[PF-1e] A Great and Terrible Burning

[Maghnuis]

Marcos app Name: Marcos DeSerrano Campaign Trait: Gifted Rider Ability Scores: (15 point buy; think ahead to 25 point-buy at the end of Chapter 3.) STR 14 / DEX 17 / CON 14 / INT 12 / WIS 10 / CHA 7 Ethnicity: Spanish/ Serrano Tribe Size: Medium Age: 15 Alignment: CG Faith/Patron: Catholic, with Native flavoring of Spirits Level 1 class: Commoner Traits: Magical Knack, Reactionary Bonus feat: (commoner) Eye for Talent (Alt Human) Level 1 feat: (first Greater Stance) Description: Five foot. ten inches tall and whippet thin, Marcos has dark skin both from his Castilian and his Native Serrano Blood. He is generally dressed in "Cowboy" mode since he got his horse. You don't see him a lot as he is often out riding the range of the Valley's Civilized perimeter. Personality and Background: paragraph)Marcos does not stand out. Marcos blends into the scenery. He is not a bully, but the bullies only pick on him once. Then he is left alone. Now that he is an adult (fifteen whole years old.) That sort of nonsense is left behind. He carries a spiked ball on a stick, and would have used it on the Orcs, and died in the process, if he had not been on the far end of the Valley patrolling. He both looks forward to, and fears meeting his first rampaging Orc. He is ready to put it down, or at least, hopes he is. In school, Marcus got by, no problems, no rewards, no expectations. That was fine for him. Now, he is ready to step up and do his job. Whatever it is.

 

The following are OK to defer to later: Fort: Refl: Will: BAB: HP: 7 Skills: FCB: Spells: (Not Yet) Gear: Feat tax fix or bonus feat?: Feat tax fix Planned level 2 class: Commoner Planned level 3 class: Hunter Planned level 3 feat: (Note that this may start your second Greater Stance: 2 + 2 feats) Planned level 5 feat: (Note that this may start your final Greater Stance: 3 + 3 +3

The following are OK to defer to later:

 

Gifted Rider. Prerequisite: Commoner or Expert. Lewis Andrade from Scorched Hills (in F’nando Valley) traded with the Topangans, and at one point offered a young colt. Your father purchased that animal for you. You raised and tamed it, and now you are the only rider among the Topangans. Since an advanced group is heading north, with your greater mobility, you hope to serve as the tribe’s scout. It might be wise to head for the Andrade trading post. If you have barter goods, it may be possible to acquire more horses – someday. Your tribe will need to survive and find some wealth, first.

Ability. You start with a combat-trained light riding horse. Ride and Handle Animal are class skills for you, and you gain a +1 trait bonus with them. If and when you gain a Mount or an Animal Companion due to a class feature, then you gain Mounted Combat as a bonus feat. Any animal that you attune to over 24 hours as your primary mount has its hit points maximized for its first two HD. If you purchase mounts, they are half price.

[CatCanCook]

Maghnuis -

You made it in before midnight (in Pacific time.) We should be able to have you join, though probably meeting up with the others on the road as they are starting to travel.

You can move a copy of the character into the Characters folder.

I will l allow you to use Eye for Talent to upgrade your current riding animal, until you get a more advanced mount later.

What will you use your level 1 (1st greater stance) feat for?

I have an addition to the Gifted Rider campaign trait:

Addendum "then you gain Mounted Combat as a bonus feat, or if you already have Mounted Combat, another riding related feat."

Next steps: Build a character sheet, buy gear, set up skills, etc. Ask for a review.

Everyone in Topanga Canyon has gotten traumatized (to varying degrees) from recent events. You'll get to start the game with three Will saving throws, plus one Aid Another Charisma check to see if you can offer any comfort or morale support to others suffering trauma.

So -- I would make a recommendation. You may not like it, but you've managed to build the character who his likely to have the worst grip on his sanity that any other character in the party of seven. I suggest that you consider using his 1st greater stance feat in a way that will bolster his ability to resist. One choice is the Inured to Horrors feat -- which is the strongest single feat for that purpose. If you make your Stance #1 a defensive stance, while Stance #2 is aggressive and Stance #3 is "utility" -- you can still have a 100% aggressive build on one of your branches. Just a suggestion.

