Test of the Starstone

Game Master Kyle Smith 700

You're standing in a plush room with three other people. Comfortable chairs dot the room, and a roaring fire fills it with a pleasant heat. The walls are lined with bookshelves, all empty. The east wall – somehow, you know it is east – holds a large iron door. In a small niche in the western wall stands what is clearly an illusionary man dressed in robes.

How did you get here? Why are you here? Your thoughts are fuzzy. The last thing you can clearly remember is...well, nothing. Vague flashes of memory pass through your head, but no matter how you try to hold and inspect them, they slip away. All you can truly remember is your training, but even that seems incomplete. Like you once knew so much more than you do now.

The illusionary man catches your eye. He nods and twirls a finger, and a few thoughts - one might almost call them rules - enter your mind.

Rules

• 1) Your goal is to reclaim the power you once had.

• 2) Through the door lies the means to do so.

• 3) This room is called Haven.

• 4) Once you leave Haven, the door will close and you may not return for 12 hours. Attempting to do so will result in failure with extreme prejudice.

• 5) Each time you return to Haven, you may rest for 12 hours before you must leave.

• 6) Through the door lies peril in many forms. Though there may be areas that seem safe, none are guaranteed. Haven is the only secure area.

• 7) You must cooperate fully with the other people currently in Haven.

• 8) The illusionary man will trade for any items you might acquire, and can provide you access to just about any item or spellcasting service you can possibly imagine. For a price.

• 9) Death is a setback, not a failure.

• 10) Attempting to leave the test means failure.

• 11) You have one year to complete the test.

So, this should be an interesting experience. The characters in this game were once level 20 and are attempting to become gods by passing the Test of the Starstone. The test in this case is to be reverted to level 1, dumped in an inescapable dungeon, and live to level 20 again. This is meant to be a pure dungeon delve, with some…interesting twists. *cue evil GM laughter*

Character creation

• 1) 1st level characters.

• 2) 30 point buy. Yep, 30. You’re trying to be a god – you better be powerful. However, no stat can be higher than an 18 or lower than a 10 before racial modifiers (30 points means no need to dump!).

• 3) Core races only. Don’t ask to be an aasimar, a catfolk, a tiefling, etc. They will not be allowed.

• 4) Almost anything from the CRB, APG, UM, UC, and UE automatically approved other than variant rules (such as piecemeal armor and words of magic), but see below for exceptions.

• 5) Nearly any Paizo published Pathfinder material is fair game, but please be sure to call it out as such and link to it on d20pfsrd.com. I reserve the right to veto, but doubt I’ll need to.

• 6) 3rd party material will be considered with a link to the full rules. My preference is to go with Paizo only material, but I can be swayed.

• 7) 150 gold at character creation for all classes.

• 8) Max hp at 1st level. All following levels will be Max HP -2 (so d10 would be 8 + Con mod).

• 9) Two traits allowed, with the standard trait rules.

• 10) All alignments allowed (but see Campaign Specific Information #6 below).

• 11) If you ask me a question about character creation that’s already answered in this post, it will greatly harm your chances of getting into the game. Careful reading of the rules is important.
  

Banned (not necessarily a complete list):

• 1) Noncore races.

• 2) Blood money spell.

• 3) Antagonize feat.

• 4) All crafting feats except for Brew Potion, Scribe Scroll, and Craft Wand.

• 5) Leadership feat.

• 6) Raise dead, resurrection, and true resurrection spells.
  

Houserules

• 1) Vital Strike, Improved Vital Strike, and Greater Vital Strike can be used in combination with charging, Spring Attack, Flyby Attack, Cleave/Great Cleave, and Ride-By Attack.

• 2) Breath of life is renamed cure deadly wounds, and Clerics can cast it spontaneously like any other cure spell.

