If you're on this page I'm hoping that means you're interested in playing in my campaign. I've tried to include the info you'll need to make a character in this world. If you have questions about anything, please feel free to ask.
Important Note
Unless you see the below message on a page, then the page is written from an in-world perspective. Consider them articles written by scholars throughout history.
| This is a meta article about the world or a campaign in it. |
World Primer
If you haven't already, you should read the
World Primer and its suggested follow ups before continuing here.
Playable Species
Below is the list of species you can choose for a character in Bastion. They are all slightly or heavily modified species from 5th Edition D&D or One D&D. Those with custom names have their base version listed as reference. A change common among many is a shortening of lifespans. Some species have had some aspects of their physical appearance and/or culture modified. See each race's page for details.
- Arlvar - Modified High Elves
- Dwarf
- Fenvar - Modified Wood Elves
- Goliath - Goliath appearance with the choice of Goliath or Half-Orc traits
- Human
- Deshvar - Modified Half Elf (Arlvar/Human hybrid)
- Tigvar - Modified Half Elf (Fenvar/Human hybrid)
Darkvision
The only race with darkvision is Dwarf. Fenvar have low-light vision, which lets you see in dim light as if it were bright light out to 60 feet, but grants no vision in darkness.
Attributes and HP
We'll be using Point Buy and the average starting and level up HP.
One D&D (5.5e)
If you would prefer to use the One D&d Playtest version of a class feel free, but you'll be limited to the sublcass(es) they provided in the test. Trying to mix old sublcasses into the new class structures is a mess I don't want to deal with.
Homebrew
I'm open to checking out a subclass if you have one you're interested in, but I make no guarantees I'll allow it. I won't be allowing full class homebrews.
Here is a list of Homebrews I've made.
Theme vs. Mechanics
I am a big proponent of building the character you want. If the mechanics of a certain class/subclass really appeal to you, but they don't fit with what you want your character to be from a role playing perspective, you should feel free to separate the two. Some of that is built into the world for magic users, which is covered below.
You are encouraged to rename and re-flavor your spells however you like. A discussion can be had regarding actually changing damage types of spells. When it comes to changing among most types I'm inclined to allow it, but things get trickier around necrotic, radiant, and force damage. In any case, if we do agree on damage type changes it will be a permanent change. You cannot change damage types on the fly (unless some class/subclass/spell actually has that build in).
Magic and Magic-like abilities
The in-world perspective on magic is covered in the
World Primer.
To be able to use magic a person must be born with, or somehow acquire, "it." It is not possible to simply learn the vocal and somatic components of a spell and be able to use magic. If you do not have "it" the spell will simply not work. Going forward I will refer to "it" as a "spark."
This is not to say all casters in this world are Sorcerers. In this world, if you play a character that casts spells or uses magic-like abilities of any type (other than warlock) your source of magic is this in-born spark. The difference in classes, instead, relate to the method by which your character controls and uses their spark. The character's class is more an aspect of their personality. For somebody who is bookish and intelligent they use their gift of memorization and love of books to create a system to understand and use their spark. That character would use wizard mechanics. Someone who is thoughtful and disciplined might instead use meditation to focus themselves; perhaps using a particular philosophy of life or structured way of thinking to aid them. That character would use cleric mechanics. And so on.
Note: All PCs have a spark. Even if you play a fully martial fighter with nothing we might consider a magic-like ability, no normal person can achieve what a leveled up PC can. The strength, speed, resilience, and so on. are just a less flashy aspects of having a spark. For early level martial characters you may not realize this about yourself.
Warlock
If you want to play warlock mechanics, but have no interest in the roleplay of a pact and all that, go for it. You, like any other magic user, were born with a spark.
If you're interested in the roleplay aspects of a pact (whether you use the mechanics of warlock or not), that is an option. It would be fatally heretical to suggest any being other than the God Emperor
Alverion could grant such power...That said, if you've got an idea for the type of being you'd like as a patron feel free to get in touch and we can talk about it. If you'd like to write a cool backstory that makes some implications about your patron, you can do that. I might need to discuss things with you, but we can work it out.
