Joshua Hirtz's Untitled Campaign

Game Master Joshua Hirtz

Battle Tower Arenas
Battle Tower Reward Chart


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Seemingly over night, a mysterious tower arose from the Arcadian Ocean to reach up to the heavens. It's greater heights lost to sight because of the clouds that perpetually swirl around them.

It was upon that first day that the construct attendants appeared in all majors cities of the world offering not only fame and glory to those that were brave enough to accept the tower's challenge, but wealth. To those less strong of heart, the attendants offered the chance to attend the spectacle at more than fair prices.

It has been three months since the tower's initial appearance and it has been proven to have much to offer by those that were brave, or perhaps desperate, enough to face it's mysterious nature.

Those that have returned have often brought back great wealth, but always stories of the gladiatorial like arena each floor holds. While many have died, none have been left so.

Hundreds of thousands now flock to the tower to take part in it's games, whether as a spectator or contestant. Which will you be?

This game is meant to be a simple gladiatorial like game where player characters test their strength against a randomly chosen NPC on each floor. When they win, they progress to the next floor to face their next challenge with prize in hand. Losers would be left at their current floor to face another challenger. Upon losing five times, the contestant would retire from the battle arena and their character would be added to the NPC pool for other players to potentially face in the future.

To start, the initial tower offers sixty floors. Each floor defeated would grant the player character about a third of the wealth they would garner by their next level based on the "Table: Character Wealth by Level" chart in the "Gamemastering" section of the core book. As one might assume, each third floor defeated would also grant the player character a level on top of the wealth gained. This would remain true until the player character either retired or defeated the sixtieth floor, upon which a different prize would be earned.

I've been working on designing the game, but I wanted to throw out a general idea to see how many would be interested in such a game.

Thank you for your time,
"The Lucky Halfling"


Me! Pick me!


I appreciate the enthusiasm. While the initial campaign may be best served with a select number of players, the overall concept is meant to allow for as many characters as their are players wanting to play. While a player may have their character retired, that character would remain a part of the game until the very end. The player at that point in time would be allowed to rejoin the game with a new character.

With this in mind, I would be setting character creation rules to 15-point buy to allow for the usage of the NPC Codex as a source of enemies.


What would buffing rules be like? And how much rest happens between each battle? 1 battle per floor?


Groundhog wrote:
What would buffing rules be like?

Currently, I’m considering a number of rounds before each match would be given for preparation. The exact number of rounds is yet to be determined as I believe a bit more thought needs to go into it before I decide.

Groundhog wrote:
And how much rest happens between each battle?

I’m looking at players receiving two days of downtime between battles. If a player loses, they would lose one of these days to a recovery period, as the towers attendants heal them. It would be possible to receive a total of five days or more days between fights by forfeiting or failing to queue for a fight, but these options carry penalties that grow worse the more a character uses them.

Groundhog wrote:
1 battle per floor?

Yes, one battle per floor. Each character is considered to be of a acceptable challenge rating for the floor they are currently on. Of course some match ups will be better than others, but that lends itself to any kind of fighting tournament in my opinion.


color me interested. Was there any sort of character you wouldn't want to see in this?


Players would pretty much have free range on hat kind of character they wanted to make. I would be sticking strictly to Paizo products, but I would not be restricting which options a player has in regards to archetypes, classes, feats, races, and traits. The normal rules would be followed though, such as archetypes cannot be taken if they modify and/or remove the same class feature.


Are the arenas going to vary? How's lighting?

Sorry to pepper you with questions like this.

Also, you should probably set some limits on races or someone's going to roll up a centaur.


Looks interesting!


Groundhog wrote:
Are the arenas going to vary?

The arena will stay static throughout each floor. It will be a large flat area. At least until it is changed by contestants. Any changes that occur during a match will be removed for the next battle though.

Groundhog wrote:
How's lighting?

