Aspiring Emperor Quest General Pastebin

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Aspiring Emperor Quest General Pastebin
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This pastebin will contain general gameplay information. Descriptions that have been posted, explanations of any gameplay mechanics the players can be expected to know and many other things will be here.

Lorebin: http://pastebin.com/x8F1UeZu
PC Character Sheet: http://pastebin.com/6MnTJuSe
Champion Character Sheet:
Past Threads: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Aspiring%20Emperor%20Quest

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OTHER EDITIONS
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This is the Thread II edition of the general pastebin of AEQ.

A master pastebin with links to all editions for all bins is below.

http://pastebin.com/6Su7M3fh

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. Basic Quest Rules/Mechanics
2. Harrowmont
3. NPC List
4. Current Army
5. PC Stats and Skills Explanation
6. D20 Probabilities

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1. BASIC QUEST RULES/MECHANICS
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1. Please quote the post you are voting against or rolling against.
2. If a chance is posted next to an option, it is giving you a guide to what the DC of the roll that option will immediately lead to. If that option wins the vote, a new post will be made with the corresponding DC. See Section 5 below for a correlation of probabilities of success and DC.
3. Rolling is the best of the first three posts that have correctly rolled a D20 and are quoting the post with the DC requirement. If more 1s are rolled than 20s, a Dramatic Failure occurs and if more 20s are rolled than 1s, an Exceptional Success occurs. Rolling equal to or above the DC is otherwise a success - if one 20 and one 1 is rolled, it also counts as a success.
4. Combat and other major challenges can sometimes appear to have much too high a DC, but this is because you can sometimes get additional chances. E.g. if you fail the first roll, you can still win the fight on a second. Also, some challenges might require multiple successes in a row to be won.
5. There is HP, MP and Fate Point tracking behind the scenes. NPCs also have an invisible respect meter. Screwing up combat or conversation will lower HP and respect. Using sorcery/powers uses MP. HP regenerates over time and also with magic, MP regenerates over time but respect must be built up again if lost. Fate Pints are burnt if something occurs that would end the quest. I may also present an option to the players to burn a Fate Point if they screw up something big (like, say, pissing off an Archmage by accident). Generally, burning a Fate Point will have dire consequences - a major NPC might take a mortal blow intended for the PC, or you may lose a lot of respect from other NPCs. The number of Fate Points changes over time.
6. All bonuses from actions/sorcery etc are incorporated into a DC. There are some calculations taking place behind the scenes.

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2. HARROWMONT
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NB: This section will change over time as the PC changes the fortress.

Description: A large fortress built forty years ago during the heyday of Darlesia. It was initially built to maintain the eastern front of the nation, but the border expanded faster than expected and the castle was abandoned shortly before it was completely finished. A noble from Vitria decided to claim the fortress for himself with the near complete collapse of Darlesia and his excavation team have reportedly discovered a Source. Whether the noble knows exactly what he found is unknown, but whoever takes control of it will have the only functional Source in existence. The fortress itself is large, containing an outer wall, inner wall and a keep. It backs into a cliff side, making it easily defensible once it is repaired.

Very rough map, the boxes are gatehouses: http://imgur.com/47q9Vha

>[X] signifies the area is under your control
>[/] signifies the area is contested
>[] signifies the area is not under your control or contested

OUTSIDE THE WALLS [X] – this is immediate surroundings of the outer wall of the fortress, up to the cliffs. It is currently overgrown.
OUTER WALL [X] – this is the outer wall of the fortress, which stretches downhill into the fields before returning to the cliff side. It is currently highly damaged and provides no defensive bonus.
+ Outer courtyard, lower area [X] – the outer courtyard stretches between the two main gatehouses and is separated into lower and upper areas by some manmade platforms.
+ Outer courtyard, upper area [X] – the upper area consists consists of a mix of the space on top of the platforms and the natural incline.
+ Merchant area [X] – separated from the courtyard by a short wall, there is an area of housing and structures that was clearly intended to be used by merchants. It has its own small gatehouse in the outer wall. It also connects to the noble manors on the other side of the inner wall.
+ Residential area, north [] – a tall stone wall with no battlements or rampart access separates the courtyard from the main residential area in the fortress. Fully half the outer area of the fortress is dedicated to this sprawling ruin of housing. The north side is closest to the courtyard. The only access to this area is from the courtyard.
+ Residential area, south [] – The south side stretches into the cliff side. The residential area has no access to outside the fortress, but the south side does have a small gatehouse that leads to the inner courtyard.
INNER WALL – this is the inner wall of the fortress, protecting an inner courtyard and the keep. The wall is also highly damaged, but the defenders have hastily erected wooden palisades around larger holes.
+ Inner courtyard [X] – The inner courtyard surrounds the keep, which is itself built into the cliff side. The entire courtyard is paved with flagstones, which are overgrown with moss and weeds, and many are missing making for a treacherous battlefield.
+ Noble manors [X] – the fortress has a dedicated area for three small manors, all of which are in ruin.
KEEP [] – Harrowmont’s keep is a large, multi-level castle with many rooms and supply stores. The keep interior has been restored to a structurally safe state, but the outside is still in need of repair. The keep itself extends into the cliff.
+ Lower floors [] – The lower floors include audience chambers, guard rooms and supply rooms for the most part. It is the working area of the keep. Most rooms are empty and dirty.
+ Upper floors [] – the upper floors are where all the bedrooms and private hearing rooms are. Most rooms are empty and dirty.
+ Underground [] – vaults and supply stores lie under the keep. Not all of these areas are structurally sound.
+ Source vault [] – The lowest floor that was recently excavated is a sturdy vault that contains the Source. It is unknown precisely where it is or how complete it is.

