The locals are uniformly admit to ignorance about such matters. Regardless of the veracity of these claims, you'd be hard-pressed to persuade them to speak to a hulking stranger such as yourself. However, after about two hours, a tall robed man beckons to you from a dark alleyway. "You are the ones asking about forbidden cults? I would have discourse with you."
As the man gives you a low bow, you can't help but notice that he's just as tall as you - close to 7ft, in fact. "I am Zayifid, traveler of the sand and scrub, and student of all things Sarenrae sees fit to shine upon. I do not belong to a single church. I do not mock those priests who choose to remain in one location and tend to one building - not at all, for they provide a needed service. But I am not at ease if I stay in one location. I am a traveler, as I said, and have walked the billowing sands of Osirion, the westernmost velt of Nex, and much of our own, beloved Katapesh in between. I have seen much in my travels, and have brought the word and redemption of the Dawnflower to many. Yet, also, I have seen much in the way of cruelty and war in those travels.
"My path is not one of war. Sarenrae teaches redemption and forgiveness, but I know well that many do not seek these ends, and that war is often inevitable. And although I despair to think on the death of even one living creature, if the doing so will prevent a war, so it must be.
"And so I bring this information to you. I shall not stay long, for I do not desire to be caught up in the folly of battle. You will find the individuals you seek in the House of the Beast, under the leadership of the Carrion King. He resides, the rumors say, in an ancient temple upon the far side of Pale Mountain. He is using those he captures to breed an army of monsters. Soon, I fear he will raise high the flags of war. If you seek to bring him low, I pray that your effort be swift and just, that needless suffering might be averted."
Skaar's initially surprised by the stranger's size but not enough to keep him from approaching. He listens carefully to Zayafid's tale and though the notion of changing the world through pacifism was a strange one to him, the Unfailing Pillar respected his conviction. He looks to Syl periodically to see if any of the names or places he mentions get a reaction from the tramutized young woman.
"Katapesh's suffered Lamashtu's presence too damn long. I can't promise that I'll drive her out for good but I can bloody her followers' noses and smash whatever plans they've got for conquest to pieces. If I'm able to pull any of the poor girls outta there alive, do you have someplace in the city I can take 'em? They're gunna need care after what they've been through."
Does Carrion King or Pale Mountain sound familiar?
"Bring them to the Dawnflower's temple. They will be well looked after."
You've never heard of a 'Carrion King.' Of course, since your time at Scrivenbough revealed that you've been out of commission for at least a millennia, that isn't surprising. The Pale Mountain, however, is a landmark that you recognize.
Skaar nods in understanding. "I'll make sure it's done. Thanks for all the help. Hopefully we'll meet again. I get the feelin' you can help me with some other things."
The House of the Beast is well-known by the locals, although nobody frequents it do to the inherent dangers of desert navigation - to say nothing of the fact that it supposedly houses a dangerous Lamashtan cult. Still, you're able to get directions. It'll take a couple hours to reach the location.
---------------------------------------------------
Whenever you're ready to go
Like a child's sandcastle carelessly placed before hungry waves that lap against shore, the forgotten temple rests, nestled in the crags of the Pale Mountain. Its crumbling spires and domes bask in the pale grayish glow of the alien twilight of the mountain skies. The scope of such a creation seems implausible in such a remote location, yet it isn't hard to question why one might choose such a spectacular setting. Indeed, it seems unlikely that there exists another so close to the realm of the gods.
Among the broken stones and empty fountains, dry thorny shrubs poke through packed clay soil sprinkled with shards of bone. The temple would almost appear deserted if not for the ominous feeling of dread and the few dozen gory warnings hung upon the outer walls; headless bodies thick with swarms of black flies.
Map is under the Campaign header. Let me know where you want to enter.
It's about a 2hr walk. If there are any purchases you want to make or other preparations, feel free to do them.
Those stairs are part of a 'gatehouse' and are a possible entrance. You can also enter through the covered structures on the top and left sides of the map. Alternately, you can go through one of the holes in the surrounding wall. The 'front' of the building faces North.
