Hey all, this is the discussion thread!
I've decided based on your input and what I thought I could run best to set this campaign in Eleder, the capital of Sargava (click for Pathfinder wiki links!). Sargava is a former Chelish colony in southern Garund (colonized before the death of Aroden). It operates under the (expensive) protection of the pirate captains of the Shackles, and is a prosperous trade city whose wealth comes from trade in spices, jewels, slaves, and exploitation of the local Zenj tribe (a Mwangi ethnicity) for cheap labor. You could be a local colonial tradesperson, merchant, or aristocrat, an oppressed Zenj (or other Mwangi) native to Garund, or a foreigner looking for adventure and opportunity. But before I decide exactly what direction to take this campaign, here is the character creation outline so I can get a better idea of what you would like to play in this city:
Rulebooks Allowed:
All Pathfinder books, i.e. Pathfinder RPG line, splat books, basically anything Paizo is probably fine (but see specific race and class stuff below). For third-party, show me the rules text so I can look it over and decide on a case by case basis. I'm usually pretty lenient on allowing stuff, as long as I can reference it.
Starting Level:
Level 4, starting wealth 6,000 gp
Ability Scores:
Choose one stat line (before racial adjustments). These have all been rolled and then adjusted to equal a 20-pt buy.
Roll 1: 17, 14, 12, 11, 10, 9
Roll 2: 16, 14, 14, 13, 9, 8
Roll 3: 14, 14, 13, 13, 12, 12
Classes Allowed:
All Pathfinder allowed, for 3rd party I’ll need access to the rules text, some classes may have houserule buffs!
-Sorcerer: Bonus spells at even levels (1 level earlier)
-Bard: Every time you gain Versatile Performance, you may retrain all affected skills
-All classes with 2+Int skill ranks per level that aren’t Intelligence-based spellcasters instead receive 4+Int skill ranks
-If there are any really common ones you play with and are interested in, let me know, I’ll see what we can do.
Races Allowed:
All Core; humans gain their ethnic language, half-orcs and half-elves may choose an ethnic human language (appropriate to their heritage) instead of Orc/Elven
Featured: Elemental genie-kin (Ifrit, Oread, Sylph, Undine), Catfolk, Ratfolk, Tengu, Tiefling
Others: Ask first, give me a reason
Campaign Traits:
You don’t have to take a campaign trait, but these are available if you want them and they're a bit more powerful than most traits:
Bounty of the Sea: You may be a fisher, a whaler, or even a Zenj pearl diver. Part of your living depended, even if it no longer does, on what the sea can offer, and you are also well-practiced in haggling the value of your catch. You gain a +2 bonus to Swim, and Swim is a class skill for you. Additionally, you gain a 10% discount at Eleder’s local markets.
Prodded Aristocrat: By birth or by marriage, you are a member of Eleder’s aristocracy (or at least a parent of yours is). Perhaps your family has invested in one of Eleder’s major trade companies, or owns significant land around the city. In any case, you’ve not had to struggle to live comfortably, and your family has decided that it’s high time you moved out and did a little work--“to build character.” You gain a +1 trait bonus to Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Nobility), and Diplomacy, and one of these is a class skill for you. Additionally, you can make untrained Knowledge checks with regards to Eleder and Sargava in general.
Northcoast Militia: You enlisted in Eleder’s milita when you came of age. Perhaps you are a local Zenj resident, for whom conscription and a two-year service is mandatory. You may have joined to gain training, wages, and career opportunity (to the dismay of many of the Zenj in Outerwall who consider you a traitor), or you failed to successfully dodge conscription (despite the relative ease of this tactic--perhaps you were unlucky, or just abnormally incompetent at lying). Alternatively, you may be from one of the city’s aristocrat, merchant, or trade families, serving proudly or forced into service by a family who thought you lazy. In any case, the militia drills you learned provide a +1 trait bonus to Will saves, as well as a +1 trait bonus to either your CMB or CMD (choose one).
