Spheres of Power? Never heard of it. One sec...
...
Huh. Interesting! I'll take a closer look at it.
This is definitely going to be a major overhaul, then. Messing with the magic system... mind you, Vancian magic isn't my favorite, but redoing that is going to mean rewriting almost all of the "fantasy" parts of Pathfinder.
That reminds me... what about non-spellcasters? In your setting, are there any PC classes who don't command any magic at all? And if so, how do they compete with spellcasters, especially at higher levels? (I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but in vanilla Pathfinder past level 10 or so, casters beat noncasters. Maybe not in a 1v1 duel, but definitely in the scope of the world they can effect. A high-level fighter may be able to destroy a city in a day, but a high level cleric/wizard can BUILD one in a day.)
I recommend picking it up! It includes archetypes that convert all the base classes into sphere-casters, and has alternate spell and item construction rules, too.
I'm currently building it at e6, so that won't be much of an issue. Even if I were to run full 1-20, Spheres of Power is far less world-breaking so long as you restrict access to the advanced talents.
Per my houserules: The greater magic effects will almost always require the use of large rituals or stockpiles of power, hence the construction of wizard towers. Your most incredible powers are limited to line of sight from the top of the tower, and can't be used when you're outside it. There are a few ways to extend range, but they are expensive and vulnerable.
Also, in SoP any non-caster can pick up minor casting by spending feats.
Spellcasting Aspects
When you gain your first sphere, before choosing that sphere you must select an Aspect from the five listed: Holy, Arcane, Death, Chaos or Nature. This determines your 'spell list'; the list of spheres and talents you may learn.
Feat:
Additional Aspect (General)
Benefit: Choose another aspect. You may gain spheres and talents from that aspect. Where your spheres overlap, use the least restrictive combination of their limitations and drawbacks. If this causes a drawback that grants a bonus to become redundant, you lose that bonus talent.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time, you must select a different aspect.
CONJURATION
A creature summoned by a Holy Conjuration must be humanoid and angelic in nature. All talents taken to improve or modify it must be appropriate for this theme.
DESTRUCTION
Light Blast (blast type)
You may change the damage type of your destructive blast to divine damage. Targets damaged by your light blast must pass a Reflex saving throw or be blinded for 1 round. The damage die of a light blast is reduced by one size. Undead creatures and other creatures harmed by light take 50% additional damage and the blinding lasts 1d4 rounds instead.
Drawbacks:
Aligned Combatant (holy), bonus talent (any)
Energy Focus (light blast)
FATE
When you use Hallow or Divine Force you must choose Death or Chaos as the opposed aspect.
You cannot gain the following talents: Curse, Freedom, Harm, Pain, Tug Fate
LIFE
No limitations.
LIGHT
No limitations.
ILLUSION
You may only take the following talents: Daylight, Enlarged Illusion, Lingering Illusion, Ranged Illusion and Silence
Drawbacks:
You cannot create tricks and may only use illusions to create areas of daylight or silence. You gain Daylight or Silence as a bonus talent.
MIND
Holy Charm talents are limited to the following: Courage, Inspiration and Paralyze
Drawbacks:
Empath, bonus talent (mind)
PROTECTION
When you use Repel you must choose Death or Chaos as the opposed aspect.
WAR
When you use Totem of Enemies, you must choose Death or Chaos as the opposed aspect.
You cannot gain the Scourging Totem talent.
You cannot gain the Unhallowed Totem talent unless you are Death aspected.
CONJURATION
Arcane Conjurations are phantasmal, semi-illusory creatures of imagination and must take the Shadow Creature form.
CREATION
Drawbacks:
An object created using Arcane Create is illusory and has 1/5 its normal hit points. A creature that interacts with it must make a Will save to recognise it is an illusion. This drawback grants a bonus talent (creation).
DESTRUCTION
Drawbacks:
The damage die of force blast is reduced by one size.
Energy Focus (force blast)
DIVINATION
No limitations.
ENHANCEMENT
Arcane Enhance talents are limited to the following: Animate Object, Lighten, Mental Enhancement, Versatile Weapon
ILLUSION
You cannot gain the Silence talent.
MIND
Arcane Charm talents are limited to the following: Command, Enthrall, Project Thoughts, Read Mind, Sleep, Vision
TELEKINESIS
You cannot gain the Flight talent.
TIME
No limitations.
WARP
You cannot gain the Distant Teleport, Extradimensional Room, Extradimensional Storage, Plane Manipulator and Unseeing Teleport talents.
CONJURATION
Death Conjurations are undead and must take the Undead Creature form. It must take Undead Creature a second time if possible.
DARK
No limitations.
DEATH
You cannot gain the Inflict Disease talent unless you are Nature aspected.
DESTRUCTION
Drawbacks:
Energy Focus (nether blast)
ENHANCEMENT
Death Enhance talents are limited to the following: Cripple, Steal Senses
LIFE
Drawbacks:
Death cannot create true life but can steal it from others. When you use a Life power, you must have a sacrifice; either yourself or a helpless creature you are able to make melee attacks against.
When you use a Life power to grant temporary hit points, you cause damage to the sacrifice equal to half the amount granted (minimum 1). You cannot grant more temporary hit points than twice the sacrifice's remaining hit points plus its Constitution score.