Otherwise .. you will likely be picking and suffering from a Lesser Madness right away! https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemasteri...-rules/sanity/
And the world is full of threats to sanity. It is a core mechanic in this post-apocalyptic world.

[CatCanCook]

(Now closed for any other applicants, at this time.)

[Maghnuis]

Noted

[CatCanCook]

A backfill character is sought for A Great and Terrible Burning. One was found, Subutai here! I'm still potentially open to accepting one other.

Synopsis of the rule set:

Pathfinder 1e, with Occult and Path of War. No to other material. Humans only. Start and at 2nd level, one NPC class level (commoner, etc.) and one regular class level.

You must read the rule set. One critical homebrew rule is the Greater Stances mechanic, which will cause characters to have more feats and be more versatile than otherwise in Pathfinder.

In between chapters we will skip ahead +2 character levels and +5 years, so this could span more time at a greatly accelerated pace relative to some play-by-post games.


Synopsis of the game so far:

A nuclear war happened approximately a century ago. But it was not just the war that destroyed civilization. At the time that the Great and Terrible Burning, a Change swept across the world. While thousands of nuclear bombs did detonate, thousands more instead transmuted into beings of supernatural power: demon lords and devil lords. Of those beings, some are of particular importance in this game. Belial (worshipped in The Angels -- which is the post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.) Belial is a sentient nuclear mushroom cloud, who tempts people with corrupting power and with a kind of forgetfulness. Another such being is Sauron - which is something like a miniature neutron-star: a burning orb. Sauron is part of a kind of trinity of beings which also includes Morgoth and Saruman.

The nature of the Change is that technology failed, and magic came alive. Otherworldly spirits (mostly evil) come dressed in forms and fashions taken from fantasy, science fiction, horror, myth and religion. The evil behind it all is vaguely named as The Elder Darkness: but what that is, no one knows yet.

The game can be grim: it is post apocalyptic after all, with zombies, corruptions, radiation, mutations, and all that.

But, with magic comes the power of wish-fulfillment, to gradually reshape reality and make of it what you will.

The heroes so far are all from Topanga Canyon, an isolated and ignorant tribe. But they have ventured into F'nando Valley (San Fernando Valley, where I the DM grew up by the way -- as did two of the players, who still live there IRL.) F'nando Valley is under the sway of Belial overall, but the strongest groups in F'nando have carved out bastions of influence and culture that successfully resist Belial's spiritual influence (while the smaller groups, manipulated by chaos and evil, turn into half insane scrabbling tribes of bandits and slavers.)

The people of Topanga Canyon have sent an expedition into F'nando to find a path to safety. Topanga Canyon was devastated by an Uruk Hai raid -- lead by the way by a Mandalorian (!!) and a Kung-Fu Panda (!!). So, the Topangans need to flee and find a new homeland before the Uruk's come back.

The player-characters are an advanced expedition, seeking a path to relocate their tribe.

Their first goal is the Andrade trading post -- an inn along a major crossroads, that sees trade from all directions. The Andrade family and extended clan is Wiccan. They make business from lodging, entertainment, gambling (especially), the drug trade, and they act as a neutral territory where the F'nando Valley's various groups, which are not so friend toward one another, can patch up their wounds and converse under a treaty and ban of violence.

A new player character could either be a Topangan (the original build options) -- who comes as a late addition to the expedition. (Many of these already have names and traits but a player could adopt and transform one of them.). Or alternatively, the character could be one of the humans of the Andrade clan. Whatever the origin of your character, you would need to be motived to help rescue a distressed tribe, help them land in a new homeland, and join with them as they try to rebuild civilization in a hostile world.

Starting level is 2: 1 level of an NPC class plus one level of an adventuring class.

The departing character who this would be replacing is in training to become a druid. An ideal replacement might be a cleric, one who can heal or dispel difficult maladies (as no one else can right now.)

The existing players continuing forward are below.

