Hunters of the Sands (Pathfinder)

[Sethala]

Well, I've come up with a crazy idea for a Wild West/fantasy world, and I've decided to flesh it out a bit and run a game in it.  So first, a bit about the world:

The continent of Titan, at first, looks like nothing more than a giant desert.  Plant life is scarce, and sand is abundant, creating massive dunes that fight against rocky crags for the tallest feature on the land.  Living in such a place isn't as difficult as it seems at first, however, thanks to an abundance of oases scattered about the sands, the only source of plant life.  In fact, the continent is rather full of human settlements, scattered all over the area, the lack of abundant water in one place keeping most of them small, and settlers heading out to find new places to live a common sight.  Most technology had advanced pretty far, various firearms abundant and steam power a common sight.

At least, that's how life was some few hundred years ago, before the worms came.  Giant sandworms that could burrow underground at frightening speeds and tear apart a city in a day suddenly started to appear, and with them the other animals in the world began to grow more fierce, their old homes destroyed by the worms.  But not all of that was bad; for some reason, the worms left behind chunks of a rare magical material in their wake, and that unlocked the ability to avoid the worms entirely: flight.  Entire cities took to the skies, powered by what we now call "avius crystals", and the mages were able to learn even more about their craft.  Trains that were once powered by steam now flew from city to city along magical skyrails, and the world below was mostly ignored.  People have even figured out how to create magic using even more advanced technology, wizards carrying around magically-powered tomes and simply tapping on a floating screen to practice their craft.

Of course, not everything could be found in the sky.  Enough food to keep starvation at bay could be made using what little plants could grow in the floating cities, but it tastes horrid and does little for nutrition.  Plus, the cities need more avius crystals to keep themselves afloat, and there's plenty of other useful materials that the worms manage to bring to the surface.  So, the Hunter's Guild was formed, finding brave souls willing to venture down to the surface and brave the wildlife and worms to gather fresh meat and materials for the cities.  That's where you come in.

So, a few notes about how the world works.  The technology level and aesthetics are mostly wild west era; revolvers and rifles are relatively common, as are cowboy hats and leather outfits.  However, everyone lives on floating cities powered by magic, and traveling between cities uses flying trains (although the trains are still on rails, they can't just go anywhere).  Magic, on the other hand, uses heavy technology instead of old tomes; wizards carry around something that more resembles a computer than a spellbook, and spell gestures are replaced by tapping icons on a floating screen.  Some mages instead use special "spell bullets" in an enchanted gun to fire off their spells (think something like Outlaw Star's caster guns).  I'm thinking that perhaps wizards use the pre-made bullets as their spell preparation while sorcerers use the magic computers, but I'm not going to force players to go by that.

And now, character creation rules:

-Pathfinder level 6
-4d6 drop lowest for stats
-All first party classes and features allowed
-Firearms are relatively common (although melee weapons are still popular).  In other words, "commonplace guns" level.  Simple firearms and ammunition are at 25% of list price, while advanced firearms and ammunition are 50% of list price.
-Magic works much differently flavor-wise, but mechanically is unchanged.  Spellsinger archetype is encouraged, and I can make similar variants for other magic-using classes if anyone's interested.
-"Common" fantasy races (humans, elves, dwarves, etc) are allowed, but if you've got something unusual run it by me first.

[kckolbe]

Thinking of playing a once-wealthy arcane archer (or close to being one) that has sought the life of a Hunter to restore the status/wealth of the family, which has recently all but disappeared due to bad investments.  Does that sound plausible?  He would likely be human, willing to go elf or half elf.

[Scribbles]

The world sounds amazing, I'd love to sign up for this!

[MasterMischief]

withdrawn

Jesse Blackthorn grew up on one of the larger sky cities; Dakota Falls.  It was large enough to have a theater.  The first time Jesse's parents took him to the theater and he heard that piano, his destiny was forged.  Those ivory and ebony keys could fill the crowd's hearts with hope or dash them on the rocks of despair.  It propped up the actors during their scenes and gave a glimpse of worlds undreamed of.

He begged his parents to buy him a piano, an extravagant gift.  Jesse's father was a well-to-do merchant and he managed to squirrel away enough money to buy Jesse that piano.  Many a night, the Blackthorn's had to ask their precious son to give it a rest so there could be some peace and quiet in the house if only for a night or two.

