svartalf to qualify for the Assassin PrC at level 1), Fey traits, Spell-like Abilities (Svartalfs can cast Invisibility, Silence, and Darkness each once a day as a sorcerer with a caster level equal to their character level). LA +4, CR +2

Looks pretty good to me! Seems to be inspired by Scandinavian mythology, correct?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Looks pretty good to me! Seems to be inspired by Scandinavian mythology, correct?

Yes. My Arthurian campaign deals with Celtic themes as well as some slight Norse (due to the Vikings that liked to sail to Ireland). There is a Yggdrassil World Tree that helps connect the Celtic Otherworlds (so I have blended elements from the two sets of myths, plus Kirke and Aiaia are from Greek--lots of fun stuff).

Of course, elves show up rarely in my campaign, so they didn't receive as much attention from me as half-fey, particularly the spellcasting classes, which I revamped for the low-magicness.

 

[Roman]

Yes. My Arthurian campaign deals with Celtic themes as well as some slight Norse (due to the Vikings that liked to sail to Ireland). There is a Yggdrassil World Tree that helps connect the Celtic Otherworlds (so I have blended elements from the two sets of myths, plus Kirke and Aiaia are from Greek--lots of fun stuff).

A nice blend of themes I must say.

Of course, elves show up rarely in my campaign, so they didn't receive as much attention from me as half-fey, particularly the spellcasting classes, which I revamped for the low-magicness.

Makes sense - BTW: The supplement we are using for the Arthurian campaign is actually rather good - you may be interested in picking it up for inspiration and mechanical crunch, but on the other hand since you are in the post-Arthurian era it may not be as useful - depending on just how much has changed in your campaign world.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Well another problem, aside from being Post-Arthurian, is that I tried to use as much as possible of the original Arthurian stuff, and most sourcebooks would probably have the fake Arthurian info created by latter-day authors. Also, I took a look at a review of that sourcebook (that's why I was pretty sure you were using it) long after I had started my campaign, and its far too late to include their material because it clashes with mine (there is only one knight of each colour in mine, and they stand for different things). Thanks for the tip though!

 

[Roman]

Rystil, would it be possible to post any of the other fey bloodline templates you have made? They seem interesting.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Rystil, would it be possible to post any of the other fey bloodline templates you have made? They seem interesting.

Bloodlines or Templates? I've made a lot of half-fey templates, and a few bloodlines. I know where a few of the templates are, but I might have to dredge up the bloodlines. Oh, and the templates may seem strong for ECL 2, but I promise that I playtested them by allowing min/maxed 1st-level characters to take them and then putting them up against CR 7 challenges when they had full resources (should have been a terribly difficult fight that they might win, like a boss fight, if they were really ECL 3) and they lost every single time

> > > Half-nymph:
> > > Dex +4, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +6
> > > Add Charisma as a deflection bonus to AC
> > > +4 racial bonus to Handle Animal and Wild Empathy
> > > Distracting Beauty (Su): All humanoids who attack the half-nymph in melee
> > > combat suffer a -1 to attack and damage rolls unless they succeed at a DC
> > > 11 + Charisma Bonus Will save

> > > Half-dark sidhe:
> > > Dex +4, Int +4, Cha +6
> > > +2 to Spellcraft and Use Magic Device checks
> > > DR 2/cold iron (stacks with warlock DR)
> > > +1 to DCs and caster level of shadow/dark spells