Shadas-Hur's page

I don't think its retconning the setting. I see it as expanding upon the setting and moving away from ugly ideas of past editions. Make the orc playable, like the goblin, and have the Half-Orc be a trait or racial feat so its still there as well.

If anything, the happy lovey children of Human-Orc matings are a deviation from the setting as demonstrated by the descriptions of orcs posted from Paizo material shows.

Yeah Hook Mountain Massacre...

From the Beastiary description of the Orcs:

An adult male orc is roughly 6 feet tall and 210 pounds.
Orcs and humans interbreed frequently, though this is
almost always the result of raids and slave-taking rather
than consensual unions. Many orc tribes purposefully
breed for half-orcs and raise them as their own, as the
smarter progeny make excellent strategists and leaders
for their tribes.

So it seems pretty clear that rapey orcs is built into the Orc sauce.

yuck

I also find the idea of implied sexual assault distasteful in the Half-Orc. In Giantslayer the citizens of Trunau are even given a dagger to kill themseves rather than face capture from orcs which also implies fear of capture being so much worse than what might happen in human conquests. The implication seems to be the fear of rape.

The idea of a full orc is certainly intriguing and better IMO. They have their own realm in Belkzen. Certainly if they have their own distinct place, it should allow for more characters to emerge from there who aren't a product of some form of assault, or that rarity of orc/human love.

Recruitment closed. Thanks for applying :)

So far what I have in terms of recruitment is

1 Enchanter/Sorc
2 Calistrian Cleric

After that I have several incarnations of ranged DPR

If the day/time is right I would love to join

Here are the general Character generation and house rules I use.

Character Creation rules:
• 20 point Buy
• No Evil or Chaotic Neutral
• No Crafting
• 3rd party classes will be considered on a case by case basis
• 3rd party races will be considered on a case by case basis
• 2 traits, and 1 additional trait which must be from the campaign guide
• The GM reserves the right to ask players who have made character more or less powerful than the group standard to make adjustments as she sees fit.
• Refer to the PFS rules set for feats, magic items and Archetypes that are banned from play as that will also be applied to this AP.

No starting ability score should exceed 18 even after racial bonuses
No starting ability score should be lower than 8 after racial bonuses

General Rules

Character death and return, that character will incur some kind of lingering penalty that can only be recovered from advancing to the next level.
Examples of which might be a lower level, reduced ability score, casting failure chance etc.
Death to an Animal Companion or familiar will delay their return to the next level or upon GM consideration.
Leveling happens at the speed of story not on the accumulation of xp.
Characters Level at the same rate unless several games are missed
New/replacement characters will be introduced at a level lower than the party

Monster Rules
• I’m going to move away from feats and 3.5 based expectations to make my monsters function more open. So when a creature is able to do things unexpected by the standard functionality of feats and spells don’t freak out.
• The GM reserves the right to pre-modify monsters as she sees fit.
• Some of the foes encountered may even benefit from Mythic tiers.

Treasure
Treasure will be handed out as found in the adventure
The GM will periodically modify treasure to suit the characters
Its advisable to communicate with the GM about specific items you would like to find.

As an interest check I am interested in running Hells Rebels. It would be every other Saturday from 6 GMT 1 EST and running about 3 hourish.

Preferred VTT would be maptools as I've so much experience with it, but can be flexible.

Discord for chat both IC and OoC.

Post interest or PM me.

Cheers

Sounds very interesting, I may be able to pay depending on what day/time is settled upon. I've a lot of PF experience both as a player and GM. I've just finished running Rise of the Runelords and am considering running Hells Rebels. I prefer to use maptools for my VTT but can be flexible.

saddies

I love the idea of the Seal-Kin, especially as there are mythological roots to that one, as there are with the deer and swans.

I think the idea of vermin-kin would add for some truly creepy options.

Also wasn't there once a Jackal-were? Is that from a previous edition?

I think I would like to try out that Zeitgeist sometime. :-)

Were-Badgers would be very interesting. I'm not quite so certain about the Earth Worm though. How about a Were-Lobster!

I suppose it boils down to artistic interpretation. I see a Swan-Kin as more of a long lithe person with light feathering. More like a slightly off ballet dancer.

The Rabbit-Kin could fit into so many variations of anthro-rabbit forms I've seen before. Even in Paizo's own Harrow deck with its Rabbit Prince.

But sure, it won't be for everyone.

We are all full now. Thanks for the interest and good gaming to all.

I do believe in inclusivity at my tables, if you can be understood then you shouldn't feel excluded. I can be patient even if I do tend to be high on the improv side of RPGs.

Level 1 start, two traits and 1 additional campaign trait.

