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Greetings fellow Pathfinders,
This is a recruitment for several players who want to do a high RP PF1e fantasy-horror Isekai campaign. The frame story is that all the players will be humans from this year, on Earth, who are transplanted into bodies on another planet. The story begins when you wake up in bodies on another planet. You know nothing, but will be able to speak the native language from the outset.
Isekai is a genre of Japanese literature that began with a fairy tale about a fisherman who spent time in an underwater realm, but basically refers to a 'fish out of water' or 'stranger in a strange land' kind of narrative. To read more, here's the wiki entry: Isekai (Wikipedia).
The setting and narrative will be inspired by frontier and horror stories like Robert E Howard's Beyond the Black River, Ridley Scott's Prometheus and the Alien Series, and the classic fantasy RPG Earthdawn, as well as the Void Series of Peter F Hamilton and the Land Fit for Heroes series of Richard K Morgan. The setting will be a complex homebrew setting I'll slowly unveil as you explore.
There will be an initial dilemma of sorts, but this will be a very open-ended, sandbox kind of story, and all the players will have to actively investigate, move around, keep 'pushing' and moving the narrative forward. This is going to be basically the opposite of an AP where there's a clear assumed narrative.
In terms of build rules, this is going to be the opposite of almost every game I've run on here -- there's going to be a small selection of races and classes, and a generally average/low over-all power level.
Build Rules
Attributes: 25 pt. buy.
Alignment: any, but you need to play nicely if you're evil.
Races: these are the options (if it isn't listed here you can't pick it):
Humans
Kobolds
Half-Elves
Grey Elves
Drow (I only want 1 of these in the party at most, there's no way I'll pick more than one Drow submission)
Dwarf
Halfling
Svirneblin (again, only 1 of these)
Adamant Entertainment Races
Otterling
Ratels (Badger Folk)
Classes: the following is the list you have to pick from (if it's not listed here, you can't pick it; no if ands or buts, no substitutions or modifications of any sort):
Akashic Classes
Legendary Classes
Path of War
Psionic Classes
Samurai Sheepdog Classes
Kobold Press Classes
Spellburst Savant
Strange Magic
If you have a divine caster, the list of available gods are the Egyptian pantheon: Egyptian Mythos Gods
Level: 6th, single class. VMC and Multiclass Archetypes allowed. You can also have the abilities from the 'special' table of a second class (i.e., no spellcasting), only the stuff in the column labeled 'special'.
Skills: background skills, and all classes get +2 skill points per level.
Feats: 1 feat per level and using the following feat tax rules: Elephant in the Room feat tax rules (pdf revision).
Health: Roll hp; if you get less than half, take half.
Traits: 2, 1 more with a drawback.
Wealth: by level. Guns Everywhere tech level for any classes that use guns.
Other sources: you can use 3pp. spells, feats, equipment from pfsrd20, the library of metzofitz, and the dreamscarred press wiki. However, we're not using the spheres system in this game, so you can't take any feat etc. that would give you spheres abilities.
No pregame crafting.
Note: no other options, no substitutions, no 'can I treat this like this, or change this for that', no consideration of any other options -- don't ask for other classes, races, etc. -- these are the only options.
Additional considerations: it will be helpful to think of this game as a halfway point between an isometric RPG like Baldur's Gate or an MMO and a text-based RPG. There is going to be a really heavy focus on elaborate maps you have to navigate through. The entire game is going to be played on maps I upload to Astral VTT (everyone will need a free account). I will simply extend the map on each side as you explore, but you're never going to be 'off' a map. If you walk a mile, I'll extend the map tile-by-tile for a mile whichever direction you're going with geomorphs. You'll have to constantly interact with a map the entire time you're playing and move your token around on the board like you were playing a videogame. You should only apply if that sounds positively appealing to you as a playstyle -- not something you're simply willing to put up with or ambivalent about. I don't want to entertain any reservations or lack of enthusiasm about this approach in any way, shape, or form -- only apply if you're a big fan of elaborate maps and map making and are excited about that being a big focus of the game.
Post: once a day during work week, and additional on the weekend if you want to.
I'm confused, the multiclass archetypes are all for Paizo classes but it looks like the only classes allowed are 3rd-party.
Question about grey elves: Are they the same as the ones offered by Frog God Games or like the mordant spire elves or from the Pathfinder Wiki?
Question about grey elves: Are they the same as the ones offered by Frog God Games or like the mordant spire elves or from the Pathfinder Wiki?
The base pathfinder version.
I'm confused, the multiclass archetypes are all for Paizo classes but it looks like the only classes allowed are 3rd-party.
