Seeking Dom-Leaning GM for Systems Driven Play [Pathfinder/5e/etc?]

[Autocad]

What's wrong with a castle full of tentacle demons?   You could name it The Castle of Tentacle Demons and boom, story justification, right?

Or a certain temple of tentacles... 

Anyways, if this is to be a thing I would like to get in on the action as well. My dream character would be an upright paladin who risks being exposed to the temptation of carnal pleasure and falling to palaslut.

[DeviantMunster]

With 5E, that's an utterly simple question. With Pathfinder...

Dear gods!

I'd have to look over it again. Maybe a mage of some kind?

[AnneReinard]

God... decisions to be made! What would I want to play? I obviously feel too guilty to reuse certain archer Magus with the unfortunate being left without a bow for an extended period of time. ...I'm too much of a roleplay nerd to want to do the same thing twice! Hrm. Well, I hate starting from mechanics, so I'll let an idea roll around my head given the nature of a "pulling itself out of the ashes" style of training camp.

So I'll make a couple of assumptions based on what have you mentioned on setting: 1) Civilization took a big hit, which probably touched people in a very personal way; 2) Civilization probably has some sort of central place they fell back upon to survive long enough for the training camp from hell to be a possibility. Assuming those two are true, I posit the following:

Consider the avenging warrior. If our theoretical cataclysmic event has enough reach, I see the idea of having lost everything - family, estates, and the like. Forced to take to the street and struggle to survive in a way that would have been unthinkable in the past, she grasped at the possibility that would let her carve out a new life for herself - as well as take revenge upon the forces that cast her down. Now, I will admit - mechanically, this doesn't exactly narrow things down more. I do think that this concept definitely fits destructive more than constructive. It also favors intuitive and gained abilities, rather than abilities requiring long amounts of learning. As a first mechanical pass, I'd probably look at the following:

• Fighter/Barbarian/Brawler/Monk: Focusing on these lines would involve more physical strength and brute force in search of revenge. Honestly not my usual path (...I may enjoy being petite and helpless whenbound), but it could be interesting.
• Ranger/Slayer/Rogue/Investigator: A bit less focus on raw physical strength, but still going the path of cutting down the enemy with physical force, which is always available!
• Witch: The only caster that immediately jumps out at me for perhaps fitting, since you could certainly think of this as a Faustian pact for power.
  By Golarion lore would imply this is the only class that would function along those lines to my knowledge.

Gosh, choosing things for Pathfinder is tough.

[Aylinas]

Hmm.  Pulling back from the brink?   It could be neat.   Makes me think of having perhaps a roguish type.  Maybe they had a hand in it or did something terrible pre-fall.   Carry around a lot of guilt and be convinced they deserve what they get-...  maybe that's too psychological.  I'm not sure.   

[Ixy]

Well, to give a few ideas for the game, I'd like to introduce what I'm thinking for the recent history, the "keep", and the "instructors"... I've written up three each with their own specialties, histories, quirks, and... well, let's call it a 'downfall'... a reason that they are here and not elsewhere.  Without, I hope, giving too much away:

TAKLOSI DELOTH
Race: Tiefling
Sex: Female. 
Class (Suspected): Fighter/Paladin
Her devotion to Gorum is apparent in this Tiefling's devotion to her armor, her martial discipline, her pride. and she is never, EVER hesitant to impart some aspect of that sense of battle.  She was legendary, leading batallions, surviving the impossible, slaying monsters from nightmare... but the tales of her heroism are scattered like seeds in the countryside, as are tales of horrors, war crimes, and slaughter without discretion.
The ends always justify the means.  She is perpetually angry, terrifyingly so, and seems to relish the glory of it as much as the sheer agony of exertion.

 

KAZ'ZIK KUN:
Race: Drow Elf
Sex: Male
Class (Suspected): Rogue/Bard
Folk tales are still spoken of this one, rumoring that he still hordes a massive collection of wondrous items.  Some say he ran a city from the shadows, courted a dragon, and caused the downfall of the greatest city man has ever seen-- all long before any living human was born.  As ageless as he appears, he is surprisingly vain and agonizingly sarcastic, despite his occasional willingness to impart his expertise in manipulation, stealth, archery, close combat, and perhaps more... for a price.

