Hey, and thanks in advance to anyone who has advice and thoughts to share on this topic.
I'm going to run my very first game of Pathfinder soon, and want to do things a little differently from the PF baselines. Specifically, my campaign is going to be grounded in a much more realistic mechanics system that tamps down hard on the epic fantasy assumptions of the baseline. My specific design goals here are:
- Keep things feeling "real" across levels. Being stabbed in the gut with a knife should always be a troubling thing, no matter what level you are; and even the greatest heroes should be worried about what happens when 20 level 0 goblins have them surrounded. And just because I'm a level 20 mage should not mean I'm better at shoving people around than a level 1 Fighter who has invested massively into Str and Athletics. Levelling up lets you get better at the things you invest in, not just getting arbitrarily better at everything.
- Make combat feel a bit more like real life, where getting wounded doesn't simply mean "still feeling just dandy, but marginally closer to keeling over dead!". Getting stabbed, slashed, or smashed by weapons should always feel meaningful, without opening the door to hyperrealistic one-shot player deaths.
Also to introduce more fun, interesting considerations to how players choose their weapons. I've always disliked how D&D has always treated a d12 sword and a d12 spear as essentially the same once they stick you (putting aside resistances, which generally only come from magical effects), and it erases the real-world rationales between different kinds of weapons.
So, here is the in-house system I'm planning to use:
1: I'm adopting the variant rule to remove Level from proficiency bonuses, this is the relatively easy part.
2: New mechanics for additional wounding mechanics on-hit, as follows:
- Whenever a hit lands, the natural die roll for the attack is compared to a threshold to determine if it is a Solid Blow or not. This threshold is calculated as:
10 + Defender's Fortitude bonus + Defender's armor bonus - Attacker's weapon Potency, maximum 20.
Whenever the natural d20 roll for the attack meets or exceeds this value, and the attack is a hit, it is a Solid Blow, with additional effects based on damage type:
- Slashing: Slashing weapons are designed to open grievous, bleeding wounds on unarmored targets. Their effectiveness against armor is severely diminished, but they should be terrifying to unarmored or lightly armored targets.
On a Solid Blow, a Slashing weapon applies Persistent bleeding damage to the target equal to the damage die type of the weapon, -1 step for each point of Armor bonus to AC. So, a d10 damage Slashing weapon against +3 armor would inflict 1d4 bleeding damage per turn.
- Piercing: Stabbing wounds penetrate deep, even if they're not as gruesome as slashing wounds, and are effective at applying force to weak areas on an armored target. A solid blow from a piercing weapon has 3 effects:
- inflict 1dx persistent bleeding damage, where x is their Str or Dex bonus, as appropriate to the type of attack
- when determining if the attack was a critical hit only, add the attacker's Strength or Dexterity to their attack total, depending on which stat was applied to the attack roll (ie, armor does less to prevent hits from becoming Critical Hits)
- the DC to remove the persistent bleed damage is increased by the attacker's Str or Dex bonus, again as appropriate to the type of attack (a small, deep hole in your gut isn't going to bleed as profusely as a huge gash, but is a lot trickier to staunch)
- Bludgeoning weapons lack the raw killing power of bladed attacks, but have the significant capacity to knock down or otherwise disable an opponent to allow for a coup de grace, and are particularly effective at pummeling heavily armored targets into submission. On a Solid Blow from a bludgeoning weapon:
- Inflict upon the target either the Shove effect, or knock them Prone
- If the hit was a Critical Hit, inflict Stunned X, where X is your Str or Dex bonus, depending on the type of attack
I have some additional modification to how persistent damage is handled that I'll circle back to later, but for now, I'd love the advice of the community on how these rules will play in terms of balance, keeping combat intense but not "oops ur dead lol", and maintaining a more down-to-earth, violence-is-scary feel. Particularly, if there are any character builds that get under or overpowered, or if there are other mechanical interactions I should be considering, I thank you for your insights!
Hey guys. The current internet situation is a bit more dire than I thought- long story short I thought I'd be able to post from work, which turned out to not be so. Borrowing a phone to check in now. Hopefully this will be sorted out in the 4th permanently. Appreciate your patience with me! Till then bot freely
Still alive and kicking here- very much under the gun right now, although gratefully due to some very positive (but demanding) changes in life circumstances.
