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Dark_Mistress
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
Dark_Mistress
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
I sure hope so. I would love to see a Hellknight and an Eagle Knight PrC.Wes and James said that the Hellknight PrC will be in one of the support articles for CoT.
Yeah, and SKR promised me Hellknight will be totally broken and overpowered, and make those Andoran Chicken Knights look like the incompetent fools they are! ;P
Given that some of my favorite Realms books were Cloak and Dagger and Lords of Darkness, I'm really happy to see this on the schedule. It will be interesting to see what this adds to various factions, and what kind of interaction between them it might illuminate.
'Cloak and Dagger' and 'Lords of Darkness' are excellent books, and also my favorites along with 'Faiths & Avatars'! I have high hopes for this one, because Sean co-authored C&D with Eric and Steven and LoD with Jason Carl.
@Sean: Those "group photo" type of pictures in C&D were an ingenious idea... any chance for something like it (i.e. one art piece that portrays the faces of the main NPCs in each organization) in this book?
I'm especially eager to see the coverage for the Revolutionary Leagues of Galt. I have a friend who's a nut on the French Revolution, and he's been filling my ear with tons of ideas for Galt and its Perpetual Revolution.
The main one I can remember right now being, "every time a new regime comes to power in Galt, the calendar gets restarted at Year 1 of the new Republic of Perfect Virtue."
{@Sean: Those "group photo" type of pictures in C&D were an ingenious idea... any chance for something like it (i.e. one art piece that portrays the faces of the main NPCs in each organization) in this book?}
I'm not sure that sort of format would work for this book. Keep in mind that this book isn't so much a "here's all you need to know about all these factions" book (because some of these factions already have dozens of pages on them and some have almost none) but a "here are specific mechanics to use to carrot-and-stick your PCs into getting involved with these factions."
So it's not really "here are the leaders of the orders of the Hellknights, their goals, and ongoing plots" (though that information is summarized in this book) because that sort of thing was covered in a contemporary Pathfinder, it's more of a "if one of your PCs has been doing missions for the Hellknights for 6 levels now, here's the cool gear/magic/feats/ranks/titles he has access to as part of the organization; and for 9 levels, and 12 levels, and 15 levels...." For example, if one of your players is really gung-ho about the Hellknights and wants to know "what do I have to do for my character to become a paralictor in the Order of the Nail?," you'll be able to tell him, "do missions for the Hellknights to increase your prestige level with them, and when you've accumulated X prestige, you can spend Y amount and you'll be a paralictor."
Mind you, that isn't some honorary title--the PC would actually be a paralictor. I mean, if a PC spent Y prestige to get a +3 sword but received a sham sword with no actual combat bonuses, that would be LAME; likewise, if you spent 40 prestige to get a title in the organization and it's useless and honorary, that too would be LAME*. So if you decide to spend your prestige on becoming a paralictor (rather than, for example, spending prestige to hire and outfit a small army of young Hellknights to do a mission for you or guard your personal fortress), you get all the rights and responsibilities of being a paralictor. You worked for it, you've proved yourself to the Hellknights, you've earned it.
Likewise for the Eagle Knights, the Pathfinder Society, a bardic college, the Old Cults, the Whispering Way, the Green Faith, and so on. Many of these factions will be more about physical rewards or lore than titles, of course--get in good with the Old Cults and you may get to copy stuff out of their best copy of the Necronomicon; advancing the cause of the Whispering Way may earn you a known-to-be-accurate formula for becoming a lich; the Pathfinders might let a valued member borrow something from the Vault; the Green Faith might arrange for a treant to be your cohort. And so on. It's a book that covers "what are these guys about?" as well as "how do I reward my players for participating in storylines involving these guys?"
*Not to say that ceremonial swords and honorary titles aren't cool, but functional swords and actual titles are even cooler.
{@Sean: Those "group photo" type of pictures in C&D were an ingenious idea... any chance for something like it (i.e. one art piece that portrays the faces of the main NPCs in each organization) in this book?}
I'm not sure that sort of format would work for this book. Keep in mind that this book isn't so much a "here's all you need to know about all these factions" book (because some of these factions already have dozens of pages on them and some have almost none) but a "here are specific mechanics to use to carrot-and-stick your PCs into getting involved with these factions."
So it's not really "here are the leaders of the orders of the Hellknights, their goals, and ongoing plots" (though that information is summarized in this book) because that sort of thing was covered in a contemporary Pathfinder, it's more of a "if one of your PCs has been doing missions for the Hellknights for 6 levels now, here's the cool gear/magic/feats/ranks/titles he has access to as part of the organization; and for 9 levels, and 12 levels, and 15 levels...." For example, if one of your players is really gung-ho about the Hellknights and wants to know "what do I have to do for my character to become a paralictor in the Order of the Nail?," you'll be able to tell him, "do missions for the Hellknights to increase your prestige level with them, and when you've accumulated X prestige, you can spend Y amount and you'll be a paralictor."
