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What I like most about your deities is that their names sound like their portfolios. Not an easy task to accomplish. Very nicely done UR.
I know this is asking a lot, but will we be seeing any of your mechanical/game tweaks appearing on this thread? Your alternate mental and physical wound/health/vitality/injury/endurance stuff springs to mind - given Archmage's stance on undead it might provide some synergistic world/game understanding for us poor readers...
Love your work!
Okay, this is not going to work under Pathfinder, but here goes:
You have three 'reserve pools', called Health, Energy and Stress. Each is like a hit point pool.
Health
Your health is your ability to withstand injury. As you take more and more damage and your health reaches its limit, you gain pain penalties to actions. If you take damage over your total remaining health, that damage is a modifier to a roll on an injury table. At the lower end it's stuff like temporary penalties, increased pain, unable to use a limb for a round, etc., but as you go up the table, it goes into more permanent maiming and even death. Each injury you are suffering also increases the roll, so death by a thousand cuts is very possible.
Health recovers reasonably quickly outside of combat but injuries take days, weeks or even months to recover from, if at all.
Energy
Your energy is your internal reserves of physical stamina. It's your ability to keep alert and upright while exerting yourself. You spend energy to activate physical special abilities, run, make powerful attacks and ignore pain penalties from low health or injuries. Being low on energy causes its own penalties. Nonlethal attacks cause you to lose energy. Like health, if loss of energy goes beyond your limit, you roll on a table. This one only has increasing durations of unconsciousness as you go up the table, with coma at the top (equivalent to the 'dead' result on the injury table).
Energy recovers very quickly and can even be restored by taking a few turns in combat to catch your breath.
Stress
Your stress is your balance between zen and madness. Unlike the other pools, normal people start out with a stress baseline one quarter of the way to their limit. This is their rest state. By gaining the appropriate talents, you can lower or raise your baseline stress. As your stress approaches its limit, you gain penalties to mental actions and accurate physical actions and bonuses to physical force and speed (but not agility). If you go over the limit, you suffer breakdown, rolling on a table. The lowest results may be a few penalties for a while or being stunned or confused for a round or two, but toward the end you start picking up longer-term insanities. At the top of the table, you are irrevocably bound for the crazy house.
Stress recovers about as quickly as Energy but is harder to manage (rolls are required to recover) and you can spend actions to attempt to calm yourself.
Magic is cast and maintained using stress. If you go over the limit due to casting or maintaining a spell, you don't suffer breakdown. You suffer overload. This is a table of random detrimental magical outbursts, with 'you explode and your magic burns everything around you' at the top.
You can actually go below zero stress. This causes you to roll on the unconsciousness table as you are lulled into slumber. This unconsciousness can be easily interrupted, however. You remain as easy to wake as normal. This is how sleep spells work. They try to drop your stress until you go to sleep. If you keep being agitated or aggressive, sleep magic works poorly on you.
That's it the Health/ENergy/Stress pools!
So how do you go about apportioning them for PCs? Or monsters for that matter. Basically, how does it work mechanically? :)
I don't see why this shouldn't work in PF with a little adjustment....
In the Infinity RPG System, you have the following stats:
Strength
Fitness
Agility
Dexterity
Cognition
Perception
Willpower
Psyche
Health is based on Strength + Fitness
Energy is based on Fitness + Willpower
Stress is based on Willpower + Psyche
You have several traits and defences (kind of like saves) based on stats, too.
Initiative is based on Dexterity + Perception
Speed (base move) is based on Fitness + Agility
Evade (sort of both AC and reflex) is based on Agility + Dexterity
Physical Resistance (fort) is based on Fitness + Willpower
Mental Resistance (will) is based on Willpower + Psyche
This means that under normal circumstances, your PR and MR are equal to your energy and stress limits respectively.
Each kind of attack is based on several stats as well.
Melee attacks hit with agility, deal damage with strength and do additional precision damage with dexterity (under the right conditions).
Ranged attacks hit with dexterity, deal unmodified damage (sometimes strength for bows, though they have a lower base damage) and do additional precision damage with perception.
Magic attacks hit with psyche, deal damage with willpower and do additional precision damage with cognition.
Artillery attacks hit with cognition, deal unmodified damage and cannot do precision damage.
Skills are only based on a single stat each and work mostly like Pathfinder. Stat + Ranks.
There may be a few other modifiers to your total, but for most characters that's it. To increase your pools, you increase your stats. Mind you, the scaling over character levels is far less than Pathfinder's.
If we say a level 1 Infinity character equals a level 1 Pathfinder character, then a level 10 (max) Infinity character is maybe on par with a level 5 Pathfinder character. Better in some ways, worse in others.
Sounds good. I like that the three pools don't just map to isolated pairs, - Health and Energy both use Fitness, and Stress and Energy both use Willpower.
Edited the above to add more details about other stuff. I'd rather not spell out all the mechanics. I prefer to keep it brief, and return the focus to the setting info.
Wow. Nice stuff. I like the approach.
I get the desire to go on with setting stuff. Please return to normal programming! :)
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I want to have a reasonably broad spectrum of orientations and identities amongst the pantheon, but also make it maturely presented and not look ham-handedly done.
I'm just puttering around some ideas for now, with some of the following points:
The Transgendered God
Lyriasha is considered the most beautiful of the gods. It is said that in her mortal days, as her powers of magic grew, so did her beauty. She passed a portion of this boon on to the Myrdanar when she formed the Pact of Thirteen Generations with them.
Before becoming a mage, Lyriasha was originally male and pursued arcane magic for the ability to create a new true form for herself. As fitting for her place as the goddess of secrets, nothing is known about this former life. In fact, the number of people that may know this at all could probably be counted on your hands.
The problem arises where Lyriasha is portrayed as villainous. This is not necessarily true. While she is a goddess of secrets, darkness and forbidden pacts, she is not malevolent. Her one desire is knowledge, and with that comes all the baggage of a hoarder of secrets. I don't want this to be a negative portrayal of a transgendered person.
