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Messages - WizardofOwls

#1
Homebrews (Archived) / Help With Spiderfolk Race
September 06, 2007, 06:31:05 PM
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. In my homebrew world, the world is shattered into sky islands called shards. The only way to get from shard to shard is via air ships called windriggers. My thought was that spiderfolk would make excellent windsailors with their natural climbing ability, and an extra set of hands would help them in working the rigging. I would love to use an official race, but right now I have limited resources as far as sourcebooks, and limited funds for buying them. So unless it's in one of the books I already have, or can be found on the internet, I have to homebrew it.
#2
Homebrews (Archived) / Help With Spiderfolk Race
September 06, 2007, 07:29:51 AM
I am interested in creating a new race for my homebrew setting. I want them to be based on spiders. However I have never created a race for 3e or 3.5 e, so I could use some help in this. There is only one unchangable rule: I need them to be LA 0, so that I can use them as a base race.

I've been thinking about racial traits, and here are some ideas I have come up with, but as I said these are only ideas. Nothing is written in stone yet.

Spider Climb as spell (possibly either constant or limited uses per day)
Paralytic poison bite
4 arms (2nd set half strength)
Possible visual bonuses because of multiple eyes (bonuses spotting secret doors like elves or spotting illusions like gnomes)
Web as spell (limited uses per day)

I'd love to hear your thoughts/ideas on this.
#3
Any thoughts? Opinions?
#4
Finally got around to writing up the gnomes of Oramis. Please let me know what you think...

Gnomes

Gnomes - like muls - are an infant race when compared to the other races of Oramis, having only been in existence for around 500 years. The origins of the gnomish race have their roots in dwarves.
 
The dwarves have always been small in number, owing to the fact that they suffer from low fertility rates. However in the year 497 this problem was greatly compounded by a devistating plague of unknown origins - now referred to as the Dwarven Plague - that struck the dwarven clans. Unfortunately, the plague was fatal to all who contracted it. Even worse, it only affected dwarven women. Today only 1/4 of all dwarves are female.

Realizing the adverse implications that this could have on the probability of the survival of dwarves as a race, the dwarves pursued drastic measures - they explored the possibility of cross-breeding with other races. Around the year 512 A.S., the great Dwarven Breeding Experiments began. These had mixed results. The most successful of their experiments was in dwarf/human crossbreeding, which resulted in fertile half-dwarves as well as a few sterile muls. Dwarven attempts to breed with Twyll did not work at all - the progeny of all such attempts were stillborn. Attempts to breed with elves, however, had a completely unexpected result - the birth of the species which would come to be known as gnomes.

The first gnomes were treated as curiosities. There were 12 of them - six males and six females. The dwarves had no idea what to do with them, and the elves had no time for them. Thus, for the most part, they were left on their own to explore their surroundings with very little help from others. As they matured, it became obvious that they were an incredibly intelligent race, able to learn very quickly, and to retain knowledge with great accuracy. Another thing became very obvious - gnomes are unbelievably fertile and multiply like rabbits.

By the year 707 A.S.,only around 200 years later, the dwarves began to realize that if something were not done, the gnomes would soon overtake them in number. Gnomes had begun to feel restless among the dwarves anyway, feeling like outsiders, not quite fitting in, and wanted a place of their own. The dwarves were more than happy to oblige. thus began the Gnomish Migration of 710. Utilizing a handful of prototype dirigibles, the dwarves helped the gnomes to relocate to an uninhabited shard which the gnomes promptly named Shinnsa.

Today Shinnsa is a booming metropolis. Ruled by 7 of the original 12 gnomes - all of whom are obviously nearing the end of their lifespans - Shinnsa is a mecca for all of those who pursue knowledge.

Personality: Gnomes are incredibly curious about how things work, and enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together for the sheer fun of it. To other races, they seem very child-like in their youth and innocence. They also have a great sense of humor, and enjoy puns, jokes, and games as well as intricate tricks.

Physical Description: Gnomes combine the slim graceful build of their elven mothers with the smaller stature of their dwarven fathers. They stand about 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall, and weigh about 40-45 pounds. Their facial features are also a combination of those of their parent races. They have the upswept, pointed ears of the elven race as well as the trademark bulbous dwarven nose. Gnome males prefer to wear short carefully trimmed beards. Their skin ranges from dark tan to woody brown, their hair is fair, and their eyes can be any shade of blue or green. Gnomes love to dress in bright yet tasteful colors in elaborate styles. Gnomes reach adulthood at about age 40 and have an apparent lifespan of about 450-500 years. Multiple births are common among gnomes.

