Frank and K's work

Of course.

Okay, they've done four 'Tomes', the latter two of which are heavily geared towards players who don't want to make the mages hold back. Here they are...

Tome of Necromancy
bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewthread?forum=1&thread=684

It's their take on how the Necromancy rules *should* be, along with some discussion about how to handle Negative Energy and therefore Undead.

Tome of Fiends
bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewthread?forum=1&thread=688

This is the one most likely to be of interest to the people here. It has a "True Fiend" base class, some description on the lower planes, and some fun stuff.

Dungeonomicon
bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewthread?forum=1&thread=698

This is a lot about how the social dynamics in DnD logically work--economy, power, and the place of heroes in the world. The Base Classes they include are for people who *can* optimize so they can make a melee person compete with a caster, but give the bonuses all in one class rather than making you use five or six. A couple of PrCs are, quite literally, jokes designed as commentary. That said, it's an interesting read.

Races of War
bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewthread?forum=1&thread=723

This is where they get weird. Positing the simple fact that melee/combat characters are inherently limited compared to casters, they propose a dramatic overall of the major Full-BAB classes and feats. They certainly have a way with words, and what ISN'T classes or feats is often pretty awesome. Like giving characters solid bonuses based on their background, and ways to play powerful non-humanoid races that leave the races still playable.

I'll slap up a few samplers from here in a bit.

From the Tome of Fiends...

A rant about morality in a DnD game.

Morality: How Black is the Night?

Those readers who have been following this series will remember the basic moral question regarding Necromancy: namely the fundamental decision for each game as to whether to treat Negative Energy as an objective force or an ultimate moral indictment. The central question surrounding fiends is less obvious, but in no way less important to your game. We know that a Gelugon is Evil, he's got a subtype that denotes him as being specifically Evil, that's not the question. What we don't know is how Evil he is. That's a central question that has to be addressed within the context of each game. Let's face it, a lot of people really aren't comfortable with villainy more pernicious than the antagonists in a Saturday morning cartoon. Other people have a different and equally valid hang-up: they aren't comfortable having their characters stab enemies in the face repeatedly until they bleed to death unless those enemies are extremely bad people. As so frequently happens, the rules for Dungeons and Dragons are written to accommodate both play styles, which in reality ends up including nothing. Perhaps unfortunately, you must come to a table-wide consensus about what your gaming is not doing before you can have your game do anything at all.

Keep in mind that none of these play styles are "worse" or "better".

Moral Option 1: A Worthy Opponent
"Fools! You have interfered with my plans for the last time!"

For many games, the fact that the bad guys are bad is pretty much sufficient. Like the villains in Saturday Morning Cartoons, their villainy requires – and gets – no explanation. Actual villainy is fairly upsetting to contemplate, and a lot of people don't want to do it. I don't blame them, cannibalism, deliberate infliction of pain, and exploitation of the innocent are unpleasant. Talking about secret prisons where torture is conducted night and day without respite or reason is super depressing.

Implications: The biggest implication here is that since Evil and Good are basically just political parties or ethnic hats, it is perfectly OK to have mixed alignment parties or to ban mixed alignment parties. You're never going to have a serious discussion about what it is that Evil people do, so it's actually not important how you handle them. You can even switch how you're handling it in the middle for no reason. One day, the Atomic Skull can just chip in to save the world from Darkseid. Another day you can go kill the Atomic Skull without feeling bad. It's very liberating, because you can tell a lot of stories – so long as none of those stories involve actual evil actions happening on camera.

Pit Falls: While it is certainly a load off the mind to not be constantly reminded of child abuse, torture, and sexual misconduct, bear in mind that this is Dungeons and Dragons – your foes are more than likely going to be killed with extreme stabination. Possibly in the face. Possibly more than once. If the villains aren't doing anything overwhelmingly bad, it's entirely possible that it won't seem like they deserve being killed. If subjected to enough analysis, one might even find that your own "heroes" appear to be the villains in your cooperative storytelling adventure. Certainly, He-Man never took that sword and chopped Skeletor into chunks. Star Wars: Episode One was such an unsatisfying movie in no small part because the villains never did anything bad.

Glossing over the villainous activities of the bad guys should go hand in hand with all of the players acknowledging and understanding what you are doing and why you are doing it. As long as everyone is making the active and informed choice to not deal with the heavy moral questions – it's all good.

Moral Option 2: The Banality of Evil
"It's 9 O'clock, time to get back to some Evil."

Many DMs will want to play their fiends pretty much like Nazis – their agenda is hateful, but in their off time they go hang out at the pub just like everyone else. You could even sit there with them and drink together unless you happen to be a Jew. This is the default assumption of a lot of Planescape literature, for example. An Evil creature is Evil because it ever does Evil things, not because it's necessarily doing any Evil right now. Darkness and light are, in this model, pretty ephemeral concepts – characters who wish to save their own sanity will end up either paying perhaps too much attention or ignoring them completely often as not.

Implications: Since bad guys (and presumably good guys as well) spend most of their time being regular guys and only infrequently perform acts worthy of praise or scorn, it's extremely easy for heroes to fall to Evil and extremely easy for villains to be redeemed for full value. People on both sides of the Good/Evil axis are doing pretty unexceptional stuff most of the time, so the allegiance that even Evil Clerics have to darkness is pretty tenuous.

This way of handling things is so much better at handling mysteries than are other morality systems that it may as well be a requirement if you ever want to play a "who-done-it" adventure. Since the good guys and bad guys spend most of their day being actually indistinguishable one from another, it makes distinguishing them actually difficult – and that has to happen if there is to be any question of who the PCs are supposed to stab.

