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Blazinghand
United States25550 Posts
[D&D] Kobolds of Wyweria
So, after about a year of inactivity, my old DnD group got back together. It was my turn to DM, and I had a campaign idea that had been sitting in the back of my mind for some time. I pitched it to the players, and they were all on board. It goes something like this:
In the world of Wyweria, four great civilized nations vied for power, wealth, and prosperity. The human nation of Sternen, ruled by the great horse-lords, stretched over the plains. Its people erected mighty castles of stone and became legendary horsemen, covering the open space from The Great Sea to The Worldspine. The Elven country without a name (for in Elvish they are just "the people" and they are not so organized as to have a state) shared the woods with all manner of fey and sylvan creature, and in time grew rich and prosperous with the crafts and magic of the elves. The Dwarven states, disunified under a feudal system, nonetheless respected their capital in the depths of the Mountainhomes, and crafted such weapons as the world had never seen before. The fourth nation was Lerka, and it was settled in the wetlands to the southwest, populated by humans and other creatures of the swamps. The poorest nation by far, it found itself at often at war with its neighbors.
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There were other nations and states, of course-- the merpeople, the lizardfolk, the goblinoids (scattered as they were) and the orcs all had their place, but not in the bosom of civilization, that fertile land of Wyweria. Wyweria lay between the Mountainhomes and the Badlands and stretched from The Worldspine to The Great Sea-- no other concentration of civilized peoples had existed like it in all history. So in Sternen, when the Prophet (and what else would you call a man bearing a prophecy) came to the Avatar preaching tales of doom, many laughed at him. The Avatar, however, the Champion of St. Cuthbert, was not a man of laughter. The Prophet spoke the truth: it was Kobolds who would bring down the great order, Kobolds who would crumble the civilizations of Wyweria to dust, Kobolds who would spell doom for the civilized peoples.
The Avatar was not alone in his foreknowledge, for as he struggled to raise an army and unite the lands against the Kobolds, champions emerged from each country, and for the first time in the great history of Wyweria, the Four Nations stood together in one alliance. Leading the army of the Mountainhomes was Urdol, the First DwarfLord, who by birthright and by diplomacy and by bloody combat had united the Dwarven states into a single political entity. Leading the army of the Forest was Rotuvius, the immortal sage, said to be as old as Elvenkind itself, who called down lighting and fire to smite his enemies before him. Leading the fourth army, the army of the Lerka, was a famous adventurer named Bloody Jack, whose renown and glory united the fragile adventuring bands and armies of the country for war.
The Four Armies marched and the Kobolds fled before them. The Kobolds, you see, were not ready for war, and for all their banditry and trickery, could not stand against the mighty civilized nations. Though the Kobold nation might individually outnumber any individual civilized army, against The Four Nations, they could not hold. And as the great forces swept through the rivers and mountains of Wyweria, no Kobold was left alive. The underground campaign was brutal and bloody, with both sides suffering great losses. It seemed that the war would never end. But at last, after years of strife, the final underground kobold city fell, and all that was left was to pick off the straggling camps of kobolds, a task easily accomplished by adventurers over the course of the remaining months.
The armies returned home, and the prophets were silent. Weeks passed, then months, then years-- and at last there were no more living Kobolds. Their civilization was shattered, their people murdered, their god Kurtulmak silenced. With noone to pray to him, he was fading fast from this realm. His heart was filled with vengeance, but with no servants he could do nothing. Kurtulmak looked on with deep sadness as the souls of millions of newly killed kobolds struggled to reach the afterlife, but, finding the entrances clogged with other kobolds, extinguished before they could leave the material plane.
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Kurtulmak was filled with anger. Not for himself, for he knew one day he would die, even as a God. Not for even the deaths of his worshippers, for all Kobolds face death someday. It was for the death of his people, and the oblivion their souls faced in the too-crowded transition from life to death as they were erased so quickly from the material realm. There was no justice in this world, and Kurtulmak knew it. Oblivion for so many Kobold souls...
He realized, suddenly, that not all was lost. There were still 4 Kobold eggs, fallen into a hole and forgotten. It was too cold for them to hatch, but they were alive-- alive, and well. He reached out to bless them, but found he had no power with which to do so. Even now, his final worshippers were being hunted down in their caves and their hovels and put to the sword.
With the greatest of sadness, he turned to the Kobold souls trapped in this realm, facing oblivion instead of afterlife. With a scream of deific frustration, he began to consume them, to eat them. He absorbed the very souls of his people, destroying them utterly, and drawing from them their knowledge, and power, and magic. Every murder pained him as he sentenced another dead Kobold not to an afterlife of suffering (for even that would be preferable), but to nonexistence itself. He destroyed their souls.