Relations: Gnomes get along well with humans and twyll - at least those who are tolerant of their practical jokes. They enjoy spending time with dwarves, however the sentiment is not returned as enthusiastically. Dwarves had hoped that gnomes would be the solution to their fertitlity problems, and the fact that they are hyper fertile when compared to dwarves is a sore spot in gnomish/dwarven relations. Gnomes are a little intimidated yet awed by elves and rapotrans, and suspicous of Tieflings. They are, however, rarely hostile or malicious.

Alignment: Gnomes are almost always good, though they are almost equally divided between lawful, neutral and chaotic. Those who are lawful tend to be tinkers sages, researchers and scholars, while those who are chaotic tend toward illusionists, minstrels, tricksters and wanderers. Evil gnomes are as rare as they are frightening.

Gnome Lands: Gnomes may be found almost anywhere throughout the shards, though they are most numerous on the gnomish homeshard of Shinnsa. There is also a fairly large number of them to be found on the four shards which comprise the Kusaran Alliance: Kusara, Tartassos, , Carbuncle and Sheranda.

Religion: The chief gnome god is Garl Glittergold. His clerics teach that gnomes are to cherish and support their communities. Pranks are seen as ways to lighten spirits and to keep gnomes humble, not as ways for pranksters to triumph over those they trick.

Language: The Gnome language blends elements of Dwarven, Elven and Common in an eloquent yet practical language. It uses the Dwarven script and is renowned for its technical treatise and its catalogs of knowledge about the natural world. Human herbalists, naturalists and engineers commonly learn gnome in order to read the best books on their topics of study.

Names: See the section on gnomish names in the PHB page 17.

Adventurers: Gnomes are curious and impulsive. they may take up adventuring as a way to see the world or for the love of exploring. Some take up adventuring as a quick - if dangerous -  path towrd wealth, which is often needed in order to purchase supplies for their experimenting and inventing. Gnome adventurers are occasionally forced to begin a life of exploration after being stranded far from home by a flying machine gone wrong. More often, though, a gnome character chooses to travel among the other races of Oramis as tinkers and craftsgnomes, selling minor inventions and masterwork objects to finance exploration into their personal interests.

Gnome Racial Traits

+2 Intelligence, +2 Dexterity, -2 Wisdom, -2 Strength. Gnomes are brilliant creatures that masterfully and carefully are able to manipulate machines. However their innocence and naivete often causes them to make faulty and questionable decisions during construction.

Small: As a small creature, a gnome gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three quarters of those of a Medium character.

Gnome base land speed is 20 feet.

Low Light Vision: A gnome can see twice as far as a human in torchlight and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.

Weapon Familiarity: Gnomes may treat gnome hooked hammers ( see PHB page 118) as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.

+2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusions. Gnomes are innately familiar with illusions of all kinds.

Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against illusions cast by gnomes. Their innate familiarity with these effects make their illusions more difficult to see through. This adjustment stacks with those from similar effects, such as the Spell Focus feat.

+2 racial bonus on Listen checks: Gnomes have keen ears.

+2 racial bonus on Craft (Alchemy) checks: A gnome's sensitive nose allows him to monitor alchemical processes by smell.

+3 racial bonus against all effects that cause aging: A gnome's elvish blood resists aging.

+2 racial bonus on Knowledge, Craft and Profession skill checks involving large and complicated machinery, mechanics or tinkering.

+1 racial bonus to Reflex saving throws: gnomes are used to ducking for cover when things blow up.

Automatic languages: Common and Gnome. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Raptoran, Twyll. Gnomes deal more with elves and dwarves than elves and dwarves deal with one another.

Favored Class: Tinker. A multiclass gnome's tinker class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty (see XP for Multiclass Characters, page 60, PHB).
#5
Homebrews (Archived) / Campaign Setting Directory
August 14, 2007, 01:18:21 PM
Could you add mine as well?

Oramis: The Shattered World
by WizardofOwls
http://oramis.wetpaint.com

Following a great cataclysm, the world has been shattered into 10,000 floating islands called shards. The only way to get from shard to shard is via flying ships. But watch out for dragons and other nasties!

