[Information] Placard of Wisdom

[Mal Radagast]

Chargen, House Rules, and NPC Gallery forthcoming...as well as any other bits of random I come across. Or come up with.

[Mal Radagast]

Character Creation Edited - As much fun as my amusingly complex chargen system was, how about you folks just grab a 25 point-buy? Here's a calculator, for those of you new to Pathfinder. (Fool, your swashbuckler is still getting keelhauled if this bites me in the arse.) Go ahead and take full HP for first level...at each following level, you may choose to either take half or roll, but you make the choice before you roll and live with the results. The minimum skill allotment for any class is now 4+Int - fighters and spellcasters may adjust accordingly. Also, Swim is now Con-based. Choose a region appropriate for your character, then take one free rank of Knowledge for that region and make it a core skill for you. This replaces Knowledge (Local), so you may as well just write over it on your sheet. If Knowledge (Local) is a skill for your class, then you may put your other skills into any locale which you can reasonably justify. Then add one additional additional Knowledge rank, in any Knowledge, and make that a core skill if it isn't already. Hopefully this has something to do with your character - though you can also play it off as something you've heard/read a lot about. Anyone wielding two light weapons is considered as having Two-Weapon Fighting. This will operate as a prerequisite as well, but only with light weapons; switch weapons and you'll lose the whole tree. (Until you either switch back or take TWF.) Now, the Two-Weapon Defense feat grants +2 rather than +1, and there is no Only just discovered that there isn't one in Pathfinder anyhow, but I'm leaving this in for my own clarity.Improved Two-Weapon Defense. Improved and Greater TWF are one feat which grants an extra off hand attack at BAB +6 and +11, with -5 and -10 penalties, respectively. For all intents and purposes, Weapon Finesse includes Agile Maneuvers. Similarly, Shield Proficiency now includes Shield Focus. Two-Weapon Fighting will also include Improved Shield Bash. (Note that, in the last case, if the shield and weapon aren't both light, then you will have to actually take the first TWF.) In addition to your two traits, I will be crafting a specific DM-boon trait for each character. Look forward to it.

House Rules and DM Quirks No taking 10 unless otherwise specified. (Depending on how this one plays out, it may be modified.) Every time you post, please roll two Perception checks. The results of these checks, if any, will be given in your private threads. On a similar note - I will not be requesting Sense Motive checks. Ever. I highly suggest that you roll one each time you meet an NPC, and you are perfectly welcome to roll one each time you speak with an NPC. As with Perception checks, the results (if any) will be shown in your private threads. If nobody's opposed, I don't think we'll bother with guns. No need, really.

AP Mechanics Relationship mechanics...ahm...I'm not particularly pleased with them as written, and I'm not sure how often it will come up anyhow. I don't see a whole lot of interaction with those NPCs outside of the caravan, either, so...hrmph. First off, I don't imagine any of you are going for all-out enmity. Rivalry is another thing entirely, and I'm inclined to think of it as friendly - firing one-liners and other digs, in good nature. So what I'm going to do, I think, is - Argh - I had a whole thing written there, but it still didn't make much sense. What it comes down to, really, is the story and the writing and how your character goes and whether we end up getting any really good moments with NPC characters. Therefore, the revised relationship system is this - I will arbitrarily award traits for particularly interesting/intense/engaging/awesome interactions. This gives you some incentive for expanding the world of our story beyond just 'PCs whomping gbolins', but also shouldn't cause any undue distractions. If you're not satisfied with it...well, I can't think of anything better.

[Mal Radagast]

