homebrew brewing looking for some feedback (quite long)

[Fingers Boggis]

ive had some ideas floating around for a while and ive finally decided to get down to writting my own setting and im hoping that i can get some step by step help and feedback from people on the boards (first time homebrew, big step lol)

its basically an OA inspired idea but drawing from quite a few sources. bit of history....

the human empire is in accendance, good relations with an already strong dwarven civilisation has lead to a strong advance in recent times under a strong emperor. That is until disaster strikes, the goblin threat previously kept in check by the dwarves has found a new ally granting them powerful magics, blah blah blah big long war...... dwarven empire is now in decline and the effect has spread to the human empire as well, goblin magic causing distrust between the four houses that makes civil war as much of a threat as outside influence. The emperor decrees that an inquisition be formed to route out any sorcerors in the empire and all wizard schools are to be razed to prevent the spread of any magical taint from within. Furthermore on ships from the west a new race has formed a small beachhead in the empire, where these gnome corsairs will stand in the conflict is unknown.

so in terms of races...

humans: broken into 4 houses (no names as yet) each revering one of the four elements, each will have a favoured class and ancestor feats im also thinking about letting one have a favoured class of bard leading to further distrust as they will be using arcane magic. divine magic will come from shujenga (sp) as with OAs clans, ill go into more detail in a future post

dwarves: live undre the mountains and in heavy decline, favoured class will be ranger as they hunt goblins in tunnels with duel axes being the common weapon choice (not very original but i like the idea) divine influence is ancestor worship with the predominant class being the shaman (OA again) with one domain choice having to be ancestor. Also i want to let dwarves have artificers from ebberon to represent their more mechanical (or quasi-mechanical) knoledge, these two will work together to give a place for....

warforged: i like the race a lot so have decided to include them, but they'll be more like 40k eldar wraithguard, valued ancestors given mechanical bodies to help with the war effort as the number of darves dwindles

gnomes: corsairs rather than the tricksters they currently are, favoured class will be rogue and ill give some bonus to balance and climb, loose the cantrips and im going to change weapon familliarity for firearms rather than hooked hammers, tehy're going to be the only race with firearms.

half-orcs: killed on sight/at birth in the empire for displaying goblin taint, used as slaves in goblin lands in the mountains for not being true blood, everything else will remain the same but a difficult PC choice

got to shoot now, hopefully ill be able to post later a bit more on the human houses

Fingers

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just a suggestion (inspired by some Japanese history)-

I ran a OA campaign in which there was a "hidden" house. Koi House had been unjustly discredited by an evil high ranking court official from Serpent House and the Emperor ordered them hunted down to the last man. They were crafty, though, and many just simply dissapeared. Hundreds of years later, and still loyal to the Emperor and the Throne, they work clandestinely to reclaim their house's honor, mostly by rooting out the forces of the evil Serpent House, which is currently held in highest esteem by the Royal House.

They hid in plain sight among the housholds of their main ally, Dragon (Lung) House. While the Dragons typically wore all kinds of dragon emblems before the merger, that changed after the merger. Those Koi who "joined" the Dragons adopted the Carp Dragon (Yu Lung) as their symbol, frequently worn as patterned cloth pants or as a crest on their helms, and only the Koi wear the Yu Lung. This secret was known only to the Lung and the Koi families.

 

[Fingers Boggis]

ok so the films finished and im back online, cant keep away for long, thanks for the suggestion, would add some good intrigue might slot it in once ive got the basic frame work up and running

so human houses, name suggestions greatfully recieved and ive not got all my books with me so the class and PrC lists may well be expanded.

House of [air one]
Best diplomats in the empire, many suspect that they use magical means to achieve this, and theyre not entirely wrong, the house prefers to aoid violent conflict believing that a conflict of words attacking a families reputation can be far more damaging long term.
Favoured Class: bard
Allowed Classes: bard, rogue, swashbuckler, shujenga, OA samurai (bonus feats not worked out yet but similar to scorpion i would think)
Allowed PrCs: duelist, bladesinger, bard ones from CW and CD

House of [earth one]
Stoic defenders against the goblinoid marauders and closest allies to the dwarven nations. Hold the closest bond with theyre adoped element, the house features an abnormally large number of shujenga. Often appearing blunt to the other houses they're down to earth, down to business attitude often causes friction.
Favoured class: shujenga
Allowed classes: fighter, ranger, shujenga, OA samuri (similar to crab)
Allowed PrCs: dwarven defender (renamed),

House of [water one]
In contrast to their earthen equivalents this house's striking feature is its flowing combat, quickly turning their opponents strengths to weaknesses. Nobles of house [] tend to be quite easy going but once roused can be an almost unstoppable force
Favoured CLass: fighter
Allowed classes: fighter, shujenga, OA samurai(clan?)
PrCs: daidoji (sp) bodyguard from OA

HOuse of [fire one]


ok help these last couple really need more fleshing out. There will also be a group of impirial managed PrC organisations including the church inquisitor from CD and possibly ninja spy. Im also thinking of allowing psionic classes across the board but with a warning that they may be mistaken for magic. There is still strength in choosing a psionic class though as there will be an overreaching organisation that will allow them to evade attack from inquisitors, etc. that, if i include it, will feature the emperor as a lieutenant to its founder. A big organisation then.
Ill also allow sorcerors as a RP challenge, these would have to be be youngsters who have fled their noble heritage when their 'gift' became obvious becoming a member of the lower classes (more open class selection but no ancestor feats or social status, tho this allows them to do things the nobles can not)

dwarven allowed classes: artificer, fighter, ranger, shaman, rogue
gnome allowed classes: rogue, fighter, hexblade, druid
warforged: combat classes and rogue

my major concern is that whether the races are all balanced with a reduced class selection?

Fingers

 

[Fingers Boggis]

another quick addition, also the obligatory mountain temples featuring monks and sohei

 

[Turanil]

warforged: I like the race a lot so have decided to include them, but they'll be more like 40k eldar wraithguard, valued ancestors given mechanical bodies to help with the war effort as the number of darves dwindles

Cool idea! I like it!

my major concern is that whether the races are all balanced with a reduced class selection?

I don't think reducing the choice of classes unbalance anything. I would just note that Shaman (the name, not the class) is a bit strange for an imperial civilization. Why the cleric is out? Why not have both the cleric as a sort of templar, and the shaman as a sort of recluse, hermit, parish-priest, or wandering friar?

another quick addition, also the obligatory mountain temples featuring monks and sohei

I second this idea.

 

[Fingers Boggis]

I feel generally that the cleric is a little overpowered so would prefer not to include it. I also feel that the Shaman reflects the ancestor worship religion of the dwarven nations better, the whole spirits thing. I was thinking for house names I could steal the names for the different dragons in the OA book.

some notes on classes...

classes are as presented in PHB or 3.5 OA update except where noted

Following classes are not in the world: cleric, paladin, wizard, wu jen, CW samuri, CD classes, classes in new releases on a case by case basis

Barbarians will be an NPC only class for goblinoid opponants.
Sorcerors will be allowed but may be hunted by imperial inquisors, see notes in races bit, when within the empire or dwarven nations, gnome reaction to sorcerors is unknown to PCs but wont be initially hostile. This will make the class a challenge to play i hope, add bluff and sense motive as class skills.
class choice is limited by race choice.

PrCs are limited to those on my list, if players want to take a PrC they feel fits their character and the wrld outside this list ill happily consider it but have every right to veto, as is the case in all my campaigns.

Fingers (glad you like the warforged idea)