 

VARIUS MORALOTH:
Race: Ostensibly human
Sex: Male
Class (Suspected): Sorcerer/Alchemist/Gods Save Us
There is no limit to what this man can build... yes, a man, whose simple emerged one day, perhaps from another plane, perhaps another time.  Wondrous machines, all manner of magics, mutagens, extraordinary crafted items-- his eyes see the workings from all, and his hands create what no other can fathom like a child shaping sand.  But the man-- he cares for nothing.  He is like a machine himself, unfeeling, uncaring, knowing all and caring for none of it.  His aid in The Undead War was unreliable, and he has since become aloof to the most extreme-- as if he hears and sees only what he wishes, and he cares for nothing.

HISTORY:
The great city of Fallows Harbor was once a glorious port on the Maiestas River.  Thriving on rich soil and indentured servitude, this city supplied the hemisphere with fine goods and was rewarded with heavy profits, became a catalyst of art, architecture, and culture-- as well as crime, hedonism, and experimental religion-- before the Undead War.  Heralded by wars, and followed by plagues, pestilence, famines, economic collapse, and volcanic unrest that caused a two-year winter, the great nations were estimated to have fallen to 4 of 10 of their original populations within two generations.  Then, those that died began to rise... and there were many.

Perhaps spurring the great deaths, or perhaps because of it, the Undead Lords rose in the west, east and south, and began their campaigns of the eradication and enslavement of all life on Golarion.  The gods themselves fought to preserve their creation, and the gods began to suffer casualties in their infighting and their interference.  All told, the war lasted over almost fifty years, and the undead lords ceased their campaign... were they destroyed, trapped, or persuaded to postpone the apocalypse...? No news has traveled in the old ways, though trade ships have, again, begun to sail and explore-- sometimes bringing goods, sometimes plunderers, but these are dark times.

You were raised in the remnants of this city--  you have seen the undead, wild monsters, untended traps, ruins, and you all know someone who has died at their hands.  Ruins dominate the once-proud landscape, and what little life there is huddles from the shadows in the harbor district, or in defensible plantation-clusters where defense and, to some degree, community is shared.  The market square bustles with life some times, when the sun mercifully shines-- or rather blisters the inhabitants of the city with blazing swamp-fed heat, mosquitoes, and persistent flocks of scavenger birds.

RAVENHURST ESTATE:

Couriers found you, and you received something unfamiliar... a letter.  Education still exists in this world, but with your life of toil, there is little time to study formalities such as this, and seeing your name in a stranger's formal hand is an odd thing indeed.  The contents are clear enough; you are summoned to the Ravenhurst Estate in the Garden District for training.  For this, your family is offered compensation for the time you will be away... ten gold coins per calendar month (a truly astounding sum!) for the honor of your service to the city's reforming Adventurer's Guild.  It outlines that you have been selected for the promise you show, and that you will join other recruits from the city to train, learn, and conduct vital missions to reestablish the city's trove of wealth and power.

Others, before you, have received this invitation.  None have returned, but the coin is still delivered.  Letters like it come, but from the recruits themselves... assuring families that all is well, that they are learning much, that they cannot discuss details but are doing their best to help the city rebuild.  Could this be your chance... the chance to leave the broken streets, your leaky roof, your home that rattles with the wind..? The job at the fish market, or hacking at fields, or slavery if that was your lot in life?  Is this your chance at greatness?

There is a time, a gathering place.  You feel a tug at your heart, knowing that you have little choice.  Those you love will be better provided-for than ever you could manage else, and who knows... maybe this is your destiny..?

GUIDELINES:
Characters would start at level 1 with a 20 point (high fantasy) ability buy, with no stat over 18 or under 8 (this includes after racial mods).  They may start with a simple weapon less than 20gp in value, either padded or hide armor, 1 change of clothes up to 10 gp of value, and one special item of personal significance.  This item should be something unusable in combat or for spell-boosting, etc... something like a clock, a piece of jewelry, a painting, a book, a journal and inkwell, etc.  2 traits are ok within reason.

[AnneReinard]

...Ixy, you made a throwaway comment that tempts me along a path I always find tempting. I am now considering the path of some sort of character in a form of enslavement - be it house maid, pleasure slave, or the like given the nature of the setting - and having some sort of innate power that could catch the eye of recruiters. The chance to make a new life for herself could make an excellent reason to head off for training despite the risks... while her background would make it all the easier to coerce or push her around to a degree until she learns exactly how much her position in the world has changed.

