Homebrew Rules & Expansions: Sacred Grove (Building Conversion for Pathfinder's Downtime System)

Create: 78 Goods, 1 Influence, 78 Labor, 1 Magic (3,250 gp)

Rooms: 1 Altar, 1 Courtyard, 4 Farmlands, 1 Shack, 1 Statue, 1 Workstation

A bastion of the old druidic nature religions, often centered on runic megaliths and stone circles, a sacred grove is a vast expanse of unmarred and consacrated woodlands either cultivated or generated by nature where very little undergrowth can be found. At the center, usually under the care of one or more druids, a stone temple is built in order to comune with the spirits of nature or to guide initiates in the mysteries of the ancient spirit world traditions.

- The Writer.

Homebrew Rules & Expansions: Expanded Random Terrain Type List (for Pathfinder's Sandbox Exploration and Kingdom Building Systems)

The Writer

Due either an slight oversight or perhaps rushed editing, Pathfinder's Ultimate Campaign mentions a few terrain types on the Exploration and Kingdom Building sections that aren't listed and, sometimes, not even described on a minimum detail on any section of the book yet unexplainably mentioned on 1 single table in the Kingdom Building section. As a means to bring an emergency patching (and in an effort to promote variety on the map), here is a fixed list that includes the lost terrains and a few more that weren't mentioned anywhere.

d20  - Terrain

01 - 02  - Forest

03 - 04  - Hill

05 - 06  - Marsh

07 - 08  - Mountain

09 - 10  - Plain

11  - Settlement

12 - Water
13 - River

14  - Cavern

15 - Coastline
16 - Tundra

17  - Desert

18  - Jungle

19  - Wasteland

20  - As Previous Terrain

Forests, Hills, Marshs, Mountains, Plains, Settlement, Water and Desert terrains are explained properly on the Pathfinder's Ultimate Campaign book. Caverns, Coastlines, Jungles, Rivers, Tundras and Wastelands are explained below.

Cavern

Caverns are vast hollow spaces of earth that expand either inside a mountain or below surface. While many mountains have cavern complexes, a cavern hex represents more the latter variant. Like the settlement hex, a cavern hex usually has another type of terrain "over it" as most caverns go below the surface.

Difficult: A difficult cavern results when it's hollows lead to the heart of a volcano, a geological fault, or to a pressurized gas bubble zone which may make it unstable and prone to collapse. For each hour spent on a difficult cavern, there is a 5% chance of a cave-in hazard.

Feature: A cavern hex feature could be that it sports large hollow spaces big enough to craddle entire underground realms making it an ideal spot for cities belonging to dwarves or any other cave dwelling civilizations. Otherwise, a cavern hex feature could mean it leads to the underdark, thus connecting it, possibly, to another cavern hex with the same feature.

Hunting Ground: A cavern of this kind is, usually, well known among explorers and adventurers as a hot spot for monster hunting as the unusual amount of dangerous creatures has turned it into a sort of natural (or unnatural) dungeon of sorts. The chance of random encounters increase in 20%.

Resource: This cavern contains either a rich vein of a precious metal, a mother load of a certain valuable mineral, or even perhaps a rare fungus or gas that occurs somehow naturally.

Secret: A secret cavern hex may contain either the hidden stash of a dragon, remnants of a long forgotten civilization buried deep within the earth or even a connection to the Plane Of Earth.

Coastline

Coastlines lie as the gateway to seas, wide rivers, or big lakes and, thus, allow for the settling of seafaring settlements. A coastline hex is comprised half of water and half of the previous terrain and, pretty much like a water hex, a coastline water section is not traversable unless the party have some means for water travelling or swim speed.

Difficult: A difficult coastline is usually one comprised mainly of steep cliff with near flat surfaces, making them hard to climb (if not plainly deadly) or rubble areas composed of all sort of sea debris washed ashore by the tide. Due the difficulty navigating this sort of terrain, the party speed is decreased one category.

Feature: This coastline has particularly shallow and crystaline waters, allowing for the colonization of further terrain in the water by using heightened foundations, thus making the available space for settlements increase in 25%.

