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You didn’t make the cut....
You’ve worked so hard to become a Pathfinder. Some of you traveled hundreds of miles to make your way to the Grand Lodge in Absalom, others merely walked across the City at the Center of World. You came from all races and backgrounds. You passed your initial interviews after being subjected to strict questioning and magical tests. You took the Oath of the Initiate. Under this vow, you agreed to submit to all the laws that bind full Pathfinders, but were additionally required to follow any and all edicts passed down from those in charge of your training, accepting punishment when merited and foregoing any compensation for your labor.
Upon taking the oath and being officially raised to initiate status, your Pathfinder’s training—and, many say, your true testing—began immediately. You were stripped of all but your most basic possessions, with the items placed in secure storage, and issued nondescript outfits of homespun gray cloth. Then you were brought to the Quadrangle, the massive cluster of buildings in the northeast corner of the Grand Lodge, and assigned your new quarters, packed three or more to a room with other initiates from all over Golarion. For the next years, these austere cells, featuring only bunks, desks, and a lockable trunk for each of you, were your only homes. Food and drink were provided by the Society. Your lives were run by a consortium of three deans: the Master of Swords, Marcos Farabellus; the Master of Spells, Aram Zey; and the Master of Scrolls, Kreighton Shaine.
Your lives as initiates consisted of hard work. There were many mandatory classes and study sessions with retired Pathfinders, as well as daily work duties. The first year was brutal, and many of your companions washed out. By the end of your third year of training, you were ready for Confirmation. Each of you chose one of the three Masters to create your test. Each Confirmation is unique to the individual. Once the test was passed, you would have become full Pathfinder agents. Each of you failed in your task, though not for lack of trying. For some of you the Confirmation lasted for months or years, ending in a missed opportunity or an instance of bad luck. For others the Confirmation was over in a single day, you simply found yourselves not quite good enough for the tasks set to you.
After your failure, you were called before a council of the three Masters. You knew what would come next. You would be summarily discharged from the Society and never allowed to test again. Shame hung on your shoulders like a heavy blanket as the three Masters stared down at you from behind their podiums. Marcos, the most likable of the three was the first to speak. ”You have all failed your Confirmations. Normally, you know what would happen next. But you lot....You lot are lucky!” Marcos cracked a smile through his thick, black beard, running a calloused hand over his shaved head. Aram Zey sneered at him characteristically, before whipping his long, black hair back over his shoulder. The handsome Kelish Master of Spells continued, ”Yes. You are to be given a second chance. But not one that is without risk....” His hooded eyes lent him the air of a viper as he stared at the initiates.
The elven Master of Scrolls was staring off into space, as he often does. He broke his reverie at Zey’s words. ”Indeed...but risk comes hand in hand with reward, does it not?” Master Shaine brushed his lank, blonde hair sleepily back behind his long, pointed ears. ”Well, don’t leave them hanging Marcos, explain.” The Master of Swords nodded, and took over talking. ”Recently a team of agents returned from investigating the site of an ancient starfall in Numeria. The site has been picked over many times before, but our agents were able to discover a hidden portal and solve the locking mechanism. They discovered a buried...something.”
Aram Zey cut in, looking frustrated with Marcos’ ambiguity. ”We suspect it was some manner of vessel used by the people who created the Silver Mount. The vessel was empty, and mostly destroyed, but the agents made a very interesting discovery. A case of, for lack of a better word...infusions.” The Master of Spells made a gesture, and a section of the room just in front of the Initiates wavered for a moment. As his illusion dissolved it revealed an aluminum case cracked open, resting on a meter tall wooden pedestal. Inside the case were several syringes filled with a green liquid.
Master Shaine interjected, ”It’s fascinating really, the Society’s best alchemists have been unable to determine what exactly is inside those tubes. They best they can tell us is that the admixture is meant for injection and would likely have a transformative effect.”
