The Broken Land of Therus!


Homebrew and House Rules


Well, hello all (first, excuse me for any grammatical errors)

I have been a DM for . . . a long time now, but normally i always use standard campaign settings (FR, Golarion, Eberron, etc...)and now I'll see if I can create something new

I have been toying with a couple of ideas, and I would like to know what you think of them,or if you have any idea to improve them

The world of Therus was an ordinary fantasy world, until a magical cataclysm changed the world from a fertile land to a wasteland full of monsters and demons

A group of spellcasters discovered a spell to create multiple planar areas named "spheres", dragging with them several kingdoms and civilizations to create their strongholds where they could survive
Some of these spellcasters did so altruistic, others with darker motives and others as an experiment

Spheres
They range from little more than a house to small continents , each has its own ecology , seasons, and planar traits . The sphere is maintained and grows through a crystal
When a crystal is corrupted , or the area is invaded by monsters from the wastelands , it is said that the sphere is collapsing

Some named Spheres (all the names are placeholders)

The Not-so Medieval Land
Climate Temperate - cold / Small Continent
Medieval kingdom inhabited mostly by humans, following a war against dark elves and orcs , the kingdom " welcomed " the slaves used against them, and after years of work and pacification(and some concentration camps) , the kingdom has a population of drow and orcs ( some goblins too) fully civilized and integrated
The north of the sphere is home to a cold region where white bugbears, trolls and worse live, always dreaming on raiding the southern towns

The Heavy Metal Land
Desolate -Hot Climate / Large Continent
A land of extreme terrain and harsh inhabitants mainly occupied by human barbarians , orcs , ogres, and goblinoids fighting among themselves and against wastelands invaders
This sphere has the quality that usually " throw " their occupants in other apheres without notice
Many sorcerers are born in this land with demon or undead power, and rise to important (and normally evil) figures of power
Also the Sphere seems to colapse at any time

The Advanced Land
Temperate Climate / Small Continent and lot of islands
Renaissance kingdom, ruled by a tough but benign queen who runs her kingdom firmly and harsly to achieve her goal, the highest level of wealth, power and refinement.
A religion based on the ideas of piety , discovery and conquest has great influence on the Sphere ( like sisters of battle but more demure )
The area is inhabited mainly by humans and gnomes

The Elf - Dwarf - Dragon Alliance
Magical Sphere / Large Continent
Tired of losing territories and treasures at the hands of the younger races , the two kingdoms were united in order to regain their lost heritage, lands and destroy their enemies
The dwarf and elf spheres joined by a ritual , and since then elf and dwarf have a strong bond between them, recently a flight of silver drakes joined their cause

The Oriental Land
Sub -tropical Sphere / Small continent and islands
Oriental-like kingdom, with a varied terrain
An exotic land inhabited by:
Feuding clans of shifters (feline): Chinesse-like, with citiy-states ruled by extremely wealthy nobles and generals
Devoted and hard -working insect -people: Very disciplined, with many customs and rituals for almost everything, are divided into 3 castes (Beetle, Mantis Ant)
Goblinoids nomads who ride on the backs of dinosaurs: Warlike, aggresive and deeply spiritual

The Savage Land
Tropical - Sub -tropical Sphere / Large Continent and islands
A savage and primitive land , with large savannah with catflok living in the back of inmense and peaceful kaiju turtles.
Dark and dense jungles full of dinosaurs and dire animals, where lizardfolk monks guard and protect dark secrets
Poisonous swamps , where the vermin are driven by a hidden evil and dark spirits abound
And in the tropical isles, small clans of halflings live happily worshipping a fiery volcano, home to his phoenix god

The Necroland
Template - Cold Sphere / Small Continent ( Negative aspect )
The Sphere is a dark and cold land, with creepy forests, stormy seas and dark mountains
Those who do not fit , halfbreeds, exiles, fugitives, all are welcome in the land of the Skeleton King, as long as they remember who rules
The inhabitants are mainly half-orcs , halflings , tieflings and half- undead
The Skeleton King hates liches and vampires

The Magic -Land
City - Sphere ( Magic )
A sphere of flying cities orbiting around the first core, a crystal tower home to the Archmage, an enigmatic being of great power, which is king in the sphere and allows or denies entry and who live in his domain
Merchant houses, nobles and guilds compete against each other and wizards come from all over to learn under the tutelage of the many magicians who live here

Wastelands
What remains of the world
Tha land is corrupted, strange and fleshy forests full of aberrations, hive-like mountains, blood-red seas, swamps of poisonous vapors and acid waters, storms of magical energy, blood rains, etc . . .
Population centers here are occupied by monsters, demons and the desperate or unfortunate, the most powerful leaders (named Archlords) include demon princes, dragons and powerful undead like liches and mummies
All who die here lose their souls to the nearest Archlord

The problem i have now is how to handle the "Sphere Travel", maybe some organization, or the merchan houses. . . or some spells?
Also the principal idea is that everything can exist, a player can choose one of the spheres or invent their own to his character (maybe someone wants to play a Tengu Gunslinger from a western-like place)

Also the spell to create a sphere is widelly known, but needs expensive and dangerous components (some of them exist only in the wasteland)

Well, thats all for now, any ideas, thoughts are welcome


And now some races!

Child of Nightmare
+2 Dex, +2 Char, -2 Str (0)
Small Size
Darkvision, Greater (3)
Prehensile Tail (2)
Spell-Like abilities: Lullaby, Ghost sound, Dancing lights and Cause Fear 1/day (1)
+2 Intimidate (2)
Voice of Terror (no penalties to intimidate from size) (1)

The childs of nightmares are small humanoids with dark purple skin and bright yellow, red, white or blue glowing eyes, their bodies have complex tattoo-like patterns, the hair is usually black, dark blue or white, and they have large talis (nearly the duble of their size).
Sometimes a sense of deja-vu with surrounds them, as they once inhabited the plane of dreams, feasting on the nightmares of the sleepers
Now, exiled from their home plane by a force of malice and nightmare, they try to find a new home

Sarauk
+2 Dex, +2 Wis, -2 Char (0)
Medium Size
Darkvision (2)
Swim speed 20' and hold breath (3)
+2 Knowledhe (History) and Stealth (3)
Tail Slap (1d6) (2)

A race of proud and haughty sclay humanoids, with green and black scales , their faces are more human than lizard, including hair and in some cases, beards, they have strong tails capable of crushing bone
Their society is a strict one, with vampire-priests and powerful leaders

And a new idea
I thought of giving a +2 bonus to every race in any charasteristic (including humans)

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