Concordance of The Abyss (Pathfinder Chronicle) (Inactive)

Game Master Molech

The thugs are not surrounding anyone. They are only aware of Lady Sabella and her Hell Hound. Now, of course, one among them has mentioned K'Tak. .... They are effectively in the same squares as the other PCs, but were looking for tracks or clues left by The Lantern Man -- just like you. They would be quite astonished (read "Flat-Footed") if an Invisible Someone were to blow softly in their ear, or, you know, stab them with a sword.

With the revelation of a previously unknown figure, their training & reflexes made them grip their non-lethal Saps.

. . . .

It was my idea to have these large groups in such a teeny tiny location. Admittedly, it's a gamble -- I'm hoping that if (when) combat erupts, it'll be more interesting and dynamic than the same ol' square fight in a dungeon. (Feedback welcome)

. . . .

'Amusing'?
Well, between the clownish guy downstairs, the 'What-I-Assume-Is-Obvious-By-Now' rooftop-thingy, these thugs & their Mage, and um, er, perhaps something else -- Yeah: "Amusing." Or, at least "dynamic" and somewhat "novel."

. . . .

Par murdering could be bad. These guys have Saps in-hand in addition to their other weapons. It's an Evil city for sure, but cold-blooded murder is still somewhat frowned upon -- you know, IF you get caught (or choose not to heal those who go under Zero HP after the fight).

. . . .

At a Meta level, I was not thinking for an instance that y'all would be Invisible for this encounter. I'm totally flat footed on that account (Rather, I was a couple days ago when you cast Invisibility Sphere.).

Mmm, popcorn. Now I'm hungry.

. . . .

Hamfist is indeed who The Soiled Sow pay protection-racket money to -- but that wasn't why Lady Sabella rolled a Sense Motive.
;)

Hang on a sec. I think there might be some confusion, or some screw up on my part:

The Hell Hound was summoned *outside* the entrannce to the Sow, to prevent anybody from coming inside. This was done before she ever entered the tavern.

Sabella ducked in to tell the others about the incoming group of thugs, but she didn't stay inside. This why she isn't currently invisible.

She then resumed her 'guard' position completely outside the Sow. It was my intention that she was at least five feet in front of the door, preventing anybody from getting inside while the others dealt with the proprietor.

I'm sorry if I screwed this all up. I've had a rough week with both sleep being extra screwy, and my tinnitus acting up a few times. So I probably didn't make things as clear as I should have(and am right now).

The idea was that the thugs would need to fight Sabella and her Hellhound in order to get passed her and into the Sow. Of course, she would also call out for backup, since that's a free action, lol

That's one of the clunky things about PBP: It's so easy to just miss or misunderstsnd one little thing. Yesterday I posted--

Lady Sabella, I assume your Hell Hound did not have a Readied Action to Attack, or an instruction to take AoOs -- considering you continued dialog and began a Diplomacy route. If I'm in error we'll have to back up.

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If there's good news here, it's that the gang members aren't yet breaking out their Initiative rolls. They started looking around and have no idea whatsoever they're surrounded by bad ass Invisible Player-Character-Murder-Hobos. And we still have you and K'Tak who can talk your way around this -- perhaps -- yet I do have a feeling that Par is ready to go all WorldWound on these guys, nice and close up, if it comes to a fight.

Edit:
.... And now I check Gameplay!
Oh, K'Tak, what are we going to do with you?!?
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Okay, taking a Move Action to get around Baku the Mage is either K'Tak's Surprise Round action or not.

My first thought was that if he's on his way to Baku in order to attempt a Grapple then he's Bluffing that he only wants to shake Baku's hand in a gesture of friendship. And if K'Tak succeeds the Bluff, his Surprise Round action would be the CMB to Grapple.

But my second thought is that that's a little squirrely. One of Baku's little thugs said K'Tak was hiding and all the sudden he's jumping into Baku's face. Clown nose and all. Baku is not a Commoner and not a neophyte to thug life in The Styes. And as a squishy caster, he's gonna roll that Initiative with a big Dineh running at him -- especially with the proprietor of The Soiled Sow having just squealed his little b.s..

What remains is whether Lady Sabella decides to pretend shock at K'Tak's emergence, or if she decides to start going beast mode, too.

Either way, let's figure out how this Surprise Round should be fairly adjudicated before posting in Gameplay.

Saturday I'll get back here to see what y'all think. Rest assured -- especially with so much Invisibility -- everyone will get an Action in the Surprise Round! I just want to make sure that it sounds as appropriate to everyone else as it does to me that K'Tak's Surprise Round action is to Move to the square behind Baku (Flanking with the Hell Hound). Then y'all can call out other Surprise Actions before Baku et. al. roll Initiative for Round 1.

The other good news is that I'm at point blank range with their wizard if something kicks off... So he'll probably think twice about starting it.

With my diplomacy attempt, and a solid roll, Sabella is trying to avoid combat. So no, the Hellhound does not have a readied action to attack. Normally, when you summon, the creature attacks right away. However, if you share a language with it you can give it different orders. She told it guard the door, and only attack the cloaked gangsters. Since Baku opened with a dialogue(as opposed to trying to attack or force their way inside) she would have told it to stand down for now. I hope that's okay. And yes, I know it takes a full minute of continuous interaction. In fact, depending on how this scene plays out, she might try to ally with Baku and his gang.

I'm going to assume Baku is at the very least Unfriendly, meaning the DC to improve his attitude is 20+Cha mod. Hopefully, he doesn't have a +6 to Cha, lol. Even better would be if he was Indifferent at first, meaning the DC is 15+Cha mod.

I doubt he was Hostile(since he tried talking in the first place, and seems open to discussion), nor do I think he's Friendly.

At worst(assuming his initial attitude wasn't Hostile), he becomes Indifferent, at best(if he was Indifferent to start) he might become Friendly or even Helpful. Either way, I can make requests of him, as that requires him to be at least Indifferent.

Baku and the others were Indifferent. (Dude sees a rich caster & Hell Hound in The Styes.)

I knew you were going the Diplomacy route and was roleplaying it.

I knew it was tricky with my gangsters searching The Soiled Sow with y'all in there Invisible.

I knew the proprietor and the roof thingy (and one other yet unknown but actually mentioned earlier thingy) would add dynamic to the encounter.

I double mentioned that the gangsters wielded Saps (but do have real weapons too).

We were talking and one of my guys spotted K'Tak -- that was likely going to happen.

I played a little fast-and-loose with the Prestidigitation while Invisible rules to glitterbomb him but it's fun.