Through his innate aptitude and hours of practice, Jesse proved a remarkable piano player.  It was not long before he was playing for his neighbors and soon the community church.  One day, a passing Bard took note of Jesse's skill and promised to teach him some new songs and advanced techniques.  Jesse took to the melding of music and magic like a duck to water.

A few years later, a record drought hit Dakota Falls.  The harsh conditions were too much for Jesse's mother and she perished.  Jesse joined the Hunter's Guild in hopes of preventing the wide-spread famine from ever striking again.


Jesse Blackthorn
Human Bard 6
CG Medium Humanoid (Human)

Ability Scores
Strength   11
Dexterity   13
Constitution   11
Intelligence   17
Wisdom   15
Charisma   18

Saving Throws
Fortitude   +2
Reflex      +6
Will      +7

Combat
Initiative   +1   
Hit Points   28
Armor Class   15
Touch      11
Flat Footed   14
Base Attack   +4
Melee      +4
Ranged      +5
CMB      +4
CMD      15

Skills
Acrobatics +5 (+4)
Appraise +7
Climb +5 (+4)
Disguise +8
Escape Artist +5
Knowledge (Arcana) +10
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +10
Knowledge (Engineering) +10
Knowledge (Geography) +10
Knowledge (History) +10
Knowledge (Local) +15
Knowledge (Nature) +10
Knowledge (Nobility) +10
Knowledge (Planes) +10
Knowledge (Religion) +10
Linguistics +13 (6 additional languages)
Perception +6
Perform (Keyboard Instruments) +16
Perform (Sing) +13
Ride +7 (+6)
Sleight of Hand +5
Spellcraft +7
Stealth +10 (+9)
Survival +8
Use Magic Device +8

Racial Traits
Focused Study
Skills

Feats
Craft Potion
Craft Wand
Firearms Weapon Proficiency
Skill Focus (Perform - Keyboard Instruments)

Equipment (10,494gp)
Armor
Chain Shirt (Masterwork)

Weapons
Dagger (5)   +4/+5 (1d4 / 19–20 / 10')
Revolver   +5 (1d8 / 4 / 20')
Whip      +4 (1d3 / 2)

Other
Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds

Spells
Cantrips
Detect Magic
Flare
Mage Hand
Mending
Message
Prestidigitation
Read Magic
Spark
Summon Instrument

First (5/day)
Charm Person
Cure Light Wounds
Enhance Water
Feather Fall
Read Weather
Undetectable Alignment

Second (4/day)
Cure Moderate Wounds
Heroism
Share Language
Tattoo Potion

Languages
Common
6 Additional Languages



I had a couple of questions.

Do I need to take Weapon Proficiency Firearms?  I thought, since firearms are so common, we might not have to.
Are languages going to play a role in the campaign or does everyone speak the same thing?  I do not want to waste Skills and Spells if they are not going to be a factor.
Are you allowing Traits?
I was not sure what other equipment to take without knowing where we will be starting and what is expected of us.  Also, if anyone wants Potions at cost, hit me up.

[Ebb]

That's a very neat world setup, Sethala. Lots of opportunity for cool Old West archetypes. But then I always thought Deadlands was cool too.

As an off-the-wall question, would you consider allowing classes from the just released Advanced Character Guide playtest? (It can be downloaded here: http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5lfjd?Advanced-Class-Guide-Playtest-is-Live). There's every chance that the classes in there are unbalanced, unfun or otherwise broken, and they'll likely evolve over the next few months as the playtest is ongoing. But on the surface they look interesting to try out.

Regardless of that decision, I'd be interested in making either a grizzled two-fisted ex-prospector, possibly a dwarf alchemist. Or potentially a slick skyboat gambler with a derringer up his sleeve - maybe a half-elf gunslinger or bard.

A world question -- would devices to allow people to fly (or at least fall slowly) be more commonplace, and therefore cheaper? Possibly things like autogyros instead of flying carpets, or avius crystal jetpacks instead of wings of flying?

