Centuries ago Tsar, the great temple-city to Orcus, the Demon Prince of the Undead, stood as a bastion of evil and hate. Eventually, at the behest of the churches of Thyr and Muir, the last overking, Graeltor, called for a mighty crusade to tear down the walls of Tsar and forever end the presense of Orcus worship in the world. The great Army of Light, led by the archmage Zelkor marched to the gates of Tsar and laid siege on the fortress city for more than a year before it suddenly and unexpectedly fell. The forces of Orcus were magically transported outside of Tsar, behind the Army of Light and fled en masse to the South. Leaving the abandoned city behind, Zelkor lead the Army of Light in pursuit, knowing that the forces of Orcus had to be destroyed lest they scatter and sow the seeds of future evil throughout the lands. The Army of Light finally caught up with the legions of evil forces in the Forest of Hope where they had chosen to make their last stand. Both armies disappeared into the forest and neither ever emerged; The Army of Light was lost to a man.
Years later, when a terrible graveyard and thriving dungeon complex devoted to Orcus was discovered in the Forest of Hope it became clear that the Army of Light had failed to destroy it's foe. That dungeon complex is now known as Rappan Athuk, the Dungeon of Graves. Many adventures have lost their sanity and lives exploring it's depths, but that is the setting for another adventure.
The Desolation surrounding Tsar is a largely ignored and unexplored wasteland where two massive armies virtually smashed themselves to pieces. Those who have braved its depths have hurriedly passed through studiously ignoring the battleground around them and the ruined city it surrounds. Surely something of value remains to be gleaned from such a cataclysmic conflict of old. Now, having obtained sufficient power to make it worth trying, you can be one of the few to have ever tried plumbing the great unknown that is the Desolation. Most have deemed it too dangerous or devoid of anything of value, but there are always legends of some great knight who fell on the battlefield clutching his powerful sword that was never recovered or some powerful wizard whose mighty staff disappeared in the melee and must still be lying out there somewhere. Will you find your fortune in the wastes or perhaps even in the fallen city of Tsar itself?
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I'm looking for one or two replacement characters to participate in the Slumbering Tsar Saga by Frog God Games. If you're familiar with Rappan Athuk, this is set in the same universe and in fact references the same events, but this is its own mega-adventure. It's hard by design. At times it will likely seem unfair. There's always a chance that you'll wander into an area that you're simply not prepared for and get killed. It's what Frog God Games does and that's supposed to be part of the charm of the style of the adventure, but it's certainly something you need to be prepared for ahead of time.
You'll be joining a party that currently consists of a fighter, a sorcerer, an unsworn shaman and a bard-ish multi-classer.
I'm looking for solid, but not OP characters who are good at doing what they do. Someone able to deal with traps effectively would be a good addition to the party, and given the setting you can expect to be dealing with undead and evil outsiders on a regular basis. Beyond that there are no particular builds and roles that need to be filled, so come up with something you'd enjoy playing in a dangerous setting!
I'd like players that are friendly and who post around once a day during the week and get a post in over weekends; we've been moving along at about that clip for the most part until now and I'd like to keep it up.
Character Build Rules
Start at Level 7
20 point point buy
Evil Characters are discouraged, but we'll work on a case by case basis for the right stories.
Class: Just about any Paizo class, prestige class and archetype is fair game; check if you think it might be too much.
Race: Core races, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, orcs, ratfolk, ask about others, but anything not to crazy or powerful is likely fine.
Traits: Two traits, and you can select a (play relevant) drawback to add a third. No campaign traits.
Trait Exception: Trap finder can be selected as combat trait.
Religions: Deities of the Bard's Gate Region of the Lost Lands setting are fair game.
Background Skills are in use.
Elephant in the Room Feat Tax Rules are in use.
Variant Multiclassing is in use.
Fractional Base Bonuses are in use.
Standard Wealth by level (using the Autmoatic Bonus Progression adjustment mentioned below,) so start with 11,750 gp (no more than half spent on any one item.)
HP: Max level 1, For levels beyond the first character level use the following: d6 classes get 4 hp; d8 classes get 5 hp; d10 classes get 7 hp; d12 classes get 9 hp.
Automatic Bonus Progression, Magic Armor and Weapons and Crafting/Buying House Rules:
We are using slightly modified Automatic Bonus Progression rules.
The following changes will apply:
Items that only provide bonuses to AC, saving throws and statistics longer exist. Items that used to have one of the bonuses listed along with others will have their cost reduced on a case by case basis to remove the cost of whatever part of their description has been removed.
Non-magical armor and weapons can be attuned normally using the ABP system (so you'll start with one +1 piece of armor and one +1 weapon by default at level 7.) For armor and weapons with other properties we'll use the capacity system described in the Unleashing Unchained blog post. When magic weapons or armor are bought, crafted or discovered they'll have a capacity listed.
Characters with animal companions can split the ABP bonuses they receive between themself and their animal companion however they like by default. A +2 resistance bonus, for example, could be use to give the character +2, +1 for each the character and the animal companion, or +2 for the animal companion. This can be set at the start of each day.
Additionally, items that would normally not be allowed under ABP (amulets of mighty fists and the like,) can be purchased (and only work) for animal companions as they would under non-ABP rules, but the cap on bonuses is the same as the bonus that ABP would grant at a given level. E.g. When at level 8 the animal companion could have a +2 AOMF, and when the character hit 14 that could go up to +3. If the Animal companion receives bonuses this way they wouldn't stack with the bonuses from ABP the character might be splitting with them.
When crafting or buying magic items other than weapons and armor custom items are not allowed, including the properties of different magic items from the same slot.
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If you're interested in joining us or have any questions, do let me know. Right now the party is just making it's way back from exploring the Desolation back to the Camp, the closest thing to a civilized town you'll find in the area. New characters would join the party there.
I'd like to add new characters sometime in the next week or so, so we're starting with a deadline of the evening of April 8th and we'll see who's applied at that point!
