I have in mind to do either:
Forgotten Realms 1e era (pre-Time of Troubles, no Cyric, no Kelemvor, Bane, Myrkrul, and Bhaal are still the primary evil gods, no shades taking over Sembia, no Spellplague, no Sundering, no multiple Manshoons, no return of the Imaskari, the places are further apart and there's more wilderness like in the old maps) probably in Sembia; traditional DnD adventuring in the style of the old Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale isometric rpgs.
Dragonlance, Age of Mortals: this is the post-Chaos War era where there are Dragon Overlords that rule Krynn. Gods are gone and magic is different/more primal. I'd make a couple of tweaks to the setting like replacing draconians with kobolds and making the size of Anasalon and Krynn a bit bigger.
or
Some mix of the two -- the Knight of Takhisis find a portal to the realms and are establishing a beachhead on behalf of Malystryx or another Dragon Overlord to invade the Realms.
Let me know which idea appeals the most.
Build Rules
I think I've covered everything here -- the goal is to have interesting but not completely overwhelmingly powerful builds. I'm starting low level to make sure I have a grip on stuff. I'll level up fairly quickly milestone leveling if things are going well.
Attributes:
*25 pt. buy.
Races:
We're going to use the relatively new Spheres of Origin system to make races instead of a list of allowed races. It has example builds for basic fantasy concepts.
That said, I don't want a whole party of drow or half-angels -- think fantasy DnD archetypes, as well as something that can socially fit in within the average fantasy town. If you walk down the street of Saerloon as a tiefling or snake man, for instance, people are going to flip out.
Classes:
*Gestalt, 3rd level.
The following list are the only base classes allowed, but any prestige classes are allowed (though that won't apply until later, since we're only starting at third level, but you can contemplate a prestige class for the future).
For the base classes, it consists of a curated list of classes from FFd20, PathFinal, Spheres, Path of War, Samurai Sheepdog, and Legendary Games, if it's not in this list, you cannot take it -- the base Paizo classes aren't allowed, or anything else not in this list of base classes.
There is no discussion or negotiation about the list -- this is the list, no other options.
Use this list to make a decision -- it is a mix of things from different sources, and some have the same names as classes from other sources -- it is not everything from any one source. Don't confuse yourself by looking through the spheres wiki, or library of metzofitz, which both have oceans of material I'm not allowing; go through these links to make sure you're picking an allowed class.
Archer
Astrologian
Bard
Beastmaster
Berserker Black-Belt Black-Mage
Blue-Mage
Blacksmith
Chemist
Chocobo-Knight Cleric
Conscript
Crimson-Dancer Dancer
Dark Knight
Dragoon
Dragoon
Druid
Epilektoi
Elementalist
Eliciter
Fencer
Fey-Adept
Fighter
Gambler
Gambler
Geomancer
Harbinger
Holy-Knight
Illusionist
Incanter
Kineticist (Legendary)
Knight
Knight
Medic
Medic
Monk
Monk
Monk (S-Class)
Montebank
Mystic
Necromancer Necros
Ninja
Parasite
Prodigy
Ranger Rajah
Ranger (S-Class)
Reaper
Red Mage
Samurai
Scholar
Sentinel
Shifter
Stalker
Sword-Saint
Soul-Weaver
Striker
Summoner Symbiat
Thief
Time-Mage
Troubadour
Warden
Warder
Warlord
Warrior
White-Mage
Zealot
*In addition, you can use the playtest classes for Spheres of Guile Playtest
*You can construct a custom casting tradition for spheres casters.
Additional options:
multiclass-archetypes
archetype packages (these are archetypes that can be applied to any class)
Skills:
*Background skills.
*Skill unlocks are a base part of the system (get, for free, all signature skill feats for any trained skill you have). If skill monkey classes think they need some extra talents or similar abilities to balance this out, let me know and we can work something out.
Feats:
*1 per level.
*Every gets combat stamina (combat) as a free feat. If characters playing martials feel they need some extra talents or something to balance this, let me know and we can work something out.
*EitR feat tax rules: Elephant in the Room (i.e., the pdf revision, not the original blog post)
Traits: Five. You can re-fluff Pazio stuff. No drawbacks.
Health: Maximum hit points.
Equipment: Wealth by level, but if there's something iconic, like mithral chain for an elven lord or something similar, that you want but that you can't afford, we can probably come to an agreement about it.
We will also use:
Variant Rules: Low-Magic Item Campaigns
Combat: We're using the Unchained Action Economy (this is basically the 3 action action economy from PF 2e). If there's some issue with swift actions in this scheme or related build issue, we can make some small adjustments.
Other rules:
*We're also using Hero Points.
*You can pick the feats to take advantage of this system if you want: aristeia.
*Besides the things I have explicitly mentioned above as topics for discussion, no 'can I treat this as that' or 'can I change x to y'. We're using the rules as they are written, not tweaking them for corner case build concepts.
