Testing interest: A Tale of Might

[Dr Simon]

System Used: 3.5 SRD via Books of Experimental Might, Iron Heroes.

Number of Players: 1-3 (no more)

Setting Type: A fairly harsh, primitive world, inspired by the Conan novels, with a touch of Fritz Leiber and Jack Vance. Really old school fantasy where sinew, courage or cunning wins the day, the girl, and a pouch of gems (only to lose them all again). A land where despotic overlords rule decadent city states and where a lone barbarian may rise to become king.

Game Type: There is no campaign plot or story arc set up - what you do determines the consequences and the game will organically grow. Hoping for a small group, possibly even solo, to allow for a fairly rapid turnover of posts. The setting is sparse but probably contains most of the cliches you would expect from the inspirations. What you decide for your character background will become part of the canon, the rest can be created by player and GM as the game goes on. (For example, if you say that your character is a Knight-Inquisitor from the City State of Zor, then that order and that city become part of the world. If in game your character swears "By the Beard of Krendar!" then the god Krendar becomes part of the world. (NB: Cheesy fantasy names full of Zs and Ks are not compulsory, but will occur a lot).

Characters: All characters will be human (there are none of the usual non-human PC races in the setting, and any non-humans there are will be NPC-only). Characters use the ability score creation rules from Iron Heroes, and may choose Traits as per Iron Heroes. If you don't have Iron Heroes, these rules are slight enough that I can provide them.

Everything else uses the Books of Experimental Might; one feat per level, 20 spell level, fighting domains, grace/health etc.. You'll need these to play. BOXM2 has some background fluff for the fighting domains, and you may use these as part of the setting if you wish (apart from non-humans).

Only core classes are available, as only these are tackled in the BOXM. There are enough new options in these books to bring new life to old character types. So don't ask for Swordsages, Marshals, Duskblades etc., because you won't get them! There is a new base class - the Runeblade - in BOXM1, which you may use.

Players: Recruiting is open for 24 hours, and I really, really don't want more than 3 players. Several criteria will be taken into account for acceptance: if I know you as a reliable player and interesting character concept; you may also confer with other applicants to create characters with a prior relationship (which can be a bit adversarial if you like), and player compatability is also a small element of selection.

Game Opening: Your characters begin as slaves in the Salt Mines of the Ra-Men. Nothing to do with noodles, the Ra-Men are notorious slave-taking pirates and raiders, their black-sailed ships prowling the coastal lands for victims (and they sometimes trade with inland nations too). Some nations sell criminals or undesirables as slaves to the ra-men for profit, others offer a proportion of their citizens as tribute to save the rest. How you got there is up to you.

The ra-men are non-humans (loosely based on the ramien of Jorune, if you can find details). Taller than humans, thin and wiry with a tough, horny skin and flattened faces, the ra-men are cruel and cold-hearted, except during periodic phases in their life cycle where they become highly aggressive and short-tempered. An average ra-men is tougher than an average human, so it is just as well that you are not average....

 

[Dr Simon]

Starting Character level: 3rd

[sblock=Ability Scores]
You start with a core of 10 in all six ability scores. You have a pool of additional points that you may spend to improve your scores. Each point you spend increases a single ability by 1 point until that score reaches 15. For each point above 15, it costs 2 points to improve an ability. For each point above 17, it costs 4 points to improve an ability by 1. In addition, you can pick one of your scores as a weakness.
In such a case, you drop that score to 8 and cannot spend points to improve it at this time. In return, you gain 2 bonus points to spend on your abilities. Player characters start with 24 points to spend on their ability scores. You cannot purchase a score higher than 18 in this way.

QUICK STATS
If you don’t want to go to the trouble of spending points to create your character, you can use the following standard point distribution. Simply assign the following scores to your abilities as normal.

Standard Ability Scores: 16, 16, 14, 14, 12, 10
The standard spread above gives a character a balanced set of abilities and talents. It allows one to excel in several areas.

Focused Character Scores: 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8
The focused spread above gives you one very good ability score, one poor one, and one average score. If you want a character who focuses on a single talent or ability, this is a good spread of scores.

Jack of All Trades: 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14
The jack-of-all-trades spread of abilities has no weaknesses, though it lacks any particular advantages. If you want a character who performs above average in a broad range of areas, this is a good choice.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Traits]
Choose any two traits. You may only choose one background trait (each background trait has a range of sub-choices as well).

Arctic Born Background You hail from a land of endless ice and snow.
Artisan Background You trained in a craft before becoming an adventurer.
Child of Faith Background You were raised in a strict, religious environment.
City Rat Background You grew up in the slums of a great city.
Desert Born Background Your homeland is a searing hot desert.
Forest Born Background You grew up among the trees of a great forest.
High Born Background You are of noble blood, though you lack an official title.
Jungle Born Background You grew up in a tropical jungle.
Mountain Folk Background The great mountains are your native home.
Nomad Background Your people are great horsemen and wanderers.
Sea Child Background You grew up on the shores of the sea.
Shadow Born Background Your parents have a sinister reputation for arcane doings.

