Curse of the Coral Throne

Game Master That GM Guy!

The City of Oseanarra:

Oseanarra, named for the ancient Azlanti word for the ocean, is a city ancient beyond measure. Formerly part of the Azlanti Archipelago, the city once known as Ierisintrivaniis (Sacred Fountains) was a wondrous city of stone and precious metals that lay on a lush, beautiful island. When the Starstone fell and all of Azlant sank beneath the waves, a powerful priest of Gozreh whose name is lost to the depths of history, beseeched his god to spare the people of the city. Gozreh listened and transformed the people of the city into forms that could survive beneath the waves.

More than ten millennia have passed since then and Oseanarra has since turned into a thriving hub of the ocean, the stone city containing thousands upon thousands of citizens from all corners of the oceans and seas of Golarion. The city has since grown over the countless years since it fell beneath the waves.

The city proper is the massive stone city once known as Ierisintivaniis, though most just call it The Midlands. The Midlands is filled with the middle class and many business establishments, almost all of which reside within the ancient stone structures. A massive temple to Gozreh, formed out of a giant spiral sea shell the size of a cathedral from the surface, lies within the district, as does temples to most of Golarion’s other deities.

The Thellassic Spire, located in the north part of the Midlands, is the largest school of the arcane arts in all the seas, dwarfing the Acadamae Arcane of Korvosa in sheer size. The conch-like spire of the main building is the highest point in Oceanarra, apart from the city’s castle. The mages who choose to live and learn here, learning secrets from etched pearl tablets covered in arcane shorthand, are well-respected in the city, for they have used their magic to reconstruct the city after its fall construct the other districts, as well as the castle. Not only that, but the magic of the Spire sends pulses of magic out occasionally, causing natural predators to become uneasy and shy away from the city.

Old Oseanarra, where the survivors once lived while they repaired the damage of the city after it sunk beneath the waves, lies in a great sea cave a few hundred feet southwest of the city. Old Oseanarra is a fairly massive place, filled with hundreds of ‘houses’ carved into the sides of the inner portion of the sea cave, with its numerous tunnels functioning as ‘streets’. Only the poor live within Old Oseanarra, though that number has climbed dramatically in recent years.

The Grey Tunnels, a system of tunnels below the city, serve as catacombs for the inhabitants of the city. The tunnels are constantly expanded to accommodate for every death by the priests and priestesses of Pharasma. The Tunnels are an eerie place, continually cast in shadow, lit only with pale green orbs of light. In the nooks cut into the walls, there exist the remains of the dead, preserved by a permanent gentle repose effect, floating gently in their nooks.

The Wrecks are a series of shipwrecks that lie across some of the roofs in the southwestern portion of the Midlands. The inhabitants are only barely better off than the inhabitants of Old Oseanarra, primarily because many of those living in The Wrecks are sneak-thieves and scavengers.

East Pelagia is located in the eastern portion of Oseanarra and is home to the old military families who have gained knighthoods and noble title. The houses are built from fine stone found throughout the surrounding environment and often feature bladed crenellations.
North Pelagia is located in the northern part of Oseanarra and is home to both the original inhabitants of the city. It has some of the finest homes of the old city.

The Road of Prosperity- The noble district is located on a long road, seemingly made out of mother-of-pearl and raised from the surrounding stone and sand (For in the deeps, a road is merely a formality, one that the original inhabitants made to make themselves feel more comfortable,), leading from North Pelagia to Castle Oseanarra. The homes are made out of marble and fine metals.

Castle Oseanarra- Once the Road of Prosperity reaches the end of a massive trench, it continues on and winds up towards a shining castle of golden crystal, mother of pearl, marble, and jewels, Castle Oseanarra. The seat of all power in Oseanarra, it floats above the seemingly bottomless trench by powerful magic.

