Gameplay Change Explanations:

Traits for backstory

Traits are sort of half-feats that give you minor bonuses based on character backstory from your pre-adventuring career. Available via https://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits, my printed list, or the Ponyfinder book.

You get 2 Traits as a starting character, and that will help flesh out your character for the GM. You may occasionally be gifted with additional traits up during gameplay, typically as bonuses for befriending/joining factions or for actions that have major world effects.

Background skills

(Pathfinder Unchained - 46-51)

Skills are now split into two categories. Adventuring skills include most of what you can learn. Some skills are now Background Skills to represent the fact that they are less relevant to an adventuring career; you will get two extra skill points per level which can be spent ONLY on "background skills" to represent your investment of "down time".

Background skills at first level represent skills picked up from before your adventuring career, and thus, are useful to you and the GM in determining and fleshing out your backstory.

The list of background skills:

Appraise

Artistry*

Craft [all]

Handle Animal

Knowledge (engineering)

Knowledge (geography)

Knowledge (history)

Knowledge (nobility)

Linguistics

Lore*

Perform [all]

Profession [all]

Sleight of Hand

Regular skill points CAN be used to purchase skills in the "Background" list. However, your two bonus points per level can ONLY be spent on this list.

The starred skills are new in Pathfinder Unchained. What they are:

Artistry (Int) - PU pg 48.

Like Craft, an Artistry skill is actually a number of separate skills, and Artistry is focused on creating something. However, while Craft produces a tangible, useful final product, Artistry is about the abstract realization of an idea or concept.

Sample Artistry skills:

Choreography, Criticism, Literature, Poetry, Musical Composition, Philosophy, Playwriting

Some art forms (such as Painting or Sculpture) skirt the line between Artistry and Craft. Consult your GM.

Lore (Int; Trained Only) - PU pg 50.

Lore is to Knowledge what fanboying in a particular topic is to getting a Ph.D. It represents a narrow, specialized area of knowledge, but is otherwise similar.

Example Lore skills from the book:

Lore: One Small City (but NOT: Lore: Settlements)

Lore: Taverns in a region (NOT: Lore: Taverns)

Lore: The Spice Trade (NOT: Lore: Commerce)

Lore: Cats (NOT: Lore: Animals)

Lore: Military Commanders (NOT: Lore: Warfare)

Lore: Tea (NOT: Lore: Beverages)

Lore: Evocations (NOT: Lore: Spells)

If you need to know a fact in a field closely related to your Lore skill but not covered by it, you can try at a -5 penalty.

Loyalties instead of alignment

(Pathfinder Unchained - 100; some Custom work)

Characters start with three Loyalties: these are principles or groups to whom the character is dedicated. Loyalties are an enhancement of the normal alignment system but do not wholly replace it; you can still have a Loyalty to "Good", "Evil", "Chaos", or "Law" (or any variation thereof) and you will effectively be the alignment of those cumulative principles. If you have none of those then you are effectively Neutral, as far as alignment-based spells and effects are concerned.

Loyalties are ranked on your character sheet: some will be more important than others! You should order them so that the ones you most prioritize are first on the list. (Thus, two different characters with Loyalties to BOTH Law and Good can still approach it in different ways: one might prioritize Good over Law, the other vice versa. And you might have loyalties to other groups or principles which you find more important than either of those — if so, that's what you are willing to bend your principles for!)

Loyalties, like alignment, are a guide, not a straitjacket. You may choose at any time to ignore your existing loyalties or reprioritize them. However, if you do, it may cause your Loyalties to shift accordingly so that they track your character choices. In fact, that's how you should use them: simply to track what's important to your character over time. If you wish to voluntarily add, change, or drop a Loyalty, just let the GM know!

Oaths (see below) add to your Loyalties, with mechanical consequences for ignoring or acting against them before they are fulfilled. "Oathbreaking" is a special loyalty that cannot be normally removed; see Oaths.

Sample non-alignment loyalties:

- A specific government or faction (e.g. the Swords/Wands/Cups/Rings; the city of Blevik)

- A specific religion or deity (n.b.: required for divine classes)

- A specific guild or working group (e.g. the Explorer's Guild, the Fool's Market Triad, our adventuring party)

- Yourself (this indicates the degree to which self-preservation/self-interest overrides all other considerations)

- A certain class, race, or collection of people (e.g. elves, orphans, war veterans, natives of Jotunheim)

- Abstract principles (e.g. making people laugh, finding new worlds, oath-breaking)

- Any other collection or principle that makes sense!

