Hey there! You may perhaps recognise my name, I have returned recently from an unannounced leave. No excuses really, I could have said something, my head was in a bad place and I cut a lot of things out of my life. I say this to let people decide if they want to risk playing in a game with a GM who has left before. If for any reason you want to give me a chance and a fresh start, awesome, read ahead. If not no hard feelings, I wish you many great murderhoboing(?) adventures in the future.
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”Welcome participant. Congratulations again on your successful application to test our latest product. Just a friendly reminder that per the NDA you signed, nothing you experience is to be recorded, spoken, written, texted or mentioned to anyone outside the test group. If you are ready to begin, please lower your helmet and step into the module.” The assistant that helped you put on the full body haptic feedback suit aids you in securing the helmet and opens the side of the 2.5m diameter sphere for you to step in, closing it after you. ”The calibration tutorial will now begin.” A simple forest scene replaces the room you are in as the helmet activates. You can smell the flowers and the grass, feel the bark on the trees and the dirt beneath your toes. If it wasn't for the HUD overlay you might mistake this for the real world. You hear a voice seemingly all around you, it is the instructor. She takes you through a series of simple tasks meant to configure the suit, sphere and helmet as precisely as possible. As you start things feel a little clunky when you move but within 15 minutes you are moving, even running as naturally as real life with no noticeable lag. Everything is incredibly more responsive than you thought possible. Once the basic tutorial is done you are given a break and shown in detail the much more complex character creation and customisation process. ”Once you are complete, you will be placed in game in one of several designated coastal starting zones where you may do as you like. Are you ready?”
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Greetings applicants. The base setting is near future earth where you have applied to test a new virtual reality technology created by DiamondTech. DiamondTech believes they have perfected the latest in immersive virtual entertainment technology and are looking for playtesters to explore a magical fantasy world in search of wealth, power and glory(based on the popular Pathfinder tabletop game). The world of Dusst is in danger but from where? No one knows. Only as you play and discover will you uncover the doom that might be unleashed. Will you be a hero and stop it? Become a villain and aid it? Or somewhere in between?
This game will be open to as many players as i can handle(maybe 6-12 if tons of interest). You can apply solo or in groups. Groups will begin/respawn in the same area. There are several different starting areas and i will roll randomly to select where you will start. If I decide to stop adding players to the game those that still wish to have a chance to play can go on a waiting list. If someone drops out the next one waiting can jump in. The idea is a videogame-like experience where dying matters less.
A certain amount of metagaming is also allowed, justified by being part of the DiamondTech playtest group(this will be done in the discussion thread). You could let other players know of the type of monsters or information you've found regarding a dungeon, boss or a quest, maybe recruit help to take down a tough boss. That said players could be separated by large distances with no knowledge of how to get to another player quickly(no fast travel but teleportation magic will exist). If you read other players gameplay posts do not use that information unless they reveal it in the discussion thread. A little inceptiony(game inside a game) but I hope it all makes sense.
There is no requirement to be in a party all the time or stay with one if you feel like pursuing a different lead in game than the others you were adventuring with or just like going solo. Teamwork will still be necessary for some encounters, think ‘bosses’ of certain areas and dungeons. Most random encounters though will scale somewhat to the size of the group so no one should feel like they will die unfairly because they “didn't stay with the group”(and you could hire a companion/bodyguard if you so wished). If you do die you will respawn at the nearest safe/starting zone. You will keep your skills and levels but lose all but starting gear(outside of special items and permanent bonuses that you can acquire).
There is a difficulty level that you may change anytime by returning to a safe zone(such as the areas you respawn in). Difficulty level will determine encounter CR, treasure and EXP gained. You can choose from Easy, Average, Challenging, Hard and Epic. This will work similar to the encounter design table. Harder difficulty means better rewards and more exp. In case a group has different individual difficulties chosen between players the difficulties will be averaged out for the encounter. The highest level bosses can be Mythic creatures and have Legendary loot.
You won’t need to fight over loot. Any gold will be automatically split between those that defeated the encounter(being present but hiding so to avoid dying doesn't count, you MUST participate and help) and other items will be fairly shared around and sometimes rolled for to see who happened to ‘find it first’. Of course if you wish to sell or give something to someone else you may.
