Ruins of Pathfinder: The Mysterium Compact (Mythic) (Inactive)

Game Master Robert Brookes

For those that haven't looked, the campaign info tab lists the six parts of the campaign and the expected level ranges, so that you can anticipate how far out your character builds should go.

Awesome, good to know. That'll let me play around with a few ideas over the next few days.

I'd love to join in here

Building a character who is basically a spoiled brat, child of noble parents. Her family fled from Jalmeray to Vudra to escape the masses of refugees and this was much to my character's chagrin as she had to leave all her friends behind and they would have to move in with her mother's cousin until they could establish their own home. In addition the chances of her ending up in an arranged marriage increased dramatically as a result of the move.
She would have been eager to join the college, to get be away from Vudra, to grief her parents and to sate her curiosity.

EDIT: Still working on background and the such but her Harrow card would definitely be the Courtesan. It's how she envisions herself and what she was raised to become before the world started coming down.

I love the sound of that concept already, Cuàn!

Added Hokuto into my back story.

Hey Robert, sounds like a lot of fun! I'll have to take a few days to feel out who I'd like to propose for this (especially given that I wouldn't want to play someone too close to Unafe, my character in Crusty's Road to Damnation, who is just 17 years old herself).

In the meantime, I saw what looks to me like two slightly contradictory statements:

Starting Age: Maximum young age for commoners, as detailed here.

...

While the campaign's onset features the PCs as children, you will grow up over the course of the story's six year timeline. Characters will begin at the maximum age for their race to still be considered "young" as detailed here.

Those two formulas (youth_age + max_commoner_age) and (adulthood_age -1) happen to be equal for humans, but aren't for most other races. (For elfs it's the difference between 55+24=79 vs 110-1=109.)

Am I misreading one of these? What do you prefer?

Beginning to construct Hu

Hope to get him ready for review by the end of this week.

I'm trying to decide if I want to head in the direction of the "first worlder" archetype, as I feel like it makes sense thematically, but I'm a little worried about the archetype being sub-par....hmmmm

Hu Xian - The archetype is not sub-par, I've seen it used very effectively. Just make a pouncing eidolon you'll be fine.

Robert - I didn't realize Ichihara was a girl. I'll change that part of my backstory.

I don't know about you guys but I was planing on fighting alongside my eidolon in battle... And for the record I know that the pouncing eidolon is the best thing in the world but I'm not going to make mine like that...

Hey Robert, sounds like a lot of fun! I'll have to take a few days to feel out who I'd like to propose for this (especially given that I wouldn't want to play someone too close to Unafe, my character in Crusty's Road to Damnation, who is just 17 years old herself).

In the meantime, I saw what looks to me like two slightly contradictory statements:

Creation guidelines wrote:

Starting Age: Maximum young age for commoners, as detailed here.

...

While the campaign's onset features the PCs as children, you will grow up over the course of the story's six year timeline. Characters will begin at the maximum age for their race to still be considered "young" as detailed here.

Those two formulas (youth_age + max_commoner_age) and (adulthood_age -1) happen to be equal for humans, but aren't for most other races. (For elfs it's the difference between 55+24=79 vs 110-1=109.)

Am I misreading one of these? What do you prefer?

Interesting! I hadn't noticed the table for non-humans was so out of sync with the base assumption of starting age from the CRB. I'll err in the side if Uktimate Campaign's base young age plus maximum commoner dice., give or take a year or two for taste.

Oh, i have a good idea what direction mine will take. I did debate on the first worlder archetype but i think the idea i'm having for it now makes it fit my character better. Now to get back to getting that backstory all nice and typed out.

There will be a couple non-standard Eidolon base type options made available when that becomes a thing to take concern with. More to come then.

Well i did say direction, not the specifics. It's more an idea that's free to evolve. ^^

I, Vathan, hereby submit myself to the College of Shadows under the sign of The Forge.

I figured that I would be taking the Wild Caller archetype just because I'm a Half-Elf... It looks interesting and I can get some "free" evolutions!

EDIT: On second thought, I'll just make an angel and go normal summoner... Or something like Sebastian from Black Butler *trails off into deep thoughts*

Hey GM Robert. I've come up with a character concept but I'd like to get your opinion on it before it's submitted.

I love things that go outside the box but still use the box as a reference. Hannibal actually sounds like a character I'd like to see fleshed out, especially with the inclusion of those two very unique and interesting parents.

@Vathan: Just read your profile, really loving the background. Decades as a violent street youth is an excellent concept for an aasimar. Taking something so good and pure and rubbing it in the dirt until it is near unrecognizable. Very, very strong submission.

