Character creation & house rules

Plan B House Rules

Character creation

At level 1 you may choose either of these methods for character creation:

• Online with me (DM) roll 4d6 take the best 3.  You can choose to swap one roll for a 15.
• This array.  17,15,13, 12, 10, 8

HIT POINTS.  PCs receive full CON score + full class hit die at 1st level, eg a Barbarian-1 with CON 16 has 16+12 = 28 hit points at level 1. A Wizard-1 with CON 10 starts with 10+6 = 16 hit points.

HP beyond L1 you may either take the average or roll with me (DM).

Playable Races

The Dhari and the Kalayan's are the oldest natives of Thule.  Atlanteans, Lomari, and Nimothan's are all refugees.  The elves arrived through the 'World Gates' before the dwarfs, and no one has bothered to ask the Halflings of their origin. 

Atlantean, setting specific human sub race.  1 in 10 Atlantean's survived the 'sinking' do you want to play one?

The 'High' Elves found in Imystrahl, City of the Black Lotus.  Belong to an old and decadent realm.  The elves of Imystral are cruel, capricious, and dissolute, looking inward in search of rarefied pleasures and interacting with the outside world as little as possible.  A few hundred Sersid elves are said to haunt or guard the ruins of Sersidyen.  Their dreamwalkers, highly sought-after soothsayers.  Sersid Elf template: Ability Score Increase - Your Wisdom score increases by 1; Snow Sight - Your vision cannot be obscured by snow or ice effects; Cold Resistance - You have Resistance to Cold Damage; Ice Walk - You ignore the effects of difficult terrain caused by snow or ice.

The Dwarves were the last race to arrive in Thule through the world gates.  Their City, Kal-Zinan, a reclusive mountain stronghold, is isolated in the eastern mountains. 

HALFLING, THULEAN

Natives of the forests and jungles of Thule’s steaming interior, halflings are a barbarian people who build no cities and regard the ways of civilization with suspicion. They are the undisputed masters of stealth and woodcraft, using the terrain of their chosen homeland to easily avoid larger enemies. In fact, halflings are so good at avoiding people they do not want to meet that many civilised Thuleans consider stories of tribes of child-sized people living in Dhar Mesh or Phoor to be mere fables. Halflings have a reputation for being shy and suspicious of strangers, but this is not entirely deserved. They are often quite friendly and hospitable to strangers, once they have determined that the strangers are not enemies. They are happy to trade with people they trust, and more than a few jungle traders have become rich by bringing good metal tools and weapons to halflings with gemstones and ivory to trade. However, halflings are deadly foes to enemies foolish enough to venture into their territory. They are masters of ambush and poison, pelting invaders with a rain of envenomed arrows from the jungle shadows.  Like other savage peoples, halflings know little of gods or arcane matters. Instead, they learn the secrets of nature spirits, calling upon them to help protect and nourish the tribe. They are deeply religious in their own way, and are often shocked to learn that civilized people are ignorant of the nature spirits. Curiosity about other people and no small amount of wanderlust encourage halfling adventurers to overlook the ignorance and bad manners of most humans. 

THULEAN HALFLING SUBRACE The halflings of Thule belong to a subrace not found in other worlds. In addition to the racial characteristics common to all halflings, Thulean halflings have the following traits. Ability Scores: +1 Wisdom. Halflings are perceptive and deeply reverent of their forest spirits. Alignment: The halflings of Thule are a barbarian people who place freedom and individual honor above obedience to authority. They are also some of the kinder and more generous people to be found in the savage continent, although simple survival dictates a certain amount of reclusiveness in dealing with Thule’s more aggressive races. Most Thulean halflings are chaotic neutral or chaotic good. Masters of Woodcraft: Thulean halflings can attempt to hide in any forest, jungle, marsh, or swamp setting, as long as they have partial cover or are lightly obscured by their surroundings.   

Languages: Thulean halflings speak Dhari and Low Atlantean (the common tongue). Most are not literate (see Character Class and Literacy, later in this chapter). Halflings do not have a language of their own, and instead speak a dialect of Dhari, the language of their human neighbors in Dhar Mesh.

More than one Thulean adventuring party has included a Goliath.  The Baron of Woe being the most famous.  Goliath (https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/goliath).

No one is certain what—or who—might be hidden in the vast wilderness of Thule or on one of the other continents. It's even possible that a character might blunder into Thule through a magical gateway or sinister curse and might be the only example of his or her race.  Characters of unusual races are left to the GM's discretion.

Table 2–1: Character Class and Literacy  DC    

Class	Intelligence check
Barbarian	DC 20
Bard	DC 5
Cleric	DC 5
Druid	DC 15
Fighter	DC 15
Monk	DC 10
Paladin	DC 10
Ranger	DC 15
Rogue	DC 15
Sorcerer	DC 5
Warlock	DC 10
Wizard	DC 0

Melee combat 

Flanking +2 to hit

Surrounding + 5 to hit

Healing Services
1 hour with a Healer (Proficiency: Medicine) who makes a DC 15 INT (Medicine) check restores 5 hit points and removes 1 disability. A check uses up an entire Healer's Kit (10 uses, 5gp). Using a healer's kit on yourself incurs Disadvantage on the check. A proficient healer treating another who is at 1 hp or higher may use their passive Medicine score for the check.
Characters may benefit from at most 8 hours of treatment (8x5=40 hp) per day

Resting

In normal circumstances, you may short rest twice per day. 