Nor do I want this to be a Dumbledore scenario where it's a basically meaningless bit of trivia that's thrown in after the fact in order to look progressive.
Lesbian Vampires Are a Trope
I had been considering a relationship between Mevyann and Lyriasha, but looking back at it, it falls into the age old trope. Damnit. I am bad at this.
The God of Strength is Totes Gay
ARGATH LIKES MANLY MEN
Is a Bisexual God of Chaos Appropriate or a Cliche?
Ragann was a free-loving dude. When not enjoying war, that is.
I am Bad at This
I am really bad at this.
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ARGATH LIKES CATS TOO THEY ARE DEADLY PREDATORS AND ALSO CUTE
I should also note that Argath is not dumb. The guy was a master of two paths of magic before becoming a god! He just prefers the Conan-esque 'martial might and cunning outwits arrogant wizard' style.
UR is the best person regardless of gender-identification to write the ur-text of Infinity Archamage. Do not be afraid of tropes. If it works for you, work it.
I totes heart your creativity.
I would imagine that many if not all the gods are bi-, tri- and un- gendered and sexual. Kobold Press' Midgard Camapign setting uses the concept of Masks to explain how each god-concept has many faces or avatars depending on the believers. With your negation of the stupidity of good and evil with regard to gods, this would work well here...
The gods here were all mortal humans (or at least very humanlike) on the previous world. The multifaceted aspects doesn't fit them well.
Super secret: The fifteen gods are actually the most powerful primordial wraiths.
;)
In that case then my imagination is wrong. :)
There's been far less commentary on this than I was hoping for. Oh well.
I'll get onto some more writing soon.
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Still trying to catch up here and elsewhere. Oh man, so much to play with.
Yldrienne's undead are expected to give in to rot and birth new life (often fungus), becoming part of the cycle. Her blessing of 'gentle rot' allows them to go into a decaying torpor.
I'm really loving this and the possible rituals that could come out of it. Imagining undead going on pilgrimages that leave those holy sites where they receive their seeding blessing and wander off to locations that need a kickstart or booster shot to the ecosystem. Pilgrims that are long dead but searching for aplace to lay down their worries and let life grow over them.
Wondering if those undead might eventuall ascend as nature spirits, possibly guardians of whatever location in which they've laid themselves to rest.
ARGATH LIKES CATS TOO THEY ARE DEADLY PREDATORS AND ALSO CUTE
I just want to point out: He-Man did have Battlecat.
PRECEDENT. ;)
Re: Lyriasha worries - I'd probably recommend not worrying too much about getting it perfect and just portray her as a person, good and bad parts included. Unless it's something like "her villainous side is rooted in her transgendered status". Honestly, from what you've said, it sounds more like it's a humanizing element than anything else.
One way to avoid Dumbledoring it might be to spread relics and myths about her that have conflicting details about her gender? That might not mesh too well with how well her secret is kept though.
Maybe a former lover whose orientatino was incompatible post-change, someone who may still care but was unable to romantically follow her where she had to go. (maybe a god-like figure of loves lost?)
I'm really loving this and the possible rituals that could come out of it. Imagining undead going on pilgrimages that leave those holy sites where they receive their seeding blessing and wander off to locations that need a kickstart or booster shot to the ecosystem. Pilgrims that are long dead but searching for aplace to lay down their worries and let life grow over them.
Wondering if those undead might eventuall ascend as nature spirits, possibly guardians of whatever location in which they've laid themselves to rest.
They would be spirits of renewal which is equal parts nature and death. They are less potent than pure spirits of one aspect or the other, but gain versatility.
Death magic can be sort of helpful sometimes. While it can't heal outright, it can transfer wounds and afflictions from one person to another (which can be used offensively). A priest of Yldrienne might be keen on the idea of healing others by taking on their injuries.
Nature magic is bad at 'magical' healing but can accelerate natural healing. It's not instant like holy or death healing.
As an additional note:
Spirits differ from ghosts in that they draw energy from their mystical aspects rather than having to drain the living. Otherwise, they are similar as incorporeal magical beings.
I'll go over my creature categories:
Natural
A natural creature is one with a nonmagical metabolism. A natural creature may have magical properties that it has gained from sources other than its ancestry. If a natural creature has magical properties, they do not pass on it its offspring.
Animals, plants and humanoids are natural creatures. Humanoids can often become magical, but it doesn't pass on genetically. Note that even though the Myrdanar deepsight is magical, it is granted by a divine pact with all Myrdanar and is not inherent.
Even though they do not reproduce, constructs that use no magic in their workings would be natural creatures. Modern robots would be examples of these.
Fantastic
(formerly called mythical)
A fantastic creature is one with magic so inherent in its being that it passes those properties on to its offspring. It also includes creatures that rely on non-natural processes to live, such as undead and magic constructs.
Yes, this is another Master of Magic reference. :P
Subcategories:
Beast (Natural or Fantastic)
Beasts are all living creatures. Dragons are fantastic beasts. Maybe animate plants and oozes fall into this grouping as well? I'm not sure.
Undead (Always Fantastic)
Undead are animate beings formed from the corpses of formerly living beings, driven by magical means and fueled by the flesh or blood of the living.
Ghosts are both undead and spirits. See spirits.
Construct (Usually Fantastic)
A construct is an animate being created from nonliving materials, although formerly living materials may be included. Unlike undead, constructs are newly formed identities with no relation to any mind its components might have had prior to construction (such as a bone golem made from a skeleton).
There exists the possibility of natural constructs, but that would require extremely advanced technology.
Spirit (Always Fantastic)
A spirit is an incorporeal being that is tied to one or more aspects of the primordials. Most spirits were the followers of the primordials, but a few deceased worshippers from Deutero have been granted spirit status.
Spirits can be destroyed, albeit not with normal weapons. It's not clear what happens to them. Nobody really knows where people go when they die if they don't become spirits. Maybe it's the same place.
