| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The Guide to the River Kingdoms indicates that the population of Outsea is some 6,700 individuals, of which 36% are Sahuagin , 34% are Merfolk , 20% are Humans, 5% are Elves and the remaining 5% covers everyone else. The ruling body of the city, known as the Council of Inhuman Generals, consists of leaders who are Ceratiodi, Merfolk, Naga, Sahuagin, Sea Hags, Skum & Tritons. Players are first encouraged to consider playing one of these mentioned races and will require extra work & flexibility to accommodate or adapt. The advantage here is that your players are going to be doing something hopefully quite different to what they have tried before, even if they have been role-playing for many years. Something I find a little inconsistent is that one would expect the ratio of unusual races to be much higher for a setting conceived by China Mieville. I have included below a more extensive list of races that might be offered or included in Outsea as either PCs or NPCs;
Aquatic Elves - Inner Sea World Guide p.25
Ceratiodi - Rivers Run Red [Kingmaker] p.80-81
Cecaelia - Fell Beasts Volume 2
Cetaceal - Pathfinder Bestiary 2 p.17
Chuul - Bestiary p.46
Cindarians - Cerulean Seas p. 38
Elves - Pathfinder Core Rulebook p.22
Humans - Pathfinder Core Rulebook p.27
Karkanaks - Cerulean Seas p. 28
Locathah - Bestiary 2 p.179
Merfolk - Bestiary p.204
Merrow - Bestiary 2 p.189
Sahuagin - Bestiary p.239
Nereid - Bestiary 2 p.178
Nixies - Cerulean Seas p.35
Sea Hags - Bestiary p.243
Selki - Cerulean Seas p.36
Skum - Bestiary p.253
Tritons - Bestiary 2 p.270
Undine - Bestiary 2 p.275
Water Naga - Bonus Bestiary p.14
Zoverai - AD&D 2nd Ed. Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix
If this isn't enough choice, try allowing your players the opportunity to create their own unique race with a suitable back-story for why they are present in Outsea. Of course there is no point re-inventing the wheel so if one of the above races seems appealing then it might be easier to use whatever information that race already has as a springboard.
With races such as Ceratiodi, Chuul, Merrow & Nereid and perhaps others care must be taken to avoid imbalance with other characters. Adapting such races to workable PC ones may be quite challenging, but also has the potential to be very rewarding, especially if done well. Other types of aquatic creatures might be encountered as monsters or may be specifically excluded.
Races I am specifically excluding as available PC races are;
Aboleth - Bestiary p.8
Gillmen - Inner Sea World Guide p.310
Ixitxachitl - ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixitxachitl
Kuo-toa - ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuo-toa
The ancient rivalry between the Ceratiodi and the Aboleth is the reason that no Aboleth or Gillmen are to be found in Outsea. Unlike the Gillmen however the Skum here are no longer slaves to the Aboleth. Other races such as those found in the Cerulean Seas Campaign Guide have not been included as I felt they did not necessarily blend in as well with the overall feel of Outsea. Naturally, personal tastes vary in regards to such matters.
I am using my campaign as an opportunity to collaboratively develop these races with my players for an organic and more personalized feel. This is something I hope will make the game taste more like a China Mieville story. I highly encourage anyone else using Outsea to try this approach, hopefully your players enjoy it!
CHARACTERS THAT HAVE SO FAR APPEARED IN MY CAMPAIGN INCLUDE;
Kelp of the Black Ice Clan - Sahuagin Summoner
Urgurgurgl - Sahuagin Monk
Tchak-tck-gaag - Sahuagin Ranger
Hadrathas - Human Cleric of Gozreh
Hi, thanks for your great questions!
Regarding water tolerances, what we're talking about here are the differences between the D&D 3.5 Monster Manual, the Pathfinder Bestiaries, the Rivers Run Red module & the Cerulean Seas Campaign Setting...
