Nicholas the ex-Paladin's page

I'm very happy with your compliments and hope you can use it for your campaigns.

You help me the most by asking question about the content or by making content-related remarks. Thanks !

The current 'table of contents' of the document is :

The Kingdom of Brevoy

(chapter 1 ) BREVOY at a glance 6
(chapter 2 ) The DUKES of Brevoy 10
House Surtova 10
House Medvyed 12
House Orlovsky 13
House Lodovka 14
House Garess 15
House Lebeda 16
House Rogarvia 18
The Barons of the main Houses 19
(chapter 3 ) The SWORDLORDS of Restov 20
(chapter 4 ) The city of RESTOV 25
(chapter 5 ) POLITICS in Brevoy 29
(chapter 6 ) RELIGIONS & politics 33

The Duchy of Rogarvia

(chapter 7 ) The Barons of ROGARVIA 40
Manilius 41
Reynic 42
Brunwald 42
Kamiński 43
Velaryon 43
Alyrion 44
Wustlav 44
Baltric 45
Krushenko 45
Romanowsky 46
Harte 47

Other important factions 47
Horáček Town 47
Monastery of the Four Broken Beasts 48
The Fanged Legion 49
(chapter 8 ) The city of NEW STETVEN 52
(chapter 9 ) POLITICS in Rogarvia 56

Royal House Rogarvia & its Iobarian origins

( 10 ) The wilds of IOBARIA : of Cyclops & Dragons 61
( 11 ) House ROGARVIA 65
Choral Rogarvia 65
The Rogarvian Kings 67
House Rogarvia & Dragons 68
The Fanged Legion 70
( 12 ) The VANISHING & Skywatch 73

The River Kingdoms

( 13 ) MIVON & its swordlords 78
Government 79
Mivon city 80
Mivonese Factions 82
The Mivonese Houses 84
( 14 ) PITAX 89
( 15 ) Other River States 91

The Players & The Stolen Lands

( 16 ) The STOLEN LANDS 97
( 17 ) The player’s Barony 103
( 18 ) INVESTORS in the PC Kingdom 107
Political investors 107
Economic investors 110
Religious investors 112
Non-investing factions 115
Servitors of the First World 116

The First World

( 19 ) The First World of the Fey 120
( 20 ) The Eldest 127
( 21 ) The Thane 134
( 22 ) On the Origin of Gnomes 137

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1 : running of a mediaeval fantasy setting 139
( 1 ) THE USE OF SPIES 139
( 2 ) RULERSHIP IN TIME OF MAGIC 140
( 3 ) LAW ENFORCEMENT 143
( 4 ) BREVOY BAN ON CERTAIN MAGIC 146
( 5 ) DEGREE OF BREVOY POLITICS 147

APPENDIX 2 : KINGDOM BUILDING RULES 149
(1) ECONOMY INCOME 149
(2) EXPLORATION & TRAVEL 149
(3) ENLARGE DOMAIN 150
(4) DOMAIN DEVELOPMENT 150
(5) CREATE SETTLEMENT 151
(6) CONSTRUCT BUILDINGS 151
(7) TRADE ROUTES 156
(8) KINGDOM RELATIONS 158
(9) KINGDOM SIZE 159

APPENDIX 3 : MASS COMBAT WITH ARMIES 160
APPENDIX 4 : SERVANTS FOR THE COUNCIL 163
APPENDIX 5 : MAPS OF THE REGION 164

I love the document, lots of cool information in there, that i think will help my upcoming game. If you dont mind me asking, how did you make the cool frames for the character images for the houses, id love to implement that into my game

Short answer: I didn't make them. I found them through Google images.

Mentioning the source of every find defeats the purpose. I'm a Dutch productmanager with an active family life, working spouse and plenty of stuff on my hands, besides running a campaign as a DM .... and finding some time to make a campaign setting on the side. I have to make technology and other people's handiwork work for me ;-)

Last week I made a new version on the chapter concerning House Rogarvia (chapter 11). Not finished yet, but something new to read.

The background document is amazing and very well done! :)

I would like to download the document as a PDF file but it's not working. Is it a matter of permissions at the GoogleDocs end or do I have to do something at my end?

Hi Bellona, I had such problem before too. The only reason I can think of, is that the size of the doc is rather large, that PDF'ing it is difficult or prone to errors. Even a zipped file is 156MB large.

