Talanor, the Last Haven (Table #1)

Game Master Valjoen_KC

Points taken. Thanks for the help! I will definitely adjust...

Now, just to be clear here, if you really want to play your dwarf Dex-based, because that's what fun for you, then do that by all means! Valjoen will certainly be willing to work with you to make it doable, if you get in. My own character is hardly optimized. Capable, yes, but the actual build is incredibly scattershot--split between ranged combat, melee combat, maneuvering, and utility feats--and would have even casual min-maxers shrieking in frustration :D.

I have a dwarf alchemist who is scary nimble in battle, and I've played dwarf rogues before. Surprisingly effective in both cases! That Wis boost is great for finding traps, and everyone wins from more HP. Plus stonecunning synergizes amazingly well with Trapfinding (the alchemist has the trap-breaker archetype) particularly in dungeons and the like (where you're likely to find traps anyway). Plus the image of an agile brick s@#!-house is phenomenal.

. . . My own character is hardly optimized. . .

Now let's not tell lies. With one exception, everybody in that party is scary effective at their chosen field. :-p

No, it's truth. Anyone who actually knows what a "proper" swashbuckler should be built like would instinctively try to reach through their monitor to wrap hands around my neck and throttle me :D. Splitting my feats the way I have, my skills, my stat allocations? Wasting feats--especially Valjoen's bonuses, which would make a min-maxer respond in very inappropriately happy ways--on things that are most assuredly not absolutely necessary?

No, my swashbuckler is very much not optimized, by the full meaning of the term :D. Now that's not to say that I'm not trying to tune it as much as I can within the role I have in mind, using what Valjoen gives me. But I am technically correct in my statement, and everyone knowns that that is the best kind of correct :p.

Further, I would argue that Tacal is actually very effective in his line of work, better than any of us certainly :D. He uses the standard point buy for his race and class quite well.

Asura haven't come up yet in the other campaign. I'm guessing that they are either divine mistakes in the classic sense or they are mistakes that come from inappropriate pairings amongst the gods. Speculatively, if a thing is called the Sun-Eater, either when Gaeruhn ate the sun it was a "mistake" or, in eating the sun, Gaeruhn's thought mixed with Vra'lithe's thought in an inappropriate way to create a godling.

GM, can you give us some cosmological insight?

Ok... so I was traveling today getting back from vacation in Mexico... Holy Shnikies that's a lot of posts to catch up on.

So, the Immortals can be broken into two groups. First, the Deities who sprang from thought of Amus and her children. Second, the Ascended who came to be or gained immortality after the creation of the cosmos.

The Deities are the Ealintaine and the Godlings... or the Greater and Lesser Spirits. They are all gods, but the Ealintaine were clearly more powerful in the beginning. The Godlings were made from the ether by the thoughts of the Ealintaine. They vary in power and over the history of cosmos some have gained power while others have wained.

The Ascended are broken into six categories with three separate pairings of categories. First, you have the Celestials and the Fiends. These immortals were created by the deities consorting with mortals (as in the case of the Celes) or other nefarious actions of the deities (as in the case of the asura). The second pairing is the Divus and the Abominations. These immortals started as mortals but became immortal either by the blessing of a deity (such as Avar, of House Celes being granted immortality by Miravynn) or by dark rituals or curses (such as Vampires). The third pairing is the Angels and Demons which are immortal souls of deceased mortals that transformed during their passage across the Plane of Bone. Not much is known as to why or how angels and demons are created, although most theologians would speculate that the purity or the corruption of a soul during mortal life is the catalyst.

Now, Asura are wrath personified. They are the manifestations of divine accident, living blasphemies risen from wrath of the deities themselves.

Did that clear anything up?

At any rate, I apologize to Valjoen for adding more work on his plate! Unless you want me to write it out, which I'm happy to do. It sounds like he lets players give input to help flesh out the world? I'd be totally excited to do that! ^_^

I have actually been putting a lot of thought into the immortals and especially fiends and celestials as of late. I have a numbest of things worked out and the Sun Eater concept fits in nicely. We'll have a little clean up on lore for your backstory, but it is very well done. Thank you.

And thank you to everyone. I'm really excited with all the thought that clearly has been going into the characters for this campaign. Also, a big thank you to Sam and Niyut for helping everyone with their insights into the setting.

Eh, not a problem, it was fun helping out where I could, even if it mostly on the logistical side with supply advice :D.