Many of the Legendary Games and S-series classes from Samurai Sheepdog are revisions of Paizo base classes.
When i get home from work I'll take a further in depth look at everything but im in
Librarian Isekai'd into a Priestess/Cleric of Horus sounds like a recipe for interesting and amusing outcomes.
Now to figure out which of the various classes are divine.
Out of curiousity why not just use gestalt in place of custom VMC/MCA that don't seem to take into account the bulk of these classes?
Librarian Isekai'd into a Priestess/Cleric of Horus sounds like a recipe for interesting and amusing outcomes.
Now to figure out which of the various classes are divine.
Out of curiousity why not just use gestalt in place of custom VMC/MCA that don't seem to take into account the bulk of these classes?
I think you're misunderstanding the rules -- you're allowed to take multiclass archetypes for applicable classes; that is one mechanic
A completely separate mechanic, that is detached from any consideration of archetypes, is taking the 'special' table from a second class.
These are two different issues.
I'm not interested in doing full gestalt -- these are the rules for the game, and I'm not open to considering something else.
What are you looking for, if at all, in character backstories?
just the human part -- it's a human from 2022, earth; do like a solid paragraph; the transmigration is inexplicable and not something you need to explain in your back story.
Count me in as interested! Don't know what I'm doing yet, but it's definitively gonna be a martial of some kind.
just the human part -- it's a human from 2022, earth; do like a solid paragraph; the transmigration is inexplicable and not something you need to explain in your back story.
That's fine by me, but what gives our character's their power once they get transported into the fantasy world? Is it spontaneous once coming into the new world? Are we blessed by a god? Do the powers come as part of the transmigration force? Or is it the wildcard option of letting us pick it?
The soul swaps have been occurring for a few years and no one seems to know why.
You're basically changing bodies with a character from the fantasy world. This body swap phenomenon is a becoming more prominent, so the fantasy world npcs realize relatively quickly what happened, but you will be essentially figuring everything out by asking lots of questions
I'm settled on a Steelfist Commando Warlord. I like unarmed fighting, I like Path of War, I like martials, seems like the perfect fit for me. The main issue I'm seeing is that I'll have too many feats to pick from -- might just have to grab Extra Maneuvers to prep my entire repertoire per fight.
Since we're going into an isekai campaign, definitively expect some anime-inspired stuff to come out of him. Probably gonna be cringy, but hey, aren't we all cringy sometimes?
how are characters coming along?
I might try my hand at a Psioncist Dual Disciple Human.
NOt sure what role they would have in this new Society.
That's not relevant -- this is intentionally set up so you know nothing about the setting starting out, and all the setting information will come from in game exploration. You will possess a body of an entity that had a place in society of the new world, but you won't know anything about that unless you ask one of the NPCs about it.
how are characters coming along?
My elf heir apparent is coming along. Finishing up with equipment purchases, then finalizing spell selection.
Gotcha hopefully I can come up with something.
As for the skills, are they based off the modern human or the otherworlder or a mix of both.
Having watched a few Isekai there is a mix between them, like Log Horizon it's a mix of both or Moushuku Tensei its more him learning new skills
You're going to wake up in a body with skills you didn't have in your old life, but no memories or other way of getting oriented other than talking to the individuals that are there when you wake up.
If it helps to get a tone for the general concept, I'm stealing this idea from a reddit thread I perused:
Has a setting I tried to use once but the campaign really didn't get far for other reasons, players likened it to Pitch Black, for obvious reasons.
It was a pretty generic fantasy world, a small pantheon of gods, magic was pretty heavily relied upon.
The key feature of the setting was Night-time. During the Night magical darkness would layer itself over the natural darkness, anywhere this magical darkness touched these things would also go. No one had ever seen them due to the nature of the magical darkness that covered them. However anyone caught within the darkness would be torn to shreds.
Cities were warded, all cities had walls with magical lights, magical streetlights on every street, and protection from magical darkness. in essence every city was as bright as day, either naturally during the day or magically during the night. Which led to some... eccentric working patterns... you could close your blinds and get some sleep in the dark, the magical darkness couldn't seep through the wards.Other than the cities shelter was unreliable... you could be in a log cabin with all the doors and windows barred and get torn apart. You could be in a cave with no door and live through the night. Stories varied wildly. One undertaker was once late back to the city, bringing a body from a neighbouring city. He was a mile away when darkness began to creep in, he clambered into the coffin alongside the body he was transporting and made it through the night... although a little shaken.
This meant that the group needed to be very careful when it came to travelling, either sealing themselves in, or being in a city when night fell.
