DM Jesse's Temple of Elemental Evil PbP, Pathfinder style

Game Master Jesse Heinig

Going camping this weekend. Will update and turn into recruitment probably late Monday or early Tuesday.

Awesome! Excited to submit!

Document is still in progress but I will make a note of it when it's ready. Once I open this into an actual recruitment I'll post this link in the info tab as well.

Campaign document, for those who want to start planning immediately.

Would you allow a Warder using the martial tradition to access Silver Crane? Sort of like a pathfinder replacement for the Crusader of 3.5e.

Alternatively, I might do something with the fighter/magic user trait.

Do you allow the tome of battle PRCs?

Hmm, this looks really good. I have never played an inquisitor before, would there be many in the Church of St. Cuthburt>?

Pholtus is a potentially difficult choice, as they basically have a zero-tolerance policy for all other religions and thus would present problems getting along with anyone of any other faith.

A proud owner of a "Look Lawful, the Pholtians are Coming" T-shirt.

1. I'm not necessarily opposed to the 3rd party martial material, though I tend to prefer the Book of Nine Swords stuff. In general I am also ok with martial adept prestige classes.

2. Yes, inquisitors would certainly be a facet of the church of St. Cuthbert.

3. Ah, you played some Living Greyhawk back in the day, I see.

Y'know, I typically avoid playing drow like the plague, to avoid being "that guy", but with the Expatriate trait there could be some fertile ground for contextually appropriate "grey area anti-hero turning towards the light". Plus, while the trait comes with a high risk factor, it's benefits seem really good in a "dramatic plot advancements" way.

Still interested in this Jesse and looking forward to seeing the full recruitment thread.

Lots of options open for classes you don't usually see but I'm still leaning towards dwarf paladin at the moment but that all might change when I go through your comprehensive doc.

Just to doublecheck, you have nothing against a master summoner? A lot of GMs dislike the class and if it'll make it less likely that I am picked I'll likely go for something else.

Dotting for interest. DM'ed this a few decades back in ADnD, but I have no problem removing myself from player knowledge...

Looking at a Human non-caster - looking at all the traits is a tough choice, so well done there - Burne's Badger? Hommlet Militia? Scarlet Lamp? My favorite is Expatriate of Elemental Evil...

I'm currently in a game with Doomed Hero (actually we've now been in three together I think) and I can easily attest his posting is both legion and awesome role-playing wise.

Question is this based on the;
ADnD - Temple of Elemental Evil
or
DnD 3.0 - Return To The Temple Of Elemental Evil

May have to dust off my 3.0 Druid from the Gnarly Forest for this one. Played a lot of Living Greyhawk in the day and my home region was Verbobonc. Plus I still have the ToEE Atari game for PC with all the Co8 mods.

Favorite adventure of all time.

so is it based on the ADnD ToEE module or the 3.0 RTToEE?

Still away from home - updates tomorrow!

This will be the classic Temple, not the Return to...

For folks who played the video game, I actually worked with the Circle of Eight to implement more spells into the game (Warp Wood was a real trick).

Glad to see that people like the new material - some of them are kinda edge-case value, but built to fit specific elements of Greyhawk's story and history.

Dotting for interest. DM'ed this a few decades back in ADnD, but I have no problem removing myself from player knowledge...

Looking at a Human non-caster - looking at all the traits is a tough choice, so well done there - Burne's Badger? Hommlet Militia? Scarlet Lamp? My favorite is Expatriate of Elemental Evil...

I'm currently in a game with Doomed Hero (actually we've now been in three together I think) and I can easily attest his posting is both legion and awesome role-playing wise.

ToEE has some really big, crazy fights. All I ask of summoners is that you really stay on top of your minions.

Is this a no go?

I think the GM is still working on the custom player's guide.

The Paizo website difficulties have made it very... frustrating to update this. I have managed to convert this to a formal recruitment thread and I linked the campaign guide in the Campaign Info tab, and I am adding more material there.

So is character creation now open using the rules you have? Also, is the VMC rules available?

Feel free to start making characters -- but there are still a few more traits to come!

I do not intend to use variant multiclassing.

Ah, okay. Already know the General Trait I'm gonna use, the Bouncer of Nulb. Sucks about VMC, but I'm fine without it. As for the race restrictions, is it only the uncommon races that are banned, or are the featured races banned as well?

Please stick to core races + any enumerated in the campaign document. If you have a question about a specific race that you think should be part of the traditional Greyhawk campaign setting, please ask!

Gotcha. Was planning on Half-Orc, anyway, as that was the race of the original Deko.

What's the word on starting gold? Max? Average?

What's your stance on 3pp? Going with a Half-Orc brawler, and wanted to use the tavern brawler archetype.

What's the word on starting gold? Max? Average?

