Suggest stuff for the Easy Campaign

[Ry]

Here's the deal: I'm going to be playtesting my house rules (12th-level cap among others). The new setting is building up around being as accessible and easy to learn as possible for the players.

So far, I've got:

Pelor is the main god (+ a few more domain choices)

Many D&D gods and Demon Lords are running around as powerful monsters (Heironeous with Solar stats, Kord as a Titan, Vecna's a Lich, Tiamat as a 5-headed Colossal dragon, etc.). Their rivalries among one another are largely maintained, but far more likely to result in actual killing.

Warforged exist as legacies of an ancient civilization (my players love warforged and I think they're something that captures some new players' interests straight from a picture).

Aboleths and Illithids trying to gain knowledge of one another are the main secret plotters of the game (as with Mouseferatu's brilliant idea linking the two).

Halflings and Gnomes are elven subraces (as per Ptolus).

There is a country called Thay ruled by evil, red-robe-wearing wizards.

I'm interested in suggestions for what else I could do with this - the kind of things that are already widely familiar, if not well-known, to D&D players.

 

[Nightfall]

May I suggest no duel wielding CG drow rangers?

Widely known...how about making the PCs forge their own artifacts to fight said powers. You can then use the DMG to do so.

 

[Ry]

That's actually really good. Why am I not seeing the Rod of Seven Parts in the DMG?

 

[Ry]

The Plane of Shadow has a shot at inclusion if I could get some kind of iconic material for it. Just having a place that incorporeal undead are from doesn't do it for me.

 

[Ry]

Ptolus' Spire is in, with both Goth Gulgamel and Jabel Shammar. The spire itself is invisible most of the time.

 

[Nightfall]

Ryc,

It's not in there but I have no idea why isn't not. That said, the Equipment and Arms guide does have the Rod along with some others.

Plane of Shadow, instead of just incorporeal undead, you could have shadow elves or dark fey living there. Make it more of a "fey plane" than "shadow" plane.

 

[Ry]

Good idea on the fey plane.

Read an old thread about hodgepodge homebrews - someone had the idea of searfaring Neogi served by Chuul. Yoink.

I'm trying to think of something from Scarred Lands that would work well in isolation, but nothing comes to mind right away (it's all dark and distinctive). Maybe Hope angels and Despair demons, although with the gods getting downgraded it might get a bit too crowded up there. The Slacerians (or is it Slarecians? I can never tell) seem to be the exact same thing as spell weavers.

 

[Nightfall]

Ryc,

Actually Slacerians (and I'm sure someone will come here and correct me, like Krusty), are more akin to uber mind flayers. They are ALL the psionic power period.

Spellweavers themselves always struck me more like servants of Mesos.

If you REALLY want Scarred Lands flavor, make Hags templates.

 

[JonMonster]

I'm trying to think of something from Scarred Lands that would work well in isolation, but nothing comes to mind right away (it's all dark and distinctive).

I seem to recall something about an ocean of blood caused by the grave of a god. You could twist this a bit and make it an inland sea. Perhaps a water titan was slain there and now it is the center of a large desert. The only things that live in the area are too dark and twisted to care much about the water quality.

 

[Turanil]

A few suggestions:

-- What about the Scarlet Brotherhood? All monks and psionic users would hail from them and their land. Other psionic-users (good aligned and non affiliated to the brotherhood) would be the heirs from rebellious members of the Scarlet Brotherhood. As such the brotherhood would hunt them down whenever they could.

-- What about adding stuff from Dark Sun? In a desert city having a dragon king and his tyranical order of templars.

-- Elemental cults ala Dark Sun and/or Melnibone.

-- Barbarians are Celts, and Druids and Bards mostly originate from Celtic culture.

-- Dragonlance Wizards of High Sorcery order (they could be the enemies of the Thay red-robe wizards)

-- Dragonlance "Knights of Solamnia".