crazy_monkey1956
First Post
Azgund. A land where daring, wit and skill with a rapier can raise a farmboy to the status of Lord. A land besieged nearly annually by the orcish hordes from over the mountains. A land where the merchant class, represented by guilds, vies with the House of Commons and the House of Lords for power and influence. A land where 'adventurer' is an officially recognized profession with its own guild. A land where disputes can be legally settled with a duel, often to first blood but sometimes to the death.
Recent history has not been kind to Azgund. Ten years ago, the Shadow War came to the land. A magical shadow darkened the sky as the orcs surged across the mountains in a horde ten times their usual strength. Drow struck in the heart of Azgund, assassinating several Lords and other major figures. An alliance of elves, dwarves, the soldiers of the human land of Turen, and even giants, all led by the Eldritch Knights, came to Azgund's aid and pushed the creatures back.
Now it is the year 1152. Every four years, the Tournaments are held in the Azgundi capital where everyone, from peasant to nobleborn and even non-humans can compete and potentially earn the title of Lord. This year presents great opportunity as several lords are stepping down, making their titles available and new provinces have been named or reclaimed, waiting for their first Lords to arrive.
But there is danger and intrigue surrounding this year's tournaments as well. A couple of the current Lords are being forced to compete for their titles for this year's tournaments by vote of the House of Commons and some say that the vote was fixed by certain Lords. And rumor has it that one Lord is going to stage a protest...and is the target of assassins.
Welcome to Crazy Monkey's homebrew setting, the Paths of Legend. This game is the sequel to Tragedy at Silvergard. As such, there will be story elements carrying over from that game, as well as players.
The premise of this game is a little different than a standard adventure. There are three ways to play in this game.
1. Compete in the Tournaments. There will be several events going on as the story unfolds and your character can simply compete in whatever events suit his or her fancy, either for the rewards attached to the individual events, or for a possible Lordship.
2. Participate in the Story. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, politics, intrigue and darker things, all surrounding the tournaments and affecting them. If your character doesn't want to compete, there will still be plenty to do.
3. Both. These will be the characters taking center stage. If you can handle a high post rate and want to experience the full potential of what this game has to offer, this will be the place for you.
Character Creation
For my players from Tragedy at Silvergard, I just need a fully updated character sheet and a brief idea of what your character has been up to for the couple of months since they returned to the capital. Note that Complete Scoundrel has been added to the books allowed list, so if you want to make a tweak or two to your 3rd character level, let me know.
For new players, characters are 32 point buy, 2nd level characters with 900 gold pieces to spend on gear. 2nd level hit points should be the average for your hit die (2.5 for d4, 3.5 for d6, 4.5 for d8, 5.5 for d10, 6.5 for d12) The following books are available as resources for character creation.
Player's Handbook
Dungeon Master's Guide
Monster Manual
Complete Adventurer
Complete Arcane
Complete Divine
Complete Scoundrel
Complete Warrior
Deities & Demigods
Expanded Psionics Handbook (see note 1)
Libris Mortis
Manual of the Planes
Monster Manual II
Monster Manual III
Races of Eberron
Rules Compendium
Savage Species (see note 2)
Spell Compendium
Unearthed Arcana (see note 3)
Note 1: Psionic characters have some special background provisions. Let me know if you want to play a psionic character and I will let you in on the secrets.
Note 2: I have done custom revisions of most of the monster progressions found in Savage Species, as well as several addendums. If you are interested in playing a creature with a LA and/or racial HD higher than 2, please let me know and I'll give you my version of that race's progression so you can start at level 2. Please also see house rules.
Note 3: Only certain options are available from this book. Specifically, Racial Paragon class levels and Specialist Wizard Variants.
Players wishing to play a cleric should talk to me first for details on the world's cosmology. This world does not use the standard PHB pantheon.
When making characters, don't worry about putting a "party" together since most of this game will not be a standard adventure.
[sblock=House Rules]Every Human character, in addition to Common, knows the language of their nation of origin. Every human character must choose a nation of origin, from the list below.
Azgund - Most closely resembles renaissance era Italy/Spain/France (without muskets and other firearms and explosives).
Djihon - Savage islanders semi-secretly controlled by Yuan-ti. Alternately, ex-Thayan slave ascetics who practice a zen-like philosophy called the Shadow Dance (the Monk class originates from this culture).
Drukkar - Northern Barbarians mostly resembling scandinavians, though with heavy draconic influences on their culture.
The Emirates - Arabian nights style culture ruled by elemental based castes that worship genies.
Thay - Similar to the Forgotten Realms nation (though with several tweaks, including the fact that the nation is ruled by the Circle of Eight).
