Hakon "Tormveir" Hakonson's page

This is seriously important. I cannot stress this enough. Background. Is. Important. This is an epic fantasy, about a group of relative unknowns drawn together by forces (and people) of incredible power who will end up saving Po Li from ruin. Characters should have flaws and foibles and room to grow, but they should also be connected to Po Li (even better, Changdo) in their history. They should be from Po Li, be travelers on an extended stay in the nation, or have lived in the realm so long that they may as well be natives. They could be born into the nobility, poor peasant farmers, tavern owners, merchants, oracular/bureaucratic hopefuls, or anything in between. Just make sure your PC is connected to Po LI.

You’ll be starting on the night of Serenith 21 Basically the summer solstice (June 21) in Changdo on the Day of Exultation, a holy day (and weeklong festival preceding it), when hopeful parents offer up their children to be tested by the Oracular Council in the hopes that their child will be recognized as the Eternal Emperor reborn! Most are quietly sent away. Some are taken within the forbidding Inner City of Changdo to be trained by temple masters. These children often become oracles themselves, or other members of the higher bureaucracy.

On this day, Lady Taishi a noble woman from the southern provinces has gathered each of you for a special purpose. She has assigned each of you a mission based on your trait to accomplish as you weave through the tangled web of politics within the confines of the Inner City: the inner heart of Changdo that is only open to the Oracular Council and its servants, except on this most sacred day.
Here is a hand-dandy dossier of the important people that you will meet in Changdo. It’s pretty empty right now, but as people learn more things about the various movers and shakers in the AP, it’ll get filled up pretty quick. Feel free to use them to help you flesh out your background/hook. I’m not asking for the great american novel, but I am asking for more than a few sentences and a character description. A paragraph or so is fine, give more if you feel like it. I tend to respond better to characters that feel alive and have detailed origins and personalities.

The game will also be fairly sandbox. I have a plot, it’s a good one. And, I know where you’re going down my wonderful little railroad. However, the plot is on the PC’s timetable, and can wait until they’re ready to move on. If a PC wants to build a border fort, we’ll make that happen. If someone else wants to get married and establish a family line. Sure, I’ll set up TianDate, and you can live happily ever after. The point is, PCs should have wants and dreams and hopes and goals. I encourage you all to work towards those plans coming to fruition. I will do my best as well.

If you’ve followed any of my other games (insert shameless plug here). They tend to be fairly dark, grim, bloody, and terrifying affairs. This may be one of those games, politics being what they are. I have no intention of having someone devouring a freshly-cut fetus (orc tribal rituals are.. interesting…) but, there will probably be a lot of blood. Evil is evil and will do bad things, and you will probably see someone get tortured by oni, eaten by undead, etc. However, I will do my best to keep this as PG-PG13 as I can (Lord of the Rings is about as graphic as I plan to get). As such, your characters should fit into this tone as well.

I’m looking for a game that feels a bit like Final Fantasy and Romance of the Three Kingdoms merged together with a heavy dose of Tale of Genji and Game of Thrones for fun. There will be a lot of intrigue and politics, and, possibly, some open warfare. I haven’t read all the books, yet (because they’re not all out yet), but these seem pretty definite bets.

Also, this isn’t an AP where the PCs are center stage. They’re not, really, the plot of the game. That’s dealing with the succession and political maneuverings of the movers and shakers of Po Li. Think of the movie Hero,. The protagonist of the movie doesn’t even have a name. That’s because, while we’re watching what he does, and we’re interested in that, he’s just a small blip in the grander plot of history. It’s a movie about what someone does in reaction to this waaaay more important person. This is a game about what the loyal servants of the REAL movers and shakers are doing. You’ll have plenty of action, excitement, and recognition through the game. And, you won’t be bouncing around because of what people offscreen are doing--you are the protagonists of the story. But, this isn’t a game where you get to be the King. You’ll save the kingdom, be thanked and rewarded for a job well done, and then other people get to rule. Remember, it is the greatest honor to be of service to such august personages!

It’s legally distinct, yet vaguely similar to/inspired by Asia (specifically East and Southeast Asia), drawing inspiration from the legends, myths, history, and literature of the region. The Empire of Lung Wa was the most recent continent-spanning empire (although it was not the largest); it collapsed during the global upheavals caused by the death of Aroden (man, that guy really messed things up!). The empire fractured into 16 successor states, three of which claim to be the heirs of the Empire (referencing the Warring States Period of Chinese history and the Romance of the Three Kingdom epic). Check out my minty-fresh breakdown of the nations of Tian Xia for more info. While we’re at it, here’s a handy dandy map of the continent.

What matters most is that Changdo is the capital of Po Li, and most of the adventure path shall take place in this Romantic of the Three Kingdoms (™) that just so happens to say it’s the true heir to the empire. There may be brief forays into the Darklands or another plane, but, mostly, you’ll be in one of the above three places.

Legally distinct but vaguely resembling the Forbidden City. It’s your classic “Giant Ancient Imperial Capital with Lots of Secrets that Pretends to be Super-Pure and Good”.

Tian Xia has a different group of people living on it compared to the main Pathfinder homelands. Gnomes, Halflings, Dwarves, and Orcs are oddities from far-off shores, and are so rare that few, if any, can be found beyond the port city of Goka. I’ll be less inclined to accept PCs from these races.

The most common races found in Tian Xia are Aasimar (any heritage is common), Catfolk (from the southern jungles), Elves, Half-elves, [b]Hobgoblins[b/], [b]Humans[b/] (check out this pretty nifty site about human ethnicities in Tian Xia), [b]Kitsune[b/], [b]Nagaji[b/], [b]Oran-Pandak[b/] (from the coastal mountains of the Valashmai Jungle and Minata), [b]Ratfolk[b/], [b]Samsarans[b/], [b]Tengu[b/], [b]Tiefling[b/] (Asura, Oni, Qlippoth, and Rakshasa heritage are the most common), [b]Vanara[b/], [b]Vishkanya[b/], and [b]Wayang[b/].

There are no drow in Tian Xia (it’s part of how Jinin formed as a nation, actually), so don’t ask for a drow (half or otherwise). Preference will be given to characters that really work to make themselves a part of Yinghuashen and embrace the tropes of Tian Xia. Especially think about how your character would fit in a relative backwater far from the beaten path to… anywhere… and then get embroiled in an epic quest to save all of Tian Xia.

A few notes about races: Tian Xia is a fairly enlightened place. Just because a race (like hobgoblins) has a history of violence and destruction, doesn’t mean that every member of that race will be a bloodthirsty monster. They may be more closely watched by the guards, or considered barbarians, but they won’t be killed outright simply because of their ancestry. Therefore, hobgoblins are considered “civilized” and will generally be treated with cool politeness at the very least. After all, the hobgoblins have established a nation with a capital city and conduct trade and diplomatic missions. How could they possibly be considered “savages”?

Tengu are a bit of an exception to this rule. They used to be an oppressed caste of second-class citizens because of the misguided perception that they were a bunch of thieves and murderers. And, to some extent, they still have less status in Tian Xia than peers of other races. Their word would carry less weight amongst the nobles and aristocracy than a human of similar occupation. However, Tengu-human relations have greatly changed much over the past century, and few commoners would bat an eye at one of them. In fact, most would be more likely to recount the stories of the tengu swordsman Musashi (possibly greatest swordsman to ever live) than stories about “thieving tengu”.

For those who can tell, Tieflings are looked at askance as well, because of their fiendish ancestry. Discovery would mean a loss of status and honor. Many tieflings take great pains to hide their true natures, if for no other reason than to avoid public shame and a loss of privilege. Conversely, aasimar are given almost undo respect and deference, because of their perceived connection to Heaven. However, unless the aasimar is very obviously other-worldly, most people would never count them as anything more than especially charismatic or unusual humans.

In general, though, as long as someone carries themselves with a measure of dignity, respect, and propriety, they will be seen as enlightened and civilized members of society and treated as such.

Other than the rules for Path of War, gestalt (see below in Classes), Automatic Bonus Progression, and Virtual Gearing (see below in Wealth), there will be NO THIRD PARTY CONTENT ALLOWED. Nor, will their be “variant multiclassing’ from Paizo. We’re doing gestalt, that’s enough.

No evils. No exceptions

This is an epic game, so you can use the epic-point buy method (25 points), calculator found here.

You get max hp per level. Have fun.

You can take 2 traits, one of which must be a campaign trait from War for the Crown . I’ve reflavored them to fit the setting. You can have another trait if you pay for it through feats or a drawback.

All Core, Base, Alternate, Hybrid, and Occult classes are allowed, including the content from Path of War. Summoners must be unchained; Rogues, Monks, and Barbarians, can be if they want. Path of War classes and content are allowed, too. This is the ONLY third party content I’m allowing.

Clerics are allowed, but the Oracular Council castigates all servants of the gods as heretics. Clerics, inquisitors, and paladins of the gods will need to operate in secret in Changdo, or near the Oracular Council’s servants. Druids, Rangers, and Hunters, or Paladins and Inquisitors dedicated to the Eternal Emperor do not face this persecution. Shamans and Oracles of the Kami are accepted as well.

The racial restrictions will also apply to sorcerer bloodlines. I’d prefer sorcerers to not have the Div, Djinni, Efreeti, Marid, Nanite, Orc, or Shaitan bloodlines.

Players will encounter a variety of opponents throughout the course of the War for the Crown Adventure Path as they traipse through urban sprawl, ancient dungeons, fetid waterways, and sweltering plains. The best choice for favored terrain is urban, followed by plains and underground. Throughout the adventure, rival humanoids—especially humans—will be the PCs’ most frequent opponents, backed up by animals, magical beasts, and evil outsiders.

We will also be using gestalt rules. You can find them here. It’s like multiclassing’s bad-ass grandma. You take 2 classes and level them simultaneously, combining the best stats from both. So, a first level gestalt fighter wizard has the the fighter hit points, skills, abilities, and attacks, as well as a wizard’s spell progression, arcane bond, and skills. She’d take the better skill point allotment, and would merge the skill lists of both. Similarly, she’d take the fighters +2 to Fort and the wizard’s +2 to Wil saves

Finally, we’re going to be leveling at an ad-hoc basis. Whenever you achieve a milestone in the campaign or significantly advanced through the plot, you’ll gain a level. This way you don’t have to fret about clearing the dungeon just to get to 2nd level.

Arcane magic is broken into the 5 elemental schools[ (actually called movements) of Fire, Earth, Water, Metal, Wood. There are no opposition schools, rather, each element is perceived as overcoming another. A wizard must expend two slots for a spell of the overcoming element. Fire overcomes Metal (thus a Metal specialist must expend 2 slots for fire spells); Metal overcomes Wood; Wood overcomes Earth; Earth overcomes Water; Water overcomes Fire. All spells that do not belong to one of the five elements, instead belong to the Void (a universal school).

Wizards must specialize in one of the 5 movements, or be a generalist and belong to Void. The typical 9 schools of spells will exist as descriptor types for rules, and whatnot, but no one really becomes a Necromancer by specializing in the SCHOOL of Necromancy. Rather, they’d talk about how the Necromancer uses spells that draw upon negative qi by attuning himself to the darker/destructive aspects of Water (or Wood, Earth, Metal, Fire, or just “Magic”/Void).

For those who want to play a divine caster, I have a
handy-dandy doc up on the top that provides options for the various faiths common in Tian Xia. There are a few gods known from the Inner Sea region, but the rest are unique to Tian Xia. Plus, there are two new traditions that bear some note: the Cult of the Eternal Emperor and the Kami.

