Strange Highways

An ACKS campaign, refereed by The Wyzard.

The Player Characters

• Shevassk (Lysus), L3 Cleric, HP 14, AC 7, Atk Throw 9+, Mace 1d6
• Vidli the Bold thirdkingdom, Bard 2,HP: 10, AC,
• Bush Ned | atlictoatl | L3 Explorer, HP 14, AC 7, Init +2, Surprise +1, bow 7+ 1d6+2, spear 8+ 1d6+2
• Puchkov Kirill (Harrowed), L2 Fighter, HP 13, AC 6, Crossbow 9+ 1d6+1, Sword 9+ 1d6+1, Init +1
• Blank_Character_Sheet

Lost in the Dark

• Rain (ryven), L3 Thief, HP 9, AC 2, Atk Throw 9+, handaxe and dagger +1/1d6, longbow 1d6 70'/140'(-2)/210'(-4), backstab +4/x2
• Torsin L2 Mage, HP 1/7, AC 0, Atk Throw 10+, dagger or darts 1d4, Init 0
• Elysia Glenn | Apostlyte | L1 Spellsword, HP 6, AC 9, Sword 10+ 1d6+1, Init 1+

Encumbrance Ape & Treasure Log

• Bush Ned
  • Gear: 9s + 4i
  • Treasure:
  • Total: 9s + 4i

• Shevassk
  • Gear: 9s
  • Treasure:
  • Total: 9s

• Kirrill
  • Gear: 8S
  • Treasure:
  • Total: 8S

• Vidli
  • Gear:
  • Treasure: 2 ony roses
  • Total:

• Character Name
  • Gear:
  • Treasure:
  • Total:

Treasure found

• A crossbow bolt with a wicked flanged head of chromium steel from one tip to the other. What at first looks like cobweb stains across it is actually a fine coppery script inlaid into the metal.
• A bag of ten chips of onyx, each carved into the shape of a black rose. The chips are likely worth 200 gold pieces apiece.
• mithril chain worth 3000 gp
• spellbook written in Fae with three 1st-level spells (plus many pages of dense, hard-to-decipher, and often non-literal text in Common. You could probably get a lot of information from it, but it would take non-trivial downtime study.)

House Rules

Proficiencies

Most proficiencies that grant an 11+ throw can be improved with additional slots, to 7+ and then 3+. If you come across any proficiency that you think should be modified in accord with the below general principles, ask.

Full PCs get an extra general proficiency at each third level.

Animal Training

A PC animal trainer can learn to train additional types of animals by studying, they don't have to spend multiple proficiency slots.

Blind Fighting

Blind Fighting totally eliminates the penalty.

Combat Trickery

Special combat maneuvers have a penalty of only -2 for any character. Taking Combat Trickery lets you select two to eliminate the penalty for and give a -2 penalty to the saving throw against.

Elven Blood

Any character may select Elven Blood as a class proficiency, but must do so at level 1.

Manual of Arms

Characters of a martial bent and at least a few hit dice can train NPCs as though they had Manual of Arms, although they need to have the other prerequisites and be able to use the arms and equipment they purport to teach.

Naturalism

I would use multiple purchases solely for the target number of the throw. I'd say that "familiar" means that the PC is literally, in-character, familiar with the terrain. So they'd probably start out with whatever terrain type was most common in their background (pick one), and after that they'd gradually gain familiarity with anyplace they spent enough time tromping around in. Maybe with some IC education from one of the natives.

Precise Strike

Anyone can fire into melee at -4 and with a chance to hit an ally. Take the proficiency to eliminate the penalty and the chance to hit an ally.

Riding: Exotic

Riding: Exotic is only one proficiency. You get one exotic mount the first time, and can train up others.

Encumbrance

• Every character with a belt pouch is presumed to be able to carry up to 100 coins or gems in personal treasure inside it without further encumbrance. Party treasure always counts towards encumbrance. Jewelry counts as one item per piece, unless it is worn openly.

The Setting

Other Races

Yuan-Ti

Yuan-Ti are ancient, and at one time ruled a great empire. They are not precisely benign, but they believe the world is coming to an end and are no longer motivated to pursue the destruction of men with any great organization or vigor. They have also ceased to maintain their greatest achievements, and emit a cynical and sibilant laughter at those who make long-term plans. They were a very wise people, and their belief in the coming end times has caused great anxiety among human sages.

