The Glade 4.0

Only men are allowed to use magic. Everyone knows that women who use magic are witches - whores who sold their souls and bodies to the Demon Princes for dark power. They kidnap children, stealing them away to be slaves for the Demon Princes. That's why we burn witches 'round these here parts.

You'll know a witch by the demons' mark. Making the pact turns a woman's hair red as flame. That's why we burn gingers 'round these here parts. The women, at least. Ginger boys we just geld, right after we burn their mommas as witches. That's how we usually catch them. Gingers figure out real fast to dye their hair, but the demon taint always shows up in their children.

I'm sorry your wife is a demon's whore. I really am. You're a good, God-fearing man, and that's why we're going to show mercy on you. You've done nothing wrong. You couldn't have known. She probably cast her spell on you before you first met. That's why we burn witches 'round these here parts.

That's how it is in the country of Kingsland. The almighty Lord of Earth and Sky has decreed that witches must burn for their sins, and the church carries out the command with the king's support.

Stories tell of a land far away, where witches have seized control. Annwn did not burn their witches soon enough, and now the Demon Princes' whores rule over the land like queens. It is an awful place, where a man is so bound by magic that he can not even realize he is a slave to dark powers, and so the light of the Lord of Earth and Sky has been snuffed out in that black land.

You, the player

It's true, sort of. Red-headed women are witches. They don't inherit it from their mother, though. They inherit it from their father. Red-headed men are carriers. The gift of a witch's magic is a blessing of the goddess Arhiatha on the royal house of Morgan which ruled over Annwn in ancient times before the Scattering.

I'll be running Pathfinder. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/) All witches will receive the Coven hex for free. All other PC classes will be compensated appropriately, in an as-of-yet undetermined manner.

You are all associated in some fashion with a coven of witches. All witches are women, and all women are witches. (Oh, there are surely lackeys, family members, and so forth who do not have the gift, but you are PCs. Women PCs are witches. Because I'm sexist like that.)

You do not have to be a woman. After all, it takes a man and a woman to start a new generation of witches. You are, however, a loyal servant of the coven. Whether by magic, feminine wiles, filial piety, blackmail, or the goodness of your heart, your loyalty is assured. Grandma leaves nothing to chance.

Grandma runs the coven, and has for as long as anyone can remember. Grandma looks out for her family. She's your very own Fairy Godmother, with a bit more emphasis on Godmother.

Witches really do kidnap children. At least your coven does, but don't call it that. Grandma doesn't like the word "kidnap." She calls it "adoption." Grandma can't bear the thought of a little ginger boy being gelded, or a little ginger girl being consigned to the flame. It breaks Grandma's poor old heart in two. She sends members of the coven back to Annwn to find loving parents for the baby.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

They dressed me up like this!

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

sure they did... I do however need to learn pathfinder.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Always has to be redheads, doesn't it?

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

You will begin at level 1.

You're on a 20 point-buy. That seems restrictive and low-powered for most of you. And it is, compared to what a few of you are used to. However, it's important to note that Pathfinder uses a different point-buy mechanic. Rather than try to explain the underlying math, there's a table conveniently located here.

I gave you enough for a 16, two 14s, and three 10s.

All races, including humans, have net ability score bonuses. You live in a predominately human society. Elves are kind of magic. Kingsland residents would burn them some elf women. Just throwing that out there. That is, of course, irrelevant to PCs because female PCs will be witches! That bloodline is a human bloodline coming in from your father. What this means is, female PCs (being witches) are restricted to humans, half-orcs, half-elves, or races like aasimar and tiefling that are derived largely from human stock.

There are no alignment restrictions. Understand, however, that evil PCs should be a particular type of evil. This isn't a war between heaven and hell. Grandma plays with a full deck, and sometimes she pulls the Reaper.

Everybody gets two traits. One of them is selected for you. Each one of you has Rich Parents. The coven takes care of you. You may not take a drawback.

Ladies, please familiarize yourself with the witch class.

Gentlemen, the same core classes from third edition are present in Pathfinder, but all of them have seen some significant changes. There are a few new base classes to play with as well. You might want to take a look at them. Gunslinger is out, as are the samurai and ninja, but everything else is fair game.

