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All characters are restricted to the Core Rulebook PLUS TWO OTHER BOOKS

All characters will be made with 20-point buy.

Open Books include:
Core Rulebook + Inner Sea World Guide (both count as one book), Advanced Player's Guide, Advanced Class Guide, Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Ultimate Wilderness.

While not specifically an Occult game, Occult Adventures Spiritualist does fit in the campaign for a number of reasons. I will allow the book for that class alone. It's not powerful, but the flavor is right.

Details from Ultimate Equipment, Ultimate Campaign, and Unchained will be used throughout the campaign, but may not be used in character creation unless stated below.

With Approval: Information from Faiths of Balance and Faiths of Purity may be used. As well as any of the "races of..." books for approved races. Just remember, these count against your two book limit.

Races allowed:
Human (Varisian), Human (Chelish), Human (Shoanti) Just remember, Chel's think they are superior (in general) to everyone, Varisians are considered thieves, and Shoanti are considered to be violent barbarians.

All other core races are available (Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling, Half-Elf, Half-Orc).

Other Races from Advanced Race Guide (does not count against your two book limit):

Aasimars, Changelings (Sea Hag is most common), Dhampirs, Sylphs, Tieflings, Undines. NO RACE BUILDER

Classes Allowed
I will be allowing all classes except the Ninja, and Samurai.
Gunslingers will be restricted to the Bolt Ace Archetype (guns are too new in the area) (Bolt ace archetype does not force the additional use of the second book, unless you use additional rules from that book).
Vigilante, as a class, may be unlocked through campaign play.

Betrayed
You were hardly a model citizen as a child or young adult. Your reasons for turning to a life of crime may be varied, but what matters is that you eventually fell in with a certain well-connected and notorious crime lord named Gaedren Lamm. His reputation as a snake and a treacherous scoundrel was known to you, but for reasons of your own, you chose not to turn him down when he offered you a chance to work for him. You may have assumed you were an exception, or that you’d be able to handle him, or perhaps even planned to betray him. As it worked out, though, Gaedren got the upper hand and took you down you first. You may have served time in jail, may have been beaten by his thugs and left for dead, or could simply have had your profits stolen out from under you. Whatever the cause, Gaedren wronged you, and you are eager for the chance to get revenge.

Choose one of the following benefits.

Hungry for Revenge: You’ve never forgiven Gaedren for his betrayal, and have vowed to make him pay for what he did. Whether that’s seeing him rot in jail or a shallow grave, you hope to taste vengeance someday. Whenever you deal damage with a melee weapon on a creature that is flat-footed, you gain a +1 trait bonus on the damage roll.

Reformed Criminal: You’ve given up the life of crime, and managed to talk your way out of any repercussions such as jail time or fines. You’ve told yourself that you would rather leave your past behind, yet the concept of seeing Gaedren Lamm pay for his crimes still appeals to you. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Diplomacy checks, and Diplomacy is a class skill for you.

Drug Addict
Someone you know has become addicted to shiver, a drug distilled from the venom of tropical arachnids known as dream spiders. The drug induces sleep filled with vivid dreams, during which the user’s body shakes and shivers, giving the substance its street name. You’ve always thought of shiver as a problem of the lower class, but then someone you know overdosed on the stuff. You’ve done a bit of investigating and have learned that the villain who got your friend addicted in the first place was a crime lord named Gaedren Lamm. Unfortunately, the guards seem to be focused on the bigger dealers. They don’t have time to devote many resources to what they’ve called “a bit player in a beggar’s problem.” It would seem that if Gaedren’s operation is to be stopped, it falls to you.

Choose one of the following benefits.

Addicted Friend: The addict is a friend or lover who might or might not have survived the overdose. Your research into the drug scene and local politics has given you a respectable education in street knowledge. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (local) checks, and Knowledge (local) is a class skill for you.

Personal Addiction: You were the addict. You blame Gaedren for your brush with death and hate how his drugs are causing similar problems among other youths. Fortunately, your body recovers quickly from toxins, and you gain a +1 trait bonus on Fortitude saving throws.

Framed
Someone you know and love was accused of murder. A supposed eyewitness account from a local fisherman seemed to be enough to seal the case, but the accused had enough alibis that sentencing wasn’t immediate. Someone confronted the fisherman and discovered he was intimidated into providing false witness and forced into planting the murder weapon by the actual murderer—a local crime lord named Gaedren Lamm, whose thugs killed the fisherman before he could recant his testimony. Although this removed the key witness and resulted in the accused being set free, the stigma was enough to badly damage the accused’s reputation. If you can find Gaedren, you’re sure you can find evidence that ties him to the murder and can clear the accused’s name.
Choose one of the following benefits.