K'Tak be like, 'Let's get this party started' and Moves to Grapple the Caster. He also may have given you away by claiming you're together, which sounds plausible to Baku based on your looks and what the proprietor hollered out a second ago.

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But I'm open to how other folks saw this unfolding.

The thugs don't know about anyone but K'Tak and Sabella.

The shouting came from the proprietor downstairs immediately when he heard Hamfist's name being mentioned.

Again, let's make sure we're on the same page here before resuming Gameplay.

If they start stupid s$** (as in attack party members), Pär will give them a proper earfull with sound burst, and then intimidatingly introduce himself.

He would just go full Gorrum worshipper and list of his notable kills, most notably are probably beating the Incubus Twins Alfadrius and Omegoron in a "triel" (both at the same time, whoever spots the bad WH40K reference can keep it), and dealing the finishing blow on a Glabrezu, although that was a team effort.

Baku and the others were Indifferent. (Dude sees a rich caster & Hell Hound in The Styes.)

I knew you were going the Diplomacy route and was roleplaying it.

I knew it was tricky with my gangsters searching The Soiled Sow with y'all in there Invisible.

I knew the proprietor and the roof thingy (and one other yet unknown but actually mentioned earlier thingy) would add dynamic to the encounter.

I double mentioned that the gangsters wielded Saps (but do have real weapons too).

We were talking and one of my guys spotted K'Tak -- that was likely going to happen.

I played a little fast-and-loose with the Prestidigitation while Invisible rules to glitterbomb him but it's fun.

K'Tak be like, 'Let's get this party started' and Moves to Grapple the Caster. He also may have given you away by claiming you're together, which sounds plausible to Baku based on your looks and what the proprietor hollered out a second ago.

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But I'm open to how other folks saw this unfolding.

To get us all on the same page, from K'Tak's end:

ps. Did I get anything with that K Nature check a couple of posts back?

Sorry I missed the Knowledge: Nature

You don't have enough to go on to make a specific check. The PC who let you know about your shiny clown nose and glitteryness was an Arcane Caster and so you can assume an Arcane Caster did a little something-something. You've seen in your 8 Levels enough castings of Illusions and Prestidigitations and such to wonder.

You of course know that Fey are mischievous and do things like this. Of course, looking around at this big city, and smelling it, one would not normally guess that there are many cute little Pixies and Sprites and Nymphs here in The Styes. That being said, .... Has anyone seen any Fey here in The Styes already?--

Your very good roll result will absolutely (very likely) come into play later.

Please excuse any inadvertent misrepresentation from me. The thugs went into The Soiled Sow to look for clues regarding The Lantern Man -- not to surround or bully Lady Sabella. Of course they have Saps in hand -- and gripped them tightly at the revelation of K'Tak hiding outside.

Looking at my posts I can see how it could easily have been misinterpreted that my Thugs were surrounding Lady Sabella.

Everyone is around everyone -- y'all be sharing Squares!

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I do want to move Sabella's Icon to a more correct square. She should be switched on the map with Lady Valeria's icon. Thus, Lady Sabella should be adjacent with her Hell Hound. There certainly was no way (it seems to me) that Sabella would have been in the square her icon occupies.

I'll let a little of this Saturday pass before adjusting it, making sure others have an opportunity to post.

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K'Tak,
with my clarifications, does it make more sense now that you would get adjacent to Baku and then Ready a Standard Action to Grapple if Baku (or one of the Thugs) attacks or makes a 'hostile' Action? Bodyguard style?

So from Muziel's end, not really trying to start combat yet, and trying to stay hidden and near everyone else who's hiding!

I hope Pärs names for certain demon lords got some chuckles.

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K'Tak,
with my clarifications, does it make more sense now that you would get adjacent to Baku and then Ready a Standard Action to Grapple if Baku (or one of the Thugs) attacks or makes a 'hostile' Action? Bodyguard style?

That's fine if you want to rule it that; I was thinking overenthusiastic glad-handing used car salesman with an extra squeezy handshake...

So from Muziel's end, not really trying to start combat yet, and trying to stay hidden and near everyone else who's hiding!

Remember you have to stay within 10' of all of them to keep them invisible... Good luck!

I hope Pärs names for certain demon lords got some chuckles.

The Barbie one was my favorite

Please excuse any inadvertent misrepresentation from me. The thugs went into The Soiled Sow to look for clues regarding The Lantern Man -- not to surround or bully Lady Sabella. Of course they have Saps in hand -- and gripped them tightly at the revelation of K'Tak hiding outside.

Looking at my posts I can see how it could easily have been misinterpreted that my Thugs were surrounding Lady Sabella.

Everyone is around everyone -- y'all be sharing Squares!

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I do want to move Sabella's Icon to a more correct square. She should be switched on the map with Lady Valeria's icon. Thus, Lady Sabella should be adjacent with her Hell Hound. There certainly was no way (it seems to me) that Sabella would have been in the square her icon occupies.

I'll let a little of this Saturday pass before adjusting it, making sure others have an opportunity to post.

So you're just going to straight up ignore my post explaining that this entire scene should be taking place outside of the Sow, thus nobody is sharing any spaces, as I would assume the entire world beyond the Sow is bigger than 3x3ft.

If they attempted to push past Sabella guarding the entrance to go inside, she and the Hellhound would have attacked.

Sabella is not inside. She never went inside. If she did, she would be invisible. She is not. You said she wasn't. Meaning, she either ducked just her head inside or shouted her warning while still outside.

There's literally posts from both myself and Ray confirming this:

Drawing upon her fiendish heritage, Sabella summons forth an infernal wolf like creature to do her bidding. Speaking in it's native tongue she orders the Hellhound to stand guard at the entrance to the Sow, and to only attack the Cloaked gangsters.

She then heads inside to inform her companions of the likely trouble

the Hound immediately whips its nose up to the roof (Which is the outside covering a building. The ceiling is the interior).

Just outside with a Conjured Hell Hound, Lady Sabella..

From about 30 feet away

***********

This seems to be the offending line: He and his men approach and enter The Soiled Sow, clearly looking around the place -- and are cramped with the Invisible Artemisia, Val, Par and Muziel Moreau, sharing spaces.

Why would they push past Sabella, who is demonstratively not inside the Sow, while talking to her outside?

Ray, are you just so hard up for combat that you're going to completely ignore both myself and logic?

If so, just say 'hey, screw you being outside, I want blood!' and I'll just drop out now....

Alrighty, hope everyone had a good weekend, good Fathers' Day for those with families. I got caught up on sleeping after casting Baleful Polymorph on myself to become a vegetable! (I also spent some time getting ready for my new Friday night homegame; session one of a new campaign is Friday.)

