The group of friends that I play with enjoy Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. This will be a short post dictating how to run PSYCHOPOMPs in 5e.
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| I'm not the biggest fan of the DND 5e art. It seems a bit too generic fantasy for my liking. |
PSYCHOPOMPS is a homebrew setting, which means it is an independently created world, different from the default setting of The Forgotten Realms in DND 5e. Thus, it is perhaps important to focus on the key elements of PSYCHOPOMPS that differentiates it.
1. A Haunted World
The Resurrection serves as a key part of the world, and its impacts are felt dearly and widely. Any mortal being that dies comes back as a monster in 108 minutes. The world lives in fear of death and much of society and culture revolves around managing and dealing with death. Spirits are everywhere, powering neon signs or haunting a public toilet. Sparrow boys run about the city, bringing news of recent deaths to the Grave Priests. Monsters roam the wilderness outside of cities and towns, making travel dangerous.
2. Ghost-Power and Gunpowder
PSYCHOPOMPS is designed around Earth's late 19th century, a period that coincides with World War One. Thus, we begin to see more widespread adoption of the firearm, printing press and locomotive, all key inventions of the burgeoning industrial age. Anachronistic elements of technology are present, a product of access to (relatively) clean and renewable energy in the form of the ghosts. As such, it is not a rarity to see a man clad in full plate mail, riding on a Thunderbolt locomotive, cleaning his pistol and two swords.
3. An Authoritarian World
To survive the apocalypse, the governments had to be hard and strong. They made the difficult choices to sustain humanity. Fast-forward to today, man has eked out his place in the world and the government now has to learn to rebuilt instead of merely survive. Authoritarian and strict rules are enforced heavily and institutional power is significant. You will not be one of the advantaged in this society. You are the downtrodden, fighting for your own place.
4.Capitalism Comes to All
Guilds and corporations have significant power in their access to spirits and ghosts. The streets are run by professional hooligans and thugs, the shops all sponsored by certain groups. You exist in a society that is defined by a lack of resources, which raises prices and thus the power of the guilds with it. In a world dictated by silver coin, a professional ghost hunter and treasure seeker is sure to succeed, provided they survive their adventures. You will not be flush with money. You are part of the people society seeks to keep poor and your job is to change that.
5. No More Western Medieval Society
PSYCHOPOMPS is set in a world inspired by South-East Asian culture and history, which means it will differ greatly from the faux medieval settings that inspire The Forgotten Realms. This means thick, steaming jungle instead wintery forests, avoiding heatstroke instead of frostbite, and dragons do not have wings. It will thus also follow more Asian values and social conventions and characters will act as such.
6. Magic is Illegal without A Certificate
Magic is most commonly derived from a pact with a great spirit, which is easily controlled and regulated by the government. Warlocks patrol the streets, graduates of the Occult Custodian Schools. Governmental scholarships and bonds ensure that the brightest, magical minds end up as salaried employees. Wizards and Sorcerers (as well as illegal Warlocks) keep their powers secret or have fake credentials. It is important that they avoid getting caught.
Onto more mechanical changes to the system, here are houserules I would include in running the game:
-Use the gritty realism rules for long/short rests. This makes the characters less invincible and more human which is important to the themes of this type of world. It also disincentivises immediate acts of violence and reckless use of weapons.
-For short rests, one can take the maximum of one hit dice rolled with each of the following: Fire, Food, Water and Shelter. If 3 of the 4 are missing, Players will start becoming Exhausted, which will take up a slot of Inventory each time until the player rests.
-To aid in this, we will be stealing the Supply mechanic from Into the Wyrd and Wild. 1 Gold = 1 Supply. 1 Supply is 1 day's worth of food, 1 day's worth of water or 1 day's worth of lamp oil and kindling.
-For your Inventory, you have the same number of Inventory Slots as your Strength score. Smaller items can stack into one Slot. Backpacks and other similar equipment can add Slots. Larger items may take up more slots.
-Death Saves are secret and rolled by the Dungeon Master. This creates tension and fear, as well as increasing the urgency to help one another.
-Reaction Rolls for monsters and other beings. Most intelligent creatures are not inclined towards wanton violence and this allows for communication. Exorcising a spirit does not necessarily require one to fight it and communication is a fantastic way of conflict resolution.
-On that same note, Morale will also be a mechanic. When enemies are sufficiently intimidated or defeated, they will start to desert or surrender.
-Inspiration is a shared pool, it is given for moments of strong character development/drama/conflict. The group is a community and its survival is contingent on each member contributing.
-You can defer choice of languages (or any similar type of information) and reveal your choice when you feel is useful. This avoids situations in which players make choices without knowing enough about the world to do so effectively and wasting that choice.
-Weapon Durability and Repair will be a mechanic introduced as well. (Credit to https://stevestillstanding.com/2019/10/11/laidback-dm-weapon-and-armor-durability/)
Every time you roll a 1 (critical fumble) on an attack roll, your non-magical weapon takes damage. It loses -1 to attacks and damage. This stacks with further crit fumbles, up to a maximum of -3, after which the non-magical weapon breaks and can’t be used.
Armor is treated a little differently: when an NPC or monster scores a 20 (critical hit), you as a player can decide whether you want to take the double damage or whether your non-magical armor is damaged with a -1 penalty to AC. This penalty stacks with successive crit hits up to a maximum of -3, after which the non-magical armor breaks and is unusable.
Damaged weapons and armor can be repaired by an armorer, weaponsmith or bowyer (depending on the weapon/armor) for half the original price of the weapon or armor. A PC can repair their own weapons and armor during down time if they have have the relevant background and tools (e.g. Guild Artisan or Clan Crafter Backgrounds with relevant area of expertise: armorer, bowyer, weaponsmith). They’ll need a forge if the weapon or armor is made of metal. The price for repairing their own weapons and armor is a quarter of the original cost of the item. No matter who repairs the item, it takes 1 day per -1 to fix (i.e. 3 days to fix -3 damaged weapon).
Human will be the default race in this setting. Most of the unique races for PSYCHOPOMPS can be created by reskinning and slightly editing the existing races available in DND 5e. For example, the Warforged are an excellent base for the Deva and the Goliath becomes the Asura with a simple aesthetic swap. Each modification will be shown on the individual races blog post below:
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| The fourth edition Warforged is almost perfect as a Deva. Just replace the metal with stone and add a halo of nuclear fire. |
Every character inherently can speak Common, the Théan Empire's lingua franca and de facto language of the colonies and colonisers. For every 2 point of intelligence beyond 10, a character may select another language from the list below. One may also select a City-specific dialect of Common, which grants a +1 bonus to any interactions with that city's populace.
1.Old Theán is the parlance of the old continent. It is found in old legal texts and ruins.
2.Widdershins is the creole of the hoodlums of the streets. It is a complex system of wording which allows the speaker to convey hidden meaning in a Common conversation.
3.Sramic is the clean, simple speech spoken by the western folk of Sram. It has gained popularity as a technical language and is often used in blueprints and floor-plans.
4.Nalthese is the language of the icy wildlands of Naltha. The rich ores veins and ghosts that inhabit that land mean that it is a language most traders learn quickly.
5.Glais is the low, guttural speech of the Asura. It doubles as sailor and pirate lingo, as its bassy tones attract less Hollow Men.
6.Vadra is the pictorial script carved into the Deva upon embodiment. It is a rare and difficult language to translate verbally. Vadra has seen popularity in the artistic communities, where translations of Vadric plays have proven to be crowd-pleasers.
These serve as the key differentiating ideas of PSYCHOPOMPS that are important to note when running 5e in this world.
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