A while back, I decided that I wanted to see one of my favorite campaign settings–Doug Anderson's Northern Crown–get some more love. I'm fond enough of this setting that I have no problem transcribing the OGL content from it, letter-for-letter, though it takes quite a bit of time and I haven't had the time or energy for it for a few months.
Northern Crown is a d20 system (3.5 edition) campaign setting based in an alternate 17th century North America, in a world where myths, monsters, and magic are all very real. There's a lot of departures from real-world history, and some things happened earlier or later than they did in our own timeline: an analogue of the United States (complete with an ersatz Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson) exists in the form of the tiny Republic of Sophia, while the Nieu Nederlands battles with New Sweden, and an immortal Phillip of Spain contends with the half-fey daughter of Elizabeth I.
Players in Northern Crown take advantage of the existence of both modern scientific knowledge (better known as Natural Philosophy) and ancient magic, as well as the assistance of both historic figures like Tenskwatawa, heroes of tall tales such as Paul Bunyan, and figures who combine both legend and reality, like Johnny Appleseed. The setting as a whole seems to draw extensively upon sources like Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker books, as well as Eric Flint's Ring of Fire series.
I created a TVTropes article for the setting a while back, but it's in need of some wiki love.
Ideally, I'd like to have all the OGL content from Northern Crown transcribed, converted to Pathfinder, and then released for free online, under the name Annus Mirabilis (reflecting the 1666 date of the campaign setting). However, there are a few problems with this, the main one being that the otherwise mostly-OGL text is littered with terms that are Product Identity, and I could use some help coming up with alternatives.
Chiron Franklyn:, an NPC, effectively a much earlier incarnation of Ben Franklin. I'm going with "Daedalus" Franklin to keep in line with the setting's tendency to use Hellenic names for the "Civil Name" that Sophians take upon becoming citizens.
Northern Crown: The continent of North America, in a world where Amerigo Vespucci isn't doing anything special. For now, I'm going with Corona as a substitute.
Southern Cross: The continent of South America (see above). Going with Crux for now.
Coven of Naumkeag: The ruling body of the Witchling city-state of Naumkeag.
Dark Years: the first century or so of colonization and exploration, when natives were slaughtered by sword, gun, and disease in countless numbers, and slaves were brought by the hundreds from Libua to labor in the new world.
First Lord of Sophia: Equivalent to POTUS.
First Magus of Sophia: Franklin's official position, seems to be the official title for the most powerful Natural Philosopher (read: mad scientist) in the Republic.
First Ones: the native peoples. Columbus didn't reach the New World in this timeline, so nobody mistook it for the Indies. In my transcriptions, I've been going with Aboriginals instead, reflecting what I felt was the most neutral of the present-day alternative terms.
The Greening of Albion: A deliberate effort to return Albion (fey-influenced Britain) to a more natural, fey-friendly state.
Kelt Renegado: Celtic immigrants in Appalachia who reject Carolingian (the Carolinas as ruled by Charles II and his court-in-exile in the New World) rule.
Kieran Scot: A Celtic ruler, a witch whose inspiration I haven't been able to determine, assuming there's a real person he's based on.
L'Ordre du Sang: A vampire-ruled secret society that I'm calling L'Ordre Ploutocratique (the Plutocratic Order) for now.
Le Dragon Rouge: a cabal of French sorcerers serving the Devil.
Los Illustrados: a loose group of scholars, scientists, and artists seeking to spread reason and knowledge. Most likely going with the obvious Illuminati
Moundraiser: Any of the several extinct cultures known in real life as Mound Builders, hence a renaming to Moundbuilder.
Nyamban, Nyambe: Northern Crown used the Nyambe campaign setting as its African analogue. While I'm tempted to just go with "African", the use of archaic or alternate names makes me lean towards going with something else. For now, I'm using Libuan/Libua.
Philathelias Jeferson: Thomas Jefferson analogue.
Rebecca Blackthorn: leader of the Witchlings
Republic of Sophia: I've been calling it the Republic of Fredonia
Solomonic Order: also known as the Order of the Temple of Solomon, a semi-secret order holding the ancient knowledge and wisdom of King Solomon. My suspicion is that this is meant to be an analogue for the Freemasons, but I'm reluctant to step on the Masons' toes.
Sons of Cincinnatus: a conspiracy of high-ranking Sophians prepared to stage a coup in case public support of the current government wanes significantly. For now, I'm going with the somewhat less evocative Order of Cincinnati.
Uncounted Time: the period in the history of the New World before contact with Uropans (NC tends to use this spelling as an alternative to Europeans, and calls the continent Uropa). I'd like something a little less inaccurate to the native conception of history, because many indigenous cultures did have means of recording history.
Unknown West: The unmapped western frontier.
Unseen Hand: Short for "The Unseen Hand of the Lord", a secret Europan-based organization composed of members of all faiths, which actively opposes evil cults.
Uropan: "European". I've been using the slightly modified Europan for the time being.
Vinlander: Viking settlers in the New World, having been around much longer than most Uropans. I'm vacillating between using Marklander or Vinlanding(ar); for the time being, i'm using the latter in my own notes.
Witchling: a culture of witches, the nightmare of Cotton Mather come to life. I've been using Witchan, based on the older pronunciation of "Wiccan".
Woodland Confederacy: The union of the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Ottawa peoples. I'm going with the real-world term Council of Three Fires
I'll also need a lot of help with converting classes, feats, spells, monsters... pretty much every single crunchy bit. I'm happy to transcribe the fluff, but I have a poor sense for power balance and could really do with another hand or two to handle the rules. Before that gets started, though, I need suggestions for replacing the Product Identity. Any takers?
