Planescape: Discord in the Grey District (Pathfinder; Full)  

Started by TheKhan, December 20, 2012, 05:06:45 PM

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TheKhan

"So you were just an average berk, right? Puttering around, doing your day to day thing on whatever tiny world you were from... Except one day that changed for you. You walked through some sort of bound space and, completely out of your control, a portal opened up taking you somewhere else. Now your in Sigil. The City of Doors. The City of Factions. The Centre of the Multiverse. A city that looks to be in the middle of an industrial revolution, where angels and demons rub shoulders and broker power with all of us regular sods. A city that could take you anywhere you wish to go if you if you have the key. Floating above the infinitely tall Spire in the middle of the Outlands and shaped like a ring so the the only stars you see are the lights of the other side of the city far above your head. Now you know you are way out of your league, huh?"

"Well, heres a piece of advice for you. This town is a place where anyone can make anything of themselves. Go out there are make the most of your situations. Almost everyone comes from humble beginnings these days. Look, I know some folks in the Grey District, down by the Mortuary. Seems their community Voices are looking for some troubleshooting types to help them keep everything running smoothly. If you're willing to work for it, they can help you get your bearing and get back up on your feet. It may be in the Hive, which might be a ghetto of scum and villainy, but it's better than nothing, eh?"


Game Style: Sandbox, political adventure.
Genre: Primarily urban fantasy
Setting: Pre-Faction War Planescape
System: Pathfinder (level 2)

I've been getting the urge to tell a story on the planes again lately and thought I'd see if anyone else had an interest. The story I have in mind is part of a module that I helped create and quite enjoy running. I have a couple of plots in mind for the future, but it starts as a sandbox and we'll see how it evolves from there. I think it's more in line with most of the stories on E rather than a traditional dungeon crawl, giving you a chance to explore a community and interact with its people. If you're not familiar with Planescape, it very much a thinking man's DnD, rather than hack and slash. Social and political interactions can often be more dangerous than hacking and slashing... But also far more powerful and rewarding. It emphasises role playing over roll playing, which means a solid argument can give you a huge bonus to a roll of the dice or negate the need to even make the roll in the first place!

Other details
Alignment
: Non-Evil. The Voices of the Grey District are looking for decent people to help them, not malicious berks. If they were willing to settle for that their problems would already be solved. Also keep in mind that people in this district are dirt poor. At least to start, you won't be getting paid much, at least in coin. If you do a good job though, that may change.
Starting jink: 1000 gold pieces
Religions: I deviate from canon and allow real world religions in my campaigns as long as they are done respectfully. Note that this also means I've totally rebuilt the Hindu (West Indian) Pantheon that canonically exists since its clear that no research was actually done into the motivations and beliefs of its various deities. I'm also okay with cult worshipers of dark gods, demons or devils as long as the worshiper focuses on their positive aspects since opposites finding common ground is a theme of planescape. Please keep in mind that if someone wants to go this road, I will be balancing it with multiple good-two-shoes and you guys will need to find a way to work together.

The type of players I'd like to work with
For better or for worse, this story is not my main priority in life and there could be gaps between updates.  I'm looking for people who will be able do deal with that maturely and stay interested even if I go poof for a bit. I've got some ideas of how to work around this, but I'll save that for later of people are interested.

My role in all this
When I GM, I see myself as a storyteller.  As such I try to be very descriptive and evocative with my settings. This means that I try to create action and movement in my posts by describing PC actions if the player doesn't describe them themselves and just rolls the dice or says "I stab them three times." I'm definitely not trying to take over your character, but describe how their actions play out since I am trying to make an exciting story for both the people actively engaged in the story, but also passerby who happens to read it. I know some people don't like it, but others don't mind, so if you fall in the former category, this is me trying to be polite and let you know ahead of time.

Adult Themes:
Planescape offers some interesting opportunities to play with adult themes since you can find literally any type of creature in Sigil, but for me at least, it's a side course, not the main event. I'm more interested in seeing realist (or realistic as possible) relationships develop, rather than "everyone gets laid." I'd probably put this in Exotic, Non-Con since those themes could show up eventually, but doesn't mean they will or have to. If you put the time and effort in, your character will get some, but you'll need to slog it out in the trenches for a bit first, so to speak.

All that said, anyone interested?

PhantomPistoleer

Always seeking 5E games.
O/O

TheKhan

Awesome! Would you mind posting a bio/description and a character sheet so I can see if it would work well with the adventure?

