Lords of Frost The rules of nature dictate that the strong eat the weak. To overcome the great adversity you will soon face, you must free yourself from the skin of prey and become the predator. That is the only way you will survive the harsh and unforgiving realities of the Frystwald. The snows of the north are a cruel and uncaring master, and in exile from the civilized world, you shall learn this lesson well...
This Adventure Path is designed to be played using the martial classes from Path of War and Path of War: Expanded by Dreamscarred Press, Spheres of Power by Drop Dead Studios, and the archetypes found within these books for Paizo’s classes. These books are all excellent resources that, together, help to reduce much of the perceived gap in power and versatility between Martials and Casters. Should you not possess these books or would rather work with only canon Paizo material, a rebuilding guide that contains rough mechanical equivalents for each class listed may be found in the back of the first book.
Introduction Welcome to the Player’s Guide for the Lords of Frost Adventure Path! This Adventure Path will take you to the untamed wilderness of the Frystwald, home to a dozen disparate tribes of man who take their living from the frozen soil of the north and the spoils of raids upon the fat of the south. This Adventure Path takes its inspiration from the tales of Conan the Barbarian, the stories and comic books of Red Sonja, the Wildlings from A Song of Ice and Fire, the Poetica Edda and other Norse Mythology, the Nibelungenglied, and to a lesser extent, the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Twelve Labors of Heracles. Strength and cunning, wit and fortitude, stamina and sheer charisma, and unmatched conviction are the running themes of this adventure path.
This Adventure Path will stay within the area of the Frystwald throughout all of its chapters, an area roughly the size of Scandinavia. Tribal politics, most notably the politics of strength and the notion that “the strong eat the weak”, will churn in the background of each adventure. The tribe that you will come to be a part of will not suffer a weak leader, for it is known that without a strong chieftain at their head, the tribe will not survive the frosts of winter. This strength does not need to be literally, of course - the cunning who lead their warriors to victory in the face of insurmountable odds are every bit as strong as the one who could crush a bear’s skull with his bare hands.
To be both, of course, is ideal. But one or the other will suffice.
Ultimately, “victory” is the greatest measure of strength a leader can bring, while “defeat” is the greatest sign of weakness. The barbarians of the north are ultimately a meritocratic people, and those who bring them victory will find themselves fast acceptance among the tribes. Those who bring them defeat, will not.
Character Creation Rules This Adventure Path is designed for a higher level of power than most adventure paths, beyond the advantages given by the classes made available through Path of War and its expansions. In the spirit of the epic heroes you are meant to be emulating, the typical 20 point buy assumed for Paizo’s adventure paths has been deemed insufficient. By the end of game you may well be kings, but even from the beginning there was a spark in you, something that saw you stand out from the crowd.
The game begins with the party taking on the role of exiles with nothing, less than nothing, stranded in the unforgiving wilderness with little but the rags on their backs. Meant to die, for one reason or another. Many of the campaign traits available for this adventure path give an explanation as to why your character has been exiled. If you take one of the ones that do not give an explanation, or refrain from taking an campaign trait, have a reason for your exile. It can be as simple as sleeping with the wrong person to attempting assassination of an important political figure. Whatever you decide, make sure your GM knows it.
Unless otherwise stated by the GM, the following rules apply to character creation: ● Characters are built using Pathfinder’s 25 Point Buy, or 3.5’s 32 point buy ● Characters must select 2 Traits, and may choose to take a Drawback for a 3rd ● Characters may not begin with any starting equipment ● Characters gain skills and skill points as per the Background Skills option ● Characters may select any class or archetype from Path of War and its Expansions ● Characters may select any class or Achetype from Spheres of Power and its Expansions ● Characters may only select Paizo classes if they have been modified by an archetype from Path of War or Spheres of Power and their expansions. ● Aasimar characters must take the Scion of Humanity Race Trait. ● Tiefling characters must take the Pass for Human Race Trait.
Races in Cortova & the Frystwald Aasimar are the race of the great patrician classes of the Republic of Cortova, the grace of the angels running through their veins being seen by the religious caste as being their divine right to rule. Should a Human family give birth to an Aasimar child, they are considered to have been blessed by the gods, and are to be elevated to the status of a minor noble as is worthy of their child’s blood. Like most of their kind, these Aasimar are raised from birth to navigate the vipers den of politics and intrigue that is the Republic’s Capital of Cortova, which will eat those not initiated to the subtle arts of diplomacy alive.