Most of the aged flagstone in the courtyard lie loose, cracked, and dusted with pebbles and other debris. In several areas, the ground is littered with chunks of broken walls, and in other places, the ground is completely torn up. The remaining soil consists of hard and dusty clay that greedily devours water. Few plants bear the fortitude to survive among the ruins, but a few short trees, shrubs, and plenty of lichen grow on toppled stones or ruined works. The air is remarkable dry and crisp.
Each square on that map is 20ft, so let me know where you're headed. :-)
In the southwest section of the temple rises a large, bronze-plated dome set atop a raised stone foundation. The dome is badly cracked, and a gaping hole mars the southwest wall. Several human-sized brownish-black, egg-shaped objects lie about the yard surrounding the dome. Heading into the dome, you see the slithering track of a Large serpentine creature.
You land two powerful blows, and the snake pauses in surprise. Taking advantage of its hesitation, Syl unexpectedly circles around behind it and stabs it with one of her concealed daggers, inflicting a nasty wound. The serpent strikes at you, but you easily avoid its jaws.
As the beast overextends, Skaar grabs it by the jaw with one hand. By brute force alone he holds the snake still long enough to pound it in the head with his other fist.
After poking one, you determine that these egg-like objects are serpent droppings. The one you're examining contains the skeletal remains of a humanoid. One bony finger is still adorned with a ring of blue crystal. None of the others contain anything worth salvaging.
Protruding from beyond the safety of the western temple wall stands a fortified gatehouse built around a forty-foot-diameter dome covered in pale blue, flaking mosaic tile. Behind the dome stand a pair of slender spires. The top of the northernmost spire sheers off at a jagged angle about three-quarters of the way up, while the other bears extensive cracks circling its foundation.
As you and Syl approach, a quartet of javelins fly through the windows, sticking into the ground about 10ft in front of you. You then hear a guttural voice call out in Draconic.
You're near the west wall of the complex, approaching the building on the middle-left of the map.
"We're here to smash this house of cruelty and free the region from its grip. Show yourself! Are you allies of Lamashtu's minions?" the Unfailing Pillar calls out boldly.
You hear muffled voices inside for almost an entire minute before the gatehouse door slowly opens and a single Troglodyte cautiously steps out. "Umm... We bring you to Chief, okay? He'll want to talk to you. No trouble, okay? Weapons down. No fighting."
You're led through a series of rooms to a large dome. There, you see a large Troglodyte wielding a greataxe. "Who are you, and why are you trespassing on this sacred site?"
Room Descriptions:
C1
Faded tiles have cracked and crumbled into small piles at the foot of mud-brick walls. Once colorful mosaics are painted with sloppy, blood-scribed warnings written in Draconic and punctuated with gnoll scalps spiked into the walls. The warnings consist of multiple anti-gnoll sentiments such as "Death to the hyena infidels!", "All hail Grundmoch the redeemer!", "Rovagug claims the stink of hyena flesh!"
C3
Two sets of double doors sit along opposite walls of an open-air court. On either side, narrow wings extend for fifteen feet. Three large pillars run down the center of each of the wings. Swept against the walls lie piles of rubble from a collapsed ceiling.
C4
The broad dome crests twenty feet above the floor, supported by stone arches inlaid with glittering fragments of rock crystal. The dome itself is damaged, missing several sections that have been crudely repaired with stretched hides. Beyond the arches, tiled squares wall off the outer perimeter of the dome. Set into the floor beneath the dome is an elaborate mosaic of an intertwining sun and moon. The once stunning inlay is badly chipped. Chained to several of the arches hang the half-devoured remains of slain gnolls, their corpses crawling with flies. Most of the bodies are missing the majority of their legs and feet. A single word "Infidel" has been carved into their chests.
”So you’re the big boss around here. What do I call you? I’m Skaar and this is Syl. We’re here to put an end to the Lamashtu cultists that have been workin’ out of here. They’ve been snatchin’ up girls to use as brood mares for too damned long”, the Unfailing Pillar explains. ”I’m guessin’ from the carcasses we saw comin’ through here that your tribe’s not so friendly with the gnolls.”
The troglodyte gives a low hiss when you mention the gnolls. "I am Grundmoch, leader of this tribe. If you are against the gnolls, you need not be an enemy of mine. We were close once, but no more. Leave us alone, and we will have no quarrel with you."
