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Entromancer
Senior Scribe
USA
388 Posts |
 Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 14:51:31
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So I'm looking to design a 4E game that really encapsulates edition's selling point of a "darker", "grittier" Realms. Fortunately, I think this sort of feel can be achieved by looking in to the annals of Sword and Sorcery for inspiration.
The wilds of Faerun are populated by hordes of roaming devils: bearded devils, barbed devils, ice devils, abishais. This has made rangers a necessity for travel between the cities. Heroes are now needed more than ever, though one never knows if the heroes' employer honestly wants their help or if they're planning to offer the hero up to the devils as an offering/sacrifice.
Swordsmiths have developed a new type of blade that provides the user with an advantage vs projectile weapons. The hilt is worked with the vocal chords of a type of wyvern, which allows the swordsman/swordswoman to fire off an EMP-like wave (for lack of better shorthand description) that disrupts the projectile's firing mechanism.
Magic is largely a taboo now; old fears that it allowed devils to gain a foothold in Faerun run rampant. New faiths have emerged--really, older ones in disguise (Sharists, Aboleth cultists, Tiamat worshipers)--and encouraged witch hunts for arcane wizards/sorcerers. Thus many arcanists are forced to flee into the wilder lands to continue their practices: Chult, Icewind Dale, Thay.
Dragonborn:
Dragonborn Rite of Passage:
After their first molt, a Dragonborn will eat a blend of herbs from the Dragon Seas. The Dragon Seas are areas where the dragons live; as a result the landscape is constantly shifting and changing. The Dragonborn that eat the dragon-sea herbs gain an enhanced perception of reality. Under the drug’s influence, the Dragonborn will feverishly pen a theory from whatever it observes. At the ritual’s end, the Dragonborn will shift into an androgynous state and leap over five juvenile sauropods. At the height of the drug-trance, the Dragonborn will see a tether running from the sauropod to one of the dragons in the dragon-seas. The Dragonborn will grasp the tether—to a sober observer, it appears as if the Dragonborn uses its tail and neck muscles to throw itself off course—and land before the sauropod.
The Dragonborn will fight the sauropod to sever the tether—the casual observer will see the Dragonborn leap atop the sauropod and sever its spinal cord—and bolt into the wilds. Within the dragon-seas, the drug-entranced Dragonborn will seek out one of the mutated sauropods that most closely resemble the dragon that it believes held the tether of the sauropod it killed. After the mutated sauropod has been killed, the Dragonborn will harvest the cerebellum and forebrain from the carcass before it is consumed by the unstable elemental matter of the Dragon Seas. Those Dragonborn that are too slow are mutated by the dragon-seas into Dragonborn Elementals; failure at the Rite of Passage has led them to embrace a nihilistic philosophy.
Dragonborn and the Path of the Dragon
The ghost of the sauropod and mutated sauropod that the Dragonborn slays to reach adulthood haunt the Dragonborn. Outsiders believe that the drugs a Dragonborn will take before the Rite of Passage causes damage to the area of the brain responsible for visual processing. The sauropod ghosts drive the Dragonborn to dedicate them to the theorem that they penned during the Rite of Passage. Thus the sauropod serve as the drive for the Dragonborn that is on the Path of the Dragon.
The Path of Dragon describes the Dragonborn’s quest to harness the cosmic energies in the Black Dragon Seas. Harnessing this energy allows the Dragonborn to reach the last stage of maturation, Ur-hood. The Path of Dragon describes the Dragonborn’s thaumaturgical practices and includes voyages to distant continents
Dragonborn Pastimes
The Dragonborn are artisans. They like to fashion monoliths, dynamos, and power stones from the magic-irradiated landscape of their homeland. Their voyages to distant lands are done to further develop and refine their skills as artisans. Their works are judged based on strength and resilience; it’s not uncommon for a Dragonborn Stormroarer to cast elemental magic to kick off a bout in the Artisan’s Arena. The magic saps the spirits from the Arena and soaks into the Dragonborn, burning their mental connection to the spirit-land. It is up to the Dragonborn to rely on their artworks as outlets of spirits and passions in their Arena battles.
Dragonborn Voyaging
The Dragonborn purchase specially manufactured suits from the genasi for their voyages to the other continents of Toril. These protect the people around the Dragonborn from the deleterious effects of mana poisoning, which could alter their ability to cast spells, induce sterility or cause birth defects.