I'm going to have diminished internet access for the next few weeks- I'll still be doing my best to post as often as I can, and give a quick shout when proper IC posting isn't feasible. Thanks all for bearing up with me. The hardest part is, I think, over soon. Godspeed!
Who is holding the magic incense? We'll probably need that right about now.
Or failing that, a gang of plucky teenagers and a cowardly dog who are willing to pull the ghost's mask off and reveal that it was Old Man Witherspoon all along?
Being as far as imaginable from a martial concept, Himarek doesn't look like he'll be joining y'all, so congratulations to the few and the proud, and I'll be looking forward to lurking on this game and seeing what you get up to- godspeed!
A bazillion apologies for my unannounced absence here. There's never any good excuse for this sort of thing- the most I can say for myself is that life has been quite extra extra lately, and on the occasions I've managed to sit down to get to the things that really matter in life, like helping my fellow wayfarers out of a jam, my laptop has exploded or the cat's on fire or some other nonsense has come up. It wouldn't have stopped me from checking in though, so really it comes down to a lack of character on my part.
This should be the last time y'all have to wonder where I'm at. Back to work!
Sorry for the confusion- the stat block you saw there was copy-pasted over from another character as a template. This should read Human Bard (Hoaxer). 99% finished statting up, and I'll most likely have it finished up completely by end of the week.
If this will be an issue for spiritualist's "divine" roll in the party then I can easily play something else!
If it's at all helpful to mention- my Hoaxer build is sort of a pseudo-divine caster in certain respects. I'm giving him the Healing hex to start, meaning he'll be able to CLW each person once per day, plus his actual spells, and later on (depending on how far the game takes us) he'll start being able to lift curses and stuff, so perhaps it's feasible to sort of spread out the divine role over more than one character.
(Also planning to take the Evangelist of Sarenrae prestige class later on, should we make it to the mid-level tier, so that'll shore up his healing abilities even further at that point)
It looks to me like there's quite a bit of competition for the arcane slot, and little to none for the skills-based slot, so I'm shifting gears, but want to check in on the viability of a concept.
I was thinking of playing a Hoaxer bard, who used to sell counterfeit religious relics before having a vision of a divine being- possibly Abadar, Zohls, Desna, or something unidentifiable- and repenting his deceitful ways became a faithful seeker and guardian of holy relics.
My concern is that the hoaxer's class feature's are very much dependent on social interaction with intelligent, non-hostile beings, so I'm not sure if they'd be useful in this campaign- while I don't mind being less-than-optimized, I'd also rather not have half my character sheet be meaningless, so I'd appreciate some input on this!
On the topic of the "age and experience stipulation":
I like the idea generally speaking, but have difficulty squaring it with the basic premise of PC classes. While it's not too hard to imagine an arcane caster who hasn't done much interesting except study in an arcane academy, it's a bit tougher to imagine a full-fledged Fighter who's led a "mundane, normal life"- where'd he get all that fighting experience?
Or a Bard, for instance- the basic premise of the class is that you've already been a bit of a world traveller and managed to pick up a handful of magical secrets here and there. Hard to conceptualize such a character who's not done or seen much interesting ever.
Would you be willing to expand a little bit on this topic so I can make sure my concepts are within the frame you're setting for the game?
These all look pretty cool robothedino, I would warn that this campaign isn't well suited to a non small mounted class.
Also, its good alignments only :)
Thanks for the heads up on the mounted issue- it tempts me to rework my half-orc barbarian warlord as a halfling or gnome, which is equal parts scary and hilarious.
To be honest, I've never really grokked D&D's alignment system. The first and third very much think of themselves as "doing good", although the people whose toes they step on would tend to disagree- on the other hand, the second very much does not think of himself as good, but an outside observer would probably classify him as a "good man". None of them are psychopaths, or amorally pragmatic; hope that qualifies as "good"...
Edit: Just caught the bit under "Age and experience"- that nixes the second concept, so I'm zeroing in on the third, pending any intense competition for the arcane slot. A brash, know-it-all wunderkind sounds right for that milieu anyway.
