Hey all,
I have an idea for a Berserk campaign and before I plan too much for it, I wanted to gauge interest first.
It's going to be very player-centric and may only go up to level 10, but it's up to date with the story and set in Midland while Guts' party are at Skellig.
I'm leaning more towards descriptive combat than using something like roll20, so it will be very story driven, but what I'd like you all to do (those interested at least) is to make a backstory and the best one will be the drive for the main story, though you'll all get a chance to follow your own paths.
I'll need your characters hopes, dreams and ambitions listed, where you come from and anything else you think may add to things.
Maybe you want to investigate the World Tree, take a trip to Falconia or visit the Hill of Swords? Perhaps you've heard strange rumours of a nearby town or odd things happening in surrounding forests/areas. Maybe you didn't get the Hawk of Light vision in your dreams and are curious why others have a shared dream, or perhaps you did but don't know what it means as you live far from any main settlement?
Whatever the case, anything that fits within the world of Berserk is viable.
Character creation will be very limited in regards to race. I'm allowing Pixies (Berserk calls them Elves) and Humans only. This is because the setting itself is quite realistic (ignoring the monsters) and there's little reason for anything other than Humans to be the main race.
A party of five would be a nice number, so I'm going with that.
Point Buy: 25
Traits: 2 (no drawbacks, but the additional traits feat is allowed)
Each character gets Improved Unarmed Strike for free.
Playable Races: Human, Pixie (see below for homebrew Pixie race)
This is primarily set in Midland, so anything that isn't your standard Medieval character by appearance and/or fighting style should be explained in your backstory. Of note, no character should be related to any of the Manga characters. This is for story purposes as you'll start out mostly unaware of the world events currently going on within Berserk.
Wherever you're from, you may have caught wind of several things, but your own story must stem from your own characters dreams, goals and ambitions. This is also set mostly during the time Guts' party are in Skellig (Elf Island).
I'll be favouring non-magical characters over magical, but I do still want at least one magic user in the party and highly recommend anyone wanting to play a Pixie (Berserk calls them Elves) to focus in Magic, following the Pixie race I built below.
Fey Damage Resistance - 3rp - 5 vs cold iron
Flight (poor) - 6rp - 40ft flight speed, -4 fly checks
Tiny - 4rp
Slow speed (20ft) - -1rp
Human Heritage (+2 to any one score) - 0rp
Standard Language (common and sylvan) - 0rp
Spell-Like Ability, Lesser - 2rp - Fairy Dust: Can cast Cure Moderate Wounds 1/day as a Spell-like ability.
Tiny size = +2 Dex, -2 Str, +2 AC, +2 Attack, -2 CMB and CMD, +8 Stealth, natural reach of 0 so have to occupy enemy square to attack. Cannot benefit from AoO's.
16rp total
Whether afraid of close combat or just having a preference to range, you’ve discovered you have a natural gift for throwing light bladed weapons, striking true where you so desire.
Good Arm: Starting at first level, a Knife Thrower may throw light bladed melee weapons (limited to Dagger, Shuriken and Starknife only) an additional 5 feet for every five levels they possess. Additionally, their sneak attack range increases to match this also. This ability replaces Trapfinding.
Quick Fingers: You may draw each light thrown weapon (up to the maximum number this archetype allows you to hold) as a free action. This ability replaces your first Rogue Talent.
Sneak from Afar: A Knife Thrower focuses to deal sneak attack damage with thrown light weapons to such a degree that she can deal more sneak attack damage this way (at the expense of sneak attacks with other weapons). When she makes a sneak attack with a thrown dagger, shuriken or starknife, she uses d8s to roll sneak attack damage instead of d6s. For sneak attacks with all other weapons (including melee attacks with daggers, shuriken or starknives), she uses d4s instead. This ability is identical in all other ways to sneak attack, and supplements that ability.
Expert Thrower: At 3rd level, a Knife Thrower is so good at throwing light weapons she can now hold and throw two light weapons from each hand. She may hold and throw an additional light weapon from one of her hands for every five levels beyond this, to a maximum of +4 at 18th level. This ability replaces trap sense.
