Young Paragons
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This is a 3.5ed derived adventure, set in the ravaged lands of Ard Silia.
Contents |
Characters
Artur Calenor, human Beguiler of the Arcane Order (player: WombleHunter)
- Samson al Hazred, human Rogue and Artur's right-hand man
Yom, Fist of Power, Uruk Monk of the Last Yew (player: Xaos)
Longo, Half-Elf Cloistered Cleric of the Sun and Moon (player: Shanderson)
Campaign
Premise
The great Kingdoms and Empires of the Young lands fell before the Haebor invasions over 120 years ago. From the Trader Princes of the north coast through the Elven holdings and even to Erran and Eranon, mightiest of Empires, the Dark rule took sway while those that could fled or hid.
Devoted to the gods Goeg, Goegma and their brood, the Haebor Theocracies tore apart and pillaged the lands, driving the native survivors who escaped slavery or worse deep into the wild places. It was over twenty years before the Haebor, bloated on the wealth of their subject lands, began to turn on each other. Another twenty as newer magics were used, more dangerous summonings and pacts made. Legions from the outer worlds ravaged the lands, battling at the beck and call of their masters.
It was another forty before rebels and survivors and internal strife brought their reign crashing down.
The war broke into many smaller battles as native survivors and Haebor crawled away, literally too exhausted to go on. The lands were shattered, the refuse of empire and desperate magics scattered across the lands. The great Realms and the Haebor tyrancies were broken, while pockets of survivors and hidden folk held on through the grim times. The result of too much magic roamed the lands or blighted it. Nature reasserted itself slowly in a struggle that is still ongoing.
In the times of your Grandfolk and parents, Twin Rivers was made, a safe land of mixed races brought together by a group of champions. The free City State of Taralon was founded by another such group, and legends rose of these companies of the Golden Lion and White Rose, founders and eventual royalty in these new bastions of civilisation.
These are the stories and songs you hear, tales of these Paragons, chosen of their time and fate to wrest civilisation back from the dark.
Now, you have been told, it is your turn. You are one of them, a paragon of your race and times. And whether by Patron god or Mentor or inner design, you have been asked to gather at the free city to answer a plea for help…
Background
Party history
The majority of the party has been adventuring together for 3 years, starting initially from the City-state of Taralon.
Their first year together was 46NT (New Taralon). They were brought together by a series of dissappearances in High Dell, which resulted in them facing and destroying a group of Demon worshipping cultists (the Crom Cruach). This got them attention from the local Duchess (a Golden Lions member), who commisioned them for a year. After several small jobs, they were asked to retrieve a hidden Grimoire from Dwarven ruins across the border. This led to conflict with Belor slavetakers, who were similarly hunting for the book. The group found the book, escaped with it, and were involved in a running battle with slavers, Haebor and Guardian spirits right across the border. This ended in a tavern in Uxnoll with the deaths of three holy asassins.
The party wintered in a rural manor at the duchess' expense. 47NT saw the characters fighting in the battle of Hawsford, where a Cauldron Lord and his armies were finally routed after three heated weeks of skirmish and battle. From there they travelled to Krezak to investigate the undercity. They rout a wizards cabal of Dark Arts and their wererat allies.
They escort a High Council member to Twin rivers, and recover the Silvercat Legacy, a set of magical Acoutrements stolen from the local rulers by agents from Carn Awnn. They are in Azdyn when the Wyrmspawn Fells erupts with a spawning flight, and spend the rest of the year hunting Wyrms (small dragons).
48NT sees the party moving to join a group of Dragonhunters who attempt to loot the ruins of Gullport Reach, home to a Matron Dragon and her nest. Barely escaping with their lives, the party flees into Elf lands.They find employ hunting pillagers from Carn Awnn, who loot rare woods and beasts.
This leads to an expedition to save a released Faerie Dragons offspring from the pillagers.This puts them up against priestesses of Goeg and Goegma, and leads to confronting an undead worshipping cult of Haebor.
A necromancer, working with the cult, flees to Osprey with the parties souls in a jar. He must keep them there for a year and a day to own them for eternity. The party overcomes this through quest and investigation, and slays the Necromancer in a deserted manor 5 miles outside of Riverhaven.
As the game begins, the group are at ease in a rented Manor in Riverhaven, employed as they wish to be.
Elder Human Races
There are three known Elder races. They are the remains of the Humans who lived in the first Age when the world was young. They predate Elves, Dwarves and the young race (humans) and along with the Lios are the original inhabitants. Ironically, two of the Elder races live largely as allies of two of these late arrivals.
- The Tor : +2Str/-2Wis are a tall, rangy race, pale of skin and features, and are rules by their complex, passionate emotions. They are allies, in these parts, to the Zyr clan of Dwarves, creating the Empire of the Torzyr.
