Hello,
I am curious about some of the various changes that people have made to the setting.
I shall start with some of the various changes I made
1.) no halflings
2.) no half-orcs or half-elves as their own race. A few of them, might exist but over all they are not a seprate race.
3.)Guns are far more common, they can be found in most places but are rather expensive. In fact technology is more akin to the early modern period then anything else.
4.) Cheliax still owns its colonies of Kovosa, Sargava, and Isger. Nidal pays tribute to the empire of cheliax but is a separate land.
5.) Andoran is changed dramatically. For one it is not an american style democracy but instead it is an elective monarchy. upon the death of the king of Andoran, all the nobles will pick a king to rule the kingdom. Most of the noble houses in Andoran are not ancient houses of the region but instead chose to come here after House Thrune took power in Cheliax.
6.) a number of Empyeral lords are worshiped as archangels for various gods/goddesses. For example, Falayna is viewed as an archangel of Iomadae by her faithful.
so what other things have people changed. :)
-vyshan
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Meh. If I ever actually get a chance to DM a game in Golarion, I'd rewrite mythic rules until they're just an updated version of the old 3.0 epic rules. I dunno, the idea of anyone below level 20, for any reason, being capable of rolling a 60 or something ON THEIR OWN POWER on a die roll is a little much for me.
Beyond that, I don't so much make changes as stylistic choices in how people behave and act. For one thing, I'd usually represent the Pathfinder Society a little more light-heartedly than the questionably true neutral organization it really is.
Other than that, I haven't changed much, if anything, in my written plans in case I ever do this. Oh, no, wait. I changed it so ratfolk can actually live a human lifespan. Spice to taste :)
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1) Paladins of Asmodeus. Yup. Asmodeus is more Lawful than Evil (as opposed to his lesser archdevils, more focused on E part of the alignment) and keeps paladins under his patronage, like in the old ways of Golarion.
2) The coastline and the border between Taldor and Qadira has received a facelift to better fit into a campaign. Lesser stuff, but some geographical changes nonetheless.
3) Andoran is effectively managed by an Illuminati-like alliance of bankers-merchants-thieves guilds, enthralled by the lore of ancient Azlant found in secret ruins, and meeting with Aboleth spawned horrors from the past for political counseling. Take that, Hermea.
4) Orcs are way more widespread, with enclaves firmly rooted quite all-around the world. They worship savage primal entities (borrowed from Wrath&Rage, a 3.X era supplement by Green Ronin) of bloodletting, hunger, and lycanthropy, and are monstruous humanoids, growing in size with HD advancement rather than taking character levels.
5) Numeria is quite different: instead of a spaceship, the place is the crash site of an Engram Ark full of Chaositech (from When the Sky Falls and Chaositech, 3.X era supplements by Malhavoc Press).
The Technic League and the Black Sovereign are cyborg-like Hellraiser Cenobites with lasers and energy weapons powered by blasphemous entities fallen from the outer space. You'd rather go Zon-Kuthon, trust me.
6) Elemental races (Ifrits, Sylphs, Oreads, Undines) are pretty much the only non-core player races allowed apart from Sulis. While Sulis are exclusives of Qadira and the Kelesh Empire, the four elemental races all hail from the Isle of Jalmeray, thanks to the Vudran expertise in all things elemental.
7) As much as in Cheliax there are Tieflings, in Mendev and Lastwall there are Aasimars. They are actively bred for balancing the demonic tide of the Worldwound, the Numeria menace and smiting evil everywhere, whether there's need of it or not.
Both Aasimars and Tieflings are customized to be more powerful than the baseline races (more akin to half-celestial or half-fiend creatures), and thusly not available as player races.
I might steal your idea for Andoran, golem101.
I haven't done much with the setting. The most significant change is that my elves are a psionic race with a deep distrust of arcane magic.
Also, there are very few humans in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. Instead, the region was populated with goliaths after the fall of Thassilon. They are not nice people.
I replaced Osirion with another empire of Azlanti refugees (although a different kind) who were displaced in time. They were avid stargazers (which ties them nicely to Lirgen).
The rest are details, for example switching Galt's guillotines with blood-drinking trees (hey, if you have a faction called the Gray Gardeners, you have to do something horticultural with them)
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I might steal your idea for Andoran, golem101.
Truth to be told, I've just blown out of proportion some small hints mentioned in the Andoran companion.
However, as I found the "vanilla" Andoran interesting in the setting economy but a bit boring in itself (and quite devoid of adventuring possibilities, excluding the Darkmoon Vale area), going wild with conspiracies and secret society stuff - that justify even more the tolerance for the Lumber Consortium unpleasantness - gave me some warm and fuzzy DM feelings.
I might steal your idea for Andoran, golem101.
Truth to be told, I've just blown out of proportion some small hints mentioned in the Andoran companion.