Marcos cut back in, ”The Decemvirate has authorized us to offer you the chance to be test subjects. All of you were very close to passing your Confirmations. Do this, and you will become Pathfinders. Should things go poorly, your families will be informed and your funerals paid for,” he said with a half-joking grin.
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The Game: This game will be a long term campaign taking place entirely in Absalom and its surrounding environs. I will run a series of nearly all the PFS scenarios set in Absalom as well as one module: Gallery of Evil, Silent Tide, The Frozen Fingers of Midnight, Mists of Mwangi, Black Waters, Slave Pits of Absalom, King Xeros of Old Azlant, Hands of the Muted God, Sniper in the Deep etc. etc. I will run them in chronological order when possible, coming back to the level inappropriate ones later. Obviously this will take years of real time to complete. It also has a typical DM Jelani twist on character creation, see Character Crunch spoiler below.
You: Recently many of my favorite PBPs have slowed down considerably. The top two things I’ll be looking at in potential players are their posting frequency and the quality of their writing.
Level: 1 (you will advance a level every two scenarios we complete or as appropriate in the module)
Races: All paizo published except for Ratfolk, Tengu, Grippli, Samsarans, Strix, Vishkanyas, or Wayangs. Questions about playing races outside these rules will be ignored.
Ability Scores: 17 point buy, nothing starting lower than 8 after racials.
Classes: Any Paizo published class or archetype, except for synthesist summoner. The latest ACG playtest classes are fine, but you will have to rebuild to whatever the final version is when it comes out.
Alignment: Any except for CE. Must follow the Pathfinder Society “laws” of Exploration, Reporting and Cooperation.
HP: Max at first level, and then hald HD+1+con mod after that. Companions get half HD+1+con mod for every HD, including first.
Traits: Two, standard rules apply. Drawbacks are allowed (encouraged even).
Starting Wealth: 300 GP
No crafting other than mundane items, and consumables (wands, scrolls, potions).
Firearms are emerging.
Every character gains the Armor Bonus, Str/Dex bonus and Evolution Pool of an eidolon of their hit dice. They must follow the same limit on number of natural attacks as eidolons (including any attacks from their race in the total). They gain no free evolutions, but qualify for the extra evolution feat. They do not gain any other features of an eidolon.
Please create an alias for your character formatted like a standard monster stat block. I don’t like too many spoilers, and I want everything in the standard spot so I can find it quickly. You can copy this basic template to make it easy on you. See my characters Alyona, Devan, Ferit, Nexander, or Sampson for examples of what’s acceptable.
Character Fluff: You should write a backstory telling me about your character’s family, where your character is from, why they wanted to become a Pathfinder, how they came to Absalom, how they got their initial training, what their experiences as an Initiate were, and what their failed Confirmation was. Backstory is a big part of what makes me like a character. Please use Golarion lore and locations to your advantage, there’s plenty of info on PathfinderWiki if you’re not familiar. The less specific your character is, the less interesting they will be to me.
The game will start right after your character injects themselves with the green stuff and gets their evolutions. Obviously characters who wouldn’t inject themselves for the chance to be Pathfinders need not apply!
I’d also like a description of your character’s personality and their physical appearance. See the sample characters in the crunch spoiler above.
Game Stuff:I will use maps for combat, but I have some house rules to speed combat up. I run initiative in blocks (highest roller for party sets init for the group), actions occur in posting order, you resolve your own actions (ie. rolling saves or AOOs for monsters when needed. It’ll just be copy paste from my profile). If you disappear without warning, I reserve the right to kill off your character and/or recruit a replacement for you. I don’t like to do this, but keeping a game moving is important to its longevity. Here is one of my more recent games, you can see the house rules in action there, and get a look at my style.
Selection: I will leave recruitment open until 11 PM EST on Friday January 10th, 2014. After your first post in this thread, I want a post from you every 24 hours. It can be anything, but the more interesting and on topic it is the better. Even a brief post just to meet the requirement is better than nothing. At the end of recruitment, people who have posted every day will be considered before those that haven’t.
