The Campaign Builder's Guild

Shame on me.
Stupid double post.


But I can use it for one of the shorter category lists.

The Lizard Kingdom
It is hard to describe the many tribes and species within the lizard kingdom, since there see to be an enormous variety of different species all formed and trained for a specific function.
[spoiler] There is no deficit of strange reptilian or pseudoreptilian ('˜draconian') creatures in D&D. I don't know if I would use them all, but if they have a place in Ashkardia than as a part of the big, mysterious dragon worshipping reptile kingdoms. [/spoiler]
The most common (but by no means the only ones) are:

The Snake Priests
Snake Priests combine elements of humanoids and snakes and worship the dragons and their own strange gods. They use a strange and powerful magic and their natural poison is deadly for most mammals (like humans).
Snake Priests have the lower body, heads and scaled skin of vipers and a pair of humanoid arms.
[spoiler] they are essentially Yuan-Ti. But with a quite different fluff.[/spoiler]

The Skrreyn
The Skrreyn are the most common inhabitants of the lizard kingdoms. They are the hunters, gatherers and warriors of the kingdoms, and in these functions, they excel. Skrreyn are big and strong and resemble upright walking crocodiles. Their bite and their whipping tails are excellent natural weapons.
[spoiler] Lizard Folk. In all varieties. But more organized and involved in one big poikilothermic utopia. With a sweet toth for mammal flesh. Esspecially biped mammals. [/spoiler]

The Budaiki
The Budaiki are smaller and more primitive than the more elaborated species of the inner lizard kingdoms. Budaiki are the shock troopers and scouts of the kingdoms, and their first perimeter of defence.
[spoiler] Budaiki are jungle dwelling troglodytes. Who came up with the '" extremely stupid -  idea of reptiles living under the earth, without the warmth of the sun?[/spoiler]

Dragons
I have several ideas how the Ashkardian Dragons could look like or should look like, but none of these ideas are satisfying. My first idea were more wyvern-like, with the spiked skin of sharks and the defensive ability to throw up their flesh consuming digestive enzyme and bone dissolving gastric acid on attackers (that would be what wannabe dragon slayers would describe as a breath attack, because it burns). These dragons would have hollow bones, very large wings and a very slend built, to be light enough to fly. But they wouldn't be very dangerous, because, well they have hollow bones and are somewhat clumsy on the ground.
I still like that idea, but I like other ideas as well.

There could be different kinds of dragons, one per classical element - the airborne dragons of the air above, gigantic swimming dragons of the sea (as big as whales, and like them not survivable outside of the water), more snakelike or crocodile like earthdragons (more robust than their flying cousins but without the ability to fly) and a rumored fourth variety, deep red and living inside volcanoes, fire dragons.

And, I don't like the cliché of dragons as age old schemers; this is an ecological and dramaturgical niche that is occupied by the Sidhe and, to a lesser extend, by the Trolls. Ashkardian dragons are... not among the smartest inhabitants in the world. They are sentient, but if they were humans, they would need both hands to find their own nose without a map. Dragons should be very dangerous, perhaps too dangerous to fight them, but a clever hero can outsmart them with a bit of luck and a good plot.  

Only time for a quick peek...
[blockquote=Satyr]Last month I found the old manuscripts and drafts for the setting. I knew I wrote a lot of crap back in the Sturm und Drang days, and most of it wasn't worth the paper it was written upon, but I was fascinated by it. Seriously, I find it hard to believe that I had that many, at least not really bad ideas.[/blockquote]
Hah!  I know that feeling!  Once in a while my players run ionto one of my older areas and I'm looking at something written...we'll just say a long time ago.

Love the chapters of info idea...very useful...especially compared to my stream of consiousness mishmashmoshes...

Very happy with the non-humancentric world.  I never found humans that wonderful either...the other races would have to be a bunch of complete losers to not be able to compete with us.
Can I also compliment you on your cultural integration?  Again, this is something that makes perfect sense to me.  Whenever I read a setting where species specific tribes exist across the meadow from each other but don't really interact, I know it is probably time to stop reading, or at least get out the pixie dust...
(I have cultural integration vs tribal xenophobia as a major racial conflict in my setting)

Also, I like the Firebloods...makes for nice flavor...

