If you are not up on the Pathfinder rules, please review them via the reference link and make sure you'll be alright with them before getting into serious character design.
On the subject of prestige classes: They will be allowed when a PC qualifies; however—both prestige classes and unusual base classes or multiclass combinations (i.e., those from the Advanced Player's Guide, or any others not in the Core Rulebook) must be approved by me.
Any official Paizo content/material is (broadly) valid, except as noted below. No 3rd-party material will be allowed unless otherwise announced. Other 3.5 material will be announced as available if/when appropriate, but is otherwise disallowed to players. Reasonable alterations or substitutions to existing material may be permitted on a case-by-case basis.
A note on alignment: Evil and chaotic characters are welcome; I do not ban alignments that some people find difficult to control or identify with, but I do require that players with characters of those alignments enact them maturely, responsibly, and creatively. Don’t be that chaotic neutral or chaotic evil stereotype that every gamer on the Internet hates to have in their game!
That being said, please be aware that I do pay attention to the personality and moral compass of characters. Since this is a long-term game, you will have plenty of opportunity to establish, demonstrate, maintain, and evolve a PC, and fellow players will certainly not only notice trends in their behavior, but also occasions when a PC breaks character. Make sure to select an alignment you can live with, or plan to be flexible, but either way, applicants are hereby warned that I do not consider TV Tropes and similar sites to be reputable sources for determining how the various alignments should be played. Your alignment will shift based on your actions and decisions during the game, so you will have the opportunity to change it and to roleplay those changes appropriately throughout the story. Actions unreasonably out of alignment for a character will be punished by deductions from experience awards—no rushing from neutral good to chaotic evil because that's the alignment you want to be, and you think that kicking a defenseless baby in the teeth is the quickest way to get there! PCs should demonstrate gradual growth and philosophical adaptation to their environment and experiences as they move toward new alignments (or maintain their current ones).
Finally, I readily allow characters from various age groups—you shouldn't feel restricted to playing perfect-bodied, hale adventurers in their prime when you can just as easily play the classic gray-bearded wise man. Remember, even a remote village can have a wide variety of locals! Conversely, in order to avoid potential conflict with site policies due to the deliberately horrific nature of this game, characters below the age of 18 are not permitted.
The Crunchy Stuff
- Starting level is 1st.
- Stats are generated using "focus and foible." Everyone gets one free 16 in an attribute of their choice (your "focus"), and one 8 (your "foible"). Your remaining scores are generated by rolling 4d6 four times, dropping the lowest die each time. If you get "unplayable" rolls, considerations can be made; just approach me.
- Hit points are maximum at 1st level, then rolled normally at further levels.
- Characters begin with the maximum starting wealth for their class. This helps to represent that PCs have an occupation and have been working prior to the beginning of the adventure.
- Everyone will begin play with the ability to speak, read, and write Taldane ("common"), as appropriate for the individual character. Recommended choices for additional/bonus languages include Skald and Varisian.
- Hybrid classes from the Advanced Class Guide are disallowed, as are the ninja and samurai alternate classes from Ultimate Combat; the kineticist, mesmerist, and psychic occult classes from Occult Adventures; and any archetypes or class features which borrow or mimic abilities from these classes (such as the ninja trick rogue talent). Do not inquire about this material; I will only point you back to this rule.
- Archetypes are permitted but not required. Should you wish to use an archetype, you are restricted to choosing from limited archetypes only. You are permitted to stack additional archetypes that are not on the list, but only so long as at least one of a PC's archetypes is on the list; preference will be given, however, to concepts that incorporate only archetypes appearing on the list.
- Everyone gets 2 traits at creation, one of which must be a Carrion Crown campaign trait that should heavily influence your initial concept. No two PCs may have the same campaign trait.
- Hero Points are enforced in this game. All PCs begin with 1 Hero Point, and may receive a bonus second Hero Point (for a total of 2), at my discretion, as an award for significant contributions to group development during the initial stages of the game. Hero Point feats are viable.
- Called shots are enforced in this game; rules may be found in Ultimate Combat (p193). Called shot feats are viable.
- Insanity is enforced in this game; rules may be found in GameMastery Guide (p250).
- Drawbacks are allowed, but not required. If you wish to overcome a drawback through play, speak to me.
- We will use the fast experience advancement track for this game.
- Finally, we will use the GameMastery Critical Hit and Critical Fumble card decks in this game.