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Game Name: Vaylen-The Precipice of War
Theme: Open World in a unique and diverse homebrew setting.
Flavour: High fantasy player-driven adventure, action and intrigue.
I am looking to run a campaign in my homebrew setting found in the campaign info tab. I plan to have the story driven entirely by the whims and decisions of the players rather than any intricate premeditated railroad. “Roll play” and combat will happen as often as the players make it happen; I have not listed a percentage breakdown because I expect that the player’s roleplay skills and decisions will be the deciding factor. The world will continue to go on, and the decisions of the players can and will affect the direction and order of events they are involved in greatly. Even where we begin will be based on the backgrounds of characters that will be playing. I’m aiming to get 5-6 players to play, posting 4 times per week at minimum. Take a look at the world under campaign info. Looking forward to receiving apps!
Characters
Character Background:
I would like players to use the “Ten Minute Background” system. It includes examples. As I’m expecting this game to be driven mostly by the RP of the players, I will be using this background as a judge of your RP ability, both for content and style. Be thorough and creative.
As far as the content of the background, the information in the world is presented, as mentioned previously, within the campaign info. I want to strongly encourage players to feel free to make up their own story elements within the world including but not limited to deities, locations, races, organizations and histories. If you have any questions that cannot be found within the campaign info, just ask!
Character Creation:
- Power: Level 8
- Abilities: 20 pt buy
- Bling/Cash Money: Standard Wealth
- Race: All pathfinder races are permitted. You may create your own race not exceeding 15 RP with the advanced race guide, just make sure there’s very good roleplay associated with it. If you choose to play something half-construct, feel free, but expect adjustments to your back ground – that race is extraordinarily rare, experimental, and secret. You may exceed the 15 RP limit to create cooler races, but you will be subject to LA. The same applies for characters hell bent on using templates (because werewolves are cool). Pathfinder has some rules on the matter. Check out the SRD under monsters as pcs. It also contains the info from the ARG
- Class: All pathfinder classes and prestige classes.
- Alignment: I don't give a damn, just make it work RP wise. It's more of a guideline anyway in terms of your character's personality and behavior. Know this: if you can't feasibly get along in a party, it obviously won't work out unless you can convince me to let you in as a campaign villain or opponent because your RP is that good. Heath Ledger RP'd hard in The Dark Knight.
- I ain't even mad about third party or homebrew, but run it by me first. For the record, I'm allowing Gramarists.. You can find the Gramarie disciplines and prestige classes here.
We have a few house rules. My apologies, there are more than a few of them, and therefore I've used a spoiler.
House Rules
House Rules:
- We will also be using the Elements of Magic magic system; you may still use traditional if you prefer or do not have access to EoM. If you want to play a warlock, let me know. As a point of information, I have a homebrew spellthief magus archetype that I will allow as well. If you want to use EoM, let me know; there are a few changes I am making to that ruleset simply to have it be coherent with pathfinder. EoM versions of certain classes will still retain their pathfinder class features. If you haven't heard of EoM, check it out when you can. - Elements of Magic
- Bonus RP Feat (you must present a good reason for this feat within your background)
- I do not believe in feat taxes. To that end, if you have a dex of at least 16 and it is 4 greater than your strength, you gain Agile Maneuvers and Weapon Finesse for free. If you have a strength of at least 16 and it is 4 greater than your dexterity, you gain Power Attack for free. All classes with greater than half base attack bonus gain combat reflexes for free as well. If you have greater than half bab and you cast spells as part of your class, you may gain a feat called Spell Combat Training which grants +2 to concentration checks made when casting spells. Dervish Dance applies to all one handed weapons, not just the scimitar. Extra traits and the leadership feats are banned, but you may take the same trait twice, if you so desire.
- Item creation feats are banned; let the NPCs handle the crafting. Based on the quality and content of your background, I will grant 1 related item bonus item related to your backstory that does not exceed 10,000 gold or a second RP feat.
- For any of you brave souls who want to sword and board specialize, the Madu and Buckler are the same item in this world.
- Those with ranks in knowledge skills will be receiving additional information from be based on those ranks.
- (HP is max at every Level) * 1.5
- Armor as DR and Called Shots variants, The CD DC is the threatening attack roll + (total attack bonus + Attack bonuses to confirm)/2 + 1 for each critical feat + 1 for each size category larger. CD bonus is unchanged. You gain a bonus to saves against called shots equal to 1/2 DR.