Looks super cool! Going to pitch a couple of concepts here for feedback from any who want to offer some, in the interests of settling on one to flesh out that meets the needs of the group as a whole:
* A half-orc half-Shoanti bloodrager (bloodrider) who believe he's destined to unite the Shoanti and the orcish hordes into a hybrid empire, crush Korvosa and the other Chelish colonies in Varisia, and most likely take over the entire world.
* A Molthuni ex-spy (Snoop Rogue) who lost everything when he went too deep into his cover story and forgot where his loyalties lay. Left in bitterness to make a living in Daggermark as a "house detective", but looking for something worth risking his life for again, and redemption for his past failures.
* A rebellious arcanist who was thrown out of Korvosa's Arcanaeum for his unorthodox magical theories and inability to keep his mouth shut when his betters had the floor. Has every intention of coming back to Korvosa when he's powerful and experienced enough to make the bastards admit that he was right all along.
I'll put a token for Ojukokoro down too. Just be aware that once Ojukokoro is a combatant then they are also a valid target. I don't make a habit of killing PCs, infact I have never killed a PC ever, but just warning that it may happen.
Wouldn't have it any other way! I finally have finished stat blocks in the profile for both Mbende and Ojukokoro, so do your worst! (And of course, let me know if anything doesn't look right to you).
Still working on getting the equipment part of both of them adjusted, will have that done ASAP.
In case anyone's wondering what's become of our illustrious GM, I stalked his profile a bit and looks like he's out to Paizocon this weekend- hopefully he'll be back with us shortly.
I'd love to run/play something like Fate here, but last time I tried there was very little interest.
FATE is, in my humble opinion, the single best RPG system ever devised, and I'd stop at nothing to get in on some of that if you could find likeminded people.
GM Omelas wrote:
Anyway, going back to the actual question at hand: I'll have a think on what I have here and propose something once we're closer to the end of Hangman's Noose. Staying in Absalom makes sense, though I believe we would have to rely on scenarios as there are no other modules set in the city.
If designing a handmade plot is more work than you're able to put in at the moment, what about something more loose and sandboxy? I think based on what we've seen here that this group is up to the task of generating their own motivations and pushing a story forward without needing to have a wizard hand out quests for them, and Absalom is so chock-full of built in plot hooks, you really don't need to do much more than crack open the book and say, "Ok, they're going to the Puddles today- which of these 10 NPCs shall they run up against?"
(I feel that, in the very best games, "plot" doesn't exist- the characters do stuff, the world responds, and vice versa, but there's no real plan beyond that, and the story that comes out of it is way better than whatever any one person could have planned out on their own.)
(Side note: Does the module as written really have us making knowledge rolls to know what a dog is? If so, why no Knowledge: Engineering roll to recognize the tower as a building, and not a weirdly-shaped mountain?
I have no points in Profession: Cobbler, really hope my character doesn't have to roll to distinguish between his shoes and his weapons...)
Thanks a lot, Ietsuna. One final request- while it may be unorthodox/suboptimal, I do plan to make use of Ojukokoro in combat for flanking/aid other actions. This combat looks to be over in a few moments, but in future ones can piggy have a token and action as well?
I know that makes extra work for you- if there's some way to lighten the load, let me know.
That's fine robothedino. As long as I have a sheet to look at. I can give you a link to a pre-formatted template for a forum alias if you would like that.
That'd be swell, thanks!
That said, realized I made a few oversights on the sheet I uploaded, which I'm correcting now, namely:
Was short 1 language (adding Elven)
Replacing Weapon Familiarity with Behind the Veil
Adjusting his prepared spells for the day, replacing Shadow Trap with Cure Light Wounds
Also, not sure if it's legal or not, but I'd love for Ojukokoro to have some Small-sized saddlebags, since Mbende can barely stand up straight in his basic leather armor and will need some help carting around his gear. Is this in bounds?
If you'll all forgive me, I'd like to indulge in a little sentiment for a moment.
I'm an expat living in an unsettled country, freshly divorced, working in a high-pressure and unremunerative job, and in many ways my life is, to put it lightly, a little pear-shaped these days. Not bad, per se, just a bit chaotic and unsettled, and with a greater dose of uncertainty than most humans are prone to enjoy or thrive in.