Player	Character	Campaign Trait	NPC Class(es)	Adventuring Class	Status
17FromGreatness	Arcady Darell	Black Sheep	(pending)	Sorcerer	Accepted
mightymcnoneshot	Matias Haru	Orc Hater	Commoner	Hawkguard-Warder	Accepted
RasterFarian	Riddley Walker	Outlander's Child	Expert	Bard	Accepted
Acathala	Siegfried	Fantasy Buff / Mentored by Trina	Aristocrat	Hexcrafter(magus archetype)	Accepted
Maghnuis	Marcos	Gifted Rider	Commoner	Hunter	Accepted
MundayKnight	Subutai	Post Traumatic Stress	Warrior	Monk (Master of Many Styles)	Accepted

Please let me know if you have any questions.

---

If anyone wants some structure around your application you can use this. (Use the "Quote" button then strip away everything unneeded. This is optional.

Application Template (Optional) Name: Campaign Trait: (unique) Ability Scores: (15 point buy; think ahead to 25 point-buy at the end of Chapter 3.) Str: Dex: Con: Int: Wis: Cha: Ethnicity: Size: Medium (but optionally Small if Str < 10) Age: Alignment: Faith/Patron: Level 1 class: Traits: (2 in different categories, excludes campaign traints) Bonus feat: (if commoner) Level 1 feat: (Note that this may start your first Greater Stance) Description: (1 paragraph) Personality: (1 paragraph) Background: (1 paragraph)

The following are OK to defer to later: Fort: Refl: Will: BAB: HP: (maximized at 1st level) Skills: FCB: Spells: (if any) Gear: Feat tax fix or bonus feat?: (choose when you have an adventuring class) Planned level 2 class: Planned level 3 class: Planned level 3 feat: (Note that this may start your second Greater Stance: 2 + 2 feats) Planned level 5 feat: (Note that this may start your final Greater Stance: 3 + 3 +3

The game folder is here: https://www.rpgcrossing.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20248

The game rules and character build information is here: https://www.rpgcrossing.com/showthread.php?t=224556

[MundayKnight]

Subutai Name: Subutai Campaign Trait: Post Traumatic Stress Ability Scores: (15 point buy; think ahead to 25 point-buy at the end of Chapter 3.) Str: 18 (16 base +2 racial) Dex: 12 Con: 12 Int: 8 Wis: 15 Cha: 7 chapter 2 increase base str to 17 and bumping int up to 10, chapter 3 increase str base to 18 and increase con to 13. Ethnicity: Mongolian Size: Medium Age: 17 Alignment: Lawful Neutral Faith/Patron: Shamanism Level 1 class: Warrior Traits: Quain Martial Artist (Quain regional if allowed), Axe to Grind (Combat) Bonus feat: NA Level 1 feat: Greater Stance 1 (Improved Initiative) Description: Subutai would have been considered a giant before the bombs fell, now most who see him assume he is actually part giant. Standing at nearly seven feet in height and weighing over three hundred pounds the man can palm most men's skulls and lift them off the ground with ease and trying to divine where his shoulders end and his neck begins is an impossible task. Despite his enormous size he wears no armor and the only manufactured weapon on the man is a pair of sticks with leather strings looped through the bases that rarely leave his belt and a brace of javelins on his back. He tends to be bare chested with a pair of basketball shorts scavenged from what was long ago a retail store. The most expensive clothing on the man are his hiking boots, oft repaired but in remarkable shape given their age. Personality: Subutai enjoys companionable silence but when required to speak he often does so hesitantly and quietly, finding social interactions to be unnecessarily stressful more often than not. When discussing a subject he knows about, such as dancing or fighting, that hesitancy evaporates and he will happily drone on and on about ideal kinetic chaining needed to deliver a perfect strike or perform a proper grand jete. If left to his own devices he will spend much of the day practicing fighting and dancing, seeing both as extensions of one another, and the rest of his time with a drink in his hand listening to his father's fingers dance upon the ivories for hours. Subutai is generally cautious save for in combat where he has earned a reputation for throwing himself at his enemies with the ferocity of a demon. When the boy was still a pre-teen a roving mercenary challenged him to a boxing match because Subutai wouldn't quit asking questions about how the man fought. Subutai lost but managed to break several of the mercenary's ribs and only stopped fighting when the man landed a wild hook to his temple and knocked him unconscious. Background: Subutai's parents came to the Andrade trade post not long after his mother got pregnant and the two set up shop there, his mother was a dancer who didn't let a little thing like pregnancy stop her from entertaining a crowd while his father played the oft-repaired piano in the trade post's lounge. When he was finally born it was on the stage, the crowd cheering when a traveling midwife delivered him screaming into the world. The baby was enormous and earned the nickname bowling ball as a toddler due to his tendency to run into anything without slowing just to see what would happen. Growing up in the Andrade Trading Post was about as good a life as someone in the blasted apocalypse could hope for and as he grew he fell in love with the youngest Andrade girl, Anna, though she was still his senior by a full two years he didn't let that blunt his early pubescent amortization. By the time he was thirteen people were already putting bets on when the two would get married and by the time he was fifteen he was about ready to pop the question when his world fell apart. A raid on the Trade Post found the young woman missing when the dust settled and Subutai set out to find her before a proper posse could be formed. He found the camp of bandits and snuck around the building they were holed up in only to find Anna in the alley bleeding out, it seemed the men had found her too much of a hassle to keep alive to sell. He held her as she passed and when her last breath released the boy stood and entered the run-down building. His memory of what happened next is foggy enough to be functionally nonexistent but when the posse showed up the boy was back by the body of his beloved, his visage awash in blood, and they found what remained of the bandits in the building. Since then Subutai has recovered much of his demeanor but in the early morning hours he can often be found gently stroking a simple silver band, the inscription "For my beloved, now and always." nearly worn away.

