Rules:
For ease of reference, I'm relisting everything from the discord as well as the additional rules.
- Characters are PF1E, level 3, 30 Point Buy, 4 Character Traits, an ability score increase every even level instead of every four levels, and an extra feat at level 1 that ties into their sin choice if possible. Planar races and any races that give permanent access to flight are banned for story purposes. We will be using Elephant in the Room.
- This is a gestalt game with the standard gestalt rules. Your secondary class must be wizard using the Thassilonian Specialist (Sin Magic) Archetype. Primary class, additional wizard archetypes, and any class choices besides archetype are entirely up to you.
- Important Narrative Combat will take place on either Roll20 or video call using all of the standard PF rules. All other combats and any out of combat checks will be handled via a homebrew "card" system that will be detailed below such that you can continue your IC post without needing GM arbitration.
- Here's the part that's hard to explain without an image. Sin magic decides your 2 opposition schools for you. As such, it is possible to draw a seven pointed star with each point being a sin connected to their opposed sins. There are two ways to do this, and I've opted for the star where every 3rd point is connected instead of every other point. If you do this, and then draw a circle around the star to form a heptagram, you'll see that the order of the sins around the circle (either clockwise or counter-clockwise depending on how you drew it, but it has mirror symmetry) are:
Envy->Lust->Pride->Wrath->Gluttony->Greed->Sloth->Envy
This is important for the card system.
- The Card System. The sins represent the suits the cards will have, so there are seven suits in this system. You will start with a deck containing cards 1 to King (Note: 1, not Ace. Aces are something different here) as well as an Ace of the suit matching your sin. Your deck will also have a Joker and 2 additional 7's, one from each of your sin's neighbors on the sin "clock". I.E. If your sin is Pride, you'll have a 7 of Lust and a 7 of Wrath within your deck. There is no "hand" that you draw, you have a "Available" pile and a "Spent" pile. When you use a card, it goes from Available to Spent. Once all Cards are Spent, your entire deck becomes Available again. This should make it easy to keep track of your deck digitally so you don't have to try and create a physical representation.
- When you attempt to do something that would normally require a d20 roll, you will play a card to represent what number you rolled on the die, with a -2 penalty for cards that are of a different suit then your sin. This does mean that the highest you can roll is a 13. Enemy ACs will be adjusted to account for this. Skill Check DC's are generally low enough for this to not be a problem. If the DC is not standard, and is dependent on a GM's call rather than having a set value in PF's core rules, then assume the DC is 11 + character level (So 14 currently). You only have to play a single card per situation. If your post involves sneaking past multiple enemies in different rooms, you don't need to make a new stealth check for each room. One card covers the success rate of the entire endeavor. Similarly in combat, one card will cover your entire turn. You'll have the same value for your attacks, saving throws, etc. AoOs and other enemy interrupts will be ignored during text combat. There is an exception for multiple attacks. Whether you get them from TWF, High BAB, or feats like Rapid Shot, you land one hit if you beat an enemy's AC + 1 additional hit for every 2 you beat their AC by up to the max amount of attacks you can make in a turn. Damage will always be average damage, max on crit threats, and max + average for confirmed crits (X3 and X4 crit weapons add average an additional 1 and 2 times respectively).
- Moving in text combat does not follow PF rules. You have the same freedom of movement that you would have in a casual rp on this site. So long as your movement allows, I don't care if you jump, slide, flip, whatever around enemies and I don't care when during that movement your attacks happen. Full-attacking does not keep you from moving.
- The Ace and The Joker. The Ace is basically a nat 20. You instantly succeed whatever you were attempting if it was reasonably possible for your character to do. In combat, all your attacks are crit threats. To confirm your crits, you must play an additional card and following the above rules for determining amount of hits, you determine how many of your attacks are confirmed crits. You can choose to not play an additional card and leave all your attacks as crit threats. The Joker is a wild card. It can be a stand in for any card except for the Ace and there are reasons you would want to use lower value cards. Neither the Ace nor the Joker need to be played to reset your deck. If you play every other card, you can choose to reset your deck without playing them or wait until you've played one or both of them before resetting.
