Westcrown with the new Gamemastery Guide


Council of Thieves

Scarab Sages

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So I've been reading through the new Gamemastery Guide and, as Council of Thieves is starting soon for me, felt like converting the city block to include some of the new GMG stuff. Anyone have ideas on what should go in?

My idea currently:

Spoiler:
Westcrown
LE Metropolis
Corruption +7; Crime +6; Economy +7; Law -1; Lore +4; Society +4
Qualities hellknight presence, notorious, racially intolerant (tieflings), strategic location, 3 others
Danger +20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------
Demographics
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Government secret syndicate (titular mayor with multiple crime lords ["Council of Thieves"])
Population 114,700 (100,936 humans; 8,029 halflings; 5,735 other)
Notable NPCs
...Lictor Richemar Alamansor (LE human male fighter 7/hellknight 7)
...Lord Mayor Aberian Arvanxi (NE human male rogue 7)
...Vassindio Drovenge (LE human male aristrocrat 14)
...Asad Grulios (CG human male aristrocrat 5/wizard 5)
...Ocatav Julistarc (LE human male aristocrat 3/rogue 3/cleric of Asmodeous 3)
...Bartolo Mezinas (LN human male monk 5)
...Duxotar Iltus Mhartis (NE human male aristocrat 3/rogue 3)
...Eirtein Oberigo (LE human male rogue 6)
...Marcus Phandros (N human male aristocrat 3/bard 2)
...Kajen Tilernos (LG human male aristocrat 4/paladin of Iomedae 4)
...Casarus Vitallain (LN human male fighter 4)
...General Vourne (LE human male aristocrat 5/fighter 10)
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Marketplace
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Base Value 16,000 gp +40%; Purchase Limit 100,000 gp +50%;
...Spellcasting 8th
Minor Items all available; Medium Items 4d4; Major Items 3d4
I am still trying to figure out which 3 other qualities would be best for Westcrown (as a metropolis, it needs 6). The 3 I've picked seem to fit pretty well, but I'm not sure about others. Holy Site maybe, since it used to be the capital of Cheliax and big place for Aroden? Perhaps Insular?

Also, note that I haven't increased the base value or purchase limit yet, just noted what percentages I've accrued so far are (as you total up the percentage increases and apply them at the end).

Edit: Added a custom quality called "Hellknight Presence". I don't see any way to indicate that the Hellknights have a considerable presence here, so I made up my own.

Hellknight Presence: The settlement has a Hellknight order stationed within the city, or very close nearby. (Law +1; Crime -1)


As for qualities, something about shadowbeasts stalking the night, and non-Asmodeus beliefs being marginalized perhaps? I don't have a GMG yet, so I can't comment on any of the numbers.


General Vourne lives in Egorian, I thought?

Scarab Sages

Dunno, I'm just using the same NPCs they have in Westcrown's article in Bastards of Erebus.

Liberty's Edge

Ice Titan wrote:
General Vourne lives in Egorian, I thought?

Yes he does. But IIRC, he is the head of the Chelix navy. I would think that has a lot of pull.

Scarab Sages

Well, here's my final version of it with Holy Site and Insular tossed in. Not sure if they're *entirely* appropriate, but eh, they're close enough.

Spoiler:
Westcrown
LE Metropolis
Corruption +5; Crime +5; Economy +7; Law +0; Lore +4; Society +4
Qualities hellknight presence, holy site, insular, notorious, racially intolerant (tieflings), strategic location
Danger +20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------
Demographics
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------

Government secret syndicate
Population 114,700 (100,936 humans; 8,029 halflings; 5,735 other)
Notable NPCs
...Lictor Richemar Alamansor (LE human male fighter 7/hellknight 7)
...Lord Mayor Aberian Arvanxi (NE human male rogue 7)
...Vassindio Drovenge (LE human male aristrocrat 14)
...Asad Grulios (CG human male aristrocrat 5/wizard 5)
...Ocatav Julistarc (LE human male aristocrat 3/rogue 3/cleric of Asmodeous 3)
...Bartolo Mezinas (LN human male monk 5)
...Duxotar Iltus Mhartis (NE human male aristocrat 3/rogue 3)
...Eirtein Oberigo (LE human male rogue 6)
...Marcus Phandros (N human male aristocrat 3/bard 2)
...Kajen Tilernos (LG human male aristocrat 4/paladin of Iomedae 4)
...Casarus Vitallain (LN human male fighter 4)
...General Vourne (LE human male aristocrat 5/fighter 10)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------
Marketplace
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------

