Tell me about your Impossible Lands characters!

With so much loving coming to this region in 2022, I've been daydreaming a lot about these lands of vibrant culture and strange magic - and so, I'd like to politely ask about your PCs and NPCs who call it home! Nex is home to some of the greatest arcane masters on Golarion, especially those with fiendish masters; Alkenstar has gunslingers and inventors aplenty; Nex is a place where necromancy is king and life is desperate; the Mana Wastes are home to hardy (heroic?) mutants; and Jalmeray is a hub of both elemental and psychic power, to say nothing of its famed spies.

Looking to kindle my own imagination some - thank you!

A Gebbite savant-philosopher who tries to find a way for undead to subsist on non-sapient creatures.

A Nexian who wants to learn everything they can on Fleshcraft to improve themselves and their allies, with an eye to immortality.

One of my first character concepts was actually from Nex, a goblin Mage/Alchemist that started working in Oenopion ooze pits, stealing bits of knowledge here and there from the snotty mages that tought him their inferior and making alchemical and arcane experiments with the dangerous slimes he worked with. When he finally meaged to create a familiar he realized that enough is enough and ran away, with dreams of becoming powerful enough to be feared by the same mages that once treated him like dirt.

For Geb, I want to play a zombie barbarian that's recently purchased a plot of land near Geb's border and just wants those noisy, trouble-making adventures to get off his lawn. He took up adventuring mostly to tell that to as many of them as he could.

In Nex, a duplicitous gnome inventor who's been passing off hidden gadgetry and unlikely artifice as magical talent, exhibiting the airs of a wizarding prodigy to buy fame and fortune in a little village near Ecanus. Despite possessing no magical aptitude whatsoever, they dream of taking this ruse as far as they can in Quantium, and bringing back a little renown to their overlooked hometown.

In Jalmeray, a summoner with a (restyled demon) Rakshasa eidolon, trapped between incarnations. Ordinarily loathe to consort with him, a sinister plot threatening her family's noble house and his dreams of using her to wrest control of the family's fortune pressure them into an uneasy alliance.

For Dongun Hold/Alkenstar/Mana Wastes, I want to play a sleazy, eccentric dwarven gunslinger who's obsessed with finding magical Moby-Dick of the sands, who snatched up his favorite mule, Harvey. He'd do anything to avenge that raggedy old mule, or anyone.

I don't know if I like the class enough to actually play this character, but a Life Oracle from the Kulenett dwarves who acts as a living, portable equivalent of their positive energy oases and struggles with what this fate means for her.

I'm also toying with the idea of sibling Askedhaki catfolk from Jalmeray: one a Psychic and a spy, trained at the famous Conservatory, the other an elemental Monk who learned at the Houses of Perfection.

When Outlaws of Alkenstar was announced, I very quickly had a full party of characters come together in my head, and they make sense to share here!

Feliks is a half-elf from Alkenstar, a charming pickpocket and petty thief who lost an arm to an explosive trap in a heist gone wrong. He never knew his father (a Vourinoi wanderer who never returned), and had a troubled life on Alkenstar's streets that never dampened a plucky spirit. Despite a life of crime, Feliks is - mostly - kind-hearted, and prefers to steal from either those too rich to miss it or those who have it coming.

'Tink' is a dwarf in semi-exile from Dongun Hold for their faith in Brigh, rather than the ancestral paragon; they live a simple, fulfilling life in Alkenstar, driven by devotion to fit those in need with clever clockwork prosthetics. They saved Feliks' life when they found him bleeding out in an alley, and has (reluctantly!) been roped into more of the young half-elf's misfortunes.

Morgan Strange is a fleshwarp from one of the nomadic groups in the Mana Wastes, banished for a murder they insist was justice served; the gun and duster of a gunsligner they found dead in the wilderness let them slowly build a reputation among 'civilized' folk. Strange was brought in as extra muscle on a job with Feliks and Tink to steal...

...Sledge, a Jistkan Automata excavated in Rahadoum and sold to a wealthy buyer within the City of Smog - the same man whose trap stole Feliks' arm. Tink reluctantly agreed to Felks' pleas that no true servant of Bright could let a living construct be bought and sold, and the job went off mostly as intended! Sledge remembers almost nothing of their mortal life or the thousands of years since, but is content to apply their considerable artificial physique to the protection of their liberators.

