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The Age of Empire has begin :-)

they have explored the shrine of nethys. i replaced Entanglers by Dark Stalkers, more reactive. They had a psychedelic moment in the grotto. Two PC and a NPC came to reconsider their live after seeing scenes of their past that "they didn't get right at the time".

The UC army rules stated that for the same Consumation Rate, they could multiply their armed forces by four. so they aggressively recruit moutain rangers, urban watch and expeditionnary infantery.

It was then time to expand. On the eighth month of the year of development, they launched a convoluated machievelical plan to seize Bronze Hook.
while they propose retirement to the last guard of the ford tower, they installed a community at this very place. Meanwhile all council members teamwork to show off Kelmarane as a land of opportunity, and its Amir has ruthless and powerfull warriors. their combinated works allowed to show (dead) Hook's watchmen - well know to be on the take - among the corpses of the brigands of Giant Steps Lake. Dashki undercover and Felliped ostentiously faned the sparks when Hook autority tried to prevent the leak of their citizens to the PC's village.

When Bronze Hook tried to retake the watchtower on the pale river (to help slavers to cross), the new Kelmarane Watch beat them down. the executionner killed the surviving leader with an electricity spell and let the others live to tell the tale.
At this point Almah Bey "had no other choice but to stop the constant and unjustified provocations of their neigbours". She entered as a hero, in a village cleared of its corrupted milice to give freedom and prosperity to her new citizens she took under her wing.

Any resemblance to IRL events is purely coincidental.

there had been a battle, though.
The five lvl5 player faced a 50+ milice with a mighty general and two spellcaters. the first thing they did was to run for cover at long range of the adverse spellcaster... and shoot all they can before anybody undertand their strategy. one die of electical damage; the other has been pined down three times before she drank an invisibility potion in place of a heal potion. A then-uncontrolled stone golem met a gem-invocated fire golem right in the middle of the soldiers. but the general had the charisma to rally his troop more than once, and a hidden assassin nearly turned the course of the battle.
When finally Bronze Hoof milice surrender, the barbarian PC was still in rage and disn't consider taking prisonners. She was true to her reputation.

[I made a point to NOT listen to players strategy while i was setting the foes and the ambush. I am proud to says that the forces was balanced. But the players confessed they really thought they would be wipeout]

Now I have to build a town from scratch to accomodate this newly acquired community.
incidently we will start the secund opus of the Legacy of Fire.

Legacy of Fire doesn’t give much stats about Almah. She is supposed to have four level of experts (skills not provided), one of rogue and one of fighter.

How strange.

It is not what I would expect from a typical princess-merchant, even less a young women who bet her life and her wealth on the conquest of a infested town in the outback of a desert country. There should have been a history behind that journey.

My investigation of LoF forums was fruitless. Some made her an adventurer in gown; others a girl with just enough skilled to remain far from danger. None of this fitted her official description or the behavior expected for a young entrepreneur. So I resolve to build MY Almah.

Abilities
---------
First, I have design credible abilities. She is the patron of the PC. She had to be better at managing the whole troop than at fighting with them. Intellectual abilities should be preferred. But since she had two levels in adventurer classes, it would be inconsistent that a physical ability fall under the average. She simply would not qualify. So I cut the higher abilities to raise the lowest.

I came with this :
STR 11
DEX 14
CON 10
INT 14 +2 human bonus
WIS 14
CHA 15 +1 at lvl 4

Nothing fancy. She needs the PC to do the field job.

Skills
------

While I was working the skills, several points of attention appeared.

first, she is not a mere merchant. She is a princess-merchant. 4 levels of expert and none of aristocrat won’t do it. So I replaced one level.
Second, we have reached the end of the first AP. She is now the bey of Kelmarane. If the Pc has earn 4 levels in the conquest, she probably earned at least 1. So I went with a second level of aristocrat.
Third, each level is the witness of her life; from a young girl in a rich family to the leader of Kelmarane by right and by arms. What would be her story?

