pantheonrising:player:pg_suggestions [Shadris Wiki]

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==== CHARACTER SUGGESTIONS ====
Though you’re free to create any kind of character 
you like for the Pantheon Rising Adventure 
Path, the following suggestions are designed to help 
you make a character well suited for this campaign. 
These suggestions are summarized on the [[character_options|Suggested Character Options Table]], which lists character options from strongly 
recommended to not recommended.

=== Ancestries ===
Alkenstar is home to a wide variety of ancestries and 
ethnicities, though the majority of its inhabitants 
are humans, particularly ethnic Garundi closely 
descended from Nexian and Gebbite immigrants. 
Since the city’s founding over a century ago, plenty of 
other diverse peoples have found their footing here, 
including Mwangi from west of the Barrier Peaks or 
south of Geb, Keleshites from as near as Katapesh 
or Qadira or as far as Kelesh, and Vudrani from 
Jalmeray or elsewhere across the Obari Ocean. 

Dwarves are the city’s second-most populous 
ancestry, many hailing from the nearby Sky Citadel of 
Dongun Hold. It was Dongun dwarves who supplied 
the first firearms to Ancil Alkenstar’s burgeoning 
community of technologists and magic-weary 
refugees. Today, Dongun dwarves continue to be regarded as among the best gunsmiths and explosives 
engineers in the world. 

Jaric halflings and Vourinoi elves are far from 
unknown in Alkenstar—Ambrost Mugland and 
Anjelique Loveless are only two of the most famous 
examples, respectively. Roughly as common as these 
are kholo and geniekin, the latter of which are 
perhaps more common than usual in Alkenstar due, 
in part, to the mysterious effects of mana storms on 
mortal bloodlines. 

Finally, a notable number of Gebbite dhampirs 
and Nexian fleshwarps—comprising a combination 
of temporary visitors, traveling adventurers, and 
full-blown expatriates—also call the City of Smog 
home. Perhaps more than any other ancestries, 
these individuals are uniquely suited to Alkenstar’s 
industrial environment; hazardous pollutants and smog are of less concern to undead, and fleshwarps 
too often boast anatomies that lessen the severity of 
environmental dangers. 

For more details on these ancestries and others 
that call Alkenstar home, see the Pathfinder Lost 
Omens Ancestry Guide. 

=== Classes ===
Alkenstar is the Inner Sea’s preeminent hub of 
technological and industrial innovation. In the City 
of Smog, the quickest way to gain power, prestige, 
or profit is to invent something that other people 
want; this holds as true for adventurers as it does 
for aristocrats and common folk. Because scientific 
experimentation and progress are keystones of daily 
life in Alkenstar, alchemists and inventors (Pathfinder 
Guns & Gears ) do extremely well as a general rule. 
Whether by mixing rare reagents collected from the 
Mana Wastes or by tinkering with the literal tons of 
scrap that fill Alkenstar’s junkyards, there are 
countless opportunities for old-time residents and 
newcomers alike to practice the skills necessary to 
become accomplished in either of these fields. 

The same can be said for the gunslinger class 
(Guns & Gears), which is probably more common 
in Alkenstar than in any other corner of the Inner 
Sea region. Alkenstar’s proximity to Dongun Hold 
—the birthplace of black powder—means that 
firearms aren’t just easily accessible, but practically 
commonplace. Mercenaries, monster slayers, bounty 
hunters, and criminals all might call themselves 
gunslingers, though only a few ever exhibit the true 
grit necessary to make it to the big leagues. The most 
talented shootists and desperados command a high 
price as guns-for-hire or swiftly rise through the ranks 
of organizations such as the shieldmarshals, making 
the gunslinger class a natural fit for this campaign. 

For the full rules on gunslingers and inventors, see 
Pathfinder Guns & Gears. 

Beyond these three thematically suitable classes— 
alchemists, gunslingers, and inventors—characters of 
any class well-suited for urban adventuring can hope 
to succeed in the Pantheon Rising Adventure 
Path. Investigators and rogues can uncover countless 
mysteries and hidden treasures on the streets of 
the City of Smog, and swashbucklers and bards 
can likewise find opportunities for escapades and 
entertainment at every turn. 

For all of Alkenstar’s emphasis on technological 
novelties and progress, it’s sometimes hard to beat a well-placed punch or a masterfully executed sword 
swing. The fearsome threat of monsters encroaching 
from the Mana Wastes makes adventurous martial 
experts of all stripes—such as fighters, monks, and 
barbarians—always in high demand. 

