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From the corner three creatures jump out; two dire rats, and one... thing that appears to be a bizarre amalgam of various animal parts ending in various appendages extended from a mole-like nose. Kn Arcana 11:
This is a zoog, a nasty and spiteful magical beast not native to this plane. It has a base intelligence and can communicate with regular animals. The faint glow you saw came from its Spell Sight ability, essentially allowing it to detect magic at will with a glowing cone emitting from its eyes.
The Wolf smashes through the door easily, not even slowing down as he pushes through it. Mighty iron boilers crowd here, their pipes piercing the walls and ceiling. Shadows and rust fill the narrow gaps between the cold tanks. Perception 10: You can see a faint glow emanating from beneath a boiler toward the rear of the room.
The man shifts nervously at the tiefling's goads. He eventually chooses to ignore her and respond to the nicer man with the beard. "I'd like to believe you, but it's just too risky. How 'bout this: with those weapons you look like the killin' type. Bring back some dead doppelgangers and we'll believe ya. They muck around in the big wash rooms to the north. Oh, and don't try to bring back old corpses, we know which ones we've killed already."
"The who? There's a lot of mad doctors these days." One of the men responds before shaking his head. "Listen, I'm sorry to do this but I can't risk letting doppelgangers in here. Go on your way and we won't have ta shoot." Sense Motive 13: The man is cautious, but sympathetic. You should be able to reason with him.
A door on the western wall serves as the only available exit. Inside, broken lanterns and several battered doors line this cold, rubble-strewn hall. To the south, a pair of swinging doors lies shattered upon a 4-foot high heap of wrecked furniture clogging a broad doorframe. The hallway is dark, as with most of the asylum, but you can see light coming through those southern doors. The moment you move yourselves into the hallway you can hear shouting from that doorway. "Whoa there, we got more here!" Four men stand behind the barricade of furniture, their crossbows aimed at your group.
Feimramdem makes it through the bodies and up the chute with ease. The top of the chute is closed, but can be pushed open with little effort. Once up and out of the chute, Feimramdem finds herself in a small courtyard. Trampled flowerbeds lie smeared and squashed across the muddy courtyard. On all sides, stark gray walls climb towards a narrow gap of sunless sky. It's raining heavily, the precipitation unnaturally warm as as thunder booms regularly. More rubble blocks exits to the southeast and the north; the only remaining exit is a door on the western wall. Meanwhile, back in the basement, Campre looks like he might vomit. "She can't expect us to follow 'er up that way..." He shakes his head, looking away from the rotting corpses. Still, knowing he's far too weak to lead the group in a direction he looks to the other men in hopes they might agree.
Moving into the room your captor escaped through... A broad chute extends diagonally through one of this cellar's half-crumbled stone walls. Beneath it lies heaped more than a dozen mutilated humanoid bodies. Nearby, a flight of rickety, wooden steps climbs toward the high ceiling - an escape none of the room's current occupants seem capable of employing. The smell of rot and decay in the room is nearly overwhelming, and the buzz of flies hangs in the air. A cursory glance around the room reveals that the two most obvious exits - the stairs, and a tunnel to the north - have been blocked off by rubble. Campre comments that there have been a lot of nasty tremors since he woke up and it looks like the hospital's infrastructure has not taken it too well; his statement is punctuated by another, thankfully minor tremor. The last available exit and the one the "doctor" must have left through is the chute, but you would have to climb over the pile of rotting corpses to get into it; this is a fairly trivial task, other than the "rotting corpses" part, which would likely bother you a lot more than it bothered the doppelganger. Perception 14: Many of the corpses are wearing a white, buttoned uniform identical to the one Scaen was using.
The man gets up with a groan and gives Rakheet a nod. "Thanks for the help, uh... Rakheet, was it? Name's Campre Linweigh. I'm an orderly here at the hospital. 'Fraid I can't tell you much about what's happened. I was off duty and asleep, and when I woke up a bunch of the patients had turned into monsters. The 'doctor' you managed to scare off was one of the patients - Ilesi something? She sure wasn't like that before I woke up, I can assure you that." Campre manages to stand up on his own but you don't need medical training to tell he can't do much else. Now that you're free and have full access to the room, you can see two exits: one is the door to the east that Ilesi ran out of - a quartet of large sacks lie sitting next to it. The opposite direction is blocked by rubble, but there appears to be a smaller adjacent room in that direction and to the south.
The woman tastes disgusting, even by Feimramdem's standards. Her appearance shifts so many times to so many random people that it becomes pretty clear that what you saw earlier was not a mistake; whatever she is isn't natural. DC 13 Kn Dungeoneering: The good doctor is actually a doppelganger, a type of aberration known for changing its shape at will with such precision it can mimic specific individuals.
The woman seems pleased by the tiefling's commentary. "Ah, it's so nice to have a test subject who appreciates my work. I'll save you for last so you can watch everyone else!" She appears to have a very odd definition of the word "friendly". Rakheet can see the bars are too close together even for his small frame; him and the other men barking at the doctor seems to get her flustered. "All of you, shut up! I'm trying to work here!" She turns around to shout at you, and for a brief moment her face looks strangely ratlike. It lasts for a moment, but that brief moment is enough for the man on the table to land a heavy kick on her backside, sending her flying forward towards Rakheet's cell.