• 3) A character that dies can only be brought back by party means through cure deadly wounds (or class features duplicating that spell). Raise dead, resurrection, etc. are not in the game. Rather, one round after a character dies (ie after cure deadly wounds will no longer work), the character appears in Haven and loses an amount of experience equal to half that required to advance to the next level. This means level loss is a possibility. Examples:
  
• 3a. Adam is 8th level with 69,400 experience and dies. To progress from 8th to 9th level, a character needs 24,000 experience, so Adam loses 12,000. He now has 57,400 experience, but is still 8th level.
  
• 3b. Eve is 4th level with 10,650 experience and dies. To progress from 4th to 5th level, a character needs 6,000 experience, so Eve loses 3,000. She now has 7,650 experience, which drops her to 3rd level.

• 4) Spells that take longer than 12 hours to cast can only be cast outside Haven.

• 5) Monks are proficient with all monk weapons.

• 6) For every hour past 12 you do not rest (typically at Haven), you will have to make saves against fatigue. The save starts at DC 15, and goes up by one every hour. After 24 hours of no rest, you gain the fatigued condition with no save.

• 7) After 6 hours of being fatigued, a character will need to start making Fort saves to avoid exhaustion. The save starts at DC 20, and goes up by 2 every hour. Being fatigued for 12 hours automatically gives you the exhausted condition.

• 8) Gaining a level will be done inside Haven. You don’t gain the level until you return to Haven and rest.

• 9) Spells and effect that outright kill characters are modified. Instead of death, they bring you to negative hp equal to your Con score + 2. You are dying and must make saves to stabilize as normal. So if Chris, who has a 13 Con, fails both saves against phantasmal killer, instead of dying, he is brought to -11 hp and gains the dying condition. The only exception to this rule is a coup de grace – if you fail the save from a coup de grace, you die.
  

Campaign Specific Information

• 1) The illusionary man is your vendor. He has unlimited money and unlimited access to mundane and magical items. He will buy anything of value at normal prices (half the sell value) and sell you anything at the price in the books. In addition, he can cast any spell requested for standard spellcasting rates (see Equipment section of the CRB).

• 2) Attempting to leave Haven or the area beyond by means of Teleportation or any other unforeseen-by-me methods is strictly forbidden and means your character has failed the test.

• 3) This being a pure dungeon delve with characters whose memories are heavily fogged, there will be a strong focus on combat and relatively little on roleplaying. This does not mean, however, that you shouldn’t have an interesting backstory or personality for your character, as you never know what you will find.

• 4) Portions of your ordeals will be randomly generated. This means there could be some days in-game where little of interest happens, some days where combat is a complete breeze, and other days where it’s a terrible struggle for survival.

• 5) If, after one year (365 days) in-game time has elapsed, the entire party is not 20th level, then you have failed the test.

• 6) You must cooperate with the party. Any attempt to betray, backstab, murder, harm, etc. a fellow player means your character has failed the test and is lost to the void. The player will be thanked for their time and promptly replaced. The definition of betraying the party is under my sole purview.

• 7) The test will successfully end once the entire party is 20th level. Or will it? *Cue evil GM laughter again*

• 8) Time measurements:
  
• 8a. Search a room or hallway for hidden objects, doors, etc. - 5 minutes.
  
• 8b. Thoroughly search a room or hallway for hidden objects, doors, etc. – 20 minutes.
  
• 8c. Both a & b assume roughly average sized spaces. If a room or hall you’re searching is of considerably different size, the time to search may change (just ask).
  
• 8d. Other than in combat, time will be kept in mostly 5 minute increments, unless it’s important to keep track more granularly.
  

I will be taking applications until January 7th, 2014. That should give people enough time to create characters over the holidays. Posting expectations are minimum of once a day during the week. Applications will only be considered if a full statblock is submitted. Again, detailed backgrounds are not required, but be sure there's some hooks I can use.

Dotting for interest, probably with an arcane spellcaster.

Then I'll probably be a martial-type.

I would like to put forth a Halfling Archaeologist (Bard) for this one.

While technically he is considered a Bard by the loosest of terms (Class), he is more like a rogue with an uncanny amount of luck.

