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I believe that everyone now has a new set of questions, critiques, and concerns in their inbox. If you do not, please message me. I decided to send those whom I had no questions for messages intuiting as much, so everyone should at least have received that.

I definitely have more experience than most GMs with higher-level games, but only rarely do I make my games quite this expansive in terms of character creation guidelines unless I personally know the players.

I will freely admit this is hard work, especially since I unwisely set the closing date near the end of the semester and, as a teacher, that is one of the worst times to commit to anything.

But all that is fine. I have learned over the years that, to win big, you have to play big and that holds doubly true in Pathfinder. Basic CRB-only games can be fun at times, but real fulfillment is had by pushing the envelope both in mechanics and concept.

Exposition aside, there has been another round of messages sent out. I should have about five more sent out over the next twenty or so minutes.

I've finished roughly half of the submissions. I started with those less than four pages in length and went onwards, so some of my more arduous re-examinations are yet to come. Tomorrow is a faculty off-day and I hope that I can finish this recruitment by tomorrow night.

Some of you have questions waiting in your inboxes. Others will likely receive some shortly requesting clarifications, more information, and what have you. Be sure to check your inbox every so often to ensure your character gets their fair shake!

The recruitment is officially closed!

I meant to post at midnight mentioning that the recruitment was now closed, but prepping for the end-of-semester grading crunch saw me preoccupied. I was trying to go ahead and get that out of the way so it doesn't impede any of my upcoming projects: this game, another campaign I will be working on in the coming month, two JRPG playthroughs that have been on the backburner for a while now, a replay of Borderlands the Handsome Collection in anticipation of Borderlands 3, the dissection of Lovecraft's works for hidden symbolisms and metaphors that I can use to both spice up next semester's class and get them thinking outside the box, and what have you. It bears noting that the 20th was the deadline for submissions, though not necessarily selections.

I will be spending the next day or so reverse-engineering the newer submissions, re-checking the older submissions, messaging people for clarifications on things that look off, and what have you. There is a good bit of work left to do, given recent submissions and my own nature to double-check what I have already checked. I am therefore setting a tentative one or two day deadline before I post my selections. I would suggest looking out for a post no sooner than tomorrow afternoon.

I have been working on running simulations of potential party combinations and, so far, there are few projected issues with any combination that cannot be easily solved. There have been a few tweaks made already to some of the content, but nothing major.

I am extending the deadline to the 20th as a result of having been absent for these last few days testing party models against the baseline adventure.

@gyrfalcon: Glad to hear it!

@Monkeygod: The recruitment deadline has been extended due to my absence. Here's hoping that you are recuperating well and that you will be back soon.

@Almonihah: I have my own homebrew version of the Star Ball item. It's not very complex, but it doesn't have to be. Would you like to see it?

I was indeed curious about the particulars of the Day of Fire. Fantastical apocalypses are something of a fascination of mine. Just how open are you with me forming details on the pre-Day of Fire world and the nature of the apocalypse itself? I am asking for future reference.

@Teiidae: No harm, no foul!

@Rednal: I like those additional details on Mina! They do give me a few ideas for potentially amusing elements to place in the campaign from time to time.

@Belltrap: It's never too late to post a character until I lay out the selections in my final post in this recruitment.

Vital Strike, if my assumptions are correct, only applies to the first attack in a Barrage.

Martial Traditions replace all weapon proficiencies granted by virtue of a class. Gestalt is no exception in that regards.

Characters are not required to belong to Parities in order to belong to the Wardens.

@Slyness: An inversion of the fire and brimstone gun-priest trope that later finds itself on the road to gun-priest mode? That seems quite nifty!

@Jereru: Based on your description of the shenanigans you described, Ulysses would have probably been fun to feature in a game.

@WarDragon: You still have five days to complete a character, so hopefully that will be enough.

Restless Flame looks great. Just a touch of naivete despite being a house-sized dragon of blazing power, a being with an instinctual fascination with the Radia, and what have you.

Are your ideas for the Outer Gods worshiped by Stalker in the Outer Darkness tied to the cursed and sealed area in the middle of the Isles or are they more of the traditional sort? Moreover, is he one of the Undragons now?

Make as many characters as you like. I mentioned upthread that people can submit multiple characters.

@Almonihah: Very nice! Was the Day of Fire a nuclear apocalypse or something more magical? Regardless, I have thought on your character's unique 'hungers' and I have some ideas on how it could be solved. I like how it makes him seem more like the traditional yokai descriptions.

I would rule that Kyubi Paragon qualifies for Fox Magic in place of Fox Tail feats with class abilities given that the Zombie Sky Press version of Kitsune has that for free.

@River of Sticks: Skill and general INT checks only. Anything else would require a much healthier GP investment. That bonus is still going to be be very useful, given how many Knowledge checks will be in the game that I will place in spoilers around every corner and how many puzzles you will get hints for based on your INT check results. I do like to run puzzles in games on occasion and they tend to be very old-school.

