GM Elfriede's Kingmaker: To Tame a Land

Game Master Elfriede

Yes, this is a discussion thread that looks like a recruitment thread. My players are already selected, so there's no point in building a recruitment thread. Also, hi everyone from Skull and Shackles!

The early spring snowstorm raged outside the Burnt Onion. Inside, dockmen and poor laborers drank, shouting and singing rough drinking songs. And in the corner, one man finished talking with an obviously-impoverished baron, shook his hand, and started writing in his notebook, a dueling sword lying on the table to declare his allegiance.

The floor was sticky with spilled ale as the man’s writing was interrupted by a child’s voice, high-pitched and raised loud enough to be heard over the rowdy Fireday crowd. ”Scee-use me, ser! I got another possible for ye. Not quite as pro-fesh-e-o-nal as the last one, but ‘e might do!” The blonde-haired girl, dressed in an obviously expensive but nondescript surcoat, grinned up at him from the edge of his table, her missing front tooth obvious, and winked.

He sighed, putting his pen down for a minute and massaging his temples. ”Did you happen to ask about qualifications, Tiphane? You’re supposed to be making sure they’re ‘professional’, as you said, before they get to the interview with me.”

”Suuure I did, ser! Asked if ‘e’d ever been in a scrap, and when ‘e ‘ad more ex-pee-ree-ence than me, I said to wait there ‘till I got back. ‘Sides, if you ‘ired the noble I found to do the swampland, it’s just the bandits in the Greenbelt left, right? ‘Ow much qual-i-fi-ca-tions does ‘e need?” The girl shrugged, grinned, and waited for a direction.

”Abadar preserve us…” The man rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. ”Alright, Tiphane, bring him in. Just a handful more, and I can be done with this riff-raff…” He went back to writing in his notebook as the girl dodged through a rousing drinking song to get his latest would-be recruit.

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Congratulations! After being accosted by a young page for looking “ad-ven-ture-y” while outside a tavern in Restov, you’ve been selected through a not-so-rigorous interview process to help deal with the bandit problem to the city’s southwest. Normally, that banditry might be solvable with guardsmen, but since the ruling family of Brevoy vanished, the kingdom’s been in a cold, civil war, and trained fighters are in high demand.

Not so much unblooded adventurers with stars in their eyes, though, and the bandit problem to the southwest needs any solution it can find; ne’er-do-wells, mercenaries, visionaries, and wannabe patriots. Anyone that meets Tiphane’s strict requirements:

Character Creation:
Race: Core races plus Changeling.
Class: Core, Base (Unchained Summoner only, no Gunslinger), and Hybrid. Chained and Unchained versions of Barbarian, Monk, and Rogue are all fine.
Point Buy: 20 Point Buy
Gold: Average By Class
Traits: 1 Campaign, 1 Other. Up to one drawback for another trait.
3PP: Elephant in the Room Feat Tax Rules
Other Stuff: Background Skills are in play, any alignment is allowed (play well with others), and HP is max at 1st level, roll or 1/2+1 after, your choice.
Background and Personality: Assuming your character is local to Brevoy, the River Kingdoms, or the surrounding lands, I'd love it if you could include one or two NPCs for me to use later in the AP. I'd also like a paragraph or two of backstory and an idea of appearance and personality. We'll be starting off arriving at Oleg's Trading Post.
Primer: If you're curious at all about the region/don't know much about it, I wrote up this Northeast Avistan Primer. It's pretty basic info, but it might help get some idea of what's what here.

You do have the advantage of knowing exactly who's playing in this game, since all four of you were potentially interested, so if you want to have backstories that are tied together, this would be a great place for it. I'm also more than willing to answer any questions about how I see the setting, which I am adding to and modifying from the skeleton the book gives us.

I'd love to get started sometime the week of the 23rd-29th, but if Ellie's player needs a bit longer, I'm okay with that as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with!

Oh! And don't forget to dot in the Gameplay thread so you can track all this.

Ellie's player here. This shouldn't be a problem, with S&S on an indefinite hiatus that frees me up considerably-- I love that game but it does take up a lot of my bandwidth lol. Time to start character-building!

As I said, I have two different classes the I would love to play.

