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[mainiac]

Because he is playing monk

ding! ding! ding! ding!

But hey, screw my original plans.  Fuck it, monks are in.  And wizards and effing half dragons!  I'm feeling bitter and magnanimous so get your requests in right now you little pieces of crap!

[Frelock]

Well, I didn't read the starting thing well enough; I saw the rare wizards and clerics, but missed the monk restriction.  You know, I'd be willing to make some concessions to make monks less magical, to fit the theme.  For the first couple of levels anyways, they're nothing special; just good at unarmed combat.  I could even switch it around, and make him a fighter, if you insist.

Also, Int is useless for a monk, but essential for a carpenter; must fit the backstory, you know.

Finally, fixed the Havelock mistake.

[Grakelin]

Mainiac, I think you'll be extremely hardpressed to find a D&D team that isn't full of extraordinary characters. The game is designed in such a way that PC characters basically have to be above average, unless you use some handicap style stat rolls.

If you only want a party of Barbarians, Fighters, and Rogues, this is something you should consider listing from the very beginning. These are the only three core classes that do not utilize magical abilities. Even Bards are magical, differentiated from NPC Class Commoners with ranks of perform.

I think your stress is coming from not being clear enough with your setting. If you want our backstories to fit the Havelock setting with any level of proficiency, we need more information. Don't be afraid of not accepting people, either. Waiting lists can be good for when the players you do choose unexpectedly drop out.

In my opinion, if you're going for a very low-magic setting, you should probably try a different system.

I'm actually a bit confused overall, now. You seem upset that there were so many carpenters and alchemists, yet you made clear to us in the first post that we should be taking skill ranks in that direction. Also, considering the PCs are building an airship, I really see no issue with the most scholarly and magically inclined getting on board.

[alfie275]

Is my guy ok? Perhaps the second party's first goal should be to build another airship? Going around seeking knowledge and materials to make one.

[Sannit]

Personally, I'm only really concerned about the party balance.  Healing and magical damage is out (for the time being, anyway), so mainiac's gonna have to make sure that the encounters are doable for a team such as ours.  But I have confidence in the man.  Never question your DM.

[Neruz]

In my opinion, if you're going for a very low-magic setting, you should probably try a different system.

The default D20 system does indeed not do low-magic well. There are adjustments that can be made to remove magic almost entirely from the game, but the adjustments do require substantial work.

[Karik]

Well I know I am an Artificer, so I will have some magical abilities, and will be able to create potions, so we do have healing in (at least I will soon be able to create potions).  Not sure what the rest of the party is like.

[mainiac]

I wasn't expressing frustration at the fact that you guys were all playing nerds, I was expressing amusement at it.  Small villages tend to have quirky characteristics, for example there's a small town near where I live where everyone sails competitively.  Your characters apparently come from a small town where everyone is a student of ancient knowledge.  Which, incidentally, makes having a monk or two fit the setting better then if you weren't from a town full of nerds.  But I don't mind, nosirree.

[Boksi]

Ohh. So basically, everybody in Havelock is a big history freak. Sort of like how Icelanders have these incredibly detailed records of everybody's ancestors to the point where they can tell you whether someone is related to any person known to have ever lived in the country.

[alfie275]

My guy is basically an alchemist with magic (alchemy + transmuter), I assume transmuter would fit an alchemist well.

Is my idea for second party ok?

[LeoLeonardoIII]

He could use that L6 restricted D20 variant.

Basically it's exactly like d20, you use d20 SRD, etc. Except that the maximum character level is 6th. Characters with a monster race that has ECL or whatever are limited to a modified 6th (So a drow elf can only have 4 character levels or whatever).

After you hit 6th, you gain an extra feat every 5,000 XP. But you have to qualify, which means something requiring Base Attack Bonus +7 is forever out of your grasp.

Monsters work exactly as they did before. So your character may never be able to fight a big dragon and live.

It also means that magic items that require a caster level greater than 6th can never be made, and exist only as rare artifacts. Either from weird aliens or ancient processes long forgotten and lost, in any case your character can never make them. So Vorpal Swords don't exist.

The local baron is probably a 6th level aristocrat, unless he's on the borderlands in which case maybe he's a 6th level Fighter. But there are no 7th level people.

Anyone lower than 6th is unaffected.

This gives you a low magic world, fixes the game balance problems with high level 3E play, fixes the profusion of prestige classes, fixes Epic level play, and fixes the multiple-templated race problem.

