Good day, one and all. After several years away from these boards enjoying playing with both local and distant friends thanks to the wonders of video chat, I have returned here with the mind to run a PbP game. While considering my options, I saw a Wrath of the Righteous campaign get almost 300 posts in recruitment. It was an AP that I enjoyed as a player, and I thought I might be able to bring my own spin to it. To that end, I am reaching out now to confirm that there is indeed suitable interest in a WotR campaign, one that will not always follow the exact letter of the AP. Please sound of with your intentions. Feel free to include any questions you may have, as they might help me hone in on the details for the recruitment.
- T
Sure, I could be interested.
1. How long would your recruitment be?
2. Are you going to closely follow the AP, or add your own splash as indicated more frequently? Or a balance? What does that look like in your mind percentage-wise?
3. What post rate would you expect of us as players? Yourself?
4. Have you thought of character creation rules that you want? Stats? Point-buy? Rolls? Starting level? Starting HP? Starting Gold? Classes? Restrictions? Unchained? Race-restrictions?
5. Are you allowing 3rd-party materials? Solid Yes? No? At your discretion?
6. Elephant in the Room feat taxes? Background Skills? Spheres of power? Variant Multiclassing? Automatic Bonus Progression?
7. What requirements for background? Simple blurb? Detailed? 10-minute background?
8. How many traits did you want to allow? Drawbacks for traits?
9. How many players are you accepting?
I'm sure more will come up, but that's all I can think of at the moment.
Hey Tara, welcome back! As you said, a recent recruitment for 'Wrath of the Righteous' had over 300 posts. If you decide to run it, there would certainly be interest.
Obviously the interest will vary depending on 'your own spin.' I would recommend you explain clearly what your looking for build-wise, both fluff and crunch, what your expectations are for yourself and your players and what you intend to do with mythic levels.
As for my own intentions. I'm in a WotR with a solid GM and I don't like being in the same AP at the same time with different characters (It get's confusing). So I will not be applying. But I know several quality players who are looking for a quality game.
Thanks for considering running the game, we players really appreciate it. Good luck with your upcoming recruitment, I hope you have years of fun with the game!
Waives at SmooshieBanana!
WoTR always catches my eye, especially if GMs have an idea for some way to shake up the formula of it!
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Thanks for taking an interest in running!
SmooshieBanana hit pretty much all the practical questions I have. I do have some squishier ones re character concepts, though: do you have a preferred party dynamic? Is your ideal party team players, or loners, or some mix? Are there character concepts that you do/don't particularly want to see?
I’d potentially be interested. I’d like to hear more about the build guidelines you’d be using, any optional rules, etc etc.
I’m interested. I did participate in two other WotR games that fell apart.
Tentative dot largely dependant on how some current recruitments go.
Dot for interest
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Wow, @Smooshie, quite the list of questions to wake up to! Let's see if my coffee will clear the morning fog enough to hit all of these.
1. How long would your recruitment be?
This is not a recruitment yet, but I would expect to offer a 2 week window. That said, if we end up with a truly exhaustive number of applicants, I might end it early. Were that the case, I would give at least 24 hours notice of a shortened window.
2. Are you going to closely follow the AP, or add your own splash as indicated more frequently? Or a balance? What does that look like in your mind percentage-wise?
In my 20ish years of gaming, I have split my time pretty fairly between player and gm. The games I have enjoyed the most are the ones that connect players with the storyline itself. It goes without saying that a published AP is written to be character neutral, and this AP is mostly a straight shot on a railroad at that. The Campaign Traits are a way to try and tie PCs in, and to a degree succeed at it. But I like to tailor a game to the party I have and work in connections to characters' backstories.
When my TT party played through this AP we felt that the Mythic rules made many encounters too easy. So I will be addressing that from two directions:
- I will be toning down some of the mythic rules. I still like the concept of the mythic rules, but some are definitely more unbalanced than others.
- Encounters will be adjusted to appropriately challenge the players and give the 'fight to save the world' feel this AP is supposed to impart.
3. What post rate would you expect of us as players? Yourself?
I would ask that players achieve the standard PbP rate of 1 post per weekday, 1 post on the weekend. As a GM sets the pace for a game, I plan to match the player, with a hope to more commonly get 2 posts when possible each day (one morning, one evening). This will be especially critical during combat encounters.
4. Have you thought of character creation rules that you want? Stats? Point-buy? Rolls? Starting level? Starting HP? Starting Gold? Classes? Restrictions? Unchained? Race-restrictions?
