House Rules

[Doom Crow]

Here I will post rules regarding the game and the campaign setting.
--- Merged from Double Post ---
The Epoch of High Magic in Pariatas has come and gone long ago, scarring the world so severely that to this day it hasn't fully recovered yet. There exists no record of what happened, or at least none that have ever been found. It is widely believed that thousands of years ago the continent of Sindur was home to three mighty empires founded on powerful magic.

Each kingdom was strong in their own right, and for an unknown number of centuries they all existed together peacefully, seeking to understand the deep mysteries of magic. Somehow a conflict between the three nations developed that transformed into full blown war that lasted many years and tore the landscape and the people of Sindur asunder.

When it all ended, an event took place that rocked the very core of the world. I won't get into the historical details about how it all went down because that takes the fun out of allowing your characters to find out what happened. I will, however tell you the ramifications of how these events affected how magic works here.

First off as I mentioned in the beginning of our starting session, travel magic is not used in Pariatas. The knowledge of the spells was lost in the aftermath of the great war at the end of the Epoch of High Magic. More importantly however is that the fabric of time and space around Pariatas was changed. Below I'll describe the mechanics of how this works:

1.) Planar magic only works one way: to Pariatas from Inner and Outer planes of existence. Any creature that comes to Pariatas of their own free will (or those sent there by others) are unable to return to their native Plane. As such creatures attempted to be summoned magically are allowed a Will save with a bonus to their roll if they do not wish to be stranded on Pariatas.
If they succeed on their save, the spell fizzles at the beginning of the summoner's next turn, when the creature would normally have been summoned. Spells such as Summon Nature's Ally that summon creatures from other parts of Pariatas still function normally, however.

2.) Teleportation magic on Pariatas is a lost art for the most part. Any spell with the Teleportation descriptor is unavailable to be prepared and\or cast. Creatures with the spell like ability to teleport can do so, but due to the stress of magical pressure exerted on their body to perform this ability, they arrive at their destination Fatigued if teleported alone or exhausted if they took passengers with them. Dimension Door spells and spell like abilities of limited teleportation still exist however, but it is rare to see anyone who is capable of such feats. Due to the 'low-power' of spells like Dimension Door and the fact that they only cover small distances and many times the full range of their ability is broken up into several small uses, there is no exertion of magical pressure great enough to cause fatigue or exhaustion. Taking passengers while using this ability however may result in such consequences.
If any ancient spells are ever unearthed, they must be studied for some time in order to be learned and become part of a caster's repertoire. Even then, the same magical pressure is exerted on the caster's body the same as on a creature with the innate ability. If such magical pressure is exerted on a caster attempting travel in and around Pariatas, imagine what effects attempting planar travel would occur.
This is due to the fat that the events of the great war concluding the Epoch of High Magic disturbed the natural flow of magic in regards to travel in, around, from and to Pariatas. Whatever damage that was sustained has not been repaired yet to date.

3.) Travel to the Ethereal Plane is still possible but only in short stints. The Ethereal Plane was damaged in the wake of the Epoch of High Magic, creating a destabilized environment that actually degrades the essence of a creature who remains in that Plane for too long. Someone can become ethereal and remain in that state for 1 minute before they must begin making Fort saves every round as the Plane's unstable nature begins to affect them. Every round you fail the Fort save you take 1d6 Con dmg. If your Con is reduced to 0, your essence dissipates and is absorbed into the Ethereal Plane, becoming part of it and essentially killing the creature.

4.) Travel to the Astral Plane is impossible. The gods have forbidden mortals to access this Plane.

5.) The Ebonlands and Shimmergate are both Transitive Planes and are still accessible for travel to and from Pariatas, although the magic to accomplish this is rare and little known.

6.) Shimmergate is the realm of the dead, where souls who have been spared eternal damnation go when they pass into the afterlife.

[Doom Crow]

Throughout much of Pariatas, arcane spellcasting is forbidden to be learned and practiced by anyone not of noble or social equivalent status. After the disaster in the Epoch of High Magic, wizards and sorcerors were persecuted for a long time until it was decided that only those born into nobility could be 'civilized' and intelligent enough to wield magic responsibly.

Anyone who practices arcane spellcasting that cannot provide documentation of their lineage will be punished accordingly by the laws of whatever country the individual happens to be in. This can range from decapitation/hanging/execution, cutting out of the tongue, imprisonment or banishment, to cite a few examples.

The events which gave led to this have made the common man very superstitious of magic and spiteful towards those who wield it. Arcane spellcasters are not very popular in the general public and are usually shunned or feared.

Some religions also exercise this type of social discrimination in their orders with divine spellcasters, though most allow any devout to join their orders and become clerics.