Of course, new content is welcome as well, and there's some fluffy stuff that I personally think needs fixing or outright replacement as well, so I'm looking for folks with new ideas, too! I'll be incorporating a Swedish culture that I posted (way back when, as "Fenghuang") over at the Atlas Games forums to favorable response.
I decided to try to drum up a bit of interest and kill some of the extra time i got since being laid off from my job by converting some of the monsters. I'm new to conversions and not very cunning when it comes to guessing at power levels, but I'm guessing that this is probably underpowered for its CR when translated into the PFRPG:
Bone Dancer
CR 5
NE Medium undead (Evil)
Init +8; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5
DEFENSE
AC 17, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+2 Dex, +5 natural)
hp 32 (5d12)
Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +5
Immune undead traits
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 2 claws +5 (1d4+3), bite +0 (1d6+2)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks bone dance, create skeleton
Spells Known (CL 5th, Concentration +8)
2nd (4/day) ghoul touch, spectral hand
1st (6/day) cause fear, mage armor, obscuring mist, ray of enfeeblement
0 (at will) daze, detect magic, ghost sound, mage hand, touch of fatigue
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 15, Con –, Int 17, Wis 12, Cha 16
Base Atk +2; CMB +5, CMD 17
Feats Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Spell Penetration
Skills Acrobatics +5,Knowledge (arcana) +11, Perception +6, Spellcraft +11, Stealth +6
Languages Common
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Bone Dance (Su)
As a move action, a bone dancer can rhythmically rattle its bones to bring living creatures under its spell. All humanoids within 30 feet must succeed at a DC 15 Will save or be paralyzed for 1d6 rounds. Once a successful save has been made, or the duration of the paralysis has expired, a victim is immune to the Bone Dance of that particular bone dancer. While dancing, a bone dancer suffers a -8 penalty to Stealth checks.
Create Skeleton (Su)
All humanoid creatures slain and eaten by a bone dancer animate as skeletons under the control of their creator. A bone dancer may be accompanied by 1d6 medium skeletons, plus one additional skeleton for each HD above 5.
ECOLOGY
Environment Any
Organization Solitary, Dance (1 bone dancer, 1-6 skeletons)
Treasure None
Bone dancers are the undead corpses of neutral evil sorcerers who have gained eternal existence through the gruesome practice of eating their own flesh down to the very marrow within their bones, which they then fill with pebbles that rattle and shake with each movement. They appear as skeletons still wearing the clothes they wore in life, without flesh or other living tissues except for their lidless, staring eyes. Still hungry, they seek out other living humanoids to feast upon and add to their evil, capering train.
Bone dancers seek only more flesh to devour, and to gather more skeletons into their unholy dance. They can seldom resist an opportunity to feed, even at some risk to themselves. They use their dance to paralyze victims, then move in to slay and feed.
PS. Have you asked the author? Maybe he'd be willing to endorse a conversion and hence you'd be able to do a direct conversion.
From what i understand, he's moved on to other things. It seems like he's glad people are still interested, but has mostly abandoned his work on the setting.
Northern Crown is a great setting. Good luck.
You could, of course, use little-known RW terminology to replace the fictional names. This just requires some serious Wikipedia searching.
I.e., the southern monarchy could become Albemarle or Carolana.
That's generally the tactic i've been trying to use, where i can figure something out.
I ran a home-brewed, Pathfinderized Northern Crown long enough for the characters to reach 2nd level. After that, I switched over to Savage Worlds because it was just easier -- it required very little conversion on the fly because a lot of the needed elements were already in place (firearms [this was before Ultimate Combat was released]) and, more significantly, the Weird Science arcane background).
Anyway, I do have a little advice, especially concerning firearms...
Definitely use the Ultimate Combat rules for firearms, rather than the ones in the book. I know from personal experience that any time one talks of adding black powder arms to an RPG there's a bit of push-back. Folks usually fall into two camps -- ones that hate black powder arms because of their long reload times, and ones that insist that they *have* that long reload time.
The thing is that it's no fun for anyone to only be able to attack maybe 3 times a minute -- 4-5 times a minute if you're fast. Sure, that's realistic, but nothing else about an RPG is particularly realistic, so why should those reload times be? Besides, Northern Crown is a setting that has airships and automatons powered by aeolipiles; it's only a slight handwave to assume that they also have developed ways to speed up firearm reload times.
I would use the Commonplace Guns option from Ultimate Combat. Advanced firearms could be available at your discretion, as high-tech inventions that have to be custom-made. As above, in a 17th-century setting with helicopters and robots, it's not so bizarre to allow the revolver to be invented centuries earlier, too. :)
When I ran my game, I used the old "Defense Bonus" option from 3.x, found here:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/defenseBonus.htm
That helped get across the feel of the 17th century better, the time when heavy armor was being phased out and becoming less and less common. Characters still get a good AC, but don't require highly-magical armor to get it.
Have fun! ^_^
When I ran my game, I used the old "Defense Bonus" option from 3.x, found here:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/defenseBonus.htm
That helped get across the feel of the 17th century better, the time when heavy armor was being phased out and becoming less and less common. Characters still get a good AC, but don't...
I'm looking at doing a Northern Crown campaign sometime soon and armor has been on my mind. In fact, I think it was a post of yours over at the Atlas forums that first brought defense bonus to my attention.
In the game you ran, the players used defense bonus in conjunction with Uropan and First One armor, right, not the typical d20 armor choices?
That's generally the tactic i've been trying to use, where i can figure something out.
The nice bit is so relatively little of Northern Crown's proper nouns were declared product identity. I blanched at the block of text at first, then cheered up when I realized most of it was from Nyambe and didn't actually show up in the Northern Crown books.
