Planning & Worldbuilding The Name of Love's Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Idea Thread

[The Name of Love]

How does a drow cleric of Lolth sound?

Sorry, I don’t want evil characters or demon goddesses being worshipped by the PCs. Unless Lolth isn’t a demonic spider goddess in this universe, I’d rather not have to deal with that.

I guess I should have specified that I don’t want evil characters.

 

[Grav]

Sorry, I don’t want evil characters or demon goddesses being worshipped. Unless Lolth isn’t a demonic spider goddess in this universe, I’d rather not have to deal with that.

Yeah that’s understandable. Well then I’ll just go with a male drow enchanter. Probably only a single child then, so that he can succeed his mother.

 

[Ganurath]

Thinking on it, with some of the spells available to Druids, my island shaman elven princess (my male characters die a lot more than my females for some reason) would probably be a better tank than a dwarven Sword Bard. I'll be going with that concept whether we need a front line person or not.

 

[The Name of Love]

Thinking on it, with some of the spells available to Druids, my island shaman elven princess (my male characters die a lot more than my females for some reason) would probably be a better tank than a dwarven Sword Bard. I'll be going with that concept whether we need a front line person or not.

I do have a basic outline of what I want my map to look like, but I can still make some better stuff.

What do you think of this, guys?

The cities are the capital cities of the various kingdoms.

 

[Ganurath]

Looks good. Dibs on the archipelago, for obvious reasons.

 

[The Name of Love]

Looks good. Dibs on the archipelago, for obvious reasons.

Made it special for you, actually.

If you guys want a different location for your capitals, just ask.

 

[Pluff0]

Yep, looks pretty good. I'd probably take the one of the ones to the sides.

 

[Grav]

Taking that mountain range obviously, city will be somewhere along there.

 

[Pluff0]

Guess that just leaves @tirrene. I'll take the center if you want the plains.
Edit: actually, were you referring to the center city, @GravitysMomentum ?

 

[Ganurath]

So, looking over my concept, I realize that my race (Wood Elf) and background (Sailor) both grant proficiency in Perception. How feasible would it be for an elven sailor to get Acrobatics (staying balanced on deck,) Nature (familiarity with aquatic wilderness,) or Survival (navigating natural sea hazards) instead of Perception from the background? Maybe History for naval traditions and knowledge of different ports?

 

[Pluff0]

So, looking over my concept, I realize that my race (Wood Elf) and background (Sailor) both grant proficiency in Perception. How feasible would it be for an elven sailor to get Acrobatics (staying balanced on deck,) Nature (familiarity with aquatic wilderness,) or Survival (navigating natural sea hazards) instead of Perception from the background? Maybe History for naval traditions and knowledge of different ports?

You get Nature and Survival from Druid, as well. Personally, I'd go with History, but that's up to Lovely.

Also, since this is no longer a double post, I'll @GravitysMomentum and @tirrene again. Did you mean to take the center city on the map, Gravity?

 

[The Name of Love]

So, looking over my concept, I realize that my race (Wood Elf) and background (Sailor) both grant proficiency in Perception. How feasible would it be for an elven sailor to get Acrobatics (staying balanced on deck,) Nature (familiarity with aquatic wilderness,) or Survival (navigating natural sea hazards) instead of Perception from the background? Maybe History for naval traditions and knowledge of different ports?

Dude, the rules say that if your Background would grant you a skill already given to you by your race or class, you can choose any other skill you want. I mean, the default Background is "whatever the DM allows."

 

[Ganurath]

Dude, the rules say that if your Background would grant you a skill already given to you by your race or class, you can choose any other skill you want. I mean, the default Background is "whatever the DM allows."

I'd actually forgotten about that rule. I'm thinking I'll sub in Acrobatics, and pick up Religion and Survival through the class. Given the shamanic roots of the concept, I figure knowing the deities of a given island is more important than knowing the wildlife. Forgetting which plants are poisonous isn't anywhere near as dangerous as forgetting which god you should thank for the safe ones, it sounds like.

 

[Grav]

You get Nature and Survival from Druid, as well. Personally, I'd go with History, but that's up to Lovely.

Also, since this is no longer a double post, I'll @GravitysMomentum and @tirrene again. Did you mean to take the center city on the map, Gravity?

Sorry, was at a reunion. But yes that city closest to the mountains.

 

[tirrene]

Sorry, I was sleeping. I would go for the eastern-most city, since it seems to be the one with the most open land, and that goes well with the character concept I've been planning: the royal family have a big role in the state's religion (kinda like anglicanism or the Roman Emperors), which worships a god of life and crops (or its closest equivalent in this universe), so my character will be a sort of cleric/politician.

Two questions about this for @The Name of Love: would my character be legal, and what gods exist in your world?

 

[The Name of Love]

Two questions about this for @The Name of Love: would my character be legal, and what gods exist in your world?

I don't know what your character is, and you have freedom to make up any gods you'd like, so long as they aren't really, really stupid. Like, go wild with your religion. All that's established on religion in this setting is in the first post of the thread. As a reminder, the basic points:

• Broad religious toleration is accepted, so long as everyone recognizes the worldly authority of the monarchy and his servants and doesn't disrupt the peace.
• The exception to the above is fiend-based cults. Those are strictly illegal in all circumstances.
• Syncretism between differing faiths is ridiculously common in religiously diverse areas.
• Ancestor worship and worship of the royal family are also common beliefs held by the people, as they tend to believe that the ghosts of their ancestors stick around to help the living.
• People tend to be superstitious. They have these silly wives' tales, things like "looking into a mirror in the dark will cause a demon to snatch you up into the mirror" and other nonsense.

 

[Ganurath]

In that case, the popular Mesian (kingdoms have names, and I think the Mesian Isles is fitting for an archipelago in the Central Sea) religion is the Living Pantheon, which is a mix of animistic gods and ancestor worship. Ironic, I know, but the idea is that the ancestors fill vacancies, or take over subcategories on behalf of a god with a broader domain, and so find a new life after death in service to more established gods.

Mesian superstition would be something of a hot mess. Each island would have local superstitions (mostly landbound stuff) in addition to commonly shared ones (mostly naval stuff) and imported superstitions from regular trade with mainland neighbors (mostly social/mercantile stuff.) Being of the royal family, you can imagine who has to keep track of all of them.

 

[Pluff0]

@tirrene, what race do you plan to play?

 

[tirrene]

The religion of the kingdom of Wedala (if we are allowed to pick names, I choose that one, because I've got a thing going on) would be a cult to the goddess of fertility, Weda (see, that was the thing), who governs over such things as the harvest of crops (such as wheat, because thing), childbirth, and generally things related to idyllic woodland landscapes. People also pray to lesser familial spirits (kinda like in Rome) for things unrelated to Weda's domain, like for example finding lost trinkets. And, as pontifex maximus of Weda, the king or queen of Wedala lead all the harvest festivals and goat sacrifices and such in the capital proper's cathedral.
Some people pray to other pantheons (generally those of the other cities, since they are nearby), and this practice isn't outright forbidden, but they tend to be ostracized by the community at large, since the kingdom's populace is very religious. Essentially, Wedala would be a large, populous kingdom, but with little industry, because God's holy commandment was "drop that hammer and grab a sickle, homo", and full of religious nutjobs.

 

[tirrene]

@tirrene, what race do you plan to play?

I'm assuming these kingdoms are mainly human; I will change race if everyone decides otherwise.