There can be as little or as much role-playing as you like. There will be plenty of NPCs to interact with, cities, villages, kings and courts and more. Dusst is a region of city-states with quarreling Nobles, Tyrant Kings, Cunning Warlords and untamed wilds, forests, deserts, mountains and seas full of challenges. I hope to make it fun for wherever you fall on the rollplay-roleplay scale. This could also be the perfect game for a character you've had sitting around that can't get into any other game but you've been dying to try out.
I aim to update once a day and will let you know if there will be delays. I hope you will be able to make a post within 24 hours of me updating. If you give warning of delay that is ok but without warning you may die if in combat or be removed from the game(if no posts for 2 weeks) to give someone else a chance.
There is only one rule when creating a character backstory. You are new to this region of the world and therefore know nothing about it except rumours of evil, promises of treasure, power and legendary magic and weapons. You have full flexibility otherwise. If you provide me some backstory hooks i can work with that and implement it in some way. 2 or more paragraphs is fine and the 5 steps method will be accepted too. [Add link]
The setting will be low magic and to reflect that a gestalt variation of the E6 rules will be used. You will start at level 1 in 1 class and may spend your exp to add levels to your existing class OR gain a level of a second class. The gestalt class will cost 50% more exp to level up than your main class, a third class would cost 100% more exp, etc. Yes you could run around as a 5 class gestalt, but you will still be level 1 while someone else with the same exp could be almost level 6. With this system PrCs will also be allowed as a gestalt class if prerequisites can be met but casting cannot be improved past level 6. E6 also has post level 6 feats that unlock class abilities above level 6 and other epic bonuses. These cannot be gained through simply leveling or through class abilities(eg. fighter bonus feats) but 1 can be selected for every 5,000 exp you gain after reaching level 6 in at least 1 class. I will list the feats available in the campaign tab.
One last thing is alignment. I want to allow all alignments and shades of characters to influence the main story. Different actions can affect the world in different ways both good and bad but to make sure everyone has fun, actions against other PCs will be limited. If you're good hunting any evil you can't smite/murder/whatever an evil PC. If you're a thieving rogue you can't try to steal from other PCs. If you're a necromancer you can't try to kill other PCs to raise then as your own undead army. Those are just a few examples, but you get the idea.
Dusst is only one continent of the entire world but has always been volatile and the prime focus of the planet's magic. The known regions of Dusst are an area the size of western africa, taking more than a month to cross on foot. The coastal and central plains hold a largely human population with Kings who rule city-states and Nobles who own land as vassals to nearby kings squeezing taxes from their inhabitants to pay tributes and raise armies. Bandits infest anywhere not regularly patrolled which is everywhere not a main road and travel is dangerous without protection which also costs money.
The forest in the north is infested with fey and other magics and only the elves dare to make their homes there, safe from human invasion. The mountains to the south are the largest extending almost all the way east and are the main home of many dwarven clans and cities, often beseiged from below by svirfneblin and much worse.
The mountains block the fertile plains from the desert beyond. Home of goblins, orcs and many others. It is rumored a black dragon is king of the entire desert, worshipped and feared by all who live there.
To the west is the ocean you have crossed to get here, the northern archipelago extends over a hundred kilometres west, a haven for pirates who carry out regular raids against the southern shipping lanes.
Beyond the forest, mountains and desert, the continent of Dusst extends, shrouded in mystery. You have arrived by boat with only this basic information as well as rumours of a hidden ancient power as old as the land itself waiting for its chance to rise. It will destroy, it will rule, it will recreate, it will bring peace, these and many other rumours and stories have been told and retold over the millennia. No one knows why Dusst is so central to it all. Underneath all this is your own personal reason to come here when so few dare venture to this dangerous land. Why do you dare?
Houserules: E6(gestalt)
Starting level: 1
Hitpoints: Max at 1. Half+1 from 2 onwards.
Stats: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8.
Class: Paizo is ok. 3PP will be considered.
Race: Some races can face prejudices so be aware. Paizo is ok. 3PP will be considered. Custom must have good backstory and be inline powerwise with Paizo examples.
