There are some hoops you have to jump through that are all fairly easy with a bit of imagination and some preplanning.
The start of the adventure gives the party a charter to colonize a swath of land. If I recall correctly the second edition version is adding a prequel adventure where the player characters and NPC’s meet at a party hosted by whoever’s giving them the charter and the support needed to actually form a barony.
Most of the enemies you encounter early on are either bandits or violent monsters. Moral ambiguity is not a focus of the adventure at all unless something is updated in the second edition version.
Negotiations with other powers in the region is also not a major focus of the adventure path, unless, again, they changed something in the second edition version. Even the few diplomatic situations that come in the adventure might not work straight from the book, the dynamics at play in the regions are very different.
Of course, your players might want to play colonists that don’t care to negotiate with the locals. That’s also a possibility.
There are also two standalone adventure modules that take place in the Mwangi Expanse; Crucible of Chaos and River into Darkness. They’re both for 3.5 so they will only be useful to you as story content, but Crucible of Chaos is exploring a Shory city.
There are three ways to Kintargo for a land army, and four reasons why Cheliax won’t take any of them. They're all mentioned in part four of book three.
Assuming you used the Anvil of Unmaking that means that the Menador Gap will be unusable for years. Your players won’t be able to repair the damage in time to be of any use to the Glorious Reclamation. Rexus will know this, assuming he translated the Silver Raven documents. Any player can know this with a simple Knowledge Geography check. And any contractors they’ll hire will also be able to tell them the exact same thing since I doubt the players themselves will want to oversee the rebuilding of a checkpoint while they have a rebellion to run.
On top of that, the armies of Cheliax and the Glorious Reclamationare are focused on the east and gain no tactical advantage from making any moves towards the west.
I don’t know if it specifically mentioned anywhere in Hells Rebels, but Hell’s Vengeance says that the Chelish Navy has been tasked to defend the sea borders of the Empire, and once the Glorious Reclamation is over there going to be busy reestablishing a strong naval presence, so an armada won’t be sailing to the city anytime soon either.
Any Thrune Agents also have more important things to be doing right now than assassinate some power players in a city that the Empire can’t and won’t attack.
The town of Kantaria is also not strategically important to Cheliax, so they likely just let it be taken, again. Since it’s not part of Ravounel, Cheliax can just take it back at any time. This ultimately ends in a war between Ravounel and Cheliax, something that the Chelish government may actually want to because Ravounel simply does not have the military necessary to actually be a threat to the Empire. Assuming that the Silver Ravens could even hold Kantaria.
Kantaria is detailed in book two of Hell’s Vengeance, and there’s nothing there that could challenge a group of, I’m assuming, 14th level heroes.
Ultimately, trying to goad Cheliax into attacking is a waste of time and resources. It will ultimately make the diplomatic side of things worse for Ravounel and gives Cheliax more reason to attack Ravounel sometime later when it’s more advantageous too.
I would read the item as having just one purpose. It's defending the race from a specific enemy, so it's all good. I hadn't really put together that it might be such a great weapon when the jewel was added. I was thinking something akin to 3.5's Magic Item Compendium, and the jewel just added a special ability like "bypass DR of aberrations" or something to that effect. Weapon crystals were amazing back then, but were very specific in how they helped
Slight correction on Dyara. She's half-drow, so she'd lose low-light vision for darkvision 60 ft. and gain light blindness (which I hate). Drow-blooded as an alternate race trait is such trash. At least make it light sensitivity for being half. There's also the option of Drow Magic instead of Adaptability & Multitalented, but not necessary.
For hallucinogens, Pathfinder has a ridiculous number of options. Theres belladonna, bloodbrush extract, demon dust, flayleaf, grit, ice tears, Lunar naga venom, pesh, Riddleport tea, shiver, Thileu bark, and yellowcap mushrooms. Choose your poison.
Was there anything specific about the funerary golem that someone might want to check out?
I considered the weapon being plus three or gaining bane when the jewel was added, but I figured that this should be a weapon that some should be able to take to the end of the campaign so I made it more powerful. You can easily get make a third part for powering up the dagger, get the jewel from the Demon merchants in Taaryssia and when you do it says 'feed me the blood of the outsiders' or something like that, then once you kill an aboleth it becomes the powerful version. Or the demon could have the "soul" of the dagger, when you get it back it says 'find my heart' which is the jewel. Have it in the possession of the sunless sea merchant or in one of the encounter locations.
Thanks for pointing out the mistake on Dyara. I would have used alternate racial traits, but I didn't know where to put those on a stat block, so I just went with standard traits.