As far as combat focused dungeon crawls go this looks incredibly interesting! Plus it is perfect for a particular character I've had rolling around in my head for some time.

Nareth will be a LN warpriest of Zon-Kuthon with the death and darkness blessings. He'll be a two handed fighter, switching between a spiked chain and a greatsword as needed (spiked chain for tactics, greatsword for brute strength). I'll have selective channeling so I don't hit party members with my channels, but the rest of my feats will probably be combat ones. Also, even though I'll be negative energy focused I'll make sure to memorize a few cure spells until we can afford a wand of CLW (although I'll probably still have one or two memorized, just in case).

I'll start working on the crunch now, but I'd love to hear feedback about the character concept and the fighting concept!

Character here. Tell me what you think.

It does! I really like the idea.

Ciphus Allemain is a NG elven inquisitor. Burdened by his conscience for his previous career as a confidence man, he renounced all mis-truths, and journeys to untangle them.

Character roll will be versatility, straight inquisitor with a few other gimmicks. I've wanted to play an inquisitor for a while, and have been ironing out the concept. I'll build the numbers, and post back the full character in a little while.

Dotting with interest. Going to submit a savage Ulfen oracle who draws upon the strength of his ancestors in battle. Planning on the Barbarian/Oracle/Rage Prophet progression. I'll have a character up in a little while.

dotting for interest

Hmm...with the mention of playtest classes, I'm tempted to lean more towards a Half-Orc Bloodrager.

Shane's Ulfen Oracle. Backstory and personality to come later.

So the premise of the plot is that we are 20th level characters who are "nerfed" by the Starstone. Should we write out a basic structure for what we did when achieving those 20 levels? (We would likely have made quite an impact on the face of Golarion even before challenging the Starstone.)

Man, what a sudden spike in divine characters. I hope there's not any traps in this adventure lol

Dot.

Hrmmm... Will definitely have to think about this...

Can we use Drawbacks from Ultimate Campaign? Its a variant rule so i've assumed not thus far.

Very excited by this and itching to play a concept i've had in mind for a long time...

This setting has a lot of appeal to me. I could enjoy playing most any class/role in this and am thinking a balanced party will be needed. I would love to play the arcane caster but seeing one submitted I am good with another role. How about I bring in a combat focused rogue or ninja? Will have Trap Spotter eventually for sure. Will likely go Scout and be spring attacking as soon as feasible. The charging Vital Strike appeals to me. :)

GM alientude, how many PCs do you plan for this party? The numbers could influence what I bring, with more players allowing for more flexibility in covering what I think of as the essential bases.

I am excited and will have a preliminary rogue up by this time tomorrow. Oh, what about a crypt breaker alchemist…

Based of the description he gave, I assume there will be four players chosen.

I'm thinkingn of playing as a bones oracle necromancer, hmm core only... *sigh* I guess I'll go with human

Ive got a Dwarven Zen Archer ready to go, the build i have layed out is a very interesting mix, and Im very excited to see how it plays out.

Complete stat block follows, ill make an alias if im recruited.

This amuses me...

M Dwarf Zen Archer 1

CG Medium Humanoid (Half-Orc)

I will consider ACG playtest classes.

Tiasar: Interesting concept. It reads more like an oracle to me than a warpriest, but that's not a problem. Minor note: You have 1 too many feats - you should have 3 (1 for human, 1 for 1st level, and Weapon Focus from warpriest).

Kjell Isenvacht: The premise is correct. Backstory for how you got to level 20 and what you did along the way is helpful, although it doesn't need to be detailed.

Alexander Kilcoyne: I'm going to say no to drawbacks.

Skorn: 4 players is my intention.

Alistus: Minor notes: monks cannot be CG, and you have (half-orc) as a subtype.

Indeed, looks like i need to make myself a template instead of using past characters as a template, or i just need to be more observant.

Yes, interesting thought on the oracle, and I suppose that is exactly how his journey began. Later though he became well read and became more cleric-like.