If I forgot something, or you have any questions, please ask! I will be monitoring the thread closely, and will respond as soon as I'm able. Thanks!
Every character gains the Armor Bonus, Str/Dex bonus and Evolution Pool of an eidolon of their hit dice. They must follow the same limit on number of natural attacks as eidolons (including any attacks from their race in the total). They gain no free evolutions, but qualify for the extra evolution feat. They do not gain any other features of an eidolon.
This is an interesting twist. Will one gain Evolutions during the game itself? By which I mean, will it be story-related, or will it happen every x levels, or what?
Every character gains the Armor Bonus, Str/Dex bonus and Evolution Pool of an eidolon of their hit dice. They must follow the same limit on number of natural attacks as eidolons (including any attacks from their race in the total). They gain no free evolutions, but qualify for the extra evolution feat. They do not gain any other features of an eidolon.This is an interesting twist. Will one gain Evolutions during the game itself? By which I mean, will it be story-related, or will it happen every x levels, or what?
Every level you gain new evolution points and evolutions as an eidolon (and the appropriate str/dex/AC bonus). It's only story related in that it comes from the Numerian mcguffin.
Working on a monk I think, will we still retain racial type, ex: humanoid, with the eidolon changes?
Working on a monk I think, will we still retain racial type, ex: humanoid, with the eidolon changes?
Yes, nothing will change other than armor bonus, str/dex and gaining the evolutions.
Definitely dotting. I'll get to work on something and get back to ya shortly.
Edit: Working on a wizard.
Am I right in guessing that we're not allowed to alter earlier evolutions as we move on, since that wouldn't make a lot of sense, or would we get to change evolutions as we level up?
Either way, I'm intrigued.
This is quite interesting. I'm unsure what to do, though. Maybe a lorewarden fighter?
Very interested, Mr. Jelani. Working on a freaky Svirfneblin inquisitor.
You’ve worked so hard to become a Pathfinder. Some of you traveled hundreds of miles to make your way to the Grand Lodge in Absalom, others merely walked across the City at the Center of World...
By the end of your third year of training, you were ready for Confirmation. Each of you chose one of the three Masters to create your test. Each Confirmation is unique to the individual. Once the test was passed, you would have become full Pathfinder agents. Each of you failed in your task, though not for lack of trying. For some of you the Confirmation lasted for months or years, ending in a missed opportunity or an instance of bad luck.
That's a lot of background for zero experience characters, no?
cheers
Thron here. Small question, when it comes to starting spells in a spellbook, I assume that is based on pre-evolution stats, correct?
For one thing, reading the background, we seem to be more experienced than I'd expect a first-level character to be.
For another, several evolutions require a minimal summoner level. Do we treat our HD as summoner level for this purpose, or are they simply unattainable?
Ok deinitely interested. Will get to work on an Ulfen either Barbarian or Ranger who after the injection will evolve into something akin to Sabretooth from Xmen
Retooled this character to fit your formatting and to be a mutie.
Hope she gets in.
Am I right in guessing that we're not allowed to alter earlier evolutions as we move on, since that wouldn't make a lot of sense, or would we get to change evolutions as we level up?
Either way, I'm intrigued.
You can change which evolutions you have every time you level up, just like an eidolon. Otherwise you would have to save up for levels on end to get high cost evolutions later on.
Very interested, Mr. Jelani. Working on a freaky Svirfneblin inquisitor.
You’ve worked so hard to become a Pathfinder. Some of you traveled hundreds of miles to make your way to the Grand Lodge in Absalom, others merely walked across the City at the Center of World...
By the end of your third year of training, you were ready for Confirmation. Each of you chose one of the three Masters to create your test. Each Confirmation is unique to the individual. Once the test was passed, you would have become full Pathfinder agents. Each of you failed in your task, though not for lack of trying. For some of you the Confirmation lasted for months or years, ending in a missed opportunity or an instance of bad luck.