The transporting of human civs is an interesting idea.  I wonder how they really would have done vs magic, however...depending on the pwoer of magic, I guess.

Quote from: LordVreegVery happy with the non-humancentric world.  I never found humans that wonderful either...the other races would have to be a bunch of complete losers to not be able to compete with us.

Also, I like the Firebloods...makes for nice flavor...[/quote]The transporting of human civs is an interesting idea.  I wonder how they really would have done vs magic, however...depending on the pwoer of magic, I guess.[/quote]

Think of it as a planet full of rather weak Supermen that are attacked by hordes of rhesus monkeys with cryptonite clubs. Magic is powerful (but not as ridiculously powerful as in the standard D&D roles) but iron breaks magic and is poisonous to the magicians - that helps.  

Chimeras
The term chimeras describe all species which have no natural origin but which were created by transmogrifying magic. Technically, this includes Fireblood, Orks and Pixies, but in the actual use of the word, only obvious humanoid/animal crossbreeds are considered as chimeras, and because of the often quite lacking social or mental abilities, the term is often used derogatory (especially for Orks).
Not all Chimeras are sentient and humanoid; scorpionmen, owlbears, pegasi and seacats are examples for non humanoid or monstrous chimeras which are very common. Like the Vodrag,

Catfolk
Catfolk were once a very common breed of chimeras, but like the Goatfolk, they were replaced by the much more effective Gnolls. The now sunken Vivisectionist city state of Arte'byrah employed the largest number of Catfolk troops and scouts, but the city was razed and the army was wiped out (and eaten alive) by Gnolls. The remaining Catfolk are fugitives that live in the wasteland and slowly die out. Being considered a delicatessen by the Gnolls only accelerates their extermination.
[spoiler] Seriously I hate cat people. And there are not enough RPGs were they suffer accordinly to make me happy. I want to fill this hole. Cat people are only included in Ashkardia to be spayed, wiped out and being miserable. [/spoiler]

Gnolls
One of the more successful chimera breeds, Gnolls were created by several of the vivisectionist rulers of Northern Gondaran as shock troopers and warriors. While Gnolls excel in those tasks, they are much too undisciplined to serve in a normal army, and marauding Gnoll packs are one of the many scourges of the Gondaraian lands. Nonetheless, Gnolls breed fast and expect little from life than food and reproductive activities and therefore replaced most human sized war chimeras like Goatfolk or Catfolk.
Gnolls resemble tall, bipedal hyenas, they are taller than humans, but they are lean and better build for endurance and speed than for hulking strength.

Goatfolk
Theoretically, the Goatfolk are the predecessors of the Gnolls and other, more aggressive war chimeras, but they are widelöy considered to be a failure., but most vivisectionist transmogrifiers believe that carnivorous animals are more aggressive and therefore more effective shock troopers. Their still remaining Goatolks, both as servitors and as free roaming groups, but most of them are used for physical labor where their muscles are of great help.

Kobolds
[spoiler]I never liked the newer variety of kobolds as some kind of humanoid micro dragons. They seemed too noble and cuddly to me. But I want my kobolds to be disgusting and filthy.[/spoiler]
Kobolds are a rather new chimera, a chimera of dire rats and a few unlucky goblins that were captured in the vivisectionist city states. Kobolds are small, ratlike creatures, hiding in sewers and caves and breed like rats. They are considered to be little more but biped vermin, but they are very hard to come by. Once a canal system is infested with kobolds, one needs powerful mercenaries and battle mages to get rid of them again. Kobolds are only around for fifty years or so, but they are constantly expanding and almost every civilized country in Ashkardia pays a bounty for dead kobolds.
Kobolds are the low end of the totem pole; they are the smallest, they are the weakest and everyone thinks it's not only okay, but a good idea to wipe them out. They are still sentient '" and often very malnourished, hungry and desperate little beasts  with nothing to lose - but the big ones see them as little else than upright walking rats.