Feats: 1 per level
Traits: 2(1 drawback allowed)
Skills: Background skills
Wealth: 150gp + Class Kit + 10gp or less clothing(personally crafted items cannot increase starting wealth but in game crafting will be possible)
Alignment: Any(the don't-be-a-jerk rule applies), absolutely NO pvp unless both players accept.
If I update the rules in any way I will put the full rules in the campaign tab so you don't have to search every post to make sure you have everything.
Bump for a chance for others to see.
I get the gestalt bit but E6? You've lost me.
E6 or P6 for pathfinder means that the max level for PCs and NPCs is level 6. After level 6 you have access to epic feats every 5,000exp you gain. These rules keep the game at a lower and easier to manage power level.
Hmm, so it would be possible to go through six levels in a class, and then start working through six levels in another class (at the higher cost) just upgrading whatever would have been upgraded for the gestalt at the time?
Also, would unlimited flight from an aerokineticist at level 6 be too much for a game like this. I know that often GMs perfer things like unlimted flight not show up that early, so it's possible you're looking to avoid it altogether for this one.
I've been wanting to build a gestalt Monk/Kineticist and this might be a chance to build up to it.
Yes that's exactly it. Occult classes are Paizo so automatically allowed. Other classes have access to flying by that level. For long distance travel there will be high level options to all such as flying mounts. This is really a big playtest area so go ahead and try it and we'll see if it is a problem.
After Level 6, can we still take feats pertaining to our class, like extra channel for a cleric?
Yes you can still take any feats you qualify for when leveling up second or third classes. You still get 1 regular feat every class level you gain, which includes when leveling up your gestalt classes. Once you get at least 1 class to level 6 there are special E6 feats you can get every 5,000 exp you gain.
@CucumberTree The background is for the character. You can make one for the player if you want but it's not necessary. I like your idea of using real world knowledge applied to help play the game. Your player will know the usual combat rules. You don't forget yourself and the player is the one in the discussion tab talking about the game with the others and sharing information if you wish.
"Right, let's give this a try, shall we? What to do, what to do? I guess when in doubt use popular media as inspiration, right? I'll build a Z-fighter, so that would be a monk for now, and then, well, later can come later. So I could go human or, hmmm, look at this list of races! I bet no one would expect a hobgoblin, plus they've got pointy ears! Let's give it a go!"
Here's Zorblag's submission. She's named after a character from Everquest which seems fitting for a game like this (Zorblag is as well.) Since this is a bit of a meta-heavy game, I plan to start her as a mostly solo explorer who will probably be willing to work with groups and raids occasionally. She'll probably finish up 6 levels of monk, and then work on some kineticist, but 6 levels is a ways away, so we'll see.
Let me know if anything there doesn't look right (somehow at some point I thought that feat taxes were in effect for the game, but I'm not seeing it now so I assume I confused it with another game.)
Interesting. Dot. will have questions about e6 later.
So as I understand e6, if I build a magus/thief and level it up to 6/6 there would be little point in taking levels in arcane trickster because it would not further advance sneak attack or caster ability beyond what I got from the 6 levels of magus and thief...right?
I like a magus build, but it seems like he would be at a disadvantage since at level 6 he doesn't have 3rd level spells yet (being a 2/3rds caster). Might have to think a little more.
You will start at level 1 in 1 class and may spend your exp to add levels to your existing class OR gain a level of a second class.
I take that to mean we choose one class at the start and can add to it. I'm also assuming that whichever class would get to 6th first is going to count as the main class even if you didn't start with it, but that's an assumption on my part. I imagine for each character first class of any sort to a level costs the normal amount. Second class to any level is 50% more xp, third is 100% more exp, fourth would be either 150% or 200% more expensive depending on how it ramps up.
I guess I'm not quite sure what the cost to buy the first level of a second and further class would be as normally that would be 0 exp, so that's worth asking (I guess I think that the very first time it would be 2000 exp?)
So by level I guess I think that exp would look something like the following for 1st class to the level | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th. This assumes that you're spending exp like treasure. So once you get 2000 exp you could spend it to gain a second level in your first class or a first level in a new class (gestalting) and be back to 0 (or whatever your old amount - 2000 would be.)
