Post feedback for Thaedia over here. This is a setting I proposed in my Random Ideas thread, but now I'm working on it as an actual setting. This is not going to in any way negate Datrik, which I have new material comeing out for shortly: it is just a beginning.
Apocalyptica is a placeholder name, and will be changed later on.
EDIT: Changed name to Thaedia
Here is the home thread: http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?4392.0
There's not much there to review yet, but I must say that I like the principle of the setting. Post-apocalyptic settings have always sounded good to me, but I just can't seem to play sci-fi, so I've always avoided it. I really look forward to seeing how you'll make this work.
I like seeing gouls with a place in the setting, and I greatly look forward to the other rces you have, including the Slyphs(sp?).
Are there going to be any divinities in this setting? also, if the great conflict wasn't the final batle, is the final battle yet to come?
All for now, back to my book...
Hoooray for mutants! I like muties; you like muties?
Muties are yay: I like muties too. I'm not sure how to handle them stat wise, or what to go for: X-men, wierd looking people, or something in between? and mechanically, sincde I don't really like d20 future's version, they are going to be a bit of a nightmare.
X-men mutants piss me off.
"Hey, Im a mutant, but all that means is I get (mostly) unexplained power! Wanna get some nachos?"
Power comes with a price! That price should be paid in flesh! I demand that mutants be ugly as sin, or at least disturbing. Super-powers aside, if you don't look really weird, then you're just not a mutant in my book.
I think there should be some internal drawbacks, but I agree that their has to be a price to be paid, a price in your health and/or flesh.
Apocalyptica - good band, heh. But as for the world, looks interesting. Can't comment too well yet, until I've seen more material.
Some quick notes along with the update
Apocalyptica will now be called Thaedia
Mechanical note: I am changing the creature types some. Undead refers only to creatures such as skeletons or zombies, the mindless types. Intelligent undead and more advanced undead are now Nekros, which will have a higher base attack bonus, a smaller hit dice, and more skill points per monstrous HD. Meanwhile, Outsider will only be used as a type for creatures of Lovecraftian horror, and will have its HD increased to 12, putting them on the level of dragons. Meanwhile, Celestials and Fiends will be subtype of the new Immortal type of monsters. The Immortal type will be statistically identical to outsiders, but the name fits the flavor better, IMO.
First thing, this interests the hell out of me. This looks good.
Initially, this gave me the creeps, the heebee jeebeeâ,¬,,¢s. Games that discuss the matters of Heaven and Hell usually strike a personal chord with most people; thus giving them the heebee jeebeeâ,¬,,¢s. Before I continue with my review (for I have other questions), I must know. What exactly is the flavor youâ,¬,,¢re going for? Iâ,¬,,¢m not quite sure...
What happens to a persons soul in this game when they die? Do people know? Do the immortals claim to know? Do they go to heaven or hell, depending on what kind of life they lived? The immortals came to Thaedia to fight over the souls of men... does that mean they tried to get men to follow their gods? Or did they throw them in boxes and ship them back home? And the men fought back! I really love that... people using psionic power to shape their own fate. Now there's the religion for me.
I see the souls of men being fought over by angels and demons. But why? I know their masters want the fealty of men so that they can destory the opposition... but do the angels care about people and want to save them from Hell? Do the demons just want to capture and torture people? Or... do the demons and angels just think they have a better way of living? Is this a â,¬Å"shades of grayâ,¬Â game, or a â,¬Å"black and whiteâ,¬Â game? Are they more like good and evil, or more like political parties where they just want to get people on their side, no matter what it takes? From the set-up, it kind of looks like the latter.
There is Khabhen and Nehbahk, and they both want to gain followers among men so they can extinguish the other. How, exactly, do they disagree? Does the god of good want to help people and see them commit good deeds? Does the god of evil just want to punish the wicked and devour any soul which he can? Is Hell (or wherever Nehbahk comes from) a bad place? Could some people truly want to go there?[spoiler]I know many people in modern culture speak of a desire to go to hell, but what I believe theyâ,¬,,¢re speaking of is a rebellion against mainstream culture, not a desire to burn for eternity and get poked in the ass with pitchforks.[/spoiler]
In Thaedia, what are the repercussions of the decisions a person makes in life (specifically, in the afterlife)?
I guess the big question is; do you want to get deep and philosophical with this game, or keep it simple?
Let me know soon, so I can get on with the rest of the stuff I wanted to ask!