[Sethala]

@Mischief: Firearms count as martial weapons for "commonplace guns" level, so normally a bard would need to take the Martial Weapon Proficiency (Firearms) feat.  I might just give them firearms for free though, since bards already have training with select martial weapons, and adding firearms to that short list shouldn't make much of a difference.  Lemme think on it.  In the meantime, can you put your sheet on something like plothook or myth-weavers?  Also, note that all magic in the world is created by advanced technology, there's no "innate magical ability" in people.

@Ebb: I haven't looked at it at all yet (didn't even know about it til now, tbh), so I can't say for sure.  Which class were you looking at?  As for the class ideas, not really sure how a "prospector" would work in the world, since there's no mines in the sky-cities (and note that the cities have been around for several centuries so far - for most people, they've been around since before their grandparents were born), but perhaps he does something with the world below and the hunters guild?  Maybe a few ideas there.  And yes, magic items are all technology-based, but I could see about making more "fall slowly" items; they would at least be more prevalent in a world that's mostly flying, even if personal flight is rare (almost everyone would use the trains unless they're stupid rich enough to buy their own flight machine - similar to how most people use commercial airlines since most people don't own private jets in the real world).

[MasterMischief]

Is there another option for me to place my sheet that does not require me to create another account?  I am pushing maximum density on accounts.

[Sethala]

Not that I'm aware of, since it would be impractical and let everyone update your sheet if there wasn't an account to associate it to.  But trying to read a full text-based sheet like that is a pain, to be honest.

[MasterMischief]

Understood.  I will just withdraw then.  Good luck!

[Ebb]

@Ebb: I haven't looked at it at all yet (didn't even know about it til now, tbh), so I can't say for sure.  Which class were you looking at?  As for the class ideas, not really sure how a "prospector" would work in the world, since there's no mines in the sky-cities (and note that the cities have been around for several centuries so far - for most people, they've been around since before their grandparents were born), but perhaps he does something with the world below and the hunters guild?  Maybe a few ideas there.  And yes, magic items are all technology-based, but I could see about making more "fall slowly" items; they would at least be more prevalent in a world that's mostly flying, even if personal flight is rare (almost everyone would use the trains unless they're stupid rich enough to buy their own flight machine - similar to how most people use commercial airlines since most people don't own private jets in the real world).

I'm only starting to look through the playtest stuff, so I'm not entirely sure yet. The Investigator class seems interesting, and it has sort of a technological bent to it which might fit your world well. There's also a Slayer class (sort of an assassin) and a Hunter class which could be good fits for worm-hunting.

For the prospector I was thinking more of the guy who goes out to locate and harvest the avius crystals. Not really mining or prospecting at all, but borrowing from those stereotypes that you'd find in an Old West setting -- looking to 'strike it rich' with a big find, that sort of thing. Just trying to get a concept before jumping to race/class. It could be the alchemist isn't even the best fit for that.

[Kolbrandr]

It's interesting looking, though I would note from experience as something to be aware of, the more common, advanced and easy to use you make firearms as far as how they work in Pathfinder, the more AC from armor and natural armor becomes useless, and that severely impacts classes like fighter (and paladin and suchlike), who generally truck pretty heavily in the former at least to get by. It also changes a lot of the dynamics in fights with monsters.

[Sethala]

It's interesting looking, though I would note from experience as something to be aware of, the more common, advanced and easy to use you make firearms as far as how they work in Pathfinder, the more AC from armor and natural armor becomes useless, and that severely impacts classes like fighter (and paladin and suchlike), who generally truck pretty heavily in the former at least to get by. It also changes a lot of the dynamics in fights with monsters.

Noted, and I think the easy fix is for enemies and PCs to not work on the same rules.  The enemies you're most likely to run into are various monsters, mostly very strong wildlife; they're not going to use guns.  Similarly, if touch AC becomes more prevalent I can have more monsters with dodge or deflection bonuses to AC, instead of natural armor bonuses.  Not much, but a monster that had an extra 5 natural armor may have 3 natural armor and 2 deflection instead.

I'm only starting to look through the playtest stuff, so I'm not entirely sure yet. The Investigator class seems interesting, and it has sort of a technological bent to it which might fit your world well. There's also a Slayer class (sort of an assassin) and a Hunter class which could be good fits for worm-hunting.

