Author Topic: Whispers of War [3.5] - Needs One  (Read 15337 times)

Offline Stratovarius

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Whispers of War [3.5] - Needs One
« on: October 18, 2015, 08:20:33 AM »
Yes, I figured I'd give this one more try :P

This adventure takes place in Fracha, the boundary city between the kingdoms of Biyan and Pybyr Vestana, mostly separate from both. Located inside the edge of the burning desert that is the home of the Pybyr, Fracha is a trader's city, one that is welcoming to all and sundry. Provided they come to make coin, and not trouble. Trouble is somewhat expected at this time of the year, however, for it is the War of Rose & Thorn, a great tournament, a contest that pits rival arcanists and warriors against one another, fraught with bloodshed, intrigue, and the settling of old debts. Nobles enter their best warriors, arcane schools their best wizards, each seeking to gain fame for themselves and the wealth and power that comes with gaining entrance into and influence upon the Living Sun Wardens, the collective group of soldiers and magic-users that protects and rules the city of Fracha.

But for the first time in many years, the War of Rose & Thorn is not uppermost in the minds of the populace, for they are shaken, nervous. Great storms have begun to sweep across the desert, bringing with them heavy rain and howling wind, as well as strange flashes in the night, not lightning, but something more sinister. While the tempests have so far avoided Fracha and the cities of Pybyr Vestana, there have been rumours of shadowy creatures left in the wake of their passing, shadows that move of their own will, and not with the light. It is because of such concerns that the populace has turned heavily to the worship of Awyr Leuad, for she is the goddess of weather. Not much worshipped in Fracha before the advent of the storms, her temple now overflows into the street with every ceremony, and the young priest who speaks on behalf of the goddess has seen his influence grow by leaps and bounds, leaving the other, more established, religious figures anxious.

It's into this mess of intrigue that the adventure goes, as the group of PCs arrives in Fracha.

Bits of background and necessary material:
This is an Arhosan campaign.
The PCs either all have to be born in Fracha or have arrived in Fracha together. Either way is fine.
Fracha is ~70% Pybyr and Biyou population, with a turbulent mixture of other races making up the remaining 30%.
Any Arhosan base class is allowed, but the more extreme ones (Ritualists, Necromancers, Overlords) will have an unpleasant reaction from the populace if discovered.
Campaign will start at 3rd level and finish with reaching 5th level.
Because of the nature of the campaign, a mixture of information gathering, intrigue, and combat skills are necessary.

Arhosa Campaign Setting
The applicable content can be found through the Arhosa Campaign Setting link. If there are questions, about the campaign, content, rules, or the like, please nag me. Also, if there's a character concept that's not available, shout and I can create content quickly.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2016, 03:01:45 PM by Stratovarius »

Offline Gazzien

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2015, 03:05:29 PM »
Obviously, I have to play a Thresholder. Just kidding. Maybe. I'll probably try some Spellsong.

Offline Stratovarius

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2015, 03:08:21 PM »
Obviously, I have to play a Thresholder. Just kidding. Maybe. I'll probably try some Spellsong.

:clap Nice try, but the Thresholder won't be anywhere near complete for this campaign's kickoff.

Spellsinger, on the other hand, is complete. And just moved homes. It's now in forum #5 - Minor Magics, which is where I put my finished small systems.

Offline Gazzien

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2015, 03:26:14 PM »
Obviously, I have to play a Thresholder. Just kidding. Maybe. I'll probably try some Spellsong.

:clap Nice try, but the Thresholder won't be anywhere near complete for this campaign's kickoff.

Spellsinger, on the other hand, is complete. And just moved homes. It's now in forum #5 - Minor Magics, which is where I put my finished small systems.
That was the joke :P

Yeah, thinking of a Hanian Spellsinger, possibly with a couple of Craft bonuses for teamwork use.

Pity there's no magic items for Spellsong... have to go with a generic skill-boosting item. Probably just a masterwork tool, to be honest, but I dunno.

Offline Stratovarius

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2015, 03:45:02 PM »
That was the joke :P

Yeah, thinking of a Hanian Spellsinger, possibly with a couple of Craft bonuses for teamwork use.

