grassy
2012-05-25, 12:37 AM
Hi, I'm building a campaign setting. Although you probably figured that out already.
I've spent a lot of time brainstorming, and now I've just started writing down my ideas. But before I go much further, I'd like some feedback. So thoughts on balance of the races and opinions on the fluff would be very much appreciated.
Brief overview:
The setting is in a land that has suffered from a catastrophic event and has become a desert. I guess you could call it post-apocalyptic, but I don't think that would be quite right. The setting contains no humans. Most of the PC races are homebrew versions of savage humanoids. (the races being orc, hobgoblin, goblin, elf, troll and kobold) The classes are all the same, with the exception of the paladin which I might decide to tweak a bit.
HISTORY/FLUFF
NOTE: many of the details are yet to be decided, but the basics are all there, so a lot of the events are described very vaguely.
The world started with two pantheons: The Gods above, and the Demon Lords below. The Gods are not all good, and the Demon Lords are not all evil. The Demons Lords may tend to be generally shadier than the Gods, but there are evil Gods and good Demon Lords and vice versa. Also, the two pantheons aren't enemies of eachother. While there might be occasional disagreements and violence, they generally aren't vehemently opposed the the other's existence. Think of two neighbouring nations.
Dwarves were the servents of the Gods. They were somewhere between mortal and Gods. Think of Elves from Norse Mythology.
On the surface, the elves were the first race to emerge. They had a natural talent for learning, and started to study magic and build an empire. After a while, the other five races emerged, but the elves already had the advantage. As time went on, The elves built the Great Elven Empire, and they kept all the other races from getting too powerful with high level wizards
Then everything changed. One of the Demon Lords, most likely the Lord of Destruction or Tyranny or something discovered a source of incredible power, most likely some sort of artifact or something. He used this power to confront the Gods, and try to destroy them, the power also had some major side effects on the world itself. The Demon Lord Attacked the Gods directly, the dwarves and the Gods versus one Demon Lord. The battle ended with The Demon Lord's power being stripped of him, but at the same time, he killed all the Gods. Furthermore, when the Gods died, the dwarves became evil, corrupted beings, and fell to the surface.
I mentioned earlier that the power had some major side effects on the world. Well, while the Demon Lord wielded that power, arcane magic on the world ceased to work. Suddenly, the main weapon that the elves had against the other races was gone. The other races all descended upon the elven empire at once and it was utterly destroyed. After that, the races turned on eachother to compete for power. The main two competitors were the orcs and the hobgoblins. After The Demon Lord's power was stripped from him, arcane magic returned to normal and many natural disasters occured, turning the world into a desert wasteland.
The Orcish Empire is the largest, most powerful empire, but the power struggle still continues. The Orcish Empire is a tyrannical empire that takes slaves and has gladiator arenas. Because of this, there have been various rebel groups consisting mainly of orcs. The kobolds, the goblins, and the trolls don't have much of their own empires, but the hobgoblins have quite a bit of power. Most of the elves are scattered, but many elven supremacists who believe that the world rightfully belongs to them have gathered together and are trying to return the elves to their former glory.
RACES
Orc
+2 Str, -2 Int
+2 on attack roles for confirming criticals
low light vision
Hobgoblin
+2 Con, -2 Cha
+1 on ranged attack roles
+1 AC against attacks of opportunity
Weapon familiarity: bastard sword
Goblin
+2 Dex, -2 Str
Small size (+1 attack, +1 AC, -4 grapple, +4 hide)
+4 bonus to move silently
+1 on attack roles while flanking
Elf
+2 Int, -2 Con
+3 bonus to listen
+1 bonus to all saves
+1 bonus to all knowledge skills
Troll
+2 Wis, -2 Int
+2 bonus to Handle Animal and Survival
Heals 1d4 hp per level while resting instead of 1 hp per level.