Mechanical possibilities for something that is intuitive + flashy:
Oracle: Divine power that they have no choice over? That seems like something that could make enough of a splash to draw attention.
Sorcerer: Definitely something that could have a big splash. That being said, I've done Sorcerer in other games twice now, though I can almost certainly find a new way to go about it.
Others: Still considering these other routes since I am less familiar, but Shaman, Medium, and Bloodrager all have somewhat intuitive feeling bits to them. I am also quite open to suggestions.

Of course, the other idea of vengeance might be nicer too. But... god, I'm always tempted by this possibility and never get a good chance to see it through!

[DeviantMunster]

So. Many. Spells.

Darn you pathfinder!

This is of course their game, and I'm not sure I could even get in! However, if I may be pointed, and toss my... hat in (pun intended), I'd like to play a Witch.

Edit: Is this for real?
Snapdragon Fireworks
A favorite display at halfling midsummer festivals, this spell lets you create fireworks in the shape of tiny dragons.

Someone tell Paizo, No.

[LisztesFerenc]

  I'd like to submit a half-elf rogue: Cris. Cris's father (a human) didn't care for the idea of razing a bastard child, and would have preferred Cris died with their elven mother, but fates can be sadistic sometimes, and so he was stuck with the half-breed. When Cris's talent as a cut purse and cat burglar started to emerge, it did little to their father's effection, but did ensure that if they failed to steal enough for him, they would capture his ire, or rather more of it. Eventually the father was found in possession of stolen goods, and sentenced to gang. Cris would have joined him, had they not been spied by a recruiter for the academy. The abuse Cris suffered at their father's hands has left its mark on them, and now they desperately seek the approval of a male instructor at the academy (preferably Kaz'zik Kun, good luck with that).

  Would Cris fit in the game?

[Ixy]

Hi LF-- this sounds like a workable idea, sure... At some point I'll need to know what kind of handling you'd enjoy seeing for the character, if chosen. So I guess my suggestion is: be thinking it over and make a level one sheet to get started.

[Autocad]

What are you looking for in an application that we should include?

[Ixy]

For now, concept, description, brief history, and what you're looking for in the RP content-wise and such would be fine for an application; if you're ready for mechanics, fire away.

[LisztesFerenc]

Here's my character, Cris: https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1376293

  Concept: Fairly vanilla half-elven rogue adventurer, she finds traps, picks locks, finds treasure, stabs monsters in the back, and scurries away to hide behind an ally if she gets too injured.

  Description: Short cropped, ashblond hair and seagreen eyes in a bony face, Cris is somewhat pretty, though far from stunning and rather plain for even just a half-elf. Her posture is often hunched and defensive, making her seem shorter than she is. When not balled up, her long and slender fingers are revealed.

  Having picked up on her father’s not so subtle hints that he would have preferred his half-breed bastard be a son, Cris tends to pull her baggy peasant garbs in just the right way so as to hide as much of her body, and femininity as possible, and beneath her coarse shirt her breasts are bound tightly every morning. As such, it can be a bit hard to place her gender at first glance.

  Cris will start play a shortsword, padded armour, a peasant’s outfit, a burglar’s outfit, and a half used snuff box. She took it from her house after being recruited, and relaxing with it by the fire was the only time her father’s attitude towards her ever approach nice.

  Brief History: Cris’s father couldn’t believe how lucky he was, getting to tumble in the hay with a pure blooded elfen maiden. He was the envy of the village, and traded his story of the pale haired beauty’s body and tight snatch many a time after the band of elves left the village. Of course when the blonde slut showed up eight month later with a fat belly he was distinctly less pleased, and the bitch ended up dead shortly after. No one knew why. Perhaps human food disagreed with her, or her people had her marked for dirtying their blood.

  Left with a child he didn’t want in a village not racist enough for him to dispose of it, he decided to make the best of a bad situation. Surprisingly well read, he spoke a bit of elven, and named the child Cris, who made good on his perceived promise to be a vex at every turn. She had cost him good money to raise, would cost more to marry off, and was too weak to work in the field for more than an hour or too. She slept out of his sight and ate what she was worth: leftovers not suitable for the dog.

  It wasn’t until he caught her eating a piece of fruit that he found a use for her. She was hungry, she’d stolen some fruit, not surprise there. But she had a large ursh pear, and there was only one tree which grew such fruit, and it was deep in the headman’s orchard. Cris had managed to scale the wall, avoid the workers and anyone looking out from the house, pick a pear and return without being caught.