As for the funerary golden, it's just a template that can be added to golems to make them tomb guardians. The flavor text is specifically Dwarven and there's a stated out one at CR 12 with a nice image to come with it. It's just an option to consider and Pathways is free to all you need is memory space.
I have once again made things I will never use because I'm not a GM. In book 2 (page 20 to 21) there is what it is obviously the beginning of the 'assembled the powerful magic weapon' side story. Well, I've made completed stats for it.
Barbel:
Barbel is an intelligent +4 adamantine keen aberration bane dagger Alignment neutral, Senses Blindsense 120 ft.
Int: 13, Wis: 18, Cha: 12
Language telepathy (Aboleth, Common, Dwarven, and Undercommon)
Ego: 13; purpose: Combat all aberration threats to svirfneblin kind.
1/day: dimensional anchor; CL 18th; cost 97,402 gp).
The only thing to add is that its purpose can be read as two things instead of one. If that's how you read it you should up the EGO to 15.
I made a stat block for Dyara Dark-Eyes, the NPC name given on page 91 of the second book for the Royal Enforcer option for drawers.
Dyara Dark-Eyes:
Female half-elf fighter 3/rogue 2
CN Medium humanoid (elf)
Init +6; Senses low-light vision; Perception +9
DEFENSE AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+3 armor, +2 Dex, +1 shield, +1 dodge)
hp 38 (5 HD; 3d10+2d8+10)
Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +2; +1 vs. fear; +2 vs. enchantment
Immune sleep
Defensive Abilities bravery +1, evasion,
OFFENSE Speed 30 ft.
Melee mithral rapier +3 (1d6+3/18–20), mithral dagger +3 (1d4+3/19–20)
Special Attacks sneak attack +1d6
STATISTICS Str 16, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk[b/] +4; [b]CMB +7; CMD +9
Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Double Slice, Improved Initiative, Skill Focus (Stealth), Two-Weapon Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting
Skills Acrobatics +6, Bluff +3, Climb +7, Disable Device +6 (+2 to disable traps), Escape Artist +6, Perception +11 (+2 to find traps), Stealth +12, Survival +6
Languages Elven, Undercommon
SQ armor training +1, rogue talent (Silencing Strike), trapfinding +1
Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds, potion of invisibility,
Other Gear mwk Spider-Silk Bodysuit, mithral dagger, mithral rapier, silver earrings (100 gp each), 128 gp
On page eight of the first book is mention of night whiskey, and that the drow of Taaryssia sometimes lace there's with hallucinogenic extracts. I wanted to make something out of that, but it's so vague that it could be anything.
I would also recommend people check out Rite Publishing Pathways 62 for the funerary golem.
They're really just isn't enough that's interesting left to talk about. Really, the things that can be talked about would only be speculation.
What would War Below have been? What would going to the drow city have actually been like for the explorer campaign? Why is there an underwater city Underground? All fascinating questions that you can come up with an answer for yourself.
I hope that this post finds you well. I was curious as to whether you (or anyone else for that matter) has given significant thought to the ally building component of the AP, specifically on the dwarven side? As the heroes of Dammerhall will need to build an alliance to defeat the drow of Taaryssia, I began to wonder, just with whom could the PCs ally? I don't really want to re-use races from the 1st 2 books (svirfneblin, myceloids, etc.) and I did see some of your other mentions, (such as deep fey and drowblood "scorrow") but if possible (although this may be un-realistic) I'd like to stick with Paizo created races as I'm planning to use the PF system. I did find 1 race, the Trox (bestiary 4, pg 264) that looked promising. I am hoping to also find 2 or 3 other races that are actually native to underground environments so as to not have to just turn sun-dwellers into a subterranean species. What do you think? Any ideas? Or am I just setting my expectations too high?
Thank you for your time and efforts on behalf of the TON community.
I can help with this. Let's go over the obvious options that you should, and a likely have, already considered, just so we're on the same page.
The obvious options.:
First of all, you should probably just use dwarfs, considering that getting Dammerhall back is the framework of the dwarven adventure. sending out the call saying that it has been reclaimed is going to get thousands of dwarves flocking to you. Human mercenaries also fit this bill, since the book said the drow buy up a mercenary army. The option is likely available for the dwarves too.
Kobolds are also an obvious pick that you should use. The ones from the first adventure had to come from somewhere.
Goblins have been known to go underground, and there are likely plenty of goblin slaves working for the drow.
There could also be Orcs depending on the setting. Golarion had Orcs come from underground, being pushed up by the dwarves.
