In
the world of Endoryll, there are mortals, there are monsters, and then. . .
There are wizards. Gifted with mighty powers and ancient secrets, they are
beyond their normal kin, having transcended their humble beginnings to become
masters of magic, beyond other mortal-kind, which almost all their number look
down upon as lesser beings. For centuries, mages have worked to sculpture the
world to their own desires, and formed three fiercely opposed factions, as well
as rival colleges of wizardry to increase their ranks. Few in Endoryll wield
even near as much raw power as the wizards.
Each
and every day, the wizards fight against one another, both in the open and in
secret. They war to control both the various civilizations of Endoryll, as well
as access to the many yet-to-be-discovered pieces of information and artifacts
in the wilds—such as the legendary Stone of Ages. A primordial, immensely
powerful artifact, it is said that whoever controls the Stone in turn commands
all magic—but its true whereabouts have gone unknown for many thousands of
years.
The
first faction is known as the Order of the White Hand. The White
Hand’s policy is to use magic to increase the greatness of the civilizations
around them. The White Hand’s members exert authority over their territory by
right of being the most powerful beings in that territory, but they do not
attempt to control lesser creatures so much as they attempt to protect them
from harm. The White Hand views magic as the answer to all of society’s ills
and needs, and its members lord over their subjects with the intent of
protecting them, often without those subjects even knowing that wizards are
manipulating their lives—for the White Hand is a secret order that exerts its
influence subtly whenever possible.
Each
member of the White Hand takes an oath to shepherd mortal-kind, while allowing
those same mortals to govern themselves. Few but the highest mortal leaders
know the true extent of the White Hand’s power and dominion, and even they are
not privy to all such knowledge.
While
most of the White Hand’s members are good-hearted, a few have turned to darker
pursuits. They secretly manipulate mortal-kind for their own gain alone, and
keep their evil achievements secret even to their fellow members.
The
leader of the White Hand is currently Ateul Grymnas, a truly venerable wizard
with more than eleven hundred years of lifetime behind him. Very few creatures,
save for wizards, are aware of his true nature, though it is said that he
travels the land quite frequently in the guise of an old, weak pauper.
The
White Hand’s membership are few and far between, but they tend to be very
powerful, even for wizards. A single White Hand member can often keep watch
over a very wide territory, his protection of the people within it going unseen
unless it becomes absolutely necessary that he show himself. Some wizards of
the White Hand formerly belonged to the Arcane Covenant, before becoming
disgusted with the corruption becoming increasingly prevalent on the outskirts
of Covenant territory.
The
second faction is that of The Arcane Covenant. The Covenant makes no
secret of its doings, for its members rule the civilizations under their
control openly and without fear of manipulating those under their power too
heavily—for it is their belief that creatures without the gift of wizardry are
too often unfit to make even the least significant social decisions for
themselves.
The
Covenant rules its territory with an iron fist, though it does not necessarily
act with malice—its membership tends to simply see mortal-kind as too mentally
and militarily weak to be ruled in any other way. Many of the Covenant’s
members care just as greatly for the creatures within their dominion as those
of the White Hand do—they just show that care in a much more obvious way. Some
see their duties of oversight as a way of keeping balance over Endoryll—lesser
mortal-kind must be kept in check, they believe, while those that threaten it
shall likewise be kept so.
This
is not to say, of course, that evil wizards do not exist within the Covenant.
There are a few who abuse their power, often lording over fringe areas of
Covenant territory, where their misdeeds tend to go un-noticed by their
fellows. These cruel mages act as greedy tyrants, enslaving populations to do
their bidding. It is these particular wizards, along with the general arrogance
of the Covenant to begin with, that combine to give the order a bad name, among
both other wizards and mortal-kind. Creatures not under the dominion of the
Covenant often fear the awesomely powerful wizards, while those under their
command resent the heavily structured society that they are forced to work in.
Members
of the Covenant are frequently aggressive toward areas controlled by the White
Hand. Incursions are made into White Hand territory several times a year,
resulting either in a swift and sometimes harsh military take-over, or a
Covenant army being driven back by the power of often no more than a single
White Hand member and his cunning (and almost always secretive) influence.
Though the warfare seems pointless to some and greedy to others, the Arcane
Covenant continues to launch the invasions over the idea that the White Hand is
allowing its charges to run amok and upset the careful order that the Covenant
works toward.
The
Covenant answers to three archmagi, rather than just a single master. These are
currently Lonzus the Red, Teranya of Paelkrir, and Justigor the Blooded. All
have ruled for over three centuries.