Turen - Gaelic/Celtic mix of culture, Kingdom ruled by a Queen with a semi-secret cabal of druids pulling the strings.
Half-Elves speak Common and either Elven or one of the human regional languages. This choice also indicates in which culture the character was raised.
Half-Orcs speak Common and either Orcish or one of the human regional languages. This choice also indicates in which culture the character was raised. A half-orc who chooses a human regional language in place of Orcish adds Orcish to their Bonus Language choices.
The spells detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, and detect law only work against creatures, spells, items and other effects that have the appropriate alignment subtype. They also detect an individual that has an alignment aura as a class feature (clerics with access to an alignment domain, paladins, and blackguards).
New Feats
Wild Empathy [General]
You have an affinity for dealing with animals and magical beasts.
Benefit: This Feat works like the druid and ranger class ability, except the character adds her character level and her Charisma modifier to the d20 roll.
Special: Druids and Rangers automatically have Wild Empathy as a bonus feat. They need not select it.
Animal Companion [General]
The character may select an animal companion.
Prerequisites: Wild Empathy
Benefit: This Feat works like the druid and ranger class ability, except the character uses her character level to determine the animal companion's abilities and what alternative companions are available at higher levels.
Special: Druids automatically have Animal Companion as a bonus feat. They need not select it. Rangers receive Animal Companion as a bonus feat at 4th level.
The druid and ranger class features Animal Companion and Wild Empathy are replaced with these feats.
NPC Classes: Adepts, Commoners and Warriors don't speak Common. They may purchase it with skill points or select it as a Bonus Language if it is listed in their race's Bonus Languages section (this includes an entry of "Any" such as with Humans and Half-Elves).
Dragon Disciples: At each level where the Dragon Disciple would normally gain Bonus Spells, the Dragon Disciple instead gains an increase to their spellcasting level, spells known, and spells per day as if they had gained a level in a spontaneous arcane casting class (Sorcerer or Bard usually). If they have more than one spontaneous arcane casting class, they must choose which one to add the spellcasting level to.
Wealth and Bookkeeping: A player character can be assumed to have “on hand” and need not keep track of any non-magical, non-alchemical (except alchemical silver coated ammunition) expendable items equal in value to 1/1000th the amount a character of their level (character level or effective character level) should have according to table 5-1 on page 135 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. This includes individual units of ammunition such as arrows, bolts, and shuriken. At higher levels, this can include individual units of ammunition made of special materials.
Characters using Savage Species style monster progressions may multi-class at any time during their progressions. Their "monster class" counts as a favored class for the purposes of multi-classing.[/sblock]
Click here for more comprehensive information on the setting. This material will be updated and added to as time allows.
Tournament Events
The following events (and the prizes they offer to the winner) are scheduled to take place during the tournament. Each event also contributes to the character's overall tournament scoring for the purposes of winning a lordship.
Archery - Custom crafted Masterwork Composite Longbow (made to match the winner's strength)
Debate - Gold Chalice (worth 500 gold pieces)
Drinking Contest - Gold Tankard (worth 500 gold pieces)
Dueling Tournament - Masterwork Silvered Rapier
Fox Hunt - Masterwork Hunting Horn
Joust - Masterwork Military Saddle
Oratory - Gold scepter (worth 500 gold pieces)
Castles (Chess, also known as Tiger's Pawn) - Gold plated Castles set with Darkwood board (worth 500 gold pieces)
Wrestling - Leather belt with gold buckle (worth 500 gold pieces)
Vacant Lordships
The following provinces have open lordships that will be competed for.
Anovia - Lady Nineveh d'Anovia has been forced to defend her lordship this year by vote of the House of Commons.
Belle Cheval – Lord Avril fell ill and passed away last year, leaving his lordship open.
Guare – The half-celestial Lady Dawn is stepping down this tournament to focus on her role as High Priestess of the Lord and Lady of Shadow.
Jiradeu – Lady Vespa left the land in the care of her seneschal two years ago to attend to her ailing mother in Turen. Since she has not returned to claim defense of her title, her lordship has been opened this tournament.
Silvergard – Despite lying unclaimed and abandoned since 1141, The House of Lords believes that by opening competition for the land and title the winner will be motivated to reclaim the land…and the rich silver mine within its borders. A recent Adventurer's Guild expedition returned just a couple of months ago, reporting that the land is indeed abandoned.
Sisan - Lady Devera de Sisan has been forced to defend her lordship this year by vote of the House of Commons.
Vedlund – After more than 30 years, Lord Ezra is finally stepping down leaving Vedlund open.