The Fastidiousness item is fine. Your Bracers of Longarm is undercosted based on the Longarm Bracers, which have drawbacks and are 400 GP more expensive. The price difference wouldn't be as big of a deal, but it's strictly better for less GP than a comparable item. I am willing to work on it with you though. Would you like to discuss it here or through messages?

If you don't make it back in time when the due date on the recruitment is, I can wait about three days after since I was absent about that long.

@Teiidae: I like the Mutant template, but I have a strict no-template rule unless it is gained through a class ability or the proper Parity's feat chain.

@gyrfalcon: The circlet you proposed would only apply to skill and general INT checks only. Anything else would require a much healthier GP investment. That bonus is still going to be be very useful, given how many Knowledge checks will be in the game that I will place in spoilers around every corner and how many puzzles you will get hints for based on your INT check results. I do like to run puzzles in games on occasion and they tend to be very old-school.

I have a standard procedure with gamemastering games that have potentially huge variances in PC capabilities. The first five encounters of a game are designed to test certain thresholds that the party can handle. If the party can handle all of them, then I won't really have to make any alterations. If the party struggles through, plot devices ensure the encounters do not get too lethal and I work out what is giving them trouble, why, and change up appropriate encounters or give buffs/items to accommodate.

If one or more party members clearly lag behind another in general performance to a strong degree, I take a similar approach. If a character is getting hit literally every time and it's because I needed creatures that could hit the AC of other characters, I usually place an item or give a quest reward that helps out with their defensive capabilities, possibly a cloak made of dreamstuff that makes the wearer concealment as sort of an artificial effective AC bonus. If the same scenario crops up with a character being unable to hit because of encounter adjustments, I might give them a weapon that can phase through certain types of armor in a way similar to Brilliant Energy or I might just give them a weapon forged completely out of elemental energy that hits touch AC, but only deals elemental damage, in the next GM-seeded reward pool.

When you have played the 3.P system as much as I have, you find workarounds for balance and you know to test capabilities early so you can balance the party through items, story-granted buffs, and what have you. One PC back in the D&D 3.5 days built a damage-based DEX Fighter and was upset that he was outclassed even by the healbot Cleric of the party in terms of damage. So he got a katana later on that was not only strong enough to keep up with the Rogue's damage, which was very high, but also enabled him to do a ranged vacuum slash so he was not just standing there during ranged encounters or having to sink in precious gold to have a viable ranged weapon.

@Almonihah: That's a great concept! Have you heard of Zombie Sky Press's 'The Faerie Ring: Along the Twisted Way Player's Guide'? It has an alternate Kitsune that is very much like you describe, only not requiring as much reworking. They have a lot of cool new rules, such as Fox Magic Feats that are exclusive to them and are contingent on their naturally-granted and increasing number of tails, a Star Ball item that can be enchanted as both weapon and armor that can also fuse with them, and Tail Ofuda for divine casters.

Extreme Alteration is allowed. Size Mastery is allowed, but contingent on the character actually being 15th level in addition to having a caster level of fifteen. That means that Size Mastery cannot be taken now, but it will be available in three levels.

@Josh.Ingle: I know which secret boss you are discussing. My best advice to you is fight against it like an actual Dark Souls boss rather than a Sekiro boss. Dodges and "run dodges" are both vital to surviving that fight. Be aware that each phase adds new stuff to watch out for. Phase two is where it starts to get dangerous because he gets a very fast charge attacks, a long-distance slam that creates a wave of fire that can kill you in seconds, and a volley of fiery souls that can kill you in just a few kits. Most of his attacks can technically be deflected but, since fire damage chunks through guards and deflects, it's a poor idea to do so during the fight.

Did you know that there is a secret boss fight with a rather large simian friend of yours who has trouble keeping his head? Or that there is a rather fishy puzzle "boss" in the Fountainhead Palace? All of the info should be on Fextralife by now in case you want to get all of those done this playthrough.

If you have not done so, I encourage you to look up all the apparition enemies that secretly appear after certain triggers are met, because they carry some good loot. One drops a material used to make a whistle that causes heavy posture damage and a short stun to apparitions and even stuns the secret boss you mentioned up to three times within the fight similar to the Music Box item during the Father Gascoine fight in Bloodborne.

@Rednal: I agree with your design philosophy on characters. I like to build realistic characters, at least in regards to their skills, rather than make a statistical god geared towards dungeon crawling. Granted, my characters usually are powerful, but not because I set out to make them that way. It's a more natural process.

I am really liking the idea of Mina.

@Slyness: Animal Lord is fine so long as you don't select something with extremely high ability scores like the Tyrannosaurus. Sublime is not allowed because it is objectively better than the half-outsider templates by a wide margin.

I don't have an issue with the Gunsmithing feat turning into Gun Training. Take it if you wish. DEX to damage isn't going to break the game considering the ability score cap in place.

