LAND-HO
About Me About me: I started with the D&D blue box set in 1978, I've DM'd over 90% of my play time. I stopped about 2005 or 08. Still running 2nd Edition AD&D, but I've also played many other RPGs of the 90's. I started back in Sept 2017, Played a few 5e games and then the group broke up, I found a Pathfinder group and we play once a month. I like the feel of Pathfinder better so I've decided to work on learning to run it. I am still new to Pathfinder, I will get things wrong. My brain will tell me hey This is how it works (old data from AD&D or other games). If you see a mistake let me know, and if possible tell me where the answer is, I don't want to hear no it is +5 I want to hear it is +5 and you can see it in the Core Rule book on page X. I will then look at the rule and decide OK, that makes sense so we follow it, or I don't like that we are doing to do it my way. I will always error in the direction of fun. If I think it will make things fun, we are going to do it. Thus the hero point use, listed below..
World basics:
TIME: 24hr day, but I use a 10 day week, 3 week month, and 12 month year for a total of 360 days. I have a Calendar I use if someone wants a copy. Generally there is at least one major festival in any given area every month. It is kind of like Hawaii, hey lets throw a party, and every year to do it again, until it is a festival.
Creation: Roll $STATS 3 time and see what Sidekick says, or you can do a 20pt. Buy “High Fantasy” for your stats. I need a copy of your character laid out in a logical format so I can look things up when you are away. Each time you make a major change to the character please send me a new copy. We are starting with Zero Coin and Equipment, but that will be worked out in Session Zero. Hit Points, L1 is MAX hit points, L2 on is roll for it, if less than average you get bumped up to 1/2+1 point (average).
This is going to be High Adventure, High Magic, Low Gold. Barter and Trade is expected for anything of real value, making Appraise a worthwhile skill.
Standard Resale:
Good or Better Quality is 1/2 book price Less than Good Quality is 1/10 book price Magic is for sale but costs around 1 1/2 to 2x book price (trade for it)
MAP: Forgotten Realms/Swordcoast, This is just so I don't have to use my poor drawing skills :) Everything else is made up. So what happened there may or may not happen in this game. (mostly not) I'd like to eventually use the Razor Coast or the Lonely Coast maps as they were designed for Pathfinder, but for this adventure we'll go with what I know.
Languages:
Common: Common (nearly everywhere) Minkaian (Common south of the Swordcoast) Hon-La (Asian Common) I couldn't find a better way to say it, it is the replacement for (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.) Skald (Common of the Great White North)
Trade Languages: Common and Undercommon
PC Races: Catfolk, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Goblin, Tengu Tulita: 3 forms, Tulita = Tulita (Mainland), Tulita (Island), Tulita (Costal) - This is a pidgin language, so all three share common words, but may not mean the same thing to everyone.. Karikanti may be the root language of Tulita, but only spoken in one area anymore.
Other Languages: Boggard ( Frogmen ), Gnoll, Nagaji (Lizard Tongue), Orc, Sahuagin (Fish People), Aquan (Elemental plane of Water), Auran (Elemental plane of Air), Draconic (Dragons of all shapes and sizes), Ettin (Pidgin of Giant and Goblin with a bit of Orc), Giant, Ignan (Elemental plane of Fire), Infernal, Sylvan (Fey tongue), Terran (Elemental plane of Earth)
Advancement: FAST :) This may go to Medium after level 5 but I really doubt it. PBP is going to slow advancement as it is…. Everyone starts with 1300 XP so just to 2nd level.
Hero Points: I love them, so I give them. You can get them for team play, RP, Ideas, crazy stuff, you also get 1 point each time you level, you are only getting 1 point to start even though we are starting at level 2. You can bank up to 3 at a time, unless you have the feat to allow more.
Anything you can do I can do (thus the bad guys) Evil Points: Any time someone rolls a 1, I get a point to use against you. I am also limited to 3.
Point use: You can use them for you, or give to another (Including the bad guys) to re-roll the last die rolled (any die). In addition you can 'bid points' for wild ideas, the more points put in the pot the better the chance for this crazy idea to work.
Example: Throw the Dwarf from the ledge down on to the bridge so he lands on the Orcs using the battering ram, and can protect the door. Distance 20' over and down 20' so I'd call that a kind of tough toss, DC 20 Athletics.. But then the Dwarf is going to have to make a roll not to end up prone. So The two players decide to toss in 1 pt each. I'd give the throw a +5 success, moving it down to a pretty good chance of working, and +3 Acrobatics to land on their feet, so a little harder.. But lets say you each put in 2pts so 2/3rds of your max allowed. I'd say the toss would be at least +8 to work, and I think I'd give you the same for the landing so both would be 12's to succeed in this crazy plan. This is all going to be up in the air and at the time to decide, but this is going to be a High Adventure, things are going to happen, and I'd like to see the crazy ideas get tried. :)
The Bad Guys: They will be Smart and Dumb, they will break the rules for Super villains or they might follow them to the letter. If you do something and it was really smart or effective, IF someone saw it and got back to tell others you might see them try it down the road. Just the same they can also get bad or false impressions causing them to make a bad call about what you can do. The best example is when a large group of Orcs blocked a bridge out numbering the players just about 5 to 1. They knew the players would surrender or run, they wouldn't press the fight. (they had heard they surrendered to some guards in the last town) BUT they didn't know the party went up 1 level and now had Fireball. It was a very ugly fight for the Orcs…
I feel it is my job as a DM to kill all the PCs, but fail with fantastic style. :)
I will kill you if you are stupid, but if what you are doing is logical, but the dice hate you, I will cheat in your favor in small ways. I will try and give you hints that you might be missing something or making an error, but if you attack the dragon, the dragon isn't going to hold back. Running is nearly always an option. Even if it means I have to help a bit…
Humanoid Races (Orc/Goblins/Gnolls/Kobolds) for 30 years I've treated them as just another humanoid race, so if you can make 20th level so can they. There IS a 20th level Kobold assassin in my world, you will never see him, but it makes my point. So If you see a 1 HD kobold walking down the street in traveling clothes, think before you decide hey I'm 10 XP from next level..
Guns/Black Powder: Yes, but extremely rare still, Cannon are only just now being considered for ships because of lack of supply and materials.
Mechanicals/Warforged: Yes, but even more rare than Guns, Major cities might have a couple of Clockwork guards/devices. There are so few Warforged, they are considered Unique if you see one.
Detect Magic change:
0 level Detect Magic works the same except range is touch. 1 level Detect Magic, Superior works how the old Detect Magic did, so you can view a room 2 level Detect Magic, Greater works per the books 60' Range, and see lingering magics.
I am sure I'm missing stuff that will need to be added, but I'm going to leave it with this. The good news is as we do things my worlds background information will advance :) So Thank you :)
Undead
Now that you are on land, I had best fill you in. The Tethyr Peninsula of which you are on the end of now, is filled with ghosts mostly…. Most of the ghosts are neutral, especially in towns and cities. But there are even some that continue to do their jobs after passing on. As with any race, there are all kinds so ghosts can be nice, neutral or evil to the core. Those that died of violence are the ones that tend to be angry or evil. So watch yourselves outside of towns.
Undead: There are Good/Neutral/Evil undead. The starting area has some unique history that I'll try and explain when we get to that point. Trust your gut, and remember Anyone can be nice every once in a while.