This game is something I look forward to each day. I get off work, and my first priority is to see whether Talib is going to get stern with Skurly, how Talienda is going to cope with the next trauma, what pithy quip Mylok is going to drop, what beauteous horror our GM is going to expose, and how I'm going to respond to it all. Thanks to all of you for making this a truly stand-out experience for me- and this is coming from someone who has avoided D&D and high fantasy generally for many years as an "immature" genre in the medium.
If there's any willingness to keep this group together after the end of the module and fold it into a campaign proper, I for one will be rah-rahing it the whole way. If not, I'll keep happy memories of the experience with me regardless, and if Skurly sees action in other campaigns he'll speak wistfully of his dear friends Talib, Talienda, Sinesiel, Rissi, and Mylok.
That is to say, assuming we make it out of here alive.
Quick rules question- is Fighting Defensively per core rules no longer a combat option, under the "Feat Tax" rules as we are playing them? I assume so, but if not I would have taken that option on my attack.
Thanks very kindly, Trishadow- a true gentlecreature!
I have a halfling Shaman (Tribe spirit) I'd like to put in- he's a focused support specialist, with a Mascot-archetype familiar. His Tribe spirit grants him the Stealth Synergy teamwork feat, and allows him to grant it to allies several times per day, so the group will be well-equipped for skulking around as a group.
He's also a pretty effective face, with a +10 to Diplomacy after counting in his pig familiar bonus.
I'll get him properly statted up soon- looking forward to the game!
It looks like Ietsuna's dance card is filled- very much interested in getting underway as a fledgling Pathfinder, so any other dirt-league games that might spring up will have my dubious talents available to their cause.
I've seen many PbP games fall apart for a failure of forward momentum; never seen one actually suffer long-term for one player's enthusiasm becoming excessive. Always a treat to see what Talib's going to do and say next, for my part.
@robo: no problem. I appreciate when anyone takes some licence to make things more interesting and try to reward that sort of behaviour whenever possible. Just one request: whenever you move during combat, please move your pawn on the maps
Certainly! I would have done so in this case, but the place he would be moving to (or if it was a valid action at all) wasn't clear to me yet as the location/existence of the cover wasn't define, so I left him in place pending your feedback.
Question: In the main hall where Malgrim was killed, is the remaining chandelier suspended by a pulley system or is it fixed, and in either case, is it rope or chain holding it up? Or, if this is the kind of thing I might need to roll to notice/remember, what's the appropriate roll and action type?
@Mylok: If you can't beat 'em... take cover and stall till you have a better idea!
I took a small liberty, or perhaps better to say interpretive license, with the scene. Hope it wasn't overstepping the bounds of setting- in a face-to-face game I would have asked before just going for it, but don't want to slow down the action.
Have to apologize for being a little in the wind these days- work is kicking my ass as well. By way of atonement, Skurly is taking one for the team. : )
Also super up for Iron Gods- I'd like to submit a halfling Mwangi shaman who's far from home and looking for a grand tale to bring back to his tribe. Support specialist for a hyper-coordinated party!
I'm brand new to Pathfinder, but would love to have a PFS-legit game going, as I love the idea of being able to advance a character over time in a PbP setting. Since I'm a fledgling still, I'd only be eligible for Tier 1 games- if that's something others are up for, then count me in.
Can anyone enlighten me as to how the dice system on the site works with respect to "remembering" rolls? A moment ago my Religion roll was a 25 and my attack roll was a 20, and in the past it's seemed to me that rolls would remain static after making edits- now it seems to have re-rolled my dice, having made an edit. At the end of the day, random is random, but I'm a bit curious as to what the expected behavior is.
Against my better judgment, something I should clarify about Skurly's stat block- the "+2 against fear" there is a total, not an additional bonus. His Craven racial trait gives him a -2 vs. fear effects, so his +4 Will save is modified to +2. The same is true for his initiative score- while he has at least 1 Luck point he gets an extra +2 to initiative, for a total of +6, not a +6 bonus on top of his regular +4.
Should this be formatted differently for clarity, and express them as a modifier rather than a total?
