Kalinos: City of the Heavens (my New Crobuzon)

[adamdray]

This is my attempt at a "New Crobuzon," as described by judd_sonofbert.

The "rules" are:

1) Take your three favorite human-ish monsters out of the Monster Manual and they are minority citizens in the city. Detail how they get along, how being in the city has culturally changed them and what niches they fill in the city. How do the powers that rule the city

Comments

[adamdray]

In case it's not clear, this is a city setting for paragon-tier (11th-20th level) characters, though I think you could make it work for parties of lower or higher levels. Angels range from about 8th-24th level, but are usually at least 15th level or so. Maruts are level 21-22. The shadowraven swarm is a 27th level monster and the sorrowsworn that might appear could range from 25th to 28th level. Wraiths run the gamut from level 5 to the level 25 dread wraith. Devas are a PC race but appear in the Monster Manual 2 as humanoids that range from 11th to 26th level.

The giant ants are the weakest here. They are heroic tier creatures. The most powerful, the hive queen, is a level 5 elite monster. They appear in such numbers, however, that I think they could be an interesting challenge to a paragon-tier party. Imagine a swarm of winged drones (level 4 each) or hive soldiers (level 3 each). That'd take some DM monster creation though.

[greyorm]

THAT is an awesome idea, Adam.

[adamdray]

Thanks. It's eating away at my brain so I'll probably write up some more ideas for a full-scale setting.