The long winter is finally at an end, with the few last lingering snowfalls now hopefully a memory and the roads clear enough to travel. It would be a short time till the full thaw was in effect, and the present semi-frozen ground became mud, slowly the plentiful traffic of spring, so there are many who now look to the road.
The City of Melnupes is far behind, and days of travel would have passed since any settlement larger than a Thorp or other small clutch of houses was to be seen All on the roads were either farmers, herders or those whose business ignored the season. Now you had come to rest at a clearing that was less than a full day's march to Trenĉi, the town at the end of your journey.
News has spread that the logging town near the border of the Kef was a place beset with problems, where wealth and a name could be won. Rumours placed dark things in the forests, darker things in the depths of the swamps that here marked the edge of the border of 'civilized' Telva.
The forest around you was a mixture of bare trunks pointed skyward like so many spears, and ever-greens whose tiny needles lay a fragrant carpet across the forest floor. This clearing had been made some time ago, and maintained, one imagines, by trappers and hunters on their way to the town's market. Remnants of small temporary shelters are evident, and there are several small frame-like structures over which one could place canvas or furs to make a better windbreak.
People had been coming to rest here for the last hour or two, this the first decent break in the forest for at least a couple of hours. A paddler, his heavy pack laden with objects of tin and iron, pots and knives, rope and lamps, had been set up by the time the rest of you had arrived, others deciding to enlarge the fire he had started. Two brothers whose large auburn moustaches didn't hide their youth had set up a tent near the woods wall, the one sharpening a pair of wicked looking hunting knives while the other relayed a tale of a giant king out-smarted by a clever tailor.
A local farmer and a pair of trappers sat in rapt attention to the Tale-teller, the first having come to sell some of the end season's salted pork and home-made bread to the weary traveller, the hunters bearing the catches of their lines.
“My brother talks too much eh? But sometimes it's worth it...” the man sharpening knives says to the man bearing a noble crest, eyeing as Oscar, the manservant, is busily securing horse and shelter. “I am Kārlis and he is Kristaps. You look like a rich man Sir, but do not travel like one. Down on your luck? To Trenĉi for fortune or glory like the rest of us?”

Feel free to describe how you entered the clearing, and how you've yet interacted with those there. Also a good idea to get initial character descriptions out of the way

This is the discussion/OOC thread for the 'Dark Designs' campaign based in my own home-brew Campaign setting. It will be for General Discussions related to the game, long OOC questions, etc.

So I've been working a bit on a home-brew campaign in various ways, thought I'd toss things out here, hear what people say, see if there are any interesting idea's floating about.

Alright, so for simplicity sake I shan't discuss those classes I'm not going to change that are among the 'core' classes. So assume if I don't mention one of the core classes(here I'm not counting new ones from the APG and so forth as 'core') I'm not really touching it that much... yet.

Alright so without further adiue, and keeping in mind that the tone of this setting borrows elements from Eastern Europe(especially northern Eastern Europe), as well as liberal doses of Gothic.

Monks-Gone, no Mystic Kung-Fu in the campaign, 'nuff said.
Sorcerer-Also gone, for thematic reasons.
Paladin-Becomes a Prestige Class

The Alchemist, Witch and Cavalier are all permitted base classes.

Wizards are now somewhat different, but I'll come back to the mechanical effects.

In short, in this world most magic 'comes' from something else. Divine magic from the Gods, Magic from Nature, Magic from Witches mysterious sources. Bards and Alchemists are the exceptions, the former being old magic dating back to the earliest era of the elves and a time before man, etc. etc., the later extending from experimentation and a sort of weak psuedo-science.

Wizards are the exception; Wizards exist by changing themselves, warping themselves into something new and different in order to do the same to the world around them. Becoming a wizard is thus unlike being a member of another class. For starters once you become one, you can never take a level in another class. Secondly it alters you on numerous levels, giving you a magical 'aura' that can be detected by detect magic and the like. I will probably add extra ways being a wizard can and will 'alter' you over time.

Wizards are thus exceedingly rare. So much so that there are probably a dozen extant within the area of the campaign at most. Though that is a bit of an exaguration. Wizards have an elaborate culture, after becoming a first level wizard you are an aprentice, bound to your master until you achieve 9th level and pass some sort of esoteric test. Thus True Wizards will have a few apprentices of lower levels, but ultimately there are very few wizards, and each is mroe or less unique.

Now hoepfully this lays out a bit of my intent; Wizards are going to be, in general, scary, almost sword-and-sorcery types, Few of them, each one unique, the ones you know the names of certainly high level and having access to powers very few, if anyone, has access to.

Witches will be a large source of arcane magic in the setting than, but looked down upon by the church. In this period of history most places aren't burning them anymore, but that might happen in some very remote parts of the country. etc.

So the day to day world is more alchemy, witchcraft and clerical magic, with strange sects of Druids in the Woods, the occasional Bard, etc.

Okay, comments, curious, suggestions, etc. field away(I may not have layed this out as well as I could, I am spitballing a little bit.)

I have been haphazardly working on a campaign world I intend to use pathfinder with, and I figured I'd toss this out and see what people think are good solutions;

Ultimately the campaign world, like many, features a 'noble-class'. However, this particular noble class, mirroring nobility in Poland, for example, has a particular set of state-granted privileges. Some of these are only broadly applicable to 'adventuring types', such as the right to own Estates, or the right to speak in the Sejm(the realms quasi-sorta-parliament). Others have very great applicability; the right to have an armed retinue, the right to only be detained under writ. All these rights are hereditary, regardless of a nobles actual title(i.e. the fifth son of Baron Eurkel is still a noble in terms of how the state treats him and he can be expected to be treated by others, even if he has vastly less wealth than even an average craftsmen).

So my question is; how do I handle this from a character point of view.
The First way, obviously, is fiat. Somebody wants to play a noble... they're a noble. They get the rights and so forth, etc. etc.

I had thought about making 'Born Noble' a character trait. This seems to be the best solution; forcing a slight player investiture in the idea, and granting concrete campaign benefits. It's probably what I'll end up going with; however, it does have a slight feeling of being a very great advantage in comparison to other traits.

So what other options, suggestions or thoughts do people have.