Short list of name, general area and largest trait/efffect of widely known exalted?

A bit from left field, don't want to know the inspiration for npcs till late in the campaign if then. Last game I was always tempted to go read the book, I should do that now that it's dead, might give some closure to what should have happened.


An Npc with craft/artistry sketch, and maybe creation/conjuration domains. This guy? is lazy, hates being off his bum. Loves sketching, would do it all day, uses conjuration for supplies but buys paper and has a easel he carries around trying to get people to pay him to sketch things to pay for his habits, but magic images creation and painting are both more colorful and appealing to most, So he has a hard time outside of special requests.


Some of his landmarks have found their way into the artworld for their detail, but outside a collector useful details in them they usually hold minor value. He perfer people and creatures, and his summons draw copy (not spring from) his private collection. Int 3+ he will only draw with there consent, and summon from those with secondary consent similar to a pact.

Some left/right play there for his summons to be a bit more unique then average, but also more limited.

Lawful alignment? French? Third wheel noble son?

Like i said left field.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:18, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

Kind of want my character to be farsighted, enough so reading is ackward without glasses, but otherwise no benefit.

Adds a second reason besides poor for his illiteracy, and further establishes a secondary father figure.  Adds future roleplay oppertunities, gags, and some depth.

I bet magic can't help him read, like some  magically magically shaped glass can. Another brick in his magic isn't everything wall.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:14, Sun 24 Feb 2019.

Ok, the short list of the Exalted is posted. I was originally ganna make it A LOT longer, but then I figured "wait a minute, they can't know this much. It might spoil the fun of discovering it in-game" so I trimmed it down.

Browsing the definition of high fantasy.

found this under wuxia(last game basically) tropes

Heir to the Dojo: Given the nature of martial art schools in this genre, there tend to be certain characters who are chosen by his/her master as a successor. Xianxia has another particularly popular variant - characters going into ruins of ancient long-gone sects, discovering and passing some sort of a test in order to gain their "inheritance", ranging from techniques to artefacts to bound servants (bound immortal demons and the like)

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Also any thoughts on where deities and exalted stand?

Do divine casters just work and count as arcane, or do deities fuel them. Do the exalted count as the deities?

dnd metaphysics: prayers/opinions/ideas give birth/power to concepts, concepts group to form entities, enities give power to divine casters, divine casters spout opinions/ideals.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1138.html

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 Love how you listed the sun and moon as both exalted and unknown, gives our perspective and insight into the world at the same time.

For all anyone cares, they look like a exalted, act like a exalted, and no one cares enough to investigate. They may even be exalted and if so, all the other stars might be. There is no space jammer so only someone desperate would pursue trying to get a blessing from the (greater) sky exalted.

I can see elves and other lowlight races have huge moon respect in this setting.

Last game had a clan of vampires(full on Steampunk educated elitists) and vampire hunters.

Maybe We can incorperate lycanthropy as a hereditary disease instead of a curse/injury disease. Play up the lycanthropes as pursecuted or wild country nomads.

https://goldensun.fandom.com/wiki/Werewolf
This message was last edited by the player at 06:56, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

"Deities? What are deities?"

Look, why would people worship some nebulous, mysterious beings that may or may not exist in some sketchy sounding alternate realm of existance at the word of a stranger, when you have very real, tangable gods walking all over your petunias in your back yard?

Divine magic comes from those who make a connection with an Exalted (see general info setting). Even a lowest tier blessing  will do.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:13, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

The spheres I am most interested in are telekinesis, warp, creation, protection, and possibly either nature or time.

I want to Max out telekinesis and warp for sure.

I also want to try and combine warp and time... Because that seems insane.

It's the system the dm wanted, and your tge protagonist so go for it.


Deities are nonexistant, dead, or forgotten. Exalted take their place or even took over their role. Any remaining deities, if they ever existed have been reduced to powerless shrine spirits in secluded regions.

There may have been ancient temples, long forgotten and crumbling that now house provide refuge for monsterous things.

A mute knight's commander with shield fighting abilities that communicates through looks, writing, or a expanded knight's sign language (if one of his squad is there to translate). Maybe deaf and mute, campaign is high enough that could be considered a mechanical advantage.