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I adjusted the Map on the awesome site that K'Tak provided, edging Lady Sabella out the door with her Hell Hound.

Note that you guys can adjust your PC's location on the map as appropriate, obviously I just threw all the icons in The Soiled Sow, mashed up with the NPCs.

Combat has not yet broken out as Lady Sabella is talking to Baku the Mage while the five gangsters are inside -- oblivious to the other PCs -- unsuccessfully searching for clues to The Lantern Man.

K'Tak is adjacent to Baku the Mage (Flanking with the Hell Hound) on the off chance a combat does break out, but Baku doesn't look particularly stupid.

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And I'm ready to get back into Gameplay!

Par, there are two avenues which I can think of off the top of my head to allow your Oracle Curse (the Erinyes) to telepathically communicate with others.

The first is to re-Flavor the purchase of a Permanency Spell of Telepathic Bond, one character per casting. Re-Flavoring that seems easy, just pretend you're sacrificing that much gold to Eiseth or Asmodeus or Mephistopheles or whomever for the Boon.

The second thing I thought of is much trickier. If you were to take an Improved Familiar and decided to make your Erinyes, like, 'trapped in the Form of' the Familiar -- if you can find a Familiar with Telepathy. I would gladly alter the prereq from Arcane Caster Level 7 to just, Caster Level 7, for something like this. Again, you'd have to want something like that, making your Cursed Voice into also a Familiar, find one with Telepathy, and then re-Flavor that specific Familiar to look like what you want or something. I dunno. Tricky. But worth thinking over a few considerations.

.... Ooh, ooh, I just thought of another. I could look for a place in the campaign where part of the treasure you find could act as receptacle for an Intelligent Item with Telepathy. Like, if Par is thinking of spending his next chunk of money on a Ring of Evasion, so I make it so that he learns of a Ring of Evasion, maybe also with the Deflection AC bonus his current Ring has, that could be an Intelligent Item with the Erinyes inside it. We'd make sure the Intelligent Ring has Telepathy. Then we'd just have to take a hard look at the rules for Oracle's Curse and merge them with the rules for Intelligent Item (or Improved Familiar if we go that route) and make sure everything makes sense.

Permanency is the easiest.

But, um, having just made a short story Long, "No," your Oracle Curse can not telepathically communicate with lady Sabella. (at this time)

All of these sound cool and no telepathy currently is totally fine.

One of the advantadges of play by post is that you can bounce creative concepts to the DM without holding things up after all :).

I am kind of just looking at interesting ways for her to possibly get increased influence over Pär, or perhaps vice versa, representing a bit of a tug of war perhaps.

Ok, nobody's replied to Baku and it's Thursday night. Somebody better do it before we have another lizardfolk diplomacy incident...

Sorry, I've had a really crazy last few days. Very little sleep, and then we had all of our first floor windows replaced today.

I've been both busy at work and also working feverishly on my new homegame -- session one tonight. Sorry, back asap, probably this weekend.

Sounds like our near future is - GM responds to Sabella, and K'tah/Sab respond to GM, then either we end up in combat or we end up bypassing combat and moving to the next scene?

I'll check in on saturday evening. Hope everyone's weekend starts well.

first two days this week have been hard, crazy busy. Please be patient with me.

All good from here.

In a funny question thing, what music video would represent your character, either in terms of things or in terms of how he sounds?

Pär, unsurprisingly, sounds like the Sabaton-bandmembers he is named after.

Resist and Bite

If he ever comes up to actually sing this, ill bowdlerize the lyrics to be medieval/Golarion.

Need to come up with a way for him to get a bite attack though.

Hope everybody had a lovely 3 day holiday weekend, and if you didn't have today off, I hope your Monday didn't suck too badly, lol.

Ray, I am very much looking forward to the continued RP with Baku, and can't wait for a reply to see where this goes from here.

Yes!

Last week was a monster, followed by a long weekend. I've promised myself that regardless of how hard today is (Tuesday) that I will find the energy after work, or a gap in the day at work, to read Gameplay to refresh my memory and then post.

Yeah this was a weekend alright. Back now.

My last weekend was "interesting".

If anyone follows the gold market (and other financial markets), they'll understand my last two weeks.

I swear I'm not ghosting. Just stressed and busy trying to stay above water.

I will be travelling starting today until the 14th; posting may be irregular. Please bot me if necessary.

Just wanted to check in on Ray, and the rest of the group. Hope all is well! I worked a local con this past weekend, and had a heckin blast! Helped out a friend who created this badass wrestling card game, and worked alongside a cosplay wrestling group!

I'm still here...

Am there will smesh

Still ready and able

I'm around but the start of school spinup has begun so I'm distracted. I'll probably post in bursts and things will smooth out by the end of august.

Apologies to all: Business has been really bad; I'm struggling to stay afloat. I'm still 'all in' for this campaign though I do want to hurry along and get the proper meat of the campaign soon. But business is bad and the stress has been wearing me out.

My hope is that early August will see me through the rough patch so I can enjoy some leisure and fun.

Thanks for being patient, those of you still around.

Good to here you are still alive...

Sorry to hear about the business--hope you're able to navigate through it. All for a little fast-forward to get things going when you're ready to do that.

It would appear Lady Sabella now has an older brother....

Hey all, just wanted to check in with everybody, see how things are going. Miss this game lots!

Carrying on, carrying on...

I guess we can call this dead. If you ever do want to restart this, give me a message DM Ray.

I guess we can call this dead. If you ever do want to restart this, give me a message DM Ray.

Yeah, sadly, I think you're right. I messaged Ray a few weeks ago, and haven't gotten a reply. I hope he's okay.

V.C. Sheila Heidmarch needs a group of experienced PFS (or PFS friendly) adventurers to expertly handle an emergency in Korvosa!

The presence of a Devilish Relic has been discerned in the poorest slums of Korvosa, and many power blocks are now feverishly hunting it. Sheila Heidmarch herself is Teleporting with you to Korvosa, though she and Sir Canayven Heidmarch will be staying with a local Lord, Vencarlo Orisini, negotiating for ownership of the insidious fetish once it is found.

This is a Pathfinder campaign that will end up taking place mostly in The Lower Planes of Hell and The Abyss, though it has the introductory McGuffin in Korvosa.

It first draws from among two of the best, most famous adventures in published history (by Richard Pett and Monte Cook), each trimmed down to roughly a ‘PFS-Sized’ Scenario. After that, the PCs will be asked to use a recovered Artifact to “Search, Catalogue and Detail the 666 Layers of The Abyss” (or if you prefer, ‘Explore, Report, Cooperate’) – well, you know, as many Abyssal Layers as you can!

