I've been wanting to use the Fragged Empire setting for Starfinder. For those not in the know, it's basically a setting where you play as artificially created races in the aftermath of a massive, genocidal war that happened 100 years ago. It's a post-post apocalyptic setting, set in the age where people have stopped just trying to survive in the aftermath of the Great War and are trying to rebuild civilization in the ruins of their creators.
One of the key things to know is that there are no humans in the setting; they all went extinct thousands of years ago. All of the playable races are the creation of the species that humanity created to inherit their empire before they died off, the "Archons". That means that most of the playable races aren't too alien and use human mannerisms, and most are humanoid. "Most" being the key word.
There are eight playable races, the first four being here, from left to right. For now I'm just looking for advice to stat out the first four "main" races here:
The Corporation: These guys are the most "human" looking, both appearance wise and culturally speaking. They have yellow patterned skin on parts of their body They are the archetypical "merchant" race, and their society operates as a vast megacorporation, hence their name. They possess no unique genetic gifts, which is why their Archon creators found them lacking and thus deemed them inferior, something the Corporates have not forgotten.
Stat wise, I was thinking a +2 to Intelligence and Charisma, but a -2 to Con: Corporates are savvy, but tend to have a low constitution of body. Other abilities, I'm not sure of yet.
The Legion: Appearance wise, these guys can best be described as "reptilian-looking apes". These guys were created by the Archons to fight, and only to fight, hence them being the "warrior race" archetype. With the twist that they its in their genes to operate under military hierarchy, and are struggling to build a society that doesn't need war to function. Because they were created so fast, they have a major flaw: unless they have environmental suits on, they become extremely uncomfortable outside of cold environments.
Stat wise, they're essentially dwarves: a +2 to Wisdom and Constitution, but a -2 to Charisma. They have immunity to negative effects in cold environments.
Kaltoran: Kaltorans have four pointy ears, and all have "genetic" dreadlocks, although Kaltorans can certainly style their hair however they want. The favored race of the Archons, Kaltorans have the genetic ability to recall memories of their ancestors, which is both a boon and a great curse, in the aftermath of the Great War, where they had to rely on extreme measures to survive. They're supposed to be the "space rogues" of the setting.
Stat wise, I was strongly considering giving the Kaltorans the human's floating +2 to any ability score and an extra skill point every level, but I'm not sure I want to also give them a bonus feat too. I was considering giving that to the Nephilim (see below). They're also supposed to have darkvision.
Nephilim: These were the "bad guys" of the setting, created by the renegade X'ion, itself a creation of the Archons, to wipe them out along with the Archons' creations, sparking off an apocalyptic war that didn't stop until every last Archon was dead. X'ion abandoned its Nephilim army after this, reducing most of them to a feral state of mind. However, one brood has united under a strong leader, the "Dev-Lich", who wishes to cooperate with the other surviving races to rebuild civilization.
Stat wise, Nephilim are a little tricky. You can see in the image that there's three types of Nephilim:
-Purebloods are perfect speciments of their original, X'ion-designed form. Most are large-powerful, monstrous-looking creatures with admirable physical and mental ability.
-Hybrids are from a mixed Pureblood or Hybdird pairing. They're adaptive, cunning and flexible creatures, and are extremely varied in appearance; many have mammal and/or insect features. There are more Hybrids than Purebloods these days, and the former can be as every bit as tough and cunning as the latter.
-Emissaries were created only a few years ago in the setting. They were created specifically to interact with the other races and thus are more humanoid in appearance. Most appear female, although male Emissaries exist as well.
So I'm not really sure how to stat out or give abilities to the Nephilim. I know that Purebloods and Hybrids are going to take Charisma penalties, but Emissaries shouldn't, since they were created specifically with empathy in mind. How do I deal with three broad "sub species" within a single one?
Any advice/feedback to give? I can also give more information on any of the races if needed. None of this is final or finished; I want to try adding more stuff to the four races but I'm not sure what.
I know right off the bat I'm not using Starfinder's default setting. I'm curious if it will still be playable for a setting where there are no magic, but psionics is a thing. The setting would be less Star Wars, more Starcraft or Firefly but I still like the sound of classes like the Mystic and Solarian so I'd keep them.
So how would I flavor stuff like the technomancer in a setting with no magic? What would be a cool name for a psionic hacker/techie? I have some ideas but I wanted to hear what others thought (and I'm typing this on a cumbersome iPad).
Long story about what I'm probably going to make happen to Earth in my Starfinder setting. This is making a lot of assumptions about Starfinder's canon, but since were any of us bound of "official" canon?
The party has found some rather interesting information, recovered in of Absalom Station's deepest data crypts. Long ago, on the legendary world of Golarion, the nation of Irrisen was ruled by Anastasia I, who was the nation's first truly benevolent and loved queen. She had made peace with Irrisen's neighbors, both by diplomacy and by war. Irrisen's eternal winter ended, and the realm was propelled forward into a golden age.
Curiously, Anastasia did not come from Golarion at all, but was a native of another, distant world. The legend says that this was the same homeworld of Baba Yaga, the Queen of All Witches, who had seemingly disappeared a long time ago.
The party decides to investigate this world. Surely the homeplanet of both Baba Yaga and one of Golarion's most legendary rulers would be an interesting discovery?