Lighting will be considered normal until changed by the contestants. Seeing as I'm considering using the Performance Combat rules, changing the lighting to a degree where the audience can not see the action could result in penalties.

Groundhog wrote:
Sorry to pepper you with questions like this.

No need to apologize. Questions are welcome and they help me flesh out things that I might not have thought of otherwise.

Groundhog wrote:
Also, you should probably set some limits on races or someone's going to roll up a centaur.

This is a perfect example of something I might not have thought of otherwise.

To answer the question, I'll restrict races to anything Paizo that does not go over 20 build points. These are to be races that Paizo has published, not building monsters with build points. If the race has been stated out somewhere, including in the Advanced Race Guide, and it's build points do not exceed 20 points, you are welcome to use it. This also removes some of the more pesky races like Drow Nobles and Svirfneblin.


Now this sounds like quite the adventure and story to be told.

Out of curiosity, where would the players start? Fresh level one adventurers eager to make a name for themselves, or experienced wanderers aiming to gain further?

Shadow Lodge

Would you allow for gestalt characters?


Hawksw0rd wrote:
Out of curiosity, where would the players start? Fresh level one adventurers eager to make a name for themselves, or experienced wanderers aiming to gain further?

Level 1 would be the starting point. Thusly, the first fifty-seven floors of the tower would be spent getting the character up to level 20, while the last three would earn the character the right for something greater.

Lord Foul II wrote:
Would you allow for gestalt characters?

Gestalt will not be allowed in this game. I'm aiming to use already created NPCs as enemies, so gestalt would completely throw the power level off.

To give an idea of what I will be using for character creation:


  • Level: 1st
  • Hit Points: Max at first, half (rounded down) + 1 (d12 = 7, d10 = 6, d8 = 5, d6 = 4)
  • Races: All Paizo that are published and no greater than 20 build point, No third party
  • Classes: All Paizo, No third party
  • Archetypes: All Paizo (as long as the requirements can be met), No third party
  • Traits: Two with an additional one if a drawback is taken

Please feel free to offer suggestions and comments. I will be sticking to the no third party ruling as there are plenty of options that can be re-flavored in the Paizo arsenal already.


I have added a link to the top of the thread, along with the "Campaign Info" tab, that shows what a player character earns for the defeat of each floor. The chart also includes a column that shows the overall wealth gained after the defeat of a floor.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I'd be interested to take a caster through this maybe. It'd be an interesting challenge


Yeah, I'd definitely be interested in taking part in this! I'm thinking a herald caller cleric could be a lot of fun, especially if we have a couple of rounds right before the match to do some summoning or buffing. When were you thinking of getting the game started?


I think I'm going to make a bard of some stripe.


I’m looking at starting the game shortly after the beginning of the year. It will give me time to prep a bit more and not put us in the middle of the holidays.

Ability Scores would use the 15-Point Buy system. It’s low, but that is to keep power levels in line with the NPCs. Players will already have the benefit of the choice to take a more powerful races, the ability to choose traits, and possibly more. So that will already put you at the advantage. At least until retired characters start showing up.


Cool! Any restrictions on alignment?


Avoron wrote:
Cool! Any restrictions on alignment?

No alignment restrictions. I'm not currently planning on multiples vs. multiples so teamwork is not required.


I love this idea but have questions about the downtime. First are there healers so we can heal back up? Also will there be opportunities forbus to make money, say we invest skill points in profession or craft? Along the lines of crafting what about taking item creation feats? I'm sure I've more questions but I'll bother you later with those. I am thinking some kind of summoner but I'm not sure.


Uthraed wrote:
First are there healers so we can heal back up?

One of the benefits of being a contestant is that healing is on the house. The tower will heal any wound or ailment before the contestants next match. They will also bring a contestant back from the dead if necessary.

Uthraed wrote:
Also will there be opportunities forbus to make money, say we invest skill points in profession or craft?

Enterprising contestants may find ways to earn gold outside of the normal gold earned through defeating a floor. Crafting would be one such way.