For the prospector I was thinking more of the guy who goes out to locate and harvest the avius crystals. Not really mining or prospecting at all, but borrowing from those stereotypes that you'd find in an Old West setting -- looking to 'strike it rich' with a big find, that sort of thing. Just trying to get a concept before jumping to race/class. It could be the alchemist isn't even the best fit for that.

Ok.  I think I'll allow it, but if they release any updates to the classes, they'll apply immediately to you.  As for worm-hunting, I don't plan on the worms being real enemies.  You might find some young worms that are a decent challenge to the party, but an adult worm would be about CR 16 or so in a straight-up fight... meaning, if you see one, run away now.  On the plus side, in a continent that's roughly the size of the US and Canada, there's probably less than one hundred adult worms alive, so running into one is relatively rare, and finding a place where a worm passed through recently is probably a good find, as they tend to drag a lot of minerals that are normally deep underground up to the surface - which would probably work pretty well for your prospector idea, actually.  (Also note that while the crystals are extremely important to the way the world works, they're not the only useful material found on the ground; iron, silver, gold, and other metals are also sought after.)

[Ebb]

Ok.  I think I'll allow it, but if they release any updates to the classes, they'll apply immediately to you.  As for worm-hunting, I don't plan on the worms being real enemies.  You might find some young worms that are a decent challenge to the party, but an adult worm would be about CR 16 or so in a straight-up fight... meaning, if you see one, run away now.  On the plus side, in a continent that's roughly the size of the US and Canada, there's probably less than one hundred adult worms alive, so running into one is relatively rare, and finding a place where a worm passed through recently is probably a good find, as they tend to drag a lot of minerals that are normally deep underground up to the surface - which would probably work pretty well for your prospector idea, actually.  (Also note that while the crystals are extremely important to the way the world works, they're not the only useful material found on the ground; iron, silver, gold, and other metals are also sought after.)

Yes, that fits what I'm thinking. I imagine in this world that when there's a sighting of a big worm it triggers an immediate burst of activity as various factions race to get their claim down on all of the minerals brought up to the surface.  I'd also imagine that there might be a lot of backstabbing and other outright orneriness among those competing for the find. Not for the faint of heart.

[Sethala]

Hm, good point, I hadn't really thought about worm sightings being a "gold rush" of sorts... *takes notes*  I will say it might not be that huge of a rush, since the world is a pretty dangerous place even without the worms to worry about, as the rest of the wildlife can get pretty bloodthirsty and, apparently, humanoids taste pretty good.  That, combined with a good chunk of the population either getting killed off or deciding to leave to find some better place to live in the period between the worms appearing and the cities starting to fly, and a worm sighting may not cause a huge rush of people.  I don't know, I'm still kinda making up the world, so some of my ideas aren't really fleshed out yet and such.

[Ebb]

Hm, good point, I hadn't really thought about worm sightings being a "gold rush" of sorts... *takes notes*  I will say it might not be that huge of a rush, since the world is a pretty dangerous place even without the worms to worry about, as the rest of the wildlife can get pretty bloodthirsty and, apparently, humanoids taste pretty good.  That, combined with a good chunk of the population either getting killed off or deciding to leave to find some better place to live in the period between the worms appearing and the cities starting to fly, and a worm sighting may not cause a huge rush of people.  I don't know, I'm still kinda making up the world, so some of my ideas aren't really fleshed out yet and such.

Oh, I understand that it's still in development, and I wouldn't expect you to go write a full world-book or anything. It just struck me as an interesting focal point for adventure and conflict. Unless you were planning to run a game that was set more in the cities and their connecting trains, where going down to the surface was reserved for higher level adventurers. That might affect the sort of characters people come up with.

[Sethala]

No, the overall idea I was looking at was, the party would go down to the surface world for most of the adventures, but most of the opponents found there would be wildlife, not other humanoids also searching the surface world.  Also, note that there's likely some people living on the surface, mostly hermits or various non-lawful groups; the worms seem to be attracted to large settlements, but a handful of people can live without being bothered by the worms too much, especially with some sort of tool that can alert them to nearby worms (some kind of radar/sonar sort of thing, perhaps?  Unsure yet).