Mind you, that isn't some honorary title--the PC would actually be a paralictor. I mean, if a PC spent Y prestige to get a +3 sword but received a sham sword with no actual combat bonuses, that would be LAME; likewise, if you spent 40 prestige to get a title in the organization and it's useless and honorary, that too would be LAME*. So if you decide to spend your prestige on becoming a paralictor (rather than, for example, spending prestige to hire and outfit a small army of young Hellknights to do a mission for you or guard your personal fortress), you get all the rights and...
Actually, that sounds amazing -- we not only get the information about what it takes to become a Paralictor, but also what you get and what it *means* to be a member of that respected and feared inner circle (BTW, don't bother including the Andoran Chicken Knights -- all of us already know that all it takes is some money out of your daddy's pockets! ;P).
You know, in retrospect I realized that the sort of thing I asked about (specific NPCs of all levels with portraits) are probably better left for 'NPC Guide'.
Very cool -- I'm really excited about this book! :)
Tons and tons of awesome!This could be better clarified in the product description. I can't think of anyone I play with frequently who wouldn't flip over backwards in anticipation of this one. I don't think the current description makes the real purpose and content of the book clear, though.
Amen.. SKR's latest description really just put this book on the radar, as far as I'm concerned.
SKR: You should edit that little essay and put it on the Blog. This book would sell like crazy!
Tons and tons of awesome!This could be better clarified in the product description. I can't think of anyone I play with frequently who wouldn't flip over backwards in anticipation of this one. I don't think the current description makes the real purpose and content of the book clear, though.Amen.. SKR's latest description really just put this book on the radar, as far as I'm concerned.
SKR: You should edit that little essay and put it on the Blog. This book would sell like crazy!
I second that. This description casts a whole new light on the product and could be a major incentive to buy the book (as is proven by at least one comment in this thread).
Tons and tons of awesome!This could be better clarified in the product description. I can't think of anyone I play with frequently who wouldn't flip over backwards in anticipation of this one. I don't think the current description makes the real purpose and content of the book clear, though.
Very true; I, too, had misconceptions, and I can't think of a Golarion-based group that wouldn't be interested in this book!
Vic, could you edit the description to better match the content? :)
Given that some of my favorite Realms books were Cloak and Dagger and Lords of Darkness, I'm really happy to see this on the schedule. It will be interesting to see what this adds to various factions, and what kind of interaction between them it might illuminate.
Mine, as well. Cloak & dagger and Lords of Darkness were both GREAT. I can't wait for this
Is that the full authors list, or is this like other recent books in the line with only a few of many authors listed on the cover?
What James said. I wrote up two factions, which was a pretty small amount of material given the number of groups covered. As I recall a number of other folks also worked on this one besides the cover billing big names *wink* and me.
Of course, everyone gets proper credit on the inside, we just try to stick to three or fewer names on the cover because too many looks clunky.
There is not an explosive rune in this spoiler box.
We don't cover either of those in this book (there really are too many orgs in the world to cover them all in just 64 pages), but the good news is the two-page format we created for these things means we can easily slip in an organization writeup into any suitable product. For example, there's a new gnome faction in Gnomes of Golarion called the Wonderseekers (their mission is to save gnomes at risk of succumbing to the Bleaching). So you may see more info on those orgs appear in another sourcebook.
I'd like to see something on the Long Axes; Ulfen elite mercenary bodyguards to the Taldoran Empire. Reminds me of the historical Varangian Guard: Viking bodyguards of the Byzantine Emperor.
Also the Chelish Devil Nuns seem like an interesting and dark twist on the "monk" concept. Similiar to the Mord'Sith from Legend of the Seeker maybe? (from the show, not the books)
Regardless, I imagine a product like this a great way to bolster the foundation of any new Pathfinder campaign, or a great way to flesh out one already in the works.
Love the lore, keep'em coming! :)
I'd like to see something on the Long Axes; Ulfen elite mercenary bodyguards to the Taldoran Empire. Reminds me of the historical Varangian Guard: Viking bodyguards of the Byzantine Emperor.
Also the Chelish Devil Nuns seem like an interesting and dark twist on the "monk" concept. Similiar to the Mord'Sith from Legend of the Seeker maybe? (from the show, not the books)
Regardless, I imagine a product like this a great way to bolster the foundation of any new Pathfinder campaign, or a great way to flesh out one already in the works.
Love the lore, keep'em coming! :)
Ah, Chelish Devil Nuns... I could tell a few stories, but you can discover more about them just by becoming a loyal servant of the Empire! Join Cheliax, and all the fleshly perv... pleasures of the world are within your grasp! O:)
Also the Chelish Devil Nuns seem like an interesting and dark twist on the "monk" concept. Similiar to the Mord'Sith from Legend of the Seeker maybe? (from the show, not the books)
Which book(s) mentions the devil nuns?
Skimming through the book, I like what I see. Some will probably argue that the factions presented needed a lot more detailed information but I actually like the amount of information that's given for each faction. Enough material to whet the appetite of players and GMs and enough mystery to allow GMs to expand on the factions.
The Prestige Awards seem like a cool mechanic to use when dealing with these factions.
Dark_Mistress
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Modules Subscriber)
