Fatespinner's Darkness Rising

Game Master Fatespinner

Howdy folks! My campaign (Fatespinner's Darkness Rising) has recently suffered the loss of a player and we are looking for a replacement! The campaign is an all-evil campaign set (currently) in the Ustalav city of Caliphas. The overarching plot of the campaign revolves around the acquisition of various artifacts in order to tap into some ancient well of evil power!

And really, I ask you, who doesn't love ancient wells of evil power?

The party composition currently looks like this:

• Human urban ranger, aiming for Red Mantis PrC. This is essentially the party's "rogue."
• Half-elf witch, aiming for Loremaster PrC.
• Human infernal sorcerer, the party "face" with a considerable Bluff skill.
• Human antipaladin, the angry meatshield beatstick of the party.

The character to be replaced was a cleric of Urgathoa, which is unfortunate because two of the other PCs are also faithful to the Pallid Princess. Or, well, okay, one is and the other one has long-term OOC plans to convert.

From my original posts, to those who are interested, here's the deal:

I will be starting this campaign at level 3 and will be using the Pathfinder Society rules for character generation (20 pt. buy, 2 traits, core races only + tiefling/aasimar, etc.).

A few other things to be aware of:

1.) I am not allowing the summoner class. I personally feel the class is disruptive and unbalanced. End of discussion.
2.) Characters must be evil. I don't want any "neutral with a mean streak" characters. If we're gonna do this, let's do it all the way.
3.) Leadership is banned. There will be plenty of NPCs to interact with over the course of the campaign. The last thing I need is several MORE of them to account for following the party everywhere.
4.) No third-party material. There's plenty of flexibility permitted within the boundaries of Paizo's vast array of published material and I am familiar with the majority of it.

This slot will not be given out on a first come/first serve basis. I'd like to hear some character concepts from interested persons and, after I've received some replies here, I'll make a decision based on what I feel is best for the campaign in the long run. Cheers and good luck!

I'm interested, but I haven't heard of the campaign setting. Is it a homebrew?

I have a basic idea for a character. An Aasimar who wanted to live his life in peace, but people continually tried to push him to some greater destiny, to the point where one fanatic even kills the characters fiance in an attempt to force him to do great things for people. Sort of a downward spiral from there.

Also have it mechanically planned out.

I'm interested, but I haven't heard of the campaign setting. Is it a homebrew?

Ustalav is a country in Golarion. It's the standard Pathfinder setting.

Ah, alright. Thanks! Sorry, I haven't played in many games set in Golarion. (Most of what I've played are home brewed games.)

Also, Urgathoa is a perfect goddess for the character idea I had in mind. The Aasimar would descend into madness and eventually try to get power to raise his fiance. But being undisciplined and unlearned back then, he mistakenly raised her in undeath. Unfortunately a paladin came around just when he had cast the spell, sensing the evil hanging in the air, and destroyed her remains, leaving him nothing to bring her back with now, even if he ever became powerful enough to do so.

In anger he killed the paladin and used the ritual to raise him instead. He was a murderer now, so he fled with the undead paladin following him. Eventually someone, a priest of Urgathoa perhaps, would hear of his success at creating undead so easily and would take the Aasimar under his wing, showing him more and more, tempting him with power for safety and revenge against those who had killed his beloved. Slowly the need for power for revenge simply became a need for power, and he has long since tossed aside the emotions that brought him down this path.

Mechanically the guy would be a Cleric of Urgathoa with the undead lord archetype. What do you think?

The concept sounds great, but I'm a little concerned about the undead lord particularly since the party's witch is already a gravewalker archetype. I would like to avoid the "army of undead" situation since it makes the already-slow combat of play-by-post drag out even longer due to the sheer number of characters on the field.

I will also warn you (and other visitors to this thread) that I run the "magic market" a bit differently than the book would have it. I believe that complex magic items and unique equipment should be difficult to come by and, as such, they cannot simply be purchased. On the other hand, I am quite generous with loot on the whole and will provide the characters with a wide variety of items to utilize. These items may not be EXACTLY what the characters desire, but everyone should be able to acquire items that will benefit them.

I'm sure my current players can comment on how well my loot policy seems to be working for them so far. :)

Loot, like many things, is up to the discretion of the DM. I once played a game (we had gotten to levels 5-7) where my character had one magic item, and only because I earned it from the general by walking into an enemy base with our armies flag, took down three guards and demanded the return of a captured prisoner.

My magic item? The flag/halberd my character was using got enchanted so that the flag remained indestructible. And you know what? It was awesome when my character ran through a wall of fire int he next battle with the flag going untouched.

As for avoiding the army of the dead, you make me a little sad. That's a necromancers dream after all. But if we got someone already going that route I can definitely change it. But I'll probably go with a whole new character then. (It's fun that way. XD)

Hmmm I might have something..... How about a necromancy focused cleric.

"Not undead who cares about them. No I seek to master the twin joined powers of life and death. Not that I have anything against those who seek undeath in fact I may embrace it myself given time.... But I would rather gain the ability to look at death and say no or look at life and say cease. The world would be mine to seize by the throat, to drInk of the essences of life and death until my thirst is quenched to remake into what me and my companions see fit. But first I must gather power unto myself. To drink deep of the twin wells of life and death......." Zedikai Rousm Dar'kest

If this intrests you will generate crunch when I wake.

DM Fatespinner... worry not about a gang of shambling undead cluttering up the battlefield... Albrekt is likely to go "Bloody Nine" on them should they get in his way... :)

As the loot - Albrekt agrees... "Reiche aber nicht maßgeschneiderte"

I am new to the play by post system and I am interested in trying it out. I am not sure of the time commitment required but I will do my best to follow any posting requirements. In fairness, I should note to the DM that I will be unavailable for about a week in December.