*For all questions about build interactions, I'm going with what I think the designer most likely intended, or makes sense in the context of the rest of the system, not what might be possible to interpret if you squint through the eye of a needle and make several levels of extrapolation that occur nowhere else in the system. If you think it's unlikely to be legitimate, I'm probably not going to allow some strained reading to facilitate some absurd build concept that leads to infinite regression of effects or similar nonsense.
Other consideration -- I'm using a lot of high-res, complex maps with top-down icons; this is the reason I DM -- I like maps and worldbuilding. If you don't care about that or don't like dealing with VTTs or maps, this will be a bad fit for you. I'm going to tell players to move their icons on maps and tell me where they're going based on looking at the map. It's not going to be theater of the mind. If you think your computer can't handle that or that sounds like more trouble that it's worth, this won't be a good game for you. I spend a lot of time collecting and creating elaborate map assets. I want an appreciative audience for those efforts. I'm going to lose interest quickly if there are lots of complaints about why these things are necessary or ongoing requests to do something else. Only apply if you're a big fan of maps as well.
I have in mind to do either:
Forgotten Realms 1e era (pre-Time of Troubles, no Cyric, no Kelemvor, Bane, Myrkrul, and Bhaal are still the primary evil gods, no shades taking over Sembia, no Spellplague, no Sundering, no multiple Manshoons, no return of the Imaskari, the places are further apart and there's more wilderness like in the old maps) probably in Sembia; traditional DnD adventuring in the style of the old Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale isometric rpgs.
Dragonlance, Age of Mortals: this is the post-Chaos War era where there are Dragon Overlords that rule Krynn. Gods are gone and magic is different/more primal. I'd make a couple of tweaks to the setting like replacing draconians with kobolds and making the size of Anasalon and Krynn a bit bigger.
or
Some mix of the two -- the Knight of Takhisis find a portal to the realms and are establishing a beachhead on behalf of Malystryx or another Dragon Overlord to invade the Realms.
Let me know which idea appeals the most.
Build Rules
I think I've covered everything here -- the goal is to have interesting but not completely overwhelmingly powerful builds. I'm starting low level to make sure I have a grip on stuff. I'll level up fairly quickly milestone leveling if things are going well.
Attributes:
*25 pt. buy.
Races:
We're going to use the relatively new Spheres of Origin system to make races instead of a list of allowed races. It has example builds for basic fantasy concepts.
That said, I don't want a whole party of drow or half-angels -- think fantasy DnD archetypes, as well as something that can socially fit in within the average fantasy town. If you walk down the street of Saerloon as a tiefling or snake man, for instance, people are going to flip out.
Classes:
*Gestalt, 3rd level.
The following list are the only base classes allowed, but any prestige classes are allowed (though that won't apply until later, since we're only...
Another idea I have for these same build rules is a campaign that takes place during the 7th c. in the wars between Byzantium and Sassania. I was looking at some maps of the Takt-e Solayman, and think that could be an awesome adventure site I could make in a huge VTT map: images
I never saw this “spheres of origin” system! Looks interesting, Sebeclocki. Let’s see!
So how many talents would we get for spheres of origin?
I don't think there's a flat number; I think it depends which ones you pick; I'm still learning the system, but I think this is the relevant bit: "The number of origin talents a character gains from their origin tradition is based upon the categories of the origin talents they select. An origin tradition may be composed of two potent talents or a single potent talent plus three auxiliary talents and a utility talent. In either case, auxiliary talents may be selected in place of potent talents and utility talents may be selected in place of auxiliary talents."
Count me in!
So many options to choose from. I will be doing a support character of some nature, despite my heart screaming at me for going Black Belt/something. Been playing too many unarmed characters lately, I gotta switch it up xD
I definitely prefer the Realms. I've never taken to Dragonlance and I'm not up on the 7th century.
Looking through the origin system, I think I want to go Fae.
<bump>
Are you still cogitating on this, or is it fading away?
only 3 have suggested any interest, so it doesn't really seem like there's enough for a game.
They might be waiting for a little more focus on the setting part.
I’m definitely down, actually. Between an outspokenly evangelistic Gondian heretic who doesn’t feel that keeping all the good stuff on an island in the middle of nowhere is proper behavior for the clergy of a god of innovation and invention and a hardened victim of the slave trade empowered by Ilmater to endure and regenerate from just about anything in the service of a crusade to fight the slave trade on Toril, which do you think you’d rather see?
The gondian heretic sounds fun
I was hoping to get more responses for preferences -- you're the only interested party who's expressed a clear view on the matter yet
Hey Sebecloki > are you running 1E AD&D or Pathfinder 1E?
Hey Sebecloki > are you running 1E AD&D or Pathfinder 1E?
PF
Not a live game. Pbp.