A new Pathfinder game (D&D 3.75)

Started by Brandon, August 20, 2009, 12:37:47 AM

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Brandon

So since I finally got my book Ive been thinking about starting up a game now that my interest in D&D has been rekindled. Now before you go rejoicing in the streets I should warn you that I'm a tough DM. I expect a lot out of myself and by extension I expect a lot out of my players. I want my players to challenge me just I will challenge them

I run my games in such a way that they focus on character goals and development first rather then doing dungeon crawl after dungeon crawl. The Player characters in my campaigns are there to be world effecting hero's where every triumph and treachery will mean something in their future. The players and by extension characters make the decisions of what they want to do and I simply make up the challenges they face while trying to accomplish their goals. There will be times when I will throw out story's for them to follow, and I always bring the group together through a 3rd party to initially form the group but the players will always have the choice of not following the story hook and doing something else.

As far as encounters go, I don't pull punches either. In my games people tend to find the most interesting and memorable encounters they will ever experience in a D&D game. Enemies will be played to their full intelligence and capabilities.

So there it is, horror filled and memorable player driven games that you will never be able to forget, no matter how hard you try. If I didn't scare you off by this point then go on and we get into the setting and mechanics of what I'm considering for this game. If I can find 5 players to play a variety of classes and give me a good writing challenge then this game will happen

The setting

The Kingdom of Dancra is a large country that is located within the Timerus mountain range. It is winter meaning a large amount of snowfall, storms, and cold days but the summers grow warm, sometimes reaching temperatures up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The country mostly survives off its bountiful wheat harvests and game found in the neighboring forests and mountains. Dancra gets most of its money from trading in minerals and gemstones that they mine from the mountains and many dwarf clans have setup clanholds and self sufficient communities.

Magic hardly exists at all. There are no large wizard schools and clerics that do have the faith needed to cast magic are at best rare. Magic is something that almost no one in the kingdom knows of outside of Myth. It is seen with both awe and fascination and sometimes with fear and contempt.

You will find all manner of races within Dancra but the most most common are Humans and dwarves

The beginning adventure

A village of Arlia is an agricultural community that has largely been forgotten by the nobles and monarchy of Dancra. However one day a message arrives asking for military assistance. The messenger has already died from blood loss and Galdwin, the General of the Dancra's military has been ordered not to send a military force to investigate.

However he is not the kind of man to ignore a plea for his soldier's help. While he is forbidden to send a military unit, he instead recruits the PCs to look into the situation at Arlia.

The game will start with this meeting. Each PC should have done something remarkable in their background so that Galdwin has a reason to put his faith in them

Allowed books
Pathfinder Core book
Any other material will be considered on a case by case basis

Group composition and notes

One of the first things to keep in mind is that for this game I want PCs that will work together. I would prefer good PCs but I wont bar anyone from playing an evil one as long as that character works with the rest of the group. However, if a character starts working against the other PCs in the group I will have no problem arranging a gruesome and interesting death for that character. I actually enjoy killing off disruptive player characters so don't mess with me on that

Obviously if there is questions about any of this, ask them

So now we come to what I want for the group composition. I need the following positions to be filled and I give some ideas on what can fill them

Front line fighter: Fighter, Paladin, heavily armored barbarian, druid with wild shape and close range combat focus, a war cleric
Wilderness expert: Barbarian, ranger, druid, or anyone thats focused in the survival and Knowelege (nature) skills
Divine spell caster: Druid or cleric
Arcane spell caster: Sorcerer or wizard

The 5th slot is a bit of a wild card. It can be filled with a variety of character types like social or intellectual experts. Some people will see that I didnt put in rogue and they are right I didnt. I have a simple rule of thumb. If the party has a rogue then I can go nuts with deadly traps. If the party does not contain a rogue then I dont tend to worry about traps at all

Joining the game

So now we come to that inevitable question. How do you go about joining? Well fill this out and well go from there. Before you get to writing be aware that I don't want to deal with mechanics for now. What I do want is to see solid, well written, and well thought out character concepts. Write as much as you can for every aspect of their being, show me that you will put the role before the roll

Character name: Whats the name of your character?
Character Age: How old is the character?
Character Race: What race does he belong to?
Character Alignment: Tell us your characters alignment
Character class: Tell us what class your character took up
Character Role: Tell us what role your character fills for the group

Character description: Tell us what your character looks like

Character Personality: Tell us how your character thinks, what their demeanor is, and what they value

Character Background: Tell us how your character became who they are

Character goals: List out some things that you want this character to accomplish
Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play

indarkestknight

What level?

