So, I understand you're putting some power in my hands for what sort of narrative the story will be, but I really do want to solicit your input.  The benefit of a solo game is that you have a lot more of a voice than you do when you are one of five players.  To that end, here are some questions:

  Alignment: What sort of alignments are meaningful to you in game?  I'm open to including most alignments.  Cruelty for the sake of cruelty isn't really engaging for me, but playing a character who does evil things for a specific purpose or goal is okay.

  Themes: What sort of storytelling threads do you find appealing?  Revenge?  Liberation?  Knowledge?  I'm open to including most themes.

  Mechanics: Are there any particular house rules you find helpful?  I've listed some in the House Rules thread, and I offer the opportunity for an Automatic Bonus Progression if you find that would be helpful.  Instead of being reliant on the gear I hand out, you essentially are able to make the enchantments that are valuable to you, that increase in power as you do.  I need to edit the ABP to better reflect solo levelling, so I've made that private for now.

  Tone: Do you like grim fantasy, cinematic heroism, cosmic horror?  What are you looking for in the game?

Alright, I updated the Automatic Bonus Progression to better reflect the power level we're working at.  When you get a chance, feel free to look it over and ask any questions.  It is not mandatory, but I find it's a system that really helps players take control over the progression of their gear, and also moves to more meaningful loot, rather than heaps and gobs of stuff you probably won't use.

To be clear, the ABP is meant to replace just about any permanent, numeric bonus.  There can still be consumables or things like wondrous magical items, but you won't find +2 armor when we're using this system.  Special materials are still an option.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:31, Fri 21 Oct 2022.

I will go through and try to answer each of your categories as best I can.

Alignment: I am fine with all alignments, so long as they are portrayed realistically. Like, an evil human isn't likely to walk around killing people for pocket change. People don't typically do that. Certain monsters of the same alignment might though. One of my favorite characters was actually an evil cleric who got along with the good-aligned characters just fine because she realized that holding back some of her evil tendencies was key to her own survival.

My own character will likely be more neutrally-aligned, possibly straying slightly toward evil on occasion simply to cast Animate Dead on a noteworthy corpse.

Themes: I like unique battles, solving puzzles, and exploration. I am not big on romance themes or complicated kingdom-wide politics. Politics directly relevant to our little town are perfectly fine though.

Mechanics: I think I would actually prefer not to use automatic bonus progression on my character, but feel free to use it for NPCs. I plan on having my character get the Craft Construct feat, which had Craft Wondrous Item and Craft Magic Arms and Armor as prerequisites. So I don't foresee my character having much trouble getting the exact items they need, so long as they also spend the time and resources necessary. I think the automatic bonus progression would end up confusing my more than helping me with this specific character. :-P

The other house rules look good. I can't think of any others that might be nice to add at this time.

Tone: I like doing cool things and thinking outside the box. Cinematic heroism is probably my default, but horror elements are perfectly fine too. It sounds like my character will probably also be doing a lot of non-adventuring management-type stuff in the town, which I actually also really like. I have always liked the idea of the magical crafter who makes cool stuff, but most adventures don't have a lot of time built in to craft any meaningful items.

Other:
Does the town have a name?
What type of environment/landscape is the town situated in?
Which mythic tier are we starting at? 1? 10? 0?
Can I have my character sheet opened so that I can start working on it?
Do you use Background Skills?
Do you use Traits?

I'm going to bounce a lot of these questions back to you; I want you to have plenty of say in what the game is like.

Right now, the town is something of a blank slate, outside of the fact that its resources are pretty meager.  If you have an environment you prefer, you can let me know, or I can provide it.  The last time I ran a similar game, the town was a mostly rocky/semi-mountainous area, and the lower elevations were a mixture of swamp, forest, and plains.  But if you want something on the coast, or a place where the barriers to another plane are thin and it influences reality, we can do just about anything as long as some regular people would still choose to live there.

I had intended to start your Mythic tier at half your level (so 6).  I don't know how game-breaking it would be to have you all the way at 10 to start, but if that's what you would like, it's an option.

I'll open up the character sheet when I post this.  It's the sheet I normally use, but feel free to replace it if you have one you prefer.

Traits and alternative favored class bonuses are available.  I normally do something similar to background skills, so yeah, we can use those if you like.  As a heads-up, you personally don't need the skills used in boosting the town stats; as you recruit followers, you can work with them during the challenge to use their skill modifier, so please don't feel like everything needs to come down to you.  Some followers may want favors in return, but that's life.  :P
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:48, Fri 21 Oct 2022.

How about a big tropical jungle volcano island poking up out of a tropical reef? Maybe my guy had been there more or less alone for a long time with whatever gives him his mythic powers (maybe something big and immovable within the volcano?), and now a kingdom has sent settlers. And rather than try and push my guy out, they convinced him to help the people thrive, and the people could help him in turn.


Six is plenty. Awesome. 10 would probably be game-breaking, so I won't be as greedy as I really want to be and will stay with tier 6.


Thanks! I plan to use one that I am familiar with. I will swap it shortly after I finish this post.


Sounds great!

How would you like me to generate the base ability scores for my character?

Regarding setting, that sounds doable.  How familiar would you be with the culture?  Are you completely alien to them?  An outsider?  A former member of their culture/nation?

Again, I'll bounce that back to you.  Since it seems we're leaning pretty high powered, I would suggest either a 30 point buy, or 6+3d4 (range of 9-18, average 13.5) for each stat.

I think my character knows of them well enough, but is not from their society. I think that even though he has lived alone on the island for a long time, he still does leave on occasion and is not a stranger to the outside world. He needs crafting supplies sometimes that cannot be procured from the wilderness. And he likes reading books, which he cannot get in the wilds.

