Race / Class Suggestions Campaign Set in Land of Linnorm Kings - GM Advice

[quibblemuch]

I'm noodling with a campaign idea set in the Land of the Linnorm Kings (or at least, beginning there). I always like to give out a pretty extensive Player's Guide (one of the reasons I love the AP line is the awesome Player's Guides). One of my goals is to guide character creation towards characters who will fit the campaign.

Here's the suggestions I've got so far, but I want to make sure I didn't overlook anything that might be fitting/cool. Any archetypes or feats or traits or recommendations would be welcome.

BACKGROUND: The PCs will start as residents of a tiny, tiny hamlet in the wilds of the LotLK. They'll rise to be Vikingish raiders/conquerers/kings even maybe.

RACES:
Human (Ulfen)
Dwarf
Half-orc (Ulfen)
Gnome
Changeling (Snow May)

CLASSES
Barbarian (unchained)
Bloodrager
Brawler
Cleric (gods?)
Druid
Fighter (esp. Viking)
Hunter
Oracle
Ranger
Rogue (unchained)
Shaman
Skald
Sorcerer
Witch

Thoughts?

[Bearserk]

Looks really good so far.

Maybe i would include Half-elves and Skinwalkers, especialy Coldborn and Ragebred for Berserkers.

For Classes i would include the Bard, the Warpriest and the maybe the Arcanist.

The Occultist, Inquisitor and the Summoner could be also good additions.

For the Deitys i would take a look for the Dwarves and Giants too.

For the big players this comes in my mind:

Abbadar
Torag
Cayden Cailean
Besmara
Desna
Erastil
Gorum
Gozreh
Shelyn
Rovagug
Urgathoa
Kurgess
Dahak

Funny i think maybe the Orc Pantheon would also be a nice addition for some ruthless vikings.

And some Empyreal Lords fit great like Tolc, Pulura, Immonhiel or Cernunnos.

There are some good traits in Reign of Winter Players Guide and good stuff in People of the North.

[Chromantic Durgon <3]

For classes I think the Bard, kineticts, Warpriest and Shifter would make sense.

[quibblemuch]

Thanks!

What's the thought behind including both bard and skald?

I'm not averse to the idea, but my original intent in only including the skald was that the bard is a much more general version of the class, while skald hits dead on the flavor of the region. That way I wouldn't have to delineate all of the bard archetype options that don't fit with some scrappy rural vikings from about twenty klicks past the edge of the world.

I've always liked the idea of northern humans worshiping giant deities--is there any precedent in existing canon?

[Lathiira]

Skalds are more or less your warrior-poets. Bards represent those who aren't as good at fighting, but can be better at the telling of stories and keepers of ancient lore.

[alexgndl]

Bards also have a few archetypes that work well in the region, like the Sea Singer, Thundercaller or the Savage Skald. Seeing as RL vikings had a pretty strong oral tradition, I can see both Skalds and Bards coexisting fairly well in a Linnorm Kings setting.

Also, when you're done making the player guide, would you mind maybe posting it here? I absolutely love this area of the world, the campaign setting book is probably my favorite Paizo book. I'd love to see your take on it.

EDIT: If you haven't read the Campaign Setting for the Lands of the Linnorm Kings or the book People of the North, I highly recommend it. There's a ton of plot hooks in there that would work beautifully in this setting. You mentioned that you want your guys to become kings, that exact process is detailed in the Campaign Setting. A level 1-15 or so campaign with the exact purpose of eventually becoming a Linnorm King would be insanely epic.

[cavernshark]

If you want to add more player options without fully expanding the list, consider adding Arcanists with the Unlettered Arcanist archetype and Wizards with the Spirit Whisperer archetype. Both learn spells like a witch so could easily fit in thematically, but would offer some different class features/spell lists/etc.

I also don't see any thematic reason not to allow Slayers if you're allowing rangers and rogues. They even have a few anti-witch and anti-caster archetypes.

I noticed you don't have any occult classes -- is this intentional or oversight? As others noted, Kineticists are pretty thematically neutral. Blood of the Coven also introduced some cool variations on witch-themed archetypes for a lot of classes you could use if normal versions of occult classes are too off-theme. Hag-bound Spiritualists, Hag psychics, etc.

Given the heavy Fey influence in the LotLK, you probably should consider allowing worship of some of the Eldest. Honestly, the Eldest + Giant dieties would make for some good Old Gods vs. New Gods (traditional pantheons from Varisian pilgrims) material potentially.

[Mulgar]

why no snowelves or snow 1/2 elves?

[quibblemuch]

Mulgar wrote:

why no snowelves or snow 1/2 elves?

Because of their cultural isolationism. The People of the North makes it very clear they don't like/trust outsiders. I'm not a huge fan of the "I'm the one exception" PC--mostly because in the part of the world that the PCs experience, "one exception" is likely the entire sample set and undoes the whole notion of a cultural trait.

Also... there are plans.

[quibblemuch]

cavernshark wrote:

I noticed you don't have any occult classes -- is this intentional or oversight?

Intentional--I really like the occult classes, but their flavor is for a different kind of campaign (and I have one that heavily uses them already).

cavernshark wrote:

Given the heavy Fey influence in the LotLK, you probably should consider allowing worship of some of the Eldest. Honestly, the Eldest + Giant dieties would make for some good Old Gods vs. New Gods (traditional pantheons from Varisian pilgrims) material potentially.

That's a cool idea! I had been thinking about recommending my players look at the Eldest, because that makes sense for an isolated settlement to have the vestiges of that (usually) very rare faith.

[necromental]

It's not Golarion but Frog Gods have their Northlands Players Guide for free for next couple of days, so you can scour it for ideas

[EvilMinion]

Add the Varki human heritage as well.