i plan on running kingmaker adventure path. it's hard getting my players who played in 3.5 to convert to pathfinder as there used to so many splat book rules and feel limited. they hate designing character even remotely typical in anyway lol. im allowing some 3.5 in on a case by case approval.
One of my players is going to play a spellblade from ToS. Now for his background in a gist is, he was sold into slavery as a child and forced into gladiatorial servitude. Now i plan on running him solo in this arena and having him escape. But my problem is where would such an arena be located at? i was thinking somewhere in Andoran. If anyone else could help me out i would appreciate it. the closer to the river kingdoms the better.
another issue is campaign traits. since this player would not be from Kingmaker area what would be a good campaign trait he could take and still make use of? i considered altering Sword Scion but allow him to apply to one chosen weapon since he been a gladiator his whole life...
Lastly he wants to fight with a Nodachi. looking over this weapon it seems overpowered. The party will have no pure fighter type som im debating using it still. i could easily play it off as an ancient azlanti weapon..
|
Well, I noticed while browsing through the campaign setting for my own concept that apparently there's a city-state in the River Kingdoms called Tymon that has a famous gladiatorial arena. That would put him a bit closer to the actual setting of Kingmaker, too.
One little nitpick is I'm pretty sure Andoran and the River Kingdoms both are pretty ultimately opposed to slavery, but that's a detail that can be handwaved easily enough.
|
i plan on running kingmaker adventure path. it's hard getting my players who played in 3.5 to convert to pathfinder as there used to so many splat book rules and feel limited. they hate designing character even remotely typical in anyway lol. im allowing some 3.5 in on a case by case approval.
One of my players is going to play a spellblade from ToS. Now for his background in a gist is, he was sold into slavery as a child and forced into gladiatorial servitude. Now i plan on running him solo in this arena and having him escape. But my problem is where would such an arena be located at? i was thinking somewhere in Andoran. If anyone else could help me out i would appreciate it. the closer to the river kingdoms the better.
another issue is campaign traits. since this player would not be from Kingmaker area what would be a good campaign trait he could take and still make use of? i considered altering Sword Scion but allow him to apply to one chosen weapon since he been a gladiator his whole life...
Lastly he wants to fight with a Nodachi. looking over this weapon it seems overpowered. The party will have no pure fighter type som im debating using it still. i could easily play it off as an ancient azlanti weapon..
Andoran is not a good fit for slavery IMHO.
I'd consider having the character have been a slave in Absolom. There are gladitorial games in the city, but there are rules about clave ownership being so far away form the city docs.
There are Andorians in the city who just might have assisted him in either escaping or creating a situation in which the publcly embarassed his owner into letting him go, and then helped him get to Andoran to secure his freedom.
The Guide to Absolom has more details than I can go into here, but slave pits are detailed there as well soit sounds like something you might want to look into.
|
One of my players is going to play a spellblade from ToS. Now for his background in a gist is, he was sold into slavery as a child and forced into gladiatorial servitude. Now i plan on running him solo in this arena and having him escape. But my problem is where would such an arena be located at? i was thinking somewhere in Andoran. If anyone else could help me out i would appreciate it. the closer to the river kingdoms the better.
The suggestion of the gladiatorial ring in Tymon mentioned above sounds best. Andoran is pretty dramatically *anti* slavery, but in the River Kingdoms, laws can change (or get overlooked) depending on where you are on the map.
another issue is campaign traits. since this player would not be from Kingmaker area what would be a good campaign trait he could take and still make use of? i considered altering Sword Scion but allow him to apply to one chosen weapon since he been a gladiator his whole life...
Sword Scion is a damn good trait, one you might to not consider allowing to apply to the two weapon choices offered.
Lastly he wants to fight with a Nodachi. looking over this weapon it seems overpowered. The party will have no pure fighter type som im debating using it still. i could easily play it off as an ancient azlanti weapon..
'No-dachi' is just a bigass sword, and shouldn't use stats any better than the Greatsword, IMO. (If I was gonna get all historical accuracy and compare it to a weightier and more durable zwiehander or claymore, I'd be inclined to even make it *less* effective, a bastard sword, perhaps, but that way lies madness and many rage-filled internet arguments about katanas chopping through engine blocks. Check out no-dachi at Wikipedia, and you'll see that even its fans think it was inferior to using a polearm.)
Having a local regional sword-fighting trait with a local regional character, using a weapon from halfway across the planet sounds a little odd.