"I had a friend. Rokova, a gnoll. Several months ago, he went missing. I looked for him and found a body, but when I returned to tell the others, he was alive and well. Or, at least, something that looked like him. When I confronted him, he tried to kill me. I escaped, but not before I saw him for what he really was - a skin stealer. Shortly afterwards, the Carrion King informed me that our alliance was over, and that my entire tribe was to be sacrificed. That ... thing ... turned him against me. I know not its purpose, but I fear the gnolls have been coerced into serving a new deity: The Mother of Monsters. Any enemy of Her is a friend of mine."
"Treachery", Skaar growls when the story comes to a close.
"I wanna see your friend avenged and the bond between your tribes renewed. It sounds like this 'Carrion King' is to blame. I say we bring him down and get to the bottom of his skinchangers. What can you tell me about him? When did he show up? Where is his lair?"
"Our tribes found this place many generations ago. He claimed the lower levels; we took the surface. Since we became enemies, he's been stealing more and more of our territory. Everything from the great dome eastward is his now. We just want a return to how things were, so we can worship in peace, but his lust for conquest is insatiable. Sometimes we see humans, too. Always females. Once they go in, they never come back."
"The big dome to the east has an entrance to his lair, but you'll need to watch out for his guards. He's power-hungry and patrols the area constantly."
You get about 60ft from the entrance to the dome when you hear a howl. Turning to your right, you see a gnoll mounted on a hyaenodon. You've been spotted. Syl, on the other hand, blends remarkably well with the terrain and seems to have escaped their notice for the moment.
The gnoll looses an arrow at you before charging into melee. As soon as it's within reach, the hyaenodon attempts to bite and bowl you over.
Gnoll hits for 12 damage + Fort DC 18 to avoid 1d6 CON damage from poison. Hyaenodon hits for 18 damage and successfully trips. Unless you have a way to avoid those, of course. ;-)
Build Guidelines
Level One
Triple Gestalt
Mythic Tier 1 (pick 1 bonus path ability)
30pt buy
+2 divine bonus to AC
+4 divine bonus to saves
+2 skill ranks per level
Starting gold: none
It's recommended that you take the Divine Source path ability at least once during the campaign. After all, you won't be able to answer your followers' prayers without it. It's also recommended to Dual Path, as the extra versatility will be useful. Keep in mind that these are recommendations, not requirements. It's your character.
If you want a Legendary Item, let me know, and we'll work something out together. For example, my fallen deity Astoroth has the "Book of Truths": a collection of all written knowledge. It boosts his INT and will increase in power as he levels, eventually becoming an intelligent magic item. As before, this is not required - or even recommended. I'm just letting you know that it's an option.
Fluff Requirements
Picture
Other Titles
Areas of Concern (pick 3-5 thematically-appropriate domains)
Favored Weapon
Holy Symbol (include picture if possible)
Sacred Animal
Sacred Color
Deific Obedience
Aphorisms
In your backstory, leave the circumstances of your death vague to nonexistant. One of the major arcs of the campaign involves figuring out what happened to you.
I should also mention that I'm a huge fan of the "Spheres of Power" magic system. If you're planning to take any levels in a spontaneous casting class and are interested in using that system instead of Vancian casting, let me know.
Negative. It was a hugely-successful Kickstarter last year. Essentially, the system has 20 "spheres" that each correspond to a basic concept (eg Life, Alteration, Creation, Nature, etc). Instead of spell levels, it uses a talent-based system. Each sphere has a base ability that can usually be used at-will when you unlock it. As you put more talents into the sphere, you unlock more options. You can also spend Sphere Points (like an Arcane Pool) to augment the various powers. Here's a couple examples.
Conjuration Sphere
Base Ability: summon an outsider to serve you (similar to an Eidolon)
Duration of concentration, but you can spend a sphere point to make it last 1min/level
Spending talents in this sphere will allow the conjured creature to last longer, gain various evolutions, spawn with weapons/armor, etc.
Destruction Sphere
Base Ability: at-will touch attack that deals bludgeoning damage
Spend a sphere point to increase the damage
Spending talents in this sphere will allow you to change the damage type, make it an AoE, add rider conditions, etc.