Hunting Ground: Same as the Water hex, but it also includes land creatures of the previous hex terrain.

Resource: Same as the Water hex, but it might also include amphibious creatures such as sea turtles, seals, otters, or even exotic animals such as platypus.

Secret: The hex may be the repository of unsorted debris of a shipwreck with possible treasure or be a place often visited by mysterious water creatures such as merfolk or sea-elves. On a darker note, it can also be an skum territory, where the cursed servants of the aboleth take shelter, seeking to regain their numbers through methods best not mentioned.

Jungle

A jungle is a rather unusual concentration of overgrown vegetal life which, usually, host a wide arrange of animal life of untammed nature that wage a constant strife for survival as even plants are far more fierce than usual and have developed means to fight down all sorts of predators, turning predators themselves.

Difficult: A difficult jungle hex is a place of nightmare where travelers easily get lost and die either by the work of predators or even by the terrible aftermath of an infected wound. Survival skill check DCs increase in 10 and any character who takes damage in the jungle and does not receive magical healing for it within 24 hours has a 5% chance of contracting one of the diseases listed on the table Jungle Infections (Pathfinder Chronicles: Heart Of The Jungle, pag. 6).

Feature: A unusual jungle hex might be comprised of a whole unique and alien flora and fauna not found anywhere else, perhaps throwing back to eras past of the planet being a place where, for some reason, evolution took a different rout or got stuck in a fixed prehistoric age. Massive rainforests of colorfull fungi, thick red bushes the size of houses are all possible due freak of nature, magical misshap, unexpected planar overlap, or perhaps even failed alien terraforming attempts.

Hunting Grounds: An stapple of particularly thick jungles, this hex contains an unusual amount of predators and life forms that have adapted to the fierce struggle of daily survival, making them a bit more daring and dangerous than usual. The chance of random encounters increases in 20%.

Resource: This jungle hex may contain an unusual amount of usable plants either for food or medicine and abundant game for hunting making it a sort of "natural pantry". Checks to get along in the wild receive a +10 bonus when gathering food or water.

Secret: As jungles tend to grow over everything, entire cities might be concealed under the dense canopy, containing unknown secrets from times already forgotten, precious artifacts, or even sealed evils that might be better left dormant.

River

While hexes of most kinds are capable of containing rivers, a river hex is of important highlight as it is likely to be host of an important (or the most important and/or notorious) part a great course of water across the land which, usually, grants the name to the entire course be it by sheer size or by being on an strategical position for either economical exploit, transportation, or perhaps even fluvial warfare.

Difficult: A difficult river hex usually contains a river with such an strong current and broad size that is technically intraversable. Unless having a method to travel through water, this hex is pretty much as untraversable as a water hex. Nevertheless, in contrast with a water hex, a difficult river hex has, usually, such an strong current that it will always send the travelling vessel into a dangerous one-way-direction trek, determined randomly the first time the river hex is encountered.

Feature: On their course, some rivers tend to generate cascades and waterfalls which can be used for a variety of purposes ranging from powering up watermills to concealing secret lairs behind them. In a river hex of this kind, Watermills bonuses are doubled and the cost of Tunnels is reduced by half.

Hunting Ground: Same as Coastline Hex.

Resource: Some rivers are coveted by miners who are looking for gold and other metals that are washed away by the strong currents of a river. A River Hex with resource can support a mine terrain improvement.

Special: Many are the tales across different civilizations regarding the fey creatures that dwell and zealously guard rivers by reasons poorly understood by the mortal races of the material plane. A river hex of this kind has a 25% chance of being the lair of a particularly powerfull fey creature of the lake enviroment who may possess a considerable amount of treasure on it's personal belongings (which may include the posessions of previous adventurers).

Tundra

A tundra is a vast expanse of land (usually flat, but not always) that endures very low temperatures most of the year due variated reasons. Vegetation on tundras is scarce and so is animal life, making it very akin to a desert, thought not as inhospitable as the latter as water is usually readily available, thought food and heat might be a problem.

Difficult: A difficult tundra sports direly low temperatures that are a challenge for life that thrives in and, thus, unprepared characters suffer the normal penalties of being on an area of Severe Cold. Additionally, the party speed is decreased one category.

