Homebrew help: a new plane

[trix]

Too Many Planes

I think that there are too many planes as it stands.

There should be higher dimensional planes.

1:Outer-2:Inner-3rime

There should be the dimensional astral plane which allows one to "fly" between any plane. There should be the quasi planes that are subviews of the asteral plane (the shadow plane / plane of radience / etc) that allow you access into specific outer inner and prime planes.

So to get to some outer hell, u might have to go into asteral, then into shadow, then into some outer hell.

U might go straight from inner to shadow, because the shadow is a quasi state of the asteral plane. U might have changed your viewpoint, but you're inside some other plane, so the shadow or ethereal plane allows you to navigate the plane you're in, within the context of the quasi plane that you've shifted to.

When u jump out of the current plane you're in (you've say.. shifted to ethereal, now want to move to an inner plane), you jump to say, an elemantal plane of earth for eg.

Obviously, the differing levels are that some people might be able to get into the "ethereal" plane... but dont know how to jump out of their current plane into something else... so they're limited.

Ag, just my thoughts. There are too many quazie faceted edge planes to worry about.


I'm keen to see an adventure that successfully uses said planar cosmology to good effect.

Anyone have any idea where I could get a module that uses multiplanes to good effect?

-Tim

 

[barsoomcore]

Barsommscore, I actually really like those rules. But they seem a bit incomplete. What does the sorceror class look like in your world? What are the feats he can take? What are the spells he can cast?

Ah, yes, that's a fairly major one, isn't it? But it is easily answered. There is no sorcerer class. A "sorcerer" is anyone who casts spells. Just a generic, not a game mechanic, term. Spellcraft and Grasp Shadow are very limited skills. You need to get DM approval to take any ranks in them, though I usually allow them as class skills for anyone who can take them at all.

So your typical sorcerer is more likely an Expert who dumps skill points into Spellcraft and Grasp Shadow. In theory, just about any class could do it, but I wouldn't allow someone taking a level in a proper PC class (Fighter or Rogue, say) to take a rank of either -- they're spending too much time learning how to fight or sneak around or whatever. Magic is HARD.

As far as spells go, the only spells PC sorcerers get are those they find. There's no other mechanism for them to acquire spells. So a player can't, on acquiring a new level, pull out the PHB and say, "I want fireball!" Sorry, buddy, no dice. You want new spells, go kill another sorcerer and take her spellbooks. There's really no other way to do it.

Which solves the whole problem of spell lists for me. I don't have to come up with spell lists because I have total control over the spells available anyway.

There is a Magic Feats page on the Barsoom site. The list needs to be overhauled and extended (like they use the older, ripped-off-from-Dark Sun term, Gather Energy in place of Grasp Shadow -- I originally stole the basic mechanic from Dark Sun, but it's gotten mutated over the years), but my only PC spellcaster has been spirited away by a lovely ex-vampire goddess and we're not likely to see her for some time. So I'm being lazy. Your point?

 

[Desdichado]

Ah, yes, that's a fairly major one, isn't it? But it is easily answered. There is no sorcerer class. A "sorcerer" is anyone who casts spells. Just a generic, not a game mechanic, term. Spellcraft and Grasp Shadow are very limited skills. You need to get DM approval to take any ranks in them, though I usually allow them as class skills for anyone who can take them at all.

So your typical sorcerer is more likely an Expert who dumps skill points into Spellcraft and Grasp Shadow. In theory, just about any class could do it, but I wouldn't allow someone taking a level in a proper PC class (Fighter or Rogue, say) to take a rank of either -- they're spending too much time learning how to fight or sneak around or whatever. Magic is HARD.

Better and better! A little CoC-like, which I like. I've been tinkering around with making spellcasting classes that aren't really too much different from that idea (although they get a few bonus magic feats as they progress), so my ideas aren't too off-base from yours.

As far as spells go, the only spells PC sorcerers get are those they find. There's no other mechanism for them to acquire spells. So a player can't, on acquiring a new level, pull out the PHB and say, "I want fireball!" Sorry, buddy, no dice. You want new spells, go kill another sorcerer and take her spellbooks. There's really no other way to do it.

Which solves the whole problem of spell lists for me. I don't have to come up with spell lists because I have total control over the spells available anyway.

There is a Magic Feats page on the Barsoom site. The list needs to be overhauled and extended (like they use the older, ripped-off-from-Dark Sun term, Gather Energy in place of Grasp Shadow -- I originally stole the basic mechanic from Dark Sun, but it's gotten mutated over the years), but my only PC spellcaster has been spirited away by a lovely ex-vampire goddess and we're not likely to see her for some time. So I'm being lazy. Your point?

OK, so what spells have you allowed? Are you pulling spells from the PHB and other official D&D sources and just going for this new way of casting them? My solution was something like that, and the level of the spell increased the difficulty of doing so. I'm not entirely satisfied with the way it turned out, though. I'm thinking of having another look at the CoC list and the Star Wars force powers list and making up my own from scratch rather than trying to convert D&D spells, although by limiting it to the witch spell list from the DMG I think it's fairly manageable.

 

[barsoomcore]

Okay, a sampling of some spells that have been used:

Relics & Rituals:
Bloodstorm: I love this spell. Whoever came up with this one, you are sick and twisted and I love you.
Sacrificial Heart: Another great one.
Stethel's Stick Servant
Rie's Dance of Seduction: When the mousy little sorceress had to distract the temple guards, we made the player (my wife) dance. A good night.

PHB:
Shadow Walk: This one has been changed a lot since it is the main "teleport" spell on Barsoom. You no longer need to be standing in shadows and you can zip about quite a bit more effectively.
Scry
Analyse Dweomer

Oriental Adventures:
Blood Fire (or whatever that one is where you cut yourself to hurl fire)
Substitution

Haven't used any from CoC yet but am liking what I see.

Making spells from scratch is hard. I have one called Arcane Matrix which allows a spellcaster to create a Shadow gate from which they can draw all the energy they want (but so can other spellcasters). Even just creating spell lists is, frankly, more work than I really want to do. Much easier to just toss out spells when you feel like allowing them.

 

[Desdichado]

Making spells from scratch is hard. I have one called Arcane Matrix which allows a spellcaster to create a Shadow gate from which they can draw all the energy they want (but so can other spellcasters). Even just creating spell lists is, frankly, more work than I really want to do. Much easier to just toss out spells when you feel like allowing them.

Well, when I said from scratch, that was a bit of an exageration. I'd start by converting Force powers from Star Wars into "spells." Most of them can come as is, and some need no more than a name change.

Then, I'd convert a few "missing" spells that I think are important into spells under my new mechanics. Actually doing much from scratch would be avoided, of course!

 

[barsoomcore]

Ooh, I also use Earthbolt from OA. It's the major offensive spell -- SO much cooler than Fireball or Lightning Bolt. Of course, everyone ends up covered in dust, but that's kind of fun, too.

 

[Desdichado]

Your mechanics (especially for "madness") remind me strongly of the Wheel of Time game.

I may use something very like your mechanics as my latest iteration of a custom magic system. I'd still probably create a class -- based on the expert with magic being class abilities rather than feats and skills -- and I like the Force method of casting spells causing subdual damage rather than having "spells per day."

But all in all, you've hit very close to what I want from my homebrew campaigns.