Feats that compliment this Archetype: Clustered Shots, Deadly Aim, Point-blank Shot, Precise Shot, Far Shot.
Feats incompatible with this Archetype: Improved Precise Shot, Manyshot, Pinpoint Targeting and Rapid Shot.
Barbarian
Bard
Cavalier
Cleric (Variant channeler only to represent low magic of the world, unless playing a Pixie)
Druid
Fighter
Inquisitor
Monk (Martial Artist only)
Oracle
Paladin
Ranger - Best favoured enemy choices: Humanoid (Human), Aberrations and Monstrous Humanoids. Must be a non-magical Archetype.
Rogue
Samurai (need good reason as to why you're in Midland and not in your own country)
Sorcerer
Witch
Wizard
Insta-kill – Once per day + 1 for every six levels you possess (maximum 4), you may attempt to initiate an insta-kill. On a critical hit, whenever you cinematically describe a killing blow, there is a 10% chance your target can be instantly killed. You may activate this upon a critical threat, but if confirmation fails, your use is still expended for that day.
Extra Homebrew Feats:
Kill’em’all! – As Insta-kill except there is now a 30% chance your target can be instantly killed with a successful critical hit. Additionally, there is also a 10% chance to instantly kill a more formidable opponent. Critical confirmation is required. You must be at least level 6 before selecting this feat.
Revel in Death – As Insta-kill except there is now a 50% chance your target can be instantly killed with a successful critical hit. Additionally, there is now a 25% chance to instantly kill a more formidable opponent. Critical confirmation is required. You must be level 10 or higher and must have the Kill’em’all! feat before selecting this.
Bathe in Blood – You gain two extra uses of Insta-kill per day. This Feat may be taken multiple times, each time granting you two additional uses of Insta-kill per day.
Lastly, anyone wanting to create Apostles may do so and may be invited to roleplay their Apostle character later in the campaign.
Dot =^^=
Thinking a pixie mage
Dark Fey Bloodline Sorcerer
RP in the world of berserk? That sounds awesome.
No merrow as playable race though?
Erin
Pixie sorcerer (wildblooded) 1 (Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 70)
CN Tiny fey
Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +0
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Defense
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AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 12 (+4 Dex, +2 size)
hp 7 (1d6+1)
Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +2
DR 5/cold iron
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft., fly 40 ft. (poor)
Space 2½ ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks bloodline arcana: dark fey, fey fascination
Sorcerer (Wildblooded) Spells Known (CL 1st; concentration +5)
. . 1st (4/day)—itching curse (DC 17), undine's curse[ARG] (DC 17)
. . 0 (at will)—detect magic, mage hand, message, ray of frost
. . Bloodline Dark fey
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Statistics
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Str 8, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 18
Base Atk +0; CMB +2; CMD 11
Feats Eschew Materials, Stubborn Curse
Traits charming, theoretical magician
Skills Acrobatics +4 (+0 to jump), Bluff +8 (+9 vs. characters who could be attracted to you), Diplomacy +4 (+5 vs. characters who could be attracted to you), Fly +8, Knowledge (arcana) +5, Spellcraft +7
Languages Common, Draconic, Sylvan
Other Gear 150 gp
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Special Abilities
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Bloodline Arcana: Dark Fey (Ex) +2 to save DCs from spells of the Curse subschool.
Damage Reduction (5/cold iron) You have Damage Reduction against all except Cold Iron attacks.
Dark Fey +2 to save DC of spells with the curse subtype.
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Fey Fascination (7/day, DC 14) (Su) Target in 30' must make saving throw or be fascinated.
Fly (40 feet, Poor) You can fly!
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Stubborn Curse Creatures roll twice to remove your curses.
Dark Fey Pixie Sorcerer. No gear yet
@ThreeShades - Sadly not. It's been a while since I read that chapter, but from what I recall, Merrow themselves are sea bound. The younger girl was able to walk on land because she was half-Merrow. I'm pretty up to scratch on the trivia.