Good call on grabbing Arcane Strike too, the SLA allows you to qualify for it without a spellcasting class. That's a pretty good grasp of recent errata/faq stuff! I'm impressed!

Hey Robert, thanks for the invite. Let me know if this works and I'll flesh him out a bit.

I, Madai, hereby submit myself to the College of Shadows under the sign of The Courtesan.

Yaz: The background for Yaz is wonderfully savage and excellently reflective of Belkzen mindsets. Something to consider adding; has Yaz seen any first-hand devastation of either the armies of the Whispering Tyrant Tar-Baphon, or the armies of the Runelord Karzoug. Both powerful legions battle both the hordes of Belkzen and each other in the vicinity where Yaz would have been growing up. Whether or not he fought undead or servants of the Runelord, he could still have had experiences tempered by their presence.

I would really like him to have had (in addition to some normal orc raids when younger) time fighting the Whispering Tyrant on the border,m but I wasn't sure how much I could claim without it ceasing to make sense that he was a commoner. If he was mostly doing guard duty for his mother, or part of a big horde that might help though, right?

Everything else looks good as far as the background is concerned. The formatting on the mechanics isn't desirable, but I'm willing to overlook that until we see if you make it in to the game.

Yeah, it's my own compressed format and mostly shows the choices rather than all the calculated values. Happy to put in standard stat block format if you like.

As for the last bit of background where Hokuto had to subdue Yaz, it likely would have been with a sleep spell or something otherwise passive and non-violent with a chiding reprimand to play well with others, or something along those lines.

Would be perfect - I'll write something up and run it past you if that is okay.

Hey Robert, would you consider a custom race? Or an Aasimar(Gnome) reskinned for Fey heritage instead of Outsider heritage? I have several half-formed ideas buzzing about...and one of them is a Gnome/Grig crossbreed who could potentially be built either way. If neither fits, no worries, I've got other ideas to play with...

Cuàn here

I see I'm not the only one under the Harrow sign of the Courtesan, though in Nanya's case it's in the word's old meaning of courtier.

The background isn't complete yet, about two thirds of the way now. I hope you don't mind me using part of the story of the Cult of the Ebon Destroyers module (Dhalavei cultists running a silk mill as a façade) to give her family a reason to flee Jalmeray.

Okay - write something up. Hope is okay (changes to background, mostly)

Dot!

@Madai: I think I'll need some more detail on Madai's background. Children sold into the service of brothels are typically just educated and used as servants until they reach an age deemed societally appropriate, depending on where Madai was raised. Different countries would have different ideas about what is appropriate, so knowing where Madai grew up and the circumstances surrounding his life are important.

A courtesan raised in Cheliax would likely have been raised with a rigorous structure of laws and codes that must be upheld and swift, strict punishments for mis-steps. While a courtesan-in-training raised in Taldor might be more focused more on aspects of literal court-life and serving as a life-long aide and confidant to nobility. An important distinction is not toeing too far past the line of good taste with a character that young, too, which having their background include anything more than just being a servant at a brothel would really be.

@Gyrfalcon: A totally custom race is something a little outside of the bounds for what I'd like to do with this, however a little reskinning could be good. If you wanted to go with a fey-touched gnome (more than they already are) I might recommend taking a look at the Wayang and adapting its racial stuff, since they're appropriate-sized. Alternately, I could see a small-sized, muse-touched aasimar working, since small and medium are worth the same RP in the ARG.

@Nanya: Actually, using Ebon Destroyers is a really great touch to the background, I like it! Can't wait to see it finished.

@Yaz: I love the additions you made!

@Vathan: I think for now what you have presented is enough, however the campaign as a whole will feature opportunities for flashbacks showing snapshots of your characters lives, which would be a great opportunity to showcase some more of his long life.

Over the next few days I'm going to be posting Prologue snapshots of the campaign into the gameplay thread, giving insight to and foreshadowing of the elements of the campaign in the form of flashbacks leading up to the start of the game. Feel free to read these as they come up, but please refrain from posting in the gameplay thread until the campaign begins.

Can we modify our back stories to better fit the information leading up to the start?

I think I'm going to shuffle up a harrow deck and choose a card randomly in order to get inspiration for my character, rather than picking a card after the fact.

I've never played a summoner before, and this campaign might be a good way to learn the class.

Oh yeah, and the Ruins of Pathfinder setting is da bomb. Let me see what I can come up with.

Can we modify our back stories to better fit the information leading up to the start?

The prologues shouldn't affect your personal backstories much as they take place years prior. But you will be free to make tweaks to your background after recruitment closes and the final decision has been made.

