1] Igneel
2] Jude Phillips
3] Sonaliisa Talbaka
4] Delan Stormcrow
5] Oulviina d'Deneith and Rage
6] Misery Mulligan and her cohort
Halen Callegan.
7] Nadarr and his squire, Alexandria Knight
8] Matthias Garlodin
[ Premise/Foreword ]
This was inspired by the Book of Revelation, The Crisis on Infinite Earths (A DC comics saga), The Last Battle by C.S Lewis (it's the seventh book in the Chronicles of Narnia), and a Chuck Norris joke.
[ Setting Information/Background ]
This campaign takes place in a vast multiverse, even those beyond the Great Wheel itself. At certain areas, portals to other planes, the Void, even alternate Cosmologies across the multiverse sporadically appear, either giving the PC's a choice to enter or not, or forcing them to make DC 17 reflex save or be flung to the next area.
[ Game Introduction/Plot ]
Everything is coming undone. Secrets that were never meant to be discovered were revealed, and now every fraction of the universe is on its way to its own undoing.
It began with a curious Wild Elf Planeshifter named Xaccheus. Xaccheus was man who always wanted an adventure. But, he had seen everything there was for a mortal to see. From the furious battles on Ysgard to the unholy fires of Baator, Xaccheus had seen everything a mortal could see. At least, that's what most people assumed.
But, Xaccheus still craved for adventure. By this time, he was nearing his venerable years. He knew nearly everything in the great wheel like the back of his hand, but still, something drew him to his feet again.
The moon was full, and dancing lights shone in the sky as Xaccheus discovered something he never even knew existed: a new portal in the trunk of an ancient tree. Feeling his adventurpus spirit rise, Xaccheus stepped in.
The new realms he visited were places of unimaginable wonder, yet terrifying nightmarish hells at the same time. Through countless adventures with new allies, Xaccheus finally made his way into an entirely new sort of territory: The Void, a transitive plane between the cosmologies themselves. His mind became aflame with the thought of one final adventure.
But, his discovery came with a great danger. A man like him, or any creature of the Great Wheel, was never meant to exit their reality. Each cosmology was tailored to keep their inhabitants in, lest the discovery of other universes cause a shift in the flow of space and time.
Unfortunately, this was the case with Xaccheus's new discovery, as well as many others who likewise found this strange transitive plane. Now, a plethora of cosmologies are bound on a collision course as they attempt to recapture the natives of their expanse. Even the greatest deities of these realms do not know what will happen should this occur.
Every single deity has ordered their finest champions to hunt down any beings from the alternate realms who have been found dwelling in theirs. Old grudges have been settled in order to stave off a potential armageddon.
But, the circumstances are against them. The collision has already begun, with new portals appearing across the multiverse and shunting more and more beings into cosmologies alien to them. As this transition occurs, the realms draw ever closer to their final embrace...
[ Character Creation ]
Available Sources: As I said, this changes 3rd edition books so they are more easily used in a campaign like this. My complete collection contains the following:
The core books (3.5 edition. No worries!)
Monster Manual 2 ( 3rd edition beasts are now magical beasts, and we're assigning LA based on abilities)
Monster Manual 3 (Needs no notes)
Manual of the Planes (Do I really need to say why?)
The Draconomicon (because this allows prestige classes that can use dragons to open up some whoop-a**.)
The Arms and Equipment Guide (Weapons, Vehicles, Mounts, Mercenaries, You name it.)
Complete Warrior (Some of the bad guys are drawn from this, some of the heroes can be drawn from this)
Savage Species (Helps when trying to figure out monsters from 3rd edition sources, and opens up the window for monster characters.)
Oriental Adventures (I would say something serious, but I really just want to throw one or two ninjas at you. Besides, this means more weapons.)
Heroes of Battle (Because this helps with rules on the outside of dungeons, and a lot of other stuff.)
Unearthed Arcana (Well, don't you want a ton of customizable character options? This is where we get Taint from.)
The Psionics Handbook (I couldn't find the EPH... sorry...)
Exemplars of Evil (It helps explain the villains, see how a lot of them work, and a lot of other stuff. You can use stuff from it, too, since you can be evil.)
D&D Wiki (just hand me a link to the articles before you decide to pop a full homebrew out).
d20srd.com (because this crap is useful)
Banned Resources:
None yet. If you can give me a description of a character built from another book, and his/her abilities in detail, I'll probably allow it.
ECL: Including racial HD and possibly LA, the ECL is thirteen.
Gold: Standard.
Races: If it's got a smart brain, it's probably playable if it has an LA. If it doesn't have a level adjustment, don't bother. Following those rules, go reasonable. We still use LA, but that can be edited with the buy-off.
Ability Scores*: Use the standard roll your dice up stuff (4d6, drop the lowest result, re-roll anything below ten) or use a 32-point point-buy system (where everything starts off at eight, and you judiciously add points as you see fit. You also have a Taint score, but that starts off as zero. Feel free to screw yourself with it as much as you want.)
If you use a monster character, the LA has a factor for the point-buy.
> LA +0 32 point buy character.