What's the etiquette on posting turn order here for non-combat scenes? I'm dying to get another post in but I don't want to be "greedy" about it and apart from Talib the other characters haven't yet responded to the new prompt. Is this "sharing is caring", or "devil take the hindmost"?
So we end the first week on a cliffhanger of sorts =)
Folks, just wanted to say this was an incredible first week. Great work, everyone, I am really enjoying how you're developing your characters and interacting with each other and the NPCs.
It's not all that often that I'm in a PbP where I have that feeling of, "Damn, I better bring my A game to keep up with this bunch". Truly excellent material from all parties, and feeling very privileged to be included here!
Quick mechanical question/note- if this falling debris damage Skurly took were part of a "Reflex save for half damage" type thing, he'd have the option to spend a Luck point to take no damage via his Opportunistic Evasion class feature. If that's so, I'd love to get a "lucky break" there. : )
Thinking a Halfling Investigator, modeled on the classic "fat kid" from every tween adventure movie ever- kinda naive and a bit of a soft touch, a bit of a bumbler, but comes through with the unexpected bit of insight or unorthodox ally that saves the day in the end. I'm happy to adjust that as needed if it's too light-hearted for the tone of the game (although I do think every horror story needs an innocent).
Alternate, contrary concept: A hardened skull-cracking brute who thinks he's seen all the darkness the world has to offer, and is about to find out that there's much worse things out there than he'd ever imagined...
I have a great feeling about this game- partly due to the consistently excellent command of English shown in the posts thus far, but much more so for the inviting and unpretentious tone. Count me in!
1. Mbende Tumbleup , NG Halfling Druid
2. Mbende hails from faraway Garund, a member of a reclusive jungle tribe from the region of Chelish Sargava. While still a youngster apprenticed to the tribe's shaman, he was taken into slavery by Chelaxian raiders and brought in chains to Kintargo. Since the liberation of Rahoumel, he's regained his freedom, and is intent on working his way back home- but not before he has a grand tale to tell his people, and the power and wisdom to make sure they can never be preyed upon by the greedy tallfolk of the Inner Sea again!
3. Mbende is a consummate trickster, and endlessly resourceful. In combat he relies on evasion, deception, and creative use of terrain to hinder and frustrate enemies while his bigger brothers deliver the felling blow. Outside of combat, his bizarre (by Inner Sea standards) appearance and endless repertoire of folklore, along with a shaman's flair for ritual drama, make him adept at capturing the attention of anyone he chooses. Whether scouting ahead on silent feet, provisioning the party with the fruits of the land, offering unorthodox counsel for unfamiliar problems, or entrancing a crowd with tales of the faraway, he's a veritable Swiss army knife of novel solutions.
I'm going to reach out to the players I'm interested in having join to come and have that discussion amongst themselves.
Is this indicating that if we haven't been contacted already, we won't be, and the cast is set? Just want to know if I should be looking for other trees to bark up- in either case, best wishes for a good game.
Thoroughly interested- the ethos of the game as described fits my druthers quite nicely.
I have absolutely 0 familiarity with Rise of the Runelords, for better or for worse; in terms of the themes and moods that trip my trigger, I like a mix of dark humor, desperation, and always salted in a measure of sincere hopefulness. Collaborative character design is a great measure, in my opinion- my biggest gripe with most games is the sense that the PCs are more like a bunch of strangers on a train rather than a band of brothers/sisters (not to suggest it needs to be "all for one, one for all"- sibling rivalry is as old as Cain!).
Human Investigator (Steel Hound)
Concept: Scholarly provocateur/engineer
Quote
“The stars will continue turning tomorrow, whether we think well of it or not. But that does not mean we cannot steer their course, at least a little; we can tip the rubble of time and history to one side or another, send it tumbling down another course if we are both wise and bold. The edifices of our time seem eternal to us, but none are so solidly built that they could not come crashing down if the right stones are moved.
So I say: fire at will.”
Slender, lithe, and bearing large, dark eyes with an alert but impassive gaze, Emmen has something of the look of a deer- but look closer at those wide black eyes, and you’ll see more of the shark in him. He’s pale-skinned, with thin, brown hair swept to the side of a high-domed brow. His mouth is small and straight, and humorless when not split wide in complete hilarity. He moves with an efficient, precise step and straight limbs, almost giving the suggestion of a clockwork soldier.