However, as I found the "vanilla" Andoran interesting in the setting economy but a bit boring in itself (and quite devoid of adventuring possibilities, excluding the Darkmoon Vale area), going wild with conspiracies and secret society stuff - that justify even more the tolerance for the Lumber Consortium unpleasantness - gave me some warm and fuzzy DM feelings.
I might add the idea you had for andoran into my version. As it is kind of cool, and adds more intrigues to deal with :)
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I have not changed the setting as so much added a couple of things...
-There is a tribe of orcs that live in a hidden vally located in the Wyvern Mountains that follow Erastil. Pretty much LG orcs. Though they are exnophobic.
- There is also a drow city where the state relgion is Calstria...before you all roll your eyes and sigh 'Good Drow'...I'll point out they are not good...they are just (for the most part) not evil demon cultists).
I have also decided that...certain APs never happen, so I guess these are somewhat changes.
For instances Queen Ileosa is never poessed and is still ruling Korvosa. If I ever do run that AP I am going to rewrite most of it...for another type of adventure.
Also....how the PC do a certain AP is how events happened in my the world....for instance if the Kingdom created in Kingmakers survives that is the Kingdom in my Golarion with the PCs ruling it.
EVERYTHING
In other words, I use everything in Golarion, but my campaign isn't set on Golarion (its set on an Amalgam planet that started-out as FR and just kept morphing).
There is nothing in Gol/PF that I didn't like so much I completely ignored it (except for maybe the Worldwound), but I like my arrangement better. I even just added the Razor Coast directly across from The Shackles.
The Pathfinder Society (which I call the Wayfarer' Guild) is my Illuminati-like organization. You don't think they are collecting all that information, treasure, and artifacts just for the hell of it, do you?
I use the Golarion goblins, but I also have two very different breeds of goblin (this part lifted from the Iron Kingdoms setting); there is the lunatic PF Goblins (Bogrin), and the more beneficial Boggers, with their uncanny mekanical aptitude. The Boggers are the furtive beings that keep a city running like clockwork, unseen yet vital (they mostly dwell down beneath the city streets in warrens).
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The (slim) majority population of Nirmathas are orcs comprising mostly CN/CG-leaning tribes, descended from tribes that crossed the mountains out of Belkzen during the reign of Kazavon. These people are a big motivator behind Nirmathas' fierce independence, which leads them to greater conflict with Molthrune, a land that promises their race security in exchange for freedom. These tribes are also entangled, for better or worse, with the fey courts of Nirmathas' forests, which are somehow larger on the inside than the outside due to First World shenanigans. The orcs get on well enough with their human countrymen, and this place provides ample opportunity for half-orcs to have backstories that aren't rooted in tragedy. They have a grudging mutual respect with Lastwall, though it took a while to get there.
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Orcs of Golarion has orcs using the concept of Crossed Souls, a bit similar to real world beliefs on gender found in some Native American tribes and elsewhere. It actually bugged me to see real world cultures mined for an Always Chaotic Evil culture, but here, it seemed like a good way to get a foot in the door and to kind of "take it back" so to speak.
In Orcs of Golarion, the Crossed Soul concept holds that those female orcs that do manage to rise above the abuse of males and hold their own against them apparently must not actually have female souls. To them, they clearly must be reincarnations of mighty orc champions. These "crossed souls" are generally considered male by their kin and allowed to take wives of their own.
Maja most likely would have been considered one of those individuals by her tribe at the time. And given her empathy, she would have been genuinely protective of those she claimed, whether she was claiming them as actual wives or simply to protect them from abuse. Basically, this led to her falling into the dual role of conqueror and protector, as she extended that protection to the children of her tribe and adult males that weren't completely monstrous in nature. She was certainly pushy about it, but that's orcs for you.
But it wasn't just her alone. Those females that she claimed and those that were drawn to her banner, she drove to stand up, reclaim their pride, and be able to defend themselves rather than perpetuating their own abused position in Belkzen orc society(another element from Orcs of Golarion describing the dysfunctional way life in Belkzen works) For a while, the core part of her tribe was mostly a badass "Amazon brigade" until Maja conquered and absorbed more tribes to even out that demographic. Children raised within these tribes grew up with a much more equalized point of view on male and female capability, and the Crossed Soul concept would eventually fade out of use within those tribes, or it would come to mean something else entirely(that is something I'm still trying to figure out for a society where males and females are treated and expected to function as equals on the battlefield).
Sarenrae was enraged that her chosen one was missing the point and decided the best way to get through to an orc was to speak the same language. She then metaphysically and physically kicked Maja's ass and made her see that there was no future at all for the orcs if they stayed on their current path. A bit of a "Moses and the Burning Bush" vibe, if the Burning Bush was handing out beatings. Finally fully spiritually awakened, Maja started edging more and more into CG and led a change in culture along the way, while continuing her, now far more idealistic, tribal conquest.
