Banned Spheres Correction: I had originally listed every Sphere and diligently went through them to make sure they were okay for this game. Those with nothing that needed banning were removed from the list, while those that did were left on it. I had meant to create a separate section for the ones- Alchemy and Equipment- that were not banned wholesale, but had talents that I meant to ban; things happened and I forgot to work on that. So let me clarify: Alchemy and Equipment are not banned wholesale. There are a few talents that are banned from those two Spheres, however: out of Alchemy, banned talents include Habit Forming, Aligned Liquid, Instant Foam, Aboleth Mucus, Aging Toxin, Petrifying Poison, and Witch Doctor's Curse; out of Equipment, banned talents include Particle Blade Emulation and Techmaniac. I apologize for this error.
Crafting Ban Clarification: Magic item crafting is what I meant to ban, but a lack of clarification may make people think otherwise. For clarity's sake, I am only banning magic item crafting; mundane item crafting and crafting necessary for class features such as alchemy are not an issue.
Extra RP Clarification: The only limitations players have when selecting new racial traits is what I mentioned in that section. Race requirements are absolutely not a limitation unless they already violate the existing rule of not blatantly changing the Dreamwalker's form.
Conflicting Archetype Buyoff: Players may ignore one, and only one, instance of class ability replacement by an archetype. The price for this is either one feat for majority of these potential replacements or three when it concerns those that would replace one of a class's primary abilities (e.g. an Alchemist's Bomb or a Paladin's Smite Evil). My general rule with this is that anything not listed on the list of Variant Multiclass features- except for capstones- is one feat, while those that are and capstones are three feats.
Characters Pre-Game Backstories and Powers: I wanted to reiterate one point: everyone is a (fairly) normal human at the start of the game. It's only when they awaken as dreamwalkers that they really gain power; think of it like the circuit that closes the gap and allows an electrical current to power a light bulb. The connection dreamwalkers have with their othersoul goes through the Dreaming and that connection sparking enables them to draw on that power, boosting existing abilities to inhuman levels or giving them entirely new ones.
Faerie Regalia Option for Clothing: I would like to announce a change to the Faerie Regalia that those who cannot use armor will appreciate: dreamwalkers may shape the armor of their Faerie Regalia into clothing. This clothing has no statistics (AC, armor check penalty, weight, etc.) but functions as armor for the purposes of armor enchantments. It was my intention to add this to the original post, but it slipped my mind until Ouachitonian asked how the Faerie Regalia might work for the Monk class, if at all.
Background Skills Addition: Per a player's request, a new addition to Background Skills was added. Here is the transcript of the request verbatim.
Monkeygod wrote:
In another game, the GM has something he calls the Background skill. It combines any 5 of craft, perform, or profession skills into one. Ie, if you're a brewmaster, you might have Craft(beer), Profession(brewer) and then maybe Perform(sing), and two others. Instead of spending skill points on 5 different skills, you spend one.
This would be in addition to using the Background skills optional rule, meaning you could spend 1 of those points on Background(getting your five skills) and the other point on say Linguistics.
Tristalt Option: Per a request, I am allowing players the option to obtain another gestalt side by purchasing them with present and future feats. A full gestalt side costs 15 of the 20 feats you gain while leveling, while the class features and skill list- but not skill points- of a class only cost 12 feats.
Racial Requirement Exemptions: All racial requirements on archetypes, feats, prestige classes, and such are removed, so long as you would otherwise meet the requirements. So you can take the Stonelord archetype for Paladin despite not being a Dwarf, for example.
Clarification on the Nature of Dreamwalkers and their Othersouls: Othersouls are not, generally speaking, bound within or fused to their Dreamwalkers; the overwhelming majority of the former reside within the Twilight Worlds at all times, in fact. Dreamwalkers draw their power from the connection with their othersouls which runs through the Dreaming that separates the worlds of mortal and fey, not an actual fusion.
Dreamshifting is the actual method of drawing power from that connection and it involves a Dreamwalker pulling power from the Twilight Worlds through the Dreaming via the connection they have to their Othersoul 'reflection' on the other side of reality. Think of dreamwalkers as a light bulb, their othersouls as a wire that connects to the 'generator' that is the Twisting Way and all the Twilight Worlds it encompasses, and the Dreaming as the circuit that closes the gap between the two so that the bulb can draw on that power to shine. Continuing from that rough analogy, dreamshifting is essentially a dreamwalker flipping their own switch. Awakening is the process by which they become aware of the Dreaming and Twilight Worlds on a deep level and, thus, are able to figure out on some level that not only do they have that switch, but that they can flip it at will. This is an imperfect analogy since the connection of dreamwalker and othersoul is much deeper and less utilitarian and the Dreaming also provides power of it's own, but it should serve to provide the necessary imagery needed to understand the process.