SKILL Expert Expert Expert Aristocrat Rogue Fighter Aristocrat
Acrobatics 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Appraise* 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Bluff* 1 1 0 0 0 0
Climb 0 0 0 0 1 0
Craft (calligraphy) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Diplomacy* 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
Disable Device 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Disguise 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Escape Artist 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Handle Animal 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Intimidate* 0 1 1 1 0 0 0
Knowledge (arcana) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
Knowledge (dungeoneering) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Knowledge (engineering) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Knowledge (geography) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
Knowledge (history) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Knowledge (local)* 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Knowledge (nature) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Knowledge (nobility)* 1 1 1 0 0 1
Knowledge (religion) 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
Knowledge (planes) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Linguistics* 1 1 1 1 0 0 1
Perception 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
Perform (act) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Profession (bookkeeper)* 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Profession (courtesan)# 0 0 0 0 2 0 0
Profession (merchant)* 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Ride 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Sense Motive* 0 1 1 1 1 0 1
Sleight of Hand 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Stealth 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Survival 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Swim 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

* class skills for Expert
# class skills for Rogue & Fighter

First level (expert): the studious child
This is a time when she receive a formal education (the knowledges) and works as apprentices in the family trade (appraise, shopkeeper).

Second level (expert) : the debutante
Her training is now directed toward her future responsibilities. As she will have to deal with the richs and powerfuls, she learns to manage them.

Third level (expert): the seasoned merchant.
By now, she negotiates by herself. She is fluent in several languages and know how to obtain what she wants. She quitted the counter to work in the Backoffice.

Fourth level (aristocrat) : the young Lady
She met her destiny at last. She is a member of the high society. As such, she takes interest in noble animals : falcons, horses, hounds. It is a mark of status as well as a refreshing relationship without lies nor innuendo.

Fifth level (rogue): dagger in the sleeve
Something as happened. Maybe a member of the house has been assassinated. Her parents ? For whatever reason, the spymaster of the family has been asked to train her. She still lives among the powerful, but the game became serious enough to engage her life. She won’t became a good spy any time soon. But she know the first step to escape a trap : to know the trap exist.

Sixth level (fighter): the warrior lady
Somehow, the discreet approach failed. Garavel must now train her for life and death situations. No more posh diners and secret negotiations. She is to be hardened by physical training. Her weaponmaster prepare her to survive to a fight on foot and on horse, in the street, in a boat or in the desert. Garavel insisted to teach her to swim, an uncanny skill for a noble lady in a desert country. But in a port, this is definitevely a secret asset.
By know, the Pactmasters consider her a viable investment.

Seventh level (aristocrat) : the Beya of Kelmarane
She has reached her goal. She has lost allies and gain others. She has fought gnolls scimitar in hand on the streets of Kelmarane. Now she is the only reason for irreconcilable tempers to work together at protecting and nurturing her town. The only thing to do when you are at the top of the ladder is to lengthen the ladder.

Feats
-----
As we know her life, choosing her five feats is more a question of roleplay than optimization.

• Alertness
• Persuasive
• Defensive combat training
• Improved initiative
• Leadership

The improved initiative is a requirement of Garavel and the spymaster. As she won’t be the toughest in a fight, she must be the quickest. For the same reason, Garavel teached her to counter the common warrior tricks.

By attaining her status of ruler, she also gained the leadership feats. Lvl 7 + +2 cha + generous Rep + own town = 7+2+1+2 = 10+2
Cohort lvl 7 ; 8 Henchmen lvl 1

Gear
----
I have followed the guidelines for NPC. as she has access to ressource far above the common adventurer, she could easily be more equiped. By I choose to keep her a patron with political power, leaving the PC as the more suited to do the adventure.

scimitar +1 , mwk dagger (the mark of her ruler status), +1 ring of protection, hot weather outfit, noble’s outfit, Mwk Cuirasse agile, light wood shield, merchant-princess trappings.
whatever potions she care to demand from zastoran.

the dagger
----------
a word about her masterwork daggger.
As i use Ultimat Campaign to manage Kelmarane, I took the oriental tradition of displaying the nobility with an elaborated kindjall. All members of Kelmarane concile received one, even PCs. As there is no historical Prophet to be heir of, gold and silver plating don't symbolize the family branch but the status : gold for the highest leader (Almah Bey) and silver for her Emir/Akim/whatever.

hello i am back;

lockdown, wife on Covid unit, youngers' school explode,... it has been busy months.

now that i look again, i cannot figure how work the abilities bonus. some seems fin, other don't. two rulers with a 18 can have a bonus of +4 or +5. it doesn't seems to be a question of prestige.
As the formulas are not build the same way in urule and ucam, it is difficult to say if the different results come from different algorithms.

could you please explain me what "Tarondor Variant" is ?

