FG License: Ultimate
Game System: Pathfinder (modified Gestalt, some Unchained &/or House Rules)
Time Zone: Eastern Time USA; Day of week and time: Sunday Afternoons, 1-5 PM
Planned start date: May 15th, Recruitment will “Soft Close” on April 25th: All characters must have a “Soft Close” submission (see below) to be considered. I will announce 6 characters chosen on April 26th. Players chosen will have until May 5th to be completed 100% as a “Hard” close for recruitment.
Planned Frequency: Three Weeks On, One Week Off
Term: Long term. This campaign has 12 chapters and takes the PCs from 1st level to 20th.
Text or Voice: tbd (vote in thread)
Voice software used: tbd (vote in thread)
Roleplay & Combat mix: Probably 40-60 or so closer to 50-50 with good participation on part of players
Number of Players in game & needed: Looking for 4-6 consistent players
Character starting level & equipment: 1 (modified Gestalt), max gold
Character restrictions: Greyhawk-based characters, see Character Creation and House Rules, below
Details of your scenario: “Pathfinder-ized” Shackled City Adventure Path via Fantasy Grounds on Sunday afternoons. I have an “Ultimate” FG license so players would not need to have one. Shackled City is a compilation Adventure Path set in the city of Cauldron on the world of Greyhawk. It includes dungeon, city-based, overland, and political themes, mostly centered around Cauldron and its environs. A strong sense of teamwork and cooperative character building would also be highly encouraged.
Useful Resources
Online Player’s Guide
Fantasy Grounds
Greyhawk Wikia
Pathfinder Reference Document
Background Generator Charts
”Soft” Close Recruitment
If you wish to submit a Character to this campaign, by April 25th, you must provide:
Character Name, Race, Alignment, Class/Gestalt(See Bleow), Ultimate Campaign Background Rolls (see Below), Campaign Trait(s) chosen, a personality and background description of 2-3 paragraphs (to be expanded before “hard” close), a brief summary about the player’s experience with Pathfinder and with Fantasy Grounds, one sentence about something you want from the game- an event or development you hope to happen in the game, and one or more suggestions for a name for the adventuring company.
”Hard” Close
By May 5th, every selected player must:
Finish all mechanical aspects of their character, including starting equipment. Expand their initial personality and background information to include all aspects of the Ultimate Campaign rolls, their physical descriptions, a sample role-play interaction with one of the NPCs in the Player’s Guide, at least one relationship worked out with another PC selected, votes on the team name, voice/text, and any other vote issues that come up.
After Close
In the time between May 5th and May 15th, I will be working on tweaking the campaign to better fit the PCs and will get together with the Players on Fantasy Grounds so that they can enter their character sheets. Additionally, I will be opening a “Gameplay” thread here on Paizo’s boards so that people can role-play interactions between PCs taking place before the game if they wish to. This thread will also be able to be used for “Campfire Stories” or other things to cement the relations between PCs. I may occasionally use it as a “sidebar” role-play area for people developing relations with NPCs.
Character Creation and House Rules:
Alignment: LG, NG, CG, or LN only
Attributes: Choose one of the following arrays: 16,16,14,13,12,10; 16,15,15,14,13,10; 15,15,15,15,14,10
Race: Core Rule Book only
Classes: See Gestalt notes below
Wealth: Max Starting Wealth
Unchained: Classes, Background Skills, Skill Unlocks
Ultimate Campaign: Background Generator: Once you’ve set up your race/Gestalt classes you roll up background info. When rolling class background, roll and choose between the results listed for both half of Gestalt. (Example: Rolling 59 with a Fighter-Witch Gestalt, I choose from Knighted or Inborn Power.) Once during generation process, you may choose to re-roll. These rolls are to serve as inspiration and to flesh out your story, not to override it. If you find it ruining your character, let me know and we’ll work something out.
Traits(3-4): PCs choose one Trait from those available from Background Generation, one from among the “new” Campaign Traits, and one other Trait. If a player wants to choose one of the original Campaign Traits, they may take it as-is in addition to their initial 3 traits, or remove the drawback portion and take it in place of the “new” Campaign Traits.
Bonus Feat: PCs gain one bonus Feat, chosen from any of the Core Rule Book feats that add +2 to 2 skills OR from any story Feat opened by your background rolls OR you may take the Additional Traits Feat, but only usable with traits opened up with your background rolls.
Critical Hits/Fumbles: Will be using Pathfinder Critical Hit and Fumble Decks, but most crits and misses will just be “normal”, 2 in 6 crits and 1 in 6 Fumbles will consult deck rather than “normal” effects.
Hero Points: Since longevity is hoped for in the game but I’m a “let the dice fall where they may” kind of GM, we will be using Hero Points.
Experience: We will be using the slow experience chart. Ad Hoc bonuses will be provided for active roleplaying, problem solving, etc.
Reach: Fantasy Grounds has reach weapons/reach monsters able to affect the corner squares, and so shall we.
Gestalt
My personal preference for Gestalt is that it broadens, rather than focuses, a character’s abilities, taking two classes that complement, rather than enforce, each other.
In an old-school thematic homage, I’ve decided that half of the Gestalt must be a Core Rule Book class, the unchained version thereof(Barbarian/Monk/Rogue), or the Martial Fighter (see below.) The other half may be any Paizo-published class. No 3rd party classes or archetypes. Each class/side may only have ONE archetype, if any. You may not have a “hybrid” class (from ACG) which “includes” the class from the other side of the Gestalt, so, for example, a Ranger could not have the Hunter or Slayer as the other half. Please pay special note to the information on GM Rutseg’s linked Shackled City Players Guide, since it gives pretty invaluable information on what fits thematically in this adventure path.
Martial Fighter
Replace the CRB Fighter with the following modification:
Add Knowledge (Martial) to the class’ skill list.
Starting at 3rd level and every odd level thereafter, a Martial Fighter gains a bonus “Martial” feat from the list below. She must meet all the prerequisites for any Feats chosen.
“ Martial” Feats (these Feats are from Path of War)
Advanced Study, Discipline Expertise (Applies to Disciplines chosen with Martial Training Feats), Discipline Focus, Discipline Mastery, Extra Readied Maneuver, Fuse Styles, Lightning Recovery, Martial Charge, Martial Training I-VI, Victorious Recovery, Weapon Group Adaptation.
Martial Fighters may qualify for any Fighter Archetype as normal.
Other “Systems”
Where it makes sense for the campaign, I may be using (sub)systems such as downtime, alternate crafting, retraining, fame/infamy, influence, relationships, Mythic, etc. published by Paizo.
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Format for Background Rolls
Please copy and paste this, adding a closing bracket to each die roll below.
Step One- Homeland, Family, Childhood
(Race) Homeland: [dice]1d100[/dice
(Race)Parents: [dice]1d100[/dice
(Race)Siblings: [dice]1d100[/dice
Circumstance of Birth: [dice]1d100[/dice
Parents’ Profession: [dice]1d100[/dice
Major Childhood Event: [dice]1d100[/dice
Step Two-Adolescence and Training
(Class) Background: [dice]1d100[/dice
(remember you can apply the above roll to the chart for either class in your gestalt)
Influential Associate: [dice]1d100[/dice
Romantic Relationships: [dice]1d20[/dice
Additional Rolls:
Make any additional required rolls after the above rolls. You may do this in a separate post or modify your post after rolling the above. Do not change the order of the rolls above, as doing so on Paizo’s website modifies the results.
Siblings(Roll For Each Sibling): [dice]1d100[/dice
Additional rolls: [dice]1d100[/dice
