It would help if I created a discussion thread I suppose...
Welcome to Disjunction. Any questions?
Excited to start. Are we going to start right after the portal (or whatever it was) moved us?
Also, could you open gameplay, just so we can dot in and delete, to get it on our campaign list? Easier to follow that way, if you are okay with that.
In character creation you brought up campaign traits. What are our choices? And Jasper has really crappy AC. Will we be fighting before or after we get our first PC level and equipment?
Can't wait to start!
Edit: I just realized that Smite Evil helps with AC somewhat.
You can make a post in gameplay and delete it so you can track everything from your campaign list. You will be starting from the new room. I will do a repost of some of what I put in the recruitment thread but with a bit more information and a map once we are ready.
When you first level up is when you will get a normal trait and a custom campaign trait. If you have taken the extra traits feat then the normal trait you get in leveling up can't be of the same type(magic, religion, etc...) of any traits you already have. You will also be allowed to take 1 drawback for one extra trait.
To start off, everyone will have very low AC. You may be able to find something to protect yourself with but don't worry. Though you may be in danger, the difficulty level will be very low at first. If, though really when, you return and when you go back you will be able to get gear. For example, armour categories from here are a good start if you don't want to look strange by wearing full plate. Though if you truly want full plate you might have to pay a bit extra to source one from earth, or encounter it in the 'dungeon'.
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Hello and thanks for the selection. Quite a cast, im excited for the inevitable drama! Can we discuss any possible character interactions before the portal incident? I feel Father McKinley would be something of an outsider, being a man of the cloth amongst a bunch of scientists. His agenda could put him at odds with the group. Eagerly awaiting to begin!
Janice doesn't have anything against religion. She doesn't subscribe to that particular brand, but she has a very open mind and wouldn't resent his inclusion. She would treat him as an equal unless he tried to directly challenge her conclusions for some reason.
Checking in. I am excited about the game and looking forward to playing with you all. I worked hard on my entry and am gratified that I was selected. Thanks for your vote of confidence.
As a reminder the information is a draft that I created mostly to understand the character a little better. The bones will not change, but I might move a skill point or two or even trade out a feat. This build really benefits from extra traits so I might pick that up.
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I am thinking McKinley is a deeply private man, an introvert, and so probably isnt going to go out of his way to make conversation. Any conversation he may have will be straightforward, professional, and curt. However, he has taken many a confession and so knows a lot about human nature and knows how to listen with a compassionate ear (thus the diplomacy and sense motive skills). While the agwnda of the scientific community is to make discoveries, his agenda is to suppress any discovery that may upset the "order" of things. His stance is that knowledge is power, but power in the hands of the masses is dangerous. It's no secret he's working for the church, and its this agenda of suppression that may put him at odds with people.
Hello and thanks for the selection. Quite a cast, im excited for the inevitable drama! Can we discuss any possible character interactions before the portal incident? I feel Father McKinley would be something of an outsider, being a man of the cloth amongst a bunch of scientists. His agenda could put him at odds with the group. Eagerly awaiting to begin!
Our understanding of the Cristian faith might be shaken soon, regardless. Gordon does not really believe in God, or gods, but I bet the new world will change that quickly. Hard to not believe in gods when their cleric are walking around working magic in their names. But what will the good father think if he sees men of faith that follow other gods demonstrating diving powers?
Of course I am not sure that will happen. Just speculating. :)
Ah, well definitely suppressing the truth would put him at odds with Doctor Zeroux, but that would have to play on a case-by-case basis. She abhors his agenda, but doesn't have anything personally against him, and will just work around him. Guess we'll find out what happens. :)
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Oh I definitely expect major cognitive dissonance in the good father in this adventure. The joy of RP for me is character development, and i get the feeling there will be plenty of conflict, external and internal, to challenge our characters.
Also just want to add that I'm new to the forums and pretty new to Pathfinder, so if i make any mistakes, please be patient, im learning :)
... his agenda is to suppress any discovery that may upset the "order" of things.