- Slashing weapons of equivalent hardness to the armor they are striking bypass 10% of DR. Piercing weapons that meet the same requirement bypass 20% of DR. Keen weapons add 5% to this. All weapons bypass an amount of DR equivalent to the amount by which they exceed an objects hardness. For example, my +1 Adamantine mace has a hardness of 22. When I hit the mundane Adamantine Full plate with a base DR 9 and hardness of 20, and deal 12 damage, 5 of it will get through.
- Firearms are early in most of Aeonar, in some places they are advanced. Everywhere else, you'd be hard pressed to find any; they're pretty rare. I only mention this for anyone wanting to be a gunslinger. I don't care where you are, but your backstory should include something involving Aeonar or a gift from a friend/family/bandit from Aeonar. Firearms bypass 25% of DR.
- - Every character with greater than 1/2 bab can parry. To do so, a character may hold any number of available attacks when taking a standard action or full round action involving attacks. At some point prior to the character's next turn, he may deflect a number of melee attacks directed at him equal to the number of attacks held by making an attack roll opposing that of the attacker. This attack roll is made with full bab at a -4 penalty when using a light weapon, finesse weapon, or one handed weapon with the dervish dance feat, a -6 with a one handed weapon, and a -8 for two handed weapons. If the attack roll equals or exceeds that of the attacker, the attack is deflected. These penalties are reduced to 0, -2 and -4, respectively, for a character fighting defensively. A mithril weapon lessens the penalty to parry by 2 as well, but does not confer any bonuses to parry. Thus, a character fighting defensively with a light weapon still takes 0 penalty to parry attacks. Each successive parry attempt made prior to the defender's next turn incurs a cumulative -5 penalty (like iteratives.)
- Homebrew Feat: Improved Parry (Prereq: Int 13, Combat Expertise) --> +2 bonus to attack rolls made when parrying. You may now parry melee attacks directed at other targets within your reach at an additional -4 penalty.
- Homebrew Feat: Greater Parry (Prereq: Improved Parry, BAB +6) --> +2 bonus to attack rolls made when parrying. This stacks with Improved Parry. You may now attempt to parry ranged attacks directed at you at an additional -4 penalty.
- Homebrew Feat: Riposte (Prereq: Improved Parry, BAB +6) --> Whenever you successfully parry an attack, the you may take an attack of opportunity against the attacker.
- Homebrew Feat: Ricochet Riposte (Prereq: Greater Parry) --> Whenever you successfully parry a ranged attack, you may choose a new target, including the attacker, for the attack using your attack roll.
- Those playing the magus class may take a bonus feat with their magus arcana if they desire. Barbarians may take a bonus feat with their rage power. You still have to meet the prereqs.
- Passive checks: "For Sense Motive and Perception checks, unless you state you wish to make such a check, I will take a 10 and add your check to it. That means that any time you walk into a room, your Passive Perception check will be made. Now, if you want to roll a check to see what remains unseen, you can make it yourself. I also do Passive checks for Knowledge as well. As long as you have the Knowledge check appropriate for a situation, I'll give you the nitty-gritty. If you want to make the check yourself, the same applies as above."
- "The following Knowledge checks can be used Untrained: Geography, History, Local, Noble, Nature, and Religion. These can be justified in that everyone knows a little about each topic, but that doesn't mean they're particularly proficient at it. Other Knowledge checks may not be made Untrained."
Applications
Applications will be closed on May 17th at 12:00 AM.
Application Format:
Name - Duh. What do they call you. Even if it's "Nothing." Hell, they could call you tater salad for all I care.
Race - If you're going to do something crazy, but still within the guidelines I mentioned above, please RP well. I'm talking a concise history.
Class - Well it wouldn't be fun without the ability to, y'know, do stuff.
Alignment - As I said, this is more of a guideline, and I expect slightly more than "LN." I mean, definitely mention that too. It's a requirement. But I'd like to see a short sentence or two on your character's philosophy on morality. You can even answer it as if your character was asked directly what his alignment is.
Appearance - Ah, yes, the first impression. What do you look like, what do you wear, and are you rockin' a phat grill. Pictures are nice.
Personality - Well, I wouldn't want you to completely eliminate content from your background, but I'd like to see a short description of what your character is like. What drives your character's decisions, what are his/her fears.
