I've had my group ask me a few times to run a numeria game ever since we ran through Red Redoubt and I've finally decided to bite but I need help with the restrictions and a few encounter ideas besides haywire constructs.
What I'm asking for is:
1.Classes to allow, and I'm open to 3rd party products
2.What are some races to allow.
3.Encounter ideas besides constructs.
*If this is the wrong section, sorry*
Barbarians. Lots of them. Maybe some use the parts of constructs they destroyed as armor or weapons.
Remember that the black sovereign is controlled by the technic league, I think.
Check out the homebrew forum for The List of Artificers. You could use some of those classes too.
I don't know a lot about numeria, but I'm playing in an eberron campaign that's been converted to pathfinder. There's an artificer class that I've seen some good conversions for, and if constructs are a big part of the setting there are also the warforged, a pc construct race.
I would just use alchemists that have been re-flavored into near-modern grenadiers. Also, gunslingers that have been re-flavored to using ray guns.
Thanks guys this helped me toss some options out but now for something difficult. I need ideas for encounters, do I just toss random aberrations and constructs or do you have some options? Also a player requested a 'mutant' style character so does anyone have any ideas?
For the PC, maybe an Aberation Bloodlined Sorcerer, or just say he looks a bit weird. 3rd editiion Ravenloft had rules for a race called the Caliban, essentially the had been cursed in the womb to grow up to be mutants, though rules-wise they just used the same stats as a half orc.
We talked about it and he'll be going human sorcerer(wildblooded) with the Warped bloodline. He loves the idea of being able to represent the aberrant nature of his power. I've had three players tell me the basis of what they've planed to run so far.
One decided to be a human oracle of flame, metal, or battle depending on what the party needs. Either way he wants to play a savage seer style of character who is useful in and out of combat. He will be a nomadic kellid exile for connections to the technic league in the past.
Another player will be playing a elan psion(telepath) or manead wilder depending on how the party fills out as well. I personally dont mind psionics in addition but still thinking of a way to allow them in race wise. I've had soulknives and psions appear from numeria and areas where the art of mind is important but races in addition are a bit of a step off of my ledge.
With what I've got so far I'm pretty happy but a few other players may join and when they ask about it I'll tackle it so here are a few more questions to place in the pot.
1.)What are a few ideas to include psionic races without causing chaos?
2.)What are some options for encounters beside wandering constructs?
3.)What are some options for native fauna for animal companions?
You could always use psionic races that are variations of various normal races, like psionic duergar. They could just be mutant versions of regular dwarves, or something like that.
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Mutated animals (or plants, or local monsters) that have additional limbs, senses or the abilities of a different creature type strapped on (such as a bear that can produce webbing like a spider, and has a climb speed, or a pack of scaly hairless wolves that have a chameleon like ability to blend into the surroundings and a weakly toxic bite) could be one option.
Animals that have been infested by some sort of techno-virus that gives them some metal plates and / or damage reduction (but may result in lowered hit points, as they suffer from Con loss when the template is applied), and increases the damage of their natural weapons (as claws and fangs become steel, or spikes grow out of them giving them a secondary slam attack with 'armor spikes') could also be an option. The infected animals might also be changed mentally, and function as part of a hive-mind, sharing information between themselves instantly and being nearly impossible to flank or catch flat-footed. A simple 'Borg' template could be written up so that you can strap it onto any normal animal (wolf, bear, whatever), or even some monstrous creatures (Borg Owlbear! Borg Assassin Vine!).
Picking abilities that seem particularly 'alien' and strapping them onto a normal creature, such as creating a mutant great cat with the ground manipulation ability of the Gibbering Mouther (that leaps on people after trapping them in it's aberrant quagmire) could make for a neat encounter.
Taking a random creature that serves your function, such as a hive full of Giant Ants to represent some sort of out-of-control 'mining droids,' and templating them up as constructs instead of vermin (and improving their natural armor and / or DR) could be another way to go.
It's, of course, totally appropriate to dig out S3, Expedition into the Barrier Peaks, and steal something shamelessly, like Web-Birds (use raven or hawk statistics, but each one can produce a tanglefoot bag or bola attack once per day) or something.
Thanks set that's a lot of useful information and some fun brewing to do between sessions. Though my players split between a group of technic league apprentices proving their worth and a group of kellid exiles out to clear their names. The kellid group consist of a wilder, oracle, and druid all of which. I ran their game the other night and they encountered a 'psionic big cat' using modded tigone stats. The technic league group will get togeather next week and I plan on tossing your ideas for beasties and mutants their way.
Edit:I'm curious though on your thoughts for 3rd party classes in Numeria.
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I'm not comfortable with a lot of 3rd party classes, for various balance and / or flavor reasons.
I'd be more inclined to modify the heck out of a pre-existing class, such as using an Alchemist, and reflavoring his bombs and extracts and mutagens to represent injections of strange compounds found in the Starmount and unstable chemical explosives cobbled together (or even generated by the 'alchemist's' mutated body, growing like tumerous fruit from his malformed body, to be plucked forth and hurled at foes.
Similarly, a 'Summoner' might have bonded with an ooze-like creature of liquid metal that responds to his mental commands, transforming into his Eidolon, his Synthesist exo-shell *or* one or more templated 'animals,' as the material splits up and forms into a flight of metallic raptors (celestial eagles) or a clacking capture-bot (giant spider) or a many-armed humanoid form (girallon). If one of these summonings is 'killed,' the 'Summoner' can use one of his uses of Summon Monster to cause it to reform into the same form again, or a new form (but requires the standard full minute to resummon his Eidolon form, as it's a more complicated process), and the same pile of techno-organic sludge forms into the new pattern.
