Pathfinder - Carrion Crown Player's Guide.pdf - Carrion Crown (pillowbookworm) - famir112

PLAYER’S GUIDE

PLAYER’S GUIDE

credits

Creative Director • James Jacobs

Senior Art Director • Sarah E. Robinson

Managing Editor • F. Wesley Schneider

Editors • Judy Bauer and Christopher Carey

Development • Michael Kenway

Editorial Assistance • Jason Bulmahn, Rob McCreary,

James L. Sutter, Sean K Reynolds, and Vic Wertz

Graphic Designer • Andrew Vallas

Production Specialist • Crystal Frasier

Author • Mark Moreland

Cover Artist • Jean-Baptiste Reynaud

Interior Artists • Carolina Eade, Kyle Hunter,

Damien Mammoliti, Jean-Baptiste Reynaud

Publisher • Erik Mona

Paizo CEO • Lisa Stevens

Vice President of Operations • Jefrey Alvarez

Finance Manager • Christopher Self

Staf Accountant • Kunji Sedo

Technical Director • Vic Wertz

Marketing Manager • Hyrum Savage

Special Thanks

Dave Gross; Gavin Halldorson and his Carrion Crown

Playtesters; and the Paizo Customer Service, Warehouse,

and Website Teams

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Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

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PLAYER’S GUIDE

T ales are told throughout Golarion of shadowy

f igures that lurk in dark corners—stories recounted

at children’s bedsides feature bestial creatures

that come out only when the moon is right, and f ireside

legends speak of otherworldly beings beyond reckoning,

whose very existence is more than the human mind can

bear to know. These are the legends that explain where

the blood of the family cow went, and why clerics spend

so much time ensuring the proper Pharasmin rites are

observed at gravesites throughout the Inner Sea. One

can write them off as simple, scary stories in Absalom or

Westcrown, but in Ustalav, everyone knows the truth of

the things that go bump in the night.

In the Carrion Crown Adventure Path, the horrors of

the night become undeniably real as the PCs undertake

a journey that will decide the future of a nation. This

guide will aid players in preparing for this campaign

by providing background on the nation of Ustalav,

from its traumatic history to its superstitious citizens,

who struggle to eke out a living while holding back

the darkness. Within, players will f ind suggestions for

creating characters of all races and classes in the context

of the Carrion Crown Adventure Path. Also included are

a variety of unique campaign traits to consider when

crafting PCs’ backstories. Finally, an optional hero point

system involving the traditional Varisian divination tool

known as the harrow deck is introduced.

a ddi t iOnal r e adi ng fOr

P l ay e r s

Players interested in further immersing themselves in the

world of Golarion and adding campaign-specific details

relevant to the Carrion Crown Adventure Path to their

PCs’ background may wish to investigate the following

Pathfinder Player Companions.

Adventurer’s Armory : Filled with new and exotic

equipment and options for all manner of weapon users;

players seeking to better or more appropriately arm

themselves for their adventures should look herein.

Inner Sea Primer : Although not specifically about

Ustalav, this crash course on the continents of Avistan

and Garund provides regional traits and background

suggestions for PCs from over 40 nations, any of which

make a great home for characters beginning the Carrion

Crown Adventure Path.

In addition to these sourcebooks, the Pathfinder

Tales novel Prince of Wolves by Dave Gross takes place

in Ustalav and provides a gripping, spoiler-free preview

of the sort of adventures characters may face over the

course of the campaign.

These books and yet more Pathfinder resources are

available at your local book or hobby store or online

at paizo.com .

U s t a l av O verview

The Immortal Principality of Ustalav lies on the northern

shore of Lake Encarthan, a grim bastion of civilization

amid the barbarian north, where a harsh landscape and a

history rich in tragedies inspire a wary population with

skepticism, religious devotion, and superstition. A

conglomeration of loosely aff iliated counties, each run by

feuding nobles vying for power and inf luence, Ustalav is

a pitiful shell of its former glory, before it was subjugated

to centuries of slavery at the hands of the Whispering

Tyrant’s undead armies. While the nation’s upper classes

struggle to compete with the very nations that abandoned

them to fend for themselves after the Whispering Tyrant’s

defeat, the average Ustalavic citizen has it much worse.

Hundreds of years of subjugation and the residual

horrors that plague the countryside have left the people

of Ustalav suspicious of magic, religion, foreigners, and

their fellow citizens. Beyond their eccentric and insular

qualities, Ustalavs often have a dour worldview. They

resign themselves to lives of suffering, seeing nothing in

their people’s history to suggest there is any hope for a

better life. Despite the physical and psychological strains

upon its populace, Ustalav nevertheless fosters extremely

hardy and tenacious stock: men and women who f irmly

believe that no matter how bad it gets, history shows it

could always be worse.