During imperial rule, the Emperor was considered a semi-divine being (either he was actually divine already, was near-divine thanks to the auspices of the gods, or he became divine upon his death transcendence to a higher plane was a matter of some debate). The gods themselves remained silent on the matter, but all agree that the emperor was *something* more than a regular mortal. Veneration of the living emperor became the Cult of the Eternal Emperor, as the emperor moved to the heavens to serve and rule with the gods and his heir assumed his mantle and role on the mortal plane. His shrines and temples were administered by oracles and shamans. The empires have fallen, but the faith still remains. It’s the official religion of Po Li, and still has adherents throughout Tian Xia.

The Kami have a similar faith, although it’s even more unusual. The Kami don’t even realize (or care) that they’re being worshipped. Kami are nature spirits charged by the gods to protect everything. A fork, a crossroads, a nation, the spirit realm, whatever--a kami is in charge of protecting it. They expect to have small shrines and offerings dedicated to them as thanks for their eternal and important service. Often, these shrines and offerings take on a veneration and ritual all their own and become true faith. Like with the cult of the Eternal Emperor, the Cult of the Kami is seen to by oracles and shamans throughout the lands. Unlike the Eternal Emperor, though, the cult of the kami is unorganized, and shrines and their priests are completely unaffiliated with each other. But, through history and communication with each other, the religious rituals and customs of the faithful are passed down, not as an official canon or doctrine, but as traditions, habits, wisdom, and folk festivals.

For historical reasons, Tien is the common tongue of Tia Xia. Languages are based on region (see the handy-dandy doc HERE for a list of languages and where they’re spoken). Most of the game will take place in the three successor states of Lung Wa (Lingshen, Po Li, and Quain), and the regional tongue in these three nations is also Tien (pretty convenient, no?). The other player races also have their own racial tongues You can always use the Linguistics skill to gain more languages.

Speaking of skills, we’ll be using background skills. Crafting is allowed. Any pre-game crafts are assumed to be auto-successes. Have fun.

We will also use Skill Unlocks and Occult Skill Unlocks. Rogues get Skill Unlocks for free, and Occult casters get Occult Skill Unlocks for free.

I REALLY hate looting and loot-mongering. Some people like keeping track of that stuff. I don’t. As a GM, I find it almost impossible to give players gear that they need and want. So they end up selling the loot a reduced cost. And, a lot of time the really cool loot in a room is dependent on whether or not people roll perception. Also, looting the badguy (who uses their gear) actually results in subpar gear for the party. As a player, I can NEVER seem to save enough gp to get the gear I really want, so I just make do with humdrum static boosting gear.

We are going to circumvent all of that. We’ll be using Automatic Bonus Progress. All of those plus gears to saves and abilities and AC don’t exist. You get those bonuses naturally as you level. In exchange you get half of the total amount of wealth you’d get starting at 3rd level (when you get your first bonus). It actually works to your favor in the long run, because you’re not spending gp on static bonuses anymore. You are allowed to switch Ability boosts for your level with the one immediately ABOVE your level, but you MUST take the other ability boost when you level. For example, at 4th level, Johnny Appleseed gets a +2 to a Physical score. Unfortunately, he’s a wizard, and what he really needs is a +2 to a Mental score (like intelligence). Normally, he’d have saved up for a circlet of undumbification giving him a +2 to his Intelligence by now, but that isn’t going to happen because of automatic bonus progression. He notices that level 5 gives him a +2 to one mental ability stat. Alright. So, he will take the +2 to his mental stat, at 4th level and then take +2 to a physical stat at 5th.

Second, we’re going to use a homebrew rule that I picked up from a friend of mine. It’s called Virtual Gearing. At every level you can re-tool all your gear using the adjusted wealth for your level. So.. when Meaty McMeatshield turns 7th level, he dumps all of his old gear and buys all new gear using 11,750 gp (11, 750 because it’s half what he’d normally get at 7th level because of Automatic Bonus Progression) as his pool of gold. If he wants to keep his old gear, that’s fine, but he still pays for it out of his NEW lump of cash. The assumption is that he found all of this extra cool stuff during his adventures. You can totally craft to stretch your purchasing power in this way, too.

This AP is all about political machinations, power-jockeying, and stabbing people in the back (and not just metaphorically). There will be lots of hack-and-slash fun, don’t worry, but the main focus is about influencing people to side with your backers. So, we are going to use the Intrigue Rules on Influence, and the rules for [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/social-conflicts] Social Conflicts . I’m not trying to spring new rules on you, but the AP uses them, so I figured we should embrace it.

We’re going to do battles on Roll20.net. You move yourself, I’ll handle updating damage points and so on.

I’ll make the rolls for saves, perceptions, and initiatives to keep things moving along. You handle attacks, damage, and any player-initiated actions. Give me flavor text (i lurves the flavor text), please. Also, give me a link to any spell you’re going to cast, along with your DCs.

I’ll do a summary post at breaks in initiative when actions revert back to players.

For example: say there are 4 players and the initiative order splits the action with 2 PCs acting, then monsters, then 2 PCs. I’ll call for the 1st 2 PCs’ actions first, then resolve with the monsters, and then call for the last 2 PCs’ actions to finish the round.

I would like a post every day. I live in Hawaii, so I may not get to things right away, but I find that if the players post every day, then that keeps the timezone lag down to a minimum.

The air broils beneath the scorching rays of the blazing red sun. A team of four muls, tethered to a bone palanquin by stout ropes about their necks, march with dead eyes and strong steps down the street. Four more muls, two in the front and two in the back, bearing stout dragon’s paws in their hands hide whips at their belts. They glare at all who dare choke the streets, slowing their master’s path, and shove those too slow or stupid to heed the warning. Laborers toil endlessly, building even grander mansions for their masters’ whims. Street rats and orphans run through the throngs, filching what food and money they can pocket and darting away quick as shadows before any can see. Templars and their soldiers patrol the streets to keep the King’s Peace, but really to browbeat a bribe from any unfortunate to attract their attention. A minstrel plays a small flute a corner to the amusement of children and adults alike. None of them notice the children picking at their pockets and purses.

A horn sounds, and a small cart rolls down the street, pulled by a crodlu toiling beneath a driver’s whip. Tied to the platform stands a powerful gladiator, his victories branded onto his arms. He flexes and roars challenges to the cheers from countless onlookers. The cart turns down a different road, and the nameless slave warrior is taken into the arena to live or die for the pleasure of his betters.

It is the 30th day of Smolder in the year of Priest’s Vengeance, the last full day before the 5-day festival known as the Festival of the Highest Sun. Each of you have been commanded to appear before Prince Ninshabur of House Eannatum at noon this day. Ninshabur is not a man to be crossed.

This is seriously important. I cannot stress this enough. Background. Is. Important. This is a savage sword and sandals type of story about a group of nobodies who brave the brutal wastelands to save their world from an ancient evil. Tell me how you came to know/work for Ninshabur, and why he would trust you to plumb the depths of a newly uncovered ruin complex and not take off with the goods.

The game shall open with meeting Master Ninshabur of House Eannatum, a noble in the higher strata of Urik’s elite caste. Check above for a handy dandy map of the important areas of the region. Who are you to him? Why should he trust you with this task? What are your goals and dreams? Do you want to gain your freedom? Do you want to make a more comfortable life for yourself in his service? Do you want to just get wealthy? Whatever your connection is, the answers should be included in your background/hook. I’m not asking for the great American novel, but I am asking for more than a few sentences and a character description. A paragraph or so is fine, give more if you feel like it. I tend to respond better to characters that feel alive and have really fleshed out origins and personalities. In general, though, the plot is something your character will fall into.

For those of you who know about this stuff and/or care, the game will be set in the Original Brown Box of Dark Sun. That’s pre-Prism Pentad. Why? Because, I really don’t like most of the fallout from the series or what happened in the later expansions (some of it’s cool, but I don’t like that there’s ANY large body of water so near to the Tablelands, or anywhere in Athas. Somehow, surfing and Athas just doesn’t jive with me).

The game will also be fairly sandbox. I have a plot, it’s a good one. And, I know where you’re going down my wonderful little railroad. However, the plot is on the PC’s timetable, and can wait until they’re ready to move on. If a PC wants to build a border fort, we’ll make that happen. If someone else wants to get married and establish a family line. Sure, I’ll set up Athasian e-Harmony, and you can live happily ever after. You want to own a stable of gladiators and make a killing on forcing people to kill each other? You monster… I’ll find you a bookie. The point is, PCs should have wants and dreams and hopes and goals. I encourage you all to work towards those plans coming to fruition. I will do my best as well.

On Athas, life is cheap, and death is even cheaper. Survival is a tortured existence, and no one expects to live long. Only the strong survive. The strong prey upon the weak, and the weak band together to become strong and prey on others who are weak. Loners die a quick, painful death. Those that don’t are things of truly awesome power and best left alone. Water is scarce and more precious than gold. Iron is even rarer, and the art of working it has almost completely been lost. A warrior with a steel sword is wealthy beyond measure, and would guard his secret more closely than his own life. Slaves toil endlessly beneath a blazing sun, working themselves to death under the whips of pitiless overseers to serve wealthy and powerful masters. Gladiators fight to the death in merciless arens in the city states (and even the free villages of the Tablelands) to the roars and cheers of the populace; one of the few distractions the average citizens have from their bleak and wretched existence.

This is the world under the Dark Sun. This is Athas. This is your home.

This game will be brutal. Very brutal. Athas is a world in which slavery is an accepted facet of life (even when seen as a horrible evil, some (otherwise heroic and good) people may see it as a necessary evil, others may see that the only way to truly stop slavery is to help people escape to the wastes, where death is almost a guarantee if they cannot make it to a village). Gladiators live and die for the amusement of others as a distraction from their own misery. In the original box set, paladins did not exist because the CONCEPT of a paladin (a warrior of goodness, justice, and selfless protection of others) is so foreign that no one could become one. Point is, Dark Sun was ...dark. This game will be like that. It will be savage and deadly and gruesome. Heroes can, and do, exist in this world. But, even the most heroic (good) champions of justice and righteousness are more… pragmatic… in their approach towards their goals. They may take a more draconian view towards protecting their charges, erring on the needs of the many out-weighing the needs of the few. Mercy is hard to come by, and never free.

I’m not saying I want a game of pure evils. Far from. I think such a world of savagery and selfishness makes heroes even MORE heroic. I’m saying there will be blood. It will be frequent. And, saving the day may mean leaving the poor peasant village to the ravages of the monsters.

This is a low magic item and low-wealth game. Wizards (most people call them Defilers, regardless of whether or not they actually do defile. And, casting arcane magic is illegal in most city states.) are rare and even less visible. Their works are even harder to find. Clerics and druids will provide healing, but rarely for free, and always with strings. They are even less likely to part with items they craft. And, most wander the wastes, or hide in secret shrines in the cities. Ironically, potions, are relatively easy to find (in treasure terms) because they actually grow on trees or are otherwise enchanted fruits. Potion trees are the coveted possessions of the extremely powerful and wealthy (like Sorcerer Kings) or the in lost and forgotten ruins.

Have you ever seen Mad Max? The Dark Sun campaign setting was like Mad Max only without machines, water, or metal. Seriously. There. Is. No. Metal. It was savage, brutal, and there wasn’t anything like it when DnD first launched it. it was deemed so “hard” that characters started at 3rd level, and players had a backup character (or two) to made because it was expected PCs would die and die often. Magic was scarce and defiled the landscape, reducing the world to a desert wasteland. Player races were either alien-looking (the mantis-like thri-kreen), so changed from the core as to be unrecognizable (cannibalistic halflings; desert-running elves who really don’t care about forests other than they’re sources of food, fuel, and weapons; and dwarves who actually DIE if they can’t complete a task they’ve set themselves to), or are the products of horrific breeding programs on slaves (half-giants and muls). The other conventional intelligent species on the planet had been exterminated in world-spanning genocidal wars that left the world a ravaged landscape of desolation almost completely devoid of life.

The grand achievements and advancements of the ancients have been lost to the barren sands and dunes of history, and few, if any, can even conceive of a time before the Sorcerer Kings and the desert. Only the very powerful (or certain slaves of the very powerful) can read. The skill is rare even for wizards (called Preservers and Defilers) and other scholars.

