The Forgotten God (private) (Inactive)

Game Master Whack-a-Rogue

Much appreciated. I'll fill you in when my project is a bit further along. :-)

Posted to all my games
----------------------
My work schedule changed, and my gaming availability has decreased significantly. To reduce my stress level and prevent burnout, I'll be reducing my posting activity until things get a bit less hectic. Don't worry - I'm not going anywhere. I'll just be updating things every couple days instead of my current rate. I'll still be able to check in and make short posts regularly, but my long plot-advancing updates will be a bit less frequent.

Note: this has nothing to do with Forgotten God
------------------------------
I'm finding myself having a progressively harder time feeling motivated to post in quite a few of my campaigns. I'm pretty sure this is a combination of physical fatigue due to work and the beginnings of GM burnout. I love Pathfinder and find it very therapeutic, so this change is quite disconcerting to me. Have you experienced something similar, and if so, how did you get your mojo back?

I try to go for a nice balance in my posting schedule - usually no more than one post a day per-game, and generally at a set time each day, so it's part of my routine. As a GM, I also look for ways to improve my own fun, usually through things like inserting favored characters I've made as background NPCs or doing thought experiments.

I've also noticed that real life tends to have a disproportionate impact on how I feel when I'm gaming. Once things settle down with your work, I suspect your mojo will come back on its own.

I believe that's definitely a contributing factor. My work schedule changed drastically, so my normal posting schedule got thrown out the window. Combined with the 5am wake-up and the 65mile drive, I'm coming home quite fatigued as well. I've retired a few of my other campaigns and am working to set up a new routine. My wife and I are going on a cruise next week, and the break should do me some good as well. Thanks for the input. :-)

Announcement:
Since Ultimate Intrigue is now available to subscribers, I'm letting everyone know that I'm not allowing it AT ALL for the time being. When it shows up on the Archives, that might change, but after that playtest, I don't want the book anywhere near my tables.

Completely Unrelated Update
Remember a couple months ago, I asked for iconic monsters/spells for a secret project? I can finally explain what's going on. :-) I've been working on designing a new Base Class: the Tattoo Mage. I've wanted a way to play Xmen's Ink, and the Varisian Sorcerer archetype wasn't doing it for me.

Instead of spells, Tattoo Mages gain iconic tattoos that are the source of their powers. I've included a few examples below.

While it's far from done, I'm only a few class features away from an alpha version of the class. If you want to take a look at it, let me know. :-)

A fairly simple and straightforward level, all considered. XD The biggest thing is probably getting her first iterative attack (although she gets none with her off-hand until I pick up Improved TWF), and Twin Blades gives her a boost when she full attacks with both ends of her staff. She's also picking up Broad Study as her Magus Arcana, which'll let her use Cleric spells for Spell Combat and Spellstrike. ^^

And I put a fair number of skill points into Sense Motive because I feel like everybody's about to start lying to me. XD Besides, I feel like deities would be good at telling when others are lying to them, or at least not telling the whole truth.

Levelup Summary:

Levels:
Cleric 6
Fighter 5
Magus 6

HP: +19 (+15 HD, +4 CON)

FCB: +1 Skill Point

Cleric Acquisitions:
-Extra spells

Fighter Acquisitions:
-Class Ability: Twin Blades +1

Magus Acquisitions:
-Extra Spells
-Magus Arcana: Broad Study (Cleric)

Skills:
+1 Diplomacy
+1 Intimidate
+1 Know (Religion)
+1 Perception
+1 Perform (Sing)
+4 Sense Motive
+1 Spellcraft

Looks good. :-)

*Looks at the Illuminator's Handbook and snickers*

If Iris wants to switch to spherecasting, that's always an option. ;-)

*Rubs chin thoughtfully* You know, maybe I should build her as a Sphere Cleric... I mean, I still have Vancian stuff from her Magus side (and that's most of her 'combat' magic), and truthfully, her Staff has a lot of the utility she needs. Gimme a bit, and I'll see if I can throw a build together. Now, what do I want to do...

(That wasn't why I snickered, though. Take a look at the Special Thanks section.)

*chuckles*

A rebuild is up to you. *Spoiler* I've been planning to give her Recharge Magic for her next Divine Power, but aren't you experimenting with that in a different game now? Up to you. :-)

Yeah, I *did* want to try that... and sadly, I'm not experimenting with it elsewhere. I tried, I really did, but the GM vanished on me just after starting. Twice. XD;

Fortunately, I wasn't planning to go Sphere Magus, so Recharge Magic would still work for her. (And I could experiment with a Spherecasting version of it, too... which wouldn't be bad at all...)