Level 1: Free | 2,000 | 3,000 | 4,000 | 5,000
Level 2: 2,000 | 3,000 | 4,000 | 5,000 | 6,000
Level 3: 3,000 | 4,500 | 6,000 | 7,500 | 9,000
Level 4: 4,000 | 6,000 | 8,000 | 10,000 | 12,000
Level 5: 6,000 | 9,000 | 12,000 | 15,000 | 18,000
Level 6: 8,000 | 12,000 | 16,000 | 20,000 | 24,000
Epic Feats: 5,000
Other extras: ???
Mind you, that's all a guess and it's possible that costs, especially at later levels, should be higher than that. I'm also assuming medium progression because I had to start somewhere.
Hmm, even if I've got that right I guess I have a few more questions.
You've said that there would be one feat per level including gestalt levels. Does that lead to one stat increase per 4 levels, even gestalt levels (possibly with stat caps like 20 for individual stats?)
Would a feat like Boon Companion work as normal, letting a 2 level gestalt dip into hunter or druid give a Level 6 companion (it seems like it might be powerful in this setting.)
Is it possible to gestalt into different archetypes of the same class (if I wanted to go back and pick up Monk of Many Styles later would that be possible?)
@CucumberTree Interesting background. Do you have a character sheet?
@Nairb At a disadvantage compared to what?
@Zerblag No feat tax rules for this game. I decided to give you feats every level instead. Your character looks good. You will be one of the first to start. What is the issue between your archetype and what you want from Monk of many styles?
Gestalt leveling Your first class will follow the medium exp track. Level 1 of each gestalt class will cost an amount which goes up by 50% each time you gain a new class(2,000 then 3,000 then 4,000 and so on). I have added a link in the campaign tab to help visualise how it will work but it is similar to what Zerblag posted. For stat increases you will get 1 increase every time a class reaches level 4(not every 4 levels). There are also epic feats that give +2 to a stat.
Boon Companion would let a 2 level dip have a level 6 companion (as long as you have another class at level 6 already).
In case of confusion. The gestalt way of leveling here means that the usual way of multiclassing won't be in play.
The Master of Many Styles thing was a matter of potentially deciding that I want to run two styles at once at some point down the road. I like the unchained monk as it is for the most part, and wouldn't want the chained monk master of many styles as the go to, and for this particular case I think that I might be able to capture the same idea with a gestalt into another class (free-style fighter would capture the idea at level 3, though that would give up the weapon training that might be one of the more attractive parts of the fighter class.)
I'm sure there are instances where interesting features for a class are tucked into different archetypes and this was mostly a question of whether it would be possible to go back and pick them up with gestalt levels. No is a perfectly fine answer, and certainly there's plenty of other stuff to do in the system, but I was curious.
The feat tax thing is just fine, and as you say there are lots of extra feats where. I was just making sure I hadn't missed it when reading through as I managed to confuse myself by looking at a variety of games it seems.
The stat bonus every 4th level for classes sounds great, and the epic feats sound lovely as well (especially not having to buy them.)
I'll be ready to go whenever you're ready to start! I imagine I might come up with other questions, but not about the start of things.
Allow me to rephrase. Not really a disadvantage, it's just I really like 3rd level spells. That's where you start seeing the cool iconic aoes like fireball and lightning bolt.
Working on an arcanist that will be researching (beta testing) the nature of life, death, and magic in the world. You said paizo races are okay, are you good with non core? Right now the build is a Dhampir (Ajibachana subrace) Twilight sage, but I can change the race if dhamir's are not supported, the pick is mostly for flavor.
This is Nairb the Grey...
My crunch is just about done, and by looking through it you can get an idea of where I Am going fluff wise.
I will have fluff built out and posted probably some time tomorrow.
M LN Vetala-Born Dhampir Twilight Sage (Arcanist), Level 1, Init 2, HP 7/7, Speed 30'
AC 12, Touch 12, Flat-footed 10, CMD 11, Fort 0, Ref 2, Will 1, CMB -1, Base Attack Bonus 0, Arcanist Points 3/4
Light Cross Bow (20 regular bolts) +2 (1d8, 19-20x2)
Quarter Staff -1 (1d6-1, x2)
Dagger -1 (+2 ranged) (1d4-1, 19-20x2)
Abilities Str 8, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 17, Wis 8, Cha 14
Condition None
FCB: +1 hp
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__________________________________________________________________
| Login: bgunderson@us.diamondtech.com
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| Password: ***********
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| DiamondTech Login verified - voice command active.
|__________________________________________________________________
Taking a long drink of his coffee, Brian Gunderson, junior bug tester for DiamondTech set the mug down on his desk and stepped into the hamsterball. After running through the initial calibrations from rote he prompted into the character creation menus.