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I am running very long Midnight game on these boards. I converted it to Pathfinder, and then to Kirthfinder and finally modified house rules system, that I'm calling "Nightfinder", for lack of better name. Play by Post has proven very useful in testing those rules. I would recommend you to try something similar. That is, you could call for interested players, who are not afraid to experiment, and use the game to test out different things. Hell, I would be interested to play in that kind of a game.
I'm looking at doing a Northern Crown campaign sometime soon and armor has been on my mind. In fact, I think it was a post of yours over at the Atlas forums that first brought defense bonus to my attention.
I was hoping that it would be one of the optional rules introduce in Ultimate Combat, but... no such luck.
In the game you ran, the players used defense bonus in conjunction with Uropan and First One armor, right, not the typical d20 armor choices?
I had the options available, but no one ever wore much armor anyway. I struggled for a long time over what to do with the fighter's Armor Maneuvering class ability, too. It seemed a shame for a class to miss out on a class ability just because armor wasn't as common in the setting. It was one of the things I never did get around to 'converting.'
Definitely use the Ultimate Combat rules for firearms, rather than the ones in the book. I know from personal experience that any time one talks of adding black powder arms to an RPG there's a bit of push-back. Folks usually fall into two camps -- ones that hate black powder arms because of their long reload times, and ones that insist that they *have* that long reload time.
That is definitely part of my intent. While one of my gaming buddies is in the latter camp (being a reenactor), even he acknowledged that using the existing Pathfinder system for firearms made more sense- especially since we have the Gunslinger class and a bunch of other useful related rules. I am also most likely going with the Commonplace Firearms option.
When I ran my game, I used the old "Defense Bonus" option from 3.x, found here:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/defenseBonus.htm
That helped get across the feel of the 17th century better, the time when heavy armor was being phased out and becoming less and less common. Characters still get a good AC, but don't...
The Defense Bonus makes a lot of sense for the setting's mood. I'll have a closer look, but I suspect this is the sort of thing that may lead players to only wearing armor at lower levels, if at all.
That's generally the tactic i've been trying to use, where i can figure something out.The nice bit is so relatively little of Northern Crown's proper nouns were declared product identity. I blanched at the block of text at first, then cheered up when I realized most of it was from Nyambe and didn't actually show up in the Northern Crown books.
Yeah, when you actually look at the text of some books' designations of OGC, it can be amazing just how much is open content! The entire text of the Testament book by Green Ronin is Open Game Content!
This renewed interest is making me more enthusiastic about this project, so I'm definitely going to spend more time on it. As a little extra, here's a list i've compiled of all of the existing Pathfinder RPG monsters (including third party sources) that are based in the lore of the Americas: http://ayellowbirds.tumblr.com/post/42077714186/pathfinder-rpg-monsters-fro m-the-americas
I've started adjusting the culture and class elements that refer to feats and skills that don't exist in Pathfinder. One thing that keeps coming up are the feats that give +2 to two related skills. Often one or both of those skills aren't in Pathfinder. The simplest solution seems to be replacing them with Skill Focus pointing at the new skill, or closest substitute.
Sounds fair?
As a little extra, here's a list i've compiled of all of the existing Pathfinder RPG monsters (including third party sources) that are based in the lore of the Americas: http://ayellowbirds.tumblr.com/post/42077714186/pathfinder-rpg-monsters-fro m-the-americas
How about lake monsters, a la Champ and Ogopogo?
How about lake monsters, a la Champ and Ogopogo?
Those are more of a global phenomenon, really; I didn't include things that you can find on multiple continents. That said, the Water Orm is a good fit for those.
I've started adjusting the culture and class elements that refer to feats and skills that don't exist in Pathfinder. One thing that keeps coming up are the feats that give +2 to two related skills. Often one or both of those skills aren't in Pathfinder. The simplest solution seems to be replacing them with Skill Focus pointing at the new skill, or closest substitute.
Sounds fair?
Sounds good to me, or in the case of culture elements, you might just write it as a "cultural bonus" to those skills.
My opinion is that the only classes that really need to be kept and tinkered with much are the Agent and Rake; the Natural Philosopher works as an alternate class of the Wizard (but needs some beefing up). The Raider, Scout, and Soldier seem to make more sense as archetypes for the Barbarian, Ranger, and Fighter. Several other existing archetypes make sense; I'm going to have a look and see which of those are the best thematic fit.
My opinion is that the only classes that really need to be kept and tinkered with much are the Agent and Rake; the Natural Philosopher works as an alternate class of the Wizard (but needs some beefing up).
I like your idea of giving the philosopher degree powers that kick in like bloodline or school powers.
For the rake, I've wondered about replacing its dirty tricks with the cad's dirty maneuvers. Some of the tricks translate very easily to Pathfinder's maneuvers and I like the cad's scaling CMB/CMD bonus, but I'm less sure about tricks like rakish stance or twist the blade. Maybe those become abilities separate from dirty tricks that translate to maneuvers.
I'll have a closer look, but I suspect this is the sort of thing that may lead players to only wearing armor at lower levels, if at all.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. The option is still there for them to wear armor, and if they find magical armor that gives them a better AC bonus they can use it. There's also the chance of finding armor with a special quality (like fortification, etc.) that a player wants to take advantage of.
As for the Rake and the Agent, a lot of their abilities can be converted as Rogue Tricks, or alternate Rogue class abilities. I did a bit of that in my NC thread, but no one was interested in those classes so I didn't go all out with it.
I also felt that some of the backgrounds weren't well-balanced, but now that the Advanced Race Guide is out, it shouldn't be too much of an issue to go back and re-balance them.
Off of a comment elsewhere in the forum that oracles were intended to fill the role of clerics who don't worship a specific deity, it occurred to me they could fit very well in First Ones cultures, maybe even as a deist Uropan.
As for the Rake and the Agent, a lot of their abilities can be converted as Rogue Tricks, or alternate Rogue class abilities. I did a bit of that in my NC thread, but no one was interested in those classes so I didn't go all out with it.