First, the Big Question: I want it to go either way. If I feel like being deep and philosophical, then I want to be able to run it that way. If I (and the players) want to send some demons back to hell where they belong without needing to worry about the demon's moral standing, then I want to be able to run it that way too. This does make the philosophy/theology a bit more difficult.
I want a more shades of grey game, but I also want moral absolutism. Good is good, Evil is evil. However, just like in real life, it is difficult to tell which is which at times. I'm doing with away all alignment detection spells, or seriously reworking them, to accomadate this flavor.
Now, for the afterlife. If someone is good, they go to heaven. If they are evil, they go to hell. This only applies to those who are morally strong enough to go one place or the others. If you are 'neutral' on the moral axis, you go to Hades, where your soul is recycled. [note]regardless of what happens to your soul, your body arrives in Hades once fully decayed, which usually takes about thirty years. If a necromancer ever managed to get to Hades alive and get out, he could wreak havok.[/note] In Heaven, you are rewarded for living a life of good. The kicker is, in Hell, you do get a sort of reward for being evil. You start off on the bottom rung of society in hell, but you are used for labor, not random acts of torture. People who worship Nehbahk know this. However, with time, you will climb the fiendish hierarchy, gaining a new form and more powers. Since most people who are evil are also power hungry, they like this arrangement. This is known because celestials and fiends tell it to be so, though of course celestials claim that fiends torture you for eternity, and fiends claim heaven is slavery and boring.
The Feinds and Celestials are more like 'political parties,' to use your term, because that is how they gaini more power. However, the celestials are objectively right. (part of my setting is trying to make it more heroic, and that comes along with this: the evil is equally rewarding as the good, both in this life and the next. Therefor, those who are good are greater heros, for they choose good KNOWING that they only reward they get is being good, and acess to some sweet powers, spells, feats, and classes. ;) )
Nehbahk does not seek the destruction of reality, but the control of it. Another theme of my setting is that destruction and death are no more inherently evil than creation and life.
Gotta switch computers, answer the rest later. :)
Back, and finishing up my responses.
Flavorwise, I'm going for a post-apocalypse feel. The individual feel of each adventur is up to the DM. I want a sort of heroic feel at times, but I also want a tragic sense to it. Also, I want some horror elements added in, plus a sense of man being an end in an of himself, which is the basis of my view on life.
The Immortals were fighting to get men to not only follow their God, but also to follow their God's way of life. They didn't just want men to worship Good or Evil, then wanted men to BE Good or Evil.
Khabhen and Nehbahk disagree for the same reason matter and anti-matter react so violently. They are two sides of the same coin, (if you didn't notice, one's name is just the other one's spell backwards) but abhor the other. There is a theory that should they ever actually come into personal contact, they would both be utterly annihilated. The "why" they hate each other doesn't matter to them, or they know the answer and don't share it: either way, they oppose each other because the other exists. These beings are going to be as de-anthropomorphisized as I can make them, so trying to figure out human motiviations for them is going to be a headache for mortals more than anything else.
I hope that answers all of your questions: I might have missed a few in that list. :) I look forward to seeing what else you have to say!
what if, as a way to justify celestials and devils wanting to have people on there side, each immortal is tied to a human (or maybe one ange and one demon which each are like charicatures of the mortal they are tied to), and needs that human in order to use there poweres, or maybe even to just exist.
the main problem that i see with this method, is that this puts the immortals as less real (or less worldly might be a better term).
but damn is that a cool idea
I'm with Velox, it is a cool idea...but it does make the Immortals less real, like you said. Also, another problem would be that if an Immortal requires a mortal to survive, they aren't really Immortal anymore. Also, another problem is how would this effect humans in game, and the other races as well...hmm...However, I want to use some variation on this idea, maybe. Not sure what, though...perhaps each human blooded creature (so every PC race but Goblyns, Elves, Slyphs) has two Immortals that act as familiars or something, make them tiny and not very powerful. They appear when the human is born, and persist untill the human dies. Perhaps this was one of the results of the peace treaty. Hmm....I'd have to work it very carefully, but I"m loving this idea. Great stuff, supa. *ponders and puzzles*
Was reading through those religions, and i have to say the Order look exactly right. that's totaly what i was thinking. While doing this though, i had a though on the twisted.
what if only very extreem cases were actually another race. the majority are humans that have minor mutations that use a similar system to the flaws and/or traits from UA. this can allow people to play something weird, or to play a human with an interesting gimmick.
then, there are also those inside the Order (or some individuals) who embrace their mutations and then train/develope them (a transformational prestige class).
