Character Creation rules]
Ability Scores: 20 point buy stats
Race: any core or standard races (rp 10 or lower) no advanced races. Sorry aasimar lovers.
Class: Any paizo material is allowed with exception of guns and occult. Summoners must be unchained, other chained classes can be unchained if you choose.
Level: Level 1 characters
Traits: 2 traits, but no campaign traits since those weren't a thing in 3.0 A third trait is accessible by taking a flaw
Wealth: Max gold for your character class
HP: Hp max to start and then half+1 going forward, or I can roll for you on request. Sorry, no rolling your own hp, not that I don't trust you, just that I don't trust you.
Alternate Rules Sets:
We will be using background skills.
We will not be using the alternate feat tax rules.
I won't be a super stickler about encumberment, but your 9 str wizard better not be carrying around a whole house.
Background: Your character's background up to this point in their life will not have much impact on the story since we will mostly be running it as written. However, it could have an impact on how your character acts in the story. As such we will not need a full 10 minute background as such, but please provide:
- General Personality & Physical Description
- What your character was doing when they heard the call for adventurers from Ravensmoor.
- Why your character would be interested in responding to this call.
Alignment: We will be using the tried and true don't be a d*** rules when it comes to other players. Because of this CE might be difficult, but I am truly open to all alignments so long as you can find a motivation to play nice with your fellow players.
Character Creation Advice]
Your characters are heading into the unknown. Your fortunately have the meta knowledge of knowing that they are going into the darkness and not coming out for a long time. Make them as self sufficient as possible. There will be areas of literal darkness and low light, so bring darkvision or a light source, or both. There won't be any cities and few resupply points, you will have some opportunities, but they won't be as frequent as they are in many campaigns. This is why you are getting max gold to start. Use it wisely.
A well balanced party is strongly encouraged. I hope to recruit 6 for this expedition. I would recommend that at least four fit the standard roles: melee/tank, arcane/knowledge, divine/heal, sneak/disable.
Having someone in the party to help with supply issues (like food & water) would probably help lighten your loads of rations.
Keep in mind if you choose a class with a companion, specifically a mount, there may be areas that you won't be able to ride through. It is a dungeon after all.
Recruitment Closure: Recruiting will tentatively close on Friday, December 7th
Answers to DM Directed Character Creation Questions]
Sbodd wrote:
...What kind of posting rate are you looking for?
See, always missing something important. I find that a minimum of once per day M-F is reasonable. If you won't be able to meet that for a short period of time I ask that you PM me so we can work out a plan so it doesn't bog everything else down.
I am around at least once per day every day of the week, so if people are available for posts on Saturday and Sunday too I am open to that, but not necessary the way M-F is.
Oceanshieldwolf wrote:
is the Harrow Warden monk archetype acceptable?
I looked over it, has some cool flavor and mechanics without going too OP...so I am game.
Gummy Bear wrote:
Interested! Not sure what exactly I'll be bringing yet.
Will there be any use for social skills?
Would it be possible for low str characters to ask other characters to carry their stuff?
The adventure path as written does focus a lot more on hack and slash than it does on roleplaying...the most roleplaying intensive reagon of the dungeon is slated for character levels between 11 and 13, so you guys could certainly make it through about the first half or so without a traditional party face. However, as a GM I tend to be generous when it comes to creatively finding non-combat solutions...so if you decide to roleplay instead of roll-play there will definetely be areas where that is possible. With the right words in the right places and the right rolls in others, you could be running some of the areas of the dungeon by the time you are done.
As for other characters carrying your stuff for them that is entirely up to them. I have no problems with it. Just remember if they get separated (never split the party!) then the gear they were carrying for you goes with them.
Shontar Hadove wrote:
@Taanimohka Essirien, would you be open to a shared background?
I have no issues with interwoven backgrounds, but don't make them inextricably so. I cannot guarantee that both will be selected just because an interwoven background has been written, so have an idea of what your background might be like without that weaving as well, just in case some adjustments need to happen after selection.