I'd be inclined to only allow Sword Scion with the listed weapons (or, a specific variant, such as a Qadiri-born swordsman who has mastered a similar proficiency with the scimitar, or a Taldan who has done so with the rapier, both in the area to 'prove' their style against the legendary Aldori dueling style), and to make any strange exotic foreign weapon use standard weapon stats from the PFRPG or one of the other Pathfinder supplements.
"My sword-fu is better than your sword-fu!" might make an interesting background for a scimitar or rapier-using 'sword scion. But a greatsword? No, not a dueling weapon (save perhaps in the oversized hand of an ogre magi!).
I'd be more inclined to allow a dueling trait to apply to *firearms* than greatswords!
|
The River Kingdoms are a variety of government types, many of them scuzzy, but Andoran is definitely opposed to slavery; it's their most famous trait.
If he wants to hail from Andoran, while still being a former slave, it's easy enough to say he was rescued from a slaving ship by their troops, and taken in as an adopted citizen.
(Show him the cover of the recent Campaign Guide, where that exact scene is depicted...)
For the location part, I'll just backup what was already said. Tymon sounds like the better choice for a gladiatorial pit near the Kingmaker area, and then Absalom. As for Andoran, it is not only a bad choice for the gladiatorial Arena thing, it is the WORST possible choice. The whole point of the entire Andoran nation is that they are entirely opposed to slavery. Most Andorans would go to great lenght to help free the gladiatorial slaves.
For the weapon part, a katana was always just a masterwork bastard sword. In my opinion, what would best describe a No-Dachi would be a masterwork large-sized bastard sword. With EWP: Bastard Sword, he could use it with two hands at a -2 penalty (being a masterwork weapon, the penalty would then be a mere -1). This is the same gimmick Amiri uses (barbarian iconic). He could have looted the sword from another gladiator who died, or had it handed to him by his owner (maybe picked it up in the weapon vault when he was brought in, being impressed by the size of the weapon).
As for playing characters that are "remotely typical in anyway", it is just the old marginality paradox. Things changed, the "typical" classes at the end of 3.5 where the ones found in the Book of Nine Swords, and other alternate 20 levels classes, or just prestige classing ASAP, often multiple times. Baisc classes are there for a reason, less things for the DM to learn and master, easier to assess your PCs power level, and offer adequate challenges.
Lots of slaves in Katapesh and Qadira. It is conceivable that s/he escaped and fled north into Brevoy (which would be quite a ways north, think fleeing Mexico City and ending up in Quebec).
As for the No-Dachi, point them in the direction of the Elven Curve Blade.
Urglin? Isn't the orc capital known for gladiator combat and slavery?
i just read a quote about good guys fighting against slavery in andoran, and took it that there might be slavery in andoran. i guess not. the place really isn't that important as it just a story backdrop and he'll only really ever be there for a session. Tymon sound good and it's in the river kingdoms and that's a plus. i haven't ordered the guide to the river kingdoms but plan to. I know the river kingdoms is strongly against slavery that's why i figured there would be no arenas there. so the gladiators are all free in Tymon?
i could easily adapt his story that he's not TRULY a slave but something is being used against him to keep him as such. like "either you fight and keep making us money or your half-brother gets it!". the story i was going to use is there going to try and kill the player off in a match and he finds out about it. i could make it his half-brother escaped and now they have no leverage. an elder spellblade named Boran recruits youths he finds with spellblade talent and takes them to the Arcaknights to be trained. The Arcaknights are a secret society similar in style to the jedi. I think im going to have them a split off of andoran warriors and end up setting up a keep in the players kindom.
"No-dachi' is just a bigass sword, and shouldn't use stats any better than the Greatsword, IMO. (If I was gonna get all historical accuracy and compare it to a weightier and more durable zwiehander or claymore, I'd be inclined to even make it *less* effective, a bastard sword, perhaps, but that way lies madness and many rage-filled internet arguments about katanas chopping through engine blocks. Check out no-dachi at Wikipedia, and you'll see that even its fans think it was inferior to using a polearm.)"
yeah thats what he wants-a big ass sword like cloud. I've told him i don't think im going to use it but he's really persistant. i told him he could easily have an elven great sword and just have it look like a Nodachi. i also considered just making the stats the same as a 2hnd sword but this made him mad. he says a nodachi is an exotic weapon and should have an edge over a 2hnd sword...