(Feliks is a Half-Elf Rogue, Tink is a Dwarf Cleric, Morgan Strange is a Fleshwarp Gunslinger, Sledge is an Automata Barbarian.)

I need to learn more about Geb (which I'm assured to in the coming months) but I had an idea for a Death Warden Dwarf Spirit Instinct Barbarian from Geb who is essentially a loan shark/enforcer for some local tough in some blood lord's organization, who ends up being granted the Blessed One archetype via the machinations of Dranngvit because she has it out for someone placed highly in the halls of power of Geb who has a serious debt to pay.

Raziya’s brother traveled to Nex in pursuit of arcane power beyond what Rahadoum’s halls of learning could offer, but when he stopped writing letters, she set out to find him; the trail led to an Arclord by the name of Vantrian Mind-Thief, who rewarded Raziya’s questions with a will-dominating enchantment that only ended with his unsolved murder over a decade later. Finally herself once more, Raziya is desperate for answers - about her brother, about her “master’s” killer, about what she was doing during all those years as his puppet - but while she doesn’t know Quantium, the city certainly knows her, and isn’t keen to forgive…

Human, Amnesiac Background, Investigator. I wanted a Nexian character who isn’t a spellcaster or alchemist, and Raziya here popped into my mind basically complete!

I think I'll recreate a Geb Born Bard who ended up angering an undead noble he THOUGHT destroyed only to end up on the run. Of course, we were going by first edition details

Either that, or a kobold cleric of Nethys who is more than slightly unhinged himself and firmly believes dragons were descended from Kobolds by will of the God of magic! Any dragons he meets, he will refer to as "Grandchilde of my people"

I don't expect he'll last long.

I got the hazy outline of an Outlaws of Alkenstar character, a fleshwarp who took to Jalmeray philosophies of self-improvement and became a monk, adopting the Bullet Dancer archetype and fighting with a pair of pistols with attached bayonets. Appears mostly "normal," except for the multiple extra eyes scattered around their face.

Wyvaren dragon barb or magus or dragon summoner. Mighty Mog is a bit of a runt but his personality is larger than life.

Book of the Dead is out, which opens up a lot of Gebbite character options, so I want to gently bump this thread again - and I'd love to see some characters of Vudran ancestry and Vudran Ancestries get some spotlight!

People assume Doc Sawbones' name is redundant or a joke before they meet him and learn it is in fact quite literal: a skeleton who has dedicated himself to the healing arts, operating a discrete, but clean clinic in one Alkenstar's poorer districts.

Doc openly admits he was raised in Geb, and he assumes he was born and raised there too in his previous life, but has few clear memories of that time. What he DOES remember is that whoever he was, he had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of anatomy and alchemical medicine, which he has steadily recovered and improved on since those days, and a drive to keep other living people from ending up like he did. Given Geb's general apathy towards its living citizenry, Doc struck out for Alkenstar, figuring his skills would be in demand in a place where the healing magic of priests and such was...unreliable at best. He was right, but quickly learned that Gebbites like himself were viewed with suspicion, and so while he was able to set up shop, it was far away from any legitimate medical institution in the city, down among the slums, where ironically he felt he'd get the most work done.

Most of Doc's time is spent trying to make ends meet and keep his clinic running, no easy task given he turns no one away, even if they can't pay him. In his mind, any soul he can keep from heading to the Boneyard for even one more day, is a victory. Some of Alkenstar's more unscrupulous elements have taken advantage of this, forcing him to provide his services to various injured gang members and criminals in exchange for keeping his identity secret from nosy Pharasmins and discrete shipments of the reagents and supplies he needs to make medicine and treat wounds. Doc dislikes this state of affairs, as many times he'll find himself treating a man for a stab wound, and then later that day treating the bruised face of someone that same man beat up for money, but he feels it's just the cost of doing business on behalf of Alkenstar's downtrodden.

snip

I love Doc! He's got such a heart, and really jumps off the page. Hate to think what he was using alchemy and anatomy studies for in Geb, though... or how he wound up dead. It's probably fine, right?

