DnD, DnD, and Saavd
Trying to determine working rules for a universe gets a little complicated, which is why it is simpler to use at least some of the natural laws everyone is familiar with as a starting point. If the basic operations remain close to what readers understand, then a story doesn’t have to provide every little detail. Saavd follows the general laws of physics for the most part. Of course there are exceptions, you can’t have magic without at least slightly fracturing what most people consider “normal”.
Dungeons and Dragons is a natural setting for a fantasy world like Saavd and since we’ll eventually be setting adventure modules and other material in the D&D formulas, it is natural to start there when defining how certain things will work. The stories and poems about Saavd will bend, bypass, and occasionally break these rules, because it isn’t meant to be solely a game-based world. The open game content will follow some basic assumptions, but even there Saavd is no place to take anything for granted.
The D&D content for Saavd will be based upon v3.0 rather than later versions. I thoroughly enjoyed the revamping of D&D for v3, but v3.5 seemed more a statistical release than a huge upgrade. And I already had a bookshelf full of v3 material that I didn’t see much advantage in upgrading. I do have many of the supplemental books, including D20 books from other publishers than Wizards of the Coast, but in order to make the Saavd material available to the widest audience, we’ll try to stick to “core” sourcebooks and not get too mired down in the hundreds of feats and prestige classes and spells from supplemental sources and campaign-specific books like Forgotten Realms or Eberron. I’m sure that at some point we’ll augment or update the basics with additional sourcebook material like the Epic Handbook.
Like “traditional” D&D there is a series of Outer Planes and Inner (Elemental) Planes encompassing the Prime Material Plane that is Saavd itself. There are three interstitial planes that permeate these and provide an avenue to move between the planes as well as enabling certain magic effects. The Umbral Plane is added to the Astral and Ethereal Planes familiar to D&D’ers. The Umbral Plane is a place of darkness, despair and fear that stretches across all the planes. Even worse is the Far Umbra, a region of unpredictable madness where physical laws are mutable, changing with the whims of the powerful entities that lair there.
The world of Saavd was formed, quite literally, by the deities of Saavd. The D&D cosmology of Saavd is based upon the existence of four energy “wells” that represent the fundamental forces of a D&D milieu; Law, Chaos, Good and Evil. Four emotional planes buffer the energies of the wells and mix with the Astral, Ethereal and Umbral planes. The Outer Planes were created during the battles between Heratocl and Adockl. The Inner Planes and Saavd itself were formed by Tallinoria’s skilled interweaving of these primal forces and her own life-force. Tallinoria balanced
the extremes and placed Saavd in the center of opposing forces, influenced and powered by all, but dominated by none. The struggle between Law and Chaos is more central to Saavd than that of Good and Evil. The uncontrolled freedom of chaos versus the tyranny of absolute law is central to existence, whereas the concepts of good and evil are more open to interpretation and perception. In one sense, Saavd is more in tune with the ethical balance between individual freedom and the common cause than the moral balance between good and evil. The deities, and therefore the people, of Saavd reflect this in several ways that create differences with the typical D&D world.
Compared to D&D deities (as found in the sourcebook Deities and Demigods) and familiar mythologies, the gods of Saavd have several major limitations. Gods and goddesses are not able to manifest fully upon Saavd itself, nor may they create avatars or possess mortals. Only the most powerful are able to appear on Saavd, but even then only for a very short time and with only a fraction of their full power. Their Divine Aura power affects a 100 foot radius regardless of divine rank. Some cannot appear physically at all, but may find their way into the visions, dreams and nightmares of their followers. Some are able to channel a very small amount of their power through their divine champion, but no deity has more than one divine champion at a time. An individual religion may have many champions dedicated to individual churches or monasteries within the faith, but such individuals are not considered divine champions. Even more so then their D&D counterparts, therefore, the deities of Saavd stay close to their strongholds on the Outer Planes where their might is unquestionable. They cannot create a reflection of their godly realm on Saavd. They are all able to alter their size, basic form and appearance at will (the Alter Size and Alter Form salient divine abilities do not count against the total number a deity may have).
Saavd is a highly magical place and the deities are normally associated with at least four domains rather than three. Despite this, their ability to create magical items is more restricted Artifact-level items can only be created by two of the Tal Horesh (the native Saavd pantheon); Aslirl and Aramia. Other gods and goddesses may, as usual, create magic items that reflect the connection to their portfolio, but artifacts are the sole province of the Laughing Smith, Aslirl, and the Mistress of All Magicks, Aramia.
The way that spells are granted to followers is also different from normal” D&D rules. Any deity may grant Ranger spells, even if they do not have levels in the Ranger character class. Saavd Paladins are not subject to the same alignment restrictions as usual. They may be of any of the extreme alignments (lawful good, chaotic good, lawful evil and chaotic evil). Their abilities are tied to adherence to church dogma and faith rather than alignment. Any good deity may grant Paladin spells and any evil deity may grant Blackguard (anti-paladin) spells. Any deity with a neutral alignment component may grant druid spells.
Saavd gods and goddesses are also tied closely to the domains that are part and parcel of their abilities. In addition to the divine domains presented in the D&D v3 Player’s Handbook and Deities and Demigods, clerics have access to the Saavd-specific domains of:
- Binding
- Cold
- Despair
- Dream/Nightmare
- Friendship
- Gem
- Hearth
- Judgment
- Light
- Mountain
- Rune
- Slaughter
- Sleep
- Song
- Strategy
- Swamp
- Wealth
- Urban
- Void