Masters of the Universe, "Born from Ashes" (Inactive)

Game Master Viscount K

The Story So Far
"I Have the Power!"

The mighty He-Man, guardian of Castle Grayskull and most powerful man in the universe, has disappeared! Over twenty years ago, the kingdom woke to discover Grayskull gone, and its defenders with it. At the same time, King Adam went missing, and Queen Teela the Sorceress remained the sole ruler of Eternos, a guiding light in dark times.

Skeletor, the Overlord of Evil, has also been quiet this last twenty years. The common people have begun to believe him gone forever, and the most common story is that He-Man must be continuing their battle wherever it is they have gone. Without their leader, the Evil Warriors quickly became disorganized and went their separate ways; each still a deadly threat, but none could face the might of Eternos and the Masters without the power of Skeletor to bind them together.

But not all is well on Eternia.

The Queen has fallen into a coma, and without her strong leadership, there are rumblings of a war of succession within Eternos.

The bee-people of Andreenos, long dependent upon the wondrous Ambrosia, have found their supply disappearing. Without it, the Andreenans will surely fall, leaving their mountains open to takeover by the wicked Webstor and his Arachna allies.

In the Sea of Rakash, the waters begin to thrash menacingly, churning to reveal hideous monsters never before seen that attack mariners of all kinds.

And on the Dark Side of Eternia, there are whispers of a man with the face of a skeleton...

In desperation, Orko of Trolla, Grand Vizier and Court Mage of Eternos, has sent out a summons for heroes, for the next generation to protect the people of Eternia against the oncoming darkness - for new Masters of the Universe!

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Game Details: What You Need to Know
"Remember, knowledge is power. And you can get the power."

This game will be set in a version of the Masters of the Universe...um, universe. Not based entirely on the comics, the old Filmation show, or the newer Cartoon Network reboot, but rather an amalgam of all three taking the bits that I (and, presumably, the players) like the most.

My conscience says I should mention I'm pretty blatantly stealing the original concept, and the name, from a personage who went by Sacremas on Groovy Gamers and PbPHouse. He gave up on running the game before it ever went up, but the idea stuck with me pretty hard. If anybody has better luck at finding this person than me, let me know, 'cause I would love to invite him/her to play.

Here are a few of the finer points.

• System: We'll be running this in Pathfinder, with the rules from the Mythic playtest modified by the clarifications/changes discussed here. There are going to be significant homebrew changes, a large portion of which I'll be making up on the fly, but I'll do my best to make you aware of them before they impact you significantly.
  
  Current Homebrew:

  
  High Tech: Eternia is a world on which magic and science have both risen to incredible levels, on occasion mixing in creations of wondrous power. If you would like to play a character with tech-based powers, we'll take your class abilities or magic items and reflavor them to come out sounding high tech. For instance, you don't have a Carpet of Flying, you have a Wind Raider. If you would like to be an inventor yourself, we'll represent that with the feat Master Craftsman, and we'll tweak it to make it a little easier to use(mostly because I think that base feat is way too hard to be worth it, usually).
  Magic Item Creation: This isn't exactly homebrew, but worth including in this section. If you have item creation feats, any custom magic items will have to be approved by me before I allow their existence.
  New Skills: Knowledge (Science), Craft (Gadget).
  
  
  
• Setting: This will, obviously, be run in Eternia, the homeworld of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: But don't be scared if you don't know much about the source material. It would be great if you knew something about either show, but again don't worry if the only thing you know about He-Man was that he used to walk around in fur undies. All I ask is that we stay true to the main themes. We're looking for swords-and-sorcery meets science fiction, with maybe a little Conan layered on top. Yes, I will be asking for ridiculous names for characters, but they're all probably nicknames, so don't get too worried. Oh, and if you are looking for a bit more information about the setting, here and here are two great timelines of the universe, and here is a similarly great bio list for basically everything in said universe. Hats off to these guys, they compiled all that out of a seriously weird hodgepodge.

• Character Examples:I realize this concept is a little tricky for some, so here are a few ideas to get you started.
  Examples:

  
  You could do a tie-in to one of the old heroes, like: Stingor, son of Buzz-Off.

  You could take one of the original characters from the show (like Ram-Man, or Mekaneck) and update them to fit the timeline.

  Alternatively, you could tie in to one of the Evil Warriors, something along the lines of: Angel-La, Evil-Lynn's rebellious apprentice now seeking to redeem herself by allying with the forces of good.

  Or, you could make your own mighty hero, such as: Thundor, last of the cloud elementals. The lord of lightning, he wields the power of the storm to strike down the forces of evil.

