Dragonspire is a fantasy campaign set in and around a frontier boomtown on the border of a vast militaristic republic. Dragonspire draws upon the nostalgia of the old-school Dungeons & Dragons experience, while hopefully breaking ground with a modern take on the fantasy, pre-industrial society. In Dragonspire, the presence of magic has made technological advances difficult, but that hasn't kept culture from advancing beyond the pseudo-medieval dark ages.

Dragonspire was designed for both Dungeons & Dragons and Risus. Setting details can be found on the Risus Dragonspire site, while this document will cover the specifics of adapting D&D to fit the setting. The baseline rules are found in the Core SRD (the Hypertext d10 SRD site is an excellent D20 resource). Any deviations from these rules will be detailed below.

About the World

Over a thousand years since the fall of the decadent Old Ilsûthrin Empire, the Narsikan Republic is the world's dominant power. Unlike the other nations that were formed by the former slaves of that hated mageocracy, the Narsikan Republic is slowly starting to embrace the use of well-regulated magic. It is through this limited use of magic (combined with exceptional technological prowess) that the Republic has expanded to cover a significant fraction of the world's habitable territory.

This territory includes the frontier province of Thorbarden. On the easter edge of this province, directly north of the heart of the Old Ilsûthrin Empire, lies the town of Dragonspire. It is its proximity to Ilsûthrin ruins that has made Dragonspire into a boomtown, with adventurers arriving from all over the Republic (and beyond) to seek out treasure in the musty vaults of long-dead sorcerer-barons.

Players of Dragonspire will recognize many of the familiar trappings of Dungeons & Dragons. Adventuring parties with armored warriors, crafty rogues, and enigmatic wizards are an important part of the setting. But the Narsikan Republic is not the medieval society typical of most D&D campaigns. Indeed, it more closely resembles a hybrid of 19th-Century America and the ancient Roman Republic. Ambient magic has made electricity, gunpowder, and steam engines impossible without highly-specialized metaphysical knowledge; but other technological innovations have become common-place. Semaphore towers allow rapid communication between important settlements, the Republic Navy dominates the seas in advanced clipper ships, city-dwellers commute to work on bicycles, and standards of hygiene approach modern levels.

Character Concept

The first step in creating a character is to decide on an interesting concept. Though set in a fantasy world, many character types from more modern genres are appropriate. Inspiration may be drawn from The Lord of the Rings, classic Dungeons & Dragons, Dragonlance, Eberron, and Warhammer. Other inspirational sources include the steampunk fantasy of R. Talsorian's Castle Falkenstein, Sleepy Hollow, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and the Indiana Jones movies. Players should choose heroic concepts that are appropriate to the inspirational material. This often means classic fantasy role-playing game archetypes based on D&D classes, but it can also include cinematic pulp or steampunk archetypes.

Players will be creating 1st-level characters who are just getting started in their adventuring career. These characters should be designed to work well with the other player characters and the DM intends to start the campaign with an adventuring party already formed. The motives for the party shouldn't be hard to rationalize, since the daring adventuring party is a well-supported cultural achetype in Narsikan society. Being the first to survive a dangerous Ilsûthrin dungeon is one of the most celebrated routes to fame and fortune. And the Narsikan heroic ideal alone is enough to motivate courageous citizens to prevent powerful Ilsûthrin artifacts from falling into the wrong hands.

Ability Scores

Player characters will use a point-buy method: each attribute begins at 8 and characters have 34 points to spend on raising them (up to 18). Racial modifiers are applied after attributes are purchased. Attributes costs are as follows:

Score	Cost		Score	Cost
9	1		14	6
10	2		15	8
11	3		16	10
12	4		17	13
13	5		18	16

Alignment

In Dragonspire, alignment is a supernatural quality rather than a measure of morality or ethics. A Detect Evil spell can detect demons, undead, and certain malevolent spirits. It cannot detect common criminals or people with dangerous mental disorders. Similarly, Protection from Chaos only works against the supernaturally chaotic.

Players do not select alignments for their characters, though members of certain classes (like paladins) are still bound by specific codes of conduct. A character may temporarily take on an aura of supernatural alignment (Good, Evil, Law, Chaos) when casting spells with alignment descriptors or when channeling divine power for certain class abilities. Until this aura wears off (DM's discretion), the character will effectively have that alignment for the purposes of all alignment-related game effects. This includes preventing the character from using certain magic items or casting spells of the opposite alignment descriptor.

