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Coming up over a hill, you catch the first glimpse of the Hold you have been sent to secure. Decrepit and crumbling, no one has held this area for long for the dangers that lurk in every corner, both mundane and magical. You have come with a small group of soldiers, some of your House's vassals to help you, but this is now your hold to let grow and prosper, or lose back to the wilderness or your enemies.
Coming up over a hill, you catch the first glimpse of the Hold you have been sent to secure. Decrepit and crumbling, no one has held this area for long for the dangers that lurk in every corner, both mundane and magical. You have come with a small group of soldiers, some of your House's vassals to help you, but this is now your hold to let grow and prosper, or lose back to the wilderness or your enemies.
So the Pactmaker idea will be interesting. Spirits, demons, angels are all formed by magic in this plane are bound to concepts (demons and angels of various types) like Wisdom, Pride, Compassion, or Hunger (yes, totally ripping off from Dragon Age). The concepts will feed on their concept, empowered by mortals engaging in such actions and feed into it. A rage demon might be born from battle and follow a soldier around, causing anger and rage in him. Spirits are born from death, particularly violent death or unfulfilled life, and are more passive, impressions made with magic. Like I mentioned before, some religions are based around an outsider like this. A village might give offerings to a shepherding spirit that may actually intercess on their behalf. A spirit of Justice might inspire an Order of Paladins. Larger religions pop up just like they do in ours and while no one has made contact with another plane, many cultures speak of other worlds where their gods rest. For some of them, there may be these outsiders at their head, communed with by their followers. The wizardly community also constantly theorizes on where magic comes from and about planes where these Outsiders live. Unlike Dragon Age, there isn't the Fade or dream world that they live in and it's worth mentioning that both classes are rare, partly because the way they are born and that they are often dangerous. Most of the time they are with the people or out in wild, natural areas, just most won't be able to see them without magic and a lot of effort or around Tears, magical hot spots that this hold you will take over will be full of. It will be a contested region, but also a region no one can hold because of these Tears wreaking havoc. A Pactmaker is going to be viewed as playing with fire at best, dangerous at worse for the treat of possession by these spirits you bond with. Most of these beings are not around for your benefit. And there is the issue of the difficulty of binding spirits. And it is seen as black magic, on the same lines of raising undead. This may be why you were sent here, for your unusual talents, but it is highly possible your family and other people view what you do as blasphemous.
It's been a while since I have done a PbP here, or played Pathfinder for that matter, but recently I have developed a Pathfinder itch after learning about the Spheres of Power/Might system. I love playing mages, but hate Vancian magic, so I've been really interested in fooling around with this system but all my tabletop friends in real life have moved to 5e or just don't have the time. So, here we are. I've had great success in the past with solo adventures and exchanges (On Mythweavers) as they don't tend to suffer from a slow down since there is only one other person to wait on. Games lasting years rather than crawling to a standstill in months. And with a solo game, you can really tailor the game to the character's story. So here is my proposal: I run a campaign for you, you run one for me. Just the two of us, though I'd be open to running something for a duo or trio if you want to bring a friend. We can keep this simple and use the existing APs as a starting point (I have yet to make it past the first chapter of Carrion Crown, though I am open to most of the APs). Or if you have a campaign setting of your own you would like to explore or develop, I would be interested in that too. Or we can go in another established setting, like Dragon Age (which works a lot better with SoP than Vancian). I myself have a setting that I used in college that I have been meaning to pull out that works much better with SoP style magic than Vancian. I tend to like darker fantasy, stories about rebellion, or long epics. So if you are interested in playing a solo game tailored to you for the long haul and are more than willing to run one in exchange, make your pitch, both on what you'd like to play and like to run. If I like it, and you like my counter pitch, we can start playing.
Discussion
Gameplay thread.
Discussion for this game.
A month ago, I posted an interest check for a no magic game in a historical setting and, well, there was some interest. The game will be a no magic game, meaning that no class with supernatural features will be playable. It will be set in feudal Europe, around the 11th century. Characters will be created at level 3, with half the normal starting gold. Accepted classes are the Skirmisher Ranger, Rogue, Barbarian, Fighter, Monk(must be of the asian pursuasion), Cavalier, Samurai. Homebrew classes, filling the role of the Priest and Scholar will be accepted as well, as long as there are no supernatural abilities associated with it. If anyone is interested in playing either the priest or the scholar can PM me for more information, as i do have something in mind for each. Two traits are allowed, with a third with a drawback. Point buy 20 or roll 4d6, drop one for each stat. HP points at first level are maxed, other levels can roll or take average (not pathfinder average). Everyone is technically human, but make expend the free feat OR the extra skill point for 4 rp points of abilites from the race creation abilities, within reason. Examples of good ones are ethnic weapons or predilititions for skills. Things that give you magical abilites are not. You may also take any of the human variant racial abilities and you may also choose to be small sized if you wish. The game will start in in western Europe, at a small waystation on the road to Normandy called The Horse and Foot. This is a game that will be used to explore some of the mythologies of the middle ages. You can be sure to see things like werewolves, vampires, dragons and others during the adventure, but this would largely unheard of for the characters, so avoid supernatural elements in you backstory. If you choose the monk or samurai class, you must explain why your character is so far from home. This game, I hope, will be rather dark as the characters are forced to face things they have only heard in stories. It should be fairly roleplay heavy, so in your sunmission, please give me a sample of how your character will play, either as a backstory told from the character's perspective, or merely a sample. Recruitment will go on until Monday, May 5th. If serious, gritty, low magic games aren't your style, then please check out my other recruitment threadhere for the exact opposite.