Note that there are spells and abilities in the campaign world that allow examination of another individual's Loyalties, and others may act accordingly based on what they discover!

Loyalty Detection

It is possible with HIGH-level magic to simply know the full list of loyalties, but it's much more common to make specific checks against the list. For example, a paladin's "Detect Evil" checks specifically for a loyalty to the principle of Evil (and its relative positioning), but will not reveal anything at all about the other loyalties on the list.

Revised action economy

(Pathfinder Unchained - 102-109)

The tl;dr version is that you now get a flat three actions (plus one reaction) per round, instead of "one standard/one move/one minor". We'll cover this when we get into combat.

Some thing you want to do, such as casting a spell, require the investment of multiple actions. "Full-round actions" are now just things to do that take three actions to complete. Some actions are labeled "Complex", which means they require your full attention — these actions provoke attacks of opportunity. On balance, it's very similar to the core rules, it just gives you a little more flexibility, and formalizes what you can do a little more.

One major change is that this removes the restriction on multiple attacks. If you want to take the "Attack" action three times in a row, you can — even at first level! However, if you "Attack" more than once in a round, each attack past the first takes a cumulative -5 penalty (just like if you got extra attacks from a high BAB), and that gets unwieldy for low-level characters quickly.

New wound level (Custom)

In stock Pathfinder, at exactly 0 HP you gain the Disabled condition - still able to fight and act, but limited to a single action per round at the cost of doing 1 HP damage to yourself for anything strenuous. In this game, you are now Staggered (PF-568) at 0 HP, and Disabled (PF-566) within the HP range of [-1 to -CON]. Once your HP drops below your negative Constitution score, you are in Bleedout and fall unconscious.

Bleedout replaces the Dying status; when in Bleedout you lose no further HP.

In Bleedout, make a Fortitude save at the beginning of each round, DC=(-1 * your current HP). On your third failed save, you will become Dead at the end of the round unless stabilized. On a botch, if you survive, your lingering injury will have permanent effects. On a critical success, you remain in Bleedout but regain consciousness for one round and can act as though Disabled.

Any magical healing, or a First Aid check DC=15, stabilizes a character in Bleedout as per PHB 190.

Injuries

A character's Hit Points represent their ability to shrug off or evade minor/non-life-threatening wounds. When you reach negative HP, that reserve has failed, and something has gotten through which represents a genuine threat to well-being.

When you enter the Disabled status, you acquire an Injury related to the damage which brought you below 0. This will have negative gameplay effects until you have been healed to full HP. On a successful Heal check (DC=15) this can be combat-treated and neutralized. On a Heal check botch the injury becomes a Lingering Injury.

If external damage (rather than straining yourself wihle Disabled) brings you down to the Bleedout status, you acquire a Lingering Injury related to the damage. This will have negative gameplay effects until you heal to full HP, and then also get 24 hours of continuous rest with no strenuous activities. On a successful Heal check (DC=20) this will only last until you return to full HP. On a Heal check botch the injury becomes permanent.

Automatic Bonus Progression

(Pathfinder Unchained - 156)

This will come into play only during leveling up. Due to the rarity and quirks of magic items, you will get inherent additional bonuses just for being higher level, in order to keep play balanced against normal CRs. This replaces getting numeric bonuses from magical gear. There's no such thing as a "+1 longsword"; magic items have effects, not enhancements.

I'm adding +1 level to the listings, so the things you gain will be at one level ahead of your CL.

Revised diseases and poisons

(Pathfinder Unchained - 138)

Instead of ability penalties, these now progress you down a "disease/poison track" from unaffected to some end state (usually dead). Penalties/effects advance from light to crippling as you progress.

Diseases: You continue to make saves per the disease's frequency until brought back to Healthy. Fulfilling the "Cure" condition merely moves you back up one step on the track. Most disease tracks have ~7 states; see PFU for samples.

Poisons: On first exposure, take HP damage = (save DC-10)/2. Then, have a set duration; you continue to make saves only during that duration. Fulfilling the "Cure" condition halts the duration early, but does NOT affect your position on the track. That must be recovered over time (one step per 24 hrs of bed rest or two nights of normal sleep; Heal vs poison save DC doubles this speed). Most poison tracks have six states; see PFU for samples.

