Character creation:
- Sorry guys, but I will stick with level 1. It serves multiple purposes, including me gradually being allowed to understand how your characters 'grow in power'. But it also throws something new into the mix which I hope will make multiclassing more... Relevant, instead of simply a feature. Using Wabbit's character idea as an example: the day Grymwold decides he wants to become a full fledged monk, he will probably need to travel to the monastery for some relevant event (a quest? a test? a prayer? fasting? nothing?), which will then allow him to be accepted/indoctrinated/trained as a SomethingA/SomethingB/SomethingC monk of ABC of the Mountain etc :) This is not me making your life difficult, but it is something I would like to incorporate into the game. So knowing your plans slightly in advance is a good idea. On the other hand, who knows? Maybe Wabbit's character finds a captivating NPC with whom he wants to train under, and he will abandon his ideia of becoming a monk altogether? This is the 'organic feel' I am trying to capture;
- 'Will we have the ability to 'revise' PC's during those initial 1-3 levels?'
Yes, I will never tie people down to a character concept/crunch they do not want to play. If necessary, and if we manage to find a way to incorporate it into the game, even better;
- I am inclined to go with 25pt build, no stats below 8 or above 18 AFTER racial adjustments;
- Core, Base, Hybrid and Unchained I think are all good;
- Background Skills are definitely a yes;
- Unchained is a yes;
- Occult is a no;
- ABP will be a no, because there are a LOT of interesting magical items in the Lost Lands ;)
- VMC and Elephant are a no for the time being - I have lived my whole life with Feat taxes and never died from it so :P I am however a BIG fan of handing out outstanding rewards on top of magical items, XP, RP or Status bonuses with NPCs and/or regions, so bonus feats bestowed by the DM can be a thing;
- Combat Stamina: Yes with Fighter Bonus Feats
- Fractional Bonuses: No for now (we can revisit it later)
- I am also inclined to include Hero Points;
- Races: Some adaptation is usually required because the system for which The Lost Lands were originally designed did not include such a wide array of races as PF does. This should be a good races reference. But bottom line, I am thinking Core;
- 150 gold starting wealth.
The World:
The world of the Lost Lands has been known by many names over many thousands of years. To the ancient Phoromyceaens, it was Erce the Mother. In the desert lands of Khemit, it was called Geb, while to the people of Far Jaati, it was Kala. The ancient Hyperboreans called the world Boros, the same name they gave to the continent from which they came, and the name that was most used for the world during the millennia of their empire. To the Heldring, the world is called Eorth, while to the Northlanders it is Midgard. But today, the most common name for the world is Lloegyr, or the Lost Lands, the name it was given by the Daanites after their leader Daan overthrew the undead imperatrix of Hyperborea (and was himself slain), bringing to an end the Hyperborean era.
The world of the Lost Lands is large. The globe’s circumference is approximately 50,400 miles, nearly twice that of our Earth.
The known world includes two populated continents, Akados in the west and Libynos in the east. To the north, under a deep sheet of ice, is the lost continent of Boros, from which the ancient Hyperboreans once came and to which they returned when they withdrew almost a thousand years ago. Whether they live there still, and in fact whether anyone at all can be found in that frozen land, remains the subject of speculation. To the south are islands scattered over thousands of miles of open ocean, sometimes called the islands of Arkanos, which legend says are all that remains of a mighty southern continent, now almost entirely sunken beneath the waves.
Those southern seas are known as Mother Oceanus and reach unknown distances to the east, south, and west. Great lines of impenetrable storms known as the Tempest Meridians lie far to the east of Libynos and far to the west of Akados, barring the way to whatever might be in the seas beyond. The Great Ocean Ûthaf is to the north of Akados and Libynos. And between those two continents is the Sinnar Ocean.
The world circles a sun that is slightly more orange than Earth’s. Two moons — Narrah, the Pale Sister, and smaller Sybil, the Dark Sister — appear in the night sky alongside several wandering stars and uncountable others.
