This is still for my sigged projects, but I want to get started on a new discussion thread, to discard the clutter of the old one and begin on the clutter of a new one. Here I'll be getting deeper into specifics, and maybe start mulling over setting ideas and thinking about how exactly I want this game to play.
So in no particular order...
The Core Mechanic
Those of you who have read my system know the core mechanic is to roll d10s under your skill, and that the number of d10s is based on the difficulty of the task.
You may also know that penalties in combat might add d6s (so it's easy to know what dice do and don't count for damage... and so penalties don't make stuff stupid hard.)
I'm considering one tiny change in the core mechanic: Not limiting myself to one or two die types. I'm having a hard time working difficulties into 1-3d10 for many kinds of tasks where I want many factors to matter, and armor gives penalties of 1-3 dice too. I'm considering using d6s for most skills, d10s for combat skills (and d6s for penalties), d4s for wealth checks, and a d8/d6 combo for random wounds. I'm not sure what dice to use for saves, as they defend against both standard and combat skills (I'm thinking d8s).
I'm wondering how far I should take this, or if I should use this idea at all.
Grappling
Most maneuvers will be handled by opposed checks, but grappling's still been rough for me. Mine will probably be a hybrid of the Star Wars Saga grappling system and the one in M&M 2nd ed.
Characters can grab other characters as a minor action to open up the following options:
Standard Attack (you must have a hand free to grab, so one handed weapons only)
Standard Maneuver
Magic (nothing with somatic components)
Throw the grabbed foe as a major action (range increment and damage based on size)
Pin the grabbed foe as a major action (your foe can't do anything on their next turn, and you open up two more maneuvers)
Once you've pinned your foe you can use any of the above maneuvers, plus two more.
Bind your foe (if you've got rope or manacles you can make your foe effectively continuously pinned)
Hold your foe hostage (you can attack your foe as a reaction any time, and take no penalty to called shots)
Grabbed characters can neither attack nor defend against anyone except the person grabbing them.
Grabbing and everything else will be simple opposed check maneuvers, but I may put together a flow chart for when you can do what.
Wounds
I'll probably replace the current wounds setup with another one. Under the current system you roll 1d10 and might roll it a few times. Under the new system, it'd be a d8 to determine the wound type and a d6 to determine the severity.
d8
1-left leg
2-right leg
3-left arm
4-right arm
5-knockback
6-bleeding
7-bonus damage
8-vitals
d6
1-3: 1 wound
4-5: 2 wounds
6: 3 wounds
d6 (if you rolled vitals)
1-2: 1 wound (stun)
3-4: 2 wounds (stagger)
5: 3 wounds (k.o.)
6: 4 wounds (death)
Races
I have what I think is a suitable list of playable races. I went for iconic things, but maybe for a different set of iconic things, and some aspects of the way I handle them will set my game apart a little. Especially the fact that each fantasy race has some innate magical potential.
Before I get started, I should describe the racial powers. They're based on will and they mimic spells in the way they function. Having racial powers doesn't make a character good at magic (so they can't automatically cast rituals as well as a dedicated caster, can't counterspell as well, identify spells, or do any number of other things). Characters pick up racial powers as perks (same as spells), but what powers they can pick up are limited by their race. Humans don't get innate magic.
Racial powers serve a mechanical purpose, besides the flavor purpose of giving each race a unique magical feeling (so they get to be more fey). It also de-gimps spellcasters. First level spellcasters will typically take skill focus (magic), skill focus (concentration), and a spell; then they'll have no perks left to spend. If they have to buy their race too, they'll have to lose a spell or skill focus on concentration. So elf casters (or what have you) can take "elf" instead of skill focus (magic) and still meet the prereqs for a bunch of magic powers.
I'm having two problems thinking of race stats.
1) The magic problem of a lost perk for potentially little payoff exists for other builds, like fighter and "face" types.
2) I'm trying to avoid ability adjustment except on trolls and goblins because they are large and small respectively.
So I need each race to have an ability that both offsets the cost of not being human and is really unique and distinct and representative of that race.
ELVES
Elves are magical, fey, aloof, and live in a kind of otherworld that they can go back and forth from. Their powers will allow them to manipulate spirits, plants, and animals and will let them jaunt back and forth between the material and spirit realm. I'm considering letting that one come standard. I may let them have light and darkness in their spellcasting arsenal as well.
They hunt in the woods of our world, go home to cities in theirs, and venerate the ghosts of ancestors they can still communicate with (though I think the ancestors' spirits will be incorporeal if they manifest physically at all).
Here I'm not sure what abilities (outside of planar travel) the elf perk should come with. Something combat useful and something for "unearthly grace" so they can mess with peoples' heads.
DWARVES
Dwarves are dwarves. They're dour, subterranean workers and warriors. I'm considering letting dwarf magic be its own thing... like powers but intelligence based and with rules for runes. Dwarf magic should focus on summoning, wards, and elemental spirits not limited to earth. Maybe with a little divination thrown in.
Again I'm not sure what abilities the perk should come with. Dwarves should have something combat useful and maybe their usual innate awareness of how far under ground they are. Plus the always useful darkvision.
GOBLINS
Goblins are short, ugly, manic, obsessive tricksters. Their magic allows them to become giant or invisible, or to produce illusions and such. They may be able to talk with certain kinds of animals.
Goblins will be small, which is probably a liability in combat, but has its uses. They'll also have darkvision and a keen sense of smell.
TROLLS
Trolls are large. They are formidable warriors with a reputation for being highly antisocial or severely depressed (when I get working on the setting, you'll see they have good reason). I haven't a clue what kind of magic to give them.
Trolls will be large, which is its own combat bonus, and will have the ability to withstand brutal cold. They may also have a keen sense of smell.
ROBOTS
Robots are made of metal. They will have innate armor roughly equivalent to plate, with the penalty dropped slightly. They will also be immune to poison, disease, suffocation, drowning, starvation, and thirst. They will have no racial powers.
There's a lot more to be said, but I'm tired now, and should probably be in bed soon.
Okay, so I lied... I felt like talking about how I'm going to go about the setting before I get into a whole lot of detail about who's who and what's what.
My primary concern is gameable material. I've got a lot of big ideas to try and make fit for the larger setting, but my primary concern is the area I'm going to be running a playtest in. I want to run a game with a heavy exploration and mystery theme, and not a lot of railroading, so I want lots of details that players can explore or ignore at their option. To that end, I want.
1) A dungeon.
2) A hex-based wilderness.
3) A city.
4) A sketch of the world around and before, but the details can be fuzzier the fewer people know about things. I'm just saying don't go looking for me to tell you how the world was born. Nobody alive today existed back then. If they did, they're probably not speaking your language and it'll melt your face to look at them.
Went on a bit of a tangent back then.
The dungeon has a bit of a history. Under the mountain the dungeon is built in lies something horrible and tentacled, whispering in the darkness to anyone who comes close enough. The dungeon exists because the thing at the bottom is trying to get out.
The upper levels are an ancient, overgrown temple, built by some human who worshipped the beast beneath. He held great power in the city that grew up in the valley at the time (the one whose ruins the new city is built on and of). He also dug deep catacombs. Enemies here will include animals and plants as well as spirits of the dead and the traps that are laid about the ruins. There may also be treasure.
Not nearly so long ago, goblins moved in during a time of war and established a fort in parts of the dungeon, also digging deeper and adding new construction built out of the stones of the old temple complex. A human knight came in and was tasked with wiping out the goblins' geurilla stronghold, but he heard the whispers of the thing beneath the mountain. Instead of killing the goblins, he has enslaved them, and has them mining everywhere at a frantic pace. The shafts are prone to collapse, there is little or no light, and the goblins sent to work on this part of the dungeon are resentful. This part of the dungeon will be filled with brutal traps, thinking foes, and the potential to turn some of the goblins against their bullying superiors.
The lowest layers contain underground water, with twisting hidden passages and caverns, deep darkness no torch will light, and plenty of opportunities to be trapped, drowned, suffocated or just plain lost with no way back up. To make matters worse, the thing at the bottom can better interact with these layers, and may break the minds of some characters just by proximity. It may also have hideous fishy spawn more adapted to the wet environment or flying through the high caverns.
The city and such I will get to later.
I have a very few ideas for the city and such.
1) The dungeon gives me some pretty clear ideas about the ancient history of the site the city is built on. There will be ruins in and under the town, and as I've said many buildings will be built of stone from the ruins like they did back in Rome. There's a chance people in town know a little about the thing in the dungeon, and they may have a dedicated cult. In keeping with the lovecraftian themes here, I'm thinking they should be working on a way to transform themselves and a bunch of innocent townfolk into monstrous servitors for the thing.
2) Also, the dungeon tells me there should have been a period of recent warfare with the goblins. I've got a pretty clear idea of what the nearby goblin nation/empire should look like. I'm thinking they've been in an on again off again war with the human nation I'm detailing first for a very long time, and an on again on again on again war with the dwarves for much much longer. I'm also thinking there should be a goblin king. He'll be a short, fat, grotesque, toadlike figure and a capricious bully, but the goblins will serve him unquestionably and give their lives for him if necessary. I have a feeling he'll have some magical means of keeping the obedience and veneration of the goblins.
3) This isn't something the dungeon tells me, but I've got ideas for the trolls. I'm thinking their homeland was overrun by something big and bad (don't know what yet). There are those that stayed at home, loyal to the new power. There are those who established a new homeland, reactionary and paranoid. And there are those who left seeking refuge, often wandering the world alone.
