Undying Light

Game Master Warriorking9001

Hello! I thought that I'd try to see if people would be interested in a new campaign idea I had and see if I can scare up some players.

Bullet Points
1: Highly Freeform Character Design, basically play whatever you want within the constraints of the prompt
2: A Tournament across multiple worlds, and heroes from all of them have signed up. (Campaign based somewhat on Super Smash Bros. So basically the prompt that the first bullet point mentioned is that you're creating what would be the video game characters for an alternate universe, heroes, villains, and otherwise.)
3: Players have a lot of control over the story, since they are each representing their character's 'world', they get the privilege of helping to build that world, (and with the "Video Game Character" basis, what the past stories of these worlds might have been).
4: Sadly one negative I think is worth a bullet point is that I am a very inexperienced GM
5: Some 3pp content allowed if not encouraged (Drop Dead Studios' Spheres systems in particular)

Mechanical Detail
Level 1 (In universe justification being they lost a lot of their power escaping the calamity that will be explained in story beats)
25 point buy (These are somewhat legendary characters, so they get good stats)

It started with something small, the lightest scratch on the scale of an elder dragon, a prick on the finger of a demon lord, a lock of hair from a hero's head, but turned into something so much more terrifying.
Heroes and villains across multiple worlds brought together for a sportsman's tournament. This had been fairly regular, though no one knew exactly how so many places in time and space were so interconnected. However despite all of this, something far more sinister was afoot than any minor thing the average bad guy was planning.

Fight for good and reawaken the Undying Light.

It sounds kind of fun. I need to port a build over from Myth-weavers, but I'll post in an alias in a little while.

Would you allow Psionics Augmented by Dreamscarred?

Still need background, but mechanically it should be good to go.

So willing to try, of course!

I'll be representing a home made universe, made by some friends of mine and that we play in our tabletop games, based on alternate future Earth (and some other planets). In this setting, Myth and the Cosmos play important roles in the development of History, and they use the Elements (four pairs of attributes: Fire-Water, Air-Earth, Light-Darkness and Science-Instinct) to gift powers to their minions. These powers consist on either supernatural physical prowess or the ability to conjure the elements to their aid (spellcasting). For this, Spheres of Power seems perfect, so I'll be probably play a heavy spellcaster or a Conscript/Armiger (there are actually some people in the setting which have rules similar to Armigers).

I'll be writing up some description of how the setting goes so you can get an idea.

Ruleswise: Are we getting Background Skills? Traits? Average wealth?

Still need background, but mechanically it should be good to go.

Sadly I don't really have a lot of background because of the fact that it relies on being multiversal like this (meaning I can't just give particular advice on background info). But feel free to ask any particular questions and I can answer them.

Background skills yes, Traits yes, and I don't know what average wealth means in this case.

Also sorta-kinda related with the fact that there might be sci-fi aspects (smash inspiration means that people with laser guns and medieval warriors are in the same setting) should I try to learn Starfinder to run it in instead?

And for Jagael... Possibly, but I haven't really read psionics as much as I have spheres, so I don't know much about it.

Also for whackier concepts feel free to even use the race builder or something, like I said this is very freeform

Hmmm... interesting... maybe I'll have to dig through my 3rd-party content for some of the monster classes I've been wanting to try...

oooo...race builder. Do you have a RP limit?

Also, would you be okay with Variant Multiclassing?

This is a quick explanation of the basics:

Jereru's Character's Original Setting

This looks like a great setting for an Android Arcanist concept I've been thinking of. For that build, I'd need to second Jagael's interest in VMC.

Also, with regards to technology, I'd suggest using the Technology Guide rules, rather than switching to Starfinder

With VMC my only worry is someone trying to VMC a class that isn't in the core rulebooks (Like VMC with a sphere class, though they could just make the sphere class the primary)
But I think that in general it should be mostly fine.

And with race builder all I really ask is to keep it somewhat in line with normal classes... so I'll say the limit is around 15 because aasimar can be there, but preferably sticking around 10.. Basically I beg that you don't try to abuse it. But don't let that mean you can't be creative, I allowed race builder to allow any permutation from a ripoff pokemon to whatever a kirby is (Y'all already know the prompt)

and for MattZ's mention of the technology guide. my only real worry about it is that as far as I know, tech guide tends to assume what tech you get is going to be rare, incredibly limited, and VERY OP, rather than a character having a blaster on him at all times and having similar dps with it to other ranged characters). like a 2d6 18-20 finesse light reach malee weapon that hits touch AC, but doesn't account for your strength score (which for a dex character is good).

Race for Approval

Race for Approval

** spoiler omitted **

I mean I don't want to be annoying about it but I personally will say... Most of it checks out somewhat except for the spell-likes, just because being able to have an essentially innate +2 to constitution and dexterity from level 1, going up to +6 later, that you can basically apply before every single boss, along with Divine Favor... And for the "Half Gnome" side, I think that a "half Gnome" would be closer to just having a mixture the traits that normal Gnomes and Humans get, rather than getting 4 at will level 2 spell likes for what I at least think are pretty good spells.

And though I'm being kinda picky by this, I also feel like with it being a half gnome that gnomes don't usually gain a dex bonus, and most halfbreeds just gain human flexibility.