Quote from: supadupamanWas reading through those religions, and i have to say the Order look exactly right. that's totaly what i was thinking. While doing this though, i had a though on the twisted.
what if only very extreem cases were actually another race. the majority are humans that have minor mutations that use a similar system to the flaws and/or traits from UA. this can allow people to play something weird, or to play a human with an interesting gimmick.
then, there are also those inside the Order (or some individuals) who embrace their mutations and then train/develope them (a transformational prestige class).
Hmm...I like that.
I'm thinking about this: There are three tiers of twisted.
One kind is as you described, and gets flaws/benifets that have minor influence, allowing you to play the wierd without going too far.
The second kind is more suited for NPCs but would work for a PC race as well, and they would have major drawbacks (take 1d6 damage per round of exposure to the sun) but with major benefits (has four arms and can fly)
The third kind are members of the first group, but work with the Order to embrance their mutations and become more powerful, eventually far surpassing the ability of the second group of the Twisted.
Thoughts? It needs to be developed more, I know, but it's a start.
The conflict between humanity and the immortals is awesome. I love the fact that people more-or-less refuse the celestials and most of them fight against damnation at the hands of the fiends. After all, with the celestials offering paradise while bringing destruction, and the fiends claiming that heaven is slavery, people would most likely just wish that these jokers would leave them alone.
So why, exactly, do people refuse the celestials? You say that "celestials fought to save the souls of a humanity who didnâ,¬,,¢t want it", but why? Do people (at least on some level) beleive the fiends, that heaven is slavery? Maybe they fear they are not worthy, did not live a righteous life, and heaven would not be kind to them. Maybe they'd rather work to make life worthwhile, rather than invest in an afterlife.
It would be tempting to go to Hell and rise through the ranks, ultimately acheiving unbelievable power (I can just see thousands of corporate goons flocking to the dark one). But still, most people aren't going to want to go there and dig up rocks or whatever.
I guess what I'm getting at is that if you want to capture a more "shades of gray" feel, its gotta seem subjective. People are going to have many different opinions on what Heaven and Hell are, and who the fiends and celestials are.
I really like the idea of the greatest heros being those who choose to do good not because of any rewards, but simply because that it is the way. I think the real world could learn a lesson from this game.
After seeing "Silent Hill" and considering previous games of "Deadlands: Hell on Earth", I came to an interesting conclusion.[spoiler]It is horrible to be ripped apart by a monstrous demon; but it's alot worse if you think you might deserve it. In Deadlands, you survived Judgement Day, and were living in a damned place. You had to wonder to yourself "Why am I not in heaven? Is everyone else there? Is this really Hell?" And you might be considering that all the way up to the point where some horrible thing tears your intestines out and laughs at you. Just a thought; demonic armies representing a reckoning for ones misdeeds are alot more scary than occupying forces.[/spoiler]
Why cant the immortals go home? Is it a "come back victorius or dont come back at all" thing? Are the immortals on Thaedia the screw-ups, the guys who have something to prove to their god? Is it more of a personal grudge between the two races than it is a fight for their masters?
The war on the mortal realm is affecting the primal realms around it... how exactly? Maybe those realms feed off the mortal realm in some way... they need it and the people in it (and maybe their thoughts/beleifs). If those people are dying, then so will the primal realms, perhaps?
[quote Xathan]"The realms not currently settled by humanity could not be settled by any Immortal, though mortal offspring of any faction could settle there."[/quote]one of the greatest things about Deadlands: Hell On Earth as a post-nuclear game was you had to randomly draw a card from a deck while making a character. If you drew the wrong card... you're a mutant whether you like it or not. I'm not usually a hard-ass GM, I want people to have fun. But if you're playing in my Post Apocolyptic survival horror game, be prepared for some immersion. They say to me "well, that's not exactly what I wanted for this character", and I say "Yeah, I don't think your character wanted it, either."[/spoiler] What exactly makes muties in your game? I want to discuss them some more later. I feel ideas being formed...
[quote Xathan]"...ghouls were used extensively to help both humans, celestials, and fiends disperse after the war"[/quote]"...This liberation would turn humans to debauchery, fornication, and fatalism. Instead, ghouls take up long-term intellectual pursuits, such as philosophy, art, magic, or other activities that they can persue once they arrive in Hades."[/quote] They are two sides of the same coin, (if you didn't notice, one's name is just the other one's spell backwards) but abhor the other. [/quote]
Yes, I did notice. You're very clever. Now shut up.
(I'm joking... it's a line from Princess Bride. Don't shut up, write lots more.)
Big long reply: sorry it took so long to write.
