dreadfraught's page

I decided to sidestep the issue: I borrowed or created (can't remember which) an idea that cannon-fodder monsters aren't even "living". Instead they form in places of Evil (for Golarion they ooze out of pits caused by Rovagug's influence) and when kill dissolve into shadows or goo or something. They're more like Evil Outsiders/Fey except with the Humanoid type because rules interactions. And they have little to no personality. They're there to be killed, what do they need a life-cycle for?

This sounds a bit like the origins for Minions, which makes them more than ok to wipe out.

14. Skeleton Toes These small, tough-skinned tubers grow in the wild in the lands south of the Barrier Wall mountains. Introduced to the Avistan ecosystem by Chelaxians, the plant has caused problems in southwestern Cheliax where it strangles out the native flora (in the gardening sense, not the roll for grapple sense). Although a common staple in both Garundi and Mwangi cuisine, adventurers should beware as they are poisonous when eaten raw. They are sometimes called Pharasma's Trumpets for their large white flowers.

15. Fire Figs Named for the intense red-gold of their fruit, fire figs are cultivated throughout Golarion, with the most prolific orchards located in the countries bordering the Inner Sea. They are a particular favorite of the Church of Calistria, who make an intensely sweet, even more intensely alcoholic wine from the fall harvest of the fruit.

This probably won't help much on the numbers front, but for structure the official random background generator does have a table for nobility with a little infomation on ranks, privileges, and responsibilities:

• Gentry: You are the child of a minor lord, lady, or noble with an income, hereditary land such as a manor, and titles. You likely grew up in a manor and your parents were paid tribute by peasants. Your parents serve a higher baron, count, or duke.

• Knight: You are the child of a knight, a noble with estates, titles, and lands who serves a lord. Your family has sworn an oath of fealty to a liege—such as a baron, count, or duke—and commits to military service in his or her name. As the child of a knight, you may serve as a squire to another knight while pursuing your own path to knighthood.

• Baron: You are the child of a baron or baroness, a noble responsible for a land encompassing several smaller manors that pay tribute. Your parents receive orders directly from the monarch, and you're expected to attend the royal court. You are entitled to hereditary estates, titles, and land.

• Count: You are the noble child of a count or countess. Your family members receive hereditary titles, land, and estates, and are among the most wealthy nobles in your domain. Knights and minor lords pay tribute to your family, and your parents attend directly to the monarch. You're expected to attend the royal court.

• Duke: You are the child of a duke or duchess, the most powerful noble in the realm apart from the royal family. Your parents attend directly to the monarch and have the highest place at court. Your lands, titles, and estates are significant, and many lords and knights serve under your parents' command.

• Minor Prince: You are the child of a prince or princess, and part of the royal family. You aren't the next in succession, but your power and wealth are grand indeed.

• Regent: You are a prince or princess, the son or daughter of the monarch. You owe fealty directly to your parents, and to no one else. Few command the power and wealth you do, and your presence inspires great respect, if not total awe, among those who kneel before the crown.

Which is why I want something more along the lines of does your character keep their word? Does your character actively try to be subversive toward laws and customs? Under what circumstances? Does your character have their own social ettiquate rules they follow? Does your character have issues with the notion of killing others? Where is the line drawn as to what is acceptible? When presented with a bunch of children who are orphaned by your actions, what would your character do? If death is not final, is it better to slaughter things and free them to their afterlife or to have them keep living?

But changing the alignment system is making a huge structural change to (what sounds like) something that can be discussed on a dm to player or player to player level. Encouraging your players to engage with their characters' personalities and motives past assigning them an alignment doesn't mean the system needs to be discarded. Especially since replacing it would probably require far more convoluted mechanics.

For example, let's use your question about enemies' orphaned children. Now, putting aside how the encounter with the parent(s) went down since that can be an entirely seperate moral dilemma, how does this play out? Are the children present, or are the adventurers called out later to give their thoughts on it? Or is it an abstract fact that tonight some child is going to bed parentless? If it's the last one, I'd argue it's not about good vs evil, but about empathy, which is not intrinsically moral.

A freedom fighter trying to overthrow a dictatorship and a lord's champion who upholds the laws of their kingdom can both be LG (assuming these are two different territories), and opposing alignments like CG and NE might have drastically different motives but agree on a course of action- that's not a bug, it's a feature.

I'd recommend some of Patricia Briggs' older books- she writes supernatural/paranormal stuff now that do suffer from the trope, but she used to write excellent high fantasy. When Demons Walk is one of my favorite rereads of all time, featuring a thief sorceress who goes undercover at court to find a serial killer.

The Firekeeper books by Jane Lindskold (first one is Through Wolf's Eyes) are good reads with a bit of magic and lots of politics. The main character is a girl who grew up with wolves and is brought back to civilization to become a player in the scheming at court.