Okay, preliminary tests are out of the way. Hack and slash seems to be stable. I should build something to test out some of O'Malley's magic implementation. Let's see.
Allie, turn on my bug logging and action tracking subroutines and pull up a list of current primary magic user classes being tested.
The pleasant voice of the AI assistant acknowledged his commands and a command prompt appeared in his view with a list of about 30 current users that were testing various arcane magic users. Wizards, Sorcerers, Bards. Most appeared to be focusing on fire power or battlefield control techniques. There was one user that appeared to be stress testing the local spawn pops by playing a summoner and spawning in as many minions as possible.
Okay, well a lot of that is being covered then. I guess a second look wouldn't hurt. I can build a lore-master kind of class to proof some of the fluff while I'm at it. What race hasn't been tried out much yet?
Scrolling through the retro green text again he saw there was a wide array of elves and half elves. A significant contingent appeared to be playing as Drow. There was a couple of dwarves and even a Half-Orc bloodrager running around. That looks like fun. Mostly core though. I wonder if the advanced races have been tested much yet.
Keying into the menu again, Gunderson started up a character creation wizard and built a half-vampire arcanist with an interest in the balance between life and death.
What biological sex would you like to play?
Male
Along this gradation scale what gender would you like to set your characters personality to? A bar flowing from pink on the right into blue on the left pops up in front of him.
Gunderson slides the slider the slightly left of middle, in the gray area, and selects the appropriate expansion option.
Masculine-fluid-asex
Describe the character you would enjoy playing?
Loremaster - Study Magic, Life, and Death
Do you have a racial preference?
Ajibachana Dhampir
Alert - Dhampir race expansion has not passed all quality checks and has not been approved by DiamondTech development for beta testing. Character creation may be unsuccessful if management does not approve racial preference. Continue?
Yes.
What personal history would you like?
Mirpaliniel was born to a human mother that died during childbirth. He never knew his father, but knew growing up that he was different from those around him. Despite a sickly physique he rarely got sick. His dark skin was not entirely natural in hue, and did not match his shock white hair or his pale blue eyes.
In the orphanage the children called him demonchild, and would throw stones at him. The clergy running the orphanage did little to stop the abuse. He learned three lessons from an early age.
1) Others are not your friends, but they can be used.
2) Watch your back, no one else will do it for you.
3) Books contain knowledge, and knowledge is strength.
The orphanage had a library of sorts. It was not large, and most of the books contained there in were of poor quality and disrepair. But he found such wonderful stories of far away lands. Places where people didn't die and leave others to take care of themselves. Places where the evil and unjust were appropriately disposed of. From fairytales to historic records, any telling of life or death seemed to call to him.
As he read something within him clicked. This was the secret to finding happiness and peace. Through magical or natural means, discovering the secrets to life and death was the only way anyone could ever find fulfillment. Something deep within him knew this to be true. This was to be his path.
When he was 11 he snuck into the headmaster's office and found a copy of the orphanage's roster and records. Through some quick and crude forgery he managed to change the recorded ages of some of his worst tormentors. Many of them were within 2 or 3 years from leaving the orphanage. He made it so they had less than a year left. When the headmaster came in and discovered him in the act he was immediately expelled.
It has been 64 years since that day, and he remembers each cold, rainy evening in between. Somewhere in between he managed to be accepted at the Ars Arcanum, studying with some of the most brilliant minds in the land. Upon graduation he was given a research grant stipend to pursue his theories of a life force that can be controlled and altered. Many in the governmental wings are skeptically hopeful that this bright, seemingly unaging mind, will finally unlock the secret to life itself.
Profile saved. Submitted to management for beta test approval. I will notify you when a response is received Brian.
Thank you Allie. Go ahead and let me out of the ball for now. I will look over some of the bug reports from the other current testers and try to track down the issues.