Thanks!
#6
Here is what I have for Tieflings in my world. I'd really like to get these to LA +0. What would be the best way to do that? Let me know what you think!

And by the way, check out my wiki if you haven't already! It's at http://oramis.wetpaint.com

Tieflings

Tieflings are descended from human parents who carry fiendish blood in their veins. Like any other planetouched being, the manifestation of this fiendish taint lingers, usually occurring in every descendant thereafter, even though the evil ancestor may be many generations removed. Most tieflings cannot trace their heritage back to a specific fiendish being. For those who can, there does not appear to be any discernible difference in tieflings with either Abyssal or Infernal ancestors. Except for a few rare cases, the tiefling's dark, corrupted heritage always manifests itself in its features. Most tieflings resent the assumption that they are all evil, though most indeed are. In some, the resentment fuels their disdain for other races, ultimately leading to a lonely and unhappy life. Nearly all tieflings are of human ancestry.

Personality: Tieflings resent the unfair lot in life that fate has dealt them. While many races embrace other planetouched beings, especially aasimars, they invariably rebuff tieflings because of the fiendish blood flowing in their veins. Some tieflings overcome this frustration and lead upstanding lives, successfully fighting the dark urges within them. Others allow the despair to consume them, rotting away the core of their very being. As their aggravation increases, they find it easier to give in to their baser natures, further staining their souls and becoming what so many already believe they are.

All tieflings, regardless of alignment, are shrewd and cunning, quick to notice minor details, and hyperaware of opportunities beneficial to them. Conversely, once a tiefling develops trust with another, it remains fiercely loyal. When this loyalty involves the opposite sex, the relationship quickly becomes amorous for the tiefling, as intense emotions consume it; these relationships rarely last long, however, for these emotions are generally more ardent than the average person can handle.

Physical Description: Tieflings are a bit shorter than humans and of a more slender build. Tieflings tend to have an unsettling air about them, and most people are uncomfortable around them, whether they are aware of the tiefling's unsavory ancestry or not. No two tieflings are alike. While a rare few are indistinguishable from normal humans, most manifest some sort of physical abnormality that reveals their fiendish heritage (although hardly ever more than one).  Common abnormalities include small horns, cloven hooves for feet, wild and unruly hair, long pointed ears, upswept eyebrows, fangs, a whiff of brimstone about them, a tail, or eyes that have cat-like slitted pupils or are solid black, silver, white, red, or fiery. Some tieflings also have a bifurcated tongue. Tiefling skin comes in many varieties. Some may have scales, fur or leathery skin, or it may be of an unusual coloration such as white, grey, red, orange, blue, green, violet, or black. Most have brown or reddish hair, although black is also not uncommon. A rare few may even have really unusual hair coloring (such as white, grey, red, blue, violet, or green), but typically skin and hair color will be complimentary. Tieflings generally wear clothing with a dark hue, and they prefer weapons that favor agility and finesse rather than brute strength.

Relations: Fear and distrust form the basis for most tiefling relationships, as few races give them the benefit of the doubt. Humans have little use for tieflings, and when they are about, they blame them for all the mischief and evil that takes place. Dwarves share the same human prejudices. Twyll and gnomes, often being rogues themselves, remain wary of tieflings, mainly fearing for their belongings rather then their lives. Elves pity tieflings for the eternal battles they must wage against the foul urges conjured by the evil flowing in their veins. Aasimars are the most prejudice of all the races, for they, above all others, understand the true nature of a tiefling's heritage. Muls and half-elves sympathize with these planetouched characters; they empathize with their divided nature and go out of their way to befriend them.

Alignment: Tieflings are generally predisposed toward evil. More then half of all tieflings are of some evil alignment. Among those who are not, they favor neutrality over good. Good tieflings, though rare, are not altogether unheard of. Tieflings do not favor either law or chaos; they lean more often than not, towards neutrality.

Tiefling Lands: Tieflings do not have lands or societies to call their own, nor one that really accepts them, so tieflings often roam the shards, selling their mercenary or roguish services to the highest bidder. Many tieflings hide within human civilizations, living in abject squalor, overlooked by even the most conscientious clerics and watchful guards. While they prefer to live in human lands, civilization often forces them outside its boundaries. In these cases, they struggle to survive amongst hostile humanoids, who recognize kindred spirits, and so offer them shelter from the elements. Some travel to escape the taint that their heritage has put upon them. Tieflings have no climate or geographical preferences.

