[Pathfinder, Recruitment Closed] Warpath of the Righteous: WotR & Path of War

Started by indarkestknight, September 18, 2016, 08:09:15 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

indarkestknight

So I've been bitten by the idea for a campaign where all characters, PCs & NPCs, only have access to Dreamscarred Press' Path of War classes (available for free perusal here). A world of wuxia, if you will.

Interest so far has indicated Wrath of the Righteous has the broadest appeal among prospective players, so that's what we'll be going with.  The Wrath of the Righteous Player's Guide is available for free.

Character Creation

• At least to begin, the only allowed classes are Harbinger, Mystic, Stalker, Warder, Warlord, and Zealot. Taking levels of non-martial classes is verboten (at least initially), even if the class has a martial archetype like the Fighter archetype Myrmidon.

• No custom-built races.

• Max hit points at first level. Every level after, your roll your hit die, I roll your hit die, you take the higher result. Reroll 1s until no 1s appear.

• You can either take average for starting equipment, or you can roll, then I roll, and you take the better result. Reroll 1s until no 1s appear. Once you roll, you can't choose to take the average instead.

• Ability scores will either be roll 4d6, drop the lowest 6 times (reroll 1s until no 1s appear), then I roll 4d6 and drop the lowest 6 times (reroll 1s until no 1s appear), and you can pick my set or your set, or point buy 15. Once you roll, though, you can't go back and decide to do point buy instead.

• You each get a campaign trait and 2 other traits.

• You start with 1 hero point each.

• Characters must 1) Be able to work well with the party. I'm not saying there can't be conflict or disagreements within the party, but generally speaking, you should be able to set aside your differences and reach compromises when the chips are down. 2) Be motivated to fight demons and/or close the Worldwound. If you want to play a Hellknight aspirant, I'd advise lawful neutral, but I'm not outright banning lawful evil. If you do take that route, understand you will be under close scrutiny.

Setting Notes
• Setting is largely that of Golarion.

• Magic items exist. Dragons, nagas, rakshasa, etc, still have spellcasting, even though humanoids/mortals don't. The Master Craftsman feat will be available, and note that the Mystic class may also take item creation feats.

• Generally speaking, NPCs can be expected to adhere to similar restrictions to the PCs. Some may use non-martial classes as long as they use a martial archetype, but no spellcasting classes are allowed for mortals, even for NPCs.

• Black Thorn Knights are folded into Hellknights. You won't be taking levels in the prestige class, but if you succeed in meeting the requirements for the prestige class, you may choose to join the Hellknights and receive a suit of Hellknight plate.

• Riftwardens are an organization of mystics that hoard occult rituals and knowledge in the effort to study, prevent, contain, and close planar rifts and breaches.

Original Interest check post
So I've been bitten by the idea for a campaign where all characters, PCs & NPCs, only have access to Dreamscarred Press' Path of War classes (available for free perusal here). A world of wuxia, if you will.

Would anyone be interested in trying a published Pathfinder Adventure Path in this vein? If so, which Adventure Paths would you be most interested in experimenting with? Some, like Iron Gods, for instance, aren't very suitable, but looking them over I'd say Giantslayer, Kingmaker, and maybe even Jade Regent all have potential – and if I didn't mention an Adventure Path you were hoping to see, pipe up! I'd hate to exclude a contender I'd overlooked.

Questions? Concerns? Interest?

Notes
• Magic items exist. Dragons, nagas, rakshasa, etc, still have spellcasting, even though humanoids/mortals don't. The Master Craftsman feat will be available, and note that the Mystic class may also take item creation feats.
• At least to begin, the only allowed classes would be Harbinger, Mystic, Stalker, Warder, Warlord, and Zealot. Characters taking levels of non-martial classes would be verboten (at least initially) even if the class has a martial archetype like the Fighter archetype Myrmidon.

Latooni Subota

Oooh! Wuxia-flavored Jade Regent would be just SO apropos. Kingmaker could be cool too . . . color me interested!
ONs and OFFs be here: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=64984.0

If I'm needed to post somewhere, PLEASE PM me about it. Sometimes I lose track of threads and need to be reminded about things.

Chulanowa

#2
Quote from: Latooni Subota on September 18, 2016, 12:53:10 PM
Oooh! Wuxia-flavored Jade Regent would be just SO apropos. Kingmaker could be cool too . . . color me interested!