Linguistics A note on how I handle languages. I'm not so much a fan of now I'm speaking Orcish in game threads. It's kind of, well, gaudy. The only color I expect to find, really, is in my DM fieldsets - DM-speak is DarkGreen, and warnings/damage is in DarkRed, as you'll discover - and in imagery. When other languages do come up, what I like to do is actually use other languages. Only the beauty of this is that they don't have to be particularly correct, because nobody's going to be trying to translate them. (Except perhaps Fool, with my Tian, in which case I'll apologize in advance for butchering his language.) As for the translation, it can be in italics, as a part of the regular format, or in tooltips, or in fieldset footnotes - as we go, if it comes up, I'm hoping you'll find a method you really enjoy. As for which languages are what, well, some things just make sense straight off and others we may have to experiment with. TVTropes gives us a good starting point : Originally Posted by TVTropes Absalom is Jerusalem. Amanandar is Hong Kong. Andoran is the early United States. Brevoy and Iobaria are medieval Russia. Dtang Ma is Thailand. The Erutaki are Inuit. The Forest of Spirits is ancient Japan, by way of PrincessMononoke. Galt is revolutionary France. Hongal is Mongolia. Hwanggot is Korea. Iblydos is ancient Greece. Irrisen is the fairy tale version of Russia (complete with Baba Yaga!). Katapesh is Arabia. Kelesh is Persia. The Lands of the Linnorm Kings are Scandinavia. Lung Wa and its many Successor States are China. Minata is Indonesia and the Philippines. Minkai is Japan and so is Shokuro. The Mwangi Expanse is Darkest Africa. Ninshabur is Babylon. Osirion is Egypt. Qadira is also Arabia (with some Persian influences). The Arcadians are Native Americans, and so are the Shoanti*. Sarusan is Australia. Taldor is the Byzantine Empire. Ustalav is fantasy Transylvania. The Varisians are the Roma (Gypsies). The Varki are Sami (native Finnish). Vudra is India. The Wall of Heaven is Nepal. Xa Hoi is Vietnam. Zi Ha is Tibet. Then I tend to use Tolkien's elvish for elves (that is what it's there for, after all), often a mix of French and Irish for halflings, Scotch Gaelic for dwarves (which would explain their accents, aye?). It's been suggested that Cheliax is fairly Italian (pre-Renaissance?) in style, and that works well with Varisia as Roma - they were after all Chelish colonists, once. I'll mix in a bit of French/Irish gypsy style and perhaps language as well (Galician perhaps), to distinguish from the Chelish and also to represent the motley nature of their culture - especially as Desnans, with all their trade and travel. The shifts away from Italian structure also work well to set up straight Latin as Infernal - and so associated with Chelish. Abyssal will be more descriptive than translative - I'm thinking perhaps a chorus of screeches (as birds of prey might make) or howls (baying of dogs?). Perhaps those two are different styles or dialects of the same? Someone has suggested Celestial as choral notes - as of many voices - and I like that. It also means that players are most often going to make some of the more Outsider-ish languages very flat, and it will be a point of bemusement or irritation among the actual Outsiders. A human, for example, could sing Celestial, but it won't sound the same. Reon, for example, can probably get a finer nuance than the average fellow, though it won't be the same as an Empyreal Lord. Well, that's a good beginning, I think. From there, we can discuss/develop whatever else we require, yes?

[Mal Radagast]

Golarion Calendar Alright, so there's Moonday, Toilday, Wealday, Oathday, Fireday, Starday, Sunday - self-explanatory, really. The months then, I've rearranged from Paizo's...still cleaning them up though, so, under construction? Pharast : First month of the new year, often the coldest, when the stars are clearest and the whole year is ahead. A month for planning and prophecy. Thron / Iomedan : Those who keep the old ways may still call this time Thron, or wolf-month...while the name has passed largely to Iomedae, the wolfish association seems to have rubbed off somewhat. It would be hard to say whether the association has been better for the wolves' image, or for her own. Desnus / Abadius : The first change of seasons, the first step on the year's new road. A month for anticipations. Good luck to venture out in Desnus, onto freshly clearing roads, now lined with little shoots and buds. The farther from Varisia you venture, the more you might hear this month named after Abadar - it is the beginning of profitable times, after all. By and large, Desna doesn't seem to mind sharing. Gozran : Storm-month, as often as not - when the fields are fed and the folks are frustrated. Calistril : The warming month, for flowers and passions to blush and bloom. Don't ask what the Calis-pole dance is meant to symbolize, if you don't already know. Shelyn : The place between passionate play and hard work - full of craftly festivals and people spending their first real profits of the year, or singing for them. Tore : Forge-month, for hard work and heavy rest. Not always the most popular month, but a good reminder to folk who overdid it over Calistril. Neth : Named for the best-known holiday of Nethys, Evoking Day. Strictly speaking, there are quite as many illusions as evocations on Evoking Day, which any tipsy wizard is liable to tell you. Erast : The last change of seasons, which lends itself to hunts and forage, to building up those firewood stores and spending what time you can in the shortening daylight. Bright leaves and long twilights accompany, and that sense of drawing-close. Cayden : Harvest month, best known for the memorable - or not so memorable, perhaps - Merrymead festivals. Churchanon / Lamashan : It is well-known taboo in Varisia, to call this month Lamashan. No Desnan will forgive her for ripping the domain of Beasts from Churchanus, leaving him another dead god. Churchanus, the big bear, the sign of stalwart endurance in the toughening season...Lamashtu's month retains very little of that quality. Goddess of misfits and madmen, the nightmare month has become a very superstitious time for many. Saren : The sun might not shine for as long during the days of Saren, but it shines all the brighter to compensate. Some say she chose this month as hers, to serve as winter's beacon. Every long night of the month named after her, it is difficult not to think of the coming Dawn.

Deities I've twitched a few of the gods' alignments here or there, renovated a few concepts, compiled a bit of lore...that sort of thing. More to come.