When you use a Life power to cure hit points, you cause damage to the sacrifice equal to the amount healed. You cannot cure more hit points than the sacrifice's remaining hit points plus its Constitution score.
When you use a Life power to restore a creature, you or an adjacent helpless or willing creature suffers all the removed conditions, ability damage and negative levels as if you or they were the original recipient of those effects. You cannot remove conditions that the sacrifice is immune to.
You gain a bonus talent (life).
MIND
Death Charm talents are limited to the following: Fear
Drawbacks:
Empath, bonus talent (mind)
CONJURATION
Chaos Conjurations are elementals (fire, ice or lightning).
DESTRUCTION
Crystal blast deals 50% additional damage to targets vulnerable to cold. The crystals created by crystal blast are ice and take double damage from fire.
The damage die of thunder blast is reduced by one size.
Drawbacks:
Energy Focus (air blast, crystal blast, electric blast, fire blast, frost blast, thunder blast) - Choose one; additional blast types listed may be chosen as talents.
FATE
You cannot gain the following talents: Close, Divine Force, Judgement, Mercy, Open, Truth
Drawbacks:
Neutrality, bonus talent (fate)
MIND
Chaos Charm talents are limited to the following: Confusion, Courage, Hostility and Inspiration
Drawbacks:
Empath, bonus talent (mind)
NATURE
You may only take the Fire geomancing package and the following talents: Greater Range, Feed on Fire, Fire Wielder, Move Fire
WAR
You cannot gain the following talents: Absorb, Hallowed Totem, Totem of Allegiance
You cannot gain the Unhallowed Totem talent unless you are Death aspected.
WEATHER
No limitations.
ALTERATION
You can only take the forms of natural animals, plants and elementals (air, earth or water).
Drawbacks:
Beast Soul, bonus talent (alteration)
CONJURATION
Nature Conjurations are natural animals or material elementals (air, earth or water).
CREATION
You may create natural, unworked materials only. You cannot gain the Expanded Materials talent.
ENHANCEMENT
You cannot gain the following talents: Cripple, Mental Enhancement, Steal Senses
Drawbacks:
Bodily Enhancement, bonus talent (enhance)
LIFE
No limitations.
MIND
Drawbacks:
Animal Shaman
NATURE
You cannot gain Fire geomancy or Fire talents.
Okay, now that I've bought and read through SoP, all I can say is:
Whoa. That definitely redoes the entire Fantasy part of Pathfinder.
Don't get me wrong, I like the concept, but using SoP means a whole different flavor of fantasy RPG. Less tables and rulebooks and more making stuff up on the fly, and responding on the fly. Overall, as I see it, SoP spellcasters are far less powerful than Vancian, but far more versatile, and can last much longer in an adventuring day.
Hmm, has an array of general abilities, can burn resources to make them temporarily more awesome, can pick alternate effects for those general abilities, GM can limit their power and add drawbacks in exchange for useful benefits... anyone else reminded of Mutants and Masterminds?
In fact, chuck out hit points and replace them with a Toughness save, and you've basically got Mutants and Masterminds wearing Pathfinder's clothes.
Mind you, I like the SoP idea; it certainly brings magic and martial much closer in line with each other, especially if you ban or severely restrict the Advanced Talents. No more of this:
Wizard: I leveled up! Now I can breach the barrier between worlds!
Cleric: I leveled up! Now I can bring the dead back to life!
Fighter: I leveled up! Now I can... hit things a little harder. Yay.
Overall, I'm interested, but if you run a game using SoP rules, you'd have to make clear to the players, especially anyone who wants to play a spellcaster, that this isn't Vancian-Kansas anymore. If nothing else, though, now I want to rewrite parts of some of the published AP's with the SoP system, just to see how much they change.
P.S.
(Shameless self-promotion)
If you're looking for a way to reduce or remove the Christmas-tree effect, there are the Automatic Bonuses from Pathfinder Unchained. If you want, I do have my own rewrite, simply called You Are Not Your Gear. The Google Doc link is here:
You Are Not Your Gear - Version 5
(/Shameless self-promotion)
(P.P.S. Just a guess, but I would suspect that the flavor text at the beginning of Chapter 6 (Magic Items) is something you were more interested in than I was. Not that there's anything wrong with that. My sincerest apologies if I am incorrect, but I feel I had to comment about it somewhere.)
I've already shown SoP to a bunch of my local group and they're pretty keen. We're Mutants and Masterminds players, too, so the similarity helps.
Oh, and I think that flavour text is daft as hell. The book does have its low points. The random magic failure tables are pretty awful, too.
Edit:
I've been thinking of using vitality/wounds, class defense bonus and armour as DR as well, with some modifications. Because armour as DR can make low level characters in heavy armour almost indestructible, I'll have armour provide only half DR vs certain damage types.
Such as:
Cloth, leather, hide: DR half vs slashing
Chain, banded, scale: DR half vs piercing
Breastplate, plate suits: DR half vs bludgeoning
Hmm... now that I've had time to think this over, here are my thoughts.
As always, this is just my personal opinion about what you've said so far, so take it as you will.