Kobold
+2 Cha -2 Str
Small size (+1 attack, +1 AC, -4 grapple, +4 hide)
+1 Natural Armour
I've spent a lot of time brainstorming, and now I've just started writing down my ideas. But before I go much further, I'd like some feedback. So thoughts on balance of the races and opinions on the fluff would be very much appreciated.
Brief overview:
The setting is in a land that has suffered from a catastrophic event and has become a desert. I guess you could call it post-apocalyptic, but I don't think that would be quite right. The setting contains no humans. Most of the PC races are homebrew versions of savage humanoids. (the races being orc, hobgoblin, goblin, elf, troll and kobold) The classes are all the same, with the exception of the paladin which I might decide to tweak a bit.
HISTORY/FLUFF
NOTE: many of the details are yet to be decided, but the basics are all there, so a lot of the events are described very vaguely.
The world started with two pantheons: The Gods above, and the Demon Lords below. The Gods are not all good, and the Demon Lords are not all evil. The Demons Lords may tend to be generally shadier than the Gods, but there are evil Gods and good Demon Lords and vice versa. Also, the two pantheons aren't enemies of eachother. While there might be occasional disagreements and violence, they generally aren't vehemently opposed the the other's existence. Think of two neighbouring nations.
Dwarves were the servents of the Gods. They were somewhere between mortal and Gods. Think of Elves from Norse Mythology.
On the surface, the elves were the first race to emerge. They had a natural talent for learning, and started to study magic and build an empire. After a while, the other five races emerged, but the elves already had the advantage. As time went on, The elves built the Great Elven Empire, and they kept all the other races from getting too powerful with high level wizards
Then everything changed. One of the Demon Lords, most likely the Lord of Destruction or Tyranny or something discovered a source of incredible power, most likely some sort of artifact or something. He used this power to confront the Gods, and try to destroy them, the power also had some major side effects on the world itself. The Demon Lord Attacked the Gods directly, the dwarves and the Gods versus one Demon Lord. The battle ended with The Demon Lord's power being stripped of him, but at the same time, he killed all the Gods. Furthermore, when the Gods died, the dwarves became evil, corrupted beings, and fell to the surface.
I mentioned earlier that the power had some major side effects on the world. Well, while the Demon Lord wielded that power, arcane magic on the world ceased to work. Suddenly, the main weapon that the elves had against the other races was gone. The other races all descended upon the elven empire at once and it was utterly destroyed. After that, the races turned on eachother to compete for power. The main two competitors were the orcs and the hobgoblins. After The Demon Lord's power was stripped from him, arcane magic returned to normal and many natural disasters occured, turning the world into a desert wasteland.
The Orcish Empire is the largest, most powerful empire, but the power struggle still continues. The Orcish Empire is a tyrannical empire that takes slaves and has gladiator arenas. Because of this, there have been various rebel groups consisting mainly of orcs. The kobolds, the goblins, and the trolls don't have much of their own empires, but the hobgoblins have quite a bit of power. Most of the elves are scattered, but many elven supremacists who believe that the world rightfully belongs to them have gathered together and are trying to return the elves to their former glory.
RACES
Orc
+2 Str, -2 Int
+2 on attack roles for confirming criticals
low light vision
Hobgoblin
+2 Con, -2 Cha
+1 on ranged attack roles
+1 AC against attacks of opportunity
Weapon familiarity: bastard sword
Goblin
+2 Dex, -2 Str
Small size (+1 attack, +1 AC, -4 grapple, +4 hide)
+4 bonus to move silently
+1 on attack roles while flanking
Elf
+2 Int, -2 Con
+3 bonus to listen
+1 bonus to all saves
+1 bonus to all knowledge skills
Troll
+2 Wis, -2 Int
+2 bonus to Handle Animal and Survival
Heals 1d4 hp per level while resting instead of 1 hp per level.
Kobold
+2 Cha -2 Str
Small size (+1 attack, +1 AC, -4 grapple, +4 hide)
+1 Natural Armour