He can be a sphere of champion's class a lv6 soldier for wingheld making a name for himself and his group as a eldritch knight type class.

I assume wingheld has some form of wyvern or other aerial knight squad that is key to it, utilizing their exdlted mountanous and stormy terrain into their tactics.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats.../shield-slam-combat/

Maybe a dragoon With enhancement sphere, some berserker, and dual wielding.

Quality shield profficencies would have to come from a tradition.

Could make a deadly proficient attacker with good defense.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:08, Sun 03 Mar 2019.

Jeeze theres a conundrum, how to work a competent drake knight force into a nation while makinging it effective while all the knights are incompetent and the drakes are in charge.

Is it like theres 10 badass commander pairings and the drakes resept the big drake and the knights respect the commanders and the drakes?

Organized chaos by physical respect and honor?

Most of the drakes like the services of the knight servant so they don't eat them aslong as they are brushed and respected?

The boss drakes are like the stallions of herd and their knight partners have the alpha female authority?

Might work, but seems like a tempermental defense force.

2nd lightning staff scholar's knack will be mildly useful and possibly blasphimous in
Wingheld, Does the wind factor mean ranged weapons are underused there or do they train to accomidate the wind in their weaponry?

E.g. wingheld army trait, you reduce the penalty on ranged weapons for wind by half.

Or a spiral arrow head design causing spin to aid in flying straight.

Tengu are always a funny race to me, i see them as they were in guildwars 1 Factions.

Well any luck I'll finally have a paycheck again come the end of the month, getting a job as basic IP issues and browser babysitter for a company.

If we go with the idea the exalted drove off or replaved tge divine deities, next on the list is the fey.


In my imagination fey as a whole feed off emotions and feelings the way divine entities feed off thoughts and ideals.

It possible the fey have been reduced as if by a drought struct the farie realm or courts due to the exalted, particularly among the more powerful fey.

If Your familiar with mushi-shi animations, fey creatures may exist as dnd creatures, but the greater fey have devolved into something more primal, magic events and occurences.

They take the form as unique boons or curses, often both inflicted upon by hapoenstance or by pact that allow miracles or judgements to happen that are fully understood and too rare for much study.

Each instance or backstory involving one could easily add depth but be stand alone.

The animation is both breath takingly beautiful, and intrinsic into humanity and i highly recommend it. Each episode tells a story that could stand on it's own without the supernatural, but the inclusion highlights the humanity involved and underscores the alien thinking of fey as if they are misguidedly helping.


It's a tall order, but it's something that could come up once or twice as strange magic.

----------------------------------


The other aspect of gaving weaker fey touches on a subject highlighted by Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.

The fey are nature and life embodied in it's savage circle, but they are like the magnetic field blocking the sun's rays from nuking the earth.

In fantasy these deadly sun rays are Elder Evils, like cthulu. Entities left over from failed worlds roaming the cosmos, born  of alien design and madness. The fey are the fence that keep them out or us hidden ftom lighting up like a galatic all you can eat sign.

Exalted could be a newer creation or older occurence moving in on prime divine real estate. The one thing all the exalted probably agree on, is they don't want to share with any outside or new sources eating their divine energy.

So a having a elder evil move in is the closest thing to a threat to the exalted as a whole, particularly if they weakened the fey's protection.

I don't want to fight that pèrsonally, but having the exalted fly off to space combat while mortals fall under the chaos of a elder evil's approach could work in interesting ways.

None of this would be common knowledge for the average mook, so I can nether confirm nor deny anything. You'll just have to find out in-game.

Are there dragons, do most not reach adulthood/old age? Most dragons give a extra wide berth to Most Exalted. Do the older dragons prey on the younger dragon, or do blessed hunt them down to cut their feeding habits short? How strong would the oldest dragon in the world be compared to a exalted, a quarter as powerful? I assume most really powerful dragons sleep for centuries unless actively disturbed.

 Is there a Dragon slayer guild/group that operates across borders similar to how a vampire slaying group would? Or would it be a Blessed/government role or given out to a generic adventurer guild.


