Friday, March 19, 2010

Hammersong's Legacy: Thoughts On Playtest Characters?

Good Afternoon, All:

I am beginning to contemplate a free playtest adventure for the Hammersong's Legacy Campaign Setting. Of course, I'd like to start with pregenerated characters. As the setting is built for Swords & Wizardry, I'm looking at creating characters that demonstrate the new rules that are included within the sourcebook. I have a total of ten races and eight classes to choose from. If I create a character for each class present in the setting, I'll simply need to choose eight of the ten races for these character types, and I'll have a wide range of available options that demonstrate the variety of character concepts available in the setting. The problem, of course, is what to choose. With that in mind, I figure I should turn to the readers and get their input, as they will likely be the ones that will want to run this adventure once it's written and ready.

The ten common races of the Hammersong's Legacy Campaign Setting are:

  • Duar: A short, stocky race with a strong connection to the Earth Mother, Terantha, the Duar are known for their ability to see in the dark, to resist magic and for their innate knowledge of stonework.
  • Elde: A slender race native to the forests of Hesperia, the Elde are known for their ability to see in the dark, their perceptive talents and their innate resistance to sleep and charm.
  • Eldeblooded: Half human, half Elde, the talents of the Eldeblooded are more limited than their infertile Elde parentage, but are still formidable nonetheless.
  • Feytouched: The offspring of mortal and fey parents, the Feytouched possess a number of unusual talents: the ability to see in all but total darkness, an innate talent for stealth, a resistance to charm and enchantment magics, and the magical ability to cross between the mortal and fey realms with relative ease.
  • Human: Humans follow the standard rules for their race as found in the Core Rules.
  • Hyrknoff: Born of mixed goblinoid and human parentage, the Hyrknoff are a hybrid race that has since bred true, possessing both an innate battle rage and a natural resistance to disease and poison.
  • Kelshan: Bearing a strong resemblance to devils, these red-skinned humanoids are known for their sadistic reputation and their innate resistance to enchantment and charm magics.
  • Ordath: Forged in the image of the Duar, these small humanoids have a powerful sense of smell and an innate resistance to illusions and mind-affecting magics.
  • Vaelan: Appearing as miniature humans, the Vaelan are a very stealthy race, known for their uncanny accuracy with missile weapons and their resistance to magical effects.
  • Wyrmblooded: The result of magical experimentation on dragons to create a docile slave race, the Wyrmblooded still retain some of their draconic heritage, including vicious claws, an intimidating presence, and a resistance to paralysis and magical sleep.
The races of this setting are separate from the common classes: Fighting Man, Cleric and Magic-User. Joining the core three classes are five new classes:
  • Crusader: The Crusader is a warrior-priest that serves as a holy soldier in service to his religion.
  • Dungeoneer: The Dungeoneer is an accomplished explorer of ruins and dungeons, combining a limited magical aptitude with a high degree of manual dexterity to achieve success as an adventurer.
  • Ranger: The Ranger is a talented wilderness warrior and outdoorsman with an aptitude towards tracking and slaying giants.
  • Sorcerer: The Sorcerer is a warrior-mage trained in both spellcraft and swordplay, tempering his limited arcane power with martial prowess on the battlefield.
  • Thief: The Thief is a rogue and vagabond talented in clandestine matters, criminal undertakings and devastating surprise attacks.
Given the above, what kind of pregenerated characters would you suggest for the playtest adventure? Personally, I think I'd like to see the following:
  1. Duar Fighting Man
  2. Elde Sorcerer
  3. Eldeblooded Dungeoneer
  4. Feytouched Magic-User
  5. Human Cleric
  6. Hyrknoff Ranger
  7. Wyrmblooded Crusader
  8. Vaelan Thief

I think this captures a lot of the classic flavor emulated by certain races, and helps cast some of the new races in the kind of light I associate with them in terms of the setting.

Note that I have not included the Kelshan or the Ordath in my playtest characters selections. The Ordathi as a race have restrictions on the spells they can learn, and include some new spells that I don't feel would help as much in a playtest scenario. The Kelshan are not as widespread within the setting itself, and besides, I want to play up the Good Guys instead of the darker "almost Bad Guys" that the Kelshan represent. However, I'm open to discussion on other points of view in these regards.

Once I settle on what characters I want to use, I'll start pregenerating them and placing some of them here for your review and input.

Thanks In Advance,
Flynn

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