Pit Falls: Be wary of over-humanizing the villains. In many stories, the bad guys are a lot more interesting than the white hats; and that can seriously derail a campaign if it happens in a role playing scenario. Beware also of the fact that if the Evil Overlord is mostly chillin like a villain with his family and having brews with his bros, it's going to be pretty hard to justify it when you inevitably stab him right in the face. Also remember that while The Banality of Evil is great for mysteries, it's actually so good for mysteries that the game can bog down. Players can get caught up in the minor goings-on of characters you don't even care about. Paranoia can be paralyzing when any scullery maid could really just go Evil at any time and poison your food to try to get your wallet. It can be realistic, but realism takes place in real time. That's not good if you're trying to raise hippogriffs as steeds.

Moral Option 3: The Face of Horror.
"I think I have Evil sand. In my pants."

Many DMs will want to make their Evil as Evil as possible. That can get… pretty Evil. It can actually get so Evil that people who overhear you playing the game will get a very bad impression about your group and the things you talk about. The starker the contrast between Good and Evil, the more righteous the acts of heroism the players commit. Tales of monstrous action are fascinating and the horrid and disgusting can hold people's interest indefinitely. By having the forces of Evil disembowel people in loving detail you can capture the imaginations of your players with actually relatively little creative work on the part of the DM. There have been over 10 Jason movies because those things practically write themselves, and people keep watching them because they genuinely are as intriguing as the are revolting.

Implications: With the forces of Evil running around doing actual stomach churning crime, having Evil and Good "team up" is essentially implausible. In fact, having Good and Evil characters in the same party is pretty much a non-starter. When playing with The Face of Horror the universe is essentially a cosmic battle between Good and Evil, the forces of Law and Chaos have some fights too, but essentially that's just crime compared to the world shaking conflict of darkness and light.

Further, while Good and Evil being as immiscible as Rubidium and Water makes for a well defined party demographic, it also has other far reaching consequences. When you go to the Abyss, the sand itself is Evil. Once you've made the determination that this means more than that Paladins can find every grain – you've bought yourself into the determination that beaches in the Abyss are themselves morally reprobate somehow.

Pit Falls: While The Face of Horror ends up making Good and Evil a much more important distinction than Law vs. Chaos, that's not really a problem. Sure, it's not reciprocal or equivalent and that's a breach of the Great Wheel tirade, but that's not really important to the game. Let's face it, when was the last time you saw a statted up enemy prepared to cast dictum? No, the problem is that if you make Evil as nasty as it can be made, it's really nasty. It makes other people in the game uncomfortable, and it disturbs people who hear portions of your game out of context. People like talking about stabbing their sword into an evil monster, that's all heroic and crap, but actually looking at sword wounds is icky. People don't want to do it.

Evil, if defined as "things we don't like", is pretty much exclusively composed of things we don't like. That means that the more we focus our attention on the details of what's going on, the more we'll want to clean our eyes out with soap. And while skirting that line can make a story grimly compelling, remember always that different people have different tolerances for this sort of thing. Just because something is gross enough to catch your prurient interest without wrecking your lunch doesn't mean that it isn't so nasty as to drive other people away. Tolerance for discussing child murder in the context of a story is not a virtue, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the people who don't enjoy watching movies in the splatter horror genre.

Moral Option 4: Perfection in Balance
What use is the light that casts not a shadow?"

In this model, evil is a force that sits diametrically opposed to good. In order for one to exist, the other must exist as well. Evil is what gives good its meaning, and in fact one can simply define one by the other: to be good is not-evil, and to be evil is to be not-good. When playing with this option, evil plays a vital role in society and cannot be eliminated without dire consequences. For example, when the Jedi eliminate the Sith Lords, they set themselves up for an even more powerful Sith Lord to rise and kill them all, ushering in a new order of Evil, which is in turn later demolished by the calling out of a powerful Jedi who can defeat it. Neutrality is the rule of the day in this model, in the sense that evil and good will always be in the midst of trumping each other in an effort to “win”, a goal that is as meaningless as it is impossible.

What does that mean for your game? In this model, evil will always be the fly in your ointment and the piss in your cheerios, and good will always be the silver lining in the stormcloud and the complementary bag of nuts in your red-eye flight. Even the most powerful and good organization of clerics in your world will have a cruel inquisitor, and even the most death-hungry cabal of necromancers will have a guy who is kind to puppies and little children. Organizations and people will be “mostly” one thing or the other, but not all of anything, and people will be OK with that. Kind kings will be mostly good, but will have no problem massacring an entire generation of goblinkind in an effort to keep the roads safe, and liches who eat souls will defend the land from rampaging chimera without reward in an effort to keep the peace.

Implications: In a sense, this is the easiest of moral options, as you won’t need to really keep track of what’s going on with alignments. People will occasionally do things out of character, and that’s fine. Society will be quite tolerant, as they completely think its OK for there to be a Temple Street with a shrine for Orcus worshippers competing for space with a hospital sponsored by the clergy of Pelor. When one organization for good or evil gets stomped down, another one will pop up to replace it in an endless game of cosmic whack-a-mole.

For character with alignment related class features, atonement is a far easier process. Occasional deeds that violate your alignment are tolerated, as long as attempts at acts of atonement are made in a reasonable time frame. The Paladin that kills an innocent to defeat a powerful demon may have to visit the innocent’s family and make restitution after the battle, and the Cleric of Murder who defends the king from an assassin may have to seek out several of the King’s loved one’s in order to rededicate himself to his dark god.

Pit Falls: It can be pretty cool to have a party that has an assassin, a druid, and a champion of light in it – there's a lot of early D&D that has that as virtually the iconic party – but if the great game between Good and Evil is an inherently pointless game, that can make the story of your characters seem pretty banal. It's a line that can be hard to walk. It's just plain difficult to simultaneously have any individual attempt to destroy the world be important while having it be built into the contract that there will be another one tomorrow.

