Dwarven Stronghold - a community effort

[Emiricol]

Re: Dwarven Religion

Another idea is to have a third religious force within the delve. Seeing as how the separate clans and guilds are important, ancestor worship through Shamans would be another interesting addition to the politics. Shamans are a standard class from Oriental Adventures

I think this is a great idea. I could see every family, or at least every clan, with one or more Shamans (DMG NPC class Adept perhaps, or the OA Shaman) in charge of communing with and worshiping that family or clan's ancestors.

An interesting Prestige Class might be one with Adept and Bard class requirements, and these could not only talk with the ancestors and guide the family in properly worshiping them, but could also maintain the family's oral tradition and history.

Hm...

 

[Darraketh]

Hmm... ancestor worship...

Deep within the stronghold in the "Hall of the Ancients" a solemn ceremony takes place. The body of a noble dwarf is laid upon the High Anvil as the Forgefather reads the "Rite of Rest" from the stone tablets of Solon.

The multitude of dwarven bretheren present answer the strong voice of the Forgefather with a chant far older than the wise words of Solon the great ancestor.

A member of the sacred and secretive "Order of Stonecutters" takes up a blessed hammer and chisel to enter the name of the fallen into the "Roll of the Ancestors." With ringing blows he carves the runes into the stone wall of the sacred hall. A wall whose height is lost in the darkness above.

As the ringing of the hammer echos through the hall, bearers carry the body of this noble dwarf, this sacred ancestor to his place of honor in the crypts below.

 

[handforged]

Demographics

Assuming a community of 75,000 units, the DMG provides for the following levels of classed characters.

A metropolis is anything above 25,000 units, so I essentially calculated for 3 metropolises.

Highest level characters by class:

[COLOR=silver]
Bbn	1d4+12 x12
        (3 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th level)
Brd 	1d6+12 x12
        (2 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th level)
Clr	1d6+12 x12
        (2 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th level)
Drd	1d6+12 x12
        (2 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th level)
Ftr	1d8+12 x12
        (2 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th level plus one each of 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th level)
Mnk	1d4+12 x12
        (3 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th level)
Pal	1d3+12 x12
        (4 each of 13th, 14th, and 15th level)
Rgr	1d3+12 x12
        (4 each of 13th, 14th, and 15th level)
Rog	1d8+12 x12
        (2 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th level plus one each of 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th level)
Sor 	1d4+12 x12
        (3 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th level)
Wiz	1d4+12 x12
        (3 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th level)

Ade	1d6+12 x12
        (2 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th level)
Ari	1d4+12 x12
        (3 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th levels)
Com	4d4+12 x12
        (1 each of 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th levels plus 8 20th levels)
Exp	3d4+12 x12
        (1 each of 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th levels plus 7 20th levels)
War	2d4+12 x12 
        (2 each of 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th level plus one each of 18th, 19th and 20th level)[/COLOR]

Each of these individuals then creates a tree of lower level individuals by taking a half their level and giving them double the number of people.

Ex. 1 20th level fighter would also produce 2 @ 10th, 4 @ 5th, 8 @ 3rd, and 16 @ 1st.

The DMG also gives the following percentages for splitting up the rest of the population.

Ade 0.5%
Ari 0.5%
Com 91%
Exp 3%
War 5%

I think that while these are good guidelines for determining a normal city, is does not take into account the unusual nature of our Dwarven Megalopolis (really big city for those not into Greek).

I suggest the following stats for the general population of the delve.

Ade 0.5% (this could be Shamans from OA)
Ari 0% (the leaders of this city are fighters)
Com 40% (these are the manual laborers)
Exp 9.5% (these are the craftsmen that lead the guilds)
War 50% (these are the rest of the manual and more trained labor, but they have also been trained in fighting)

I think that while the numbers for PC classes above should be used as guidelines, each class's purpose within the delve should be defined before we draw up numbers. NPCs with such high level will need to be fleshed out as important parts of the delve community. Numbers alone won't do.

~hf

 

[Dave G]

Wow! Great work there handforged! I totally agree that we will need to flesh out those higher level NPC's, but that is a task for a few steps down the road.