Also, amazingly enough I do have the correct amount of feats (I almost didn't believe it myself). 1 for 1st level, 1 for human, 1 for Weapon Focus (Warpriest), and one bonus feat (Warpriest). Yeah, warpriest gives you two free feats at level one, one of which is any combat feat. I don't think I could create a character with more feats at 1st level haha

Tiasar: I'm looking at the (revised) ACG playtest packet and it shows warpriests not getting their first bonus feat until 3rd level (other than Weapon Focus at first, of course).

Revised ACG playtest, that's where I was confused, I had the old version. I downloaded the newest version and have adjusted Nareth accordingly, thanks for bringing that to my attention!

Alexander's submission-

Lorenzo "Fate's Favored" Florent-

Background-

Inspired somewhat by Matrim Cauthon of the Wheel of Time series.

Lorenzo's adventuring career actually began as a result of being chased out of Riddleport. As a happy-go-lucky teenager of a middle-class family, he had gone there with a small stake of savings; and literally ended up breaking the bank with a run of incredible luck- joining an adventuring party turned out to be a very secure way of quickly skipping town. He left quite the string of swooning maidens in the town, being a handsome type of rake and a cheerful, happy-go-lucky fellow.

Lorenzo's string of luck followed him throughout a very lucrative adventuring career, circumstances seemingly conspiring to save him from his own recklessness or ineptitude time and time again. Those around him acknowledged that his luck was clearly a force to be reckoned with and Lorenzo found, to his dismay, that fewer and fewer people were willing to gamble or play cards with him. This disadvantage was more than made up for countless times over, however.

Opportunities seemed to fall into his lap, along with near any women he set his mind to. Skilled swordsmen would challenge him to duels of honour, duels he would somehow win due to an opponent's slip, a lucky blow or a stray gust of wind. Monster's he faced while adventuring would sometimes have their spells fail when cast upon him, or would catch their claws or weapons on the roof of their lair just when it seemed sure that Lorenzo's days were numbered. Conversely, Lorenzo's weapons would unerringly strike true and he would be able to take shots with his bow far beyond what an archer of his reasonable skill should have been capable of.

The same incredible luck that had carried him through a successful career of adventuring into his early twenties served him well when he joined the Kitharodian Academy. The one innate talent that Lorenzo truly possessed, other than his luck, was an unnaturally fast set of reflexes, agility and grace. He became renowned as the greatest Dancer in Avistan and rose rapidly through the ranks of the academy. His performances were witnessed by crowds of hundreds of people and his fame and purse only grew. He became one of the chief patrons and administrators of the prestigious academy; and the youngest man ever to reach the role.

Approaching thirty, it seemed Lorenzo had reached the peak of his life; rich, famous, as lucky as ever and near unbeatable. In truth, his luck had made him feel completely invincible; and he felt it would surely guide him through the trials of the Test of Starstone; intending to fully encompass the whims of Fate and Luck when he no doubt ascended.

His memory is blurry now, but Lorenzo is aware that he is merely a shadow of his former self; and that realisation has filled him full of near-alien emotions; doubt, fear, and a sense of being completely out of his depth. He realises he needs allies to succeed and will be loyal to them at all costs.

Appearance-
Lorenzo is a thin, gaunt, tall and lithe man; not even the Test of Starstone could take away the sheer grace the man walks with. Approaching thirty, his golden hair and clean-shaven, pretty-boy face makes him the envy of many. Stripped of almost all of his gear, that which remains has been dispelled of any enchantment it once bear. A few weapons are on his person, along with basic supplies and a suit of leather armour worn over simple traveller's clothes.

Role-
Archaelogist's Luck makes Lorenzo a versatile addition to any group, but this particular archetype also lets him take the role of the Rogue; able to deal with magical traps and scout for danger. He will struggle a little in combat at first level and be heavily reliant on his luck, but will come into his own around 2nd or 3rd.