That's a lot of background for zero experience characters, no?
cheers
Just going by Seekers of Secrets. If you want your character to have had a short Confirmation that's fine. But for a scholarly character it could be like "Translate this ancient Azlanti/Draconic hybrid code." which you worked on for six years before accidentally dropping a candle and burning up all your research and the code itself. Please, be creative.
Thron here. Small question, when it comes to starting spells in a spellbook, I assume that is based on pre-evolution stats, correct?
Yes.
For one thing, reading the background, we seem to be more experienced than I'd expect a first-level character to be.
For another, several evolutions require a minimal summoner level. Do we treat our HD as summoner level for this purpose, or are they simply unattainable?
As I said to Jubal, I'm taking the description of Pathfinder agent training directly from Seekers of Secrets. Since PFS characters start off at level one, and they go through the same thing I think it's reasonable.
Your HD is your "summoner level", yes.
Are wyrwood viable then? They are a paizo published race (ARG and Bestiary 4)?
Arcane:
Argor Constantine - M Human (Chelaxian) Wizard (Conjuror)
Kaloo Narvian - F Gnome Sorcerer (Tattooed Sorcerer)
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Kaloo - Can you please list your class skill bonus along with the other modifiers next to your skill bonuses in the parentheses? Thanks.
Are wyrwood viable then? They are a paizo published race (ARG and Bestiary 4)?
Nope, I had forgotten about those other races in the ARG. Please stick to the Core, Featured or Uncommon races from the link I put in the Character Crunch spoiler (minus the ones I specified). None of these races are available.
Ok, I think everything is in order Jelani. Got a question I'll shoot your way in PM though.
Are wyrwood viable then? They are a paizo published race (ARG and Bestiary 4)?Nope, I had forgotten about those other races in the ARG. Please stick to the Core, Featured or Uncommon races from the link I put in the Character Crunch spoiler (minus the ones I specified). None of these races are available.
Ok, only reason I asked is they did a full write up/publish on the Wyrwood in Bestiary 4 (not on the PRD yet unfortunately).
Ok, only reason I asked is they did a full write up/publish on the Wyrwood in Bestiary 4 (not on the PRD yet unfortunately).Are wyrwood viable then? They are a paizo published race (ARG and Bestiary 4)?Nope, I had forgotten about those other races in the ARG. Please stick to the Core, Featured or Uncommon races from the link I put in the Character Crunch spoiler (minus the ones I specified). None of these races are available.
It's more that they are weird and significantly more powerful than some of the other "normal" races. The Numerian nano-bots/bioengineering are going to make people powerful enough, so I'm trying to keep the base power level relatively low. We're playing PFS scenarios after all, they are notoriously easy to steam roll as is.
Wasn't arguing, only explaining why I'd asked. :)
No worries :)
Kaloo - Can you please list your class skill bonus along with the other modifiers next to your skill bonuses in the parentheses? Thanks.
Done.
Does taking a drawback grant you an extra trait? (I will still take the drawback either way)
I think I'll bow out. I really do like the concept, but, I'm having trouble picking a race, especially since some of the races that are allowed (aasimar, ghoran, kitsune, svifneblin) are as or more powerful than others disallowed as too powerful (wyrwood, Strix, Tengu, etc).
Have fun! And good luck!
Kaloo - Can you please list your class skill bonus along with the other modifiers next to your skill bonuses in the parentheses? Thanks.Done.
Does taking a drawback grant you an extra trait? (I will still take the drawback either way)
Yes, a drawback grants a third trait. Keep in kind it's still one trait per category though.
I'm very interested in this game, since a variety of other games I've been in have died off or slowed to a crawl. I'll be posting something of interest tomorrow, since I've been working crazy shifts all week.
I am very interested in a concept like this.