Also of note, most of the sphere abilities scale with your level.
Basically, "Spheres of Power" operates much like Skyrim's skill system. The base sphere abilities are generally like super-powerful cantrips. If you invest in the tree, you'll be able to access more powerful options. Just like unlocking Skyrim's TWF skill lets you use two weapons. If you max out the skill tree, you're running around decapitating people with ease.
Compared to Vancian casting, the system is more powerful at low levels but loses some of the more specialized spells. For example, a spherecaster can be chucking around baby fireballs at Level 1, but there's no real equivalent to black tentacles.
It's a bit expensive but well worth it. As I own the PDF, I'm also perfectly able to get you all the information you need about any spheres that seem interesting. While they have conversions for all the Core classes, nothing from the APG/UC/UM/ACG has been touched yet. There's a Google doc floating around the forums with conversions, and I also have my own take on Oracle spherecasters. And, of course, if you do a bit of research and then decide you'd rather skip spherecasting, that's 100% okay with me too. This campaign is incredibly flexible and player-driven. :-)
This campaign is already pretty far off the typical power-level expectations so it's a perfect test bed for wacky things. I'm down to give spheres a shot. =)
Are you offering the template buy-off option I see most people using? How does that work with starting at level 1? Would I just be missing a class to start off?
Do you mind if I use the character I originally applied to Rednal's game with? All of the fluff is already done for him.
From a power-level standpoint, it's definitely way off the beaten path. Rednal's PC just soloed Feast of Ravenmoor at Level 2. :-) I'm using my PC to test out spherecasting as well, so it'll be fun to get a second opinion. Based on your fluff, you'll probably be most interested in the Enhancement and Alteration spheres. The former is where you'll find bull's strength, magic weapon, and the like. The latter is where you'll find the shapechanging stuff.
The template buy-off option is available (I think you were interested in the Giant Creature template). Basically it takes the place of one of your levels. Example: my PC is an Advanced Sylph Brawler//Incanter. At Level 2, he'll gain three classes as usual for gestalt. You only get a single template, though, so choose carefully. :-)
Skaar is completely fine with me, by the way. I may want you to eliminate the paragraph about his death, but the rest of the fluff looked okay. I already have several ideas for him....
You'll get access to either the Life or Death sphere for free. You'll also gain 2 talents. These can be used to unlock new spheres or upgrade the ones you already have. Each time you level, you'll gain 1 additional talent. Your Spell Pool is equal to CL + CHA mod.
Alteration
Base Ability - Shapeshift: standard action transform yourself or touched creature. Duration: concentration. Spend a spell point, and it lasts 1min/level. Basically, transforming gives you access to a list of traits (claws, bite, darkvision, cosmetic changes, etc). You grant 1 trait + 1 per 5 caster levels. Upgrading this sphere gives you more trait options (pounce, flight, etc), lets you transform into different kinds of creatures (dragons, elementals, etc), and lets you affect multiple creatures at once. This is also where you'd find equivalents to enlarge/reduce person. You can also reduce a target's intelligence to 2.
Death
Base Abilities - Reanimate (spend a spell point for animate dead), Ghost Strike (at-will ranged touch of fatigue, spend a spell point to make target exhausted instead). Upgrading this sphere lets you animate more, stronger undead and/or modify your ghost strike. This is where you'd find enervation, bestow curse, vampiric touch, and most of the other necromancy stuff.
Enhancement
Base Ability - Enhance: standard action to give a weapon/armor/shield a +1 enhancement bonus (+1 per 5 caster levels). Duration: concentration. Spend a spell point, and it lasts 1min/level. Upgrading this sphere lets you animate objects, enhance multiple objects at once, enhance ability scores, negatively enhance a creature, and give weapons special properties. Basically, it's the Magus' Arcane Pool, bulls' STR/fox's cunning/owl's WIS,etc, blindness/deafness, etc.
Life
Base Abilities - Invigorate (at-will temp HP equal to your caster level; can't go over max HP), Cure (spend a spell point for CLW), Restore (spend a spell point for ability damage/condition removal). Upgrading this sphere improves your Cures and increases the types of conditions that can be Restored. Basically it's the healing/condition removal sphere - pretty straight-forward.
