Suddenly having sharpened ears and longer lives, skin turned green with tusks, shorter yet stronger than rock itself, the list of alterations is massive. So what does happen in a world where suddenly our best dreams, and worst nightmares, come alive?
Character Creation Rules:
System: 4e
Level 1 (Noobsville. Population: you guys.)
Stats: 25pt buy. (rather than 4e's default 22)
Race: Any published, except for half races as there hasn't been enough time for an elf and human to shack up and have you yet. The race you pick will be the race you become, but you will start the story as a human.
Class: Any published. (Note that just because you are a wizard does not mean you knew of magic before the event. Rules for character design will be below.)
Feats: Choice of free expertise feat. Linguist feat will not be allowed.
Themes: Allowed. Begrudgingly.
Background: +2 to a skill. No adding languages.
Equipment:One free weapon or implement you have proficiency in, one free armor you have proficiency in, a backpack, bedroll, flint and steel, a belt pouch, ten days worth of trail rations (10), and a waterskin, plus 50 gold to spend on other items. You won't have this equipment at the start. You will also have identification papers, unless your job involved being a thief or street rat in some way, and thus would not want to be identified easily.
Skills: Class skills will only take effect later on at a certain point, don't expect to have training in thievery and arcana straight off, unless your job specifically required that skill, you don't have training in it right away. On that note, Arcana will have a second feature, and a limit to it's usual features, given below for ease of viewing. Beyond that, regular skill rules. 4 minimum, class restrictions ignored.
Rituals: Component costs for all rituals are reduced to ¼ their normal values to encourage ritual use. Also, Raise Dead will not be allowed in this game – dead is dead, though we hope that doesn’t have to be an issue.
Inherent Bonuses: Allowed
Languages: Start with common, and keep it there. You are living on an isolated island that, until recently, had only one group of people living under their king. The races each have their own languages, but for the most part you can't understand them. If you are part of that race you will have a minor understanding of the language, likely that on the level of a spanish speaker that has some experience and can translate some words, but isn't used to using the language yet and thus can not keep up with the rest of what the person is saying.
- Setting
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- The Story:
It is 1200 A.S. (After Solar), in the kingdom of Etiawyth, on the island nation of Awhea and the world has changed. As the world has started to enter an almost miraculous technological advance, almost all of it has come crashing down. Men and women across the globe have changed into Elves, Orcs, Kobolds, anything you can think of. And you're right in the thick of it.
It's been a little over a year since the initial change and things are rocky at best, almost warlike at worst. With things marginally better, you've come together with your friends to relax a bit without having to worry so much about random searches and magic checks at home and listen to the news through the recently created scrying monitors your friend has gotten. A small moment of peace in an otherwise insane world, quickly ripped apart like wet paper.
An announcement reaches your ears. Any citizen that can spend three years working for the king will be given upper-class living quarters, payment weekly for food, and ownership of one of the outer lying settlements in the kingdom. The work involved will deal with taking care of the gangs and other threats currently facing the kingdom, and payment will be received for completing the various problems. To handle the distribution of what will probably be a large influx of adventurers, the King has set up various buildings across the kingdom where the guard and citizens can post problems.
With money, safety, and the possibility to become dukes and duchesses, you pack up what you think you will need, and prepare to apply. Three years is a long time though, and for each of you, you wonder what this decision will lead to.
- Theme
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- A lot of the technology you will be facing will be dealing with magic. Things like magic powered trains and televisions. But there will also be a few things that aren't focused on magic, things based entirely around technology. I'm not saying cars or anything like that, but some things will be made of pure technology, though they will be fairly primitive in design.
As magic is a recent thing, there is very little known about magic. Things like magic universities and wizard towers aren't going to be a thing. Regular colleges and the like, places of higher learning will exist however, and anyone that studies magic or has a job that would require a higher education would likely have been there at some point in their lives.
- The change
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- When the change, commonly known as the Rebirth by certain circles, altered most of the human race, humans became, in a way, the minority compared to the Reborn, the new term entailing all the new races walking Awhea.