From the Races of War...

War in D&D
"War is not about who is right, but who is left."

D&D is a game about stabbing people in the face, rifling through their pockets and/or home, and then going back to your own home where the beer is cold and the woman are warm and waiting for the next foolio to present himself for stabbing (and rifling). That being said, war is the same thing, but writ large.

War in the DnD universe is very nasty, very brutal, and very short. It all comes down to the question "who's got the bigger heroes?" Peasant uprisings of plucky farmers just don't happen in a world where a 1st level mage with a Wand of Fireballs and a decent Hide check can set an army of thousands on fire, and the bravest and best trained units of knights just aren't going to conquer the land/government that has a guy chain-binding vrocks to serve as elite terror squads to kill every peasant in a hundred mile radius of your capital.

If you have the bigger heroes, they knock down any smaller heroes, then walk up to the Kingdom of Good King Draxall … yada yada yada…and hear the lamentation of his womenfolk. It doesn't really matter if King Draxall's castle is now full of lava because the attackers opened a gate to a volcano in his throne room or if they went all Die Hard on the King's personal guard and gutted the bunch….the truly important troops (i.e. heroes) traveled at least as fast as griffonback and smashed the Kingdom while the King was still training his peasants on which end of a spear to poke people with.

That doesn't mean that armies don't have a place in DnD. Once the important business of nailing enemy heroes to a tree is done, someone has to pacify the new populous, enslave them to work the salt mines, collect taxes, and generally put down any rebellions or resistance movements of local yahoos (which might be gnoll bandits, a wandering ankheg, or other unimportant challenge for our heros). Heroes are generally more concerned with bigger and more rewarding problems like the undead pouring out of the newly discovered (ie unlooted) ruins in Moil than the fact that the peasants of the former King Draxell are up in arms over the latest taxes on grain.

But occasionally, someone does attempt a military victory. It might be an aristocrat with more gold than sense or a necromancer with an animation fixation, but troops will be secretly trained, mercenaries will be hired, and cadres of spies will pour into the prospective target land. Sometimes this crap works, as the relevant heroes who might defend the land might be bribed to stand aside, assassinated with extreme prejudice, or just be on another plane at the time, and then it’s the Wytch King's skeletal footman vs. King Draxall's Knights of the Holy Relic for real old-timey war on respectable battlefields.

The problem is that this kind of thing is that it generally doesn't last. Once the local hero population replenishes itself, those guys will become the local rulers by default, even if they only pay lip service to King Draxall in public. Empires lasting thousands of years are not products of military might, but a good PR department with an eye for finding up-and-coming heroes who are smart enough to maintain the fiction of a stable society rather than upset the peasants by reminding them that they live and die by the whims of guys who think that summoning angels from heaven to set off dungeon traps is an acceptable practice.

Fighting with Honor
"There is only one ethical system and it is pragmatism. Only goals change."

The concept of honorable combat is pretty fishy when you look at it carefully. Your goal is to painfully kill another sapient being with a deadly weapon, and the other guy is attempting to do the same to you. Why then, would any rational person take time to consider the "honor" of whatever horribly painful and potentially lethal act they were intent upon inflicting on another?

The answer is: The Long Term. The concept of honor in War is incredibly ancient, and the ideas of what is and is not an honorable act have varied unrecognizably over that period. But one thing has remained the same throughout: the idea of what is honorable in warfare has always been inextricably linked to the needs of the powerful. In olden days, the powerful had superior nutrition, superior training, superior equipment and came in really small numbers. So naturally of course, the rule was that you didn't gang up on people or use poison. In modern days, bullets go through pretty much anything, but powerful people have more troops and helicopters, so the rule is that you don't assassinate people in honorable combat. The penalties for being dishonorable have remained pretty static over the generations – you get kicked out of the rosters of the powerful and other power blocs attempt to band together to crush you.

That's all fine and dandy, but what does that mean for characters in the D&D world? The risks of using poison gas in terms of collateral damage really aren't there (cloudkill goes pretty much exactly where you tell it to), and the ranks of the powerful really do include high level Rogues and Assassins. Most of the stuff you think of as being dishonorable in historical chivalric codes are perfectly fine in D&D chivalric codes. Like all chivalric codes, the one found in the D&D universes is there to keep people in their place – in this case powerful adventurers on top, and little people and monsters on the bottom. Here's how it works:

Getting a lot of help on any project is dishonorable. A 9th level wizard can wave his hands and make a dungeon, and two rogues can stab a frost giant in the back of the head and the face in synchrony. But peasants can't do jack without the help of like 20 guys. Therefore, working in groups larger than about 10 on any single project is dishonorable in the extreme. The end result is that decent goods can really only be produced by the master artisans and the little people are trapped in obscurity.

Poisoning Food is without honor. Druids can spit poison and Assassins can shoot poison darts, but pretty much anyone can put warfarin into an enchilada. So while injected poisons aren't considered dishonorable, ingested poisons are.

Being Gargantuan or Larger is dishonorable. It may seem downright bizarre that people in the D&D world endeavor to look down on things which stand tall. But when you think about the locations that the truly tremendous live in, it makes sense. When gargantuan creatures rear themselves, it is expected practice for all groups to drop what they are doing and attack. And that is why Titans and Dragons live on remote mountaintops instead of owning the world. It isn't that taking them down isn't a lot of effort, it's that the small creatures made a gentleman's agreement to actually put that effort in a long time ago.

Honorable people do not create Spawn.: This is one that bones the monsters and certain kinds of spellcasters like necromancers, and its designed so that people don't take Steve the Crap-Covered Farmer and turn him into a hero-level threat like a vampire spawn. We know how this works for the people that do it: they tip the balance in favor of the monsters and the heroes and society loses. Even if every Shadow only makes one other Shadow each day, in three weeks your kingdom is full of Shadows….people in the DnD universe know how this is going to end and it makes them very unhappy.

