Okay, here's where we can discuss the campaign and where I'll repost pertinent data for player reference.
“Baal preserved us, passing to us—through His might—the Divine right to rule.”
Through Baal’s cunning and strength, the Dwarven people survived the great wounding visited upon this Earth. They emerged from their subterranean strongholds to carve a great kingdom from the northern mountains. So the Iron Marches were formed.
“The land was forged, hammer to anvil, and the gifts of Baal were hidden within His creation.”
The Iron Marches are a vast expanse of mountains that encompass approximately 300 square miles. The region is riddled with valleys and lowland rivers that provide fertile land well-suited for growing wheat and other grains. The slopes of the vast mountains are well forested. Boar, deer, game birds, and other wild game are abundant, as are bears, eagles, and great hunting cats. The latter can be a danger to the sheep and stout highland cattle that free range on the slopes. The mountains themselves hide great veins of metal ore and gemstones.
“The will of Baal is the hammer of his faithful and they shall reap the rewards and riches of His creation.”
The Iron Marches are the ancestral homeland of the Dwarves. They live deep below the earth in fastnesses carved from the living rock. These fastnesses and Baal’s cunning allowed the Dwarves to survive the Wounding with little effect upon their communities. The humans that lived upon the surface did not fare as well. Baal led the dwarves to the surface and bestowed upon them the protectorship of the human race. As such, the Dwarves rule with benefice over their human charges, providing for them the word of Baal and the chance to get as close to the true god as a non-dwarf can be allowed. The Dwarves rule as Jarls and feudal Thanes over the humans, who till the land and herd sheep and cows. This is the will of Baal.
“And He shall bid His faithful: ‘Destroy the blasphemer, and put to the flame he who opposes My word.’”
The word of Baal is law. Outsiders are not to be trusted. The Dwarven regulars are called upon at times by the Jarl Moot to defend the Iron Marches from incursions by the Narok, barbarians from the Plain of Moving Ice to the northwest. Likewise, they patrol the border along the Dreaming Vales and the Everhaunt, mysterious and wild forests, to keep the taint of the fey from their lands. The Inquisitors conscript those humans that give themselves to Baal. This is the hand of Baal; ever vigilant, they ferret out blasphemers who follow dark fiends and wish to harm human and dwarf alike. The fires of the Inquisition will cleanse the Iron Marches of any infection that comes from the Sinking Lands to the South and of the taint of the fey-folk that dwell to the South and East. The Inquisition will embrace those who show no sin and no corruption, bringing them to swear fealty before the Jarl Moot.
Standard Races: At this point, no changes to the rules. Use the racial profiles provided in the Beta. Flavor-wise, halflings can be either sedentary or wanderers. Gnomes, despite their connection to the fey, are not distrusted or despised, due to long relations with the dwarves that extend back before the Wounding.
Standard Classes:
Clerics of Baal: The Voice of Baal (Ex): All clerics of Baal gain a +2 competence bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks. Intimidate is considered a class skill for clerics of Baal.
"Pagan" Clerics: Bluff, Disguise, and Stealth are considered class skills.
Paladins: Bluff, Disguise, and Stealth are considered class skills. Ironically, many of the human paladins in the Iron Marches revere Baal. They point to their granted abilities as proof of Baal's favor.
Wizards: As stated, there are no universal wizards; all are specialists, trained according to a distinctive teaching methodology. Warders (abjurers), Seers (diviners), and Visionmakers (illusionists) are accepted members of society in the Iron Marches and readily accepted in human villages. Dwarven Shapers (transmuters) are fairly common, and occasionally a loyal human who shows ability is taught the ways of this school. Necromancers are universally shunned, enchanters are looked upon as subversive, and Conjurers are unheard of.
Conjuration spells: Work as normal, unless it is a Summon Monster spell. Summon Monster spells will not be immediately available at the start of the campaign, due to their rarity. This portion of the art has been systematically wiped out by Baal's followers. Anyone seen utilizing such summoning spells is under immediate suspicion. Due to the Interdiction, evil outsiders cannot be summoned by these spells, unless the caster learns proper modifications that will allow him to summon a specific evil outsider already present on this plane. This requires access to the being's true name, among other things.
Some house rules to be aware of:
Weapon sizes: I find the rules as written to stretch my suspension of disbelief beyond its limits. A "small longspear," being smaller than a "medium longspear" should not be able to grant reach to a creature of Small size. A tiny warhammer amounts to nothing more than a sling bullet on the end of a pencil. Face it, a small greatsword isn't all that great. Therefore, I simply rule that light weapons can be wielded one-handed by small characters. One-handed weapons require two hands. It simplifies things and doesn't warp reality for the sake of "game balance."