Many of the new races followed their old personality traits in one way or another, elves had a tendency for flamboyance and general fun.
Orcs were partial to violence, though this does not mean that they relished in violence, many Orcs felt that violence could protect the weak, while others felt it was the only way to move in the world. These are just two examples of the numerous ways that people changed from their personalities, though that was not always the case, and a few black sheep do exist amongst the races.
- Character Rules
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- You
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- You are either a human, or what the current government is clasifying as a reborn, someone that was once human but now has to deal with the changes of being something else. Depending on these choices, the people you meet could react differently to you, and you could be ostracized for being a magical creature. Pick wisely.
- The Group
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- The group will be composed of a bunch of old friends, having come together a few days before the accident to hang out and generally relieve the stress of every day life. For the most part the party will be middle or lower class, no princesses or dukes, just people. Do not expect to know everything right off the bat because of this, you are just as clueless as the tavern owner when it comes to working the astral planes into the folds of a sword. More on that later.
- You Then vs Now
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- Along with the basic ten-minute background, include on extra block detailing your past life, the one before you became what you are now. Before the event you weren't a fighter, mage, any of that. You were a blacksmith, a mechanic for some of the recent technological advancements, a teacher. It was a job. You could have loved it or hated it, made connections, had crushes and lovers. You could have been anything, so long as in the political power plays of the kingdom, you were considered a pawn. Even a guard or guard captain would be nothing after the event given the right circumstances.
- To dos and to donts
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- I don't want to see characters with backstories from our recruitment forums. You're an average person, average life. I'll include a few examples of what I'm looking for and not looking for later. But no "my parents were killed by ____". And nothing that gives you intimate knowledge of magic and creatures. Basically go through our old forums for the bad applicants.
- Personalities and Change
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- As mentioned above, your race and personality will most likely go hand in hand. Here will be a small list of some of the personalities will go with the races.
Elves: Elves are flamboyant, jovial, and generally try to enjoy life as best they can. The new change was easiest on them, as their bodies were closest to human already. The biggest change would be pointed ears, sharpened senses such as sight and hearing, a small growth in height, and slightly slitted pupils.
Orcs: Orcs had a penchant for violence in some manner. This didn't have to be violence for the sake of violence, but instead had a sense that violence was necessary, and prepared themselves for the inevitability of violence. They could have been training to protect others, and many of the kingdoms guards became Orcs as a result of their emotions. Others felt violence was necessary to move up in the world, and some of the underbelly of the kingdom became Orcs as well. As such, they have a mixed view in the eyes of the populace.
- Languages
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- Language will be different in this game compared to our other ones. For the most part you will encounter common in the cities and villages, but out in the rest of Awhea, there are a variety of other languages created by the various races to give them a sense of self in the wake of becoming something new. As a part of each race, you will have a small understanding of these languages, usually at a bare minimum. You know some words, and in conversation can catch these words mixed in with the rest of the speech. However, do not expect to be able to just pick up the language with a feat, as such the linguist feat will not be allowed. Learning a language will take time and practice, and at the start you won't even be able to communicate with some races as they have fully forgotten common in favor of their language.
- Banned items
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- Because magic is a recent thing, a number of various items will be removed from the shop for this game, because it would be hard explaining how we have sunrods, but can't enchant a sword. Rather than give reasons for each one, there will be a list here of what items are not going to be allowed, at least at the start. As time progresses in the game, there may be some items allowed in the future, but at a higher cost most likely.
Everburning Torches
Sunrods
Those two specifically aren't allowed, otherwise, if it's magical, no buying it.
- Land Info
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- Isolated
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- The kingdom of Etiawyth you live in is on an island in the middle of the "Endless Blue" ocean, called Awhea. As far as you know, there are no other lands out there. The kingdom was seperated across the island a long time ago, but now it has been unified under one ruler, though there are still some tensions about the whole matter.