Dreamwalker Extra RP and Other Forms: The extra racial traits are aspects of having awakened as dreamwalkers, fundamentally changing them into something more than human. I view them as both racial traits and a supernatural power layered over and throughout their very being, which could easily translate into whatever forms they take. They will therefore have access to those in any form they take.
More Curio Information: Curios have the following effective GP scaling:
- 7th (current level) 25,000 GP
- 8th +5,000 GP (total of 30,000)
- 9th +6,500 GP (total of 36,500)
- 10th +7,500 GP (total of 44,000)
- 11th +10,000 GP (total of 54,000)
- 12th +13,000 GP (total of 67,000)
- 13th +16,000 GP (total of 83,000)
- 14th +22,500 GP (total of 105,500)
- 15th +27,500 GP (total of 133,000)
- 16th +37,500 GP (total of 170,500)
- 17th +40,500 GP (total of 201,000)
- 18th +42,500 GP (total of 243,500)
- 19th +56,500 GP (total of 300,000)
- 20th In lieu of the usual GP increase, your Curio gains the abilities of any one mythic magic item of your choice.
You can save money from your Curio's current pool for later acquisitions. Unless the item in question is a scaling item, you cannot pay for part of an item's abilities in multiple installments; you can note that you are setting aside X amount for so many levels until you pay off a certain ability, but you do not actually gain any of that item's power until you pay the full amount unless, of course, the item in question is a scaling magic item.
Material Components and Foci: For those who have spells that use material components or foci, you may pay any amount from your Curio's GP pool and that will permanently cover the cost of any material components and casting foci of that value or less unless I rule them to be a special case, such as with the diamonds for a Wish spell.
Animal Companion HP: Animal Companions should be assumed to have maximum HP per HD instead of the average.
Regarding Class/Skill Kits: I would rule that possessing any class feature or skill that requires a kit enables you to magically create the requisite tools you need. Said tools disappear when they leave your close proximity just like your Faerie Regalia.
Creature Type Changes and Additional Othersoul Options:
While only creatures of the Fey type may be selected as Othersouls, there are certain creatures who have been changed to that type for this game and, thus, are possible Othersouls for players to select. They keep whatever subtypes they have, but their typing changes to Fey and fall under one of the fey categories listed in the Faerie Ring book, which I will mention below. Be aware that, although some creatures like Linnorms and the Tane may have existing ties to the fey, their natures and themes are sufficiently different as to not warrant a full-on reclassification as Fey and so are not included on this list.
Those of the Kami family have both the Mogwai subtype.
Psychopomps have the Peri subtype.
Azatas are split between having the Devata and Dream subtypes and will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
Elementals, Genies, and Veelas count as the Gnomekin subtype.
Kitsune- and all similar fox spirits like Ghostfoxes, Kyuubies, and Pipefoxes- all have the Youkai subtype.
Jorogumos- and a few other select shapeshifting spiders- have the Sidhe subtype.
Oni all possess the Gloom subtype.
Hags almost universally have the Changeling subtype; Night Hags are the only exception and belong to the Nightmare subtype, as they are fey born directly from the darkest parts of the Dreaming.
Leshies all belong to the Mogwoi subtype.
Agathions all possess the Youkai subtype.
Thriae are all of the Changeling subtype.
Barghests, Shadow Mastiffs, and similar creatures are all part of the Sidhe subtype.
Information about the Ainsworths as a Whole:
The Ainsworths are landed gentry in England and are of the Viscount peerage.
The two first met as teenagers and, after years of corresponding back and forth, married. Duncan's family was initially opposed to the union because of Bonnie's status as a commoner and Bonnie's because of Duncan's status as an outsider did not sit well with her rather secretive family. Neither Duncan nor Bonnie caved to the pressure from their families and the matter was eventually dropped, although it remains a sore spot with a few members of both families. The two have been happily married for the better part of two decades now and have managed to avoid many of the pitfalls common to Victorian marriages of the day.
The Ainsworths have traveled across the world in search of obscure folklore and tales of the arcane. They have been to many different countries: their home in the United Kingdoms, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, India, various lands within the Ottoman Empire, and the United States being the most notable of these.
