A complete N00bz first try at world-building...

[Yora]

In the world of Witcher, the Witchers have signs, which are ultra-simple spells. Fingersnap and ready to go. Not very powerful, but quick enough to use in the middle of a swordfight, which isn't really possible for actual sorcerers. Like Quickened 1st level spells.

I think they are "Push", "Fire Blast", "charm person", "Shield", and "explosive rune".

It's magic, but that's really nothing compared to lightning nova, teleportation, wall of fire, and the like.

Hard to put a finger on it, but gaining one use for every rune for each feat you have seems somehow odd. Learning Rune C makes me better at using Rune A and Rune B? Doesn't feel quite right.
I think I'd prefer a rune pool of Rune uses per day and like that one psionic feat, every time you take a Rune Feat, you gain a number of additional uses equal to your new number of Rune Feats.
So at first you can cast Rune A and have one Rune per day. Then you take the Feat Rune B which allows to cast Rune B and increases your Rune pool to 3 uses per day. When you take Feat Rune C, it becomes 6 uses per day.
The total of uses per day grows slower, but you can freely chose which combination of runes to use every day. Since it is quite likely that you will often use say Rune A and B a lot, but on many days you use Rune E not at all, you would not use up all your daily uses anyway, so less uses per day doesn't restrict you, but avoids spamming a single rune all day.

It's 3 AM here, so my sentences might be a bit jumbled.

[Wyntonian]

That seems reasonable enough. I'll make a new homebrew thread once I get a bunch more Runes and Phrases done, get some tasty peaching there.

[Eldest]

You also might want to give them an overall theme of what they enhance, or power them up. As it is, you have to take a lot of [rune] feats for them to be effective, and they are dealing with all sorts of different things. Maybe give them a theme or two, like "there are two versions of the alphabet, one enhances mind and magic, the other strenght and speed." You could even have each [rune] feat effect one of the two, chosen at the begining of every day.
A good target for power might be these luck feats (the ambush feats there also work for ideas, but that's more directed at sneak-attackers specifically).

[Wyntonian]

Rune Level: Number of Runic Feats, plus or minus any modifiers. Maybe Wisdom or Charisma?

Meaning: Summary of what the rune means, no mechanical effect.

Base effect: Effect of the rune if used individually, which takes a move action and requires a touch to use on an ally.



Fehu

Meaning: Social Success, Financial Income, Possessions

Base Effect: +1/Rune Level to social skills (Gather Information, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Bluff) for 1 minute/Rune Level.

Uruz

Meaning: Physical Strength, Speed and Potency, Action, Energy

Base Effect: +1/Rune Level to grapple checks for 1 minute/Rune Level.

Thurisaz

Meaning: Reactive Force, Conflict

Base Effect: +1/Rune Level to melee attack rolls for 1 round/Rune Level

Ansuz

Meaning: Understanding, Communication, Truth

Base Effect: Forces target to make a will save (DC 10 + scribes Rune Level) or answer truthfully to a single yes/no question.

Raidho

Meaning: Travel, Rhythm, Dance of Life.

Base Effect: +5 feet/ Rune Level to movement speed for 1 min/Rune level.

Kenaz

Meaning: Vision, Knowledge, Revelation

Base Effect: Use Detect Magic as a caster of your Rune Level.

Gebo

Meaning: Gifts, Balances, Exchanges

Base Effect: Each enemy that damages you in melee combat takes 1 damage/Rune level. This effect lasts 1 round/Rune level

Wunjo

Meaning: Joy, Comfort, Harmony

Base Effect: +1/Rune level on a single save versus a pain-based effect. This is an immediate action. You must declare your use of this ability before rolling.

Hagalaz

Meaning: Destructive Power of Nature, Controlled Fury.

Base Effect: +1 to melee damage rolls for 1 round/level.

Nauthiz

Meaning: Delay, Restriction, Resistance

Base Effect: A touched enemy takes -1/Rune level to melee attack rolls for 1 round/rune levels.

Isa

Meaning: Challenges, Restrictions, Blocks

Base Effect: Hell, I dunno.

[NeoSeraphi]

Suggestions for other runes:

+1 bonus to ranged attack rolls/rune level
+1 bonus to ranged damage rolls/rune level

This is just being fair, you shouldn't cut out crossbow wielders. They get enough flak already.

For Isa, how about -5 ft per rune level to all movement speeds for 1 round/rune level? Sounds like restriction to me and blocks to me.

+1 bonus to Trip checks/rune level

+1 temporary hit point/rune level, lasts for 1 hour. (If rune level doesn't ever go past 10 or so, I admit I have no experience here, this can be raised to 5 temporary hit points/rune level)

+1 bonus to your touch AC/rune level, with the stipulation that your touch AC cannot exceed your full AC.

