Dawn of Orcs

Game Master WreckTall

The land of your ancestors is being nibbled at the the edges, like worms eating the vegetation off a tree. Soon nothing will be left for your seed to grow and be strong. The soft races call you savages. They don't know the meaning of the word. For too long the weaklings have pushed at your boundaries. It's time to push back.

You are the leader of a tribe with a small army. A call to war echos across your land. Will you join the other tribes or unite them under your rule? Will you look for allies to work with you or will you enslave them to work for you? Will you prepare or push for surprise?

Dotting hard with a Hunter.

Since our tribes would be different and potentially from different regions, would you allow taking alternate traits? I am particularly interested in taking the Human Eye for Talent trait instead of Orc Ferocity.

Rolling HP: 5d8 ⇒ (6, 3, 4, 7, 6) = 26

dotting

Dotting hard with a Hunter.

Since our tribes would be different and potentially from different regions, would you allow taking alternate traits? I am particularly interested in taking the Human Eye for Talent trait instead of Orc Ferocity.

** spoiler omitted **

[dice=Rolling HP]5d8

I'm not willing to open that floodgate, besides humans are squishy little scrapings of pond scum, why would you want any of their traits?

Super hard dot. I think I might actually go with a mutation warrior fighter and I have a cool story for him...

Assuming mutation warrior is an acceptable archetype, of course.

Oh, and we are using background skills, correct?

go for it.

edit:yes on background

Ooh! I have a guy from an old campaign who'd be perfect for this. Was a cleric, I think I kind of need to reflavor him as a warpriest though because they're perfect for it.

* * *

Should we be concerned about the balance of party roles? (Divine, Arcane, etc.) or just make a guy who smashes stuff?

EDIT: Also, are we using charisma for leadership bonuses to mass combat, or substituting strength? (If I need some cha, going cleric makes sense; if I can use str, warpriest is far better)

Ooh! I have a guy from an old campaign who'd be perfect for this. Was a cleric, I think I kind of need to reflavor him as a warpriest though because they're perfect for it.

* * *

Should we be concerned about the balance of party roles? (Divine, Arcane, etc.) or just make a guy who smashes stuff?

EDIT: Also, are we using charisma for leadership bonuses to mass combat, or substituting strength? (If I need some cha, going cleric makes sense; if I can use str, warpriest is far better)

Party balance would be helpful, but not absolutely necessary. You will have many opportunities to act as a party. However, being orcs and leaders, can you work together for the common good? The direction will be completely in your (the players) hands.

as for leadership bonuses in mass combat...you can use either. Power perceived is power achieved

I am DOTTING.

rolling my HP for a cavalier

HP: 1d10 ⇒ 7
HP: 1d10 ⇒ 10
HP: 1d10 ⇒ 3
HP: 1d10 ⇒ 8
HP: 1d10 ⇒ 10

Alright. Warpriest it is! Potentially going Arsenal Chaplain for the extra skills, not sure.

Also, what deity list should I be pulling from? Golarion, or more creative? (I'd like a deity with the Rulership portfolio, for reasons, which could work within the Golarion deities but I think some of the old-school D&D ones get a little more interesting)

Never player wish Mass Combat before! That should be fun!

Alright. Warpriest it is! Potentially going Arsenal Chaplain for the extra skills, not sure.

Also, what deity list should I be pulling from? Golarion, or more creative? (I'd like a deity with the Rulership portfolio, for reasons, which could work within the Golarion deities but I think some of the old-school D&D ones get a little more interesting)

You can use Golarion or reskin them or create one. Any creation would need to be detailed with alignment/portfolio/religion/background/favored weapon

Hmmmm...have to think carefully about what I want my tribe to be like...do you have a preference regarding alignment?

Very interested!

However, I had a question.
How important will be our actual characters compared to our armies?

I want to make a Pyrokineticist, but I'm not sure if he'll have enough abilities to directly aid his army in Mass Combat.

Also a good question!

Hmmmm...have to think carefully about what I want my tribe to be like...do you have a preference regarding alignment?

Let me preface, by saying, I'm not fond of the alignment system. However, It is deeply ingrained in the combat rules. So I can't really remove it.

That said, Any non good alignment from the system aspect would work best. However, Just because a squishy human thinks your an evil, heretical savage, doesn't mean from your perspective that your aren't a moral, just and good person

I'd love to get in on this, as well. I'll drag a crunch and fluff together soon, but this concept seems really awesome. Always did want to try out the Mass Combat Rules. I think I'll be making a half-orc scarred Witch doctor, if you're open to the idea.

Health: 5d6 ⇒ (6, 5, 6, 3, 1) = 21

Very interested!

However, I had a question.
How important will be our actual characters compared to our armies?

I want to make a Pyrokineticist, but I'm not sure if he'll have enough abilities to directly aid his army in Mass Combat.