This is the element that ties into what still survives of the original "amazon tribe" tradition that was around for a while in Maja's early days of conquest. Once she went full-blown Sarenraen, those female warriors most loyal to her cause tended to identify her directly with Sarenrae either as an avatar or a daughter. Many came to identify themselves as daughters of Maja in turn. This particular warrior and shamanistic tradition survives to the modern day. While many male Nirmathi orcs are fully devoted to and serve Sarenrae, there's still a bit of perception that Sarenrae's chosen are typically females, and there a lines of female warrior companies and wisewomen that are seen as the heart of what the Nirmathi tribes are all about, and they carry a bit more authority than groups of their size normally would within Nirmathi orc society.
And things actually started to come together. Maja had managed to win over the hearts, minds, and souls of four great tribes that had gathered under her banner in southern Belkzen. They had also made a number of enemies that wanted nothing less than to see them wiped out, mainly rival orc tribes, particularly those truly faithful to Rovagug. But more dangerous than that was Kazavon, who had consolidated power in Belkzen at that time.
Maja was hellbent on leading her people against Kazavon in a holy, frenzied crusade before Sarenrae gave her one final vision. Her mission wasn't to conquer in her goddess' name, but to preserve and safeguard the people she had managed to save. If they stayed in Belkzen, they would be wiped out and all of their work would come to nothing, and the orc race would face its eventual self-inflicted extinction. Maja's task was to lead her people to a new land where they could chart their own destiny.
Hounded by rival tribes and the servants of Kazavon, Maja's went south through the mountains of Nirmathas, around Lastwall. After weathering a rough winter and ogre attacks, they finally made their way in to Nirmathas, at that time still mostly unpopulated save for the outlying dwarven settlements that were paying more attention to what was inside the ground than on it. Maja passed when they finally arrived, and the tribes spread out.
They came into conflict with the dwarves from time to time, with the usual racial motivations, but that came mostly to a stop once "this is our side/this is your side" lines were drawn and that the orcs now greatly outnumbered the dwarves(and that the orcs were basically going "don't start none, won't be none" at that point).
The native fey courts of Nirmathas reacted differently. They and the land itself adopted these tribes in their own way. The general outlook of these fey was that they were the nobility, the superstitious orcs were the common folk. Depending on the nature of the individual fey or court, these orcs were sources of entertainment, champions, pawns in their inter-court feuds and games, etc. The orcs in turn generally see the fey as capricious nature spirits, to alternately be revered or avoided, but always approached with a healthy wary respect.
Lastwall was naturally highly suspicious(and alarmed) when orcs settled Nirmathas, and there was conflict before it became clear that most on both sides did not truly have a fight with each other. A mostly chilly, wary truce was kept after that, with Lastwall spending too much of their forces on their southern border to make certain nothing was afoot. True peace and trust between the two nations finally came when Lastwall extradited a band of war criminals that had fled into the country after wiping out a number of Nirmathi orc villages. After these criminals were hanged at the border, old wounds finally started to heal.
Human settlers started rolling into the Nirmathas area from Molthrune(and thus the Chelish Empire), which didn't really recognize the coverignty of a bunch of orcs, who were hardly organized into any sort of nation anyway. The expected conflicts did occur, but when Cheliax crumbled and House Thrune rose, the game really changed. Irgal Nirmath had established healthy relationships with the orc tribes and had earned their respect(and even had a half-orc wife who may have had a child, leading to all sorts of rumors and whispers that speak of that scion as some sort of "royalty", if Nirmathas held to such structures).
Humans and orcs are currently highly integrated in most places in Nirmathas. There are still some regions that are mostly orc and mostly human, but they're all Nirmathi. There, peaceful unions between humans and orcs are the norm rather than the exception, which means the region boasts probably the largest half-orc population in Avistan.
The Molthrune conflict is particularly vicious and painful, because there aren't (m)any real "bad guys" on either side. Molthrune does have a large population of humanoids and "monsters" that have sworn loyalty to that nation, and they've been given acceptance, honor, and station for it. The same offer has been made repeatedly to the orcs, but they remain as fiercely independant as their human countrymen.
Some particularly zealous orcs do make raids into Belkzen from time to time, but these small crusades are most often a drop in the bucket that is the ongoing Belkzen/Lastwall conflict.
Orcs may be getting on well with their neighbors, but there are still aspects of their culture that frighten or disturb others. Many of the tribes do "sky funerals", where the bodies of their dead are left on elevated platforms for carrion birds to pick clean. Some of the traditionalist tribes still have some form of ritualized cannibalism going on, where a new chief eats the heart of the old one to inherit thier strengh and wisdom. Cannibalism period doesn't hold much of a taboo in times of great need, such as during the original exodus from Belkzen. That is only performed with the willing however, and carried out with the utmost respect. (it's been noted with curiosity that there are no reports of orc ghouls in Nirmathas...)
