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"In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."
So, trying to come up with some Magitech led to avoidance behavior. So instead, now I have a new campaign setting (in development)! :D
Restriction: NPC classes without special training or blessings
Note: magic is dangerous
Gods: independent self-sustaining immortal creatures who are influenced by (and, in turn influence) their worshipers/worship (in a form of psychic gestalt; their own essence merged with their worshipers' essences) and who have at least some power over an aspect of reality, and mortal souls.
CR 7s are the gods, but all also have Simple Mythic Template (agile, arcane, divine, invincible, or savage), and a single legendary item (ala the legendary item; their "favored <X>", where "<X>" is usually a weapon of some sort).
Further, gods gain the divine source ability for free as soon as they qualify (using ranks instead of tiers).
The creator gods (also), however, are mostly CR 15 creatures with a similar set-up.
The over-gods are CR 20/cr 21 creatures (basically "the best" of a given outsider type) with the same treatment.
Gods also gain a more generic version of devil shaping, and a lesser mastery of magic abilities (all souls/petitioners are basically lemures after death, sans the [devil] specific [alignment] subtypes; the moderate master of magic ability is 10 lvls 1-4 3/day and 10 lvls 5-8 1/day; minor master of magic ability is 5 lvls 1-4 1/day).
They are generally transformed into the 2 HD outsiders of various kinds, based on the deity they belong to.
Higher gods have variants of the lifedrinker or swallow soul, death mastery or similar abilities.
Regardless, all of these gods are incredibly distant.
Around 5,000-7,000 years ago, humanity (and other mortal races) rose up against the gods, and overturned them. By using phenomenal power accessed by communal magic to banish all the gods and their servants (going so far as to seal away the lesser ones) and allow mortal kind to guide its own destiny. But without the gods, much was lost (limited magic, effective HD cap), some of it very important. This led to much hatred toward arcanists, even as they became more necessary. That which had previously inherently guarded mortals was now missing, and many things began to fail.
To stem the rising tide of terror and horrors slipping through the diminishing number of the council of high arcanists utilized a second World Circle to create a ban against more evil (or whatever) from entering or from staying.
Finally, as a great self-sacrifice (most) of the remaining arcanists utilized the third (and "final") World Circle to create a perfected equalizer.
This effectively severed:
1) most magic
2) the planes
3) access to divine magic (adepts are not divine)
4) HD above 6th for mortal creatures (and most non-mortals as well)
5) outsiders as playable races (sorry, guys, I miss aasimars too... but you can still take 'em with scion of humanity! :D)
... and:
5) most monsters beyond certain HD (effectively permanently and irrevocably draining all creatures of 13 HD or higher by 12-HD, all creatures of 9HD or higher by 3 HD)
As a side effect of the huge surge of negative energy, unfortunately, undead became more prevalent for a time, though the antipathy effects (combined with the inability to go anywhere) effectively drove most into restless somnolence beneath the earth.
The world was permitted to grow once again, society started over (having lost all their magical advancement they'd so long relied upon; most people quickly died), and most of history was forgotten (as the high-magic necessary to maintain most of the structures was now bound by that which banished the gods).
What does exist:
1) magic items (created by adepts
2) religion (tapping into the vestiges of the banished gods; often quite incorrectly by now, though)
3) creatures of various kinds that would be appropriate challenges for CR 6s... and several that would absolutely not (these are generally the purview of armies)
4) prestige classes (as the 'capstone' ability of a 5th level-to-6th level character, these provide the "method" by which E6 characters continue instead of feats, effectively gaining these as gestalt/templates)
5) mythic power (mythic power allows bypassing the HD cap); there are a few who have, after the ban, ascended to divinity: these are mythic heroes of the past, and are generally 18th level tier 9 folks who've achieved true immortality (via longevity) and worship (initially via leadership). There are, maybe, a dozen. Upon ascension, they undergo a ritual to become godlings of a kind appropriate to their former nature, or acquire the prestige necessary to realize their ascension. They, too, have legendary items, and divine source, though it actually "costs" them their slots. Though a few have attempted to completely conquer the world, a divine non-interference clause combined with their own frustrating cyclical experiences attempting to rule everyone has generally assured their http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Olympus]mutual retirement to an obscure location from the world's politics, except for the occasional nudge or purposeful minor interference in politics.
telthor and lesser fey have flourished as spiritual elements of devotion, worship, or respect. Kami also exist (having been tied to the material) as do Rakshasa and Oni, but they all suffer from extreme tendencies towards somnolence due to the constant pressure of the antipathy effect (and no where to go away from it).
After five-thousand years without tending or empowerment, however, things are beginning to change, as the mighty spells slowly crumble. Some things are waking up. Others are remembering the truth and returning. Change is on the horizon.
I've only come up with five of the lesser gods, and they each have two alignments (one based off of their nature, and one they have had ingrained into them via ancient worship and/or surrounding environment). These were determined semi-randomly... but I think they work really well and are highly suggestive in some regards of fascinating stories. The base creature is the kind of creature they are now (as in, it describes their base essence), while the portfolio, template, and secondary alignment are based on what the worship they have garnered (purposefully or otherwise) has impressed upon them. I've got a bit more information, but am pressed for time at the moment...
the god of earth, liberation, and suffering (also bears a chaotic good alignment); having been sealed away in a tomb of earth for eons, its true nature has been obscured by the religion that has sprung up around it; a religion it feels oddly obligated towards...
the god of sea and storms (also bears a neutral evil alignment); having been sealed within a watery grave, it was finally released when a powerful storm caused a surge that opened him to the air once again, freeing him and his righteous fury...
EDIT: Folk had always known that "something injust" was done to this god, and had always, somewhere inside them, regretted it... and so the constant whispers and prayers of his unbridled fury at the injustice and the tales of his desires for vengeance had made them at least partially true...
the god of justice and law (also bears a true neutral alignment); having been sealed in a distant crystalline tomb with no escape, filled with the most powerful desecration and unhallow effects known to man, the source of constant protection from law and magic circle against law effects, pierced by an arrow she was unable to remove (chained as she was), she was thoroughly corrupted from her former state; having recently awoken, she shattered her ancient, rusted chains, with little memory for what she once was...
creation, destruction, and mortal life and death (also bears a true neutral alignment); the whispers of her subconscious dreaming convinced all who heard them that she was what she'd always longed to be... the goddess of all mortals... but now that she's awake, how can she live up to such high expectations... and why does she want to... ?
the god of forsts, woodlands, flora and fauna, and fertility (also bears a NG alignment); an ancient creature who'd avoided the banishment, and resisted the destruction of most of her kind, her benevolence has been a great boon to all who've passed through her ways, though her wild temperament has been... well... tempered by the worship of civilization...
So... that's what I've got so far...
EDIT: fixed a tag
Hm... seriously thinking about running a game in this loosely-defined setting.
EDIT: As in possibly doing a PbP in which people take on the mantle of some recently-awakened gods and begin to go exploring the world that they were for so long lost to, until recently.
Anyone familiar with my home-brew stuff can probably see a few influences from some of those worlds in this one.
Banging out some more history about this world:
In ancient days, there was naught.
However, a conclave of the creative divine gathered together and, using their great power in a compact, crafted a world - an entire universe - from this naught, causing a coalescence of thought and reality to become one. From their divine power was all made, and from the realm of thought, spirit, and dream were souls crafted into existence.
These mighty divine beings then created the first of their greatest works, life.
The first of this life were extremely small strange creatures devoid of creative properties or much of anything worthwhile - they lacked any true mind, and some (failures) were just destructive.
However, soon, with their help, the gods crafted life with an actual mind: they had properly learned to harness the physical and raw soul-stuff. Some began altering their creations, while others focused on creating new ones.
One god (or several gods - it's no longer clear) ignored the normal alteration process, but instead first created , and sought to increase its mind within itself - not by any outside stimulus, but purely through its own nature. Thus, soon, from simple* life came* the first sentience, arising out of the mysterious (and oft-overlapping) acts of creation.
These first sentient creatures also first (and quickly) harnessed the power inside, developing simple, but effective, means of survival in a world that brought great danger. They also came to quickly know of the gods who favored them with many blessings.
The work of creation was not finished in these wild days, however. It would eventually lead to the establishment of many other creatures, some of whom were more widely spread than others.
Some powers the gods created sought similar worship, however, and thus began teaching ancient secrets in return for reverence. However, mortals are nothing if not creative, and soon such secrets, once extremely personal, were shared, written down, and thus replicated at will, and even improved upon. And yet... even that power was not enough. The mortals began experimenting with the very secrets of the gods themselves, and discovered the power of sharing power and communal magic.