4) While we're working on non-human races, dwarves should be economic allies of some sort with the humans, but they'll probably want to get the war with the goblins started back up. Elves should have an outpost in the wilderness outside the city, and should be wandering in / watching the woods.
5)I have no idea where I'm going with this, but I want there to be political unrest, and potential for a revolution as play goes on.
Sounds good! Political tension is always a grand adventure hook. I will wait on your revised system rules before I comment on the mechanics, however. The grappling sounds good, at least.
Perhaps, with the goblin war, subvert the trope and make the dwarves weary from their last conflict (they've long memories, mind), and less willing to fly into another destructive (and distracting) conflict than the humans?
M.
Quote from: CheomeshSounds good! Political tension is always a grand adventure hook. I will wait on your revised system rules before I comment on the mechanics, however. The grappling sounds good, at least.
Perhaps, with the goblin war, subvert the trope and make the dwarves weary from their last conflict (they've long memories, mind), and less willing to fly into another destructive (and distracting) conflict than the humans?
M.
[/quote]
Dwarves weary of conflict actually sounds pretty good, as does a king losing the support of his people looking to distract them with a new war with an outside enemy. Even if I start with the standard arrangement, it would make a great campaign hook.
Specific Applications for Wounds
If you know my system, you know by now that if you deal a person a bunch of damage in one attack, you can roll a random wound (or if you called a shot, you get the wound you called).
But I have a few other uses for the damage threshold.
If a character gets hit with energy damage for a lot of damage, there's a specific effect. For example, if you're fried by a fire spell, instead of rolling normally, you catch on fire. Electricity will stun you for 1d4 rounds. Cold will stagger you (I couldn't think of anything better). Also energy damage will have no weapon bonus and bypass armor.
Certain monsters have unique reactions to massive damage. If you deal massive damage to a skeleton, it clatters to the floor as a pile of bones. Unfortunately, if you didn't kill it, it'll just get back up again as a minor action the next round. If it's an intelligent skeleton, it might play dead until it's got a better chance of winning a fight.
Sanity
I've also been thinking about sanity mechanics. Originally, I was thinking of ripping off something like CoC or Unknown Armies or even Heroes of Horror's taint/corruption. I knew that stuff just wouldn't work in my system or wouldn't feel right in my setting, and in both cases wouldn't play the way I wanted my game to play. So I figured I'd forget it and leave it be. But recently I've thought up a new approach: treat sanity as I treat hit points.
In this case, your max sanity would equal will score times five or ten (whatever I go with for hit points). Terrifying situations, certain kinds of magic, learning certain rituals, etc. might damage your sanity. You can go completely insane if you run out of sanity. In the mean time, there's also a sort of "damage threshold" for sanity imposed by your will score. If you lose more sanity than your will score in one go, you roll on a table and suffer a temporary or minor permanent effect.
I'm just wondering what specific effects might be. So far, I've got...
Stunning (or you could get staggered or even pass out)
Running (your character must flee)
Rage (not sure the specific effects)
Delusions (again not sure)
Bonus damage (+10, +20, or +30 closer to completely insane)
Fear or Phobia? Maybe work that into running?
And that's it. I want it to look more or less like the current set of wounds... so I'll need a total of eight tracks of 1-3 "wounds" to a characters' mind.
Spells like "fear" or "rage" might deal damage straight to sanity like a normal attack, and cause a specific effect based on the spell if they broke a character's san threshold.
Taint
Since I mentioned sanity, it might be nice to have taint rules too. I should have another table for random taint, though taint doesn't need its own "hit points" like sanity... it can just deal straight hit point damage like normal.
In the same way wounds and sanity effects can get recycled in energy or fear spells, I suppose taint might be things that can be recycled in poison and disease rules...
...but I haven't even thought about this until just now.
Quote from: beejazzCold will stagger you (I couldn't think of anything better).
Maybe you get penalty dice to Dex-based skills and/or combat from uncontrollable shivering (I've experienced this)? Otherwise, being stunned/staggered is pretty realistic judging from the encounters I've had with cold before.
I don't have any real comments on the system just yet, but I'm also still working on reading this thread. There are some pretty interesting ideas here and I'm still trying to link it all together in my head.
Quote from: PolycarpMaybe you get penalty dice to Dex-based skills and/or combat from uncontrollable shivering (I've experienced this)? Otherwise, being stunned/staggered is pretty realistic judging from the encounters I've had with cold before.
I don't have any real comments on the system just yet, but I'm also still working on reading this thread. There are some pretty interesting ideas here and I'm still trying to link it all together in my head.
[/quote]Basics are mostly in the threads in my sig. This thread is just me scrambling to jot down ideas I've had at the back of my mind before fall semester starts.
Armor, Penetration, and Monsters
Those that followed the last discussion thread will remember that weapon stats are...
(weapon name)
(damage type) (low damage bonus)/(high damage bonus) (armor type)
(keywords)
For example...
Some polearm*
Slashing 3/7 Leather
Reach, Two Handed
*not actual stats for some polearm
...and that armor stats are...
(armor name)
(armor type) (low number / high number)
(penalty)
Some kinda plate*
Plate 6/8
3d6
*not actual stats for some kinda plate.
...right? And you'll remember that weapons penetrate the type of armor mentioned in their stat block, and that a weapon that penetrates uses its higher damage bonus vs the armors lower DR, and that a weapon that doesn't penetrate uses its lower damage bonus vs the armors higher DR. Right? Well, if you don't remember, you've been reminded.
Anyway, things can't work the same for monsters, can they? You can't just list under each weapon what monsters' defenses you can penetrate, 'cause the stat blocks would get ridiculous. So monster defenses follow a similar model with a different basis.
Monsters have (value)/(value) (damage type) and things of the given damage type penetrate.
To give but one example, swarms will have damage reduction that bludgeoning weapons can beat. Because recycling the armor rules seems easier than also having 50% damage from certain weapons or what have you. Skeletons would also have the armor overcome by bludgeoning ('cause piercing and slashing weapons are crap against a guy who's mostly empty space... same logic as for swarms).
I wonder if I could implement something like this for incorporeal foes? Or maybe for other supernatural enemies? Armored against iron or silver or jade?
What monsters do you think should be weak against what, now that I'm on the topic?
Magic
Magic, for the most part (there are exceptions for innately magical creatures), is book magic. The magic skill tells you first and foremost how good you are at reading and casting elaborate and formulaic rituals. Outside of that it lets you detect, identify, and counter magic in play. Rituals can take minutes or hours, but generally they're the kind of thing you can't do in combat.
But players' characters and some of the people they'll interact with are exceptional. They'll have the ability to cast what would normally be rituals as spells instead. It'll only take a couple of seconds and a few components to cast that spell your character absolutely knows to the point that he or she has a personal shortcut for casting it.
There is no limit to how many spells a character can cast per day, and you won't have to memorise your spells every morning. There is, however, a limit to how many spells you can have active simultaneously. It takes very difficult concentration to maintain two or three spells at once.
There is also a limit to how powerful a spell you can cast, based on your skill. The more difficult a spell you try to cast, the more likely you are to roll a critical failure and suffer some ill effect from that spell. This is especially true if you don't know what you're doing.
The rules for this?
Casting rituals: Each ritual describes multiple uses for it and the difficulty for those uses, as well as critical failure rates and effects (in addition to the usual description of casting time, components, and effects). Characters use their magic skill to cast. More powerful characters can do more with the same ritual than less powerful ones.
Learning spells: Each time you learn to cast a ritual as a spell, you buy it with a perk. After that, you don't need the book, it only takes a major action, and you only need one component of your choosing (see verbal, somatic, and focus below). Some rituals can't be learned as spells (it will *always* take more than a round and one component to summon Cthulhu).
Focusing on spells: Every time you want to cast a spell or ritual, you must expend your focus. You can regain your focus as a minor action by making a concentration check with a difficulty equal to the number of spells you currently have active. If you fail the check, you wasted your action and can't cast spells until you get your focus back. If you critically fail, you also lose your focus on all your current spells. Yes I know I ripped the focus rules from 3.x psionic feats. But what works works.
Verbal Components: You must speak to cast your spell. The drawback is that you're audible, and can't cast if you're silenced somehow. The benefit is that armor, combat, etc. won't interfere with spellcasting.
Somatic Components: You must gesture to cast a spell. The drawback is that you can be prevented from gesturing by armor or grappling. The benefit is the potential to cast silently.
Focus Components: You use an attuned fetish to cast spells. The benefit is that you can cast spells very very discretely. The drawback is that if you lose your focus you're screwed. To make a focus, you've got to cast the spell in ritual form over the object in question. You can have multiple focuses for multiple spells, or one focus for all your spells at your discretion.
Thaaaaaaaaats all I feel like writing right now. Gonna babble about character sheets next post probably.
The Character Sheet
FRONT: Your Character.
The left column will have the ability scores and skills.
Ability scores will have 4 boxes next to them. At the top they will be labeled "raw" "+level" "+5" and "+5" respectively.
Below that skills will be listed, along with their primary ability and skill type. Next to each skill will be three boxes. One will be under +level, another under +5, and another under the second +5. Instead of writing down a number for each skill, players can just check the box that applies and look up.
The left column will be divided into some blank lines for perks and some blank lines for gear.
BACK: Combat Stats.
On the left will be all the terrible things that can happen to you.
On top will be initiative, followed by hit points, damage threshold, and armor. Below that will be a listing of all the wounds you can get with 1-8 on the left (so you can use it as a table) and three boxes on the right (so you can tick off the one that applies.
If there's extra room I may put a section for sanity etc. below that.
On the right you'll have your weapon stats, with a box to put your skill.