Although Ustalav has little to offer its rural peasants,

inhabitants of its many metropolitan cities fare somewhat

better, and the centers of learning and culture they

provide draw trade and travelers from throughout the

Inner Sea region. The capital, Caliphas, stands on the

banks of Lake Encarthan, and its fog-shrouded streets

host some of the nation’s most esteemed centers of trade

and academia. In the north, the city of Karcau boasts a

thriving culture of music, theater, and other f ine arts,

and its opulent architecture rivals the excess of even

the most exotic Taldan palace. Meanwhile, Ustalav’s

northwestern counties have broken from aristocratic

rule and formed their own local, democratic government

without nobles, calling themselves the Palatinates and

providing a glimmer of hope for the downtrodden people

of provincial Ustalav.

It is here, in the Immortal Principality, that the

Carrion Crown Adventure Path takes place, and as you

travel through the various counties, your character will

rise from a simple pallbearer to the potential savior of the

nation. As internally varied as a nation can be, Ustalav is

your new home, and the possibilities for fame, fortune,

and inf luence are as thick as the fog that creeps across

the windy moors at night.

humans into Caliphas’s port, and from there into the heart

of Ustalav. Trade aside, the rich and dark history of Ustalav

is lure enough for the adventurous and curious among all

the civilized races of the Inner Sea. Furthermore, Professor

Lorrimor was more open-minded than many of his fellow

countrymen, and counted members of all races among his

friends and colleagues.

c arriOn c r O w n c haracters

While the Carrion Crown Adventure Path takes place

exclusively in the haunted nation of Ustalav, the campaign

does not require (or even assume) that the PCs be natives

of that land. Each PC is summoned at the start of the

adventure to the town of Ravengro in the rural county

of Canterwall from elsewhere in Ustalav or the Inner Sea

region. Thus, PCs of any nationality or concept can work

within the constraints of the Adventure Path. No matter

what your PC’s background is, adventure and intrigue

await when you arrive in Ravengro for the funeral of

the recently deceased Professor Petros Lorrimor, famed

scholar, explorer, and teacher.

The Carrion Crown Player’s Guide is intended to provide

characters with a connection to Professor Lorrimor—one

close enough to justify his naming each PC in his will—

whether they are native to another part of Ustalav, or

from a distant part of the Inner Sea where they met him

by chance in his many travels. The following character

suggestions provide both basic information on potential

PC origins within Ustalav and reasons for visiting it, and

possible connections a character of any class may have to

the late professor. Use this guide as a starting point to give

your PC a reason to be summoned to the fateful funeral

that launches the Carrion Crown Adventure Path.

The following pages outline qualities of typical members

of all seven core races, and all 18 base classes found in the

Core Rulebook , Advanced Player’s Guide , and Ultimate Magic ,

allowing you to create any combination thereof within

the framework of the Carrion Crown Adventure Path.

Characters of all alignments, religions, and homelands

can play a vital role in this campaign, and the following

suggestions should serve to spark a concept or background

for your PC. You’ll also f ind several new traits specif ic

to the Carrion Crown Adventure Path to help you better

customize your character and link her to the campaign’s

setting and plot.

d warves

Dwarves are less than common in Ustalav, yet the

proximity of the Five Kings Mountains to the Immortal

Principality means that there is steady trade between

the miners, weaponsmiths, and brewers of the dwarven

stronghold and the large urban ports on Lake Encarthan.

Stout folk native to the land can generally be found in

the mining-rich counties of Barstoi and Versex, where

they often hold inf luential positions in local salt and tin

mines. While many dwarven traders and tradespeople

f ind themselves most accepted in the metropolitan

centers of southern Ustalav, some venture into the more

provincial and sometimes prejudiced counties in the

east to answer the silent call to stand vigil against the

orc hordes of neighboring Belkzen. Though natives of

these regions are generally suspicious of (and sometimes

even outright hateful toward) non-human visitors, those

who take the time to get to know their dwarven neighbors

often come around to their foreign ways, appreciating

them for their hardiness and staunch pragmatism.

e lves

Elves are uncommon in Ustalav, especially outside the

cosmopolitan capital of Caliphas or the nation’s many

centers of learning. Even the oldest living elves are too

young to remember the reign of the Whispering Tyrant,

but elven memories are long and current elders recount

tales of their parents’ generation joining the ranks of

the Shining Crusade to drive Tar-Baphon’s armies from

the banks of Lake Encarthan. As such, many young

elves venture into the Ustalavic countryside, hoping

to uncover long-buried mysteries or even to see the

land where a not-so-distant ancestor perished. Some

elves f ind themselves subject to deep-seated prejudice

from Ustalav’s primarily Varisian inhabitants, who

collectively—if subconsciously—hold a grudge against

the elves who returned to Kyonin once the Whispering

Tyrant was defeated so long ago, abandoning the crippled

natives to fend for themselves—a fate from which the

nation of Ustalav has never fully recovered.