Impersonating specific people with magic is a dishonorable act. Heroes live and die by their reputation, and part and parcel of being a hero is that people know who you are and where to find you so that they can shower you with job offers and money. That actually works for society, because this is a pre-Internet universe and we don't have Craigslist to make sure that people get the right jobs.

Destroying Magic Items is something no honorable person would do. Magic is in many ways, a finite resource. The people in power, need it to stay in power. Artifacts are essentially irreplaceable, but they are corruptible. Maybe not by you, but by someone. If you destroy a great artifact of Evil, you've actually hurt Good some too. You've reduced the total amount of power available to anyone. And that doesn't fly for people who have all the power.

Changing Alignment is dishonorable. Every power group wants people to pretty much stay on whatever side they are on, because otherwise how do you know who is on what side? It's very pragmatic, those who switch sides are never afforded the same trust in their new side as they were given from their old side lest they change back. That isn't to say that Good and Evil aren't proselytizing

Honorable people take credit for their kills. Not only is it just good form to advertise your abilities so that people know who in the kingdom actually can kill an Ettin in single combat, but its actually safer for everyone if society in general know why powerful monsters keep dropping out of the sky. When people find an Old Red Dragon dead in a random field, they are going to want to know what killed it and if it has plans on their favorite tavern. Not claiming your kills means that actual hero-hours are going to be spent finding out the nature of this threat when they could be better spent curbing the excesses of the Wytch King's Empire. That pisses people off, and leads to occasional hero-on-hero violence that only serves Team Monster.

So you want to be honorable, right? Maybe give your coat to handsome members of the opposite sex, keep your word, and make sure your taxes are paid on time? Yeah, that has to do with your alignment probably (depending upon what you think Law, Chaos, Good, and Evil actually represent), not with you overall honor. Honor really is about whether society in general is going to attempt to ostracize you. So you can be Evil and Chaotic and still fit into society, still be considered honorable. In fact, D&D has entire Chaotic Evil societies where that sort of thing is expected.

Warriors with Style

Character Backgrounds
"I… I'm a fighter. I stab people. In the face."

D&D is a cooperative storytelling game, and we would hope that the stories it generates will be worth retelling again and again. In the interest of that actually happening, it is imperative that each and every point of view character in the story (that is, the Player Characters) be interesting. To be interesting, a fictional character really only has to have three things: An interesting motivation, an interesting schtick, and an interesting set of adventures. The schtick of the character is generally going to be handled by a character's class levels and equipment and is really up to the game mechanics themselves to generate – ideally the classes contained in this writing will cover that. Interesting adventures are the game itself and hopefully involve challenges only barely overcome and dastardly deeds thwarted in the nick of time – and this falls largely upon the DM to properly gauge the talents of the PCs and provide challenges that can be bested by the skin of the teeth. But the character's motivation, their backstory, really comes from the player's own mind. That's something that the player really needs to bring to the table on his own lookout.

A character with an interesting backstory is fundamentally better for the story than one without. And while it is true that the DM's world is going to highly flavor it (sorry, there are no elven maidens in those mountains!) the fact remains that the player is pretty much going to get what he puts into this. And yet, while the story is frankly going to be somewhat uninteresting if the players don't put some effort into their backstories, putting effort into anything is… well… effort. If people don't get some tangible effect from putting in that effort, they are quite likely to just not do it at all.

So here's what we're going to do: we're going to make some minor character advantages accessible only by writing yourself a character background. Then, when your character has a simple set-piece introduction, you get a tangible bonus that isn't especially game breaking. Note that we don't expect, or even want your character's background to be 7 pages of narrow font before the beginning of the first game. In fact, we probably want it to never get that long. This is a cooperative storytelling game, in D&D you tell the story with the input of the other players and the DM. If you just want to write the story of an awesome character without the input of other players – don't play D&D at all. You really can just type up a story and either submit it for publication or hide it in your diary all emo style as your relative shyness dictates. So no, we want your character's background to be short, but we need it to be there. The kind of thing that a character might actually be able to relate in a one-paragraph info-dump in a book without causing the reader to skim. Normally, a character gets one background. This is as much to keep character background from filling up the world as anything else.

War Profiteer
The War came… and that spells P-R-O-F-I-T. Hoo boy! Maybe you just came from a Goblin family and you really like this sort of thing, maybe you consider yourself a visionary who can see through to a new economic theory based less on gold and more on value. Whatever, you've sold people daggers to cut themselves out of snare traps, and you're proud of it.
Effect: Appraise and Search are class skills for you no matter what you do. Also, you're a jerk. Your personal weapons and armor start masterwork at no cost.

Veteran of The War
There was a great and terrible war that wracked the lands, and you fought on one or more sides of it.
Effect: Veterans have proficiency with 3 Martial weapons and one armor type. Veterans who belong to a class that already has martial weapon proficiency begin play with proficiency in 3 Exotic weapons appropriate to the lands upon which the battles raged. Veterans also have nightmares sometimes and talk about The War more than is perhaps strictly required.

Street Rat
You grew up on the hard end of the streets. The part where kids are total jerks and sometimes the wererats just make one of your friends disappear, and noone else seems to care. You had to lie and steal just to survive, man.
Effect: You have Bluff and Sleight of Hand as class skills no matter what you do. You don't catch normal diseases because you've already had them all. You get a +2 bonus on handle animal checks with street animals like dogs, rats, and pigeons. Also, you have a small shell that a girl gave you when you were twelve. You think she's dead, but really she's been turned into a wererat, so when eventually you meet again it'll be traumatic and you might have to kill her. Or maybe you'll be able to convince her to turn away from Team Monster and live happily ever after.