PhantomPistoleer

I would be more than happy to do this.  But I'm not sure how you roll up stats and how to roll up the second level's HP.
Always seeking 5E games.
O/O

TheKhan

I'd say 20 point buy and I'll give you max HP for second level. 

PhantomPistoleer

Always seeking 5E games.
O/O

Anon315

Ah, how I missed cant. I'm keen to try an Oracle Believer of the Source, if you'd have one. Seeking to earn his ascension through acts of good rather than trying for the test of the Starstone or something similarly suicidal.

Muse

This idea generally interests me, though I'm a bit dubious on the idea of a sandbox for this sort of game.  Could you elaborate for us please? 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

TheKhan

Anon: Sounds good. See the note for everyone below about some stats details.

Muse: Fair enough. We used the word sandbox when we worked on it, although the words freeform and non-linear may be equally descriptive/appropriate. What will happen is that you will be hired on as protectors of a community known as the Grey District. There is a storyline in the adventure, but no given order in which things happen. We described the district in detail and have numerous NPCs filling it out that a body may run into. Some of them are influential to the "central" storyline, while some of them have their own plothooks that could be developed. You should get chances to interact with all of them, but that's really up to the choices you make in the scenario.

Everyone: This seems to be gathering interest quicker than I expected, so here are a few more details on character creation

Planewalker Website: Planeswalker.com is the official Planescape Fansite and they've put a ton of effort into fleshing the campaign out in the years since 2e, including a 3rd Edition Campaign Setting Guide. Anything from these pdfs is not only fair game, but encouraged, especially faction feats and Prestige Classes.
Books: Anything Pathfinder is fair game, but so are other books like Tome of Magic, Tome of Battle, Libir Mortis, Draconimacon, Lords of Madness and the Fiendish Codexes. Just check if you want to use it. Since I'm okay with most things, all I ask is that you make note of where stuff comes from that isn't core on your character sheet, because I don't have every single book memorized.
Bonus Feats: Anyone who joins a Faction or a Sect gets Roleplaying benefits and disadvantages of that group, obviously, but to give you something tangible, each character will also revive one of their faction feats (see the first point!) as a bonus feat upon becoming a namer, which is the highest rank I'm going to allow at this time. If you have know idea what I'm talking about with factions, don't worry about it for, it will be explained in-story.
Races: This is one of the fun ones. All of the races on Planewalker are fair game. Just decrease the level adjustment by 1 and they should be usable (the exception to this is the Bladeling, who is still usable, but has a typo in its level adjustment. The adjustment says +1, but is supposed to be +2, so for Pathfinder the Bladeling can be used as is with no changes). I'm also a big fan of both the Advanced Races Guide and Savage Species, so if you have an idea for a character/race that isn't represented, right up a background for your character, and if it looks like it will fit with the game, I'll help you build a race to go with it. 

Muse

Khan, would you permit me to play two characters, one a Bauriar, the other someone more humanoid? 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

TheKhan

Muse: No, but yes. Sort of. I was going to hold off on talking about this until after we got things up and running, but since you asked...

I'm a bit leery having one person for multiple PCs unless we're we short for numbers. I'd like to give as many people chance to participate as possible. That being said, I want a contingency plan for when life gets in the way of me logging on and updating the thread. One of those ideas that once you guys had a chance to poke around the Grey District a bit, I could set up a second thread where you could interact with each others as residents of the district and create new characters from there. The idea in my head is that this would be a bit more of a slice life than adventure type story, and would be more Freeform RP in the same setting as the other story. 

Now I don't know if this would work. I think it's a good idea since a) gives the players a chance to interact with each other even if I get busy while we are in the middle of a combat scene; b) it let's the players add to the setting and explore some other parts of Sigil and c) it allows you to get some variety in, which is exactly what you're asking for Muse.   

Thoughts?

Geeklet

I might be a little interested. I havent looked in on pathfinder lately, but I still remember a lot of stuff from D&D 3.5, so it shouldnt be a hard transition. Also, the idea of something set in Sigil intrigues me, as I was a huge fan of Planescape: Torment back in the day.

TheKhan

Cool. Since the Grey District is close to the Mortuary, you'll definitely see some familiar faces from time to time. What type of character were you thinking of?

The really nice thing about Pathfinder is that it's almost all online legally in Piazo's SRD. I. Generally use D20PFsrd though, since it's hyperlinks are easier to deal with.

