Picto-Celtic Campaign
The deep forests harbor mixed wood elf, tallfellow halfling, treant and fey communities of a few families each, they are semi nomadic and only build temporary structures in the winter, they trade with the forest gnomes whose tunnels riddle the forest floors and with the firbolgs. Near forgotten stone circles, bogs and barrow mounds dwell packs of wood elf were-wolves, skulks and unseelie fey, the people under the hills (I'm using Underfolk from Races of Destiny) still come up from beneath their ancient long barrows to steal cattle on moonless nights.
Fomorians live in fortified island villages off the coast and are communities of mongrelfolk fishermen and farmers, half-orc pirates, half-ogre champions and fomorian overlords.
To the west lies a land of warring tribal humans, hill giants, goblinoids, ogres and orcs, just as happy to fight their own kind as each other, the northern part of this land is a mountain chain ruled by frost giants and white dragons, further west are mountains dominated by fire giants and red dragons. To the east is an archipelago inhabited by a kingdom of bronze dragons and high elves. To the south are more civilized areas of human city-states, some ruled by merchant princes and others dominated by snake worshipping theocracies.
PCs can be humans, half-elves or outcasts from the forest or underfolk trying to blend in, and the ruling druids are a bard/druid prestige class, Fochlucan Lyrist from the Complete Adventurer. The PCs fight/unite other tribes, fend off fomorians, raid/explore the forest or barrows or the western or eastern lands, trade with the advanced southern human merchant/slavers, etc.
History
(4,000 years ago) Wood elves and fey dwell in the forested river valleys and a small population of scattered neolithic human farmers live in small stable communities of rectangular log cabins built on the upland hills and on the coastal plains, avoiding the thickly wooded valley bottoms. They plant wheat and barley, and raise sheep, cattle and pigs and hunt as a supplement to their agriculture. They build communal graves that also serve as centers of religious activity centering on a cult of the dead and fertility. They are driven from the coastal plains by the Fomorians.
(3,000 years ago) Builders - These bronze age folk were farmers, archers, brewers and metalsmiths, they lived in round thatch-roofed houses and built round barrow mounds for their warrior-chieftains and stone circles on the neolithic religious sites for their own gods. They fight off the Fomorians from the coastal plains and slowly drive back the neolithic people who begin hiding in caves under the hills and the wood elves and fey deeper into the forests. 1000 years later after being weakened by a famine and plague, the Fomorians having grown strong again, strike back and kill the rest. The famine was brought about by increased cattle stealing in the winter by the people under the hills (as the neolithic folk are now called) and half the wood elves embracing a dark god of vengence and their clerics are cursed with lycanthropy, the elven were-wolves destroyed outlying settlements and small groups of travelers.
(2,100 years ago) The Black Hand - An orc tribe settles in the area and within a few years are decimated by the lycanthropes and Fomorian raiders, a plague finishes the rest. Some of their human slaves survive and form their own society, worshipping at the great stone circles and 100 years later are defeated and forced into serfdom by
(2,000 years ago) High Elves - with horses, better weapons and powerful magic drive back the lycanthropes and the Fomorians. They avoid the stone circles and barrows. 500 years later they are defeated by
(1,500 years ago) Pritani - Several iron age tribes who build farms (stone houses and separate, walled fields), hillforts, a warrior aristocracy, they hunt with large wardogs and do not pray at the stone circles, in fact they scavenge the smaller stones to build their houses and walls, they do adopt the practice of barrow mounds for their dead though. 1000 years later the last of the high elves have gone away or died, although those with elven blood still exist (half-elves) and their culture merges with that of
(500 years ago) Picts - An iron age warrior culture led by druids begin settling in the area
Present - The Pict tribes are a group of peoples loosely tied by similar language, religion and culture. They have no central goverment and are quite as happy to fight each other as anyone else. They are warriors, living for the glories of battle and plunder, nailing the severed heads of enemies to the doors and wearing them on their belts, warfare is a sport. Clans are bound together very loosely with other clans into tribes, each of which has its own customs. Druids act as priests, political advisors, teachers, healers, and judges. They have their own universities, the right to speak ahead of the king in council, act as ambassadors in time of war and uphold the law. They are the glue keeping together the culture and hold their religious rites in woodland groves, waterfalls, springs and bogs.