  
  
• Number of Players: I'm looking for five players, possibly six if the choice gets to be too hard to make.

• Advancement Track: None. We'll be leveling up as the story demands, not due to rising numbers.

• Time Management: I'm not putting a time limit on recruitment just yet. I'm pretty much willing to let it run until I do or don't have enough character concepts that interest me. I will make sure to give a few days warning before I make my final choices. As for pace once the game starts, I intend to be fairly casual about it; my life runs pretty busy most of the time, and I'm not going to ask more of you than I would myself. If you can make a post a day, great. Otherwise, I'll just make sure things keep moving along several times a week, making assumptions about people's actions as necessary if they're slowing us down. If I haven't heard anything from someone in a couple of weeks, then I'll start looking around for replacements, although a good enough excuse ("My house burned down!") would probably get me to let you back in.

• Classes/races allowed: Anything Paizo published. I'll be willing to look at third party material (yes, including psionics), but I'm disinclined to use it, particularly if you can't a) point to it on the SRD, and b) give me a compelling reason why these rules are necessary for your character. I'm much more inclined to reflavor something official.

• Character Wealth: 10,000 gold, for regular equipment. Item crafters may use half of this on their item creation. The larger than usual allotment is to represent the vast array of technological and magical advancements available to Eternians.

• Basics/Background: Characters will start 4th level, with a 30 point buy baseline. That may seem high, but hey, this is basically a comic book world. "But the title said mythic", you say? True enough - and there's a catch to that. Everybody here may be buff, but if you're going to have the power of a true Master of the Universe, then you'll have to prove you're worthy. The Mythic Ascension, in this universe, is far more common than most universes. It's probably about as common as, say, an 8th level adventurer in Golarion - in any given major city, there's probably a couple walking around. That being said, it's far from an everyday occurrence. What I want from you is the tale of how you came into your powers, or in the case of characters whose power comes from simply being one of their race (Buzz-Off, Whiplash), how you mastered it. Include this in your backstory, and Mythic Power will be yours to command from the very start, beginning at Tier 1 and rising swiftly.

• A Twist: If your character has an ability that you can't quite make work within the rules, then justify it. Describe this ability, why they have it, and make it significant to your character and relevant within the world, and I will work with you to make it happen. This is not intended to make your characters significantly more powerful, so please don't ask me for something equivalent to Meteor Storm. The point is to help flesh out a character's concept, not to supercharge them.

I'm more interested in concept than numbers. Give me an interesting backstory, or awesome flavor, and I'm way more willing to give you all kinds of leeway in what you can get away with creating your character. One of the primary reasons I game at all is because this is the only medium I'm aware of where you can be rewarded for trying to accomplish something awesome, even if it's doomed to fail. Frankly, I'm looking for good writers. I don't want to see a game that reads like a collection of stats and rote actions, I want to see something that I can look back at later on and read to entertain myself.
Also, this isn't grimdark. Yes, this is a somewhat more serious setting than the source, but I'm not looking to run a game of torture and death, here. If you're wondering how far you can push it...let's use "Avatar: the Last Airbender" as a decent benchmark. People can be seriously wounded, suffer emotional trauma, or even die, but there is going to be precious little in the way of truly dark themes, like torture or rape.

Alright, people, have at it. Looking forward to see what people come up with, and feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

By the Power of Grayskull!

Dotting. Going to think about it and come up with an interesting idea.

Edit: Would something as simple as human sorceress with an avian theme be interesting enough? Perhaps the vartisan Tatoo'd package for a little cool factor?

Human sorceress with an avian theme...gosh, that sounds familiar. =)

Definitely could work, if you fit it right. Bear in mind, Queen Teela is the current Sorceress of Grayskull, and comatose at the moment. But if you'd like to somehow have a similar school of magic, or something...let me know what you come up with.

Also, I'm assuming you meant the Varisian Tattoo trait? Or are you talking about some feat or something that I don't know about?

I'm thinking a spellslinger from another planet. Would you be open to custom races using the ARG rules, with a 15 RP limit? I feel like that would open up a lot for me creatively. After looking at a list of characters from the shows it seems like there are some pretty ridiculous races.

I think he means the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype.

I am interested as well, but dithering over ideas.

Captain Raya.
Human monk cyborg
Monk abilities will be explained off as cybernetics feats.
Slow fall for example short use anti grav field.
Perhaps an order of the bow monk except with blasters.

Human sorceress with an avian theme...gosh, that sounds familiar. =)

Definitely could work, if you fit it right. Bear in mind, Queen Teela is the current Sorceress of Grayskull, and comatose at the moment. But if you'd like to somehow have a similar school of magic, or something...let me know what you come up with.

