Egyptian Adventures!

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Wow... this is the first thread I've posted that's actually gone anywhere

Hopefully SHARK will poke his head in here any minute now... this is just the sort of thing he'd chime in on.

On Demihumans: I've wanted to keep the demihumans because I don't want to divert too far from the core rules, and I thought I could find a way to elegantly work in the existing races into such a campaign. This is NOT supposed to be historical Graeco-Egypt any more than Middle-Earth is historical 12th Century Europe- this is fantasy. Putting the common fantasy races in Al-Qadim, Dark Sun, and M:TG's Mirage (which I always thought would make a way-cool D&D setting) didn't ruin the flavor IMHO. There was a sort of Persian fey known as the Peri? I guess I'll call their nation Perinea- they can be the traders from the distant lands who worship the thousand gods. I'll stick with the Gnome-Djinn idea- I'll take the base gnome, and make them bald, give them pointed teeth and horns, and voila!
As for the fellow who said that he's a Jew and Jews are not Dwarves- well, I'm Norwegian, and I'm not a Dwarf either- but the Dwarves are always portrayed as underground-dwelling beer-guzzling Vikings, complete with runic alphabets, a language reminiscent of old-norse, and a distinct northern-european style. I was thinking, for a change of pace, I might try setting the dwarves in a different cultural mileau. I'm writing into the storyline that the Elohim (Dwarves) were once slaves to the Khemites who built many of their great temples and stoneworks.

I always thought that the Dark Sun idea of the feral, cannibalistic halflings was cool, so I thought I'd incorporate that into the setting.

Orcs as Hyksos? Done and done. I'll put the Hyksos homeland north of the Elohim, and there will still be a sizable half-orc population in Khem, descendents of the people of the invasion hundreds of years ago.

Kobolds and Yuan-Ti as chosen people of Set? Perfect.

Gnolls as chosen people of Anubis? Sure!

As for diluting the setting with Graeco-Roman elements- well, a big part of my idea is to portray Khem as a crumbling empire that has been taken over by outside invaders- and the PC's actions will be a big part of what determines whether or not the true Pharoah is restored, or whether Khem falls prey to the legions of Impiria or Perinea. I don't want Khem to be Egypt at the height of it's power- I want it to be a romantic but yet inhabited ruin, a realm of crumbling, ancient tombs and temples, of decadent magic users, and peoples trying to both pillage and preserve the land. Quite a bit like Dark Sun, actually.

I like the ideas for the use of the core classes. I'm thinking I'll add Psions and Psychic Warriors too.

Hmm... I don't think I'll bother to pick up GURPS- Egypt. I have quite a few books on Egyptian history and mythology already, and GURPS rules aren't too useful to me. On the other hand, I think I will need to take a look at Desert of Desolation, and at Egyptian Gods. Both sound useful to me. I'll probably pick up and adapt the Banewarrens too- I love Monte Cook's modules.

I'll probably incorporate those prestige classes into my game. Here's my list of splatbook prestige classes that I thought appropriate to the setting:

DMG
Assassin
Blackguard
Loremaster
Shadowdancer

S&F
Devoted Defender
Ghostwalker
Gladiator
Lasher
Master of Chains
Order of the Bow Initiate
Red Avenger (Khemite Only)
Warmaster (Impirian Only)
Weapon Master

T&B
Acolyte of the Skin
Alienist
Blood Magus (Must worship Set)
Candle Caster (Impirian or Hellene Only)
Elemental Savant (Human Only; Must Worship Thoth or Hermes)
Fatespinner
Mage of the Arcane Order (Must Worship Isis)
Mindbender
Pale Master (Khemite Only)
True Necromancer (Must Worship Anubis)

MotW
Animal Lord
Blighter
Foe Hunter
King/Queen of the Wild
Shifter
Tamer of Beasts
Tempest
Windrider

DotF
Contemplative
Divine Oracle
Holy Liberator
Hunter of the Dead
Master of Shrouds (Must Worship Set or Hecate)
Warpriest

SaS
Dungeon Delver
Royal Explorer (Impirian Only)
Spymaster
Thief-Acrobat
Vigilante
Virtuoso (Hellene only)


As for weapons, there aren't that many that need to be taken off the list- Morningstar, Crossbows, Rapier, Glaive, Guisarme, Greatsword, Ranseur, And all exotic weapons except for the Whip, Net, Dire Flail, and Spiked Chain. I'd also add the Khopesh (in Deities and Demigods).

