Need some help with my semi-homebrew campaign

[Tyonisius]

Come the new year, I'll be hosting a Greek Mythological campaign for my college group. The campaign is going to be very low magic. Some classes are going to be excluded (Cleric, Wizard, Sorcerer), others are being revamped (Ranger) and others will be achieved through the proper feat selection (Paladin). I am going to use the Hellenic Sorceress(er) from The New Argonauts campaign. The Heavy Armor from the DMG is going to be excluded but fighters are going to get the Combat Expertise feat for free to conteract this some. Due to the low magic I'm revamping the crafting skill to allow for creating upgraded armor and weapons. These upgrades include a bonus to damage, attack, and some magical affects (keen for example) for weapons and include lowered armor check penalty, lowered arcane spell failure, increased max dex bonus, and increased AC for weapons.

My problem with this campaign is revamping Ranger to fit and also finding prestige classes that will fit into the theme. I've already determined (based upon The New Argonauts) that Assassin will be fine (a couple others as well), I also am allowing the Gladitor PrC (not the class from Kingdoms of Kalamar, though I may just add the class all together). There are also some PrC from Kingdoms of Kalamar that I think will fit the flavor very well (the muse for example). For the Ranger what I am thinking about doing is simply removing the spells and increasing the bonuses from Favored Enemy to +4 or +5. I have seen some non-magical Ranger variants but they generally have 2-4 spell-like abilities to take the place of the spells which won't work in this campaign. Anyway, here are my question(s).

1) Can anyone suggest some other PrCs that will fit the theme well? If so please list the source book.

2) I also could use help with some more themed magical items. The New Argonauts have a few really good ones but I'd like to come up with some more, help is appreciated.

3) Anything you could suggest doing with this campaign? Whether it be monsters (I have a decent list already) or encounters or... anything really.

Thanks for the help guys!

Edit: 12/11/07 - Added a list of some prestige classes/classes I am allowing or revamping.

Assassin - DMG - Removing the spell casting ability and may increase the sneak attack damage.
Fighter - PHB - Only revamp is free Combat Expertise feat.
Rogue - PHB - No revamp needed.
Ranger - PHB - Revamped to get rid of spell casting and increase favored enemy bonus. Changed favored enemy list to fit with campaign.
Gladiator - Kingdoms of Kalamar - No revamping needed.
Hellenic Sorceress(er) - The New Argonauts - Only revamped the name to allow for male characters.
Muse - Kingdoms of Kalamar - It needs some revamping but not much.
Alliance Merchant - Kingdoms of Kalamar - Needs to be revamped to move away from the alliance aspect but it will still work.
Bounty Hunter - Kingdoms of Kalamar - Don't think any revamping is needed.
Guild Thief - Forgotten Realms (Campaign Setting) - This shouldn't need much if any revamping.
Weapon Master - Oriental Adventures - Only revamping it needs is to lose the oriental flair.

 

[adamda]

I recently started playing the computer game Titan Quest, so my mind's been on the Greek/Roman mythology. I'll throw out my two coppers.

For the ranger, I'd recommend the scout from Complete Adventurer. Or the Wilderness Rogue.

PrC wise, of the Complete Warrior I'd recommend the Dervish, the Exotic Weapons Master, the Frenzied Berzerker, Invisible Blade, Occult Slayer, Reaping Mauler, and the Warchanter. Of Complete Adventurer I'd recommend the Tempest, Spymaster, and Thief Acrobat. Complete Arcane, maybe the Fatespinner or Suel Arcanamach. Complete Divine, perhaps the Evangelist or the Divine Oracle.

Magic items of note would be the golden fleece, wings of Icarus, the Aegis of Athena, Hermes' sandals, and what Sean K Reynolds has to say expanding the New Argonauts here. Can't really think of much more off the top of my head.

Your monster list is probably pretty full. Just in case though, don't forget dire lions, sea serpents, and the sphinx. Oh, and giant snakes. Lots of them. And the mother of em all, Echidna. Wikipedia inspires! Don't forget lamias empousai, and mormolykei.

 

[Claudius Gaius]

If you're going for greek demigodlings, the classes from the Book of Nine Swords might work for you; they can pull off some pretty impressive stunts without overt "spellcasting". If you want some midrange options, half the material in the Complete Scoundrel and the Complete Warrior might work for you for prestige classes. The Priestly Witch options in Eclipse: The Codex Persona would do nicely for low-powered magic, and - if you really want to be greek - daily chance of some random deity randomly intervening in your life would match up with a fair number of the legends.

 

[Tyonisius]

Thanks for the ideas so far guys. Titan Quest was lots of fun. I've been looking at the ToB classes to allow them into the campaign, haven't decided for sure yet. I also forgot to mention that the only race available is going to be human (which you may have guessed). To add some diversity I'm going to add an Ethnicity option that gives bonuses to certain stats and skills.

 

[adamda]

I had a feeling humans would be the end all be all. If you come up with your Ethnicity content, please post it!

As for ToB, a lot of it is a little too flashy and magical. Teleport, fireball, the scent ability... too magical in my opinion. I love it for high fantasy campaigns (love love love!!). Some of the disciplines would work I think, but you'd have to be careful not to let in some of more spectacular effect ones. I'd recommend stripping away the disciplines entirely, or making new ones with the existing martial powers. Now that could be awesome. The Disciples of Achilles, Agamemnon's Myrmidons... and some such.

 

[Tyonisius]

I'll get the ethnicity up when I get it completely finalized. I have the basic stat increases/decreases (mostly increases) and some of the skill increases. They aren't perfectly set to ancient Greece (I'm still working on research to try justify my stat/skill bonuses that I did off the top of my memory). I was actually thinking about reworking the ToB stances, et al. and turn them into feats, but I haven't decided on that for sure yet. It might just be easier to allow them on a play by play basis, but then, in my opinion, anyone who just goes fighter/rogue is going to end up weaker than someone who does something mixed with the ToB classes (or the ToB classes straight).

Oh, side note, currently the Ethnicities I'm having (though I may add more) are Spartan, Athenian, Argive, and Theban. Basically some of the really well known ones.

 

[Quartz]

If this is mythic Greece a la Trojan Wars, you might want to change the ethnicities to Trojan, Mycenean, Minoan (last scion of a destroyed empire), Thracian, etc.

The old Hero System book Mythic Greece will prove a mine of useful information.