And I can't access the race builder right now but isn't an at will spell like a Monstrous Trait?

Which I guess an addendum on the Race builder thing is generally... Compare them to a Core/ARG race. Would a paizo race have 4 at will spell likes? (sorry if I seem to be beating this over the head)

I figured it was a bit over the top, but I wanted to test the waters as I wasn't sure how crazy you wanted the cast of characters. Are there definite no nos you have then? Like is a tiny fey possible or do you want to stay fully in-line with core and just be able to play around with standard abilities?

Also... I wouldn't want to sound like I'm getting cold feet or something since I do legitimately want to play this campaign.. but only in hindsight do I realize just how ambitious this campaign is despite it being the first thing I've gotten plans to GM, and I'm already adding and changing a lot of things

Ah, well as a relatively new GM myself, I can tell you if you open the door a crack the players will always try to shove an elephant through it; it is our way.

My first GM experience was doing 3.5 for my normal group and the hardest PC to deal with was the one my normal GM put together. He pushed for the stuff he normally banned and owned most of my monsters in round 1 of every fight.

Hmm... How do you feel about applying the Racial Favored Class bonuses from Classic Summoner to Unchained Summoner? (I'm thinking of playing a vaguely Persona-esque Summoner who binds otherworldly creatures to their service.)

More tame races for approval.

Sounds interesting :)
My initial idea is to create someone from a world of no Magic. He gets ripped from a purely mundane world and thrust into this world that is just jam packed with magic and other supernatural entities that just blows his mind.
And he no like it!

So I was thinking of creating a Human Barbarian with the Superstition Rage Power (at level 2), the Superstitious Regional Trait, and the Superstitious Drawback. (Notice a theme?)

I would try and jack his Saves up really high and play a really skittish, jumpy guy who distrusts anything magical (and often outright denies its existence if not directly confronted with it).
Which should make for some pretty comical interactions in-game and give me many hooks to play with :p

Further Development:
Here's my revised plan! >:D

Then the idea would be that I got sucked into this world that is just brimming with all of this unknown (and scarry!) power. A world apart from his homeworld completely devoid of anything beyond mundane indeed! The transition has been unsettling in the extreme and he struggles to find footing in such an alien environment so he wanders around while very distrustful of any magic and incapable of explaining why that squiggly thing just appeared from thin air over there...
He better chop at it with his axe. Just to be sure... >_>

However an unexpected consequence born from living in a world devoid of magic is that magic and his body just doesn't mesh well... Something he considers a prideful boon!!

These experiences thus far have left him in a near-constant state of paranoia, one that has not been too kind on his nerves, and sometimes he just kinda... Snaps.
And when he does snap, it is often a paranoid frenzy of "Get the Magikz away from meee!!" where he lashes out at any perceived magic within reach until his paranoia is exhausted. (Wild Rager's Uncontrolled Rage, and later Rage Conversion)

He should be an interesting little bundle of nerves to play as :) and he does have some of his own unique flaws for me to work around. He would have really high Saves, which would be awesome... He will be resilient to enemy casters, but he would also have to save vs ally Spells, such as healing. That might be difficult.
His Rage can also be difficult to control sometimes, or even get out of hand forcing him to attack allies. However, his high Will Save may influence that... (to what degree I do not yet know).
He also does not have Power Attack, his 1 Feat going to Steel Soul, so he may not be dealing much damage (aside from the raw Strength of being a Barbarian).
Lastly the xenophobic nature of his may create it's own roleplaying opportunities. ^_^

Question for Warriorking9001: Would it be alright if I tacked on the "Constant Spell-Like Divination" Trait from the Race Builder onto the Dwarf? It Costs 3RP and it grants me Detect Magic as a Constant SLA.

Um... Okay, I think I need to handle this one bit at a time.

1: on attaching the constant spell-like divination, No, because I want the races you make to be on par with standard races.

2: if it's true that players will try to shove an elephant through the door, then I will enforce that you must balance it compared to core races, or even a bit weaker than core if you can. 10 is not a hard limit but would be greatly preferred. As to the particulars, I've heard a lot about how tiny characters can break spellcaster classes wide open already so no for a PC. Grey goblins seem fine except remove/reduce the stealthy bonus since they are already gaining swift as shadows and a +4 size bonus to stealth on top of having +dex and generally being better than normal goblins.

3: a Maybe on the racial bonuses because I just need to take a look at them and I'm getting a bit overwhelmed...

4: Realizing that overwhelmedness, I would not want to make you all seem like I was deceiving you, but I am a bit tempted to put this campaign on hold for just long enough to really get a feel for things. Again I apologize if that is very rude.

Personally, I'd suggest running a short one-shot to test the characters and what they can do before diving into plot. ^^ If any glaring mechanical issues pop up, you can address them before the proper start of the game.

That's probably a good idea.

I would certainly be down for a one-shot 'playtest' to figure out how the various characters are balanced.

Seems the wiser way around, I would also volunteer for a test run.

A test run could certainly work, though I'd worry that with nothing to compare it to, unless things go totally wrong I wouldn't have a stable base to compare to and say "Oh yeah that's a sign that something is wrong" since it would be... literally be my first session.

Also if it's okay I'm going to make a discussion thread for this