World Building Exercise - Cataclysm of Green

[Vadin]

Can only make a quick post right now, I'll try and get some more stuff out next week sometime (probably not until the end of next week ); so much stuff to do (school, just got accepted to GHP (if you're in a Georgia highschool, you may or may not know what it is), and an OM competetion is all up ons next weekend). Long story short, this post is the last one on here for a few days at best, and I still have to go in a few minutes.

Gwyp & tsuuga: Awesome ideas with the dragons, can't wait to see more with that implementation. And yes, laziness seems to go hand-in-hand with gamerness. Go figure.

Anybody still reading this who can write up a draconic prestige class for kobold warriors who become more like dragons without gaining caster levels? That always bugged me about the dragon disciple class. The prestige class might also give them an option between wings and spell-like abilities about halfway through, so they could either gain one of a dragons most impressive and iconic abilities or the magic that can advance them socially into the upper class. Just some thoughts.

[jagadaishio]

For a draconic prestige class, would it make sense to take the dragonblood feats out of Races of Dragon and make a prestige class which lets you gain them nice and quick? It would probably require Dragonwrought, the first of the wings feats, a certain base fortitude save, and a certain number of ranks in one or more social skills. You would probably get a half-dragon-style breath weapon at either level 3 or 5, depending on the number of levels this class would have, along with a steadily scaling nat. armor increase.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Sounds solid to me.

[Lord Tataraus]

Alright I'm back! So, tsuuga, awesome dragons, keep it up. Vadin, I am (slowly) collecting all this stuff into a pdf, but I'll let this go on for a bit before I publish it.

I like that dragon PrC idea how's this for a try:

Dragon Sage
Prerequisites:
Feats: Dragonwrought Kobold, Dragon Wings
Race: Any Kobold
Skills: Any Knowledge 8 ranks
Languages: Draconic

Hit Die: d12
Class Skills: Bluff, Concentration, Diplomacy, Decipher Script, Heal, Knowledge (All; taken individually), Listen, Perform, Sense Motive, Spot, and Use Magic Device.
Skill Points Each Level: 4 + Intelligence Modifier

{table="head"]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Special

1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Bonus Draconic Feat

2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|Draconic Breath 1d6

3rd|+2|+3|+1|+3|Bonus Draconic Feat, Fly 20 ft

4th|+3|+4|+1|+4|Draconic Breath 3d6

5th|+3|+4|+1|+4|Bonus Draconic Feat, Greater Breath

6th|+4|+5|+2|+5|Fly 40 ft, Draconic Breath 5d6

7th|+5|+5|+2|+5|Bonus Draconic Feat

8th|+6|+6|+2|+6|Draconic Breath 7d6

9th|+6|+6|+3|+6|Bonus Draconic Feat, Fly 60 ft

10th|+7|+7|+3|+7|Draconic Breath 9d6

[/table]

Class Features:
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A dragon sage gains no additional weapon or armor proficiencies.

Bonus Draconic Feat: A dragon sage may select any Draconic Heritage, Metabreath, or Dragonblood feat for which he meets the prerequisites as a bonus feat at 1st level and every other level thereafter.

Draconic Breath: A dragon sage gains a breath weapon usable every 2d4 rounds that deals 1d6 damage of the type and shape of his ancestral dragon selected with the dragonwrought kobold feat with a reflex save DC10 + 1/2 hit dice + constitution modifier for half damage. A line is 30ft long and a cone is 15ft. At every other level the breath weapon increases in damage by 2 dice.

Fly: A dragon sage's wings have fully developed and can sustain normal flight. A dragon sage gains a fly speed of 20ft with average mobility. This fly speed increases to 40ft at 6th level and 60ft at 9th level.

Greater Breath: Starting at 5th level a dragon sage's breath weapon improves to that close to a dragon's. The dragon sage must only wait 1d4+1 rounds between each use and the size of the breath doubles (60ft line or 30ft cone).

[jagadaishio]

Add the ability to speak and read draconic to the list of prerequisites for this prestige class.

As for class skills, I would suggest all of the social skills, Concentration, Decipher Script, Heal, the Knowledge skills, Perform, all of the perception skills, and UMD.
Social skills because they're emulating dragons, masters of politics. Perception skills because dragons have super-senses. The intellectual skills because of the implication that they're some sort of a sage. Perform, just because. UMD because it seems to obvious to skip.

[jagadaishio]

Oh, also, you need to say what the save against the breath attack is.

[tsuuga]

By default, breath attack saves are 10+1/2 hd+con modifier.

[Lord Tataraus]

By default, breath attack saves are 10+1/2 hd+con modifier.

Correct, and I've already added all the suggestions. However, I'm a bit shaky on the hit die, should I lower it from d12? d10 maybe?

[jagadaishio]

Well, a d12 is the dragon's hit die, and it fits the theme of the class. I dunno, it can't be more over-powered than the bear warrior.

[tsuuga]

Correct, and I've already added all the suggestions. However, I'm a bit shaky on the hit die, should I lower it from d12? d10 maybe?

