Seer of Shadows's page

I will be compiling rule clarifications and additional rules/mechanics that were added after the initial post in this thread, as well as a more detailed view of how dreamshifting works, to the campaign info tab sometime tomorrow. There have been a number of additions, granted requests, and clarifications issued over the course of the last few days an I want to ensure that this information is easy to access without having to read multiple posts to find all of them.

Tiana Grimm

Tiana Brinks is a woman obsessed with mythologies, stories, and history throughout the world, just like her uncle and father. Driven by the works of Shakespeare, Commedia dell'arte, the legacy of traveling storytellers, greek mythology and their lost musical elements, african folk stories, and all manner in between, time and time again she falls down the rabbit hole of irish mythology. Or rather, Faerie stories. So much of Irish Mythology ended up lost to her, but slowly she pieced together the stories and figured out their underlying logic, even publishing and sparkling up some of these tales for sale to the public, just like her grandfather did. Invited to this gala by the Ainsworths due to her legacy as a Grimm, she came with the utmost excitement.

What she didn't realize is that that penmanship, the ability to shift the story and it's nature, was something that would inevitably be etched into her own stories, as she gains the ability to pass over the pen to others for them to take control of their own tale.

This is an interesting idea and I quite like the themes and imagery it evokes.

Alissa Brinks

In a quiet allyway, two women stand across from one another, quietly stripping themselves down to their petticoats, binding their fingers to keep it contained. Another half-dozen ladies gather around, watching with bated breath, bets in the air. Ms. Brinks seems almost bookish, in comparison to the lady in front of her, but her eyes seem cold and brutal.
The fight begins, as she dodges, dives, punches and parries, she always seems one step ahead, one moment ahead, beating her down with ease. After it, she smiles, dons her usual clothing, and head back home to her husband's estate. Her husband does not love her, but neither does she love him- A lavender marriage between the two. Notably, one of her lovers was invited, but felt scared to go alone. That was when Alissa came in.

I'm curious about the finer details of this character and would like to know more.

What do you think would be most interesting? I had been thinking it was her othersoul manifesting early, but it could certainly be that she has internalized the faerie in question and it has become part of her personality. I had been thinking that mechanically she is unlikely to manifest her vigilante identity when she is not Dreamwalking, and that her social identity would probably become secondary or even “go to sleep” until the Dreamwalking is concluded. But I’m not sure exactly how Dreamwalking works, and maybe some other arrangement is better for gameplay. That said, it is interesting to consider that this other personality is literally a part of her that she doesn’t want to acknowledge as herself, using her newly acquired knowledge of the fey to avoid taking responsibility, so to speak. I don’t actually want to play a serial killer, at least not most of the time— I was thinking it would come out during combat and be sort of intensely personal in its horror. I wouldn’t want other players to worry that I might turn on them or anything like that.

Othersouls are not, generally speaking, bound within or fused to their Dreamwalkers; the overwhelming majority of the former reside within the Twilight Worlds at all times, in fact. Dreamwalkers draw their power from the connection with their othersouls which runs through the Dreaming that separates the worlds of mortal and fey, not an actual fusion.

Dreamshifting is the actual method of drawing power from that connection and it involves a Dreamwalker pulling power from the Twilight Worlds through the Dreaming via the connection they have to their Othersoul 'reflection' on the other side of reality. Think of dreamwalkers as a light bulb, their othersouls as a wire that connects to the 'generator' that is the Twisting Way and all the Twilight Worlds it encompasses, and the Dreaming as the circuit that closes the gap between the two so that the bulb can draw on that power to shine. Continuing from that rough analogy, dreamshifting is essentially a dreamwalker flipping their own switch. Awakening is the process by which they become aware of the Dreaming and Twilight Worlds on a deep level and, thus, are able to figure out on some level that not only do they have that switch, but that they can flip it at will. This is an imperfect analogy since the connection of dreamwalker and othersoul is much deeper and less utilitarian and the Dreaming also provides power of it's own, but it should serve to provide the necessary imagery needed to understand the process.

