Throne of Breland

Game Master mittean

I’ve been considering doing a small group (three people max, likely - more like two) custom pathfinder rules pbp set in Skyrim. Obviously this would need some massaging to get the systems to work together, but I think it could be intruiging and fun. I have most of the setting specs worked out, and most of the house rules. This would be similar to Pathfinder, but would be different enough that there are a few rules you’d need to learn, and be willing to learn.

So, to motivate me, I’m curious to see what kinds of characters might be out there. And what interest might be. I haven’t decided for sure, so i figure this might get me over that hump.

I’d be interested in general build, nothing specific. In concept, and even background.

As an example: “Dana was the daughter of a poor farmer in Whiterun hold. The war had burned her farm to the ground, and her family had been killed (separated, actually) by bandits after the battle between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks burned her families fields. She wanted vengeance. Her obsession with the Daedra had been growing ever since. I mean, if they can’t get her vengeance...”

Dana is a female human witch, and has made a deal with an unknown Daedra.

Interested. Is this set during the events of the game or after the Dragonborn?

In the events of the civil war

I don't want to be rude but I think you need to figure out a lot about this before you do it.

1: What Races are there and what stats do they have? especially considering that a number of things are VERY different from how they are in Pathfinder. (Drow are fire wielding ancestor worshippers for example, and there are Multiple mechanically distinct versions of humans that are very different rather than the jacks of all trades they are)

2: with the Civil War I'd ask... Does the dragonborn Exist in this? since skyrim itself basically has every quest idea you could create.

The races can have that, yes. And I have parts that do. But they don’t NEED that (imho). A character playing a Dunmer may get a small bonus to fire, but all of that comes from the character, as it should, not from stats as much.

That’s not to say I don’t already have these. Other people have built them before me. (Thanks to all of them for doing the work). For me, however, it’s about the story inherent in the Elder Scrolls. And you’re correct, ANY story can happen.

That’s part of what I want to do here. Create the moments that people love, and also create new ones. So, for instance, YES, you could do the College of Winterhold questline. And it would have a lot of the same structure. But the details will be different.

I have most of the details for aedra and daedra. For the races. Some ideas for how to do shouts, if necessary. Magic will be more Pathfinder, simply for simplicities sake. For instance, I used the example of a Daedra worshipping witch in my original post.

This inherently can not be a perfect amalgamation of TES and Pathfinder. It will have deviations from both. It almost has to. Magic won’t resemble Skyrim’s magic, because it’s boring and wonky. Piecemeal Armor is a thing in Skyrim, yet it’s a disaster in Pathfinder. So I’ll try my own ideas, and they’ll work, or they won’t. I am not an expert on TES...I will get things wrong. I’m okay with that. ☺️

The Dragonborn does exist in my story. I don’t know if it’s a player, or an NPC. I’d LIKE the story to be about a mercenary and a pickpocket (for example) disagreeing with each other over the Civil war, reacting to the world around them while they move up in the ranks of the Companions and the Thieves Guild (as an example). They may come across the Dragonborn. Or one may become the Dragonborn.

For Dunmer...

“Elemental Resistance: Elves who dwell in the most extreme environments, from arctic wastelands to volcanic plains, develop natural resistance to the dangers of their homelands over the course of a few generations. Elves with this racial trait gain elemental resistance 5 to acid, cold, electricity, or fire. This choice is made at character creation, and once made it cannot be changed. This racial trait replaces elven immunities.”

There you go. Fire resistance.

For Bosmer

“Silent Hunter: Elves are renowned for their subtlety and skill. Elves with this racial trait reduce the penalty for using Stealth while moving by 5 and can make Stealth checks while running at a –20 penalty (this number includes the penalty reduction from this racial trait). This racial trait replaces elven magic.

Easy enough. Altmer are just standard elves.

Any elderscrolls race can be just reskinned pathfinder races

Hell...for Bretons I’d use the half-orc chassis. Take the alternate racials of +2 diplomacy (instead of Intimidate) +1 Saves (instead of ferocity) and low light vision (instead of darkvision)

Thanks, Grumbaki!

You mentioned that you'll likely just use standard Pathfinder spells for simplicity's sake (I totally get not wanting to deal with changing that kind of stuff). But since you are still early on, I thought I'd suggest using Spheres of Power in place of normal magic. The way Spheres work...honestly it could feel very much like the magic from Skyrim, especially if you left out some of the spheres (Creation, Dark, Alteration, and Weather don't remind me of anything similar in Skyrim; but Destruction and Protection seem almost perfect translations from the game), although I wouldn't actually recommend removing any spheres, for the sake of fun/gameplay.