I think I'm going to shuffle up a harrow deck and choose a card randomly in order to get inspiration for my character, rather than picking a card after the fact.

Great idea!

Good luck everyone, Robert is an amazing DM and this should be a real treat.

Robert, would you allow First Worlder and Master Summoner to be used together? I think the RAW answer is no, but I don't think the actual changes they make to the Eidolon and Summon Monster really overlap...and unless I'm reading it wrong First Worlder mostly nerfs the summoner for flavor reasons.

Robert, would you allow First Worlder and Master Summoner to be used together? I think the RAW answer is no, but I don't think the actual changes they make to the Eidolon and Summon Monster really overlap...and unless I'm reading it wrong First Worlder mostly nerfs the summoner for flavor reasons.

The big draw of First World Summoner is that the eidolon isn't an outsider, which means it expands the number and types of spells that can and can't affect it. Secondly the summon monster list for it is noticeably improved from standard summoner (unicorn!)

I know there's also been some back-and-forth on the forums as to whether or not the First World Summoner can use their Fey Summons and their Eidolon at the same time (unlike other summoners.) I've ruled that to be so in home games, I'm not sure how I'd lean on the boards about that.

Mike Kimmel wrote:

I think I'm going to shuffle up a harrow deck and choose a card randomly in order to get inspiration for my character, rather than picking a card after the fact.

Great idea!

Agreed, and done. I have drawn The Inquisitor.

@Madai: I think I'll need some more detail on Madai's background. Children sold into the service of brothels are typically just educated and used as servants until they reach an age deemed societally appropriate, depending on where Madai was raised. Different countries would have different ideas about what is appropriate, so knowing where Madai grew up and the circumstances surrounding his life are important.

A courtesan raised in Cheliax would likely have been raised with a rigorous structure of laws and codes that must be upheld and swift, strict punishments for mis-steps. While a courtesan-in-training raised in Taldor might be more focused more on aspects of literal court-life and serving as a life-long aide and confidant to nobility. An important distinction is not toeing too far past the line of good taste with a character that young, too, which having their background include anything more than just being a servant at a brothel would really be.

Child prostitution isn't an easy subject to deal with. Madai as written is a character recovering from a particularly horrible life story. I didn't spend too much time on his background because I wanted to see if you were all right with a background that dark. If you'd prefer, I'd be fine with lightening up the character concept and make it more appropriate to PbP.

In a home game I'd probably allow it, but I think for a game on the Paizo forums I'd prefer to steer away from it. Being raised around it is fine, but actively having participated is a little too far off the reservation for these forums, I think.

I, Stands on the Spiral, hereby submit myself to the College of Shadows under the sign of the Owl.

In a home game I'd probably allow it, but I think for a game on the Paizo forums I'd prefer to steer away from it. Being raised around it is fine, but actively having participated is a little too far off the reservation for these forums, I think.

Agreed. I'll work out something a bit more palatable.

In a home game I'd probably allow it, but I think for a game on the Paizo forums I'd prefer to steer away from it. Being raised around it is fine, but actively having participated is a little too far off the reservation for these forums, I think.

In my character's background, it identifies "unspeakable things" and therefore does not elaborate.

Hey Robert, thanks for the invite. Let me know if this works and I'll flesh him out a bit.

I, Madai, hereby submit myself to the College of Shadows under the sign of The Courtesan.

I, Madai, hereby re-submit myself to the College of Shadows under the sign of The Twin.

Gyrfalcon - Maybe Rob would be nice and let you use Wild Caller on a non half-elf character. It's much cooler than First Worlder.

Rob

I, Cassandra Norst, hereby submit myself to the College of Shadows under the sign of The Eclipse.

Here she is. I plan on adding some snap-shots at the bottom a few little events that define her a bit more.

Rob

** spoiler omitted **

I like it. Reminds me of Pirates of Dark Water too, and that's always good.

Gyrfalcon - Maybe Rob would be nice and let you use Wild Caller on a non half-elf character. It's much cooler than First Worlder.

I dunno Jelani, Rob's pretty nice, but I don't know if he's *that* nice. ;0)

Rob, whaddaya say? Can a Gnome (or Fey-themed Idylkin) be a Wild Caller?

Does Golarion have a notion of time passing differently in (all or part of) the First World than the Prime? i.e. you spend a year there, and return a day later (or vice versa)? I'm considering having my character have spent some significant portion of his childhood in the First World...

Well, maybe you could take the adopted trait, and have been adopted by a group of half-elves. Yess.... -strokes munchkin beard-