Quote from: Immortal RejectsWhen I say the Immortals on Thaedia are the rejects, I mean that they are less than perfect exemplars of the ideas they uphold. Fiends on Thaedia will show compassion, though it is rare, and celestials of Thaedia will at times be cruel and malicious. Essentially, they are more fallible, more human.[/note]The real reason is because of the whole â,¬Å"come back with your shield or on itâ,¬Â idea, and because many of the immortals sent to Thaedia are the ones that are less than perfect. They are the â,¬Ërejectsâ,¬,,¢, though they have told no mortal this, and probably never will. Also, the higher ups are mostly not rejects, with a few notable exceptions. (to be defined later)
The individual Immortal is able to trun, which is called "Falling" for Celestials and "Ascending" for Fiends, though this terminology is used by celestials, not by feinds. (Fiends call "falling" "Awakening" and "ascending" "blinding," viewing celestials that fall awakening to the truth and fiends that ascend to be blinding themselves to it. Human scholars on the subject use the positive term for each, so celestials awaken and fiends ascend.) Since the Final War, 3% of the Immortal population has either awakened and ascended, and 6% has become apathetic (neutral). While these numbers seem small, they represent an increas of 3000% in both areas.
Quote from: new termThe blooded refers to, as a group, any human with an Immortal ancestor that is recent enough for it to be a different race.[/note] Yes, half-breeds and the blooded can and do form their own communities on the surface, though such a community must be founded outside human controlled lands (since the Apocalypse, most communities of any race are little more than city states, so the area outside human controlled lands is large.) Immortals cannot congregate in groups of greater than 7 on the surface without violating the treaty.
Also, there are a disproportionate number of half-breeds and the blooded on the surface for only 74 years. This is due to their dual natures. Immortals are born fully grown, so there are no baby demons or celestials, and when they mate with a human, a half breed has a very rapid childhood: They are in the womb for about a week, and reach physical, sexual, and mental maturity at age 3, at which point their ageing plateaus for quite some time (no one really knows how long half-breeds live, or if they even have a finite lifespan.) Other blooded undergo a similarly rapid birth/maturation period, meaning the blooded community exploded initially. It has since slowed down considerably, but that is due more to a lack of available resources to feed infants than any ability of the blooded.
Quote from: Xathan"...ghouls were used extensively to help both humans, celestials, and fiends disperse after the war"
Khabhen forsake my eyes, no! Iâ,¬,,¢m trying to get away from undead and death = evil here, and ghouls being corpse eaters has the opposite intent. :P By disperse, I mean they were used as peacekeepers to help oversee where they went, that they went there, that no one was trying to hide out where they didnâ,¬,,¢t belong or leave behind a hidden troop or magical device.
Quote from: Xathan"...This liberation would turn humans to debauchery, fornication, and fatalism. Instead, ghouls take up long-term intellectual pursuits, such as philosophy, art, magic, or other activities that they can pursue once they arrive in Hades."
Oh, I agree. But they donâ,¬,,¢t take it to the degree humans would. Part of this is due to the fact that a Ghoul has muted senses of touch, taste, and scent, though heightened senses of hearing and sight. Of course, this also means that some go to extremes no human could fathom.
Quote from: XathanThey are two sides of the same coin, (if you didn't notice, one's name is just the other one's spell backwards) but abhor the other.
But I like showing off how clever I am. :P No, seriously, is it too cheesy, or just right?
Quote(I'm joking... it's a line from Princess Bride. Don't shut up, write lots more.)
And I got that reference. More is coming, I promise: got the Vaemis write up that I need to transfer to computer, and more will be coming later, though I canâ,¬,,¢t promise anything other than the Vaemis before Friday afternoon. Thank you so much for the feedback, Velox: it really helps me develop the setting more. :D
Oh, updated the Races section. I'm particularly interested in thoughts on the Vaemis, though I also added to the Aasimar racial section.
The vaemis look like a heat idea, but the frequent changes might cause problems. If the two sets of traits are significantly different, it might radicaly change how a character works frequently ( and depending on the traits, might even cause the character to loose prerequisites. I would need to see the traits themselves to be sure of this).
Also, you say they are fertile the whole time they are female, but how would a pregnancy work? Do they have pregnacies as normal? Would they stay female until they give birth? what happens if they are about to give birth while they are currently male?
Just a few thing to bear in mind.
QuoteThe vaemis look like a heat idea, but the frequent changes might cause problems. If the two sets of traits are significantly different, it might radicaly change how a character works frequently ( and depending on the traits, might even cause the character to loose prerequisites. I would need to see the traits themselves to be sure of this).