The Known World is the Tablelands: a collection of salt flats, scrub, sandy wastes, and dunes clinging tenaciously to a stretch of land abutting a vast sea of silt filled with unimaginable horrors. A handful of cities states cling to this region, providing some semblance of civilization and security to the people dwelling within site of their walls. Each city is ruled by a powerful Sorcerer King or Queen: people of near omnipotent strength who have transcended mortality (and conventional morality) and become something more and less than human. They are what amounts as gods in this tortured land: they grant spells to their templars (a priest caste of varying amounts of corruption within each city that worship/revere/pay lip service to their specific god king/queen) and command vast armies of slaves which toil endlessly in the farmlands around the walls of their cities.

Psionics are common. Every intelligent being on the planet has some amount of psionic power. They either have a single wild talent, usable to accomplish simple tasks, or they honed their abilities and became true wielders of the Way. All power comes from somewhere. While divine magic draws on the belief of a higher being or force, and psionics draws upon personal reserves of power, arcane magic is bound to the land itself. Every arcane spell borrows power from the surrounding plant life. Preservers draw a small amount, freely given and returned when the spell is cast, and do not harm the world. Others, however, steal what they need, ripping power from plants and leaving a withered waste about them. This is defiling. Only the most learned can tell the difference between the two. Even fewer care. All anyone knows or remembers is that arcane magic rapes the world and leaves a devastated wasteland in its wake and it is the reason why Athas is the hellscape that it is. To the average person (even adventurers) arcane casters are Defilers (regardless of what they do), and being caught casting arcane magic is the quickest way to end up dead at the hands of an angry mob. Preserves (wizards who refuse to defile) maintain secrecy in this underground cabal called the Veiled Alliance. They share traditions with those whom they deem trustworthy. But, getting in is both dangerous and difficult. Defiling even once, no matter the reason, is justification for expulsion from the cabal, and death. Any preserver will be hunted down and slaughtered by her closest allies in the Veiled Alliance if it is ever discovered that she defiled.

This game shall start in the city-state of Urik in the northwest corner of the Tablelands.

Legally distinct, but still resembling Ur (Ur, Urik.. get it? Hyuk Hyuk Hyuk). Culturally, it’s lot like a fantasy version of Sumeria. The very poor (slave-labors and free a like) wear little more than a thin loincloth held in place by a string (women would wear a bit more on top, but not much. This is all they can afford or are given). Gladiators (especially muls) sometimes forego even that! More wealthy men wear a knee-length (or lower) wraparound skirt embellished with fringes or extra fabric based on wealth and status. Free women wear wraparound shawls similarly embellished. Slaves that work indoors are usually permitted clothing more closely resembling that worn by the free. Dyes are expensive, and only the truly wealthy can afford garments that are blue, green, or purple. Most commoners satisfy themselves with red, gray, brown, and white. Gold is reserved for the Templars.

Most men wear their hair in square cuts with square-cut beards worked in tiny ringlets. They may even wax their beard or work small beads into the rings. The wealthier the man, the longer the hair and beard get. Hair never gets longer than shoulder-length though. Women have more variation in their styles, but tend prefer free-flowing or tight buns. Both genders like to braid their hair into tight rows. Men also like to be bald. You can, of course, dress your character however you like, these are just typical peoples.

God-King Hamanu (not Hammurabi, because that’s a bit too on the nose), the Lion of Urik, rules the city with an iron fist. His draconian code is harsh, but fair, and applies to all in the city equally. It is, possibly, the most powerful city in the region, and citizens in Urik are treated slightly better than those in the rest of the Tablelands. His templars are relatively less corrupt than others. His ziggurat rises high above the walls of his fortress compound overlooking the King’s Plaza opposite the Grand Arena with all the city spread out before it and crushed against the mighty city’s sun-baked walls.

The “standard” Athasian races are what’s allowed. That’s Half-Giant, Mul, Thri-Kreen and the Athasian varieties of Dwarf, Elf, Half-elf, Halfling, Human. No other races will be allowed. Aarakocra and Pterrans are too rare in the Tablelands to be player races.

Many of the classes don’t scream “Athas” to me. They probably do to other people, but they just don’t have that feel to me. So, I’m going to be trimming down a bunch of them. Only the following classes are allowed:
Alchemist, Barbarian (unchained), Bard (athasian), Brawler, Cleric, (elemental and para-elemental), Druid, Fighter, Hunter, Inquisitor (Templar), Psion, Psychic Warrior, Ranger, Rogue (unchained with skill unlocks), Slayer, Swashbuckler, Vigilante, Wilder, Wizard (Preserver or Defiler).

Wizards start as Preserves. If a character defiles, this must happen in-game, and unless they take pains to hide it, there will be RP consequences.

Fighters get the Combat Stamina feat for free. They have to pay for the other feats in the chain, but they start off with the first one for free.

Inquisitors and clerics need some special love, please see the section below in the Gods (or lack thereof) section.

If you want to play a psionic variant of one of the base classes. That’s fine. But, only for the allowed classes.

Finally, we’re going to be leveling at an ad-hoc basis. Whenever you achieve a milestone in the campaign or significantly advanced through the plot, you’ll gain a level. This way you don’t have to fret about clearing the dungeon just to get to 2nd level.

Other than the conversion book and Psionics, there isn’t any. The ONLY psionic classes i’m allowing are Psion, Psychic Warrior, and Wilder. That’s it. Don’t ask for anything else.

Athas is a harsh and savage world. Only the strong survive. The weak are either food, slaves, or unite their strength into large bands to stay free. Men who call themselves gods bring order, safety, shelter, and life, even as they enslave and brutalize their people. Mercy is a luxury few can suffer, and even less can offer. Sometimes, the world needs monsters to protect it from the other monsters of the land. In short, the results are what matters to most people on Athas, not the methods. So, any alignment is allowed, provided the characters can work together.

I'm going to shamelessly steal an idea from a buddy of mine.
Roll 4d6, dropping the lowest die roll, 6 times and arrange the resulting scores accordingly. If you don't get a net positive bonus, or your total point but wouldn't be a 20 point buy, keep rolling new 6 sets of 4d6 (junking the old rolls) until both conditions are met. Please post all rolls in the recruitment thread.
If you prefer, you can also just default to 25 point buy. A calculator can be found here.

You get max hp per level. Have fun.

You can take 2 traits, plus more if you pay for them through feats or drawbacks. One of these traits must be a campaign trait from Mummy’s Mask. Please reword the trait to apply to Athas. Ask me for advice if you need help rewording things.

For those who want to play a divine caster, I have a handy-dandy doc up on the top that summarizes options.

Athas has no gods. It’s almost completely cut off from the outer planes (and may not even be in the traditional multiverse), so it doesn’t have gods in the traditional sense (or outsiders as well). Clerics venerate specific elements or para-elements, they see these amoral; druids, hunters, and rangers derive power from nature itself (however tortured it might be), and templars worship Sorcerer Kings and Queens--all powerful rulers of the city states who have survived for millennia, and are possibly the single most potent stabilizing force in the Tablelands.

The elements do not care for the faith of mortals. Clerics do not receive power from some all-powerful elemental at the heart of each of the inner planes. Rather, they receive power because of their belief and the adoration of the qualities the particular element (or para-element) possesses. A fire cleric thinks fire is sacred, and so it is. She might believe that fire is transformative: it brings change with its flame and allows for growth and restoration of the young to replace the old. Or, he might believe it is a killing wave, washing over the world in an unstoppable inferno, burning everyone and anything in its path in a vast wave of destruction. Whichever the case, the cleric believes that the element is the purest and most important foundation of reality.

Most people pay some amount of lip-service to the Sorcerer King or Queen of their city state. You never know when a templar can hear an unkind word against a sorcerer king. Besides, the Sorcerer Kings (and Queens) provide the gladiatorial games, bring rains, strength, stability, and relative prosperity for their city states. But, they cannot deny the powers of the elements that have shaped this world.

Templars require a special bit of attention.
Templars are basically inquisitors, but are pledged to serve a Sorcerer King. They MUST serve a Sorcerer King or Queen. We’ll be based in Urik, and Hammanu is Sorcerer King there. So, it’s highly suggested that any templar be a servant of Hammanu. However, the sorcerer kings and queens do not form a pantheon. They do not have portfolios or a hierarchy. They each are a tyrant unto their own and view themselves the equal (or even superior) to the others. They can and do wage wars against each other, occasionally, and their current political relations are best called a “detente”. While nothing directly forbids templars from other cities to operate in Urik, they will receive no special dispensations from Hammanu and they are NOT allies of his templars. If anything, they would be viewed with even more mistrust and suspicion. Under no circumstances can templars serve Daskinor, Dregoth, or Oronis (the city states these Sorcerer Kings rule are not in the Tablelands, or are completely forgotten by the people).

There is no common language in the Tablelands. Each city state has its own language (it’s the only logical reason I can think of that the city states have such vastly different linguistic traditions). The languages of the cities are the names of the city (Urik speaks Urik, Draj speaks Draj, etc). There are also racial tongues for every intelligent species except Mul and Half-giants (who are created races, and thus do not have a racial tongue). Racial tongues are preferred amongst communities of separate races.

People (including the PCs) are assumed to be illiterate. To read a language, you must spend a point in linguistics for each language you speak. This also applies to secret languages (like Druid) and bonus languages. Wizards and Alchemists come up with their own methods for recording their formulae and spells which don’t qualify as “writing” (even in regular Pathfinder, magical writings aren’t really a “language” in the traditional sense). This could be knotted ropes, tattoos, artfully decorated colored stones, intricate scars on their body, or anything else you can think of. Reading/learning new formulae and spells from scrolls or “books” will require either the “read magic” cantrip for Wizards or an Intelligence check for Alchemists. Alchemists and Wizards cannot learn spells or formulae from the other’s work (Alchemists can’t pick up formulae from Preservers, and Preservers can’t learn spells from Alchemists).

Speaking of skills, we’ll be using background skills. Crafting is allowed. Any pre-game crafts are assumed to be auto-successes. Have fun.

Everyone gets 1 wild talent selected from the list in the conversion book. Please roll 3d8 to determine your random power. You also get 2 power points to manifest this power. Even if you choose to be a psion, you still get this free power and power points. Have fun.

Psions also get to know their two discipline talents.

Preserving (and defiling) are the ONLY ways to be an arcane caster in Dark Sun. Please see all the changes in the conversion book for this. Being an arcane caster means you draw energy to fuel your spells from the lifeforce of the environment around you. Preserves “borrow” this energy: they take a little bit from a LOT of things and then give it back. Or, rather, it’s not such a big pull that living things can’t compensate.

Defilers just grab the energy. They forcibly rip it out of the surrounding wildlife, leaving nothing but death and destruction in their wake.

Mechanically, defiling allows an arcane caster with a metamagic feat to prepare spell with that metamagic feat without occupying an adjusted spell slot. The only limit is they can’t stack a spell beyond their class level. So, a 2nd level defiler could stack a first level spell to 2nd level and then put it in a first level slot, while a 20th level Defiler could cast a 20th level magic missile with stacked metamagics and have it occupy a single first-level slot. They “buy down” the power with energy from the world around them. They also acquire a number of Defiling Points equal to that buy-down. Defiling stains their soul and irrevocably takes them a step closer to evil. Even defiling ONCE to buy down ONE level of spell power is enough tarnish a soul in such a way that an otherwise good character would be Neutral forever after. Once the Defiler has at least 30 Defiling Points, they are EVIL forever after.