I hadn't considered the possibility of turning them into Tricks, that's a good suggestion!
I also felt that some of the backgrounds weren't well-balanced, but now that the Advanced Race Guide is out, it shouldn't be too much of an issue to go back and re-balance them.
Ooh, great idea! I'll definitely have a go at seeing how the cultures work out in relation to the ARG rules... I also want to work on possibilities for an option to use nonhuman races (especially the more human-seeming ones like changelings, vishkanya, half-elves and half-orcs, and planetouched. I have a definite role in mind for fetchlings in the far north, as spawn of the tarriaksuit shadow people of Inuit lore).
Off of a comment elsewhere in the forum that oracles were intended to fill the role of clerics who don't worship a specific deity, it occurred to me they could fit very well in First Ones cultures, maybe even as a deist Uropan.
Oracles, Witches, Gunslingers, Inquisitors, and Cavaliers are all very easily presented as appropriate to the setting; Oracles seem like appropriate classes for Albians, Buccaneers, Cherokee, Cimarrons, Kelts, Mohawk, Ojibwe, Shawnee, Vinlandingar, and Witchans; Witches are appropriate for all the cultures that NC Witches were. Gunslingers i think are best for Buccaneers, Cimarrons, Fredonians, and most of the Uropan cultures; Inquisitors are an excellent fit for Commonwealthers, Espaniards, Français, Nederlanders, Swedes, and i have ideas about how they might fit Cherokee, Cimarron, Mohawk, Shawnee, and Witchans. Cavaliers fit Albians, Carolingians, Commonwealthers, Espaniards, Français, Fredonians, and Swedes, and may work in some other cultures, too.
Just to let folks know, i am actively working on stuff, but it's taking a while: i'm creating new Phenomena lists for the Natural Philosopher, cutting out the spells that no longer exist and adding in new ones that seem appropriate.
I've also done some renaming: "Life and Death" is now "Anatomy"; "Physics" is now "Cosmology". I want to either rename "Mentalism" or redistribute its phenomena to other sciences; the closest period term is "mental philosophy" (which i'm using as a placeholder for the time being), and things like mesmerism and psychic powers are completely outside of even what people of the time were imagining- "mesmerism" comes from a 19th century physician's name, and the idea of the mind as a distinct thing was barely beginning to gain ground in the west. People were still talking in terms of the soul and the spirit, then.
I'm adding new sciences: Logic (codes, math, reasoning, statistics...) and Botany; I may fold Mentalism phenomena into Logic and Magnetism.
Here's the descriptions i'm working with, for each:
(Formerly "Life and Death")
Natural philosophers who study anatomy gain the power to heal and harm, in equal measure. The phenomena created by these scientists, often known as anatomists, duplicate the curing powers of divine magic but also include toxic effects, from clouds of poison gas to enfeebling rays. At the very highest levels of study, this science offers the keys to life and death itself, allowing natural philosophers to restore the dead to life.
Natural philosophers who produce anatomy phenomena use an apothecary of Chiron and Nessus as their apparatus, which looks like a wooden case with two compartments. One compartment is named for Chiron, the wise centaur of ancient myth, and contains a selection of salves, powders, and pills, which, in the proper dosage and sequence, can restore health and even life itself. The other, named for Nessus, the centaur whose poisoned blood slew Hercules, contains a selection of salves, powders, and pills, which, in the proper dosage and sequence, can injure or kill, even at a distance, with the aid of a small bellows included in the kit.
When creating a phenomenon with a verbal component, the liquids and oils contained in an apothecary of Chiron and Nessus bubble, steam, and seethe audibly for a length of time equal to the equivalent spell's casting time.
This science attempts to unravel, dispel and negate supernatural forces, including both magic spells and negative energy. Relatively few antimagic phenomena are available at low levels to budding antimages, but this science becomes increasingly potent at higher levels. It causes much distress to spellcasters, who can do little to counter its effects.
Antimagic phenomena require a Copernican clock as an apparatus–a metal sphere about the size of an apple, containing many dials, gears, and wheels. When the dials are set to the proper marks by a natural philosopher with a degree in antimagic, the motion of the gears can produce phenomena that can cancel or repel magic.
When creating a phenomenon with a verbal component, a Copernican clock ticks, whirs, and chimes loudly for a length of time equal to the equivalent spell's casting time.
Antimagic phenomena that block spells, dispel magic, or provide protection against spells do not affect natural philosopher phenomena, even other antimagic phenomena. An antimagic field phenomenon, for example, does not prevent a natural philosopher from creating other phenomena within its area of effect. Antimagic phenomena that block magical scrying or divination attempts do not block the equivalent mental philosopher phenomena.
(New!)
One of the oldest scientists, botany is among those more often counted as natural history rather than natural philosophy, as its usual practice is not driven by experimentation. However, there are those for whom this science is just as active as any other, and natural historians with expertise in other fields often dabble in botany to great success. Botanists are also often anatomists, seeking the curative and destructive properties of plants and fungi, or the interconnections of all life.
Botanists use the Theophrastine kit to create botanical phenomena; this portable cabinet contains various chemicals, pipettes and vials, pouches of rare and specially bred seeds or spores, and dried samples of plants with unusual properties.
When creating a phenomenon with a verbal component, the use of a Theophrastine kit produces rustling, dripping, and bubbling sounds as loud as human speech for a length of time equal to the equivalent casting time.
(Formerly "Physics")
The study of light and sound, the manipulation of physical forces, and the alteration of the fabric of the universe itself; of all the sciences, cosmology presently undergoes the most radical and frequent changes to its underpinnings. Relatively unimpressive at lower levels of study, cosmology pays off for persistent cosmologists, allowing them to teleport over vast distances, stop time, and even travel to other planes of existence.