Well... Jade Regent kinda falsely advertises itself, since you spend more time clobbering swamp goblins and partying with vikings than you spend actually doing anything in "Not-Asia" - by the time you get there you're high enough level that you're wuxia anyway. It also focuses real heavy on the whole interpersonal and political aspects of roleplaying. Kingmaker is kind of the same way

nah, for cinematic combat, the adventure paths you want are...

1. Wrath of the Righteous. You become mythic early on and beat the crap out of world-ending demons and the cultists who love them.
2. Skull and Shackles is, of course, excellent for swashbuckling (anti)heroic adventure. Swinging through the ropes, a scimitar in one hand a flaming bottle of rum in the other. What ho!
3. Mummy's Mask starts a little slow, but it's got all that pulp adventure feel to it, and builds up very nicely. It's also got a good amount of dungeon exploration, so you can get down to your gaming roots.
4. Iron Gods isn't to everyone's taste, but you can definitely go over-the-top with it. you've got your barbarians with ludicrous swords, chainsaw cyborgs, horrors from beyond, and the occasional taste of space opera.
5. Hell's Rebels and Hell's Vengeance both offer fairly gritty urban-oriented "two-fisted tales" style of getting things done. One is for good characters, the other is for evil characters.

But you know what? You mentioned Giantslayer. I've been slobbering to myself for a giantslayer game. It runs right behind Iron Gods as my favorite Adventure Path, and I've never seen anyone run it on E.

Latooni Subota

True enough, but I like the idea of the descendants of Minkai refugees in Sandpoint just going full kung-fu on undead and vikings and stuff.

I forgot about Wrath of the Righteous, which is pretty damn neat. Super duper not a fan of Iron Gods and Hells Rebels/Vengeance though.
ONs and OFFs be here: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=64984.0

If I'm needed to post somewhere, PLEASE PM me about it. Sometimes I lose track of threads and need to be reminded about things.

MrBubbles

#4
Quote from: Chulanowa on September 18, 2016, 01:59:52 PM
Well... Jade Regent kinda falsely advertises itself, since you spend more time clobbering swamp goblins and partying with vikings than you spend actually doing anything in "Not-Asia" - by the time you get there you're high enough level that you're wuxia anyway. It also focuses real heavy on the whole interpersonal and political aspects of roleplaying. Kingmaker is kind of the same way

nah, for cinematic combat, the adventure paths you want are...

1. Wrath of the Righteous. You become mythic early on and beat the crap out of world-ending demons and the cultists who love them.
2. Skull and Shackles is, of course, excellent for swashbuckling (anti)heroic adventure. Swinging through the ropes, a scimitar in one hand a flaming bottle of rum in the other. What ho!
3. Mummy's Mask starts a little slow, but it's got all that pulp adventure feel to it, and builds up very nicely. It's also got a good amount of dungeon exploration, so you can get down to your gaming roots.
4. Iron Gods isn't to everyone's taste, but you can definitely go over-the-top with it. you've got your barbarians with ludicrous swords, chainsaw cyborgs, horrors from beyond, and the occasional taste of space opera.
5. Hell's Rebels and Hell's Vengeance both offer fairly gritty urban-oriented "two-fisted tales" style of getting things done. One is for good characters, the other is for evil characters.

But you know what? You mentioned Giantslayer. I've been slobbering to myself for a giantslayer game. It runs right behind Iron Gods as my favorite Adventure Path, and I've never seen anyone run it on E.

Wrath of the Righteous is perfect for a Path of War-only campaign, the late-game abilities of some disciplines (such as Silver Crane and Elemental Flux) can easily be construed as mythic power, while most of the campaign has a heavy martial focus with magic usually being the realm of magical creatures more than sorcerers and wizards. Combine that with the campaign's focus on the party being the spearhead of a Crusade (and burgeoning heroes worthy of legend and song) and you get an Adventure Path that's perfect for what indarkestknight seems to be going for!

indarkestknight

Just throwing this out there, but emphasis on interpersonal relationships and political roleplaying aren't detractors in my book.

That said, if all three of you are interested, then Wrath of the Righteous definitely seems like the crowd favorite so far...

Chulanowa

Quote from: indarkestknight on September 18, 2016, 03:19:03 PM
Just throwing this out there, but emphasis on interpersonal relationships and political roleplaying aren't detractors in my book.