I was thinking of a few different build ideas:

1) A Fighter/Cleric of Urgathoa heading toward the Holy Vindicator PrC
2) A Fighter/Oracle of Bones (No focus on undead armies)
3) A Oracle of Bones

Conceptually, the character would be worshiper of Urgathoa, since this appears to be a good tie in to where someone else left off, both in game and out of game.

I don't know the details of the campaign, beyond what is written above. Intentionally, I have not read what has already taken place in the campaign.

My initial idea would be that this character comes from the same cult or church as the previous player and is involved for a reason that the cult has directed. Perhaps for a particular artifact that the group is expected to locate or access to the ultimate end goal.

If this is something you would be interested in then let me know and I'd be happy to flesh it out further.

I started this discussion with GM through private messages, since I had a different concept in mind, but I am aware that mentioned concept would probably not fit. Upon Fatespinner's recommendation I am posting last part of the conversation (actually my current ideas) here, so the current players also have an insight.

C&P: Hmmm, I see your point. In that case I am torn between some kind of intelligent, not really very evil, but definitely with a very low "morale score" and high "preservation sense" servant of Asmodeus (cleric or a potential hellknight, blackguard later, if those are allowed) or a priest of Urgathoa. I see that veneration of Urgathoa is quite common in Ustalav, but in that case maybe it is better if I would apply to take over an existing character. Not sure what happened to him/her and if that is an option at all?

I would rather create some kind of disciple of Asmodeus, sent in Ustalav to "bring true faith to heathens" (OK actually running from a badly executed contract or something similar), but I am not sure if that fits the campaign better than Urgathoa priest(ess)?

Dotting for interest. Going to be away this weekend, so won't be able to put something together as yet. Thinking about a Tiefling Fiendish Vessel (Cleric archetype). Along the lines of a bad touch cleric. I'd have to look more into the Demon Lords/Archdevils/Horsemen associated with the archetype before deciding on Domains, Alignment, progression and the like.

How often do you expect posts?

I am currently a worshiper of Asmodeous/Hell, with a focus on enchantment and fire spells. I eventually plan to go Diabolist

I for one would like a fellow Asmodean in the group, as opposed to another Urgathoain. But then I'm clearly biased.

Dotting for interest. Going to be away this weekend, so won't be able to put something together as yet. Thinking about a Tiefling Fiendish Vessel (Cleric archetype). Along the lines of a bad touch cleric. I'd have to look more into the Demon Lords/Archdevils/Horsemen associated with the archetype before deciding on Domains, Alignment, progression and the like.

How often do you expect posts?

Ideally I'd like daily posts (perhaps even twice daily), but every other day would not be unreasonable. The idea of a Fiendish Vessel Cleric is very cool, though. I think that could definitely work with the current dynamic (not to mention it would give Haruk a fellow Asmodean to pal around with).

Gonna work on a Cleric of Lamasthu

Okay, to recap, so far we have the following concepts proposed:

Marko: Cleric of Urgathoa
Varin: "Necromancy Focused" Cleric - probably Urgathoa, could be something else.
Malacki: Fighter/Cleric, Fighter/Oracle, Oracle - Urgathoa.
Thosar: Taking over Ventar, Cleric of Asmodeus
Dark Netwerk: Fiendish Vessel Cleric - probably Asmodeus.
Critzible: Cleric of Lamashtu

I think that the Fighter/Cleric or Fighter/Oracle idea that Malacki has runs the risk of overlapping too much with Albrekt's antipaladin, so I would avoid those two, but the full Oracle of Bones could work.

The Cleric of Lamashtu I am concerned will not really have a lot of fulfillment with the campaign as planned. I don't expect Lamashtu's faith to really play much into the overarching goals at all, while Urgathoa and Asmodeus (as well as a select few others) certainly will.

Switching to a Dhampir Oracle of Bones or Undead lord of Urgathoa, or possibly a Cleric of Norborger

Question! Would you allow a Goblin Alchemist character? Sorry it took so long to get back to this thread. A few threads were closing yesterday and today and I put my focus onto them.

Hmmm... Mght be time to break out my LE Aasimar Monk of the Four Winds.
The idea I had was a Monk who wore Admantine Brass Knuckles and focused on sundering an opponents armor, basically he became fighter bane. I wonder if he coud work in this setting.

As I said before...

core races only + tiefling/aasimar

...so no goblins or dhampirs.

As for the monk concept, it is certainly viable, but those adamantine brass knuckles might not be easy to come by, especially not any time soon (we're starting at level 3). This will be a highly investigative and "dungeon crawly" adventure before long, with a fair mix of urban intrigue throughout, so keep that in mind. I expect to have a decision by Monday.

DM I am thinking of a hungry ghost monk with a nine section whip that focus on disarming and tripping for the frontline. What you think?

Ooo, I have an idea for a character that I want to try. It's a refinement on another of my characters that's in a Way of the Wicked Campaign.

I should have something a little later tonight.

Okay, I'm think about a bard following Norgorber. Focus would be in battlefield control as well as subterfuge.

awww yeah. if the submissions are still open i wouldnt mind posting a character :)

After discussing the matter with my players and reviewing the options presented, I have indeed made my selection at this time and notified the chosen party via PM. He has replied, accepted, and should be joining us on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Thanks to everyone for their interest!

I'm sorry I didn't get to be a part of this one but thank you for the opportunity and consideration.

Ah well, maybe next time.