- Reason no one leaves the island
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- The king has decreed long before the discovery of magic that exploration across the oceans waves save for fishing is forbidden. Anyone caught doing so will be blasted to the bottom of the seas by the Royal Fleet’s Blockade around the country. It is unknown if anyone has tried and succeeded, as those that usually say they do tend to be insane.
- Skill rules
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- As the setting will require a bit of going into the unknown for characters, there will be some rules to assist both with RP and cutting back on some meta elements in the game. The major one will be to arcana, given the recent discovery of magic in the world.
- Arcana
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- As the world will have a sort of "magipunk" technology level, arcana will also be used to study both mechanical focused and magic focused technology. However, as Arcana is focused on magic in many ways, it will be limited due to the new arrival of magic. You will not know what spell was used, what certain senses in magic represent, and in many cases, a good Arcana roll will only hint at what might be in the nearby area.
- Knowledge checks and monsters
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- Unlike in our other games, in this one, every monster is new. Simply trying to read it with Arcana or remember it won't work. You will have had to have encountered an enemy enough times that you can recognize it's strengths and weaknesses through past experiences. Otherwise, all you'll get is a description of what it looks like.
- Feat Alterations
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- Linguist
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- Rather than give the extra 3 feats, Linguist will instead allow the character to begin understanding other languages normally. Each race will have their own language, and over time you will start to understand more and more through a layered system I have working behind the scenes. Each level will be fairly obvious game wise to the point when you understand it fully.
- Ten Minute Background Instructions
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- Ten-Minute Background
Shamelessly stolen from here.
Step 1: Write 5 background and concept elements that you feel are important to your image of the character. These can be a concept overview, a list of important life events, a physical description, a personality profile...whatever you need to get an image in your mind. 5 is just a minimum...more elements are encouraged but not required. Don't feel pressured or at a loss due to unfamliarity with the Ganoltir campaign world! I'm more than happy to provide elements and more to assist in the process.
Step 2: List at least two goals for the character. At least one of these goals should be one that the character has, while another should be one that you, as a player, want to see developed over the course of the game.- Example
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- 1) Birth - Karth was born as the offspring of Queen Gwarta of Bridged City and one of her many guards. During her pregnancy it was assumed she would be giving birth to another of her husband's children, but when the child turned out to be a half-elf this was quickly proven to be false. The king consort, enraged by the discovery, demanded his wife reveal who the father was. Not wishing for controversy, she quickly revealed who the information and Karth and his father were banished and sent away in secret. The royal family told the public that the pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage and held a grand funeral for the supposed deceased prince. Meanwhile, Karth's father travelled with his newborn son to the city of Mithril to start a new life.
2) Early Life - Karth's father settled in the Harbor City section of Mithril and began taking whatever odd jobs he could find. As Karth got older he would sometimes help, but he usually caused more harm than good and was sent away. It was these times that he first began following the other boys around town, participating in various acts of thievery and creating bonds of friendship.
3) Later Life - As he got older, Karth began to grow bored with petty thievery. After all, it was his destiny to become king of Bridged City and he wasn't going to do that by pickpocketing the various merchants who came to Harbor City. He wanted more, but he didn't exactly know how to get it. Lucky for him his old friend Faust was an ambitious one, and when he stole a ship from the harbor he invited Karth and the other thieves who grew up together to join as his crew. Karth saw this as an opportunity, not only to relieve his boredom but also to gain more riches than he'd ever be able to scrounge alone.
4) The Magnificent Manslayer - As is custom among the Conspicuous Oils, Karth has a nickname that he goes by. When thinking up the names with the others he initially came up with such ideas as "Karth the Glorious", "The Radiant Ruffian", and "The Most Gorgeous Pirate Known to Man." These were all quickly shot down by the others, who said the point of the nicknames were to strike fear. Faust suggested he go by "The Manslayer" since he was always a ruthless fighter when the need arose, and reluctantly Karth accepted. However, it quickly came to everyone's attention that he was reffering to himself as "Karth the Magnificent" outside of their presence. They tried to get him to follow the captain's suggestion, only to be told that "the title simply does not express my greatness as well as it should." After some discussion they finally all came to a compromise, and Karth's nickname was officially made to be "The Magnificent Manslayer."