Uthraed wrote:
Along the lines of crafting what about taking item creation feats?

There is no issue with taking Item Creation feats. You will have limited downtime, so you may not find you will have the item by your next fight, but you will eventually be able to craft it.


Downtime, what happens between the fights?

Currently I'm considering giving contestants two days between fights. These days will be spent recovering and/or in one of many other ways. This includes things like crafting.

As long as a player comes out of the ring alive, they are considered to be fully healed that day. This will leave them with their full allotment of downtime.

If a player dies in their match, one of their recovery days will be used to recover.

There are some ways to increase the amount of downtime you have, but they come with penalties.

First, you can choose to forfeit your match. If this is done, you suffer one or more losses depending on how many times you have forfeited in the past. The benefit to this is that you also are allowed to use the match day as an additional downtime day.

For example, if you did not die in your last match and you decided to forfeit your match to pursue other matters, you would have five downtime days before your next match.

Second, you can simply not sign up for your next match. This is a much worse offense in the eyes of the tower and you are only allowed to do this once with warning. A second failure to sign up will result in your character being retired.

Much like forfeiting, this allows the character to use the match day as an extra downtime day.


Have you given any more thought to how you'll be handling prep time right before the match?

Silver Crusade

The intent is PC vs NPC only?

If you're starting with NPCs from the various Codex'es they're going to be woefully overmatched in raw power by well crafted PCs. How are you intending to keep things challenging?

Obviously, a very significant part of the challenge is going to be building a very well rounded character capable of meeting all sorts of different opponents. Perhaps that and pure randomness is sufficient.


PC vs. NPC is the intent. The initial lot may get through pretty unscathed, but it will give people the chance to try out character builds and the like. I suspect that with time, we will see players still retiring due to inactivity or the NPC some how coming out ahead. This will loop add player built characters to the NPC pool and help increase the difficulty level.

So while this could turn out to be a flop, I am hoping that things will run smoothly. If nothing else, I could experiment by adding in the advanced template to see how people fair after that.


Avoron wrote:
Have you given any more thought to how you'll be handling prep time right before the match?

I'm considering three to five rounds. This may have to be adjusted once things get underway depending on how spellcasters are doing.

Silver Crusade

I'm definitely interested to see how it goes. I'd create a character and compete. I DO like the challenge of coming up with something that will do well in this kind of environment.

I'll admit that I'm not sure whether or not it would hold my attention in the really long term. It very definitely might, it possibly could not.

More questions.

Are the environments going to be such that skills like Perception and Disable Device are going to be necessary and/or useful? Eg, are traps a thing or not?

Are racial spells restricted to the race for the spell? Blend, for example, can be rather useful :-)


This is only my opinion: the more preparation rounds you concede, the more powerful spellcasters will be (given that they're already quite powerful, specially since they won't have to plan for a full day).


pauljathome wrote:
Are the environments going to be such that skills like Perception and Disable Device are going to be necessary and/or useful? Eg, are traps a thing or not?

I'm considering this to be a more straightforward fight so that these kind of skills would only really come into play should the characters (player and/or npc) makes them. Such as the obscuring mist spell or the ranger trappers ability to shoot traps.

pauljathome wrote:
Are racial spells restricted to the race for the spell? Blend, for example, can be rather useful :-)

I would need to see specific spells. Some make sense that they would be found outside of the race, others may not. Blend would be something that I could see being found outside of the race.

Jereru wrote:
This is only my opinion: the more preparation rounds you concede, the more powerful spellcasters will be (given that they're already quite powerful, specially since they won't have to plan for a full day).

I certainly agree with that evaluation. However a spellcaster without any kind of buffing time could be found to be woefully under powered at the start of a fight.

It may be that the buffing time is decreased, increased, or completely removed over time.

It could also come to be that the concept of buffing is more clearly defined so as to prevent a summoner from summoning in an entire army before the fight ever starts.