The Amphibious SQ was ported from D&D 3.5 but not Freshwater Sensitivity or Water Dependency. Alluria Publishing made use of all these special qualities in their Cerulean Seas Campaign Setting, however in Pathfinder the Rivers Run Red module contains a well designed variation of Water Dependency called Primitive Amphibian. Given Outsea's unusual ecology I think they are all very valuable traits to include and consider.
SQ FRESHWATER SENSITIVITY (weakness)
If a creature with this trait is fully immersed in fresh water they must pass a DC 15 Fortitude save or become Fatigued (see Pathfinder Core Rules p. 567). For every ten minutes the character remains immersed they must make another save, even if previous rolls were successful. A fatigued character who fails a second roll becomes exhausted instead.
The Ceratiodi have been given a weakness called 'Primitive Amphibian'. I have renamed it for general use as follows;
SQ SALTWATER DEPENDENCY (weakness)
A character with this trait must bathe their skin in salt water regularly or suffer painful dessication. They may endure being away from salt water for a number of hours equal to twice their constitution score, after which they suffer 1 point of Constitution damage per hour until their Constitution reaches 0 and they die. Ten minutes of complete immersion in salt water entirely rejuvenates the character's Constitution.
To remain consistent with the basic premise of Outsea's creation I'd suggest that Sahuagin have Freshwater Sensitivity and also Saltwater Dependency, while Merfolk simply have Saltwater Dependency.
Cecaelia, Cindarians, Karkanak & Saltwater Merrow might have both Freshwater Sensitivity and Saltwater Dependency like Sahuagin.
Merrow come in both fresh-water and salt-water varieties, so those that are native to the sea would have Freshwater Sensitivity, whereas those who are native to fresh water might have Saltwater Sensitivity. Perhaps Locathah could be similar to Merrow in this regard, although they haven't been officially diversified and didn't have any such weaknesses in D&D 3.5
Races that exist comfortably in either type of water are Cetaceals, Chuul, Nereid, Nixies, Selkies, Skum, Tritons, Undines, Water Naga & Zoverai.
In regards to the size of the Outsea region I am deliberately non-specific. It is large enough to contain a population of 6,700 and has enough area to feature a variety of outlying villages, reefs & small kelp forests. In order to accommodate a role-playing campaign I've felt like I'd rather make it feel as expansive as possible, enough to include a city region & also some countryside.
As much as I adore China Mieville's fiction (even counting "The Scar" among my favorite books) I cannot imagine that he would be a great shared-world author. And as I much as I like the general premises of Outsea, I am really not sure how well it fits into the setting (even though with robots, guns and vikings I guess there's space for everything).
However, I really like your campaign idea as it provides a welcome change from the traditional fantasy adventuring stuff.
In this respect, I've got a question concerning the races listed above. As I do not own the Cerulean Seas CS, I do not have a clue what Cindarians, Karkanak und Selkis are.
Mythology-wise, selkies are known as human-seal shapeshifters. Are they the same here? I would be glad if you could enlighten me a bit. :)
Many thanks and good luck with your campaign!
Hi, thanks for your contribution to my journal! China seems to like breaking molds and categorisation, so it makes sense that he would present something that doesn't necessarily seem to fit in at first. Actually I'd be very keen to find out if China has run any roleplaying games in Outsea and what else if anything he has designed for the setting. I think on this topic China may be as elusive as Danglosa himself! Overall what has been presented feels mostly like a seed for others to 'water' (aquatic puns and references are also good in this setting) however without the support information (like a map for example) it makes using the setting in a way that feels shared with the greater Pathfinder community very difficult... unless people develop it in a campaign journal eh? ;)
In order to allow the possibility of a shared vision of Outsea to develop I will attempt to remain somewhat vague in certain areas, while continuing to draw upon the many interesting ideas that China has given us as starting points. I definitely feel like Outsea presents a great opportunity to stretch myself to create games that are structured differently. In this way I am treating it as an experimental setting, and seeing if I can generate something genuinely outside of my regular style that still works well. For example, so far I have not been awarding experience points but have been giving the characters honour instead, with which they may purchase extra feats (which include custom feats). This creates a different feel for player development and the power level of the setting is very steady e.g. monsters don't need to keep getting tougher to match increasing character levels. Our first group of characters started at level 5, however this makes them very powerful in the community and are considered 'honoured citizens'. They are so powerful that they might have a position of leadership, however as PC characters they act with more independence and less direct responsibility as they contribute to the well-being of the community. I am also allowing players the chance to change characters at the start of each module if they wish, as a greater story arc will not necessarily be centered around a specific character. So far my players have been happy to continue developing their initial character designs, which I also like as it allows them to create more depth and personalization.