Taking such concepts a step further, certain magi crafted entire orders around the ability to cast circle magic, though requiring an extreme dedication to their own style of magic to do so. Of course, those who seek ways around limits often find it, and so they did, broadening their potential power enormously, especially when combined into a pool of power... and especially when circled together.
Civilization flourished under this paradigm, growing higher rapidly, deserts and hunger annulled, limitless building material, and ensured comfort abounded.
Guided and protected by various gods, faithful people feared no great predators, and focused civilization blended the best of all those who sought to live within its borders, becoming mighty indeed.
And yet, many of the people were... dissatisfied. Unhappy. The gods existed and moved, and spoke, and walked, and were meddlers within every part of the lives of mortals. Growing sentiment was that the gods were needless - that people could govern their own affairs without divine interference. That the gods were just as corrupt (or even more so!) than the people themselves... and in many cases, they were right, as evil gods enjoyed tormenting or destroying these mortals they'd created. While the good gods certainly loathed such vile actions, the gods did not look at mortals as equals - for, in fact, they were not, any more than those first, mindless creations were the equal of those sentient beings the gods so favored.
A combination of arrogance, hunger for power, and increasing frustration with the "failures" of the divine lent mortals the will to finally act against the gods, but in their blind hubris and frustration, they acted indiscriminately... not that attempting to wield magic more potent than that of the gods themselves allowed for such finesse in the first place.
And so the gods fell from their pedestals - or, more accurately, were thrust, along with their pedestals - out from the world and into the great beyond, back into the naught from whence they came.
But, of course, without the gods guarding the people, stabilizing reality, maintaining the power of magic, and dispensing blessings, the world began to crumble around their arrogant (if somewhat justified) creations. Stripped of the sources of much of their power, with their ancient devices entirely incapable of functioning, civilization crumbled. Across the globe, all that once relied on the magical ambiance brought forth by the gods began to fail. Freedom came with a cost, and that cost was all that the people had relied upon to succeed.
The weakest gods were weak enough to be sealed in non-present vaults below the world, partially hidden from time, and, though they were sealed in remote places, lesser forms of the powers, effects, and devices that had relied on the gods worked in their presences. Some of these places were eventually discovered, and put to use by mighty (but necessarily limited) mortal empires. A few areas even had a number of such deities sealed away, generating tremendous power across that region of land. Religions later often sprung up around these places and palpable divine presences, though, of course, lacking any direct input, they were often completely incorrect.
Due to the nature of the ambiance given by the gods, the fall and degradation of magical force was not instantaneous, and so none were worried until it started to become too late. When it became obvious that magic was failing (and had relied upon the gods) it became clear very quickly that attempts to reverse what had been done were practically impossible, at best, and, even if they scraped together the power to do so, very foolish to allow the return of gods who may well seek tremendous retribution against those who had just defied their will.
Thus, for their second Great Circle, though their power was fading, they attempted first to banish all creatures that would destroy those mortals left behind due to innate power (as they were unsure how much of that would, also, fade). Thus they warded** the world, making it thoroughly undesirable to all those who had the means to leave, and then sealed the world behind them.
Even so, they were unable to fix all the threats, and as those few powerful creatures that still existed - now with no natural foes to keep them in check - continued to ravage the world, they created a two-fold highly perfected force of mythical destruction/corruption/susceptability and mythical equalization and corrosion (targeting only those entities who's natural power exceeded certain thresholds, and entirely destroying many of those as a result, which were sealed and degraded); and, as a final measure in attempts to protect them from the unfiltered ending of all things, sanctified the world to the mortal races themselves - both having learned from, and failed to learn from their greatest mistakes.
Most would spend the rest of their lives hunting and destroying the remaining threats to mortalkind across the world. Most... but not all. A few of us found that we did not wish to die and pay the price for our terrible deeds. Cowards, yes, but desperate, and heroes, too. And some of us - though I cannot claim such - had greater motives, grander ones: we sought to keep and to protect the world, using immortality and power no longer available to most of our kind. And we found it, though not the pure, good, holy immortality that the gods once bestowed upon the greatest of our people whom they favored, but crass, cruel immortality, fraught with peril - of those who sought immortality, we lost many of the greatest minds to their initial experimentation, and many found nothing but spiteful hunger - most of these latter were hunted by our heroic brethren as much as the other monsters we'd unleashed.
As an aside, allow me to say that the soul, though oft thought of as beautiful when discussed in poetic or religious terms, when taken from the body and examined dispassionately, is an inglorious, ugly thing - it seems no great thing that placing it within a box or ring - but despite its lack of charm, it is vitally important, as, without it, we are lost. I know from experience: yes, your form continues, but the price is not worth it. But pardon my digression.
As it turns out, while the immortality was "worth" it for those who would be heroes, not even they were safe from the ravages of madness, corruption, or extreme somnolence and ennui (perhaps brought about by our own magical forces) such a state comes with. Most have fallen to a disturbing quiescence that seems unending, and decays even our once-believed eternal bodies. Of those who originally found immortality, only I remain awake... and I am failing, finding my mind wandering ever-more to the afterlife I have denied myself, and finding the deepest regret for my actions and those of my brothers.
Yes, we sought to free the world from injustice and cruelties, and yes, we sought freedom and free will for our people, and perhaps we achieved this. But we lost everything that had come with it. The society, mores, ethics, hopes, and dreams for which we acted have turned to dust. Though mortalkind has rebuilt, slowly, it is a painful, hideous rebuilding. The "mighty works" of this new world are so pathetic compared to the old, that I cannot countenance them - I barely restrain myself from casually collapsing their mighty empires and so-called "ancient" creations on a whim, such is their contemptible state compared to the once-great wonders of the world.
And so the world ended, and I, the Greatest Scribe, Beonan, commit this last record to far-too-fragile and temporary stone. I have used much magical power to make this stone last "for all time", but I have become far too aware of the hubris and pointlessness of such sentiments. This last record, possibly the last thing written by any who recall the ancient days before, will one day pass on as well. Perhaps I will once again stir, should something truly worthwhile be created by this wasted, pathetic remnant of a world, but I doubt any great thing could ever again come from people so far fallen as we. And now, my long-denied slumber awaits.
I wonder if I will dream? I wonder if the gods will devour my mind for my long-denied fate? I wonder if my soul - pitiful and mewling as it is - will eventually be freed from its hiding place (and don't think I would reveal such important a thing to you savages!), and perhaps be judged for deciding to become myself? I know not. But I know that I am very tired. Tired of this world, tired of all the effort and concentration I must use to create magic that once would come just because I desired it. Tired of watching and guiding those too foolish and stupid to realize they will never equal that which we once had. Tired of wallowing in my own sins and misery. Tired of everything.
Good night, world. Perhaps oblivion awaits. That would be nice...
* Yes, yes, I know they're not the same thing.
** Apply this to all alignments.
It's worth noting that I'm going for a rules gist rather than hard rules in the story above. The hard rules inform the rules-gist - for example, while the magic circle effect that covers the world would, technically, grant a +2 AC and save bonus to everyone that wasn't true neutral, that kind of goes against both flavor and nature of what I'm trying to accomplish with this world. Instead, the point was that bodily contact and possession were rendered impossible - similarly, most enchantment mages were rendered impotent... as were many, many gods, who's psychic connection and mental influence was severed.
Similarly, the creator gods used neither genesis nor create greater demiplane, but rather something that approximated both of these.
For example, if I did my math right, the genesis effect would create 24,416,640 cubed feet of space (volume)... over the course of 180 days (from about 4.18667 ft.), while the create greater demiplane spell would only create 1,000 cubed feet (url=https://www.google.com/#q=volume+of+a+cube]volume of a cube[/url]) of space per level... meaning a deity would have to have a caster level of roughly 24,417 or require about 1,221 castings at CL 20th to match the effect... but since it's in cube form, and instantaneous, it's far more convenient.
Similarly, the genesis version can control general tendencies, but cannot create life... the create greater demiplane version can apply the Bountiful, Gravity, Seasonal, Shape, Magic, Morphic, Time, and Portal traits to the world... all things that the gods are likely looking for in a world at large; the create greater demiplane doesn't create "real" substance (from what I can tell), and is temporary (though it can be made "permanent", if dispelable), but the genesis spell allows for the creation of rare or entirely unique materials, from my reading, and is instantaneous (meaning you cannot dispel or disjoin it).
Thus the godly act of creation probably functions along the lines of a combined version of the two of them, taking the "greatest" aspects of them, and blending them together: instantly creating 20 10-ft. cubes/level, but slowly increasing in size until it hits the maximum, with repeated castings being similarly expansive (i.e. the second casting nets you an instant additional 20 cubes, but doubles the final "radius" (though there's no guarantee that the final plane is even spherical!) the plane will eventually reach). The gods can control the factors in a manner similar to the create greater demiplane, while they can create genuinely real worlds (instantaneous duration) with real substances to them as with the genesis spell. Add in stuff like enlarge/widen spell, and mythic variants of size (similar to the expansion in mythic baleful polymorph*) and you've got some idea of how I'm envisioning this working. Even with such methods**, it would still take a tremendously long time**.