 I assume Giants keep away from human settlements and the blessed, there seems to be plenty of wild lands (wylde?) for the less civilized races to inhabit. It may be true that most of humanity stays in cities, small towns and roads and avoids the rougher terrain and deeper mountainous regions.

Are there River Folk and Lake folk, do any regions have a connection with aquatic races? If so what types of qualities make this relationship mutually beneficial for whoever they interact with? A type of aquatic farming perhaps? Unique form of weaving due to the water saturated environment producing something similar to elvish darkleaf cloth? Possibly even negating some underwater action penalties?

Guranteed clean water in exchange for farm goods?

Lax laws  and loopholes on rivers establishments creating shady districts along rivers that tend to roam around?

Alternative forms of dwarven crafting along volcanic lakes?

Woo! setting specific materials, is mana ore the opposite of cold iron's costs 50% more to enchant?

Generally it's atleast as strong as iron/steel, or atleat it is when enchanted?

A soft, easy to work metal that actually gets harder when enchanted? starts off with gold hardness but get +2 extra hardness per enchantment level?  not looking at numbers, just brainstorming.


Other fun qualities that could be worked in other places.

Lead's anti scrying/detection properties.

Magic dampening reduces the power of nearby (radius size?) spells by 2 caster levels and is resilent to magical damage effects.

there has been a constant fire and cold metal variations in multiple editions with little sucess.

Perhaps regional metals with inherient fix elemental damage on hit, fire metal could start a campfire in a about a minute.

Sea prism stone? or Rather Blessed bane, illegal, goverment/military use only, and when used nullifies spellcasting and spell like abilities.

Rare parchment that holds conjuration magic better?


A material that is translucent to none lowlight vision?

Rubber as a exotic material from the Grasslands.

Ooh, Glassblowing as a aquatic trade specidlty! They have the sands, the minerals and possibly lava vents for it. Theirs is qualuty glass unlikely to shatter due to tempature shock or simple abuse. Perfect for experimentation or storage of volatile materials or emergency supplies.

Stone wood, a type of tree where the wood partially petrifies a few days after death creating strong solid wood items comparable to metal, but more flexible tgen ironwood.

Unusual crops with odd properties, WizardEngineeredCrops, some could grant minor buffs like high altitude adaptation or heat/cold ebdurance, others could have good berry like effects, Some wizards could go full Artist/Willywonka on their designer/custom crops or livestock. Pumpkins made to grow in snow?

Unusual reversals among the less civilized races could be fun, the regency wars are bound to have some impact on the wildlands. Migrations, unusual circumstances like banding together, possibly even the emergence of a few small cities in otherwise tribal humanoids witnessing the war.

Edit: ninja'd

If you look at tge Exalted short list you will find an actual Dragon Exalted (BFD stands for Big Fucking Dragon).

Anyone with 2 braincells to rub together give the Exalted a wide berth (zealous worshippers and remnant hunters not counting, although it could be argued they lack common sense to begin with).

I was rwally hoping to leave the rest for you to find outbin-game but oh well.

Older dragons don't hunt younger ones as a rule (if they did why bother giving birth to them in the first place?). By "blessed" I assume you mean the kingpriests becauase there's nothing objectively special about a person with a blessing. In the Grasslands everyone has a blessing (you kinda get one as a rite of passage) so does that mean they're all blessed? In Pinterestus where hust about everyone can use magic, a blessing is just a title, a social status symbol, nothig more. In Arcania having a blessing means a) You're rich and have money to burn. b) You're rich and have made an investment. Or c) You've bought a tool necessary for you to make a living/peddle your craft. It's basically no different than an enchanted weapon or something.

Anyway, to bring this back to the point, kingpriests generally don't go out of their way to hunt dragons unless the pain of inaction exceeds the pain of action. That's what idiots adventurers are for.

Dragons come in 3 categories:
1) The 1st generation.
2) The 2nd generation.
3) Everyone else.