[mission0]

Characters done finally.

http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=183362

[Neruz]

He could use that L6 restricted D20 variant.

Basically it's exactly like d20, you use d20 SRD, etc. Except that the maximum character level is 6th. Characters with a monster race that has ECL or whatever are limited to a modified 6th (So a drow elf can only have 4 character levels or whatever).

After you hit 6th, you gain an extra feat every 5,000 XP. But you have to qualify, which means something requiring Base Attack Bonus +7 is forever out of your grasp.

Monsters work exactly as they did before. So your character may never be able to fight a big dragon and live.

It also means that magic items that require a caster level greater than 6th can never be made, and exist only as rare artifacts. Either from weird aliens or ancient processes long forgotten and lost, in any case your character can never make them. So Vorpal Swords don't exist.

The local baron is probably a 6th level aristocrat, unless he's on the borderlands in which case maybe he's a 6th level Fighter. But there are no 7th level people.

Anyone lower than 6th is unaffected.

This gives you a low magic world, fixes the game balance problems with high level 3E play, fixes the profusion of prestige classes, fixes Epic level play, and fixes the multiple-templated race problem.

That doesn't 'fix' anything, it just removes about 90% of the game.

[Paradox_9]

Here's my character concept.

Spoiler: Daran (click to show/hide)

Name: Daran (Abandoned surname of Moorhill)
Race: Halfling
Class: Monk
Concept: From a young age, Daran was fascinated with the stories and records of the cities and civilizations which had existed before the destruction of the old world. Perhaps due to the land’s current state, he found himself drawn to the idea of enduring structure and a higher purpose in life. He found little in common with others of his race, who took a very short-sighted view of the world around them, and instead was drawn to grander concepts and ideals which, in turn, led to the more universal concepts of philosophy and religion. Thus, as he matured he became increasingly detached from his family and the rest of society. Abandoning his surname and taking to isolation, he spent several years without the comforts and structure of the small town in which he had been raised, in order to live a life of strict devoutness and purity. He had not chosen a single deity to worship; he instead took aspects of several different deities which matched what he saw as aspects of the ultimate order the universe should be shaped by.

During this period of intense meditation and thought he found within himself a stark divide between his childhood love of grand cities and past civilization with his need for spiritual purity and perfection of self.  The former created some of the most transcendental mortal works, yet at the same time played on the vices of animal instinct to control and organize the masses. The latter resulted in his own enlightenment, but served no greater good. After serious contemplation, he devised a new philosophy which would combine aspects of both in order to further what he saw as the ultimate means of repairing the ravaged world in which he lived. He became, in essence, a monk who worshipped the ultimate expression of civilization.

In this belief system, each individual in a society must strive to transcend and become enlightened in his behavior towards his fellow man, as most religions teach. Where it differs, however, is that this person must focus not only on themselves, but on working with others who also strive to become enlightened in creating order out of the world around them. Physical things hold their own importance, and perfection of the real helps to understand the ethereal. This duality, and the need to structure and understand both the physical and spiritual realms, forms the basis of Daran’s thinking.

((To summarize this idea in case I have made it unintelligible; Combine the ancient Greek’s worldview with a Buddist philosophy.))

Returning to society, he took up apprenticeships with various tradesmen to learn practical knowledge of craft, all while continuing a strict regimen of physical and spiritual training. Finding a group of individuals who all wished to explore the greater world, he took up the study of airship design and operation, not specializing in the construction or maintenance but rather function and command. Fully prepared to travel through the skies, he looks forward to viewing for himself the ways different societies have reacted to the traumatic events of the past few years, and hopefully finding the means of personal and societal enlightenment.

EDIT: Here's his stats. I'll keep adding bits of his character sheet.

STR: 14 (+2)
DEX: 11 (+0)
CON: 12 (+1)
INT: 10 (+0)
WIS: 14 (+2)
CHA: 10 (+0)

AC:  15

FORT SAVE:  4
REF SAVE:  3
WILL SAVE:  5

Move speed: 20 ft.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

And therein lies the problem. If you want low-magic, you're going to remove 90% of the game anyway.

So that's the choice: do you want the full 3E experience, or try to houserule magic out of it and lose 90%, or simply cut it off at 6th and lose 90%. I didn't say it was the best choice. I just gave it as a suggestion.