GM Arkwright's Curse of the Trimmed Sky

Game Master Arkwright

@Renn- Sorry, that was more if a majority of applicants all begged, with three completed core applications I can't allow it.

@Endoralis- aye. My definition of a caster is any one of the 9th-level casting classes, or at least one of the 6th-level casting classes; an Eidolon-caser definitely wouldn't count. It's more about flexibility/power of spell lists, which Eidolon SLA-blasting/healing and rods/scrolls can't quite provide.

Totally fair; I'll play around with something else. :)

Fair enough, Im not one generally for playing such, not because I cant but because its not hard. I suppose you want a wizard or whatever.

Wizard, druid, sorceror, oracle, cleric, witch.

If you'd really rather not those, summoner, hexcrafter magus, bard. But preferably one from the first line.

*Nods* Im fine then, that is basically regulating the characters to squishy backline by the way you portray it, High Casting stat + Casting focus.

You'll easily be able to find such a character.

Here's my submission pre tweaks which will come later today. He'll be getting four levels of shadow dancer if that's allowed.

I'd probably disagree on the casting focus/casting stat bit. If a battle-oracle wants to skimp on Charisma in favour of strength and con, I'm willing to count that as a caster since they will still have plenty of spells, and a reasonable DC.

@Gotin- Shadowdancer is fine, need some personality and background needs a little more, let me know when sheet is finished.

So it sounds like you've chosen three of the four characters and you've got just a single slot left. Is that correct?

Yep.

Crunch isn't begun yet, but this is Rennai with the druid I'll be working on. She's a Nidalese woman, formerly noble, now disinherited and exiled. She began studying druidism because she found it more fulfilling than the expected sadomasochism of Kuthite worship. Her father found out and sentenced her to death by hanging for sedition, especially because of the druids' supposed connection to Desnan subversives. When the gallows platform dropped, she surprised even herself when she wished herself into the form of an eagle and flew out of the noose, not stopping until her new form melted away and she was far from home.

The experience left her a little anxious and paranoid, but she's happy to be free of Nidalese custom and at liberty to progress in her druidism under the guidance of mentors in the Liberty's Edge faction of the Pathfinder Society. She never developed the special bond with a creature that others did, but her noble upbringing has given her the ability to spur others to greatness, and she still favors eagles and other birds in her magics.

(She'll be an eagle shaman druid with the Nobility domain, Martyr subdomain to avoid taking Leadership. I'll get her character sheet put together in an hour or so when I get home.)

I'd like to submit Senna for consideration. She was built for another campaign but her 'bones' would stay the same here, I'll just have to dial her down a bit to Monk 1/Sorc 10. If her pitch and details meet with your tentative approval, I'll downgrade her.

One bit of fluff addition: preceding the hanging was a "trial" that involved fairly extensive torture, which weakened Katelin significantly. She seeks the Book of the Titan now in order to recover some of that lost strength. It's also the reason she prefers her eagle form to her human form - when she's shifted, her weakness doesn't hinder her as much.

@Katelin- I'd like a quick line about how she studied druidism- getting to level 4 should require some outside assistance. I wouldn't mind another half-sentence about her personality. Otherwise, fine.

@Senna- I suppose if you're going to have a caster who works to conceal their power, a face-sorcerer would do it fairly well. If she wants to remain without connection, fair enough. But I'd appreciate it if you'd indulge me and write a line about some country or kingdom she's helped more than on average, either by accident or some other reason. Don't need it if you don't want to write it, just some GM PC-sidequest instincts kicking in.

I'm withdrawing here, guys. Good luck you all, have fun ;)

I'll get those last little bits worked into her profile. I'm working on her crunch now. By the way, since she has a wildshape form she prefers the majority of the time, I'm going to include a spoiler with her statblock while wildshaped.

Great idea Katelin, thanks.

I can certainly throw in some concrete details to satisfy that DMy itch. I'll flesh out her backstory a bit more and post it. :)

So I may have gotten into her story a little bit and gone on a bit longer than I intended...it's sort of a habit of mine. It's done now, and the crunch should be mostly done as well (I still need to prepare spells and go shopping).

EDIT: Oops, realized I forgot feats and a second trait as well.

