D&D 3.5: "The Lost Realm"

[Anastasia]

System: D&D 3.5 with a some houserules.
Number of players: 3-5
Power level: Medium with gestalt.
Starting level: 8
Times: Early afternoons EST several times per week. Exact days and times TBA.

The Lost Realm is a game based around a strange, mysterious demiplane. Those sucked into it lose all memories of the outside world and are left to fend for themselves. It is an otherworldly realm where pockets of people struggle to stay together and survive. The game's themes will be surviving with nothing left, dealing with wildly different races and finding a way to travel amid the demiplane.

I have three players lined up already: Ebiris, Corwin and Nephrite. I'm open to picking up 1-2 more. The starting date will be in late September to early October, so there's plenty of time before then.

Style

The start of the game will focus on survival and dealing with the amnesia that comes with entering the demiplane. From there things will develop into world building and then figuring out what you want to do. Any class should find a niche here as well as any skills. In the short term, survival and related skills may be more useful than others.

Rules

- Character generation will be the best of two sets from Hatbot in #elysium. Make sure I'm in there to witness the rolls. There will be a topic on the game board for you to post your rolls and choose which set you take. Rerolls may be allowed at my discretion and any set will be rerolled if the total ability score modifiers are +1 or less.

- We will be using the gestalt rules, as seen here. You are allowed as many classes as you please, though I prefer if you don't get too insane with dipping. Base attack bonus and saves will be calculated by choosing the progression from one side and staying with it. Ergo, there isn't as much save inflation and you can't manipulate full BAB at all times. If you want to be a warrior, you'll likely want one side of your gestalt to have full BAB classes.

- Keep the cheese out and try not to powergame too much. Keep things on the middle of the optimization scale. I can keep up but I prefer not to get into an arms race with the PCs.

- No particular magic is banned (except for spells banned in houserules for balance reasons), though be aware you won't be able to plane shift or teleport out of the demiplane. Generally, if something would allow you to escape the demiplane, you should assume it will fail.

- You are required to choose one of the two options.

1. Take a powerful race and/or templates that equal +4 LA.

2. You work out something with Savage Species and a monster class. As a savage progression is spread out, it doesn't have to worry about the +4 LA limit. If you're interested into this, we'll need to talk since I'll be tweaking how Savage Species works a little bit. This is mostly to fix issues with empty levels with no hit dice gain.

- Clerics, druids, paladins and other divine classes will face difficulties at first due to the premise. If you're interested in one, talk to me. Deity choices will be non-conventional and local to the demiplane. Special adjustments will be allowed to help divine classes transition without penalty, but it will take a bit of time IC.

- Race selection should be considered wide open. Bear this in mind and talk to me if you have any questions.

- The starting level is 8. Experience points will not be used and level ups will be at my discretion.

- I allow in all material with the following exceptions and provisions. The Tome of Battle is banned (no arguments about this, please). Unusual systems I lack experience with, such as incarnum or truenaming, I'll want to talk to you about before letting it in. I probably will let it in, but I do need to understand what you're doing first. All other books are allowed as well as campaign settings. Dragon magazine is allowed, but I will be screening it. Homebrew will be dutifully examined and allowed in if it is reasonable.

- We will be using CMB/CMD from Pathfinder. See the combat section of houserules for more information. Likewise, we'll be using skills from Pathfinder. Again, see skills in houserules. Everything else is 3.5, but these are some of the worst parts of 3.5 and are worth revising.

- The amnesia works as follows: You'll forget everything about the outside world. This includes family, lore and everything else. You do retain class skills and abilities, as well as the ability to speak, perform normal functions and so on and so forth. Talk to me if you have any questions.

- Due to the premise, the following four knowledge skills are banned: Local, Nobility and Royalty, Planes and Religion. This ban only extends to character creation. Once you gain a level in game, you'll be able to select these skills. If you need these skills as a prerequisite to something, talk to me and we'll make a substitution. In a related note, Knowledge (Local) will cover the entire demiplane.

- The houserules in play will come from here, expanded and streamlined for this game. Information in this post supersedes anything in that topic. Once we have a game board, I'll port over a cleaned up and customized version of those rules.

If you're interested or have any questions, post away.

[Ebiris]

I'm playing a tibbit psion(telepath)/rogue.

[Iron Dragoon]

I'll post my interest. Class concepts I'm interested in are Rogue/Mindspy/Invisible Blade or something Horizon Walker-ish.

[Anastasia]

Added a bit about the amnesia I forgot to include. Whoops.

[Nephrite]

Pixie Bard/Marshal, with emphasis on motivational speaking and buffing.

[Anastasia]

I'll post my interest. Class concepts I'm interested in are Rogue/Mindspy/Invisible Blade or something Horizon Walker-ish.

Sounds good, welcome aboard. If you go Horizon Walker, you may want to look at the revision of it I did.

http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,103074.msg1050879.html#msg1050879

It boosts the class up some.

[Corwin]

A sorceress succubus with metamagic focus, eventually branching out into battle dancer and summoning.

[Anastasia]

Cool. Two things.

1. We have a board now. Go on down and take a gander at it.

2. We still have one more potential slot open. If anyone else is interested, feel free to speak up.

[Rukatin]

YES. So much yes.

[Anastasia]

YES. So much yes.

Cool. That's our last slot, then. A few quick questions to get the ball rolling.

1. Are you on IRC at all, in particular irc.lunarnet.org?

2. Are you familiar with D&D 3.5 at all? If you are, are you familiar with the gestalt rules?

3. Are the early afternoon EST times good for you? Just want to make sure here, since early afternoons aren't a good time for a lot of people.

[Rukatin]

YES. So much yes.

Cool. That's our last slot, then. A few quick questions to get the ball rolling.

1. Are you on IRC at all, in particular irc.lunarnet.org?

2. Are you familiar with D&D 3.5 at all? If you are, are you familiar with the gestalt rules?

3. Are the early afternoon EST times good for you? Just want to make sure here, since early afternoons aren't a good time for a lot of people.

No. I thought this would be play by post.

I have played D&D, but not in a long while and not to level 8, much less starting at one. I might need a whole refresher. Plus this sounds a whole mess of complicated.

I live in the Central Time Zone. How would that translate?

[Anastasia]

No. I thought this would be play by post.

No, this one's IRC-based. I can walk you through using IRC if you aren't familiar with it.

I have played D&D, but not in a long while and not to level 8, much less starting at one. I might need a whole refresher. Plus this sounds a whole mess of complicated.

It is. We don't mind teaching new players, so don't worry about that, but it is complicated.

I live in the Central Time Zone. How would that translate?

You're one hour behind EST. So if game sessions started at 1 EST, it would be noon CST for you.

[Rukatin]

What does +4 LA mean?

[Anastasia]

Level adjustment. It means we're playing more powerful than usual creatures.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monstersAsRaces.htm

This goes into it a little bit. In addition, templates cost LA and can be used for this. For example, the half celestial template below is +4 LA and grants a variety of powers.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/halfCelestial.htm

[Rukatin]

Alright. I'll play as a Half-Celestial Duskblade.

Duskblade can be found in the player's 2 handbook.