The following are OK to defer to later: Fort: 4 Refl: 3 Will: 2 BAB: 2 HP: (maximized at 1st level) 14 + 1d10 Skills: Acrobatics 2, Perform (Dance) 2, Perception 2, hb: survival 2 FCB: +1HP/LVL Gear: 2 dan bon (2sp) 5 javelins (5gp) Feat tax fix or bonus feat?: Feat tax fix Planned level 2 class: Unchained Master of Many Styles Monk 1 Planned level 3 class: Warrior 2 Master of Many Styles bonus Feat: Blood Frenzy Style Planned level 3 feat: Greater Stance 2 (Stance 1 adds Dragon Style) (Stance 2: Powerful Maneuvers, Kraken Style) Master of Many Styles bonus feat 2 at level 4: Grabbing Style Planned level 5 feat: Greater Stance 3 (Stance 1 adds Dragon Ferocity) (Stance 2 adds Martial Training 1 (Serpent discipline: Dizzying Venom Prada, Poisoner's Stance)) Stance 3 (Paranoid Survivalist, Living Geiger Counter, Rad Resistance)

[MundayKnight]

Quick question for you cat, is it two npc levels then one class level or just one? Seems both are presented between this and the information thread.

[CatCanCook]

In contrast with the very initial starting party, you will have: one adventuring class level and one npc class level.

Looking ahead - your 3rd level advancement (later) would pick up a 2nd NPC level. At 3rd level, all characters are at parity with a total of 2 NPC levels and 1 adventurer level. All the future levels after 3rd would be adventurer class levels.

[CatCanCook]

@MundayKnight

Quain Martial Artist (Quain regional if allowed), Axe to Grind (Combat)

Those both have trait bonuses to damage, so they would not stack. They could apply in different circumstances, though.

Greater Stance 1 (Blood Frenzy Style)

You don't quality for this. You don't have Improved Unarmed Strike at first level. You also don't have aquatic as a subtype!

I don't allow retraining to do time travel and let you get a feat that you qualify for only on the basis of something gained at a higher level. So you'll need to rethink your progression sequence.


How do you show 14 hp at 1st level? Show your calculations.

[MundayKnight]

Sorry I should really have that in a WIP spoilerbutton as the mechanics are a string of conciousness what sounds neat at the moment and how to actually apply them is still ruminating. For the traits was gonna ask if quain is allowed since it's a regional trait and may not have an in-world analogue, if not then would be taking ax to grind.

That style needs to be on his level one of moms bonus feat to bypass the requirements and have dragon style as the feat put in his greater style at level 3.

Hp: 10 (max first level warrior) +2 (con/lvl) +2 (fcb/lvl), the 14 includes the con and fcb for level 2 just simplifying the math to be 14+1d10 instead of 12+1d10+2.