Heads taken in battle if carried or tied to your horse give a +1 to saving throws, +1 AC and +1 to charisma based skill checks if it belonged to someone of equal or higher level. If the head was taken from someone 4 levels higher add +1 to hit and damage as well. Lasts for one day per level or one week per level if nailed to your house. If nailed to your house the head give you a +4 to Spot and Listen checks to detect an enemy near your house. Druids can preserve a head in ceder oil or make a skull into a cup and the effects last indefinately but only one preserved head's bonus affects the character.
Permanent Lesser Geas - Every pict starts with at least one lesser geas, each tribe has its own, common ones include
never kill a fey (or bard or woman or crow)
never harm a horse (or druid)
never eat mutton (or dog or horse or fish or during a raid)
never drink mead (or during a full moon)
never lie
never refuse a meal, etc, etc, you get the idea.
Characters who get to 10th level get to add a Permanent Geas as well.
Religion
For the most part the picts revere nature, rivers, mountains, oceans, lakes, the standard D&D druid religion, plus each tribe also has its own various ancestor demi-gods and gods, two are so common that they have become Intermediate deities. They worship in sacred groves, springs, lakes, waterfalls and bogs, not at the stone circles.
Brigit - chaotic neutral red haired goddess of fire and poetry (maiden, mother, crone), female priesthood, domains - Magic and Fire (charm for maiden, protection for mom and knowledge for crone).
Her clerics get three domains, one of which changes (its charm until she has a child, then its protection until she reaches old age and then its knowledge).
No armor, pro w/ swords, daggers, spear & shortspear and once per day can perform a greater turning against undead in place of a regular turning (they burst into flame and burn to ash, the undead that is, not the cleric). They also get 6 skill points per level.
Horned God (combination of Arawn and Cernunnos) - antlered pale skinned man who leads the Wild Hunt. Animal, Fire and Travel domains, No armor, 6 skill points per level, wisdom added to AC and add Survival, Knowledge (nature) and
Other common patron dieties of tribes include Corellon Larethian, Olidammara, Fharlanghn, Kord, Obad-Hai, Ehlonna, Wee Jas and any from the elven pantheon.
The Formorians worship Erythnul and Karontor
So its a mix of mythology, history and D&D The high elves are the Tuatha De Dannan from mythology, the builders are the beaker culture from history, the formorians are the vikings.
I want to make an outline of two or three neighboring tribes and was thinking about common geas for the different tribes, like one against drinking mead. And a background story for an elven chainshirt awarded a past human chieftain by local wood elves and the Merrow (aquatic ogre, aka Grendal) that has it in his lair for a starting adventure. Basically along the lines of the PCs are on their first cattle raid and come across a destroyed farmhouse and tracks leading into a mist covered bog.
Each magic item should have a history, like the +1 longsword the party finds after defeating the merrows avenging brothers was made by the duergar for a human traitor who led Formians to a sacred wellspring to ambush some druids and then he threw it into the well years later overcome with guilt. The +1 dagger was made by a high elf for his daughter long ago and lost when she was mislead by will-o'-wisps and drowned trying to sneak off one night to elope with her human lover etc, etc.
Classes
As far as 3.5 D&D classes since everyone runs around with just a spear, sword and shield I'm modifying them.
Rangers giving them 2 more skill points in exchange for medium armor proficiency.
Fighters are the nobles and lose medium and heavy armor proficiency and gain 4 more skill points and the skills Knowledge (nobility and local) as class skills.
Barbarians lose medium armor proficiency and gain their wisdom added to AC if wearing a loincloth or skyclad.