*taps chin* That could work. I'm sure we can work out something an equivalent spherecasting version if we put our heads together. The recharge magic system's a little too convoluted for me, but I figure you have a good understanding of it, and you've been really good at not abusing anything thus far (Deep Magic has a LOT of abuse potential), so I trust you.

That's too bad regarding that other game. I remember seeing your original request thread and had really hoped it would work out for you. :-(

As a rough version, powers without Spell Point costs could be used freely, as they currently are, unless the Sphere is on cooldown. Anything that incurs a spell point cost would trigger a cooldown on that Sphere... maybe 1d3 rounds per-point that would have been spent? (So, for example, you could fling normal Destructive Blasts all you wanted... but if you wanted to do the higher-damage version, you'd trigger a cooldown and be unable to use any Destructive Blasts for a bit, forcing you to do something else instead of spamming the same power.) Sphere spells that are similar to Vancian spells with specific cooldown times would use those times.

(Those with long recharge times are, broadly speaking: Enchantments and Mind Control, Creation, Divination, Illusion, permanent Trap-like things, and any powers similar to those. Basically, if you could to anything really ridiculous by spamming it, it should have a long recharge time. XD It's a high-power variant, but not that high.)

And here's what I came up with. XD I ultimately decided to flip over to Incanter because Sphere Cleric just didn't match my ideas for her. Went for Destruction, Life, Light, Telekinesis (planning to get Flight later), and Warp (...it's a deity thing...), and since I wasn't really sure what else to spend talents on, I put the rest into Conjuration. XD

The idea here is that Iris was once served by an Emyprean Paragon Angel, but when she was lost, her angelic champion was as well. Iris doesn't really believe in having limits... so she's partially reconstructed her old friend from the energy that was simply floating around the celestial realms, and now Sorathel is able to appear and fight by her side when necessary.

...Notably, Iris is actually stronger in melee combat, but the occasional battle companion probably won't hurt. XD

On a quick glance-over, that looks fine. Don't forget that Iris actually has THREE Domains at the moment, as Sun was granted through a Divine Ability. Speaking of that ... I believe I neglected to tell you that Sun is an Exalted Domain. If you don't have the PDF, I'll get you the information tomorrow.

I don't have that PDF. XD And don't worry, I didn't forget about the domains. (She does have the three there, and I got it to work in Hero Lab so she only "paid" for the two of them.)

Also, I'm not actually switching her over until/unless you give the okay, juuuust to be sure. XD

*Notices* Wait, I think I need to make a few tweaks. I meant to grab the talents that'd let Sorathel stay out as-needed. *Goes to hammer that out*

Okay - swapped Telekinesis (which I just wanted for Flight, and can get later) and Willful Companion for Greater Summoning and Lingering Companion.

To paraphrase, Exalted Domains are more powerful versions of a regular Cleric Domain. In a standard game, Clerics can choose between two standard Domains or a single Exalted Domain. In addition to their granted powers, Clerics with an Exalted Domain can spontaneously channel domain spells in addition to the standard cure/inflict spells.

Sun Domain
Exalted Sun's Blessing (Su): Whenever you channel positive energy to harm undead creatures, add your cleric level +2 to the damage dealt. Undead do not add their channel resistance to their saves when you channel positive energy.
Improved Channel (Ex): At 4th level, you gain Improved Channel as a bonus feat.
Nimbus of Light (Su): At 8th level, you can emit a 30-foot nimbus of light for a number of rounds per day equal to your cleric level. This acts as a daylight spell. In addition, undead within this radius take an amount of damage equal to your cleric level each round that they remain inside the nimbus. Spells and spell-like abilities with the darkness descriptor are automatically dispelled if brought inside this nimbus. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.
Sun Spell Mastery (Sp): At 12th level, add +2 to the effective caster level of all spells you cast with the light descriptor. Add an additional +1 for every 4 additional cleric levels thereafter.

I'm fine with the rebuild, by the way. Go ahead and make the switch. :-)

Aaaaand how would you like those to interact with Spherecasting, especially given that she doesn't actually have channeled energy anymore? Spend a spell point to cast a domain spell, maybe?

You didn't pick up the Channel Energy Incanter specialization? Doing so would still leave you a couple bonus feats.

The higher-level spells should probably have a higher SP cost. Maybe spend SP equal to 1/3 the equivalent spell level. Or we could make domain spells 1/day SLAs.