+1 bonus to your arcane caster level/5 rune levels

+1 bonus to your divine caster level/5 rune levels

+1 bonus to your manifester level/5 rune levels

+1 Damage Reduction/Alignment /2 rune levels

+1 bonus to Stealth checks (Hide, Move Silently, Disguise and Sleight of Hand)/rune level

+1 bonus to Trap-related checks (Search, Disable Device, Open Lock)/rune level

+1 bonus to Knowledge checks/rune level, and the ability to make said checks untrained.

+1 bonus to Athletic checks (Climb, Jump and Swim)/rune level

+1 bonus to Acrobatics checks (Balance, Escape Artist, and Tumble)/rune level

+1 bonus to your Strength and Constitution scores while raging/2 rune levels

+5% concealment/2 rune levels, maximum of 50%

[Wyntonian]

Hey, I haven't forgotten you guys, I've just been a little busy. I have like three presentations, two finals and a date in the next three days, so I'm kinda swamped. Your regularly scheduled worldbuilding will continue apace. In the meantime, I've been collecting cool pictures. Just cuz.

[Eldest]

It's ok, we understand the importance of dates. We shall wait.

[Wyntonian]

Throwin an idea around, for the Heliolatric Soleh-folks.

The Sun is their god, and he eternally circles the earth, driving back the demons of the dark sky (or, y'know, stars) who would come and feast on our behbeh's. What a warrior badass, keeping us all safe.

Vallheimers go more Lion King. "Each star is an ancestor looking down on you...", awesome visions of former kings bearing wisdom in a time of need.


Imagine the tension this would cause.

[Eldest]

"The demon star, it moved! It must be purged!"
"That's King Rulof the Great, and my great-granddad; watch your mouth!"
I'm liking the northerners more and more.

[Wyntonian]

So, I've been pondering the culture of those little islands. Can I get votes for full-pirate awesome or for afrocarribbean interestingness?

[Yora]

Isn't that the same?

(Excuse the image posting:)

Spoiler

Show

[Eldest]

Afrocaribian awesomeness, with their defense fleet being pirates that don't attack their stuff.

[Wyntonian]

Ooooh, yeah, that's good. Maybe a symbiotic relationship where they give free harbor and favourable supply rates in return for defense from Sunshan's expansion? That sounds good.

[Eldest]

Even better if the pirates are displaced Vallheimers and don't follow the religion. Maybe they are disgraced and sent south in exile, because as is the Vallheimers look like the perfect culture. I know they're not, but not much detail has come out against that yet.

[Wyntonian]

It's less that they're perfect and more that they look good by comparison. They just ended a civil war like two generations ago that had lasted about 80 years, and was really a poor man's war, not a rich man's war/poor man's fight. Look how long it took the US to recover from one that lasted about six-ish years. Yeah.

There's some pretty serious factional tension going on, although the lower tiers of society are pretty much reintegrated, there's prejudice against Fox Clan and Bear Clan, as one is a little isolated from society by virtue of constant travel and the other was a major aggressor in the civil war. (C'mon, it's a warrior clan, the hell did you expect?)

So, while they lack some of the obvious flaws of say, Sunshan *Coughslaverycough*, they have more.... well... First world problems, or the Patrian equivalent thereof.

[Eldest]

So you're having the northern barbarians/native Americans equivalent be the most advanced? Excellent...

[Wyntonian]

Well, politically, yeah, kinda. Soleh and Sunshan both have better craftsmen and technology, and the Affariata is better at economics, science, and other university-type things. But yes, in terms of advancement of human well-being through a level of political freedom... Sure, we'll call them the best. Not gonna lie, I have a bit of a crush on them, but I'll keep stuff reasonable.

[Eldest]

Yup, defintetally my favorite as well then. It's closest to the race I keep trying to write, too. With the clans, etc. Have you read the Codex Alerea series?

[Wyntonian]

Mmmmm.... That sounds familiar. Was it by Brandon Sanderson? I think I almost got the first one one time. Maybe.

So, next priority, after the runes....? Sunshan? I saw some worldbuilder around here had a cool format for introducing areas, then interesting regions, then individual places there. Like Sunshan>The Volcanic Mountains>The Individual Fiefs / Mining Operations / Etc.

Also, I'm needing to start getting some place names going. Like, rivers, mountains, islands, etc.

[Eldest]

Codex Alerea is by Jim Butcher, he writes the Dresdan Files too. The part I liked was the Marat, who bond with an animal, gain chararistics of that animal, and organize into clans based on which animal. So there's a Clan Gargant (think an ox, but bigger. Way bigger.), there was a Clan Fox (they all got killed), there's a Clan Wolf, and they are constantly in low-level warfare with each other to show who has the best animal. They also have a facinating religion, I'm sad that the series didn't have a lot about them.