Ogres
Ogres were created to insult trolls. They are so old, that it is almost ridiculously to still call them chimeras (and especially humans who do not understand the finer differences between chimeras and true Ashkardians fail to make this distinction). Ogres were created in the early years of the Sidhe Troll conflict as Mock '"Trolls, large, hulking beasts with great power and very limited mental capacities. Ogres were long used as heavy shock troops by the Sidhe armies, but because they breed much slower and are less self-sufficient than orks, they were eventually disbanded. Now, the remaining ogres roam the more rural areas of Ashkardia, after Humans and especially Trolls who hate them almost as much as their Sidhe creators nearly exterminated them.

Snake Infiltrators
The infiltrators are a rare breed of the Snake Priests of the Lizard Kingdoms; they are still considered to be a part of the lizard kingdom, but they look almost like humans. The reptiles of the jungle do not trust any mammals and therefore created their own chimeras as spies among the scaleless. The infiltrators are fascinating beautiful to humans and hardly recognizable as the snakebreed they are (they can even regulate their body temperature to be warmblooded), but they are still'¦ well pretty alien in their thinking.
Snake infiltrators are not a true race, since they are not able to reproduce on their own '" every infiltrator is created through a transmogrifying ritual, that also involves several implanted enchantments that guarantee their loyalty.

The Power of Black Iron
There are several distinct differences between Ashkardia and most of the other D&D worlds. First of all, Ashkardia has a much lower Magician per capita ratio than almost any other world. Magic is here but it is not a collection of fancy special effects and omnipresent manipulation of cosmic forces. That does not mean that Ashkardian magic is weak (or at least weaker) it's more subtle (at least most of the time) and it needs more time for preparation and execution. And in the big scales, Ashkarian Magicians are scarring powerful. Creating life, crossbreed different, completely unrelated species into Chimeras, summon thousands of people at once'¦ that is pretty big stuff, isn't it?

Ashkardia doesn't offer much iron. There are iron ore mines, but they are rare and not very profitable. Iron in Ashkardia is rare, and expensive. While most human noble houses own a set of iron weaponry and armor, this is far from true for commoners. To own an iron dagger or knife is a sign of wealth and status. To own an iron broadsword is a true sign of great power. Blacksmiths (who works with iron, contrary to redsmiths, who work with bronze and brass) are renowned and often very rich craftsmen who jealously protect the secrets of their craft. Real experts among them are praised like the most powerful wizards.
Most tools, weapons and armor in Ashkardia are made from bronze or brass. These materials are harder to process and are in many inferior to black iron, but much cheaper and easier to get.
The Elder races have their own, magically advanced materials, like Wichwood (a fast growing sort of trees that are excellent material for bows ) or Kryst ( a very sharp chrystal used by the trolls to form blades).

Iron is not only a superior material for weapons, it is also an antimagic metal, that hurts the creatures of Ashkardia who are dependant on magic to survive and it protects its wielders from spells.
An iron item has a saving throw bonus +4 (or more when it is especially massive) to resist any magical manipulation or destruction. An iron item also protects its wielder from magical harm; an iron helmet, tiara or crown offers a protection against minds affecting magic, while a suit of iron armor grants protection against most damaging spells.

This is a well constructed setting, and I'll be looking for more updates. I really like the sprinkling of traditional folklore. It gives the world enough of a spice to be different from the two poles of Tolkien fantasy and the fairy-tale fantasy that has dominated a lot of the settings I've read, both here and elsewhere. I like the use of the Chimeras, and find it an excellent reason for the number of sentient species capable of communicating with each other. I'll write a more lengthy response to this tonight.

Keep up the good work!
~Helix

I never had my kobolds associated with Dragons either.  In my world they are anothEr variation of the ogrillite races...DRAGONS?  No more like rat-folk.  I Like your term of Chimera, and how they are not only a good explanation, they put the dep and strange magic of Ashkardia on display.
We've spoken about magic before, but I can easily imagine artification and druidism meshing in your setting.  

Magical items and Equipment
Magical items are comparatively rare in Ashkardia. On the one hand, because it is harder to enchant items than in most D&D worlds and on the other hand, because the two great magical societies '" the Elves and the Trolls '" never really got into it. Trolls prefer not to be dependant on anything else but themselves and created bloodgems, magical tattoos and similar enchantments of their bodies. The Sidhe preferred transmogrification to create new servitor species, and rarely use more classical items (with the exception of magical armor and weapons in the times of fire). Therefore, a lot of enchantments are still unknown to Ashkardian spellcasters and most spellcasters are not firm in enchantment practices. Goblins are the one great exception, and roughly about 80% of all non weapon magical equipment is of goblin origin.

