Kingsblood, the massive capital city of Aract. Named for the violent overthrow of the last king of the nation, the city has only borne the moniker for the past 40 years. During those years, it has transformed from one man's personal palace and castle to a metropolis housing nearly half a million people of an incredible number of races and occupations. The transformation has taken place under the guidance of one man, the Lord Mayor Inaris. A man surrounded by more rumors than should rightly follow even a man in his powerful position.
While Inaris is not the reason for your visit to the city, his influence is quickly noticed. Each of the five of you receive a letter in a black envelope, sealed with white wax in the shape of an embossed letter "I". The letter is handed to you by a guard captain, who leaves with haste as soon as the letter reaches your hand. While sealed, the letter may be easily opened, and is individually written in florid script to the recipient.
Letter Contents:
I, the Lord Mayor Inaris, wish to congratulate you on finding your way to my fair city. More than that, I wish to speak with you about a grand opportunity to aide the city. The rewards of this visit will be quite substantial should you choose to accept the duty I bestow upon you. If this offer interests you, find your way to the Grand Offices at the center of the city tomorrow four bells after noon. As it is fully the largest building in Kingsblood, I do not think the endeavor shall tax you unduly.
It should be noted that I have sent a quite similar notice to five others of similarly notable talents that you may be interested to meet. If you were to wish for a place to meet with each other tonight, I would suggest the Guilded Stag. This letter should allow you to enter and eat your fill without the banality of exchanging coin.
This campaign takes place in my own little land of Tarela, which is in some ways like the world of Golarion, but in others quite a deal different. Many of the common tropes and cliches of fantasy literature are significantly changed, though a few are kept simply for my own amusement. Some of the most significant changes come in the way of the player character races, detailed below. A brief warning, as this is quite long.
Elves
Of all the races in Talera, elves are the most changed. An elf's life begins as part of a horde of tiny humanoid creatures that sweep over a small area near their birthplace, devouring anything they can within their path. After several years of this, the group engages in a sudden bout of cannibalism that leaves only the strongest of the creatures alive. The minuscule survivor then undergoes a transformation into a tall, willowy creature that most know as an elf.
During this point of their lives, elves retain a portion of their previously savage nature, but gain a keen intelligence that allows them even greater cruelty. At this point, many begin to have interactions with humanoid civilizations. Most become bandits, thieves, or outright murderers and prey on outlying settlements. The occasional elf seeks out larger cities and grander schemes. For these reasons, most common folk attempt to kill elves on sight.
As they age, however, most elves begin to lose their cruelty. They grow taller and wooden nodules grow across their skin, their bodies beginning to resemble those of the much larger treants. In their old age, they look back on their old lives and try to do what penance they can to remove the 'taint' of their transgressions. Ancient elves are often found aiding adventures with their lifetimes of knowledge and insight on the minds of the cruel and insane.
Half-Elves
Normally the products of rape, Half-elves are universally pitied for their birth. What few are born to Elven mothers are sometimes used as pawns in larger schemes, or as further soldiers in bandit raiding parties. Those born to Human mothers are raised in the typical fashion of the area, but are prone to being bullied and generally have few friends unless they hide their elven heritage. Past childhood, many find their place in Human societies as guards, hunters, or skilled tradesmen.
Dwarves
Exiled from their ancestral lands in the Black Spire Mountains by the war of the Giants and Goblinoids, Dwarves are still seeking a new place for themselves in the world. While they still tend to seek underground homes in which to raise their children, the stout folk are largely nomadic. Traveling from town to town, the Dwarves are known for their excellent craftsmanship and excellent business sense.
Gnomes
From the far land of Fireas, Gnomes are often found in other lands as missionaries and priests. While some Gnomes exist in cities as part of other humanoid communities, they mostly live their lives in any number of monasteries, worshiping an incredible number of different deities. Gnomish history is filled with holy wars of the numerous orders, though their daily lives are more often lead in search of knowledge and peace.
Halflings
The most famous of Halflings are the pirates of the Rel Islands. With incredibly fast ships and an incredible knowledge of sea-borne weaponry, the naval prowess of the Rel Halflings is world renowned and justly feared. The Halflings of Aract, Urram, and Glaslond are quite more sedate, favoring farming and a quiet homelife over adventures in the high sea. Curiously, even these Halflings tend to live close to lakes a rivers, for a reason none of them can quite put words to.