Ikshana (he/they) was born to poor Askedhaki catfolk in the slums of Niswan, who saw the glimmer of djinn's fire in their child's eyes and dreamed of more; they surrendered their babe to a well-dressed stranger who appeared to them as if summoned by the thought, and did not weep, knowing it was for the best. The young ifrit learned much in their time at the Conservatory, some of it taught (courtly etiquette, foreign languages), some of it figured out (his gender and striking fashion sense), and graduated from its halls a charming, confident spy.

Ikshana delights in working as an information broker and snoop, sifting valuable insights from the gossip of what they certainly think is the greatest city on Golarion. A terrible flirt, Ikshana wears vibrant shirts cut scandalously low, and decorates his face, tongue, and ears with piercings of the same fine gold as their fang caps.

Ifrit Catfolk, Empiricism Investigator. I can't wait to learn more about Jalmeray's school for espionage! I've hung two characters on Grand Sarret's hook, and hope it leaves up to my hype.

Zadow (they/it) is a product of Oenopion's cruel ingenuity, a purpose-built killer made of fleshwarped subtlety and hungry ooze. Assassins are a fact of life in Nex - one sits openly on the Council of Three and Nine - but Zadow is exceptional in their crowded field, lacking much in terms of personal ideals, desires, or mercy. It's a silent blade in the night, unfazed by any pain or injury to their inhuman form.

Fleshwarp Rogue with the Oozemorph Archetype. Makes the most sense as an antagonist NPC, but have an employer betray it and other assassins on their trail spins things neatly into Zadow being a player character.

For the curious, the Ancestry spread for the new book has been confirmed as Ghoran, Kashrishi (Vudran rhino-like folk), Nagaji, Vanara, and Vishkanya.

Yay, ghorans at last!

I’ve been daydreaming about the Nagaji for a few days now, and feel very torn between either a Champion of Ravithra or a Ruffian Rogue. The former is a little more exciting, but the lack of LN Champions really hurts the appeal.

I’ve been daydreaming about the Nagaji for a few days now, and feel very torn between either a Champion of Ravithra or a Ruffian Rogue. The former is a little more exciting, but the lack of LN Champions really hurts the appeal.

Would homebrew help ?

I'm hoping to make a Kashrishi character, though I'd need to know what they look like and what their mechanics are before I settled on anything. I'm assuming they're chonky and have rhino heads, and someone let slip in a blerb somewhere that they have psychic powers, so right now I'm thinking of some kind of psychic wrestler.

The ones I'm most interested in are Vanara and Kashrishi, for the former I'm thinking Vanara Monk, the latter I need more concrete details on the mechanics of the Ancestry to settle on a concept.

keftiu wrote:

I’ve been daydreaming about the Nagaji for a few days now, and feel very torn between either a Champion of Ravithra or a Ruffian Rogue. The former is a little more exciting, but the lack of LN Champions really hurts the appeal.

Would homebrew help ?

If it’s not on Pathbuilder, I can’t easily use it, and my preference is to stick with official stuff anyway.

I did find a tidbit on AoN about Spirit Nagas occasionally joining hag covens or forming covens of their own, so a Nagaji Sorcerer with a reflavored Hag bloodline is sounding like it might be the ticket.

I'm hoping to make a Kashrishi character, though I'd need to know what they look like and what their mechanics are before I settled on anything. I'm assuming they're chonky and have rhino heads, and someone let slip in a blerb somewhere that they have psychic powers, so right now I'm thinking of some kind of psychic wrestler.

Do a search on Twitter or the PF2 subreddit for “Kashrishi,”

Perpdepog wrote:

I'm hoping to make a Kashrishi character, though I'd need to know what they look like and what their mechanics are before I settled on anything. I'm assuming they're chonky and have rhino heads, and someone let slip in a blerb somewhere that they have psychic powers, so right now I'm thinking of some kind of psychic wrestler.

Do a search on Twitter or the PF2 subreddit for “Kashrishi,”

you’ll see the art that was shared of them at Paizocon.

I'm blind, so no, I won't, but thanks for the tip. I'll likely just wait until my playgroup all start getting the book and ask then.

