Extreme complexity arcane systems don't follow classical Mordenkainenian mechanics.
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rydi
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Tri-stalt: A Cycle of the Ages Campaign

Post by rydi »

At the end of a long-lost age, disaster destroyed the multiverse. This lost age, referred to as the Age of Heroes, or the Third Cycle, by the most learned of scholars, held both wonder and horror. The remains of this age float in the space between all things on the astral, existing only as concepts and ideals in the dreams of sentient creatures, or merely as Shadows of what they once were. But sometimes, shadows and dreams are more real than the material, sometimes ideals hold the greatest truth...

In the Eighth Cycle, the multiverse is both less grand, and far less dangerous. The multiverse moves in regular, predictable patterns, and the struggles, though less epic, are the more compelling for it. But some dangers are beyond the people of this late age to battle... And these threats from lost cycles return once more.

The gods know that they must respond, and with great fear, they unleash the souls of dead heroes, the decayed essences of the mighty heroes of the Third Cycle, that clung to life in the void rather than become a part of later cycles. Beings of awe and power, grandeur and horror, with the potential to eclipse the danger of the beings they have been summoned to defeat...


In this game, you play the heroes of the past, summoned to fight horrors beyond the ken of mere mortals. The ages have eroded your minds and souls, removing much of what you once were, but you are still formidable. With time and experience, you could reclaim your past, and lay new claim to the future.

System: 3.x (Pathfinder, where applicable)

Books: All non-setting specific books books, most web-enhancements, specific Faerun and Eberron books ("Races of...", "Campaign Setting", and "Player's Guide"; more on request)

Starting Level: 11

Progression: Tri-stalted (three distinct lines of progression); Averaged Values

Number of Classes Allowed: 6, over the course of 20 levels (5 level classes count as .5 classes for this calculation, rounded down)

Races: Any, with LA that add up to 8 and hit dice no greater than 11. Those that take less than a total of 4 in this area may instead take npc classes or racial hit dice to even out the difference. Special allowances may be made for those wanting to play more powerful/strange creatures. Ignore any racial hit dice; do not apply them to the character, they are used for exclusion purposes only.

Attributes: 40pt Point Buy out of Pathfinder.

Feats: As per Pathfinder, but add a feat in every 4 levels (4, 8, 12, etc.); these feats must all be of a single specific type ([divine], [metamagic], [wild], etc.) or must be a specific line of feats (mounted combat, power attack, etc.).

Alignment: Special. Pick a point on the the alignment grid where two or more alignments meet... Use a pictorial representation in which you actually plot your alignment on the L/C and E/G axis, rather than simply stating a standard alignment. Characters in this game represent blended or conflicting ideals that often transcend the understanding of the current age.

Treasure: As per 11th level characters (grave goods left in the temple dedicated to you, or items you were exiled with).

Other: Please devise a few personality traits to play out, and at least two non-power related character goals (goals not having to do with gaining knowledge in a specialty, more skills, or more power; finding treasure is however an applicable goal, if played out well). Characters should also have a backstory, and players should have an idea of how their characters view and think about the world (they are not human, or even humanoid, and should not necessarily have the same goals, perceptions, or ideals as standard humanoid creatures).

Further questions regarding this thought experiment and potential game should be fielded as they occur to you, via this thread.

Edit: also, try not to double up on things overly much, we already have a ton of paladins and warblades for example.
Last edited by rydi on Sat May 08, 2010 12:18 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Post by Amseriah »

I think it's a good thing that you went ahead and put forth this proposal now instead of waiting for the end of the current game as it might in fact take some of us over a year to come up with a character (me).
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Post by rydi »

Yeah, pretty much my thought.
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Post by jimreaper »

o.O
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Post by Liquidprism »

I need moar feats.... hehe
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Post by rydi »

Yes. Exactly. We call the above "powergaming". Welcome to the fold.
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Post by Liquidprism »

Oh, but srsly... I do...
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Post by rydi »

Update:

You can have a 7 LA race, and will start at 11th level with 11th level gp in gear. The creature can have no more than 11HD, and those HD are not added into the build. Any leftover LA can be taken as NPC levels.

Current choices:
Undead Pixie
Dragon
Legendary Polar Bear
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Post by Avilister »

For everyone's reference, that's 82000 gold.

I'll be a Gold Dragon Master of Nine. Oh yes.
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Post by Amseriah »

I am that which never should have been...the famed three-headed half-fiendish unicorn...be fearful Charlie, be fearful for we are going to Candy Mountain. I AM the Banana King.
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Post by Rusty »

I have a half-fey Brelani missile.

One of my projects for today is to write an add-on sheet to steven's gestalt pathfinder excel sheet into which you can put your features from three classes in separate columns and find them averaged or summed correctly in the progression page. Though this is less elegant than penning an entirely new sheet for tristalt, it will work just fine and is easier and faster. I may, alternatively, just go ahead and do a whole new sheet. Dunno. But I'm working on my build today. If people want to see/use the tools I'm using later I'd be happy to share them.
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Post by Amseriah »

I think that in the interim between the 3rd and 8th cycles I was a vestige....that makes sense.....
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Post by rydi »

strangely, it does.
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Post by rydi »

Two questions:

1) do people want to use the actual formulas for saves, giving a boost at first level of a class, or just use a normalized good/bad save for all character levels past first? Option 1 rewards multiclassing and gives higher saves, while option 2 gaurantees that saves will max out at 12, and sometimes much lower.

2) did people want more feats, and/or more prestige classes? I had thought about increasing to 7-8, and maybe adding in a feat or two, but I don't want to unless the desire is there.
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Post by Avilister »

1) I'm in favor of the boost at 1st level. It will signficantly help my ability to qualify for prestige classes in epic levels without notably affecting my actual performance (since in all likelihood I'll be passing or ignoring most save-based effects anyway, and when I might not, I can make a 'Concentration check' instead of a real save, or sub my level in for the save).

2) I have not yet assigned feats - the task is daunting. I'm in favor of more class options in the post-20 game, simply because many classes do not have progression that extend into epic levels. In the 45 level progression I have crafted thus far, I end up using 10 classes, only one of which I do not take to the end and 4 of them are 20-level classes (this is slightly compounded by the fact that one of the classes, Master of Nine, is a 5-level class).
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