Think of Fafhrd in the 1st of the Swords books, add a touch of high celtic drama and a dash of Nordic fatalism and you have the Tor. They are largely tribal in organisation, but have dwarf forged weapons and armour to call on.
- The Vann :+2 Int/-2 Con: Cousins to the Tor, the Vann are equally rangey and pale, but built on a much smaller scale. They are sharp minded and cagey merchants, a service they quite often provide for Elves, with whom they form alliances in the area. They have a greater tendency to Wizard blood than any other race.
- The Ys: +2 Dex/-2 Str Small, dark skinned and featured folk who claim a homeland in the South east that they have returned to for 7 000 years. Ys are "cursed to wander", both individually and as a race, ever returning to their homeland or circling in in hope, holding it for a time, and being destroyed or scattered by the winds of fate. Many have pondered WHAT this race did to recieve its curse, but no God or spell has ever answered it. Some say their curse is bound up in the making of the world.
Elves
Are the masters of general Wizardry, whereas humans are specialists and Lios tend to Sorcery. They are a smaller and more delicate race than humans (hence the Grey Elf stats), but have lived in this area of the world for longer than anyone.
Elves are related to the Fey.
The Elves of the Diamond woods, north of Taralon, are noted for their fierce borders and the silk that they trade. Some of it is made into tunics that are marvellously light and proof against piercing.
In game terms, Elves are the Master Generalist wizards and their Chapters support this.
Lios
The second most common race on the continent after humans, Lios are generally considered good neighbours wherever they are. Their communities are rather peaceful, but you'd better have your wits about you if you engage in local trade, as the smooth talking of this race is renowned. Known for their appreciation of the Arts, Lios make good Bards, and no noble of any stature would consider their court complete without a Lios Bard (an entire chamber orchestra is the ambition of kings and emperors).
Lios have close ties to Elves in most lands, as they share certain outlooks and attitudes towards the world and each other. Rather than the more standoffish and ephemeral approach of Elves, however, Lios are passionate and sometimes quite earthy in their humor. Boccacios Decameron or the Cantebury tales would not be out of place amongst Lios theatre (of which there are quite a few).
Area
These two maps place the campaign in the South East corner of Ard Silia, on the fringes of what was once the mighty Erani Imperium. If it helps, look at the bigger map as being what was (before the Haebor invasions) and the smaller map as being current.
Geography and Climate.
Northern, East coast maritime. The northern Tropic line passes just below the continent and there is a persistent warm current (moving west to east) washing back from the southern continents. Climate can be described as Temperate and wet, with no Arid areas in all of Eastern Ard Silia.
The East coast boasts some of the largest trees in the known world, deep in the heart of its rainforests.
Winter brings snow only in the mountains and northernmost highlands, but the huge storms that lash the northern coasts also bring mud and sleet. The north east seas are known as the seas of fog, due to the constant collision of warm and arctic currents there.
Culture and History
Historically, the small principalitites and free nations of the East of Ard Silia owed their existence to intricate and complicated trade alliances that stretched back centuries with the Elven sea nation of Lliol-Dhur.
These saved them from invasion by the Erani Imperium, which occupied the rest of Silia and places beyond.
Even this mighty Empire did not want to deal with the Elves and their Lios allies, who had arguably the best navy in the known world.
The Haebor (who consist of Haebog or 'half bugbears', Goebler or 'half hobgoblins', goblins and bugbears) invaded the southern coasts of the Erani as part of a 100 year old revenge pact. They were driven out of their home by Erani invasions over 300 years ago, and fled into the badlandsof the Southern continent. Here, their ruling priest classes sought for and discovered a great Relic in the farthest corners of the Otherworlds. These were 13 cauldrons, 12 with the power to restore the Haebor dead to life. The 13th and strongest could also turn the enemies of the race into unliving servants, and could grant this power to the other cauldrons. This transformed the tribal Haebor overnight into a Theocratic Tyrancy, as only a properly married priestess (Queen of a warlord) could use the cauldrons. Twelve Cauldron lords were established, under a High Tyrant and Majestrix. They surged out of the badlands to conquer several small coastal trade cities, enslaving the populations and ravaging the coasts to build and stock great navies.
The Erani Imperium, already engaged in half a dozen wars of conquest, were totally unprepared for the series of invasions that happened over the next 12 years.
This was all 140 odd years ago.
The Magic City of Taralon
The city-state of Taralon is unique in that it is founded around a magically created city. The Order of the Golden Lions were a Paragon order of Adventurers who culminated their adventures nearly 90 years ago with the destruction of the Ruling Cauldron and the killing of one of the Brood (Demigod like offspring of Cruach and Goegma).
