The Campaign Builder's Guild

There should be a newer thread on one of the first few pages of the homebrew forum, go look at that. ;)

This Spot Reserved For Classes & Races

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General Notes: PC Classes - People with PC classes are somewhat on the rare in Tasothilos.  Even as early as 3rd level or so, persons with PC class levels should be starting to receive some notoriety among common folk in their local region - though at that point of course they will still be small potatoes among the elite 'society' of adventurers.
Literacy - In standard D&D, all classes are automatically literate in every language they know, except Barbarians.  In Tasothilos, the only classes which receive Literacy by default are Wizards, Nobles, Clerics and Bards.  All other classes must spend two skill points to gain literacy, unless they select certain background feats.


Barbarian - Barbarians remain mechanically unaltered in Tasothilos.  However, there is some flavor change.  Most Barbarians are still representatives of some of the more 'savage' cultures of Salabria.  Not all barbarians are Barbarians, however - most members of such savage societies are simply warriors, commoners and experts, just like in other societies.  The Barbarians are champions and defenders of the tribe.
There is an additional sort of 'civilized' Barbarian, too - an otherwise orderly warrior who is able to tap into the savage side of his nature (some call it Frenzy, some call it Blood Lust, others don't bother with an appellation.)

Bard - Bards have undergone some changes.  I have transmuted their spell list into a list of 'tricks'.  This involved cutting out most of the 'overtly magical' spells, leaving only those that could be explained through slight of hand, the bard's extremely forceful personality, etc.  The bard is compensated for their loss of their more 'magic' spells, though - tricks require no components except in very specific cases where a material component (Pyrotechnics, for instance) or verbal component (Greater Shout) is clearly mandated.  Also, the bard's lower-level (0-2) Tricks continue to function in an antimagic field and other places where magic spells would be surpressed.  (At level 3 and above, the tricks start to have a bit of a supernatural edge, and antimagic becomes effective against them.)  
Bards in Tasothilos represent the most elite of the wandering story tellers which abound in Tasothilos.  While most such minstrels are mere experts with their skills focused around Perform and Knowledge, true Bards tend to be more widely travelled, more capable, and more mysterious.  A minstrel stopping by in a small town is likely to receive lodging for a night and a meal - the reaction to the arrival of a true Bard is more akin to the reception of the Gleeman in the first book of RJ's Wheel of Time.

Cleric - The main thing that needs to be noted for Clerics is that not all members of the Clergy are clerics - in fact, VERY few are.  Most are experts and aristocrats.  True Clerics are usually champions of the faith, and rarely do they remain within the sedentary hierarchy of the established church until they retire.  Some are not even associated with their churches at all, instead being wandering holy men.  It is worth noting that Clerics in Tasothilos may not worship abstract concepts.  Most are clerics are worshippers of a specific deity, though some instead revere their pantheon as a whole.  

Druid - Druids are a mysterious folk.  Entirely distinct from, say, clerics and clergy of nature deities, the druids worship primal nature itself.  (There are some groups of druids who worship Rholereck, god of the Wood, but they have strange rites and teachings distinct from standard theology about that god.)  Representing either an older way or a degenerate form of true religion (depending on who you ask), druids perform their rites by fire light in wooded groves surrounded by wild beasts, rather than in fine temples of wood and marble.  Most are highly secretive, and do not go out on adventures.  Some few do, however, motivated either by a desire to protect the natural order or by messages that they receive during their bizarre hallucinogenic rites.  These adventuring druids are usually a little unsettling to civilized people, sometimes even to their travelling companions.

Fighter - The fighter is an easy one to fit into Tasothilos.  It must be emphasized that true Fighters, as opposed to Warriors, are rare.  The average army will have not a fighter in it - the rank and file will be commoners, the knights and other elites will have warrior levels, and the commanders may well be Aristocrats.  It takes more to make a Fighter than chain mail and a longsword.  They are highly trained professionals - indeed, many of them even had 'masters' in the same way that most wizards did.  Truly legendary fighters even have their own immediately recognizeable combat technique - one that fledgling fighters may imitate for centuries.