Squeezing rules: The generic application of squeezing rules is just silly. I've seen horses move down a five foot wide avenue without having to slow to half speed. They can even canter with no problems. Squeezing rules will only apply when specifically indicated by me.
Hit Points:I'll be using the racial hp rules from the Beta.
Weapons and Armor:Given the situations in the Iron Marches, there are restrictions on available weapons and armor available, at least at the start of the campaign. Dwarves, being the lords and masters of the Marches, have no restrictions. Humans and halflings are limited in what they can wear and wield. Unless a human (or halfling) is specifically under the authority of the dwarves and specifically given armor and weapons to wield (i.e. as a conscripted member of a patrol or militia), they are limited to those things that serve a dual purpose, such as a farming implement, or a weapon that can be used for hunting. Weapons that are easily concealed are also available. Limitations to starting equipment are as follows:
Armor: Heavy armor is restricted to dwarves only. Gnomes have normal access to all light and medium armors. Halflings and humans may purchase padded, leather, studded leather, or hide. Scale or breastplates can be had if a character background would give the PC specific access to such materials (i.e. a fighter in the village militia, or a blacksmith's daughter).
Weapons: Again, dwarven access is unlimited. Gnome access is unlimited. Humans and halflings have access to the following:
Simple melee weapons: Dagger, punch dagger, light mace, heavy mace, sickle, morningstar, quarterstaff, shortspear, spear
Simple ranged weapons: dart, sling, javelin
Martial melee weapons: Throwing axe, light hammer, handaxe, light pick, sap, light flail, heavy pick, trident, warhammer, heavy flail, glaive, guisarme, greatclub, ranseur, scythe
Martial ranged weapons: shortbow, longbow
Exotic weapons: bolas, halfling skiprocks, hand crossbow, shuriken, net, whip.
Baal LN
Areas of Concern (AoC): creation, crafting, the forge, kingship, oaths
Domains: Artifice, Fire, Law, Nobility, Protection
Favored Weapon: Warhammer
Daena NG
AoC: the moon, freedom, hope, wonder, lunacy
Domains: Charm, Glory, Good, Liberation, Luck
Favored Weapon: Shortbow
Erda LG
AoC: the earth, fertility, birth, life, the harvest
Domains: Community, Earth, Good, Healing, Plant
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff
Kurnan CG
AoC: beasts, hunting, cunning, journeys, the wilderness
Domains: Animal, Chaos, Strength, Travel, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Longbow
Mimir N
AoC: knowledge, wisdom, language, history, magic, wells, gatekeeper of the afterlife
Domains: Knowledge, Magic, Repose, Rune, Water
Favored Weapon: Unarmed Strike
Mitra LE
AoC: raptors, the wind, vengeance, retribution, oathbreakers, conflict
Domains: Air, Evil, Law, War, Weather
Favored Weapon: Spear
Null CE
AoC: blackness, emptiness, entropy, dissolution, despair
Domains: Darkness, Death, Destruction, Evil, Madness
Favored Weapon: Scythe
Ran CN
AoC: the ocean, waves, typhoons, sea beasts, travelers at sea
Domains: Animal, Chaos, Protection, Water, Weather
Favored Weapon: Trident
Umbra NE
AoC: the night, shadows, secrets, temptation, hidden things
Domains: Charm, Darkness, Evil, Knowledge, Magic
Favored Weapon: Shortsword
Important Note: I'm willing to be flexible about the rules for divine bond. I don't see that a paladin should be confined by a deity's favored weapon. For example, if you'd like to worship Daena and take the weapon bond ability and use it with a weapon other than a shortbow, that would be fine by me.
hi shadowborn! a few questions
what are the rules for traits?
how many do we get?
where can i look the mup?
thanks
Rav
I took 2 which is standard. You can only get one per type (faith, combat, social, magic) you can get it here https://secure.paizo.com/traits or in the top of your downloads area.
Shadow I noticed you didn't add kukri to the list, was that a copy paste thing or did you change your mind?
Traits:
Each character can have two traits. They cannot both come from the same category.
Combat: No access to Fencer, Killer, or Resilient
Faith: No access to Child of the Temple
Magic: Change Hedge Magician to "reduce GP cost by 10%"; ignore XP cost
Social: No Child of the Streets, Rich Parents
If anyone would like to use racial traits from other sources, I'll need to see them.
hi shadowborn! a few questions
what are the rules for traits?
how many do we get?
where can i look the mup?
thanks
Rav
I took 2 which is standard. You can only get one per type (faith, combat, social, magic) you can get it here https://secure.paizo.com/traits or in the top of your downloads area.