The darkness was going to be something that could be undone, but we didn't get past the first dungeon really. Didn't TPK, just played something else.
Out of curiousity why not just use gestalt in place of custom VMC/MCA that don't seem to take into account the bulk of these classes?I think you're misunderstanding the rules -- you're allowed to take multiclass archetypes for applicable classes; that is one mechanic
A completely separate mechanic, that is detached from any consideration of archetypes, is taking the 'special' table from a second class.
These are two different issues.
I'm not interested in doing full gestalt -- these are the rules for the game, and I'm not open to considering something else.
Right. I wasn't trying to convince you otherwise, just seeking to understand your decision.
Anyways - we're definitely a servant of Horus, with entourage of confused "why are you acting differently milady?" handmaidens as appropriate.
The set up is going to be that the NPCs that you first meet are aware of this 'mind swap' phenomenon and are able to orient you a little to what has happened -- they've picked up a little bit about earth from talking to others this has happened to. They don't know why it's happening.
Seb, here's my character submission, Lord Azanoril Silkenleaf, grey elf heir apparent and budding wizard. His backstory is at the bottom of the character page. He's created with only one feat per level, not the normal feat distribution every odd level. I'm not sure if that's correct.
So 1/2 for 3hp
Already 1/2 hp
how are characters coming along?
I'm halfway through the crunch, should be done by tomorrow or Friday.
Might as well get the HP rolls out of the way.
> 8
> 8
Wow, how average. Should total 55 with max first level?
Hey crew is there a particular type of character that you might all be missing?
I think we have two warriors, a priest, and a wizard so far.
My librarian Priest is coming along nicely. This is easily one of the most complicated characters I've ever put together and of course hero lab (my usual solution) isn't much help because it's all 3pp stuff, but it's been a lot of fun trying to figure out things that are thematic.
We're absolutely a KP new paths priest, and we were employed by the British museum as an Archivist and Egyptologist although our phd was focused on ancient china, Information Science was our masters and our undergraduate was a dual major in History (Egypt) and Math. We're going to get so much wrong about our religion it's going to be fabulous. I haven't decided if taking Lore(Egypt) or Knowledge(religion) makes more sense, but hey I'm responding in the thread so maybe the GM has an opinion? Definitely going to take Lore(Mathematics) and try to explain how magic works (badly!) but could also grab Know(arcane) depending on how the isekai works. (Do we have inherited memories?)
Alignment - LG, some of Horus's teachings about Machiavellian tenets of rulership are a bit too practical for our girl, but she'll get there.
Other random questions for the GM - I'm interested in taking linguistics for a bunch of Earth languages, can we have those transition into fantasy languages of your choice? IE she picks something up that she thinks is Sumerian, but is really Aklo...
I'm considering taking eldritch heritage to burn some of these extra feats in a thematic way, is phoenix appropriate, and should I work it into the history of the body we isekai'd into or is it something that shows up with our heroine's soul arriving?
Do you have a preferred set of isekai tropes for us to engage in?
How populated is our new environs? I'm down for intricate city/sect/planar maps if you want to do intricate maps of any of those in addition to the assumed intricate world map. Are we traveling in time as well as space/plane during our isekai and will that come up again?
Just random things I've been munching on while trying to sort a character sheet.
My librarian Priest is coming along nicely. This is easily one of the most complicated characters I've ever put together and of course hero lab (my usual solution) isn't much help because it's all 3pp stuff, but it's been a lot of fun trying to figure out things that are thematic.
We're absolutely a KP new paths priest, and we were employed by the British museum as an Archivist and Egyptologist although our phd was focused on ancient china, Information Science was our masters and our undergraduate was a dual major in History (Egypt) and Math. We're going to get so much wrong about our religion it's going to be fabulous. I haven't decided if taking Lore(Egypt) or Knowledge(religion) makes more sense, but hey I'm responding in the thread so maybe the GM has an opinion? Definitely going to take Lore(Mathematics) and try to explain how magic works (badly!) but could also grab Know(arcane) depending on how the isekai works. (Do we have inherited memories?)
Alignment - LG, some of Horus's teachings about Machiavellian tenets of rulership are a bit too practical for our girl, but she'll get there.
Other random questions for the GM - I'm interested in taking linguistics for a bunch of Earth languages, can we have those transition into fantasy languages of your choice? IE she picks something up that she thinks is Sumerian, but is really Aklo...
I'm considering taking eldritch heritage to burn some of these extra feats in a thematic way, is phoenix appropriate, and should I work it into the history of the body we isekai'd into or is it something that shows up with our heroine's soul arriving?
Do you have a preferred set of isekai tropes for us to engage in?