After the quest in Korvosa for Sheila Heidmarch to find the Relic, you’ll have a righteous reason to visit The Nine Hells for a quick adventure, the end of which will see you get an Artifact that you can use (on behalf of PFS) to Gate into different Layers of The Abyss. In your forays into the 666 Abyssal Layers, you’ll do a bit of exploring and fact-finding (for posterity and PFS) before jumping back to the safety of Heidmarch Manor in Magnimar (or The Grand Lodge in Absalom). And then you’ll go back to The Abyss for more cataloguing. (Basically a bunch of miniature adventures in different Abyssal Layers. You know: Bizarre and awful landscapes, lots of Evil Outsiders. Danger and destruction. I’m sure you’ll all be fine.)

The core of this campaign, then, is the open-ended ’Let’s go check out The Abyss’ kinda thing.

We’ll roll a fun 1d666 and see where you end up for a few encounters!

But first Korvosa.

And then The Nine Hells.

PCs are required to cooperate, PCs must share info and PCs must share treasure – No form of PvP will be allowed.

Please give me a bit of what your Alignment means for your PC -- acknowledging that others may have a slightly different interpretation. (If you’re CN or LE or NE or something, what does that mean?!)

Please give me a bit of how you like to play your PC (straight murder-hobo, or loves to roleplay, or loves Bluff, or Knowledge Skill checks, or always talking a way out of combat, or being reckless and funny, or silly, etc., etc.).

Please give a bit of your PC’s history and background, what you did to reach 8th Level and your experiences with Sheila Heidmarch and the PFS – cuz it’s cool And so I’ll have a grasp on how much published Magnimar, Korvosa and PFS canon you know.

Before we get to our Pathfinder character creation guidelines, I needs must pull the curtain a tiny bit on the Homebrew setting -- to make sure we’re on the same page since this is Not Pathfinder canon for The Lower Planes!

We will start in Korvosa in an adventure inspired by Richard Pett (his generic ‘Styes’ setting). Here’s something: Pett wrote the CotCT adventure “Escape from Old Korvosa,” really detailing the district for Paizo canon, and it seemed to me that Old Korvosa could easily be The Styes. Of course I’ve had to tinker with some things. Old Korvosa for this game (and the city as a whole) exists with a few more ‘Styes’ Flavors -- and tone, and NPCs.

This campaign takes place After the events of RotRL, SD, Curse of the Crimson Throne, “House on Hook St” and Shattered Star, and at about at the beginning of Return of the RuneLords ….Of course, in the way those campaigns played out in MY homegames. So there will be a few differences here and there, as homegames go their own directions with varied results – thus why we’re only going to be in Korvosa briefly (so as not to ruffle published-text-gurus too, too much for too, too long a time.

After our brief adventure in Korvosa, we’ll go to The Nine Hells (“A Paladin in Hell”) -- followed by adventuring in a variety of Abyssal Layers.

This is neither Paizo’s design for The Lower Planes, nor even The Great Wheel.

The Nine Hells are a copy/paste -- styled for D&D -- of Dante’s vision for Hell. The First Circle is Limbo (a grim, foggy expanse of darkness, despair and nothingness), followed by the other Circles -- How Dante described them. Just, it’s D&D material instead of political attacks against corrupt Italian folks from Dante’s time. So, not canon. But still, “A Paladin in Hell” by Monte Cook fits right in!

The Blood War is real – but not at all how Planescape (brilliantly) created it.

If you’re an absolutist for how Planescape views The Lower Planes, this campaign may be an odd taste. Likewise, if you feel the Pathfinder design for The Abyss should be the only playable canon, this campaign could rub you the wrong way. All that said, The Abyss still has Lamashtu and Pazuzu and Abraxas – and I use the published Flavor from Paizo, from Jacobs’ Demonomicon from Dragon, and from Grognard D&D. Layer 88 is still where one finds Demogorgan, and Layer 113 is still where one finds Orcus. Graz’zt has the same three Layers. Layer 177 is still ’The Writhing Realm’ of Ugudenk (I’m sure you all remember that!) And Layer 400 is still ’The Woeful Escarand‘ where the Nalfeshnee Demons play their Type Four Demon games. Etc., etc., and etc.
But it’s not part of the Great Wheel. You can learn what – and your PC can write it as a PF Chronicle!

Demons and Devils can be Lawful or Chaotic or Neutral Evil. That half of Alignment has to do with their personality and how they roleplay – not various subjective, grossly incomplete and contradictory definitions of a chaotic moral or a lawful ethic.

Character Creation Guidelines:

8th Level starting …. 101,000 XP (Slow Track – 14K from Level 9!)

26 Points for Ability Scores

ALL Races must use a +2/+2/-2 Racial adjustment, Player choice where to put the +2/+2/-2, but ALL Races use it (whether Human or Elf or Goblin or Aasimar, etc.)

$40,000 GP – no single Item can be greater than $20,000

Max HP every Level

Two Traits

We will be 9th Level going into “A Paladin in Hell” miniature
We will be 10th Level going into The Abyss homebrew

Allowed Sources:
PF Core
Advanced Players Guide
Advanced Class Guide
Advanced Race Guide (I can give my Race Builder guidelines upon request; they’re cool.)
PF Unchained for Barbarian, Monk, Rogue, Summoner (Unchained replaces original for these Classes)
Base Classes from New Paths Compendium (Classes only- no Archetypes, Spells, Feats, Equipment, etc.)
Base Magus Class from Ultimate Magic (Class only- no Archetypes, Spells, Feats, Equipment, etc.)
Base Vigilante Class from Ultimate Intrigue (Class only, no Archetypes, Spells, Feats, Equipment, etc.)

(Please don’t ask for stuff in U.Equipment or U.Combat or Occult, etc., etc. I feel bad saying ‘No.’ and I don’t want to feel bad. So if you don’t ask I won’t feel bad.)

Pathfinder Unchained ‘Background’ and ‘Adventuring’ Skills to replace Core Skills.

Skill RAW in PF Unchained, or--

Hmmm…. sounds diabolical.

Count me interested. I’ll see what I can cook up.

Heya Ray! This sounds like a heckin spectacular idea!

One super important question, are you going to be using your homebrew skills like you did for the Cheliax game? I feel like Cosmology would be pretty useful in this sort of game, lol.

I am trying to keep my house rules as-much-as-I-can-stomach out of this PbP. It’s hard for me since my gaming groups have played for so many years with my little adjustments that I don’t think of them as Houserules — I mean, my Skills revamp outdates PF Unchained by five years (I remember getting Unchained and thinking, ‘Wow, this is almost as good as my skills revamp.’). Here, I’m just going to use the Unchained ‘adventuring’ and ‘background’ Skills.

