RangerWickett
Legend
This isn't really a thread of house rules, but rather a bit of campaign design advice. Optional rules are harder to implement than flavor, and what I want to see here are everyone's favorite flavorful fantasy recipes.
As I was revising my old campaign to come up with my current campaign, I took my old world and matured the parts of it that I can now see were just the silly imaginings and thefts of a middle school student. Things like the 9000 year old dragon that ruled an empire (but no one knew he was a dragon, and he usually would teleport around and spread evil just for the halibut) had to go. To replace them, I wanted to play up the different cultures, and try to make my setting like a real world. I'm no Tolkien, I admit, but I wanted to make each culture have its own distinct history, mythology, and customs. My first, foolish foolish idea was to make dozens of prestige classes, almost one for each city or forest or rock on the side of the road. But my players didn't want to read dozens of PrCs, and frankly, after the first 10, I didn't want to write them anymore.
Eventually, though, I decided the easiest way to do it would be the minimalist approach. Taking a cue from Forgotten Realms, I made a few cultural feats, and used them as ways for PCs to get involved with their character's homeland. That helped give hooks to all the different cultures, but I had to give up my idea of having lots of cool types of spellcasting prestige classes. I mean, FR have red wizards, gem mages, spellsingers, and so on, but now that I had decided against PrCs, how was I to represent different magical traditions?
Easy. I use no almost no house rules. Instead, I just write up a paragraph for each culture, saying what their culture prefers to do with its magic, and how its ways of spellcasting might look different from mundane 'wizardry.'
For example, the Ragesians have a tradition of magical inquisitors, who specialize in antimagic and counterspelling. These spellcasters wear ornamental beast masks to hide their faces (and supposedly also their souls) from their foes. Though they study many different types of magic to know how to recognize and counter it, they have a relatively limited repetoire themselves. Aside from antimagic, most of their spells are abjurations or divinations, with some enchantment to help in interrogation.
Rules-wise, this is represented usually by high ranks in Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft, with most Inquisitors being sorcerers instead of wizards. Inquisitors usually take Reactive Counterspell and Improved Counterspell feats. The only real house-rule for them is that they gain Intimidate and Sense Motive as class skills.
Spellduelists of the Gabal school are trained that the most important part of winning a magical combat is good form. Always assume your opponents are using whatever tricks they could, and almost never let them get off any of their spells if you can help it. Good form consists of every once in a while, actively attempting to disbelieve anything that seems too good or too bad, never leaving behind items you once owned that can used to locate you, and always learning from your mistakes.
Gabal spellduelists are generally trained in evocation spells, which they hold until just as their opponents begin casting, so they can disrupt the opposing spell, or to clear out opposing warriors so you can focus your attention on magical opposition without worrying about people with swords. Also, uniquely among schools of spelldueling, the Gabal school emphasizes bluffing and misdirection as valid tools; if you can feint and make your opponent think you're casting a vital spell before you actually do, he might cast his disruptive damaging spell early. You'll still take the damage, but at least you won't lose your own spell.
Gabal spellduelists usually have high ranks in at least two of the four primary skills of the school: Bluff, Knowledge (arcana), Sense Motive, and Spellcraft. Bluff and Sense Motive are class skills for them. Though they cast their spells just the same as normal wizards, they are usually much more intense in learning and mastering different tactics. Though Gabal, the originator of the school, prefers evocations, one of his most famous apprentices made brilliant use of enchantments and illusions to outthink and outmaneuver his foes. This apprentice also was responsible for the forbiddance against the "Diogenes Gambit" in formal duels, in which a spellduelist uses an illusion to make his opponent seemingly disqualify himself by stepping outside the boundary of the dueling field.
Kohalesti spellsingers are Elvish mages from the Otdar Islands, with special mastery of both sonic- and water-based magic. Dressing in light netting and decorative shells, these exotic Elvish sorcerers are highly desired as ship mages for even human fleets. Most spellsingers have beautiful voices well-suited to song, and all are adept swimmers, because their magical power comes from the endless song of the lapping ocean waves.
Spellsingers learn spells like ghost sound, ventriloquism, message, whispering wind, water breathing, and tongues, and they always are capable swimmers (Swim is a bonus class skill for them). All of their other spells have water- or sound-based themes, so mage armor might create a humming field of sound to deflect attacks, or hold person might create a stunning shout that immobilizes the target. Most spellsingers take Still Spell to help them cast underwater, and some take Endurance. They cannot cast any spells without verbal components, so Silent Spell is useless to them, but if they're underwater they can cast spells, though saying a verbal component counts as 5 rounds worth of breathing. Thus, a spellsinger with an 8 Constitution who casts one spell underwater would only have 11 rounds left before she started having trouble holding her breath.