Rogue or Cavalier.

I am happy to do either, and it depends on what the rest of the party wants to play. I suppose I lean slightly towards Cavalier but I am very willing to do either.

Both of those are fine by me. I instinctively lean toward clerics (they're my favorite) and since I'm currently playing both a rogue and a cavalier in other campaigns, I won't be making one of those here.

I'm ok with either option as well. As for me, I was considering a Fey Caller Summoner, a character concept I've thought off before for this campaign but that I didn't write down yet. If that sounds fine to everyone else, I'll try to get her backstory up later today.

It's all starting to come together, mwahahahaha!

I'm looking forward to seeing what Tempest's player has in mind. I can cover some of the missing necessities with NPCs who stay at the trading post as time goes on, so don't stress if the party balance isn't perfect.

Okay, I think I am settling on Rogue. I think a Chained Rogue would be capable of handling the challenges in the Kingmaker AP even without the Elephant in the Room rules, which provide a substantial boost (like the free Weapon Finesse that Unchained gives the rogue is here given by EitR).

Thinking a human rogue (no archetype) with the Bastard campaign trait and the Dimdweller alternate racial trait (because Darkvision is just that good). Father was nobility, mother was something Planetouched that had Darkvision (e.g. Aasimar for example). Has a decent enough relationship with his family, but knows this is the best opportunity to make a name for himself. Probably NG, and probably a follower of Desna. Generally easygoing. More of a "scout" than a "thief" in terms of how he sees himself (although again, no archetype).

Is anyone wanting to be the Ruler? I’m thinking it might be fun to play a Councilor whose backstory is tied with that person, like a trusty-companion type thing.

Unless, of course, I’m misunderstanding the role of Councilor. I assumed it’s like a royal vizier.

In-game, the Councilor fills the role of liason between the Ruler and the common people/communities. So yeah, a bit like a vizier, I think.

We'll need to find one more person, since Tempest isn't going to be joining us. If anyone has a recommendation, I'd love to grab someone who's played with some of you in the past, rather than starting a recruitment thread.

Alternatively...

We could do it with 3 if we did Gestalt. Thoughts?

Hmmm... would our kingdom be at a disadvantage if we only have 3 roles filled?

I don't think it'd be an issue. A lot of those roles will get filled with NPCs that pretty much do what you want anyways. I'd rather recruit a 4th, if someone knows anyone, though.

Agreed. I don't really have any specific people I'd want to recruit though. Anyone else?

I just sent a note to Delmoth. He ran a Strange Aeons campaign for me (well, picked it up in Book 1 as our 3rd GM, and then ran it all the way to the end).
I think he would be great. Consistent poster, very creative, and knows the game well.

*waves*

Thanks for the invite Aldizog. I'll get catched up on the requirements later today and start brewing a character.

Thanks again!

Oh hey SodiumTelluride haven't played with you since Bell Curve I think.

Hi, Delmoth. Welcome to the thread! That should be our four, so that's awesome!

I'll be working a lot the next couple of days, so there's plenty of time for character building. I don't have a start date in mind, so it's mostly when the 5 of us are all ready to go.

Hey Delmoth! Yea I recognize your skald Fred, it’s definitely been a while though.

Tank wizard activate. I need to do a fluff and crunch pass since she's built for SA that never got off the ground.

I've never played with a tank wizard before. Should be fun.

So, to recap, we're looking at:
Aldizog with a rogue
Delmoth with a tank wizard
Pancakes with a summoner
Sodium with a cleric?

Welcome aboard Delmoth!

Here's what I currently have in mind for my character. Happy for any suggestions or possible tie ins with the rest of the party.

Is there anything you would like changed or more detailed?

And regarding the Ruler role - Alyssa will have high Charisma, but I wasn't really thinking about going for Ruler when making her character (figured it would go to someone more politically minded), so if someone else is thinking of going that route, go ahead. If you guys want her to go for the role, she'll probably need some convincing along the way and help with the finer points of politics (which I guess is where SodiumTelluride's character would come in :) )

If we don't need the Ruler to be the person with the absolute highest Cha, then I might have an interest in it. As a noble bastard it seems like a good opportunity.