His dress favors straightforward, practical clothes, but sometimes fastened or arranged in eccentric ways that suit his habits better, such as tucking the leather apron skirt he wears in the workshop or laboratory over his shoulder out on the street when occupied with a project.
Personality:
Emmen is a difficult man to like; even harder, most find, to argue with. A lifetime of scorn from his brothers and disappointment in the false promises of the Chelaxian order have left him inured to the opinions of others, and disdainful of convention. He has the savvy to hold his tongue in the presence of superiors, as all Chelaxians must if they wish to survive to adulthood. But among equals and lessers he tends to ignore shows of courtesy and solidarity, operating with a mechanical efficiency and utility that wins few hearts. This lack of amity isn’t a sign of bitterness or arrogance, really; mostly, he has little faith in the power of others to give him anything of value until proven otherwise, and concentrates his energies on his own designs.
Conversely, to those who have impressed him with their wit, imagination, audacity, or daring, Emmen is an ideal “partner in crime”: eager to escalate to ever-more brazen and convoluted schemes to disrupt and transform the stagnant order around them. He laughs rarely, but when provoked, does so with a raucous caw that tends to startle those not expecting it. Similarly, he’s surprised many a casual acquaintance for his reverence for the performing arts. While most Chelaxians of any station whatsoever should at least appear to appreciate the opera, Emmen’s enjoyment of it is nothing less than rapturous. And, even more surprisingly, he takes almost equal pleasure in the base japeries of minstrels and halfpenny street buskers. Those who know him well understand this: Emmen sees that stories are how all new things begin, in the imagining of a world not quite our own. Contrary to first blush, he values the ineffable dynamism of the arts just as much as the earth-shaking power of technology, so long as those embellishments serve to create new truths rather than prop up dead ones. Satire, if it is of any merit at all, rarely fails to please him; conversely, the most poignant morality play will earn a shrug, at best.
Audacious as he might be, Emmen is mortal, and as such, knows fear. His greatest horror is that of irrelevance, of passing from the world without leaving so much as a fading ripple to mark his leaving. He could face a horrific public crucifixion with manly resolve, if he thought it might serve to expose the weakness and venality of a corrupt order. But to be consigned to an oubliette, to live out his life in unchanging and meaningless darkness- this thought gives him night terrors. He knows that, if it comes to that, he’ll happily die a thousand times over before he’s brought to such an empty end.
Ideologically, Emmen has a sophisticated belief structure based on the concept of “punctuated equilibrium”- a historical process defined by stable holding patterns which are periodically disrupted at tipping points, minor changes which produce a radical change. Water heated to a certain point is simply hot water- but just one degree hotter, and it becomes something else entirely, called steam! These critical phase transitions fascinate him, and he believes that they represent something like “master threads” in a grand pattern of the universe’s inevitable unfolding. This is as close as he comes to piety; while he pays respect to Brigh, Norgorber, and Nethys when an oath or curse is called for, to Emmen the gods are as much a part of the Grand Design as mortals, and no more so its architects than himself.
Background:
Ancestry
The Stelydnyzky family has soldiered for the glory of Cheliax since before the rise of House Thrune, with unstinting pride and distinction. With deep roots in Kintargo, Stelydznyzkys have fought in almost every major engagement in Chelaxian history, from the famed naval victory over Taldor at Odrapayan Pass to the doomed charge of the Plain of Torabreyn. While never having risen to the status of nobility, the Stelydznyzkys are landed, well-respected gentry with an old name in the city and a reputation to uphold in the eyes of the Imperial authorities.
Emmendonius is the youngest of Barkoliu Steledznyzky’s four children. His father has enjoyed an uneventful but honorable career in the 148th Cavalry Battalion of the Chelaxian Imperial Army; primarily a ceremonial posting as commanding officer of the honor guard to various Chelaxian nobles. Still, his dedication to honor and tradition did not fail his ancestors, and he raised his children for service to the Thrice-Damned Throne.