Welcome to the land of Generica, a land full of brash heroes and Napoleonic villains! A land where fantasy tropes abound and puns run rampant. The World of Generica:
The world itself is specifically left undefined. Players can, and are even encouraged, to make up whatever they want about it. But be warned - it is a rather silly place. The Game:
I'm looking for 4-6 players looking for a game that is less serious than the standard fare on these forums. The campaign itself will be a epic journey though the lands of Generica, mostly using whatever classic modules I can scrounge up. If you have any suggestions for which ones, please PM me. Don't mistake silliness though for a lack of roleplaying. I expect that the game should have a lot of roleplaying to it and I am looking for players willing to do that.
Still interested? Here's character creation:
Ability scores will be generated by dice with 5d6 drop the lowest 2. Start at level 3, with appropriate gold 2 traits AND a drawback. Can take and additional drawback for a third. I prefer core classes and races, but if you make a character I like, I'll ignore it. Other than that, any paizo book can be used and 3rd party upon review. For simplicity, Golarion gods and ethnicities will be used. Generally, I am looking for characters that are parodies of tropes. The lawful - stupid paladin, the haughty, hermit wizard, the crafty theif etc. But you are not bound to them. If you have a strong, humorous character concept, I'll consider the character. Backstories are appreciated, but not required. Everyone should, however, write a short paragraph giving the cliffnotes on the character, including those who write a backstory.
The game will begin at a tavern called The Corner Inn, a tavern notorious for the beginnings of adventure. Recruitment will go one for a couple weeks, but if it starts to peter out and I have enough people, I will end it early. If you are looking for a more serious game, may I interest you in a gritty, low magic game which I am running recruitment concurrently with here?
So I have been playing on these boards for a few months now, and I am thinking about starting to GM on them as well. The problem is that I have two good ideas for a game, and only enough time to run one of them (probably. I may decide to change my stance on that somewhere down the line). So I have decided to leave it to the will of the masses, seeing which people are more interested in and run that one. Both would be homebrew settings, but the adventures themselves would be pulled from or inspired by existing modules. Here are the two ideas: 1) A no magic game. At least for the party. The setting would be similar to Game of Thrones where although there is magic in the world, 99.9% of the population doesn't have any. The party would be able to choose from any class that has no supernatural abilities or an archetype that removes them (like the skirmisher ranger or the martial artist monk). The adventure itself would either take place in the Dark or Medieval Ages of Europe, where there are still dragons, trolls, and the like, or a setting where magic has disappeared for many generations, disappearing into myth, and now it is returning. For this one, I would add in 2 homebrew classes to fill roleplay roles that would be removed by limited class choice - the Scholar and the Priest. 2) A very standard fantasy game. But a more comedic one. It would be full of Napoleonic Necromancers, princesses to be saved from dragons, kingdoms to be saved, etc. This would be a game and setting that would lend to a less serious tone than many of the games on here. As for myself, I have been GMing for a little over 2 years now, running almost exclusively homebrew settings using pathfinder rules. I'm in between college and gradschool for the next 4-5 months or so, so I will have plenty of time to post and and keep the game moving. I'd be looking to start official recruitment in about 3 weeks and start the week after that, but if there is enough interest, I may start earlier.
The caravan travels quietly along the road to Tevinter. All around are the tired faces of humans, and elves, forced out of thaig and village by darkspawn, numbering about 30, with some live stock. Each face you see is tired and hopeless. This is the 3rd day crossing the Anderfels.
The caravan travels quietly along the road to Tevinter. All around are the tired faces of humans, and elves, forced out of thaig and village by darkspawn, numbering about 30, with some live stock. Each face you see is tired and hopeless. This is the 3rd day crossing the Anderfels.
This is the recruitment thread for a Dragon Age campaign set in the time of the first blight, before the Wardens started to turn the tide. Players will start out as travelers or refugees currently going through the Anderfells. Because the Dragon Age games are a different system, and the interest to keep it mostly pathfinder, we will employ quite a few house rules, namely concerning specializations, spell points, and magic staves. Character Creation:
Characters will start out at level 1 with a 22 point buy. The playable races are human, dwarf, elf, or qunari, which will use the half orc statistics, thought toothy is dropped for a gore attack. Playable classes will be the Mage(see spoiler), Rogue, or Fighter. Each character gets one bonus feat that may be spent on one specialization. This specialization can be taken from the ones here or you may base a new, lore friendly specialization off of these. (Ignore the other rules on that thread, with the exception of the use of spell lists as guide lines and the rules on staves) A specialization can be taken instead of a general feat. Only one per character, unless experience to take a feat is used. Specializations also gain you one specialization appropriate class skill. I may end up editing some of these for balance. You may take average gold, or roll. Hit points are based of the wounds and vigor system(see spoiler). 3 extra skill ranks can be taken at first level only.