Slave of the Hobgoblin Clans
The Hobgoblin Clans take slaves every generation, and the children of those slaves are also slaves, but also members of the clans, and they can potentially be promoted within the clan to the point where they aren't even a slave anymore. You may have done that. Or you may have simply run away and escaped Hobgoblin society to become an adventurer.
Effect: You speak Goblin. You also speak any other language you know with a Goblin Accent that makes Dwarves distrust you. If you ran away from the Hobgoblins, there may be a group of them out looking for you who will start adventures for you. If not, then you are still part of the Hobgoblin clans and there will be Hobgoblin plothooks that will draw you into adventures. Of more importance, perhaps, is the fact that you've grown up your whole life among Hobgoblins, and have a +2 racial bonus to Move Silently (yes, that's a racial bonus, so it doesn't stack with the racial bonus you get from actually being a Hobgoblin). Also, Listen is a class skill for you no matter what you do.

Royalty of a Fallen Nation
Welcome to the harsh realities of the Iron Age. If the last hard core member of a noble house dies, there is nothing keeping people from arbitrarily taking all their lands and gold away. Such was apparently the case with your family. When you were young, the last powerful Fighter (or Wizard, or whatever) in your family was slain, and now the only people left in your family with more than a level or two have aristocrat levels. Needless to say, more powerful characters came and took all your stuff. Now you wander the land attempting to gain power and secure your revenge.
Effect: People believe in you for no good reason. Some ancestor of yours was awesome, and people just assume that you'll get the band back together. You get free drinks when people know who you are, and your Leadership value is increased by +2. People will also offer you assistance and otherwise try to get on your good side. Of course, your family's enemies will send ninja and assassins to finish off your line (note: this may seem like a disadvantage, but it's really not – you're a D&D character so you are going to get into fights all the time, the fact that it's ninja attempting to erase your family name is just flavor). And of course, not everyone liked the way your family did things, so sometimes people are going to spit on your horse or in your burritos.

The Resistance
Your nation got overrun by someone you didn't like. And those Halfling oppressors (or whatever) went way too far. You were in a cell of revolutionaries dedicated to removing the foreign devils from the lands of your people.
Effect: Those who spent time in The Resistance have a number of contacts and can easily make contacts in new areas. Essentially this means that they get a +2 bonus on Gather Information checks. Members of The Resistance can make disguises out of substandard materials and suffer no penalties while doing so. Of course, The Resistance is a downright cannibalistic organization what with all the time all of the members spend betraying people. Every even modestly successful member is certain to have a wide variety of enemies, and not just from the oppressors they are fighting! Of course, it would be folly to claim that having large numbers of enemies is much of a disadvantage for a D&D character. I'm more concerned about the fact that you can never really be sure about the loyalty of another person. Not enough to risk sleeping with them anyway.

Refugee from The War
When the big war came, not everyone was old enough or brave enough to fight in it, and your character was in one of those categories and fled to a new land. The people already living in the new land treated your people poorly and made them live in ghettos with little food and poor access to magical healing. You spent several years living as a pawn in someone else's lands and all you got was a disease. Now you're adventuring, to find a new place where you fit in and possibly get a little vengeance on all those peoples who took time out of their day to screw your people.
Effects: Refugees are exposed to a wide variety of places, dangers, diseases, and people that those who live relatively comfortable lives will never know. In essence, they can be thought of as adventurers already, though they rarely get any rewards out of the deal. A refugee begins play knowing one additional language, and this language need not be an available bonus language for her race. In addition, a refugee may consider Knowledge (Geography) and Sense Motive as class skills for the rest of their lives. A refugee character is missing teeth or has the distinctive circular scars of having survived The Pox.

Raised by Owlbears
Tarzan was raised by an ape, Mowgli was raised by a bear, Romulus was raised by a wolf, and in the D&D world your character can be raised by creatures much more exotic. The sky is really the limit here: simply pick some improbable beast and your character was protected and fed as a small child by that beast after she was orphaned or abandoned in the wilderness. While I'd like to think that we've all read enough Burroughs that this story pretty much tells itself, the truth is even more astonishing. This character background has become cliché and we're totally fine with that. You can really have an interesting and memorable character with a clichéd backstory and a three sentence intro that ends with "And then I came to this village to reclaim my birthright as a gnome."
Effect: Characters who were raised by Girallon (or whatever) are arbitrarily able to talk to magical beasts and animals as if they shared a language. Noone knows how they do it, but they do. Unfortunately, such characters didn't grow up surrounded by humanoid languages, and your only starting language is Common no matter what your Intelligence is.

Moil Wrought
Every setting has some horribly tainted land filled with necromantic power. People who live there become tainted with necromantic power and grow up twisted and evil more often than not. You grew up there too, which means that either you grew up all evil, or you grew up tragically misunderstood, which makes you Good and totally awesome.
Effect: You are damaged by Positive Energy as if you were undead. You are also healed by negative energy as if you were undead. Also, some people find you really creepy and you have a tendency to talk in flat affect like the girl in Aliens.

Hero of the Peasants
You're the third son of a poor woodcutter or something. Maybe your father remarried and your new mother hates you. Whatever. The point is that you come from an exceedingly poor background, and your plucky spirit and do-gooder nature propels you forward to make a difference in the world.
Effect: It's not that you're too lazy to pick starting equipment it's that… OK, you're too lazy to pick out starting equipment. Believe me, I understand. A Hero of the Peasants character begins play practically naked. Leather armor or functional clothing, a sling, a quarterstaff, 10 copper pieces, and some bread. Have fun with that. But you're just generally kind of awesome. You get a +2 bonus on Survival, Handle Animal, and Sense Motive checks for no reason. And don't forget that you probably have a destiny of some sort, which means that periodically the DM will go off on a tirade about your destiny (this is worth nothing, all D&D characters have a destiny).

