D&D 4E Forked Thread: Al-Qadim, Land of Fate 4e

[ShaneB]

Dragonborn and Zakhara

Some quick notes on how Dragonborn specifically could be potentially incorporated into Zakhara:

- The Unbinding is one of the causes of drawing Abeir "into" Toril.
- A massive area of Abeir is transported as an Earth Mote above wherever the Yikkari are located (not sure where this is). This piece of Abeir contained a slightly warped clan of Dragonborn that have a bond with the Yikarri, creating a dangerous force within Zakhara. Some of the Dragonborn there reject the ideals of this new union and make there way into other parts of Zakhara where they become enlightened. These Dragonborn then become driven to "release" there brethren from the bond with the Yikarri. (In this scenario the Yikarri reverse the role they played with there bond with the Djinn/Dao).

Some other notes on how the events of the Spellplague (as the Unbinding is called in Faerun) could be incorporated:

- Halruaa was destroyed within Faerun, maybe a large portions of the wizards of this country had wind of this (through prophecy/whatever) and teleported away to their brethren in the City of Wands.
- Plaguelands are areas of strong intervention from the Unbinding. Maybe Plaguelands are created where this bond was strongest.
- *FLASH OF INSPIRATION* Maybe magic was a manifestation of this bond and "Mystra" was a immortal manifestation and keeper of this bond. The stupid Faeruneans (and Cyric in particular) thought that the destruction of Mystra was just the killing of a diety, but in reality was the destruction of this bond. One of the reasons for the change in the Sha'ir class (Sha'ir's being the modern representatives of this bond between Djinn and the mortals) could be because of this loss of the physical manifestation of magic. Could also explain why there was a difference in the use of magic between Faerun and Zakhara, Faerun mages need this goddess to construct their thought processes to cast magic, while the Zakharan elementists inheritly understood this physical manifestation of the bond...

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

That's something I've neglected so far, but I also like the idea of giving more life to the desert tribes. Some themes that might be interesting to explore...
* Tribes adapting to city life vs. rejecting it
* Ethics of raiding
* Tribes carrying an older more authentic version of the Faith
* A tribe guarding a secret ruin
* Intermarriage between tribes
* The prophecy of "green fire" from Caravans


One idea is to base the eladrin, with their 300+ year lifespans on the Persians. Many of the eladrin's grandparents may have been "pagans", and ancient traditions have likely been integrated into the Faith. How would the eladrin interpret the Loregiver?

Right, I'm working on this and here's what I've got so far:

1.) There are three basic nomad geo-cultural areas: The East, The West, and The North.

2.) The West here the breaking of the seals has had two main effects: the first is ecological weirdness and the second is the rise of two competing magical nomad kingdoms one of Janni and the other of Ghuls. As such nomads in this area have become increasingly marginalized and adaptable. Frequently they bear little resemblance to the nomads of legend as they have worked to survive in their strange new world. Those who have stuck to the old ways are increasingly associated with cities or other stranger powers who can protect them in return for their service in an increasingly hostile land.

3.) The North is at the once the most traditional area of nomad culture and the least. Here the basic life of the nomads has remained unchanged, but their political structure has evolved rapidly. The rise of the Sultan, on the one hand, works to empower nomad tribes - promoting creativity and ambition. The fracturing of the Mamlukes and the aggression of the Free Cities, on the other, has drawn tribes into any number of strange alliances and conflicts. In this climate some tribes are better described as hordes or moving cities while others have simply become companies, guilds, or nomad academies.

4.) In the East the Breaking of the Seals had the strangest effect. Long ago the East was filled with exotic kingdoms and flourishing peoples. The handmaiden of fate, however, had cursed them, scattered them across the worlds, and stricken their memories. Since then the descendants of the world's proudest kingdom would know themselves as nothing more than the pious nomads of a humble valley at home among the proud ruins and the humble truth of the law. When the seals broke, however, the sands ran aside revealling rich lands and richer memories. Now the nomads of the east are defined by how they respond to these returned kingdoms and the knowledge that comes with them.

A further threat in the East is the expansion of the league of the Pantheon which, in the wake of the spiritual crisis caused by the return, has worked to evangelize nomad tribes bringing them in close to the League and using them as agents loyal to the league as a whole rather than any one city, but also as a resource to be exploited by the league in concert rather than any one temple.