I may try running one or two players through this game format initially to help me test it's capabilities. If I did so, I think I would want some kind of martial character and a magic user to test this against.

Would anyone be interested in this? We can make it a public event that everyone can watch and lend feedback on.

Edit: If enough people are interested, I may do a lottery to see who gets to do the playtesting.


I'd like to submit Warrior Mctestsubject to your trial. She's a kasatha warpriest of Gorum, and is a martial designed to take advantage of the offered buff rounds.


I'd love to get in on this lottery/game. I have been brainstorming a CE tiefling wizard. But if you want to test it with a martial class id work up a pure fighter.


"The Lucky Halfling" wrote:

I may try running one or two players through this game format initially to help me test it's capabilities. If I did so, I think I would want some kind of martial character and a magic user to test this against.

Would anyone be interested in this? We can make it a public event that everyone can watch and lend feedback on.

Edit: If enough people are interested, I may do a lottery to see who gets to do the playtesting.

Absolutely! I'm working on a herald caller cleric of Azathoth right now to take on this challenge from a caster role, and I'm really excited to try it out!

A couple of minor questions to get your thoughts on while I get the mechanics sorted out:
If I wear armor that I'm not proficient in, will the armor check penalty apply to my initiative rolls?
And would summon minor monster count as a summon monster spell for the herald caller class abilities?

Thanks!

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I'm currently working on a syrinx psychic. Augment the initial lack of defensive buffs with a fly speed and a hope no one brings a bow


this sounds fun, color me interested


Oh, and what's our starting gold?


Avoron wrote:
If I wear armor that I'm not proficient in, will the armor check penalty apply to my initiative rolls?

From what I can see, yes it would effect your initiative considering initiative is considered to be a Dexterity check.

Avoron wrote:
And would summon minor monster count as a summon monster spell for the herald caller class abilities?

I will need to dig into this a bit more as I'm unfamiliar with the archetype. I'll get you an answer before the end of the day.

Edit: The spell description starts with "This spell functions as summon monster I" and thusly makes me feel like this would not be considered a Summon Monster spell, but simply acts as one.

Avoron wrote:
Oh, and what's our starting gold?

Starting gold will be average for your class. I want to keep a consistent structure to this game to make it a bit easier to keep track of what's going on.


A raven-like contraption settles down upon a submission box before you all, opening it's beak to make it's announcement.

"Submissions for the Earth's Battle Tower's special introductory event will now be accepted. Please form a single file line in a organized fashion and have your forms ready.

Please remember to check the box at the top of your form indicating whether you would like to be considered for the martial or magic portion of the event.

Submissions will be accepted up until the new year. After that point, we will randomly select an applicant to participate in their chosen side of the event.

If you are unsure of how to fill out the form, please refer to the signage posted throughout the entrance area of the tower.

Thank you for your time and continued support of the Earth's Battle Tower."

Earth's Battle Tower Introductory Event Poster:
The Earth's Battle Tower is happy to offer the chance to see what the life of a Earth's Battle Tower contestant is like to a few select individuals.

The deadline for applications is set to the end of the current year (Midnight [CST] of Dec. 31st, 2017). At that time, a lottery will be held to pick two lucky applicants. We seek diversity in our contestants and thusly ask that you mark whether your skills lie in the martial arts or that of the magical arts.

While we seek the best service possible, we ask that you bare with us should the announcements be slightly delayed due to the holiday.

Wishing you the best of luck,
Earth's Battle Tower Administrative Team

Character Submission Guidelines:
  • Races: Any published Paizo race with a build point cost of 20 or less. Monsters are not allowed to be converted over.
  • Classes: Any Paizo
  • Archetypes: Any Paizo, so long as prerequisites are met.
  • Ability Scores: 15-Point Buy
  • Starting Wealth: Average
  • Traits: Two with the choice of taking a third at the cost of a drawback.


