I would like to play in a game like this, or would run it if we could all pass the GM ball around. What say you?
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The stars are right, for something terrible to happen.
4713, 21st of Kuthona, a great conjunction of heavenly bodies aligns with Golarion above the Ustalav’s famous Spiral Cromlech, on the outskirts of Lepidstadt. Joined by tourists, hobbyists and academics the world over, the residents of Lepidstadt prepare for the biggest festival of the year, on its longest night. Little do the revelers know, this celestial conjunction will awaken a horror that will threaten the sanity of all Lepidstadt. I'm running the Strange Aeons Adventure Path, but it doesn't come out until August, so in the meantime we'll be celebrating the Winter Solstice in Lepidstadt, dealing with tourists, watching the skies, and trying not to become gibbering piles of flesh as the ancient horrors awaken below! If you're interested in participating, please submit a character concept in this thread. You will have until January 11th, 12:01 A.M., Mountain Time, to submit your concepts. A decision will be made the following week, and the game will start in earnest on the 15th.
Reserved for players and observers to discuss various and sundry.
I noticed that the Hastur themed Way of the Wicked died, which is a sadness to me. As a diehard Carcosa Mythos adherent, I would like to rectify the lack of yellow colored madness and usher in the Strange Aeons Adventure Path! Before we get started though, I want to gauge the interest of the community in the version of Hastur you'd be interested in working with. The Lovecraftian (Derleth) tentacled Old One that looks like a giant flying face alien, sort of a yellow Cthulhu, trapped on a distant planet. This is the one Pathfinder seems to be the most interested in representing, and the one most popular in modern depictions. It's okay, but it doesn't have the same sort of dread that some of the depictions bring to the table. I'm sure the AP will flesh him out for us, but "Let's summon Hastur" lends itself to a one dimensional approach, something even the Chaosium "source material" has had a hard time dealing with. There's Chambers' original, on the surface a yellow version of Poe's Red Death, with a book instead of a plague. Compared to the tentacles and flying space monsters of the Lovecraftian Hastur, it's kind of boring. After picking apart the material though, I've come to this conclusion: the King in Yellow is a galaxy-touring draconic deity that is actively perusing people to make them a part of himself/his realm. Evil Dragon Groetus in Pathfinder terms. And finally, my personal favorite, a manifestation/personification of Entropy. This version came out of the old Delta Green rpg, a modern take on the Lovecraftian Mythos. With this, I feel like you get the best of both worlds. Entropy personified can't help but be an alien, uncaring god - it's inimical to all life after all. It wants to feed, and will keep on feeding until it exists alone, as the Last King. Obviously, neither of these two versions are trapped on some far off planet, though they could certainly still reside there; they are active forces in the cosmos. They're all the same concept actually, just at different levels of symbolic depth. What do you think? Is this something you'd be interested in? What's your Hastur preference?
Which of the armors available in the pathfinder material best represents this armor?
I'm putting together a character, as per title, that I'd like to eventually run. However, I don't quite know what to do for the class. As it stands now, the race will be teifling, using the rakshasa-spawn (+2 Dex/Cha -2 Wis) as a fill in for something descended from Leng. Whether I keep detect thoughts or switch it out for the bite attack is still in the air. The current contenders for class, and the ideas I'm considering are follows: Dark Tapestry Oracle: I'd like this a lot more if it wasn't so geared toward shape-shifting. Love the cloak ability though, even if the stealth bonus doesn't do that much for you (since the class doesn't have precision damage). Being able to contact the outer gods as a class ability also hits me in the right way. Oracle also has access to Symbol of Insanity, which is something I'm interested in. Disguise as a class skill. Abomination Psychic: The psychic magic is great. SR? Thank you. Great kit overall. Another bonus is that the psychic doesn't have to depend on their patron deity to get by. Disguise isn't a class skill. Doesn't get Symbol of Insanity. I've given the arcane 9th level casters a look, and I'm not feeling them for the concept. If anyone has any insight on developing the concept, your input would be much appreciated!
Unfortunately, I need to cancel my Pathfinder Campaign Setting and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game subscriptions. Thank you for your help.
Here's what I'm thinking: A round-robin style Pathfinder game set in FFXII's Ivalice. That's about as far as I've gotten with the idea. If enough people are interested, then I'll spend some time developing it further. If you're interested and have suggestions, or your own ideas, let's talk them over.
This thread is for everybody playing, watching, or curious about the Shadow of Ascanor games. All of the concepts that were submitted to the game impressed me to the point where I wanted to see each character's story unfold, so instead of leaving anyone out, I split them into two games. It's interesting to see how the groups have already started to differ in their approach to the game with their introductory posts, and I love both. I feel like I'm running a Vincent Price double feature!
And so, our dark story begins...
You know the story here.
This is for Cast B of Shadow of Ascanor.
And so, our dark story begins...