Do any of you have similar ways to play up different magical traditions without requiring lots of house rules.
As I was revising my old campaign to come up with my current campaign, I took my old world and matured the parts of it that I can now see were just the silly imaginings and thefts of a middle school student. Things like the 9000 year old dragon that ruled an empire (but no one knew he was a dragon, and he usually would teleport around and spread evil just for the halibut) had to go. To replace them, I wanted to play up the different cultures, and try to make my setting like a real world. I'm no Tolkien, I admit, but I wanted to make each culture have its own distinct history, mythology, and customs. My first, foolish foolish idea was to make dozens of prestige classes, almost one for each city or forest or rock on the side of the road. But my players didn't want to read dozens of PrCs, and frankly, after the first 10, I didn't want to write them anymore.
Eventually, though, I decided the easiest way to do it would be the minimalist approach. Taking a cue from Forgotten Realms, I made a few cultural feats, and used them as ways for PCs to get involved with their character's homeland. That helped give hooks to all the different cultures, but I had to give up my idea of having lots of cool types of spellcasting prestige classes. I mean, FR have red wizards, gem mages, spellsingers, and so on, but now that I had decided against PrCs, how was I to represent different magical traditions?
Easy. I use no almost no house rules. Instead, I just write up a paragraph for each culture, saying what their culture prefers to do with its magic, and how its ways of spellcasting might look different from mundane 'wizardry.'
For example, the Ragesians have a tradition of magical inquisitors, who specialize in antimagic and counterspelling. These spellcasters wear ornamental beast masks to hide their faces (and supposedly also their souls) from their foes. Though they study many different types of magic to know how to recognize and counter it, they have a relatively limited repetoire themselves. Aside from antimagic, most of their spells are abjurations or divinations, with some enchantment to help in interrogation.
Rules-wise, this is represented usually by high ranks in Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft, with most Inquisitors being sorcerers instead of wizards. Inquisitors usually take Reactive Counterspell and Improved Counterspell feats. The only real house-rule for them is that they gain Intimidate and Sense Motive as class skills.
Spellduelists of the Gabal school are trained that the most important part of winning a magical combat is good form. Always assume your opponents are using whatever tricks they could, and almost never let them get off any of their spells if you can help it. Good form consists of every once in a while, actively attempting to disbelieve anything that seems too good or too bad, never leaving behind items you once owned that can used to locate you, and always learning from your mistakes.
Gabal spellduelists are generally trained in evocation spells, which they hold until just as their opponents begin casting, so they can disrupt the opposing spell, or to clear out opposing warriors so you can focus your attention on magical opposition without worrying about people with swords. Also, uniquely among schools of spelldueling, the Gabal school emphasizes bluffing and misdirection as valid tools; if you can feint and make your opponent think you're casting a vital spell before you actually do, he might cast his disruptive damaging spell early. You'll still take the damage, but at least you won't lose your own spell.
Gabal spellduelists usually have high ranks in at least two of the four primary skills of the school: Bluff, Knowledge (arcana), Sense Motive, and Spellcraft. Bluff and Sense Motive are class skills for them. Though they cast their spells just the same as normal wizards, they are usually much more intense in learning and mastering different tactics. Though Gabal, the originator of the school, prefers evocations, one of his most famous apprentices made brilliant use of enchantments and illusions to outthink and outmaneuver his foes. This apprentice also was responsible for the forbiddance against the "Diogenes Gambit" in formal duels, in which a spellduelist uses an illusion to make his opponent seemingly disqualify himself by stepping outside the boundary of the dueling field.
Kohalesti spellsingers are Elvish mages from the Otdar Islands, with special mastery of both sonic- and water-based magic. Dressing in light netting and decorative shells, these exotic Elvish sorcerers are highly desired as ship mages for even human fleets. Most spellsingers have beautiful voices well-suited to song, and all are adept swimmers, because their magical power comes from the endless song of the lapping ocean waves.
Spellsingers learn spells like ghost sound, ventriloquism, message, whispering wind, water breathing, and tongues, and they always are capable swimmers (Swim is a bonus class skill for them). All of their other spells have water- or sound-based themes, so mage armor might create a humming field of sound to deflect attacks, or hold person might create a stunning shout that immobilizes the target. Most spellsingers take Still Spell to help them cast underwater, and some take Endurance. They cannot cast any spells without verbal components, so Silent Spell is useless to them, but if they're underwater they can cast spells, though saying a verbal component counts as 5 rounds worth of breathing. Thus, a spellsinger with an 8 Constitution who casts one spell underwater would only have 11 rounds left before she started having trouble holding her breath.
Do any of you have similar ways to play up different magical traditions without requiring lots of house rules.