Additionally, I would like a bit of clarification, if you don't mind. I understand that you don't pull punches; I don't mind that in the least. I would ask, however, whether, when handling NPCs and monsters with sub-average intelligence or wisdom, whether you limit their tactical acumen as befits their intelligence or wisdom?

RubySlippers

#2
I have access to the rules on-line but they are not the rulebook proper rules until updated, sorry $50 for a rulebook for a game I may at best play here in your game is to much money right now.

Is that a problem?

Character name: Miriam
Character Age: 18
Character Race: Human
Character Alignment: Neutral
Character class: Bard
Character Role: Jack-of-All-Trades

Character description: A classic beauty with curves and circles padded in all the right ways she is blessed with long dark hair, gorgous big dark eyes and add to that a gentle manner that is most appealing. Oddly for a bard she dresses modestly favoring clean clothing that looks nice on her but not flowery dress she lests her skills draw in admirers. Not that she is not into being clean, prettied up and looking like a woman she adores that but being a local girl avoids showey airs. Her only jewlery is a simple copper holy symbol and a wolf's fang on a cord her father gave to her from a childhood when she came of age. She wears it for luck and its precious to her.

Character Personality: Modest she is not unproud of her talents both mundane and magical but they do set her apart. Three things in the end focus her her music and performing, her faith and her common sense that was drilled into her by her parents. Considered by most a very exceptional girl the mothers have been trying to get her interested in their sons and her mother has been adding to that. But her heart belongs to other women and she desires that but has many men as friends.

Character Background: Not much to say she was born to a typical local family her father a King's Woodsman, her mother a chronically ill woman of late. She was apprenticed to a family nearby in town to learn housewifery since its a trade a woman is usually taught in her area. In secret at the local temple ,more a holy grove with a cave and natural hot springs where she learned to be a bard. Her family typically large she the oldest of seven children with two sisters and four brothers. She has not many other things that happened in her modest background. Save she is a bard and performs weekend nights on Saturday for the locals and is popular.

Character goals: Learn more about the barding arts, travel, find a woman to marry and build a life with, find a way to be productive hopefully where she grew up and teach others her craft if worthy.

Chloe Milev

Sweet.  I'm interested.  I'll be looking up my options and start making a character and background.
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Lunaris

Yeah. Knowing the set level for this will have an effect on what sort of character I have available for this. I'd like to say I have a pair of druids to choose from, but I dunno if they'd work just yet. I would also like to try a monk on the way to becoming a sacred fist. I guess the latter would have to be the 5th character, yes?  :-)

That said, I've been looking for a good fantasy group RP with a very strong story. It's these sorts of stories that started me Roleplaying in the first place.

RubySlippers

I favor 2nd or 3rd level no one shuld start with a prestige class. We are supposed to be if I read it right relatively young and promising not matured locals with established trades.

GrinningHound

6th level please!  :D

I would like to be a paladin, I think.

Paladin

Yea I would love to play and be a Paladin along with Grinninghound but I donot have the book and I don't have the money for it.

Callie Del Noire

#8
Character name: Kyrie Ebonblade
Character Age: 18-25
Character Race: Human (or Aasimar if allowed)
Character Alignment: Neutral or Chaotic Good
Character class: Cleric (of Shelyn or Desna)or Sorcerer (Arcane or Destined)
Character Role: Healer or Blaster type (with a possiblty of an Arcane Trickster, Sorcerer/Rogue) :D

Character description: Athletic woman with dark hair and light skin, with hazel eyes. She tends towards 'practical' clothing that is designed for freedom of movement and with little consideration to showing off her figure or flattering it.



