The World of Keslar

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Basic World Information

This is a Pathfinder 4th edition based campaign.

In terms of discovery, the world is relatively new. It was over two centuries past when cataclysmic war broke out in the old lands of the east. Races joined together to fight forces of evil that attacked all that existed. Those who fought in battle were rarely seen again, and if they were seen, had been reduced to such base life that they no longer recognized family or friends and slew them as mindlessly as any other enemy. When the civilized races were pressed against the ocean, they fled sailing west into the unknown, some in warships, others in merchant craft, yet most in whatever they could lash together. Many lashed small fishing vessels or rafts together to make larger platforms. In all cases, the ships, boats and rafts weren't designed for sea travel outside view of land, and most floundered and sunk.

While the trip west took a couple of months, the exodus of the races spread over several decades, first growing to a rush, then dying to a trickle over the last decade as fewer peoples survived in the east to even attempt the trip. The reports of the last survivors differed little from what the earliest experienced that forced them on their journey. Some scourge was driving the wild humanoids in organized attacks upon the civilized races, and likewise causing the majority of the civilized ones to devolve into base savages, initiating such practices including ritual and practical cannibalism.

There were a few forays back to the east—ships of armed men sailing to attempt to take back their lands and countries. Whether lost at sea or by combat, they were never seen again.

In most cases, the people settled near where they landed, whether on large islands of Allysia or Karthak, the myriad of islands of the archipelago, or on the mainland itself.

World Map (been in character's family for generations)

Basic Character Information

All of the characters will be from the island-state of Allysia and are not very familiar with the world off the island. They are very aware that there is an island-state to the south called Kurthak, and somewhat aware of the islands of the archipelago to the north. To the west is the mainland, with the kingdoms of Farswhar due west and Kesland further south, west of Kurthak. The mainland north of the archipelago holds other countries, but what they are isn’t generally known to the characters, nor are the individual islands of the archipelago. To the east lies only ocean, though according to oral tradition, all of the civilized races originally sailed from the east to settle Allysia and the other lands here. Elves can name the grandparents or greats who sailed from the east. Dwarves and Gnomes can list their lineage of great to triply great grandsires who made the trip. Halflings and Humans care less about which forebears came across as the number of generations that have passed is so great. Orcs were native to the island, and in some cases did interbreed with humans, and the resulting half-orc offspring many times reside in the more civilized areas alongside the other civilized races

Allysia is a relatively large volcanic island several dozen leagues off the mainland that has significant populations of all the civilized races who all live on the island in relative harmony with little in the way of monsters left on the island. It is a largely self-sufficient agrarian society, though with some mining in the mountains.

Unfortunately, lately they have had to, because the island has been besieged the “pirates” of Kurthak, another large island far to the south. Sarak, the Lord-Emperor of Kurthak had designs on Allysia, which he initially hoped to gain through marriage to King of Allysia’s only daughter, but she chose instead to become a priestess of Alliopse, freeing her from the binds of this arranged marriage and trading nobility for mobility. This enraged Sarak, and he began attacking Allysia.

Initially, the attacks were harassing in nature—capturing merchant ships and fishing boats, attacking sea coast villages, burning crops and forests—but by capturing ships and building more of his own, he was able to raise a navy and inflict heavier casualties on Allysia. With the continued attack, the burning of crops and inability to safely fish or conduct commerce, Allysia’s prosperity has waned severely, with most of the citizens able to do little more than put just enough food on the table to not starve.

Now the worst has come. Sarak’s ships have taken the port towns and the capitol, and it appears to be down to single final battle for Allysia, of which the characters will be taking part.

Character Creation

Starting Attributes and Experience: Characters are created from the Pathfinder 4th Edition and will start at 1^st level, though with 1,000 experience points. The campaign type is Epic Fantasy, so you will start with 25 points with which to build your character.

Races: Races are the standard races from the Core Rulebook.

Hit Points: Hit points will be maximum for the class for 1st and 2nd level.

Classes: Being first level, no prestige classes are available. All other classes and archetypes from the 4 main books are available except for Gunslinger.

Equipment: Starting wealth is the average for the character class. Aside from standard and masterwork, there is always cheap equipment for sale. Cheap weapons do one less damage and half the hit points for sundering. Likewise for armor, and had double the armor check penalty. Cheap tools give a -1 penalty or more in their use, but are still better than using improvised materials.