Afriad it'll be a race between you and Senna, with the slower being put on first reserve in case of a drop out.

Enough detail, or would you like more?

Excellent. Looking forward to the crunch.

I'm done except for a question on equipment - I know it melds with your form when you wildshape, but does that mean that its weight ceases to encumber you when wildshaped?

Nah it still encumbers you.

Really? That seems kind of weird to me, and it makes taking tiny or diminuitive forms almost unimaginable - once you get that small even having clothing on would put you at maximum load, let along carrying any kind of equipment. Not meaning to be argumentative; this is my first time playing a druid and I want to make sure I'm doing it right.

EDIT: Yay FAQs! Here's the rules for figuring encumbrance with wild shape.

Make you a deal. If you're happy to be denied access to all of your mundane equipment and potions and scrolls while wildshaped, it doesn't encumber you. I reckon an all-or-nothing approach is fair, being able to pick-and-choose less so.

I thought that was already a given with wild shape - it melds into your form, so you can't access it. I certainly wasn't going to try to have access to all of it and not be encumbered by it. :) Also, see my post above for the definitive FAQ on it. I'm going to have to decide now whether the wild enchant is worth barely being able to fly...

Good to have the definitive FAQ. Best of luck with your decision.

And of course, now there's no definitive answer on whether you can fly with more than a light load or not. Apparently it was a rule in 3.5, but there's no ruling that's Pathfinder-specific.

So to make things simple and reasonably confusion-free for both of us going in:

• I'll go with a wild chain shirt instead of a breastplate, which at 25 pounds puts me into light load.
• My headband, belt, dagger, etc. will meld into my form; I'll continue to get the static bonuses, but they won't count for weight and I won't be able to access the dagger.
• Everything else I have will go into my portable hole, which I'll drop before shaping and pick back up to carry in-talons while I fly. It seems reasonable that, if I'm going to spend 20,000 gold on it, it should let me circumvent issues, but it's totally fair to make it take some time to spread out to access, seeing as how I'm a bird. :P

All updated, included character sheet.

And of course I'm finished up at just the same time. Senna did beat me by two minutes, so you can give it to her if you like. :)

...clock stop. Katelin comes in 77-17 seconds before Senna. I'll run through your sheets, if I find major issues in one, the other wins; otherwise, its looking like Senna I'll have to ask you to be our first back-up in the case of a drop-out.

EDIT: And, at the moment of comparison, Senna wins. Katelin, at my moment of examination you've only filled out your skills for Perception, so I'm afraid the place goes to Senna. I'd still very much like you to be my first backup.

Will Senna Proviso, Tathlan Larethaerith,
Authion Taurvantian and Sir Haldern please report to the discussion thread.

I wait with bated breath. It's been a fun exercise either way, and I learned things. :)

EDIT: Aww, shoot, I missed it! Totally a fair call. I am going to be submitting her for another game, but I'd be glad to wait as backup, with Katelin or another character if it turns out a druid isn't what you need at the time or she gets accepted for the other game. And thanks for the consideration!

Sir Haldern reporting. I'll go make an alias :-). Should have soon but first have to go and perform my civic duty (its election day up here)

We've had a drop-out, going to need a new player please. New player will have the choice of taking over Tathlan or making a new character, following the same character creation rules up top except for starting at level 12. Backstory should have you ending up in the small mountain city of Jol.

Hey! I applied before with a druid (Katelin), and I'd love to take you up on your offer of first alternate. :) But I've got a druid in another game now, and it looks like it's ranged ability being lost with Tathlan gone.

How about a human, archery-focused beastmaster ranger with a roc companion? Or a halfling fighter or ranger using a slingstaff (properly now, with Weapon Master's Handbook)? If you prefer one or the other, let me know and I can get a sheet done over the next day or two.

No preference, best of luck.

I'll get going, then! I'm leaning toward the halfling - I've been stoked to try out the new slipslinger style ever since I got Weapon Master's Handbook, and it'll be a good chance to try out some of the other new toys in there too. Is it all right if I'm in the area because I've heard stories of the Book of the Titan? If not, it's totally cool, but the idea of a halfling (possibly escaped slave from Cheliax) obsessed with gaining physical power as a defense against the big folks and the world's hard knocks is what's starting to come together in my head.