This was the end of nearly 20 years of adventuring, and the resultant gratitude of both elder and skyborn entities was great. They were given the task of founding a city to act as a beacon of hope in the Dark Age.
In the place of their choosing, a legion of 10 000 divine minions appeared and worked for a day under their direction. These minions also fetched 10 000 worthy folk to populate this new city. This is the foundation of the City-State, and the reason for its odd mix of races.
Houserules
Game mechanic stuff
In combat, the HP=Vitality rule will be in effect. Each character has:
- Vitality: equal to normal Hit Points (with maximum per Hit Die).
- Wounds: equal to Constitution (not only the modifier) plus BAB.
Any normal hit does damage to Vitality. Any critical hit damages Wounds. Most magic effects that deal half damage on a successful saving throw do so to Vitality, and on a failed saving throw deal normal damage to Vitality as well as 1 point of damage per die or spell level to Wounds.
Being a Paragon
The PCs are, literally, Paragons of their kind, exceptional adventurers. To this end, the PC’s are treated as a Gestalt class with the appropriate Paragon for their race. All the HD, saves, BAB and skill bases/points are compared, and you take the best. This runs out at third level, so after that you’re back to a single class. To this end, any spellcasting class can only gain the benefits of Paragon levels addition to their spellcasting if the class is already Gestalted. It will not benefit later spellcasting class progression.
Magic
Remember, in this area, roughly 1% of the population exhibits arcane ability. Add another 1% able to make regular divine contact and another 1% for riffraff like warlocks and shaman, and you have the sum total of magic in the locale. Your 'average' town of 10 000 (actually a fairly major place for this game) is looking at 300 spellcasters max. I work on a 50%/level diminishing scale, so 150 of them are 1st level, 75 are 2nd, 37 3rd, 18 4th, 9 5th, etc. Anyone beyond 18th level is a legend.
You stand out because of this, even at 6th, if you are a caster. I consider this a rough scale for noncasters too, in terms of thieves guilds, barbarian bands or mercenary companies.
It also fits monster CRs, so you are far more likely to see a balanced encounter be with a mix or number of smaller CR creatures.
As Paragons you are a nexus of some pretty awesome power in the campaign scale.
Race/Class/Other limits
36 point buy, 6th level +20%exp ptsover minimum.
Use the online D20 SRD as a base for characters.
- Only the base races + Orcs, and only LA+0.
- No templates. No bloodlines. No elemental races.
- All favoured classes increased to a choice(made at 1st level) of a range based on that class.
- No psionics.
Some of the changes below are out of non-SRD stuff. I'm going to use them, but not necessarily anything else. Thats up for discussion.
Dwarves can be Mountain Dwarves (+2 Str -2Wis)
Elves base is as a Grey Elf. Wood and Wild also in.
Gnomes are out. The term refers to a surface dwelling type of Dwarf.
Halflings are related to Fey.
Half-Orcs are a race (Uruk)
Half-Elves are a race (Lios)
Humans are Elder race (The Tor : +2Str/-2Wis, the Vann :+2 Int/-2 Con or or the Ys: +2 Dex/-2 Str) or normal.
Orcs are of three tribes: Mourning Star, Totem Hunter or Black Iron. These are all “acceptable” tribes.
Classes
In general, any of the options and alternate class features available, use. There are a few very specific changes I’d like to make for local flavour, even though this means tapping into stuff outside the SRD.
- Barbarian: May take Bezerker Strength (PHB2) instead of rage.
- Bard: Gains limited access to Druid spells. (1 per level each time a new level of Bard spells is opened).
- Cleric: There is no base class. All clerics are Cloistered cleric variants.
- Druid: There is no base class. All druids are Hermetic druid variants. Shapechange must be lost to an ACF.
- Fighter: Gains the skill base and skill points of the Urban Fighter variant. Also gains an Adaptable Feat at 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th level (as per the Man at Arms in Iron Heroes.)
- Monk: In. Part of the old religion, as are Druids, Rangers and some Bards.
- Paladin: Either replace magic with extra feats ACF (Complete Champion) or nonmagical Paladin variant OR gain limited access to Cleric spells (as the Bard).
- Ranger: Either replace magic with extra feats ACF (Complete Champion) or nonmagical Ranger variant OR gain limited access to Druid spells (as the Bard).
- Sorceror: The more common type of Arcane caster – less than 1% of NPCs have the gift. Must take item familiar (focus) variant. Reserve Feats (Complete Mage) available.
- Wizard: Rarer than Sorcerors. Must have a familiar. Must have the gift and a link – less than 0.1% have the capability. Reserve Feats (Complete Mage) available.