Aasimar born to non-citizens and resident barbarians of the Republic occupy an odd space in the social realm, as while the offer of nobility is not extended to their families, it is still recognized that the angels have graced their blood. Aasimar born to slaves are often taken as prized concubines by the holder of their parents’ contract, or are given positions of greater authority among the non-citizenry. Aasimar born to resident barbarians find many of the doors that would have been closed to them due to their lineage held wide open and waiting.
Dwarves are the merchant race, capitalists and craftsmen to a man, with an unfortunate history of being evicted from their lands, both under the mountain and over it. The twelve great dwarven clans - Ironblood, Oakhewer, Stonetooth, Fistbeard, Silverfang, Goldhair, Blackrose, Steelhead, Bronzeblade, Tineye, Glasshaper, and Titanjaw - together hold a majority share in the Republic’s great banks. Many within the Republic believe that the Dwarves are steering it towards their own end, and there is no small amount of truth to that, as the leaders of the Twelve are not shy about putting financial pressure on the nobility.
That being said, no one with financial leverage is shy about putting pressure on the nobility to see laws be passed towards their own ends. The Dwarves simply have a lot of it, much of which is a product of their culture. Military might having failed in the defense of their ancestral home from Orcish invasion, the idea that they must make themselves indispensable to their host culture is ingrained upon a societal level. Thus, few dwarves flock to trades that aren’t lucrative in one way or another, unless they are incapable of doing so.
Elves are often called the fair folk, though in truth they are no more fair than any of the other humanoid races. Mostly a segregated society from the Republic proper, they joined voluntarily as an alliance of convenience, against the Orcish Horde at their doorstep, which had been slowly gaining ground within their desert homeland ever since the Dwarven Mountain Holds fell to them centuries ago. Elves venerate their fallen ancestors and care a great deal about honor - both their personal honor and their family’s honor. Few elves resort to base trickery to achieve their goals, preferring to face their foes with their heads high and their backs straight.
Elves are warriors to a man, woman, and child, for even the lowest slave among their people is taught to wield the three sister spears - the Hasta, the Lancea, and the Pilum. The elves typically disdain swords, seeing them at best as mere sidearms and at worst as foolish toys for those who have not seen the truth of war and conflict. The elves greatest strength, however, is the vast experience they are able to gather during their extended lifespan. Those who aren’t soldiers or generals become valued majordomos for the breadth of their knowledge.
Gnomes are the Wanderers, the Tinkers, the folk without a land to call their own. The gnomes like to view themselves as free spirits and creatives, who bring art and invention to the regions their caravans visit. Every camp they make is a fairground or a circus, with all the delights and vices one might expect to find within; most especially alcohol, of such a potency that many decent folk decry it as the devil’s own brew. Gnomish clockwork, it should be noted, is prized in every corner of the republic for its elegance and accuracy.
The other races view gnomes as eccentrics at best, and conniving scoundrels at the very worst, for while the fairs they bring with their caravans bring relief to the common man from his daily labours, they also bring with them crime. Purses, jewelry, and the other small things one might carry that hold particular value find themselves disappearing among the fairgrounds all too often, which has lead many to assume that all Gnomes are thieves. The Twinsprocket Brothers, who run the largest Gnome caravan, have made strides to police their people and cooperate with local authorities to catch sneak-thieves in hopes to reduce this prejudice. Most caravans, however, are far more clannish, and will refuse to hand one of theirs over to the Big Folk.
Half-Elves are the children of a human and an elf, often caught between two cultures. There are not enough half-elves in the world to form a discrete culture, however, largely due to the age gap between adult humans and adult males being too large for most cases to overcome. That they are incapable of conceiving or fathering children with members of either parent’s race, or even their fellow half elves, contributes to their small numbers.
Halflings are the smallfolk, the little people, the tillers of the Earth who keep themselves to the quiet life of the countryside and are content to ignore - and be ignored by - the politics, hustle and bustle found in the great cities of man. You will rarely find one away from their farm, for in some corner of their hearts they each share in a love for the things that grow in the dirt. Now, whether that love is for the crops they’re happy to care for - corn, wheat, barley, gourds, and all manner of other grains and fruits - or the crops that make them happy - tobacco, hashish, cacao - is entirely up to the individual Halflings.
Those few who find themselves living in the cities of man are almost entirely of the latter camp rather than the former, though even they believe in keeping their green thumb sharp. Where the Halflings of the countryside are famous for running the great breadbasket of the Republic, the Halflings of the cityscape are somewhat notorious for their involvement in the drug trade, to a point where even the most law abiding Halfling you’ll every meet likely has a pot or two of a restricted plant growing somewhere in their home.