Monk - Monks of all classes have probably undergone the largest 'facelift' for Tasothilos.  Because my setting is for the most part very Western, I had to strip away some of the elements of the class, and re-name others.  I'm still not quite satisfied with the result, but at the moment what they are might best be termed "Brawlers".  I've upped their hit-dice, removed some of their more 'mystical' abilities, and really focused on their ability to use unarmed attacks and basic weapons, to compare with the fighter who tends to deal in cold steel.

Noble - The one base class I am completely inventing (possibly adapting from either the SWRPG or WOTd20), the noble is defined by his connections.  He makes a good front-man for the party in social situations, and since diplomacy and intrigue are major parts of what I see as the 'ideal' Tasothilos campaign, they will see quite some use in these fields.  Nobles are trained in the art of 'courtly combat', as well, so while they are not the best front-line fighters they can hold their own in the dungeon.

Paladin - The paladin has the distinction of being the only partial-caster class that I am comfortable leaving as a wielder of actual magic, as compared to the bard and ranger whom I have tried to explain away by trickery and herbalism.  Paladins have been left largely alone in terms of flavor and rules, though I've done a few minor things.  (IE, I never understood why paladins were immune to non-magical fear.  What does that even mean?)  One thing worth noting about Paladins is that there are no 'orders' of paladins - most are lone crusaders tied to a church.  (Some churches have military orders, but these usually consist of trained warriors, not paladins).  Another thing is that paladins exist for all of the deities of the major human pantheon save Alamir, the most depraved of them all.  Even deities whose worshippers are mainly evil have a 'good' wing of the faith which has some paladins, though these may be regarded as heretics by the 'orthodox' faithful.

Ranger - The ranger has had his spell list similarly cut down to the way in which the bard had his trimmed, though in the case of the Ranger I am willing to accept a little more mysticality.  To account for this, I give most ranger spells a material component of wild herbs (the exception to this 'rule' being spells which can be explained as instinct (Detect spells) or as training (Pass Without Trace).  The ranger is a great woodsman and typically a loner, little suited to 'civilized' courtly society (not as badly so as the Druid, perhaps.)

Rogue - Like the fighter, the rogue is so universal a concept as to require very little introduction for Tasothilos.  It is of course worth repeating that most petty thieves are not Rogues but Experts.  The Rogue is a thief's thief or a scout's scout, depending on their moral compass.  They are masters at not being seen, and using this to their advantage in combat as well as out of it.

Sorcerer - Sorcerers are not a common occurence in Tasothilos.  All sorcerers can ultimately trace their powers to one of two sets of circumstances.  The most common type are those that have fantastic (fey, draconic, genie) blood in their veins owing to an ancestor's dalliance with a supernatural entity.  Less common are those whose mothers were enspelled during their pregnancies.  Not all magical spells can cause a pregnant woman to give birth to a potential sorcerer - the exact combinations are too difficult to predict.  Equally hard to predict is when this power will manifest itself.  The first variety usually feel the influence of their sorcerous heritage by the time they reach adulthood, but in the second category it can lie hidden for decades.  

Warlock - I love the Warlock concept.  However, I do not want this rarer-magic world to be overwhelmed with base class casters, so I think that I will likely create a prestige class on the model of the warlock instead, with the requirement being that the would-be-warlock track down a sufficiently powerful entity and make oaths with them in order to receive the necessary power.  Such Warlocks would have codes of conduct depending on what sort of entity gives them their power (I think there will be four types: Natural (nature spirits), Elemental (genies), Celestial (angels), Demonic (fiends)).  The nature of this entity will also affect spell lists.