@gyrfalcon: I would be willing to allow that custom item. The item it would be based on is 4,500 GP and provides that bonus to seven core skills, not counting any 3PP skills that is. That means that it would be roughly 643 GP per skill buffed. There are fifteen core INT skills. That means, if we go by the standard pricing for the item it is based on and extrapolate that with the new item's abilities, it would cost 9,645 GP. I hate numbers like that when purchasing gear, so round it down to 9,600 GP.

@Jereru: Thundercats ho, I know what that is!

@Josh.Ingle: There are a few secret bosses, two of which are considered actual bosses and several of which are more minibosses like Nine Spears and Snake Eyes. I know about all of it. Let me ask, without spoiling too much for others, does it involve flame or monkeys?

@Yaksha91: That would be a metal scene, wouldn't it?

@Rednal: That is quite a diverse character! Trying to decide between a super Gambit girl or the most moe walking nuclear warhead ever is probably going to be difficult.

Ways to break Perform (Dance)? I can think of at least three. One allows a PC to make a check in place of AC. Another adds the check to Sneak Attack damage. And the last allows one to avoid any effect by succeeding at a seemingly-high DC that is, in actuality, fairly easy to hit. You can break the game with almost anything if your book pool is deep enough, in my experience. I'm not too worried about it though, since I don't see the options I mentioned in your statblock.

@Slyness: The Becoming Feats are legal, but you do have to belong to the Covenant and you will need to clear the template with me. I will agree that most Parity-exclusive content is quite good and that's because a PC has to be an actual member to acquire it. Being a member is a two-way street though and Parities often ask their members to undertake various tasks for them.

@Yaksha91: That's fine. I just wanted to make sure that was understood beforehand and, since it is, I don't have a problem with it.

I will admit, the idea of someone betraying a god of treachery by being trustworthy to the people who would suffer the most from his betrayal is interesting. It also poses a question: is that act of treachery something that would be smiled or frowned upon?

@Rednal: With these sorts of characters you put forth, I feel you and I are going to get along great!

I like Mina roughly as much as your original submission. They both have a level of complexity and uniqueness that should be well-suited to the campaign.

Agent of Accrual is cleared for use with Prestigious.

@Josh.Ingle: You're a Sekiro fan as well? I know my usual gaming group on Discord has been borderline obsessed with it and I, myself, am quite fond of it.

I wouldn't have too much of a problem with incorporating gadgets into a Clockwork Prosthesis.

@gyrfalcon: Clara is every bit as amazing as I was hoping she would be! I won't even pretend to not be biased towards Gnomes, but she goes above and beyond.

1. Presence of Mind is cleared.

2. Just assume that Clara acquired those when 'talking shop' with others over the years.

3. That is a good question. Let's just say a month's worth of potions? Having 240 potions just laying around seems very gnomish and seems roughly in line with typical party acquisition/expenditure rates with consumables, assuming a years-long timeline, considering that potions do not go bad and there are inevitably some left over.

@Almonihah: Custom races are banned. I do have the old Savage Species book, which has Pseudodragons as a playable race. I could retool that into a 'racial paragon' class and make Pathfinder-appropriate additions and changes to it.

@River of Sticks: That build is quite interesting. Through it, I'm getting a more defined idea of her methodology and her personality in general. Seeing one's preferred tools for handling problems is a good insight into their personality.

@Yaksha91: Count Ranalc is certainly an interesting choice for a patron. My only request is that you remember the stipulation under alignment. People can be whatever alignment and hold whatever loyalties they wish, but problematic behavior in-game that threatens the campaign will draw the attention of the Ruined One to the player. That warning out of the way, I will confess to liking the character quite a bit.

@Almonihah: It is not too late to work on a character for this game. My starting deadline of April 16th is a whole twelve days away. I would not be adverse to extending it a few days, if necessary, since I was absent for roughly three days during that period.

What do you have in mind?

@Rednal: I have an NPC in Hyraeatan that legitimately uses the lore for Sparkle Princess. It was too Planescapey to not add.

@Josh.Ingle: Gonzo is fun that way. I am hoping for a Gonzo 3 at some point.

@Alias ad Tempus: Monks actually do not have to be lawful. There are a few archetypes that change alignment requirements. Clerics also have an archetype that allows them to differ vastly from their deity's normal alignment spectrum.

You can select Horrifically Overpowered Feats, pending my approval of the particular feat, in place of your first Mythic Path Ability. Considering that the next opportunity to do so is not until Mythic Tier 5 and I am not allowing characters to take HOFs normally, the decision on which one to take should be made carefully.

@Monkeygod and River of Sticks: The way I interpret Prestigious is that +X to Existing Class only increases the strength of existing spells/powers and does not grant spell/power levels or uses. As I mentioned in my other reply, it still caps at class level. I made this concession for those who want to dip a few levels for select spells, since it's hard for those spells to stay competitive without that concession.

@Yaksha91: The Nightblade, and all supplemental material from the book it belongs to, is allowed.

@River of Sticks: That is a good question about Radiant Breakthrough. The wording is vague enough to allow for one to look at it in multiple ways. I might check with the authors and see what they say.