Unclaimed (2) - Two lands recently mapped and charted by the Explorer's League on the northern border (extending the border of Azgund) have been made available for lordships, though the winners will have to build communities, establish trade routes, and make the new province prosper. The new lords will also have the right to name the new lands.
Recent history has not been kind to Azgund. Ten years ago, the Shadow War came to the land. A magical shadow darkened the sky as the orcs surged across the mountains in a horde ten times their usual strength. Drow struck in the heart of Azgund, assassinating several Lords and other major figures. An alliance of elves, dwarves, the soldiers of the human land of Turen, and even giants, all led by the Eldritch Knights, came to Azgund's aid and pushed the creatures back.
Now it is the year 1152. Every four years, the Tournaments are held in the Azgundi capital where everyone, from peasant to nobleborn and even non-humans can compete and potentially earn the title of Lord. This year presents great opportunity as several lords are stepping down, making their titles available and new provinces have been named or reclaimed, waiting for their first Lords to arrive.
But there is danger and intrigue surrounding this year's tournaments as well. A couple of the current Lords are being forced to compete for their titles for this year's tournaments by vote of the House of Commons and some say that the vote was fixed by certain Lords. And rumor has it that one Lord is going to stage a protest...and is the target of assassins.
Welcome to Crazy Monkey's homebrew setting, the Paths of Legend. This game is the sequel to Tragedy at Silvergard. As such, there will be story elements carrying over from that game, as well as players.
The premise of this game is a little different than a standard adventure. There are three ways to play in this game.
1. Compete in the Tournaments. There will be several events going on as the story unfolds and your character can simply compete in whatever events suit his or her fancy, either for the rewards attached to the individual events, or for a possible Lordship.
2. Participate in the Story. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, politics, intrigue and darker things, all surrounding the tournaments and affecting them. If your character doesn't want to compete, there will still be plenty to do.
3. Both. These will be the characters taking center stage. If you can handle a high post rate and want to experience the full potential of what this game has to offer, this will be the place for you.
Character Creation
For my players from Tragedy at Silvergard, I just need a fully updated character sheet and a brief idea of what your character has been up to for the couple of months since they returned to the capital. Note that Complete Scoundrel has been added to the books allowed list, so if you want to make a tweak or two to your 3rd character level, let me know.
For new players, characters are 32 point buy, 2nd level characters with 900 gold pieces to spend on gear. 2nd level hit points should be the average for your hit die (2.5 for d4, 3.5 for d6, 4.5 for d8, 5.5 for d10, 6.5 for d12) The following books are available as resources for character creation.
Player's Handbook
Dungeon Master's Guide
Monster Manual
Complete Adventurer
Complete Arcane
Complete Divine
Complete Scoundrel
Complete Warrior
Deities & Demigods
Expanded Psionics Handbook (see note 1)
Libris Mortis
Manual of the Planes
Monster Manual II
Monster Manual III
Races of Eberron
Rules Compendium
Savage Species (see note 2)
Spell Compendium
Unearthed Arcana (see note 3)
Note 1: Psionic characters have some special background provisions. Let me know if you want to play a psionic character and I will let you in on the secrets.
Note 2: I have done custom revisions of most of the monster progressions found in Savage Species, as well as several addendums. If you are interested in playing a creature with a LA and/or racial HD higher than 2, please let me know and I'll give you my version of that race's progression so you can start at level 2. Please also see house rules.
Note 3: Only certain options are available from this book. Specifically, Racial Paragon class levels and Specialist Wizard Variants.
Players wishing to play a cleric should talk to me first for details on the world's cosmology. This world does not use the standard PHB pantheon.
When making characters, don't worry about putting a "party" together since most of this game will not be a standard adventure.
[sblock=House Rules]Every Human character, in addition to Common, knows the language of their nation of origin. Every human character must choose a nation of origin, from the list below.
Azgund - Most closely resembles renaissance era Italy/Spain/France (without muskets and other firearms and explosives).
Djihon - Savage islanders semi-secretly controlled by Yuan-ti. Alternately, ex-Thayan slave ascetics who practice a zen-like philosophy called the Shadow Dance (the Monk class originates from this culture).
Drukkar - Northern Barbarians mostly resembling scandinavians, though with heavy draconic influences on their culture.
The Emirates - Arabian nights style culture ruled by elemental based castes that worship genies.
Thay - Similar to the Forgotten Realms nation (though with several tweaks, including the fact that the nation is ruled by the Circle of Eight).
Turen - Gaelic/Celtic mix of culture, Kingdom ruled by a Queen with a semi-secret cabal of druids pulling the strings.