Character Personality: Practical and focused in the pursuit of her goal, with more than a little naivety about the 'outsider' world. Curious about romantic realities as all she had any real knowledge of is the romances of music and story.

Character Background: Born to a minor noble family of some means, she grew up knowing privilege and standing till the family namesake, the Ebonblade, was stolen and the family fortune seemed to wither overnight.
Misfortune struck wiping out the family business, estate and finally in one firey night of death and destruction her family. Standing in the ruins of her family hone she vowed to find and recover the family sword and to avenge the lose of her family.

Character goals: Find and recover the family blade, and discover who set out to ruin her family and why.

indarkestknight

#9
For those of you unable or unwilling to buy the Pathfinder book (for the record, RubySlippers, it's apparently only $32-33 on Amazon, and it covers both the material of the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Master's Guide), there's the official Pathfinder System Reference Document.

I was considering playing a paladin, but seeing as at least two other people are interested in the position, I'll be content playing either a conjurer, a transmuter, or a sorcerer, based on a few factors.

For the record, I'm personally comfortable with higher starting levels, though I'm more than willing to play starting at 1st level, if that's your preference.

Finally, given this is Elliquiy, could we get an idea of how central sex and seduction will be to plot, if at all?

indarkestknight

This is just one of the possible character ideas I'm pounding out. I've got quite a few others floating about, and I'll post them as I go along.

Character name: Elric Athenis
Character Age: 17-22 (depending on starting level)
Character Race: Human
Character Alignment: Lawful Good, leaning towards Lawful Neutral
Character class: Conjurer
Character Role: Arcane spellcaster

Character description: Elric appears as one might expect many a wizard to appear; tall and slender, swathed in robes. His hair is black, and kept short, and his skin is pale. Despite the typical ostentation of most conjurers, due to pride in their power over others, Elric prefers simple colors: blacks and whites and greys. He endeavors to be neat and tidy, however, his obsessive nature sometimes leads him to being in disarray if his current project takes priority over appearances. Perhaps the most striking feature about him, however, is his face. While one upon a time, that might have been because of the startling blue eyes he has and the intensity of their gaze in spite of the glasses they hide behind, that no longer so; instead, most people first notice the three scars running diagonal from the upper righthand corner of his face to the lower lefthand corner, as if left by claws. He might once have been handsome, if not for these scars, but both the scars and his stern, aloof demeanor make it difficult for anyone to think of his appearance as anything but "severe".

Character Personality: Elric's appearance gives many clues to his personality. Those who judge him to be severe due to his appearance are, in fact, not far from wrong. He has little tolerance for fools, less humor, and no interest at all in trivial matters. Perhaps the paramount aspect of Elric is that of control. Having seen his life spiral completely out of control in his childhood, he is desperate to regain that sense of safety and security that springs from being in control. This same desire for control is what ultimately led to him choosing to become a conjurer, seeking to control those forces that ruined his youth, and it has lent him an undeniable intensity. He can be obsessive once focused on a subject, and even paranoid, looking for signs of tampering by fiends everywhere, though he rarely voices such concerns unless he is completely certain. His particular point of interest are the planes, particularly the Outer Planes, and he seeks as much knowledge about them and their inhabitants as he can obtain.

He does not have friends; only allies, which is a title he only extends to those he trusts. those he works with but does not yet trust, he regards as "peers". He very rarely shows emotion, and when he does, it is most typically anger or contempt. He struggles not to let his fear of fiends get the better of him, and has even on occasion considered using summoned fiends in combat against the forces of evil, reasoning that either way, the forces of evil are harmed; however, he knows of far too many who have become corrupted by those they thought they had mastered, and so, for now, he avoids such summonings. The rare time he expresses a soft spot is in regards to children and orphans, feeling a certain kinship with them given his past, and sometimes he'll dote on them, even performing minor magics and illusions for their entertainment.

