Kartari's page

That was a well done intro, Khoda.

Personally, I don't like to relate level with age. If that were the case, then all elves should start at maybe level 25 since they are typically 120-150 years old when they start play (not to mention the other races that start out older than humans).

I also usually like playing characters in their 30's or older, so I'd be stuck playing games that begin at higher levels if age were related to level.

I just see level as an abstract metagame measurement of progress, not a measurement of in-game progress or in-character experience.

Anyway, my point is: IMO, don't worry about playing a grizzled 1st-level character. :)

And don't mind Bregolas. He can be grumpy and keeps to himself. He'll open up a bit if someone directly talks to him though.

Reaching out her hands she gently rests them on Zelda and Aliseya's legs.

...of course she does. :)

No worries Naught. :)

Actually, Dorijann, I'm not sure exactly how closely to the AP as written our previous GM stuck. I just started reviewing the chapter 2 book for the first time, and spotted a couple of things he left out. Granted in PBP it's a valid strategy to skim in order to get a game completed in less than 5 years. But one of the things he left out was actually an important plot point. Something relevant to the overall Whispering Way storyline. I'm not sure why it was left out; maybe we missed something.

Everyone, if even one of us wants, I'll review it a bit more in order to report back here on what we missed but should know at this point. I'm sure we'll all want to know what's going on as we progress through this AP.

But I think I gave you the gist of what we experienced at least, Dorijann.

OK, so, plan A isn't going to work to get the RP going. I was going to read up on the Gameplay but that is going to take some time, and I'd rather start getting comfortable with the character's personality sooner than that.

So, another question...

Is the group well recognized in town as the heroes from the trial?

I'm thinking of using the status of the group as a possible "ice breaker" to introduce Dorijann and her mentor, but want to make sure if fits the story.

Yeah, 80 pages of Gameplay is very daunting, lol. Zelda actually has taken notes, check out "Zelda's Log" in the Campaigns tab for starters.

I'd say the townspeople do not exactly regard us as heroes... The party encountered four undead creatures and we captured one "alive" and got it to confess to the murders. In an attempt to clear the Beast's name at the trial, Ali had the idea of bringing it in to the courtroom to confess there and clear the Beast's name. Ali's alter ego has certain controlling powers over the undead... you'll see. So she controlled it and disguised it (fairly well) as a human woman to get it in to the trial. Unfortunately, all went to pot (of course)... after it admitted to the murders, it then jumped up and onto the nearest person in court in order to start murdering more people... to say that we were out of order would be a great understatement, lol.

So... the locals were likely not exactly thrilled with our performance, you might say. :D

I'm imagining most people did not actually see us (how big can a courtroom be?), so we may be able to get away with walking these outer streets without encountering too much, "Hey! Lookey there! Them there's that evil demon-witch and her loyal demon servants! Lets git'em!!" Then again, feel free to bot a random NPC to do precisely that if the mood strikes you. :)

I'm not really sure what happened to the Beast. He was supposed to be executed in the city, but appeared at the last minute when we were in combat at a castle some distance away. He either escaped or possibly was let out, if the judges actually opted to listen to the undead creature's confession instead of appeasing the murderous mob bent on the Beast's execution. I opted to go with him escaping somehow.

And btw, I have an idea for bringing the ladies into the tavern, if that suits you better. I'm not locked in to it, just an idea I may run with next time I post. I'm giving someone else the time to post in the gameplay before I do...

* looks at Naught *

;) No worries if you don't want to, Naught.

Just wanted to say thanks for the effort thus far put into modernizing this website. As a web developer myself, I can appreciate not only that there will be a period of glitches both great and small, but ultimately I like that you're probably intending to make the site work well and legibly on mobile devices going forward (I noticed the site now uses Bootstrap). That'll be a huge plus.

Hi all. I'm one of the players, and I thought I'd answer the question of what we have right now at least, so you can better ascertain what we lack. I'll let our GM Oak tell you what he's looking for, though.

We've had four regular players thus far:
- a barbarian,
- a magus,
- an oracle (variant medium), and
- a rogue.