Also, I'm assuming you meant the Varisian Tattoo trait? Or are you talking about some feat or something that I don't know about?

I don't know what you're talking about. The bird sorceress is TOTALLY my idea. They must have stolen it from me. ;-)

Anyway, I'd be more like her great grand niece or maybe just an apprentice of some kind. If not from her directly perhaps just a student of her teachings. Rokku was correct with the tattoo'd sorcerer archtype.

Edit: Also, if you (DM) feels like this has "been done" or is otherwise not interesting/unique enough to be considered please tell me. It won't hurt my feelings. I've got 1001 character ideas. I just thought this might be fitting with the theme.

Having pondered I will be working up a concept based off of a young man inspired to take up the mantle of Ram-Man and fight for Eternia... by... you know, hitting things with his head.

Will be a dwarf who attacks with an enchanted helmet from the ARG - undecided on class yet.

Will obviously come up with a story that works - though would like to use Ram-Man in it somewhere as he's the inspiration... are you ok with us weaving actual characters into the backstory we write?

David Rapoza has some cool Masters of the Universe art. The character idea I am forming is kinda based off this piece by him. Race would be like some kind of cybernetic humanoid. Maybe a half-construct. Class would be Wizard (spellslinger) as above. Would you be open to rifles with more than four shots in their capacity?

I'm just going to leave this here:

Interest in playing the child of Draego-man.

Would you allow a Kobold to be tweaked a bit with the race creation rules from ARG? If not, I'll put forward a plain ole Kobold (refluffed a bit).

So I'm thinking sort of a "noble monster" type here. A brutish creature with a heart of gold (Oni-Spawn Tiefling Monk) from the Dark Side of Eternia who turned against his wicked masters and put his fearsome might to work fighting for justice!

I want to know your take on the whole monks and brass knuckles issue though, as I go to spend my cash. Some people think Monks get to use their unarmed damage with them, some don't. I fall on the side of "do" (mainly because Monks need all the help they can get) but its your opinion that matters here, Viscount K!

Rokku: Cool, looking forward to your ideas.
Edit: Whoops, ninja'd, I'll get to your recent post in a minute.

TC Golem: Good by me, mostly. I don't think I can let you be actually related to the Sorceress (there's some serious mojo there, not to mention a giant load of plot), but someone wanting to learn what they could of their magic, maybe emulating them? Sure.
Edit: Grr, forgot to comment on the Tattooed Sorcerer. Should be fine, nothing too broken there - although watch out, since you're getting a pretty decent power out of dropping Eschew Materials, I may occasionally make you actually pay attention to your spell components.

Jelani: Spellslinger is definitely okay, and on the ARG...probably? I haven't really looked at those rules, so just run whatever you come up with by me, and as long as it's not too broken, it's okay. My general preference is probably gonna be to call yourself whatever the hell, look like whatever you feel like, and just steal stats from one of the more mainstream races - but I'm open to whatever.
Unsure about the rifle...I'm thinking we might run with advanced guns for reloading/magazine purposes, but almost certainly not the full range touch attack bit.
Something to think about - space travel is definitely okay (Queen Marlena was from Earth, for instance) but Eternia doesn't have much contact with other planets. If you're an alien here, you're probably stranded.

Twilsemail: Wow, Draego-Man. Didn't think I'd see that one come up. Just as a note, although I think it was implied: no evil characters allowed, we're looking for heroes here. As for the ARG, see my notes to Jelani above. Probably okay, run it by me.

Zarisa: Sure, sounds interesting. Interested to see what her(?) story is.

Mark: Absolutely okay to weave main characters in, although I reserve the right to tell you they didn't do X or Y, and some of them have where they are right now written in stone (see below). On dwarves, you can just run with dwarven stats and be a human, if you like, although you're free to be an actual dwarf. I don't remember offhand what Eternian dwarves are like - I'm pretty sure there are some, though.

All: Responding to Mark brings up a point I should address: feel free to weave existing characters into your storyline. Remember, it's been a while at this point, so some of these folks are getting old, but they're still heroes, and certainly could have shaped your history. Furthermore, I have to reserve the right to tell you 'no' occasionally on this one, since I do have plans for some of these folks as to where they are now and what they're doing - notably, Orko, Teela, the Sorceress, and He-Man (durr). Mostly, though, please play with it if you want to, and I'll rein you in as necessary.

And another one, in response to answering Twilsemail - I think this was probably implied, but no evil characters allowed. Neutral, maybe, in a servant-of-balance kind of way, but mostly we're looking for heroes.