Experimental Stock
You, or your parents, were experimented upon by one of the many mad arcanists that dot the D&D landscape. Maybe they were members of the dreaded Mad Wizards Guild that claims responsibility for Gulguthhydras and Perytons. Maybe it was another group. You might not even know.
Effect: You have a positive, if really messed up looking trait grafted into you. You either have a natural weapon, or your natural armor bonus is increased by 1, or you have low light vision. But you also have some bad trait, like a 5' reduction in speed, or a flipper hand, or a -2 to initiative checks. Also, in polite company you might want to cover up your eyestalk. The ladies do not find it your most attractive feature.

Apprenticed
You learned from the best. Or maybe not the best. But you learned from a successful adventurer, and that's pretty good. Maybe they were your parents, maybe your parents saw fit to hire you on to a master wizard.
Effect: Hide, Spot, and Spellcraft are class skills for you. That's how people stay alive in the adventuring business, after all. You probably know some adventurers, and that means that they'll show you all the tricks like how to identify objects or scribe spells for free, how to turn artifacts into artifacts you want, and how to spend planar currency.

Amnesia
Sometimes a player is really lazy or cannot think of a backstory.
Effect: None. If you're too lazy to think of a damned backstory, you get nothing at all. If the DM is feeling generous or vindictive, she can have things gradually get surreal on you like a David Lynch extravaganza. In doing so, you'll gradually find out that you actually have a backstory, and all the perks and flaws of whatever it is.

I thought I'd slap up some more interesting stuff, having gotten bored. These are PrCs from the Tome of Fiends.

Prestige Classes:

For something that has received so much ink, the world of fiend related prestige classes is remarkably non-functional. Fiendish Cultists, Dark Summoners, and Fiend-blooded Sorcerers are classic D&D fodder. But unfortunately, the previously published classes for these archetypes are generally… not good. And that makes us sad. Here are some classes designed to fill those perceived holes:

Hellwalker
"What terrors do you think I have not already seen?"

Life in the Lower Planes is generally nasty, brutish, and short, and it is only the strongest survive long enough to learn the mysteries and unique properties of these locales. The Hellwalker is one such individual. Trained in the Lower Planes and weaned on the taint of evil, these solitary hunters roam the Lower Planes, traveling along planar byways and through networks of portals too dangerous or erratic for regular use.

Hit Die: d8.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Hellwalker, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Skills: Knowledge (Planes) 4 ranks, Survival 8 ranks.
Feats: Track
Special: Must have visited every Lower Plane, and lived at least one year in the Lower Planes.

Class Skills
The Hellwalker’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Speak Language, Spellcraft(Int), Spot (Wis), and Survival (Wis).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
BAB: Medium(Rogue, Cleric) Saves: Fort: Good, Will: Good, Ref: Bad
Class Features

Special:
Level, Benefits
1 Members Only +1 spellcaster level
2 Craft of the Lower Planes
3 Free Traveller’s Checks +1 spellcaster level
4 Craft of the Lower Planes
5 Membership has Privileges, Skill of War +1 spellcaster level

All of the following are Class Features of the Hellwaker prestige class:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Hellwalkers gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.

Spellcasting: At levels 1, 3, and 5, the Hellwalker casts spells (including gaining any new spell slots and spell knowledge) as if he had also gained a level in a spellcasting class he had previous to gaining that level. If the character does not have any levels in any spellcasting classes when he takes his first level of Hellwalker, this class feature gives him levels in Sorcerer spellcasting.

Members Only(Ex): At 1st level, a Hellwalker attunes himself to energies of the Lower Planes. While on the Lower Planes, he counts as if under the effect of a Attune Form spell. If not currently on a Lower Plane, he may cast plane shift at will, with his target destination being a location on a Lower Plane.

Craft of the Lower Planes: At 2nd and 4th level, the Hellwalker learns the martial or mystical arts of the Lower Planes. He can choose to gain a +1 to spellcasting level, or a +1d6 to sneak attack dice(but only if he has sneak attack dice from another class), or a fighter bonus feat(which is must meet the prerequisites). Once chosen, this ability cannot be changed.

Free Traveller’s Checks(Sp): At 3rd level, the Hellwalker has so attuned himself to the energies of the Lower Planes that he can call this energy to himself, ferrying himself with it when the energy is strong and drawing it to him when it does not exist. While on a Lower Plane, the Hellwalker can cast teleport without error at will as a spell-like ability, with a limit of 50 pounds over his own weight. While not on a Lower Plane, a Hellwalker can cast planar bubble on himself, at will, and he can choose to be a native of any one Lower Plane(chosen each time this effect is used) for the purposes of this spell.

Membership has Privileges(Sp): A Hellwalker of 5th level has tapped into a rarely used and poorly maintained network of portals dotting the Lower Planes, and he can manipulate those portals for his own purposes. The Hellwalker may cast gate (travel version only) as a spell-like ability once per day. Unlike a normal gate, only living creatures and attended objects may pass through this gate. This ability can only be used if at least one side of the gate is on a Lower Plane.

Skill of War: At 5th level, the Hellwalker's Base Attack Bonus increases by 1 permanently.

Seer of the Tempest
"Aaaah! AAAAAAAH! AAAAAAH!"

The Windswept Depths of Pandemonium breed a special kind of magician. Driven half-mad by the eternal darkness and thunderous din of the eternal windstorm, they walk the battlefields of the multiverse bringing the terrors they know to those who do not.

Most characters who become Seers of the Tempest are War Mages, though sometimes this path appeals to Wizards of a particularly martial bent.

