Escape from the Deadly Menagerie (Advanced Race Guide Playtest) (Inactive)

Game Master Jeff Lee

A game to playtest the new race rules using a variety of characters made with 10 to 30 point race builds.


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In the Golden Empire, it is well known that Emperor Engelbert II is an avid hunter. It is said he is the best tracker in the land, able to track an owl through a cloudy sky on a moonless night. Before he ascended the throne after the death of his father, he spent many years abroad, hunting and slaying countless fierce and wondrous creatures. What is not well known is that his adviser, confidant, and lifelong companion, Count Malthus, constructed a great subterranean complex to provide the thrill of the hunt for the Emperor now that rule of the Empire keeps him near home.

The Deadly Menagerie houses myriad captured creatures from far-flung lands, with more being brought in regularly to slake the Emperor's lust for the chase and the kill. When the desire arises, the Emperor chooses his quarry, and it is released into the sprawling Maze of Death, where he tracks it through the labyrinthine passages before the eventual kill.

You are one of the many unfortunate beings abducted and brought here by the Count's men, languishing in your cell until it is your turn to be the Emperor's prey. But now, a glimmer of hope. A chance to be free. Unarmed and alone, you are easy prey for the Count's men. Yet if you can work together with your fellow captives, perhaps through ingenuity and use of your natural abilities, you can escape the Deadly Menagerie. Will freedom be yours?

I'd like to participate in the Advanced Race Guide playtest, so I thought I'd gauge interest in a short pbp run to try out the new rules. Potential players can either work up their own races, or I can create something based on the desires of an interested player.

Guidelines:

  • Ability Scores: Epic fantasy point (25 points)
  • Racial Points: 10-30 points
  • Allowed Classes/Archetypes/Feats/Spells: Anything from the Core Rulebook or the Advanced Player's Guide
  • Starting Levels: 10 point race build = 5th level; 20 point build = 4th level; 30 point build = 3rd level

So if you're interested start with either a race build or an idea for me to work up. Then we'll see where it goes from there.


I'll bite.;) Even it is just to get a whack at seeing how atypical races work out in a character build.


Asrias
Plant (8 RP)
Small Size (0 RP)
Slow Speed (-1 RP)
Greater Paragon Modifiers -2 Con, +4 Wis, -2 Int (-1 RP)
Standard Language Array (1 RP)
Advanced Wisdom x3 (12 RP)
Spell Resistance, Greater (3 RP)
Cure Moderate Wounds 2/day (4 RP)
Bless 1/day (1 RP)
Treespeech (2 RP)
Camouflage (1 RP)


Nice! I was hoping someone would do a plant.

*nods sagely* Interesting build. Let me guess: you'll be playing the fighter?

Bilbo: Going to try your hand at a race design, or should I throw one your way?


I too shall bite. Let me see if I can't work up monkey-type race, going Rogue. Would go Ninja if it was allowed, but oh well, lol.

The Exchange

Ooh, Ooh. I wanna take a bite outta this one. I'd enjoy some sort of half-construct race, probably based on being tough to kill. I'll see what I can do with the rules in the next day or so.

Monkeygod:
I swear I'm not doing this to annoy you. I was planning on posting here earlier with a very similar post, but I had to leave. Thank yo for reminding me through the RSS feed.


Edgar Lamoureux wrote:

Ooh, Ooh. I wanna take a bite outta this one. I'd enjoy some sort of half-construct race, probably based on being tough to kill. I'll see what I can do with the rules in the next day or so.

** spoiler omitted **

Edgar:
you seem to have some sort of heavy armor fetish, you siiiiiick freak!! lol

Also, it's not annoying, as you're a good and fun player.

The Exchange

Monkeygod:

I try. :P

Regarding the Eberron campaign, are we waiting for someone still, and if so, who?

Edit: Is your friend, the one who was making an Alchemist, still joining?


In the process of reading the playtest guide, but I have to go to bed as I have work in a few hours. I wont be home till around 5pm EST.


I'd love to play.I'd love to be the rogue...


