I am thinking of starting a new campaign in home-brew world that I created; this thread is to see what people think and to see if there is any interest in the idea.
(this ended up much longer than I thought so I really appreciate anyone who reads through to the end and gives their thoughts)
The world is going to a 'lite' version of a world I've made independent of DnD. It has lore that introduces some changes to the magic system and to the races.
The world and the rules are the result of me trying to explain or justify common fantasy tropes without just saying 'Because magic' or 'a wizard/god did it'. I tend to approach things from a scientific/design point of view, always wanting to know the nitty gritty of how things work, and so I found myself getting really annoyed when authors/game designers/script writers etc. , when asked a question like 'how does a dragon fly as it's so heavy', would answer with a generic answer such as 'because they're magical creatures, they use magic'. To me this was never enough; does the magic push air down from their wings like a helicopter or does it give them extra strength to flap or does it cause them to levitate/hover (in which case why do they have wings at all!). So I challenged myself to design a fantasy world where everything could be explained; there is a reason everything is as it is.
The full world has a completely new history (about 2 million-ish years back) that includes a cascading series of events that results in the particular political environment and race relations of the 'present' time. However it is not complete with multiple clashing and contradictory events and plot lines due to me changing things as I go and is extremely complicated (I have 20+ pages of notes); so for this I am thinking of just having a backbone that I fill out as the story progresses, creating the finer detail particular to the characters and places that they go.
Lore:
Magic
The world is set on the material plane, which in this universe has no magic of it's own. In fact there is no 'magic'. What is commonly known as magic is the result of an event that occurred over two-hundred years ago, during which the material plane and all the other planes were pulled closer together. This resulted in their boundaries occasionally crossing, producing temporary tears in the fabric between them; these are known as 'rifts'. With them came magic, and the monsters.
All the planes are made up of energy, each 'vibrating' at a different frequency. In some of them, like the material plane, all of that energy is locked in physical matter whereas most have a proportion of that energy floating around in it's raw form. When rifts open this energy, in raw or physical form, can pass through into the connected plane. Most rifts are tiny, seen as floating sparks that appear for a second or two before disappearing, and people have got used to them. However occasionally the density of this sparks gets two high or a larger rift opens; when this happens the energy that leaks through can seriously alter everything around it.
Magic is the ability to control this; to manipulate the planar boundaries to open rifts and then channel the energy that flows out to your bidding. All planes have their own particular energy. Some are suited to heal; some are suited to manipulate; others are suited for destruction. To manipulate the fabric of a plane one must have something that holds some of that planes energy already. This could be a gem stored full of it in it's raw form; or it could be a physical object brought over from that plan, such as a bone of a certain monster. Once you have this, and after much training, you can bend and distort the boundaries between your plane and the other until they cross. To create larger rifts you must move the boundaries more which takes much more skill. This is the main limit to someone's magical power.
Once a rift is opened, energy is pulled through into this plane. The one who is controlling the energy becomes the connection through which it passes through. This raw energy can burn them from the inside if not properly channelled. It takes further training to be able prevent this by focusing it though object connected to that plane; the focus that was used to open the rift. This can often be helped by the use of metals to link your body to the focus.
Races
In this world, all the base humanoids are all evolutionary related; the equivalent of neanderthals, homo erectus, and chimpanzees to us. There is no god who created dwarves in his image etc. I have not exactly pinned down who goes where in the evolutionary tree but at the moment I am thinking there will be two main branches, with all humanoids in each branch being able to cross-breed. These half-breeds are the equivalent to mules or ligers: carrying a mix of traits from both species but are infertile (this is so the world doesn't just become completely crossbred).
The other playable races (Aarakocra, Dragonborn, etc.) fit into the lore as either coming across during the event that introduced magic or being created by magic. I have yet to decide which ones to include; for instance it feels a bit weird that there just happened to be two different bird people races, Aarakocra and Kenku, who came through.