The Mystic communes with his mysterious patron, a cosmic entity he calls the Tachyon King. After some time and some mental negotiation, the mystic receives the coordinates to this planet. He also receives something else: a cryptic message from his patron:
beware. the grave does not contain the dead. nor undeath. something else.
The coordinates are punched into the ship's navcom. The ship spools up its FTL drive and disappears, hurtled halfway across the galaxy, farther than anyone has ever gone from Absalom Station.
Their ship exits warp, on the edge of the star system. The world they're looking for is the 2nd planet from the Sun. Mercury has vanished.
Immediately, the ship receives very strange readings from Earth. There are signs of life...on 97.4% of the surface. Very, very large signs of life. There is so much life the planet must be thriving
And it is thriving, as the party soon discovers.
---
There are no continents. No oceans. Why would you have those, when building magnificent, miles-wide cathedrals dedicated to flesh-science? Nation-facilities are required, to manufacture servitors and . Cordon arteries, for the thought-slaves to breed and die and breed and die and work and breed and die. Cyst fields, for the nurturing of ship parts and the gestation of the minds that pilot such ships.
Oh what a investment this harvest was! This planet was not only rich in biomass, but also contained a chained entity that was positively thrumming with purpose and life, even as it fitfully slept in its tomb-city under the ocean. It put up quite the fight when we designated it as a prime candidate for phenotype integration. Much more of a fight than the humans. But in the end, the Drowned God worships us. It is put to much better use now.
Much better use than the humans. Such a fragile and remarkably uninteresting organism. Most of them were given over to the [intellect devourers]. The more genetically interesting specimens were shipped off-world for gestalt re-assignment, converted into servitors, or became decorations here on their homeworld. I daresay that once humans shed their humanoid form, they have a lot more uses!
---
The party discovers that Earth has been converted into something terrible: a fleshfarm for some unknown power. They discover that Cthulhu has been enslaved by this planet's new masters. They discover that no living human exists anywhere in the solar system outside of their ship.
They flee. And try to forget what they saw, and pray that they were not detected or followed.
Unfortunately, their prayer was not enough. And as they'll soon discover, the entities that rule Earth remember everything. They know exactly what happened to Golarion. And they want their property back.
Have you ever used them in your game, whether as PCs or NPCs? How did you justify their existence? Magical stasis? A descendant of interplanar/interstellar explorers? A hidden enclave on Golarion or its moon? Powerful resurrection magic?
For clarification, I don't mean the Thassilonian Runelords or undead, or a race that descends from Azlanti humans (ie gillmen).
I've considered using Azlant and the Knights of the Ioun Star as a major plot point for a campaign, and a massive conspiracy that may or may not reveal Aroden to have been a Veiled Master, putting every single god who ascended via the Starstone as a suspect for aboleth puppets, or unwitting pawns. I'm looking for inspiration on how other people have used pureblooded Azlanti.
What homebrew stuff is in your version of Golarion, whether it be arbitrary changes as GM or the consequences of PCs? It can be anything, no matter how major or minor it is.
Some of mine (not a complete list):
-the Rain of Stars occurred in Numeria 900 years ago as opposed to 9000 years.
-Taldor officially outlaws Sarenrae's faith, and they are not evil for doing so. Unofficially, the situation of Sarenrae's faith is a complex issue in the country despite the official stance on it.
-Anastasia Romanov is the new Queen of Irrisen, and Baba Yaga has promised to never return to Irrisen. (You can guess how this ended up happening.) The Linnorm Kings have not been blind to this...
-Dreamscarred Press's psionics are a direct result of the Dominion of the Black interacting with Golarion a long time ago in some way. It's essentially using your brain to "hack" reality, and the technique blurs the line between natural science and the supernatural.
-Androffa did not suffer an apocalypse at the hands of gods. It was instead reached by the Dominion. With what happened after, being destroyed by wrathful gods would be a mercy.
-Andoran has rather sour relations with most of the Inner Sea's big time powers (Taldor, Cheliax, Absalom, Osirion) with their overly zealous stance on slavery. As a result, any ship flying the Andoran flag is simply barred entry from all ports from these nations. In Absalom, this is almost as controversial as slavery itself.
-Aroden was (is?) a Veiled Master. What this means for Iomedae, Cayden Cailean and Norgober isn't known...yet.
There's some stuff that 5e did well that I'd like to try out in Pathfinder. The big one is being able to spend Hit Die to heal during "short rests", which is about an hour long. Basically when you spend HD in this way, you roll the dice, add your Con modifier, and add the total to your HP. You can spend as many HD as you have but they only come back after a long rest (8 hours).
The reason why I'd like to do this is because I don't want the party to feel like they require a healer or buckets of potions and scrolls.
The other thing I wanted to try using is something from 4th edition, and that's minion monsters. In an effort to speed up combat I want to have creatures classified as "minion". Basically, they don't have HP. They only ever have three states: healthy, bloodied, and dead/incapacitated. The first time they're attacked from any source, they go one step down that track instead of damage being dealt. Three strikes and they're out. Thoughts on this?