- Ability Scores I think this is my biggest point of internal debate. I am a big fan of rolled stats, but I know some people prefer using a level playing field with point buy. If doing a set number, I would be more apt to use a 1-to-1 system rather than the Paizo point buy. I feel it benefits some builds and penalizes others. So, this is a topic I still need to decide.
- Level I would normally say level 1 (it is a 1-20 AP), but also like the idea of level 2, to allow for a bit more of a character's past, and to skip a couple needless XP farming encounters early on.
- Races Core are all welcome. I am open to Featured and Uncommon as well, assuming an appropriate backstory (why is your Orc joining the Crusade?). Outlandish/untrusted races will be met with skepticism (and in some cases prejudice). This is a topic I will discuss with individual players prior to acceptance into the game to ensure a mutually enjoyable and positive gaming experience. Also, if you have a great concept that is hamstringed by a Race's ability score modifiers, I am open to alternate mods (for example, a dwarven sorcerer or cavalier that does not suffer from a charisma penalty).
- Class all Core, Base, and Hybrid. Summoner must use Unchained, Barbarian, Monk and Rogue, it is up to the applicant whether to use classic or Unchained. No Occult classes (my apologies, I am simply not familiar enough with them). Please don't pursue a purposely broken build, there will be plenty of power to go around.
- Starting Gold & Equipment dependent upon the level decision. I do feel like this AP misses out on a bit of the 'survivor' vibe I would expect in the earlier books.
5. Are you allowing 3rd-party materials? Solid Yes? No? At your discretion?
There is a library's worth of options released by Paizo and we will already be dealing with a great deal extra with mythic rules, so the answer is a solid NO. The one exception might be a pdf I saw a while back that attempted to balance the mythic rules better.
6. Elephant in the Room feat taxes? Background Skills? Spheres of power? Variant Multiclassing? Automatic Bonus Progression?
- Elephant in the Room feat tax rules Yes, per the most up-to-date PDF they have published.
- Background Skills Yes
- Spheres of power No (see 3rd party above)
- Variant Multiclassing Yes, with caution
- Automatic Bonus Progression No. I am normally of fan of these rules, but with the amount of magical items flying around in this AP, I think I will keep it normal.
7. What requirements for background? Simple blurb? Detailed? 10-minute background?
I will leave that up to each applicant to decide. That said, please understand that I a looking for living characters to embark on a 20 level adventure. The more that is provided, the more I can see your character idea.
8. How many traits did you want to allow? Drawbacks for traits?
I like traits, and feel they are a great way to flesh out a character. I will allow 2, a third with a drawback. Please note that I will NOT be including your Campaign Trait in this total. Please still select a campaign trait, but if you don't find one that appeals to you, feel free to request something different (I suggest you request the theme, I can provide the bonus).
9. How many players are you accepting?
I am thinking a party of 5 or 6 players.
Well, that was a lot to respond to, and it leaves me with two decisions to make: starting ability scores, and starting level. Everyone feel free to sound off on these two topics.
Heading into work now, will update again in a bit.
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Very interested! Thanks for considering running a campaign Tara!
2 cents on the remaining questions:
I like the idea of a 25 point buy for this AP. It might help make it easier to put the brakes on mythic as well?
I like the idea of a 2nd level start. I have a couple of character ideas in mind. Both work a little more smoothly if the character has a bit of prior experience under their belt.
I might have some time on my hands~
Consider me interested!
I am certainly interested and would love the chance to delve into Wrath of the Righteous.
Very interested indeed. I also missed out on the aforementioned 300 post recruitment-cut, and would love another shot at this.
Greetings GM.
Very much interested, like Shadow Dragon and Mr Nevets i didn't make the cut.
Similar to what rdknight mentioned, I think level 2 and 25 point buy would work well to be able to scale back mythic shenanigans.
Wow, @Smooshie, quite the list of questions to wake up to! Let's see if my coffee will clear the morning fog enough to hit all of these.
I think your coffee did quite well ;)
Perhaps with your predicament on balance, it will be interesting to see what you come up with. So far I like your concept and am thrilled that you actually answered. I no longer "could" be interested. Now I "am" interested.
Waives at SmooshieBanana!
Thanks for the plug lol. I appreciate the compliment.
Just a quick comment: I'm fine with however you choose to do attributes, but personally a fan of rolling them. (4+3d6, drop lowest die was our group's usual way)
@John Woodford thank you for the questions.
Do you have a preferred party dynamic? Is your ideal party team players, or loners, or some mix?
