Nightflier's Darkness in the Frozen North (Inactive)

Game Master nightflier

Okay, so I have this homebrew world of mine with long history (it was created in 1995) and now I have a set of house rules to support the gaming in said world. You can find the rules by clicking on my profile and following a link to pdf file. The rules are constantly improving, and I'm adding new options of various kinds.

You should now that right now available races are limited to 3 subraces of humans, 2 subraces of dwarves, 3 subraces of elves and 2 Gral races, basically intelligent ghouls/zombies and something like dhampirs, who have an option to become full vampires. There are no orcs, halflings and gnomes (but there are replacement races, which will be available when I decide to do a major rules expansion).

There four base classes: Channeler, Fighter, Rogue and Wildlander. The classes are very modular and use talent system which allows you to create an unarmed martial artist assassin using Rogue as your basic chassis, or to create something like Magus class using Fighter combined with the Channeler.

Channeler is the magic-user of this world. There are no clerics (or paladins) and the church is more like the church of our world - a political organization, rather corrupted and heavy-handed. Think Dragon Age, if you've played it. Channeler can learn healing spells and they can specialize in various stuff. At lower levels they are more powerful than standard PF spellcasters, but they receive only limited number of spells per level and their casting abilities are reduced. They use mana points and in generally get 1 mana point per level. Magic Missile costs 1 mana point. Fireball costs 3 mana points. At 10th level a Channeler has mana points: 10 + spellcasting ability modifier + whatever he gets from feats, so I guess 20 at the most. That means they have to conserve them, not spam fireballs against every obstacle. And they are healers in addition to everyhing else - if they decide to be so.

There are some other setting-specific classes, such as Bladedancer and Lycan. You can check them out in my rules document.

I'm using a system of traits that are more powerful than standard PF traits and Fate Points system, that can be quite useful.

My games use either 28-point buy character creation or an array of ability scores (18, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12). This game will use the latter option.

Also, in my games you get a bonus feat each level, independently from feats that you gain from class or level advancement.

So, my question is - what kind of game would you like to play in this world? Since it's homebrew, there are parts of the continent where I can place a post-apocalyptic game, a dungeon crawl or grimdark Far North game, or political game or whatever really suits you.

I already have 4 interested players, but I'd like to get 4 more. So, take a look at my rules and tell me what kind of game you'd like to play.

My character isn't really built for a political game, so any other type would be preferable.

I did like the idea of the exploring the wastes, but any exploration would be good, with above-ground exploration being slightly preferable to below-ground dungeon-delving.

EDIT: this is Tenro's submission

I game for any style.

Coming in with a female Silvarim-based Morgral assassin.

Cold, hard, mysterious, frozen North.

Im interested. If I were to join I would love to play a post apocalyptic or far north game.

Hi, Scranford. Long time no see :-)

Instead of a far north game, lets have a far south game. :p

Okay, so 1 vote for Cold, hard, mysterious, frozen North - and two votes for post-apocalyptic game. :)

Post-apoc and frozen north both sound good to me

and 1 vote for nightflier's dark challenging adventure, no matter where it takes place.

Yeah but we are getting that no matter what this is nightflier its always dark mysterious and challenging. He can't help it lol.

I would really like to try out a Gholgral berserker. Raging with your charisma sounds fun.
Or.. I don't know if servitors would be a playable race but I think it would be great to play a big burly warforged who's cortex has been replaced with that of say a servitor designed for scouting.

Lol, you're making me blush, guys. :-)

Well, gholgrals don't have Constitution score, so I don't think they would make good bersekers. Servitors will be available for play at some later point, but right now you can play only those races and classes presented in the pdf.

They use their Charisma score when calculating hp, Fortitude saves, and any special ability that relies on Constitution.

Am I misreading this? I thought that they would use their charisma to determine rage.

Hmmm, yeah, you're right. Charisma works for gholgral berserker. But you'll still have to wait until 4th level to choose your Warrior Way and gain Rage.

Of course. I just thought it would be fun favorably too.

Nightflier's Houserules v. 1.1. wrote:

They use their Charisma score when calculating hp, Fortitude saves, and any special ability that relies on Constitution.

Am I misreading this? I thought that they would use their charisma to determine rage.

raging with CHA?

Nightflier when you get a chance, Yarovuk is at the top of the thread, i think i did everything except but vittles and clothes

Okay, if Scanforf and Billy join the game, we will have enough party members. If no one wants to play a channeler, I'll create a DMPC or two to fill you out.

You have a week to finish your characters. Post them here, under your new profiles.

The game will be set in the north, at least initially.

Im assuming that since we are using the set stat array it is okay to put the twelve where constitution would be.

Could you post all the character creation rules here so I know.