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3. NPC LIST
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CAITLYN / SIR LYNN

A young girl with a love of battle and fighting. Dusty blonde hair, 5’ and a small frame but is capable of literally ripping a man limb from limb. Uses a sword almost as big as her and a large shield. She wears a set of chainmail armor with a fully enclosed helmet (which also modifies her voice) and so many people often mistake her for a man (called Sir Lynn). She always seems to have a smile on her face and her voice rings pleasantly even in the thick of battle.

MAGE-KNIGHT CAPTAIN ARAIL MALAINE

Arail is a young and extremely capable soldier. If Darlesia had been in better times, he would have been knighted. As it was, his strength and skill was vital to enabling the nation to hold on as long as it did. Arail is unsurprised by the failure of Darlesia, having matured during its decline. He is interested to see how far the PC can go and is oddly copacetic even during dark times.

ARCHMAGISTER GARETH

The last remaining magister from the Darlesian mage towers. Gareth is past the prime of his life and saw Darlesia’s fall through that prism. He possesses a love of legends and of heroes and believes that the PC could very well become one. Reasonably talented as a mage, Gareth is widely studied but lacks mastery of any disciplines.

ARMS MASTER CORMANN

An old soldier who now takes care of logistics. Not much of a fighter. He is a gruff no-nonsense bloke. Has a lot of respect for the PC and has fought under him before. Didn’t fight for Darlesia.

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4. CURRENT ARMY
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50 Darlesian Flying Mage Knights (Vet.)
50 Darlesian Mage Knights (Vet.)
100 Darlesian Longbowmen (Vet.)
500 Darlesian Men-At-Arms (Vet.)
10 Darlesian Battlemages (Reg.)
Satisfactory support and logistics corps

<Descriptions of units to come later>

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5. PC STATS AND SKILLS EXPLANATION
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///Their Role: Stats and skills are used in calculating DCs behind the scenes.

///Stat Range: A commoner might have STR 0, a soldier STR 1, a strong soldier STR 2. STR 3 is around normal human peak, but exceptional humans can get to STR 5 in this world without becoming magical. The same applies to all stats, with the exception of MAG and RES. They are magical in origin so don't have normal limits.

///The Stats:

The physical stats are relatively clear-cut. STR is raw physical power, SPD is a combination of speed, dexterity and agility, END is hardiness (and affects HP), INT is more about wits, perception and planning ability than magical ability.

MAG is a combination of raw magical power and magical talent but isn't always used for magic use. The Knight PC doesn't use his MAG to fight in melee, even if he's using sorcery a lot. He might use it if he's doing something trickier, like using barrier-break in a fight. It's possible to do powerful things with magic with a low MAG stat, but you might be countered by dedicated mages.

RES is a mixture of magical countering ability and sheer willpower. You don't necessarily need to use magic to shrug off some magics. Again, END might be used in some cases rather than RES - not getting incinerated by a fireball might be END or SPD rather than RES.

///Skills Levels:

Skills go up exponentially as you improve them. Sorcery II lets you do much better things than Sorcery I. Level IV is the highest a skill or ability will typically go.

///Levelling Up:

Do things - fighting more or sparring can improve stats or skills over time.

Learn from others - if you have somebody who is very skilled at sword-fighting, they might be able to help you increase your skills.

Cheat - There's some methods involving magic you might be able to use to improve stats later in the quest. There might be some consequences to them, though.

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6. D20 PROBABILITIES
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NB: Just for fun.

Dramatic Failure = 12.9% (Chance of rolling more 1s than 20s)
Exceptional Success = 12.9% (Chance of rolling more 20s than 1s)

[NB: Success chance include possibility of dramatic failure and exceptional success.]

///Chance of Success

DC1 = 87.1%
DC2 = 87.1%
DC3 = 87.1%
DC4 = 87.0%
DC5 = 86.8%
DC6 = 86.3%
DC7 = 85.6%
DC8 = 84.4%
DC9 = 82.8%
DC10 = 80.7%
DC11 = 78.0%
DC12 = 74.6%
DC13 = 70.4%
DC14 = 65.5%
DC15 = 59.7%
DC16 = 52.9%
DC17 = 44.9%
DC18 = 35.9%
DC19 = 25.7%
DC20 = 14.2%