Thank you as well, Keante!

Well Garoth was an adventurer but then he took an arrow to the knee, now he's a humble guardsman in Whiterun, looking for an opportunity to get back out there and show off his newly discovered magical abilities.

Haha. I dig it, Tharasiph.

Thalyn is a young man just setting out in the world. With his father's greatsword on his back and a second-hand bow, his first stop is Whiterun with an aim to apply to the Companions.

Thanks for the contribution, Jagael.

Well... Here's an idea of mine.

A somewhat Disillusioned Imperial Soldier. Before he was drafted into military service he was a traveling researcher of the cultures of skyrim, working on his opus "On Mer and Man: A Complete guide to Tamrielic Culture" (I don't know if that's already a book in game and if it is then a different title might suffice). However during his time in skyrim he was drafted into the Imperial Army. He watched a young nordic woman get dragged away by the Thalmor in broad daylight, and witnessed how the guards turned a blind eye, and as such he left. Went back onto the road with nothing but the sword and armor on his back.
Mechanically I'm caught between (assuming spheres is a thing) a Martial/Academia Hedgewitch and some kind of plate wearing warrior (but what Martial classes have use for Intelligence?)
I'd be tempted to say something about becoming the dragonborn but know that it's arrogant to 'ask' to be dovahkiin. Though I think that out of any player here he'd probably be the one most accepting of taking on the role, like "So... I'm a hero destined to save the world from evil and dragons? Well Damn. I was pretty much already planning to try to be a hero anyway, no wonder I'm the one."

Also a few points
1: Spheres of Power's magic is a good way to allow you to create whatever fits best for the situation, and Spheres of Might can help make combat more interesting than trading full attacks.

2: Some vague ideas about Armor Materials and other things. (granted I'm not even kinda going by the game and just doing what I think could be cool)
Elven (moonstone? what is it called again): Acts similarly to Mithril, reducing the weight of armor by one category, and gives weapons you wield the Finesse property.
Glass/orichalcum: Reflective: Applies 1/2 of the Armor AC and the full enhancement bonus against Touch Attacks
Dweomer metal: Hyperdense: Armor you wear made out of this material has you treat yourself as One size category larger for combat maneuver bonuses and defenses, and weapons made from this material deal damage as though one size larger.
Ebony: Acts as Adamantine.
Daedric: Acts as Adamantine, except the damage resistance is DR/Good. and weapons made of Daedric metal gain the Unholy Enhancement
Aedric: IF we can go off the script a little bit to make it "Not literally Tamriel but very similar" Aedric would basically be the same as Daedric but for Good creatures, getting DR/Evil and the Holy enhancement.
Dawnbreaker: Artifact Flaming Ebony Undead Bane Longsword with a unique ability. x number per day when reducing an undead creature to 0 hit points you can activate dawn breaker to unleash a powerful wave of positive energy. this deals (Dawnbreaker CL) D6 damage to Undead creatures, and any undead creature reduced to 0 hp or less by this ability (and the first one as well) is instantaneously Disintegrated as the spell.

I've pretty much got materials sorted out, and I actually am not terribly comfortable with the Spheres of power. I have zero experience with them.

So far we have interest from Jagael, Warriorking9001 and Tharasiph.

Add me as interested as well

Ok, for me a big part of Skyrim is spellcasting and fighting not being intrinsically separate.

So I’d make a Nord Panolpy Savant Occultist with the Trappings of the Warrior

Full BaB with spellcasting up to lvl6. He’d be an imperial battlemage who returned to Skyrim after the war. A devout follower of Talos, the white gold concordant left him feeling confused and abandoned. Having been gone from Skyrim for so long he doesn’t know where his loyalties lie...only that something has to be done before the Thalmor armies return.

Brilliant, Grumbaki!

I'm kinda in the same boat as Grum that I feel like combat and magic being together is a big part of the game. And with my character concept (and guessing spheres is a no from you saying you're nor comfortable) I have to ask...

1: Is there an Intelligence Based Arcane Mid Bab 6 Level Int based caster other than the magus? Not that I have anything seriously wrong with the magus but I want to use sword and spell together in a more subtle utilitarian way than "I FULL ATTACK AND MAKE SPELL ATTACKS IN MY OFF HAND"
2: Is there something like a Bard that does not have bardic performance? I get that's a REALLY weird order to fill but a wandering warrior-scholar with something like bardic knowledge would be quite fitting, but him singing and orating in combat does not fit that line.