5) Appearance - Karth is somewhat tall, standing 6'3", with a fairly slender build. He has long, silver hair due to his elven heritage and he is very protective of it - many men have scars (or worse) to show as a result of touching Karth's hair. His manner of dress is never very fancy as he has always been of the lower class, but whatever the clothing he always wears it in a way that gives off an air of nobility. Even while at sea he makes a point to look his best, and can often be found tending to his precious hair. On his belt hangs a mirror that, while useful for some raids, spends most of its time reflecting Karth's face back at him.
6) Personality Traits - As a narcissist Karth tends to be very confident in his abilites, and his self-esteem is never low. He goes into every battle without fear, completely assured of his victory from the start. He is always looking to make friends with new people (no one should miss the opportunity to gaze upon his gorgeous face, after all), though this is often made difficult due to the arrogance that often manifests in social situations due to his narcissism. He is extremely loyal to the few people he truly respects, and despite his overconfidence he is still a formidable opponent on the battlefield, so to some it might be worth earning that respect.
Step 3: List at least two secrets about your character. One is a secret the character knows, one is a secret that involves him but that he is not actually aware of yet. This will help me in creating plots that center around your character. I may also be creating a third secret which you as a player will not be aware of, so expect the unexpected.- Example
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- 1) Karth ultimately desires to become the king of Bridged City. He feels he was wrongly banished, and that as retribution he deserves to gain the throne in place of his half-sister Hannatha.
2) I'd like Karth to get a chance to return to Bridged City so that I can develop that part of his story. He need not actually ever gain the throne as he wants, but I'd at least like to have him come to terms with royalty who are against him in some way, and perhaps meet his mother for the first time.
Step 4: Describe at least three people that are tied to the character. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile. If you like, you can include an enemy of yours here as well, so I have an instant NPC nemesis to throw at you.- Example
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- 1) Karth is actually the son of Queen Gwatra of Bridged City, making him royalty in the city-state. He ultimately plans to use this to become king and rule the city-state as he feels he deserves.
2) Karth was made a divine champion of Enkili without his knowledge, and most of his success and combat skill is a result of this. Enkili chose him for his personality, and as such the divine powers he possesses are triggered by him acting in line with his natural narcissism. Acting against this can sometimes have negative effects.
Step 5: Describe three memories, mannerisms, or quirks that your character has. They don't have to be elaborate, but they should provide some context and flavor.- Example
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- 1) Karth's father is his only real family, and he cares deeply about his only son. He is the one who filled Karth's head with the idea of becoming king, and thus is directly responsible for Karth's narcissism.
2) Captain Faust is an old friend and Karth has a great deal of respect for the quirky man. He is one of the few people Karth views as an equal.
3) Queen Gwatra, Karth's mother, has a somewhat neutral opinion of him. As her own child she cannot hate him, but she was not sad when he was banished from Bridge City with his father. She wants to avoid a succession dispute just as much as the other royals who know of his existence, but would be torn somewhat if that were ever to happen.
4) The king consort of Bridged City was furious when he learned that Karth was not his son, and when he found out he immediately had the boy and his father banished from the city. He loved his wife enough to forgive her for her affair, but he hates Karth and his father and would likely go to any means to keep them from returning or gaining any sort of prominince in Bridged City.
Background - Family/Class/Profession/Institutions- Example
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- 1) Karth is very much a narcissist, and can sometimes be quite arrogant due to his self-absorption. Ironically, these personality traits are the direct cause of his successes in life, as well as his skills in combat, due to them triggering his divinely-granted abilities.
2) He has a very fuzzy memory of the palace interior from the time he was born. Occasionally it is the setting of his dreams, where he is revered by the citizens of Bridge City as a great leader.