Protection
Base Abilities - Ward (creates an invisible barrier to block attacks, spend a spell point to make it last 1 round/level), Aegis (spend a spell point to grant a scaling Deflection bonus to AC for 1 hr/level). Upgrading this sphere gives you different kinds of Wards (energy resistance, sanctuary, magic circle against Evil, etc) and Aegis (scaling armor or shield bonus, DR, saving throw bonuses vs specific effects, etc). It also lets you reshape your Wards and dismiss your Aegis early to cause various effects.
Definitely taking Life and Protection. Not sure on the third but I'm leaning towards Alteration.
I'd eventually like ogre crush for Skaar. I'll find a way to get Skaar large by default. Alteration would be good for fitting through human-sized doorways. =P
As for the background, what was it about his death that I should change? I left it kind of open ended.
Well, the Giant Creature template will cover the size requirement. :-)
Background-wise, get rid of how your death affected the world. It's fine if Skaar fought back against his attacker/s, but the repercussions of his loss are currently unknown. The campaign's called "Forgotten God" for a reason. ;-) Also, the first post in Gameplay will involve my waking you up.
It turns out I misunderstood your previous post. How many spheres do oracles get access to in addition to the free one?
Edit:
After reading a bit more I learned that talents unlock spheres. In that case it'll be Life (free) and Protection with Armored Magic. Having read more I'm rather excited about this system.
Yes, it's a really fun system. Based on my playtesting, it's a small nerf to full casters, but it feels like a buff. For insurance, detect/read magic aren't cantrips, but they're way more versatile. Plus, putting one talent into the Destruction sphere gets you an at-will scaling blast - now you're a Warlock-lite. :-)
Assuming you're a Half-Orc (not sure what a 'divine orc' is), I'm getting a 32pt buy. You may have shorted yourself one skill rank as well, but I need to doublecheck that when I have more time. Also, where is your natural armor coming from? I also need a more specific HP breakdown. It'll make bookkeeping easier for me down the road. That's all I noticed at first glance; I'll go through it more in-depth later.
Re: large size - let's hold off on that for now. I have something planned for later. Don't worry, you'll get it eventually. :-)
You've shorted yourself a skill rank, as well. Should be 4 class + 1 INT + 2 bonus. I'm only counting 6 trained skills on your profile.
An unrelated question: tell me a bit about your preferred game types. Combat-heavy, social intrigue, planar-hopping, melodramtic angsty White Wolf LARP stuff, etc. Roll-play/Role-play balance. That sort of thing. Also, give me some likes/dislikes about Golarion. It's a massive hodgepodge of tropes, so I'm sure there's a couple regions that you favor more than others. For instance, I really like Nex and Geb, but Numeria doesn't really do anything for me. Finally, are there any Paizo scenarios/modules/AP sections that you have prior experience with/have no interest in/really want to play. "Forgotten God" is is highly player-driven, so this'll help me construct a framework that we'll flesh out together as the campaign progresses.
Oh, one other thing. While there'll be opportunities to get temporary companions throughout the campaign, Skaar's path is predominantly going to be a solo one. A major theme of "Forgotten God" is isolation. Also, your character WILL die at least once for story purposes. Just giving you a heads-up.
You’re right again on skill points. Damn you Hero Lab!
Skaar’s a bruiser so combat should be predominant but not everything has to be a fight to the death. Bar fights and wrestling competitions would also be ‘combat’ I’d enjoy with Skaar but isn’t necessarily combat in the traditional sense. I like the notion that not every fight has to be a fight (in the sense that you roll initiative and make attack rolls). I enjoy my share of NPC interaction and roleplaying as long as it doesn’t get too drawn out to the point where I lose track of the actual adventure. I was in a game once where we roleplayed out three or four in-game days across six months real life time. That was not fun.
Golarion lore is hit or miss for me. I like most of the barbaric cultures (the ulfen, shoanti, mammoth lords, etc) and the River Kingdoms stuff but I don’t like the super high-magic areas or the Asian-themed regions. I’m not usually a big fan of plane-hopping as a genre but I could see it working well in this campaign once Skaar gets settled into his role.