The oldest dragons in the world (ancient ones, aged 9 or was it 1000+ years, don't have acess to d20srd) are known as the 1st generation and nobody knows how powerful they are in relation to the Exalted because none of them have been seen going up against an Exalted (ether individually or colectively). In fact, the 1st generation is extremely secluded, not just from humans and other bipads, but other dragons and creatures as well. Nobody can even point to a recorded event of one seeing or interacting with one (except maybe in the Dragon Knight archives, but they're not sharing). The only information on their existance at all is from 3rd generation and onward of dragons telling humans about them, and even that information is just what they were told by the 2nd generation.

The 2nd generation dragons are the monsters of horror stories. They seem to have a hatred towards all other non-draconic creatures, especially the Exalted and bipads (humans and such). They have a deep distain towards the 1st generation for some unknown reason, and they expect reverance from the lesser/younger draconic   races and true dragons. They consider themselves the true rulers of the world. They don't sleep as much as other dragons.

The 3rd generation and onwards are your typical fantasy dragon. What they know about their origin and the 1st generation comes from what they were told by the 2nd generation (which wasn't much).
1) Dragons aren't native to this world, they were broaght here by the Dragon Exalted from "The World Of Tooth And Claw".
2) The 1st generation are idiots, now do as I say and stop asking questions! *deep resentful growl*

There isn't a slayers guild specifically for hunting dragons, or vampires for that mater. Dragons are local problems, kingpriests cannot be bothered with minutia (if it's not a dragon it would be something else, same diference). They have the big picture to worry about, not micromanaging.

There is, however an order of knights that used to ride dragons (back when they had a kingpriest who was the Dragon Exalted's chosen), but ever since they were conquered by Ironia, lost their kingpriest and the Dragon Exalted moved south, they've been forced to switch to the true dragon's lesser cousins, the wyverns and drakes (without the kingpriest they can't bend true dragons to their will).

Giants are no different than any other uncivilized race/natural hazard. If they can pull something off without blowback, they'll do it. If the pain of inaction exceeds the pain of action, they will do it even if there's blowback. And yes, aside from the Wingheld kingdom (which is nothing but mountains and rough terrain) and those nutjobs in Arcania, civilizations tend to be clusteted in more hospitable regions.

Out in the open sea you'll hear every cockamimmy story about sea creatures from returning sailors to take it seriously. Inland there are 2 major bodies of water (both in Ironia). The Suiseiton lake in the central region, and the Salt Lake in the south (they are connected by rivers). Aquatic races (at least ones that show themselves) are rare, and their relationships with land races is very case-by-case.

I will only say this about dwarves and lava (aside what you already know about them being intermingled in human societies): It was a master blacksmith dwarf, who wasn't part of any human settlement, who forged The Sword Of Trust. (a symbolic ceremonial weapon representing the alliance between the Grasslands, Wingheld and Ironia. It's not enchanted but made out of pure blood crystaline, and it's super important! If nothing else then as a political and public image tool. Think, Excalibur + Calimburn + steroids)

Edit:

I said ores (plural), meaning there's ether more than 1 type or enhanced versions of existing stuff (for example: A diamond excavated here would be a more efficiant spellcasting component than a diamond from elsewhere). Basically it makes enchanting items cheaper and/or makes them more powerful. A wizard casting a fireball using a spellcasting component from here would result in a +1 caster level. Also, magical ore might be necessary for some stuff like if you want the Improved Arcane Focus feat you have to craft your arcane focus from magic ore.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:33, Fri 15 Mar 2019.

Food for thought mostly, they are in question form to stimulate thought and consideration. It's the little interconnected things that make the world come alive dynamically. some times you can miss a golden oppertunity by simple never realizing there was one.

Exanding Alchemical Power Components with natural/unnatural mining Power compenents then. Perhaps they could be broader then alchemical versions, one type boostering the caster level of all spells with the fire descriptor, another air, or some other broad aspect of spell casting extending illusion spells. They could have purity levels +1, 2, or 3 caster levels while metamagic types form pure, like geodes and may have uses based on size.


I assumed blessed, particularly the stronger bless were like clerics and were generally in charge ala bishops, cardinals (catholic structure), and the king priests were litteral king popes/heirophants/avatars incarnate, while the common blessed got a few orisons. Reading the completed version of world info, it sound closer to dragonmarked then cleric levels, still keeping the exalt's avatar aspect in my head though. Passive benifits could range from free archetype abilities or the ability to converse with snails, or a inability to sink in water?

active abilities could be spell like daily abilities or in BFD's case breath weapons?