Background: I’d like a brief background on each character. Since you are young 1^st level characters and have probably gained most of your current experience dealing with the siege, it doesn’t need to be long.

Magic: I anticipate this being a low-magic campaign, with not having a whole lot of magic items available, and gaining most of them by fighting for them. However, I will let game play determine exactly how much, as it hasn’t always ended up this way.

Gaining Experience: You will be gaining experience for role-playing, not for killing monsters. This frees up everyone from feeling that they have to take the path of killing creatures when other solutions are available because they would be penalized for taking the other path. This also frees up the GM from being obliged to provide gratuitous combat simply for the sake of gaining experience. Mind you, it doesn't keep him from throwing gratuitous combat just because he wants to.

Traits: You can have up to two traits, as described in the books.

Divine Intervention: There are no save points, but there is the possibility of divine intervention. The possibility of divine intervention will be at be least partially dependent upon the character’s piety toward the deity called, tithes to the temple and acting in accordance with the desires of the deity. The deity may not show up in person and instead send one of their avatars, minions or other follower to intervene, or may cause something to happen which would indicate their hand intervening in the situation.

Various Rule Changes or Deviations

Dexterity Bonus: Anyone with a positive Dexterity Bonus can use all or none of it, or can reverse it to give a lower number (ie a +3 Dexterity Bonus can be used anywhere from -3 to +3). The usual purpose for this would be to lower one’s Initiative, though there might be other reasons when this would be beneficial, such as to lower your AC when you want to be hit, but where the “attacker” would still need to succeed in their attack, such as if they were trying to catch you when you were falling and needed to succeed in a melee touch attack to catch you. There are probably some other instances when this would be advantageous. While I would think that this should be allowed in the rules, I haven't seen it specifically written this way.

Terrain: The terrain rules, from some of the descriptions through Perception distances and the like don’t make enough sense to be workable, so I won’t be using them, but will operate based on my own experiences and expectations. In many cases, the opportunity for Perception will be at further ranges than listed—in others, it may be less. Blame it on having a GM who enjoys the outdoors, has been in or on most of the terrain types described, has some naturalist training, and likes realism in the game experience.

Clerics, Inquisitors, Monks & Paladins: They must choose a specific deity to worship. I do not agree with the possibility of a divine type who doesn't follow a specific deity. Oracles are specifically exempted from this.

Druids: They worship the god Palamar. There can also be clerics of this god. Druids simply honor Palamar differently and receive his blessings in a different manner. Both clerics and Druids will be found in his temples and shrines.

Monks: They worship and receive their training in the temple of one of the Lawful deities close to their own alignment. While they may have some similarities to their Cleric brethren, they follow their own path to enlightenment within the temple and do not answer directly to either the priestly or warrior hierarchy.

Deities: The gods are alive and well. This is shown through the divine miracles the priests cast daily, and occasionally avatars and other minions of the gods walk the earth, and though rare, there has been occasion when a god has visited this realm in person. For this reason, there are few unbelievers in this world. See below for specific information on the deities.

Divine Intervention: There are no save points, but there is the possibility of divine intervention. The possibility of divine intervention will be at be least partially dependent upon the character’s piety toward the deity called, tithes to the temple and acting in accordance with the desires of the deity. The deity may not show up in person and instead send one of their avatars, minions or other follower to intervene, or may cause something to happen which would indicate their hand intervening in the situation.

Deities

Holy Symbol: Each symbol is unique to a deity. Basic holy symbols are made of wood or clay, but they can also be made (as appropriate) of precious metals or gems. The described symbol can be crafted to that shape, or may be emblazoned or etched onto a background piece. As an example, the seven-pointed star of Mantumaat could be a shaped star with seven points, or it might be a seven-pointed raised design on a circular disc.

A cleric can make a basic holy symbol by taking 1 pound of a suitable material (wood, clay, etc) and casting the following spells on it (these are actually variants on the main spells specifically for the creation of holy symbols that all clerics will know): Mending, Guidance, Purify Food and Drink, Command, and Bless, with Bless being the final spell, effectively using the holy symbol as a divine focus to complete itself. At the end of the final spell, the material will have gained the proper shape or design as desired by the cleric casting the spells. Using silver or gold will result in the creation of a holy symbol or that material.

Domains

It's possible I missed a few domains. If so, please let me know and I'll add those to this list.