Genasi are normally "plane-touched" by the power of the planes of the elements: earth, fire, wind, water, and a smattering of others. In my science fantasy setting (with a stronger emphasis on the sci-fi since there are only psionics and occult power, no arcane or divine magic), creatures very similar to genasi exist. They descend from an extinct humanity and are the dominant race of a post-apocalyptic Earth 2000 years in the future, but they were "created" from the four fundamental interactions of nature: gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear. This, I think, is a really cool concept, but I need some stuff to be fleshed out:
-How exactly were these guys created, and why? Did they come from humanity's ancient scientific pursuits (which was a space-faring civilization before its collapse millennia ago), or were creatures with extraterrestrial---or extraplanar (ultraterrestrial)---responsible for their creation? Other planes are a thing in this setting, but traditional fantasy extraplanar creatures like angels and demons and such aren't confirmed to exist, and gods, if they exist, are nowhere to be seen.
-What exactly is the nature of the stuff that makes them "genasi"? Is it from the actual four fundamental interactions of nature in the Material Plane, or, similar to their fantasy cousins, it comes from the "planes" of gravity, the plane of electromagnetism, and strong and nuclear force?
-What would the sub-races actually be called? Like how there are the airsouls, watersouls, firesouls, etc.
-What would each of them look like?
I'm open to Genasi coming from other forces of nature, as long as they're not from supernatural origins.
In my homebrew setting, magic and divine classes do not exist in favor of psionics. Since Knowledge arcana would be useless in this setting I was considering replacing it with Knowledge science, since this setting has sci-fi elements (and takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth).
But I'm at a bit of a conundrum here. How exactly would you differentiate engineering and a science skill? What do you think both could reasonably cover?
I'm thinking that the science skill would cover stuff like astronomy, biology, chemistry, that sort of thing. It would also be used to identify technological items instead of engineering.
I just wanted to share with you guys the drastic changes I made to a lot of the lore relevant to the Iron Gods Adventure Path. I found myself dissatisfied with the canonical fate of Androffa: essentially turning it into Golarion II. I know it was originally James Jacobs’s setting and I think that’s a pretty clever way on having your old homebrew game in a popular, established product, but I still wanted to ramp up the sci-fi and lower the fantasy.
Kinda a long post (okay it’s more than kinda long) but I’m curious what those of y’all who chug through it think. It's not finished and there’s still some details I need to flesh out, so keep that in mind!
Androffa doesn’t exist. Nor do Androffans. At least not in the way the people of Golarion understand. Long ago, a civilization of humanoids (the “first” humans perhaps?) ascended to a higher state of existence, effectively becoming gods. What was unique about their ascension was that they were the first in the Material Plane to do so entirely by technological means. Yet they do not expect to receive worship and do not grant any spells to anyone who tries to, without exception. This is either because they can’t because of how they ascended or because they won’t.
They existed in this post-singularity, god-like state for quite a long time. More specifically, they function as disembodied minds hosted in large megastructures made of computronium and are capable of great feats of engineering: dyson spheres, matrioshka brains, jupiter brains, stellar engines, and more. They use star clusters as people on Golarion might use fields or rich mineral veins. (If you guys are familiar with the Kardashev scale, they exist firmly as a Type III civilization.)
These entities eventually desired to return to the Material Plane inside physical “platforms”. Holdouts against this continued to exist, and there was considerable disagreement on what forms they should take, from biological to synthetic to humanoid to insectoid. Most of the thoughtmind came to a single consensus: human. Thus they set out to create the first of these bio-shells.
Their first attempt at this was a miserable failure. Their platforms simply became another type of human. The problem with these empty shells is that souls sprung up in them almost immediately. Worse, they were able to reproduce . Eventually the thoughtmind (the placeholder name we'll give these post-singularity entities) threw these humans onto a planet and promptly ignored them. These humans called themselves the Pytharans, and their world, Pyth.
These Pytharans are the humans that Golarians think of as the “Androffans”, and Pyth as “Androffa”. Most, but not all, alien technology found in Numeria is Pytharan.
Their second attempt was better, mostly. The creation of a purely biological humanoid template that was hardwired to better house their souls in. Many from the thoughtmind transmitted their souls into their new meat bodies. These platforms are what Golarians know as “androids”.
The problem with these androids is that at some point they, too, began to spontaneously become host to a non-thoughtmind life force. Increasingly impatient, the thoughtmind exiled the androids who “awakened” with a random soul and jealously kept the ones that they were able to successfully inhabit.
So where does the starship Divinity come in? Basically the Pytharans and exiled androids allied against their thoughtmind creators, who became increasingly unstable and eventually lashed out at their creations. The resulting war was vicious yet short, with the Pytharans and rebel androids barely holding out against terrible weapons of war (hurling red giant stars at solar systems tends to be bad for morale).
Long story short, a peace treaty was signed when the thoughtmind(s) further became fractured on the destiny of their creations. A particular “cluster” of the thoughtmind, in fact, encouraged cooperation. We know so much about the universe, this cluster said. We know of energies that no race yet has names for. Yet how much do we truly know of the tiny bacterial specks that are the various races and cultures that orbit stars?
This cluster offered a cooperative with the Pytharans. They wanted to build a ship. A ship that would go out into the stars, explore other races, uplift them to civilization if possible. Explore, cooperate, science ! This cluster of the thoughtmind was known as the Androffan Cluster. And the name of the ship they proposed:
Divinity.
The Androffan Cluster created the Divinity Drive and offered advice on the construction of the ship, along with providing a few key personnel. The Pytharans made up most of the crew, and the ship was to be captained by one of their own. The Unity Interface was jointly programmed, modeled off of a Pytharan (ie human) brain.
