DM Barcas - The Carrion Crown

Game Master Isaac Duplechain

In the mists of the haunted nation of Ustalav, a dark conspiracy stirs. The death of a trusted mentor is the first clue that will lead to the gates of death, and beyond.


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Aydan Mishnok wrote:
sigz is probably going to be the dodgiest, unless DRA makes someone as dilema riddled as Taispar!

Oh man, no; I need a break. Playing that dude is exhausting, though I bring it on myself, so, there you go.

Probably eyeing up CG for this one.


@LoreKeeper I was pretty wary of a monk at first, but Veren's background ties things together a lot better. (I think his name is a tiny bit too close to Verik, and we rather want to keep the two parties as distinct at possible.) He should have Touch of Serenity and Improved Unarmed Attack in his feats. Step Up requires a +1 BAB, which the monk doesn't have, which also invalidates Following Step.

The villain I designed for Round 3 of RPG Superstar was going to be a monk who used readied actions in a very reactive style. He would use Greater Grapple to maintain a grapple as a move action, then ready (as a standard action) to use Improved Ki Throw to fling enemies into each other. Something reactive like that might work well with the "peacemaker" persona.

@sigz What race do you think your character is going to be? I suggest half-elf or half-orc, just to shake things up. Half-orc might come into play with the Hold of Belkzen being a former stronghold of the Whispering Tyrant. Imagine the RP opportunities for Duron not trusting him (and not really knowing why)! As for archetypes, you have to pick one that follows the rules.

@Rellen I'd really like to be able to work some were-whatever into the backstory, if possible. If nothing else, I'd like to be able to connect him to the storyline when it comes time to deal with the weres. I usually have issues with a 7 Charisma, so I expect that you'll earn it with him.

@smashthedean You're going to have to track your carrying load with a Strength of 7! Why did he choose Necromancy and Enchantment as his prohibited schools? Was it intentional or subconscious, or simply the way things were when he re-learned magic? You also may want to consider the Teleportation sub-school, as the ability is way better than Acid Dart. (It also might tie in to how he teleported himself out of his prison.)

@vagrant-poet What's with his chosen languages? Just strange picks. How did he develop his chauvinism/chivalry? We could use a female PC to stir things up with him, like with Jemini and Verik.

@downrightamazed Since you want one of the races that can use Breadth of Experience, elf is probably best for an alchemist. If you're feeling up to having another connection story, an interesting element might be to have him/her unknowingly be the descendant of Duron. 900 years is enough time for a number of elven generations, so Duron could be four or five generations removed. Just an idea. You could also go for gnome or dwarf.


Quote:
Step Up requires a +1 BAB, which the monk doesn't have, which also invalidates Following Step.

Well color me dumbfounded O.o I was convinced it was an easy level 1 pick, so I only checked the Following Step requirements. I'll change name and feats soon. Have to plan it out a bit.

If Verik is right and the prison burn was some 50 years ago, Veren's background might have to change a bit. Or maybe you can consider amending the story to be about 15 years ago (that would mean that it burnt down when Veren was 15).


Now I wish there was a trait "you gain +1 base attack bonus - the first time you gain a class level that grants a +1 base attack bonus you instead gain +0 base attack" - the traits only purpose being to open up feat options at level 1.

Or even simpler: "You count as having +1 base attack bonus for the purpose of qualifying for feats"


Male Human Barbarian 1

RE: Languages

Orc and Varisian are from Ustalav, they need little explanation. Aklo he learned in the Grand Lodge, as its a useful language for spelunking and going on adventures in the darklands. Polyglot he learned on his tour in the Mwangi expanse. They seem odd, but I made of point of having a reason for each!

He developed it in childhood, Caliphas is a deeply tradidional place from my reading, and he's a big guy with little sisters he is deeply protective off. The main contribution is his father, who has the idea that one must defend women. I like that he took to the idea despite the fact that his mother is a wicked cool adventurer and his dad is an innkeeper.

A female PC would be fun! Especially a ridiculously competent one!


Quote:
A female PC would be fun! Especially a ridiculously competent one!

Like mom!