Bards and Rogues no armor, pro w/ swords, clubs, daggers, spear & shortspear, add Survival to their class skills, gain a bonus feat at 1st level.
Wizards get the Spell Mastery feat at first level instead of scribe scroll since I'm going to say their spellbooks are the stone monoliths and aren't very portable. Pro w/ clubs, daggers & quarterstaves.
Sorcerers have to be elves or half-elves or if human have some kinda bloodline (fey, dragon, celestial, elf, etc) from either a feat or Unearthed Arcana. Pro w/ swords, clubs, daggers & quarterstaves and add knowledge(Planes) to class skills.
Druids, no armor, pro w/ swords, clubs, daggers, spear & shortspear, add knowledge(History, Local & Religion) to skills, wisdom bonus to AC.
Clerics, right now its just one for Brigit.
Monks and Paladins are not present among the picts.
Prestige Classes
Mystic Theurge, Horizon Walker
Fochlucan Lyrist, Virtuoso (Complete Adventurer)
Earth Dreamer (Races of Stone)
Mindbender, Seeker of the Song, Sublime Chord (Complete Arcane)
Arcane Hierophant, Ruathar (Races of the Wild)
Frenzied Berserker, Reaping Mauler, War Chanter (Complete Warrior)
Custom classes for the wood elves like the
Barbarian Variant: Hunter (as in Unearthed Arcana)
A barbarian who prefers crafty hunting over pure ferocity
Gains favored enemy and archery combat style (as ranger) and the Track feat
Loses all the rage abilities and medium armor pro
Sorcerer/Wizard Variant: (as in Unearthed Arcana)
Gain an animal companion (as druid; treat sorcerer or wizard as a druid of half his class level).
Lose their familiar
And custom classes for the people under the hills like the Illusionist Variant: Shadow Shaper (as in Unearthed Arcana)
Shield and Spear [Style]
You have learned to use a spear or longspear one-handed while using a shield
Prerequisite: Str 13, Weapon Focus (longspear), Weapon Focus (spear), proficent with shield, base attack bonus +4
Benefit: ummm, something, something, feel free to help on this
A bonus to something for running around covered in woad?
A 3 level woad warrior prestige class?
a ritual? (knowledge religion check)
Random bits of unorganized Picto-Celtic information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictish
Each tribe is led by a king, who is subject to an Ard Ri or High King, there are two high kingdoms: one of the north, the other in the south.
Elected Kings lead the tribes and society is divided into three groups: a warrior aristocracy, an intellectual class including druids and bards and everyone else.
Women participate in warfare but not in kingship (maternal grandsons and maternal nephews can be elected king).
One of the most important cultural oddities about the Picts is their system of matrilineal line of succession, descent through the female line, not the male.
After a battle they often dedicate their enemies weapons to the gods and throw them into a river or lake.
Warfare is endemic, society is organised around warfare but this is more of a sport focused on raids and hunting. Tribal conflicts over leadership, land and resources are commonplace, it is more a matter of ritual, than of slaughter, most of the time, this is an age of Hillforts, brochs, crannogs and duns.
The chiefs and the wealthy wear armor taken in battle, bought from other cultures or copied from other cultures.
Though they have a written language, the Ogham script is only used for ceremonial purposes and the picts have an oral tradition. All classes are illiterate except bards, clerics, druids and wizards.
Males are clean-shaven with moustaches, some tribes favor ritualized scarring for the barbarian and fighter warrior elite, some tattoos, some a mix of both.
Copper is used for blue tattoos, ash for black, woad is used for battle wounds and dye.
The intellectual class (bards & druids) use tattoos on their legs to help remember things (+1 to a Knowledge skill check for each tattoo).
Merlin gets to be the leader of the woads cause he is covered with the most dirt and doesn't do anything (King Arthur movie reference).
The ritualistic killing of aging Kings and replacing their Kings who have any infirmities, losing a finger or eye or even going bald, basically any perceived weakness, real or not.