Domains (Travel and Divine) are 1 specialization point each, and Channel Energy is another 2, so there wouldn't have been much left. XD; I thought the Feats (and usually Talents) would be more helpful overall. Fortunately, I'm not worried about one or two abilities that don't really work for her. She's a Tristalt - she's got powers for days anyway, and I prefer building for theme instead of power. XD

1/day SLA's would probably be fine (and just for her Exalted Domain, I think). That will actually tie in rather nicely with Divine Source, which lets her use SLA's for other Domains, and that should work out pretty well in general. Lemme just get this profile updated...

That's exactly what I'd been thinking. XD

All right, here's a draft of the Recharge Magic rules for Spherecasting. Mind going over it when you have some time? XD

Recharge Sphere Magic Rules (Beta)

Recharge Sphere Magic is a variant rule system for Spheres of Power, modifying the character's pool of Spell Points. Any action that would normally require the use of a spell point instead triggers a Cooldown for that Sphere. During a Cooldown, only that Sphere's basic ability(s) can be used - the effects of all additional Talents in that Sphere, including those that are normally passive, are unavailable. (The exception to this is powers that are normally permanent, such as Form talents in the Conjuration sphere.) Using a Sphere's base power never incurs a cooldown unless you'd normally have to spend a spell point (like the Create power of the Creation sphere, which incurs a cooldown for itself). Any restrictions a Sphere already has, such as not being able to use a power on a target more than once a day, remain in force.

If the use of a spell would normally cost more than one spell point, the recharge time is multiplied by the number of spell points that would have been spent. For example, if a Destructive Blast costing two spell points was cast at the highest caster level, it would incur a cooldown of 2d4+2 rounds on the Destruction Sphere.

As in the base system, it is possible to "undercast" a spell by not using it at the maximum level. Under the Recharge Sphere Magic rules, doing this will reduce the cooldown time once certain milestones are reached. This is meant to encourage characters to avoid casting at their maximum caster level all the time - or if they do, to force them to do different things and so avoid "spamming" any ability that's particularly effective.

If Advanced talents are permitted, their use adds an additional multiplier to the cooldown (this is in addition to any spell points normally required).

Caster Level = General Recharge Time
Highest Possible = 1d4+1 rounds
Highest minus 2 = 1d4+1 rounds
Highest minus 4 = 1d4 rounds
Highest minus 6 = 1d4 rounds
Highest minus 8 = 1d3 rounds
Highest minus 10 = 1d3 rounds
Highest minus 12 = 1 round
Highest minus 14 = 1 round
Highest minus 16 = 0 rounds (No Cooldown)

Additional Rules:
-Some Sphere powers are not meaningfully affected by Caster Level. For this system, such powers are always assumed to be cast at the highest Caster Level.

-Many spherecasters take advantage of the Drawback system. This normally allows them to acquire extra spell points, but in the Recharge Magic system, characters cannot raise their number of spell points. Instead, for each drawback a character takes (or any time a character would normally gain bonus spell points, such as through the Extra Spell Points feat, but not from leveling or raising their casting ability modifier), they may select two different Spheres and treat their Caster Level as two lower for determining the length of the recharge. This can reduce the recharge time for that Sphere. As in the base system, characters may select Boons in place of the benefit they would normally receive for taking Drawbacks.
--Sphere-specific Drawbacks, which grant extra talents, are unaffected.

-It is impractical to try and predict every combination of abilities, especially because options like Dual Feats and Spellcrafting allow for almost limitless combinations. In general, however, you should keep the following in mind:
• Combat spells (such as the Destruction sphere, or parts of the Protection sphere) and short-duration powers (those that can last 1 round per-level by spending a spell point) typically follow the general recharge time table.
• Non-Combat spells with longer durations tend to have specific recharge times, rather than following the table. The longer it normally lasts, the longer the specific recharge should be. A specific recharge does not affect the Sphere as a whole, but does restrict repeated castings of that particular power. Compare to the list of spells at http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/rechargeMagic.htm and see what cooldown best matches the Sphere in question. Players are encouraged to do this themselves and explain their reasoning to the GM, who can either accept those submissions or decide on a different cooldown. As always, the GM's decision on this is final.
• Many mind-affecting abilities (particularly from the Mind Sphere) should have specific recharge times ranging from 30 minutes to 12 hours. This is meant to stop characters from mind-controlling everyone they meet. GMs may, at their discretion, use general recharge times for combat to help characters perform like they normally could, but should sharply cap out-of-combat use.
• Divination powers that can gather information (such as the Divine Information spell from the Divination school) should have a specific recharge time of around 6 hours. This helps to prevent their abuse by curious characters.
• Powerful illusions and any "trap" type spells tend to have specific recharge times of 12 hours to 1 day. The same applies for any major creations.