Each class has several archetypes, which are essentially variant forms of that particular class. Each archetype trades out a few class features for new abilities. You guys might want to check a few of those out as well.

The most significant change to character creation is in the way the skills system works. No longer do you get quadruple skill points at first level. Instead, having a class skill trained grants a +3 bonus. Furthermore, cross-class skills no longer take two points to raise. All skill points are purchased on a 1:1 basis. The maximum ranks you can have in a skill is your character level. Finally, a permanent change in your intelligence score now retroactively changes your skill points.

Favored classes were changed. The various races no longer have specific classes that don't count for determining a multiclass experience penalty. Instead, everyone picks a favored class at character creation. When you gain a level in your favored class, you gain either an extra hit point, or an extra skill point. Each race also has certain classes for which they can take a different favored class bonus. Check those out. Some of them are pretty cool.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Pathfinder point buy calculator:
http://tools.digitalightbulb.com/pbcalc.html

The basics:

A 10 is free, and the default in every ability score.

11 costs you 1 point. Each point you take after that costs you the bonus that point would give you from your point buy. So moving to 12 costs you 2. (1 for the 11, 1 for the +1 bonus on the 12.) 13 costs you 3. 14 costs you 5 (1 for 11, 1 for 12, 1 for 13, 2 for 14), 15 costs you 7, 16 costs you 10 (same as d20 3.5), 17 costs you 13, and 18 costs you 17.

The twist comes in that a 10 is not your minimum score. 9 "costs" you -1 (which means it adds +1 to your point buy), 8 costs you -2, 7 costs you -4.


The pathfinder point buy favors scores between 10 and 15, all of which are cheaper than the d20 3.5 system. it also favors picking a weakness and having a 7 somewhere, to boost your other scores. 18s are brutally costly.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

So the Coven hex is essentially giving witches a bonus feat, as there is an Extra Hex feat. However, the hex itself primarily benefits the rest of the coven.

Therefore, non-witches will get a bonus feat. This bonus feat must be either a Teamwork feat, or a feat that benefits someone else more than you.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

I'd like to take a moment to review the ginger witch schtick and how it affects your choices as PCs. This campaign was born from the, "Gingers have no souls and are witches," myth. What if that were true? That would be a neat game. Out there in the world, there are certainly women who can use magic, but do not have red hair, and are not witches. They're just not what this game is about, so you can't be them. Such women still get burned in Kingsland, however - they don't care that a lady doesn't have levels in the witch class. The locals use the term "witch" in the classical sense.

The coven is only looking out for their own, that is to say those who are carrying the blood of ancient kings and queens. The bloodline usually lies dormant. Female children of witches do not inherit their mother's gift, which is like a recessive gene. Male children of witches always inherit their mother's red hair. They do not get her magic. In fact, they don't have the capacity to use any magic at all. (Meaning no bards, no rangers, no clerics, no wizards - zip). They are carriers, waiting to pass along their mother's gift of magic to a future generation. Witches inherit their power from their paternal grandmother.

Male PCs have no race/class restrictions. You just can't be a human with red hair if you want to use magic of any sort. That's the price those men pay for carrying the blood of kings. Also, for better or worse, red-haired men are more strongly affected by witch magic.

I'm inserting a few things designed to drive the character creation discussion towards group dynamics. I'm giving everyone some sort of free feat that has to be used for the benefit of everyone else in the group. Witches are part of a coven. Red-haired men having to be purely nonmagical classes, but more susceptible to the magic of their witchy companions. Meanwhile you operate in a gingerphobic society. Someone with the disguise skill might be wise.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

You live in the County of Georg's Hollows, under the rule of Count Thomas Georgson III, in the city of Georgesburg. The coven owns a mansion on a hill at the outskirts of the city, just to the north of the merchants' district. It's a wealthy family that pays their servants well, which is why you all have the Rich Parents trait, and 900gp for starting gold.

Kingsland is a feminist's nightmare. Women are the property of their fathers until they're sold off to a husband at marriage, and are expected to obey the head of the household and provide him with an heir. Basically like medieval Europe. Women are paid less than men for the same jobs, or they would be if they were allowed to work the same jobs.