Just found the playtest. I will get with you on a race as soon as I have looked it over. Thanks for hitting me up! I am thinking of whipping up a good aligned minotaur variant that has a bison head rather than a bull. It would be have more wisdom and less brutishness about it. I can alter the minotaur array to fit.


Interesting...a plant, a simian, and a bovine. So long as the latter doesn't try to eat the former, things should go well.

Monkeygod: Sorry about the ninja thing. I want to focus on the race rules, so I'm staying out of books I really haven't absorbed the information from yet.

Edgar: Bite away. I'm pretty sure there are rules for developing a race with a bite attack.

Sphar: I'm less concerned with classes and more with race ideas right now. Since the whole thing is a "break out of jail and get away alive" scenario, I don't think there can be too many rogues.

The Exchange

Oh, no. My plan wasn't to get a race with a bite attack, my plan was to make some sort of construct or half-construct.


Heh, I know. Edgar, if you're going to play in my game, you'd better work on getting used to my oddball sense of humor. ;) (Though now I've got a cartoonish picture in my head of a cyborg with a big steam-shovel type lower jaw...)

Shadow Lodge

Interesting. I'll see what I can come up with.


I think I'm going to make an elf variant.


I think I'm going to make an elf variant.

Probably a wild elf sort,I'll post it in a bit.


Hey guys I am goingto bow out of this one. I will need to look over the material for a little while longer before going at it. Thanks though.


Just finished the doc. Very cool, though it bothers me that there's a few abilities that would fit my character, but require specific subtypes, which i find seriously stupid.

Will work up a race shortly. I don't think it'll be anything too crazy, but I am not positive, lol


Crazy is fine. This is a playtest, after all. We've already got a sentient flower with a +10 to Wis.


Shadow, thoughts on us removing the racial pre-reqs on a lot of the core racial abilities? such as Sneaky needing Goblin, or Elven Magic needing Elf?


While I admit that I find a few of the prerequisites leave me scratching my head wondering why, in the spirit of actual playtest I need to do this by the rules as written, so they'll have to stand.

That said, I find the idea of a simian goblinoid with a tail to be intriguing.


Shadowborn wrote:

While I admit that I find a few of the prerequisites leave me scratching my head wondering why, in the spirit of actual playtest I need to do this by the rules as written, so they'll have to stand.

That said, I find the idea of a simian goblinoid with a tail to be intriguing.

Oh, I will definitely have the Prehensile Tail racial trait. As for the other, how exactly would that work, for type?

Also, negative RPs slightly confuse me. They don't actually give you more RP to spend, do they?


Monkeygod wrote:
Shadowborn wrote:

While I admit that I find a few of the prerequisites leave me scratching my head wondering why, in the spirit of actual playtest I need to do this by the rules as written, so they'll have to stand.

That said, I find the idea of a simian goblinoid with a tail to be intriguing.

Oh, I will definitely have the Prehensile Tail racial trait. As for the other, how exactly would that work, for type?

Also, negative RPs slightly confuse me. They don't actually give you more RP to spend, do they?

They do.


Monkeygod wrote:
Shadowborn wrote:

While I admit that I find a few of the prerequisites leave me scratching my head wondering why, in the spirit of actual playtest I need to do this by the rules as written, so they'll have to stand.

That said, I find the idea of a simian goblinoid with a tail to be intriguing.

Oh, I will definitely have the Prehensile Tail racial trait. As for the other, how exactly would that work, for type?

Also, negative RPs slightly confuse me. They don't actually give you more RP to spend, do they?

Like Sphar said, they give you bonus RPs to spend. As for the type, since all humanoids need a subtype, you would just pick humanoid (goblinoid). Add the tail, other monkey-like abilities, dress it up with fur and presto, goblin-monkeys are born.


is it to late to jump in on this? I'd either throw together a minotaur or play with the catfolk template. Haven't really decided yet and I still need to finish reading the rules.


It's still open. At this point I've only got one completed race idea ready to run, so have at it. Once I've seen a few more, or had requests for certain builds and completed them, then I'll be ready to get this rolling.