My biggest question is how you plan on doing this "suppression". Burning notes? Destroying artifacts? Or maybe more sinister acts?
Jasper probably won't mind any denial on your part (whether he admits it or not, the supernatural is kind of freaky to him), but if you start destroying things or threatening party members he's going to step in.
As for his initial response to the Father (and most of the party), Jasper is polite and willing to make conversation, but he's also surprisingly paranoid, and a quick movement or someone touching him might make him uncomfortable and jumpy.
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Not destroying, but denying, denouncing, perhaps confiscating... Here's my take on the father... He's a man of faith, and thus believes in the miraculous, but he's made a living investigating the claims if miracles and has found most if them to be false or a hoax, or has declared them to be so through use of scientific explanation for the sake of keeping power structures in place. He's become very fascinated in the occult, but feels the occult is meant to stay occult. Of course this is how he feels going into the site, we'll see how he feels when he's able to rebuke a shambling corpse with his rosary or heal a stab wound with light from his hands.
Not destroying, but denying, denouncing, perhaps confiscating... Here's my take on the father... He's a man of faith, and thus believes in the miraculous, but he's made a living investigating the claims if miracles and has found most if them to be false or a hoax, or has declared them to be so through use of scientific explanation for the sake of keeping power structures in place. He's become very fascinated in the occult, but feels the occult is meant to stay occult. Of course this is how he feels going into the site, we'll see how he feels when he's able to rebuke a shambling corpse with his rosary or heal a stab wound with light from his hands.
Oh, Ok. So you bring the skeptic to the party. Sounds fun ;)
I guess since we're exchanging character info:
Jasper is a man who's life has always been wrought with conflict and insecurity. He comes across as a polite, well-meaning, and gentle figure, but deep down he fears change and finds it difficult to put his trust in people (I'm considering taking the Paranoid drawback to account for this). Thus, while he entertains the idea of supernatural figures, deep down the idea frightens him, as it means everything he thinks he knows might be turned on it's head.
Hello all, looking forward to this. I'll read through PC backgrounds and profiles as I get time tomorrow. No questions at the moment.
I an not going to read backgrounds as Gordon would not at know much of it initially and some of it he will likely never learn. So by not reading he will react better to what you say and do and I won't be tempted to use OOC information (or do so by accident.)
A quick summary for Gordon is that he is intelligent, fit, slightly overconfident academically, very well spoken, diplomatic when he thinks to be (Its not natural for him), and still somewhat socially awkward in some social situations where he is acting out of his areas of confidence. He might come across as a little condescending when dealing with areas of his study, but its also obvious that its not intentional.
Someone with good social intellect might pick up that while well traveled and worldly he has been raised in a setting of privilege.
I don't want to see any spoilers for things the player would prefer others not know, so I won't read anything that is marked as for GM's eyes only. I'm assuming by the time we start, we will have access to the general career milestones and publicly available information.
Everything in Cooil's profile is the sort of stuff you could find on him by reading his article in Wikipedia and other Internet sources.
I have only a basic character stat summary. I'm hoping we can still make some changes as we get closer to role playing.
Edit: I updated the stats to reflect a few corrections I found I had to make as I proofread and double-checked the skill and hit point totals.
Hello and thanks for the selection. Quite a cast, im excited for the inevitable drama! Can we discuss any possible character interactions before the portal incident? I feel Father McKinley would be something of an outsider, being a man of the cloth amongst a bunch of scientists. His agenda could put him at odds with the group. Eagerly awaiting to begin!
Cooil has written a number of books on science and religion and is very open minded about religion. If Father McKinley can deal with MacCray's idiosyncratic and eclectic religious explorations he might find a sympathetic ear in MacCray. On the other hand, if McKinley is conservative and distrustful of religions that are not Roman Catholic, then he will regard MacCray as a heretic or an outsider.
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My original question I think is moreso for the DM, and let me rephrase it, How likely is it that our characters have interacted before the incident? How long have they been on the project? Are findings typically shared among all parties at the site or are things pretty heavily compartmentalized? Are we going into the incident as complete strangers?