Feature: The hastened way in which some tundras freeze water make possible the creation of entire cave complexes made out of ice and compacted snow. This natural formations might offer temporal shelter against storms and blizzards as well as an habitable area if the place remains permanently cold enough to allow for the cave to hold it's integrity.

Hunting Ground: While life might be relatively scarce on a tundra, some of the fiercest predators belong to cold enviroments as the struggle for survival is far harder than anywhere else. Chance of random encounters rise in 10%.

Resource: While covered in ice above, some tundras hold liquid water below due thermal sources which can either turned into hotsprings or fishing spots if the trundra has some underground connection to the sea. Also, some tundras are produced the strange occurrence of rhyme fire, an strange type of blue flame that create cold instead of heat, granting an exotic resource for spellcasters interested in cold spells.

Secret: Things of all sorts may lie frozen inside the ice floes and permafrost present on a tundra, ranging from sunken ships of the past, to creatures from bygone eras. In addition, some tundras might host natural (or unnatural) portals to either the Cold Elemental Plane or even to planes of such an unearthly cold as Cania, one of the layers of Baator.

Wasteland

While any sort of terrain might have a an unforgiving aspect to it's nature, a wasteland is, possibly, among the most hostile and rejectfull to life. Either posessing a soil that has been blighted by overuse or contamination, a wasteland is a place that isn't welcoming of normal life or nature, making it a harsh enviroment even for animals and plants accostumed to the direness of extreme terrains such as deserts.

Difficult: As it's very own nature wasn't bad enough, a difficult wasteland hex is a place that actively strives to erradicate all life. Either due excesive contamination or by chances of nature, noxious fume plumes are a common part of the landscape. Characters crossing this hex have to make an hourly Fortitude Save against a DC of 18 or be affected as if in contact with the Burnt Othur Fumes inhaled poison. Optionally, a wasteland can be an dead magic/power zone, assolated by arkane or psychic storms, rendering spellcasters powerless.

Feature: Stranger even, some wastelands generate not because of bad chemical despoil or composition of the ground or air, but rather due having a planar openning to the Plane Of Metal which life, anathema to organic forms, steadily replaces all with it's own unique iron based nature. Plains of natural iron or copper hexagons, fields of razor sharp plants, and strange creatures that seem in between arthropods and robots spontaneously generate in this alien ecosystem. Due the unique planar energy of sites like this, constructs which lack the fast healing ability gain the ability to naturally heal while in this hex as long as they are primarily composed of metal. Constructs of other kinds are unnaffected.

Hunting Ground: As normal life cannot usually thrive in a wasteland, only the hardiest kinds of beings can populate places like this, which can mean a hunting ground wasteland has become such due being the breeding ground of several unnatural creatures such as undead, aberrations, and even perhaps rogue constructs. The chance for random encounters with the aforementioned creatures increases in 10%.

Resource: While a normal wasteland is termed as such due it's almost absolute lack of natural resources of any kind, savvy alchemists and spellcasters might found in the strange viles coursing through it's lands or the noxious fumes siphoning from it's vents substances, catalysts and compounds invaluable resources that, thought dangerous to obtain, may repay the risk with their worth on gold pieces. In other cases, when the waste is linked to the Plane Of Metal, construct makers might derive inspiration and insight from the local unnatural fauna and flora as well as resources, reducing the costs in 50%.

Secret: Unique and surreal, some wastelands are not generated by chemical or organic pollution but rather by "temporal pollution". Wastelands of this sort suffer a distorted flow of time and events on them might transpire not only at slowed or accelerated paces but even backwards or, worst, into alternative timelines making it more that easy for travelers to get lost forever in time loops or in worlds that are similar to their own, yet not exactly their own. Nevertheless, chronomasters and spellcasters with a keen insight of the way time flows can use places such as these as a means to effortlessly travel across time if carefully taking the appropiate measures.

- The Writer.

