Hi folks!
I just started up the Kingmaker campaign with the first session of Stolen Lands last night, and now that the players all have their PC's nailed down I've started thinking about where to take this; would love some input on the following thoughts! It's my first time DM'ing Pathfinder, so it's possible that some of this doesn't make any sense, please tell me in that case! (I've DM'ed plenty of other systems, thinking mostly about Pathfinder/Golarion lore here.)
One of the PC's is Cleric of Iomedae, and another is a Monk who worships the same goddess. To tie the PC's to the setting as much as possible, I'm toying with the idea of changing the Temple of the Elk from a temple devoted to Erastil to one devoted to Iomedae. Alternatively, perhaps just alter it to be some kind of more generic holy place where contact with all divine powers is easier, making it a possible place for establishing a church of Iomedae later on in the campaign. Would that make sense? A temple of Iomedae might feel a bit more misplaced stuck out there in the wilderness, but I'm thinking perhaps it is truly ancient, the only remnant of a city that once lay there. How would you reskin the temple and the encounter that takes place there if doing something like this?
Another of the PC's is a half-elven Sorcerer of the Abyssal bloodline, and when he randomly rolled for background traits (we used the system in Ultimate Campaign) his 'circumstance of birth' turned out to be that he is reincarnated, repeatedly being born into the world until he can fulfill some unknown destiny. Now we all agreed this must somehow be tied to the demon blood flowing through his veins, but I would like to also specifically connect it to the campaign. Was thinking it might be cool to have his destiny tied to Nyrissa in the last adventure of the series. With that in mind, are there any specific demon-fey interactions in Pathfinder that one could utilise to this end? Perhaps Nyrissa once had a demon lover, rival or hated enemy that was destroyed or banished, but managed to impart a small part of himself into a mortal line to one day have his revenge, or wholly possess his love, or whatever. I dunno, I kind of see demons as just psychotic forces of destruction, and it would have felt like more of a given if he had chosen the Fey bloodline, or even the Infernal bloodline. Any other ideas?
Here's an idea to tie both of them together.
What if you rip out fey Nyrissa and replace her with demon Nyrissa? Instead of trying to pull the Stolen Lands into her realm, Nyrissa is trying to open a second Worldwound in the Stolen Lands.
Erastil is a perfect fit to building a community in the wild and has ties to some storylines. Iomedae is somewhat out of place with the wilderness and building-a-village-into-a-city theme of the path. The PCs are native to the surrounding region, but they are not necessarily to the Stolen Lands.
As for Nyrissa, difficult to ascertain who's going to be alive by the end of the campaign, but no reason you couldn't have her linked to a demon to achieve her goals. You could simply replace the events in which she interacts with the world (the slain unicorn, etc.) with a demon servant, bound to her and perhaps involved with her fallout with the Elders (she dared to use such vile things in her service).
Trodax wrote: Hi folks! Hi Trodax!
You could have both Erastil and Iomedae have a presence in the Stolen Lands. For example, you could keep the Temple of the Elk, but replace the statue of Erasil with a staute of Iomedae (or maybe Aroden?) There have been many *attempts* to explore and colonize this land; there's no reason that worshipers of Iomedae haven't been through the region before. You could also have the church of Iomedae have a political role in Rostland, so it has an interest in the Sword Lords push to colonize.
As for your sorcerer, Nyrisia is a long way off. While you could have some sort of demonic tie-in with her, there are other big villains in the campaign. The BBEG of Varnhold Vanishing worships the Four Horsemen, if I recall correctly, who are daemons. (Not demons, but you could work with that.) The leader of the Tiger Lords barbarian tribe is the product of an evil god that could easily be replaced by a powerful demon. King Irovetti of Pitax has ties to Nyrissia, but all the ties to her are mostly obscure and behind the scenes so it wouldn't affect much if you changed that relationship up. You could also just replace one of Nyrissia's high-level servants with a powerful demon.
Don't forget that the Knurly Witch, one of Nyrissa's minions, is a Night Hag. That's pretty darned fiendish right there.
I have a cleric of Iomedae in my campaign - Iomedae does have a presence in the area - there is a cathedral in New Stetven and some sort of temple in Restov (In my campaign I made it a monastery / training school). Robert (the Cleric) has now built his own priory where he trains warriors the the crusade at the War Wound (Which is not all that far north of Brevoy)
Personally, I would go with Andostre's idea and look at a link with the BBEG from Varnhold vanishing. Ne has certainly been their long enough to be worthy of two or three incarnations for your sorcerer. If you don't like that - look at the Barbarian BBEG from Blood for Blood. That is another superb opportunity to tie into a long, long history.
Wow, thanks for the input guys; love it! You're right that Nyrissa is far off in the campaign, and it might be a better idea tying the reincarnated Abyssal Sorcerer to a BBEG that will come into play earlier (we don't manage to game that often, only once every three weeks or so, so there's honestly a chance we might never make it through all six parts).
I do like the idea of using Armag the Twice-Born from the fourth adventure, as that does seem to fit nicely with the reincarnation theme. As Andostre suggested, perhaps Armag wasn't a favored of Gorum, but instead the chosen of some demon lord (maybe Nurgal, The Lord of Senseless War?). Perhaps the backstory could be rewritten so that the original Armag, way back in the Age of Destiny, had a twin brother; these brothers were both chosen by the demon, and infused with great power. However, the twin was unwilling, or he and Armag had a falling out, so that when Armag died and was prophesied to one day return, the spirit of the twin also lived on, reincarnated over and over again in mortals so he could be there when Armag returned to finally destroy his brother (either out of vengeance directed towards his brother, or out of love because he pitied him). As the twin was infused with demonic power, every reincarnation has had a shard of this in him (that's where the Abyssal Sorcerer's powers originate from). How does that sound?
Again, thanks, and please keep the ideas coming if you have them!
I like that, and Nurgal does make a good evil stand-in for Gorum.
Recent threads in Kingmaker
|