Pity there's no magic items for Spellsong... have to go with a generic skill-boosting item. Probably just a masterwork tool, to be honest, but I dunno.

Wise guy! :p

So, Cantra was my version of a 1st level Hanian Spellsinger, if you want a starting point. She was created before the Hanians dropped Spellsouled and added Inherent Skill. Although looking at them again, I might have another round of tweaks in the offing.

And there's nothing that says you can't come up with a few Spellsong magical items - the system needs them, after all. Just be aware that if you go for crazy skill bonus stacking, I might break out Crush 'Em. Since that needs some clarification, the math behind the Spellsong system assumes you can get an average Spellsong result of 33 at level 3 (that's rolling a 10 on the d20). So if you're roughly in the vicinity, you'll be fine. As for the magic items, don't forget to add in that 40% cost kicker that exists in Arhosa when planning a character.

Offline Gazzien

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2015, 03:53:34 PM »
(click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: October 18, 2015, 04:35:10 PM by Gazzien »

Offline Stratovarius

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #6 on: October 18, 2015, 04:06:46 PM »
You're remembering this post. I never actually got around to implementing the skill alterations in Arhosa proper, at least partially because some of the combinations would have ended up with odd artefacts, like the Ritualist being really good Escape Artist. Given the total change in skills in Arhosa is only +2 currently (UMD removed, Animalism, Spellbond, Spellsong added), and all of the added ones are at least partially class specific, I didn't feel too bad about that.

Also, I see you are going to craft up a bunch of +2 competence bonus items for the various party members.

Offline Gazzien

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #7 on: October 18, 2015, 04:08:40 PM »
You're remembering this post. I never actually got around to implementing the skill alterations in Arhosa proper, at least partially because some of the combinations would have ended up with odd artefacts, like the Ritualist being really good Escape Artist. Given the total change in skills in Arhosa is only +2 currently (UMD removed, Animalism, Spellbond, Spellsong added), and all of the added ones are at least partially class specific, I didn't feel too bad about that.

Also, I see you are going to craft up a bunch of +2 competence bonus items for the various party members.
Probably, yes, but the original intent was to make a +4 Masterwork Item of Spellsong, with the added caveat of being able to share such wealth. (As opposed to taking Skill Focus... and... I dunno, something else?)

Offline Stratovarius

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #8 on: October 18, 2015, 04:12:32 PM »
Probably, yes, but the original intent was to make a +4 Masterwork Item of Spellsong, with the added caveat of being able to share such wealth. (As opposed to taking Skill Focus... and... I dunno, something else?)

Go right ahead, it's assumed the first item any spellsinger starts with is a +2 masterwork tool.

BTW, I'm probably about to hit Easy Performance with a nerf bat - it's actually an incredibly strong feat, because it allows even a 1st level Spellsinger to have two songs going at a time, provided they're willing to use all their actions in a round singing/maintaining.

Offline Gazzien

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #9 on: October 18, 2015, 04:14:11 PM »
Probably, yes, but the original intent was to make a +4 Masterwork Item of Spellsong, with the added caveat of being able to share such wealth. (As opposed to taking Skill Focus... and... I dunno, something else?)

Go right ahead, it's assumed the first item any spellsinger starts with is a +2 masterwork tool.

BTW, I'm probably about to hit Easy Performance with a nerf bat - it's actually an incredibly strong feat, because it allows even a 1st level Spellsinger to have two songs going at a time, provided they're willing to use all their actions in a round singing/maintaining.
Yeah, I was wondering about that. I'll probably skip over to Skill Focus if you do :P

Also, offtopic, but in the new Rules Overview post: It increases the crafting cost by 40%, and the purchase cost by 80%. And that only goes up if the item had an XP component of its own.

Offline Stratovarius

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #10 on: October 18, 2015, 04:22:04 PM »
Yeah, I was wondering about that. I'll probably skip over to Skill Focus if you do :P

Also, offtopic, but in the new Rules Overview post: It increases the crafting cost by 40%, and the purchase cost by 80%. And that only goes up if the item had an XP component of its own.

I did. Easy Performance now requires 6th level to grab, and Lingering Performance 3rd level.