The
group is extremely hierarchal, with membership rank determined almost
singularly by a given member’s age. The Covenant is, in terms of membership,
the largest of the three main factions, outnumbering the White Hand by about 5
to 1.
The
third faction is known as The Fellowship of Vham, named after their
founder. The origins of Vham himself (whose full name remains unknown to this
day) are lost to history—both the White Hand and the Covenant argue over which
faction, if either, that he once claimed membership with over fifteen hundred
years ago, before splitting away and forming his own splinter group. Vham’s
Fellowship, unlike the other two groups, is not at all interested in “bothering
with the mortals.” Instead, they strive for what they consider to be a loftier
goal—simply becoming more powerful, and therefore, by their logic, more
enlightened to the mysteries of the universe.
While
Vham’s followers may seem relatively harmless, they have still managed to get
themselves involved in tangles between the rival factions, which are at almost
perpetual war with one another—since both the White Hand and the Covenant also
count members in their number who are equally obsessed with accumulating
magical power. Many wizards travel the wilds, searching for lost arcane
knowledge from forgotten empires and darkened ruins—and members of rival
factions are very competitive about who will get to the knowledge first, none
more so than the followers of Vham.
The
Fellowship has no real leader, as Vham long ago perished on one of his
innumerable quests, but certain members of the Fellowship are more respected
than others. As a group, the “Fellowship” is highly disorganized, and its full
membership have probably never all gathered in the same place at once, a feat
which the other two factions do not find difficult to achieve. Instead, the
Fellowship maintains loosely coordinated interests that it pursues almost
haphazardly, having no real, single objective. Some members claim to be close
on the trail of the Stone of Ages, but rumor-mongering and unfounded boasting
are not uncommon among a large part of the group—especially its newer members.
Setting
these three factions aside, it must also be noted that there exist several
smaller, less influential groups and colleges, which operate independently of
the three factions. These small groups pale in comparison to even the scarcely
found White Hand, but they have at times been influential in Endoryllian
politics none the less.
All
characters begin as members of the Arcane Covenant.
Characters start with 72 ability points,
to divide as they see fit among their six ability scores—with some exceptions.
1) A character can have no more than two
scores that are below 8 (before racial modifiers).
2) A character cannot have a score beyond
a natural 18. The only way to circumvent this is through racial ability
modifiers and through the use of bonus ability points based on level.
Because of the character’s starting level
(see below), he gets five bonus ability points to place wherever the player
wishes. This brings the total ability points that you can spend to 77.
All of the standard races are available
for play. Furthermore, all of the races in the Forgotten Realms campaign guide
and the Expanded Psionics Handbook are also available, subject to my approval
(no non-humanoids allowed).
This campaign does not use Savage Species.
If you want to play a monster or use a template, follow the rules for doing so
in the 3.5E Monster Manual after seeking out my approval.
As
described above, each player plays a 20th level specialist wizard.
Characters may take levels in no other core class.
Prestige classes are available, assuming
that your character meets the requirements. You may select prestige classes
from all the books listed in Part V.
You may not pick prestige classes that
rely heavily on material from other campaign worlds without adjusting them to
suit this one. Red wizards, for instance, are allowed in this campaign world,
but they are obviously not from Thay—nor do they necessarily have to be
ruthless and evil.
All
characters get maximum hit points per hit die.
There are obviously far more feats in the
d20 universe than are presented in the 3.5E Player’s Handbook. You may be
wondering which books I have, and whether are not you can use a skill, feat, or
spell that I do not have. As of this writing, I have the following books that
include new skills, spells, or feats:
Book of Exalted Deeds
Book of Vile Darkness
Deities & Demigods
Epic Level Handbook
Expanded Psionics Handbook
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Ghostwalk
Manual of the Planes
Oriental Adventures
Races of Faerun
Masters of the Wild
Sword & Fist
Tome & Blood
Your
spell selection in this campaign is of paramount importance:
Each
wizard selects one Path (a school of magic) that he specializes in. The wizard
may learn any spell that is in his Path, even ones that do not appear on the
Sorcerer/Wizard spell list (in the case of a spell that appears on multiple
lists at different spell levels, use the lowest level).
The
wizard also selects one spell per spell level that he can convert and cast
spontaneously, the way a cleric converts spells to Cure spells. Each
spell chosen for spontaneous casting must be from his Path and must appear on
the sorcerer/wizard spell list.
