GM Riatin's Rise of the Runelords

Game Master riatin

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Character Generation rules:

The Adventure Path is Rise of the Runelords obviously:
Please look through the player's guide here

All of the info you'll need to create a character here

Character Generation
-20 point buy (No stat below 8 or over 20)
-Classes from any of the paizo books are approved
-Races are limited to Core Rules (Human, Elf, Half-Elf, Halfling, Gnome, Half-Orc, Dwarf), unless I get a really great story.
-You get 2 traits, 1 must be a campaign trait from the Rise of the Runelords player guide. (link forthcoming)
-We will use Hero Points
-Max HP for level 1
-Max starting gold

House Rules:

-Leadership is a not a legal feat
-Guns are Emerging (for any wannabe gunslingers)
-Coins do not count as weight toward encumbrance
-20/20/confirm is an instant death for any foe or PC
-Each character gains one additional weapon proficiency per iterative attack (ie, When a fighter goes up to level 6 and gains +6/+1 attacks, he also gains an additional weapon proficiency)

General Notes:

While tough, the AP is designed for 4 characters with a 15 point buy and general player skill and optimization, so don't feel that you need to over optimize to survive.

I'm more than happy to take any questions on anything. If you need help making a character, I can walk you through it.


Male Human Gamer / 16

Quick questions re: backstory & side quests, inspired by my previous experiences:

1. Can/should we include long-term character background-based quests in our backstory, or would that interfere withe the AP?

2. In Pathfinder Society organized play, the characters are each given a "secret" side quest based on their faction at the start of the scenario, for the purpose of gaining extra XP if they complete it during the session. Do those exist in campaign scenarios like RotR, and will we use them? There's no mention in the Player's Guide, but maybe it's just a GM thing.

This doesn't particularly effect character creation, but I'm just curious. Thanks, Riatin!


1) If you work it in and let me know which aspects of a backstory you'd like to pursue, I'll try my best to do something with it.

2) I know about the PFS secret side quests and they're not typically worked into the AP's since the PFS are a separate thing, so there's not set scenarios for them, but if you pick a faction and something comes up that you can capitalize on it for your faction, I'll give you some extra xp or treasure for roleplaying, sure. I dont plan to use the boons or prestige rewards system from PFS though.


Male Human Gamer / 16

Cool, thanks - I won't worry about those things then; I'll still use the backstory I've come up with, but it doesn't need to be anything game-effecting.

I've just about finished my character - I've never played a rogue before, so I'm going to try it now. Elf rogue, specifically.

Clarification: Since the RotR Player's Guide doesn't actually mention Traits anywhere, I'll assume you meant "You get 2 Feats, 1 must be a campaign Feat." Please confirm.


Just posting that I saw that I am a part of this, so am going to read up a ton and let you know if there are any questions.

Oh, wait, there's a question... does it matter what class I choose? I am willing to play whatever is needed.

Thanks!


I linked the wrong player's guide Rei, that's the old 3.5 edition one, here's the newly updated pathfinder version: here

I'm open to however you guys want to play it, but here's my recommendation on class makeup: Melee specialist, divine caster, arcane caster, and support. That could mean fighter, rogue, cleric, wizard or that could mean Summoner, druid, witch, bard or any combination that can do those things. All that I'd really say is that for new players I would steer away from the Summoner, Inquisitor, and probably the Magus because they have lots of options and wonky mechanics and would be more difficult to learn the system with.

Here's a relative rundown on class power levels as you progress:

(When I say melee, I usually mean melee or ranged)
Alchemist: Strong support through most levels can be very powerful (Spontaneous Caster)

Antipaladin: I should have noted that I probably wouldn't want anyone to play this class although I'd probably be okay with someone playing it like a WoW deathknight. Alternate class of the paladin.

Barbarian: Very strong melee up to 8th level then starts to trail off, then gets a boost again at 12th

Bard: Excellent support character 1-20.