Childhood
While his two older brothers grew up ruddy, hale, and full of the sententious pride of a true Chelaxian, Emmendonius was different. A sickly, willful child, his parents feared he might be a changeling of some sorty, with his too-wide stare and endless questions. While his older brothers played at being Hellknights and only let little Emmen join in as a slave or villain, if at all, he soon found he took more pleasure when playing alone- arranging and rearranging stones, making mock fortresses in the woods, burning things just for the pleasure of the flame. As a teenager, he’d watch the shipwrights assembling great vessels in the dockyards, or go to the opera with his sister. Despite an aptitude for magery which manifested at an early age, his father considered such pursuits beneath the dignity of a Steledznyzky man, and forbade Emmen from pursuing studies at an arcane academy.
Emmen’s revenge was to torment his father by turning the home itself against him- subtly repositioning doorhandles, swapping the places of similar household things, even some low-grade booby traps designed to look like bad coincidences. He had a knack for putting the right elements in place to create a minor disaster that couldn’t ever be directly traced back to himself, and Barkoliu’s “bad luck” didn’t change until he agreed to
This was only the most severe of the uncounted skirmishes that characterized relations between Emmen and his father in his tumultuous boyhood. His dealings with his brother were little kinder, and only his sister Ateliestria- who went on to become a notable tastemaker in Kintargan opera- was able to understand the visions he saw in the world, and the cravings he felt to see them acted out in concrete reality.
Early adventures
As a young man, and last of his family to rise to that role, many long shadows were cast over Emmen’s life and career. His eldest brother was an honored and dreaded Hellknight of the Order of the Pyre, and the second-eldest a distinguished captain and hardened veteran of the Chelaxian Imperial Navy. Emmen was eminently unsuited for an officer’s commission, and after much finagling on the part of his father, received a relatively lowly instatement as a cavalry sergeant. After a few humiliating mishaps- Emmen did not care for horses, nor they for him- he applied, under his own authority, for a transfer to an artillerist’s unit. There he served as a lowly sergeant, learning how to create and use machines of war.
Siege engineering was to Emmen as natural as breathing. He had an uncanny and intuitive understanding of what made things hold together, and therefore, how to take them apart. The crews he served on were always the first to assemble their trebuchet, and their deadly payloads always seemed to strike home at the critical point of failure for any wall or fortification they might be arrayed against. In his spare time, he used his salary and whatever money his family provided to purchase books on any subject possible- history, natural philosophy, the arts mechanical, or the secrets of alchemy. He was beginning to see the patterns of the world more sharply now, and the fascinating eddies that made them change completely, and a powerful sense of inspired thought guiding him toward the truth.
He first saw true combat at the age of 27, when an Isgerian warlord with grand ambitions overwhelmed a border fort and garrisoned it with lawless bandits, threatening a Chelaxian trade route. His regiment was deployed to drive out the brigand, root and stem, and make an example of him to all who would think to challenge the might of Cheliax. Emmen was placed under the command of one Captain Opriomus Jarvis, a hapless and unfit scion of a Great House of Cheliax who received his commission in spite of a complete ignorance of military doctrine. Emmen’s unit was ordered to deploy in the midst of a boggy field in a low depression, in order to reserve more comfortable and defensible ground to the division’s cavalry. Emmen protested as loudly as one could to a Chelaxian imperial officer and expect to survive it, to no avail.
As Emmen feared, the Isgerian saw the vulnerability, and capitalized on it. A small team of raiders stealthily infiltrated their camp at night, using the low ridges of the depression for cover. By the time the artillery unit knew they were under attack, it was too late. The soft ground made running almost impossible, and detached as they were from the main body of the regiment, they had no choice but to stand and fight.
It was brutal, bloody up-close fighting in the dark. The artillery crews fell like flies at first, before rallying with their backs to the erected war machines to prevent being taken from behind. Still, they were losing three of their own to every one of the attackers every minute. Emmen killed his first man that night, putting a crossbow bolt through the throat of a raider from close enough to have his face spattered with blood, and realized they were doomed without help from the cavalry, who had no idea yet what was happening in the camp.