With all of that related information out of the way, I believe that either a severe case of personality bleed from Mary's othersoul or the delusional post-hoc justification of her own actions work better than active possession from her othersoul; they are certainly more compelling from a storytelling perspective.

With the 13 extra RP of racial abilities, are they considered part of our racial traits or more liek magical effects added on? I ask because I plan on making use of some Polymorph effects, and don’t want to ‘waste’ the RP if the bonuses don’t carry over to my other forms.

The extra racial traits are aspects of having awakened as dreamwalkers, fundamentally changing them into something more than human. I view them as both racial traits and a supernatural power layered over and throughout their very being, which could easily translate into whatever forms they take. I will need to make a note of this in an official ruling.

The reboot is officially live! It took longer than I would have liked to finish and I missed the tentative release by two days, but my perfectionism compelled me to agonize over it. There may still be errors or omissions that I missed, but I am satisfied with what I managed to construct in about two weeks worth of brainstorming and playtesting. I hope to see everyone's- no doubt amazing- submissions soon!

A cordial invitation to worlds fey, fair, and foul.

I made a few last-minute revisions that have taken a little longer than expected, but the recruitment is nearing completion. Expect something within the next day.

Yeah, why don't you fill me in on some of the changes you have in mind. Though, unless , you're *drastically* changing things, I'm sure I'll be okay with whatever adjustments you wanna make.

I am still pulling the details together myself, but I can talk about a few changes. If it's not listed here, assume that it is going to remain as it was originally proposed.

It seems there are a few faces from my Kisarta recruitment in this thread. It's good to see you all again!

One of the games was about playing a Fae, which are one of my favorite creature types. It was called Faerie Dreams and it sounded really awesome!!

I've wanted to play a game where you get to be a Fae, and that takes place in the First World/Feywild/Plane of Faerie for several years now. I think it would be a ton of fun.

I was recently browsing my library of books, and came once more across the Faerie Ring ones.

Jeebus heck, I would still *dearly* love to play in some sort of fae game!! So we gonna bump this, and see if I get any bites. Even if this is almost two years old! lol

I positively adore all things fey, from the whimsical caprice of the sprites and their pixie cousins in old folklore to the sinister mien of the Erlkönig in Franz Schubert's Lied of the same name. My Pathfinder library is replete with many fey-related books and, sadly, they haven't been used as extensively as I would like. This would be a perfect opportunity to put those to use in an interesting way.

I am willing to pick this idea up, repurpose it, and run it for a group of four, but there will inevitably be changes made to what was established in the thread you linked. Character creation would follow similar, but nowhere near identical, guidelines to my Kisarta game. There are also facets of the proposed setting that I would like to tinker with and change to suit my own personal tastes. Is that something that you are okay with or would you need more specifics before making that determination?

It looks like Rahlmaat and Straehan are the two PCs that will meet up first!

As these short 'prologues' wrap up, my anticipation on this end of the table grows ever greater. Soon, very soon indeed, the game can start getting into the meaty bits. I am eager to see how everyone comes together since this process an emergent one on both sides of the metaphorical table.

Rahlmaat finding the most convoluted way possible to ask "What advice do you want to give me?" XD

Such a convoluted request for advice has been met with an equally convoluted answer! The advice of "don't die too much" has been couched in Kisartan metaphysics regarding rebirth and the process of Hollowing. Certainly useful information to have.

On a related subject, I find it interesting how every character is asking for different pieces of information and, therefore, are giving me open avenues to explain components of the setting from the get-go. This will surely be quite useful once the party meets and begins sharing what they know. After all, exchanging information is a great way to build rapport and I imagine that counts double in alien situations like that which the characters currently find themselves in.

I apologize for this post being so late in the day when anticipation was so high. Between taking my grandmother to get her lab work done at the endocrinologist and an array of other tasks, I ended up visiting three major cities in my state, racked up almost one hundred and fifty miles on my car, and didn't get "lunch" until about an hour ago despite being up since early this morning.