The other two players are very RP inclined and GMs in their own right. I suppose it depends on their characters for lawful or chaotic. I suppose the Caydenite is more inclined to good natured chaos.

How many of these can be achieved with re-flavoring existing subtypes? really what you are looking at is a combination of stat adjustments and some special forms...

A general template for skinwalkers would be good, a + to this stat pairs to a - to this one, apply a floating +2 when in beast form. pick X points of beast benefits, Movement +, Natural Attack +, skill bonus, etc.

Well to an extent that could be helpful. But by making specific types of Skinwalker, racoon-kin or Owl-Kin it then opens up design space to new archetypes, rage powers, or panache that fit new skinwalker flavourfully and mechanically. This is what we have seen so far with some of the original ones. I just think it would be interesting to expand upon it.

It is 1 PM EST. Sorry, I'm across the pond from you Yanks :-)

I usually aim for about 3-4 hours.

So this may well be my favorite race. But I feel like it could be expanded upon greatly with new types of Skinwalkers. So here is a quick list of some that I'd love to see:

Deer-Kin: She would be fast and agile though relatively weak physically. I would give her minuses to fear effects but bonus to perception

Turtle-Kin: This comes from watching a bit too much Kung-Fu Panda but with this I might give a +1 to AC. Maybe a +2 on AC if going full defense. I might make them slower.

Rabbit-Kin: Fast and agile so similar to the Deer-Kin. Perhaps small sized in Hybrid form.

Gorilla-Kin: Strong and aggressive perhaps reflected in bonuses to Str and Con. Bonus to Intimidate (hopefully with chest beating at game tables). Could even play a bit with King Kong themes and have them susceptible to enchantments from the preferred gender.

Racoon-Kin: Nocturnal and curious. So dark vision. Minuses to illusion spells. Because they are quite tricky I would suggest bonuses to Disable Device and Escape Artist.

Swan-Kin: Graceful and majestic is how I imagine them. So bonuses to Dex and Chr perhaps offset by minus to strength. I might give them a bonus to Diplomacy and knowledge Nobility.

Any thoughts or animals you might like to see anthropomorphized as well?

I just checked, the full listing for that version of maptools is: 1.3.b91 and still there.

LOL

Well thanks... I suppose.

recruitment is still open

I am just about set to start a Rise of the Runelords game. This is not a pbp but held in real time over a virtual table top.

Virtual Tabletop: Maptools v.91

Communication: ventrillo for both In Character and Out of Character chatter.

15 point build
3rd party material allowed on a case by case basis.

Time: 6 GMT, 1 EST on Tuesdays. So euro friendly.

We already have confirmed a healing cleric of Cayden Cailean and a Evoker Wizard.

Maximum characters will be 5.

Interesting ideas. I am starting at level 1 and going to aprox 16 as the AP dictates. So it seems clear that if my medium is going to be an unarmed fighter I will need to dip into either Brawler or Monk then.

I'm considering playing a medium in an upcoming game but I am wondering if there is a way to build it to focus on melee, probably focusing on the Champion, Guardian and Marshal spirits. Is there a way to get some monk stuff in there? Its a 20 point build game.

That is some good advice. I think I should also ultimately learn to be a wee bit selfish and just stick to whichever spirit I want to explore as opposed to what the party may be in need of the most.

Galt sounds interesting, but how would it be so different from Hell's Rebels in terms of themes and perhaps even play?

So I'm considering playing a Medium in an upcoming AP. I have an interesting concept, personality and everything all ready to go. But my only worry is that a character with as much potential diversity of mechanical play as the Medium class will end up getting pigeonholed into a specific role instead of having the opportunity to be the jack-of-all trades that she seems to be designed to be.

So I hope to hear other people's experiences with this class in AP play as well as recommendations on avoiding being pigeonholed into filling a single role (which among my mates would probably be healer).

Thanks in advance.

As the GM of the game of Giantslayer that had a Hill Giant player in it, I found it to be a great laugh and a lot of fun. That character added a whole extra side to the campaign and a lot of humour. It did require me to modify things in the AP, but I tend to modify a lot for each character as they request or as I see more conducive to a greater story. So it really didn't require too much extra work on my end. I would say in regards to the Hobgoblin, so long as your GM is fine with it and you may be ready to except the consequences of how NPCs react to you, then go for it. The Hill Giant in my game always stayed outside of the human settlements in my game as I made it clear reactions would not be so welcoming. As a result he missed out on some key bits of interaction but the player was willing to accept that to play his character.

Another AP that utilizes the Kingdom Building rules and is more sandboxy.

Something set in Tian Xia

A First World AP, perhaps a sequel to Kingmaker.

Sure I would love to get into or even run a Tian Xia AP! I truly found the final three books in Jade Regent to be a delight! If they can simulate the lush sprawling adventure and romance of a movie like Crouching Tiger I would be all the more thrilled!

