Hey folks, our group lost a couple of players due to scheduling conflicts at the end of Book 2 of Tyrant's Grasp. I'm looking for a couple of folks who are interested in slotting into the group and helping to take out the Whispering Tyrant. The group consists of: elven eldritch scoundrel rogue, halfling weaponmaster (slings), and dwarven inquisitor / holy vindicator. We lost a cleric and sorcerer. No one in the group is a power gamer, munchkin, or rules lawyer, nor are we interested in recruiting any. We use Discord for voice chat. Below you can find the character creation rules to which we all agreed in order to keep things reasonable and challenging. In general the rules were put together because we were tired of seeing the same builds, racial traits and so on that are picked simply due to being optimal. Ability Scores : 20 point buy. Minimum 7 before racials, maximum 18 before racials. If you are using Dexterity to hit or damage you cannot utilize abilities that trade attack for damage, ie, Power Attack, Piranha Strike, etc. This is to keep Strength relevant other than for carry weight and prevent Dexterity from becoming too powerful. Races : Core with no approval. Tieflings (no subraces), aasimar (no subraces, must take a -2 stat penalty of GM's choice), dhampir (no subraces, can't remove negative energy affinity via items such as pallid crystals) can be acceptable. Other races with GM approval. Sacred Tattoo and various other "optimal" race choices for alternative traits are taboo - always check with your GM. Classes : No hybrids. No archetypes that grant hybrid-like abilities. No occult classes. No guns. Paladin smite is per attack, as per 3.5 rules, and does not automatically overcome all DR. Missed attacks with paladin smite are wasted. Summoners and classes or archetypes built around summoning minions are not wanted because no one wants to wait 5 minutes for you to move all your sacks of HP. Traits : You are required to take a campaign trait from the Tyrant's Grasp player's guide. You have one free trait you can choose. Reactionary, Fate's Favored, Magical Knack, Magical Lineage are off limits - we're tired of seeing them. Traits that increase starting wealth are useless in this campaign. No drawbacks. Feats : No Leadership, Sacred Geometry. Magi can take Fencing Grace or Slashing Grace, because Dervish Dance is the same thing just limited to scimitars. Escape Route is banned, as is Stealth Synergy. Those feats are interpreted incorrectly specifically for abuse. Other feats are at GM discretion. Clustered Shots, Pummeling Strike are out. Instead, any class can take Penetrating Strike with a BAB of +6. Animal Companions and Familiars : Require a move action to direct, to prevent action economy abuse. No archetypes. Spells : Religious and racial requirements are enforced. Thassilonian spells are completely banned, as are Jatembe's Ire, Paragon Surge, Heroic Potential, and Aroden's Spellbane. Freedom of Movement is now a 1 min./level spell, instead of a 10 min./level buff you just throw on to negate 75% of the bestiary. Other spells are subject to GM approval. Deities and Obediences : Easily abused - subject to GM approval. Alignment : Must be good. In general don't try to build a broken or overpowered character. No one else did, nor does anyone want it. Weapons of Legacy : You will create and designated an item that occupies a slot as your legacy item. This can be a sentimental item, a gift from a family member or significant other, a family heirloom, so on. This will grow with your character and provide you various benefits, including stat boosts, magical capabilities, and so on. They cannot be sold. They cannot be enhanced with magic. They only function when occupying an item slot. I will try to add abilities to them that work with both your character's build and personality. Hope Points : I will give out hope points to the party as I see fit. This may be due to excellent role-playing, defeating powerful foes, intelligent use of abilities or items, or just general out-of-the-box thinking. These are hero points, but are simply pooled for anyone in the party to utilize. The ability to query the GM for appropriate actions is removed from the hero point capability list. Feats, spells and items associated with hero points are not functional within the campaign. Elephant in the Room : This AP is difficult and with the impositions I've put in place I feel adjusting feat "taxes" is necessary. We'll use Elephant in the Room variant rules for feats. Background Skills : Available. Tyrant's Grasp does bill itself as survival horror, at least for decent swaths of the campaign. It is difficult, and the party typically won't have access to all the normal things most Pathfinder parties do - buying whatever magic items they want, crafting, and so on. It is intended to test your skill as a player in terms of managing resources, being intelligent in combat, and using everything you have available to you. If you'd like to know more, have interest or questions, feel free to get in touch with me via Discord. Sincerely, neutralevil (discord handle)
