[Interest Check] Ancient Greek Pathfinder

The gods have granted you victory over the Trojans and....son of a....really?
Yup, your king has gone and angered Posiedon through his hubris. This does not bode well.
In a stolen Trojan boat, you and a small band of companions seek to make it home safely to Ithaca and avoid the wrath of the gods. It's a race against time, the rage of the divine, and insurmountable odds.
This is your Odyssey.
Well, this is your "All you other guys" - dyssey.



I'm wondering if there's enough interest to run this. Here are some of the broad strokes:
* Adventurous yet ultimately positive vibe.
* You are returning home from the Trojan war. The party will be mostly soldiers and sailors of various classes, but I will allow the occasional stowaway etc. on a case by case basis.
* Greek pantheon, with divine classes adjusted as appropriate
* Limited weaponry, armor, and tech (but not full Bronze Age since that rule set only includes, like, 4 weapons)
* Extremely limited race options (Satyrs exist, sure, but would they fight a human war?)
* Some anachronisms to allow for amusing storytelling
* Supernatural meddling with critical successes and failures
* I don't think I can take more than 5. As a group, we can decide if other crew members are NPCs (making the ship harder to pilot as you guys suffer losses), or if you're just on a much smaller (possibly less-sea-worthy) ship.
* Pathfinder 1e since the SRD online is expansive ~ minor limitations and adjustments for flavor.
* I will be dabblig in "The New Argonauts (d20) PDF" by Sean K Reynolds to flesh things out, but I don't want to go totally low-magic.

Definiteky interested... And weirdly not the first ancient Greek pathfinder I've done. (Though that one was mythic)

I would be interested, if the posting is not too fast. Particularly if the tone is like those old Ray Harryhausen films with stop-motion creatures!

Note: I never played Pathfinder, but I am familiar with d20 mechanics (rolling vs DC or vs AC, etc. )

I would be interested and I've played quite a bit of Pathfinder. Not familiar with that book though.

What level would we start?

To save yourself a lot of frustration, arbitration of a system wide change of material type is headache. In the bronze age armor was equally as effective as iron because it didn't have to stop iron.

That said if you're keen on reinforcing and sticking to the bronze age technologies, I'll play a metalworking Mercenary from distant lands.

Awesome. I ran mythic about a year ago and it was a lot to manage, but it was fun.
Yes! Peril is real, but there's something self-aware, too.
I just downloaded the book from Paizo. I imagine it'll be more of a tool than a bible.

Let's say 5th level. The war was about 10 years, and the party did survive it, after all. That gives 3 feats, an ability upgrade, and just enough wiggle room that a single multi-class would have some teeth, if folks wanted to go that route.

You raise a valid point! I know things like spiked full plate still wouldn't be an option, but that smooths things out notably.

I have been known to post quite a bit in one day, but that's slowing down now that I've got a toddler. The big thing is, I don't mind a variable pace.

A little about me as a GM:

* Stats matter, but Rule of Cool gets you bonuses.
* Since one does not roll to confirm a Crit Fail, I don't do that for Nat 20's either. I do use crits on skill checks, but you can't create something that has no reason to exist.
* For this game, due to the petty nature of the Greek gods, I want to implement a second tier to crits. A crit is a crit, full stop, but if a success or failure is confirmed, the gods get involved. I think that'll add a fun layer of chaos.
* Actions have consequences, but glimmers of hope are important to me as a storyteller. This isn't grimdark.
* I build my worlds based on a concept and then shape it to what the players are looking for, within those guidelines. For instance, I don't have much of a reason to develop Trojan culture unless someone's playing a Trojan trying to GTFO. So if this is off to a nebulous start, that's why.

And finally, I suppose you should all know that as a storyteller I range from "brushing the top edge of PG-13 torture" to "5' tall teen trying to chat with the fire elemental because she's a fire sorceress so what could possibly go wrong." There's some chaos here. But I've been GM'ing for 17 years or so, so there is indeed a system haha

Curious where the magic level would be as you mention possible lower. I was thinking possible a war priest of Athena (Or Poseidon but it's sounding he may not be pleased with us :P) or anyone not trying to kill us. Otherwise sound like a fun time to play with fighters and polearms.

I found the book (it's free to download!) and it does severely limit magic while offering some new ways of healing.

Ah just found too. Yeah. Hellanistic priest it might be then :P

So, I guess that's a tone question for the players. Do you want to do a low-magic campaign? I haven't before, so it'd be interesting.

If you want to limit the magic without completely stifling it, we can do something like

* Your first 3 classes must be martial since you're soldiers, then you can multiclass, which limits magic early on compared to party level.
* You must be in paladin-esque good standing with your patron deity to cast - even something like not having time to make an offering in the morning cuts you off for the day.

I'd be down for low magic. Oftentimes magic tends to dominate encounters. Let the fighters and rogues of the world have a game where they can shine! :)

Low magic would be good, yes. I mean, the Odyssey and Greek Myths are full of the supernatural and of magic, but most heroes were mortals at the mercy of capricious gods, having to face powerful beings with their wits alone.

Looks like you have quite a bit of interest already but count me in if you need another body to throw into the sea!

I love pathfinder and ancient Greece, sounds like a very fun pairing. An Oracle just screams fitting for the setting, if played right. Also, maybe a Hunter (as a devotee of Artemis)

I don't mind either way. I like the concept of a warpriest in a greek game, but also happy to work similar with hellanic priest, and flavour. Cinder has also made me realise an oracle vmc may work interestingly, though he would get first dibs.

Planning on a bloodrager here.

I will get a game made tonight. Y'all are in. Thank you!