Construct-heavy RP Setting Derp

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Notable Locations:

Grand Spire - Prosperous settlement surviving from the Great War. Heavily lawful, guard and militia highly reliant on constructs. Ruled over by a figure known as the High Lord.

-Waterwood Falls - Fortified settlement, serves as training grounds for divine personnel.

-Stone Hill - Former site of major Dwarven colony. Destroyed ten years prior in massive explosion. Access is heavily restricted by the High Lord's orders.

-King's Reach - Heavily fortified stronghold, serves as training grounds for Inquisitors, Cavaliers, and Construct-handlers.

-New Bellows - Highly restricted stronghold. Serves as both prison and construct foundry.

-New Illian - Frontier fortress, serves as training grounds for martial personnel.

-Clearspring - Fortified archives, serves as training grounds for most arcane personnel.

-Raspir's Woods - Named after first archdruid after the Great War, who reportedly replanted the forest. Serves as training grounds for natural personnel.

-Ambervale - Primary agriculture center. Semi-fortified.

The Forge Lands - Distant Dwarven Stronghold, with both natural fortifications and constructed ones. Although it is believed to hold the new headquarters for Licht's rebels, it is currently deemed too difficult to attack directly.

-Gateway - Main harbor for the Forge Lands, only known safe point for landing an army. The harbor itself leads to a road carved through the treacherous mountains surrounding the Forge Lands. This road is paved, well-maintained, and flanked by rows of strange black obelisks capped with red crystals. According to all reports, the army sent by the High Lord of Grand Spire met with catastrophic disaster when they attempted to assault the Forge Lands proper when Tomas Licht was believed to have fled there.

-Grandholme - Dwarven Capital, likely site of Licht's own workshop and library. Extraordinarily heavily defended, it also houses some of the best forges for creating magical items. Also, it is the site of the Council of Elders, the Dwarves' ruling body.

-Deephold - Primary Dwarven mining hold. Also the origin point for the Dwarves' magma channels that allow magma to be used throughout the Forge Lands, primarily for powering their forges.

-Springuard - Dwarven hold. Origin point for the Dwarves' aqueduct system. Any threat to Springuard often triggers a response from the various human communities as well as the Living Glade.

-The Living Glade - Elven colony and druid site. Established to ease the recovery of the large valley that forms much of the surface area of the Forge Lands, and is required to help feed the Dwarven Holds. Much of the necessary agriculture is handled by humans friendly to or allied with the Dwarves.


Notable History:

The Great War - major cataclysm in recent history. Previously unknown attackers, wielding unusual life-draining and mind-controlling powers, attempted to completely wipe out all life, but were eventually stopped. The key figures on the "local" side of the war were known as 'the Sage', 'the Crafter', and 'the Saint'. Near the end of war, the Saint was killed and the Crafter vanished. According to the histories from that time, the Sage and the Crafter had a falling out over how to deal with the attackers. Shortly thereafter, the Saint was found dead. The current belief is that the Crafter went insane and killed the Saint, and perhaps himself. The war ended with the Sage leading an army of constructs to victory over the attackers. After that, the Sage became the first High Lord.

Spoiler

Current estimates are that approximately 93% of all life, both plant and animal, were in fact wiped out during the war.

Notable Persons:

Tomas Licht - Former researcher from Grand Spire. Went rogue after learning of a possible source of accurate information concerning the end of the Great War. Began using his full name after finding that information, and went from rogue agent to full-blown rebel at same time. Initially based out of Stone Hill, fled to the Forge Lands after the explosion.

Spoiler

What drove Tomas to his rebellion was the discovery of what happened towards the end of the Great War: The Sage and the Crafter had a falling out over how to complete their construct army to stop the aggressors. In that argument, the Crafter had the support of the Saint, who was his wife. The Sage ended up murdering the Saint when he couldn't convince her of his plan. The Crafter collapsed in a depression from this, never to recover. However, their children lived on, mostly in secret. Licht himself is a descendant of the Crafter and the Saint.

Noted active races:

Humans: Mostly allied with Grand Spire and the High Lord.

Elves: Generally neutral in the conflict, often more concerned with trying to repair damage to the land from the Great War than anything else.

Dwarves: Allied with Tomas Licht. Treated as second-class citizens in Grand Spire at best. At worst, they're treated as spies or sabotuers.
-Duergar: This dwarven off-shoot hails from Deephold. They bear no ill-will towards the rest of the Dwarven race, and actually tend to prefer to let them handle the talking. Taciturn and cautious, Duergar have a strong work ethic.