A good deal of why the grasslands remains unconquered could also be reluctance of other exalted to 'fund' their king priests in that pursuit, a holy prick would never admit impotency.

So adventurers are common place, is there any structure to it(goblin slayer, overlord), or is it all organized chaos around taverns and job postings or something else? Each large region has it's own guild, but the diferences between them are mostly symantics, adventure guilds host quests for a suitable finders fee, and posting 80% of the initial reward, and raking in the profits off idiots at little risk?

Monsters may not be smart, but they aren't dumb, only humans are dumb is a fun premise.


3rd generation are intelligent and have had talks with humans atleast occasionally, 1st generation are litteral myths beyond 99% living memory and recorded history with contains more propaganda then fact, and 2nd generation are capable of being a natural disaster if they chose to, and command fealty among the dragons.

I fully intended for for there to be a wide variety of magic ores, a kind of "right tool for the right job" kind of thing, an entire industry revolving around it (like Dust is in RWBY). The true crustaline used for the sword already being the rarest of them all, found only in the deepest, most dangerous of mines/caves. I just never hammered out the details. I also see nothing wrong with throwing alchemy in there, but due to alchemy's lesser prevelance in the world, people/organizations that engage in that would be fewer or at the very least relatively obscure. Irfan might even be trailblazing.

A kingpriest is always seen as a religious figure (even if he himself isn't religous or doesn't want to be part of the religious hierarchy) simply because he is "chosen by the Exalted" which are worshipped as gods. Think like how the pharaos of ancient Egypy were considered the sons of Ra. A powerful blessing is not necessary for being a powerful spellcaster (a cleric just needs any blessing, even a minor one, to establish a link to a specific Exalted. After that his power, meaning class level, depends on his own personal effort/devotion) or to achieve a high rank in the religious hierarchy because the rules vary from culture to culture (for example: In Grasslands power is all that matters (or seniority). In Wingheld, power and having a greater blessing from someone other than P'ung will mean nothing, and you would be outranked by anyone in the church with even a minor blessing from P'ung and kissed the right asses). In practice however, those of higher rank do usually end up with more poweful blessings because, just like how in medival England the kings appointed the bishops, a kingpriest would grant the clergy more powerful blessings as they rise in ranks or as he appoints them (and how he decides to appoint them is left to his own discretion. It could be for political reasons, could be based on competence/power, could be based on seniority or loyalty, ext...).

A good example of active blessings would be this
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic...nced-magic/#Variants
Also, you could get a feat you normally couldn't (like, the blessing of the Swallow, lets you use the feat Tripple Strike (a lvl 10 fighter prerequisite) once per day).

Passive blessing could indeed grant alternative class featutes and how good they are at this depends on the blessing's tier, for example a minor Mercy blessing would grant a paladin 2 mercy options when he gets that class option instead of 1. So if he has no levels in paladin this blessing is useless. A medium class ability blessing would grant an alternative feature without replacing the existing one, but you'd still need levels in that class. A greater ability class blessing would grant a class ability regardless of your own class (so you could end up with a wizard that has barbarian rage). Other passive blessings include increasing spellcasting level, increasing PoW practitioner level, gaining a feat you normally don't qualify for (like the Wyrm-born feat which is only avalable to sorcerers with that bloodline). Honestly the possibilities are too many to list. I will however make sure none of them can break the game. Blessings are intended as boons, not cheat codes.

P'ung has definitely shown reluctance to conquer the Grasslands, but The Beast has no such quims, in fact he seems to have it out for the Graceful One. The amount of kingpriests chosen by The Beast who have tried to conquer the Grasslands exceeds all others put together. The thing about the Grasslands is that it's like trying to conquer Russia, it's like trying to fight an enemy who's using guirilla tactics in a war of attrition (ideal combination btw, just look at the Vietnam war). It's not a sprint, it's not a blitzkrieg war, it's a fucking marathon. I haven't wrote this yet but the Wingheld kingdom (the capitol to be precise) is also unconquerable for the exact opposite reasons. They have the most defensible position imaginable with the most concentrated power imaginable. If you don't take them by storm you are fucked. So now you know why these 2 countries are the only ones Ironia hasn't conquered (not due to lack of trying I assure you).