Half-Elves speak Common and either Elven or one of the human regional languages. This choice also indicates in which culture the character was raised.
Half-Orcs speak Common and either Orcish or one of the human regional languages. This choice also indicates in which culture the character was raised. A half-orc who chooses a human regional language in place of Orcish adds Orcish to their Bonus Language choices.
The spells detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, and detect law only work against creatures, spells, items and other effects that have the appropriate alignment subtype. They also detect an individual that has an alignment aura as a class feature (clerics with access to an alignment domain, paladins, and blackguards).
New Feats
Wild Empathy [General]
You have an affinity for dealing with animals and magical beasts.
Benefit: This Feat works like the druid and ranger class ability, except the character adds her character level and her Charisma modifier to the d20 roll.
Special: Druids and Rangers automatically have Wild Empathy as a bonus feat. They need not select it.
Animal Companion [General]
The character may select an animal companion.
Prerequisites: Wild Empathy
Benefit: This Feat works like the druid and ranger class ability, except the character uses her character level to determine the animal companion's abilities and what alternative companions are available at higher levels.
Special: Druids automatically have Animal Companion as a bonus feat. They need not select it. Rangers receive Animal Companion as a bonus feat at 4th level.
The druid and ranger class features Animal Companion and Wild Empathy are replaced with these feats.
NPC Classes: Adepts, Commoners and Warriors don't speak Common. They may purchase it with skill points or select it as a Bonus Language if it is listed in their race's Bonus Languages section (this includes an entry of "Any" such as with Humans and Half-Elves).
Dragon Disciples: At each level where the Dragon Disciple would normally gain Bonus Spells, the Dragon Disciple instead gains an increase to their spellcasting level, spells known, and spells per day as if they had gained a level in a spontaneous arcane casting class (Sorcerer or Bard usually). If they have more than one spontaneous arcane casting class, they must choose which one to add the spellcasting level to.
Wealth and Bookkeeping: A player character can be assumed to have “on hand” and need not keep track of any non-magical, non-alchemical (except alchemical silver coated ammunition) expendable items equal in value to 1/1000th the amount a character of their level (character level or effective character level) should have according to table 5-1 on page 135 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. This includes individual units of ammunition such as arrows, bolts, and shuriken. At higher levels, this can include individual units of ammunition made of special materials.
Characters using Savage Species style monster progressions may multi-class at any time during their progressions. Their "monster class" counts as a favored class for the purposes of multi-classing.[/sblock]
Click here for more comprehensive information on the setting. This material will be updated and added to as time allows.
Tournament Events
The following events (and the prizes they offer to the winner) are scheduled to take place during the tournament. Each event also contributes to the character's overall tournament scoring for the purposes of winning a lordship.
Archery - Custom crafted Masterwork Composite Longbow (made to match the winner's strength)
Debate - Gold Chalice (worth 500 gold pieces)
Drinking Contest - Gold Tankard (worth 500 gold pieces)
Dueling Tournament - Masterwork Silvered Rapier
Fox Hunt - Masterwork Hunting Horn
Joust - Masterwork Military Saddle
Oratory - Gold scepter (worth 500 gold pieces)
Castles (Chess, also known as Tiger's Pawn) - Gold plated Castles set with Darkwood board (worth 500 gold pieces)
Wrestling - Leather belt with gold buckle (worth 500 gold pieces)
Vacant Lordships
The following provinces have open lordships that will be competed for.
Anovia - Lady Nineveh d'Anovia has been forced to defend her lordship this year by vote of the House of Commons.
Belle Cheval – Lord Avril fell ill and passed away last year, leaving his lordship open.
Guare – The half-celestial Lady Dawn is stepping down this tournament to focus on her role as High Priestess of the Lord and Lady of Shadow.
Jiradeu – Lady Vespa left the land in the care of her seneschal two years ago to attend to her ailing mother in Turen. Since she has not returned to claim defense of her title, her lordship has been opened this tournament.
Silvergard – Despite lying unclaimed and abandoned since 1141, The House of Lords believes that by opening competition for the land and title the winner will be motivated to reclaim the land…and the rich silver mine within its borders. A recent Adventurer's Guild expedition returned just a couple of months ago, reporting that the land is indeed abandoned.
Sisan - Lady Devera de Sisan has been forced to defend her lordship this year by vote of the House of Commons.
Vedlund – After more than 30 years, Lord Ezra is finally stepping down leaving Vedlund open.
Unclaimed (2) - Two lands recently mapped and charted by the Explorer's League on the northern border (extending the border of Azgund) have been made available for lordships, though the winners will have to build communities, establish trade routes, and make the new province prosper. The new lords will also have the right to name the new lands.
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