No towns. The basic economy is mixed farming and a few farmsteads around a broch are the norm, cattle raising is more important than cereal cultivation in some rocky, colder regions. Wealth is determined by the number of cattle, horses and followers you have, but gold and silver are good too.
Criminals are killed during a holiday with their guts festively strung in a sacred oak tree, drown in a holy spring or thrown into a bog with their throat cut, each tribe has its own custom.
The Traders would be a seafaring phoenician-like nation of master ship builders, merchants and pirates with human and hadozee swashbucklers and rogues.
Blah (any suggestions for a name?) standard D&D area, mostly wilderness dotted with ruins and some settlements and villages of hill dwarves, rock gnomes, semi-nomadic bands of regular PH halflings, spirit folk, hengeyokai, angry wild elves who worship fiendish dire bears, some yuan-ti lurking beneath the ruins of a human civilization dot the eastern coast, a pair of human city-states where the elite warriors ride dire eagles and compete against each other in yearly games (like in John Norman's Gor series) and a few snake worshipping human fishing villages.
The samurai area is hobgoblin samurais, warblades, fighters and their daimyo leaders battling and plotting for control of the land, humans are the subjugated peasants and also the secret ninja clans. The hobgoblins often hire the ninjas to eliminate rivals. The hobgoblin priesthood is open to both sexes and worship a lawful neutral death goddess, they despise human arcane casters and open use of magic by a human or even holding a weapon is punishable by death.
The ninja villages vary in training methods and styles and there is a constant rivalry over who is best, some are ninjas, some monks, some rogues, some are multi-classed sorcerer/ninjas, psion/monks, etc. Most of the human ninja villages are secret worshippers of the death goddess Wee Jas, some villages worship other gods, some more benign, others darker. A very few hengeyokai and spirit folk also live in some of the villages or outskirts.
The gray elf area would be ruins where wood elves allied with giant owls and a few villages of korobokuru, kenku and crow-headed tengu. The Grey Elves live in 3 pocket planes of sylvan glades, each ruled by a queen, they come out once a year at sunset to celebrate and hunt in the forest and return at dawn. Their wood elf brethren tolerate the annual intrusion and prepare a huge banquet at the first new moon each year.
The germanic area is the warring tribal humans, hill giants, goblinoids, ogres and orcs, standard D&D warlord-of-the-week area.
The feral ogres would be ogres and hill giants with the feral template from Savage Species smashing and eating anything that moves.
Wild Empire Ogre CR 5
N Large monstrous humanoid
Init +2; Senses 60' darkvision, Listen +3, Spot +3
Languages Giant
AC 13, touch 7, flat-footed 17
(size -1, natural +6, dex -2)
hp 49 (4 HD);
Fort +7, Ref +3, Will +2
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee 2 claws +9/+9 (3d6+7)
Base Atk +3; Grp +14
Atk Options pounce
Abilities Str 25, Dex 6, Con 18, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 7
SQ pounce, fast healing 3
Feats: Alertness, Improved Natural Attack
Skills Survival +9
The wild empire ogres are voracious, ill tempered and dangerous, they consider everything food and are very territorial.
The roman area is the old 'hobgoblins as roman empire' idea, instead of roman senators its a council of wyrms and their hobgoblin legions with half-dragon centurians...
duergar are known to sell magic items but its 2 times the listed DMG cost and they require 3 favors, which individually seem harmless enough.
I like to have a general overview of the world and I probably won't do much more detail on these areas, they're mainly just in case someone wants to make an oddball character later on in the campaign or if the PCs want to explore I've got a basic idea of whats out there. I still want to put a city-state of mountain dwarf necromancers and a half-giant/goliath/neanderthal area somewhere on the map.
I might change the Roman area to The Blood Empire and have blues (the psionic goblins) as the senators. The barbaric goblin tribes bring the blue young to the empire to be raised and then the tribe is considered part of the empire and rewarded with orog troops to smash their enemies and enforce the emperors will.
