GENERAL RULES:
All first-party Paizo content is allowed. Anything on the PRD (
AoN PRD) is fair game!
I may allow limited use of third-party classes, races, feats, etc. HOWEVER you must be ready and willing to explain what it offers that is not possible in first-party content, and solid reasoning for why you want to use it. I reserve the right to edit third party content prior to it being added to your sheet; once approved, that approval will not be retracted unless abuse of the mechanics is clear and intentional.
CHARACTER CREATION
All first-party archetypes, classes, (including Unchained versions of classes) & all races from Common & Featured in the Advanced Race Guide are allowed; Uncommon races & Beastiary entry races allowed with permission.
Attributes can either be rolled for, or a 25 Point Buy; your choice. If you roll, you may roll up to three sets and choose from among them.
Health per level will either be rolled, or 2/3 maximum.
MECHANICS CHANGES
Weapon Finesse allows Dexterity to be used in place of Strength to calculate damage for Finesse-capable weapons. This includes the 1.5x Damage Increase for two-handed finesse weapons (Such as the Elven Curveblade).
Non-Thrown Ranged Attacks add Dexterity to damage; for Composite Bows, for example, you would add both Dexterity and the bow's Strength rating.
Abilities which add an effect like one of the two described above add 1.5 times your Modifier instead of 1. With two handed weapons (Such as the Elven Curveblade) it becomes 2x, same as a Strength-based weapon would.
Critical hits do not need to be confirmed. Any roll within your critical threat range automatically deals critical damage & effects.
When calculating critical damage, all damage-modifying abilities are added together, then multiplied.
Outside of combat, healing spells and abilities are treated as having rolled maximum value. (For example, Cure Light Wounds would be treated as an automatic roll of 8.)
Except in unusual situations, mundane ammunition, food, & water will not need to be tracked. Magical ammunition, or ammunition made from special materials, however, will be.
When calculating health gained at each level, you may roll, or take 2/3 (round down), whichever is higher.
Attributes will be rolled for, and do not need to be approved. HOWEVER, if the statline is all 16's or higher before modifiers, you may be asked to reroll.
Where specific exceptions are made in the House Rules for my Campaigns, they will override the rules stated here.
I have a very relaxed style of DMing, and embrace unusual ideas or approaches to situations. If you want to try something unusual, feel free to ask me! I am not shy of improvising mechanics to suit the situation.
PLAYER EXPECTATIONS
Players in every game I run are expected to post consistently and make an effort to stay abreast of posts & plot developments. To this end, I will make sure to keep up game-state information in the PF-Initiative Channel in Discord.
Pacing: Specifically, this means that in 'soft' RP or Social roleplay, a post every 48 hours is expected. While in Combat rounds, however, the expectation is that at least one post will be made every day. If no post is made after the stated timeline, you may be skipped for that round of posts, and will lose your 'action' that round entirely.
This is not a 'hard' expectation, where failure to maintain pace of posts will result in removal. However, consistent failure to maintain pacing will result in removal.
Conduct: Players are expected to remain respectful at all times OOC. This includes no name-calling, insults, or derogatory remarks. Any questions about actions or rulings should be approached respectfully, and cite related information if at all available.
In-character, disagreements occur, and sometimes characters don't get along. This is an expected part of roleplay. However, take care to ensure this does not bleed over into OOC interactions.
Quality of Posts: Posts are expected to be relevant and conducive to continuation of the session. Sometimes brief posts are all that is required, but brief posts should not be the norm.
This is very much a guideline; if your post is short but conveys the information you need, or if brevity is appropriate, it's completely fine.
Most important to Quality of Posts is relevance. Make sure to read other posts for appropriate responses and interactions. Questions are welcome if you are uncertain or unclear.
Multiple or consistent violations of these rules will result in a direct message from me to discuss the issues, and uncorrected behavior will result in removal from the campaign.
Remember, as the GM, I'm also here for questions, comments, or concerns. If you have difficulty - or will be having difficulty - keeping up with the pace of posts, feel free to contact me and let me know, and I will work around your needs.
Thank you for reading!
From Nothing
Stronghold Campaign Rules
The River Kingdoms are an amalgamation of differing societies, differing peoples, tiny Kingdoms with little power, and few resources, squabbling over fine, fertile, but ultimately boring land; good for farming, and raising peasants and cattle, but little else. Every now and then one will simply cease to exist, collapsing on itself, to be replaced by something equally bland, equally small, and equally unambitious. There is one exception to this, of course.
The Stolen Lands have ever been in conflict; rich land wedged between the borders of many strong kingdoms, the top corner of the River Kingdoms, with small, backstabbing nations on one side, and a land-hungry powerhouse on the other, it is difficult for anything lasting to be built without the support of the surrounding nations; oftentimes, too small and early to be of any use, these budding nations will stumble... and fall, their benefactors unwilling to overexpose themselves to save it. There are even rumours that, up north, the Swordlords of Restov have put out a charter to settle those very lands: the longest in an already very long string of such attempts, likely as doomed as every previous attempt.
What they lack is will. Dedication. Determination. You can call it ruthlessness, if you want; I care little for the slings and arrows of lesser men.
Well, if you're reading this, I suppose it's 'cared', now. My Pitaxian benefactors likely won't help you, now; the arrangements I had with them were too fragile to outlive my death.
If you're brave, foolish, or ambitious enough to think you can rule in my stead: Do so. Lead with my blessing, for as little as it counts. These lands aren't meant to be ruled by those so weak as to be bound by the words of dead men.
That letter was discovered amongst the possessions of Korvak, Leader of the Biting Axes, a Bandit Clan in the rulerless lands bordering Galt; with a steady influx of refugees from Galt, few can make any lasting stake here before being overrun by disaffected rebels, nobles fallen from favor, and the various soldiers, generals, and mercenaries that straggle out from their battle-wracked borders. It's an easy place for a Bandit Clan to set up, however, for exactly those reasons; you can be picky about who will or won't be allowed, and pick the rest clean for whatever coin they might have on their backs.
Following a disastrous raid on neighboring Hymbria, Korvak and his first lieutenant were slain along with a dozen others of little consequence. Hearing of his death, Adigan, his second Lieutenant - a man unpopular, but tolerated only for his rank - vanished into the night with another dozen of his own men, fearing reprisal from the rest. Before a week had passed, another dozen men had deserted - leaving barely twenty left of what had once been one of the most prominent Bandit Clans in the region. Much more of this, and the rest will be lost; A power vacuum, after all, needs to be filled.
Map of the River Kingdoms
A Brief Description of the Major Changes
An alternate rules system (Spheres of Power/Might) is pre-approved for use without requiring permission.
Guides on how to build Sphere classes:
Martial Classes
Casting Classes
Characters will start at Level Five, with 10,500g to spend. The only restriction is that no more than half of starting wealth may be spent on any one item.
Background Skills will also be used.
Similar to the Saga campaign, each player will be charged with creating three NPCs that are in some way related to them, but with a little more structure:
At most two will be friendly, and at least one will be an enemy or rival. These characters need not be in the Bandit Clan itself, but preferably at least one should be.
Please feel free to discuss and coordinate your characters, as you all will have been working and fighting alongside each other prior to the start of the campaign. Please include in your backstories information about some of their acts and decisions as a Bandit, and what type of leader you think they would be.
Thorough backstories will be rewarded!
Any questions or assistance for character creation can be directed to me in the Quest Connection Discord channel!
