Thursday, April 25, 2013

Tales from the Watchers of the Sullen Vigil: The Pathfinder Conversion


For various reasons that are best saved for some existentialist rant in the future I had this idea of providing a set of conversion notes for use with Sarvaelen as a setting powered by Pathfinder. What follows is the fruit of that effort...



Pathfinder Conversion Notes for the World of Sarvaelen

Races of Sarvaelen
Humans are the sole default race of the setting. There are a few racial variations by ethnic or cultural origin, and a few optional non-human races. 

Official Nonhuman Races: in prior entries Ghuls and Naga have been provided as racial options. While primarily intended as a way for GMs to roll up detailed NPCs of these two types, both are certainly possible as PC races if so desired. I'll provide additional stats for each in another blog entry (soon, hopefully), or at least point out which resources in Pathfinder work for them (there are ghoul feats, for example).

Optional Non-Human Races: tiefling, dhampir, nagaji, and vishkanya are four permissible races. Aasimar might ber permissible in the form of humans touched by the divine will of Nevereth. By contrast, a tiefling would reflect a cursed bloodline from Camrinal of a certain nature. Dhampir and nagaji would be permissible as presented. Nagaji would be a remote race from the south, in the region of Yakhal and Sammar. I may provide more detailed entries on how each of these four races would specifically fit in to Sarvaelen in the future.

Random Racial Origin Table:
D100                Racial Origin
1-94                 human ; roll for homeland below
95                     ghul (sane)
96                     Naga; (1-3) expatriot or (4-6) traveler of Nagapuram 
97                     dhampir; roll for homeland below
98                     tiefling (1-3) or aasimar (4-6); roll for homeland below
99                     nagaji from either Yakhal (1-4), Sammar (5) or Neremune (6)
00                     vishkanya from either yakhal (1-7), Sammar (8-9) Shul (10) or Nagapuram (11-12)

Random Homeland Generation Table for Pathfinder             
D100                Homeland            (Special Subtables & Suggested Stat Bonuses)
01-25               Aeronost               Possible Camrinal bloodline**; any
26-32               Esrenor                  Possible Camrinal bloodline**; +2 CON
33-40               Iandei                     Mixed Homelands*; +2 DEX or CHA
41-45               Mandrelavas         None; any
46-55               Thaerinal               Possible Camrinal bloodline**; +2 CON or WIS
56-70               Atlenar                   Possible Camrinal bloodline**; +2 STR or CON
71-75               Neremune             none; +2 CHA or INT
76-80               Yakhal                     none; +2 CON or DEX
81-85               Emon***               Elemental Taint***; +2 INT, WIS or CHA
86-90               Viskar Steppes      none; +2 DEX or STR
91-95               Katari                      Possible Camrinal bloodline**; +2 DEX or CON
96-00               Sammar                 none; any

*Mixed Homelands: The iandei roll a second time to establish their local origin. If Iandei or Sammar comes up, then the iandei is a pureblood of Shul.
**Camrinal Bloodline: There is a chance equal to a INT or WIS check on DC 22 that an adventurer from this land has some heritage from the old empire. If the character starts as a spell caster then he is automatically considered pureblood. Purebloods are prone to attracting special attention from demons, old gods, spirits and other malevolent beings.
***Elemental Taint: Emoniae revere the elemental old gods, and still worship them. There is a chance equal to WIS check DC 22 that an emoniae has some elemental heritage in her or her bloodline. The immediate effect is an innate basic understanding of that elemental tongue (starting language) and an affinity for that element, which means that they tend to be regarded favorably by elementals of like type that they meet and should schools or domains as appropriate.

The Emoniae
Most emoniae have a talent for magic, and usually choose +2 to INT, WIS or CHA according to preferred magical heritage. Emoniae are, like pureblooded of Camrinal, prone to attracting the attention and interest of demons, spirits, elementals, old gods and other beings from the Elemental Realms.

Magic In Sarvaelen
   The following spells are unavailable in Sarvaelen: all detection spells, all alignment-affecting spells. Resurrection spells of any type are permitted but have a potent cost and a good chance of restoring the target as an undead creature (target must make a DC 30 CON check to avoid becoming an undead when any resurrection spell is deployed). Magic beyond level 6 in Sarvaelen is “lost magic” and known only to be found in ancient Camrinal grimoires.

Character Advancement
   All characters in Sarvaelen advance on the slow experience track. Sarvaelen’s heroes rarely get past level 10-12, even after decades of adventure.