Cavalier: Very strong melee and very strong mounted character, but mounted combat is not that common (Restrictive dungeon sizes, can work for small sized creatures). Challenge is a very strong ability.

Cleric: Powerful full level divine caster, great 1-20

Druid: Can be built as a strong caster or a strong melee-er but has a difficult time doing both. Has an animal companion.

Fighter: Great Melee character and the simplest mechanically

Gunslinger: Can be very strong but will be weaker in an emerging guns era, can be very expensive gold wise.

Inquisitor: Can be powerful, but has many options that can be difficult to master.

Magus: Can be very powerful, but has spells and melee going off at the same time and difficult mechanics.

Monk: Very Multiple Attribute Dependent (MAD) and difficult to make effective but there are good options out there.

Ninja: I'm playing one of these in a home campaign and having loads of fun, they're kind of fragile at lower levels but ramp up quickly. An alternate class of the rogue and more combat oriented less skill based.

Oracle: Cool class, can have a lot of story elements built into the class. Very similar to a cleric in power level except they are spontaneous casters (limited spell list to select from).

Paladin: Ok at melee until you meet a dragon, evil undead or evil outsider, then with smite they clean up. Good class all around.

Ranger: Good melee-er along with an animal companion, especially strong against chosen enemies.

Rogue: Very skill based support character.

Samurai: Alternate class of the Cavalier.

Sorcerer: A good class for having many arcane spells to cast each day, but is slower to raise in spell level and has fewer spell choices than a wizard (spontaneous caster) Powerful 1-20

Summoner: Very strong with a melee eidolon up through 12th level then trails off in power. (Spontaneous caster)

Witch: Very powerful support class that can have divine and arcane spells. Spontaneous caster.

Wizard: Powerful arcane caster 1-20.

The AP runs levels 1-15, so the classes that trail off around 12th or so wouldn't be noticed until very late in the game, and even then it wouldn't noticed much.


Male Human Gamer / 16

Ah, thanks - that new version makes more sense.

So I'll probably ditch the Rogue and come up with something else... I know Duane is researching this weekend, but he'd mentioned wanting to go Bard. If Bard is "excellent" support all the way to 20 (and Rogue is especially skill-dependent), then that might be a better fit for the group.

Plus, the Traits in the Anniversary Edition player's guide all conflict a lot more with my very specific character backstory than the Feats in the other version did... Starting a new character will allow me to use the more general backstories presented in those traits.

SO - all of that said - Thunder, do you have a preference for being a caster or a melee? I might enjoy being the meatshield, but arcane caster could work for me if you're keen on being stabby.


I have absolutely no preference, all the classes are interesting to me. It's been a long time since I played a game like this (since before THAC0), so anything will be a lot of fun for me.


Male Human Gamer / 16

I've rolled a half-Orc barbarian, a human fighter and a human wizard (man, I love Hero Lab) - I like my story for the Barbarian the best though, so I think my preference would be to play him. Once I've written out his story, I'll send him to you to check out, Riatin.


Any idea what T might be playing?. I guess it doesn't really matter actually, I can just make 2 characters, a divine caster and an arcane caster, and then whichever T bring's I will play the other. Works for me.

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32

Sorry guys been on the road a bit too much to report in. Sent T a private message on the forums but I haven't heard back. I was hoping he would verify if he was in or out.

Has your friend made an account here rei?

I think what ill do is get us up to 5 by recruiting on this site. So make what you think youd like to play and then we can recruit 1 or 2(if t is out) to fill the needed roles. That sound good?


Male Human Gamer / 16

Sounds good to me!

I just missed DW today - we don't really work together on anything these days, so it's tough to connect. We'll talk in detail tomorrow and I'll make sure he gets sorted here.

I'm still a little iffy on the spellcasting rules, so I'll definitely go with the melee role... I like the versatility of the Fighter, but it seems like the Barbarian would be more interesting to play. Still leaning toward Barb, but until we lock in, I'm undecided.