Alternate ability modifiers: +2 STR, +2 WIS, -2 INT
No light sensitivity
Most popular deities: Sarenrae, Valani, Desna, Kurgess, Cayden Cailean, Gorum, Gozreh, Erastil, Pharasma
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Varisia is pretty much ruled by orcs now. Although that's my players' doing and not mine. Only 3 Shoanti tribes are left and Magnimar is getting flooded with orc politicians. Only Korvosa and their protectorates (Jaderhoff and the Sun Tribe Shoanti) are free from Urglin's control.
Oh, also Norgorber never beat the Starstone Test. He camped outside and murdered the first god to escape, taking its divinity.
The events of Second Darkness happened 40 years ago. This has changed a few things in Kyonin.
A more human and less evil off-shoot of the Minotaurs emerged some hundreds of years ago in Garund.
- Orcs are evil. No exceptions. Some can be reasoned with, but that doesn't make them less evil.)
- Drow are evil. No exceptions. Again, some can be reasoned with, but they're still evil.
You did give both of them the Evil Subtype and such, right?
Also, are evil outsiders also without exception in this? Does Ragathiel still exist?
- undead keep their original race/subtype in addition to being undead for things like bane or racial abilities like the dwarf bonus vs giants.
- You can ride some kinds of animals that are your size. Like medium creatures riding ponies, donkeys and mules. I think it should be possible.
- Dhampirs are undead and as such no playable race.
The (slim) majority population of Nirmathas are orcs comprising mostly CN/CG-leaning tribes, descended from tribes that crossed the mountains out of Belkzen during the reign of Kazavon. These people are a big motivator behind Nirmathas' fierce independence, which leads them to greater conflict with Molthrune, a land that promises their race security in exchange for freedom. These tribes are also entangled, for better or worse, with the fey courts of Nirmathas' forests, which are somehow larger on the inside than the outside due to First World shenanigans. The orcs get on well enough with their human countrymen, and this place provides ample opportunity for half-orcs to have backstories that aren't rooted in tragedy. They have a grudging mutual respect with Lastwall, though it took a while to get there.
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*Insert Orc backstory here*
I still find it kinda funny how well this parallels with the creation of that one non-evil cousin race of the Minotaur I mentioned.
You did give both of them the Evil Subtype and such, right?Drow, yes. Orcs, no (I felt that the Warhammer Fantasy parallels were enough on their own).
Also, are evil outsiders also without exception in this? Does Ragathiel still exist?To me, an evil outsider can turn good, but it's absurdly hard to do and involves a fundamental change in their entire being that will basically make them not an evil outsider anymore (were I to introduce one, I'd have to build it as a unique outsider creature) and yet still leaves them with strong tendencies towards falling back into what they came from. It's like a human trying to not breathe (also, you are now breathing manually). They're essentially fighting against returning to their original nature every second of every minute of every hour of every day. The further from "the norm" the harder it gets.
I honestly haven't looked closely at Ragathiel. I remember a bit of a fuss about his Obedience when CotR came out, but don't have the book nearby.
So... drow are always evil, no exceptions. And yet, the physical manifestation of chaos and evil can become good, even if it's near impossible?
That seems...odd.
I haven't been GMing long enough to really implement all of this, but the biggest changes I am making are incorporating some elements of the Midgard campaign setting and other 3rd party supplements. Some I have shamelessly stolen from other people here. Some of the below are also simply ideas I would like to run with some day.
The Five Kingdom mountains are basically the cantons from Midgard. Dwarves have access to firearms and some related technology. The "drunk Scotsman" stereotype is pretty much restricted to the Dwarves of the Linnorm Kingdoms. Five Kingdom Dwarves tend to be more playing into the humorless engineer stereotype.
Kobolds are more civilized, and are a neutral leaning race that are good merchants and tinkers. They suffer a lot of persecution throughout Avistan. They still do trend to paranoia and Napolean complexes
The Mharoti Empire replaces the drake lands on Triaxus. Metallic Kobolds exist there, as do Wyvarans and Dragonkin
Orcs are native to Akiton, and accidentally entered Golarion via a portal in the Darklands of both worlds. The "evil nature" of Golarion orcs is almost entirely due to the influence of Rovagug on the Darklands of Golarion. Orcs on Akiton are mostly neutral.
Squawks have an empire in the southern polar ocean.
Aren't drow already always evil in Golarion? I changed that, but their society is so ruthless that the good ones virtually never live very long. I dunno, I guess I fnd the idea of an always good race to be silly, so I apply the same to always evil races, but it all comes down to preference.
Which reminds me, in my Golarion, Kyonin had a meteor dropped on it.