And tieflings, they're special. Rather than being an individual race, tieflings in this world are actually people who were mutated in the womb by magic seeping through the tiny rifts. They can be from any race and are mutated in all sorts of ways. Some are hardly changed, different skin colour or enlarged arms, and some are completely misshapen. Because tieflings were mutated by magic they actually carry magic in their own body. Those who are more mutated can use themselves as their focus to another plane (in game rules, tieflings are the only race that can be sorcerers). This is also how creatures who passed through from other planes use magic.
The magic that creates tieflings has also mutated native flora and fauna, producing beasts like gnarls.
Religion
The general idea is that there are the 'old gods' that are each races deities from before the event and the 'new gods' that are beings of immense power from the other planes that are now worshipped as gods.
The new gods are different for each of the major races. The human gods are heroes of the past that through their actions achieved godhood, so there's alot of old kings and knights etc. The elven gods are representations of ideas, feelings etc. The dwarven gods are locational, so you have the god of a certain moutain range but also the god of each particular mountain. While none of these gods are actually real, a lot have been linked with the new gods. So the elves might believe that SoandSo is their god of light when the dwarves believe he is actually their god of the sun, but he is just a being from one of the 'lighter' planes.
For this I will use the Forgotten Realms gods plugged into the lore to keep things simple.
Other
There is more lore about the politics and the relationships/laws with magic and each of the races but I'll go into that if this actually goes ahead.
Homebrew Rules:
Magic
Due to the lore, magic changes slightly. Most of it is RP (wizards staffs having crystals on the end linked to the grip by silver thread etc.) and doesn't effect the game mechanics. However there is one change I want to add. The player's level still denotes what spell slots they have, with spell level equivalent of rift size and spell slots being how much you can channel through your body, however there is a small tweak. The new rule is that you can cast a spell at a higher level than the available spell slot, though not at a higher level than your highest, at the cost of some of your HP. Whether the HP cost will be percentage based or roll based I've not decided.
So this means that if you have access to Lvl 3 spell slots say but you only have Lvl 1 slots left, you can use that Lvl 1 slot to perform a Lvl 2 or Lvl 3 spell but take damage in the process. The higher the spell level from the spell slot level the more damage you take, increasing exponentially. This would also work if you run out of spell slots; you just treat it like a Lvl 0 spell slot.
Races
Most races will be the standard rules with a few slightly adapted to not have inate magical abilities. All the cross-breeds tieflings will likely be purpose designed as the players can pick any race they want as the base.
Other
There will be an injury system designed so that large hits (>50%HP) and going unconscious have medium-term effects rather than immediately healing with a potion. Injuries will have negative effects on movement, stats, skills etc. depending on where on the body they are (RP description of combat being the main factor), with light injuries being healed via restoring to full HP (by health potions, magic or time) and heavy injuries requiring either a doctor or player character with high medicine check and certain items.
I will probably write up some exploring and survival rules if thats where the campaign goes but thats not a priority.
Other ideas will likely be implemented as it fills out.
Please let me know what you think about the world setting and rule changes.
I like the magic homebrew, but I’d have to see just how much damage a person must take in order to upcast slots. That’s a powerful mechanism, and will definitely nerf specifically the warlock class, who has very few spellslots that are permanently upcasted. The balancing for this is dangerously knife-edge.
The injuries and damage homebrew is actually something I’ve come across a lot of people doing, and it seems a great addition, so long as you let the players know beforehand. As a side note, with that rule, early levels will be very dangerous/have tons of injuries, as basically any class can have half their ho done in a single hit at early levels.
I like the magic homebrew, but I’d have to see just how much damage a person must take in order to upcast slots. That’s a powerful mechanism, and will definitely nerf specifically the warlock class, who has very few spellslots that are permanently upcasted. The balancing for this is dangerously knife-edge.
The injuries and damage homebrew is actually something I’ve come across a lot of people doing, and it seems a great addition, so long as you let the players know beforehand. As a side note, with that rule, early levels will be very dangerous/have tons of injuries, as basically any class can have half their ho done in a single hit at early levels.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I am thinking of starting a new campaign in home-brew world that I created; this thread is to see what people think and to see if there is any interest in the idea.
