Serious Mucking With The Standard Game Options: Advice?

[Mallus]

I've got a whopping three comments, which are..

1) Sounds neat.

2) I've always felt that limiting the elements of the fantastic was integral to creating a strong, flavorful campaign setting [what you restrict is just about as important as what you invent]. I understand why the rules take a kitchen-sink approach to fantasy, but I think most players really enjoy settings where they're is a more coherent overall feel/theme/background.

3) Remember, the most important choices to players, whether they admit that during character creation or not, aren't over class, race, feats or spells. They're the choices they make in game that have an impact on the world. Give players a dynamic story that responds to their actions --and not just the DM's script-- and they'll forgive just about any restriction...

 

[Pielorinho]

Sounds like a blast! I agree that limiting options is important; I further agree that as soon as you place something off-limits, all the players want it .

In my game, I told people that wizards and half-orcs were both considered evil and scary and that I didn't want them as PCs; guess what PCs I got? I told people that magic missile wasn't on the spell list; guess which spell has been requested more than any other?

Be firm in your rules; if you just discourage players from a particular choice, they'll be all over it like ice cream on a kid's face.

As for half-elves, I like your ideas. It might also work to have half-elves be back-woods country folk, people who claim descendance from the Tuatha de Danaan who live in the wilds of Ireland, or Pictish ancestry. You don't ever have to tell the players whether the peasants' stories are true.

 

[Gothmog]

Wow! A quadruple post followed by double post. Well-played Gothmog.

Whoah- I didn't even realize that the second was a double post!

What can I say, when you got the shiznat, it shall overcome.

 

[kenjib]

One way to address the healing issue is to use wounds and vitality instead of hit points.

Also, one thing you could do to add variety to the human cultures, with little work required, is to give each culture a few cultural skills. So, for example, a nomadic horse barbarian culture might have survival, knowledge (nature), and ride. These skills are always considered class skills for the character. If the character already has one or more as a class skill at first level, he gets a +1 cultural bonus to the skill as well.

 

[ergeheilalt]

is a strong undercurrent of undead throughout the campaign - in fact, one of the main arcs involves a God of the Dead slaying and 're-animating', on a celestial scale, the gods of mortals. I have various undead demon god children that represent the ultimate forms of the big undead critter types. So, lots of turning, lots of crypts, lots of secrets.

Including that the major god will be slain and 'raised' to follow the undead god, corrupting the Church - to the point where clerics of that god will be unable to turn undead once that happens. I'm really pleased with that one.

First off, sounds like a wonderful game. An issue you may find re-occurring with rogues is sneak attacks/criticals on these undead baddies. You may want to create a feat chain that focuses on inherent mechanical weaknesses in animated dead flesh. Another option could be creating a rogue ability (the kind they get after 10th level if they so choose) that would allow them to make sneak attacks and perform critical attacks on undead folks.

Again, great idea

Erge