Ratjik is a small island in the northwest corner of the County of Maldan. Lord Kurralt is the lord of the island, although two of his vassals (Lord Ossan and Sir Vikla) have land and vassals of their own. About three hundred people live there, and almost a third of those are under water.
Please note that Ratjik is only one of many starting regions in Midwrathe, and others can be found at the campaign web site. Players interested in having their character start in Ratjik should contact Dale Friesen.
The Portals of Midwrathe campaign is one of low-fantasy role-playing and character development. To facilitate this, characters are encouraged to start with a simple class and develop from that class into a character of heroic proportions.
For the purposes of this campaign, core rules are considered to be version 3.5 of the System Reference Document (SRD). For reasons of convenience, page numbers in the Dungeons & Dragons published rulebooks will be given in this document. When this is done, the following abbreviations will be used: D&D Player's Handbook 3.5 (PHB), D&D Dungeon Master's Guide 3.5 (DMG), and D&D Monster Manual 3.5 (MM).
Players are responsible for making sure that a copy of the rules governing their characters are available at the table. Generally a gamemaster will probably bring a PHB, DMG, and MM to the table; all other resources should definitely be brought by the players.
To put all characters on even footing the campaign uses the point generation system.
| Commoner | 32 points |
| NPC Class | 28 points |
| PC Class | 25 points |
Use the following table to build your abilities. Each ability score starts at 8 and is increased by spending points.
| Score | Cost |
|---|---|
| 8 | 0 |
| 9 | 1 |
| 10 | 2 |
| 11 | 3 |
| 12 | 4 |
| 13 | 5 |
| 14 | 6 |
| 15 | 8 |
| 16 | 10 |
| 17 | 13 |
| 18 | 16 |
Racial modifiers are added after the ability scores are generated.
There are two races commonly encountered in Ratjik. Humans follow the guidelines as presented in the core rules. The water elems follow the rules in the Dragonstar Galactic Races book, except that their favoured classes are cleric and commoner. The Skojik name for them is forskarlar. Any Ratjik forskarlar may have Polar Bear Skin (from the Seafarer's Handbook) as a bonus feat; forskarlar without this feat find the waters around Ratjik too cold for their sensibilities and reside above land.
The forskarlar constitute approximately one third of the population of Ratjik. As a result, residents are far more likely to take non-human sentience for granted than people from other places. Even so, there are occasional tensions between the two races and it is up to those in power to ensure that life continues in peace.
There is a fellow with bright green skin serving Lord Kurralt, and people tend to call him The Big Dumb Guy (even though he is shorter than most humans and forskarlar). He always does as he's told and he never complains. Whatever race he is, he's the only one on Ratjik.
The classes originate from the PHB chapter three, the DMG chapter four, and Freeport: The City of Adventure chapter six. Players wishing to play a non-commoner must first consult with the gamemaster.
The available starting NPC classes are: adept, aristocrat, commoner, cultist, expert, and warrior.
The available starting PC classes are: barbarian, fighter, ranger, and rogue.
Commoners are automatically granted the Toughness feat in addition to their normal feats at first level.
No character can enter play multiclassed. Characters may continue to gain levels in their starting class, but must find a trainer before being able to gain levels in another class. The exception to this is that human characters may take levels in the Paragon Human class from Unearthed Arcana without training. Forskarlar interested in the Paragon Forskarlar class should contact their gamemaster.
At first and second level assign your character the maximum number of hit points possible for your class (plus your Constitution modifier). Starting at third level assign hit points according to your class by taking half the maximum value for the class's hit die then adding 1 point plus the Constitution modifier.
All Skills from the SRD are eligible for play, as is the Divine Ritual skill from Spellbound. A character may start with any of these skills, but after creation a trainer must be obtained before any new skills can be acquired.
A few skills need brief additional rulings:
These skills do not allow you to craft items other than the ones that PCs can purchase normally (see Step 5). No acid or other such equipment is allowed unless approved by the gamemaster.
Initial craft skills can normally only be chosen from those listed in the Craft skill description in the Player's Handbook.
Depending on circumstances in the plotline PCs may have an opportunity to spend time units to earn money by practicing their craft. If your GM gives you such an opportunity at the end of a scenario the results are as per the PHB unless the GM rules otherwise.
All of the knowledge skills in the SRD are available. Some of them, such as Arcana and Dungeoneering, will be unusual and will require an appropriate background to explain why the character has learned these things. Since Midwrathe is a role-playing encouraged campaign it makes sense to take knowledge skills relating to the character's background and social standing.
The local language of Ratjik is Skojik, which is spoken by all Ratji (human and elem). The elems also speak Cheeyee (sometimes called Watery or Aquan language), and this is available as a bonus language for Ratjik humans. The next-most commonly encountered language is Sardrinné, the common language of the mainlanders. Other mainland languages are also available.
All classes are considered to be illiterate, as per the core barbarian class (see p. 25 of the PHB).
Opportunities may arise for PCs to practice their profession and generate earnings. The GM will inform the PCs of such opportunities, which unless otherwise stated will follow the rules presented in the PHB.