I would say reduce it. It's pretty weird, honestly, to have 3/4 BAB and huge hit dice.

[Lord Tataraus]

I guess I'll reduce the HD. So, any more progress to be made? I have begun to seriously compile this stuff into pdf format (mostly 'cause I feel guilty about starting another on of these just today). I assure you I won't close this project down, but it does seemed to have slowed down drastically.

[Vadin]

HALF A YEAR BUMP for question: Tataraus, did you ever get a pdf of all this compiled?

[Lord Tataraus]

Unfortunately, things keep on getting in the way. I've got most of the stuff transferred over to a document but as far as setting up the flow of the document or standardizing the format, its a work in progress (not much progress unfortunately). I'll try to keep working on it and get it up in a few weeks.

[tsuuga]

Man, I miss working on this setting. It was a heck of a lot of fun

No rush, LordTataraus, I can be patient

[Vadin]

Yeah, take your time.

Looking back at this, can you believe it really only took a month?

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Do you want to continue work on this? This is one of my favourite settings so far...

[Vadin]

Another world building excercise might be in order...

Goodness knows we've tried several times already on these boards, though.

I can remember at least 4 other attempts since this...

Maybe a 4E real-history-with-magic setting?

An idea I had when CoG ended (yes, it stuck with me since then):


It's the night before Germany and Russia invade Poland and begin WWII. America, Britain, and France are cautious. Japan is planning something.

The next day, no invasion takes place.

There are earthquakes across the world.

Not enough to kill everyone, or even most people, or even a lot.

But earthquakes in every city around the world were more than enough to stop things for a day.

They weren't all that happened, though.

As the day progressed, fires broke out. Storms started. Icebergs and animals appeared out of nowhere.

And people took credit for the actions.

In the ensuing chaos, societies changed.

In England, those with what was dubbed 'magic' were given titles and replaced the old aristos. In America, they were recruited by the government and assigned to elite task forces and given all the funding they needed to research their powers, finding limits and ways to make it profitable. In Germany, the rigid government couldn't handle the sudden influx of power and fell to pieces. Russia pulled out of the war and sought to use this power to create a truely Marxist state.

It's a year later, 1940. Some of those with magic grew tall and thin. Others grew short and tough. Others small and fast. Not all of those were people who possesed magic. Their children, the few infants born of those who had changed, were likewise changed. The children of those who possesed magic were likewise powered.

That was 300 years ago.

The year is 2240. What's going on in the world? Where is humanity? What became of the mages? What happened to those who had changed?

Just a thought.

[Lord Tataraus]

Do you want to continue work on this? This is one of my favourite settings so far...

It's my favorite as well, go ahead and continue it if you want, I'll help out when I can.

This only took a month?!?! Wow...it was a lot of fun, I never had the heart to take down my banner in my sig 'cause its so awesome. If you want to continue the CoG setting ,we need the locations fleshed out some more. We have 9 out of the 24 mapped locations with some form of description and 1 (Aldrheim) that never got its description.

[tsuuga]

Wow. Really only a month? It felt longer...

I'd love to kick this back into gear. I'll have to read over the thread tomorrow to remember where we left off...

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I remember it being a lot longer. If we did that in a month, if we keep on reviving this thing, we may actually finish one day!

[Vadin]

I don't know...this is pretty much done.

If we could do all this in a month, why not start on something new while finishing up the last little bits of this stuff?

[tsuuga]

Hmm... a lot of the incomplete stuff was on my plate, wasn't it? Well, I'd best get to work on that... Lets see, the Wise of Aldrheim, plus city flavor; and pteranodons and elasmosaurs.

Vadin, I like that setting idea. 1940s is a good tech level for magic to come in on, and being set 300 years later means I don't have to read up that much on history

[Lord Tataraus]

I don't know...this is pretty much done.

If we could do all this in a month, why not start on something new while finishing up the last little bits of this stuff?

Sure the bulk is done, but some of the more mundane locations aren't. As for starting a new setting, I'm up for it but it is rare to get these things going for long. This one just took off on its own because of some big enthusiasts of the setting, just a warning. As for your setup, its a good concept, the only problem I have with it is it seems too Shadowrun. With a bit of work and fleshing out it could depart from that, but for now its too close for comfort IMO.

[Vadin]

Can you think of any ways to differentiate it?

[tsuuga]

The biggest differentiation is that it's not cyberpunk. Think about it. Magic erupts before the discovery/invention of:

• DNA-based heredity
• Nuclear Fission as a power source
• Digital computing

Why mess with DNA when you can Polymorph Object? Why develop nuclear weapons/power when you've got magic? Why develop computers when you could just summon a knowledge spirit? This would not be the kind of future we're familiar with. Without nuclear deterrents, there would continue to be World Wars (at least until several someones develop epic spells). And following that, democracy would crumble. Whether they use it or not, a guy with personal access to a nuclear-equivalent arsenal is in charge. The environment would probably suck (Sure, we'd run out of fossil fuels, but hey - you can just make em with magic! Conjuration Mages are the new oil barons), unless someone worked out a way to clean the atmosphere with magic. Without computers, you don't get the standard cyberpunk fare - implants, wifi, AI, smart guns, hacking, etc.