Beginning of the campaign:

In the millennia since Oseanarra fell below the waves, the city has maintained a cohesion unseen anywhere else on Golarion. Recent times, however, have been hard on the city. Filled with thousands of citizens, resources are drawn a bit thin and some of the poorest families do not always get a meal a day. King Eodrid Coral-Helm has married one of the Sea Elves, who are viewed in a negative light due to their haughty, proud nature. The Gillmen have driven the Undines from their native lands so that Oseanarra could expand even further, igniting racial tensions there. Crime is on the rise and whispers of a war with the Sahuagin have swept through the city. The nobles have fallen into utter decadence and spend more time indulging in exotic narcotics and sexual excess than they are trying to help unite the city. It is a dark time, and one that King Eodrid is ill-equipped to deal with, for he has fallen ill with a wasting sickness which defies all attempts at healing. His young Sea Elf wife, Iliossa, tries to keep the kingdom from falling apart, but her efforts have so far just slowed the decline of the empire.

But all this is far from your mind, for you have a bone to pick with Gaedren the Hook, a Gillman criminal. What he has taken from you is unknown, but you have vowed to see him brought to justice, if not at the hands of the Waveguard, then at your own.

All of Golarion's deities are worshipped in Oseanarra, as are thousands of aquatic deities from the undersea races (Some of which aren't actually gods, more like spirits!).

Racial Analogues in Curse of the Coral Throne that Parallel It's Parent Adventure Path:

Gillmen are, essentially, the Varisians, being the natives of Oseanarra created when Gozreh stretched forth his/her hand to save the people of Ierisintrivaniis. The Sea Elves, with their haughty and sometimes cold demeanors, are an excellent stand-in for the Chelaxians. The shamanistic, tribal Undine are excellent Shoanti. Every other race are part of the original AP's 'generic population', apart from Sahuagin, which are viewed as savage butchers and warmongers, kind of how people on Golarion would see Orcs.

Crunch Additions and Clarifications

Psionics and Path of War are allowed.

No Automatic Bonus Progression from Pathfinder Unchained unless you are a Monk taking Vow of Poverty or a divine caster pledging the same (And would violate your vows/code/tenets if you violated the vow in any way,).

Underwater Combat:

Considering every PC will be either Aquatic or Amphibeous, I don't think underwater combat is an issue. Read the following from the Underwater Combat section under Aquatic Terrain:

Underwater Combat wrote:

Land-based creatures can have considerable difficulty when fighting in water. Water affects a creature's attack rolls, damage, and movement. In some cases a creature's opponents might get a bonus on attacks. The effects are summarized on Table: Combat Adjustments Underwater. They apply whenever a character is swimming, walking in chest-deep water, or walking along the bottom of a body of water.

This means that the table of penalties and restrictions only apply to land-based characters.

The rules regarding fire spells and ranged weapons apply in some ways, but those are easily fixed. There are variant fire spells from Cerulean Seas that I will be using and will inform players of if they plan on using fire magic. Regarding ranged weapons, I am only ruling that it only applies to firearms, but there are a few firearms that are exceptions to the rule, which I will also provide rules for if someone goes that route.

Combat will be handled via two maps, one of which provides a vertical view and the other, a horizontal one.

You may propose aquatic monster races, which I can strip down and make into a playable race for you.

ALL Cerulean Seas material is allowed.

There is not going to be any rules for Buoyancy, Pressure Sensitivity, or lighting issues, at least not any more than would be in a typical campaign. I see no point in overburdening PCs with rules or forcing people to work around holes in aquatic race design.

It's pretty much assumed that visibility ends roughly a mile ahead in unlit waters. The city of Oseanarra is covered in strange glowing orbs of water and air, a mystic secret that a Kelp Dragon once shared with the city in the earliest days after the sinking of the city beneath the waves, so this will not be important throughout most of the game.

As for weapons and armor, I am actually going to post a list of weapons and armor unique to aquatic campaigns, but alas, I am too tired to create a spreadsheet at the moment. Bone, leather, coral, and rust-proof metals are all things that make sense.

As far as combat goes, there are no penalties for thrown weapons by aquatic races, because they have built their weapons to be optimized for aquatic use. It never made sense to me how they hunt larger creatures from a distance with those rules, so they have been cut, as per one of my previous posts.

You may reflavor class abilities, with my permission, to make more sense in an underwater campaign and may restructure others, such as animal companions, familiars, ect.

Starting stats may be 18 before racial mods, which can bump it up to 18+racial modifier.

You may use Acrobatics or Swim to avoid AoO's and perform similar functions. They are interchangable in every way that I have thought of at present.

Creatures with the Aquatic or Amphibious subtypes treat Swim as a trained, class skill.