Wizard - Wizards in Tasothilos are divided into two different types.  These will be discussed each in greater detail later, but here they are in summary:
Logomancers - The more common type of Wizard (though 'common' is an entirely inappropriate word to describe wizards of any stripe), Logomancers focus on the power of words.  All words are held to be descendents ultimately of the First Speech, with which the gods created the world.  The Logomancer probes seemingly mundane words and by the force of his will unlocks the hidden power within.  (They tend to focus their studies on ancient languages like Archaic Ekeusian and Old High Elvish, because these languages are older and therefore closer on the linguistic 'family tree' to the First Speech).  Their main disadvantage is the inability to silence their spells - they always have a verbal component.  Their main advantage is the ability to automatically still a certain number of spells per day, depending on their level.
Arithromancers - The more rare variety of wizards are all descendents of the Ekeusian tradition of Sacred Numerology.  They hold that there is a secret mathematics that binds the universe together, and that by special calculations and manipulation of numbers, they can create magical effects.  Their primary disadvantage is the inability to Quicken their spells and a penalty on Concentration checks to avoid having their spells disrupted, since their calculations are so complicated.  Their main advantage is the ability to opt for Consistent Casting - because their magic is so methodical and mathematical, they can always elect to choose the 'average' result for any random numbers (damage dice, for instance) in their spells.

THIS spot reserved for a diatribe on religion and magic

This is a handy reference for Tasothilos.  It is intended to give the reader a summary description of various places, persons, etc. mentioned in this thread.  These are only the basic summaries - in most cases, detailed descriptions will be located elsewhere.  It will be ever-expanding.

Algarlin - The Anglicized version of a common 'nickname' for the whole world of Tasothilos.  Actual form of the name varies from region to region - the Andozians call it Agiarlina, for instance.  Etymology uncertain.

Ekeusion - An ancient Hellenic-flavored empire (with some exotic elements tossed in) which is still, almost 1500 years after it's fall, a major cultural defining force in the regions it once controled and dealt with.  Ekeusion is the noun for the empire itself and it's capital city, Ekeusian is the adjective.

Salabria - The common name for the mapped campaign region.  The sea bounded on the west and south by continents, the north by treacherous icy waters, and open (but unexplored) to the east is called the Salabrian Sea, and all of the nations washed by its waters are termed Salabria.  More frequently used by me in describing places than it is by natives in describing themselves - this is not an era in which the Salabrians feel any particular unity.

Tasothilos - The Ekeusian name (and thus, the 'official' name) of the entire campaign world.  Derives from two Classical Ekeusian words meaning "Central World").  Encompasses far more land than the regions mapped and described here.  It's a standard spherical-shaped world, though somewhat larger than Earth.

So I imagine we can post now? A few questions:

Are you going to port everything here?

Will there be major revisions?

Is the Noble required to be of noble blood? How do the Noble and Aristocrat classes relate to each other?

It seems that to become a member of a PC class, lots of training is usually required. PCs sometimes like to have backstories of self-teaching or no teaching at all. Will you allow this? If so, in how far?

If you are going to port things here and/or to the Hosting area, feel free to add my creations in there somewhere too. I'm not going to repost them here, but if you want to do that you can. If you don't, that's fine too.

It's good to see you posting again.

Túrin

Everything? I will be porting everything, but slowly at first since it's finals period (in the past twenty four hours, I've written an 8 page paper on the similarities of Homeric and Vergilian diction and an 11 page paper on Philip II of Macedon).  I expect to do a couple tonight as it's my night off, and then from Thursday on you can expect my production to pick up.

Major revisions:  In a couple of cases, yes.  I plan to fully revise Philstaros and a couple of the other early nations, and I plan to update the gods a bit as my conceptions of them have changed since I began.  For the most part, though, I'm just going to correct inconsistencies that have cropped up over the past 2 years of work.

Noble Noble blood? Not TECHNICALLY.  The Noble is a person with connections and influence.  MOST Nobles will be nobles, but not all.  The relationship between Noble and Aristocrat is roughly analagous to the one between a Warrior and a Fighter.

Training I'm very ok with PCs having backstories of self-teaching / no teaching in most cases.  The exceptions are probably Wizards, and especially Arithromancers.  I could allow a rare self-taught Logomancer who happened to be a prodigy, found a spellbook and taught him self, but I think I may put an absolute ban on the 'innate' Arithromancer.  It runs counter to the idea of the class.  But for all the others, go ahead.

I will certainly add your creations to my hosting area, though I'm going to wait until I've got a good bit of material up here for people to look at first.