I know it can be very overpowered, but some form of gestalt could be what is needed in a skyrim setting. Maybe a character can only have one spellcasting or martial side, something like that? Thinking of it from the main three "types": martial, rogue, caster.

I like the gestalt idea. If it gets toned down.

Gestalt, but can’t mix full BaB and full spell progression. No two Spell classes that use the same casting stat

So...rogue/wizard = ok
Fighter/wizard = no

Also wizard/Cleric = ok (Int and Wis, action economy keeps it kinda in check)
Wizard/Witch = no (both are full casting Int)

A martial type could gestalt with classes like Magus, Warpriest, Inquisitor, Bard. This opens up spell casting options without getting access to the biggest spells.

Caster types can get more utility with classes like investigator, rogue, monk, bard, Inquisitor, etc.

Examples

* Vigilant of Stendar
- Paladin/Warpriest (Cha and Wis casting, smites Daedra and undead)

* Imperial Battlemage
- Fighter/Magus (Melee and destruction magic)

* Conjuration Expert
- Gloomblade Fighter / Summoner (summons own weapons and creatures)

* Thieves Guild Operative
- Unchained Rogue / Illusion Wizard

* Nord Skald
- Skald / Barbarian

* Adventurer Scholar
- Wizard / Investigator

* Fallen Graybeard
- Aether Kineticist / Unchained Monk (kineticist powers could represent shouts. Monk to rock those robes)

* Etc etc.

Etc etc. Plenty of options, but without anyone being an archmage and a warrior. This keeps the feel of anyone being able to pick up magic, and anyone can learn to use a sword. But at the end of the day you can only master one.

1: Is there an Intelligence Based Arcane Mid Bab 6 Level Int based caster other than the magus? Not that I have anything seriously wrong with the magus but I want to use sword and spell together in a more subtle utilitarian way than "I FULL ATTACK AND MAKE SPELL ATTACKS IN MY OFF HAND"

There is the Warlock archetype of the Vigilante, the Living Grimoire archetype of the Inquisitor, and the Investigator has the Psychic Detective and Questioner archetypes.

2: Is there something like a Bard that does not have bardic performance? I get that's a REALLY weird order to fill but a wandering warrior-scholar with something like bardic knowledge would be quite fitting, but him singing and orating in combat does not fit that line.

The Archaeologist and Busker archetypes of the Bard both trade out bardic performance while keeping bardic knowledge.

And to throw it out there. Variant Multiclass Bard.

As for Arcane full BaB Martials:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/bloodrager/archetypes/paizo -bloodrager-archetypes/enlightened-bloodrager-bloodrager/

Enlightened Bloodrager. Uses Cha, unfortunately. But uses medium spell slots, has all Wizard lvl0 spells, and at lvl4 rages without penalties.

Throw in VMC Bard, and come lvl4 you have a scholarly warrior mage.

So, what would the character creation guidelines be, roughly? For me, mechanics and story both sort of organically grow from the same base. I have a ton of vaugely-defined characters at any given time, and knowing what my options are helps focus them into actual concepts.

I love this discussion, guys, thank you. I lean away from Gestault, usually, as it’s harder to build the backend for me. But I think those class combos are a lot of fun! And many great ideas for non-dandy bards there.

I’ll put up my guidelines for character creation this evening.

I'll toss my interest in here, since I enjoy Skyrim a lot and think it has endless opportunity for storytelling and characters. There are a ton of concepts that would be viable obviously, but I'll tentatively put my finger on a wood elf who's come here for various reasons: hunting the dangerous game of this land, proving themselves as a master of archery and stealthy survival, perhaps even seeking to learn something from the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood, even the Forsworn with their ancient and dark nature magic. Wood elves in Tamriel are fantastically interesting, particularly playing up the carnivorous/cannibalistic aspect. Couple that with everything else going on, I could see it being a very fun time.

I would play a summoner with a humanoid eidolon. And then I would find a way to divert every single point of INT from that eidolon so that all they know is that they should follow me around everywhere and repeatedly make the wrong tactical decisions.

So you want to summon Lydia...I dig it. Lmao.

I really like that wood elf idea, Helix missionary.

So you want to summon Lydia...I dig it. Lmao.

If I'm going for an iconic follower, yes. But none of the available followers are loaded with tactical acumen.

