Warhammer Flavor in D&D

[hellbender]

I do mix Warhammer/DnD d20 and haven't had any complaints so far. A few points:

*The green races:Orcs, goblins and hobgoblins are part of the same race, although hobgoblins are distant and don't interact as well. A snotling (basically a gremlin) is the lowest of the green races, a Boss is an old orc (orcs grow with age). Trolls and hill giants are allies of the goblinoids. I do have bugbears, but they are more fey based and not tossed in with the green races.

*Dark Elves: I prefer the cruel surface dwelling Warhammer Dark Elves, less angst, more evil.

*Skaven: Yes, aplenty.

*All of the base races are a mix of the two systems.

*I use the d20 magic system, with d20 and Warhammer spells.

* I like the bleak, nihilistic Warhammer world. My world is not pure Warhammer by any means, there are Gith races and any of the usual DnD monster suspects snuffling about. Adventurers don't get as many rewards, magic items are all pretty precious , except for a few petty items that are still uncommon. Death walks the land in many, many guises. Chaos is a threat to the world, not understood by most people, but it threatens the entire planet.

*I have a different take on Chaos as well, there are the four main gods in the Realms of Chaos, and I extrapolate on the fifth god mentioned in the main rulebook and that starred in a few of the old Citadel Compendium comics, Malal, who hunts the minions of the other Chaos gods. Malal's has mini realms that spring up anywhere on the planet.

*Archmagi run most of the city-states, battling each other and the forces of Chaos for domination. (this is part Glen Cook's Black Company influence, and part influence by the online game Archmage)

That is a lot of it,
hellbender

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Creating magic items should require a time of, say, one day per 50 gp in the item's base price.

Adjust the frequency you can find magic items accordingly.

Oh, and while there may be some people in the biggest cities who buy and sell magic items, getting exactly what you want should be extremely difficult and expensive. In most cases, you will have to be satisfied with a similar item, or give up the search.

Magic items should be rare!

 

[Desdichado]

Josh, is the image in your sig (the face) the demon Azrael from Neil Gaiman's Sandman? Just curious.

Actually, it's Evil Ernie, from the now bankrupt Chaos Comics. Not that I know a whole lot about the comic, I mostly just like the picture.

 

[hellbender]

Creating magic items should require a time of, say, one day per 50 gp in the item's base price.

Adjust the frequency you can find magic items accordingly.

Oh, and while there may be some people in the biggest cities who buy and sell magic items, getting exactly what you want should be extremely difficult and expensive. In most cases, you will have to be satisfied with a similar item, or give up the search.

Magic items should be rare!

I agree heartily with you on this. Magic items are not easy to come by. The simple ones that are uncommon in my world are usually not for sale, but used by the city for something (such as light, a heat source, etc). Adventurers selling items can usually profit very well, however, with so many sinister characters, even this is a dangerous proposition.


hellbender

 

[Olive]

would template npc classes work for the starting classes? say commoner templates for rat catchers etc, experts for students, warriors for the fighter ones... then they graduate into normal pc classes...

you'd need to seriously adapt the encounter levels, but it could work.

i used the d20WFRP conversion of the skaven in one encounter and almost had a TPK. Then they all got really sick... it was fun for me, not so fun for the rest...

 

[Felon]

I'm sensing a sort of general mentality that Warhammer characters should be less mighty than D&D heroes. I guess that's because character in WHRPG never get very powerful.

But in WHFB, they certainly are plenty powerful. Your average 70pt. hero with a full compliment of magic items is able to kick a fair amount of troll or minotaur arse, and 3rd or 4th-level wizards have spells at their disposal that can devastate an entire unit of infantry or cavalry. OK, nobody's soloing a bloodthirster, but a lone D&D hero wouldn't last long tackling pit fiends either (at sub-epic levels anyway). In both games heroes have to work in groups to take down fiends of that magnitude.

Dwarven slayers, skaven assassins, witch elves, wardancers--why wouldn't these be viable as Prestige Classes?

The CoC death-from-massive-damage rule is certainly applicable to Warhammer characters, since they can be killed pretty easily (stay out of the way of cannonballs!). But then, if they die easily, it may be necessary to institute Fate points. Perhaps the Action point system D20 Modern provides will serve that function.

 

[hellbender]

However, a Wizard casting 4th level spells in the Warhammer rpg has been an apprentice before rising to be able to cast the compliment of spells. Also, the dynamics of WFB are different from Warhammer FRPG, and a character casting those spells (the High Elf Teclis, for example) is the leader of an army, with years and years of experience. A fourth level WFB mage is not a 4th level WFRPG mage.

hellbender

 

[Felon]

However, a Wizard casting 4th level spells in the Warhammer rpg has been an apprentice before rising to be able to cast the compliment of spells.

Whereas D&D just treats the character's apprenticeship as background material, a decision likely made while operating under the silly assumption that it's boring to walk around as an impotent wannabe mage for a while before casting a single spell.

If characters are truly meant to start out from the most humble, wretched (pointless) beginnings, then perhaps 0-level versions of character classes would be viable. Start as 0-level wizard, with a d2 hit points and no spellcasting ability. Give him (2 + Int mod) x 3 skill points. Only a massochist would want to play such a character, but if you're really looking to capture that aspect of the WHFRPG spirit....

[/b]Also, the dynamics of WFB are different from Warhammer FRPG, and a character casting those spells (the High Elf Teclis, for example) is the leader of an army, with years and years of experience. A fourth level WFB mage is not a 4th level WFRPG mage.[/B]

Exactly. I'm trying to illustrate that there is a higher echelon to Warhammer heroes than people seem to be acknowledging. There ARE characters in Warhammer World that could be considered high-level, perhaps even epic-level. So they're out there fending off the ravening hordes instead of delving dungeons (which makes about as much sense as the captain of a Federation starship leading away missions on newly-discovered planets ) and other standard RPG fare, but they are out there.

I just don't wanna see people sell Warhammer heroes short.

 

[hong]

Dwarven slayers, skaven assassins, witch elves, wardancers--why wouldn't these be viable as Prestige Classes?

The very first 3E game I was in, someone played a dwarven barbarian modelled on the trollslayers. He had the mohawk, a dwarven urgrosh, and a grudge against goblins. He was completely nuts.

Damn, we had fun.

 

[hellbender]

Whereas D&D just treats the character's apprenticeship as background material, a decision likely made while operating under the silly assumption that it's boring to walk around as an impotent wannabe mage for a while before casting a single spell.

If characters are truly meant to start out from the most humble, wretched (pointless) beginnings, then perhaps 0-level versions of character classes would be viable. Start as 0-level wizard, with a d2 hit points and no spellcasting ability. Give him (2 + Int mod) x 3 skill points. Only a massochist would want to play such a character, but if you're really looking to capture that aspect of the WHFRPG spirit....



Exactly my point. I'm trying to illustrate that there is a higher echelon to Warhammer heroes than people seem to be acknowledging. There ARE characters in Warhammer World that could be considered high-level, perhaps even epic-level. So they're out there fending off the ravening hordes instead of delving dungeons (which makes about as much sense as the captain of a Federation starship leading away missions on newly-discovered planets ) and other standard RPG fare, but they are out there.

I just don't wanna see people to sell Warhammer heroes short.

I can see your point totally and I agree. The DnD approach is fine as well, but the Warhammer approach is more realistic and obviously more gritty. Starting characters are pretty wretched in WHFRPG, and that is a good thing, the world is harsh, uncaring and everyone is out to get you. And I couldn't agree more on the dungeoneering. Other than a few excavations, most of the Warhammering has been done out of the dungeon.

hellbender