Axolotl wrote:
Hold up. I made the Arcanist and then thought about the party and the dungeon. I think I may submit a Cave-Caves Druid. (Cave Druid Archetype with Caves Domain). Lots of Create Water and Goodberry and Survival needed, and lots of dungeoneering needed. Secondary healer as well. At least--I think Survival is needed? :D
Dungeoneering and food/water resources will serve you well. Survival will have some uses as we go along, but will have limited utility in the beginning. Definetely good for someone in the party to have it, but it would not be a tippy-top priority.
Tamrel wrote:
Questions:
Will loot be tuned for the party, or would it be a risky choice to, say, invest feats in a particular weapon type?
Is crafting allowed, and will there be enough downtime for it to be useful?
The book as written is pretty low on loot. I think it is left up to the GM to create appropriate loot for the party as they go along.
As such I will be open to PMs of requests, but I won't be able to promise all of the requests will be fulfilled obviously. I will be trying to keep you guys within a decent range of the wealth average per level on hard goods (like equipment and stuff). Maybe like +/- 10% or so.
You will also be coming across some amounts of consumables along the way, if the bad guys don't drink and read all of it.
Crafting is allowed if you guys have time for it, but there aren't really many "safe" zones in the lower leveled areas of the map where you could box up for a long period of downtime to do heavy crafting. Roaming mobs would make that a challenge. I would imagine small quick craft things that take a day or two might be possible, but the larger craft jobs that require weeks of dedicated labor is going to be hard to come by...at least for the first bit.
As you roleplay through the scenarios though who knows, maybe you will be able to carve out an alliance or something to give you the time and space you need. The book provides me a basic framework, but I'm not afraid to go off the rails if that is where your guys' play takes us.
Interest Tracker]
Last Updated 12/6 @ ~ 4 pm CST
Melee:
::Helikon - Unbuegasm dwarven Fighter - Submission Completed
::Oceanshieldwolf - Taanimohka Elven Monk (Harrow Warden) - Submission completed
::Atlas2112 - Brother Aterro - Human Warpriest of Torm - Submission Completed
::Mystic Ankh - Malphite, Shard of the Monolith - Oread Female Unbreakable Fighter - Submission Completed
Skilled:
Cucumber Tree - The Boy - archer focused inquisitor - Submission Completed
Xazil - Grimmir Ironbreaker - Dwarven Trapfinder / Melee - Submission Completed
DMoogle - Zordlon, Elvish Locksmith of Pharasma - Submission Completed
Arcane:
::Sbodd - Tamrel - Human Summoner w/ Ancestor Eidolon, Support Caster w/ Melee ally - Submission Completed
::Barrier - Sayarisha Khovihani - CG Witch - Submission Completed
::thedmstrikes - Half-orc Arcanist / knowledge monkey - background done, working on crunch Please finish this. I would really like for it to be one of the ones I am allowed to consider. [Disclaimer] Statement should only be interpreted as GM's admiration of a cool build and not any promise of the build being selected.[/Disclaimer]
Divine:
::Warsor - Byung-He Human Oracle Pei Zin Practictioner - Submission Completed
::Axolotl - Zurne Human Cave Druid - Submission Completed
::Skelatox - Sheth Mauck Kobold Druid (Elemental Ally) - Working on crunch and background - Please finish this. I would really like for it to be one of the ones I am allowed to consider. [Disclaimer] Statement should only be interpreted as GM's admiration of a cool build and not any promise of the build being selected.[/Disclaimer]
General Interest:
::Sven
::Gummy Bear
::Rabscuttle
General GM Ramblings that might be helpful]
1) How will summoned monsters work in WLD?