Firstly, the main question on my mind: Which classes are you going to allow/disallow? The SoP system, as I see it, chucks out most spellcasting classes, since the SoP classes replace them almost completely. So, which Pathfinder casting classes are in (using their SoP archetypes), and which SoP casters are in? And are there any non-spellcasting classes you're not allowing? I'm guessing Gunslinger, but what about Bolt Ace?
Vitality/Wounds and Armor as DR together make low-level combat much more survivable, so the PC's don't have to run back to town to sleep after every single random encounter. It is a little more paperwork to keep track of (with two kinds of health and two kinds of defences), but that can just take the place of all the paperwork that SoP gets rid of, so no problems there. Mind you, from a minmaxing perspective, this makes Enhancement(Versatile Weapon) almost mandatory; if I played an Arcane character, that would be one of my first talents.
As for the half-DR thing: I understand you want to rein in heavy armor, especially at low levels, but most characters in vanilla Pathfinder don't use more than one weapon, in my experience. Maybe your groups play differently than most that I've seen, but I don't see a whole lot of "walking armory"/"swiss army weapon" characters these days. Then again, just dealing with the full DR isn't a huge issue, so characters going the Weapon Focus chain could just deal with the full DR against most enemies.
About weapon damage types: Again, half DR against full DR isn't a huge deal, but this does make natural attacks a lot stronger. Very few natural attacks deal only one damage type; claws deal two (piercing and slashing), and bite attacks deal all three, which means bite attacks have guaranteed half-DR! It also gives further benefit to that strangely powerful simple weapon, the humble morningstar. It's still a great backup weapon in most campaigns, but with the half-DR rule, it may actually be a better weapon than most martial weapons!
Again, these are just my thoughts on your ideas so far.
Hmm... now that I've had time to think this over, here are my thoughts.
As always, this is just my personal opinion about what you've said so far, so take it as you will.
Firstly, the main question on my mind: Which classes are you going to allow/disallow? The SoP system, as I see it, chucks out most spellcasting classes, since the SoP classes replace them almost completely. So, which Pathfinder casting classes are in (using their SoP archetypes), and which SoP casters are in? And are there any non-spellcasting classes you're not allowing? I'm guessing Gunslinger, but what about Bolt Ace?
I've been going through most of the hardcover book classes, plus SoP. A few don't make it, but most are allowed. Gunslingers are allowed, as primitive firearms do exist. They are not common, and are most often found in the hands of a dwarf. I'll be writing up rules for the shield mortar, which dwarven gun tanks will probably like a lot.
Vitality/Wounds and Armor as DR together make low-level combat much more survivable, so the PC's don't have to run back to town to sleep after every single random encounter. It is a little more paperwork to keep track of (with two kinds of health and two kinds of defences), but that can just take the place of all the paperwork that SoP gets rid of, so no problems there. Mind you, from a minmaxing perspective, this makes Enhancement(Versatile Weapon) almost mandatory; if I played an Arcane character, that would be one of my first talents.
As for the half-DR thing: I understand you want to rein in heavy armor, especially at low levels, but most characters in vanilla Pathfinder don't use more than one weapon, in my experience. Maybe your groups play differently than most that I've seen, but I don't see a whole lot of "walking armory"/"swiss army weapon" characters these days. Then again, just dealing with the full DR isn't a huge issue, so characters going the Weapon Focus chain could just deal with the full DR against most enemies.
About weapon damage types: Again, half DR against full DR isn't a huge deal, but this does make natural attacks a lot stronger. Very few natural attacks deal only one damage type; claws deal two (piercing and slashing), and bite attacks deal all three, which means bite attacks have guaranteed half-DR! It also gives further benefit to that strangely powerful simple weapon, the humble morningstar. It's still a great backup weapon in most campaigns, but with the half-DR rule, it may actually be a better weapon than most martial weapons!
Again, these are just my thoughts on your ideas so far.
Good points, and it may be enough just to allow full armour as DR and reduce wealth. Given that I'm building for e6, things shouldn't get too far out of hand and problems that arise can be tweaked without wrecking anyone's long-term build plans.
I'm also ditching the size modifiers to the armour as DR rules.
The defense bonus will work like this:
Characters gain an additional bonus to their defense (AC) equal to their Base Attack Bonus. This bonus cannot exceed their current Dexterity bonus to AC, as limited by armour or encumbrance. This bonus is lost in all circumstances where Dexterity to AC would be lost.
This should make up for the loss of AC imposed by armour as DR.
So, I've spent more time going through the whole thread so far, and here are more questions/comments.
1) Ah, and NOW I find the old post about firearms. Sorry I missed it earlier!
2) What playable races are there? There are the big five, obviously: Krodanoi, Syldanar, Myrdanar, Rhuz, and Humans. I've heard you mention a few others: Gnostra, Chirops, Fabricants, Forgecursed, Ghouls, Vampires, Harpies... anyone else so far? And are those minor races playable out of the box, or only with GM permission? (Ghouls, Vampires, Fabricants, and Forgecursed sound pretty GM-permission-only, or at least "warn your GM first... and hide your cheeses".)
3) The big one: Why e6?
I understand one of your design goals:
Another design goal, now that I remember: Player characters should never reach a point where, without influence, they can bully low-level NPCs without consequence.