Ratfolk are also an option, although if they're not slaves you will have to come up with your own reason for why they'd be there.
Clear cut choices out of the way, let's move on to the less conventional.
Other options.:
Trox are a good option. You'd likely want to bring duergar in to give them a reason to fight with the dwarves instead of just ignore them.
Dark Creepers and Dark Stalkers. I'll admit I don't know much about the dark folk off hand.
Rock Trolls exist, but they'd be more likely to stand against dwarves.
Cave Giants. Again, more likely to stand against dwarves.
Underground Girtablilus could be worked in. Having them be somewhere around Dammerhall would be best. Guardians of ancient places and whatnot.
There was also a brief mention of a Gardens of Flesh in The Earth's Wound (pg. 92). I have no idea what a Gardens of Flesh would be like, but it sounds cool. You could have it as a facility for flesh golem crafting run by the drow. Cause a riot there to gain the army of freed flesh golems sounds awesome.
I was curious as to whether you might be able to recommend any resources that would be applicable regarding the taking of the drow city? Rise of the Drow has some useful content, but it seems mostly focused on the PC's assaulting the ruling clan's citadel. While I intend to use this aspect, I'd also like to play out the actual battle for the city without it simply descending into a mass combat scrum or becoming one un-ending combat encounter. I was thinking of offering a set of mini-encounters that would give bonuses/negatives to the conquest of the city, however, this just leads into a similar problem. I don't want the overall victory or defeat of the PCs to hinge on whether they accumulated enough Victory Points. Would you happen to have any other recommendations?
Thank you,
I can make some recommendations for material on a drow city takeover. Any of the urban campaign Adventure Pass that have been released are good material Curse of the Crimson Throne, Council of Thieves, Hell's Rebels.
Book five of Carrion Crown involved working with creatures most party's normally wouldn't.
Anything involving the Worldwound would be useful. The Worldwound book, The Wrath of the Righteous adventure path in its entirety, and the Pathfinder Society Year of the Demon. Book 2 of Wrath of the Righteous is all about the party leading an army to reclaim a demon held city.
The Second Darkness adventure path is an obvious recommendation for drow material, however, you'll probably get the most use out of books four and five.
You can also probably run the mass combat rules as written, other than some changes to army movement and some new tactics for the underground environment. It's a shame that we never got the "War Below" material. It likely would have changes to movement, army sizes, and new tactics.
In honor of the 7th anniversary of the Kickstarter for Throne of Nighe closing, I present to you the gunzarak cannon golem. I wanted to make the cannon golem picture a unique encounter and I didn't just want to add gunzarak qualities to the regular cannon golem (although that's probably what would have happened.) I didn't give this golem a CR but I was aiming for 17. Not sure if I made it too powerful or not.
Gunzarak Cannon Golem:
N Large construct
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +2
DEFENSE
AC 31, touch 17, flat-footed 23 (+8 Dex, +24 natural, -1 size)
hp 150 (24d10+30)
Fort +8, Ref +16, Will +8
Defensive Abilities DR 15/ adamantine, DR 3/—; Immune construct traits, magic, rust
OFFENSE
Speed 50 ft.
Melee 2 slams +31 (4d10+8)
Ranged cannon +31/+26 (6d6+8/19-20/x4)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Smoke blast (30 ft. cone, Fortitude DC 22, nauseated), cannon, destructive strike
STATISTICS
Str 26, Dex 26, Con —, Int —, Wis 14, Cha 2
Base Atk +24; CMB +35; CMD 51
Feats Improved Critical (cannon)
SQ alloyed, blasting critical, gun training
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Alloyed (Ex)
A gunzarak cannon golem’s slam and cannon attacks count as adamantine, silver, and magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Blasting Critical (Ex)
When a gunzarak cannon golem confirms a critical hit with a slam attack, it can make one cannon attack against that target as a free action (as long as the cannon is loaded).
Cannon (Ex)
A gunzarak cannon golem’s cannon has a range increment of 100 feet and deals 4d8+ points of bludgeoning and piercing damage on a hit with a x4 critical modifier. The cannon’s magazine can hold up to 20 cannonballs at a time—reloading a single cannonball into this magazine is a standard action for the golem, while loading a cannonball into the cannon itself to fire it is a swift action; this allows the golem to take two shots per round with the cannon.
Destructive Strike (Ex)
A gunzarak cannon golem’s slam attacks threaten a critical hit on a 19 or 20. In addition, whenever an adamantine golem scores a critical hit, it deals 6d10+8 points of damage to the target’s armor or shield in addition to the normal damage, as if it had also made a successful sunder combat maneuver.