Hello chemlak

i have been transporting data from Ucam to Urule sheet.

I discovered that same characters with same stats give different bonus for L / S / E. urule lower the economy and raise stability. i first though it was the action of Edicts that are not calculated the same way or badly copypasted PC stats. but there seems to be several sources.

I also saw that Urule won't easily adapt the population density. my town is on the border of desert along gnoll infested mountains. a density of 10 is good enough. the difference is poplation between the two shhest make me estaimated de Urule Pop.Density as hardcoded at 48. it is no surprise that the base value goes from 1000 to 6500.
Any idea where is the formula with this constante ?

So, the PC are now in charge of Kelmarane.

as planned, Garavel is vizir in charge of treasurery, which means i crush the Numbers in XL spreadsheets. as Bey of kelmarane, Almah manage the council and act as judge when problems are not for the Watch or the executer to resolve. Judge is a function that lack in UC, if you ask me.

PC have taken these functions : Marshal, general, councelor, police. they are now adressed as Sayyid or Sayadina, have received a silver mastercraft customized dagger that are badges of their nobility, and they gather at a council meeting once a month.
Felliped, Oxvard, Zastoran and the sorcerer former PC have functions too.

the PC druid decline an official function (mainly because the 10 y.O. player state he doesn't want to play anymore). I play it as their explorer, roaming the mountains and the desert with his lion companion, and sending animal Messenger when the idea appear to him. this way, the players are reminded that the world still existe out there.

They have not been very active to stretch their realm. they just conquered the old tower of the north pass (by setting it ablaze, to be frank). But they still didn't set a foot in nethys temple ruins, brass hook, or anywhere far. thus the druide explorer.

I am playing with the idea of acting the council meetings on liber-mundi, a french web plateform well designed to play by mail (originally to manage a full Vampire the Masquerade city Campaign).

BTW, i was wondering which government would actually plan and finance a Black Market ?

even if they need it for shady trade, it would be easier and cheapr to let unruly citizens build it themselves and deny have knowledge about it.

I am happy to have found how to manage terrain improvement. it Doesn't appear at first glance in the sreadsheet.

Now, while making the monthly city report, i happen to regret two missing things for a proper management. None are RAW UC rules, but are understated.

the first is a calendar.
It doesn't suffise to say that you have 12 holidays by year, that give such and such bonus.
My PCs legitimely ask what month we are and how is called this religious festival and when start the rain season and how much time is left before the city parade.
there is way to be both useful and creative here.

the secund is a log.
when Pc ask "when did we build that tannery, again ?", i cannot answer because the sheet says that there is a tannery, an alchemist lab, two mills and 17 houses; but not when was acquired which.
for functionnal management, it is not that important. but for roleplay, characters are supposed to know that Undrella the alchimist harpy changed place two months ago and that the old tannery Doesn't stink sulfur anymore since she has now her own labs on the other side of the river.

it is a big task.
it change the architecture of the spreadsheet. So i understand that someone would hesitate to start it, as i hesitate myself.

But it would be nice. If soemone is up for the job, i may suggest hints.

The Community

The concept of isolated city in a 10 miles sized hexagone is quite alien to me.

I live in a country where wilderness is a place from where you cannot see a streetlamp. Even in the wood, it is hard to find.

In the middle-age, hamlets wasn't 20 miles away from each other. No town could have survive without the support of other nearby villages.

So why should my PC explore and conquer 40 by 40 miles area to found only 4 villages ? It doesn't make sense.

RPG is a simulation game and all that jazz. But as Bartle titled me Explorer, the coherence of rules and worlds are of importance to me.

