Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThoughtfulOwl" data-source="post: 2109776" data-attributes="member: 11563">It depends. Recycling existing and playtested mechanics while slapping a different flavor on it just requires imagination; rebuilding from scratch requires a lot of tinkering with the rules.What about these two (fluff specifics are an example, of course):Dreadwood ClawsWhen the kingdoms encroaching the ancient Dreadwood Forest turned their greedy eyes toward its natural resources, they justified their plundering by declaring a holy crusade against the 'pagan' old druidic order. Knowing that they no longer had sufficient numbers to repel the servants of the New Gods, the druids cast their divinations and posed questions: the answer was to create the Claws.Each Claw undergoes a mystical ritual during which he contacts and strikes a pact with several animal spirits; imbuing the supplicant, these spirits grant superhuman abilities symbolically associated to animals, some even highly magical.To this day, the grandsons of the repelled invaders still hear grandpa's tales about the feral Claws, how they could appear and disappear among the bushes without warning and how they looked like feral beasts cast in human form, even more terrifying than the druids who actually turned into animals.In mechanical terms, rename all the class features as symbolic animal traits (speed of the wolf and so on); possibly swap Knowledge(arcana) with Know.(nature) as a class skill. The lawful requirement represents the mental restrain necessary to keep the animal spirits in check and within the body; as the 'Monks' raise in level, they strike further pacts. Describe their demeanor, movements and attacks as feral and animalistic, rather than elegant kung-fu moves. Swap the oriental monk weapons with mechanically equivalent western ones.The ProtectorsThe Wizard Guild of Korobach has grown in political power for hundreds of years; upon finally becoming a magocracy, the mages needed a trusted police force to enforce their laws; they conscripted thousands of people, brainwashed them into obedience and applied several alchemical procedures meant to strenghten and toughen their bodies. Coupled with extensive martial training, this resulted in the perfect law enforcement corp.The protectors are adept at subjugating or knocking out people without causing harm, but they also know well how to kill; their alchemy-induced resilience and inhuman speed makes them hard to pin down or affect with magic, invaluable when dealing with rogue spellcasters.As the magocracy turned corrupt and riddled with internal strife, the Protectors doubled as deadly and silent assassins on behalf of their masters.As they were forced to perform increasingly worse atrocities, some good hearthed Protectors managed to shake off their conditioning; this initial core of rebellion eventually led their brethren against their former masters and brought down the corrupt government.The alchemical procedures have long since been seized by the Protectors themselves, who have become an independent charter of mercenaries and bodyguards for hire.In mechanical terms, just describe the 'Monks' as having an otherworldly air, with innaturally fast and precise movements and a lingering smell of chemicals: they look like more as magical pet servants than as an order of warriors. The oriental weapons are intentionally odd in order to act as badges and signature items of the Protectors. Rename any offending class feature as necessary, aiming at an 'hermetic tinkering' flavor rather than kung-fu galore.</blockquote>

Verification