Minotaurs

Minotaurs are non-native, but have their own means of coming and going from the world. They are hostile to men, but not unrelentingly so in all circumstances.

Dolphins

Dolphins are telepathic and highly intelligent. They hate humans less than everyone else does. They have intelligent octopus minions that act as their "hands."

The Fae

The Fae are highly dangerous, but also fickle. Fae creatures such as nymphs, sprites, pixies, et cetera generally owe fealty to a nearby Sidhe Lord or Lady, the True Elves that rarely set foot within the world. Half-Elven or Elf-blooded characters have something fae in their ancestry, but the specifics can vary. The thing to realize is that they do have a society. If you kill off some Naiads, it's likely their liege-lord is going to notice. They may or may not decide to respond, in much the same way that monsters who kill a few peasants might find mounted and armored knights hurling flaming oil into their front parlor the next day.

Djinns, Efreeti, and Rakshasa

Djinn/Efreeti/Rakshasa/Etc. have their own civilizations, and only occasionally visit the world in their interplanar perambulations. They have little time for lesser beings.

Verdure Queens

Verdure Queens: Enormous living and walking trees who rule the primeval forests. They have many allied species who are their subjects. Really do not like humans, but hate the myconids even more.

Dragons

Dragons. You know what dragons are. Dragons live on a long timeline, and generally won't risk their own well-being to scrap with lower lifeforms.

Ogres

Ogres are huge, pallid, flabby humanoids that usually resemble bipedal toads with diverse random mutations.

Shadow Men

Shadow Men are dark creatures, also called shadows. They serve the Night Kings, as do hags and numerous other evil beings. They are extremely bad news.

Sphinxes

Sphinxes are another ancient race, who may have ruled large portions of the world in a civilization that flourished prior even to the Yuan-Ti. They live tremendously long lives on an individual basis, and hoard knowledge the way that dragons hoard treasure. They dislike dragons, but know better than to tangle with them if it's avoidable.

Kuo-toa

Kuo-toa: Insidious fish-men who worship the demon-god Dagon. They prey on merfolk, but are amphibious enough to prey on humans as well.

Bullywugs

Possibly related to the Kuo-toa, the Bullywugs are hideous frog-men. They're berserkers and will fight damn near anything.

Formians

Formians are an ant-like civilization that is extremely ordered. They aren't impossible to deal with, but they have no compunctions about annexing the lands of former allies once they are numerous enough. They often control other less-intelligent insects, in much the same way that humans have domesticated animal species.

Aranea

The Aranea are a civilization of intelligent spiders. Their kind are made up of numerous semi-related species, and they're capable of training and controlling some spider-like or insectile monsters much as Formians can.

Lizardmen

Lizardmen are largely degenerate, but they were once a powerful and psionically advanced race. Occasionally, one encounters a small cadre of lizardmen who remember.

Gnolls

Gnolls are an insane and sadistic race of hyena-folk. No one knows where or how they reproduce. They live only for destruction. Their hobbies include arson, mass murder, and demon-summoning. They are fortunately rare.

Languages

• Abyssal: Language of Gnolls and demons.

• Bugjargon: Spoken by formians. Humans have a hard time reproducing the sounds, but they can learn it well enough. Often a human speaker will use hand-held assistant devices like clickers, buzzers, and vibratos as aids.

• Common: Spoken by humans, myconids, and merfolk. Merfolk use a modified version for underwater communications.

• Dark Speech: Language of the Night Kings and their minions.

• Eight-Way Argot: Language of intelligent spiders.

• Fae: Language of pixies, sidhe, et cetera.

• Green Tongue: language of the verdure queens, and some of their wards that are capable of speech.

• High Speech: Spoken by dragons, sphinxes, and many yuan-ti.

• Low Speech: Spoken by Ogres, Bullywugs, and Kuo-Toa.

• Planar Cant: Functions as a sort of "common tongue" for minotaurs, djinn, efreeti, Rakshasa, and other beings that get around a lot. These creatures also have their own species-specific languages in some cases.

• Serpent-Tongue: Yuan-ti language. The lizardfolk speak a degenerate form of this language. A speaker of one can often make themselves understood to a speaker of the other if they talk slowly and make a lot of gestures, but both species consider the other form highly offensive.

Important Game-Related Threads & Posts

• Planning.
• Recruitment.