-Finally, characters in this system retain a pool of energy equal to one-quarter the number of spell points they would normally have (rounded down, with a minimum of 2). These points can be spent any time a spell point cost would normally trigger a cooldown, removing the cooldown that would normally have been incurred. For example, if a spell would normally cost two spell points and trigger the cooldown twice, a character could pay two points from their pool to totally remove the cooldown, or pay one point to halve the cooldown. The cooldown triggered by using an Advanced Talent is not based on spell point costs and cannot be avoided by spending a point from the pool.

So, uh... any thoughts on these rules yet?

Sorry about the delay; the Discussion tab never indicated there was a new post. :-( The conversion looks fine, and we can always tweak them if necessary once Iris actually starts using them. I'm not anticipating any problems, as you'll most likely be sticking with the short duration powers for the most part. I haven't seen any signs that Iris enjoys illusions and mind control, after all. ;-)

That seems to happen most often when people haven't posted in the thread for awhile. I'll blame the system. XD

...And yeah, Iris isn't very big on either of those. She might do illusions for entertainment, like making a stage look like a forest glen or something, but she's fundamentally more of a "banish the lies" type. XD And she doesn't like mind control at all. Those things were mentioned in the original rules, though, and I wanted to make the rules drafted here as character-neutral as possible. After all, if Astoroth's going to use them, too... XD

I'm visiting family over the weekend, so Gameplay updates will be delayed until Monday/Tuesday.

Levelup Summary:

Levels:
Fighter 6
Incanter 7
Magus 7

HP: 15 HD + 4 Con
FCB: +1 Skill Point

Feat: Piercing Spell

Fighter Additions:
Bravery +2
Bonus Combat Feat: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting

Incanter Additions:
Talent: Encompassing Light
Talent: Revealing Light

Magus Additions:
Knowledge Pool
Quarterstaff Defense
3rd-level spells

Skills:
Diplomacy +1
Know (Geog) +1
Linguistics +4 (Elemental Tongues)
Perception +1
Perform (Sing) +1
Sense Motive +1
Spellcraft +1

Other:
Recharge Magic (Magus)
Recharge Sphere Magic (Incanter)
Staff of Sacred Light: 4th-Level Spells

Sorathel gets a bit better. XD Most notably, she adds an enhancement bonus to both her sword and her shield.

Oh hey, Iris' least-liked Sphere book just came out. XD

*NOTE*
Bones 3 minis arrived today, so I'll be taking a brief hiatus to organize and catalogue them. I'll be back to posting this weekend.

Just got back from visiting family. Will update tomorrow.

-Posted with Wayfinder

All right, here's an abbreviated version of what I finally settled on. XD Notably, I switched Magus over to Mageknight, and Fighter to Conscript. Iris picked up training in Dual Wielding (obviously), Duelist, and Guardian. She also switched around her magic talents, as discussed.

Incidentally, as a Warrior of Holy Light, she now has Channel Energy and can make use of the earlier power affecting it. XD Mythic improvements include Divine Source (mandatory), Interplanar Prestige, and exchanging the mythic feat for Legendary Item (2), transforming Iris' staff into a Minor Artifact.

Magic-wise, she lost Conjuration, and gained a lot of Light talents instead. Just for fun, I nabbed a bit of Weather (what kind of goddess can't create dramatic winds and whatnot on-demand?), as well as some nice Life stuff. She'll probably be making fewer staff attacks now, but can channel Destructive Blasts through said staff.

No more Sorathel? :-(

Everything looks good, by the way. Gaining a bunch of Light talents is definitely appropriate. After all, up to now, the combat potential of the Light sphere has definitely been overshadowed by the "bash enemies with a quarterstaff extremely rapidly" school of thought. XD

Thematically, I'm thinking Sorathel got sent on up to Iris' domain to start reclaiming the place, allowing Iris to invest her energies elsewhere.

And yeah, quarterstaff blows were the focus for awhile - you can't often end fights just by debuffing foes, after all! Hence becoming a blender anytime foes engaged in melee. And with Cyclone Cut, I can plausibly fight groups of enemies.

But her staff's started to come into its own, too. XD Banishment for outsiders and summons, smites to hit groups at range... fun stuff all around.