So, character creation rules:

1) Use this array for your abilities:

18, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12

1a) Charisma is not a dump stat. You will frequently find yourself in situations when you can get killed if your personality is offensive or if you lack in social skills. Also, Charisma determines your starting Fate Points, which are something like Hero/Action points, only cumulative. They are explained in my house rules.

2) Races and Classes

You can use only races and classes provided in my house rules. The link is provided below, as well as in my profile. Classes are modular and with four base classes presented in the rules you may create most fantasy concepts easily. Also, some classes are rolled into one. For instance, some aspects of the Monk and Assassin classes are rolled into Rogue.

3) Limited Gestalt

You gain a bonus feat at each character level, in addition to your other feats, bonus or otherwise.

4) Feats presented in my document supplant the feats of the same name from standard PF rules. Some feats are scalable, such as Two Weapon Fighting.

5) You get maximum gold for your class and 10 bonus hit points when you start.

6) Magic works differently. If you want to play a spellcaster, take a look at Channeler class.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them.

I'm thinking about a dwarves (not sure which kind yet" semi-Chandler. Any suggestions...special sects...etc. I like the Mahiset, but not sure what kind of channeling they might have

They are much like Midnight non-Clan dwarves. They are mostly herders and hunters. They would mostly be naturalists and spiritualists.

How do hit points work? the top of the page says fighters get 4+d6 hp but the Juggernaut talent references them having the usual d10. which one is it?

So where is the adventure will be taking place.

Here is my (Billy) alias. I'm not done yet. He is a gholgral (previously imperial) fighter. He uses a Dwarven long axe (flavored as a normal long axe) and i probably will try to do some sort of intimidate stuff.

Looks like this party is of the darker side of life, unnatural that is. Going to have to behave ourselves with the law to keep our skin still attached to our bodies.

I like to choose the traits for background based where the adventure takes place in the setting, and where the character grew up. So I will wait for more information before working on character in detail. Have to see what talents and feats to take that would help with achieving the idea of acrobatic assassin with ranged and sneak abilities.

I am working on a Mahiset spiritiulist / Monk type character...A spiritual Warrior if you will. I'll try to get it knocked out today/tonight. Looking forward to playing in one of you games again.

Great to see you back with us scranford.

@Nightflier - Can we take traits in place of feats? It mentions being able to replace a background feat with a trait.

The only way you can get more traits is by taking a disadvantage. In my previous games I used to reward good backstories with a bonus background feat, but now you get a feat each level, so effectively there are no background feats. But, you can burn a feat to gain Paizo traits, as long as they confirm to standards of my world.

So where is the adventure will be taking place.

The game will start in the Borderlands, probably Varingia. Kingdom of Aliatar will have a significant role, though.

How do hit points work? the top of the page says fighters get 4+d6 hp but the Juggernaut talent references them having the usual d10. which one is it?

4+d6 is regular Fighter. If you take Juggernaut, you use 6 + d6

Nightflier tell me what this means please.
Want to make sure the meaning is right.

Nikolai Brunislaw

DarkOne the Drow wrote:

So where is the adventure will be taking place.

The game will start in the Borderlands, probably Varingia. Kingdom of Aliatar will have a significant role, though.

So it means I continue making character growing up in Solitude, after being abandoned by elven parent soon after birth.

Just need information on Solitude then. Also fine I create elven village for parents about 100 miles from forest edge bordering the Wastelands? What would the distance / travel time be from Solitude to start of adventure?

this page covers the travel times and distances for various modes of travel.

Tenro, this is a new world we going to explore, so there is little information available. nightflier needs to give us the general information we require.

Nightflier tell me what this means please.

Want to make sure the meaning is right.

Nikolai Brunislaw

Well, Nikolai is a Russian version of Nicholas, which is a Greek name in origin, if I remember correctly, and it means something like Defender of the People. Bruni- doesn't stand for anything particular as far as I know. -slaw/-slav is very common part of Slavic names. It has a root in the word "slava", which mens "Glory", among other things. For instance, by great-grandfather was called Jaroslav, form "jara" (heat, wrath, rage) and "slava" (glory). I have a friend called Vojislav (translated, Glory of Battle). There are names such sa Miroslav (Glory of Piece) etc. In Slavic languages there are names that have roots in ancient Slavic naming customs, and there are those imported from other cultures when Slavs accepted Christianity. For instance, my own name has two variants. I am Ivan, which comes from Russian name for John, but there is also Jovan, which is the name we use for various saints, such as Saint John the Baptist, who is a patron saint of my family (yearly celebrations of our patron saints are also called "slava" :) ).

