A Player s Guide To Ptolus.pdf

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A PLAYER’S GUIDE TO
™
BY
MONTE COOK
A PLAYER’S GUIDE TO
By Monte Cook
A Player’s Guide to Ptolus
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Welcome to the City . . . . . . . . . . 4
Campaign Feel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The City of Ptolus . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Rulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Authorities and the Law . . 6
The Forces of Light . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Dark Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The People of Ptolus . . . . . . . . . 6
Districts of the City . . . . . . . . . 7
The Docks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Guildsman District . . . . . . . . 8
Midtown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Necropolis . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Nobles’ Quarter . . . . . . . . . . 9
North Market . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Oldtown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Rivergate District . . . . . . . . 10
South Market . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Temple District . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Warrens . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Undercity Market . . . . . 10
A Player’s Guide to Ptolus
The Look of Ptolus . . . . . . . . .
Noble Houses . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Balacazar Crime Family . . . . .
Brotherhood of
Redemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Conciliators . . . . . . . . . . .
Delver’s Guild . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dreaming Apothecary . . . . . . .
The Fallen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fate Weavers . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Forsaken . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Healers of Sacred Heat . . . . . .
Inverted Pyramid . . . . . . . . . .
Keepers of the Veil . . . . . . . . .
Killraven Crime League . . . . .
Knights of the Golden
Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Knights of the Pale . . . . . . . . .
Longfingers Guild . . . . . . . . . .
The Malkuth . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Order of the Fist . . . . . . . . . . .
Pale Dogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Shuul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Sorn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sisterhood of Silence . . . . . . . .
The Vai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Viridian Lords . . . . . . . . . . . .
Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Church of Lothian . . . . . .
Important Individuals in Ptolus . .
People From History . . . . . . . .
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The World (and Beyond) . . . . . . .
Outside the City Walls . . . . . .
Customs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Two Emperors . . . . . . . . . . . .
Life Under the Empire . . . . . .
The Empire Today . . . . . . . . .
Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating a Character for a
Ptolus Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . .
Common Species . . . . . . . . . . .
Minor Species . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Other NPC Species . . . . . . . . .
Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Character Background . . . . . . . .
Character Classes . . . . . . . . . . . .
5e Character Classes . . . . . . . .
Cypher System Character Types .
Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Blessed Children . . . . . . . . . . .
The Wintersouled . . . . . . . . . .
Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Firearms and Technology . . . . . .
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Districts of Ptolus . . . . . . . . . 16–17
City Map
5e Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Cypher System Version . . . . . . . . 31
Character Sheets
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Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Ptolus is meant to be fantasy role-playing in microcosm. It embodies all that is fundamental to the genre, but it does so
in the space of a single city. That means there are dungeons to explore as well as townsfolk to interact with.
There are strange magical mysteries to discover, demons to fight, and even dragons. Ptolus is truly
a city of adventure—player characters don’t have to leave it to embark on amazing adventures.
P
tolus is the union of some aspects of real-world medieval Europe (as real as is fun)
with the rules and flavor of your favorite game system . When I wrote in the Third
Edition
Dungeon Master’s Guide
that merchants might hire wizards to use
detect
thoughts
and
see invisibility
to deter crime, and that bars might post signs forbidding
detection spells so the patrons can relax, I was thinking of Ptolus .
Ptolus is fantasy gaming with the volume turned all the way up . Magic, monsters,
dungeons to explore with swords drawn—this setting thrives on such things .
I loved it when one day a player of mine said, “I polymorph myself into a troll and run out
into the street after the thief .”
Another player said, “Dude, you can’t go out there like that!”
And the first player replied, “Don’t worry about it! This is Ptolus—they see this stuff all
the time .”
I knew then that the first player really
got
Ptolus .
We’d talk about how a City Watch patrol that found an entire city street blocked by a
web spell wouldn’t be mystified but instead annoyed—the guards knew from experience
what a pain it was to hack through the stuff . (The risk of fire is too great to burn the
webbing .) In the end, unless it was a busy or important street, the Watch most likely would
just let the spell’s duration run out .
The people of Ptolus have seen this kind of magic all their lives . That doesn’t cheapen
it or render spells humdrum—magic was never so common as to make Ptolus feel like a
modern setting with magic in place of technology . The players just learned to understand
that the folk of Ptolus lived in a world where the rules of the game governed their lives . Even
if fewer than one in a hundred people were spellcasters, by the time Ptolus natives grew to
adulthood, they’d have seen spells cast, monsters summoned, and so on .
Player characters, having spent their lives in Ptolus—or at least in the same world as this
city—certainly know a fair bit about the place . Whether you are a player or a GM, this
player’s guide is where you start getting to know Ptolus and the world of which it is a part .
The guide is pulled straight from the pages of
Ptolus: Monte Cook’s City By the Spire
to give
you a quick overview of what the city has to offer . Of course, it doesn’t go into any of the
secrets of the setting; those are for the GM to reveal as time goes on .