We also have just heard from a returning fifth player, a spiritualist.

Thanks! :)

I think of being neutral on the law-chaos axis as having a general pull towards social cooperation. Being lawful to me implies a more rigid and uncompromising adherence to one's discipline or practice and to the letter of the law. Chaos, actually, is what to me reflects an indifference to cooperativeness; a strongly chaotic individual is entirely unpredictable and wild, someone who follows their own whims and impulses as if their actions and behavior were determined by a random table.

Help me out here. We have a druid, Cavalier, and sorcerer. How about I go unchained rogue? Thoughts? I could go strength build or full dex build and two weapon fight.

I can't comment on the unchained bit since I have yet to sit down and read about that. But rogue sounds good to me. That would round out the party nicely. Either the scout or bandit archetype might fit nicely in this AP as well.

Though I'm a fan of playing whatever you like, a sorcerer would better compliment the group imo. My druid will be a good healer (and I intend to take Brew Potion by 3rd level), but we have no other arcane casters.

Oh! Did we start? Lol, I just noticed the gameplay thread.

Aldarion has Perception and Survival well covered. Though we could always use a second set of good eyes, I don't think you have to play a ranger if you'd rather not.

Looks like we could use an arcane caster though. I might possibly take a Wizard level. But I think I'd prefer to stick mostly with Druid levels, even though the Mystic Theurge route is tempting.

Btw, if anyone wants inspiration for a character concept, I created a human swordlord a while back. He's designed with Kingmaker in mind (indeed, this AP is perfect for playing a swordlord, and the natural-born leader trait makes him very effective at the role of King later in the game). I've never played him though, nor have I given him much of a back story yet.

My idea was to make a jovial yet sardonic sellsword with a Russian accent, interested in what's in it for him, inspired in part by Bronn from Game of Thrones. But feel free to steal the idea and make your own back story, if interested.

I think a mix of fighter (swordlord archetype) and swashbuckler works best for a swordlord, though there are quirks in Paizo's rules that make it difficult to play a swordlord effectively until 3rd level (specifically, the piercing qualifier on swashbuckler abilities and the slashing nature of the dueling sword).

Well Aldarion's no cleric or paladin, but he'll be prepping spells to restore hit points and remove conditions (disease, poison, ability damage) as they become available. He also has a very high Heal bonus, so he can perform mundane disease and poison control and so forth when the spells run dry.

Edit: That said, I have always been a fan of having multiple healers in a party. :)

Btw, any chance you might wish to use the optional Background Skills rules, as described in Pathfinder Unchained? In a nutshell, it grants everyone two additional skill ranks per level, but those ranks must be invested in a subset of skills related to your character's background. It also adds a couple of new skills (Artistry and Lore), though I think these could be skipped without consequence, if desired.

No worries if not, I just thought I'd ask. :)

Hi there everyone. :)

I'm very much looking forward to playing Kingmaker once more. This AP is one of my favorites. I previously played my character Aldarion the Sage in two PbP attempts on this forum, though both ended well before the first chapter was completed. I also played once in a real-life game shortly after the AP was published, but that too ended very prematurely.

Fourth time's the charm, I hope. :)

Aldarion was just a simple gardener and herbalist. Now, this middle-aged hermit was a charming fellow, though he preferred the company of trees to people. He desired only to be left to his secluded life of meditation and simplicity at his humble woodland hermitage.

Yet Aldarion's growing reputation as a miracle healer and wise man have conspired to spite his loner's spirit. At first, visitors seeking aid from "the Sage" trickled in to his woodland home on the border of Rostland and the River Kingdoms. But over the years, they gathered in increasing numbers.

A good-hearted man, Aldarion is nonetheless very pleased to help others to heal both in body and in mind. If only he had more quiet time to himself in his garden, though.

More recently, his reputation led him to a meeting with one of Rostland's lofty swordlords...

I've got a very rich back story for him already developed from my previous playthroughs. But I'd be happy to consider adapting it a bit to include one or more of the other characters, with wehrpig's approval.