There is 1 adventurer's guild in central Ironia, but other than that it's chaotic.

I said 2nd generation dragond demand fealty, I never said they necessarily commanded it. If there's one thing a dragon hates its being told what to do. The best way to describe the 2nd generation would be like the dragons in Forgotton Realms right after their appearance when they ruled the world like tyrants and the other races were their slaves. Metalic, cromatic, made no difference, they were all douchbags (a part of their history the metalics are rather ashamed of).

Alchemical power componets are very narrow as written, but they have a similar premise. Probably cheaper for the few spells they affect then ore outside bulk.

Ore should be clearly better then standard alchemy in the majority.

Alchemy seems more trail blazing as it's considerably more reliable in any region magic is less then reliable or for the magically inept. Or when you need water breathing without tripping magic detection sensors.


Add magic-psionic transparency to the rules section if not already listed since I remeber that being your intention just for clarity.

Rephrase.

Alchemical items as spell boosters should be weaker or none existant compare to mined magic power boosting ores/stones/crystals.

Even if the power is the same, ore should be much more versatile in what or how it can boost comparatively.

The pathfinder concept of using acid flask, alchemist fire or smokestick to enchance specific spells may be something you could adapt or molde magic ore off of.

I as a player always wind up at the end of a game avoiding using my consumables unless the gane gives them out like candy. I like the concept in world, and it's one that may grow with the game instead of being fleshed out immediatly.




The pathfinder core materials like mithril and adamantine. Are they going to be put in the new system, keep their vanilla form, or get reskinned?    How about the other special materials, many of which I feel lack worth and flavor abd others like darkleaf cloth.

By default I imagine the Pledge sword as statistically extra hard adamantine with the look and benefits of true crystal with none of the downsides.  +6 or +8 enhancement bonus, and atleast +10 levels worth of magic properties and maybe intelligent Lawful with a ego about mantaining the treaty.


Custom OathBreaker target for the bane weapon property, +2 +2d6 against anyone that is planning to or has broken the agreement.

Sword has enough ego to have true seeing and other abilities, enough to more then inconvinence a kingpriest should he break the treaty.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:52, Sun 17 Mar 2019.

I really need to sit down and build out my character. :P

No pressure, dm is only spending months planning the past, present ans future time directions of the campaign and figuring a BotW sized continent with different large cultures.


Try building building a core concept from birth to the start of your adventure, try to keep the details vague, but include the concepts and type of people that were around you and how they influnced you.

 Everyone has their own story and reasons, but it's important to know what influnced your character even if you don't know or just think you know their story. How many books have introduce a character early on, only to reveal their backstory in a surprise later.

With the lore I've created thus far there's enough for at least 6 campaigns (during historically siginificant turning points I mean).

Anyway, I do agree that magic ore should and will trump alchemy in terms of augmenting spells. I will not be restricting players to "set money at a given level" as the system recommends. If you are wise enough to create an financial empire even at a low level then I won't intentionally sabotage you hust for the sake of keeping you at the level of some arbitrary rules like "3000gp at lvl 2 if fast progression" or whatever.

The pledge sword is purely ceremonial and not enchanted. As a sign of trust, a kingpriest gets to hold onto it for 1 year before he has to go and give it (in person) to another kingpriest in the alliance. Not doing so, for whatever reason, would be seen as a breach of trust and the end of the Alliance.

That sounds considerably less excaliber-ish, unless it counts as some kind of metamagic-rod or magic ore concentrate. Maybe us common people think it's got to be the definitive weapon since it's made out of material worth more the we even hope or dream of having elevating it to legendary status among the uninformed.

Not all legends live up to their reputation after all. Imagine a group of moderately competent individuals trying to capture the flag(sword) for their kingpriest thinking it's super powerful trying to gain favor. Assuming it's sent by knight mail between kingdoms instead of passed in person, or just stored somewhere ceremonially. A potential incident all based on misinformation, stupidity, and greed.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:07, Tue 19 Mar 2019.