The prismatic rod is used as an apparatus to create cosmology phenomena. This is a 12-inch rod of faultless quartz crystal, cut and polished into a triangular prism, and set into a wooden handle. When struct, the rod can create and amplify sound; when used as a prism, it can produce optical effects. When both methods are combined, it can create resonances that open portals to other planes, or transport the wielder incredible distances.
When creating a phenomenon with a verbal component, a prismatic rod pulsates audibly for a length of time equal to the equivalent casting time.
(New!)
The science of analysis and reasoning, logic includes not only rational thought, but the study of mathematics and probabilities. Logicians are capable of producing phenomena that achieve the most favorable result for them and their allies, or determine the best course of action. As they become more powerful, a logician can determine probabilities so accurately that they seem incapable of errors, see patterns in even the most unpredictable and chaotic behavior, and understand the best ways to break down or repair orderly systems.
The apparatus used by mathematicians is the Napier matrix, a cube of metal rods set with wooden, clay, bone, or glass beads, many marked with numbers or fractions; inside are numerous small bells which ring when the beads are placed in certain arrangements. By sliding and arranging the beads, a mathematician can not only perform calculations beyond the capacity of mortal minds, but also create phenomena based in those calculations.
When creating a phenomenon with a verbal component, a Napier matrix audibly clicks, clatters, and chimes for a length of time equal to the equivalent casting time.
Magnetism is the science of magnetic and electrical forces, a study which has made great leaps in the past half century due to the pioneering work of the Albian natural philosopher William Gilbert, who identified the Earth itself as magnetic. Students of magnetism, called Magneticians, can cause the attraction or repulsion of two bodies of matter, shape and create protective or lifting forces around themselves, and wield the power of lightning around themselves like modern-day Jupiters. It is among the most ostentatious and awe-inspiring of the sciences, attracting characters with a mercurial or charismatic streak.
The apparatus used to create magnetism phenomena is the terrella array: a pair of pole-mounted spheres in which one acts as a model of the Earth, and another as a machine generating electricity through friction. Combined with the proper gestures, the bearer of the array can create and manipulate magnetic forces, to draw, repel, or suspend surrounding objects and people, or to create and shape electrical energy.
When creating a phenomenon with a verbal component, a terrella array crackles and pops with static electricity for a length of time equal to the equivalent spell's casting time.
The science of matter is concerned with the properties of various substance–solid, liquid, and gaseous–as well as with their creation, transformation, and destruction. Natural philosophers who are trained in matter are commonly known as chymists. They consider it to be the most versatile of the known sciences, producing and controlling fire, heat, and cold; changing one substance to another; and even altering seemingly immutable properties of matter, such as mass.
The sympathetic fork serves as the apparatus to generate matter phenomena. This is a metal fork consisting of two parallel rods, one made of gold and filled with sulphur, the other made of silver and filled with mercury, and set into a handle of wood, ivory, or bone.
When creating a phenomenon with a verbal component, a sympathetic fork rings loudly in a clear tone for a length of time equal to the equivalent spell's casting time.
(formerly Mentalism. Again, this is perhaps the MOST anachronistic of the sciences, and relies on a lot of concepts that would have been utterly novel to the people of the seventeenth century setting of Northern Crown. That its original text referenced Mesmerism—an 18th century development named for Franz Mesmer—didn't help matters. This is all leaving aside the various other possible meanings of "mentalist")
The youngest of the sciences, mental philosophy attempts to analyze and harness the powers of the mind and spirit to control the will of others, read their thoughts, and even move matter by sheer mental force. An innovative science at odds with accepted wisdom about the nature of emotion and the soul, it includes phenomena of both power and subtlety, enabling a mental philosopher to wield great power over the realm of the mind, even though their control over the physical world is quite limited compared to students of the other sciences.
Mental philosophy phenomena are not considered psionic powers, since they are generated by a scientific apparatus, rather than by a creature's inherent psionic ability. Because they are not magical in nature, mental philosophy phenomena are not blocked by spells or magic items that block magical scrying or divination. This makes them especially powerful tools in the hands of a trained mental philosopher. The vulnerability of the mental philosopher is that he has few defenses against the divinations and scrying of others, except for the 8th-level phenomenon mind blank. For this reason, mental philosophers often study antimagic as well; due to the importance of magnets in the activation of mental philosophy, many of those pursuing this science also become magnetists.
Mental philosophers use a Paracelsian cap as an apparatus to produce their phenomena. This is a skullcap made of finely woven, flexible silver thread with lodestones at key points. A properly trained wearer of the cap can project one's thoughts, read the thoughts of others, and receive images of things far distant in space and time.
When creating a phenomenon with a verbal component, a Paracelsian cap emits a low-pitched humming noise for a length of time equal to the equivalent spell's casting time.
Ooh, great idea! I'll definitely have a go at seeing how the cultures work out in relation to the ARG rules... I also want to work on possibilities for an option to use nonhuman races (especially the more human-seeming ones like changelings, vishkanya, half-elves and half-orcs, and planetouched. I have a definite role in mind for fetchlings in the far north, as spawn of the tarriaksuit shadow people of Inuit lore).
I was just thinking yesterday it really made sense for half-fey or changeling to be an option, beyond what the Albians receive.
I'd been planning to let the culture bonuses go as is, but I like the idea of holding them up against the Advanced Race Guide, even if it's not a strict one-to-one comparison.
I finally came back to this project after taking a break from populating the SRD with non-mechanical content. My first task was updating the natural philosopher. I dithered back and forth about what to add or change. In the end, she got the usual hit die upgrade, dropped turn undead, gained field notes and the final dissertation capstone.