All right, this is the beginnings of my halfling slinger still in progress, so you can keep an eye on her profile while she comes into being.

Rennai's halfling slinger, that is - realized I forgot to specify. She's become an eldritch guardian fighter, who doesn't go anywhere without her pet hedgehog Hogarth McPricklesworth riding shotgun.

Alleria, how's it going?

All right, although I had some other things come up that kept me from quite finishing. Her crunch is finished, I believe, but fluff is still ongoing, though I have it in my head. She does prefer the name Ally, by the way - Alleria's far too formal for her taste. :)

Basically, she grew up in Isger as a slave, subject to an experiment while still in the womb to see if her master could instill sorcerous power into her. It wasn't successful to all appearances (though her pet hedgehog Hog did seem awfully intelligent). Put down by her master for being a failure in his eyes, she became sort of obsessed with trying to gain magic ability any way she could. She was liberated by agents of the Liberty's Edge faction of the Pathfinder Society when she was a teenager, and began to train with them in weapon skills, favoring the sling staff her people had devised for its ingenuity and versatility.

Eventually she joined the Society herself, and has worked with them for several years now. Her focus is on research into magical history and theory - a little part of her still feels inadequate for lacking innate magical ability, although she's collected quite a few items in her time with the Society that give her at least a taste of it, and she's quite well-studied in how to finagle using those items that ordinarily require true casting ability. She came to the Lands of the Linnorm Kings researching the evolutionary divergence that gave dragons magical ability while leaving linnorms with very little in the way of arcane talent, and has just stopped in Jol to have a quiet place to assemble her notes and enjoy a few drinks and some bar songs.

Backstory's nice to build on. Since you're level 12 I'd suggest writing in some great deed you've done, some great faction you're great friends with due to helping them out.

Otherwise, a sentence specifically on personality and a sentence of physical description would be good.

You got it. I'll have her heroic misadventures up a little bit later - something related to her Society work. She's been a member of the Society for going on sixteen years now, so she's made quite a name for herself, and she's one of its most powerful members. Her research right now is sort of her swan song, her last great masterpiece before she goes into a quiet retirement.

Growing up as a slave, she's retained an eagerness to try and please everyone, which can be both endearing and a little strange to some. She doesn't have much of the innate charm that halflings tend toward, either - her early isolation and habits of bookishness have left her somewhat shy and reserved, and her habit of holding long, drawn-out conversations with her pet hedgehog doesn't exactly help matters with many people. (Hog's talking back, she swears.) Get past all that, though, and she proves a true friend, steadfast in protecting those who have shown her kindness and treated her as an equal.

She got her race's natural nimbleness in spades, and it shows in her slim, agile build. A mop of unruly brown hair sits atop her head, and her skin is tanned from her time traveling for the Society. Somewhat strangely for someone who prefers to approach combats from a distance with the sling portion of her sling-staff, she favors intricately jointed plate armor made of mithril, worked with a complicated series of runes that she can invoke to gain extra speed when it's necessary.

Her magic equipment, souveniers from her extensive research, could hardly be mistaken for anything else - it all features complex arcane symbols from myriad traditions, from depictions of the ten Magaambyan magic warriors to Azlanti runes to Shoanti pictographs. One other curiosity is a large port-wine-stain birthmark on her forearm in the vague shape of a crown; it's most likely a coincidence, but she finds the possible connection between the harrow suit of crowns and the inherent magics her master tried to breed into her fascinating.

So that was perhaps more than a sentence or two on appearance and personality. Sorry. XD

Correction: I'll have her heroic misadventures up hopefully by this time tomorrow. I ran out of time and energy.

Hey! Bladud (one of the existing character; actually the other recent addition to the team) was a one-time Pathfinder. though he's only an on-again-off-again Pathfinder. So while she likely never heard of him, if Alleria's a big deal, he may have heard of her... even if only in passing. :)

I'd be cool with you being Bladud's friend in the Society; you probably wouldn't know that Bladud was in the city, but you can have a nice chat when you two meet.

Works for me. :)

Ok, I should be pretty much there now. I've put a few one-line backstory seeds in my background - if you'd like them fleshed out more, let me know.

Approved. Report to Discussion and say hello, I'll let you know when you appear, won't be long.