DM Barcas wrote:
@smashthedean You're going to have to track your carrying load with a Strength of 7! Why did he choose Necromancy and Enchantment as his prohibited schools? Was it intentional or subconscious, or simply the way things were when he re-learned magic? You also may want to consider the Teleportation sub-school, as the ability is way better than Acid Dart. (It also might tie in to how he teleported himself out of his prison.)

True on the strength, but being a wizard he isn't going to have to worry about much gear anyway and by the time he'll be getting rods and stuff he'll have a Handy Haversack. Also my in-character explanation for the 7 Str is that his body withered away a bit in the final years of his imprisonment which also accounts for his 10 Con which is pretty low by my standards.

As for the prohibited schools, I'm thinking he probably would have a subconscious aversion to the undead after his past experiences so that combined with being good and most necromancy spells being more on the evil side gave me the necromancy option. Enchantment I decided on after reading in the Elves of Golarion book that Elves don't really like enchantment magic, which makes sense given their natural resistance to it. Apparently for an Elf, putting an enchantment on someone is one of the worst things you can do to them. So those factors combined with the fact that I don't really personally find necromancy spells to be that great and enchantment doesn't have a ton of "must have" spells for me.

Teleportation subschool is a good idea and I've decided to go for it. I do like Acid Dart for it's low-level usefulness when you run out of spells, but I think I'll probably be fine and it does tie into his backstory. Makes sense that after having teleportation save his life that it would be something he would try to focus on learning more about.

So what's the plan for Item Creation feats? We've had a lot of discussion about them in the other thread, but haven't had a final ruling on how they'll be handled. I think we've had enough debate on the topic and I'm ready for a clear ruling. That said, if they aren't the same as the base rules for them I probably won't bother as Wizards aren't necessarily rolling in feats and there are other things I could take.

Regarding commentary on other characters, I like the idea of DRA's character being a descendent of mine if that were something he'd be interested in. Could make that character a female if we wanted to get the lady angle in there as well. I'm personally not a fan of playing female characters so I'm glad for anyone else who is to add some diversity.

As to the adding were-stuff to someone's backstory, that seems like a pretty big stretch to work in and unless someone is really into the idea I wouldn't push it. I could see it working in well with someone in Wesh, Veren, or Aydan's family having been killed by werewolves or maybe having a sibling who had gone were or something like that though.


Veren evolves! You now have a Melk!

Also changed Step-up and Following Step for Blind-Fight and Deflect Arrows.


Quote:
I was pretty wary of a monk at first

I understand the concern - to me personally, though, classes are not what you are, but tools to shape what you are. They are the means by which a character comes to live mechanically - rather than the box by which he is perceived by others.

So Jemini, for example, admits to being a paladin - but actually she thinks of herself as a warrior guided by the gods. I mean, in my books at least, very few rogue characters identify themselves in-character as "Hi, I'm a rogue - but you can trust me". Instead, usually they are men-and-women-of-the-world. Experienced professionals that did not have the laborious and one-sided education of the pure martial classes.

In summary, I agree that some places and adventure settings are not necessarily the right place for a "monk" in the traditional sense. But almost every setting can harbor a character with the mechanics of a monk.


Male Human Barbarian 1
Melk Besonders wrote:

Veren evolves! You now have a Melk!

I never got the option to press B!

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Male Human Lion Shaman 1

I think I will wait on the player's guide before taking another stab at background, I will try to integrate lycanthropes.

HERE is the reply I got when I asked how long ago the prison burnt down.


You could have grown up at a different prison, perhaps the one that was built to replace the one that burned down.

@LoreKeeper For most cases, I agree with you. Monk is one of the difficult ones to work because of their collection of strange abilities like Abundant Step or Diamond Body.

@Duron This, unlike Kingmaker, is probably a campaign in which Create X feats can't be entirely abused. You probably don't have as much time to work with, so it wouldn't be an active doubling of every party member's wealth. I say that they can come in as-is.


That's good news. I'm probably going to do some progression like:

01: point blank shot
03: precise shot
05: craft wondrous item
05: craft magic arms & armor
07: empower spell
09: spell focus (conjuration)
10: quicken spell
11: augment summoning
13: ???
15: ???
15: ???
17: ???
19: ???
20: ???