The Divine Ritual skill is a class skill for the adepts and clerics of Ratjik. As errata to Spellbound, it is intelligence-based rather than wisdom-based.
Feats may be selected from those listed in the SRD except for Wild Talent.
In addition, the following feats from other printed materials are allowed (though some will be inaccessible to starting characters due to their prerequisites):
Born Marine, Greater Improved Initiative, Intellect Fortress, Pearl Diver, Press Ganger, Razor Tongue, Scoundrel's Luck, Skill Expertise, Skill Finesse.
Aquatic Armor Proficiency, Barroom Brawler, Fool's Luck, Great Lungs, Improved Positional Advantage, Lookout, Naval Heritage, Notorious, Parry, Parrying Weapon, Polar Bear Skin, Port Savvy, Pressure Survival, Riposte, Rope Climber, Sea Dog, Shanty Man, Storm Sense, Swing-By Attack, Two-Weapon Defense, Waterfront Native, Weapons of Opportunity.
Arcane Ritual Focus, Arcane Ritual Mastery, Divine Ritual Focus, Divine Ritual Mastery.
Forskarlar (water elems) may reside either on the island or under the water surrounding it. Those living underwater must have the Polar Bear Feat, which can be taken for free by forskarlar Ratji at character creation. They have the option of having the Aquatic Armor Proficiency feat for free, in which case they may later take the Surface Armour Proficiency feat.
Surface Armour Proficiency
[General]
You are proficient in surface armour. This does not grant specific armour proficiencies, but allows you to use the types of armour (light, medium, or heavy) above the surface in which you are already proficient.
Instructors for other feats may be available.
Item creation feats can only be used when adequate supplies are available. Some situations will make this a non-issue, while others will make the use of these feats a challenge.
Characters begin with the maximum wealth for their class. Note that NPC classes begin only with equipment, and have no starting cash. Assign equipment to your character from the following sources:
During character creation a PC may be given any of the equipment from the above sources. After creation, only items worth 100 gp or less are available for purchase between adventures in Ratjik; more valuable items will need to be acquired through play opportunities or in another venue.
Keep track of what your character is carrying and how much it weighs. The Carrying Capacity rules determine your encumbrance.
You must choose a non-evil alignment that meets all requirements for your character's class from the following list: Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, Neutral Good, Neutral and Chaotic Good. Player characters may not play evil characters by choice. Evil characters are not permitted in the campaign, and any evil actions committed may be grounds for dismissal from the campaign.
A character may begin play at any age from Adulthood or Middle Age, as defined in the Age section of Chapter 6: Description, in the PHB. Forskarlar use the half-elf entries in tables 6-4 and 6-5. Middle age characters have ability score adjustments as per table 6-5.
The character may be of any height and weight allowed by the height and weight tables for their race.
Disadvantages may be purchased according to the background rules presented in the Spycraft Espionage Handbook. All disadvantages must be approved by the GM. The limit of three serials between appearances of the disadvantage before a buy-out becomes an option is lifted.
Citizens of Ratjik serve Lord Kurralt, Lord Ossan, or Sir Vikla. Humans and elems living above the surface are required to pay their lord a small amount of tribute, and he has certain rights and obligations that the current Lord Kurralt seldom observes. Elems living under the waves recognize Lord Kurralt as the overlord of this area, but are rarely affected by this.
Ratjik is part of the barony of Loth-Maldan, and the current baroness is Moria Ironstorm. She is Lord Kurralt's feudal overlord.
On January 1 every year each character receives 364 time units, which expire each December 31. At this time the character also ages one year, and if the character's new age is considered to be middle age or older according to chapter six of the Player's Handbook then the ability modifiers from table 6-5 are in effect.
Characters may not borrow time units from future years to perform activities in the current year, nor may they carry over unused time units from one year into the next. Any activity that uses more time units than a character has available still takes place, but the remainder of the time unit cost is taken from the following year's allotment and the character cannot be played again until new TUs are available.
Each time unit represents approximately one day. All campaign activities, including adventuring, item creation, and metagaming activities, may have associated time unit costs. Each adventure and activity that does will describe the specific time unit costs associated with it. Time units are used instead of counting days because some aspects of the campaign are necessarily abstracted. By representing the time with undefined units certain aspects of a shared campaign can be represented without being completely illogical.
A character log is a set of sheets that track information about which adventures the character has participated in, the judge's information, any experience or treasure gained, and any notes about the adventure. Logs also are used to track meta-campaign activities and entries for any other character-changing event (such as changing deities). Logs are required for all characters.
Each log entry must be signed by the GM. In the case of online play, the GM's e-mail address can be substitutes for their signature.
Players and gamemasters are encouraged to make extensive notes on the activities of the session on their log sheets. Gamemasters are requested to review unfamiliar log sheets before each session.
PC spell casters can choose from the spells listed in the SRD, Seafarer's Handbook, and Freeport: The City of Adventure.
There are several spells and powers that are not suitable for use in the campaign environment.
The following spells are not available to PCs: permanency and true reincarnation.
Other spells may be banned by the campaign staff in the future if necessary.