So who cares? Evil’s allowed in this game, right? Very true. However, the more an arcane wielder defiles, the more palpable their taint becomes until PEOPLE can sense it. They just KNOW that there’s something wrong about the person in front of them. While people can be convinced to at least tolerate a preserve or work with her, an entire city would turn against a known defiler and hunt him until he’s dead. What’s more, the Sorcerer Kings take a narrow view towards arcane magic of any sort. They might ignore preserving. But, defiling? No. THEY are the defilers, and the more defilers there are, the less life-energy there is for the rest of them.

Plus, the party might want to kill you.

Ok, so.. I’m confused, can I defile, or not? You can… but there will be in-game RP consequences if you do. Or not, it’s possible that a defiler could totally hide what they do for a very long time. It might be possible to even hide the act of casting a spell altogether. Such skullduggery and deceit is all too common in the Burnt World of Athas.

I REALLY hate looting and loot-mongering. Some people like keeping track of that stuff. I don’t. As a GM, I find it almost impossible to give players gear that they need and want. So they end up selling the loot at a reduced cost. And, a lot of time the really cool loot in a room is dependent on whether or not people roll perception. Also, looting the badguy (who uses their gear) actually results in subpar gear for the party. As a player, I can NEVER seem to save enough gp to get the gear I really want, so I just make do with humdrum static boosting gear.

We are going to circumvent all of that. We’ll be using Automatic Bonus Progression. All of those “plus to saves, abilities, and AC gears” don’t exist. You get those bonuses naturally as you level. In exchange, you get half of the total amount of wealth you’d get starting at 3rd level (when you get your first bonus). It actually works to your favor in the long run, because you’re not spending gp on static bonuses anymore. You are allowed to switch Ability boosts for your level with the one immediately ABOVE your level, but you MUST take the other ability boost when you level. For example, at 4th level, Johnny Appleseed gets a +2 to a Physical score. Unfortunately, he’s a wizard, and what he really needs is a +2 to a Mental score (like intelligence). Normally, he’d have saved up for a circlet of undumbification giving him a +2 to his int by now, but that isn’t going to happen because of automatic bonus progression. He notices that level 5 gives him a +2 to one mental ability stat. Alright. So, he will take the +2 to his mental stat, at 4th level and then take +2 to a physical stat at 5th.

In addition, this is going to be considered a “low magic” game. You start off at 2 levels higher on the wealth chain (level 3, not level 1). So everyone will start with a +1 resistance bonus. You still only start off with max wealth for first level.

You will still need to loot rooms and stuff for treasure, but the value of treasure will be greatly reduced than normal for the AP.

At first level, you start with the maximum amount of wealth for your class (in the conversion book),

All armor, shields, and weapons are considered to have the Fragile condition. On a natural 1, weapons will gain the broken condition. Armor that is struck with a natural 20 will gain the broken. They will be shattered on a second natural 1 or 20, respectively.

We’re going to do battles on Roll20.net. You move yourself, I’ll handle updating damage points and so on.

I’ll make the rolls for saves, perceptions, and initiatives to keep things moving along. You handle attacks, damage, and any player-initiated actions. Give me flavor text (i lurves the flavor text), please. Also, give me a link to any spell you’re going to cast, along with your DCs.

I’ll do a summary post at breaks in initiative when actions revert back to players.

For example: say there are 4 players and the initiative order splits the action with 2 PCs acting, then monsters, then 2 PCs. I’ll call for the 1st 2 PCs’ actions first, then resolve with the monsters, and then call for the last 2 PCs’ actions to finish the round.

I would like a post every day. I live in Hawaii, so I may not get to things right away, but I find that if the players post every day, then that keeps the timezone lag down to a minimum.

I really don’t care. Good and Evil aren’t really important in Westcrown. You’re just an average Joe trying to scrape a few coppers together before night falls and you’re caught outside when the fog rolls in. You might be bad, the Powers that Be are worse. Hero, antihero, somewhere in between, it doesn’t matter.

All official paizo content is allowed. Core, Base, Alternate, Hybrid, Unchained, and Occult classes and Prestige Classes are permitted. Classes that rely heavily on mounts (like cavaliers and samurai) will have a rough going because there aren’t a lot of open-spaces in the AP.

You have 25 ability points to spend using the point-buy method. You can drop no more than 2 scores to 7 (lower with racial modifiers, of course).

You’ll start at 1st level. We’ll advance using the Ad Hoc method: whenever you hit certain milestones in the game, I’ll advance ya a level. You should be around 16th level by the final fight, although I may figure out a way to push you to 20 so you have your cool toys at the end.

We will also be using gestalt rules. You can find them here. It’s like multiclassing’s bad-ass grandma. You take 2 classes and level them simultaneously, combining the best stats from both. So, a first level gestalt fighter wizard has the the fighter hit points, skills, abilities, and attacks, as well as a wizard’s spell progression, arcane bond, and skills. She’d take the better skill point allotment, and would merge the skill lists of both. Similarly, she’d take the fighters +2 to Fort and the wizard’s +2 to Wil saves

Hit Points: max HD + con mod each level.

We’ll be using background skills. Crafting is allowed. Any pre-game crafts are assumed to be auto-successes. Have fun.

We will also use Skill Unlocks and Occult Skill Unlocks. Rogues get Skill Unlocks for free, and Occult casters get Occult Skill Unlocks for free.

At first level, you get max wealth. Starting at 3rd level, we’ll be using Automatic Bonus Progress. All of those plus gears to saves and abilities and AC don’t exist. You get those bonuses naturally as you level. In exchange you get half of the total amount of wealth you’d get starting at 3rd level (when you get your first bonus). It actually works to your favor in the long run, because you’re not spending gp on static bonuses anymore.

You are allowed to switch Ability boosts for your level with the one immediately ABOVE your level, but you MUST take the other ability boost when you level. For example, at 4th level, Johnny Appleseed gets a +2 to a Physical score. Unfortunately, he’s a wizard, and what he really needs is a +2 to a Mental score (like intelligence). Normally, he’d have saved up for a circlet of undumbification giving him a +2 to his Intelligence by now, but that isn’t going to happen because of automatic bonus progression. He notices that level 5 gives him a +2 to one mental ability stat. Alright. So, he will take the +2 to his mental stat, at 4th level and then take +2 to a physical stat at 5th.

Other gear must be found or bought from loot you acquire.

We’re going to use Roll20. It’s free, and available here, if you don’t have an account already.

I’ll roll initiative, perception checks, saves, and anything that needs to be resolved immediately, you can handle everything else.

If you want an immediate action to go off, you need to tell me when you want that to occur, either during your turn as a condition that I’ll look for the subsequent round (yes you will need to keep stating the condition for the immediate action each turn). I will not, slog through 3 actions to get the immediate action in play. So, if you don’t immediately tell me when you want your immediate action to occur (or the condition that triggers it), it’s not gonna happen.

Please keep track of your own statuses and what not. List essential stats (race, class level, alignment, hp, initiative, and perception) in the alias bar, spoiler everything else.

Please, be civil and polite to each other in these threads. I don’t approve of name calling or anything like that. If you disagree with someone’s opinions, discuss it respectfully in a level tone.
I’m new to PbP. I’m going to make mistakes. Please be gentle when I do :) I’ll try to fix what i borked.

This is seriously important. I cannot stress this enough. Background. Is. Important. This is an epic fantasy, about a group of relative unknowns who will end up retaking/restoring Myth Drannor to its former glory. Characters should have flaws and foibles and room to grow, but they should also be connected to Myth Drannor and the nation of lost Cormanthyr in their history. Maybe they’re descended from citizens. Maybe they’ve always been fascinated by the tragedy of the fall of the City of Song. Maybe they just have always felt drawn to the woods northeast of Cormyr. Whatever the reason, it should be a deeply personal and a powerful connection for the character. They might not even realize it’s there. But, you do, and it will be used.

You’ll be starting on the blustery night of Marpenoth 15 Basically October 15, or Lamashtan 15 on Golarion at the Halfway Inn, a traveler’s tavern and inn located in the western side of the mountains facing the Forgotten Forest along the trade road to Evereska. Check above for a handy dandy map of the important areas of the region. Why are you there? Where do you hope to go? These questions should be included in your background/hook. I’m not asking for the great American novel, but I am asking for more than a few sentences and a character description. A paragraph or so is fine, give more if you feel like it. I tend to respond better to characters that feel alive and have really fleshed out origins and personalities. In general, though, restoring the famed City of Song, is something your character will fall into. It can be a wish/desire, but it’s not their main purpose. I’m trying to create a more romantic fantasy/epic quest vibe, like a novel where relatively normal peeps by chance and fate end up accomplishing something PROFOUND.
For those of you who know about this stuff and/or care, the game will be set in the Old Gray Box of Forgotten Realms. That’s pre-Time of Troubles. Why? Because, I really don’t like most of the fallout from the Time of Troubles (Midnight sucks; Cyric is the worst thing to ever happen in gaming history. EVER; and while I appreciate what they were trying to do with Kelemvor… no. They are all poor substitutes for Bhaal, Myrkul, and Mystra), and that stuff doesn’t really affect our area anyways, so why not arbitrarily say that the stuff I don’t like doesn’t exist?

The game will also be fairly sandbox. I have a plot, it’s a good one. And, I know where you’re going down my wonderful little railroad. However, the plot is on the PC’s timetable, and can wait until they’re ready to move on. If a PC wants to build a border fort, we’ll make that happen. If someone else wants to get married and establish a family line. Sure, I’ll set up Faerunian e-Harmony, and you can live happily ever after. The point is, PCs should have wants and dreams and hopes and goals. I encourage you all to work towards those plans coming to fruition. I will do my best as well.

If you’ve followed any of my other games (insert shameless plug here). They tend to be fairly dark, grim, bloody, and terrifying affairs. This will not be one of those games. Evil is evil and will do bad things, you will probably see someone get tortured by drow, eaten by orcs, etc. What you won’t see is the blood, or hear the screams, or anything like that. Most of that will happen off camera or with a short sentence and that’s it. I plan on keeping this as PG-PG13 as I can (Lord of the Rings is about as graphic as I plan to get). As such, your characters should fit into this tone as well. This is a game about hope and restoration, not brutal savagery.

Myth Drannor was the capital of the last (and some would say, best) elven kingdom on the continent of Faerun. Cormanthyr was a nation of peace and prosperity, supposedly free of the prejudices and struggles that plagued earlier realms. All peoples, even half-orcs, were accepted beneath its boughs, so long as they upheld the nation’s laws. And, Myth Drannor was the realm’s crown jewel. Some called it the City of Song, and it was a center of peace, learning, art, magic, and prosperity the likes of which had never been seen before, and never has been seen since. It was surrounded by a magical field called a mythal which provided magic and protection for all within. It fell nearly a thousand years ago to an army of fiends. Its forests have since been overrun by drow, dragons, fiends, dark fey, orcs, and other monsters.

At the very edges of the forest, are the Dalelands, a collection of predominantly human hamlets and villages that have fallen on hard times. Some have fallen under the control of drow; others are dominated by evil agents of dark gods. Some are pretty decent places to live if you like peace and quiet in pastoral not!England. None of these places have any famous residents (Elminster is off doing things in places that are else, and has been for quite some time).

Legally distinct, but still resembling Rivendell. It means “Fortress Home” in elvish, so that should tell you of its mission and sense of duty. It’s the last, and only, city of elves on the Faerunian content. The rest are off in Evermeet (legally distinct but still resembling Valinor), an island nation of elves off in the middle of the (not!Atlantic.. In the West, because Fantasy!) ocean away from anyone who can mess with them. Evereska is a city of elven culture, art, magic, and wonder. It’s also completely restricted to elves, because they’ve been burned before. It’s a city of learning and sophistication and beauty, an artifact of a bygone and more civilized era. Yet, it pales in comparison to the memory of Myth Drannor. Non-elves are not allowed within the city’s borders, and, even half-elves and fey are looked at it with intense scrutiny.