Also, you say they are fertile the whole time they are female, but how would a pregnancy work? Do they have pregnacies as normal? Would they stay female until they give birth? what happens if they are about to give birth while they are currently male?[/quote]
Pregnancy only lasts for 7 days with the Vaemis. If that carries you over into your next cycle, your cycle re-adjusts to that new way. (which can cause real problems if you have a mate and want more children, though most Vaemis parings are not that long lasting.)
Added humans, though all the text is in red for me saying that all of that will likely change, it's just an idea righ tnow.
QuotePregnancy only lasts for 7 days with the Vaemis. If that carries you over into your next cycle, your cycle re-adjusts to that new way. (which can cause real problems if you have a mate and want more children, though most Vaemis parings are not that long lasting.)
If the conception to birth turnover time is so quick, this would make me think that they should have a far more significant population. Any creature that can gve birth in a week will have a vastly superior birth rate to all other races. If they haven't covered the world, why not? Are there lots of stillborn? Are they unable to become pregnant for some large period of time afterwards? do they just have very very short life spans, that keep the population growth low? Are they a very recently created race that hasn't had the chance to increase for very long as of yet? (this then begs the question "how did they get created all of a sudden?")
Well, they have only been around a few decades, like any other celestial blooded: after all, that's all the time they have had for humans and celestials to produce offspring. Also, they are limited by what they can support: A person gives birth at the rate of one child a week will have 52 babies within a year, and feeding that many mouths is a nightmare. Also, just because they are fertile doesn't mean that it will 'catch' - it is harder for pregnancy to result among them than most races, as is true of most blooded. Also, they are only able to be pregnant half of the year, and they will rarely even try in the second half of their female cycle, not wanting to risk having thier cycle changed on them.
Two ideas to note.
First, I am going to be implimenting racial levels for every race, allowing you to become a more powerful version of what you were. This will really benifit the Twisted, and also allow people who want to play an Immortal to do so with one of the Immortal races I have presented.
Also, I am working on the Vaemis stats. Here is what I have so far. It works mechanically, but I feel it needs a little something: You know, some of those random bonuses PC races get that don't really do anything and seem unrelated but add mechanical flavor. Also, I need help on how to handle gender changing.
[spoiler=Vaemis]
[note]Vaemis power is tied to the dark and light phases of the moon, Dark being when more than a half of the moon is in darkness, light being when more than half of the mooon is in light. If it is exactly a half moon, it is light if it is waxing, dark if it is waning. In the stat block, dark phase powers are referred to as DP, light phase LP[/note]
[ooc]I am trying to tie the dark phase of the moon to powers regarding darkness and deception, and the powers of the light phases to observation and light.[/ooc]
Medium Humanoid (celestial blooded)
Speed 30ft
Vision: DP: Darkvision 60ft, LP: Low Light Vision
SLAs: DP: Darkness 1/day, Faerie Fire 1/day LP: Light 1/day, Glitterdust 1/day
Skills Bonuses: DP: +2 Hide and Bluff, LP: +2 Spot and Sense motive.
Changing Gender: ??
Lycanthropsy Suceptability: Vaemis, due to their ties with the moon, suffer a -2 penalty on saving throws to resis the effects of lycanthropsy
Lycanthrope Hunters: Since they occupy the same times and niches, Vaemis train extensivly to battle evil lycanthropes. Against such creatures, Vaemis gain a +2 bonus to spot, listen, hide, move silently, and survival checks.
Grace of the Moon: Once per day, a Vaemis can channel the power of that phase of the moon to increase her combat ability. While superficially similar to a barbarians rage, the Grace of the Moon is Charisma based and does not leave the user fatigued afterwards. It lasts for a number of rounds equal to the Vaemis's charisma modifier +3
DP Grace: Gain a +2 bonus on damage roll, DR 2/cold iron, Spell Resistance 5 plus HD, Power Resistance eqaual to HD
LP Grace: Gain a +1 deflection bonus to AC, DR 2/silver, Power Resistance 5 plus HD, Spell resistance equal to HD
Languages: Automatic: Dhaphaen (celestial 1) and Trade (common), Bonus: Seraphaen (celestial 2), Regional languages, Slyvan.
Favored Class: Sorcerer?
LA: +0[/spoiler]
QuoteStill vulnerable to Immortal magics, humans had not won the war. But now, they were fighting it. While celestials fought to save the souls of a humanity who didnâ,¬,,¢t want it, and fiends fought for ownership of these souls humans fought to keep their souls using the power inherent with them.