Shadow I noticed you didn't add kukri to the list, was that a copy paste thing or did you change your mind?
That answers your questions for you. (Thanks, by the way.)
As for the kukri, it's still viable. It was a copy and paste and by the time I thought of adding it, it was too late to edit the post.
Three Oaks
Village, pop. 600
GP limit: 200gp Max Wealth: 6000gp
Persons of note: Zachary Steadwatch (Speaker), Jeron Wellard (Constable), Old Tom (Warder)
70% human, 25% halfling, 3% gnome, 1% dwarf, 1% other
Three Oaks is one of the largest human settlements in the Iron Marches, located along the northwestern border of the Marches. It is named for the trio of great trees that stand in the village square. These oaks are old, having been here long before the village grew up around them.
Economically, the village does well. It sits along a major overland trade route between steadings. The valley it sits in serves as a grazing area for the sheep ranchers and is fertile enough to provide a sizable surplus crop of barley and winter wheat. A forest nearby provides wild game.
The area is ruled over by Thane Dagnal Sparkhammer, the local dwarven lady. She will likely be succeeded by either her son or daughter, who were a rare twin birthing.
Sorry to hear that, Tarlane. Since you've already got the character made, how about if I keep an empty seat for you? There's no reason you can't jump in with us once the turmoil is past.
Good, hope to see you in the near future.
Player's note concerning the Linguistics skill:
After a discussion before my Sunday gaming session, I'm going to houserule this particular skill. I don't want a bunch of polyglots running around in the game able to speak every common language by 10th level, so I'm revising the skill a bit. Every [three] ranks you put into linguistics will allow you to speak a new language, rather than every single rank. This will keep spells like comprehend languages and tongues more viable.
A note on wealth:
I mentioned that you would have average starting wealth for equipment, and that I would determine how much actual coin you had on you once you'd chosen your equipment.
So, now that the characters are done and equipment chosen, adjust your characters to the following amounts of coin:
Leya: 4gp, 6sp, 5cp
Illiana: 4gp, 1sp, 101cp
Erius: 72sp (your militia wages that you've been saving for the last two years), 16 cp
Saori: 12gp (your stay at the inn will be deducted from this)
I completely forgot to talk about dice rolls. For any rolls made for the Pbp, please use InvisibleCastle. If you don't already have a membership, it's free and sign-up is easy.
Your attacks, damage, and saves, along with some skill checks, will be for you folks to roll. I'll be doing the rest myself.
I should probably also mention:
I should probably also mention:
I'm just sayin'...
Man, that did get buried fast. Writing up a reply now. =]
Saori...Wounded Earth to Saori...come in, Saori...
So should we keep playing or are we waiting for Saori
We'll go ahead and keep playing. At this point, I want to get everyone familiar with the town and have a chance to get into character. Once everyone is having fun, we'll get into party mode.
I'm sorry for the lack of posts coming from timid little Leya, but my mother has had a stroke and I've been busy caring for her since she came home from the hospital. Expect a post from me either later tonight or tomorrow morning.
Again, I apologize. =[
No apology necessary. I hope your mother has a speedy and complete recovery. Post when you can, and I hope the game helps provide a little escape from the troubles of life.
Well, without a peep from Saori for about a week, I think I'll put out a call for someone to either take over the character or replace her. Hopefully we'll pick up some steam next week.
looks like she responded about 2 hours ago
Excellent.
Folks, due to some unexpected financial turbulence I am currently without regular internet access. I apologize for the delay, but I'm going to have to put the game on hold for a week, possibly two.
My email addy is agentj357@yahoo.com. Please drop me an email. That way, when my internet service is up and running again, I can contact you and let you know that I'm back in business.
Again, my apologies for the delay.
I'm baaaaack...
Hey folks, I'm back and ready to get back into the game. I'm planning on picking up where we left off this Friday and looking forward to it.
I am converted, woohoo +2 to will!
Excellent.
For the rest of you, if you don't have access to a copy of the PF core rules, let me know and I'll do the conversions myself.
Not sure how many of the rest of the crew are around at the moment. Rav said he'd not be around much the latter part of the month. Haven't heard any update from Dave on his situation, nor have I heard anything from Saori. S'ok though. We can put the game on cruise control if need be.
Well, we've lost Saori and I haven't heard anything from Dave about Leya. Looks like we've ground to a halt until I can find a replacement for Saori.
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How about ranger or a modified fighter (looses heavy and medium armor, gains 6 skill points progression), half-elf or human, sort of secret agent or a scout of the elves? Is it possible to use Weapon Bond from Iron Heroes (Choose an ability score other than Strength to modify your attacks and damage with the bonded weapon; consider the chosen ability score’s bonus your Strength bonus for these purposes) as a trait or a feet?