@Zerblag So I take it you want the multiple styles but also want flurry of blows? Consider the [/url=https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/weapon-mastery-feats/weapon-style-mastery-style-weapon-mastery/]Weapon style mastery[/url] feat as another option.
@Nairb Yes the dhampir is fine and backstory is good. You will be starting soon too.
Yeah, it was something like that for this character, though there are work arounds (like the one you've suggested) should I eventually try to use something like jabbing style and ascetic style together with something like a sansetsukan, but regardless of whether I eventually pursue that route, I'm mostly wondering about the underlying question.
As another example, if a Vivisectionist Alchemist ever decided that they really did want that bomb feature from the Alchemist class could they gestalt another Alchemist archetype to gain access? A lot of the class features would probably go to waste then (though perhaps they would get more discoveries? I don't know how I think that should happen.)
I think I will create some Epic feats to do that instead. Some epic feats already upgrade class abilities past the level 6 limit. I will give some that let some archetype abilities be chosen too.
I'm interested. I have innumerable builds sitting around that I'd love to try out, and this seems the perfect place to do so; the character advancement is also very interesting.
I've a couple questions / clarifications, though.
Firstly, is Paizo content that is Golarion-specific (in this case, a deity) permissible?
Secondly, I assume that 'multiclassing' functions as a gestalt between all classes taken at the applicable levels - eg. a Rogue 1 / Fighter 1 is level 1 and has 8+INT skill points and 1d10+CON HP, whereas a R2/F1 has 8+INT at both levels and a d10 HD at one level and a d6 at the other. Is this accurate?
Thirdly, I assume that age-based stat adjustments are not in place; if so, could I nevertheless be Venerable without altering my attributes?
OK, sounds nice. I'll wait and see what those look like, though they'll be a ways off anyhow. Thanks for the answers!
@Ajencis Paizo/Golarion deities are the default and automatically allowed. You are accurate about how the gestalt levels work. I didn't really think about age-based adjustment but yes it will be used if you want to make an older character.
Perfect; thank you.
One (hopefully) final question: how would class features that affect all subsequent class levels function? The most intuitive answer might be that it affects all subsequently taken class levels irrespective of their equivalent character level, but I'd rather not make assumptions.
(I'm looking at the Agent of the Grave's Unholy Fortitude feature, in this case)
@Ajencis That is quite a strange case. I am thinking perhaps that each agent of the grave level swaps con for cha, eventually having 5 levels that use cha and 1 that uses con.
@Cucumber No I think we will leave the alternate trait the way it is. When you are finished the adjustments(sorry) you can post in the discussion thread.
Dussty Historian, I have Zaidel Waskalis, waiting to queue into Dusst. Please verify his account information before uploading.
Update: I was greatly confused over the E6/Gestalt rules. I re-re-read them and I need to alter Zaidel back to a single class. Oh boy.
Sorry about the confusion. Is there a backstory for the character you will be playing?
Do you want a backstory for the player? Seeing how Joseph is beta-testing the godling class, I imagine there's not a lot of Dusst Lore so far. I will leave it to the developers to tell Joe who is god parent is.
Update: Zaidel's gestalt problem is fixed.
The player(Joseph), is meant to create a backstory for the godling character he is testing.
I'll get on it.
Zaidel's basic background has been added.
That looks fine. Say hello to the others in discussion when you can.
@Ajencis Thr game is still open if your interested and working on your character.
Okay, perfect.
I present Aequiala Ingoswitu, a CE Venerable Aasimar Oracle of Mordiggian.
Hopefully the backstory isn't too long
One day, when he was 15, while exploring the area underneath the city he became lost, and his attempts to find his way back only led him deeper, until he found an underground cavern far below the city, where he found an aboleth. What happened between him and the aboleth he does not remember, but he fled some unknown time later, forever changed.
On the surface, he found he had no desire to return to his family, and wandered into the shadier parts of the city, where he was found by a cultist of Mordiggian. Sensing something in him, she recruited him into her cult.
He integrated well into his new family and within a handful of decades became a high priest, but he was still not satisfied by his insight into his god. He began spending time poring over obscure texts and trying to fit into his mind knowledge far vaster than it could hold, while fearing that even a lifetime's work could go by without even the most meagre understanding of his god's true nature.