Aren't drow already always evil in Golarion?Nah, they're not locked in, it's just the norm.
The head of Zirnakaynin's only gentlemen's club is CN for example!
Neat! Although given the matriarchal society of the drow, I expect he's not very popular :)
So... drow are always evil, no exceptions. And yet, the physical manifestation of chaos and evil can become good, even if it's near impossible?
That seems...odd.
Perhaps I didn't give enough detail. For an evil outsider to become good would entail, to me, not being an evil-subtype outsider anymore. Not just an evil-subtype outsider that has a good alignment. They'd become something different (which is partially a function of their outsider status, something drow lack). For a drow to become good would entail, similarly, not being a drow any more. They wouldn't be a good-aligned drow, they'd likely revert to being a regular elf, reversing the transformation (e.g. you see one elf finally making the shift to become a drow in PF #17) that made them into drow in the first place. So redeeming a drow would ultimately turn them back into an elf.
Does that explain it better?
Ah, that makes more sense. Thanks for clearing that up. :)
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So... drow are always evil, no exceptions. And yet, the physical manifestation of chaos and evil can become good, even if it's near impossible?
That seems...odd.
Perhaps I didn't give enough detail. For an evil outsider to become good would entail, to me, not being an evil-subtype outsider anymore. Not just an evil-subtype outsider that has a good alignment. They'd become something different (which is partially a function of their outsider status, something drow lack). For a drow to become good would entail, similarly, not being a drow any more. They wouldn't be a good-aligned drow, they'd likely revert to being a regular elf, reversing the transformation (e.g. you see one elf finally making the shift to become a drow in PF #17) that made them into drow in the first place. So redeeming a drow would ultimately turn them back into an elf.
Does that explain it better?
I could make a joke here, but I'll let the Unfortunate Implications speak for themselves...
I legitimately don't get either of these posts.I could make a joke here, but I'll let the Unfortunate Implications speak for themselves...Injecting blue dye into the eyes is optional.
There is implied and probably unintentional racism in what you are saying. For the Dark Skin Drow to become Good they just have to become white.
Aren't drow already always evil in Golarion? I changed that, but their society is so ruthless that the good ones virtually never live very long. I dunno, I guess I fnd the idea of an always good race to be silly, so I apply the same to always evil races, but it all comes down to preference.There's a sidebar on page 58 of PF #15 that basically says as much (or rather, it says that there are no good drow).
Iy does not say that I believe...I'll lok at it later but I believe pretty much GMs should not allow drow PCs because it would destroy a big surprise later in the AP.
Besides the way Pazio treated Drow in Golarion I thought was the biggest mistake with the campaign setting. They really could have broken the good drow Drizzt clone crap...
The reason they did not was also a silly reason. Because that was a 'FR' things...which is not true....and even if it was WotC pissed that away with the changes to FR for 4th ed...
It was like both Pazio and WotC were trying to applease the reactionary anti-drow camp.
Sorry for the rant.
Hery Mikaze can you start asking for good drow in Golarion...Pazio seems to listen to you....
One of my friends wants to play a Drow Paladin of Sarenrae in Second Darkness.
If I were the DM, I'd let him play this character. After all, Sarenrae is all for redeeming villains.
Said Drow happened to run in to a Cleric who did give him a chance to change his ways, and he did so.
The Drow that the Player Characters encounter would try to convince him to come back, but he'd probably try to redeem them.
Aren't drow already always evil in Golarion?Nah, they're not locked in, it's just the norm.
The head of Zirnakaynin's only gentlemen's club is CN for example!
So much for that Always Evil in Golarion thing you were talking about, Alleran. Really, if you want them to be Always Evil, give them the Evil Subtype.
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@John Kretzer, have you considered the possible implications of the Black Butterfly's appearance and the ramifications of her cult's presence? ;)
With Desna being a popular deity amongst elves, and probably the most positive among those considered to be "elven" gods, I can't help but find everything about Desna's Shadow rather telling, right down to her Obedience. Her faith was practically made for good drow trying to get by on the surface.
(all that said, I'd rather not poke at Allreran or anyone else for their preferred drow flavor. Diff'rent strokes and all that, there's room enough for all of us :) )
@John Kretzer, have you considered the possible implications of the Black Butterfly's appearance and the ramifications of her cult's presence? ;)
With Desna being a popular deity amongst elves, and probably the most positive among those considered to be "elven" gods, I can't help but find everything about Desna's Shadow rather telling, right down to her Obedience. Her faith was practically made for good drow trying to get by on the surface.
(all that said, I'd rather not poke at Allreran or anyone else for their preferred drow flavor. Diff'rent strokes and all that, there's room enough for all of us :) )
I was not trying to poke...part of that was me remembering something wrong...part of it was a rant.