With Armor, it looks like all heavy armor is removed, as well as Chain Mail and Chain Shirts. Breastplates are the heaviest armor available. To compensate for the lack of heavy armor, I think I'll bump up the skill point totals that Clerics, Fighters, and Paladins recieve, from two to four. In addition, I'm going to use the Khemite Ranger class in Necropolis instead of the conventional Ranger.

As for making a Pharoah prestige class, I think giving the Pharoah a template would probably be more appropriate. Depending on which god the Pharoah is devoted to, I'll use the Half-Fiend or Half-Celestial template to represent their powers.

Lots of great ideas here! Keep them coming!

 

[blackshirt5]

Y'know, just when I've got my campaign world all figured out, the people on this board throw me a curve, and now I wanna run an Egyptian/Greek crossover game! That'd definitely be cool. I love the look of Egypt, it's always appealed to me, I'd rework my campaign world to fit in an Egyptian area, but it's already bursting at the seams as is.

Even though it shows the evils of Egyptian society(in fact, ESPECIALLY for that reason) definitely watch The Ten Commandments with Charleton Heston for inspiration. Greatest. Old. Movie. Ever.

I can't really think of anything else to say, except that I hope to be able to pick up Necropolis on Monday, definitely looking to bring a "First Edition Feel" to my campaign, gonna use this as inspiration, what is the Khemite Ranger class? Specifically, how is it different from a core ranger, or even MC's Ranger(which is the one I was gonna use for right now)?

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Armor note

This is a very cool thread. I think Egypt is underexploited as a place to Role-Play.

If you are going to use a Roman and Greek 'type' civilization keep in mind that they wore much heavier armor in the climate than they were supposed to. I think Ceasar's soldiers used a combination of chainmail and breastplates. I would use a lower AC for the chain-mail than normail, however, as Medieval Chain-mail tended to be better stuff.

Romans, Greek, and, later, Franks wore these stupid amounts of heavy armor cause they were tough, used to it, and thought it was the only way to deal with the much higher than they were used to amounts of arrow-fire they encountered in the area.

They were right on these points but tended to have horrible problems marching because of the heat and weight. Thus Cassius's terrible defeat and the Battle of Hatin.

Arabs, on the other, hand were very impressed by how hard it was to kill them. In fact, the Parthians never again used light cavalry against the Romans after defeating Cassius. When Marc Antony made his punitive expedition against them he fought heavy armored cavalry and defeated them again and again.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Well, I just downloaded and skimmed through the entire "I" series of modules (I1-5) for $25 off of svgames.com, and I think these look like they'll be a lot of fun. They'll take a lot of conversion work and some definite tweaking, but they gave me some more ideas:

I think I'll use the alligator-headed Lizard Folk idea.
Bugbears, with a different appearance and stone-age equipment, are now Gorillamen.
I'll probably replace the Mongrelmen in the modules with tribes of evil Jinn (Gnomes), or feral Halflings.

I've paired down the cultures to the following:

Impirians (Predominantly Human, with Aasimar among the ruling class): A powerful, expansionistic people just entering their prime and poised to conquer the world with their mighty legions. Their land is on the continent 400 miles to the Northwest of Khem.