Sargava Club Regular: You frequent the Sargava Club, a tavern owned by the ex-adventurer half-orc Briga. Whatever your background, you consider yourself an adventurer, despite the official governmental distrust and discouragement of such practices in Eleder, especially from the ancient and wealthy Lady Madrona Daugustana. Spending your time with rough characters carrying untold diseases from uncounted voyages and port, and perhaps indulging in the tavern’s offerings of hearty food, beer, or local Zenj-brewed liquor called mupute, you’ve gained a hardy constitution and a knack for gossip. You gain a +1 trait bonus to Fortitude saves, and a +1 trait bonus to Knowledge (Local), which is always a class skill for you.
If I'm not missing anything, I look forward to seeing your characters! Feel free to ask questions, and discuss what kind of characters you would like to play if you want to make them with collaboration in mind.
Hmm, I have a question. I'm thinking a small cavalier (Beast & Genderm), but, the animal selection is a bit off I think. Would you allow a substitution of an Ostrich as a mount? It's a valid druid companion, and can be ridden by small characters.
Would a Paladin be appropriate for the theme of the campaign?
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First thought: How dare you tempt me with a balanced stat array. Must resist!
Second thought: An urban campaign where we aren't all fighting over the Rogue role? Wow!
Character concept: I'm thinking Zenj Investigator. Originally from outerwall, but she joined the militia as a way to get out of the slums and is currently working as a low-level functionary for one of the trading companies. Could be radicalized, but isn't currently.
Parents are alive and still in Outerwall. Father is likely a low-level alchemist.
All subject to negotiation.
Question for all: Have any of you played the Serpent's Skull AP? Eleder is the city at the beginning of the 2nd book, for reference. Just curious.
mdt: I have no problem with adding ostriches as a legal mount choice. Keep in mind, though, that Eleder's officials (and the city guard by extension) are not fond of adventurers and trouble makers, and an unusual mount may be a social disadvantage. It just depends on what kind of background you're thinking of--it might be a (barely?) tolerated pet for an aristocrat or wealthy merchant's kin. For a roving adventurer or a local citizen of lower social class, an ostrich would definitely be noticed (and not in a good way) in the richer neighborhoods. You could ride an ostrich through Outerwall or keep one at Briga's tavern with little to no problem, though.
PoB-w?: A paladin would be appropriate, as Eleder has many opportunities for their abilities and drive. Whether you want to heal the sick and feed the hungry or address the corrupt capitalist exploitation in the city's trade, a paladin would work best if everyone was on board with a rebellion/root out corruption campaign.
pH: Sounds good to me! Feel free to get an alias up with stats, etc. If you want to flesh out the background some more, I can send you some more of the information I have on Eleder's militia and trading companies.
Not really played in Serpent's skull that I know of before.
I was thinking either of being an aristocrat with a military tradition, or an adventurer with ties to Briga's. I hadn't decided yet. Both could be fun.
For small characters, that's pretty much Hafling, Gnome, or Ratfolk. Unless I go for something unusual and it's approved (Goblin for example, or switch to velociraptor and go kobold :)).
Unfortunately, there's not a lot of races that are small for making a small cavalier.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32
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mdt: A kobold would probably have an easier time avoiding outright hostility than a goblin, but either of those could work depending on how you'd like to play them and what the party's goals are.
The colonial population of Eleder considers themselves to be essentially Chelish (although modern Chelaxians view them as outdated backwater weirdos), and so halflings face discrimination similar to what the Zenj populace do.
Paladin: Ah, one more thing about paladins if that's still how you're thinking: Eleder is one of the few places where the church of Aroden still has a significant presence and mass of followers. Because of that, Iomedae's church has a decent presence as well.
I've had a very busy weekend, but I'll try to get a character worked up sometime tonight or tomorrow.
Sure, no problem. I know it can take a little time to create a character with a few levels already on them. Let's aim for having characters created by/on this upcoming weekend. If you have any questions, I'm here!
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I'm considering taking Brew Potion as a feat -- are Crafting Feats allowed? If so, would starting potions be at half cost? (Similar question for Alchemical Items and poisons with Craft(Alchemy) )
I think her militia career would have ended after she was injured in the line of duty against a wild animal or summoned monster -- let me know if there is anything likely she would have fought which would have crushed her rib cage/right arm. As far as Trading Companies go, if there is one that specializes in alchemical/botantical research, that's the one I would want to be a part of.
Crafting Feats are allowed. Magical potions would be available at half cost, non-magical alchemical items and poisons would cost 1/3 market price to make.
