Magnamund as a DnD campaign setting

[Anonymous]

When I saw that there was a d20 LW RPG I went out and picked it up the same day. Like most here I read LW when I was a kid and loved it (though a lot of the actual details have faded from memory since I haven't read them in about 10 years). I really like the job that was done on it but I'm not sure I like the actual character creation and progression. Mind you it's given me ideas such as running Paladin special abilities by selecting vows like the Knights of Sommerlund and a class that is trained in "ancient skills" that are similar to Kai Disciplines. I don't think I want to give up the versitility of a regular DnD game .

Fortunately the hardest part of adapting the setting to a regular d20 setting would be to modify the Kai Lords to be more in line with the other classes (Psychic Warrior doesn't do it for me even though they'd be the closest equivalent). So here are some questions for those who might be interested in doing this:

How would you add other races (elves, halflings, or none at all) to it?

Would you change any of the Kai Disciplines with the inclusion of feats and classes with class features that might be better (Druids and Rangers vs. Animal Kinship)?

Where there any other gods besides Kai, Ishir, and Naar mentioned that Clerics could worship (don't remember)?

Do you perfer the regular d20 magic or the magic system out of LW?

How would you handle psionics (my only real complaint with LW is the psionic combat, I don't like having a seperate action that only a few are involved in)?

Alignment or Allegence?

Just some questions for thinking about, I'd be interested to see if others out there are thinking about running a regular DnD version of LW and what you would do. I can't help it I'm a Halfling at heart :twisted: .

 

[redlaco]

Sorry, I can't help you here. You see, I'm getting LW so I can play in Magnamund, so I will stick to the core rules. As much as I like D&D, I'm longing for some fresh air. The world of Joe Dever is already so rich, I wouldn't want to dilute it with generic D20. That last comment was of course in no way intended as a flame of some kind.

P.S.: Someone mentioned there is a chapter where they recommend using psion/ranger/paladin to emulate Kai Lords in D20, but I cannot give the page as I'm still waiting for my copy (damn lazy Amazon).

 

[stormgod]

well, heres a thought. I love d20, and i love the fact that theres a great job about game balance. That being said, you will not find balance if you introduce the kai lord into dnd and give them feats as well.

But then, should balance be the main focus every single time? If you read the lone wolf books, the kai lords kicked axes time and time again. They are what kept magnumund safe from the darklords for generations. If you play a kai lord, its like playing a jedi: you are one of the chosen few. In todays modern military, there are the elites of the elites...so the kai should be.

BUT...if balance is a strict issue in your campaign, bring the kai in, but disallow feats (thats what im doing now, so far its the beginning stages, but no major problems...yet). Or give the kai a higher ecl or challenge rating. I certainly would strongly discourage mulitclassing (kai/paladin mixings make me shudder), heck, i might even ban multiclassing of the kai at all. Make a rule that it is all or nothing with them. It keeps in flavor with lone wolf. Also, make sure you seperate the skills. Mongoose smashed a lot of skills together for game balance (which i kinda like in regular d20 i think), but if you are playing a campaign where other characters have to take seperate skills for spot, search listen, etc, so should the kai.
i cannot help you with the other classes yet as i have not played them yet.

Its great that 3rd ed has brought dnd back to a more all-around balance, but lets face it, anyone can munckin any class combo. Bring the kai in, they are just to good to keep out. And i think mongoose did a great job at keeping the style of the original lone wolf books intact.

 

[Eryx]

I plan on running it as D&D rather than LW rules.

What I was going to do was envision the Kai as multiclass Ranger/Psions. I'm still waiting for my copy of LW to turn up, but I will take a look at the Kai Lord class to see if its comptible, although it has been said that if you use feats with it, the class gets unbalanced. The problem there would be that players would complain if they couldn't get feats.

As for races, I'm going to use standard PHB races, but will have to go through the geography section and find suitable home territory for them.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote: That last comment was of course in no way intended as a flame of some kind.
]
Not taken. I haven't read the books in about a decade so I just have an idea of a setting that is already done indepth that you can easily convert to an RPG (unlike the disaterous attempts to run Tolken Middlearth).

After going over the Kai Lords again my main concern would be to balance them out their special abilities so they aren't overshadowed by others and to change around stuff that could be easily accomplised by feats. Also maybe give them a very select progression of psychic abilities to emulate psi-screen, MoM, etc when they select the Kai abilities for them (30 powers I believe at max.).

I haven't gotten a chance to go through the LW wizards that much but I get the impression that the DnD spellcasters would be much more powerful and versitily.

As for races I think the hardest ones to work in would be Half-Orcs. You'd either have to throw in Orcs as probably a barbaric race in the wilds that haven't drawn the attention of the Darklords yet or where released as an early and weaker version of Giaks so they aren't Dark Spawn any more. Beastmen could possibly replace them too. Half-Giaks would be easier to substitute but I think they'd still be dark spawn even if raised among their human relatives. Though a Half Giak Kai Lord might be fun to play with a worse hatred of the Dark Lords then other Kai.