Gun Training (Ex)
A cannon golem adds its Dex modifier to the damage dealt by its cannon.
Immunity to Magic (Ex)
A cannon golem is immune to spells and spell-like abilities that allow spell resistance. Certain spells and effects function differently against it, as noted below.
Any spell with the water descriptor that affects a gunzarak cannon golem renders its cannon unusable for 1 round (no save).
A heat metal spell causes the golem’s cannon to instantly backfire, dealing 6d6 points of damage to the golem and staggering it for 1 round (no save).
A slow spell cast on the golem causes it to lose its quickness ability for 1d6 rounds.
A haste spell heals the golem of 1d6 points of damage per level of the caster (maximum 10d6).
Quickness (Ex)
A gunzarak cannon golem is incredibly quick. It can take an extra move action during its turn each round. This means it can move up to its speed and still make a full attack.
Smoke blast (Su)
A gunzarak cannon golem can fire a 30 ft. cone of thick, black smoke. Creatures caught in the smoke must succeed on a Fortitude save or be nauseated as they choke and cough. A creature that chokes takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. The smoke acts as fog cloud.
Construction
Craft Construct, crushing hand, fog cloud, geas/quest, haste, wish, plane shift or secret chest; Special creator must be caster level 18th; Skill Craft (siege engine) and Knowledge (engineering) DC 30, creator must know the secret of working true mithral; Cost 200,000 gp
Gunzarak (true mithral) special material.
I also have this random encounter table for the Sunless Sea. You can at least use it as inspirational material. The water elementals could be on the boiling sea and do burn damage. The void dragon could be fighting a magma dragon... or mating with it. There's a scary thought, baby magma void dragon.
I skimmed the books and from what I could tell gunzarak is just mithril. It was some sort of new metallurgy that Dammerhall discovered.
Quote: They could create an alloy that was lighter than aluminum, stronger than adamantine, as perfect a metal as this world has ever known. This was gunzarak (in dwarvish lit. the true gift of the earth) or “true mithral”.
Even the construction requirements for the axe on page 80 specifically stated that: creator must know the secret of working true mithral. meaning it was likely going to be discovered by the party at some point.
Also, the cost of a masterwork item is already included in the cost of a magic item.
So three levels of enchantments on a 6 lb greataxe made of mithril comes out to 21,020 gp to buy and 12,020 to crat.
That comes out to 6,300 gp missing in the cost to buy it and 1,640 gp missing to craft it.
I can't think of any explanation for the crafting process that would affect the cost to make the math make sense.
Edit: I forgot that an item made from mithral weighs half as much as the same item made from other metals and a greataxe is 12 lb. The math still doesn't make sense.
I thought something was wrong with the dwarf encounters and I finally figured out what; there's no mithril. This seems really important considering that one of Dammerhalls main sources of pride was its mythril and its discovery of making gunzarak (true mithral).
It seems like the dwarf High King should have weapons and armor made of gunzarak. Maybe a unique golem made out of it, if not the cannon golem. This is an easy fix, there's a weapon on page 80 of The Earth’s Wound, The Axe of Horath Rocknose, that describes the properties of gunzarak.
Okay... That ritual in The Inferno Gate, have the contract be some sort of lie about her needing to make a temporary self-sacrifice for that ritual. The party can just show her the actual ritual instead and that she's been lied to. I just can't think of any other point that this side story would become relevant.
If the contract isn't real then the party just needs to prove that it's fake.
As for a loophole, you could have it that the contract is binding until her soul travels to Hell. During The Inferno Gate all she has to do is walk through the portal and back then the contract is broken.
The Harrow Handbook: This player companion might be worth looking into depending on how far you want to go into harrowing. Considerate implicating everything you Harrow into each individual adventure. Similar options like this already exist in the adventures, but unless you specifically rig the deck you're going to draw different cards.
Korvosan Guard: Materials for joining the guard appears on page 443 of the hardcover. It recommends Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Intrigue. This is a good option for if you need to offer extra rewards or link the characters together beyond Gaedren Lamm.
Well, if we've gotten all the major consequences out of the way, maybe we can focus on smaller stuff that isn't necessarily a result of the main conflict, but maybe happens at some point during the AP. I'm not one to turn down lore!
That will be a bit tricky to talk about without spoiling events in the Adventure Paths. In case you want to play or run them.
I know this is already a heavy spoiler thread, but that's getting into really specific stuff.
Jumping off of Neil Spicer's question; is there an adventure path where you would have the heroes officially lose?