I will read into the link when I get back from work.
I legitimately don't get either of these posts.I could make a joke here, but I'll let the Unfortunate Implications speak for themselves...Injecting blue dye into the eyes is optional.
There is implied and probably unintentional racism in what you are saying. For the Dark Skin Drow to become Good they just have to become white.
Oh! Yes, absolutely unintentional. Skin colour literally didn't even register, and didn't when I first read through Second Darkness either. Elves become drow in Golarion by repeated evil and corruption transforming them. So reversing the transformation, to me, was reverting to what they used to be (rather than retaining the "new look" forever). I certainly didn't set out the "iconic" drow look - they were in Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms long before Golarion had them.
Iy does not say that I believe...I'll lok at it later but I believe pretty much GMs should not allow drow PCs because it would destroy a big surprise later in the AP."Are there good drow?
No. Drow are by their nature cruel, calculating, and evil. The argument can be made that they were always so, if their own legends are to be believed, or that they have become such as a result of the long millennia they have been confined in a hostile territory. Regardless, drow are motivated by advancement of self, of family, and of noble house, in that order. Alliances are made to be broken, friendships are made to be taken advantage of, and even love is just a tool for advancement. Drow see a brutal pragmatism in their behavior, and, if as a consequence of their self-interest, fortune comes to another, this is merely considered an undesired byproduct.
[...]
If a drow were to exhibit good behavior—inordinate kindness, cooperation, or empathy—the individual would be assumed to be either enchanted or ill. Attempts would be made to cure the individual (because a good tool should...
I believe completely it was unintentional...though James Jacobs has said in the past if a drow was redeemed(which is possible just hard) they would retain their drow appearence.
As for that sidebar...I really have to read it...I trust you are being accurate...but remember things sometimes changes...for instance there once was Paladins of Asmodeus also in the setting. And I think Pazio stance on drow has loosen a little on it.
Also I don't mean to attack you on your stance I drow...that was mostly just a little rant...I really don't mind some unredeemable evil races in a fantasey setting...I just don't like it being drow.
That's kind of funny considering my friend's idea...
I haven't read through the AP, but a big part of it is the fact that no one knows Drow exist, except for some uberconservative elves that are trying to cover their existence up.
Playing a Drow in that would require changing a lot of the story around and figuring out why the lantern bearers wouldn't kill the character on sight.
I haven't read through the AP, but a big part of it is the fact that no one knows Drow exist, except for some uberconservative elves that are trying to cover their existence up.
Playing a Drow in that would require changing a lot of the story around and figuring out why the lantern bearers wouldn't kill the character on sight.
Unless he has a really good disguise and it isn't revealed that he really is a Drow until book 4.
Wizard: Ha! Now I reveal you for what you are. Have fun getting out of the city.
Drow PC: Fhtagn! I can explain!
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Most of our changes have been little and largely accidental - the product of someone in our group making a decision when we needed to but couldn't find the "official" version of things.
The *biggest* change, as such, has been to the way gods and the afterlife work. In our Golarion, the gods are much more...meddlesome. For worthy adventurers facing an untimely death, they almost seem to hand out Sainthood like candy, with the caveat that the boon means eternal servitude to the deity in question, pretty much whether you like it or not. For good deities and their favorites, this is more of a partnership and a fast-track to the thousand(s)-year process that would happen anyway. For other deities, not so much. These chosen ones immediately become native outsiders, and begin a decades long process of transformation that allows them to mostly live out their time on the material plane before losing all sense of humanity or mortality and becoming a servant of the gods. We've used this as a tool to save beloved characters who for some reason can't be raised conventionally, with the understanding that no matter who your deity is, such a choice is not necessarily a good thing and WILL make your life more difficult going forward.
In our Golarion, even Pharasma's supposed impartiality can be bent in the right circumstances. She has sort of "sponsored" the party in my Rise of the Runelord's AP. Souls are coming to her shredded and incomplete, and this so angered her that she directly interfered by blessing a young oracle with abilities and visions meant to help him stop it.
Likewise, she adopted a PC in another AP as one of her favorites and sent him back to the material plane as a Saint after an NPC samsaran offered to give up her ability to reincarnate and surrender herself to Pharasma in exchange for his life.
Pharasma's Court really is a court...seemingly endless halls of courtrooms designated by region, world, and plane. The dead immediately "wake up" in this court, where they go over paperwork chronicling every thought, emotion, and deed, before waiting their turn to stand judgment before Pharasma. There is no time correlation between the courts and the material plane. Anyone who dies and is brought back would remember being there, but the amount of time they were there and what transpired during that time are different for each person.
I *hate* the notion that the deceased are stripped of their memories and personalities after being processed, but we've left that part as-is. We consider that to be a very obscure, well-kept secret. It wasn't until we had a Saint of Pharasma in the group that the idea got spread around, and now at least one of the PCs in the overarching campaign is so determined to keep that from happening to the people she loves that she's on the path to becoming a demi-goddess out of sheer stubbornness.