Hit Die: d4.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Seer of the Tempest, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
Skills: Intimidate 9 ranks.
Alignment: Non-Lawful
Spells: Must be able to cast 3rd level Arcane spells, and must be able to cast Evocations of every level she can cast..
Class Skills: The Seer of the Tempest's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all skills taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skills/Level: 2 + Intelligence Bonus
BAB: Medium (3/4), Saves: Fort: Poor; Reflex: Poor; Will: Good

Level, Benefit
1 Increased Edge, Sonic Spells, Suffer the Firmament, +1 Spellcaster Level
2 Scary Noises, +1 Spellcaster Level
3 Winds, +1 Spellcaster Level
4 Attune Domain: Storm, +1 Spellcaster Level
5 Swift Winds, +1 Spellcaster Level
6 Uproar, +1 Spellcaster Level
7 Sense the Winds, +1 Spellcaster Level
8 Attune Domain: Darkness, +1 Spellcaster Level

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Seer of the Tempest gains no proficiency with armor or weapons.

Spellcasting: Every level, the Seer of the Tempest casts spells (including gaining any new spell slots and spell knowledge) as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class she had previous to gaining that level.

Increased Edge: If the Seer of the Tempest has the Edge class feature, she may add her class level to the Edge bonus. This has no effect if she does not have the Edge.

Sonic Spells: Every spell that the Seer of the Tempest casts that inflicts any damage may inflict Sonic damage instead at her option when the spell is cast. No other effects of the spell are changed, nor is the casting time of the spell. Spells that are made to inflict Sonic damage in this way gain the [Sonic] descriptor.

Suffer the Firmament (Ex): A Seer of the Tempest is at home in a tornado as a calm day. She is unaffected by winds of any strength, and suffers no penalties to her listen checks in even the stiffest gail.

Scary Noises (Su): At 2nd level, the booming destruction of the Seer's magical attacks channels the haunting terrors of Pandemonium. Any creature damaged by a [Sonic] spell cast by the Seer must make a Willpower Save or become shaken. If a creature becomes shaken twice, she becomes frightened. The Save DC is Charisma based, and this is considered a [Fear] effect.

Winds (Sp): A Seer of the Tempest who has reached 3rd level may use gust of wind as a spell-like ability at will. At 5th level, using this ability becomes an Immediate action.

Attune Domain: At 4th level, the Seer of the Tempest gains Attune Domain (Storm Domain) as a bonus feat. At 8th level she gains Attune Domain (Darkness Domain) as a bonus feat.

Uproar (Su): As a free action, a Seer of the Tempest of 6th level can attempt to Intimidate all creatures she can target within line of effect that are within an area afflicted by Severe (or worse) winds.

Sense the Winds (Su): At 7th level, a Seer of the Tempest can feel the disturbances caused by creatures and objects within the wind. She can perceive and target any creature or object within 120 feet of herself so long as there is at least a Light Breeze.

Celestial Beacon
[Poster's note: As near as I can tell, this is designed to be a buff to paladins to actually make them good at the stuff they're supposed to do. Martial weapon proficiency should probably be a requirement in this, too. Still, it'd be interesting to pit this good-aligned bruiser against an evil party as a BBGG.]

The Lower Planes are realms of evil of such magnitude that the good are oppressed in such a place. Those whose goodness is so strong that it radiates from them are beacons to the denizens of these realms, and some have learned to harness this light to burn away the unclean presence of the fiends.

Hit Die: d8.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Celestial Beacon, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Skills: Knowledge (Planes) 4 ranks, Knowledge(Religion) 9 ranks.
BAB: +5
Special: Must radiate moderate good.
Special: Must be proficient in heavy armor.

Skills/Level: 2 + Intelligence Bonus
BAB:Good (1/1), Saves: Fort: Good; Reflex: Poor; Will: Good

Class Skills: The Celestial Beacon class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate(Cha), Heal(Wis), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Level, Benefits
1 Aura of Good, Smite Evil, +1 spellcaster level
2 Halo of the Righteous, +1 spellcaster level
3 Arms of the Holy, +1 spellcaster level
4 Armament of the Holy, +1 spellcaster level
5 Death Ward, +1 spellcaster level
6 Flare of Goodness, +1 spellcaster level
7 Light of Peace, +1 spellcaster level
8 Holyfire Shield, +1 spellcaster level
9 Celestial Aspect, +1 spellcaster level
10 Ward Against Evil Magic, +1 spellcaster level

All of the following are Class Features of the Celestial Beacon prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Celestial Beacons gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor, but do gain proficiency in the Tower Shield.

Aura of Good (ex): The power of a Celestial Beacon’s aura of good (see the detect good spell) is equal to her Clestial Beacon level. This stacks with any other Aura of Good Ability gained from other sources.

Smite Evil (Su): As a free action, a Celestial Beacon may attempt to smite evil with one normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per Celestial Beacon level. If the Celestial Beacon accidentally smites a creature that is not evil, the smite has no effect, but a use of the ability is expended for that day. The Celestial Beacon may use this ability once for every level of Celestial Beacon, and uses per day and bonuses of this effect stacks with any Smite Evil gained from other classes.

Halo of the Righteous(Su): At 2nd level, the Celestial Beacon emanates a Magic Circle Against Evil effect, as the spell.

Arms of the Holy: At 3rd level, any melee attack performed by a celestial beacon counts as good-aligned for the purposes by bypassing damage reduction.

Armament of the Holy (Su): At 4th level, any armor worn by the Celestial Beacon takes on a silvery of golden shine, and it is one category lighter than normal for purposes of movement and other limitations. Heavy armors are treated as medium, and medium armors are treated as light, but light armors are still treated as light. Spell failure chances for armors and shields worn by a Celestial Beacon are decreased by 10%, maximum Dexterity bonus is increased by 2, and armor check penalties are lessened by 3 (to a minimum of 0).
The Celestial Beacon gains DR 5/evil

Death Ward(Su) : At 5th level, the Celestial Beacon is continuously under the effects of a death ward, as the spell. The irises of his eyes become gold or silver.