This just doesn't sound right to me. Celestials fight to save human souls from the demons? demons fight to take the humans souls, and humanity couldn't care less what happens to their own souls?
In a world where you come face to face with the creatures battling over your soul, I would think humans would care very much about such things. It's hard to be aetheist, and unconcerned when a Balor is licking his chops and bearing down on you.
1. Your description of humans make me think they aren't human at all. Are they now synads? If so that's kind of cool. If not maybe you should get into a little more detail and explain the other aspects of their 3 part births.
2. The twisted sound really great. I love people mutated by the power of magic, and I bet you might be able to draw some parallels between them and the demonborn of Sha'Irna. I even have stats for them in the Races of Sulos spoiler at the very end; it's kind of like the fiendish creature template with barbarian rage.
3. The goblyns sound awesome. They are the evil parallel to elves which is quite cool, and the idea of twisted fey sounds great. I want to know more about them and I was wondering if they are a PC race?
4. Your take on Ghouls is also great. I've always wanted to use them in a setting as a major race, and have yet to find a time or a place to do so. This sounds like a really great way to use them.
5. The bad news is the religions were really vague and I didn't get much of an idea about how any of them work, or interact, or even what they are about. They need some love.
6. You started off very strong with a fairly straitforward world, and then it gradually deteriorated as I read further. While I completely understand that things are still in the works. I kept finding myslef trying to put things together that just weren't complete thoughts.
7. The concept of the world is quite cool. With the battle between heaven and hell waged in the world of man, and humankind fighting back to reclaim their world. and it has psionics, so I'm natually inclined to like it from the get go.
8. I'll be happy to help with this after setting if you'd like.
-Peace-
Quote from: nastynateQuoteStill vulnerable to Immortal magics, humans had not won the war. But now, they were fighting it. While celestials fought to save the souls of a humanity who didnâ,¬,,¢t want it, and fiends fought for ownership of these souls humans fought to keep their souls using the power inherent with them.
QuoteThis just doesn't sound right to me. Celestials fight to save human souls from the demons? demons fight to take the humans souls, and humanity couldn't care less what happens to their own souls?
In a world where you come face to face with the creatures battling over your soul, I would think humans would care very much about such things. It's hard to be aetheist, and unconcerned when a Balor is licking his chops and bearing down on you.
Your description of humans make me think they aren't human at all. Are they now synads? If so that's kind of cool. If not maybe you should get into a little more detail and explain the other aspects of their 3 part births.
The twisted sound really great. I love people mutated by the power of magic, and I bet you might be able to draw some parallels between them and the demonborn of Sha'Irna. I even have stats for them in the Races of Sulos spoiler at the very end; it's kind of like the fiendish creature template with barbarian rage.[/quote]The goblyns sound awesome. They are the evil parallel to elves which is quite cool, and the idea of twisted fey sounds great. I want to know more about them and I was wondering if they are a PC race?[/quote]Your take on Ghouls is also great. I've always wanted to use them in a setting as a major race, and have yet to find a time or a place to do so. This sounds like a really great way to use them.[/quote]The bad news is the religions were really vague and I didn't get much of an idea about how any of them work, or interact, or even what they are about. They need some love.
You started off very strong with a fairly straitforward world, and then it gradually deteriorated as I read further. While I completely understand that things are still in the works. I kept finding myslef trying to put things together that just weren't complete thoughts.[/quote]The concept of the world is quite cool. With the battle between heaven and hell waged in the world of man, and humankind fighting back to reclaim their world. and it has psionics, so I'm natually inclined to like it from the get go.
I'll be happy to help with this after setting if you'd like.[/quote]
Thank you very much for your comments. Itâ,¬,,¢s good to have them in mind as I let Thaedia bake for awhile, and I would love to have your help when I resume work on it. :)
Added the Shadar under the fiendblooded in the races section on the main page, and will be momentairly adding the Vaemis stats, since no one seems to think they are unbalanced.
Ok, so here are some questions I have that I would like thoughts on:
1) Vaemis: I haven't gotten much feedback on their stats yet. Thoughts?
2) Alternate Humans: Does it make sense, or does it seem gimmiky, or what?
3) What do you want to see next?
And as always questions help me most, so please, ask away.
I don't read discussion threads when I jump into a setting, so if you've heard this stuff before, put it up in the main thread!
Question 1: How do guides work, mechanically?
Question 2: How long ago was the treaty signed?
Question 3: "every human is born at the same time as two lesser beings, a weak Immortal, one Fiend, one Celestial."