The Lucky Halfling wrote:
From what I can see, yes it would effect your initiative considering initiative is considered to be a Dexterity check.

Makes sense. Fortunately, it looks like Noble Scion of War should take care of that little problem, since it makes it a Charisma check instead.

The Lucky Halfling wrote:
The spell description starts with "This spell functions as summon monster I" and thusly makes me feel like this would not be considered a Summon Monster spell, but simply acts as one.

Ah well, guess I'll just have to prepare it the old-fashioned way.

Without further ado, here's my submission for the magic role: Stanley Haverford, cleric of Azathoth and monster-summoner extraordinaire!

Stanley Haverford (Magic):
Male middle-aged human cleric (herald caller) of Azathoth 1
N medium humanoid (human)
Init +6; Senses low-light vision; Perception +7
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 20, touch 11, flat-footed 19 (+5 armor, +1 Dex, +4 shield)
hp 10 (1d8+2)
Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +6
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 20 ft.
Melee cestus -18 (1d4-2)
Special Attacks channel negative energy 6/day (DC 17, 1d6/2 plus rulership variant channeling), it came from beyond 1/day
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +5)
1/day - create water, detect magic, light, rite of centered mind
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +4)
1st (3/day) - feather fall, summon minor monster, summon minor monster
0 (at-will) - guidance, resistance, virtue
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 6, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 18
Base Atk +0, CMB -2, CMD 9
Feats Improved Channel, Noble Scion (Scion of War)
Traits Enduring Spellcraft, Reactionary, Sacred Conduit
Drawbacks Power-Hungry
Skills Knowledge (nobility) +2, Knowledge (religion) +4, Perception +7, Spellcraft +4, Use Magic Device +8
Languages Common
SQ aura, call heralds, divine heralds, fey magic (urban), fey thoughts, void domain (dark tapestry subdomain)
Other Gear cestus, explorer's outfit, scale mail, spell component pouch, spirit of wine (48 gp), tower shield, wooden holy symbol of Azathoth x2


Avoron wrote:
Makes sense. Fortunately, it looks like Noble Scion of War should take care of that little problem, since it makes it a Charisma check instead.

I am fine with that work around.

Avoron wrote:
Without further ado, here's my submission for the magic role: Stanley Haverford, cleric of Azathoth and monster-summoner extraordinaire!

Your submission brings up something that I failed to mention, you are allowed to start your character off in an older age group. Make sure you apply the proper benefits and penalties if you do so.


The Lucky Halfling wrote:
Your submission brings up something that I failed to mention, you are allowed to start your character off in an older age group. Make sure you apply the proper benefits and penalties if you do so.

You got it!


Avoron wrote:
Stanley Haverford (Magic)

Ability Score Inquiry:
I'm looking at your ability scores and I think you may have overspent.

  • Strength: 6 = 7 (Base) - 1 (Middle Age) Point Buy: -3
  • Dexterity: 12 = 13 (Base) - 1 (Middle Age) Point Buy: 3
  • Constitution: 12 = 13 (Base) - 1 (Middle Age) Point Buy: 3
  • Intelligence: 10 = 9 (Base) + 1 (Middle Age) Point Buy: -1
  • Wisdom: 16 = 15 (Base) + 1 (Middle Age) Point Buy: +1 Point Buy: 7
  • Charisma: 18 = 15 (Base) + 2 (Human) + 1 (Middle Age) Point Buy: 7

Total Point Buy: 16 = -3 (Str) + 3 (Dex) + 3 (Con) - 1 (Int) + 7 (Wis) + 7 (Cha)

Am I missing something?


Ability Score Response:
A score of 7 costs -4 points, not -3. Right?


Avoron wrote:
** spoiler omitted **

That would be correct. Thank you for the correction. I was not glancing at the actual chart when doing my calculations.

Would you please explain your skill points? I'm seeing four skill points spent. I would put the character at having one skill point. Two for cleric, minus one for having started with a nine intelligence. Your first level happened before you hit middle age. I did not include Skilled as you traded that out for variant racial traits.