Cleric
As covered above, your source of magic is not a god or divine entity. You can choose to have cleric mechanics, of any domain, and style yourself however you wish. If you want to stay close to the traditional cleric your focus would be more on a particular philosophy of life rather than a god. Much like most gods in D&D settings have a set of tenets their worshipers try to follow, you have a set of tenets you follow and, if you choose, try to preach to other people. Though, if you tried to preach your tenets, and they run counter to the teachings of the
Church of Alverion you wouldn't have survived long enough to become a character in a campaign.
The Six Kingdoms
The world of Bastion is divided into six realms, officially known as kingdoms, though not all operate as monarchies. Below is a list of the kingdoms and a brief note about each so you can pick a place to start finding where your character is from.
- Athalon - Forest kingdom to the south. Home of the Fenvar.
- Kem Boldahr - The under-mountain Kingdom of the Dwarves.
- Nove Rezaan - Central Kingdom. Home to the Arlvar and their slave caste of Serfs Humans.
- Tasyod - The northernmost of the two western Human kingdoms. A decentralized realm with a culture that emphasizes individual freedoms.
- Thovkhal Highlands - Frigid kingdom of the Goliaths. Sits high above the rest of Bastion to the east, beyond Kem Boldahr.
- Vikinmark - The southern Human kingdom to the west. A very rigid society focused on a tyrannical level of efficiency and service to the realm.
Backstory Notes
All
You are encouraged, but by no means required, to have unfinished business as part of your backstory. This could be an explicit thing your character is actively trying to resolve, or just some loose string that might pull them back to face their past. In any case, you should aim for these things to be potentially resolvable by a party at or below level 7ish. So no aiming to overthrow an entire kingdom. Mix ups with criminal organizations, family issues, personal vendettas, and other things of that scale are what you want to aim for.
Dwarves, Goliaths, and Fenvar
It is somewhat unusual for
Dwarves and
Goliaths to venture into the lowland surface realms. It is by no means unheard of, I just suggest you consider why your character has decided to venture forth. Do you seek to earn wealth be selling your sword arm? Was your goliath tribe conquered by another and you fled to the lowlands rather than die alone in the cold? Did you shame your family and get banished from the mountain holds? Perhaps it was just curious wanderlust. Or something else entirely.
The same is true for
Fenvar, though they are even more unlikely to leave their homeland. Again, the reason could just be curiosity, but it's just worth mentioning how unusual it is for
Fenvar.
Serfs
If your character is a serf from
Nove Rezaan, part of your backstory will need to incorporate how you got out of
Nove Rezaan. As is covered in the
Nove Rezaan article, the serf do not have freedom of movement.
It is possible you simply left one night, ran for it, and got lucky as you worked your way to the border. There are instances of people smuggling serf children who have shown the gift of magic out of
Nove Rezaan to save them from being taken from their families for indoctrination into the Ohtari. The most likely avenue for this is
Tasyod, but
Vikinmark and
Athalon work too.
Campaign Start
The campaign will begin in the area around the town of Barosvik (bah-
rohs-vik), which is located in northeastern
Tasyod, in the foothills that rise up to
Kem Boldahr. Barosvik's primary economy is mining and logging.
It's up to you why you were traveling in the area. Perhaps you live in Barsovik or one of the surrounding villages or homesteads and you were just headed to town for the day. Maybe you've been hired as a courier to deliver something to Barosvik. It could be that you're just a wanderer seeing the world and taking work where you can get it. Or anything else you can think of.
I will be wanting at least one, perhaps two, of the party members to have gone to Barosvik for work as either a bounty hunter or member of a mercenary band. If this doesn't fit your character idea, don't worry about it at all. You can't swing a dead halfling around d&d characters without hitting a few swords for hire.
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