Anyway, I'm still chewing on the idea of having gods just... show up again... and having players play them. I have some (hopefully) interesting ideas for how this might work, too.
As far as linking the robe of useful items, the reason I did so is because the robe is made of nothing special - it's just a magical robe. But said magical robe has the power to create creatures from magic. Not summoned creatures, not called creatures from another plane, not illusions of creatures: it can create life whole-cloth (pun intended) from nothing but a mage's desire to do so. Thus the relevance for gods creating life: if there's really a question about it, just point out the robe of useful items first, note that gods made lesser items (thus the lower CR creatures), and then continue from there.
* I mean, presume that one creature takes up a 5-ft cube (as generally presumed for PF size purposes): going from 125 cubed feet to something like 616,268,759,040 cubed feet is a pretty major increase: it's 4,930,150,072.32 times as large. Look at that again: it's nearly five million times as large.**
** Doesn't really matter too much, though. It'll still take a long time. Which is why we have mythic*** time stop
*** Yes, I'm ignoring the FAQ for this purpose. We're talking about gods creating a universe, here, before being forced out of a single planet. Also, I don't like it, and it's really frustrating. Also, also, I kind of thought there was an actual mythic version of time stop, but I can't find it now. Alas.
Also, I'm interested in feedback! This isn't a "do not touch" thread! It's a messy thread full of ideas that I'm hammering out.
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A lot here, so just placing a dot for now. Great stuff!
Huzzah! I'm also keeping some of this stuff in mind for the future, too. Not for a particular idea, but in general.
Three more gods!
the god of crafts, knowledge, secrets, and travel (also bears a true neutral alignment); bound within a hidden corrupted crystal sphere that also permitted fabricate and magic mouth, his presence allowed it to continue to function (badly), and occasionally allowed his consciousness to give guidance to those people who came to him for guidance. However, because of the intermittent and limited nature of the item in which he was bound, it was difficult to communicate clearly beyond basic empathy, the occasional words of wisdom, and periodic gifts (either of knowledge or of substance). At times, his worshipers oft thought him wandering, even when they needed him so greatly as sleep overcame him, leaving them grateful, but finding him more callous than was his preferred state and, when he was able to wake at all, he did have to find that callousness within himself, simply to bear the pain of how much time had passed and how many had died... and how he could not stop it. And now, as he wakes, he finds a continued desire to share and give and protect, but also a distance that was once not there, a distance needed to keep sanity and peace...
the god of death, darkness, murder, and the underworld (also bears a neutral evil alignment); sealed deep within a rocky cave touched by an underground stream and pool she used to inhabit, the poison she secreted within the darkness proved most useful to the malevolent folk who found her resting place, and began worshiping her essence in the darkness; their profane rites bore great witness in her dreams and her desires to be left alone interpreted as desires to be in the depths of the underworld; now that she is waking, she finds a deep distrust of this new corruption within her, a corruption she both fears and desires...
the god of sun, light, healing, strength (also bears a neutral good alignment); it burned; the brilliance of the hallowed place it found itself sealed within, consecrated to all humanity ran like rivulets of precious beautiful flaming boiling acid through its eyes and into its veins and mind that is its spirit; the prayers of the masses delightfully cruelly etched themselves into its 27 separate blood-pumps, literally carved in exquisite birthing-agony; its squirming tentacled mien reminded of the reaching rays of the sun all who saw the hazy image of its shining, burning splendor in the deepest depths of their mind-stews...; it understood their pleas and prayers, and followed them in their delicious pain, and, seeking ever more for itself, helped befriend and soothe their worries and fears, helping dull their senses to the pain... initially to make them more vulnerable to its commands and charms, but also enabling great feats of strength as they failed to perceive the pain within their bodies... almost as if they'd been healed and granted greater strength for the good of all...; their confusion over its essence was beautiful, and it sought to purge them from sin in order to avoid any more demons (for how it loathed them), oft coming into conflict with those bitterly vile death-cult fools... but... then its own confusion grew... for though, of course, it was used to being confused in its own way, now it was confused in theirs and what had once been a mind of madness was, instead, infected with their sanity and benevolence and desire for the good of all... and so it savored this new pain, that of "guilt", even as its newly sane mind sought a way to relieve it...
So... arcanists, amirite?!
In other words, "how do they work, Tacticslion?"
I'm so glad you asked!
The answer is: "poorly".
EDIT:
In this world, while the power of arcanists is often needed (to generate magic items, although those can be accessed in other ways), actual spells that can reasonably be cast without problem is 2nd level spells.
Unless the caster succeeds at a concentration check, 3rd level spells and higher suffer from Wild Magic (01-33%), primal magic event (34-66%), or both (67-99%), or neither (100%), with the possibility of a acquiring a spellblight (coincidentally, the same level that bestow curse becomes available... hm...) with a 50% chance of a given area treated as if it were a minor or a major area of spellbight (variation: the DC is directly tied to the spell-level instead of the intensity of spell-blight; treat it as if it were a spell cast by you for determining the DC... because it is), and a 1d20% chance (roll a 1d20, then roll a d% to see if you exceed that percentage) of entirely failing and becoming a rod of wonder-like effect (though possibly with variant spell effects, or other creatures of the same general spell level/CR).
Finally, for most arcane spellcasters, for any spell of third level or higher, their effective caster level is reduced by -3 and increased by 1d4 each time they cast the spell; this does not affect whether or not they can cast the spell, only how powerful it is (they may find their spell doesn't quite reach their intended target, for example...).
These problems can be ignored if a caster properly prepares them, or if the effects are used out of magic item.
"Proper" preparation is only available to prepared casters, and isn't as easy as it sounds - in addition to normal preparation required, a number of full rounds equal to the spell level inscribing sin runes is required in addition to the normal casting time (usually in some temporary manner, such as with chalk or charcoal; spell components are generally used in the crafting of these temporary magical circles, which are burned away when the spell is cast). These runes can be inscribed in advance, but they must be jotted down in a specific location, either limiting the mobility or rapidity of arcane casters by a fair deal, if they don't wish to suffer penalties. Inscribing the spell can be done with chalk or charcoal, carved into a surface, added as molding or inlays in a larger work, or otherwise neatly and accurately physically represented in the basically correct pattern (the innate variations of form due to inscribing method are irrelevant)*.
Sin wizards (the Thassilonian specialist archetype) who take the proper feat (the one that matches their school) can take a second feat, called Sin Rune Tattoo Mastery that allows them to make a spellcraft check equal to the concentration check to ignore all of these penalties; they can make this check before the concentration check.
Magic items, due to the method of their creation (including all of the appropriate runes) usually do not suffer similar penalties.
Of course, divination has no sin rune specialist, and thus has no similar protection.
Adepts function as both arcane and divine so...
temporary submission because of thunder...
* Think of it very loosely like a circuit board. So long as the pattern is insulated and made out of conductive materials, it should work exactly like you want/expect it to, regardless of its actual material components. It could be made with copper and rubber, steel and silicon, or silver and teflon; though the materials affect the amounts of insulation and conductivity, so long as the pattern is roughly the same, it functions as desired; similarly, although size eventually has an impact and there may be technical limitations due to the material, you could make a huge version of the circuit board or a small one, and the functions will be the same.
So... divinists, er divine casters, amirite?! aw... forget it, it doesn't flow and we did that already...
Anyway, how do they work?
... once again, I'm so glad you asked!
While arcanists have a bad time of it, divine casters have it worse... for the most part, until they have it better.
A divine caster's power is directly tied to the deity they worship, a deity who cannot leave a certain spot.
This means divine casters are very much so "tied" to a certain locale, (except for oracles, who I'll get to in a bit).
Thus, those with divine spellcasting power must be within the radius of their divine patron. How big is that radius? I dunno! It doesn't matter too much, except for basic world building.
But, at a guess, let's call it 1 mile per hit dice of the "god" in question plus 1 mile per mythic rank plus 1 mile per "effective divine rank" (similar to the deities and demigods divine rank system).
Within the radius of this godly influence, divine casters can cast their spells normally. Outside of that influence, they may still cast spells, but must succeed at a difficult concentration check to do so, or lose the spell to no effect; if they succeed, they can only use the spells at minimum power anyway.
The ascended gods (actually being on the material plane and able to, you know, act) actually get the benefit of being able to set up locations hallowed to themselves, in which any divine caster can utilize their spellcasting. This is a pretty big deal, as you may imagine, meaning that people flock to such holy sites and the priests who tend them.
