Griznuq Gaming

D&D Campaigns => Eberron => House Rules => Topic started by: Dray on January 23, 2008, 01:13:55 PM

Title: Character Development
Post by: Dray on January 23, 2008, 01:13:55 PM
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT[/b]

Alrighty, first off, thanks for the interest in this campaign.

Let me also start off by saying that I need anyone interested (except Chassic who has been informed) in developing a toon for this campaign needs to forget what was posted here until about a month ago. The posts that are in the EBERRON section now represent what this campaign will be going forward. So ERASE what I have told you in the past.

What does this mean?

Well, it means that the kingdom of SafeHaven, world of a hundred miles is indeed the campaign setting. It is a "world within a world" scenario that will allow me to introduce Eberron to players AND characters at the same time. In other words, this allows 'your characters' to learn the culture of Eberron at the same time 'you do'.

How?

Well, SafeHaven is a completely isolated community on the Eberron world. It has no contact with the outside civilizations, so much so it isn't aware of their existence. The existing dogma and government "doesn't allow" this type of thinking, (insomuch that it doesn't appear to be aware either).

There will be more on this subject later, and please feel free to read the existing posts I have made to get a better feel for where your character comes from. But know the best way to explain this is by relating to the way I got the idea, from the movie "The Village" by M. Night Shamillan (spelling?).

Character Development

RACE: Everyone must be human. For that is all that is known and accepted in SafeHaven. Anything else would be seen as an alien from another planet. If you want to play a race that can successfully pass of as a human in this society, please send me an email and we can review the possibility. Note however, to maintain campaign balance, that pending your ECL, I may not allow the 'class bonus' option below.

AGE[/b]: I still coin this as the "Children's Campaign". I think the opportunity of being a little goofier than normal is fun. It also gives you a solid chance at figuring out who your character actually is. So anything from 12 to 17 is a good starting age.

CLASS[/b]: Magic, whether arcane or divine, psionics, incarnum, anything of the sort that would had you hung in Salem a couple of centuries ago is considered VOODOO. Note however, this doesn't mean you can't roll up a Sorcerer. Just means you better not do any tricks in public or when there are common folk around. For it is considered an unwritten law that anyone possessing such Black Magic (and it is ALL considered evil) shall be tried and executed. So any class, just know the culture of what you are dealing with.

CLASS BONUS[/b]: I want this campaign to be fun for everyone, but I also know how epic my campaigns can be, so here is the deal. Everyone shall roll up a GESTALT character (Un earthed Arcana, page 72). Use the rules and regulations as stated within. Yes, that means you get to play two classes at once in the same toon.

NOTE: ABILITY SCORES UPDATED IN A POST BELOW!

ABILITY SCORES[/b]: +8 modifiers is what you get to spend on your scores for the six abilities. In other words, if you want an 18, which has a +4 modifier, you spend that +4 and have a remaining +4 to spend on one or more of the other abilities. Also note, that you get the lowest of a ranged score for that ability modifier. In other words, 16-17 has a modifier of +3. If you spend +3 on your dexterity (for example), that score would be 16.

An example of a stat list:

18 Str - +4
14 Dex - +2
11 Con – 0
11 Wis – 0
12 Int – +1
12 Cha - +1

Note, anyone who starts under the age of 16 will be given a free character ability point when hitting that age. Those who start at 16 or 17 will not receive this benefit. (Yes, I know....not fair, consider it an incentive program).

NOTE: ABILITY SCORES UPDATED IN A POST BELOW!

SKILLS[/b]: All skills are as they are listed, cross-class skills do apply. However the Gestalt option will allow you a larger group of class skills. Trained skills that may be considered black magic or may be considered "alien" to this world need to be checked with the DM. In most cases we will get the skill to you by incorporating it into a clever background story.

FEATS[/b]: Everyone gets a bonus feat for being human as stated in the PHB. And, again, Gestalt characters get feats for both classes. (Note, you don't get the human bonus twice of course). Trained skills that may be considered black magic or may be considered "alien" to this world need to be checked with the DM. In most cases we will get the skill to you by incorporating it into a clever background story.

SCATTER-BRAINED DEVELOPMENT NOTES[/b]:

Feel free to ask any questions in this thread.
Title: Character Development
Post by: Johan on January 23, 2008, 05:38:52 PM
Please clarify the following points:

It seems to me that it is the government that has decided that "VooDoo" is black and is punnishable by a fair trial followed bya first-class hanging. On the other hand, in the "school" there are plenty of VooDoo doers, and they are accepted. What is the general population's feelings? Are there safe zones and not-so-safe zones? Do I, as a VooDoo doer, have to be wary of only the coppers, or Aunt May as well?

Is it called the world of a hundred miles because that's the perimeter of the wall? Is that the extent of SafeHaven? A perimeter of 100 miles (assuming it's circular) is an area of 795.78 square miles...about half the size of Rhode Island; or is that 100 *square* miles (which would be 10 miles in diameter...roughly the size of Brookline)? Or is it 100 miles east-to-west as well as north-to-south (which would land on 10,000 square miles, making it roughly the size of Massachusetts (which is 10,555 sqaure miles) or Vermont (9,615 square miles)?

