Dromus Prep Thread

[Kelleris]

Hey guys. Welcome to the Dromus planning thread!

This thread is where I'll post all of my house rules, and where you guys will post your characters once they are completed. Still working on the fluff to go with all this crunch, and I'll post that in a new thread in the "Talking the Talk" forum when it's ready (based on a vague notion that setting information is the DM's contribution to OOC stuff). Once the final(ish) version of the house rules and characters are ready, I'll move them to a new Rogue's Gallery thread and ask you to post your final character sheet there.

For now, though, I don't want full character sheets. Instead, I need two things from each of you - a character concept, with brief background and any requests you have for more detail in the house rules document.

The concept should not include much game rule information at this point, just some idea of what kinds of abilities you're looking at and what kind of person your character will be. Obviously, I don't want full histories until I've posted more of the world you'll be playing in.

As for the second thing, you'll notice that there are many holes in the house rules document. It's still a work in progress, and I need to know what to prioritize. If the Alienist looks interesting to you, post here and I'll get more information up ASAP. If you think the new parrying rule or the changes to the Sorcerer will horribly unbalance the game, post here (or PM me) and we'll talk it over.

That's all for now! Hope you guys have fun sorting out your characters. I know we're doing this in a somewhat drawn-out way, but I want to finally have something resembling a finished setting ready to go.

EDIT: This thing won't let me upload the whole House Rules document. That's a sign, I'm sure of it. Anyway, I copy/pasted the entire Classes section into a different document to make it fit.

 

[Tux the Penguin]

Well, I'm here.

As for a character concept, I'm leaning to the fighter/mage (or psion) type of character, although I might change it depending on the history and fluff, as well as what everyone else is going to be playing.

 

[Zeltrachaon]

Hey

I am not sure what I'm going to play yet, I need to review some of the new class information when I have more time. I wanted to post as soon as I got the chance though. I was thinking about making an Alchemist, but I'm not sure if it would work out well...

 

[Kelleris]

Zeltrachaon (you know, I've been misspelling that name for years now), are you leaning more toward a wizardly or a tech-using alchemist? The basic alchemy rules are identical for each of them, but they bring different things to the table in terms of additional abilities: a wizard has item creation feats (especially Brew Potion and Craft Wondrous Item), while a technologist has several skill-based abilities that can augment the creation of specifically alchemical items and is in the best position to take advantage of the fact that alchemical items work without magic.

I think you'll be able to manage an alchemist either way, but I'll need to work up a few things. Alchemy is unfortunately not designed to be a centerpiece ability for 8th level characters, and you have to go a bit off the beaten path to manage it. I've done it before with bard characters, though, and with a few new things to play with, especially the new masterwork rules, which would work well in this context, it would be even more viable. Fortunately for you, I already have a thing for nifty nonmagical equipment.

 

[Zeltrachaon]

hmmm... A tech Alchemist... I could see it working. I was hoping there was a prestige class around for it, since it is one of the common character concepts. I thought a character who benefited the party with the use of consumable items would be interesting to try. I need to review the Technologist a little more. Are mercenaries going to be allowed? I like the idea of making a shrewd, crafty -- and maybe a bit crotchedy or cranky -- character who is searching for Panacea -- the ultimate elixer. I was thinking that the character would likely have hired a merc or two, since he could probably afford to after selling some of what he produces. I need to mull it over a bit more.

 

[DemonWolfZero]

So I'll be playing Adinal in some way shape or form. Most likely in Psion form, rather than Psychic. For those of you who don't know, Adinal is a Telepath/Thrallherd. He is exceptionally good at talking and is well known around some parts of Dromus. I say "some" because necessity keeps him at the seedier levels for the most part.

Adinal is your go-to guy. You want something, go to him. You want someone taken care of, go to him. He's a good friend to have.

 

[Conundrum]

First, for all who are in our group, may I take this time to say...

DANNY!

And on with things. I'll be playing Vayshor, my Aasimarian (?) Sentinel. I'm still working out bugs like deities and things (still need to check out Book of Exalted Deeds), but overall Vayshor's the quiet type. She's devoutly against devils, demons, and any constructs. She's willing to go along with any rational plan, and because of earlier events, she will be atoning to Adinal for while. Oh, and don't mind my little companion, he's really mostly harmless.

 

[Kelleris]

I added a few new things to the house rules - listed above under "Dromus Setting House Rules v2.

- exhausting psionics to the psionic classes' individual descriptions
- changes to Spell Focus, Greater Spell Focus, Power Focus, Greater Power Focus, Psychic Focus, and Greater Psychic Focus feats
- added rules for reserve points under "Adventuring"
- added slower magical healing rules under "Magic"

The changes to psionics were made to better reflect the way psionics works in the setting, and the reserve points and magical healing rules (combined with the death and dying and resurrection magic rules already in the file) will hopefully make the tempo of the game somewhat closer to what I prefer. The idea is that your characters will be able to take quite a beating over time as long as they pace themselves. I have a tendency to either dole out hideous punishment and be disappointed when everyone wants to stop and rest or to want to slowly drain your resources when said resources are a bottomless pit of abundance. Hopefully these will help.

The only major change left that I plan to make is the addition of a modified version of the Call of Cthulhu and Unearthed Arcana sanity rules. I would like to occasionally unhinge your characters if the situation calls for it, but I only plan on dealing sanity damage in unusually traumatic situations and situations dealing with Far Realms creatures. Unless you really go out looking for trouble, neither of these elements will be particularly prevalent as regards cosmopolitan 8th-level characters.

I am also considering adding craft point rules (allowing for accelerated item creation and mundane equipment manufacturing) and contact rules (allowing for, well, contacts), depending on how significant a role I expect them to play. With DemonWolfZero's fixer and Zeltrachaon's alchemist, it looks like I'll have some typing to do.

 

[Tux the Penguin]

Hey Matt, let me make sure I understand this right... as psion with 100 power points goes down to 49 he becomes fatigued. Yet, when he rests for an hour, he gets 16 power points back?

Can this be done multiple times a day?

 

[Kelleris]

Once you hit 50 you would be fatigued, and once you hit 25 you would be exhausted. An hour of rest would put you at 33 power points and fatigued, and one more hour of rest would put you at 66 power points and remove the fatigue. An additional 6 hours of rest would put you back up to 100 power points. It can be done multiple times per day - it's just natural resting, for the most part.