Is Duron going to be focused on ranged touch attacks?


Not entirely focused, but I'll probably throwing enough scorching rays and the like that it will be worth taking the feats for it. Alternately I could take spell focus and augment conjuration earlier on to boost my summoning... what do you think?


Maybe consider something like this (for crafting). Instate a limit to the amount of gold that can be used for crafting by level. An example list provided. The list shows level and the per-level-gold amount and the summated result. The "Total" indicates how much (market value) items may be crafted by a specific level. So by level 10 the crafter would have been able to make 55000 (market value) worth of crafted goods. Taking additional craft feats increases your effective level for crafting purposes by 1 for each feat. So if you have Craft Wondrous and Craft Staff and are level 10, then you could craft to the (market) value of 66000. The value caps at 210000; having multiple crafting feats does not extend the cap.

The system could apply to both Carrion Crown and Kingmaker.

Level - Gold - Total

1 1000 1000
2 2000 3000
3 3000 6000
4 4000 10000
5 5000 15000
6 6000 21000
7 7000 28000
8 8000 36000
9 9000 45000
10 10000 55000
11 11000 66000
12 12000 78000
13 13000 91000
14 14000 105000
15 15000 120000
16 16000 136000
17 17000 153000
18 18000 171000
19 19000 190000
20 20000 210000


Male

I'm somewhat hesitant making a character without the players guide, I tend to get pretty attached to them if I come to terms with a concept so I'm gona wait on it till it's published.

I'm playing the ranged skill-monkey either way so I'll fill that party slot.


"I thought it would be sooner, but it's looking like very early next week." -Erik Mona

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Is Ravengro in the middle of a lake?

The Garden of Lead sounds intriguing, and we are alarmingly close to Gallowspire! Neat.


Male

How do people feel about 'evil' pc's? Got a cocept going in my head about a smooth skined half-orc running from mistreatment by his tribe. Born n' raised in Belksen thrown into ritualistic fighting from when he could walk, calm and calculating...

Alingnment: Lawful Evil- As I said, calm and calculating, almost ritualisticly disciplined, paranoid and untrusting of others.
Trait; Bullied
Racial Traits; Chain Fighter & Ritual Tatoos(in the form of scars)
1st lvl feat; Veiled Vileness from the Golarion Campaign Setting...

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Personally I would really prefer not to have evil PCs, lawful evil is doable but you need to be very clear in your motivations. You are also going to be playing a half orc - and orcy one by the sounds of things - in a region whose nearest and arguably primary foe is the orcs of the neighboring hold.

Lawful Evil is the easiest evil alignment to play, but it is still far more likely to be problematic than a good or neutral character, and its usually unfair to ask good characters - as the rest of the party seems to be to put up with them. The whole I am evil, but I am not acting like it thing is problematic because if anyone in the party has a half decent sense motive they are going to pick up on it sooner or later.


Female Elf Witch 4

I have no problem with people who play eveil like grown ups.

To me alignemnts are as follows:
Law -> follow your mind, think things through, act with reason first
(Note: Traditionalism is just someone elses reason, still lawful. And being reasonable doens't mean your smart or logical, you just try)

Chaos -> follow your heart, act on impulses, do what your emotions say

Good -> selfless, willing to give to others to deteriment of self

Evil -> selfish, willing to take form others regardless of harm caused

So an evil person is a jerk by default, but not neccesarily a criminal or dangerous psychopath. An evil shopkeeper screws over his costumers and harshly punihses thieves, but doesn deserve death, while a chaotic nuetral man might kill his wive in a fit of passion, and be hung for it.


Veiled Vileness lets me pass for human (although I was thinking Half-Elf, ses pic) without the need for a disguise check. I was thinking he'd run away from unfairly harsh treatment by the tribe as a result of him bearing no orcish physical traits.

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Ah well that's helpful. But honestly I have never had a game enhanced by a evil PC, in fact never had one that was not rendered appreciably worse by them, and I have been in several that have imploded because of them. I am sure it is possible for a group of mature RPers to make it work, but I still think its almost certain to make the game less enjoyable.


I'm going to add my vote against an evil PC. Every time I've ever seen this attempted it's ended poorly. I vote neutral.