Halflings: Rarely given much thought, the Halflings tend towards looking out for themselves first, their families second, and care almost nothing for either side in the conflict, unless they're certain that they can benefit from one side or the other.

Gnomes: Highly inquisitive, the gnomes work for the High Lord, mostly in New Bellows, King's Reach, or Clearspring.

Half-Elves: Most of the outwardly active druids and rangers come from the half-elves.

Half-Orcs: Almost entirely found in the various barbarian tribes and clans, half-orcs are normally viewed as shock troops by Grand Spire.

"Warforged": Based from the constructs used by the Sage to end the Great War, the secrets of their creation never leave New Bellows. They are noted for having fairly standardized attachments to give them set abilities for the task they are meant for.

"Forged Ones": Advanced constructs used by Tomas Licht. At first, they seem identical to the Warforged. However, they tend to be more likely to show personality beyond their given tasks. A noted difference between them and the Warforged is their attachments. Each seems to have an individualized set.

Changelings - These half-hag off-spring are quite rare since the Great War, yet a few remain. Most tend to pass themselves off as human. No Annis Hags survived the Great War.

Dhampir - These half-vampire are mostly wanderers.


Notable Artifacts or Major Magical Devices:

Grand Forges - Powerful devices used by Grand Spire artisans in the crafting of additional Warforged. Possibly Gnomish in origin.

Maker's Forge - Originally, there were two of these extremely powerful crafting forges, relics of the Dwarves. One is at Grandholme, while the other was lost in the destruction of Stone Hill. Occasionally, Grand Spire forces attempt to sift through the rubble of Stone Hill looking for the lost Forge.

Spoiler

It was actually the deliberate destruction of the Maker's Forge that caused the explosion that destroyed Stone Hill.

Claw Towers - Mysterious towers topped by claw-like crystal extensions. Originally crafted by the Dwarves, and later copied by the Gnomes, these structures block teleportation within a wide area around them. There are rumors about Grand Spire's Warforged forces having some means of bypassing their own Towers and teleporting anyway. Of course, it is thought that Licht and the Dwarves may have similar means for theirs.

The black obelisks - The black obelisks reported to line the road from Gateway into the Forge Lands proper are rumored by many in Grand Spire to be powerful magical traps of some unknown nature.



**WORK IN-PROGRESS**

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Construct-heavy RP Setting Derp

Mechanical Derpish Commentary:

Assuming anything would ever get done with this, my inclination would be to run it as Pathfinder-based. Both the Warforged and the Forged Ones would use the basic stats for the Warforged race from the Eberron campaign setting. Converted, obviously. Initial thoughts on the conversion, formed while looking over the racial stuff for the Warforged as well as the Paizo Conversion Guide, is that it should work relatively well with only a minor change to the Ability Score Adjustments, as Pathfinder adds two extra points compared to 3.5e. In this case, the likely change would be removing the -2 Wis penalty from the Warforged.

At this point, handling the differences between the "Warforged" and the "Forged Ones" would likely be done by adding a minor weakness to the Warforged (BECAUSE REASONS! /Torgue quote) and making the Forged Ones be available through GM permission only, due to in-story differences in their construction processes. The Warforged are more "populous" than the Forged Ones due to less complicated creation means, however they bear a minor 'control' "flaw" that the Forged Ones lack. Additionally, given the process and timing, probably only a handful of Forged Ones have been completed by the time any RP using this setting would be likely to start.

Also, the listed races in the first post are NOT a definitive list of what would be available. It's just the ones that I've got ideas and relations for at the moment. It'll probably be expanded later.

So, for divine-caster types... The religious motivations of this setting. Most places have some manner of ancestor-type worship. For the Dwarves, there's an additional option, the Stonefather... Sort of a mix of idealized Dwarven virtues and elemental force worship. The elven communities often include nature worship. The Grand Spire and its influenced areas, however, primarily worship the Sage, as sort of a Cultural Hero. The closest that the Forged Ones come to any form of "worship" is referring to Tomas Licht as their 'father', given that he is responsible for creating the process by which the Forged Ones are made. "Worshiping" certain concepts in a philosophical sense is also common.

Now, the way that the Player Classes are going to be divided for the Grand Spire characters:

Divine classes, trained at Waterwood Falls: Clerics, Paladins, and Oracles.

