I am currently working on creating a campaign for a few buddies, a homebrew world with a fleshed out campaign story, lore, iconic figures, history, and the like. Basically what I'm here for is to ask the lovely, much more experienced, DM's of D&D Beyond if they think my idea is realistic in any sense. So, I decided to make this world in an arid, water scarce, desert-based landscape (Desert Fantasy) to start out with and have the party members aware that finding and having water on them is very crucial to survival. That being said, the whole shtick is that they continuously be consciously aware that they purchase, and refill water skins, bottles, flasks, and what have you.
Anyway, that's a bit about the actual day to day campaign stuff. As for my actual story, I was thinking of having this wizard dudes that studied magic in the various implements of such to create, with the help of a deity, a sword capable of altering, reversing, and changing of time itself. They wished to have this so that they can turn the tide of battles, mainly in defensive situations. However, in the process of it's creation, such power imbued into a singular weapon caused whoever tried to attune to it to go either absolutely insane or die. I want this to be the focal point of the campaign, perhaps the weapon went missing in a vacuum of space and time, but with the occurrence of some major event recently, it has popped back up into the Material Plane. For this, I was wondering if you lovelies had any idea what major occurrence could've taken place to cause the resurface, and the artifact to be discovered once again. I planned on multiple kingdoms to hear of this as well, and it essentially becomes a race to see who can recover the sword first, therefore the party is pitted against maybe two or three other teams that level in the same manner my party does. The teams would solve puzzles, and try to crack where the sword is located, learn how to obtain it, and eventually how to use the damn thing.
If you read this far, I would thoroughly appreciate any possible feedback, ideas, and criticism. I am only in the beginning stages of the world, and anyone who has ideas to improve I would love to hear what ya got.
Be aware that the create/destroy water spell is available to all level 1 druids and clerics. You may want to address that in session 0 if you want it limited.
As to how the sword made it's way back, a devil's influence fits in my opinion, but if you want it to be more accidental, then the movements of a powerful magical creature (astral dragon would be fancy) or a magical disaster (natural or experiment gone wrong) would fit.
I love the idea of the campaign! I don't have many magical ideas for why the sword resurfaced, but since you're in a desert, maybe the shifting sands revealed an ancient tomb or portal of some kind. With the portal revealed, the sword could finally return to its "home" with a burst of light as it reappeared in the material plane (signaling all these kingdoms about its arrival). Alternatively, if it were a tomb to appear, it would be a good starting point to find clues to find the sword. Maybe the sword is still in another plane and part of the adventure is about trying to pull it to the material plane before another team does.
As for the water thing, creating water uses a spell slot, aka resources. I think it's ok to have as your party has to prioritize having a spell for battle or a spell for water. It's like having a ranger who always uses goodberry. It takes away the foraging aspect of survival, but it still involves resource management.
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I am currently working on creating a campaign for a few buddies, a homebrew world with a fleshed out campaign story, lore, iconic figures, history, and the like. Basically what I'm here for is to ask the lovely, much more experienced, DM's of D&D Beyond if they think my idea is realistic in any sense. So, I decided to make this world in an arid, water scarce, desert-based landscape (Desert Fantasy) to start out with and have the party members aware that finding and having water on them is very crucial to survival. That being said, the whole shtick is that they continuously be consciously aware that they purchase, and refill water skins, bottles, flasks, and what have you.
Anyway, that's a bit about the actual day to day campaign stuff. As for my actual story, I was thinking of having this wizard dudes that studied magic in the various implements of such to create, with the help of a deity, a sword capable of altering, reversing, and changing of time itself. They wished to have this so that they can turn the tide of battles, mainly in defensive situations. However, in the process of it's creation, such power imbued into a singular weapon caused whoever tried to attune to it to go either absolutely insane or die. I want this to be the focal point of the campaign, perhaps the weapon went missing in a vacuum of space and time, but with the occurrence of some major event recently, it has popped back up into the Material Plane. For this, I was wondering if you lovelies had any idea what major occurrence could've taken place to cause the resurface, and the artifact to be discovered once again. I planned on multiple kingdoms to hear of this as well, and it essentially becomes a race to see who can recover the sword first, therefore the party is pitted against maybe two or three other teams that level in the same manner my party does. The teams would solve puzzles, and try to crack where the sword is located, learn how to obtain it, and eventually how to use the damn thing.
If you read this far, I would thoroughly appreciate any possible feedback, ideas, and criticism. I am only in the beginning stages of the world, and anyone who has ideas to improve I would love to hear what ya got.
Be aware that the create/destroy water spell is available to all level 1 druids and clerics. You may want to address that in session 0 if you want it limited.
As to how the sword made it's way back, a devil's influence fits in my opinion, but if you want it to be more accidental, then the movements of a powerful magical creature (astral dragon would be fancy) or a magical disaster (natural or experiment gone wrong) would fit.
I like the sound of the campaign idea.
I love the idea of the campaign! I don't have many magical ideas for why the sword resurfaced, but since you're in a desert, maybe the shifting sands revealed an ancient tomb or portal of some kind. With the portal revealed, the sword could finally return to its "home" with a burst of light as it reappeared in the material plane (signaling all these kingdoms about its arrival). Alternatively, if it were a tomb to appear, it would be a good starting point to find clues to find the sword. Maybe the sword is still in another plane and part of the adventure is about trying to pull it to the material plane before another team does.
As for the water thing, creating water uses a spell slot, aka resources. I think it's ok to have as your party has to prioritize having a spell for battle or a spell for water. It's like having a ranger who always uses goodberry. It takes away the foraging aspect of survival, but it still involves resource management.