"Others, particularly members of the Order, use psionics to lock away their Guides or even slay them outright."
Aren't your guides a part of yourself? That's what I take the first quote to mean.
Question 4: Why does Grace of the Moon give you bonuses to Str and Con? We're talking about grace here, right?
Question 5: Why do darkphase (new word!) Vaemis get Faerie Fire, a spell that reveals?
Question 6: "This liberation would turn humans to debauchery, fornication, and fatalism. Instead, ghouls take up long-term intellectual pursuits, such as philosophy, art, magic, or other activities that they can pursue once they arrive in Hades."
Uh, if I were slowly dieing and I knew I'd live on for eternity, I'd spend my life doing non-intellectual things and spend my living years enjoying life.
Comment 1: "Some humans focus on their guilds, increasing their power and therefore their own."
Comment 2: Keep gender changing out of the mechanics section, as it has no in-game effect.
Comment 3: I'd make the Vaemis Favored Class: Ranger. Their lycan hunting passion, physical nature and focus on both stealth and perception point that way to me.
Comment 4: You've changed elves and added goblyns. Both of these are new races and you've changed the goblin name to help throw off confusion. But why are the elves still named elves? It's not like they are Tolgax elves or myth elves, right?
Forgive me if this post is a little weird. It's midnight right now and I'm really enjoying your setting.
Quote from: VaemisGrace of the Moon: Once per day, a Vaemis can channel the power of that phase of the moon to increase her combat ability. While superficially similar to a barbarianâ,¬,,¢s rage, the Grace of the Moon is Charisma based and does not leave the user fatigued afterwards. It lasts for a number of rounds equal to the Vaemis' charisma modifier +3
DP Grace: Gain a +2 bonus on damage rolls, DR 1/cold iron, Spell Resistance 5 plus HD, Power Resistance equal to HD
LP Grace: Gain a +1 deflection bonus to AC, DR 1/silver, Power Resistance 5 plus HD, Spell resistance equal to HD
Question 5: Why do darkphase (new word!) Vaemis get Faerie Fire, a spell that reveals?[/quote]silent image[/i], which would tie into the darkphase theme of deception.
QuoteQuestion 6: "This liberation would turn humans to debauchery, fornication, and fatalism. Instead, ghouls take up long-term intellectual pursuits, such as philosophy, art, magic, or other activities that they can pursue once they arrive in Hades."
Uh, if I were slowly dieing and I knew I'd live on for eternity, I'd spend my life doing non-intellectual things and spend my living years enjoying life.
Comment 1: "Some humans focus on their
guilds, increasing their power and therefore their own."[/quote]
Comment 2: Keep gender changing out of the mechanics section, as it has no in-game effect.[/quote]
Comment 3: I'd make the Vaemis Favored Class: Ranger. Their lycan hunting passion, physical nature and focus on both stealth and perception point that way to me.[/quote]
Comment 4: You've changed elves and added goblyns. Both of these are new races and you've changed the goblin name to help throw off confusion. But why are the elves still named elves? It's not like they are Tolgax elves or myth elves, right?[/quote]Forgive me if this post is a little weird. It's midnight right now and I'm really enjoying your setting.
[/quote]
Not weird at all, and the format was helpful in composing a reply. Glad you enjoy! :)
Aha. I was confused about they layout of the grace abulity. I'd change it to:
"Once per day, a Vaemis can channel the power of that phase of the moon to increase her combat ability. This power grants different bonuses depending on the phase of the moon and thus, the Vaemis. Darkphase Vemis gain a +2 bonus on damage rolls, DR 1/cold iron, Spell Resistance 5 plus HD, Power Resistance equal to HD. Whereas lightphase Vaemis gain a +1 deflection bonus to AC, DR 1/silver, Power Resistance 5 plus HD, Spell resistance equal to HD. This ability lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the Vaemis' charisma modifier."
As for elves, I like the old norse word for elf: aelfar (singular: aelfir.) In norse legend elves were similar to greek nymphs and were semi-divine beings with white/pale skin and amazing beauty.
Aelfar....that name actually rocks hardcore. I like it, I love it, I'm using it. Thanks Rae, that's awesome!
That's probably a better format for the Grace of the Moon ability, I'll adopt it. Thanks!
Any other thoughts, especially on humanity? (they're giving me the most trouble atm.)
You know, I like the idea of Guides being physical. It gives them a... flavor that most imaginary friends don't have. X-)
Make sure you state that all humans have guides at this point. I wasn't sure about that when I read the racial entry.
Yeah, I'm liking the physical thing more and more. It's going to be hell to balance, but still.