You might bump into familiar characters too. ;)
@Seth - I'll take a look.
Sounds like fun. I will put forwards a Ranger (Bow). I have not really used them much, so this would be an interesting time to. Not really played Humans before either, so it will be a first.
@ThreeShades - Yea, I was right. Isma was only able to walk on land because she was a half breed. You can be any age (within reason), mind. :)
@Faelar - Sounds good, though I know your knowledge of Berserk will likely be limited. It shouldn't matter really, because this'll be its own story within that world, so any kind of Medieval background will work and I can work with you if something doesn't fit anyway. :)
I was planning on a noble (even minor if necessary) who's family had been killed. So he is out looking for both revenge and personal meaning.
Are you wanting a full character on this thread, or is this still just an interest thread? Although I am curious to know how you knew my knowledge was limited (non-existent).
Check my Alias'. You'll know who I am then. ;)
Full Character would be great in here if you're happy to do so. Monsters are present in this world. Perhaps such a beast killed your family and let you go, or simply failed to sense you. Sounds good, though. :)
Ah, that makes more sense. I was thinking he would have been away from home for a couple of weeks, but when he got back that is when he found out.
I will get to making him later tonight or tomorrow then.
Crunch transferred to this profile, will start to build her story tomorrow =^^=
Going human
Barbarian*, Bloodrager
Brawler, Monk*
Fighter*, Warpriest
Ranger*, Rogue
Barbarian*, Ranger
Monk*, Fighter
Barbarian* / Monk
Thanks guys! Hopefully more interest picks up over the next few days. Thanks for your input so far!
So the idea is a dark fey, specialising in debuffing via curses. And her curses are quite... stubborn. Yah. Had to use that =^^=
Maybe add a meta magic to add to the potency of her curses
Haha, always good to see others using puns unashamedly. Sounds good to me. I like the idea of her, so it's just a case of getting the numbers up now. :)
As I've read the manga at least twice..
I do recall that since the astral and mortal planes are fused that supernatural beast roam about, and yeah Gut's band had magical weapons (or in Guts' case a weapon made magical) to fight the supernatural beast that came to town.
So are we going to start off with magic weapons or gain them?
Perhaps gain them, though you're forgetting there's reason why Guts' party currently have magical weapons.
Guts has killed so many creatures from the Astral Plane that his weapon became a magical weapon in its own right, due to the blood fusing with his blade.
Ishidro and Serpico were given their magical gear by Flora, along with a Mithral Knife and Mithral Chainshirt for both Casca and Farnese. Before this, aside from Guts and Skull Knight, all other party members just had standard gear, with the exception of Guts' magical sword.
Flora won't be in this and Guts' party are in Skellig, so if you assume you'll get no magical gear for a large chunk of the game, you might be pleasantly surprised if or when you do get such items.
It's a low-magic campaign so magic isn't a widely known art, meaning it'll be incredibly hard to attain such items.
This would actually be better suited to 5e. The game balance does not hinge on how many magic items you have there. And it in fact is built for players having fewer magic items and less excessive amounts of riches in general.
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This would actually be better suited to 5e. The game balance does not hinge on how many magic items you have there. And it in fact is built for players having fewer magic items and less excessive amounts of riches in general.
This is the GM's game, they decide on the system used
If you push for 5eThen I could put forth that the game would be better served using Eden studios Army of Darkness RPG, since magic is gone/limited and weapons can influences what attacks you can do. And magic weapons don't really exist either.
I'm not meaning to push for anything. It was just an observation, and 5e is a mechanically similar sytem, also freely available on the internet.
I've got the 5e dmg, but I'm far more familiar with the pathfinder rules, so the most I was considering was using the auto-confirm on crits (only rolling once and if it's a critical, you don't need to roll to confirm). That and I like the Savage World system, so from level 5 onwards was going to add the explosion mechanic as a selectable feat for everyone. It's experimental but could be a lot of fun.
Going to dot this, I love Berserk.
Is the Background skills system in use?
I've not used that before, but I just read up on it and if you wish to use that as a means to make a more interesting character, by all means feel free.