Thinking desperately and searching for a plan, Emmen noticed something the made him pause. The raider he’d killed had a rare object in his belt- a pistol, and a horn filled with “black powder”. Emmen was familiar with the device only in theoretical terms, and had never handled one before. But he knew what black powder could do, and with the supply he’d taken from the raider he ignited the largest of the rock-throwers in the unit.
Within moments, the structure was engulfed in flame, and shedding a searing light on the camouflaged raiders, while also alerting the whole regiment that something wasn’t right. Emmen and a few survivors held out beside the flames, using the collapsing siege engine as a weapon of a different kind entirely- forcing the raiders into the path of billowing smoke and falling debris. They survived long enough for the light cavalry’s arrival to turn the slaughter around.
The next morning, when the main battle commenced, the artillery crews had been decimated. The fortifications of the enemy were still whole and sound when the first assault began, and while Cheliax won the day eventually, it was an uphill battle that cost many more lives than it needed to. Still galled over Emmen’s insubordinate behavior before, he charged him with willfully negligent attention to security, and ordered a 20-lash flogging as punishment. Emmen still has the scars on his back.
He emerged from that battle a different man, in more than one respect. A hopeless slaughter had taken place, all because men raised up by birth and a blind law could not roust themselves from their faith in their own entitlement and immunity from the unexpected. Jolting him out of his fantasies of proving his worth to the crown, his unexamined loyalty to Cheliax shattered overnight. A new design began to knit itself together in his mind- one woven of threads of cunning, inspiration, and above all: audacity! “Never again to be played as a pawn”, he swore to himself; and to this vow, he has never been untrue.
Beyond these rarefied epiphanies, there were others of a more base nature. The power of black powder had always fascinated Emmen from afar- now he had one an alchemical killing machines dropped right in his lap. Emmen tucked this find beneath his cloak, knowing full well to be found out risked execution (or worse)- a tactical blunder was one thing, theft from the Majestrix was another entirely. He was fully beyond the pale, now, but free of regret. A new horizon had unfolded before him, and he could no longer turn back from pursuing it, come what may.
He resigned from the army soon after, and following a period of wandering over a year or two, found himself a posting as a lay adjunct to the Citadel of Rivad of the Hellknight Order of the Rack. There he worked, patiently but tirelessly transcribing seditious texts, unauthorized research, fouling up raids and arrests with contrived accidents, and hampering the Order’s operation from within. Meanwhile, he took opportunities to practice his marksmanship in a disused dungeon of the Citadel, making his own black powder and working to the point he could take a rat on the run down in no more than 2 shots almost every time.
A few years passed in this way, before an uncannily perceptive inquisitor by the name of Vellimexius Ethriou came dangerously close to revealing Emmen’s blasphemous library. He resigned his post under a cloud of not-quite-damning suspicion, and for the first time in almost a decade, returned to his home of Kintargo.
Recent Events
With his father since passed, his mother declined into dotage, and of his siblings only his sister Ateliestria- now a formidable woman in her own right- residing in the city, Emmen has resumed his place in his ancestral home. Things are different now, though- there is a different smell in the air, the smell of flames and blood and something altogether new. He has a vision for the future; one of a Kintargo free of the Empire’s reach, and free to take strange new forms, whatever they might be. He sees in the nascent rebellion not a righteous cause, but simply the best available vehicle for the next turning of History’s wheel; and no matter what else might pass, he has every intention of remaining atop that wheel. Devils take the hindmost!
Interested! Here's a rough character outline as a placeholder and for feedback if desired:
Human Investigator, the third son of a respected Chelish military family. While his brothers distinguished themselves as officers, he was too frail and withdrawn for a military command, and found himself a low-ranking non-commissioned officer in a siege engineer unit. There he displayed a unique talent for putting big things together, and taking them apart.
This literal gift was paralleled by less tangible analogues- an analytical mind that was keen to dissect big problems and assemble big theories, as well as an inclination (compulsion even) to both create and destroy. The only thing that pleases him more than erecting a monolithic siege tower is watching an "impenetrable" curtain wall crumble to the ground. That same spirit applies to people, institutions... and perhaps nations. He's willing to watch Cheliax crumble into the footnotes of history just for the privilege of seeing what might take its place.