Duncan and Bonnie are viewed as affable, yet highly eccentric by most of those they come across. They care little for the pompous affections adopted by the nobility and associate freely with everyone, especially those with interesting backgrounds or personality quirks. They much prefer attending local festivals and other more 'down-to-earth' affairs and only rarely attend the various galas, balls, and masquerades of the nobility. Most of their limited time in 'high society' is spent visiting friends in London, Scotland, and Ireland who just so happen to be landed nobility or attending required functions at the behest of the royal family.
Although the Ainsworths are not hurting for money by any stretch of the imagination thanks to the fortune amassed by Duncan's ancestors during the many wars fielded by the English over the centuries, they compile and publish some of their research under a wide range of pseudonyms. Much of this money is put towards new expeditions, but some of it is cycled into Waldenshire, as the Ainsworths want to ensure it's inhabitants are well taken care of.
Duncan Ainsworth:
Appearance: Duncan Ainsworth is a slightly overweight man with classically handsome features. A dark and immaculately-groomed beard and moustache accentuate his square jaw and azure eyes peer from behind a pair of silver-framed glasses. He favors the tailcoated suits and top hats common amongst Victorian noblemen, but eschews gloves despite the near-permanent inkstains that often grace his calloused fingers.
Personality: Duncan speaks with the fluid eloquence and verbosity of a nobleman, but carries himself as something of a gentleman scholar instead of a pompous fop. He enjoys discussing a wide variety of topics that range from the latest gardening and fashion trends to folklore and occult knowledge centuries old. More than anything though, Duncan is a man of the people and greatly enjoys both making new acquaintances of any social strata and offering his assistance to those in need; he even helped till the lands of a local farmer in Waldenshire after the man broke his leg in an accident. He has a fondness for good brandy and cherry cordials, but will not turn down a pint at a local tavern.
Spoiler-Free History: Duncan grew up the pampered scion of the Ainsworth family and wanted for nothing growing up. He dutifully worked to live up to his parents expectations, but his true love lay in the acquisition of knowledge and rather than the stuffy politics and pomp of the nobility. He received the best education that money could buy from handpicked private tutors from across the globe.
As a teenager, Duncan would often sneak out of the family estate in the woods behind the village of Waldenshire to go play with the local children, many of which remain his friends even to this day. This cavalier attitude towards consorting with those beneath his station led to many of the more traditionalist members of his family deeming the boy unfit to serve as the family heir, although his parents never shared this attitude and reprimanded the boy more for making the trip through the dark woods than for consorting with commoners.
His mother died of tuberculosis a few days before his seventeenth birthday and his father followed not too long after his nineteenth birthday from a broken heart, leaving Duncan as the inheritor of his family's holdings at the young age of nineteen much to the consternation of distant relatives.
It wasn't long after this that Duncan made a trip to Scotland and proposed to his teenage crush and longtime pen pal, Bonnie Fraser, who he had met as a boy during an extended family trip to the Scottish countryside. The two have been joined at the hip ever since and have since split their time between journeying across the globe together in search of lost lore and a quiet life at the family estate in Waldenshire. Duncan, for his part, could not be happier with this arrangement.
Bonnie Fraser Ainsworth:
Appearance: Bonnie Fraser Ainsworth is a head-turning Scottish beauty. Auburn hair cascades down to the small of her back in waves and kind, hazel eyes stare from a delicate face with skin the color of sun-kissed cream. Although she is now the wife of a nobleman, she prefers the colorful Scottish dresses and low, feminine boots of her homeland rather than the prim, restrictive dresses favored in Victorian England. Numerous bangles and beaded bracelets adorn her slender wrists and she is seldom seen without a pair of silver earrings that contain one gemstone or another. One accessory that never leaves her side is an ornate silver necklace inscribed with ancient Gaelic runes.
Personality: Although she is as friendly and charitable as her husband, Bonnie has a much more reserved and soft-spoken personality. Ancient tales of magic and monsters fascinate her- as do more modern penny dreadfuls, murder mysteries, and the whimsical works of Lewis Carroll- and she is often buried in a book when alone. Although she has the characteristics of an introvert and generally doesn't make the first move, those who engage her in conversation find her to be a very knowledgeable and eager conversationalist on a wide range of topics willing to spend hours discussing a given topic. She is unexpectedly brash when she has her mind set on something and feels like action has to be taken. She has a love for flowers of all kinds and maintains a garden at the Ainsworth estate filled with many beautiful specimens, including roses, lilies, and aconite, among others. Although she is terribly unskilled at cooking, she has quite the appetite and prefers her food to be very spicy, a taste she acquired during her travels with Duncan. She is also widely known in Waldenshire as being able to drink any two people under the table and greatly prefers hardy ciders, extra-strong meads, and full-bodied red wines.