Also - glerk! I just noticed I didn't change a detail that I meant to, and now can't, in the original post (stupid editing limits!). It's been ten years (not twenty) since He-Man and Grayskull vanished, but there were ten years before that after the end of the show, in which time Skeletor was imprisoned. He broke out, and there were a few renewed battles, ten years ago, just before they all went up in smoke.

I want to know your take on the whole monks and brass knuckles issue though, as I go to spend my cash. Some people think Monks get to use their unarmed damage with them, some don't. I fall on the side of "do" (mainly because Monks need all the help they can get) but its your opinion that matters here, Viscount K!

I guess? I suppose you can, but I'm not sure why you'd want to. I think I must be missing something here, why not just - oh wait, I get it. The debate's over whether or not you can stack your unarmed damage with the enchantments on the weapon, so you don't have to shell out for an Amulet of Mighty Fists, right?

Hm. Here's a twist - I think neither. For this game, I would allow you to switch your monk unarmed damage and brass knuckle damage. As in, your training is going into fighting with the weapon, instead of your fists. If ever deprived of your brass knuckles (or cyber-gauntlets, or whatever you reflavor them to be), you would still have Improved Unarmed Strike, but you would do damage as if you weren't a monk. How's that work for you? Oh, and you could still use up just your weapon slot (magic item wise) and be allowed to kick, provided the weapon you make up makes sense for that. As with all rules bending I'll be doing, if you like all that, justify it in your backstory and it's yours.

Cool. I'll go ahead and make up the character tonight. I'll be thinking of a basic backstory in the mean time. I'm probably going to reflavor the tattoos as magi-tech. They'll look like circuit boards. I'll look up other types of magic tattoos as a item creation feat and let you know how that works.

Cool. I'll go ahead and make up the character tonight. I'll be thinking of a basic backstory in the mean time. I'm probably going to reflavor the tattoos as magi-tech. They'll look like circuit boards. I'll look up other types of magic tattoos as a item creation feat and let you know how that works.

Inscribe Magical Tattoo? I know that one, it's cool by me. Awesome on the magi-tech tattoos, although I am officially waiting with baited breath to see the Sorceress type who's playing with weird technology. A combo I didn't see coming.

Wait, are you saying firearms will function differently than in normal Pathfinder rules? If so, how? If you're somehow getting rid of the targets touch AC rule then I'll be going with a different concept for sure.

With 10,000 gold "advanced" firearms are well within our budgets. I'd be using a pepperbox rifle in all likelihood. I just think four shots before reloading in a world with laser cannons and spaceships is lame.

It looks like we've got two people submitting sorcerers as well. Maybe I should go with something other than a wizard.

Sorry, allow me to be more explicit, Jelani.

I think (I'm not entirely decided) we'll be resolving a firearm's touch attacks as if they were early firearms. As in, within the first range increment, they hit a touch AC, but outside that, they hit regular AC. You're allowed to use any type of firearm, of course, for damage, range, all that junk, but because I'm downgrading them I think I'll also cut the price down to half of what it is normally. Hm. Maybe two range increments? Gah. So unsure. Without wanting to get into a big ol' debate about this, do advanced firearms seem a bit overpowered to you? 'cause they do to me. I think the usual tradeoff is how hard they are to come across, but they just aren't in this world, and I don't want people to feel punished by not having one.
Edit: Y'know what? Screw it. Just give me some neat backstory and we'll go ahead and let you get away with regular Advanced Firearms, although at full price. I would note the usual caveat of not spending more than...what is it, half, forty percent of your starting gold, on one item, but since you'd be making it yourself, I doubt that's a problem.

I definitely agree with you that having to reload that much in this particular world is kinda lame. But, I'm not sure how to fix it without breaking other things. Maybe we could tack on some minor 'magical' enhancement (just a straight cost, not an enhancement bonus) to increase the magazine?

Twilsemail: All that looks okay to me. I mean, the stats adjustments are a little spot on for a sorcerer, but no more so than Elves for wizards, so hey, go nuts. Emissary from Darksmoke works for me, although I'd like it if he had more ambitions towards hero-hood. Honestly, I'm a little fuzzy on Draego Man in the first place (he was created just for the recent toy line, right?), so the more history of his you could weave in the happier I'd be from a who-the-hell-is-this-guy perspective. Shouldn't be completely necessary, though, as long as your guy is enough of a character on his own.