His fears were right, in a way. He worked for two centuries, but eventually, merging pieces of information together in a way that didn't quite seem to fit, he had an indescribable revelation, so powerful that it warped his mind to emulate the ghoulish god that he worshipped.
Despite having finally begun his centuries-long goal, he felt a strange desire to leave and gather power of his own - a desire that he would later understand as stemming from his newfound understanding of his god. Almost on a whim, he took his few possessions and boarded a ship for the continent of Dusst.
Great. I'm just wondering about the stats. They don't seem right. Everyone starts with the elite array in this game (15,14,13,12,10,8).
They're weird because he's Venerable; I understood 'yes [age-based adjustments] will be used if you want to make an older character' to refer to age-based stat adjustments.
Assuming that, the stats are:
STR: 13 -> 07 -> 07
DEX: 08 -> 02 -> 02
CON: 12 -> 06 -> 06
INT: 14 -> 17 -> 19
WIS: 10 -> 13 -> 13
CHA: 15 -> 18 -> 20
I apologize if I've misunderstood you.
Ah of course, i missed that, all fine then. You can post in discussion. If you want to start with the others go ahead and post in gameplay too. Or i can make a new post if you want to start solo.
Wait! Wait! You barely make it through the doors before they close behind you. That was really close. A one like, a bajillion chance to win the DiamondTech Lottery for a chance to try out their latest immersion tech and you nearly blew it cause you were almost late. But you didn't and here you are. You practically bounce all the way through the profound speeches about the future of technology, the DiamondTech mission statement, the instructions, the waivers. Until finally you see it.
The Sphere. With a capital S.
They help you put on the suit and helmet and you leap in. You can barely contain your excitement when pleasant looking young women with a saccharin voice appears before you. Hello, my name is Allie. I am your fully integrated adaptive personal assistant using Realife AI. Shall we get started?
Whoo! Yeah! Let's do this Allie! you shout, bouncing back and forth.
Terrific. What biological sex would you like to play? she asks as two figures appear. One is solid blue and the other solid pink with just enough definition to know they were male and female.
Male. Female would be fun but...no. Let's not go down that rabbit hole.
Along this gradation scale what gender would you like to set your characters personality to? A bar flowing from pink on the right into blue on the left pops up in front of him.
Uh. Male. Well...that was very progressive of them. This was a VR. How would that affect your character? Questions for another time. You slide it most of the way blue.
Great. And what race would you like to play? Do note that race will have an effect on NPC perceptions of your character. Unlike the male and female characters, a row of male, humanoid races appears before you in the typical, casual fashion one of their race would wear. You wave your hand and the races flit by. There were a lot to choose from.
S!@%.
Path of War is allowed. Welcome to DiamondTech.
Ever prepare all day for test but absolutely blank on the first question? That's what it felt like looking at the races. And I knew what would follow. Classes, abilities, feats, weapons and armor. I knew Pathfinder. I might know it too well. Cause I have absolutely no idea what to play first. The halfling druid with a flying mount? Cause flying level 1? Yes please. The necromancer that doesn't want to kill all life but instead make it easier by making undead do menial labor? The simple-minded, half-giant paladin? The dragon rider? The murder kobold? So many options. So little time to choose. Gut instinct time.
Human. Warder Class, I say. Yeah, that sounds good. If I was in an isekai then sword and board would probably be my go to. I have always wanted to play sword and board that was actually good at combat. Something that could keep up with the two-handed fighters. Path of War had those options.
Great. What shall his name be?
Uh. Kyūzo Sadamune, I said after a bit of a fumble. I almost called him Will but I think I will save that for the backstory. Will will be the First Blade.
Okay. And what would you like your character's personal history to be? Allie asked.
Oh uh. He's uh, a student of the Shaokai School of Martial Arts. He is merely a bronze blade, the lowest of their ranking system, with experience in their Iron Turtle and Piercing Thunder disciplines. He is here in Dusst following the footsteps of the legendary First Blade, the Dragon's Bane, who came here many years ago and drove the Black Dragon across the mountains to the desert it is rumored to still be in. The stories of the Drgon's Bane have always inspired him and he hopes Dusst will aid him in following the path of the warrior. Maybe even become First Blade himself though it feels like an impossible dream right now. Yeah I think that's all I got.
Great. Creating character.
Well. Here we go.
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