Edit: You have exceeded your carrying capacity and I would point you towards the Lifting and Dragging section. Especially the part I put in bold below.

Spoiler:
Lifting and Dragging: A character can lift as much as his maximum load over his head. A character's maximum load is the highest amount of weight listed for a character's Strength in the heavy load column of Table: Carrying Capacity.

A character can lift as much as double his maximum load off the ground, but he or she can only stagger around with it. While overloaded in this way, the character loses any Dexterity bonus to AC and can move only 5 feet per round (as a full-round action).

A character can generally push or drag along the ground as much as five times his maximum load. Favorable conditions can double these numbers, and bad circumstances can reduce them by half or more.

Your character is still lifting their armor and shield. I would compare your character to someone that put so many training weights on that they found they could barely move.

Silver Crusade

Avoron wrote:


Without further ado, here's my submission for the magic role: Stanley Haverford, cleric of Azathoth and monster-summoner extraordinaire!

I'm curious, how the heck do you plan on actually killing the enemy? Even assuming your opponent ALWAYS fails their save and so is daze locked that is just 6 * d6/2 which is 10 points.

I assume I'm missing something :-)


The Lucky Halfling wrote:
Would you please explain your skill points? I'm seeing four skill points spent. I would put the character at having one skill point. Two for cleric, minus one for having started with a nine intelligence. Your first level happened before you hit middle age. I did not include skilled as you traded that out for variant racial traits.

One of the many awesome things about the herald caller archetype is that it increases your skill points to 4 + Int each level.

As for the intelligence bonus, I was going off of this bit about ability score bonuses from the CRB:

Ability Score Bonuses wrote:
Permanent Bonuses: Ability bonuses with a duration greater than 1 day actually increase the relevant ability score after 24 hours. Modify all skills and statistics related to that ability. This might cause you to gain skill points, hit points, and other bonuses. These bonuses should be noted separately in case they are removed.

Edit: Ouch! I didn't realize I had gone quite so overboard on the armor. I'll swap the tower shield for a heavy wooden shield, that should bring me down to a heavy load.


Avoron wrote:

One of the many awesome things about the herald caller archetype is that it increases your skill points to 4 + Int each level.

As for the intelligence bonus, I was going off of this bit about ability score bonuses from the CRB:

Ability Score Bonuses wrote:
Permanent Bonuses: Ability bonuses with a duration greater than 1 day actually increase the relevant ability score after 24 hours. Modify all skills and statistics related to that ability. This might cause you to gain skill points, hit points, and other bonuses. These bonuses should be noted separately in case they are removed.

That makes sense and I'm glad to know that that exists now. It was a pain to keep track of additional skill points from increased Intelligence, so I kept away from it for the most part myself.

Avoron wrote:
Edit: Ouch! I didn't realize I had gone quite so overboard on the armor. I'll swap the tower shield for a heavy wooden shield, that should bring me down to a heavy load.

Sounds good. Let me know once it's updated and I'll continue taking a look.


pauljathome wrote:
Avoron wrote:


Without further ado, here's my submission for the magic role: Stanley Haverford, cleric of Azathoth and monster-summoner extraordinaire!

I'm curious, how the heck do you plan on actually killing the enemy? Even assuming your opponent ALWAYS fails their save and so is daze locked that is just 6 * d6/2 which is 10 points.

I assume I'm missing something :-)

Maybe it's got something to do with summoning? If he can win initiative and summon on round 0, then channel to daze on his first action, that could be something.

It's a little tough that the summons only last one round though.


Groundhog wrote:

Maybe it's got something to do with summoning? If he can win initiative and summon on round 0, then channel to daze on his first action, that could be something.

It's a little tough that the summons only last one round though.

There's a bit more to it than that. The character can give one of those creatures the advanced template and one of the traits is increasing the duration to two rounds.

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