I would love to make a character that primarily utilizes the rope dart, and I can't decide which class to pursue toward that end. Functionally, I see the rope dart as a delivery system for other damage, facilitated through the ninja's sneak attack, the vexing daredevil's painful stare, deadly aim, ect... The rope dart's distracting quality looks nice at first, but RAW doesn't let ranged weapons take advantage of feint until Greater Feint is acquired, or one uses the mesmerist's misdirection trick-though multiple uses of misdirection in combat practically remove the move action benefit of Improved Feint. The vexing daredevil acquires Greater Feint at 6th level, while the ninja gains access at 8th through ninja trick. Now, I'm not sure if this is correct, but I read on the forum somewhere that you can't use a ranged weapon to fight defensively. I haven't found anything in the rules to substantiate that, blocking on the rope dart would be useless if it were true. Let's say that it's not true for now. Fighting defensively, plus blocking, plus Combat Expertise makes for a pretty impressive AC boost. The ninja seems to have a better time of using this, as they need to pick up Combat Expertise on their way to Improved Feint anyway. The vexing daredevil doesn't seem to want to take the feat at all however, as it's a very aggressive archetype and relies primarily on feinting/attacking/painful stare; not to mention one of their class abilities allows them to skip it entirely. Any thoughts or advice?
Questions, comments and the like concerning the campaign.
I invite you to consider joining us for a season or two in the Ustalavic county of Lozeri. Where mournful spirits wander the night and you had better get any extraneous bites and scratches checked by a healer...just in case. Ascanor will be accepting reservations until August 3rd, 12:01 A.M. M.T. Please appraise yourself of the amenities available here.
Hi. Just wanted to make sure that this order gets cancelled since I signed up for the subscription. Thanks!
Which civilization in the Pathfinder setting would you say is closest to the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians?
A few years ago I put together a star-crossed game in Ustalav's Canterwall where the PCs were tasked with reestablishing noble rule. The PCs were making some great headway in turning Harrowstone into a formidable keep when our roleplaying group disbanded due to more pressing obligations. Next month, I'll be starting a new campaign thereabouts, but I'm thinking this time to extend to the PCs a land grant in the currently ungoverned territory of Virlych. Now that a band of intrepid adventurers, via Carrion Crown, have laid waste to many of the Whispering Way's members therein, the Prince sees an opportunity to establish more control over the region. Much like the Stolen Lands AP, I intend for the PCs to start making a rough map of Virlych starting from the Carabosse River and into the Ebonwall Forest (eventually drawing misfortune from the Garden of Lead). I'm sure Count Galdana would be glad to have a buffer community between his county and the Virlych proper. With that laid out, what initial opinions do you have about the premise?
Just using the original playtest material, and some of the revealed content that was unlocked during the playtest, I'm going to put forward a way to focus on using The Lost spirit for the medium class. There are two things that make The Lost less than ideal for play: it's not inherently a Strength spirit, and it's mechanic revolves around Confusion. The Lost's Mad World ability only gives you a slightly better than 1/4th chance for it to become a Strength spirit, but you need to be right next to the creature you intent to attack, otherwise you'll end up attacking someone or something less ideal (like a fellow PC). As the rules stand right now, you only get +X to the Confusion table roll equal to your Wisdom spirit bonus; at lower levels the benefit isn't going to help very much with determining the outcome. At the end of the day, you're more likely to attack the nearest creature and less likely to act normally; the chances of babbling or hurting yourself stay the same. The biggest downside to this ability is that it doesn't mitigate the potential for 1D8+Str mod. damage to self. Technically, it says: Deals 1d8 points of damage + Str modifier to self with item in hand. If we take "with item in hand" to its RAW conclusion, if there is no item in hand, you don't take any damage and babble instead. We'll look at it both as written and as some have interpreted it otherwise (you do the damage no matter what). If the GM rules that you take the damage no matter what, or your concept is jonesing a weapon, then the easiest course is lowering your Strength, pursing the Dex-to-hit and Dex-to-damage feat lines. Your damage output will be consistently sub-par until Lv 5., where you can channel a two spirits, and Lv. 6, when you can get Slashing Grace/Fencing Grace (having taken Weapon Finesse at Lv. 1 and Weapon Focus at Lv. 3. You'll also need to take Martial Weapon Proficiency at Lv. 1 if you're playing a human and you don't want to get stuck with the sickle or dagger, but you might prefer Spirit Specialization for a boost to Strength). The prowess of this build in the first four levels can be improved by making The Cyclone your primary spirit, since you wouldn't be able to cast confusion effects until Lv. 4 anyway, and only once or twice a day at that. Personally, I wouldn't go below 8 Strength, which brings the 1D8+Str mod. to 0-7 damage. Still painful, potentially lethal at lower levels, but further mitigated by beseeching a Con spirit and running The Cyclone early. [If you love scimitars, Dervish Dance is obviously the way to go; giving you access to Dex-to-damage at Lv. 3.] If your GM takes it as RAW, then you can go through the unarmed feat tree, or roll a race with natural weapons, like the Skinwalker, and not worry about taking the damage at all.
I know it isn't a big deal, because getting your GM to add a few domains to a Great Old One shouldn't be a problem if you've already convinced said GM to let you worship one. That being said, Hastur's two main foci, no matter the source material you're pulling from, are Madness (Insanity/Nightmare) and Death (Undeath? The original material gives him a zombie servitor). I get putting Rune down, but it really isn't about the Yellow Sign as a symbol, its about the Yellow Sign being a conduit for madness. Void makes sense for the Derleth affected version of Hastur (though the Pathfinder version is thankfully Derleth-light), or if you take the title The Last King literally. Carcosa's sky is full of black stars, which could mean that Carcosa is not only distant locally, but also temporally far into the future (black stars=black holes). Evil, sure. Chaos, sure. |