Dropout: You were the one accused of the murder. Although you were eventually freed when a friend confronted the fisherman and got the truth, the damage had been done. You were forced to leave your school or church. As a result, you were forced to self-train and promised yourself you would become better at your chosen profession despite the spurning of your peers. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Spellcraft checks, and Spellcraft is a class skill for you.

Family Honor: The person who was framed was a family member, perhaps a father or sister. You managed to trick the fisherman into revealing the truth with your skilled tongue. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff checks, and Bluff is a class skill for you.

Love Lost
Someone you loved was knifed to death in a dark alley one night. You were called to the scene by the Korvosan Guard to identify the body, and as rough as that was for you, you also noticed a ring was missing from your loved one’s finger. Whoever murdered your loved one stole that ring— you’re convinced of it. You’ve done some investigation on your own and recently found the ring for sale at a local merchant’s shop. To your great frustration, you can’t yet afford the 500 gp to buy it back, but the merchant did tell you from whom he purchased the ring: a man named Gaedren Lamm. It seems likely this criminal killed your loved one, or at the very least, he knows who did. The only problem is finding him.

Choose one of the following benefits.

All Alone: The murder victim was a lover. With your lover’s death, a part of you died as well, leaving you haunted, grim, and prone to dark musings. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Intimidate checks, and Intimidate is a class skill for you.

Orphaned: The murder victim was your only surviving parent. You had to work hard to make ends meet for yourself and any siblings, and often had to scavenge for food. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Survival checks, and Survival is a class skill for you.

Missing Child
You suspect that a child you know has been abducted by Gaedren Lamm. Whatever the relationship, you’ve heard rumors about “Lamm’s Lambs,” and of how the old man uses children as pickpockets and agents for his crimes. You’ve even heard rumors that the child you’re looking for has been spotted in the marketplaces in the company of known cutpurses and pickpockets. Although the Korvosan Guard has been understanding of your plight, it has its hands full with “more important” matters these days, it seems, and has not yet been able to learn anything more about Gaedren. No one else is interested in bringing Gaedren down and rescuing his victims— that task falls to you. Yet where could the old scoundrel be hiding?

Choose one of the following benefits.

Missing Sibling: The missing child is a brother or sister. Although everyone else has given up hope, you believe your sibling still lives. Your constant search for the missing sibling has developed into great skill at rumormongering and finding out information from others. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Sense Motive checks, and Sense Motive is a class skill for you.

Missing Son or Daughter: The missing child is your own son or daughter, a niece or nephew, or a child you were charged with protecting. The child was abducted during a trip to the market or other daily event. Your stubbornness and long hours spent searching for rumors grant you a +1 trait bonus on Will saves.

Unhappy Childhood
You spent a period of time as one of Gaedren Lamm’s enslaved orphans, doing all manner of dirty work for him. Maybe you were abducted from your parent’s home or during a trip to the market. Perhaps the irresponsible matron who ruled your orphanage traded you to him in return for a desperately needed financial loan. Or perhaps you, like most of Gaedren’s slaves, were merely a child of the street who succumbed to his promise of regular meals and a roof in return for what he said would be “a little light work.” Whatever the case, you spent several years of your life as one of “Lamm’s Lambs” before escaping. You’ve nursed a grudge against the old man ever since.

Choose one of the following benefits.

Religious: Today, while on a job for Gaedren, you found a holy symbol of the god you worship, and intrigued by it, you snuck off to attend services. When Gaedren found out, he beat you to within an inch of your life and broke your holy symbol. Your faith let you block out the pain, and you escaped his control and took shelter in the church, where you spent the rest of your youth. You gain a +2 trait bonus on concentration checks and Constitution checks to stabilize at negative hit points.

Tortured: After you made one too many errors, Gaedren tortured you and left you for dead in a garbage heap. Your scars and memories have motivated you to hone your reaction speed and make you rather jumpy. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Reflex saves.

The remaining traits may be chosen from the list available here, remember, the above traits are the campaign traits thus the campaign traits from the link below may NOT be used.
Traits on the PRD
As an ADDED bonus, if you complete your arc from the campaign trait, you will be able to select a THIRD campaign trait. If a character comes into the campaign after this is possible, then they do lose that ability.
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Other Sundry Rules:
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Starting Gold
Gold: To keep things even, I provide a FLAT 125 GP to all player characters at character creation.

ENCUMBRANCE RULES ARE USED

Hero Points
Using Hero Points

Hero points can be spent at any time and do not require an action to use (although the actions they modify consume part of your character's turn as normal). You cannot spend more than 1 hero point during a single round of combat. Whenever a hero point is spent, it can have any one of the following effects.