I added backstory to my character page and made some small edits to my original proposal, most specifically how and why Father McKinley gained access to the quarantined section of the site which slightly tweaked his relation to Dr Diamond.
In that regard...
Dr. Alexander is a young, talented, and up and coming Archeologist who would be well published in his field and quite well known in those circles. He is also a recognized linguist so if you touch that field professionally you might have heard of him.
Doctor Zeroux is famous and well-known, but she works for the government, so you would have to have certain clearances to read most of her stuff on cloning and nanotech.
Doctor Alexander might know her though, because her *hobby* is archaeology and languages, so they likely run in some of the same circles.
Every good supernatural drama needs a skeptic or two to keep things grounded. Cooil is closer to Mulder than Scully. He has already been to a few rodeos and has seen both fraud and delusion and seriously weird and unexplainable stuff, like out-of-body experiences and communication with spirits of the dead. I added some ranks in sleight of hand because he has trained with shamans who use it to create dramatic apparently miraculous events that promote faith but also because he wants to learn to recognize deliberate deception from truly paranormal events.
Cooil knows he must temper the ideas he is willing to embrace due to his personal experience with scientific expectation that acceptable ideas must be grounded in facts accessible to all, so he won't reveal what he really thinks may be happening when on a talk show or when conversing with professionals but deep down he suspects that some paranormal phenomena only happens to people who believe such things are possible, creating a dilemma for trying to study such things scientifically.
That will be his interest in Dr. Diamond's hypothesis, that other parallel worlds might exist but moving from one to another may require a degree of faith that such things are possible.
Ok so, your characters have been in the city anywhere from a week to a month. You would know each other, interact even, but wouldn't really work closely together if you're in different fields. There is collaboration between groups and no discovery is hidden (except from the outside world until it is ready to be released).
There has never been anything about parallel worlds though. Or moving anywhere. His point is that mythical creatures and races were real once. He doesn't believe in magic but thinks that we were once quite advanced but that a 'global event' changed the course of history. He hopes to find out why only humans survived/remained. You guys disappearing will turn everything upside down.
The most obvious challenge to the idea that dragons and orcs and goblins and such existed in the past is that we haven't found fossils of mythical creatures. Sure we've found dinosaur bones, but none of these have wings, for example. There are plenty of horse fossils but nothing with the physique of a griffon, hippogriff, or pegasus. If we were in the 1800s, you could argue that the fossils exist but just haven't been found and identified, but by now, it seems if they had lived on earth in the past, we'd have evidence in the form of fossils.
How would Dr. Diamond argue the point (if it will be relevant)?
There is mythology to suggest parallel worlds, such as the world of the fey in Celtic tradition. That would allow there to have been such creatures, but their fossils are not found because we somehow shifted into a parallel world where such creatures never existed. Some Arthurian traditions (I believe the Mists of Avalon makes this point, at least) suggest that the reason the fey no long exist in our world is that Christianity and science eliminated the belief in such things, which meant they were not sustained. This would actually fit Cooil's hypothesis that there are some things that don't exist except for people who believe they do.
In any case, Cooil would likely be working on figuring out the particle emission problem. So perhaps he will not have had the chance to discuss these things with others.
OK, since I am chomping at the bit a little and with the provided information that we do know each other somewhat and might have even know each other before all this I have gone and read everyone's backstory. I have some thoughts on your past relationships with Gordon. Let me know what you think. Please add or change the circumstances as best fits your character.
Doctor Janice Zeroux: Gordon and Janice have known each other for some time professionally in the fields of Archeology and ancient languages. They have even been on a dig together before and became "work" friends while enduring the hard living conditions of the site. It was Janice's idea to spar early in the mornings before it got to hot and two found they were pretty evenly matched. Eventually Gordon made romantic advances towards the lovely doctor, taking a lot longer to do so than she expected. In truth they were a little awkward but sweet. Janice let him down easy and he took it in stride. Their friendship, while never great away from work, was at least not harmed by this event.