The Kashrishi are squat and very broad, like broader than a dwarf is. They have a single horn like a rhino but have a flatter face so it looks like it's coming out of the forehead. They have very broad shoulders (about half as broad as they are tall) with long arms and short legs. The one in the image has his arms at rest hanging by his side and his fingers dangle near his knees. They have three toed feet with hooves like a rhinosceros and grey skin. The one we saw had what looked like a bony plate in its collarbone region, but it could have been armor. They have pointed fingernails, like claws but not like really vicious claws.

The Kashrishi are squat and very broad, like broader than a dwarf is. They have a single horn like a rhino but have a flatter face so it looks like it's coming out of the forehead. They have very broad shoulders (about half as broad as they are tall) with long arms and short legs. The one in the image has his arms at rest hanging by his side and his fingers dangle near his knees. They have three toed feet with hooves like a rhinosceros and grey skin. The one we saw had what looked like a bony plate in its collarbone region, but it could have been armor. They have pointed fingernails, like claws but not like really vicious claws.

Is that a bone plate? It looks like breasts to me, and they’re wearing a skirt.

They’ve also got a pet otter on a leash.

I confess, I'm not good at figuring out the sex/gender of actual human beings I am interacting with (I'll just go with whatever I'm told), let alone fantasy creatures.

I’m hearing from a friend that Luis said Kashrishis are size Small in a recent interview, apparently?

I’m hearing from a friend that Luis said Kashrishis are size Small in a recent interview, apparently?

Yes.

All things described as serving to make them more unique beyond being anthropomorphic rhino people.

I’m hearing from a friend that Luis said Kashrishis are size Small in a recent interview, apparently?

Given how stout they appear, it looks like another Small Ancestry without an Ability Flaw to Strength, though Ability Boosts seem more likely geared towards Constitution and either Wisdom or Charisma if two fixed boosts or no Ability Flaws and Constitution plus the additional Free one for both possibilities. If they do have any Ability Flaw, it's probably for Dexterity, though I would be surprised if instead of a Boost to Wisdom or Charisma they have Boost to Intelligence but the Flaw is Wisdom. I don't see the Flaw being to Intelligence or Charisma, but those are possibilities, as weird as that feels to me.

The Raven Black wrote:

keftiu wrote:

I’ve been daydreaming about the Nagaji for a few days now, and feel very torn between either a Champion of Ravithra or a Ruffian Rogue. The former is a little more exciting, but the lack of LN Champions really hurts the appeal.

Would homebrew help ?

If it’s not on Pathbuilder, I can’t easily use it, and my preference is to stick with official stuff anyway.

I did find a tidbit on AoN about Spirit Nagas occasionally joining hag covens or forming covens of their own, so a Nagaji Sorcerer with a reflavored Hag bloodline is sounding like it might be the ticket.

My homebrew is that you choose either the LG cause (and powers) or the LE ones based on :

1. Your deity's Good/Evil alignment component if any

2. The Good/Evil alignments allowed by your deity

3. Your choice

Here, it would be your choice of LG or LE.

Which can be built in Pathbuilder, since it does not check your PC's alignment.

Ravithra straight up allows Paladins, it's just that "enforce karma's pitiless judgment, shame fools, kill traitors" makes for a weird Paladin.

Ravithra straight up allows Paladins, it's just that "enforce karma's pitiless judgment, shame fools, kill traitors" makes for a weird Paladin.

Mechanically, only anathemas matter :

"Anathema: make decisions erratically or randomly, provide aid to Vasaghati or her followers, engage in treachery."

Sounds feasible.

You probably *should* have goals that align somewhat with the edicts, even if you don't know how to tell what "karma's pitiless judgement" is in each case.

Something that's been bugging me lately is I've got an Impossible Lands character idea I've wanted to share here and almost EVERYTHING about the concept has crystallized...except the character's name.

It's not even that I'm not sure of the naming conventions: given Nex's geographic location and population makeup I think I know what naming conventions to look at, but I'm getting indecisive on just what name to pick OUT of those naming conventions...

Something that's been bugging me lately is I've got an Impossible Lands character idea I've wanted to share here and almost EVERYTHING about the concept has crystallized...except the character's name.