On the spiritual side of things, clerics, champions, 
and other pious adventurers might strongly consider 
Brigh, the Whisper in Bronze and patron goddess of 
clockwork inventors, as their deity. The Temple of 
Brigh in Alkenstar is the largest organized church 
dedicated to the Bronze Lady in the Inner Sea region. 
Ever-orderly Abadar is also a popular deity with 
Alkenstar’s most cosmopolitan believers.At the other 
extreme, comfort-eschewing wasteland wanderers 
vastly prefer the age-old wisdom of the divine hunter, 
Erastil. Finally, many Dongun dwarves pay stalwart 
homage to Torag, Father of Dwarvenkind, and honor 
him with creative spins on ancient traditions. 

Because of the surrounding region’s unique 
climate—magic-warping mana storms are relatively 
common outside the city’s walls—druids, wizards, 
summoners, and sorcerers don’t flock to Alkenstar 
as a rule, but they aren’t necessarily unknown either. 
The few arcane spellcasters who intentionally travel 
to Alkenstar often do so in the hopes of attending 
Blythir College, the city’s only official academy of 
magic. Sorcerers and druids are more likely to dwell 
on the city’s outskirts, where they can better tap into 
the mysterious powers of so-called wellspring magic 
(Pathfinder Secrets of Magic 248). 

Many spellcasters living in the City of Smog are 
exiles from Geb or Nex, where they likely first gained 
their penchant for ancient necromantic secrets or 
universal arcane truths, respectively. Witches, magi, 
and oracles similarly travel to the Mana Wastes for 
their own mysterious reasons, and their unorthodox 
relationship with esoterica makes them perhaps a bit 
more common in the weird and wild Mana Wastes.

=== Languages === 
Owing to its cosmopolitan cultural makeup, the 
Grand Duchy of Alkenstar’s official language is 
Common (Taldane), though the high population 
of dwarves (especially dwarves from Dongun 
Hold) makes Dwarven nearly as ubiquitous. The 
most successful merchants and travelers also take 
it upon themselves to learn Kelish, a language 
commonly spoken in nearby nations like Geb, 
Nex, and Katapesh. 

In the wastelands beyond Alkenstar’s walls, roving bandits, violent mutated giants, and horrific monsters 
tend to speak Kholo, Jotun, Aklo, or a pidgin of all 
three. Those who deal with evildoers could do far 
worse than to practice one of these tongues as well.

=== Skills and Feats ===
Alkenstar is a city of inventors and makers; thus, 
virtually everyone has at least a bit of training in the 
Crafting skill, which is useful not just for making 
and repairing things, but also identifying the many 
different kinds of clockwork creatures that roam the 
city. By the same token, anyone who expects to be 
fighting or evading clockworks and their masters 
would do well to study Thievery as a means of 
disabling devices. 

Even for those with supernatural means of 
avoiding arrest, prowess in Athletics or Acrobatics 
can often spell the difference between capture and 
escape. Likewise, silver-tongued outlaws can benefit 
greatly from expertise in social skills like Deception, 
Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Society. Although 
Performance can be useful for creating diversions, 
a knack for Religion might be even more practical 
in a settlement whose predominant church—the 
Temple of Brigh—functions like an essential cog 
in daily goings-on. Of course, when all else fails, 
there’s always pure and simple Stealth, an invaluable 
addition to any outlaw’s skill repertoire. 


Although Nature and Survival are of minimal 
use in Alkenstar proper, the outskirts of the city 
are rife with animals and environmental dangers, 
making naturalists and survivalists useful in certain 
situations. While Medicine and Occultism are always 
useful skills to have on hand, neither will open any 
special doors in this campaign. 

Among the subcategories of the Lore skill, 
Alkenstar Lore, Brigh Lore, and Engineering Lore 
are highly relevant throughout this Adventure Path. 

Suitable feats include any that complement your 
character concept and/or play into the above skills. 
As an outlaw, your character might particularly 
benefit from feats that could help you survive 
on the outskirts of proper society or without the 
assistance of the law. Likewise, because Alkenstar’s 
architecture is so tightly packed together, feats that 
increase mobility in close quarters will typically 
be more useful than those which require a Large 
animal companion or mount to enjoy. The [[character_options|Suggested Character Options Table]] includes lists of specific feats to consider for your character.