I'd appreciate any comments to tune things up. This is my first try at creating class features at all, so I have a lot to learn about making abilities useful and fair. For instance, I thought about going with the usual half class level bonus for the field notes feature, but it seemed a bit much for some of the skills that fit with the sciences.
Next step: fleshing out the phenomena lists with post 3.5 spells. I'm also still thinking about ayellowbirds' idea of degree powers for the natural philosopher.
I' interested to know how this project progressed. Has ayellowbirds continued with Pathfinderization of Northern Crown?
Not that I'm aware of. I'm plugging away on my own version: http://sites.google.com/site/projectboreas/
I drafted the Scout this afternoon: http://sites.google.com/site/projectboreas/core-classes/scout
Due to a combination of other concerns in life and the departure to grad school of the only gamer friend I had who lived near enough to regularly brainstorm with, I haven't really done much since this thread last went quiet. Seeing Blinovitch working so diligently is encouraging, though, so i'll see if i can't come up with some stuff to help out. Here's a bit from a very incomplete draft on Natural Philosopher phenomena, listing a few of the spells i thought fit well (and using my ideas for new sciences, and new names for sciences where it was just too anachronistic for my tastes):
Anatomist Phenomena
0-level: bleed, detect poison, purify food and drink, putrefy food and drink, stabilize, touch of fatigue, virtue
1st level: chill touch, decompose corpse, ray of enfeeblement, restore corpse, sculpt corpse
2nd level: bear's endurance, bull's strength, cat's grace, disfiguring touch
Antimage Phenomena
0-level: detect magic, disrupt undead
1st level: detect charm, detect undead, erase, hide from undead, obscure object
9th level: wall of suppression
Botanist Phenomena
0-level: detect animals or plants (plants only), wooden shot
1st level: entangle, goodberry, shillelagh, wonder seed I
2nd level: defoliate, greensight, warp wood, wood shape, wonder seed II
3rd level: burst of nettles, diminish plant, fungal infestation, lily pad stride, plant growth, resinous skin, speak with plants, wonder seed III
4th level: antiplant shell, arboreal hammer, command plants, thorn body, touch of slime, wonder seed IV
5th level: tree stride, wall of thorns, wonder seed V
6th level: fire seeds, ironwood, liveoak, repel wood, transport via plants, wonder seed VI
7th level: animate plants, changestaff, siege of trees, wonder seed VII
8th level: control plants, wonder seed VIII
9th level: greater siege of trees, shambler, wonder seed IX
Cosmologist Phenomena
0-level: ghost sound, light, message, sift
1st level: ear-piercing scream, endure elements, vocal alteration
2nd level: communal endure elements
Logician Phenomena
0-level: guidance,
1st level: anticipate peril, jury rig, true strike, unerring weapon
2nd level: codespeak, communal protection from chaos, communal protection from law, embrace destiny, locate object, protection from chaos, protection from law, tactical acumen, track ship
3rd level: illusory script, locate weakness, magic circle against chaos, magic circle against law,
4th level: locate creature, malfunction, mnemonic enhancer,
5th level: apparent master, soothe construct
6th level: contingency, mage's lucubration
9th level: foresight
Magnetist Phenomena
0-level: jolt, know direction, open/close, root
1st level: fabricate bullets, hold portal, shock shield, shocking grasp
2nd level: bullet shield, cushioning bands, returning weapon
3rd level: pellet blast
4th level: ball lightning
6th level: wall of iron
8th level: antipathy, iron body, repel metal or stone, stormbolts, sympathy
9th level: clashing rocks, world wave
Chymist Phenomena
0-level: acid splash, create water, drench, mending, ray of frost
1st level: air bubble, endure elements, obscuring mist,
2nd level: book ward, resist energy
4th level: rusting grasp
Mental Philosopher Phenomena
0-level: daze, ghost sound, lullaby, mage hand
1st level: charm person, hypnotism
Wonder Seed
School conjuration (summoning); Level see text
CASTING
Casting Time 1 round
Components V, S, M/DF (a seed or spore of the plant being created, encased in soft clay)
EFFECT
Rangeclose (25 ft. + 5 ft. /2 levels)
Effect one summoned creature
Duration 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
DESCRIPTION
You summon a single creature of the plant type, drawing upon the inherent potential of its seeds. It appears where you designate and acts immediately, on your turn. It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability. If you can communicate with the creature, you can direct it not to attack, to attack particular enemies, or to perform other actions. There are nine versions of this spell; each summons a different creature, as follows:
Wonder seed I (Druid 1, Natural Philosopher 1, Witch 1): Vegepygmy or Leaf Leshy
Wonder seed II (Druid 2, Natural Philosopher 2, Witch 2): Gourd Leshy
Wonder seed III (Druid 3, Natural Philosopher 3, Witch 3): Fungus Leshy
Wonder seed IV (Druid 4, Natural Philosopher 4, Witch 4): Phycomid
Wonder seed V (Druid 5, Natural Philosopher 5, Witch 5): Basidirond
Wonder seed VI (Druid 6, Natural Philosopher 6, Witch 6): Scythe Tree
Wonder seed VII (Druid 7, Natural Philosopher 7, Witch 7): Canopy Creeper
Wonder seed VIII (Druid 8, Natural Philosopher 8, Witch 8): Sargassum Fiend
Wonder seed IX (Druid 9, Natural Philosopher 9, Witch 9): Viper Vine
Wooden Shot
School transmutation; Level druid 0, natural philosopher 0
CASTING
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M
EFFECT
Rangeclose (25 ft. + 5 ft. /2 levels)
Effect one missile of dense wood
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
DESCRIPTION
You throw the seed of a very dense, heavy wood—such as ironwood—at the target, causing it to rapidly grow into a heavy sphere of wood and leaves. You must succeed on a ranged touch attack to hit your target. The sphere deals 1d3 points of bludgeoning damage; after 1 round, the sphere decays into dust.