Ghosts are undead spirits! Usually, they are either aspectless spirits or death spirits, and rarely of other aspects. Ghosts, like all undead, do have to drain the living to restore their energies. Non-undead spirits don't have this requirement.
(yes, I'm still tweaking my definition of spirit and where the boundaries between it and undead lie. It looks like they might overlap)
Translation of Pathfinder types into Archmage types!
Aberration: Natural beast (if it has no innate magical features) or fantastic beast.
Animal: Natural beast.
Construct: Natural or fantastic construct.
Dragon: Fantastic beast.
Fey: Fantastic beast.
Humanoid: Natural or fantastic beast.
Magical beast: Fantastic beast.
Monstrous humanoid: Natural or fantastic beast.
Ooze: Natural or fantastic beast.
Outsider: Fantastic beast or spirit.
Plant: Probably fantastic beast? Most plants don't run about without magic.
Undead: Fantastic undead and/or spirit.
Vermin: Natural or fantastic beast.
I'd also like to see criticisms. I'm sure there are poorly written parts of my stuff. If you feel something doesn't work, let me know!
Oh, and to give an idea of how low the scale is in Archmage:
The minimum health pool a player character can possibly have (per current rules) is 14. The maximum is 30.
- ????: The Prime comes into being from the maelstrom.
- ????: Life emerges and evolves on the Prime.
- ????: Intelligent beings called the Primordials develop culture.
- ????: Leaders of the Primordials discover the Prime is dying.
- ????: The Primordial archmages develop plans to recreate the Prime anew.
- ????: Primordial wars of ideology. All but fifteen archmages and their followers are destroyed.
- ????: The Prime disintegrates. The Primordial archmages are set adrift in the maelstrom.
- ????: Deutero forms in the maelstrom. The Primordials approach it to become its gods. Their followers become lesser spirits.
- ????: Life emerges on Deutero and undergoes many iterations interspersed with several extinction events.
- ????: The Primordials and ther hosts arrive on Deutero. Many spirits create forms for themselves from animals, plants or mineral matter, becoming the first fantastic beasts, including dragons. With observation and occasional nudging by the Primordials, intelligence appears in the form of the Krodanoi.
The Krodanoi are strong, carnivorous humanoids evolved from large plains felines, retaining much of their predatory nature. Their early cultural developments are strongly informed by their pack-based hunter lifestyles. The drive for intelligence and communication emerges from a need for coordination and tactics against increasingly evasive prey.
- ????: The fifteen Primordial archmages forge an unbreakable pact to ensure their security against each other's potential malfeasances. The magic of the pact is enacted by Mevyann, Goddess of Death; "A god cannot fall while any other yet stands."
- ????: Krodanoi begin using stone tools and weapons and crude pottery.
(KR = Krodanos Reckoning)
- 1 KR: (Origin of the Orcs) Primordial spirits gift the Krodanoi culture and language. The most overt in enlightening the Krodanoi are Argath's spirits of strength. They revel in the primal nature of the Krodanoi and encourage their celebration of their ancestral ways. This is the first year of recorded history.
- 100 KR: Divinely inspired by spirits of strength, The Ula Clan begins the rite of purification. The ritual involves the sacrifice of weak or malformed offspring to the spirits. The practice swiftly spreads to the other clans in the region and forms the basis for the dominant Krodanos religion.
- 400 KR: Krodanoi begin creating crude bronze tools, weapons and art, based on stories told by fantastic beasts. Meteoric iron is used as well and due to its superiority and scarcity, is regarded as magical.
- 600 KR: The spirits of harmony persuade the spirits of strength to have the Krodanoi exile their weak instead of kill them. Most of the clans accept this change in their practice. Several tribal wars break out between tribes following the teachings of harmony and those refusing to waver from the path of strength. The strength-aligned tribes are victorious but the wars create a large enough population of wounded that they are forced to concede to the harmony spirits' demands.
- 750 KR: (Origin of the High Elves) Under the guidance of Asaya, the spirits of harmony lead the spirits of change and renewal in transforming the exiled Krodanoi en masse, remaking them in the image of the Primordials. The Syldanar are created. They have a closer connection to the spirits and nature than the Krodanoi and with the spirits' ancient knowledge, swiftly develop their own language and civilisation
- 800 KR: (Origin of the Kobolds) The dragon Auctol notices the development of the Krodanoi and Syldanar and grows jealous. He calls upon the aid of Yazrath and creates the Kobolds. Auctol teaches them the art of chaos magic and how to smelt iron.
- 850 KR: Syldanar forces, led by Kashtai the Elder, begin attacking and burning Krodanos settlements near Syldanar land. This begins the War of Retribution. Geron Ula, Clan Ula's chief, calls a council of the clans to organise a counteroffensive. The war rages for decades.
- 860 KR: (Origin of the Dwarves) Aldran, God of Discovery, explores the underground of Deutero and finds primitive hominids, which he names the Rhuz. In his excitement he boasts of this discovery to Yazrath, who also becomes invested in the development of the Rhuz. Two nations of the quickly advancing Rhuz civilisation form: Khazan, built upon the sciences of the arcane and the passionate will of chaos; and Rhayud, instilled also with arcane knowledge and also a fascination with the processes of life.
- 870 KR: Syldanar rangers capture a group of Kobolds that were raiding outskirt villages. They take the iron weapons and the servile Kobolds give up the secret of working iron in exchange for their release. Auctol discovers their treason and disgusted with mortal races, leaves them to go live in seclusion. Fearful of the outer world, the rest of Kobold society moves deeper underground and avoids the Syldanar.