  Her father now had her steal some more valuable things, and was always happy when she returned with some silver or gold. Cris, mistaking this happiness for the affection she had always wanted from him, happily obliged. Alas a greedy man and an eager teen are found to slip up sooner or later, and for them it was sooner. Someone noticed how well the father was living, how it coincided with the robberies, and a quick search of his place revealed enough for him to hang. He wasted no time flipping on her, but it did nothing to reduce his guilt, and so Cris would have joined him dangling from the noose (he was to be hung first, a last act of mercy that a parent should not outlife their child, though here is was likely wasted), had someone from the crowd not spoken up.

  What I am looking for in this game:
A chance to explore RPing a damaged, vulnerable character and how they fare in the school environment with fellow students and instructors, and the potential smut this entails. I also like the idea of a story being able to supply diverse missions, with varied enemies and environments, and an external marking system (I assume their performance is assessed), whether directly stated or merely implied.

  Cris current goals are (in order of importance):
Be the best student she can possibly be at the academy and befriend one of the male instructors to win their approval (and get a surrogate father figure)

Find elven artefacts

Buy a farm to retire to one day

[AnneReinard]

Hrm... Ixy, I know you have mentioned setting this in Golarion and while this is not the standard setting, is there a region in particular that you have had in mind? I sort of want to know what sort of cultures to pull from and how widespread this event was.

[Ixy]

I tried but am having a hard time deciding.  I think Cheliax, but I need a bigger, richer city, like ancient Rome meets mid-19th century New Orleans.

[AnneReinard]

Hrm. You could try pushing the timeline forward enough that Cheliax has been around long enough to have grown and become bloated and ancient like Rome. Alternatively, I can't help but wonder if there is a Golarion city that is built on the ruins of one of the Thassilonian cities. One doesn't spring to mind off the top of my head though. Absalom is the biggest city, but it kind of lacks a lot of central identity, in a way.

[Ixy]

Let's say Cheliax but the timeline is pushed forward enough for riches and decadence and downfall.  But will the collapse of society, how will you know just how far forward...? Mwah hah hah.. hm. Or we can just say it's modded

[AnneReinard]

And how widespread is the Undead War? Entire continent? Just Cheliax and neighbors?

...I'm not saying I want to be a Qadiran dancer of some sort, but I might want that as a background because I am sort of the worst sometimes with wanting to do that. <.<

[Ixy]

It was a multi-continental, epic catastrophe..  but because of plague, famine, war, and economic collapse there was already a social breakdown, so news was far from reliable.

Your character could plausibly have traveled to this region because of its one-time prominence and opportunity, but was certainly disappointed by what they found... But perhaps they got stranded, or worse.

[PhantomPistoleer]

I really wanted to submit a character to this, because I like Ixy's campaigns.

Oxenbridge Hewitt
Character Sheet



Concept:  Elven monk with abandonment issues.

Description:  Tawny golden tendrils frame a handsome chiseled face.  Large emerald eyes, sparkling with melancholy, stare absently into the void of space.  A subtle boxer's nose, a vaguely puffed lip, and a discolored circle around one eye give his otherwise feminine features a shot of resiliency.  He is dressed in a well-worn traveler's outfit, with a large poncho hiding his lithe frame.  A backpack hangs over one shoulder.

This is Oxenbridge Hewitt, the forgotten elf, whose parents marched to combat the unknown when he was a babe, and never came back.

He has the unsettling aura of a man who has seen too much darkness throughout his life, and done many things of which he is not proud.

Brief History:  [Still Wip]

Upbringing -- left behind by real parents -- adopted by a human family (four generations) -- issues with humans rearing elven children;

Problems with the law; vagrancy; drug abuse...

Pit fighting; girlfriend's overdose; conflict with a local criminal;

Attempting to turn it around;

Player Expectations:

I really want to play in a sort of post-apocalyptic pathfinder game.  I like playing games where the setting is ultimately the arch-nemesis of the party.  I am really into the sexual elements that the GM mentioned previously, and I also know that I really like it when Ixy GMs.

Character Goals:

Ox wants to overcome his issues with substance addiction, notably to a hallucinogen named "black tar."  In relation to this, Ox wants to get revenge on the drug dealer, Lagon, for selling him poison-laced drugs that led to his girlfriend's fatal overdose.

Ox perceives himself to be lower than dirt, and longs to elevate his status in the world.  Like most adventurers, he desires fame and fortune. 

Ox does not fit in in human society, and longs to find a place where there are more people like himself.

[AnneReinard]

I will have to muse another day or so (today has been busy!), but I'll get you something soon Ixy! Promise!