Statwise, Aldarion is a half-elven druid of the treesinger archetype. I'll start posting via his profile once I have completed adapting him to wehrpig's specs.

To add, many posters such as myself like to place speech in quotes in addition to boldface, in keeping with proper grammar. However, boldface alone is enough to distinguish speech well enough if it is your preference. It's actually harder to discern speech from other text when quotes but no boldface is used.

I blame Cosmo for making Rysky disappear from my game.

For those new to PFS and haven't spotted it yet, here's a neat resource for seeing if what you want for your character is officially accepted for PFS: Additional Resources.

Katari, please play which ever character you feel strongly about. This goes for the table. I really want you all to play characters that you are excited to play. The table balance issues will work themselves out, so please go with your gut and roll out the PC you most want to play.

Appreciate that. :) I am excited to play both characters. I am tempted to go with Bregolas more atm though, as Kumal still needs some preparations.

Thanks GM Brew. If you change your mind later in deference to wanting to give another inexperienced player a chance, I would understand. Otherwise, perhaps having a seasoned player or two along would be beneficial to the newer players, too.

I have two possible characters in mind. Bregolas Fierceleaf (elf ranger 1) is a curved blade-wielding strong & silent type melee combatant, whose quirky and inadvertently funny personality I've had fun roleplaying once before. Would having 1 XP to start be an issue for you?

If so, there's a brand new character I've also been wanting to try. Kumal the Barbarian (kellid barbarian 1) has a tendency to fly into the "Dance of Rage," however, which includes breaking things and throwing chairs... and which might make Bregolas the better guide for new players, lol.

Awesome. I am not new to either PbP or PFS, but I have not played the Confirmation yet and would like to.

Do you intend to run this only for those new to PbP/PFS? No worries if so, just checking.

I don't have much (or any) experience with out-of-tier play. It seems like a bad idea to roll a fresh level 1 character into a high-tier scenario.

What are the other players' thoughts? If we thought it was doable, I certainly wouldn't turn down the out-of-tier gold pile that would come with it, but I'd be concerned that I'd pretty much be dead weight in tougher fights.

I can't say for sure, having never done that before. But I have done the reverse, actually; I've played a level 3 character with other levels 1 and 2 characters in a tier 1-2 game. In that game, I was not awarded the tier 1-2 gold amount, but rather the midpoint between tier 1-2 and tier 4-5 in gold. Iow, it was based on my character's level rather than the group's average level.

So I'd expect you would receive a gold amount based on your level in this game, rather than the group's average level.

Perhaps someone else with more knowledge or experience can collaborate or correct me, however.

Great! I have a 3rd-level Sovereign Court character ready to go (a bard 1/cleric 2).

I also have a few other characters ready to go if preferable for party balance, or if we're going for a lower tier.

I enjoy off-topic discussion. But I think the Discussion thread is more than adequate to the task, for interested players and GMs. I'd prefer not to see another tab appear, actually, unless it offers something more compelling and unique than (what amounts to) a second discussion thread.

Very good. Sounds like you have a good handle on the situation. I just have a sensitive spot for low-magic 3e/Pathfinder since, on the one hand, I like low-magic fantasy, and on the other hand, I have not had good experiences with its 3e/Pathfinder adaption in the past. To be honest, the last GM I had who did this was rather reckless and random in his approach, and really didn't spend much time imho considering the ramifications at first. Even after he heeded some of my advice and modified things, it was still a frustrating experience. But with a more mindful GM at the helm, I believe it can certainly be done better, perhaps much better.

Again, good luck. :)

Edit: Btw, my 11th-level ranger example was from a 3e game where only the core rules were allowed... so, no weapon blanches, no ghost salt, nothing at all was made available really other than mundane and masterwork equipment. It was a sandbox-style game, so I intentionally set out to get mithril armor and other stuff... only to be told I had to find a mithril mine. I never found that mine. It was a ridiculous game, lol.

Hi ElterAgo,

I'm afraid I don't have the time to join atm. But I couldn't help but notice your interest in low-magic Pathfinder, and I thought I'd share some thoughts based on my personal experience with a few low-magic 3e and Pathfinder games.