I wrote up a little history for an Oracle and a Wizard and I like them both, but I think I like what I did with the Oracle a little more so I will go with that unless both T and whoever the 5th is are divine, then I will switch to the wizard.

Dwarf Oracle, yep, a dwarf.


Hmmm, maybe that wasn't such a good idea, taking a race that has a penalty to Charisma and making them a class where the primary stat is charisma. Maybe he wont be a dwarf? haha


So, this is what I am thinking about now, a Warrior Oracle with Clouded Vision, please let me know if that sounds like a bad idea. At first I was thinking I should be heal focused, but most of what I read says that in combat healing is not usually as necessary as helping to take out a foe. So, some sort of armor wearing guy summoning things and buffing allies while smacking things with a big weapon sounds like fun, and fits with choosing Clouded Vision, he can be right in the think of things where he can see what he is trying to hit.

Are we supposed to input our characters somewhere, or do we just keep track of them on a piece of paper at home?

This game is many times more complex than good old AD&D, pretty fun trying to wrap my brain around it all.


Yeah, Dwarves make great clerics but poor oracles, sorcerers, and ninja's. Although I have to say I think a stone, metal, or battle dwarven oracle would be very cool flavor wise.

Sounds like a great concept to me (one I've considered playing myself). Although one downside is that attacks coming from further away than your blindsight allows will leave you flat footed. So ranged attacks can be a big disadvantage for the clouded vision oracles, but I still like the concept.

I never played Ad&d having started with 2nd ed. Ad&d, but I was around for the transition from 2nd ed. to V3.0 then to 3.5 and now to Pathfinder (some people call it 3.75) and I like the d20 concept of having almost every roll be determined by a d20 roll. Percentiles never worked for me, and Thac0 was just a nightmare to determine to hits. Pathfinder made the skill system far more elegant than the 3.0-3.5 version so you're getting the 10 or so years of refinement.

There's character sheets built into the forum (another reason this place is cool). Here's how:

-Click on 'My Account' at the top
-It may have you log in
-On the left there is a box called 'Message Board Aliases'
-Click 'Create New Alias'
-Type the Avatar Name
-Pick an Avatar Image
-Click 'Submit Changes'
-Fill out the character sheet: Example
-Once you make an alias a 'Post As' drop down box will appear under the text box when you make a post, just change that to whichever character you want to post as.


Male Human Monk (Flowing Monk) 1st

Like so :)


So here's what our makeup looks like so far:

Rei- Barbarian or Fighter
DW - Bard?
Thunder - Oracle

Shaping up pretty well I think :)

Rei I sent you a test PM on the IC forums, I think i've been forgetting to add the name to the 'to' section in the PM section, would be why T hasn't answered me back. If you could just make sure that you received that, I'd be grateful.


Yeah, once I read about the Clouded Vision Curse, I couldn't get it out of my head. Wasn't originally going to go melee, but it just seemed to fit better with the blindness.

I figure I'll just wear a lot of armor and follow Rei into battle.

I will start adding the character this weekend then (not going to get much done tonight with Halloween I think).


Hi guys,

I'm around and still definetly interested in playing. I'm running behind -was side-tracked on the weekend and then would have had the wrong Player's anyway.

Thanks for the new link Riatin, and the great class summary. I think I'll take a Cleric, since we don't have a pure caster and Riatin indicates they're strong. I don't know what race yet, but I'll work on everything as fast a possible - by the weekend (Sunday night) at the latest.

I'll think on backstory after I decide on race. :D

...T


Male Half-Orc Barbarian 3
stats:
HP 39/39, AC 18, Init+6 Str17 Dex14 Con14 Int12 Wis11 Cha10 Bank 755gp3sp6cp, DailyRage 10/16 rds left

How about this?

Riatin - I emailed you my HeroLab portfolio just so you can see all his internals... Lemme know what you think.


Looks good to me Rei. Nice avatar pic too, dont think I had seen that one.