Jasper Rolla. Because Jasper's “name is already known by no small number of archaeological circles.” Gordon has heard of Jasper. When they met its fair to say that Jasper failed somewhat to measure up to what Gordon was expecting both physically (Way to large and strong) and academically. While well traveled Jasper just lacks the classical education and raw intellect that Gordon believes is necessary for this work. And while Gordon is not openly critical of Jasper he has treated the man more like a resource than an equal and fails to ask his opinion more than he should.
Father Desmond McKinley. Gordon would have read of the good Father's work and have a good impression of him professionally, at least withing his areas of expertise. They share a love of ancient languages, and though their reasons for this interest is different its a point where they bond and become friends. In general when they talk they stay away from discussions of applied theology. Gordon is genuinely glad the man is on the team and values his knowledge of religions, history, and linguists and his ability to make jumps in logic like himself (Amateur Investigator).
Dr. Cooil MacCray. Gordon knows of the man but they have never met. While he can admire his degrees, and is always impressed with an advanced technical degree, he considers the man a popularist who has chosen not to do serious work. He hopes that this expedition will mark a change for the man and watches to see what contributions the man is capable of making. When he finds that Cooil speaks an eclectic set of languages his impression of the man increases and he tries to engage him in both language discussions and perhaps even to tutor Gordon in Tibetan.
Gordon:
I'm good with that background. I would also be okay if they had a relationship that is now over, like a failed marriage because they were both too married to their jobs. ... But this way avoids any hint of possible bitterness/jealousy, which is also good. Whichever way you want to play it.
Cooil:
I don't think that the lack of fossils is a problem. Fossils are only formed under exceptional circumstances, and missing links to tons of theoretical things are still missing, presumably because they didn't live near tar pits or in ideal circumstances for fossil creation. Most truly ancient evidence is permanently lost over time rather than preserved, and the age that Doctor Diamond is talking about is truly ancient.
Unsure of Dr. Zeroux's age but Gordon is quite young for his degrees and position, so age difference might have been part of your hesitation; that and your wisdom that its not smart to date where you work.
So, if you are good with it we will say that other than Gordon's expressed interest there have not yet been any real romantic moments between the two. But Janice knows that Gordon was interested at one time and suspects that, if she showed any interest, he would be pleased. Nothing in discussions have suggested he is involved with anyone at the moment but he seems to avoid such topics with you as what he sees as a concession to ensure a valued friendship.
Sounds good. :)
Cooil would still be skeptical of such explanations for lack of fossils. If the mythological creatures were not around for long enough to leave fossils, they would also have had to evolve, thrive, and vanish is a very short window. Perhaps something that made such creatures possible would account for them evolving and disappearing without a trace in a short stretch of time.
But for stories of these creatures to exist in ancient human cultures, the creatures would have to have lived among them. The creatures would have walked the earth in the past 50,000 years, roughly how long ago humans developed language. But we have plenty of fossils from the times humans were around, so where are the fossils of the fantastic beasts? The hypothesis would need multiple unfounded assumptions to maintain the hypothesis, while the alternate plane of existence, while also an unfounded assumption, is simpler and by Occam's razor, more likely.
But the explanation for mythological tales requires no unfounded assumptions if we assume they are just the product of human imagination, something with which we have a lot of experience and for which we have ample evidence. So without some concrete evidence, like fossils or an actual plane shift experience, it's pointless to speculate. If the entire team shifted and found itself back in time or in an alternate dimension, then there would be something to think about. [Cue the ominous foreshadowing music.]
If the GM gives us more information on with whom Diamond has shared his ideas and a context for that sharing, I can do more than speculate on what Cooil might say and actually indicate what he would say.
Most of what Cooil has written about is on how to interpret magical traditions in preliterate cultures. He has also written about stories of spirits, out of body experiences, near-death experiences, and other things that might be considered to be evidence of a spiritual reality, always focusing on methods that such things might be researched to clarify what the evidence might prove.
In these books he will have shared some of his experiences with preliterate cultures and their shamans.