[Vadin]

The biggest differentiation is that it's not cyberpunk. Think about it. Magic erupts before the discovery/invention of:

• DNA-based heredity
• Nuclear Fission as a power source
• Digital computing

Why mess with DNA when you can Polymorph Object? Why develop nuclear weapons/power when you've got magic? Why develop computers when you could just summon a knowledge spirit? This would not be the kind of future we're familiar with. Without nuclear deterrents, there would continue to be World Wars (at least until several someones develop epic spells). And following that, democracy would crumble. Whether they use it or not, a guy with personal access to a nuclear-equivalent arsenal is in charge. The environment would probably suck (Sure, we'd run out of fossil fuels, but hey - you can just make em with magic! Conjuration Mages are the new oil barons), unless someone worked out a way to clean the atmosphere with magic. Without computers, you don't get the standard cyberpunk fare - implants, wifi, AI, smart guns, hacking, etc.

Nukes never got developed because WWII never happened, computer development went much slower until the mages got hold of them and skipped from tickertape to Pentium IV in speed.

And the amount of people with magic was about 1 in 100,000. In the US, there were slightly more than 1,000 of them, and they were mostly hired by the government to conduct research on their new powers or be part of special task forces. At most, there are a hundred or so in the US the government didn't notice, they're mostly paranoid people who hide their powers for fear of 'the man'.

Magic wouldn't replace science, but when a person with magic also had an interest in science (not often, but the gov't would encourage it) and knew how both science and their magic worked, huge progress could be made very quickly.

And yeah, mages that knew the magic (that is, rituals) to create things could do some crazy stuff. It wouldn't be efficient to try and magically mass produce things, but novelty pets for rich people (ala dragons, unicorns, things from Spore) and rare elements would definitely show up more.

After Germany fell apart in 1939 and Russia became isolationist, who would be the new threat? I agree that World Wars would probably continue, as there wouldn't be any too huge deterrents, but would Germany reorganize and be the same? If not, how would they be? And which countries would decide that they were the rightful inheritors of the Earth and act upon those crazy desires?

Also, if people want to work on this, feel free to make the thread for it. I would, but formatting things in this forum confuses me so, and I'm horrendously unorganized.

[tsuuga]

Nukes never got developed because WWII never happened, computer development went much slower until the mages got hold of them and skipped from tickertape to Pentium IV in speed.
<snip>
And which countries would decide that they were the rightful inheritors of the Earth and act upon those crazy desires?

I'm not sure that mages would make the jump from card-driven calculators to Pentium IVs - I mean, in this setting, magic would predate not only the transistor, but programmable computers in general. Before things like the ENIAC, computers were basically glorified slide rules.

What country? Any country that ended up with a disproportionate mage/plebe ratio. My bet would be third-world nations... particularly ones where a belief in magic is widespread.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Greece maybe? Somewhere in the Balkans, I think.

[Vadin]

I'm not sure that mages would make the jump from card-driven calculators to Pentium IVs - I mean, in this setting, magic would predate not only the transistor, but programmable computers in general. Before things like the ENIAC, computers were basically glorified slide rules.

What country? Any country that ended up with a disproportionate mage/plebe ratio. My bet would be third-world nations... particularly ones where a belief in magic is widespread.

It would, wouldn't it...what magic enabled device could fill the place of the computer? Personal outsiders that can perform calculations? Other sorts of assistants from across the realms?

Instead of home computing kits, home summoning kits where mages have completed all but the final (unmagical) step in the ritual and sent you the pieces!

Eventually, though, the transistor would have been invented. It just would have been invented as more of a curiousity/breakthrough in a field that's 'neat, and useful for people without Companions, but really...will it ever catch on?'

It does catch on, eventually, but not for personal use. Just for military and aeronautic calculations and as an aid in certain devices (like planes and the 1963 space launch, in which the crew of mages helped NASA succesfully establish the first Eath to Moon and Moon to Earth telepad upon landing).

And an Eastern European threat wouldn't be a bad one. Especially in a region where the mages could congregate on Mount Olympus and gain a pretty fast cultist/terrified local following...

[thevorpalbunny]

The groundwork for computers was done mostly in the late 30s. Also, Alan Turing was alive, and he would probably have spent the remainder of his life (which would have lasted longer, as he probably wouldn't have committed suicide due to being gay) trying to convince a mage to help him create a Universal Turing Machine using magic. Unless he got magic himself, in which case he probably would have made something beyond what we have now by 1970 at the latest.

In other words computer-like objects = very yes, though they would quite likely be analog rather than digital.

IMO, Japan seems a good bet to take over the world. The Japanese would still have the fascism and have shown, before and since, their ability to adapt virtually anything to their purposes. They would probably lose most of their empire at first, but I think once they recovered (perhaps a bit slower than some) they would get going faster.

EDIT: Or possibly somewhere in the Middle East, though Bedouin mages might get a bit too Fremen-esque.