The Background skills system is more for helping support your character's background (i.e. profession,craft,perform) and allowing some skills that rarely get a rank to be useful.
I know, I read it. ;)
One Human Barbarian made.
I'm still not sure, but if we're going with low magic pathfinder and we're already talking about Unchained, a good system to use would be the Automatic Bonus Progression to balance the lack of magic items with the power level expected of the game. Again, just a suggestion.
I'm tempted to make a Kushan character. Not sure what, but I might just make a spellcaster based off my current avatar.
Thanks. :)
Of note, I'll keep this open as an interest check until Sunday, but for those of you already interested, if you'd like to get started on your characters now, feel free to do so. It'll give me time to think on the party I'd like to go with and how to implement everything into the story I have in mind.
The only thing I'll be using from Unchained is the Background Skills System. I don't want to overload myself with additional rules when I can use that time to focus on creating a better story.
I really would not worry about wealth or magical items. It's not your typical Pathfinder game.
You'll be pretty self-sufficient, relying on one anothers skills and abilities to get you through most of the hardships to come. It's a way more realistic take on the system, so don't expect to be carrying 9000gp each etc. It'll be more realistic in what you can carry, what you find and what you have at your disposal. You'll need teamwork and not every encounter you come across will necessarily be winnable. You'll have to pick and choose your fights wisely. If you think you should run away or hide, maybe you should. I'm not going to try to kill you 24/7 but I'm also not going to make things easy. It's about a balanced challenge and a fight for survival just as much as pursuing your goals.
I'll be fair but also merciless in sticking to character personalities. Everything will have its own motive.
So lets see who we have so far;
Complete with Alias
Noya: Human(northern) Barbarian
Erin: Pixie sorcerer
Interest:
Threeshades : ?Human(Kushan)?
Faelar Braegen : ?Human?
DeviousDevious
Teiidae
How much issue is my lack of knowledge about the setting going to be? I am thinking I may have to opt out, just so people who know the actual setting can have more chances to play and enjoy it.
How much issue is my lack of knowledge about the setting going to be? I am thinking I may have to opt out, just so people who know the actual setting can have more chances to play and enjoy it.
I don't think it'll be an issue, given hints in the GMs words.
No issue at all. It's its own story within the world. :)
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How much issue is my lack of knowledge about the setting going to be? I am thinking I may have to opt out, just so people who know the actual setting can have more chances to play and enjoy it.
Knowing that it's a very medieval european fantasy setting which has just survived a war it was about to lose against an invading force will put you on par with the knowledge of an average commoner.
There the land has been under the indirect rule of a monotheistic theocracy known as the Holy See (in some translations also called the Vatican). Their religious symbol is this birdlike statue, their armed wing are the Holy Iron Chain Knights and they have been practicing a fairly unforgiving form of inquisition.
The central land of this setting is fittingly called Midland which has been without a ruler in recent years, which is why neighboring kingdoms (all of which answer to the Holy See) have been vying for dominance over the area. That is until the Kushans, a heathen eastern empire that employed magic and monsters, invaded and almost conquered everything.
The kushans were defeated by the White Hawk Griffith, leader of the legendary Band of the Hawk, a mercenary group that originally helped establish the Midland kingdom. The White Hawk now rules Midland from his newly established capital Falconia.
Yep. The top paragraph is all you really need to know. The rest might be a bit to take on board but doesn't hurt knowing either. Of note though, anything you need to know over the course of the game outside of that will be discovered through the relevant knowledge checks (history, nobility etc), so there won't be an issue.
I feel a druid might be a good choice to emulate the monstrous magic of the Kushan. Particularly the Elemental Ally archetype
Is there a particular reason you want to go with that Archetype? I only ask because I removed summoner as an option for this campaign and it's practically giving you the same ability as a Druid. More so, I love the idea of a Kushan being here, but you really aren't likely to find any elementals in this campaign. It's more about monsters, men and power.
I'm hoping for more or less a maximum of two magic users only.