Language

When selecting bonus languages, characters are not restricted in their choices by race or class. Characters may also defer selecting some or all of their bonus languages until they are presented with an opportunity to learn new languages during the campaign.

The standard generic D&D languages do not exist in Dragonspire. The following is a list of some the languages that can be found in the setting:

Narsikan: The official language of the Narsikan Republic, and lingua franca throughout its sphere of influence. Narsikan evolved from a secret slave language and borrowed much of it's alphabet from Kharkraez.

Jaadlun: One of the more important minority languages in the Narsikan Republic, spoken by a majority of humans in several western provinces. Until recently, it used the Azânêan system of writing, Azânêan calligrahy is still used for the visual arts.

Bandô: Another important minority languages in the Narsikan Republic, spoken by many dark-skinned humans in the southern provinces.

Azânêan: The official language of the Dominion of Azânêa. Like Narsikan, it evolved from a secret slave language. Unlike Narsikan, it uses a logographic system that evolved from the characters of the Old Ilsûthrin Empire.

Gargalan: The primary language of the tribes of the Gargalahar Wastes. Among the more civilized tribes, it is written using an elegant syllabary that is derived from a subset of Narquol characters.

Letonic: The ceremonial language of the Church of the All Father, which is itself a distant cousin of Narsikan.

Kharkraez: The primary language of the Sardek Alliance, little changed since the days of the Dwarven Rebellion.

Narquol: The language spoken by the elves in the later years of the Old Ilsûthrin Empire. It uses a complex logographic writing system that is very similar to Old Ilsûthrin (from which it largely derives). The language has survived to the present day, largely due to the longevity of elves and the closeness of their communities.

Old Ilsûthrin: The oldest known language, it was already out of common use in the Empire at the time of the Sunsûl Uprising. It was primarily used as a language of magical scholarship and religious ritual. It is rumored to be the language of dragons.

Uldran: A minor dialect of Kharkraez, mostly spoken in isolated gnomish communities.

Kûduk: The dying language of the halflings, which greatly resembles Old Narsikan.

Gamok: Most goblin tribes speak their own dialect of Gamok. The few literate tribes transcribe the language using the writing systems of their neighbors.

Orcish: A dialect of Narquol spoken my the orcish slaves of the Old Empire, it mostly exists as bits of slang and in family names.

Other Languages: Old Narsikan, various regional dialects of Azânêan, the languages of independent nation states, and the languages various tribes of humanoids.

Race

All the player races in Dragonspire (derived from those in the Core SRD) were bred from human stock thousands of years ago. As a result, they are all inter-fertile. A given character may have the blood of any of the standard races and can justify unusual physical characteristics as being derived from their multi-racial heritage. That being said, characters should choose a dominant heritage for the purposes of determining racial abilities.

Differences from the Core SRD are as follows:

Dwarves: Known as Kozod among their own kind, they are the dominant race of the Sardek Alliance and many are citizens of the Narsikan Republic.

• While dwarves have little love for orcs or goblins, they have no cultural predisposition to fighting them and thus do not gain a bonus to hit when fighting members of these races.
• A dwarf's Craft check bonus can be applied more broadly so that it includes alchemy, chemistry, engineering, and machinery of all sorts.

Elves: Known as Imril among their own kind, they were the dominant race during the time of the Ilsûthrin Empire. The standard elf contains a mix of the old noble bloodlines, as well as a fair bit of human blood as well.

• Modern elves do not automatically gain the Martial Weapon Proficiency feats for the longsword, rapier, longbow, and shortbow. Instead, elves gain the Magical Aptitude feat.
• Elves may take one of the following feats at character creation to indicate their noble ancestry:

Narendiril Ancestry: Red elves gain +2 to their Spellcraft when rolling to learn or cast spells with a fire or heat descriptor. Additionally, their effective caster level is increased by one for such spells. Elves with this feat tend to be taller and stronger that other elves, with flame red hair and fair skin. They also have a reputation for being excellent artists and craftsmen.

Maradiril Ancestry: Blue Elves gain +2 to their Spellcraft when rolling to learn or cast spells with an air or electricity descriptor. Additionally, their effective caster level is increased by one for such spells. Elves with this feat tend to be tall and graceful with blue-black hair and bright blue eyes. They also have a reputation for being great scholars.