We do need to make a decision about arcane magic. Now I know a lot of people are traditionalists about this, but I still think we should put a place for it in the city. What do you all think. A small sect of arcane dwarven casters, considered outsiders by most of the population, but an elite unit for surgical military strikes nonetheless... ?

 

[kaboom]

arcane casters

Here’s an idea: the dwarf wizards and sorcerers secretly practice magic pretending they are smiths. When they make a magic weapon they say that it is a relic of old that they found. Some people are getting suspicious.

 

[Terraism]

Beanbag - I'm with you here. I love the idea of Dwarven mages, and always have. I can see them into more elemental or runic type magics, as well as enchantment, to create magical items. Perhaps have an established order of wizards in the stronghold following 'traditional' methods, (those deemed acceptable, mainly item construction and other 'useful' magics, rather than stuffy independents.) Then, have a growing order of fledgling sorcerers who break the mold in a big way, and people either are generally unaware of or in open condemnation about. Heck, perhaps it could even be a result of some release in the lower levels that is messing with embryos to give some the power of sorcery...

 

[handforged]

Arcane Dwarves

I think that we can work in Wulf's idea with the magic number seven here.

What does everyone think about seven dwarven mages (who train one apprentice each) , each specialized in one of the schools (excluding necromancy) for the purpose of making magical weapons and armor.

They would all be high level and would have apprentices in various stages of training. Their council would be one of the major voices in the delve.

They could also be the keepers of Dwarven knowledge. Not of the lineage or anything like that, but rather the technical knowledge of engineering and forging.

~hf

 

[handforged]

Multiple Questions

I have several core questions that need to be answered before we get too far into specifics.

Where does the food for this city come from?
Options:
Grown underground: mushrooms, etc.
Grown underground: adapted surface plants
Grown aboveground: in outer settlements
Traded for: could be anything
???
Meat could come from anywhere
Grain for bread and 'beverages' has to be acquired somehow
Everyone needs a well-rounded diet

Do people want to create a YahooGroup to work on this project and post back to the EN Boards when we have a breakthrough and to entice new people to join?
Bonuses:
file sharing capability
multiple threads
ability to create polls for consensus
there has got to be another bonus

How is the final product going to be published?
Options:
free PDF
PDF for sale through Natural 20 press
PDF for sale through other d20 publisher
hardcopy for sale through d20 publisher (hardcover or softcover)

Are prestige classes, feats, magic items, spells, new equipment, etc. going to be included within the text of the description section, or are they going to be their own chapters with references from other sections?
either way has ups and downs

I think that is all the basic questions that I have for now. I am very seriously interested in making this thing really work, and I hope that everyone is as enthusiastic about it as I am. I don't know if anyone has specifically volunteered for working out the religion section, but I am willing to do that if noone else is already,. If there is someone already I would love to help.

~hf

 

[Emiricol]

PDF through ND20P, with the profits going to flood ENWorld's coffers?

I think the majority of the food could come from fungi (in place of rice/potatos/pasta, which are the surface-dweller's staple food), and herds of lizards for meat.

Grains (and therefore beer/spirits) could be a monopoly held by one of the surface villages and the clan that holds it?

----------

Yahoo group - excellent idea. If we had people in charge of specific documents, they could be mods. By monitoring the boards, they could update the individual chapters and sections by version number. So, one update after v0.02 would be v0.03 for that document. Give each document a separate folder to help organize it. Yep, wonderful idea. IMHO!

--------------

Feats, PrC's, base classes, skills etc. should probably be in their own sections, as is typical for settings like these. "New Uses for Skills", "New Craft Skills", "New Knowledge SKills", "New Professions", "New Skills" in the skills section, for example.

Maybe our own magic section if we wanted for new spells

 

[Emiricol]

Ideas:

Dwarven Casters:

Divine:
Cleric (Divine Caster) - per PHB

Druid (Divine Caster) - Our own version, replacing woods/berries, etc. for underground versions

Arcane:

No clue. I don't like the idea of dwarven arcane wizards and sorcerers, but of course we need a way for the smiths to make magical gear. I'll leave this up to people to get going - maybe that will spark my imagination

----------------------------------------

Thoughts? Additions?