Elves aren’t exactly xenophobic racists…. But.. they’re not exactly all that welcoming of outsiders in their homelands, either. Gold/Sun elves are more haughty and aloof (they prefer the term “regal”); Silver/Moon elves tend to be more welcoming and adventurous--the more open elven kingdoms, and some would say their greatest and most treasured realms tend to be founded by Silver elves (Like Myth Drannor); Copper/Wood elves tend to be more at peace in the wild and deep woods.. There are other types of elves, too: Aquatic elves (they hang out in the Sea of Fallen Stars to the east and the oceans of the world), and Drow (duh).

The Halfway Inn was built so people in Evereska could trade with the outside world without worry of risking the safety and peace of Evereska. Because elves may be haughty, but they also, grudgingly, acknowledge that they need things from outside of their city from time to time.

Core, aquatic elf, centaur, gathlain, or naiad. Preference will be given to characters that fit with a general sense of the epic romance (think high ivory towers, glowing trees, grand quests, powerful magic, and mysterious places of wonder and beauty). Especially think about how your character would fit in a quest to re-take an elven kingdom. Sure, a redeemed monster race COULD do that, but would the pervading sense of guilt and/or prejudice that these characters would inherently endure fit a theme of epic wonder and grandeur? Under NO circumstances will anything remotely approaching a drow be allowed. Not even Drizz’t was allowed in Evereska. Also, no player-built races.

In old DnD, for some reason (many of which I’m not exactly comfortable thinking about), many of the different flavors of core races had different ability scores, with one subrace being the “standard” variety, and all others being different in some way. These ability modifiers don’t exist. Sun elves just look a little different from the other elves; same with Shield dwarves. The difference are purely cosmetic.

Other than the rules on gestalt (see below in Classes) and Virtual Gearing (see below in Wealth), there will be NO THIRD PARTY CONTENT ALLOWED. Nor, will there be “variant multiclassing” from Paizo. We’re doing gestalt, that’s enough. Do not ask. I will not say yes.

No evils. No exceptions.

I'm going to shamelessly steal an idea from a buddy of mine.
Roll 4d6, dropping the lowest die roll, 6 times and arrange the resulting scores accordingly. If you don't get a net positive bonus, or your total point but wouldn't be a 20 point buy, keep rolling new 6 sets of 4d6 (junking the old rolls) until both conditions are met. Please post all rolls in the recruitment thread.
If you prefer, you can also just default to 25 point buy. A calculator can be found here.

You get max hp per level. Have fun.

You can take 2 traits, plus more if you pay for them through feats or drawbacks. No campaign traits. Feats should be reworded to fit within Faerun. Ask me for advice if you need help rewording things.

All Core, Base, Hybrid, and Occult classes. Use the Unchained version for Summoner. If you would like to use Unchained versions of Barbarians, Monks, and Rogues, you may. Firearms do not exist yet in the game (Well, they do, but they’re super rare, and pretty much exclusive to the island nation of Lantan which is off in the Great Big not!Atlantic Ocean to the West several thousands of miles away from Myth Drannor). So, don’t count on getting guns.

We will also be using gestalt rules. You can find them here. It’s like multiclassing’s bad-ass grandma. You take 2 classes and level them simultaneously, combining the best stats from both. So, a first level gestalt fighter wizard has the the fighter hit points, skills, abilities, and attacks, as well as a wizard’s spell progression, arcane bond, and skills. She’d take the better skill point allotment, and would merge the skill lists of both. Similarly, she’d take the fighters +2 to Fort and the wizard’s +2 to Wil saves

Finally, we’re going to be leveling at an ad-hoc basis. Whenever you achieve a milestone in the campaign or significantly advanced through the plot, you’ll gain a level. This way you don’t have to fret about clearing the dungeon just to get to 2nd level.

For those who want to play a divine caster, I have a handy-dandy doc up on the top that provides options. Forgotten Realms had, like, a billion gods, and I’m not detailing them all, so it’s a VERY paired down list of the most common deities of the area and by race, since each race had its own pantheon. There was a lot of bleed over, though, so don’t feel that if you’re a halfling you HAVE to worship the halfling gods. If you know the specifics of the gods from the good old days, awesome (or you can just google them). If not, you can ask me and I’ll type things up for you.

I like languages, they make things entertaining and add depth and scope to the the world. So, Common doesn’t exist. Languages are based on region (see the handy-dandy doc HERE for a list of languages and where they’re spoken). The major language of the region is Chondathan, and if you’re from the area, you get it for free. You can always use the linguist skill to gain more languages. Speaking of skills, we’ll be using background skills. Crafting is allowed. Any pre-game crafts are assumed to be auto-successes. Have fun.

I REALLY hate looting and loot-mongering. Some people like keeping track of that stuff. I don’t. As a GM, I find it almost impossible to give players gear that they need and want. So they end up selling the loot at a reduced cost. And, a lot of time the really cool loot in a room is dependent on whether or not people roll perception. Also, looting the badguy (who uses their gear) actually results in subpar gear for the party. As a player, I can NEVER seem to save enough gp to get the gear I really want, so I just make do with humdrum static boosting gear.

We are going to circumvent all of that. We’ll be using Automatic Bonus Progress. All of those plus gears to saves and abilities and AC don’t exist. You get those bonuses naturally as you level. In exchange you get half of the total amount of wealth you’d get starting at 3rd level (when you get your first bonus). It actually works to your favor in the long run, because you’re not spending gp on static bonuses anymore. You are allowed to switch Ability boosts for your level with the one immediately ABOVE your level, but you MUST take the other ability boost when you level. For example, at 4th level, Johnny Appleseed gets a +2 to a Physical score. Unfortunately, he’s a wizard, and what he really needs is a +2 to a Mental score (like intelligence). Normally, he’d have saved up for a circlet of undumbification giving him a +2 to his int by now, but that isn’t going to happen because of automatic bonus progression. He notices that level 5 gives him a +2 to one mental ability stat. Alright. So, he will take the +2 to his mental stat, at 4th level and then take +2 to a physical stat at 5th.

Second, we’re going to use a homebrew rule that I picked up from a friend of mine. It’s called Virtual Gearing. At every level you can re-tool all your gear using the adjusted wealth for your level. So.. when Meaty McMeatshield turns 7th level, he dumps all of his old gear and buys all new gear using 11,750 gp (11, 750 because it’s half what he’d normally get at 7th level because of Automatic Bonus Progression) as his pool of gold. If he wants to keep his old gear, that’s fine, but he still pays for it out of his NEW lump of cash. The assumption is that he found all of this extra cool stuff during his adventures. You can totally craft to stretch your purchasing power in this way, too.

At first level, you start with the maximum amount of wealth for your class.

We’re going to do battles on Roll20.net. You move yourself, I’ll handle updating damage points and so on.

I’ll make the rolls for saves, perceptions, and initiatives to keep things moving along. You handle attacks, damage, and any player-initiated actions. Give me flavor text (i lurves the flavor text), please. Also, give me a link to any spell you’re going to cast, along with your DCs.

I’ll do a summary post at breaks in initiative when actions revert back to players.

For example: say there are 4 players and the initiative order splits the action with 2 PCs acting, then monsters, then 2 PCs. I’ll call for the 1st 2 PCs’ actions first, then resolve with the monsters, and then call for the last 2 PCs’ actions to finish the round.

I would like a post every day. I live in Hawaii, so I may not get to things right away, but I find that if the players post every day, then that keeps the timezone lag down to a minimum.

What? Where? Why? Feliks cast about, taking in the city. How had he come here...before? Often. Yes, often. Many times. He sat by the dry fountain and names filled his mind: Lomar, Oriab, places he had never been, far away and long ago. Where had the people gone?
”Hullo? Is anyone there? Do you need help? I might...” It was a mad, stupid thing to do, but Feliks could not accept that the city was truly abandoned. Someone must remain. He looked up the still facades, and beheld the mad sky.

No...no that’s not possible. There’s no sky like that! Black stars! How?! The world seemed to spin around Feliks and he fell backwards, landing hard on the cold stone. The mist rolled down from above, through all the empty balconies. It rose inside open doors. And someone inside.

Feliks swallowed his fear. That person may need help.

”Can you hear me? Are you hurt?” he took a hesitant step toward the fog, but the way it moved and turned on itself broke his courage. He turned and ran, through the plaza, across the courtyard, the fog at his back. He could feel it staring like a thousand lidless eyes. Its jaundice breath touched his neck. Without an instant’s thought, Feliks chose the high path and raced toward the bedlam dome above.

As Feliks takes a step toward the fog, that unearthly bisque miasmia seems to pull towards the halfling. But, he turns and runs up the hill, towards the viridian sky. The hill stretches onward, ever higher, and Feliks runs for nearly an hour. Always, the fog is but a half-step behind him. He crests the hill into an open plaza. But, instead of those impossibly black lights twinkling, a great vault of stone sores above. A dank, wet, stench, like the rot of the sea, fills the air, and fog is ever closer.

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.

What do you do? You have initiative

The old man ceased his running, his injudicious indecision costing him precious moments of his precarious lead as he pondered; up, or down? Faithless memory, that had moments ago distracted him with songs and stories, now adamantly refused to offer any clues. Another treacherous thought arose as he paused - stand his ground and face his foes - and was discarded as hopeless surrender poorly disguised as valor.

Finally, recognizing that vacillation was the worst of the paths before him, he gathered up his courage and resolved to head uphill. There was little hope that the fog that veiled his pursuers would be constrained to natural law, and a risk that he would become trapped on some hilltop, but better to die facing the sky - even this scarlet hellscape - then trapped in the deep dark.

His breath somewhat recovered from his inactivity he boldly set to conquering the slope with a will. His footsteps fairly flew, old joints oiled smooth by the alchemy of terror and desperation, and if he had no breath spare to curse those who followed, he had breath enough to carry him.

He runs up the hill, towards the viridian sky. The hill stretches onward, ever higher, and Feliks runs for nearly an hour. Always, the fog is but a half-step behind him. He crests the hill into an open plaza. But, instead of those impossibly black lights twinkling, a great vault of stone sores above. A dank, wet, stench, like the rot of the sea, fills the air, and fog is ever closer.

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.

What do you do? You have initiative

He glances around him, wondering desperately where he was. Was this...HOME? No...this was somewhere...else? He thinks to himself, trying to keep a grip on himself here. The music takes him back...back to the time when he was chased...pursued by those who feared his differences...his intellect...his mind. He remembers falling down...their blows reigning down upon him...blacking out...waking up after...how long...HOW LONG? He could not remember...but now looking back he knows his tormentors have returned...and so he runs again...knowing he MUST escape this time, yet also knowing there is NO escape...they will catch him again and...Desperately he calls upon what last reservoirs of strength he has left and takes the descending route. His feet barely touch the cobblestones and for an instant he feels a sense of flight, a sense of hope...fleeting though it is. He feels the stone slip out from his foot and then the pavement rushing to meet his face...PAIN...such pain and then as he lays on the ground gasping for breath...his twisted leg lying under him he feels...THEM above him...and wishes he could feel no more.

Down, down, he fell. Tumbling end over end, ruined ankle sending bursts of pain through every motion as it collides with the cobblestones with every turn. Still, the fog follows, slowly, the footsteps come, echoing through the halls of the cavernous tunnel he descended.

He turns, staring his doom in the eyes.. and finds, not the cavernous vault of stone, but the great viridian expanse with black stars sparkling in the sky. Hearda turns away, unable to comprehend the twisted geometry he faced. And, once more brings his horror-filled eyes to that saffron fog haunting his thoughts. 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.

What do you do? You have initiative

"No...please, leave me alone!"

She fled blindly through the bizarre city, knowing only that she had to escape. As she reached a split in the grimy, abandoned street - one way leading around a hill and out of sight, the other sloping down into a darkness that even the light of the blood-red moon couldn't penetrate.

Which way? Which WAY!?

