There are few things more frightening to the idea of man than a great desert, one that bounds and swallows their city and their civilization. Trapped here within a single city on an oasis, the minds of men have turned inwards, unable to penetrate the great sands that border their lands. There are those few who disappear out into the wastes each year, unable to live within the confines of a narrow and rigid society. It is assumed they are deceased, for nothing is known to live outside of the realm of the oasis, despite the howling winds in the night that bring a stench of things foul, yet living.
At each red moon, a new group is assembled to send out into the wilderness. Ostensibly it is to explore, but those who go know they go to die, to perish in the lands beyond the green waters of home, for home can only support a certain count of souls, and each soul beyond is a burden that shall be removed. Thus it is that you are selected, an unwilling 'volunteer' for Ymdaith chan 'r Farw.
This is, as the flavour may suggest, a survivalist setting. Similar in ideas to Dark Sun, the environment will play as large a role in the life of the party as the enemies. Roleplaying will be a little on the lighter side, while dungeon crawling will occur on a regular basis. The nature of the campaign means that there will be few opportunities to stop or stock up once the city has been left. Campaign size will be 5 players.
A warning: I am a fairly new DM, and will likely make mistakes. Feel free to correct me on them.
House Rules- The PHB: All material from the PHB is banned unless cleared through me. This includes spells and feats that appear within other classes's lists.
- Custom Material: I would prefer (this is not meant to be a requirement in any sense) people to use custom content that I have written. All house rules that I have written will be in effect. They can be found here, here, and here. There is also the Book of Ritual Magic, the classes of which I have detailed below. Those interested should PM me.
- UA Material: No LA buyoff, 1 flaw, no traits, no bloodlines, no UA classes.
- Starting Level: 2, wealth 1/2 normal, 32 point buy.
- Material Preference, Part #2: Sandstorm will feature heavily in this campaign, so it is recommended to read through that book.
- Prestige Classes: Any full caster prestige class, regardless of type, will not grant spells at level 1. there may be extenuating circumstances, but they will be few and far between. Certain, stronger prestige classes may lose a second or even third caster level.
The MartyrAn effectively exalted ritual class, that focuses on assisting others through sacrificing his own hitpoints. He can also power his abilities by sacrificing magical items. The class has whole chains of abilities designed to help multiple allies at the cost to himself.
The Ritual WarriorPure melee. The Ritual Warrior gets the effects of his rituals through two ways: the normal, length ritual performance, or by killing people in melee combat. He is built around penalty causing melee attacks as he frightens or wounds his foes.
The RitualistThe original caster of the Ritual book, the Ritualist is most effective when pulling abilities and body types from the creatures he has sacrificed in his rituals. In some ways close to a shapeshifter because of what he does via stealing from the lifeblood, he also has the most powerful and most spectacular high end effects, with powers rivaling epic spells.