Shadow Lodge

I'd like to test out my Quarterling. Link


SAVAGE ELF(Monstrous)
Type:Humanoid(Fey,Elf) 1 RP
Medium-Sized 0 RP
Normal Speed* 0 RP (Actually,it's 40 feet because of the fast trait)
Flexible Ability Score(+2 Dex,+2 Wis) 2 RP
Xenophobic Array(Elven;Common,Gnome,Sylvan) 0 RP

Advanced Dexterity 4 RP
Advanced Intelligence 4 Rp
Elf Immunities 2 Rp
Fey Damage Resistance 3 RP
Swamp Stride 1 RP
Fast 1 RP
Poison Use 1 RP
Camoflauge 1 RP
Weapon Familiarity 1 RP (Longbow and Elven Weapons)
Silent Hunter 2 RP
Nimble Attacks 2 RP
Quick Reactions 2 RP
Frenzy 2 RP
Stalker 1 RP

And there is my race,filled to the brim with abilities.It actually shouldn't be too overpowered,considering it's going to be a Dex-based combatant.


I'd like to give this a shot. Where can I find the playtest rules.


How about an Orc half-giant?

Type: Humanoid 0RP
Orc, Giant

Size: Large 7RP

Speed: Normal 0RP

Abilities:
Paragon Modifiers -2RP
+4 STR,
-2 INT, WIS & CHA

Languages: 1RP
Standard Array

Racial Abilities:
Advanced Strength 4RP
Advanced Constitution 4RP
Natural Armor 2RP
Improved Natural Armor 1RP
Orc Ferocity 2RP
Reach 1RP

Total: 20RP


Shanosuke wrote:
I'd like to give this a shot. Where can I find the playtest rules.

Right here:

http://paizo.com/store/downloads/v5748btpy8osf


Shanosuke wrote:
I'd like to give this a shot. Where can I find the playtest rules.

Playtest rules can be found here.


Graham De Young wrote:

How about an Orc half-giant?

Type: Humanoid 0RP
Orc, Giant

Size: Large 7RP

Speed: Normal 0RP

Abilities:
Paragon Modifiers -2RP
+4 STR,
-2 INT, WIS & CHA

Languages: 1RP
Standard Array

Racial Abilities:
Advanced Strength 4RP
Advanced Constitution 4RP
Natural Armor 2RP
Improved Natural Armor 1RP
Orc Ferocity 2RP
Reach 1RP

Total: 20RP

I'm going to ignore the parental implications (because, eww...) and say yeah, looks good. No doubt he'll be a wizard specializing in touch attacks. ;)


Okay, this is my rough draft concept for a race I made. I may consider changing a few things though to balance it better, but this is a start.

Jeurcats:

New Race Name:
Jeucat
Physical Description:
They are a relatively tall monstrous humanoid. They look like very hairy and tall humans. They have sharp teeth and claws. They’re eyes are almost completely black with no iris color.

They are an incredibly quick people and are very fast when racing across land. When they are on all fours they can run really fast. They have good vision and other senses in all environments. This makes them highly perceptive. More than anything they are both tough and have a keen sense of what is going on around them. They are not very sociable however. They tend to growl and snarl more than actually speaking. This makes socializing very tricky for them. Smart ones know common and smarter ones know elven too but not much beyond that.

The history of the Jeurcats is that of a bunch of humans druids fled into the wild as a group of druids to escape the harshness of development. They adopted a philosophy of mergence with the local tiger populace thus giving them more animalistic traits. This turned into a sort of perversion as it made them more violent as a people. Though under most circumstances they can control themselves, they prefer to stay away from other cultures and civilizations. They tend to adopt more wild behaviors and are best suited to classes like Barbarian, Druid, and Ranger. Some of the wiser more intelligent Jeurcats will adopt for primitive versions of other classes. Lately, more and more Jeurcats have been coming from the forests all across eastern Golorion.