The footsteps grew louder. Casting a quick glance over her shoulder, she paled - the mist approached, a roiling, sickly thing. She knew that she must not let it catch her - the mist was pain, the mist was remembrance.

"GO AWAY!" she screamed suddenly, her expression almost deranged in her fear. "I've done nothing wrong!"

Please...if anyone is listening...I didn't do anything! It wasn't me!

She turned and fled down the sloping streets, descending further and further into darkness. Or was it madness?

She didn't know.

Still, she runs and the fog follows. And, with it, slowly, the footsteps come, echoing through the halls of the cavernous tunnel she descends.

She turns a corner in the tunnel, and finds not the cavernous vault of stone, but the great viridian expanse with black stars sparkling in the sky of the plaza of pillars. Amber turns away, unable to comprehend the twisted geometry she faces. And, once more brings her horror-filled eyes to that saffron fog haunting her thoughts. 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.
What do you do? You have Initiative

Dvarin was dreaming, he was sure of that, dreaming of someplace further from home than he had ever been--but where was it? And where, for that matter, was his home? He couldn’t remember that either, it seemed. Maybe this place was his home--but if it was, what had happened to it?

He thought perhaps he would linger at the fountain, try to guess at what had emptied this city--the thought of the minstrels who played here, who he remembered playing here filled him with melancholy and with a strange kind of hunger too--when he saw the fog, pulsing with the yellow of sickness, something stalking within it and before he can react he found himself running, his feet compelled to run through

“Hello?” he called out in the darkness as he raced between the streets. This had to be a dream, his feet running of their own accord, his body acting as the dream logic compelled him but everything seemed so real, the sound of footsteps trailing behind him, the crumbling city beneath his feet, the gray of his skin--why was his skin gray, he wondered? Had he died in this dream? Was he dead already? He yearned to stop, if only for a moment, with each wonder and monument he passed--this was a city built on secrets, wherever it was, whatever it was, but each time he slowed his steps the fog drew closer, hungering after him, heightening the strange pangs of hunger he felt in his stomach, and he quickened his pace again.

At last he reached a split in the street--one path leading up and another down. He could still escape. There was still time. He just had to run. But he didn’t.

Either I am dreaming or I am trapped here. Whichever it is, I will run no more, he thought, turning back to face the fog and let it overtake him.

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.

What do you do? You have intiative

Kalas sighs wearily as the path splits before him, he runs a battered hand through tangled hair.

Whatever path I take the footsteps of death and their perverse fog will follow.

He looks from one path to the other, neither gives any hint of true salvation. Not a scent of memory dredges itself from his cloudy mind to help. With a sharp nod to himself he turns his back on both paths to confront what comes behind. "You take my memories and leave me only this perception of endless tragedy. I will not let you take my diginity as well!" His voice echoes through the streets as the fog propels towards him. Even if you win in the end, I will not let that end be here!

He draws his worn blade in steady hands and defies the fiendish fog with a final wordless bellow.

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.

What do you do? You have initiative

Nathaniel stops, taking a moment to stare at the two paths in front of him before turning to look at the sickly fog behind him. He seems to have managed to evade it so far, leaving it ever so slightly behind, but there it is, inexorable, drawing ever closer. He sighs as he turns his gaze upwards.

'Such a strange sky,' he ponders with a sigh as he takes in the alien colors of it, of the moon and the stars. 'Such a... familiar sky?' The thought is as much a statement as it is a question.

He then turns entirely, no longer facing the two paths but the roiling mist. "This is futile, yes? The upward path will slow you, perhaps, but it will do the same to me. And the descending one will certainly feel quicker to me, but to you as well," he says softly, almost as if he is addressing both the fog and himself, as a faint click and then another are heard. The first is followed by the bottom part of the cane held in his right hand falling to the ground and revealing a cold iron blade underneath it, while the second is accompanied by the sudden appearance of a gleaming silver dagger in his left hand. And then comes the magic as both his black cloak and the clasp that secures it in place come alive for but a moment, as enchantments of protection shield him. "Enough running, I believe."

He looks down at the weapons in his hands. "I... I know how to use them," he mutters to himself, feeling as if the fog is not only out here, but in his mind as well. "I have been... taught?" He looks back up again. The mist is close enough now to make out shapes within it. Not all look human. "Well, at least he is not here to see me make an utter fool of myself," he quips, a crooked smile appearing on his lips. Then a thought, a rational one. 'Cold iron in one hand, silver in the other. One of them is bound to work.' And then another thought, a fleeting one. 'He? Who is he?'

"We have such sights to show you." The whispering voices, inviting and threatening at the same time, come from all around him. They are everywhere.

"Yes, I trust that you do." He brandishes his weapons and looks at the yellow cloud about to envelop him calmly, stoically. "But I very much doubt I will survive the experience.

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.

What do you do? You have initiative

1) Yay! so glad you came!
2) We're using roll20 for our maps and stuff because it's easy and better(ish) than Google Draw.
3) you'll find a link to our roll20 game in private message.
4) finalize your PC sheets and/or make profiles for your characters and tell me what you want as your avatar pick
5) shoot me a PM with your roll20 username so I can link you with your avatar.
6) we'll hopefully start tonight but most likely Monday.. assuming everyone's signed on promptly. Which, never happens because life is a cruel mistress to us all.

No. Evils. Don’t ask, I’m not gonna budge. A lot of this game requires teamwork and trust (both in the GM and your fellow players), which are things that being evil doesn't often inspire.

Besides, part of the fun of this AP is you wake up with NO memory of who you are, or where you came from. Wouldn’t it be kinda cool to wake up, become this super awesome super good guy, only to realize later that you were a horrible monster? The conflict would be pretty gnarly and part of the package of Lovecraftian horror.

All official paizo content is allowed. Core, Base, Alternate, Hybrid, Unchained, and Occult classes and Prestige Classes are permitted, except for antipaladin, because they’re evil. If anyone seeks to join a prestige class that has stringent requirements, i.e. killing or binding a devil, murdering someone just because you could, satisfying a story feat, etc, I’ll make sure those requirements are met during the game. Characters that heavily rely on mounts (like samurai and cavalier) will have a hard time in this AP, since most of it happens indoors.

You have 25 ability points to spend using the point-buy method. You can drop no more than 2 scores to 7 (lower with racial modifiers, of course).

You’ll start at 1st level. We’ll advance using the Ad Hoc method: whenever you hit certain milestones in the game, I’ll advance ya a level. You should be around 16th level by the final fight, although I may figure out a way to push you to 20 so you have your cool toys at the end.

Hit Points: max HD + con mod each level.

Automatic Bonus Progression We’ll use Automatic Bonus Progression. But, you can swap when you take the mental and physical prowess trainings ONLY. i.e. Mental Prowess +2 happens at 6th level, and Physical Prowess happens at 7th level, a character may elect to take Physical Prowess at 6th level and Mental Prowess at 7th. BOTH enhancements MUST be taken, however.

Virtual Gearing and wealth You have max gp for your class to buy your gear. You can use skills like craft to reduce the cost of this gear as per the rules in the PFSRD. All rolls (pre-game) are assumed to be successes. Have fun. Basically, you just assume you find whatever gear you want when you level and pay for it accordingly from the wealth by level (although you only get half of the normal wealth thanks to Automatic Bonus Progression; you still come out ahead, though). Craft skills and feats can still be used to stretch your virtual dollar further.

Background Skills That brings me to skills. We’re going to use background skills in this game. Go nuts.

I like languages I think they lend some reality to a game where people with pointy ears shoot balls of fire at people while telling them to save the trees and NOT telling them to live long and prosper. So, unless the main language of an area is Taldane, Common won’t get you very far in that realm. That said, Varisian is the main language of Ustalav (where the game starts) and it'd be a good idea to know it starting out. If other languages end up becoming more important as the game moves forward, then your character should pick it up in game using spells, skills, etc.

Skill Unlocks
Both Occult and Unchained skill unlocks are allowed in this game. But, unless you’re an Unchained Rogue, or and Occult Character, you must take the required feat to access the unlocks.

Races
This is a bit of a conundrum. I like opening the world to all. And, all people are as likely to meet with the horror of the unknowable as any. However, a diverse menagerie of peoples is counter to the themes of the literature. To Lovecraft, an orc or a goblin, or even an elf, were things of horror and mystery, aberrations to the orderly flow of reality. Moreover, this is Ustalav. They are suspicious, paranoid, fear-driven, and superstitious to a fault. They’re stereotypical Transylvanian peasants in every B-horror monster movie ever made, ever. Anything that doesn’t conform to the general “human” paradigm is regarded with suspicion at best, and fear at worst. Plus, I hate Drow (i know, blasphemy). But, this IS Pathfinder, and if I were sticking to TRUE genre conventions the only “good” guys would be the guys unaffiliated with any sort of magic or deity and sharing a 1920s upper(middle) class New Englander’s world view. So….

Core races, Changlelings, Dhampir, and Skinwalkers are allowed without question. (it IS Ustalav, and theses guys are pretty common.. Plus they can hide).
Plane-touched and Underdark races are forbidden.
Anything else, is allowed on a case by case basis. REALLY make a strong case for why they’d be allowed to roam Ustalav and not lynched

1 Drawbacks and 3 traits. Every character MUST have a drawback to reflect their past and a piece of how they came to be in the asylum. They will receive the usual bonus trait for this drawback, which brings their total traits to three. One of these traits must be a campaign trait selected from the traits listed in the Player’s Guide.

However, the Campaign Traits need a bit of attention. There are lines in most of them that say something to the effect “You have the vague sense that you did something really bad, but you’re Much Better Now, and you know you’re forgiven by your deity/authority figure/moral compass”. No. You may have the vague sense that you did something bad, but you’re not forgiven. You screwed up. Big time. The fact that you still receive spells from your god, patron, or mystery or you're still allied with your order or whatever is no small miracle. You have been shown some measure of mercy for doing something very, very wrong, even though you don’t remember it. Or, perhaps, BECAUSE you don’t remember it. Either way, it doesn’t sit well with you.

This is because whatever you did, and the drawback you select ,will be used to drive the plot, and your character’s motivations, throughout the AP. They will be sources of angst and ennui that may lead to psychosis and mental illness. They may be weapons that the villains will use against you. They may even become powerful tools and allies, if wielded appropriately.

This brings me to sanity. We’re going to use the sanity and fear rules from Horror Adventures. Why? Because this is a Lovecraft-inspired AP, and one of the strongest themes in his works is that humans are not meant to deal with things outside the normal ken. Meddling with that which man was not meant to know, even being exposed to such things takes its toll on the human condition as our feeble mortal 3-dimensional minds try to comprehend non-euclidean geometry, alien biology, and other-worldly thought patterns. This means that encountering things like undead, aberrations, shapechangers, outsiders, and even fey and underdark races can shake even the staunchest of wills as their minds try to rationalize things that violate their preconceived notions of reality. You will not ALWAYS need to make fear or sanity checks for these things, and the number of checks needed to make will decrease as your minds become inured to the horrors they face, or their shattered psyche begin to heal. But, there will be checks from book 1 to the very end of book 6.

What can and will drive your character insane will be tied to your character’s campaign trait and drawback, as well as the events of the game. Characters can get better, or fall even more into the depths of madness, throughout the course of a game. If a character is nearing too close to “unplayable” we’ll discuss options.

What’s the fun in playing with the Cthulhu mythos if someone doesn’t have the risk of going crazy? We all go a little mad, sometime. Even characters that are normally immune to fear and mind-effects (like androids, or paladins at high enough levels) are not immune. Characters immune to fear will suffer the effects of fear 2 levels lower (so they need to be scared to suffer the effects of spooked).

