GoatDog Games Presents (Har Har) - Heva

Introduction

Here's how to, in a nutshell, create a character that's in tune with the setting that I want to run the game in. I make references to more specific details that I may not have posted yet. Those details will appear on the website in the very near future.

Table of Contents

• Ability Scores
• Races
• Classes
• Skills
• Feats
• Equipment
• Description
• Background
• Leveling

Ability Scores

I'm going to be a little different and insist that we use the "Point Buy" method for generating ability scores.

Utilize the method described in the 3.5 DMG but assume you have 40 points to spend.

Yes, I know that's a lot more points than the highest point value reccomended in the DMG, but when taking into account the way we've historically rolled ability scores and what seems to be considered an acceptable array of ability scores, you need that many points.

For those that don't have the book here's how it works

1. Assume that your character starts with 8's in every score.
2. Buy a new ability score for each one you want to improve, referencing the table provided below for how much the improvement costs.

Example: I can convert an 8 in intelligence to an 18 if I subtract 16 from my current point total.

No character can have a score over 18 before the application of racial modifiers.

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Races

The following races are automatically available for play:

• Bugbears
• Dwarves
• Elves
• Gnomes
• Goblins
• Haflings
• Half-Elves
• Hobgoblins
• Humans

The following races will not be available for play:

• Orcs
• Half-Orcs

Please note, this is not because I have some irrational hatred of Orcs and Half-Orcs. They simply will not work as a PC race in any way, shape or form within the setting as I currently envision it.

Other races can be made available, but you'll need to talk to me about it first so we can figure out how to fit it into the setting in a way that makes sense.

I am making some relatively minor changes to the various suites of racial abilities. Be sure to read the racial descriptions carefully.

Example: In an homage to 4E, Dwarves no longer have darkvision. Instead, they have low-light vision.

Your choice of race will affect what starting points are available to choose from when we're putting together your character's background for levels one through five.

Sub-races are completely gone. Totally. Yes, that means that Drow as a sub-race no longer exist, though there certainly may be a group of matriarchal underground dwelling elves that are in thrall to an evil vermin obsessed goddess.

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Classes

You can use any class from the 3.5 PHB, the XPH, any of the "Complete" books and the Artificer from the Ebberon Campaign Setting.

I am teetering on the edge of saying Paladins aren't available. The way I'm electing to handle religious faith in Heva (and some of you are already familiar with a part of this) makes Paladins extremely difficult to find a place for.

As with the races, some of the base assumptions about classes have changed. Please read the class details carefully before you put your concept together.

I'm open to prestige classes, but you need to talk to me about your concept first.

I may, as the game progresses, introduce exciting new classes and class abilities. You will always see these in action via NPC's before they're available for play.

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Skills

There are no changes to existing class skills.

There are some changes to racial skill modifiers, so be sure to look at the page for racial descriptions.

Some skills now have a role-playing requirement (described in the Leveling section) that must be met in order to be improved. These skills are:

• All craft, profession and knowledge skills.
• Learning a new language will require that you find someone who can already speak the language.

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Feats

We will be using weapon group feats instead of the normal class based weapon proficiencies. All of the rules for using weapon groups can be found here at the Hypertext d20 SRD.

Leadership is not available as a feat, though you might be able to change my mind if you give me a good reason. Honestly, I think it's just a pain in the butt to deal with.

Let me know if you plan to take a feat that isn't in the PHB or the XPH. I'll want to look it over if I'm not familiar with it.

There may be some changes to the feats that you automatically get from a class, so be sure to look at the class details.

Feats that have a role-playing requirement (described in the Leveling section) are:

• All item creation feats from any book
• All metamagic feats from any book
• All metapsionic feats from any book
• All weapon group feats
• All armor and shield proficiency feats

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Equipment

All new characters can spend a total of 13,000 gp on starting equipment.

Feel free to spend that extra 130 XP on item creation, subtracting the construction costs for the items from your gear total.

You can make items for other characters, but only if you've been adventuring together for an appropriate amount of time since you acquired the item creation feat you want to use.

Please note, you won't know if your character has been adventuring with any other characters until after the levels one through five background creation process, which I intend to handle on a one on one basis via email.

The list of what items are readily available for purchase is different from your standard medieval setting and can be found on the items and goods page.

Example: You cannot purchase iron weapons, armor or implements in Heva and you probably won't want to use iron items looted off the the corpses of Orcs and Orc-Kin. Ancestral steel and sky-wrought weapons and implements exist, but they are quite rare and very expensive. Your character cannot start the game with one, even if it had enough starting gold to pay for it.