I thought the elemental eidolons might be more suitable than normal animals to represent the monstrous familiars (Pishaca) that the kushan summoned. And since they don't get any evolutions beyond their base form, they wouldn't be nearly as strong as a Summoner's eidolon.
It's okay if you don't want that, I'm sure i can find something else. Though i would still probably want to go for a spellcaster.
Fair enough, as I mentioned before I shall get to creating a Ranger (Trapper) soon then. Just got to look through the other Archetypes to see if there is anything that goes well with it too.
I thought the elemental eidolons might be more suitable than normal animals to represent the monstrous familiars (Pishaca) that the kushan summoned. And since they don't get any evolutions beyond their base form, they wouldn't be nearly as strong as a Summoner's eidolon.
It's okay if you don't want that, I'm sure i can find something else. Though i would still probably want to go for a spellcaster.
I'll have a think, but for me Pishaca are more monstrous creatures. Aside from Grunbeld, the Elemental Gods that Schierke communes with and Serpico's gear, there's been nothing shown yet that really proves the existence of elementals in the material plane. Ganishka was close but was the equivalent of an Apostle.
There's only one other magic user so far and that's our little Pixie friend. You should be fine.
I guess to give scope on how little magic I wanted in this campaign, I was tempted to rule that Druids, Rangers and anything similar could not have the magical types, but if there is a really good reason for them to have magic, I'm all ears. It's just a more realistic kind of pathfinder game and I can't emphasise that enough.
I see the starting party as people who lead normal lives and just happened to specialise in certain areas that other members of society maybe didn't. This doesn't have to include magic. You might just be really good at fighting or leading etc. There's still a lot to choose from and there's only one magic user so far so I'm fine with that. I just don't really see a summoner existing here personally.
@Faelar - I've got this open until Sunday. :)
As I mentioned, definitely going with the Trapper Archetype, I can't stand Ranger magic. Doesn't make much sense to me. What sort of animal companions are good for this campaign? I was thinking thinking of the following :
Wolf
Eagle
Companions
Any animal that isn't too exotic, so a Wolf would definitely work. Am eagle can but I always saw it as silly that you can essentially see through your animal companions eyes, much like a Worg from GoT. But yea if you're a noble, perhaps a noble Hunter you'll probably have an attack or sniffer dog more than a wolf. If you live in the wild you're more likely to have a wolf or maybe even a fox.
The next thing to do is pick what you really want and then just run it by me ,though I don't see too much of a problem here.
@GM
Do you want to start a RP thread (using a discussion) so we can get into character and you can see how we play our characters, it would also help in getting other players getting a feel of another character.
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Also since I have some nice rendering software I can make character renders of our characters along with a height reference so everyone know very well how tall everyone is to another. That and I can make some environment/scene renderings for the GM.
Note that character rendering would require a good description and should include height, build, eye color, hair style and color, clothing/armour, etc.
I thought the elemental eidolons might be more suitable than normal animals to represent the monstrous familiars (Pishaca) that the kushan summoned. And since they don't get any evolutions beyond their base form, they wouldn't be nearly as strong as a Summoner's eidolon.
It's okay if you don't want that, I'm sure i can find something else. Though i would still probably want to go for a spellcaster.
I'll have a think, but for me Pishaca are more monstrous creatures. Aside from Grunbeld, the Elemental Gods that Schierke communes with and Serpico's gear, there's been nothing shown yet that really proves the existence of elementals in the material plane. Ganishka was close but was the equivalent of an Apostle.
You make a lot of sense, if anything elementals are more of Schierke's school of magic.
Not to worry im already hatching other ideas.
VMC system is likely not allowed, as GM is mentioned only taking the background skills system from unchained.
Updated list.
Complete with Alias
Noya: Human(northern) Barbarian
Erin: Pixie sorcerer
Interest:
Threeshades : ?Human(Kushan)?
Faelar Braegen : Human (Noble) Ranger(trapper)
DeviousDevious
Teiidae
Balancer
Any chance of starting at a level other than 1? Like, 3?
Also, any consideration for 3pp?