As to the crafting cost, that's based on the math here. Which was worked out using the market cost, not the crafting cost.

Offline Gazzien

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2015, 04:26:22 PM »
Yeah, I was wondering about that. I'll probably skip over to Skill Focus if you do :P

Also, offtopic, but in the new Rules Overview post: It increases the crafting cost by 40%, and the purchase cost by 80%. And that only goes up if the item had an XP component of its own.

I did. Easy Performance now requires 6th level to grab, and Lingering Performance 3rd level.

As to the crafting cost, that's based on the math here. Which was worked out using the market cost, not the crafting cost.
I did that math. ... Wow, I'm bad at remembering things. This doesn't bode well for my classes...

Also, oops. Can't craft any magic items until level four. That puts a spanner in the works.
« Last Edit: October 18, 2015, 04:35:34 PM by Gazzien »

Offline Stratovarius

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #12 on: October 18, 2015, 04:40:38 PM »
I did that math. ... Wow, I'm bad at remembering things. This doesn't bode well for my classes...

Also, oops. Can't craft any magic items until level four. That puts a spanner in the works.

On the other hand, you have your free, infinite Spellsongs to fall back on until you can craft away :D

Not that the rest of the party wouldn't mind a few +3 (+1 Masterwork, +2 competence) to attack weapons, I'm sure...

Offline Gazzien

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #13 on: October 18, 2015, 04:49:30 PM »
I did that math. ... Wow, I'm bad at remembering things. This doesn't bode well for my classes...

Also, oops. Can't craft any magic items until level four. That puts a spanner in the works.

On the other hand, you have your free, infinite Spellsongs to fall back on until you can craft away :D

Not that the rest of the party wouldn't mind a few +3 (+1 Masterwork, +2 competence) to attack weapons, I'm sure...
Oh yeah. I'm just going to be carrying around a couple thousand gold for a while, apparently xD

And then there will be... wands? I dunno, how do wands work with the spell point system?

Offline Stratovarius

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #14 on: October 18, 2015, 04:53:34 PM »
Oh yeah. I'm just going to be carrying around a couple thousand gold for a while, apparently xD

And then there will be... wands? I dunno, how do wands work with the spell point system?

A spell point wand is just a psionic dorge. So, it uses those rules. Not everything in the Spell Seed system is identical to psionics, but it's close enough to serve as a good rules base.

Offline Gazzien

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #15 on: October 18, 2015, 06:16:39 PM »
Oh yeah. I'm just going to be carrying around a couple thousand gold for a while, apparently xD

And then there will be... wands? I dunno, how do wands work with the spell point system?

A spell point wand is just a psionic dorge. So, it uses those rules. Not everything in the Spell Seed system is identical to psionics, but it's close enough to serve as a good rules base.
Hey! I can use my spell point!

I may have been thinking of power stones. Shh.
« Last Edit: October 18, 2015, 06:25:45 PM by Gazzien »

Offline Stratovarius

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #16 on: October 18, 2015, 06:28:50 PM »
Hey! I can use my spell point!

I may have been thinking of power stones. Shh.

Was going to say...

Interestingly, because of my changes to the rules, you can craft any item. But you can't use any that can cast a spell because none of the spells are on your class list.

And on that note, I really need to get on to creating a Spellsong magic item or two...

Edit: Masterpieces, basically Spellsong Dorjes.
« Last Edit: October 18, 2015, 07:01:48 PM by Stratovarius »

Offline Stratovarius

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #17 on: October 20, 2015, 06:54:15 AM »
Now that Gazzien and I have monopolized the thread for Spellsong tweaking, who else would like to join this grand endeavour? :D

Offline Nanshork

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #18 on: October 20, 2015, 05:28:32 PM »
I'm surprised that sdk and Venn haven't popped up, the three of us were in pretty much all of your Arhosa games before...

Offline skydragonknight

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Re: Whispers of War [3.5]
« Reply #19 on: October 20, 2015, 05:57:49 PM »
It's tempting, but I am rather concerned at the possibility of sudden and unannounced GM hiatuses. Feeling a bit of the "fool me once, fool me twice" on this one.
Hmm.