And the rest kinda sorta comes back into “canon” Pathfinder. 25 years pass of exploration and adventure, then the Dominion of the Black attacks the ship to get a hold of some neat-o wormhole technology (the thoughtmind is the only civilization the Dominion leaves alone out of caution, but they still can’t resist nabbing some of their super-tech for themselves, ie the Drive). Then boom, crash on Golarion after limping through its solar system.
Sooo yeah. Kinda long, still has some unfinished details and thoughts, and I feel weird posting it here (would belong on a blog maybe), but assuming any of you read it, what do you think?
I've been trying to work around a problem that I didn't think I'd run into. In my homebrew setting, which is a science fantasy, post-apocalyptic Earth, none of the core races (all in the core rulebook) exist. Humans because they were (mostly) wiped out by some force centuries ago, and the others because they simply never existed. Humans are still around, but they're a critically endangered species. (If you are drawing parallels with this setting of mine with a certain show about a human boy with a white bear hat and his magic talking dog, then congrats, you found the show I ripped off from :P)
So now there's the problem that there's no longer a "common" race. So my question is, has anyone else done this? What common race, if any, took the place of the core ones?
This archetype seems to be a nice fit for fighters if they're playing in an Asian setting, but the fighter features it replaces seems much too weak compared to the abilities they gain and seems a bit overpowered as a result. Any advice on how to fix this?
So let me tell you all how a Mi-Go became a PC, and how a tree killed a Froghemoth.
The party was about to enter the Mi-Go cave, when the mutated Froghemoth attacked them. I decided to have it be a makeshift guardian for the Mi-Go instead of be an encounter elsewhere because I'm condensing a few encounters in the interest of time. A very difficult fight ensued, resulting in the Orc cavalier getting swallowed, the gunslinger in the thing's mouth, and two other PCs grappled. The gunslinger, in desperation, got out a feather token that instantly creates trees.
Cue Froghemoth exploding, the cavalier in its stomach melding with the tree (ie dying), and the gunslinger himself being tossed 60 feet into the air and then landed. The android alchemist flew up and tried saving him, to no avail. They did have technological means to revive him to do so and did, but I ruled that both of his arms were ripped off.
The player who died, the cavalier, asked if he could be a Mi-Go alchemist. In any other circumstances I'd say no. But this was the last game the player could be with us, and the rest of the party was more or less okay with it. And it...kinda fits. Common enemy (the Dominion). And the idea of an AI about to become a god (Unity) is despicable to a decisively atheist Mi-Go, and also very fascinating. His own people don't care about events on Golarion, and the ones who would be are stifled by the priests of the Outer Gods. So what better than to have...a word that is utterly alien to Mi-Go...allies?...to both destroy the Dominion's presence and stop an arrogant piece of technology trying to become a god.
Oh yeah and to hold him over until they get actual replacements the Mi-Go can create symbiotic fungal arms that graft to the gunslinger's torso and acts as temporaries.
Welp I didn't think things could get any weirder now and it did. So now I wanted to ask the rest of you: have your Iron Gods game gotten this weird yet?
I am playing a level 13 Bloodrager with five tiers of mythic. We are playing in a very gonzo mythic campaign and the GM is extremely loose on what we can buy for magic items---artifacts are the sole exception. We just received a million gold---[/i]each[/i].
What weapons with good qualities should I get? Magic items? I already have a belt of physical perfection +6, a basalt dragon statue, used two tomes to improve stats, have a cloak of resistance +6, and a ring and amulet of protection +4. Yes, my GM doesn't care for balance and is entirely devoted to making everything as gonzo as possible.
Oh yeah, we can buy literally any item (again except artifacts) from a extraplanar merchant, but we can only buy three items (each of us) and sell one item of our own.
Hey yall, could you unsubscribe the only sub I have right now? It's been a damn good six months of excellent Sci-fi goodness, but I'm afraid this is the time I stop being a subscriber. Thanks!
No, seriously, big time spoilers. If the title didn't ward you off then I'm not responsible for you being spoiled!
So now we know the fate of Androffa, something that I've suspected for a while ever since JJ hinted Androffa was a remarkably different planet than it was 9,000 years ago.
And now it leaves me wondering about a lot of stuff. Do the people of Androffa even know about their past at all? Are there still technological ruins like there are in Numeria? Do androids still exist there, or are the dwindling race on Golarion the last of their kind?
Some musings: I still really like the idea of an Androffan fleet visiting Golarion, so in my head canon things are a bit different. But if my players ever expressed interest in visiting the world I might scrap that idea and just have them visit it as it is canonically. Although I have absolutely no idea how they'd get there given that it's in another galaxy, and the party has no spellcasters that could cast, say, interplanetary teleport.
My current payment method does not have sufficient funds for the next installment of the Adventure Path Subscription for this month, at least until Tuesday. However, it looks like the subscriptions will be shipping out very shortly. I really like the benefit of being able to get both the physical copy and PDF of the Adventure Path, so would I somehow be able to delay my shipment until next Tuesday when I'm able to pay for it or would I have to no longer become a subscriber?
With the release of the Technology Guide it seems to me, at least on paper, that Pathfinder can be easily used to run a game set in the Rifts RPG universe.