[Wyntonian]

Thassit. I saw an ad in the back of his first book. That sounds interesting, I suppose. These guys don't really "Bond" with an animal, per se, but they would generally have their clan totem as a animal companion, alternate form if they're a therianthrope, or have traits of it if they're a shifter.

Interesting thing to ponder though...

How does one enter a clan? To what extent are clans isolated, socially, romantically, geographically?

My working model is as follows.

During adolescence, a young Vallehiemer is constantly looking for signs from an animal. This could mean an Elk that offers itself to the bow while hunting, a Bear that does not attack though the person is between her and her cubs, a dream of a Raven pecking a third eye in their forehead, a Fox doing fox things... Pretty much anything meaningful and individual. Eventually, they go to a Wight-Speaker and describe their experiences. The Wight-Speaker then meditates on the topic, contacting the land-wights and hall-wights for understanding, and comes to a conclusion. Sometimes, the adolescent somehow knows long in advance what their clan will be, others are utterly clueless.

It is pretty common for people within a clan to marry each other, but not required, socially, religiously or otherwise. Out of a fairly large country, with eleven clans, there's plenty of genetic variation to prevent inbreeding within a single clan. If a couple of the same clan marries, there is a slightly higher chance that their child will be of the same clan, but there is in few cases any certainty.

One exception is Fox Clan. The traveling, nomadic culture of the Foxes does not lend itself to marriage with people not of the same lifestyle. Because of this, many Fox Clan members marry within their own clan. It is also not uncommon for Foxes to have a child by someone neither of their clan nor while in wedlock, someone who may be weeks away by the time either party is aware of the pregnancy. This is not considered taboo by most Foxes, but others may see it distasteful or shameful


Wow, that's far more words than I had intended to write. Oh well.

[Eldest]

Looks good, I might add something about rare people being part of multiple clans, they are generally considered to be either cursed or blessed. But nobody really goes above four (and those few at three or four are once-every-few-generations). Then maybe add in a legend about somebody (a mythical founder of their religion or something else really important to them) who was part of every clan.

[Wyntonian]

Yeah, because it's more of a social distinction than a magical, inborn or other sort of things, being part of two clans is going to be very rare. Like, say, the mythical hero who everyone claims was one of theirs, because nobody can remember.

[Eldest]

Where is the list of the clans, anyway? Did you put it on the OP?

[Wyntonian]

It's buried in the thread somewhere in the single digits. I'll put it in the OP.

[Wyntonian]

They're in the OP, under Geographical Overview. I really should make this its own thread.

[Eldest]

You have 4 herbivores (Elk, Beaver, Horse, Dove,), 4 carnivores (Wolf, Hawk, Owl, Fox), and 3 omnivores (Bear, Boar, Raven). Maybe add one more omnivore to balance it out?

[Wyntonian]

...I hadn't really thought about the eating habits of the animals as a means by which to differentiate them into groups...

Also, don't foxes eat berries and such?

I've found some cool stuff in some of the splats, Frostburn has Giant Ravens which just beg to be the mounts of the elite Wightspeakers of Raven Clan. I plan to find a mount for each Clan Chief, Giant Eagles, Owls and Ravens, Dire/Winter Wolf, some sort of Boar, Legendary Elk/Advanced MegawhateverFrostburn thingy, Legendary Bear, etc. Pretty dang badass.

[Eldest]

...I hadn't really thought about the eating habits of the animals as a means by which to differentiate them into groups...

Also, don't foxes eat berries and such?

I've found some cool stuff in some of the splats, Frostburn has Giant Ravens which just beg to be the mounts of the elite Wightspeakers of Raven Clan. I plan to find a mount for each Clan Chief, Giant Eagles, Owls and Ravens, Dire/Winter Wolf, some sort of Boar, Legendary Elk/Advanced MegawhateverFrostburn thingy, Legendary Bear, etc. Pretty dang badass.

Huh, foxes and wolves do eat berries. So that messes the symetry up. Maybe decide them into predator and prey, but then you run into the problem of where the boar goes...

And it's a friggin' BOAR. It's scary enough as is, you just need to advance it/make a dire version and that will serve as a mount.

[Wyntonian]

Now, here's a question.

So far, this is a pretty low-magic world, in terms of critters. No dragons, no tarrasques, no Cthulu's.

So, would it completely shatter that to make Giant Raven mounts more widespread? I kinda like the idea of that, it could be pretty interesting. I feel like some creative and tasteful use of some monsters could really add something. I suppose I ought to get started on a bestiary, then.