How populated is our new environs? I'm down for intricate city/sect/planar maps if you want to do intricate maps of any of those in addition to the assumed intricate world map. Are we traveling in time as well as space/plane during our isekai and will that come up again?
Just random things I've been munching on while trying to sort a...
There are going to be some rough analogs to ANE languages, so you'll be able to transfer those over.
phoenix will work -- there is an in-setting mystery cult where that is an important figure.
What tropes were you thinking of? I know there are different versions of it that have been presented in anime. I'm thinking of something sort of like altered carbon where you wake up in someone else's body in a new setting.
I'll have a lot of maps for you -- the new environs are in a wilderness outpost. You don't really know starting out if you're traveling just in space or time, that's something you'll have to try to figure out by exploring and talking to locals.
The locals are aware of this body swap phenomenon by which people from earth seem to have their souls put in the bodies of individuals they know from their world. They have picked up a little bit of information about Earth based on talking to other examples, so they'll understand to some extent what's going on, even if they can't explain all the details. This world is also aware of concepts of time and dimension traveling, so they are able to assimilate the concept without too much difficulty, while the fantasy characters that have ended up on Earth have been treated as lunatics or prophets, depending on what body they get transported into.
My Warlord is coming along nicely as well! Pretty much just have to settle some numbers down and write the backstory. I might have to finish it Saturday since I'm going out with my friends tomorrow night, but yeah.
As for the character itself, I figured that since my character is supposed to be both strong and charismatic as a Warlord, I racked my brain trying to think of something that encompassed both. I ended up landing on the obvious choice, of having my Earth persona be a burgeoning WWE wrestler after she lost her office job as an accountant for a reason I haven't decided yet. At first, furious at this turn of events, she calmed herself down when both relief and hope filled her heart, having finally (and forcefully) escaped the hell that is the cubicle sea of a corporate building, left alone to do as she pleased and seize her future.
She's energetic, carefree, and generally so full of life it's overflowing. Enough to make her jump into combat and get stuck into the craziest of fights in order to really, in her own words, "feel alive and primal". The joy and excitement that exudes off of her is so infectious it manifests in the high Charisma and the teamwork-oriented abilities that Warlord grants her, inspiring her allies to also feel alive and primal along with her.
...Or at least that's what she believes, because what's actually happening is that the body she transferred herself into was of a powerful initiate in the Fellowship of the Fools. The raw, crushing martial prowess is the muscle memory of the body she is in acting to aid her flashy wrestling fighting style into actually being effective, and her ability to inspire is a result of the supernaturally strong presence and force of will extending itself into her allies and taking shape as combat buffs.
You can't convince her otherwise though, no matter what you do or say.
I hope that's an okay concept? I won't lie, I was going for something way, way sillier, but I feel like that's a good compromise between fun, silly, and fitting for the campaign. Let me know if it doesn't fit or needs to be changed.
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My Warlord is coming along nicely as well! Pretty much just have to settle some numbers down and write the backstory. I might have to finish it Saturday since I'm going out with my friends tomorrow night, but yeah.
** spoiler omitted **
I hope that's an okay concept? I won't lie, I was going for something way, way sillier, but I feel like that's a good...
I like it!
Sweet, thanks! I'll go forward with it then. I just have one question regarding the Fool's Errand discipline. (I know you said no "can I's", but this is more of a rule clarification rather than a request, so I hope it's alright :P)
Some of the discipline's maneuvers mention making "weapon attacks and unarmed strikes" as part of its strike, such as Steel-Shattering Fists. My question is, since unarmed strikes are technically weapons, could I perform the weapon attack half of these maneuvers with an unarmed strike?
The Fool's Errand unarmed strike rules, for reference. They rule against using weapon attacks as unarmed strikes in these maneuvers (even if they are made to count as unarmed strikes through some effect), but say nothing against the opposite, so I'm on the fence.
Sweet, thanks! I'll go forward with it then. I just have one question regarding the Fool's Errand discipline. (I know you said no "can I's", but this is more of a rule clarification rather than a request, so I hope it's alright :P)
Some of the discipline's maneuvers mention making "weapon attacks and unarmed strikes" as part of its strike, such as Steel-Shattering Fists. My question is, since unarmed strikes are technically weapons, could I perform the weapon attack half of these maneuvers with an unarmed strike?
The Fool's Errand unarmed strike rules, for reference. They rule against using weapon attacks as unarmed strikes in these maneuvers (even if they are made to count as unarmed strikes through some effect), but say nothing against the opposite, so I'm on the fence.
