Last Updated 2003/12/28 for 3.5
It is an age of Heroes and Wonders.
This is an at-will campaign of D&D3.5e. Any player can leave by telling me that they're doing so, and doesn't have to explain why (although I'd prefer that they talk to me first to give me a chance to fix the reason if its fixable, or at least provide advance notice so their character can be cleanly written out). Likewise, I can ask any player to leave without explaining why. The character of a departing player will be dealt with in whatever way works best for the DM and remaining players.
New players or changes in players are only added with the unanimous approval of the DM and existing players. Guest players for a single session may be present at the DM's sole approval, but I will be sensitive to player desires in this regard.
It is expected that players will make every effort to show up for every game, and will let the DM know as far in advance as possible if they can't make it. I recognize that players working in high-tech fields may get blindsided by work, and anyone can fall ill. Every player should designate a backup player to minimally run their PC in their absence (not taking any big risks or making any big decisions, but moving the story along), and where possible, PCs of absent players will fall ill or stay behind on other matters or otherwise be rendered irrelevant to the session without "ghosting" or making it hard to rejoin at the next session.
A die that lands on the floor or cocked will be rerolled, without rerolling the other dice. Attract the DM's attention before rolling anything important. It's fine to roll your damage dice with your attack die to speed combat up. If you get multiple attacks it's fine to roll all the attack dice at once as long as you've clearly established which die color is primary, secondary and so on, and stick with that scheme. And please, don't rattle the dice until they're dizzy, just roll them already! No electronic randomizers permitted.
Players may reference the Player's Handbook (and its errata) during play, but not any other rulebooks, unless asked to by the DM.
Players are responsible for giving the DM a legible copy of their character sheet at the end of each session. The DM will update his online copy, email that to each player, and bring a fresh sheet for the next session.
This is a by-the-book, suck it up and no whining game. Character death may occur, and raises may be difficult to come by. Anything changed from the three core rulebooks will be identified. Note that background info (including equipment availability and costs) is going to be quite different, since this game is NOT set in Greyhawk, but mechanics will be the same or will be clearly identified as differing. Monsters may vary substantially.
The errata on the following web pages are considered to be part of the three core rulebooks:
Errata from any other source should be brought to the attention of the DM, who will keep the definitive list online and bring a printout for reference.
Sage's Advice in The Dragon sometimes makes mistakes, so its entries are only accepted as official if listed on my page above.
I'm not intending to use any of the legion of supplements outside the original 3 rulebooks. If I do adopt any of them, I'll let the players know ahead of time, and give them the opportunity to talk sense into me.
The campaign includes the Assassin and Shadowdancer prestige classes from the DMG. I haven't decided yet if I'm using any of the other. If that's important for you to know, talk to me. I may use monsters, magic items, or spells of my own devising or from other sources, but if so they'll follow the same rules the core rulebooks do.
Background information (prices, gods, what items are available) are quite different, see below. PHB Chapters 6 and 7 have been modified. Plane cosmology is quite different from Greyhawk's Great Wheel.
No variants to mechanics will be used, except as stated below.
DMG 24. Variant: Striking the cover instead of a missed target, will be used. If the attack roll misses the target but would have hit it had there been no cover bonus to AC, then the object used for cover is struck. If a creature is providing cover for the target and the attack roll would hit the AC of the covering creature, the covering creature takes damage. If the covering creature has a Dex bonus to AC or a dodge bonus, and this bonus keeps the covering creature from being hit, then the original target is hit instead. A covering creature can choose not to apply his Dex bonus and/or dodge bonus to AC.
DMG 25. Variant: Automatic Hits and Misses will be used. A natural roll of 1 is treated as a roll of -10 and a natural roll of 20 is treated as a roll of 30, but they are not automatic misses and hits.
Note that Saving Throws always succeed on 20 and always fail on 1, and that skill checks have no automatic success or failure.
DMG 27. Variant: Death from Massive Damage Based on Size will be used. A medium sized being that takes 50 points of damage in a single blow must make a Fortitude check (DC 15) or die. Each size category larger or smaller than Medium-size raises or lowers the threshold by 10 hp. (So Small characters check at 40, Fine at 10, Large at 60, Colossal at 90, and so on.)