5.) The Eladrin. Deep deep in the heart of the East was the proudest kingdom of all. Here only one simple milkmaid had offered hospitality to the Loregiver. For 101 nights she had sheltered her in a high mountain cave first as the loregiver went to offer truth to the kingdoms immortal princes and then as winter kept her in the high vale. For all these night the sheperdess listened to the Loregivers wisdom in stories and fables rather than law and philosophy. When the loregiver cast forth the wicked kingdoms she cast this one into the feywyld itself, there the inhabitants drank deep of the magic and of the tales of this one storyteller who was like a sister of the loregiver.

Now, melenia later, they have returned with their own form of enlightenment. They are eager for the law, but they are also eager to share the tales they now see Zhakara never heard. Their manners are older than any great city in Zhakara, but their eyes, minds, and magic are fresh. Their Princes dress in Black to mourn their once deaf ears, and they recognize themselves as merely governors for fate - awaiting the return of the loregiver to whom they would offer their empty throne, the Pennitent Seat. Thus they are known as the Ebon Satraps. And their land of high cool mountains and impossible citadels as the Land of Fables.

6.) The Dragonborn. I love the idea that they came on a rogue eathmote of Abeir. But let us say they came to the Desert of the West. Right into the midst of the ecological madness there - perhaps even causing it - and that starving there they were met by a nomad tribe lead by a great mystic, his sister a Hakima, and their grandfather a Kahin. They feed them, showed them the ways of the land, and taught them of the ways of fate. Now the nomads of the west live in gratitude at the mercy of strangely shaped nomads dressed in veils against the weather who save them from the predations of ghouls and the hauteur of jann. While the clerics of the cities wonder in awe at the monstrous creatures with impeccable language and exquisite prayers who arrive in pilgrimage at the temples.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

So here's an idea:

Multi-Class Feat -


Beloved of Fate. You gain training in Religion. Once per encounter you may use the evil eye power.

Evil Eye - Encounter - Divine - Immediate Interupt. You may apply a -2 modifier to an attack or skill roll made by another character. This penalty takes effect after the action has been declared but before the roll is resolved.


Then you can build a whole Gladiator or Spell Scarred Savant multi-class feat only power set off of being beloved by fate. Let's you really expand on the fate mechanics from the old game.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Some quick notes on how Dragonborn specifically could be potentially incorporated into Zakhara:

- The Unbinding is one of the causes of drawing Abeir "into" Toril.
- A massive area of Abeir is transported as an Earth Mote above wherever the Yikkari are located (not sure where this is). This piece of Abeir contained a slightly warped clan of Dragonborn that have a bond with the Yikarri, creating a dangerous force within Zakhara. Some of the Dragonborn there reject the ideals of this new union and make there way into other parts of Zakhara where they become enlightened. These Dragonborn then become driven to "release" there brethren from the bond with the Yikarri. (In this scenario the Yikarri reverse the role they played with there bond with the Djinn/Dao).

Some other notes on how the events of the Spellplague (as the Unbinding is called in Faerun) could be incorporated:

- Halruaa was destroyed within Faerun, maybe a large portions of the wizards of this country had wind of this (through prophecy/whatever) and teleported away to their brethren in the City of Wands.

Actually, all of the above are awesome. Any modifications I wanted to make to that I know rescind.

Instead. The war between the Ghul and the Jann is the cause of the West's devastation. Whole tribes have been turned into Tieflings or Genasi as a result of the conflict as well.

 

[Togaras]

nice thing
i like the al-qadim setting, we played with HARP rules, but they become a little bugged in the higher levels.
playing al-qadim with the new dnd4e rules would be very interessting.

what are your plans about the sha'ir? i think, that one would be a very difficult class to create.

 

[Togaras]

i have discussed with one of my former alqadim dungeon-master, we would like to support this project and to help this to become a good gamehelp to other players.

how are the plans for the future, do you want to create new powers for the different classes? I see a lot of "*" in the current templates for the classes.

 

[Quickleaf]

Some quick notes on how Dragonborn specifically could be potentially incorporated into Zakhara:

- The Unbinding is one of the causes of drawing Abeir "into" Toril.
- A massive area of Abeir is transported as an Earth Mote above wherever the Yikkari are located (not sure where this is). This piece of Abeir contained a slightly warped clan of Dragonborn that have a bond with the Yikarri, creating a dangerous force within Zakhara. Some of the Dragonborn there reject the ideals of this new union and make there way into other parts of Zakhara where they become enlightened. These Dragonborn then become driven to "release" there brethren from the bond with the Yikarri. (In this scenario the Yikarri reverse the role they played with there bond with the Djinn/Dao).

