Curse of the Coral Throne

Game Master That GM Guy!

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Hello and welcome to the recruitment for Curse of the Coral Throne, an aquatic reimagining of Curse of the Crimson Throne! Before we get into the specifics of character creation, let me tell you about the setting itself.

THE SETTING

Oseanarra, named for the ancient Azlanti word for the ocean, is a city ancient beyond measure. Formerly part of the Azlanti Archipelago, the city once known as Ierisintrivaniis (Sacred Fountains) was a wondrous city of stone and precious metals that lay on a lush, beautiful island. When the Starstone fell and all of Azlant sank beneath the waves, a powerful priest of Gozreh whose name is lost to the depths of history, beseeched his god to spare the people of the city. Gozreh listened and transformed the people of the city into forms that could survive beneath the waves.

More than ten millennia have passed since then and Oseanarra has since turned into a thriving hub of the ocean, the stone city containing thousands upon thousands of citizens from all corners of the oceans and seas of Golarion. The city has since grown over the countless years since it fell beneath the waves.

The city proper is the massive stone city once known as Ierisintivaniis, though most just call it The Midlands. The Midlands is filled with the middle class and many business establishments, almost all of which reside within the ancient stone structures. A massive temple to Gozreh, formed out of a giant spiral sea shell the size of a cathedral from the surface, lies within the district, as does temples to most of Golarion’s other deities.

The Thellassic Spire, located in the north part of the Midlands, is the largest school of the arcane arts in all the seas, dwarfing the Acadamae Arcane of Korvosa in sheer size. The conch-like spire of the main building is the highest point in Oceanarra, apart from the city’s castle. The mages who choose to live and learn here, learning secrets from etched pearl tablets covered in arcane shorthand, are well-respected in the city, for they have used their magic to reconstruct the city after its fall construct the other districts, as well as the castle. Not only that, but the magic of the Spire sends pulses of magic out occasionally, causing natural predators to become uneasy and shy away from the city.

Old Oseanarra, where the survivors once lived while they repaired the damage of the city after it sunk beneath the waves, lies in a great sea cave a few hundred feet southwest of the city. Old Oseanarra is a fairly massive place, filled with hundreds of ‘houses’ carved into the sides of the inner portion of the sea cave, with its numerous tunnels functioning as ‘streets’. Only the poor live within Old Oseanarra, though that number has climbed dramatically in recent years.

The Grey Tunnels, a system of tunnels below the city, serve as catacombs for the inhabitants of the city. The tunnels are constantly expanded to accommodate for every death by the priests and priestesses of Pharasma. The Tunnels are an eerie place, continually cast in shadow, lit only with pale green orbs of light. In the nooks cut into the walls, there exist the remains of the dead, preserved by a permanent gentle repose effect, floating gently in their nooks.

The Wrecks are a series of shipwrecks that lie across some of the roofs in the southwestern portion of the Midlands. The inhabitants are only barely better off than the inhabitants of Old Oseanarra, primarily because many of those living in The Wrecks are sneak-thieves and scavengers.

East Pelagia is located in the eastern portion of Oseanarra and is home to the old military families who have gained knighthoods and noble title. The houses are built from fine stone found throughout the surrounding environment and often feature bladed crenellations.
North Pelagia is located in the northern part of Oseanarra and is home to both the original inhabitants of the city. It has some of the finest homes of the old city.

The Road of Prosperity- The noble district is located on a long road, seemingly made out of mother-of-pearl and raised from the surrounding stone and sand (For in the deeps, a road is merely a formality, one that the original inhabitants made to make themselves feel more comfortable,), leading from North Pelagia to Castle Oseanarra. The homes are made out of marble and fine metals.

Castle Oseanarra- Once the Road of Prosperity reaches the end of a massive trench, it continues on and winds up towards a shining castle of golden crystal, mother of pearl, marble, and jewels, Castle Oseanarra. The seat of all power in Oseanarra, it floats above the seemingly bottomless trench by powerful magic.

