Strange Aeons

Game Master YoLlama

The Strange Aeons Adventure Path begins with "In Search of Sanity," a mind-shattering foray into horror where the heroes awaken within the walls of the eerie Briarstone Asylum, their minds wracked and memories missing. Working together to recover their missing time, they soon learn that their amnesia is but a symptom of a much greater cosmic menace. As they struggle to retain their sanity, the heroes must ally with other asylum residents and fight against the monstrosities that have taken over the building and plunged it into nightmare. Can the adventurers defeat the terror that stalks the halls and free themselves from their prison of madness?

Character Creation Rules:

• Races: Standard races from the Pathfinder Core Rulebook will be allowed. Any other paizo printed PC race SHOULD be fine as long as it adheres to campaign context and theme. Other races will be considered on a case by case basis. If you're from Ustalav, you should probably be human.
• Classes: All classes from PFRPG core rulebook plus those from the Advanced Player's Guide (APG), Advanced Class Guide (ACG), Ultimate Combat (UC), and Ultimate Magic (UM), Occult Adventures(OA), and Ultimate Intrigue (UI) will be allowed. Any Archetype and class mentioned in the campaign guide are worth considering.
• Alignment: No CE or NE. LE would take convincing.
• Abilities: (20 point) buy,
• Traits: Characters will start with two traits. One must be a campaign trait listed below. The other one should fit narratively. You may take a drawback for a third trait.
• Hit Points: Characters will start out with Maximum hit points for their class at 1st level. After 1st level character's will roll for their hit points or take the average of their particular hit dice, whichever is greater.
• I retain the ability to ask you to change something if I find it would upset game balance a bit too much.
• For races, classes, etc. ,Third Party Pathfinder material will a considered on a case-by-case basis. Be forewarned, don't go too crazy with this. Requires a link to the material in question.
• Unchained options are allowed
•Alternate rules used:Background Skills, Stamina Pool (Free for fighter), Occult Rules and Im considering using Called Shots & horror rules.
•Keep min-maxing to minimum
•Character histories are a little odd in this campaign as the PCs will start the game with fractured memories. Check out the campaign player guide for ideas
•Provide a filled out character template of some sort. Something that gives the run down on appearance, personality, quirks, etc. More extensive templates are always appreciated. Choosing a Myers Briggs personality type is an option. I've seen people pick TV Tropes. Or utilizing this 10 Minute Background
Or this Ash's guide to Personality & BackgroundYou won't be penalized for not completing a guide but a basic character presentation is required.

Important info:

Pretty standard stuff:
•Posting will be frequent. Every day to every other day. Unexplained long absences will be met with a checkup message and if continuous, dismissal .
•A combination of Roll20 and imagination will be utilized for combat but RP will be in thread
•High Focus on Roleplaying
•Alias creation is not necessary to apply
•Create a living breathing character, with hopes, fears, instincts with a distinct personality and it'll help you stand out.
•Please provide a standard clean character sheet
•One submission per player
•Deadline is at 11:59 on Nov 10

What you remember:

The Adventure Path opens with the PCs awakening in the basement of an asylum and witnessing a frightening and gruesome scene. Regaining their senses, the PCs feel as if they are emerging from a fog or a dream, but have trouble remembering who they are and how they got into their current situation. The only memories that remain are but vague hints and gut feelings—hardly clear recollections. A PC may recall only bits of an early childhood in a merchant family, while another might remember being born in Oppara, but nothing else. It is up to you to determine how little or much you can recall. Feel free to begin the campaign as a complete blank slate. However, this campaign assumes that the player characters can’t recall anything about the past few years. Over the course of the adventures, the characters begin to piece together what happened to them, and they regain their full memories midway through the Adventure Path.
Upon waking, your character senses the presence of the other amnesiacs, each with the same lingering doubts, occupying the same cell. Your character feels a vague kinship to these people for unknown reasons. The rst thing your character likely realizes is that they are all trapped together in a terrifying situation and that these others might make the di erence between escape and perishing in an asylum that has erupted into chaos.
A lingering sense of servitude also nags at your character’s memories upon awakening. It’s hazy, but some recollection tugs at the back of your character’s mind of having been captured, along with a sense of dread that he or she had committed some dark deeds in the past, perhaps under duress. Your character might even consider this blank slate a blessing in disguise.
Beginning a campaign on such unsteady footing requires groups to trust one another. The players need to give up some control over their character’s past in order to let this story of uncertain dread play out during the course of this Adventure Path. Players in Strange Aeons should trust the GM and know that the latter has additional information about their characters’ past and future beyond what they may have envisioned. In the hands of a good GM, this slow reveal of characters’ histories adds an exciting element to the campaign, but this kind of narrative device also has the potential to feel exclusionary or antagonistic. If at any point during this Adventure Path you feel like your character’s agency has been taken away, talk with the GM and the group about ways that the story can be amended or changed to restore a comfortable level of personal control. Remember, uncertainty can be fun, and consensually surrendering some control is a crucial element of the horror genre. As the Strange Aeons Adventure Path is steeped in
Lovecra ian themes, occult elements, and otherworldlymysteries, it might seem like a good idea to make a character familiar with those forces. However, it might prove fun to play someone completely ignorant of the Elder Mythos instead of one steeped in the occult. It’s upto you and your group to determine a preferred approach this Adventure Path, and there are few wrong ways to play through Strange Aeons. It’s more important for players to be interested in cosmic horror or the Lovecratian Mythos than it is for their characters to be aware of the things both terrible and unknown. Furthermore, players don’t need to be experts on Lovecratian lore to find 7 frightening enjoyment from this campaign.

Campaign Traits:

These campaign traits tie characters to the Strange Aeons Adventure Path, where the party wakes up in a nightmare—trapped in an asylum and confronted with a terrifying scene. Though the PCs don’t remember their past, these traits provide
a feeling of who they are or may have been. Though these just consist of vague feelings
and personality elements, they can help the character better integrate with a Strange
Aeons campaign.

Driven By Guilt
You awake after your ordeal with a lingering feeling that you have taken part in something outside the normal bounds of your morals. Whether you were corrupted at one point or compelled to perform some forgotten actions, this guilt drives you to fight against those forces in the world that prey upon the good. You see your present condition as a chance to redeem yourself and banish this unsettling emotion.You gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws against any spells or spell-like abilities cast by evil creatures. In addition, once per day as a swift action, you can add your Charisma bonus to your attack rolls and deal 1 additional point of damage for each class level you have against evil creatures for 1 round. You must have a good alignment to take this trait.

Enduring Stoicism
Even though your pulse is pounding in your ears when you awake in the asylum, you feel strangely nonplussed. You can recognize that the situation you find yourself in is horrific, but you refuse to let that fear control you. It doesn’t feel like it’s worth worrying over too much. You know that when you face unspeakable forces, keeping your cool will keep you alive. You gain a +2 trait bonus on all saving throws against spells or effects with the fear or emotion descriptors. In addition, you gain a +1 trait bonus on Intimidate checks due to your intimidating presence, as
people don’t know what to expect from you.

Foe of the Strange
You awake feeling emboldened after a terrifying nightmare. Instead of being frightened
by the bizarre creatures from your nightmares, these experiences have steeled you against these startling alien beings. You know that you fell victim to strange circumstances and loathsome forces, but you refuse to give in to a creeping sense of helplessness. Instead, you vow to fight back against whoever or whatever is responsible for your current situation. The creatures of your nightmares won’t hold fear over your head. You’ll take the fight to them.You gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws against extraordinary, spell-like, and supernatural abilities of aberrations (for example, a gibbering mouther’s gibbering or an intellect devourer’s
confusion). In addition, whenever you’re confused and roll to determine behavior
in a given round, subtract 10 from the result.

Formerly Mind-Swapped
You awake with a strange sensation beyond the frightening experience of extensive
memory loss. Full recollections of the experience—like so many others—have been wiped from your mind, but at some point in your past your mind was swapped with
that of a yithian, an alien being from beyond time and space. You don’t remember details of your experiences wandering the yithians’ peculiar city in a foreign body —and even worry whether this might be some strange hallucination
—but every so often, a flash of insight strikes you as a result of this experience. You know that you can rely on these alien flashbacks during your
investigation into your current situation, as it gives you greater perspective into an otherwise confusing world.Once per day, you can reroll one Knowledge check
that you have just failed. In addition, you can attempt untrained Knowledge checks with DCs up to 20 instead
of 10.