Wow! That's an interesting take on introducing the Dragonborn into Zakhara, and it might give the Dragonborn a commonality with the Dwarves (who were once slaves to the giants). I wonder if there's a way to blend it with Dr. Strangemonkey's interpretation?

2.) The West here the breaking of the seals has had two main effects: the first is ecological weirdness and the second is the rise of two competing magical nomad kingdoms one of Janni and the other of Ghuls. As such nomads in this area have become increasingly marginalized and adaptable. Frequently they bear little resemblance to the nomads of legend as they have worked to survive in their strange new world. Those who have stuck to the old ways are increasingly associated with cities or other stranger powers who can protect them in return for their service in an increasingly hostile land.

3.) The North is at the once the most traditional area of nomad culture and the least. Here the basic life of the nomads has remained unchanged, but their political structure has evolved rapidly. The rise of the Sultan, on the one hand, works to empower nomad tribes - promoting creativity and ambition. The fracturing of the Mamlukes and the aggression of the Free Cities, on the other, has drawn tribes into any number of strange alliances and conflicts. In this climate some tribes are better described as hordes or moving cities while others have simply become companies, guilds, or nomad academies.

4.) In the East the Breaking of the Seals had the strangest effect. Long ago the East was filled with exotic kingdoms and flourishing peoples. The handmaiden of fate, however, had cursed them, scattered them across the worlds, and stricken their memories. Since then the descendants of the world's proudest kingdom would know themselves as nothing more than the pious nomads of a humble valley at home among the proud ruins and the humble truth of the law. When the seals broke, however, the sands ran aside revealling rich lands and richer memories. Now the nomads of the east are defined by how they respond to these returned kingdoms and the knowledge that comes with them.

A further threat in the East is the expansion of the league of the Pantheon which, in the wake of the spiritual crisis caused by the return, has worked to evangelize nomad tribes bringing them in close to the League and using them as agents loyal to the league as a whole rather than any one city, but also as a resource to be exploited by the league in concert rather than any one temple.

5.) The Eladrin. Deep deep in the heart of the East was the proudest kingdom of all. Here only one simple milkmaid had offered hospitality to the Loregiver. For 101 nights she had sheltered her in a high mountain cave first as the loregiver went to offer truth to the kingdoms immortal princes and then as winter kept her in the high vale. For all these night the sheperdess listened to the Loregivers wisdom in stories and fables rather than law and philosophy. When the loregiver cast forth the wicked kingdoms she cast this one into the feywyld itself, there the inhabitants drank deep of the magic and of the tales of this one storyteller who was like a sister of the loregiver.

Now, melenia later, they have returned with their own form of enlightenment. They are eager for the law, but they are also eager to share the tales they now see Zhakara never heard. Their manners are older than any great city in Zhakara, but their eyes, minds, and magic are fresh. Their Princes dress in Black to mourn their once deaf ears, and they recognize themselves as merely governors for fate - awaiting the return of the loregiver to whom they would offer their empty throne, the Pennitent Seat. Thus they are known as the Ebon Satraps. And their land of high cool mountains and impossible citadels as the Land of Fables.

6.) The Dragonborn. I love the idea that they came on a rogue eathmote of Abeir. But let us say they came to the Desert of the West. Right into the midst of the ecological madness there - perhaps even causing it - and that starving there they were met by a nomad tribe lead by a great mystic, his sister a Hakima, and their grandfather a Kahin. They feed them, showed them the ways of the land, and taught them of the ways of fate. Now the nomads of the west live in gratitude at the mercy of strangely shaped nomads dressed in veils against the weather who save them from the predations of ghouls and the hauteur of jann. While the clerics of the cities wonder in awe at the monstrous creatures with impeccable language and exquisite prayers who arrive in pilgrimage at the temples.[/QUOTE]

So here's an idea: Multi-Class Feat

Beloved of Fate. You gain training in Religion. Once per encounter you may use the evil eye power.

Evil Eye - Encounter - Divine - Immediate Interupt. You may apply a -2 modifier to an attack or skill roll made by another character. This penalty takes effect after the action has been declared but before the roll is resolved.

Then you can build a whole Gladiator or Spell Scarred Savant multi-class feat only power set off of being beloved by fate. Let's you really expand on the fate mechanics from the old game.

Love it! Though it seems a Cleric who automatically gets training in Religion would have less incentive to take it...

i have discussed with one of my former alqadim dungeon-master, we would like to support this project and to help this to become a good gamehelp to other players.

how are the plans for the future, do you want to create new powers for the different classes? I see a lot of "*" in the current templates for the classes.