And the Blood Empire blues use the wild empire ogres as beasts of burden, mounts, ogre drawn chariots, ect, ect
Empire Ogre CR 5
N Large monstrous humanoid
Init +2; Senses 60' darkvision, Listen -1, Spot -1
Languages Goblin
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14
hp 49 (4 HD);
Fort +7, Ref +3, Will -1
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee 2 claws +9/+9 (2d6+7)
Base Atk +3; Grp +14
Atk Options pounce
Abilities Str 25, Dex 6, Con 18, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 7
SQ pounce, fast healing 3
Feats Endurance, Diehard, Improved Toughness
Flaw: Weak Will
Skills Swim +11
Bred to be strong and compliant they will work themselves to death.
The deep forests harbor mixed wood elf, tallfellow halfling, treant and fey communities of a few families each, they are semi nomadic and only build temporary structures in the winter, they trade with the forest gnomes whose tunnels riddle the forest floors and with the firbolgs. Near forgotten stone circles, bogs and barrow mounds dwell packs of wood elf were-wolves, skulks and unseelie fey, the people under the hills (I'm using Underfolk from Races of Destiny) still come up from beneath their ancient long barrows to steal cattle on moonless nights.
Fomorians live in fortified island villages off the coast and are communities of mongrelfolk fishermen and farmers, half-orc pirates, half-ogre champions and fomorian overlords.
To the west lies a land of warring tribal humans, hill giants, goblinoids, ogres and orcs, just as happy to fight their own kind as each other, the northern part of this land is a mountain chain ruled by frost giants and white dragons, further west are mountains dominated by fire giants and red dragons. To the east is an archipelago inhabited by a kingdom of bronze dragons and high elves. To the south are more civilized areas of human city-states, some ruled by merchant princes and others dominated by snake worshipping theocracies.
So PCs can be humans, half-elves or outcasts from the forest or underfolk trying to blend in, and the ruling druids are a bard/druid prestige class, Fochlucan Lyrist from the Complete Adventurer. The PCs fight/unite other tribes, fend off fomorians, raid/explore the forest or barrows or the western or eastern lands, trade with the advanced southern human merchant/slavers, etc.
(3,000 years ago) Builders - These bronze age folk were farmers, archers, brewers and metalsmiths, they lived in round thatch-roofed houses and built round barrow mounds for their warrior-chieftains and stone circles on the neolithic religious sites for their own gods. They fight off the Fomorians from the coastal plains and slowly drive back the neolithic people who begin hiding in caves under the hills and the wood elves and fey deeper into the forests. 1000 years later after being weakened by a famine and plague, the Fomorians having grown strong again, strike back and kill the rest. The famine was brought about by increased cattle stealing in the winter by the people under the hills (as the neolithic folk are now called) and half the wood elves embracing a dark god of vengence and their clerics are cursed with lycanthropy, the elven were-wolves destroyed outlying settlements and small groups of travelers.
(2,100 years ago) The Black Hand - An orc tribe settles in the area and within a few years are decimated by the lycanthropes and Fomorian raiders, a plague finishes the rest. Some of their human slaves survive and form their own society, worshipping at the great stone circles and 100 years later are defeated and forced into serfdom by
(2,000 years ago) High Elves - with horses, better weapons and powerful magic drive back the lycanthropes and the Fomorians. They avoid the stone circles and barrows. 500 years later they are defeated by
(1,500 years ago) Pritani - Several iron age tribes who build farms (stone houses and separate, walled fields), hillforts, a warrior aristocracy, they hunt with large wardogs and do not pray at the stone circles, in fact they scavenge the smaller stones to build their houses and walls, they do adopt the practice of barrow mounds for their dead though. 1000 years later the last of the high elves have gone away or died, although those with elven blood still exist (half-elves) and their culture merges with that of
(500 years ago) Picts - An iron age warrior culture led by druids begin settling in the area
Present - The Pict tribes are a group of peoples loosely tied by similar language, religion and culture. They have no central goverment and are quite as happy to fight each other as anyone else. They are warriors, living for the glories of battle and plunder, nailing the severed heads of enemies to the doors and wearing them on their belts, warfare is a sport. Clans are bound together very loosely with other clans into tribes, each of which has its own customs. Druids act as priests, political advisors, teachers, healers, and judges. They have their own universities, the right to speak ahead of the king in council, act as ambassadors in time of war and uphold the law. They are the glue keeping together the culture and hold their religious rites in woodland groves, waterfalls, springs and bogs.