Archeologist is a bit selfish but would fit quite well with a traveling scholar trying to piece together ancient history and the cultures of various places.. And I guess it's weird to be so picky about it though.

Okay, currently these are the options that have been proposed:

Tharasiph proposed Garoth the Whiterun guardsman, who has shown some magical fortitude.

Jagael had the idea of Thalyn, a great-sword wielding mercenary.

Warriorking9001 wants to play a researcher who was drafted into the Imperial army, but grew disillusioned after watching them turn a blind eye to blatant abuses of the people.

Grumbaki's idea was a Nord Panoply Savant Occultist with the Trappings of the Warrior. An imperial battlemage with conflicting idealogs, returned north after his service, to a land and a people he grew attached to.

Helix missionary's wood elf hunter, come to the cold lands to make a name for himself.

Andostre's summoner. (Let me know if you were serious about that post, btw, lol)

So six possibilities so far.

Submission guidelines:

Any House Rules I have I will explain when they come up, if they come up. They ARE different from regular PF, but the general ideas are the same.

25 point buy. Traits are welcome. Flaws (up to 2) and drawbacks (up to 2 as well) are welcome.

To give an idea of the kinds of stories and characters I am most likely to choose, these are some sources I tend to draw from:
Sons of Anarchy, the Uncharted series, Game of Thrones, Band of brothers, the Shield, Newsroom, True detective, Downton abbey, the Baldur’s gate series, Knights of the Old Republic, the Talented Mr. Ripley, Duplicity, the Bourne series, Sushi girl, Marvel studios, The Last of Us, etc.

I like gritty, grey, conflicted, character driven action. In my stories, weapons, armor and other possessions will probably break. The action will hopefully feel visceral and intense, and cinematic.

This adventure will begin at level 1. As such, it’s good to remember that while these characters may be survivors, hopeful aspirants, or fledgling warriors, they aren’t yet heroes. They are people who find themselves in an extraordinary situation.

Thank you for your interest. If you think anyone else might be interested in a campaign like this, feel free to spread the word so that they might submit a character as well.

During the application process, I will not require a detailed character sheet. Your time is valuable, and I am more interested in story and writing than I am in whether you can stat out a character.
All Pathfinder products are allowed (for the most part), as well as most WotC and Eberron material. Ultimate Psionics and Path of War from Dreamscarred are also allowed. Ask if you have any questions.

I prefer core races. You may ask about others, but I find the stories of humanoids to be more plausible; unless it is an incredibly interesting character, I am unlikely to choose characters outside of humans and demi-humans. YES, I might consider something non TES friendly...but it is much less likely, for obvious reasons.

In terms of classes, don’t be concerned with expected party roles. Build the character that you think showcases your storytelling best, not the race/class combo that you think the party needs.
I tend to run grey characters, and I do not run hard and fast alignments. I am more interested in how your character responds to a situation based on their background and personality, not on their alignment.

Grumbaki here.

Making the character. Feel like a Nord *needs* Cold Resistance so took the trait Northern Ancestry.

Where can I find the rules for flaws?

—-

Character should be complete now.

Str20 (due to Transmutation focus giving +2 Str) has +5 Hit and 3d6+9 damage
AC17 (fairly good, can go up to 21 with shield)
Cold Resistance 2 (Nord)
And has 2 spells per day.
- Lvl 0 (Light, Mending)
- Lvl 1 (Shield, Refine Improvised Weapon)

The worst situation for a warrior is being unarmed. Now he can create a weapon if need be, and can fix broken equipment. Likely to not come up, but if it does, he is ready. And at lvl2 he will pick up healing spells, so he’ll be able to help with that if needed.

All in all, pretty happy with how he’s turned out.

Originally Garoth was a little bit of a joke that just had to be made.. but i'm really thinking now and i'll try flesh out the concept more thoroughly.

Andostre's summoner. (Let me know if you were serious about that post, btw, lol)

I was not serious, sorry. :) I thought that this was a "motivation" thread, not a Recruitment thread.

Flaw rules can be found here.

Taking Restricted Sorcery.

Can never learn necromancy or illusion.

As a Nord he will never use magic that he sees as being so dishonorable.

Also taking loss of heritage. Losing skilled (+1 Skill point per level) for the bonus feat of skilled (+3 linguistics)

Also dropping Butchering Axe because, while optimized, it doesn’t feel fluffy enough. Dropped Wis and raised Cha for the same reason.

can someone explain to me how flaws work?

From my google-fu, they give a bonus feat. And drawbacks give a bonus trait.