Leveling changes:
This will be an epic 8 game, so when/if we get that far, feats will be earned every 5000 experience. Players can also choose to take this option when we are not that far. Furthermore, a ability point is earned every 2 levels, to a max score of 20 (before items), or use 10000 experience points to raise a score. If you find that you want to port a talent as a feat, submit it for approval to me.
Mage:
The Mage will be a mix of wizard and sorcerer. To reflect the DAO system, mages will use the spell point rules found here, including the optional rules on vitalizing. Each mage will gain one school specialization, Primal, Entropic, Spirit, or Creation. Primal is evocation or an elemental school. Spirit can choose Divination, Necromancy, Abjuration or Illusion. Creation can choose Transmutation(Enhancement), Conjuration (creation), or Necromancy (Life). Entropic can choose Enchantment, Necromancy, Illusion. The pathfinder schools do not exist in this game. Mages can be universalists. Players are encouraged to try to come up with their own, but it must be one of the 4 schools. The 8th level ability is moved to 4 and the 12th level one is now at 8 As this is a spell point system, instead of giving a extra spell per day, specialists get an extra spell known for each level they can cast, with the cost of costing 2 slots to know a spell of another school In the same thread as the specializations, there are spell lists for each school. This is not exhaustive, nor are all of the spells from dragon age exist in pathfinder. Players are again encouraged to come up with ports of spells and to add spells from pathfinder not found on those lists to be approved by me. Class skills for a mage are of the Wizard, plus heal and UMD. Charisma is now used for all DCs. Wisdom determines bonus spell points. Intelligence is also applied to DC's and 10+SL intelligence is the minimum score to cast spells. Staves are now work similarly to Dragon Age, as a magical projectile. These rules can be found with the specialization rules, but with this line added: Die size of stave can be increased to 1d8 as a +1 enchantment and a +3 for 2d6. Spells Known table
Fighters and Rogues:
Fighters can choose between armor and weapon training at levels 3,5,7. As a capstone, they can choose armor or weapon mastery at 8. Rogues get imp evasion at 6 and get Master Strike at 8. They also get proficiency in all bows and hand axes and throwing axes.
Wounds and Vigor:
The original rules can be found on the pfsrd Your wounds score is twice your con score. Your Vigor is derived from you class. Mages get 6/level, Rogues get 8. Fighters get 10. Favored class bonus goes to Vigor. Attacks go through you Vigor first. Once you have no Vigor, you start taking wound damage. When you reach half your wounds, you are staggered and must make a DC 10 constitution check each round, or become unconscious. At this stage, each standard or move action incurs 1 wound. At zero wound, you die. Critical hits act as normal, but also do damage to wounds equal to their multiplier. Cure spells can either restore vigor, in which it operates as normal, or restore wounds, which only heals 1 wound pont per die. Resting for 8 hours restores all vigor and 1 wound point. I also have a houserule: for con mod times per day, you can rest for 15 minutes and recover 1/4 your vigor. Endurance increases this number by 2. The heal skill is now useful as you need it to treat wounds non magically. A DC 15 heal check made over 8 hours recovers wounds equal to 1 per hour, or 8, or double that if the check exceeds the DC by 10. Some feats are modified (see link). There is also a new feat, Vigorous, that increase vigor similar to how toughness increases wounds. Both can be taken. Constitution bonuses from items or spells still act as they did before, giving 1 vigor/modifier/level, but only permanent effects increase wounds. Another house rule of mine, bleed damage goes directly to wounds, but does not reoccur. Magic Items and Tranquil:
Magic items exist, but cannot be crafted by mages. Instead of scribe scroll (Now renamed inscribe rune) they brew potion. The chantry isn't around yet, but it would be very interesting for someone to play a tranquil mage. A tranquil mage would have the normal statistics of a mage but cannot cast spells. Instead they get scribe scroll, reflavored to be runes, like as Sandal used at several points in the DA series. Also counts as Inscribe rune. Craft wondrous at level 2, Wand at 3, Arms and Armor at 4, Rings at 5, Rods at 6, Staves at 7. As a capstone, they get a 25% reduction on crafting and everytime they use an item, it has a 25% chance it doesn't expend the charge. Spell resistance 6+HD They get a bonus to UMD and Spell craft equal to their level, but take a -4 penalty on Sense Motive and Social skills and they can never take them as class skills. This class does not get a specialization.
Blood Mages:
With wounds and vigor and spell points, the blood mage works a little differently than what is on the thread. There is a 1.5:1 vigor/mana trade off instead of the slot thing and DC's and CL can be boosted by 1 for every wound point taken. There is also a feat that removes the trade off, min level 5.
The original thread for this can be found here, but do not post in it. 4-6 players, with one slot already filled, a templar fighter. I'd like to have at least one representative for each class and roughly evenly distributed. |