That said, if all three of you are interested, then Wrath of the Righteous definitely seems like the crowd favorite so far...

I still hold GIantslayer to be my #1 option here  ;D

Revelation

Very, very interested! Never played one of the aps, but that just means I don't have anything spoiled for me. So I'm open to any.I can go with wrath of the righteous.

Latooni Subota

Jade Regent, Kingmaker, and Wrath of the Righteous would be the ones I'm most interested in, I suppose.
ONs and OFFs be here: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=64984.0

If I'm needed to post somewhere, PLEASE PM me about it. Sometimes I lose track of threads and need to be reminded about things.

Revelation

Overall my own preference for adventure paths would be one with a good deal of RP/character & NPC interaction and decent combat. If it focuses on too much of one or the other, interest can sometimes be hard to keep going in my experience. Just my thoughts, though. So if any adventures do those well, I am game for them.

Guancyto

This looks interesting! I only have approximate knowledge of these adventure paths, but Wrath of the Righteous or Kingmaker (maybe Jade Regent if the heir to the throne isn't an NPC? I sort of have an aversion to making a single NPC, even a good one, too central to the plot) sound like the best choices.

MrBubbles

Yo, so what sort of character creation rules are you thinking of?

indarkestknight

#12
Gonna give it until, say, tomorrow morning in case there's a last-minute tide swaying the vote in another direction, but generally speaking...

• Class options are limited as outlined above.

• No custom-built races.

• Max hit points at first level. Every level after, your roll your hit die, I roll your hit die, you take the higher result.

• You can either take average for starting equipment, or you can roll, I can roll, and you take the better. Once you roll, you can't choose to take the average instead.

• Ability scores will either be roll 4d6, drop the lowest 6 times, then I roll 4d6 and drop the lowest 6 times, and you can pick my set or your set, or point buy 15. Once you roll, though, you can't go back and decide to do point buy instead.

EDIT: Reroll ones for ability scores, hit points, and equipment.

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

Latooni Subota

Sounds plenty fair. I like the double-chance of getting 4d6 drop 1. That's pretty nice. Definately what I'm gonna do for my application :3
ONs and OFFs be here: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=64984.0

If I'm needed to post somewhere, PLEASE PM me about it. Sometimes I lose track of threads and need to be reminded about things.

Revelation

Yeah, i'll definitely take 4d6 over 15 point buy - that's a pretty big difference.

ShadowFox89

 Eh, I'll throw my hat into here... what to make....
Call me Shadow
My A/A

Latooni Subota

For future reference: Working on a Stalker concept atm
ONs and OFFs be here: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=64984.0

If I'm needed to post somewhere, PLEASE PM me about it. Sometimes I lose track of threads and need to be reminded about things.

Chulanowa



Latooni Subota

#19
At 2016-09-18 23:28:18, Latooni Subota (uid: 13273) rolls: 24d6 Result: 89
18 15 13 12 11 11 Preeeettty decent stuff. GM roll would have to be a heck of a good one to be more useful than that I think.
Edit: Rerolls At 2016-09-19 19:26:35, Latooni Subota (uid: 13273) rolls: 4d6 Result: 19

Good lord, that bumps my stats up to 18 17 16 14 13 12. I'm gonna be the dodgiest!
ONs and OFFs be here: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=64984.0

If I'm needed to post somewhere, PLEASE PM me about it. Sometimes I lose track of threads and need to be reminded about things.

Revelation

17, 15, 13, 5 (yes 5), 15, 8. I would ask if I could reroll the five (I rolled 15 if I could), since well - an 8 is okay. A 5 I feel is significantly worse. Failing that, i'll see what the DM reroll is.

ShadowFox89

 15, 12, 9, 9, 8, 7. I'll trade with any of you.

Maybe reroll 1's next time?
Call me Shadow
My A/A


indarkestknight

Quote from: ShadowFox89 on September 19, 2016, 12:30:48 AMMaybe reroll 1's next time?

You know what? I like that. As long as I can check your rolls, we'll go with that.

Revelation

With 1's rerolled, my stats add up to...

17, 15, 15, 9, 15, 12. I can live with that - i'll just put my +2 stat into the 9 more than likely.  I can show my rolled and their rerolls - they're on the site/dicebot here, but I am just adding them up cumulatively.