There we go! Background done. Did the math and found that there was no way he could have seen the Great War without being at least 40. As is he is older than most lvl1 characters, but I think his skills reflect that.

A question! Can we have Background Skills? I’d use them for Knowledge History and Profession Soldier, which would tie perfectly into his backstory.

Remind me of background skills?

Good choices, btw. Interesting.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/background-skills/

2 free skill points that are spent on skills that few people ever take. Helps round out characters. Especially for PCs who have very few skills to work with.

—-

Also glad you like the choices. If anything isn’t clear please feel free to ask

That’s funny, I had a house rule for background skills separate from that. Lol. Yeah, background skills are good.

You might want to make a new recruitment thread. While it would reduce my chances of getting in, many people might skip this thread thinking it is just for interest

Am a huge fan of skyrim and would love to take part in this. It’s three am where I am so I’ll do the crunchy stuff tomorrow but I love the concept of the horse thief from roriksted who manages to actually make it to riften and join the thieves guild.

Also something to look at is the Feat Tax rules, it really helps streamline martial builds.

Admittedly I'm a bit nervous that whoever my guy is (I have 0 idea how to make a lore friendly name) is really quite similar to Torsten both in Mechanics and Story.

A Young scholarly man fascinated with Nord culture, ends up in the Imperial Legion, gets Disillusioned by the whole thing for one reason or another, and both use a combination of Swords and Magic at 3/4 bab (granted I know nothing about how Occult Magic works either). I might need to think up a new design so we're not basically just doing the exact same thing.. Granted you said don't worry about roles in the party but.. I do get a sensation like we need to be careful.

Bah! Combine backstories. The two could be friends who met up in university and enlisted together.

Two warrior scholars out to uncover nordic ruins? Awesome. Bring it on! Having both of us with knowledge skills is insurance against a bad die roll.

Plus I’m sure we can find different mechanics. A Magus, for example, would play very differently than my occultist.

(1) Antiquarian Investigator (Trapfinding, Arcane casting, soooo many skills, inspiration, and becomes good in melee at lvl4)
(2) Urban or Enlightened Bloodrager (Both more controlled and have more magic options. Enlightened gives cantrips at lvl1)
(3) Mind Sword Paladin (Technically psychic)
(4) Skald (Not sure if it fits your flavor, but very Nordic)
(5) Archaeolgost Bard (with Fate’s Favored can fight very well. Arcane Duelist fights well too)
(6) Magus (Usually dex based. Can do insane damage)

Plenty of Arcane Casters who can fight and who would play really different than Torsten

Well I don't really need to be "Nordic" because my boy is actually an Imperial, but it's nice to hear what you're saying. (And I'm admittedly unsure as to whether them being friends would work since one was conscripted in the middle of his travels, but it could be really interesting to play.

I was originally thinking of the Archaeologist, though I have a slight worry that... well in regards to Weapons at least I don't think that a Rapier would fit (I don't even think rapiers exist in tamriel/skyrim)

and I couldn't find info on the Antiquarian just yet but I will take a look later.

Yeah...don’t think rapiers are lore friendly. But if all you want is dex to damage, a cutlass certainly is. 1d6 damage wirh 18-20 crit range. Slashing instead of piercing.

As a human, take Weapon Focus and Slashing Grace for the bonus feat. Dex to damage at lvl1. Assuming Fate’s Favored and Dex18, that’s +7 Hit with 1d6+6 damage, with 18-20 crit.

Not bad at all. And just because I love theorycrafting (not pressuring you into anything), he could go VMC Magus.

Lvl 3 VMC: Arcana Pool at lvl-2 (Swift action keen! Crit now at 15-20)
Lvl 5: Feat of choice
Lvl 7 VMC: Flamboyant Arcana

A magus gains the derring-do and opportune parry and riposte deeds from the swashbuckler’s list of deeds. The magus can spend only points from his arcane pool (not panache points) to use these deeds and any other deeds he gains from the deed arcana. He can’t use points from his arcane pool to use deeds from other classes or those gained by feats, nor can he regain points to his arcane pool as a swashbuckler would regain panache points

Lvl 9: Extra Arcana- Arcane Deed - Precise (+lvl to damage as precision damage)

So at lvl9, assuming a +2 cutlass and Dex20, with keen and archaeologists luck

To Hit: +17/+12
Damage: 1d6+19 (15-20 crit, does extra 1d6+10 damage on a crit)

Can make for a very deadly warrior mage.