Spoiler-Free History:Bonnie has a lot- and I mean a lot- of spoilers in her backstory and so it will probably look threadbare next to Duncan's; this is by necessity rather than laziness since I want to avoid spoiling people on the finer details of her background.
Bonnie Fraser was born to commonfolk within the Scottish countryside. Although her family was not wealthy, they were highly regarded by the people of her village thanks to her mother's skill as an herbalist and her father's skill as a silversmith despite rumors of witchcraft on her mother's side of the family. She learned her mother's craft at mixing poultices, tinctures, and balms from a young age, but always dreamed of the world beyond her homeland and would often read books her father would acquire from merchants for her, immersing herself in tales of other lands and legends of magic and monsters.
As a teenager, she would often go out and pick herbs and reagents for her mother and it was on one of these trips that she happened across Duncan Ainsworth, who was utterly unlike any person she had seen in her village. The normally reserved girl chatted with the young boy for hours under an ancient wych elm tree and became fast friends with him. The two did not even begin venturing back until the evening hours as the sun began dipping below the horizon. After young boy left a few days later, she took to corresponded with him for years as a pen pal.
After marrying Duncan years later, she became something of a minor celebrity in certain occult circles for works she penned under her pseudonym, writing many books on topics such as alchemy, faeries, and leylines. She would sheepishly deny her own status as a minor celebrity if the topic was ever broached, as she prefers to stay out of the limelight and hide behind her false pen name.
Waldenshire:
Waldenshire is a quaint, cozy little village in northern England named quite literally for it's proximity to a nearby forest, where the Ainsworth family who owns the land has an estate. Weather in Waldenshire is unusually mild most of the year, but winters there are particularly harsh. Most of the buildings in Waldenshire seem like timelost relics of an earlier age and homes are often picturesque cottages whose outer walls climb with creeping flowers and vines, whose gabled roofs are particularly steep, and whose windows are crossed with fine latticework.
Various farms, orchards, and apiaries lie on the outskirts of Waldenshire and, along with a babbling brook and extensive well system, provide most of the bare necessities for the roughly five hundred people who live in Waldenshire. The woods around the Ainsworth estate are full of wild game and provide a steady stream of meat for the populace thanks to Duncan opening it up for seasonal hunting.
If one was to pull up North York Moors National Park on Google Maps and squint at the dark green area of the park, it will look kind of like a crescent. Waldenshire is located slightly southeast of the inner part of that crescent near what is now the yellow line for the interstate. I couldn't dig up anything that quite fit the vision I had in mind and so just had to alter things to some degree.
Regarding the Supernatural:
On the surface level, this fictional take on Earth resembles that of our own Earth. It is a place where most events, even the really strange ones, have some form of rational explanation. Unlike our own Earth, however, supernatural entities have been at the center of major events and historical records twisted into legends and folklore. The history and tales of this version of Earth are nearly identical to that of our Earth, but the hidden details on how these things went down may cleave closer to the folklore, legends, and mythology surrounding them than the more rational explanations from our Earth.
For example, Daji, AKA the fox spirit known as Tamamo-no-Mae, really did sow chaos in noble courts across Japan and contribute to the downfall of the Shang Dynasty in China by corrupting King Zhou.
Camelot did exist. Part of the reason why it is disregarded as a mere legend is partly because of the Dementing, but I can't say more than that as of right now.
Witches, not referring to the class here, actually did practice magic, although the Church mistakenly categorized them as diabolists who sold their souls for magic instead of an offshoot of humanity who passed their mystical powers down an unbroken matriarchal line. Lumping in ordinary, magicless human herbalists, folk healers, and various other dissidents and pariahs into the various witch hunts and Inquisitions certainly muddied the waters from a historical perspective.
Queen Mebd of Connacht had supernatural ties that I don't want to spoil overmuch and her influence on Irish history is deeper than her already recorded deeds, with connections to the hero Lugh who slew the Fomorian King Balor, as well as a fey sovereign from the Twilight Worlds.
The Erlkonig was not just a myth turned into a Lied, but a historical event in this version of Earth and the real reason why peasants across Europe had so many deep-rooted superstitions about children being spirited away to the lands of the fey. The Erlkonig's dark rampage across Europe may have been lost to the mists of time, but that doesn't change that it happened in this fictional Earth's history.
I don't want to get into specifics, but every living soul in Roanoke Colony vanishing without a trace most definitely has supernatural ties in this fictional iteration of Earth, albeit ties that have nothing to do with the fey.