[Aylinas]

So Anne and I were mulling things over.  Because Anne has a thing about dressing up as a harem girl slut, they suggested we play as twin harem girls.

I took it a step further and suggested that we do that but play slightly more antagonistic towards each other.  While Anne's character was content serving, I would be... less so.  To the point where I snuck a knife into the harem and murdered the guy.  Since I'll be rogue-y, it may make sense that he sent me to seduce/kill/rob from people he didn't like on multiple occasions to actually have more skills than pouring wine and peeling grapes.   

Of course, that leaves me to escape execution somewhere and Anne's character being skilled enough to have class levels but lacking a job now.

[AnneReinard]

Echoing that, I was thinking that it might work well for Aylinas to have it be the case that it was some sort of sentencing from being caught - perhaps instead of being executed, she is forced to do service as an adventurer. On the part of Anne, I think it could either be caught up in that (despite not actually being involved) or having a skillset of her own (perhaps it was a harem with class levels to do his bidding?) and having sought the opportunity independently.

[Ixy]

This is coming together nicely. 

I have some basic setting info for those to whom such thing are essential.

Continent: Avistan
Nation: former Cheliax
City: Golgotha
Government: Imperial territorial, Mayoral feudal
Ruler: presumed to be Lord Asmodeus Himself.  Some think it's a man, or woman, claiming to have channeled the infernal lord.  Others are devoutly certain.
Law: ... loosely enforced.  The "Empire" has outreached its ability to enforce much.
Alignment: NE

Brief history: Golgotha was a bastion of strength and commerce, thriving on plantations, craftsmanship, and trade under the ironclad control of the Chelaxian throne until the wars severed some of the crucial ties to the throne.  It remained loyal... mostly... throughout the Troubles, but the War of Damnation was a breaking point.  They held out surprisingly well, despite the corruptible, massive number of rebellious slaves that turned to demonic pacts and necromantic alliances in an attempt to overthrow the crown, finding betrayal and pottage their reward as they became cannon-fodder in the ensuing decades of cataclysmic battles that turned the city from totalitarian paradise to dystopian hellscape.  The scales tipped after a cataclysmic battle in which-- if the legends can be believed-- a Mythical Red Dragon known only as Blind Hate appeared and laid waste to the city for a series of days and nights known as the Week of Sorrow and Fire.  The city, left in ruins, fell easily to the dead, and those left fought a guerrilla campaign until the war gradually died out.  There were few heroes, and those are dead... three exceptions remain, and they never leave the Manor.  Descendants purportedly run the city, but their muddied blood is often cited and never proven.

Key districts:
·         White Plains (former commons) - hard to build on thick marble, so it became a place for temporary structures that don't get permanent foundations.  Merchants, trade, soldiers found here sometimes.
·         Spinning Devil - tenements started in the remnants of the Lord's district, built into the gutted buildings and yards.  Called the spinning devil because it formed in clusters and sprawled.
·         Brambles (Garden District) - primarily ruins, was hit particularly hard, as if targeted in particular.  Few real structures remain, many sprawling gardens-turned-wild and minor structures contained therein.
·         Sorrowforge - Hardened old shipyard.  Connected to commons by half-flooded tunnel, where boats transfer cargo.  They rule the harbor and ship in slaves, basically tolerated pirates.  Ruthless, selfish, and wealthy.
·         The Flock - Countryside where old middle/lower class lived, all was burned.  Not uncommon to find relics in soil, more profitable than food but can't eat it.  Lots of bones too.
·         Devil's Bastion - Apparently the mayor lives here.  I certainly didn't vote for him.  There are soldiers there, and sometimes someone comes out and says something will be or won't be done.  Typical.
·         Black Boneyard - Hunks of fused metal and stone litter the remnants of the scorched citadels of the wealthiest district of Old Golgotha, with entire neighborhoods ready to collapse into the swamps that have overtaken them.  Once filled with canals and mansions, it is now a stinking cesspool of colossal ruins, unrefreshed by the tide.

[AnneReinard]

Oooh. I like. The idea of people believing that the ruler of Cheliax is Lord Asmodeus could really build an empire of excess before the fall. I can buy into that.

...that being said Ixy, any thoughts on the schemes Aylinas and I are putting together? I am paranoid it doesn't work for your schemes!

[Autocad]

Now I got an idea for a hellknight paladin/anti-paladin...

How did the hellknights as an organisation fare?