He's happy to talk about languages, if that's of interest to Gordon or anyone else.
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Gordon: I'm not sure if the Vatican's investigations into the claims of miracles, religious artifacts, etc. are necessarily published, but I guess public records would exist of the investigations having taken place and the outcome of the findings for the curious to dig up. It makes more sense to me if Gordon were to research into McKinley's background after they meet. It sounds like Gordon might be heading at least a significant portion of the archeological survey, or study of the hieroglyphs, etc. and so Father McKinley would have approached him to ask about his findings so far, specifically looking for evidence that the ruins may be related to Biblical sites (Eden? Bable? etc.)
Father McKinley would have heard of Mr. MacCray, probably has seen him on TV. Cooil is the one person McKinley would approach for conversation beyond professionalism. McKinley feels they have a lot of common interests, although he's not too fond of MacCray's popularizing the mystical and esoteric. He's not a confrontational man, though, and would keep that one gripe private.
I can't think of a reason for McKinley to approach Zeroux or Jasper although nanites reconstructing ancient ruins would be a spectacle to behold.
Taking a page out of Doctor Alexander's handbook, I went ahead and read my party mate's backstories. Here's Jasper's impressions of the "party":
Father McKinley: Jasper has never been particularly religious. Nonetheless, he is still respectful of the Father's title, understanding its importance to him. Jasper is polite and professional to the Father, understanding the wisdom of a man who listens instead of speaking. However, he has barely-contained glee knowing that Father McKinley has researched the lost city's layout (Jasper's area of expertise is the construction of ancient stone monoliths) and does his best to work with the Father and compare their research. Learning about the Father's attempts to suppress their research, then, will likely come as a slap in the face, and will almost certainly destroy his trust in the priest.
Gordon Alexander: Jasper didn't imagine he would like Gordon based on what he knew of him. Gordon was both everything he disliked about the arrogant upper class of London, and everything he wished himself to be: well funded, charismatic, and enormously intelligent. Still, Jasper figured he should at least try to reserve his judgement until after he had met the man face to face. His conclusion: Gordon is all of the above and worse. Jasper can tell quite plainly what Gordon thinks of him, and while he'd never say anything out loud, he avoids the Doctor like the plague and keeps what conversations he must have curt. He expects Gordon to earn his respect (or at least understand that they are equals as scientists).
Doctor Zeroux: Jasper believes he sees a kindred spirit in the Doctor: someone who seeks discovery not for profit or fame but out of passion. He finds her nanotechnology fascinating (though he only understands the rudimentary concept behind it) but otherwise feels like he doesn't know her well enough, and seeks conversations with her if he can; as long as, of course, Dr Alexander isn't around.
Cooil MacCray: Jasper considers Cooil a bit of an oddball. Dr MacCray sits equally in two vastly different worlds, and is not afraid of the spotlight. However, Cooil has won Jasper over with his charismatic and merry demeanor. Jasper might not quite understand either of Cooil's areas of expertise, but he understands that Cooil is open minded and determined, and he can respect that.
And while I'm writing character interactions:
Mr Diamond: Jasper has never met Diamond in person, going only off of rumors he's heard from colleagues and Diamond's appearance on television and the books he's wrote. Jasper's heard some very unflattering rumors of the man: some say that his degrees are illegitimate, others believe that he's out-and-out insane. Jasper refuses to believe these rumors for a second, instead seeing him for what he is: a master historian and archaeologist. Diamond's theory, however, makes him doubt the man's reasoning skills, if only slightly (this is out of a hidden fear that Diamond is right, as it basically takes recorded history and throws it out the window).
McKinley:
Yes, my Nanites are super cool, and we may have struck a conversation if you were admiring them, since they are my work of art. :)
We might even have some things in common... you work for the church, I work for the government. Those are both groups that work to hide things from others. I don't actively participate in that myself. I just do the science, but it's part of the job that you can't talk about everything. Our difference is just that I somewhat resent that, and you support it and further it in your own sphere. As long as it it all theoretical talk and we aren't actually talking about keeping specific things from people, we would likely get along fine.