Hm. Here's a twist - I think neither. For this game, I would allow you to switch your monk unarmed damage and brass knuckle damage. As in, your training is going into fighting with the weapon, instead of your fists. If ever deprived of your brass knuckles (or cyber-gauntlets, or whatever you reflavor them to be), you would still have Improved Unarmed Strike, but you would do damage as if you weren't a monk. How's that work for you? Oh, and you could still use up just your weapon slot (magic item wise) and be allowed to kick, provided the weapon you make up makes sense for that. As with all rules bending I'll be doing, if you like all that, justify it in your backstory and it's yours.

That sounds cool to me, and speaking of backstory, I just had some ideas while I was in the shower:

During the Last Great War, the Dark Lord Skeletor unleashed a horror on Eternia like none other before it: the De-Men! Savage, brutal beasts with ferocious might, the De-Men were an ancient Horde experiment that had been deemed a failure. Because while they were truly monstrous warriors, their ferocity was too great to be controlled. And so they were sealed away in underground vaults for thousands of years, waiting for someone cunning or foolish enough to loose them on the world.

Skeletor was that person. Twisting secrets of Eternian science and sorcery he and his followers gleaned from the very spells and devices used to imprison Skeletor himself to dark purpose, the Dark Lord created thouands of sets of manacles and leg irons that when clapped onto the De-Men, bound them and bent their fury to his will. With this horrible new army at his command, Skeletor began his final campaign, the one which nearly brought Eternia to his knees.

In the final battle with Skeletor, the tide turned when the Sorceress -- channelling all the power of Greyskull through the Swords of Power and Wisdom both -- broke Skeletor's great work. When his control over the De-Men vanished, his army fell into chaos. Many of the De-Men lashed out randomly against any they could see and fell on the battlefield that day. Some were cunning enough to flee back to the Dark Side, and haunt that shadowy realm still.

One changed.

Perhaps he had always been different, or perhaps the light of the Sorceress' magic struck him more deeply than the others. Even now he cannot say, and to him, the reason is immaterial. He simply knew in his heart that the freedom he had now was a great gift, and he would repay it by turning his strength against those who had made him a slave and a murderer. Immediately he turned on his commander -- the martial artist mutant Karatti. Caught completely by surprise, Karatti was severely wounded by the very skills he had taught the enslaved De-Man and fled the battlefield. He holds a grudge to this very day.

When the battle was over, with both He-Man and Skeletor vanished, the De-Man surrendered to the Eternian forces. Many clamored for his execution -- De-Men were nothing but thoughtless monsters, after all. But the Sorceress, even as she grieved for her missing husband, came and spoke with him. As they talked, he didn't ask for mercy, or demand release. He simply thanked her for freeing him from Skeletor's power. So moved that she stepped forward and placed her hand over his heart and, feeling the good radiating from it, she set him free once more.

"I feel something noble within you, De-Man," she said, "from today forward let justice and righteousness be the only things you are chained to."

With that she let the Power of the Universe flow into him. It radiated out from his heart to the symbols of his slavery -- Skeletor's shackles and leg irons -- and changed them. Symbols etched into the steel changed from glowing a baleful red to a bright, shimmering white.

"Rise, Noble De-Man," said the Sorceress, "I free you a second time, because Eternia needs hearts like yours more than ever, today."

And so he rose as Noble, taking what the Sorceress had called him as his name, and he has served as the Sorceress' guardian and champion ever since.

I've run several games with commonplace guns firearm rules, and a few with guns everywhere. I honestly haven't found advanced firearms to be overpowered. Yes, they hit often, but their damage is low relative to bow users. All firearms really have to enhance their damage is Deadly Aim and magical enhancements. Gunslingers get gun training eventually, but even that's not too bad.

In one of my games right now the characters are 7th level and I have a gunslinger/paladin with two revolvers and an alchemist with a pepperbox rifle. They have trouble overcoming DR more than anything. That being said, it's your game and I have no trouble going with whatever you decide.

I'm strongly considering changing concepts since there are already two other arcane casters suggested. Looks like we've got a cyborg monk, de-man monk and a human warrior type too. Whatever I play will be a high-tech cyborg alien though. Just not sure what party role to make them.

Edit:Now I'm thinking Alchemist. Possibly with some archetypes.

I can switch Cha to Int if you'd prefer. Cha is spot on for the Sorcerer. I was on the fence between the two. Let me know what you think.

Actually, how do you feel about the artificer? Seems like a perfect fit for what I want. A techo-cyborgy guy who's really smart, and has some kind of gun. He uses his crazy gadgets to get out of situations.