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Description

In some cases, the physical norms for what a race looks like have changed from the default assumptions in the PHB. Please carefully read the racial descriptions to get a sense of how things have changed.

Example: Dwarves now have dark skin and tightly curled black hair.

You can choose to subvert these norms if you'd like but I'll role-play accordingly. In most cases that means your character will be treated in a manner similar to how we treat people who look obviously different, like dwarves, albinos and the like. Some groups, particularly those obsessed with the purity of racial bloodlines or that believe that physical appearance reflects the moral state of your spirit, may react more negatively.

Alignment in Heva is treated the same as it is in Ebberon, even though the connection between gods and their priests in Heva is much tighter. The spiritual beings we'll be referring to as gods (until I can train you all to call them something different) aren't generally concerned with matters of good, evil, law and chaos. This is why I'm having difficulty finding a place for Paladins.

How I'm handling religious faith in Heva is sufficiently different from the norm that it deserves its own section. That being said, if all you want is to pick a god and say "I worship this one" that can be done as simply as it can be done in any other D&D game. Things get more complicated if you play a cleric, but even those complications are mostly optional and made inconsequential by selecting the correct patron spirit.

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Background

One thing I want to try to encourage is more detailed backgrounds for characters before they enter play. There are two strategies I want to employ in order to acheive this.

Firstly, I'm going to create a gallery section for characters on this website where information about everyone's character will be posted. This gallery will have a number of different sections for describing different aspects of your character.

Each of these sections will have a minimum required wordcount. Once you've provided me with material for each section that is (a) at least the minimum wordcount in length and (b) of sufficient quality, I will award your character with 15% of the XP needed to level.

The gallery will also have a section for an image of your character. If you provide me with a hand-drawn picture of your character I will award another 15% of the XP needed to level. This picture can be drawn by you or by someone you know. You could also choose to provide an image taken from the internet, but you need to have digitally processed it in a way that significantly personalizes it.

Ultimately, I'll be the arbiter of whether the material you've provided is of sufficiently high enough quality to warrant the XP bonus. A stick figure drawing of your character isn't going to cut it, unless you can convince Rich Burlew to draw it for you.

Secondly, we'll work together to generate background material that describes what your character did in terms of adventuring from from level one to the start of play.

The procedure for generating this material is as follows:

• Using the information provided in the racial descriptions and the regions of Heva, figure out where your character started play at 1st level.
• Send me an email with this information.
• I will reply with a number of potential adventures your character could have embarked on as well as some role-playing related questions.
• You will need to provide answers to the role-playing questions and tell me which adventure your character would have wanted to embark on.
• I will reply to your email with a description of what happened during the adventure you embarked on as well as new potential adventures and more related role-playing questions.
• This process will continue as needed until the entire background for your character has been developed.
• Completion of this process will result in the full development of a role-playing background for your character that will be used in future games and another award of 20% of the XP needed to level.

All three parts of the background creation process are entirely voluntary, but by the end of it your character will have 50% of the XP needed to attain the next level. I figure this should be a significant enough inducement to get most of the group to participate.

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Leveling

All characters start the game with 15,130 XP and are fully trained up to sixth level.

Since I started playing D&D way back in 2001 the issue of how to handle leveling has teeter-tottered between complicated and time consuming training rules and "DING!! You level and train up in 2.1 seconds." I'm going to take what I feel is a somewhat different tack to the whole issue. D&D is a role-playing, not an accounting, game.

With that in mind, here's how I want to handle it:

• When I award you enough XP to get your character to the next level, your character immediately gets the new hit dice, hit points and ability score improvements.
• After resting for the minimum amount of time required for your character's race, it gets all the benefits of leveling that do not have a role-playing requirement.
• A skill, feat or class ability that has a role-playing requirement means you must find a mentor or teacher who will impart the necessary knowledge pertaining to it before you can use it.

Example: If you want your character to take Whirlwind Attack as a feat, before the feat becomes "active" you must find an NPC (or another character) that can teach your character the basics of the technique.

Additionally, it is perfectly acceptable for your character to seek out training before leveling. Essentially, the basics are explained but it just doesn't "click" in a way that allows use until the character levels.

The motivation behind adding in role-playing requirements is that I want you to play your character as if the new abilities gained upon leveling are the product of conscious thought and effort towards a goal of self-improvement,rather than a mysterious "power-up" that just sort of happens after you kill a specific number of creatures. You should be thinking about your character's future abilities and planning accordingly.

Please look at the sections detailing classes, skills and feats to see which ones have role-playing requirements.

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