@Rednal: The basic idea behind Sparkle Princesses is pretty gruesome when you really look at it, isn't it? Look at some of those abilities.

All that talk of teaching people with explosions reminded me, for whatever reason, of Megumin from KonoSuba.

@Teiidae: Magic and psionics are considered separate.

@Josh.Ingle: As much as I love my unrealistic fantasy tropes, realism is certainly something I can appreciate.

@River of Sticks: Great Mind is fine for Prestigious. Level/HD is the cap on one's 'base' casting/manifesting level based on actual level. So no 30th level manifesting.

I have played Shin Megami Tensei games and absolutely had the characterization of Law in most of them. I am a very orderly person in real life and recognize that order is necessary for everything to function properly. Misconstructions of order in media is far too overplayed and it bleeds into how so many people characterize lawful characters, so it is nice to see a lawful character who is more realistic.

There is no Trait that gives a +2 to Veilweaver Level up to HD for the purposes of effect strength, but I will allow one since similar things exist for both casting and manifesting. Name it Supernal Weaver and make a note of (GM-Made) beside of it in your statblock should you choose to use it.

@Monkeygod: River of Sticks was spot-on in his breakdown of how it works stacking enhancements.

If you start in a Parity, you are at the bottom of the rung with ranks. Some of the later ranks have some juicy benefits that it would not be fair just giving away.

@Simeon: Placeholder aliases are fine as long as you transfer if selected.

Boxcar Joe was an interesting read! I like how he is so normal in Hyraeatan that his antics seem all the more alien, given how the city holds gods, angels, demons, archmages, and even a Great Old One.

@Slyness: Firearms are considered at the maximum development level. That means that not only are Revolvers and other advanced firearms available, but they are much cheaper. The reason for this in-game is because Hyraeatan is connected to all worlds and realities through the Lattice and that includes more modern worlds like World War 2 Earth. I think my Golarion-to-Earth year comparisons and the time since Reign of Winter means that, canonically, Earth is into the early years of World War 2, but I could be wrong.

@Alias ad Tempus: 1. The characters can be veteran Wardens or newbloods. Wardens are killed in the line of action sometimes and some groups of Wardens break apart for other reasons.

2.Portals are the most common way to get into the City of Seven Seraphs. Voidships, walking the Lattice, and high-level teleportation magic are all also means to reach the city.

Interesting character! Do you have an idea on the build yet?

@‘Eκάτη: Thank you! Should you change your mind, the recruitment is open to you.

@gyrfalcon: My ruling on ability scores is that, disregarding temporary effects, one's stats can only reach 30. That means stats will only reach roughly 36 with a major buff from a Mutagen, Rage, or what have you.

I would be fine with substituting an Animal Companion option for Druidic Herbalism since that is what it replaces. Make the appropriate changes from Druid Spells to Alchemist Formulae and swap the ability score from WIS to INT.

@Teiidae: I try to interject humor into things occasionally. Sometimes it backfires and sometimes it makes me "that girl who's just weird", but that's my thing.

I would rule that Oracles would lose access to their Mystery and everything surrounding it and that is what would be replaced. Because the swap is more extensive than just Domains or Animal Companions, there would have to be some limiting factors to prevent making your character too flexible. Perhaps you don't get to pick the Revelations, even if the deity is willing to grant power from his divine portfolio? It would fit thematically since you pray for the deity's blessings, but the deity is free to grant whatever they feel is a blessing. It would also bring up a recurring theme in religions with Chosen Ones: the mysterious blessing that the main character questions until it suddenly becomes useful.

@gyrfalcon: I believe that rule interaction with Extracts can work. The two individual effects of that interaction are not mutually-exclusive, per se, since they alter different components of how Extracts work. One prevents you from targeting other creatures, but one allows you to condense personal Extracts into a shareable form. So assume yes.

@Josh.Ingle: In a planar game, theatrics are the name of the game. Mysterious prophets, remorseful antiheroes, over-the-top Mary Sue heroes, madcap agents of rainbow-colored chaos, and that one poor, clueless sod in over his head are all overblown theatrical tropes, but they have their place in planar games. Look at the old Planescape setting, or even Paizo's own planar setting, and you'll find tropes galore.

So his mother wanted only the best for him? The plot thickens and I sense the hints of a tragic past all her own.

@JonGarrett: Understandable. I sometimes type stream-of-thought and, after looking at it, I wonder how I could make some of the mistakes I do. If it counts for anything, I'm a fan of your character.

I wouldn't worry as much about numerical mistakes. We all make mistakes in stat-blocks and no one should realistically fault you for a few numbers being off, considering all of the components of a high-level character. I might let you know a number or three is off, but I won't let it drag down your character when it comes to making my decision.

@Rednal: So... magical girl teacher/herald shenanigans? I can honestly and unironically say that I do not hate it and might actually love the concept. That might say a lot about me.

@Seranov: Understood. He definitely stands on his own.

@Rednal: Just offering because of your musings. I took the time to read her profile after I replied. It seems you have a knack for making characters appropriately anime and I say that as a good thing.