I don't understand what this means. You say the rules mention weapons and unarmed attacks and then ask, since unarmed attacks count as weapons, if they can count, but they're both mentioned anyway? I'm sorry, I can't make heads or tails of what you've written here and I've read it three times.
I don't understand what this means. You say the rules mention weapons and unarmed attacks and then ask, since unarmed attacks count as weapons, if they can count, but they're both mentioned anyway? I'm sorry, I can't make heads or tails of what you've written here and I've read it three times.
Fool's Errand has maneuvers that allow you to perform weapon attacks and unarmed strikes as part of their action. I'm asking if my fists count as weapons, essentially, which would allow me to perform all of the maneuver's attacks with my fists, since they count as both "weapons" and "unarmed strikes" for the maneuver's purposes.
I'm asking because the rules only talk about not being able to use weapons in place of the unarmed strikes in these maneuvers, but don't really mentioned anything about using unarmed strikes in place of the weapon attacks. I apologize that this is so confusing, I'll just not use these maneuvers at all if this doesn't make it any clearer.
This is what I got out of what you wrote:
Fists count as unarmed strikes and weapons for the purposes of this maneuver, but you're asking if they count as weapons,
If they count as both unarmed strikes and weapons for this maneuver, per what you wrote, I'm unclear why there's a question if they count as weapons.
There's another sentence that says weapons can count as unarmed strikes, but none that says the opposite.
I don't understand how this relates to the first question.
I'm sorry, again, I've read this three times and I still don't have a clue what you're asking. Maybe we can try to clarify it on discord.
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I think I am gonna have the Earth persona to be a very interesting woman who grew up as a cheerleader, an A+ student, who goes to college to go into Medicine. However she ended up struggling in college. This extended her time in college and she ends up having to work in a bar and other things like exotic dancing.
As for her Isekai'd form I incision a gruff and grizzled experienced mercenary and mystic. Transplanted into the body of a man of his middle years with mental prowess but average strength is a great twist.
I really want to leave a lot of the setting details deliberately vague to make the exploration/question asking part more interesting, but I think I can guarantee a lot of really strange and hopefully engaging lore -- I think worldbuilding is my major strength in DMing, and this game will be a combination of a bunch of different homebrew projects I've worked on over the last few years. It definitely won't be a heartbreaker knock off of FR or Golarion -- this is a very strange world with a lot of distinctive elements.
I also have graduate degrees in Hebrew and ANE studies (I've actually taken over a year of Sumerian in graduate school, since that came up), so some of this stuff that's been mentioned will be dealt with in a very detailed way. I can incorporate stuff like specific logograms of Sumerian into the fluff -- like the world might have an alternative reading of the Dingir symbol, which is the logogram for 'deity', and looks something like a star.
Also, it looks like we have critzible, ash, qyntessential, waskally, and potentially edelsmirge -- haven't heard again from the other two that posted earlier in the thread, let me know if you're still interested. That's 5 -- I'm happy to accept everyone and close recruitment if everyone will finish their characters by next week so we can get started. I haven't heard a proposal by edelsmirge, but everyone else seems pretty far along, and I like the character concepts that have been tossed around, I think you have a sense of what I'm going for.
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@Sebecloki I have a distinct idea about the inhabited body. Was looking at a Berber-type man, with distinct racial tattoos. Mixed with the Maji from The Mummy Franchise. Also if I can the Psicrystal kinda rests on the characters' forehead like a jewel pin fo their head rap.
Maybe some Mulak( I think that's spelled right) thrown in as well.
@Sebecloki I have a distinct idea about the inhabited body. Was looking at a Berber-type man, with distinct racial tattoos. Mixed with the Maji from The Mummy Franchise. Also if I can the Psicrystal kinda rests on the characters' forehead like a jewel pin fo their head rap.
Maybe some Mulak( I think that's spelled right) thrown in as well.
sounds good
Two questions: Have you gotten the Drow application as of yet?
Which class is best to VMC from these to get something to flank with me ie a familiar or companion?
Two questions: Have you gotten the Drow application as of yet?
Which class is best to VMC from these to get something to flank with me ie a familiar or companion?
I don't think so
Nevermind I have it, I am going to go with a Drow Ninja from legendary games. I like the whole clan idea. Just makes sense.
Enjoy! I will probably have some number of flanking buddies I can provide if we end up in combat although I haven’t been spending a ton of time optimizing for “make things dead” since we’re pretty naturally OP and the game seems like it’s more about hexcrawling and puzzling out the mysterious lore than rolling initiative.
Worth pointing out that the bulk of the aegis suit is in the “special” section so if people are worried about getting armor and flight in an unobtrusive way that’s an option.