But if someone else wants the role, they are welcome to it, and I'd take a role such as Marshal (which is Dex-based).

Still working on character ideas (name, stat distribution, feats).

Mechanically, it'd make the most sense to have a high Charisma ruler, but thematically, it might not be necessary. I could also mess with the kingdom building rules to have a smart or wise king instead with minimal issues.

Here is Aldizog's rogue.

I did end up going Unchained, but with what is probably the weakest archetype, the Phantom Thief. Gives up Sneak Attack and Debilitating Injury to be better at skills. (Really, the only reason to go Unchained with Phantom Thief is for the skill unlocks, which I want to play around with.)

Varrus is of noble birth and has good face skills (plus a 14 Cha that he will increase over time so decently high but not the highest in the party), so he does have his eye set on Ruler (I figured, I am definitely not going for Captain in Skulls and Shackles so I don't think I am overdoing it if I go for Ruler here). If someone else ends up being a Ruler, he would look to be Marshal.

As for me, I'm thinking an archer cleric since we'll probably be lacking in ranged damage. I've been mulling over the crunch for a while, I'll start putting a character together tomorrow.

And I'm fine with Varrus going for ruler. Long live the king!

@Alyssa: That backstory and appearance work for your character, and I very much appreciate the NPC as well. That's really helpful for me. Would Alyssa know her father's name? It seems like based on the letters, she might, and we could work on that together if you'd like or you can create a minor noble.

@Varrus: That's a really interesting take on a Lebeda, and it ties in well with a lot of my fleshing out of the Brevic nobility. I can give you some additional members of a few of the Houses if you'd like, since you probably met some of them at some point. I also think the archetype is really cool, especially if the party's not planning on murdering their way across the Stolen Lands.

@SodiumTelluride: Sounds like a cool option to build. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

@Everyone: I'm liking the characters. If there's anything you need to know about the world as I envision it in order to make your character or add to backstory, feel free to ask here or in a private message. I'll need to tweak my NPCs a touch, since I just realized the lore updated on who's running which House in Brevoy, but it shouldn't impact anything important.

It sounds like we have a shot at finishing character creation by the end of the weekend. Does that work for everyone as a tentative start time for Gameplay?

Here is Aldizog's rogue.

I did end up going Unchained, but with what is probably the weakest archetype, the Phantom Thief. Gives up Sneak Attack and Debilitating Injury to be better at skills. (Really, the only reason to go Unchained with Phantom Thief is for the skill unlocks, which I want to play around with.)

Ba dah dah!

Crunch is done, it was less work than I thought it would be. Now I just have to adapt fluff, probably something involving Skywatch.

@GM - sure, a few NPCs would be great. Other members of House Lebeda of course, and an Orlovsky would be great. Or a rival from House Surtova (maybe one involved with manufacturing or planting the 'evidence' of treason for the charges levied against Lander).

@Everyone: I'm liking the characters. If there's anything you need to know about the world as I envision it in order to make your character or add to backstory, feel free to ask here or in a private message. I'll need to tweak my NPCs a touch, since I just realized the lore updated on who's running which House in Brevoy, but it shouldn't impact anything important.

It sounds like we have a shot at finishing character creation by the end of the weekend. Does that work for everyone as a tentative start time for Gameplay?

Cross posted. If there's a wizarding school in the area I couldn't find one. But there might not be. Maybe I'll go apprentice route. Kicked out for causing trouble...

This will be a busy week and weekend for me so while starting is fine I may not find time to post.

@Theophania: There's not really a wizarding school officially in the area, though I did create a small bard's school in Restov. It probably doesn't meet your requirements, but if it's an option for you, I can give more details.

@GM: I'd definitely prefer for us to work together on Alyssa's father. With regards to knowing his name, I'd say it could go either way - she could indeed know it from the letters, or her parents might have been careful not to leave that in, in case someone else might get a hold of the letters. Whatever you think will work best.

@Alyssa: What if I created a letter or two for you to have? There could be clues, but no current knowledge of who he is. That might be an interesting way to create his character.

Yes, that sounds like a great idea!

Ok here's my elf cleric (no archetype). I think the crunch is done, just need to write up his backstory.

I believe I'm ready.