I'm betting that now, you're regretting telling us to feel free to ask questions...

Are there numerous other gangs of kids around SafeHaven? Are we at odds with them? Are there territories (I know...I should read all the other posts and threads, but you know what? I work over here sometimes)

Can I have a pet Gnoll?
Title: Character Development
Post by: Dray on January 23, 2008, 07:04:55 PM
Good questions,


Thanks! That was fun! Feel free to ask more.
Title: Character Development
Post by: Dray on January 23, 2008, 07:06:45 PM
OH!

No, you cannot have a pet Gnoll.
Title: Character Development
Post by: Johan on January 24, 2008, 12:26:45 PM
All right! That's 31,400 square miles for the Kingdom; a land mass just a bit smaller than the state of Maine.

I'm going to have to invest some time reading all the background threads to get a feel for them, and to be able to ask informed (if not intelligent) questions.

BTW, congratulations, Dray on making your 1000th post to Griznuq! It happened with your first reply to this thread.

/golfclap
Title: Character Development
Post by: Dray on January 24, 2008, 12:44:40 PM
Maine?! Wow, perhaps I will increase the population then by a factor of 10.

Cool though, thanks for doing the math as I am in school and therefore incapable of application of any knowledge.

Maine huh, wow, that's big and stuff.
Title: Character Development
Post by: Chassic on January 24, 2008, 11:35:45 PM
Don't you mean DROP the population by a factor of 10?

We ARE talking about Maine, right? There's more moose than men up there ... and, no, I'm not referring to the women.


/yes I am.


Actually I think that would also be roughly the same size as all of England (not including Wales)!

Title: Character Development
Post by: Johan on January 25, 2008, 08:42:12 AM
So I popped over to another web seach, and England seems to be 50,346 Square Miles (although I didn't see that this number specifically excludes Wales, I did another search and came up with 20,764 square miles for Wales).

Assuming that the first number includes Wales, doing some wicked-quick math (for which I'm infamous), looks like you're probably right on the mark, Chassic!

And with that, another Johan Cupie Doll is awarded!

The two closest countries to this size, according to worldatlas.com, are the UAE (32,000 square miles) and the Czech Republic (30,450 square miles). Of course, I'll be ding-danged if I can even come close to identifying with those places!

I'm wondering if, at this point, Dray isn't recalling a quick mention that he made some years ago about a mountain range that could be seen from a couple of days out at sea?

hehe.
Title: Character Development
Post by: Wildfire on January 26, 2008, 09:56:06 AM
Oh man...this thread is definately great for a good hearty chuckle(head)....LOL! My sides hurt form laughing so much!  ;)
Title: Character Development
Post by: Dray on January 26, 2008, 07:29:24 PM
Calification of a point above, every 1st level character gets a 1st feat, then gets the human bonus of another 2nd feat, then if one or both classes lists any bonus feats, you get those as well (from both classes if applicable).
Title: Character Development
Post by: Dray on February 06, 2008, 07:50:07 AM
MODIFICATION TO ABILITY SCORES

In an interest to assist all players in taking advantage of the Gestalt variance, I am upping the ability score modifier allowance and the scores as follows:


This will help more as your toons reach 4th and 5th level as well. Since any player who has a character who starts under the age of 16 will get a +1 bonus to an ability score when reaching 16, and all characters will receive +1 bonus to an ability score as typical to the PHB every 4 levels.
Title: Character Development
Post by: Johan on March 02, 2008, 07:59:14 PM
Dray, here's the thread that you and I were just talking about. On the 23rd of January, Safe Haven had a radius of 100 miles. Based upon our conversation earlier tonight, it should have been only a 50-mile radius.

PLEASE VERIFY THIS

At a radius of 50 miles, the square mileage would be closer to 7,800 square miles. Obviously, a quarter size what we were thinking.

Massachusetts is 10,555 square miles. New Jersey is 8,721 square miles.

On another tangent, 2007 cencus data puts the population of NJ at 8,685,920 and that of MA at 6,449,755. Maine is 1,317,207

Information is cool.

Oh, what's the population of Safe Haven? Of Our Commons?
Title: Character Development
Post by: Dray on March 02, 2008, 08:24:12 PM
Ok, I just changed your statements of feet to miles, but I know what you meant and good call.

As we discussed on the "telley" I am thinking in order to have such a military presence and mindset, the people of Safe-Haven would have to be under constant threat. So I am thinking the danger from the KT of the Outlands is a semi-constant one, with incursions or downright breeches of the wall happening on a monthly if not sometimes weekly basis.

That being said, the military of such a society would be a typical profession of the citizenship (although may not popular to some). So I am thinking we may have more "active" soldiers than I once thought. Since this number is getting into the tens of thousands, the population of the overall kingdom may go from 44k to about 100+ thousand.

Since 6.5 million griznuqs can fit into MA which is only 25% bigger, I am thinking 100+ Lawful citizens could fit into my little place.

Thanks!