Heads taken in battle give a +1 to saving throws, +1 AC and +1 to charisma based skill checks if it belonged to someone of equal or higher level. If the head was taken from someone 4 levels higher add +1 to hit and damage as well. Lasts for one day per level or one week per level if nailed to your house. Druids can preserve a head in ceder oil or make a skull into a cup and the effects last indefinately but only one preserved head's bonus affects the character.
Permanent Lesser Geas - Every pict starts with at least one lesser geas,
each tribe has its own, common ones include
never kill a fey (or bard or woman or crow)
never harm a horse (or druid)
never eat mutton (or dog or horse or fish or during a raid)
never drink mead (or during a full moon)
never lie
never refuse a meal, etc, etc, you get the idea.
Characters who get to 10th level get to add a Permanent Geas as well.
Religion
For the most part the picts revere nature, rivers, mountains, oceans, lakes, the standard D&D druid religion, plus each tribe also has its own various ancestor demi-gods and gods, two are so common that they have become Intermediate deities
Brigit - chaotic neutral red haired goddess of fire and poetry (maiden, mother, crone), female priesthood, domains - Magic and Fire (charm for maiden, protection for mom and knowledge for crone).
Her clerics get three domains, one of which changes (its charm until she has a child, then its protection until she reaches old age and then its knowledge).
No armor, pro w/ swords, daggers, spear & shortspear and once per day can perform a greater turning against undead in place of a regular turning (they burst into flame and burn to ash, the undead that is, not the cleric).
Horned God (combination of Arawn and Cernunnos) - antlered pale skinned man who leads the Wild Hunt.
Other common patron dieties of tribes include
Corellon Larethian, Olidammara, Fharlanghn, Kord, Obad-Hai, Ehlonna, Wee Jas and any from the elven pantheon.
The Formorians worship Erythnul and Karontor
So its a mix of mythology, history and D&D
The high elves are the Tuatha De Dannan from mythology, the builders are the beaker culture from history, the formorians are the vikings.
I want to make an outline of two or three neighboring tribes and was thinking about common geas for the different tribes, like one against drinking mead. And a background story for an elven chainshirt awarded a past human chieftain by local wood elves and the Merrow (aquatic ogre, aka Grendal) that has it in his lair for a starting adventure. Basically along the lines of the PCs are on their first cattle raid and come across a destroyed farmhouse and tracks leading into a mist covered bog.
Each magic item should have a history, like the +1 longsword the party finds after defeating the merrows avenging brothers was made by the duergar for a human traitor who led Formians to a sacred wellspring to ambush some druids and then he threw it into the well years later overcome with guilt. The +1 dagger was made by a high elf for his daughter long ago and lost when she was mislead by will-o'-wisps and drowned trying to sneak off one night to elope with her human lover etc, etc.
Classes
As far as 3.5 D&D classes since everyone runs around with just a spear, sword and shield I'm modifying them
Rangers giving them 2 more skill points in exchange for medium armor proficiency.
Fighters are the nobles and lose medium and heavy armor proficiency and gain 4 more skill points and the skills Knowledge (nobility and local) as class skills.
Barbarians lose medium armor proficiency and gain their wisdom added to AC if wearing a loincloth or skyclad.