Yes! Thank you both for chiming in. It's helped us immensely. The only downside to such a detailed, strongly fleshed-out homebrew world (and, really, it isn't much of a downside) is that there is a lot of data to take in. You've helped us build characters that, while unique, also fit well into the lore of the world. (Even when we forced Valjoen to write EVEN MORE lore in order for them to exist. :D ) Thanks so much!

@Valjoen: Thanks! Let me know what you require on my end as far as lore cleanup and I'll get on it. Particularly on the weekends, I tend to have nothing but time. :)

Revised... I welcome comments! The Forgemaster is far from an optimized class, but the flavour is simply too compelling! I upped the strength but kept some dexterity nonetheless...

PS: I included the backstory at the bottom of the spoiler...

Is the group still open to members? I just learned that play by post exists today and wanted to join a game and this sounds amazing

@High: Yep, application period is still on, so go ahead. Applications are still being accepted up to this Monday, and after that it's a one-week period to get things cleaned up and pretty for final submission.

I mean, when it comes to optimization, there's a pretty balance between "character concept" and "seventy +1's to keep track of". I think perfectly min-maxed characters are incredibly boring both to make and play (and usually only min-maxed based on whatever the rules system considers important, not the GM), but its also good to get your character as far away from being MAD as possible, because it feels bad to do a lot of things poorly. Of course, that's also class-dependent, and in this specific game the essence mechanics and the feat-tax rules do a lot to make characters that would otherwise struggle (especially given how feat-heavy ranged builds in particular are) possible and as fun to play as they should be, even if they aren't optimized.

I'm just lucky the Investigator has an archetype that almost entirely negates the need for charisma :P Archetypes and other decisions (Lore Mystery Oracle comes to mind) that allow your characters to be more SAD are some of my favorite.

As for a Dex Cleric, the ideal thing would be to go for the Agile weapon enchantment, I think. That alone fixes a lot of the issues non-rogue melee Dex builds have and essentially substitutes a bunch of feats- not entirely sure how that works in the essence system but I imagine a mix of ?air? or similar essences would be able to produce such an enchantment?

(Honestly, I'm having a fun time just navigating the wiki. Its so well put together- I'd have to try something similar for my campaign setting, I'm just horrible at organizing :P)

I'd like to submit Absholeth, a Gnome Air Elemental Bloodline Sorcerer. Absholeth was born into a moderately wealthy trading family, but never much cared for the family business. One day, as a young man, his father had him haggle for some sacks of grain from the local farmers. Absholeth got into an argument over grain prices with an elderly farmer . The exchange became quite heated and when he pointed and yelled at the farmer, an arc of lightning shot from his finger and killed the old man. Absholeth fled the market and the town before anyone could alert the authorities. His knowledge of value and bartering has served him well enough to keep him fed as he moves around the land, staying unrecognized and learning about and cultivating his unknown powers.

I have a few questions about the character creation. How do we choose traits? What pool are they chosen from? I haven't had that in a PF game before. Also, do the character sheets need to be uploaded anywhere? I'm really new to the forum game.

Traits can be found here, and a guide to them here. You select two, or three if you take a drawback, but they cant be of the same type (combat, social, faith, magic are the primary ones). More than happy to help you select a few if you PM me.

I have a few questions about the character creation. How do we choose traits? What pool are they chosen from? I haven't had that in a PF game before. Also, do the character sheets need to be uploaded anywhere? I'm really new to the forum game.

Okay, for character sheets. The most common method is to make a Paizo messageboard alias. To do that, go to "My Account," choose "Account Settings," and then scroll down until you see the box labeled "Messageboard Aliases."

Click "Create New Alias" and just give the name you want, then assign a picture to represent it. Ignore the Organized Play thing at the bottom, that's only relevant for PF Organized Play.

After making your alias, go to "My Account," select "My Profile" this time, and then select the tab marked "Alias." Click on the name of the alias you just made. In the upper right corner of that page, you'll see an option to edit this blank sheet of future awesome. Your layout can be however you want it to be, to whatever level of detail you think is good. Some people like to copy the style of the official character sheets, others do something different. Here is a (mostly) blank example using one of my aliases. And this is a filled example using my character from the Bright Tower campaign. (One of the things that I like to do is create internal links to the d20pfsrd for classes, feats, skills, traits, and other elements that I may need to reference periodically. It takes a lot of effort and time, but it looks nice and can be faster than digging through a search engine for what you need.)