The White Wolf: All around is a wall of sickly yellow fog, tumbling through the alley's canyon of crumbling, gray brick walls like some jaundiced flash flood. Ahead, the unfamiliar alley splits, curving to the left and right. Behind, from the silent swell of mist, emanates the sound of footsteps - slow, but somehow keeping pace with the careening, hungry wave. A chill runs down your spine - something is in that fog, something terrible and beyond your imagining. And yet, you hold your ground; courage is one of your finest attributes after all. Though perhaps, not among your wisest. The mist parts, now mere steps behind. A mask of gray rags emerges, strips of something fleshier than fabric worming and constricting across a body that's almost humanlike - but too lean, and far too flexible. Gauzy gray ribbons reach out like tendrils, each grasping for less doubtful flesh to claim. You stand tall in front of your friends, whoever they are, ready to face down the monster. It approaches with slow, creaking steps, the fog lingering at its footsteps. With each step closer it takes, you feel smaller and smaller, until it is towering over you. You stand trembling, dropping your blade with a clatter onto the alley's cobblestone. The creature raises its right hand, and with a mere flick of the wrist slices your throat clean. You are dead before you even hit the floor. As the blood oozes onto the cobblestone, it moves and shifts to write out a single word: "ME." Morvan Fellis:
You have no time to see if they comply before the creeping fog surrounds you. Your vision is blurred with yellow, and you are blinded to the others, to the buildings around you, to the cobblestone below... All you can see is the masked horror, mere inches from your face. Long, bony fingers rise to meet your face, and its wretched claws pluck out your eyes. You scream in anguish and horror, writhing on the ground as blood drains from your head. Finally you still, the streaks of blood scribing out a word: "UP." Feimramdem:
You charge it with a warrior's cry, your weapon aimed for the nape of its neck. Mere moments before you strike, the beast's arm impossibly contorts behind its back and seizes your neck. The shock causes you to drop your blade as the beast turns to look upon its quarry face to face, squeezing your fragile neck harder and harder. Just as you feel your last breath on the horizon a horrible pain enters your gut, the creature's claw embedding itself into your stomach. Blood drips from the wound as you fade away, suspended and helpless, and it spells the following: "SAVE." Rakheet:
You come to a careening stop as you see a figure in front of you. It wears a mask of gray rags, with strips of something fleshier than fabric worming and constricting across a body that's almost humanlike. You fall prone as you stumble and roll in shock, down and vulnerable in front of the monster. It places a ragged foot on your head, and steps down. As blood drips from its foot, it spells out one final word: "WAKE." ----------------------------- All four of you awake in a grimy, unfamilar dungeon. The two humans share a cell, with Feimramdem and Rakheet in their own individual cells, all secured with heavy iron bars. None of you recognize anyone else. You all notice that you have nothing with you except the clothes on your back. "Wake up, damn it!" An unfamiliar man strapped to a table in the center of the room screams, his panic cutting through the claustrophobic near dark. Another figure stands above him, unsettlingly thin and wearing a blood-smeared doctor's coat. She circles the table casually, spinning one blade of a broken pair of pruning shears, which glints in the dull light of the lamp suspended overhead. With careless cruelty, the doctor draws the blade across the bound man's bare thigh, releasing a tortured wail. A smaller table sits by the larger one carrying a variety of implements useful for cutting flesh. Perception 12:
The woman has a ring of keys dangling from a hook at her waist. Unfortunately, her current pacing cycle keeps her well out of arm's length of any of the cells. What do you do?
Ah shoot, I did miss something stupid. Facepalm. Would it be acceptable to switch the talent spent on the Barrage sphere to Expert Reloading (via a custom martial tradition, detailed in the profile), and the heavy crossbows to light? Else Simo fires twice and then spends two rounds reloading. Sure, no problem. There's actually going to be a major overhaul on the system on Monday (because of course this would happen) so I'll probably give the selected players a chance to edit their characters one more time with that in mind before we start for real.
The Brute Sphere should work well with any full BAB class that can use the maneuvers properly. Barbarians can get some good mileage out of it with Strength Surge, for sure.
GM, how do you feel about the potential for custom Martial Traditions, following the guidelines set in the playtest material? I have an idea for a tradition/character/concept in mind, but none of the base traditions on offer quite work for it. Custom martial traditions are fine, so long as you follow the general rule of 2 Equipment/2 Something Else.
My understanding is that you can start combat with Martial Focus, yes. It would be rather painful to take a total defense at the start of every combat. As far as I can tell, there is a general sense of urgency but you should have some time for crafting if you wish. I can say, for example, in the first book there is a strict time limit to complete it but it is long enough that you could take some time to craft. You should never drink and make characters, kids. I dunno, the Barroom Sphere is pretty solid given the right build.