[/b]You’ll be expected to track your Sanity Score, Edge, Threshold, and current fear rating.[/b] I’ll do my best to keep track of sanity on roll20 and Fear in a spoiler at the bottom of all posts. But, I’m something that pretends to be human. I may make mistakes. Characters that are immune to effects that would change their sanity, will follow a similar rule as the one for fear

Your character may not knowingly worship any chaotic evil god. What does this mean? This means that if your character’s alignment permits, the PC may worship, say Asmodeus, but not Rovagug. But, they don’t KNOW they worship this god. They know they worship a deity, they know they may even receive spells from said higher power. But, that’s it. They don’t know the name, or anything like that. They will, eventually, regain this knowledge, and the discovery might be something for celebration, or it might shake the very foundations of all they held dear.

This is also true for anything dealing with the Mythos. PCs can have knowledge of the creepy things that dwell between the stars, they may even have studied been an expert on them before they entered the asylum. But, now, they remember these things as though a dream or deja vous. They don't know how they know, just that they know such things.

Your characters have no memory of their lives. Thus, they have no background. Instead of sending in a background for your amnesiac characters, I want you to write a response to this scene. It’s the opening scene to the AP.

The city is ancient, older, even, than storied Absalom, the City at the Center of the World. The entryways to stately mansion of crumbling black and silver brick open, unseeingly to the cobbled street. Above, black stars sparkle in a viridian sky, and the whole city is bathed in the harsh light of a vermillion moon. Not a soul stirs on the streets in this nameless city, save for you. You know not how you have come to this fabled unnamed city, but this strange city is hauntingly familiar. At the fountain, long gone dry and dusty, in the plaza around the bend, you sat and listened to minstrels sing ancient tales of far-off Lomar and Oriab. Your feet slow, drawn by the haunting remembrance, not quite a memory, but far more than a vague feeling. You can still hear the lyres play, the bard’s songs. But, then, unease fills your heart, and you look back.
Behind you is a wall of sickly yellow fog, tumbling through the street’s canyon of crumbling, leaning manses like some jaundiced flash flood. Ahead, the oddly familiar avenue, curving to the left and right. Behind, from the silent swell of mist, emanates the sound of footsteps--slow and staggered, but somehow keeping pace with the careening, hungry wave. And always just behind. Ever out of reach, but close, and drawing closer. Within, you can discern faint shapes. The fog swirls and billows in opposite ways, as though stirred by the beats of wings and or animals deep within. And always, there are the footsteps.
Still you run, fleeing the plaza of your half-remembered songs, across a courtyard of pillars top by cerulean orbs that fold in on themselves in an alien geometry. Your flight takes you down another avenue, and the battered buildings appear almost ruinous, they slump over the path, nearly blotting out the bruised twilight sky. Again, the grimy cobblestone street splits. This time, one route curves uphill, while the other recklessly descends. Behind, the yellow fog and the relentless sound of pursuit grow closer…

We’re going to use Roll20. It’s free, and available here, if you don’t have an account already.

I’ll roll initiative, perception checks, saves, and anything that needs to be resolved immediately, you can handle everything else.

If you want an immediate action to go off, you need to tell me when you want that to occur, either during your turn as a condition that I’ll look for the subsequent round (yes you will need to keep stating the condition for the immediate action each turn). I will not, slog through 3 actions to get the immediate action in play. So, if you don’t immediately tell me when you want your immediate action to occur (or the condition that triggers it), it’s not gonna happen.

Please remember that this is a horror game, your PCs are supposed to be scared at some point. If things get too intense, please PM me and I’ll adjust accordingly. Similarly, if you need the fear factor to be dialed up a bit, notify me and I’ll get my Hammer Horror on.

I’m expecting a post schedule of 1 per 48 hours to allow for time differences (I live in Hawaii and teach from 6am to about 6pm. My noon is 6pm in NYC, and I don't check emails at work, or the "little darlings" tend to reenact some of the more interesting scenes from the Shadow Over Innsmouth).

Please keep track of your own statuses and what not. List essential stats (race, class level, alignment, hp, initiative, saves, SANITY, and perception) in the alias bar, spoiler everything else.

Please, be civil and polite to each other in these threads. I don’t approve of name calling or anything like that. If you disagree with someone’s opinions, discuss it respectfully in a level tone. If something really bugs you, send me a PM and I'll try to deal with it.

I’m new to PbP. I’m going to make mistakes. Please be gentle when I do :) I’ll try to fix what I borked.

I'm a Cancer. I like Italian food, long walks on the beach, video games, and men who aren't afraid to cry...

Seriously, though. I've been gaming off and on for the better part of 2 decades. I've been GMing for a few years now, and I thought "I like the idea of doing a war of Order versus Chaos, kind of like the Rod of Seven Parts, only, Pathfinder, and something I own. Hellknights as the PCs of Wrath of the Righteous kinda fits that bill nicely." And, here it is.

Bingo. Things are going to change a bit from the standard AP. They kind of have to to accommodate a party of potentially!evil adventurers who see Hell as a role-model and teacher. The core of the AP should stay the same, but I'll alter/adapt/modify/expand/truncate or just plain adjust things as I see fit to better align with the current narrative. Also, I WILL change encounters (both power, number, and creatures).

Redemption is a theme of the game. You will encounter characters that are on their way towards good. Or, at least, not being chaotic evil anymore. There are even rewards for helping these people along on their paths towards salvation. You will still meet these people, and they are still redeemable, and you will still receive your just rewards for doing so. But, good and evil are nothing to a Hellknight (although LG Hellknights prefer good, and really, Hellknights would prefer good over evil). Order triumphing over Chaos is what truly motivates their goals. So, redemption here will follow along the lines of the NPCs submitting themselves to the rule of Law. Thus, a 'redeemed' character could be LE instead of CE, or LE instead of CG in the eyes of a Hellknight. The key is that the NPC has realized that freewill is nothing compared to the preservation of an orderly and law-abiding society filled with an obedient and dutiful populace.

The game will open with a brief introduction during the festival of Armasse. Your characters can know each other, or they can meet by happenstance during the festival. You can be newly arrived to the town, having come from Chelliax, or whatever else you received training and mentoring into the ranks of the armigers. You can be a native of Kenabres, and have signed on with the knights in Fort Naberius, the local Hellknight chapterhouse. Fort Naberius is run by the Order of the Gate, but all orders have guest right in any chapterhouse in a crusader town. Thus, your character does not have to belong to the Order of the Gate, nor hope to join it.

Please submit backgrounds with your characters. They can be as lengthy or brief as you want, but they should be detailed enough that I get a sense of your character’s motivations and personality. I’d also like you tell me which mythic path you’re planning on following, along with at least one big character goal you have for the PC. If nothing else happens the entire game, what is the one thing you want your PC to accomplish? You can have more than one goal. In fact, I encourage it, since it gives me more levers to pull and helps invest your character in the events of the game. You don’t have to be married to the idea, after all, plans can change. But, it should be there to start with. Feel free to think as big or small as you want, after all, you’re getting a kingdom out of this, so the sky’s the limit.

A note about Hellknights Hellknights value LAW over everything. They are cruel and merciless out of necessity, not desire. Sure, some enjoy subjugating those weaker, and relish the privileges and prestige that come with rank. Just as others seek to help the meek and the downtrodden, believing no one is truly better or worse than anyone else. Good,Evil, these are abstractions to a Hellknight. Each and every member fully believes that justice and order are all that separates civilized society from animalistic barbarism. A Hellknight does not necessarily worship Devils, or even Asmodeus. Devils are tools. Dangerous, fearsome tools that are best used in very controlled, very specific circumstances. A mad diabolist is just as a dangerous as a demonbinder, a primitive witch, or a barbaric druid, after all. But, devils are tools nevertheless. Hell is a tutor, a mentor. That is all. It is not paradise. Most Hellknights do not want to bring Hell to Golarion. They want to create permanent everlasting peace. Peace through fearful or unquestioning obedience is just as good as willing compliance. Moreover, Hellknights hate demons because they’re chaotic and literal embodiments of metaphysical corruptions of human souls. They are the very source of sin, crime, and petty selfishness that Hellknights see threatening to destroy the very foundations of civilization.

No 3rd party content.

Classes:
All official paizo content is allowed. Core, Base, Alternate (antipaladins can be lawful evil-without the archetypes, although feel free to use those as well), Hybrid, Unchained, and Occult classes and Prestige Classes are permitted, except for barbarian, because they can’t be lawful. You can level two PrCs at the same time, one for each of your gestalt classes. If anyone seeks to join a prestige class that has stringent requirements, i.e. killing or binding a devil, murdering someone just because you could, satisfying a story feat, etc, I’ll make sure those requirements are met during the game.

This does, however, bring me to the four classes that have strict codes of ethics: (anti)Paladins, Cavaliers, and Samurai. You are Hellknights. You don’t need to take the Prestige Classes, but you are armigers (low-level grunts) of the Hellknights. They accept any class (even paladin). In fact, the Hellknights count many paladins of Iomedae among their number. Hellknight paladins will not lose their status for simply working with evil Hellknights. Nor Hellknight antipaldins for working with good Hellknights. However, how you choose to navigate the pitfalls of working with evil (or good) characters is up to you. Similarly, the tenets of the Hellknights supercede those of a cavalier’s (or samurai) order whenever there is a conflict and the cavalier’s (or samurai’s) actions are in direct service of the Hellknight. Once again, how your character chooses to deal with these conflicts of honor is up to you.

25 point buy You can drop scores to 7 (lower with racial modifiers, of course).

Automatic Bonus Progression We’ll use Automatic Bonus Progression. But, you can swap when you take the mental and physical prowess trainings ONLY. i.e. Mental Prowess +2 happens at 6th level, and Physical Prowess happens at 7th level, a character may elect to take Physical Prowess at 6th level and Mental Prowess at 7th. BOTH enhancements MUST be taken, however.

Virtual Gearing and wealth You have max gp for your class to buy your gear for first level. You can use skills like craft to reduce the cost of this gear as per the rules in the PFSRD. All rolls (pre-game) are assumed to be successes. Have fun. After first level, we’ll be following the rules for Automatic Bonus Progression, and you’ll get half wealth by level.

Background Skills That brings me to skills. We’re going to use background skills in this game.

Start at 1st level.

Lawful only, The Hellknights are an orderly sort and take a narrow view of freethinking, even that most evil of all alignments: NEUTRALITY. Seriously, though, you can be evil, just don’t be a jerk. Remember, you have to be able to work together with your comrades in arms to survive.

Any official race is allowed. While the core and human-blooded races are more common in the Hellknights, all peoples can heed the call of unwavering devotion to law and civilization.

A character starts with 2 traits. One trait must be a campaign trait selected from the traits listed in the Player’s Guide. The remaining traits (such as those given by feats or drawbacks) may be selected from any combination of other traits.

Hit points: max hd + constitution modifier at each level .

Feats: All official paizo feats are allowed including Leadership and its variants.

One of the biggest issues I've heard about with mythic rules are the truly astronomical amounts of damage one can do with even one or two mythic tiers. The solution: criticals don't mean you get another dice roll. Instead, you get max damage then multipliers. That should keep things fairly epic, but still manageable and fun.

Mythic stuff won't happen until later (spoiler, you don't start out as nascent demigods in the first scene of the adventure). I'm not going to go over every power and provide guides for everything. Normally, I tend to be permissive and go with "rule of cool" unless things get too crazy and it detracts from others' fun. However, there are a few things that need to be curtailed before they go too sick-house.

1) Mythic power regenerates 1d4 per day. Completing a mythic trial will give you another immediate recovery roll.

2) Abilities that give you additional actions do not stack with one another. You can only have one extra of anything per round. When you can buy an extra action, it will cost you 5 mythic power and at least a swift action, possibly more depending on the ability.

3) Abilities that give you additional actions do not stack with one another. You can only have one extra of anything per round. When you can buy an extra action, it will cost you 5 mythic power and at least a swift action, possibly more depending on the ability.

4) The “cast any spell on your class spell list for free” abilities will cost you a swift action to expend the mythic power. They further cost 1 mythic power per spell level. If compatible with metamagic, the cost is determined by the spell’s adjusted level rather than its base. They also require the normal action necessary to cast the spell. These are over and above any restrictions in the text.