Edit: I did not ask that question very well. To clarify, what I'm asking is if you could choose one of the 1st edition adventure paths to have the PCS lose, which one would it be?
kevin_video, I do appreciate the fact that you post in this thread. And if you did sell a finished Throne of Night, I would totally buy it.
As for that image... I don't know maybe, it's some unique creature. At that point in the adventure, some sort of Eldritch monster that the world has never seen before would not be out of place.
You know, all these iconic encounters are fun little reads, but knowing this is the last one, for now, makes me wonder, when are we going to see the villain icons again? I mean, obviously going to see the other icons again, but I don’t recall anything about the villains since Hell’s Vengeance concluded. I would love to see a story from their lives.
I just want to point out that the character build I linked to is not a “complete” character. I don’t like spending an hour on every little detail of a character I might not use.
Introduction. Because I don’t have the time to write a thousand words of background before the deadline.:
Ara has a good life. she lives in one of the great cities of the Inner Sea. Has a steady job as a scribe. Living with a dwarf that That doesn't want to kill her or tortured the location of her old tribe out of her. Life is good.
Life was good Until the day Ara woke up completely deaf, and could use magic for no applicable reason. Being a smart hobgoblin she immediately began looking into why she had these abilities and could no longer hear. She found out she was an oracle, she was okay with it... until she found out which gods would have made her an oracle.
Calistria and Norgorber both are unsavory patrons in Ara’s opinion. Which only makes it even more confusing why she was given such powers at all. She views the things that the two represent as a reality of the world she lives in, not fundamentals that should be praised and admired.
All right I have my character mostly done. And by mostly done I mean I have over half of the background written, but I haven’t had time to write up a character sheet. But I do know what I wanted to be, a snake blood sorcerer lawful neutral elf.
Ship encounter:
“Oh come on I’m not going to bite.”
“Go away!” Ieana said from the other side of the door. Her exasperation is evident in her voice. Ejigu could understand, he too was getting tired of knocking on her door every other day.
“Why? I want to talk about your field of Interest. Most scholars love to talk to nauseam about the things they study.”
“I’m not most scholars!” Ejigu and Ieana yelled at the same time. They had this conversation before. He pressed on. “We’re going to keep having this conversation. Can you at least give me a reason why you don’t want to talk to me.”
She opened the door and if looks could kill he would have died on the spot, her glare probably would have done it too. “Why are you so interested about talking to me? You’re from the Mwangi Expanse.”
“Yeah, but I’ve never been to a fancy school like you have. You probably know more about the Mwangi Expanse than anyone I’ve ever met.” It was true that he didn’t know much about the history of the Mwangi Expanse and that he’d never been to any school for a higher education, but that was mainly because he was busy touring Avistan, studying ways to build and maintain a proper society.
She let out an angry groan. “If I agree to take you with me as I explore the ruins in the Expanse will you leave me alone?”
“As an add-on? As a boss? As a friend?”
“As a slave.” She left no room for argument.
“I’ll work my way up to life partner.”
She slammed the door.
Fifteen items:
• Compass
• Silk rope 50’
• Flint & Steel
• Masterwork backpack
• Spell component pouch
• The History and Future of Humanity
• Tome of Memory
• Silver medallion
• Manual of City Building
• Outfit Traveler’s
• Hip flask
• Journal
• Ink
• Inkpen
• Dagger
For some reason, I’ve been counted twice. Also, since I don’t know if I will have time to work out for character sheet I should let you know that my character would be a sorcerer.
I don’t have a name or background for my character so I’m going to have to work those things out later but I wanted to put up a five-minute background for my basic concept.
I want to admit that I have read the Serpent’s Skull adventure path. I don’t remember the details but I do have a pretty good long-term memory so I know the outline of what’s going on in the background and why everything is happening. I also want to make it clear that my concept is because I’ve read the adventure path, I know what the end game is and I want to get this character that I have had in mind for years to that point.
Five Minute Background:
1) I'd like 5 points that capture the concept and story of the character. More are welcome, but no less than five.
• He is an Ekujae elf.
• He is a Mwangi nationalist.
• He is ambitious.
• He is xenophobic to non-Mwangi elves.
• He is an intellectual.
2) Two goals that you'd like the character to accomplish in-game.
• Become revered.
• Attain great wealth.
3) Two secrets, one the PC keeps to himself, and one kept from the PC. I'll come up with a third that both the character and player aren't aware of, in hopes of shocking surprises within the storytelling.
• He wants to build a Mwangi Empire, and he will do whatever it takes to do it.
• His former tribe had a bad habit of making enemies, and they decided to pin all of the blame on their Forlorn child.
