New Pathfinder D&D Campaign

[chris]

In that case I will definitely play a martial character of some description but will have a two handed weapon and therefore wont be very high ac.

Debating merits of ranger, barbarian, paladin and fighter but it will be one of these! I'd like him or her to be fairly mobile and skillful hence current leaning for ranger

Also with all that forest we will need a tracker I suspect!

[chris]

Here's my plan. Details are all open for change if it doesn't fit with the group or your plans Stephen.


Aella (pronounced eye-la)

A female level 1 fighter from the Fangs of the stone wolf. She has become an initiate of the path of the wolf and is embarking on her spiritual journey of improvement. She must leave her village and seek to enhance her fighting skills, bring honor to her clan by hunting legendary beasts and protecting those in need, and gather knowledge to be handed down to future generations. A select few initiates return years later to the acclaim of the clan elders and take their place in the honor guard.

Her fighting style is to remain mobile and ready to adapt her plans, swapping between greatsword and javelin as need arises. Though lightly armoured currently, her ambition is to follow the teachings of the elders who advocate, through careful training, the ability to retain full range of movement in increasingly heavier armour.

She is a skilled tracker, by no means unintelligent, and carries a very very large sword.

Edit: Couple of character gen questions when you're ready Stephen (no rush - I'm just in a character gen mood!)

1) let us know when you've decided on an ability gen method
2) Are we using traits? (these are extra mini feats that you can choose 2 of to round out your character and help avoid 'cookie cutter' class characters)
3) if so can I submit the following as consideration for a campaign trait?:

Forest Hunter
You have spent most of your youth being trained to hunt animals in the forest where a keen eye and knowledge of your prey and predators are essential. Gain a +1 bonus to Perception and Knowledge Nature. Choose one of these skills to be a class skill for your character

[Stephen Mawson]

I have no problem with people coming up with bits of campaign background. I'm happy to incorporate or adapt anything anyone wants to put as part of their own characters background into the world.

Indeed I'm actually keen on this as it both saves me a little work, and also can spark other ideas to make the campaign world more interesting.

So the Fangs of the Stone Wolf are now a martial people, with a love of Hunting, travel and adventure. Those who have travelled widely and done great deeds are well respected and so many who wish to rise to leadership positions head out into the wider world to gain honour and reputation.

On traits I have no objections to people using them or not as they prefer.

I'll have a think about the Forest Hunter trait, I've just received my copy of the advanced players guide and I have a vague feeling there might be something very similar in there already.

I still haven't had a chance to look at the ability gen methods yet. I'm leaning toward a points buy system, but might want to adjust the standard points slightly. I will try and make a decision on how this will work for this campaign by the end of this weekend.

[Stephen Mawson]

Morris,

If you want to be a kind of inventer type you could look at the Alchemist class. Which is basically a wizard style class, who learns forumlae that allow you to quickly make alchemical potions and influsions that duplicate spell effects, as well as alchemical bombs that you can throw and things called mutagens that you can take that enhance one of your physical stats while reducing a corresponding mental stat.

[chris]

Right you are stephen, many thanks. Im imagining the council of elders meeting in an ancient forest clearing with stone circle which doubles as an arena and meeting place and is where tribal honors are bestowed. It may even have magical properties. I imagine it as being older than all but few settlements in the clan lands and although a large settlement would be easier logistically for the council, meetings have always been held here as a place of power and neutrality.

I imagine that in the past it has also been used as a place of power for darker forces. (I'm seeing it as something like the stone table in Narnia)

What do you think?

I modelled the forest hunter trait on an osirion faction one called tomb raider which does the same with perception and knowledge history. See what you think.

[Stephen Mawson]

Sounds good. Was similar to what I was thinking anyway. Council meeting in a sacred grove at the centre of the largest city in their lands.

Have updated the basic description of the setting again to include this.

I really need to get a regional map drawn up soon so I can start sorting out the possible locations and town/city names and so on.

[chris]

Apologies I'm in a strangely creative mood this lunchtime! Here's an idea for another of the 8 clans which is more secretive. They live in treetop settlements rather than clearings and value stealth, secrecy, unshared knowledge. Perhaps the mist spiders?

They are rumoured to have been untrustworthy in the past but there is no recent evidence of this. They have rangers and rogues and wizards and their hunting is very different to the Fangs of the stone wolf. The fangs track prey to their home and use knowledge of their prey to meet them head on. This other tribe hunt with stealth.

[mike]

Also feeling a little creative this evening
How about this:

Silver Raven's Children
The youngest of the tribes, having formed a little over 1000 years ago or so, and also one of the smallest.

They learned early in their history to favour practicality and versatility over tradition and conservatism. Indeed their trabal legends claim that the tribe was formed from those who could not, or simply would not, conform to the accepted (and to their minds overly restrictive) norms and traditions of their native tribes.