- 880 KR: Kashtai's army breaks through Krodanoi lines and attacks Ula's honour guard. Kashtai himself meets Geron Ula in personal combat and defeats him. Kashtai spares Ula and declares the War of Retribution over. In exchange for Kashtai's mercy, Ula calls back his armies and allows the Syldanar to leave in peace. Myrlith, Kashtai's second in command, is killed by a Krodanos force from Clan Bol. Kashtai refuses further action against the Krodanoi. This inspires an anti-Krodanos faction calling themselves the Myrdanar. The knowledge of ironworking disseminates through the Krodanos tribes.
- 885 KR: Geron Ula dies of disease (aged 72).
- 910 KR: (Origin of the Ogres) The shamans of Clan Oga commit the bodies and minds of themselves and their followers to the spirits of strength. The spirits eagerly transform them into hulking brutes with mind only to fight and pillage. They are shunned by the rest of the Krodanoi and become migratory raiders.
- 925 KR: Kashtai dies of old age (aged 187).
- 932 KR: Myrdanar sentiment amongst Syldanar populations reaches unmanageable levels. Violence breaks out. The Syldanar Civil War officially begins when rebels set fire to the Hall of Heroes in the Syldanar capital.
- 934 KR: Lines are drawn. A third of the Syldanar nation falls under the control of the Myrdanar, led by Retributor Valeil. Clan Ula and allies join the Syldanar in forcing back the Myrdanar.
- 935 KR: Rhayud thaumaturges, under the guidance of the spirits of change, establish a philosophy called 'The Unfettered Ascent'. It emphasises a no-holds-barred approach to survival, science and magic. In competition with their Khazan rivals, the Rhayud branch out into elementalism and develop a curious reverence for the spirits of strength and discovery (albeit not Aldran himself), incorporating their discoveries into a threefold path.
- 980 KR: The centennial anniversary of Kashtai's Mercy. With aid from the Krodanoi, the Syldanar military defeats the Myrdanar forces, ending the Syldanar Civil War. Valeil is captured and publically executed. When the Syldanar move to execute the civilian Myrdanar, Clan Ula withdraws support and shields the fleeing civilians from the Syldanar forces.
- 982 KR: The last of the Myrdanar leave Syldanar lands, guided by Clan Ula to hidden underground tunnels. The Myrdanar restablish themselves as deep-dwellers. Their hatred for the Krodanoi is gone, replaced with hatred for their former kin.
- 983 KR: (Origin of the Dark Elves) Lyriasha, the Goddess of Knowledge, offers the Myrdanar council an alteration to help them survive in the dark, in exchange for a favour to be called in thirteen generations. The Myrdanar accept and gain deepsight. Their physical forms change to better resemble Lyriasha's ideal, thus they are forever marked as her people. From this day they are truly different from their Syldanar ancestors.
- 993 KR: Mevyann, Goddess of Death, begins offering the knowledge of necromancy to select Myrdanar in exchange for their souls. This establishes the tradition of the Taken of Mevyann. Other necromancers begin appearing under the patronage of Lyriasha, Malevi, Yldrienne and Shelas.
- 1013 KR: A Rhuz exploration party encounters a group of Myrdanar hunters tracking a group of kobolds in the Deep. Neither side having ever seen the other species before, the meeting is cautious but nonviolent.
- 1014 KR: Contact is established between the Myrdanar and Rhayud nations. Malevi's church brokers trades of technology in magic. The Myrdanar gain the secrets of steel-smithing and mechanisms while the Rhayud are granted knowledge of necromancy and the means to offer sacrifice in exchange for power.
- 1088 KR: Zerrid, a Myrdanar thaumaturge, discovers a method by which personal reserves of mana can be transmuted and condensed into physical crystals, and vice versa. Mana crystals become a popular currency amongst Myrdanar spellcasters.
- 1101 KR: Juric commissions Yazrath's spirits to create for him a divine host, a great number of physical bodies for the gods to inhabit and live as they once did. With Yazrath's science and aided by Lyriasha and Yldrienne powers of pact magic, the four gods created a new branch of magic called gene-smithing. Rhayud gene-smiths begin crafting strange and wonderful new forms of life in earnest.
- 1109 KR: Zerrid discovers a connection between the principles of mana and a rare crystalline mineral found in clusters in the Deep. This mineral shows qualities marking it as debris from the shattered Prime, now embedded within Deutero.
- 1112 KR: Zerrid develops a means of linking a spellcaster with these Prime Fragments in order to project vision and spellcasting capacity over great distances. She becomes the first Deuteran Archmage.
- 1121 KR: Although Zerrid had no head for war, the Myrdanar Council marshalls an army and plans to retake the surface with her aid as an Archmage. Myrdanar forces march out of the tunnels and take the Syldanar off guard, quickly taking and holding several townships and surrounding lands.
- 1123 KR: After two years of war, the Myrdanar have the undeniable advantage. To stem the flow of fresh troops, Syldanar druids create tremendous earthquakes, shattering large parts of the mountain range and collapsing the main tunnels. Zerrid and the Myrdanar on the surface are separated from their home nation. Zerrid is given a choice: To give the secrets of becoming an Archmage to the Syldanar, or be wiped out one and all. She concedes and the surface Myrdanar are permitted to keep their lands and form a vassal state under Syldanar rule.
- 1130 KR: Rhayud surface expansions make contact with the Krodanoi and Syldanar. Their meetings are less peaceful. With the Syldanar already wounded by the war with their exiled kin, they are vulnerable to the raids by Rhayud and their bizarre beasts. Many outer settlements of Krodanoi and Syldanar are overrun, their warriors dead and their civilians captured to fuel even more gene-smithing experiments.
- 1140 KR: (Origin of the Diverse Peoples) Counteroffensives against the Rhayud prove difficult. They do not stay and fight and their retreat is guarded by strange and malevolent monsters beyond the means of the Krodanoi or Syldanar to defeat without allowing the kidnappers to escape. In the gene-forges, the Rhayud use sophont samples to create many diverse humanoid species. Within the last ten years, the following humanoid species are created and allowed to spread and reproduce: Centaurs, Chirops, Gnolls, Gnomes, Halflings, Hivekin, Hydrans, Hypheans, Merfolk and Minotaurs (Goblins may have been created in this time but no record exists of them amongst the Rhayud).