Act Out of Turn: You can spend a hero point to take your turn immediately. Treat this as a readied action, moving your initiative to just before the currently acting creature. You may only take a move or a standard action on this turn.

Bonus: If used before a roll is made, a hero point grants you a +8 luck bonus to any one d20 roll. If used after a roll is made, this bonus is reduced to +4. You can use a hero point to grant this bonus to another character, as long as you are in the same location and your character can reasonably affect the outcome of the roll (such as distracting a monster, shouting words of encouragement, or otherwise aiding another with the check). Hero points spent to aid another character grant only half the listed bonus (+4 before the roll, +2 after the roll).

Extra Action: You can spend a hero point on your turn to gain an additional standard or move action this turn.

Inspiration: If you feel stuck at one point in the adventure, you can spend a hero point and petition the GM for a hint about what to do next. If the GM feels that there is no information to be gained, the hero point is not spent.

Recall: You can spend a hero point to recall a spell you have already cast or to gain another use of a special ability that is otherwise limited. This should only be used on spells and abilities possessed by your character that recharge on a daily basis.

Reroll: You may spend a hero point to reroll any one d20 roll you just made. You must take the results of the second roll, even if it is worse.

Special: You can petition the GM to allow a hero point to be used to attempt nearly anything that would normally be almost impossible. Such uses are not guaranteed and should be considered carefully by the GM. Possibilities include casting a single spell that is one level higher than you could normally cast (or a 1st-level spell if you are not a spellcaster), making an attack that blinds a foe or bypasses its damage reduction entirely, or attempting to use Diplomacy to convince a raging dragon to give up its attack. Regardless of the desired action, the attempt should be accompanied by a difficult check or penalty on the attack roll. No additional hero points may be spent on such an attempt, either by the character or her allies.

Cheat Death: A character can spend 2 hero points to cheat death. How this plays out is up to the GM, but generally the character is left alive, with negative hit points but stable. For example, a character is about to be slain by a critical hit from an arrow. If the character spends 2 hero points, the GM decides that the arrow pierced the character's holy symbol, reducing the damage enough to prevent him from being killed, and that he made his stabilization roll at the end of his turn. Cheating death is the only way for a character to spend more than 1 hero point in a turn. The character can spend hero points in this way to prevent the death of a familiar, animal companion, eidolon, or special mount, but not another character or NPC.

Downtime

I am using the following down time rules:
When you complete an adventure, the number of in-game days you take (unless there is a story based reason otherwise), you gain that many days do use as down time for crafting of items, carousing, gaining contacts, etc. You also have to earn a non-adventuring living, while you do that (unless you simply spend your winnings).
So, in order to do this, here is my version of a "Day job" chart and cost of living chart.
Day job check:
DC/GP
5 / 1 GP
10 / 5 GP
15 / 10 GP
20 / 15 GP
25 / 20 GP
30 / 50 GP
35 / 75 GP
40 / 100 GP
+5 DC / +50 GP.
How do you want to live? Well, it depends on your district, but here's a good average:

These are the rent prices (with food included for the month)
Homeless Survival Check or take 1d3 CON damage.
Inn 25 GP/Month
Studio ("Renting a room") 5gp 5sp-75 GP
Tenement Flat 6gp -18
Apartment suite 18-200 GP
House 65-300gp

During downtime, you can also take the following actions:

Research: You can spend 1 day and research a topic. This can allow you to utilize knowledge skills you do not have by visiting the university or one of the magical colleges. This also goes towards magical research and other topics. For every 10GP you spend on this, you gain +1, to the town's maximum bonus (which will vary chapter to chapter). Gather information can cost less, usually 2d4gp per two hours, while research takes 8 hours.

Train. It takes 5 days to level up wtih a trainer at a rate between 5 and 20 gp per day (depending on district and trainer). Sometimes, if you spend a "research" day during your level, you can shorten that. Some of the higher levels will obviously occur faster, without this training period, due to story reasons. This is okay and is covered by the "narrative epiphany."

Other activities: So, you want to form a union? Sure, you can try to be a Solly (that's an insult!). You want to buy a manor? Great! You want to try to gain some additional contacts? Great! You want to invest in the city some way? Perfect! These will occur. Some of them more easily than others, but if you can think of something to do while you're not working, feel free to throw that in.

Battle Maps
We are using the theater of the mind for battle maps. There will be some "zoning" involved, with short zones being within 10-15 feet (flanking, melee), medium zones between 15-30 feet (short ranged), long range (30-60) for charges, and then extreme range (60' or more). These zones are guidelines, and will stretch and shrink as needed. I do have roll20, but that has not been helpful for me in the past except in others' games. My mapping skills are awful.