Dragonborn are frequently sought out by engineers and physicists for their scientific insight. Traders who were able to afford Genasi decontamination devices brought back spent Dragonborn artifacts and sold them for profit. Many of these artifacts are now found in universities all over Faerun—automated carriages (currently a luxury for the rich), automatons (mostly owned by the wealthiest industries), fluorescent bulbs—are all derived from Dragonborn artistry.
The Dragonborn will barter the secrets of their art that have gone out of vogue or lost popularity on the Dragonborn homeland in exchange for human, tiefling, genasi, sahuagin, and yuan-ti tomes, spellcraft, clothes, and tools. Dragonborn find inspiration from the urgency present in the crafting of these items. Some Dragonborn that fail their Rite of Passage have been known to flee the homeland in the company of mana-warped aberrations in order to find a place within the Sahuagin Pods (undersea mafia families). They gain entrance by offering their skills as druggists and engineers. Popularity of the Dragonborn Rite of Passage drugs has led to the stereotype that the Dragonborn are harbingers of civilized society’s downfall.
The Path of the Dragon
This is essentially a political game in which the Dragonborn plays rulers and courtiers against one another to canonize the theory that they devised during the Rite of Passage. The Dragonborn can use only his or her artistry to achieve this goal. Under no circumstances may the Dragonborn engage in direct hand to hand or magical combat. It is perfectly acceptable for the Dragonborn to take on a fighter or spellcaster on the Path. The Dragonborn aims to free his or her pawns from their inhibitions; the pawns must give themselves over to their passions and fight to master those passions. The pawns must develop a willingness to indulge those passions whenever they wish. Finally, the pawns must accomplish the Dragonborn’s endgame goal of canonization. The Dragonborn recognize the canonization of their theories when some new invention or structure is erected that bears a distinctively Dragonbornish touch.
This definition of canonization is a celebration of the Dragon that the Dragonborn revere. They believe that the Dragon are manifestations of cosmic energy that went to war against The Chill and won independence. The Chill—a nebulous entity—receded into the depths of space and left the Dragon free to create the various planets. According to Dragonborn spiritual texts. Some say that the Chill is another name for the Aboleths.
The Dragonborn see themselves as lesser creators to their Dragon deities.
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"...the will is everything. The will to act."--Ra's Al Ghul
"Suffering builds character."--Talia Al Ghul |
Edited by - Entromancer on 11 Feb 2014 14:53:08
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36803 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 15:27:41
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quote:
Originally posted by Entromancer
Swordsmiths have developed a new type of blade that provides the user with an advantage vs projectile weapons. The hilt is worked with the vocal chords of a type of wyvern, which allows the swordsman/swordswoman to fire off an EMP-like wave (for lack of better shorthand description) that disrupts the projectile's firing mechanism.
How do you disrupt a bowstring? 
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of the screaming blades (though I'd make them quite rare)... I just need a better explanation for why a blade would keep a projectile from firing. |
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Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 11 Feb 2014 15:28:48 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36803 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 15:34:29
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Reading this a bit more...
quote:
Originally posted by Entromancer
Magic is largely a taboo now; old fears that it allowed devils to gain a foothold in Faerun run rampant. New faiths have emerged--really, older ones in disguise (Sharists, Aboleth cultists, Tiamat worshipers)--and encouraged witch hunts for arcane wizards/sorcerers. Thus many arcanists are forced to flee into the wilder lands to continue their practices: Chult, Icewind Dale, Thay.
I also don't understand this one... Magic would be one of the best tools for fighting fiends, especially given the numerous resistances many of them have. It seems odd that the best way to fight them would be shunned.
It also seems odd that divine magic would not be subject to this taboo. |
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Entromancer
Senior Scribe
USA
388 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 15:36:43
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I was thinking of more ways to balance out powder weapons and bladed weapons. While watching Dark Night Rises, the scene where Batman's EMP gun shorts the lights in the tunnel, I started thinking about a "magic" version that could interfere with the firing mechanism in powder weapons, and perhaps drowish crossbows. I should have been more specific than "projectile weapons."
