Level Up (A5E) Sins of the Scorpion Age, Sword and Sorcery Campaign Setting

[niklinna]

I could put the -first- feat of each of the Narrative feat trees into the Player's Guide, and the second and third Narrative Feats into the Narrator's Guide... so players don't -exactly- know what they're in for as they progress. This could be pretty useful for certain cults like the Blood of Nefia, who turn greedy and selfish once you go from Initiate to Acolyte and Violent when you go from Acolyte to Priest. Revealing the mysteries of the organizations to players as they gain position.

What happens if the player discovers the unpleasant truth and decides to break away? Narratively, many cults and other shady organizations put a hit on defectors, but mechanically what happens with their feat? Do they lose it? Do they get to replace it with another?

 

[niklinna]

How's this for a regional map?
View attachment 141458

Are those long blue things rivers, or really long inlets/bays? Rivers usually originate in mountains....

 

[Steampunkette]

Still catching up, but this reminds me of the excellent game Geneforge, have you played it? The original had 4 sequels.

I never have, no! Should maybe look into it...

In Soviet Scorpon Age, magical language reads you!

I can't remember what movie it was, but I did see one, recently, where a character was reading out of a book they were translating and then they stopped saying the Faux-Latin words before translating... and another character asks "How are you translating this fast?!" and the response is "I'm not! It turned into English!" or something similar.

Or how in the Evil Dead, Ash and literally anyone else who picks up the Necronomicon can just read the words right off the page. Even though they're meant to be ancient Sumerian cuneiform that -most- Americans wouldn't even recognize as a language, much less understand.

That's the kind of magic language I'm talking about. Where it -wants- to be read.

What happens if the player discovers the unpleasant truth and decides to break away? Narratively, many cults and other shady organizations put a hit on defectors, but mechanically what happens with their feat? Do they lose it? Do they get to replace it with another?

If it's one they took through leveling I'd say let 'em replace it if they like. If it's one they're granted as a narrative "Boon" then they're stuck with it. They'd still benefit from the knowledge/training they've had, even if they quit the cult.

Are those long blue things rivers, or really long inlets/bays? Rivers usually originate in mountains....

Rivers.

The one that "Starts" at Lagan (The Borsai) is actually a long central river made from runoff of the Scorpion Tail mountains. Lots of little rivulets and streams pour down the side of it all the way along it's length from where it begins at the Damashur oasis in a spectacular waterfall. Part of why no one lives on the west side of the Borsai is the flooding that can wash away lots of land and homes. I just didn't bother to put them all on the map. On the far side, the river Ur, is the unusual one, in that it starts from a spring in the highlands of Kyran and then gains other waters as it goes down toward the Shallow Sea.

The Scorpion Lands, as a whole, are highest in the Left Claw, at Achelb, and the entire thing descends on a jagged grade down toward the Shallow Sea.

Part of why Abu Sadin looks like it was built on the side of a massive hill, it kind of is. The Khufu is below it and most of the Northern Scorpion Lands.

 

[Rogerd1]

View attachment 142019

How's this?

That is amazing, how do you do that?
Is there a place to download a blank version, and is there anywhere with guidelines on how to complete one?

 

[Steampunkette]

That is amazing, how do you do that?
Is there a place to download a blank version, and is there anywhere with guidelines on how to complete one?

The Homebrewery - NaturalCrit

Homebrewery Formatting Guide

No description.

homebrewery.naturalcrit.com

Watercoloring In Homebrewery

No description.

homebrewery.naturalcrit.com

Annnnd

D&D Watercolor Stains Gallery

You basically code the PDF in a simplified HTML format. At the top of the homebrewery data entry side are pre-generated tables and the like.

Easy Peasy lemon Squeezy!

 

[Steampunkette]

So... Let's explore some Curse-Feat Options. Specifically Corruption.

My current thought is to have Corruption apply to Arcane Casters who spend all of their spell slots/points but do not perform a Cleansing Ritual during their next rest, short or long.

At rank 1, it gives you a "Permanent" level of Strife... but also grants you immunity to the effects of Tier 1 Strife. In exchange, you gain other benefits such as a +1 to saving throw DCs or Spell Attack Rolls, or both. But if you gain Strife, you immediately "Jump" to tier 2.

Similarly, at Rank 2, it should provide an additional bonus and penalty, making it easier to be placed into bad situations but offering a tempting benefit if you succumb to the corruption. Perhaps you gain some Sorcery Points and Metamagic Options, regardless of Class? In exchange: disadvantage to all Death Saves.

At Rank 3, it should become terribly dangerous. 2 additional levels of "Permanent Strife" (Tier 3) that you 'Ignore' just like the first one. If you gain any Strife you're at level 4... 5 is right around the corner making it so you can't cast any spells (Unless it's been changed). And another benefit should join in, but I'm just not sure what it should be...

Each Rank of Corruption requires a separate and specific Cleansing Ritual to remove it. With Tier 3 requiring weeks of contrition to remove, if it's even -possible- to remove that much corruption.

 

[GuyBoy]

In terms of removing Tier 3, the role of Pelias in the Scarlet Citadel might be a useful case study of a caster, who certainly had corruption, redeeming himself to at least some extent?

 

[Steampunkette]

In terms of removing Tier 3, the role of Pelias in the Scarlet Citadel might be a useful case study of a caster, who certainly had corruption, redeeming himself to at least some extent?

Sorta! He also got, like, plant-assaulted for unknown quantities of time... And it was drawing the power out of him. Probably the corruption, too.

 

[GuyBoy]

Cerek, known once as “Lightfingers”, was dying, and dying in great pain and fear too.
The rope tied round his left wrist dropped some 15 feet from the bronze piton hammered into the cliff top, suspending him some 70 feet above the rocky canyon floor. The drop was nauseating enough but the pain from his severed right wrist was far more sickening.
“Not so many light fingers now!” The brutish bandit chief, Versaag had guffawed, as he hewed Cerek’s hand with his tulwar, before commanding his band to tie the thief and tip him over the edge on the rope. “Die slowly.”

Cerek had lifted his arm as much as he could to minimise blood loss, and managed to find the tiniest of ledges to tiptoe his feet, taking the weight off his tied arm. He could not climb with one hand and a stump. He was weakening with blood loss, thirst and pain. And, as the sun began to dip, he knew what would emerge from the shadowed openings he could glimpse on the cliff face below.

He knew it was delirium when he felt the tug on the rope. Knew it was false hope when he felt the upwards pull. Knew he was imagining the face and brawny arms of the scarred, one-eyed female minotaur who pulled his slender frame up over the edge. Surely the cool water she poured down his parched throat was a lie, too?

The water revived him to an extent. He took in the powerful minotaur and muttered a grateful thanks.
“She cannot answer,” a soft voice spoke, “ they took her tongue as well as her eye. She is one of the maimed. As are you; that is why I saved you.”

Cerek looked towards the speaker. A woman, richly clad, as a Musarran noble, dark-haired and young.....or maybe not so young, something in her eyes......
“Then I thank you, lady....lady?”
“.....Kivasa.”
And Cerek blanched in fear. Kivasa the Sorceress. Kivasa the Damned. Kivasa, whose name was whispered in fear. Kivasa who, tavern tales told, had been devoured by a summoned demon three decades before.
She laughed, though he had not spoken aloud, “yes, that Kivasa, who now rescues those who were tortured, maimed, unjustly harmed. That Kivasa, who has....seen beyond....and now seeks to save her very being from that which lurks...and you, young Cerek, can help me.”

 

[GuyBoy]

PS Apologies for slight name-plagiarism to a certain undead woman in a Stygian pyramid.