@Monkeygod: Yes, I will be accepting six players for flavor reasons tied to numerology. The original Wardens were six in number and, counting their handler, each Warden cell numbers seven. This campaign will have a "Rule of Seven" theme just like Planescape had the "Rule of Three". Most truly auspicious things come in groups of seven. Seven Seraphs, Seven Parities of Light, Seven Parities of Darkness, seven major figures tied to Hyraeatan, seven races iconic to Hyraeatan, et cetera.

@JonGarrett: Another compulsive worrier in regards to character math? I feel your pain there, because I am very similar.

Between losing a huge reply due to my phone dying near the end of a reply while at work on Friday and being away from the keyboard yesterday, I have lost two days of posting. This is unacceptable, indeed unbefitting, behavior on my part and I apologize for keeping a few of you waiting two days for replies.

@gyrfalcon: If you are happy with the simple stat change to represent Tinker Gnomes, then I am okay with that. I was willing to allow something more in-depth to represent their old stats, but I don't mind that simple change either.

I would rule that Wild Magic effects on Extracts would effect the imbiber, yes. So someone that rolled for an explosive cloud of butterflies appearing out of nowhere would likely vomit them forth. Zagyg would be pleased.

I would rule that Weapon Attunement would work for Bombs, but you're limited in what weapon qualities you can take. You could not, for instance, have Vorpal Bombs. Does that seem fair?

@River of Sticks: You absolutely may take more Pulse Feats, assuming you qualify for them. Everyone just gets a freebie.

Can you list what page the Great Mind PrC is on? I am having difficulty locating it to assess whether it would be a fit for Prestigious.

I was fond of Azuriel's basic premise and I am not disappointed at all with her progression. Her whole 'Knight of Order' vibe really clicks with me because of how realistically she depicts it. She's not depicted as a soulless instrument of Law and I like that she has more depth to her personality than her concept would suggest.

@JonGarrett: You definitely were not exaggerating when you said that character was a novel unto itself! That statblock, even without full descriptions, is massive and honestly looks like it belongs on one of my NPC pages because of how complex it is. That's not even getting into the fact that you even detailed her vocal range. Consider me impressed!

@Jereru: The Speed of Light choice makes me think of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. "Nothing personal, kid." Anime Teleport Slash

Your question of language is one with a great deal. Common, Celestial, Infernal, and the four elemental languages would be the most common ones. Why would "Common", which should be so different, be so similar to other variants of it? I am going to go with the Mass Effect answer of, "because reasons", those reasons being that the Fade visited an uncountable number of planes and spread their language with the still-young races. Each plane evolved it into a number of dialects, but they're remarkably similar at the root. This also ties into the old Planescape trope of recurrences, which is something I am fond of in planar games.

I like the changes you made. They solidify and expand your character in interesting ways.

@Teiidae: You would be considered a Living Saint-Herald (M1-T).

What were you asking about specifically for the Living Saint Mythic Path in regards to how it works with Oracles?

Your character is intriguing. Sahuagin God-King is the vibe I am getting from reading him. I would make a "Can a God-King bleed?" joke, but Sahuagin and blood tend to not mix well! Or is it that they mix too well?

@Rednal: I will allow people to submit multiple characters.

@YoricksRequiem: Zika is interesting! I really like how she captures the weird and often contradictory nature of the planes. She very much feels like something you would find in Hyraeatan and the fact that you managed to nail that feeling as spot-on as you did is quite impressive.

I also think you and JonGarrett are currently competing for the Most Lengthy Statblock Award(tm) and I am hard-pressed finding errors. It's going to be interesting deconstructing you two's characters to make sure the math checks out.

@Seranov: You may not substitute the Pseudogestalt for a Trinity Angel. You can take it normally though. It does not qualify for Prestigious for the same reason that a Mythic Theurge or Cerebramancer does not qualify: it gives you the large chunk of several classes at once.

@Josh.Ingle: Great take on the redeemed villain! I will admit to being a fan of tragedy in theater and his backstory both showcases and is set up for quite a lot of it. I must profess to being curious about how he would handle his mother's schemes to repay his betrayal of the Mantis. Would he try to avoid it? Would he seek justice for all his mother has done, both to him and to others? Would he try to reason with her despite, from what I gather, the cruelties she visited on him when she raised him and give her a second chance like he was given?

@Simeon: You cannot swap out a Pulse Feat for regular one. But, since you are getting it for free, you do not have to meet the prerequisites unless another Pulse Feat is listed. Not specifying that was an error on my part, sad to say.

@Monkeygod: I knew how it works. I was nonplussed as to what you were asking, but it's now clear to me now. Want to discuss this here or through the inbox?

@gyrfalcon: 1. You can use basically any god printed in a Pathfinder or D&D 3.5 book. Creation consists of multiple multiverses and each has it's own set of gods. Some are recurring elements, such as Asmodeus, a version of which seems to be in almost every Great Wheel's version of Hell.