Gah! Okay, so, based on Rokku's wall of text there:
Spoilers are your friends, folks, and will help keep this thread readable. Please put big ol' character ideas behind them, if you don't mind. Anyway, moving on:

Rokku: Damn, son, that was quick. I don't have the time for a thorough assessment right now, but it looks good. A few bits are gonna have to change a little, especially the last part about being by the Sorceress' side all this time, but I like the concept.

Jelani: Fair enough. I reserve the right to change things if they get too out of hand, but for the moment, let's go ahead and run with Commonplace Guns (although in this case, it's more like Commonplace Beam Weapons). As for party role...can't help you out too much there. I'd say don't worry about it, just come up with the character you want to play and we can sort it all out afterwards.
Edit: Ninja'd again. I'll look at the artificer, but don't know offhand.
Edit Edit: The artificer looks interesting, but Weird Science confuses me (which is appropriate). The wording indicates that you can layer infinite spell effects into one invention, but that can't be right, can it? 'cause that's nuts. Their example seems to imply that you can have as many effects as you have inventions, and that'd be fine. I dunno, am I missing something here?

You've got my concept already. Human Fighter.

I'll do a full write up once I'm more awake. Looking forward to this.

Here’s a bit of the ten minute background for Draeko.

I’ve been saying Greyskull when referring to the capitol of Eternos. Where would that have moved to in the last 20 years?

You cant really use the touch attack rules for PF firearms for Eternia. Eternia would most likey have blast resistant armor and such so just keep it simple:
Laser/Blaster rifle =Longbow or H Xbow
Laser/Blaster pistol=Shorbow or L Xbow
Hard light weapons that do piercing damage.
Perhaps even a stun setting that only works in the 1st range increment and does non lethal.
If you go with xbows reloading times could be represented by the weapon recharging etc etc. Rapid Reload and the various class abilties could be yoou picking up a way to coax a better recharge time out of a weapon.

Jelani: Yeah, I think that sounds right, although I worry a bit about the potential for stacking on effects. I don't think it should be too bad right now, so let's run with it for the moment. I'll take a closer look at it tonight.

Twilsemail:Couple things - first off, I like where you're headed, but I think you may be interpreting Draego-Man a bit angrier than I think he's intended to be. I see him as an honorable sort of dude, offended at the prevaricating that humans do. I rather doubt he's gone about burning villages, for instance. From the (admittedly very tiny) amount of information available, I thought he was probably the sort of character who might be convinced of the error of his ways and join the Masters. What's your take? He's only barely canon, so I'm willing to hear alternate interpretations, I just thought I'd throw mine out there.
Second, Grayskull was never the capital of Eternos - well, not in recent memory, anyway. It's pretty much just a creepy old ruin, and very few know the secret of the power it holds - er. Held. The capital of Eternos is, simply enough, Eternos City.

Zarisa: I like what you're saying, but the unfortunate part is that many (in fact, most) folks aren't walking around in armor, powered or otherwise, and actual bows and arrows are definitely in evidence. Eternia is so incredibly varied in what's available that I want to try to keep most options on the table in some form or other.

And that's it for me for today, folks. I've gotta get some sleep, then class, then rehearsal, but I should be back on somewhere around 9:30 or 10 PST tonight.

Jelani: Yeah, I think that sounds right, although I worry a bit about the potential for stacking on effects. I don't think it should be too bad right now, so let's run with it for the moment. I'll take a closer look at it tonight.

Twilsemail:Couple things - first off, I like where you're headed, but I think you may be interpreting Draego-Man a bit angrier than I think he's intended to be. I see him as an honorable sort of dude, offended at the prevaricating that humans do. I rather doubt he's gone about burning villages, for instance. From the (admittedly very tiny) amount of information available, I thought he was probably the sort of character who might be convinced of the error of his ways and join the Masters. What's your take? He's only barely canon, so I'm willing to hear alternate interpretations, I just thought I'd throw mine out there.
Second, Grayskull was never the capital of Eternos - well, not in recent memory, anyway. It's pretty much just a creepy old ruin, and very few know the secret of the power it holds - er. Held. The capital of Eternos is, simply enough, Eternos City.

Zarisa: I like what you're saying, but the unfortunate part is that many (in fact, most) folks aren't walking around in armor, powered or otherwise, and actual bows and arrows are definitely in evidence. Eternia is so incredibly varied in what's available that I want to try to keep most options on the table in some form or other.

And that's it for me for today, folks. I've gotta get some sleep, then class, then rehearsal, but I should be back on somewhere around 9:30 or 10 PST tonight.

Exactly. PF has the touch attack rule because most dont have firearm resistant armor in that campaign. But coming from a world that has such tech blasters and bows should have no advantage over the other one. With both types of weapons being equal it boils down to a personal choice of which to use.