A
wizard may never learn or cast spells with an alignment descriptor opposite to
his own. For instance, a good evoker can never use Blasphemy.
Any
spell selected must be from the WotC books. Third party spells (and feats, for
that matter) are not acceptable.
Finally,
all spells are considered arcane.
Your
character can be of any alignment.
Set whatever height, weight, and age for
your character that you feel like.
Characters begin with 760,000 gold pieces worth of
equipment, as well as a staff (see below). Whatever isn’t spent on buying
initial equipment is kept in the character’s possession.
You can use your spending money to buy magical items. Note that you cannot
begin with any single item that is worth more than 500,000 gold.
Note: Do not bother buying food or other rations. Worry about encumbrance only
if your character’s Strength is lower than most others, or if you have an
enormous amount of equipment.
The
staff that a wizard carries with him is a signature of his style and his power.
A wizard is considerably less powerful without his staff than with it, and it
is a precious tool and weapon for any mage.
All
characters are assumed to begin with a staff, as they gain one to signify the
completion of their training as a wizard—often gaining it by constructing it
themselves.
However,
sometimes a wizard loses or breaks his staff—or wishes to create a new one.
Constructing
a staff requires an amount of gold equal to the creator’s level x 10,000. It
also requires an amount of experience equal to the creator’s level x 400.
Constructing the staff requires thirteen un-interrupted days. The creator of
such a staff does not require the Craft Staff feat (in fact, this feat is more
or less obsolete in this game world).
Firstly,
a wizard wielding a staff receives a Spell Resistance rating equal to his
character level + 5. Against spells from his school, this rating is equal to
his level + 10. This spell resistance does not count if the wizard is caught
flat-footed or otherwise denied his Dexterity bonus to AC against the enemy
casting the spell at him. This is because using the spell resistance power is a
conscious effort by the wizard, and he must be able to properly direct the
ability.
Secondly,
a wizard’s powers are augmented when he has his staff. When crafting his staff,
he selects nine spells that he knows, one for each spell level. Each spell must
be from his chosen Path (the chosen spells can be different from his
spontaneous spell list, and can appear on class lists besides Sorcerer/Wizard).
Thereafter, whenever the wizard has the staff in hand, he may cast each of
those spells once per day.
For
instance, Jeorand the Great is a 17th level Conjurer. He selects the
following spells from his staff:
1)
Mage Armor
2)
Summon Swarm
3)
Cure Serious Wounds
4)
Evard’s Black Tentacles
5)
Cloudkill
6)
Acid Fog
7)
Greater Teleport
8)
Cure Critical Wounds (Mass)
9)
True Resurrection
Thereafter,
he may cast each of those once per day, just as if he had memorized them—but
only while he is wielding his staff. If such a spell has an XP cost, then it
must be paid even when it is cast from the staff.
Finally,
the wizard’s staff contains part of his life force. Once per day, he may cure
hit points of damage to himself, to a maximum amount of his character level x
2.
All
staffs have hit points equal to their creator’s character level x 2, and
hardness equal to his level. Should a staff be completely destroyed, disastrous
effects for all parties involved may occur. To see what happens at the moment
of a staff’s destruction, roll 1d20:
1-4:
Nothing.
5-9:
Dispel Magic (area dispel around staff) at staff creator’s caster
level.
10-17:
Greater Dispel Magic (area dispel around staff) at staff creator’s
caster level.
18: Mordenkainen’s
Disjunction in a 40-foot radius burst around staff. This does not affect
other staves.
19: Mordenkainen’s
Disjunction, as 18, except everyone in the burst area suffers 1d6 points of
force damage per caster level, as if by Magic Missile.
20: Mordenkainen’s
Disjunction, as 18, except everyone in the burst area suffers 1d6 points of
force damage per caster level, as if by Magic Missile. Mordenkainen’s
Disjunction will, in this case, affect staves (1% chance of caster level of
having any effect). Affected staves are considered destroyed.
Occasionally,
a wizard may allow one of his compatriots to use his staff, or it may be taken
from him forcefully. Every staff is attuned specifically to the wizard that
created it, and others who use it cannot do so as effectively.
A
wizard using another’s staff can use some of the spells on it, including
those from his prohibited schools—but not those of the 7th, 8th,
and 9th level. Furthermore, a wizard may not heal himself with
another’s staff. And finally, his Spell Resistance with the staff is only equal
to his level.
Attempting
to use two staffs simultaneously results in both staffs functioning to the
degree as described above. Spell Resistance is checked only once.
VIII.
