Bending Elements In D&D

[weirdlet]

I am having that strange and terrible urge to GM again. One of my major campaigns is coming to an end, and in the interim there's probably going to be a bunch of things my crew will be trying. I might put in a bid to try running something for them, IF I can come up with enough for folks to actually play with without tearing my hair out.

I really, really want to do a game with the Avatar D20 supplement the good folks of the GitP boards came up with- I don't necessarily want to run an Avatar: the Last Airbender game.  So my thoughts are running around the question of what do folks think that a setting with the A:tLA system of 'magic', rather than the classic wizards, druids and clerics, would be like.

My initial thought is that the various types of 'bending are mostly human's magic, but with a couple of other species getting in on the action either as having mimicked it, or having originated it.  Possibly non-human types like elves have their own magics, but I'll have to figure out what specific systems I want to include, so that things don't get too wildly out of whack (although high-level anything in a d20 system is going to be screwy any way you look at it).  I like the idea of combat being more about the different moves you can do, physically or elementally, rather than straight-up fire and forget arcana.

As for the setting itself- I'm thinking that this might be taking place in a small sea, in a place where there are a lot of large islands kind of near to each other, so that boat travel is frequent but you can also fetch up on a shore where you could go for a few days without seeing water on the other side, and possibly find the edges of some larger continents where civilization's grown up.  I'm seeing the elves as fairly reclusive on their particular islands, but the lower classes among them are known to show up outside their shores, fishing and trading.

Another big thing to think about- what are the problems that the adventurers are going to encounter?  Things like dragons and zombies are very very classic D&D, but they aren't going to fit without some serious adjustment- like if zombies are just corpses being blood-bent by a master witch.  You know, that could be an interesting thing, because as is, blood-bending is basically epic tier- it would be much easier to puppeteer a dead thing by its liquids than a live one.

Comments

[jade-mushroom.livejournal.com]

dont play D&D, but i think it might be harder to bend zombies, because first the blood is congealing and all the solid matter settling. Then as the body continues to rot, everything liquefies inside. i could see bloodbending bodies more than a week old turning into a bending of liquified mush... ew that's a nasty image

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

True enough- just brings up that I need to think of some interesting things for adventurers to encounter aside from random bandits and assassins.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Since bending is a spiritual thing in Avatar and not magic I suggest that all the people should be able to do it but some of the nun human races probably have a natural incline for one of the elements. For example you will find more earth benders than any other kind among the dwarfs, orcs with there temperament probably have more fire benders, etc. But that also depends upon how spiritual they are in your world, after all if your elves are egoistical atheists then there are probably no benders among them.

What kind of races did you plan to use and what kind of 'culture' do you plan to give them?

When it comes to monsters I suggest that you use evil spirits of different kind, since the A:tLA is an world of spirits. Animal possessing spirits that twist there hosts bodies into monstrous forms and drives them mad. Hate filled ghosts that possess corpses and create zombies, etc.
For inspiration I suggest the *Monster Books' to Werewolf: the Apocalypse; 'Kindred of the East', and chapters about spirits in the Exalted books. Also the comic book the Portent.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

You know, I really like that idea. There can be spiritually 'blighted' areas that screw around with the local nature and even people, especially if there were wars not too long ago. If I'm not using an Avatar character, then perhaps there needs to be a 'shaman' class or skill for characters to use, to be able to communicate and/or cleanse a place after the melee to avoid getting chewed on by its twisted critters.

Cultures- I'm not so strong on the cultures of most of the races yet, but I do know that the elves were once expansionist and are now isolationist after they screwed up royally and the gods said 'nuh-uh'. They live (the nobles and wealthy, anyway) on a warm-climate island to the north, while they hold territory on the archipelago of the main mini-continent to the south. A lot of their peasants fish and farm there, defended and occasionally hassled by royal soldiers. Bending tends to show up as a result of human ancestry now, so it's low-class- but it's still envied by the nobles.

Below that, there's a goodly expanse of farmland and forests that are mostly human-occupied but pretty cosmopolitan in the cities, with dwarves, halforcs and halflings and the like. To the south are the chillier mountains where the dwarves come from. In the middle, that used to all be orcish territory, even caught between the dwarves and the elves. They've been conquered, fought back, and reconquered as human and halfling settlers came in from across the surrounding seas, and mostly have hung on from sheer stubbornness. Orcs, goblins and ogres and such might take the position of oni in this setting- they're grumpy, tribal, and pushed to the fringes, and mostly stick to scuffles when encountered, but are still pretty dangerous.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you have any book with a Shaman class or if you are just going to use the Druid class with modifications (I just realised that I know next to noting about druids in D&D), but a book that I could recommend as interesting reading is 'Skull & Bones' from Green Ronin Publication. It has rules for sailing and ship and Voodoo with two Voodoo priest character classes that probably could be used as Shaman.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'd use druids from the PHB, they're one of the big game-breakers that get melee, shapeshifting, and massive damage and/or healing spells. But I will check out Skull and Bones, in my current game I know that book's been used for ship combat and our 'captain' character.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

You plan to only use the traditional D&D races?

So the Elves are Warhammer Highelves without the Dark & Wood elves?
Any special reason why upper-class and/or pure-blooded elves don't bend?