While he is a conjurer, he does not like relying exclusively on summoned beings for his offense and his defense; as such, he always has a few spells ready in case he needs to fight on his own.

Character Background: Elric was, for many years, a normal child. He was, though he did not realize it at the time, very happy, and very fortunate, for he had loving parents and a bright mind, though he was melancholy and moody by nature. He and his family had for as long as anyone could remember, going at least six generations back, exceptionally skilled at arcane magic and wizardry. As such, it was almost a forgone conclusion that a boy as clever and intelligent as Elric would learn magic from his father.

However, when Elric was six, disaster struck. Some fool had performed magic beyond his comprehension and control, and, as a result, a tear formed in the planar fabric, opening up a gate to the Abyss for the next 24 hours. The city quickly became living hell as demons descended upon it, defiling and destroying everything they could get their claws and fangs on. Even the mightiest of defenders in the city could not stand against the countless hordes of tanari... including Elric's parents. Before the boy's eyes, his parents were eviscerated and devoured, and his childhood best friend, a girl who was as close to him as a twin sister, raped and taken away, sobbing and heaving and screaming. Yet through it all, he remained surprisingly untouched, in all the city, even when he charged the demons, fists helplessly pounding away at the supernaturally tough flesh of the tanari.

When finally the gate closed, and the demons had returned-- or been banished-- back to their native plane, the city, and Elric's life, was left in desolation. Survivor's guilt heavy on his heart, he swore to himself never to let this tragedy happen again, to control the forces that had so ruined his life, and to honor his parents by becoming a powerful mage.

Working from his father's spellbooks and notes and what he had seen him perform, Elric took to the Art with a ferocious intensity and singularity of purpose. His intelligence and his dedication took him farther than many do, even with instructors, but in time he realized he could not learn enough alone. Gathering up anything and everything of value to a mage, he set out, using what magics he had mastered to find a mentor in the magical arts, offering spells from his father's spellbook and secrets gleaned from his father's work in exchange for his arcane education.

Now a conjurer in his own right, Elric wanders as a freelance mage, exterminating extraplanar threats where they can be found, and troubleshooting more mundane threats where they are not, also working as a planar scholar and obsessively researching any information or knowledge pertaining to the planes where he can find it.

Little does he know that on that night long ago, he was spared because his forefathers long ago struck a deal with Graz'zt, a powerful Demon Prince, for skill at arcane magic, and that he was only spared that night because until he learned arcane magic, his soul would not be Graz'zt's to claim...

Character goals:
- To fight against the influence of the Demon Princes, the Lords of the Nine, and the Yugoloths in the Material Plane, hopefully through other means, but if no other way is possible, by ultimately binding them with his magics, when he is powerful enough.
- To prevent what happened to him ever happening to anyone else again (he knows this goal is impossible and irrational, but he feels compelled to try regardless), and to gain the power necessary for this.
- To learn everything he can about the Outer Planes, particularly the Depths Below.
- To discover what happened to his childhood best friend, and save her/resurrect her.

Paladin

Due to My last dose of Chemo Therapy kicking my ass and the fact I am packing to move up nother to college this monday I may not get my character info in right away. I'll try to do it next week sometime. Is this ok? If not let me know and I will back out.

indarkestknight

#12
EDIT: Settled on playing Elric

Brandon

#13
Good to see lots of interest thus far. That gives me hope. The level will be starting at 1 and there will be no cap to how far I go with the game. If people want to stick around and take it all the way to 10 great. 20 Even better. Epic levels? Sure. The game will run as long as the players keep giving me good things to work with.

Now some might ask, why first level? Its because out of all my time running and playing in games I found that characters played from level 1 and up become more memorable and mean more to the people that make them.

Quote from: Glabrezubane on August 20, 2009, 01:59:07 AM
Additionally, I would like a bit of clarification, if you don't mind. I understand that you don't pull punches; I don't mind that in the least. I would ask, however, whether, when handling NPCs and monsters with sub-average intelligence or wisdom, whether you limit their tactical acumen as befits their intelligence or wisdom?