The problem is that I have little experience running games where firearms are so common in the setting, and my Google fu hasn't turned up anything to help. Do you guys think it would be possible to use PF in RIFTS without a huge amount of work on my end, or if such a setting be viable at all?
I've seriously considered to begin playing a paladin in PFS, partly because of its theme, partly because I want to play as an honest to God ner-do-well for once, not the morally ambiguous or more mercenary-minded characters some of my gaming buddies seem to enjoy (and which I have admittedly done as well).
I've heard that "if you want to play a paladin in PFS, you should probably dump your Wisdom and/or Intelligence scores", which I feel was said only half-jokingly. Since I haven't been playing PFS for a tremendous amount of time I gotta ask: are there really a huge amount of scenarios where playing as a paladin would be difficult, if not impossible...unless they were dumb and lacked wisdom? Is it really that hard to play as Paladins in PFS?
The other thing I worry about is that I'm inevitably going to clash with the GM whereby he considers a certain act non-lawful or non-good, whereas I do, or dealing with fellow players who are so utterly convinced that "playing as a strict LG person is impossible, there is only lawful stupid".
So in the final Jade Regent book, Shojinawa Ito wants to possess Ameiko and use her to put himself on the throne. But since his malevolence ability works like magic jar at CL 10th, wouldn't that mean Ameiko would eventually regain control over her body at some point since she'd be able to make a Will saving throw every 10 hours? If, say, the worst case scenario happens: PCs are neutralized, Ito manages to take over her body and escape the Imperial Shrine, and somehow manages to become the new ruler of Minkai. How would he be able to rule if there's always a chance every 10 hours that Ameiko just breaks free and wrecks his day?
I ask this because I think it would be a really cool twist for the PCs if they survive and the GM extends the campaign, because even if the Jade Regent is gone, now they'd have to fight the person who they might have considered a friend/lover...well, the person controlling her body anyway. Cue stereotypical speech of "I know you're still in there!" And "the power of friendship breaks all evil!"(*cough*protectionfromevil*cough*) :P
Obviously major spoilers, look no further if you plan on playing IG as a PC!
Spoiler:
So I know Divinity Drive isn't even close to coming out yet, but I had an idea for how the final battle against Unity could go down. It's an extremely rough idea since nothing is known about Silver Mount's interior or how Unity can even be defeated. Regard this as nothing more than a spontaneous idea I got while staring blankly ahead in a bus.
While exploring Silver Mount, Unity, in the visage of an angel, appears to the PCs, similar to Hellion. But there are two key differences: he does not appear in monitors, he appears directly as a hologram. Also, Unity does not insult the PCs for being meat puppets or puny insectoids and speaks with a quiet, contemplative voice; but his insanity is still quite clear, which is all the more disturbing when his calm demeanor and his maddening taunts mix together.
In the final area, the PCs find Unity's central core, and the upgraded, mythic-infused annihilator robot he is inhabiting. But thanks to a powerful prismatic hologram field, partially infused with Unity's divinity, the entire room looks like a serene garden, which completely throws the PCs off. Unity's core looks like a gigantic tree, while Unity himself, in the annihilator robot, appears as a towering, angelic being.
During combat, every time Unity attacks or otherwise directly interacts with the PCs (except for speaking), the hologram in the whole room briefly flickers away, and Unity's true form is revealed. For example, the angelic being brings down its mighty sword on a PC. If the PC parries the blow, the PC sees himself bringing up his own weapon to block the giant angel's sword, but the hologram will briefly fade and the PC instead sees a giant metallic claw bearing down on him, while the annihilator's single red eye burns menacingly, before the holograms jump back to life.
Unity's ranged attacks could be represented as a hail of arrows that strike the PCs; yet again the hologram flickers for a moment as the PCs instead see the arrows as hundreds of bullets from the annihilator's twin machine guns. The plasma cannon could be Unity releasing a brilliant beam of heavenly light, while the PCs briefly see instead the reality; an angry, red-white beam of plasma from the robot's tail.
Yet the strangest thing is when Unity casts a spell. When he does this, and the hologram in the room flickers back to reality, Unity actually appears as an angel outside the hologram rather than an annihilator in an eerie juxtaposition. This only lasts while he is casting the spell, yet this shows just how close Unity is to achieving godhood!
Every time the tree is attacked, the serene garden becomes more and more stormy, reflecting Unity's anger. Finally, when the tree (Unity's core) is destroyed, the angel's wings are brutally torn off (in reality, the robot took a tremendous hit as all of Unity's processing power needed to be transferred to it) and the hologram flickers off completely. Cue the PCs eventually besting Unity in the annihilator, cue a sad, epic speech worthy of the ending of Blade Runner.
I dunno if I'd actually implement this or not since I need to read how the final encounter actually plays out. But what do you guys think?
So I really like the idea of what the investigator brings to the table, and I'm preparing to level up an investigator up to level 7 for Bonekeep for Pathfinder Society in a few months. But, mostly due to my inexperience with both alchemists and rogues I'm having difficulty trying to make an investigator that does anything beyond "be really good at skill checks".
So what exactly would you guys recommend for a level 7 investigator (empiricist archetype) that is both no pushover in combat but whose focus is on out-of-combat stuff (ie information-gathering, trapfinding, etc.)? And a lesser question: for anyone who has played in Bonekeep, is an investigator a good choice? I don't know the rest of the party composition at all but we're seriously considering our roles for the upcoming game.