Mechanically, save for a new template to replace celestial / fiendish, for these techno-organic copies of other creatures, the character would mostly just use Summoner rules, so you don't have to invent something from scratch, while still creating something that appears quite novel.
A specific Bloodline, or School of wizardry, and perhaps even an Artifice sub-domain local to the area, would make sense, as well as some alternate ways to do similar things, such as a 'Thrallherd' NPC bad-guy who attracts and maintains his thralls by addicting them to special fluids that he can craft, and, for the 'quick and dirty' capture and enslavement of others, by attaching hand-sized spider-shaped 'control disks' to the back of their necks, allowing him to 'remote control' them via the ornate collar and control rod combination that he carries.
I don't know what kind of 3PP/Homebrew stuff you're looking for, but you could always pick one of these artificers. Some of them would fit fairly well.
Super Genius Games has a series called the Anachronistic Adventurer's (or something to that effect) whose main idea is a person with an out-of-place-and-time skillset. If that fit in anywhere in Golarion, my bet would be in the technic league.
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Part of giving encounter suggestions would be to know some real basic broad strokes of what the campaigns going to be about. From level 1 to 4 are the PCs involved in any specific story arc or is it mainly being sent on missions by a patron?
I'd recommend watching some old Thundarr the Barbarian episodes for inspiration!
--Moon Vrock
I've been running the games lately more due to some players being unavailable on some dates and the groups are doing well despite one or two deaths. The Technic party went through Red Redoubt which I modded to make more difficult as sort of a mass experiment to see which group of students 'deserved' to be taught by the league. Their group originally consisted of a aberrant sorcerer, a ratfolk crypt breaker alchemist, as well as a homebrewed techno-organic magus and a half-orc evolutionist summoner. They enjoyed the effort I tossed into the game of converting some stuff for the mad science flare of anglam monsters, the evolutionist ended up modding his eidolon after some of the things he encountered.
Here are some questions though that the aberrant sorcerer asked about crafting constructs, he mentioned when he had the materials and requirements he wanted to build a automaton possibly with the robot subtype as well as additional material from the construct modifications. I also want to toss some weak reverse engineered tech their way, either nanotech style items or just crude items converted like Karamoss did for the power sources for his soldiers, any ideas for items I could skin to be in their ally? What are some good examples?
My other group who ran a mixed group of kellid outcast and mutants, they got more of a dark sun style campaign since I did pull a lot of monsters out of the athas.org content. Their goal is to destroy a cult of 'Skycallers' who use rigged unstable tech to send out a beacon into the void trying to call a 'starstone of their own' but mostly create rifts in the dark tapestry allowing horrors to cross over, even reskinned some haunts to act as breaches when they entered 'temples to the sky gods'which were more or less wreckage. I'm still working on a few things to toss onto higher leveled NPC's such as a radiation/mutation domain or bloodline and such.
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With what I've got so far I'm pretty happy but a few other players may join and when they ask about it I'll tackle it so here are a few more questions to place in the pot.
1.)What are a few ideas to include psionic races without causing chaos?
2.)What are some options for encounters beside wandering constructs?
3.)What are some options for native fauna for animal companions?
Psionics in Numreria could be handled like a very strange Sorcerer bloodline. People won't know the difference. Maybe they call them "silver touched" or something because they think they're mutants.
I really like that idea. Do you run transparency with magic/psionics?
2. You could use barbarians, because there are a lot of barbarians in Numeria. There is a really fun acquired template in The Seven Swords of Sin that comes from Numeria.
If you set up the situation correctly it will present a moral dilemma.
3. Go for hardier plants an animals that are built to survive in less than ideal conditions.
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With what I've got so far I'm pretty happy but a few other players may join and when they ask about it I'll tackle it so here are a few more questions to place in the pot.
1.)What are a few ideas to include psionic races without causing chaos?
2.)What are some options for encounters beside wandering constructs?
3.)What are some options for native fauna for animal companions?Psionics in Numreria could be handled like a very strange Sorcerer bloodline. People won't know the difference. Maybe they call them "silver touched" or something because they think they're mutants.I really like that idea. Do you run transparency with magic/psionics?
2. You could use barbarians, because there are a lot of barbarians in Numeria. There is a really fun acquired template in The Seven Swords of Sin that comes from Numeria.
** spoiler omitted **
If you set up the situation correctly it will present a moral dilemma.3. Go for hardier plants an animals that are built to survive in less than ideal conditions.
1: I use the psionics are different rule, I always use '-blank- is different' when approaching other systems because since 3.5 my players always want to try and counter spell the guy causing mass psionic chaos or incarnum chaos.
2: Barbarians are good for lower levels are good but I need tougher stuff. I've even tossed the template you mentioned on a 'cult' tribe who worship the 'swarm' of nanites as a true manifestation of their tribal totem.
3:I figured basic animals native to regions similar to numeria would do except skin them as 'mutated' and that works well. This applies to familiars as well, one player had to roll a new character and he used a pathfinder dark sun conversion for a different/mutated familiar.
New Question though; I'm not much of a fan to convert 3.5 material to Pathfinder but a player's sorcerer i about to die next game most likely and he's asking to play a new concept of using the Aberrant feats from Lords of Madness and I'm curious if their even considered balance for Pathfinder? He also wants to use Incarnum in game which I have no problem with since he did find several conversions that seemed pretty balanced.