The only common aspect, regardless of how you do your sheet, is the three categories on the left, "Race," "Classes/Levels," and "Gender." When filled, those three actually show up as a sort of quick reference in the post, and so are commonly used to hold critical details that either you or your GM needs to see at a glance; HP, armor class, modifiers for attacks and key skills, saving throws, and so on. Those three categories don't have a lot of room in them, though, so keep it as short as you can.

And this is a guide on how to actually play by post (written by DoomedHero who, amusingly enough, has applied in this recruitment thread :D). A follow-up can be found here.

I just realized that I have two combat traits... Duh...

For a Wise cleric, a Guided Weapon would come in handy, wouldn't it?!

@Alias: Don't sweat the two combat traits just yet. If you can come up with a good reason why your character should have them, Valjoen might be amenable to letting it pass. He's pretty flexible, if you can make a case for it.

The primary goal of traits is backstory-driven, not really mechanical, after all.

As for guided, I don't think that exists in Pathfinder- I'm relatively sure that's a 3.5 thing. Naturally the GM can port it, but Paizo did not. I could be wrong, though.

Nah. It was greedy of me. I was optimizing the full plate armour... The trait thing is fair as it imposes more depth, which I think is interesting.

In Toraim's case, this implies focusing a little more on his craft, which accounts for most of his life and for the very essence of his class!

The closest thing is guided hand feat. Valthyra favors great swords and those who craft weapons they themselves have made.

The closest thing is guided hand feat. Valthyra favors great swords and those who craft weapons they themselves have made.

Yeah. The problem with that is that the Forgemaster replaces Channel Energy with Runeforger. Otherwise, I would be all over it!

I'd also worry about the fact that one of your class features as a Forgemaster gives a feat thats banned from the game, unless you've already talked about that with the GM; maybe you can come up with an alternate class feature. I also imagine you'd be able to use the Smith custom domain instead of the regular artifice, given how well it fits with the identity of the archetype.

@Chloe: If Alias gets approved for the campaign, Valjoen will work with him to create a suitable and mutually acceptable alternative to any class features that conflict with the campaign's rules. Same goes for any other characters that have such features.

I figured; just thought I'd be helpful and point it out, I know the GM is plenty busy enough. Its interesting thinking about what could be a decent class feature there... :)

Indeed, I assume that we'd have to reevaluate those particular class features... And if the Artifice domain can be replaced, well, that would be nice as well! Mind you, I have a feeling that mending may prove useful in this campaign?!

@Alias: In the BT campaign, we use mending to restore shattered flasks from splash weapons, if we can find the pieces after the fight. Valjoen's been handwaving the Search checks to recover bits (so far), so we haven't actually lost many of the flasks that we've accumulated. While it hasn't come up yet, there's also plans--in my character's head, at least--to use mending on any other supplies we may need to damage (such as cutting ropes, for example).

On the subject of utility spells though, create water is pretty important, since freestanding and unfrozen water isn't likely to be very common anymore. It's at-will nature means you can top off a waterskin, canteen, or flask on the spot, drink your fill, and not have to worry about hauling water (though having stored water in at least one container is a good idea just in case).

Prestidigitation is another one to treasure if you have it, because it allows the party (and their gear) to stay clean in the absence of regular bathing (which in turn prevents a host of hygiene-related issues).

Indeed, I assume that we'd have to reevaluate those particular class features... And if the Artifice domain can be replaced, well, that would be nice as well! Mind you, I have a feeling that mending may prove useful in this campaign?!

Ah, it doesn't replace that feature! Its the subdomain- it's here. Might interest you!!!

Ah, it doesn't replace that feature! Its the subdomain- it's here. Might interest you!!!

Thanks! I hadn't seen that!

At their anointment as a servant of a deity, the cleric is bestowed with four orisons and four 1st level spells of the character’s choice by their patron deity. Additionally, each deity will grant additional spells as outlined in the deity’s entry. At each level, including 1st level, the cleric can pray for a number of additional spells equal to the cleric’s wisdom bonus.

Not quite sure I understand... Does this mean that a 1st level cleric gets 4 orisons, 4 + Wisdom modifier 1st level spells + a domain spell?

The number of spells/day remains unchanged (3 orisons and 1+1 1st level spells)?