Most worlds are fey

This campaign is set in a multiverse whose core rules of existence are similar to White Wolf's Umbra, Dresden Files' Never-never, or the Seelie Realms of English mythology (e.g. Neil Gaiman, Midsummer Night's Dream, etc). With some rare exceptions (such as if you take a Way to a non-magical world), there are a few profound cosmological changes to always keep in mind:

- The core language is Sylvan. "Common" is only common in more remote worlds (especially human-dominated ones).

- Everything is right around the (right) corner. There are breaks in reality called Ways that connect different places, worlds, and even planes! Ways are permanent without large effort and magic expenditure — once you know how to get through a Way, you can always do so, and it will always connect you to the same place. However, Ways are not necessarily two-way portals, and some Ways require specific methods of activation — if you walk forwards down a specific street in Mag Mell, you might get to the end of that street, but if you walk backwards, you might be whisked off to the pony city of Port Mareheart.

- Not everything is known. Mag Mell, as a hub world, has a rich variety of Ways leading all over the place, not all of which are mapped or even discovered; this is why you're able to earn a living as explorers.

- Nothing is weird. When Ponyworld is two steps away, the Elemental Planes are down the block, the Technomantic Empire is in the tavern basement, and Elysium and Pandemonium are next door, at some point nothing shocks you any more. Hub worlds are a grand melting pot of magic, tech, magitech, bipeds, quadrupeds, outsiders, and more. More remote worlds may react poorly to odd visitors, but in a goblin market nobody's going to give you a second glance.

- Knowledge is power. A juicy tidbit of information is worth more in the right hands than the priciest jewel.

- Swearing an oath affects reality. See the Oaths section. This means that promises can actually metaphysically bind you to certain actions, favors can have actual value as currency, and Oathbreakers are persona non grata.

- Magic is fickle. It's part of the background nature of reality; wonders just happen, and the untamed world has a mind of its own. Civilization has found many ways to harness and even stabilize that — but gaining personal control over magic always involves some sort of sacrifice (see section below). Taming magic into items is a fraught and inherently unstable process (see section below): magical devices can be mass-produced, but never reliably mass-produced, and every single piece will have individual quirks, flaws, or side effects.

Magic = sacrifice

Access to spellcasting requires some sort of pact, bargain, or tradeoff: when you want reality to flex, you have to be willing to bend a little bit yourself in return.

This doesn't need to have mechanical in-game effects. (That's the Oracle class' gimmick, and I don't want to turn everyone into Oracles.) And for some classes, that tradeoff may not even be difficult: divine classes, for example, get their power from worship of their deity, and their faith is their source of power. However, other spellcasters should know what their source of power is, and are encouraged to work it into character backstory and gameplay.

Magic item quirks

(Pathfinder Unchained - 187-191, + Custom)

Magic is about your personal willpower bending the universe in a certain way; individual spellcasters can tweak their volition and make little real-time micro-adjustments to add consistency to their power, so casting spells can be done "by the book". However, trying to imbue mere matter with magical effects is a much more fraught process, since the power source's quirks can't be accounted for in the same way. It's a fantastically rare and expensive magic item which does only and exactly what it is supposed to do. Far more common is for quirks, catches, perks, and flaws to leak in as a result of the enchanting process, and every single item created is unique.

Common issues with magic items:

- The Perk, Quirk, and Flaw tables in PF Unchained (p.187, 189, 190)

- Conditional Activation: Only works in certain circumstances, under certain conditions, or even randomly

- Warped effects: The spell may emit scalding water instead of fire, or noise instead of force, etc.

- Strengthened/weakened effects (mechanical scaling)

- Curses (PF 536-538): the Drawbacks table, Requirements section, etc

- Interferences: Can't say or do certain things (no spellcasting, no swearing, no removing item, etc)

- Requirements: Item deactivates unless certain actions are taken regularly (each day/month/etc)

Detect Magic by itself will tell you the school(s) of magic an item radiates (no check necessary).

The standard Spellcraft/Detect Magic check (DC 15+caster level) will tell you what a magic item is supposed to do … but not the ways that the wildness of magic has perverted it. And with many items, the "book" effect can be trivial compared to the side effects!