I worked on the crunch a bit this evening, but I'm nowhere near finished with the backstory. I'm rolling some things around right now, but I figured I'll post what I've got, then fill in the details in the next few days.
This'll give me a chance to pop in frequently as you've requested, and I'll have something to talk about, as well! Thanks for the consideration!
Human Witch
Proposing a Human Infernal sorcerer who got his power in a bargain that backfired for him. Joined the Pathfinders to train enough to get revenge. Washed out from Pathfinders but given a second chance due to curiosity about how the serum would react with his Infernal-tainted blood.
I had his full backstory typed out but it got eaten by my tablet so I'll rewrite it tomorrow along with the crunch.
So many caster submissions!
Must come up with something non castery. Maybe a rake archetype rogue. This could be quite fun!
With all the evolutions that will be available to you eventually, you can essentially make anything you can think of.
Svirfneblin monk. stealthy little teacher type.
Working on backstory now. Also need to do items but that is less important.
Svirfneblin inquisitor.
Most crunch is done, except equipment. Background creativity takes time ;D
Svirfneblin monk. stealthy little teacher type.
Working on backstory now. Also need to do items but that is less important.
Nice stealth bonus! Keep in mind you'll need cover or concealment to hide though. I'm much stricter than a lot of DMs with that. The shadow form evolution gives you constant concealment if you don't mind doing crappy damage.
Two deep gnomes in less than an hour. Shifty little bastards are everywhere :p
Let's see. The character I envision is a bit of a wild card. He's been betrayed, and thoughts of that betrayal leaves him suspect to bouts of rage that leaves him almost unable to tell friend from foe.
He joined the pathfinders in an attempt to find some sort of purpose to his life, as the one who betrayed him were the only person he regarded as family.
I think he's an urban barbarian. I may have to look up ways to express him better.
He'll be a sword and shield style warrior, and he'll sometimes explode into fits of rage.
A variant of him includes getting caught because of the betrayal, and being subjected to experiments, possibly altering his race, and maybe he becomes a bloodrager because of them.
He could be a fighter, a lore warden, a barbarian, a bloodrager, or even something else entirely.
Plan on it actually. Not building for damage but for full bardic make everyone else awesome wax on wax off sensei.
*Checks robes for more svirfneblin. Finds three.*
"Hey, get out of there you sneaky buggers!"
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Nice thought Jelani. I will of course need to be considered. I was going to wait until I had my alias finished before posting, but I want to lay claim to my build. Kitsune ninja going into nine-tails. First level will be rough, but 2nd will be sick.
A couple of quick questions while I'm here.
Does having arms or a bite attack or simple weapon proficiency count as having the appropriate evolution for the purpose of prerequisites?
Does the half-elf have the evolution point favored class option available?
Can we take the extra evolutions feat?
Can we gain feats presumably available to eidolons, such as multiattack?
This sounds like a really unique campaign. I'm waiting on recruitment for another campaign that will be decided today. I wary of overextending myself so if I am selected there I might bow out here. But if I'm not (or quite possibly even if I am :P), I'll set to work on a character right away.
Not at all sure what I'll play but I have been wanting to give the Bloodrager a shot. I'll think it over and get back to you later today or tomorrow morning.
Would you mind if I made my character in Myth Weavers and used the Stat block function and posted that in my character's profile?
I'm a bit surprised no one is trying a wild shape focused druid.
Side question: Some of the eidolon abilities say they require a particular base form. Do we just ignore those requirements or is everyone considered a 'Biped' base form?
I'm expecting to be pretty busy at work tomorrow, and to not have reliable internet access this weekend as I switch ISPs, so I thought I'd post this alias with a preliminary build. Don't want you to think I've gone and disappeared.
If we end up caster heavy, I'll focus my build more on summoning. Question though for u Jelani:
You said only crafting was for expendable items, like potions, scrolls, and wands. Is that for the entire campaign, or just at game start.
Cause I could totally make a Shield Iron Golem later for a tank for us...just saying...lol