Suggestions: if the dwarfs lives/comes from underground then there is no reason why they don't can have cave openings, villages or even cities on/under some of the islands. The idea that dwarfs only live in the mountains is a cliché.

If the Goblonids are the standard D&D version then I suggest that they have weary few benders among them and the once who are often became Shamans or tribal leaders

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

FOr the most part, yes- this whole thing is to basically play with 'D&D, but with wuxia and elemental kung-fu instead of high sorcery'. I love D&D, but I'm just getting to the end of a high-level, standard arcane campaign and I really want to try something different for a while.

Certainly the dwarves can have settlements elsewhere- I figure that they originate in the mountains, but that was a long time ago and things have gotten fairly cosmopolitan since then.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Why should they have originated in the mountains, if they live underground then the valleys are easier to tunnel to. Mountains are only good if they have veins of minerals or if you plan to create a defence

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

That is a fair point- dwarves seem to be associated with mountains because there's a lot of stone there for them to work, I think. Perhaps there are farming communities in the valleys, which then feed into stone-based cities in the cave-systems of the mountains.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Actually the most of the dwarfs live deep, deep underground, the cities and villages at the surface are mostly colonies or settler villages that have grown.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

As for the elves- this is how I've described it on the thread I posted in WorldBuilding on the boards-

Once upon a time, the ability to use all four elements was heartily abused in the long-ago wars of elven expansion. The gods decreed that that wasn't happening anymore, and that no one would ever be able to bend more than one element again- and further, that the elves would not bend at all. Nowadays, 'bending is considered a human magic, with the talent being found among other races usually indicating some human ancestry. But some factions- namely, a brash young elven prince whose star is rising behind the high walls of the elves' mysterious capital- think that the ability to not only regain their gods-stolen gifts, but to wield all four at once again can be recovered by delving into ancient secrets found beyond the current elven borders. His agents have broken the isolation in secret, and if he finds what he's looking for, all sorts of trouble may cut loose.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that explains a lot.

Suggestion: If the elves are as long lived as in normal D&D or just lives to the 300 hundred as in Trudvagn, then I have hard to see them as normal farmers, they should be using one of the 'lesser' races as peasants and servants (I suggest halflings as they are good at it, don't complain as long as they have something to eat and are not as tall as the elves).

Of some reason I now picture the Elves as Edo Japanese

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

That is totally what I was going for^^

I figure the peasants are more half-elven than anything, and that the farther you are from the capital, or the more you associate with the mortal types, the shorter your lifespan is, sort of borrowing from Dragon Age where elves were once immortal, but adapt so easily that being around the 'shemlen' or 'quick-children' brought them to age and die.

Ooh- now there *is* a thought. Halflings and half-elves are the peasants, but there are elven nobles to oversee things, at what is basically a punishment post out in the world. Rome, Greece, Japan, China- every big civilization had a tendency to see being away from the heart of their own culture as a punishment.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

"That is totally what I was going for^^"

Now I can not unsee the elves as a pointy eared version of the Crane Clan from L5R

"Ooh- now there *is* a thought. Halflings and half-elves are the peasants, but there are elven nobles to oversee things, at what is basically a punishment post out in the world. Rome, Greece, Japan, China- every big civilization had a tendency to see being away from the heart of their own culture as a punishment."

Sounds like a good idea.


B.T.W. if you did not know it so has Dragon #289 rules for wuxia ninjas

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Are you planning to give the Elves some kind of magic to "compensate" there lack of bending ability or are they just surviving on their long life that’s gives them the ability to go high level and stay there?

Humm, the later is actually a good idea, the elves could be like Piandao, Mai and Ty Lee so skilled that they don’t need bending to be a high level threat.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

That's something of what I was thinking- I was considering giving them a few little tricks for flavor, light, maybe a few talk-with-animals or spirits tricks. I'm still looking to get a hold of Skull & Bones to see if I can work in the shamanic stuff rather than full-on arcana.

Hm. Bards. Their abilities are spell-like- I'm not sure they'd fit in. Better for rogues to take up the role of flim-flammery when needed.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

You could have it so that elves begin on a higher level, to represent that they have spent at least 50 years or more training, and that gives them an edge against benders

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

P.S. http://genzoman.deviantart.com/art/Blood-elf-in-L5R-81891978?q=boost%3Apopular%20legend%20of%20five%20rings&qo=12

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

d'oh, missed the first line. I'm thinking that not everyone should bend- the D20 supplement actually provided some pretty good variants to make mundane melee fighters effective and snappy. Bending would definitely affect how things are done, but even in the Avatar world, only about 10% of the population does the practical magic.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Did not mean that everybody should be able to do it but that bending should be found among all the races

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Ahh, cool. Yes, that I can agree with.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

A question - What technological level had you planed to give the people in this world?

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the long wait on the reply- I was thinking roughly A:tLA level tech, maybe without the tanks and war-balloons being in major use yet. Having just seen a special on Korean turtle-ships, I'm thinking that would totally be a highlight of the elven navy, or at least it was at the height of their power.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

A suggestion - you could use the Planetouched templates to represent human/spirit offspring

Also, do you know http://pachycrocuta.deviantart.com/gallery/ ? If not, cheek him out, he has a loot of good art and some that could be inspiring for your world.

[paka.livejournal.com]

Hey, just ran into this comment while being rather vain and looking for myself. Thanks. :)