At the holy sites, the divine caster gains all the benefits of their normal spellcasting, but also gain the benefits of a candle of invocation.
And then there are oracles. Oracles are the sleeping gods' answer to holyfolk (though the ascended gods have them, too) - an oracle is chosen and blessed, but poorly; the mortal gods simply don't have the innate unfathomable experience to do it better, and the other gods are literally trying to do this while asleep and/or sealed away under the earth or in strange little objects.
In any event, the blessings of the oracle are great, but also painful to bear. Oracles who are blessed by the sleeping gods must take the dual cursed and possessed archetypes, and may take the black-blood archetype (only those blessed by sleeping gods may do so).
Oracles may not take the Dark Tapestry, Heavens, or Outer Rifts; nor may they take the Star Gazer archetype.
Those oracles who follow the ascended gods may take the Seeker archetype.
Oracles who reject the divinity that empowered them may follow the hallowed nature of mortals may accept the Enlightened archeytpe.
All oracles may take the Seer archetype.
These are all strictly out-of-character choices - in-character, the oracle in question does not get to choose anything.
Where it would otherwise be impossible to take multiple archetypes, these oracles ignore the normal rules for archetypes with overlapping feature alteration.
Within holy sites, oracles function as other divine casters do. Unlike other divine casters, oracles can make use of holy sites other than their own.
Beyond their holy sites, oracles need make no concentration checks (unless they otherwise would be required to, such as in violent weather or when being attacked), and they treat all variables as is they'd rolled a minimum value on their dice, but them empowered it (with the Empower feat).
Martials: they work fine, but all require some specialized form of training to enter in the first place. While this would be role-played (instead of done in-character at the table) this also requires specific traits, feats, or similar to represent the school you come from.
That said, I'm thinking of using some of the scaling feat-tree elements as well.
So, if arcane magic is unstable, and divine magic is limited, how do you craft stuff? Easily: eliminating the CL-prerequisites for certain crafting feats and replacing them with other, more onerous (but enabling them to be obtainable by sixth level) feats instead.
What are they? I dunno. Not really bothering with it right now.
However, what I will bother with: enclaves of crafters.
Obviously, with a 6th level cap (conveniently this ensures adepts never have to worry about unstable magic), you're never going to get above 3rd level spells. But crafters need some high bonuses... and access to different spell lists... otherwise they can create really bad effects.
So... wat do?
Well, in most cases, the adepts simply acquire the feats and make do with what they can in order to craft the item in question. The level cap often means a particular adept will be a "specialist" crafter, in that they are proficient with making X or maybe Y, but nothing else.
Note, however, that adepts, being both bound to holy sites (as divine casters) and subject to erratic (or rune) magic (as arcane casters)... don't adventure. Like, at all.
But how are all those magic items they couldn't normally make integrated into the game? Two methods: one is by opening up their list, and the other is by cooperative casting.
The first is easily obtained: an adept may swap any spells he gains from the adept list for spells of an equal level from another list that the spell also appears on; he loses the adept spells, but gains the other one. This is mostly to allow GMs to "fudge" that there's an adept with a given spell on their list, so they can create something. Easy.
For the second, although it can be done by anyone, I like to tie things into the world via organizations. Thus, the <name pending>*.
Red Wizards are a thing from Forgotten Realms, but there's much to love and be inspired by them: the tattoos, the social might of a given color, the heavy specialization in a given school, the obscure form of circle magic, and the shaved tendencies are all rather iconic, and thus excellent to steal.
Similarly, their human supremacist ideology is actually relatively useful for quasi-villains... especially when combined with, say, the Scarlet Brotherhood.
So, let's presume some vague combination of those guys exist in this world. They may well have been a hand-me-down from one of the ancient arcanists that first banished the gods (a great possibility, considering the antipathy toward the divine both groups generally display).
Now, again, they aren't going to have spells beyond third level... but they do have access to circle magic and, if they continue to prestige properly, spell pools, allowing them theoretical access to any spell they need to craft things (from their list, of course).
Thus, they can cheat: by using circle magic to gain excess spell power, then use the spell pool to tap into much more powerful spell level effects and achieve much higher caster levels than they could ever normally access via heighten spell metamagic ().
Now, that said, there's not going to be a lot of those kinds of items made - the expense, difficulty, and probability for catastrophic failure are all very, very high indeed, even with all the Aid Another checks for accurately utilizing the spellcraft to build the item.
But those items do exist, and they are available... for a price.
Otherwise, people eat the spellcraft DC increase, or build weaker items.
For divine items, people generally find itinerant holy men or build them within their divine locales.
I'm wondering if there's something to the Runecaster (perhaps a tie between arcane and divine?) or Mystic Wanderer (just based off of that title alone!) that allows divine characters to leave their holy sites. Hm... perhaps the divine disciple capstone allows them to act as "divine batteries" for themselves as extensions of their gods... neat ideas!
So, yeah, I'm thinking about those for now.
* Red Circle, Red Brotherhood, Rose Circle, Scarlet Circle, Scarlet Wizards, Rose Wizards, Rose Order, Scarlet Order, blarg, etc.
EDIT: an important limit to note is that, since sixth level is the limit, you couldn't get the prestige classes over 6th level. This means that you couldn't access 6th level spells or higher, no matter how skilled you were, from the spell-pool, as that feature isn't yet acquired by that point.
Heh, linked to the wrong part about martials. A better link for scaling feats.
Two more quick ideas: wild mages, and evocation.
Wild Mage: a feat that requires the caster to be fifth level, any non-lawful alignment, have the Magical Aptitude feat; this changes your spellcaster level to -3+1d6 instead of whatever it normally is (whether or not magic is unstable); further, you gain the 1st level ability of a primalist archetype; you may choose the following options at each "boon" gained after 6th (remember, you don't gain a level [HD, bab, saves, etc], but you semi-gestalt yourself with prestige up to 6HD).
- one additional use per day of the primalist archetype's Primal Magic ability; you may choose this ability multiple times to gain additional uses per day (+1/day each time this ability is selected).
- the primalist archetype's Enhance Primal Magic Event ability 1/day; you may choose this ability multiple times to gain multiple uses per day (+1/day each time this ability is selected).
- the primalist archetype's Primal Surge ability (requires the Enhance Primal Magic ability, and one other chosen from this list)
- the Random Deflector (Su) ability (1/day): Any time a ranged attack, ranged touch attack, targeted spell (targeting you, not an area spell you happen to be within the radius), or an area spell centered on or targeting your square (for example, the bead of a fireball before it explodes, or the first target in a chain lightning spell, or similar; but not a cone from a burning hands spell; this is entirely subject to GM discretion), as an immediate action, you may choose a random space up to 20 ft. away as the "target" square of that ability. You may choose this benefit multiple times; you may use this 1 additional time per day each time this ability is chosen.
- the Student of Chaos (Ex) ability: whenever you use a magic item, spell, or effect that offers a randomly determined effect (such as a bag of tricks, a rod of wonder, the random deflector ability, or similar; this does not apply to items that are only rolled once to determine their nature, such as a robe of useful items or iron flask), you may roll twice and choose freely between the two results. You must have at least one additional ability to take this ability. You may take this ability multiple times to gain multiple uses.
- the Mind of Chaos (Ex) ability: you are immune to confusion and insanity effects and are constantly under the effects of a nondetection effect; this requires you to have any two other abilities. You must have the Student of Chaos ability to select this ability. If you have at least four other abilities (in addition to Student of Chaos ability and Mind of Chaos ability), you may choose this a second time and gain the ability to place a sequester effect on yourself at will (duration determined by you, and can be set to end if you are physically disturbed), as well as a +2 bonus to all saves with the lawful descriptor. If you have at least six other abilities (in addition to the Student of Chaos ability and both lower level effects of the Mind of Chaos ability), you may take this ability a third time, and gain a constant mindblank effect; further, your Student of Chaos ability becomes able to affect even effects such as an iron flask or robe of useful items.
- the Reckless Dweomer (Su) ability: You may convert any spell slot (or prepared spell) into a rod of wonder effect. Your Student of Chaos and Random Deflector abilities apply to any effect created by this, as normal.
- the Wildstrike (Sp) ability once per day: range 60 ft., duration 2d6 rounds, spell resistance applies, no save; the target shimmers as if under a faerie fire or glitterdust effect (50% chance); there is a 50% chance each time the affected creature attempts to cast a spell or use a spell-like ability that ability fails, and a rod of wonder effect occurs instead. Each time you select this ability, you gain an additional use per day and increase the duration by 1d6-1 rounds.