I am still keeping my “famous” All-Races-Use-The-Standard +2/+2/-2 Ability Score modifier though! It’s just flat-out better design than what Skip Williams did for 3.0. Everyone can choose Race based on Flavor instead of Crunch. No more squeamishness for a Dwarven Sorcerer or Catfolk Cleric.

I am trying to keep my house rules as-much-as-I-can-stomach out of this PbP. It’s hard for me since my gaming groups have played for so many years with my little adjustments that I don’t think of them as Houserules — I mean, my Skills revamp outdates PF Unchained by five years (I remember getting Unchained and thinking, ‘Wow, this is almost as good as my skills revamp.’). Here, I’m just going to use the Unchained ‘adventuring’ and ‘background’ Skills.

Well, that's a slight bummer! I've used a few of your 'homebrew rules' in some of my games, as I think they just make things better.

I am a *huge* fan of skills in general, so your skills revamp is something I rather like a lot. I've also basically made it standard that all classes(yes, rogue included) get +2 skill points per level. While this does mean rogues(and like a couple other classes, mostly 3pp) get 10+Int per level(plus background skills, which are also automatically included in my games) it also means no class gets 2+Int, which I always found to be quite stupid.

It sounds extremely interesting!

I played the Curse of the Crimson Throne and played/GMed the House on the Hook Street, so I will be glad to return to the familiar alleys of Korvosa. Well, and planar travels is one of my favorite topics in fantasy RPG - especially on these two planes.

I would like to make a summoner with an devil eidolon (who could be a guide in the hell too - I will be happy to transfer part of the devil's control to GM).

I see my character - Signifer Varnais - as an accomplished Hellknight Signifer of the Order of the Nail. Varnais is a human (chelexian nationality) and she is Lawful Neutral, which means commitment to compliance with rules, contracts and agreements. Above all, she puts the Measure and the Chain (the code of conduct of the Hellknights), then her agreements with the current employer, then agreements with her party members, and then promises and oaths given to other beings. She has no particular propensity for violence, cruelty or greed. She does her job, does it well and wants the same from others.

Varnais ended up in Sheila's squad under the Hellknights and Pathfinders cooperation program in Korvosa. Sheila sent a request for a good specialist in Hell and the Order of the Nail sent Signifer Varnais. Who knows more about Hell than a devil summoner?

Varnais will specialize in the knowledge of planes and intimidation in the first place - most classic combo for Hellknights. Her devil will be very diplomatic (there will be Skill Focuses in each of these three skills). Thus, they will close part of the social needs of the group. By the way, Varnais will not threaten everyone "in the name of the law" - she is not like that. Direct and tough conversation is just an option for her.

___

So! In general terms, I described who I would like to play. Please tell me, what other information do you need to make a decision about the participation / non-participation of a character in the game? Is it necessary to completely create a character (all characteristics, etc.) or should it be done after preliminary approval?

And thank you for your attention ;)

How much optimization do you want?

As the worldwound is still up, I could forward some Sarkorian characters interested in a) gaining more knowledge about their foes and b) create as many problems for Deskari and Baphomet as they can.

Dot. Eldritch knight sounds fun and an easy way to not be tempted by wizard-op. Ruminating on that this morning.

At the onset, Sheila Heidmarch is looking for experienced Pathfinders (or friends of PFS) to locate a Relic in Korvosa before anyone else does.

It’s meta that that will lead to The Lower Planes. Something the player should know before the campaign begins, but not something a PC would know.

I’ll be submitting a tiefling investigator, a long time pathfinder. As I work on my background I have a couple of questions. In the original Rise of the Rune Lords Casp Avertin, the local sheriff and last victim of chopper, was married and had a daughter. In the Anniversary edition he was single and dating Kendra, the mayor, at the time of his death. I don’t know why the change was made or which is cannon. Anyway, I was thinking, it would be cool to have my tiefling investigator be his son, who was conceived shortly before his father’s (Casp’s) death. Otherwise I could just have his father be an unnamed victim of Chopper but I thought it was a cool tie in. Thoughts?

Anyway, I’m still working on background stuff but I’m solid on the tiefling investigator mechanical side of the build.

I’m a sucker for tie-ins with Pathfinder stuff, so Sandpoint backgrounds are great. Casp Averton as your Daddy-Vader sounds great.

Optimization, you ask…

I’m fine with min-maxing; you want a 5 in this score and a 22 in that score. It doesn’t bother me.

Since you’re limited to Core, APG, ARG, & ACG for Archetypes and Feats and such, I’m confident I won’t see anything that shocks or surprises or, you know, befuddles & confuses me. Not 100% confident, to be sure, but confident.

Mostly I want a player to have a concept or character idea that he or she really likes, rather than one that is too compromised or watered down from the original design ‘just-so-I-can-play.’ But I’ve struggled in PbP before and I have to limit stuff to what I’m confident I know. (I understand that Occult isn’t broken; I just don’t know it well enough for PbP.)

Character concept: "THIS IS SARKORIS!" (Sparta but Viking)
Ironically enough Demon Spawn Abyssal Thiefling Bloodrager, who wants to Sparta-Kick all Demons on Golarion uninvited back to the Abyss.

Will fight using a very big Axe and a pretty small shield, will have a fair bit of reach, and probably be more primal then abyssal.

Will be fairly charismatic, and have OK Kn. Arcana, Spellcraft, and K. Planes.

What other information do you need to make a decision about the participation / non-participation of a character in the game? Is it necessary to completely create a character?

.

Sorry, I somehow missed this part at the end. That was plenty enough for me to go on, then it would just depend on if I get four or five candidates or, you know, forty or forty-five candidates (like the AP online games often get).

As for my thoughts on the PC idea (fun idea by the way)--
Alrighty,...

Unchained Summoner, Devil Eidolon, HellKnight, 'somewhat' Hell guide.
Since you'll be new to my homebrew Nine Hells it could be awkward if your PC is supposed to already know how The Nine Hells works and is laid out. But there are easy sidesteps: Your Eidolon could be mischievous and not answer your questions without being snarky, leaving critical stuff out. Or, if that sounds crappy, your Eidolon could have lost huge chunks of memory from something. Or, if that sounds nerfing, your Eidolon could be under orders not to tell 'The Truth' -- or could answer your questions in riddles and code such that you can't make heads or tales out of the Eidolon's answers. Of course, grabbing your copy of Dante's Inferno will help you get the geography, or just looking at the Wikipedia page and other online descriptions. At least you'll know some basics and can adapt as you see how the D&D elements are incorporated. Ultimately though, it would probably be better if you were *really interested in becoming* an expert on The Nine Hells rather than already being. Still. HellKnights are cool. Summoners with Devil Eidolons are cool. Hell Guides are cool.