2. I would be fine with working with you on a Tinker Gnome conversion. I have a soft spot for them and I will admit to being biased, seeing as how I mained a Gnome Holy Priest in World of Warcraft for years and one of my favorite characters in Pathfinder was a Gnome Paladin.

Clara looks amazing so far even with that small framework.

@Jereru: The Physical Paragon and Mental Paragon HOFs ignore the cutting the point buy in half stipulation since it is not gained at level one. I am not really concerned about someone having a near-perfect (i.e. base of 18) array of ability scores. Having all good ability scores is vastly less broken than having one or two pumped to extreme limits.

I wouldn't worry too much about including the feat in your backstory.

There are several ways to get Fire Resistance without items. There are archetypes, classes, a handful of feats, and what have you. Do you have any idea what particular way you are looking to acquire said resistance?

@Monkeygod: Are you asking if you or I can create relatives for the purposes of your Mythic Path?

@River of Sticks: Animus Adept is fine for Prestigious. As per Prestigious, you do not have to meet the prerequisites.

For the purposes of Silhouette and how it interacts with Favored, I would rule that the effect lasts indefinitely or, rather, as long as you choose it to since there is no listed duration that I can see.

@Teiidae: Those are great tales. The Horror of Innsmouth, most of the Dreamlands stories, and the King in Yellow are my personal favorites. Not all of them are by Lovecraft, per se, but many of my favorites were at least by his contemporaries that helped build onto the overarching Mythos.

Xoc Utal is fine for Prestigious. I am curious how you are going to work around your Shark Companion's aquatic nature, but it should prove interesting.

@Jereru: You can choose the personality of your Telesma.

Gabriel looks nice at first glance and not just in the literal way. Seems quite solid so far.

@Teiidae: Interesting. I'm quite enamored with things derived from Lovecraft's work, so this should prove a good read.

For combining Psicrystal and Telesma, use the higher stat when it comes to ability scores, give it both sets of abilities, and it gets the free archetype.

Don't feel bad, my old Paladin was barely literate and his celestial rhinoceros mount was smarter than him. Thumper tried to not flaunt it too much to poor Sir Daveros.

Healing Factor is allowed as a HOF. Prestigious is allowed, albeit contingent on the prestige class you are taking with it. Things like the Mystic Theurge are not allowed and some ultra high-powered prestige classes with huge lists of requirements are not allowed either. Ask first if you go with Prestigious.

@River of Sticks: Gestalt is banned as a HOF, as is Heroic Grace. Favored is allowed. Prestigious is allowed, albeit contingent on the prestige class you are taking with it. Things like the Mystic Theurge are not allowed and some ultra high-powered prestige classes with huge lists of requirements are not allowed either. Ask first if you go with Prestigious.

Mythic Horrifically Overpowered Feats are not allowed until Mythic Tier 5. At that point, you can select one that is subject to approval as a replacement for your 5th tier Path Ability. That isn't going to be until later down the road though.

@Monkeygod: You are correct.

Magic User is not allowed for the same reasons Gestalt is banned since spells are the primary class feature of most fullcasters and constitute probably 75-90% of the class's utility and overall power.

@Josh.Ingle: Then consider the houserule on Dark Elementalist to be in place for your character.

Physical Paragon is one of the valid HOF.

@dwilhelmi: Go First is okay as a HOF. Unflappable is okay as a HOF, but it does not protect against being made Flat-Footed by a character with a Sneak Attack of a higher Mythic Tier.

@Jereru: Don't sell yourself short! Your idea may be the most bomb idea since a Goblin decided to light himself on fire after taking a dry bath in that smelly black powder once you get it written up.

@Monkeygod: You may have heard that from Paladin. I can't seem to find it on here, but I remember it in my notes and thought I had posted it. You can trade a single Mythic Path Ability for a Horrifically Overpowered Feat. I can flat deny anything that is too overpowered though, which is only about 1/4 to 1/3 of the Horrifically Overpowered Feats out there, oddly enough.

@Jereru: Advanced Talents are allowed for Spheres, but some abilities may work differently because a minor handful have some power level issues.

@Rednal: You can take certain weapon feats for rays, so I would be fine with ruling that sniping works with Nuclear Blasts. In fact, unless I am mistaken, there is a precedent with sniping working with Kinetic Blasts and those are even less weapon-like, if only slightly.

I would rule that Atomic Adepts are able to trade in proficiencies for a martial tradition.

@Teiidae: A mutant warrior-priest, you say? Are we talking Fallout mutants, HP Lovecraft squidface mutants, or something else entirely? Interested in seeing what way the theme flows.

One may have their Telesma and Psicrystal count as one being because, honestly, they are very close in theme and execution and it makes sense.

@Josh.Ingle: I would rule that Hamatulatsu's piercing damage alteration does allow one to qualify for things that rely on it.