Yes I do. Ive always found this old saying to be true "Intelligence is how smart you are, Wisdom is how stupid you're not". What this means is just because a creature has a lack of intelligence doesnt mean that it cant grasp the obvious. A den of trolls probably wont know military tactics but they will understand the simple things like numbers gives me an advantage or if we both beat on that squishy guy he dies faster and we get hurt less.

Quote from: Glabrezubane on August 20, 2009, 12:07:44 PMFinally, given this is Elliquiy, could we get an idea of how central sex and seduction will be to plot, if at all?

I do not intend to have sex be a big thing. There will be scenes where its there, like naked men/women dancing for a crowds entertainment in an exclusive club/inn or something that that effect. There will also be chances for someone to romance NPCs or even eachother. However from what I have seen in past D&D games on Elliquiy, making a it a central theme detracts from the game and slows it down. So I intend to leave it in the background unless the current story requires it to be out front

The last thing I want to point out is, theres a lot of interest in the arcane spellcaster role but almost none on the divine spellcaster or the wilderness survival ones. At this point, I want to give people more time to flesh their concepts out and really choose what want to play rather then what they think I want playing.

Edit: I was just asked if I would allow Tome of battle in this game. The answer is no, not the whole book and that goes for all the additional books out there. For the most part I want to keep this game core pathfinder. Ill allow small things like feats, skill uses, weapons, etc on a case by case basis but large things like Prestige classes are going to be hard to swing by me
Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play

Callie Del Noire

I'm wiling to have Kyrie as a priest (was hoping for Sorcerer..but Cleric is just as fun)

GreenHavok

This seems interesting, never heard of pathfinder before, but i'm a huge D&D fan. From the looks of it you have a lot of casters but lack a meat shield. Let me know if you still have room and i'll read more about it

Paladin

Character name: Andreas Whitefire
Character Age: 20-25
Character Race: Human
Character Alignment: Lawful Good. (Not Lawful Stupid)
Character class: Paladin
Character Role: Frontline Fighter?

Character description:


The rest is TBA when I feel a bit better.

Character Personality: Tell us how your character thinks, what their demeanor is, and what they value

Character Background: Tell us how your character became who they are

Character goals: List out some things that you want this character to accomplish

Chloe Milev

Well, seeing as we have a tank (paladin), arcanist (conjurer/sorcerer/other sorcerer), 5th character (bard), I could be a druid to help with healing and wilderness things.  Taking a nature domain instead of animal companion is interesting.  I could take Fire and be a bear that shoots fireballs from its mouth.  When she's not healing people.

I could take crafting feats if other spellcasters don't.

Anyone want a druid sister or other pre-connection to bring the party together?
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indarkestknight

Callie has said she's planning on a sorcerer/cleric aiming for mystic theurge, and right now I'm leaning towards conjurer, for the record.

Callie Del Noire

Well I offered an option to be a cleric.. so we got 2 healer types..that's good.

indarkestknight

Given bards have a bit of healing, druids do, and paladins do, I think we should be fine on the healing front even without a cleric.

Brandon

The last thing I want to do is influence the choices people make on their characters so Im reluctant to say much about any of them. The thing I will say is a decision has to be made on their starting paths before I can consider them for the game. This is mostly dealing with Callie Del Noire's character who will have to choose cleric or sorcerer as his first class. Anyone else that comes in saying their character can fit multiple classes at a time, will likewise have to choose their starting class before I can consider them
Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play

indarkestknight

Well, if Callie wanted to dual class from level 1 (apprentice level, I think they called it), I remember rules for that in the 3.0 DMG. Not sure if they were in the 3.5 DMG.

Callie Del Noire

Most likely multiclassing later on.. shooting for mystic theurge.

Brandon

Yeah that doesnt fly with the level 1 concept, sorry. Its either you're all level 1 cleric or all level 1 sorcerer to begin with. The level in the other class is taken later on
Brandon: What makes him tick? - My on's and off's - My open games thread - My Away Thread
Limits: I do not, under any circumstances play out scenes involving M/M, non-con, or toilet play