Jocab
Members of an ancient and honorable race, the Jocab were once a people at war with the vast human empire that reigned much of the continent in the distant past. After the fall of the empire, the brave warrior people integrated with humanity, becoming an important force in the rise of the current age. While bearing many cultural throwbacks to their warrior roots, they have become politicians and businessmen to rival humanity. Their lack fertility is perhaps the only thing keeping them from overtaking humans as the most powerful force in Tarela.
Jocab use the stats for Half-Orcs, gaining the Jocab subtype and losing the Orc Blood trait.
Humans
For the most part, humans remain much as they are in the vast majority of settings. They have a variety of differing cultures and make up a large percentage of the humanoid populations. While other races also have variety in their cultures, none quite so much reach the sheer number of cultures that abound in humanity.
I would very much like to start a PbP game here on the Paizo boards, using my currently developing world of Tarela. It will be a mix of free-form and AP-like activities, leaning more to creating a coherent world than any particular storyline (unless I think up something that's just far too cool to pass up).
The exact nature of the combat/roleplaying skew will be directly modifiable based on the characters and the method of play. Almost all combats will be able to be circumvented, depending on the will of the players (and roll of the dice, in some cases).
I am willing to modify what I have planned to suit any particular set of levels potential players would enjoy, and am prepared to handle up to 5 characters.
Books other than PFRPG and the current block of Playtest classes may be allowed on a case-by-case basis. Current plans are for 20 point-buy creation, but I'd be willing to change that. Characterization is far more important to me than stats, and I am far more willing to make concessions and fudge rules for interesting and unique PCs. I also highly encourage and reward clever problem solving with bonuses when used in combat, and extra rewards for outside of combat.
Some important campaign notes: Elves are almost always evil on Tarela, and thus make poor character choices. There are no Orcs, but a separate and distinct race known as the Jocab exist that use the stats for Half-Orcs, except for Orc Blood. Up to 2 traits from the character trait web enhancement may be selected.
I would very much like to start a PbP game here on the Paizo boards, using my currently developing world of Tarela. It will be a mix of free-form and AP-like activities, leaning more to creating a coherent world than any particular storyline (unless I think up something that's just far too cool to pass up).
The exact nature of the combat/roleplaying skew will be directly modifiable based on the characters and the method of play. Almost all combats will be able to be circumvented, depending on the will of the players (and roll of the dice, in some cases).
I am willing to modify what I have planned to suit any particular set of levels potential players would enjoy, and am prepared to handle up to 5 characters.
Books other than PFRPG and the current block of Playtest classes may be allowed on a case-by-case basis. Current plans are for 20 point-buy creation, but I'd be willing to change that. Characterization is far more important to me than stats, and I am far more willing to make concessions and fudge rules for interesting and unique PCs. I also highly encourage and reward clever problem solving with bonuses when used in combat, and extra rewards for outside of combat.
Some important campaign notes: Elves are almost always evil on Tarela, and thus make poor character choices. There are no Orcs, but a separate and distinct race known as the Jocab exist that use the stats for Half-Orcs, except for Orc Blood. Up to 2 traits from the character trait web enhancement may be selected.
Hey guys, currently trying to make a map up using Photoshop. Anyone know where I can find a few ground/forest/sea/mountain textures I might be able to use? Preferably, I'd like to find some for free, but I might be willing to pay for some very high quality ones. I can make my own if need be, but it's a lot less of a pain to use pre-made ones.
Recently I've begun a small project to create a world for both a D&D/Pathfinder campaign setting and a setting for a series of stories I intend to write. As I know many of the people here at Paizo are lovers of novels and the amazing writing of the Paizo staff and their freelancers, I thought that this would be an excellent place to show off some bits of the setting to get some critiques. I will probably move it to some place off Paizo in a sort of blog format later, but I greatly enjoy the opinions and insight of the people here (though I admit to spending a great deal of my time lurking).
Feel free to leave any comments, questions, or criticisms here. I will warn you, it's rather unedited, so there may be the occasional grammatical or logical error. Feel free to point those out if you find them, but I don't expect you lot to be my editors ;). Thus introduced, allow me to introduce you to my world of Tarela.
