Monday, December 28, 2009

Arcana Of Avion

Its been a while since I did much work on my Avion setting, but since I am now working on two stories and another project set there, it has slowly been getting more developed.

The most interesting developments have been about some of the fluff things for the arcane power source.

There are three ways to gain the ability to cast arcane magic: the wizard way, the sorcerer way, and the warlock way. Each method is different and comes with its own risks.


Wizards study old tomes, discover arcane secrets, and basically figure out how magic works in order to cast it. The Risk for this type of magic is that if you learn too many arcane secrets you might go insane, and that's the nicest of the risks. This method is severly lower than it once was due to the "quick and easy" nature of the other two methods.


Sorcerers find the blood of some magic creature, such as dragons, demons, etc., and inject it into themselves to mutate themselves to be magical conduits. The type of blood you inject into yourself determines what kind of sorcerer you become. The risk with this is that you can get an unwanted mutation, become magically addicted to magic blood, become controlled by the creature is it is powerful and still alive, or just simply die. This is the most common method, due to the increase of the availability of demon's blood, creating an abundance of chaos sorcerers.


Warlocks make deals with powerful entities, smart ones know what they are bargaining with. Great power is gained, but at great cost. Some lose their soul, some give the entity a chance to use their body at any time, and some may make a good deal, but their soul becomes corrupted by the entity's power. With the demon's blood method of sorcery becoming more popular, so does the trust of the demons themselves, this method is slowly gaining popularity in Avion.




Wizards risk their mind.
Sorcerers risk their body.
Warlocks risk their soul.




The other arcane classes can take one of these and roll with it, "I traded my soul to play this here guitar real good."



So, what do you think of that? I'm glad I finally got something that's unique to the setting, and I've decided to scrap some of the work I've already done.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or anything else to say, please leave a comment! I love to get feedback on my ideas!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas and a Story Idea Too!

Merry Christmas everyone!
I hope you get the +5 magic weapon you were hoping for!


Last night I went on a mini-rampage and wrote a bunch of character ideas for yet another story concept. I hope you like it.


The watcher of dreams... The white owl
Long have my people watched over the dreams of the people of the cities of Krish. The taint that flows into our world gathers where there are many people. This taint leads a man deeper into his own dreams, into the abyss, and it is my people who lead these lost ones back to their dream so that they may wake.
More and more, of late, have the people been dragged into the abyss. My people can scarcely keep these lost ones all from being devoured by the abyss.

I have been chosen. I must find the cause of this, And I must destroy it.

But, I cannot do it alone. I know a man, head of the City Guard of Glighton, He may help me...


The watcher of the city... The gray hawk
I, like my father, watch over the people of Glighton, capital of Frameria. The people place their safety in my hands, but their faith has waned of late, as the monster attacks grow more frequent and more destructive. There is a hole in the east wall that a man could walk though, not to mention the horrors that did make it through. Twelve were lost in that attack, three of them my own men.

It is my job to protect the city and its people. I must find the cause of this, and I must destroy it.

There is a man of the forest, who knows of all things of nature and some things outside it. He may help me...


The watcher of the forest... The brown falcon
The ageless forest calls to me. It accepted me and made me a part of itself. Now, as it hurts, I hurt as well. The beasts spout flame and ice, destroying my home, my love, my life. They are like nothing I have seen before, it is as if they are of another world. Yet even now that I cannot help my own forest, a man of the city cries to me to help solve their problems.

The spirits of the forest come to me for help. I must find the cause of this, and I must destroy it.

A man in a shining tower knows of things beyond this world. He may help me...


The watcher of knowledge… The black raven
The wizard's tower, the last true bastion of the old magic. I alone still reside there, it may be the last safe place in this world, but for how long? I study these old tomes, looking for the power that the wizards of ancient times commanded. But they are coming, as the old prophesies foretold. They will destroy this tower, before I can truly command ultimate power.

This knowledge must not be lost before I can unlock it. I must find the cause of this, and I must delay it.

Perhaps the Aesir have a champion who will fight them? I shall lend my power to that person...


The watcher of souls... The golden dove
I dream of beasts. Terrible monsters that torch the sky and freeze the sea. They are led by a creature beyond description, who stalks with only destruction in his wake. Death does not describe what befalls those who battle him. Yet I stand against him with a shimmering light, and he cannot stand against me. I must, for the sake of this world, find this light, and soon.

My Aesir leads me to the truth, I must find this light. Then, I must find the cause of this, and I must destroy it.

I must find the man who walks in dreams. He May help me.




My recently starting to read DragonLance books may be the cause of this... Oh, and Aesir are the deities of sorts in Avion.


Does that sound interesting? Think its dumb? Misinterpret a certain word that makes it seem inappropriate? Leave a comment!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Peculiar Character Build #1

The D&D 4e Character Builder is awesome.

You get all of the options from the books and D&D Insider content, allowing you to easily make characters with as much creativity as possible.

In order to inspire you (and show off my creations), I will display my characters, both the unusual and impressive.


Super-sized Greatbow
A bow as tall as a man, then make it bigger.
Basically, you take a bugbear, give him a ranged weapon based class, give him the great bow proficiency feat.

Race
This idea used to work with minotaurs and bugbears, but minotaurs lost their "Oversized" race feature when they got promoted to player race status.

Class
Several classes work with this: Ranger, Seeker, Artificers, and Bard have enough ranged weapon attacks to make this effective, but classes that use dexterity as their attack mod work better with the bugbear. Avenger and Rogue both have At-will attacks that work, but lack any more ranged weapon attacks (at least that work with a greatbow), but if you only want ranged attacks, a hybrid class with avenger could work. Hybrid and multiclassing can work, but you may have to spread out your points more.

Ability Scores
The ability scores depends on which class(es) you choose, put points into whatever ability is used by your attacks.

Skills
Pick whatever skills you like.

Feats
The only required feat is the "Proficiency: Greatbow".

Powers
Pick any powers that can use ranged weapons, if none are available, pick what ever suits you (or your character).

Equipment
A large Greatbow and whatever else you want.


Here is the Iplay4e preview.



These options are not limited to the whole package, of course. you could simply make a hybrid class that merges two ranged classes. Maybe a bugbear that wields some other HUGE weapon.


If you have a question, comment, or suggestion, I would love to hear it! If you liked my idea, would like to expand on it, have a similar idea, or want to suggest something else for me to explore and post about, leave a comment!