Half Orcs are the slave-race of the Orcish Horde, born to a man, woman, and child from the rape of captive humans, elves, dwarves, and other humanoid races. Used for hard labor, prostitution, and other tasks the proper Orcs deem beneath their stature, the economy of the Orcish Horde is dependent upon the forced labor of Half-Orcs slaves. Be they tilling fields or building new monuments to the egos of the Orcish Sultans, the Horde keeps a keen eye on their laborers. Yet still, a few Half Orcs make it to the relative freedom of the empire, where their hate for their Orcish masters is treated with applause rather than the lash, and their strong backs and stronger work ethic will see them advance in their society.
Like Half Elves, Half Orcs are not viable with members of either of their parent races, nor are they viable with each other, making them a relatively rare sight outside of those few city-states within the Orcish Horde where they are bred from captive soldiers and citizens of the Republic. Many mistake Half Orcs for their Orcish brethren due to their similar appearance; Half Orcs do not have the exaggerated shoulders and hunched posture of their Orcish kinsmen, nor the porcine tusks. The dull green of their skin, and the shades of their hair match their Orcish kin, a fact that sees them suffer no small amount of prejudice by the ignorant. Humans are Humans. The everyman, found just about everywhere except the Orcish Horde, they truly need no introduction. In Cortova their religion is the dominant one, and the only one that is officially recognized by the Republic. Their god, Regius, is seen to be the Sun incarnate, and holds dominion over Chaos, Justice, Light, Fire, Masculinity and Life. He is wed to their Selene, who is seen to be the Moon incarnate. She holds her dominion over Law, Compassion, Darkness, Water, Femininity, and Death.
Their children, who are the 843,523 stars that light the night sky, are the Angels, who hold dominion over all the little things in between their Mother and Father. Thus the importance of the Aasimar within the majority-Human Republic. Seen as the descendents of Angels, the blood that flows through their veins is ultimately the same blood that flows through the veins of the gods themselves. Their divine mandate to rules comes from their descendance from the King of Kings and his Queen of Queens, the Holy Eclipse manifest within a human form.
Tieflings are fairly rare, for few scholars of Conjuration choose to call upon Demons - who are the Sins of Humanity made flesh, by their religion and by the Demon’s own admittance - and Devils - who are the Crimes of Humanity against the gods given form. The calling of an Angelic Avatar is much more common, as they are both more reliable servants, and there is also the hope that the avatar might give the summoner an Aasimar Child. Still, enough are tempted by the idea of taking an incarnation of lust to their bed that Tieflings are not unheard of.
Viewed with some suspicion when outed of their Devilish or Demonic lineage, Tieflings try to keep themselves from standing out in a crowd whenever possible. When plague comes to a village, or misfortune befalls a market, if a known Tiefling lives near by or participated in trade, they make for a convenient scapegoat. Witch hunts are not uncommon when a Tiefling gets outed, but nor are they universal - but still, because of the fear their existence inspires, Tiefling culture is one of distance and Paranoia.
Other races are, by and large, considered exotic within the Republic of Cortova and even the more untamed Frystwald to its north. Some might come from a land far to the east, where people live in tribes decimated by great diseases from the west that have swept over their lands. Others might come from the west, where a great Empire in parallel to the Republic has fallen into decadence, its bureaucracy rotting from the inside, with barbarians at their door waiting for the corruption to cause the society to burst. Largely, this is up to GM discretion - if you play something not on these lists, be sure to talk it over with them!
Campaign Traits Angry Man: Many who protest the rule of the Patrician’s Congress are men of philosophy, men who sit in libraries among books on reason, justice and law whilst writing books on law, justice, and reason. You are not one of these men. Many men make impassioned speeches in the street corners to all who would heed their words, demanding that the proletariat who work in the cities, the peasants who work in the country, and the patricians who claim ownership of the land all receive equal rights under the law. You are not one of these men. Some men hear these words, read these books, and with blood frothing with rage decide to lash out against the system all too literally with the heaviest object they can swing. You are one of these men. You take no penalties when wielding an improvised weapon in both hands, and these weapons count as Discipline Weapons for the Primal Fury Discipline.
Blood of the North: For one reason or another, your parents or grandparents came down from the Frystwald to seek their fortune in Cortova. Perhaps they were farmers, tired of toiling day in and day out to eke their living from frozen soil. Maybe they were a hunter, who came down south to sell exotic pelts to the patricians, and stayed for the warm climate and a beautiful spouse. Or perhaps they were a great warrior and mercenary who sought their fortune in the service or guard of one of the great patrician houses. In any case, you inherited their resilience against the cold of the frozen north, and were never bothered by the paltry winters Cortova had to offer. You always count as wearing a full set of winter clothes regardless of what you are actually wearing when making a Fortitude Save to resist the effects of cold weather, and you gain a +1 trait bonus on all Fortitude Saves.