Unique magical equipment of Ashkkardia

Bloodgems
Bloodgems are magical stones, often made out of Kryst or jewels which are filled with magical essence. The first bloodgems were used by the Trolls who claim that the first bloodgems were found by them in the depth of the Mil'Varat and they only copy the natural magic of these stones.
Bloodgems are implanted into the forehead of its wearer. A very painful and cruel procedure, but after the implantation, the stone is awakened by the life force or magical flame of its wearer and grants him a magical bonus to abilities, access to memories within the stone - other Bloodgems are foci or gemstones.

Bloodgems are very common in Ashkardia, and belong to the most common magical items around.

Tattoos of Power
Trolls never liked to use magical items or to be dependant on any kind of equipment, and therefore they learnt how to enchant their blood ritual scars and other emblems on the skin. The process is similar painful as the implantation of a bloodgem, but it is irreversible; if a tattoo of power is in place, it can't be removed (with the exception of flaying). A tattoo of power is a magical sigil carved into the skin of its bearer which grants him an enchantment bonus. The more powerful a tattoo is, the more elaborated and big is the tattoo.
Tattoos of Power grants an enchantment bonus to abilities. There were once other, more elaborated and exotic tattoos of power who granted other, more exotic powers, but the near extinction of the Troll people and the self-sacrifice of their council of elders have destroyed the knowledge how to create those.
The price of a Tattoo of Power is the same as an ability enhancing magical item. However, no one can tattoo and enchant the one back or face, therefore the tattoos must be purchased from those who are able to use the magic of scars and ink.
Magical tattoos change under the skin and move slowly when they are active and gleam dimly. It is quite easy to identify them.

Glowstones
Glowstones are a common tool of spellcasters '" these are gems that storage magical energy and offers it to the user. A Glowstone can greatly expand the magical energy of any spellcaster.
There are two different kinds of Glowstones '" unaligned stones can feed about any spell, while dedicated Glowstones only energize one specific one specific school of spells.
A Glowstone of any kind regenerates one Spellpoint per day, but the wielder can pump his own magic into the stone to recharge it on a 2:1 ratio: For every two spellpoints the magicians spends, the Glowstone regenerates one.


Foci
Foci are magical items that simplify the spellcasting. Foci can have about any given form (common are jewels, jewelry, wands and rods). A Focus concentrates the magical power of spellcasting and allows to cast certein spells with a higher efficiency. Unlike Glowstones, Foci are always aligned; every Focus only works for one school of magic, and ignores others. Powerful (or rich) magicians therefore often use more than one Focus, dependant on the magic thy want to cast.
In the religious donminated Magical Orders, Foci are often formed as religious symbols, in at least one case, a Focus was included in the hilt of a sword. Foci can be implanted in the casters like bloodstones, but rarely happens.


Special Materials
More than - the often very boring and dull and rarely as fascinating purely magical items, special materials are an acceptable reason why better or supernatural items which identical or similar attributes are that common. I tried to gave Ashkardia some interesting and unique materials like iron. Which is, obviously, extremely mysterious and exotic.


Witchwood
Witchwood trees are magically created trees which were used by the Sidhe to fletch powerful bows. Witchwood is dark grey as ashes, but the wood is extremely stable and flexible. Witchwood can be formed by magic quite easily, and Sidhe fletchers knew magic songs of creation that helps to give the wood the expected form. A witchwood bow can be enchanted much easier than regular wood.

Kryst
Kryst is the deep blue to sea green crystal used by the Trolls to create extremely sharp weapons. The stone can be clipped into blades sharper than anything made out of metal, but it is brittle. It is not possible to build a sword or a similar long blade out of Kryst, but the material is excellent for axe blades, arrow points or other smaller blades.

Klackhide
A rare material for armors, which is almost completely reserved for veterans of the Klacker front, the skin of the outworldish vermin is an extremely good raw materiel for armor. Klackhide can be used to create both leather armor and hide armor and grants a natural +1 Enchantment bonus and the weight is reduced by 25%. Klackhide can not be enchanted, and the armor must be cooked and salted carefully or it starts to rot.
Klackhide costs as much as a +1 enchanted armor of the same type (either hide or leather armor).