Thanks you guys! Good to see a great project continuing, however fast or slow!!!
I love wonder seed. That's a great addition. And I'm pretty much sold on a botany degree, too.
I posted drafts of the agent, raider and soldier last night.
Thanks! I'm starting to have a look at what you've done so far. Regarding the Albians: I like your choice of "Blooming of Albion" as a replacement term. I would suggest the dagger as an additional Traditional Weapon for them, considering that Albians jumped back about a century (and Englishmen of that time were never without some kind of blade when in public, according to contemporary sources.
I also welcome you to use my Swedish culture. Doug gave it his approval back when I posted it on the Atlas forums.
As far as the classes, I'm very much disinclined to use the Raider, Soldier, and Scout as full classes; I think they translate much better as Class Archetypes for the Barbarian, Fighter, and Ranger. I do think the Agent, Natural Philospher, and Rake work well enough on their own to be updated as new base classes. I'm not sure how I feel about the Witch; I like the Pathfinder Witch much more than NC's Witch, and think much of the flavor Doug was going for can be achieved with a class archetype. Also, as far as classes, I think that the Gunslinger ought to be included as standard.
I flirted with the idea of "Agencies" as an optional class feature for Agents, giving them some bonuses based on what organization or group they worked with—the Culper Ring (Fredonian), the Inquisition (Espaniard), Her Majesty's Intelligencers (Albian) and probably several of the existing organizations and secret societies in NC. Not sure how much potential the idea has, though.
A glance at my own half-arsed site reveals I did more work on the Natural Philosopher than I thought:
Magnetism is the science of magnetic and electrical forces, a study which has made great leaps in the past half century due to the pioneering work of the Albian natural philosopher William Gilbert, who identified the Earth itself as magnetic. Students of magnetism, called Magneticians, can cause the attraction or repulsion of two bodies of matter, shape and create protective or lifting forces around themselves, and wield the power of lightning around themselves like modern-day Jupiters. It is among the most ostentatious and awe-inspiring of the sciences, attracting characters with a mercurial or charismatic streak.
The apparatus used to create magnetism phenomena is the terrella array: a pair of pole-mounted spheres in which one acts as a model of the Earth, and another as a machine generating electricity through friction. Combined with the proper gestures, the bearer of the array can create and manipulate magnetic forces, to draw, repel, or suspend surrounding objects and people, or to create and shape electrical energy.
When creating a phenomenon with a verbal component, a terrella array crackles and pops with static electricity for a length of time equal to the equivalent spell's casting time.
Thunderstaff (Ex): At 1st level, you can touch your apparatus to a weapon as a standard action, giving it the shock property for a number of rounds equal to 1/2 your natural philosopher level (minimum 1). At 9th level, you can confer the shocking burst property instead, but the duration of the power is halved. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.
Metal Rending (Ex): Whenever you create a phenomenon that deals hit point damage, you deal extra damage to creatures made of metal or wearing medium or heavy metal armor. Affected creatures take additional damage equal to 1/2 your Natural Philosopher level. This bonus damage is not increased by metascience feats or similar effects. This bonus only applies once to a phenomenon, not once per missile or ray, and cannot be split between multiple missiles or rays. The damage is of the same type as the phenomenon.
At 20th level, whenever you create a phenomenon targeted at a creature made of metal or wearing medium or heavy armor, you can roll twice to penetrate the creature’s spell resistance and take the better result.
Magnetician Phenomena
0th Jolt, know direction, open/close, root
1st Ant haul, burning disarm, feather fall, feather step, floating disk, gravity bow, shocking grasp
2nd Chill metal, communal ant haul, defensive shock, divine trident, heat metal, resist energy (electricity only), spider climb
3rd Call lightning, communal spider climb, fly, force hook charge, force punch, mass feather step, protection from energy (electricity only)
4th Air walk, ball lightning, communal protection from energy (electricity only), rusting grasp, spike stones
5th Call lightning storm, communal air walk, lightning arc, major creation, rapid repair, unbreakable construct, wall of force
6th Chain lightning, move earth, repel wood, repulsion, wall of iron
7th Forcecage, mass fly, rampart
8th Earthquake, repel metal or stone, reverse gravity, stormbolts
9th Clashing rocks, ride the lightning
Other stuff I wanted to add: NPC-only Cultures (Burning Worlders, Cibolans, Laputans, Vandalians), Ruritanians as a German culture, Aztecs, Choctaw, Mikmaq, Muskogee, and/or Taíno cultures. Class archetypes, including Diabolist (Wizard, possibly using bits of Doug's Witch), Enochian (Witch archetype, based on John Dee), Natural Historian (Bard archetype paralleling the Natural Philospher, but with different scholarly pursuits), Rootworker (Alchemist archetype based in hoodoo, fairly anachronistic but too flavorful to resist). Atlantean, Lunar, Nightmare, Server, and Stormborn sorcerer bloodlines (maybe a Natural Philosophy one, too?).
I also welcome you to use my Swedish culture. Doug gave it his approval back when I posted it on the Atlas forums.
Nice! I'll include the Swedes and update the Albions.
Off the cultures, I've been scanning the race creation guidelines, trying to see if they can be used to nudge the Corona cultures more in line with each other, but I'm not seeing it yet. There's a very small section of race creation that touches on the customs and learned kind of stuff that cultures bestow.
As far as the classes, I'm very much disinclined to use the Raider, Soldier, and Scout as full classes; I think they translate much better as Class Archetypes for the Barbarian, Fighter, and Ranger. I do think the Agent, Natural Philospher, and Rake work well enough on their own to be updated as new base classes.