Dark Elementalist outright replaces those powers, so an ex-Dark Elementalist would not regain them, as they never had them in the first place. I imagine that is to prevent people changing alignments to fundamentally change how their character works on a whim. I might be willing to consider a gentleman's agreement that rules it does give you replacements in exchange for your word on not swapping constantly to "game the system".

Smash From the Air makes no special inclusion for increased reach to my knowledge, even in the errata, so I am ruling there is no interaction with increased reach.

@River of Sticks: Azuriel looks quite interesting. I look forward to seeing more about her.

@Seranov: I know how that is with character backgrounds taking on a life of their own. My last pet concept which, sadly, went unused had a huge background around ten pages in Microsoft Word. And that's not even counting how long her statblock was, which was a few more pages given that she was 11th level tristalt.

I'm not even going to lie, I really like Tarov Boulderfist. The no-nonsense Dwarf is one of my favorite fantasy archetypes and he seems to uphold most of it while being unique enough to stand as his own character.

@Dwilhelmi: I don't see too big on an issue with flavoring your Telesma as floating on your person. It won't actually count as an Ioun Stone though, because a Telesma is more powerful than all but the Mother Stone, the first Ioun Stone whose existence within the game I will not confirm or deny.

@JonGarrett: The statblock is fifteen pages?! If so, then you have actually beat my record of eleven and that is no small feat.

@ElegantlyWasted: The link is broke, but I will allow the trait.

Radiant Mercy is just a screen name of my own making. I do realize that it can mean many things to many people, but that's more of a retroactive realization than anything I had planned.

@Josh.Ingle: I have indeed had the problem of switching concepts mid-recruitment. In one Discord game, I even switched characters mid-game through some work with a GM involving my character giving in to the corruption of his demonic sword and his young apprentice, who was terrible with swords, slaying him with her recently-awakened magic.

@Slyness: A telesma and familiar cannot be the same creature. You might have your telesma embedded into your familiar, but they cannot be the same.

@River of Sticks: Pact Magic would be allowed.

@Jereru: Depends on what Advanced Talents you are talking about. That is, unfortunately, a very commonly-used name for mechanics in everything between Spheres, class abilities, alternate rules, and what have you.

I am planning on adding a small write-up of each of the Parities in the campaign information tab.

There are two spoilers in campaign information with some useful information about the setting. One is a massive wall of text that serves as the summary of important parts about the city's history. It may not look short, but it was several pages pared down into that. The other is a short summary of each district. I will add a few more tomorrow.

@Seranov: So a spin on the traditional Dwarven Defender? Sounds interesting.

@JobGarrett: That's certainly a combination I haven't seen before. I'm interested in seeing where you take that concept.

@Rednal: Are you looking for suggestions? I have a few ideas, depending on what your ultimate goal is for the character and the theme you want. Assuming I am not overstepping with my offer, that is.

I'm about to go type up the setting information that people will need to get a feel for the city. It should only be a few paragraphs of summary, but hopefully it will help.

If I do not bold names when replying, assume that I am on my phone or are otherwise pressed for time.

@Jereru: 1. Nothing to do really. Akhashic is a whole different ballgame than what is covered by the Archmage Path. There are some mythic paths out there that do cover akhashic material though.

2. I see you already got an answer, but just letting you know that I saw the question.

@Monkeygod: You may take the Planar Feats from the Suzerain Continuum book.

No templates or custom races. My experiences with custom races has been rocky and templates are far too varied in power-to-CR to really account for.

@CoeusFreeze: Interesting that this drew the attention of one of those involved on the project!

To answer your question, the game will be play-by-post. The only other types of games that I run are face-to-face.

@Josh.Ingle: You have a Pulse Pool, but are not considered a Demigod yet. I say yet because there is a neat element in City of Seven Seraphs known as Ascension.

@Simeon: You were in the DMC interest check, right? I thought I recognized your avatar and screen name.

@Seranov: *INTEREST INTENSIFIES*?

@Ictoo: There is no player's guide, but I am going to be adding some setting information into the campaign information tab in the next few minutes.

There is no Hero's Lab extension for all of what I have in place. I can't answer to whether there is for some of it because I don't use it personally, but I am sure there is no place for a lot of the houserules that I made.

@YoricksRequiem: Veryx are spicy indeed. All of the new races are great though. Sagely spider people, inevitable-kin bearing kyton taint, magical fungus people, psychic jellyfish, shadow fey, and redeemed fiends encased in an organic mineral.

@Monkeygod: Good question! I believe a month would suffice. I had originally planned on the recruitment being two weeks, but decided that was not long enough for people to build such a complex character and have a decent backstory to boot.

Now that I have got the recruitment up, I will post the setting summary, general city layout, and timeline later.

@Monkeygod: If I'm being honest, I could have dropped it sooner. I wanted to wait until the book was officially out though so I could make sure there were no big changes and so people that wanted to get the book could do so and have time to look over it before creating a character.

@JonGarrett: I have that and would allow most of what's in that book. It's too late to edit it in now, but I also don't mind anything from Purple Duck Game's Porphyra line.

"When we first saw the Radia, we were certain we had slipped from Shadow into the Heavens.