ORGANIZATION RULES
As this is from the 'Way of the Wicked' AP, it's going to take some modifying, but I think the base system has potential. I'll summarize it below, and you can help me tweak it (you're better with that sort of thing XD). Once you're established (and higher level), I think the Godbound rules will fit better, but I'm pretty flexible. I've played around with businesses/organizations during downtime for a couple of my games, but creating a church is new. XD

Ability Scores
- Ruthless (STR)
- Secrecy (DEX)
- Survivability (CON)
- Connections (INT)
- Espionage (WIS)
- Loyalty (CHA)

Scores range from -5 to +10 and begin at 0. When the organization is created, you gain points equal to your CHA modifier to spend increasing the scores (but can't initially raise a score above +4). After that, scores will change whenever you gain a level - and through game effects similar to the Downtime Event system from 'Ultimate Campaign.'

Each week, your organization gains a number of actions. These are generally resolved by rolling 1d20 + appropriate attribute.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
We'll have to adjust a few things to make this work. For starters, most of the attribute names will need to be changed - although Survivability, Loyalty, and possibly Connections should be fine as-is. Also, as this system was originally designed for a criminal organization, most of potential actions will need to be rewritten. After all, I don't really see Iris' worshipers abducting peasants, assassinating enemies, or torturing captives. XD That means, as-written, you're limited to Spread the Word, Gather Information, and Collect Tithes.

Yeah, I figured Godbound's Apotheosis word was pretty good for characters. Churches may need a different system. XD I'll see if I can hammer on things a little later today and try to make it a bit more fitting for this game.

I just had another thought. Legendary Games has a series of expansions on the Kingdom-Building/Downtime rules. Ultimate Rulership/Kingdoms/Battle or something like that. They also have Ultimate Factions that may or may not be exactly what we're looking for. I don't own it, but if it's on sale during Black Friday/Cyber Monday, I'll look into picking it up.

CHURCH PLANS, DRAFT 1

They look pretty good so far. Now we just need to flesh them out a bit by figuring out potential actions. On a related note, Ultimate Factions is on sale for Cyber Monday, so I just picked it up. Give me a day or two to peruse it. After all, there's no sense in creating a system from scratch if an existing one will do the trick. XD

EDIT: *first impressions* Ultimate Factions is exactly what we're looking for. "Religious" is literally one of the faction types, and the rules scale starting with a single individual.

Hurrah! I haven't read that one yet, but it should help out at least some. XD

I've put the framework for a newly-created Neutral Good Religious faction up in Campaign Info. The next step is to create a major goal (and minor goals if you feel like it). This represents the primary outcome your church is hoping to achieve. Ex: control all trade in the kingdom, overthrow the king, etc. I'll assume this is a Public goal (rather than a Covert one), so mechanically, this has three components.

Aim (choose one)
- Control
- Boost
- Reduce
- Eliminate

Scale (choose one)
- Individual
- District
- Faction
- Settlement
- Kingdom

Subject
Anything except an abstract concept.

Example: Control the Kingdom Treasury, Eliminate Korvosa's ruler, Boost the Pathfinder Society's presence in Ustalav, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minor goals represent the faction's day-to-day goings-on and can be almost anything. They're also optional. XD Ex: make someone more likeable to nonfaction members, bribe a city official, weaken a town's defenses, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's pretty much it for the time-being. Once the faction's established, it'll get its own turn every month. Like kingdom-building and downtime activities, this has an Upkeep Phase (check tension and pay maintenance costs) and an Operations Phase (earn money and do stuff).

At this point, the goal is probably just to Boost the Church's Membership and work on establishing it into a proper international organization... starting in Absalom (probably the best place to start a church, actually) and Kaer Maga.

That's pretty much what I was thinking. XD If you feel like giving your fledgling church some starting resources, 1 WP = 400gp. Faction turns take 1 month, by the way. Your first one can skip the Upkeep Phase (you have no tension and no size-based costs). As long as you're Size 0, the only Operation you can take is Recruitment (d20 + Resources; DC 15). Success lets you increase your Size by 1 + 1 per 5pts over the DC. This costs 2 WP per size increase. Once you've increased your size, you'll have more options on future faction turns.

Hmm... o wo Probably best to pay 1,600 and give it 4 points for now? Given the length of faction turns, that should tide them over for awhile.

Sounds good - especially since your church will eventually be self-sufficient due to tithes and such. If you'd like to start planting your church before sailing to Katapesh, feel free to attempt a Recruitment Operation in Gameplay. XD