Basically what im saying is a bow is treated no different when attacking a person in plate or in his skivies except by their AC rating.
With Eternian armor built around there being blasters in combat a blaster would have no special treatment against armor and thus the same as a bow. Whether its the material of say Eternium(which i just made up for this example) or minor magics in the armor firearms should definetly not have advantages over bows for campaign fairness.

I can rewrite the history to reflect that. It'd just be some other test that he'd failed. Reading the information with a different lens, it does seem that's he's hurt and acting out. I can see him warring against Darksmoke and their allies instead of Eternos itself.

Re: Greyskull - Hunh.. Wonder why I remembered it otherwise. Cool beans. I'll adjust things to read Eternos City.

ETA: I think the first re-cap of Draego-man's history that I'd found was a fan-fic or some kind of rehash by a fan. He was much more directly evil in that. Checking other sources, he seems far more redeemable. I'll see how I can work that into the history.

Looks like fun. I have an idea that I might post today

BTW Jelani - If you haven't looked at it before,machinesmith might be a good option over artificer.

So I've started making the character. I'm thinking Samasaran Tattoo'd sorcerer. The Tattoo's are actually Technimagic that allow her to channel mystic forces. They'll look something like this only all over her body and in cool patterns. (FYI: the pic is actually a temporary tattoo that lets you control machines with your mind. It's a real thing.)

About the Samasaran: I would like some DM input (players too, but mostly DM). I can play the Samsaran as an entirely separate race OR I can play her as human and the "past life link" thing is just how her magic works. I can work with either, but prefer the latter. I'd be cool if she was human, but who hears whispers of generations past. Those whispers are how she uncoverd the secret of the magitech tattoo's.

Just let me know what would work best with the story line. I'll build her history off of that. I'm working on the crunch now.

Any thoughts on most appropriate Bloodlines? I'm leaning toward Sage (the int based one) or Draconic eventually taking Dragon Disciple Or storm born for lots of lightning themed fun.

What do you think?

I'll have a build up soon.

Actually, I'm looking at the Samasaran and not loving it. I'll probably make that something else.

Edit: DM, How do you feel about the Strix race? I can see a winged humanoid fitting well into Eternia.

Edit: DM, How do you feel about the Strix race? I can see a winged humanoid fitting well into Eternia.

Stratos is basically a re-flavored stryx.

Bloodgargler - Looked at it, but Artificer seemed to be more generic and fit the whacky themes of the setting better.

Zarisa - Have to say I completely disagree. I feel like your opinion is based off the fallacious idea that firearms are more powerful than bows in normal PF. Firearms and bows are already balanced within the Pathfinder rules.

Bows can add strength to damage and don't need to reload. They are less expensive than firearms (both weapon and ammunition wise) and shoot farther. They can take the multishot feat for even more damage advantage over guns.

Firearms can misfire, have relatively short range and lower damage. They also require reloading. To balance this out they are more accurate.

If bows and guns are exactly the same, then there is never EVER a reason to use a gun, since it would just be a more expensive, reloady, misfirey lower damage POS. Also there would have been no reason for guns to be invented in the first place.

If you're not convinced by my argument here I could post up the maths to prove that they are balanced. I'd rather not waste the time though.

Viscount - Cool, I'll get working on a race/story. I think my name is going to be Techno (if that's not already taken) from the planet Mecklar. One of the last of a dying race, I came to Eternia seeking help only to find its heroes MIA. Became stranded there and decided to help out while I figure out a way to return home.

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

Edit: DM, How do you feel about the Strix race? I can see a winged humanoid fitting well into Eternia.

Stratos is basically a re-flavored stryx.

Admitedly, I don't know a lot about the He-Man universe. Just the basics.

However, I've decided to go another way. A blaster, sort of.

edit: Clearly this is without the Mythic stuff yet. Herobuilder doesn't incorporate that yet.

Interestingly, because of how guns and technology are treated in Eternia, many things could simply be reflavored.

TCG's blaster sorcerer could actually be a guy with some kind of cannon weapon. The different spell effects could just be different kinds of ammo, or different settings on the gun.

A gunslinger might actually be a porcupine-man tensing really hard and blasting off a volley of quills or a ninja-type character hurling super fast shurkins.

In most games, players tend to find a concept and then use the appropriate mechanics for it.

In this setting, it might be better to come up with the mechanics you want to use, and then wrap a concept around them. Since the usual limitations on what the mechanics mean don't really apply here, the concepts have the potential to be really stylish.