You might consider making a copy. After that, cut it in parts. And make PDF's from these parts.

Beautiful. This is great work. I’ve been scanning through, paying particular interest to areas I want to incorporate into my game. Learning a lot I didn’t know. Marveling at how much you have flushed out. Bravo! And thank you for sharing. Continuing to read and scan. Very much appreciate your efforts.

Hi lacker, thank you very much, but I also incorporated the ideas of others. I greatly enjoyed combining all the bits and pieces into one overall setting and hope I tell the total story in such a way that it gives players a solid basis for roleplaying.

So, if you have any questions, suggestions or see inconsistencies, please let me know.

Nicholas

We started playing the Kingmaker campaign over 2 years ago in PF-1. We have been adjusting the base adventures greatly and even have replaced them with other modules, some of which are home made. Also the Kingdom Building part we have modified greatly, so that it fits our gameplay style.

We were a bit disappointed about the Lore of the setting, so I started making a document myself to help players and new players.

It has become an enormous document of over 100 pages. It’s partly based on official Paizo material, partly self-made and partly of the many online ideas of other DM’s (like that of Redcelt). It has almost become a fully fledged campaign setting for my players… and is still undergoing modifications based on player-ideas. It's mainly based on PF-1 lore, so timelines might be a bit confusing for PF2 players. It's set around 10-20 years after The Vanishing.

Now, I want to share it with you. Possibly you can use it for your game. If you have questions or suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

The Setting Document

All the best! Nicholas

Hi all,

We started playing the Kingmaker campaign over 2 years ago in PF-1. We have been adjusting the base adventures greatly and even have replaced them with other modules, some of which are home made. Also the Kingdom Building part we have modified greatly, so that it fits our gameplay style.

We were a bit disappointed about the Lore of the setting, so I started making a document myself to help players and new players.

It has become an enormous document of over 100 pages. It’s partly based on official Paizo material, partly self-made and partly of the many online ideas of other DM’s (like that of Redcelt). It has almost become a fully fledged campaign setting for my players… and is still undergoing modifications based on player-ideas.

Now, I want to share it with you. Possibly you can use it for your game. If you have questions or suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

The Setting Document

All the best! Nicholas

The updated rules in Ultimate Campaign already do away with the "Magic Item Economy". In return, taxation is Economy roll divided by 3 instead of by 5.However (off the top of my head) that's the only change, so your other adjustments might not be necessary.

Although admittedly, I haven't compared building costs.

I kind of understood that, but the 'magical item Economy' from UC seems a bit lackluster and obsolete now.

I went a lot further in the adjustments to the Kingdom Building rules. See these Rule Adjustments for the current list (work in progess)

I'd love to get your feedback on this

The main ones being:
** No guaranteed investment: Your Kingdom will not receive an automatic 50 BP’s (Building Points). It’s rulers must attract BP’s through investors.
** Buildings: the prices of many buildings are drastically adjusted, since they were unbalanced. Also some buildings give special extras, like an NPC or a bonus.
** No Magical Items via buildings: Buildings do not generate magical items (RRR, p.58). Also the ‘Base Value’ of a city (RRR, p.58) is no longer relevant. PC’s can make magical items themselves, gain them through adventuring or buy/sell them on the regular way. This is done through roleplaying and the DM’s judgement.
** Trade Routes: The Kingdom can establish Trade Routes (via Edicts) with other settlements outside the Kingdom (source: Ultimate Campaign, p.232), which will result in a stronger Economy. This requires Roads on land or water
** Exploration Edicts: The Kingdom’s Rulers (PC’s) can make use of the Exploration Edict, meaning that they can hire scouts (and spend 3 BP per month) do exploration for them (source: Ultimate Campaign, p.230). See also the ‘Exploration’ and ‘Traveling’ rules below.
** Generate Income (tax): To generate an income, you make an Economy check against your Command DC at the end of your Income phase. If you’re successful, divide your result by 3 (not 5) and increase your Treasury’s BP by that amount.
** Loyalty: The Loyalty ability is given more relevance in Kingdom Building, since Economy and Stability are too dominant. This is done through the Ruler (mediate in alignment conflicts) and Councillor (rumours).
** Stable society: A kingdom's Economy, Stability, and Loyalty modifiers can never be further than 10 points apart from each other.
** Realistic society: A kingdom's Economy, Stability, and Loyalty modifiers can never be higher than the kingdom's Command DC – 4.