- 1143 KR: (Origin of the Humans) Under Juric's instructions, the gene-smiths create a new species designed to be hosts to the gods and the spirits. With Juric's instruction, they are made to resemble the Primordials as much as possible, using all that the gene-smiths had learned from their prior experimentation.
Over ten thousand humans are created in a matter of months. After a great ceremony, Juric and his spirits move to inhabit the bodies. Instead, they encounter resistance and the humans awaken. They have their own souls, preventing the Primordials from taking possession. Outraged, Juric demands that Yazrath withdraw the gene-magic from the world forever. Fearing Juric's wrath against his creations, Yazrath does so.
The humans, unsuited to the underground, are sheperded to areas of the surface not yet colonised by the other races. The many other species created by the Rhuz begin seeking their own lands further beyond.
- 1146 KR: A new war begins. With the Rhayud unable to replenish their monstrous forces, the combined Syldanar and Krodanoi forces begin a war of extinction against the Rhuz and their creations. The Syldanar, being so close to the Primordial spirits, see the humans and take pity on them, letting them survive. The Krodanoi are not so forgiving, and the newly formed human nations struggle to defend themselves against Krodanos raids. Rhuz forces come to their aid, not wishing to see their finest creations destroyed.
- 1159 KR: In thirteen years, the nation of Rhayud is broken and scattered. The vast majority of their monsters are slain and the remainder are driven off to die, unable to reproduce their twisted kinds. Only a few created species with reproductive capacity escape. The gene-smiths, now without any powers, are systematically hunted down and killed.
- 1160 KR: Khazan thaumaturges attempt to recreate gene-smithing from scraps of knowledge salvaged from Rhayud refugees. Their work substitutes chaos magic for the missing factors once granted by the gods. The product of their work is a plague of intelligent, flesh-warping disease called 'the hateful flesh'. Inherently chaotic and mad, the hateful flesh runs amok in Rhayud settlements, quickly converting large portions of the population into twisted abominations controlled by the insane hive mind. Experts at mining and explosives, the Khazan manage to seal off the contaminated parts of their underground nation before the disease can destroy them all. The hateful flesh remains a danger to underground explorers to this day.
- 1278 KR: (Origin of the Forgecursed) Kahazan necromancers develop a means to smith life into machine form. The process is incredibly tortous and the resulting 'forgecursed' are often maddened beings in constant pain. Later generations of forgecursed are more able to tolerate their existence but rarely thank their creators for making them. An order of forgecursed smith-priests forms that believe it is their duty to create more of their kind, despite the pain, thus propogating the species.
- 1310 KR: Human arcanists discover the forge-cursed and Juric's priests propose a plan to create new vessels for the gods based on their design, yet without the flaw of life that gave them pain and madness.
- 1345 KR: (Origin of the Fabricants) Humans complete the first Fabricant, a purely artificial life-form of finely-crafted metal and wood. One of Juric's spirits attempts to enter it and fails, awakening a new soul in the machine. Juric abandons the project, but the Fabricant's creators choose to teach it the method of creating more of its kind on its own.
I need to create names for a lot of the nations and important people in these histories. For now, it's kind of vague in places.
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So, you're an adventurer roaming about Deutero. What's out there to discover (and loot)? The ruins of ancient civilisations are always full of awesome stuff. Let's have a rundown of some of the major sites:
Ruins of the War of Retribution
Most of the structures from this ancient war are very primitive, made from stone. It's unlikely that the clay and mud structures common to the era have survived. Soft metal (gold, bronze) and stone relics may be found by those determined enough to dig through the old cities and some finds may even be magical. Some old cities still lie buried beneath modern settlements. Supernatural dangers are unlikely though not nonexistant. Dangerous creatures sometimes make lairs in the hollow spaces in old halls. A lucky adventurer may discover a meteor sword!
Ruins of the Syldanar Civil War
Elf treasures abound! Both populations suffered terribly during the elven civil war and many relics from either side were lost. The great tragedy, where brother fought brother and families were torn apart created a higher proportion of tormented dead and some regions are still uninhabited due to persistent hauntings.
Ruins of the Myrdanar Invasion
A more recent war, the Myrdanar Invasion left several forts and cities ruined. They are more likely to be picked clean, but a few hoards may still be hidden in their depths. These locations may be inhabited by bandits and marauders using them as base camps and the deeper levels may contain magical guardians or the remains of soldiers that refused to pass on. The Myrdanar forces employed significant amounts of necromancy in the war, leaving behind many mindless undead.
Ruins of the Rhayud Nation
These Rhuz tunnels are grand and complex, full of the ancient scientific wonders and terrors that they created. Some surviving monstrosities lurk in their ancient halls, preying on those foolish enough to steal from what is now their domain. Spider-like automatons patrol their old cities, seeking and destroying those they see as enemies of Rhayud (naturally, this doesn't include the genetic monstrosities also roaming there).
Ruins of Old Khazan
The Khazan people fled their tunnels with great haste and no conquering force came after them. Surely, some of their wealth has not been touched by the hateful flesh, and might be retrieved by a daring adventurer. And besides, the hateful flesh must have starved and died long ago... right?
Archmage Citadels
The lands, both above and below ground, are dotted with magic fortresses built by independent archmages. Since many of them have died (usually by the hand of another archmage), these citadels are often without owners and ripe for the looting. Adventurers must brave traps both mundane and magical to get at a deceased archmage's wealth.
Deutero has several paladin orders. These holy knights follow paths of virtue (at least, according to them) and may be found in many lands, although primarily amongst humans.
The Church of Juric
Juric, Greater Lord of Civilisation, adopted humanity as his chosen people even after the plan to make them vessels for primordial spirits failed. He demands that all sentient beings worship him in one unified congregation. As with all the gods, he draws no innate power from the worship of followers. Instead, he views organised religious rites as necessary conditioning for ideal society.