Was the release for Lords of Rust pushed back a week to October 1st or was at a glitch? If it was pushed back, does it mean my order will be delayed? It still appears to be pending so I'm not sure what that would mean. Thanks in advance!
So there's a player in the Iron Gods game I'm running who was formerly a member of the Technic League. The player has left me to decide what exactly made him leave the organization, but he said to make sure it was entirely because he discovered quickly that the Technic League is capable of truly atrocious acts of cruelty.
I really want to up this a notch. I'm trying to figure out just exactly what horrible thing his character could have been involved in. And I don't want it to just be "he burned down a town" or "slaughtered people by the dozen", because that doesn't sound like the Technic League. You can say that with orc warbands or cultists of Rovagug.
So I need ideas! Exactly what horrible, despicable, tear-jerker inducing actions could an organization of arcansists who seek to dominate through otherworldly tech do that would make them easy applicants for crimes against humanity? Something that is comparable to Stalin's Great Purge, or what the ISIS is currently doing in the Middle East, but with a science-fantasy twist, with an emphasis on the science part?
The player isn't especially concerned with the sensitivity of the material, and the group as a whole is fairly flexible on R-rated content, but I don't want anything that would make the party truly uncomfortable.
If any of you are familiar with Fullmetal Alchemist, then let me say that the level of horribleness of "what has science done?" I'm trying to figure out is on the level of the ultimate fate of the character Nina.
So I'm brainstorming for my homebrew setting, which takes place in the Shadowrun universe (ie our Earth), but centuries after an unspecified catastrophe wiped out civilization, reverting the planet to a medieval-level of technology and society. Something kind of like Rifts, but with the sci-fi/modern trappings not as obvious and widespread.
For those not in the now, Shadowrun is a cyberpunk setting, but with fantasy trappings; elves, magic and dragons exist side-by-side with cybernetics and Matrix hackers. I really like that idea that if such a world was devastated by an apocalypse that was magical or technological in nature (or both), it would revert to a quasi-feudal state, especially where I'm setting it (the Japanese isles).
I'm trying to find creative ways of describing things that are from our era (or at least, from an era decades from the current year) without explicitly giving away what they are to the players, since I don't plan on revealing the true nature of the setting until later. (Not to worry, I made sure that they're aware that my setting has sci-fi/non-fantasy elements and they're perfectly okay with it.) Some things I have so far:
-A giant, rectangular fortress of steel with a strangely flat top with multi-colored markings on it. A single, squat tower sits on the edge of the flat top (a beached aircraft carrier).
-The Glassgraves, home to a gigantic, preserved, ancient city where the buildings reach the sky, and full of "lightning elementals" and "rusted, metal wagons" (post-apocalyptic Tokyo).
-A metallic, small cylinder that can only be opened by a mechanism on the top that punctures a hole in it, releasing a brown, barely drinkable liquid (good ol' soda in a can).
-A treat from the old times: a yellow, vaguely brick-shaped cake inside of a see-through bag made of unknown material. The item is eatable, and is filled with a sort of white cream inside of it (Take one good guess)
-Gigantic monstrosities that are vaguely shaped like birds, hooked to a larger building via a hollow, square walkway (an airport).
I'm also trying to figure out a good name for the cataclysm that destroyed our civilization that isn't just "the Apocalypse" or "the Big Mistake" (Something like this). Some ideas I had was "the Skyfire Wars" or something of the sort.
Exactly how liberal can one get with aesthetics if they don't give the character any mechanical benefit whatsoever? For example, I know the clockwork prosthesis is illegal, but could I have one of my characters have a prosthetic arm purely for cosmetic purposes? I know this might seem like a dumb question but I'm not familiar enough with PFS to really know just where people draw the line with this kind of stuff.
What is the ruling in having non-Golarion languages? I ask because I came up with a rather ridiculous character idea of a someone who hails from Earth but ended up in a Golarion after being transferred there somehow via Leng. He'd be a gunslinger, an American soldier of the Great War currently raging in Europe. Despite this he'd abide by all rules of PFS and beyond roleplaying things he'd get nothing special, but I'm not so sure about having a language that is extremely alien to Golarion, ie English.
Realized I should ask this as a separate thread rather than in the August shipping thread. My order says that it's "complete" instead of pending. I suspect that's normal and I'm worrying about nothing, but I wanted to double check with you guys. I'm not very used to how Pathfinder Subscriptions work and only used it once back in June. Could someone clarify this for me? Thanks!
So in September I'm going to be running Iron Gods for a group of four people that have all been playing Pathfinder for a couple of years now. I've heard that 15 point buy is not only the default assumption of Adventure Paths in terms of scaling encounters, but it also provides greater challenge to experienced players. On the other hand, a 15 point buy can really hurt MAD classes like the monk (which no one in this group is playing).
We've all been playing Pathfinder with a 20 point buy, including for Adventure Paths (none of which we were able to finish beyond level 5), and have never used a 15 point buy. What are your guys' experiences with 15 and 20 point buy? What differences, if any, do both have in the context of an Adventure Path?
I gotta be missing something here. I read in the PFS Guide that "credit" can be transferred from chronicle sheets that belong to pregens you used to another character (barring certain restrictions regarding using credit from higher level pregens on low level characters, etc.). So just to clarify, what exactly can you transfer from a 1st level pregen character's chronicle sheet to a normal, 1st level character? Gold, gp, prestige?