4) 3-5 people that are tied to your PC by blood, love, rivalry, honor, etc. I'd like at least one enemy in a set of three or four, with no more than two for a set of five. PLEASE consider the players reference guide for ideas.
• A banshee he made when his former lover grew too obsessed with him and he had to kill her.
• The banshees sister who hates him for killing her sister and letting her turn into a banshee.
• He is well-respected by his former tribal leader even though that same tribal leader routinely sells him out to the tribe’s enemies and disagrees with him philosophically.
5) Three key memories that define your character as the person they are at the time of submission.
• Leaving his former try because he realized he didn’t belong there.
• Visiting Mzali and becoming a nationalist.
• Killing his former lover
6) Finally, I'd like you to include with your submission a fear or paranoia that causes your character to shiver, cower, or panic.
• Loud shrieking and other Mwangi elves. He knows his former lover and her sister are looking for him, both of whom were and are very well liked.
So I can imagine Mega-corporations having private militaries and armies and such but I’m thinking more like just a regular national army. I’m sure there’s been some sort of geopolitical change in North America in the world of Shadowrun but I don’t really know enough about Shadowrun to know what that is. So whatever national army someone raised in Seattle would be in.
As for connections... well anybody who would still be alive from a career of soldiering with him would certainly be it, but when I said that he’s old I meant old. Human over sixty old. Anyone he could have a meaningful connection with outside of his family is as old as he is or dead. An elf could survive that long, so I guess there’s potential there.
As far as family falling apart, I think it’s a little bit of both. I imagine that while he was a soldier he was inattentive to his family, so by the time he retired his home life was well out of his control. Which is why he spoils his son, because his son is the last family he has and he knows it’s his fault. He left his wife with the responsibility of raising two kids and didn’t offer anything other than a stable income. That, plus the fact that the income came with the knowledge that one well-placed bullet could take it away would be a very stressful situation for anyone.
All right, I’ve come up with a name, background, and personality for my character. I’d appreciate any feedback.
Masia “Crooked” Clearstone
Background:
Masia was born to a family of mid-level corporate employees who's only great aspiration in life was to keep their heads low and survive.
Masia wanted more to life than just to survive, he wanted to thrive and decided to join the military. Decades upon decades of legitimate clean work as a soldier have gotten him nowhere. The best things that ever happened to him are his marriage and his kids.
Now he is a retired old man. His wife taken by drugs that he didn’t realize she was taking, one son dead due to the foolish ambition and pride that he himself had as a child and another showing the same. He has decided to leave something before his own death so that his other son might survive.
His son is the only thing that is keeping him alive but he knows his time is coming so he feels a need to pass on as much to him as possible, whether it’s advice or saved wealth.
Personality:
Masias is basically a parent spoiling their child rotten, never punishing them, giving them everything they want, etcetera. The only real difference is he’s got a late start.
If someone beat and robbed his son he would hunt them down and beat them to bloody hell if not outright kill them. If he was forced to give up money that he planned to settle for his son he would do it with every intention of getting it back by stealing it or murdering the person he had to give it to. That being said he also wouldn’t give up a penny without a fight unless he feels that it’s a good investment. He’d break your hand before letting you keep that penny you found on the ground.
Agghhh! One of the games I’m running needs replacement character so I haven’t been able to keep up with this thread.
Anyway, my idea for a character is an old retired soldier with a wife dead and in the ground and a son getting ready to throw himself into a military profession. Seeing that his son doesn’t have the luck that he does decides to take on runner work to try and get as much money as he can before he passes so it will go to his son.
Or I could play as the son, using all the money that his father earned to pick up where he left off.
I am definitely interested in this! I’ve never actually played the tabletop game but I am interested in the setting and have been looking for a game to join. I’ll think of a basic character concept and try to figure out the character creation later.
My Character is probably not what you want but I figured I’d put him up for consideration anyway because I was an applicant during your first recruitment.
The statistics I have are the same level 1 character I submitted before so I’d have to recalculate the extra level and gold but otherwise he’s good to go.