Jezabelle

I'm interested, if you're OK with a greenhorn for both the boards and Pathfinder  :-[ I can do my best to familiarize myself with the system between now and start, if you'll have me Khan.

At the moment, I was thinking an Elf Cleric (if so, probably for a Primordial but I'm taking suggestions) or Witch, it's a toss up and if you have one you think would be more interesting I'd go that route.


TheKhan

Jezabelle: Well, how experienced are you in Role-playing games? If you've played Dnd before, Pathfinder should be pretty easy to pick up. Either could work. The Primordials don't really exist in Planescape and while I have been working to incorporate them, it hasn't really happened. What type of worshiper/themes did you see yourself going for?

Everyone: Five seems about the right number to me, so once five character sheets are up, we should be good to go. So get cracking!  :P

If you want to play but haven't replied yet: I'll take the first five character sheets I think appropriate for this adventure and for each other, so there's still time.

Geeklet

What type of character? Hell, I dont know. Whatever you need. *laughs* I'm pretty flexible, and am sure I can get something together. With the holidays in full swing right now, work has been leaving me a bit too busy to sit down and think at the moment.

Anon315

Name: Kentoku "Kenny" Caitzen
Race: Kitsune
Class: Oracle

Background: It's rarely surprising what sorts of messes a kitsune can get himself into if left to his own devices for long enough. So when he found himself in the city of Doors after a night of carousing with one of his favorite deities, Cayden Cailean, he was only marginally surprised. Funny things happen when you drink with a god, especially a god of such fanciful intentions as Cayden. He took pretty well to the change however, falling in with a good crowd, a better crowd than might otherwise have been found on his home plane. He's adjusted to the city with relative ease, and his involvement with the Believers of the Source has put him on the right path. After all, who was more deserving of divinity than he? A true believer in the divine (in that he'd drunk with one on several occasions) and an assuredly spiritual being, he hopes now to attain ascension to the ranks of godhood by a life of good deeds, and a little good-spirited cheating.

Appearance

TheKhan

Geeklet: Okay, no worries, things do get rather busy this time of year.

Anon: You do realize that playing an anthropomorphized fox in this setting is just asking for trouble, right? ;D Definitely a good flavour for the setting.

Everyone: One last thing I keep forgetting to mention. The current season is winter and the city is covered in snow. It may or may not become a plot point later, I haven't decided yet.

Anon315

Oh of course, but one thing is, I can always just use my innate ability to appear to be a normal human. Right. Normal. Human.

TheKhan


Jezabelle

Quote from: TheKhan on December 23, 2012, 08:37:41 AM
Jezabelle: Well, how experienced are you in Role-playing games? If you've played Dnd before, Pathfinder should be pretty easy to pick up. Either could work. The Primordials don't really exist in Planescape and while I have been working to incorporate them, it hasn't really happened. What type of worshiper/themes did you see yourself going for?

Some DnD experience but all PbP, which seems to be seen as inferior to the "real deal" in my experience. How about a Cleric of Calistria?

Here's what I've got so far.




Name: Iyreth Arimaze
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Priest

Diety: Calistria
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Primary Weapon: Whip (I hear they're mechanically weak, but I can see it being contextually useful + heavy RP, it's in keeping w/character)
Secondary Weapon: Throwing Daggers

Hair: Blonde with red highlights; long, parted from her forehead with a braid down the back (sans only hair piece in the image).
Eyes: Light Ice-Blue
General Appearance: Fair haired and with unusually pointed ears, Iyreth is only easily distinguished from her father's people by themselves at first glance. She tends towards black leather and yellow accents, in the fashion of Calistria's priesthood.   
Image

Background:
Iyreth's life began as many half-elves: unwanted. A bastardization of two peoples, she had no land to call her home. Her mother, a noblewoman who had her while married during a tryst with an elf, arranged to have her spirited to a foreign city when she turned fifteen (she had disguised her as the child of a servant before that, but people were growing suspicious) where she would not bring shame to the house-- she was to be raised by the followers of Serenrae.

However, her "escort," a dubious smuggler handed a sackful of gold and told never to be seen in the right parts of town again, cared little for the particulars. They pulled into port, and into some whores-- and as it happened, the whores were the sacred prostitutes of a Calistrian Temple. When a cleric asked them why they'd brought so young of a girl, so yearning for revenge, aboard with them the captain replied they were "doing her mum a favor, dumping her in a far-away temple to be forgotten." With not too much clever talking and the ample distraction of supple bodies, Iyreth was given into the care of Calistria's servants in short order.