Below that you'll have your three defense skills.
Below that will be lines for notes, relevant feats, etc.
Continuing thoughts on dice:
I've decided to go through with the multi-die solution.
Skill and ability checks: d6
Combat skills: d10
Magic skill: d8
Saves: d8
Wealth checks: d4
Penalties: d6
Random Wounds/ Sanity Effects: d6 d8 combo.
Soon I'll be getting into the whole revolution and/or coup plotline, and figuring out why it's worth revolting.
Also, I'll be finalising some specific skill rules and maybe even the perks list.
Unfortunately, it's sleep time now and the semester starts soon, so this may wind down for a bit.
I'll be going into local politics soon, I promise, but first, I had a few fairly awesome ideas.
Reputation
Not too rigid a system, but a good way I think to simulate the effects of a character's growing reputation.
Each character has a reputation score. It starts at zero and increases through play.
Each time a character does something notable in front of anyone who might spread the word, the GM rolls an appropriate number of dice. More dice for a more notable event and for people more likely to spread it. If the dice roll over your current reputation, you add the number of dice rolled to your reputation score and the event to the list of things you'll be known for.
When you meet someone, the GM may make a reputation roll to see if they've heard of you. Fewer dice the more likely people are to know you (if you're in your hometown or one of the things you're known for is relevant to the NPC, for example). If the roll is under your reputation score, the NPC recognises you, and reacts to you based on the list of things you're known for.
If you do something you'd rather not be known for, it's up to you to shut the witness up.
XP Rewards
Remember how you gain 1xp per session and level up when you've got xp equal to the next level you want (and lose your xp on leveling up)?
I'm thinking of adding two rules to speed things up a little and encourage roleplay.
1. At the end of the session, players vote on who RP'd the best. That player's character gets 1 bonus XP
2. Players can set goals by discussing with the GM. Nothing too hard or too easy, and the GM has final say on what flies. If a player accomplishes a goal he set, he gets a bonus XP.
On an unrelated note to either of these two things, I'm tempted to develop contact rules too.... not letting players stat up their own contacts, but having them encounter them in an adventure and pick them up. Again, trying to get PCs to engage in the setting.
You know what? I think I can manage with d10s and d6s only after all. I've figured out the finally final version of my crit table, and I didn't need to use a d8 or any of that rolling again stuff.
Additionally, behold. All will be explained later.
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A temple with tombs and a fortress and mines and underground river and teh inevitable 'the worst' at the bottom = awesomeness.
Assuming it is a side view. (which is how i saw it)
You saw right. And I'm glad you like. I'll probably flesh it all out a little tonight, and get to explaining all the arrows too.
This is a rough map of how different sections in the dungeon I described upthread will interact. I've kind of refined my idea for the dungeon, including a decent reason for why the party will go there (mostly as a way to start the campaign... if the players don't follow up, other stuff could become more central instead).
I'll start with why there's a dungeon out in the middle of nowhere and move on to what's in it and why the party should care I guess.
Before there was anybody...
Back when the first gods were working on the world and magic was wild, all was not well. For some reason I haven't figured out (though there doesn't need to be much of a reason) awful things with godlike power and the intellect of an insect existed whose only desire was to eat and eat and eat and whose very presence warped magic and the minds of those nearby. For some reason (again I haven't figured it out yet) the gods and creators sealed them down deep in the earth (rather than just kill them), and set their guard dogs (not literal dogs, but more lovecraft ripoffs) up around the area to make sure that no one released these things from the outside. The guard dogs are hibernators and have been asleep since. They'll look like large rocks covered in moss and/or fungus until they are woken up.
In some ancient forgotten kingdom...
People worshiped one of the "guard dogs" closest to the surface as their god. There was a grand temple up in the mountains where they would offer sacrifices to it. The prestigious dead were kept under the temple in a system of elaborate catacombs riddled with traps and now haunted.
When that kingdom was burned to the ground...
Invaders saw the religion as blasphemous. They lopped the faces off the relief sculptures on the wall, cut out certain words from inscriptions on the wall, burned scrolls and texts, and did their best to make the temple inaccessible to outsiders. They made scarce progress in the tombs, where the last of the priests holed up, and instead closed them in from the outside and starved the survivors.
Much much later, during the war...
Goblins reopened portions of the temple and even the tomb for use as a makeshift fortress for a small band operating behind enemy lines. They stayed there even when the war was over, on orders to spy for the goblin kingdom.
After the war...
A certain decorated hero asked for a land grant that happened to include the goblin fortress. He established a manor, had a daughter, and retired.
Years later, a dwarf visited for a month or two before both the knight and the dwarf vanished without a word or a trace, never to be seen again. The knight's daughter was left in charge of the manor.
The dwarf and the knight knew about the goblin fortress, and together with a little hired help took it over. They've forced the goblins to mine within the complex, and are seeking to take advantage of the horrible thing sealed away under the temple (to be more accurate, it's the dwarf mage that wants to take advantage, and he has manipulated the human knight into helping him).
Enter the party...
The king of this small country is a cruel paranoid twelve year old who I really hope gets overthrown by the PCs and friends in the long run.
He sent a loyal supporter (the knight's daughter) a shipment of weapons that was stolen in transit, and he fears revolt. He's even more nervous because the shipment was supposed to be secret. His regent will hire the PCs to investigate the region, looking for bandits or any others that might have stolen the arms shipment. If they don't convince him the knight's daughter isn't a traitor, he'll probably ask them to bring her in and have her executed.
Just a little glimpse of the dungeon and how it might fit into the campaign.
Oh, and I've started on the perks list over in the main thread.
Why would any sane deity choose hibernating beasties as guardians for something that dangerous? Wouldn't you rather want critters that never so much as take a nap?
Quote from: GhostmanWhy would any sane deity choose hibernating beasties as guardians for something that dangerous? Wouldn't you rather want critters that never so much as take a nap?
Well... there is a bit of a mundane reason for this... they don't need to eat. They are intended to guard for eternity after all. That isn't to say that they aren't aware of their surroundings and won't wake up when needed. In fact, one of their features is a supernatural ubiquitous awareness of the area they are bound to guard. A few of them don't even have any of the standard senses (most of them rely on hearing, scent, tremor sense, or some combination thereof).
I know I know, I could always just say "it's magic" as a way for them to survive without food etc. but it suits the mood better if they wait at the bottom until called for rather than just popping out of the ground the minute the PCs go and investigate a bunch of what they think are bandits.
My thought was more that they'd wake when they were needed (specifically when the wrong button is pushed... I'm thinking you couldn't actually wake or free the "dead god" except with an involved magical process of some kind) and kill everything within a several hundred mile radius before going back to sleep.
The first adventure
I'm probably going to start the playtest campaign with the characters being hired by the king (not directly but maybe through his regent). Yes it's a bit railroady, but it gets everybody on the same page to start with, and will show them how a quest works (and I'm not saying they can't start with other quests, pick up some in the course of play, and forget to complete this one). So everybody starts with the quest "investigate the missing arms shipment and report back to the king."
The king sent an arms shipment out, including lots of guns and heavy armor, to a loyal supporter of his in secret. It was stolen and its guards were never heard from again. The king isn't well liked and is justifiably paranoid, so he's worried who wants these weapons and for what... and how they knew about the shipment... and whether his loyal supporter is really a loyal supporter.
So the characters will probably go out into the mountains to the manor of this loyal supporter (the daughter of the old knight described above in the dungeon description) and she'll blame bandits or some such who have been raiding occasionally since she inherited the place from her missing father. She may point them to the old ruins she thinks they use for their hideout, leading the party to the dungeon crawl. Now, if the party wants to mill about in town before heading for the mountains or if they want to investigate the manor and the situation there more thoroughly they may not get to the dungeon in the first adventure, and I'm going to fill in some details for both later. For now I'm going to continue assuming the players go for the dungeon.
The Dungeon (NPCs)
I've gone into a lot of detail on how it got there. But for now I'll get into what's really going on with the "bandits" and the lost weapons shipment. To start with, I gotta introduce you to the 4 main (living) movers and shakers down there.
Deposed Head Goblin: This was the guy who was in charge of the goblin fortress before the mutiny and the hostile takeover by the knight and the dwarf mage. When the war ended, the goblin nation gave the goblins orders to stay and spy on the humans. They then promptly forgot about the hidden fortress and sent them no further supplies or anything. The head goblin didn't want to raid for supplies for fear of betraying their location to the humans. He was deposed by the second in command, and imprisoned with all who were loyal to him. The fortress became more of a bandit lair, with the remaining goblins stealing and pillaging under the leadership of the second in command. They did give away their location, as the deposed head goblin predicted, leading to the later change in leadership and mission.
The deposed head goblin is still imprisoned along with some of his loyal goblins in an abandoned shaft. The players may convince him to help them in exchange for his freedom. He is loyal to the goblin nation however, and if freed he may report the presence of the monster at the bottom of the dungeon back home.
The knight: The knight fought in the war way back when, and got a land grant in this area because of it. He had a decent life after that, got married and had a daughter. A year or two after his wife died an old war buddy came to visit (the dwarf). The two disappeared and left the daughter in charge of the area. They and a small group of mercenaries were able to take control of the dungeon from the second in command, who surrendered when they convinced him they aimed to mine for gold there and promised him a share.
The knight believes the thing at the bottom of the dungeon calls to him and wants to be free. The knight is pretty much crazy. Truth is though it isn't the thing at the bottom calling him. The dwarf is just drugging him and using suggestions and such. If the party kills the dwarf but leaves the knight, the knight may still feel compelled to free the thing at the bottom.