He took the meager power he gathered from the consumed souls of a million slain Kobolds, and shaped it, channeling it into the four eggs. For 10 long years, the eggs were held in stasis and filled with the divine energy of a fading god, with the last gasps of a dying people. They inherited the hopes, dreams, passions, experiences, and memories of their civilization and their deity.
At last they were born, not as infants, but as fully grown Kobolds. They were born with the memories, the experiences, and the history of a murdered people. They were born with strength and magick and power. Their god gasped his last breath as he created them, his final children. The only thing they ever heard from him was the only thing they knew they wanted out of this cursed life fed from the very souls of their ancestors: "seek vengeance"...
Vengeance upon the Four Champions. Vengeance upon the Four Nations. Vengeance upon the civilized people of Wyweria for all that had come to pass.
A fitting start to an ECL 15 Evil Kobold campaign :D
 
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Italy12246 Posts
So i take it those four guys have a Challenge Rating above 1/4.
Anyway awesome, i haven't had time to play D&D since i started college and i miss it  What rule set are you using, 3.5?
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Blazinghand
United States25550 Posts
Yeah, I haven't had the time/money to buy the new edition so I'm sticking with 3.5. I heard 4.0 is better balanced between casters and fighters at the higher levels, but learning a whole new d20 system is a lot of effort for both me and the players. We use a supplemental rulebook called "Complete Warrior" which gives some new rules and feats for fighters to use to make them on par with mages, and it works out ok.
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Stick with 3.5 (Or Raven-something). 4.0 makes it so that there is little variation between the classes, giving all classes similar abilities and making every option for a player too flashy. I personally think 3.5 is a lot better.
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Blazinghand
United States25550 Posts
3.5 is very customizable and the class features are all very distinct, which I like quite a bit.
A lot of the melee classes seem poorly thought out, though. The Barbarian is great, of course, and so is the Ranger. I feel like the Fighter is a bit underwhelming on his own, and the Paladin seems to get all his good stuff in his first few levels then scale very poorly. Often fighter-types will take multiple levels in different classes in order to remain competitive-- such as a fighter/barbarian or fighter/paladin. Even with the extra feats available in the Complete Warrior, the fact that the Fighter doesn't have cool progressing class features like the Rogue Special Abilities or an Animal Companion or any spellcasting makes levelling him up seem bland and uninteresting. He may be able to keep up in strength, but not quite in coolness
The class I've had the most trouble balancing is the Monk, though. Even though the Fighter is a bit boring, you can usually do something with the feats. Monks, though, are kind of hard to use. They can't use armor, but instead add their Wisdom bonus to AC-- so you need like 14 wisdom or something to make up for not being able to wear Leather armor like a Rogue would. Since they're melee combatants and need to either use melee weapons or their fists in combat, they also need Strength. Since they can't use shields and armor, they'll want decent Dexterity, and of course as combatants they need good Con. So now we have a class that needs good stats in 4 of the 6 slots, which requires amazing rolls. Even Cleric only needs good stats in 3 slots, and he gets 9th level spellcasting. Monks can't even put a BAD roll into Intelligence since with only 4 skill points, they need to be careful so they can take Tumble and all the other skills you need to be a Monk. This only gets worse as they level up, since they can't enchant their weapons, armor becomes stronger, grappling becomes worse, etc.
As a sort of stand-in fix for a monk I've made it so he can enchant his fists like they're a weapon (paying someone to enchant them) and it seems to work ok. You still need really good rolls to make the Monk work though.
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If you're starting at ECL 15 please use the Tome of Battle, it makes the fighters kick ass. You might want to just ban monks, rangers (unless they have wildshape or something), pladins, and fighters if you use it though, barbarians can still hold their own with good feats but they tend to have just a couple tricks and not many options. I know some people don't like the book but even a 20th level fighter vs a wizard with 8th level spells in 3.5 is ugly. That being said, a 20th level fighter properly buffed by the wizard is better than either so as long as everyone plays along nicely it can work out fine.
I don't know if character creation is done yet but you should definitely look at the stuff outside of the PHB DMG and MM 1 if you aren't using it already I have started a campaign where all classes in the PHB are banned and I love the party my group created.
IMO ECL 15 is kind of near where things start to get wonky though with too many save or die effects coming from PCs and enemies alike.