Spellcraft + Detect Magic or Identify (vs. DC 20+# of side effects) can be used to learn the number of side effects on an item. (Don't forget that Identify gives a +10 bonus.) This takes 3 rounds. Failure gives a number that is subtly off. Botch gives a number wildly off.

Spellcraft + Identify (vs. DC 25+caster level) will reveal the general nature of a single side effect, chosen at random. Classes of side effects can be specifically named to exclude them from the identification process; the information provided by the spell will not be one of the ones in the named list. If all known side effects are in the exclusion list, the spell will return no information. If the skill check fails, the spell will return no information. On a botch, it will reveal a false positive. This takes 3 rounds.

Spellcraft + Identify (vs. DC 30+caster level) will fully reveal a single side effect, chosen at random. Side effects can be specifically named to exclude them from the identification process; the information provided by the spell will not be one of the ones in the named list. If all known side effects are in the exclusion list, the spell will return no information. If the skill check fails, the spell will return no information. On a botch, it will reveal a false positive. This takes one minute [10 rounds] and thus requires at least a 4th-level caster.

Detect Magic is a commonly available service in market areas (starting at a base of 10 gp for a licensed neophyte wizard, up to 50 gp or more; the more you pay, the more guarantee you get on the caster's skill check). Identify as a service carries a much higher premium due to times-per-day restrictions (75 gp for a neophyte, up to lots and lots of $$). Unlicensed wizards can do Detect Magic for an order of magnitude less, but can be frowned upon in major markets.

True Seeing has an alternate casting method which will fully ID a single item, but is at least a 5th-level spell and expensive af. Anyone capable of casting the spell is typically pressed into service by one faction or another, and their services are reserved for the wealthy and connected.

When purchasing magic items, "buyer beware" is the overriding rule, and even when creating them yourself the process is utterly unpredictable. Beware cheap items and poor reputations!

(Non-hardmode) oaths

Due to the fae nature of the world, swearing an oath has gameplay mechanical effects!

The reason I say "non-hardmode" is that "hardmode" oaths apply to everything you say. That's not the case; you don't have to be paranoid about every single word. Swearing an oath requires speaking with the intent of a binding commitment; typically, this involves repeating your oath three times out loud, in a firm voice.

Oath mechanical effect: What you swear gets added to the top of your Loyalties list, with a special "Oath" tag. "Oath" loyalties cannot be removed normally from your Loyalties list. They are automatically removed when one of several circumstances occurs:

1. Fulfill the oath condition of a targeted oath (e.g. "Pay 5 GP to Don within 48 hours"). The oath is removed. This has no permanent effect.

2. Be placed in a position where fulfillment of a targeted oath is impossible (e.g. "Pay 5 GP to Don within 48 hours" but it's now been three days). The oath is removed. A Loyalty of "Oathbreaker" is added.

3. Fulfill the oath conditions of an ongoing oath (e.g. "cause no harm to come to Don") faithfully for a year and a day. The oath is removed. This has no permanent effect.

4. Be placed in a position where fulfillment of an ongoing oath is impossible (e.g. "serve Don breakfast every morning", but Don vanishes through a Way and you can't find him). The oath is removed. A Loyalty of "Oathbreaker" is added.

5. An oath expires without being fulfilled. (Oaths with no set time limit last for a year and a day.) The oath is removed. A Loyalty of "Oathbreaker" is added.

6. Swearing an oath in opposition to the condition of an existing oath. The existing oath is removed. A Loyalty of "Oathbreaker" is added. (Note that opposition is fairly narrowly defined; "pay 5 GP to Don" and "pay 5 GP to Eric" don't oppose each other even if you only have 5 GP, since you might get more.)

7. Deliberately take an action contrary to the oath, with the intention of immediately and consciously defying the letter of the oath. The oath is removed. A Loyalty of "Oathbreaker" is added.

8. The check to take a borderline action fails (see below). The oath is removed. A Loyalty of "Oathbreaker" is added.

"Oathbreaker" Loyalties stack: you can have more than one, and each is handled separately.

Borderline actions:

Oaths are based on the letter of the word, not the spirit of the word. However, reality and speech being what they are, they are a little malleable around the edges, and strong-willed people can find wiggle room if they're willing to risk breakage.

Reassign loyalties: Oaths cannot normally be reordered. However, a Loyalty that existed before the Oath was sworn does carry metaphysical weight you can exploit. A Will save DC 18 allows you to move such a Loyalty above the Oath in your list.