As far as dangerous indigenous animals that could single-handedly end someone's militia career, the relatively nearby Bandu Hills and Screaming Jungle are home to numerous large cats (pumas, tigers), aggressive primates like baboons and gorillas, not to mention the literal dinosaurs. Any one of these could potentially have gotten close enough to the city proper to be a hazard, but a more likely scenario is that someone would try to capture and sell some of these overseas.
There are two really major trading companies.
Unless alchemy or botany were to become extraordinarily profitable, there probably wouldn't be a trade company who did anything more than dabble in such things. Those who are interested in such scientific pursuits (or perhaps those who seek to benefit from these things for adventuring gear) would most likely be at the Colonial Archives or The Sargava Club. The Colonial Archives contains the sole library in Eleder, and is it's major place of more than basic learning and education; it is located in New Haliad, the aristocratic district, just outside the Baron's Palace. The Sargava Club is a tavern and adventurer's club, which welcomes open and investigative minds despite the fact that the government views such things as threatening to the stability of the aristocracy and their profits.
Slammed at work, will try to get something together soon.
Tieflings :
A) Do you require the feat to be a non-standard tiefling (some GMs do, some don't, as Aasimar don't require a feat to be a non-standard tiefling).
B) Do you allow non-human tieflings per the sidebar (basically cosmetic other than size), thus allowing a small sized tiefling.
Tieflings: sorry, I should have provided more info for those at the start, since they have so many variant rules.
A) No, no feat required. We'll ignore the big chart to roll on for extra/replacement abilities, though.
B) That sounds fine to me--what non-human parents were you thinking? Being small will also make adjust your ability scores with +2 Dex and -2 Str, applied with whatever racial bonuses you already had. I.e. a small-sized but otherwise standard tiefling would have +4 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Str, -2 Cha.
Well, the base race doesn't matter, honestly, because you can't tell anymore after tiefling (IE: Elf, Human, Drow, catfolk, etc tieflings all look like tieflings). I was thinking either goblin or halfling or gnome. All three would look like each other as tieflings.
Standard side bar says the size only applies (IE: AC/BAB adjustments), not stat adjustments. I'm assuming the stat adjusts are house rules? Which is fine, just making sure it's a house rule and not a misreading is all.
I thought it was a regular rule, since it's not like "Here are the stats for an X-spawn tiefling, no matter the size," it's a "Here's an extra option, where they could be smaller, and have everything that entails." Stat adjustments are part of reducing a creature's size category, since there are stats for medium-sized tieflings; this is unlike wayang, who lack a strength penalty but are always small.
That's my reasoning anyway, and it may be a houserule. I don't know if the question has been officially answered, or if there's an FAQ out there...
What kind of character is everyone considering? I'm no longer leaning towards Paladin because rebellion feels a little too unlawful to me. (I think a Paladin would try to work within existing governmental structures by advocating inclusion of minorities in those structures, a la Nelson Mandella. That could be a really interesting character, but it's not the character I want to play.)
Right now I'm considering a cleric, fighter/cleric, or warpriest of Milani, Desna, or Arshea, or a shaman focusing on battle. I'm leaning towards the last, since the Mwangi people seem to prefer shamanism to avistani-style churches. If she's a cleric/priest, she'll be someone who traveled to Avistan to be educated, and returned with liberal ideas and wants to free her people. There'll probably be some tension between her and locals who see her worship of an avistani deity as foreign.
I've briefly played part of book 1 of Serpent's Skull, but never got past it so no playing in Eleder.
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Current thinking is a True Neutral Investigator. She's a (Zenj) native of the slums, but has moved up in the world and currently works for one of the Trading Companies.
I'm planning on dumping Strength and Constitution (yikes!) so avoiding combat when possible. (I promise she won't be useless in combat, though.)
Charisma will be decent, but I was hoping to avoid face skills in favor of Knowledge, Wilderness skills, and Underworld skills. I also plan on providing potions and poisons for all.
I'm going to give her hooks where she could be radicalized in favor of revolution *or* turned into a loyalist. But at the moment she is apolitical.