On top of that I have a deep love of Dragons and the Asian inspired ones are fascinating and would be a joy to explore. Also Kaiju!!! Who doesn't love those guys???

Yes indeedy, Mummy's Mask in 9 months, but it was really consistent play weekly play. As great as that story was, later on it seemed not to have as many opportunities for RP and I think that helped speed things along. I had a similar experience when I ran Giantslayer.

I tend to level players not via xp but rather at the rate of story, so I think if I find my encounters becoming too terribly trivial I may just slow down the advancement. Otherwise I hope for a fun adventure.

I think I will be much more conservative with the wealth than I have in the past. I was always very open to player shopping and maintaining the WBL for the entire party and felt like that was a bit of a mistake as it led to some very powerful characters. I am also going to pair down my group to 4, maybe 5 players. This is going to lead to some hurt feelings I fear as my overall group has quite a few people in it.

But otherwise there is nothing thats going to create a massive imbalance like mind control spells vs constructs and golems did in the Mummy's Mask?

I suppose so, was hoping not to have to do enormous rewrites but I suppose with a 3.5 AP that will be unavoidable.

Thanks thats advice I will certainly accept. I suppose more to the point my concern regards being cautious about some of the newer material that may through some of the early written APs like Legacy of Fire off in terms of balance. For example I recently finished running Mummy's Mask but Occult Adventures had just come out when I started it. One of the players took a Psychic that had the ability to effect Constructs and undead with mind effect spells and it seemed, at least from my perspective, to make many of the encounters pointless. So I'm now feeling a bit gun shy about some of the new material in this prospective run.

So perhaps some advice on what I should look for or be concerned about?

So I've been considering running a game of Legacy of Fire with my online group. I would consider them to have a very high Pathfinder IQ in terms of how to build a very strong character with all the best options and gear. So in reviewing the books to Legacy of Fire I can tell even with updates to PF the encounters are still very easy, or at least will be for my group of players. So my question is would it be advisable to limit the access to more recent material and stick with a leaning towards CORE and perhaps the ACG only?

I love this and I'm planning on playing one in an upcoming Hell's Rebels game where I can use the change Shape ability to blend in and then horse-out when combat comes. In particular though I'm considering playing her as a Life Oracle. So I do have a mechanics question, what size am I when starting off in a regular class? I didn't spot anything about size starting out as a non-paragon class.

Paizo does such a good job on their products, seeing a full treatment on Tian Xia material would certainly continue that tradition.

I would love to explore it more! Thanks for keeping an eye on us James, I for one appreciate your notice of our interest and remember from the intro in the early Jade Regent books about how much you looked forward to making those happen. Thanks for making what you lot have made at this point concerning Tian Xia and I for one hope for more. :-)

I seem to recall something from PFS that hinted that an area similar to that setting is where the Nagaji come from, though I can't remember this fully.

I've actually been clamoring for more Tian Xia since Jade Regent, even started a petition for a Tian Xia adventure path.

Alas, it did not get much traction, despite Dave Gross himself showing interest.

Count me as a supporter of that idea :)

I can only dream of being at the wheel of a space traversing vessel on a mission to stop those things too evil to be confined to a single planet!!

What would make this even better is it was set in some of the Jungle areas. My imagination runs away with challenges set in an environement recalling those wonderful Buddhist lost shrine and temples deep in the South Asian jungles.

Although its always quite tempting to hope for something Minkai based as there is so much Japanese media to seek for inspiration.

A low level Tian Xia module in the similar vane as the Dragons Demand, my goodness that sounds amazing! Yes please!!! If it were PFS legal that would make it all the better.

I don't know if its time for a new edition of Pathfinder but I'm starting to feel like the newer classes have left me feeling rather cold about the current direction of PF. Furthermore in running my Mummy's Mask game I'm finding a party with a Warpreist, Psychic, Summoner, Kineticist, Magus, and Sorceror have completely overwhelmed the encounters as written and now require extensive rewrites on my part to attempt to create a challenge. So far I'm unsuccessful. On top of that I find myself having to extensive research inbetween games to try to understand what all these feats and abilities do across so many sources. Needless to say, I am now struggling to find enjoyment in this game.

I would definately like to see more Tian Xia material. To date, I think season 3 of PFS was its best season with all those scenarios that paid homage to great Asian cinema. More Please!

Easily Kingmaker! Secondly though is the Mummy's Mask game I'm currently running.

I so love dragons!!! I wish this was somehow connected to the Dragonrider Class from SSG or Rite Publishings In the Company of Dragons but I'll still purchase this for all its scaley goodness.

I posted my review of this book for those who may be interested.

Giantslayer Book 6