The quality of characters submitted for this game have been very high and that extended the length of my deliberations. I eventually decided to, once more, raise the party size again to a total of six players. That made my decision-making process a little easier, although not by a large margin. Without further ado, the six lost souls who will soon crawl their way from their own graves under the light of the Pale Sun are:

- Rahlmaat, inquisitive puzzler of Creation's enigmas, played by Almonihah
- Straehan, byronic hero of a divine war, played by stormraven
- Bronwyn, Watcher of Caed Nua, played by Ever_Anon
- Amn, amnesiac martyr with healing hands, played by Zaboom!
- Kiya Aliwya, necromantic seeker of lore, played by Veegees
- Volgroruth, dark-blooded warrior and ally of Zhent, played by Monkeygod

Those who have been selected, please report to the discussion thread. Some of you still need to officially post the details of your characters that we have discussed via messaging and you have a few days to do that. Similarly, some of you have mentioned tweaks that needed to be made or have received critiques of certain build elements and you have until the first combat, likely more than a week away, to set those in stone. Congratulations on your selection!

To those who were not selected, thank you very much for the time and effort that you put into your submissions! I can tell that a lot of time and love went into each and every one of your characters. Every last one of you have been great and I will keep your characters in mind should any slots open in the campaign.

I apologize for this post arriving a few hours shy of being on time.

I’m planning on making an armorist with a tech firearm (think Bolter or flamer) as one of her bound weapons, what sort of weapons would be power appropriate? It somewhat subverts the gold per level mechanic, and I don’t want to go too crazy on power, but still want to stick to the theme.

I haven't really established what constitutes "power appropriate" since the definition is rather fluid even with my own tastes. Simply submit ideas and I can tell you whether they would be appropriate or not. As should be evident by many of the things I have cleared, my sensibilities for what constitutes appropriately-powered content are fairly broad.

Hey SoS, I have a corner case ruling question...

I replied to your message with my ruling on Perfect Strike. It is needlessly restrictive as-written and so I believe my ruling will be a pleasant one.

Bold mine. How would you rule this feature interacts with a bow? Does it add Attr to damage regardless of your Str? Does the bow need to be a composite bow?

Considering that the text mentions that the extra damage is due to the magical charge applied to the weapon, I would say that it applies to all weapons.

If I go with ABP, would you be OK with my weapon attunement being improvised weapons? (I'm sure DR will be a challenge for me no matter what, but it seems like that would help with it.)

I would rule in favor of that, with the caveat that you don't add weapon enhancements that are too ridiculous on a conceptual level- adding the flaming quality to chairs you pick up, making a broken beer bottle vorpal, et cetera.

So are the wild talents from the Legendary Games UKC also okayed, or do they need to be approved on an individual basis?

They would need to be individually approved. I have no issue with most of them, but approval is still necessary due to a few bad apples.

Also, if someone did take the Deaf curse as an Oracle, what features would enable them to understand and be understood? More to the point, how would the translation effect of Kisarta affect people who are deafened, whether temporarily or permanently? What about in areas affected by silence-related effects?

As long as a deaf character can speak, there shouldn't be a problem with them being understood. Them understanding others, however, is where the challenge lies.

The mystical language interpretation effect of Kisarta doesn't bestow the ability to hear the language, only the ability to interpret what is heard in one's own language. So deaf characters or those within silence effects are still unable to hear- and thus interpret- words.

If someone is trained to Read Lips (such as through a rank in Linguistics), are they able to understand as though in their native language?

No, as the effect is limited solely to the spoken word. While lip movement is essential to forming those words, it doesn't apply.

However, you specify spoken language, which seems to suggest that the automatic translation effect is based in some way on vocal-auditory modalities rather than manual-visual ones. So would a deaf person no longer be deaf in Kisarta? Would an Oracle need to choose a different Curse to function in the game?