Crunch-

Player Details-

I've been active on Paizo forums for about 3/4 years now, running three of my own games. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon :). Timezone is GMT+0 but I keep strange hours so that is not much of a guide.

Question for the. GM:
How quickly do you plan for this campaign to play out in out of game time? I really like the whole idea of the Haven and the difficult combats followed by longer rests. This sounds like an amazing view on dungeon dungeon delving and whether or not i actually play in it i look forward to seeing this campaign play out, it looks like itll be tons of fun.

Dotting for EXTREME interest.

This is a fantastic idea that I might just steal if I don't get in :)

This sounds phenomenal! I'm definitely going to be applying. But with what? That's the question . . .

Let me know if there are any problems with my submission or questions about it GM. Otherwise i'll wait patiently for selection and check the thread daily :).

I'm interested. I'm not sure what to play, though. I'm kind of new to RPing on these forums.

I have a personal question: what happened to that Shackled city campaign of yours?

Dotting for interest.

I'm a little concerned about the timeframe, though - forum combat tends to be slow, and there's a lot of combat from level 1 up to 20. Assuming every fight is APL+2, fast XP advancement, and an average of 4 rounds per combat, that's 506 rounds of combat over 126ish fights. Even at one post per day, every day, with posts being nothing but one round of combat, that's still about 16 months. Obviously, there will be more variety than that, but that variety will almost always be on the side of "slower".

Doesn't mean that it won't be fun, though. I'm definitely going to submit a character once I have a chance to pick an interesting build. How are you going to handle playtest characters once the final ACG comes out?

I have a personal question: what happened to that Shackled city campaign of yours?

Well doing a little sleuth work here, but his last gameplay post in that campaign was two days before this post. He probably moved and then got busy and let it die. GMing from a phone is basically impossible unless you are masochistic.

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Alientude- This seems like an interesting challenge. I've done several similar PBPs in the past as a DM, it'd be fun to play in one. If you wouldn't take offense I've got some rules I could suggest that make dungeon crawls work better in PBP. It's been my experience that in every case they rapidly stagnate and die if there aren't systems in place to keep things moving forward quickly or a very proactive DM.

I'll be creating a human synthesist summoner if you don't have a problem with that archetype. It's in UM, but I want to double check before I start working because a lot of people have issues with it. What experience track will you be using?

Dotting for interest.

I'm a little concerned about the timeframe, though - forum combat tends to be slow, and there's a lot of combat from level 1 up to 20. Assuming every fight is APL+2, fast XP advancement, and an average of 4 rounds per combat, that's 506 rounds of combat over 126ish fights. Even at one post per day, every day, with posts being nothing but one round of combat, that's still about 16 months. Obviously, there will be more variety than that, but that variety will almost always be on the side of "slower".

Something going from 1-20 via PbP is pretty much going to be 3 years+ minimum in my experience. Best have that in mind when you apply. My KM game is/was pretty fast paced and 3 years in we're at the middle of Chapter 3 of 6.

Agreed, unless a new XP track is devised this will take several years of real time.

Even if this campaign does take a long time, it sounds like itll be well worth it if run correctly. Giving each combat a different theme and different enemies, you could easily get through to level 20 and not fight a single monster twice. This reminds me of the arenas in the Fable series of video games where you fought each species of enemy in the game in its own habitat one after another.

Running a long time isn't necessarily a bad thing, as you say if run well it'll be very fun.

Alistus: I have no idea how long the campaign will take. A lot of it depends on the pace the players set.

Walter das Sombras: DM Jelani has it exactly.

Bobson: Like I said to Alistus, I don't really know how long the game will last. But PBPs tend to be slow, so yes, it will take some time. As for ACG classes, I'd work with the player to rebuild as needed when the ACG came out.

DM Jelani: Suggestions on rules to help the game going smoothly are definitely welcome. Regarding a synthesist summoner, while I'm not banning summoners outright, it's a class I'm not particularly fond of, so you'd have a hard road to travel for me to select it.

