Interest Check for Shadow Lodge Insurrection Campaign


Recruitment


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Exactly as the name implies. I came up with the idea whilst playing Assassin's Creed: Rogue and am interested in finding out whether or not it would be interesting for potential players to get involved in a shadow war with the Decemvirate.

This campaign would be set in 4721 AR, eight years after Grandmaster Torch betrayed the Shadow Lodge to the Decemvirate, long enough for the Shadow Lodge to be a good bit along in the process of rebuilding from the betrayal and recruiting from yet more disgruntled ex-Pathfinders.

As far as what kind of missions would be featured, they would run the gamut from assassinations, to sparking insurrections, to recruiting allies, to simply beating the Pathfinders to a ruin where they sought to find an important artifact. There will also be kingdom-building at some point, though not initially.

With enough interest, I will go ahead and put up an official recruitment.

EDIT: As a note, PCs can not only be disgruntled ex-Pathfinders, but also victims of the aftermath of Pathfinder actions within various APs and modules. For example, you could play as a survivor from a village laid to waste in retribution for Pathfinder deeds or perhaps are one of the unfortunate relatives of a former adventurer slain by his/her Pathfinder rivals. After all, just because most members of the Pathfinder Society have spotless records and reputations does not mean that they are innocent. Far from it, given how amoral the Decemvirate is at times.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Very interested. what kind of character creation do you have in mind?


Hmm... Sounds intriguing. I'm interested if it is fairly fast moving. PC's that need to look like the good guys or at least innocent uninvolved guys. Sneaking, social skills, deception, vengeance, framing, etc... An inquisitor seems likely a good bet.


Meeko, I am still trying to decide on exactly what character creation guidelines will be used, but an emphasis will be placed on PCs who are well-suited to a shadow war.

ElterAgo, what do you define as fairly fast moving? 2+ posts per day?

Glad to see that there is some interest for this concept from at least two people!


Grandmaster of the Shadow Lodge wrote:

...

ElterAgo, what do you define as fairly fast moving? 2+ posts per day?
...

I personally can consistently manage 3+ per day. But actually, I'd probably be happy if people really did post at least once a day. What I usually see is after a couple weeks most people are only posting once every 3 or 4 days at best.


ill dot for this i can post multiple times a day with little issues since i work on a computer most of the day, would ninjas be ok? and or psionics?

edit

what about Gestalt

Top ten rules of gestalt:

1) Action Economy Is Still King
-Full Triple-progression casting is cute, but ultimately futile in combat since nearly every spell, Power, Invocation, etc takes a Standard Action to use, and you still only get one of those per round. Try to mix your activation abilities up, between Standard, Move, and Swift actions, so that you can get more out of what you have.

2) Focus On One Theme
-Having schizophrenic capabilities just means you'll be more at a loss in combat, despite the increased options, especially if the two sides interfere with each other in normal use. Barbarian/Wizard, though it may sound awesome, generally either gives up most of the benefits from one side of the progression or else is just confused in battle. If it can't be effectively done on one class, it generally isn't worth doing on two.

3) Strengthen Each Other's Weaknesses
-Since you always take the higher HP, BAB, Save, skill points and both skill lists, try to ensure that your secondary class is good at some things that your main one isn't.

4) Remember Your Stats
-Twice as many "classes" means twice as many opportunities for MAD. Make sure your key abilities from both sides are still lined up onto one or two main stats

5) Remember Your Feats
-Feats are the one thing you don't get multiples or increased numbers of normally. This makes prerequisites and feat chains just as hard to squeeze in as normal, more so if you want to Prestige on both sides of the equation (and many do)

6) Dipping Is Easier
-In Gestalt, dipping 1-3 levels on one side for supporting capabilities does not delay or prevent high-level capabilities from your other side. Ftr 2 for feats and proficiencies, Paladin 2-3 for Cha to saves and immunities, Meldshaper levels, etc are all simple and powerful options.

7) Beware Wasting Identical Advantages
-This causes pure waste. A PrC attempting to increase your Wizard caster level on one side and a level of Wizard on the other just lost a caster level benefit. Similar things go for other benefits, such as Uncanny Dodge, high HP/skills, and Proficiencies (not as much a concern as the others).