- the Euphoric Spell (Su) ability: you may increase you caster level for a single spell that you cast; whenever you cast a spell, you may activate this ability, which increases your effective caster level for that spell by +1, but has a 5% chance of giving you an equal amount temporary negative levels until you take an extended rest, and be dazed until the end of your next turn; this is an optional ability. This ability may be selected multiple times (maximum of 6); each time it is selected, it increases the optional increase to caster level (and negative level, if any) by 1; for each +1 caster level increase, the chance to take negative levels and be dazed increases by 5%. You may use less than your full optional increase.
- the Surging Spell (Su) ability: when you use a Euphoric Spell, you may also use a Surging Spell; roll a d%: 01-25% (no change from normal); 25-50% (reduce all variable numeric effects by 50% after they are resolved); 51-75% (increase all variable numeric effects by 50% after they are resolved); 76-100% (double all variable numeric effects after they are resolved). Using this ability increases the chance of to be dazed increases by 5%. You must have Surging Spell
- the Anarchic Grace (Su) ability once per day: You may make it so that those who attack you suffer a 3% miss chance to all their attacks or spells cast against you (even true seeing or similar effects do not negate this) per caster level for a number of rounds equal to your caster level (modified as normal by the Wild Mage feat; this can be augmented by the Euphoric Spell ability). After this effect ends, you are effected as if you took negative levels and were dazed from a Euphoric Surge equal to half your caster level (any chance you take additional negative levels is rolled as normal for Euphoric Surge, if you used that ability).
- the Postpone Enervation ability: whenever you are affected by a negative level of any sort (permanent or temporary), you can taking any negative levels by 1 round. You may take this ability multiple times, each time you take this ability, you increase the length of postponing by up to 1 round.
- the limited Chaotic Breach (Su) ability once per day: standard action, ranged 100 ft., area: 20 ft. spread; after 1d4 rounds, the area becomes so infused with chaos that mages are no longer allowed a concentration checks or inscribed runes to avoid the wild or primal magic events (treat all spells cast as if the concentration check had failed and/or no runes were inscribed), it functions on all spells (not just those of 3rd level or higher), and persists for 1/2 your caster level (affected by the Wild Magic feat, and able to affected by Euphoric Spell, as normal). You are immune to the results of this effect, if you choose to be. You may target this on a particular creature instead of a location (in which case they may make a will save to negate). This can be dismissed early at will as a free action.
- the complete Chaotic Breach (Su) ability once per day: by expending ten uses of your limited Chaotic Breach ability, you may instead create a complete Chaotic Breach. This has all the properties of the limited Chaotic Breach, except for the following changes: the radius of the effect is 50 ft. instead of 20 ft., additionally a 10 ft. radius hole at the center of the effect that goes to a different plane (in contravention of the world-wide dimensional anchor effect), randomly determined from among all the planes in existence; if you know of the nature of one of the planes (usually by experience), you may roll use your Student of Chaos ability (if you have it), as normal, and choose if that one comes up; if you do not know the nature of the plane rolled up, you may not choose (as the choice is effectively meaningless) and the GM chooses instead. The breach is, as the name implies, complete, and any creature from the other plane who happens to be nearby can choose to enter the portal. You may take this ability multiple times to gain additional uses per day, but each use still costs ten uses of your limited Chaotic Breach ability. You may use this on other planes to return to this one as well.
Evocation: functions like an arch mage's spell fire. More rules later.
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Dotting for later on. I have a suggestion I would like to run by you a little later as well, would you mind if I PM you about it?
Go ahead! This is a messy place, though, so you could always feel free to post it here, too, if it's and idea for this world! :D
It's more a tangentially related idea. Got to get some sleep before work in 6 hours though, I'll try and write it up during the day and send it.
Cheers.
Makes sense! Sleep well! I look forward to the input!
So, evokers.
Less work this time, but some basic explanation.
Evokers (sin-rune of wrath [virtue of righteous anger]) have a unique method of tapping into the <name pending>*.
They are the channelers of the raw energy... but unguided potential energy (such as it is) unleashed with absolutely no measure of the reality around it caring for nothing beyond its own energy and its direction is nothing but destructive. Thus, so are the evokers.
A potential evoker must tap into the <name pending>*; while anyone with enough time and dedication can do so, only those with proper training can gather enough to do more than 1d3 damage (half fire, half magic) to a random space (or creature) within a 200 ft. radius (making burgeoning evokers, before gaining their feat, very dangerous).
To gather their arcane fire* at the beginning of the day (i.e. gathering their spell-slots, as normal). This ability grants the evoker the ability to make a ranged touch attack (that grants a DC 10+slots expended (maximum 9)+key score** for half) by, instead of utlizing this arcane fire* in prescribed shapes (prepared spells), focusing it into a ray of destructive potential. This ray deals 1d6 points of damage per spell* level expended, plus 1d6 points of damage per 2 wizard levels. The evoker can channel prepared spells or can channel open spell* slots, though prepared spells' levels cannot be combined as open spell* slots can be.
NOTE: An evoker might still gain great benefit from preparing evocation spells: burning hands, for instance, is a first level spell, and only requires a reflex instead of touch attack and a reflex, and deals 1d4 (v. 1d6), 2d4 (instead of 2d6), 3d4 (instead of 2d6), 4d4 (instead of 3d6), and 5d4 (instead of 3d6) over an area instead of a single target.
NOTE: I'm considering having mages have total spell levels instead of specified spell-slots, allowing for greater versatility over-all.
* Weave, Veil, Ether, Aether, Mana, Blue Fire, Spellfire, Chaos, Potentium, Fey'ri, Arcana, blarg, etc.
** This can be intelligence (good for spells), charisma, or constitution (allowing evokers to be relatively dumb for wizards - an interesting spin that might make them reviled... and feared...).
One of the interesting things about this world, to me, isn't so much the idea of playing the various classes or PCs or whatever... but playing the gods... or, at least, playing the lesser gods. Having them wake up after about 5-7,000 years and everything is different is... an interesting idea, to me.
Also, I'm toying with shortening longer-lived races (such as elven) lifespans.
Anyway... four more gods!
the god of hate, envy, malice, panic, ugliness, slaughter (also bears a chaotic evil alignment); the prayers of those who found this god in their dreams would turn to nightmarish, horrid things - all that was devoted would melt, turn ugly, hideous, and distorted, inspiring hatred, malice, panic (especially in those touched), and a propensity to slaughter. Now that it's awake, it's unsure that it wants such things curtailed...
the god of mirth, madness, wine, fertility, theater, wind (also bears a chaotic neutral alignment); first discovered by drunken fools, imprisoned under a long-abandoned vineyard and wine-press, power revealed by the powerful gust of a minor feather, the discovery of a god brought great rejoicing to the people; that she was capricious only added to the general sentiment of whimsy; that she was entirely insane occasionally showed through, but with the blessings of fertility her presence inspired (in both plants and animals) life became viable for those who were exiled to this once-wasted country, and she became revered as the source of all they loved. Now, upon waking, she has become frozen by her own worship, maddeningly trapped between spinning a web of deceit and murder, and joining in and becoming one with the revelry she has so long inspired in others...
the god of positive energy, light, prophecy (also fire giants) (maintaining the neutral good alignment, but also bearing the lawful good, and lawful neutral alignments); sealed within itself inside its statue form in the face of a mountain, this god was discovered by a powerful, devout young arcanist who sought redemption. Unable to reverse the world circle, upon finding the statue (and recognizing there was a god within, though not the nature of the god) he attempted to empower the statue itself, working great magic, and increasing its size, as well as making it a shining beacon to those in need, allowing the statue to radiate healing energy one or many or speak of truths future or present, a very great many other miracles, making it a holy place to ease terror caused by the uncertain times, though he had his limits. He hoped that by creating such a beacon, he could, in some small way, he could atone for the mistakes of his kind, and to help ease the suffering of both the people, and the god sealed away... and indeed, quickly a community of benevolent worshipers sprung up around the mighty beacon of hope. Unfortunately, much later, the young arcanists' power and that of the statue he'd created could do little to stop the destructive magical rampage transforming the mountain it was part of into a near-volcano... and yet, some resisted. Those truly faithful to the religion had taken the warnings of their god to heart, and so had fled... knowing that those who resist would come and save them. The now quite-aged arcanist (who knew all too well what he had done - that he had magic'd that statue) believed he was the savior... though he was wrong. Still, when the fire giants (weakened by the World Circle as they were) came, they were able to overcome the mighty wyrm... and the missionaries from that community joined with them, celebrating the glory of their god, and spreading his worship, though the giants were far more... harsh than their smaller counterparts. Many centuries later, a unification sect would arise, finding the "true" path between the "two extremes", and mostly being recognized today as the correct interpretation of the sacred teachings.
the god of retribution, common sense, wisdom, zeal, honesty, truth, discipline (also bears a lawful neutral alignment); having been discovered and worshiped oddly before the first World Circle (due to its propensity to fight many fiendish creatures and evil gods attempting to steal souls), its ancient sayings (generally short, somewhat obvious in retrospect, but deeply insightful nonetheless) were kept and written down by the unusually strict sect that had developed around its occasional passes through a given territory (despite its insistence that it cared nothing for them beyond guiding their souls to the appropriate destination). The fact that it was bound deep beneath the very monastery holy to the sect was mostly coincidence, though it had, despite itself, taken something of a liking to these strange mortals who, terrified as they were, had fallen into its worship so zealously. Though the sect actually perished from a terrible wasting disease brought forth by another cult, eventually the ancient, weathered monastery was rediscovered. The ancient writings, in forgotten language, badly decayed despite their preservative techniques, and lacking the guidance by higher authorities, made many things unclear about the deity (his tendency to "walk the earth" generally accepted as a sign that he was once a mortal, for instance), but the power was clear... especially when a chosen champion successfully brought forth holy light and terrible curses upon a circle of cruel arcanists who sought to hide after committing heinous acts against the local community that had risen in the ruined monastery. And so his worship was fully rekindled and renewed for a new generation, and so he now recalls his old kinship, and wonders at this new world he is awakening into...
