4th Edition Modified: A Dark Jewels setting.

[Foeofthelance]

So I'm going to be running a game based on Anne Bishop's Dark Jewels series, using 4th edition DnD rules. The idea is that the characters are gifted with two different jewels that allow them to use certain psionic powers. (As a result, the psionic classes are banned to prevent over lap.)

The additions to the rules are here:

Determining Jewels:

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Dark Jewels System
Character Creation
Characters are built according to standard 4th edition rules using a 28 point buy to determine stats. Characters can be built using any of the classes from the Player’s Handbooks 1 & 2, but not 3. If a player would like to use a character class or build from another book, please contact the DM with a full description of the class and abilities.
The following are allowed races, barring special permission.
Races: (Names in parantheses indicate the in-game equivalent of the race’s name)
Human – (Human)
Elf – (Dea al Mon)
Eladrin – (Dhemlan)
Shifter – (Tigran)
Deva - (Hayllian)
Goliath – (Eyrien; Goliaths also gain vestigial bat-like wings that can be used to glide if falling from a height of more than 30 feet, with movement equal to their speed. They cannot otherwise fly.)

Players should also roll for the color of their jewels, as determined by the tables below. The value of the second roll should be added to the first to determine what the darkest Jewel the character wears is.

The Jewels
Birth Jewels
Roll 1d6+1 to determine birth rank

1) White – 2 Power points
2) Yellow – 4 Power points
3) Tiger Eye – 8 Power points
4) Rose – 16 Power points
5) Summer Sky – 32 Power points
6) Purple Dusk – 64 Power points
7) Opal* - 128 Power points

Roll 1d6/2 to determine your Offering Jewel. Add this result to the number rolled for your Birthright Jewel.
8) Green – 256 Power Points
9) Sapphire – 512 Power points
10) Red – 1,024 Power points
*Opals are considered the bridge between the “Light” jewels and the “Dark” jewels.

Blood Powers

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Blood Powers

Every member of the blood is trained in a few basic powers which they can activate by tapping into the powers of their jewels.

BLAST: A vicious blast of psychic energy the same color of the attacker’s jewel strikes the target. Blast does X damage, where X is the number of points spent on the attack.

SHIELD: The character or target is covered in a glimmering coat the same color of the user’s jewel. Any damage that would be dealt to a character under the protection of Shield is drained from the user’s power points instead.

SIGHT SHIELD: The target vanishes from view, as if affected by a Greater Invisibility spell. However, anyone who possesses a darker jewel than the user can automatically see through the shield. It costs 5 power points for each target per round in combat, or per minute outside of combat.

AURAL SHIELD: The target is encompassed in a field 10 feet in diameter that prevents anyone outside the field from overhearing anything. Anyone who possesses a darker jewel may ignore this and overhear anyway. 1 power point for each target per round of combat, or per minute outside of combat.

VANISH: A character may vanish an object that is not in the current possession of another character, storing it in an extra dimensional space for latter recall. This is limited to inanimate objects only, and the recalled object will always return in the hand of the character who vanished it.

THREADS – Threads are a special form of psychic communication available to the Blood. They may be “Spear to spear” (male to male), “Distaff to distaff” (female to female), or “Distaff to male” (male to female) as well as a general announcement. Each thread is limited to the level of the weakest jewel in the conversation, and may be overheard by any character with a darker jewel.

LOCK – A character may place a lock on any sealable door or chest according to the color of their jewel. This lock can only be opened by the character or by a darker jewel, and costs 15 power points to emplace.

Dying

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Dying

In the Dark Jewels verse characters do not die as normal.

When a player is dealt enough damage to equal their constitution score, their body dies as normal. However, unlike in normal games, this does not prevent the character from acting. Rather, if they have any power points remaining they may continue to act as if still alive. This is known as becoming “Demon-Dead”. A Demon-Dead character does not regain hit points if healed, and cannot replace lost body parts. Instead, damage is dealt to their power points, and when those are exhausted the character is considered “Burned out” and is now officially dead. Physical damage does not drain points (though sufficient damage can mean the loss of a body part, which cannot be replaced or reattached) meaning the only way to kill a Demon-Dead character is to deal them energy damage or make a sundering attack against their head as part of a coup de grace.

A Demon-Dead character cannot regain power points by resting like a normal character. Rather, they can only regain power points by drinking a specially prepared wine known as Yabarrah, or by drinking blood that has been willingly offered to them. Drinking blood in this way deals damage to the donator equal to the number of power points regained by the Demon-Dead character.

Characters cannot be resurrected once completely dead.

Thoughts? Ideas? Criticisms? How long did it take you to break this?

[Analytica]

4E (and 3E too for that matter) generally avoided having things that strongly affect your power level being randomly generated. As such, I would recommend jewel colour being something you pick feats, paragon paths and epic destinies to determine. If they must be static from level one, difficult. In 3.5 that could have been solved by making the jewels templates with level adjustment, but 4E really has no equivalent mechanic...