r aces

As with much of the Inner Sea, Ustalav is a nation inhabited

primarily by humans, but that doesn’t exclude members

of other races from participating in the Carrion Crown

Adventure Path. The capital city, Caliphas, is conveniently

located on the banks of Lake Encarthan; trade with the

neighboring nations of Druma, the Five Kings Mountains,

Isger, Kyonin, Molthune, and Nirmathas bring non-

g n O m e s

Ustalav isn’t home to any notable gnome settlements, and

the inhabitants’ general superstition makes them wary

of gnomes living among them. That said, Ustalav is a

PLAYER’S GUIDE

strange place, and gnomes from around the world often

travel there to see its bizarre sights and sometimes even

more bizarre citizens. Particularly charismatic gnomes

have been known to embed themselves with a traveling

caravan of Sczarni, performing an agreed-upon task in

exchange for being led throughout the countryside to see

the inspiring sights and experiences within. Similarly,

some gnomes f ind themselves accompanying altogether

different caravans: traveling circuses. In these cases, their

freakish companions often provide enough inspiration

to stave off the Bleaching, while the gnomes themselves

occasionally exploit their people’s rarity by going on

display for gawking rubes willing to pay to see a “freak”

or “captured fairy.”

r OlePlaying h Or rOr

The Carrion Crown Adventure Path is steeped in the

traditions and tropes of gothic horror, from Bram Stoker’s

Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein , to more modern

terrors from the minds of H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King.

As a player, you’re likely familiar with many of the themes

and allusions presented throughout the campaign. But

that doesn’t mean your character has to be. There are many

ways to craft a character of any type who can experience

the terror you as a player may be too familiar with to be

affected by. Whether creating a naive or superstitious

innocent who discovers the evil of the outside world or

a bookish researcher who digs into books not meant to

be opened, consider building a character without all the

answers. Discovering the truth can be the most exciting

part of a lengthy campaign such as this, and you may just

find yourself feeling a bit of terror along the way.

h alf -e lves

Half-elf populations are always small throughout the

Inner Sea, and this remains true in Ustalav. Minute

numbers of such half-breeds can be found in Ardis,

Caliphas, and Karcau, though isolated individuals are

scattered throughout the nation. The superstitious and

uneducated population of rural Ustalav frequently see

the pointed ears, inhuman eyes, and fair features of half-

elves and mistake them for changelings, tief lings, or other

more monstrous half-humans. Such folk then make the

offenders’ lives diff icult, sometimes even running them

out of town. Thus, native half-elves are cautious, and often

do their best to disguise their elven traits (see the Integrated

alternate racial trait in the Advanced Player’s Guide .) Half-

elves from other parts of the world are prone to wandering,

however, and many f ind themselves in Ustalav on their

way somewhere else or as a f inal destination, believing the

ancient land may hold some answer they seek.

h alflings

As with elsewhere in the Inner Sea region, half lings

live and work alongside humans, ever in their wide and

ambitious shadows. In Ustalav, half lings are relatively

rarer than in the nations of southern Avistan, such as

Andoran and Cheliax. As with similarly statured gnomes,

half lings may be found traveling the countryside as part

of wandering carnivals or freak shows, on display for their

miniature stature or performing as acrobats or jugglers.

Nobles in the more urban cities of Caliphas, Ardis, and

Karcau may look to the prosperous nations of Cheliax

and Taldor and follow their lead by employing half lings

as servants, ever trying to emulate more extravagant

societies. In the northwestern counties known as the

Palatinates, half lings f leeing from the bonds of slavery

elsewhere in the world see the emancipated citizenry as

an example of the life they wish to live, free from both

bondage and the idealistic crusading of liberty-focused

Andoran, and they live and work side by side with the free

humans of the region’s peasantry.

h alf -O rcs

Half-orcs are an extraordinary sight in Ustalav, and

outside the seedier side of Ustalav’s many urban centers,

half-orcs are most often found along the nation’s

western border. The Whispering Tyrant ruled Ustalav

for nearly a millennium as master of the vast orc hordes

of Belkzen, and even a thousand years after the Shining

Crusade defeated him and drove his armies back into the

wastelands, the residual bloodlines caused by generations

of orc attacks on human settlements still pop up in even

the most prestigious of families. Though Sczarni are

typically capable of defending themselves and wary of

outsiders, some vulnerable caravans have been known

to hire the occasional half-orc guard to ensure that

they have the brawn on hand to counter any unexpected

resistance from the nation’s darker denizens. Despite

this, half-orcs are seen as monsters by most Ustalavs, and

a half-orc in any Ustalavic setting is often the subject of

extreme prejudice.

h Umans

Humans dominate Ustalav’s population, and among them

most are ethnic Varisians whose ancestors also called the

land home. Whether nobles clinging to the few drops of

blood that grant them a claim—albeit a distant one—to

the Ustalavic aristocracy, or stoic peasants struggling to

make ends meet in the unforgiving countryside, heritage

and history are incredibly important to Ustalavs. All

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