And in dimensions beyond are other planes of existence, homes of gods and demons.
Such are the bounds of the Lost Lands.
The Lands:
There are three continents in the known Lost Lands: Akados in the west; Libynos in the east; and lost Boros in the north, now buried beneath hundreds of feet of glacial ice.
AKADOS
Akados is the largest of the known continents of the Lost Lands. Through its center runs the greatest of the world’s mountain ranges, the Stonehearts, from the icebound far north to the heart of the continent in the south. In the southwest, the Crescent Sea divides the western lands of the Green Realm and the Xha’en Hegemony from the former lands of the Hyperborean Empire of the Foerdewaith. And in the far northeast is the Irkainian Peninsula, which reaches out to the shores of Libynos, separated only by the narrow Mulstabhin Passage and Krivcycek Island.
The climates within Akados are vast. In the northwest are the trackless plains of the Haunted Steppes; to the north, the forests and icy rivers of the Northlands and the taiga and tundra beyond; in the northeast, the Vast and Irkainian Deserts; and in the southwest, the mighty forests of the Green Realm.
Akados was the first land conquered by the Hyperboreans when they marched forth from their homeland in Boros to the north. As a result, many of the human kingdoms and realms of Akados can trace their origins to provinces of that empire and look back to the Hyperborean era as a golden age of peace and prosperity. Only the far western portion of the continent, beyond the Crescent Sea — where can be found the Green Realm of the wild elves, the Xha’en Hegemony, Gtsang Prefecture, and Anaros Island — never felt the rule of the imperators.
Akados is also home to the largest groups of non-humans in the world, including the wild elves of the Green Realm, the high elves of the forests of eastern Akados, and the clans of the mountain dwarves in the Stonehearts and other mountain ranges of the continent.
LIBYNOS
The continent of Libynos is much longer north to south than it is wide east to west. The Sea of Baal, a huge arm of the Sinnar Ocean, nearly cuts the continent in two, dividing north Libynos from central and southern Libynos. The Zakros and Scythirian Mountains dominate the northern part of the continent, separating the lands of the ancient western city-states from the equally old Jaati in the north and the Jungle of Malagro along the eastern coast. In southern Libynos, a series of lakes called the Channel Lakes runs through the middle of the continent, and beyond that to the south are the peaks known as the Hollow Spire Mountains.
Much of northern and central Libynos is dominated by deserts. The great Maighib Desert runs the entire breadth of the continent from Khartous and the shores of the Sinnar Ocean in the west to Numeda and the Boiling Sea in the east. Farther north is the Desert of Oreb, in the midst of the Scythirian Mountains, and northwest of that is the Ashurian Desert. Even southern Libynos boasts a desert, the Kanderi south of the Channel Lakes.
Although the Hyperboreans colonized many lands on Libynos, far less of that continent bears the traces of those conquerors than does Akados. When the polemarchs of the imperium fi rst arrived on the western continent, they found humans living in sparse, nomadic tribes, severely pressed by the elves of the interior forests. With such a fragmented existing culture, the nations that developed on Akados took on a decidedly Hyperborean fl avor as they adopted the traditions and religion of their conquerors
Libynos, on the other hand, hosted civilizations that were ancient even when the fi rst Hyperboreans arrived on their shores. Many cities of Istafl umina, Jaati, and Khemit, and the Antioch City-States, predated the Hyperborean arrival. Other folk of Libynos never truly fell under the sway of the conquerors. When confronted by the Ashurian Desert in the north and the jungles of the south, the Hyperboreans usually chose to settle only on the margins, at coastal locations or slightly inland near large rivers where they could trade with those in the interior without needing to mobilize suffi cient forces to conquer and hold such inhospitable lands. As a result, when the Hyperboreans left, most of the peoples of Libynos returned to their former ways. The one exception, however, being Alcaldar, a Hyperborean colony that survived the end of the empire.
Beyond Libynos to the northeast are said to be the legendary Oestryn Islands, the last land before reaching the Tempest Meridians in the east.