8) Active/Passive Mix is Typically Best
-Let one side have the abilities which require actions. You can put together cool utility, long-term buffing, bonus feats, and static/reactive abilities on the other side

9) The Very Worst Classes Sometimes Aren't Bad Here
-Monk, with its dominant saves, decent skills, and host of static abilities, is a FAR better choice for support-side levels than it is for single-class. The Expert, despite being an NPC class, notably is able to pick ANY TEN SKILLS as class skills with 6+Int per level, which can be clutch if your prereqs are getting tight. Any class that usually has the phrase "if only it had ___" can easily acquire it. Basically, almost anything can be of benefit to SOMEONE under Gestalt system (other than Commoner)

10) DM/GM Always Has Final Word
-Just like normal, if you are crafting an epic masterpiece of a character but it will outshine the others of the group, expect any sane DM to veto it, or else be ready to throttle back what you can do for the sake of having, you know, fun."

just have to ask ^_^


Hmmm...

Going to be writing a backstory up for a slayer, methinks.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I second the gestalt, Mainly because my home gm has spoiled me with it over the last few campaigns weve run.

I might go anti-pally (ive never made one before) or ranger.

or possibly break out my grapple rouge. who knows, i will need more backstory and gen rules before I pin down a concept.


Interesting...

So, are people interested in the gestalt thing? We have two proposals thus far!

In any case, I will work on the character creation guidelines since there is at least a party worth of interested applicants!


Yep, GM just did that lol.


I'm interested. Would prolly withdraw though if it turned gestalt, gets a little complicated for me :(


I would also prefer non-Gestalt (and non-Mythic).


I just had an idea... I would love to play the resurrected Chalfon Dalsine.

What level are we looking at?

-Matt


why you no like gestalt its awesome for customization and soo grate fro flavor...^_^-

Silver Crusade

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Gestalt is too munchkin for me.. while I'm no core fanatic (ptooey) gestalt is just a bit too much look at my powers over my gaming.


Tharasiph wrote:
Gestalt is too munchkin for me.. while I'm no core fanatic (ptooey) gestalt is just a bit too much look at my powers over my gaming.

im sorry you've had a bad experience with that type of game, I can understand that some people can be that way. That's why when I run/play a gestalt game I ether have the point buy at 15 for a more focused build/game or make sure that players know the expectations of role playinglike play your traits or drawbacks and things like that. I have never played munchkin so I don't know what you mean, but I have always had a good experience with gestalt, I feel a big part of that is the gm and players that just Role play not Roll play

but that's just me...still hopping for gestalt though ^_^

edit

but I really don't like mythic at all...


Yeah, Mythic is pretty terrible. Gestalt... Maybe if it was a Core-only game.

-Matt


I would prefer not gestalt, but I might be willing to give it a try. The only time think gestalt is really worth while is when you have a very small group of players.


Hmm... I could see gestalt working if only-noncasters got to be gestalt PCs. A fighter/rogue won't break things, but a monk/druid will.

-Matt


I would prefer non-gestalt. It can be fun, but it also pushes games into the realms of Dragonball Z level of silly power. Seeing as this looks more like a "waging a shadow war" kind of game than the "create new craters in Golarion" kind of game, I would suggest no gestalt.


It looks like non-gestalt is the general consensus then!

Now I can work on recruitment after I get home today.

Mattastrophic, a rezzed Chalfon, eh? An interesting notion, to be sure. He was pretty awesome lol.


The Doomkitten wrote:
I would prefer non-gestalt. It can be fun, but it also pushes games into the realms of Dragonball Z level of silly power. Seeing as this looks more like a "waging a shadow war" kind of game than the "create new craters in Golarion" kind of game, I would suggest no gestalt.

that only happens when you have a high point buy 15 or 10 point buy keeps it level but to each his own


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Hmm... I've been looking at some of the PFS scenarios I've done to see where an opponent might be likely to have come from. Examples might include:

PFS messed up the plans of the Zyphus cult in the Among the X series and some ratfolk in the Rat of Round Mountain. So a Zyphus cultist or a fallen clan ratfolk might be interested in vengeance.

Some of it might depend on what level you want to start at for believability of the background. But it is certainly doable.

You thinking more along the lines of a group of do-gooders opposing the not really all that good PFS?
OR
More of a potentially evil group trying to take over the niche, organization, and discoveries - more like the Aspis Consortium (maybe even including some of their members)?

Shadow Lodge

Stoping by Merck quickly exchange the secret handshake with some other ex-shadow lodge agents before disappearing into the shadows again.

Grand Lodge

Got a knife master here that was part of the Shadow Lodge and is none too thrilled about how it met its end.

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