Hi Togaras! Thanks for your interest in the conversion project. I had to put it on hold until the new year, but I'm just now getting back to it. Yes, the asterisks indicate new powers that either I've roughly designed or plan to design.

The updated table of contents is one page back at http://www.enworld.org/forum/4523813-post139.html

what are your plans about the sha'ir? i think, that one would be a very difficult class to create.

Warlock pact with a "gen" feature allowing spells to be cast from the gen's location, and spells based on convereted AQ spells. Maybe incorporating some "leader" type features/powers to bring out more of the advisor archetype the sha'ir embodies in Arabian myth.

Do you have an ideas for the sha'ir?

 

[the_mad_hatter]

Just droppin' in on this thread, if any more help/advise is wanted.

ShaneB's suggestion for incorporating AQ into 4e are simply magnificent, one and all. I love where the thread is headed. I have always been a huge AQ fan and have everything from 2e at home.

As I said, if my advise is wanted, here are my two cents:

I think that one great advantage of 4e is the lack of an army of classes (3e) or character kits (2e). This streamlines gameplay - and most classes or kits of days gone by can be neatly converted into heroic tier options.

The Sha'Ir as a Heroic Tier for the Warlock seems to me like a logical step. Steal, err, borrow something from the "Animal Companion" Tier of the Ranger to give him a Gen and adjust him to AQ standards. I think Quickleaf is right that he should also gain other skill options to be more representant of the "advisor/leader" type. Or the Advisor type Sha'Ir are usually multiclassed into an actual Leader Class.

If you want, I'd try and write the Sha'Ir down the next few days and post him here.

Honestly, I think it quite stupid to have an actual Barber and Beggar-Thief Class. Let's face it - those guys (and gals) are thiefs, so why not move them into Heroic Tier options as well. Maybe we can even come up with a few feats to make them fit into their "role" better.

Here's what I would make of the original AQ character kits, though PH2 might change that to other classes:
- Faris => HT fighter
- Askar => HT fighter or warlord
- Corsair => HT ranger
- Desert Rider => HT ranger
- Mamluk => HT warlord
- Mercenary Barbarian => HT barbarian?
- Outland Warrior => any other HT option for martial (oriented) chars

- Elemental Mage => HT wizard
- Sorcerer => HT wizard
- Sha'Ir => HT warlock
- Ajami => any other magic HT option

- Sa'luk => std thief
- Barber => HT thief
- Beggar-Thief => HT thief
- Matrud => HT thief <- not sure here
- Merchant-Rogue => HT thief
- Rawun => std bard?

- Pragmatist / Ethoist / Moralist
=> std. priest, perhaps add in feats to make them
representant of their worldview
- Hakima => HT priest
- Kahin => HT druid
- Mystic => HT priest
- Outland priest => any other HT or priest of foreign gods

That means if we just stick to the old character kits and convert them into 4e (by what way ever) we loose a few Classes of the 4e, especially when the PH2 goes to our selection of D&D books.

So we have to decide wether there are truly no Paladins / Warden / Whatever in AQ or come up with original ideas for them.

What's your view(s) on this?

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Hooo, that's right we have the PHB2 classes to contend with now.

Divine:
Invoker
Avenger

Arcane:
Bard
Sorceror

Primal:
Barbarian
Druid
Shaman
Warden

Hmm, I think most of them could be integrated. What I think is going to be most interesting, however, is accounting for the whole Primal power source.

Adding spirits into the cosmology shouldn't be too difficult, but it would be pretty interesting to see where we find space for the Barbarian cultures they're supposed to represent.

They're certainly out there in the setting, but heretofore they've been very much in the background. It'll be interesting to bring them to the foreground.

 

[the_mad_hatter]

To incorporate characters of Barbarian origin should prove no problem gameworld-wise. They have always been there in AQ, at the northern part of the map or even in the jungles of the lost empires of Nog and Kadar.

I don't think there should be an issue to explain why or how the words of the Loregiver reached even out to them, driving them to leave their communities and explore the rest of the enlightened world.

Which brings me to another suggestion:

How exactly did the enlightened world react to the Great Unbinding and the entire fallout afterwards (the coming of the Abeirans, ect al)?

I would think that in the Pantheon League faith rises ever higher. They'd see everything as a test of the gods. Further away, people might think the gods have deserted them. I could even imagine some people turning back to idol gods, that in the east the old faiths of Nog/Kadar spring back to life and that even some interloper gods of the northern Barbarians of Faerun might try to missionary the people. Even to pragmatist priests, that would be a test of faith.