When she turned eighteen she was already a devout follower of Cailstria-- she never stopped thirsting for revenge for what was done to her, and an elf cleric offered to train her. They traveled for two years, eventually stopping for some time in an elfish settlement. Although she had been in "training" for two years, her teacher was given to flights of fancy and did not thing that her apprentice needed anything beyond a basic grasp of self defense and tangential guidance in her spells. Carnal lust, however, was a frequent area of practice. Iyreth came to rationalize it as part of worshiping her deity, and a piece to the puzzle of "getting even" with the society that had rejected her (as a priestess and later cleric of Calistria she was far more respected than average half-elves). Still, in her travels she had experienced those who had marginalized and stereotyped her as a whore, which put her on the defensive in most potential romantic encounters. Her teacher spent much time attempting to convince her such opinions were weaknesses and underestimations she could exploit, but the idea never quite resonated with Iyreth.

The temple in the elven settlement was rather different, however: lust was still in there air, but much more subtlety. Her information was beautiful, brokered and gained, and always at a price. During her stay she spent more time considering sociopolitical struggles and the flow of intrigue than anything else. However, all good things must come to pass-- for Iyreth, this chapter of her life would close with blood.

She did not know where they came from, who or what they were, only that they had passed over here. She emerged from the temple after a resounding crash to witness the settlement in flames, the sky black at midday, and complete madness. Descending into the streets she soon realized she could do nothing to help. People who were not dead were wounded, and the wounded would speak only madness or stair at her with sad eyes before their's closed forever. Finally, facing her inability and fearing her ignorance, she returned to the temple to find her master.

Returning to the temple, however, she opened the door and fell into another world-- Sigil.

Iyreth thinks it has been six months since she came here, but is unable to say for certain. She cannot find a way to return to Golarion, and has for the moment postponed actively searching for the means. In Sigil, she can taste the lust, hatred, and will to power of its denizens on the air: it has proven an intoxicating elixir, and the city's unpredictable nature has fascinated her. While she wants to make a name for herself and grow stronger from her time in Sigil-- all the better to seek her revenge once she leaves, and once she knows what it is she wants revenge upon-- her main concern is locating any information on her master Jeannette Aephyrus-- their nature as master and apprentice is not common for clerics of Calistria, and so she is in a uniquely difficult position exasperated exponentially by the nature of Sigil.

While the odds of her finding her master, should she still live and if she even is in Sigil, are astronomical Iyreth refuses to give up hope or be defeated. But after six months, despite the exciting nature of the city, she is beginning to lose hope...

TheKhan

Jezabelle: Looks good. One word of advise though... Make the whip your secondary weapon with the knives and use another weapon as your primary. The whip can't damage anything with an armour bonus of +1 aka anything wearing armour. You can definitely use it, but you want to have something that can do damage more reliably as well.

Anon and Jez: FYI, planescape attaches to pretty much every universe that has existed in Dnd or even fantasy. A few people with have heard of the gods of Golarion, but not many, as it is just one small corner of the multiverse.

Everyone: It looks like we're loaded on divine power, and Phantom's working on a rogue in PMs. That leaves a melee spot and and an arcane spot left.

PhantomPistoleer



Caius the Clueless
Male Human Rogue
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=487108

Background:

Caius doesn't know how he came to be in Sigil.  And he doesn't actually know who he is.  However, he has pieced a working theory based on a number of evidence.

Caius is currently functioning under the hypothesis that he was at one time a member of the City Guard in a large city on the Prime Material Realm.  The sword on his person is dedicated to an individual named Caius, who he assumes to be himself.  It bears the symbolic regalia of service not uncommon on the Prime Material Realm, namely to the City of Towers, Sharn.  The sword has seen some action, and the scarring indicates that a man of his own height and hand has used it.  Furthermore, a pocket watch of Gnome make reinforces the theory of his previous employment, as it too is engraved with Sharnian symbolism.

Upon his person, he found a journal.  On the 48th page, a small annotation is made.  "1 on the petal."  The meaning of the entry remains unclear.

He is a male of a medium stature and above average attributes.  He is left-handed with a regular, effortless stride.  He doesn't have a particular smell, at least none that he can personally detect, with exception of cigar smoke.  He has long black hair, which is uneven at the ends and appear to have been cut by a dagger in haste.  Caius assumes that at some point, he required a quick disguise.  He has no accent, so to speak, but uses an odd concoction of words in his everyday speech.  A number of healed scars indicate that he has seen extensive battle.