Religion is tepid worship of Gozreh. But I was paging through some of the minor deities for ideas and I could *definitely* see her attracted to either Haagenti (Demon Lord of Alchemy) or Immonhiel (Empyreal Lord of Herbalism) under the right circumstances.
Basically, she has been so intent on survival that she has never considered her place in the larger scheme of things. She currently uses people and harvests nature -- whether she moves on to being an exploiter or a preserver will be determined in play.
If needed I could do the same sort of thing as an Alchemist (probably Mindchemist) or maybe a Shaman (don't know the class very well) but I think I'd rather stick with Investigator as I want to give that class a test drive.
No official ruling on it. Only thing I could find on it was this...
Yeah, the sidebar about small/non-human tieflings is vague at best. Still, it makes the most sense to me to include the ability score adjustments as well as the typical stats for a Small-sized creature.
If it's important to your character/build that you have only the standard ability score adjustments for whatever spawn of tiefling you choose, I'm okay with making the +2 Dex/-2 Str optional. Small tieflings are already strange, even for tieflings! One with no racial ability adjustment to Strength, or even a bonus to Strength, would likely look very strange (as tieflings usually do). They would probably have weirdly beefy or elongated limbs, not unlike orangutans and other beefy-armed apes.
Paldin and pH: Those both sound great! While there are definitely some deities that are more commonly worshiped in certain areas, I don't know that there are any that are considered "Avistani" versus "Garundi" ones. Maybe for some of the ascended deities like Iomedae or Cayden Cailena, but Desna is a butterfly from space, not Avistan.
I meant more that the organized worship of deities through a church with a clergy and all that, as opposed to the more direct spiritualism of shamans, is what might be seen as foreign to the native people.
LOL, well, any hit to Str hurts a melee based build, especially for a cavalier (unless I went finesse build, but that's not really a good build for a cavalier). :) Up to you.
I'm thinking a halfling tiefling. I was thinking of a Demonspawn (Pitborn).
Ok, here we go.
If we go with the small stat adjusts, the str goes down by 2 and the dex up by 2
This week has been ridiculous for me, I'm sorry I've been kinda missing. I will be using this character, Nyroba, as my PC, but she'll be completely reworked before the campaign begins.
I'm *almost* done -- buying formulae and equipment is taking me forever.
This is the alias I'll be using.
All right, it isn't formatted, and I haven't bought skills yet, but everything else is in this profile so you can start reviewing it.
It's my F2F gameday today, so probably won't get a chance to clean it up until Monday.
Had some time after all. Everything should be good.
Next I'll try to write up a background. I'm very clear on what it is -- just need to put it down on paper.
The Spice Must Flow!
Thanks for getting your characters in! I'll take a brief look to make sure everything looks good and see what I'm working with here, and get a Gameplay thread up ASAP.
It's not clear how we're supposed to do HP, is it average HP for level 2+ or rolling?
Excellent question! HP will be full HD at 1st like usual, and then 1/2 rounded up for each level.
d10=6/level
d8=5/level
etc.
I was assuming the standard 2 traits. Is that the case?
I followed mdt's lead and did 3 traits + drawback
EDIT: I also took all the Sargavan traits. *ALL OF THEM*. I'm afraid that now there are none left for you.
I did notice that; I don't have Ultimate Campaign so I often forget that drawbacks are a thing. Since I didn't specify, I don't want to retroactively say no to drawbacks just because I neglected to remember that they existed, haha.
So yes, you may take 2 traits, or 3 with 1 drawback. The standard rules for no more than one trait in a given category apply. Contrary to Speedy's claims, you may take the same traits as each other. There are plenty for everyone. :)
I've updated this character, I don't have all her gear yet but she's pretty close to how I want her. I'll have a background written up soon.
Oh cool! I was hoping you'd go with Milani -- one of my favorite deities.
I'm sure our characters will get along famously. I mean, you're a firebrand revolutionary, and I'm a Mwangi middle-manager collaborating with the Colonials for my own personal gain. It's a match made in...hmmm...well...
It'll be awesome!
Well, they do say opposites attract.
MP: can you make a gameplay thread just so we can DOT it? That way this game will show up on my campaigns so I can easily see when new posts are made.
Gameplay thread is up and ready for dotting!
Dotted
So we have divine, skilled, bruiser, and... do we have someone else? Or is this a three-person team?