At level 10, you might be twice as tough as you were at level 1!
That being said, Wounds/Vigor and especially SoP remove most of the quadratic power from a campaign. So while a level 15 or even 20 character is definitely powerful, they're not plane-shatteringly powerful in the way that a Vancian caster is, especially if you leave out the Advanced Talents. With Wounds/Vigor, even high-level characters have to worry about unlucky crits, since your Wounds pool rarely increases. And if you have AC partially scale off of BAB, which is linear, then even high-level characters with Low BAB still have to worry about being caught in melee. And without Vancian magic, they can't just drop 2 walls, 3 summons, and a fly/teleport spell to get out of range... at least, not without burning through most of their spell points for the day.
Confession: I've never played an e6 campaign in my life, but I find the concept odd. Most character builds don't really hit their stride until level 5 or so, and are usually gaining core features all the way up to level 15. In fact, when I GM, I usually just blitz the first 5 levels; frankly, I find them kinda boring. Maybe I've just never run with the right kind of group. So, in my personal "If I took over Deutero" fantasy (A fantasy fantasy, if you will), I'd run the full level-20 spread, but ban all Advanced Talents in SoP; or at least only make them available through costly, complicated, and usually dangerous rituals.
In Summary: From my point of view, it seems redundant to use the e6 rules on top of the SoP magic system; SoP already smooths out the power curve dramatically, so high-level play doesn't turn into Rocket Tag. Why would you then also remove high-level play itself, at least as an option? I'm sorry if my above criticisms sound discouraging; they're meant to be quite the opposite. Your worldbuilding is amazing, and I love how the different races and societies work. I'm just a little confused and curious about some of your design decisions.
P.S. I know this is from over a year ago, but nobody else mentioned it, so I will.
Edit: Ooh, another idea for a ghoul talent: Cloak of flesh. Instead of devouring a body, you incorporate its flesh directly into your own, taking on the appearance of that person!
Did anyone else suddenly get the idea for a ghoul antagonist that kidnaps people just to use this ability... perhaps imprisoning them in an underground pit first, and requiring some alchemical substance to be applied to the still-living victim's skin first.
P.P.S. Continuing my If I Took Over Deutero fantasy, I would definitely make a reptilian race. Probably two races; one based on kobolds (more underground, intelligent and creative), one based on lizardfolk (more aboveground, strong and industrious). Because reasons. But that's just me; I know you're not looking for more things to add to the setting, and I don't want to disrupt the awesome stuff you've already got going.
So, I've spent more time going through the whole thread so far, and here are more questions/comments.
I'll address each of these in turn. It's late and I'm super tired, so I may not cover all of them.
2) What playable races are there? There are the big five, obviously: Krodanoi, Syldanar, Myrdanar, Rhuz, and Humans. I've heard you mention a few others: Gnostra, Chirops, Fabricants, Forgecursed, Ghouls, Vampires, Harpies... anyone else so far? And are those minor races playable out of the box, or only with GM permission? (Ghouls, Vampires, Fabricants, and Forgecursed sound pretty GM-permission-only, or at least "warn your GM first... and hide your cheeses".)
I do want to expand the list, but I'm not just going to grab races from the list of published ones. I want everything to have a touch of the familiar yet be unique to Deutero. Kobolds are on the list, though I may develop my own small reptillian race inspired by them rather than use kobolds directly.
3) The big one: Why e6?
I understand one of your design goals:
Another design goal, now that I remember: Player characters should never reach a point where, without influence, they can bully low-level NPCs without consequence.
At level 10, you might be twice as tough as you were at level 1!
That being said, Wounds/Vigor and especially SoP remove most of the quadratic power from a campaign. So while a level 15 or even 20 character is definitely powerful, they're not plane-shatteringly powerful in the way that a Vancian caster is, especially if you leave out the Advanced Talents. With Wounds/Vigor, even high-level characters have to worry about unlucky crits, since your Wounds pool rarely increases. And if you have AC partially scale off of BAB, which is linear, then even high-level characters with Low BAB still have to worry about being caught in melee. And without Vancian magic, they can't just drop 2 walls, 3 summons, and a fly/teleport spell to get out of range... at least, not without burning through most of their spell points for the day.
Confession: I've never played an e6 campaign in my life, but I find the concept odd. Most character builds don't really hit their stride until level 5 or so, and are usually gaining core features all the way up to level 15. In fact, when I GM, I usually just blitz the first 5 levels; frankly, I find them kinda boring. Maybe I've just never run with the right kind of group. So, in my personal "If I took over Deutero" fantasy (A fantasy fantasy, if you will), I'd run the full level-20 spread, but ban all Advanced Talents in SoP; or at least only make them available through costly, complicated, and usually dangerous rituals.
In Summary: From my point of view, it seems redundant to use the e6 rules on top of the SoP magic system; SoP already smooths out the power curve dramatically, so high-level play doesn't turn into Rocket Tag. Why would you then also remove high-level play itself, at least as an option? I'm sorry if my above criticisms sound discouraging; they're meant to be quite the opposite. Your worldbuilding is amazing, and I love how the different races and societies work. I'm just a little confused and curious about some of your design decisions.