Dwarf Mage: The dwarf mage is the guy that's really behind it all. He wants to bind the thing at the bottom of the dungeon so he can use it as a weapon later. He's driven the knight mad and bribed the goblins with promises of gold. He's also experimenting on goblins in the prison, warping them with the local wild magic or something (I'm still working on what's going on in this part of the dungeon). The only person who knows what he's really up to is the deposed head goblin, who's figured it out somehow.
The dwarf mage will do whatever he has to to get what he wants, and will especially try to lie to or manipulate the PCs to accomplish it. If he gets what he wants, he'll probably feed everything in the dungeon to the monster at the bottom... Partly to appease it, partly to tie off loose ends, and partly just for fun. Chances are the thing will just break loose and eat him too though.
Second in Command Goblin: This guy mutinied against the deposed head goblin and has forced those loyal to their original leader to work in the mines. He thinks they're looking for gold. He's the one that stole the weapons shipment, entirely by accident, and is hiding it outside the dungeon. He plans to kill off the human and the dwarf and their hired mercenaries and take the gold the minute they find it.
I'll maybe do a section by section later, or will post a bit about magic and gods and stuff.
Alright... so I've been thinking of actually giving this game different schools of magic instead of just using a generic magic skill (though there'll be that too).
The way I'm thinking of having it work...
Rituals (Magic) (Int)
Prerequisites: Any two lore skills.
Benefits: You can use this skill to cast any ritual. You can also use this school to identify spells and rituals being cast, and maybe to counter spells or rituals of any type.
Black Magic (Magic) (Will)
Prerequisites: Forbidden Lore, Rituals
Benefits: You can use this skill to cast any ritual on the black magic spell list. Characters with skill focus in black magic can learn those rituals as spells.
Blue Magic (Magic) (Will)
Prerequisites: Arcane Lore, Rituals
Benefits: As black magic, but for the blue magic spell list.
White Magic (Magic) (Will)
Prerequisites: Sacred Lore, Rituals
Benefits: As black magic, but for the white magic spell list.
Green Magic (Magic) (Will)
Prerequisites: Nature Lore, Rituals
Benefits: As black magic, but for the green magic spell list.
Red Magic (Magic) (Will)
Prerequisites: Some Lore (can't think of what would go with this), Rituals
Benefits: As black magic, but for the red magic spell list.
To summarize, the first thing any caster learns is the basics. Then they'll move on to a specialization and learn to cast spells instead of just rituals. Typically mages will be trained in two lores, rituals, one school of magic, and concentration and will have skill focus in their chosen school and concentration (from then on they'll likely pick up a new spell every level). A few mages may be straight ritualists, casting from all school with the power (if not the speed) of a specialized school. I'm still giving dwarves, elves, goblins, and trolls spell lists and unique spellcasting methods, but they won't be required to learn ritual based magic.
I may rename magic schools so they're not obvious M:tG knockoffs too.
Blue magic will focus on knowing, fooling, and travel, with a few utility spells and the summon aberration spell.
Black magic will focus on death, destruction, fear and anger, and a few utility spells and the summon fiend spell.
Green magic will focus on life, healing, plants and animals, and a few utility spells and the summon fey spell.
White magic will focus on healing, light, protection, and a few utility spells and the summon celestial spell.
Red magic will focus on what would normally be evocation, conjuration, transmutation, etc. plus a few utility spells and the summon elemental spell.
Noticing a sort of pattern?
Summoning, Binding, etc.
On summoning in general, there are multiple spells and rituals that are sort of all over the map.
There are summon spells, which summon a monster that obeys you. Each school has one unique summon spell. There is also the summon bound creature spell, which all schools have.
There is also call creature. Call creature is ritual only, and can call any summonable creature. They aren't obedient though. EDIT: Call creature is actually many rituals, each for a different creature. I may also allow this spell to call gods, though finding a way to call and control a god will be EXTREMELY DIFFICULT.
Then there are magic circles for each of the listed creature types. They create a barrier that creatures of a given type can't pass. Each school has 3 magic circles. One against its own creature type and one for each of its "opposed" schools (so green has magic circle: fey, magic circle: fiend, and magic circle: aberration).
Lastly there is bind creature, which is ritual only and binds a creature into a gem, ring, bottle, or other trinket. The creature will obey the owner of the trinket, and can be summoned with the summon bound creature spell. Bound creatures can be used for other things too... you can force them to teach you ritual versions of their powers for example. Some creatures may ask a favor before they can be bound. If you fulfill your end of the bargain, you can successfully bind them without any check (if you failed your check, this will be the only way to bind them).
Creatures with the god subtype can't be called or summoned until they are bound.
Ultimately this means that you start with a default list appropriate to your specialization and can customize your list with some time, effort, and a few quests. Usually you do this by calling monsters into a magic circle and then binding them, but if you can catch a god in the wild, you can obtain a powerful servitor that only you can summon.
Continuing with my break from the dungeon and immediate setting, I'd like to talk about gods and religion in my setting. The first is getting fleshed out a little in my mind... just a start mind you, and I may go another direction with it later. The second not so much.
See, all I know of religion is that the entire region of the setting shared the same or a similar pagan faith (like Rome did) before the empire collapsed. Towards the end there were many mystery cults (again like in Rome) but no one cult gained dominance in the entire region (which is where this goes a little religious alt-history). The original paganism was banned or marginalized in most places in favor of more recent religions endorsed by the state(s). New, predominant religions share more in common with monotheistic faiths, eastern philosophy, or gnosticism.
I don't know much about the new faiths I'm going to have in the region, but I do know a little about the pockets of the old faiths I'm going to be working with.
The Gods
The pantheon is going to pull cliches out of many polytheistic pantheons, but especially the gods of the fertile crescent (the Babylonian/Sumerian/Akkadian stuff), the Norse pantheon, and the Greek pantheon.
Two ideas I am definitely stealing are me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_(mythology)) (in this case I'll modify them heavily, but the important thing is that the powers of godhood can be transferred and/or stolen) and the tablets of destiny (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablets_of_Destiny) (currently not in the possession of any god, but in some place that even the gods fear to go... play for years and maybe your character can bring these back and rule the universe).
I'm taking other ideas as well.
-Gods are also places sometimes. The planes are sometimes either the corpse of a god, the body of a living god, or the domain of a god.
-There are multiple generations of gods.
-Generations of gods don't get along (the Titans vs the Olympians, the Cyclopes, and the Hecatonchires or the Aesir-Vanir war)
-Older gods are more forces of nature; newer gods are more civilized. Older gods are more powerful, distant, and likely to be dead; newer gods are more involved in human affairs.
-There are redundant gods for specific aspects of the same thing (an old god of the sea and storms... a new god of the sea and sailing).
-Unlike in many RPGs, where good people worship good gods and bad people worshiped bad gods, people who worship gods at all worship all kinds. Praying to a bad god is more of a "please don't kill me" thing.
-Many monsters are descended somehow from the gods.
-There are monsters the gods don't want to mess with out there (Typhos).
-There are smaller local gods. Local traditions will vary based on local gods or spirits.
-People's understanding of the gods and what they actually are won't match up 100%. Local traditions will vary depending on how they see things.
Oh, and while one of the gods might have taught magic to humans (and is probably still being punished for it), since then, humans don't get their powers directly from the gods the way clerics do.
Specific Gods
I should warn you I'm not terribly sure about anything I say below.
I'm pretty sure the first two gods will be Time (the original owner of the tablet of destiny) and Chaos (the only thing in the cosmos that can both create and destroy me... there's gotta be a better name for that stuff).
They'll probably be followed by Earth, Sea, and Sky. In order to rebel each will ask Chaos for a companion. Air gets Death, Water Pestilence, and Earth War.
Death will remain neutral, while the other two new gods are split (one will defend Time and Chaos, the other will rebel with Earth, Sea, and Sky).
At the end, Time loses and is stripped of the tablet. He's imprisoned somewhere, but his escape will mark the end of the universe. Being unable to decide who should take it, the rebellious gods give the tablet to Death. Chaos may be left in Death's care. Whichever companion defended the old gods might be forgiven.
Death isn't any more deserving of the tablet than Time it turns out. The Earth/Sea/Sky bunch keep trying to make new gods with each other (or maybe Earth with War and Sea with Pestilence... maybe even Sky with Death), and each time Death takes them. So they talk to War and Pestilence. And War and Pestilence talk to Chaos. And they ask Chaos for something truly horrible to stop Death.
So now there's something truly horrible running around, and nobody wants that. Death has to use the tablet to seal the potentially universe ending thing away. As revenge, Death puts out a great feast for the gods and tricks them into eating their children. (Children in the earth, sea, and sky are sort of lesser abominations in the world) Death gets sealed away in her own domain pretty quick after that. Chaos too is cast out by the gods, but there's only so much you can do to keep chaos at bay.
And that's the story of the oldest gods at least. I may work on the rest later.
EDIT: Ah crap... forgot to mention why the first rebellion happened. Another stolen idea, time eats any new gods that come from Earth Sea and Sky. There's a whole pantheon of monstrous gods that are eaten by him and taken back after he is defeated. They play a minor role, if any role at all, in the second rebellion. However, they'll probably take over after the second rebellion.
So I'm figuring out sanity effects.
Players' total sanity will be 10x will score probably, and their sanity threshold will be equal to their will score. If they suffer more total sanity damage than they can handle, they'll likely either lose it completely and become NPCs or they'll go comatose or something. If they suffer damage in excess of their will score in one "attack," they'll roll some random effect on a d10 (for effect) and d6 (for intensity) just like for wounds. Also like wounding, some sanity attacks have more specific effects when this happens. For example, most sanity attacks will be fear effects, and will only ever inflict fear.