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If there is one thing that I wish Paizo had moved away from, it is that Drow are almost as a whole Chaotic Evil Demon worshippers. One of the problems with Drow society as Paizo has presented it, is that they are apparently very busy murdering and assassinating one another, or transforming other Drow into Driders. Here is the problem with such a society if that were the case, the Drow would have gone extinct a long time ago. Drow are still elves, i.e., beings that have a very low fertility rate and they take over a century to physically mature. Such infighting would have made the Drow very vulnerable to being wiped out by other tribes of Darkland creatures long ago.
The way I change this is that Drow are extremely loyal and civilized...to other Drow. They believe that they are the master race destined to rule over all others, and this instills them with an innate sense of cold-hearted camaraderie. Their true evil nature comes out in their treatment of lesser races (i.e, everyone who is not a Drow, including other elves). That is not to say that there is not political infighting amongst Drow families/noble houses. There is a great deal of that. However, it is mainly through alliance building and gaining and losing influence through successful (or unsuccessful) hegemonic ventures. Drow rarely murder one another, or order assassinations of their rivals. It is so much more satisfying and delicious to watch a rival be humiliated amongst her peers in the political arena through failure than it is to murder her. After all, if you kill her, the fun ends.
That is not to say that Drow do not kill one another. But those Drow who have been found to have committed crimes within Drow society (such as killing a fellow Drow, betraying the location of Drow fortifications in the Darklands, etc.) are punished with brutal finality. They are either transformed into Driders, to forever mark them as the shameful beasts that they are, or they are tortured and killed. But generally, the Drow view the lives of other Drow as being far too valuable to just throw away.
Thus, I run Drow as a Neutral Evil culture of cruel and ruthless pragmatists. They see the value of order, stability and discipline, but they frown upon rigidity and the idea of "honor" makes absolutely no sense to them. They appreciate flexibility of thought and action, but despise disorder and capriciousness, because that can lead to strategic losses that the Drow cannot afford. Giving in to one's passions is just as weak and stupid to a Drow as standing by one's word of honor when there is no reason to. As a result of their pragmatic views, Drow happily worship all manner of Evil Gods, Devils, Demons and Daemons. Whatever being can help advance the cause of the Drow by making the correct propitiations, that is the being the Drow will worship.
Essentially, I present my Drow as a matriarchal version of the Romulan Empire. They do what it takes to survive, are loyal only to their race as a whole, and are ruthless to the extreme.
... 5) Numeria is quite different: instead of a spaceship, the place is the crash site of an Engram Ark full of Chaositech (from When the Sky Falls and Chaositech, 3.X era supplements by Malhavoc Press). The Technic League and the Black Sovereign are cyborg-like Hellraiser Cenobites with lasers and energy weapons powered by blasphemous entities fallen from the outer space. You'd rather go Zon-Kuthon, trust me. ...
Up to this point, Numeria has been my least-favorite and most-ignored section of Golarion. But replacing the tech with chaositech ... oh my yes. My players have already come up against chaositech several times (although I have not revealed it to them as such). At the moment they suspect it's psionic, having encountered some psi-tech previously.
This is quite possibly the best idea I've heard all month. Thank you!
MI
Racial stats.
Dwarves: +2 Con -2 Dex +2 Wis
Elves: +2 Dex -2 Con +2 Cha
Halflings: -2 Str +2 Con +2 Wis
Gnomes: +2 Dex +2 Int -2 Wis
Most of my changes are to the planes, the Great Beyond and the Wheel merged with several other cosmologies. In Golarion, I've changed Numeria, based on nanotechnology, you can't see the robotic parts of the ship and constructs, to most people it appears magical.
In the Kingmaker campaign, I had Brevoy and Damara from FR as the same country, merged, River Kingdoms and Border Kingdoms from FR, plus I used Zobeck and the Old Margrave.
The First World is called Faerie
The Maelstrom is more often called Chaos, the Boneyard is called the Nether(world) and it includes Abaddon, the Fugue, Hades ...
Axis and Mechanus are the same plane, I like the name Axis more
Daemons are yugoloths are not the same, daemons are imitations made from mortal souls
Proteans are true examplars, the slaadi are just one on their kind made with the Spawning Stone
Asmodeus is not a god, Bel rules the first layer, Barbatos' role is similar to Jergal's
Absalom also has a Kriegstanz, like in Sigil, but between the houses
Gods use masks, like in Midgard, and are less powerful
There are many types of elemental kin, for example ifrits are fire genasi, sylphs aren't air genasi cause they aren't related to genies
Rovagug is a draeden
The Whispering Way is a fraction within the Dustmen, the Green/Old Faith are the Wylders, the Diabolism is very influential, almost like a faction
I don't use half-elves or half-orcs
Changelings aren't the offspring of hags, it can be any human kidnapped and raised by the fey
I rarely use the drow, but they can be of any alignment, more often allied with the unseelie fey than demons
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Let's see...