BEGINNING OF THE CAMPAIGN

In the millennia since Oseanarra fell below the waves, the city has maintained a cohesion unseen anywhere else on Golarion. Recent times, however, have been hard on the city. Filled with thousands of citizens, resources are drawn a bit thin and some of the poorest families do not always get a meal a day. King Eodrid Coral-Helm has married one of the Sea Elves, who are viewed in a negative light due to their haughty, proud nature. The Gillmen have driven the Undines from their native lands so that Oseanarra could expand even further, igniting racial tensions there. Crime is on the rise and whispers of a war with the Sahuagin have swept through the city. The nobles have fallen into utter decadence and spend more time indulging in exotic narcotics and sexual excess than they are trying to help unite the city. It is a dark time, and one that King Eodrid is ill-equipped to deal with, for he has fallen ill with a wasting sickness which defies all attempts at healing. His young Sea Elf wife, Iliossa, tries to keep the kingdom from falling apart, but her efforts have so far just slowed the decline of the empire.

But all this is far from your mind, for you have a bone to pick with Gaedren the Hook, a Gillman criminal. What he has taken from you is unknown, but you have vowed to see him brought to justice, if not at the hands of the Waveguard, then at your own. [/ooc]

Look up the Curse of the Crimson Throne Player’s Guide for more information on Gaedren and potential plot hooks for your characters.

CHARACTER CREATION

Starting Level: 1

Race: Any aquatic race from Paizo, such as Gillmen, Merfolk, Sea Elves, ect., are available. All of the races from the Cerulean Seas books are allowed as well. If you know of any good 3PP races, I might allow those as well.

Classes: All Paizo classes are allowed and all of those from Cerulean Seas are allowed as well. Other classes will need to be run by me, but most are fine.
EDIT: Psionics and Path of War are also automatically allowed!

Ability Scores: Ability scores will be purchased using a 20 point buy, with the popular 1-1 purchase method, which is to say: all scores start at 10, before racial modifiers, and each point you put into an ability score raises it by a single point. You may, if you so desire, take up to 2 points from an ability score, gaining a similar number of points.

HP: Max per HD. In a campaign beneath the waves, you need all the HP that you can handle.

Skill Points: You get a bonus skill point at each level, which is automatically put into Swim.

Feats: You get a Bonus Feat at 1st level.

Wealth: You get 750 Shells (GP) worth of equipment.

Traits: You get a basic Trait, a Campaign Trait from the Curse of the Crimson Throne Player’s Guide and, if you take a Drawback, you may select another Trait.

Dark Archive

Big dot !!! Char & background soon :)


This sound awesome!


Would you let any psionics from dreamscarred press in?
Most notabley and the one class I had in mind from this question, the soulknife (and perhaps archetypes)? Details can be found on d20pfsrd.

Dreamscarred press page

Soulknife page

Beyond that, love what your doing here, I'll start up with two characters soon (one being "yes" to the above question).


Psionics are allowed!


I'm definitely interested.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

Dotting. When do you intend to close applications?


GM Master of the Deeps wrote:
Psionics are allowed!

Awesome, I'm going to be proposing a soulknife (maybe soulbolt) amphibious undine.


I have an idea for a merfolk character. I'll have to work on it for a bit, but a fleshed-out idea should be done within a few days. ^^


Oh man, this looks cool. I've got to make something for this.


Well this is a rare opportunity. Think I'll play an Undine Monk, Sensei/Ki Mystic/Qinggong build for a support role.

By the way, how do you feel about using the Automatic Bonus Progression rules in Unchained? My other GM is using them and has been enjoying them. I am definitely not asking because the ABP rules are specifically very good for Monks, nope not at all.

Also, uh, I should probably ask you about Water Sense before I take it. What amounts to 100% uptime on blindsense from level 1 is too good for me to take without specifically asking if it's okay first. >.>


Recruitment is open for a week!

Arachnofiend, regard ABP from PFUC, I believe that I will have to decline as a general rule. That said, if you want to take a vow of poverty as a Monk, we can rule that you can do so. That doesn't mean give your treasure to the other PCs though, you must use it completely for the benefit of the common people. Sound reasonable?


Hmm, I wasn't considering a Vow of Poverty Monk before but I think I'd rather deal with that than the Amulet of Mighty Fists... Well, this is a game for doing things I'd never have an opportunity to do otherwise, might as well go for it.


Oh and by Sea Elves I meant Aquatic Elves!


How will you handle underwater combat?

The rules are pretty tough, actually, and severely restrict combat options.

How much will be changed, and how much will be kept?

Definitely interested, but not sure I can handle it; got a few games on my plate.