Basic Setting:
Tarela World of the Hungering Star
Many wonders abound in Tarela. In the land known as Morteya, hordes of undead creatures fight endlessly amongst themselves, reliving the days of their long-dead empire. In the obsidian peaks of the Black Spires, hobgoblins and their armies wage constant war against tribes of giant warlords. Near Tarela's equator, the Godscar rests as an eternal tribute to the death of an ancient god, its shattered wastes a nearly lifeless testament to a battle between two immortals. In Helonth, the land of a thousand lakes, scholars search for secrets and engage in cunning political ploys to raise their ranks above that of their neighbors. Mysteries abound of the floating nation of Gelfarin, where no one enters and the few that leave speak nothing of the land. Many other places exist, from the kingdoms of serpent-pharohs, to lands devoid of any humanity, place of adventure are abundant across Tarela's surface.
Of Tarela's most defining features, one rises above all others in a quite literal fashion, for the sun that provides the light that gives life to so many also seeks to destroy everything. Looming in the sky roils the star-god Visharanthol, a monstrous immortal composed of flame and hatred that wishes nothing more than to devour all other than itself. It is held in check with a constant battle with the god Ochulire, who's priest fight to continually root out Visharanthol's crazed followers. Hundreds of years before today, the sun god Kel Masabd was slain by his enemy Gabach which created the Godscar that encircles half the planet. This caused the world's sun to die, causing a time known as 'The Great Cold Night'. Ochulire, Kel Masabd's nephew, was asked with Kel Masabd's dying breath to venture forth into worlds beyond Tarela to find a new star to keep the world from a slow death. Ochulire found the star-god Visharanthol quickly, but refused to bring it back at first, hoping to find a less dangerous and more malleable source of heat. It was only at the last possible moment that Ochulire brought Visharanthol back to Tarela, consigning himself to forever keeping the foul beast at bay.
The Gate-Web:
Upon Tarela is a complex web of mystical pathways that exist, linking distant parts of the world to each other and even occasionally leading to even more magnificent places. These gates are not things that are easily found and controlled. Locations of portals may shift, as well as the conditions that trigger their activations. They are also inconsistent, working at some times and becoming inert at others. At times, the entire system of these gateways has become inert for centuries, rendering their existence as mere legend amongst all but the oldest and adventuresome of creatures.
Each gate, when active, possesses a particular trigger and leads to one specific destination. A trigger can be anything from a song, a color, a unique item, or even just entering the area where it exists. Due to their chaotic nature, most activations of these portals is entirely accidental, and still many more are never activated at all. Still, there are occasionally times when a you farm maid may find a pretty stone near a place where she is gathering water, only later to disappear with a toppled bucket found near the barn door. Afterwards, the now mutated woman may begin attacking near the farm site, or a strange beast known to be from far off lands may be sighted, or perhaps nothing at all may happen. As often as not, many go through their lives without being affected in any way by these gates, even the most adventurous of heroes.
Little bored at the moment, so somewhat wondering if any of the DMs out there have a PbP game they're planning to start any time soon. I'd prefer a Pathfinder RPG game, though I'm equally interested in 3.5 or possibly even 4th. I'd very much like to get into a Second Darkness, Legacy of Fire, or Council of Thieves AP.
I'm good with playing any type of character, so if you're just missing something in a current game, I'd be happy to hop in. Primarily I enjoy playing Rogues, Bards, and other 'face' characters best. I tend towards the more Neutral/Evil ends of the alignment, but I'm never against the party.
I couldn't find a really well-suited spot to post this, since it's kind of unique.
During the writer's strike that happened last year, Joss Whedon decided to write and produce a short film in three acts about a super villain and then put it up on the web for about a week, then sell it on DVD. Also, it's a musical.
The first two acts are up as of me writing this, and it's an absolutely fantastically funny show. I'm sad that it's only three acts. I digress, go here and watch it.
Sorry Paizo folks, I couldn't find the really big thread with all of these.
I unfortunately have to cancel my Pathfinder subscription. It's not a choice based on the quality of your product, but on a distinct lack of money on my part. As soon as I get another job, you can be assured I'll be purchasing my missed issues and re-subscribing.
We were doing a small playtest thing using some online tools earlier tonight and came across an oddity with the new Turn Undead and Swarms. Should the healing from Turn Undead affect swarms?
We ruled 'no' primarily on two reasons:
1) Swarms generally lose HP due to bits of them dying, not due to bleeding, bruising, etc.