If you are referring to the mechanical dynamic, I will be looking for a diverse party, but am not beholden to a specific ratio. With regards to character personality, Ideally I am looking for players who enjoy being a part of a group. RPGs, especially in a heroic campaign, are designed around having a compatible party working together. Characters will disagree, that is fine, so long as the players are all enjoying themselves and working towards an overall common goal. This game deals with some challenging topics, including corruption, betrayal, prejudice, redemption, and of course the nature of good and evil. So a mature party who can handle these moments as well.
Are there character concepts that you do/don't particularly want to see?
The surly loner who doesn't like to talk and doesn't like working with anyone probably isn't the best fit. Nor the devil-may-care, i-do-what-i-want chaotic neutral nihilist. Also, I have seen the potential complications a evil PC presents in this campaign, and will likely not accept any evil characters.
I would be interested, I am a little daunted by the fact that the competition is so steep. But I would love to play this AP.
@Mr Nevets 4+3d6, drop lowest? So your maximum was 16 without racial modifiers? Interesting.
@Tara Ravenheart - I also have some questions myself. I have an idea of the character I want to play for the campaign and they can kind of go one of two ways. One way involves magical crafting; specifically (and at least) magical arms and armor while the other path ignores that.
Would you be okay with character picking up the ability to craft magical items for the party? Would your style of running the game allow the downtime necessary to do so? Would you even want us to have that capability or rather avoid it?
If you do want to do it, do you want to keep to the tried and true method of crafting items or play around with Dynamic Magic Item Creation rules?
As I said before, I really am fine for whichever and have an idea of the character because I can't help but think of characters when I see campaigns I'm interested in. It'll just let me devote to one idea or the other. Thank you!
@KingHotTrash You have me intrigued with your concept. Feel free to send me a PM with your idea's details, we can discuss further.
I too would be interested in submitting my character who didn’t make the cut on the last WotR recruitment thread. You creation guidelines are quite acceptable.
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@Tara Ravenheart: My character will be less specific and more a general idea since I'm still relatively inexperienced with the Pathfinder system. Meaning my last submission was a paladin and while that's still my current interest I'm not presumptuous enough to ignore someone else's advice. If someone says, "Hey your paladin idea is okay but you can do much the same with an Inquisitor and have more flexibility/skills/etc."
Some build choices, particularly feats, may be influenced by inclusion of the Elephant in the Room options.
My 1st PFS character is one I envisioned to play this AP with when I created him but never got the chance to use him in WotR.
I also hope you're tolerant of those of us not as talented in the creative writing department when it comes to backgrounds. I prefer to go with the 'generic' background for a specific nation/race/character class combination and then see how it develops. To put it another way: I'm less interested in where the character has been then where the character is going.
I like rolled stats, but it's a good idea to have a point buy(or something similar) as a fall back for those who roll poorly.
No hard concepts just yet, but I definitely wan to do an arcane caster. I've played a Paladin in this AP. It's tremendous fun. But I want to walk the path of the Archmage now, it also looks like a lot of fun.
My character will be less specific and more a general idea since I'm still relatively inexperienced with the Pathfinder system. Meaning my last submission was a paladin and while that's still my current interest I'm not presumptuous enough to ignore someone else's advice. If someone says, "Hey your paladin idea is okay but you can do much the same with an Inquisitor and have more flexibility/skills/etc."
Some build choices, particularly feats, may be influenced by inclusion of the Elephant in the Room options.
I will say that if there is any adventure path to play a paladin in, this is the one. We'd almost be doing a disservice to the campaign as a whole if we didn't have some kind of paladin with us on it.
I'd apply anyway, but like Ouachitonian above mentioned, a backup for those who get less favorable result is nice.
The 1 on 1 you mentioned is also very appealing.
Also, if you have a great concept that is hamstringed by a Race's ability score modifiers, I am open to alternate mods (for example, a dwarven sorcerer or cavalier that does not suffer from a charisma penalty
That'd be nice.
So, the character that I used for my last two WotR games is Voren the Outsider. The concept behind him is a nervous fearful tiefling witch, with a focus on healing, who learns to be more confident and sure of himself as he fights against the Worldwound and uncovers more about his past. I'm thinking about changing some of the build, like the familiar or the patron to Mercy or something like that.
However, I'm wondering if I should try a different character concept for this game. I was thinking of a varisian wanderer cleric of Pulura that would multi class into Stargazer. Although, I'm hesitant about this since the Stargazer prestige class is very good, especially against demons. Another idea would be some kind of fighter.
It's only been one day and already there are some 20 people interested. I'd say you have plenty to choose from already, and if/when you make a recruitment post, you may have even more.
@ Mightypion,
Which of their songs would be his theme?