I think I actually prefer the lower levels. In this case, the limitations placed on maximum level are there to ensure that there isn't too much of a gap between the common folk and their grand heroes. Similarly, monsters are likely to be limited; a legendary dragon might be CR 12, requiring the efforts of the land's mightiest heroes, a great deal of preparation and a lot of luck to take down. It would be nigh unassailable by armies.
Also, by starting out with a limit of e6, I can play up to that point then reevaluate how it's working. If it seems okay to raise the cap, I can do so easily. It's much harder to convince players to come down from a higher expectation.
Addendum: I'm considering starting a new thread for Archmage, and condensing a lot of the more polished work into it. This thread can look a bit bewildering, since its first few posts are barely relevant to the majority of the thread.
The Mythical Land of Lost Eleria
Some of you may have spotted islands in the Northern hemisphere of the map. Of course, with the presence of the Doomwall, how could anyone know of such lands? The answer is: they don't!
Given is the commonly speculated location of an island called Eleria, said to have been devoured by Ragann for hubris or angering him or something. The stories are many. Merfolk don't know about the place; they are coastal fishpeople and don't swim that far into the ocean.
The varied and colourful tales often tell of a place filled with fanciful treasures, unimaginable technologies and artifacts of power, and also of terrible guardians set there by the same forces that doomed a once powerful and prideful nation.
Also about merfolk I guess
The syldanar-fish hybrids created by the Rhayud were quite prolific after being released into the seas, quickly able to colonise the coastlines and islands with no competition from the terrestrial races. They are not strictly aquatic and do require air, but can hold their breath for hours. Despite rumours to the contrary, they are born with legs (with fishy fins and webbed fingers and feet) and do not have fish tails at any stage in their lifespans. They fare poorly in dry air and need to keep themselves reasonably moist to stay healthy.
They do not build cities underwater. Rather, they construct semi-flooded coastal structures where they can be comfortable and work with useful tools such as metal and fire.
Working on landscapes and stuff! Redoing the map. This is hard work.
World-building is never easy, but it's worth it, in my opinion.
Oh, and I know it was a while ago now, but something's been bugging me: I owe you an apology. I tried to steer the discussion back to Pathfinder, and then mentioned two other game systems. That was hypocritical of me; I'm sorry.
Right now I'm up to the arduous task of creating a terrain heightmap. Once that is done, I import it into a program that will calculate erosion, sediment flow and rivers. That outputs a modified heightmap, which I then colourise in GIMP.
When it's all done, it should look pretty nice.
Here's a test run of the process on an image of the Crab Nebula.
Archmage is getting a reboot!
Well, not really. I'm generating some new maps using a more advanced program, and depending on the best output I get I may have to scrap or alter some global features like the Doomwall. Besides that, almost nothing about the setting will change since I have not yet described landmasses or nations in any detail.
You may ask: "Why don't you just keep generating maps until you get one that matches the original closely?"
The answer is that WorldEngine, the program I am using, takes a very long time to generate maps. Unless I want to have my computer generating maps for days, I'm only going to get a few out of it and will settle for the best amongst them.
Once it is all done, I will have such wonderful things as a heightmap, climate map, precipitation map, temperature map and another map that I forget.
Okay, so mapmaking has been hit with some delays. The maps from this version of the program are... kinda weird and look too much like random noise.
Here's one result, Wilbur'd and colourised.
It may be some time before I can figure out how to make the latest files work properly.
In the meantime, does anyone have any more questions about this world?
So, a little while ago I posted about Magical Traditions and Orders.
I'm looking to expand this greatly! Here are a few more:
-- TRADITION: THE CIRCLE OF NAMES (LYRIASHA) --
The Circle of Names reveres Lyriasha in her aspect as the God of Secrets. Veteran members of the Circle give up their true names and become nameless creatures able to take on any identity with ease. The Circle's spies and assassins are often considered the most dangerous in the world, masters of both illusion and shadow magic that are equally comfortable beguiling nobles, and skulking through shadows to kill in silence. The Nameless sell their services to any that can afford them. Aspirants may work as independent agents for a time before they are considered worthy to join the Nameless elite.
-- TRADITION: THE TAKEN OF MEVYANN (MEVYANN) --
Mevyann, God of Death, offers the same bargain to all that seek it: The supplicant offers his or her eternal soul in exchange for initiation in the black arts. Those that have made this pact are known as the 'Taken'. Mevyann's pact has an escape clause: At some point in the Taken's future, a vision will be granted that shows an act to be completed, and upon its completion that Taken's soul will be returned. Not all Taken are granted a task. Some remain without hope until the end of their lives. Nonetheless, few become Taken without hope that one day, they might join the exalted ranks of the 'Untaken', those dire necromancers that can employ forbidden magic without fear of damnation.
-
You may have already seen mention of some of these earlier in the thread.
Now, I welcome people to come up with more of the above sorts of things! What sorts of magical orders would you imagine arising in the world of Archmage?
Anyone still interested in this? I need a boost to my motivation.
We're still here, waiting for you to post.
Thankfully, the thread appeared at the top of the thread list with the dot missing.
Any particular topics you're most interested in?
Maybe something about economic, political, and social relations within particular races/cultures?
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Okay! I've been extra busy and tired lately, but I did get some painting done, so there's that.