Unearthed Arcana Variant
Rules
This
section is important only for those of you who have the Unearthed Arcana supplement
and are interested in using it. The rest of you can safely ignore it.
Listed
below are the rules variants that I allow in the campaigns, along with any
comments as to how these rules can be used in the campaign, as necessary.
You may
use:
-Environmental Racial
Variants. Exceptions: No aquatic or elemental-based race variants.
-Bloodlines. Exxception: No vampire bloodlines. Undead
creatures that drain energy through their merest touch simply cannot bear
offspring with living creatures, or other undead, period. Dead things can’t
have babies.
-Traits. Your ccharacter may have two traits, and no
more. A trait will go on the feat section of your character sheet, with the
indication that it is a trait. For instance, if I took the Polite trait, I
would list it as Polite (Trait).
-Character Flaws. You may have a maximum of only one flaw in this
campaign. A
flaw will go on the feat section of your character sheet, with the indication
that it is a flaw. For instance, if I took the Meager Fortitude flaw, I would
list it as Meager Fortitude (Flaw).
-Craft Points.<
-Metamagic Components..
IX. How
Much Do I Have To Know About D&D Before I Can Participate in the Campaign?
This
campaign requires players who are familiar and confident in their ability with
the 3.5 system. Experience in playing a wizard is important. Because the
campaign will go into the epic levels at some point, players should have at the
very least the 3.5E Dungeon Master’s Guide, but it is strongly
recommended that they have the Epic Level Handbook.
Not everything is as the game designers
intended it to be. Most of the rules that I have changed, if not all of them,
are ones that annoy me to no end.
1) Concerning
Miracle and Wish—you may only use these spells once per day each.
Resurrection, and similarly powerful magic,
Resurrection
resurrection
3) All arcane and
divine spell-casters gain use of the Heighten Spell feat for free. I have
thought about this heavily and decided that it would not give any intrinsic
advantage to spell-casters. After all, a 6th-level Lightning Bolt is still not
as good as a 6th-level Chain Lightning; in fact, it’s not even close. Note that
this free feat does not count when you are determining whether or not you have
the prerequisites for other feats. For instance, if you wanted another
metamagic feat that required you to have two other metamagic feats before you
bought it, then you’d have to have two metamagic feats besides Heighten Spell.
4) A tower shield
grants a +4 bonus to AC and a +2 bonus to Reflex saves due to the cover it
gives, just to be specific.
5) Regarding
negative hit point counts; before reaching Level 11, you are considered dying,
but still alive, when you are between -1 and -9 hit points. However, starting
at Level 11, the amount of negative hit points you can sustain before dying
increases. The negative number at which the character dies is equal to his
level—for instance, a 19th level character dies at -19 hit points. This is an
optional rule found in the Epic Level Handbook, and it’s used here.
6) Spells never
require material components. However, if you use the listed material components
when casting the spell, you may get a +1 caster level bonus, depending on how
rare the components are. Note that you will still need a focus if the spell
calls for one, which in most cases is obvious. For instance, Magic Weapon isn’t
of much use without a weapon.
7) Contrary to
what the new 3.5E versions of the feats say, Spell Focus and Greater Spell
Focus still add 2 to the saving throw DCs of spells.
8) Don’t bother
with buying travel rations. The characters are assumed to be capable of feeding
themselves, and these expenses are so negligible that I don’t even factor them
in. However, if the characters are isolated from a food source for an extended
period (such as if a monster held them in a cage for three weeks), they would
obviously risk starvation if it doesn’t want to feed them.
9) You can easily
create your own spells as you progress in level. However, your character needs
to have access to a “base spell” in order to create one similar to it. For
instance, if your character already knew Fireball, then he could eventually
develop an Iceball spell that has the same effect, except for the damage
source.
Then again, the Iceball might have
variant effects that a Fireball would not have. While a Fireball
burns clothing and the like, an Iceball might Slow afflicted
targets for 1 round on a failed saving throw, or cause brief damage to their
Dexterity scores; all as a result of the overwhelming, freezing pain of being
blasted with pure cold. The point is, be inventive if you can.
10) All
familiars can speak Common, as well as the racial tongue of their master, where
applicable. Also, you don’t have to have a familiar.