Sheila Heidmarch asks HellKnight to join Pathfinders to retrieve Relic in Korvosa. This one may be trickier. But certainly doable. I would ask if you are comfortable, even open, to going from Order of the Nail (Let's either murder savages outside the civilization or drag them into the city and 'educate' them.) to Order of the Gate (We use magic items, spells and extraplanar stuff to stop crime and chaos.) If you're in love with Order of the Nail, that's fine; it can work. But with Order of the Gate you could have even been among those who first informed Sheila Heidmarch of the Devilish Relic's existence, and together you tracked it to Korvosa -- now she is sending you and some Pathfinders to find it. Of course, at the end of the day both the PFS and the HellKnights will want it, so,... That'll be FUN. (But I already have a reasonable answer.)

Knowledge Planes and Intimidation are both very playable, very legit and interesting roleplay Skills for this game. I think Planar knowledge will be more for Crunch than Flavor since I'll be introducing the Flavor as you reach new setting locations.

Finally,... I LOVE that you know CotCT and "House on Hook St." Of course, certain locations and NPCs may have been tailored to my homegames and played out differently than in your games, but it's still all good.

A few of questions:
1) "26 Points for Ability Score"... The number is not a common choice; are you using the standard point buy system, or do you have something else in mind?

2) Sources. Are you just restricting the classes to those sources, or are feats/spells/items/whatnot from other sources out as well (for example, the Shikigami Style feats from the Martial Arts handbook - in or out?)

3) Traits. Drawback for an extra trait?

Further question: New Paths compendium or New Paths Compendium (Expanded Edition)?

I'm thinking of a character who might be distantly related(perhaps via on of his *many* children) to Graz'zt.

However, before I delve to far into that concept, how does the Dark Prince fit into your version of Golarion? Does he have any main places of power or centers of worship? Or is he more regulated to the background as a 'demon lord from another setting' like Orcus?

In my experience, most PCs are ideally achieved with 25 or 26 points. I figure if you have your perfect build at 25 and can’t really use that 26th point, no biggie. But I’ve seen many, many character designs where just that one more point after 25 was really necessary and painfully, the PC had to nerf something. So I’ve been using 26 as my rule for, well, since Paizo did Dragon magazine.

Only the books listed are available. Core, APG, ARG, ACG are allowed. You can use those books. …. PF.Unchained, UM, UI, New Paths Compendium ’Expanded’ are for Classes only (not Archetypes, Feats, equipment, spells).
Thanks for asking about New Paths — mine is the Expanded.

….I know a great volume of stuff from other sources that I allow for my homegame (from the Feats Scholar and Fey Foundling, to about 1/3 the stuff from Occult, to Archetypes such as Lore Warden and equipment such as Adamantine Wiresaws and Tangleburn Bags. But the fact is the sheer tonnage of Crunch out there that I don’t know is mind boggling. And I just don’t want to be in a position to say ‘Yes’ for some folks, say ‘No’ to some folks, then have to explain Why I answered ‘No’ when someone on The Boards assures me it’s not broken. I just don’t know it. Then, of course, there’s the ninety-twelve percent of Crunch in Ultimate Combat that I hate with the rage of a supernova. And 1/3 of Ultimate Equipment that was written for Toons and Munchkins only with its ‘may-as-well-be-a-Ring-of-3-Wishes’ that costs 12 pennies. …. Anyway, I’m just keeping it simple.

Edit: Drawbacks are not available.
I love the idea of them, and many are well designed. Many are not. None are in the Core, APG, ACG, or ARG. Most are in books no one has ever even seen. (Most Traits, for that matter, are not available cuz the APG ain’t got but a few pages with them!). My issue with Drawbacks is that it’s VERY easy to find one that a Player can reasonably guess depends on a circumstance that’ll likely never happen, or if it does (that one time in the whole campaign) it won’t really make much difference. And then pick a third Feat that always gives a +2 to Initiative or something. Not that any of you guys would ever[i] do that, but still. No Drawbacks.

Graz’zt is pretty much As-Is in my game. Not many places in Golarion where he’s worshipped but he has massive followings in Greyhawk. Still, Azzagrat is Azzagrat.

Hmm, if you want, five years ago I put the town of Orlane in Varisia — Against the Cult of the Reptile God — and especially since we’re starting in Varisia—
I can PM a couple paragraphs of how Orlane (and Avenia; “Lady of the Mists”) got whisked away from Greyhawk and into Varisia. See if it strikes you. Really I just wanted to run those legendary adventures in Varisia so I worked out a way. But,… if you’re interested, you could be a Tiefling from Orlane. If that doesn’t strike your fancy, we’ll think of the perfect place for Graz’zt to have a Cult, or once had a Cult, from where your PC could have come from.

Graz’zt is pretty much As-Is in my game. Not many places in Golarion where he’s worshipped but he has massive followings in Greyhawk. Still, Azzagrat is Azzagrat.

Hmm, if you want, five years ago I put the town of Orlane in Varisia — Against the Cult of the Reptile God — and especially since we’re starting in Varisia—
I can PM a couple paragraphs of how Orlane (and Avenia; “Lady of the Mists”) got whisked away from Greyhawk and into Varisia. See if it strikes you. Really I just wanted to run those legendary adventures in Varisia so I worked out a way. But,… if you’re interested, you could be a Tiefling from Orlane. If that doesn’t strike your fancy, we’ll think of the perfect place for Graz’zt to have a Cult, or once had a Cult, from where your PC could have come from.

Sure! Shoot me a PM!

SOunds interesting

This looks cool. I believe I will be submitting a aasimar Exploiter (or Cheat) Wizard.

I was really sleepy late last night when I posted; hopefully those posts are articulate.

@ Monkeygod,
I don't think a PM is necessary.
Graz'zt is a major Power in the Cosmology, being one of the three 'traditionally most powerful' Demon Lords of the Abyss. So even though his Cultists are not really known in The Inner Sea so much, this would still be a great Pathfinder campaign to choose a PC who's a Graz'zt descendent. (Under the caveat that the design for The Abyss and The Nine Hells is not the canonical one, but only pays homage and respect to canon.)

I suggest, though, since this is a campaign that Explores my homebrew Lower Planes, that your PC be Searching for information about his ancestry.