Forbidden Scholar: You have been sentenced to exile for the crime of curiosity, having poured over texts deemed forbidden and heretical by the Republic at large. Normally, that would not have gotten you in too much trouble - the Mage’s College holds those texts for a reason, that the knowledge held within is not lost to time. You, however, made the grand mistake of trying to expand upon that forbidden lore. Be it a lost branch of Demonology meant to conjure up a being forged from the collective wrath of humankind, or dark blood magics whose power is drawn from the sacrifice of your fellow man upon an altar of stone, your curiosity got the better of you, and you tried to adapt the magic for modern sensibilities. This got you expelled from the College, and would have seen you burn if not for your familial connections. Choose a Sphere of Power. You receive a +1 Trait Bonus to your Caster Level when casting spells of that Sphere.
Runescarred: Be you a collector of eclectic knowledge, or perhaps a soldier who heard tell of a way to increase your might on the battlefield, or a scholar seeking to experiment with the ways of the tribal primitives to the north, you somehow came across the method of engraving a runescar onto your body. Unfortunately, the method that you read up on was imperfect, and it did not grant you, say, the ability to call upon the spirits of your fallen ancestors to aid you in battle. It is, however, undeniably magical, and the magic it has granted you has proven to be quite handy when the occasion to use it arose. You gain a runescar somewhere on your body that sheds light as a candle, and may choose one effect described in the Cantrip feat; you may use that effect as if you possessed the Cantrip feat. Should you ever obtain the Cantrip feat, you instead may choose to increase your pool of Spell Points for use with runescars by 1.
New Magic Armor Properties GLORIOUS +1 Armor Special Ability
This armor is designed to flaunt the hard earned figure of the wearer, appearing to be little more than a formfitting piecemeal set of plate, chain, leather, or even silk. Wearers of Glorious Armor receive a circumstance bonus to Charisma Checks equal to the enhancement bonus of the Armor (minimum 2) when interacting with creatures that can see them. In addition, the armor encourages reckless action in combat, halving the penalty to Armor Class the wearer receives on a charge.
Special: The armor retains its appearance and a +2 circumstance bonus to Charisma Checks when placed within an Anti-Magic Field.
New Magic Items RUNESCAR Aura Strong (Varies) Caster Level (Varies)
Runescars are a ritualized form of self mutilation used by the mystics of the frozen north to imbue themselves with a measure of arcane might. While each runescar involves the same process of carving intricate runes into the skin of the ritual’s primary performer with a silver knife costing at least 100gp, the scar left behind can vary greatly in appearance based upon the performer's personality. Some might leave behind angry red lines upon their skin, pulsing with magical energy. Others might leave behind a coloration to the skin that can be likened to warpaint, and in many a magic glow seems to race beneath their skin like little lightning bolts. Regardless, once a runescar has been carved, it is near impossible to hide its presence unless it is fully covered.
Runescars draw their power from your natural might rather than any mystic training to channel the magic of the world; as such, your caster level for any runescar you possess is equal to your hit dice, and you may use your highest physical ability modifier to determine a spell’s save DCs. When you inscribe your first runescar onto your body, you gain a number of Spell Points equal to your highest physical ability modifier to use with your runescars.
A runescar functions similarly to the Staffs described in Spheres of Power. Each runescar is tied to a single Sphere of Power, and may grant additional Spell Points and additional Magical Talents, up to an effective +10 Spell Points. When you first create a runescar, it will give you one extra point to your spell pool for casting with that runescar, and you will be able to use that Sphere as if you were a Spherecaster who possessed it as a magical talent. A single runescar can grant no more than 5 spell points for its aligned sphere. Adding magical talents from the aligned sphere to the runescar is the same cost as adding 2 bonus Spell Points.
A character can have no more than 1 runescar per Sphere of Power.
Price: 2,000 gp (+1), 8,000 gp (+2), 18,000 gp (+3), 32,000 gp (+4), 50,000 gp (+5), 72,000 gp (+6), 98,000 gp (+7), 128,000 gp (+8), 162,000 gp (+9) 200,000 gp (+10) Crafting Requirements: Craft (Tattoo) DC 20, or Craft (Calligraphy) DC 20, or Profession (Butcher) DC 20, or Weapon Finesse; Spellcraft DC 20 Crafting Cost: 1,000 gp (+1), 4,000 gp (+2), 9,000 gp (+3), 16,000 gp (+4), 25,000 gp (+5), 36,000 gp (+6), 49,000 gp (+7), 64,000 gp (+8), 81,000 gp (+9) 100,000 gp (+10)