In that nation..bad. Ranging from "We don't serve your kind here" all the way to "Burn the witch"
How odd we talking here?
Really depends on how much your GM wants to play that angle up, but the peasents are written to be pretty feakin' crazy. My advice: pick as conservative a character as you can possibly bear. Save the weird concept for your next campaign.
In my game, the Kellid is getting absolutely raked over the coals: with shop keepers charging him 10% (or more) extra on items, inns refusing him lodging, and he has been arrested on bogus charges a number of times. This produces somewhat of a burden on the rest of the party, as they have to buy items for him, get him out of jail, etc. Sometimes, it just shuts down diplomatic possibilities altogether if he's in the room.
Fortunately, the player of the Kellid had full knowledge of depths of Ustalavian xenophobia when he chose his character, otherwise I could see some bad blood there.
And "Kellid" isn't exactly a bizarre race...
As primarily 1HD creatures I'm sure that they're at least smart enough to be leery of anyone carrying a weapon.
That doesn't wash, you can't be armed all the times and enough of them will bring down about anyone. When you can't go into town, can't rent a room, buy food, get healing or any other of a thousand things, just remember there only 1 HD right?
As primarily 1HD creatures I'm sure that they're at least smart enough to be leery of anyone carrying a weapon. Either that or they breed like rabbits.
Leery makes em harder, they kill you in your sleep, poison you, run you out of town, call for help to get the "Murdering freak", or mob rush you and drag you down. Armed don't help when 8 people grapple you and beat you into sleepy time. You are not welcome and they will let you know it.
I'm sorry they are all listed as evil alignment? I didn't realize that.
That doesn't wash, you can't be armed all the times and enough of them will bring down about anyone. When you can't go into town, can't rent a room, buy food, get healing or any other of a thousand things, just remember there only 1 HD right?
intimidate, diplomacy, flasy displays of power (as in the first one to back talk gets hit with a lightining bolt while the others watch. "Anyone else want to give me grief?")
I'm sorry they are all listed as evil alignment? I didn't realize that.
Actually, yes. As per the Inner Sea World guide, the "average" alignment of the common citizen of Ustalav is, in-fact, Neutral Evil.
That doesn't wash, you can't be armed all the times and enough of them will bring down about anyone. When you can't go into town, can't rent a room, buy food, get healing or any other of a thousand things, just remember there only 1 HD right?intimidate, diplomacy, flasy displays of power (as in the first one to back talk gets hit with a lightining bolt while the others watch. "Anyone else want to give me grief?")
I think you're both missing the point. It's not that the peasents can or cannot kill you. It's that it derails the story, as key quest-givers ignore you, and routes of plot-solving close to you. You miss out on so much of what the campaign has to offer if you just treat it (and its cities) like big dungeon crawls.
And it's annoying to you and to your party to have people hate you: even if you can kill them.
I'm sorry they are all listed as evil alignment? I didn't realize that.Actually, yes. As per the Inner Sea World guide, the "average" alignment of the common citizen of Ustalav is, in-fact, Neutral Evil.
In which case I point out that they are still probably 2 hit dice, cause if we are going to kill PCs with NPCs towns folk we should at least do it right.
I think you're both missing the point. It's not that the peasents can or cannot kill you. It's that it derails the story, as key quest-givers ignore you, and routes of plot-solving close to you. You miss out on so much of what the campaign has to offer if you just treat it (and its cities) like big dungeon crawls.And it's annoying to you and to your party to have people hate you: even if you can kill them.
No I get that point. That is mostly the players fault for making a PC he knows does not fit the game the GM wants to run. Unless the GM did not tell the player what he needed to know.
That is mostly the players fault for making a PC he knows does not fit the game the GM wants to run. Unless the GM did not tell the player what he needed to know.
However, I will posit that there are more than just two types of characters:
- characters that perfectly fit in the society, either intentionally or by accident (Varisian Rogue, Chelish Paladin)- characters that are made without any regard to the society at all, and the GM should discourage or ban (Tiefling Necromancer, Dwarven Ninja)
There is also a third way:
- a character who is deliberately chosen to be on the established fringe as a way of highlighting and interacting with the societal elements that are particular to this setting (Kellid Barbarian, Sczarni Bard)
To an RP-compentant player who knows what he's signing up for, the third way is very rewarding.
Again it is all in how much of an outcast you want to be. Some are fun ( The Kellid for instance) some are just asking to derail the game ( I want to play a drow or an undead lord necromacer with an undead servent )
The Gypsies will be handled like the Kellid above, the summoner on the other hand needs to watch himself or he'll find himself chased out of town and very unwelcome as he IS a monster..