Ten Minute Background - This is it. The Real McCoy. The Big Dawg. This is what it all hinges on. This is your background, an often under-appreciated portion of character development. Given that I just asked for your character's personality, I'd like to see the first section filled with some creative concepts that aren't redundant with the previous requirement. At the end of this, I should know your character pretty well; I should know where he came from, why he's level 8, how he got to level 8, what his accomplishments are, who his friends, enemies and frenemies are, what his short/long term goals are, and a secret or two. You don't have to be verbose; just be thorough and creative (I know, I've said this a million times).
RP Sample - Short narrative to get a feel for your writing style. The world is an open sandbox. To play in a campaign is to be a character in a larger movie, but I am letting you drive your own plot. Tell me what you're doing when the "camera starts rolling," why, and how you got there. Alternatively, you could write an rp sample of a portion of your background. Up to you.
Have Fun - Enjoy this. I know I will! :saros :D
I will post applicants (with a completed application) here:
Applicants:
The Pool:
The Pool:
Questions:
I'll answer questions here:
Answer:
A: I don't really have a concrete answer for you. Much of that is more dependent on gear and feats, which I've been known to grant independent of actual level. Also, it's something I want you to decide; I'm trying to keep things very open-ended. As a loose guideline, I'll give you some facts:
The most powerful mage in known Vaylen is The Archmage, Wizard-King Aeomon, and he is level 18.
On average the rulers of the world are roughly 15.
Domri Rade and Tirin Vaxfell, the Tempest - responsible for (almost) single-handedly liberating and uniting major tribes within the Vax region from Rayne, and marking the official start of the current Vax Wars - are level 13.
The Headmaster of Academy City is level 12.
The Archon of the Nethan, the specialized arcane guard that serves as enforcement and crisis/risk prevention for Academy City since it is a high population of mages-in-training, is level 10.
In Academy City, one is not permitted to become a full time professor of the arcane arts on staff and direct magical research until they have obtained a Magister's degree. That is typically caster level 9 at the earliest, coupled with a significant contribution to magical knowledge/study and a display of mastery.
The most powerful mage in known Vaylen is The Archmage, Wizard-King Aeomon, and he is level 18.
On average the rulers of the world are roughly 15.
Domri Rade and Tirin Vaxfell, the Tempest - responsible for (almost) single-handedly liberating and uniting major tribes within the Vax region from Rayne, and marking the official start of the current Vax Wars - are level 13.
The Headmaster of Academy City is level 12.
The Archon of the Nethan, the specialized arcane guard that serves as enforcement and crisis/risk prevention for Academy City since it is a high population of mages-in-training, is level 10.
In Academy City, one is not permitted to become a full time professor of the arcane arts on staff and direct magical research until they have obtained a Magister's degree. That is typically caster level 9 at the earliest, coupled with a significant contribution to magical knowledge/study and a display of mastery.
Answer:
A: Elements of Magic is a more versatile approach to magic that, to me, makes much more sense. Rather than spells/day and spells known/prepared, casters get a mana pool, a number of "spell lists" known and a limit based on caster level on how much mana can be pumped into a single spell. These spell lists are similar to the spell seeds of epic magic in 3.5 but much better balanced. They cover a variety of "action types" and "effect categories." The action types dictate what you are doing, and the effect category indicates what you are trying to do it to or trying to do it with. For example Evoke and Charm are both action types. Fire and Humanoid are both effect categories. Combining an action type with an effect category creates a "spell list," for example, Evoke Fire and Charm Humanoid. Certain action types are limited in which effect categories they can be combined with simply because it wouldn't make sense. So, the charm and compel actions types only allow the "Creature Type" effect category, whereas Evoke allows the "Element" and "Alignment" effect categories. You may use mana to increase the effects of these spell lists, their range, or a variety of other things. In order to prevent the super-long process of building spells every turn during combat and to adjust for the power level increase that comes with just increasing the raw versatility of magic, a spell takes two rounds to cast ( I rule it as triggering at the end of your second turn). However, every mage knows a number of "signature spells" equal to their caster level + relevant stat. These signature spells take a standard action to cast, more akin to traditional spellcasting. This makes sense; a mage may know a variety of spells and ways to manipulate mana, but in combat or high-stress situations will resort to the handful of spells he/she is familiar with. These signature spells can be changed. It's really a cool system. Ever since it was shown to me, I actually find that I can't stand traditional magic anymore. It's like the words of power system paizo attempted to do, but then it doesn't, y'know, suck. I can't link the pdf because certain images, the ToC and cover aren't OGC. Everything else is though as far as I understand. Regardless, I wouldn't encourage anyone to do anything illegal... but if you don't have it, try and get your hands on it whether you are planning on applying or not.