Bewitching Mental You can bend others to your will for a short time.
Bloodthirsty Mental When you slay a foe, you gain +1 bonus to damage and a +2 bonus to Will saving throws.
Brave Mental You are immune to fear.
Charismatic* Mental You gain a +2 bonus to Charisma.
Eidetic Memory Mental You have perfect, photographic recall of events.
Faithful Friend Mental You gain a +1 bonus to attacks, checks, and saves, when a friend is in danger.
Inspiring Presence Mental You grant a bonus to attacks or checks equal to your Charisma bonus.
Intelligent* Mental You gain a +2 bonus to Intelligence.
Master of Lore Mental You may use your Intelligence bonus as ranks in untrained Knowledge topics.
Perceptive Mental You have a good sense for noticing disguises and hidden items.
Weapon Bond Mental You gain proficiency with a certain weapon and may use an alternate key ability with it.
Wise* Mental You gain a +2 bonus to Wisdom.
World Traveler Mental You enjoy a +2 bonus to Diplomacy checks and two bonus languages.

Dexterous* Physical You gain a +2 bonus to Dexterity.
Lithe Acrobat Physical You enjoy a +2 bonus to Tumble checks and can make a check to oppose an attack.
Mighty Build Physical You can use Large weapons.
Nondescript Physical You can use Hide to escape notice in social situations.
Savage Appearance Physical You may draw attacks from allies and can cause a Spot penalty.
Short Physical You are size Small.
Stout Physical You gain a +1 natural bonus to defense.
Strong* Physical Your powerful build grants you a +2 bonus to Strength.
Tall Physical Your great height grants you improved reach in combat.
Tough as Iron* Physical You gain a +2 bonus to Constitution.

* These traits come with a drawback (-2 to another ability score). Selecting the same trait twice removes the drawback.
[/sblock]

 

[Dr Simon]

As is this.

 

[Shayuri]

Argh! Iron Heroes! I've always wanted to try a game of this!

I have a couple of ideas...one revolves around there being some means for a PC to have an "animal companion" though...and I don't have the book handy here to know for sure.

The other idea is of a tough desert nomad warrioress, who fights with buckler and short spear. I'd be gunning for an exotic outsider feel, with strange customs and a peculiar sense of honor. Thick accent. That sort of thing.

 

[rangerjohn]

I'm interested in a monk.

 

[Dr Simon]

Shay: I won't be using the Iron Heroes classes and general rules, only the background traits and the ability score generation. It's a system I wouldn't mind trying at some point, but I think the tokens would be a nightmare over PBP.

Animal companions: With Experimental Might, you can choose these if you use any of the typical animal companion/familiar classes - druid, ranger or wizard. They work a bit better than standard animal companions.

Rangerjohn: Monk is fine.

Further character class notes:

For Barbarian, Bard, Monk and Rogue I'm going to use the Pathfinder versions (with the more varied options), with the BOXM extras on top. Cleric, Druid, Ranger, Paladin, Fighter and Wizard use the standard verion but with the BOXM extras (which for Cleric and Wizard make them close to the PF versions). Sorcerer is kind of ignored by BOXM, and may be by me. I'm toying with the iodea of further messing with the spell-casting classes and making them more like the Arcana Evolved ones (for a big Monte Cook Mash-Up!), but that might all get too complicated.

 

[HolyMan]

Quick questions as I am interested (I play only human, and have only core books ) With only three players we will be short an area of expertise, or do you wish for us to dual class to take care of that (Conan was a Fighter/Thief)

What about starting equipment I was thinking if I went wizard would I have a spellbook (it's ok if the answer is no means I'll take Spell Mastery as one of my Feats, perhaps twice lol)

I don't have Iron Heroes sorry, but would like to play. edit:I also don't have BOXM sorries.

HM

 

[Shayuri]

Ahh, I seeee! Well that's all fine then.

I could go with a ranger pretty easily for either concept...a rugged outdoorsy warrior fighting in light armor fits the desert nomad well too.

I'll get more specific when I get home and pick through mah books.

 

[rangerjohn]

Pathfinder Hardback or the beta?

 

[Dr Simon]

Pathfinder Reference Document (so, hardback version essentially).

As for starting equipment, you have nothing but your underclothes since you begin as slaves. And, unlike as is usual in such situations, your equipment hasn't been neatly piled in an adjacent room. You will have to scavenge items as you go, so I would advise against making a character that is too reliant on a very specific item.

As far as spellcasters go, I'm noodling with the idea of conflating the spell -lists for major casters into one master list and turning everyone into sorcerer-like casters along the lines of Arcana Evolved. Other spell ideas for AE would be the feats that adjust what spells you can access (and templates) and the different casting requirements depending on what tradition you follow. This is something I'll research a bit more before deciding for definite.

As for class mixes: Using a mix of the PF and BOXM rules, you can build a roguish fighter, or a martial rogue, or other mixes, more easily than multi-classing (although I've never tested the theory). Another reason for mixing the spells is to eliminate the healer/blaster dichotomy. The grace/health mechanism eliminates a lot of the reliance on magical healing anyway. I don't want to influence class decisions, but I think the traditional mix for such a setting would be: heavy fighter type, roguish fighter type, spellcaster.