I'm essentially saying if people aren't ok with a long haul game they shouldn't sign up for a 1-20 game under any illusions. PbP is a slow format but also a rich one.

Alistus: I have no idea how long the campaign will take. A lot of it depends on the pace the players set.

Walter das Sombras: DM Jelani has it exactly.

Bobson: Like I said to Alistus, I don't really know how long the game will last. But PBPs tend to be slow, so yes, it will take some time. As for ACG classes, I'd work with the player to rebuild as needed when the ACG came out.

DM Jelani: Suggestions on rules to help the game going smoothly are definitely welcome. Regarding a synthesist summoner, while I'm not banning summoners outright, it's a class I'm not particularly fond of, so you'd have a hard road to travel for me to select it.

What classes are you fond of? I will write up some suggestions tomorrow when I have more time.

DM Jelani: Most any class is fine, it's just that summoners are such a wonky class that it's tricky to peak my interest.

Well I'm willing to play almost anything the party needs. I have at least 10 characters fully built to level 10 saved on my computer, so if there is something you would like to see in the party let me know.

As promised, here is my combat rogue submission. I'll likely tweak him slightly to make sure he meets all the submission requirements and fills the right roll in the party. I see him as the party trap finder and scout, but also someone who can hold his own in melee as a skirmisher. He will never be one to stand toe to toe with an enemy though.

I welcome comments from anyone who cares to review. Thanks!

@Minwae. Might want to check your encumbrance. I didn't do the math but it looks like it might be in a bad spot.

If you're worried about holding your own in combat, might I suggest another combat route? Dropping strength and putting the points into dex, then go two weapon fighting. If you can secure a flank or a trip, the damage you apply from your sneak attack is pretty impressive. Here is the concept in action.

Hmm I haven't decided on race, though there isn't many that give a bonus to cha in the CRB, I'm going either human or gnome
If human either lvl 20 plan isoracle 20 or oracle 15 agent of the grave 5
If gnome either the above or oracle 9 sorscerer 1 mystic thurge 10
I just find the idea of a gnomish necromancer to be a very amusing one

I'll get some stats up when I get to my computer.

@Minwae. Might want to check your encumbrance. I didn't do the math but it looks like it might be in a bad spot.

If you're worried about holding your own in combat, might I suggest another combat route? Dropping strength and putting the points into dex, then go two weapon fighting. If you can secure a flank or a trip, the damage you apply from your sneak attack is pretty impressive. Here is the concept in action.

both the carnavist and the pet trainer archetypes give you a flanking partner, and both stack with each other

@Lord Foul II

It too me a minute to read through that mess. How do you intend to meet the prerequisites for Mystic Theruge with only 1 level of sorcerer?

Taking an archetype to get you a weak flanking partner is just asking for the DM to kill it, especially in a campaign like this where death can come easily.

@Minwae. Might want to check your encumbrance. I didn't do the math but it looks like it might be in a bad spot.

If you're worried about holding your own in combat, might I suggest another combat route? Dropping strength and putting the points into dex, then go two weapon fighting. If you can secure a flank or a trip, the damage you apply from your sneak attack is pretty impressive. Here is the concept in action.

Carrying 54.46 lbs. lol, gotta love Hero Lab. With an 18 strength I have lots of room there.

This character will be charging to do sneak attack at level 4 and will be spring attacking to do sneak at level 8 - See scout archetype. Two Weapon fighting means full attacking and this rogue is meant to strike and get out. I will look at your concept though. Thanks!

If gnome either the above or oracle 9 sorscerer 1 mystic thurge 10

I just find the idea of a gnomish necromancer to be a very amusing one

FYI, I disagree with Paizo's ruling that SLAs count as ability to cast X-level spells for qualifying for prestige classes (which I'm guessing is how you'd be able to get mystic theurge with only 1 sorcerer level). I can't update the houserules section of the recruitment post, but it's definitely a houserule for my game - you need to be able to actually cast the spell from a class feature.