Help Needed Planning A Campaign (My Players (Sounds so pretentious from me) Stay Out)

[Piratecat]

34 is quite high; I've personally found that if you go over 32 points, they're often going to need foes who are +1 CR above normal in order to challenge them.

For your light fighter, the class you're probably looking for is the unfettered in Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed.

Nice map, but that's a big country! You could adventure there for quite some time and never have to worry about leaving the island.

 

[Steverooo]

Problems & Ideas:

The premise seems a bit silly, and too far-reaching, to me... If the GC (Great Catastrophe) killed off all Wizards (and, presumably, all Druids, Sorcerers, Cleric, Paladins/Rangers, etc.), then why not all Dragons, Nymphs, and any other race with more magic than a 4th level PC? That's a bit much, ifya ask me.

Anyway, high level Barbarians, Fighters, Rogues, and Multiclassers would rule, for a time. Fighting and war would have become common... unless you go with your "moved forward in time" idea (in which case, you'll have to explain the return of the magical races).

Here's an idea that might tie it all together...

After the GC, Nature, herself, stepped in and took a hand in setting things right. She took all of the intelligent races, and moved then X,000 yers into the future, where they couldn't interfere. Then, she created her new race of Plantfolk in the forest, where they quickly matured to serve her. Then, she used her "Treewards" to help the ailing planet recover, seeking out survivors of the magical races (usually too young at the time of the GC to be able to take care of themselves). Some races had to be gated in from elsewhere or when...

After X,000 years, some sort of equilibrium has been re-established. The forests, etc., have reclaimed the old civilizations, and new ones have arisen. The magical races are as common as they were, but the islands still move in unpredictable patterns. Nature has returned to enough of a semblance of her former self that Humanity (in all its forms) is once again turned loose upon the world...

Again, Barbarians, Fighters, and Rogues rule the day, as their high level characters survived the GC, and are now here, in the future world. Wars will be common, and magic rare.

Magic items will be hard to come by, as much was destroyed, and few can now make anything. Little is left from X,000 yeras ago. All the potions and scrolls will be rotted or spoiled, and the Celtic Lemures would have picked up anything easily gotten to.

The Treewards in the forests will be the most powerful race (probably), but they exist to serve Nature, herself, and have little use for the various races of Humanity. So, they ignore them, as much as possible.

Magic items will be very rare, for a while, with new scrolls just starting to come out, and potions needing a while. With only fourth level casters, to start, permanent stuff will only be available in long-buried caches in hard-to-get-to places, or in the hands of old, experienced Celtic Lemures (Volcae).

Incidentally, Volcae won't be limited to fourth caster level. They may well be more magically powerful than Humanity! ;-p

 

[Piratecat]

I dunno. the more unlikely and convoluted the backstory, the less buy-in the players will have. I'd make an argument for elegant simplicity whenever possible.

For instance, you could say that the land on which the island was shattered from was mostly uninhabited without a lot of adventurers, and that it has drifted almost a thousand miles from the next major piece. Tah dah! That lets you have higher magic on other islands if you want, leaves you with a full range of monsters available, and explains the lack of handy high-lvl adventurers.

 

[Laundreu]

Well, that's the nifty thing about brainstorming (with other people) - not-so-usable ideas can be ditched easily enough.

So! Fairly certain things for campaign world!

There are no oceans, and the lands are made up of floating islands. Starting floating island is 2400 miles away from Big Bad Expanding Empire - I measured.

The undead, while no longer operating under the malignant intelligence of the elf-lich, are still common in the darker parts of the world - underground, in the caves, and in the swamps in the north. Anywhere where undead-hunting parties couldn't easily get to, really.

PC Races are: Human, Half-Orc, Goblin, Half-Elf-Which-Is-Really-Elf-Stat-Wise, Dwarf, Gnome, Half-Orc, Volcae (+2 Wis, -2 Con, Darkvision, +2 to Spot and Listen, favored class Druid (I think it needs a bit more to be on par with the other races, but I'm not sure. Opinions?).

PC Classes are: PHB classes minus Bard (not really fitting, sadly), CombatWombat51's Duellist.

On the starting land, 'organized' magic is fairly rare - there are teachers, of course, but it's less common than it would be - and most heavy-duty spellcasters are dead. New ones are rising quickly, of course.

Somewhere out there, there's a very expansionistic empire. With Airships.

The true elves are watching on the edges of reality, and there are vast swathes of land that are under Faerie control. There, the Wild Hunt still rides.

Evil, evil unicorns. Creepy evil unicorns. Elves love unicorns, the giggling little psychopaths... (these unicorns, really: http://www.stormloader.com/users/moelane/innomine/servitors/Unicorns.htm​

Things I need to do:

I'd like an Engineer or Tinker or some such class for the Seorigka and their technological focus. Any ideas on how to work around that for the moment? It's not a huge issue because I've got no players desperately wanting to be a Goblin Junkmaster or something.

Is there something similar to a Technology Domain? If not, any ideas on how to make one?

Plot! I need an opening plot for the group - but it's difficult to plan without knowing at least some of the details of the group, backstory, that kind of thing.

The town! I will be fleshing out the town in which the PCs live - it's more of a glorified village, really, but fairly well-fortified. About six hundred people live in the area - primarily woodcutters and farmers, with a contingent of miners (iron, copper, tin) and a standing militia on hand to deal with Volcae incursions. Plus, of course, Crazy Old Hermit who teaches the Gnome Wizard PC how to be a wizard.​

Things that are out:

The whole time-travel thing. Wouldn't work, sadly. So, yeah, the world just kinda fractured and seperated, rather than everybody got teleported everywhere.​

Anything else?

 

[Laundreu]

So far, of the three players I have, there is a Gnome Wizard, a Goblin Cleric, and a Halfling Swashbuckler (CombatWombat51's Duellist).

I have the tiniest party ever.

That said, there is the beginnings of a background story for the PCs being formed. The Gnome PC was taught her Wizarding skills by a Wizened Old Hermit (tm), who is in actuality a half-elf. He's hiding out in this frontier town because, with the Elves still on the prowl, he and his kind are not well-liked - whereas, in frontier town, nobody really cares - he may be a half-elf, but the Volcae are the problem, and so long as he helps defend the town against any incursions, they'll not bother him. Even let him inside the walls during attacks.

Of course he's not allowed to live inside the town limits any other time. There are limits, after all.

There was another reason why Sitio Sagaula the Half-Elf moved to this town - he was helping an old comrade of his. Jupa Dellion, a halfling swashbuckler of some skill but little reknown, was fleeing the city they lived in not too long after the Sundering. With her was a small halfling child, her grandson. Evidentially, his parents were nobles, activists, and also loyalists to the original government when that government can no longer be contacted due to the whole 'our world has fractured into chunks' thing. When the city formed itself into a sovereign nation in and of itself, they protested. Voices were raised, threats were made, and at the end of the day both parents were killed in staged 'duels'. The child was supposed to go next, before his granny kicked in the door, generally kicked ass and took names, and then got in touch with her old partner Sitio. Together they headed for the frontier, where it would be safe from pursuing assassins.

And so, for the past fourteen years, the pair has lived in (or around) the town, helping to defend it against Volcae, and generally been fairly quiet. The halfling boy grew up, and Jupa taught him her skills as he grew - his parents were affluent nobles, and disdained the physical training necessary to be a swashbuckler. Her grandson would not be in the same position.

Anywho, I need to come up with a good 1st level adventure for these characters. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Also, mostly-unrelated question: What happened to Ambidexterity? I can't seem to find it in the PHB or the SRD. Was it gotten rid of without anybody telling me? ;_;