Methodical Mind
: When you awake with nothing
but hazy memories, you begin carefully cataloging
your thoughts to determine the reasons for your condition and where you might be. This comforts you, and you know deep down that you have always relied on your ordered mind and pragmatic approach to face challenges. You use this focus and sensibility to your advantage as you investigate your current dire situation.Choose three Knowledge skills. You gain a +1 trait bonus
on Knowledge checks of these kinds and on concentration checks. In addition, choose one Knowledge skill. When researching, you are considered to have Skill Focus for that Knowledge skill when determining what die you roll to reduce a library’s knowledge points (kp). See Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Intrigue for more information on research rules.

Pugnacious
You awake in the asylum with sore muscles and bloody knuckles, as if you were recently in a fight. You even have a vague feeling that you won. You
can’t explain it, but you know that you’ve always been easy to set off, and your first instinct when pressed into
a corner is to lash out. Stuck in the asylum sets you on edge, and you not only want to figure out what happened
to you, you want to free yourself and find whoever did this to you—and make them pay.You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls when threatened by two or more enemies. In addition, once per day you can gain one of the following effects as an immediate action: You can increase the reach of your melee attacks by 5 feet for 1 round, or you can treat your weapon as one size category larger than it actually is for purposes of determining damage for 1 round.

Ritualistic
You awake with a sense of purpose and a tingle of magical power. Though it’s unsettling that you can’t recall your past, you have a hunch that if you and your companions do everything just right—follow the correct steps and order—the answers will reveal themselves and you will be free of your condition. You get the feeling that you’ve always fallen back on careful planning and time-tested evidence in the past, but a nagging sensation also tells you that you used these skills in less-than-kind ways all too recently. Choose one 0-level spell. You can cast this spell once per day as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to your character level. The spell-like ability’s save DC is Charisma-based.In addition, you gain a +2 trait bonus on all skill checks when performing occult rituals.

Sensitive MindYou awake in the asylum horribly aware of dangers lurking nearby. While your memories are hazy and indistinct, everything around you looks vibrant and clear. You have an inkling that you have always been perceptive and can tell a lot about a person even in a quick meeting. This sensitivity can overwhelm you at times, especially in your current situation. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Appraise, Perception, and Sense Motive checks, and one of these (your choice) is a class skill for you. In addition, once per week you can use the psychometry occult skill unlock even if you are not capable of casting psychic spells or have the Psychic Sensitivity feat. See Path nder RPG Occult Adventures for more information on psychometry and other relevant occult skill unlocks.

True DevotionYou wake from your recent ordeal with a sense of
shame, as if you had sinned
 Deeply against your morals
and beliefs. However, you feel a
bit of relief as well, as if your god
had granted you a second chance.
You not only have a drive to gure out what happened to you, but an urge to ght back against the unspeakable forces of evil. If, during the course of your investigation, you discover that you took part in unsavory activities that would normally be opposed to your faith or alignment, this event no longer has any impact with your standing in the eyes of your god due to
your renewed righteous convictions.
Once per day when casting a divine spell, you can attempt to cast the spell without losing the spell from its spell slot or using one of your allotted spells per day. There is a 20% chance that this attempt is successful. In addition, select one
domain or inquisition you have. You can use the first granted power of that domain
or inquisition one additional time per day. You must have a good alignment and be class capable of casting divine spells in order to select this trait.

Twitchy:Your first thought upon awaking in the asylum isn’t confusion over why you can’t remember anything clearly—it’s a sudden urge to find safety. You feel like everything around you, aside from your companions, might threaten you and you’re always ready to react. You have a hard time staying still, and you’re constantly surveying your surroundings. Maybe you are paranoid, or maybe it’s just an overactive imagination, but whatever it is, you know that keeping these feelings honed will help you stay alive.
You gain a +2 trait bonus on initiative checks and a +1 trait bonus on Reflex saves