3) He absolutely hates for anyone to touch his hair unless they are a very close friend, and even then he is not completely comfortable with it. Touching Karth's hair is one of the few ways to anger him (and the quickest), and has occasionally resulted in the injury or death of the unfortante offender.
Who raised you and how did they shape your life? What social class do you belong to, and how did that change your opportunities and your outlook? What do you do for a living, and have you changed careers in the past? What social institutions (religions, governments, civil society, businesses) are you a part of or interact with? Do you have a spouse? Children? Did you at one time?
I add this last bit because I like to tie characters into the world around them. Often, people go for very individual or personal stories - long-lost love, bad guy killed my parents, mysterious birth, etc. But I find that this can make characters somewhat disconnected from the world around them, and the world becomes rather too much of a two-dimensional backdrop. Both in reality, you'd expect people to be profoundly shaped by their society and the institutions around them.
Drives - Primary/Secondary/Tertiary- Example
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- Family - Karth's only real family is his father, and older elven man who was once a guard at the Queen's palace in Bridged City. While he is related by blood to the Bridged City royalty, most of them are unaware of his existence. The ones who do know of him want him kept a secret, so as not to cause a succession dispute.
Class - On his mother's side he is a member of the Bridged City royalty, on his father's side he is a common peasant. He was raised by his father in Mithril as a simple commoner, but his royal blood cannot be denied.
Profession - Karth is a pirate and he is good at it. He has been First Mate of the Quina Vjeta for a long time under Captain Faust, and not without reason. He was one of the few to survive the fateful encounter with the guarded merchant ship, and one of the even fewer to survive who was also a companion of Faust in his youth.
Institutions - he is a member of Faust's Crew, the Conspicuous Oils.
Here's where I like to get a bit more personality than backstory, because an overly historical concept only really gives you a good grounding in what your character did, what happened to them, rather than what they'll do in the future. So I generally try to ask what motivates a character at any given moment: Revenge? Wealth? Fame? Personal Excellence? Curiosity? Survival? Instinct? Reason? Power? Emotions? Loyalty? Etc.
Goals - Short-Term/Medium-Term/Long-Term- Example
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- Primary - Karth's feeling of entitelement towards the throne of Bridged City is his primary motivating factor. He deserves to rule the city as he sees it, and he will do everything in his power to obtain the position he views as rightfully his.
Secondary - His years as a pirate have also fostered in him a desire for wealth. He has incorporated this lesser desire into his ultimate goal of becoming King of Bridged city by deciding that he will not yet return to the city-state until he has first amassed considerable wealth. This amassing of wealth will surely make it easier for him to obtain the influence he needs gain the throne, but he also wants it for the luxury as well.
Tertiary - Karth is always looking to make new friends, having grown up with very few. His personality tends to hinder him in his pursuit for companions, so one could say it is a never-ending search for those patient and accepting enough to handle his presence on a regular basis.
Similar to your Step 2, I think that goals give a character a higher order of drive, and can make for a nice character arc that gives level progression some meaning beyond mechanics. In addition, as you point out, it can also be a good hook for DMs.
- Example
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- Short Term - Meet and befriend the new crewmembers. More friends are always nice.
Medium Term - Continue earning coin with Faust, until Karth as enough to return to Bridged City in style and live there comfortably.
Long Term - Win the hearts of the people of Bridged City and take over as monach instead of his half-sister Hannatha.
- Ten-Minute Background Response Format
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- Background and Concept Elements
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- 1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
- Goals
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- 1)
2)
- Secrets
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- 1)
2)
- People Tied to Character
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- 1)
2)
3)
- Memories, Mannerisms, and Quirks
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- 1)
2)
3)
- Background - Family/Class/Profession/Institutions
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- Family:
Class:
Profession:
Institutions:
- Drives - Primary/Secondary/Tertiary
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- Primary:
Secondary:
Tertiary:
- Goals - Short-Term/Medium-Term/Long-Term
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- Short-Term:
Medium-Term:
Long-Term:
