Prince with a Thousand Enemies's page

Friends,

I seek your help in identifying whether the community has created anything like an index (spreadsheet) for the Pathfinder Adventure Path maps.

I collected Pathfinder 1e from 2011 – 2019 and would like to quickly assess whether I can adapt a map for my new campaign. Before I start from scratch, I thought that one of us might have already endeavored something like (or better) than what follows:

• Product Code Line No. Adventure Path Title Map Page Notes
  
• PZO9061 PAP 61 Shattered Star Shards of Sin Magnimar 12 noting various "leads" and locations
  
• PZO9061 PAP 61 Shattered Star Shards of Sin Natalya's Hideout 20 shack
  
• PZO9061 PAP 61 Shattered Star Shards of Sin The Crow 26 4-level "piling" (tower)
  
• PZO9061 PAP 61 Shattered Star Shards of Sin The Crow - Catacomb 36 2-levels w' dungeon
  
• PZO9061 PAP 61 Shattered Star Shards of Sin Thassalonian Laboratories 42 24 rooms

(PS – I can't figure out how to correct the column spacing, but hopefully the above gives you a sense of what I seek.)

If the OP is insterested, here's my Arcadia thread here for some good ideas for Arcadia. This includes a lot of commentary from the devs about some of the things they are keeping in mind. I also have my own setting that takes place in a Caribbean-inspired Renaissance fantasy world, flavored by the Taino and Carib tribes, the European colonies, and modern-day Latin and Caribbean cultures. I designed it specifically so that everyone could play any human ethnicity they desired, especially Hispanic and Native Americans. I've been on hiatus on it for a couple of months due to work and school, but I'm available for ideas and talking if you're down.

I just started reading your Arcadia thread and find it very interesting (e.g., your link to the story about Abubakari II of the Mali Empire of West Africa). On Earth I have heard the Olmec heads interpreted popularly as evidence for a prehistoric African presence in what became México, and on Golarion it seems like the Shory would be a likely candidate for another intercultural encounter (after Azlant and before Cheliax / Andoran / Taldor).

I'll post more here or there as I work my way through the thread.

Also, I'm interested in your own setting Odraude. Please do tell us more here, or link to wherever you've already shared it.

I think, if I was going to try to make a "Mexico" in Golarion, I'd do it in Arcadia, but in the reverse situation that it was in the real world.

....

Suppose that for some Aztec-like province or population in Arcadia, the culture was brutal and malicious, and a growing antinational settlement was on the rise. In the same way Americans have used native american icons to represent their dissent against the British in the American Revolution, these rebels may have co-opted the bits of Inner Sea culture and paraphenalia that survived the failed colonies to create their own identity, separate from the ruling class but stil blended with native Arcadian beliefs and fashions. In the aftermath of such a rebellion, if these rebels were victorious, it could create a society with a lot of parallels to old Mexico, in both culture and troubles.

I needed to reflect on this suggestion. After doing so, I think that Sargava presents the best existing location to realize its vision because of the almost 600 years of its colonization, which featured ongoing trade with a colonizing empire.

Partially, I prefer this "solution" because I'm unwilling to hold my breath to see what Paizo does with Arcadia. Erik Mona stated above that it's not in Paizo's plans for this year or the next, so 2017 is the earliest that Arcadia *might* receive additional treatment. Thus, rather than "wait and see," I'd prefer to develop Sargava's "creolization." YMMV.

In addition to Half-Elves and Half-Orcs, there are two human ethnicities (Chelaxians and Taldans) that are described as a mix of Azlanti with some other human ethnicity -- and those two ethnicities basically dominate Avistan. So Golarion has no shortage of mixed race cultures.

I suppose it's possible to say the Arcadians today are a mix of two cultures: the original Arcadian natives and old Azlanti colonists. Would that work?

These ideas are interesting in reminding us that Azlant was (one of) the first colonial (human) powers in the Inner Sea region. But their reign was so long ago that I don't think they serve adequately to construct a Mexican analogy: the scale of millennia dwarfs the 523-year period that provides the horizon for "Mexicans" (if you go as far back as 1492).

Again, this is why I would want more information from the OP, or others interested in the subject, as to what kinds of details interest them for a setting inspired by Latin America.

For myself, I'm focusing on the Mwangi Expanse, Sargava, the Shackles, and the Sodden Lands, etc. -- imagining adventures around piracy, slavery, abolition, anti-colonialism, Ghol-Gan ruins, etc.

I may pick up Serpent's Skull and will definitely review Skull & Shackles. I'm also awaiting the new Freeport book and the old Nyambe book, as I look forward to learning how they treated their subjects. (I've never read either.) As I make my decisions, I'll be sure to share them in another thread and link to it here.

The problem is that Mexico only came into being as a colony in 1521 and an independent nation in 1810, while the Golarion setting seems to be in an era analogous to the Middle Ages or Renaissance period. The people we know today as Mexicans didn't exist back then.

....

I, for one, feel that retreading the same path as Earth history took, with conquistadors outright crushing the native population in just a few years is sad and uninspiring. On the other hand, ignoring the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs seems a little too rosy and dull, even convenient. Anyway, would there even be a Mexico as we know it without the Spanish conquistadors? That history, no matter how cruel, has created Central America.

I agree with both these points. To find close analogues to 20th/21st century Latin American nations, one needs to identify peoples of Golarion whom were colonized by a sea-spanning empire for a couple-few centuries before establishing their independence by blending the cultures of the indigenous and colonial peoples.

Also, when Paizo broaches Arcadia (hopefully in a couple of years!), it would do well to avoid replicating Earth's history (or TSR's Maztica setting), and it should similarly not simply invert Earth's history. (Like numerous other posters, I trust Paizo's designers not to commit such errors but instead to chart their own course, building carefully on what they've already established.)

Considering Sargava, I wish the sourcebook chronology provided some account for its early colonial conflict. Maybe I missed it, but the author and his editors seem to have avoided issues of "discovery" and "conquest" by giving the early centuries of Sargava short-shrift, focusing instead on the past century, with increasingly greater focus on the last forty years or so.

Because we have two entire races that are built on the fact that they are neither one parent nor the other. If there were Half-Orc or Half-Elf enclaves that prided themselves on their fusion of both parent cultures, and added their own cultural innovations on top of it, THAT would be a strong contender for a Mestizo analogue, without having to emphasize the ideas of conquest and occupation.

We see a little of this in Trunau, and hopefully it will get explored a bit more as the AP continues. Edit: Although, admittedly, the themes of conquest and occupation are there in Trunau, so perhaps it isn't as good of an example as I was initially thinking.

Good point although I think that conquest, occupation, and racial admixture enhances the analogy.

Finally, at the risk of stating the obvious, for a more recent analogue to México, we should look for intriguing border relations -- where the more civilized / developed metropole relies on the labor of the relatively under-developed (and historically exploited) nation.

I've gone through playing the vast majority of the Golarion human ethnicities - a Vudran witch, Tian-Shu, Tian-Min... And since I live in Texas and half my family is Hispanic, I started to wonder what the analogue is in Golarion.

Of course pure-play Mexican would be over on Arcadia to use the RL analogy, but there's no Hispanic-flavored invaders there to make that happen with the Arcadians in the first place.

And of course on Golarion things aren't always one to one - like Cheliax is part Italy, part England in turn - but in general they pretty heavily link to RL ethnicities (Keleshites, Tien, Vudrans, etc.) I'm not really sure who I would go to at all for a Spanish type feel. I don't see anyone with Spanish type names or flavor. Ideas?

I'm returning to the message boards with Sargava and the Mwangi Expanse in mind: I've been corresponding privately with friends about a new campaign and am using this thread as an entry point to share my thoughts on decolonial gaming with the Paizo community.

Ernest Mueller's question raises a host of questions for me. I think he wants to learn about a region that is analogous to Mexico, but I have no idea what region of the country, or what moment in its history interests him.

Rather that speculate about Arcadia, as many other posters did, I'll highlight two comments and then elaborate why I think they might fit the bill.

Sargava, maybe? It's on the wrong side of the Arcadian Ocean, but Sargava has jungles, pyramids, and was colonized by the "Spanish". The art in the ISWG is also very evocative of pre-columbian Mayan and Aztec civilization.

Nobody mentioned the Shoanti. I feel they warrant a mention because they're like the native americans in a way, so they'd be good if you wanted to make an aztec or mayan something or other. If you want something more spanish, I'd go Taldan because they've often been compared to Spain.

Both of these suggestions seem responsive to me. The first because it's Golarion's most obvious colony, and as Southeast Jerome notes, its indigenous Mwangi populations offer a rich analogue to various indigenous Amerindian nations. What's missing in the analogy, at least in the Saragava: The Lost Colony sourcebook, is mestizaje.

México is a highly internally diverse country, with a number of substantially different indigenous peoples, but one thing that arguably distinguishes it from many other Latin American countries is the prevalence of mestizaje -- the mixing of so many different peoples, cultures, traditions, etc.

In contrast, the Sargava sourcebook did not develop this idea, but instead seemed to promote an unfortunate (IMO) binary between the Chelaxian colonists and the Mwangi natives ...

Nevertheless, a DM interested in the subject could certainly develop mestizaje (or creolization) in Sargava, the Shackles, etc., and this could produce an ethnic analogy that might satisfy Ernest Mueller, and others who share his concerns. For those interested, TritonOne started a thread in 2013 related to this notion.

For similar reasons, magnumCPA's suggestion of the Shoanti might serve although here the focus seems to be on indigenousness -- rather than racially / culturally mixed peoples. (Korvosa might be a better analogue, as it's a colony with a power elite that identify with the old empire but are looked down upon, much like the historical antipathy of the peninsulares (people born in Spain) against those born in "the New World.")

I'll conclude by asking Ernest Mueller, or others who expressed similar interests, to detail further what interests them. (Draco Bahamut probably did this most in naming, "The Amazon, the Sertão, the Pampas, the huge caves of Chapada Diamantina, the Saci, the Cuca, the "mule-without head", so many places and monsters. But none of it is in Golarion.")

Asking for some advice/sanity check on a Dhampir Paladin for the Carrion Crown adventure path. First off, I know this character will be sub-opt, and I'm ok with that. It seems flavourful and great for the setting, I just want it to not be woefully terrible. Seems like a great chance to play a Paladin with an internal light/dark struggle.

** spoiler omitted **

The DM we have is reasonably flexible when it comes to bending on the rules to make a rich and flavourful character. So I'm exploring some PFRPG street-legal and potential home-brew options. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

...

I've been contemplating a similar race/class combination and think your build looks good. Since you've reiterated that you prefer for the character to focus on melee rather than ranged combat, and also mentioned that your DM may be flexible, I encourage you to consider my idea here, where I describe how the Advanced Race Guide (ARG) and the Distant Heritages section of Bastards of Golarion suggest how easy and reasonable it could be to improve the playability of a dhampir player character by removing Negative Energy Affinity and the defense race trait Resist Level Drain.

This simple swap would be balanced per the ARG, simpler than your custom domain, and enable your character not to worry the party with how to heal their tank. What do you think?

doc the grey wrote:

Heine Stick wrote:

Ogrekin get a brief paragraph in the Distant Heritages section as well as a typical racial trait (natural armor).

Really just natural armor? They already get that as part of their build.

That's because the 'Distant Heritages' section is a set of guidelines of using the ARG's race builder rules to represent someone with a more diluted non-human heritage.

...

While I do like that section (some very... interesting sources of nonhuman heritage), I personally find it to be a little clunky because if you're swapping out existing human racial traits for an equal point value of new traits to represent heritage (which is one of the suggestions), the existing human racial traits come in chunks of either 4 or 1 and a lot of the suggested heritage traits cost 2. So unless your character's family tree is really complicated (which is in-theme for the book), you're going to need a GM willing to let you get a little creative with making up those extra points. Something like swapping out 'Skilled' (4 RP) for a 2 RP trait to represent heritage and then, say, the 'Skill Bonus' trait (2 RP). But that might be a better discussion for its own thread.

I found the Distant Heritages section very evocative: it inspired me to review the Advanced Race Guide Race Builder for the first time in a while.

If your DM allows it, I think it's well worth reviewing that resource to choose a couple of alternate racial traits, and dropping Flexible Bonus Feat (4 RP) is probably the simplest way to glean a set of race points with which to play.

For example, after reviewing numerous Dhampir threads, I've been puzzling over a Dhampir (moroi-born) paladin but felt stymied by Negative Energy Affinity, which threatens to make a 1st level PC stillborn unless one selects Life-Dominant Soul as one's initial feat (healed by either channeled positive or negative energy used to heal, but only half the normal amount from either; while remaining vulnerable to positive energy used to harm undead).

Reviewing the ARG Race Builder, it turns out that Negative Energy Affinity is worth only -1 RP as a weakness, and it's a prerequisite for the defense race trait Resist Level Drain (1 RP). Hence, from a balance standpoint, omitting Resist Level Drain from a Dhampir PC is a fair way to remove Negative Energy Affinity, and this trade-off seems a much better solution to the "my DM hand waved Negative Energy Affinity" comments made in several of the Dhampir threads.

All's to say, thanks to the Distant Heritages section of Bastards of Golarion!

Imrijka's writeup might help a bit, considering she hails from a Pharasman Orphanage in Ustalav.

Thanks all. This has been super helpful, especially Imrijka's writeup.

If anyone has further citations, or would like to share other orphanages (or characters with orphan backgrounds), please do!

I am developing an orphanage of Pharasma in Ustalav for my campaign and seek thoughts about (and citations to published) orphanages elsewhere in Golarion.

If you recall a particular orphanage (or would like to describe one that you've developed), please share it.

I read this thread, which religions are most likely to build orphanages, which was useful, but I thought to start a new thread because I am particularly interested in learning about specific published orphanages. For example, Rule of Fear, at page 23, discusses an unnamed orphanage in the town of Ardagh, County Odranto.

(After rereading Rule of Fear, I plan to review the Carrion Crown AP and then search through the ISWG, but I thought the subject might interest others.)

My thought sketch of a particular orphanage of Pharasma follows:

In a land haunted by its ruined past, this orphanage is well known amongst the Ustalavic nobility as a discrete place to hide their indiscretions. Overseen by its abbess and staffed by clergy, midwives, and other oblates of the Pharasmin Penitence, the orphanage tirelessly trains its wards to promote Kavapesta's penitential doctrine that suffering in this world balances the scales of judgment toward one's benefit in the afterlife. Contingent on their talents, orphans are raised to know their place in Ustalav as clergy, inquisitors, common warriors, etc. -- all in service to the Lady of Graves and her church in Ustalav. Every so often, however, a noble family requires an orphan's return to the family, which the abbess is willing to accommodate in exchange for adequate tithing or bequests.

Perhaps with this incentive in mind, the abbess and her oblates work hard to ensure the safety of all their charges, and to inculcate their sincere devotion to the teachings of Sister Sorrow and her servant on Golarion, Bishop Bavhulameta Ulametria of Cryptgate Cathedral. Accidents happen, of course, and injury amongst the wards often results from their many feuds: very few of them know of their noble bastardy, yet some suspect the truth of their strange situation, and the remainder split between youthful rebellion against the self-mortification that the abbess promulgates, or stoic obeisance to it.

Thanks Pathar, kinevon, and Raymond Lambert -- very helpful -- and I found the pincite in the 4.3 Guide regarding the early season adaptations.

I wish I had chosen the older factions at first since when you do older scenarios you get lumped into the factions that existed at the time. It can occasionally lead to missions that don't entirely make sense for your character.

What are some examples of older v. newer factions Chris?

I've been working off of the 4.3 Guide and understand a new version is forthcoming soon. I'm hoping to play some Season 4 modules, as I understand they're based in Varisia. I imagine that the factions I have in mind (Andoran, Sczarni, Silver Crusade) all existed then, but I'd be interested in learning which factions are older v. newer.

Quote:

Specifically, would it be useful to learn what factions are popular or prevalent in one's region?

I was going to say this could be a minor benefit as it could help you complete faction missions, but then i remembered the faction missions are about to go away.

I don't see anything useful to do with that information anymore.

Thanks BigNorseWolf. I hadn't heard that the faction missions will be ending.

I've enjoyed reading the Faction Talk threads, and the activity in some of them encouraged my original questions, as I took them to indicate the strong role-playing interests and abilities amongst some PFS players.

So . . any advice for a wizard? And don't clerics get more healing via spells which balances the oracle?

If you've not already reviewed them, I've found some of the fan-created online class guides helpful. Here's a discussion regarding them, Guide to the Class Guides, and here's a webpage that features links to many of the individual guides, The Comprehensive Pathfinder Guides Guide.

As for character build... well, I have this nice Varisian bard lined up.

North_Ranger, I'm interested in hearing more about your character build.

I plan to begin PFS soon, and my primary character concept is a Varisian bard too. I'm going back and forth between a melee or a ranged build, favoring the former for its flavor but concerned that it might be overly feat intensive. I'm old to RPGs but new to PF, so I'm hoping to build a flavorfully, fun, and effective character for PFS.

I plan to begin playing PFS soon and would like to hear OOC suggestions regarding faction selection and how factions interact with gameplay.

Specifically, would it be useful to learn what factions are popular or prevalent in one's region? Could choosing a locally popular faction make for a more enjoyable game experience? Can PCs cooperate as they seek to accomplish their faction missions, or is every PC on their own? Etc.

Based on my character concepts, I have a few factions already in mind (Andoran, Sczarni, and Silver Crusade), but if possible, I'd like to glean a sense of how the choice might impact gameplay.

I've greatly enjoyed reading this thread and would like to ask for help in understanding how caravans might operate in PFO.

I have no experience with MMOs but came to PFO through the second Kickstarter after being referred by someone in the online Greyhawk community, Canonfire!. I now live far away from my old RPG friends and am hoping that PFO may enable me to enjoy RPing in ways redolent of PNP roleplaying.

Hence, I have been imagining creating nomadic or semi-nomadic Varisian characters, and I am hoping that posters might share links to relevant past discussions of the Regional Trait Pack, caravanning, etc., or simply comment on how / whether my notion of nomadic or semi-nomadic Varisian characters (perhaps including Szcarni), might relate to what the PFO community has already been discussing, particularly the latest blog post.

Dave Gross's Queen of Thorns provides an array of details about Kyonin's society and geography, including an ancient elven setting that might be redolent of mythals -- and in any case demonstrates an influential view on elven magic on Golarion.