2a: Non-spellcasters or limited spellcasters: Where did you train? If you are from out of town, where are you from? One of the Shoanti tribes or being from Kaer Maga would be excellent, especially if Gaedren sabotaged your caravan home/did something to you to dishonor you in the face of your tribe. Orisini Fencing academy or Endrin Military Academy in Old Korvosa are great, as are the Exemplary Execrables for bards and skill monkeys.Heck, a Varisian gang would be good for a rogue.

2b: Arcane Spellcasters, Wizards: Did you specialize and succeed at the Acadamae, or did you take the generalist approach at the Theumanexus College? Alchemists (Acadamae or University of Korvosa are great choices here). If you are a limited spellcaster, did you mix your training with something from 2a?

2c: Divine Spellcasters: Korvosans follow a number of deities, but Abadar, Sarenrae (healing aspect), Pharasma, Erastil and Gozreh tend to be most worshipped. Shelyn is worshipped, but has little influence in the city, and, of course, the Chelish citizens bring with them Asmodeus. There is a Temple of the Many, with 17 members of the pantheon being included.

2d: Odd Races: especially Dhampir and Changelings: These races prove that the local area is dangerous, as their lineage shows activity of such creatures. Did you know your supernatural parent? Do you fully know what you are?

3: Do you know anyone in the city or have any family in the city?

4: Would you adventure after Gaedren is defeated? Why?

5: Who do you trust and why?

6: Do you have a family? If so, provide the known members of the family.

7: What do you think of the elderly King Eodred and his Chelish Queen, the near-teen, flame-haired Ileosa? Do you think it is scandalous?

8: What do you think of the minor bits of vigilantism? You know of the hero of the people (Blackjack) who is a masked Vigilante, but what do you think of his copycats and the villains that oppose them?

9: Sometimes you need to know someone, obviously your character cannot live in a bubble. So, make two contacts to know, pick one or two contacts from the below list.
Verik Vancaskerkin, who is a Sergeant of the Korvosan Guard, human (Chel)

Grau Soldado: Drunk, Korvosan Guardsman

Pilts Swastel Human, Varisian owner of the Exemplary Execrables in Old Korvosa (theatre troupe)
"Coin," some sort of masked vigilante, halfling.

Vencarlo Orisini, Human (Chelish) owner of Orisini Fencing Academy in Old Korvosa.
Dengaro Voraso, Human (Varisian) one of Vencarlo's top students and primary teacher of new students at Orisini Academy.
Bishop d'Bear (female human High Priestess of Pharasma)
Lictor Severs DiVri (Human (Chelish) leader of the Order of the Nail Hellknights near Korvosa (scary guy!)
Archbishop Reebs, Male Chelish Human High Priest of Asmodeus
Archbanker Darb Tuttle Human (Mwangi) High Priest of Abadar
Ishani Dhatri: Human (Vudran) Young Acolyte of Abadar
Lessilyn Dai of Dawnflower House (Priestess of Saerenrae in charge of the orphanage in Midland).

He also plans on deciphering the second spellbook after ensuring it isn't trapped.

Spells Copied from Another's Spellbook or a Scroll: A wizard can also add a spell to his book whenever he encounters one on a magic scroll or in another wizard's spellbook. No matter what the spell's source, the wizard must first decipher the magical writing (see Arcane Magical Writings). Next, he must spend 1 hour studying the spell. At the end of the hour, he must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell's level). A wizard who has specialized in a school of spells gains a +2 bonus on the Spellcraft check if the new spell is from his specialty school. If the check succeeds, the wizard understands the spell and can copy it into his spellbook (see Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook). The process leaves a spellbook that was copied from unharmed, but a spell successfully copied from a magic scroll disappears from the parchment.

If the check fails, the wizard cannot understand or copy the spell. He cannot attempt to learn or copy that spell again until one week has passed. If the spell was from a scroll, a failed Spellcraft check does not cause the spell to vanish.

In most cases, wizards charge a fee for the privilege of copying spells from their spellbooks. This fee is usually equal to half the cost to write the spell into a spellbook (see Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook). Rare and unique spells might cost significantly more.

Independent Research: A wizard can also research a spell independently, duplicating an existing spell or creating an entirely new one. The cost to research a new spell, and the time required, are left up to GM discretion, but it should probably take at least 1 week and cost at least 1,000 gp per level of the spell to be researched. This should also require a number of Spellcraft and Knowledge (arcana) checks.