Religion: Tieflings do not have a pantheon of their own. Evil or neutral gods representing interests mirroring their own have the greatest appeal for them. Spheres of influence of these favored deities often include knowledge, deception, magic, darkness, and the like. Good tieflings generally prefer gods of self-reliance, stealth, and survival.

Language: Tieflings speak the language of their native land. Thus, all tieflings speak Common. In addition, tieflings may be alllowed to speak a fiendish language, depending on its ancestry if the possession of such knowledge is clearly supported in the character's history. Lawful tieflings speak Infernal, while chaotic tieflings speak Abyssal. Neutral tieflings may choose either language. Player characters must have a minimum Intelligence of 12 to be fluent in another language.

Names: Tiefling names vary following the naming styles and conventions of the place where they were raised, abiding by the customs of their native land. Thus, they usually have human names.

Adventurers: Much of civilization has little to offer the tiefling. Common folk hate, mock and exile them, forcing them to be self-sufficient. In most cases, tieflings pursue a life of adventure, where they hope to gain acceptance through their wealth and success. Furthermore, the adventuring group provides an environment unlike anything the tiefling has experienced. The adventuring party's group efforts and collaborative tactics open new worlds to tiefling characters, allowing them to experience camaraderie and friendship for the first time in their lives. In combat, tieflings are sneaky, subtle and generally conniving. They prefer to strike from ambush and usually avoid a fair fight if they can.

Tiefling Racial Traits

+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma. Tieflings are agile and smart, but their intense emotions and odd appearance undermine their efforts in interacting with other races.

Medium: As Medium creatures, tieflings have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Tiefling base land speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision: Tieflings can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and tieflings can function just fine with no light at all.

Tieflings have a +2 bonus to all Bluff and Hide checks.

A tiefling gains feats according to its class levels.

Spell-Like Abilities: A Tiefling can use Darkness and Cause Fear once per day. Caster level is equal to character level.

Tiefling Resistances: cold 5, electricity 5, and fire 5.

Native Outsider: As native outsiders, tieflings may be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected as any other living creature.

Automatic Languages: Common and possibly Infernal or Abyssal. Bonus Languages: Avariel,  Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Raptoran and Twyll.

Favored Class: Rogue. A multiclass tiefling's rogue class does not count when determining whether she suffers an XP penalty for multiclassing.

Level Adjustment +1
#7
Homebrews (Archived) / Dwarves of the Shattered World
August 08, 2007, 11:41:28 PM
Quote from: Seraphine_Harmonium!!!

Ummm... does this mean you like it or not?  Just wondering....
#8
Actually, both sides are correct. The reason the wizards vanished was because they were helping the Dragon Lords to create and distribute the shard-keys. The gods created the sky-sphere. So it was a 2-part cure, and both sides contributed. Unfortunately, neither side informed their followers of this fact.
#9
Um, sorry to display my ignorance here for all to see, but what is the SRD?
#10
Homebrews (Archived) / Dwarves of the Shattered World
August 06, 2007, 09:08:40 AM
Here is what I have for Muls. Do I need the +1 ECL? Is it neccessary? I'd really like to get them down to 0 so that they can be used as a core race.

Muls: Muls are the mixed breed offspring of humans and dwarves. They combine the height and adaptable nature of humans with the musculature and resilience of dwarves. Muls enjoy traits that are uniquely their own, such as their robust metabolism and almost inexhaustible capacity for work. The hybrid has disadvantages in a few areas as well: sterility, and the stigma of being a 'failure.' The term mul is derived from "mule" which are sterile hybrids, and as such the word is meant to be pronounced in the same manner (rhyming with "rule" rather than "mull").

Humans and dwarves are not typically attracted to each other, however unusual circumstances have forced the dwarves to drastic measures. The tragic '˜secret' of Oramian dwarves is their low birthrate. The low dwarven birthrate is thought to be due to low fertility among dwarven women. To complicate matters even further, a devastating plague ran through the dwarven clans a few decades ago. Unfortunately the disease proved fatal. Even worse, it only affected females. Today only 1/4 of all dwarves are female. However all is not lost. Dwarves and humans can interbreed. The taking of human mates is the 'secret salvation of the race' referred to by some dwarven elders.