Follow the Spirit: If you intend to follow the Oath, but an action violates the letter of the oath while remaining true to the spirit it was sworn in, you can take an action contrary to the letter of the Oath with some mental effort. A Will save DC 10, + the number of times you have evaded the Oath is required. Success evades the Oath on a one-time basis; mark down the evasion.

Pursue a Higher Cause: If a Loyalty is higher in your Loyalties list than your Oath, and you still intend to follow both but must choose between them, you can take an action contrary to the Oath with some mental effort. A Will save DC 15, + the number of times you have evaded the Oath is required. Success evades the Oath on a one-time basis; mark down the evasion.

Pursue Another Cause: If a Loyalty is lower in your Loyalties list than your Oath, and you still intend to follow both but must choose between them, you can take an action contrary to the Oath with substantial effort. A Will save DC 20, + the number of times you have evaded the Oath is required. Success evades the Oath on a one-time basis; mark down the evasion.

Screw It: If you still intend to follow the Oath, but you really don't want to do it this specific time and you don't have any other principles to point to, you can try slipping this action under the radar. A Will save, DC 25 + the number of times you have evaded the Oath, is required. Success evades the Oath on a one-time basis; mark down the evasion.

Bonuses and Penalties:

Each Oathbreaker loyalty adds a +2 circumstance bonus to all of the borderline checks above. These stack with each other.

Oathbreaking

Oaths are the foundation of fey society. There is no mechanical penalty for Oathbreaking, but social penalties are harsh. Guards may randomly scan for the Oathbreaker loyalty (see spells below); they will DEFINITELY do so at the entrance to markets, and respond to citizen reports locating one. Oaths are a common foundation of mercantile deals and specific oath scanning is typically part of major transactions. Detect Oathbreaker is a basically ubiquitous spell in fey worlds, especially hub worlds like Mag Mell.

In fey worlds, Oathbreaking is grounds for immediate arrest and tribunal. Multiple or flagrant oathbreaking may result in exile, imprisonment, or even death.

The "Oathbreaker" Loyalty can only be removed by high-level magic (see below). The spell is carefully controlled and requires undergoing a tribunal, or high social access, to obtain.

A tribunal is a judicial proceeding to evaluate the circumstances of an oathbreaking. A defendant is given a chance to plead their case to a panel of arbiters; the crime is considered a grave one, but extenuating circumstances are certainly considered, especially if the defendant is cooperative and/or turned themselves in. Defendants with multiple Oathbreaker loyalties or prior history, however, are treated quite harshly.

For common tribunals, oathbreakers with extenuating circumstances are typically given identity papers to carry around for a year and a day to "parole" them and guard against recidivism. If that period passes with no further incident, the Oathbreaker removal spell is arranged. The public at large can be quite cruel to such parolees — and, worse, identity papers are typically not given much weight outside of their community of origin, so parolees can get stuck within a cruel cycle. Oathbreakers with connections, however, often can get the matter resolved quietly and quickly, at immense cost.

Spells:

Detect Oathbreaker

School: Divination [mind-affecting]; all magic classes, Lvl 0

Casting time: 1 standard action

Component: V, S

Range: 60 ft

Area: Cone-shaped emanation

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 min/lvl (D)

Saving throw: Special

Very similar to Detect Magic, except what it tests for is the Oathbreaker Loyalty.

Round 1: Presence or absence of an Oathbreaker aura.

Round 2: Number of distinct Oathbreaker auras and the power of the most potent aura.

Round 3: The strength and location of each aura.

Round 4: Sense Motive DC 15 to determine the exact number of loyalties in a given aura.

Aura strength is as follows:

Faint - Single Oathbreaker loyalty

Moderate - 2-4 Oathbreaker loyalties

Strong - 5-8 Oathbreaker loyalties

Overwhelming - 9+

Unlike Detect Magic, this senses how an aspect of the target's soul is warping reality, and thus with some effort an aware target can attempt to suppress their aura.

If the target is actively resisting, they may attempt to lower the strength of their aura for up to one minute (requires concentration, as with a spell) with a Will save. Saving vs. DC 13 lowers their aura strength by one level, and this DC increases by +4 for each additional level they wish to lower it. There are two levels below Faint: Suppressed, and None. "None" is undetectable by this spell; "Suppressed" is visible only with an opposed check of the caster's Sense Motive vs. the target's Bluff, and on a success appears to be Faint.