Honestly, the underwater combat rules aren't that bad, they just happen to favor melee piercing weapons more than anything else.


Since this setup already seems high-powered, would you consider taking it an extra notch and making it gestalt and/or mythic?


Newbonomicon wrote:
Honestly, the underwater combat rules aren't that bad, they just happen to favor melee piercing weapons more than anything else.

yeah, just looked at them. hmm, looking through the other psionic stuff to find something a little different. was thinking about soulknife focusing on throwing weapons but throwing weapons don't work.


Considering every PC will be either Aquatic or Amphibeous, I don't think underwater combat is an issue. Read the following from the Underwater Combat section under Aquatic Terrain:

Underwater Combat wrote:
Land-based creatures can have considerable difficulty when fighting in water. Water affects a creature's attack rolls, damage, and movement. In some cases a creature's opponents might get a bonus on attacks. The effects are summarized on Table: Combat Adjustments Underwater. They apply whenever a character is swimming, walking in chest-deep water, or walking along the bottom of a body of water.

This means that the table of penalties and restrictions only apply to land-based characters.

The rules regarding fire spells and ranged weapons apply in some ways, but those are easily fixed. There are variant fire spells from Cerulean Seas that I will be using and will inform players of if they plan on using fire magic. Regarding ranged weapons, I am only ruling that it only applies to firearms, but there are a few firearms that are exceptions to the rule, which I will also provide rules for if someone goes that route.

Pahlok, that depends entirely on the other players. If the popular thing is to go gestalt, I may allow it. If there is a lot of resistance to it, it stays as is.

Nehowshgen Min, see above regarding fire spells and weapons.


Personally? I love gestalt. It really opens up interesting character ideas for me. ^^ It also works well with my preferred small group format of 3 players per PbP game.

At the moment, I'm making a Sorcerer (Words of Power) mermaid. Seems like a good way to play up the power of their voice. ^^


Ah yup yup, was just scanning over that and was coming back here to talk about it, but I got beatin to it. Well, thank you. This will help a lot in deciding a character.

And on the note of gestault? Sure, take it or leave it.


So for now we make our characters normally, and when the final group is selected they will discuss the gestalt thing?

Sounds good.


Do you plan on keeping combat encounters mostly two dimensional or how do you plan on dealing with the 3rd dimension that water combat can add?

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

I'm intrigued, especially if it's Gestalt. I'd love to play a Wereshark-Kin Skinshifter.


I'd love gestalt.

Would you let me do a Haniver gremlin? Of course replacing it's racial hit die with the class hit die.


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Doomed Hero, that sounds reasonable!

Nickadeamous, I plan on using Sir Awesomesauce McSnazzlepants' idea and making two maps for reference, one with an above shot and another with a sideways shot, so that way you can figure out positions easier. I was tinkering with the idea of having a 3D model in some sort of Google Drive so PCs can use, but I'm not sure how well that would work, considering how many people I know post from cell phones, since cell phones are kind of wonky at time with certain programs and web features.

Philo Pharynx, you may play as a Haniver Gremlin, replacing racial HD with a class level, but you will need to come up with a reason for the Fey to have a grudge against Gaedren or, later, to not just throw it's little arms up and say 'screw it all'. Make sense?


Thinking Merfolk ranger, wave warden archetype. Always wanted to try an aquatic animal companion. And I second gestalt, because I am a horrible power mad gamer nerd. But I'm okay without it.


dot


Hmm, I have always wanted to play a Merfolk. (love the idea of them and always have, and I am known as THE Merfolk player in my mtg group)

Now the question is... What class?


Whoo! Almost done! Will post character tomorrow 'cause right now, it's like... no it's exactly 1:39 AM. Sooo, checking back in the morning. So far, I believe the only thing im missing is the majority of background, Feats, and a few small things like equipment and affected AC.
Link to Elta Vales


Dot, Can we use races from all the Cerulean books or just the core one?


If I were to with a witch would you be using the patron. Many GMs ignore the patron even though there is potential for shenanigans. The GM for my slightly crazy witch as promised yo break her mind using the patron since that is the goal. I would want something different for this PC. Oh and do you have alignment restrictions? My other thought is a druid, because sharks are awesome, cannot remember the archetype and my phone is weird.