Human women will sometimes voluntarily live with the dwarves, some simply in an attempt to help the dwarven race to survive, while others do so in return for payment for their services. But volunteers are not always available. When this happens, fear of clan extinction sometimes drives dwarves to raid human settlements for mates, or even to deal with slavers. The dwarves are usually in search of human women. The offspring of a human and a dwarf is usually (95%) dwarven enough to pass for a true dwarf (although it may be a foot taller than other dwarves). Any offspring it may in turn have with a dwarven mate will be fully dwarven reverting to usual dwarven height. A small percentage of human-dwarf pairings (5%), however, will result in a Mul, a sterile half-dwarf. Unfortunately, women who give birth to muls often die in childbirth. Conception is difficult and impractical, often taking months to achieve. Even once conceived, the Mul takes a full twelve months to carry to term; fatalities during this period are high.

Muls are the best of both the human and dwarf worlds, combining a dwarf's love of hard work with a human's knack to master a variety of talents. They are often stronger than either parent, inheriting the size of the human and the heavy frame of the dwarf, but have a reputation (sometimes deserved) of a weak intellect, as well as the hard-headed nature of the dwarf. The stamina of a Mul is legendary; Muls can literally work or march for days nonstop.
                           
Personality: Being sterile, and thus outside of the typical chain of reproduction, Muls often suffer from a sense of meaninglessness. This is compounded by the fact that they are often viewed as failures by their dwarven fathers who were hoping for a fertile female child to help repopulate the dwarven race. This tends to make Muls into bitter people, full of distrust and hate. Stoic and dull to pain, muls are not easily intimidated.  However, Muls that are able to escape the bonds of their bitterness almost always make the best of warriors. Many small armies are headed by Mulish captains, as their fighting prowess and unusual ability to empathize render them superior leaders. Especially among the dwarves, muls are expected to dedicate their lives to the clan, as they are unable to breed. Most are set to work as laborers or soldiers. Some choose to work as gladiators.

Physical Description: Physically, Muls bear most of the bulk of their dwarven parent, being extremely strong and rugged. Most of the height and cunning of their human ancestry is preserved as well. Muls grow as high as six feet, weighing upwards of 250 pounds, but carry almost no fat at all on their broad muscular frames. Mulish ears are always pointed, and Muls are born without any body hair whatsoever. Skin tones may be of any human or dwarven shade, from light tan to copper to greys and even blues to dark browns. Usually, a Mul's eyes are slanted and may be of any color.

Relations: Muls, like other half-races, have a hard time fitting in. Dwarves tolerate them if they follow dwarven ways. Muls are often considered to be outcasts in dwarven society, branded 'failures'for their inability to breed. Humans get along fairly well with Muls provided that they don't know of their dwarven ancestry. Once this is discovered, humans tend to distrust them.
Gnomes find Muls to be interesting, and seek to study them (possibly to the extent of dissecting a Mul). Twyll are interested in them at first, although they soon get bored with their dark depressive nature. Other races either have no opinion one way or another, or do not consider them to be of consequence.

Alignment: Muls tend towards neutrality with respect to good and evil, but run the gamut with respect to law or chaos.

Mul Lands: Muls have no lands to call their own, though they are welcome in human cities and, grudgingly, in dwarven lands.

Religion: Muls have no set religion. Even if muls were to create a religion of their own, as sterile hybrids, they would have no posterity to pass it on to. Mul clerics tend to be drawn towards the strength of elemental earth, worshiping either the dwarven gods or Oramis, the Lord of earth.

Magic: Muls dislike what they fear, and they fear wizards. They also resent that a wizard's power comes from without, with no seeming effort on the wizard's part, while the mul's power is born of pain and labor. Mul wizards are unheard of.

Language: Muls automatically speak Common and Dwarven.

Names: Mul names are typically dwarven, though occasionally one might have a human name. Almost without exception, Muls are born on shards primarily occupied by dwarves, however should a Mul's mother survive she might be allowed to take her sterile child to be raised among humans, and thus might have a human name.