Also, here's a chart that probably means nothing to most of you! (It's a short-hand reference for myself, when I'm generating my semi-random numbers to help me look for stuff).
-23
-20 = -43
-14 = -57
-20 = -77 [-3: einherjar, giants, valkyries] -> [-80]
-1 = -78 [-81]
-2 = -80 [-83]
-1 = -81 [-84]
higher: other book 1
The god of positive energy would also likely be the god of half-giants. I'm pretty sure there are at least a few as a result of that blended community.
Also, it's worth noting that it seems clear that the gods' essences, natures, powers, magic, consciousness, or some other aspect of them bleeds through. This is generally interpreted (and misinterpreted) by those that find it, viewed through the lens of their own nature, influenced by whatever it is that shines through (no matter the amount - large or small, major or minor). This is what results in the church's outlook.
Each are different - each unique - and yet each are also, fundamentally, similar in how their religion forms: by mortals locating and misunderstanding that which is worshiped. Many influence through dreams, minor visions, or other similar aspects that resonate with mortals... but what seeps through is always hazy, distorted, or weak.
the god of earth, liberation, and suffering: it's focus on fate v. free will plus it's entombment within the earth generates the concepts that are worshiped.
the god of sea and storms: the nature of his righteous fury combined with the grave injustice at his "drowning" generate the idea that he might do this to others.
the god of justice and law: her former nature bled out of her by the bonds that sealed her were scattered around without any sort of alignment, and interpreted liberally by those that discovered it.
the god of creation, destruction, and mortal life and death more or less created her own worship by accident due to her desires manifesting her whispering lies when her dreams and those of mortals intersected.
the god of forsts, woodlands, flora and fauna, and fertility: simply put, she is mostly properly worshiped, except she is worshiped by those who are civilized and require the rule of law and communal thinking, tempering her own chaotic nature.
the god of crafts, knowledge, secrets, and travel: his finite capacities to interact with the world (based entirely on the powers of the malfunctioning orb he was contained within) meant that he seemed more distant and callous than he is wont, and entirely determined what he could or could not give to others.
the god of death, darkness, murder, and the underworld: her natural poison seeped up from her underground (underwater) extraplanar prison into a burbling stream of poisonous water, giving rise to the idea of her being a god of the underworld and death.
the god of sun, light, healing, strength: being trapped in an elemental form (elemental body IV, for the curious) due to its own machinations, his facial tentacles veiled by fire elemental essence greatly resembled the burning rays of the sun, when viewed by divination or dreams (whatever it was that allowed them to see its face); combined with its ability to make people not notice things (including their pain or exhaustion), it's burning drive to destroy sinful corruption (to annul the creation of new demons), and it's attempts to bring more people close to it so it could enjoy their suffering (though it left out the reason why), this generated the concept of an apparently benevolent sun god who healed, strengthened, and brought light (because, you know, the sun).
the god of hate, envy, malice, panic, ugliness, slaughter: effectively, these are simply the things that a chaos beast engenders in an otherwise ignorant populace suddenly afflicted by its curse/disease: hate (the cursed anything not suffering like they are), envy (for those not suffering like they are), malice (targeting the objects of hate and envy; seeking to spread the suffering), panic (seeing this curse/disease spread and being able to do nothing), ugliness (they turn hideous), slaughter (killing either chaos beasts or people... or both). The remarkable consistency and stability of its worship is only due to a powerful, subtle influence in the area to greatly attract more humanoids (sympathy), and greatly increase their fertility (similar to the enrichment effect of plant growth, aimed at humanoids), subtly applied to these barbaric, crazed folk.
the god of mirth, madness, wine, fertility, theater, wind: effectively a number of "signs" gave her the basics of her portfolio (vineyards/wine presses, a magical "wind" feather, and fertility in a barren area), while the people interpreted her cruelty as occasional madness, and her capriciousness in terms of gentle, humorous pranks (leading to mirth). Theater... uh, hm. I got nothin'.
the god of positive energy, light, prophecy (also fire giants): while his portfolio and worship would generally please him (even if they are different than his base nature), his is the only tale of a more-or-less purposefully-crafted human religion to worship a generically "good god", later influenced by mighty forces beyond the originator's control.
the god of retribution, common sense, wisdom, zeal, honesty, truth, discipline: like the god above, this religion is human-crafted, and actually mostly pleases the deity by getting aspects of it correctly, but unlike the one above, it is entirely accidental in its human craftsmanship. The similarity of forces beyond the control of mortals establishing a different worship with ever-greater errors in comprehension (though made from logical presumptions) created the modern version of this religion.
So, I know that everyone's thinking: armors. Am I right? Right? Right? :D
...
...
...
... okay, so no one was thinking about armors, but I'm doing stuff with 'em anyway.
Using the piecemeal armor rules, let's see what we can come up with!
ARMS:
Effectively, there is never a reason (for light armor) to use anything other than the padded arms... unless you're going for the quilted cloth DR 3/- v. "small" (not size category) ranged weapons effect.
So, either way: +0 AC, +8 max DEX, no check, and 2 lbs [light].
- secondarily: either 1g cost and 5% asf; or 25g cost, 10% asf, and DR 3/- v. ranged
As no armor piece for the arms ever grants more than +1 to the AC, we should go with the lightest of them.
That means for both heavy and medium armors, we're going to go with the horn lamellar: +1 AC, +5 max DEX, -2 acp, 25% asf, 5 lbs, 25g cost [medium].
For the (slightly) cost-conscious, though, we could let a scale arms slide: +1 AC, +3 max DEX, -2 acp, 25% asf, 5 lbs, 10g cost [medium].
Very similar, and the lower max DEX both makes sense (being cheaper, it is just not as flexible) and also wouldn't be a turn-off to most who would seek the armor itself.
So next is...
LEGS:
There are three gradients of AC-provision on legs: +0, +1, and +2. We should go with the lightest/cheapest of each of these categories, in general, though there may be other considerations.
Padded: +0 AC, +8 max DEX, no acp, 5% asf, 3 lbs, 1g cost [light].
Quilted (going for DR): +0 AC, +8 max DEX, no acp, 5% asf, 3 lbs, 25g cost [light].
Studded Leather: +1 AC, +5 max DEX, no acp, 10% asf, 3 lbs, 25g cost [light].
Hide (cost-conscious): +1 AC, +4 max DEX, -2 acp, 10% asf, 7 lbs, 3g cost [medium].
O-Yoroi: +2 AC, +2 max DEX, -3 acp, 20% asf, 5 lbs, speed reduction, 300g cost [heavy].
TORSO:
Here is where the greatest variance lies. There is +0, +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, and +8 armor. Also, we're abandoning padded armor here (for once) because it's worthless now. Also, we get a list format, because this one is so big and has so many notes.
- Quilted (going for DR): +0 AC, +8 max DEX, no acp, 10% asf, 10 lbs, 50g cost [light].
- Haramaki: +1 AC, +10 max DEX, no acp, no asf, 1 lbs, 3g cost [light].
- Silken Ceremonial Armor (to look stylish, and nothing else): +1 AC, +10 max DEX, no acp, no asf, 4 lbs, 30g cost [light].
- Lamellar (Cuirasse): +2 AC, +4 max DEX, no acp, 5% asf, 8 lbs, 15g cost [light].
- Hide (cost-conscious): +2 AC, +4 max DEX, -2 acp, 20% asf, 15 lbs, 10g cost, speed reduction [medium].