My group really prefers lower level stuff because the difference in power between classes, particularly non-spellcasters and full casters becomes bigger as casters can copy more and more class features through their casting, becoming way more versatile and often effective in combat than anyone else. Plus, combat doesn't feel like it becomes more epic. We had an encounter in one of our really long running campaigns that went like this but with better narration:
DM: A beholder! Roll for initiative! Beholder goes first and casts Finger of Death!
*Rchard Nixon makes the fort save*
Me with my stupidly powerful gnome wizard, Richard Nixon: I cast Finger of Death!
*Beholder fails fort save*
DM: Beholder dies!
That said, I love your campaign idea, are you going to let anyone be a divine caster of the dead god? That's what came to my mind. If you're experienced with the system and higher level play I think high level could be fun but if you aren't be warned that it can be more brutal and less epic than you might like.
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As a sort of stand-in fix for a monk I've made it so he can enchant his fists like they're a weapon (paying someone to enchant them) and it seems to work ok. You still need really good rolls to make the Monk work though.
My monk gained magical tattoos, for the exact same purpose ^_^ I've found Monks to be extremely good in low level games where magic items are impossible to find, and also to be the best class for making use of all your stats.
Do you normally start campaigns at such high levels? Does it work out alright? I'm not a fan of campaigns that start above level 10, personally. Turned into God of War with no chance of roleplay when I tried it.
anyway. You should name your Kobolds War, Famine, Pollution, and Death. Frenzied Berserker, Necrocarnate, Vermin Lord, and Necromancer, respectively.
DM: A beholder! Roll for initiative! Beholder goes fist and casts Finger of Death!
*Rchard Nixon makes the fort save*
Me with my stupidly powerful gnome wizard, Richard Nixon: I cast Finger of Death!
*Beholder fails fort save*
DM: Beholder dies!
rofl.
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Blazinghand
United States25550 Posts
On July 20 2012 09:54 TheFrankOne wrote:
IMO ECL 15 is kind of near where things start to get wonky though with too many save or die effects coming from PCs and enemies alike.
My group really prefers lower level stuff because the difference in power between classes, particularly non-spellcasters and full casters becomes bigger as casters can copy more and more class features through their casting, becoming way more versatile and often effective in combat than anyone else. Plus, combat doesn't feel like it becomes more epic. We had an encounter in one of our really long running campaigns that went like this but with better narration:
DM: A beholder! Roll for initiative! Beholder goes first and casts Finger of Death!
*Rchard Nixon makes the fort save*
Me with my stupidly powerful gnome wizard, Richard Nixon: I cast Finger of Death!
*Beholder fails fort save*
DM: Beholder dies!
That said, I love your campaign idea, are you going to let anyone be a divine caster of the dead god? That's what came to my mind. If you're experienced with the system and higher level play I think high level could be fun but if you aren't be warned that it can be more brutal and less epic than you might like.
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Good news about my group is they typically try to make sure everyone has fun. This doesn't solve the Monk problem, but you don't see full casters trying to run away with the game, and when they do try to be strong it's typically in support of the other players. This is probably one of the highest-levelled campaigns we've run  but i'm fairly sure things will work out ok.
On July 20 2012 11:51 Fishgle wrote:Show nested quote +As a sort of stand-in fix for a monk I've made it so he can enchant his fists like they're a weapon (paying someone to enchant them) and it seems to work ok. You still need really good rolls to make the Monk work though. My monk gained magical tattoos, for the exact same purpose ^_^ I've found Monks to be extremely good in low level games where magic items are impossible to find, and also to be the best class for making use of all your stats. Do you normally start campaigns at such high levels? Does it work out alright? I'm not a fan of campaigns that start above level 10, personally. Turned into God of War with no chance of roleplay when I tried it.
I'd say the level we play at the most is between 4 and 8, but once we had a campaign that started at 8 end all the way up at 12-- it was quite a run.
The class makeup the group settled on was: Druid, Monk :/, Cleric, Psionic Warrior (I use full psionic-magic transparency). The good news is the Druid is a half-Fiend, and the Cleric is a Half-Dragon. These templates aren't inherently bad, but are kinda non-good on a caster, especially a druid, due to lowered caster level.
We ran our first adventure the other day, and everyone got in some decent work. The party has only 1 good listener and 1 good spotter between the four of them, and nobody with Sense Motive, which led to some hilarity fighting a rogue and his minions.
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This campaign sounds awesome! :D I used to play all the time back in high school with a group of friends and hadn't a chance to play again until last year.
Now I've started DMing 4.0 to not only learn it but to teach my girlfriend and Sister in law how to play. My brother and one of our friends has played 3.5 back in the day but it has been quite a few years they didn't have a problem starting from the ground up learning with the chickadees.
I'd love to hear more updates on how things go with your campaign though
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