Detect Oaths

School: Divination [mind-affecting]; bard 1, cleric 1, druid 2, sorc/wiz 2, paladin 1

Casting time: 1 standard action

Component: V, S

Range: 60 ft

Area: Cone-shaped emanation OR single target

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 min/lvl (D)

Saving throw: Will negates; see text

Very similar to Detect Magic, except what it tests for is Loyalties of the Oath type. It must be used either on an individual or on an area, though the choice of targets can be changed each round.

When focused on an area:

Round 1: Presence or absence of an Oath aura.

Round 2: Number of distinct Oath auras and the power of the most potent aura.

Round 3: The strength and location of each aura.

Aura strength is as follows:

Faint - Single Oath loyalty

Moderate - 2-4 Oath loyalties

Strong - 5-8 Oath loyalties

Overwhelming - 9+

When focused on an individual:

Round 1: Presence or absence of an Oath loyalty.

Round 2: Number of distinct Oath loyalties and their position in the loyalty list.

Round 3: The wording of the topmost Oath. If the target succeeded in their Will save, no information is obtained.

Round 4: The wording of all Oaths. If the target succeeded in their Will save, no information is obtained.

For purposes of this spell, "Oathbreaker" loyalties count as an Oath loyalty with the wording "Broken oath". The target's Will save also prevents that wording from being revealed.

If the target succeeds at a single Will save, you must recast the spell to have another chance to view any oath wording.

Remove Oath

School: Abjuration [mind-affecting]; bard 4, cleric 5, druid 5, sorc/wiz 5

Casting time: 1 hour

Component: V, S, M [costly, see text]

Range: touch

Target: Living creature touched

Duration: instantaneous

Saving throw: Will negates [see text]; Spell resistance: Yes

Somewhat similar to Atonement, this removes the burden of destiny of a single oath from the subject. The "Oathbreaker" Loyalty counts as an oath for purposes of this spell, and that is its most common use, but it can actually target any existent "Oath"-class Loyalty. As such, it is heavily regulated in most areas, and its use outside of proper channels, if discovered, can lead to aggressive questioning.

This spell is most often used by tribunals to clear "Oathbreaker" Loyalties in cases of extenuating circumstances. Some organizations with access to high-level magic may use this to cover up internal scandals from ill-thought oaths or broken oaths, if it's in their self-interest. Good deities may intercede in case of grave injustice, and evil deities may offer it as a gift in exchange for something even more valuable (though, given the nature of the spell, it's typically payment up front).

The spell requires a number of esoteric materials which are highly restricted throughout most fae realms. The book price of the material components is 25 gp per level/HD of the target, but obtaining the materials outside of authorized channels can drive up their cost by 10x or more. Targets whose oaths are removed by tribunal often, but not always, are required to cover the costs of the spell.

If, for some reason, this is cast on an unwilling target, they receive a Will save. The oath to be removed must be known for the spell to succeed, and the verbal components include repeatedly chanting it with the target present and conscious, so they will know which oath is to be removed.

If an active (non-broken) oath is removed which involves other individuals besides the target, those individuals also get a Will save. This save is at -5 if they are on a different plane, and -10 if they are on a different plane which is not primarily fae-based. A success at that save does not negate the spell, but it does make them immediately aware that the oath has been removed.

Revised economy: supply/demand

As the game is set in a chain of connected worlds with very different characteristics and magical/technical capabilities, the book prices will be more a guideline than anything. Some things (side-effect-free magic) will be rare and costly; some things (steampunk mechanics) will be more widely available through trade routes from higher-tech worlds.

Prices will, in short, obey the law of supply and demand. Where supply is plentiful, prices are low. Where supply is restricted, prices are higher — sometimes vastly higher or unavailable-at-any-price. Some trading opportunities may come about to take advantage of arbitrage, but profit-seeking organizations are quick to jump on such opportunities and muscle small-business-beings out of the market.

Many adventuring supplies — being of use to a limited subset of the population — will be in high demand relative to the number of suppliers, even in central areas like Mag Mell. Jerry-rigging your own supplies, or creatively repurposing what's available, will be useful skills.

(Food, on the other hoof, is of secondary concern. Ponies are herbivorous, and can survive via grazing on grass; doppelgangers feed on positive emotional energy; and Steelhearts don't eat at all. You're pretty well set for food as an adventuring group.)