30 point buy sound good to me!

I think I am going to go with a wizard/witch for my character if that is alright. Are you allowing class archetypes?

Also, out of curiosity, would I be able to get two familiars since both sides of my gestalt build can get them? I know that normally familiars gained from different classes simply stack the levels of both classes to determine the familiar's power, but with gestalt the levels are gained side by side.

Of course, archetypes are available.  I think that's the one of the main draws of PF over D&D is the ability to tweak the classes a bit.  I'm open to you having 2 familiars.

Are you familiar with the concept of minions from 4e?  I find those are very helpful for the purpose of running solo games.  They have several traits:
  1.  They typically have reduced damage output compared to other enemies of their level (around half or so).
  2.  They have defenses that are the same as same-level enemies, but can only be targeted by attacks that actually overcome their defenses (which might cause some weirdness with magic missile or auras).  They also have evasion and mettle, so again, if you don't actually overcome their defenses, they usually survive.
  3.  You will be able to typically tell who is a minion and who is not.
  4.  They have 1 HP.

So these are often used to flesh out enemy ranks in a way that helps you demonstrate your own mastery of abilities, without as much of a risk of being super overwhelmed.  So a typical fight might include 1-2 standard enemies, and several minions.  How does that sound to you?

I've also been meaning to ask: you've mentioned building a power center, and specifically a relic as a central part of your story arc.  What is the goal of assembling the relic?  What will it accomplish for you when that is complete?

I forgot that I had questions to answer here. Sorry for the wait.

I am not at all familiar with 4e in any capacity, so I hadn't heard of the minions concept. It sounds like it will work well though!

As for the relic, I am still unsure about the exact details. I figured that maybe my guy would gain a new mythic tier every time he adds a missing piece (or multiple pieces). I am picturing something within the heart of the island's volcano, big and covered in valuable jewels so that it is not easy to hide and people sometimes try to take parts off of it. My guy has spent many centuries undoing past looting and reassembling the relic. He is currently about 6/10ths finished with the restoration. And now that people are starting to inhabit his lonely island, more attention will be brought to the relic (tempting new thieves), but it may also help provide clues to where the missing pieces are as more travelers pass through the new settlement.

I ended up going with the name Urlmar Husk for my character. He is an elf from long, long ago (the relic gives him mythic longevity). I have finally settled on going with Witch and Alchemist for his classes. Alchemist has the construct rider archetype.

That all sounds doable; I'll update your name shortly.  I guess what I mean regarding the relic though is what is your character's goal in making the relic?  What does he believe is the end result of doing so?  Even if it's as straightforward as wanting power, what does he believe that power is necessary to do?

I guess it would make a lot of sense for Urlmar to have a goal other that "reach tier 10." Hmm. Maybe it will awaken a great beast within the volcano? Or keep it asleep? Oh, I like that. The relic draws power from the great beast, keeping it asleep. The more "complete" the relic is, the longer its awakening can be delayed. And it has been getting dangerously close to awakening lately.

---

Also, you mentioned in the other game that you would be open to letting me use a template as well? I looked through a bunch and thought that the one linked below might be a good fit, if it is acceptable. Otherwise simply adding the Advanced Creature template would be good as well.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/besti...zerain-creature-cr-1

That template is acceptable.  It definitely plays to your strengths, and could make for some interesting scenes of defending your base against outsiders.

Awesome! Since the template gives the Leadership feat, I should ask, how do you like to handle cohort construction? Will the cohort be gestalt? Should I design the entire character, or did you want to design them? Somewhere in between? And do they have their own cash, or does Urlmar buy their gear?

I figure Urlmar likes to train a cohort in case he ever dies unexpectedly and needs someone to take his place as the protector of the relic.

I'm open to the cohort being gestalt if you would like.  I'd probably prefer for you to create the character.  To be honest, I have minimal experience with Leadership and cohorts, so I don't know the standard.  I would defer to the standard, unless you have a preference.  Truly, I want this game to appeal to all the preferences you have that you can't normally have in a group game, so you are largely in charge of what is allowed or not.

I was not prepared for the level of time investment making a mid level gestalt mythic character would be.  My apologies that it's taking a while for me.

I realized there's a weird snag in making them, since the timing of mythic tiers could hypothetically make a difference in what prerequisites you meet, and when. Essentially, treat it in the most favorable way for character creation, with the assumption that as long as it's feasible you could meet criteria in a certain way that benefits you, you can.  For instance, you could say you gained all your mythic tiers at level 12, in order to have as many feats as possible to boost with mythic feats.

No worries. I am taking just as long with my own character creation, if not longer. I'm not in any sort of rush, so take your time.

You can also go ahead and assume events happened in the most advantageous way for your own character's mythic ascension.

Sorry it is taking me so long to finish my character sheet. I wish I had a better excuse than simple procrastination. I will do my best to finally finish it up over the next few days.

I am right there with you.  Don't stress over it.

I think the only thing I really have left for my character is finalizing all of their purchases, figuring out the layout of my mythic sanctum, and finalizing my legendary item (which I have figured out, but need to type up). Then I just need to proofread the whole thing again.

Some of my purchases will include trained animals, constructed constructs, and maybe animated undead. Those, along with my cohort and familiars and alchemist archetype companion, could use a thread for tracking my minions. Would I be able to get some kind of minions thread where I can post and keep track of their stats?

My apologies.  Things were going pretty slow with the games, and given the holidays, I just didn't check in for a while.

No worries. This time of year tends to be pretty hectic. I expect the next month or so will be a bit unpredictable for many games on this site. That's how it is most years.