Trollhide
An uncommon sight today, but in the times of the great war, veteran sidhe warriors praised their armor made out of dead troll's skin. Trollskin is tough and leathery, and it grants good protection, but, and this is the most important, it is a great way to infuriate any troll.
Trollhide uses the same stats as moon ivy, but the wearer should not be seen by a troll.

Laws concerning Ashkardian magic (in the following just called magic):
Magic does not 'tell the laws of physics to shut up and sit down'. Magic just transforms one form of energy (raw magic force) into an other concentrated, specified form (the spell and its effects). In this, a magician is remarkable similar to a light bulb. Only more flexible. And less transparent.

Magic does not create new energy, it just transforms it. A spellcaster collects the magic raw energy around him and most important inside of him and channels it through him in a new form.  If the inner flame of magic energy burns low, the spellcaster can't form new effects, until it regenerated. In fact, a spell caster is a big transformator, pressing raw magic energy into formed effects via spells.

And don't think that magic is that much more powerful in battle '"obviously this is not true in Ashkardia, where completely unmagic knights and Saracen warriors could beat an army of powerful Elven wizards and their orkish dogs of war. In Ashkardia, the Sword is more powerful than the spell '" especially when the sword is made out of steel and iron.

There are two ways to use magic in Ashkardia '" quick and dirty, without much preparation time and a high risk to fail or even to backfire, which is normally described as spell casting, in contrary to the slow and secure way of ritual magic, which has a much lower chance to fail '" or to kill the magician in a terrible loss of control over the magical powers.

To mimic the effect of an inner flame of magic, as an energy source for spells, Ashkardia uses the Satyrs Sadistic Spellpoint System.

Satyr's Sadistic Spellpoint System
I never liked the Vancian magic system. And 'never liked' is a great euphemism. It is the reason why I hate playing spellcasters. Therefore I searched for alternatives, but never found something I really liked. Therefore I did it myself.
  Instead of a fixed number of spellslots, spellcasters get a number of spellpoints which can be distributed among his or her spells. Casters who have to prepare their daily spells still afford to do so. Three spellpoints can be three level 1 spells as well as one level 3 spell. Every spell takes his level of spellpoints to be casted, cantrips or other Level 0 spells count as 0.5 spell points. The number of spellpoints which can be channeled per turn are limited though, therefore more powerful spells need a longer time to be casted.
On 1st level a full spellcaster can channel 1 spellpoint per turn and can channel one additional point per turn, while a weaker caster can channel one additional spellpont every 8 levels.


A 15th level wizard (spelllchanneling 3/turn) could cast a lvl. 3 spell every turn, a lvl. 4, 5 or 6 spell in two turns or a lvl. 7 spell in three turns.

Spellpoint channeling is a Standard Action. Metamagic Feats need as many spell points as their modified level indicates. The Quicken Spell Feat doesn't exist.
Spellpoints are gained like hitpoints , meaning somewhat random. A typical full caster would get (1D6 + ability bonus) spellpoints per level. This is maximized at 1st level.

Spellpoint regeneration: Per day, a spellcaster regenerates his caster level + main ability x2  per day, and an additional d4 per hour of meditation (this does not include sleep). For example, a lvl. 15 wizard with Intelligence 18 would regenerate 38 spellpoints per day, +3 d4 if he meditates for three hours.

To summerize, spellcasters are a lot more flexible what spells they wish to cast. Overall, they can cast a lesser total amount of spells, but they have much more influence which spells they want to cast. Spellcasting times are prolonged, making low level spells more attractive, because they are faster to cast.

Magic, and the risk of embarassing perils
Magic comes at a price. The biggest (and from my perspective almost unforgivable) mistake of the normal D&D rules is the easiness of magic. It can hardly fail, and with the exception of running low on fuel,  there are no affiliated risks. How boring. How completely and utterly uninteresting.
Power must have its price '" or it kills anything like balance (as shown in the standard D&D rules) and even the worth of magic '" it must have a downside, or it is, essentially, worthless.