Average. Earn your goodies! :D

What's your stance on 3pp? Going with a Half-Orc brawler, and wanted to use the tavern brawler archetype.

I'll allow it, though you will only be in taverns a couple times... ;)

If 3rd party material is an option, I'd like to throw the War Master for consideration. A 5-6 player game should provide enough opportunities to see what it can do.

Did you get the chance to consider the War Master at all?

djpika wrote:

If 3rd party material is an option, I'd like to throw the War Master for consideration. A 5-6 player game should provide enough opportunities to see what it can do.

Did you get the chance to consider the War Master at all?

It's a pretty poorly-designed class. Looks like you're trying to do the Marshal/Warlord type. I'll see if I can find something that works.

The archetype is more of a fighting style revolving around using improvised weapons -got an idea to fight using a waffle iron :3- than something you can only use in certain locations. I'm seeing Deko wearing a bandolier filled with flasks of alcohol and wielding a waffle iron and just glaring at his enemies.

The archetype is more of a fighting style revolving around using improvised weapons -got an idea to fight using a waffle iron :3- than something you can only use in certain locations. I'm seeing Deko wearing a bandolier filled with flasks of alcohol and wielding a waffle iron and just glaring at his enemies.

Waffle iron you say?

DekoTheBarbarian wrote:

The archetype is more of a fighting style revolving around using improvised weapons -got an idea to fight using a waffle iron :3- than something you can only use in certain locations. I'm seeing Deko wearing a bandolier filled with flasks of alcohol and wielding a waffle iron and just glaring at his enemies.

Waffle iron you say?

Yup, pretty much lol

That's ok, I can try for something else. I get few chances to use 3rd party material, so I wanted to seize the opportunity. I bought a few of the Rogue Genius Game classes and they haven't seen play yet; the War Master was just the first of the bunch. The fact that it's posted on d20pfsrd also made it convenient in case you didn't have the material.

Just in case, what are your thoughts on the following?

Time Thief
Armiger
Death Mage
Hellion

wielding a waffle iron

If that's the case I should go with my Mithral Chef idea...

Would the maneuver gained through the Martial Dabbler trait work as a prereq for the Martial Stance feat?

Also, would the Superior Unarmed Strike feat work with brawlers the same way it does monks?

Enjoying my humble pie, hope everyone is also.

GM, if I may ask, what exactly are you looking for in potential players?

You stated that RP was largely determined by player caveat, you have some fantastic Greyhawk (ToEE) specific traits, you stated your posting frequency, your March against Evil doc clearly states your character creation guidelines, and obviously you are familiar with longer campaigns judging by the APs you are running. I feel that you have clearly represented what type of game you intend on running and I appreciate that.

So what is it exactly are you looking for in a potential player? I have a profound interest in Greyhawk, and ToEE specifically, and I wanted to make sure that when I post a character to consider I am including all the relevant information. Do you want backgrounds? Is character crunch more important than fluff? Are there various roles you are looking to fill?

I appreciate all the time and effort you have already put in to make this an outstanding game, and one that I am sure many of use are hoping that we can get into.

Thank you :)

Still very interested in submitting for this, the only question is what...?

I very rarely play melee characters so this time I am going to put together a Goliath Druid very much with the front line in mind. He would have either the Disciple of the Old Grove or Giantslayer traits.

What animal companions might be permissible to begin play with GM?

Here she is! Enoby Illith'vir, Arrowsong Minstrel!

The crunch is 100%, pending any audits you make, Jesse.

I am still ironing out the fluff, but that's pretty far along as well.

A couple notes: A lot of GM's are wary of Chaotic Neutral PCs, and rightfully so, but for what it's worth I can assure you I do not play the alignment as a "murderhobo" or as a corner-case finagle to get away with being Evil. I have always seen Chaotic Neutral as a very "Mal Reynolds" type, eg: I have my own code, I protect me and mine, and will do so within the tenants of my code and with what magnitude I deem appropriate.

Enoby never quite fit in with Drow society, and exposure to the faith of Trithereon caused her to leave it. Her faith is important to her, but her understanding of it is imperfect and still developing. She is, essentially, on the (long) road towards Chaotic Good, though that sort of character arc is not necessarily within the scope of this campaign.

Would the maneuver gained through the Martial Dabbler trait work as a prereq for the Martial Stance feat?

Yes. I am aware that this lets a nonhuman get a martial stance earlier than usual, because you don't need to spend a feat for a maneuver and then a later one for a stance. I'm not especially bothered by this. :)

Also, would the Superior Unarmed Strike feat work with brawlers the same way it does monks?

Yes.

Still very interested in submitting for this, the only question is what...?

I very rarely play melee characters so this time I am going to put together a Goliath Druid very much with the front line in mind. He would have either the Disciple of the Old Grove or Giantslayer traits.