Juric's sons, the gods of wealth and harmony, and his daughters, the goddesses of order and justice, are also revered and worshipped as lesser beings in the pantheon. Asaya is given passing respect as Juric's wife, although she holds little influence in the church.
Most of the Jurite Laws require orderly behaviour and strict adherence to routine.
The Holy Vassals
Jurite paladins are considered the original template from which other orders developed and diverged. They are expected to be noble and lordly, acting both as protectors of the people and their rulers. It is required for a Jurite paladin to govern an allotment of worked land or at least act in close assistance to a landowner. Aspiring paladins often quest to prove their worthiness as guardians of the people.
The Vassals of Law
Ganne's paladins are usually found in the denser human and Rhuz populations, acting as chiefs of police and judges. By Ganne's edicts, good is measured by peace and orderliness.
The Vassals of Balance
The House of Malevi has attracted its own kind of holy knights. The Vassals of Balance believe that good and evil are spiritual currency. All sin incurs debt that must be repaid. There are some necromancers amongst them, and it's not uncommon for them to think that the end justifies the means, if the outcome's measure of good outweighs the debt of evil incurred during their efforts.
The Vassals of Righteousness
Helior's hot-blooded Vassals of Righteousness believe that good is measured by the destruction of evil. To let evil lie unassailed is as much a sin as committing it yourself. Her knights are the most likely to be found questing to vanquish villains and monsters.
The Vassals of Mercy
Anaton's paladins measure good by the kindness you create in yourself, those you aid and those that oppose you. To a Vassal of Mercy, it is better to teach a slaver to love his slaves than to slay him.
Even if I were to run an Archmage game using Pathfinder, I would limit magic in some significant ways.
Casters can't do everything
As mentioned in the first few posts, spellcasting is divided up into the five paths of power (plus universal). Anyone playing a spellcaster would have a much more limited spell list to choose spells from, although the divine/arcane divide would be abolished. This would probably require some adjustment of classes as well. No cleric-style 'know all the spells' casting.
Travel is hard
Short range stuff like dimension door is fine. Long distance teleportation and planar travel do not exist in Archmage. If you want to go a long way, you go overland. There may be long-distance portals but if so, they will be non-portable structures with severe limitations on their use. I'm undecided on this.
Healing is non-trivial
While Pathfinder has no distinction between short and long-term injuries, there might be a way to replicate Archmage's effects. Perhaps the vitality/wounds system or a variation thereof would do. Basically: Scuffs, bruises and shallow lacerations are easy to heal. Deeper and more severe wounds take either time or money. Getting hurt actually means something.
Alignment, what alignment?
There's no alignment! Alignment-based mechanics would instead be directed against the five kinds of magic, as appropriate. i.e. Protection from Evil becomes Protection from Death and grants its bonuses against death-attuned creatures (undead, demons, death spirits) and spells of the death school.
Christmas tree?
Eh, it's too essential to Pathfinder to try removing it. Infinity: Archmage won't need it at all.
I forget
There was something else. I'm sure of it. Oh well.
How prominent are firearms gonna be? Bullets? Lasers? Is it anachronistic with swords everywhere like He-man?
Quoted from the other thread.
Firearms! They're quite prominent amongst modern Rhuz, although they tend to be favoured as surface weapons because they have issues in enclosed, dark spaces (smoke, flash). And there are a lot of wet places underground, too. That's not good for black powder weapons. So far, there's no rifling.
Here's the list of firearms I have in my Archmage document:
One-Handed Weapons
Pistol, Single Barrel
Pistol, Double Barrel
Pepperbox
Hand Cannon (solid shot or grapeshot)
Two-Handed Weapons
Blunderbuss (solid shot or grapeshot)
Carbine
Musket
Light Volley Gun
Heavy Weapons
Heavy weapons are like two-handed weapons but suffer penalties if you move and don't brace before firing.
Light Cannon (solid shot or grapeshot)
Heavy Volley Gun
Emplacement Weapons
Emplacement weapons are aimed using levers and winches rather than by hand, so use artillery skills to roll to hit.
Medium Cannon (solid shot or grapeshot)
Heavy Cannon (solid shot or grapeshot)
Field Bombard
Grand Bombard
UR - I'm a little confused by the references to Rhuz/Rhayuz/Rhayud (sorry if I'm getting terms/nomenclature mixed up) in the sections on Ganne's paladins and gunpowder weapons. Are these extant, remaining populations of old Rhayuz/Rhuz that are still distinct from Khazan, are they "pristine" dwarves or much changed from a PF "vanilla" dwarf.
Rhuz is the species. Rhayuz and Khazan are the civilisations. If I made them in PF, they'd just be dwarves with an int bonus instead of wis, low-light instead of darkvision (which is exclusively magical in Archmage), and maybe some other minor tweaks.
You might be wondering, how does an underground race get by with only low-light?
They were originally cave-dwellers, quite active on the surface as well but dwelling in natural caverns in their mountain homes. As they progressed scientifically and magically, they delved deeper. For light, they use lanterns (mundane or magical) or glowmoss (variations exist both natural and enhanced species developed by the gene-smiths). Even so, the lighting in their homes tends to be uncomfortably dark for humans and Syldanar elves.
You might now be wondering, what are elves doing without low-light vision?
The Syldanar have 'farsight', which instead reduces perception and ranged attack penalties due to distance.
Edit: I suppose I could just call the Rhuz 'dwarves', but I like my in-universe term. :)
And now a glimpse at a minor race:
Genesis:
Like most modern races, the Gnostra (commonly known as gnomes) were created by Rhayud gene-smiths in the early 12th century. The gene-smith leading the project was Kadya ul Grimmuz. She was regarded as eccentric, for her desire to create a race 'more dwarfy than the Rhuz'. Under her direction, her acquisitors captured a number of Krodanoi and Syldanar. Grimmuz believed that additional dwarvishness could be obtained by extracting those traits of other races that were most dwarvish and adding them to dwarves.