I can totally see that. For simplicity, I decided to stick with Doug's conception of the new classes replacing their analogues completely in the game world. The option's still there for GMs to re-replace them, or switch up abilities archetype-style, but I wanted to get those classes as written into Pathfinder as closely as possible for completism's sake.
The raider particularly seems to suffer, as rage powers seem flat-out better than wardances, but that's a call for GMs to make.
I'm not sure how I feel about the Witch; I like the Pathfinder Witch much more than NC's Witch, and think much of the flavor Doug was going for can be achieved with a class archetype. Also, as far as classes, I think that the Gunslinger ought to be included as standard.
The Corona witch in particular, I agree, works well as a Pathfinder archetype. Keep everything about the Pathfinder witch, but replace the familiar with an imp.
I flirted with the idea of "Agencies" as an optional class feature for Agents, giving them some bonuses based on what organization or group they worked with—the Culper Ring (Fredonian), the Inquisition (Espaniard), Her Majesty's Intelligencers (Albian) and probably several of the existing organizations and secret societies in NC. Not sure how much potential the idea has, though.
I get where the idea's coming from, giving agents something like arcane schools or sorcerer bloodlines -- golly, those need some pruning for Corona, don't they? -- but it feels like a social/character component mingled with a mechanical class feature. On the other hand, clerical domains depend on the deity worshiped, so there's precedent.
A glance at my own half-arsed site reveals I did more work on the Natural Philosopher than I thought:
Nice work! Do you have a particular method for picking out what spells you think are appropriate for phenomena? I want to expand them, too, but I don't have a sense yet of how much is too much, or what really doesn't fit phenomena (unseen servants, probably).
The rake is on my mind this afternoon. I'm finding aspects of the class problematic to either bring into Pathfinder or replace with existing features of other classes.
Fencing or Guns
Fencing's a thing I haven't figured out yet either, as it's one feat that unlocks a lot of what would probably be combat maneuvers in Pathfinder. I don't yet know the maneuvers well enough to know what there is duplicated, or needs modification. Guns, on the other hand, is basically Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Firearms).
Fortune My Mistress
This probably ought to be a scaling bonus based on half of the character's rake levels.
Just a Scratch
The frequency has to change to fall in with Pathfinder classes. Maybe like 3 plus DEX mod? Or WIS or CHA or...
Craven Attack
No changes.
Sworn Enemy
It's a flat +1 to hit, +2 damage against a chosen humanoid. Maybe it becomes bane-like instead: +2 to hit, +2d6.
Dirty Trick
It's a menu of underhanded tricks to choose from, for a total of six by level 20. Two of them inflict conditions -- blinded and sickened -- kind of like the dirty trick maneuver in the APG. The rest do things like give a to-hit bonus by sacrificing DEX's AC bonus (rakish stance), increasing movement briefly (judicious retreat) and make an attack of opportunity when an ally deals melee damage to an enemy (opportunist).
The easy thing would be to swap in the cad archetype's dirty maneuvers feature and call it good. However, the rake might suffer in later levels, as it's not getting the features that synergize with those maneuvers like the cad's do.
Also, I really like those rake abilities like opportunist. I'd like to keep them. Maybe the rake's dirty tricks would work like a monk's ki pool -- style points? -- or hunter's tricks. The list would need to be expanded for an interesting range of choices.
Another thought is the rake's tricks should key off style and flamboyance. Maybe rakes can inflict conditions through Bluff or Intimidate, say. What about a version of the paladin's smite, adding the CHA modifier to CMBs involving dirty tricks?
Advanced Sworn Enemy
Continuing the bane route, make it +4d against the sworn enemy. Or maybe it gives another benefit: bestowing sworn enemy bonuses to an ally?
Scarring Attack
Kinda dull for 17th level. Maybe 1 point of CHA damage in addition to normal damage. Or marking the enemy in some way for other benefits?
And then the rake needs a capstone. Maybe an ultimate dirty trick, depending on how those pan out.
Off the cultures, I've been scanning the race creation guidelines, trying to see if they can be used to nudge the Corona cultures more in line with each other, but I'm not seeing it yet. There's a very small section of race creation that touches on the customs and learned kind of stuff that cultures bestow.
I just had a look at how the Buccaneers work out in terms of race creation rules, and they come off as WAY overpowered if you include all the stuff baseline humans get. They're solidly in the high end of the Advanced category... and isn't at all balanced even within NC against, say, Carolingians. Yes, it's flavorful, but it's not good from a raw game balance perspective.
I feel like this may be a case where doing something with Traits might make more sense, but I'd have to look at it more to figure out what that is, and if it really does work out.
I can totally see that. For simplicity, I decided to stick with Doug's conception of the new classes replacing their analogues completely in the game world. The option's still there for GMs to re-replace them, or switch up abilities archetype-style, but I wanted to get those classes as written into Pathfinder as closely as possible for completism's sake.
The thing is that Doug was working with versions of the core classes that were more narrow and restricting than Pathfinder's versions are; I personally would just go with it being a matter of flavor and/or archetypes.
I get where the idea's coming from, giving agents something like arcane schools or sorcerer bloodlines -- golly, those need some pruning for Corona, don't they? -- but it feels like a social/character component mingled with a mechanical class feature. On the other hand, clerical domains depend on the deity worshiped, so there's precedent.
I was thinking more along the lines of Cavalier Orders, actually.
Nice work! Do you have a particular method for picking out what spells you think are appropriate for phenomena? I want to expand them, too, but I don't have a sense yet of how much is too much, or what really doesn't fit phenomena (unseen servants, probably).
I feel that it's best to avoid any where you have to think too hard about how to explain it- you don't want to have any extra lines detailing why it works like that. As far as adding new phenomena, I'd look for ones that are thematically linked to spells already on those lists.