5) You can get off more than one spell per round by metamagic, or by casting spells which already permit it, but not by use of mythic abilities.

6) Abilities that bypass energy immunities and damage resistance will not do so, but will retain any other functions.

7) Abilities, notably mythic power attack and vital strike, which allow you to multiple your damage modifiers do not do so.

We can always adjust things (up or down) when the need arises.

We’re going to use Roll20. It’s free, and available here, if you don’t have an account already.

I’ll roll initiative, perception checks, saves, and anything that needs to be resolved immediately, you can handle everything else.
If you want an immediate action to go off, you need to tell me when you want that to occur, either during your turn as a condition that I’ll look for the subsequent round (yes you will need to keep stating the condition for the immediate action each turn). I will not, slog through 3 actions to get the immediate action in play. So, if you don’t immediately tell me when you want your immediate action to occur (or the condition that triggers it), it’s not gonna happen.

I’m expecting a post schedule of 1 per 48 hours to allow for time differences (I live in Hawaii. My noon is 6pm in NYC).
Please keep track of your own statuses and what not. List essential stats (race, class level, alignment, hp, initiative, and perception) in the alias bar, spoiler everything else.

Please, be civil and polite to each other in these threads. I don’t approve of name calling or anything like that. If you disagree with someone’s opinions, discuss it respectfully in a level tone.

I’m something that approximates human. I’m going to make mistakes. Please be gentle when I do :) I’ll try to fix what I borked as soon as I can.

I’m new to PbP on the Paizo boards. I’ve played for for over 20 years ( DnD and then Pathfinder mostly, with occasional forays into Rifts, World of Darkness, and Mutants and Masterminds). I prefer Pathfinder and MM to all of the others. I’ve GM’d for many of those years. I have 3 successful PbeMs going (Council of Thieves, Skull and Shackles, and Jade Regent), and I have just started a PbP Kingmaker game set in Tian Xia. Because it’s been such a positive experience, I figured I’d start another PbP, because… why not? For those of you worrying about time crunch and competing with other games, I live in Hawaii and I’m a teacher. I live for paperwork and I’m 6 hours behind Eastern Standard Time, so I know I can manage flow.

It’s set in Belkzen, and you’re expected to be natives. I would like to do this as a sort of reverse-AP. The party will be composed entirely of orcs and half-orcs. The party will be recruited by a nascent warlord with aspirations of challenging Grask Uldreth himself. You can belong to any tribe (although it may help for you to belong to the same tribe).

When you submit your characters, I would like a paragraph detailing at least one big character goal you have for the PC. If nothing else happens the entire game, what is the one thing you want your PC to accomplish? You can have more than one goal. In fact, I encourage it, since it gives me more levers to pull and helps invest your character in the events of the game. You don’t have to be married to the idea, after all, plans can change. But, it should be there to start with. Feel free to think as big or small as you want, after all, you’re getting a kingdom out of this, so the sky’s the limit.

The game will open with a brief introduction during the annual festival known as the Flood Truce. Put as much detail into your tribe as you want. If you want to be part of an established tribe, I’ve put very brief descriptions of each tribe in a doc at the top. If you want to make your own tribe, go for it. If you’re interested, Belkzen: Hold of the Orc Hordes; Orcs of Golarion; and the Giantslayer Player’s Guide have a host of information about bout the Hold of Belkzen as well as key locations in this AP. I don’t expect you to have those, however. I’ll provide any supplemental info you might want.

Five to Six total. One is already spoken for. That leaves 4-5 spots up for grabs.
I don’t care about ‘balanced’ parties. I’m more interested in what the PCs backgrounds bring to the table. You’re all orcs; what sets your orc apart from other orcs? That’s what matters. I want you to send in characters that you feel passionate about and that you want to play. I’ve seen all-witch parties decimate encounters, and I’ve seen perfectly balanced parties tank. I can always give you guys items and gear that will accommodate an unfilled role if it becomes an issue.

No 3rd party content.
25 point buy. You can drop scores to 7 (lower with racial modifiers, of course).
You have max gp for your class to buy your gear. You can use skills like craft to reduce the cost of this gear as per the rules in the PFSRD. All rolls (pre-game) are assumed to be successes. Have fun.
Start at 1st level.
Any alignment is allowed (even chaotic evil). You can be evil. Don’t be a jerk, though. Remember, you have to be able to work together with your comrades in arms to survive. Even chaotic evil characters can get behind that philosophy.
Orc is the main language of Belkzen. So, everyone is expected to know it.
You can be the following races: orc, half-orc.
All official paizo classes, archetypes, and prestige classes are allowed.
A character starts with 4 traits. One trait must be a campaign trait selected from the traits listed in the Player’s Guide. The remaining traits (such as those given by feats or drawbacks) may be selected from any combination of other traits.
Hit points: max hd + constitution modifier at each level .
Crafting is allowed.
Leadership feats are allowed.
Throughout this AP, you’ll be fighting some dragons, a lot of giants and a bunch of other humanoids. I don’t know much of what happens in later books, save those very broad strokes, so keep that in mind when you’re looking at builds.

I’ll roll initiative, perception checks, and anything that needs to be resolved immediately, you can handle everything else.
If you want an immediate action to go off, you need to tell me when you want that to occur, either during your turn as a condition that I’ll look for the subsequent round (yes you will need to keep stating the condition for the immediate action each turn). I will not, slog through 3 actions to get the immediate action in play. So, if you don’t immediately tell me when you want your immediate action to occur (or the condition that triggers it), it’s not gonna happen.
I’m expecting a post schedule of 1 per 48 hours to allow for time differences.
Please keep track of your own statuses and what not. List essential stats (race, class level, alignment, hp, initiative, and perception) in the alias bar, spoiler everything else.
Please, be civil and polite to each other in these threads. I don’t approve of name calling or anything like that. If you disagree with someone’s opinions, discuss it respectfully in a level tone.
I’m new to PbP. I’m going to make mistakes. Please be gentle when I do :) I’ll try to fix what i borked.

I’m new to PbP on the Paizo boards. I’ve GM’d for a few years through PbeM and played for for over 20 years, DnD and then Pathfinder mostly with occasional forays into Rifts, World of Darkness, and Mutants and Masterminds. I prefer Pathfinder and MM to all of the others. Anyway, I’ve got a few successful email-based games going, but a buddy of mine said that the boards are better. From what I’ve seen, that’s true. So, I thought I’d give it a try.

It’s set in Tian Xia, and you’re expected to be natives. Being a Taldan from Amanandar doesn’t count. You’re going to be emissaries from Lingshen, so your characters need to be actual citizens of Lingshen. King Huang has decided to make a play for establishing a new empire, and his first thrust is a show of power and goodwill to the people by liberating the people of Shenmen from the clutches of their jorogumo oppressors. Failing that, he hopes to wrest a portion of the realm and establish a vassal kingdom/border state between the monstrous realm and his own upright and proper Tien one. Either way, it’s a political win for King Huang. Enter the PCs and their kingdom building. Point is, you need to commit to Tian Xia. We’re all going to make mistakes, but at least attempt to be in the spirit of the cultures that inspired the Dragon Empires Gazetteer.

Also, I’m doing a pretty big retrofit of the AP. It’s still Kingmaker at its core, but I’m de-emphasizing the fey aspect, and including more shapechangers, kami, oni, and incorporeal undead to reflect the setting change to Shenmen. Fey will be present, but they will not be nearly so common as they are in the original Kingmaker books.

When you submit your characters, I would like a paragraph detailing at least one big character goal you have for the PC. If nothing else happens the entire game, what is the one thing you want your PC to accomplish? You can have more than one goal. In fact, I encourage it, since it gives me more levers to pull and helps invest your character in the events of the game. You don’t have to be married to the idea, after all, plans can change. But, it should be there to start with. Feel free to think as big or small as you want, after all, you’re getting a kingdom out of this, so the sky’s the limit.

Also, the local magistrate of Yan Province (the province immediately abutting southern Shenmen) has given you an imperial charter: go north into the monster-ridden borderlands of Shenmen, pacify or eradicate the hostile creatures, liberate the local human population, and civilize the region under your just rule and the edicts and auspices of the Throne of Lingshen. The lands you claim will be yours and your descendents’ until the end of time, as a vassal realm of Imperial Lingshen. King Huang himself signed the decree! Please work receiving this message into your background as well.

The game will open with a brief introduction with a functionary (Zhou Kui Xing) and the official order to pacify the savage frontier of Shenmen. You don’t need to know each other before, although such connections could be useful (and exploitable) in the game.

I really want to get the kingdom going. It’s what makes this AP so unique and worth doing. If it weren't for the kingdom, Kingmaker would really be just your average frontier exploration story. That’s fine, but it’s not anything new. That said, I would like at least one player who can be responsible for kingdom tracking duties. We’ll be using the updated kingdom building rules in Ultimate Campaign (and on the pfsrd).

1) No 3rd party content.
2) 25 point buy. You can drop scores to 7 (lower with racial modifiers, of course).
3) Max gp for your class. You can use skills like craft to reduce the cost of this gear as per the rules in the PFSRD. All rolls (pre-game) are assumed to be successes. Have fun.
4) Eastern weapons and armor are allowed. If it’s listed as “exotic”, you still need to take the feat to become proficient.
5) Start at 1st level.
6) No chaotic alignments. Lingshen is an incredibly orderly and militaristic realm. Discipline, duty, and loyalty to the King and nation (as the One True Heir to Imperial Lung Wa) is central to the heart of every true citizen of Lingshen. The screening process (most of which the characters aren’t even aware of) would have insured that only the most loyal, trustworthy, and steady of citizens would have been selected for this task. That rules out any “free thinkers” or potential loose cannons: no one with a chaotic bent. They don’t care about morals, so you can take any other alignment you want, just don’t be a jerk.
7) You start off speaking Tien along with your ethnic language (if any). Tien is the Common language of Tian Xia, and the ethnic language of Lingshen. You can learn more languages with a higher intelligence, of course.
8) You can be aasimar, elf, half-elf, human, kitsune, nagaji, samsaran, tengu, tiefling, wayang. Humans must be of a Tian Xia ethnicity (no Taldan). Alternate race powers are allowed.
9) All core, base, alternate, and hybrid classes are allowed except for antipaladin.
10) Pious characters must choose a faith that is common to Tian Xia. Only the gods in the Dragon Empires are allowed.
11) A character starts with 4 traits. One trait must be a campaign trait selected from the traits listed in the Player’s Guide (or the King Maker section of the d20pfsrd. Please change the language in the traits to reflect Lingshen and Tian Xia as a whole when appropriate. The second trait must be a social trait, to reflect your status in Lingshen at the start of the game. The remaining traits (such as those given by feats or drawbacks) may be selected from any combination of other traits.
12) Hit points: First level = maximum for hit die + constitution modifier. Every level thereafter, PCs get ½ hit die + constitution modifier.
13) Include on your sheet the top three roles you see your character fulfilling in the kingdom. Please read the player's guide for suggestions.
14) Crafting feats are allowed.
15) Leadership feats are allowed.

1) I’ll roll initiative and saves, you can handle everything else.
2) If you want an immediate action to go off, you need to tell me when you want that to occur, either during your turn as a condition that I’ll look for the subsequent round (yes you will need to keep stating the condition for the immediate action each turn). I will not, slog through 3 actions to get the immediate action in play. So, if you don’t immediately tell me when you want your immediate action to occur (or the condition that triggers it), it’s not gonna happen.
3) Please keep track of your own statuses and what not. List essential stats (race, class level, alignment, hp, initiative, and perception) in the alias bar, spoiler everything else.
4) I’m new to PbP. I’m going to make mistakes. Please be gentle when I do :) I’ll try to fix what I borked.