2) Most healing spells are single target, and as swarms are immune to single target spells, they're generally immune to them.
We'll be playtesting in an actual campaign starting next weekend, I'll probably post notes of problems that we have in their respective folders as we come to the problems.
The playtest group included:
Hammith
seekerofshadowlight
BM
pretjah
Takasi
Kenku
I'm sure we're all familiar with some of the problems posed by the Druid. Most of the 'overpowering' aspects of the class lies in it's wild shape ability. However, just taking away the ability will be needless sacrifice of a sacred cow that I'm sure many of us have fond memories of.
My suggestion is a small change to the way wild shape and the druid in general works. Rather than just being a very static class as they are now, I suggest a movement more towards the current Pathfinder wizard and cleric with 'domains' called totems.
Each totem would be linked to a particular animal or animal type (cat, wolf, bear, elemental, plant, etc) and would give small minor abilities based on the Druid's level with the Druid being able to choose several over the course of their career. Dependant on the 'power' of the creature the totem represented, the Druid would gain Wild Shape at different points but would only be able to wild shape into animals whose totems the Druid had gained the Wild Shape ability in. For example, the Rat totem may give the ability to change into a rat at level 4, but the bear totem would only let the Druid change into a bear at level 9 regardless of if the Druid had already gained Wild Shape in another totem.
Obviously this would have to be worked with a bit, and the actual other abilities in the totem 'trees' carefully balanced. I think the idea has a lot of potential, though. It may allow for some of the problems with 3.5 Druids to be fixed, and at the same time allow for slightly more flavorful druids.
Due to recent job changes, and a couple of people effectively dissapearing, my gaming groups has dwindled down to a pidling two PCs. I've been looking for some fresh blood to inject into the group, and due to having offended the local college gaming club by some means, I'm left to scouring the internet for PCs.
Currently our gaming is based out of Martinsburg, but may soon be moving towards Shepherdstown. If there are any gamers in the area looking for some D&D 3.5 to play, and possibly some new friends to make, just say so. We'll see what we can do to accomidate a meeting of some sort.
Unfortunately, our gaming ours are somewhat constrained to Saturdays from about 8:30pm to whenever we get tired. I'd also prefer someone that isn't familiar with Pathfinder or Shackled City (one or the other, better if you don't know much about either).
So, right before the 4th ed announcement arrived, a bunch of my buddies and I got together and were talking about some of the annoyances we have with 3.5. None of use are too excited about the next edition, and probably won't buy it unless it's bloody astounding. So, we were thinking that if we weren't blown away by 4th ed, we would craft our own that fixed some of the problems we felt that 3.5 has.
One thing that all my players get up in arms about is how magic seems somewhat underpowered in certain aspects. Basically the part in which the baddies almost always seem to save against almost everything the players throw at them, unless the players are specialized in a very certain school of magic.
I, of course, advocate using spells that don't allow much for saves. However, I do somewhat agree that it's slightly disappointing that once you get past a certain point a good many of the magic spells seem somewhat useless.
Also in relation to wizards and their ilk is how my players dislike the wizardly lack of anything to do after they run out of spells.
Well, I'm out of time for writing at the moment, so I'll cover more of this later and get to my point.
As DMs, or players, what sorts of ways have you found to lessen, or possibly eradicate these 'problems' in your games? What sorts of rules re-writes do you think would help? I'll post some of my thoughts on the subjects and some of the groups other problems with the system tomorrow.
Long shadows fill the crowded streets of Mondthep as the sun slowly descends to the horizon. Unlike in recent times, the mass of people do not travel into the city’s center to pray at the various temples resting under the Unmoving Moon, but sit huddled close to the alleyways, clinging to each other for warmth. The scent of unwashed masses and unclean gutters wafts in the damp, autumn air. Coughs and sniffles sound from within the dark corridors between buildings, intermingled with the occasional yelp of surprise or fear. Meanwhile, business owners yell out ridiculous prices for ordinary goods from their stores, seeming to somehow keep in business despite their charges. A dark pall seems to have fallen over the city; a shadow that, like those that lengthen with the setting sun, seems to grow with each passing hour.