Male Human Gamer / 16

Cool - and I'm *really* sorry - I didn't see your comment above about the test PM; I did see it but I didn't log in to retrieve it or read it. I don't know why - just being stupid. My mistake!


Np, I was mainly just wanting to make sure that I was using the PM system right, and T received my message so that's all good.


New question, in the old players guide it talked about deities and weapons, but in the new one it doesn't. Is there another resource that I could use to learn relevant information about Varisia or can I just use the old player's guide?

Almost done with the oracle, I think...


Hopefully last question, will I be at a significant disadvantage if I spend most of my gold on gear (I will have less than 6 gold left, chainmail is pricey)?


The old players guide should have the same info so using that for deities weapons of choice should be fine.

As for spending gold on gear, I think be as well equipped as you think you need to be. Good Armor will never hurt you.


Male Human Oracle/3
Quick Stats:
HP=4/28, AC=17(18), Init+4, Per+7, Fort+2, Ref+1, Will+2, Wand of CLW 42

Ok, I think I have most of this done, probably some stats I still need to figure out, like how to find my BAB, forget what that stands for.

Hopefully my solution to wanting to play a dwarf Oracle is ok, went for the short stocky human born near dwarves with stone powers...

Let me know what you think.

I will probably also make a wizard or sorceror if I have time in case we need a ranged caster more than we need a mostly blind humandwarf!


Male Human Gamer / 16

Holy cats - that's a lot of detail, Thunder. The "Character sheet" is so basic... I wonder if I need to add a bunch of info in the description?


Excellent, really liking that character, for some reason I want to call him sparky. :)

So just waiting on the other two to finalize their class selection and I'll recruit a 5th and we can get this ball rolling.


I just sort of followed what Riatin did with Nami, but I suppose I went a bit nuts on the backstory. A lot of the abilities lent themselves to the story.

I wanted to write down everything I learned so that I would know what he can do when the time comes, no doubt a lot of the stuff I put in there wouldn't be needed by an experienced player.

Not sure where you got Sparky, his avatar is kind of gloomy (didn't really find one I wanted so went with the guy in the hood), but it made me laugh so feel free to call him that!


On re-reading my description, I see where Sparky came from.


Any word from your friend Rei? Was hoping he'd have dropped a message by now and I dont want to start a recruitment thread without knowing exactly who and what I need.


Male Human Gamer / 16

Yup - we spent a few minutes talking about this and going over resources and whatnot just before leaving work tonight; he's still debating between bard and monk, but will let us know shortly.


Do you want me to spam the IC forums one more time Riatin?


Oh no, I think we're pretty good off.


Looking over your character sheet in a bit more detail thunder, just some stuff that you probably aren't aware of mechanically.

Fort Save would be +1 for the same reason
Will Save would be +1 (You'd take a -1 from your Wisdom modifier)

You get one additional skill point for being human that I think you forgot.

Also at every level you get to choose to take either 1 additional skill point or 1 additional hit point. So you can have 6 total skills and 9 HP or 10 HP and 5 skills.

Not sure how you're calculating your skills but here's what I'm getting:
Intimidate: +7 (+1 Rank, +3 for Class Skill, +3 for Charisma Modifier)(+8 vs Giants)
Know Planes: +4 (+1 Rank, +3 for Class Skill, +0 for Intelligence)
Perception: +4 (+1 Rank, +3 for Class, -1 for Wisdom, +1 for seeker) (Against giants you get another +1)
Use Magic Device (abbrv UMD): +4 (+1 Rank, +3 for Charisma)

The feat Power Attack requires a +1 Base Attack bonus (you currently have a +0, but it will increase to +1 at level 2). So you'll need to pick another feat.

Your attacks would look like this:

Mace, Heavy: +4 to hit (+4 from strength modifier+0 from BAB) and +5 against giant subtype creatures, 1d8+4 to damage (+4 bonus from strength) x2 on a critical.

Spear: +4 to hit (+5 against giant subtype), 1d8+6 damage (+4 strength mod x 1.5 for wielding 2 handed) x3 on a critical.