Edit: on the note of questions does the elephant in the room feat fix apply retroactively? Where I to pick a weapon focus at level 1 would it apply to a grouping once he gets his first pc class?

[CatCanCook]

For the traits was gonna ask if quain is allowed since it's a regional trait and may not have an in-world analogue, if not then would be taking ax to grind.

It's OK. Other players are picking some traits and such that will be pretty potent in their own way.

That style needs to be on his level one of moms bonus feat to bypass the requirements and have dragon style as the feat put in his greater style at level 3.

Not sure what you are saying. He isn't eligible to take that style, misses prerequisites.

Hp: 10 (max first level warrior) +2 (con/lvl) +2 (fcb/lvl), the 14 includes the con and fcb for level 2 just simplifying the math to be 14+1d10 instead of 12+1d10+2.

OK. I do like the math spelled out.

For the second level of d10 its 10-3 = 7, no dice rolled. so 10(warrior)+(10-3)Monk+2(fcb)+2(con) = 21.

Edit: on the note of questions does the elephant in the room feat fix apply retroactively? Where I to pick a weapon focus at level 1 would it apply to a grouping once he gets his first pc class?

Yes.

---

Munday, let's treat Subutai as accepted and move him to the PC folder.

I'll leave this invitation open for a while longer to see if we recruit a +1.

At this point, if someone else expresses interest there is no specific must-have, but a cleric who can heal and dispel gnarlier effects could be welcomed.

The current team is not exploring the Path of War much, so a cleric who develops PoW abilities via feats in the Martial Training chain could scratch both itches.

[MundayKnight]

Ohh master of many styles get access to style feats at levels 1/2/6/10/14/18 that dont need the prerequisites which is why it needs moved around.

[CatCanCook]

So, just to preempt what might be a potential future misunderstanding, but Master of Many Styles's ability to "Fuse Styles" does not work with Path of War Stances. First of all, they aren't "styles", but even if there were they aren't supposed to be combined mechanically.

Regarding the idea of fusing or being in multiple Path of War stances, I found this perspective, which I agree with:

The only way to do so currently is the warlord’s dual stance 20th-level capstone class feature.

I brought this question up with the Dreamscarred Press Path of War team, and their response was vehemently opposed to the idea of there ever being such a feat. The fact that it only currently exists as a capstone feature corroborates that this is how highly they value the feature. And I, for one, strongly agree: having two stances at once is extremely powerful. It should not be available to just anyone, but only to those truly dedicated to the path and at the peak of their mastery.

[MundayKnight]

For clarity I am going to use discipline in my reference for the path of war stuff as saying style when also referring to core styles just gets silly.

Ohh most definitely in regards to the multiple Stances active at the same time, some of those would be insta kills on almost anything when combined.

Not looking at more than one active stance per greater stance path but there does appear to be a feat that allows the styles and stances to be combined. Fuse Styles but if that is a no I am more than happy to rethink things especially since these are plans for a future level so require no change to the character at level 2 at all as he would be picking up the skill points for heal to take steel snake when point buy ability scores increase and he gets his int up and gets extra skill points.

As for the style from planned level 5 I just don't see any real use out of any of the steel snake discipline options at level 1 so picked 2 at random. That is mainly for the tier 3 ability to give constrict since his greater stance 2 is going to focus on grappling. My current idea is basically fusing styles both the feat and the class ability for:
Path 1 Blood Frenzy Style/Dragon Style/Broken Blade Discipline.
Path 2 Grabbing Style/Kraken Style/Steel Snake Discipline
Path 3 being survivor man feats.

[rhaiber]

Originally Posted by CatCanCook

A backfill character is sought for A Great and Terrible Burning. One was found, Subutai here! I'm still potentially open to accepting one other.

...

The departing character who this would be replacing is in training to become a druid. An ideal replacement might be a cleric, one who can heal or dispel difficult maladies (as no one else can right now.)

Hey Cat!

Are you still potentially accepting one more player? I missed out on applying for this game when it first came around because I just had too much on my plate at that time to figure out a whole new subsystem (never played Path of War before), but now I see half the cast are people I know from Sweetwater (still one of my favorite games and one that I will be sorely missing if you follow through on shutting it down after the current arc). At the risk of getting type cast as your backfill healer (), would it be okay if I built a Path of War Medic?