Grimmuz was unaware that Acquisitor Deldun had become enamoured with a Krodanoi captive and had decided to sabotage the project. Deldun replaced the Krodanos samples in the gene-forges with some taken from common housecats. Due to the feline similarity between cats and Krodanoi, Grimmuz did not notice the switch and continued with the project.
The result was the Gnostra, a diminutive feline people. Grimmuz was surprised at the outcome but pleased nonetheless. Afterward, Deldun persuaded her that the project was a success and that the Krodanos captives should be released (he made no such argument for the Syldanar).
Description:
Gnostra are small humanoids, standing on average three and a half feet tall at adulthood. They are furred, with strongly feline features including mobile ears and a tail. There are many varieties of modern Gnostra, often resembling the diverse breeds of cat. Though rumoured to be able to breed with housecats, this has never been proven and Gnostra tend to find the rumour offensive.
Gnostra are agile and due to their small stature, not particularly strong. They are known to be uncommonly clever albeit with a tendency toward skittishness and poor attention spans. They inherit the dwarvish predeliction for scientific aptitude but lack the stoic dedication.
Society:
Gnostra generally live in small settlements governed by a 'tom', who has first breeding rights with the females of his choice. This is not exclusive, as Gnostra females are free to have multiple relationships. Gnostra find it difficult to form lasting romantic bonds and monogamy is uncommon.
Gnostra are naturally curious and intelligent and despite their lack of overarching government, their towns typically have good utilities and infrastructure. These utilities are often, however, in poor maintenance or dotted with experimental 'upgrades'. Gnostra gadgeteers have produced some of the world's most advanced and unreliable technologies, including flying machines.
Magic is uncommon amongst Gnostra. Even with their keen minds, their difficulty with attention span makes arcane magic a chore. They tend to eschew the other paths of magic for being unscientific.
Adventurers:
Most young Gnostra are expected to explore the world. Curiosity is their most powerful drive and Deutero is full of many curious things.
When do you use "Krodanos" instead of "Krodanoi"?
Krodanos (orc or orcish) is singular. Krodanoi (orcs) is plural.
Love the Gnostra. As a person who finds gnomes problematic the Gnostra, though "furry" are much more palatable. I have no problems with furry.
Also, as an avowed cat person (though now I have a beloved dog) I can attest to the curiosity and cleverness coupled with skittish attention span. The gnome-legacy gadgeteering is a bit harder to swallow, but hey, it's your world...
The post has been up for 20 minutes I already have a player wanting a Gnostra Artificer. x_x
Love the Gnostra. As a person who finds gnomes problematic the Gnostra, though "furry" are much more palatable. I have no problems with furry.
Also, as an avowed cat person (though now I have a beloved dog) I can attest to the curiosity and cleverness coupled with skittish attention span. The gnome-legacy gadgeteering is a bit harder to swallow, but hey, it's your world...
I like the idea of tinker gnomes, although I've never really liked the depiction of them in stuff so far. I have played a catfolk artificer I enjoyed quite a lot, and a lot of that has leaked into this melding of ideas.
Here, this fits into a 'what if cats did science?' idea. Curiosity, short attention spans, science!
They make up the other half of the cat races in Archmage. Orcs are the big cats. Gnomes are the small cats.
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+2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Str: Gnostra are quick and clever but not strong.
Small Size: Gnostra are small creatures.
Normal Movement: Gnostra have a 30 ft. base speed.
Low-light Vison: Gnostra can see well in the dark.
You're a Kitty!: Gnostra gain a +2 racial bonus to Diplomacy checks for being kitties.
Deft Climber: Gnostra use their Dexterity for Climb checks instead of Strength.
Keen Crafts: Gnostra gain a +2 racial bonus to all Craft checks.
Mad Crafts: Whenever a Gnostra makes a Craft check, he or she rolls two dice and takes the result with the highest difference from 10 (choose the higher roll if there is a tie). Gnostra cannot take 10 on Craft checks. (if affected by abilities that grant additional rolls, use this method to determine the initial roll)
Something else maybe?: I dunno. Maybe they need a little more to round them out.
Mad Crafts is flavorful.
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Because the development of the thinking races of Deutero were all influenced by the Primordials, the preferences of those Primordials have become apparent in the appearances of the various races.
Krodanoi
Argath was the primary influence in the uplifting of the Krodanoi, although he changed them very little from their original form. Krodanoi hold in high regard sleek and muscular, athletic forms. Simply put, they are attracted to humanoids that look like powerful and capable predators. Big fangs are a plus! So is nice fur. Krodanoi groom each other with their tongues as signs of affection.
They're typically tawny-coloured, sometimes with muddy spots or stripes.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Do Krodanoi females have breasts? And how many?
They have two, usually smaller for their size compared with a human of similar build. Why? Surely Argath wouldn't care that much (although it was more his spirits doing the work than him directly).
Because this is easier for artists.
Syldanar
The Syldanar were the result of a joint effort between the spirits of harmony, change and renewal. As such, the Syldanar far more closely resemble the idealistic vision of the Primordials. They are tall, willowy and graceful. They are still faintly feline, owing to their Krodanos ancestry.
They come in a wide range of colours, from pale fleshtones to very dark. They sometimes have hints of green in their skintones.
They're basically your usual elves.
Important elf question: Do they have beards?!
Kind of. Male elves can grow whiskers. :3 (that is, fine, soft facial hair, not cat whiskers). Old elves can have luxurious, flowing beards. They can't have bristly, heavy beards if their lives depended on it.
Myrdanar
Lyriasha's pact of 13 Generations had a big influence on the exiled elves. They look a lot like Syldanar, but differ in a few ways that make it hard to mistake them for the original elves.
