[Pathfinder] Dragons

[Mongooseh]

33K? Time to spend it all on armour! I will be the tankiest of them all!  

[Paidi tou Selini]

Mostly for personal equipment. Unless you get lucky and wind up on top of a mine or something you won't be getting any extra gold, but you won't have to pay for starting lair and minion expenses. Anything extra you want will be out of your own pocket, so be wary about spending all of your gold if you have big lair plans.  

[Paidi tou Selini]

Okay! First post updated with the so fars~ time to get into background and location.

All dragons start out the same. After you hatch you are either alone to begin with or almost immediately driven out of your mother's lair (some more violently than others). Life lessons are given upon the school of Hard Knocks, and your first few years serve as stark reminders of your primal origins. Some don't survive; others choose to remain as little more than beasts; but you are different. You learned that there was more to the world than food and slumber. Language and resources could be used to manipulate the simple-minded creatures around you, and the treasures they crafted were just as appealing as a warm meal. But they were also greedy and unpredictable. Treasure needed to be guarded, and food could be stored to allow you more time for intellectual pursuits. Before long you decided it was time to settle down and build a lair of your own. Where did you go?

• Plains - Whether an artificial structure standing on its own design or a burrow beneath the rolling hills, a lair out on the open fields is a bold risk. You receive a 25% boost to food and minion production, but all scouting and spying attempts as well as all invasions against you receive a +2 bonus.
  
• Forest - Natural caves and the ruins of ancient fae civilizations abound, creating ample opportunities for suitable disguise and defense. Scouting attempts and air invasions against you receive a -2 penalty, but your Random Event roll receives a -2 penalty to reflect the risk of living in fae lands.
  
• Mountain - Natural defenses are often a great start, and many of the more malleable races love dark, secluded caves. Spying attempts and land invasions against you receive a -2 penalty, but your Random Event roll receives a -2 penalty to reflect the risk of living in fae lands.
  
• Swamp - An extreme form of forest, these nature-claimed locales make sure artificial structures do not stand and natural defenses remain difficult to maintain, but make up for it by the fact that no sane race would wish to venture here. All spying and scouting attempts as well as all invasions against you receive a -2 penalty, but all lair and minion expenses are 10% greater.
  
• Island - An extreme form of mountain, these secluded paradises are highly defensible and provide nearly everything a budding domain needs. All spying attempts receive a -2 penalty and land invasions receive a -5 penalty, but minion production is reduced by 25% to reflect the limited space.
  
• Desert - An extreme form of plains, this inhospitable landscape takes everything its lush cousin has and turns it on its head. In addition, the shifting sands makes natural burrows impossible. All spying and scouting attempts as well as all invasions against you receive a -2 penalty, but food and minion production is reduced by 25%.
  
  - Frozen - *Keyword modifier. Not all locations are geographically ideal. The environments in the northern and southern lands can occasionally suffer from harsher weather than most. Anything with the Frozen keyword applies a -1 penalty to scouting and invasions, but 10% reduced food and minion production.
  - Tropical - *Keyword modifier. Residing near the center of the map brings about more lush and prosperous locations, but the closer one gets to the World Tree the more dangerous things become. Anything with the Tropical keyword applies a 10% bonus to food and minion production, but receives a -1 penalty to their Random Event roll.

 

[Paidi tou Selini]

It isn't balanced precisely, true. Island has +7 total bonus and -4 total penalty. Desert has +8 total bonus and -8 total penalty. But Island and Desert lairs have other challenges not on that list that I was trying to take into account.  

[TheVulgarUnicorn]

Paidi tou Selini

Okay! First post updated with the so fars~ time to get into background and location.

All dragons start out the same. After you hatch you are either alone to begin with or almost immediately driven out of your mother's lair (some more violently than others). Life lessons are given upon the school of Hard Knocks, and your first few years serve as stark reminders of your primal origins. Some don't survive; others choose to remain as little more than beasts; but you are different. You learned that there was more to the world than food and slumber. Language and resources could be used to manipulate the simple-minded creatures around you, and the treasures they crafted were just as appealing as a warm meal. But they were also greedy and unpredictable. Treasure needed to be guarded, and food could be stored to allow you more time for intellectual pursuits. Before long you decided it was time to settle down and build a lair of your own. Where did you go?

