A War of Desiccation For more than four decades the nations of the continent of Valineth have been at war. Not against each other, but against the ever growing reach of the Crystal Sands. Elementals from the plane of earth and fire, Locus Igneus, invaded the mortal plane through a stable rift point in the southern reaches of Valineth and have spent the past forty years transforming the world into one of lifeless sand and stone. Wherever the armies of the Igneus go, water dries up, plants wilt and die, and all living creatures are forced to flee or be consumed by the heat and desiccating winds. Whole nations have been lost to the the crystal sands that have come to replace the once vast forests and planes of southern Valineth. Those nations that remain have joined together as the Northern Federation, all former hostilities set aside for the greater necessity of survival. There are no other defenders but their own armies, as other nations see the spread of the Igneus elementals as a problem that only effects Valineth, with the great oceans between continents acting as natural barriers that the earth and flame elementals will never be able to cross. There are many who have already fled Valineth for distant shores in the hopes of finding safety from the life-extinguishing blight. There is some hope for those who have chosen to remain. By using summoning and divination magics to communicate with other elemental planes, the Allied College of Mages has managed to create Verdant Stones, runic foci that channel the power of water and life elements that counter the crystal sands. The great hope of the Northern Federation lies on these elemental gemstones, but their creation is slow and their effects easily overridden by brute force from the Igneus. The war is far from a turning point in the Federation's favor and every Verdant Stone is protected with utmost priority. A Desperate Call for Reinforcement The Nerria Peninsula is a large stretch of land that was once home to the Neriad Kingdom; now it is a wasteland of burning sands. Some eight years ago during the last Great Push, the Northern Federation managed to cut Nerria off from the rest of the Crystal Sands, using the city of Daveni as a bastion to hold several Verdant Stones. The full landmass of Nerria remained under the control of the Igneus, but the crystal sands were contained behind the natural barrier of the Orda Mountain range and the extermination of the well dug-in Igneus was considered too costly. Instead, the lower half of Nerria has been cordoned off by a few strategically placed fortifications that each contain a Verdant Stone. Military assignment to any of these posts is often considered a break of sorts, with only minor skirmishes ever coming from the Igneus that have been cut off from the rest of their forces. However, eight days ago the relative quiet of the Nerria lines was apparently destroyed. Reports have come from all fortifications defending the Orda lines that unexpectedly large numbers of Igneus forces have launched concentrated attacks against them. If the fortifications blocking off the lower half of Nerria fall, not only would it mean the loss of sixteen vitally important Verdant Stones, but it would leave Daveni open to attack from a second, more sparsely defended front. You and thirty other soldiers have been ordered to reinforce Fort Erdan, a small fortification that blocks a man-made pass in the Orda Mountains. The current status of the fort is unknown, and your commanding officer Captain Fria fears the worst. Whatever state Fort Erdan is found in, your orders are to maintain the defenses at all costs and protect the Verdant Stone that sits atop the fort's interior tower until more reinforcements arrive. If Fort Erdan falls, it could very well mean the destruction of Daveni... I hope I got your attention! I am looking to run a Fifth Edition homebrew campaign with a survival twist. There will be lots of combat with a focus on resource management. Emphasis will be put on just trying to survive against overwhelming odds. Stuff you should know before reading further: Each Player will have control of their own five-man squad of characters. I will be using homebrew rules for squad mechanics which I will go over in detail during Session Zero after character creation. Players will have to use their squads to defend against siege battles as well as send individuals from their squads out on scavenging runs. Resources will be limited and as time goes on, hard decisions on who gets what will have to be made. If the plot hook and general campaign mechanics I've put above interest you, please read below to see all the more detailed notes on character creation and campaign rules. If you like what you see, please reply to this post and I will send you a PM welcoming you aboard. PLEASE READ: If you make a post saying something along the lines of 'this is the character I made and want to play' I will ignore your post. I don't mead to be rude, but my past experiences have shown me that people will sometimes reply to posts looking for players without actually reading the post or knowing what the campaign is about. If you make a post talking about the character you already made, I will assume you didn't read this section at the least and I will not respond. All character creation will be done during a Session Zero on January Ninth . Character Creation Players start with a squad of five level one characters which must be created following specific rules. Four of the characters must be chosen from the Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger or Rogue classes. You can do any combination of these classes. One character must be chosen from the Cleric, Paladin, or Wizard classes. All characters must have the Soldier background. All characters must choose a military role: Scout, Infantry, Healer, Standard-Bearer, or Support Staff Stat Rolling Players roll 4d6, dropping the lowest number, for each attribute for each character. Use this macro: [[4d6d1]][[4d6d1]][[4d6d1]][[4d6d1]][[4d6d1]][[4d6d1]] Each character gets only one set of dice rolls, but the player may roll a sixth set and replace it with any other set. Race Selection Players may choose from these races: Dragonborn Dwarf Elf Gnome Half Elf Half Orc Halfling Human (Base Only) Kenku Leonin Lizardfolk Loxodon Minotaur Tabaxi Tiefling Human Variant is not allowed but Base Human receives proficiency in one Skill of their choice. If the race you choose has multiple subraces to choose from, please discuss with the DM before choosing. Starting Equipment Characters start with their base class weapons and armor as described in the PHB and the items granted from the Soldier background. Each character also receives one backpack with: One Bedroll One Mess Kit One Shovel One Tinerbox Five One-Pound Ration Servings One Waterskin that contains One Gallon of Fresh Water Campaign Rules Leveling Experience points are not given for defeating enemies. Instead, when slain, certain special enemies will drop "Power Stones" that when used, will grant a single character one level. Power Stone drops are purposefully rare and players will have to carefully choose which character to grant advancement. Multi-Classing Characters are allowed to Multi-Class into any class of their choice except for Artificer or Druid after reaching level Three in their starting class. Character backstory justification for classes like Sorcerer or Warlock are appreciated but not strictly required. Food, Water, and Exhaustion The necessity for food and water is constant and players are expected to keep track of the individual needs of each of their characters. Based on the core rules for food and water: A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food. A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of Exhaustion. A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero. A character needs one gallon of water per day, or two gallons per day if the weather is hot. A character who drinks only half that much water must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of Exhaustion at the end of the day. A character with access to even less water automatically suffers one level of Exhaustion at the end of the day. If the character already has one or more levels of Exhaustion, the character takes two levels in either case. Players will be asked at the start of each day what food and water resources will be distributed to which characters, with the applicable effects added to the character sheet at that time. In addition to the standard rules, characters can eat Double Rations, gaining the 'Well Fed' status for the day, which grants one DM inspiration Die. The well fed status ends by the dawn of the next day. Banned Spells No spells that create food or water exist in the campaign setting. Spells that create physical effects like Wall of Water are temporary and attempting to drink from such an effect would not count as drinking fresh water. Character Death Characters can and will die. There are no automatic replacements. If a player wishes to, they can transfer one or more of their characters from their squad to another player's squad, but a player may not have more than five characters in their squad. There is a possibility of finding and rescuing characters in the open world who will serve as replacement characters but such opportunities will be rare and challenging. Code of Conduct Please respect your fellow players. You are all on the same side and will need to work together. Do not backseat drive other players. Offering advice is fine, but don't try to make decisions for them. If a game rule is in question, please defer to the DM until the rule can be researched. Holding up combat for 10 minutes arguing over a rule is not acceptable. The rule can be researched and corrected if necessary once combat is over. If this all still looks good to you, please reply below! I look forward to running a fun and challenging game for you!