It's not even that I'm not sure of the naming conventions: given Nex's geographic location and population makeup I think I know what naming conventions to look at, but I'm getting indecisive on just what name to pick OUT of those naming conventions...

Care to share the rest?

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

Something that's been bugging me lately is I've got an Impossible Lands character idea I've wanted to share here and almost EVERYTHING about the concept has crystallized...except the character's name.

It's not even that I'm not sure of the naming conventions: given Nex's geographic location and population makeup I think I know what naming conventions to look at, but I'm getting indecisive on just what name to pick OUT of those naming conventions...

Care to share the rest?

Sure! Long story short, he's a Magus from Nex, taking the Arclord feat and multiclassing into Champion (Redeemer) of Nethys.

Not sure if I just wanna go Garundi human or throw in some Vourinoi half-elfishness, but I'm hoping we get weapon stats for the shotel at some point: Ethiopia and Eritrea, where those swords were in style, are probably what the culture and aesthetic of Nex resembles most, and if you were to superimpose Earth onto Golarion they'd probably overlap very closely.

Backstory is where I REALLY have it all figured out: The son of a mid-ranking Arclord and possessing great magical talent, he seemingly had his career planned from the moment he could cast a cantrip, but his path began to meander shortly after joining his parents on a trade caravan journey around the Impossible Lands and Golden Road.

Seeing how others lived, especially those who didn't have magic to make things easy, got him thinking more broadly than just magic, and he began to study swordplay, theology and statesmanship as well, even Avistani political philosophers like Hosetter and Jubanich, developing an egalitarian mentality and a strong sense of justice. He developed the traditional Third Eye of an Arclord, but his political career stalled as he began to question why his homeland continues to determine public policy based on speculation about what Nex, who hasn't been there for centuries and honestly wasn't necessarily a good person, would want, rather than the immediate needs of its people. He has since taken to adventuring to act as an ambassador and example for what modern Nex could become, and to personally fight back against irresponsible and cruel magic users who give the rest of them a bad name.

Growing up, of course, he idolized Nex. But as he learned more about him, his hated rival Geb, and about other great archmages like Aroden, First Emperor Xin and Old-Mage Jatembe, he began to realize Nex might be a much more flawed figure than his inheritors would like to admit, and that maybe he should be viewed as much as a cautionary tale as a role-model...Maybe even that Nex and Geb had a lot more in common than he was initially taught. He's come to the conclusion that he needs to be a good person before a powerful mage, and that too many mages let the power they wield make them arrogant and unkind, and Golarion has suffered greatly for their egos.

Anyone else notice that the vast majority of powerful mages on Golarion are jerks to a greater or lesser degree?
That's with the exception of Old-Mage Jatembe, who is a cool guy of the highest order.

Anyone else notice that the vast majority of powerful mages on Golarion are jerks to a greater or lesser degree?

That's with the exception of Old-Mage Jatembe, who is a cool guy of the highest order.

What kind of person seeks world-altering power? It’s usually not the nice ones.

Anyone else notice that the vast majority of powerful mages on Golarion are jerks to a greater or lesser degree?

That's with the exception of Old-Mage Jatembe, who is a cool guy of the highest order.

And something I noticed with Nex in particular, something I wanted to discuss via this character, was that he seemed to have a thing for trying to usurp the lands and legacies of other archmages, which would always blow up in his face: he tried to conquer Absalom, Aroden's city, and he failed. His rivalry with Geb began with his aggression into Geb's domain, and it eventually saw him driven from the Material Plane. He had plenty of his own achievements, both magical and mundane, to be proud of, and yet the things people remember him MOST for were him picking fights with other mages and losing...given that a lot of the policy of the Arclords revolves around the question "What would Nex do/want?" it makes for dangerously bad governance at the best of times.

Sure! Long story short, he's a Magus from Nex, taking the Arclord feat and multiclassing into Champion (Redeemer) of Nethys. [details omitted for brevity]

Oooh, this sounds like a fun character to run in anything in or around the Impossible Lands.

Disclaimer, the following is NOT my concept, it's teaxch's and they deserve all credit for it, but it's PERFECT for the Impossible Lands, Alkenstar specifically. Check out the rest of the leshy concepts in that post too, they're adorable!