If you give the rules a once over, you'll see any class could be a good if not great commander. You'll bring army tactics (that you choose) for the army to use. You start with 1 plus 1 for every 5 ranks in Profession(Soldier). You have been given background skills for character creation, which can be used for Profession(soldier)

Short answer: a Pyrokineticist would be just as good as a Fighter

I'd love to get in on this, as well. I'll drag a crunch and fluff together soon, but this concept seems really awesome. Always did want to try out the Mass Combat Rules. I think I'll be making a half-orc scarred Witch doctor, if you're open to the idea.

I have no issue with SWD

Good deal.

In that case I think Lawful Evil might fit a strong Orc leader...

I'm taking some inspiration from the Orcs books by Stan Nichols.

Should we assume that you don't want us to use Campaign Traits? I'm specifically thinking of the Outlander (Exile) trait, which I think would tie in with my background pretty well, but I'd be happy to stick to non-campaign if you prefer.

Should we assume that you don't want us to use Campaign Traits? I'm specifically thinking of the Outlander (Exile) trait, which I think would tie in with my background pretty well, but I'd be happy to stick to non-campaign if you prefer.

Lets stay away from campaign traits.

Gotcha!

Other people making characters; anyone interested in some character ties? I'm planning on going lawful "evil", but I'm going to go more for an honorable warrior society, taking the view that "savage" orcs do bad things because of the constant encroachment of humans. Anyone interested in knowing the clan?

Assuming GM WreckTall is okay with pre-existing relationships of course.

Assuming GM WreckTall is okay with pre-existing relationships of course.

I don't have an issue with it.

Whoo!

I would love to make some connections.

I'll PM some details?

If it wasn't obvious, I am excited by the idea of an all-Orc game :D
Also, HP rolls
Hit Die: 5d10 ⇒ (5, 10, 1, 10, 10) = 36

I would love to make some connections.

I'll PM some details?

Sounds good!

Cool idea! GM Wrecktall, how do you feel about 3rd party content? I have an interesting character that uses the Engineer class from the Four Horsemen. I can PM you the details if you'd consider 3rd party content. Thanks!

Cool idea! GM Wrecktall, how do you feel about 3rd party content? I have an interesting character that uses the Engineer class from the Four Horsemen. I can PM you the details if you'd consider 3rd party content. Thanks!

No 3p, just Paizo

bigrig107 wrote:

Very interested!

However, I had a question.
How important will be our actual characters compared to our armies?

I want to make a Pyrokineticist, but I'm not sure if he'll have enough abilities to directly aid his army in Mass Combat.

If you give the rules a once over, you'll see any class could be a good if not great commander. You'll bring army tactics (that you choose) for the army to use. You start with 1 plus 1 for every 5 ranks in Profession(Soldier). You have been given background skills for character creation, which can be used for Profession(soldier)

Short answer: a Pyrokineticist would be just as good as a Fighter

Actually you are given boons which can be used to purchase tactics

mbauers wrote:

Cool idea! GM Wrecktall, how do you feel about 3rd party content? I have an interesting character that uses the Engineer class from the Four Horsemen. I can PM you the details if you'd consider 3rd party content. Thanks!

No 3p, just Paizo

That's cool, I have a couple ideas floating around. When do you want submissions by?

Also, do we get any starting BP to buy resources for our army?

An Overwhelming Soul kineticist would also use cha-based casting...

That's cool, I have a couple ideas floating around. When do you want submissions by?

Also, do we get any starting BP to buy resources for our army?

Good Question. 2 weeks seems reasonable 6/10 11:59 PM EST

No resources yet, but you will get plenty of opportunity for all sorts of resources.

Hmm. The best one I can find (Golarion or otherwise) right now seems to be either Ra or Horus. So maybe I'll pull a deity from actual mythology.

My idea is a half-orc mastermind archetype investigator who is the actual leader of a tribe, but no one knows it. He's the puppetmaster and the "chief" is actually his lackey and does everything he says (and therefore takes all of the heat for assassination plots, for example).

I have some good fluff and crunch ideas, so I'll get started.

Got a couple of ideas. Might go for a Thrall clone, or a druid of some type, or perhaps something else. Shaman maybe.

Dotting.

I like this idea. I'm thinking Id Rager Bloodrager with the Pride emotional focus; that or an Earth Kineticist. Will throw a build together soon.

Okay, got a dude! Still need a story and deity (got an idea about an orc prophet chosen by an obscure LN or NN deity to be his chosen prophet and lead a tribe of orcs to civilization and glory)

Basically, I've got a decent warpriest (though not so hard-hitting by orc standards) who's also highly armored, a decent spellcaster (and very backup healer) and also capable of dazing armies with his mind.

I'm currently thinking of a Skald. I think straight Skald, though some of the archetypes are tempting.

I'm also thinking he'd be a brother of one of the other leaders whose tribes were together in the past but have since broken into a dozen or so smaller tribes (maybe at the death of their mother or father, whoever the last leader was) and they splintered into what they have now. At least that's the core of my concept for now.

My investigator is coming along nicely. GM, how do you feel about pregame crafting? Nothing huge, just some alchemical stuff and maybe some poisons.