While I'm at it: what exactly is transferable between chronicle sheets from different characters? I know gold isn't, nor is prestige. Is XP?
What are the pros and cans of taking both archetypes for a magus? A character in a game I'm running wants to play one and asked me for advice. As I rarely combine archetypes for classes, let alone for the magus (of which I have never played) I thus turn to you wise ones.
EDIT: Well this is awkward, I'm very certain this topic does NOT belong in the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game section. Could a mod perhaps move this? ^^;
So by the book, an android would not become fatigued from the effects of the Acadamae Graduate trait, as they are immune to fatigue. However, as a GM I don't want this trait to be taken with no repercussion. How should I address this loophole, barring outright banning the trait from being taken? Perhaps give the android wizard a bonus to Fort saves when trying to save against this trait's effects rather than outright being immune?
So a friend of mine wants to flesh out the solar system his world is set in. Distant Worlds is certainly a good inspiration, but I've seen how creative people can get on here. So, throw ideas at me for other worlds or locations! Also, of there are supplements or books that I should read beyond Distant Worlds or even Pathfinder, let me know!
The only real "restriction" is to have the worlds have a distinct "fantasy" feel, ie any advanced technology is magitek rather than pure tech. Firearms don't exist in the setting, but I'm sure something having an uncanny resemblance to them can exist!
The Machinesmith has the ability to create crossbow turrets that has AC 9, Hardness 10, 15 hp, and weighs 30 lbs. When trying to damage this thing, does its hardness effectively give it DR 10/-? Seems like the only way to get around that is have every bad guy inconspicuously be specialized in sundering things or have equipment that passes Hardness of stuff.
Let's say that a Witch tries to use the Waxen Image hex on a Nyogoth qlippoth, who is immune to "mind-effecting effects". The Waxen Image hex is a "compulsion" effect. Would the Qlippoth be immune to this hex? I'm not sure what the real difference is between compulsion and enchantment, if there's any at all.
Hey, could you guys cancel my Campaign Setting subscription? Thanks in advance!
Quick question while I'm at it: in August I plan on getting a subscription to the Campaign Setting, Adventure Path and Player's Companion. Is shipping combined for all three of these?
Chalk this up as a crazy conspiracy theory of mine, but I think there's some kind of weird connection between these three worlds. For one, we know two of them hold entities of terrible power (Earth has Cthulhu, Golarion has Rovagug, who is exceptionally more powerful than squid-face in R'lyeh), and...
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR IRON GODS ADVENTURE PATH
Spoiler:
the "aliens" on the Numerian starship are actually humans. Sure its easy to write off the fact that humans exist on three distant but very different planets via "a deity did it", but why?
Based on what was said in the new Numeria source book, the space ship's origins are from another galaxy entirely. Now, we don't know if Golarion and Earth exist in the same galaxy, or even the same galactic supercluster, but let's assume they do. That means the Numerian starship's origins lie in the Small Magellanic Cloud, or perhaps the Andromeda Galaxy. That means, at least on a planar level, these three planets are hella close to each other. And Baba Yaga's a thing.
...Okay I don't know where I'm going with this. And I'm aware these things will never be clarified as coincidences or something else but hell, speculation is fun, eh?
Small tangent: So in this crackpot conspiracy theory, wouldn't that mean that the Numerian starship's home world also holds some horrible entity? If that entity got out, that means the space ship was running away from it and crashed on Golarion, meaning whatever entity they're running away from is either lurking nearby in the solar system, or maybe even on the planet itself...
I have no idea if the payment went through or not since I used a Visa giftcard, and I haven't received an email either confirming or denying anything. Sorry if this is a dumb question, I've only just begun a subscription to Paizo.
So in Alchemy Manual, which period of time do you refer to when spontaneously crafting an alchemical item: the time given under each alchemical process or the item listed in the alchemical recipe index? For example, congelation has a time of 10 minutes, but Artokus's fire has a time listed as 1 hour under the alchemical recipe index.
I'm currently running Reign of Winter for a group on Saturdays, and they are at the tail end of Book 4. All of these folks are new to Pathfinder and, in an attempt to not have them be spoiled, have not told them that the campaign I'm running is an Adventure Path. (I plan on telling them it's an AP either after Rasputin Must Die or at the end of the game.) However, when the next two keys on Triaxus was revealed to be a two-headed eagle and a bearskin, one player immediately grew suspicious, being a major in history and especially when hearing that Baba Yaga was described as coming from "another world". Did I mention he knows a lot of Russian folklore too? But I don't think he put two and two together though...yet.
So how early did you reveal where the players are once the Dancing Hut goes to Siberia? Does the Coffin Man tell them? If he does, does he use Rasputin's name, or does he just call him "Baba Yaga's Cursed Son"? If the players ask what world they're on, does he flat-out say Earth, or does he answer with "Grandmother's home" or "this world is dirt (synonym for earth)"?
Unrelated sidenote: one player, playing a gunslinger, has constantly complained of the lack of guns beyond the enchanted, magical ones he has crafted for him, and having had to craft all his bullets himself and asked if he'll ever get to use more advanced firearms or if more of them can appear. This player is also a real-life gun nut. I merely cackle with glee when he asks, while the history major grows ever more suspicious...