Galendiril Ancestry: Green elves gain +2 to their Spellcraft when rolling to learn or cast spells involving animals, plants, or poisons. Additionally, their effective caster level is increased by one for such spells. Elves with this feat tend to have blond hair and bright green eyes. Their reputation for horticulture and animal husbandry is unmatched.

Morendil Ancestry: Black elves gain +2 to their Spellcraft when rolling to learn or cast spells with a water or acid descriptor. Additionally, their effective caster level is increased by one for such spells. Elves with this feat tend to have very dark hair and skin. They have a reputation for being great sailors and navigators.

Forodril Ancestry: White elves gain +2 to their Spellcraft when rolling to learn or cast spells with a ice or cold descriptor. Additionally, their effective caster level is increased by one for such spells. Elves with this feat tend to be extremely fair, with white hair and and pale blue eyes. They have a terrible reputation for cruelty and ruthlessness.

Gnomes: Known as Uldra among their own kind, they are mostly found in certain areas of the Sardek Alliance.

• Gnomes rebelled with the dwarves before the Sunsûl Uprising. Rare among modern peoples, they have no prejudice against the use of magic. But most gnomes have abandoned standard magic for the pursuit of metaphysics and alchemy. Thus, their favored class is Artificer.
• Kobolds and goblinkin are rare in gnomish lands, so gnomes do not gain any bonus when fighting them.
• A gnome's Craft check bonus can be applied more broadly so that it includes technological craftsmanship of all sorts.

Half-Orcs: Half-orcs are uncommon, but not unheard of in some Narsikan cities.

• The Orcish language is dead. Thus, half-orcs start with only the dominant local language (usually Narsikan).
• Half-orcs are creatures of civilization and their primary class is Fighter, rather than Barbarian.

Halflings: Sometimes known as Kûduk, they can be found in many regions of the Narsikan Republic. Halflings in this setting resemble Tolkien hobbits more than the current D&D halflings.

• The Kûduk language is dying and most halflings do not speak it. Thus, halflings start with only the dominant local language (usually Narsikan).

Orcs: Bred for war, orcs are fearsome creatures with a natural predisposition for violence. That being said, a significant number of them fought on the side of the rebels in the Sunsûl Uprising. These orcs were rewarded with homes in the human lands (including the Narsikan Republic). Today, orcs and half-orcs have a well-deserved reputation for thuggery. But many have become very successful in careers that provide them with a legitimate violent outlet.

• See the Monster section of the SRD for information on playing orcs.
• The Orcish language is dead. Thus, orcs start with only the dominant local language (usually Narsikan).
• Orcs are now creatures of civilization and their primary class is Fighter, rather than Barbarian.

Class

Differences from the Core SRD are as follows:

Artificers: The artificer class from the Eberron Campaign Setting is an important part of the setting. Artificers are the masters of alchemy and weird science. They are the only characters who can use gunpowder weapons or create steampunk infernal devices. Their approach to conquering the metaphysics of the world through science has great appeal in a society where standard magic is too often associated with the depravations of the Old Ilsûthrin Empire.

• Artificers are mechanically similar to those presented in the Eberron Campaign Setting, but their abilities should always be explained in the context of mad-science and techno-magical gizmos.
• Artifices do not create an infusion with magical invocations. In the world of Dragonspire, an artificer is expected to delve into her supply of gadgets to achieve these effects. Thus, infusions are impossible without a set of artificer tools and other miscellaneous components.
• Similarly, artificers do not simply stare at their blueprints for 15 minutes a day after 8 hours of rest to regain their infusion slots. Instead the artificer spends at least 15 minutes (and an unspecified amount of time during their rest cycle) tinkering with their gadgets to ready them for use as infusions.
• Artificers may spread out their preparation time over the course of a day. Thus, an artificer with 5 infusion slots can prepare each infusion in 3 minutes (not counting the unspecified amount of tinkering they do when they should be sleeping).
• "Scrolls" created by artificers are not really scrolls in the traditional sense. They are small gadgets that can be completed if another character follows the instructions. In that sense, they are mechanically identical to scrolls, but only their creator can activate them without a roll. All other characters must make a Use Device check. Note that unlike regular scrolls, they do not have to be read out loud and are not affected by silence spells.
• Artificers may take the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Firearms) feat at any time, including as one of the their artificer bonus feats.