Gedeon Lem:
Gedeon Lem
Middle-aged elf Ex-Cleric of Aroden 1
LN Medium humanoid (elf)
Init -1; Perception +3
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 13, touch 9, flat-footed 9 (+4 armor, -1 Dex)
hp 8 (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref -1, Will +5
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Longsword (1d8+1/19-20/x2)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 13, Dex 9, Con 11, Int 11, Wis 17, Cha 14
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD +0
Feats Skill Focus (Knowledge religion)
Traits Taldan Patriot, Faithful of the Dead God
Skills Diplomacy +7 (+3 1 rank, +1 trait), Knowledge (history) +4 (+3 1 rank), Knowledge (nobility) +4 (+3 1 rank), Knowledge (religion) +8 (+3 1 rank, +3 Skill Focus), Sense Motive +4 (+1 trait)
Languages Common
Combat gear longsword, chain shirt
Other gear 45gp
Application requirements:
1) Develop character concept. Crunch does not need to be complete, but it can be. Character concept should include the following:
- Class: Ex-Cleric
- Alignment: Lawful neutral
- Characters link to Taldor, and specifically Oparra: Gedeon was born in Oparra.
- Livelihood: Gedeon works as a teacher. He has a wide variety of knowledge in religious affairs and has a respectable degree of insight into general history and the history of nobility. He has worked as a tutor (although no one calls him for his swordsmanship anymore) and has worked as a substitute for various institute of education throughout the Inner Sea region, but mainly in Taldor.
- Motivation: Gedeon used to be active adventure back when Aroden was alive. With his death and none of his spells to work with Gedeon was effectively forced into early retirement. But it's been well over one hundred years now and he's almost old even by elf standards. This is basically a midlife crisis for him.
- Rollplay vs Roleplay: Honestly this is going to be a bit tricky because while playing him out as an elf who's been around for a long time will be fairly easy the fact that he's a cleric without any of the actual cleric abilities is going to really stagger him in fights.
- Progression: I'm not sure how he'll progress either. With the idea of him being an old elf who was an active cleric I built him with that idea in mind. Now the reasonable argument could be made that I could multi-class into something else or just switch to a different god but that kind of defeats the point of the whole character as he is supposed to be a somewhat veteran adventure. The idea isn't that he's learning new skills and abilities as with regular level progression but rather he's remembering the skills that he's forgotten over time
- Background: Gedeon Lem was born in Oparra to servants of a noble family. This family was particularly devout in its worship of Aroden and Gedeon was raised to be a servant in the family just as his parents were. He naturally fell into the faith and took to it like a fish to water, eventually gaining spells from his god and was sent to the Temple of Aroden. He trained as an acolyte and then worked as a priest in the temple for years and eventually went off and became a successful adventure.
Then Aroden died.
The loss of his spells mid-adventure nearly spelled doom for him and his party. After learning of his God’s fate and the chaos that ensued he fell into a state of depression. Being an elf this depression took years for him to get over. By the time he finally came out of it the Church of Aroden itself was left as little more than a hollow husk.
Gedeon spent the next century working to preserve the legacy and will of his God, teaching his wisdom to any who would listen and maintain the temple in Oparra to the best of his abilities. It was futile. today most only know Aroden as the dead god, dismiss his wisdom due to his death. The temple has fallen into his hands, still maintained and left in full splendor on the outside but hollow and empty on the inside. Books and scrolls sit unopened, rooms left to gather dust, and less than half a dozen who still maintain some worship of Aroden. But all of those who do are the deniers. Those who say that Aroden is not dead, that he has abandoned the world or is simply testing his people.
2) I'm in Eastern Standard Time and I should be able to post at least once a day at around 7 or 8 p.m.
I don’t have the ability to write the quality post you want or the self-motivation to post them at the rate you want so I’m not going to apply for this game. But it does seem interesting so I'm going to read along.
I actually considered pitching my guy as a paladin same backstory but he was a devotee of Volund and the bronze pool was a curse by Rava. “Hay! Remember all those gearforged you dismantled, than left their souls to gather dust on a shelf? Well now you're going to figure out what it’s like to be one. As my paladin.”
It’s not like I’m marrying the idea. I was just trying to think of a reason for him to become a gearforged. Considering that this seems like something that the other gearforged would not be okay with and it seems to me like crime and punishment in this world amounts to either slavery or death so I just started thinking, “What would be a good way to explain being turned into a gearforged? A molten pool in the middle of nowhere?”
Okay, so I’ve been thinking about my idea for a character and I come up with a general outline that I like. It’s also non-descriptive since I don’t know much about this campaign setting at all, just what I’ve read on here and what I read in my own time.
Idea:
My idea is a minotaur who wants to create a kingdom for the politically underpowered races in Midgar, Mainly minotaurs, but also other races like elves and gearforged.
In order to do this he would take gearforged and break them apart to build an army of clockwork automatons for him to use, while being careful not to break their soul. He’s not a monster, he’ll give them their bodies back... eventually.