I don't want to cramp your style - but I'm also against an evil character. You can play a selfish and calculating bastard that isn't evil though.

But why not consider the opposite end of the spectrum? A chaotic-good rebel-without-a-cause?

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I site this game for my playing 7 charisma credentials - I play the charming Raynucio.


Female Elf Alchemist 2

At a table in the corner of the coffeeshop is a tall elven woman. Her long green hair is tied up carelessly and sticks out at odd spikey angles and her glasses(!) reflect the light of the candles on the table and the fire roaring in the fireplace. She expertly works a well-worn abacus with her left hand and is writing on one of the many sheets of paper strewn about the table in front of her. Her mouth moves as she works; mutterings in many languages can be heard escaping under her breath. Her boots are solid and rough, like those a human or dwarf might wear, and her clothes are likewise very un-elven in make and manner. Mud-crusted pant cuffs peek out from under the hem of a battered and ancient leather trenchcoat, and her forest-green tunic clashes terribly with her hair and eyes. With a well-practiced move, she nods sharply and her glasses slide down her nose. She peers over them at some of her notes as she takes a big gulp of coffee that has long since gone stone cold. She makes a face as she swallows.

"Er...milady." The barista tries to get her attention. It is very late, and the coffeeshop is supposed to be closed. Her focus, however, is absolute and ironclad and she continues her work. The barista sighs. They have danced this dance before and most times it leaves his toes bruised, metaphorically speaking.

Suddenly she stops calculating and sets down her pen. With a weary sigh she says "Still not enough. I'll never get a business off the ground with numbers like this." She pushes her glasses back up her nose. "Where can I make more coin around here?" she asks of no one in particular. Then, seeing the barista standing not two feet away, she pushes her cup towards him. "Could I have another, please? Seems I'll be awhile."

The server gives a little cough. "Ma'am. You said that two hours ago, then two hours before that and two hours before that and when you walked in. We...we need to close now so if you could just...?"

Runyon raises her eyebrows before shaking her head in frustration. "Ach. Not again. So sorry, so sorry." She begins randomly stuffing papers into her backpack. Various glass vials, some filled with bizarre and swirling chymicals, clink musically as she does this. "Out of time again. Always." Putting some coin on the table -- perfectly symmetrically stacked, in order from lowest denomination to highest, stacked from bottom to top -- she nods to the barista and thanks him, then stands. Her figure is angular and graceful, but quite skinny, even for an elf, and her mantis-like gait is emphasized by those heavy boots and almost a little unnerving to see.

"Thanks milady. Tomorrow, then!" the barista calls cheerfully as she leaves, relieved to not have to pressure the elf any more than he already has.

"Right!" she calls over her shoulder as she strides out into the wild autumn night, wrapping that ridiculous coat around her as protection from the wild wind and stalking off up the street.


Sweet. So are we related?


Female Elf Alchemist 2
Dúron wrote:
Sweet. So are we related?

Heh. Could be! I purposely left her history really open w/r/t where she actually comes from, so it's quite possible. She's only 160 so she'd have to be at least a generation removed, yeah? And that would be assuming that Duron's son/daughter waited a while before having a child.

I'm certainly down with doing a family tie-in, gonna take some interesting RP to make it come out though, methinks, given Duron doesn't recall his past and Marilwenn doesn't know her past, only that she was cast out (or similar) at a young age.


Verik Jarrow wrote:
I site this game for my playing 7 charisma credentials - I play the charming Raynucio.

Man, I cannot stand ENWorld's forum. Way too cluttered. I must prefer Paizo's system. (I would like the ability to use [img], but links work just fine.)


Marilwenn "Runyon" Galadruinnon wrote:
Putting some coin on the table -- perfectly symmetrically stacked, in order from lowest denomination to highest, stacked from bottom to top --

That is just about the most perfect detail I've ever seen. I can't wait to see her and Duron interact!

How old was she when she was found?