UMD is fine as a tool in your arsenal but using it to overcome all of the woes of being without a caster kinda defeats the point, yes. I apologize for not specifying this earlier, and this is not aimed at anyone in particular, but I should say this: this game is largely intended as a proving grounds for Spheres of Might, so characters that use the system can expect more interest from me. I would highly recommend looking into Spheres classes that fit your concept or using the Spheres archetype for your preferred class. On the chance that some people wish to rebuild the characters they have already submitted I am pushing the deadline back to May 26th. Again, I apologize for not making this clear in the OP.
No to stamina, yes to AWT/AAT. I will say that if you want to play a Fighter you'd do well making a Conscript, it's largely the same thing but better.
We're not using Spheres of Power, no; I admit I'm not familiar with that system, largely because it is for casters and I therefore dismissed it (#fullbabbias). I'm not opposed to the idea of the Armorist but I generally like players and NPC's to follow the same ruleset and don't feel like adapting SA's casters to the system (enemies will use SoM, however).
There seems to be sufficient interest for Strange Aeons; I've got the recruitment page officially open over here.
You awake from your nightmare in a dark cell, a cold sweat chilling your skin. How did you get here? You don't remember. You don't remember anything. Strange Aeons is a narrative of cosmic horror; monsters and madness creep around every corner. This group will be a little different from most Pathfinder parties: you'll have to face these foes using only martial characters, with no more casting than a Paladin or Ranger. Instead, we will be using the Spheres of Might 3rd party product to ensure a variety of party roles can be fulfilled. Character Creation Rules:
-25 point buy, maximum of 18 after racial bonuses. -Automatic Bonus Progression and Background Skills from Pathfinder Unchained will be in effect. -One trait, taken from the Player's Guide. You may also choose two skills to add to your list of class skills. -Allowed races are all core as well as the following: Aasimar, Dhampir, Fetchling, Ratfolk, Tiefling, and Changeling. -Allowed classes are any Paizo except those with 6th or 9th level spellcasting (Kineticist and Medium are also barred). You may also select any Spheres of Might classes except the Troubadour. -Any alignment is allowed, but "chaotic stupid" will not be tolerated. If you are the type to do something hostile to party goals and defend yourself by declaring "but it's just what my character would do", then this is likely not the campaign for you. -You will start at 1st level with average starting gold. -Your character starts with amnesia, so the only background you get is your chosen campaign trait, your name, and a description of how your character would react to being faced with an impossible foe. I'm planning on picking four people for this, though I may go up to five if I can't decide. Party synergy will play a factor in who I pick, so if you'd like to put forward two or three character concepts with different roles in mind you may feel free. Recruitment will be open for two weeks, ending on May 19th. Good luck! Oh, and if you have any questions about Spheres, feel free to ask either here or by PM; I'll try to answer to the best of my ability.
I don't think you actually need to be a caster to perform rituals; I believe if any problems of that sort arise I can resolve them as the GM. I kinda liked the idea of mere mortals with no knowledge of the magical arts combating the worst of it with pure guts and grit; that being said, Skulls & Shackles is also a very interesting AP to me so if there's more support for that I'd be willing to GM it (Giantslayer doesn't really appeal to me, sorry derpdidruid!).
So I've recently become enamored with Spheres of Might - a 3rd party ruleset designed to make martials just a bit more quadratic and build-diverse. I've used this system as a player once to great success and now I want to GM with it. Still in beta of course but quite playable as-is. As such, I thought it'd be cool to run a game where all party members are martial characters (defined as having no spellcasting or 4th level casting) using SoM to ensure the party still has the full breadth of combat roles fulfilled. My first choice would likely be Strange Aeons for the AP, though I'd consider other options if there was heavy enough interest.
So GM. are you good with any race other than Goblin? The Grugach looks very interesting to me, or would that be too much Goblin? I would probably go ranger. Think to yourself, "If I were to go to a hard line Lawful Evil Hellknight and ask her permission to mess around in the big magical tower outside of town, would she say yes?" If the answer to this question is "she'd kill me, probably" then you should consider a different race. You should geeenerally stick to core races, though I'm also open to the outsider races and others that can be swung as mostly human-esque. Oh, woops, I was wondering where you got the Grugach; we'll be using Paizo races, not the ones listed in the document. Those are specifically for Kirth's campaign setting, while this is set on Golarion with Golarion races.
This is the official recruitment thread for my Emerald Spire game. Character creation rules are as follows: -First and foremost, we will be using the Kirthfinder set of house rules; since this is largely a test for me on how this ruleset functions I ask that you select only the classes listed in the document, rather than pulling from other sources (Paizo or otherwise). -Character should be built with the Heroic Array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8). -Paizo races are allowed... within reason. The Emerald Spire is under the control of a Chelish city, and you need the permission of that town's leadership to enter it. As much as I love them goblin characters will not work. -In addition to your character sheet I would like a short blurb on your character's personality and why they might be interested in the Spire. This is primarily a dungeon crawl so roleplaying opportunities will mostly be up to the party; since I enjoy both the numbers game and the roleplaying aspect of Pathfinder preference will be given to submissions that show some proficiency in both. -Characters who are not fit to function with a party are completely non-negotiable; backstabbers and thieves need not apply. I'll keep submissions open for two weeks, making the deadline March 5th at midnight. I'm probably forgetting to say something important here so feel free to ask any questions that come to mind. |