LOST BOROS
Little is known today of Boros. From this continent came the Hyperboreans when they marched south to Akados. And to Boros did they return when they withdrew following the end of their empire. Once said to be a temperate land, it has been covered with glaciers of ice since the poles of the world shifted in 2491 I.R. The relationship between the Shadowlands of northern Akados, beyond the Haunted Steppes, and Boros is unknown. Though the sea ice makes a demarcation between land and water uncertain, it is believed that parts of what is known as the Far North, beyond the Northlands, are in fact on the continent of Boros. More exploration will be necessary to determine the truth of this proposition.
In any event, the ancient and original homeland of the Hyperboreans — and the remains of their civilization — are today somewhere on Boros, now buried under hundreds of feet or more of ice
Languages:
Westerling (Common)
The common language of most of Akados, Westerling (as it is known outside of Akados) or Common (as it is more commonly known locally) is the language handed down to the civilizations of the continent by the Kingdom of Foere. The language of the overking’s court as High Boros lost popularity among the aristocracy, Westerling pervaded trade, diplomacy and soldiering. It was from this last that it spread throughout the continent as Foerdewaith armies marched forth and the local auxiliary conscripts needed a means of communicating with their commanders. Related to Gasquen and High Boros with an unusually strong influence from the Heldring Helvaenic, Common began as something of a pidgin only to develop into a full language and the lingua franca of the West.
Some OOC Considerations:
Ok, thanks for the clarification guys - I suspected it was something like that. Was just wondering if all PF3.5 content ports directly to PF1.
Radiant Servant of Pelor was amazing - best healer we ever had in our group. Lots of flavor to the Prestige Class also.
------------------------------
Now for some OOC considerations, while we wait for everyone to check in before the first 'on the road' post:
- Traveling speed: Your overland walking speed (based on Gubble) is 16 miles per day;
- Food: I will ask you all to detail the amount of rations and water your characters are carrying (I know most of you have already done it). I am not a sucker for this kind of thing, but the Lost Lands are vast, so precautions are needed. After all, this is a FGG setting - easy to get lost in dire conditions ;)
Question about Animal Companions: I always assumed they eat out of the player's rations, and drink out of the player's water. Unless you have feed specifically for them, though usually that might weigh you down. Does it make sense to all of you?
- Equipment: Now is the time to double check your gear, and make sure you have all you need. Opportunities for purchases on the road may, or may not come up. If there is any gear you feel like you are missing, feel free to add it;
- Encumbrance: I usually just flat out ignore it, unless I see a STR8 character acting like a pack mule :P
Without doing any math, I get the feeling Gubble, Hamish and Thistle are probably carrying a medium load? Let me know.
- Headers: Would be cool to have your updated character information: AC, HP, Perception, you know the drill.
- Initiative: I know for some characters/builds, the initiative count may be important, so I have no method written in stone. I was planning on going something like:
1. I roll for all.
2. First round of actions we go on the initiative count exactly.
3. Subsequent rounds we go in block.
4. Example: Players roll 22, 18, 15, 10, 8, 6. Bad guys roll 14.
22, 18 and 15 post.
Bad guys post.
Then we can either go
a) 10, 8 and 6 post THEN 22, 18, and 15 post
OR
b) every player posts, effectively converting into blocks (good guys - bad guys - good guys)
Note: Let me know what you think. Not sure I explained it very clearly :/ Also we can modify it as we go along to something we are all more comfortable with.
- Saves: I dislike rolling saves for players :P So when a save is called for, just post it as the first thing in your next post. Done.
I am sure there is more OOC to discuss - we'll do it as we go along.
- 3x4 hour watches
Hamish and Naomi first.
Guthlag and Jalros second.
Gubble and Elgrin third.
Since nothing in particular was pointed out, I am going to assume those on watch are usually either sitting by the fire, or pacing/watching at the edge of the campfire illumination radius. Something like this?