I agree that the Summoner or Sythesist is a terrible idea, unless his Eidolon is carefully described and happens to be an angel or a avatar of Pharasma or something like that.
But if it's a weird ox-with-tentacles-thing, um, you have problems. Big ones.
The gypsy troupe sounds great. Go with it.
If the Gm is ok with ditching the silly transparent monster thing, you could make it look like armor.
My Summoner does not dare summon anything in view of people, especially not her eidolon. If she has to then the situation has gone bad. Real bad.
It's only gone that bad once. There was an angry mob involved. The eidolon was summoned to frighten away the angry mob. While it did work the angry mob evolved over the next few days into a lynch mob.
The Summoner is not going back to Lepidstadt willingly, no sir. Not while the hangin' tree still stands.
The peasants do not take kindly to monsters in their towns.
My take on it -- the peasants are scared. They live in a nation where like 4 out of their 6 neighbors are horrible (Rasmiran, Numeria, Belkzen, and the freaking Worldwound), yet their nation is already occupied by ancient, sleeping evils that are so bad that the four nations mentioned above won't seriously attack for fear of what they'd wake up.
Ustalav is home to a half-dozen or more ticking time bombs that could destroy the entire nation if any of them mobilized.
The peasants are terrified and always readied to lash out, because the only hope they have when things finally go to hell is to either strike first or hide and hope the bad things go away. And the bad things usually have lifesense.
I'm sorry they are all listed as evil alignment? I didn't realize that.Actually, yes. As per the Inner Sea World guide, the "average" alignment of the common citizen of Ustalav is, in-fact, Neutral Evil.
Each city/town has its own base alignment as well. Ravengro in Haunting of Harrowstone is a Neutral Good town. Here's a breakdown on what the stat blocks for towns are.
As crazy as you need them to be.
When Alfred Hitchcock was a boy, he got thrown in the hoozegow for a half an hour for doing some rascally thing. The result was a library of films with many of the protagonists just on the verge of being in trouble with the law, because it helped to build suspense.
Social alienation and the potential for trouble with the law are there to build suspense, not be a pain in your ass as a storyteller.
Just my 2 cents.
Oh,....and I had a halforc walk into town with a dead gnome in a bag.
So,......I had to go about things differently.
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Thank the gods for a non-spoilers CC thread! Finally, something I can read and comment on!
All I can think of when I ponder xenophobic peasants is...
"Alright you primative screwheads, listen up..."
I strongly recommend reading the PC's campaign primer for the campaign and talking to your GM about what his campaign "Weirdometer TM" is set to.
Our party is mostly nonhuman, and I'm grateful that we have been lucky with our diplomacy checks and GM tolerance levels. We have, in order of most normal to wierdest:
Human Paladin of Iomedae -from the Mwangi Expanse, otherwise standard PC fare
Human Alchemist -nothing weird there except the plague mask, right?
Halfling rogue - like a tiny human, right?
Elf Wizard - a tourist with a spellbook
Half-orc monk -would not be that bad if he were not so confrontational
Changling Oracle (Ancestor, Pharasma) -she's a local and goes out of her way to conceal her nature, so she's the most trusted but the "wierdest" character. Sort of a local guide.
Aasimar Cleric of Iomedae (my PC) -has an echo to his voice, golden eyes and hair. The primary diplomancer and party face.
The half orc is prooving to be a challenge since the character is pretty confrontational. He's had a couple of talking to's about his maladaptive behaviour by the local sherrif and party cleric. He won't be so lucky third time around, I suspect.
The only reason the aasimar is tolerated IMO is are his mad diplomacy skills (as mad as a 15 point build can allow without gimping his other stats) and everything about him screams "GOOD GUY". Heck the only thing he's lacking is a halo and wings. I was sure to run it by the GM before creating him to make sure there would not be too much impediment to the party.
So, to sum up...Primative screw heads, read the book, check with the GM, keep your nose clean. Have fun!
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Well, the player's guide has options for Changling, Dhampirs, and Orcs. Changlings and Dhampirs can try to look human, or at least half-elf. Orcs, though, will have issues.
My party has two dhampirs, one changling, one kellid, a varisian, and the bard can't decide if he wants to be an elf or varisian. Oh, and a big bat.
I, as a GM, will have to figure out how the towns react to this strange, yet large, group of people and monsters.
Luckily for them, they have four characters with decent Charisma.
I think it is more important on how the party reacts to the townspeople. If they try to be helpful and not do stuff that normal adventuring parties take for granted, then they will eventually earn the *trust* of the town. If not, there are rules for mobs available for the GM.