Forgive me if I am repeating anyone else (I kinda glanced through this thread), but there are a few things imo that need to be considered before starting a low-magic Pathfinder game. First, consider that Pathfinder, like 3e before it, is a game intentionally designed to require a certain progression of magic items in order to provide a play-balanced game. While certainly possible to reduce magic item availability, consider all the ramifications to other parts of the system: creatures and play balance, class play balance, etc. In my experience, eliminating the ability to purchase them actually quite ironically greatly weakens non-spell caster classes. For instance, I had an 11th-level ranger once with mundane weapons and armor and, when faced with a mere CR 3 creature he was completely helpless against it... because it was incorporeal and therefore immune to anything he could throw at it. The lesson here is to be very careful about what kinds of creatures you put up against your players... and if you want them to face such creatures as ghosts or other incorporeals or those with DR/magic, you need to consider special ways to enable the players to defeat such creatures (whether that's making house rules to modify such creature's defenses vs the mundane to make it possible to harm them, or by providing them with limited magic items needed to be retrieved on a quest to defeat them... maybe a story that can be uncovered by the players to reveal ways to convince the ghost to let go of this world and pass on to a happier afterlife, or whatever else you imagine).

Second, consider how this affects class balance, and ways to compensate for that loss. As mentioned, non-magic users will become significantly less effective, and therefore less appealing to players. I saw mentioned eliminating spells that reproduce magic item effects. This is limiting to spell casters, but not to their damage potential in combat (e.g. lightning bolt). But basically, and unless I missed a post that addresses this, I'm seeing reductions in power to everyone, with nothing in return. Consider implementing ways to bypass the constraints created by rarifying magic items (e.g. make special materials act like magic items in the mechanics, if not in their description... for instance, maybe mithril or adamantine damages incorporeals, just as cold iron damages fey without impediment in the RAW... e.g. incorporeals have DR/mithril instead of complete immunity to non-magical attacks). Otherwise, your players I fear will become frustrated when some of them have nothing to do but flee in key encounters (I speak from experience). And to compensate the loss of spells, perhaps for example magic users can gain more skill ranks. I've always felt that wizards should get more in particular anyway, considering their studious nature.

Finally, consider the work of implementing a magic system from another game system while retaining the rest of Pathfinder (as opposed to winging one yourself). I recommend Conan D20's magic system, which was specifically designed as a 3e-based D&D low-magic system (which should therefore, in theory, require minimal changes to work in Pathfinder). I'm actually a big fan of that system in general, yet understand that most people want to play Pathfinder. What's neat in Conan D20 is that while magic users only go up to 6th level, spells allow for a lot more creativity... for instance, poisons are more viable, so you can use weak spells like mage hand to throw hallucinogenic or toxic poisons at enemies for instance and actually be rather effective. You can really be more creative with the fewer spells you have in Conan, as opposed to the limitations in 3e/Pathfinder spell descriptions. They also get 8 skill ranks per level (like the rogue), with 3 required at minimum to be invested into Knowledge skills.

So, that's my 2 cents. Good luck. :)

The cute pig's jaw drops. Its calculating eyes shift to and fro, and it begins to slowly back away...

As it makes its way out of sight, everyone at the funeral becomes transfixed by the creepy, yet somehow soothing, alien words it seems to repeat using its mind alone...

“Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn...”

“Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn...”

“Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn...”

And then, everyone suddenly snaps out of their trance. Forgetting the orc's words, they resume the funeral as if nothing had happened...

Except that everyone secretly wonders why they suddenly have a craving for seafood...

Just remember I am watching you and you never know when I will strike :) ha ha ha

A cute pig chewing on some slop looks up with uncannily intelligent and sinister eyes from a nearby farm.

Ditto, Blondie. Ditto.

♫♪ Dun! Dun! DUNNN! ♪♫

♫♪ Dun! Dun! DUNNN! ♪♫

I'm not going to get a chance to finish up by tonight, so unfortunately I must withdraw. Good luck.

