Just started a new campaign, as a player (which is rare, but one of my players stepped up to DM for a while). Two sessions in. Typical bandit clearing missions while we figure out our party synergies.
One cool world building thing my DM did: everyone on the continent, at age 18, has to enter a city called Celestia. There they are transformed, and only one in four return. But that that are transformed cannot recall what happened. There’s a religious impetus that you MUST go or you are labelled a pariah. And there’s some lore hinted about this process being required to prevent total destruction of the world. So the campaign will slowly be one of investigation of this phenomenon. Feels a bit like a Tales of Symphonia or similar.
We haven’t quite started, but I’m on deck for the next game.
Part 1 of our groups collective Faerun alternative world involved my take on the continent of Osse. The main story thread was a modified take of the Princes of elemental evil, focusing more on Imix than the other Princes. The primary sub plot was following a clan of Dragonborn on an holy war against all other Dragonborn clans.
At the end of campaign 1, Imix was prevented from emerging into the material, but the City of Ghu’Jih became a semi sentient flying city. Clan Dy’le Natar of the Ice was indirectly and directly decimated by the party’s actions, and Dy’Thanar Hammer-Tail was beheaded by Ken’Na, the partys druid Dragonborn.
Campaign 2 is set approximately 20 years after the first, and is a Moby Dick themed sea adventure based out of waterdeep, Following the intrepid crew of the Constant-Sea. (We stan Queequeg in this house!). Our White whale is actually a Jet black dragon turtle on an absolute rampage. Also there’s some goons mucking about with some artifacts and sauhagin are THE worst!
Notable events of Camp 2 include:
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the complete upending of gnomish culture, last we checked there was a full scale revolution, and the ruling elite started using demon driven automata to attempt to maintain their status quo…OOPSIE!
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We killed the black rock, got paid, and now the Constant-Sea is a spelljammer, with a rather amusing Runabout craft we have dubbed “The All-Star Johnson”. I will not mention the hull design, other than its capacity to transport many…uh…“Crew”.
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My first Character, a Goliath muscle wizard, Quartermaster Mr. Fitz, got stabbed by an evil dagger which shifted his alignment of LN to LE. I chose to retire him to pursue his interests, notabaly He aims to kill not “Xanathar” the individual, but the Legacy. Xannys agents slighted Mr. Fitz and House Orien, after all. It’s only business.
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There is a whole “Currency Conspiracy” that honestly I’d have to get the bards notes to do ANY justice to that tale.
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Book mimic Spellbook Familiar!
Campaign 3 (planned) will involve the tale of Ghu’Jih and it’s plundering of ancient netherese ruins. Just what is the city and its Cabal of warforged up to? Only time will tell.
Wow, someone doing Netheril themes. Are you going to level 10+ magic too?
Also, how was the muscle wizard built? STR casting ability?
Mostly Mr Fitz leveraged his Goliath ancestry and stature to assist him in his “anti caster” mentality. Tavern brawler and some other feats were the base build, with wizard spells selected more for utility and counter/dispel/silence/darkness/anti magic.
It only really was viable thanks to very good party cohesion and the Martial Goliath in the party dressing similar to him assisted in subterfuge and general tomfoolery.
His backstory tldr is raised by dwarves, learned the TRUE value of currency (What is the measure of a man? The conspiracy says it is not gold but…something fundamentally similar), attended a college of sorts for magic but was constantly looked down(heh) on for his burly appearance.
Nice! I see so many people build muscle wizards as Armstrong from FullMetal Alchemist – it’s nice to see some variety :)
Admittedly he DID sport an old timey “Strong Man Moustache” and a similar jovial personality, but that was more to make him a more approachable businessman as opposed to the stoic muscle glacier.
The most fun part was the homebrewed flavor/cost changes to his spells, as both me and the DM of the Moby Dick arc are former EVE online players, we had a kind of side economic game between the two of us where we more or less mulled over the concequences of the party’s trade and influence on the seas.
Basically, his magic was fueled by currency, and the little splash I took of warlock involved deaths of Foes caused by fitz granting a kind of “soul money” to be used as part of the great currency conspiracy. Mostly very little direct game impact, but more impactful on the greater political board so to speak.
Part of his aims to bring down the legacy of Xanathar include turning himself into a quasi lich-golem made out of literal money. Which is also funny considering any wizard I play has about a 50/50 shot of becoming a sentient object or some similar thing by the end of things. Or dead. Almost never a happy ending for my spell-worms.
Image related
That’s amazing. Meme needs cartoon mustache to be complete.
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