Jasper:
Sounds good. :) You and I may have met on a dig as well, and we likely would be friends.
Alright everyone I have finished the first map and you can join the roll20 game if you want to be able to move your own token around or whatever. Just post in the roll20 chat which character you are and I'll give you control of that token.
And the first gameplay post is up. Slight change from what I had in the recruitment thread.
So I was thinking totally OOC about what stats really mean. And I certainly do not mean to criticize any person or build but was just wondering about it. What does a 9 point delta in Int between two people really mean? I saw a show one time, maybe the X-Files, no, I think it was House, where a super smart man wanted to be in a happy relationship with an average intelligence woman, so he was taking a drug to lower his mental capabilities, and it was working - he was happy. Of course the drug was doing long term harm. Off the drug he noted that his girlfriend had more in common, intellectually, with a Rhesus monkey than with him. If you were to take 9 points of int away from an Int 10 person they would be at a Lizard's intelligence. But are these points a linear measure or on some other scale.
Note that there is a 10 point delta in Charisma between Gordon and Janice. That was part of my reasoning behind her rejecting him. By comparison to her he must be a troll. lol. I do know that Charisma does not = looks alone but 10 points is a lot.
That's a fair point. However, attraction isn't just looks or even social competence, which is also a large part of Charisma, right? Maybe Gordon has some social inability, at least with women if not with professional situations, but he is also super-smart... smarter than Janice. They make up for each other's weaknesses in some ways, and Janice wouldn't ever be repulsed by brilliance, unless it was irritating, snobbish, and exclusive... which doesn't seem like Gordon's character.
Hard to say how other things really match up though... if you are 4 points smarter than I am, do you look down on me? Jasper is much stronger, does he think I am incompetent at self-defense? I think comparisons are going to depend on how the person looks at the world and interacts with others. Some are going to act snobbish and like they know everything even when they clearly do not. Others will be open and welcoming, knowing that they can learn from others' differences... right?
Gordon does not consider himself better than others, outside of the context of specific skill sets that he as worked very hard to achieve. His charisma manifests itself more in being awkward in social situations stemming mostly from being raised by overbearing parents who kept him studying almost every free moment. He really did not have much of a childhood and very few friends to become normal around. I do not intend for him to ever intentionally be snobbish or insulting to anyone.
Interesting that the differences in stats seem larger in the modern world and once we assume our new "roles" in the alternate world they will become much less important or even more appreciated.
I think the Intelligence ability in Pathfinder is a combination of intellect and education. If Albert Einstein had not been educated in math and physics, he would be great at figuring some things out, but not all that intelligent in a Pathfinder Ability sense. Another person who has spent a lot of time learning stuff might not be able to work out complex math problems, but still would have a high intelligence in the Pathfinder Sense, as reflected in skill ranks bonus.
Charisma is subtle. I think it is a combination of appearance, sense of humor, charm, and other social interactions that can make a person generally attractive or unattractive. I think a low charisma score would represent someone who is hard to like, regardless of whether the other person has a high or low charisma ability score. But people can overcome issues like this to be good friends despite one of them having a low charisma score.
The comedy series "Big Bang Theory" gives lighthearted examples of both differences in intelligence and in charisma. Sheldon has low charisma as does Amy, his girlfriend, while both have high intelligence. They have a difficult time making it work, but they manage over time to be a loving couple. Meanwhile Leonard and Penny represent wide gaps in both intelligence and Charisma but over time they also make it work. On the other hand, life is full of examples of people who have similar intelligence and high charisma but who still can't make a relationship work.
A good analogy. :)
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Zeroux: let's say at one point soon after Father McKinley arrived at the site he was being given a tour including Zeroux's reconstruction projects. He stood in awe and uttered a remark about the "miracle of human ingenuity". Zeroux was in earshot and overheard the remark and approached the Father and introduced herself and her work. Father McKinley congratulated her on her success and remarked that her work would certainly help to understand the people who built and inhabited the site. He would have liked to continue the conversation but the tour leader ushered him along.
