Introduction to the World and Character Creation

New Campaign Notes

We’ll play Pathfinder, for the rule set.  Here are the rules: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/

We’ll do stats and all the first session.  Maybe think about who you’ll want to be and what they’re like, and some ideas for a character class and concept.  Make a character that’s generally good, or at least helpful, and that will get along well in a party of adventurers.

I’m fine with many ways of generating stats.  Pick the ones you want?  25 build points?  4d6 drop the lowest, 7 times drop the lowest?  3d6 in order but reroll any ones?  You’ve played enough to figure this out.

Any character class from the Core, Base, or Hybrid lists with any archetypes are okay, as long as they’re on the SRD: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/

Maybe don't play any of the occult classes?  They're weird.  Also, with the mythic stuff, eventually summoned creatures, pets, mounts, etc. won't be able to keep up, and might even be a liability.

If you want to play a Barbarian, Rogue, Monk, or Summoner, use the Unchained class rules.

Humans, half-Orcs, half-Elves, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, and Gnomes only.  No tieflings or aasimar or drow or weird flying-bug races or anything.

Everyone speaks Taldane (the 'Common' tongue in our part of the world).  You can find a list of other human languages here:  https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Human_languages_of_Golarion and a list of non-human languages here: https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Nonhuman_languages_of_Golarion

Make your starting languages consistent with your character, is my suggestion.  Most of you will get one of the ‘weird’ languages from a starting trait.

We’re on Golarion – the Pathfinder world.  You can find a TON of info on the gods and mythologies and everything online.  The mythos and pantheon will be the same; the map will be almost the same.  Maybe start here:  https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Golarion

We’ll start the campaign in Sandpoint.  Sandpoint is a town of about 1200 people, nominally ruled by the large city of Magnimar, in the Varisia region:  https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Varisia

Here’s information about Sandpoint:  https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Sandpoint

And here’s info on Magnimar: https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Magnimar

Here’s a cool online mapping-Golarion project: https://www.dungeonetics.com/golarion-geography/index.html

You’ll start by being invited to the funeral services for Professor Petros Lorrimar.  His daughter Kendra has invited you to the funeral and the reading of his will.  The funeral will happen two days after the Swallowtail Festival (when the new Cathedral is to be consecrated); the reading of Prof. Lorrimar’s will is the day after that.  Your character arrives a day or two before the Festival; we’ll start with initial meetings between the party and Kendra Lorrimar.

We will NOT play with experience points.  We’ll level when we need to.  I have a list of potential milestones for levels and mythic tiers, more as a way of making level-appropriate stuff available; I don’t want it to feel too railroady though, so we’ll see what y’all resonate with.

I’d like to get all the way to level 20 with this – Pathfinder gets pretty gnarly after level 10 or so, and we will add the Mythic rules for extra wacky: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/mythic/

We play with alignments.  No evil characters this time.  You don’t have to be all paladins and priests, and we’re not playing a lawful-stupid campaign, but you should at least listen when the call to glory and adventure comes your way.

Some of the things we might do are: City NPC interactions and tracking down leads, smallish dungeon crawls, exploring haunted houses, rebuilding a fort or a ruined city, fighting and exposing secret societies and cults, exploring the world wound, travelling to the abyss, and saving the world from a cabal of demon lords and ancient dead mages.  Not to give anything of the plot away…

I’ve got enough material so if you don’t want to bite at a particular hook, then no worries – but we’re not going to become pirates, or join a merchant caravan to the far east, or anything.

If you’re looking for favored enemies:  undead and character races will be an issue the entire way through this campaign.  Demons and monster/aberration creatures will come in throughout as well.  The non-human progression is the usual one: goblins-ogres-trolls-giants.

We’ll start with the ‘average gold’ for starting characters – each class is different.  Remember, you’re crappy first level characters, so don’t give yourself all the shinies.

Max hp at first level; re-roll ones at levels after that.

+1 skill point per level.  Minimum Skill Points per level is 3, even with INT penalty.

Everyone starts with two traits.  One of them must be one of the campaign traits – and ideally, no-one doubles up on those.

If you want to multi-class as a spellcaster, you can advance your spellcasting ability (spells per day, Caster level, and spells known – not any other class benefits like channeling) one level for each two other levels, max double your spellcasting level.  It’s probably still not a good idea anyway, though.  See here for more details: https://geek-related.com/2012/01/26/pathfinder-multiclassing-house-rule/

The first potion in a round is a swift action that provokes.

Natural-One on an attack means that opponent gets a free hit on you (if they can).  Natural-One on a save automatically fails.  Natural-20 on either of those automatically succeeds.  Those are the only rolls with automatic success or failure.

Some monsters, eventually, will also be mythic, which means they can break the rules, in ways that you cannot – multiple initiatives in a round, or spending mythic points to turn crits into regular hits, for instance.  You’ll still dominate but that will give the Big Bads a fighting chance.

Mythic rules mean combat gets WACKY – there are a lot of options, and configuring combat with all your bonuses can take a while.  Figure out what you can do / want to do ahead of time – maybe a spreadsheet or card system, for spells or damage, as we get higher levels.

There are some changes to some of the mythic stuff, too – or at least particular ways we’ll interpret ambiguous rulings – that we’ll get into once we start getting mythical.

Maybe we’ll have some other house rules?  We’ll figure this out the first session.  I’ll set up a blog and list everything after our first time together.

Tentatively and VERY roughly we’ll gain either a level or a Mythic Tier every two sessions.  Or so.  I figure 60-70 sessions, so about a year and a half if we play every week…

YOUR CHARACTER

Besides the mechanics, here are some questions to ask about your character:

• Have you ever killed anyone?

• Why are you an Adventurer?  And to follow up – why does your adventuring character work well with a group?

• What is your connection to the town of Sandpoint, if any?

• Petros Lorrimar was a scholar and teacher in Magnimar until recently, when he and his daughter Kendra moved to Sandpoint.  Perhaps you were once his student, or you worked on one of his archaeological sites; you may have encountered a monster or relic or ruin he was particularly interested in, or your families have a history.  Or maybe you were childhood friends with his daughter Kendra.  What is your connection to Professor Petros Lorrimar – why would you be invited to his funeral?

Beyond this, the more background your character has, the more stuff I’ll try to include in the campaign from your character’s background.  I won’t kill your parents, or anything – just add some hooks.