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"...the will is everything. The will to act."--Ra's Al Ghul
"Suffering builds character."--Talia Al Ghul |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36803 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 15:38:00
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And, last comment...
quote:
Originally posted by Entromancer
After their first molt, a Dragonborn will eat a blend of herbs from the Dragon Seas. The Dragon Seas are areas where the dragons live; as a result the landscape is constantly shifting and changing. The Dragonborn that eat the dragon-sea herbs gain an enhanced perception of reality. Under the drug’s influence, the Dragonborn will feverishly pen a theory from whatever it observes. At the ritual’s end, the Dragonborn will shift into an androgynous state and leap over five juvenile sauropods. At the height of the drug-trance, the Dragonborn will see a tether running from the sauropod to one of the dragons in the dragon-seas. The Dragonborn will grasp the tether—to a sober observer, it appears as if the Dragonborn uses its tail and neck muscles to throw itself off course—and land before the sauropod.
There is some potential here, but I'd tweak it somewhat. Perhaps make it having to hunt five sauropods, or be put into a pit with five of them and have to fight one... Something like that. Reading your existing description, I get a mental image of the drug-addled dragonborn playing leapfrog with the critters, and managed to land badly on one of the hops. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36803 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 15:40:35
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quote:
Originally posted by Entromancer
I was thinking of more ways to balance out powder weapons and bladed weapons. While watching Dark Night Rises, the scene where Batman's EMP gun shorts the lights in the tunnel, I started thinking about a "magic" version that could interfere with the firing mechanism in powder weapons, and perhaps drowish crossbows. I should have been more specific than "projectile weapons."
I can see something that neutralizes smokepowder, but that seems like it should be a rare thing, and not something commonplace.
I can see sonic disruption of the firing mechanism in a crossbow, but I would think that would take a lot more sonic energy, and would have a lot more effect -- likely deafening people and causing other damage, as well. |
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Entromancer
Senior Scribe
USA
388 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 15:42:47
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On the subject of magic: reading the blurbs at the front of the 4E novels, I got the impression that godly magic was hard to come by. Since it would be an extremely rare occurrence, I decided that those reported to have used Divine Magic to drive back devils were widely branded as charlatans looking to scam the populace.
Hunting the sauropods sounds cool. Maybe hunt them, corral them, then play leapfrog. It is supposed to sound a bit odd; the material I brewed up is an experiment to make my nonhumans stand apart from my humans. |
"...the will is everything. The will to act."--Ra's Al Ghul
"Suffering builds character."--Talia Al Ghul |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 16:37:22
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I don't mind the "we hae magic users!" thing because if the majority of the population believes everything bad happens because of those magic users (summoning fiends in the past), then it makes sense that they wouldn't want to 'fight fire with fire' in that instance (because of taboos... they would think ALL magic leads to corruption).
As for the 'disruption' thing; I think you just used a really bad analogy with the EM-pulse thing.
I would work it this way (and do so in my game): Its an accepted trope that magic and tech don't mix well. In fact, they have a tendency to disrupt each other (as in one of my favorite games of all-time, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura). So if you simply accept that they don't 'play nice', then its easy to theorize that somebody will come up with some sort of 'emitter' (with both magic spells and steampunk tech) that 'shorts out' the other side's advantage.
So basically, the weapons focus their own magic in a tight-beam pulse that affects the mechanics (and possibly ignition) of the firing mechanism of the projectile weapons. It would work more along the lines of a subsonic weapon then an EM-pulse (although the 'vibration' would actually be within the theoretical 'arcane energy spectrum', rather then the sonic spectrum). Also similar in some ways to how stun grenades work.
I would make it apply to all tech (not sure how much you want to have, but it should wreak havoc with a steam engine!) I would also make the opposite possible - that enough 'tech' (or simply iron) would have a 'grounding' affect on magic, and make it unstable. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 11 Feb 2014 16:38:02 |
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Entromancer
Senior Scribe
USA
388 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 16:58:50
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That's a very detailed description of what I'd envisioned with the vocal chords' ability. The wyverns' natural defense against devils' infernal magic would be the vocal chords. I could combine the two ideas by having the vocal chords act as a source of inspiration for whomever would manufacture magical weapons that could affect projectile weapons' firing ignition. Magic grounding metals sound like an equally effective counterbalance.