Barbarian: Barbarians (also called berserkers) are typically the champions of uncivilized tribes (most notably the Gargalahar raiders). In the Narsikan Republic, there are warrior cults within the military that have learned the techniques of battle-frenzy while stationed in distant lands.

Bard: Bards are nothing so common as regular entertainers (who are almost always experts). Rather, they are magically adept individuals who have mastered the arts of memory and the special techniques of spellsinging. In the Old Empire, spellsingers were highly regarded. Now, the knowledge has been preserved by a few of the older Imril houses. There is even a small spellsinger school at the Ilûsâd Monastery in Dragonspire.

• Bards must make a Use Device roll when using scrolls from other arcane casters. Similarly, other arcane casters must make a Use Device roll when using bard scrolls (which are quite rare).

Cleric: While religion is important in the society of the Narsikan Republic, actual clerics are rare. Most clergy in the Church of the All Father are in fact experts. Divine magic is just another form of magic and few people in the early days of the Republic had any inclination or desire to use it. Over the course of the centuries, however, monastic and knightly orders within the Church began to apply knowledge learned from occult research to the worship of the All Father. Members of these orders became clerics and paladins.

• Clerics of the All Father may select two of the following domains: Air, Community (from the Eberron Campaign Setting), Exorcism (from the Eberron Campaign Setting), Good, Law, Protection, and War. Clerics who select the War domain may start with proficiency with a martial weapon appropriate to their religious order.
• Clerics of the Imril Goddess of the Moon and Magic, Ilûsâd, may select two of the following domains: Chaos, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Magic, Moon (from Spell Compendium), and Passion (from the Eberron Campaign Setting).
• Other deities are worshipped in different lands and in remote corners of the Republic. The Imril of the Old Empire had a whole pantheon of gods to worship, and some of these continue to be worshipped to this day (though the only one that is worshipped publicly is Ilûsâd, the Silver Goddess). Players who wish to play clerics of alternate gods will need to work with the DM to define their domains.
• Clerics do not pray for their spells, rather they must perform specific religious rituals that actually "precast" the spells that they are selecting. It takes one hour to prepare their entire selection of spell slots, though clerics may choose to divide this time up and spread it out over the course of a day. For example, a cleric with 6 spell slots may prepare a single spell in 10 minutes of ritual at any time during the day. A cleric must still rest 8 hours to regain their slots.
• Divine casters may only use scrolls created my divine casters of their own faith without making Use Device checks.

Druid: Druids are tremendously rare, possibly the rarest of all the heroic classes. Their unique specialized knowledge allows them to access the primordial spirits of the natural world. In the Old Empire, druids were typically apocalyptic figures who would emerge from hiding to prophesize the doom of Ilsûthrin civilization. During the Sunsûl Uprising, their were stories of mysterious druids who aided the cause of the rebellion.

There is no real community of druids and individual druids do not typically have access to mentors who can teach them ways of their craft. Instead, druids are typically selected by the spirits they serve, often for very mysterious reasons. These characters commune with spirits in their dreams, and learn the proper rites to summon their aid during waking hours. It is during these nightly visits to the spirit realm that druids often learn their apocalyptic prophesies.

• Druids do not create scrolls. Instead, druids with the Scribe Scroll feat create small talismans that are functionally identical to scrolls. Only other druids (or rangers with druidic backgrounds) may use them without a Use Device check. Similarly, druids must make a Use Device check to use scrolls created by other divine spellcasters.

Monk: Monks are highly respected for their role in bringing down the Old Empire. Many orders of monks exist in both the Dominion of Azânêa and the Narsikan Republic.

• The Monastic Training feat (from Eberron Campaign Setting) may be taken to allow monk characters to multiclass without restriction.
• Monks may select general and psionic feats from the psionics section of the Supplemental SRD. These feats represent a cinematic control of Chi. A monk may select psionic feats as if they had the Wild Talent feat.

Paladin: Paladins are essentially militaristic clerics. In the Church of the All Father, paladins belong to knightly orders that have been studying occult rituals for centuries. The powers granted to paladins come from the practice of these rituals as well as their transcendent faith. It is a matter of much debate among scholars how many of these abilities come from within and how many are direct blessings from the All Father and his divine agents.

Paladins of other faiths are not unheard of, though they are exceedingly rare. It is claimed that the mystic disciplines of faith that give a paladin his or her power were first developed in among the occult brotherhoods dedicated to the All Father. This may or may not be true, but the Ilûsâd Monastery has produced a handful of paladins of the Silver Goddess in recent years.