What animal companions might be permissible to begin play with GM?

As this is set in Greyhawk circa CY 578, there are no goliaths, raptorans, illumians, etc. - just the core races and the ones mentioned in the campaign document (centaurs et. al.).

Animal companions are a bit broader, though you probably won't get a lot of use out of an aquatic animal. While Hommlet is set in something probably along the lines of a Koppen Csb climate, you could easily have brought an exotic animal from another part of the world if you are not originally from Furyondy, Veluna, Verbobonc, or the Gnarley Wood.

I think JamZilla meant the Goliath Druid archetype, and not a goliath race druid.

Enjoying my humble pie, hope everyone is also.

GM, if I may ask, what exactly are you looking for in potential players?

You stated that RP was largely determined by player caveat, you have some fantastic Greyhawk (ToEE) specific traits, you stated your posting frequency, your March against Evil doc clearly states your character creation guidelines, and obviously you are familiar with longer campaigns judging by the APs you are running. I feel that you have clearly represented what type of game you intend on running and I appreciate that.

So what is it exactly are you looking for in a potential player? I have a profound interest in Greyhawk, and ToEE specifically, and I wanted to make sure that when I post a character to consider I am including all the relevant information. Do you want backgrounds? Is character crunch more important than fluff? Are there various roles you are looking to fill?

I appreciate all the time and effort you have already put in to make this an outstanding game, and one that I am sure many of use are hoping that we can get into.

Thank you :)

I am interested in players who are:

* Cooperative - Players should be working together for their shared party goal (in this case, rooting out the evil near Hommlet and finishing it off). Players should help each other out, without necessarily "telling other players how to play their character" -- offer hooks and ways to make interesting story beats, or ideas that a player might enjoy, without trying to tell them how to optimize or that they are "doing it wrong."

* Risk-takers and adventurers - This may seem like a no-brainer; of course we're playing adventurers. One of the reasons that some players go to hyper-optimization is because they fear failure at the hands of chance. But adventuring is risky business. Sometimes gambits won't work out. Especially in old-school dungeon crawls like this, this is a risk you need to be ready to take. This doesn't mean you should take foolhardy risks, but you should be willing to accept that sometimes you will just pull the trigger and see where the dice fall, and sometimes that will mean an uphill battle as things go sideways when the plan doesn't survive contact with the enemy. Struggle against adversity with panache. Don't take stupid or unnecessary risks, but recognize that just because you aren't guaranteed 100% success in something doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Creativity and planning are important, but luck will play a part too.

* Able to fill a role in the team - The class/role structures of these kinds of games mean that everyone should have a part to play. Nobody is going to go solo, or if they do it's going to be a serious uphill battle. You need each other in order to succeed. Decide on one or two big things you want to do well -- melee combat, social interactions, arcane magic, whatever; try to fit with the rest of the group by covering an area that they need in order for the team to be stronger than any individual. Some players feel compelled to make characters who have no weaknesses and no drawbacks. Avoid this temptation. Make characters who will get their moments to shine and who will, in turn, need the support of the rest of the team. And don't hesitate to reach out to other players and offer "hey, let's share backstories and build in some kind of relationship between each other." Maybe you were old friends, or you used to have a romance but it fell apart, or you were even rivals and have learned to work together; having connections to other players, and to the world, will give you opportunities for your character to express his/her personality and for you to play your role beyond just what dice you roll to whack bad guys!

I think JamZilla meant the Goliath Druid archetype, and not a goliath race druid.

Ahh, you want a pet raptor or T-rex. Amedio jungle type stuff. Yes, absolutely. (Saves you work on getting rid of bodies.)

Well, here is the full crunch for Deko Dekoson, son of Deko the First. He's a brawler, though I'm going to be picking up a couple levels of barbarian. Will have a background for him up tomorrow, probably, as it's really late here. For the most part, he's a straight up melee fighter, using his fists and improvised weapons. Just don't expect any deep, meaningful conversation from him.

I did indeed mean the Goliath druid archetype, thanks for pointing that out Deko.

So a raptor seems cool. T-rex I find are actually quite squishy before they become large. I'll try to put something together today very much aiming for a primary front liner with some secondary spell casting support in the way of cures, summons and buffs.

Ok JamZilla here with at least the crunch (90%) done for what will eventually be my submission.

I will wait for you to confirm that the player doc is ready Jesse so that I can both select a campaign trait and write up a backstory.

Here's my submission: a human cleric of Mayaheine.

I am going to keep watching this thread. I shouldn't join another game, but if you end up being short on players, I'll throw my hat in the ring

Dotting for interest, although I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I almost want to open up ye old random table and just roll some unfortunate adventurer up.