Silverseabird, you may use ANY of the races from ANY of the Cerulean Seas books. Things such as buoyancy and pressure sensitivity are not going to be included here though. Those who are immune to pressure damage are, those that are not are not. There are VERY few spots where pressure will even be something to worry about in the campaign. That ramble finished, what race are you planning on using? I am curious since you asked about the OTHER books (Waves of Thought, Indigo Ice, Azure Abyss, Celadon Shores, the Cerulean Seas Bestiary, and the aquatic version of the Relluk!)!

Deaths Adorable Apprentice, I can certainly roleplay your patron! What sort of patron are you looking for? Like what patron spell list, who is it (Or would you rather I handle the fluff on the patron?), ect.? As for alignment restrictions, no, but you will need a reason past book one to continue doing things that are of a decidedly heroic nature, at least in my opinion. As for the archetype, you are probably looking for the Shark Shaman archetype, which is pretty awesome.


Honestly I was just wondering, I think I might play a Selkie Siren but I would be interested in trying a Celadon Shores race if my first character dies, possibly one of the crane people whose names escape me currently.


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Dotting the thread!

I will probably play one of those little jellyfish people from Celadon Shores and give them a powerful spellcasting class.


Will you be using the Cerulean Seas religions?


ill dot i do love me some gestalt,i have always wanted to play an under water game...will you allow the play test form occult ?


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I LOVE THIS CONCEPT! I tinkered with an underwater PbP idea where the PCs would hunt an aboleth, actually drafting a recruitment post that I never published.

Reviewing my notes, I found something interesting about vision. In open ocean, sunlight does not penetrate below 650 ft (130 squares) of depth. In coastal areas, sunlight only extends 310 ft (62 squares). I can't remember if I got this from a gaming supplement or real life.

The consequences would be that below those depths it is always dark, like underground. Some of those aquatic races, e.g. elves, gillmen, and merfolk, do not have natural darkvision. Elves and merfolk can get darkvision by accepting light sensitivity with alternate racial traits.

Anyway, what are the lighting conditions in your campaign?

cheers


Dot. Sahuagin, merfolk, so many choices.


Is there a good online resource for any of the cerulean seas races?


there you go

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

I've got another game I'm up for that I should be hearing about in the next day or two. If I don't get in that, I'm thinking of making a Wereshark-kin Mariner.


Riuk wrote:
there you go

Thanks. Sadly that is pretty incomplete...


GM Master of the Deeps wrote:


Philo Pharynx, you may play as a Haniver Gremlin, replacing racial HD with a class level, but you will need to come up with a reason for the Fey to have a grudge against Gaedren or, later, to not just throw it's little arms up and say 'screw it all'. Make sense?

I'm a gremlin who instinctively messes with people's stuff. Pissing somebody off is easy for me. I took something, he had me captured and given to an aboleth, who experimented on me and put me a tank with a strange ooze and injecting things into me.

Speaking of that, would you allow the Aboleth bloodline from Kobold press?

The ooze opened thing in my mind. It let me shake of the aboleth's domination and strange things started happening to me. Magic came to me. And there was something on the other side waiting for me. I brought it through and it took me out of the ooze and we escaped.


Next question: weapons and armor. Should we plan on special material like bone, chitin and coral. OR do we play as is and handwave the material as something that doesn't rust.

Edit. raw underwater combat makes thrown weapons useless and assess a -2 penalty for every 5 feet of ranged weapons. So combat will be almost all melee. Please confirm.

Cheers


Dave Herman wrote:
Riuk wrote:
there you go
Thanks. Sadly that is pretty incomplete...

i know it would also be cool of they put the stuff about buoyancy rules for combat up it makes 3d under water combat so much easier


Are there parallel opportunities for PCs in this game comparable to those from Crimson Throne? Like a group of rangers that ride hippocampi? Is there something like the Vencarlo acadaemy?


I'm interested, but would like to wait until I get the results back from some other applications to see if I can afford to try joining up.


Jubal Breakbottle wrote:

Next question: weapons and armor. Should we plan on special material like bone, chitin and coral. OR do we play as is and handwave the material as something that doesn't rust.

Edit. raw underwater combat makes thrown weapons useless and assess a -2 penalty for every 5 feet of ranged weapons. So combat will be almost all melee. Please confirm.

Cheers

i have not looked at the rules of that but will that -2 for every 5 ft go towards range touch spells to, if so ill have to rethink my concept...

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