All the material in this guide represents common knowledge available to city residents or
visitors to Ptolus . Every player should have a copy of this guide to learn about the place and
get a good feel for the setting . This player’s guide is required reading for a player creating
a character for a Ptolus Campaign . GMs should read it, too, as it summarizes much of the
general information about the setting . Everything in the full Ptolus: City by the Spire book
builds from the information found in this guide . After reading it all at the beginning, players
will want to refer to this material throughout the campaign as well .
To delve deeper into Ptolus, visit ptolusRPG .com .
In the meantime, welcome to Ptolus!
Writing
Monte Cook
Additional Design
Bruce R . Cordell
and Sean K . Reynolds
Creative Director
Monte Cook
Managing Editors
Shanna Germain
and Teri Litorco
Editor and Proofreader
Ray Vallese
Art Director
Bear Weiter
Cover Art and Logo
Todd Lockwood
Cartography
Ed Bourelle
Artists
Toren “MacBin” Atkinson,
Kev Crossley, Talon Dunning, Jason
Engle, The Forge Studios (Maciej
Zagórski and Pawel Dobosz),
Michele Giorgi, Michael Komarck,
Brian LeBlanc, Eric Lofgren, Raph
Herrera Lomotan, Howard Lyon,
Michael Phillippi, Alan Pollack,
rk post, Peter Schlough, J .D . Sparks,
Matt Stawicki, Arne Swekel, Sam
Wood, Kieran Yanner
Original Editor
Sue Weinlein
Original Graphic Design
Lisa Chido
and Brian Rassmussen
Midtown Partisan
Erik Mona
Ptolus Residents
Michele Carter,
Andy Collins, Sue Weinlein, Bruce
R . Cordell, Jesse Decker, Erik
Mona, Christopher Perkins, Sean K .
Reynolds, and Keith Strohm
Visitors to the City
Steven “Stan!”
Brown, Jeff Quick, Keri Reynolds,
Charles Ryan, Ed Stark, and
James Wyatt
Heroes of Ancient Praemal
Michele Carter, Bruce R . Cordell,
Christopher Perkins, John Rateliff,
Teresa Reid, and Sean K . Reynolds
CREDITS
3
A Player’s Guide to Ptolus
 
A PLAYER’S GUIDE TO PTOLUS
A city of mysteries, secrets, and dark histories, Ptolus lies forever in the shadow of a towering stone spire reaching impossibly
high into the sky, itself an enigma and a reminder of evil long past. In Ptolus, the supernatural is expected and treachery lies
around every corner—or is it that the supernatural lies around every corner and treachery is expected? Either way, the city of
Ptolus abounds with danger, magic, intrigue, and above all, adventure.
FROM MY CAMPAIGN TO YOURS
In my original Ptolus Campaign, the
characters started out not as Ptolus
natives, but as a group of unrelated
people waiting in line to gain
entrance through the city gates.
T
his guide is designed to introduce you as
a player to the fundamentals of Ptolus, so
that you can create and run a character
with plenty of knowledge about the world . The
city is rich enough in detail that it’s difficult to
absorb it all at once, so keep this information
handy as a reference while you play in a Ptolus
Campaign—and be prepared to discover that the
information you learn in these pages is only the
very briefest overview .
WELCOME TO THE CITY
You are a native of a port city called Ptolus, or
you have recently arrived there . Native or not,
you know a few things about this city—it is not
without a reputation, to say the least . To call
Ptolus a dynamic place with a strange and varied
identity is to understate the situation greatly . Only
now are explorers truly discovering how ancient
the city really is and unearthing details of its
varied history . Ptolus is where that strange breed
that calls itself “adventurers” congregates . It’s a
place where people are as concerned with what
lies below the ground as they are with what’s
above . This is like no place else in the world .
Ptolus lies in the world of Praemal within the
bounds of a very old Empire unsure of whether
or not it has toppled . Three different emperors
claim the throne, and portions of the once-great
realm cleave off like icy shards from a melting
glacier . This decaying society looks upon previous
centuries and sees grander, more civilized, and
certainly better days . Progress seems on the
decline—skills and lore that people possessed just
a few hundred years ago are lost now .
But this is not a time to lose hope altogether .
This civilization, older than our own real-world
cultures, is more sophisticated than our own in
some ways, but less so in others . A myriad of
species and peoples have come and gone, creating
an intricate (and sometimes confusing) amalgam .
Good struggles against evil, and law against
chaos . But the shadows only threaten the light—
they do not yet consume it .
Not so long ago, the first men and women who
would one day be called “delvers” returned from
exploring the catacombs below the city of Ptolus
laden with gold and magical treasures . Today,
hundreds of new would-be delvers pour into
the city each month, hoping to strike it rich like
others before them . Most never crawl up from
the realms below, but adventurers keep arriving
with dreams of gold and fame . Those who do
emerge back into the light bring with them tales
of surprisingly vast reaches of natural caverns and
ancient hewn passages, perhaps dating back to
the dark days when this area lay in the thrall of
the terrible Skull-King, Ghul, and the region was
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