Bards and Rogues no armor, pro w/ swords, clubs, daggers, spear & shortspear, add Survival to their class skills, gain a bonus feat at 1st level.
Wizards get the Spell Mastery feat at first level instead of scribe scroll since I'm going to say their spellbooks are the stone monoliths and aren't very portable. Pro w/ clubs, daggers & quarterstaves.
Sorcerers have to be elves or half-elves or if human have some kinda bloodline (fey, dragon, celestial, elf, etc) from either a feat or Unearthed Arcana. Pro w/ swords, clubs, daggers & quarterstaves and add knowledge(Planes) to class skills.
Druids, no armor, pro w/ swords, clubs, daggers, spear & shortspear, add knowledge(History, Local & Religion) to skills, wisdom bonus to AC.
Clerics, right now its just one for Brigit
Monks and Paladins are not present among the picts.
Prestige Classes
Mystic Theurge, Horizon Walker
Fochlucan Lyrist, Virtuoso (Complete Adventurer)
Earth Dreamer (Races of Stone)
Mindbender, Seeker of the Song, Sublime Chord (Complete Arcane)
Arcane Hierophant, Champion of Corellon, Ruathar, Wildrunner (Races of the Wild)
Frenzied Berserker, Reaping Mauler, War Chanter (Complete Warrior)
So any ideas?
The Map
If you looked at the map you can tell I need some names for these other places
The Traders would be a seafaring phoenician-like nation of master ship builders, merchants and pirates with human and hadozee swashbucklers and rogues.
Blah (any suggestions for a name?) standard D&D area, mostly wilderness dotted with ruins and some settlements and villages of hill dwarves, rock gnomes, semi-nomadic bands of regular PH halflings, spirit folk, hengeyokai, angry wild elves who worship fiendish dire bears, some yuan-ti lurking beneath the ruins of a human civilization dot the eastern coast, a pair of human city-states where the elite warriors ride dire eagles and compete against each other in yearly games (like in John Norman's Gor series) and a few snake worshipping human fishing villages.
The samurai area is hobgoblin samurais, warblades, fighters and their daimyo leaders battling and plotting for control of the land, humans are the subjugated peasants and also the secret ninja clans. The hobgoblins often hire the ninjas to eliminate rivals. The hobgoblin priesthood is open to both sexes and worship a lawful neutral death goddess, they despise human arcane casters and open use of magic by a human or even holding a weapon is punishable by death.
The ninja villages vary in training methods and styles and there is a constant rivalry over who is best, some are ninjas, some monks, some rogues, some are multi-classed sorcerer/ninjas, psion/monks, etc. Most of the human ninja villages are secret worshippers of the death goddess Wee Jas, some villages worship other gods, some more benign, others darker. A very few hengeyokai and spirit folk also live in some of the villages or outskirts.
The gray elf area would be gray elves allied with giant owls and a few korobokuru, kenku and crow-headed tengu villages.
The germanic area is the warring tribal humans, hill giants, goblinoids, ogres and orcs, standard D&D warlord-of-the-week area.
The feral ogres would be ogres and hill giants with the feral template from Savage Species smashing and eating anything that moves.
The roman area is the old 'hobgoblins as roman empire' idea, instead of roman senators its a council of wyrms and their hobgoblin legions with half-dragon centurians...
I like to have a general overview of the world and I probably won't do much more detail on these areas, they're mainly just in case someone wants to make an oddball character later on in the campaign or if the PCs want to explore I've got a basic idea of whats out there. I still want to put a city-state of mountain dwarf necromancers and a half-giant/goliath/neanderthal area somewhere on the map.
Forest Patrol (2-4 wood elf rangers plus equal number of wolf animal companions with tallfellow rogue riders)
Wood Elf Ranger 4: CR 4; Medium humanoid (elf); HD 4d10; hp 25; Init +7; Spd 30 ft.; AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14; Base Atk +4; Grp +8;
Atk +10 melee (1d8+4/19–20, masterwork longsword) or +8 ranged (1d8+4/x3, masterwork composite longbow);
Full Atk +10 melee (1d8+4/19–20, masterwork longsword) or +6/+6 ranged (1d8+4/x3, masterwork composite longbow);
SA archery combat style, favored enemy +2
SQ animal companion, wild empathy, elven traits
AL N; SV Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +1*; Str 18, Dex 16, Con 11, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 6.