That was the plan until he got caught and forced to run. While wandering through the desert he eventually fell into a pool of molten bronze and burn to death, then he crawl out a gearforged. He has no idea how this happened or why and he doesn’t care. This is good if anything because now he has a new face to resume his work without fear of being caught. He just needs money to get a new forge and tools... and some magic items to help him not get caught like last time.
This looks interesting and the cast of applicants is very colorful. I’m definitely going to make a pitch for this game. A human turn into a gearforged or a mercenary minotaur of some kind. I don’t know I’ll have to think about it but I’m definitely going to pitch something.
I have to admit that I’ve never actually played in a fifth edition game before so the rules would be new to me.
My application is for a Ex-cleric and that's an important distinction to make because an Ex-cleric doesn't get any of the divine powers that define the class.
“Since when did Thursday and Friday get switched around on the calendar?” Kobolum asked sarcastically before realizing that the only things that heard him were his dogs and the voices in his head.
Here's my background for Ji Min, my catfolk Wizard. Sadly I couldn't think of anything that would make a good roleplay sample.
Backstory:
Ji Min’s life was doomed to be harsh before she was even born. Her parents fled from their homeland of Tian Xia for unknown reasons. Died of illness when she was six. and left her with nothing except the clothes that she had.
Her childhood was even worse. Ji was quickly forced into a life of picking pockets and cutting purses, neither of which she was particularly good at, and left her beaten and covered in dirt.
As Ji grew older and more intelligent she realized that people were not only hateful towards her for her appearance but also fearful of her. She started playing into the persona of a greedy monster who demanded tribute from beggars and thieves or they would face her avaricious wrath. Eventually she saved up enough gold for a tuition at a university for arcane study. It was only one term but it was enough.
1) Develop character concept. Crunch does not need to be complete, but it can be. Character concept should include the following:
- Class: Ex-Cleric
- Alignment: Lawful neutral
- Characters link to Taldor, and specifically Oparra: Gedeon was born in Oparra.
- Livelihood: Gedeon works as a teacher. He has a wide variety of knowledge in religious affairs and has a respectable degree of insight into general history and the history of nobility. He has worked as a tutor (although no one calls him for his swordsmanship anymore) and has worked as a substitute for various institute of education throughout the Inner Sea region, but mainly in Taldor.
- Motivation: Gedeon used to be active adventure back when Aroden was alive. With his death and none of his spells to work with Gedeon was effectively forced into early retirement. But it's been well over one hundred years now and he's almost old even by elf standards. This is basically a midlife crisis for him.
- Rollplay vs Roleplay: Honestly this is going to be a bit tricky because while playing him out as an elf who's been around for a long time will be fairly easy the fact that he's a cleric without any of the actual cleric abilities is going to really stagger him in fights.
- Progression: I'm not sure how he'll progress either. With the idea of him being an old elf who was an active cleric I built him with that idea in mind. Now the reasonable argument could be made that I could multi-class into something else or just switch to a different god but that kind of defeats the point of the whole character as he is supposed to be a somewhat veteran adventure. The idea isn't that he's learning new skills and abilities as with regular level progression but rather he's remembering the skills that he's forgotten over time
- Background: Gedeon Lem was born in Oparra to servants of a noble family. This family was particularly devout in its worship of Aroden and Gedeon was raised to be a servant in the family just as his parents were. He naturally fell into the faith and took to it like a fish to water, eventually gaining spells from his god and was sent to the Temple of Aroden. He trained as an acolyte and then worked as a priest in the temple for years and eventually went off and became a successful adventure.
Then Aroden died.
The loss of his spells mid-adventure nearly spelled doom for him and his party. After learning of his God’s fate and the chaos that ensued he fell into a state of depression. Being an elf this depression took years for him to get over. By the time he finally came out of it the Church of Aroden itself was left as little more than a hollow husk.
Gedeon spent the next century working to preserve the legacy and will of his God, teaching his wisdom to any who would listen and maintain the temple in Oparra to the best of his abilities. It was futile. today most only know Aroden as the dead god, dismiss his wisdom due to his death. The temple has fallen into his hands, still maintained and left in full splendor on the outside but hollow and empty on the inside. Books and scrolls sit unopened, rooms left to gather dust, and less than half a dozen who still maintain some worship of Aroden. But all of those who do are the deniers. Those who say that Aroden is not dead, that he has abandoned the world or is simply testing his people.
2) I'm in Eastern Standard Time and I should be able to post at least once a day at around 7 or 8 p.m.
3) I'm game mastering three and playing in three, four on-site and four off-site. One of those games I'm a player in is about to end because it's a module run.