Below are the basic details I am using for the Cindarian, Karkanak & Selkie races;
CINDARIANS
A race of lion-fish people related to merfolk but smaller in stature. They are covered in beautiful patterns and deadly envenomed spines. Cinbdarians are generally very friendly but are fierce indeed if they or those they care for are threatened. They also have a close bond with coral reef environments. Typical alignment is neutral good.
+2 Constitution, +2 Charisma, -2 Strength
Small size: +1 AC, +1 size bonus to attack rolls, -1 CMB & CMD & +4 stealth bonus.
Base swim speed 30'
Special Abilities
CORAL LINK
Allows the character to access the telepathic network of coral reefs. Thoughts can be shared across any given reef area with others who possess the same ability. Must be within 100 feet of the reef to tune in. A natural ability for Cindarians, but potentially available as a feat for other characters.
VENOMOUS SPINES
A successful unarmed or natural attack against a Cindarian incurs 1 point of piercing damage and 1 point of Dexterity damage to the attacker. All such damage is cumulative, however all of the numbing Dexterity damage wears off three rounds after the last point was received.
VENOM RESISTANCE
Cindarians are immune to the venom of others of their race, as well as that of aquatic animals such as anemones, jellyfish, lionfish, certain octopi, stingrays & stonefish. They also receive a +2 bonus on saving throws against any kind of poison or venom.
Weaknesses
FRESHWATER SENSITIVITY (see above)
SALTWATER DEPENDENCY (see above)
KARKANAKS
Karkanaks are medium-sized crab-folk that walk upright on two legs and have four arms. Their upper arms end in large pincer claws, while their lower arms end in small dextrous pincers for fine manipulation. Regarding the primary pincers, males have one small and one large whereas females have two of matching medium size. The crab-folk are gifted artisans, crafting various wares such as nets, tools, weapons and armour. They often live in caves and burrows. Typical alignment is neutral.
+2 Constitution, +2 Strength, -2 Dexterity
Base swim speed 20 feet
Special Abilities
INNATE CRAFT
Karkanaks may use their wisdom modifier instead of their intelligence modifier when making craft skill checks. All craft skills are treated as class skills.
NATURAL ARMOUR
+2 AC bonus
NATURAL WEAPONS
Females - two medium claws: 1d6 damage
Males - small claw: 1d4, large claw: 1d8
Critical: threat 20 (x2 damage)
Weaknesses
FRESHWATER SENSITIVITY (see above)
SALTWATER DEPENDENCY (see above)
SELKIE
A changeling race who shape-shift between a normal seal form and that of an aquatic elf. Selkie are especially attractive when taking on an elven appearance. As they are both naturally free spirited and move between land and water readily they frequently cause heartbreak for those human and elven folk who cannot help but fall in love with them. Selkie are despairingly impulsive and live in the moment with a child-like innocence. Typical alignment is chaotic good.
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom
Base swim speed 60 feet in seal form, 30 feet as an aquatic elf.
Special Abilities
CHANGELING
The character may shapeshift between seal and aquatic elf forms as a standard action. When in seal form a selkie has all the normal physical traits of a typical seal. The character may remain in either form indefinitely, however if slain they revert to their seal form.
CALL OF HOME
A selkie always has a strong intuitive sense of which direction their home is. Their home is wherever that character has chosen and lived long enough to develop an affinity.
Due to their Fey origins Selkie may exist comfortably in either fresh or salt water environments.
So, any news from your campaign? It would be really interesting to see what you made of Outsea. :-)