Adventurers: Muls find themselves in all manner of adventures. Most muls take advantage of their strength and tireless nature, working as soldiers, gladiators or guards. Some turn to crime, adding rogue skills to their repertoire. A few muls follow other paths, such as priesthoods. Mul bards are rare, as the Mul personality tends to be too dark and somber to allow them to be successful in this trade.

Role-playing Suggestions: Born to a life of scorn and ridicule, you never knew love or affection. As far as you have seen, all of life's problems that can be solved are solved by sheer brute force. You know to bow to force when you see it. You tend towards gruffness. You are capable of affection, trust and friendship, but camaraderie is easier for you to understand and express - warriors slap each other on the shoulder after a victory, or give their lives for each other in battle. You don't think of that sort of event as 'friendship' - it just happens.

Mul Racial Traits

+2 Strength, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma. A Mul's starting Intelligence score is always at least 3. If this adjustment would lower the character's score to 1 or 2, his score is nevertheless 3. Combining the human height with the dwarven musculature, muls end up stronger than either parent race, but their status as failures makes them insecure in their dealings with others.

Medium-size: As Medium creatures, Muls have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Mul base land speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision: Muls can see in the dark up to 30 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and Muls can function just fine with no light at all.

Dwarven Blood: For all special abilities and effects, a mul is considered a dwarf. Muls, for example, can use dwarvish weapons and magic items with racially specific dwarven powers as if they were dwarves.

Tireless: Muls get a +4 racial bonus to checks for performing a physical action that extends over a period of time (running, swimming, holding breath, and so on). This bonus stacks with the Endurance feat. This bonus may also be applied to savings throws against spells and magical effects that cause weakness, fatigue, exhaustion or enfeeblement.

Extended activity: Muls may engage in up to 12 hours of hard labor or forced marching without suffering from fatigue.

Nonlethal Damage Resistance 1/-. Muls are difficult to subdue, and do not notice minor bruises, scrapes, and other discomforts that pain creatures of other races.

Automatic Languages: Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). See the Speak Language skill.

Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass Mul's fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing (see XP for Multiclass Characters on page 60 of the Player's Handbook).

Level Adjustment +1. As a hybrid half-race, muls are considerably more powerful than either of their parent races, thus they gain levels more slowly.
#11
Okay, here it is... a preliminary version of my new world premise. I know it still needs a LOT of of work, but I'd thougth I'd get your thoughts on it so far....

WORLD PREMISE

In the mist-shrouded ages of times gone by, Oramis was a different place. Myths and legends tell us that the world was whole and solid then, a sphere of unimaginable proportions. They say the world would turn its face away from the sun every day so that a great darkness called 'night' would fall, dividing the days into alternating days and nights. In this darkness, or so the legends run, one could see lights in the sky - small lights called 'stars' as well as a greater light the ancients called the 'moon'. The followers of Selene say that this is true and that this moon and their Lady are one and the same. But if that is true, who supplies their powers now that the moon is gone?

They also say that great sections of our world were covered in water. Vast 'oceans' of water so great that one could not see the other side, and so deep that one could not see the bottom. Ships plied their trades on the surface of these oceans and great monstrous beasts filled their depths.

Then came the Dragon Lords. From whence did they come? What did they want? What was their purpose?  No one seems to know for sure save, perhaps, the elves and dragons - and even they do not have the answers... or so they claim. For ages the Dragon Lords ruled, setting up stone circles and monoliths. Only they knew the purpose for them. Their servants, the elves and dragons, provided the labor, while the native peoples of our world - human, dwarf and twyll - could only watch in awe. Great magical powers the Dragon Lords had, and watching them we learned. We learned about building, about power, and ultimately, about magic. Through their servants, the elves, they began to teach our peoples the ways of magic, and our peoples learned well and true. Many of the people began to worship them, turning their backs on the True Gods. In return the Gods, in their jealousy and rage, turned their backs on us.

If only we had known what was coming....

Everything seemed peaceful according to the stories. Yes, the True Priests and the Followers of the Dragon Lords bickered and fought, but everything else, it seemed, was fine. Then one day the
True Priests began to cry, 'The end is coming! The Tapestry unravels! Turn away from the false ones and return to the True Faith! Bring their blessings back upon us before it is too late!' But few heeded their warnings.