First Shoots, Leshy (Gourd) Gunsmith Gunslinger

"Who gave that leshy a gun?! This was supposed to be a gardening leshy. Why would I want a gun leshy? Somebody should have double-checked this. Their eyes aren't even pointing in the same direction! Do they have any depth perception?! They're not even looking where they're aiming...Oh, of COURSE their head is full of ammunition! Why not?!...I guess they seem happy enough. Just...send them somewhere else, though. They're kind of noisy."

Druidic is a subtly expressive language, but its vocabulary is somewhat limited when it comes to concepts that are generally of little concern to most druids. A translation error resulted in the creation of First Shoots, a leshy with a penchant for firearms.

Commentary: I absolutely adore the descriptive writing teaxch placed around First Shoots, it sounds exactly like what their exasperated druid creator might say. The fact that their name references the infamous "Han Shot First" Star Wars meme is icing on the cake! The Unexpected Sharpshooter archetype would also complement them perfectly.

I'm really interested in fleshing out Alkenstar for my gaming group. I like the idea of a post-apocalyptic Weird West setting that also happens to be Steampunk Wakanda set in the midst of not-East Africa (the latter vibe is something I would really lean into in terms of culture, fashion, and language).

I'm trying to figure out how it "works," to some extent, practically speaking: all the focus of the official fluff is on cities, but there have to be hundreds of dusty, hardscribble little Sergio Leone-style villages and hamlets in between where saloon entertainers can ply their trade and the Shield Marshals and Way of the Drifter gunslingers can be steely-eyed enforcers of justice (not to mention Protectors from Mutants) and the whole Weird West vibe can really flourish. This isn't even about economic "realism," per se, more like about loyalty to the canon Paizo made-of-tropes setting philosophy.

I had an idea for an NPC party from Alkenstar that was going to appear in a later adventure (we're doing little interlude adventures from our current AP). I don't think I'll get to run them, since the moment I mentioned Alkenstar to my players they wanted to run a party from there, but I like them. They're a troupe of saloon entertainers -- think a cross between Harry Houdini, Ringling Brothers, and the Wild West shows Buffalo Bill used to do -- called the Alkenstar All-Stars, and to get a sense of them, I built them out at 12th level in Pathbuilder.

I would have had, of course, to pare them back and rebuild them using those concepts to use them as NPCs. Building them as PCs was just a starting point to figure out a guideline for what abilities they should have as NPCs. I'm honestly glad that I probably won't have to do all of that... but I do have a wistful longing for my beloved All-Stars. I think they would make a really cool party.

Blood Lords has made me rethink everything I ever thought about Geb and Nex as the most boring nations in Garund. Urgathoa's hedonistic side is really well suited for a nation of undead farmers and the descriptions of meals and focus on food in the AP look delightful. It feels like I finally found the Golarion Nation to set a character based on John Waters and Divine.

Great, now I can hear Urgathoa saying "Kill everyone now! Condone first degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat ****! FILTH is my politics! Filth is my LIFE!" in my mind... :yuk:

Great, now I can hear Urgathoa saying "Kill everyone now! Condone first degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat ****! FILTH is my politics! Filth is my LIFE!" in my mind... :yuk:

/TIHI

Great, now I can hear Urgathoa saying "Kill everyone now! Condone first degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat ****! FILTH is my politics! Filth is my LIFE!" in my mind... :yuk:

She has my vote.

Archpaladin Zousha wrote:

Great, now I can hear Urgathoa saying "Kill everyone now! Condone first degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat ****! FILTH is my politics! Filth is my LIFE!" in my mind... :yuk:

She has my vote.

This makes me want a Maggot/Fly animal instinct for Barbarians.

I’m steadily getting more excited for 2e Nagaji, hopefully with a better look into their culture and place in Vudran/Jalmeri context, but I have to ask - what classes do people like for them?

The only idea I’ve had is a Thaumaturge who studied under a spirit naga, learning occult lore from the coven their master was in. Other than that, I’m struggling to imagine other roles for them, and have already used my usual “they’re Psychic spies, trained by the Conservatory” on two other Jalmeri PCs.