At their anointment as a servant of a deity, the cleric is bestowed with four orisons and four 1st level spells of the character’s choice by their patron deity. Additionally, each deity will grant additional spells as outlined in the deity’s entry. At each level, including 1st level, the cleric can pray for a number of additional spells equal to the cleric’s wisdom bonus.

Not quite sure I understand... Does this mean that a 1st level cleric gets 4 orisons, 4 + Wisdom modifier 1st level spells + a domain spell?

The number of spells/day remains unchanged (3 orisons and 1+1 1st level spells)?

I do believe that's exactly what it means. Become a cleric, and get--at 1st level--4 + 4 + Wis + domain to start your career.

So that's instead of the normal spell progression?

Rephrased: are these spells knowns, which are not to be confused with spells cast per day? Or can a level 1 priest cast 4 + Wisdom modifier spells per day?

I believe they are spells know. That clerics can no longer pull from the entire list.

Seems like there are hits to the prepared spellcasters to put them more in line with the spontaneous ones.

I mean, less an Oracle issue and more a Sorcerer one I think, but I'd hazard a guess thats the intent.

I think most of the questions have been answered so far. Let me know if there is anything outstanding.

The spell rules Alias referenced was put in place to make Clerics, Druids, etc. closer aligned with Wizards, etc... who have a spellbook from which to prepare spells. Divine casters have a "Granted" list of spells from which to prepare their daily spells. It starts with the 4 orisons, etc. They also get their domain spells added to that list, and Cure/Inflict spells are always available spontaneously. Additionally, their patron deity may grant them other spells for acts in line with their tenets of faith. Do something that pleases their god, and boom... another granted spell of the deity's choice.

I'll be working on the entries for the deities that are being worshipped next. What little time I've had this weekend has been focused on Celestials and Fiends, given the influx of Aasimars and Tieflings into this recruitment.

Apoc Golem wrote:

Last Q before I bang out the specifics. Is it alright to use the variant list in Blood of Fiends to replace the spell-like ability? And if so, are there particulars on the list you'd like me to stick to? (I know some of the stuff on the list can get kind of weird.)

Which one are you thinking about? Of the variants' origins, both the Qlippoths and Rakashas don't exist as a race of fiends or demons in this world. However, I have loads of fiendish options that I could customize one if you're looking for a specific stat bonus or SLA.

So... I've changed this as you can see on the wiki. Fiends and Celestials, each fall into 7 broad categories. Qlippoths and Rakashas were added to the category of fiends.

Note that Aasimar heritage can come from any celestial, angel or divus, while Tieflings heritages can come from any fiend, demon or abomination.

Got it!

Here is the revised, revised character...

Gear to be figured out in due time...

The recruitment is now closed for new dots. Please finish up any submission requirements by Monday, February 4th. If you have just dotted the thread and are planning a submission, please let me know as I may announce character selection prior to Monday if/when everyone else has their submission completed.

Thank you all, again!

Completed Applications

Akula the Herald: Half-Orc Forgepriest Warpriest of Valthyra (Doomed Hero)

Maria Notburga Riedgasse: Aerten Human Empiricist Investigator; Worshipper of ?? (ChloePech)

Muraisa: Half-Elf (Firebird Clan) Drunken Brute Barbarian 2 (JonGarrett)

Randall Shadowcrown: Wrathspawn Tiefling Rogue 1 / Softstrike Monk 1; Worshipper of Lorrÿndol (Apoc Golem)

Toraim Highhammer: Dwarven Forgemaster Cleric; Worshiper of Valthyra (Alias ad Tempus)

Ysildaë Ralomenor: Muse-Touched Aasimar Scaled Fist Monk 1 / Warrior Poet Samurai 1 (Ixos)

In Progress Applications

Sautekh: Bone Touched Aasimar Temple Champion Paladin 2; S.O.E. (BloodPaw) <-- Need Background

Absholeth: Gnome Air Elemental Bloodline Sorcerer (HighCatastrophe) <-- Need more background; see Character Submission Requirements for questions and alignment comments.

Shown Interest

Kayne Rhal --> Dotted
Sbodd --> Dotted

Oh man. I don't envy your task, Valjoen. Lots of very cool character ideas here!

@Apoc: I'm hoping he'll start as he did with the BT campaign, and select 6 characters. We had an early drop, unfortunately, but the remaining group has proven pretty workable.