A long rest takes three days if the resting character has access to a sufficiently safe and comfortable environment (private quarters in a tavern or on a ship).  A long rest will take a week in more rugged conditions (camping or a shared room).

Weapons and armour 

Armour & Cost	AC	STR & Stealth	Weight
Light Armour  Leather Cuirass 100 gp	13 + Dex modifier (max 2)	- / -	15 lbs.
Medium Armour  Mail Cuirass 600 gp	15 + Dex modifier (max 2)	Str 13 / Disadvantage	40 lbs
Bronze Cuirass 900 gp	16 + Dex modifier (max 2)	Str 13 / Disadvantage	50 lbs
Heavy Armour  Scale Coat 40 gp	15	Str 13 Penalty	35 lbs

Armour by City

Quodeth has little capacity at iron-smithing. The typical armour is the boiled -leather-&-bronze Scale Cuirass (AC 14, medium, 40gp) or Scale Coat (AC 15, Heavy, 50gp). Quodeth also manufactures the expensive Bronze Cuirass (AC 16, Medium, 900gp).
Katagia retains enough knowledge of Atlantean ironworking to manufacture Mail Cuirass (AC 15, Medium) and Mail Suit (AC 16, Heavy). When exported they both typically retail for 600gp.
Imystrahl has not manufactured armour or weapons for centuries, but retains large stocks of magically treated silver mail cuirass (AC 15, medium) and silver plate cuirass (AC 16, medium - as bronze cuirass). Silver mail Cuirass includes 200gp value of silver, silver plate cuirass includes 250gp value of silver. When exported, which is rare, they typically retail for 600gp and 900gp respectively, possibly more to a collector.

Table 2–4: New Weapons
Weapon Cost Damage Weight Properties
Martial Melee Weapons 
Khopesh 20 gp 2d4 slashing 5 lbs. Heavy, special
Mace-axe 15 gp 1d8 slashing 7 lbs. Heavy, versatile (1d10), special
Warspear 8 gp 1d8 piercing 4 lbs. Heavy, thrown (range 20/60)
Martial Ranged Weapon 
Chakram 20 gp 1d6 slashing 2 lbs. Thrown (range 30/120); finesse

UNAVAILABLE ARMS AND ARMOUR 

Some more advanced weapons and types of armour simply haven’t been invented yet in the age of Thule. 

See below:

Restricted Weapons: Hand crossbow, rapier. 

Armour: Half-plate, plate, splint. 

Mounts and Vehicles: Camel, draft horse, sailing ship, warhorse 

Other: Ball bearings, magnifying glass, piton, spyglass.

CRAFTING MAGIC ITEMS

This normally requires a Formula or Sample - Herbalists start with the Formula for healing potions. A Formula typically has a Rarity & research level requirement 1 step higher than the item itself. Some formulae such as for simple magic weapons & armour, or spell scrolls, are widely known to those able to create the item. Consumable items take half as long and cost half as much. All items require rare and valuable ingredients.  For commissioned items, the commissioned price is typically double the creation cost, sometimes more.

Level 11+ casters require a Power Focus such as Wizard's Tower or Druid Grove to craft Very Rare items.

Level 17+ casters require a Power Focus to craft Legendary Items.

Crafting times allow & require about 1 day in 5 spent recuperating or on other activities such as travel and adventure.

Crafting table

Item Rarity Minimum Level	Minimum Cost to Create/Sale Price	Days to Craft (Consumable/Permanent item)
Healing Potion 1st	25gp/50gp	2 (10 with kit only)1 at 11th
Common 3rd	50gp/100gp/200gp	2/4; 1/2 at 11th, 1/1 at 17th
Uncommon 5th	250gp/500gp/1,000gp	10/20; 5/10 at 11th, 3/5 at 17th; 2/3 at E20th
Rare 8th	1250gp/2500gp/5000gp	20/40; 10/20 at 11th; 5/10 at 17th; 3/5 at E20th
Very rare 11th	6250gp/12500gp/25000gp	40/80; 20/40 at 17th, 10/20 at E20th
Legendary 17th	31250gp/62500gp/12500gp	200/400; 100/200 at E20th

THULE SPELL CHANGES

Animate Objects - animated objects cannot fly. Only objects with legs or wheels (or spherical) are able to move and attack.

Conjure Woodland Beings - only useable in forests; typically summons forth a local Dryad or two (CR 1), or possibly a Nereid (CR2) if cast by a forest pool. There are no Pixies in Thule! If there are no fey available, the spell fails.

Contagion - as per 5e Errata.

Force Cage: victims adjacent to the Cage wall when it forms are allowed to use their Reaction to make a DEX save to get out, moving 5' to just outside cage. Caster can still auto-trap people within the 20x20 version, but not quite as many.

Raise Dead - creates a Zombie under the caster's control. No limit to the number controlled.

Resurrection - creates a Juju Zombie, Dread Warrior or Wight under the caster's control.  No limit to the number controlled.

Simulacrum - the created Simulacrum is CR 0 with all stats at 10, 10 hp and no spellcasting ability.

True Resurrection - requires body or mortal remains. Creates a free-willed Revenant not under caster's control.

Crossbow Expert Feat 

Hand crossbows (if you can find one in Thule) may be loaded and stowed outside of combat.  In combat you must have a free hand to load them in order to gain any additional attacks you may have.

For further reading on Primeval Thule you can refer to Simon's excellent Primeval Thule Blog.  Which can be found at: https://simonsprimevalthule.blogspot.com/2019/01/primeval-thule-campaign.html

Thank you!