I think I did, but maybe I wasn't clear enough...I'll update that, along with the other things.
In case you missed these questions at the other spot,
Are you taking the psionics is different approach to the extreme?
What more can be told of these Primal Realms?
What purpose would Shadow and Aether serve?
QuoteAre you taking the psionics is different approach to the extreme?
What more can be told of these Primal Realms?
What purpose would Shadow and Aether serve?[/quote]
I'll post an answer to that question in the main thread in the next 30 miniutes. To answer your second question - if Shadow and Aether are included at all, they would serve as transitive planes - Shadow would house positive and negative energy (since without light, shadow would be nothing but pure darkness, and without darkness, it would be all endless illumination.) and Aether would house the four elements, in an arrangement that will work like limbo, only the elemental pockets will be much larger (several miles across) and instead of changing, they drift.
So I added a bit on the planes, though I didn't get to the primal...I hit a bit of a mental dry spell, it seems. :( I get info on the rest of the planes up either later today or sunday night.
Xathan, I'll try to give you a thourough review tonight, but I have read your setting post and I'm quite impressed; especially considering this is like your 3rd setting? I really like the method the world came into psionic power (I was wondering if you're using Soul Knives; and if you need mechanical help on balancing the Divine Mind and Ardent, let me know).
There was something fairly important I wanted to ask, but I forgot. So I'll ask this: are you going to have a base class for celestial or fiend touched characters to tie them to the magic of their heritage? It would seem odd for the ranger (fae) or paladin (celestial) to be gone, and it also would seem odd for clerics (celestial or fiendish) and druids (fae) to be gone as well.
Thanks, Xev. Actually, Thaedia is the second setting I've posted here, but it's probably the 39th (no exaggeration) that I've worked on. Thaedia and Datrik are my two most complete settings, and I hope to eventually have all my settings done and posted (That's a long way off, though. :P) I'm going to be using Soul Knives, but I'm going to be altering it significantly, because the class, as is, is rather weak. My soul knife will not be a variant class, but a blatant power up of the existing class.
As for the classes - yes. There will be 2 classes for each type of Immortal, one that is drawing upon the magical aspect of their heritage, one that is a 'martial art' type thing - an art form developed by that type of Immortal.
Could regular humans take those immortal class, or only "touched" humans? (Can't you tell that classes are my thing?)
Yeah, I can. :P A human could take an immortal class, a celestial blooded could take a fiend blooded class, and so on and so forth.
Now that I think about it, I'm going to make the immortal classes less tied to blood and more tied to art forms, whether the art is magical, martial, or something else. Meanwhile, I'll expand on the idea of racial classes, so that anyone wanting to explore their bloodline more can take levels in their particular racial class.
Xathan, I'm best at commenting on mechanics, or giving specific advice to specific questions. I will say again, though, that I really like the ideas here. Before I answer your questions from earlier, I have one for you:
What sort of adventures will characters be going on. Is the campaign setting going to be just a backdrop, or will all adventures have to do with what's going on?
As for your questions:
1) Vaemis: I haven't gotten much feedback on their stats yet. Thoughts?
If the stats that are on this thread are the most current and up to date, I think they're better now than they were. Their special abilities are small changes, nothing to go crazy over not having. They're a very unique race as well.
2) Alternate Humans: Does it make sense, or does it seem gimmiky, or what?
It seems a little gimmiky to me. Here's how I would do it: everyone has those celestial/fiendish parts of them, but they are incorporeal and can't interract with the person except through subtlely influencing them. But, either through your "human racial class" or a feat, there will be a method to fully awaken them, and they would serve the character as familiars of sorts. I mean, if everyone has to deal with these two creatures following them around, that could get strange. If it's only select individuals, then that's probably fine. And cool.
3) What do you want to see next?
I'd like to hear more about the start of the war. I'd also like to hear more about your intentions for classes (for example, you seemed to have implied that clerics and druids are still around, but what about wizards?).
Sorry that this isn't really a huge review. Everything seems to be in order, but that's just because I'm a newcomer to the setting. If there's any more things that you're unsure of, let me know and I'll give you my opinion.
The adventures...well, that's really up to the DM. I'm structuring it so that intrigue is the best type of adventure to run, followed a close second by war games.
Glad you like the Vaemis, I'm quite proud of them. :)
That's an interesting idea, I kinda like it. I'll play with that some...it's going to be hell to balance it, either way. >.<
I'll have information on classes and the War up after I get my planar info up. :) Thanks for the review, it's always good to have.