I have not done any substantial work on the actual nations themselves, and not all of them are named yet. My goal is to have two to five different major nations for each of the main races, plus maybe two or so for some of the minor races.
It's a large world, and there's a lot of room. With the level of logistics and communication available, larger nations can be somewhat easier to maintain than in historic Earth. There is also the matter of the particular phenomenon whereby individuals can wield significantly greater ranges of power. In real life, the greatest warriors are not much more of a threat to an army than anyone else. But here, the greatest warriors might be a match for entire units (and that's only considering e6 or so). The kind of tales told in Romance of the Three Kingdoms could happen in this world.
Where was I? Politics and racial relations? Let's see what I can remember and possibly expand upon:
The Krodanoi control large areas of plains in the southern continent but do not have a single unifying leadership. The clans have traditionally allied with each other to overcome large obstacles and a charismatic individual may unite several clans together sometimes.
They have had a rocky relationship with the Syldanar nations bordering their territory. Krodanoi and Syldanar are either best friends or direst enemies, with few falling in between. This is also a point of conflict between different clans. The war of vengeance remains in the memories of both of these races, but their opinions on the outcome and purpose of that war are divided.
The ancient Rhuz managed to make themselves enemies of all the surface races as they raided and captured their populace for genetic experiments. The Myrdanar never had much conflict with the Rhuz, their territories having almost no contact until long after the era of the genesmiths was over. Modern Rhuz have cordial relations with humans and many of the other races their ancestors had a hand in creating. The Rhayud and Khazan are more or less neutral toward each other.
There is an island full of Myrdanar pirates. They perform coastal raids on the Eastern Krodanoi and humans during the night and retreat before the dawn. Rumour has it that there are underground passages connecting this island to the Deeps of the mainland and from there, Zer Terall and the other Myrdanar cities.
I'm considering importing a bunch of nations and cultures from a previous setting of mine to fill out this one, as they were much more characterful albeit in a more generic world. This includes such nations as Jhogun, where goblin raiders stole elf children and over many generations, ended up being ruled by overly flamboyant elf lords (raised by goblins to act how goblins think elves are). And maybe Chelimhad, a coastal nation of dwarves that became renowned for their excellent ocean trade and nigh-indestructible ships that could brave the harshest storms (but probably not the Doomwall).
Poke at something more specific and I'll see what I can come up with!
I haven't done full race stat writeups for all the races, but I'll start on some here. To begin with: Ability modifiers! Not all races have the same totals. Those with less tend to get other bonuses.
Chirops
+2 Dex, blindsense, sorta flying!
Small size
Fabricant
+2 Dex, precision and reliability, ensouled construct stuff.
Medium size
Forgecursed
+2 Con, pain-fueled monstrosity, ensouled construct stuff.
Medium size
Gnostra
+2 Dex, +2 Int, you're a kitty!
Small size
Human
+1 to all ability scores! Maybe? The everyman engineered from scraps of everyone else, in the image of the gods.
Medium size
Kobolds
+2 Dex, +2 Cha, excitable, energetic servant-spawn of dragons.
Small size
Krodanoi
+2 Str, +2 Con, natural predators.
Medium size
Myrdanar
+2 Dex, +2 Cha, see in darkness, underground elves.
Medium size
Rhuz
+2 Con, +2 Int, scientifically-inspired dwarves.
Medium size
Syldanar
+2 Dex, +2 Wis, nature-aligned surface elves.
Medium size
--
And the modifying templates allowed for players:
Ghoul
Advantages: Resistances and immunities, heal by eating corpses, access to ghoul feats (eat thoughts, wear flesh, blend in through cannibalism)
Disadvantages: Vulnerable to light/holy magic, no normal healing, require unusual sustenance, becomes a mindless zombie when hungry or weakened.
Vampire
Advantages: Resistances and immunities, heal by drinking blood, access to vampire feats (spend blood points to gain buffs, do magic-like things)
Disadvantages: Very vulnerable to light/holy magic, no normal healing, require unusual sustenance, succumbs to uncontrollable bloodlust when hungry or weakened.
These are meant to be '+0' templates to allow them to be included without skewing the balance of the party. I have yet to detail how they work in the Pathfinder interpretation of Archmage. Unlike Pathfinder undead, they are not immune to mind-affecting affects at all, have constitution scores, and can be affected by some diseases or poisons (stuff that decays the flesh; they won't catch colds).
For undeads - maybe for simplicity case make them immune to mundane diseases but not magical ones?
I'll make sure to have a clear delineation between ones that affect them and ones that don't when I get it all done.
As a general rule of thumb, stuff that damages physical ability scores will affect them but stuff that damages mental ability scores won't. Recovery will require feeding rather than resting.
Working on writing up a bunch of the nations! Struggling with fatigue and stuff as usual. At least I'm doing something. :I
Working on writing up a bunch of the nations! Struggling with fatigue and stuff as usual. At least I'm doing something. :I
History? Culture? Politics? Economics?
At the moment I'm figuring out where national bodies emerge from the history I've already laid down. From there, I can fine-tune things to a higher level of detail.
Basically, I'm starting with 'Why is there a nation here?' before going into anything else about it.