This rebellious attitude has somewhat softend over the centuries but they a still more independently minded than the other tribes. This manifests in several ways:

They are generally less mistrusting of external cultures, such as the coastal city-states or non-human (even humanoid or goblinoid) tribes, than the other main tribes (at least until such cultures prove themselves to be untrustworthy). As such they are often the first to approach incomers.

They honour versatility and independence above all else and there is, as a result, a higher than average proportion of multi-class character amongst their population.

Finally, it is said that the Silver Ravens never send the same person to the Council of Elders twice. While this is not strictly true (some elders have attended several meetings), they do change their representives more often than most. Interestingly, sometimes elders who have previously been excluded are known to have returned in later years. The tribe never discusses the mechanisms or criteria by which these leadership changes are governed with anybody outside of their own tribe.

[karl]

I am collecting my core rules from the post office on Saturday morning ;D

I have been inspired after reading all your character and tribe ideas. So I want to add my character to the mix.

My character is originally from one of the seafaring city states. Some years before he was part of a military expedition to aid a colony that his city had established far upriver. This colony, on the banks of one of the great rivers, was established to exploit the vast timber resources of the area. Providing a near endless supply of construction material for his city's naval and merchant fleets. The colony's careless exploitation of the forest had angered the local tribes who now attacked the colonists whenever they ventured beyond their walls.

The aim of the military expedition was to clear the area of the local tribes. They did not succeed and only a few returned years later to tell of the massacre, the loss of the colony and of their desperate march home. My character was one of the few.

My character was then sent back, to observe, to integrate and to learn how to fight in such terrain. Perhaps to foster good relations or even alliances.

I am thinking he was trained to fight in a style similar to hoplite warfare, so although experienced in pitched battles his skills are lacking when it comes to one vs one. Therefore, his aim is to improve as a fighter or ranger. I am thinking his ability to flee, traverse the great forest and return to his city years later may indicate potential for the ranger class.

I have some other ideas if this is not suitable.

update:
After doing some more reading tonight I have settled on a Human Ranger.

[Stephen Mawson]

Basic Map of continent has now been uploaded. Other than position of sanctuary, and the locations of some of the Descendants of Talassa city states not much detail has been filled it yet.

Will probably update again once I've filled in some more details, but thought I'd put something up here so people can get a rough idea of what kind of lands we're looking at.

Scale is at least a couple of thousand miles east to west

[mike]

Character background -- no stats yet, just a concept at this stage

Kendra Forest-walker
Kendra Forest-walker, human female, age 17, Druid 1

I am Kendra of the Forest-walker clan of the Silver Raven’s Children. I was born in the village of Linu’s Oak some three days travel up the Red River.

My parents were hunters and scouts, as where their parents, and their parents before them, and it was always expected that I too would follow this path as my brother had done before me. But I am a Silver Raven and we rarely do that which is expected of us.

I had of course always known of the spell-slingers: Almax, the hermit who lives in the wild and communes with the spirits of nature; Aarin Gend, the old magician who seeks inspiration in his books; and Boddyknock Glinckle, the gnome tinker who travels around the villages in his mule cart trading crafted items and minor magics (and a fine line in gossip too). These, and others like them, are a common enough sight but I had given little thought to their abilities.

When the Ironshirts cut down the Sacred Oak, killing the tree spirit Linu La’neral, the forest priests blessed our avenging warriors with skin as tough as tree bark. When the Ironshirts returned to destroy our villages and kill our people, the magicians unleashed fire and destruction upon them with nothing more than a stick or staff for a weapon. And after the fighting was done the forest priests laid their hands on warrior and villager alike, mending the broken bodies. And I wondered at that power.

It was perhaps not surprising then that when I came of age I choose the path of forest priest and thus sought out Almax.

But even this is not enough for me. The abilities of the magicians differ greatly from those of the priests and I would understand this power if I could. Perhaps one day I shall talk with the Aarin or Boddyknock and ask their advice.

Personal Contacts
Solon Forest-walker (Kendra’s brother), human male, age 24, Ranger 3
Almax (hermit and Kendra’s tutor), half-orc male, age 50, Druid 6
Aarin Gend (village magician), half-elf male, age 42, Wizard (Diviner) 7 / Loremaster 1
Boddyknock Glinckle (travelling tinker), gnome male, age 60, Sorcerer (Fey bloodline) 4 / Expert (Merchant) 1

[Damon]

My proposed character (subject to "legality")...

I'll sit down & roll stats etc with you guys before we play...

Drodal (Dro) FlintHeart

Male, Gnomish Rogue (Sanctified Rogue)

During the human expansion into the Clan Lands millennia ago, many religious, sacred and historically important artefacts were lost, destroyed or stolen. Whole clans were decimated and their valuables lost in the ashes…. The Fae Folk have been trying to recover them ever since.