Skills: Climb +11, Hide +10, Move Silently +10, Listen +9, Search +10, Spot +9, Survival +7.
Feats: Weapon Focus (longsword), Improved Initiative, Track, Endurance, Rapid Shot
Languages: Elven, Gnome, Sylvan.
Possessions: studded leather, masterwork strength composite longbow (Str +4) with 40 arrows, masterwork longsword.
Wolf Animal Companion: hp 20, Monster Manual 283.
Tallfellow Halfling Rogue 4: CR 4; Small humanoid (halfling); HD 4d6+8; hp 23; Init +7; Spd 20 ft.; AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14; Base Atk +3; Grp +0;
Atk +8 melee (1d4+1/18–20, masterwork rapier) or +7 ranged (1d6/x3, masterwork composite shortbow);
Full Atk +8 melee (1d8+4/19–20, masterwork longsword) or +7 ranged (1d6/x3, masterwork composite shortbow);
SA sneak attack +2d6
SQ halfling traits, trapfinding, evasion, uncanny dodge
AL N; SV Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +2; Str 13, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8.
Skills: Craft (trap making) +8, Disable Device +8, Hide +14, Listen +9, Move Silently +10, Ride +10, Search +10, Spot +9, Tumble +10.
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Improved Initiative
Languages: Elven, Gnome, Sylvan.
Possessions (size small of course): studded leather, masterwork composite shortbow (Str +1) with 40 arrows, masterwork rapier.
They attack with ranged attacks first to drive intruders away from behind pit traps and any who charge toward them that don't fall into the pits are attacked with melee weapons and flanked by the wolf riding halflings. They do not engage large groups in hand to hand, they flee and if pursued the wolves howl signaling other forest patrols.
The wood elf ranger and tallfellow halfling rogue had the following ability scores before racial and level four adjustments: Str 15, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8
Random Thoughts
A bonus to something for running around covered in woad? Immune to fear or a plus to will saves or AC, I dunno, any suggestions?
Duergar are known to sell magic items but its 2 times the listed DMG cost and they require 3 favors, which individually seem harmless enough.
Custom classes for the wood elves like the
Barbarian Variant: Hunter (as in Unearthed Arcana)
A barbarian who prefers crafty hunting over pure ferocity
Gains favored enemy and archery combat style (as ranger)
Loses all the rage abilities
Sorcerer/Wizard Variant: (as in Unearthed Arcana)
Gain an animal companion (as druid; treat sorcerer or wizard as a druid of half his class level).
Lose their familiar
And for the people under the hills the Illusionist Variant: Shadow Shaper (as in Unearthed Arcana)
http://www.oocities.org/wyrmdirt/kelt.JPG
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49652
A fomorian overking is behind the half-orc and half-ogre raiders and a trip to their village and battle with the huge ugly leader will stop the raids. Or maybe the neighboring pict tribe has to pay a harsh tribute to avoid the raids, they give two thirds of their children and crops to the fomorians every Samhain (Halloween) and the PCs go to stop it.
More elves?
I made a place for the high elves and wood elves, I might throw in grey elves as well somewhere in the background, still kinda toying around with the idea.
The Grey Elves live in 3 pocket planes of sylvan glades, each ruled by a queen, they come out once a month at sunset to celebrate and hunt in the forest and return at dawn. Time passes 12 times slower in their pocket planes so in the material plane its once a year they hunt. Their wood elf brethren tolerate the annual intrusion and prepare a huge banquet at the first new moon each year.
Scathach the shadowy one, along with her daughter athach, female trainers of young warriors