(this ended up much longer than I thought so I really appreciate anyone who reads through to the end and gives their thoughts)
The world is going to a 'lite' version of a world I've made independent of DnD. It has lore that introduces some changes to the magic system and to the races.
The world and the rules are the result of me trying to explain or justify common fantasy tropes without just saying 'Because magic' or 'a wizard/god did it'. I tend to approach things from a scientific/design point of view, always wanting to know the nitty gritty of how things work, and so I found myself getting really annoyed when authors/game designers/script writers etc. , when asked a question like 'how does a dragon fly as it's so heavy', would answer with a generic answer such as 'because they're magical creatures, they use magic'. To me this was never enough; does the magic push air down from their wings like a helicopter or does it give them extra strength to flap or does it cause them to levitate/hover (in which case why do they have wings at all!). So I challenged myself to design a fantasy world where everything could be explained; there is a reason everything is as it is.
The full world has a completely new history (about 2 million-ish years back) that includes a cascading series of events that results in the particular political environment and race relations of the 'present' time. However it is not complete with multiple clashing and contradictory events and plot lines due to me changing things as I go and is extremely complicated (I have 20+ pages of notes); so for this I am thinking of just having a backbone that I fill out as the story progresses, creating the finer detail particular to the characters and places that they go.
Lore:
Magic
The world is set on the material plane, which in this universe has no magic of it's own. In fact there is no 'magic'. What is commonly known as magic is the result of an event that occurred over two-hundred years ago, during which the material plane and all the other planes were pulled closer together. This resulted in their boundaries occasionally crossing, producing temporary tears in the fabric between them; these are known as 'rifts'. With them came magic, and the monsters.
All the planes are made up of energy, each 'vibrating' at a different frequency. In some of them, like the material plane, all of that energy is locked in physical matter whereas most have a proportion of that energy floating around in it's raw form. When rifts open this energy, in raw or physical form, can pass through into the connected plane. Most rifts are tiny, seen as floating sparks that appear for a second or two before disappearing, and people have got used to them. However occasionally the density of this sparks gets two high or a larger rift opens; when this happens the energy that leaks through can seriously alter everything around it.
Magic is the ability to control this; to manipulate the planar boundaries to open rifts and then channel the energy that flows out to your bidding. All planes have their own particular energy. Some are suited to heal; some are suited to manipulate; others are suited for destruction. To manipulate the fabric of a plane one must have something that holds some of that planes energy already. This could be a gem stored full of it in it's raw form; or it could be a physical object brought over from that plan, such as a bone of a certain monster. Once you have this, and after much training, you can bend and distort the boundaries between your plane and the other until they cross. To create larger rifts you must move the boundaries more which takes much more skill. This is the main limit to someone's magical power.
Once a rift is opened, energy is pulled through into this plane. The one who is controlling the energy becomes the connection through which it passes through. This raw energy can burn them from the inside if not properly channelled. It takes further training to be able prevent this by focusing it though object connected to that plane; the focus that was used to open the rift. This can often be helped by the use of metals to link your body to the focus.
Races
In this world, all the base humanoids are all evolutionary related; the equivalent of neanderthals, homo erectus, and chimpanzees to us. There is no god who created dwarves in his image etc. I have not exactly pinned down who goes where in the evolutionary tree but at the moment I am thinking there will be two main branches, with all humanoids in each branch being able to cross-breed. These half-breeds are the equivalent to mules or ligers: carrying a mix of traits from both species but are infertile (this is so the world doesn't just become completely crossbred).
The other playable races (Aarakocra, Dragonborn, etc.) fit into the lore as either coming across during the event that introduced magic or being created by magic. I have yet to decide which ones to include; for instance it feels a bit weird that there just happened to be two different bird people races, Aarakocra and Kenku, who came through.
