I've wanted to try this setting for a while now, but since I've managed to inundate myself with ordinary D&D sessions (>.<) this one will be Play-By-Post. There are a few significant differences to the standard D&D setting.
The first, most obvious departure is that you all start out with Stone Age technology and minimal equipment. The tech level varies depending on location, but you have heard of bronze - albeit as a strange and wonderful material favoured by the gods. There are some (major) changes to magic, largely due to the specifics of the setting; the nature of those changes will in large part only be explained to magic users. Finally, the cosmology is a little different and things are generally kept to an Earth-like environment. Beasts will exist, but probably not magical beasts. Probably.
The first four players to set up a full character sheet plus the following extra details/restrictions will be in. An important starting point is that you and your fellows were ejected from your nomadic clan of about 40, with only what possessions you could carry. You are now cut loose from the clan. The reason you were banished is that you lost a struggle for leadership. You have heard of cities only in wild myths - supposedly containing hundreds of people. You find this hard to believe.
+ Characters start with clothing but no armour and three items that can be a weapon, a tool or a shield. No other items allowed; things like rope and tents count as a tool, as do tool 'kits' (so long as they are roughly single tool items).
+ Characters can only take equipment that is of pre-Bronze Age make. You have no access to copper or iron for tools or equipment.
+ Characters should provide a clear physical description of themselves, plus their goal to achieve in life.
+ Human characters only. Sorry, the setting doesn't much support other species.
+ See the class descriptions for restrictions and background.
+ Stone or wood items do not get the usual attack penalties for D&D - copper, iron and bronze get +1, +1 and +2 bonuses respectively to attack, before MW bonus is taken into account.
+ Literacy is not automatic. Skill points must be spent to be literate in a language. (One per language.)
+ You only know one language, Plains, and you aren't literate unless you spend a skill point on it.
+ Craft skills are
important. Being able to craft things can mean the difference between life and death for your characters.
Finally, combat is
harsh. You have as many hp as your highest class hit die plus constitution and any other modifiers. And that's it. You will never raise your hp except by taking another class. Neither will any of your enemies, but the point remains - combat is now extremely dangerous. Figure out ways of fighting dirty if you want to survive. Only animals and beasts are ever likely to have multiple hit dice - humans always have base HD only. Levels still count towards HD-dependent spell effects, though.
Due to the limitations of Play-By-Post, we'll want to streamline combat. You can put up to five actions in advance in a post, and you can make them conditional (if I hit, do this; if I don't hit, do that). Once everyone's actions are in, combat runs on automatic until more acts are required.
Spell descriptions and spells known remain as standard. Spells per day do not.
Spells per day are removed entirely - a magic user may cast as many spells (and even invent spells to equivalent effect) as they like, but all spells now have a material component.
Magic almost always has a cost beyond the material, even if it's simply obligation to an organisation. The cost varies depending on class.
If a class isn't present, it isn't available.
See the d20 SRD for details on what this means. Replaces the NPC expert. You were not a combatant in the tribe, at least not necessarily, but you provided skilled and valuable functions. You may have been part of the clan, nomadic in nature, all your life - or you may have come from a sedentary village to the south.
You stand between three worlds - Druidic, Cleric and Wizard. Applicants will be told the details of their magic.
You are a nomadic fighter, trained to take advantage of brute force and speed. You have never been to the settled lands, but are respected amongst your kind.
A musician, or possibly just an exotic sort of player. Potentially a magic user (details will be told). Occasionally a criminal - but theft tends to receive banishment or capital punishment as a reward.
You are a servant of the gods, who live in the cities. You may never have seen the gods themselves, but you were once a city-dweller. You alone of your group can describe the city, though your memory has grown hazy with time and distance. You left to try to convert this nomadic tribe, but ended up causing a leadership struggle that got you expelled.
You are a servant of the spirits, which live in the land. You have never been to the settled lands, for the voices of the spirits grow still there. You are known with great favour and respect by your own nomadic people, especially for your knowledge of the land and its secrets.
You are trained as a fighter, by a master or else self-trained. You have never seen the settled lands, but you have heard tale of great warriors there. You can hunt well enough, but you were best trained to fight against rival clans and settle disputes by force.
You are a hunter, one of the best in your clan. You can track game without trouble, and you know the plants of the plains and woods better than any. You've never been to the settled lands, but you hear that people do not move as they do in the north.
There isn't much call for theft in the clan - it's beaten out at an early age, or it's culled permanently at a later one. No, your skills in sleight of hand serve most to deceive as being a true 'magic user', or else for entertainment. You've never seen a lock, but you've seen plenty enough game traps. Even man traps. And your study of anatomy means that even though you can't track game as well, you can certainly put it down when you find it.
Class Restriction: Above 1st level, Sneak Attack only adds +1 to the Sneak Attack damage, due to rebalancing of hit dice.
You work in the spirit world, but in a far different way to druids. Your powers are secret in nature, but devastating in effect. Even so, you made the clan druid uneasy at the best of times, and that probably contributed to your expulsion.
Author
Topic: Bronze [D&D 3.5, PbP] (Read 8518 times)