Finally as far as skills most of the people I know had already switched over to stealth and alertness (perception) and Acrobatics and Athletics where being debated (freeing some classes up for some much needed skills they lacked).[/quote]

 

[Golem2176]

There are some interesting ideas here, I'll have to give a few of them a whirl!

 

[stormgod]

in terms of the kai lord, remember to play up their code of conducts. They are champions of GOOD. HEROES. If the kai lord starts acting like a villian, well, they lose their connection to their spiritual side (an often overlooked, yet oh-so-important part of LW in my opinion), and thusly lose most of their powers, especially the psychic ones, or any supernatural abilities. In this way, they are restricted as well.

There are no neutral kai. There are no evil kai.

 

[Anonymous]

Some quick thoughts I had while skimming the book:

Use Willpower as Psionic Strength Points (PSP).

Animal Kinship 1-Wild Empathy class skill, no effect on Magical Beasts.
AK 2-Bonus to the "push" use of Handle Animal.
AK 3-Maybe specialized bonus to Knowledge (nature).
AK 4-Speak With Animals, possibly x/day.
AK 5-More SwA or extend AK to Magical Beasts as the normal class ability.

Camouflage 1-Bonus to Hide & Move Silently.
C 2-As is.
C 3-As is. Maybe limited stacking (+2, +1, +1).
C 4-As is.
C 5-As is.

H 1-As is. Less effective than Lay On Hands.
H 2-As is.
H 3-As is.
H 4-As is. x/day. Or extend H1 to affect others, like Lay On Hands.
H 5-As is.

Hunting 1-Nature Sense class ability.
Hu 2-As is.
Hu 3-Add Wis bonus to Fort Saves vs. poison. A 9th level Druid gains immunity, but the overlapping Discipline gains merit lowering.
Hu 4-Sneak Attack class ability, 2d6.
Hu 5-Alertness feat.

Mind Over Matter-As is, but requiring 1 PSP per Tier per round.

Mindblast-As is, but requiring 1 PSP per Tier per round and allowing a Will Save. No psychic combat.

Mindshield: Add Tier to Will Saves. Requires psionic focus.
MS 2-Thought Shield Discipline.

Sixth Sense 1-As is. Requires psionic focus.
SS 2-As is. Requires psionic focus.
SS 3-As is, but requires 3 PSP.
SS 4-As is. 4 PSP.
SS 5-As is. 5 PSP.

Tracking 1-Track feat.
T 2-Woodland Stride class ability.
T 3-Trackless Step class ability, limited by armor.
T 4-As is, but only species, size, and maybe sex.
T 5-As is.

Weaponskill 1-Weapon Focus feat
W 2, 3, 4-Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, or Far Shot Feat.
W 5-Combat Expertise feat. Too much as is.

 

[Eryx]

How would you add other races (elves, halflings, or none at all) to it?

Elves could be seen as mortal descendents of the Elder Magi, and as such are a almost extinct or dying race. Dwarves we already have, and I can see gnomes being a close race to them, but with more magical talent.
Halflings are the odd one... I would use them as D&D presents them but have them much more itergrated into human civilisation.

Would you change any of the Kai Disciplines with the inclusion of feats and classes with class features that might be better (Druids and Rangers vs. Animal Kinship)?

Converting the classes would be the difficult bit. I think only the Dwarven Gunner works well crossed over to D&D, although I would drop Secrets of the Gun in order for the class to take feats normally.

The Kai class is definately too good to allow as is, regardless of adding feats. The best way to handle the Kai IMO is as multiclass Ranger/Psychic Warrior without the option of taking any other classes. After all, being a member of the Kai is a job for life, not just for as long as you can be bothered.

Where there any other gods besides Kai, Ishir, and Naar mentioned that Clerics could worship (don't remember)?

The history makes reference to others but none are named. The question comes down, how to handle clerics? Do them as clerics of philosophy (good, neutral, evil) or actually stat up which domains go with which deity?

Do you perfer the regular d20 magic or the magic system out of LW?

I much perfer the D20 magic system, but thats just personal preference.

How would you handle psionics (my only real complaint with LW is the psionic combat, I don't like having a seperate action that only a few are involved in)?

Agreed. I say that theres nothing wrong with using the XPH for psionics in this case.

Alignment or Allegence?

Alignment. Its a staple of D&D/D20 and theres no reason to drop it.

Just some questions for thinking about, I'd be interested to see if others out there are thinking about running a regular DnD version of LW and what you would do. I can't help it I'm a Halfling at heart :twisted: .

Oh definately. I have time to work on it, but heres what I've been thinking (not coiunting what I've posted above).

Paladins are knights rather than holy warriors (so no worrying about those pesky moral problems as much).

If Ishtar had been a neutral deity, things would be easier for clerics. You just choose good, neutrality or evil, but as is, neutral seems to be missing out in this regard.

Psionics I want to use to cover the abilities of the Kai but do I allow the classes as standard core classes outside of the Kai? Tough call. I did consider allowing only Kai characters access to Psychic Warrior, and some minions of the Darkords access to Psion.

Just some initial ideas to think about.