Guarding classes, trained at King's Reach: Cavaliers (especially Orders aimed at protecting the status quo), Inquisitors, and Clerics or Wizards who show special affinity for dealing with the Warforged.

Martial classes, trained at New Illian: Fighters, Gunslingers, Monks, Rogues (trained to serve as scouts), and any Cavaliers deemed unsuited for training at King's Reach.

Arcane classes, trained at Clearspring: Alchemists, Bards, Magus, Sorcerers, Summoners, and Wizards.

Natural classes, trained at Raspir's Woods: Barbarians, Druids, Rangers, and Witches.

Any Rogues of a more larcenous bent tend to be self-taught, unsurprisingly. Also, it's far from unheard of for Oracles, Sorcerers, Bards, Barbarians, and Witches to at least start out self-taught.


Should there be any characters working for Tomas Licht, then they would likely either have defected from Grand Spire's forces, in which case their training would have come from the above sources, or they were trained in the Dwarves' Forge Lands.

Weapons Tech: Specifically, firearms. Most firearms/cannons in this setting are of Dwarven design. Standard early firearms kind of stuff, split-open breech-loaders and rifled barrels being about the most advanced that they get. Some early repeaters among Gnomish tech. However, firearms have a failure chance, which is worse for more experimental designs. Like the Gnomish ones. Should your attack roll land in the failure range, the gun didn't fire properly. HOWEVER, the failed roll is re-rolled. If that second roll also lands in the failure range, congratulations! EXPLOSIONS! Pretty much right in your character's face.

Psionics: Due to perceptions and superstitions stemming from the attackers during the Great War, those who are born with psionic powers have a special problem. Once those powers manifest, they quickly find themselves on the wrong end of a bunch of torches, pitchforks, and sometimes even Inquisitors. They also quickly end up the guest-of-honor at a hemp jig, or at a not-so-friendly village bonfire. ((Means they end up hung or burned at the stake.))

More to come as the brain-sewage filters through.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Construct-heavy RP Setting Derp

Since I'm actually finding myself leaning more towards actually trying to run this, I figured I'd just go ahead and work out some details for those who might aim for a religious-type character. ((After all, heals are good, right?)) Cavalier orders are also included.

Here's the format:

Entry name: (Favored Weapon) [Alignment]
Available Domain
-Available Subdomain

And on with the list:

Inquisitions available:

Fervor
Imprisionment
Order
Persistence
Vengeance
Zeal


Ancestor Worship: (Quarterstaff) [All]
Community
-Family
-Home
Knowledge
-Memory
Nobility
-Leadership
-Martyr
Protection
-Defense
Repose
-Ancestor

The Sage: (Heavy Pick) [Lawful Neutral]
Artifice
-Construct
-Toil
Knowledge
-Memory
-Thought
Law
-Loyalty
Magic
-Arcane
Rune
-Language
-Wards

The Stonefather: (Warhammer) [Neutral Good]
Artifice
-Construct
-Toil
Community
-Family
-Home
Earth
-Caves
-Metal
Fire
-Smoke
Magic
-Arcane
-Divine
Protection
-Defense
Rune
-Language
-Wards

Nature Worship: (Sickle) [True Neutral]
Air
-Cloud
-Wind
Animal
-Feather
-Fur
Plant
-Decay
-Growth
Water
-Ice
-Oceans
Weather
-Seasons
-Storms

Available Cavalier Orders:

Order of the Blue Rose
Order of the Dragon (Aligned with Grand Spire)
Order of the Guard (Aligned with Grand Spire)
Order of the Land (Aligned with the Forge Lands)
Order of the Lion (Aligned with Grand Spire)
Order of the Scales (Aligned with Grand Spire)
Order of the Shield (Aligned with the Forge Lands)
Order of the Sword (Aligned with Grand Spire)

Paladin Orders:

Order of the Silver Chalice - Originally formed in Grand Spire, became defunct after much of its membership joined Tomas Licht in his rebellion. Possibly being reformed in the Forge Lands.

Order of the Golden Star - Formed at the same time as the Silver Chalice, all of the remaining "loyalists" from that other Paladin order joined this one upon the rebellion. Still, Grand Spire's Inquisitors are keeping a cautious eye on them.


More stats derpery!