I'd like to clarify: "Dragon Sea" is the dragonborn name for Elemental Chaos. The dragonborn view dragons as purely elemental forces of destruction. They do not believe in the Elemental Lords; rather, they believe in the Elemental Dragons. During the spellplague, five dragons rose up against Tiamat and Bahamut, striking down both of the gods and giving dragons freedom to do as they please. Dragonborn teachings say that as they died, Tiamat and Bahamut cast a spell that robbed Toril's dragons of their wit, intellect, and majesty. In their place are the sauropods that the dragonborn hunt. By slaying the sauropods, the dragonborn believe that they are rebuilding an army of elemental dragons that possess all of their worldly predecessors' sentience, sapience, and none of their worldly flaws. None of this has been proven, mind you. It's simply dragonborn belief. |
"...the will is everything. The will to act."--Ra's Al Ghul
"Suffering builds character."--Talia Al Ghul |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36803 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 18:25:51
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| Here's my thinking, with the magic taboo... Yeah, I get the fighting fire with fire point -- but that doesn't change the fact that fiends are notoriously difficult, if not impossible, to kill without using magic. If people refuse to use magic, they are dooming themselves. And I don't see people in a fight for survival refusing to use a tool that could keep them alive. |
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Entromancer
Senior Scribe
USA
388 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 19:14:45
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| The situation I've presented with magic is similar to Chessenta in The Captive Flame. Spellcasters were forced underground. The same is true here, in a sense, except that the response to people caught casting spells is a bit messier than throwing them in prison. Spellcasters still exist, but sell their services to criminal empires that operate in the Faerun underworld. The devils, having been dragged from the Hells, are weakened to the point that they're still threatening, but killable, provided you can navigate the barbs, plated armor etc. Sort of like the Shanka in Abercrombie's First Law novels. Mage-bred, frightening and powerful, but still killable. |
"...the will is everything. The will to act."--Ra's Al Ghul
"Suffering builds character."--Talia Al Ghul |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36803 Posts |
Posted - 11 Feb 2014 : 21:38:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Entromancer
The situation I've presented with magic is similar to Chessenta in The Captive Flame. Spellcasters were forced underground. The same is true here, in a sense, except that the response to people caught casting spells is a bit messier than throwing them in prison. Spellcasters still exist, but sell their services to criminal empires that operate in the Faerun underworld. The devils, having been dragged from the Hells, are weakened to the point that they're still threatening, but killable, provided you can navigate the barbs, plated armor etc. Sort of like the Shanka in Abercrombie's First Law novels. Mage-bred, frightening and powerful, but still killable.
Okay, that works, then. |
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Fendrikor
Learned Scribe
Australia
189 Posts |
Posted - 13 Feb 2014 : 13:18:37
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newbie question,
But do you mean Wyvern or Ythrak?
Reason i ask is i thought Wyverns were known for their Poisonous stingers, not their vocal chords? where as Ythraks are all about Sonic attacks.
I only ask this because you said something about Wyverns using their Vocal chords to defend themselves against Devils... And i just got the mental image of a Ythrak maybe doing that, but not a Wyvern.
Or am i missing something?
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'Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup' |
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Entromancer
Senior Scribe
USA
388 Posts |
Posted - 13 Feb 2014 : 13:47:34
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You're not missing anything. I just picked a random fantasy creature that could be given a batlike appearance. Here's something I was thinking about doing with tieflings:
A race of beings who are united by a sense of self-loathing, rooted in the myths, legends, or truths (who knows, plenty have died over that dispute) race's origins. They are a race of cosmic by-blows that live to break others (both of and not of their race) physically and psychologically. Such acts are what give them a sense of purpose, vindication, or satisfaction. Perhaps they're on a journey into their own psyche to gain a greater knowledge of their place in the grand scheme of Existence. Perhaps they're raging against a hierarchy that they believe forced them to become monsters to have a sense of purpose and belonging. Perhaps they feel more connected to one another in a communal sense by inflicting suffering--a modicum of what they've experienced--on others. Perhaps they simply want to profit off their masochistic bent and accept it as inescapable truth, and thus hire themselves out as thugs, heavies, mercenaries and assassins to the highest bidder.
It's not as fleshed out as my fluffing out of the Sahuagin, but it's a start. |
"...the will is everything. The will to act."--Ra's Al Ghul
"Suffering builds character."--Talia Al Ghul |
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Detailing/homebrewing some 4E Stuff
