I wasn't sure if I should put this up here, or in the homebrew section, but since I'm asking for advice on how to pull something off I figured this was the better place.
Here's a bit of background - I'm the GM for a game that takes place in a fantasy analog of Germany, specifically the Harz mountain region. The world is currently low-magic(mostly), as about two centuries prior there was a war between the heads of state and the various mage clans/schools in which the mages lost and magic was, for all intents and purposes, outlawed. The only magic that really survived in any sort of institutionalized fashion was Divine magic, as it's a little less obtrusive and serves more of a "common good" purpose, but it's still heavily restricted. Arcane magic survives in the form of clandestine groups and one or two well-hidden schools and villages. Use of magic that would be considered blatant or flashy in most places runs the risk of you getting chased out of town by a lynch mob, and in the worst case you end up as a wanted criminal with a death warrant on you.
My plan for the campaign is to have the PCs build a small city-state of their own in which they legalize magic, leading to conflict with the existing government. So far I've given them a new silver mine that helped revitalize an almost dead mining town. They've also just discovered the not-quite-uninhabited remains of an old mage academy that the government hasn't been able to destroy(which just happened to be hidden in the mountainside a half day's hike from the town). Once they finish clearing the school and meet its remaining inhabitants I plan on sending them on a bit of a recruiting drive, at the behest of the still "living" former headmaster as part of a quest to pay back a debt the party owes. While recruiting new students, they're going to end up having their first real contact with government anti-magic forces.
My questions are these -
What would be your recommendations for the makeup of a military-style force dedicated to rooting out errant magic users while being as close to non-magic as possible themselves? I think this would be pretty much the perfect job for an Inquisitor, but I can't have too many of them or else the government starts to look far more hypocritical than I want them to be.
How can I push the party to spend their earnings from the mine on expanding the town, building fortifications, and financing an army rather than using it all solely to finance themselves?
How should I handle the government reaction to a bunch of people declaring themselves above the rule of law? I was originally thinking of going the Syria and Libya route, but I'd like to be a bit more nuanced about it than "kill everyone that opposes."
If it matters, the PC party composition is as follows - Paladin, Barbarian, Rogue, Ranger, Cleric. For the most part all of them already think that the restrictions on magic are a dumb idea, but I'm hoping to get them to decide just how far they're willing to go when it comes to opposing the law. Sadly, most of the group is made up of people who don't really care for roleplay all that much, but I'm hoping that I can get that to change a little bit.
Hmm, if there is no magic, there is no one to detect magic. Resistance items might be blessed artifacts, for example. Inquisitors should work well. Poisons, alchemical bombs, or even firearms on the governemental side could help even the odds. In the end, at high levels, the power of a group of wizards versus a bunch of mooks with pointy sticks will be unimpressive at best though.
High leveled Clerics, Druids, and all manner of Divine Casters returning to the Anti-Arcane battle field will help restore balance. Just because you can doesn't mean you have to. Your clerics and state officials can be one in the same who went without using their magic, until now, when it is needed most.
As far as the kingdom building, I would score the Kingmaker AP book 2, and revise as needed to suit your goals.
Id have the government consider this group of law-breakers a threat but give them an excuse for not being able to allocate all resources to the situation just yet. Start off with spies sent to gather intelligence, cause trouble and trying to sway away citizens from this unholy place of witchcraft. Just amp up their efforts over time as they learn more or loose more agents.
Spoiler:
To encourage them to build up the town, well with so much arcane oppression perhaps magical items and objects are rare and or held by the government or church. The Headmaster could suggest to them if they helped restore the tower and there was a stable economy that he might be able to reward them. In other words dangle the carrot, so to speak.
The Kingmaker AP's are great for this sort of thing, nice rules for kingdom building and streamline rules for mass combat.
As for Agents, you can use a fair number of types of agents of the government, clearly inquisitors, paladins and clerics could all be employed as holy agents of the church provided arcane magic is demonized enough.
Disruptive, Spell Breaker, Arcane Vendetta and anything that improves saves would be good for elite anti-mages to have. Also consider troops trained and specialized in getting close as fast as possible and engaging in grappling with arcane spell casters. Trying to cast spells while a slab of muscle is crushing you isn't easy. In general nearly anything works that one would normally use eliminate arcane casters. Use nets, Bola's, man catchers, garrotes, lassos, and any weapons that trip liberally.
Well, I don't have the cash right now to buy extra stuff, so the Kingmaker AP and Ultimate Campaign are out. At least for the time being.
As far as the anti-mages go, I hadn't even thought of using nets and the like for their grapple/entangle qualities. In fact, I've only recently started seeing combat maneuvers in general being used over this last year with my group's switch to Pathfinder. So that's definitely an avenue I'll have to explore more deeply. Divine casters, however, were always going to be at least a part of the equation, but they didn't exactly get off scot-free after the war. They're most likely to be low or middle-level to reflect the restrictions that were put in place on them, with maybe a handful of surviving high-priests of the longer lived races.
In fact, I'm going to need to crawl my way through all of the PRD now, since a quick glance through my APG earlier had me stumble onto the Brutal Pugilist archetype for the Barbarian. That archetype, plus superstitious, disruptive, spellbreaker, brawler, and strength surge rage powers seems like it would be a great way to go to for anti-mage front line troops. It would pretty much shut down casting once they got in range. I can just imagine what I'm missing from Ultimate Combat.
For the city building, I'm hoping the promise of magic item availability will get them wanting to protect it, since they've already shown interest in fortifying their mine, but I'm not sure how the paladin is going to react to the headmaster, who will be demonstrably evil(government mooks who try to take the school get hit with Flesh to Stone, then Stone Shaped into new doors to replace the ones the busted down, just as an example). He's most likely going to do the new student recruitment bit, but only because he has to in order to pay off a debt to someone else. After that I'm not sure he'll be willing to co-operate with the guy, let alone want to help actually defend him.
I've heard that you can wait for a popular general to die and then erect a barracade in front of the pub where you and all of your friends hang out and listen for the people singing songs of angry men.
But it might just end up in a blood bath, leaving empty chairs and empty tables.
I'm the GM in a campaign where my players are going to build their own kingdom very soon.
For city and kingdom improvements, if you don't want to spend too much money, or wait until Ultimate Campaign, I suggest you the Book of the River Nation pdf. It's cheeper and has all the rules for exploration, city building and mass combat you can find in the Kingmaker APs. It also expands the rules with extra buildings and "open spaces" such as mines.
For the government first reaction they cold send "arcane magic bounty hunters" such as Barbarians with the Superstition and the Witch Hunter rage powers, Inquisitors with the Witch Hunter or the Spellbraker archetypes, Rangers with the Yokai Hunter archetype (as a GM you can add "arcane spellcasters" in the Favored Yokai), and so on.
The second reaction could be more against the leaders of the revolt, sending professional assassins.
Finally they could send an entire army for a Mass Combat.