As for general themes, I enjoy redemption, pioneering, and heroics. With that in mind you’d think Wrath of the Righteous and Kingmaker would be favorite APs of mine but I really felt like they both missed the mark. The redemption story arcs are too heavy-handed in Wrath and Kingmaker was way too bogged down in subsystems and minutiae for my tastes. Funny enough, Skull and Shackles usually tops my list for favorite APs for really hitting the nail on the head as far as ‘adventure’ goes. Reign of Winter is a close second because I love me some pseudo norse/viking lore and the plane-hopping in it fits perfectly in my opinion.
Will the story-related death be prefaced in any way?
Also, I'd like a picture of Skaar (unless your profile avatar is an accurate rendition) and three-five areas of concern (basically Cleric domains). For example, my deity's portfolio covers Knowledge, Secrets, Mysteries, and Revelations. This will help me figure out thematically-appropriate divine powers to grant you as you regain your godhood.
Basically, your first death is a freebie. You have a very powerful PC, and the challenge rating of many enemies will be raised to compensate. Since this is a solo game, it's very possible that you'll die because of a failed saving throw or a badly-timed critical hit. That won't end your story, as there is a system in place to allow you to come back. However, even if you do everything right, your PC will have to die at some point. I can't explain why (that's part of the surprise), but it's not a bad thing. I just wanted to give you a heads-up in case I have to work in a "rocks fall" moment down the road. I highly doubt it'll come to that, though. Solo games have a low margin of error by their very nature.
His appearance shifts subtlety depending on the peoples he’s near. When he was among his own kind his features were more savage (per the profile image). Among others that might find him intimidating like humans his form shifts to be less monstrous.
His portfolios are summed up pretty well in his background:
Skaar, the Unfailing Pillar, is an ancient god of strength, independence, and later hope. Though he has roots in the orc pantheon, like the elven goddess Calistra, he had worshipers among many peoples and went by different names to each of them. It's important to note that he's a god of strength but not a god of war. His servants were dreamers, loners, visionaries, and heroes.
If you’d like I can expand on that or add a few more.
That works. I was mainly curious if there were any specific domains that really matched your concept. I can work with what you have. :-)
I'm thinking you're just about set. I'll need a little time to flesh out the plot a bit more, but we should be good to go by next week (at the latest).
EDIT: Oh, aside from APs, how much experience do you have with PFS scenarios and/or Paizo-published modules? While there'll be a fair bit of homebrew material, I'll also be drawing heavily from published works and want to make sure I give you a fun experience.
I recognized most of the content Rednal was using and Feast of Ravenmore but ‘replaying’ content doesn’t bother me overmuch and I’m pretty good at not acting on player knowledge.
I expected as much but wanted to make sure. It should be particularly interesting being able to experience Paizo material from a non-Pathfinder perspective. Skarr's probably never heard of the Society, after all, so it wouldn't make sense for Drandle Dreng to wake him up in the middle of the night with a mission. ;-) Rednal's PC started out by playing The Darkest Vengeance in reverse - at least until Valeros and co. showed up.
Progress Update: With some help from my wife, I have a suitably epic plot for you. Classic heroic "save the world" stuff, so it should be perfect for Skaar. I'll get things up and running in the next few days. :-)
Just read your Gameplay stuff. Tell me how you plan to go about asking Peppery Longfarthing (good guess about her being a mage, by the way) for assistance. How much information are you going to reveal about yourself?
As for the ladies, give me one Diplomacy roll for each of them. ;-)
I'll put up a substantive update tomorrow when I'm feeling a bit better.
Heh, I’m not that clever. I’m pretty sure you described her as a mage.
Skaar will give Peppery plenty of half-truths: He didn’t get along well with his family so wandered a lot. He had lots of friends all over but no place he called home. At some point he was attacked by ‘someone’ and left for dead – those people might still be after him. He can’t get into the specifics but there’s people that need him (his worshipers).
I’m not sure how her magic will work. If it’s visual instead of mental she might learn the truth that way.
Short of overthrowing Harrigan, the Wormwood is a bit shy of opportunities to work miracles and inspire the downtrodden crew.
Does Skaar have any reason to believe that putting a beating on Plugg might stir their spirits? I was under the impression he's been on his best behavior since Skaar arrived.