Answer:
A: To that, I will respond with a question of my own: what is the difference between a plane and a planet, really? Especially in a non-existent high fantasy world in which space travel has yet to be accomplished. How can one be sure they are two separate and mutually exclusive entities? Perhaps you will be the one to find out.
Answer:
A: Oh, absolutely not. I do think you'd be hard pressed to find mortals throughout the world who would be willing to believe that.
Answer:
A: I'm not going to force you to make a character sheet before the "acceptance" portion of this process. I'd just like the background, rp sample, alignment, and what class/classes you'll be playing.
Answer:
A: Shaping one's surroundings through force of will and fortitude of the mind is the axiom of magic in Vaylen; there is no separation of psionics and magic. Psionic classes and sources are not permitted. The versatility that a lot of psionic systems offer is instead offered in EoM, and the philosophies that come with many psionics classes can be done through flavor/roleplay.
Answer:
A: Slavery definitely varies from place to place, but in most city-states, it is black market only. There are some other cultures in which it is an accepted occurrence interspersed throughout Vaylen.
Answer:
A: It is not rare to be non-magical in the world. The world is not as heavy on magic as I'm sure the background makes it seem. This is subject to change, and a very rough estimate... but 25-35% of the world population is capable of manifesting at least a cantrip. Anything higher is obviously more rare. Not everyone is blessed with the arcane gift, and fewer have the time or money to dedicate to the rigorous study that would give them mastery over magic. Divine casters, usually requiring no innate talent, are about as common in more divine nations and more rare everywhere else. All of this is, of course, variable based on location.
Answer:
A:The bard will be treated as the pathfinder bard with regard to class features. It will be treated as the EoM bard with regard to spell list limitations and spell list benefits. You will be a 3/4s caster rather than the 1/2 in EoM. If this proves to be horrendously overpowered, we can make some adjustments after the fact. At this stage, I'm much more concerned with the character than I am with the numbers.
Answer:
A: Well, you can continue to edit it and expand it as you see fit; the template they have is just the minimum. You can write the rp sample based on anything in it or based on what you're doing once the game starts.
Answer:
A: As far as the feat or item that I'm granting, you can hint at stuff or make direct requests; I can't guarantee that I'll oblige them, but you do get one bonus RP feat that you are completely responsible for without my direct input.
Answer:
A: A post here is fine!
Answer:
A: I am upping the race limitation to 15 RP. If you are from 16 RP - 24RP, "LA = 1." 25 - 34, "LA = 2." 35 - 44, "LA =3." And so on. Sorry for the adjustment. Been trying to figure out the best way to do it.
Answer:
A: Yes, I would like you to write a brief background on your race if it's brand new or unique.
Answer:
A: I'm working on hosting a version on google docs that doesn't violate the OGL. Just have to get rid of the table of contents and the images. This would make it a pain in the ass to sift through. Alternatively, you could buy it or "find" it somewhere.
Answer:
A: You'll be part of a party pretty soon after the game starts. Some people may start off solo but will quickly wind up with the party. Let me worry about making sure you're all in one place; you worry about your own personal background, story, and what you're doing at the start of the adventure. As always, I might adjust that stuff for you once you've finalized it as needed.
Answer:
A: I'm allowing those with caster levels to take "Magical Boon" as a feat if you so desire, and once you reach caster level 9, you may take "Greater magical Boon." The mage will not be a class. Instead, you can play a wizard or sorcerer, keeping your class features. You are, of course, a full caster level progression as the mage is. For wizard bonus feats, since I have banned craft magical arms and armor, craft wondrous item (and the EoM versions), you may take the magical boon feats as part of your bonus. Sorcerers can also take those feats in place of any of their bloodline bonus feats. Also, as a point of clarification, the mageknight and taskmage do not exist either. The Magus class will be renamed to the Magenknight in this world. This is in name only.
Answer:
A: IDefinitely the class you select. I don't really like what EoM does as far as the stats. You won't get bonus mana based on having a high stat though. Just more sig. spells.
Either post questions or PM them to me.