Therefore, Ashkardian magic comes without the guaranteed spellcasting success of the standard rules.

Spell casting '" the risky and dangerous way of magic -  needs a Concentration check to be successful. The DC of these checks is 15+Spell level. (A 1st level spell would be DC16, a 7th level spell would be DC 22). If the check fails, the spell is fizzled and the invested spellpoints are wasted. Armor Check penalties are applied to these checks, but the Arcane Spell Failure Chance plays no role anymore.

A natural 1 on the Concentration check always means a failure and needs a confirmation, just like a critical hit, but against the Concentration skill. If the confirmation succeeds, nothing more happens. The spell points are wasted, but, that is the only negative effect. If the confirmation fails, the caster has made a critical mistake and suffers for it. The target of the spell is a different (in the case of damage dealing spells it's almost always the caster himself), the effect is turned around (Cure spells become Harm spells for example), etc. The more powerful the spell was, the more devastating is the effect of a critical failure. As a rule of thumb, a damage dealing spell will deal its full damage to the caster.
A botched spell should bring a spellcaster in serious, in the case of powerful spells even life threatening peril.

Yes, that means that a 1st level wizard has a chance of fail around half the spells he or she casts at least on the short term. But with feats like a Concentration Skill Focus, the risk of blasting yourself isn't that high. But the risk is always there as it should be.

Ritual Magic is much safer and reliable. A ritualized '˜spell' needs twenty times as long as a fast cast, but it does not require a Concentration check and therefore can only fail horribly when the ritual is interrupted by outer means.

Ashkardian spells rarely use material components. Doing this is in most cases not necessary, but helpful and grants an additional +1 bonus to the Concentration check, but it is by no means necessary.

Maagic and Thermodynamics
It is much easier to destroy than to build something up. Think about it. Compared to the amount of labor, energy or time you need to let almost anything grow or construct something, it is extremely easy to destroy it. Why should it be different with magic? In Ashkardia, at least, that is how magic works.- You can create with magic, but it hurts. Destruction is much simpler (and it hurts, too, but at least not you).
All Spells, that heal, restore hitpoints or have similar numerical effects are only half as effective as listed; Cure spells uses D4's instead f D8's, Heal heals only 5 hitpoints per Caster Level, etc.
Spells that create, gives life or similar effects (like e.g. Plant Growth) are treated as one level higher. The Spell Mend does not exist at all.
Destruction is easy though '"spells that hurt, kill and injure just stay as they are.

The different varieties of magic
There are three different greater categories of magic '" hereditary magic, like those of sorcerers (with innate magical abilities and charisma as a basic attribute), hermetic magic (with spellbooks, long training and intelligence as the basical ability - the magic of wizards) and spiritual magic, based on the spirit world and a deep understanding of the supernatural.
Hereditary magic simply is and is only based on the will and character strength of its user; hermetic magic is based upon an inner logic. It works on a base of rationality and an almost scientific approach. Spiritual magic on the other hand is almost completely based on intuition and emotion; it is not based on logic and thought but on dream and passion. Hermetic magic works within a prefixed set of rules, spiritual magic doesn't.

Hermetic magicians '" Wizards '" uses more or less the same rules as in Standard D&D. Apart from the complete different magical system.
Likewise, hereditary magicians '" Sorcerers '" resemble their predecessors.
But the spiritual magicians  are different. The two major spiritual magicians are Shamans and Druids, and the Scholars of the Trolls, who were always the most apt spiritual magicians .