Of course it's completely up to you, but you could design a PC something like this -- YMMV, it's your PC:
He's a Tiefling who always wanted to know about his Fiendish heritage. Probably why he joined the PFS in the first place. At some point in his PFS adventures he learned he was Abyssal, even specifically a descendent of some powerful Demon Lord named "Graz'zt" (whoever that is). (If you personally know tons and tons of Graz'zt lore, such as from Dragon 360, then maybe your PC, in a PF quest, found some old scrolls with Graz'zt lore. No one in PFS can give any more info, and you don't know the veracity or completeness of it, but still.) At some point on some other PFS quest you learn that a tiny village in Varisia, Orlane (or Avenia) came from the same world (Greyhawk) where Cults of Graz'zt are numerous, well known, and as powerful as cults of Lamashtu or Norgorber are here. So you go to Varisia, meet with Venture Captain Sheila Heidmarch, go to Orlane to learn what you can (for PFS and yourself) -- and Sheila Heidmarch then calls you to go on this quest to Korvosa.

So, this adventure in Korvosa doesn't sound like it will lead to any revelations about your past, but it's still a good PFS adventure. Of course, once this campaign takes the turn you (if not your PC) know is coming: Go Catalogue The Abyss and write its Concordance (a PFS Chronicle), you'll jump at the chance.

Anyway, if anything sorta like that sounds good, we'll go from there.

...

Advanced Race Guide (I can give my Race Builder guidelines upon request; they’re cool.)

This is a request please... I have several ideas percolating with the New Paths Compendium (Skin-changer, Priest, ?Savant; I'm not sure if the savant is broken as a class?).

Ray, I noticed Bluff as a skill is not on the Adventuring or Background skill list. Was that a mistake or by design?

I was thinking about a divine class, possibly a Living Grimoire Preacher Inquisitor for that classic "Bible Thumping Southern Street Preacher" sorta feel.

Advanced Race Guide, Race Builder Guidelines:

Concept: Must work with me to make sure the Race will fit in the campaign setting. An ethnicity is often a more agreeable creation, such as the offspring of a Tiefling Dwarf and a Halfling for example, or an ethnic-Varisian Elf, or the descendent of a clan of Fetchlings that were in exile to a water-town of Undines -- What would a Kitsune's child with an Ifrit be?

12-13 Point Buy

Must use the Standard Ability Score Modifier Quality of +2/+2/-2 that all Races must use

Can only use Standard Traits (not Advanced even though it's over 10 points)

Can not use any Trait over three points

The 3-Pt Trait, Gr Spell Resistance is not allowed

I've not yet had a problem with allowing more than three Traits per Racial Traits category; it has never seemed like a problem. Feel free to run it by me if you want more than three, for example, Defense Racial Traits or Feat & Skill Racial Traits.

Bluff as a skill is not on the Adventuring?!

OMG that is my error!

So sorry.

BLUFF is Absolutely an Adventuring Skill, as written in PF Unchained. I was just typing out from my Unchained and I obviously missed Bluff. (Of course, after I finished typing it out I remembered I could just make a link. ay caramba)

Thanks for catching that error and pointing it out.

DM Ray, thank you for your suggestions! I like this options.

> But there are easy sidesteps: Your Eidolon could be mischievous and not answer your questions without being snarky, leaving critical stuff out.

Cool! Perhaps this is the brightest option. I repeat, I will be happy to periodically transfer narrative rights and have nothing against it. This will only make my game more interesting. Here we can also use the idea that the Hellknights aim to subdue and break the will of the devils. That is, they do not worship them, but rather consider them as a model of strict discipline that they must surpass. So my Signifer is trying to subdue this creature...

And it's not easy for her, judging by this situation ))

> Order of the Gate!

With pleasure! I have read major part of lore information about the Hellknights (I hope) and am ready to play for any Order. Moreover, in the PFS there is a scenario ('Orders from the Gate') where exactly this Order cooperates with Pathfinders (in short, Society helps them solve their problems shoulder to shoulder).

@ Critzible:

I do love Inquisitors. And a preachy Inquisitor in the PFS sounds cool.

Alas, Living Grimoire is from Horror Adventures. I remember buying a copy for a friend a few Christmases ago and perusing it then -- and looking at it just now I did do a little lol (seeing a PC bopping monsters over the head with a holy text is surreal). But I have put a moratorium on books I don't have or don't know enough about. Um, if you just love the Flavor of it you could always have your holy text magically engraved on the weapon -- it'll of course be a Magic weapon so you could Flavor the description of the weapon as, say, a Holy Mace with runic scriptures that glow a divine radiance of your god when you fight. Maybe you give a genius description of the glowing, flashing scripture-runes when you Crit, or fight a particular Outsider, Undead or BBEG?

....And, alas, 'Preacher' is an Archetype from Ultimate Magic. From UM, UI and PF Unchained, I really just want to have to deal with the base Classes for this foray into PbP.

I hope I don't lose you as a potential player. But I can't allow Living Grimoire or Preacher. (There are a few Archetypes in the ACG for Inquisitor if you don't like the straight Inquisitor in the APG.)

Of course it's completely up to you, but you could design a PC something like this -- YMMV, it's your PC:
He's a Tiefling who always wanted to know about his Fiendish heritage. Probably why he joined the PFS in the first place. At some point in his PFS adventures he learned he was Abyssal, even specifically a descendent of some powerful Demon Lord named "Graz'zt" (whoever that is). (If you personally know tons and tons of Graz'zt lore, such as from Dragon 360, then maybe your PC, in a PF quest, found some old scrolls with Graz'zt lore. No one in PFS can give any more info, and you don't know the veracity or completeness of it, but still.) At some point on some other PFS quest you learn that a tiny village in Varisia, Orlane (or Avenia) came from the same world (Greyhawk) where Cults of Graz'zt are numerous, well known, and as powerful as cults of Lamashtu or Norgorber are here. So you go to Varisia, meet with Venture Captain Sheila Heidmarch, go to Orlane to learn what you can (for PFS and yourself) -- and Sheila Heidmarch then calls you to go on this quest to Korvosa.

Welp. I didn't know Graz'zt had a Demonomicon article. He's one of my favorite Demon Lords/unique personas in all of D&D/PF! Time for an even deeper lore dive! LOL

Just curious, how freeform/sandboxy will this be? Can we have our own goals and aspirations outside of the main series of quests and adventures?

Yeah I hate solo tactics and the tactical feats

@Monkeygod,
I would say that the first two parts (I’m trying for PFS-Scenario-sized) will not be Sandbox at all. They’re trimmed-down versions of two of the great Adventures in D&D history:

1) Sheila Heidmarch sends her PFS adventurers (or PFS allies) to track down a Relic in Korvosa: Quick urban quest.

2) That leads to a quick mission in Hell: Extraplanar Site Based with a few locations to explore / showcase my design.