I'm interested. I have a new character I've been wanting to try for this AP. And that it is altered from Kingmaker as written is a big plus for me, as I've partially played the regular AP a few times now with a treesinger druid (not using him here since he's very similar to Faunlara). So, I'd like a fresh new Kingmaker-style game.

Iozif Kovalov is a veteran military captain. He grew up idolizing the legends of Baron Aldori and the Swordlords, and has demonstrated exemplary duelist and leadership qualities, albeit on the cocky and arrogant side. I will post again when I get him completed (profile in the works - will try to get it done by Friday). For now:

Iozif Kovalov / Human / Aldori Swordlord (fighter/swashbuckler) / Magistrate

Sounds good to me. I could go with Grigori, or I have another character Kuaizi Wu (tengu monk) who is level 3 if we want to go a little higher in tier. He's a very entertaining personality, but in a different way than Grigori.

I don't have the time for another campaign right now but... I just wanted to say, this is an awesome campaign concept, DM Jelani. Enjoy the game. :)

Nope. The witch and the former Inquisitor were very anti Hellknight/Noble

Okay thanks. I'll think about it some more then, and if I come up with something worthy, I'll post here again. I played a cleric in my previous run, so there's little sense in applying with what would be a second cleric. Good luck!

Like Arie, I too played through books 1 and 2, but RL also backstabbed us.

I am interested, and I got an idea for a new character. Has the party, by chance, gained the confidence of either a hellknight or perhaps other police figure in Westcrown? Someone who becomes an informant to them due to disenchantment with the system? I'm thinking of making up such a character, maybe an urban ranger so as to fill in the roguish void in the existing party.

I'd love to play! I have three characters more or less ready to play with. One is Aldarion the Sage, a half-elven treesinger (plant-shaping druid) who I very thoroughly enjoyed playing in one previous, albeit very short-lived, Kingmaker campaign. I'd prefer to play him again. But I also have two other characters I'd enjoy playing, if you're looking for another role to fill. They're both still in the works, but they're mostly done so I can whip them up for you soon. Iozif Kovalov is an Aldori swordlord, designed to lead (eyeballing the Ruler position here) as well as fight. But I see hustonj has already submitted a very similar concept, lol. And then there is Bregolas Fierceleaf, an elf spirit ranger. A mystical kind of elven wilderness warrior, obviously by his name inspired by the one, the only, Legolas Greenleaf.

You can refer to the Campaigns tab of Aldarion the Sage to get an idea of the character and my roleplaying style.

One question: by "standard epic fantasy build" for ability scores, I think you mean for us to use the 25 points Epic Fantasy Purchase method? Because the Standard Fantasy Purchase method is 15 points (e.g. Standard and Epic are two different tiers of the Purchase method). Everyone seems to be going with Epic 25 points, but I just wanted to make sure before I modify my stats (all three are built with High Fantasy 20 points at present). Thanks!

I'm up for the challenge, and I'd be happy to swap characters if the others would find it a nuisance. But actually, my monk could attack in rounds 1 and 2 so long as he is attacked first and fights defensively.

"The monk... may only use violence as a last resort. He can never strike the first blow in combat. If attacked, he must use the fight defensively action or the total defense action for the first 2 rounds. He must always give his opponent the option to surrender, and cannot purposely slay another creature that could reasonably be influenced to flee or join a civilized society as a productive member (obviously this excludes many monsters)." (Ultimate Magic, p. 50)

Thanks for the forewarning. The character concept does call for him to have the vows now, stats aside... though if you think it would be too much of a problem I do have another PFS character I could try instead (a half-elf druid). As for face skills, Kuaizi will be trained in Intimidate though - he always attempts to frighten enemies into surrendering before engaging in melee. :)

Yep, three and counting. :)

Yes, Ultimate Magic (p. 50). He also has taken a Vow of Truth (p. 51). When I complete the stats, I'll post here using the character's alias for you to check out.