A large, circular wall encloses the city’s Temple District and separates the priests from the common folk that live and work in the surrounding Merchant District. For weeks now, the large doors to the Temple District have been sealed to all but those required to feed the priests and keep the inner district clean due to a series of tragedies that have overwhelmed the outer Merchant District.
First, there was the Axari Plague that ravaged the population and began the priests’ encapsulation within their ward. During the ending days of the disease’s grip upon the city a mad hysteria gripped the city and mass riots seethed in the streets, provoking arson and the formation of powerful gangs. The arson and unrest continued after the plague had left the city, and groups of adventurers packed the city when rewards were announced for the head members of the gangs. Whilst this clean up was taking place, many adventurers showed up inexplicably dead, murdered in gruesome manners. After the dissolution of the last of the gangs the murders have continued, slowly finding victims outside of the adventurers. Once again the city has called to brave adventurers to clear them of their plight.
This time, help was not far, with many that had helped to destroy the gangs staying in hopes to avenge their fallen comrades. Now they line the streets with pilgrims denied entrance into the Temple District, hoping to catch sight of the killed and enact vengeance. Boarding houses and inns have raised their prices to rates only benefiting the richest of adventurers, with only a few keeping prices low in order to help the poor travelers that have been leeched dry by those that have inflated their prices.
Of particular interest to newcomers of the city are the following sites:
The Black Heron – A bar that has closed its doors to all except adventurers, and serves as somewhat of a planning ground for the search for the killer/killers.
Nort’s Pen – One of the last cheap boarding houses with vacancies, the Pen’s prices are still outside the means of many of the pilgrims and adventurers in the streets
The Temple Inn – An expensive, but quite clean, inn and restaurant that has been the base of many of the adventuring groups.
Ok, so why are you here (or still here), and where are you headed? If you need more information about places in the city that you can get to, let me know and I'll toss out some things.
I'm looking to see who would be interested in a PbP game DMed by me. It will be in a home-brewed setting and be somewhat akin to the adventure paths in structure (though probably not quite as well-written). The game will feature a few darker, Lovecratian moments and will deal with some very strange bits. There will be a decent amount of both role-playing and combat. Please see my profile for the house-rules I will be using in the game.
Character creation method is 30 point-buy, at 1st level, with 125 starting gold. The books in the following spoiler block are alowed:
Spoiler:
Player's Handbook I and II
Dungeon Master's Guide I and II
Monster Manual I, II, and III
Complete Warrior
Complete Arcane
Complete Divine
Complete Adventurer
Complete Scoundrel
Expanded Psionics Handbook
Heroes of Horror
Planar Handbook
Libris Mortis
Spell Compendium
Unearthed Arcana
Races of the Wild
Races of Destiny
Races of Stone
I will be posting up background information about the setting later.
Alright, generally I'm the one that DMs for most of the campaigns for my small group of friends. However, we started reminiscing about past adventures last night and one of us brought up the idea of an all-thief campaign. We argued for a bit about what qualified as 'thiefy' enough and then one of my friends offered to DM.
Now, most of the group likes to power game a bit, so the DM eventually agreed to let us do gestalt but without access to prestige classes. This is most likely thanks to the Elven Swashbuckler/Champion of Corellon Lerethian with a holy elven courtblade.
Now, keep in mind, he said no prestige classes because they were 'to powerful'.
So in return for the loss of prestige classes we get an extra feat every level. Ok, that's not too bad. Also, we get 40 point-buy. Ok, that seems a bit much. Oh, and we also get to gestalt as THREE classes at once.
...
...
...
Oh, and we have to take the lowest hit die of the three. We gain the abilities of THREE classes per level and have to take the lowest hit die. Oh...darn.
So, is it just me, or does my DM just not understand what kind of monsters he is creating?
Greeting Paizonians, long time lurker, first time poster here. I've recently stopped playing as many video games as I ordinarily am used to, and have been looking for something to fill the void for a little while. I'm a bit intrigued by the concepts of Play by Post, and this seems to be one of the friendlier places for it.
While I would much prefer to be a player in one of the games, I haven't been watching this part of the boards for too long and was kind of wondering how often new games or slots pop up.
At the same time I do quite enjoy DMing (lets me take car of those little god complex urges and whatnot), and was wondering how many people would be interested in a game. If you're interested in something, just post in here about what types of things would intrigue you for a PbP game, and I'll see what I can whip up. Who knows, you might inspire someone other than me while you're at it.