As mentioned in one of my prior replies in this post, being on Kisarta doesn't impart the ability to hear words, only the ability to interpret the ones that you do hear in your native language.

I assume this would be noted in the recruitment post once it's up but I'm gonna ask anyway just in case so that I don't forget: do you have a preference for character creation starting point?

1. Total new character with memories
2. Total new character amnesiac
3. Migrated character with memories
4. Migrated character amnesiac

The answer to that question is multipartite.

A character's status as freshly made for this game or adapted for it is one that I have no preference for.

I do have something of a preference for characters with their memories intact, if only because it provides more for me as a GM to work with and gives me a better idea for your character. But a well-written amnesiac character won't be automatically written off.

*Spoilers*

That setup provides fertile grounds for a wide range of ideas that both you as a player and I as a GM could work from.

Thanks for clearing up about the setting. Sure is pulling me in.

You're welcome. There will be a small section in the recruitment detailing a few of Kisarta's rather unique eccentricities that may prove even more interesting.

The final one would be reliant on 3.5 sources so I was wondering if those would be possibilities?

I am avoiding rules content from outside of 1st Edition Pathfinder. That may seem at odds with me touting this campaign as being one where you could play as a character from essentially any cosmology, but there are a multitude of comprehensive Pathfinder fan conversions out there in the wild that cover rules for settings like Dark Sun, Eberron, and Ravenloft. Pathfinder also has a wealth of content that could be used to reproduce most things all on it's own.

Would it be possible to have a no-known-background character show up?

Yes, that is possible. A number of Kisarta's residents have varying degrees of amnesia, mostly with those whose souls were damaged or "destroyed" before their migration.

Though the theme of the setting is unusual at best. Dark place of anarchy, which is what makes this one interesting. I guessing with gestalt characters, this is going to be a deadly adventure of survival.

The setting isn't quite one of anarchy. The Dominion of Limbo, where characters will awaken, has a city nearly as large as the infinite plane it is built upon and has it's own series of spoken and unspoken laws. Other Dominions may or may not have laws, with various complexities in those who do.

The game isn't specifically going to be about survival, at least outside of specific Dominions. Rather, it's going to be about the party's exploration of Kisarta, their interactions with it's inhabitants, the secrets they discover, and the mark the leave upon the world through their actions. I am setting the game up as a semi-sandbox that the party can engage with as they choose to. There will be challenging combat without a doubt, but it's not the fulcrum around which the rest of the experience revolves. Besides, souls on Kisarta can (usually) come back from death, albeit with increasing amounts of damage to their memories and souls that have dire ramifications once it reaches a certain point. But that's a topic for another time.

I'll keep following along in the 'Interest' check watching to see if it turns into a 'recruitment' thread, or if you create a new one. Once that happens, I'm sure I'll have more questions.

The thread has hit a threshold where I believe enough interest has been noted. The game has officially entered the phase where the character creation rules and other details are being finalized. After I finish drafting a recruitment, it will be given two lookovers to ensure that the rules language is clear and unambiguous and that no important character creation rules are accidentally omitted. Once those two lookovers are complete and any mistakes are corrected, I will post a separate thread for the recruitment.

I adored the Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous video games, bugs and a few lore changes notwithstanding. Anything of comparable quality to those two games would interest me a great deal.

I may be getting ahead of myself, but one thing that I believe many people would appreciate are physical Switch ports of the games. Being able to play a single-player Pathfinder game on the go without the need to constantly ping a cloud service would be nice indeed. That's assuming that these aren't mobile titles or MMOs, which would preclude such concessions.

I have actually never heard of that system before. That's rather strange, as I was sure that most of the d20 Modern-adjacent books were in my old collection. A friend of mine apparently owns the book, so I will probably look into the system later when he returns home. It doesn't matter whether the system is good or bad to me, it is a novel concept and that justifies the time I spend reading up on it. Thank you for opening my eyes to something that has consistently slipped past my notice for almost two decades.