Post by blakeryan on Apr 1, 2016 22:52:03 GMT
I checked the forums but could not find a post regarding Githyanki/Githzerai in Ep 63, so here goes -
Githyanki vs Githzerai vs Mind Flayer is way underused, and is a great way to bring the greater universe (other worlds/astral plane/underdark) to the campaign.
If you have Githzerai and Githyanki as regular visitors to the world, or even common in some areas, you can have them as the 'other' parents of Half Orcs and Half Elves. They are just as different/similar as Humans to Elves/Orcs after all.
On my world I have each side have allies and minions and each side are covertly and overtly working against the others. In the 3 nations that have 30% Githzerai population-the military and the police/intelligence guild have people in their own and other lands working against Githyanki and their allies.
Vlaakith was a lich before the Githzerai split from Githyanki, so maybe the Githzerai have her phalactery (or one of them) and have been moving it/hiding it for centuries. (abit like the hawcrauxes in Harry Potter)
For an additional twist, maybe they used magic to hide it, and its now your characters sister! (they did something like this in Buffy Season 6)
In 4th ed 'the Plane Above' it mentions Vlaakith, the Githyanki lich queen is trying to achieve godhood.
In my world I let her, but she is not stupid and knows they hate slavery, so she is going with 'I am the crusader against the vile Illithid and Githzerai, join me and we will crush them'. If you go with this option they are pro-active and not reactive, they will always be doing something somewhere.
Githyanki are allies with Red Dragons, so perhaps some of the Metallic Dragons are aiding the Githyanki enemes on your world, either for a campaign or permanent basis. The world is not a vacuum, and longer lived creatures and see things on a large scale and recognize patterns. Perhaps the Githyanki enemies & pcs have aid from other creatures, such as sphinx, phoenix or genies?
Even if you don't have Githzerai as a common race on your world, they are easy to integrate into 'regular' human/dwarf/elf worlds.
You could see Githzerai monasteries in the mountains, Githzerai diviners and conjurers in arcane schools, and Githzerai spies/info brokers in crime guilds. For more regular jobs - scribes, teachers, sailors and leatherworkers.
In one of my campaigns a huge group of Githyanki attacked a city. The heroes used illusion magic to make the Githyanki think some of the own people were Githzerai. Later during the invasion they got 3 of their astral swords. (Yes I was rolling terrible that night, perhaps I should have fudged more, but we rolled with it). So the heroes had earned the enmity of the entire Githyanki race. The only reason I didn't have them mass-attack the heroes home base, is that the Warlock had a built in Non-detection ability, so the Githyanki were unable to scry the heroes location, and had to use regular agents to ask around and find the heroes base, which took alot longer.
Ways to integrate Githyanki into a game -
- perhaps they bump into a Githyanki going to prove himself and slay a mind flayer, only there is a large nest of Illithid and their umberhulk minions, so the Githyanki offers alliance to take them out, he wants the heads, they keep the shinies.
- the heroes are receiving visions/dreams of people captured, when there they find humans and mind flayers captured by githyanki, they then have to decide whether to rescue any/all of them, and/or deal with the githyanki fort. The Mind Flayer who sent them visions may offer information on Githyanki in return for some animals to eat.
- some githyanki may want a new life, and ask for sanctuary, but other githyanki don't want the traitors to leave, and the githzerai and their allies don't want the githyanki filth near them either.
Githyanki vs Githzerai vs Mind Flayer is way underused, and is a great way to bring the greater universe (other worlds/astral plane/underdark) to the campaign.
If you have Githzerai and Githyanki as regular visitors to the world, or even common in some areas, you can have them as the 'other' parents of Half Orcs and Half Elves. They are just as different/similar as Humans to Elves/Orcs after all.
On my world I have each side have allies and minions and each side are covertly and overtly working against the others. In the 3 nations that have 30% Githzerai population-the military and the police/intelligence guild have people in their own and other lands working against Githyanki and their allies.
Vlaakith was a lich before the Githzerai split from Githyanki, so maybe the Githzerai have her phalactery (or one of them) and have been moving it/hiding it for centuries. (abit like the hawcrauxes in Harry Potter)
For an additional twist, maybe they used magic to hide it, and its now your characters sister! (they did something like this in Buffy Season 6)
In 4th ed 'the Plane Above' it mentions Vlaakith, the Githyanki lich queen is trying to achieve godhood.
In my world I let her, but she is not stupid and knows they hate slavery, so she is going with 'I am the crusader against the vile Illithid and Githzerai, join me and we will crush them'. If you go with this option they are pro-active and not reactive, they will always be doing something somewhere.
Githyanki are allies with Red Dragons, so perhaps some of the Metallic Dragons are aiding the Githyanki enemes on your world, either for a campaign or permanent basis. The world is not a vacuum, and longer lived creatures and see things on a large scale and recognize patterns. Perhaps the Githyanki enemies & pcs have aid from other creatures, such as sphinx, phoenix or genies?
Even if you don't have Githzerai as a common race on your world, they are easy to integrate into 'regular' human/dwarf/elf worlds.
You could see Githzerai monasteries in the mountains, Githzerai diviners and conjurers in arcane schools, and Githzerai spies/info brokers in crime guilds. For more regular jobs - scribes, teachers, sailors and leatherworkers.
In one of my campaigns a huge group of Githyanki attacked a city. The heroes used illusion magic to make the Githyanki think some of the own people were Githzerai. Later during the invasion they got 3 of their astral swords. (Yes I was rolling terrible that night, perhaps I should have fudged more, but we rolled with it). So the heroes had earned the enmity of the entire Githyanki race. The only reason I didn't have them mass-attack the heroes home base, is that the Warlock had a built in Non-detection ability, so the Githyanki were unable to scry the heroes location, and had to use regular agents to ask around and find the heroes base, which took alot longer.
Ways to integrate Githyanki into a game -
- perhaps they bump into a Githyanki going to prove himself and slay a mind flayer, only there is a large nest of Illithid and their umberhulk minions, so the Githyanki offers alliance to take them out, he wants the heads, they keep the shinies.
- the heroes are receiving visions/dreams of people captured, when there they find humans and mind flayers captured by githyanki, they then have to decide whether to rescue any/all of them, and/or deal with the githyanki fort. The Mind Flayer who sent them visions may offer information on Githyanki in return for some animals to eat.
- some githyanki may want a new life, and ask for sanctuary, but other githyanki don't want the traitors to leave, and the githzerai and their allies don't want the githyanki filth near them either.