Author Topic: Starting Point - Campaign Info and Chargen  (Read 1859 times)

Offline Drammor

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Starting Point - Campaign Info and Chargen
« on: March 12, 2013, 01:45:04 AM »
I, like you, will be starting here. As this is my first time running a D&D campaign, please bear with me a bit. I will modify this post to detail and identify all of the important things to know, so please ask as many questions as are needed.

What is known so far...

This campaign will support up to 6 players. It is designed to be played up to level 6, but level 7 might be possible.

    Character Generation
    • Starting Level: 1 and 0 (see Child Arc, below)
    • Stat Generation: 32-point buy.
    • Wealth: 20 gold, starting with no more than 1 gold in coins at campaign start.
    • Classes: Commoner, and no others.
    • Races: None with LA or racial HD. The race may not normally live longer than 200 years, and they will need a reasonable explanation for growing up in a human hamlet.
    • Templates: None.
    • Hit Points: Max at 1st level, +2.5 per level, rounded down.
    • Alignment: No evil.
    • Feats: Gained at levels 1, 3, 5 and 7. Characters may ignore the regional requirements of Regional feats, but not their racial requirements. At no point will Wild Cohort, Leadership, Undead Leadership or similar feats be allowed, but Psicrystal Affinity and Obtain Familiar are. Unearthed Arcana's bonus feats for generic classes are allowed.
    • Flaws/Traits: 2 flaws, 2 traits; commoner-only feats are banned. No anti-feats.
    • Sources Allowed: WotC 3.5, 3.5 Dragon mag (please give source); some Pathfinder (ask). Homebrew with permission, but only one homebrew item per character (such as a specialized feat tree, feature system, martial discipline, bloodline, set of uses for a skill, et cetera). For note, Magic of Incarnum and Tome of Battle are welcome sources.
    • Optimization Level: Moderate. Use of the Commoner Handbook is encouraged. No broken/clearly overpowered combinations, infinite loops or use of Pazuzu will be tolerated. You'll want to be very good at what you do, and emulating normal class roles is recommended.
    Each character may have either 1 minor bloodline, 1 intermediate bloodline or 2 minor bloodlines. Instead of coming with effective level, these will come with XP penalties of -10%, -15% and -20%, respectively. If your character has two minor bloodlines, their benefits will be staggered so that one provides its first two benefits at levels 1 and 4, respectively, and the other provides its benefits at levels 2 and 6, respectively.


    Child Arc
    At the beginning of the campaign, each character will be a child on an adventure through a small dungeon. At this time, they will be apprentice-level Commoners. Their ability scores will be reduced by -2 each, and they will get 3 hp and 4 skill points, modified by Con and Int as normal. They may have up to 2 ranks in class skills, and 1 rank in cross-class skills. Depending on their starting size, they may be reduced by a size category and their movement speed may also decrease. They will not have the level 1 feat or flaws (nor the bonus feats that come with them), but they will have their racial features, including any racial feats they would gain at level 1. Each character will start this phase with 10 gp worth of equipment, but may not start with more than 5 silver in coins. This equipment will be determined and taken separately of their 1st level equipment, and any equipment remaining or gained from this phase of the campaign will carry over into the characters' adult (level 1+) careers.



    Setting Info
    Enoa, your home hamlet, is located in the northern side of an expanse of plains of a temperate region. It is located a quarter mile east of a small river that provides the people's water and also along the the southern edge of a deciduous forest. It is a walled settlement of ~250 people who are primarily human. There's a mountain several miles to the north, and a rocky shelf to the east-southeast, the bottom ledge of which eventually leads to a massive, mysterious cave formed out of granite shelves which toppled over onto each other some many generations ago.

    Your government is the town council of the hamlet itself, as far as most people are concerned. The council is Neutral Good with Lawful leanings, as is most of the population. There's a larger city several leagues to the northeast, which is important to the kingdom you inhabit, but your hamlet is ignored by the greater government which resides there.

    Your characters will all have a common trait: they have a strong affinity for adventure, which may find its roots in the Child Arc. By adulthood, they will be some of the most competent and able people in the hamlet. There might be a couple people with non-commoner levels (possibly even 2 or 3 of them!), but they have very good reasons to be even further from danger than you do.



    See the character discussion thread and the character sheets thread for who has joined up so far.
    « Last Edit: May 04, 2013, 02:47:42 PM by Drammor »
    [20:32] <DonQuixote> A POX UPON YOU ALL!
    [20:32] <DonQuixote> YOU, J, FOR STEALING THE PURITY OF NORNS.
    [20:32] <DonQuixote> YOU, DRAMMOR, FOR ENSNARING ME IN THIS FIENDISH PRISON.