Then He came. He Who Has No Name. The Incomprehensible One. The Destroyer. The Unraveler. The people cried out to the Dragon Lords to save them, but they could not be found. They and their followers, the Mages, had vanished, deserting the peoples in their time of need. The True Priests gathered their strength and stood up to him, but ultimately it was no use. The Unraveller struck, and the world was shattered like a glass ball into ten thousand pieces. But the True Priests were able to rescue us. They cried out to the Gods 'Save us!' And the Gods responded. They drove away the Nameless One, and created a sphere to keep the pieces of our world from drifting away.

Only after the world had shattered and the Nameless One defeated did the mages return saying that they had saved the world for us. The Guild (some of whom were diviners) claimed that it had been able to foresee this disaster months before it actually happened and was prepared. They said that - though unable to completely prevent this event now referred to as the Shattering - they were able at least to save the world from total destruction. After determining how the world would be shattered, the Guild - working feverishly - claimed it had devised magical devices called shard-keys and placed one of them on each piece of land which would someday become a shard. These devices maintain each shard's gravity, atmosphere, climate, and stability. If a shard-key were ever to be removed from the shard it was designed to protect, that shard would lose all of these things and would pose a hazard to other shards as it spun out of control. All of these shards were suspended inside a large envelope of air and set to floating within it in random, ever-shifting patterns.

Millions of people died in the ensuing chaos which followed the Shattering. Common people, blaming the cowardice of the mages for the destruction and death, hunted down and slew many wizards. Much knowledge of magic was lost. Modern mages have yet to duplicate many of the marvels that have been accredited to those ancient wizards - including the magic which created shard-keys!

For centuries mundanes - those who don't practice magic - persecuted those who do, blaming them for the catastrophe that was the Shattering, despite the fact that they were instrumental in saving the world from total destruction. However times and people change. As society began to rebound, people became more and more dependent on those who use magic for trade. There is now a grudging acceptance of mages in most places. However there are a few shards - even today - that still cling to the old beliefs, that remain suspicious of those who use magic and continue to support the witch hunters who help to "rid the world of those dangerous people."

RASAMA (the Royal Academy for the Study and Advancement of the Mystic Arts - also known as the Mages' Guild) was originally conceived as a means of controlling and monitoring mages in light of the general public's fear of them. All mages were required to register with the Guild, and those who did not were shunned and hunted down by witch hunters - betrayed by to them by their own brother mages. Today the registration of mages with the Guild continues, despite the general shift in attitudes and the changing views of most people. In many places a mage will not be hired for work unless he is a registered Guild member, and since the Guild still brands those who practice forbidden schools as rogue mages, often those who are not registered will be viewed with suspicion.

Undaunted by the prejudice and persecution they received in the past, however, mages have continued to be of great service to man - their greatest accomplishment being the creation of windriggers, flying ships which provide transportation from shard to shard.
#12
What is the best way to deal with lycanthropes in a world without night? I am thinking that the alernate creature (wolf, rat, bear, whatever) wants out as much as the human does so there is a constant battle for control of the body. Perhaps whenever the lycnathrope is in a stressful situation, or experiences extreme emotion, he must make a will check. If he fails, the other creature comes out for a set amount of time. Each time he makes the save a cumulative -1 penalty is added to the check until the creature is released at last. Maybe in some cases, if the human form is evil, the lycanthorpe can willingly release control to the creature.

Thoughts? Ideas?
#13
What is the best way to deal with lycanthropes in a world without night? I am thinking that the alernate creature (wolf, rat, bear, whatever) wants out as much as the human does so there is a constant battle for control of the body. Perhaps whenever the lycnathrope is in a stressful situation, or experiences extreme emotion, he must make a will check. If he fails, the other creature comes out for a set amount of time. Each time he makes the save a cumulative -1 penalty is added to the check until the creature is released at last. Maybe in some cases, if the human form is evil, the lycanthorpe can willingly release control to the creature.

Thoughts? Ideas?
#14
Homebrews (Archived) / Shattered World Wiki
July 31, 2007, 07:21:45 PM
Just wanted to let everyone know that I've been doing a lot of work over at the Shattered World wiki and would love for you to come by and check it out! Have you been by already? What did you think? I''d love to hear from you!

By the way, I have a question about my wiki. A friend on another wrote this:

My first question is - is your content OGC or closed? Do you have an OGL posted somewhere on the site?

Do I need an OGL posted on my wiki? If so, how do I go about doing this?
#15
Any comments?