The effects thing so far...
1- Stun (just like the wounds)
2- Stun (same)
3- Fear (flee or suffer progressively worse penalties depending on intensity)
4- Fear (same)
5- More damage (+10, +20, or +30 sanity damage)
6- Dissociation (critical failure more likely on perception checks... highest intensity induces insanity quest)
7- Delusion (critical failure more likely on intelligence checks... highest intensity induces insanity quest)
8- Depression (critical failure more likely on will checks... highest intensity induces insanity quest)
9- Rage (critical failure more likely on charisma checks... highest intensity induces insanity quest)
10- ???
I may add another "more damage" result if I can't think of anything else.
An "insanity quest" is a quest that the GM might give you in the event that this result comes up. It's really up to him what it is. As long as you have an insanity quest, you can't gain xp from any other quest until you complete it. It's likely that GMs will roll insanity in secret and hand out quests secretly at the end of the session.
So players can resist the urge to do whatever their insanity compels them to do, but it comes at great personal cost.
I'm not sure about the whole "insanity quest" thing. I like the idea in theory, but I can see it being kind of annoying. What if your about to complete a quest and then in then BAM you go insane. That could really make you miss out on a big chunk of XP.
I take it from the XP penalty you want it to be something fairly severe. Just to note I've never been a fan XP penalties.
Quote from: LlumI'm not sure about the whole "insanity quest" thing. I like the idea in theory, but I can see it being kind of annoying. What if your about to complete a quest and then in then BAM you go insane. That could really make you miss out on a big chunk of XP.
I take it from the XP penalty you want it to be something fairly severe. Just to note I've never been a fan XP penalties.
My thought is that XP won't be penalized so much as held back temporarily. On healing/completion of your insanity quest, you gain whatever XP you would've gotten for quests completed while insane.
I realise how much of a pain XP penalties can be, as well as rules that force the players' hands. So I'm a little iffy on it myself.
Just wanted insanity to...
...not literally force anyone to do something. (can't think of an example)
...be inconvenient enough that it's something to avoid. (insanity has benefits in UA)
...still be playable. ('cause being an NPC ala CoC sucks if it can happen on a bad roll)
Thanks for the feedback, btw.
I've really got to start working on this again.
I'm thinking of changing insanity quests two ways. Firstly, they won't come up randomly. Only when you get insanity equal to 5x will (at 10x will you're irredeemably insane) will you have an insanity quest, and only the one. Secondly, they won't interfere with quest xp. Instead, players will stop getting session xp until the quest is completed. Players may get quests until they get sane again or they may only get the one; I haven't decided. In any case, going crazy is not something you want to do.
Additionally, I've got a little more specific dungeon info and nonhuman races are still problematic for me mechanically. I don't know if I'll keep them, but this dungeon without the goblins might make me a little sad.
I haven't even been on this forum in a really long time for some reason. Real life and other things. But I have been working still.
I busted out some typing yesterday and today on magic. I've changed this and that, but I'll get into explaining all this later. Still don't have individual spell descriptions for example.
[spoiler=magic stuff]Black Spell I
Prerequisites: Black Magic 20 or Red or Blue Magic 25 or White or Green Magic 30
Benefit: Choose a tier I ritual off the black magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Black Spell II
Prerequisites: Black Magic 25 or Red or Blue Magic 30 or White or Green Magic 35
Benefit: Choose a tier II ritual off the black magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Black Spell III
Prerequisites: Black Magic 30 or Red or Blue Magic 35 or White or Green Magic 40
Benefit: Choose a tier III ritual off the black magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Black Spell IV
Prerequisites: Black Magic 35 or Red or Blue Magic 40 or White or Green Magic 45
Benefit: Choose a tier IV ritual off the black magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Black Spell V
Prerequisites Black Magic 40 or Red or Blue Magic 45 or White or Green Magic 50
Benefit: Choose a tier V ritual off the black magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Blue Spell I
Prerequisites: Blue Magic 20 or Black or White Magic 25 or Red or Green Magic 30
Benefit: Choose a tier I ritual off the blue magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Blue Spell II
Prerequisites: Blue Magic 25 or Black or White Magic 30 or Red or Green Magic 35
Benefit: Choose a tier II ritual off the blue magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Blue Spell III
Prerequisites: Blue Magic 30 or Black or White Magic 35 or Red or Green Magic 40
Benefit: Choose a tier III ritual off the blue magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Blue Spell IV
Prerequisites: Blue Magic 35 or Black or White Magic 40 or White or Blue Magic 45
Benefit: Choose a tier IV ritual off the blue magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Blue Spell V
Prerequisites: Blue Magic 40 or Black or White Magic 45 or White or Blue Magic 50
Benefit: Choose a tier V ritual off the blue magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Green Spell I
Prerequisites: Green Magic 20 or Red or White Magic 25 or Black or Blue Magic 30
Benefit: Choose a tier I ritual off the green magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Green Spell II
Prerequisites: Green Magic 25 or Red or White Magic 30 or Black or Blue Magic 35
Benefit: Choose a tier II ritual off the green magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Green Spell III
Prerequisites: Green Magic 30 or Red or White Magic 35 or Black or Blue Magic 40
Benefit: Choose a tier III ritual off the green magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Green Spell IV
Prerequisites: Green Magic 35 or Red or White Magic 40 or Black or White Magic 45
Benefit: Choose a tier IV ritual off the green magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Green Spell V
Prerequisites: Green Magic 40 or Red or White Magic 45 or Black or White Magic 50
Benefit: Choose a tier V ritual off the green magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Red Spell I
Prerequisites: Red Magic 20 or Black or Green Magic 25 or White or Blue Magic 30
Benefit: Choose a tier I ritual off the red magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Red Spell II
Prerequisites: Red Magic 25 or Black or Green Magic 30 or White or Blue Magic 35
Benefit: Choose a tier II ritual off the red magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Red Spell III
Prerequisites: Red Magic 30 or Black or Green Magic 35 or White or Blue Magic 40
Benefit: Choose a tier III ritual off the red magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Red Spell IV
Prerequisites: Red Magic 35 or Black or Green Magic 40 or White or Blue Magic 45
Benefit: Choose a tier IV ritual off the red magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
Red Spell V
Prerequisites Red Magic 40 or Black or Green Magic 45 or White or Blue Magic 50
Benefit: Choose a tier V ritual off the red magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
White Spell I
Prerequisites: White Magic 20 or Blue or Green Magic 25 or Red or Black Magic 30
Benefit: Choose a tier I ritual off the white magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
White Spell II
Prerequisites: White Magic 25 or Blue or Green Magic 30 or Red or Black Magic 35
Benefit: Choose a tier II ritual off the white magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
White Spell III
Prerequisites: White Magic 30 or Blue or Green Magic 35 or Red or Black Magic 40
Benefit: Choose a tier III ritual off the white magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
White Spell IV
Prerequisites: White Magic 35 or Blue or Green Magic 40 or Red or Black Magic 45
Benefit: Choose a tier IV ritual off the blue magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
White Spell V
Prerequisites: White Magic 40 or Blue or Green Magic 45 or Red or Black Magic 50
Benefit: Choose a tier V ritual off the white magic spell list. You may now cast that ritual as a spell using the skill with which you qualified for this perk.
SPELL LISTS
BLACK
Tier I
summon bound spirit
detect fiend
detect alien
detect celestial
Tier II
magic circle against fiends
magic circle against aliens
magic circle against celestials
Tier III
bind spirit
Tier IV
summon fiend
Tier V
summon unique
BLUE
Tier I
summon bound spirit
detect alien
detect elemental
detect celestial
Tier II
bind spirit
Tier III
magic circle against aliens
magic circle against elementals
magic circle against celestials
Tier IV
summon alien
Tier V
summon unique
GREEN
Tier I
summon bound spirit
detect fey
detect elementals
detect aliens
Tier II
bind spirit
Tier III
magic circle against fey
magic circle against elementals
magic circle against aliens
Tier IV
summon fey
Tier V
summon unique
RED
Tier I
summon bound spirit
detect elemental
detect fey
detect fiend
Tier II
magic circle against elementals
magic circle against fey
magic circle against fiends
Tier III
bind spirit
Tier IV
summon elemental
Tier V
summon unique
WHITE
Tier I
summon bound spirit
detect celestials
detect fiends
detect fey
Tier II
magic circle against celestials
magic circle against fiends
magic circle against fey
Tier III
bind spirit
Tier IV
summon celestial
Tier V
summon unique
SPELL DESCRIPTIONS
Bind Spirit
Detect Alien
Detect Celestial
Detect Elemental
Detect Fey
Detect Fiend
Magic Circle Against Aliens
Magic Circle Against Celestials
Magic Circle Against Elementals
Magic Circle Against Fey
Magic Circle Against Fiends
Summon Alien
Summon Bound Spirit
Summon Celestial
Summon Elemental
Summon Fey
Summon Fiend
Summon Unique
[/spoiler]
EDIT: Ah, screw it, I got time on my hands so I'll explain. If you read this a while ago, some of this will be refresher stuff.
Mages all know how to use rituals. Rituals take a while to cast and have ritual components. Some mages have inherent power from the study and practice of magic. Such mages have a sympathy for one of five schools: Black (evil, death, darkness, fiendish stuff, undead, etc.), Blue (weirdness, knowledge, sight, trickery, control, unreal stuff, travel, etc.), Green (natural, living, strong, plants and animals, etc.), Red (physical, elemental, destructive, chaotic, etc.), and White (goodness, healing, light, aid, protection, etc.). Mages who practice magic of one of the five schools can learn to cast rituals from their school with drastically reduced casting times... these are called spells.