Homebrew Rules & Expansions: School (Building Conversion for Pathfinder's Kingdom Building System)

Cost: 6 BP/2 months.
Lots: 1
Population Increase: 50
Minimum Settlement Type: Village
Kingdom: Economy +1, Loyalty +1
Limit: Adjacent to Library.
Upgrade To: Academy
Settlement: Crime -1, Lore +1, Society +1

A place for educating children and young adults, the school grants it's students the basics of reading and writing in the main common language as well as minimal insight on arithmetic, history, nature, civility, and basical trades such as carpentry and stonemasonry. As it ingrains urbanism in the younger generations and grants easier means for the masses to access simple but steady jobs, it reduces the tendency of local population to resort to thievery and crime as a means of survival.

- The Writer.

Heroes Of Might & Magic - Empires At War: El Lamento De Un Corazón De Hierro

00M-9 Chariot

Marchando, marchando sin cesar,

caminamos sin duda ni pesar

a destrucción profana, a lamento sin escucha

pues para el eldar, la muerte ha sido decretada

sin misericordia o pecado, pero con priza mucha

el exterminio es la sentencia dada.

Una vez mas, me torno instrumento de muerte

pues para una como yo no hay otra suerte

mas que seguir los dictamenes de tiranos despiadados

quienes vidas negocian como juego de lanzar dados.

Ah, corona de espinas en mi cien

otorgandome status de lidereza sin ningun bien

pues ni reino ni trono poseo

mas tinieblas y muerte es, para mi suerte, todo lo que veo.

¡Oh, su majestad de las profundidades!

¡Con atrevimiento apelo a vuestras esquivas bondades!

¡Devolved el corazón azul a mi pecho!

¡Libradme de la autoría de otro terrible hecho!

Pero es inutil ya, pues mis palabras la luz jamas veran

enterradas en donde la luz no llega están

y encerrada me encuentro en mi propio cuerpo

usada por otros impunemente cual descartable harapo

pues condenada he sido a portar una mascara de temple ferrea

testigo mudo de horrores e injusticias con resistencia terrea.

Pero, ¿es esta lluvia sobre mi rostro el llanto compadecido del cielo?

¿Es acaso que seré apartada de este mundo y de su triste y gris velo?

Nací para llevar reinos a la ruina y armadas a la gloria

borrando civilizaciones y naciones de toda memoria

Pero hoy son mis tropas las que flaquean y huyen por sus vidas

mientras las flechas me atraviezan y mis manos miran al cielo estrechadas.

El peso de este corazón finalmente me abandona

y es una sonrisa la que rompe mi máscara de porcelana.

Hoy, de esta corona de espinas, he sido liberada.

Hoy, del peso del horror de mis actos, he sido relevada.

-"Gracias..."

00M-9 Chariot

Homebrew Rules & Expansions: Metal Furnace (New Improvement for Pathfinder's Kingdom Building System)

A facility designed to process raw ore and metal into refined alloys for further use and crafting of tools, weapondry and mechanical parts. Can only be built if adjacent to a hex with Sawmill and a hex with a Mine. Nevertheless, the byproduct of the refinement of metals and alloys tends to bring a good deal of contamination, ruining most of the surrounding ecosystems.

Hex Share: Only with settlements.
Terrain: Plains
Effect: Economy +1, earn +1 BP per turn with collecting taxes during the Income Phase. +1 Unrest if created on a hex with a non-artificial race settlement. Survival checks to gather food and water for sustenance made on this Hex automatically fail. Artificial races army consumption decrease in 1 BP. +1 DC when dealing with the Crop Failure Event if adjacent to a Hex with a Farm Improvement.
Cost: 6 BP
Upgrade 1: 12 BP. Economy +2, earn +2 BP per turn when collecting taxes during the Income Phase. Artificial races army consumption decrease in 2 BP. +2 DC when dealing with the Crop Failure Event if adjacent to a Hex with a Farm Improvement. Hex is rendered blighted.
Upgrade 2: 18 BP. Economy +3, earn +3 BP per turn when collecting taxes during the Income Phase, +1 Defense. Artificial races army consumption decrease in 3 BP. +3 DC when dealing with the Crop Failure Event if adjacent to a Hex with a Farm Improvement. Hex is permanently blighted changing it's type to a standard Wasteland and can only be restored by special means.

The Writer.