Now, in Locknar's (the name of the planet) past a race called the Ancient Masters went to Earth and capture a lot of humans to use as slaves, but they bred those slaves for various purposes and from various stocks. Also, Masters were not constrained by time, so they gathered the slaves from various points in human history, most probably coinciding with great wars, so that their harvesting was not noticed. Borderlanders were bred to be warriors and laborers so they were bred to be hardy and strong, and they were created from two basic stocks: Slavic and Nordic. Therefore, Borderlanders in my game have the cultural mores that are blend of those ancient cultures - but the thing is, there were slaves taken from 9th Century and there were slaves from 19th Century, so the naming conventions are a bit mixed.

What I want to say, in a very roundabout way, is that you can play a character called Nikolai, even if that isn't ancient Slavic name, and you can play a Viking-like character, called Beorn or Ragnar of whatever, and it wouldn't be strange if Nikolai and Ragnar were brothers or members of the same extended family, since Borderlanders are not aware that their culture and race is a mix of two distinct (but similar) cultures. :)

More about naming conventions:

Last names are pretty much recent development in European history. For instance, in my country they were formalized less than 150 years ago. Before that, you used the name of your father as your last name, so your son would have a different last name than you.

Even now, nicknames have great importance in most Slavic countries (I don't know about other parts of Europe, but I suspect it's the same), and in the villages last names are almost never used in everyday communication. Nicknames are unique and sometimes are inherited.

So, your character would have a name, given by his parents, but he would value his nickname far more than his given name and he would in most cases present himself by that name, even if it's not that great (nicknames are not always cool; very often they come from mockery, so it would be very important for a young man to get a nice nickname).

So, you choose a Slavic or Nordic first name and then you take a nickname, which can be in English (remember, English is in fact a common tongue of my setting, but it goes by the name Low Imperial) or it can be in pseudo-Slavic or pseudo-Nordic, such as Yarovuk. :) If you want a Slavic name and warrior nickname, I can help you with that, and I can even try to do something with Nordic naming conventions, but I'm no expert there, I'm afraid.

Thanx for this interesting bit on Slavic names. Now I also know what Miroslav means for someone I do business with.

nightflier, you are so wicked. There so many feats for morgral, interesting talents for rogue, so making the feat choosing for progressing so difficult now. Though they make for interesting progression routes. I did see you have Gral feats that must be taken before level 5 so making the choices harder. Bad on you. Tormenting me with so many choices.

Lol :)

nightflier wrote:

DarkOne the Drow wrote:

So where is the adventure will be taking place.

The game will start in the Borderlands, probably Varingia. Kingdom of Aliatar will have a significant role, though.

So it means I continue making character growing up in Solitude, after being abandoned by elven parent soon after birth.

Just need information on Solitude then. Also fine I create elven village for parents about 100 miles from forest edge bordering the Wastelands? What would the distance / travel time be from Solitude to start of adventure?

Distance from the middle of Varingia to Solitude Castle is about 1500 miles.

Didn't get time to work on the character yesterday, but should have time to do it tonight. Definitely a Dwarven Channeler, but I'm leaning more towards Naturalist now...more focused on the power of Nature, than Animals or beasts.

I was thinking about someone from an isolated outpost, who maybe never completely adapted to the "Clan" model, and instead paid lip service. Maybe not enough resources for the Clan to worry about too much... (Kind of like 12th Century Wales :-)

Any guidance???

PS: Also thinking about being an unarmed combatant, and using the magic to support / enhance that.

Mahiset are mostly herders, but there are woodsmen and loners aplenty among them, so your character can easily be a mountain hermit, perhaps with a small herd of sheep or cattle and perhaps some bees. Since dwarves suffer from -2 penalty to their mana point total, I'd suggest focusing on talents instead of straight spellcasting, such as gaining hexes and choosing a bloodline talent.

Unarmed fighting can be done by taking Prehensile Hair hex, that can work on your beard as well, and then taking Arcane Combat feats that allow you to burn spell points to gain damage and AC bonuses, or feats that allow you to channel spells through touch attacks, which you can combine with Prehensile Hair. Perhaps you can do something along the lines of Thor-like character with wild hair and beard, who channels lighting and shock through his hair? Just an idea.

Of course, you can go more traditional route and multiclass into Rogue, which has some Defender abilities rolled into it...

nightflier, can you provide some information on Solitude to help me build my character. I think I have her remain at Solitude for her entire youth so simplify background and the need for additional information. Also need a little information about Varingia, particular where adventure starts, to have something for me to figure out how to get her from Solitude to Varingia.

I could also use some info when you get a chance. I'm thinking of having come from a relatively big village, but not one so big that it had a wall of any sort. Just maybe a sizeable stop along a trade road, probably known for its lumber. Bonus points if there is some sort of small group of lycans there.

I'll try, guys. You'll get some write-up about Solitude by the end of the week, as well as something about a place in Varingia, where adventure begins.

Thank you and what I saw it as meaning is victorious weapon of glory. But its nice to get the insight of someone who speaks the language. And yes I would appreciate the help with the name.