Hellenes (Predominantly Human, with Aasimar found throughout society): A great culture famous the world over for it's art, philosophy, and mighty navy. They've now conquered and colonized the northern portion of Khem. Their land is an island chain 200 miles north of Khem

Hyksos (Predominantly Half-Orc, with Tieflings among the Ruling Classes): A once mighty nation of conquerers, now in danger of falling to superior tactics and weaponry, despite their great martial tradition. They are caught between the Perineans and the Imperians, both bent on conquest of their lands and control of the Hyksos ports. Their land is on the same continent as Khem, 500 miles to the north.

Elohim (Dwarven): An often opressed nation, the hardy Elohim are some of the best craftsmen and most learned sages in the world. Having been slaves to both the Khemites and the Perineans, the Elohim have fought for their freedom and are prepared to defend their homeland against any outside threats. They are the only thing standing between Khem and conquest by the Perineans.

Perineans (Elven and Half-Elven): The Pereneans are people of the deserts and the steppe, and a mighty and ancient empire built on trade and conquest now entering a renaissance. Having rebuilt the ranks of their cavalry since their defeat by the Hyksos/Elohim alliance (aside: Orcs and Dwarves fighting together instead of against each other... who would have thunk it?) a century ago, they are again preparing to sweep through the continent- that is, if the Impirians don't get there first.

Khemites (Human, with Half-Orcs, Half-Elves, Tieflings, and Aasimar found throughout society): Khemites are heirs to an ancient legacy of magical and millitary might and once boasted the largest empire in the world. Today, their land, although still heavily populated and culturally advanced, has fallen into a magical and political struggle of byzantine proportions, one with links and reprecussions felt as far off as the heavens and the hells. The Hellenes have conquered the "Lower Kingdom", the most populous area of Khem, and the Hellene conquerer has assumed the title of Pharoah after slaying the last Pharoah of the 39th Dynasty, Tuthmosis. The foreign Pharoah, who calls himself Apophis (referred to as Apophis the Great by loyalists, and Apophis the Destroyer by rebels), is an ardent devotee of the Khemite god Set, is steeped in the sorceries of both Khem and Hellene- and is quite possibly out of his mind. He has enslaved the lower classes of Khemite society, and relegated all of their other classes to second-class status. He has murdered entire priesthoods, expunged the record of the existence of many individuals, burned libraries and leveled monuments. His campaign of terror is destroying the lower kingdom, while the middle kingdom is under the control of the Priesthood of Anubis, who serve as Apophis' regents. The upper kingdom, the most remote and least populous region of Khem, has declared themselves in open revolution against the usurper Pharoah, while their leader, Osirian high priest Ankh-af Khonsu, searches for the missing son of Tuthmosis. All of Khem is poised in bitter struggle between numerous priesthoods, magical orders, bandit organizations, millitaries, merchants, and mystical brotherhoods, each of which are trying to carve out a niche for themselves- whether that may be to support Apophis, return the rightful ruler to the throne, open the country up to the Perineans or Impirians- or even take control of the country for another leader or organization.

Those are the major cultures, here are the minor ones:

Jinn (Gnomes): Jinn are the "commoner Genies" or spirits who dwell in the deep desert. Of varying alignments and persuasions, they are often feared with good reason- and, at other times, merely misunderstood for their mischevious natures. Masters of magic and of crafts, these Jinn taught the wizards and craftsmen of Perinea, Khem, and Elohen many of their skills. Some Jinn dwell in major cities, using their magics to blend in among the crowds, but most prefer to stay underground in remote desert citadels. The standard MM Genies are considered to be the members of their noble classes, and every Commoner Jinn belongs to an "elemental caste"- a group devoted to the magical mastery of one of the four elements.

Tribal Humans: There are wandering Bedouins throughout the deserts of Laivae to the southwest of Khem. In the jungles that line the southeastern edge of Khem dwell many minor and semi-civilized human tribes as well.

Tribal Races: Gorillamen, Lizard Folk, Yuan-Ti, Kobolds, Bullywugs, and Feral Halflings can all be found inhabiting remote oasises and settlements throughout the Aetabak Jungle.

Giants: Many primitive Giants and Ogres live on the isle of Cyclopos, ruled by a fallen Titan with a single eye named Polyphemus.