Looks like a 3-person team.
Yup, just the three PCs. I'll be accounting for that in encounters and such. If there comes a point when you think you need some assistance, I'm sure you could ally with some NPCs.
OK. Let's consider backgrounds, perhaps?
Nyroba was a soldier in the Kalabuto city guard as a teen, but her parents managed to get enough money together to send her to school in Andoran. She blew off the courses she was supposed to take, and instead fell in with a society of Milanites working to foment popular revolutions in what they considered to be the oppressed people across Avistan and Garund.
A few years later, she returned in secret to join with the Free Folk Alliance, working in Eleder, where she will not be recognized, to undermine the Chelaxian-ruled colonial government. She believes that Avistanis and Mwangi can coexist, but only in a representative government that gives both equal status.
Recently she has heard rumors that the Free Folk Alliance is cooperating with Walkena, mummy-king of Mzali. This concerns her, as she has lived through a Mzali sack of Kalabuto, and worries that Walkena would see her as a collaborator for Andoren education, her worship of a deity of Avistani origin, and her support of democracy and Avistani/Mwangi coexistence in Sargava.
Krila was a Sarvagan Guard, one of the elite Lancers. Trained to wear armor until it was a second skin. Her squad was killed, except for her, when one of her superiors sold them out for a bribe.
After killing him in a very public and painful way using her lance, she was 'retired' from the Guard. The whole thing left her rather paranoid about trusting others.
She's become a regular at the Club, and shows a complete and total lack of concern about the position of any political or socialite's nose (be it raised or out of joint).
A guard of which city? If Kalabuto, perhaps she and Nyroba were fellow soldiers, possibly friends? If Eleder, maybe Nyroba has met her in the club, when she goes there to meet contacts or gather gossip.
Renemala/Speedy* is Eleder born and raised. Her father is an alchemist/shaman, her mother keeps the Outerwall household running. Seven brothers and sisters, all younger. They eat dinner together every Sunday, when she is in town.
Renemala is ambitious and so joined the militia when she came of age. During her tour she saved the life of an executive at Portside Purveyors during an escort mission that was attacked by dire gorillas, sustaining massive injuries in the process. Her spine was broken and her right arm crushed. Magical healing was too expensive to waste on her so though she survived, she has some lasting deformities. (Her spine and arm healed crookedly, losing her 5" of height, and a bowed arm and claw of a hand which seems to be permanently clutching a cane. In reality, she has regained most of the use of her right arm, but she takes care not to let most people know that.)
After she recovered, the grateful executive found her a job at Portside Purveyors as a spice-grader. She kept her eyes open and her mouth shut, learning as much about operations as possible. After about nine months she figured out some commonalities in spices that were grading out low that could be improved by making some changes to growing or harvesting techniques. She brought these ideas to her benefactor, and convinced him to put her in charge of a small grove so that she could prove her theories. Six months later, revenue for the grove had doubled, with no increase in costs.
Five years later, Renemala/Speedy runs the quality control operations in Eleder for the grown spices. (Probably one big warehouse where the harvests are brought in and processed, with actual storage elsewhere.) She also spends time doing research on growing techniques at one of the plantation.
She considers herself quite the benevalent "auntie" -- doing what she can to provide jobs and patronage for family and neighbors. Working conditions are tolerable in her corner of the operation, and she turns a blind eye to any abuses in other parts of the company. She is fully invested in being a shining example of how anyone can succeed by working within the system.
I would say given her specialty, she was probably a guard that specialized in travelling between cities, so it's possible they met at some point during her escort missions.
Making a posting in all games I'm running and playing in.
For those who have noticed that the last 3-4 weeks I've been spotty and somewhat irritable, I apologize. There's a lot of work things going on, and also some RL things going on. As of this morning, the surgeons confirmed my wife needs a fairly serious operation, which is now scheduled for the end of the month.
I will continue to be here, but, especially toward the end of May, I'm likely to be very very spotty and cranky. Sorry in advance. Please bear with me.
If things get to the point where I need to place things on hold, I'll let you know, but I don't think it'll get there (assuming nothing bad happens).
My sincere sympathy for you and your wife, and I hope everything goes well.
-Posted with Wayfinder