Build Specs using 30RP tops
Type: Monstrous Humanoid (2RP)
Speed: Normal(0RP
Size: Medium(0RP)
Ability Modifiers: Advanced Modifiers: +2 to Str, Dex, and Con, +4 to Wis, -2 to Cha. (4RP)
Language Trait: Xenophobic (0RP)
Racial Abilities:
Con Advancement +2 (4RP)
Nat Armor +1 (2RP)
Damage Reduction 5/Magic (4RP)
Sprinter (1RP)
Fast (1RP)
Claws X2 (2RP)
Powerful Charge (2RP)
Scent(4RP)
All Around Vision: (4RP)

Total RP = 30
(I may have misunderstood the prerequisite for the Ability modifier I took. If so I will re-adjust it.)

I built them to be tough, agile, and perceptive. They are not intelligent or very charming.

That is my race. Anything to say?

The Exchange

RL has stepped in, preventing me from really soaking in the playtest material. I'll probably have a race ready to go soon, but if RL keeps interrupting my reading time, I may not be able to create one.


Shadowborn wrote:
No doubt he'll be a wizard specializing in touch attacks. ;)

That's even better than my idea for a bard pickpocket!

Stats: http://paizo.com/people/GurkTheGiant

I made him CE, but figure he's smart enough to know he he'll need to cooperate to get out of the situation alive. I can pick a different alignment if that's a problem.

I'll get a physical description in there later. The Packers are playing in a couple of minutes.


Here is my new and improved Catfolk template I plan on using.

Catfolk:

Traits
Type: Humanoid 0 RP
Size: Medium 0 RP
Base Speed: Normal 0 RP
Advanced Modiviers(-2 str, +4 dex, +2 int, +2 wis, +2 cha) 4 RP
Language: Standard Array 1 RP

Abilities
Advanced Dex 4 RP
Fortunate 4 RP
Cats Luck 1 RP
Fast 1 RP
Claws 2 RP
Bite 1 RP
Silent Hunter 2 RP

Total Cost: 20 RP

I'm planning on making him/her a rogue. I'll have character build up later tonight after the Packer Game.


still very interested, just too tired to get a race built atm. Ive worked 7 days straight so far, and I wont have a true day off till some time next week. Thankfully, my weekend will be full of awesome as I will be working the New York Comic Con.

I will try and get a race built morrow, but if not, Shadow would you mind putting together something for me??


Hey folks,

I just got home from my weekly game, so I'm a bit tapped out. I'll look over the races posted tomorrow, and see about getting something suitably simian put together for Monkeygod.

Graham, CE is fine, so long as he's cooperative enough to help the group in their escape attempt. I'm expecting this to be a little crazy, and the play will be a bit modular, since I'm going to be putting you in situations to see how the races play out in what is essentially a dungeon crawl.


I'm going to start up my race now...so Shadow, don't worry about makin it for me. If you already have, then sorries in advance.


All finished, will post it up morrow. I have two RPs left(used 30), really want Svirfneblin Magic, but there's no way that could logically happen

Class will be Ranger


Okay, so the lineup of races so far (with classes if listed):

Monkeygod's simian ranger
mathpro's catfolk rogue
Graham's half-orc/giant fighter/barbarian
Shanosuke's jeucat
Sphar's savage elf (ranged figher-type?)
Dragonborn3's quarterling
Roshan's Asrias

Looks like an interesting motley crew. I can work with this.


I suppose I should add, just for the sake of clarity, that buying starting equipment won't be necessary as you are all prisoners.


What I'm working with right now is a shapeshifter ranger/MC barbarian(he's got claws!)


Out of curiosity, will we level at all? I am thinking of playing a Skirmisher, but they don't gain any benefit till 5th level. If we wont level any, I'll just stick normal Ranger.


No plans on leveling right now, as I'm not sure it will really affect the outcome of the playtest. Just for fun, I might throw a couple levels your way for a fight with the big bad. We'll see.

I suppose we should get this going while there's still time to do it. How about those that are still interested post the final write-ups of your characters here. When I have time to get on later today I'll create the game thread and the discussion thread so we can get the ball rolling in the next day or so.


I will post mine in a bit...I;m still interested.


Here's my character.


I am still interested. I put together my race in Herolab. I am just trying to figure out which class. Savage Barbarian? Or Ranger Beast Master?

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