Each school has adjacent schools (blue is adjacent to black and white) that are easier to learn and opposed schools (in this case red or green) that are harder to learn. But mages who cast spells can eventually learn weaker spells out of all five schools.
So far I've only really detailed spells pertaining to summoning, etc. Early on, in order to summon, you've got to bind creatures you find in the wild one at a time. It's almost like pokemon. Since magic circles (which can be used to hold creatures in place for the duration of the binding ritual) and binding can only be cast as rituals at first, it's a lot of work. Alternately, at low levels, you can summon creatures aligned with your school of magic as a ritual (this limits utility in combat). Also, if you find a ritual to summon a unique creature, you can cast it as a ritual at low levels.
Once you actually attempt a summoning, one of a number of things happen. If you succeed, the monster is summoned under your control (but see notes about monster control below). If you fail, the monster is not summoned. If you have a critical failure, the monster is freed instead, and may cause problems for you in the immediate future (in the case of destructive monsters and those unhappy being bound).
I say that you can control the monster, but it's limited. The monster can not do most things without your permission, and it is magically compelled to honor any agreements it makes with you. It is not immediately compelled to fight for you or teach you rituals (these being the two most common uses for player character mages). Two ways to use summoned creatures are to either use it for things it would do anyway or to make an agreement with it. If you make an agreement with a monster, typically it asks you to complete a quest on its behalf in exchange for its whole or partial loyalty (it might teach you spells, fight on your behalf, give you useful information, do menial labor, possess someone for you, etc... but rarely would one agreement get you all of that at once).
I am intrigued and perhaps a bit confused by your method of dice rolling. I think I've got the basic idea-- you roll a certain number of d10's and have to roll under your skill on all of them in order to succeed. Kind of a "reverse dice pool." Is that about right?
If that's the case, it's really interesting, though I wonder if there will be enough choice for DMs in determining difficulty levels. The probabilities for increasing difficulties are, of course, exponential graphs that get progressively steeper, which does create an interesting progression of where the "50% chance of succeeding" is, but makes actions at lower levels of skill become very difficult very quickly. It also means you can never have more than "your skill * 10 %" chance of success, which would tend to clump ability scores in the 5-9 range unless rolls are very infrequent. It would seem almost more desirable to have an nth-root curve for the lower difficulties, flattening out to linear at some point, and then following your pattern-- which could be accomplished by changing the system from "roll under on all dice" to "roll under on any die" at lower difficulties.
Let's say there are now two types of dice pools. AND dice are the current system, you must roll below the target on all of them (i.e., die 1 AND die 2 AND die 3...) OR dice are new, you must roll below the target on any one of them-- more of a standard die pool. (i.e., die 1 OR die 2 OR die 3...) You can then correlate difficulty to dice pool by saying that difficulties less than 1 roll OR dice equal to the reciprocal of the difficulty level: e.g., you roll 2 OR dice for difficulty 1/2, 3 OR dice for difficulty 1/3, and so on.
That might get confusing, so an alternate scheme is something simpler like:
Difficulty 1 = Roll 3 OR dice
Difficulty 2 = Roll 2 OR dice
Difficulty 3 = Roll 1 die
Difficulty 4 = Roll 2 AND dice
Difficulty 5 = Roll 3 AND dice
and so on... it might need some tweaking but you get the idea.
I'm particularly intrigued by the combat resolution mechanic of rolling "as many d10s as you'd like." If it's a roll-under system where you have to succeed on every die, what is the incentive of making it more difficult? More damage?
Quote from: sparkletwistI am intrigued and perhaps a bit confused by your method of dice rolling. I think I've got the basic idea-- you roll a certain number of d10's and have to roll under your skill on all of them in order to succeed. Kind of a "reverse dice pool." Is that about right?
If that's the case, it's really interesting, though I wonder if there will be enough choice for DMs in determining difficulty levels. The probabilities for increasing difficulties are, of course, exponential graphs that get progressively steeper, which does create an interesting progression of where the "50% chance of succeeding" is, but makes actions at lower levels of skill become very difficult very quickly. It also means you can never have more than "your skill * 10 %" chance of success, which would tend to clump ability scores in the 5-9 range unless rolls are very infrequent. It would seem almost more desirable to have an nth-root curve for the lower difficulties, flattening out to linear at some point, and then following your pattern-- which could be accomplished by changing the system from "roll under on all dice" to "roll under on any die" at lower difficulties.
Let's say there are now two types of dice pools. AND dice are the current system, you must roll below the target on all of them (i.e., die 1 AND die 2 AND die 3...) OR dice are new, you must roll below the target on any one of them-- more of a standard die pool. (i.e., die 1 OR die 2 OR die 3...) You can then correlate difficulty to dice pool by saying that difficulties less than 1 roll OR dice equal to the reciprocal of the difficulty level: e.g., you roll 2 OR dice for difficulty 1/2, 3 OR dice for difficulty 1/3, and so on.
That might get confusing, so an alternate scheme is something simpler like:
Difficulty 1 = Roll 3 OR dice
Difficulty 2 = Roll 2 OR dice
Difficulty 3 = Roll 1 die
Difficulty 4 = Roll 2 AND dice
Difficulty 5 = Roll 3 AND dice
and so on... it might need some tweaking but you get the idea.
I'm particularly intrigued by the combat resolution mechanic of rolling "as many d10s as you'd like." If it's a roll-under system where you have to succeed on every die, what is the incentive of making it more difficult? More damage?
It's not really like a roll under dice pool if that's what you're saying. You roll a number of dice and add them up and if they're under your total you succeed.
DC 1 or 2 will be pretty challenging for someone who doesn't know what he's doing. But DC 3 will have a reasonable chance of success for someone with max ability and skill focus (for 20 total at first level).
I don't know if I'm explaining this right.
No, I understand it now. It's more logical than the weird thing I came up with. On the other hand, since that isn't how yours works, I think I am going to use it myself. :D
What is the effect of choosing to roll more dice in combat?
Mainly more damage, as your damage is your roll plus weapon damage mod. Also, the number of dice you pick is the difficulty of any defense checks.
Most of the basic information is on the threads the links in my sig lead to, if I remember correctly. It's been a while, so I don't know what I have or haven't written down yet, and the stuff in the discussion thread and this brainstorming thread may have changed since.
EDIT: Looks like you've already looked in the sigged threads.
I've just started on individual spell descriptions. I'm thinking really about the format I'm going to use now and making sure that all the information that needs to be there is there.
[spoiler=descriptions]
Bind Spirit
Ritual Time:
Duration: Permanent
Components: Incantation, Fetish (a gem, ring, trinket, or other vessel not previously used to bind a spirit)
Task: Bind a spirit to a fetish of some sort.
Difficulty: The difficulty of the task is equal to the level of the spirit to be bound.
Success: The spirit is bound to the fetish used to cast the ritual. This means that the spirit is trapped within the item until called out with a summon bound spirit ritual.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Critical Failure: The caster's rituals are all dismissed. The spirit is allowed a new save against rituals affecting it. It is also granted temporary immunity against magic circles, lasting 1d10 minutes.
Detect Alien
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Gesture
Task: Detect the presence of alien creatures.
Difficulty:3 (rolled in secret)
Success: You can tell whether there are any aliens in the immediate vicinity.
Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You know the ritual has failed.
Critical Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You don't know the ritual has failed.
[/spoiler]
I'm working more on each spellcasting school. Hopefully, by the end of this, I will have at least 50 spells per school. It may sound like a lot, but the max level I'm writing this game for is probably going to be something like 25, and most casters will probably be opting for spells from their school all the way up and I don't want all casters of a given school to feel totally alike. That said, I've got 20ish spells outside of the last summoning-based post for each school. So at worst I'm about ten spells per school away from my goal taking into account the tennish summoning-based spells.
Anyway, here's the spell lists.
Black
Wither (withers limbs)
Bleed
Disease
Poison
Fatigue
Blind
Deafen
Death Knell
Kill
Animate Dead
Awaken Undead
False Life (black magic sustaining you past the point of hit points)
Speak With Dead
Command Undead
Clone
Darkness
Fear
Desecrate
Tentacles
Despair
Possession
Curse (like an easier to get rid of permanency tied to some other baleful spell)
Rage
Steal Soul
Blue
Detect Thoughts
Detect Magic
Mage Eye
True Seeing
Scrying
Detect Scrying
Legend Lore
Augury
Charm
Favor (basically suggestion... an "ask one favor" spell)
Sleep
Dream
Illusion (one for each sense*)
Hallucination (one for each sense*)
Invisibility (one for each sense*)
Darkness
Silence
False Text
Flight
Passwall
Teleport
Tongues
Message
Telepathy
*maybe just sight and sound, but olfactory effects seem like they might be fun too
Green
Grow
Shrink
Faces
Beast Form
Plant Form
Vermin Form
Swarm Form
Entangle
Charm Beast
Charm Plant Creature
Calm Vermin
Detect Beast
Detect Plant Creature
Detect Vermin
Vermin Favor
Plant Favor
Beast Favor
Grow Beast
Grow Plant Creature
Grow Vermin
Shrink Beast
Shrink Plant Creature
Shrink Vermin
Fertility
Blight
Swarm
Web
Tree Stride
Wall of Thorns
Walk on Water
Walk on Air
Hail
Rain
Wind
Mist
Earthquake
Tornado
Red
Shatter
Wind Wall
Fire Wall
Ice Wall
Soften Earth
Firm Earth
Shape Stone
Heat Metal
Chill Metal
Shrink Item
Grow Item
Earthen Wall
Creation
Animate Objects
Grease
Choking Smoke
Rust
Fire Spells
Ice Spells
Lightning Spells
Force Attacks
Disintegration
Telekinesis
Personal Force Shield
Force Wall
Reverse Gravity
White
Mend Wounds (hp healing and can counter limb wounds and bleeding)
Regeneration (hp healing over time)
Vigor (faster, easier, hp only)
Health (hp and disease/poison healing)
Restore Senses (counters blindness/deafness)
Preserve Flesh
Raise Dead
Death Ward
Detect Undead
Smite Undead
Halt Undead
Repel Undead
Hide from Undead
Light
Courage
Consecrate
Exorcism
Mark of Justice (specified causes linked spell until specified conditions are met)
Calm (negates rage and despair and such)
Been working more on those spell descriptions.