Sorry to pick it apart, but its a complex game as you've said. Any questions or obvious mistakes that I've made, let me know. I basically just recreated your character in hero lab and compared it to your sheet.


I opened up the recruitment thread, so I hope to get you an arcaner by next friday, I'd love to start then!


Male Human Gamer / 16

Cool! FYI I'm headed to northern MI until Monday evening, so you probably won't hear from me again until Tuesday. Just wanted you to be aware. Have a good weekend!


Awesome, thanks Riatin, I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing, I will adjust things. Shouldn't I hang on to the Feat anyway so my dps will go up at level 2?


You get a feat at every odd level, so it would be level 3 before you could take it (I should have mentioned that above).

It's one of the best attack feats, that's for sure, and very much in line for melee characters.


Ok, I guess I will keep Power Attacks and be doing more damage at level 2, unless you think it would be better to grab another like maybe Enforcer or Toughness for now. I am ok either way.

I took Diplomacy with my 5th skill point since its a class skill and a CHA skill. I didn't realize that skills started at 1 + 3 or whatever if you have a bonus, I just assumed they started at 4... now it makes more sense.


Feats I'll suggest to replace Power Attack for first level would be: (these are just good feats, by no means what you have to take)

Armor Proficiency (Heavy) - Better armor

Combat Casting - Makes it easier to cast spells in combat

Extra Revelation - Another Revelation at 1st would be very handy

Intimidating Prowess - Lets you add your strength modifier to Intimidate as well (+11)

Fortified Armor Training - Lets you negate a critical but breaks your armor or shield (very nice feat for a shield user)

Iron Will, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes - +2 to a save

Improved Shield Bash - Attack with a shield without losing its benefits (still applies a two weapon fighting penalty)

Saving Shield - Whenever an adjacent ally is attacked you can throw up your shield to help defend them, giving them a +2 shield bonus to their AC.

Scribe Scroll - Make scrolls you can save for later

Warrior Priest - +1 to initiative and +2 to concentration checks to cast in battle

Toughness - More hp is always more better.

Again just suggestions, there are many good things to choose that are not on this list and may work better flavor wise.


Ok, I dumped Power Attacks for now and took the Extra Revelation adding Stone Stability to my revelations, which is how I had him set up originally, so it all comes full circle.


Not sure if everyone saw it or not on the recruitment thread but I'd like to get this rolling next Friday when the recruitment period is up. Just a heads up.


Sparky is ready.


Male Human Gamer / 16

Garrok is ready to rumble... DW and I are going to put his guy together in Hero Lab either today or tomorrow. He's registered here and I keep hassling him to say hi, but he's shy... Canadians, AMIRITE? :)


T's had a busy couple of weeks so he's going to get his act together over the weekend and hopefully join us in a few days.

Katarina from the recruitment thread will be our lovely representative of the arcane.

So just waiting for your friend Rei, if he wants to join in a couple of days as well, I'm fine with that. My plan is to start the game in the gameplay thread tomorrow morning however. Any 11th hour questions?


Instigator/12

Hi all, mere minutes from being ready to play. I'll introduce my character this evening...

Looking forward meeting, and hopefully not completely annoying, the group.


Female Human (Varisian) Witch 2
Quick Stats:
Init +6 | AC 12, t 12, ff 10 | 16 / 16 hp | Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +2 | Perception +3

Hello everyone!

It's a pleasure to meet you all *offers a little bow*. If you allow me, I'll be delighted to offer my expertise on all matters arcane, from sharing obscure bits of knowledge, to empowering allies with inspiring incantations and afflicting enemies with terrible curses!

I can read your future too, if that's more to your liking! My trusty harrow deck never lies, but be warned... What you'll learn may not be something you wanted to... ;)

In all seriousness though I'm happy to be here and eager to play! And if you have any questions about me or Katarina fell free to ask. :)

@GM Riatin Thank you very much for choosing my character and for taking the time to run this AP!

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