He is unmarried.

He has spent a couple of months in Sigil, working the leads in his case.  It is not unusual for him to take odd jobs to get funding for his work.

Personality:

Caius is a determined human man, and generally portrays a positive attitude.  As an investigator on the Prime Material Realm, his predisposition towards optimism generally helped him keep an open mind towards his cases.  He isn't sovereign over his emotions at times, and can easily become jilted when a hypothesis turns out to be incorrect.  He is very good at making friends, and he is regarded as being sensible and trustworthy.
Always seeking 5E games.
O/O

Muse

Name:      Jillia Wild Warder
Race:      Bauriar
Gender:   Female (Bisexual)
Class:      Barbarian 2
Height      6’9”
Weight:   669 lbs
Bust:      C

Speed      50
Initiative   +2

Strength   18   +4
Dexterity   14   +2
Constitution   14   +2
Intelligence   12   +1
Wisdom   7   -2
Charisma   10   +1

Hit Points   28
--Berserk   32
--Wounds   0

Armor Class   15   (Hide Shirt Barding, Masterwork +3   Dexterity +2)
--Berserk   13

Saving Throws:  (+2 Will Saves against Spells and Spell Like Abilities)
Fortitude   3   +2
Reflex      0   +2
Will      0   -2

Spell Resistance   13

Base Attack   +2
--Melee   +6
--Missile   +4
--CMB      +6
--CMD      18

Attacks: 
Bastard Sword, Masterwork
--TAB      +7 (+9)
--Damage   d10+6 (+9)
--Critical   19X2

Dart, Masterwork
--TAB      +5
--Damage   d4+4
--Critical   20X2
--Range   20
--Amo      5

Hurling, Lesser (Must be berserk.) 
--TAB      +4 Touch
--Damage, 1 handed   2d6+6 (Reflex (17) ½.) 
--Damage, 2 handed   3d6+9 (Reflex (17) ½) 


Powerful Charge!  (This is a charge Maneuver.)
--TAB      +8
--Damage   2d6+6
--Critical   20X2
----Berserk
----TAB   +10
----Damage   2d6+9

Class Abilities: 
--Fast Movement
--Rage with Rage Powers
--Uncanny Dodge


Feats: 
--Quick Draw

Languages: 
Bauriar
Beastlands Common
Celestial
Planar Trade
Sylvan

Senses:  Darkvision 60’ (+2 Perception)

Skills: 
Acrobatics:      2   +3   +2   +0   =d20+7 (+15 Jump)
Climb:         2   +3   +4   +0   =d20+9
K. Nature:      1   +3   +1   +0   =d20+5
Perception:      2   +3   -2   +2   =d20+5
Stealth         2   +3   +2   +0   =d20+7
Survival:      2   +3   -2   +0   =d20+3
Swim:         1   +3   +4   +0   =d20+8

Rage 8 Round/Day. 
Rage Powers: 
--Hurling, Lesser


Traits: 
--Sacred Touch:  As a standard action, may stabilize a creature with a touch. 
--Slippery (+1 Stealth, which is a class skill.)  (Learned this trait through hunting with thrown weapons and slings which require him to sneak close.) 


Backpack, Masterwork

Gold: 
362
Platinum:   ?
Gold   ?
Silver   4
Copper   10


   The Wild Warder bauriar clans native to the Beastlands are named for an oath they have taken to defend that Plane’s petitioners from raids by the lower planes. 
   Though a powerful young warrior, Jillia is a hot headed xenophile and has gotten her fellows into trouble on more than one occasion by picking fights when she should have run for help.  As a result, she has been sent to Sigil for a time, told there are things she must learn. 
   Always one to learn from experience and experience strange things Jillia has become a member of the Society of Sensation.  She is not particularly fanatical about their dogma, though the basic idea of experiencing all you can in  order to learn all you is a heartfelt belief of hers.   
   Having few skills that are applicable wihtin a city, she’s looking for adventuring work—before her coin runs out and she has to fall back on hunting cranium rats for exterminator bounty! 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

TheKhan

Geeklet: Looks like we need some arcane support, if you would oblige us.

Muse: You forgot to put your alignment up. I'm assuming CG, but it could go the other way. You also get a bonus feat from the list of Sensate faction feats for being a namer of the faction.

Phantom: Looks good so far. Please make sure you include a link to your character sheet as well.

Everyone: I always forget about traits, which Muse's sheet just reminded me about. You get two of them.