Then he'll have a face off against an aspirant symphonic metal girl. ;)
Epica vs Sabaton.
Hindsight i was thinking something similar.
GM, with your mention of perhaps shifting in ability scores, would it be possible to switch racial skill bonuses, for tiefling heritages?
Also showing interest in a new WotR campaign.
Then he'll have a face off against an aspirant symphonic metal girl. ;)
Epica vs Sabaton.
I have a concept that I'd love to play in WotR but it does fall in evil-ish territory.
The idea is for a crusader and son of many crusaders before him who has lost faith in the methods of the crusade seeing that his parents, grandparents, great grandparents and great great grandparents all fought and died in the crusade but still there is hardly anything to show for it. At the moment they are just glorified gatekeepers whose grasp is slipping.
What it comes down to is that he still shares the main goal of the crusade, closing the Worldwound, but he wants to achieve it by all means necessary and there are very few things he won't do and lines he won't cross to achieve that goal.
To him the crusade simply has it's head too far up it's own backside too properly see what needs to be done.
@Shadow Dragon having a character background does not mean you have to write an epic fantasy tale. Your character could've had a (relatively) normal childhood; the 3rd son of two farmers, who simply dreamed of being a knight one day. But they should still have a concept, a personality, likes and motivations, and can be a fleshed out individual. In your case, I would recommend the Ten Minute Background. It is essentially a writing prompt to give some flavor material to help define your character without the need to write paragraph after paragraph of text. I think one question that every applicant should answer would be "why has your character come to Kenabres to join the Crusade?".
On the note of classes, yes, there will be a Paladin in the party. That will happen (unless we somehow end up with no Paladin applicants.... which is highly doubtful).
@thedmstrikes starting wealth was addressed earlier (currently left as a TBD), based on whether I decide on level 1 or 2 to start.
@Meraati I am open to hearing your idea, send it via PM for discussion.
@Cuan the jaded crusader, just because he has lost faith in the idealistic motivations of the crusade, and is willing to "do what needs to be done", doesn't mean he is evil. It all depends how you flesh him out. Lawful Neutral or True Neutral could both be very good alignment options depending on the final details of such a character. In fact, the Witch Hunters of Kenabres are LN servants of Iomedae that come across on the brutal 'ends justify the means' side of things.
Level & Ability Scores I have not made a final decision yet, but I am currently leaning toward level 2, and using point buy on a 1-to-1 basis for ability scores. I was trying to figure out an 'alternate basis' for when players could select a point buy versus rolled stats, and ran some rounds of rolls through a number generating app. I ended up with some broad ranges, and don't want a player to feel irrelevant because their starting ability scores are significantly lower than another player. I am now narrowing down the range to where we will be building from.
Meraati wrote:Then he'll have a face off against an aspirant symphonic metal girl. ;)
Epica vs Sabaton.
I'll do it. Dont test me.
Would love to see that.
Level & Ability Scores
I would like lvl 2 as well, if my input or vote counts for anything in your brain. :P
As for the starting ability scores, that's up to you (naturally), but I do personally like 6+3d6 drop the lowest as an alternate to your proposed 1-to-1, which gives 8-18 before racial mods. 4+3d6 would be fine too. I would just feel bad for those who get a 6 (or multiple of them), but I think some reroll of sets could help that if allowed.
The downside of 1-to-1 might be for those who have a MAD (Multiple Ability Dependent) class, who need strength, dexterity, con, and some mental stat or two to be above average (11+). Rolling dice can give you a nice, well-rounded, decently powerful MAD character. A static number for some characters could be great, but for a MAD class, to keep yourself from dipping too low into your stats, it might leave you with multiple 10s (or lower), 12s, and some 14s. This isn't bad, but it's not great, and certainly not mythic, so really will depend on what point value you assign. Certainly, it is not an easy choice for you! These are just some things to consider (if you haven't already).
While I still haven’t really completely refined my concept, it’d definitely be a gish of some sort. Not your classic full-caster Wizard. Most likely either a Magus or a Sorcerer building into Dragon Disciple. I really like the Magus class, despite my more general dislike of prepared casting.
I will say that if there is any adventure path to play a paladin in, this is the one. We'd almost be doing a disservice to the campaign as a whole if we didn't have some kind of paladin with us on it.
Totally agreed, and will definitely be one of likely several people submitting Paladin characters for review.
@Mr Nevets 4+3d6, drop lowest? So your maximum was 16 without racial modifiers? Interesting.
Far less interesting when I admit that I typed that wrong and it's supposed to be a 6+ rather than a 4+. LOL