Interestingly, because of how guns and technology are treated in Eternia, many things could simply be reflavored.

TCG's blaster sorcerer could actually be a guy with some kind of cannon weapon. The different spell effects could just be different kinds of ammo, or different settings on the gun.

A gunslinger might actually be a porcupine-man tensing really hard and blasting off a volley of quills or a ninja-type character hurling super fast shurkins.

In most games, players tend to find a concept and then use the appropriate mechanics for it.

In this setting, it might be better to come up with the mechanics you want to use, and then wrap a concept around them. Since the usual limitations on what the mechanics mean don't really apply here, the concepts have the potential to be really stylish.

I have a lot of idea. I'd like to stick to mostly spell effects, though the high-tech tattoos will be the fluff on how the power is generated.

I guessed that. I was just using your character as an example of how the style could differ radically from the mechanical representations.

My original idea was to play Wild Ride, the son of Rio Blast, who is literally made of guns.

Wild Ride's gimmick was that he was a quick draw artist who's cybernetic horse was essentially a tank but I couldn't figure out how to model a guy like that within the system.

Eventually I decided that the best way to do it was to make him a Summoner, have his horse be his Eidolon, and give it the Skilled evolution for a big boost to UMD, then load the horse up with blaster-y magic items and re-flavor the effects as cannons and stuff.

I could probably have built him as a gunslinger who rode around on a horse-shaped Gargantuan shotgun or something, but that just seemed like it was full of complications I didn't want to deal with.

(anyone who wants to steal the idea, feel free)

Okay, I've made an alias as a workspace. I've got most of the basic crunch done (I prefer to do it first so I know what abilities the character has when I'm writing about them). Check it out and let me know if it seems overpowered or anything. It's definitely a work in progress.

Techno

If you go to the gallery of the guy whose image I linked for Techno's appearance you can find a lot more really well done MoTU artwork.

U want sheet? I has sheet!

Ha-whoof. Glad for all the material to go over, but this might take a minute or three. Let me know if I miss something.

Jelani/Techno: Mecklarians - 15 RP is pushing it a little, isn't it? Aren't most of the standard races 10 or 11? What would you say to scaling that down a point or two - take some things away, or add some weaknesses. Other than that, looks good so far. Oh, and just for the sake of my amusement levels, what do you think about spelling your name Teckno?

Twilsemail/Draeko: Cool beans.

Rokku/Noble: Sweet. No thoughts on the build yet, but glad it's up.

Doomed Hero/Dare: I like the concept, but we're gonna have to chat about what knowledge Dare does/doesn't have - it could throw a few monkey wrenches in some of the mystery I intend to weave.

Bloodgargler: Glad to have your interest. Let's see what you throw at us.

TC Golem: Looks good so far. Haven't done an in-depth look at the numbers, but seems fine from here.

Everybody: What Doomed Hero said above about reflavoring the mechanics to fit the world? That. Exactly that. I don't intend to change how too many actual rules work - Eternia is just too varied for me to worry about it much. This is a world where plated robots loaded with blasters and a teenage girl with a staff are considered to be on an equal footing, where a giant talking lobster and a mistress of dark magics are on the same team. It's all about how good you are with your weapons of choice, not what said weapons are.
What that means is that tech level pretty much doesn't matter, as far as power is concerned. So just find the mechanic that produces an effect vaguely similar to what you're going for, then call it whatever you like. Musket=Laser Rifle=Thorn-Shooting Plant=Wrist-Mounted Mini-Turret. It's all good, as long as you're cool with your whatever-it-is doing 1d12, crit x4, range 40 feet etc. Don't worry about what the book says does those things, now your whatsit does.

TC Golem: Whoops, missed the Strix thing.

Strix seem quite a bit better than your average PC race, don't they? Mostly it's that fly speed that gets to me. 60 foot flight is a damn shiny ability. I think an Avion would pretty much be a human, dropping their bonus feat, with a 30 foot fly speed (clumsy) and a +2 to Fly checks. They get way faster and more maneuverable with the jetpacks they all wear, obviously, but that's not technically a racial trait.

I could scale it back to 11 RP, but all that would do is make them slightly less resistant to spells and worse crafters (lose the hardy and craftsman abilities). Aasimar and Tielfing are 15 RP. What numbers are you seeing on his sheet that are concerning you? Is something in particular too high?

He's tough to kill, but his damage output will be minimal. More of a skill monkey, a dash of battlefield control and a smidgin of backup healing. I've got his gear pretty much set now, so you should have a pretty good idea of the final product.

Here’s a revisoin, let me know how it looks now.