I've also made a list of appropriate "Ancestor Feats" (From Oriental Adventures) for the cultures in this new setting. Some of the names were changed, originals are in brackets:

Elohim: Great Crafter, Improved Aid, Magical Artisan, Soul of Sincerity, Strong Soul
Hellene: Art of Fascination, Artist, Keen Intellect, Luck of Heroes, Many Masks, Scholar of Nature, Sea Legs
Hyksos: Great Stamina, Typhon’s [Oni’s] Bane, Powerful Voice, Resist Poison, Strength of the Desert [Charger], Warrior Instinct
Impirian: Cool Head, Discipline, Great Teamwork, Impirian [Lion] Spy, Magistrate’s Mind, Silver Tongue, Soul of Loyalty, Strength of the Legion [Crab]
Khemite: Attention to Detail, Neter’s [Kami’s] Intuition, Union of Ma’at [Karmic Twin], Magic in the Blood, Spell Power, Spellcaster Support, Warrior Magus [Shugenja]
Perenean: Gifted General, Great Diplomat, Honest Merchant, Saddleback, Smooth Talk

None of the OA classes or prestige classes seemed appropriate. I looked through magic of Faerun- all the feats except for Spellfire Wielder are fine, and the following prestige classes I'm allowing:

Jinn [Gnome] Artificer (Jinn and Perinean Only)
Incantatrix (Impirian Only)
Mage-Killer (Impirian Only)
Master Alchemist
Mystic Wanderer
Spelldancer (Worshippers of Tyche or Bast only)

The Artificer seemed questionable at first, but then I recalled the clockwork mage from the old Sha'irs Handbook. It seemed like an appropriate class for Jinn and Perinean craftsmen. Incantatrixes and Mage-Killers are perfect for Impirians, who use a highly technical, precise style of magic and train special hunters to aid them in fighting Perinean and Khemite mages. Master Alchemists, Mystic Wanderers, and Spelldancers were all appropriate to the setting as well. All of the spells look fine too.

I've added all the prestige classes from the Psihandbook except for Slayer- since there aren't many mind flayers in this world (the possibility of their existence hasn't been ruled out), it's not a very necessary class.

More later- keep posting!

 

[Kesh]

I saw the coolest egyptian minis at Gencon, unfortuneatly I cannot remember who made them. I was so mad because I could not find the booth to spend much of the unspent money I brought to the Con.

You probably saw figures from War Gods of Aegyptus. Great figures, especially the Anubi and Basti.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Cool

Sounds like your world is going to be pretty spiff. I like your geography. How many cataracts are in your Nile? How many Niles are there?

Any thoughts on spell lists?

Someone out there has a 3E conversion for Al-Quadim, that might be helpful.

There is also a very good homebrewed feat for using a Greek hoplites spear effectively. It's on a Black Company website.

The basic idea was that you would take an Exotic weapon proficiency feat to be able to use an eight foot spear with a shield on the other arm. You would have reach, and with the feat you could then use a move-equivalent action to adjust your grip so you could hit someone inside your range for less damage.

My memory is that Egyptians traditionally used javelins and short spears, but I remember seeing that feat and thinking that it or something like it would be super cool for a campaign with phalanxes.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Thought I'd just give the thread a quick bump with old Apophis here- I'm starting to like the Epic Level Handbook