- Why do the suits matter? There are two cycles that the sins follow. The Progression cycle and the Oppression cycle. The progression cycle follows the clock pattern up above, while the oppression cycle follows the opposed sin star-lines in this order:
Envy->Wrath->Sloth->Pride->Greed->Lust->Gluttony->Envy
The Progression Cycle matters for the cards in your deck. When you play a card, if you have already spent a card of the same number whose suit is next on the progression cycle, you make that card available again. For example, If you have already spent a 7 of Gluttony, then playing a 7 of Wrath will recover that card. This is not a choice, cards that could be recovered by your played card will be.
The Oppression Cycle matters for when you play cards against an enemy in combat. All enemies will have also have an assigned sin. If your card's suit oppresses their sin, then you gain a +2 bonus to your card's value and a -2 if their sin oppresses your card's suit. When enemies take their turns, they will also play a card. If you play a card with a matching number but oppressing suit on your following turn, then you nullify/block/dodge any effects that happened to you in addition to whatever else you can accomplish with that card use. If you play a card whose suit is oppressed by the enemies' card, then you must play a higher number or all your attempts fail regardless of your card's usual success. These cycles are why the Joker is helpful, as it can therefore allow you to nullify an enemy's attempts, or help you recover cards back into your available pile.
- Adjusting your deck. The deck given above is the default deck that you have as a level 1 character. However, you are allowed adjustments as you level up. You cannot add or remove 7's, Aces, or Jokers to your deck and you must have at least one King and one 1. Past that, you are allowed to add or remove cards from your deck, so long as you also add or remove the card that is equidistant from 7 in the opposite direction. Want to remove your 2, then you must also remove your Queen. Want to add another 10, then you must also add a 4. Cards in your deck can be of any sin-suit except for your opposed sins. In addition, for every level including the first, you can add cards above 7 without also adding their weaker counterparts so long as the total distance from seven of these cards adds up to your level. For example, since you're level 3, you could add 3 8's, an 8 and a 9, or a single 10. Your deck can be readjusted 1/week after a day of rest. Resting this way also recovers all of your cards.
- Please let me know if you find any of this confusing and need it explained better.
Plot:
Your characters have been whisked away from their time and place either during a tragedy or soon after. They find themselves in a massive city where the horizon never seems to end and the sky is always night, Pandemonium. They say that outside the city lies a massive cliff that encircles the entirety of Pandemonium but it'll take you 2 years of walking just to reach it, longer to validate your captivity on all sides. In the center of the city is a structure that holds to entrance to the Well of Sin. The well is an inverted tower that burrows into the depths of Pandemonium. No one knows how far the well descends, but each floor is surrounded by its own district of Pandemonium up to Floor 135. Floor 135 is the farthest that any sinner has descended and the district of Pandemonium that surrounds the floor is ruled by Lucifer the Fallen, the man who first conquered Floor 135 and is considered the strongest of all the sinners.
The citizens of the city come from many walks of life, and some may even seem alien to your characters. Pandemonium exists outside of time and space and as such your characters can come from different cultures and histories than everyone else. The only commonalities is that everyone comes from the same planet and is from a time after the invention of the sword, but prior to the invention of the gun. Everyone here is like you, desperate. They all have something they chase after, and the well's trials give promise that their is great reward for great effort. Money, Power, Lovers, Knowledge, or maybe a way back home are all rumored to be found at the bottom.
Will you descend deeper and darker into your sins, or will you be consumed by them and fall prey to Pandemonium? Only by taking the trials can you find the answer.
Character Sheet:
- Including the rules above, keep in mind that this is a story of redemption. While not all sinners in Pandemonium are redeemable, and your characters are likely not seeking redemption at the beginning of their tale, the penultimate destination of this rp is for your characters to develop into better people with a strong sense of purpose.
- You will need to make 2 character sheets. One is the standard PF1E CS for your PF stats and abilities that you will send a picture, or doc, or whatever you use to fill that out, to me on our discord. The other will be one of the two narrative CS's below. The Hefty variant is only if you wish to fully flesh out your character and keep all of the details on this site. Credit to @Baphomini as these are based on their two CS's from The Seven rp.
CS Template:
This is a game testing variant rules for text-based rp that is paired with Pathfinder 1st edition. The players have already been decided, but visitors are free to ask questions in the ooc if you'd like to know more details. Visitors who show interest may be invited to future games.
Cast:
@Illin as Rogue/Pride Wizard
@JewelSerket as Cleric/Gluttony Wizard
@VikingPenguin99 as Druid/Lust Wizard
@Kronshi(GM) as Fighter/Greed Wizard
(Subject to change as characters are still in development)