Myrdanar skin lacks any of the pinkish or brown colours that are common to warm-blooded peoples. Instead, their skin ranges from pale white and blues to greys and dark indigos. Their eyes are remarkable, their magical vision evident in them. They have black scleras instead of white, and their irises are vibrant and bright, and may be of any colour. It's not uncommon for Myrdanar to have iridescent, bicoloured irises. Physically, Myrdanar are similar to Syldanar but their women are significantly more voluptuous in the chest and hips. Lyriasha likes ladies with curves. They make humans jealous all the time.
Male Myrdanar all look like Tom Hiddleston. :P
Rhuz
Rhuz are little changed from their original forms but are much more intellectual and upright. They are hairy, stocky folk and that's what they like. They are naturally the heaviest of the major races, rarely standing taller than five feet but built much broader and denser than the others. Robustness is a favoured trait amongst dwarves. Smooth skin and hands are thought of as 'childlike' and 'immature' or even worse, 'lazy'.
Male dwarves are fond of their beards and often style them elaborately. A beardless dwarf is not a sign of shame. In fact, it's often a sign that the dwarf is dedicated to a craft where extensive facial hair might be a hazard.
What about female dwarves? They don't have beards, but they can rock some awesome sideburns.
Humans
Humans look like humans. In Archmage, just like in real life, their appearances vary wildly. Only, the reason for this in Archmage is that they were a massive genetic engineering project that had a lot of input from many Primordials.
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Also, Krodanoi have little stubby tails,
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Good God there's a lot to catch up on.
What about female dwarves? They don't have beards, but they can rock some awesome sideburns.
.....i'mokaywiththis.jpg
edit-After working in a bit more a glance between work, I love that stuff like differing standards of beauty are talked about. That's the kind of stuff that helps bring a world to life to me. :)
Am I allowed to ask about the Science-Fiction settings in this thread, or is it just for Archmage? I may have missed that note, somewhere.
As someone who is heavily invested in (but snails-pace completing) a semi-firm Science Fiction RPG setting, I'd love to know more about those.
Orcs and gnomes = cat people?
Am I allowed to ask about the Science-Fiction settings in this thread, or is it just for Archmage? I may have missed that note, somewhere.
As someone who is heavily invested in (but snails-pace completing) a semi-firm Science Fiction RPG setting, I'd love to know more about those.
You may ask about them, but I'm not working on them much right now so I may not have complete answers.
Orcs and gnomes = cat people?
Yes.
It all started when I decided to try creating a unique look for orcs. I drew a picture of one with large fangs pointing downward instead of the usual tusks. I thought it looked neat, and the connection to smilodons was easy from there.
The 'furriness' of Krodanoi may vary, but Gnostra are very much little cat people.
I see, and when you say that your elves are slightly feline—what does that mean? Are their ears lynx-like or something? Or perhaps it's in the eyes?
Not so much. It's more in their graceful movement than anything about their proportions or features. Maybe their ears can move a bit? I haven't really decided.
I thought Gnostra were a mix of Krodanoi (Archmage's feline-esque Orcs) and Rhuz (Archmage's Dwarves) with some actual cat DNA secretly mixed in to make a Gnome-analogue...
They were going to be Krodanoi+Rhuz, but Deldun switched the Krodanos samples with domestic cat samples and freed the Krodanoi. So they're cat+dwarf.
To clarify, the gene-smithed races aren't just half and half hybrids. They were specifically engineered from various traits selected from existing genetic information (and sometimes meddled with a bit by saboteurs).
Meteorite
Meteorite was discovered by Krodanos smiths during the bronze age and could only be smelted with the fire of Chaos. Weapons and armour made from meteorite are nigh indestructible and meteorite blades hold excellent edges. Most easily found meteorite has already been used up in the creation of ancient artifacts. It is now exceptionally rare and may be found in only small amounts. Modern smithing techniques can produce temperatures high enough to smelt meteorite without using chaos magic, but some insist that the traditional method is part of what makes it a great material.
When a meteorite falls, there is usually a rush to claim it where it lands.
Meteorite is believed to reflect the metaphysical essence of earth and corresponds to physical strength.
Fulgurite
Fulgurites occur when lightning strikes the right kind of earth, melting a fragment of the ground into a stony or metallic form. They are harvested in places particularly prone to lightning storms as the material is very useful in a number of alchemical formulas. Powdered and taken with water, fulgurite grants the captured lightning's essence and revitalises the body in an instant. Even undead can benefit from its energising effect.
Fulgurites are believed to reflect the metaphysical essence of air and correspond to physical energy.
Orichalcum
Orichalcum is a brittle red metal unsuited for weapons or armour. However, it is incredibly good at focusing magic like a lens. Thus, it's much sought after by mages wishing to create amplifying devices. Orichalcum ore is found deep underground and is difficult to mine. Great care must be taken when extracting it from the earth as it powders easily and Orichalcum powder is exceptionally explosive. Once crystallised under the right alchemical trreatments, it is sufficiently durable and safe to be used in the creation of magical devices.
Orichalcum is believed to reflect the metaphysical essence of fire and corresponds to magical strength.
Mana Crystals
I don't have a fancy name for these yet.
Mana crystals occur naturally in small clusters, condensed out of the air from traces of magic. It's often found on the sites of great magical cataclysms or abandoned mage towers. It does not occur in populated areas at all - It's believed that mana naturally settles in living creatures and only crystallises where there are no souls to reabsorb it from the atmosphere.
Mana crystals can be consumed by mages to fuel spells that would otherwise be taxing on them and are essential in the construction of magic items.
Mages can precipitate mana crystals from their own mental reserves with the right alchemical equipment and proper skills.
Mana crystals are believed to reflect the metaphysical essence of water and corresponds to magical energy.
Others?
Probably, although any others would lie outside the physical/magical/power/energy relationships above.
Do you have any mechanics for your mana crystals? I've had a similar idea bouncing around my head for some time, I'm just undecided about how to run them. Perhaps just re-fluffed pearls of power (except that they can be used by spontaneous casters to recover expended spell slots, too)?