Witches are a threat to national security. Gingers are castrated or burned. It's very likely that some of you are gingers rescued by the coven many years ago, especially the ladies. Alternatively you could have fallen in with the coven after becoming smitten by one of the lovely girls, or perhaps you followed them across the sea from Annwn. As I mentioned in a previous post, there is a horrible, nasty witch-land across the sea.

Grandma
Grandma is a wizened old crone who has been in charge of the coven longer than anyone can remember. Her hair is mostly white, although there are still a few stray strands of red here and there. She lives in the attic, and likes to sit in her rocking chair with her cat. Grandma always has fresh cookies left out in the kitchen. She keeps her cauldron in the basement, and she never lets you leave the house without a potion.

Brigid Morgan
Miss Brigid teaches at the nearby school. All of the children adore her. She's a stunningly beautiful woman in her early forties, and rich golden blonde hair. Miss Brigid wears a pristine white dress, and never seems to get dirty. Early to bed and early to rise, Miss Brigid wakes with the sun and goes to bed just as it begins to set.

Cliodhna Morgan
Ms. Cliodhna is the creepy, sinister woman who lives in the mansion on the hill. The children are terrified of her, and flee whenever she steps outside. She's a raven-haired temptress in her late thirties, who always dresses in black. All of the women in Georgesburg hate Ms. Cliodhna, and are afraid she might steal their husbands. She is only seen at night, tending to her apple trees after the sun goes down.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Ideally we will want at least 2, preferably 3 witches in the party.

Beyond that, anything goes. Bonus for bards, rogues, and other socially adept types with lots of skills. Rangers, too. I doubt brute force will be as useful in a campaign like this. Clerics are as useful as always.

Neat unique class to PF: The Magus - a prebuild melee/spellcasting mix that looks fairly competent.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Little confused about the setting.Tech level?

You guys are like the Underground Railroad. You are "rescuing" redheads and "escorting" them back to Annwn. Some of you have been there, most likely the witches. It is a real place. Redheads are safe there. In fact, they have royal blood. You are here rescuing scions of an ancient royal bloodline. Your actions are not officially sanctioned, except as far as a coven can operate as it wishes provided it doesn't violate the laws of Annwn. (Since you're breaking laws of Kingsland half a world away, that's fine.)

As such, rangers are probably very useful. Fighters have their place. Witches need bodyguards, after all. Although yes, I intend for most of the challenges to be something other than "beat face" as combat tends to seriously bog down a pbp game. Also, you're half a world away from your power base. While you have a posse, Grandma believes firmly in natural selection weeding out the weak and stupid.

Witches can synergize with each other rather well. Giving them the Coven hex for free does sort of encourage more witches. It is also important to point out that the witch can fill in for a cleric or a wizard depending on which spells they prepare, although they have problems trying to do both simultaneously. In this, it does not hurt you to have two people playing the same class.

Your character creation should be a group effort, as you are all essentially playing a mafia organization. You should work well together. Rather than figuring out how individual PCs dominate encounters, I'm trying to push you towards figuring out how all of you come together to form Voltron.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

I am a red-headed witch. However, in this game, I shall play...


Ha. Just kidding.

Really seriously boosting the witchiness on this character though. Despite the high cost of starting 18s, she's got 20 int. (right now thinking human with the bonus going into INT, but Tieflings and or Emberkin Aasimar are a definite possibility.) Two starting feats (Human bonus and level 1) are likely both going into extra hex. Taking Hexes Slumber, Cauldron, and possibly Prehensile Hair at level 1.

Level 1 Spells: Charm Person, Cure Light Wounds, Ear-Piercing Scream, Frostbite, Ill-Omen, Mage Armor, Peacebond, Sow Thought.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

I haven't made an honest effort at a rogue before so am thinking that's what I should try here. Human, male.. trying to see what skill spread I should shoot for.

The campaign is a high fantasy setting. The technology is as you might find in The Once and Future King. I have not ruled out the possibility of various flammable powders to make fireworks, but any **** attempting to make a bomb or other sort of explosion will be making a Demolitions skill check.

The Demolitions skill may not be used untrained, has not been invented yet, and no you may not be the progenitor of the skill.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

For the PCs - consensus - good or evil party orientation?