• Paladins may eventually gain divine spells through study. Like clerics, they do not pray for their spells. Rather they must perform specific religious rituals that actually "precast" the spells that they are selecting. It takes one hour to prepare their entire selection of spell slots, though paladins may choose to divide this time up and spread it out over the course of a day. For example, a paladin with 3 spell slots may prepare a single spell in 20 minutes of ritual at any time during the day. A paladin must still rest 8 hours to regain their slots.
• Divine casters may only use scrolls created by divine casters of their own faith without making Use Device checks.
• The Knight Training feat (from Eberron Campaign Setting) may be taken to allow paladin characters to multiclass without restriction.

Ranger: Most warriors of the wilderness are not rangers. Rather, they are fighters, barbarians, or rogues with the Tracking feat. Real rangers are somewhat rare and have very specific backgrounds. One such background is membership in the Order of Silver Hunters. These warrior are trained at the Ilûsâd Monastery in Dragonspire to be the primary defenders of the faith (the few Paladins of Ilûsâd are also members of this order). Another possible background is that of a warrior who has experienced a druidic calling (without having to take levels of druid). Finally, the most common ranger background is that of a rural fighter who has learned how to commune with spirits from village hedge wizards or witches.

• Rangers may eventually gain divine spells through study. Rangers who worship a traditional deity follow the rules for spell preparation appropriate to that faith. Rangers with druidic or shamanic backgrounds follow the druid spell preparation rules.
• Divine casters may only use scrolls (or druid talismans) created by divine casters of their own faith without making Use Device checks.

Sorcerer: In a world where most arcane spell-casters are feared and distrusted, sorcerers are especially reviled. That is because their powers come from pacts with dangerous and often malevolent beings. The practice of sorcery is strictly illegal in most parts of the world, with practicing sorcerers forced to disguise their powers as regular wizardry.

• Sorcerers require only rest and the passage of time to regain their spells. To learn new spells (or even gain new spell slots) they must enter into new pacts with potentially dangerous spirits.
• The scrolls created by sorcerers are fundamentally different from those created by other arcane caster. As a result, wizards and bards but make Use Device checks to use sorcerer scrolls. Similarly, sorcerers must make Use Device checks to use wizard or bard scrolls.

Wizard: The standard arcane spell-caster is the wizard. In the Narsikan Republic, the practice of wizardry is strictly regulated by the Arcanum (and membership is required for all known wizards).

• Wizards "precast" the spells that they are selecting using arcane rituals and referring to their spell-books. It takes one hour to prepare their entire selection of spell slots, though wizards may choose to divide this time up and spread it out over the course of a day. For example, a wizard with 6 spell slots may prepare a single spell in 10 minutes of ritual at any time during the day. A wizard must still rest 8 hours to regain their used slots.

Skills

Differences from the Core SRD are as follows:

Spellcraft: Any character with Spellcraft may attempt to cast a spell directly from a written source or with the guidance of a caster who knows the spell. The DC is 20 + spell level. In most cases, a failure means that nothing happened. However, if the character's roll is less than the DC but is high enough to cast a 0 level spell than some effect is manifested. The effect will often be harmful to the character and will resemble a spell of a level equal to roll - 20. The exact nature of the effects depend on the spell being cast, as well as the caster's intentions.

The base casting time for casting a spell from reference material is 1 hour plus the regular casting time. The character must still have the proper spell components. Casters who normally can cast the spell in question may still cast them from reference if they do not have any spell slots remaining.

Feats

Differences from the Core SRD are as follows:

Knight/Monastic Training: These feats, from the Eberron Campaign Setting, allow unrestricted multiclassing as a paladin or monk respectively.

Psionic Feats: Monks may select general and psionic feats from the psionics section of the Supplemental SRD. These feats represent a cinametic control of Chi. A monk may select psionic feats as if they had the Wild Talent feat.

Wealth

Differences from the Core SRD are as follows:

Currency: In addition to the standard D&D coinage exists, the Narsikan Republic prints paper money in various denominations. The standard Narsikan denomination is the silver lûn, with copper komitz used for small change. The gold sûl is relatively uncommon. Coins from other realms must typically be exchanged for Narsikan currency, though some merchants will take foreign currency at an added surcharge. Coins from the Old Empire are worth much more than their base value (depending on scarcity).