- Forword written within the Codex of Infinite Planes

*Players do not have to have access to 'The City of Seven Seraphs' book to apply for or join this game. There is a wealth of information in the book and a large number of new races, archetypes, and other mechanical bits and bobs that players might benefit from if one is so inclined, but there is no overarching necessity for it.*

At long last, the Kickstarter for the City of Seven Seraphs has completed and I can post the campaign I have labored on since the alpha document's release!

In the City of Seven Seraphs, the city at the literal center of all realities, there exist individuals known as the Wardens. Whether adventurers, explorers, vagabonds, justicars, vigilantes, mercenaries, slaves, thrill-seekers, conscripts, or those with a death wish, one's past and reasons for joining the Wardens matters little. What does matter is the work that the Wardens do. They protect the city of Hyraeatan, undergo quests for august planar personages, stop planar threats, and work to chart the infinite expanses of the various multiverses. The PCs are all part of a cell of Wardens, traditionally composed of six individuals to mirror the original six heroes of the city, who work with a seventh that functions as a handler and agent of sorts. It is in this frame that the campaign is originally set, with PCs functioning as planar adventurers of sorts.

PCs can be from nearly any world imaginable. Other settings with a "planar hub" are not excluded from this because of what would be an overlapping theme. Think of the larger multiverse like the inner workings of a clock. There is a central gear that turns smaller gears, which turn even smaller gears. That central gear is Hyraeatan and the Tree of Forever. Other planar hubs like Sigil or Axis are like spokes in the cogs turned by that central gear, with each of that cog's teeth being planes. There are usually constants and variables in each Great Wheel. There are always six elemental planes, there is usually a figure named Asmodeus who rules and is imprisoned within a plane of torment, there is always a planar city touted as the 'center of the multiverse', et cetera.

This recruitment page will not feature any of the lore of the city unless players inquire about particular facets of it. That will have it's own dedicated section in the Campaign Info tab. There should be a wealth of summarized information for players to draw on when creating characters. That said, here are the character creation rules.

Character Creation Rules

Level: Pseudogestalt level 12, Mythic Tier 1. Pseudogestalt functions as gestalt in most respects, but players combine skill points per level from each of their classes and choose one side of their gestalt to gain stats from (BAB, saves, HD size, et cetera).

Ability Scores: 40-point buy. No score can be below 08 before racial modifiers and, with racial modifiers, can be no lower than 4. No score can be higher than 30 after all modifiers are in place at this stage in the game.

Content: Races and classes can be selected from any official Paizo publication. The following list of 3PP content is also permissible. The sole exception both of these is anything that grants Leadership or the equivalent since Leadership is banned. If there is something here that you do not see that is homebrew, like Dark Sun or Eberron's Pathfinder conversions, you may request their inclusion.

Alignment: Players can be of any alignment. No matter your alignment, always be respectful to other players and mindful of consequences. There is the assumption that every character will refrain from excessively disruptive behavior like lighting helpless street urchins on fire for laughs, trying to attack one of the Seven Seraphs, engaging in anything resembling PvP, and such. Those who engage in those will draw the attention of a spirit known as the Ruined One, who is drawn to the scent of certain types of souls and spirits them away for torment and consumption. Lesser infractions will just get you an in-character warning as your character spots the nightmarish creature. Greater transgressions that I feel threaten to completely disrupt the game or those who repeatedly cause lesser problems after it's first manifestation will have it manifest and drag the PC away to a fate worse than death.

- Automatic Bonus Progression: PCs will be using the Automatic Bonus Progression guidelines. Players who gain access to Animal Companions, Eidolons, Familiars, and Mounts will have their companion receive 1/2 of the character's level in ABP bonuses as well. For the purposes of companions, their hide counts as armor and their natural weapons count as weapons for the purposes of enhancements.

- Feats: Characters get a feat a level instead of every other level. Elephant in the Room feat tax rules are going to be used. Leadership is banned.

- Gold and Gear: 54,000 GP. You also gain a free outfit of your choice.

- Traits: Two Traits. You can take a Drawback for another, but only if it hinders your character.

- Telesma and Pulse Points: Your character, by virtue of being exceptional, was allowed to find one of the Telesma. Telesma are sentient crystals or gems made of pure Source energy. You gain one free Pulse Feat in addition to your Telesma. Ignore the book's fluff on these things, since they are tied to the Source, which is the literal source of all creation within the setting. Download the free Suzerain Continuum book for more information on Telesma and Pulse Points.

- Hero Points: You gain three non-replenishing Hero Points.

- Companions: Animal Companions, Familiars, and Mounts each gain a respective archetype from their type for free. Once their master reaches Mythic Tier 3, they will also gain a Simple Mythic Template.

Character Information

- Appearance: Describe how your character looks.

- Personality: Describe your character's personality. How do they behave? Do they have a moral code and, if so, what is it?

- Background: Do a Ten-Minute Background on your character. This should be sufficient for the bare minimum background.