Classes of Sarvaelen
   The following classes are permitted in the world of Sarvaelen:

Core Rulebook: barbarian bard, cleric, druid, fighter, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, wizard

Other Books: cavalier, inquisitor, magus, oracle, witch

Core Prestige Classes: assassin, dragon disciple, duelist, eldritch knight, loremaster, mystic theurge

Other Prestige Classes: battle herald, master spy, nature warden, rage prophet, stalwart defender.

Druids are rare, but can be found among the barbarian tribes 

Sorcerer Bloodlines in Sarvaelen
   The following bloodlines are considered most suited to Sarvaelen: Aberrant, Abyssal, Arcane, Celestial, Destined, Draconic, Elemental, Infernal, Undead; APG: Dreamspun, Protean, Serpentine; UM: Accursed, Djinni, Efreeti, Marid, Rakshasa, Shaitan.                                                          


Domains of the Known Gods of Sarvaelen:
Deity Name  (Alignment, Domains)
Contemporary Gods
Nevereth                       
LG                community, good, law, healing, protection, nobility
Padmavati                     
NE               evil, law, magic, knowledge, weather, magic, nobility
Agharda                         
NE               evil, charm, strength, war, trickery, destruction
Wishara                          
CG               chaos, luck, travel, trickery
Matrigias                       
CN               chaos, destruction, strength, animal, madness
Dragon Cults                
any chaotic  usually chaos, destruction, evil, war, fire, rune
The Sun Dragon            
LN               sun, plant, law, glory, protector, fire
The Black Hag              
CE               death, evil, chaos, magic, trickery, knowledge, rune

Old Gods
Shamanza’gadhal         
NE              death, destruction, nobility, magic, darkness
Satarnas                          
TN              earth, repose, rune, strength, weather
Eshraggol                        
CE               evil, madness, animal, rune, war, destruction
Roeghast                         
CE               chaos, knowledge, magic, rune, trickery
Gaol                                  
CE               chaos, death, evil, destruction, war, darkness
Yaramas                          
NG              glory, good, healing, sun
Vitru’Forazh                   
CG                fire, strength, knowledge, trickery
Kadellan                          
TN              darkness, weather, magic, liberation
Grotares                          
LN               community, law, plant, animal, luck
Traldreggor                    
CE                charm, madness, trickery, evil
Formos                            
CN               madness, trickery, weather, magic, death, earth
Graeehn                         
TN                animal, strength, repose, destruction
Valos                                
LE                death, magic, war, law, glory

Elemental Gods (pagan deities from Yakhal and Neremune)
Erasak                              
NE                fire, glory, sun, war
Sylverune                        
NG               water, weather, plant, travel
Aisherus                          
TN                air, weather, knowledge, destruction
Grome                             
TN                earth, protection, rune, strength

Magic Items in Sarvaelen
   Magic is exceedingly rare in this land. While magic items exist, they are regarded with a certain measure of fear and wonder. Most items bear a great gift and also a curse. While it is certainly possible to sell magic items, very few are in any position to barter for the sale of such goods, and almost no one has the proficiency or skill with which to manufacture magical goods.
   All magic weapons in Savraelen are relics of Camrinal and the old era, with few modern forgers able to craft such weapons. Magical enchantments in Sarvaelen tend to fade after only a few decades in all but the most potent artifacts, so most surviving enchanted weaponry today are actually much older and more powerful relics which have since degraded with time. 
   As a rule of thumb any horde or treasure in standard Pathfinder terms should be worth 1/10th of its listed value as listed on the Slow Track treasure awards chart (table 12-5 pg. 299). Thus a typical award at level 1 for an encounter is roughly 17 gold pieces, while a level 5 reward would be roughly 100 gold.
   This does not apply to magic items, which can be awarded according to the list value; but the coin value is always reduced. Ex: a 5th level treasure parcel is worth approximately 1,000 GP, of which 100 may be gold, and the other 900 is a “budget” to spend on magic items stowed by the monsters.

Economy of Sarvaelen
   Gold is precious and rare; most currency is exchanged as silver or copper. All characters start with their normal gold value in goods at level 1, but after that they start with coin to buy gear equivalent to 1/10th the listed value on page  399, table 12-4. So an adventurer starting at level 5 begins with 1050 GP instead of 10,500. The character may roll their starting coin for level 1 and add it to this total. 

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