Tiny update on umbral reaver pushed out tonight, I had forgotten to write up the ability that allows the slayer to keep using quarry after losing studied target.

Hi ERTW, my sincere compliments for all the work and love you have put into this Beguiler conversion. I greatly enjoy reading it and am planning to play a Beguiler again.

I've been a D&D player for over 25 years and made a 3.5ed 'Beguiler Handbook' (some) 12 years ago under the name 'Nicholas the Paladin'. My life has changed greatly since then, and also has my time for D&D/PF. I'm currently on a holiday, so I have a bit more time and want to help you for what it's worth.

My quick feedback on the Beguiler Conversion (excuse my Dutch English):

In my view that Beguiler is more a full spellcaster than a melee-character and more a specialist than a 'hybrid' jack-of-all-trades. It also more a roguish spellcaster than a spellcasting rogue, in my opinion. This central concept of a 'roguish specialist spellcaster' formes the basis for my comments on your conversion.

The base class
- BAB: the medium BAB for a hybrid class is the right choice
- Reflex: I'm partial about the good Reflex-save, but this might also be fitting for the hybrid nature of the Beguiler
- Surprise Casting: this is stil a weak element in the Beguiler built, since in essence a Beguiler isn't a melee character with it's AC, HP's and BAB (IMHO). The 'improved feint' feat at 2nd level makes it a more realistic tactic, but it's still mediocre. I suppose this is a way to satisfy the players that want some melee capabilities, but I think that a Beguiler that values his life will stay out of melee and melee range. If it were up to my I would cancel this ability altogether.
- Trapfinding: I understand that Trapfinding is usefull in a group that only has one Roguish character. But it's also arguable for the Beguiler class, that is all about (magical) deception, coercien and cleverness. I would think it would be more fitting the concept if the Beguiler has a +1/2 bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy. This would make the 'Suprise Casting' ability also more viable (although that might not be my best argument). You also consider a +1/2 bonus for Bluff and Sense Motive or for saves versus Illusions and Charm/Enhantments (he's a specialist). Overall, I'm neutral towards this ability, also since it already was a Beguiler ability in 3.5
- Cloaked Casting: Yes, very well done. With the introduction of the 'Hidden signs' ability, CC has been given a much more central place. This is a simple solution to a flaw that was part of the original Beguiler.
- Cloaked Casting: On the other hand, I regard CC as a capstone ability, that deserves more impact like the Ranger's Favoured Enemy (FE). Now it's almost negligible. The Beguiler is a specialist: I'd would make it an ever increasing power (like FE) of 2nd, 8th, 14th and 20th level: (2) +1DC, (8) +2DC and +2SR, (14) +3DC, +3SR and (20) +4 DC and overcome SR , when using Cloaked Casting
- Improved Feint: as I said, i regard this a 'patching' of a weak ability and weak concept in the first place. Better give a bonus feat that strengthens the central concept of a 'roguish specialist spellcaster', like 'spellfocus' for Illusion or Enchantment/Charm or metamagic feats that work solely for those two schools
- Savvy Preparation: I like the idea of certain flexibility for each day. A day in the city might be different than one in a dungeon. I see it as alternative version of the old 'Advanced Learning' ability, that had more choice in spells (also non-Beguilers ill/Ench spells) but was fixed once chosen. In the end it might give less flexibility than intended, since most campaigns will not permit the use of all books (we only use CORE and APH).
- Hidden Signs: Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is what the Beguiler and CC ability needed to be more effective and it is more in line with its concept. Very good.
- Muddling Aegis: A very good idea and completely in line with the concept of a roguish spellcaster. The Beguiler covers is tracks.
- Silent spell / Still Spell: Very good. It is as with the original 3.5 Beguiler, but the lack of increase of casting duration is deserved and in line with te concept.
- Calculated Coercion: Thank you. No more MAD. The Beguiler truly is a INT-based caster.
- Swift Feint: see my comments on Surprised Casting and Improved Feint
- Hide in Plain Sight: HIPS is a very interesting ability, but an introduction on 17th level will give it almost no playtime. I would say, introduce it on 8-10 level and delete Surprised Casting, Improved Feint and Swift Feint altogether. The melee-Beguilers might object at first, but a more early introduction of HIPS also fits their needs more than necessary.

I hope this helps !

I will comment of the Orders on a later moment. As of now, I regard the Order of te Arcane Hand as the most viable.