How about ranger or a modified fighter (looses heavy and medium armor, gains 6 skill points progression), half-elf or human, sort of secret agent or a scout of the elves? Is it possible to use Weapon Bond from Iron Heroes (Choose an ability score other than Strength to modify your attacks and damage with the bonded weapon; consider the chosen ability score’s bonus your Strength bonus for these purposes) as a trait or a feet?
Heh, you're a step ahead of me...a good sign.
Ok, to recap: Weapon Bond: I've got the pdf and looked it over. It will be acceptable as a feat.
Background: Human or half-elf will work. At this point, none of you will have any solid contact with the elves, at least not as a nation. They're too isolationist and xenophobic, especially where the marches are concerned.
I'd like you to take over Saori's current role. Go ahead and read the spoiler tags I've specified for her so you're up to date. I'll RP you into position once I've seen your character and background and approved them.
Not a problem, I'm starting to get used to delays. I think once you and Mark have characters ready to go, we can get the game back to full speed again.
So what's the party lineup like now, I like complimenting a party.
At this point, we've got two human paladins, a halfling seer (diviner), and it sounds like a human or half-elf ranger.
So I'm thinking Sorceror with the Destined bloodline. His parents were secretly humanists, raising himto believe that the human race deserved better than to be a servant of the dwarves.
As his powers grow so does his belief in his destiny, to pull humanity up out of the pit of subservience.
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At this point, we've got two human paladins, a halfling seer (diviner), and it sounds like a human or half-elf ranger.
Just to make things clear, I'd like to play varian fighter instead of ranger, if it's possible. In essence, dexterity-based fighter with ranger skills and skill points per level, but limited to light armor and perhaps some other limitation? One more thing: do you allow disadvantages? If you do, from what sources?
Here's what I've got so far. Background to follow
At this point, we've got two human paladins, a halfling seer (diviner), and it sounds like a human or half-elf ranger.Just to make things clear, I'd like to play varian fighter instead of ranger, if it's possible. In essence, dexterity-based fighter with ranger skills and skill points per level, but limited to light armor and perhaps some other limitation? One more thing: do you allow disadvantages? If you do, from what sources?
Hmm...so a fighter minus Med and Hvy armor proficiency, with 6 skill ranks per level and the Ranger skill list? That's workable, I suppose.
No, I'm not using disadvantages in this game.
Here's what I've got so far. Background to follow
Character looks good. (Edit: It seems you omitted a number under Handle Animal; you've just got a plus there.)
I'm liking the concept. That should work out well.
Here's what I've got so far. Background to followCharacter looks good. (Edit: It seems you omitted a number under Handle Animal; you've just got a plus there.)
I'm liking the concept. That should work out well.
Addedbackground and personality
Addedbackground and personalityHere's what I've got so far. Background to followCharacter looks good. (Edit: It seems you omitted a number under Handle Animal; you've just got a plus there.)
I'm liking the concept. That should work out well.
Looks good. For background purposes, the main resistance group here is the Hand of Jorin, an order of paladins and affiliated folk dedicated to restoring the former order. According to tradition, Jorin was one of twin brothers that ruled humankind in a golden age, prior to the Wounding. Jorin's domain was here in the North, while his brother Jurnos ruled the lands south of the great elven forests. Restoring human sovereignty to the Marches is their primary goal. However, due to the greater resources, troop training, and magical power of the dwarves, they fight covertly, using guerilla tactics and subterfuge until the day comes when they can move openly.
Your sorcery isn't something you'll be using in public much, if you can help it. There are those humans that will report you for it, fearing you to be in league with dark powers. Given your abilities and skills, you'll likely be living and working on a local ranch. The background speaks of Remy's parents in the past tense, so I'm assuming they've passed? You'll be bunking with the ranch hands on the property, a half hour's walk outside of the village proper.
I'll put a post into the game thread for you to get you started and caught up with the others. I'm presuming you'll want to be affiliated with the Hand of Jorin, given your age and background.
Perfect
Here's my character for your approval.
Here's my character for your approval.
Looks good. I'll get a post up for you in the game thread, with a little elaboration on your background from where you left off, and your starting point in the game.
My players have all vanished? What gives?
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Thanks for contacting me about this PbP. Here's one character concept:
N male half-orc sorcerer (Abyssal bloodline). Born from the unholy union of a human servant and something dark that crawled from the bowels of the mountain, he was raised as a laborer in the dwarven forges. The other workers are somewhat afraid of his strange features and quick temper, so he mostly keeps to himself, waiting for the day when he may leave the life of a lowly worker.
(high strength and intelligence, low charisma)