I intend to write here some questions that cross my mind when i read PF books, and more precisely UC.

I Don't really expect answers. Not that content me, that is. But your contributions may bring Wind in my sail.

RPD is a simulation game and all that jazz. But as Bartle titled me Explorer, the coherence of rules and worlds are of importance to me.

I intend to write here some question that cross my mind when i read PF books, and more precisely UC.

I Don't really expect answers. Not that content me, that is. But your contributions may bring Wind in my sail.

health first.
take your time.

OK good news.

Now, is there an user manual ? most cells contents are straight forward or easily linkable to UCam rules. but somes seems to imply a process that is not given.

for an example, there is a cell supposed to contain BP. but how will the sheet manage the upkeep or take account of a new sponsor?

Curiously, the problem appear and disappear without visible Reason. i have checked the formula with no resulte. right now, all works well. weird.

could you relieve me from a doubt in my mind. when you click F9, something is supposed to happen, right ?
i found no macro. which is not surprising since the sheet saved in XLSX and not in XLSB.
What have I miss ? could the macro only work on the online version ?

Hi there.

I have notice a glitch. When high Priest is vacant, his bonus is N/A, … which put N/A in the calculation of stability… which in turn become N/A.

It could be easily solve by adding a default value in your enbedded IF.

I didn't notice it for other leadership functions.

(didn't read the 18 pages. hope i am not the 23° to spot it).

Marvellous work, by the way.

I had the idea too. and I care buying ultimate Campaign for it.

Now, I am quite embarrased because the merchand arena stats would mkae it WAAAAYYY above a sensible price for a building. suffise to say that it cost more than all the players can earn at Almah service or pilfering a nearby forgotten pyramid.

another point is that the mapping of the area is less than perfect. from the source to another, Kelmarane is near or far from the moutains and of the commercial road. it has a dockmaster building but the river is so minor it Don't appear on katapeh maps. we are far from Kingmaker game material.

it means that i have to do it by myself and contradict more than once what Paizo said about this part of the world.
If someone have work on it, i'll take it gladly.

Garavel will obviously be th vizir of Almah , Bey of kelmarane. a caranserail will have to be build and staffed. Survivor of The Lions could found a local chapter of the pathfinder society (which give human ressource for 1° level adventures if the players want to try alternative PC).
a Master of Vault will be Handy very soon. Nephtys has already a an in the place, and Sarenrae Church can retake its position in Kelmarane quite easily. 3 priests in this little town will probably create some religious conflicts.

as some OP above, I consider Kelmarane to be on highland and not desert… because it is what state the AP and it make sense with the Dafour regio that inspire this game setting.

Here are the considerations that I'm making:

- Add a wandering monster: a ghost (haven't decided exact incorporeal undead type yet) of the paladin referenced above that attacks anyone who spends too much time in the fields of Pesh
-- After destroyed, the Paladin reappears the subsequent night
-- Once Kelmarane has been settled and...

sound like the ghost in Iron Gods

The point is debatable.
Gnolls are well know esclavagists, and gnolls happen to be the main troop to eradicte.
stating to almah Bey that "we won't act like gnolls. If you want us keeping the reconquested Kelmarane, you have to ban slavery".

Now, you can do Something more grec or medieval than arabian of your slavery. slaves being in fact life-employees of their patron, ho has the only roght to police and judge them (and not some bloodthirty outsider noble). the famous knight vow extended from the king to the peasan. king are sometimes irated at the plain stupid uneducated peasans, but he needs them to eat and to give food to his soldiers and experts. it is very near of our actual wage-slave paperpushers in any enterprise you can name.

my group did it well without spell-caster for a while. but after the take of the monastery, they found they lack of firepower. so father zastoran check his nethys network to engage a sorcerer-on-wage. soon a new player took the NPC and plyaed it more vividly than i could.

Kelmarane has Fallen !

and the 3D flipmat of the arena that this thread inspired me was more than useful.

Would you care sharing your photoshoped map ?

when I have asked my family digital artist, she reply that the whole thing must be vectorized and that she Don't have a Week to do this for a game.