Heaven & Hell.txt
Hidden History:
The Devils triumphed over the Demons in the Blood War. The Devils became much much more powerful. Demons, used to the strong ruling the weak, quickly grew accustomed to the new order as little had changed. Demon Lords are unhappy, but are geas'ed to be unable to opposed there new masters (they agreed to this rather than face death). The demon of the Abyss overran the Earth, with Devilish masters controlling the invasion. Celestials and any opposing Outsiders/Dragons/whatever were targeted and destroyed, while the mortal population was almost unharmed. The forces of good fought a slow retreating action, until the last celestial was banished. All interdemensional travel stopped, for 2 earth months. Then Boom! During those two months, a massive gate was created, pushing all of the earth into the 1st layer of the Abyss. As a side effect, the Outlands were completely absorbed by Gehenna, the Elemental planes were set adrift in the Astral planes, while the Positive and Negative material expanded to encompass each alignment.
Player Knowledge:
The Demons came. They were unstoppable. Earth was closed off, and then destroyed. It's inhabitants taken to the Abyss to be slaves. The Demons must have either reached a peace, or found some way to control the Devils. It's only a matter of time till the Devils counterattack, and then we will Smash the Demon hoards!
Starting campaign goals:
Given Mission in 7 heavens, then plane shifted by Half-celestial child to Heaven's Gate. There they discover that almost nothing they were told by "high command" is still true. Time runs much much faster in the Lower planes than in the Upper, thus any information passed up the chain of command is instantly out of date. Any orders passed down are irrelevant. The on-the-ground commanders on the ground basically fabricate information.
The party receives a tour of Heaven's Gate, some of the things they see:
* Tainted celestials unable to return home, hate the new uncorrupted arrivals
* Their guide is a half-demon
* Modern weapons.
*
Soul Forge: A place to spend Xp to make an item better. Persons may have 1 item soul bound to them at 1-10 hitdice. 2 items at 11-30 hitdice, 3 items at 31-61 hitdice, ect. A matched pair of weapons is ok, as long as the theme is consistent. A pair of +3 Short swords, doesn't have a theme
The Sergeant does them a favor and stops the party from going out on its mission.
Mission types: Extraction of People, targets include native Half-celestials (only ones who can plane shift directly into the Abyss) Demon Double agents, captured Celestials, ect. Scouting missions, maybe some guard duty.
Heaven's Gate: Fortified Fortress of Celestials on 2nd layer of the Nine Hells. Various Outposts on nearby planes.
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Tainted Celestial Template
Gained by an Celestial being who strays from the path while in the Lower planes. Such a being would normally be cast from the Heavens falling into the Lower planes as a Fallen Celestial, but.... War allows for a certain amount of flexibility.
Changes:
Can't go home: The Tainted Celestial is now considered a native of the Lower Plane in question. The Tainted cannot Plane Shift make to the Upper planes, and can be killed permanently while on the Lower planes. Tainted Celestials now longer take penalties based on the Alignment traits of a plane.
Demonic Tool use: As a native of the lower plane, the tainted may use Demonically forged items as if she were a native without risking further corruption.
Fallen Aura: A Tainted Celestial radiates an aura of failure and despair. It is obvious that the character has fallen. Celestials lose any ability that radiates from the user. Examples include Aura of Menace, Magic Circle against Evil(the Celestial ability, not the spell), and frightful presence.
Abilities: -2 Cha
Alignment: Often Neutral, while a change of alignment often go hand in hand with becoming Tainted there are exceptions.
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PC Character Creation:
* 32 point buy.
* 10th level equivalent
* 5 of which must be ECL's (SS for all ECL's, will determine any others as needed)
* Celestial template is usually free to everyone. I will pass out or take away extra ECL levels so that the party members are equally cool, again interesting is the most important consideration, feel free to make something interesting and sucky.
* Half-dragon/Lycantropes need special approval. (Dragons however are just fine).
* Creativity is most important attribute, please break the rules in interesting ways.
* Examples of interesting and rule breaking: Feral(+2) Hound Archon 7/Barbarian 1, Half-Celestial Vrock 5
Expectations: I expect for each party member to be closer to a 5 or 6th level party in combat capacity, I expect there will be no dedicated spell casters and the party will be depending on innate abilities to survive.
Items:
Only 1 Item allowed! 50000gp to spend on this one item. Multiple abilities related to a theme will be given a price break. Interesting is the most important part! You will probably never own another magic item than this one, resist the urge for a +5 longsword!
Rules: 3.5 rules wherever possible. At a minimum new haste and new DR
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Cosmology:
Planes:
LG - Seven Heavens
CG - Beastlands
NG - ??? - Gone, inhabitants scattered
Good planes: Diminished, signs of Decay
LN - Mechanus -
CN - Limbo -
Both are polarizing, becoming even more Lawful and Chaotic. Think "Destroy!" and Big Brother
TN - Outlands - Currently Missing. Unreachable, may not exist any longer.
NE - Gehenna - Much changed, absorbed the Outlands
CE - Abyss
LE - Nine Hells
Evil Planes:
Shadow: Unreachable
Astral: Unchanged
Ethereal: The local Ethereal exists, but the deep Ethereal is missing
Prime: Gone, consumed.
Positive: Transitive plane to Good planes
Negative: Transitive plane to Evil Planes
Elemental: Missing, still exists (elementals can still be called) but not reachable by Plane Shift/Gate