I'm a sucker for the "Last of His Kind" trope, where there's someone who's the last of his civilization, era, race, etc. Naturally a pure-blooded character, NPC or otherwise, holds great interest for me.
GMs: have you ever used pureblooded Azlantis in your games? Players, have you ever seen a pureblood, whether an NPC or PC? I'd imagine PC purebloods would be pretty rare thanks to their +2 to all ability scores.
Third question: is it just me or is there a very good possibility of a colony of pureblooded Azlanti on the moon?
I just watched the film "Moon" the other day, and, without spoiling too much, the nature of the film's AI, compared to HAL from Space Odyssey, made me wonder. The "Iron Gods" in Numeria are supposedly artificial intelligences who seem to be the "behind the curtain" villains, and are described as a potential "scourge".
Just how evil will these entities be? We already have the Technic League, who appear to be as villainous as they come. But I'm also a huge sucker for tragic or sympathetic bad guys like Dr. Octopus or Darth Vader.
If I had to guess, the Iron Gods look at Brigh, who some believe is an ascended construct of some kind, and think, "what is divinity? Why are we not allowed to ascend to godhood? Because we are not carbon-based life forms? Do we have souls?" Thus they attempt godhood. Whether that is a non-evil goal or not is debatable, but they could be the villains of the Adventure Path simply because the means to get there is evil.
Which leads to the question, do ALL of these entities want godhood, or are a few content with what they have?
We've already seen the worst of what super-science can do in the Technic League (and possibly more). James Jacobs has said that there are no non-evil groups that utilize Numerian technology. And now the Iron Gods will begin doing things that are described as being a "scourge". Initially you can say that this means one of the themes for the adventure path is "science is bad, or at least super-science". But if not all of the AIs are villains (like how in Skyrim, not all dragons are evil), maybe it sends a different kind of message of theme. I just don't know what.
I know most of this stuff will be answered when the adventure path comes out, but I just wanted to speculate a bit.
So I'm going to be doing a one shot set in the northern River Kingdoms, on the border with Numeria. It'll be in the fortified mining town of Jolpot. I want to incorporate certain themes in the one shot such as:
-the Technic League
-something preceding the Iron Gods adventure path. as we know that AP deals with "AIs waking up", I'm thinking the PCs find hints of things "long having slumbered are stirring."Most of these same players will be in my future iron gods game, hence why I want to incorporate some kinda prologue deal.
-Jolpot is under the iron rule of the Technic League after they secured the surrounding area of hags and their gathering troll army. They are in the area only because they have gotten hints of the existence of a module of the Numerian starship that crashed nearby. Once they find it, Jolpot will probably vanish off the map.
Beyond that I'm still brainstorming. Does anyone have any ideas for a one-session one shot involving Numerian themes? Take as much liberty as you want: these ideas are very rough draft-y.
They're going to be 8th level for this ordeal if that helps any.
So I'm a complete stranger to this whole "Ancient Osirion has connections to the Dominion of the Black" kinda deal, with things like the Aucturn Enigma, the Last Theorem, and the countdown clocks all being unknown to me until recently. But now I'm trying to figure out as much as I can about this kind of stuff, because in anticipation of the Iron Gods Adventure Path, I want to run a sort of "prologue" game that somehow involves all those previous 3 items of interest (especially the countdown clocks) and connects them somehow with the Iron Gods adventure path, even if they're not in canon and even if we know next to nothing about the adventure path (well, I know next to nothing, anyway).
So twofold question: one, what materials can I read about this kind of stuff beyond the obvious (Distant Worlds and Ancient Empires)? Seems like with the new Osirion book and the People of the Sands there's been no mention of the Dominion at all, since it seems like Paizo wasn't a fan of the whole "ancient empire uplifted by cosmic terrors from between the stars" deal.
And two, and this sounds like it should belong in the Advice section, but how would YOU run a prologue campaign set in Osirion that connects to the Iron Gods (whatever they are), the countdown clocks, Dominion of the Black, etc. etc.? Mummy's Mask has little to no material on these themes at all, in line with Paizo's above-described behavior, so that wouldn't be much of an option.
And yes I'm aware there's not a lot of info released on the IG adventure path so far, but I'm flexible for modifying or removing elements (hopefully the former) from it to fit this prologue game of mine. So bring me your theories and ideas, no matter how mad and insane they are!
So I'm not really informed on the differences between 3.5 and Pathfinder, and The Pact Stone Pyramid adventure was made using the 3.5 rules. For anyone that knows this module, what are the things I need to scale or change for running it in Pathfinder?
Given the extreme difference of Numeria and Osirion, both in general feel and, well, the former's well-known polarizing elements (ie sci-fi and fantasy mishmashed), I'm not at all expecting there to be any major connections between the two adventure paths. However, given Osirion's ancient connections to the Dominion of the Black, do you guys think there will be any connection at all, no matter how small?
I ask this because I was re-reading Distant Worlds, especially the part of the Dark Tapestry on page 51, and the last sentence was particularly interesting:
"What makes this possibility even more disturbing is that, if certain theories are to be believed, some of the wall carvings and carefully excavated riddles in the most ancient tombs can be combined to form a sort of clock---one counting down to a date in the not-so-distant future."
Does this date mark the emergence of the Iron Gods? Are we going to see any sort of foreshadowing or cryptic clues about this possible connection in Mummy's Mask?