DMG 27. Weapon equivalencies will be used, so that medium-size daggers can be used as small shortswords by small characters, etc. D&D's combat system is too general to be getting into that kind of nitpickiness.
DMG 36. Power components may be used, although the actual components will be up to the DM. Creating magic items will require the use of special materials, to be discovered in play.
DMG 37. Variant: Summoning Individual Monsters will be used. Clerics must decide during prayers what they'll be summoning. Druids can decide which nature's ally to call on the fly. Different monsters than the ones in the spell description may be available.
DMG 130. Variant: Upkeep will be used. Let the DM know what level of upkeep you're choosing.
DMG 169. All PCs will be generated using the one floating reroll variant, in the DM's presence, using my perfectly balanced dice. Any character whose total bonus is 0 or below, or who doesn't have at least one ability at 14, may be rerolled entirely. Players may choose to use the 25-point standard buy instead in which they spend 25 points buying their six stats at the following cost, before applying racial modifiers.
| Stat: | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost: | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 |
Scent (Prereq Wisdom 11+) can be bought as a starting Feat by Half-Orcs, since they get two -2's in exchange for their +2 to Str. Gnomes can not buy Scent as a feat.
I find training boring, therefore none of the variant training systems will be used. If you want to roleplay finding a trainer in order to explain why you know some nifty new thing, that's fine. If you want to multiclass there needs to be some rational explanation, and may require training if suddenly gaining the new abilities would seem too unlikely. Certain feats may require training.
DMG 198. At each level you may choose whether to roll your new hit die or take fixed hit points. The first time you take fixed hit points it'll round down, the second time it'll round up, and so on. Attract the DM's attention before stating your choice and making your roll.
Once the average level of PCs is above 3rd, replacement PCs for dead PCs will join with a character level one less than the lower of A) the average level of the rest of the party, or B) the highest level the dead PC had reached. Starting equipment for new characters above 1st level will be assigned by the DM, with input from the player.
DMG 296. When you lose a level (whether from energy drain or being raised) you lose XP equal to the amount it took to reach that level, rather than being set to the midpoint of the previous levels. In some cases this may mean you don't actually lose a level. That's fine. If greater restoration restores the level from energy drain, you get back the amount of XP you lost, most recent loss first.
DMG 300 and PHB 145 disagree about when stabilization checks are done. I'll call for it (DC 19 on a d20) at the dying PC's initiative count.
The campaign setting is NOT Greyhawk. The players will discover the world as their PCs do, starting out knowing only what the PCs know. Some of what they know may even be wrong, since they grew up in a small isolated village deep in the forest.
The setting is more like iron age than pseudo-medieval, except that bronze is still mostly used instead of iron. (Or you may wish to think of it as a very advanced bronze age. :-) ) Bronze weapons do standard damage (not the -2 from the DMG), and iron weapons are masterwork.
The only heavy armor is banded, and it's rare. No saddles or stirrups, so combat from moving horseback is at a further -2. No horse shoes or horse collars. No crossbows yet. Think Motte & Bailey strongholds rather than the vast stone castles of the late medieval period.
All writing is magic, which means that everyone is illiterate except for Wizards, Clerics, and Druids who get literacy for free. Rangers, Paladins and Bards may buy literacy for 2 skill points after they can cast spells. Rogues can use their Decipher Script and Use Magic Item skills. Sorcerors, Fighters, Barbarians and Monks are illiterate (unless they're multiclassed with something that is literate). Illiterate characters with the Read Magic spell can still use scrolls. If you don't want to be literate or speak as many languages as you deserve you can trade those in for extra skill points instead. Books have just barely been invented, so Wizards can take a scroll instead of a spellbook, that weighs 3 pounds and contains 100 pages of spells just like a spellbook (1 page per level, except each cantrip takes 1 page). Some wizards may contain their magic in other forms, which will be treated the same way.
Since treasure no longer gives XP and I want to emphasize heroic deeds and exciting adventures rather than the logistics of mule trains full of gold, the campaign is on a silver standard. Prices and weights are adapted from "... And a 10' Pole" instead of the DMG, with adjustments for the campaign world. No one in the starting village uses coins; you'll discover the prices for things in play. Table 5-2 on DMG p149 is updated accordingly to use sp instead of gp, but if you want to buy something, you need to find someone who has it, and then see how much they'll sell it for. Barter is common.