Base Value 22,400 gp; Purchase Limit 150,000 gp
...Spellcasting 9th
Minor Items all available; Medium Items 4d4; Major Items 3d4

Reasoning for qualities:
Hellknight Presence - The custom one I made above, +1 Law and -1 Crime. Just made sense for there being a Hellknight Citadel right outside the city and a pretty sizable Hellknight force inside.
Holy Site - Westcrown used to be the capital of Cheliax and a big Aroden place, as evidenced by the statue of Aroden still standing. Though Aroden is no longer around, it seems enough to call it a holy site.
Insular - Westcrown is more isolated in a metaphorical sense. The people were once members of the capital of Cheliax, a huge deal. I can imagine them still being very proud of that fact and unwilling to let go of it, probably separating themselves from most of Cheliax as a result.
Notorious - Council of Thieves. Need I say more?
Racially Intolerant (Tieflings) - Also pretty obvious. Westcrown looks down on them tieflings.
Strategic Location - The article on Westcrown mentions how the city basically controls the river leading south and out into the ocean, so it seems enough to justify its strategic-ness.

Comments and criticism welcome!


I did this too! Even made my own hellknight presence quality! And a shadow-haunted disadvantage,

Scarab Sages

Heh, I thought about disadvantage that had to do with the shadows too, but wasn't sure how to go about it. The best I could think of was 'chance to find an item under the Base Price is reduced from 75% to 5% after dark' or something. What did you come up with?

Liberty's Edge

I don't have the Gamemaster Guide yet. It should be here Monday. What are the plus' next to crime, lore, ect? Those are not in the westcrown stats in CoT.

Scarab Sages

Correct, they are new creations with the Gamemastery Guide. All of Paizo's cities (at least all the ones so far) are being changed to this new format. In short:

Danger: If rolling for random encounters in the city on a chart that goes from low CRs at lower numbers to high CRs at higher numbers, add this number to any d100 roll you make (so in Westcrown, the encounters would go from 21-100).
Corruption: This modifies all Bluff checks made against city officials or guards and all Stealth checks made outside (but not inside buildings or underground).
Crime: This modifies all Sense Motive checks to avoid being bluffed and to Sleight of Hand checks made to pick pockets.
Economy: This modifies all Craft, Perform, and Profession checks made to generate income.
Law: This modifies all Diplomacy checks against government officials, or Diplomacy checks made to call on the city guards.
Lore: This modifies all Diplomacy checks made to gather information and Knowledge checks made using the city's resources to do research when using a library.
Society: This modifiers all Disguise checks, as well as Diplomacy checks made to alter the attitude of any non-government official.

Scarab Sages

You know, I don't know why I didn't think about this before, but the "Hunted" disadvantage actually works perfectly, with a small modification for only at night.

Hunted by Shadows: Economy, Law, and Society -4; Danger +20. These modifiers only occur when the sun is set. In addition, the chance of finding a magic item within the city's base value after dark is reduced from 75% to 25%.

That would change my final stats above to:

Economy +3, Law -4, Society +0; Danger +40

But only during hours when the sun is set. Thoughts? I'm also starting to wonder if my custom Hellknight quality should be Law +2, Crime -2, it seems like they should have a pretty significant impact. They're Hellknights after all!

Scarab Sages

Karui Kage wrote:


Hunted by Shadows: Economy, Law, and Society -4; Danger +20. These modifiers only occur when the sun is set. In addition, the chance of finding a magic item within the city's base value after dark is reduced from 75% to 25%.

I would make the chance from 75% to 5%. Even the Dusk Market isn't open after dark.

I agree about the Hellknights. There is law around, they just spend a lot of time arguing jurisdiction with the dottari.
The dottari are easily bribed, but not the Hellknights, so I don't know about that.

There is a random encounter chart for Westcrown at night and the Ruins at night. I wouldn't add too much to that chart, considering it is specifically for Westcrown.
- But I could see using the modifier (+40 seems extreme, though) at night on the book's charts. During the day, however, Westcrown is a lawful place.

Scarab Sages

As it is, the Danger is really only used for the charts in the GMG as far as I see it. With charts provided already for Westcrown day and Westcrown night, I don't see the need to alter the roll at all. If I were using bland charts that could apply to any city, then I'd start using Danger.

Yeah, I think I'll take that percentage down to 5% and bump the Hellknight bonus to +2/-2. Thanks for the input!


I like yours, I just had the danger increase by ten at night and used the alternate westcrown at night encounter chart.

The base price and stat alteration at night is nifty though.


The actual Paizo statblock is in Cheliax, The Infernal Empire

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