Here's a very rough colouring of the broad climate zones and the names of the major land masses; elevation is not yet taken into account here:
Dark Green: Temperate to Taigan
Light Green: Tropical
Pale Brown: Horse Latitude Deserts
Rurthekein Aman is the ancient homeland of Danar life (Krodanos, Syldanar, Myrdanar), which has since migrated to Khrubat, Gotekein and Buraz. The Rurthekein Deeps harbour the majority of the Myrdanar civilisation and passages beneath the Etiennos sea (the Westernmost of the Triplets) connect up to the Gotekein Deeps to the far North.
Gotekein is the cradle of life of the Rhuz and all the nonsense that spilled out of the Gene Wars. A large mountain range makes travel between the West and East very difficult. Underground passages do exist, but have largely been abandoned to monsters. Humans have established their own divinely-aided kingdoms across large parts of Eastern Gotekein.
Interested in me exploring any particular areas first? I need the nudge to become productive.
Link leads me to 410 error on Dropbox...
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Additionally, I've made a separate thread for Archmage rules discussions over here.
This thread will remain dedicated to fluff from now on, though I may link back and forth wherever relevant.
Working on nations now. I have encountered a problem. That problem is that I am aiming on fairly realistic sizes for nations given the level of travel and communications technology (and magic). This means that there should be hundreds of nations.
I have written one or two sentence blurbs for... 14.
:I
Remember that they can still be parts of bigger cultural groups. You can flesh the cultural groups more and the nations themselves less so, primarily by noting what differs them from the baseline of their local culture (e.g. city-states in Ancient Greece).
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Some may note the similarity between 'Rythkyne' and 'Rurthekein'. The names are related, with the same etymological origin. Both 'kyne' and 'kein' come from the world the Primordials used to describe mortals, but has come to mean simply 'person'. The term excludes spirits and intelligent beasts. 'Ryth' and 'Rurthe' are related as well, albeit different in meaning. Rurthekein translates more or less to 'People live here', and the nearby Gotekein is to no surprise, 'People live over there'. Rythkyne, however, means 'Person that is lived in.'
The Rythkyne were perhaps the very first magic users, and their forebears were almost certainly not willing. Common amongst spirits is a desire to experience material sensation. Early contacts between kyne and spirit took the form of violent possession, the spirit entering the body and wresting control from the native soul. These troubled beings were shunned as monstrous and dangerous (as they often were, many spirits showing the ability to transform their hosts frighteningly). Most of the possessed died in violence or by accident or neglect on the spirit's part; the ghosts of a long-dead world had largely forgotten how to maintain a living body.
The first proper Rythkyne came from attempts to placate the spirits with willing hosts. Shamans would perform rites to draw out the spirit from the unwilling host, offering themselves in return. These shamans were often driven wild and deformed, just as the possessed has been. This activity did, however, spark new interest in the more reserved members of the spirit community.
Some spirits began offering to indwell hosts cooperatively, sharing control of the body in exchange for the supernatural gifts their possession bestowed. The first Rythkyne were formed from these unions and in time developed a culture that expressed their dual nature. A more surprising development came when intellectual Rythkyne began studying their powers and learned they could be taught to others that were not possessed at all.
These were the first mages.
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I welcome people to discuss, poke holes in it, whatever. Questions help me with my worldbuilding!
(crossposted from r/worldbuilding)
Interesting. Were there attempts by shamans to draw a spirit into oneself and try to control it inside of oneself or was it impossible for mortal person to gain upper hand in such struggle with a possessing spirit?
Certainly. Lycanthropes would be an example of someone being possessed by a bestial spirit, able to suppress it sometimes and unleashing primal fury when the pent up spirit is able to wrest control. At times, the spirit may rest (or get distracted/confused) and the host is allowed a semblance of normalcy for a while. Someone of tremendous will, armed with protective talismans and such, might be able to quell a hostile spirit for long periods of time.
The problem was that possession is a contest of will between spirit and host, to control the body.
The Rythkyne find compromise and become a shared being. In this union they are something greater.
Edit: These original shamans predated the use of magic. They were 'wise ones' in the traditional sense, having useful knowledge passed down through oral tradition. They used knowledge of spirits, the effects of various substances and runes to commune with and attempt to compel them.
Another crosspost from Reddit r/worldbuilding:
Okay! Let's see.
Let's begin with a further description of spirits and their natures before answering these questions. Thank you for asking! This prompted me to think more about these things.
The Nature of Spirits
It is widely accepted that the spirits that inhabit this world, yet are without form or earthly presence, are the remnants of the population of a world that came before and was destroyed. The exact nature of that destruction and the transition to the current world remains a mystery spoken of only in metaphor.
A spirit is a disembodied and usually quite damaged soul, having spent countless eons trapped in the Maelstrom between worlds. While it is understood that they were just as varied and capable as modern folk, most have been reduced to one most driving aspect of their being. The ancient ghost of a skilled huntsman may now be the spirit of the snare, keen only to grasp and defeat its prey. Any thoughts of family, home and society are lost. Its singular purpose is called its 'focus'.