@Alyssa: I PM'd you a picture of the letter that I built on Inkscape. If a document would be better, let me know.

@Sethiel: Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for backstory. If you need anything from me, I'm off today and this weekend, so I'll be pretty quick to respond to questions.

@Tiff: Thanks for all the NPCs! I'll add them to my list and start thinking about how to use them.

@GM - that looks great.

Given that Brevoy takes a lot of inspiration from Westeros, I see House Lebeda as kind of similar to House Tyrell. They are wealthy (though from trade rather than agriculture) but not the most powerful, and in my conception are at least somewhat more Good-leaning than either the current rulers (Surtova/Lannister) or the prior ones (Rogarvia/Targaryen). Although of course no House in Brevoy churns out many paladins, and even the Good members are "flexible."

Varrus's parents arranged his betrothal to Akilina a few years back. After the drama with Lander Lebeda, the Surtovas placed great pressure on Poul Orlovsky to break it off, which he did reluctantly. Varrus and Akilina liked each other well enough but do recognize that these arrangements are political and such things do happen. Even so, both are annoyed at the machinations of House Surtova and its efforts to keep their Houses apart. The engagement is off for now, but Akilina has not been betrothed to anyone else.

Should Varrus develop a name for himself in the Stolen Lands, Poul Orlovksy may be persuaded to reinstate the betrothal - which would no doubt be seen as a slight by the Surtovas.

@GM: do the NPC’s you want need to come from Brevoy? Sethiel will be from nearby Mendev, so the one I have in mind would be there, although I could pretty easily work in one from Brevoy.

@Sethiel: No, they certainly don't have to. I'm fine with NPCs from other places as well.

@Varrus: That's sort of how I envisioned them as well. I'd also set them up as a bit slippery and interested in being on the winning side of any conflicts, given that they're Rostlandic but more than willing to ally with the Surtovas, at least prior to this drama.

@Tiff: Thanks for all the NPCs! I'll add them to my list and start thinking about how to use them.

Hilarious, if you want to see the PCs that inspired them they are here and here. But please feel free to do whatever you want with them.

@GM: I saw the letter, and I think it's perfect! Don't worry about making a document, the picture works fine. Is there anything you would like me to add or detail further?

I'll try to have the finishing touch on the character build tonight, as well as add a bit about Nadyra's (the eidolon) appearance and personality as well.

@Alyssa: I don't think I need anything else unless you want to add more. Some eidolon stuff would be nice, but other than that, we're good!

So how much engaging in Brevoy's politics are you interested in doing? I can have all that mostly be background, or it can be a focal point of the campaign. It's really up to you all.

@GM - I would be interested in the Brevoy politics as an occasional part of the game. Not entirely focal, but there when appropriate.

@All - and I thought I was taking a huge gamble by only putting a 12 into Con.
The cleric has 8 and the summoner has 10... we will want to avoid fights whenever we can, I think. Or expect some turnover.

We are a 4-person party in what is a frequently outdoors AP - which means we will have very limited ability to force the enemies to attack a particular hard target, if we had one, which we don't. Well, maybe the Eidolon. But even then, as I said, 4 PCs and open spaces makes it hard to have a real front line.

@All: The Con could be an issue, yes, but this AP also has a lot of "15 minute adventuring day" time, where all the PCs' power can get used on one or two encounters. We'll have to see how it goes and then decide what, if any, adjustments need to happen, unless someone wants to tweak their character before we start.

Ok I think I'm done. The NPC who means the most to Sethiel is Father Carian in Brevoy, his longtime friend and (until recently) superior in the Iomedaean church.

Yep I'm the hardest target with AC 19 after mage armor and 11 hp. But we have a summoner so I expect we'll have more bodies than 4. I suppose I could lower my Cha by 1 and get my Con up to 14 after Physical Enhancement, but it felt too much to have two 7s. I don't mind doing so if you think it's necessary.

We also have a DPR problem. I won't have decent damage output until 3rd level, and probably not even then.

Yeah, we should have at least 5 for most combats - either my eidolon or something from the Summon Nature Ally list via the SNA abilty. Right now the Eiodolon gets 19 AC as well with mage armor, and 11 hp, if she also gets max hp for her first HD.