Drodal is a 4th generation Sanctified Rogue for the “Stone Heart” clan of Gnomes, who live in the depths of the mountains to the North of Sanctuary. He has been charged by the Elders to seek and collate rumours, legends and tales from records and adventurers that could hold information relating to the location of these artefacts. If he could actually recover one, it would be the achievement of a generation! He has been training for this all his life.

To this end, he is setting out to Sanctuary with the aim of joining a group of adventurers with 2 aims, firstly to travel with them and visit new areas, secondly to listen to their tales of previous adventures and sift them for clues.

A humorous and beguiling individual with shocking, mint green hair, bright blue eyes and muddy orange skin he is affable and talkative and eminently likeable.

This all cloaks the iron determination he has to carry out his mission, to the extent that, no matter what loyalties and friendships he builds in the “Wide Open”, they will always be dropped like a flash, if required, to enable him to get on with his mission.

[Damon]

Carls proposed character -

Harrald Rattenson

Male, Human Musketeer

Originally a Guardsman in the Iron Boar Advocates, Harrald was forcibly retired due to PTSD that was a result of atrocities witnessed (and committed) during several nasty inter-city clashes.

He has flashbacks triggered by high stress situations and is thrown back into combat mode…

His most spectacular episode (and the reason for his “retirement”) was during a mission where Harrald was one of several escorts for the Iron Boar Advocate representative at an inter-clan meeting of Peace Envoys, something triggered an episode & Harrald was flung back to a long distant scrap.

The Fangs of the Stone Wolf accepted an undisclosed amount of compensation for the loss of their Envoy and his 3 companions but, as warriors themselves, did not demand Harralds life.

He’s a large man, quiet generally & most definitely a product of the guards - he acts best under guidance or direct orders & is not the fastest to adapt to fast changing situations without prompting.

If it can’t be resolved with force then it’s “Officers Work”, too much Officers Work makes Harrald break into a sweat, too much sweating makes Harralds eyes dart and his breathing increase. It’s not long after this that Harrald starts to REMEMBER.

When Harrald starts to remember you’d better calm him down or get to a safe place. Ideally, you’ll try to calm him from a safe place…..


(Got some thoughts here on a 5 or 10% chance of him "kicking off" in stressful verbal situations unless one of the party makes a "calming" saving throw, but will talk it through first!)

[Damon]

A useful reference for Android - HERE

D

[Stephen Mawson]

I like the idea for your character Damon, that's fine. Adds some interesting potential plot points to the game.

I'm less keen on Carl's proposed character. Firstly this is a pre-blackpowder society, so no guns, although I acept that an Alchemist gets quite close to blackpowder. If you want something to go bang and destroy stuff at a distance that's what a Wizard, Sorcerer or Alchemist is for.

I'm not really looking at a formal military structure either. At least not amongst the clans, the city states are a bit more organised. So if things come down to fighting it's militia and warbands. The local lords, gather retinues from their towns or villages and go out to join up with the other lords. Think fuedal army from say 11th century. This means military service would either be as a town militia man (limited training, this is basically villagers with spears) or a lords retinue. The only other alternative is the professional warrior, so a mercenary.

Also I'm picturing the clans as mostly working together fairly well, it's a shared culture even if the different clans are proud of their differences. Any inter clan fighting that goes on is likely to be more on an individual level, so personal grudges and maybe blood fueds not inter-clan warfare. Not that it's a problem to have a character who has maybe killed some members of another clan, that's actually fine. That adds some potentially interesting things that could come up regarding that character.

I don't have a problem with the Grizzled Veteran warrior whose done or seen some stuff that he's proud of or happy about as a background. I'm not at all keen on a character with PTSD, especially not in such a combat heavy game as D&D. Why would someone who is having truamatic flashbacks want to take up the life of an adventurer with all the stress and combat that's bound to come up?

Also based on past experience characters who are designed as a bit of a loose cannon, or not fully in control of themselves can fairly quickly become a problem in game. Any character like that has to be roleplayed very, very carefully, otherwise it just becomes something that undermines the party and I have seen it get to a point where the other party members have started asking why they're working with this guy at all.

If he does want to play a character with a bit of a hair trigger that is prone to kicking off I would suggest playing a Barbarian, you can flavour the rage however you want, it doesn't have to be a frothing berserker. You can then portray it as someone that if combat gets to intense (and what counts as intense is up to the player) they fly into a rage. This keeps the sometimes I loose control aspect to the character, but channels it into agression towards the parties enemies, and limits the drawbacks to the fact that the character might well fight to the death, could kill enemies that the party wants to capture and so on. This limits the options for the out of control character working too badly against the rest of the group.