Undeads in Ashkardia
Undeads in Ashkardia are rare. There are no large hordes of brainless zombies or animated skeletons (which I personally despise, because I always found them extremely contalogical). Ashkardian undeads are created when a "soul" is forced back into its body after it died. Since animals can be animated in this way as well, the "soul" part is up to dispute. The undead remember their life, even though they rot. Undeads dissolve without a constant supply of life energy - and therefore they hunt for the living to get this supply. The form in which they consume it varies widely - from flesh and blood of the most primitive undeads up to the "breathstealers" who can feed on a sleeper without waking him up and leaving only a dried out hull behind.
Unmdeath is a curse, and often the victims of undeads become undeads themselves.
There are numerous names for the living dead in Ashkardia - draugr, vampire, wights, ghouls, gyonshi or revenants. The single names do not refer to single, different species but to a wide number of different undeads.
The power of different undeas vary widely - the more life essence a living dead has absorbed or absorbs regularly, the more powerful it becomes. As a rule of thumb, an undead needs 1 D6 of hitpoints per week to not further decay (they still decay, but the changes are purely cosmetical). When they consume the flesh or blood (or essence...) of the living, they regenerate damage both from injuries as well from rotting as well from decay. An undead that starves becomes more and more feral and rots faster, while their decaying joints make their movements slow and staggering. An undead needs a steady supply of essence to maintain a human-like intellect; if they regularly consume more essence than they need, they will develop additional powers and often a very life-like appearance. The most powerful undeads are as old as the oldest dragons and Sidhe and more than equal in powers. Many undeads can feed of magical energies as well, which makes all kinds of magicians a favorite targets for them. There are therefore quite a number of undeads which have the Gift themselves, but like they can't heal their bodies on their own anymore, they need the essence of the living to cast spells. The Dark Portals are very common among them.

Undeads in Ashkardia
Undeads in Ashkardia are rare. There are no large hordes of brainless zombies or animated skeletons (which I personally despise, because I always found them extremely contralogical). Ashkardian undeads are created when a "soul" is forced back into its body after it died. Since animals can be animated in this way as well, the "soul" part is up to dispute. The undead remember their life, even though they rot. Undeads dissolve without a constant supply of life energy - and therefore they hunt for the living to get this supply. The form in which they consume it varies widely - from flesh and blood of the most primitive undeads up to the "breathstealers" who can feed on a sleeper without waking him up and leaving only a dried out hull behind.
Unmdeath is a curse, and often the victims of undeads become undeads themselves.
There are numerous names for the living dead in Ashkardia - draugr, vampire, wights, ghouls, gyonshi or revenants. The single names do not refer to single, different species but to a wide number of different undeads.
The power of different undeas vary widely - the more life essence a living dead has absorbed or absorbs regularly, the more powerful it becomes. As a rule of thumb, an undead needs 1 D6 of hitpoints per week to not further decay (they still decay, but the changes are purely cosmetical). When they consume the flesh or blood (or essence...) of the living, they regenerate damage both from injuries as well from rotting as well from decay. An undead that starves becomes more and more feral and rots faster, while their decaying joints make their movements slow and staggering. An undead needs a steady supply of essence to maintain a human-like intellect; if they regularly consume more essence than they need, they will develop additional powers and often a very life-like appearance. The most powerful undeads are as old as the oldest dragons and Sidhe and more than equal in powers. Many undeads can feed of magical energies as well, which makes all kinds of magicians a favorite targets for them. There are therefore quite a number of undeads which have the Gift themselves, but like they can't heal their bodies on their own anymore, they need the essence of the living to cast spells. The Dark Portals are very common among them.

ok, playability question (which is eventually going to feed another META posting)...
what races out of all these wonders are player races?  I'm not a fanatic about balance as some of the crunchies sometimes floating around in here, as I believe that a good game allows good players to get ahead, no matter what minor advantages character creation gives them.

Magic system makes me happy.  Spell success%, spell points, ritual magic are all faves and are used heavily in my setting, so I approve very much.  Next, your level added to DC is a nice clean generalized rule of thumb.
I also like the reasoning behind magic item rarity, though after reading your sidhe thread it rings false.  I would rather think they would be enchanting every frigging ponytail holder and spoon, with their magic-heavy lifestyle.  Also one of the few things that might keep life a little less tedious.

Quote from: LordVreegMagic system makes me happy. Spell success%, spell points, ritual magic are all faves and are used heavily in my setting, so I approve very much. Next, your level added to DC is a nice clean generalized rule of thumb.
I also like the reasoning behind magic item rarity, though after reading your sidhe thread it rings false. I would rather think they would be enchanting every frigging ponytail holder and spoon, with their magic-heavy lifestyle. Also one of the few things that might keep life a little less tedious.

Not necessarily - Why should I do the tendious and draining work to enchant something if I can have three or four oks or pixies who can do anything for me? The Sidhe do not really enchant items - they change living things into fitting forms for their usage. Like magical biotechnology.