[Innocence]

Definitely interested =D
I've been loving pathfinder lately and would like to play another game.  I wish the Advanced classes were released already... I think a Hunter class would be good for this =]

Anyway if you have room for a female ranger who wants to follow in her parents footsteps as renowned Hunters, I'd like to join ^w^

my rolls:
51825   Noone or Anyone   2013-11-20 17:18:10   At 2013-11-20 17:18:10, Innocence (uid: 19785) rolls: 4d6 Result: 11
51824   Noone or Anyone   2013-11-20 17:18:03   At 2013-11-20 17:18:03, Innocence (uid: 19785) rolls: 4d6 Result: 13
51823   Noone or Anyone   2013-11-20 17:17:55   At 2013-11-20 17:17:55, Innocence (uid: 19785) rolls: 4d6 Result: 13
51822   Noone or Anyone   2013-11-20 17:17:47   At 2013-11-20 17:17:47, Innocence (uid: 19785) rolls: 4d6 Result: 15
51821   Noone or Anyone   2013-11-20 17:17:21   At 2013-11-20 17:17:21, Innocence (uid: 19785) rolls: 4d6 Result: 19
51820   Noone or Anyone   2013-11-20 17:16:32   At 2013-11-20 17:16:32, Innocence (uid: 19785) rolls: 4d6 Result: 18

[Blackflow]

Hey, this sounds like an interesting game with a fun setting ... as well as a good chance to try out the Gunslinger, which I've never gotten the chance to do.  So color me interested and probably submitting a Half-Orc Gunslinger ... thinking something of an outcast who joined the Hunter's Guild to escape the cities as much as to make his fortune.

Rolls: 11, 16, 18, 10, 15, 10

[godfang]

a very creative and unique setting, i would like to play if i still can join. I'd play a bard, either archeologist or dervish. Will submit a sheet during lunch hours (my lunch hours anyways XD) can someone roll for me? or tell me how to do the forum dice roller?

[NicciKotor]

Gonna make a long range sniper that looks suspiciously like Yoko.

[godfang]

or if you trust me enough to use off-site dice rollers, this is what i got

13 15 18 13 13 13

Edit: Oh, sorry, i rerolled all 1s out of habbit, that's why i got such high and stable results, this is the non reroll 1s

Roll(4d6)+0:
6,6,3,3,+0
Total:18  (so 15)

Roll(4d6)+0:
2,1,4,6,+0
Total:13 (so 12)

Roll(4d6)+0:
5,5,6,6,+0 (so 17)
Total:22

Roll(4d6)+0:
2,1,5,3,+0
Total:11 (so 10)

Roll(4d6)+0:
6,5,1,4,+0 (so 15)
Total:16

Roll(4d6)+0:
6,3,5,4,+0
Total:18 (so 15)

15-15-10-17-12-15

..it's actually slightly better. Anyways, if you want me to use in forum dice roller, i'm cool, i just need to know how

[Scribbles]

Rolls: 12 12 14 14 15 11

[Ebb]

Anyways, if you want me to use in forum dice roller, i'm cool, i just need to know how

There's a pretty good tutorial here:
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=83540.0

For 4d6 drop the lowest, you're going to want to enter:
Dice:4
Sides:6
Keep:3

And then just hit Roll Dice. Do that five more times.

To paste in links to your rolls, go to "View Your Rolls" and copy the part that's in the url tags, plus the tags.

Here's mine:
At 2013-11-20 18:47:47, DylanSilverheart (uid: 9370) rolls: 4d6k3 Result: 11
At 2013-11-20 18:47:44, DylanSilverheart (uid: 9370) rolls: 4d6k3 Result: 14
At 2013-11-20 18:47:41, DylanSilverheart (uid: 9370) rolls: 4d6k3 Result: 16
At 2013-11-20 18:47:38, DylanSilverheart (uid: 9370) rolls: 4d6k3 Result: 9
At 2013-11-20 18:47:34, DylanSilverheart (uid: 9370) rolls: 4d6k3 Result: 14
At 2013-11-20 18:47:28, DylanSilverheart (uid: 9370) rolls: 4d6k3 Result: 12

Or 11,14,16,9,14,12

[Scribbles]

Oops, forgot to drop the lowest die, here are what my rolls should look like: 11 10 12 13 14 9

[godfang]

thanks ebb!

I'm still trying to figure it out but i get the general idea. My only regret is that i actually got an 18 and it wasn't saved because it was somehow counted as a test roll T_T