So I'm building an urban campaign at the moment, where the PCs will be abducted by a trickster deity and wake up in some bizarre dream city within a demiplane ruled by said trickster deity. Everyone there has been abducted in one way or another, either physically or while dreaming. A mash-up between Sigil, Thieves' World, and Lovecraft's city of Kadash, if you will. The PCs can do what they want and either ally themselves with powerful entities or try and become the toughest gang in town themselves. Maybe, just maybe, there's a way out of this...
Until now I've concentrated pretty much on the GM's side of the screen, I wrote up the city and the surrounding demiplane, who's who, some twists and plots, the usual. Now I want to collect options for my players and make a list of the most interesting urban character options out there. A player's guide, if you will.
Obviously the new Ultimate Intrigue is like a must-have, and I will get that book soon. I'm also looking at some Players Companions like Heroes of the Street or Blood of the Shadows. What else is there?
I'd love to hear your suggestions... books, options, party compositions, whatever. 3rd party is also welcome at my table.
If you're on a demiplane owned by a trickster deity, you might think about how that relates to clerics receiving their spells. If the trickster deity interferes, then other divine spellcasting classes or other characters with healing abilities, such as oracles. Alchemists and bards seem to lend themselves to urban campaigns too.
If "allying with powerful entities" includes obscure, largely immaterial spirits you must bind yourself to (akin to the 3.5 Tome of Magic vestiges), then you might look at Radiance House's Pact Magic Unbound stuff (which is quite similar.) The books aren't specific on how much/which spirits a pact-magic user knows about, so discovery and mystery could very much be a thin if you wanted it to be.
The biggest thing I think you'll run into is what to do with "wild" characters like the barbarian, druid, and ranger. The barbarian and the ranger are fairly easy to refluff for urban settings The former being madmen, thuggish gang members, REALLY spoiled aristocrats, etc. and the former being bounty hunters, sewer explorers, etc. Druids are a little bit more challenging. Here's some archetypes that might be appropriate for an urban game:
Advanced Players Guide:
Druid archetypes: Urban Druid, (Possibly) Blight druid
Ranger archetypes: Skirmisher, Urban Ranger
Ultimate Combat:
Barbarian Archetypes: Armored Hulk, Urban Barbarian
Ultimate Magic:
Druid archetype: Menhir savant (provided the demiplane has leylines), Reincarnated druid (especially if souls can't leave your demiplane)
Heroes of the streets (which you've already mentioned) is a must have and well worth reading. There are amazing archetypes and options in there.
Thanks! I'd put that one on my list because of something I read here on paizo.com, but I haven't really checked it out till now.
If you're on a demiplane owned by a trickster deity, you might think about how that relates to clerics receiving their spells. If the trickster deity interferes, then other divine spellcasting classes or other characters with healing abilities, such as oracles. Alchemists and bards seem to lend themselves to urban campaigns too.
This is pretty much my line of thoughts. I won't interfere with divine spellcasting, a few campaign rules about magic aside. I'll give the group a few hints at character creation to avoid problems, and later on the players can discover the rules of this strange realm step by step and learn what kind of magic works and what doesn't. Divination effects like commune for example are very unreliable, teleportation works normally within "zones" that shift over time, summoning works normally, etc.
If "allying with powerful entities" includes obscure, largely immaterial spirits you must bind yourself to (akin to the 3.5 Tome of Magic vestiges), then you might look at Radiance House's Pact Magic Unbound stuff (which is quite similar.) The books aren't specific on how much/which spirits a pact-magic user knows about, so discovery and mystery could very much be a thin if you wanted it to be.
That's an interesting idea, although I'm kinda set on more traditional deities (more or less). The trickster deity owns this place and can't be beaten at his own game, but he didn't just steal people from all over the multiverse, he snatched a few demigods and ascended beings as well. I though that I'd want to have Avacyn (the angel from MtG) as a good-aligend demigod, maybe Vecna to cover all the power-hungry necromancers, and one or two additional small deities. They all form a nice dysfunctional pantheon of some sorts, and the trickster deity is probably watching and laughing his a** off.
The biggest thing I think you'll run into is what to do with "wild" characters like the barbarian, druid, and ranger. The barbarian and the ranger are fairly easy to refluff for urban settings The former being madmen, thuggish gang members, REALLY spoiled aristocrats, etc. and the former being bounty hunters, sewer explorers, etc. Druids are a little bit more challenging.
Of course wilderness characters will be in some trouble if I were to kidnap them unprepared, but I will give advice during character creation to avoid this problem. The demiplane features some forms of wilderness, but its limited to a few steep mountains, a river (which acts as some kind of planar gateway, only that it doesn't let you out), and a swamp between the mountains, the river and the city. Its likely that the trickster deity didn't create the plane because he certainly doesn't care for this nature stuff, but its there.
Here's some archetypes that might be appropriate for an urban game: [...]
Thanks for the list! I know most of these archetypes by name, but haven't checked them all out in detail yet.