Flare of Goodness (Su): At 6th level, the Celestial Beacon may perform a Flare of Goodness as an immediate action. This has the effects of a Sunburst spell, and any evil magic in the radius is automatically dispelled. After using this ability, all class features gained from Celestial Beacon levels cease functioning for 1d4+1 rounds.

Light of Peace: Upon reaching 7th level, the Celestial Beacon is continuously under the effects of a sanctuary spell. If the Celestial Beacon attacks during a round, this effect ends for 1d4 rounds, then renews itself.
The Celestial Beacons also gains the ability to shine as brightly as a torch. He may suppress or renew this ability as a swift action.

Holyfire Shield (Sp): As a swift action, an 8th level Celestial Beacon can cast use a spell-like ability called Holyfire Shield at will. This effect is like a golden-colored fire shield, but the damage it inflicts is holy damage and it grants immunity to unholy damage.

Celestial Aspect : At 9th level, the Celestial Beacon becomes an Outsider, and gains a +2 to Str, +2 to Wis, and +2 to Cha. He may be restored to life according to his previous type.

Ward Against Evil Magic: At 10th level, the Celestial Beacon gains SR of 15 + character level, but only against [evil] spells and sell-like abilities and the spells and spell-like abilities cast by evil-aligned creatures.

Boatman of Styx

The River Styx is a planar path winding its way along the Lower Planes servicing the myriad planes of evil, and its waters rob mortals and immortals of their memories. Ferrymen ply these waters, offering safe passage and travel between the planes, but most are con-men looking to make a quick silver, predators in disguise, or well-meaning fools. Few beings know the truly safe routes along the River Styx, thus earning the tile of boatmen, and even fewer have accepted its nature into their very body.

Hit Die: d8.
Requirements:
To qualify to become a Boatman of Styx, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Skills: Knowledge (Planes) 8 ranks, Survival 4 ranks, Profession (boatman) 4 ranks.
Feats: Quickdraw
Special: Must have visited every Lower Plane via the River Styx, and lived at least one year on a boat on the River Styx.
Special +2d6 sneak attack, skirmish, or sudden strike

Class Skills
The assassin’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magic Device (Cha), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.
BAB: As Rogue(3/4) Saves Fort: Good; Reflex: Good; Will: Bad

Level, Benefits
1 Safe Passage, Stygian Blood
2 River-born, +1d6 sneak attack dice
3 Stygian Tears
4 River-marked, +2d6 sneak attack dice
5 Kiss of Lethe
6 Eternal Boatman, +3d6 sneak attack dice
7 Bonus Feat
8 Knowledgeable, +4d6 sneak attack dice
9 Stygian Tributary
10 Xirfilstyx Dance, +5d6 sneak attack dice

Class Features
All of the following are Class Features of the Boatman of Styx prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Boatman of Styx gains proficiency in the Long Staff, but does not gain any other weapon or armor proficiency.

Safe Passage (Su): At 1st level, the Boatman of Styx learns to navigate the River Styx. When leading a boat or ship, the Boatman can lead a craft to any other planar location that contains some portion of the River Styx. This journey takes 1d6 hours, and is uneventful.

Stygian Blood(Ex): At 1st level, the Boatman of Styx has absorbed small amounts of the River Styx into his blood, and from this point forward he is immune to mind-affecting effects and the effects of the River Styx.

River-born: At 2nd level, the Boatman of Styx gains a swim speed of 60’, and he may take 10 on any Swim check. He also does not need to breathe while submersed in water.

Sneak Attack: A Boatman of Styx gains an additional die of Sneak Attack at every even numbered level.

Stygian Tears: At 3rd level, the Boatman of Styx’s tears gain the effects of the River Styx. He may collect up to one vial of tears per day. Being struck by a vial of these tears has the same effects as an exposure to the waters of the River Styx (DM’s option). If kept stoppered, these vials of tears last indefinitely.

River-marked: At 4th level, the Boatman of Styx’s continues exposure to the River Styx grants a +8 to Swim checks, a +6 to Disguise checks, and a +4 to Bluff checks.

Kiss of Lethe(Su): At 5th level, the Boatman of Styx may kiss an enemy on an opposed Grapple check. This kiss has the same effects as an exposure to the River Styx (DMs option).

Eternal Boatman(Sp): At 6th level, the Boatman of Styx may summon a normal wooden boat once per day. This boat is large enough to carry the Boatman and up to eight Medium sized passengers. This boat lasts 24 hours, then falls apart into pieces of rotted wood.

Bonus Feat: At 7th level, the Boatman of Styx gains a bonus feat. He must meet the prerequisites of this feat to choose it.

Knowledgeable: At 8th level, the Boatman of Styx’s has absorbed a critical mass of memories from swimming in the River Styx. He always has at least 10 ranks in all Knowledges, and may expend skill points to raise these Knowledges as if they were class skills.
The Boatman also gains the ability to speak, read, and write any language.

Stygian Tributary(Sp): At 9th level, the Boatman of Styx learns a secret about the River Styx: it sometimes touches rivers on planes other than the Lower Planes. Once per day, a Boatman of Styx may cast a gate (travel version only) as a spell-like ability, but only while standing on a boat in a river. This portal leads to any other river on any plane.

Xirfilstyx Dance(Su): At 10th level, the Boatman of Styx has studied these fiends of the River Styx and learned a secret fighting art. Any creature struck a Boatman of Styx’s sneak attack must make a Will save or be dazed for 1d4 rounds. Any affected creature does not remember any events while dazed.