Sounds good McKinley. :)
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Jasper: I have a quick retcon per the DM's approval. How about earlier in the day, before the 'incident', Jasper approached McKinley and offered to help in his study of the circle patterns on the floor. McKinley was reluctant at first but didnt want to raise any further suspicion and agreed. The two quickly found common ground and throughout the day had idke conversation about pop culture theories like the pyramids and stonehenge being alien technology, super conductors, star gates, etc.
McKinley was supportive and encouraging of Jasper. McKinley has the insightful advice feat, and this woul give Jasper a +2 to kn. History, or kn. Arcana checks, whatever seems mist appropriate, per GM's approval, for the next 24 hrs.
Jasper: I have a quick retcon per the DM's approval. How about earlier in the day, before the 'incident', Jasper approached McKinley and offered to help in his study of the circle patterns on the floor. McKinley was reluctant at first but didnt want to raise any further suspicion and agreed. The two quickly found common ground and throughout the day had idke conversation about pop culture theories like the pyramids and stonehenge being alien technology, super conductors, star gates, etc.
McKinley was supportive and encouraging of Jasper. McKinley has the insightful advice feat, and this woul give Jasper a +2 to kn. History, or kn. Arcana checks, whatever seems mist appropriate, per GM's approval, for the next 24 hrs.
Sounds cool :)
I am curious though: didn't you say that the Father didn't talk much outside of the job at hand? I suppose it makes sense, seeing as Jasper would be very excited to work with Father McKinley and try to pry information out of him, but it's a tad bit odd to me.
((Not complaining, just curious))
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Or their conversation could have strictly been focused on the problem at hand. I'm fine with that. Just trying to come up with a way to activate this feat ;) and get the characters at least acquainted. If its more in character with what I said earlier to keep conversation on business, perhaps McKinley could have been teaching Jasper a thing or two about the use of pentagrams in hermetic alchemy, which would be more kn. Arcana.
But then again that's the kind of knowledge McKinley keeps to himself.
It's cool man, I'm ok with whatever. I'm just trying to figure out who Jasper's party members are as people and how Jasper sees them. So far, I've decided he looks up to Father McKinley as an expert (but learning about his suppression will definitely change that), and he sees MacCray in a similar way, though he hopes they can be friends. He finds Dr Zeroux fascinating but feels like he barely knows her and wants to change that. And he more or less despises Dr Alexander (partly because of the Doctor's condescending attitude and partly out of jealousy).
Interesting to see how a paladin will despise a good character... Certainly Gordon does not despise Jasper, just does not agree that he belongs on the team. Jasper is the only non-Ph.D in the group and by comparison is hardly educated. Archeology is at best an enthusiastic hobby for him.
Hopefully as we move into our "true" characters and away from the politics of academia, things will calm down a little bit and we'll find ways to appreciate and respect each other for our individual strengths.
My normal work week is from Monday to Thursday, so I'm just now getting some time to flesh out Cooil as a character. I've added spoilers with descriptions of his a appearance and his accent on the profile.
I also added a drawback and trait. The drawback is Meticulous, which adds a -2 penalty to skill checks for skills without any ranks, reflecting his reluctance to attempt things for which he has not practiced or studied. The trait is Dangerously Curious, which reflects his study of magic in earth cultures, giving him (eventual) bonus on Use Magic Device checks.
Disclaimer: I'm an American attempting to play a character from the Isle of Man. If I get anything wrong please forgive me and correct me if you think it's an important thing to get right.
Interesting to see how a paladin will despise a good character... Certainly Gordon does not despise Jasper, just does not agree that he belongs on the team. Jasper is the only non-Ph.D in the group and by comparison is hardly educated. Archeology is at best an enthusiastic hobby for him.
I'll admit "despise" was a bit too strong of a word. Jasper just thinks (correctly or not) that Gordon is condescending, smug, and a bit too full of himself, and has decided that if Gordon won't show him respect, he won't either. Though he won't admit it, this attitude is also because he's jealous of Gordon's success and intellect.