- Mountain Armor (the only reason I could see using this is for some sort of ceremonial armor): +3 AC, +3 max DEX, -4 acp, 30% asf, 20 lbs, 150g cost, speed reduction [medium].
- Armored Coat (special: don/remove this piece only as a move action): +4 AC, +3 max DEX, -2 acp, 20% asf, 20 lbs, 50g cost, speed reduction [medium].
- Chain (can be worn as armor alone; becomes a chain shirt): +4 AC, +4 max DEX, -2 acp, 30% asf, 25 lbs, 100g cost, [medium].
- Do-maru: +5 AC, +4 max DEX, -4 acp, 25% asf, 30 lbs, 200g cost, speed reduction [medium].
- Four-mirror (cost-conscious): +5 AC, +4 max DEX, -5 acp, 30% asf, 40 lbs, 20g cost, speed reduction [medium].
- Agile Plate (can be worn as armor alone; becomes an agile breastplate medium armor): +6 AC, +3 max DEX, -4 acp, 25% asf, 25 lbs, 400g cost, speed reduction [heavy].
- Plate (cost-conscious; can be worn as armor alone; becomes a breastplate medium armor): +6 AC, +3 max DEX, -4 acp, 35% asf, 30 lbs, 200g cost, speed reduction [heavy].
- Stone coat: +8 AC, +0 max DEX, -7 acp, 40% asf, 45 lbs, 500g cost, speed reduction [heavy].
After that, of course, we compare to the actual armor (and shields), to add the armored kilt to our repertoire, and to ensure that we're not making worthless armor.
So how do we do this?
The protective qualities of each individual piece of armor are listed in Table: Arm Armor Pieces, Table: Leg Armor Pieces, and Table: Torso Armor Pieces. If a character has only one armor piece, that piece is considered the totality of her armor, and she uses the statistics of that piece as her armor. If a character is wearing more than one armor piece, she add the armor costs, armor bonuses, and weights of the armor pieces, and takes the worst maximum Dexterity bonus, arcane spell failure chance, and speed limitations from among the various armor pieces to determine the full statistics and qualities of the armor she is wearing. As long as she is wearing a single armor piece, she is considered to be wearing armor for any effects that rely on wearing armor (such as the fighter class’s armor training and armor mastery). If a character is wearing all three categories of armor pieces, she is wearing a suit of armor. Suits of armor can have all armor pieces of the same type (all three plate pieces make a suit of full plate), or a mixture of armor pieces (a plate arm armor piece and torso armor piece combined with a chainmail leg armor piece creates a suit of half-plate). Wearing an entire suit, whether its pieces are mixed or the same type, grants a +1 armor bonus on top of the protection the combination of pieces already grants the wearer. Wearing a mixed suit of armor increases the arcane spell failure chance by 5% because of the awkwardness of the design. Wearing less than a full suit of mixed armor does not increase the wearer’s arcane spell failure chance.
So. Armor time!
(I'll post more later once I've actually figured all of this out, mechanically.)Let me know if I made any mistakes or overlooked anything!
EDITs 1 and 2: tags, my bane
Whoa! It's a lot!
I've come up with about 10 (or about 15, if you include variants) different armors (mechanically differentiated) with the haramaki and quilted armor pieces alone so far.
O.O
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This might take longer than I thought.
(I'm also planning on re-tooling the way I was doing this to hopefully speed it up a bit...)
Up to thirty-five different armors. Eventually, they will be paired down, but I'm ignoring the efficacy for now, and just doing raw combinations. It's faster and more thorough.
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I'd be interested in a play-by-post in this world, but oh man, this whole thing is very messy and hard to read. hopefully you will will have a form of hand-out with all the player info in a not-so-messy not-so-linked up form.
how does psionics work in this world, if at all?
It's a mess because it's stream of consciousness - I create things here when I think about them, rather than according to any sort of pre-defined pattern. Sorry it's hard to read!
As much as I love psionics, I really haven't given them thought or much of a place in this world. I'd have to think about it, but (sadly), I find it unlikely. Please note, however, that this is a flavor decision at present, and potentially alterable; it is not a mechanical decision, and my mind is not set in stone.
If you'd like anything from the above shortened or clarified... just ask!
What's the part that's hard to understand? The categories I've covered:
* History (broad outlines, mostly)
* Gods (few specifics, which are still vague, but major, minor, and "terrestrial" aka CR 7)
* Arcanists (I need to think about diviners)
- - - Wild Mages, Evokers Abjurer Conjuration/Necromancy Work-in-Progress now known as "spellfire"
* Divine agents (covered both oracles and others)
- - Crafting Magical Goods (it works fine, I show tricks used to make it happen)
* Organization (really these are works in progress)
* Martial Classes (tied to an organization/first level feat, but gain scaling feats)
* Armor (it's a project)
I just mean, there are a lot of links, which leads to reading a lot of material, which is fine.
Was thinking soulknife and Aegis having a place in the world, with some tweaking. reflavor soulknife so that he is shaping his own soul into a weaponized state, rather than shaping mental energy. Aegis could be relavored to a similar concept. in your world, this could leave them open/more vulnerable to possession and such. Psionic focus would be renamed Spiritual Focus or something. feats would get similar rename treatment as necessary.
It's taken me a while to respond because it's been difficult for me to fully sort through my own feelings and for me to put into words how and why the elements of psionics are alien to the world - that is, why they don't fit. My apologies. Also, there are still elements to this idea and world that elude me - some parts of the themes within it that are indescribable.
The soul knife flavor you provide is interesting... but it still doesn't really fit correctly. Psionics' flavor is deeply tied to the personal - i.e. it is my inner power, and my inner nature that grants this outward power - while this world is very different from that.
In this, mages are reliant on outward power just as much as divine casters. Both of them, then, act underneath a powerful restriction - mages either are tied to places to contain the wild energies, are slow, or embrace the wild energies and chaos; divine casters are tied to the location of their gods. Both of these have the effect of limiting the power that mortals can achieve because they are fundamentally dependent on a source of outward power - the gods - to grant that stability and or source (hence the title). The supernatural, then, while potent, is heavily restricted. There are, of course, ways around this, but they are heavily restricted themselves, requiring great cooperation to achieve.
Soul knives are interesting in that they're not an overtly "caster" class... yet they're very clearly supernatural in nature. So, then, how do they fit in with the general theme (that of reliance and mutual cooperation combined with a seemingly-hopeless struggle to return to their former glory... by utilizing the same methods that got them into this trouble in the first place*)?
Therein lies the problem. Most methods of appropriately flavoring a soul knife will harm an already not-as-powerful class.
Your idea of being vulnerable to possession is intriguing... but what would they get possessed by? Outsiders are banished - only the most minor or native still persist - and that which is on the ethereal plane is (like all extra-planar elements) locked out of the material. That leaves passingly few creatures that could plausibly be involved in possession (as not even ghosts exist in the material).
If, on the other hand, you just mean especially vulnerable to mental effects (such as by casters or others) I'm strongly hesitant to include such a mechanic - that's tantamount to openly asking for one character class type to completely rule over another. It also strongly undermines the fact that both classes get a "best" will save.
Again... I'm not really interested in saying, "No, not here." partially because I love psionics, and partially because I like interesting and different ideas. But the entirely self-sufficient or self-generate mystical forces are antithetical to the nature of the setting, undermining one of the core elements. It says that the very hubris which thought of itself capable of getting by without the divine that it successfully banished... was correct.
And while that is a potential take-away (as gods have actually risen through the years, and humanity is making a slow, painful recovery, of a sort), having it relatively freely available** harms that story as well.
So I'll keep thinking about it, and think about how it might relate to the story and work within the story, but for now it's a soft "no" as in "that doesn't quite fit... yet... but maybe with a little more tweaking..."
I would be interested in a way of getting it here...
* A working definition of "insanity" to some; "history" to others; "ignorance", "foolishness", or "both to many more.
** Even if restricted purely by special training or purely by, say, bloodlines, is not really that great an idea, as humanity is nothing if not cleverly exploitive in their ability to take one thing ("that thing that only certain people can do") and spread it around quickly ("something similar that everyone that works at it can do"), as shown by taking sorcery and generating wizardry, or taking oracular power, and generating clerical veneration-for-power. In this world, those who generate the most soul knives or aegi would quickly "win", as their mystical power would be able to travel anywhere and be completely unreliant upon the arcansists or divine followers.
well, do people still dream in this world? if you wanted, a dreamscape could exist. Dreamscarred press has an interesting villains living in the dreamscape called the Qael (found in Mind Unveiled, 3.5 supplement). these could be the possessors mentioned above. maybe it is by making a deal or falling under the influence of such a being that allows psionics.
the Qael could be much the same 'divine' equivalent basically.
or maybe dreams are more like the real world and just a thing more so than a plane of existence shared by all.