Thanks Aeshuura. Hmmm, now to work it into his back story and pick a faction trait. :)

Registered and looking forward to it. :)

I will probably be playing my comical tengu monk, Kuazi "the Craw" Wu, but need to update him as Lantern Lodge was retired. I'm thinking maybe Osirion... as I've only played PFS a few times, do you think Osirion would be a compatible faction for a LG-aligned character who has taken a Vow of Peace?

Aye, I'll be taking a level of Gunslinger at level 2, so I'll be haphazardly shooting it until then.

Lol! Love it. I shall endeavor to duck whenever I see you draw.

@Mabuu: Thursday or Friday works for me. Yeah, I love this pig, seems a bit evilish too with the shadows, I think he's making evil plans while everyone thinks he's a harmless cute pig, lol.

@Krash - Glad to see you weren't left ashore. :)

(Reijo's true form here)

@Crustypeanut, I am reminded of a time I played a druid in a 3.5 game many years ago, before my group had many of the rules down pat. I misused Wild Empathy to befriend and make allies of every animal we came across, it seemed: a pack of wolves, a bear, a few leopards, I think I even managed to befriend a grey renderer, plus my viper companion. My animal menagerie took a bit of time for me to manage every turn. I used to like summoning nature's allies a lot in combat too, on top of that. My poor DM, lol. I wound up taking a hint from Yahtzee and rolled all my d20's at one time in a cup.

Enjoy!

DMBen - Btw, what posting frequency are you looking for? I can certainly post at least once per day, more often is doable too.

I've played a mute character before, and I've played a deaf character before. It just requires the player to understand, at least sympathetically if not actually, how a deaf or mute person communicates with non-deaf or non-mute persons. If the player doesn't contribute, that's the fault of the player IMO, not the disadvantage of being mute (or deaf).

I have to chime in and agree. One of the funniest games I've played in was in-person and featured my dwarf ranger with a glass eye, a deaf oracle, and a monk who took a vow of silence. Talk about "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," lol. And totally unplanned. Everyone played their characters very memorably and with much humor. The oracle spoke with a very nasal, hard to understand tone (which was always fun when he was on lookout and tried to tell us what he saw); the monk and the oracle both took sign language as a language (and nobody else did), so the monk would translate what the oracle was trying to warn us about by breaking out his parchment pad and ink pen; my dwarf's glass eye always popped out whenever I rolled a nat 1 on a Perception check. By the time we were done playing charades, the threat was upon us, lol. Good times.

GM Tallgrass - Halfway there on Aldarion, just wanted to ask a couple of questions. First, would a middle-aged character be acceptable? I see my treesinger as a wiser older kind of guy. Second, are armor pieces allowed (as per Ultimate Combat)? I see him with a wooden cuirass over thick cloth armor (e.g. padded arm and leg armor, with wooden torso armor). I like the wooden armor idea for character concept purposes, but the full wooden suit will push his encumbrance over the limit into a Medium load and slow him down. Statwise, it lowers his AC bonus by 1 compared with regular wooden armor, in exchange for less weight, so it's a balanced trade... especially considering I could get regular leather armor for less cost, less weight, the same AC bonus, and suffer no check penalty.

I'll give folks through the weekend to get their concept posted and questions answered.

I should be able to get Aldarion completed in time, probably tomorrow night or Sunday the latest.

If you've submitted multiple characters, I chose the one I liked the most. If you disagree with my choice, please let me know. Disagreeing will not affect your selection - I like players who stand up for their choices. Before I mercilessly kill their choice, of course.

Hehe, well I've got no problem with you choosing my druid. We have a few other swordlord applicants anyway, and there are no other druids so far. Seems like I'm not the only one who thinks a swordlord is a great choice for this particular AP... then again, a druid also seems like a great choice for this AP to me as well.

I'm back to at least answer the GM's questions. Crunch to come when I get a chance, perhaps Friday night with luck.

Posting frequency: Once a weeknight works fine for me.
Other PBP's: I'm running one for a private group (the Carrion Crown AP), and I ran one prior (a homebrewed campaign, now over); I am not playing a PC in a PBP at this time, though I've got my eye open for Skull & Shackles here on Paizo's site, too. I've done mostly in-person playing, but find I really enjoy PBP also.