Anlerran's page

One of my players wants to play something like a 'White Mage' role (from Final Fantasy)- that is, a divine caster with no armour but strong spellcasting abilities, weilding wands and staves more than melee weapons.

I was interested in the Oracle after seeing the iconic character, but it turns out that class is really just a melee beatstick just like all other divine classes in 3rd and 4th edition.

Which is especially galling because she looks as if she's a pure caster with those exotic robes - shouldn't the 'Iconics' have the armour and weapons the class actually uses?

I looked through the archetypes for something that would fit, and so far nothing did. I'm thinking of letting the player play a sorcerer and just swap out the arcane spells for cleric ones.

Or if I used a cleric or oracle, but cut the armour feats, maybe offering two more appropriate feat choices in exchange for losing Light & Medium armour?

I'm new to PF, and wanting to make a good impression on the players initially.

They mostly like playing good guys, though they quite like the odd moment of moral ambiguity.

However, reading through some of the modules I bought, a lot of them seem 'heroic' only in that you're slaughtering a bunch of bad guys. Are there any that allow the PCs to actually do good deeds beyond killing bad guys? I noted there was a thread lamenting the lack of 'redemption' for the characters, and I agree - quite a lot of the villains are fairly tragic individuals.

In fact, generally reading through my new, shiny PF stuff, I'm getting the feeling that Golarion is quite a 'mature', 'adult' setting. I assume that 'dark and edgy' was a design aim, compared to most of the other campaign worlds. There's an awful lot of horror, and it doesn't shy away from contentious real-world issues like slavery. (On the plus side, there are some LBGT characters and themes, which will be well-recieved by the players. I'm delighted I don't have to houserule that opposite genders can romance the JR NPCs).

The 'feel' of PF adventures seems to be more neutral than heroic - more in line with Grey Mouser, Conan or even Thomas Covenant or Elric than Frodo or Aragorn. We even now have the 'Evil AP' people wanted. While I'd stop short of saying Golarion is a 'cr*psack world (as per TV Tropes) it's certainly grimmer than most campaign settings, with the odd exception of something like Midnight or Warhammer. I guess 'dark is deep' is the design brief these days.

I was struck by the huge shift in tone between the Beginner Box and the 'first' Adventure Path, Runelords. It settles down into standard fantasy eventually, but the first half feels brutal. A bit like going from a Disney film to 'Hostel'. My first thoughts were: 'I'm going to have to tone some of this down if I want to keep the players interested!'

I suppose I'm worried about 'horror fatigue'. It's easy to get desensitised if you have all these monstrous atrocities one after the other. By the time you've had the third encounter with monsters eating babies or whatever, the effect feels somewhat diluted.

Anyway, I've rambled off the point a bit; anyone recommend an AP or module with more of a bent towards being 'Big Damn Heroes' than anti-heroes?

Newbie to PF, I have some general questions about Golarion, hoping you can help!

I'm very impressed by the 'diversity' (for want of a better word) with the human races in PF, with so many of the iconics being of non-caucasian descent. Gives it a rich, different flavour, IMO.

However, reading through the various human races, I wondered what teh default Caucasian race would be, the one that best describes iconics like Valeros or Ezren?

Azlanti are 'high men', not really appropriate for PCs.

Chelaxians seem vaguely 'caucasian', with a vague 'decadent Roman empire' feel about them.

Ulfen are Norse, obviously.

The Taldans seem to be an analogy to the Victorians in many ways, but they seem to be descended from Keleshites? I'm guessing Ezren comes in here.

What ethnicity would a standard commoner from Andoran or Gelt belong to? Again, thinking about someone like Valeros.

Also, would I be correct in assuming:

Garundi - North Africans
Keleshites - Arabs
Kellids - ? barbarians of some kind
Mwangi - Central or Southern Africans
Shoanti - Native Americans
Tians - Asians
Varisians - Roamny gypsies
Vudrani - Indians

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Hi all - I have a request.

My group just couldn't get on with 4E, so we suggested going back to 3.5 where we already have most of the books. Someone suggested Pathfinder, and we all agree it looks great so far. I'll be GMing, and I'm very impressed with the rulebooks I've read so far.

Having the adventure modules is a big plus for us. So far the ones I've got look gorgeous (the players love their visuals) but I'm concerned so far that they seem a bit linear, even railroady.

I was very disappointed with the Skull & Shackles one - my players simply won't accept being slaves and losing control for the first few levels of their lives. And with the general 'evil' feel of it all. I'm hoping that I can just skip the first one and start them in #2 as free captains with a bucaneering bent.

I've also taken a look at Jade Regent, which looks beautiful, but also strikes me as a bit linear (only had a brief look so I may be wrong). Loved the 'Dragon Age 2' style romances and friendship/rivalry rules for the NPCs though!

Can someone suggest an AP that's not too combat orientated, and isn't too railroady? Or where the PCs choices have an impact on the story as a whole?

I recall having this problem in 2nd edition - we all loved the Planescape/Dark Sun/Ravenloft campaign worlds but all the adventures simply led the players around by the nose, and they hate that.

Anyway, any suggestions would be gratefully recieved, thanks.