Warforged/Forged Ones racial details:

Living Construct Subtype (Ex): Warforged are constructs with the living construct subtype. A living construct is a created being given sentience and free will through powerful and complex creation enchantments. Warforged are living constructs who combine aspects of both constructs and living creatures, as detailed below.
Features: As a living construct, a warforged has the following features.
• A warforged derives its Hit Dice, base attack bonus progression, saving throws, and skill points from the class it selects.
Traits: A warforged possesses the following traits.
• Unlike other constructs, a warforged has a Constitution score.
• Unlike other constructs, a warforged does not have low-light vision or darkvision.
• Unlike other constructs, a warforged is not immune to mind-affecting spells and
abilities.
• Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, disease, nausea, fatigue, exhaustion,effects that cause the sickened condition, and energy drain.
• A warforged cannot heal lethal damage naturally.
• Unlike other constructs, warforged are subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, stunning, ability damage, ability drain, death effects, and necromancy effects.
• As living constructs, warforged can be affected by spells that target living creatures as well as by those that target constructs. Damage dealt to a warforged can be healed by a cure light wounds spell or a repair light damage spell, for example, and a warforged is vulnerable to disable construct and harm. However, spells from the healing subschool and supernatural abilities that cure hit point damage or ability damage provide only half their normal effects to a warforged.
• The unusual physical construction of warforged makes them vulnerable to certain spells and effects that normally don’t affect living creatures. A warforged takes damage from heat metal and chill metal as if he were wearing metal armor. Likewise, a warforged is affected by repel metal or stone as if he were wearing metal armor. A warforged is repelled by repel wood. The iron in the body of a warforged makes him vulnerable to rusting grasp, taking 2d6 points of damage from the spell (Reflex half; save DC 14 + caster’s ability modifier). A warforged takes the same damage from a rust monster’s touch (Reflex DC 17 half). Spells such as stone to flesh, stone shape, warp wood, and wood shape affect objects only and thus cannot be used on a warforged.
• A warforged responds slightly differently from other living creatures when reduced to 0 hit points. A warforged with 0 hit points is disabled, as with a living creature. He can take only a single move action or standard action in each round, but strenuous activity does not risk further injury. When his hit points are less than 0 and greater than –10, a warforged is inert. He is unconscious and helpless, and cannot perform any actions. An inert warforged does not lose additional hit points unless more damage is dealt to him, however, as with a living creature that has become stable.
• As a living construct, a warforged can be raised or resurrected.
• A warforged does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, but he can still benefit from the effects of consumable spells and magic items such as heroes’ feast and potions.
• Although living constructs do not need to sleep, a warforged wizard must rest for 8 hours before preparing spells.
• +2 Constitution, –2 Charisma: Warforged are resilient and powerful, but their difficulty in relating to other creatures makes them seem aloof or even hostile.
• Medium: As Medium constructs, warforged have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Warforged base land speed is 30 feet.
• Composite Plating: The plating used to build a warforged provides a +2 armor bonus. This plating is not natural armor and does not stack with other effects that give an armor bonus (other than natural armor). This composite plating occupies the same space on the body as a suit of armor or a robe, and thus a warforged cannot benefit from the effects of magic armor or magic robes. Composite plating can gain a magic enhancement bonus and magic armor properties as armor can, using the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat. The character must be present for the entire time it takes to add this enhancement. In addition, spells and infusions that normally target armor, such as magic vestment and armor enhancement, can be cast with the composite plating of a warforged character as the target. Composite plating also provides a warforged with a 5% arcane spell failure chance, similar to the penalty for wearing light armor. Any class ability that allows a warforged to ignore the arcane spell failure chance for light armor lets him ignore this
penalty as well.
• Light Fortification (Ex): When a critical hit or sneak attack is scored on a warforged, there is a 25% chance that the critical hit or sneak attack is negated and damage is instead rolled normally.
• A warforged has a natural weapon in the form of a slam attack that deals 1d4 points of damage.
• Automatic Languages: Common. Bonus Languages: None.
• Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass warforged’s fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.

SPECIAL NOTES: Warforged produced by Grand Spire have a susceptibility to the channel features of certain spellcasters (Treated as the nauseated condition). However, Forged Ones are immune to this reaction.

ALSO, Racial Factional-alignments:

Humans - Both
Elves - Both
Dwarves - The Forge Lands
-Duergar - The Forge Lands
Halflings - Both
Gnomes - Grand Spire
Half-Elves - Both
Half-Orcs - Both, stronger Grand Spire
Warforged - Grand Spire
Forged Ones - The Forge Lands
Changelings - Grand Spire
Dhampir - Both