Ding, Dong, The Lich is Dead!

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This is a Pathfinder based campaign

Starting background information

Your characters will be starting the campaign in the city of Trevton. The city has a population of around 8,000 people. How you came to be here is for the most part, up to you. Trevton is the westernmost city in the small country of Ludern.

Ludern has been under constant pressure for the last 80 years from the giants in the Andelade mountains to the north, from ogres and other hostiles in the Deruvian Hills to the south, from the larger kingdom of Verathe to the east, but especially from armies of humanoids in the west led by the lich Arianis.

Approximately two months ago the lich Arianis was defeated and destroyed by a group of 5 adventurers: Malaki, Darielle, Serentas, Geladyn and Kravos. As a reward to these adventurers 3 of them have been given baronies in the last few weeks. Baron Kravos is now the baron over the town of Trevton.

The popular belief is that with the lich slain the humanoids will fall into disarray and will cease putting so much pressure on the western border of Ludern and Trevton in particular. Rumor has it that baron Kravos is going to offer rewards to people in order to push back these humanoid incursions.

Some things that are apparent to those who have grown up in the area and to anyone that has spent more than a week or so in the city of Trevton is that while the city watch is sufficient to keep order within the city borders, the troops that are stationed in the area are far too few in number to repel any serious military threat or do much more than patrol the roads outside of town for bandits and other such minor nuisances.

Despite the city's size, there are fewer retired adventurers, magic craftsmen, etc. than one would expect to find in a city of this size. This is due to the fact that many such people have been slain while defending the city over the last couple of decades. That's not to say there aren't any, but they are just somewhat fewer in number than is typically found in a city of this size.

When the smaller city of Oakgrove to the west fell to the lich and her armies almost 20 years ago she almost immediately began applying pressure to Trevton with her armies. Every time the king attempted to redirect troops in order to bolster the troops at Trevton and push back the humanoids Ludern's foes on whichever front the troops had been pulled from would begin to increase attacks and or troops forcing the king to recall those troops in order to prevent losses on other fronts.

Because of all this hostility a number of things have made Trevton an atypical city. First is that for the last decade or two it has drawn an unusual number of non-human races as they have come to battle and to help repel the humanoid incursions. So, it is not unusual for city residents to see any of the standard core races wandering about. Second, is that because of all the attacks from the humanoids over the years, there is an abnormally high number of half-orcs and half-elves that make the city their home. Last, is that there are even a few of what most consider to be 'evil' humanoids that call the city their home. These being defected from the armies of the lich and made Trevton their home. While most of these beings are looked upon with suspicion by the majority of the townsfolk, they ARE allow to live within the city so long as they maintain the peace, though many of the residents of the city consider most of them to be nothing more than spies for the invading armies.

Within the city of Trevton no weapon larger than a dagger is allowed to be carried without some form of peace bond. Most inns and taverns require any such weapons to either be checked at the door or to be left in rooms that have been rented. First offenses typically result in a fine (which is generally determined by the arresting watchman), repeated offenses can result in jail sentences or expulsion from the city.

Trevton also has a very strict rule that the city gates are closed at night when the last of the sun drops below the horizon and are not reopened for any reason other than direct orders from the mayor, the military captain, the city watch captain or the baron until the top of the sun has broken the horizon in the east the next morning.

Character creation information

25 point buy for initial character creation. I would prefer to use a 20 point buy, but most are used to 25 and I would rather not see much in the way of min/maxing. So I'm giving the extra 5 points in order to try and avoid this. What this means is be careful when you are buying down a stat. If you buy any stat down below a 9 that isn't a result of a racial modifier I'm probably going to make you feel it at least occasionally. For example, if you lower your INT and WIS to 8 (or less) as a melee fighter because those are 'dump' stats for you and you feel you don't need them you've basically made yourself the village idiot and there will be times when I force your character to act accordingly. I'm not trying to make anyone make a character they don't want or like, but I do not want anyone to be surprised if from time to time a low stat has an adverse affect upon you and those around you.

No initial stat can be bought higher than 18 before any racial modifiers.

All races from the core rule book can be used with no penalties.

You can choose to take another race if you so choose, but many of them will come with some type of GM imposed penalty. So if you wish to run a different race, feel free to contact me and we can discuss/negotiate it. For example if you wish to make a character that is a drow noble, I'll most likely allow it but it will come with a fairly stiff penalty. Most likely a level penalty of several levels. How severe the penalty is, will depend upon how powerful the race you wish to play is relative to the core races. I'm trying not to rule out anything, but be aware that the more advantageous/powerful the race is, the stiffer will be the imposed penalty to balance it against the starting core races.

There will be no gunpowder or guns within this campaign.

The campaign will have a western European flavor. This combined with no gunpowder means the following classes will not be allowed: Gunslinger, Samurai, Ninja.

As per the rules all characters have max hit points at 1st level. At character creation you must choose whether to roll randomly for hit points every level after first or simply take an average roll every time. If you take an average roll, it would mean at second level you would take the high side of average and then at third you would get the low side of average and then repeat this pattern every two levels. I figure most of you will simply roll each level, but the option is there if you want it.

If you choose to roll your hit points each level, at least 1 person from the gaming group must witness the die roll.

Characters will begin play as second level characters. (Unless the majority of the players let me know that they would prefer to start as first level characters.)

Characters will begin play with average starting wealth for their class plus 300 gold. This money may be spent to purchase whatever items you can afford, whether mundane or magic.

At this point I have no plans to restrict any archetypes or prestige classes.

We are only using spells/feats/abilities from Pathfinder Core Rule Book, Advanced Player's Guide, Ultimate Magic and Ultimate Combat. Anything else will require GM approval and I will scrutinize such requests very closely for game balance.

You may also select two starting Traits.

The Leadership feat is not allowed (you can't take it until 7th level, but it will not be allowed within my campaign so don't plan any character development on taking it).

This isn't really character creation information, but I will be keeping track of character experience for the players. I will inform the players when they have leveled up.

Also, do not expect to be able to hire any NPCs to travel/adventure with the group. With 9 players, the group should have no problems filling any group needs. You are completely free to discuss amongst yourselves character class makeup and future plans within the party. You are also free to plan feats, etc. amongst each other.

Not that it would occur any time soon, but do not plan on the campaign going beyond level 15.

At least for the first few sessions/levels I will give out 1 token at the start of play to each player which can be used by the individual player to induce a die re-roll. At least initially I am going to allow you to use your token for ANY die roll that does not adversely affect one of your party mates (in other words you can't force another party member to re-roll a die that was beneficial to them). This means you can use your token to force a die re-roll that would affect another party member adversely if you choose, or you can even use it to re-roll a single damage die, etc. My intent is for this to be a safety net for the lower levels and I expect to remove it after a while (so don't get too attached to this). Also, the token must be used at the time of the die roll in question.

I will not be using the critical hit deck for critical hits (unless the majority of the players wish me to use it), because I feel it is actually an advantage to the monsters rather than to the players.

The deities that Reeves and Andy have worked up will be used in this campaign.