Conan (DnD 4th Ed)

[Khuxan]

Perhaps it's worth looking at the Age of Conan MMORPG. It has priests of Mitra (clerics or invokers), tempests of Set (clerics or avengers), bear shamans (shamans or druids), guardians (fighters), conquerers (warlords), dark templars (paladins), barbarians (barbarians or rangers), rangers (rogues or rangers), assassins (rogues), demonologists (warlocks), necromancers (warlocks) and heralds of Xotli (warlocks).

I'm not sure how true to the books it is, but it has the divine represented far more than the arcane.

 

[Thaed]

In truth magic should be extremely rare. An evil sorceror or a priest should be encountered very little and more than likely the players should not be either class.

At most one sorceror or one priest in your party. Conan RPG uses the scholar. As in the Cthullu type magic that is prevalent in the world is learned from dark ancient tomes/scrolls. REH and Lovecraft were contemporaries of each other so their monsters and magic share similarities.

 

[Nurgle84]

I will cut the divine completely out of my campaign (by the way, I found a bard character in an original Howard Story, under the sign of the phoenix (translation?), the character Rinaldo is obviously a bard) and Druid, Shaman, Sorceror, Wizard and Warlock will only be available as a multiclass. So far I have two bard players (my female players love the idea of playing a temptress) and a barbarian who wants to multi into druid. Sounds good so far. I am also expecting a battlerager fighter wielding axe and shield and some kind of monk (Reflavored Tempest fighter using Wis instead if Str, and str for all wis mentions as combat superiority) from khitai.

 

[RangerWickett]

If I were to do Conan with 4e, it'd be thus:

The only base classes are barbarian, fighter, ranger, rogue, and warlord. You can multiclass to any class, and if you become trained in Arcana or Religion, you can take Ritual Caster. Since money is rare, you can make human sacrifices for your rituals. You can offer the life of a human, and its worth is equal to how much the component cost for a ritual of that person’s level is. So a 10th level person can be sacrificed to perform a 10th level ritual, or you can sacrifice forty 1st level people.

Instead of having magic weapons, I'm thinking of making a slight rules tweak. You no longer increase ability scores as you level up, and there are no longer magic weapons or armor to grant enhancement bonuses to attacks and defenses. There aren't any more masterwork armors. However, instead of adding 1/2 your level to attacks and defenses, you now add your entire level.

You don't deal as much with your attacks at high level, but you'll hit more often. And you don't need top shelf gear to kick ass.

 

[Thaed]

Check out the Green Lotus vendor in Shade alley

Sounds like a nice mix for 4th Edition. Then the arcana and religion skills would require the PC to spend time either with a temple or at a school to learn.

Keeping magic in Conan 4E to the rituals is a nice touch. The beauty of the sacrifice system in Conan RPG is that you can boost your power by doing a bunch of sacrificing.

In Conan RPG you can also have your followers chant for periods of time to build energy for the ritual. (This explains the long drawn out cult "parties" where all of the followers are dancing about singing chanting "hyle quagoth" or something.)


Rinaldo was a bard, but he was really a rogue "bard" rather than an arcana bard.

 

[Nurgle84]

Rinaldo was a bard, but he was really a rogue "bard" rather than an arcana bard.

And thats the reasons, why I will refluff the bard to whatever my players want

Also, I do not think it is necessary to give my players some kind of bonus to make up for the lack of magic items. I give them a bonus Feat on odd levels (except 1, 11, 21) and the rest will be done behind the screen.

 

[Thaed]

Conquest or servitude?

I would agree with leaving out the extra bonuses, and question the removal of stat increases.

Actually I think 4E lifted the all stats increase from Conan RPG. Conan from when he started his career to the end grew in stature. His strength and other stats grew along with his skill.

Magic is for suckers or cult leaders.

There are masterwork items. But these are extremely rare. The material it is made of can give a bonus. Hyrkanian steal for instance. One other super metal that escapes me now. Check out Conan RPG for the name. Can't recall it.

Metal in the age of conan was mostly iron not steal. Inferior in many ways. Look at also providing primitive equipment also. This is very poorly made and would have a -1 penalty to all checks. Also breaks apart nicely.

 

[Bigassgeek]

Also, I do not think it is necessary to give my players some kind of bonus to make up for the lack of magic items. I give them a bonus Feat on odd levels (except 1, 11, 21) and the rest will be done behind the screen.

How will you be handling things "behind the screen?" Lower level monsters to fit their reduced attack/damage bonuses?

 

[Nurgle84]

double post

 

[Nurgle84]

Nope, I will just, instead of my players having an enhancement bonus, put an enhancement penalty on all monsters and be a bit generous with the kill.

For example:
Level 0-3 -0 to hit/def
Level 4-8 -1 to hot/def

usw.