- Belzken has a sizable and growing population of chaotic neutral orc tribes which make up about 30% of the population of the region, with about as many NE tribes and a small CE majority. Most outsiders don't bother making the distinction, and these orcs aren't good guys by any stretch of the imagination, but they're more about glory through conflict than they are about domination or destruction of other species.
- Most of the Lovecraft elements have been folded into other aspects of Golarion lore, and the Old Gods do not exist as an identifiable group. Most of them are qlippoth lords, and a couple of them have strong ties to Leng. Same goes for most of the lovecraftian monsters, though a few are simply alien species that are unconnected to one another or to other elements of the setting.
- Most deities are both more inscrutable and more active in the affairs of Golarion, albeit in an indirect sense. The more recently ascended deities (Iomedae, Cayden Cailean, Norgorber) are a bit easier to understand, but for the most part the gods are representative of abstract concepts and are difficult to personify, leading them to be worshiped in wildly different ways. Adventures, especially pious ones, can expect to encounter servants or minor avatars of the deities on a semi-regular basis, but they don't usually announce themselves as such. I make regular use of the ways in which a deity shows their favor or their displeasure presented in the world guide (this often serves as a warning to clerics, paladins, or inquisitors who commit minor offences). Several deities have had their favored weapons changed, and those who favor simple weapons give a specific bonus feat to their clerics and inquisitors in place of an additional weapon proficiency.
- Non-human ethnicity have been added into my game, much in the same way that there are several distinct but statistically identical subtypes of humans. These races go by common names, and most individuals, even those outside of the races or region they originated in, tend to be aware of these differences. For example, dwarves from the northern region favor fair skin and red or blond hair, and are a bit taller. They are some of the more skilled weaponsmiths in the world, and love to fight, explore, and drink. Also known for their horned helmets. Dwarves to the south have darker hair and ruddy skin, and are capable builders and even engineers. They are skilled at mass-production and architecture, and tend to have a keen eye for quality in nearly any type of item, making them natural merchants and traders.
- The pathfinders are a bit more loosely organized, and field commissions are much, much more common. They offer optional training to those who join, but all that is really required is a submission of a journal regarding an interesting journey or discovery, and once this journal has been approved by a venture captain, completion of a one-year probationary membership in the field (in fact this is when most members are at their most active, as they are seeking to prove themselves to the Decimvirate).
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My changes have been relatively minor...
1) The Lands of the Linnorm Kings is called "Ulfenland." It's otherwise unchanged. (I just hate the official name.)
2) The Pathfinder Society is more like the 19th-century Explorers Club or National Geographic Society. I don't use any of the PFS-centric faction nonsense.
3) Magic is a bit rarer than standard. While it is possible to buy magic items, there really aren't any "Mr. Wizard's Magic Shops" where you can just buy any standard items you want, other than potions or low-cost single-use items. Generally, if a PC wants to buy a particular magic item, he has to find a crafter and custom-order it.
4) It hasn't impacted my Varisia-centric campaign, but Cheliax and Andoran are actively engaged in a cold war, and have many spies everywhere. The two have occasional naval engagements, but it so far hasn't escalated to real fighting. Both countries meddle in the affairs of less-organized neighboring states, trying to tilt their allegiance. (Cheliax sends Hellknights as political/military advisors... Andoran does the same with Eagle Knights.) For example, both have a presence in Magnimar, each trying to tilt the allegiance of the City of Monuments in their direction. Similarly, in Nirmathas, a contingent of Hellknights from the Order of the Nail are advising the Molthune generals, and Steel Falcon Eagle Knights are openly assisting/advising the Nirmathi government and militias.
The sad politics of drow are for another thread, but I did have to rebuild them for my own piece of mind.
Otherwise: I got rid of most of the alignment races in that no race is always some alignment. I did offer to introduce Foot Clan Foot Soldiers if the PCs wanted a mindless evil to fight.
The Pathfinder Society is more of a gentleman's club in that they act like a bunch of nineteenth century imperialists because of wealth and power and are very happy and smug about it. Membership is inclusive as power, privilege and wealth know no boundaries.
In 2000 years there will come another great empire, they will use magic on a never before seen scale, creating living spells. They will fall when they react badly to the living wish spells gaining sentients.
To use greater teleport etc on other worlds you have to be outside of geosynchronous orbit. The Technec League has learned this and begun plundering Akiton.
Daggermark is Casablanca (with Galt still being France).
There is a secret civilization somewhere that has already achieved local post-scarcity.