Crossposted from elsewhere, a probably-important background piece that players shouldn't read...
part one:C. as both (though as a player I lean slightly toward A and as a GM as lean slightly toward B; these leanings are slight, however, and both are important in different ways.)EDIT: that said, as I noted, often enough statting the gods is a good way of having a handle on the nature of the game. Even if the PCs never go up against the gods directly, when the inevitable question arises, "Why don't the gods just do <X>, for me, at least, I have a satisfactory answer, even if the PCs don't. Point in fact, I was able to utilize those answers on a few other occasions where gods were in conflict and the PCs resolved the conflict (in the favor of their patrons) without actually destroying any of the gods themselves. Why didn't the gods take care of <X>? Because of <Y>. Sometimes the players get comprehensible answers. Sometimes they don't. Either way the answers are comprehensible to me as the GM. Further, I like that a world runs on the same general structure - it makes it feel "real" somehow to simply know that there are rules that function regardless of the creature in question, even if that creature somehow alters or breaks those rules (as gods often do).
As a lower-powered example, using an idea by Ashiel, I'm running a world where mythic solars (and similarly high-CR creatures) are the most powerful gods possible. The world itself is, effectively, a use of a (slightly modified) Create Greater Demiplane that has (over the weight of the Creative divine forces) ascended from a demiplane to an entire plane. Is the world old or new? (Both. But it er'rs on the side of "newness" compared to how it seems, because it was originally established as a "livable" place, requiring a certain amount of age.) Is the world infinite or finite? (Finite bordering on effectively infinite. While theoretically finite, the enormous nature plus the bounded nature means that you can travel "forward" and never stop, while the fact that it's eternally growing at [(1ft/year * <unknown number * gods utilizing the Create Plane effect+number of times it's being utilized currently>) + (<large number of 10 ft. cubes> * <number of times it's used by the eternal "creation engines" even currently>)] means that the size is beyond comprehension or belief and that it's eternally growing.
Creation Engines which really have nothing to do with the plot but both amuse me and also function for world-building:
well, do people still dream in this world? if you wanted, a dreamscape could exist. Dreamscarred press has an interesting villains living in the dreamscape called the Qael (found in Mind Unveiled, 3.5 supplement). these could be the possessors mentioned above. maybe it is by making a deal or falling under the influence of such a being that allows psionics.
the Qael could be much the same 'divine' equivalent basically.
or maybe dreams are more like the real world and just a thing more so than a plane of existence shared by all.
Again, part of the problem is that this continually revolves around the word "plane" as in "another one". While Eberron had Dal Quor eternally remote, but permitted dreaming folks to still contact it, I'm hesitant to tie that so deeply into this one, as I've already got dreaming folk contacting other things: the gods themselves (thus getting the tangentially-related religions).
That said, in a conversation with Indagare recently, combined with a conversation with my wife from last night before bed, and your own suggestions Air0r (hilarious pun-name, by the way) generated some ideas...
some good ideas which didn't quite fit but helped me start working on reconciling stuff; look I have no exact quote, it was last night just before falling asleep!
As for that play-by-post thread, I haven't read through it all yet, but I have an idea that might resolve your issue of psionics vs self-dependence: soul magic.
What looks like psionics is really a person tapping into the energy of their own soul. While initially this seems like inner-only power, the souls of people are tied to the deities, just as the deities are tied to the souls. This is why the worshipers shape the deities as much as the deities shape the worshipers.
It isn't the same as normal divine magic, which relies on the supplication of deities, but rather it means developing a deep communion with them. The most powerful psionicists realize this connection (those who never get to this stage never get that much power). This primordial connection cannot be broken or severed or restricted by any means (else no one would have a soul). It starts at the moment of conception and lasts to the end of the person's life. Those who have become deities have found a different route to tapping the inner divine.
While it's a good idea (and I think it's a basic thing that can be worked on) it's still fundamentally a non-reliant personal power, similar to Air0r's suggestion of a soul knife becoming a spirit blade, which is where the issue lies. My problem isn't that they (soul knives and aegis classes) have the power... it's that they access mystical forces freely while others do not.
That said, I've been thinking about it and coming to a conclusion similar to this in which it is a (literal) "soul" knife (i.e. the weaponized soul of the person) but this is deeply tied to the divine. In other words, both become a variant divine class - assassins and guardians of the church.
And... I think I'll be posting that.
In other words, I think that soul knives and aegi are, in fact, divine manifesters. This means their blades work at their best when within a divine field. They utilize their "psionic focus" as a "prayer focus" or (as you suggested) "spiritual focus" in which they channel the will of the god they serve, and the appearance of their weapon (regardless of its stats) is that of the favored weapon of the deity in question (or favored armor - something else that needs to be explored a bit, but probably mostly just a style favored by the church at present with important symbolism embedded in it).
Beyond the borders of the divine influence which they tap into, their weapons are weaker (halving the bonuses and reducing the dice by a step? Still working it out), and so is their armor (reducing the AC and increasing the check penalty and/or asf? I'm not as familiar with the aegis class as I should be).
Within the borders of the divine, they'd (much like divine casters) gain the benefit of being literally nearer to their gods; perhaps an increased bonus or something akin to the spiritual weapon spell/sacred armor spell (or whatever it is - the divine spell thing I found recently where they get nifty godly-looking force armor). I'll look into this more, but that's one way of having them, making them be dependent, and yet also empowering while tying them down.
... also, I don't have the Mind Unveiled so... :/
Another point is that these particular skills are probably a very recent discovery of the church (or possibly one or two of them) - a kind of new, relatively secretive invention. They might not even be fully awre of what happens beyond the divine border.
This also means that they make even more effective servitors of their patrons, as they can appear completely unassuming and no one would know.
The remaining sticky wickets for me from the base classes are monks (and ninja) and Druids, with psions and wilders being tricky to guess at. Alchemist craft with runes inherently (and don't get high enough to worry by sixth level anyway, I think, as summoners - who are especially gimped as many of their abilities flat out don't work), while oracles and witches are covered above. Martials generally work fine.
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I really like your idea too. for the aegis outside of divine borders, their penalty could be the requirement to spend double customization points for their customizations.
Also, while the Qael are mysteriously missing from the dsp d20 wiki (I'll request them added, since they have other material from the same book present) here is another fun thing to think on: godminds.
Hm... lots of links to read. Combined with my other personal projects, it's likely slow-going. May I ask for a short description so I can begin mulling it over while I read?
godminds are basically beings that have ascended into a higher state of being that relies not on worshipers (and also don't give spells or powers to any such worshiper). however, people often emulate them and do gain benefits for that. This concept can be reskinned so that they are gods who are unable to directly convey power to their worshipers or who have become too estranged to do so, leading others to have to emulate them for any true affect.
Javan, by the way is the most intriguing to me: a literal living, ascended mindblade. The mindblade itself, not the wielder(s) of said mindblade.
I may not be making much sense right now, i am very tired and unable to sleep, so hopefully I said something helpful just now.
That works! Now I have something to go off of as I'll be picking at (probably slowly) mentally. Thanks!
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For psionic feats: Wild Talent could be renamed Divine Conduit.
For Aegis and Soulknife:
Perhaps their deity's symbol (or a symbol marking him as an Aegis/Soulknife) appears somewhere on them (their actual bodies) to mark them from birth. and when they use their abilities this symbol is clearly visible on their armor/weapon.
possible questions:
1) what if the individual does not worship the deity when he is older?
A) the mark would stay
B) the mark would change as he syncs with a new deity
2) deeper meaning in the mark?
A) this mark was placed their by the deity himself
B) This mark was placed their to syphon power from divine entities whether by some being or simply a cosmic fluke
on Godminds (reskinned to be called something like the Fallen or something) in relation to the world:
actual worship of them, providing no benefit anyway, is likely frowned upon or even outright banned in most populations, considered heretical or somehow false gods (or imply hated for turning their back on a world that needs them).
unlike normal deities, they may have no real 'divine borders' per se. rather they could surviving by leaching off of actual divine energy from other sources, or in the case of the estranged ones, simply persist even if unwilling (bored immortals who are unable to die, wandering aimlessly?). lots of possibilities on how to handle them.
just more brain munchies for you.
is this still seeing development?
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is this still seeing development?
"Of course!" he says two years later with nothing to show for it, having missed this post the first time
Short version: I'm busy, have a brain with the solid focus of a wet noodle, and had a child. Whoops! :D
But, uh, if you look at my threads, I develop a lot of worlds that don't see full fleshing out. Sorry in advance... :/
A possible place to 'borrow' ideas from, if by "borrow", one means "steal liberally, unless you don't feel like it." (And I know I do!)