The spirits are thus divided into the categories of higher, lower and bestial spirits - not indicative of their relative power, but of whether they can hold a conversation. Higher spirits still have a focus, but can be more rational when pursuing it. The most cogent spirits can recognise their focus and choose not to follow it at all. Such entities are truly rare. Even the gods did not traverse the Maelstrom unharmed. Lower spirits were once capable of thought but as mentioned above, cannot form thoughts about anything beside their focus. Bestial spirits seem more able to relate to their surroundings appropriately than lower spirits, but do so in animalistic ways. It's debated whether these were the ghosts of the old world's animals, or if they are merely a variation on lower spirits.
1. What manner of changes can occur in cases of unwilling possession?
The body of the possessed begins to manifest aspects of the possessing spirit's focus. Many start to resemble beasts, especially where those beasts are popularly known as figurative representations of the focus. Most are violent, but some seek other outlets for their overwhelming need to revel in physical sensation. Those possessed by bestial spirits gave rise to tales of werewolves, as when the host cannot repel the desires of the spirit they transform into monstrous half-beast creatures and lose themselves to primal hunger.
Some possessions may result in more unusual changes, including outgrowths of metal, wood or even strange machinery or even non-solids like water or fire. The possessed invariably display some subtle mark of their possession even when in full control, and become dramatically unkyne (inhuman) when the spirit holds sway. Those of weak will may become permanently controlled by the spirit.
2. How does the changing process work on a physical level, and what specifically causes it?
It is a truly supernatural phenomenon, and cannot be explained by mundane science. This is not that it can't be explained at all. Most well-learned thaumaturges can give a detailed description of the magical mechanisms at work.
The primary cause for spirit transformation is the spirit's overwhelming will to be. The eons of formative magic from the Maelstrom flow through the spirit into the host and can cause radical changes. Study and repetition of these powers led to the birth of the magic schools of Alteration and Enhancement (at least, in the Spheres of Power version of my setting).
Some spirits also have additional powers of their own that they are able to use while possessing a host. These are typically no different from the spells of common mages, and in fact were the inspiration for many early magical traditions.
3. Can such changes, in cases of willing possession, be induced and shaped to the benefit of the Rythkyne?
Sometimes! The degree of transformation expressed by Rythkyne is typically much reduced compared with possession. The cooperative union between the host and the spirit prevents most of the changes that a possessed would express. Rythkyne still do exhibit minor marks of their spirit. Some Rythkyne can willingly use their spirit's power to transform themselves and rarely, others.
The union allows the host to use the spirit's magic powers as if they were his or her own. The spirit gains from this arrangement the ability to feel alive, to experience physical existence, and a much reduced chance of being exorcised or the host being destroyed. Very experienced Rythkyne are said to have grown so close to their inhabiting spirit that the two have become one, a seamless whole forged from two souls.
4. If so, what costs are incurred by the organism?
In both cases, the spirit's powers are fueled by the host's mana. A possessed's spirit usually burns through available mana very quickly and becomes dormant for a while, until it is renewed. Prior to magical aid, one cure for possession was to keep the victim in a state of exhaustion and nausea for days in the hopes that the spirit would starve and leave before the host dies from the treatment. A Rythkyne's spirit does not demand constant influx of mana and is typically content to use it in moderation.
Being depleted of mana is not dangerous, but it is extremely unpleasant. Most non-casters go their entire lives without ever experiencing it.
Newly bonded Rythkyne are not without their troubles. The host and spirit must learn to cooperate as any two kyne would. They may like each other, or they may not. They must compromise when faced with each others' foibles, and share their lives as two living in one body. Romantic relationships are extremely hard for Rythkyne due to this inner duality. Some actually find love with their spirit. In Krodanoi culture this is seen as a good thing. Rythkyne of other cultures may be scorned for favouring their spirit over a mortal companion.
Some Rythkyne have said mortal love is incomparable to a lasting bond between host and spirit. They truly share everything that they have, that they are, in a way that two people never can.
A Rythkyne that falls into strife with his or her spirit instead risks the union breaking. If that happens and the spirit chooses not to leave, the Rythkyne becomes possessed.
I finally did up Pathfinder stats and additional descriptions for a bunch of the races!
Find them here!
And another map!
A view of the Northernmost parts of the Gotekein continent.
This is the Cauldron (area on the right), a hotspot of conflict between the ever more numerous races as a consequence of the gene wars. It is a fertile but dangerous area, subject to seasonal and sometimes unexpected flooding as heavy rains blow in from the Doomwall just to the North.
To the West are Wendikell (far left) and Jhogun (left). Jhogun is full of Grimbolds, a bunch of slave-raiders that have a long history of kidnapping Syldanar children from the coastal regions to their Southeast. Due to the short lifespans of Grimbolds, their Syldanar captives end up the rulers. They retain Grimbold culture and sensibilities, mixed with a garish parody of traditional Syldanar nobility.
You haven't heard of Grimbolds before!
They're a Kobold culture. Conceptually, they were originally goblins, but I am consolidating a lot of the races to help with overcoming cultural monotony. Fewer races with more cultures is far better than heaps of races with only one culture each.
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I know it's been more than half a decade since I posted here, but I want to make clear I apologise for the incorrect use of words with reference to trans people. I used 'transgendered' as an adjective, which is wrong.
As a trans person myself, at the time I had little contact with the wider trans community and most of my knowledge came from psychiatric and other mainstream sources (which were not the best for learning from).