I think I have to go good. Though I'm seriously considering evil.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Do not worry so much about your alignment. It is well understood that, to accomplish the task of rescuing young gingers from Kingsland, bad things will be done to people. As I said before, good and evil is not a battle between heaven and hell, here. (Which may mean the paladin isn't an optimal choice for this game, but such a thing could be worked in).

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

I'm up for this as a single-classed male non-red-headed Ranger. What do you envision as the balance between social vs. combat emphasis, broadly speaking?

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Hard to say. Most of the challenges should be skill oriented in general rather than social, specifically. Ideally, I'd want no more than half of your overall exp gain to come from battles. Preferably less, if you guys are slick and your dice are hot.

As an aside, I didn't think of this earlier, but I think there are ranger and paladin variants that trade out spellcasting, which would be viable for ginger boys.

For gingers, dye jobs will require a Disguise roll. You can have someone more skilled make the disguise for you. Dye can be made with Craft Alchemy.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Yeah, a non spellcasting ranger would be nice.. but I also have other redhaired temptresses coming at me...

plus, when are you starting? I have 2 weeks annual training coming up followed by 2 weeks family vacation. I don't know about the posting during either. It's not right out, but it's not going to be easy either.

edit: I've been shanghaied into a witch by an evil ginger, it seems.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Soon as folks get ready, which I don't imagine will happen in less than two weeks. Probably sometime while you're on your family vacation.

So PC suggestions.

The witch class can synergize with itself fairly well, especially with the Coven hex being granted for free. It would help out the current witch quite a bit to have a second witch. Not to mention, a second witch gets the same benefit to her own effectiveness for having Talya around. They have a different spell list than the wizard, but they are a full arcane spellcaster with 9 levels of spells. Their spell list is smaller than the wizard's, and it crosses over into cleric and druid territory as well. Adding a second witch is just as effective as a cleric or druid.

You're going to be doing some smuggling and jailbreaking, along with some trekking through the wilderness. You'll want to have people who can do that stuff. One guy doesn't have to be able to do it all, and you probably want more than one guy being able to do any particular thing. However rather than a standard game where you may want a rogue or a bard, having both might be a good idea, here. Other classes with 6 skill points are the ranger and the inquisitor.

You will also want someone to "be responsible" for any magic you're casting, by which I mean someone who doesn't get burned at the stake for lighting off a spell. While wizards, sorcerers, clerics, oracles, and druids seem like the obvious choice, that might be going overkill on magic. Especially if you're doubling up witches. There are a number of classes with bard-like spellcasting (six levels of spells, full caster level advancement) that have several other magic-oriented class features. In addition to the bard, you have the alchemist, the summoner, the inquisitor, and the magus. All of these classes have cleric BAB and d8 hit dice. Moreover, the inquisitor and the magus are both geared as front-line combatants.

Which reminds me, a lot of classes had their hit dice changed in Pathfinder. All 3/4 BAB classes are on a d8 hit die. All 1/2 BAB classes are on a d6. All full BAB classes are a d10. The only special snowflake is the barbarian with his d12 hit die. Armor proficiencies were changed as well. Many heavy armor classes were knocked down to medium, leaving only the fighter, the paladin, and eventually the magus who get them as part of their class. Rangers and barbarians can now use medium armor without **** up their class features.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

This is going to require considerable thought.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

I figure this will take you guys a few weeks to create characters for a number of reasons (which all compound upon one another).

1) It's Pathfinder, and not D&D. While there are similarities, there are just enough differences that your system familiarity isn't helping, and may actually be a hinderance. You're savvy enough to know you want to look for what's good, but by now you've read just enough to realize that "good" has changed.

2) I've imposed several of seemingly arbitrary restrictions on your choices, which **** with you a bit. Hopefully once you guys start playing it'll become a cool theme, but for right now it's just more **** you have to deal with.

3) I'm trying to push you guys towards group dynamics. PCs are pretty good at abusing their own abilities, and picking stuff for themselves that make them more powerful. I'm trying to get you guys to focus on stuff that is only kind of okay for you, but not really that great and you'd ordinarily pass on it, except that everyone else can abuse the **** out of it. It's an additional rules burden on everyone, because not only do you need to know what your own stuff does, but also everyone else so you can take advantage of their abilities.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Can females multiclass?

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"