Pharoah Apophis the Destroyer (Antigonus Phaedro), Human Pharaoh (Setian) Male Clr (Set) 15 / Sor 15: CR 32; Medium Outsider; HD 15d8+15d4+123; hp 246; Init +15 (+11 Dex, +4 Improved Init); Spd 60 ft, fly 60 ft (avg); AC 37 (+11 Dex, +1 Natural, +7 Pharaoh’s Ring of Protection +7, +8 Bracers of Armor +8); Atk +25/+20/+15/+10 melee (1d6+7, Set’s Staff of the Cosmos), +25/+25 melee (1d4+7, Claws), +16 melee (1d6+10, Bite); SA Innate Spells, Immune to Poison, Cold Resistance 20, Acid Resistance 20, Electrical Resistance 20, Fire Resistance 20, Darkvision 120 ft. (Robe of Eyes), Can see all invisible and ethereal creatures within 120 ft (Robe of Eyes), Retains Dex Bonus to AC when Flat-Footed (Robe of Eyes), Cannot Be Flanked (Robe of Eyes), DR 5/+5 (Vestments of Faith), Evasion (Boots of Swiftness); AL LE; Sv Fort +28, Ref +31, Will +30; Str 25 (17), Dex 32 (20), Con 18, Int 24, Wis 17, Cha 21
Skills: Balance +32*, Climb +27*, Concentration +37, Craft (Weaponsmithing) +40, Diplomacy +30, Gather Information +21, Heal +21, Hide +18, Jump +27*, Knowledge (Arcana) +40, Knowledge (Religion) +25, Listen +12, Move Silently +18, Profession (General) +24, Scry +24, Search +22*, Spellcraft +40, Spot +18*, Tumble +32*
Feats: Augment Summoning, Brew Potion, Combat Casting, Cooperative Spell, Dodge, Forge Wand, Heighten Spell, Maximize Spell, Repeat Spell, Scribe Scroll, Spell Thematics, Toughness, Improved Initiative
Spheres: Destruction, Evil
Equipment: pharaoh’s ring of protection +7, Set’s staff of the cosmos (50 charges), Pharaoh’s cloak of resistance +9, potion of fly, scroll of domination, scroll of prismatic spray, scroll of implosion, 2 scrolls of resurrection, scroll of true resurrection, wand of searing light (10th level) (50 charges), wand of magic missiles (9th level, maximized) (50 charges), headdress of teleportation, eyes of petrification, amulet of the planes, robe of eyes, vestments of faith, bracers of armor +8, gloves of dexterity +6, belt of epic strength +8, boots of swiftness

I haven't completed his spell list yet, but it's not that important yet... it's not like the PC's will be taking him on tomorrow.

 

[Imhotepthewise]

Here's my wrench to throw into the works. This was roughed out to support Spelljammer. The egyptian campaign is set on a ringworld. The moon and small sun (or god-boat) loop through the ringworld to make days, nights, and months. The edges of the ringworld are mountainous. The egyptian empire lies along the shores of the great river that runs nearly 360 degrees around the world, boardered by harsh deserts. At the end of the river's flow is a great delta and small sea beyond. Crossing the sea, a high mountain range is found. On it's opposite side is a slope with springs and mountain lakes that flow down to form the headwater of the great river. The confluence around the ring prevents approach of spelljamming vessels except at the rocky outer face. This desolate, rocky face still has breathable air. To reach the inner surface of the ring, you must walk around the edge and over the mountains, or find your way through subterranean passages to the surface (start at the bottom of the dungeon, oh boy).

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Interesting idea, Imhotep. I'm still working on the cosmology of the world... I'm thinking of using an ancient greek terracentric structure with "planetary spheres". I'm also incorporating a "dreamworld" (the plane of dreams from Manual of the Planes) that links together the material realm with the different divine realms of the various pantheons and spirits. The Dreaming skill is availiable as a class ability to all PC's.

 

[KnowTheToe]

Interesting idea, Imhotep. I'm still working on the cosmology of the world... I'm thinking of using an ancient greek terracentric structure with "planetary spheres". I'm also incorporating a "dreamworld" (the plane of dreams from Manual of the Planes) that links together the material realm with the different divine realms of the various pantheons and spirits. The Dreaming skill is availiable as a class ability to all PC's.

Excellent idea for a dream realm. I have been working on a campaign and did not want to do it in a "standard" D&D world. i think I will try this angle.

So far I like the dwarves as a labor slave race and the opportunity to scrap the rest of the standard races for some with more flavor.