If you have played this adventure before then you know as written the dungeon is planar locked, which means interplannar travel (and summoning) is not possible RAW. It is this way to keep monsters that could normally bamph from just leaving the dungeon whenever they please. I don't like that since it is very limiting to character options, so instead I tweaking the rules abit. You are able to bamph into the WLD, and as such summoned monsters can be brought. You cannot however bamph out. This means the monsters in the dungeon (and you incidentally) are there to stay unless someone finds an exit. When a summoned monster dies it magically decomposes instead of bamphing out of existance...mechanically the same result, nothing left but dust. When a magical pet (like a familiar or eidolon) are dismissed they go into a bubble dimension adjacent to WLD and the only place they can go from there is back into the WLD. This is also how interdimensional containers (like the bag of holding) work inside the WLD.
All of that to say, summoned monsters and eidolons and the like are kosher, but their mechanics are getting slightly adjusted. In the same way, you will be able to use travel options like dimension door, earth glide, etc, but it may need to be tweaked a little for the setting. We can talk more about that as it comes up.
2) How will leveling work? In order to meet the marketing requirements of having "1 of every type of monster" in the WLD, specifically advises the DM to scale down XP gain. Here's what they say:
Alderac Entertainment wrote:
Most DMs and PCs aren't going to like this, but it was inevitable. If the PCs earn XP at the "normal" rate, they'll be 8th level before they leave the first map. In order to keep this adventure challenging, we had to ignore that.
It is our intention that PCs advance only twice per map. The progression allows them to reach 20th level or so by the time they reach the end of the Dungeon and provides enough challenges to keep things interesting.
Alderac goes on to talk about different ways of handling this in game, but I personally will be using the Milestone leveling process that we see Matthew Mercer use on Critical Role. When you guys hit specific story beats and milestones within the adventure you will level appropriately. This may mean that you kill more than your normal number of monsters before leveling, but you will stay at an appropriate level for the dangers you are encountering instead of powerleveling over them and steamrolling through the dungeon, which would be boring.
3)One of every monster? how is that possible? How did AEG fit one of everything in here? Well, going back to them:
Alderac Entertainment wrote:
We didn't. Everything is in here, but not the way you're thinking. For instance, we have chromatic dragons and a metallic dragon, but not a blue or white dragon. We have a sphinx, but not every variety of sphinx. We have most of the dire animals, but not all of them. Where we could, we used every part of the buffalo, so to speak.
You'll also notice the lack of animals and vermin. Animals and vermin are not monsters. While a crow could certainly find its way into the dungeon to eat a dead rat, and each corpse attracts its swarm of ants, they do not belong in a dungeon.
In the end, we wanted to give you something you'd never seen before, but we also wanted it to be useful. Fanatic completism took a backseat to making the Dungeon fun and useful.
Continued Ramblings that may be helpful as you build - I am copying this straight from the book, so some of the rules info is still in 3.0 format, but we all know enough to know how to convert that into 3.PF.
AEG wrote:
Skills: Here are a list of skills that we generallyy believe you'll need high marks in to survive this dungeon. Balance, Concentration (if you're a spellcaster), Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Disable Device (easily the most important skill), Heal, Hide, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock (the second most important skill), Search, Speak Language (Undercommon, Goblin, Draconic, and Celestial are a good start), Spell Craft, Spot, Survival, Swim (depending on the route you take), Tumble, and Use Rope Obviously adjust out of 3.0 and into 3.p where needed
The following skills should help the PCs (in general), survive the Dungeon in Style.
Craft (blacksmith, etc.), Handle Animal, Sense Motive, Use Magic Device.
Skills like Disguise, Forgery, Gather Information, Perform, Profession, Ride, and Sleight of Hand are [less useful] Encourage new PCs to avoid wasting points in these.
They also say quite a bit about spellbooks, but let me TL;DR that part. Spell books are hard in WLD because there is no good place to research new spells. As such, for spellbook based casters I will be asking you to PM me the spells you want to add to your book so that scrolls of those spells can be found with other loot. I will be handwaving the cost of writing additional spells in your spellbook because I want wizard and alchemist and the rest to be an option. Because I am handwaving that though don't expect too many scrolls laying around that are not part of your standard level up spell knowledge. There will be some, but you are in a dungeon, supplies are limited.