The most common coinage has 30 copper pieces to 1 silver piece, 12 silver pieces to one gold piece, with all weighing about 1/50 pound each (but not all the same size). A tradesman typically earns 1 sp a day. Copper (or more commonly barter) is used to buy food and most day-to-day items, silver is used for arms and armor, and gold is something mostly used by nobles and merchants, sometimes in bars instead of coins. People often wear their wealth as armbands or torcs instead of coins.
Enchanted items must be created by the mage that enchants them, which is mostly a limit on arms and armor.
Raise dead may be rare and difficult, for theological reasons you will discover in play.
See above for the one floating reroll method (or point design).
All starting PCs grew up together in Rivers Bend, the most boring village in the world. A thorp, really, not even big enough to be a hamlet, less than 100 people. Rivers Bend is nestled beside a river deep in the forest. There's been little or no contact with the outside world since the bridge upstream washed away in the Great Storm, 15 or so years ago, but circumstances will result in the PCs needing to leave the only home they've known and venture into the vast world beyond the forest. Character personalities should be predisposed towards wanting to see the world, rather than reluctant heroes. Friendly is good, so it'll be more plausible that they'll accept new PCs should anyone perish in the journey.
Everyone already knows each other, you grew up together. Players should develop their characters together, and know their families. The first game or possibly even first few games may take place in or near Rivers Bend itself, before they set forth into the wide dangerous world. You can be related or not, since there are several families in the thorp.
Any age is fine, although youth is strongly recommended. You may however choose to be middle aged, old or venerable and get the penalties and bonuses from table 6-5 on PHB 93. Humans preferred, but half-elves are OK, and halflings or elves are perhaps possible with proper justification, or half-orcs or gnomes with extreme justification. No dwarves (since as far as anyone knows the Builders were killed off or died off or something centuries ago). Half-elf + human gives another half-elf, as do two half-elves. The nonhuman races are tied into the different world background, so if you think you want to run one talk to me about it.
Classes: Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Ranger are fine. One or two Wizards or Sorcerors are OK. Bard, Druid or Paladin may be available, talk to me. Barbarian and Monk seem unlikely, but if your heart is set on those, talk to me.
If your class has proficiencies or class skills that you'd be unlikely to acquire in a small setting in the middle of deep forest, you may still take them at character creation time with the explanation that you're a natural or a quick learner, when you use them later. A humorous training montage may occur.
Because of your childhood, the following skills can be bought as class skills for all classes during character creation (but are bought as normal after character creation): Craft (Basketweaving, Leatherworking, Pottery, Weaving), Handle Animal, Profession (Farmer, Fisher, Herdsman, Tanner), Swim, Wilderness Lore.
Since there are no crossbows or rapiers, Wizards may substitute weapon proficiency with any two of sling, dart, javelin. Monks get dart. Rogues get sling, and medium-sized rogues also get javelin and shortspear.
Gods: Your local gods are the river, the near forest, the deep forest, and your family's hearth spirit, but if you want to worship one or more of the big gods of the Solar Empire (particularly The Huntress), that's fine too. Note that this is a world in which a sacrifice means the gods DO hear your prayer. They may not do anything about it, but anyone can talk to the gods.
Clerics must be within one alignment step of their deity (if they have one) and cannot take law/chaos/good/evil as a domain unless their alignment matches it. Clerics who have not chosen a deity select any two domains (see PHB 90). Whether you can spontaneously cast heals or inflicts, and whether you turn or rebuke undead, depends on which deity you've chosen, and your alignment. In some cases you may be able to choose. This world does not use the Greyhawk theology of positive and negative energy, so in some special cases heal/rebuke or inflict/turn can be taken.
Bravery and generosity are the most desirable of traits, kinslaying and violation of hospitality the most heinous of crimes. More background info will be available in the first session when you roll up characters together.
Equipment. Encumbrance will be tracked. Make a list of what you'd like, based on what you could expect to find in a tiny thorp in the middle of the deep forest. There will be opportunities to get better armor and weapons, but most likely you'll start with leather armor, wooden shields, spears and bows and slings, and so forth. On the plus side, your Moms will load you down with all the journeybread and waycakes you can stagger under, at no charge, if you'll let them.
More information on Rivers Bend is at riversbend.html