11) Stat-boosting
wondrous items (Gloves of Dexterity, Headbands of Intellect) do not all have to
be identical in both garment type and function. For instance, you may have a
Periapt of Intellect instead of a Periapt of Wisdom. There are, however,
limitations to this rule. The following items can have the following stat
boosts:
-Headband, Hat, Helmet, or Head
Phylactery: Int, Wis, or Cha
-Goggles: Int or Wis
-Amulet, Brooch, Medallion, Necklace,
Periapt, or Scarab: Any Ability Score
-Belt: Str or Con
-Robe or Cape: Dex or Cha
-Bracers or Bracelets: Str or Con
-Gloves or Gauntlets: Str or Dex
-Ring: Any Ability Score (Counts as a
Ring, not a Wondrous Item)
-Boots or Shoes: Dex
As usual, these items provide enhancement
bonuses to their respective ability scores, and these enhancement bonuses do
not stack.
The price of any stat-boosting item, as
you may have noticed from extensive reading, is the ability bonus squared,
times 1,000. For instance, an item that gives a +4 bonus to Strength is worth
16,000 gp. Use this pricing system when determining the cash value of your
starting items.
12) Magical robes
can provide enhancement bonuses to AC just as armor can. However, the price of
such an item is 1,000 gp greater than the amount given on Table 7-2 in the 3.5E
Dungeon Master’s Guide (page 216). For instance, a +5 Robe would cost
26,000 gp, not 25,000 gp. Furthermore, a robe may not have any special
qualities; only an enhancement bonus to AC. Making a magical robe of this type
requires the Craft Magical Arms and Armor feat.
13) The Dodge
feat works differently. With it you gain a permanent +1 Dodge bonus to your
armor class, which applies against every foe, not just one that you specify.
This change has been made in light of the fact that I hardly ever remember to
apply the Dodge bonus to AC otherwise, and to make the feats that have Dodge as
a prerequisite a little more rewarding. As usual, Dodge bonuses stack.
14) Weapon Focus,
Weapon Specialization, and Improved Critical now work differently in terms of
what weapons benefit from those feats when you get them. Instead of applying to
one weapon, the feats apply to an entire group of weapons—for instance, a
character with Weapon Focus (Heavy Blades) gets a +1 bonus to hit with
longswords, greatswords, falchions, scimitars, and bastard swords.
In the case of exotic weapons, you get the
bonus, but you must also still get Exotic Weapon Proficiency with that weapon
to use it to its full extent. For instance, having Weapon Focus (Axes) does not
automatically make you able to use a dwarven war-axe in one hand. In the case
of an exotic weapon that can’t be used at all without incurring a –4 penalty,
this penalty is reduced to –3 if it appears in your group and you don’t have
proficiency in it.
The weapon groups are:
Axes. Handaxe,
battleaxe, greataxe, dwarven waraxe, throwing axe.
Basic. Club,
dagger, quarterstaff.
Bows. Shortbow,
longbow, composite shortbow, composite longbow.
Claw Weapons. Punching
dagger, spiked gauntlet.
Crossbows. Hand
crossbow, Heavy crossbow, light crossbow, repeating heavy crossbow,
repeating light crossbow.
Druid. Club,
dagger, dart, quarterstaff, scimitar, sickle, short-spear, sling, spear.
Double-Weapons. Orc
double axe, dwarven urgrosh, dire flail, two-bladed sword, gnome hooked hammer.
Flails and Chains. Heavy
flail, light flail.
Heavy Blades. Longsword,
greatsword, falchion, scimitar, bastard sword.
Light Blades. Dagger,
punching dagger, rapier, short sword.
Maces and Clubs. Club,
light mace, heavy mace, greatclub, quarterstaff, sap.
Monk. Kama,
nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, siangham.
Picks and Hammers. Light
pick, heavy pick, light hammer, warhammer, scythe, maul.
Polearms. Glaive,
guisarme, halberd, ranseur.
Slings/Thrown. Dagger,
dart, sling, throwing axe.
Spears/Lances. Javelin,
lance, longspear, short-spear, trident.
15) Special psionic
rules:
-Dispel Magic has
a diminished effect on psionic powers, while Dispel Psionics has a
diminished effect on magic. When making a dispel check against the opposing
energy, the check is assessed a –4 penalty.
-Spell resistance works against psionic
powers, and power resistance works against spells, though against the opposing
energy, the resistance is considered to be 10 lower than its actual value.
Thus, a dragon with SR 25 has PR 15.
16) Ancestor
feats from Oriental Adventures are available to anyone who wants them,
but you are limited to either taking them at 1st level, or taking
only one, and no more. Also note that Oriental adventures spells are available.
17) Absolutely
no ascetic characters. That means no Vow of Poverty. No ifs, ands, or buts
about it. I don’t want to hear it.