• Plains - Whether an artificial structure standing on its own design or a burrow beneath the rolling hills, a lair out on the open fields is a bold risk. You receive a 25% boost to food and minion production, but all scouting and spying attempts as well as all invasions against you receive a +2 bonus.
  
• Forest - Natural caves and the ruins of ancient fae civilizations abound, creating ample opportunities for suitable disguise and defense. Scouting attempts and air invasions against you receive a -2 penalty, but your Random Event roll receives a -2 penalty to reflect the risk of living in fae lands.
  
• Mountain - Natural defenses are often a great start, and many of the more malleable races love dark, secluded caves. Spying attempts and land invasions against you receive a -2 penalty, but your Random Event roll receives a -2 penalty to reflect the risk of living in fae lands.
  
• Swamp - An extreme form of forest, these nature-claimed locales make sure artificial structures do not stand and natural defenses remain difficult to maintain, but make up for it by the fact that no sane race would wish to venture here. All spying and scouting attempts as well as all invasions against you receive a -2 penalty, but all lair and minion expenses are 10% greater.
  
• Island - An extreme form of mountain, these secluded paradises are highly defensible and provide nearly everything a budding domain needs. All spying attempts receive a -2 penalty and land invasions receive a -5 penalty, but minion production is reduced by 25% to reflect the limited space.
  
• Desert - An extreme form of plains, this inhospitable landscape takes everything its lush cousin has and turns it on its head. In addition, the shifting sands makes natural burrows impossible. All spying and scouting attempts as well as all invasions against you receive a -2 penalty, but food and minion production is reduced by 25%.
  
  - Frozen - *Keyword modifier. Not all locations are geographically ideal. The environments in the northern and southern lands can occasionally suffer from harsher weather than most. Anything with the Frozen keyword applies a -1 penalty to scouting and invasions, but 10% reduced food and minion production.
  - Tropical - *Keyword modifier. Residing near the center of the map brings about more lush and prosperous locations, but the closer one gets to the World Tree the more dangerous things become. Anything with the Tropical keyword applies a 10% bonus to food and minion production, but receives a -1 penalty to their Random Event roll.

Tropical Island, not because of the bonus' mind you but its very much perfect for what I want to do.  

[Xenar1]

question time!

would you consider a tundra a frozen plains or a frozen desert?

and would a far more northern glacial setting be a frozen island or if more tightly packed a frozen desert?

what kind of minions will be allowed (i'm not asking for a complete list but perhaps a spoiler for now.)

and since the world is young do humans have the knowledge of steel yet? and what of the dwarves and their metal craft?  

[Paidi tou Selini]

It wouldn't remove the penalty, but it will significantly increase your production. Basically what you're looking at is, all that effort is to bring your production to a comparable level to other regions, but someone spending just as much on production in a more fertile region would still have more production than you.  

[Paidi tou Selini]

Xenar1

I would say you can pick your modifiers and describe it however you wish. If it's a fertile tundra it's probably plains. If it's sandy and/or barren it's probably desert. Island will be surrounded by water, no matter how cold.

Minions run the gambit of the bestiary. In icy places think things like yetis/ice giants/ice trolls, kobolds are ALWAYS willing to follow a dragon, maybe a random human settlement, goblinoids and orcs could probably be convinced to move up, wolves and other local critter residents, maybe an efreet or elemental on the upper ends of magical research. It's a big list.

Yes, steel knowledge exists, though you may have to research or trade for the knowledge if your minions don't have enough points in crafting. Dwarves will provide crafting bonuses, but we'll get to all of that when we get to the minions and technology choices.  

[Xenar1]

starting minions don't interest me as much. but if I have the choice I would pick something smaller than me. a yeti or frost giant is nice but the ability to keep them under control is shaky.


my lair would by the northern sea, under some rather frigid hills. by territory would be more of a frozen plains when I think about how I want it to look.