3) Finally y’all get an Artifact and PFS says, ‘Hey, use it to go explore The Abyss and write some PFS Chronicles about it.’ …. Now, here there’s no published adventure. Using the Artifact you could randomly (some may say ‘chaotically’) pop into Azzagrat. Or The Demonweb and say Hi to Lolth. Or Abraxas’ Layer or Yeenoghu’s. It’s totally up to y’all how long you stay in this or that Layer of The Abyss. And what you do when you’re there. Or if you go back to one previously visited. Of course, each location will have possibilities. (Some are obviously more thoroughly designed than others.). But I could certainly see y’all just taking over and deciding what you want (or don’t want) to do.

. . . .

If you haven’t yet read Graz’zt’s Demonomicon article you may want to skip it for now. That way if you decide to play in this campaign some of the stuff may be more of a fun reveal. Up to you.

@Critzible,
Yeah, me too. I always ask if I can trade out the TW Feats for Skill Feats such as Skill Focus, Alertness, Scholar, etc.

Any of the Archetypes in the ACG look good?

So I have mostly settled into an elven fighter/diviner into ek. Originally we came to the lodge in M as a favor to “an old drinking companion” to pass along a letter to “an estranged Great Granddaughter” (Shalelu’s family or other as the GM likes). We stayed when rumors in the lodge of old runescript caught our ear as possibly more real than fancy, then just last night we were unceremoniously roused and teleported to Korvosa as our host explained “ better a grumpy diviner than none when you need to find something quickly, come along and don’t lie to us about how you’re not interested.” She’s done a fair bit in her time and tells anyone who will listen that she had a cushy post lined up at the Acadamae she was eyeing but no one with any sense believes her. I’m flexible about alignments. As far as quirks, she absolutely refuses to tell anyone her birthday, and she also refuses to prepare spells without tea.

Questions for the dm:

Do you want the connection to RotR or no?
Is this a campaign where breadth of experience, craft wondrous, and such downtime adjacent feats are going to make sense, or should I just take some combat feats because we are kicking in the door and rolling d666?

Always glad to read Dante inspired stuff, cool hook.

Looking into Maybe at something else. Nothing else in the Inquisitors archtypes. At least that leap out at me.

So looking at some other ideas

Do you want the connection to RotR or no?

Is this a campaign where breadth of experience, craft wondrous, and such downtime adjacent feats are going to make sense, or should I just take some combat feats because we are kicking in the door and rolling d666.

.

No need for a tie-in to RotRL, CotCT, “House on Hook St,” ‘Shattered Star,’ etc. It’s just better for me if I know whether all the players are gurus on the published canon in Korvosa; I’ll know to keep my foot on the brake of all the evolutions from years and years of Homegame play. Whereas, if it actually looked like no one knew diddly squat about canonical Korvosa / Korvosa-before-adventure, no one would realize this or that change. So if your Eldritch Knight has never been to Varisia (before Shalelu Andosana sent him to Magnimar) that’s fine.

After ‘The Styes’ and ‘A Paladin in Hell’ you will have time to Craft Wondrous Items. So the Feats are fine. During the first two parts, though, no, you’ll barely have time to stop for 8 hours of rest + 1 hour of prep. Time Sensitive Adventuring For The Kill!

I understand, Critzible, definitely make the PC you’re gonna love playing rather than a compromise. Be true to you!

Now I am caught between a Human Paladin or a Halfling Rogue...hmmm

LOL

Which one's more likely to be in PFS? (In my head Sheila Heidmarch is sending a group of Pathfinders to Korvosa but no one wants to be a Pathfinder! .... I've been creatively thinking all week about a good reason for the Venture Captain to send non-PFS-adventurers to go find this Relic. LOL

But certainly make what you want!

If I do the Paladin I would do a Paladin of Shelyn.

The paladin would be a Pathfinder in the hopes of finding lost Arts, Stories, and Beauty in the world. She also fancies herself a writer and to get something penned by her in the society is well one of the best ways to serve both Shelyn and the Society.

The Halfling Rogue idea is a finder of lost things. Skilled in such activities Might try to tie him to Korvosa and being basically eyes and ears on the ground. Having worked with Pathfinders in the city in the past, navigating the ins and outs of the streets.

Which is more gripping and interesting though.

My investigator is definitely a pathfinder. If I make the cut, perhaps the Venture Captain gives me authority to assemble the team. I can work my background to have worked with all of the other members at one point.

I can think of a couple of reasons to do this:
1. Deniability
2. Other pathfinders are busy.
3. Need to act quickly and can’t wait for the pathfinders to arrive in Korvosa.
4. More discreet perhaps the aspis consortium or darklight sister have laid claim to the relic or are on their way.

A silly question: Are the retraining rules available? (it's really difficult to justify Favored Terrain: Planar (Hell) otherwise).

Ash.. wrote:

Do you want the connection to RotR or no?

Is this a campaign where breadth of experience, craft wondrous, and such downtime adjacent feats are going to make sense, or should I just take some combat feats because we are kicking in the door and rolling d666.

.

No need for a tie-in to RotRL, CotCT, “House on Hook St,” ‘Shattered Star,’ etc. It’s just better for me if I know whether all the players are gurus on the published canon in Korvosa; I’ll know to keep my foot on the brake of all the evolutions from years and years of Homegame play. Whereas, if it actually looked like no one knew diddly squat about canonical Korvosa / Korvosa-before-adventure, no one would realize this or that change. So if your Eldritch Knight has never been to Varisia (before Shalelu Andosana sent him to Magnimar) that’s fine.

After ‘The Styes’ and ‘A Paladin in Hell’ you will have time to Craft Wondrous Items. So the Feats are fine. During the first two parts, though, no, you’ll barely have time to stop for 8 hours of rest + 1 hour of prep. Time Sensitive Adventuring For The Kill!

I’ve run and played enough campaigns in golarion at this point that canon is whatever the gm says it is, feel free to use as much or as little home brew as you like on me. Thanks for the feedback on downtime, sounds like I shouldn’t sweat it much.

My elf could be a pathfinder, I didn’t want to presume a close association with Sheila’s lodge. Elaborate backstories for pbp are best refined after a party is settled on, I think, so I try not to get too attached to them at this stage.

Another question - if we are pathfinders, is material from the Faction Guide available? Specifically, the agile weapon property...

My basic premise is a dwarf wizard from Janderhoff who joins the Pathfinder Society because his attraction to arcane magic doesn't quite fit in with dwarven society. I've been wanting to create a dwarven magic user for a while, and having the flexible stat bonuses certainly helps! I don't know that the character would have much of a tie-in to Hell or the Abyss, other than curiosity and a desire to explore! Will mess around with some ideas.