Should it prove relevant to any characters, please note that Valjoen has approved Spontaneous Alchemy for use. You'll have to negotiate with him to see what recipes you (might) start with, if any.

Those of you interested in alchemical pursuits--or the use of reagents as power components in spellcasting--should consider investing as much of your starting funds as you deem fit in reagents. In the BT campaign, Valjoen has approved acquiring alchemical reagents in a non-specific gold piece-valued group, instead of exact quantities of specified reagents--where you just subtract the cost of the reagents used in your recipe from the total value--at a weight of 1 lb. per 10 gp of value (0.5 lbs. per 5 gp for smaller amounts); I don't know if he'll do likewise here, but it won't hurt to ask.

Finally, a note on the Forgaging rules: characters may gather, as appropriate, generic alchemical raw materials and/or reagents using these rules.

6 characters seems like the best size to me, as you usually get one or two drops pretty fast. It's worked well in most of my games, and they seem to be steady at 5 players most of the time.

...also more places increases my odds of getting in.

@Valjoen

I thiink I settled on having Maria worship Amus, considering I imagine her having a more generalized knowledge in religion and considering that Amus leaves one the most open to explore the entirety of creation, especially in regards to deific aspects, Maria would tend towards considering Amus as the deity she worships, but... yeah.

-

Considering how likely it is my character will focus on alchemy related feats and advancements that significantly reduce crafting times, I don't think I'll bother too much with spontaneous alchemy; though I wouldn't totally disregard it.

After reading the foraging rules, I imagine that foraging for herbs uses the RAW rules for that? (at least as far as the "special rules" aspect goes)

I'm still finalizing these rules, and in certain areas of the world, you will not be forage things due to the Shaping. So, there will be some GM discretion. Additionally, rare or expensive reagents or herbs will not be randomly foraged but will require some questing.

@ChloePech - Sounds good regarding Amus.

I would offer, as a counterpoint to foraging and the availability of materials/reagents, the following for consideration. A lot of stuff listed as reagents has fairly common uses besides being reagents, and carefully looting the right ruins--in Talanor or elsewhere--can offer a chance of getting a decent stock even when the landscape itself has been blighted beyond foraging. Pretty much all of the reagents (currently) found in the BT campaign were gathered by looting things like bakeries, tanners, lamp makers, and such.

Not saying that Valjoen will allow it (or allow it to be done regularly), but it might be might good to keep an eye out for the remnants of businesses, even ones that at first glance wouldn't normally be a likely targeting for a proper looting. A milliner (hatmaker), for example, could be a reasonable source for quicksilver and other chemical reagents/materials.

milliner = great word. A similar word, "haberdasher" (one who specializes in men's clothing and accouterments) is one of my favorites. Also one of my favorite uses came from a Paizo description of an NPC, described as "an overly enthusiastic haberdasher."

I don't see Randall doing much foraging, but it certainly couldn't hurt to keep in mind.

Its hard to even comprehend how damaging something like the Shaping must have been... I mean like, its potentially a mass extinction event even if the most obvious things survive.

I'm fine with foraging being extremely difficult. Between the undead that seem to pop up en masse in places and other horrible things, as well as any lucky survivors (however temporary) I imagine that a lot of what even survived the shaping has already been scavaged if its even marginally useful to normal folk. Besides, going on quests for a specific plant or something is kinda awesome?

Well, to help you consider the impact of the Shaping, the Talanor campaign originally had a (very distant) basis in scifi, in that it was a constructed ringworld (think Larry Niven's eponymous creation, or Halo's own version of the same). The Shaping chunked it, completely (and pulled the chunks in toward the epicenter of the Rift). A megastructure meant to withstand massive spatial stresses over a span of eons with potentially little or no maintenance on the part of the (mostly) clueless inhabitants got reduced to a jigsaw puzzle with most of the pieces either missing entirely or reduced down to something too small to host a rat successfully in a pretty much moments.

Even though that origin has been ditched, and the world made (I think, Valjoen hasn't ever clarified the point) a more standard sort, that just makes it worse, because it was still chunked up by the disaster.

The only visual I can remotely think of that helps is from one of the more recent remakes of The Time Machine, where the protagonist is on the streets just as people have begun evacuating to the underground shelters, and he looks up to see the moon in pieces. That's (y)our campaign world right there :D.

Yowza.

In the other campaign we call the event the Storm. Since it manifested as a continent spanning tempest around the rip between worlds.