And tieflings, they're special. Rather than being an individual race, tieflings in this world are actually people who were mutated in the womb by magic seeping through the tiny rifts. They can be from any race and are mutated in all sorts of ways. Some are hardly changed, different skin colour or enlarged arms, and some are completely misshapen. Because tieflings were mutated by magic they actually carry magic in their own body. Those who are more mutated can use themselves as their focus to another plane (in game rules, tieflings are the only race that can be sorcerers). This is also how creatures who passed through from other planes use magic.
The magic that creates tieflings has also mutated native flora and fauna, producing beasts like gnarls.
Religion
The general idea is that there are the 'old gods' that are each races deities from before the event and the 'new gods' that are beings of immense power from the other planes that are now worshipped as gods.
The new gods are different for each of the major races. The human gods are heroes of the past that through their actions achieved godhood, so there's alot of old kings and knights etc. The elven gods are representations of ideas, feelings etc. The dwarven gods are locational, so you have the god of a certain moutain range but also the god of each particular mountain. While none of these gods are actually real, a lot have been linked with the new gods. So the elves might believe that SoandSo is their god of light when the dwarves believe he is actually their god of the sun, but he is just a being from one of the 'lighter' planes.
For this I will use the Forgotten Realms gods plugged into the lore to keep things simple.
Other
There is more lore about the politics and the relationships/laws with magic and each of the races but I'll go into that if this actually goes ahead.
Homebrew Rules:
Magic
Due to the lore, magic changes slightly. Most of it is RP (wizards staffs having crystals on the end linked to the grip by silver thread etc.) and doesn't effect the game mechanics. However there is one change I want to add. The player's level still denotes what spell slots they have, with spell level equivalent of rift size and spell slots being how much you can channel through your body, however there is a small tweak. The new rule is that you can cast a spell at a higher level than the available spell slot, though not at a higher level than your highest, at the cost of some of your HP. Whether the HP cost will be percentage based or roll based I've not decided.
So this means that if you have access to Lvl 3 spell slots say but you only have Lvl 1 slots left, you can use that Lvl 1 slot to perform a Lvl 2 or Lvl 3 spell but take damage in the process. The higher the spell level from the spell slot level the more damage you take, increasing exponentially. This would also work if you run out of spell slots; you just treat it like a Lvl 0 spell slot.
Races
Most races will be the standard rules with a few slightly adapted to not have inate magical abilities. All the cross-breeds tieflings will likely be purpose designed as the players can pick any race they want as the base.
Other
There will be an injury system designed so that large hits (>50%HP) and going unconscious have medium-term effects rather than immediately healing with a potion. Injuries will have negative effects on movement, stats, skills etc. depending on where on the body they are (RP description of combat being the main factor), with light injuries being healed via restoring to full HP (by health potions, magic or time) and heavy injuries requiring either a doctor or player character with high medicine check and certain items.
I will probably write up some exploring and survival rules if thats where the campaign goes but thats not a priority.
Other ideas will likely be implemented as it fills out.
Please let me know what you think about the world setting and rule changes.
I like the magic homebrew, but I’d have to see just how much damage a person must take in order to upcast slots. That’s a powerful mechanism, and will definitely nerf specifically the warlock class, who has very few spellslots that are permanently upcasted. The balancing for this is dangerously knife-edge.
The injuries and damage homebrew is actually something I’ve come across a lot of people doing, and it seems a great addition, so long as you let the players know beforehand. As a side note, with that rule, early levels will be very dangerous/have tons of injuries, as basically any class can have half their ho done in a single hit at early levels.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I like the magic homebrew, but I’d have to see just how much damage a person must take in order to upcast slots. That’s a powerful mechanism, and will definitely nerf specifically the warlock class, who has very few spellslots that are permanently upcasted. The balancing for this is dangerously knife-edge.
The injuries and damage homebrew is actually something I’ve come across a lot of people doing, and it seems a great addition, so long as you let the players know beforehand. As a side note, with that rule, early levels will be very dangerous/have tons of injuries, as basically any class can have half their ho done in a single hit at early levels.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Edit: bad WiFi service got me triple posting by accident, and I’m not sure how to delete. Apologies.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?