Welcome to Hoi Lan Fa, a city under darkening skies. You are a member of a small company available for a variety of jobs. As 'fixers' of problems, you are bodyguards and detectives at best and sellswords and thieves at worst. Over the past couple years, you and your company has been neutral in matters of city politics but there is a storm coming on the horizon. Tensions will boil into war on the streets and canals. Allegiances will be declared; betrayal is inevitable. The fate of the world's largest port city will be decided.
[1] What game system are you running?D&D 4E
[2] What 'type' or variant of game will it be and what is the setting for the game?This game will take place in a homebrew setting, focusing on a industrializing city called Hoi Lan Fa. Base information to help players create characters that fit the world can be found
HERE.
[3] How many Players are you looking for?Four to six players. Newer players are welcome; no experience is required but it is recommended that players have a copy of the Rules Compendium to reference. A lot of options are actually open to players but it is recommended that new players stick to just Player Handbooks and the Power books.
[4] Where will the game be played?Here on No Goblins Allowed.
[5] What is the characters' starting level and experience? Players will start at level five.
[6] How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?Players will start with 840gp that can be spent on equipment, etc.,
except no magic equipment. Players will start with a leased building from which they run their operations; apartments over the ground floor can serve as the players' homes. The building is mundane but players may pool and spend money outfitting the space (see page 79 of Adventurer's Vault 2 for Wondrous Lair Items).
[7] What about game balance and Homebrew?No homebrew except setting modifications noted here.
[8] What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game??All races listed in
this post are allowed. Unlisted races may be used pending approval. Players may consult with me for more information on any races. (Just looking at this base information should convey generally what culture or cultures each race's culture is based on, which could serve as inspiration.)
[9] By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?22 Point Buy.
[10] Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?This game does not use alignment, but players need to work together so even 'evil' players will need to work with their teammates.
[11] Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?No hybrids. Multiclassing is fine. If players are interested in picking up a multiclass feat in a future level, they can consult with me and I will try to work it into the game.
[12] Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls?We will use the board's internal dice roller. Players will roll for themselves unless I have reason to roll for the player.
[13] Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about?.The game will use the inherent bonuses rules found in Dark Sun or Dungeon Master's Guide 2 (page 138). This means each player gets:
- a stacking +1 enhancement bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls at levels 2, 7, 12, 17, 22, and 27
- a stacking +1 enhancement bonus to AC, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will at levels 4, 9, 14, 19, 24, and 29
These bonuses do not stack with the enhancement bonuses provided by magic weapons, implements, or armor.
Dungeoneering will have an expanded role as being applicable to exploring structures in general, e.g., the Rules Compendium references using Dungeoneering to tell how to collapse a tunnel and Dungeoneering in this game would expand to being able to tell if a column or wall in a building is load-bearing.
Players who want access to god-specific feats (e.g., the Channel Divinity options) should consult the DM but generally, players can choose one appropriate functional god (e.g., Pelor in place of Hae, the Raven Queen in place of Autumn Sister) for the purposes of accessing those options.
Semi-homebrew: Enchant Magic Item only allows a ritual caster to enchant a weapon, implement, or armor with an enchantment that they have 'learned' through study of an existing item with that enchantment or by some other means. Examples of such means include tracking down a book of lost dwarven technology, learning the enchantment from a witch who sends you to first gather the ingredients, or experimenting with more common alchemical items that create effect similar to the enchantment you want.
Houserule on ritual casting and alchemical item creation
HERE.
[14] Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular?Characters should feel like they are more than just race, class, and ability scores, but depth can develop over time. The character should have a story that makes sense with them being in this party.
Backgrounds are allowed and encouraged. Players can create or refluff backgrounds, but the only mechanical bonuses allowed will be to skills (static +2 to one skill or adding a skill to the trainable class list).
Themes will not be used.
[15] Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?Players will traverse a city thick with conflicting political interests. Plenty of combat will be built into the game but players should generally not feel like combat is the only solution to problems and may in fact be not an optimal one.
[16] Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements? What sources can Players use for their characters?- Players Handbooks 1, 2, and 3.
- Power books, i.e., Arcane Power, Martial Power 1 and 2, Primal Power, and Psionic Power.
- Forgotten Realms Player's Handbook for swordmage and warlock dark pact options.
- Eberron Player's Handbook except Dragonmarks.
- Desert Sun Player Handbook for the mul race
- Use the racial ability bonuses listed HERE.
- Other content may be used pending DM approval
All errata applies.
I feel like we've hit capacity in terms of games relative to how many people are currently on this board, but I wanted to see if people were interested in a 4e game with four or five players using a
homebrew urban fantasy setting. Player characters will probably start at level two or three to start but I could be convinced to start at level five if people are comfortable.
Allowable content is a little flexiweird. Players can use any of the PHBs, any of the Power books, the Eberron Player's Handbook for the warforged race and the artificer class, Dark Sun Player's Handbook for the mul race, and the goblin and gnoll races wherever they are. Because goblins and gnolls have relatively little support, you can use any feats for them wherever you can find them. Other content may be used pending approval but I think it gets overwhelming if I just let you go wild so I would mostly only let you dip into Dragon articles, etc. if your race/class gets less support in the core (e.g., wizards don't need help).
I recently lost use of my computer and got a new one, so I have to re-grab a bunch of pdfs. If there is sufficient interest that we will move forward, I will probably subscribe to DDI again just to help me build encounters and I will give players access to help build their characters without having to cross-reference three different books + online errata.
This post is a little rambley but if I can get like at least three people to commit to playing, I'll create a real set-up thread.