I'm thinking great great great great granddaughter at least, if not one more great. 900 years is a long time. I'm thinking it wouldn't necessarily have to be anything the characters know for quite a while, it could maybe even not come up until interactions with an NPC who might be able to tell bloodlines apart or something like that. It would give the GM something fun to work into the story at some point though. I'm not quite sure at what pace Duron will be regaining his memory, but it will be coming back to him as the adventure progresses. So far he's remembered his name and has probably had a flash or two or random things like a tree or a song seeming familiar, but hasn't had anything resembling a concrete memory of his past.

I'm probably going to work some small things in here and there, but will leave any major revelations up to the GM as I don't want to have my character know more about anything than he should and it will be more fun to have things revealed in that way I think.


Just don't start a romance!


I'm thinking Duron is going to eventually shoot for the Loremaster prestige class. I gain the Conjurer specialist ability at 8th level so I'll probably start in sometime after that, probably do 9 levels of Wizard for timing of the feat progression.

01 point blank shot
03 precise shot
05 craft wondrous item
05 craft magic arms & armor
07 empower spell
09 skill focus (know history)

If Duron hasn't already learned who he is by the time he becomes a Loremaster, gaining his first level in the prestige class will herald in learning the secrets of his history.


Quote:
Just don't start a romance!

If they are 5 or so generations apart I don't think there is a technical problem. Given that elven society, family structure and physiology is quite different from ours, I'm not sure what the typical attitude towards incest would be though. Biologically the problem with incest is aggravation of flaws in the genes of related people - and given that elves live forever and ever is a sign that they have little inherent flaws in their genes (or remarkable regenerative gene power) - either way it does not predispose them to be against incest.

Edit: and "something" has to explain those oversized ears... :p

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I am choosing to interpret LoreKeeper's post as revealing that Prince Charles is an Elf!


bahahaha - shame on you!

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Well you never see him with a beard, if that's not proof my name isn't Verik Jarrow!

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Player's Guide Cover. Spotted in the downloads section so hopefully it should be up shortly!


Female Elf Alchemist 2
LoreKeeper wrote:
Quote:
Just don't start a romance!
If they are 5 or so generations apart I don't think there is a technical problem...

Hahaa, eww!

LoreKeeper wrote:
Edit: and "something" has to explain those oversized ears... :p

I figured "artistic license" explained those ears. ;-)


Female Elf Alchemist 2
DM Barcas wrote:
Marilwenn "Runyon" Galadruinnon wrote:
Putting some coin on the table -- perfectly symmetrically stacked, in order from lowest denomination to highest, stacked from bottom to top --
That is just about the most perfect detail I've ever seen. I can't wait to see her and Duron interact!

Hey thanks! ^_^ And yeah it's gonna be awesome.

DM Barcas wrote:
How old was she when she was found?

That is a very good question. I want her to have been found at the human equivalent of like 11 or 12, so at a time when her math prodigy-ness would have become clear and the elves around her would have figured out her magical abilities weren't on the "normal" track. So...70's-ish?


Male (he/him) Irish Physicist (Programmer Dedication) 5
Verik Jarrow wrote:
Player's Guide Cover. Spotted in the downloads section so hopefully it should be up shortly!

Awesome! Mona did say early this week. I reckon once actual paizo office hours start! Wll more like 12 for them, to give em a chance. But today is looking good!


I love being in the Paizo time zone :)


Male

Is it out yet? Where do I find it if it is?


Not out last I checked - you will find it in the Adventure Path, Carrion Crown section on Paizo


It's up!

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Woohoo, downloading as we speak!

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Right read it and we all need to have a connection to a Professor Lorrimor and are called to Ravengro for the Professor's funeral having been named in his will.

I am planning to take the Chance Savior Campaign trait, and probably have saved Lorrimer from werewolves.

Background wise - in brief - Wesh's mother became a werewolf when he was young, and his father began to hunt them and become a drunk. Badly treated and with nobody to turn to out in the wilderness where they lived Wesh found comfort in animals and the strange connection he felt with the ancient stone circles.

He sought out his mother upon several occasions, and she mamaged to stay her hand. When he saw her and other wolves surrounding a lone man in one of the stone circles he intervened - using his father's silver sickle - and escaped with the Professor thanks only to his mother attacking the other werewolves.


Female Elf Alchemist 2
Verik Jarrow wrote:
Woohoo, downloading as we speak!

Ditto.

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