> LA +1 25 point buy character.
> LA +2 18 point buy character.
> LA +3 10 point buy character.
> LA +4 00 point buy character.
Also, you can reduce your LA by paying an experience point cost.. Further information on this can be found here.
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Hit Points: Roll your HD, add your constitution modifier, enjoy your character. Re-roll if your HP is noticeably less than the rest of the party's, assuming your dice isn't ridiculously tiny (so, if you've got poor HP due to a d4, but it's a good roll for a d4, stop complaining, you're probably meant to be in the back anyway. If you use a d12, and you've got six hp, that's when we've got a problem.)
Alignments: Any, really. Evil doesn't mean you stab the PC's in the back, it just means you're in this adventure to further your own agenda rather than helping for the sake of helping. You're still fully capable of working with the PC's normally. Especially since your entire universe is *potentially* threatened; if your universe goes FWOOSH, so do you.
Pantheon: Any. Even the custom ones from D&D Wiki.
Backgrounds: If you want to put in a biography, that's fine. In fact, I'll give you 1000 extra gold and enough EXP to get you a quarter of the way to the next level.
[ House/Optional Rules ]
Feats and class features that grant a bonus of +2 or higher in a non-class skill allow you to treat those skills as class skills (non-class becomes class, if you didn't get that.)
Profession and Knowledge skills are class skills for all classes; which knowledge or profession you choose is your choice.
We're using Weapon Group feats in place of the standard proficiencies for each class. This table serves as the basic guide for determining which proficiencies you have based on archetype (scouts are similar to rangers, ninjas and swashbucklers are similar to rogues, knights are similar to paladins, and so forth.)
We'll use Craft Points
Traits and Flaws are welcome
Stat-out your familiar, mount, animal companion, or whatever else, along with your character.
If you end up dying, relax. There's alternate cosmologies and alternate versions of your character. Some you'll fight, others you'll play as.
I'm using a homebrew feat; Improvised Weapon Proficiency (General). The benefit of this feat is the ability to turn one mundane object into a weapon, and you are treated as proficient with it when fighting and thus do not take -4 penalty. A fighter may select this feat as a bonus feat. Normally, you would be treated as non-proficient. This cannot be integrated into weapon groups, since they still aren't true weapons.
I'm also adding several weapon-group feats and editing another one. Further information on the weapons presented can be found here.
Weapon Group [Pistols]
You know how to use the following weapons normally: Simple Pistol, Dueling Pistol, and Martial Pistol.
Weapon Group [Light Rifles]
You know how to use the following weapons normally: Light Musket, Light Arquebus, and Light Harquebus
Weapon Group [Heavy Rifles]
You know how to use the following weapons normally: Heavy Musket, Heavy Battle Musket, Heavy Arquebus, and Heavy Harquebus.
Weapon Group [Shields]
You know how to use the following weapons normally: Heavy Shield, Light Shield, Spiked Light Shield, Spiked Heavy Shield, Tessen
Weapon Group [Exotic Weapons]
Pistols
Wheelock Pistol, Exotic Pistol, and Blunderbuss (one-handed type)
Light Rifles
Blunderbuss (two-handed type), Light Great Musket, Light Great Harquebus
Heavy Rifles
Heavy Great Musket, Heavy Great Harquebus
Shields
Broad Shield, Spiked Broad Shield, Dwarven Buckler-Axe, Gnome Tortoise Blade, Dueling Shield
If you need help determining which weapon group something belongs to, use these guidelines:
If it's a sword that you can apply Weapon Finesse to, it's a Light Blade.
If it's a sword that you can't apply weapon finesse to, it's a Heavy Blade.
If it looks like an axe, I'd say it's an Axe.
If it's a long stick with a really pointy end, it's probably a Spear or Lance.
If it's a long stick with something other than a spear on the end, it's probably a pole-arm.
If it's a weapon that's really hard to be disarmed of that fits on your wrist, knuckles, or sleeve, it's probably considered a claw weapon.
If it's a bow, it probably belongs with the Bows.
If it's something that's basically designed to beat you stupid, it's probably a mace or a club.
If it looks like a hammer, or if it has a curved, pointy part, it's probably Hammer or Pick.
If it's flexible, it probably belongs to the flails and chains.
If it's a crossbow, or basically anything with a trigger other than a gun, then it's probably a crossbow or close enough to be treated s one.
If there's a part in its entry about it that involves Monks, it's probably a Monk Weapon.
Likewise, if the entry involved druids somehow, it'd be a druid weapon.
If it's not simple or martial, it's an exotic weapon.
If it's not simple or martial and has two ends, it's an exotic double weapon.
If it uses gunpowder, and you can fire it in one hand at no penalty, it's a pistol.
If it uses gunpowder and you can't fire it in one hand without a penalty, and the damage isn't wicked scary, it's probably a light rifle.
If you can't fire it with one hand without penalty, and the damage makes you pee yourself when you see how much you just got hit for, it's probably a heavy rifle.
If it's built like a shield, it's probably a shield.
If it's a throwing weapon or a sling, it's probably a thrown weapon or sling.