[spoiler=Descriptions]
Bind Spirit
Ritual Time:
Duration: Permanent
Components: Incantation, Fetish (a gem, ring, trinket, or other vessel not previously used to bind a spirit)
Task: Bind a spirit to a fetish of some sort.
Difficulty: The difficulty of the task is equal to the level of the spirit to be bound.
Success: The spirit is bound to the fetish used to cast the ritual. This means that the spirit is trapped within the item until called out with a summon bound spirit ritual. A summoned spirit or monster can not be bound.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Critical Failure: The caster's rituals are all dismissed. The spirit is allowed a new save against rituals affecting it. It is also granted temporary immunity against magic circles, lasting 1d10 minutes.
Detect Alien
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Gesture
Task: Detect the presence of alien spirits.
Difficulty: 3 (rolled in secret)
Success: You can tell whether there are any aliens in the immediate vicinity.
Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You know the ritual has failed.
Critical Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You don't know the ritual has failed.
Detect Celestial
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Gesture
Task: Detect the presence of celestial spirits.
Difficulty: 3 (rolled in secret)
Success: You can tell whether there are any celestials in the immediate vicinity.
Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You know the ritual has failed.
Critical Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You don't know the ritual has failed.
Detect Elemental
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Gesture
Task: Detect the presence of elemental spirits.
Difficulty: 3 (rolled in secret)
Success: You can tell whether there are any elementals in the immediate vicinity.
Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You know the ritual has failed.
Critical Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You don't know the ritual has failed.
Detect Fey
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Gesture
Task: Detect the presence of fey spirits.
Difficulty: 3 (rolled in secret)
Success: You can tell whether there are any fey in the immediate vicinity.
Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You know the ritual has failed.
Critical Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You don't know the ritual has failed.
Detect Fiend
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Gesture
Task: Detect the presence of fiendish spirits.
Difficulty: 3 (rolled in secret)
Success: You can tell whether there are any fiends in the immediate vicinity.
Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You know the ritual has failed.
Critical Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You don't know the ritual has failed.
Magic Circle Against Aliens
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Fetish (a magic circle drawn onto or carved into the floor, ground, or ceiling)
Task: Create a barrier impassible by aliens.
Difficulty: 1 per diameter
Success: Most aliens can neither cross the circle in or out, nor use magic across the barrier (for example, an alien inside the circle could not teleport out nor charm someone outside the circle). An alien may attempt to cross the circle. You must make a magic check with a difficulty equal to the alien's level to contain it. If the circle is crossed, the spell is broken. If the circle is made in salt or chalk, the circle is ruined and must be re-drawn.
Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You know the ritual has failed.
Critical Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You don't know the ritual has failed.
Special: The ritual time given is the time it takes to draw the circle in chalk or salt. It can be activated later as a main action. The circle can also be carved into a surface, which will take twice as long or longer, depending on the surface.
Magic Circle Against Celestials
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Fetish (a magic circle drawn onto or carved into the floor, ground, or ceiling)
Task: Create a barrier impassible by celestials.
Difficulty: 1 per diameter
Success: Most celestials can neither cross the circle in or out, nor use magic across the barrier (for example, a celestial inside the circle could not teleport out nor charm someone outside the circle). A celestial may attempt to cross the circle. You must make a magic check with a difficulty equal to the celestial's level to contain it. If the circle is crossed, the spell is broken. If the circle is made in salt or chalk, the circle is ruined and must be re-drawn.
Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You know the ritual has failed.
Critical Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You don't know the ritual has failed.
Special: The ritual time given is the time it takes to draw the circle in chalk or salt. It can be activated later as a main action. The circle can also be carved into a surface, which will take twice as long or longer, depending on the surface.
Magic Circle Against Elementals
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Fetish (a magic circle drawn onto or carved into the floor, ground, or ceiling)
Task: Create a barrier impassible by elementals.
Difficulty: 1 per diameter
Success: Most elementals can neither cross the circle in or out, nor use magic across the barrier (for example, an elemental inside the circle could not teleport out nor charm someone outside the circle). An elemental may attempt to cross the circle. You must make a magic check with a difficulty equal to the elemental's level to contain it. If the circle is crossed, the spell is broken. If the circle is made in salt or chalk, the circle is ruined and must be re-drawn.
Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You know the ritual has failed.
Critical Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You don't know the ritual has failed.
Special: The ritual time given is the time it takes to draw the circle in chalk or salt. It can be activated later as a main action. The circle can also be carved into a surface, which will take twice as long or longer, depending on the surface.
Magic Circle Against Fey
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Fetish (a magic circle drawn onto or carved into the floor, ground, or ceiling)
Task: Create a barrier impassible by fey.
Difficulty: 1 per diameter
Success: Most fey can neither cross the circle in or out, nor use magic across the barrier (for example, a fey inside the circle could not teleport out nor charm someone outside the circle). A fey may attempt to cross the circle. You must make a magic check with a difficulty equal to the fey's level to contain it. If the circle is crossed, the spell is broken. If the circle is made in salt or chalk, the circle is ruined and must be re-drawn.
Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You know the ritual has failed.
Critical Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You don't know the ritual has failed.
Special: The ritual time given is the time it takes to draw the circle in chalk or salt. It can be activated later as a main action. The circle can also be carved into a surface, which will take twice as long or longer, depending on the surface.
Magic Circle Against Fiends
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Fetish (a magic circle drawn onto or carved into the floor, ground, or ceiling)
Task: Create a barrier impassible by fiends.
Difficulty: 1 per diameter
Success: Most fiends can neither cross the circle in or out, nor use magic across the barrier (for example, a fiend inside the circle could not teleport out nor charm someone outside the circle). A fiend may attempt to cross the circle. You must make a magic check with a difficulty equal to the fiend's level to contain it. If the circle is crossed, the spell is broken. If the circle is made in salt or chalk, the circle is ruined and must be re-drawn.
Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You know the ritual has failed.
Critical Failure: The ritual doesn't function. You don't know the ritual has failed.
Special: The ritual time given is the time it takes to draw the circle in chalk or salt. It can be activated later as a main action. The circle can also be carved into a surface, which will take twice as long or longer, depending on the surface.
Summon Alien
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Incantation
Task: Summon an alien.
Difficulty: The difficulty of the task is equal to the level of the creature to be summoned.
Success: You summon an alien. The alien is merely a projection of its home plane, having no secret or ritual knowledge to share. However, it will serve you loyally, in combat or in manual labor.
Failure: The creature is not summoned.
Critical Failure: The creature is summoned, with permanent duration, but does not serve you loyally. Usually it will go on a killing spree.
Summon Bound Spirit
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Incantation, Fetish (the item to which the spirit has been bound)
Task: Summon a bound spirit.
Difficulty: The difficulty of the task is equal to the level of the spirit to be summoned.
Success: You summon a bound spirit. It may not take any action without your permission, but is not magically compelled to obey you. It is magically compelled to honor any agreements it makes, so you can usually strike up a bargain for its service in combat, its ritual knowledge, manual labor, or what have you. Usually such agreements are made separately and in exchange for the completion of a quest that suits the spirit's nature. Some spirits are so bloodthirsty that no agreements are necessary for combat service. Simply giving them permission to kill is enough. If a bound spirit dies, it is dead forever. It can no longer be summoned, and its fetish is useless.
Failure: The spirit is not summoned.
Critical Failure: The spirit is freed from its binding. Usually it will attempt to escape.
Summon Celestial
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Incantation
Task: Summon a celestial.
Difficulty: The difficulty of the task is equal to the level of the creature to be summoned.
Success: You summon a celestial. The celestial is merely a projection of its home plane, having no secret or ritual knowledge to share. However, it will serve you loyally, in combat or in manual labor.
Failure: The creature is not summoned.
Critical Failure: The creature is summoned, with permanent duration, but does not serve you loyally. Usually it will go on a killing spree.
Summon Elemental
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Incantation
Task: Summon an elemental.
Difficulty: The difficulty of the task is equal to the level of the creature to be summoned.
Success: You summon an elemental. The elemental is merely a projection of its home plane, having no secret or ritual knowledge to share. However, it will serve you loyally, in combat or in manual labor.
Failure: The creature is not summoned.
Critical Failure: The creature is summoned, with permanent duration, but does not serve you loyally. Usually it will go on a killing spree.
Summon Fey
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Incantation
Task: Summon a fey.
Difficulty: The difficulty of the task is equal to the level of the creature to be summoned.
Success: You summon a fey. The fey is merely a projection of its home plane, having no secret or ritual knowledge to share. However, it will serve you loyally, in combat or in manual labor.
Failure: The creature is not summoned.
Critical Failure: The creature is summoned, with permanent duration, but does not serve you loyally. Usually it will go on a killing spree.
Summon Fiend
Ritual Time:
Duration: Continuous
Components: Incantation
Task: Summon a fiend.
Difficulty: The difficulty of the task is equal to the level of the creature to be summoned.
Success: You summon an fiend. The fiend is merely a projection of its home plane, having no secret or ritual knowledge to share. However, it will serve you loyally, in combat or in manual labor.
Failure: The creature is not summoned.
Critical Failure: The creature is summoned, with permanent duration, but does not serve you loyally. Usually it will go on a killing spree.
[/spoiler]
Still all summoning related things. Still need to put in calling (summons a specific creature) and spells to banish summoned creatures, though I haven't fully decided whether banishing works on all things or a school's enemies or the same things they can detect and put circles around or what.
I still want there to be ten or twenty new spells for each school too. I need to think of good planar spells for each school.
EDIT: Of course I forget to include in magic circles that those who can cast magic circles as spells can instantly generate circles.
I'm bored, and all I've been writing about has been magic so far, so I figure I'll type a little about how combat is supposed to play. I wrote the rules to encourage certain tactics, and I'm sure it will get more clear as things solidify, but I wanted to talk about movement and timing.
1) Archers don't want to be engaged by melee characters. Melee characters don't want to be shot at while they close. Split defenses encourage this.
2) Characters can't defend themselves indefinitely. You don't want to get ganged up on, both because you can be overwhelmed and because defending yourself might mean giving up attacks and movement.
3) Characters forced onto the defense can't move or attack as well.
4) Full defense can be used to get AoOs.
Right off the bat there are several roles players can take on. An archer might try and perch on inaccessible high ground, making the most of his range. A harrier might try really hard to get to the archer and cut them down. A tank might park themselves on a chokepoint with a reach weapon, full armor, and a full defense to keep the harrier away from the archer (if anyone tries passing through, they get AoO'd to hell, losing move actions as a result). Throw in magic users, whose job might be crowd management (creating inaccessible terrain, helping the harrier move, handling large numbers of weak foes) and whose defensive weakness may be more pronounced, plus crowds/archer squads to overwhelm a tank and things get interesting. And of course, this is just one hypothetical situation. Open fields, mounted combat, large groups of archers instead of infantry, and any number of things can change the appropriate tactics drastically.
Many of these tactics already work (using range to get an edge over melee fighters, for example). I just wanted to make the differences more pronounced.
I need planar spells, but first I need to figure out what my planes will be. I'm thinking there should be about two planes for each spellcasting school. My cosmology's a little different in that there's no shadow/ethereal/astral and all planes are transitive planes at the low level. Without further ado...
Planar Terms
The shallows: The lowest level of any plane is coterminous (is that the right word?) with the material plane. That is to say that while it has the traits of the plane it belongs to, most things in the real world have corresponding objects or locations in the shallows. There are artificial structures in the shallows that do not exist in the material, however.
Layers: Layers are series of worlds within a plane. Lower levels are closer to normal. Higher levels get more and more intense. They aren't actually physically above or below each other. You can't fall from one plane to another except through a portal. But most planar magic once you're in the plane works to shift you higher or lower (deeper or shallower if you prefer).
Demiplanes: Some demiplanes are unique and not attached to an existing planar structure. Such demiplanes are harder to reach than the standard planes. Some demiplanes are merely offshoots of existing planes and their levels. The domain of an individual god, for example, is usually a demiplane.
Portals: I think we all know portals.
Projection: Sending an echo of yourself through the planes instead of your physical body. If your echo is killed, your body returns to consciousness. If your echo is severed from your body, your body dies and your echo is stranded. Your echo can not return physically to the material plane. Usually, unless you find a way to get your soul and body rejoined, your echo will simply forget itself and dissolve over time, like one of the dead.
Planar Bleeds: When a plane, layer, or demiplane's magical properties seep into the material world.
That's about all I can think of for now.
Planes
Dream (blue): Dream is an exception to most of the planar rules. Everyone can project there freely in sleep. Most of Dream is composed of demiplanes, some of which might theoretically be deeper or shallower than others. Most people have powers like gods over their own demiplanes (though because people aren't usually lucid in dreams, they don't exert their literal will). Demiplanes come into and out of existence as people sleep and wake up, though individual dreams last for minutes, hours, sometimes even days after waking. Theoretically there may be portions of Dream not generated by dreamers in its deepest parts, though these may simply be the dreams of immortal sleepers. These native portions of dreams/dreams of immortal sleepers have native, alien life that few would understand or wish to interact with. Dream has no shallows.
Void (blue): At its shallowest, Void is filled with simply nothing. Its shallows do not have echoes of physical objects, but you can see the material plane faintly through the shadows (shallow Void is the closest thing here to the ethereal). There is no ground, but one can will oneself to move on most layers and demiplanes. Deeper Void has a few connections with Sheol and Dream. Deeper void tends to take on strange traits: color shifts, series of milky intangible membranes, large rootlike structures, and eventually, native fauna that clearly does not belong in our universe (aliens and aberrations... Lovecraft stuff).
Tartarus (black): A plane of destruction, its shallows are filled with the wreckage of this world, plus darkness, dust, and ash. As one goes deeper, one finds tartarus the home plane of all fiends.
Sheol (black): The plane of the dead. In the shallows are the recently dead, still hanging around where they did in life, watching their loved ones on this transparent plane (like the shallow Void, the shallow Sheol shows some things from the material... mostly the shadows of the living). As one goes deeper, one finds fewer and fewer dead, who tend to remember less and less of their true selves, until finally they simply vanish. Going deeper and deeper, one finds less and less, but may be more and more affected by the same danger. Deep sheol will make you forget yourself and eventually vanish. Sheol is not the home of celestials, but it is guarded by them, to the ire of necromancers who would tamper with the place.
Heaven (white): The plane of celestials charged with protecting the proper order of the universe at all costs. The deeper one goes, the bigger and badder they get. The bigger and badder they get, the more annoyed they tend to be with you. Both for your intrusion and because they tend to know more about your private life (the near omniscient top dogs are really creepy, really angry, and almost wish they weren't required to protect such a rotten imperfect world).
Source (white): The plane from which life flows. It's effectively the positive energy plane, except that overdosing on life energy doesn't make you explode. The plane does have unfortunate addictive qualities though. People who go here to heal up may find it hard to leave after a while. Also if you hang out here too long it will grow you. There are twitching continents of meat that used to be people deep in this world.
Faery (or whatever I call it) (green): The world of fey, not yet fleshed out fully.
Elemental Chaos (red): The elemental planes / D&D Limbo. Again not terribly fleshed out.
I was gonna do some stuff on "outsiders" but I'll save that for later. For now, I need to flesh out those last two and think of two new planes. Maybe an acheron? I don't know.
So nobody has any comments on the elemental plane of crack? :p
Anyway, I suppose it's time I talked a little about "outsiders" the different kinds of monsters one can summon.
Aliens are 3.x abberations. Typically they come from Void or Dream. Aliens are characterized by their unfathomable motives, cruel intellect, and bizarre anatomy. As with most outsiders, the deeper you go in the planes, the nastier and less like anything you've seen so far they get. Their nature is tied to blue magic mostly. Like other outsiders, they can use a few spells of other schools as well.
Celestials are 3.x outider (good) creatures. Typically they come from heaven (need a better name for that plane), though they also preserve Sheol against those that would interfere. Their purpose is to preserve the cosmic order. While they prevent gross violations against the universe, note that God is not on your side in this game. Celestials seek perfection, and reality falls far short for them. They are prevented by their own rules from breaking the universe to make a newer better one, but visit them on their home plane at your own risk. The deeper you go, the more they know about you personally, and the more likely they are to kill you as punishment for little white lies you told and impure thoughts you've had. Celestials also aren't just dudes with wings, they can take the form of masses of wings, pillars of fire, blinding light, or chariot wheels. Celestials are strongly tied to white magic, but may know some other spells.
Fiends are outsider (evil) creatures. Typically they are limited to Tartarus, though they find their way into wherever they can. Their purpose is destruction, pain, and ignorance, and they do not derive any pleasure from anything that doesn't involve one of the three. To put this in perspective, a fiend of gluttony only gets anything out of eating if it eats enough to cause a local famine. Fiends take their usual shapes: animal/human hybrids, features of the dead, burning, oozing, etc. Fiends are strongly tied to black magic, but may know some other spells.
Fey are fey. They roam the fairy world (another plane I need a good name for) and are probably the most involved in the material plane. Their purpose is mostly just having fun, but they are also tasked with the preservation of the natural world (plus some traditional rural settings... some fey take care of households). Note that their idea of fun might occasionally include cruelty like kidnapping children. Also note that failing to leave some milk out for the guy that's looked after your house for generations might have bigger than expected consequences. Fey take their typical shapes as little people, spirits tied to natural features, animal-form guardians of the woods, etc. Fey are strongly tied to green magic, but may know this and that from other schools.
Elementals are elementals, plus genies and a few others. They are native to the elemental planes/ elemental chaos (haven't decided what I'm doing there yet). True elementals don't really have motives. In fact, true elementals don't exist on their home plane. They only exist as summoned monsters. These summoned monsters know no spells, and have no intelligence, purpose, motive, or anything. Generally, giving them permission to kill is enough. Genies on the other hand, have the most human motives of all outsiders, being out for themselves. Their appearance is usually humanoid, though they can take elemental shapes, and they are strongly tied to red magic, though they can learn spells from other schools.
...aaand that's what I've got for the summonable monster types so far.